:)

Faye breathed a sigh of relief. The doctor had checked her out, and she was fine. She had been given a set of street clothes, and let out of the hospital.

She was given her weapons and armor back, of course. Her armor was in relatively good shape, though it could use a cleaning, and her body glove needed to be completely replaced. Ace and her Hail Blasters were fine, though she would need to get more Dust for them. The Wind Blade was missing, though Nixie had apparently taken it—she would need to talk to her about that. She put them in a large bag, and carried them out of the hospital.

Storm met up with her outside, and the two walked to a warehouse near the waterfront. Inside were rows and rows of tents, with students walking around outside, as well as a couple of teachers from Beacon. "Why are they here?" Faye asked.

"Beacon fell," Storm explained keeping his eyes on the sight. "Most of the students from academies outside of Vale are staying here while they wait for the boat, as well as a few students from Beacon that can't find anywhere else to stay." He turned to Faye. "Rayne and I are staying here until either our aunt and uncle or our other aunt can make room for us."

She cocked her head. "Why are they here and not in Mistral?" she asked.

"They were born here, as was my mom," Storm said. "My mom moved to Mistral years ago, just like my grandfather came from Vacuo. Guess it's in our blood to wander." That was interesting. "I would invite you, but it would be pretty stuffed I think."

"Do not worry; I will be fine," Faye replied. She looked around. "So, which tent is mine?"

"Um, I don't know," Storm said. "I think you'll have to ask the supervisor." He pointed to an Atlesian soldier with red markings on his uniform holding a scroll.

She nodded. "I suppose I will. See you later."

"See ya." And Storm walked into the lines of tents.

Faye walked over to the supervisor, trying to make sure she knew what to say. She was afraid of soldiers, especially Atlesian ones. She wished nothing more not to talk to him, but she had no choice—if she wanted to know where her tent was. She went up to him and said, "Are you the supervisor?"

"Yes, ma'am," he said. "Is there anything you need?"

"Which tent is mine?" she asked.

"Let me look it up." He looked at his scroll. "What's your name?"

"Feather Faye Elric," she said. "I am a student of Haven Academy."

"Well, let's see." He pressed a few buttons on his Scroll and said, "Your tent is 78-B." He pointed to one of the leftmost rows of tents. "It should be down there."

"Thank you," she said.

"You're welcome, citizen."

She began walking to her tent when she turned back and asked, "Could you help me find someone?"

"Sure, who is it?" She explained that it was Cirocco, and the man nodded. "He's actually a neighbor: 61-B. He should be somewhere around there."

"What about Nixie Frayne or Crystal Taryn?"

"Nixie Frayne isn't here; she's probably at her home. But Crystal Taryn is currently in tent 23-A," he pointed to some of the rightmost tents, "though I don't think she'll be there long though. Apparently she's some kinda dignitary's daughter, so the council is setting something up for her."

"All right." She would go to Crystal first, since she was going soon, and she wanted to talk to Crystal about the Wind Blade. "Thank you."

"No problem."

She walked over to where the soldier had said Crystal's tent was, and Crystal seemed to be just getting back. "Crystal," she called out.

Crystal turned around. "Yes, what is it, Faye?"

As she neared she said, "I want to talk to you about…" She realized it may not be a good idea to say the name of the Wind Blade, and just made a swinging motion with an imaginary sword.

Crystal nodded. "I understand." She opened the flap of her tent, and invited Faye in. Crystal sat down on the ground, and Faye did the same. "So… You will need training in order to fully utilize the Wind Blade."

"I do not want to wield it," Faye said.

Crystal's eyes widened. "You don't want it?"

"Yes. I would like to give it to the kingdom Vacuo, and allow them to choose who wields it."

Crystal nodded. "That is wise. The Maidens wanted each kingdom to have a Blade, and it imbalances the whole world for any kingdom to have more than one." She sighed. "I'm just sorry I didn't realize it before."

Faye stood up. "Well, I will see you another time, I think."

"Farewell, Faye," Crystal said.

"Farewell."

Faye exited the tent, and went to Cirocco's tent. She was not sure how to check if he was there—he did not exactly have a door. Fortunately, Cirocco came out of the tent before long after she arrived there. "Well, it isn't every day that a girl's outside my door," Cirocco said. "And I don't even have a door."

"Cirocco, I am aware that we do not know each other very well," Faye said, "but do you always have to tell odd truths?"

"I call 'em as I see 'em," Cirocco said. "But do you have to talk so weird?"

Faye considered it. "Perhaps not, but that is not why I came."

"Well, why did you come?"

"I wish to talk with Kit," Faye stated.

"She's staying with my sister Clove," Cirocco said. "They're at the Waterfront Hotel; Clove likes to have an easy escape route out of the kingdom." What sort of woman was Clove? Cirocco must have sensed her unease, and said, "She's perfectly safe. I don't know of anyone who can win a fight with Clove. She's kinda scary that way."

"Thank you." She had a vague idea of where it would be, though only vague.

"How do you know Kit anyway?" Cirocco asked.

"We both went to Asylum," Faye said. "That is a…"

"I know what Asylum is; it's a school for training warriors before they go to Haven—like that Sanctum," Cirocco said. "But I don't think you two are the same age, are you?"

"She is about a year and a half older than me," Faye said. "I… knew someone who knew Kit very well. It was inevitable that we met."

"Well, I guess most people would want you to have a happy reunion, but I don't care one way or the other. Anyway, see you."

"See you another time." Cirocco left to wherever he was going before Faye had interrupted him, and she went to search for the Waterfront Hotel.

Faye stood in the elevator, waiting for it to get to the seventh floor. It was paneled with a polished wood, and had a nice brown carpet. She had received the room number and floor from the man at the front desk, and was now going to the floor where Clove was staying.

Elevators always made her a little queasy. The constant shifting made it nearly impossible to keep one's bearing. Of course, that was nothing compared to meeting Kit again.

Kit was a bit of a trouble maker at Asylum. While Lorna could be the same, Kit was more so. She would so often torment nearby dogs, make what she called "music" with the lids of trash cans, and occasionally make fools of other students by asking questions that had no answers. Then again, she was also the most adventurous; whenever they played what passed for baseball in their group, she would always climb on top of whatever roof the ball had landed on.

As the elevator stopped, the doors opened, and she stepped out. She went to the room that Clove was staying in, and knocked on the door. Before long, it opened.

Standing in the doorway was the woman she had seen the other night beside Cirocco and Kit. She had blonde hair, tough features, and looked as tall as she was standing straight. Despite the currently cold weather, she wore T-shirt revealing her thick arms. She had green eyes, the left one looking slightly wrong—like it was synthetic. "Who are you?" the woman asked.

"My name is Faye," she replied. "Are you Clove?"

"Yeah, and what do you want?"

"I want to talk to Kit."

Clove crossed her muscular arms. She looked threatening. "Are you White Fang?"

"No! I hate them!" Faye said, offended. "Besides, we met briefly at Beacon. Do you remember?"

Clove lowered her head for a moment contemplatively. Then she looked back up. "I think I do. Didn't you have the white and blue Onyxcorp armor?"

"Yes, with wings."

"Yeah, I remember you." She uncrossed her arms and stepped to the side. "I guess you can talk to her. But if you kill her, I will kill you."

"All right." She stepped in, and could see the hotel room in its entirety as Clove closed the door. There was a nice cream colored carpet, white drywall, dark red ceiling, and two beds with red covers. On one of the beds sat Kit. Faye crossed her arms. "Hello, Kit," she said more curt than she meant to.

"Hello, Feather," Kit replied just as curt.

Clove grasped Faye's shoulder. "I thought your name was Faye!" she said.

She turned to Clove "That is my middle name. I think you would agree that is the better name," Faye replied. She looked back to Kit. "I go by Faye now."

"Huh, so that's your middle name," Kit said. Kit's eyes flickered to Clove. "Never knew it."

"Yeah, I got that," Clove said, releasing Faye's shoulder.

"Um, could you give us some privacy?" Faye requested.

"No, whatever you have to say, say it in front of me!"

"It is personal!"

"I don't care! She's my responsibility, and I take those very seriously!"

"Very well." She quickly went through possible semblances, and chose the best one for this. She altered the flow of energy in Clove's body to her brain, quickly rendering her unconscious. Kit stared as Clove fell to the ground. "I hope she is not too vengeful a person, but this is very private."

"What's so important?" Kit asked, shocked.

"You know very well who this is about."

Kit nodded understandingly. "Ah, Talon. He's safe."

"He shot me three times during the battle!" She leaned towards Kit. "What have you twisted him into, Kit?"

"Someone who kills who and what he means to kill," Kit replied. Faye leaned back. "He didn't want to kill you, obviously."

"Obviously, but how were you captured?"

"Didn't you hear? I'm defecting."

Faye raised her eyebrows. "You… You are trying to leave?"

"Both of us have had our fill of the White Fang, so we've decided to leave as soon as we can."

"But… no one leaves the White Fang!"

"Well, I did, and I can pass off as being captured by the enemy." Then she mumbled, "Of course they're going to want their sword back—that thing was not cheap to make."

Faye ignored that. "But someday… I'm going to see Talon again?"

Kit looked surprised. "If we can help it, you will. And you got so excited that you slipped in a contraction." Had she? "Don't worry; I won't tell anyone."

She was so excited! "Thank you for this news, Kit!"

"You're welcome. Just remember, I'm the one he wants to marry someday."

"Duly noted," Faye said. Those two had made their affection to each other no secret during their Asylum days, and coming between those two might be a bad idea.

Her thoughts were interrupted by Clove groaning on the floor. "If you will excuse me," Faye said, "I do not wish to be here when Clove regains consciousness."

"You probably don't. Goodbye."

Faye walked to the door. "See you another time, Kit." And she quickly stepped out before Clove woke up.

Before you say that Faye's acting out of character, it's just another side of her personality.