"We need to talk." Ruby yelped hearing those words, turning from her position on top of the wooden watchtower near Lurelin Bay. The person that had suddenly spoken behind her was none other than Parda. The tall Gerudo woman bowed, as the young Huntress sighed.

"Parda, can you stop doing that?" She asked, and she noticed Parda's small smile. She wasn't going to stop.

"A warrior vai should always keep an eye to her back, even when she is guarding ahead. Otherwise, your enemies might sneak behind your back without you ever noticing." The Gerudo woman replied.

"I guess you are right. So, what did you want to talk about Parda?" Ruby asked.

"I'm leaving, Ruby Rose." She simply said.

"Oh. Why?"

"My quest to find a voe has to be put on hold for the sake of informing the Gerudo tribe of the threat of Grimm. I will travel back to my home in the Gerudo Desert. Hopefully, the knowledge you have given me will help them as well."

"I see. I'll miss you." Ruby said, nodding in understanding "In the past few days you have been nothing but helpful. Thank you for telling me so much about this world."

"It was my pleasure, young vai." She smiled "Although, I did not just wish to inform you about my departure. I also wanted to extend to you an invitation to travel with me."

Ruby looked at her in confusion "Oh… Why?"

Parda looked at her "You are lost in this world and don't have a hint of where you are supposed to go."

"Well when you put it like that…"

"But there are certainly reasons to why you were brought here. You told me your story, Ruby Rose. And we both think Farore is the one that lead you to this land. The question is, why? I believe to find your answer you must leave this village and start searching. Of the three goddesses, Farore represents courage and the wind. I believe that if you choose to brave the world, to travel from place to place like a gale, you will find your answers."

Ruby pondered what Parda was saying. It was true she wasn't doing much in Lurelin anyway. Since their fight with the Feilong, they had seen no trace of any Grimm activity. She had even given the villagers and the Gerudo detailed information on how to track them, but to no avail. It was clear that there were no Grimm anywhere around the town. So, if there was a possibility to find a way home, or at least answers, she was hesitant to give it up.

Her eyes went to her boots. The symbol on her calf still bugged her. Why did Farore leave her mark on her? According to Flavi, that wasn't usual for the goddesses. And she was very knowledgeable, so if something was unusual to her, it probably meant there was no record of it in the Gerudo history. 'So what does it mean? And where am I supposed to go from here?'

She turned to Lurelin. The village was on high alert, with numerous inhabitants having taken up lances and old swords. She would have liked to stay and help as a Huntress, but on the other hand that would have just meant lock herself with no way home. Even the elders of the town had no information on a way home, she had already asked around.

"I would love to." She started, before shaking her head "But I can't. Without me, the village would have no real defense. Well, aside from Flavi, but she alone might be in danger too, don't you think?"

Parda smiled "That is actually another reason for you to come. If we tell the Stables on the way, they might send people here. There are a lot of treasure hunters that know how to survive in the wild, they would be able to help. And once we make it to Gerudo Town, you can ask for support from the Chief herself."

"Couldn't you do that yourself?"

"I could, but with you I think it would be a lot more convincing. Your weapons and knowledge of the Grimm alone would help the matter, don't you think?" Parda asked.

Ruby thought about it for a moment. What the woman was saying made sense. She had more knowledge than anyone else in Hyrule on the Grimm threat, and helping while looking for a way to return to her friends and family was appealing. She finally nodded "Fine. But I first need to do a thing." She said.

"I'll wait by the city entrance. Don't take too long, please. We have a long way ahead, and I'd like to start our journey as soon as possible."

Ruby nodded, before bolting off. She quickly made her way around the village, until she finally found Regan. The young man was training with an older man, a tanned fisherman she recognized as Sebasto, swinging a sword that had belonged to his grandfather. Ruby was reminded of Jaune during his early days at Beacon. "Hello Ruby!" The man said as soon as he saw her, with a smile.

"Hello Regan. How is your Aura?"

"Amazing. I can't believe weapons just bounce on me!" He said with a grin. Ruby nodded. The decision of awakening some Hylians' Aura had been something she was happier about now than ever. It wouldn't save them by itself, but it would help. Regan had been the first to volunteer, but three more people, Sebasto, Numar and Chumin, had agreed to it afterwards. Both Gerudo had surprisingly thanked her but refused, at least for the time being.

"Remember, your Aura has a limit." Ruby warned him again "You still need to try and block as many hits as possible, otherwise you'll run out."

"I know, I know." The aspiring treasure hunter replied with a smile "I'm training exactly for that." He said, swinging his sword. Ruby nodded, though she did notice his stance was a bit overextended. That wasn't too surprising, seeing most of the villagers had picked up arpoons as their weapon of choice, carrying the swords around only as a side weapon, and Ruby herself wasn't much of a trainer when it came to swords. She had given him tips to fight with sword and shield, but she really wished Pyrrha or even Jaune were there.

'I wish uncle Qrow was here.' She found herself thinking. Her uncle used a sword-scythe combination called Harbinger, so he would have certainly been of help. "Good. But there is something else I need to talk to you about."

Regan looked at her, puzzled "What is it?"

"I'm leaving with Parda for a while."

"What? But what do we do if one of those Grimm things shows up again without you?" He asked, suddenly afraid.

"Don't worry, Flavi will stay here, and you now have Aura. The five of you should be able to hold your own." She replied. She wasn't entirely sure about it, but there wasn't much more she could do. She had to sound confident to make sure they would stay positive. Any negative emotion would make things worse.

Regan sighed "I guess… Well, thank you for everything you have done for us." He said, "You have been really kind."

"I did what every good Huntress would do, nothing more." She answered, blushing slightly at the compliment.

"The place you come from must be amazing then, if everyone is as kind as you are." Regan continued "Well, good luck Ruby."

"Good luck to you too. But I wanted to ask another favor."

"Sure, what is it?"

"Do you know where chief Rozel is?" She asked.

Regan raised an eyebrow "Well, I think he said he was going to the beach with Numar."

"Which beach?" Ruby asked, surprised.

"Korne. He said something about a weapon that could help us in those dire times." Regan replied "And of course Numar was ready to help."

Ruby nodded, speeding off "Thank you Regan. Stay safe!"

"You too Ruby!" He replied, shouting as he watched her rapidly disappear in a flush of petals "After all, you are the one that's going to travel through the wild!"

-

Ruby made her way south from Lurelin, following the shore until he reached Korne Beach. The area was a sandy shore inhabited by only crabs and seagulls, surrounded by palm trees. After a search of the area, she finally found the two man, working intently on a raft. Numar was doing most of the work, his dark skin shining from the sweat as he rowed, probably to test the ship. On the shore, Rozel was nodding approvingly, his white hair contrasting with his tanned skin.

"Hello, young one." He said with a smile toward Ruby when he saw her.

"Hello, chief."

"I told you to call me Rozel before."

"But Numar said it's inappropriate." Ruby said.

"It is. But I know the old man will not listen to me!" The man shouted from the boat.

"Ah, don't listen to him, I'm not some grumpy elderly that needs a title to feel better, I'm a fisherman that was lucky enough to get old. So, what are you doing here?"

"Well, I wanted to talk about the defense of Lurelin while I'm gone. Did you think about what I suggested? You know, the whole thing about building a palisade to protect yourself."

"I didn't know you were leaving, but that suggestion of yours is actually why we are here." The man replied, before chuckling "Well, that and I want to see if the old tale is actually true."

"Old tale?"

"They say a long time ago a ship crashed around here. Overtime, the ship itself was either broken apart by the winds and sea and scavenged, but they say part of the cargo sunk near here. The story goes there was a sizable amount of precious stones in it, including a sword that shined like thunder." He chuckled again "If that is true, we would at least have the money to pay the people that will collect the wood and build the palisade, and a good sword on top."

"That's actually amazing." Ruby said, her eyes lit by the idea of a sunken treasure like the ones she had read about in her books. Sure, those were usually a pirate chest, but still… "Can I help?"

"Sure. Those old bones of mine aren't made to sail anymore. Why don't you go with Numar instead of me?"

Ruby nodded, and jumped on the raft in a burst of petal. Numar laughed "Well, at least the both of us will find the treasure more easily." He said, starting to row. Soon enough, they were out of reach of the coast. That was when the man sighed "I do hope we find something."

"I'm sure Ro… the Elder is right. A story always has some basis of truth."

"Oh, I believe him when he says that a ship sunk around here. I just wonder if the treasure is still out there after all this time."

"Only one way to find out, right?" She asked, before suddenly hitting her face with a head "Damn, I got excited about the treasure and forgot I promised Parda I was going to make it fast."

Numar laughed again, this time harder "She is gonna have your head for it, you know that right?"

"Not if we find the treasure fast." Ruby replied "So, do we know where that's supposed to be?"

"Around here, under us." He said, pointing at the shining sea and at the sand and rocks below "Let's hope that it's not completely covered in sand. Let's start looking."

Ruby nodded, and the two of them started to stare overboard to the sea floor. Ruby watched fishes pass under them quickly, disappearing and reappearing as they moved under the coral and rock formations. Between those there were large spaces of sand and algae, where crabs, starfishes and seashells littered the sea, some moving, some immobile.

"This reminds me of my home." Ruby said "Well, a bit at least. We didn't have palm trees, but Patch was an island, and we did have a beautiful sea."

"What about the Grimm?"

"Well sometimes big things would come from the sea, but Vale's defenses and Huntsmen like Uncle Qrow would usually take care of them." She replied.

"That's good." He said, before returning to his silent search. After a while, he spoke again "Do you think we can do it? Fight the Grimm by ourselves, I mean."

"Of course! You fight monsters already. The Grimm won't be a big change for you." She confidently said. Well, she hoped it sounded confident enough. In truth, from what she had seen, most monsters weren't as dangerous as the bigger Grimm, the ones that would certainly come eventually to attack a large settlement like Lurelin. She just hoped that by then enough people would be competent fighters to take them down. She almost shivered thinking of what would have happened if the Sea Feilong had attacked Lurelin without her and the Gerudo around.

"I hope you are right." Numar replied "Thank you for the Aura, by the way. It's amazing."

"And wait until you unlock your Semblance. That's when…" She stopped. Suddenly, a gust of wind moved the raft's sail, along with a cloud that was covering the sun. In the sudden change of light, she noticed a glint from the seafloor, like something was reflecting the sunlight. She looked more closely and saw more, before gasping "The treasure!" She shouted.

"Wait what?" Numar asked, walking to her side and looking at where she was pointing excitedly. His eyes went wide as he saw four large chests made of some metal, reflecting the sun above them from their half-buried position. "Nayru's love, I can't believe we actually found them…"

"So, how do we…" Ruby began to ask, before Numar jumped in the water without a hint of hesitation. She looked as the man pulled the first chest out of the sand and slowly dragged it towards the raft, swimming with only his feet and yet managing to carry it with little effort. He quickly handed it to her and she grabbed it. She had to pull with all her strength to not let it fall when she realized how heavy it actually was, since Numar had made it look so easy.

The scene repeated three more times, before Numar finally sat next to her, panting "Well, that was a good exercise."

"How did you do that?! Those things are super heavy!"

"Well, your Aura thing helped, but it's not the first time I've recovered stuff underwater."

"Ah, looks like you'll be a strong one like Yang. Though probably not as strong as my sister." Ruby said with a chuckle.

"Oh, really? I'll take that as a challenge." The man replied with a grin, starting to row to take the boat back home, while glancing from time to time to the chests "I still can't believe it…"

"Wanna see what's inside?" Ruby asked.

"If you can open them…"

Ruby nodded and looked at the chests. There was surprisingly little wrong with them. No corals, no rust, nothing ruining the metal they were made of, except for a few scratches and dents. However, she just had to lightly pull up the lid to fully open it, like it was waiting for it. "Woah!" She said, startled, before looking inside as her eyes went wide. The Sapphire inside was as large as her head. "Wow, this is amazing!" She said.

The man nodded, his eyes fixated on the treasure. Ruby ignored him, looking at the second chest and opening it to reveal an equally large Topaz, and the third chest revealed another Topaz of even bigger size. "Those are all amazing…" Ruby said, "With this I'm sure Lurelin will have a nice, strong wall."

"Yeah but… you know, a single one would be enough for that," Numar commented. "Meanwhile, we could make more money with the rest, to make the village even stronger and cover some debts of mine."

Ruby glanced at him "What do you mean?" She asked after a moment, suddenly worried.

"Well, there is a chest game in the city, where you can make ten times what you bet, or even more. If I… we brought one of those over there…"

"No." Ruby bluntly said "We are taking this straight to the chief. He will know what to do with them."

Numar looked at her with surprise for a moment, and Ruby almost reflexively brought her hand to her back, where Crescent Rose was resting, before stopping herself. However, a second later, the man started laughing "Ah, I'm sorry. You are right of course. That was wrong of me. You are right, the chief knows best. I just thought it seemed a good idea."

Ruby sighed in relief, smiling "Don't worry." She replied. "Oh, we are here." She said, pointing at the coast, where Rozel was sitting. She waved at him and raised one of the Topazes. The elder's smile was visible from where Ruby was. She noticed the relief on his face.

As they landed on the coast, she looked at the last chest, while Numar calmly picked up the other gems and showed them to the chief, who nodded happily. She opened it and almost squealed in joy. Well, she was pretty sure it was just 'almost'. Maybe just a very small actual squeal.

"Oh, a Thunderblade. So that is the great weapon." Rozel commented when he saw the blade inside the chest. "Those were only made by the blacksmiths of the Hyrule Hills, who are now likely all gone. At least, I never heard of anyone still making those."

"It's so beautiful…" Ruby whispered as she examined the greatsword. The Weapon was almost as tall as she was, with the blade actually divided in two for almost the entire length. She could see the electricity ripple through it, and when she took a swing to try it it crackled before waning. After a few moments, the weapon lit once more.

"Yes, if you swing this, it will produce a bolt of true lightning, although then it will take some moments to recharge for another attack. One hit could probably stun a full-grown bull."

"Or kill a normal Grimm." Ruby muttered "This is fantastic! I was worried about the village, but now you have a weapon that can protect you. Make sure to give it to your strongest fighter though."

"That's what I am going to do." He said with a smile "Numar, it's yours." He said. The man happily grabbed the blade Ruby handed him and swung it around.

"Well, I don't mind using it." The man said, swinging it once more to test it and smiling.

"Excellent." The old man said "Well, now I feel safer. Now, let's bring this back to the village."

"Yes, we should do that," Numar said with a smile, as Ruby picked up the stones. "But I certainly won't." Then she felt a discharge of electricity hit her in the back and an impact with the ground.

-

"Ruby Rose, wake up." A familiar voice said gently.

Ruby slowly opened her eyes, looking up at the familiar woman standing over her. She blinked twice, realizing suddenly it was sunset, judging by the light. And that the person was Parda, a worried expression on her face.

"Parda? What…"

"You were hit from behind." She said, a disgusted tone in her voice "Who did this? Who was such a coward?"

"Wait… I was hit and… Rozel! Is he…"

"He is fine. Well, unconscious, but fine." Parda said "The culprit only knocked both of you out, thankfully. I got suspicious when I didn't see you return and started looking for you. I asked around and finally got the information from Regan. If I ever find the voe that did this…" Parda started, then shook her head, before looking at Rozel "I'll carry the elder back to the village. I suppose we are leaving tomorrow at this point."

"No! I'm sorry Parda, but I need to find Numar and…"

"So it was Numar, uh? Well, he is already gone." The Gerudo simply replied, a look of disgust clear in her eyes "He took a raft, judging by the footprints that lead to the sea, and unless you have a way to track him on the waves, you will only waste your time. Trust me, I wanted nothing more than to give him a lesson."

Ruby sighed "I can't believe he did it. But why? He knew how important this was for the village!"

Parda shook her head "Some people are selfless, like you, and some are selfish, like him. He saw the option to change his life and took it. At least he had the decency of feeling some remorse." She said.

"What do you mean?" Ruby asked, and the Gerudo pointed at the Sapphire in the sand.

"He left that behind. He clearly did it on purpose, so I guess there is some hope even for a thief." She said, "I still want to throw him to a Molduga."

Ruby shook her head. She had only known Numar for a few days, but why would he do something like that. What made him think it was a good idea? She could only wonder what goes through the mind of someone that did stuff like that. Then she suddenly gasped "Did he take the sword?"

"The sword? What sword?"

"He took it! It was supposed to be used to defend the village, and he took it! How could he?!"

"What happened? What sword?"

"We found a Thunderblade in one of those chests. It was one of the reasons chief Rozel and him came all the way out here." Ruby said.

"Then I guess he took it, yes. With that blade and those gems, he will probably make a living for himself as a treasure hunter. Or a bandit." Parda grimaced "If we ever run into him, I will make sure he regrets this."

Ruby stood back up, looking at the sea and feeling guilt. There was a criminal out there now. And she had awakened his Aura and helped him find a magic sword. She sighed again. 'I will fix this.' She thought 'I only need to figure out how.'