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"According to the warden's office there have been two killings so far. They've been inside the walls of the town."

"And what does that tell us about this Grimm?" I asked Rosé in the tone of an inquiring teacher. I had a lesson to impart.

Rosé hesitated. She sat cross legged on the wooden floor of the inn room we rented out. Shini was comfortable and it was right smack in the middle of Match. The island just south of Solitas north of Sanus. It was here where we crash landed, Neo and I. And it was here that I picked up my new apprentice.

She sat quiet in contemplation, she knew that I wasn't rushing her. But that I did indeed expect an answer.

"It has some means of getting past the walls. Like flying," she answered at length. To which I nodded.

"And we've gone over some of the Grimm in this area. Which ones match that description?" I pressed her further.

"Stymphalia. Or Nevermore. Or even a Manticore," she answered. "Those are the ones you told me about that can fly and live around here. Am I forgetting anything?" She wondered.

"Not really. So we know what kind of Grimm it is and we know it's hunting habits. The only thing left to do is actually kill it. That's probably the easy part."

Neo sat back on one of the beds. Relaxing and content, she saw no need to be involved in this little exercise which suited me just fine. This about Rosé and teaching her to think critically.

"How does one set a trap for a flying Grimm? Something land based I can understand but if it can fly how do we pin it down and kill it."

"You and I use dust since we don't have guns. And my powers let me fly when I so choose."

"You can fly?!"

"I can. It's a part of my semblance," I lied in part. I didn't find it necessary to teach her about magic beyond dust. "Besides if it's something big it'll have a den nearby. There will be signs to follow. Come on. We need to resupply on dust crystals and track this bad boy down."

I stood to leave the clean inn room. Neo sat up. "Don't trouble yourself Neo. We'll be back. This is just training for Rosé. You just kick back and relax."

Neo leaned back and gave me a thumbs up on the bed. She certainly looked at ease and was not going to do anything more than she had to while resting from traveling. It was I who decided to take on an apprentice, not she. It would be wrong of me to force any duties upon her although I would ask favors. From friend to friend.

We left the inn and exited down paved streets. It was raining lightly, just a spring sprinkle. The sort of rain you hardly noticed. It left a pleasant aroma on the breeze however. And with the sky slightly overcast there was plenty of relaxing quiet shade. Rosé inhaled deeply the clean air in a big sigh.

We entered a square where several streets converged. A woman was selling thread behind a counter. Another had rows of pastries set out and they polluted the air with a sweet smell. With Rosé following close behind me, I waltzed up to a man who had dust crystals on display under a pane of glass. Above us was a flickering arc light which shone down upon the crystals. Dust crystals always seemed to glow unnaturally with a bit of light.

This wouldn't be cheap. Unlike Atlas under embargo there was no over supply here in Sanus. But there was plenty of demand. Prices were high. Especially for the sort of pure whole crystals I preferred and was teaching Rosé to wield. She was coming along with that aspect of her training just fine. She was impatient with herself but I knew better.

"Burn and shock. Uncut," I ordered.

"How many?" He asked, reaching under the display case in front of him to palm several crystals. He did so without looking away from me. He must know by memory where his dust lay.

"Five of both. If you so please," I requested. He set the crystals on his counter before him and he named a steep price unflinchingly. I took him up on it anyways. I had known in advance how much it would be or at least approximately. I paid him and took them from him over the counter and placed the crystals in my deep pockets. I handed two of the burn crystals to Rosé who slid them into her belt for safekeeping right beside her double edged blade.

"Is dust always so expensive?" Rosé asked me. "That seemed like a lot. And I'm probably going to waste some more training with them. I'm sorry. I just can't seem to get the hang of it completely."

"You will. I believe in you. And it serves a purpose and it's only a lot for nonhunters. For us it's part and parcel. And it's usually not so expensive but there is an embargo from Atlas going on. All the crystals must come from local mines at the moment. That costs more. But it's not a big deal. Don't trouble yourself over it."

We walked along a narrow badly lighted path past shrubs and lean trees with benches to either side of us before a little park and garden. It was raining a little heavier now and people were rushing about to avoid it. They had hoods drawn up and rain coats on with umbrellas over their tops as they bustled to and fro. We had no umbrellas and we're getting ready to venture out from town.

"If it's a big old Grimm it'll have a lair to it. A place to retreat to."

"A home?"

"Not really. The Grimm aren't like people or animals. They only care about such places so long as it helps them destroy things that we make. That's their nature."

"I don't quite understand," Rosé frowned.

"You will. It'll be better to show you once we've found it. It's a flying Grimm and all the people it killed were to the north so it probably nests down in a cave up in the hills."

"Back the way we came, then."

"Or there abouts. It's where we'll start looking at least. Come on. We'll need to set out early and be back by nightfall. We'll leave the horses here and go by foot."

We had done her theory work. It was time to put the things I hoped that she had learned into practice. There would be no substitute for hands on experience for the real thing and I would be there to back her up along the way. This was the real learning opportunity and the first real test. Everything else had been baby steps. Now I was dropping her into the pool to see if she could swim.

That was the real advantage to this apprenticeship thing. I would be there to save her if she started to drown. This time, at least. I wouldn't always be there to save her but I hoped that I wouldn't have to be. I hoped that my lessons would suffice and she would live a long happy life as a hunter. That was an oxymoron, perhaps. But maybe that was just me.

"Cloud? Did you have a lot of friends at Beacon?" She drew her eyebrows tight and stared at a point in front of us hard. She stared with distant focus like she was trying not to forget something important.

"More than I did at any other point in my life," I answered the personal question easily and without any modesty. "Why do you ask?" It sounded important to her and I was a touch curious as to her point.

"Well… I just thought that maybe that was part of the appeal of it. To me at least. Because of my… because of my position I haven't had the opportunity to make many friends. I'm hopeful that I will if I get into Beacon when it reopens." Her cheeks went rosey and her silvery red hair drifted in the slight breeze. I wondered if it got in her face and bothered her. Weiss kept her hair pinned or pulled back. Ruby kept her hair short. Pyrrha always wore a ponytail. I suppose Yang let her mane out and flow all over and it never seemed to bother her. Blake too let her hair loose for a time.

Her position? Perhaps as a noble man's daughter she didn't have the childhood she should have. Weiss suffered like that, too, after all.

"You'll make good friends. You're a young sweet girl. You just have to let yourself. You understand me?" I affirmed.

"Yes… no. I don't believe so," she looked away from me and wouldn't meet my eyes.

"I hope you will. Don't close yourself off, put in effort, and give it time. You'll make your share of friends that way. That's how it's done. I used to not know. Now I do. And with that, then, let's be off. We have work to do."

She gave a slow and firm nod. She was ready.

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We traveled up into the hills to the north of Shini. The hills were quiet and unperturbed by the soft rain which fell through the budding leaves and landed on the grass carpeted ground. There were rocky outcroppings and the hiking put a strain on the calves and knees but it didn't bother me. I could tell Rosé was tiring but she would grow stronger with time. Time, ever against me, was on her side at least. She had the time she needed to develop herself and become the blooming huntress she could be.

The secret truth was that anybody could become powerful. Anybody could do what I did and grow from nothing. If a waste of a wretch like me could become powerful enough to take Cinder Fall on then Rosé could become a hell of a huntress.

We found the first den and Rosé was shocked by the cavern. There were old weapons and bones here but I had seen it's like before. It didn't come as such a horror the second time I saw things like it. As with all things, repetition made it easier and even a little boring.

"All these people…" she trailed off looking on in something like dread.

"More than all these people. There's always more," I murmured quietly but my voice echoed in the dank crevasse such that she must have heard me clearly.

I stared down at a clear footprint and we were careful not to disturb it.

"Well? What kind of creature is it?" Rosé asked as she too stooped over the print in the dusty floor.

"It's a Manticore. An old one, too. We have to find it and kill it before we move on to the next city. We can't leave something like this behind. It'll tear these people up. It's got experience so even other hunters aren't safe. It's our responsibility."

"But couldn't it kill us too?"

"Of course. It certainly could. That's the job, however. But don't you worry. Even amongst huntsmen I am strong. We'll slay the beast and move on with our travels. It's only a miracle it hasn't killed more people. It must be distracted or have a wide range. Come on. I'm going to show you how to set up a land mine with a dust crystal."

She watched me carefully as I trapped the den with the makeshift explosive and buried it in the soft red sand.

"If it's not here then where is it?"

"Out hunting. Killing. Or perhaps we are fortunate and it's in another den hiding from the sun. Monsters are like that."

"But you don't think so. You think it's out killing people. Don't you." She saw through me into my pessimism. It disparaged her in part. I… I didn't want her to inherit that from me during this mentoring process. My world view was indeed more than jaded. I would rather see more of Ruby's optimism in the world, however. If only she could be here to balance me out.

I sighed. "Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe it isn't. There's no way for you and I to be sure but I will not lie to you. A monster like this is out there at this very moment destroying the lives of innocent people in all possibility so it may as well be true. We should probably operate that way. It's safer for us even though it is disheartening."

"Why? Why do the Grimm hurt us? What do they gain?" She wondered. They were good questions. She asked a lot of those - showing off her inquiring mind. I wished that I had more answers to give and that answers that I did have were more comforting. But I preferred harshly bitter honesty over sweet lies. And if those kinds of answers saved her life then it would be worth it. That was my philosophy on the subject. I took it with me everywhere I went. Maybe there was something wrong with me. What am I saying? Of course there is something wrong with me. But perhaps not this.

"No one knows, not for certain. Perhaps it is simply because they are monsters and so they do what monsters do and be what monsters are. That might be enough and all there is to it," I informed her with some hesitation.

"But we'll stop it. You and I. We're going to put an end to this beast and stop it." She didn't seem discouraged. There was enthusiasm and a strong will. Perhaps I had underestimated her verve and had misjudged her. She was, after all, not like me.

"We are," I told her. "Sooner rather than later if we can. And we will do all that we can."

"We're responsible for it now."

"We are," I repeated. "Only we can bring these people peace and safety."

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We made our way back Shini by nightfall. It had stopped raining and was dark enough that we fumbled some in the hills before we made our way back to town.

I marched into the inn and took up my room. Neo was waiting still, she was patient as ever. But she did give me a questing glance.

"We didn't find it and kill it. Not yet. And we're staying until we do. Then we'll move on in our travels," I answered her silence with a parry. "At least another two days. If not longer. Get comfortable. Want to go out and drink?"

She nodded agreeably.

"Can I come?" Rosé asked. She looked between us imploringly. What the hell? I wasn't her father.

"Think you can handle drinking?" I asked genuinely. "Have you ever drank before?"

"Not really. That is I've tried some… I think I can handle it."

"Good enough for me. If you can handle monsters you can handle alcohol and who am I to say you can't? Come on. We'll have an evening."

As a trio we made our way to a bar. I ordered hard liquor for myself and something sugary for Neo and a bit of both for Rosé to try. She was a big girl now. Or she was going to be. People didn't remain children for long in our business. It was just the nature of the beast.

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-WG