The artist of the cover art of this story has drawn another for the fic on his DA profile – check it out if you wish. It's of Mercury being spoiled by the Belladonnas and is very cute.

Cover Art: Mystery White Flame

Chapter 25

"So," Kali said over breakfast in a very suggestive voice. "How was your romantic evening?"

"It wasn't a date," Jaune said.

"It was not so bad…" Salem said. As per usual, everyone listened to her, and he went ignored. "Jaune escorted me about Menagerie, won a gift to show his favour, indulged me in dispensing alms to the poor, dined me at a local restaurant and then brought me to watch a display of explosives over the bay."

"Fireworks," Jaune explained for everyone else.

"Ahh." Kali smiled indulgently. "Sounds romantic."

Jaune wished he could slap a hand over her mouth and gag her, but it would have been poor form since she was letting them stay at her house. As it was, he blushed and focused on his breakfast, at least assured that Salem didn't think he was trying anything like that. Hell, she'd probably just think any and all devotion was normal, and that "all peasants should love their queen" or some such nonsense.

Now if only Tyrian could stop looking so jealous.

"We did run into a girl from the White Fang," Salem said. "Someone sent by Sienna by all accounts. Small girl with reddish hair and scales on tanned skin."

"Ilia," Ghira grunted.

"Someone of importance?"

"A girl who had a crush on our Blake," Kali said. "Shy little thing, but also quite dedicated to the cause. Sienna's cause," she added with a small frown. "The girl carried a torch for our daughter but never bothered to say anything about it to her." Giggling suddenly, she leaned on Mercury's shoulder while he was eating. "There's a lesson to be learned there, dear. If you like a girl, you should let her know. Never leave a Blake – I mean a girl – not knowing your feelings. Okay?"

"Mmm?" Mercury looked up none the wiser. "Mm. Okay!"

"Do you believe this to be some sign of ill will on Sienna's part?"

"Oh, I'm sure it isn't. Not towards you anyway." Kali tittered. "Sienna would be a fool to make an enemy out of you. It may be her way of keeping an eye on you, however."

"Whatever it is, it is not appreciated," Salem growled. "I – we – have places to be. Menagerie was to be a temporary stop." She glared at Tyrian. "It wasn't supposed to be a stop at all. Our ultimate destination is Vale. How long does it take to get a seaworthy vessel ready for us?"

More than two days, Jaune felt like saying, but then that was only if Sienna had to make one from scratch. Menagerie being an island, it was a joke to suggest there weren't any around she could borrow, buy or commandeer. If he let Salem know then she'd march right to the White Fang and demand a ship. That would get them off the island sooner, but it might also involve a fight.

But if I say nothing then when do we ever get off this place?

And honestly, did he want to leave? Sure, Vale had been his original plan to get into Beacon, and his later plans for escaping Salem, but that wasn't exactly on the cards now that he was a wanted criminal, was it? Maybe settling down on Menagerie wouldn't be such a bad idea after all, even if it meant having to stay close to these lunatics.

Salem, of course, made the decision for him. "We are leaving for Vale whether Sienna likes it or not. This can either be with her assistance or without. The only question in my mind is whether she will get in my way."

"Hmm." Kali smiled behind her fingers. "My only request would be that you keep Menagerie in mind, dear. The people here do not deserve to become collateral to your wrath."

"They shall not. I am a fair and just woman who does not mistreat those who have not wronged me."

"Excuse me!?" Jaune yelped.

"What? I have not wronged you."

"The kidnapping?"

"Oh, that." Salem waved a hand as if to say it was such a small detail. "That was a mistake on our part. You can't expect me to say I've never unintentionally wronged someone. Accidents happen."

"And when you said you were going to kill me once you realised you had it wrong?"

"Well, I didn't kill you. Did I?"

"You tried!"

"Let's not dwell on the past." Salem ignored his indignant spluttering. The past!? It wasn't even a month ago! "Kali, you have my assurances that I will not harm the people of Menagerie. That display with the boat-"

"Mountain," Vernal said happily.

"-with the boat," Salem continued, blushing in minor embarrassment, "was a specific usage of my abilities. I was aiming to be destructive because I did not know how durable it was. I can be subtle when I need to be."

Subtle. Jaune wasn't sure she fully understood the meaning of the word. Less destructive, maybe. Subtl-er perhaps. Not subtle. Never subtle. Salem was a walking, talking, demanding warhead just ready to go off. If Sienna knew that, she'd want the woman off her island as fast as humanly possible.

And honestly, it was only a matter of time until she figured it out.

/-/

"She found you?" Sienna asked.

"All too easily," Ilia replied with her head tilted down shamefully. "I had to tell her you sent me. She thinks it was to protect her, though. To stop any human-hating faunus trying anything on her."

That was a fair concern, and a believable one to boot. Sienna could not fault Ilia for being found when few could have spotted her. She very much doubted it was any negligence on the girl's part.

"You did well to try, Ilia. Thank you."

"Ma'am!" Another faunus burst into the room. "Lady – I mean Queen Salem is here to see you." The faunus pulled a face, visible beneath his mask. "She's just up and turned up demanding a meeting. I didn't know what to say. Shall I tell her you're busy?"

"No, no, no!" Had this buffoon not witnessed the demonstration of her power? Sienna waved Ilia away so it wouldn't cause an issue and then straightened her robes out. On second thought, she hopped off her chair, not wanting to give the image of superiority. "Send her in. Guards, leave us," she ordered as the woman in question, dressed in white and black robes like Kali Belladonna, entered. "I would speak with her in private."

The guards exchanged glances, shrugged and followed her orders. They weren't used to being dismissed like that and hopefully figured out it was roleplay for the nutcase in front of her. A nutcase she had to indulge the fantasies of to keep hold of her power.

"Queen Salem." Sienna stepped forward with a smile. "I hope you enjoyed the festival last night. Please forgive me assigning a guard to look after you. I assure you it was more to protect anyone foolish enough to challenge you than because I doubt your ability."

"Your guard was rather easily intimidated."

You are kind of an intimidating woman, Sienna didn't say. "Ilia is young but capable. I trust she will grow into herself. How can I help you today? I see you've come without your… knight, was it?"

Boytoy, spouse, lover. Sienna wasn't sure what the blonde boy was meant to be, but Salem kept him close and, according to her spies, there was some unusual interplay between them. Sienna already had him pegged as a potential hostage if needs be, but that was by far a last resort. A very risky one at that.

"It would be unseemly for me to share his company too often. I do not wish to start any rumours." Salem shook her head quickly. "No. I came today to see how you have done on securing us transport to Vale."

Damn it. Already? Talk about impatient.

"We have started on the construction of a seafaring vessel for you," Sienna lied.

"Construction? There must be existing vessels or someone who could take us as passengers."

"I have asked around," Sienna said. This was true – though not for the reasons Salem might have expected. She'd asked around only to find those who would take Salem and her entourage, and then bribed, convinced and threatened where necessary to make sure they would not. "You're more than welcome to ask yourself – to have one of your courtiers ask on your behalf," she amended.

Those old period-history smut books the Belladonna girl had left around were finally finding some use. As ridiculous as the sex scenes were, it was the manner of speech that Sienna found herself studying at night. And without much carnal excitement.

"Perhaps they shall have more luck than I," she continued, "But I do not hold hope. It seems that many of our vessels have already set sail. Likely for the Vytal Festival."

Salem frowned. "I may have Michael and Emmaline enquire all the same."

More followers Sienna wasn't aware of? Damn it. She'd been assured that her spies had the names and identities of every one of Salem's group, but it appeared that two had slipped under the radar. She'd be having words about that.

"By all means, your majesty, have them search. Perhaps they shall impress us both. In the meantime I've commissioned a vessel worthy and capable of taking you to Vale. Its construction is taking place today."

"Hmm. Prudent. How long will that take?"

"I'm no shipbuilder myself, so I cannot say for certain. It may take some time however." Sienna made a grand show of saying, "This cannot be some maudlin rowboat, can it? Not for one such as yourself. If you are to arrive in Vale, then you must arrive in style."

"True…"

"Please have faith in us. Menagerie is famed for its shipbuilding, but quality takes time. Better you arrive in Vale safe and sound several weeks from now than find yourselves stranded in the ocean tomorrow."

"The ocean cannot kill me." Salem said arrogantly.

The ocean would probably disagree with that.

"Perhaps not," Sienna said, "but I am not sure your courtiers are as capable as their queen. You wouldn't want your knight and the rest of your entourage to drown, would you?"

"There are times I dream of drowning Tyrian, but you are correct." Salem sighed. "Very well. I shall have my agents enquire as to passenger vessels. Meanwhile, I would like to see the team who would build my ship with my own eyes."

"Of course. Of course." Sienna sweated only a little. "Why don't you meet me at the harbour in three hours' time and I shall introduce you to them? I'm sure they'll be just as excited to meet you."

As soon as she found some shipbuilders in the first place.

The moment Salem left, Sienna shouted her men back inside. "Find me the best shipbuilders you can."

"Shipwrights?"

"Whatever they're called! I want them to start work on the biggest, most ridiculous ship possible. I don't care how seaworthy or realistic it is, just make sure it'll take a ridiculous amount of time to finish. The White Fang will cover whatever costs are involved. Make it a huge thing with sails. No, make it a galleon! An old-fashioned galleon. Spare no expense."

They must have sensed her urgency because instead of arguing they saluted and hurried out. Sienna breathed out, collapsing onto her throne once more. This was far too stressful. All she wanted was a powerful ally for the White Fang and that was exactly what she'd gotten. No one had warned her it would come with this much running around, however.

"Ma'am!" another person sprinted into her hall, this time one of her Generals. "Sienna!"

"What now?" she whined. "What could possible be the problem now?"

"News from our spies in Atlas," the man said, moving quickly over and showing her several photos printed out. Sienna took them, eyes growing wide at the sight of a frankly huge naval force floating in a harbour in Atlas. There had to be over a hundred different ships of various sizes.

"What is this?"

"It's the Atlas navy, ma'am."

"I can see that!" she snapped. "I mean why? What for? Atlas barely even uses their navy aside from patrolling their waters. Everything is done by airship now. What on Remnant are they mustering for?"

"Intelligence suggests it's for us, ma'am."

Sienna paled, but only for a moment. "What intelligence? Not the common-sense variety! Atlas had never bothered with us before. Why start now? No, this is more likely for the Vytal Festival. They must want to blockade the ports to prevent us, or Salem, getting into Vale."

"If this armada is for us…"

It wasn't. It couldn't be. The White Fang were enemies of Atlas but had been so for years now, and Atlas never bothered with Menagerie before. If they even wanted to, why use boats and not aircraft? It didn't make sense. And besides, Menagerie barely had a standing army. If Atlas really wanted to invade and conquer them, they wouldn't need this many ships to do it.

"It's a blockade of Vale, a show of force or some kind of war game," Sienna declared. "Have some boats out keeping an eye on things anyway, but don't stray far. I don't want Salem thinking we have seaworthy vessels ourselves or she'll demand use of them."

This could work to their favour as well. If Atlas did choose to blockade Vale, it was all the more reason why Salem could not leave the island anytime soon. One that wasn't her fault for once.

"Shall I increase training on our forces just in case?" the general asked.

"By all means. Training is never wasted, and we may as well be on high alert. Do what you think you must, and I shall do what I must." Sienna stood. "Right now, that is playing royal court with some overpowered psychopath who thinks she's a queen."

/-/

Qrow Branwen was not a fan of boats. It wasn't that he got seasick or felt afraid – if a boat sank, he could just fly away – but they were slow, always rocking and you had to bunk in cramped quarters with loads of other people. It just wasn't a method of travel he very much enjoyed. Even if the fresh, open sea breeze was a nice change, the cons outweighed the pros in his mind. There wasn't much room to argue abord "Atlas' Fury", the flagship of Atlas' rather small navy.

Small being a comparison to their aerial navy, that was. The seaborne fleet was still far greater than what Vale had and would raise eyebrows from anyone being told Atlas wasn't a militant kingdom. The flagship was currently in formation in the centre of the fleet, which was a ridiculous collection of ships of various sizes and functions numbering a hundred strong, spread out in a narrow column-like formation as they pulled – was it called pulling for a boat? – out of Atlas.

"Enjoying the sea breeze, Branwen?"

General Ironwood looked every bit the naval officer in a new all-white (what else would it be?) tight-fitting uniform. He'd gone without the coat and covered his cybernetic arm with a baggy one-sided strip of cloth that fell down his side like a cloak or mantle instead.

"It's about the only good thing on a boat," Qrow replied. "Answer me something."

"Go on."

"Atlas doesn't put much investment into its navy, does it? Comparable to other things, I mean. Your seaborne forces are the least of all your priorities."

Ironwood came to stand beside him looking out over the deck below. The flagship was as armed as one might have expected, with a huge emplacement below that looked like a pillbox covered with metal sheeting. It could rotate, and on the side facing forward were six long, metal cannons. There were three other such emplacements on the ship, along with rows of torpedoes, rockets and anti-aircraft weapons. It felt stupid to suggest this was `low-key` for Atlas, but it was still nothing compared to their airborne forces.

"You're not wrong," Ironwood said. "Atlas used to prize its navy greatly, but further development in aircraft has rendered it for the most part obsolete. What can be done by sea can be done much more efficiently from air. Nowadays, the navy acts as home defence and protects shipping lanes."

"Right. So, and forgive me if this is an obvious question, but why are we attacking Salem with said navy? Why not use your battleships and all that jazz?"

Ironwood chuckled. "It's a good question to ask, Qrow. The answer is rather simple. What happens when a ship is left without command?"

Qrow rolled his eyes. "You know, there's a special place in hell for people who answer questions with more questions."

"Then I shall be even more blunt. What happens when the pilot of an aircraft travelling at speed, at an altitude of over ten thousand feet, is suddenly and inexplicably transformed into an antelope?"

"Oh…"

"Yes." Ironwood said. "Oh. The aircraft crashes and burns, killing everyone on board. It might even hit other aircraft, ripping them out the air, or land on a city and detonate. By comparison, even if the entire crew of a ship comes down with a sudden case of `animal`, at worst it beaches itself. More likely it comes to a stop and floats there, safe and sound."

That was a pretty mundane but good reason for it all, Qrow supposed. An out of control ship wasn't exactly speedy either, so others could dodge it if it careened out of control. Even if they couldn't, the impact wouldn't be as devastating as two battleships crashing in the sky.

"You really think Salem can transform the crew of a vessel into animals?"

"Ozpin is being remarkably cagey on what she can and cannot do." Ironwood said. "I would rather not take the chance."

"He's being cagey because he doesn't know and doesn't want to lead you wrong," Qrow said. "He gave up a lot of his magic to make the maidens and that was ages ago. He's forgotten a lot of what can be done. Or what she can do."

"Either way, I will assume the worst. Our navy will also be safer from her magical attacks. While I cannot protect anyone hit with the force necessary to slice a mountain in two, there will be more survivors from a sinking ship than a crashing battlecruiser."

True. Qrow rubbed his arms uncomfortably at the thought. Everyone here was a soldier and so knew that death could come for them. Qrow knew it too as a huntsman, and yet knowing full well who they were going against, he felt an uncomfortable amount of fear. As usual, he tried to dispel it with a joke.

"Guess you're worried about becoming General Ironwoof, huh?"

The man's scowl had little scowl babies. "Transforming sentient beings into other creatures is no laughing matter. It is a cruelty beyond humanity. Anyone doing so should be held accountable."

Qrow coughed awkwardly.

"Without consent, I mean. Obviously, what Ozpin did for you is another matter."

"Hmhm. So, how long will it take us to reach Menagerie like this?"

"Not long. Two days at most. Menagerie does not have a navy capable of stopping us, so we're focusing more on speed than safety. This formation wouldn't be a good idea against another navy. Don't worry," he said. "We'll adopt a more dispersed formation before approaching the island. We'll be surrounding the whole landmass, and Salem cannot be everywhere." He paused. "I think."

"I wish you'd sounded more confident there."

"As do I, Branwen. As do I."

"And yet again," Qrow stressed. "We're sure Salem is there?"

"Our spies have all but confirmed it, but I'm not taking chances. I've actually sent a crack teak ahead to find out for certain. They should be infiltrating Menagerie as we speak, delivered by submersible unto the island."

"Sneaking Atlas soldiers onto an island of faunus. I hope you know what you're doing, Ironwood."

"Don't worry. Their disguises are impeccable."

/-/

"Woof." Clover, currently a Pitbull, touched his paw to the sand and dragged a circle to represent the island. "Woof. Woof. Chuff. Grrr." He tapped it, then nodded his snout at an overly pampered-looking poodle.

Harriet whimpered and whined, squeaking out sounds that embarrassed her. Marrow nudged her neck with his nose in what Clover assumed was meant to be a comforting gesture. Harriet didn't seem to see it that way and skittered away from him in shock.

"Woof!" he said to get the Ace-Ops back in order. "Woof-woof. Woof!" He tapped his paw on a crude drawing of a ship and pointed his nose at Elm, a large, shaggy mountain dog.

Elm barked happily and panted.

"Woof-woof. Woof, woof, woof. Grrr. Woof." Clover pressed a paw to the eastern side of the island and nodded to Vine Zeki, currently transformed into an alert-looking Shiba Inu with a curly tail. It bobbed its head but did not make a sound. "Woof, woof. Woof-woof."

The last orders went to Marrow, who looked very much like he always had in his canine form. He had thick fur and a lopsided smile, and was, as best as Clover could describe, a crossbreed mutt. Clover sketched some blocky squares with his claw to indicate a city and then nodded to Marrow and pointed to himself as well.

"Arf!" Marrow sounded and wagged his tail.

Good. They had their orders. "Woof-woof!" Clover stated, holding one forepaw up in salute. The others mimicking it, Harriet almost falling over because her paws were so small. "Woof-woof-woof." He sat on his hindquarters. "Woof!"

"Woof!"

"Arf!"

"Oof!"

"Yip!"

The four other members of the Ace-Pups – sorry, the Paw-Ops – skittered off across the sandy beach, disappearing to their respective tasks. They would meet again that night to recuperate and, if the opportunity presented itself, transform back into humans to stretch their legs. If not, they'd just have to get used to long-term infiltration missions. There was no arguing their new forms were good for it.

"Hsss! Hsss!"

His ears perked up. Hearing had become that much more a tool since the transformation. Clover resisted the urge to duck and hide, knowing that would be more suspicious. He looked about instead, quickly spotting the black cat stood atop a nearby wall, its long tail flicking agitatedly as it stared down at him with narrow blue eyes.

"Hsssss…"

Just a cat. Clover scoffed, not dog enough to want to chase after it unless his cover demanded it. It was an odd feline though, watching him sharply with an almost knowing look in its eyes. Was it looking at the diagram he'd sketched into the sand, too? No, that couldn't be right. Still, it was best not to leave evidence, so Clover flung himself onto his back and squirmed in the sand, quickly destroying his orders and flipping back onto all fours. The cat continued to stare, its tail flicking back and forth.

It unnerved him enough that he leapt up to place his forepaws on the wall and snarl at it. Intimidation only – he wasn't going to harm an innocent animal no matter how odd it was. Clover expected it to bolt in panic and scurry away, but the thing simply laid there, almost seeming to raise an eyebrow sarcastically. If cats had eyebrows, that was.

Stupid. He chastised himself and pushed off the wall, landing back on all fours. Your job is to scout the area and locate the target, not get into fights with local pets. Good job the rest of the team isn't here to see this.

With a quick internal chuckle, Clover Ebi trotted off, heading toward Menagerie's busier streets with his eyes peeled and his nose in the air. Had he looked back, he might have seen the cat leap down off the wall and move swiftly over to the sandy stretch of beach, scuffing its own paws over the area he'd dispersed. Even if he had seen it, he'd have written it off as a curious feline.

Gillian Asturias began to purr loudly.

/-/

Jaune wasn't sure why he had yet again been dragged out to act as escort, or why Salem thought he had experience in building a ship from scratch. He was stood now in a large open-sided warehouse, almost like a barn, watching faunus measure out wood and metal and plot dimensions. They looked busy, though there wasn't much of a ship to look at. Just diagrams. The problem was that he didn't know if that was good or bad.

It didn't matter either way since there was no ship.

"These things take time," Sienna Khan said with no small amount of pleasure. He noticed, which meant Salem certainly had. "It's not easy to build a ship from scratch, especially not one capable of weathering storms, Grimm and the long journey to Vale."

"That Atlas boat was capable enough." Salem said.

"Atlas is a technological powerhouse, ma'am," one of the shipwrights Sienna had hired explained. "And even so, that vessel may have looked small, but it had more computers and engineering involved than a full-size trawler. It would have taken weeks to build that, and that's using the best factories. We do things by hand here."

Salem's lips thinned. "How long?"

"Ah. Well." The man thumbed his lip and looked down at the plans for what, to Jaune's untrained eye, looked like a needlessly big and complicated ship. "I'm thinking that if we push it, we should be able to have this done in a month and a half. Forty-five to fifty days, give or take."

"That's too long." Salem said instantly.

"I can't make it any quicker, your highness. We don't have enough trained men and it'd take me longer to train new ones up. Sienna Khan has told us to put everything we have into this. We're already setting aside other orders just to work on yours. That's upsetting some people as is. We've a lot of fishing trawlers needing repairs."

"Do you?" Sienna asked, losing her composure for a moment. "Why? Short range fishing shouldn't be facing any problems. What's happening out there?"

"Grimm by the sounds of it. Had a few boys come in saying there's more of 'em in the waters nearby then there has been for a long while. Most skippers are keeping their boats close to shore. Fishing the shallows. I've seen a few myself."

"Grimm or fishermen?"

"Grimm. Outside the shallows." He pointed. There was nothing Jaune could see, but it was more an indication of where he'd seen them. "Big things, too. Sea serpents and the like. Not a good time to be out on open water." He jerked a thumb back to the warehouse. "All the more reason to make sure this baby is tough enough to travel."

"Yes. That's right." Sienna bit her lip. "My apologies, Salem, but do you mind if I cut my presence short? I've not heard of these Grimm attacks and really need to check on them. Menagerie depends on its fishing."

"By all means." Salem waved a hand. She waited for Sienna to leave before asking, "What luck have Mark and Emily had?"

"Mercury and Emerald haven't found anyone willing to take us on board so far." Jaune answered. He'd had a feeling it would somehow be his job to find out, so he'd taken the chance to text them both. "That might be because of the Grimm and them not wanting to travel, but Emerald says some of those ships look big enough to make the journey."

"I see." Salem's eyes narrowed. "I fear that Sienna is attempting to deceive us."

"You fear?"

"For her sake," she said. "If needs be, I will take a ship myself and we will sail out of Menagerie. If Sienna believes she can keep me, she will find herself disabused of such a notion."

"What about the Grimm in the waters?"

"I am their Queen. They will not dare harm me."

"Yeah…" Jaune dragged the word out. "That didn't really stop them the last few times, did it?

"Then Tyrian will deal with them," she snapped huffily. "Grimm are not the problem. The White Fang is. This isn't the first time I've dealt with parties seeking to tip the balance in their favour, but I've never been without means of leaving. I feel trapped." Salem hugged her arms. "I do not like it."

In a rare show of sympathy, Jaune touched her arm. "I mean, worst comes to worst, you just take over the whole White Fang and island, right?"

"Of course. It's just that taking on more responsibility is tiring. There's so much to consider. If I take Menagerie's people as my own, then it becomes the tribe all over again. I need to make sure they are fed, supplied with medicine and able to defend themselves. I just want to get us to Vale, train you up, get my powers back and destroy the world. Is that too much to ask?"

"Kind of…"

"This is all so vexing." Salem snarled and then snarled again, this time at a nearby poodle of all things. "What are you looking at, child? Scurry off and bother someone else."

The tiny dog squeaked and sprinted away with its tail between its legs.

"Let's not yell at random animals now," Jaune soothed. He felt like a keeper in a zoo trying to stop the tiger mauling everyone. "If it's just Sienna causing problems then it's just her that we need to deal with. Ghira and Kali were leaders of the White Fang once, right? Why not put them back in control?"

"That… hmmm." Salem cupped her chin. "That is not a bad idea at all. You are learning!" she praised him.

Jaune laughed, pleased. "Well, I've been trying-"

"Proof that I have been a good influence on you!"

"…" He sighed. "Of course…"

"Come, my Knight!" she declared grandly, turning and sweeping away with her robes fluttering behind her. "It is time we plotted a coup. How exciting." Her eyes shone. "I've never been involved in one before."

"You haven't…?"

"No. I've been the target of several, though, so I'm sure I've got an idea how it all works."

"What ever happened to those coups?"

"Oh, the usual. Found, interrogated and executed violently. Nothing all too exciting. They made it seem so easy. I'm sure it can't be hard."

"But they failed…" he pointed out.

"Yes, but this one will be planned by my august self, so it obviously won't fail. Come now, you silly man. I don't do failure."

"You cut a mountain in half…"

"Will the world not let me forget it!? Really, you obliterate a single landmark, and no one will stop going on about it. Maybe I should have wiped the whole bloody landmass away and then people wouldn't be able to tell!"

"I think it'd be even more obvious if you destroyed Mistral…"

"Well then," she grouched, "There's just no winning with you people, is there? If all else fails I suppose I can go back to the classics and aim for her. Or… hmm…" Salem chuckled darkly. "The White Fang are rather big on this faunus thing, aren't they? It seems to be somewhat important to them."

This faunus thing.

There was something very wrong with Salem only just noticing that `faunus` was a big deal to a flipping faunus supremacy group. "Yes," Jaune said flatly. "Being a faunus is somewhat of a big thing to the White Fang. It's kind of an important aspect of them."

"And they do not like people who are not faunus?"

"That's a very polite way of putting it."

"Hmhmhmhm." Salem cupped her fingers before her eyes. "Then perhaps there is another way of dealing with Sienna entirely. One altogether less violent, and yet much more fitting."

"By fitting you mean…?"

"Ironic mostly."

"Ah." Jaune wondered if he cared enough about Sienna's safety to intervene, then decided he didn't. "Sounds good to me. Ironic punishments are the best punishments."

Salem beamed. "I could not agree more!"

/-/

When Sienna awoke the next day, she felt rather pleased with herself. The progress taking control of Salem and keeping her on the island was going well, the shipwrights had been quick to say the work would take a long time indeed, and the White Fang was in a much stronger position for her efforts.

Today, she decided, would be a simple one. A pleasant one. Sienna decided this as she walked through the White Fang's hall, noting how people stopped and stared at her, but not really sure why.

Her hands patted herself down in search of a wardrobe malfunction. There was none. Her bodice was in place, her robes were tightly wrapped about her and nothing that should not be was hanging out. Curiously, she ran a hand over her face, wondering if she hadn't spilled food on herself or caked her skin with mud.

Nothing felt out of place. Running her fingers through her hair didn't find much to wonder at either. Her hair was smooth and soft, unbroken and neatly in place. Just in case, she ran her hand from front to back and could not detect so much as a bump.

Odd. Everyone is staring. This is getting out of hand.

"You there!" she snapped, pointing to the nearest guard. "What is everyone acting so bizarre about?"

"Um. Ma'am. Miss…" The faunus wrung his hands together, eyes flicking up to her hair and down again. "Um. Sienna…?"

"Yes. Obviously. Who else would it be?"

"Well... uh… I think that's the confusion. You look a little… different…"

"Different?" Frowning, she looked at her arms and hands. Dark skin, unblemished, same clothing. "I don't see what you mean. I haven't suddenly sprouted a third limb or gotten pregnant."

"It's…" He winced. "Less of what you've gained and more of what is missing…" He touched his hands to his hair.

To his ears.

Sienna hadn't found any bumps or changes in her hair when she ran her fingers through it. Not so much as a raised tuft. Panic shot through her, and her hands snapped upward, clasping for her orange and black ears. The palms of her hands flattened her hair down but found nothing. All but throwing the man aside, she shoved her face into the closest mirror, staring at her own reflection with wide, frightened eyes.

A very normal girl looked back at her. A very normal, human girl.

Sienna Khan screamed.

Not because faunus are animals or such. Humans are animals. Basically, Salem turned Sienna from a human into another human. It's not much of a change from her point of view, and yes this does mean Sienna could "turn back" at will.

If she knew how.

Next Chapter: 5th July

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