Chapter 46 - Camping Out

After that... traumatizing moment, Raven had quickly dressed and was ready to talk to Yang. "Well?"

"I just, wanted to see you, ask some stuff about how the tribe was run. Saw a bit too much though." Yang shuddered at that, but her mother scoffed.

"Then consider that an important lesson of the tribe: Enjoy the good times while they last. Far too often we're stuck in leaner periods than this, it's good to cut loose and relieve stress. Can help keep the Grimm away too."

"Think I'd rather see a hundred Grimm again than that." Yang frowned again, looking at the ground before snapping her gaze up to her mother's. "So who were they?"

"Handsome, beautiful. Not bad in bed." It was so... careless that Yang could hardly believe it. Logically she could understand the appeal, but ew ew ew. Also...

"You don't know their names? Do you even remember dad?" Raven's eyes gleamed with a dangerous light, small fires bursting off of them as a slight, yet noticeable wind blew around the room.

"I remember Tai very well. I've even gone to see him several times since I left, even if you wouldn't call them proper 'visits'." The wind died down along with the lightshow from her eyes. "Taiyang Xiao Long is the only man I have ever loved, in ways more than a brother. That doesn't mean I plan on holding myself to a celibate lifestyle just because we split up."

Yang bit her lip. She wasn't happy about that reminder of how screwed up things had been in the past, but digging further didn't seem likely to help things now. This was a new start, right? "Right. Since you mentioned it, where is Qrow?"

"He's gone off to strike some more mobile targets of opportunity. We should have word of what spoils he's reaped soon."

"By himself?"

Some of the worry must have come through in her tone, because Raven responded "He works best on his own. The tribe will always accept him, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't try to limit the effects of his semblance on us as best we can. Besides, I can feel him if he's in danger should something truly unexpected come up and intervene."

Yang nodded, appeased. She knew her uncle was an incredible uh, ex-huntsman, but with her mother able to portal in backup at any time, she knew he'd be safe from anything short of Salem herself.

"Any other words of wisdom for running the tribe?"

"I'm not quite old enough for you to be overwhelmingly worried about that yet" she said, but Yang could see the slight smirk on her face to show she was in a good mood. "If you want to learn about the tribe, go out there and live it. And be ready. These times are good currently, but it is a more uncertain period than ever. We need to be ready to adapt to great change quickly."

Yang nodded, taking that in and heading out of the mansion. It had been fun, moving around to the different towns. Half the people there treated them more as heroes than anything, now that the cat was out of the bag about Salem and Mistral's complete lack of hunters. Even as she left she could still some partying going on from the previous night when they arrived.

She snagged a few things from the outside, makeshift bar where the tribe members were enjoying themselves and whipped up a Strawberry Sunrise for herself. A few of them cheered her name, she even recognized them from when an Alpha Beowolf had attacked part of the tribe as they moved around. Dealing with it had been child's play for her, almost literally given her family history, but it was a good showing of how different things were for a huntress (in training even) than the 'toughs' that made up the White Fang or original tribe members.

It was good to finally spend time with her mother, even if she was busy often running the tribe. Yang had seen her put on an even colder face to some of the new recruits as she dispersed fights and trained them in how to behave, but there was also a level of care in that. Pride in her tribe that the girl could see clearly written on her mother's face (especially now that she no longer bothered with the creepy Grimm mask). It was bittersweet to realize, that she had been missing that for a decade and a half, but could be a part of that now.

She passed by a local that had been put in a stockade set up in town. Not a fighter, the young man had been wildly denouncing the tribe though, and the Branwen bandit's weren't happy with that. It looked like some of them had been out for blood, and after what the Mayor tried, she didn't want that to happen to some young brat. She suggested locking him up to 'shut his trap' and the other bandits had agreed. Yang hadn't known how or where they'd gotten them (she just thought they'd tossing him in the town jail or something), but he was stuck in the middle of town now, glaring at her. Sure, he'd been a bit roughed up, had some rotten food thrown at him, but she saved his life. A quick glare got him to cow his head back down. Ugh, she'd free him later, probably just before they moved on , if only so he didn't get himself into more trouble. For right now, she had Weiss to find.

The white haired girl was easily found near the gate to the town, practicing against Vernal. The other girl grated on her. Finding out she had kidnapped Weiss wasn't great and it was easy to see the respect her mother had for this stranger. Judging from how Weiss gracefully accepted her defeat and Vernal offered the ex-heiresss a hand up, it looked like she could work with second-in-command of the Branwen tribe, and if Wiess could do it, well Yang could give it a try too.

"How's it going?" she called out as she strutted forth.

"Good" Vernal. "Just showing Weiss here a thing or two."

"Maybe you'd want to spar against me too, teach" Yang challenged, though she paused when she noted Vernal flinch. "What's up?"

"Eh, you're still pretty fresh out of being a huntress, just, something about that reminded me of Haven."

"You went to Haven?" Weiss asked, looking surprised. Yang was too; Vernal didn't exactly look like the average student.

"Heh, yeah, I was young and dumb once too. Then Lionheart sent me out on a suicide mission and I only came back in one piece because Salem wanted me to deliver a message the bastard." There's a slight shudder to her as she remembered, but then tossed Weiss a smile. "Heard you served him up good at the big battle, nicely done." To Yang she said "Maybe we can spar later, right now I have to go over some things with your mother." With that, she was off, up and in the air again.

"Work, work, work. For a bandit, you think she'd stop more often" Yang commented to her partner. Weiss gave her an odd look - obviously she had picked up on something Yang hadn't. "What?"

"Or, she uses that as an excuse, a distraction to get a way from the things that worry her."

"Wait, me? How could she be worried by me?" Vernal might play it cool, but she was still the girl who had fought against Pyrrha and without any Aura bluffed about being the Spring Maiden. She was the one who was organizing thousands of new recruits to the tribe and had Raven's ear.

"The camp is in a time of change and she isn't certain where her place is, someone she fought has the Fall Maiden powers and reason to hate her... I think she's worried about more things than she lets on." Yang raised her eyebrows at that. Weiss continued "We're a lot alike, more than I would have admitted at the time we first met." She must have caught Yang's frown because she added "That doesn't mean I like her, just that I have some insight."

Hearing that did cheer her up a bit, but she tried not to show it and deflected. "Well what are you having fun with?"

She gave a shrug to the disorganized state of the gate and surrounding parts of the town. That section had taken the heaviest hits when they first arrived and looked like a bit of a disaster zone on either side past the opening the tribe had cleared. The partying last night made it even more of a mess. One bandit nearby was even picking his nose. Gross. Still, Yang wasn't about to let that get her (or Weiss) down.

"Oh come on Weiss Cream, you've had fun here too" Yang said nudging the girl with her elbow. The familiar motion couldn't help but drag her lips slightly upward, something that caused Yang to grin harder when she saw it.

She sighed. "I suppose I had some enjoyment with the singing. It might be a bit rougher (and bawdier) than I'm used to, but it was kind of fun to try that out too. Don't get me wrong, I still have some misgivings, but..."

"Glad you came?" Yang, if she thought deep down, would have her own misgivings, but those thoughts were pushed down there for a reason, so she didn't. She was living in the moment, reveling a closeness with her mother that, honestly she never thought she'd get.

"Glad I came with you" she corrected. Yang sucked in a slight breath at that.

"I'm glad someone did. I thought- I shouldn't have been surprised by that though."

Weiss was quick to leap to their former teammate's defense. "I'm sure she wanted to-"

"If she wanted to then she would have come! But she left me, twice!" Her eyes were red now, Yang suddenly realized. Quickly calming down she stepped forward towards Weiss, who suddenly looked a bit wary. "I'm sorry, didn't realize how sore a point that was for me. Look, she's made her feelings clear on that, but whatever. I'm just glad to be here with you." She took her metal hand up and cupped the ex-heiress' face, brushing aside a strand of hair. It had felt unusual to use her prosthetic for such things at first, but she needed to get used to it, and that had meant using it for everything. There was a slight gasp from the shorter girl at the cool metal, but from the blush on her cheeks, it felt like a good kind of gasp.

Good things couldn't last forever, however, and they were interrupted by a slight cough they heard off to the side from a darkened alleyway. The silver haired bastard stepped out when he realized they had snapped their heads towards him. "Ladies, don't stop on my account, things were just getting interesting."

"Mercury. What the hell do you want?" She growled out.

"Easy there, don't need you spitting fire. Just trying to get along." He has a smirk on his face, that aggravates her enough that she almost does something foolish before Weiss steps forward.

"How can we trust that? You say you stopped working for them, mostly working for Cinder, etc., but you must know something about Salem's plans."

"What do you want me to say? That she's got a base in the north, east of Atlas? I didn't pay much attention on the ride over, but she's got a place there. It's swarming with Grimm though, wouldn't recommend going over for a vacation spot. Though hey, you used to be huntresses, maybe you'd enjoy taking your girlfriend out for a picnic there."

Weiss blushed and sputtered for a moment, which Yang found cute, but was more annoyed with him. "That's it? The sum total of your knowledge working for Salem? You gotta know more."

"That's it. I'm just a regular tribe member member now like you."

"Maybe, but you're not the child of the leader of the Branwen tribe." Yang said cockily stepping forth. She'd taken him head on at Haven and now had the 'connections' to ensure he'd pay if he tried anything sneaky to them.

He dropped his hands and glared sullenly. "Yeah, I'm not. My pops didn't exactly give me anything, more left me in the negative." He tapped his legs, the sound dulled by his pants but still giving an unmistakable metal 'thud' sound. "So I'm here to play all friendly like now."

Sympathy shows for the first time on Weiss' face. "That must have been rough." She hated her own father, Yang well knew, but she hadn't heard about Jacques doing anything close to maiming his children.

A murderous grin, devoid of real light or joy grew taut on his lips. "It was, but I gave better than I got." Despite having an inkling of how bad a man his father must have been, the girls couldn't help but shiver at his words. The moment passed quickly and he reverted back to his usual laid-back, infuriatingly arrogant attitude.

"Yeah, so Cinder helped me out after that, and I liked her. Not enough to die for her though, and it became clear that that was all we were getting sent off to do with Salem. The tribe seems good, Raven gets it, more than the immortal jerks tugging us around or any kingdom officials scrambling for control. So I figured I'd join, that's all." As much as he could be smarmy and annoying to them, Yang thought she could detect a true note of respect in his tone for her mother. It was weird.

Weird, but potentially an alright spot to leave things off on before he continued. "Shame your sister wasn't smart enough to understand. She's gonna die-"

Yang's eyes turned red in an instant and she threw a fist forward, meeting a hastily raised knee as Mercury jumped back. "Liar! Ruby's just- she was just caught up in helping Pyrrha. We'll get her to see things right soon."

"Uhuh. You so sure about that? I got no hard feelings to miss four time champion, but her and your sister don't seem like the type. Besides, we're here and their over in Mistral. What are you going to do about that?"

Above them, a voice suddenly boomed out before the grey haired man and blond woman could exchange any more blows. "Alright slackers, time to get back to work. You've had you're fun, now we're on the move again, this time to Mistral!"

A stunned silence hit the camp before a bunch of cheering erupted from it, hooting and hollering, especially from the longer term tribe members like the guy Yang punch a tooth out of. Yang cheered louder than any of them after she got over her shock. "See? See? C'mon Ruby, we'll get you soon."

Mercury just groaned. "How many more baby huntresses-turned-bandits are gonna have it out for me now?" Weiss and her ignored him, walking off. Yang couldn't help but notice as they did so that Weiss' cheer at the news was more forced than hers, and she seemed less optimistic. That was fine though, Yang had enough hope for the both of them.

This was big, not what the tribe usually did by any measure from what her mother told her. Then again, she'd also said times were changing. In any case, at the end of the day, she was just happy to hear that she'd be back with Ruby soon. When Vernal gave the orders out, Yang eagerly volunteered to scout ahead, to get a bit closer to her sister. Weiss did as well, and surprisingly, so did Mercury (he gave an excuse about being bored, which Yang half believed).

The road trip didn't take long, the camp being only a couple dozen miles out from Mistral. Honestly, the pack up seemed to take longer (Raven gave some 'encouragement' to speed it up for the newer members, and some tips for Yang about how to move them faster), especially since Yang volunteered to scout things out ahead. There were a couple Grimm stragglers from a large-ish group that had attacked the city apparently, but nothing big. Mercury proved to be decent company, making a few jokes on the trip over that were actually kinda funny, when she didn't think about how dark the humor was. Weiss didn't seem to ease up on him even once, at one point demanding to know 'what he was staring at so intently?' He just laughed and said it was "Probably nothing" before turning and helping clear a path for the rest of the tribe.

As Yang cleared her way through the last Creep hiding in the underbrush, she burst free from the forest to see the city from the outside for the first time. Mistral, in all it's glory, looking maybe a bit rougher on the wall edges, but still there. And within it, her sister. She knew her orders were to wait, but this close she couldn't stop.

"I'm going in."

"Well this sounds enjoyable. Can I ask why?"

"Going to rescue my sister."

"Instead of set up base here while we wait for the rest of the tribe, right. That 'plan'." She grit her teeth at his mocking and just strode forward. "Whoa whoa, hold on there. Have you really thought this through?" The former heiress trailed Yang too, looking a lot less pleased or eager than the other girl, but ready to go ahead.

"You can do that, tell mother why I'm not here. I have to get her back."

"Argh, you're insufferable." He pulled out his Scroll, fiddling with it for a few seconds, obviously trying to decide something before running up to them. "Alright, I'll help you girls get in, don't say I never did anything nice for ya."

"Why?" Weiss asked.

"Well, for starters, I don't want to be the one to tell our new leader that I let her daughter and girlfriend walk through the still scorching battlefield to their certain demise" he replied, walking up to put an arm over both their shoulders as he walked between them, leading them away from the battlefield. They both shrugged him off, Weiss giving a noise of disgust.

"What, not a fan of the Merc yet?"

"Never call yourself that. And the battlefield isn't scorching" Yang complained which was technically true; all of the marks left by the artillery that had recently rained down upon the field leading up to the mountain city had cooled by that point to no longer be actively burning.

"Yeah, doesn't really work, I'm off my game a bit. Whatever. Point stands, we are the invaders here. Just marching up to the gates is a pretty bad way to try to get to little Red Scything Hood. But there are other ways to sneak in, make a bit less noise."

"You can't cover for us then."

"Trust me that much? I'm flattered, but like I said, don't want to be flattened by your mother. Besides, if it takes long enough that she has time to realize we're gone, you'd probably need her to bail you out."

It was annoying, but she couldn't refute his words, and even a glance over to Weiss offered no help. "Fine, let's do it your way. No funny business."

He held his hands up placatingly as he walks to city. "I swear, on my father's grave."

After a minute "Hey!"