The prompt this week was "Maria was a teacher at Beacon."
Maria pored over her lesson plan for upcoming semester, making final adjustments. The start of school was still a few weeks off, but she needed to make a trip to Atlas in that time for repairs to her eyes, so an early start was necessary.
Vale still didn't quite feel like home, but it would be nice to be able to travel to Atlas without going through Argus. If Maria never saw Caroline Cordovin again it would be too soon.
A knock came at the door to Maria's office. She glanced up from her papers to see Professor Ozpin enter.
"Hello Maria," he greeted.
"Oz," she answered, returning to her work.
"May I sit down?" the headmaster asked.
"It's your school, isn't it?"
Ozpin chuckled as he took the seat on the opposite side of Maria's desk.
"Do you have your itinerary for your trip to Atlas?" asked Ozpin.
"Yes, yes, I've got it all together," Maria answered. "I'll be back the Tuesday before classes start. But you didn't come here to ask me that."
Ozpin nodded slowly before speaking. "I met Summer Rose's daughter last night. She prevented a robbery at a Dust shop."
Maria met Ozpin's eyes with her own mechanical ones.
"Well don't keep me waiting. Does she have them or not?"
"She does," Ozpin confirmed.
Maria nodded. "Of course she does. So I take it you took the opportunity to sell her on Beacon."
"Yes. In fact, I offered her a position here two years early."
"Two years?" Maria nearly shouted. "You expect me to teach a girl who's only… how old are the first years again?"
"Seventeen," Ozpin answered evenly.
"You want me to teach a fifteen-year-old?"
"Ultimately that's up to you," Ozpin replied.
"Oh, of course I'll teach her," Maria agreed. "Assuming she's not completely overwhelmed by her regular classwork."
"I'm glad-" Ozpin began before Maria cut him off.
"I'll give her the mechanics, but I expect you to stress on her the importance of this power and when is the proper time to use it. You do still teach that sort of thing here, right? Those first years who come in thinking about glory, excitement, and sex graduate as proper Huntsmen and Huntresses, yes?"
"The ones we can reach, yes," Ozpin offered. Maria just grunted. "I'll leave you to your work."
"You still haven't told me the girl's name," Maria pointed out.
"Ah, of course. Her name is Ruby Rose."
Maria snorted. The way Ozpin had talked about Summer, Maria had assumed she'd be smart enough to come up with something better than Ruby Rose.
Ozpin stood and turned towards the door of the office. But he stopped just before leaving.
"I think… we should try to give her some chance to just be a child."
"You're the one who invited her here two years early," Maria pointed out.
"I suppose that's true," Ozpin admitted, turning and leaving.
When she was sure he was gone, Maria sighed and looked down at her lap.
"Ruby Rose… Let's see if I can help you actually survive this burden you were born with."