Hi! I'm back with more dragons, today and on Friday!

11. New Arrivals

"Nice weather, huh?"

Neptune squinted at Sun, trying to figure out where that had come from. Their whole team was walking down the streets of Vale, dragons in tow, chatting about a downright sadistic essay prompt Oobleck had just given them. It was... maybe a little warmer than yesterday? Sunnier, definitely, but kind of windy, too.

"Uh... I guess?"

"Yes!" Sun reached up and grabbed his hoodie by the neck, pulling it off and tossing it into the air. "Freedom!"

It was still only March. There was still a small heap of snow on the sidewalk they were standing on that hadn't finished melting yet. Neptune was wearing three layers.

Underneath the sweatshirt, Sun had left his shirt unbuttoned.

Clang.

Neptune staggered back, his hand going to his smarting nose. When he opened one eye he realized he was standing right in front of a streetlamp—the old-fashioned kind that made you double-check to see if there were any lions or ice-witches around.

"Dude, you okay?"

"Yeah!" he said quickly, swerving around the lamp and walking briskly down the street to avoid Sun's concerned look and Scarlet's raised eyebrow. "Totally fine, just uh... distracted." Shit! "By that!" He pointed at a random shop front, then did a double-take when he realized it was a place called Theo's Threads. In other words, a clothing store—exactly what they'd been looking for.

He slumped with relief as the others headed towards it. Then he turned and met Nymph's eyes.

"I know," he grumbled. "You can put away the judging face."

Once they were inside, Scarlet made a beeline for the back of the store—he'd seen something, but Neptune honestly had no idea what. The rest of them followed more slowly, poking around in the racks as they passed them. Sage found a gigantic plaid blanket in green and brown and held it up in front of Zircon, who sniffed it once and hummed contentedly. When they finally caught up with Scarlet, he already had three jackets thrown over one arm.

"Dude," Sun said, laughing. "It's not gonna be cold enough to wear those for long."

"You aren't exactly the best judge of temperature," Sage pointed out.

"Just because you're all wimps..."

"Isn't Vacuo a desert?" Scarlet asked. "How are you so freakishly cold-resistant?"

"Deserts get cold at night. Way colder than this, anyway."

Scarlet draped one of the jacket's over Sun's front, stared at it a moment, then sighed and shook his head. "Such a waste."

"Hey, if you wanna talk about waste, covering this up would be a—"

"Excuse me?"

They all turned, startled. A blonde woman was standing behind them, tapping one foot. She had two friends with her—both had noticed what was going on and were watching the confrontation.

"I'd like to see some of those jackets if you don't mind."

Something about the way she said, 'if you don't mind' made Neptune think she hoped very much that they did mind.

"Uh, sure." Sun scooted over to the other side of the aisle, pausing only to rehang the jacket Scarlet had been holding up to him with a flourish. "All yours."

"Except these," Scarlet added, indicating the ones he'd already grabbed.

"You can't just stick clothes on the rack wherever you like," the woman said tartly, grabbing the coat back. Neptune noticed that she was holding it carefully, as if to avoid touching it any more than necessary. "You'll make more work for the employees."

"That's where I found it," Scarlet said, his eyes narrowing. "So unless somebody shelved it wrong before us—"

"Daisy." One of the friends walked over, his arms folded over his chest. "What's going on?"

"Nothing, Umber. I'm just trying to keep things neat around here," the woman—Daisy, apparently—told him.

Huo snorted. Both Daisy and the friend stiffened, looking between him and Sun, their eyes getting progressively wider. "Mel," Daisy called, "Mel, get over here."

The third friend, another young woman with darker hair, wandered over. She didn't look happy to be there—she glared first at the four boys, then at Daisy. "What?"

"You should really stay on the other side of the store," Daisy told Sun, and pointed. "That's where the dragon accessories are."

"Uh..." Neptune said, sharing an incredulous look with the others. "We need clothes too."

"Well, the merchandise over here isn't as robust, you see."

Scarlet handed his armful of coats to Sage and stepped forward. "Look, we're just trying to shop, okay? There's a sign out front, we're allowed to bring our dragons in."

"Daisy," Mel said, with the frustrated resignation of someone who knows that arguing is futile. "Can we just—"

"That's all well and good," Daisy went on, "but they're making some of us a bit uncomfortable."

Zircon whined quietly, until Sage draped the coats over his back—along with the giant flannel blanket—and stroked his neck.

"I think you're making them uncomfortable," Scarlet snapped. "What's your problem?"

"Hey!" Umber jabbed a finger at him. "Back off, pal."

Mel mumbled something under her breath that sounded suspiciously like, "For fuck's sake..."

"It's all well and good if you want to shop for saddles or whatever," Daisy said. "I just think you should be more considerate of other patrons. No one wants the clothes over here getting torn or dirty or—"

She was looking right at Sun.

"Our dragons haven't touched anything, so I really don't see what's wrong." Neptune glared at her, a silent challenge. "Unless it's not the dragons making you uncomfortable."

"Hey." Sun touched his sleeve. "It's fine, I'm sure it's not—"

"I'm just saying that it would be better to keep them away from the nicer items, that's all!"

"Listen, you—"

Sun grabbed Neptune by the back of his coat. "Nep and I can just take them outside," he said, with obviously forced cheer. "We'll meet up with you guys when you're done. Oh, and Yang asked me to grab a rubber toy for Fang, so uh... see if you can find any that look like they'd survive more than a couple days, okay?"

Scarlet, who had gone pink at the ears and looked ready to set the coat Daisy was holding on fire, opened his mouth to argue. Sage elbowed him in the side and said, "We'll take care of it. See you in a few minutes."

Ignoring Neptune's protests, Sun dragged him gently out of the store. Huo followed, though only after a hefty bribe of treats and a parting growl that made all three irritating customers blanch. Outside, Nymph whacked her brother with her tail, and the two of them started to scuffle. Only playfully—neither of their riders felt the need to intervene.

Neptune jammed both hands into his pockets. "It wasn't about the dragons."

"Yeah. I know." Sun leaned against the wall of the store and sighed. "I noticed the look on her face when she grabbed the coat."

"We didn't have to leave. She was out of line."

"Maybe. Odds are, if things escalated the cops wouldn't side with us."

"We'd back you up!" Neptune kicked the ground, his boot scuffing against the pavement. "Plus, it's not like we'd be starting a fight. We were just shopping, if she wants to get herself tied into knots about it that's her problem."

"It doesn't always work like that, Nep. I don't want to risk starting something in the middle of Vale."

"I'm not saying we should start a brawl or anything. Just... you have the right to be in there as much as she does. Way more, since you're not an asshole."

Sun snorted at that. Then the small smile faded and he glanced over at Huo—who was making a show out of pretending to bite Nymph's neck while Zircon hid behind Nimbus. "I uh... can't really afford to take the chance."

"What?"

"I had a bit of an incident in town a while ago. Nothing serious, but uh... they said if something like that happened again, I'd have to muzzle him."

"Oh." Neptune glanced at Sun. He was slouching against the wall, both arms hugged around his stomach. "I'm... I'm sorry, man."

"Nah." Sun grinned, but it didn't reach his eyes. "It's not your fault."

"Yeah, but... I shouldn't have been so..." Neptune stopped. Sighed. "I know I don't always... get this stuff." Not like Blake. "And I'm sorry if I started running my mouth without knowing what I was talking about."

"What? No!" Sun waved his hands frantically. "Not what I meant! Look, it's... I'm glad you're ready to stick up for me. It's not your fault you didn't know about..." he glanced over at Huo. "Everything."

"Still."

They stood there in silence for a moment. Then Sun turned to him and said, "Hey, if you want to head back in you can. I know you were pretty excited about this place."

"I'd rather go somewhere we can all shop in peace," Neptune grumbled. "I don't want to spend my money anywhere they'd kick you out."

"Well, it's not the store's fault," Sun pointed out. "It didn't look like those three worked there."

"I'm still not coming back here."

"Aw, don't be like that. You liked it so much you walked into a pole, don't let one bad coincidence ruin that!"

Neptune flushed. "I thought the name was clever, that's all. And anyway, I don't... I don't want to be anywhere you have to deal with people like that."

"Oh. Uh..." Sun rubbed the back of his head, looking a little sheepish.

"I'm serious. I want you to enjoy the places we go. Stuff we do. Feel... comfortable. And everything." He coughed into his hand. "It's important to me."

He paused, feeling like he was on the brink of saying something either really profound or really stupid, and caught a glimpse of Nymph. She was holding Huo away from her with one paw and had craned her neck to stare at them, her ears pricked.

Neptune tugged at the collar of his jacket in a vain attempt to hide his face and shut up. A moment later he was startled by a light punch to his shoulder, and turned to see Sun smiling at him—a real one, this time.

"Thanks, man. It means a lot."

"—and then we swooped down like the wrath of the gods, hitting five targets in a row!"

"Tuh... two," Freya corrected, stumbling a little over the word.

"Two is still very impressive," Pyrrha said, smiling.

"And we were moving so fast they all caught fire!"

"That sounds very energetic." Ren gave Freya a scratch under the chin. She purred, craning her neck to give him better access.

"Yeah!" Nora bounced in place, beaming at Freya. "It makes her kinda tired, but she's an awesome flier. Yesterday she almost took off without the ramp! Then we sorta crashed, but crashing is awesome!"

Freya disagreed—they'd only been about fifteen feet in the air, but hitting the ground had hurt. It had almost been worth it to hear Nora giggling afterwards... but she'd been worried about accidentally squishing her, which she'd prefer to avoid. It was nicer when they flew normally, and she could spend most of the class gliding and occasionally riding hot air currents to rise higher.

"I can't wait until we can do flying classes in teams!" Nora stopped, her face falling slightly as she looked at Jaune. "I mean..."

He smiled and patted Twiggy on the head. "It's okay. I'm excited to fly with you guys too, even if it might be a little while."

"Yeah!" Nora grinned back. "And when we do, we should throw a giant party. Ren can cook!"

Ren frowned. "If I'm going to be cooking for all twelve of us, I'm going to need an assistant."

Jaune raised his hand. "I can do that!"

"You cook?" Pyrrha asked, her eyes lighting up.

"Well, yeah. When there's eight kids, someone's gotta help in the kitchen or nobody eats."

"I've always wanted to learn."

Nora turned a little pink. "Me too, but some people won't let me use the stove on my own. Ren."

He shrugged. "The gas explosions have been forgiven, but not forgotten."

"That was one time!"

Freya met Ren's eyes.

"Four," they said in unison.

Dead silence.

Ruby eked out another sentence. Crossed out half of it. Drew a penguin in the margins, because she was gonna have to rewrite this thing by the end anyway. And maybe again after that, because she'd crossed out so much she wasn't sure the end result would be a full six pages. She sighed. Wrote another word. Crossed it out.

On the other side of the room, Weiss tapped her pen against her thumb three times before she noticed what she was doing and stopped. Blake flipped over the page she was writing on. Yang banged her head gently against the wall.

Oobleck could be really evil when he wanted to.

More tapping from Weiss. Now that Ruby was paying attention, she realized her teammate was only writing in little spurts, with long periods of silence in between. It looked like she was still on her first page.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Weiss' hand closed around the pen and squeezed. There was a little pop, and ink bled onto her desk. "Oh, for the love of—"

Ruby dove for the roll of paper towels on Yang's desk and started mopping up the mess. Most of the essay was salvageable, though there was a big spot in the middle that had been stained dark blue.

There was a moment of silence. She exchanged a worried look with Yang and Blake over Weiss' head.

"Okay!" Ruby tried to keep her voice upbeat. "How about we take a break? 'Cause I think my brain is about to leak out of my ears."

Weiss' hand twitched. There were little blue lines all over it now, where ink had soaked into tiny creases in her skin. "This essay is due in less than a week."

"Yeah, but we can work on it some more after," Ruby said. "Like... we worked a bunch. Now we break. Then we work more, get dinner... work even more..." Ugh. She had definitely not counted on becoming a dragon rider involving this much writing.

"I think it's a good idea," Yang added. Blake nodded, even though Ruby was pretty sure she was only like a paragraph or two away from being done.

Weiss narrowed her eyes at them. "Are you handling me right now?"

"No!" Ruby waved her hands frantically. "It's just... um..."

"You're tense," Yang said. "And you should probably take a break before you kill another innocent pen."

"Maybe I've been a little stressed lately, but I'm still more than capable of handling the workload!"

"We know." Blake pushed herself to her feet, leaning on her chair to take the weight off her leg. "But... maybe it would help if you took a minute to relax? Talk about what's bothering you?"

"Why?" Weiss snapped. "It's not as if I can do anything."

Ruby winced. "Well... you could talk about your brother. If you think that would help?"

"There's not much to say. We didn't get along well." She sat down on her bed, rubbing at her hand like she was trying to scrub off the ink.

Blake took a seat next to her, wincing as she did so. "He's younger than you, right?"

Weiss nodded. "He's a little younger than Ruby. I don't... he never learned self-defense or anything like that. Winter taught me a little, but he always thought it was a waste of time."

"Your dad can get him back though, right?" Ruby asked. "I mean... they'll ask for money, and stuff?"

"Probably. In a week we might all be sitting here worrying about what the White Fang could do with a billion lien." Blake cringed.

"Let's deal with that when it comes up, shall we?" Yang suggested, plopping down on Weiss' other side. Ruby took that as her cue to sit down too, squished between her sister and the wall.

"Right."

"Hey..." Yang bumped Weiss gently with her shoulder. "It's okay if this gets to you. I mean, if it was me I'd probably be a wreck right about now, so..."

"It's different," Weiss said softly. "Like I said, we weren't close. I just—I keep thinking that he doesn't know how to fight back, which is idiotic, that's the worst thing he could do in that situation but—" She stopped, took one deep, shaky breath after another while Yang rubbed her back and Blake held her hand. Finally her shoulders slumped.

"Fine. We can take a break. I doubt I'll be able to focus for a while."

"How about a walk outside?" Ruby suggested. "We've been cooped up in here way too long, and it's actually kind of warm out for a change. Plus we can visit our dragons!"

Weiss managed a small smile. "Alright."

Ruby hopped to her feet and wrapped her friend in a tight hug before they left. Then they headed down the stairs and out across campus, making their way towards the barns.

At least, that was the idea. Before they were even halfway there, Blake stopped dead. Her bow was twitching. "What's wrong?" Weiss asked, glancing around. "Is there someone—"

"I think I hear an airship."

A moment later, Yang pointed off to their left. The ship was descending, heading right for Beacon's airfield.

"So..." Ruby glanced at the others. "Should we go see what that's about?"

It landed when they were only a few hundred yards away, and from that distance Ruby noticed more details than she'd been able to make out before. For one thing, the design was Mistralian. For another, it was huge. The last time she'd seen an airship that size had been when they were on their way to the Festival...

Oh.

Ruby broke into a sprint. She didn't pay much attention to whether or not the others were following, because right then a hatch opened on the side and people and dragons started pouring out. She searched among them, eyes bouncing from head to head until—a flash of green.

Sheer surprise froze her in place long enough for her team to catch up. By then Emerald had seen her, too, and was waving from behind Jade. Mercury was with her, along with maybe a dozen other students of various ages, and their dragons. Many of them had duffle bags and suitcases.

"What are you doing here?" she burst out, as soon as they were close enough. Wait. "I mean, it's awesome! That you're here—except it's also super weird, Ozpin didn't say anything about—" Ruby was glad when Yang finally bopped her on the head and the torrent of words stopped. "Um. Hi?"

"He probably didn't know until we were practically on our way," Mercury said, answering her second super rude question—why did that have to be the first thing that came out her mouth?! "They only decided where to put us this morning."

"And as for why we're here..." Emerald grinned. "We requested Beacon."

"Yeah." Mercury's smile was strange, like he was laughing at some hidden joke. "Figured it was the best place to keep doing what we were doing."

"That's... nice," Weiss said, though it sounded a little strained.

"Are you guys okay?" asked Yang. "We saw on the news..."

Emerald patted Jade's neck. "It was... intense, but we made it out okay. Nobody got hurt."

"Except that teacher. Rivers, right?"

"Eh." Mercury's grin widened. "Trust me—it could have been a lot worse." Emerald shot him a withering look.

"So... um..." Ruby fidgeted with the hem of her cape. "Maybe we can show you around the campus? While you're waiting for Ozpin to announce you and everything."

"We do still have an essay," Weiss pointed out.

Yang glanced from Ruby, to Emerald, then back again. "Yeah, uh... maybe you can show them around without us, and we'll meet up for dinner after?"

Ruby did a double take. "What?"

"That sounds great," Emerald said.

What?! She opened her mouth to say something, closed it, opened it again—but by then her traitor sister was already herding the rest of their team back towards the dorms.

Slowly, she turned to face Emerald and Mercury. "Um... right. Tour!"

Emerald glanced at Mercury, who was smirking, and said, "How about we start with the barns? I'm sure Jade would like to see Storm again."

Ruby barely kept herself from slumping with relief. "Yeah! They're over here!" She turned and led the way, bouncing up and down with nervous excitement.

Behind her back, Jade shot Emerald a questioning glance. Her rider shook her head and mouthed, 'Later.'