Hi again! This chapter, we've got Tai and Qrow having a surprisingly productive conversation, and team JNPR's first day at a high-stakes, unpaid babysitting job.

39. The Pit Dragons

"And we'd have titles, obviously, but like... we'd be really relaxed in how people use them. Because I'm down to earth, and you're really relaxed in general, and not everyone can pronounce Grand Vizzer anyway, so—" She glanced at Ren and cut off abruptly. "What?"

He had a small, sleepy smile on his face, and it didn't go away even when she noticed it. "Nothing."

"That is definitely a something look."

Ren hummed thoughtfully, running a hand along Ao Guang's neck. They were all mounted up—though they were close enough to Raven's camp that they were walking instead of flying, so no one would see them in the air and know where to look for them.

Several minutes passed, and Ren still hadn't answered the question. Nora stuck her tongue out at him, and he gave her the same look again, and she jabbed an accusatory finger in his direction. "See! You're having thoughts. Tell me!"

"I was just thinking." He glanced around, nudged Guang a little closer to Freya. "About how glad I am we're together."

It took a second for her brain to stop short-circuiting. "Like, together, or... together together?"

"Yes."

"Oh."

Nora spent the rest of the walk fidgeting so much that Freya kept looking back at her, probably to make sure she hadn't accidentally squirmed her way out of the saddle. And the more flustered she got the more she started babbling, and that made Ren give her that look again, which made her even more flustered until she had to reach over and tap him on the nose.

"What was that for?"

Nora winked. "Nothing!"

Time slipped by. It was even easier to talk to him now that they didn't have to hide her dumb smiles anymore. She almost didn't notice how close they were getting to their destination, until Freya slipped between a few trees and they were practically on top of Raven's camp.

Raven and her tribe would stop here, waiting for news of the next attack, and Sky and his team had decided to stay with them. Everyone else would head north, towards where Cinder had set up her operations, after they had a chance to rest up and prepare for the journey. Of course, they were sleeping in the camp tonight. Which meant...

"Good," Vernal said, sitting up in the saddle and glaring at several of the students—especially Yang. "You can all make yourselves useful looking after the pit dragons while they're here."

Well. That definitely beat gathering firewood! Nora glanced at the towering fire dragon that Pyrrha had ridden at Shade. Probably. It probably beat gathering firewood... and it definitely wouldn't be boring!

They hadn't even been walking around for half an hour before Nora heard the first fight. The two of them dashed past a few trees and found two of the pit dragons snapping and snarling at one another. Their enormous tails pounded the dirt, and small trees splintered beneath their gigantic paws.

She and Ren sprinted over, ready to intervene—but it was already over. The orange wind dragon snorted approvingly at the muddy green water dragon, then butted her head affectionately against his shoulder. Nora froze with one foot in the air as both heads turned towards her and Ren. Ears lowered, and one set of teeth and one pair of pink gums were bared.

"Are you two good now?" Nora asked, folding her arms over her chest and giving them a stern look. Neither of them looked hurt, which was good, but the fighting was getting seriously—

Freya nudged her shoulder.

"What is it, girl?"

"Rrak-tiss."

Nora glanced at the two very annoyed dragons, and realized. "Oh, practice?"

The water dragon nodded.

"...Oops."

"What are your names?" Ren asked. It had become a common question, though not all of the dragons would answer. The wind dragon turned up her nose on the spot. The water dragon...

"Llu-phhbt"

"Um... Rupert?" Nora guessed.

He huffed in frustration and tried again, but with his teeth gone it was pretty much impossible to understand him. Ren had noticed the same thing. "Do you mind if our dragons help?"

A shake of his head.

"Die-vrr," Freya said.

"Pleased to meet you, Diver!" Nora didn't stick out a hand—she'd learned the hard way that they didn't like that. He inclined his head and kept his distance.

The wind dragon glared at him for a moment and said, "Duh-ssk."

"Hello, Dusk." Ren nodded at her. She hissed and flicked her ear dismissively.

"I'm Nora! This is Ren and Freya and Ao Guang!" A slow, confused blink from Diver. "We're glad you guys weren't fighting."

Especially since Dusk had been the one who got in a brawl with the big guy the other day. And, speaking of the devil—

A roar, loud enough even from across the camp to make Ren put his hands over his ears. Ao Guang whined softly. A plume of smoke billowed up moments later, and a hideous shriek rang out.

Yep. Definitely not boring.

"Tai."

A grunt. The mass of blond hair shifted, and one of the man's arms flopped over the side of the couch. Qrow pinched the bridge of his nose. "Are you drunk, Tai?"

One blue eye cracked open. "No," he said testily. "And you of all people—"

"Yeah, yeah." Qrow sat down heavily on the arm of the couch. Tai let his head fall forward so that his face was planted in the cushions. "Can you get up for a second? I need to talk to you."

"What?"

"I hate to ask, but... you were a teacher for a while, weren't you?"

Tai narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "Yeah. At Signal. Why?"

"Well... they shot me down."

"I'm not surprised."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence, asshole."

"Not what I meant, you jerk." Tai pushed himself into a sitting position and blinked a little of the sleep out of his eyes. There were dark shadows under them, and more lines in his face than Qrow remembered. "They're not stupid. And they're not taking any more chances. Right?"

"Yeah. But I thought if you—"

"They'll turn me down the same as you, and for the same reason. You know that. So why are you asking?"

"I got kicked out."

"What? I thought they already told you no."

"Yeah. I've been... sort of... hanging around anyway."

"You. Have been hanging around a school. That you don't work at."

"Yep."

"Qrow!"

"What else am I supposed to do? You haven't seen it, Tai. They've got shutters over the barns!"

"Shit." Tai put his face in his hands. He took a deep, shuddering breath. "I don't know what you want me to do, Qrow."

His shoulders slumped. "I wanted you to tell me what we should do," he admitted. "Which was a dick move considering I have no idea."

Silence. Then Tai looked at him, and Qrow felt his heart clench before he even asked. "Did you find anything, about the girls?"

"No. Radio silence."

Tai rubbed his face, the calluses on his palms rasping against stubble.

"That's a good sign," Qrow insisted. "It means they haven't gotten caught. And I haven't tried Raven, yet."

"You haven't? I thought—"

"I asked around at the usual place. She hasn't responded." Tai tensed. "Nothing to worry about," Qrow said quickly. "She ignores me all the time."

Tai let out a bitter chuckle. "Says a lot about how screwed up we are that I find that comforting."

"Yeah. Well."

"Yeah."

Qrow rubbed his eyes. He needed a drink. "Got any scotch?"

"I think there's beer in the fridge."

"Good enough, I guess."

He handed one to Tai and took a swig of the other. The two of them sat together, staring into space.

Qrow broke the silence. "Oz would know what the hell we should do."

There was a faraway look in Tai's eyes.

"Glynda, too. She was good at planning."

Still no response.

"Peter... Peter'd get the job somehow. Don't know how the hell he does that. And Barty would've found the kids by now."

Tai's breath hitched. "Summer could've made it better."

"Yeah." Qrow downed another sip of beer and grimaced. It tasted like the sort of thing a teenager would get their hands on, not what a self-respecting adult bought at a liquor store. Maybe it was Yang's.

"We're useless," Tai said, staring blankly at the wall.

"And a mess." Qrow toasted the bottles together.

"It's a shame," Tai said, after another long silence. "I liked teaching."

"You did?"

"Yeah. It was all theory at Signal, but it was... relaxing."

"Why'd you stop?"

"I like hunting better."

Qrow's brow furrowed. "So... why'd you start?" He felt like he ought to remember, but he hadn't been home much back then.

"Yang." Tai wiped his eyes on his sleeve. "I wanted something stable. Safe. Didn't want to leave her alone. Summer—" his voice cracked. "She helped with bills. And the girls. And..."

Qrow cracked a smile. "Whipping us idiots into shape."

"Yeah." Tai tilted his bottle in a slow circle, watching the beer swirl around the bottom. "They really put shutters on the barns?"

"Saw 'em myself."

"And they still have riders there?"

Qrow sneered. "Shit ones. The council got rid of the sight test—they've been waiting for an excuse, anyway. Most of the little snots are the type who don't care about what the place is turning into."

Tai froze. Then, slowly, "Must be a lot of disappointed kids out there."

"Probably. And the only ones who graduate this year will be the council's perfect little drones." Qrow's lip curled. "And what have we got? Two drunk idiots—"

"Beer hasn't been able to get you drunk since we were kids."

"Two drunk idiots, and Jimmy." Qrow spat the name, seething. "He let them make the same changes in Atlas. The shutters, combat tests for everyone... He's folding. The bastard shouldn't be able to, with that steel rod up his—"

"There has to be a school the council doesn't own."

Qrow glared at Tai. "Yeah, well, if he's gotta bend over for them to keep it, that kinda defeats the purpose."

"That's not what I meant." Tai sat up straighter. The lethargy of the past few weeks had fallen away, and Qrow could see gears turning behind his eyes. "Exactly how illegal is it, do you think? To open a Dragonry?"

The bottle Qrow had been nursing hit the carpet with a dull thunk. "It isn't." He ran a hand through his hair. "It'd be impossible to compete with the others, normally. You'd need the funding for eggs, injection equipment, grounds..."

"I have eggs. And I can probably get more from Violet Broodery at a discount. We'd only need a little equipment, if we started small. And if I slept in Quake's stall and we—" Tai stopped for a moment, choking on the words. "And we used the girls' rooms... we could put up a few kids."

"Holy shit, Tai." Qrow stood up, feeling slightly dazed. "Where would we get students?"

"Other riders. I know some that retired and had kids. Then we expand from there, keep it as secret as we can until it's bigger. Harder to shut down."

"Okay." Qrow ran a hand through his hair. "Okay. Shit, I gotta write this down."

"You can teach water and fire," Tai went on. "I remember you were pretty good with Phoenix."

"She almost took my hand off."

"Almost." Tai grinned. "And I've been working with Tempest a long time. If she helps I'm sure I can handle wind as well as earth."

"That's if we even have four students to start with."

"Yeah, but... we can do this." Tai grabbed his shoulders, still with that idiot smile on his face.

"I've got some money." Qrow took a few steps towards the door. Despite himself, he could feel Tai's excitement catching him up in its wake. "Salty's outside. I'll be back with some... needles. And Dust. And... things."

"Qrow."

"I know what I'm doing!"

"Go to the library first, dumbass! We're gonna need to know how those things work."

Qrow flipped him off as he stumbled out the door.

"Hello?" Pyrrha waved. The pink earth dragon picked up her head, blinking at her as if slightly startled. "I'm Pyrrha. What's your name?"

A confused rumble.

"Um. Pyrrha glanced at Jaune, who was standing next to her. He shrugged helplessly. "There's some extra food—if you couldn't find any hunting." It was part of why Raven's tribe moved so often. Feeding over a dozen dragons was no mean feat.

For a few more seconds she kept staring at them. Then she put both her paws over her ears and shook her head.

"You... can't hear me?"

There was, as usual, no response.

"Her name's Granite."

Pyrrha started at Russel's voice. Barracuda was with him, greeting Granite with a cautious sniff. "Did she tell you that?"

"Nope. Barracuda did."

"Can she understand us?" Jaune asked. "Because a few of them—"

"I dunno." He tossed a haunch of meat on the ground next to her. "I just know she can't talk."

"Are you sure you should be throwing it around like that?" He pointed to the meat. "Professor Goodwitch told us to make sure there aren't any others around, first."

"Uh... why? We're feeding all of them."

Pyrrha scowled. "Yes, but in the pits they had to fight for their food. They haven't forgotten that."

"Oh. Whoops." Russel bent to pick it up, then retreated when Granite snapped at him. "Yeah, okay! No take-backs, I gotcha. But would you mind maybe going somewhere less—"

A shadow unfolded from the trees. A very large, horned shadow. "Back up," Pyrrha said, putting a hand out to drag Jaune away. The gigantic fire dragon reared up and shrieked at the top of his lungs... and Granite kept chewing, apparently unconcerned.

Or... she couldn't hear him.

"Turn around!" Pyrrha waved frantically at her. But just as she finally caught the dragon's attention, she was bowled over.

"Ah, fuck." Russel backed up another few steps. "Hey! Big bastard!"

Granite's eyes widened as she realized who had just pounced on her—but she recovered quickly, batting at his face and kicking up dirt. He snarled and spat a gout of fire... right onto a clump of bushes.

The two dragons rolled over and over, snapping and biting. Fire spread. Jaune and Russel shouted at them to stop, and Pyrrha sprinted closer. She had to dive out of the way of Granite's tail when it slapped against the ground, then duck one of the fire dragon's flailing claws. Finally she managed to circle around to his head.

"You have to stop!"

His eyes snapped to her. For a moment he let go of Granite, hissing and drawing himself up. There was a long, low growl—not a word, but she understood the sentiment. You again.

"Someone will see the f—"

He shrieked. Pyrrha clapped both hands over her ears, doubling over as the enraged cry went on and on. Then something solid hit her in the stomach and bowled her over. She lay there, stunned, her ears ringing, until she felt Jaune's hand on her shoulder.

His mouth was moving. She guessed what he was saying and said, "I'm fine!" Judging by the look on his face, it had come out a bit louder than she'd meant it to.

The fire was spreading. Pyrrha struggled to her feet, already choking on the smoke. Granite managed to get on top of the other dragon for a moment, pinning him and scratching at his belly. He responded with another blast of fire, one that caught several trees.

"Ah, shit." Russel ripped off his vest and started swinging it at the burning branches. "Fuck!"

"You're just fanning them around!" Jaune yelped, grabbing his wrist. Barracuda and Twiggy were already stamping at the bushes. Smoke billowed up into the sky. Pyrrha thought about running back to the camp to warn everyone... but something told her that the massive fire would tell them all they needed to know. It wasn't the first time.

She tried to stop the spread, smothering dry leaves as they started to catch, sweating and coughing and panting for breath. Twiggy stayed next to her. She warbled in distress and attacked the fire with her spade-like paws. Jaune and Russel chased the brawling dragons, shouting at them from a distance, trying to get them to stop. More jets of fire hit the woods every time they started to make progress putting it out.

Finally, Twiggy reared up. She roared at the fire, her tail thrashing behind her, and came crashing down to the ground with all her weight. There was a tremor that almost knocked Pyrrha off her feet, and a wave of fresh earth burst from the point of impact and smothered some of the fire."

They stared at one another. Twiggy seemed just as surprised as she was. "Let's handle this," Pyrrha suggested, "then show that off to Jaune."

The boys seemed to be finally making some progress. Russel held up another haunch of meat, shaking it back and forth, while Jaune patiently explained that if there was a giant column of smoke billowing from their campsite, the council might have an easier time tracking them down. Granite backed down in a heartbeat... but the fire dragon shot one last spiteful fireball into the trees.

Thankfully, Ren and Nora arrived a few seconds later—they'd been close by when the fire started. Ao Guang shot water at the fire while Granite and the other dragons kept it from spreading too far. Within a minute, it was out.

"Hey!" Russel wagged a finger at the fire dragon—from about forty feet away. "Big Bastard!"

The dragon hissed at him, letting a little fire show between his teeth. Barracuda nudged her rider and said, "Kuh. Kuh..."

Twiggy jumped in to help. Between the two of them, they eventually managed to translate his name—Crucible. By then he'd slunk away with the meat, casting evil glares over his shoulder as he went.

"And you rode that thing." Russel clapped Pyrrha on the shoulder. "You're fucking crazy."

"...Thank you?"

Night fell not long after that. There was only one other scuffle, between Kite and a dragon Nora told her was named Diver. Brick and his brother, who he introduced as Tallow, helped break it up. They all ate, then slouched their way back to their tents, exhausted.

Nora had long since abandoned all pretense and given her tent to Pyrrha and Jaune. He was snoring within minutes, but she lay in the dark for a long time. It had been a while since she'd been able to fall asleep without tossing and turning for hours first.

She poked at her stomach, where a bruise was already starting to form. In hindsight it should have been obvious. Of course he wouldn't want to listen to her after she'd interrupted him twice during the battle at Shade. Not that she regretted it, of course, but... it stung. She sat up, running her thumbs gently over her burned palms. Then she moved towards the flap as silently as she could. The zipper caught. There was a sharp noise, and Jaune stirred.

"Hm... Pyrrha?"

"I'm sorry," she whispered. "I didn't mean to wake you."

"'Sokay." He rubbed his eyes. "I said you could."

"Go back to sleep."

"Are you okay?"

"I'm..." She hovered for a moment on the verge of saying, 'fine.' Then her shoulders slumped. "Crucible hates me."

"He hates everyone."

"I know."

"...Pyrrha?" There was a rustle as Jaune sat up. "What's wrong?"

She wiped at her eyes. "It's nothing. I just... miss him."

A long moment passed in near silence, except for the occasional sniffle.

"I want to fix it," Jaune said softly, "but I can't, so... do you want a hug?"

"I do."

He wrapped an arm around her and squeezed lightly. "Crucible's just grumpy that you beat him in a fight," he decided. She smiled into his shoulder.

"I definitely didn't."

"Let's agree to disagree."

Pyrrha mumbled a sleepy assent, her eyes sliding shut. She could feel his heartbeat.