Praise be to the buffer!

Yes, me being the absolute fool that I am, I thought that Thanksgiving break would lead to me being extra productive. I don't know why I keep making this same mistake every year.

82. Eye of the Storm

"Let's show it again."

"Nno!" Zircon whined, hiding his head behind Sage. They were all gathered in a courtyard, where a holoscreen was playing the news of the fight. Being there once was enough. Why were they watching it again?

Sage gave him a consoling pat. "Do you want to turn it off?"

"No!" Huo barked, his eyes still fixed on the screen. His nostrils were smoking.

Again the dragon fell, in slow motion. He hit the ground on his belly, bounced, and rolled onto his back, pinning his rider under him. Then a cut to Harpy tugging the rider out from under him and setting him down by the dragon's head.

Zircon took deep breaths of Sage's scent to calm himself. He'd never thought Harpy would be the least scary part of any video. It still wasn't as bad as the fight itself had been, though. He and Sage had mostly stayed with Scarlet and Nimbus, avoiding the rifles and Flight Squad dragons as much as they could and keeping the Council dragons from ganging up on students from Atlas.

"—obvious disregard for a child's safety!" one of the people on the news was saying. "If the dragon had landed a little differently, he could've broken his neck instead of his leg."

"Or been crushed," added another. "It's pure dumb luck that feral decided to pick him up."

Huo's feet started to smoke. Sun lunged for the controls, and the holoscreen went dark. "Hey," he said, putting his hands on his dragon's nose. "I'm gonna need you to turn it down, like, eleven notches, okay dude?"

"I wouldn't mind a little arson right now," Neptune grumbled. "Honestly, they're acting like she just grabbed him out of nowhere when basically any dragon would've done that. I saw Council dragons trying to help injured kids, and their riders were telling them not to!"

"Not to mention that they said there were no casualties," seethed Scarlet. "Oh, isn't it sad that the poor boy broke his leg! I guarantee that's the last thing on his mind right now."

Sun sighed and slung an arm over each of their shoulders. "Preaching to the choir here, guys."

"It's not good, I know," Sage said softly, "but I think you're all overlooking something important."

Neptune groaned. "What."

"They're on our side."

There was a moment of stunned silence.

"You're right," Scarlet breathed. "I bet they never covered Beacon like this. Nobody would've been talking about how reckless it was for the Council to attack like they did, because they blamed the whole thing on Ragnar and said they were just defending themselves."

"When it was them who shot Ozpin," Neptune added hotly.

"Yeah, but they can't make excuses this time! The whole thing was on video! And they're gonna say it's Ironwood's fault for not letting them in, but a lot of people won't buy that."

"See?" Sage squeezed his hand. "This is good. Even if it's frustrating."

"Oh my god."

Yang stumbled out of the dorm building and half-collapsed against Fang's side. He coiled up in alarm, peering at her through narrowed eyes. She didn't look hurt...

"We're good..." She patted his nose. "All good. So good. I just had a shower and I swear I fucking melted."

Fang scoffed. His rider looked at him cross-eyed. "You laugh!" she said. "But hot water is the best thing ever. Especially since I'm pretty sure I still had soot on me from running away from Crucible. Which is almost as scary as it is gross."

"Whatever," he grumbled, and poked her with his tail.

"Yeah, yeah, I get it! I'm coming!" She grinned and gave him a light shove. He probably wouldn't have noticed if he hadn't watched her do it.

They met Storm in front of the cafeteria. Ruby was next to her, arms piled high with human snacks and sandwiches. Fang and the other dragons had already eaten while their riders were cleaning up—he supposed he could sort of understand Yang's reaction to the showers, because after finally feeling full for the first time in ages, he'd come pretty close to curling up in a ball and falling asleep right then and there.

Specter and Pit and their riders were all together, hanging back a bit awkwardly while Blake talked to Ilia. There had been a lot of arguing in the immediate aftermath of the fight, about whether or not they should let Justice keep walking around. He had helped them in the fight... but Fang was still a little annoyed that Ironwood had been willing to settle for having the students, and Ilia, keep a close eye on him. Though he supposed Blake and Ilia did have a point, when they'd said that she and Justice couldn't go back to the White Fang even if they wanted to, now.

"We ready to go?" Ilia asked, with a strained expression that might have been supposed to be a smile. Ruby handed food around, and they ate as they walked down to the Earth barn. The Flight Squad Rider that had been watching Ilia came too, along with his dragon, though they lagged behind a bit to let the others talk.

Or stew in awkward silence, which was what they actually ended up doing.

"Hey!" Pit called out the moment they arrived, and bumped his nose against one of the stalls. It was the only one with any kind of lock on it—a simple padlock that the Flight Squad Rider produced a key to, unlocking it and then stepping away. Gigas bounded out the instant it opened, launching himself at Justice and wriggling up onto his head.

"It's so boring in there," he whined. "It's as bad as the tent back home!"

"Sorry," Pit said, giving him a gentle nudge. Justice bared his teeth at him, and he drew away. But Gigas hopped down and raced between his paws, his eyes roving eagerly around the barn. "You could stay outside, if you wanted."

"But the Lieutenant is inside!"

Fang's ears drooped. Well, when he put it that way...

The big man sat sitting cross-legged on the cot they'd dragged into the stall. His arm was freshly bandaged, and they'd given him some much-needed antibiotics that helped with the unhealthy red flush that had started creeping in around some of his worse scratches. He still obviously wasn't enjoying his containment.

Harpy had bristled when they mentioned locking the pair of them up—but she'd calmed down when they'd promised to make regular visits so that Gigas got plenty of fresh air and exercise. It was the best they could really do, and from the way he talked Fang was starting to suspect that even as a sort-of-prisoner, he still had more freedom to roam than he used to.

He shot one last glare at the big man in the stall, before busying himself with distracting Gigas. Maybe once this was over... maybe... but he'd still have a Rider who was a criminal. What were any of them supposed to do about that?

Pyrrha!

Twiggy bolted upright, her head snaking around from side to side. Pyrrha wasn't there. She shot to her feet, took a step—

"Hey!" Jaune wrapped both arms around her neck. He had to jump to be able to reach, but the weight of him hanging there was soothing. "It's alright. She's with Ren and Nora, we figured we'd let you sleep."

She considered that for a moment... then barked, "Rruh!" and looked at Jaune. He grinned and pointed, and she bounded around a corner to find Pyrrha sitting with Ao Guang and Freya.

And Harpy.

Twiggy growled low in her throat. Every time she took her eyes off Pyrrha for a second, she'd vanish and turn up again with Harpy. And probably new cuts and bruises. She stalked over and settled down between her and the hybrid, her tail curling protectively around her. Jaune let go of her neck and slid to the ground.

"Hi," he said, grinning.

Pyrrha leaned her head on his shoulder. "Hello."

Harpy's tail flicked lazily from side to side—but her eyes stayed fixed on them, unblinking.

Of course, even weeks on end of constantly being chased from place to place couldn't keep Guang lying down for very long. He got bored and started trying to play with Freya, who was doing her best impression of a limp coil of rope and refused to move even when he poked her with his tail.

Eventually Guang gave up and moved to Twiggy. She nuzzled him and said, "Not right now, sorry." He blinked at her. Then, slowly, like that meant she wouldn't notice him looking, he craned his neck to the right to stare at Harpy.

She stared back, cool as a snake.

"Oh," he said, backing away. "Um, okay."

"Hey, Guang!" Nora waved to him, a stick in one hand. He bounded over to her, and when she tossed the stick into the air, he charged after it. Ren sat with his back against Freya's flank, occasionally throwing the stick for the other two.

Twiggy relaxed. The sun was coming in golden between the buildings, and she could feel Jaune and Pyrrha pressing against her side, warm and safe. Her eyelids drooped...

A sudden silence woke her. Her head shot up. Guang and Nora had stopped playing and were standing there, tense, the stick forgotten on the ground. Even Freya had roused from her doze. Harpy stood a few feet in front of Twiggy. Still staring. Silent.

Twiggy growled at her. She hissed back.

"Stop that," Pyrrha said firmly. She tried to get to her feet, and on instinct Twiggy tightened her tail around her and Jaune.

Harpy bared her fangs.

That was it. This little hybrid was not going to take Pyrrha away. Twiggy flared her wings and roared, "No! She's Titan's human, leave her alone!"

"Whoa, whoa!" Jaune struggled—one of his arms was still pinned to his side by her tail. Twiggy pushed him and Pyrrha behind her and dropped into a crouch.

Harpy's eyes narrowed to slits. Her head drew back, spines standing up all along her spine, and her jaws opened wide to strike. But there was a flash of red, as Pyrrha vaulted over one of Twiggy's legs and jumped between them. "Stop it!"

They both froze.

There were tears in Pyrrha's eyes. Twiggy's insides lurched, and she bent her head in close, licking her face and rumbling deep in her chest.

Pyrrha pushed her away.

A broken keening noise—Twiggy only realized she was the one who'd made the sound when Pyrrha put a hand on her nose and it stopped. "It's alright," she murmured, "but please don't do that again." Then she turned, as if to say the same thing to Harpy.

The hybrid had already vanished.

She was hungry.

She trotted across the grounds, still limping slightly, until she found the place where they had set out food for the visiting dragons. Lots of strange animals she didn't recognize, and plants that smelled as bland and uninteresting as the ones the Fang had put in cloth sacks. There were other dragons around, sniffing around until they settled on something they wanted.

A deer hung by one leg from the jaws of the big ice dragon. She watched him, her tail lashing in frustration, everything bubbling hot and poisonous inside until she wanted to jump up and snatch it away from him.

She didn't. But he must have noticed her glaring at him, because he arched his neck at her. Ignoring him, she sniffed around a small pile of fruits. They were round and pink, and... fuzzy?

There was a whistling sigh, somewhere overhead, but Steele let her take them and leave without trying to talk to her. She hid in a small pile of straw behind one of the barns, curled up around her meal with a wing thrown over her head. The fruits withered up in their skins. Then she took one in her jaws, bit down... and the taste flooded her senses, all tangled up with hazy memories of a glass jar and a warm hand.

With an enraged shriek, she surged to her feet and spat the fruit on the ground. Her whole body bristled with the urge to bite something. She let loose a furious snarl.

"Um."

Her head whipped around. The blond human, Jaune, was standing about thirty feet away, by the corner of the barn. He backed up a step. "Hi? Uh... Pyrrha's looking for you. And she can probably find better food if you don't like peaches."

Slowly, her ears came up from where they'd gone flat against her skull. She snorted and twisted around to stare indifferently over his shoulder. When she looked back again, he'd left.

She waited.

"Are you sure you don't want me to come?" Jaune's voice again.

"Yes."

She shifted, moving from where she'd coiled into a sulky ball without noticing. Just then, Pyrrha came around the corner with a basket of meat and vegetables.

"I wasn't sure what you liked," she said, with a small smile. "There weren't any cacti."

Harpy wasn't very hungry anymore, but she bent and cleaned out the basket anyway. None of it tasted much like anything, which was a relief.

When she looked up, Pyrrha had taken her usual seat about fifteen feet away. "I'm not angry about what happened," she said softly. "I just... I don't want you and Twiggy fighting like that. Okay?"

She got to her feet. Pyrrha stayed still as she paced in a circle around her. Still the same smell, though now it was half-buried under something flowery. The last piece, so distant it was hardly even there, smoke. Finally she settled on her haunches, right in front of the human, and spoke.

"Tie... tann..."

Pyrrha made a noise just like the one that had escaped her when Harpy's tail had hit her in the gut. She shifted, drawing her knees in and hugging them close to my chest. "Where... where did you hear that?"

Harpy waited.

"Oh." She pressed her forehead to her knees and took a deep, shuddering breath. Choked on the name, twice, and gave up. "He... was my dragon."

A low growl started up in her chest—but Pyrrha didn't even seem to notice. She stared at the ground, fixated on something only she could see. "They killed him. The Council, I mean."

The growl stopped. A horrible silence hung in the air, while Harpy stared at her. She'd noticed Pyrrha wasn't with a dragon like all the others were, but she hadn't thought...

A shudder went through Pyrrha, and her hands tightened into fists. "You're not a replacement." She looked up, her eyes wet and shining. "Neither am I. But... maybe we can help each other?"

Harpy couldn't move. She hadn't felt this panicked since that first Grimm in the forest—what was she supposed to do? She couldn't speak many human words, and anyway there was nothing she could say to that, even if Pyrrha would understand it.

But she was waiting for something, offering something, and Harpy wanted it. So she bent her neck down, slowly, until they were almost nose to nose. Pyrrha's eyes widened—then fluttered shut. She didn't move, even when the moment stretched on and on. Waiting.

The last resistance gave way. And, gently, Harpy pressed her nose against Pyrrha's forehead.

A beaming, watery smile. A surge of warmth.

Harpy coiled around her, now decided. The human who asked would be hers.