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No sooner had he and his new Shield gotten back to his dorm did Nora arrive, dressed in gear for the combat class she was definitely skipping between Goodwitch being tied up with their meeting and Nora being… Well, Nora. She shoved them through the door, locked it behind her, and leaned Magnhild against it so no one could get in to interrupt them. At least not without a lot of effort.

But then she seemed to… Come to a stop, looking around the room and at everything but the two of them standing awkwardly in the middle of the room.

"Uh, Nora…?" He prompted, dragging her attention back to him. She raised an eyebrow and chewed her lip, one hand wrapped around Magnhild while the other tapped anxiously on the wall she was leaning on. "What's going-"

"What was the meeting about?" Nora asked, cutting him off and looking him square in the eye. "Headmaster came and dragged you off himself, in front of everybody. That's... I'm dumb, at normal person stuff, but even I know that's bad."

"Ah, well…" He flicked a look to Pyrrha but the other Mistralian only shrugged unsurely and cocked her head, clearly leaving him to explain. He sighed and tried for the shorter version. "Winchester reported Pyrrha for helping me back in Goodwitch's combat class. And since she's here thanks to the Arena-"

"They can take her back if she makes them look bad." Nora murmured, face screwing up in a deep, hot scowl when he nodded. Her fingers closed around Magnhild's grip and she snarled, lowly, "I'd like to see 'em try."

"They, uh, already did." Nora's eyes snapped to Pyrrha and the champion smiled awkwardly, rubbing one of her biceps with an anxious hand. "The meeting was with a representative of the Arena, here to… Judge me, and Winchester's claims."

"But," Jaune rushed to add, before Nora could try anything or, worse, panic and try anything, "I dealt with it."

"You…" She blinked, confused, "You 'dealt with it'?"

"Yeah." He nodded, smiling as the earlier tension washed all the way out of him. Kicking off his shoes, he relaxed on the bed and sighed. "It took some… clever thinking about the law-"

"Which I am still not the greatest fan of." Pyrrha cut in sharply, turning a sad smile on Jaune when he raised an eyebrow. "Forgive me, Lord, but… I figured you would like me to speak my mind. And as much as I enjoy the result, and do not particularly mind skirting the edges of law, I do not like the path there."

"That's… Fair enough, I guess." And he did prefer for her to speak freely. It made him feel less like a new master for her and more like the friend he wanted to be. So he sighed and shrugged the problem off, turning back to Nora and explaining for the somewhat more confused woman. "I named Pyrrha my Shield, before the meeting. Which means that..."

"Which means…" Nora cocked her head at Jaune, hand still wrapped firmly around Magnhild, and he swallowed anxiously. "What, exactly?"

"Valean law doesn't consider a Shield a truly separate person." Pyrrha explained, gesturing at Jaune with a hand, "They're a weapon for their owner's use. And so using one in training is… Well, not likely to be loved, but perfectly legal."

"So Jaune owns you now?"

"I-It's not like-"

"He does indeed, yes, in both the letter and intent of the law." Pyrrha cut him off, smiling pleasantly when Jaune turned to her, eyes wide. To Nora she said, "And I'm perfectly alright with that, too. Better Jaune and nobler intent than some obese drunkard wanting someone attractive for his protection. Or a sacrificial fate on the arena floor, fighting an honorless battle I've no hope of winning."

"But…" Nora frowned, but to Jaune's relief, she let her hammer go. Instead, her hand drooped limply at her side and she finished, sadly, "But you ought to be free, Pyr. Like Ren and I."

"Yes." Jaune nodded, relaxing back and staring up at the ceiling as he frowned. "But… I just couldn't think of any other way to pull her out of that mess. So it's not great, but…"

"It's a reality that we all will have to adjust to." Pyrrha nodded, standing and pacing past him and toward their bathroom door. "Now, if no one is opposed, I'm going to have a hot shower, a bit of a relieved cry, and then turn in."

"I got second." Jaune waved, letting his arm flop at his side when the door shut. After a second, he asked, "So, where's Ren at?"

"He's… Packing a few backpacks with supplies so we can bolt." Nora answered sheepishly, blushing when Jaune bolted upright, his eyebrows spiking into his hair. Rubbing the back of her neck she chuckled and explained, "We, uh, we've had to bolt before, from places we were stayin' at. So if something was going on… Well, we wanted to be ready, but since this is Beacon, we didn't have bug out bags."

"Bug out bags…?"

"Well," Nora sighed, tapping away on the wall again before she finally shrugged and rattled out, "Ren's going through the kitchen and snagging every can o' whatever the hell he finds that won't spoil that we can stuff into the food bag, that's going on you Jaune, since it's heavy."

"Wait, that's not fair-"

"You're the biggest, and s'kinda on you, or would'a been, but whatever." She shrugged and went on, "Then he's gonna ninka up some money, unrelated, I need to sneak Winchester's wallet back into his locker-"

"Wait, you didn't-"

"She did." Mort cackled, "She did and I'm here for it."

"No comment." Nora beamed, "And Pyrrha and I's packs got tens, bedrolls, lighters, ya know, stuff to sleep in or cook with. Ren's got, uh, Ren things. Like books and drugs and stuff, for when we get hurt."

"That's…" Pyrrha blinked, looking both impressed and amused at the same time, and turned to him, "Nice. Right, Jaune?"

"Yeah, it is, but… Well, you can have Ren come back then." Jaune sighed, relaxing now he knew they weren't literally about to bolt. "We won't need 'em, after all."

"I'll, uh, talk to him…" Nora promised, turning to heft Magnhild and pull the door open. "Let him know we won't need 'em tonight."

"Yeah." He blinked and, after a second, sat up, "Wait, what do you mean-" The door shutting cut him off and he sighed again, flopping back on the bed and murmuring to Mort, "What did we do to deserve this craziness, Mort?"

"Dunno." They rasped, "But heavy, at least it's fun. Right?"

"Yeah, sure." He chuckled, "It's fun…"

As he heard the shower start up he sat up and turned, unbuckling Mort from his waist and leaning them against the wall. While he waited on Pyrrha to get out of the shower, he could go ahead and get started on Oobleck's reading… And maybe some research into the laws surrounding Shields, in case Winchester tried to press his luck even further than he already had done.

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"But, Pyr-"

"It is my fresh duty to protect you, Master Arc." She argued simply and pointedly, turning to him with a single raised, scarred brow and a thin quirk to her lips. He scowled at the title she used on him and the quirk bloomed into a short-lived but bright smile as she turned back to the greave she was fastening. "I can pursue my new duty far more easily in my armor. And now, I am allowed to actually wear it as I like."

"Yeah, but-"

"How about a compromise?" Ren sighed, sounding more than merely finished with their back and forth. He spoke to Jaune first, sighing, "You've put this job on her shoulders, even if it was for good cause, and essentially stolen her out from under Mistral. Made her your property as opposed to theirs."

"That's not-"

"And she's fine with it, for reasons we're all aware of." Ren went on, smiling calmly and waving Jaune down before he could get defensive. "But you could stand to be a bit more liberal in letting her enjoy the freedoms she finds, Jaune."

"Man has a point." Mort hissed in his ears, "And I'm not just saying that because I like the way her armor hugs her, either."

"I… Guess you're right about that, Ren." And Brothers was it hard to admit to that, too. But among his faults, being prideful was one he'd been reminded of fairly often in his years. As hard as he tried to curb it, like he was doing now.

"But," Ren said, before Pyrrha could say anything, "that doesn't mean it's a good idea to simply stalk about in full armor, Pyrrha."

"And why not?"

"Because you are, like, super scary." Nora offered from the other side of the room where she was, for whatever reason, doing push-ups with Magnhild on her back. She paid the other Mistralian a smile and added, with a little half shrug, "I mean, super hot, too."

"P-Pardon?"

"But also super scary, whether you wanna play like you don't know damn well you're at least a nine." Nora finished, rolling over and sitting up on the floor. "And the problem with that is, well… Now you gotta play stupid noble games, thanks to Mister Hero over here."

"Oi!"

"Yeah, she's definitely my favorite." Mort murmured, "And has a good eyed, too…"

"Oh come off it, you know I love ya, boss man." Nora grinned, adding in as obvious an after-thought as could be, "Platonically I mean. But anyway, if you walk around like that, what do you think it'll say about our fearless leader?"

"I'm…" Pyrrha blinked unsurely and turned to Jaune and then back to Nora, when he only shrugged. "I'm not precisely sure what you mean?"

"He means that if you walk around decked out head to toe in armor, and armed to the tits, then you'll make Jaune look either paranoid, or like he's on the warpath." Nora explained shortly, "Which doesn't look good. And right now, lookin' good is what matters."

"If I look confident and cool, then Winchester can't push that I'm ready for a fight because I have a reason to be." Jaune sighed, realizing where Ren and Nora were going. Smiling, he cocked his head and added, "You're surprisingly good at politicking."

"Ren or me…?"

"Yes." Jaune answered with a chuckle, waving a hand between the two of them. "And one of these days, I want to learn just how you know so much about this kind of stuff. I was raised in it, and you seem to know more than me, sometimes."

"To be fair, you missed out on a few years of lessons…" Mort whispered in his ear, sounding more than a little impressed. "Still, though, they are very sharp. I know some knives that could take cues from 'em."

"We're just observant. Comes from being an orphan and wandering so long." Ren dismissed easily, waving the matter off, "At any rate, Pyrrha, Jaune, you need to compromise on this."

"I guess you're right…" Jaune sighed, turning a look on the fully-armored woman and then asking under his breath. "But how do we even do that?"

"Oh," Nora cackled, "I have an idea for her…"

"Well this sounds dangerous and fun." Mort whispered in his ear, "Let's do it! Uh, whatever it is!"

Jaune sighed and rolled his eyes and then waved for Nora to go ahead and do whatever she was thinking of.

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"So?" Nora grinned half an hour later, after Pyrrha had gotten out of her armor and back into at least most of her Beacon uniform. "How's this for a compromise? Everyone feelin' happy? Nobody feelin' snappy?

"I would have preferred more substantial armor..."

"Yeah, well." Nora shrugged, "It's better than nothin', right."

"I suppose so, yes…" Pyrrha sighed, turning to Jaune and asking, "Are you alright with this, then, Lord? I hadn't considered, or asked, how my garb earlier might reflect on you so… Well, I tend to avoid making the same mistake twice."

Nora's compromise had been, essentially, to cut each of Pyrrha's outfits - her uniform and her armor - in half, and just slap the two pieces onto her. Which was definitely a very Nora way to approach the problem, to say the least. So she was wearing her normal Beacon skirt, shirt and blazer. But she was wearing her thick, combat stockings under it, and her bronze greaves as well, which glinted in the sunlight filtering in through the window. Her sword and shield hung off a leather belt at her waist, too, and she wore her thick glove and forearm protector on her shield arm.

All in all, she cut a sharp, dangerous figure.

But not a bad looking one… And she did look more at ease, even in so little armor, so he couldn't really oppose it.

"It's…" He paused, looking her over and shrugging while he looked for the right words. "It's definitely a good look for you, Pyr."

"Hey, everything is a good look for her." Nora quipped, laughing when Pyrrha flushed and turned away from her.

"She beat me by five seconds…"

"Regardless, now that that's all settled, we should get breakfast in and head to class." Jaune sighed, turning for the door and tugging it open. Students were milling about outside, mostly either coming from breakfast to get ready or heading out to breakfast now that they were, but none paid him any mind. "I don't know about any of you, but I'm starving."

"As am I." Pyrrha smiled, stepping by and nodding for them to get along. "Pancakes, anyone?"

That, at last, got Nora really moving.

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Breakfast was, to break from form for the rest of the last couple days' events, uneventful and quiet. Sausage, breakfast, and enough hashbrowns to make a Valean farmer faint covered in cheese and thick, fried mushrooms alongside a hearty stack of walnut-packed pancakes. It was all delicious, to say the least, hand-made by some of the best cooks Vale had to offer, drawn from all of the Kingdoms. And the ingredients were so fresh, he was willing to wonder if they had cows hidden somewhere on campus, just waiting for cheese production.

And yet, for some reason, he couldn't help but crave the fish and berries he'd frequented so often out on his own, wandering the woods…

Odd, that, but there it was.

He was almost done when he heard a familiar voice bluster familiarly, "Arc!"

"Oh boy." Mort sighed wearily, "And things were going so well…"

"Good morning, my Lord Winchester." He sighed, turning and resting one of his legs on the bench he and his team shared on the side of the table opposite team RWBY. Nora was on the side he'd turned on and gave him a look, one brow raised, that he shook his head to.

He didn't need her help, nor did he want her to stop eating just for Cardin.

A fact that Jaune knew the man would take for a slight.

"My Lord Arc." Winchester growled, clasping his hands behind his waist and meeting his eyes. He cocked his head back a bit as he turned a look on his team, from Ren to Nora, and then asked, "I was just wondering how your meeting last night went."

"Oh?" Jaune feigned surprise and smiled, cocking his head to the side. "Concerned for me, Lord Winchester? You needn't be. The meeting was resolved to a good end, on my part. Just a… Small misunderstanding, on someone's part."

"You mean allegations you cheated in the combat class spar against that crab?" Winchester smirked thinly, paying Pyrrha another look. She met his gaze with a glower and his smile widened a bit as he turned back to Jaune. I'm sure a man from such an… Illustrious and noble family as the Arc House would never do such a thing."

"Ah." So he wanted to try and play that game now, and in public, did he? Jaune smiled for it and shrugged, turning to take a drink and then explaining, "Actually, Lord Winchester, that was the misunderstanding."

"Oh?" The man blinked and raised an eyebrow, and Jaune was more than aware of those at the nearby tables paying them attention. "And how is that?"

"Well you see, some absolute tit out there thought that my Shield, Miss Nikos here, aiding me in combat was cheating." Jaune explained, smiling and turning to the young scion as he did. Cardin's mouth was pressed into a thin line, but Jaune ignored it and said, "Luckily, the Lord Headmaster understood the problem and had it dealt with, and the Mistrali inquirer was sent home."

"I see…"

"I'm sure." Jaune smiled, turning his back to the man to take another drink and talking over his shoulder in a very obvious insult. He saw Pyrrha shift, turning so she could stand easily, and assumed the other noble had taken it for what it was. Smiling wider, he said, "A good thing, too. If he hadn't, then I would have been forced to pass along a Challenge of Peerage for the slight."

"A Challenge?" Cardin scoffed, "Over some random Mistrali trash?"

"Careful." Jaune warned, turning a glare over his shoulder and setting a hand on Mort's grip. Cardin was red-faced and narrow-eyed, and obviously trying not to let his temper make him snap outright, but his gesture stiled him. "I've spent years fighting on the frontier. Do you want to insult me like that?"

Hopefully, Cardin was smart enough not to do that...

"Is that a threat, Arc?" Winchester blustered hotly, waving a hand at the woman and turning to speak more loudly, more to the tables than to Jaune himself. "What, now you have your Mistrali slave leashed, you think we'll all just drop to a knee for you? What next, will you strike someone that asks whether the orphans are even marriageable anymore?"

"That is it-" He made to stand, but Nora's hand around his wrist stopped him. Jaune met her gaze and she smiled thinly and shook her head, mouthing 'no' at him. And so, even though it galled him, Jaune fell back onto his seat and growled, "Go away, Cardin, before I make good on my threats."

"Oh, so high and mighty with your other pet Mistralian around to fight for you?" Cardin laughed and turned to walk off, waving a dismissive hand over his shoulders, "Because Mistralians have always treated you Arcs so well, right?"

His hand tightened around his fork until the metal bent under his force, and Nora's fingers slid down, lacing with his own in a show of support. He appreciated it, and it was thanks to that support that he was able to bite back a retort and growl, "Stand down, Pyrrha. Winchester isn't worth either of our blades."

"As you say, Lord." She answered, paying him a theatrical nod and turning her back on the man. Smiling so thinly he barely saw it, she added, "He'd pose so little challenge, in any event. I doubt I'd even need my armor…"

He heard Winchester spit another insult, and then heard his boots on the floor as he left, and sighed in relief.

"Good job." Mort whispered, "You kept your head. He was obviously baiting you, trying to cause another incident."

"Obviously." Nora nodded when Jaune parroted Mort's words for them. She gave his hand a last, friendly squeeze and tugged it free to tuck into her food again and added, "But hey, he's an idiot, and you didn't fall for it."

"Yeah." He nodded, turning his head to look at her and smiling warmly, "Would have, though, if you hadn't stepped in. Thanks for that."

"No prob." She shrugged, "I wasn't about to let you fight for my honor, or whatever, boss. If someone insults Nora, then Nora breaks their knees herself. Nora don't need no man steppin' in to flex on her behalf."

"Are we doing the third person thing again?"

"Gods, no." Ren sighed, turning a look on Pyrrha for asking and adding, "And don't give her ideas!"

"But Pyrrha likes giving Nora ideas…"

"And Nora likes her ideas!"

"Soodoes Yang!" The blonde across the table added, grinning when Weiss rolled her eyes.

"Oh Brothers, help me, please." Jaune sighed, letting his head fall to the table dramatically. "Someone, save me from these crazy people…"

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For context-

A Challenge of Peerage is based on the real life Challenge of the Peerage, which was a dual. Usually to take the others stuff, over an insult, and sometimes to the death. An author named Mahina Fable has a story that features it, too, and they go into more detail on the matter. Hope over to their story, the White Knight, to get it and a good read while you're there!

As for Cardin's 'marriageable' comment in the ending scene, it's probably common knowledge that non-virgins aren't as easily married off in noble families. Essentially, and pardon the graphicness, he's accusing Nora of being a whore to get by.

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Smokey Panda :

Indeed! I doubt House Winchester will just let insults slide because of a legal maneuever…

GuysLord :

All good guesses, and good notes too, yeah! Glad you're liking the story so far.