Sorry for the delay since the last chapter. I have not given up on the story nor on my Cardin story. The delay was in part caused by a holiday, in part because this chapter is heavy on world building for my version of Mistral as a whole and I wanted to think it through as it will have implications going forward. Mainly I was not satisfied with the earlier drafts

Jaune found it hard to believe that it was only five months ago since he had last joined his mother in her work at the LGDF. He had continued going into work after his aura had been unlocked until Amber had talked him into applying to Vale. He had had four weeks holiday which was unused, and he and Amber had pretended that they were simply going on holiday to Vale together. He had sent in his resignation upon being accepted into Beacon.

As Lavender was still at her sleepover they breakfasted together on toast, coffee, and muesli. She said "As this is a one-off, I will not brief you in advance. I would be interested in your observations today on what has changed and what has remained the same. I suggest you only ask questions at the end of the day and think about the possible answers before you ask them."

They walked the half mile to the LGDF headquarters building. She first checked her desk for the reports which had accumulated over the weekend. Her opinion was that her subordinates should usually deal with routine matters by themselves when she was not around. If a Grimm attack occurred then of course she was notified, but normal sightings and wanderings were simply recorded. After she read each message, she passed them on to Jaune. What was different from before that she handed all the messages on.

In the past a few exceptions were made in relation to messages ones dealing with confidential information. She explained it to him now. "Because in the LGDF we spend so much time around Grimm, morale is crucial. In a war with humans or Faunus, officers can get away with putting on a brave front, but this does not work with the Grimm. Also, it is not enough if everyone puts on a brave front but are panicking internally. The Grimm can tell. This means that one of my most important jobs is to ensure that people who are mentally and emotionally exhausted are rested."

Jaune nodded when she had told them this. That made sense to him.

She then continued, "Unfortunately, knowing that people will be pulled out of the frontline if they are seen as a potential liability is a stress factor in itself and, people being people, sometimes people report each other without justification or fail to report problems because they do not want to tell on their friends. One of my most important tasks is to spot when people are close to their limit, whose reports can be trusted and how to reduce unnecessary stresses. In the past I did not let you see those messages because they were in my view private and because it was unfair on both you and them for you to know that there were concerns. None of the messages today are about people you will meet today and as you are learning to be a leader yourself you need to know about some of the less enjoyable responsibilities."

He tried to apply the message to his own team. He could rely on Nora saying things as she saw them most of the time, but she did not go in for deep analysis. Pyrrha needed prompting and tended to try and compensate for other people's shortcomings (particularly his own) by taking on more work. When Ren did say anything it was on point, but Jaune suspected that encouraging him to say more would be one of his harder tasks as leader.

He understood reading the messages why she had not previously handed them to him. He suspected that she had persuaded most people under her command not to report people out of spite and some of the notes expressed concern about people in a way which was plausibly out of concern. Nevertheless, he saw that it was important that only she knew who was reporting whom and what was being complained about. He also saw that the system relied on her being a good judge of character and empathetic. He believed that she could make it work, but that others would use it as a tool for forcing out people they did not like.

Jaune noticed that there were more references to refugees and newcomers than he recalled from the past. He noted this and said, "Mother, I know you want me to save up my questions, but there seem to have been a lot of changes since I last worked with you. Do you want me at the end of the day to say what they are and say why I think they are happening and why they are important?"

"That seems good to me, Jaune. You may see things today which will partially answer your questions or at the very least allow you to refine them."

Jaune started to think about the implications. He had gathered that the Branwen Tribe's operations had moved closer to Ansel then they had in the past. He wondered whether there were any things in common about the newcomers which he should note. Certainly, all the reports this morning talked about human refugees coming in from outside the Ansel district. He also noted that one of the two hunter teams was based near the western border of the district full time and only one team was based in Ansel itself.

There was a particular report which concerned him which he passed back to his mother saying, "I will not ask questions now, but this type of mission is not one which I recall us dealing with previously."

She nodded and said, "I have no objection to you hinting at what you wish to talk about in more detail later."

Five minutes later, her two immediate subordinates entered the office. They both greeted him enthusiastically. He had got on well with them when he had worked here in the past. Although Ansel was two thirds human, one third Faunus, his mother had one human second in command and one Faunus one. They also worked well with each other. Perhaps it helped that there was no vacancy at the top and unlikely to be one for at least ten years.

Reynard, a fox Faunus, shook Jaune's hand first. "Congratulations on getting into Beacon. It is good to see you again."

Marian, the human second in command, also shook his hand and said "I know I am getting into grandmother territory here, but you have really filled out in the last five months. Congratulations. You also looked good in that fight in Vale. It was good to see someone showing the fang what was what."

His mother coughed and was about to begin her morning briefing when her PA Bill came in and said, "Urgent call from Darren Marine in the western district. Shall I put it through?"

"Yes, Bill. Sorry folks, but real life is going to get in the way."

Jaune knew Darren and his team from his earlier time with the LGDF. He was a conscientious huntsman in his late twenties who had been at Haven with Amber. He had kept his team from his days at the academy and worked a month on two weeks off. They varied their time between supporting the LGDF forces in four districts in Mistral.

His mother switched on the CCT screen and said, "Darren. How can I help you?"

"Grimm are attacking a convoy of refugees from Kurohari. We need to get nearly twenty civilians out of here quickly. One of the limousines they were travelling in broke its axle on a pothole in the road. If you could bring Happy with you that would be appreciated. I would also suggest that you attend yourself in the ceremonial gear. These people are used to being treated as VIPs and are suffering from the realisation that they have lost their status."

"Thanks, Darren. Have you given Bill the coordinates?"

"Yes, mam"

"See you soon."

She turned to the people in the office. "Marian, could you deal with the routine check in Waverley Heath for me and Reynard with the one in Sandwell. Could you also check out the prices at the local dust stores in both towns? We will deal with the property swap at one and at the latest two. Bill, put out an urgent relate for Happy and make sure that the large bullhead is ready to go. Jaune, come with me and keep your eyes open when travelling."

Happy was a part time member of the LGDF. He had been to combat school but had not gone on to the Academy. He worked at the theatre just down the street. He was a reservist for the LGDF and was often present during emergencies. His value was his fighting skills but his semblance which worked by emphasising positive thoughts in the people surrounding him. This was useful in reducing the extent to which Grimm were attracted to villages.

His mother disappeared into a small room next door and returned in three minutes in the uniform kept for dignitaries from Mistral and for formal occasions. Five minutes later Happy appeared and they went off to the bullhead with the crew.

/-/

The transport bullhead circled over a stalled convoy of vehicles which were surrounded by a large pack of Beowulfs. A small rapid response bullhead was also circling which he recognised as one of the aircraft the LGDF kept for use by hunters.

Darren's team were dealing with the Beowulf helped by another team. Jaune assumed that they were students from Haven on a work experience placement. Between them the eight hunters and hunters in training seemed to have the situation well in hand but according to the information received had been fighting off the Grimm for an hour. There appeared to be a couple of bodies on the ground.

His mother used the bullhead machine gun to decimate the Beowulf which were approaching the battle. The idea was to allow the bullhead to land and pick up the civilians by easing the fighting in the next ten minutes.

The bullhead landed and his mother got out. She said to Happy, "Tell them that I will be with them shortly and then calm down the ones who are prepared to talk to. I will deal with the main man or woman."

Happy nodded and activated his semblance as he approached the vehicles. The driver of the main limousine and another man who looked like a security guard got out of the car and greeted him

Darren broke off from the fighting and came towards his mother, "Glad to see you and Happy, Mrs Arc. If these people are who I think they are we will have a busy month. I am afraid that we were too late to save two of the bodyguards." Jaune noted the two corpses and that even though it was a crisp winter day he was sweating significantly.

His mother looked at the cars, nodded and said, "I had feared this was next. Could you contact your contacts in Mistral to try and get them to take this seriously? I will try from my end and Nicholas is due a trip to Mistral City at the end of the week anyway. I will get them out of here."

"Will do. I think it may be best if Ivory's team joins us in the west."

"I was thinking that might be necessary. I will decide after talking to the civilians. How good are the trainees with Grimm?"

"Better than I could reasonably have hoped for. The team leader is first rate and keeps the others from too much foolishness."

His mother walked over to the limousine and Jaune followed behind her. A tall man in an expensive looking suit got out of the car. His mother nodded at Happy who positioned himself so that his semblance would impact on the man. She introduced herself. "Chief Arc of the Ansel LGDF. I am glad that we were able to be of assistance. I think it may be best if we gave you a lift into Ansel?"

The man looked carefully at her. "Chief Administrator Braun of Kurohari. I have twelve members of my senior staff with me plus five drivers and two surviving bodyguards Administrator. I suppose that strictly I am the ex-Chief Administrator, and they are my ex-senior staff. We would welcome transport to Ansel. I am afraid that the last week has been traumatic for all of us and two of the cars broke down on the roads. As you can see we have been like catnip for Grimm."

Jaune wondered what had caused the Chief Administrator and his staff to leave their district by car. Were they trying to outrun a Grimm attack?

His mother said, "I assume you were made an offer you could neither refuse nor accept?"

The man grimaced. "Do I gather that other towns are having the same problem as Kurohari?"

"You are the second this month. Do I assume that the local CCT transmitter was jammed, the Branwen tribe made their presence known and Grimm started gathering outside the city?"

"Yes. The small garrison of troops retreated to the main base after being defeated by Raven Branwen and ravaged by the Grimm. The commanding officer died. It was made clear to me that the townsfolk wanted to surrender to the Branwen tribe rather than risk another Kuroyuri. I did not have enough power to resist them without bloodshed and knew I would not get permission from Mistral City to surrender myself. I had been previously told that reinforcements would not be available for at least a month."

His mother looked at the man and said, "I would have hated to be in your shoes. Your duty to Mistral required you to resist, your duty to the people you governed required you to acquiesce in a surrender of the town to the White Fang."

The man nodded. Jaune wondered about the implications. The fact that the Mistral army had clearly not felt able to confront the Branwen tribe meant that the man had been in a hard place.

His mother asked, "Why cars and not a bullhead?"

"There was sabotage at the local airport. The government bullheads were made inoperable. The Branwen tribe also have surface to air missiles."

Jaune thought he could guess the importance of this. The administrator could not wait until the last minute to evacuate and delay surrender hoping that something would turn up. Also, senior administrators tended to be Mistral appointees and to have their family base in Mistral. In some ways this was good as they did not have strong links to the local leaders and automatically take sides in the local power struggles. However, it meant that they were not as invested in the areas they governed as a local would have been and so would be more inclined to escape as soon as they could say that there was no reasonable alternative.

His mother said, "I can give you and your colleagues a lift to Ansel. One suitcase each only. I would suggest that you could take a flight to Mistral or your hometowns within the next day. There is a flight in ninety minutes time which you should be able to make. I assume that you still have your government debit cards?"

"I understand and accept. None of us are feeling positive about anything at the moment. Thank you for arranging for the hunters to deal with the Grimm. If you could delay reporting this until after the next scheduled flight to Mistral we will be able to use government debit cards."

"I will report to Mistral when I return to my base which will be after the next flight. I would suggest that you and your team do not talk to any journalists before you take your flight."

"Thank you and I will make certain that they do not"

"Will there be many civilians following behind you?"

"Some. I am afraid that they will be the least estimable of my former charges. The Branwen tribe has a reputation of eliminating criminal competition and human supremacists. I suspect some of the latter arrived in advance of us."

Jaune made a mental note to jot this down and discuss with Oobleck on his return. There were clearly implications about what the Branwen tribe was up to and there must be a historical precedent for their strategy.

His mother called out to Happy and the two remaining bodyguards to get the civilians on board. She then went back to Darren and said, "I will sent out Ivory and her team to join you. Shall I take back the students to Ansel? We will need someone to deal with the stuff happening in the rest of the district and they can work with Nicholas and Amber until we bring in a new team."

"Thanks. That sounds right to me. These are good kids, but it is likely to be rough out here for the next few days. I will send them over when you have got the civilians on board. I will them that they are needed to give my team covering fire when we take off."

The next few minutes were frantic. The civilians were rushed on board. The Chief-Administrator made certain that his staff obeyed the one suitcase rule although four had shoulder bags as well. Jaune suspected his mother did not mind as it did not impede the loading of the bullhead. The four hunters in training boarded with jaune with Happy and mother bringing up the rear as the bullhead took off.

Mother and two of the trainee hunters fired at the remaining Grimm. One of the hunters in training had green hair and another had pink hair. When Darren's bullhead had taken off, mother directed the pilot to fly directly to Ansel.

She spoke to Chief-Administrator Braun. "Sir, I have to make some arrangements for you at the other end. We should be there in around 30 minutes, but I need to warn them that we are coming in case they need to reschedule a landing or take-off."

She went into a small office room off the main hold and arranged for seats to be held for the Kuroharians on the next flight to Mistral. She also called Amber who was initially a little grumpy, but when the facts were laid out to her agreed to meet them at the airport.

She smiled at Jaune and then reported to Chief-Administrator Braun, "There are seats for all of you on the next flight. If you and your three most senior aides book business class the airline will upgrade you to first class."

He nodded, "Thank you. That is very tactful of you."

His mother asked, "Who was in charge of the surrender to the Branwen tribe?"

"The second local deputy administrator. She is a Faunus with no ties in Mistral. Also, the Branwen tribe pride themselves on being equal opportunity extortionists."

Jaune helped Happy and the other LGDF members on board to distribute food and water to the civilians. He then took water and ration packs to the hunters in training.

A platinum Blonde woman with dark skin who liked she was the leader of the team said, "Thanks. We needed that."

She then looked at him and said, "Are you Jaune Arc?"

He said, "Yes. Have we met before?"

"No. I saw you on the news a few days ago. I am Arslan Atlan, and this is Team Auburn. "

She proceeded to introduce Reese Chloris, Bolin Hori, and Nadir Shiko to him.

Her name was familiar to him and perhaps without thinking enough about it said, "Oh, Pyrrha told me about you. She said that you always gave her a good fight and that she enjoyed your matches."

The women half grimaced but said, "That was kind of her. Hope to fight you and her at the Vytal festival."

He left Team ABRN to eat and recover from their fight and listened to his mother talking to various people in Ansel.

At Ansel the civilians were taken to the airport terminal. Amber and dad arrived and took care of Team ABRN. His mother looked at her watch and said to Jaune "I am afraid my plans for the day have gone up in smoke. As soon as that flight leaves I will have to speak to the Governor's office about the funding for a third team of hunters."

/-/

Two hours later he was his mother in her office. On the CCT there was a split screen with Maria, Reynard and two lawyers present. Maria was in a predominantly human village while Reynard was in a predominantly Faunus village. Maria was accompanied by a Faunus surveyor and Reynard by a human surveyor.

Maria said, "William here has signed off on the physical integrity of the house and has confirmed that the inventory is correct. The Cousins family has left the building and is waiting in the armoured car to be transported to Foxton."

Reynard said, "Giles here has signed off on the physical integrity of the house and has confirmed that the inventory is correct. The Roberts family has left the building and is waiting in the armoured car to be transported to Upper Gorston."

His mother said, "I confirm that the 10,000 lien excess for the sale of the Cousins family house is in the LGDF bank account and is ready to be transferred to the account of the lawyers for the Cousins."

The two lawyers each confirmed that completion of the transfer of the two houses had now taken place and his mother authorised the release of the funds.

This was not something which Jaune remembered the LGDF been involved with previously. He tried to work out what was happening. It was clear that this was a human family moving to a mainly human area out of a mainly Faunus Area and a Faunus family moving in the opposite direction. That suggested that human/Faunus tensions were rising in the two villages, and this fitted in with some signs which he recalled from the last seven months of his stint with the LGDF.

However, what puzzled him was the involvement of the LDGF in the move, the fact that senior staff had to be involved and the use of armoured cars. He made a note to ask his mother about this at the end of the day. He began to wonder if he would have time to speak to Lavender tonight.

/-/

After the move, his mother took him with her on the scheduled rounds of villages and towns. She looked at the automatic defences and the walls and listened to reports about Grimm activity. On the flights between visits, she was busy on the CCT calling in favours, talking to Reynard and Marian and preparing for an influx of refugees.

On the bullhead back home Jaune thought about the day. It had been good seeing the people he had worked with for two years and they had been honestly glad to see him and happy that he was going to Beacon.

However, it was obvious that the situation in the western sector was deteriorating badly and that the work had become harder even in the brief time since he had left. He thought about the questions which he wanted to ask his mother.

They arrived back in his mother's office at around six. She said, "I will have to deal with some paperwork tonight and make plans for the next week. I have messaged your father and asked him to send Lavender around with sandwiches and a thermos at 7.15. However, I can make some time for you now and you can walk back with Lavender for dinner at 8."

Jaune said, "Mother, it is clear that the situation in the neighbouring district is destabilising the western sector and presumably encourages negative thoughts which attract the Grimm. I assume that is why you have a team of hunters and a bullhead permanently stationed there even before today."

"Correct so far."

"All the refugees we saw today were human. Was today unusual or does it reflect the normality?"

"It is normal although the numbers were heavier today and will be for the rest of the week. Have you any thoughts why and what the implications are for Ansel?"

"I assume that for some reason the Faunus are less afraid of the Branwen tribe than humans. I suppose that has something to do with the fact that the White Fang and the Branwen tribe have an understanding and possibly an alliance. On the other hand, why would anyone want to stay in an area controlled by bandits."

"I think you are right that the Faunus are less frightened than humans. I also suspect that the Branwen tribe have learnt the lesson that killing a sheep gets you meat for a short period, stealing the sheep and employing shepherds gets you wool, more sheep and meat forever."

"Is there some significance in the fact that the administrator was only accompanied by his human aides?"

"You are thinking along the right lines. Why would that be?"

"First, if it is like Ansel a larger proportion of the Faunus aides will be locals rather than appointees from Mistral. Second, if the Branwen tribe is turning into hunter gatherers they presumably want someone to run the territory on their behalf and the deputy administrators under the previous regime are the obvious people to do so."

"Well done. It is also the case that there is still a glass ceiling for most Faunus in local government and almost all senior roles go to mistral appointees or relatives of powerful humans. I have no doubt that some of the Faunus enjoy the challenge of running the cities. What problems do you think that causes in Ansel?"

Jaune thought about it for a moment and said, "Mother, I will be thinking aloud here. If the overwhelming majority of the refugees are human, then the ones who stay here will increase the percentage of humans to Faunus in Ansel. If they tell the locals here that what happens when the Branwen tribe takes over is that suddenly Faunus are in charge of the government and ordering humans around then that increases the mistrust of Faunus here."

"Yes. There are now more people willing to assume that unknown Faunus are White Fang supporters or fellow travellers and some who are prepared to believe that even those Faunus they have known all their lives are fifth columnists in league with the Branwen tribe."

"Does that account for the house swap you oversaw today?"

"Yes. A few months ago, a firm of estate agents with both a human and Faunus proprietor started a service for house swapping. It actually saves on land transfer tax as tax is only paid on the cash part of the deal, although I suspect that this will be changed in the next budget. A large amount of the interest in this service was from Faunus looking to move out of predominantly human districts, especially where a large number of refugees had recently settled and there were also humans wanting to move out of predominantly Faunus districts."

"Why is the LGDF involved and is this the right thing for it to be doing?"

"There were too many cases where one or other of the people moving trashed the house they were moving out of before they moved. There were even cases where the cash consideration did not turn up. Our involvement prevents that happening. As to whether we are doing the right thing in helping Faunus and humans to segregate, I honestly do not know. In the long term, I doubt it. However, my job is to reduce Grimm attacks in the short term and reducing the number of people who are frightened of what their immediate neighbours will do to them has that effect."

Jaune thought about this and decided that he really would have to pay more attention to Dr. Oobleck and perhaps speak to him in his office.

His mother could tell he was troubled and said, "Jaune, we are not a police force. We need to be seen as comparatively even handed to operate effectively. If people decide that they want to live in segregated communities it is not the role of the LGDF to stop them."

"Is there really nothing you can do?

"I try to prevent pressures increasing. For example, you will note that I shipped out the administrator and his aides to Mistral as soon as I could. As far as I know, he was reasonably honest and paid more than lip service to looking after the interests of his town. He and his team were angry, humiliated, feel betrayed and think it is their fault. They are currently Grimm magnets. I want them far away from Ansel as soon as possible. First, because they attract Grimm in their own right. Second, because the longer they spend in Ansel the greater impact which they have on morale here."

"How long have refugees being arriving and how many stay."

"Four months now. In general, we encourage the refugees to move on to join their wider family in the rest of Mistral. Actually, the more recent arrivals are doing so."

Jaune said, "I presume that they think that the Ansel district is next and want to get well away."

"Correct. I suspect some of my staff may hint that is the case."

"Is it true?"

"Darling, I wish I knew. I try to tell myself that we are a core part of Mistral and certainly we still pay more tax than we cost to defend so I do hope the bean counters decide to make a stand here. I would like to believe that we are the district which the central government will dig in and defend. Still a few years ago the Branwen tribe was 100 miles away from us. As of today, they control towns which are fifty miles away."

"How much is the increase in activity and the movement of Faunus out of mainly human villages down to the refugees?"

His mother paused and said, "There is a correlation between villages with large numbers of refugees and Faunus moving out. In that regard the administrator was correct in his estimation of the people who flee the Branwen tribe. There is also some correlation between refugees and increased Grimm attacks. I have tried to keep this quiet as another reason why refugees are moving on from Ansel is that the people have spotted the connection and are making it clear that newcomers are unwelcome."

"I think I understand." Jaune was upset by what he had learned today. He wanted to speak to his team about it and investigate whether they would be willing to spend holidays in Ansel helping the LGDF.

It was easy to forget that the main function of the academies was to train huntsman and huntresses to fight the Grimm rather than to win the Vytal festival. This was clearly the view of some of the mustangs at Beacon although some acknowledged that qualifying for the Vytal festival would improve their marketability after being licensed. However, only Leslie of this year's mustangs was in a team which looked like being a Vytal festival contender, although arguably Blake was a sort of mustang.

"Do you have any other questions?"

"The dust prices in Sandwell were surprisingly cheap. I assume that either they are not buying from the SDC."

"Correct although they are accounting for sales tax. In any event, another thing which we are not employed to counteract is smuggling. However, prices in Faunus stores near the border to the Branwen tribe are remarkably inexpensive. Also, when flying overhead there are convoys which attract Grimm and others which the Grimm leave alone or only attack if the convoy bumps into them. I would not be surprised if those convoys which are left alone are smuggling dust to shops in Faunus areas."

"Where is the dust coming from?"

"Most believe that the Branwen tribe is reselling dust they or the White fang have stolen or seized. Others say that this is a White Fang operation out of which Raven Branwen receives a cut. I suspect that they have opened up an old mine."

"Mother, you have given me a lot to think about and I will do so. When did you know that dad had deliberately arrange for the releasing of my aura to be botched?"

"Knew – this week. Believed when Amber released your aura. Suspected three months before that when I had eliminated most other reasons why he was looking so guilty. Why did I not do anything? I was waiting for Amber to come home as when she had left previously she was irritated by your self-pity, and I hoped that she would do what she ended up doing."

She paused and then continued, "This is not meant to justify what your father did and if he argued it himself I would tell him to keep quiet. However, it is possible in the long term that the way things worked out will be for the best in the long term."

"In what way?"

"You have said that you feel you have caught up significantly over the last term on what you missed at combat school and your friend Ruby does not seem to have been handicapped by missing two years of combat school. What I hope you have learned from me is how to direct others to do what is necessary when you cannot do it all yourself. My sense is that your team is happy for you to be the leader even though you are not the strongest fighter in the team."

"I suppose that is true. Pyrrha says that her default is to fight every battle on her own while Ren and Nora are a double act. On the other hand, it has been hard graft all term to catch up and I am the weakest member of the team."

His mother's personal scroll buzzed, and she checked it and then turned to Jaune. "Your father, Amber and the twins have agreed to help out for a few days while I try and get a third team of hunters in. In the meantime, they have invited that team from Haven to dinner tonight. If you could give them my apologies, but I hope to be back before they go. I will make time for us to speak more before you go to Argus."