Winter was preparing for a meeting with Ironwood by reading a report from Scarlatina. Notably it had been prepared on something called a typewriter and she had been given what Scarlatina explained to her was a carbon copy.

She stared at the odd print and Scarlatina said, "The general does not want anyone to be able to read this on a scroll or access it on a computer system. Apologies for the typos, but it is for security reasons."

She read the short report and handed the copy back to Scarlatina. He declined it saying, "The General wants it filed in what he referred to as the vault. He said you would know where he meant."

Winter nodded. She hoped Fria would be up to the trip to the vault and wondered what else the General had stored there. She looked at Scarlatina, "I hope you understand the need for secrecy about this. The General does not mind people giving honest but unwelcome advice on their specialist areas. However, only me, you him and Dr. Polendina should know about this matter."

Scarlatina said, "I understand that. It leaves an issue for us whether we can safely deploy the paladins in cities."

"I am certain the General shares your concern, Professor Scarlatina."

She then joined the General. Clover and Marrow had been sent to Vacuo via Beacon where they were dropping off Glynda and reporting to Ozpin. Qrow was being left in Mistral where he had some business to attend to.

"Winter, you have read his report?"

"It was disappointing, but honest. Does Dr. Polendina agree with it?"

"He is more optimistic but says that there is nothing obviously wrong with the assumptions and that there is a good chance that Scarlatina is right. If he is correct, then it will take a year at least to ensure that the systems are freed of any backdoors he previously installed."

"Even that does not deal with the real problem. Watts knows how all our leading scientists think. He is brilliant and it cannot be guaranteed that he will not find work arounds for their solutions."

"Polendina and Scarlatina both agree that the man is unlikely to have told his co-conspirators and his two subordinates enough for them to replace him. Callows and Rainart are not scientists. His two subordinates are no match for Scarlatina or Polendina. They were good grafters, but they were not brilliant. He may have given them tools to take advantage of our current shortcomings, but they are not a real threat to upgrades."

"We need to eliminate him as a problem as soon as possible."

"You do realise that we cannot even guarantee that we can keep him in custody if we capture him."

Winter thought about this. "The fact that he knows how our security systems work plus the fact that they have a first-rate illusionist does give us a problem."

"Besides which putting him on trial has its own risks. Even a secret trial will involve the council and the justice department. Explaining how vulnerable we are to his knowledge will risk spreading fear."

"Logically he is better off dead."

"He is an Atlas citizen who is probably based in Vale for the time being. I cannot give a general order to kill him on sight and Vale understandably does not allow us to pursue a shoot to kill policy when we pursue fugitives there. I can say that if he cannot be captured, he should be killed. However, I do not see him as a man who would force our operatives to kill him rather than surrender."

"He would rely on his colleagues or his own skills to break out of confinement especially if we had to transport him back to Atlas. Would the Vale authorities agree to extraordinary rendition?"

"Only if we told them more than we want to tell them. Ozpin would want to interrogate him personally if we did ask for it. I do not want to tell even Ozpin how serious a threat he is to our military capabilities. After all, Glynda and Qrow are hiding things from us about his trip to Mistral."

"For good reasons you have established safeguards which mean that you cannot order assassinations through the Atlas intelligence services and military officially. You and I can see the need for him to die, but we cannot explain the threat to others without revealing too much about the maidens and Salem. We also cannot explain that we believe that Watts is alive to too many people. Too many people can connect the dots to realise the significance."

"I know. My analysis is that Salem is planning something for the Vytal Festival and that he will be in Vale for that. You, I, and the Ace-Ops will be there as honoured guests."

"I think we can trust Clover with the details of the threat to our military capability and the Ace-Ops will trust his instruction to ensure that Watts dies if at all possible and that his existence should be a secret."

"We do have another resource in Vale who is relaxed about using unorthodox methods."

"Is that wise? We were talking this week about whether he can be trusted. While I think he can, he already knows too much about the necessary evils we need to carry out to defend the kingdom."

"He has shown himself able to improvise without been given explicit orders in the past and he already knows enough to cause us embarrassment. Besides which he is based in Vale and so may be able to intervene when we are unable to. Have a word with him when you go there with Polendina."

"Yes sir. Can I talk to Fria about the latest developments when she is in one of her more lucid intervals?"

Ironwood paused. "Yes. I would still prefer to wait for Ozpin to use the technology, but the readier she is to move on of her own freewill the better. We owe her that much."

"I agree. General, while I know Scarlatina has always been against deploying the paladins in Mantle, I think he is genuinely concerned about what could happen if Watts has a backdoor."

"I will make that call when I have to. I will ask him and Polendina to investigate a stand-alone failsafe device."

/-/

Lavender arrived at seven and handed over the promised sandwiches. She also handed their mother a note from dad. His mother looked at it and said, "Jaune, tell him I said yes, but for three days only while I get the district administrator and Mistral to properly fund a more permanent response. If our guests are curious, you can tell them about standard operating procedures."

Their mother handed Lavender a disc and a note. "Thanks for the sandwiches. Give those to Amber and your father for the post dinner debrief. See you later tonight." She paused and said, "Probably tomorrow morning is more likely."

Jaune walked back with Lavender who said, "Sorry about my friends at the barbecue. They are not normally that embarrassing."

Jaune smiled at her, "No problem. Luckily, they mostly got in each other's way and some of my female friends tell me it is good for men to realise how it feels to be on the receiving end of over-enthusiastic attentions. Besides which compared to the twins and Yang they are mere amateurs."

"Who's Yang?"

"She is Ruby's sister. She was the blonde one who punched people in the clips from the fight at the night club."

"Not the one who looks like mom?"

"No. She is the one who could go drinking with the twins."

"In case you don't know, Dad and Amber have invited Team Auburn to dinner. I think they are also going to help train Team Auburn until mum can get a replacement team in."

"Thanks for the heads up. What do you make of them?"

"Jaune, you really should know this for yourself. Still, I suppose your teammates can give you the lowdown on every Mistral competitor without you having to research them yourself. They are probably the best first year team at Mistral this year."

"Sorry Lavender, but I was busy catching up with everyone else last term. I will be thinking more about tactics for the Vytal Festival next term as I will have about twelve hours a week more time to play with."

"Jaune, I did not mean to come over as critical. Anyway, they seem like good people although their leader Arslan Altan is clearly the best of them." She hesitated for a moment and then continued, "I am afraid some of my classmates dislike them because they are not real Mistralians. People support you, Pyrrha and to a lesser extent Nora because they identify with you. On the other hand, some other of my classmates support them because they are not stereotypical blonde Mistralians and have succeeded despite that."

"Thanks Lavender. You understand things better than I did when I was your age. Do think about applying to Beacon. It does help broaden the mind and Pyrrha says it is good fighting against new people."

Lavender smiled back at him, "I will. I know that there is part of me which realises that I am already a different person to who I was two years ago and that I would choose different friends now. Perhaps leaving the kingdom will allow me to work out who I really am."

Jaune smiled, "I know that it is true for me. I think it is true for the others from outside Vale as well."

Jaune thought about his sisters. Two had settled down in Ansel and seemed to be happy. Saphron had left for Argus at an early age and very rarely visited especially after her marriage while Amber clearly preferred to spend time outside of Mistral. It was hard to tell with the twins, they seemed happy anywhere.

They reached home and Jaune passed on the message, the note, and the disc to dad. Dad handed the disc to Amber and asked her to watch it and prepare her comments for after dinner. Lavender busied herself in the kitchen and dad sent Jaune out to help entertain the guests. Amber came into the lounge with him and gave a thumbs up to the twins.

The twins were clearly on good form and most of the members of Team ABRN were lapping up the stories about their time at Haven. Arslan Altan was a little distracted and while she was listening to them, she clearly had things on her mind.

After ten minutes Arslan moved towards him and said, "Good evening, Jaune. How was your day?"

"Busy. It looks like being a hectic month here. How long are you with the Ansel LGDF for?"

"It was meant to be for another ten days. I hope we can stay, but I am wondering whether your mother will allow us now things are getting challenging and both teams of hunters have been sent to the border."

"It is no reflection on you and your team. It is standard operating procedure for hunters in training to be debriefed after days like today."

"Your sisters have shown us the tape of your team fighting that deathstalker and our fight was nowhere near that challenging."

"That is not the problem. There were some dead civilians and in the past my mother has found hunters in training beating themselves up because civilians died."

"But they were dead before we arrived. There was nothing Team Auburn could have done which could have changed that."

"I have no doubt you feel that. Are you certain that the rest of your team does? A half day off gives you the opportunity to make certain they do."

Amber who had come back into the room said, "Arslan, while I agree with Jaune in principle, I think there may be other reasons why my mother made the decision. There is a risk of running into the Branwen tribe and fighting other humans or Faunus in a kill or be killed situation is something you need to prepare yourself for. Combat school and tournaments teach us to stop firing after aura gets below 15-20% and to expect our opponents to do so. If you are fighting the White Fang or bandits these assumptions are dangerous. In particular, you cannot take the risks you would in the combat arena."

Arslan said, "We are hunters in training. We know what the job entails. The teams at Beacon had no problem reacting to the White Fang attack."

Jaune said, "Our fight in the nightclub was over before we had time to think about it and we fought instinctively. There was no time to think about things. However, after the fight was over it was different. One of my friends had cut bodies in half because their attack coincided with their aura being weakened by an exploding grenade. One of the bravest fighters was not interviewed afterwards because she was fighting hand to hand and was covered in other people's blood."

Arslan looked around at the rest of her team and nodded. "OK, I know that there is reason why dealing with bandits is a third-year mission. I still want us to be useful while we are here."

At that point Nicholas Arc came in from the kitchen. "Dinner is in ten minutes. The chief of the LGDF has co-opted me, Amber, and the twins to form a makeshift reserve team for three days to allow time for her to get the government to properly reinforce the Ansel district. She has asked that Team Auburn accompany us. Amber and I will debrief you after dinner on your performance today."

Arslan suddenly looked a lot happier about life.

/-/

Qrow was in a bar in Mistral. He had been dropped off by Clover Ebi and Marrow Amin who were on their way to Vacuo with Glynda. He had left the books from Brunswick Farms with her. She enjoyed reading more than he did. Besides which he doubted that there was anything more in the books which would help him with understanding how Norman had become Roman and what motivated Roman.

He was not certain what his next step should be. Clearly Roman had come back with his cousin to Mistral and drop out of Haven. However, he had spent a few years in Mistral before moving to Vale. Logically, he would have worked for one of the gangs.

He did not see how he could approach any of the gangs without signposting that Beacon was interested in Roman. Certainly, Little Miss Malachite knew that he was Ozpin's enforcer, and the others would at least know that it was Beacon's vouching for him which allowed him to travel freely despite being Raven's non-identical twin brother. Furthermore, the ones which knew most about Roman would be the ones most likely to tip Roman off. If Roman was tipped off, then it should be assumed that the woman who Glynda and Ruby had fought would be tipped off.

Roman's ex-teammates were dead and Qrow did not want to approach Lionheart. His official reason, if Ozpin asked, was that as headmaster it was unlikely that Leo would have been close to Norman Bartleby as was. His real reason was that he did not trust Lionheart after what had happened to Amber. She had been returning from a visit to Haven and Qrow knew that he had not sold Amber out which left Ozpin, Glynda and Lionheart. Strictly, bad luck could not be excluded, but he did not believe that the attack had been unplanned.

He had sent a scroll message to Peter Port. He recalled that Haven had a system whereby the teams who were seen as the likely competitors in the Vytal festival received special training from qualified hunters in the run up to the festival and that sometimes lead to a long-term mentoring role. If nothing else there was a chance that Norman had sought advice on returning from his childhood farm.

Peter had been commentating on the Vytal festival for a long time and was an institution in the role. He believed in planning for the role in the same way as he would for a Grimm hunt and even if he never used the information on screen, Qrow was willing to bet that he had included the information in his notebooks.

Anyway, it would be some time before he could realistically expect a reply from Peter, so he was in a huntsman bar in Mistral. To his surprise, he saw someone he had taught at Signal during one of his stints as a stand in teacher. He nodded at Gordon Tulip who acknowledged him and came over to join Qrow.

They exchanged pleasantries and Gordon offered to buy a round. Qrow accepted and they got to talking.

"Gordon, this is not your normal territory. What are you doing here?" he asked.

"Looking for information about who killed Rhodes."

Qrow used the excuse of sipping his drink to engage brain. The name rang a bell. "He was a good man. He died in a fire in Atlas, didn't he? I did not know it was murder."

Tulip nodded, "Yes. The authorities kept it quiet and claimed that there was some doubt. After all, he was a resourceful huntsman and who could have killed him in a fight."

Qrow's brain started to make connections. "Can you remind me about the circumstances? It is ringing unpleasant bells."

"Provided you share the sound of the bells being rung. His ex-partner Garnet has been hunting for the truth ever since he died."

Qrow said, "Why isn't he here?"

"He is banned from Mistral for doing his job too honestly."

"The Faunus girl?"

"Yes. How did you remember that?"

Qrow hesitated. Glynda had explained the background after the fight in Junior's while he, her and Ozpin had watched the unexpurgated highlights of the fight at Junior's. It had been stressed to him that her identity was to be protected for as long as possible. "She was a Vale citizen and Garnet did explain what happened to Ozpin and Glynda."

"Of course. Actually, this might interest you as anyone strong enough to kill Rhodes is a threat to almost all of us."

"Go ahead."

"Rhodes had this charity project in Atlas. There was this orphan girl who had been adopted by a hotelier in Atlas. The adoption was a fraud, and the girl was being used as slave labour. She had unlocked her own aura and he said that she had huntress potential. Apparently, he trained her in secret when he was in Atlas."

"He left someone with an unlocked aura in an environment where she was used as a slave?"

"Garnet argued with him about it. Still, this was before Ironwood became headmaster and the law in Atlas was quite clear that her adoptive mother had full control over her. The head of the social services was a close friend of the women. Besides which, Rhodes was a believer in that what does not destroy you makes you stronger."

Qrow decided to let that ride. This was the crap which his parents and Raven had believed in, but he saw no need to take out his irritations on Tulip. "Ah. I begin to guess where this is going. Carry on."

"He had been seeing her for seven years. One time he went to Atlas and did not come back. Garnet received a message that there had been a fire at the hotel and the adoptive mother, her two full daughters, Rhodes and ten others had died."

"He investigated?"

"Yes. He was told that the adoptive daughter had disappeared, but the authorities presumed that she had been killed in the fire. He decided to search for her to honour his teammate's memory."

"He found no trace of her I assume?"

"Correct. He eventually contacted a friend in Atlas who leaked to him the full report. The adoptive mother, the two daughters and Rhodes had been stabbed and their bodies showed signs of localised scorching in excess of what had happened to the rest of their bodies. Some foster children who had survived the fire told the truth about they had been treated and the Atlas social security department decided to cover it up."

"Presumably on the basis that the guilty woman was dead and there was no need to wash their dirty linen in public?"

"Yes. They unofficial official story was that the girl had stabbed the women and the two daughters in revenge and had killed Rhodes when he tried to defend them. She had then set fire to the building and died in the conflagration."

"You and Garnet do not believe the story?"

"No. Rhodes had a semblance which allowed him to turn his skin into metal. Like most of us his aura and semblance could be triggered instantaneously. He could only have been stabbed by someone he trusted."

"And the fire?"

"Some of the survivors' statements are consistent with someone using a fireball semblance. Rhodes used to say that the girl was hot stuff, and he was not a womaniser to say the least."

"When did you and Garnet decide that you were hunting for a murderess rather than a scared victim who overreacted?"

"There have been a series of burnt bodies with reports which said that they had last been seen with a young woman. The last report we had was of a body in Mistral city and that is what I am investigating for Garnet."

"Would he and you like me to see if I can get Glynda and Ozpin interested in helping your investigation?"

"I will need to speak to him, but some official help would be welcome."

"Where is Garnet?"

"Taking my place on a training session for spoilt rich hunters in training in Vale. Winchester Towers is the name of the place."

"I know what you are referring to. If it helps they are all talented students and most of them are neither rich nor spoilt. I will try to speak to Glynda and Ozpin and get back to you soon."

Tulip engaged mind, "Does this have a link to something you are investigating for Ozpin?"

"A rogue person with hunter level abilities is always of concern to Ozpin and Glynda."

Tulip laughed, "Like me, you have to speak to your principals before saying more or committing yourself. Anyway, here is my scroll address. I will try to contact Garnet tomorrow morning. He warned me that there is a formal dinner tonight with lashings of fine wines and liqueurs."

They shared another couple of rounds before heading to their respective hotel rooms. Qrow decided that he would head back to Beacon and brief Ozpin. Perhaps if he helped Tulip and Garnet he could get them to help chase Roman. Tulip at least could ask questions in Mistral without being automatically linked to Beacon.

He checked his scroll and saw that Peter had responded. On the plus side the trainer of Roman's team was still alive, but he was not altogether happy about their identity.

/-/

It had been an interesting dinner to watch. Dad's announcement had meant that Team ABRN had latched on to dad and his older sisters. Arslan and Bolin had monopolised dad and Amber while Reese and Nadir had been speaking to the twins. He could not blame the Haven students. All four of the makeshift family team had reached the quarter finals or better of the Vytal festival and dad and Amber had reputations as hard-working hunters and semi-finalists.

It actually meant that he and Lavender could spend some time bonding while they listened to the older Arcs passing on knowledge and stories. It was also good to see that in front of non-family members Amber and Nicholas demonstrated that they had a lot in common.

It helped that Arslan said early on that there was no point in keeping quiet in front of Jaune on the basis that Pyrrha, Ren and Nora already knew all about the capabilities of Team ABRN. It was interesting to hear that at age 14 Nora had been as quiet as Ren.

The Arc wine cellar was well stocked, and dad had decided to push the boat out tonight. Reese and Nadir in particular being next to the twins were drinking quickly.

Jaune decided to ask about the three students from Haven that they had met at Junior's. He directed the question at Arslan and said, "Ruby and Blake said that Sun Wukong fought well. He seemed very friendly and a good sort. What do you make of him?"

Arslan nodded and said, "He is what they said. What you see is what you get with him. Considering he is both a Faunus and from vacuo he is surprisingly well liked."

Reese added, "It does not hurt that his team covers each other's backs."

Jaune said, "I did meet Emerald and Mercury as well. They arrived at the club just as the fight was finishing. It is good to hear that they work well as a team."

Arslan said, "While Reese is right, they are more a team of two partnerships. They will be at the Vytal festival, but they are not yet performing at their full potential."

Amber raised an eyebrow, "That is odd. Normally Vytal festival contenders are striving like mad to be better than everyone else."

Bolin replied, "Sun is light-hearted and enjoys a fight for itself. Neptune is a little bit lazy but is good when pressed. Emerald is competent and fights well, but always has a little in reserve. Mercury is more of a puzzle."

Reese asked, "Why do you say that?"

Arslan said, "Their team has no one on it who went through the Mistral combat school system and only Neptune is a Mistral citizen. Early on some of the more entitled members of the year tried to proposition Emerald. Mercury was there within thirty seconds and one of the tutors showed the footage to the team captains to discourage repeated incidents. The man has a capacity for brutality which he rarely shows in class."

Nancy said, "How have the four of you found it at Haven? To be honest if it had not been for Amber and our parents the two of us could easily have been among the blonde, blotchy pink bullies."

Reese said, "No one wants to have to fight Arslan and she made it clear early on that any attempt to bully any of us would be responded to by the whole team. Also, we were all at the same combat school and once perfect Pyrrha went to Beacon everyone knew we would be the best team at Haven in our year."

Lavender put a hand on Jaune's right arm and squeezed. He took this as a hint that he should not respond to the implied attack on his teammate. Lavender said, "Do I gather that you do not like Pyrrha Nikos?"

Arslan put up her hand to stop the rest of her team responding. "I would not want to be her. The problem is that she has to be nice and pleasant all the time. I can be an unpleasant hard taskmaster when I need to be, and no one minds if I swear or express frustration. We have fought ten times and she has beaten me every time. The fact that she says that I put up a good fight and challenge her is more irritating then if she said I was useless. I cannot hate her, but I find it hard to love her."

Bolin said, "Does everyone defer to her at Beacon?"

Jaune paused. He suspected that rumours of Team LLLAC's ambush of Team JNPR would have reached Haven. Besides which Pyrrha had indicated that hints that she had gone to Beacon because she would be meeting opponents she had not beaten before were acceptable.

"She is clearly the best individual fighter in our year. However, there are people who can give her a run for her money. You all know Nora and she is certainly one of the top six fighters. You also saw the coverage of the attack in the nightclub and if I say that some of the most effective fighters were not featured on the press coverage you will understand it when I say that the attitude of the best fighters is that it is possible to win against her on any given matchday."

Arslan looked hard at him and nodded. "The two blondes looked good and the girl with the scythe was intimidating. Are you trying to tell me that they were not the most dangerous people there apart from Pyrrha?"

Jaune paused and then said, "Nora is at least as good as them. Coco Adel is more than a brand name and the clips did not show how good two of the Faunus students are."

Bolin asked, "How is Sky Lark doing?"

"Quite well. His team will probably be the fourth Beacon team from the first year at the Vytal festival. I trained with some of his teammates. Did you know him at combat school?" Jaune felt no need to refer to the missteps of Sky and Dove early in the term.

"We met at competitions. I was surprised not to see him at Haven." There was a pause and Bolin said, "He comes from a family not noted for respecting Faunus."

Jaune decided to avoid a totally honest answer and said, "Does he? No doubt he knew what going to Beacon involved."

Reese then asked, "Why did Beacon accept Blake Belladonna as a student?"

Jaune again paused and said, "I do not know. I assume Professors Ozpin and Goodwitch were satisfied that she had left the White Fang. She is a good fighter who I would want on my side in a battle. I am told that Weiss Schnee knew her identity early on and raised no objection. If Weiss Schnee is happy for her to be a teammate then why should I object to her?"

Amber intervened to Jaune's surprise, "Mistral and Atlas should have tried to do an honest deal with the Belladonnas ten years ago. As it is Raven Branwen can manipulate the Faunus into backing her and export the Grimm into the rest of Mistral."

Nicholas said, "It is a risk. The Branwen tribe were a minor inconvenience until Raven Branwen returned"

Arslan said, "Was Raven Branwen a huntress?"

Nicholas said, "Yes, she was trained at Beacon. She also won the Vytal Festival once. She probably could have won it twice but the second time her teammate Summer Rose did."

Amber said "However, Qrow Branwen has stayed a huntsman. Imagine what the Branwen tribe would be like if they had both of them."

Jaune spoke before fully engaging brain, saying, "Two of my friends have an uncle Qrow who apparently uses a scythe. One of them has a surname Rose."

Amber face palmed and the twins burst into laughter. Jaunes reddened and said, "What have I said now?"

Dad recovered his composure first, "One of your friends is Raven Branwen's daughter. I thought the blonde who did not like your mother reminded me of someone."

Amber said, "Jaune, I assume the two are your age."

"Yes. Actually, Yang is my age and Ruby is sixteen."

"Raven Branwen returned to Mistral about 18 years ago. "

Amber paused, "While Jaune's friend is Raven Branwen's daughter she has probably no memory of her mother." She stared hard at Arslan who returned the stare.

Dad said, "fair point. I do not warm to Qrow, but I know nothing to suggest he has ever helped the Branwen tribe since receiving his licence. Jaune, is the girl with the scythe Qrow's other niece?"

"Yes, dad."

Nancy burst into laughter, "Is Beacon trying to cause a diplomatic incident? A team with Jacques Schnee's daughter, White Fang royalty and Raven Branwen's daughter in it is bizarre. It was bad enough when Beacon had just nabbed three of the best fighters in Mistral."

Jaune said, "I do honestly believe that the teams were decided randomly. I have described to you how they were chosen, and I was nearly on the same team as Weiss Schnee." He glanced at Team ABRN, "I will describe it later unless my sisters have pre-empted me."

Arslan replied, "They have, but I would like to check the details with you."

Jaune desperately trying to change the subject asked Arslan "Did you know Ren and Nora?"

"I have fought them. Are they still together, but not together/together?"

Jaune laughed and said, "Yes and Nora still says that."

Bolin said, "I wish they were at Haven, but I can understand why they are not."

Lavender asked, "Why is that?"

Bolin said, "I think they were badly treated. He is clearly west Mistralian, and she is Norse."

Reese said, "She gave Pyrrha perfect a hard fight when they were fourteen and then was kept away from her. She should have been able to earn at least half of what Pyrrha earned in the last four years."

Jaune said, "They are good friends at Beacon. There is no problem between them."

Bolin said, "I can believe that Pyrrha did nothing herself. She just did not ask why the rules were changed so Nora never qualified for the Mistral regionals."

Arslan said, "We respect your teammate as a fighter, and she tries her best to be a good person. She should learn how to be nasty. She does not call out her sponsors or her management team and they do things on her behalf which would make her cringe."

Amber intervened, "I feel sorry for Pyrrha. She has set herself an impossible standard. She must always be polite to people who are trying to rile her. She can never back away herself from a challenge. Bolin, you may be right about her management team, but if Nora had called her out as being too scared of losing to face her, would she have ignored the challenge?"

Jaune thought about it and said, "No, she would not. However, I suspect that if Pyrrha's management team did make the call they were fairly happy that Nora would not make a fuss and even then would have said that Pyrrha would probably win a fight."

Arslan nodded, "I suspect you are right. The four of us have supportive families who tell us when they think people are trying to say that we do not matter."

Bolin said, "Ren was too polite for his own good and people did not feel comfortable around Nora. They did not feel that they could predict how she would react to things."

Arslan said, "Apart from being a bit easy going, I never felt that with her."

"Yes, but everyone learnt not to mess with you early on and you do make it clear when you are reaching your limit."

The meal continued and at the end Amber and dad played the disc showing how Team ABRN had fought earlier today and pointed out the things they did well and what they could improve on. He was interested in how Amber and dad focused on conserving energy and aura.

At around 9.30 there was a call from mom to dad. He listened intently and then said, "It may be best if we go to bed soon. We may be needed tomorrow towards the border."