Everyone was up early in the Arc household including the twins and Nicholas. Lavender had risen first and prepared a substantial breakfast and packed lunches for all of them. She said that she did not mind because she would not be fighting or patrolling that day and was happy to help in any way she could. His mother had responded to this by inviting her to come and observe in the LGDF headquarters.
While it was clear that Lavender would spend some of the time providing coffee, she had hardly needed the reassurance which Jaune offered her that she would learn a lot from simply observing how mum organized her resources and consulted with people on the ground and the authorities.
His mother asked him to walk with her to the Ansel LGDF headquarters. She said, "Can you give me your impressions of the students from Beacon who arrived last night and who should be primarily deployed to fight Grimm and who would be of most use in calming civilians. Professor Port made some suggestions to your father last night and I want to see whether you agree with them."
Jaune said, "Ruby is probably the best person at fighting Grimm in our year. Coco has a similar reputation in the year above. Ren and Nora can be used for either function and of course are from Mistral originally. He has a semblance which muffles negative emotions, but I do not know how far it extends. Nora says it saved their lives when they were eight. However, they come from Kuroyuri, and I know that embarrasses people."
"Hmm. Will they obey if you ask them not to mention that fact?"
"Ren will and Nora won't volunteer it. She is not a good liar and tends to answer direct questions. I could perhaps get her to say that they grew up in an orphanage without referring to their hometown."
"Ok, that gives me a clue. What about the second years?"
"Port will know more about them. That team are his protégées. I have been told that Velvet and Yatsuhashi are both a good fighting team and excellent in mixed villages. Coco does take some time to get used to and some people find Fox's blindness disconcerting."
"Fine. What do you know about Ruby's father?"
"He is also the father of Ruby's sister by a different mother. Yang does not say much about her apart from making it clear that she regards Ruby's mother as her real mum. I gather that he and her two mothers were all part of a team who were at Beacon over twenty years ago."
"He was, perhaps officially still is, married to Raven Branwen. Their team won the Vytal festival twice. He was the least well known of them, but I will prefer to have him fighting. Perhaps assigning him along with Ruby to one of the huntsman teams makes most sense."
When they reached the LGDF headquarters he was surprised to see Lisa Lavender and her team there. His mother put her game face on and approached Lisa, "As we discussed last night, I will be happy to let you film the start of the briefing session this morning to the extent it discusses Grimm incursions. You can also accompany Pyrrha Nikos on her missions today."
Lisa Lavender smiled and said, "That will be excellent. My network has syndicated a ten-minute piece I did last night to the Mistral Broadcasting Company and has supplied clips to the others. I have sent a copy of the piece to your scroll and to the ministry of information in Mistral."
His mother said, "I appreciate the heads-up. The meeting starts in thirty minutes. How long do you need to set up?"
"That will be plenty of time. By the way, I gather the Mistralian networks are sending out news teams of their own this morning."
His mother nodded and took Jaune to her office where Reynard was already waiting. He looked tired and Jaune realised that he had been in command overnight. The news was not good. The four hunter teams had been up half the night dealing with Grimm incursions and around Kulsa things were particularly bad both inside the town and outside. The fighting had died down around two in the morning – apparently enough people had been asleep by then to reduce the strength of the flow of negative emotions.
His mother and Reynard discussed the deployment of their forces and where the Grimm were congregating. She then watched Lisa Lavender's news piece. The first part concentrated on Jaune's interview, and he was relieved to see that he had not been stitched up or if he had been it had not been in a meanspirited way. The end piece showed the teams from Beacon and Haven mixing in the hotel and then finished with the arrival of Pyrrha Nikos, Ruby Rose, and Coco Adel. Velvet was not mentioned by name and somehow had managed to hide herself from the cameras. In the middle there had been a summary of the rumours regarding the fall of Kurohari and the influx of refugees. The screen showed a map of Mistral showing how much of the kingdom was now under the de facto rule of the Branwen tribe.
Reynard said, "I wonder how much of that middle section was shown on MBC. By the way, well done Jaune, you came over well."
His mother checked her scroll and smiled. "Reynard, can you delay the briefing by ten minutes, but make certain the bullheads are all ready to take off immediately afterwards. The provincial governor and the Ansel commissioner want to attend. If you could then get six hours rest after the briefing and then return this afternoon, that will be best."
As the fox Faunus left the room, she turned to Jaune and said, "Jaune, your interview helped and your teammate turning up and agreeing to be filmed will have saved many lives."
"Thanks, but I don't see how."
"The governor is attending the briefing to be shown on TV to announce that he has opened the purse strings to hire more huntsmen and that the government is sending troops in to keep the peace in Kulsa and the other mixed villages and towns. This was three days earlier than the earliest day I had realistically expected. I just have to keep a lid on things for another thirty-six hours or so. The twins are calling round the fourth years at Haven they know, and are optimistic that they can get another four teams are flying in this afternoon."
Jaune said, "Why did it need me Pyrrha and Lisa Lavender to get the government to act"
"The government does not like publicity given to the problems caused by the Branwen tribe and parts of the kingdom ceasing to be under its control. Sending troops means that publicity is inevitable. The Governor and central government play chicken with each other and hope the other one breaks first to spend money. Having Pyrrha Nikos turn up here and a journalist from Vale covering the story means that the Mistral press will be covering what happens here and it is now more important to be seen to be doing something. It also helps that as far as they are both concerned the journalist turning up is not my fault and I can hardly be criticised for my son's teammates wanting to help out."
/-/
In Vale Roman, Neo, Igor, and Perry were heading to meet with Cinder and Adam. The loss of thirty members of the White Fang in the debacle at Junior's had resulted in a cessation of dust robberies on behalf of whatever group Cinder represented and he suspected that the meeting was in part to discuss what would happen next.
To be totally accurate, some copycats were still carrying out robberies. Neo and Roman had simply noted where the perpetrators were storing their hauls with a view to raiding them when Adam had reassigned members of the White Fang. He also was taking him with him copies of the main local newspapers as well as the Atlas Herald Tribune for the last week.
Igor was there to take instructions on the next stage of the W the Unknown campaign. Even Roman's cultivated cynicism had been taken aback by the willingness of a sizable percentage of the Vale public to believe in the nonsense which was spouted by the conspiracy theorists' favourite. Admittedly the fact that he had been co-opted into a conspiracy himself should mean that he would have more sympathy for people trying to make sense of the world.
He was glad that Neo's semblance meant that he could bring her along as a matter of course. Disguising their meetings from spies or curious ramblers was seen as a good thing by Cinder and Adam. It did also give him a chance of escaping if treachery ensued, but he had made it clear to Neo that she should make sure she escaped in priority to preserving his life for a few more minutes.
They met at the normal cottage and as usual he got Perry and Igor to get out of the car first. Only then did he and Neo get out with Roman making certain that Perry was between him and the nearest clear shot from the woods.
The Lieutenant with the chainsaw was the first of the White Fang to emerge closely followed by Adam. Adam indicated that they should all enter the cottage where no doubt Cinder would keep them waiting for quarter of an hour to make it clear how unimportant they all were. Perry, Neo, and the Lieutenant all took places away from the table while Adam, Igor and he had seats at the table.
Igor was of course not really called that but was happy to answer to the name. Perry had explained that apparently it was an in-joke between Igor and Mercury who both read the same comics and had similar taste in films. It apparently came from a sidekick in the Frozmanstein series of films which were based on a novel written by someone called Mary Salemscraft one hundred years ago. It was not really Roman's thing although he had enjoyed the spoof film Young Frozmanstein where the lead actor had worn glasses exactly like those worn by Professor Ozpin.
The man was a technological expert but otherwise was unfit to be let out by himself. The fact that Mercury seemed to get on with him did make Roman suspect that under different circumstances he could have rubbed along with Mercury. Certainly, if they had been on the same team at Haven, he could imagine them snarking at the world together. He had gathered that Igor was an equivalent of Mercury and Emerald to one of Cinder's fellow conspirators.
Adam scowled at him in his normal manner. He did hope that Adam was still ignorance of the number of his followers Neo had killed at Junior's. He had been told that Neo had had to fight to keep up her cover and ensure that she was invited to the open day for potential students at Beacon, but the extent to which she had gleefully created mayhem was hopefully unknown. Luckily, the bloodthirstiness of the twins and the two Faunus who had been fighting in the same section of the club had meant no shots of her killing White Fang members had been shown on TV in Vale. While Igor had been able to access the footage, he had agreed that no good could come of showing it to Perry, Adam, or Cinder, although his own boss had undoubtedly been shown it.
Roman having decided that deliberately antagonizing Adam was both unwise and unnecessary on the basis that Roman's mere existence seemed to be an affront handed him the copies of the newspapers reserved for him. "Adam, I thought you might like to read these while we wait for Cinder."
Adam nodded at him. Perry had mentioned to Roman how Adam had been recruited and it sounded as though he was as almost an unwilling recruit as Roman and so hinting that Roman was as happy about working for her as he was could not do any harm. Roman was uncertain how good a guide criminal behaviour was to that of fanatics, but if Adam had been a criminal the message that Roman would have wanted to convey was that he was not out to start a fight but would assert his independence.
Adam skimmed through the newspapers but paused reading yesterday's evening paper. Roman glanced across and saw he was looking at the coverage of Lady Winchester's training session for her relatives Cardin Winchester, Lydia Travers, and their respective teams.
Roman ventured, "Frankly, everyone seemed rather shocked she even invited two Faunus to stay let alone sit next one at dinner. I bet she does not know who the Pig Faunus really is. Neo knew her in Mistral."
Adam said, "One of the few reasons I tolerate you is that I know who she is and that you and Neo helped her even if it was for your own reasons."
He then looked across at Roman, "What do you know about the Lynx Faunus?"
Roman paused for a moment as he remembered what Junior had said and Neo had conveyed to him and then adapted it to what he thought Adam might like to hear. "A charming and dangerous cad. Sounds as though I would like him, provided we only met occasionally. The two Malachites are sharing his affections. Speaks with an upper-class Atlesian accent from forty years ago. I am told he never drops the accent despite the fact he comes from Vacuo. Neo thinks the Travers girl is also attracted to him and that Brede Campion is in love with the Pig Faunus."
Adam laughed, "The workers are taking over the means of reproduction."
At last Cinder deigned to appear. Roman handed over her copies of the newspapers.
"Dear Roman, how thoughtful of you. Adam, I am sorry I am a little late, but I needed to consult with my colleagues. Riff-raff, sorry Igor, I am afraid I can never tell you apart."
Roman noted that she was insincerely polite to him, actually polite to Adam by her standards and positively rude to Igor. He put to the back of his mind the thought that he should consider suggesting to Adam that they should jointly try and take down Cinder. With Neo's help it may be a possibility, but it was a desperate throw of the dice for which he was not yet ready.
She continued, "Roman, Igor, what is the word on the Atlesian airship?"
Roman said, "The press says that an airship was lost over deep water and that while there were a few survivors who were picked up, seventy percent of those on board drowned. Igor says that this is consistent with the information provided to the Atlas embassy in Vale although that specifically stated that the prisoner died, that the black box was irrecoverable and that they do not know what caused the accident."
Cinder said, "Igor, is what Roman said correct?"
Igor stammered, "Yyyyes Miss Fall."
"Good work, Igor and Neo."
Roman decided that while she was in a good mood he would volunteer information. "While obviously we are not carrying out dust robberies, some independent operators have been. Neo has noted where they are storing their hauls and I would suggest that when the new recruits arrive they should be used to raid these caches. I am too well known in criminal circles for either me or Neo to be directly involved in stealing from criminals."
"Dear Roman, I share your concern for your life expectancy. You and Neo are at the moment more useful to me alive."
Roman wished that this confirmation of his continued utility had not hinted that this was a merely temporary condition.
Cinder continued, "Please do keep an eye on the activities of ordinary criminals and your reinforcements will carry out smaller robberies and indeed will raid the other criminals. However, my colleagues are securing an alternative supply of dust and our activities in Vale will be primarily directed towards undermining morale and trust in the authorities. In particular, you do not have to worry about raiding the docks although we may consider blowing them up just before the Vytal festival commences. Perhaps in your spare time you can consider our options in that regard."
She handed over to Igor a large folder. "This is the suggested propaganda for the next week or so. Perhaps you could consult with Roman if there are any local factors which could make it more effective."
Roman coughed, "I am afraid that I still have too many delusions about humans to help in this regard. I am a conman and am used to my lies having to be semi-plausible."
She laughed and said, "You know when a mark has fallen hook, line and sinker. All I need is Vale specific nonsense to improve the message for those who want to believe."
Roman decided that this call was fair enough, "No problem. Igor will tell me when I am trying too hard to make it make sense."
Cinder skimmed the papers and said, "This Winchester guy seems worth promoting."
"Can you explain? He is clearly a bad con artist to me."
"He believes his own nonsense and thinks he is more important than the kingdom. Besides which he says things people want to believe. Roman, I suggest you work out a means to introduce me to him. My colleagues will be happy to fund his campaign."
Roman swallowed. He had no doubt Winchester would be happy to meet Cinder, but not in a way she would appreciate. "I doubt that will be a problem, but you may want to wear a longer skirt. He has a certain attitude towards women. Also, if I know this, you can be certain his political opponents also know about it."
"Needs must, when the Grimm drive."
/-/
Yang was saying au revoir to Blake. Weiss had said goodbye to Blake in the dorm on the basis that it was still too early to be seen to embracing each other in public. Blake was flying back to Menagerie with Kali. Oobleck and Peach were joining them to start setting up the combat school there. Goodwitch had joined them to see them off.
Blake had explained to her that politically it was better for Glynda rather than Ozpin to be seen sending them off. Glynda was seen as a hardliner while Ozpin was perceived as a wet liberal.
Yang scratched Zwei's neck. Dad had left him with her when he had flown off to Mistral to look after Ruby. He was apparently concerned that Raven might want to hurt Ruby.
Uncle Qrow had said that dad was being overly paranoid. Raven had respected Summer and although she was vicious was unlikely to have blamed dad for seeking comfort and would not want to hurt Summer's only child unless she had no option. He did say that she should take his views seriously because he had little doubt that given any half reasonable excuse Raven would try to kill him.
She was looking forward to going to Atlas with Weiss. First, it gave them an excuse to get to know each other better. Second, it would be the first time Yang had left the kingdom. Third, she wanted to be in Atlas when Salutations published the pictures of Brede in Junior's Club Mistralian with the Malachite twins.
She did find Kali Belladonna disconcerting. Kali had winked at her after her goodbye hug to Blake and her invitation for her to join Blake in Menagerie during Spring Break had seemed rather more enthusiastic than she would have expected.
She was glad to have some time to think about her reaction to Blake's relationship with her mother. She respected Blake but seeing Kali's unconditional love for Blake had made her uncomfortable. The thought that Blake had rejected Kali for political reasons while she knew her worst nightmare was that her mother had seen as a baby and decided that she was not worth caring for. Yang had been able to transfer the need for love to Summer and her death had devastated her. For some reason Ruby had, at least as far as Yang could see, found it easier to deal with Summer's death than she had. Admittedly that had involved being prepared to slaughter Grimm each time Ruby visited Summer's grave.
Still, it sounded like fun to go to Atlas with Weiss. Oddly the two of them had always got on, partly because they had never really annoyed each other. Once Yang had realised that Weiss respected and cared for Ruby, she had decided that the heiress's idiosyncrasies could be tolerated and Weiss had decided that Yang's lack of social etiquette should be similarly regarded, they had rubbed along together amicably. There frictions had always been those which gentle teasing could deal with.
She thought that on the flight to Atlas, she could discuss with Weiss when exactly she had known that Blake had been a member of the White Fang and why she had kept silent about it. She would also seek guidance from Weiss as to how far she should conduct herself in Atlas. While she would challenge people who would despise Faunus for being Faunus, she had learnt last term that sometimes prejudices were more nuanced than she had previously believed. Frack, even Cardin had occasionally not been a total jerk as far as Blake, Anne, Velvet, and Leslie had been concerned, even if Dove and Sky had been.
As far as Yang was concerned, learning that Russel's brother and uncle had been killed by the White Fang and their hair removed in a way which was symbolically important to his tribe had been a revelation for her. The fact that he differentiated between Faunus and the White Fang had added to her respect for him. Indeed, she had started to wonder why her respect for him had not translated itself into a deeper relationship beyond enjoying dancing with him.
She accepted the reasons why Ozpin had made it clear that she should not go to Mistral and why she had agreed with Coco that it was OK for Ruby to go. There was a part of her which wanted a showdown with her biological mother, but she had been unable to rehearse the conversation in any way which turned out well. The fact that Uncle Qrow had made it clear that Raven and Summer had been the best two fighters on team STRQ and that the two of them had never fought each other indicated that confrontation was not a clever idea. She was not even certain that she could defeat dad in a fair fight and if he was the weakest - fairer to say the least strong - member of the team, then confronting her mother was not a good idea unless she knew exactly what she wanted to find out.
/-/
Raven was in the Kurohari city hall awaiting Sienna Khan's appearance. She was watching the MBC news channel with a degree of irritation. She had decided that Kurohari was the last city she would besiege into submission before she became semi-respectable and was irritated by the risk that acknowledging this officially would now be seen as a sign of weakness rather than one of forbearance.
Still, she had offered a deal to Sienna Khan which if the Faunus leader was prepared to go with it would allow her to make peace with Ozpin without having to fight Salem. She liked to believe that like any good gambler she knew when to fold them and to walk away especially as she now had five dust mines under her control and had markets for the product.
It also helped that the SDC accountant who had been kidnapped by Adam Taurus had been transferred to her custody and had been content to work for her in developing the mines. If he ever got lazy or entitled she just had to threaten him with handing him back to Adam or the Lynx Faunus to make certain he started working hard. It helped that he had been induced to give up so many secrets about the SDC and the Atlas multi-kingdoms that he believe that he was better off being presumed dead.
She had avoided letting the accountant see the clippings which suggested that the Lynx Faunus had always been a double agent. Sienna Khan either truly believed that he was a bona fide White Fang member who had done what he needed to do to survive or had decided that he was an opportunist playing both sides and it was best to pretend that he was a true believer so that he would take the risk of coming into her presence again. Raven's own call was that he was a selfish, but pleasant, shit who was looking after number one. She had only met him a couple of times and he had reminded her of a more devious version of Taiyang.
Still only Sienna, Adam or the Lynx Faunus were the only White Fang members she had any fear of dealing with. Actually, she did not fear any of them, but she would need to call on her maiden powers to kill them and that would attract too much attention from both Ozpin and Salem. The only person who knew for sure she was a maiden was Vernal and she could be trusted to keep the secret.
She wondered if Ozpin would believe her if she told the truth. The previous Spring Maiden had been a chronically depressed person who should never have been cursed with the gift. She had committed suicide the day before Raven's thirtieth birthday and had decided to pass the curse/gift on to Raven.
If she was being honest with herself, Raven admitted that she had suggested this route to her predecessor but had never expected her to take the option. Raven believed in running away so you could fight another day and suicide was only to be considered if there was no other option beyond becoming a slave to Salem. She could not understand why anyone with a maiden's power would choose to give it away. She was totally behind the idea of keeping it a secret.
She exercised her semblance and was surprised to find that her husband was in Ansel. She made a keyhole connection and saw that he was in a meeting room in what looked like a Local Grimm Defence Force headquarters. It was an advantage of her semblance that she could spy on the people she was close to without them knowing. She listened for a bit but decided that they were discussing purely defensive reactions which did not really concern her.
There was a knock at the door, and she said "Enter."
Vernal poked her head around the door "Sienna Khan apologises but will be here in twenty minutes. Hazel Rainart has requested an audience."
Raven sighed but decided that she preferred dealing with the big man to any other of Salem's subordinates and that he was best dealt with in advance of meeting with Sienna.
She put on the mask and told Vernal, "Escort him in and stay with us." If need be she wanted to keep the option of passing of Vernal as being the Spring Maiden and Hazel was another person she could only defeat with certainty if she used the Maiden powers. Besides which there were some questions she wished to raise with the least psychotic of Salem's minions.
Hazel entered and Raven said, "No doubt you are here to tell me what on Remnant Tyrian Callows thinks he is up to. He killed five of my troops and fifteen of my civilians last night."
Hazel had the look of a person who was forced to give excuses for offences he regretted himself. "I suspect he was acting on out of date information as to your areas of control. My empress would not have instructed him to attack your forces."
"The White Fang are my allies and I and they have no wish to establish a reputation for the indiscriminate killing of civilians."
"Tyrian Callows is not wearing a White Fang mask nor is he pretending to be a member of the White Fang. He is obviously Faunus, but the White Fang is open to disclaim his actions."
Hazel continued, "My liege is happy for you to protect your own interests for the time being. If you want to negotiate with the White Fang it is your choice. Frankly, I doubt that they trust you."
"We have interests in common."
"You are a better judge of that than me. If we can move on to pleasanter things, are you in a position to supply my liege with the quantity of dust we discussed yesterday in the time frame discussed."
"If you agree to a 20% uplift on current market prices. I have other potential buyers who may be prepared to outbid you and it is not as though I have debts to repay."
"16% paid simultaneously with delivery to agreed locations in Mistral within the next eight weeks. It is our business to transport the dust out of Mistral. Of course, if you leak the points of handover, me and Tyrian Callows will enforce repayment plus penalties. If not us there are others of equal power who will ensure that you do not live to regret your betrayal."
"That is both reasonable and understood. For the avoidance of doubt, we will only deliver to ports and airports under our control as of today and you must give us four weeks' notice of the destinations."
Hazel delayed for a minute and then said, "Agreed provided you deliver on time. Any late deliveries are penalised at 3% a week."
"1% every three days late to agreed time at the agreed coordinates."
"Agreed."
Hazel withdrew. Five minutes later Sienna Khan arrived.
Raven said, "I am still aiming for our announcement to be made on the agreed date."
Sienna said, "Yes, I have called a council meeting for tomorrow. I have the votes. I know I can make it stick in Mistral, Menagerie and Vacuo. I cannot guarantee that it will stick in Vale as Adam Taurus may well not accept my lead and I gather has entered into an arrangement with associates of Rainart. In Atlas we have lost contact with our groups."
Raven thought about it and said, "That works for me. I do wonder what he wants that much dust for."
She paused, "I may need to see an old acquaintance. We also need to invite a few truly independent journalists to stay."