Even with modern transportation, it took two weeks until Blake's ship was finally near Menagerie. Just heading southward from dawn until dusk for two straight weeks. Being on the ocean was nice. At least at first. The monotonous greens of the southern Sanus plains were replaced by the monotonous blue of the open sea. Until she got used to it, it was a nice change of pace. Now she couldn't wait to see land.

Well, she probably could wait. When she finally touched down, she'd have little choice but to go home. Her parents would be waiting for her. Even if she could only put it off for a few minutes, she'd savor them. Her last meeting with them hadn't been especially positive. The idea of facing them again was terrifying, at first. After having a few weeks to come to terms with it she felt a lot better about it, but still nervous.

On the day of her arrival, Blake stood on the deck, staring out over the horizon. Off in the distance, she could see Kuo Kuana. She was finally home. How many years had it been? For all she knew, it would be unrecognizable, but when her ship touched down and Blake disembarked, she felt at home almost right away. Kuo Kuana was just as loud and crowded as she had left it. The streets just barely had enough space to let someone walk around, and with how many people were outside talking all at once, it wouldn't be uncommon to have to yell in order to be heard by people right next to you. Newcomers to the city often found it overwhelming, being around so many people and with so much noise that a good night's sleep by Menagerie standards would be a bad night in a lot of other places. For natives like her, though, it was oddly charming. The city was always full of life, and there was rarely ever a dull moment.

The main thoroughfare led to a large manor complex in the city center. The Belladonna Estate, the only real home Blake had ever known. Most of the people on the road didn't appear to recognize her. With just how many people were in the city, though, that much was to be expected. Blake rolled her luggage down the street towards the manor, taking deep breaths as she did.

Blake saw the manor's guards before long. A pair of them stood on either side of the main entrance. It took a bit longer for them to see her, but when they did, their eyes went wide. One of them ran inside, no doubt to get her parents.

"Miss Belladonna!" Said the other guard. "Yo-you've come home!"

"Sorry if I made you worry," she said.

"Oh, um, well-" They probably wanted to say she should save her apologies for her parents. They were right, but you couldn't exactly say that to your employer's daughter, could you?

"Is it really true?! Is Bl-"

Hearing that familiar voice broke Blake's heart. Then her mother burst through the doors, her father right behind her. The guard was with them, but Blake barely registered their presence. The three Belladonnas just looked at each other for a second. When Blake started crying, her parents rushed forward and enveloped her. She just held onto them and cried into her mother's shoulder. Some people might've been looking at the three of them, just crying out in the open, but she didn't care what any of them had to think.

"Word's can't describe how happy I am to see you!" Her mother sobbed.

"It's such a relief to see you home safe," her father added. "Let's get inside. Take her bag to her room, please."

As the guard left with Blake's luggage, she followed her parents to their dining room. Her father called for someone to make them tea. As they waited, they settled down around their low sitting table, resting on cushions placed on the ground. Blake was sitting opposite her father, and the two sheepishly looked away when their eyes met, ushering in an unpleasant silence.

"May as well get the Goliath in the room out of the way," her mother said, "Are you still with the White Fang, Blake?"

"Kali!"

"You were thinking it too, Ghira. We both know it. Well, Blake?"

"N-no! I left them a few months ago. Adam, he… I didn't notice how little he'd come to regard human life. If that was the sort of White Fang he was a part of; if that's what it was becoming, I didn't want anything to do with it."

"Where have you been since then?" Ghira asked. "Why didn't you come home sooner?"

"I don't know." Blake lightly rubbed her arm, thinking of how to mention what she'd been doing. "I… enrolled in Beacon Academy. In Vale. That's where I've been."

"A Huntsman Academy? What business do you have there?" Ghira asked.

"I know how to fight, because of Adam and the White Fang. I wanted to do something with that experience. Becoming a Huntress just felt… natural to me. So I could still help people."

"Well, it's surprising to hear, but I'm proud, Blake," Kali said, "Ghira and I were always worried about what Sienna was doing with the White Fang, and we were worried about what would become of you, if you stayed with them. Knowing you left them, though? Knowing that you still haven't lost that desire to help people? I think that's a best case scenario."

"Mom… is it really okay, though? I've been gone for so long! I-"

"Was a teenager. Are still a teenager," Ghira said, "You wanted to fight and we said no. The rebellion was expected."

It felt odd, hearing her split from her parents simply being referred to as teenage rebellion, but it was a textbook example, wasn't it? A teenager thinking they knew everything about the world going against their parent's well intentioned wishes just because they didn't like what they heard.

"Have you heard much from the White Fang, dad?"

"No, I haven't. Why?"

"They were there. In Vale City. Not one of their 'noble crusades' for faunus rights. They were just stealing Dust. With a human."

"The White Fang, working with a human?" Kali said. "That's odd."

"It is. That human - I still remember it - was about to call them 'animals'. He had to catch himself before it got him in trouble."

The tea arrived, and as their servant left, Kali poured them all a cup. Taking a sip from his, Ghira said, "That is concerning. They definitely didn't work with humans when I was at the helm. And Sienna doesn't seem like the type of woman to want to cooperate with humans."

"Are you sure, though? Frankly, I could imagine her working with a human if they helped her get what she wants and didn't care about the cost of life that would need to be paid. In other words, a common criminal." Kali said.

"But why? That would just make them look worse!" Blake exclaimed.

"Adam is the leader of the White Fang in Vale, last I heard. It's been a few months, but did you hear or see anything?" Ghira asked.

"No, I don't think…" It was a very brief encounter, but Blake did remember something. She didn't have any context for that meeting, and she hadn't really thought of it, since it was such a short exchange. "Actually, there were humans. They came to our camp, right before my last operation with the Fang. I don't know who they were, or why they were there. Adam told me not to worry about it, so I didn't. The man who was at the docks wasn't one of them, though. I feel like I would've remembered seeing him."

"So he has been in contact with humans. This can't bode well." Ghira crossed his arms, his brow furrowed. "Strictly speaking, we have no reason to worry about the affairs of Vale. However, whatever it is Adam's doing could reflect poorly on all of faunuskind. Not to mention how innocent humans are being harmed, too. I believe I'll have to try seeing if I can contact Sienna. He is her subordinate."

"I wasn't expecting such a simple question to take such a turn!" Kali drank some of her tea. "I'm surprised to hear about this whole school thing! I guess this is your summer vacation?"

"Uh, yeah! It is. Staying on campus was an option, but it only felt right. To come home, you know?"

"I'm glad you decided to come see us. You must have all sorts of stories from these last few months!" Kali said.

"I've heard that huntsman academies split their students into four man teams. So that must've helped a lot with making friends." Ghira added.

"It really has. My teammates are all nice people, I think. …Even the Schnee."

Her parents both froze when she mentioned the name. Blake giggled at their reaction. She told them stories of her time with the rest of Team RWBY, and what the city of Vale was like. Menagerie lacked the same infrastructure as the rest of the world, so Blake only could've imagined that their own education growing up was much different to what she had recently experienced. They spent just as much time catching her up on things that had happened in Kuo Kuana as she did telling them about her school life. It was nice, being home, able to laugh with her parents over tea, like good old times. She wasn't going to be home for a very long time, but she had a feeling that she was going to enjoy it.

A few days had passed since Blake's arrival. She was standing on a balcony, looking out over the city. Kuo Kuana was by no means perfect. It was nice enough, though. A lot of the people on Menagerie were like her, born and raised there. Just as many, maybe even more, were immigrants, fleeing the discrimination of places like Atlas, or especially Mistral. It was hot, the island was mostly desert, and it was extremely loud and crowded. For many of them, though, it was a marked improvement to not being able to shop somewhere because of how you were born, or being denied employment because someone was paranoid that their employees would just start refusing to work until you were laid off. Life wasn't perfect there, but the people were still happy.

"It's a beautiful day, isn't it?" Kali asked.

"We're just so far away…" Kali joined her daughter at the edge of the balcony, joining her in admiring the view. "It's a miracle that the CCT towers can even reach us, and it's just barely. Being so far away from the problems of the world, though… it makes the people happy, right?"

"Well, I certainly think so. Being drowned in the sorrows of the world gets awfully exhausting. I'm sure you know that well enough. Are you happy, Blake?"

"Excuse me?"

"You say we're happy here in Menagerie because we're so isolated. You aren't. So, are you happy like us?"

Was she happy? Her time at Beacon was definitely fun, and it was much preferable to the time she spent away from her parents, or when she left the White Fang. She wasn't sure that could count as any sort of happiness, though. After all, life for the faunus was still less than ideal in much of the world. The Grimm were always a threat to peoples' safety. Even their fellow human or faunus posed a threat, if they were desperate enough. Blake was acutely aware of all of these things. Even with her friends there to make things at least a bit easier, could she be happy, knowing about everything else?

"I don't know, mom. I want to say that I am, but I don't know."

"Do you know what you might need to be happy, then? Some sort of goal to work towards? A dream you want to make a reality? A person you want at your side to make it all easier to bear?"

"A goal… a dream… if I could make the world a better place for us faunus, I guess. That would be a start. I think that's a long way off, though. I don't know if it'll even happen while I'm still alive. As far as a person goes…" Blake wasn't sure. At least, that's what she wanted to say. Two faces flashed in her mind. Two blonde faces. She didn't say anything, but the blush spreading across her face certainly pleased her mother.

"So my little girl has a little crush. I'm rooting for you, sweetie!"

"I don't have a crush, mom!"

"Oh, really?" Kali tried getting a look at Blake's face, but she turned away whenever her mom got close. "Your cheeks went awfully red there, Blake. Thinking about that special someone? Think they're someone I'd like? Oh, who am I kidding? If it's someone you chose, I'm sure to like them!"

"There is no someone and there's nothing to like!"

"Oh really? You're a schoolgirl now and you expect me to believe you don't have any crushes?" Kali shrugged. "Well, have it your way. But… if you're just embarrassed, that's fine. Like I said, I'm rooting for you. If this person could make you happy, I hope everything works out with them, whoever they are."

"Thanks, mom…"

"Your father is in his study. I think he could use a drink, if you wanted to bother him a little bit."

"Yeah, I think I'll do that. I haven't had a chance to talk to him one-on-one yet. I just hope he isn't as weird about things as you were, though."

"If you ever have kids, you'll be like this someday. Trust me."

Blake rolled her eyes and headed inside. She brewed the tea herself in the manor's kitchen, even though one of their servants offered to do it for her. She wanted to deliver the tea to her father herself, so it only made sense for her to make it herself. It felt more personal that way.

Once the tea was ready, Blake readied a tray to hold the kettle, cups, and sugar, and started on her way to her father's study. She wasn't sure what she would talk to him about in the slightest. She spent the walk racking her brain, trying to think of something that wouldn't be too awkward or boring. She turned the corner leading to his office, eyes turned towards the ground as she rehearsed a few things to say. She looked up when she was almost there and stopped in her tracks. There was someone sitting outside of her father's study. Someone she hadn't seen in quite some time now.

"Blake!" The girl shot up, a stunned look on her face. Her skin was spattered with freckles, and they had all gone pink when she saw Blake. "What're you doing here?!"

"I live here… What're you doing here, Ilia?"

"I… I-"

Almost on cue, the door to her father's study opened. Adam walked out. Seeing Ilia was surprising enough, but when Adam appeared in the hallway, Blake almost dropped the tray. He paused when he saw her, then just closed the door. He motioned for Ilia to follow him, and started walking.

"Wait just a damn minute!" Adam and Ilia had already passed Blake by the time she called him out. "You just show up in my home, and you're just going to walk past me without saying a word?!"

"You ran away from me," he said, "I assumed you wouldn't want to speak to me."

"What are you doing here?" Blake demanded.

"I was talking with Ghira. I don't know what else you thought I was doing in his study."

"What about?"

"I don't believe you need to know that, Blake. It doesn't concern you now." He started to walk again.

"I know what you did! You teamed up with those humans from a few months ago! I saw the White Fang at the docks in Vale! They were there on your orders, weren't they?!"

"Adam?" Ilia asked. "What is she walking about?"

"That's what I'd like to know." He turned to face her. "I didn't hear about this until it was all over the news. You think that was on my command?"

"You're in charge of the Vale White Fang. Of course I think you had something to do with it!"

"I've punished the fools who thought to go behind my back. My hands might be stained, but as far as this incident goes, they're clean." He just stared at her for a moment. "Do you still care for humanity?"

"What?"

"You ran because the idea of killing humans - humans complicit in the sins of Jacques Schnee - was repulsive. Are you still blind, Blake?"

"If anyone's blind, it's you, Adam." She had never hated humans the same way he did. If he just spent a bit of time with them, he'd see that not all of them were bad. Even if it was flawed, after seeing just how accepting Vale was as a nation, it made her blood boil for him to try and compare them all to that man.

"So you say. You'll come to see the error of your ways some day, Blake. And you'll see that coexistence is nothing more than a pipe dream."

Blake didn't try stopping him this time. Ilia looked back at Blake as her superior just walked on, a clear look of intense anguish in her eyes, then she followed him. Blake took a deep breath, trying to compose herself as she entered her father's study. Now she definitely had something she wanted to talk about.

"You really ought to work on your inside voice," he told her.

"What was he doing here?"

"Talking. I see you've brought tea. Come, serve us some cups and I'll answer whatever questions you have. Assuming I have answers."

Blake poured two cups of tea, and Ghira started dropping sugar cubes into them. He dropped one too many into Blake's, but she was too late in stopping him. She had liked her tea really sweet once, but her sweet tooth was on the way out in recent years. There wasn't much that could be done now, so she just picked up the cup and started drinking.

"Should I be worried?" Blake asked.

"Not necessarily. It isn't as if he threatened me or anything. He did indeed actually just come to… talk."

"What about? If it's someone like Adam?"

"I wouldn't exactly say he intends to… rebel against Sienna, but I expect a schism within the White Fang soon. He tried to win me over to his cause."

"And I shouldn't be worried about that?"

Ghira nodded and said, "If he were to get his way, the White Fang's methods would remain the same. The thing that would change is the end goal. What Adam wants is no longer equality with humanity. He wants separation." Blake didn't say anything. She just stared at her father, anxiously awaiting his next words. "Menagerie is less than perfect. We all know that. Adam knows that. Which is why his aim is to force humanity to the negotiation table with his actions, so they can grant us a homeland truly worthy of faunuskind. I turned him down, of course."

"Why would he want your support?"

"The name Ghira Belladonna still holds sway with many faunus across Remnant. An official endorsement from me would be a great boon to his cause."

"He told me that he didn't know about what happened in Vale until after it was already over. Do you believe him?"

"I'm not quite sure." Ghira finished his tea and poured himself another cup. "Stirring the pot like that probably would get peoples' attention, which is exactly what he wants. By the way, he told me about something that's probably weighing quite heavily on your mind."

What would he know? The two hadn't seen each other in months, let alone talked. Blake's ears drooped, a bit worried about whatever she was about to hear.

"A while back, I heard about a news story. An SDC train had been attacked by the White Fang."

"No…" Blake's heart sank. She had always wondered what happened to those guards. If they were being brought up now, then…

"The survivors mentioned some young woman who had effectively saved them. More like, because she didn't kill them, they had a chance to accept Adam's offer to leave alive, as long as they quit their jobs right away."

Blake just stared at her father, still trying to make sense of what he had just told her. People had lived? They were able to go back home? Adam let them go back home? Tears began rolling down Blake's face. She had been so worried about what happened to the people she had left on the train. If they were alright, she was relieved.

"So it was you they were talking about. The news story itself never mentioned you or Adam specifically, so your mother and I couldn't put two and two together. One of them mentioned wanting to thank her after the fact, but Adam told them she had already gone. That was the day you fled the Fang?"

"It was."

"Well… I imagine you wanted to talk about something?"

"Sort of. I just wanted to spend a bit of time with you, if you weren't too busy."

Blake saw the faintest of smiles on her father's face. It was just as awkward as Blake was worried it would be, but she spent a decent chunk of the afternoon just talking with him. Preparing some things in her head beforehand definitely helped keep them from just sitting in awkward silence for a while.

Since most of Menagerie's population was Mistrali in origin, the island's culture was heavily influenced by that of the kingdom. Kuo Kuana held an annual midsummer festival, like those you'd see in big Mistrali cities. The crowdedness and chaos of the city had a bit more order and meaning to it, in the context of a big old festival. It only made sense for the streets to be packed then. The streets of the city were illuminated with soft lamplight. Blake and her parents walked along amongst the crowd. Kali was holding several skewers of grilled meat in one hand and a big cup of beer in the other, complete with an equally big straw.

"Are you sure you don't want a kebab, Blake?" Kali asked between bites.

"I'm good. The one I had earlier was enough."

"How about you Ghira, dear?"

"I'm already getting full, so I'm fine."

"Ghira, you're massive," Kali said, "how are you full when I'm fine?"

"I think the better question is how your stomach is a bottomless pit." Kali shrugged and went back to her sticks of meat and vegetables. "Well, we have some time until the fireworks. Is there anything you two want to do?"

"I think I'm alright just walking around, dad."

"More food?" Kali asked. "There are probably a few things we haven't eaten yet."

"I've been married to you for 20 years and I still don't understand how you can eat so much…"

There were some street artists playing during the festival, and a few carnival games. It was a bit awkward with the streets being so filled, but they worked. Dust powered air conditioners blasted cool air as people walked. Even at night, it was still hot and, as always, how many people were out didn't help. If not for these air conditioners, everyone would've been miserable. Blake really was content with just walking around until the fireworks. Kali took the lead. She went around, trying as much of the food as possible as her husband and daughter just watched her antics from the sidelines.

It was really nice, attending the midsummer festival with her parents, since it had been so long. They were so far away from the rest of society that Blake didn't have to worry or even think about the problems of the world at large. She had barely checked the internet since she got home. It felt a bit weird, not talking with her friends much, or knowing what's going on in the lives of faunus in the other nations of the world, but Kuo Kuana presented Blake with a nice, simple life. She liked that. When people started clamoring about the fireworks, Blake turned her eyes skyward. The clear, star speckled sky was breathtaking. In a big city like Vale, the sky wasn't nearly as clear. There were so many stars hanging up there, and it made Blake feel a bit bad for people in cities with so much light pollution. Then the fireworks started.

Blake watched in awe with her parents during the light show. She wouldn't mind just staying in Menagerie, but she couldn't. She had school to go to, and friends to see, once the summer was done. Even after graduation, when she'd be busy with work, she wanted to try and make trips home a normal occurrence, if it meant being able to bask in the simple joy of being around people just like her, her loving parents and her childhood home just a short walk away.