Italics are used when Fox is using his semblance to allow people to contact telepathically

Glynda had received a message from Ozpin and Qrow which dumped a problem on her. It did not help that doubts as to the security of Atlas communications had resulted in Qrow pretending to be drunker than normal and sending a message which was designed to be overlooked by any self-respecting spy. The code had mostly been agreed before she had left for Atlas, but some parts had to be improvised. Ozpin had been desperately trying to avoid a fit of the giggles and she could have sworn that he had raised his hands so that they were hiding a smile at least three times during the conversation.

Anyway, eventually she got the gist of it. Qrow had found Roman (AKA Peter's friend Norman) and Roman had agreed to reveal all for a pardon and cash (agreed to host the roast of Peter for a small fee and a club membership). Amongst the titbits he had revealed was that Team Salem had placed ringers in one of the Academies this year to infiltrate the Vytal Festival (that was what she assumed was meant that he knew of two people who were planning to gate crash the party.)

He had not actually confirmed the names yet, but there were a limited number of people who they could be. The candidates must be first years and must be among the best teams in their year at the academy. They must also have backgrounds which were less substantiated than the rest.

The prime suspects had to Emerald Sustrai and Mercury Black. Emerald was known at one stage to have been in the Mistral orphanage system, but her history was sketchy. Mercury Black had been home schooled by his father who was now dead. They had been last minute applicants to Haven.

The message had been conveyed that she was not to speak to James about it and that she was merely to keep an eye on them. She understood the reasoning. The two were not the top tier of Salem's lieutenants and their detention would risk warning Salem of the trap Ozpin and Qrow were preparing for the woman in the bullhead and Arthur Watts.

She could also see the reasoning behind leaving them alone. If they were sleeper agents, then their instructions would almost certainly be to not draw suspicion to themselves by acting ahead of the Vytal Festival. In Kulsa they had fought bravely but they had had no choice. Being in Atlas followed on from that accident. It could not have been predicted that James for his own reasons would have hijacked the SDC Winter Ball.

OK, it made sense to merely keep an eye on them just in case they were up to something nefarious in Atlas. However, James would not see it that way and would at the very least insist on deporting them.

Still having Glynda lurking around them would risk putting them on notice. She had found it useful professionally to cultivate a stare which normally warned students that now was the time to stop doing what they were thinking of doing before doing it. People tended to notice when she was observing them.

She needed helpers who would not raise suspicions by being around the two suspects, who could be relied upon implicitly and with whom she could interact without the Atlas surveillance devices listening in.

This explained why she was sitting with Team CFVY in Coco's bedroom having coffee. Coco was not the first female student to clearly be infatuated with her and to look on her as a role model. She could be relied on to do as she was asked with the minimum of questions. In addition, the fact that Fox's semblance allowed him to communicate telepathically and that her team mostly communicated that way meant that she would not risk alerting James or his staff.

She had passed a note to Coco asking her to tell Fox to join her into the team telepathic conversation.

A minute later, she heard Coco inside her head. "Professor Goodwitch, what do you need to talk to us about?"

"I need to talk to you about Miss Sustrai and Mr Black. This is probably all nonsense, but someone has raised a question about their bona fides. I don't wany to involve Atlas security as they will overreact, but I would be grateful if you could keep an eye on them tonight and let me know if they do anything suspicious and intervene if anything untoward happens."

Coco had immediately volunteered to look after Emerald who would be with the Adel party anyway after the parade of the heroes. "Besides which the girl is really enjoying the attention of being a model. Mother is overseeing a photoshoot with her now and she is doing another interview. It is true that she does not talk about the past, but the reporters are mostly interested in Kulsa anyway."

Fox said, "Mercury is friendly enough and hangs out with me, Sun, and Neptune mostly. Cynical sense of humour but that is not a bad thing. Judging by last night, he will spend tonight flirting with Team Indigo and hoping that Emerald will be jealous."

Velvet said, "Professor Goodwitch, the first time we went to the club Leslie told Mercury that if he was a spy he was being too obvious. The Ambassador was there. Mercury semi admitted it and said that it was force of habit. His father had trained him to watch out for the unusual and a member of the Atlesian ruling class being in Mantle watching a Faunus singer was that. He also said that his father would have broken his arm for being so obvious."

Velvet had hesitated and continued, "I don't usually spy on conversations, but the body language intrigued me. Leslie looked like he was warning Mercury off and Mercury was saying no problem. Apparently Leslie knew of Mercury's father and said that he hoped he was not in the same business. Mercury replied no and that no one in Atlas had reason to fear him."

Ever since the meeting at Winchester Towers and the thoughts put in her head by Lapis Stone she had been wary of the Lynx Faunus. Working for the Atlas military undercover in the White Fang, being involved in rolling up the White Fang operations in Atlas and Mantle while clearly retaining the trust of Sienna Khan was not the behaviour of a straightforward individual. He also had not been involved in the Mountain Glenn orphans charity announcement today. True it was hard to see what the man could have said at the event, but he was normally a supportive leader. Thinking about it he had avoided publicity after the affair at Junior's nightclub. Admittedly as a Vacuoan Faunus who spoke with an upper class Atlesian accent he was not exactly designed to appeal to a wide demographic and he had been covered in blood, but he had earned the right to be feted.

She decided to ask a question.

"Fox, is he within range of you at the moment?"

A delay, "Yes, but he is in the same room as the Ace-Ops and General Ironwood so he may not welcome being disturbed."

"Fine.

She decided to take the view that as an officer in the Atlas military the Lynx Faunus could be expected to have reported to James or Clover any concernswhich he might have. Anyway, she had gathered that James was busy this afternoon although he had promised to dance with her tonight.

It increased her concerns. She had known of Marcus Black as an assassin who in later years had earned more money from agreeing not to take on contracts on named individuals. James had mentioned that the man was known to have turned down contracts on Sienna Khan and Jacques Schnee because of a conflict of interest. She also recalled that the man had disappeared about a year ago.

In the end the real thing which dominated her thoughts was what she would have to tell Ozpin when she got back home. Winter had confirmed to her that the Polendina device had not been used and that the Maiden powers had been passed to her on Fria's death. She had not spoken in detail about the death, but clearly she had been moved by it.

/-/

Henry Marigold was desperately trying to keep his cool. His father had ordered him to leave Atlas and lose himself in Mistral. The first flight out had been to Argus and the ship had just landed. He just had to collect his bag, walk through customs and then out of the gates. A car would be waiting for him there and he had been told that the local manager of Atlas Gold had been instructed to keep him out of sight until the fuss blew over.

He had got through at least a bottle of champagne during the flight. He was mystified as to what could have gone wrong last night. While killing inconvenient people was not so far as he was aware a regular event for the Marigold family, his understanding was that Gris Farthing was an expert and Gerald Rouge had not had his aura unlocked.

The most attractive stewardess on the plane had not objected to him taking liberties in exchange for 100 lien and he had felt a lot more relaxed afterwards. She had also towards the end of the flight told him that he would be given the expedited disembarkation service for VIPs. He had gratefully accepted as it would him get him out of Atlas territory quickly. He had put his business card into her lapel pocket, and she had giggled. If it had not been for the need to keep a low profile he would have asked for her number.

He walked down the boarding stairs reserved for him and got into the buggy which was driven by an Atlas soldier who had also carried his case down. He was then driven towards the VIP area.

Colonel Cordovin and two more soldiers were waiting for him. She was known to favour the wealthy old families and so it was not unusual to see her there to greet him. He just hoped that she would not take up too much time currying favour. He offered his hand to shake, and she accepted it and grasped it tightly. Just then one of the soldiers grabbed his left hand and pulled it behind him while Cordovin twisted his right hand so that it was behind his back and his knees fell to the floor. He heard a click and realised to his horror that he was now wearing handcuffs.

"Is this some kind of joke? My father will have your job for this." Deep down he knew it was mere bluster, but he had to try something.

"Henry de Peiffel Marigold. On the authority of the Atlas council, I have been ordered to arrest you for questioning on suspicion of conspiracy to murder Gerald Rouge and Umber Corner."

"I have nothing to with this Umber Corner. I mean I don't know him. I was sorry to hear about Gerald's death. It was a tragedy that he took his mistake so hard."

The woman intoned. "You have the right to remain silent, but it may harm your defence if you do not mention when questioned, something that you later rely on in Court. Anything you say can be used against you in court. The council has declared that you do not have the right to talk to a lawyer for advice for the next 24 hours. After the time you have the right to have a lawyer with you during questioning. If you cannot afford a lawyer, one will be appointed for you if you wish. If you decide to answer questions without a lawyer present, you have the right to stop answering at any time."

She paused, "I am authorised to tell you that the authorities will resist any application for bail on the basis that you are a flight risk. We will be transporting you to Atlas in a bullhead which will leave in the next twenty minutes."

A pause, "Mr Marigold. I am sorry that I have to do this, but my orders are clear."

/-/

Yang was waiting for the ball to start. She was sitting with Blake talking about the last few days while dad was sitting on the other side of her. She had reassured dad that while the stories about her time at the night club last night might have some truth to them, she had got back to the Schnee mansion in one piece and did not share a bed last night.

Dad had of course embarrassed her by saying that he was sorry to hear that before winking at her. Luckily he did not reminisce about his time at Beacon and the number of mutually satisfactory encounters in the gardens he had enjoyed with the female students.

What was worse was that everybody now knew that the egg donor had given birth to her and ran away. Admittedly it was only on about page five of the papers, but she gathered that on the scrolls the photos and discussion were scoring high on hits on the scrolls. The views varied between those who were distrustful of the egg donor for being an unnatural mother and those who praised her for making sacrifices for the greater good.

Apparently footage of some of her more exuberant dances with Russel had gone viral on the Mantle and Atlas scroll network. Already there was a compare and contrast video of her and the egg donor dancing to the song used to celebrate the new republic. There had been a message from Coco not to read the comments below the line and to get a new private scroll address.

She was thinking of having a card printed with the answers to the questions which everyone wanted to ask, but that would need her to have answers she could give. Anyway, tomorrow she would be travelling back to Beacon, and she then would have a week letting out her frustrations on the Grimm.

Dad arguably had it worse. He was now the man who had married Raven Branwen and whose daughter by another woman had been the saviour of Kulsa. One of the papers had actually got hold of back copies of the student year books where dad had been named the most likely to die in someone else's bed. The egg donor had been nominated as the most dangerous woman in her year which sounded about right. Summer had been the most beloved and Qrow was the man most likely to be involved in a bullhead accident.

Anyway, there were plenty of other things going on to distract her from feeling sorry for herself. Blake had dragged her over to Cardin and Russel and had congratulated Cardin on his speech earlier today. Cardin had just said it was the right thing to do and sometimes one had to disagree with your parents. This flustered Blake, but Kali had overheard and had come and given her a hug and added her appreciation to that of Blake for Cardin's words.

It was now Cardin's turn to look embarrassed. He muttered something about having had to grow up a lot in the last year. She and Russel had exchanged smiles. It looked as though their friendship would survive the snog. The real question was whether he wanted more than that from her (and indeed vice versa) and also whether Blake felt for her what she suspected she felt for Blake. She decided not to ask for dad's advice as on his record it would be to recommend going out with both at the same time. It was times like this that she really missed Summer, her real mum.

Weiss was with Brede and Neptune and was looking nervous. She was still looking at her playlist and had even consulted Professor Oobleck on it. The main problem had been deciding which Faunus rights song she should sing. She had decided rightly after taking soundings that her singing "We shall overcome" was not a good idea. The retort that the Schnees had already overcome was self-evident. "We shall not be moved" had similarly unfortunate consequences if sung by an heiress.

The Schnee family name may be on an upward spiral now, but Weiss had told Yang that she worried that just one mistake could undo all the good work. In the end she had gone with "The times they are a-changin'." Not perhaps the best for her voice, but the lyrics were safest.

She had also said that she would be glad to be back at Beacon. She had enjoyed playing Atlas leapfrog for a week or two and at a time when it was more important than normal, but she was not certain that she could face the constant jockeying for small advantages which full time involvement would bring.

She and Brede also looked excited and anxious about stuff which Weiss had told Yang was purely an internal Atlas issue. In the end it had taken Oobleck coming over to them and saying that there was nothing they could do about it for the next few hours so they should just focus on the ball for the next few hours. Oobleck was not obeying his own advice as he was engrossed in the feed on his scroll, but he said that he was enjoying himself watching history unfold. He said that it was a good corrective for thinking that an outcome was inevitable to witness how confused things were as events progressed in real time.

It was also rather sad seeing Weiss try to spend time with Neptune without sinking the gossip which had her and Brede paired up as the new Atlas power couple. It did not help that Neptune was being courted by Jacques Schnee because of his father's transportation network. The man could not get enough of Weiss's attention and had far too much from Jacques and his own father.

Team CFVY (bar Velvet who was taking photographs for Salutations) was mixing with Emerald, Sun, and Mercury although Sun did flit over to see Blake regularly. She could not bring herself to dislike the monkey Faunus but wished that he was not around this evening. Blake had promised both of them dances which while tactful was probably unsatisfactory for both of them.

Ruby was in a space of her own. She had promised to spend time with Yang on the way home but today had been closeted with dad, Professor Port and the old lady, Maria. Professor Goodwitch had also spent time with her. Ruby had accepted the need to wear a ballgown but had vetoed high heels. Zwei was sitting on Dad's lap at the moment. Ruby was stroking him, but it had been impressed on her that dog hairs and ball dresses were mutually incompatible.

Team JNPR and Team ABRN plus Professor Pink, Amber Arc, and Claire Arc were keeping together. While there were interactions with others, it was clear that they felt uneasy about discussing the recent developments in Mistral and the other students were uncertain what to say to them. Yatsuhashi had spoken with them and that had gone well. Team Indigo had also felt fine about approaching them. Perhaps the line from Octavia that at least Mistral had two governments while Vacuo had none had been close to the knuckle, but Pyrrha had chosen to laugh, and the others had followed her cue.

Suddenly Professor Goodwitch looked at her scroll, said to herself "Frack" which startled everyone who knew her. She then said, "Don't panic or react aggressively to what is going to happen now. Velvet be ready to take photographs."

Suddenly a portal opened up in the middle of the room. Lisa Lavender dressed in a ball gown, a man in a dinner suit and a film crew came through the portal. A voice from within the portal said, "I told you that you would go to the ball. Tell the General that I did not set foot in Atlas without an invitation even though I could have."

Dad's head spun round at the voice. He said, "Raven?!" in a loud voice as the portal closed.

Lisa Lavender looked a trifle embarrassed "I'm sorry about the entrance, but at least it was not during the speeches or the performances. President Branwen was most insistent that I attend the ball."

Yang felt tears coming to her eyes. Qrow had described the egg donor's semblance to her. She suspected that the egg donor had used the connection to her or dad to deliver some journalists to the ball. She had not even bothered to say hello to her.

Suddenly Blake was by her side closely followed by Ruby and Weiss and finally dad.

/-/

Meanwhile General Ironwood prepared for a night which was going to be more dramatic than he had planned for. The events of last night had led to an ex-security chief for the Marigold family being carried out of his home alive but in a body bag to mislead onlookers. The man had then turned Kingdom's evidence and revealed the location of a security deposit box which had belonged to the previous head of the Marigold family as well as telling all to Harriet and Elm.

The head of the Atlas Academy legal team had reviewed the evidence. An hour ago, the man had told him and Clover that the choice was between hushing it up and going all in. He now had to decide what was best for Atlas.

The decision was made easier by three factors. First, his office had received several calls from prominent families saying that they had been sounded out about supporting a coup by the Marigolds. This suggested that there were a few more who had been approached in this regard. After a few minutes hesitation, he had decided to advise all those who had contacted him to cover their backs by sending messages to the Marigolds suggesting that they would not object to the proposed result if successful and to let him know any details they heard

Second, there were clearly people who knew the truth out there. They had been tipped off about the Marigolds cleaning up behind them by an anonymous source (although he had his strong suspicions about whom it had been). Too many people already had watched the coverage of the first murder yesterday evening and would suspect a cover up if no arrests were made. It defied belief that Gris Farthing would have gone into business without specific orders from the family he served. The second intended victim was alive and was incandescent with rage about being targeted after years of faithful service. A cover up would fall apart.

Third, arresting the people behind the murders would be the right thing morally and in the long term politically for Atlas. There would be some short-term damage, but on balance it was the right choice.

He looked up at the Ace-Ops and special agent Corkran. "Clover, issue the press release about the arrest as soon as the Marigold siblings have arrived at the ball."

/-/

Weiss was standing with mother, father, and Brede backstage. They were waiting for General Ironwood to join them before mother and the General officially welcomed the guests to the ball.

She and Brede had been asked to read out the names of the heroes of the attack at Junior's and of Kulsa who were in attendance tonight. She and Brede had vetoed any suggestion that the two of them should be included in the category of heroes. The only other person who had declined to be brought on stage was Corkran. He had said that he had other duties that evening which he needed to attend to.

Father would not be involved in the ceremony opening the ball. He would be hosting a table, but he took the view that for the time being it was not right for him to have a prominent role in the ball. He had heard about Lisa Lavender's arrival and had been momentarily annoyed by the fact that She had shared a dorm not only with the daughter of an ex-leader of the White Fang, but that she had also been housed with a woman whose mother could create portals to her relatives. The potential for kidnapping had shocked him. He quickly recovered his calm. Nothing had happened and the women would surely not revert to criminal activity so soon after she had sought to become respectable.

He was checking his scroll and suddenly fist pumped the air. Weiss checked her scroll and saw that Henry Marigold had been arrested on a charge of conspiracy to murder. The noise from the ballroom suggested that all the guests had been sent a copy of the press release.

The General then arrived with Clover by his side. "Sorry for the slight delay. Are we all ready?"

Jacques left the room after congratulating Ironwood for making a hard call. Jacques was clearly heading for the ballroom to discuss the implications of the arrest of the heir to the head of the Marigold family.

Ironwood offered his arm to Willow, and they made for the stage. The plan was for them to make a short speech welcoming the guests to the joint Atlas Academy/ SDC Stronger Together ball, announce that profits tonight would be donated to the Kulsa relief fund and the Ansel Local Grimm Defence Force and explain that recent events showed how important it was that Faunus and humans worked together against common enemies.

There was polite applause as each major point was made and an enthusiastic cheer at the end. General Ironwood then asked the crowd to welcome Weiss Schnee and Brede Campion.

There was general applause for the pair although the Marigolds and their closest allies firmly sat on their hands. Still there was no actual booing.

Weiss and Brede explained that they were honoured to introduce the heroes of the White Fang attack and the defence of Kulsa who had joined them here tonight. Brede acknowledged that he and Weiss had been prevented from joining in the first by the actions of their security guards and said that the men and women had only been doing their job.

As no one wanted this to go on forever, most of the fighters came out in groups of two or three. Behind the stage was a large screen which showed some footage from the fights and recited what each person had done during the battles and which Kingdom they hailed from. First up she announced Professor Goodwitch and Dr Oobleck. Loud applause and even some wolf whistles greeted the two teachers. Weiss was still trying to get her head round how Dr Oobleck could still look unkempt in a dinner jacket. Possibly it was the hair. They moved to the side of the stage as would everyone else who came out.

Cardin, Blake, and Russel were announced by Brede who referred to all three as being his friends and classmates. The three took a joint bow and curtsey. This had been decided on to avoid the risk of the audience booing Blake or just politely clapping and then cheering Cardin.

Weiss then announced Professor Port, Taiyang and Professor Pink. Pink took his bow first and then led the applause for Port. Port had been the colour commentator at the Vytal Festival for over twenty years and he received the first standing ovation of the evening which carried over for Taiyang.

Brede then introduced Velvet and Coco. Although they had not fought at Kulsa, everyone considered that their defence of a Faunus village merited their inclusion and some footage of that fight confirmed that this was justified. Again, they took a joint bow. They were dressed in matching dinner jackets and received tumultuous applause and a standing ovation. The Atlas military present and the fashionistas combined to rival the applause for Port.

Yatsuhashi and Fox were next up and were followed by team ABRN. The audience remained on their feet now they were up and applauded reasonably enthusiastically. Arslan receive the biggest cheer. She was admired by many in Atlas for actually trying to fight against Pyrrha Nikos in the Mistral regional tournament. Also, the footage of her and Yatsuhashi working together had been spectacular. The woman looked slightly taken aback. Weiss suspected that she had got too used to being underappreciated because of Pyrrha's dominance.

Team Vibes received a huge cheer especially when Sun activated his semblance. His three teammates were all lifted in the air by his clones. She hoped that he had cleared this with them all in advance. From what Blake and Yang had said the man seemed a little high spirited. Emerald Sustrai was clearly wearing an Adel special number which was appreciated by the women in the audience (and a fair number of the men).

Next out was Claire Arc who had been in charge of the defence of Kulsa. While she had not fought herself, everyone acknowledged that her strategy had been faultless. The section of the audience where the Atlas military were sitting were particularly noisy and stamped their feet as well as clapping. Carpet bombing Grimm with dust never gets old especially as the orchestra played Nora's song over the footage.

There had been some dispute over the order, but Pyrrha and Winter had put their feet down. She and Jaune came out together and the applause somehow managed to be louder than any so far. Pyrrha had even made certain that Jaune got proper acknowledgement by kissing him as his name was announced. She was glad for Pyrrha although mystified by what she clearly saw in Jaune.

Winter Schnee was next out and Weiss was amused to see that the Campion table sat down and did not applaud her. It did not matter. Winter had impressed everyone by the fact that she had fought so bravely for a town which was not in Atlas and for a district exclusively lived in by Faunus and even people who did not like the Schnee family respected her. Her part in the Vacuo affair three years ago meant that the applause from the families with multi-Kingdom connections was muted, but this did not make a difference.

Nora and Lie Ren came on. Nora was carrying Magnhild and the two were holding hands. Nora had insisted on them taking them a joint bow. Nora remained centre stage as Amber Arc strode on. The clips of her and Nora taking on Alpha Grimm throughout the day and night at Kulsa were thrilling. Winter came back to centre stage to shake her by the hand and Amber raised both Winter's hand and Nora's to what was easily the loudest applause of the evening so far.

Weiss then made certain her voice was under control. "And finally, my best friend and team leader, Ruby Rose."

Ruby came on looking embarrassed and carrying Crescent Rose.

/-/

May Marigold had been enjoying the evening more than she thought she would. The announcement of Cousin Henry's (AKA Piffle) arrest and the sight of the relatives trying to pretend that nothing had happened had been hysterically funny. May could not believe that he was guilty of anything more than knowing the murder was going to happen. Uncle knew his son's limitations and would not have allowed Piffle to instruct the family enforcers without his express permission.

The introduction of the heroes had been about the right length, and she approved of the prominence given to the students and teams from Mistral. Fiona had speculated on whether Brede and Weiss were lovers, but she and Robyn had doubted it. Both were inclined to think that, although marriage was possible, they were more like allies and friends. Admittedly that was a better basis for marriage than most elite couples, but neither seemed the sort who would be easily pressured into following orders.

They had then had twenty minutes of Weiss singing. The girl had a fine voice although it was one which May admired rather than loved. Still Mirror, Mirror and This Life is Mine resonated with May although she did wonder whether Jacques Schnee had ever listened to the words of the latter song. The protest song had been better than expected, although it was incongruous listening to an heiress singing the lyrics.

The Beacon students had performed some karaoke style music and dancing for around fifteen minutes. Pyrrha Nikos and the rest of Team JNPR had clearly been practising their moves and Robyn had speculated aloud about how even when she was having fun the girl could not help being perfect Pyrrha.

The blonde girl Yang and Nora Valkyrie had belted out a rock number together. Wisely Yang and Weiss did not do a duet. Their styles would not have worked well together.

The orchestra had then taken over and dancing had begun. May wondered whether Team FNKI would be playing tonight. If they were it was certain that the more entertaining songs would have been vetoed.

Just then a man wearing a captain's uniform in the Atlas Military approached the three of them. May wondered at a junior officer being daring enough to approach them, but then realised that it was the Lynx Faunus from last night. At least the uniform made sense of why he had been accompanying Marrow Amin.

The man said, "Well met by moonlight, proud ladies. Coz, I think that you should introduce me t' the rest of the family and commiserate them on the arrest of our cousin."

May laughed. Perhaps it was the effect of the alcohol which had been drunk, but the idea appealed. Robyn nodded at her and said, "Go on May, it is not as though you have any bridges left to burn."

May had said "Fine, just do not take off the cap until they have acknowledged our presence."

May took the Faunus's arm and led him over to the table where the senior members of the Marigold family were sitting.

Father took a deep breath when he saw her coming, but Uncle John gave her father a look which said quite clearly that he would deal with the situation.

"May, I suppose that I should not be surprised to see that you and your two friends are the token representatives of Mantle here. Have you told your friend here of your future intentions or are you going to take him by surprise one day?"

She was going to retort when the Lynx Faunus pre-empted her. "I am intrigued to make your acquaintance sir. I have always wanted t' meet a man with no honour who allows his son to take the fall for his own crimes and arranged for the killing of his own sister, her husband and nephew."

A ghastly hush fell around the table and indeed the surrounding tables. May thought that her relatives would have a collective heart attack. No one said something like that to the Marigold family.

Uncle John recovered first. "I suppose you must be drunk or have been dared by her niece or is it nephew to insult us. Let me know your name so I can complain to General Ironwood and sue you for slander."

The Faunus took off his cap to reveal the ears. Further signs of anger from the family members. Being insulted by a Faunus was not something which they could be inspected to stomach.

The hush was spreading around the room. All the nearby tables had caught on that something was happening.

Father said, "Shut up, you dirty animal. How dare you speak to your betters in such a way. And stop using that ridiculous accent."

"Uncle John, I do apologise. Although you and grandfather ordered the nephew to be killed, he survived. Uncle Rupert, I learnt the accent from my mother, your sister."

Father said, "Nonsense, my sister is in an asylum and never had a child. How dare you slander a woman who cannot defend herself?"

May was staring at Uncle John. He was looking terrified and had gone white.

The Lynx Faunus said, "I did not answer all your questions, Uncle. My name is Leoan Leslie Dunsterville, although I am generally known as Leslie Corkran. Mother was a Redyard Kipling aficionado if you recall. Tomorrow I will be flying back t' Beacon, but I will be happy t' accept service of a writ there. My defence will of course be that of truth."

He turned to May, "Cousin, I think our work here is done."

Aunt Iris's husband Mulberry rose from the table and tried to hit the Lynx Faunus. The man moved quickly, caught the fist, and twisted. Mulberry crashed to the floor in a heap. Even by the standards of the family Uncle had been remarkably stupid in taking on a younger man in the military and who was training to be a huntsman.

"Are you really my cousin or were you just winding them up?"

"I am."

"Why didn't you say something years ago?"

"I was waiting for a time when people would be willing t' listen t' my story and not dismiss it as the ravings of a lunatic. Only recently has the science existed t' prove that I am the son of my mother."

/-/

Pyrrha and Jaune had heard the confrontation. Fox had ten minutes ago passed on a request from General Ironwood that they keep close to the man called John Marigold and be prepared to use their semblances.

They were dancing close to the table where the Marigold family were seated and it was quite clear that if it had not been for the fact that the whole of Atlas high society was watching, the two brothers and the sister would have been arguing.

Pyrrha had noticed that John Marigold was carrying a gun. She gulped; she had used her semblance on guns before, but only in the arena where there was no risk of damage to innocent bystanders. She told Jaune to be ready to activate his semblance to boost hers.

Twenty minutes later. Willow Schnee and General Ironwood came back on stage and the music stopped. The General tapped the microphone and silence fell.

"Today we are celebrating unity between kingdoms and unity between Faunus and humans. I am aware that some people are sceptical of this. Many for example believe that the law is applied differently to an autocrat in Atlas and a worker in Mantle, that a Faunus will not get a fair hearing in court. It is essential for the well being of the kingdom that we acknowledge that these accusations had some truth in the past. However, the council is endeavouring to improve matters. For many of our fellow citizens the changes are either happening too quickly or too slowly. However, there have been real achievements."

The man talked about these including the enforcement of the rules against the multi-Kingdoms in relation to their Vacuoan operations, encouraging the enrolment of Mantle citizens and Faunus at Atlas Academy, the reform of the Atlas social security system and so forth.

"The most pernicious belief is that a rich man can get away with murder when a poor man or a Faunus is imprisoned for stealing a loaf of bread to feed his family. Today I was presented with incontrovertible evidence showing that twenty plus years ago a prominent Atlas family arranged for a Faunus to be killed for the crime of falling in love with a human and plotted to have the woman incarcerated in a lunatic asylum.."

John Marigold had left his chair and was walking quickly towards the table where Jacques Schnee was sitting. She told Jaune to activate his semblance and he did so.

The man drew the gun and fired at Jacques Schnee. She concentrated hard and the bullet was diverted into the table rather than hitting Jacques. Marrow Amin shouted "Stay" and the man was stopped in his tracks. Harriet Brees ran towards the man and disarmed him.

She then said, "John Richard Marigold, you are under arrest for the attempted murder of Jacques Schnee and conspiracy to murder Gerald Rouge and Umber Corner. Further charges are expected to be forthcoming."

She nodded in Jaune and Pyrrha's direction with a hint of approval.

/-/

James Ironwood finished his speech which had ended in the arrest of Rupert and Iris as well as John Marigold.

It had shocked him how arrogant the previous head of the family, Raymond Marigold, had been. He had asked his security chief to film a murder being committed and had kept evidence that three of his four children had sanctioned it. Had things really been so bad twenty years ago that the family could dismiss as negligible the risk that they would be punished for killing a Faunus who was seen as having besmirched the family honour?

Admittedly the man had died of a heart attack and had not told his heir about the safe deposit and the bank had been given no instructions to notify his heirs on death. Winter had suggested that he had not trusted them and that had been the reason for getting their agreement in writing to the murder.

Still before he made the final decision on whether to make the arrests publicly at the ball rather than bring them in for questioning more discretely he had watched the recording. He sat there with Clover Ebi and saw the last ten minutes of a man's life. He then reviewed the affidavit provided by the murder target of what had happened eight years later in Vacuo.

He decided that arresting the Marigolds at the Ball was the right thing both morally and more importantly for Atlas. He knew that he could use this to break the power of the Marigold family and their fellow travellers and increase the control he exercised over Atlas. The multi-Kingdoms would be too distracted by the impact of the arrest of the Marigolds to want to make trouble about the new Branwen republic. Jacques Schnee had already got the majority of the multi-Kingdoms to back the Atlas government's policy towards the new republic

Sleet and Camilla had fallen in behind him as arresting one of the most notable families in Atlas for ordering the killing of a Faunus from Mantle would send a message to Mantle which would ease tensions there.

It did not mean that he was at ease with all of the ramifications. He had a subordinate with a claim to a 20% interest in Atlas Gold and it was likely that after the arrests tonight another 20% interest would be passed to May Marigold to exercise. She was the oldest child of Rupert Marigold after all.

It was unclear what would happen to John Marigold's interest in Atlas Gold if Henry Marigold was convicted of conspiracy to murder. In any event the claim for fifteen years dividends plus interest and triple damages for fraud on the twenty per cent of the voting shares which the dead sister had owned might well clean out John Marigold, not to mention the claims for damages for the murders.

He also knew that he and the Ace-Ops had been played by someone who had excellent reasons for doing so. It rankled that the man had known for years about the facts but had waited until now to pull the trigger. He had explained that until now no one would have wanted to believe his story and the Marigolds would not have been panicked into trying to kill the one remaining eyewitness.

I am aware that I am risking letting an OC hijack this story. I have tried to mitigate this by having him be more of a catalyst to show the strengths of my versions of the show characters and rarely if ever have him as a POV narrator.