Winter was still adapting to being the Winter Maiden. Fria had tried hard to prepare her for the experience. However, Fria had been the Maiden for over 70 years and had forgotten the minor irritations of the early days when briefing Winter. On the other hand, some of the things Fria had mentioned had not bothered Winter. It wasn't as if there was another Maiden she could ask about things with Amber being unconscious, the Summer Maiden hidden and the Spring Maiden at the court of the self-proclaimed President Branwen.

It had been an eventful week in Atlas, and she had welcomed the long flight as an opportunity to take stock, consider things and plan ahead. As they prepared to land at Beacon, she ran through the points which she wanted to make to Professor Ozpin about the need to take steps to transfer the residual Maiden powers from Amber to someone else. That was the reason for bringing forward Polendina's visit and taking Penny with them on the journey. She also wanted to talk to Ozpin about the hunt for Watts.

It was frustrating knowing that she could not trust the technology that Atlas had designed because of fears that it was compromised by Watts. The fact was this meant that she and Clover would be spending a lot of time in flight talking to people until the Watts problem was resolved or Polendina and Scarlatina were confident that they had found the back doors into the programmes governing the most important parts of the infrastructure of Mantle and Atlas. Actually, ignore that, they needed to deal with Watts.

She also thought about her family. Her mother was the most functionally alcoholic she had been in ten years. Weiss had learnt to play Atlas leapfrog with the best of them. Whitley was almost human. She still did not trust her father. However, his self-interest had led him to throw in his lot with the General and she supposed that the actions of her and Weiss had made it easier for him to change tack. He was no doubt buying up the non-voting stock in Atlas Gold with a view to leveraging it to persuade May Marigold to sell off some assets to the SDC in exchange for him not joining in a class action to prevent her investing in Mantle.

It remained to be seen how the legal cases played about but the fact that there was a real chance that May Marigold could end up being the only adult human member of that family not in prison no doubt filled her father with glee. She hoped for their sakes that Weiss and Brede Campion either loved each other or had the strength to resist the political pressures for them to marry.

Another consequence of the threat from Watts and her being the Maiden was that she was being sent out of Atlas to encourage the servants of Salem to go after her directly rather than trying to create havoc in Atlas in order to flush her out into the open.

They landed at Beacon and Qrow was waiting at the landing site. By his standards he was polite. He did first direct Lieutenant Corkran to a meeting room. The Faunus as he was dressed in the Atlas uniform saluted her. She agreed with Marrow Amin when he said that at least they no longer had to worry whether he was a double agent for Atlas or the White Fang, the answer was that he had been playing both of them for his own ends without actually betraying either of his employers. Everyone now wanted him as a student at Beacon for the next three and a half years where he hopefully would lead a quiet life.

Qrow took her, Glynda, Polendina and Taiyang Xiao-Long to Ozpin's office. The latter was rather surprised at the invitation. Penny Polendina and the old woman Maria was sent off with Team Ruby to get to know them better. Cardin Winchester and Russell Thrush were greeted by their teammates and apparently were heading to the college bar.

Just before they got in the lift, Qrow said "Ozpin already has a few others up there. Do not draw your weapons, they are here for a good reason"

They went up in the lift to Ozpin's office. Ozpin greeted them at the lift door. To her surprise there were three people besides him waiting for them. A very nervous looking Professor Lionheart, a huge man who she recognised as Hazel Rainart and almost as astonishingly Raven Branwen. In front of Raven Branwen was a rather garish lamp. She looked at it again and looked at Ozpin, "Is that the Relic of Knowledge?"

"It is. I hoped that seeing it in the flesh, so to speak, would save time later. This morning my guests paid Qrow a visit after entering the vault beneath Haven. They asked a question of the being which inhabits the lamp and found the answer so alarming they at once came to me."

She glanced at the others. Pietro had his normal benevolent smile across his face. He knew of the Vault at Atlas if only because General Ironwood had had to reassure him that there was no need to fear Atlas falling on top of Mantle and to explain why there was no obvious power source keeping Atlas in the air. Glynda had moved to Ozpin's side as normal while positioning herself so she could keep an eye on Rainart and President Branwen. Taiyang was frowning while Qrow had his normal insolent look.

Raven said, "I am the current Spring Maiden so access to the Vault was not a problem. Hazel here had passed on a request from his ex-employer for me to hand over the relic in exchange for being left alone by her. I decided that before handing the relic over, I should find out why she wanted it."

She then turned to Ozpin. "If you are going to play the tape, I will take my leave and return when it is over. I do have a republic to run. People start worrying if I don't go and shout at them regularly."

The woman waved her sword in the air and vanished through a portal she had created.

Taiyang said, "Ozpin, the only reason I can think of for why I am here is that you are going to press gang Ruby into doing something dangerous and want my help in talking her into it."

Qrow said, "Watch the tape, old friend, and then let's have the row."

Ozpin must have spotted her glaring at Lionheart who was avoiding her stare, "Now is not the time for remonstrations. The important thing is that the fact that they were in the vault this morning consulting the relic gives us an opportunity to save Remnant from destruction; you, Winter, from being murdered; and the chance to force Salem to rebuild her operation from scratch."

Ozpin paused, "There are details revealed here which I have hidden from all of you here. Past experience has shown me that for most people there is only so much truth they can handle. Besides which recording technology is a recent invention and in the absence of this people preferred to believe that I was scaremongering. However, I see no point in hiding it from you now."

He paused, "Please do keep what you see here secret and consult me before talking to anyone else. Winter, Pietro, I know you will need to speak to James about it. Please ensure that any such conversations are held away from recording devices. The scroll we are playing this from belongs to a member of Raven's bodyguard. We are as confident as we can be that the enemy has not hacked it."

Winter watched the tape. It was just as well that she was not a worshipper as the gods were truly petty. It was definitely odd seeing her proposed murder and the theft of the Maiden powers especially as two of those meant to be involved where in the same room as her now. The attack on Amber who she had met a few times was shocking to watch. While she had found the girl too trusting and naïve herself, she had been a good person with the potential to grow into the role.

She recognised the two people helping the woman with the Grimm glove. Her instinct was to arrest them, but as they were now in Vale she did not have jurisdiction. She also realised that from a practical viewpoint arresting the accomplices risked warning off the more important people. However, these two deserved the severest punishment. The same went for Adam Taurus if he was still even considering going ahead with the plan for Beacon after the White Fang leadership had declared a ceasefire.

In the end she reserved her greatest contempt for Watts. Watts had had a comfortable life and was respected (if cordially disliked) by his colleagues. The man was monstrously vain. He had decided that being passed over for leadership of the Atlas scientific academy meant that he was justified in potentially killing half the population for revenge against Polendina and General Ironwood. He even had two people helping him. She looked forward to arresting them and bringing them back to Atlas for punishment.

She actually despised Watts more than the woman who planned to steal the maiden powers. She was frightening enough, and she wondered what motivated her. Tyrian Callows was clearly insane, but she could emotionally understand that he thought himself to be following a greater cause.

She watched quietly until the end of the tape which showed the gods destroying the whole of Remnant and Salem whispering "Finally I will be at peace." She could almost understand why Ozpin had not revealed the entire truth about her. If it was not for her sense of duty and now knowing what her endgame was, she could understand the temptation to appease the woman or at least ensure that someone else was her prime target. Dr Oobleck had said something about Raven Branwen's skill in ensuring that she had never made herself the biggest problem in Vacuo which everyone agreed needed to be dealt with.

There was a stunned silence at the end of tape broken by the sound of a portal forming and Raven walking through it.

Ozpin coughed. "Dire as that all was to watch, remember that most of the end scenes are not what will happen, but the current plans of Salem. I would also stress that none of her agents, apart perhaps from Tyrian Callows, signed on for the end of Remnant. As many as possible should be offered the chance for redemption."

"But they are traitors to humanity!"

Qrow said, "More like soldiers who chose the wrong side."

Rainart said, "Most of us signed on for something where we were given the opportunity to achieve what we thought was for the greater good. I, for example, wanted revenge on Ozpin for wasting my sister's life and that of other youngsters. Leo here had despaired about the Faunus ever achieving equality in Vacuo and daily was reminded that he had responsibility without power. Any changes he wanted to make at Haven were vetoed by people who made it clear that they did not respect them. I offered him a chance to make a difference."

Ozpin said, "I hope you all understand why my interventions tend to be nudges rather than orders. As a sort of immortal, I worry about becoming my wife and deciding that I know best for everybody."

Lionheart said, "I get that now, but it's not as though you gave us much of a clue and you can afford to wait decades for your plans to come together. I was watching as the Mistral political establishment became more and more corrupt and simply interested in feathering their nests and gaming the system so that their human children could take over."

Ozpin coughed, "We have more urgent things to discuss. The reality is that we have an opportunity to cripple Salem's current operations. We know where Tyrian Callows and Cinder Fall will be in two days' time. We have an opportunity to ambush them as they intended to ambush Winter. Glynda and Qrow caused problems for her and if they, Hazel and Leo are in support of you then you should be able to take her."

Hazel said, "Its tougher than that. Tyrian has a semblance that can break someone's aura and he has a new metal stinger and new tail armour through which he can inject venom. He is Vytal Festival finalist quality as a fighter."

Raven said, "His semblance was strong enough to break Summer's aura."

The room fell silent. Taiyang and Qrow looked particularly thoughtful.

Ozpin broke the silence, "A metal stinger and tail?"

"Yes." Ozpin nodded and looked at Glynda, who nodded back.

Qrow said, "I saw that the girl was part of the plan. What is she meant to do?"

Hazel replied, "Cast an illusion so that Winter does not see me, Tyrian, or Cinder until we attack her. She's a good fighter. They both are. You saw that in Kulsa."

"Will Cinder go ahead with the attack without her?"

Hazel shrugged, "Probably. However, there will need to be a good reason for her absence. Emerald obeys every order from her."

Qrow muttered, "Bit like you and James, Ice Queen." Winter ignored the jibe.

Ozpin said, "We know where the other assistant of Watts is and Roman will be bringing Ygor in tonight. Hazel here is confident that he can be persuaded to work for us. Pietro, it may be worth you debriefing him and telling him that he will have a free pardon in exchange for full cooperation. He must know some of Watts secrets and techniques and it could speed up the process of protecting Atlas and Mantle."

Winter asked, "Who is Roman?"

"Cinder's employee in Vale. He has been very helpful over the last few days. The news that we have a plan for dealing with Cinder Fall will greatly relieve him."

Ozpin paused, "Winter, I want you to be under no illusion. Roman's cousin and one of Watts' assistants were the actual perpetrators of the attack on the bullhead carrying the White Fang prisoner back to Atlas. You will find it distasteful, but in return for their cooperation they will receive a full pardon and indeed will be paid generously. We are after the people who ordered the attack, not the foot soldiers."

Winter started to object, but Qrow intervened. "You and Ironwood covered up worse in Vacuo. You accepted money and promises for the future in return for not prosecuting anyone."

Winter felt that this was not entirely fair but explaining that they had sent a man undercover in the White Fang who had proved himself by kidnapping and killing the worst offenders who had worked for the multi-Kingdoms was not something she was going to admit to anyone but Ozpin and Glynda.

Raven piped up, "If the assistants are an embarrassment to you all and were good enough to work for Watts, I will offer them jobs in the Branwen Republic. Perhaps the promise of running their own lab will sweeten the deal."

Winter knew that it was not possible to speak to the General about it without risking alerting Watts. "If the assistants do not return to Atlas then I am certain that the General will agree to not seeking their extradition or rendition. I will discuss pardons with him after the event. He feels strongly about people who kill his soldiers other than in battle."

She turned to Ozpin, "Emerald and Mercury enabled the attack on Amber to succeed. Surely you must want justice for her?"

Ozpin paused. "I have lived too long to allow my desire for revenge prevent me from doing what is best for Remnant."

Hazel boomed in, "That attack was carried out by three broken people. Two of them can be fixed."

Winter asked, "Who is this Cinder Fall?"

Hazel said, "You recall the Glass Unicorn fire. She was the adopted daughter whose body could not be found. She killed Rhodes."

Winter grimaced. She could not admit what had gone wrong with Atlas Social Services even though it had been under the previous regime, but it had been bad. Orphans from Mantle had been sold off as slave labour under the guise of adoption or fostering and there had been no oversight of what happened to them.

Hazel said, "I had hoped that she would respond to being given some freedom and responsibility better than she did. She is filled with a desire for revenge and for power. Killing you and taking your power from you while taunting you would be deeply satisfying for her."

Ozpin said, "I have agreed with Hazel that he will have an opportunity to turn Mercury and Emerald after the Adel fashion show in Vale tomorrow lunchtime."

He paused, "We know what Adam Taurus's plans are. As of this morning he has told Cinder Fall that he will wait until he meets with Sienna Khan's envoy before making up his mind. According to Hazel, Cinder Fall is confident that he will eventually fall into line with Salem. The longer he delays obeying the summons of the White Fang council the longer he has to find reasons for rebelling. I have agreed with the request from Raven that the White Fang envoy be allowed the opportunity to talk Adam round or to otherwise deal with him. The envoy is capable. His suspected semblance is appropriate."

Winter suspected she knew who Ozpin meant. She wished that she did not feel that the best result for Atlas would be for the two Faunus to die fighting each other. She said "That leaves Watts. Do we know where he is?"

Hazel said, "He's on his way in from the Grimmlands with one of his assistants. It's yet to be decided whether he is going to be in Vale or Mistral in two days' time."

Ozpin then said, "Winter, you need to know this. Hazel tells me that Watts has a briefcase which he claims contains a device which will allow him to trigger within a minute some bugs imbedded in core programmes which will cause chaos in Atlas and Mantle. They were intended to be a bargaining counter or a final two fingers to Atlas if he was ever in danger of being captured or killed."

Winter looked at Polendina. "How credible is that threat?"

"I can't rule it out. We've spotted some backdoors he left, but far from all of them."

Winter tried to process this. She recalled the file on Watts. The man was trained at combat school level and had taken courses while working with the military. Not a qualified hunter, but good enough to give a hunter a fight and certainly a strong enough aura to be able to buy some time.

She said, "Do you think he will trigger it if he knows that Tyrian and this Cinder are dead or captured?"

"No. He and Cinder hate each other."

Taiyang said, "May make him more nervous. It's like flaring your aura on a mission. It is set enough to instantly respond to trouble."

Ozpin said, "It will be more dangerous for the mission as a whole to tackle Watts before the others."

Winter thought about how the General would want her to balance the needs of Atlas with the needs of Remnant as a whole. She knew she was needed to entrap Callows and Cinder Fall, but she could not risk Watts knowing that the plot had been uncovered and setting off his booby traps.

Raven Branwen interrupted "Which assistant is he travelling with?"

Hazel thought for a moment and then answered. "Riff-Raff. Don't remember the real name and he always refers to himself by the nickname anyway."

"Tall, receding hairline with long straggly hair?"

"Yes. Have you met him?"

"Not really, but the name fits the silent sidekick he had in tow the last time he came visiting."

Qrow sniggered.

"You remember brother. We danced it at the other Vytal Festival ball. Was tempted to use it at our independence ceremony, but somehow couldn't see Sienna Khan doing the tap dance. Besides which the hip thrusts might have been taken the wrong way."

Ozpin explained, "Before your time, Winter and more of a Vale thing. They danced and sang the Dust Warp from the "Dusty Horror Picture Show." They got Peter to be the narrator for them. The sight of him thrusting his hips is not easily forgotten."

Glynda looked as though she agreed with this.

Raven intervened, "Winter, there is a point to this. An interesting interaction of me being the Spring Maiden and my semblance is that I can open a portal to any descendants of a past Spring Maiden. I often try and spot useful portal anchors for future use. Riff-Raff is one I had saved up for a rainy day. By the way Leo, one of your ancestors was a maiden which is why I keep turning up at inconvenient moments for you."

Qrow grunted, "I thought it was odd when you used the semblance to leave the meeting room."

Ozpin laughed, "The idea that my current body is a descendant of a maiden is hard to deal with."

Raven snarked back "Frankly I like the idea of part of me being your great-grandmother."

Glynda who had spent years ignoring banter said, "Does this mean that you may be able to deliver a team of hunters into Watts presence so long as he has this Riff-Raff near him?"

"Precisely."

Winter began to see the glimmerings of a plan. "Professor Ozpin, I suggest that I call General Ironwood and request that he send Marrow Amin to join me on my goodwill mission. After all he does send a message about the changes in opportunities in Atlas and made a good impression in Vacuo four years ago. He is also very useful in battles against a speedy opponent. He also may help ensure that we can kill three birds with one stone."

Ozpin thought about this and then nodded.

/-/

Ruby had been summoned to see Ozpin and for some reason Penny and Maria were also invited along, although the summons to Penny had been formulated as a request to see her father. She had reluctantly separated from her team. She could tell that they were unhappy that she had obviously been told to keep secrets from them. Ruby was not a good liar and in the end had had to say that she was not allowed to tell them everything yet.

Uncle Qrow and dad had fetched them out. Uncle Qrow had apparently known of Maria and sounded like a fanboy. Apparently Harbinger was based off Maria's old weapon the remnants of which she now used as a walking stick.

They were met at the lift by Professor Goodwitch who took out a special key and when they were in the elevator used it to open up a compartment with additional buttons in it. The life moved downwards, and she found herself in a huge underground cavern which was dimly lit.

She realised that it was serious when she saw that besides Ozpin, Professor Goodwitch, Winter Schnee, Penny's dad and Raven Branwen were there.

Taiyang said "Ruby. They are going to ask something of you which I would prefer you not to do, but they have persuaded me that there is good reason for asking you to do so and that it is your decision to make."

Ozpin asked her if she remembered the story about the four maidens. When she replied that she did, he explained that there was a core of truth behind it. He said that currently there were two and a half maidens in the room with her.

He then said, "Weiss's sister Winter is the current Winter maiden. Raven Branwen has been the Spring Maiden for around twelve years. I am afraid the young lady in the container is Amber who was – is- the Fall Maiden."

He played a tape which showed the girl being attacked by three people two of whom she recognised from Kulsa. She also saw Uncle Qrow intervening before the girl had been totally killed.

Ozpin then said, "Ruby, Amber will never be the same again. She has been too badly injured to recover. The person who tried to kill her stole around half of her powers. She is now seeking to finish the job and will stop at nothing to achieve this goal."

He played an extract from the tape he had showing the middle of Vale full of Grimm, the Vytal arena in flames and Beacon in ruins. Ruby looked at it in shock.

He then fast forwarded and showed Winter Schnee being held by the big man in the corner of the room and by a Scorpion Faunus who fitted the description of the one whom Velvet and Coco had fought. The woman who had attacked Amber was wearing the same glove and was taunting Winter as she used the glove to remove the aura and the powers of the Winter Maiden.

"We have an opportunity in two days' time to stop this from happening. It will be necessary to kill the woman involved. If she dies we do not know what will happen to the powers she had stolen. They may come back to Amber here who is unable to use them and may survive, but not live, for a long time like this. They may be transferred to a young woman who is a servant of this killer who will be overwhelmed by them and may be tempted to use them for vengeance against the world. They may go to an unidentified random girl who may or may not be able to cope with the powers."

Raven intervened, "The two Spring Maidens before me could not cope with the powers and the responsibility involved. The current Summer Maiden has hidden herself away for twenty-five years. Ozpin may have meant well when he created the maidens, but a strong personality is needed to be one. I believe that the best option for Remnant is for you to take on the powers which are left with Amber here and then go with Winter, Qrow, Hazel, Leo, and Glynda to Haven in two days' time. You can then use your eyes to burn away the Grimm glove to protect Winter and then kill Cinder Fall."

Maria said, "We will need to practice tomorrow in order to ensure that you can control the power of your eyes. We will take your uncle along. It is a long time since I was flattered by a younger man."

Ruby said, "How can I take on the powers of Amber? What happens to her if I do? What happens to me?"

"Excellent questions to which you deserve an answer. Normally the powers of the maiden transfer on death to a person who had been chosen by the maiden or is uppermost in the Maiden's mind. Occasionally they transfer to a random girl. In all cases the new maiden must be under the age of thirty although the name maiden is misleading. Many married women have been maidens."

"Or indeed unmarried women with the morals of your auntie Raven." This snarky remark came from Qrow. Yang's mother ignored the remark.

Ozpin ploughed on. "Winter and Raven can tell you about the normal process and what it entails. Unfortunately, it is not possible to use that method with you and Amber."

Ruby held her hand up. "I'm sorry Professor Ozpin. If I am going to have to take a risk and either die or be a half maiden, then I want my team to know about it. They need to be here. I want their views before I agree to this."

She then turned and looked at Raven, "I also want you to talk to Yang. You've talked to me, Dad, and Uncle Qrow in the last few weeks. You have not talked to her."

"What can I say to her? If she is anything like me she decided ten years ago that I am not worth bothering about and any excuses I give now are self-serving justifications."

"As a bandit leader that might have worked. You have just established a republic which has equal rights as a founding principle. Besides which mum left a letter for her which said you were a good woman. You are clearly not totally evil, but you refuse to speak to her"

She saw the woman swear under her breath. "Ok, just don't expect this to help her."

Pietro leaned forward. "Can I explain about the process before you call your team in? For reasons linked to why I am in a wheelchair I cannot have children in the normal way. I created Penny and transferred some of my aura to her using the machines you can see before you."

Penny looked embarrassed and hugged her father.

Taiyang tried a couple of times to formulate a comment but stopped. Eventually he said, "Penny is a lovely young lady, but transferring aura to someone without it is a different thing from transferring it to someone who has an abundance of it. Besides which are the Maiden powers linked to aura."

Ruby held up her hand. "I agree Penny is a credit to you and I am proud to call her my friend." The way Penny reacted to this both made Ruby feel glad she had said it, but also disturbed that Penny needed the reassurance so much.

Qrow said, "Have you used it to transfer aura between two living people?"

Pietro said "Yes. Between parents and children, I have carried out operations to save lives. A small infusion can kick start the aura revival system."

Ozpin said, "Perhaps you can show Ruby and Taiyang the reports for their reassurance."

Raven said, "If you are going to show the tape again, I do need to get back to Sienna to help her kick ass. I will be back in an hour."

Ten minutes later the rest of team RWBY joined her. Selected bits of the tape were shown and an explanation of the fact that Maidens were for real was given. It was then explained that Amber had residual maiden powers and that Ozpin wanted her to accept a transfer of them. At that point Raven reappeared in the room behind Qrow.

Raven said, "Hello, Team RWBY. From what I have seen you have some talent. For the moment, the important element for you is that both me and Winter Schnee have taken on Maiden powers without it overwhelming us. Professor Polendina has a machine which can transfer aura between individuals and now Hazel Rainart has something to say. Yang, I have promised your sister I will talk to you, but this is more important."

Hazel said, "Watts knew about Polendina's work on aura transfer and the potential application to Maiden powers. Winter's predecessor had some memory problems and there was concern that she might die when she was not compos mentis and as a safety net Pietro designed a machine designed to allow aura transfers. When Watts defected to Salem he discussed the concept with Salem. They designed the Grimm glove and that successfully transferred a significant part of the power of the Fall maiden to Cinder. She was the same person afterwards as she was before."

Taiyang commented. "She was bat-guano crazy before as well as afterwards. That's not a huge recommendation."

Ozpin said "I have known most of the Maidens. Ruby, what I have seen of you convinces me that you will find the transition easier than most."

Raven said, "The worse I have had to deal with is the voices of past maidens trying to bully me into being a better person. You get used to them and anyway you take after your mother. The voices will approve of you. For me those which approved of my actions were more annoying than those that did not."

Winter said, "So far Fria is the only one who says much. I expect that after seventy years the other voices had been intimidated into silence."

Winter looked at Weiss, "Sister, I have been the maiden for two days now. I believe that I am the same person as I was before."

Raven said, "You are the child of your parents. Summer in her quiet way had a force of will which made the rest of us work hard as students for fear of disappointing her. She also was a glutton for responsibility and was never overwhelmed by it. Your father was brave enough to have a relationship with me despite the warnings of my brother and was strong enough to earn the love of Summer."

She paused, "Look your father did not deal well with Summer's death, but none of us did."

Ruby looked at Qrow who nodded assent. She remembered the past and felt honour bound to say, "Yang stepped up and looked after and comforted me. It's only in the last couple of years that I realised that she was floundering as much as me and dad."

Yang hugged her and she also felt Weiss and Blake holding her.

Ozpin said, "If I can sum up the reasons we want you to go through with this. First, you have the power to dispose of the Grimm glove which Cinder Fall wears. Second, your semblance and your silver eyes mean that you can make full use of the Maiden powers. Third, I believe that you have the strength of character to cope with the maiden powers. Fourth, we need to maximise the chances of ensuring that the powers of the Fall Maiden are held by someone with the capacity to use them."

Taiyang said, "They are asking you to rely on untested technology. The last Winter Maiden did not use it, presumably because she did not trust it."

Ruby said, "What would mother have done?"

Taiyang and Qrow fell silent.

Raven said, "I can tell you. She would have said yes. Answer for yourself though. Summer was too brave and noble for her own good and yours. On the other hand, she would have been right when she said that the powers of the Maiden have to be wielded by someone with the self-belief to use them and the desire to do good."

A pause, "Ruby, you are right to insist on your team knowing about the decision you are about to make before you finally make it. Your mother would make her mind up and then tell us."

She then looked at Yang. "You wanted this conversation. Personally, I think you would be better off thinking that I am a bitch. Why did I leave you and your father? When I was waiting for you to be born, I bought the books of fairy stories which I wanted to read to you. I then realised that too many of them were true. Salem far out-powers Ozpin because he had passed on too much to the maidens. She cannot be killed. I decided that instead of fighting a large war which could not be won, I was better off protecting my tribe and wider family and winning during my lifetime."

A pause. "The fact was that during my pregnancy I heard news that the Branwen Tribe was within two years of extinction. We had lost 25% of us since me and Qrow had gone to Beacon and the Haven hit squads had taken out all the competent fighters of our age and older. I felt guilty for abandoning the tribe and I knew how good I was."

Ruby was about to say something when Raven shook her head. "Let me finish. I found myself two more excuses to run away. First, Summer would make a much better mother than I would. Besides which Taiyang loved her more than he loved me. He lusted after me but always liked her more than me. In part he did not chase after her because he knew how much Qrow loved her."

Ozpin held up his hand to stop both dad and Qrow from objecting. "Let us accept that Raven is speaking as she saw things."

Yang's mother continued. "The thing which made it easy for me to go was that Summer had hatched a suicidal plan to confront Salem and burn the Grimm powers out of her. Leaving Yang and Taiyang in the lurch forced her to look after them and when Ruby was born I thought that she had abandoned the idea. Unfortunately, after Mountain Glenn and Kuroyuri she decided that her duty called. In some ways it was my fault. Kuroyuri took me by surprise. It was not intended. I had no reason to believe that the Grimm were so active there. We discovered a very powerful Grimm lurking outside the town and if I had not already had the maiden powers I would have died. The Grimm I killed had been grown on top of a Faunus who had silver eyes."

Ruby looks towards Maria who nodded.

"I met up with Summer about six times a year when we exchanged news. She had been on holiday when Mountain Glenn happened and by the time she was back in Vale it had fallen. She took out a bullhead from Beacon and spotted a concentration of Grimm with a sort of gap in the centre. She apparently found an equivalent of what I had fought only this time the person underneath was a human with silver eyes."

Raven took a swig from the glass she had in her hand. "She took it out and the surrounding Grimm using her eyes. The next time we met she was obsessed with the idea that unless she challenged Salem now there would be hordes of these things running round Remnant directing Grimm towards human and Faunus living places. She knew that silver eyes made her a target. There were too many stories of Silver eyed hunters dying young. That's one of the reason she made you wear coloured contact lenses and wore them herself for official team photographs."

Another swig. "I saw her for the penultimate time two days before she died. She had sent a letter summoning me and when I arrived she proposed that we attack Salem in her lair. I declined and I thought at the time that I had talked her out of it. It was only a few days later when I realised that she had used wording which agreed with my logic without saying that she would follow it."

She turned to Ruby, "One reason she gave for taking on Salem was that otherwise you would have to do it later. Anyway, we know how that ended. I checked where she was two days later and found that she was in the Grimmlands. When I arrived there she was already dying. Six more Grimm like the one I had killed were dead or dying and a geeky looking human was dead. Tyrian Callows, another two servants and Salem were there and a host of Grimm. She did not object to me taking Summer's body with me. She said things which suggested to me that Summer had been led into a trap. This may be a double bluff."

Another pause. "Salem now knows that you have silver eyes. Personally, I think that you will live longer with the maiden powers as well and surrounded by friends."

Ruby looked at the woman closely and then turned to Ozpin "I'll do it."

Yang stared at her mother. "Egg donor, you have just manipulated my sister into dying earlier than she needs to."

"Perhaps. I hope that I have helped preserve her life for a long time."

Another pause. "Qrow will tell you if I am talking out of my bum. I was looking for excuses to go back to the tribe. I am not cut out to be a mother. The thought that me landing Summer with looking after you and your father would prevent her from sacrificing her life was the one which made it possible for me to leave."