Once, when he'd been a little boy, Grit had beaten a hungry dog over the head with his fist. It had yelped and jumped back to stare at him, snarling, eyes afraid. His friends had all snickered, but Grit didn't really take pleasure in hurting it. He just wanted to eat his food.

So, when the stupid mutt had came back for more, he'd hit it again. He hadn't expected it to bite him, though. And Gods, it hurt to be bit by a dog. How he'd howled. None of his friends ever spoke up about it, not after he'd clobbered them into silence.

He blinked, now, as the memory came unbidden to him, staring down at the girl who'd sunken her teeth into the wrist. He hadn't the foggiest how she'd managed to move so quick, and he was almost too stunned to react.

"Let go!" He growled, and raised his arm. The girl clung to it, and he saw she was drawing a lot of blood. "I said-" He flexed his arm- "let go!"

The girl grunted as he slammed her head into the ground. He felt her jaw slacken, and tried to pull away, but she lunged and clamped her teeth around his wrist again, making new wounds. He felt the pain of her teeth gnawing the skin, muscle and tendons beneath, and doubt filled him.

Murmurs from the people around him reached his ears, and he steadied his face. He wouldn't be laughed at this time. With a grunt, he lifted the girl up again, and slammed her into the dirt. She groaned, and her eyes glazed over, yet somehow she didn't let go. He scratched the back of his head, large beads of sweat on his forehead breaking free and trailing down his face. He dropped his club in the dirt.

"You asked for it, girly." He said tightly through grit teeth, suppressing the panic as his wrist burned like it had been held into a fire, and his fingers suddenly felt like dead weight. He balled his free hand into a fist and slammed it into the side of her face with as much force as he could muster.

The crowd all shouted in surprise as he fell with her.

He scrambled madly, not knowing what had even happened. He felt her teeth grind his wrist beneath them, and bile rose to his throat. Still, Grit did not make a sound. He managed to get a meaty hand between his arm and her face and pushed.

She growled. Like the dog when it had bitten him.

Grit let a small whimper pass his thick lips, but no one noticed.

He pushed, and she was forced away from his wrist. He howled as she tore muscle and tendon from his arm. He screamed curses at her, backing away and falling backwards on the hand that no longer supported him or listened to his urges to move. He heard rope snap as she stood up on too-steady legs, and his voice died in his throat when she looked at him. Those eyes that had looked so weak before were now vicious. Deadlier than any dog he'd ever known. She looked like she was going to pounce him, and he started to beg for her to leave him alone. Then two clubs swang over his head at her, and she darted away.

Instincts made Ruby move. Before those clubs had a chance to connect she was already moving into the crowd. They held clubs at the ready, too. Her body thrummed with energy, her muscles felt fresh. Where Grit had hit her the pain was already so far gone it wasn't even a distant memory anymore. Her eyes saw everything.

She was dully aware that she wasn't in the driver's seat, that she seemed to simply move on her own. A new word played in her mind, over and over.

Vernal.

She dropped just out of reach of the clubs, skidding on her knees to a pair of legs. She heard their exclamations of panic, felt the wind pick up her hair as the weapons swung overhead, but she was already past them, pushing through the legs. They all shouted after her, but she was fast.

The camp was large. There may have been forty bandits here. Multiple fires burned, and shocked faces all turned away from their meals and conversations to witness the commotion. They all sat straighter at seeing Ruby run past, their hands falling uncertainly to the hatchets and swords and clubs besides them.

None moved fast enough, though, and soon she was past them. She searched for a smell in the air, a smell she hadn't even realized she'd known. Her head twisted to the left, where a tent larger than the rest sat nestled beneath the low hanging branches of some tall evergreens. There, she knew she would find Vernal.

With a snarl Ruby took off running, and shouts of alarm rose up behind her. She paid them no attention.

The front flap of the tent opened as a burly man stuck his head out. He saw her running, and twisted his face in confusion and then shock. She bounded forward on legs terribly strong. She reached the entrance, and he swung a fist at her.

Ruby spun around it. She jammed a fist into his throat and he stumbled back, coughing, eyes wide. She followed him into the tent.

Another figure stepped into the corner of her vision, then, wielding another club. The hairs on her neck rose, and she threw herself backwards, onto her back. It passed harmlessly. The wielder stumbled forward, catching his weight, and she lunged out for his leg. He swung his club down and it rebounded off the dirt as she twisted out of its way. She was aware of another, more diminutive form stalking towards them, and the coughing of the first man had quieted. With a shout, Ruby rolled away from the guard, forward into the tent, towards the small one.

As she shot up onto her feet, she realized her mistake. This one had two very deadly daggers in her hands, and there was a clear intention to kill written all over her face. For a moment, Ruby's deadly, instinctual focus wavered. The arms holding her, guiding her hands and legs, slackened, frozen, and she was left dangling in the open.

Then it returned, furious, and she snarled. Vernal narrowed her eyes at the challenge and her daggers flashed, catching firelight. Ruby knew she was here to ask a question about someone, knew she was here to do something other than kill, but she couldn't remember what. Then Vernal grinned.

"Get her, Cliff."

Ruby felt her feet lift off the ground from the impact. The club threw her into the air and she sailed through it, arms flailing. When she landed it was on her back, and she rolled with the momentum until she hit something. A voice gave a start of shock.

"Ruby?"

Ruby seized. It was Weiss. She was alive.

That had been why she was here; to find out if Weiss was okay.

Ruby stood, feeling that the pain from the club had already faded away in the mere moments it had taken her to fall back down to the ground. Vernal stood with Cliff and her other body guard, facing her with wary expressions. Cliff seemed baffled to see her stand, his face blank with surprise. Just then Grit broke into the tent, holding his wrist in a white knuckle grip.

"Vernal! She's a fucking demon, this one!" He breathed, taking a step back when he saw Ruby.

"Shut up, Grit." Vernal growled. Her eyes darted to him twice, once in anger, another in genuine shock at seeing the blood between his fingers. "She did this to you? What'd you do, untie her?"

Grit shook his head, face pale. "She bit me, Vernal. No, she chewed me."

Vernal snapped her attention back to Ruby, and her stance became tighter. "Fuck me." She breathed. Behind her, Weiss shifted.

"Ruby, you're bleeding!" Weiss hissed. Ruby's eyes passed over the room, looking for something to use. An axe, or a club. Something to swing. But all she saw was Myrtenaster, and she knew she wouldn't be able to use it well.

Then the Need reminded her of her teeth, of how good it had felt to drink from Grit's veins. It made her smile cruelly, at Grit, who glared back unconvincingly.

The Need directed her and she let it. Her legs carried her in one leap across the distance so she was kneeling in front of Vernal, who shouted in surprise. Before either of them could react, Cliff's club came around. Ruby dodged it, grabbed his arm, and tore into his wrist with her teeth. He cursed and hit her, and she let herself drop away even as his club fell from his hand. He looked at it in disbelief, his hand hanging limp. A string of gore connected his wrist to her mouth, and she spat it out. A pair of heavy hands fell on her shoulders, and she thrashed to get away.

They clamped down and pressed her shoulders tight, and Ruby started shouting as they hoisted her into the air. Vernal had backed away, daggers held tight in her hands. She looked from Grit to Cliff, then to Ruby, who trembled. The Need was furious. It was scared.

Vernal spat. "Fuck me." She repeated her earlier exclamation. "You're fucking scary. That's two of my better men. With a club, at least. Can't say they'll be good for much else anymore."

Ruby ground her teeth. The Need suddenly stilled her, and she went limp. Vernal kept her distance. When Cliff moved to hit her with his good hand, Vernal barked for him to stop. He looked at Ruby coldly but obeyed. He held his wrist to his chest, and something in his face showed he was afraid. The smell of blood in the air, the taste of iron on her lips, it energized her. The Need worked to control it, but it was hard.

"Gods know what she was thinking, letting this into the camp." Vernal murmured. Then she sat down on a box. Outside there were voices now, all shouting. Vernal gestured to the door with her head, and Grit went mumbling curses. He looked like he wanted to stay, eyes lingering on Ruby, but he went.

"I should probably kill you. You probably deserve it, too. Of all the people that my merry band hurts, you're definitely the most deserving." Vernal held both weapons in her hands, still, and her eyes were sharp. "But she wouldn't have that. So what am I to do?"

Ruby blinked, suddenly feeling the Need let her go. It dropped her, and it was like falling from warm summer winds into a frozen winter lake. Her mind became her own, and she felt dizzy. Yet, somehow, she held Vernal's stare. Through her haze, she knew she had to keep them afraid. She wanted to run her tongue on tree bark. The flavor in her mouth made her sick.

Vernal sighed. "Suppose you'd been smart enough to just run. Imagine if you hadn't run into my tent. Perhaps you still should."

Ruby licked her lips and regretted it immediately. Her stomach tried to heave, and she swallowed back down what tried to come up. Vernal watched her closely. Ruby's eyes darted to the pole Weiss was tied to, who was watching with wide eyes. "She goes with me."

Vernal glared, and sat with her knives, using one to poke at a space between her canine and the tooth behind it. Inside, Ruby was barely holding herself together. It took every effort to keep herself from shaking, or crying, or vomiting. She was sure some it leaked out, but she was also sure that only she was aware of it. Her and Vernal, perhaps, who to Ruby's eye seemed to relax in her seat.

"I could stick you in a hole and hope you live until she gets here to take over, but honestly, I'm already tired of this. Gods know Grit or Cliff or someone will come poking around again, hoping to teach you a lesson. I have no doubt that it would go any better for them the second time around."

Cliff stiffened, glowering at Vernal. She ignored him. "You'll go, then, with the Schnee girl. You'll agree to leave, and we'll forget this happened. She'll find you again on her own anyways. I don't see why we have to risk people for you. Can't just let you run off to let everyone know we got the Schnee girl either. Let her down, Halfy." Cliff was staring bug eyed at Vernal, but he still kept his mouth shut. Halfy, the man who'd been holding Ruby, did more than set Ruby down; he threw her in Weiss' direction.

She hit the ground hard, her teeth chattering in her skull. Halfy snickered, and she felt suddenly like she was being watched by lions in their den. She hastily got up on her feet. The only person she had eyes for was Weiss, who was staring just as intently at Ruby. She tried to get a read for what her expression said, but the frantic nature of her mind right now, the ropes that held it together that were beginning to frey, demanded she quicken this encounter to its end.

"We'll go." Ruby said shakily, turning to face Vernal and her goons. The bandit leader hadn't moved from her box. "We'll go and never come back. I promise."

Vernal watched Ruby like an alley cat might watch another alley cat standing between food. Weiss was the food, Ruby realized. There was a real hunger in the way Cliff stared at Weiss, and a regret, she knew, at losing her. "You'll go." Vernal agreed. "Cliff, go untie the Schnee girl."

He obeyed wordlessly. She saw Weiss stiffen from the corner of her eye but she refused to take her focus off of Vernal. That one, she somehow knew, was far more dangerous than Cliff or Grit or probably anyone else in this camp. Perhaps it was that she was the only one with a sharp weapon.

Weiss stumbled beside Ruby, released from her restraints. Ruby noticed her staring at Myrtenaster, and Vernal did, too.

Vernal scoffed, and gave Weiss a look not unlike a tired teacher might give a particularly dense student. "No. This will sell for something. Consider it paying for your freedom. Mayhaps I'll keep it to use myself. It seems nice." She smiled cooly at Weiss. Ruby was aware, then, of Weiss' flaring anger, but the huntress said nothing more. "Go, now. Out the back. I'll have men watching the camp perimeter all night, and someone will be following, though you will not see them. For a few miles, just to make sure you really do leave. Do not come back." She echoed her warning.

Then they were running through the night, next to one another, stumbling through underbrush and skirting clumsily around trees. Ruby didn't know where to go, so whenever Weiss turned in any direction and kept going, Ruby was quick to follow.

They kept running for an hour, or maybe it was two, before they broke out onto the road again. The moon was high in the clear sky, stars twinkling down at them. Ruby sat, numb, and vomited next to herself.

Weiss turned quickly to look at her, but Ruby couldn't meet her eyes. "Come, Ruby. We must… We must keep going. I don't doubt that there's someone still out there."

Barely hearing her, Ruby stood on shaking legs. She blocked out her thoughts, blocked out Weiss. Blocked out everything. Weiss hesitated, but when she started walking, Ruby followed.

When they stopped again, the moon was still high. Weiss' breathing was labored, and she called for them to rest. "I'm barely able to take steps, Ruby." She sighed, leading them into the woods. Somehow, as they both sat down, Ruby didn't think they'd have to worry about any more bandits. Weiss pulled out food from one of her pouches and began chewing on it.

Ruby bent down and began rubbing snow at her fingers, palms, the back of her hands. Her face, her clothes, her arms. It was cold, and she scalded her skin, but it didn't take long for any discomfort to fade away.

Weiss had stopped eating. Ruby kept scrubbing, though. She counted her breaths, stared out at the trees as she worked. Anything to avoid thinking about or seeing the memories on her hands. Anything. She was aware of the crazed tears on her cheeks, burning hotly against her skin.

She shoveled snow into her own mouth, spat it out, and shoveled in more. She must have done it for hours, because when she finally sat back, finished, the sky was the color of a bright sunrise, and before her was a deep patch of bare forest floor.

"Are you done?" Weiss asked quietly. Her voice was softer than usual. Ruby nodded after a moment. "Good. Let's keep going, okay?"

They marched the path at a steady pace. Ruby couldn't tell if Weiss had slept or not, by the way she sometimes stumbled, or the way her breathing still came labored. Only now did Ruby realize Weiss was without the cloak she'd gotten from the village head.

"You'll freeze, Weiss." Ruby said, stopping. Weiss halted, turning to look at Ruby. Her eyes were alert, but the bags beneath them spoke of exhaustion. "Take your cloak back." She moved to undo the clasp at her throat.

"No, Ruby… I think it's probably best if you keep it on." Weiss smiled almost apologetically, and Ruby didn't understand. Not until she looked down at her own chest, and found her tunic was stained still. With a swallow, she drew the cloak around herself, tight, and said nothing more on the matter.

They kept walking. Ruby cried, sometimes, unable to keep from thinking about the night before. It came in small, numb fragments, and for that she was thankful. She thought that, no matter how long she might live, she'd never forget the sensation of tearing a man's skin apart with her teeth. She shuddered. Weiss is alive because of what you did. You're alive.

She couldn't tell if it was her own voice or the Need, but it was the only thing that managed to keep her taking steps instead of squatting on the road to sob.

Ruby didn't notice the shape in the distance until Weiss stopped her with a hand, gently grabbing her wrist. Ruby stumbled, blinking in surprise, and looked up.

Walls, tall and smooth, broke the flat horizon. In the after evening glow, it stood like a sharp opposition to the gloom around it. Lights flickered on parapets, and two long spires shot up from behind the walls, tall into the sky. Houses spread out in chunks from those walls into the countryside, tiny little dots from where they stood. Lights glimmered among them, the size of fireflies in the distance.

"Beacon." Weiss breathed, a sigh of relief on her lips.

Ruby continued blinking, feeling shock, still. She didn't think she'd ever see it again, and laying eyes upon it managed to break her inner turmoil for a moment. She stared in wonder at it. She'd never thought it had looked so beautiful before, all those times she'd seen it from Patch. Never in her dreams could a city seem so wonderful. "Is it real?" She blurted, unthinkingly.

Weiss snorted. "Of course it's real, Ruby. Now sit. We should rest, tonight, in sight of it."

Ruby sat, still staring. "It's beautiful."

Weiss hummed agreement. Ruby was thinking of the market where she'd gone to help her dad carry home supplies. She pictured Stem, the market manager, who always smiled at her beneath his long, white eyebrows. She thought of her father hugging her, saying how glad he was that she had come home. Of Yang stroking her hair, telling her how much she missed her. Of her uncle ruffling her hair even though she wasn't a kid anymore.

She jumped at the sound of something like water meeting hot oil, turning her head to see that Weiss had started a very small, oddly red fire. It's color barely registered in Ruby's mind. The huntress took off her gloves and set her hands over it, smiling contentedly at the warmth. Her face looked so drawn in the shallow light. "I cannot tell you how much I wish for a bath, Ruby."

Ruby turned away from Beacon reluctantly, facing Weiss. "Yeah." She managed, the knot in her throat returning. Tearing her attention from the view brought back all the wrong thoughts.

Weiss eyed her, though her gaze didn't hold the customary steel Ruby had grown used to. "How is it?"

Ruby felt what Weiss was referring to in the careful way she said it. "Not. It isn't." Ruby said quietly. She watched the strangely red fire, as it eagerly ate at whatever it was Weiss had used to feed it. It didn't give off a scent.

"You need to tell me what happened, Ruby. I need to know. I can't not know, not with what I'm doing. You have to tell me." Weiss' tone was soft, her voice gentle, but there was urgency in her voice. Ruby looked up at her. Was that… fear, she felt? She stared hard at Weiss, hoping against everything that it wasn't fear. Not Weiss. She didn't know why it mattered so much if Weiss was afraid, but it was more than just the thought that Weiss might decide to stop helping her. It was something else underneath that. When Weiss stared back, however, her eyes held Ruby's without hesitation.

Ruby couldn't tell.

"I," She mumbled, sucking in air. Grit standing above her, club held over her head, telling her to stop. Her own body fighting against her. That demonic visage of herself waiting in the shadows, grinning at her. The first mind numbing, nauseating flow of blood on her tongue that had filled her with such vigor, such strength. The feeling of the Need embracing her, pointing her in a direction and letting her run loose. "I can't, Weiss." She choked on her words. She was crying already.

"You must, Ruby." Weiss said, shaking her head. "I can't let you into Beacon without knowing."

Ruby shivered. "You can't leave me, Weiss. You can't!" She whimpered. Something stirred in her head, but she beat it back with such hatred and disgust that it hid in the deepest recesses of her mind.

"Then you have to tell me what happened."

So Ruby talked. Of the dark cage. Of the thirst suddenly clawing at her throat, and of Grit threatening her. She didn't talk about what she saw in the darkness, though. She hid away from that memory. She told her of somehow knowing to seek out Vernal. "I could… I could smell her, Weiss. I knew what she smelt like."

Weiss nodded quietly. "It's known that vampires can track by scent, Ruby. Continue."

She did. She told her how she'd done it all without even thinking, of how when she was picked up off the ground, the feeling had left her. "It's evil, Weiss. Whatever is in me, whatever makes that happen, it is nothing but evil." She was whispering. The red fire kept burning, and she thought she could see her twisted self laughing back from within it, those empty eyes staring back with cruel joy, that too long mouth twisted into a horrible reflection of a smile.

Weiss sat thoughtfully on the other side of the flame, watching Ruby. Ruby had been unconsciously aware of Weiss' feelings, to a small degree, she had come to realize. Now it didn't come to her, but she wished it would. The vampire sniffled, turning her head away from the fire.

"I see a scared woman, Ruby, where I know I should see the monster I came here for." Weiss was quiet, and Ruby heard the pain in Weiss' own voice. "I know I should have done my job, if not for the little boy you left scarred, than for you." Ruby didn't need her strange, supernatural ability to sense Weiss' emotions to know that it was guilt on her tongue. "If there is anyone to blame, Ruby, it isn't you. I led us into that. I am to blame."

Ruby looked up, and saw that Weiss meant it. She glared, but not at Ruby. "If there are monsters in this world, then we both know it wears more than one shape of man. If you are a monster for saving yourself, then I can't bring myself to say it. Gods burn me, I am a fool, a dunce, an idiot, but I can't. I'll drag you into that city, Ruby, and I will find you help. I swear on my family's name, I will help you."

She wanted to shout at her. Wanted to curse Weiss, tell her she was wrong, tell her that she had no idea what lurked inside her.

Ruby sobbed. Her shoulders heaved, and she crumpled into herself, burying her face into her cloak to muffle her cries. She was vaguely aware of Weiss moving until she felt Weiss' tentative embrace. The huntress pulled her close to her own chest, and though Ruby could not fathom the kindness at the moment, wanted to reject it, she hadn't the strength.

Weiss held her, and it washed away the feeling of what had held Ruby before. The memory of the Need faded, and Ruby cried while the colors of the sky melted into dark, broken by a sea of stars whose own light seemed to ebb in flow in time with the rocking of Ruby's shoulders. As if they cried with her.

Weiss had Ruby make sure to hold her cloak tight. She didn't need any guards questioning why she was traveling with a girl whose clothing was dry with blood.

They made it to the outer city by midday, at its busiest, and no one gave them any attention. Some raised an eyebrow at Weiss' lack of a cloak, but none stopped to wonder or question. Her stomach rumbled at the thought of food, and vaguely she regretted they'd passed the other inn on the road. She had every intention to report those bandits, and it would be a fine day when Myrtenaster finally rested on her hip again. Absently her hand tried to rub the pommel and she flung it to her side, feeling the wound of losing it freshen again.

Merchants caravans rolled by, their luggage stamped with the White Fang symbol. Mercenary guards walked on either side of the carriages, watching the crowd with shifty eyes, hands never far from their weapons. The merchants themselves all seemed uninterested in all but the inner city gates. There, Weiss knew, was where they might find trouble. The outer city was busy, and clamorous yes, but not really dangerous. Children ran doggedly underfoot, chasing balls or one another. Men and women of both human and Faunas kind called out from stalls they ran, selling fruits, trinkets, any ware that could be thought of.

One young man rushed by, flashing Weiss a grin. She frowned at him. It felt very strange, coming into this part of the city, dressed as she was. No one even looked at her twice, and when they did it was without the normal respect and deference she was used to. She was at odds, even after a year, over that feeling. On one hand, she'd run away to become a huntress for the very reason that she couldn't stand the courts of the kingdoms.

On the other, she'd grown up accustomed to people worrying about how they looked at her. It made her feel strange that no one out here seemed to look at her correctly, and she was ashamed to admit that it turned up a little ire at the man. Perhaps she'd look into getting some elegant hunter's equipment fashioned. Some in her profession did that, after all. She'd thought to leave such fancies behind, but now she wondered if she might like it again.

Ruby stayed close to her, almost like a second shadow. They'd passed hours sitting by Weiss' dust fire. She'd held the woman during those long hours, until Ruby's shoulders stilled and she slept, and Weiss had found herself sleeping not long after.

Since the morning Ruby had stuck to her side, and though nothing of her face showed it, Weiss wouldn't soon forget the sound of her crying, or the way Ruby had clung to her arms. Now the woman wore a tired smile, and she brightened every time she noticed Weiss watching her. She felt undeserving of that smile, but it helped put her fears to bed, even if only a little. She had been worried, listening to Ruby talk, seeing the look in her eyes. That look was still there, but it was held at bay, now. She was fighting those demons in her head.

Don't stop, Ruby. You can't stop fighting. Weiss thought, watching the woman, who smiled at her as if on queue. She tried not to think about the image of Ruby mauling a man with her teeth, but the memory came anyway, like some thin overlay on reality. She banished it out of her mind. What happened to her is your fault, Weiss. Don't ever forget that. Anything that ever happens to this woman is on your shoulders.

She smiled back at Ruby just before dodging out of the way of a man on horseback, rushing towards the inner city gates. People called after him in frustration, shaking fists after the retreating horse rump. Weiss frowned and waved the stirred up dust out of the air, and Ruby stared after the man unblinking.

"What? Do you know him?" Weiss grumbled, feeling annoyed. She couldn't wait to get to the first fine establishment that wasn't her room in the castle and bathe the grime off her body. Ruby stared after him for another moment, before turning to check if Weiss was okay.

"No, he just startled me, kinda." She said. Weiss looked her in the eyes for a moment, seeing nothing, and stared out at the shape retreating into the bustling crowded streets.

"Alright. I need a bath, and you do, too. New clothes are also in order. Let's get inside the city."

The guard peered down at her from the step, a whole foot above, beneath a plumed helmet. Her green eyes studied them both hard, and her lips twisted in a grimace especially towards Ruby. "None enter without Scrolls." She said it with finality, turning her eyes away from the two travelers.

Weiss grinned with grimm satisfaction at the woman's surprise when she held her scroll out. "I- Please, give me a moment, I-" She stammered, looking at Weiss with utter disbelief. She licked her lips and turned away from them, hurrying off into a barracks behind the wall.

Shortly after she returned with a short, rotund man, muttering annoyances to himself while he polished a monocle with a silk kerchief. He studied Weiss from beneath heavy eyebrows, a look of scepticism plastered on his face. "This city needs better guards." He said under his breath, then held out a pudgy hand nearly buried in silk ruffles that poked out from under his fine coat for Weiss' scroll, placing the handkerchief in a coat pocket.

She toyed with the idea of refusing him, but obediently placed the metal badge into his hand. "Buffoons, the lot of you. Nykos will hear of this, and I'll have… I'll have…" The man swallowed and jerked his monocle away from the scroll as if it had bitten him. "Miss Schnee." He said carefully. Weiss dipped her head.

The guard woman openly gaped, and made a fool of herself bowing in her armor. "Your pardon, my lady, I did not believe, or that is, it was hard to-"

"Oh shut up, woman, and go back to doing your job." The man snapped at her, and the guard swallowed hard. She managed another awkward bow and hastily tore her attention away from the conversation. "My lady, my apologies. It seems you've had a long and difficult, er, journey. I beseech thee, let me see to your accomodations at the castle. I'll see that your room is in order before you arrive." He began bowing at her in a manner hardly better than the guard's, and his voice was heavy with effort to ingratiate himself to her.

On second thought, perhaps she did prefer the uninterested glances from common folk. "That will not be necessary. I will see to my own comfort. In the meantime you can keep this to yourself; I haven't the energy to put up with high society pedantics right now." She said flatly.

The man's face was red as he stood, though he smiled pleasantly with thick lips too big for his face. "Of course, my lady." He dipped another bow, not as low as before. "Your, erm, traveling partner," He barely gave Ruby a glance, "Does she have a Scroll, my lady?"

Weiss shook her head. "And she won't need one." She sharpened her voice.

"My lady, surely you do not mean to…" He silenced himself with a look from Weiss, and bowed again. "I hope your stay in the city is pleasant, my lady." He turned stiffly away, and Weiss smiled smugly. She could do without hearing the words 'my lady' for a good long while, she thought. Not that she'd get that wish for long, she imagined, not now that they were in the inner city. It would be a lot more likely someone recognized her in there than out here.

Ruby was quiet next to her, staring unsurely up the steps. Weiss urged her forward, and after a moment's hesitation they climbed the steps and passed beneath a thick stone archway.

Immediately she could mark the differences. Streets lined with well trimmed bushes, shops and houses all sporting clean coats of paint. The wall acted like a hard barrier that the outer city could not penetrate. House guards stood outside the estates they were charged with in finery, looking bored. Men and women kept their noses held high here.

"Off with you, rat!" One woman shrilly cried. Weiss snapped her attention to the noise, as did other passerbys. A Faunas with a long, scaly tale not unlike a rat's, fell out of a storefront with an outraged shout, a plump woman chasing with a broom. "And tell the rest of your kind to keep away." She shook her broom, lips turned in a frown. There was a small amount of muttering, but those who had stopped were already continuing on with their day as if nothing had ever happened. The Faunas propped himself up on his elbows, licking his lips. Weiss tensed, thinking he might strike at the shopkeep, but he gave a quick glance around the street to see the estate guards that eyed him eagerly, and he picked himself up sharply and stalked away.

She sighed. Not much had changed since she'd been away. These days, Beacon was no better than Atlas had been. She looked over at Ruby, who didn't seem like she'd even paid much attention to begin with. "Has it always been that bad?" She asked curiously, hoping to spark some conversation.

"Not that bad." Ruby said readily. "I can't remember when that kind of stuff didn't happen, though." She shrugged, and the pair began walking again. "People are scared, I guess."

Weiss chewed her lip. At the very least, Atlas had its reasons to be frustrated with the Faunas. They caused too much trouble, were never happy. She still recalled her father's rage when an organized band of miscreants had robbed the royal dockyards. For weeks Mantle was being scoured, searching for the missing goods. They'd found plenty of it, but still more was missing. People who stole for their fortune. They knew nothing of the effort. Weiss scowled at the shopkeeper's front door. The Faunas here were different, she'd seen it herself. Here they faced open discrimination because humans were afraid.

"Come, Ruby." She stepped across the street after letting a carriage pulled by dark horses pass. "Baths, finally." She liked this inn, the Five Leaf Clover. She'd stayed at it a few times when tired of the castle and its people, and because the establishment was cleaner than most places open to the public were.

Ruby followed her diligently into the building, tightly holding her cloak around her frame. A tall man looked up from behind a counter, the only pair of eyes that paid them any attention. All other patrons chatted idly in good temperaments, filling the air with a sound of comfortable ease. The innkeep squinted at them, frowning. He wore sharp clothing, a dark red suit jacket over cream undervest. His grey hair was thinning, and he kept it swept back. By the way his facial expression turned suspicious, Weiss thought she'd have to introduce herself, but Ferrin nodded to her suddenly, recognition lighting his face. His frown lessened, not fully disappearing, and he seemed reluctant to let her in past the door as he came to greet them.

"Dear huntress, you've come again. I can see you've had a long journey this time." He spoke with a refined manner, his eyes staring scrutinizingly at her muddied boots. She saw his nose twitch just slightly in a wrinkle, and she tried not to grimace.

"A room and the baths, Ferrin. That will be all." He nodded.

"I have half a mind to not charge you. You'd be doing us all a favor by doing so. And, your clothing? Shall I send service to wash it for you? I can't very well have people thinking I let street folk into my inn, and if you insist on keeping your clothing in such a state, you'll have to leave through a window." He smiled tightly. Weiss scowled at him.

"Yes, very well. Send your washers, then. And, Ferrin?" He paused, already halfway across the floor, turning to face her again fully. "You're balding."

The man's face reddened, and he turned on his heel without another word. Weiss folded her arms across her chest and followed after him, feeling irate but satisfied. She hoped Ruby didn't judge her harshly, and then frowned at the worry, feeling a fool. Of the two of them, Weiss should not be the one who worries about judgement. Yet somehow, she had. Foolishness of the nth degree. She thought, and not kindly.

He led them up a set of polished oak stairs to a hallway lined with several doors. They were shown to a room near the end of the hall, where light filtered in through a window veiled by thin white curtains.

The room was spacious. Two large beds fitted with dark blue comforters sat with their head boards against a wall, a white stone fireplace between them, where a fire was already burning. Ferrin stopped them from entering; starting at the door frame, a rich plush carpet sewn with black patterns stretched the entire length of the floor. "I must regretfully ask that you leave the boots behind, dear huntress." He didn't even look at Ruby, but she'd bent over to start undoing the laces of her boots. Weiss looked at her dourly. It wasn't really Ruby's fault, but she fumed under Ferrin's thin smile as she bent to do the same.

"The baths will be prepared soon; perhaps during the wait you'd like to eat something? Food can be brought up to your room." He held his smile despite the glare Weiss fixed him with. Gods, but he was a frustrating man. Still, he kept her name off his lips and it afforded her a level of freedom. As well as a comfortable room whenever she had need of it.

"Something hot will suffice, Ferrin." She said sharply, and he dipped his torso as the two women stepped out of their boots.

The soles of her feet were glad to touch something soft after so long, and she sighed in pleasure at the warmth. She felt for her Aura, finding the trickle, and settled down on a plush chair in the corner of their room. Ruby stood in the middle of the floor, staring down at her stockinged toes and curling them against the soft fibers. "Wow, Weiss. This is… I think a night at this room should cost more than the deed to my father's tavern."

Weiss stretched her legs, her knee joints popping. "That and some more, probably." She added, "get comfy, Ruby. It's going to be some time before the baths are ready."

She closed her eyes and leaned her head back, listening to the sound of Ruby's soft footsteps on the carpet as she wandered the room, and soon was dozing off, thinking about their night in the bandit camp and how- somehow -she was glad Ruby had come when she did.

We come to the first chapter update, and I'm so excited to show more of this story. I hope everyone has been having a great week, and I'll see you all again next sunday. I hope you enjoyed!