Chapter Twenty-Four

I want to see you garden again.

Oscar held that small missive to his chest, the message one of his few respites from being trapped in his barrack. Blake saw him every night to deliver food, bringing scraps of information as another outlet, but really that was all he had. Qrow's crows were coming further and further apart, Blake saying she heard that any crows near the barracks were caught or shot at with arrows, making it hard for them to get through. He'd only gotten one message since his arrest, the crow badly hurt. Attached to her feet were two pieces of paper, the first Qrow:

It's going to be okay.

And, behind it, a second piece of paper in a very familiar, elegant script:

I want to see you garden again.

Oz…

He'd shown it to Blake with teary eyes, and she hugged him fiercely when she realized his father would be okay. The two nested the crow under a pillow on his bed with towels and a shallow cup of water. Blake dug up seeds to feed it, and Oscar slowly decided how to write back.

I want to garden, too, he wrote, but I don't know how.

Outside of Blake coming in with his meal at night, his day was also a scheduled visit with Winter Schnee to interrogate him. Her questions were prewritten on a piece of paper.

"How long were you Master Ozpin Ozma's son?"

"Since he adopted me."

"... and how long ago was that?"

"This would have been my third spring with him, if I was allowed to go home."

"Why did you keep it from the general?"

"Oz started it the night the general kidnapped him from the front steps of our home," Oscar said, not willing to give an inch. "The general has been asking Oz to say the war ever since it started without any understanding of what he was actually asking. Oz told him no, over and over, and he would not take no for an answer. That night… Oz said it was a powerplay. He was brought in front of all his old apprentices so the general could show off how many soothsayers he already had on hand to convince him to join the war effort, and still he said no. Oz decided to hide me so I wouldn't be used as leverage. And I decided to hide so he wouldn't use Oz as leverage." He scoffed. "Instead he just used Oz."

Winter shook her head. "Did you not think you were going to be arrested for withholding information vital to the war effort?"

"How is my relation to Oz vital to the war effort?" Oscar countered, "Except as leverage for the general to get what he wants? Me being Ozpin's son doesn't change anything with soothsaying the war. The only thing it changes is what the general has over us to apply pressure."

"There hasn't been any pressure," Winter said.

"Yes, there has. Winter, I won't even wear the uniform. I never wanted to say the war, but the draft forced me up here. The general let me see the professor as a 'kindness'," he spat the word, "but he could just have easily denied me access to my father. He had that access as a bargaining chip, and that's exactly what he did the minute I stepped too far out of line. He prevented me from seeing him for two weeks, and then he dragged me into his office to see if I would play nice. You were there for that, he punished me by taking Oz away from me."

"It wasn't a punishment," Winter insisted.

"Yes, it was," Oscar said. "Ironwood thinks-"

"General Ironwood."

"James thinks he's doing the right thing, he wants to end the war, and maybe his intentions really are noble. But he'll sacrifice whatever it takes to end the war, and that includes the people around him. He's sworn up and down how much he values soothsayers, but we're all packed together in a workhouse churning out readings like we're a cotton mill or a spinning wheel. He doesn't see us as people giving guiding advice, he sees us as fortune tellers to predict how to win. You heard him, he'll use any 'resource' to end the war. We're not human to him."

"That's what soothsaying means," Winter said, shaking her head. "Fortune telling."

Oscar shook his head. "In Atlesian, maybe, but sooth means other things in the other languages. Here in Mistral it means reading, because we're reading the pattern of a person. In Vacuo sooth is one of their words for sand. In Vale sooth means to soothe. To offer comfort and reassurance in the face of a difficult question. We don't say what will happen, we say what might happen if certain decisions are made."

"We tell them the truth they need to hear, I know," Winter said with a dismissive flick of her eyes.

"Do you really know what that means?" Oscar asked, leaning forward. "It took me a long time, too. I didn't understand it until after Oz's fall. Accuracy is so difficult in soothsaying because of something soothsayers don't have control over: choice."

Blue eyes snapped up to meet his.

"The person who asks for the reading still has the choice. After we give our recommendations they can either take that advice or do the exact opposite. They still have the choice to do whatever they want. The art of soothsaying is telling them enough of the truth that they can make the best decision possible without removing their choice. What James is doing with the soothsayers, he's forcing us to be calculators. He's not putting lieutenants and captains in front of us so they can be the best possible versions of themselves, he's doing that to mathematically figure out what the best outcome would be. And that isn't soothsaying."

"That's soothmaking, you've said that before," Winter said with a sigh. "Do you really think we've been making the war?"

"Yes," Oscar said. "Ask Pyrrha. She asked if she'd made any Grimm, and the sands said yes."

"Pyrrha isn't with us anymore," Winter said.

Oscar blinked. "Wait, what?"

"She left very suddenly, something about her mother."

"But…" Oscar frowned, trying to remember. "Her mother lives in Argus. That's fifty killes north of here, a full day's ride."

"We're not privy to the details," Winter said.

Oscar wasn't so sure. It didn't sound right - it didn't sound like Pyrrha, and it sounded so suspicious. He asked Blake about it after the questioning, but she didn't know. "She went to see the general," she said softly. "I know that because I thought it was strange seeing her go to the command wing. This was right after you were arrested. Then the maids were told to stop cleaning her bunk. You don't think…?"

They both stared at each other, realizing how desperate for control Ironwood really was.

"I'm not going to survive this, am I?" Oscar asked.

Blake quickly put a hand on his shoulder "Don't worry," she said. "I'll think of something."

"Do you even know how to get the soothsayers out of here?"

She bit her lip. "It depends on how I sneak them out," she said. "If it's quiet, I can do it. But if the soothsayers revolt that will be harder."

… what? "What do you mean revolt?"

"I mean four masters have already refused to do any more readings, and Lady Fria won't force them to. A lot of the masters are going to those apprentice rooms to do training, but when they come out they're pale and lost. Something is happening there, I don't know what."

Then, Ironwood himself.

"How did you do it?" he demanded, Schnee at his side. "How did you do it?"

"Do what?"

"Ozpin is gone!"

For a moment the world fell away and Oscar was lost. Gone…? As in…?

"Who were you in contact with?" Ironwood demanded. "Who did you work with to sneak him out of Higanbana?"

Relief flooded Oscar first before he could fully process the question. As he started to realize what had happened, that someone - probably Qrow - had snuck his father out of the hospital, all he could feel was even more relief. He was safe, his father was safe, thank the Brothers.

"Answer me!"

And Oscar had the strength to stand to his full height, tilt his head up and look Ironwood in the eye. "I don't follow your orders, James."

The rage-induced punch to the temple left him spinning to the floor but it was worth it. Ironwood growled and left the barrack, Winter staring with wide eyes before quickly leaving to follow. Blake was horrified to find him that night, saying his black eye looked terrible and demanded to know who had done it. As she was treating him the crow arrived, and he learned just how safe his father really was.

Watching Oz recover was harder than Qrow expected at first blush - the professor had a fever every night for the first week before it would break the next morning. Seeing him as little more than a sack of bones didn't help - even with all the hunting there wasn't much food in the city, and it was obvious that he was ravenously hungry as he got stronger. Pietro spent mornings and afternoons both working him through exercises to build up strength, but there was so little meat on his bones Oz would tire so quickly. He was constantly shivering, even as the early spring air continued to warm.

Oz, however, greeted him with a smile every morning - visible even through the mask, did his exercises without complaint or even frustration, saying he'd been through this all before and knew what to expect.

That… didn't exactly help Qrow, but at night he held his lover's hand until he was asleep, and he watched the exercises religiously to let Oz know he was going to be there through all of it - even the ugly stuff.

Yang and Ruby alternated between being very understanding and being no help whatsoever!

"Uncle Qroooooow! That was so sweet of you!"

"What was, half-pint?"

"You wrote a courtship poem! The professor told me!"

Qrow turned bright red and contemplated murder.

"Hey, Uncle Qrow, Penny sent word she needs help carrying some stuff from the market. I'll be gone all day so you can watch the bolthole while I'm out. Ruby can't do it because of the crows."

"Yeah, Uncle Qrow, I'm just so busy, you watch the bolthole!"

Qrow growled at both of them.

He was also, in the back of his mind, getting a little nervous about how many people knew about the empty house they'd requisitioned as a bolthole. Originally it was just three: him, Yang, and Ruby. Weiss learned about it because she was hoarding supplies from her family. Then Blake knew about it to drop off messages. Now Oz was living there, and Pietro, too, to look after him. That also meant Penny so she knew where to find her father and… He got nervous. The whole point was having a secret place to hide away when the rebellion came over the mountain.

Everyone was watching the mountain peaks with slow dread. As soon as the passes melted, it would be a fight. The filthy rich had left ages ago, and only the people with nothing were left. Sergeant Lovebird and his squad on the fourth floor were just as tense. Robyn was chomping at the bit to meet her informants in person; her work was even busier than Qrow's, posters were up even halfway up the mountain every morning, forcing the soldiers, Sergeant Sorry included, to tear them down.

Qrow was never quite sure where he was sleeping from one night to the next - once Oz's fever broke completely he alternated between Maria's apartment with the crows and Ruby to the bolthole with Yang and Oz.

Then, to his (mild) surprise, a certain redhead covered in scars came up to his message stand in the back of the apartment building. "Oh, you!" she said brightly, pointing and jogging up. "I wasn't expecting to see you here - hey thanks for having such smart crows, it made getting here so much easier and I really don't know sometimes how I made it as far as I did but it's thanks to you and that smart little bird of yours but anyway I got a message to meet someone here - I mean not just anyone but someone but not like someone-someone at least I don't think it's someone-someone but then I always thought we'd be together-together and then a lot of stuff happened and-"

Qrow held up a hand. "Kid, I didn't follow half of what you just said. I take it you're here to see Sergeant Somebody?"

Valkyrie frowned, straightening slightly. "What? What are you talking about?"

"Give yourself twenty minutes," Qrow said, "He'll come down with the rest of his squad to report for duty."

"... Squad? Duty…?"

Qrow pinched his brow and dragged the hand down his face. He ignored her instead, focusing on making his handwriting look decent as he filled all his forms into a ledger Ruby had created to track their income. Messages had increased again, everyone was anxious and trying to check on people either in the city or on the other side of the mountain. Word was there'd been another riot on the north side of the city - they were spreading halfway up the mountain now. Qrow couldn't keep track but he knew Robyn probably had something to do with it. She was stockpiling just as much as him and the girls.

Then, right on cue:

"... Nora?"

"Ren…?"

Qrow looked up when the two finally saw each other. They were quite the pair, Ren gaunt and thin, Valkyrie covered in scars on her visible arms and up to her neck. They stared at each other in some kind of cross between horror, surprise, confusion, and a look Qrow had seen on Oz's face when he finally woke up.

Then Valkyrie punched Ren square on the jaw.

"The army? After everything that's happened you stayed in the army?"

"I told you kids like us can't be trusted to make decisions!"

"What, so you thought joining the brothers-cursed army was the best answer to everything?!"

"Hey," Qrow said, eyes flat. "Have your lovers spat somewhere else. This is the only way I make money you know. I can't have two idiots fighting where everyone can see, it hurts my reputation for private messages."

Ren and Valkyrie glared at him, but both of them huffed and looked down. "Walk with me," Ren said. "I have to report to duty."

"Then you report to duty, sergeant," Valkyrie said, hands on her hips. "Just remember what you said about decisions when you see who's on the other side of your musket." She stormed off, tears in her eyes as Ren looked on helplessly. He turned to his squad, bastards doing little more than watch the show, and could only sigh and order them to get moving.

At noon he traded with Ruby to bring his dish of messages up to the roof and handle the crows. Ruby was twittering about getting a letter from Weiss as they sat down for lunch. "She got a letter from her sister," she said. "A lot's happening up there that I can't say here, but I'll give you the letter for when you go to 'grind herbs' later. Wait, can you read Atlesian?"

"Half-pint, I can barely read Mistralan," Qrow said in flat tones. "But I know a guy who knows all four languages."

Ruby perked. "Wait, he knows all of them? Wow, I didn't know that, then I'll definitely give you the letter. It took me all morning to translate, I bet he'll be way faster. Still no sign of Oscar's crow, but you might get it later this afternoon, that's what Blake predicted. Yang says we might not hear from her for a while, security up there is tightening up again and she doesn't know if she'll be able to sneak out. That worries me, because she's our only contact there, but Yang has all the faith in her, and I have faith in Yang."

"You have faith in everybody, half-pint," Qrow said with a faint smile.

"Well, it hasn't led me astray, has it? Weiss is great, Blake is great, your herb-guy is great. Even Sergeant Ren is fine - I know you don't like him but he's struggling just as much as the rest of us."

"I know he's struggling, Ruby," Qrow countered. "But he's military, I can't tell him everything."

"I know," Ruby said softly, smiling. "But you like him just as much as me. I was sorry to see him fight with that girl. Do we know who she is?"

"... Maybe," Qrow said, sipping his tea.

"Ah, one of them." Ruby nodded sagely. "Say no more, I understand."

It was still light out when the day ended, Qrow refilling seed and water for the crows as they came in overnight. Ruby came up with the latest pile of messages, and the two worked together to distribute the ones that were for the tenants who were left. Ruby gave him a hug as he exited the building. "It's good to see you smile so much," she said gently. "I was worried for a little while. Yang, too. Enjoy yourself." Then her grin turned a little too bright. "Don't do anything Yang wouldn't do!"

Qrow scoffed and moved down the five steps, patting Maria on the shoulder to let her know where he was going without saying it out loud. Maria threw a curse at him for good measure, and he made it halfway up the block before he heard his name. Penny was jogging to catch up. "I wish to request permission to follow you," she said in formal tones. "I would like to visit my father."

"... Do whatever you want," Qrow said, trying to play at disaffected. That failed as soon as Penny threw her arms around his middle. "What…?"

The girl squeezed tight enough he thought he cracked a rib before letting go in an instant. "Thank you very much," she said brightly. "Your niece has been teaching me the benefits of warm hugs. I enjoy the experience and thought you might wish to partake in an exchange."

Heh. Typical half-pint.

The sun was setting later and later, but even closing early the days weren't quite long enough for it to still be light out when they arrived - which was exactly how Qrow wanted it. He unlocked the gate and gave the empty street a quick once-over before moving into the gardens surrounding their bolthole of a house. Penny moved immediately to the house but Qrow swept around the grounds, first, making sure there weren't any new concerns. Yang he saw was up on the roof, keeping watch both for intruders but also crows.

Inside Penny was hugging her dad, a soft scene if ever there was one, and Qrow let them have some privacy as he moved deeper into the place to Oz's recovery room. The professor was sitting in a chair, wrapped in an old wool workman outfit, surrounded by the several marble decorations of the house, arranging them, taking them apart, then arranging them.

"Playing with building blocks?" Qrow asked, moving in. Ozpin lit up on seeing him, straightening and moving to get up before his body reminded him he wasn't ready for that yet. Qrow snorted, pulling over a stool and sitting on it.

"Playing might be a little infantile but you are not inaccurate," he replied, gesturing. "My master's sand basin is not here, and if I am to do a reading I will need to make do."

"... You plan on doing readings?" Qrow asked.

"Of a kind," Ozpin said, dragging one of the marble blocks and replacing it with another. "Marble regulates and cleanses a sand basin and stores a great deal of magic inherently. Black marble would be better, but beggars can't be choosers. Green sapphire comes from Vacuo, I doubt any is here in this house, but there is some copper cookware I'm told, and of course sand."

"You sure you want to be doing readings?" Qrow asked, watching his lover's face as he could under the mask.

"Want, no. Not this early. Need, most assuredly." Oz looked up. "My son is trapped by a man I once called friend. It is my responsibility to do whatever I can to help him. Only then will my family at last be complete, beloved."

The word was still new to Qrow, used only when the two of them were alone, but the look in Oz's eyes when he said that word made something in Qrow's chest flutter, and he was sure he fell in love all over again. "You know Ruby keeps calling you either 'the herb guy' or 'grinding herbs'?"

Ozpin chuckled softly. "Were that there were more opportunities," he said wistfully. "But I must be well and Oscar must be safe. Are you satisfied with that? With waiting?"

"Oz, it took me forty years to find you, I don't mind waiting a little to watch you 'grind herbs' again."

"There will be ceremony, of course," Ozpin said, soft smile just visible under the mask. "I haven't yet decided how to return your poem. I've never studied Mistralan poetry and I want to do it right. Moreover, there is the formal introduction to family - your nieces will suffice for that, and Oscar is my son. We will exchange honey and maple syrup, in Vale they symbolize a well stocked home and last for years, and therefore a well matched family that will last for years. That will allow us permission to-"

"Hold up," Qrow said, lifting a hand. "Is this some kind of Valean proposal?"

Ozpin stared, wide-eyed. "No," he said, confused. "This is the acceptance of the poem and part of the courtship. This allows us to see each other freely under the lens of romance and gives our families time to get to know each other."

"Oz, I'm not all that interested in fancy rituals and courtship, I want us to be together. Without the white witch bitch getting in the way."

It was the wrong thing to say, Oz's face completely shut down at hearing it, his eyes darkening and his gaze drifting away. Qrow cursed to himself, unsure how to backtrack and undo the damage. The silence stretched out Ozpin slowly working on his green marble, before Qrow finally sighed. "Hey," he started to say.

"You're not wrong, beloved," Oz said softly, looking down at his project. "Salem… the Grimm will activate again, no doubt shortly after Oscar's return, and I dread to think how it will manifest itself then. But still…" He turned, looking up at Qrow, eyes so full. "Still… I choose to be happy with the people I love. Please grant me that."

"... I'll grant you anything I can give you," he replied, leaning forward. "I just want to be sure you'll live through it before we start trading - what the hell is maple syrup?"

Oz snorted, and he reached over and took Qrow's hand. Qrow, stronger than Ozpin, helped lift and move the marble pedestals around until his lover sighed and said that was enough.

"It's not perfect," he said, "and I should stop being so particular. The magic is aligned close enough for this. Do you know if there are any precious stones here? Green sapphire would be best, but emerald or peridot or jade…"

"Let me look," Qrow said, getting up and leaving the room. Penny and Pietro were talking animatedly about something when he found them. "Either of you find shiny stones here?" he asked. "Something green?"

"I haven't seen anything," Pietro said, "but then I can't reach everywhere and I had a patient to look after."

"Why are we looking for jewels?" Penny asked. "Is that not stealing?"

"Oz is going to make one of his fancy sand basins," Qrow said, shrugging his shoulders. "So he can find Oscar."

Penny frowned, considering. "I shall help you locate jewels," she said, standing.

"Well, while you two are on your treasure hunt, I suspect I should look in on my patient."

After a quick discussion, Penny opted for the upstairs and Qrow the downstairs, each taking a lantern to explore. The house was about as long as Maria's building, Qrow marveled that eight apartments worth of space was used as one floor for one family, the rooms were party size by his standards, the floors either polished wood or rice mats. That made him suspicious but he opened up closets and storage walls, looked under the staircase, and other hide spots first before he went to the room with a rice mats. He moved around the space: low table for ceremony, chairs, an easel, some kind of drawing room. The far door opened to the wrap around porch and the wrap around gardens of the house. Crouching down he traced his fingers around the edge of the rice mats, wondering if - found it. One of the corners was weak, under the low table and away from the high traffic areas.

Qrow stood and lifted the table up, moving it to one side and leaning it against the wall. He pushed at the weak corner, finding the give to push the mat below the others. He had just enough space to dig his fingers in, and he lifted the flooring. Underneath was the wood floor, but two boards were missing. He grabbed the lantern and brought it over, lowering it into the shadows.

"Hey Penny!" he called up, "Found something!"

The redhead arrived and squeaked to see the hidespot, and the two of them worked to squeeze out two sacks of things that jingled. They hefted the weight back to Oz's room, Pietro making a low strangling noise to see them bring in the loot and denying any part of this. Penny knelt down to pull items out one by one but Qrow was less patient, upturning his sack and letting it all dump out to the floor. Oz watched in fascination as boxes, statuettes, silverware, glass, and other items clattered to the floor. Qrow spread the decorative items out before grabbing the boxes to break those open. Ozpin leaned forward as he could, hand open and out over the objects and frowning.

"That box," he said. Qrow lifted to confirm it, and slid the lid off. Inside was a jade dragon, about the size of Qrow's fist, and he handed it over to Oz for examination.

The other box jingled, and inside was more lien than Qrow had ever seen in one sitting, making him whistle and outright stare, trying to add up the value.

"Here, professor, there are more jewels."

"Let me see," Ozpin said, Penny handing over a different box. "Sapphires, opals, spinels, rubies, ah! Emerald. Thank you, Penny, this will be helpful."

The rest of the night was spent picking through the loot, Qrow more and more bitter as he saw enough wealth to feed Maria's entire building for an entire season. Yang came in and marveled just as much, cursing repeatedly as they partitioned it all off and sorted it.

"This is robbery," Pietro said. "This is robbery, I want no part of this."

"It's not robbery if they aren't here, it's burglary," Qrow said, frustrated that the doctor was so peckish over this.

"These are the only items I require," Ozpin said, lifting up any of the green stones he had spotted, "And temporarily at best. These will help create a sand reader for me until such time that I can make one with the correct tools. The rest are not important to me."

"And doc, I gotta be honest," Yang said. "After all the starvation you've been seeing in the foothills, all the soldiers and all the restrictions and requisitions and harvests, do you really think it's fair that whoever was in this house has so much money they can not only leave but stockpile stuff like this?" she held up a gold statuette, some kind of portrait of the owner, sitting in a religious pose with the Brother of Light's antlers spreading intricately and delicately out.

"It isn't ours to say what to do with it," Pietro said.

"But Dad," Penny said. "These items will generate great income for the people of the building. Or Miss Hill can use them to better articulate why the rebellion is trying to speak to the emperor."

Pietro shook his head, too squeamish, and rolled out of the room.

The next morning, Pietro announced that Ozpin's recovery was far enough along that he didn't need a mask anymore and he didn't need to stay in the house. "I haven't been comfortable up here for weeks," he confessed. "I been away from my baby girl here, away from my patients, too. The professor, he needed me, but now I have to see to the rest of them."

"We understand, doc," Yang said quickly, hand on her hip. "Thanks for staying as long as you did."

There was a quick and dirty conversation between Qrow and Yang on how to divvy up the loot: some to Robyn, some to Maria, some to Leo and whatever legal team he was trying to put together. Mostly it was to Maria to feed the building, and Yang agreed to make the hike down the mountain to deliver it. Qrow made a point of saying he'd stay here - not just because someone had to guard the professor, but also because he knew damn well Yang would make sure nothing happened. She smiled, reaching up and punching his arm. "You don't have to reassure me, you know," she said.

"And I'm not," Qrow said with a toothy grin.

Yang disappeared and Qrow's face fell slightly. Oscar's crow still hadn't come back yet, that was late.

He watched Ozpin go through his exercises in the morning and then move immediately to his new project. Like with the green marble, the emeralds and jewels were arranged and rearranged, his lover frowning in concentration as he studied, sighed, and studied again. The perfectionism made Qrow smile - he'd seen what that had brought out in bed and brothers he reminded himself he'd promised to wait until Oscar was safe.

After the jewels were taken care of, Qrow was sent to fetch copper. Ozpin took the hairpins and combs and candlesticks and frowned before sighing and shaking his head. "It's a shame we can't melt this down," he muttered. "I do so hate to work with a poorly aligned fulcrum." Qrow was off again, looking for twine to tie the candlesticks together as a base and the hairpins as the beam of a fulcrum. Then out to the gardens to see what kind of stones were available, then out to find incense - that at least was an easy find.

"Very well," Ozpin said, a little pale, "It will have to do." It didn't look like a sand table at all, to Qrow's eye, even when he filled it with sand.

"You up for eating, or do you need to sleep first?" Qrow asked.

"Eating," Oz said. "I want to keep to a schedule as I can, it will keep me sane."

Food was bone broth, flat bread, and some kind of Atlas meat that Weiss had brought over that Qrow didn't immediately recognize. Oz could barely keep his eyes open by then, and Qrow lifted him out of his chair and to the cot. Oz grabbed his hand when Qrow started to straighten, head lifting slightly to catch his gaze.

"Stay," he said softly. "Sleep with me."

Qrow choked at the statement. So oblivious! "Don't think you could handle me yet," he said with a lewd grin.

"... please," Oz said, drifting off. "... keep me warm…" His bony frame shivered, and Qrow wanted to kill the general and the white witch bitch both for what they'd done to Oz. He grabbed an extra blanket and frowned for a second before realizing there was no way he could fit on the tiny cot. He sighed, whispering to Oz to explain and Oz weakly gripped Qrow to lift him up and put him on the floor, kicking the cot further away and laying down next to his lover, tugging both blankets over them. Oz was already asleep, face inches from Qrow's, and the deeper he fell the softer his features got, sleep relaxing his face in a way it normally wasn't awake. He was beautiful, and Qrow worked an arm under Oz's side, pulling that bony body a little bit closer.

His lover's body was cold, and it shivered for a long time as Qrow in turn slowly started to sweat in the warmth of the house. Qrow dozed, relieved to finally have Oz in his arms again.

A few hours later Oz stirred, waking Qrow. He watched the professor slowly come to, eyes lazily opening, and offering the best smile yet at seeing Qrow, small and soft. Qrow smiled back, taking the liberty to lean in for a kiss. Oz hummed, enjoying it before he started to stretch.

Oz sat up under his own power, stretching and moving his arms, stretching and moving his good leg, and rolling the ankle of his bad leg before testing himself: telling Qrow to bring his cot over and attempting to climb into it. It hurt to watch, but Ozpin did it, and the look of self-satisfaction that he had made the sting slightly less.

He carried Oz back to his chair for more exercises and moved briefly to the roof to scan the area. Still no crow from Oscar, how hard were they making it for his birds? He did spot Yang making her approach, however. Good. He went to tell Ozpin the news and saw he'd finished his exercises, apparently waiting for Qrow expectantly.

"Yang's on her way back," he said.

"Good," his lover said. "Would you like a reading? I want to test out this destitute basin."

"Sure," Qrow said, dragging the cot over to sit. "What kind of question do you want me to ask?"

"Something small, narrow, easy to answer. I want to see what the basin can do first."

"Okay." Qrow thought for a moment before he grinned. "How do I feel about you?"

"Too broad," Ozpin said, fiddling with the candlestick fulcrum. "That kind of question would give me the entire history of your rela-" He froze, looking up to Qrow and turning bright red. So. Damn. Oblivious! Qrow covered his mouth to hide most of his chuckle.

"So, narrow huh? How about… How did I meet Tai?"

"More specific," Oz said, still red.

"How old was I, then?"

"How old were you when you met Tai," Ozpin said, nodding. "You may hold my hand, if you wish, it helps with accuracy."

"Your hands help with a lot of things, I noticed," Qrow said with a lascivious smirk. Oz was clueless again, however, eyes closing slightly as he focused on the question. A hairstick wasn't enough space to put a hand on, and Qrow followed the professor's lead and held two fingertips on the end. The fulcrum wobbled, the string wavering and for a second Qrow thought it would all fall apart, but it moved in small, simple arcs.

"You were fifteen," Oz said after ten minutes. "You and your sister tried to steal from him, thinking he was an easy foreign mark. He beat both of you in combat."

Qrow smirked. "It was a good story," he said. "Still got a scar under my ribs from one of his kicks. Wanna see?"

"Not particularly," Ozpin said, still oblivious, reaching out and touching the basin. His cheeks weren't as warm as they were when he woke.

"I'm back Uncle - oh! Why are there blankets on the floor? No, wait, never mind, I need to be up on the roof for watch!"

"No, wait, it's not-! Light Brother's fye," Qrow muttered.

Ozpin was covering his mouth, shoulders shaking slightly. "Let her have her mirth," he said. "You can correct her later. Another question, still small."

Qrow frowned, thinking. "Where was Yang this morning?"

He put his fingers on the hairstick-fulcrum, watched as the pendulum wobbled and tried to work. The design was bigger this time, more detailed. Oz was getting paler, too, and he shivered even in his wool work uniform.

"She was with Abuela," Oz said, "distributing our… donations. Abuela was happy to see all that lien and said she might actually remove an hour of lecture for us when we return. Leo was aghast and wanted no part of it, leaving more for a fiery robin - I assume that's Miss Hill? - promised to melt down much of it for redistribution and to hold on to the rest for safekeeping in case things continued to go bad." Ozpin leaned back, shivering again. "Something broader, now," he said. "Still about the past."

Qrow was running out of ideas for questions that he knew the answer to, to use as a test for the excuse of a sand table for Oz. He scratched his stubble. "How was winter for me?" he asked. He put his two fingers on the hairstick.

Ozpin took a breath, closing his eyes and starting the reading. The sand design was a lot bigger now, elegant and intricate and curved competence. Oz, however, was getting pale, the healthy color he had when he woke long gone now. Qrow saw his lover's hand start to shake slightly, and his face shifted from one expression to the next before a tear slid down his face. What…? "Oz?" he asked.

"I'm sorry," he said, shaking his head. "I'm so sorry you were hurting for so long."

"Oz, it's fine I-"

"No," he said, lips pressing into a thin line. "You did so much to distract yourself, to keep yourself busy. You looked out for Oscar when I couldn't, and fought to stay in contact with him despite astronomical odds, you created a paradigm shift for the lotus flower as he continues to grow, you gave the robin a purpose she had lost for years, you connected so many lives together with your birds. All of you were so hungry, little to no food to be had, and all the while you felt so isolated and miserable. I'm sorry. I'm sorry the Grimm affected you."

"The Grimm? You mean the curse?" Qrow asked, sitting up. "I don't see that thing here."

"No, but these curves here, they are unnatural compared to the rest of the pattern, they are concentric, not quite a spiral but… That's the Grimm when it's active. You were affected because you were close to me and…" He looked up, eyes glassy. "I'm sorry…"

Qrow was not prepared for his lover to get emotional, was not expecting a second tear to slide down his face and he floundered for what to do. This wasn't his breakdown when the general kidnapped him off the front steps - when he came home so wound up Qrow wasn't surprised to find him breaking down in the middle of the night. That was one thing. This was sudden and out of nowhere, and he didn't know how to fix it. He was a recovering drunk, he barely knew how to handle himself…! "Did you see the part when you sent a message?" he asked, trying to fix the damage. "Did you see Ruby jumping up and down and shouting at me from the roof, dropping everything to drag me here where she could say you were awake? Did you see how I felt when I finally saw you and-" He cut himself off, not sure how or what he could say.

Ozpin reached out, grabbing Qrow's wrist, and he turned his hand around to hold it instead, their fingers interlacing.

"Brothers, you're shaking like a leaf."

"I know," Ozpin said, voice watery. Another tear spilled, and Qrow got up from the cot to shift around the stupid reader and encase his lover in a hug. Oz nuzzled into the crook of his neck, clutching Qrow's hand in his lap. "... I love you…"

"I know Oz. I love you, too."

Later, better composed and eating more flatbread, Oz's color looked better. Yang had come down to join them and they ate in silence mostly. "No sign of a crow yet?" she asked.

"No," Qrow said.

"What are they doing in the palace to make it so hard?"

"Should we ask the sands?"

"Wait, what sands?" Yang asked. Qrow pointed to the assembled junk by Ozpin's chair. Her violet gaze flattened out in disbelief. "Don't tell me that actually works," she said.

"Been testing it all afternoon," Qrow said, tearing off another piece of bread with his teeth.

"It's far from ideal," Ozpin said, sipping tea. "It's drawing more magic from me than a proper basin, and I didn't see any herbs in the garden that would act as a suitable base for a charging wreath. Honestly, I'm surprised I don't have an apprentice's nosebleed yet; it's not even melted down and processed to enhance the natural magical properties that - never mind," he said quickly, seeing Yang's increasingly flat look. "I want to try a larger question now. Something like an actual reading."

"I don't know, Oz, your color isn't great."

"I know it's not," the professor said. "But exercise and rest only get me so far. I want to know…"

Qrow considered what Oz didn't say, weighing the risks, and went back over to the basin, placing his fingers on the thin copper hair stick. "What do we do to get Oscar back?" he asked.

Ozpin's eyes doubled in size, surprised at the question before the gratitude that bled onto his features made Qrow flush and look away. His eyes took on a gold color as the basin started to move. Yang leaned over, watching the pendulum start to swing. She gave Qrow an incredulous look but he shrugged his shoulders. Soothsayer was gonna soothsay, all they had to do was sit back and let it work. Yang watched, same as Qrow, as the reader started to move fast, curving and arching, swinging back and forth to make an intricate mess of a design. Oz was crying again, and his color went from pale to palid, and Qrow wondered if he'd have to get up and catch the guy.

Then blood leaked from his nose what?

"Oz!" Qrow said, louder than he probably should have, taking his hand off the basin and grabbing his lover's shoulder.

He gasped, sagging back into the chair and shaking worse than before. Qrow and Yang scrambled, pulling him away from the basin and lifting him up to carry him to the cot. "I'm fine," Oz said, but his voice was weak and Qrow was not going to take it on faith that the guy who had, only this morning, gotten a clean bill of health was in his right mind. Yang cleared away the bread plates and made a fresh pot of tea. By the time she came back Oz was already sitting up, holding his head.

"That was damn stupid," he muttered, taking tea with a still-shaky hand. "That hasn't happened since I was an apprentice."

"And what the hell, exactly, was that?" Qrow demanded, wishing he had something stronger than tea.

"An apprentice nosebleed," Oz said, running a hand through his silver hair. "When apprentices just start out they don't always know how to connect to a reader, they push too much magic into the reading and effectively empty themselves out, hence the nosebleed. I know how to regulate my magic, but that unwieldy contraption is not meant to be a reader and… well, the magic has to come from somewhere."

"Fye on you, Oz," Qrow growled. "That's not going to help your recovery. That's not going to let you get Oscar back sooner."

"Yes, actually, it is," Ozpin said, looking up. "A lot of things are going to happen that night, and several people need to make decisions. We will know it's close when the canine befriends the snow. Once that happens I recommend bringing Dr. Polendina back up here, his presence will be critical. Oscar's crow will come tomorrow, injured, and …"

Qrow listened.

So did Yang.

And they made their decisions.

Author's Notes: Guys, permission to talk? I mean, like, outside the fic? The school year has been really hard on the two of us - worse than the two years of pandemic teaching. One of us has a hell class where one of the students was sexually harassing her (she had 80+ pages of documentation of what that class was doing) and admin put that kid back in her room before the situation was resolved. Behaviors for kids are out of control, I already have two expulsions, drugs are everywhere, there was an honest-to-god threat to my school - locked doors and all - and, like, one of my students died last month. We're just... tired, I guess.

Anyway, this fic is a connector chapter as we get ready for the close of arc 3. Oscar (and Ironwood) have about all the pressure they can take and are at a breaking point. Oz might be back but he is definitely not WELL, and recovery will take the rest of the fic. He's also desperate enough to do some pretty reckless stuff - like make a chicken-wire sand basin and try to do readings. Poor Pietro, he's a little too stick-straight to handle casual burglary. He and Penny have gone home, but only for a hot minute.

But there are small moments: we learn that Ruby's been teaching Penny about hugs, Qrow is all about showing affection to Oz, Yang is being given more and more responsibility because she can handle it, and Blake... is about to do a thing next chapter. Speaking of:

Next chapter: The trial of Oscar Pine. Drama incoming.