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Chapter 53

The White Arcana had its own dining area which was comparable in size to the food hall at the academy, but far more opulent. White marble stretched across the floor and up to gilded walls with tall stained-glass windows, white and gold pillars jutted up to support a tall and arched ceiling painted with stunning vistas of distant lands, oceans and mountainsides. The large hall was unnaturally warm, somehow heated by the single roaring heart at the back, around which sat several older Arcanists in lounging chairs wistfully talking about the days long gone.

Unlike the food hall, they ordered their food and waited for it to arrive – which suited Weiss fine but left Ruby glowering down at the small portion of meat, potato and gravy she'd been afforded. It was a square cut of meat half the size of her hand artfully balanced on four roasted potatoes with a sprig of some leafy plant resting across the top. It smelled delicious and tasted just as good, but she could have eaten six of them.

"So," Weiss said impatiently, "How was your morning?"

"Fine. Can I order another? Is that allowed?"

"Did you not have time to eat breakfast?" Pyrrha Nikos asked.

"No, she did. Ruby is like this." Weiss raised her hand to summon one of the workers over and said, "Can we have two fillet steak with vegetables and one grilled salmon, please? And another round of drink. Thank you."

The man was dressed in black and white formal clothes that would have looked out of place in the Slums or the Merchant's Quarter. He was at least three times their age and yet he bowed like he'd just spoken to the King and Queen himself, backing away until he could turn his back without offending them.

"I'm not hungry," Pyrrha said.

"The portions aren't for us."

The redhead seemed to realise what she meant and shot Ruby an incredulous look. It was the same girl Weiss had left for lessons with earlier, someone who looked to be around their age but wore a single crimson gem in the Arcanum clipped between her robe and her cloak like a silver broach. She looked athletic in a way most Arcanists weren't, quick on her feet with powerful muscles that reminded her of Yang. It was a strict contrast with Weiss, so small and thin and polite. Pyrrha looked like a town guard next to a noble.

"Ruby travelled a lot before arriving in Vale and food wasn't always available. Since coming here, she's been making up for lost time – and body mass. She was practically emaciated at first."

"I see." Pyrrha's green eyes slid to Ruby's Arcanum. "You're from Menagerie, aren't you? How was it there? I've heard stories but never had the chance to see it in person."

Neither had she. "Different. Vale has all these different layers for the city. Menagerie is mostly flat, or was, and the aren't any floods like there are here."

"Amazing. It must be a nightmare keeping the thieves out of the Noble Quarter, though."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, there's no walls and tiers to keep the thieves in the Lower Quarter," Pyrrha said. "I was just thinking that if people could walk from the Lower to the Upper without being challenged, wouldn't you be overrun by thieves and killers?"

"Are you saying every thief is from the slums?" Ruby asked quietly.

Pyrrha blinked, surprised by the tone, but answered quickly enough. "Yes. Isn't that obvious? The Merchants don't need to steal because they're merchants, and the Guards wouldn't be caught doing it. The people living in the better areas don't need to resort to crime. My father says the rate of robbery in Vale is far lower than the other Kingdoms because the tiers keep the never-do-wells out."

Defending people she was supposed to have nothing to do with didn't sound like a good idea, but she couldn't let that pass without saying something. "It sounds like you want to blame them for everything."

"What? No, that's not true. I simply mean they're put in a situation where thievery is more common. I didn't mean to imply they're all immoral-"

"Then who is? Them or the people who put them in that situation?"

"Well, I… It's their choice to live-"

"Ah. Here's the food." Weiss interrupted with clear relief, sparing the server a quick and polite smile before pushing the three dishes toward Ruby. "Let's not talk about something so raw at lunch time. Vale is already a culture shock to Ruby and the tragedy of the floods didn't help. Menagerie doesn't have those, and maybe we've all grown too used to the idea of so many people dying when we shouldn't. Ruby is right to be appalled."

Mollified somewhat by Weiss' defence, Ruby let the matter go and turned back to her food, upending the two steaks into one dish to form the size of an actual steak as could be found in the academy's food hall. She poured the gravy over the top and dug in hungrily, cutting off large chunks that melted in her mouth with a buttery tang. Lightly seasoned and spiced, the meat's juices danced on her tongue. The White Arcana even has the best food. How unfair is this?

"What did Lady Goodwitch have you do today?" Weiss asked while Ruby was eating. "Surely you can give me something more than just `fine`. Was it interesting? Did you learn any magic?"

"I was reading letters."

"Letters?"

"Claims from the nobles," she said, pausing to drink the crisp grape and apple juice, then cut into the fish with the edge of her fork. Its skin and flesh gave way under the metal, flaking off into delicious chunks that tasted of salt and lemon. "They were making claims on the Collegium for the flood that happened when the wall went down. Whinging about damage."

"Claims?" Pyrrha asked. "There must have been quite a bit of damage. The houses on the Upper District aren't designed to deal with floods. I hope it wasn't too bad for people."

"Wet carpets, rotted wood and ruined artwork for the most part. The closest to anyone dying was an idiot trying to save a family painting by taking it upstairs. He slipped in the water and sprained his wrist. Lost the painting, too." Ruby giggled. "Idiot."

"Is that really a laughing matter? How would you feel if you lost a piece of your family's history?"

Ruby glared back at the girl. "How would you feel if you lost your whole family?"

Pyrrha's hands flew to her mouth. "I'm sorry!" she gasped. "I didn't think-" The raw pity coming off her face was easily ignored since she had no use for it. Weiss' was worse because she knew she was misleading her. They both thought she was talking about the family she'd lost in Menagerie, where she'd meant all those people down below who would have lost mothers, fathers, siblings or even children in this year's early flood.

If Goodwitch thought reading through those letters would make her more sympathetic to the Nobles, she was wrong. The claims were so stupid and insignificant that it only made her angrier to think someone with the power to change things was forced to waste their time with them. Broken chairs? Damaged floors? Lost paintings? What did any of that matter compared to the people who died not only in the floods but after, when disease and starvation struck the slums? It was infuriating.

"Boring work, then?" Weiss said. "Pyrrha and I had a lecture on crowd control that was quite interesting. Not magical, but how to control a crowd with words to make them do what you want. We had to do presentations where we'd pretend to talk down an angry mob trying to lynch an Arcanist – and then another where we had to try and calm a panicking group of people. It was much more difficult than I thought it would be. I'm convinced the teachers made it harder on purpose. Some of the things they asked while pretending to be village folk were downright asinine."

"I hear people outside the walls can be quite rural." Pyrrha smiled faintly as she said it, content to move the conversation swiftly away from floods and death. "Since all Arcanists go to the Collegiums in the cities, the villages outside often don't interact with magic and still hold to some strange folklore and customs. At least that's what I've heard."

"Still, asking me why they can't drive off the Grimm spirits by burning an Arcanist alive. What was I meant to say to that? Stop acting like idiots? I doubt anyone could be so stupid, no matter how backwater their upbringing."

"You've travelled a lot haven't you, Ruby?" Pyrrha looked her way, all smiles once more. "You must have passed through some villages just like that. How did they treat you?"

"I didn't tell them I was an Arcanist."

"Oh. Oh, that makes sense I suppose. No reason to advertise it and a young noble travelling alone would have made a tempting target for the less scrupulous."

Ruby nodded distractedly back, cleaning her plate clean of gravy by spooning it up with her knife and licking it clean. In reality she'd never been outside the city other than to visit the farmlands, and you couldn't really call those rural. The people were a lot more rustic, but they were still city-folk. As far as she could remember, she'd been born in the slums and had grown up there as well.

I wonder if we could have made a life for ourselves in some small village somewhere.

It wasn't like she and Yang had any skills to ply, and it would be a rare community that accepted two more mouths to feed without expecting anything in return. On the farms outside the walls even the wives and children were expected to work. It couldn't be that much different in villages.

"Lady Goodwitch is at the door," Pyrrha said suddenly. "I think she's looking for you, Ruby."

Grimacing, she looked over in time to see the tall woman in her long, flowing white and gold robes, blonde hair done up in a bob and hands resting atop one another before her stomach. As ever, she had an ageless and powerful air to her, and everyone who walked by paused to show her the respect she so apparently deserved. Green eyes pierced through the hall to bore into hers.

"Looks like lunch is over." Ruby put the empty plates down and stood. "I'll see you later, Weiss."

"Yes. Try and enjoy yourself for the day. I know this is sudden, but it would be simple wonderful to have you in the White."

"Depends if Goodwitch lets me…"

"That's Lady or Arcanist Goodwitch!" Pyrrha called after her.

Lady Goodwitch waited patiently for her to make her way across the hall, tilting her head once when she came close. "I trust you enjoyed your meal. I've heard you have quite the appetite, even in the academy."

"Is it normal to know the eating habits of random students?"

"No, but it's normal for someone who has been forced to trek across the world to reach us to be monitored. Or did you think no one noticed how thin you were when you came here? Arcanist Watts himself made note of it in the Scriptorium and the academy was instructed to feed you as much as you wished. It's evidently done you well."

A life on the streets hadn't left much for proper eating, and even Yang had said she looked bigger all over. Chunkier, Ruby felt, though everyone else said she looked fuller and like the woman she was meant to be. Come to think of it, it'd been a while since someone mistook her for a boy. The flabby chesticles she'd grown probably helped there.

"The food is good," she said simply.

"It is." Glynda turned and walked slowly away, trusting her to follow. There wasn't much else Ruby could do. "We will be leaving the White Cathedral for this afternoon. Not all our work takes place within it, but before work we shall make a detour and visit the Emerald Arcana."

/-/

The Emerald Arcana was possibly the most welcoming of the Arcana she'd visited. While the others had walls or barriers to entry in one form or another, the Emerald Gardens were as their namesake suggested, a beautiful and open set of brightly coloured gardens with a pretty white building in the centre criss-crossed with black wooden beams and a red roof. The front doors were wide and open, welcoming people inside into a pristine tiled room with numerous comfortable looking chairs, open fires and bookshelves.

To the sides and around the back of the building from whence they'd come, small plots of land were set behind chest-high hedges, many with herbs and tall plants growing that Emerald Arcanists tended to with incredible focus, gently touching and inspecting leaves, trimming bulbs and in rare cases snapping off flowers and placing them into small brown pouches. The few that made eye contact with them smiled so kindly that Ruby would have felt awkward not to smile or wave back, and one even paused to chatter with Lady Goodwitch, asking how she was and if she needed help.

"The Emerald are famed for their compassion," Glynda said once they moved on and toward the flagstone-laid path that lead up to the front entrance. "Their work is in the healing of all things and they appeal to likeminded individuals. While they can be quite fierce and protective at times, treat them well and they shall return the favour."

They walked up the stone steps to the open entrance and through. Ruby blinked against the bright light and overly sweet smell of what she thought might be lavender. The chamber inside practically stank of the stuff, though the three burning incense holders hanging from the ceilings might have explained it. Pots of plants lined the walls, some on shelves, and two Emerald Arcanists were fussing over a Crimson Arcanist favouring one leg. They pushed him down into a seat, knelt and rolled his robes up, speaking calmly to one another as they inspected a nasty wound bleeding onto the floor.

"If ever you are in need of healing you can come here," Glynda whispered. "The Emerald Gardens are open at any time of any day, staffed on a rotation. Do not fear for wasting their time, especially not if you are bleeding."

"Okay. Why are we here today?" she asked. "Are we getting healers for the nobles injured in the floods?"

"That was done already. It was one of the first things we offered." Of course it was – and not a single Emerald Arcanist had offered to treat the disease rife in the slums. Glynda waited for an Emerald Arcanist to come to them.

"Ah. Glynda." The Arcanist had pointed fox ears and a long, bushy tail but that wasn't what caught Ruby's attention. It was that she was one of the few people to refer to Lady Goodwitch by her name. The only others who did were the Grand Arcanist and Lord Ironwood. "How are you? Not injured, I trust."

"I'm hale and hearty, Tsune. You know me."

"Hmmm. It's knowing you that makes me worry." The woman's brown eyes flicked down to Ruby. "And who is this?"

"Initiate Ruby Rose." Glynda's hand fastened onto her shoulder. "The one I made an appointment for."

Panic shot through her. "What!?"

"This detour is for your sake, Initiate. I'm not sure why you hadn't thought to see an Emerald Arcanist after your journey from Menagerie to Vale, and even less certain as to why Merlot didn't think to order it. If he won't, I shall."

"B…But I'm fine!" Ruby tried to pull away, but the woman's grip was like iron. "I'm not even that thin anymore."

"Oh, if only body weight was the sole indicator of health." The faunus chuckled and placed a hand on the small of her back, leading her with Goodwitch's aid down a clean corridor. "Glynda is right. After so long a journey there was bound to be a few nasty bugs picked up. You really should have sought aid. Then again, I've never known someone your age willing to do so. Always so sure of your own immortality that if your arm isn't dropping off you think you're fine. Don't worry. A check-up won't take long."

"This really is something Lord Merlot should have insisted on first," Goodwitch said. "I can only assume he believed you would have handled it yourself already. A quick question to the Emerald proved otherwise. Don't fight it now, it's for your own good."

For her own good? As if she hadn't heard that one before. Ruby dug her feet in for all the use it was against two much taller women dragging her along. The tiles didn't offer much purchase, either. All too soon they stopped in front of a wooden door painted green, which Arcanist Tsune pushed open and drew her into. It was a small room some five metres by five metres with a single bed along one wall like a prison cell. The desk and multiple chairs broke that image somewhat, as did the open window and fluttering curtains, brightly coloured plants and the drinks cabinet in the corner.

"Take a seat on the bed," she instructed. "I'll just be running some quick spells over you. Really, there's no reason to worry – you won't feel much other than a tingle. Glynda, do you want to wait outside?"

"I'd rather stay. Initiate Rose is under my direct care for the next few days."

The Emerald Arcanist nodded and waved the taller woman into one of the seats by the wall, rolled up the sleeves of her green robes and then dunked her hands into a basin of water, washing them for a good half a minute. She towelled them off after, careful to dry them thoroughly before approaching Ruby.

Her experience with healers in the past was spotty at best. Drug makers and alchemists, frauds and herbalists – their produce was as like to have you shitting out your insides as it was feeling better, and more often than not they'd say that getting the bad out your system was the way to go. That was just the ones who focused on medicine, too. There were those who suggested bloodletting and trepanning. Ruby had only ever tangled with the former and the experience hadn't been a positive one.

"No reason to be nervous," the faunus said. "I'm going to cast a spell on you now. It will draw out the smallest amount of blood from your arm – directly through your skin. It won't hurt, but if you like I can make it so you can't feel anything in your arm. Would you like that?"

"Is… Is it a spell?"

"It is. Would you like to see it?"

Honestly, she didn't want anything to do with it, but she nodded anyway. The woman took her left arm and rolled Ruby's sleeve back as well, then rubbed her index and middle finger over the muscle between her wrist and elbow. She sensed the magic before she felt it – though feeling was a poor choice of word because as soon as she felt it tickle over her skin, she lost it. It was only due to being able to sense it that she knew it was still taking place, seeping into her arm.

"This spell prevents the arm registering the pain it feels to your mind," she explained in a soft and gentle voice. "There's an easy way to test it." She picked up a butter knife. "Don't worry, I'm not so cruel as to try and cut someone with this. Here. Can you feel the cold?" She laid the flat of it against Ruby's skin.

"I don't feel it."

"And now?" she asked, laying it against Ruby's other arm. The metal was slightly cold against her skin, and she felt it push down a little. Ruby nodded. "Your left arm can't feel the change in temperature or even the pressure. I could cut into your arm and it wouldn't hurt, but that wouldn't change the fact you're injured. We use this to dull the pain in cases where we must operate." She smiled briefly. "Or to help calm frightened Initiates. I'm going to draw some blood now. You won't be able to feel anything."

It was true. Ruby sensed the second spell but couldn't feel it. What she could see was a red mist coming out her arm and floating over her arm, a small amount at first but growing. Tsune cut it off soon after, taking a small piece of glass and almost wafting it through the red smoke. Where it touched, it clung to the glass, smearing across it as blood.

"There," she said happily. "That wasn't so hard, was it?"

"No." Ruby took her arm back and rubbed it. "Will my feeling come back?"

"Once I end the spell. I haven't yet." Tsune placed the blood down on the table and took Ruby's arm again, holding it by the elbow and the shoulder. "I noticed a little stiffness when I held this. Tell me, did you have a fall at some point? A poor landing on this arm?"

"O-Once, yeah. I fell off a hill." The hill was actually the back of a wagon she'd been riding on and rummaging around in before the driver heard her. She'd dodged the whip that nearly took out an eye but rolled off the back and stuck her hand out to soften her fall. It had hurt for a bit, but she'd gotten away clean.

"I thought so. Try and rotate your arm backward. Like this." The woman brought her left arm up toward the ceiling and back, rotating it in a slow circle behind her and then under and back again. Ruby tried as best she could to follow it, but her arm couldn't quite keep as vertical, coming out at the top at a forty-five-degree angle before sweeping back and under. "Hm. I see. It looks like your shoulder took a knock and healed poorly. I'll take care of that. Just let me extend the numbing spell to your shoulder and neck – I'm told this can feel quite strange but don't worry. You may feel your head getting heavier on one side. It's not, but it may feel it as you lose sensation in your neck muscles on the left side."

The sensation was just as strange as she described. It was like half her body going to sleep and there was a brief lurch like she was falling, followed by the instinct to snap her hand out to catch onto something. She wasn't, though. Ruby sat still, fighting the urge to compensate for what felt like a crooked neck by cracking her neck.

"Close your eyes for a moment. I just need to deal with this." Tsune took her arm and shoulder in both hands. "Count to three, now. One-" The woman pulled far before three. Ruby felt the tug, felt the stretch and then heard the loud crack running through her. Silver eyes snapped open and she tried to yank away. "It's okay, it's okay. Calm down. Do you feel any pain? No. Ignore those instincts telling you to pull back, dear. This will be healed soon."

"Y… You broke my shoulder…"

"Your shoulder and your elbow," the Arcanist said proudly. "Now, watch this."

The woman pulled Ruby's arm out straight and whispered something under her breath. Green mist pooled out from her fingers, wreathing and wrapping around her arm like smoke. It seeped up and into her skin, and though she couldn't feel the pain or what was going on, she could hear the clicking and grinding of bone as her arm realigned.

"We can heal broken bones and mould them as new, but we can't take what is healed badly and tell it to change. We have to break them again first so that they are malleable. Yours had healed poorly. Now, it should be as good as new." The woman released her arm. "Try it. Move your arm in circles again. I'll cut off the numbing spell now. Do tell me if it hurts."

It didn't. Her arm felt… weird. Clean. Strong. Ruby pulled her arm up and was amazed at how easily it completed the full circle, staying straighter than even the Arcanist's arm had. Her shoulder rolled back without so much as a click, arm gliding back so easily she couldn't understand how she hadn't realised something was wrong.

"It feels good," she whispered. "It feels… I feel amazing…"

"Hm. We never know how bad something is until we feel it healed. Believe me, it's a common problem. Now, let me just run a few tests on your blood and I'll see what else can be done for you. Just sit there for a moment and I'll be right back."

/-/

The tests were as magical as the healing and involved Tsune casting numerous spells on the blood and noting what reactions came from it. She would him and write something down on a piece of parchment every few seconds, then turn back and begin casting again. Some of those hums sounded more worrying to Ruby, kicking her legs impatiently on the bed. Some of them sounded downright alarming.

"Well, you're certainly ah… not the healthiest of individuals."

"Is she in danger?" Lady Goodwitch asked quickly.

"Not as such and nothing that can't be treated. I'm seeing the signs of malnutrition and poor dietary choices, but I expect that's due to her long time away from home. What was your diet like before the Collegium, Initiate? How varied would you say it was?"

Not very. "Um. Bread for the most part. Some tough vegetables if I could stea-" Her lips slammed shut.

"We do what we must to survive," the healer said kindly. "I take it you took from farms in villages you passed by?" It was good an excuse as any and Ruby nodded. "How about meat? Fish? Did you have any access to that?"

"I caught rats occasionally."

Lady Goodwitch and Tsune looked horrified. What did they want from her? You couldn't just go buy prime sausages in the slums and the farms outside had dogs that would as soon rip you to pieces as look at you. Stray animals were food in the slums. That was just how it was. And it wasn't like she made a diet of rat, just the very rare and very desperate times when it had been a choice between her and Yang starving or not.

"Numerous deficiencies," Tsune said. "Protein especially, but also iron. I'm going to be recommending a meat-heavy diet and a supplement from our stocks. You also have intestinal worms, dear."

Ruby's stomach clenched up. "W-Worms…?"

"They're not dangerous but they're eating much of the food you do. You probably caught them by drinking unclean water, either from a river or a puddle." The river was the main source of water in the slums. The river the Collegium and all the upper districts tossed their waste into. "I'm going to have to prescribe some medicine to kill those off, but you'll start to feel and look a lot better once it's dealt with."

"Do I have to…?"

"Miss Rose," Lady Goodwitch said sternly. "You will take your health seriously."

"I don't like drugs," Ruby whispered. "I don't like losing my mind."

"Oh dear…" The Emerald Arcanist looked physically pained. "The medicine we offer would never do anything like that. You must have experienced some trying times out there." The faunus wrote something down on a piece of paper and handed it to Lady Goodwitch. "This will be medicine you need to drink in the morning and before bed. It won't taste nice, I'm afraid, but the taste is the only consequence you need worry about. We are careful not to include anything harmful in our tinctures. No opium like what you must have had."

"I will explain the situation to her roommate. Initiate Schnee will make sure she takes it if it means improving her health. Thank you, Tsune. I appreciate you taking the time to see her today. I know the appointment was sudden…"

"Think nothing of it. If anything, we should have hunted her down sooner. It's been a busy few weeks, though. What with the Azure Archives and all those injured, and the flood of the Upper District before that. We've only just finished patching up the wounded among the Crimson."

Glynda collected her medicine on the way out and then led her onto the grassy fields between the Emerald Gardens and the academy building in silence, carrying the clear glass jar of a milky-white substance wrapped in parchment and with instructions written in ink on the side. They were headed away from the Emerald Gardens, but also away from the White Cathedral.

"Why are you doing all this?" Ruby asked.

"Our detour to the Emerald was solely to take care of you. You are my responsibility."

"It wasn't just that, was it…? You could have sent me alone or with Weiss or another White Arcanist. You're the leader of the Arcana. You wouldn't go out for just anyone."

Glynda smiled as she hummed, apparently pleased with her paranoia. "You've a good mind. Of course, we knew that already. Designing the Rubricator took clever thinking. Even if you outsourced most of the work to the Black Arcana, you solved a problem many Azure had given up on. They could and should have solved that issue themselves, but their problem is that, like most people, they allow themselves to be distracted by their difficulties and fail to seek the solution. They spend so much time complaining about what is wrong when they could be making it right."

"You mean their research…?"

"Indeed. It's only natural the Azure be dedicated to their chosen field, that is part of what makes them what they are. It serves no one to be so focused on one subject you lose sight of the grander picture, however. That is where the White excel, and why I believe you would do better within the White then you ever could in the Azure."

"You didn't answer my question."

"I did not." Glynda chuckled. "The goal of today is to show you the work we do with each of the Arcana. The White bridges the gap between Arcana, acting as mediators and intermediaries. We are diplomats and our task is to keep the Collegium running. Therefore, if there are problems in any given Arcana – such as the incursion in the Azure – it is the White who are first to act. Today, you have met the White and the Emerald, and now we go to visit the Crimson."

"So what, I'm getting the full tour?"

"Nothing so wasteful. The Emerald was to make you healthy and the Crimson is to secure us some assistance. As you said, I am an important individual within the White, so my time is valuable. An issue of no small importance has come up. We are moving to deal with it."

An issue she needed to be healthy for, and that they'd need to visit the Crimson Arcana for help with. It wasn't hard to put two and two together. "Has something bad happened?"

"You might say that. One of our own has gone Rogue and fled into the Upper District. Not an Initiate or someone who does not know how to use their power, but a fully fledged single-gem Arcanist who could cause great harm if left unchecked." Her eyes hardened, lips drawing into a thin line. "It is the White's responsibility to maintain the balance within the city, and that means it is our duty to hunt down those who would betray the Collegium, even if the traitor is not one of ours."

"I-I'll be going outside…?" Ruby asked excitedly. With Goodwitch, there'd be no chance to slip away. It'd be far too dangerous. Still, if she proved she could be trusted outside the walls then Lady Goodwitch would be more likely to let her and Merlot go out alone – and then she could sneak off to see Yang and Blake.

"You, Initiate Schnee and Pyrrha Nikos as well. The first-hand experience of a hunt will serve you all well. You will be staying well out of trouble, however. Our quarry knows we will be coming for him and he knows what will await if he surrenders. This is no frightened Initiate, child. It is a dangerous man willing to do whatever it takes to escape. No one in the city is safe so long as he is loose."

"Is it someone I know?"

"I am told you would know him as the Librarian from the Azure Archives." Ruby's eyes widened at the thought of the old man doing that, but Glynda continued before she could speak. "Evidently, he has not taken well to our closure of it and has fled with numerous texts under his control. We know not what those are, but if he believes them important enough to flee the Collegium, then we ought to see."

"R-Right. Yeah..."

"Steady yourself, Initiate. The White does not falter."

Bit of a visit to the Emerald and yes, Ruby still has a raft of little problems before we move onto some action in the next chapter. Glynda is obviously taking a very subtle way of worming herself into Ruby's good graces (or her intestinal tract, amirite? Ah, worm humour).

Next Chapter: 23rd August

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