While Ruby would have liked nothing more than to go to the next best training room and check how the new blade affected Crescent Rose, Summer insisted that she should first go somewhere she wouldn't be disturbed to get some experience with and control over her new powers.
Thus, Ruby had made her way into the same clearing she and her teammates had trained in earlier this day, her pack once more making sure no one would disturb her.
'So what do you want me to try first?' The half Grimm asked her mother as she stepped into the center of the tree less area.
'Try freezing over the leaves on the tree before you for now.' Summer replied after a moment's deliberation. 'Try to stretch your mind towards the tree before you visualize the leaves slowly being covered by a fine layer of frost.'
Once her mother had finished her instructions, Ruby began to concentrate and try to follow them as best as she could. A few moments after she had begun to 'stretch her mind' the half Grimm felt a few strange sensations brush against her mind. Putting that strange sensation aside for now, the young girl's eyes were sprouting crimson flames as she began to force her mental image of the leaves freezing over into existence.
It took a minute or two, but soon a layer of ice covered the red leaves, although it was quite a bit thicker then what Ruby had expected.
'That was a great first attempt my little alpha.' Summer praised her proudly from within her own mind.
'Thanks mom'
'Now try and free the leaves from the ice carefully.' Her mother told Ruby, giving the wolf eared girl her next task.
Once again she felt things brush against her mind as she tried to reach out towards the frozen over tree with her new powers. Using her powers to reduce the ice around the leaves was a little harder, but after a few minutes of careful concentration the leaves were free of ice once again.
The repeated both of these exercises multiple times until Ruby had improved both her control over the thickness of the ice and the time it took her to cover the leaves until Summer was satisfied.
'Ok now let's do one last exercise with ice before we move on.' Summer said to her daughter. 'Create a pillar of ice as big and strong as you can make it after I say go until I tell you to stop.'
'Okay mom.' Ruby replied confidently, getting ready to use the Maiden's powers once more.
'Go!' Her mother said immediately.
Not even a second after that command, Ruby began to create a column of ice in front of her, giving it all she could to make it grow as fast as possible. When Summer told her to stop, it had barely risen above her chest, and was nearly as wide as the wolf tailed girls torso.
'Not bad for your first try Ruby.' her mother commented proudly as Ruby inspected her own work as the flames around her eyes began to dim for the moment.
'Thanks mom' The half Grimm replied as she began to walk around the pillar she made to inspect it completely. 'What is next?'
'Next we'll try to work with fire.' Summer began, her nervous voice echoing through the young girl's head as she continued. 'Unlike other elemental effects you can create and control now, fire will continue to burn on its own even after you release your control.
Unlike a rock or earth, which simply falls down, a gust of wind, that would simply stop, or ice, which will simply start to melt after a while, a flame will continue to burn as long as it has fuel to do so, and might even spread further if you are not careful with it.'
'Okay so what am I supposed to do first? Feel the heat inside a burning branch? Keep a flame from consuming a leaf? Throw a fireball at the sky?' Ruby asked, getting more and more excited with each idea she threw at her mother, already trying to think up ways to use it to encourage Grimm to leave human settlements alone without hurting them to badly or burn down bandit camps.
'We will definitely wait with fireballs until you manage to proof you have the necessary control over them, or at least until we are somewhere less flammable than than the middle of the forest.' Summer replied, a slight chuckle undermining the stern tone of her voice before she continued. 'Now your other ideas sound a bit more reasonable, although they seem better suited to teach someone patience than control itself. For now try to create a small flame, like that of a candle or a lighter, over your index finger.' Her mother finished the instructions, seeing how far Ruby would get on her own without more detailed instructions.
The young half Grimm for her part was a little confused how she should go about this for the moment. As she let her mind wander for a bit as she tried to think of something she could do with her only exercience so far being with ice. Soon the same brushing sensation came once again, reminding her of how her mother had described the spawning pool she had heated by drawing away the cold.
Stretching out her claw tipped finger, the Beowolf like girl focused on drawing all the cold in front of it away. A moment later the air began to shimmer like a mirage, but there was no ignition yet. She tried a few more times, but after more than a few minutes with little success at creating an actual flame, Ruby decided to ask her mother for advice.
'Mom, I can't get an actual flame started, no matter what I try.'
'When I first learned about these powers myself it helped me to think about it as creating something that pushes the cold away for me.' Summer offered as advice.
Trying to think about the task like her mother had just suggested, Ruby once again concentrated on imposing the image in her mind on reality, this time not to remove the cold herself, but to coax a little helper into existence that would do it for her.
It took her a few attempts, but soon she succeeded, although calling the embers floating in front of her finger a fire might be pushing it a little bit, that is until she managed to strengthen them into an actual flame.
"I did it!" Ruby exclaimed, her voice filled with cheer and excitement as she looked at the tiny fire crackling above her finger.
'That you did.' Summer replied happily before she started to give her daughters instructions once again. 'Now to improve your control over it, try to write on the pillar before you with it. But be careful, make it to hot and you'll melt more ice than needed, smudging out the words you try to write, but to little and you won't be able to melt the ice enough to inscribe something into it.'
'I'll try my best' Ruby replied before she carefully shifted the flame so it's tip was where that of a pen would be when she doodled in her notebook, or took notes.
Holding the flame to the pillar's surface, the half Grimm slowly adjusted the flame's size and heat until it was just hot enough for her to melt clean lines into the ice. With that done she began to write down whatever crossed her mind at that very moment.
Quite a few times she had to stop her writing and readjust the fire between her clawed fingers after her concentration or control had slacked after a few consecutive sentences. Summer let her continue until she had covered most of the pillar facing Ruby, her control improving greatly the farther down she got.
'Well you definitely could improve quite a bit more.' Her mother commented on the girl's progress. 'But I think we should stop for today.' Summer finished as Ruby's eyes took in the sun slowly sinking beneath the trees surrounding them.
'Okay, but there is one thing I want to test out more before we head back.' Ruby replied as she closed her eyes to concentrate on stretching her mind out once again. Stretching out further than before, the half Grimm soon felt whatever was brushing against her mental 'senses' surrounded by it.
Noticing how they were nearly evenly spread out, she barked out. "[Where are you]" And sure enough the positions of her pack matched up with the strange feelings, that were probably their minds, close enough.
As she tried to think about it some more another presence entered her range, this one much more open to her as she noticed the beings desire to find her. Concentrating on this new presence some more, she realized it was Zwei, who had been sent by Qrow to bring a message to her.
Opening her eyes once again, she lost the feeling of her packs presence around her, but was soon greeted with the small form of her Corgi leaping out of the underbrush, a noted secured to his collar.
"Come here boy, let me see that note from Qrow" The half Grimm said, only to be met with a surprised 'How do you know who wrote that note?' from her mother as she removed the piece of paper from the dog's collar.
'It might be a Grimm thing?' Ruby suggested unsurely as she read over the note from her uncle, that told her that Ozpin wanted her to come to his office as soon as she could.
'Well let's meet the headmaster.' Ruby said as she ordered Zwei to follow at her heel as she began to make her way back towards Beacon.
I hope you all enjoyed this new chapter, if you didn't please just tell me why, if you did, leaving a comment is appreciated nonetheless.