As was the case on most mornings, Arthur Watts was the first member of their convoy to rise.

As was also the case on most mornings, Arthur was content to lie in bed and ignore the world around him because when it came down to work, he didn't want to be the first one to set to cleaning and preparing them to leave. That would only put him in a position where he would do the bunk of the chores.

And because of that, Arthur didn't move from his bedroll.

Despite the fact that he was sticking so close by his normal routines, Arthur did realize that the morning was different from the ones before it. The storms had settled and any grey clouds that had been in the sky for days before had vanished. By that, Arthur could guess that it would be an easy day of travel.

However, there were certain realities in the situation that Arthur didn't dare allow himself to ignore.

Firstly, there was the minor problem where they were running low on rations and desperately needed to regroup and ensure that they had their goals clear to all of them. At some point he- not Hazel and Tyrian, would have to slip into town and bargain until they had the things that they'd need to continue on their quest.

Secondly and much more alarming, there was the fact that they were no longer alone. At some point during the night, they had grained a fourth person in their campsite. A teenage girl, of all things.

Needless to say, that particular realization left him fuming, and wondering which one of his two companions had permitted her to stay there.

The thought forced him out of bed, because it was clear that he apparently had to once again whip his partners into shape. One of them had allowed this, and he was going to deal with it, whether Hazel and Tyrian liked it or not.

Arthur would have willingly put money on this being Tyrian's fault, and was about ready to grind a well-placed heel on the faunus' tail when he heard Hazel's low growl.

"Arthur."

That made him stop, taking a half step back from the slumbering Tyrian to face Hazel, who was sitting up now and pushing his hair back out of his face with a gargantuan hand.

"Hazel." He responded, straightening up and peeking up to the sun to gauge its position in the sky. "Is there some meaning to this?" The wave of his hand in the girl's direction was all that he needed to use.

"The girl?" Hazel responded, finally moving and sitting up, stretching slightly where he sat before he got to his feet. "She came through last night."

"Yes, I assumed as much." Arthur sneered his response. "I was hoping for an explanation as to why she is here. I suppose you had nothing to do with this?"

"I let her stay." Hazel responded as he pulled his coat onto himself and began to clear out his area of the camp site. "She seemed harmless."

Arthur rolled his eyes, picking up the small bag of supplies that he was carrying with him. "Hazel, you should know better than anyone that nobody that travels alone is harmless." He glanced back down at the still sleeping Tyrian and just decided to knock the toe of his shoe into the other man's ankle. They needed to get moving sooner than later.

Tyrian jolted awake, eyes wide and chest already heaving over being awoken in such a matter. Arthur just stepped back and finally got a good look at the girl that had been allowed to rest there. The first thing that he noticed was that there was no way that she was over the age of 25. She had weapons, which were resting close to her head.

There was no way that she had been confused for harmless.

"Get up." Arthur shot the command at Tyrian, who was already beginning to squirm up onto his feet. Tyrian being up meant that everyone in that room that mattered were awake and they'd be able to leave at any time if they wanted to.

"What're you planning?" Hazel spoke up now, stretching slightly. "We're supposed to be finding Her-"

"Well, seeing as we're getting closer and closer to where we think our target might be-" Arthur paused, reaching back to rub at a scar on the back of his neck and trying hard to ignore the burn. "Today will likely be mostly reconnaissance until we find something."

"And after that?"

"We need to find a place to restock our supplies." Arthur rolled his eyes, looking between Tyrian, who was taking the chance to fix his braid before they got moving. "We can only last so long with what we have."

"And then we'll-" Tyrian spoke up, checking that he had his things in order. Arthur didn't let him finish, if only because he didn't want to hear Tyrian's voice for too much longer.

"Yes," Arthur answered with a roll of his eyes. "We'll find your Goddess." The word felt bile and even bitter on Arthur's lips, but the truth was that the three of them had this search in common. They all came together by a push of something that was if anything, otherworldly. Arthur was skeptical, Hazel appeared to be out of options, and Tyrian was just different.

The girl shifted and sat up now, looking between the three of them as they prepared to leave. Her eyes flickered between the three of them- curious.

Arthur looked down at her with narrowed eyes. "What do you want?"

"I-"

"Arthur." Hazel cut him off. "The girl just needed a place to rest." The man looked a little bit like he was about ready to punch something, but Arthur knew that it was nothing to worry about. Status quo if anything.

Arthur knew that his upper lip twitched in displeasure over those words and he rolled his eyes, a little bit harder than he should have. "You could have endangered us-"

Hazel took a step forward, getting ready to place himself in Arthur's space. Arthur didn't budge though. He knew better than to let himself pull away when he had nothing to be afraid of. "Afraid of a child?"

"No." Arthur's gaze flickered over to the girl. "Mostly disappointed in the failures in chain of command."

There was that frustration again in Hazel. Arthur ignored it and shot Tyrian a glare to make sure that the youngest of their long-held trio stayed in line and was well aware that he shouldn't stray out of line. Tyrian shrank back slightly, rubbing his hands together and wrapping his tail around himself finally.

Arthur's eyes flicked back up to the sky above them so that he could check how they were doing for time. They needed to start moving now, or they were going to run the risk of not reaching a place to restock their supplies. Personally, Arthur could have gone a night or two without having to consume whatever game had been brought in.

His eyes flicked between his partners, and Arthur decided that it was for the best if he didn't pay the girl too much attention. After all, he was the one amongst this group that had priorities and was actually good about keeping them.

"You two are ready?"

"Yes." Tyrian answered, almost meekly, keeping his eyes glued down to the floor. It was better that way, Arthur knew.

Hazel grunted in affirmation and Arthur took it for what it was. It was the confirmation that they were going to get moving then.

He began to lead the way out of the building, shoving past the girl that had stayed there the night before roughly and being sure to impose himself physically on the way down. Arthur glanced back over his shoulder to see that the others were following around. Of course, Tyrian kept close to him, but that was to be expected.

It was Tyrian, after all.

Hazel didn't follow so closely though. Instead, the man paused up at the top of the stairs to quietly exchange some words with the girl. Arthur found himself standing amongst the pews on the bottom floor with Tyrian.

When Hazel finally came back down, it was with the girl following closely after him.

"Hazel, you-"

"She's travelling with us." Hazel spoke up, his eyes narrowed and hands balled into fists. "Just until we reach the next village or we find something of interest."

The fists meant that there was no way that Arthur was going to be able to have his way with this. In all of the time that he'd known Hazel, he'd learned very early on that he wasn't capable of winning against Hazel in a fight. After all, Arthur was a poor fighter in close combat.

And brawling happened to be Hazel's speciality.

A quick look over the man presented why that was very easily.

"I see." Arthur replied, his eyes flicking over the girl properly. "Girl, do you have a name?"

"I do," The girl stepped forward, brushing some of her hair into place with an open hand. "My name is Cinder Fall."

The name presented nothing of interest, and so Arthur moved on. "You have weapons," He pointed it out, knowing that it was obvious but this was just as much of a test as it was anything else. "Should I suspect that you know how to use them?"

"I know how to use them perfectly well." Cinder answered him, getting visibly angry and balling her hands down into fists as she took a half-step forward in his direction. "I've trained at Ha-"

"Haven?" Arthur cut her off with a disapproving click of the tongue. "And are you here because you were thrown out or because you left? You certainly are no graduate."

"I left." Cinder murmured.

It was enough. Besides, having another person with them that could negotiate in a town was a good thing. Perhaps this girl wouldn't be so useless after all.

"Very well then." Arthur turned on his heel and began to lead the rest of them out of the church and finally out of Hinagiku. "Now, girl, you should understand that the three of us are on an important mission and that will take priority over you. Are we clear?"

The girl's eyes flicked down, and she looked even frustrated by the words, but she accepted what he'd said. "I understand." She repeated.

That settled it. They had a temporary travel companion.

If she was smart, she would remember to pull her own weight.

Arthur hesitated for a moment, looking the three of them over before looking at Tyrian and nodding. The man didn't need verbal orders to know that he was being told to take the vanguard while they travelled. A quick nod to Hazel solidified their positions as the largest member of their group took the flank.

In a way, they'd taken these formations so many times that they didn't even need to discuss it.

And Cinder fell into it well enough. She didn't ask questions, and that was a good thing. Of course, the travel formation wasn't necessarily critical for them to be able to do things, but for him and Hazel they had never quite gotten used to dropping them.

Hazel had been a huntsman for years before the Grimm had gone missing. Arthur himself had involvement in that background, though he was a rare Atlesian Specialist on top of being a huntsman.

Things had changed, of course.

Cinder looked at the three of them, and Arthur did his best to ignore her. He had to keep his eyes on Tyrian since he and Hazel both knew that if the boy couldn't get a good gauge of the area, he would be useless. The girl wouldn't know that.

But he heard her fall back to walk a little bit closer to Hazel, if only for a little while.

And so Arthur decided that it was for the best if he listened in.

"Where are you three going?" Cinder spoke quietly, clearly not wanting to bother Arthur or Tyrian. It made Arthur wonder why the girl would want to keep away from Tyrian.

He was willing to bet that it was the tail.

"We're trying to find something." Hazel explained in as few words as possible. Something that should have been expected. "Ponds with black water, but it's more like blood. Sound familiar?"

Cinder was staring at Hazel in some disbelief over what the man had just said, and that just left Arthur silently raising an eyebrow in interest. Deciding that it was for the best that someone intelligent drove this conversation, Arthur decided to drop back so that he was with Hazel and the girl.

But the girl shook her head. It was a sign of a lie if Arthur had ever seen one.

"You best speak truthfully, girl." Arthur spoke up, knowing that it would be for the best if he was the one to extract any information. "If you lie to us, well-" Arthur's gaze strayed over to where Tyrian was walking at their vanguard. "It wouldn't end well for you, I assure you."

"It sounds familiar." Cinder finally answered, not sounding at all confident when she said those words. "I think I might have seen something like that in a dream-"

Hazel and Arthur exchanged a look.

"A dream?" Hazel asked, his voice as low as ever. "What was this dream about?"

"It was just a dream." Cinder replied to them, her amber eyes flicking between the two of them. "Are you three chasing a fairy tale or something?"

Hazel didn't answer Cinder, just looked over at Arthur. Arthur frowned from beneath his mustache, but decided to say something anyways. "One could say that, I suppose." He laced his fingers around his wrist as he walked with his arms behind his back. "But you must remember that nothing is without basis."

"You-"

"What was this dream like?" Hazel cut Cinder off before she could say anything else. The girl looked down at the ground in front of her and it looked like her hands had balled into fists in some frustration with the situation at hand. Arthur doubted that she would do anything, but he remembered to stay cautious. If she attacked, the three of them would easily be able to take the girl down.

That said, he doubted Cinder would attack.

"There was a pool of black water, like blood. LIke you said." She raised a hand, brushing her bangs out of her left eye for just a second. Arthur watched her closely. It almost looked like she was in pain. "A woman grew from it." Cinder shook her head again. "Nonsense from a dream."

"Did anything else happen?" Hazel continued his line of questioning, as calm as ever.

"She said something to me but I don't quite remember what it was." Cinder murmured, watching the ground in front of them as they walked. Arthur followed her gaze for a second before flicking up to see that Tyrian had paused, crouched low to the ground and with an open palm pressed to it. Of course, the man had probably lost track of them

Arthur decided that it was his turn to question Cinder now. "And once this dream was over-" He asked. "Was there anything abnormal?"

"No." Cinder replied, looking up at him. Her hair continued to obscure that left eye of hers, and Arthur had to fight back the need to order her into taming it. Such a style would never go over well in Atlas.

"I see." Arthur grimaced, finally catching up to Tyrian and tapping the man on the shoulder as he passed.

"Why do you two care?"

"Shared experiences, of course." Arthur replied. Tyrian stood up now and began to walk with them. "Tyrian-" He snapped his eye over in the faunus' direction, hoping that he'd be able to give some orders and get an easy enough response.

"Yes?" Tyrian asked, stepping in close.

"Show her your scars would you?"

The thin man reached for the flaps of his jacket, and Arthur narrowed his eyes and rolled them. "Not those ones, you beast."

Tyrian's expression sank visibly and he nodded slowly. The thin man came to a stop and the others all stopped with him. They watched as Tyrian began to remove his gauntlets, closely followed after by his bracers.

Hazel held them as Tyrian began to unwrap the bandages that covered his arms to reveal that they were scarred over, in nearly every free patch of skin, with the same symbol every time. In some spots, it looked like they had been branded on, but in others, it looked like they had been carved into Tyrian's flesh. Always the same crest. An eye, surrounded by arches and circles, with points on all sides that faced outwards. At the bottom, five symbols that looked like shards of Dust.

The reason that Arthur had begun travelling with Hazel and Tyrian in the first place was that they had those scars in common.

It was just that Tyrian bore the worst of it. Arthur got off with one scar on the back of his neck. Hazel had one that rested over his heart and spread out in scar tissue.

Cinder's eyes widened as they traveled over the symbols on Tyrian's arm, and she even raised a hand to touch. Tyrian jerked back away from her before she could make such contact.

"They mean something to you?" Arthur asked, watching the girl closely.

Cinder nodded slowly, lips pursed. "Yes." She replied. "I could have sworn that I'd seen-"

"Stay with us." Hazel grumbled, reaching up to the opening in his shirt and pulling it down just slightly past where scar tissue mixed with body hair to reveal the top of a brand of his own. "If you know, it's best you're in good company."

"But it's just-"

"She-" Tyrian spoke now, eyes widening as he began to wrap his arm back again and hide those scars. "She's seen Our Goddess?" He stepped in towards Cinder, but neither Hazel nor Arthur made any effort to stop him. Tyrian was harmless, just a bit of a scare if someone didn't know what they were getting into.

"Yes, it appears so." Arthur replied with a slight grimace as Cinder took the first step back away from Tyrian. "Do let the girl breathe, Tyrian."

"She chose you!" Tyrian exclaimed, getting even closer. "Another warrior selected by our Goddess to-"

"Tyrian." Hazel barked the man's name and it was more than enough to shut him up. It worked. Tyrian shrank back, already sliding back into his gear again so that they could begin travelling again. "Enough."

"Of course, Hazel-" Tyrian whimpered. "I've done nothing wrong, not I, no not me-"

"Go back to the point." Hazel commanded, and Tyrian looked between them with hurt eyes before slinking off and away from the three of them.

"Walk with me, girl." Arthur ordered, blinking. "We'll explain more tonight when we have time to rest and there won't be any..." His eyes flicked around the area, checking that they were alone. "Intruders."

Cinder nodded and walked up alongside Watts. Arthur watched her as he walked, deeply interested to know how she would fit into things.

Soon enough he would find out, it seemed.

Blake hadn't been able to find any sort of salvation in Vale.

She'd managed to trade a night of honest work for a place to stay at one of the local inns, but such arrangements wouldn't last her forever. Blake knew that, and the inevitability that she was going to have to make her way out of the city at any moment was something that was all too apparent to her.

Even still, Blake didn't know where to go.

Outside of the city walls, there were two major threats that Blake was able to easily identify. The first was the gigantic grimm that wandered so close by. Sometimes, it looked like it was so large that it's horns could have blocked out the sun, or cradled it like a mother would hold a sickly child. That was something that Blake didn't want to risk getting too close to again if she could help it.

On the other hand, there was Adam. The good thing about being able to rest for a night was that Blake had finally gotten a chance to deal with her injuries. Most of the bruising was fading quickly enough, along with a number of more shallow injuries and scrapes.

Her ear would scar, though. Blake was sure of that.

Sometimes she'd have to think back to her father, who had lost a tail in a struggle many years before she'd been born. He'd always spoken of the loss as a point of pride. A battle scar that nobody could take away from him. Still, Blake knew it hurt him.

Her mother had notched ears too, though hers had been pierced through by teeth rather than taken off by some blade. Her mother had turned the meaning of her scars as well- she used them for cosmetics, always wearing golden earrings that Blake couldn't help but to love.

In a way, having that notched ear of her own was almost like being close to them.

Of course, she doubted that there would be any pride over how she had attained the injury.

But then again, Blake doubted she'd get to find out. Going home was too difficult, as things stood. Too dangerous. Her family still probably hated her.

She couldn't blame them.

But Blake wasn't much of a fan of staying in one place. It was something that had never seemed to suit her quite right.

Qrow had sounded like he knew the feeling, in those few minutes that Blake had run into him at the bar. In a way, she almost felt like she could trust the man.

Almost.

But, he had presented her with an opportunity to find a place where she could blend in for a little while. It was something that Blake didn't have all that much time to thing on, and so she had to make a choice.

She'd made her decision at around noon that day, and had taken the trip to Beacon Academy by foot, Gambol Shroud at her back and the bow that she'd cut the night before still fastened in place over her ears.

Seeing the academy in person was very different from what Blake had initially imagined. It was massive, with a tower that stood watch over the entire building. In some ways, imaging that this place was a school was a difficult task to undertake.

But, Blake knew enough about the academy's reputation.

She knew enough that she could reliably get by looking like she knew what to do.

Surprisingly, there was little that she had to go through to get through the front door. There was no massive security, and so Blake had to rely on what she'd gotten the night before from Qrow. She had to find a professor Ozpin, and tell them that Qrow had sent her.

That was all.

If she had to go through some sort of entrance exam, Blake was sure that she would be able to pass. She had years of fighting under her belt, first to defend herself, and then for a cause later. When Qrow had suggested that she come there, it had been with missing information.

He didn't know that she had decided to run from a violent separatist organization. He didn't know that he had relatively high ranking members of their leadership following after her now.

If Ozpin found all of that out, Blake was sure that she was going to end up being denied from the academy in a heartbeat.

Blake made it into the building and began to just walk through the halls, following after directional signs until she found something. Naturally, it wasn't so easy, but she did her best.

To her surprise, she found Qrow wandering the halls with a bored expression, like he almost had a good reason to be there at the academy. He saw her and his eyes flicked over her, like Qrow was looking for something. It was enough to put Blake completely on edge.

"Hey kid," Qrow greeted her with a slight nod. "So you decided to show?"

"Yes," Blake replied, watching him closely with narrowed eyes as he stretched. He leaned back against a wall, and Blake tried not to say anything.
Qrow smirked. "You'll fit right in." He paused and pushed off of the wall in a motion that was full of nothing but swagger. Something about it made Blake's skin crawl. It reminded her of Adam, in a way. "So," Qrow spoke up, waving a hand to signal for her to follow after him. "You're what-"

"Eighteen." Blake replied, feeling somewhat annoyed with the question, mostly because it was one that he'd already asked. "I already told you that."

Qrow shrugged, ignoring Blake's jab. "Right." He mumbled. "I've got a niece your age, she goes here."

"Right." Blake mumbled as she followed after Qrow into an elevator. She watched him, how he waved his scroll in front of a sensor nonchalantly before the elevator began to move. Blake did her best to relax, but nothing was enough. If she needed to, she was ready to run. The elevator complicated things, but Blake was fast.

She was good at running away from things.

"You ever been to an academy before?" Qrow asked, trying to break the awkwardness.

"No." Blake replied.

"Where'd you learn to fight?"

"Does it matter if I'm capable?"

Qrow nodded and hummed, even smirking as the door opened. "Just play nice when you talk to Oz." He said finally. "They've seen plenty just like you."

Blake stepped out of the elevator, and realized that Qrow wasn't coming along with her. That was wrong. It was upsetting.

"Wait-"

"They'll be up in a few minutes." Qrow said with a slight shrug as the door closed, leaving Blake there alone in an office that she'd never been in before.

She looked around the office and took a seat in front of the empty desk, unsure of what she was supposed to do there. In the end, all she had to do was sit and wait.

Ozpin exited their meeting with Professor Glynda Goodwitch with an empty mug and more of the day to day business at the academy well taken care of. With that meeting over, they knew that they were going to have some time to relax before inevitably ending up in a meeting with either Jacques Schnee or James.

Or both.

Neither was particularly favorable, but for completely different reasons.

For now, they were hoping to go up to their office and refill their mug and take a moment to check over their schedule. What they didn't expect was to meet Qrow just outside of the elevator that led up to their office. As was normal with Qrow, Ozpin couldn't trust that he wasn't up to something.

"Hey Oz." Qrow greeted them before Ozpin got a chance to speak.

"Qrow." Ozpin replied calmly. "Is there any reason that you're staking out my office?"

"Yeah." Qrow said with a shrug. "There's a kid up there. You should talk to her."

"Qrow-"

"It'll be worth your while." Qrow pushed off of the wall. "Just talk to her and try to figure her out. She's either a criminal, or she's running from something."

Ozpin sighed heavily, since that was about the exact thing that they didn't want to hear. "I'll take care of it." Ozpin finally said before focusing on Qrow and narrowing their eyes. "Shouldn't you be doing something?"

Qrow shrugged. "Nah," He said as he stretched slightly, putting his hands behind his head and standing confidently. "I can give my report later."

Ozpin frowned and nodded before turning and making their way into the now-open elevator before riding up to their office. They hadn't expected any company, but if Qrow thought it was so important, they also had no reason to doubt him. The trip was short, and when Ozpin was lucky enough to depart the elevator, they were immediately greeted by the sight of a young woman, sitting with her back to the elevator and facing their desk.

Very interesting indeed.