It was 8 AM on Saturday morning at the end of the first week. Team JNPR were in the library. One advantage of a librarian whose semblance allowed him to enforce silence was that he could be persuaded to create bubbles where teams could speak together without disturbing others and discuss their team essays. The fact that the discussions could be wider ranging did not bother him and so did not concern the teams. It seemed diplomatic to have books open and to appear to be consulting them in case Professor Goodwitch paid a visit so as to protect the librarian, but beyond that the authorities seemed to trust them not to abuse their privileges.

Pyrrha and Ren were working on the essay for Dr Oobleck. Jaune was reading Xray and Vav (while half-listening to the debate) and Nora was either dozing or grappling with a knotty problem. It seemed to him as though Ren was both a conscientious student and had practice in the art of drafting a competent essay. Ren had volunteered to be the person on the lap scroll. Pyrrha knew a lot about history and was helping him in planning the essay. This should allow them to brief Nora and him on the fundamental ideas so that they would not appear totally ignorant when Dr. Oobleck asked questions about the essay.

He watched Team RWBY in another part of the library presumably doing the same essay. Weiss and Blair Nightshade were rifling through the library books, consulting their scrolls, and debating vigorously with each other. Yang was lying back in her chair with her feet on the table and her hands behind her head. Ruby was scribbling vigorously but Jaune was almost certain it was on weapon design or combat tactics rather than history.

Anne and Brede from Team LLAC were in the library as well and were surrounded by books. They seemed to have double the number of anyone else and had put bookmarks of some description in all of them. There was part of him which felt that it was inefficient to use books rather than scrolls for research, but he could see that for them it seemed to be allow them to cross-reference quicker. He noticed that every so often Anne put on a headset attached to her lap scroll and spoke into the mouthpiece of the headset while Brede looked at the screen. That must be something to do with her ADA device to allow her to dictate her words straight onto the screen.

Cardin and Russel were working elsewhere in the library. They seemed to be focused more on scrolls and a couple of textbooks. This could be because they had been the last people in the library and the main books had been nabbed by the early arrivals.

Just then Cardin tossed his pen in the air and caught it on the way down. He said something to Russel and after a brief discussion they approached Team JNPR. Jaune hid his alternative reading matter and Ren nudged Nora awake.

As they entered the silence bubble around Team JNPR, Cardin said, "Sorry to disturb you all, but I want to have a reality check. I don't hate studying history, but I am still having trouble deciding why it is seen as so important here. It's not as even though there is a truth or a right answer."

Jaune said, "Perhaps that the point. It's why we should focus on fighting Grimm and bandits rather than getting involved in political battles. A million plus people died in a war ostensibly started by a fight between settlers on islands which are even today only inhabited by a few hundred people. Still why can't they just tell us that."

Just then Brede joined them with a couple of books in his hand. He said, "Me and Anne have finished with these in case you wanted them." Russel took one and Ren took the other.

Cardin repeated the question he had asked Team JNPR to Brede who waved at Anne to come over. Anne carried her lap scroll under her arm. Cardin then summarised the discussion so far.

Brede said, "There may not be a simple truth but there are lots of simple lies and delusions. Unfortunately, often these get blown out of proportion. Studying history makes it easier to spot the lies or delusions in your own time or at least identify a pattern. Besides which being told that much of what seems vitally important today will seem irrelevant in twenty or a hundred years' time is not the same thing as knowing it."

Russel said, "The only constant seems to be that even if Vacuo is on the winning side it loses the peace." A pause, "The problem is I suppose is deciding which arguments matter and need to be fought over and which are best solved by sitting down and talking then through."

Anne said, "I think it's good for all of us to understand the simple and the complicated versions of truth in each of the four kingdoms. Brede here is very good on why Mantle was so scared of emotions and how Mistral was so scared of Vale that it went along with some of the Mantle rules in exchange for a military alliance and the establishment of a military base in Argus to defend the north. He also says that in practice the ban on art was not enforced as strictly as the rules allowed."

"Mind you, it was disproportionally used against opponents of the regime and the rules got stricter the longer they lasted. The main aim was to establish a regime of don't ask, don't tell. The other message was don't rock the boat. You could be different in private, just not flaunt it. Some of the plays and films from the pre-war era are filled with subtle winks to the knowing." This was Brede's contribution.

Pyrrha said, "Brede, that may have been your family's experience…"

"Fair point, Pyrrha. My family has always had a mix of rigid sticklers for the rules and those who test them right up to their limits, but in the end family honour meant the dirty washing wasn't revealed publicly and the houses were big enough so that it was easy to turn a blind eye. I am told that they did argue about whether the laws increased stress and so actually attracted more Grimm or whether it was the lack of enforcement which meant that Grimm attacks did not seem to noticeably decline."

Ren said, "In Mistral they hardly bothered pretending that the elite were meant to obey the rules and the crime families ran speak-easies without any interference from the police provided the right bribes were paid."

Cardin said, "Ok. Vale's history focuses on the laws and the convictions of dissidents as well as on slavery. It also says that the laws were counterproductive, but there was too much political capital invested in them to say that perhaps they were a bad idea."

Jaune said, "A lot of people in Ansel still moan that slavery was not a stated war aim when the fighting started, and neither was the forced abdication of the royal families. For myself I'm glad that slavery was abolished, but that did not solve the problems in Mistral between Faunus and humans."

Anne coughed, "Lydia's one contribution to the essay so far was that it was the King of Vale who thought those were the important issues and railroaded the civilian government into adding them to the mix after the first three years of fighting."

It did not surprise Jaune that Lydia had made an intriguing contribution to an essay which she was not interested in. Acquaintance so far showed that she was not analytical (apart perhaps in relation to fighting) and relied on an inherent sense of right and wrong to deal with the world.

Cardin said, "Hmm. Perhaps there is something in that. The military side went along with it on the grounds that it meant Mistral had to devote more forces to garrisoning its own towns when Vale announced that if it won the war it would force Mistral to abolish slavery and even established Faunus regiments."

Pyrrha said, "How can one know what the king of Vale was thinking? Was he really a republican trying to overthrow his own monarchy or merely saw his heirs as being useless layabouts? Was he angry at a perceived betrayal by Mistral of his attempts to avoid war by allowing joint settlement or did he make the offer knowing that a section of the Mistral government would take it as a sign of weakness?"

Anne said, "Before the attack on the Vale settlers there was not a majority in favour of war in Vale. Afterwards the kingdom was united in seeking revenge."

Russel said, "Very cynical if he did sucker Mistral into the war. Of course, Mistral claimed the attacks were by Vale on the Mistralian settlers."

Brede said, "The fact that after the King of Vale died, Vale did nothing beyond pro forma complaints about the Sam Raven laws in Mistral suggests that Lydia may be on to something."

Cardin said, "The Winchesters would not disagree that slavery was more important to the King than the rest of the ruling class of Vale at that time. Another view is that the politicians went along with it as it did help keep our own Faunus engaged in fighting the war and not going on strike for higher wages."

Pyrrha asked, "Are all of you finding it as difficult to deal with the more complicated versions of your kingdom's history as I and Jaune are?"

"Thank the gods I'm not the only who feels that way." Cardin looked relieved.

Brede demurred, "Sorry, my uncle is in the Atlas diplomatic service and seems to believe that it is his duty to disabuse me of simplistic thinking. In some ways he is an optimist – his view is that power does not necessarily corrupt, but it always reveals."

Russel laughed, "In my case, finding out that other kingdoms were almost as stupidly as run as ours helps. Frustrating though. Some of the reading makes me feel that at least our idiots were comparatively well intentioned. In the end, as we were on the winning side and took the message that we need not change things."

Brede said, "Mantle took the message that it needed to improve its government and rebuild. Whether creating the floating city of Atlas was a good idea or not in the long term remains to be seen."

Pyrrha asked, "And what about Vale?"

Cardin and Anne both frowned. Anne said, "Modernised industry and government, but pretended that it could ignore its social problems. Well maybe pretend they did not exist or that nothing could be done about them."

Cardin said, "Neglected the military and did not know how to deal with the Faunus leaving Mistral and Menagerie and coming here." He paused, "Not going to argue about what they should have done. Jaune may be right to say that hunters should be slow to volunteer political answers. We are programmed to deal with problems decisively and there are hardly any unintended consequences to worry about if you kill a Grimm."

Anne looked at him quizzically. Cardin almost snapped, "I am my father's son, not his clone." A pause and then "Whatever should have happened eighty years ago, the Faunus are here now. It is stupid to pretend that they are not and that they should be ignored."

Jaune sought to change the subject by asking, "How come you have allowed two members of each of your teams to escape the essay?"

Cardin said, "Dove and Sky are practising working as a team and sparring. Sky will add a Mistralian slant to our draft tomorrow."

Brede said, "Lydia and TC will input on the draft tomorrow. We all agreed that a history essay with a first draft composed by them might be too heady a mix. They will do the first draft of the plant sciences essay instead. Lydia is currently introducing TC to the rest of her weapons. Cardin, was it confusing to be asked to fight Lydia at Pharos?"

The large man said, "They tended to keep us apart. We are related after all. Still, the fact that she could choose a weapon to suit her opponent or sometimes just to mess with them did mean that it was hard to prepare for a fight with her except to know that she would go after your weaknesses. She could bombard you at a distance if you were a tank and clobber you if you were not. Flip side is that as a non-specialist she does not have as good form as she might."

At this point Yang turned up with Ruby in tow, "Wotcha doin'"

Pyrrha replied, "Mostly talking history and why we study it." Yang grimaced and half-laughed.

"Me and Rubes were just escaping the debate between Blair and Weiss. I think it's friendly, but I don't understand half of what they are saying. I am wondering whether I can get away with answering any questions from Oobleck about the thesis they are producing by saying, "It's all very difficult." Those two both have facts to support their arguments and even know enough to dispute each other's facts without saying that they are outright lies."

Ren said, "It seems to be almost as dangerous to ignore history as it is to obsess about it and refight past battles. Ideally we should know enough not to unthinkingly repeat past mistakes and to know that our political opponents are not necessarily evil even if they may be misguided."

Nora asked, "What's everybody up to this afternoon and evening? I'm looking forward to going into Vale as a team."

Yang grimaced, "I'm confined to Beacon for two months by both GG and dad. They were not happy about my last night on the town. I suppose I did destroy a night club, so hard to argue that I merit some punishment. Even worse I am having compulsory anger management therapy. Anyway, me and Weiss will have dinner together and I will try and get her to go down the bar. She can't leave the premises without having a set of security men around her."

Anne looked at her. "It was you at Junior's then? Two of my friends work there and ended up fighting with you."

Yang nearly blushed. "If they are the sisters tell them sorry from me. They were the only one's there who knew how to fight."

"Professor Goodwitch and Professor Lee repaired the worst of the damage and Beacon paid for the furniture. Apparently the place is structurally sounder now than it was before you visited. One night this term I will taking my team there for a night out. By the way they hold no hard feelings about it and won't go after you. They have promised to kick your ass if you start another rumble there."

Jaune asked, "Don't you have the same problem as Weiss, Brede?"

"I'm not as big a target as Weiss and having Planchet and TC with me means that the ADPS will settle for a team of four. Apparently they will not even look out of place as much of the clientele dresses up like Mistral gangsters. Red sunglasses and ties with black suits. They just have to avoid looking like a rival gang."

"They sound like Torchwick's sidekicks. Are you certain that your friends don't mix with criminals, Anne?" This question came from Ruby. Jaune could tell that Cardin was thinking along the same lines.

The Pig Faunus smiled, "I don't ask, they don't tell. We helped save each other's lives four years ago and we've kept in touch. Anyway, at Junior's Club Mistralian they genuinely try and keep things on the up and up."

Jaune wondered whether Anne's background was in organised crime. He then told himself not to be so dramatic. The girl had met the Malachite twins when she was fourteen.

Ruby said, "I'm going to a bookstore with Blair this afternoon and then we are both meeting my uncle for dinner."

Cardin said, "I'm taking my team for dinner at one of my favourite restaurants in Vale."

Nora said, "Me and Ren are just going to explore Vale this afternoon and see a film this evening. Ren will cook me supper tonight."

Jaune said, "I'll be catching up on the stuff I missed by not going to combat school this evening."

Brede explained that team LLAC would be going for dinner with one of Lydia's great-aunts in Vale while Pyrrha was having a meal with Coco after doing some voice-overs for adverts.

He wondered whether he should have insisted on them all doing something as a team, but he recalled big sister saying that it was necessary to allow at least a couple of evenings a week from your team or otherwise the irritations would mount up. Besides which he felt that his team was bonding well and there was no need to push it.

Ruby said, "Suppose we had better get back to the essay discussion." She waved at them at and pulled Yang back to the table. The others nodded and dispersed back to work.

Jaune felt on the whole the discussion had been useful. He was happier now about studying history and realised that his mother had sort of taught him the balance on local history. She knew what subject areas to avoid and what buttons to press to persuade people to do the right thing as she saw it.

Over a sandwich lunch back in the dorm they sat down and discussed what they thought so far about the other teams at Beacon. Inevitably it did involve discussing the Vytal festival and who were the contenders for the four places from their year.

Jaune knew that even with him being behind the pace, Team JNPR was destined to go to the festival. Nora was the most destructive and Pyrrha the most talented fighter in the year. Ren was certainly top quarter in the year and he and Nora knew how to work together. Team RWBY were virtual certainties.

Pyrrha's call that it was between three teams for the final places. Team CRDL, Team BBLE and Team LLAC. It was not as though there were not good fighters on the other teams, but as teams these seemed the likely contenders. Team BBLE had two outstanding fighters, but they had similar styles. The two mustangs had a lot of lessons to unlearn to be as good in the arena as they were in the field, but Pyrrha said they had the latent ability. In the end the problem was that they only had six months before the festival contenders were chosen and there was a lack of variety in their fighting styles.

They then moved on to Team CRDL. She said, "Look I know Cardin made heavy work of Jaune, but he was by all accounts one of the best fighters at Pharos and he clearly thinks hard about not repeating mistakes. Russel went toe to toe with Ren and gave them options in the arena."

Nora said, "But Sky and Dove were easily defeated."

"Sky's technique is fine and that is an unusual weapon. Most people don't know how to counteract it. He was encountering Ruby for the first time, and she activated her semblance. I'm looking forward to testing myself against her."

Ren said, "I agree. We've all seen Sky fight before and he is pretty good. Dove?"

"Too early to tell. He was in the top five at Pharos and he was sucker punched by an unusual fighter." She paused and said, "I know what you are getting at, but the fact that most other fights lasted longer normally just told me enough to know how I would defeat each of them. I'm not an unarmed combat specialist and I couldn't take Dove down the way TC did."

Jaune asked, "And Team Lilac? We hardly got to see them fight normally."

"Brede is not a singles fighter, but as the sniper on a team of four he will be deadly if they can protect him. Lydia is an all rounder who will cause almost anyone problems. I do not have a clue how good the other two are, but I do know that no one will go in the arena against them without some hesitation now."

Jaune looked up, "I think I know what you mean. Amber says that by the end she was not paying for her mistakes in the arena because her opponents were freaked out that she was leading them on."

Pyrrha smiled, "That's it." She paused, "I think it makes a difference as well that two, possibly three, of them have fought people with semblances in situations where they could have been killed."

Ren looked up and said, "Ah."

Nora asked, "How do you know that?"

Pyrrha replied, "I've met Brede before. My publicity people briefed me on him. He killed seven bandits with his shotguns when they attacked him, an Atlas military guard and his uncle. They were outnumbered eight to one and the attackers included people with semblances which could blow sand in the eyes of the defenders. He was aged fifteen at the time. The military guard included TC. My guess is that a Vacuoan Faunus with an attitude only got a commission in the Atlesian army for going above and beyond in defending Atlesian VIPs."

"And the possible?" Jaune was almost certain he knew the answer.

"Anne. That marbles trick is the sort of thing you only pull if you are looking for any small edge. Maybe she has not to fight for her life, but she has been in situations where she needed to think that it was a possibility."

Jaune said, "I was at the club with my sister just before the fight with Yang happened. My sister told me to leave as she did not want to any part of a fight involving the daughters of the black bird and the spider."

Nora nodded, "She knows the daughters of Little Miss?"

"Apparently so."

Pyrrha said, "Let's keep that a secret. It's hard enough being a Faunus here without everyone believing that you are a criminal."

"But she admitted to that today."

"No. She said she knows people who may be criminals and that she helped them out when she was fourteen."

Nora said, "When we were at the orphanage, it was not possible to ignore the criminal gangs entirely but it was possible not to get involved. It's the same for her."

Jaune said, "We start the team fights next week. I will think about how we fight each of the teams we know about. Can the three of you think about who you should target in the four teams we think are Vytal festival contenders?"

Ren said, "We should assume that any team who fights us will try and target me and you first, Jaune."

Jaune said, "You're right of course. Mind you that makes it easier for us. It allows Pyrrha and Nora the chance to flank our opponents if they try and go two to one against either of us."

Pyrrha nodded, "Yes. On Team Ruby Weiss is probably the one must vulnerable. Lots of skill but she seems to have a weaker aura than most."

Jaune took his cue, "Nora should go after Weiss. Pyrrha, do you think that Yang is most vulnerable to your fighting style?"

Pyrrha nodded, "She seems very direct. You are probably right."

Ren said, "On Team Cardinal, Dove is probably the weakest link. He seems to lack confidence at the moment. Julia said that he used to be the second best after Cardin and being overtaken by two women and a Faunus must have had an impact. Besides which he has just been humiliated by another Faunus."

Jaune shuddered to himself. He almost felt sorry for Dove. He was clearly the Jaune of his team without the luxury of being able to say like Jaune did that there were reasons why he was the weakest fighter on the team which were not his fault.

Jaune thought that he may as well acknowledge the Goliath in the room. "Team, I know that I will be the main target and that I will have to improve so that I am relying on more than my oversized aura to avoid being the first person knocked out in our team fights. Let's acknowledge that and plan around it."

He felt his team breathe a sigh of relief. He continued, "Ren's also right in that some teams will know that we will be expecting that I will be the primary target. That may result in them going after him instead."

It was a useful discussion, and he was pleased at the end of it. The rest of his team went down to the shuttle area to go down to Vale. The shuttle service was going to Pharos Combat school rather than the main shuttle port. The rumours that the White Fang had moved a sizeable force to Vale had meant that the authorities had decided that this was safest especially with the Atlas students being potential targets for them.

Ruby and Blair were also going down to Vale and Ruby asked him if he wanted to go the bookshop with them. He looked at the time and thought that he could spare an hour and a half. Blair led them to Tukson's which was run by a puma Faunus. It was the biggest bookstore he had seen. He joined Ruby in the weapons section. Apparently Weiss had promised to pay for her buying books about weapon design and maintenance and for Blair to buy history and politics books. Ruby also chatted about the work she would do on Crocea Murs and this cheered him up.

He bought the latest edition of X-ray and Vav for himself. He sent a scroll message to his team asking if they wanted him to buy anything and Ren replied asking for some history text books. He bought those and eventually made his way back to Pharos after saying goodbye to Blair and Ruby.

He was uncomfortably aware that another advantage Teams JNPR, LLAC, RWBY and CRDL had over the rest was that they could outspend their opponents. Brede and Weiss could buy the best weapons and dust available, Cardin's great aunt was funding his team and Pyrrha's sponsorship monies and deals allowed her access to the best. Already it had become clear that Nora would not have to worry about the price of dust as much as she had previously. Ren had promised to persuade her not to waste it, but as Pyrrha had said unless Nora regularly practised firing Magnhild she would not be able to improve her aim with the grenades.

Jaune had dinner in the main dining room while reading a book. Most of the students were spending the first weekend in Vale and the kitchen had expected that. Therefore, there were only a couple of hot choices, but a wide salad choice which would no doubt be recycled tomorrow.

He then studied in his room until he received a text on his scroll from Pyrrha. "Do you mind if Coco, me and Velvet join you in the dorm? Coco has an idea which I would like to run past you."

Jaune saw no reason to decline and texted back, "Look forward to seeing you all."

Ten minutes later the three women turned up at the dorm. Coco was carrying two bottles of champagne.

As Pyrrha and Coco found some glasses and opened the first bottle, Velvet whispered to him, "Don't let Coco railroad you. I think that she has a good idea, but she can be overwhelming."

Eventually they all had glasses in front of them and Coco said, "How would you like to be in Salutations magazine in six weeks' time?"

Salutations was the best-selling celebrity magazine in Mistral and probably the whole of Remnant. Somehow it had managed to remain popular for twenty years and he knew many of Lavender's friends enjoyed reading it even if they claimed to do so ironically.

Pyrrha said, "Not just you but the whole team. They'll pay us 100,000 lien for a two-page spread."

Jaune gulped. Pyrrha added, "We can share it equally between us."

Coco said, "Velvet will take the photographs. She's worked for them before at the Adel fashion shows and they like her work. She also took photos of Weiss, Brede and Pyrrha when they all arrived for the general press, and they went down well."

Jaune looked at Pyrrha who shrugged, "It was a trade-off. By letting them have official photographs it reduced the incentive for them to hire paparazzi."

Jaune said, "But why would they pay us. Most people who appear in those magazines do it for the publicity."

Coco said, "True, and that's why I'm not going to be paid more than a nominal amount. Pyrrha is different. She actually does not need the publicity and only usually appears in shots at official functions."

"Why share the money with the rest of us?"

"Because it's the right thing to do." This was Pyrrha's contribution.

Coco said, "Speak to your family tomorrow. The film of your team taking out that death stalker has gone viral in Mistral. You did that as a team."

Pyrrha said, "The fact that I have so many existing sponsorships means that it is hard to market Team Juniper as an entity. My sponsorships all end when the Vytal Festival finishes as my management team are arrogant enough to believe that they can ask the moon afterwards. Until then it is virtually only the Team JNPR T-shirts which can be marketed. This way I can spread the money around a little."

Coco said, "My brother would be happy to act for the rest of you in relation to individual promotions until then. Your choice. Frankly he thinks you are like a boy band, each of you has an USP which attracts a certain demographic."

Jaune stared at Coco who replied, "I work in fashion. Image is all. Pyrrha is Captain Mistral, Nora is a small woman who kicks ass, Ren looks like a cool intellectual and you are the boy next door. Remnant, you are a tall, blonde, blue-eyed man from the provinces of Mistral. The fact that your aura was unlocked late makes you someone men want to be and women want."

Jaune felt himself blushing with total embarrassment at this discussion.

Pyrrha said, "Salutations has been after me for years. It will also be doing me a favour. I want to be seen as a member of a team rather than the invincible girl."

Coco nodded, "It's worked for me. The number of people who think that I am an insufferable spoilt bitch has dropped by 75% since I have been at Beacon and have been seen as being a team player. Somehow the people who liked me because of my arrogance have not been put off."

Jaune said, "Look, I will have to talk to the others about this. I can't think why they should say no. It's not as though salutations goes out of its way to make its subjects look bad."

Velvet said, "They don't need to. Many of them insert their own feet in their mouth."

Coco said, "My brother and Pyrrha's team will make certain that does not happen in your case."

Pyrrha said, "I would like to do this as a Beacon issue."

Coco shrugged, "I think Salutations would go for that. It also works for Pyrrha's image of being generous to her opponents." Coco held her hands up, "Ok, the image is the reality in your case Pyrrha. Trouble is that only Weiss and Brede are likely to be offered serious money even if it is on the understanding that they will both donate to charity. I think that most people will take the trade off of publicity for a nominal payment especially as that will be the deal I take. Velvet will get paid as the photographer, but she has been paid before by them."

Jaune knew that he needed to think about this overnight and preferably speak to Amber or even the twins about the implications.

This chapter was harder work than I was expecting. There were points that I wanted to make and it was also designed to be one of the transitional chapters before making a leap of time.

I believe that the food fight at the start of volume 2 was designed as a fantasy fight off between the two main teams. The teams would have thought about how to fight each other and who should be taken out first and I enjoyed imagining the thought processes.

Your mileage may vary on the history discussion but I hope some of you found it worthwhile.

I would be interested in feedback as to what works or does not work. My own feeling is that fleshing out team CRDL and having two other teams who are contenders and another which consists of solid citizens is right for a written story and it allows Jaune more people to interact with without making the main cast act too out of character.