Shao walked quickly down the hall, never glancing behind him. Nevertheless, Nora remained quiet as possible, following him back to her father's study. Shao reached the door and entered, while Nora sneaked down the hall. As she reached the door, Nora noticed Shao had left the door opened a crack. Peeking in, she saw Ren standing where she left him, back straight, hands at his sides, staring directly ahead. The king stood by the window, looking out into the city. Shao stood by the door at attention, watching the scene.

"Lie," sighed the king. "Your family has been bodyguards to mine for generations. Your father, your grandfather, and great-grandfather take orders from the king, whoever it may have been. Since your family has been in service, they have always followed the orders of the current king without question, loyal, and truthful. I want to hear the truth from you now, Lie. How did Nora elude you? When did you notice she was gone? How and when did you find her and what happened in the meantime?"

Ren took a deep breath.

"Your Majesty, the princess left her room this morning and I escorted her to the kitchens. I prepared a meal for her and afterward, she said she did not feel well. I offered to escort her back to her room, but she ordered me to clean up. Once I did, I went to check up on her. She was gone. I deduced that she might have left the castle to explore the celebration." Ren hesitated.

"Go on, Lie," said Shao quietly.

"It took me a little while to find her, but I managed to talk to her soon after leaving the castle."

"And why did you not return immediately?" asked the king. "If you found her as quickly as you say, you should have been back hours ago."

"The princess asked for more time," said Ren. "She wished to explore the city. I agreed only on condition she stay with me."

The king turned to Ren, a frown on his face.

"So you are saying that you ignored my order for my daughter to remain in the castle? Despite the danger that could have happened, despite your vows, despite your inexperience as a bodyguard, you made a decision to disobey my wishes and my daughter went along with it?"

Ren remained silent.

"Assuming this is all true," continued the king. "What happened then?"

Nora stared at Ren. This was the moment that she feared. If her father heard they had been captured by enemies of the kingdom, she would be lucky to explore the city by the time she was twenty. She closed her eyes in despair.

"Nothing, Your Majesty."

Nora's eyes flew open. Ren stood exactly as he had been, telling a bold-faced lie to the king.

"Nothing?" asked the king. "Are you sure, Lie?"

"Yes," said Ren.

The king stared at Ren for several seconds, then sat behind his desk. "Lie, you are in training and I assume I would have to make allowances. But I feel you are hiding something from me. I don't know what to believe, but I have come down to two conclusions I can't ignore. Either you are incompetent and it took you all day to find Nora and bring her back, or you really did find her that quickly and you simply are insubordinate. I charged you with protecting Nora and with something as important as her, I need someone I can trust implicitly. You are not that person. I am sorry Lie, and I am sorry to do this to your son Shao, but I must release him from his duty and exile him to his hometown. Maybe there you can—"

Nora couldn't listen anymore. She pushed the door wide open. "Father!"

The king looked surprised.

"Nora! What are you doing here?"

"I'm sorry Your Majesty," said Shao airily. "I must have left her door unlocked."

"Father, you cannot do this," said Nora.

"Nora, you are in enough trouble already!" said the king. "And you cannot tell me what to do with my bodyguards."

"My bodyguard," said Nora fiercely. "Under my orders."

"Given to you by me!" exclaimed the king.

"Nora," said Ren quietly. "It's alright, I—"

"Ren saved my life today," blurted Nora.

"What?" demanded the king.

"Nora, don't!" hissed Ren. But Nora was tired of hiding the truth to her father, tired of being treated like she couldn't handle herself.

"Ren was taking me back from the city and we were captured by Faunus," said Nora. "I would still be trapped in that old warehouse if it wasn't for him. Together, we fought our way out and he guided me back to the castle."

The king stared at Nora, then rounded on Ren.

"You see! Your inexperience nearly got my daughter kidnapped!"

"Because I wouldn't listen to him!" said Nora.

"He should have prevented it!" shouted the king.

"I will not blame Ren for my decisions!" cried Nora. "In fact, he noticed them first! If anything, if I was better trained, they would have never had us!"

It was silent in the study for a moment.

"I need to experience things outside the castle father," said Nora quietly. "I've learned so much already that you have never shared. I have seen how people act to each other, both the good and the bad. If I'm going to become Queen, I need to know what the kingdom's like. I can't stay cooped up in here."

"You've said it yourself, Nora," said the king. "You were kidnapped. By those animals, those monsters—"

"We are monsters to them too, father," said Nora.

"How can you defend them!" shouted the king.

"Because they are right!" said Nora. "They should not be discriminated just because they are different from us!"

"They—"

"We wouldn't have gotten away if it hadn't been for a Faunus helping us!" cried Nora.

"That was just one Faunus," snarled the king.

"Then what about Mom?" asked Nora. "She died helping Faunus! Was she just stupid taking that risk?"

"Do not talk about your mother that way!"

"Then don't criticize her actions!"

The king stared at Nora. Nora stared right back, her eyes filled with determination.

"Shao, Lie," said the king. "Could you excuse us please?"

Shao bowed and held the door open for Ren. Ren looked back at Nora in concern as the door closed behind him. But Nora wasn't afraid. She felt as if a heavy weight were off her shoulders. Now, for the first time in years, she and her father were having a serious talk. No worries about image, no one watching, where Nora could finally be herself.

The king buried his face in his hands and massaged his temples. "Nora, you are not making this easy."

Nora smiled slightly. "That's kind of the point, Dad."

"Dad," said the king, looking up. "I actually missed being called that." He got up from his chair and walked over to Nora and kneeled so they were eye to eye. "Nora, I love you more than anything. Since your mother died, you are the only thing I have left. It was too painful to talk about her and I wanted you safe forever. But I see you possess her spirit." He smiled. "Your mother would hate being cooped up in the castle."

"I know you loved Mom," said Nora. "But I know nothing about her. There was an old man I met today and he said she was a real hero. A Huntress. Someone who helped everyone, Human or Faunus. I want to be just like her." She smiled. "I saw her on her float today. She looked beautiful."

Her father laughed.

"They still have that float of her?" he asked. "I haven't seen it in years. Do you remember it?"

"Yes," said Nora. "She had heavy white armor and she was carrying Magnhild. Oh and she had on pink gloves."

"I remember that now," said the king reminiscently. "She only wore the armor on formal occasions, but she always had those gloves…" he sighed. "Your mother died because of White Fang radicals. I know she was saving other Faunus, but I always blamed them for what happened. If there were no Faunus, there would have been no Faunus War. But maybe it's time to stop hiding behind that excuse. You say a Faunus saved you today."

"All I know is his alias was Cat," said Nora. "But without him, we probably would have been dead."

The king gripped her shoulders tightly for a moment, then relaxed. "It will be hard for me, but I know you are right. Being fair is the only way to end things peacefully. And you exploring the outside…maybe we will need that kind of Queen."

Nora hugged her father tightly, then stepped back. "What about Ren?"

The king straightened up and opened the door. "Shao, Lie, please come back in."

Shao entered with Ren right behind him. Shao took his place at the door while Ren returned to the center of the room at attention next to Nora. The king returned to his desk and looked at Ren over his clasped hands.

"Lie, when I assigned you to protect my daughter, I may have made a mistake."

Nora glanced at Ren. His expression was unreadable.

"That mistake," said the king. "Was treating you like something I could simply give to my daughter."

Ren blinked.

"So," continued the king. "I would like to ask you formally, would you please do me the honor of protecting the future Queen?"

"Of…of course, Your Majesty," stammered Ren.

"And Nora," said the king, turning to her. "Is Lie an acceptable bodyguard for you?"

Nora struggled to restrain her smile.

"Yes, Father," she said.

"Alright then," said the king. "From now on, Lie Ren, you will take orders from Princess Nora. Protect her in any way you can. All that I ask, is that you keep Nora's identity a secret until you ascend to the throne. Nora, I am trusting you do take care of yourself, as well as Ren. From now on, you two will be a team. Together."

Nora blushed. "But not together, together."

"What?"

"Come on, Nora!" called Ren. "We're going to miss the airship!"

Nora hurried toward him, hauling her bags over her shoulder, Magnhild tucked away on her belt. Her mother's gloves the king had giving her for her eleventh birthday fit snugly on her hands as she waved to her friends who had come to see her off. She leaped aboard the airship with Ren a few seconds before the ship closed its doors and began final preparations for takeoff.

"Whew!" said Nora. "That was close!"

"For someone who begged her father for a year to go to Beacon, I could barely get you out of bed! This is the day you've been waiting for!" complained Ren.

"We had to celebrate, Ren! I finally get to go to school as a Huntress! We had to have that midnight pancake feast!"

Ren sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. As he did so, Nora saw a flash of pink. "Hey, what's that?"

Ren jumped and blushed. "It's nothing I—"

Nora pushed his hand away and grabbed a handful of hair. Pink flashed among the ordinary black hair. "Did you dye this?"

Ren smiled, embarrassed.

"Well, remember yesterday my sister visited?"

Nora nodded. The king, at Nora's request, had Ren's family visit the castle to congratulate Ren's acceptance into Beacon. It had been sweet watching Ran and his sister catch up.

"Well, she said that as your permanent bodyguard, I should have something to represent it, but nothing obvious. We still have to maintain our identities while at school. So I suggested a pink dye to represent…you." He covered it again, embarrassed. "It was kind of a spur of the moment thing, I can probably get rid of it—"

Nora's heart warmed with emotion. Over the past six years, Nora and Ren had grown much closer, but Nora always had hoped for something more. Ren was always kind, always helpful, and always willing to protect her, no matter how harebrained her schemes were. And here they were, off on an adventure, away from family and obligations and the castle. Maybe this would be the day she would muster up the courage and tell him what she really felt.

So Nora looked him right in the eyes, smiled, and poked his nose.

"Boop!"

Ren looked surprised, then smiled. "What does that mean?"

"I like it," said Nora. "You keep that, and I'll keep booping you."

"Okay then," said Ren.

Nora looked out the window as the airship ascended over the kingdom. The next time I'm back, Nora thought, I will be Queen Nora. For now, I am Nora Valkyrie, Huntress in training.

Ren joined her at the window. Together, they watched the kingdom shrink in the distance as they soared above the clouds.

Author's Note:

I just wanted to thank everyone who has read and commented throughout the writing process. This is my first full Fanfiction story I have shared with the public and hope you enjoyed it. Sorry for the late posting, but due to work, applying for school, and other projects, it leaves very little time for writing, but I am doing my best. I am currently working on a new origin story, but I am waiting until it is finished before posting it. (Once I finish it, it will be released one chapter a week.) But until then, I still plan to make one chapter mini-stories that I had thought up, including stories for episodes that have already been released. (Ex: Alternate Dance Dance Infiltration episode I wanted to see before episode was released.) Anyway, hope you enjoyed, please share, please comment, and I hope you continue following me on , Wattpad, and Youtube!

Sincerely,

The84thWolf