"How long have we been walking?" asked Ruby.

"Does it matter?"

"I feel like we're almost there," Ruby shrugged.

Weiss sighed. "Tell you what. Next time we run into something new, you can climb another tree to check."

"But we haven't seen anything new since we walked into these woods."

Weiss gave Ruby an even stare. The younger girl rolled her eyes. "Fine, I get your point."

"The fewer breaks we take, the faster we'll get there. It's less important that we know when that will be," reasoned Weiss.

Ruby grinned, an idea popping into her head. "Try and keep up, then!"

Ruby broke into a sprint. Her partner stood still for a moment, trying to comprehend what just happened, before giving chase; she did not look pleased.

Weiss ran for several minutes, still without sight of the younger girl. She was starting to get worried. What if their paths had deviated? They could be lost, alone in the woods for a very, very long time. When the red-cloaked form of her partner finally came into view, her worry was replaced with equal parts rage and relief. She dashed around to stand in front of Ruby, crossing her arms and preparing to chastise the girl.

"And just what do you think you're doing?" she demanded, anger still clear on her face. "If you'd gotten too far off, or turned even slightly to either side, I could have lost track of you! We can't afford to be sep-"

Ruby stepped forward and placed a finger on the other girl's mouth, silencing her. Weiss was too shocked to respond. Ruby pointed behind her. "Something new."

That something was an abnormally large tree - no taller than the others, but with much more girth. Before Weiss could say anything, Ruby ran to the tree and began to climb it.

When Ruby finally broke through the canopy, she was once more in awe of the unnatural sky. Again, she looked toward the sun and desert. With a sigh of relief, she noted that the border between the conflicting terrains had moved much closer. "It's probably only a few hours away, now," she muttered.

A shriek from below shook her out of her reverie. In her haste to get back down, she lost her footing, falling straight from the top of the tree. She landed face first on the forest floor.

"Ow."

"Get up get up get up!" shouted Weiss.

Slowly, Ruby complied, peeling herself off the ground. She stood and brushed the dirt off her skirt, too preoccupied to notice the sounds of shifting branches and leaves.

"The tree is moving!" Weiss hissed.

Ruby looked up just in time to see a pair of eyes, each the size of her own head, open on the trunk of the big tree. They were of crystalline amber, though dulled as if centuries old. The eyes blinked. Wood crackled and bark snapped as the tree formed itself a mouth, completing the face.

"Hello," intoned the tree, in a rather deep, breathy voice.

The girls' jaws could hardly go any lower.

"You woke me up. I don't remember the last time I had visitors," it continued, ponderously. "Though that may be because I never had any visitors at all."

"Um, hi," said Ruby, finally gathering herself.

The tree twisted itself slightly to look at the girl more directly. "What is your name, little one?"

"I'm Ruby. This is my partner, Weiss."

"Partner?" it responded. "In the world I remember, you would have been shunned by your fellow humans… though, that was a long time ago, and who am I to judge?"

Weiss blushed furiously. "Teammate!" she nearly shouted. "It's not like that at all! We're teammates!"

"Ah, I apologize. I seem to have misunderstood."

"What's your name?" asked Ruby.

"I do not have a name," it responded, almost sorrowfully. "I suppose you might call me 'Tree.'"

Ruby nodded. Normally, she would get a little bored in a conversation with someone who spoke so slowly, but the novelty of talking to a giant plant seemed to make up for that. "Ok, Tree; where are we?"

"Hrmmm," grumbled Tree. "You ask the biggest question first. I presume you come from Remnant?"

The girls nodded, taken aback by the question.

"This is another world, apart from Remnant, created by Man."

"How, and for what purpose?" asked Weiss, curious.

"I could not tell you how it came to be, but this world is a prison. It was formed from nothing when your kind won the first Great War. Every enemy that could not be slain had to be put somewhere safe, where they would be no threat."

Ruby looked surprised. "Are you saying that you fought against mankind and were imprisoned here? You're being awfully friendly."

Tree's leaves shuffled. "No. I stood by, as I always have. Here, I act as warden."

"It's your job to keep those beings in?"

"I doubt they could get out even if I were not here. The magics on this place are strong. I do, however, act as a gateway between this world and yours. It is lucky for you that I am here."

The girls looked at each other with relief. "So you can send us home?" asked Ruby.

Tree closed its eyes in thought. "I will need power. It is no light task."

Weiss pulled out her rapier and gestured to the hilt. "Would the Dust in here suffice?"

Again, Tree's leaves shifted. "It is a step in the right direction, but the scale is far too small."

Weiss frowned. "Where might we find a source of power for you?"

In response, Tree's mouth creaked up into a smile. "There are several artifacts to be found in this place; concentrations of the power of the prisoners, developed over the centuries like pearls. There are only two I would expect to be potent enough to get you home, and they are very far from here."

"And retrieving them is our only means of egress from this world?"

"To my knowledge, yes."

"We were on our way to the desert," Ruby spoke up. "Is that the way to one of the artifacts?"

Tree tilted forward slightly in a nod. "It is the safer way, though it will be no easy journey. If you continue on your path, you will reach the border within a few hours. If you are lucky, you will not encounter the Beast that stalks these woods."

Weiss tilted her head. "What beast? Some kind of Grimm?"

"No, not Grimm… though it has no love for your kind."

Ruby nodded in understanding. "Is there anything we should know about this place? You talked about magics."

"Hrmmm. This is not a place of death. This world is designed to hold things, to bind them; its nature is to keep things in their current state. This does not make you unkillable, but normally fatal injuries may no longer be so. Avoid disease, for it cares little for the rules of this world. You should not find yourself in hunger or thirst, as the air here is thick with energy."

The girls stood silently for a moment, waiting for any more of what could be life-saving advice. When none came, Ruby decided it was time to wrap things up. "So we go through the desert and find our way to the artifact?"

"You will find it in the cold place, past the lake."

"Thank you for your help, Tree," Ruby said, as she walked towards it. She wrapped her arms around the trunk as far as she could (which wasn't very far) in a hug. Weiss rolled her eyes.

"Let's go," said the older girl, moving in the direction of their destination. Ruby followed, but turned to smile at her newfound friend.

"Beware Wind," Tree called out as they left. "He's stronger than he may appear."

A/N: Chapter 5, in which I finally get around to world-building. I hope this raises as many questions as it answers.

If there's anything in need of clarification, let me know. The world is all in my head, now, and some things in here might not be read exactly as I imagined, though that's not necessarily bad. As always, leave a review! Speculation and constructive criticism are the most fun things for me to see in those; I'd love to get some more.