Yang sat in an armchair near the fire. She gazed into the flames, watching them dance and shift. Qrow walked into the room, taking a seat across from her. "Hey Bumblebee," he greeted. "Glad to see you're still diligently moping."

"I can't help it," she replied. "It's the first year where Ruby stayed away for Natiuiteo."

"She's growing up. I'm often not here for Natiuiteo, remember?"

"And we're so glad that you could come this year, even if you were late."

"That's only because Ozpin had asked a favor of me." He kicked his feet up on the coffee table.

She quirked a brow. "A favor?"

He picked at his ear. "Asked me if he could have something that once belonged to Summer. A bobby pin. It wasn't a big deal for me to give it to him, though I can't help but wonder what he'd want it for."

"Hm." She rested her chin on her hand. "I wonder how Ruby's doing?"

"She's fine, don't worry so much. You'll be seeing her in a couple days anyways, so you can go back to watching her like a hawk and monitoring her romantic life."

She sat up. "I wouldn't have to monitor her if I just knew who the guy was." She rested back. "If I knew he was someone I could trust, I wouldn't have to pay so close attention." She gave a bitter smile. "Not like it does much good, though. She's become so secretive, it's like I don't even know her anymore. That's why I can't just let this go and trust her, it all just leaves a funny feeling in my gut."

"C'mon, you really don't know anything about the guy? Ruby's not that good at keeping secrets." He gestured with his hand. "So you're sure that Ruby stayed behind this year so she could be with her boyfriend. Fine, that means the guy is someone she knows very well and trusts. So it's probably someone she already knew before they were soulmates."

"I don't think she really knew anybody in town..."

"It could be an upperclassmen from your school." He tapped at his temple, looking her in the eye. "Think about it, Yang. What good is watching her all this time if you can't even make any decent guesses at who her boyfriend is?"

She looked back at the fire, and narrowed her eyes at it. She thought. She thought about Ruby staying behind at Beacon over winter break. To be with her boyfriend?

She thought about Ruby leaving school-grounds, a pair of ice skates tucked into her bag. But she thought that she didn't like ice-skating?

She thought of Ruby going out the same night as the Autumn Carnival, but not seeing her there. But when she and Blake and Weiss got back, Ruby was acting a little strange towards them, as if she was angry. Did she ever go to the carnival? Did she somehow know that they had been there too?

She thought about Ruby leaving the dorm in a pretty dress... but with no purse. Who goes out on the town without their phone and wallet and other necessities? She did go out on the town, right?

She thought of Ruby disappearing for a little while during the afternoon, again without a purse, and then when she came back, she was more secretive than ever. Why?

She thought of not seeing Ruby at breakfast, and her saying she was going to catch brunch someplace. There was something buzzing in the back of her mind about it, and for some reason, it seemed to her that the teacher's table in the cafeteria was also short one or two members that day. Who else was gone that day?

She thought of the glimpse of a text message she had seen Ruby receive on her phone, some cutesy picture with a motivational message. In a way it reminded her of the cards she and Ruby would get from their grandparents sometimes, when they were little. Or their dad, when he was being especially dorky. She thought of Ruby's boyfriend being older than her. Just how much older?

She thought of how when she came back All Grimm's Eve, Ruby was just getting into bed, but there was something off about her face. Her cheeks looked shiny, tinged with pink, and her eyes were a little puffy. At the time, she had assumed she was just tired. But was there more?

She thought of the days and afternoons where Ruby was no where to be found, coming back with flushed cheeks as if she'd been running around in the cold. Once she even had a feather stuck to the hem of her skirt. Where did something like that come from?

She thought of Ruby coming back one day with a smirk on her face, and of how she had a variety of space facts to share over dinner. She thought of Ruby refusing to let them see her tattoo. She was never particularly interested in space, and why was she so careful with her arm?

She thought of Ruby saying she was going to run some errands in town one evening, but then she came back empty-handed. Just what did she do in town?

She thought of an odd couple of days where Ruby had seemed down, and was constantly trying to talk to Professor Ozpin about something, but every time she tried, he was busy with something. Was she trying to ask for his help in something? Had she already met her soulmate, and was her attempting to talk to Ozpin a cry for help? Just how much time passed before Yang started to pay more attention to her? Was she already too late by the time she and her friends confronted Ruby about her tattoo? Was he already making her keep secrets?

She thought hard, furrowing her brows. Hours, days, weeks of accumulated time, where nobody seemed to know where Ruby was or what she was doing. What piece was she missing?

She thought all the way back to when Ruby's tattoo had first changed from brown to orange. How excited she had been at the time... So excited, she walked around in a daze, her head in the clouds, even going so far as to bump the headmaster with her shoulder. That day...

Her eyes suddenly snapped wide, and she sucked a breath in through her teeth. In the afternoon of that day, Professor Ozpin had asked Ruby to see him in his office. To talk. When she came back, Ruby said her tattoo was still orange, but... And he asked Qrow if he could have something that once belonged to Ruby's mom. Right before Natiuiteo.

"You figure it out?" Qrow tilted his head, peering into her face.

Her eyes couldn't seem to make up their mind between being lilac or red. Her hands gripped the arms of her chair. "I'm gonna kill him."

Ruby looked up from her book. She turned her head from side to side, eyes searching.

"What is it?" Ozpin asked, sensing her movement. He turned the page of his own book. They sat together, the backs of their chairs against each other. They had decided to go to the library as a date, since hanging out in his apartment was now out of the question. Somehow it seemed a bit nostalgic.

"Nothing... I just felt odd for a moment there." She relaxed.

"Odd?"

She nodded, and turned her gaze back down to her book. "Like when you can smell rain coming."