Jaune was on a flight to Mistral City again. He had not eaten for sixteen hours and had made certain that he had plenty of things to distract him from air sickness. He had decided to delay formally applying to ACS until at least the end of the current term. Father and Headmaster Brown had apparently agreed that if his aura were still strong by the end of July then Brown would say that four months was sufficient to say that there was no real risk of it significantly reducing.
It still left the other issues in play and one, in particular, had preoccupied his family. That one was the concern of one of the governors of ACS that he would take advantage of the female students in his class who were three or four years younger than him if he were allowed to become a student. Brown's suggested solution was for Jaune to get a girlfriend of an appropriate age.
Dad had arranged another fishing trip and had told Jaune more than he wanted to know about his early dalliances. While Jaune knew that his father had had girlfriends before he married mother, he had little desire to actually hear about how his father had wooed them. Jaune had in desperation agreed to accept the gift of a guitar and lessons from dad.
The advice to seem more confident than you were actually must have some validity, but when he tried speaking aloud (in the safety of his bedroom) some of the lines which dad had suggested he felt that they might be counterproductive. This had been confirmed when he had discussed them with Lavender. She did say that perhaps dad could have got away with them thirty-five years ago, but that spoken by Jaune they just sounded cheesy or arrogant.
Dad must have told mother about the pep talk as the day afterwards she had stayed thirty minutes late at the office. She had simply said that dad's wooing had been successful despite rather than because of his chat up lines. It had also helped that dad had not taken his lines entirely seriously and his friends had called him "Flash" Arc. She doubted that this was a persona which would suit Jaune and that that while she would be happy for Jaune to have a girlfriend she would prefer it if he went out with someone because he was attracted to them rather than to tick a box.
Lavender took the view that introducing him to her classmates was not a clever idea. He agreed with the logic that having him going out with sixteen-year-old girls was not likely to make the governors any happier but was bemused by the fact that as far as she was concerned she was protecting him from the girls in her year. He wondered, not for the first time, how much Lavender actually enjoyed the social side of school apart from weapons club.
Lily's husband David had shown willing by introducing him to various women of roughly his own age. Lily had again talked to him in the Gazebo with a newspaper in front of her mouth to warn him that most of the women either wanted to marry quickly or were trying to hide the fact that they preferred other women. As an employee of the LGDF living at home he was a reasonably attractive proposition to the former. The fact that Jaune was proposing to spend three to four years at combat school followed by four years at Haven with little income meant that those who were looking for marriage would be put off by him not being a provider and would reduce his attractiveness to those who simply wanted to enjoy themselves and see where things went.
Debo had refused to join in the matchmaking mainly on the basis that the people she knew best were too old for him. Debo had surprised him by making it clear that in her view he should be incredibly careful about going out with someone he was not actually interested in unless he had good reason to believe that they were playing by approximately the same rules. She and Jasper had been a real love match and he supposed that this shaped her attitudes.
Today he was carrying the answers to Professor Pink's questions about Kulsa plus the supplemental information mother had decided he might be interested in. Pink was due to arrive for the site inspection in two weekends time and she wanted him to have enough time to review the additional information in advance. After the meeting he would be travel to Argus to see Saffy and her family. He would arrive on Saturday morning and return late on Sunday to Mistral taking the first flight back to Ansel on Monday morning.
After the airship had landed at Mistral City airport, Jaune took the tram service to the city and then risked the cable car to Haven itself. He arrived early without mishap and took advantage of this fact to eat the packed lunch provided by Lavender and dad on a bench in the courtyard near the Academy buildings. The weather was excellent. The cheese, ham, lettuce, and mustard filling in the sandwiches was among his favourites and he also enjoyed the chicken legs which had been marinated in yoghurt, lemon, and dad's special spice mix.
He had another food package for the trip to Argus. He would be travelling on the Argus Limited which had the advantage that it was unlikely to set off his motion sickness. He could also catch up on some paperwork for the LGDF on the train trip.
He checked the time and decided that he could stay in the sun for another ten minutes. He was meeting Pink at 11.30 and decided that being five minutes early outside the office door was appropriate. Just then he heard a voice behind him saying "Jaune, what are you doing here?"
He turned and saw Daffy Earl who was a member of Team Blood. Her team would be doing work experience in Ansel this summer with the LGDF. Mother had decided that they were local enough to get along well with the humans in Kulsa Town and county and good natured enough not to cause problems with the Faunus. They were related to the local LGDF chief in Kulsa, but as Haven students who had been brought up locally, this was seen as a plus rather than unmerited nepotism.
"Hi Daffy. I'm here to see Professor Pink. LGDF business."
"Say no more. He's been asking me and Beau about Kulsa recently so I can guess what about. Won't say anything to the others."
"How's the team doing?"
"Pretty well. We have an outside chance of qualifying for the festival next year. No chance of winning, but it would be good to go to Vale for free."
The young woman looked up and said, "Remnant, Magenta's on the prowl again. I'll need to save Lucas from the crazy woman. See you this summer."
Daffy dashed off and he watched her appreciatively. Just then he heard a familiar voice say, "Down boy. She's got enough men drooling after her without you joining in."
"Hello Nancy," He turned round and saw that both twins were there, "Hello, Jessica." He ignored the remark, but Jessica answered on his behalf, "Come on Nancy, he's entitled to admire the view."
Nancy considered her twin's comment and nodded. "Fair enough. When she's wearing the shorts, I begin to understand Saffy's point of view."
Again, Jaune took the view that he would ignore the conversation. "Shall I message you both when I've finished with Professor Pink?"
Nancy said, "Let us know if you're running late. Otherwise meet us at 1 here and we'll take you for lunch at the Blue Express restaurant at the station. We've got a team training mission this weekend and we need some decent nosh before we go into the mountains. Also, we want to hand over some presents for Adrian."
The meeting went well. Professor Pink was pleased with the information provided and confirmed the arrangements for his site visit. He also said that he would leave a message at the airport desk on Sunday night for Jaune to collect on Monday morning if he needed mother to prepare the answers to any more questions in advance. Jaune met the twins as arranged and they took him to the station. The twins were wearing smart clothes rather than either the Haven uniform or their fighting kit. Jaune was glad that he was dressed in the LGDF uniform and not his normal hoodie as otherwise he would have felt underdressed.
The restaurant was a shock to him. It was just as well that as soon as they entered it Jessica said, "Don't worry. We're paying." It was probably the most ornate room he had ever been in with gold gilt placed around huge mirrors and beautiful paintings of the main destinations which could be reached from the station. There were three linked rooms. It seemingly was a regular haunt of the twins as the maître' d recognised them and showed them to a table which he suspected was among the best in the establishment.
The twins ordered the most expensive set menu for the three of them. After the initial shock at the pricing, Jaune found himself thoroughly enjoying the meal. He hoped that one day he could take Lavender to the same restaurant as she would undoubtedly enjoy herself and then would try and replicate some of the sauces at home.
To his relief the twins got the matchmaking out of the way quickly. Jessica said, "Mother and Debo have made it quite clear to us not to even think of volunteering one of our friends to make a man of you."
Nancy said, "We wouldn't have done so anyway. You need someone fundamentally sweet. Actually, our advice to you is not to bother searching too hard. Chasing after everyone you meet is not a good look and could cause more problems than it solves."
Jessica continued, "Most of our classmates from junior school who stayed in Ansel are already married with sprogs."
Jaune nodded and said, "Lily sort of told me the same thing. Her and David are introducing me to people, but she is warning me off most of them on the basis that they are looking for a husband."
Nancy said, "Hmm. Perhaps we should spend more time with her next time we are in Ansel. We did rather terrorise you and her before we left for Haven."
Jessica said, "Why not ask her to introduce you to women who are going to university outside the province and don't have a current girlfriend?"
"She thought of that, but the fact that I want to go back to ACS puts them off. They feel like it's going out with a school kid. I also don't really know any of my contemporaries anymore."
Nancy said, "Also if they are anything like our year, most of them only end their relationships just before they all go to college. No point in having a lonely summer."
Jessica said, "Or if they do end the relationships early, it's because they want to hang out with a group of existing friends rather than have a short-term relationship."
Just then the waiters took the plates from the soup course away and some of the other customers came over and shook hands with the twins and asked for selfies. The twins accepted good naturedly. He looked at them after the customers had gone. Nancy explained, "It's fine provided it only happens between courses. Most people who eat here take their food and etiquette seriously."
Jessica added, "We learnt early on that it helped if we were less spiky than Amber."
"Actually, she suggested it. For a team which only got as far as the quarterfinals in the Vytal festival we have done remarkably well for sponsorships and popularity."
"Bit of a shock for us next year when we have to earn our own living. Anyway, the next batch of students are better than our year were. We will soon be the subject of "where are they now?" and "Why did we rate them" features in the magazines."
"You don't mind."
"Of course not. It's been a fun four years but it's now time to grow up and do our job. We'll be staying with Saffy in Argus for our first gig in September and October this year. Two of the multi-Kingdoms are funding a forest reclamation project in the East. While we still have some news value, it makes sense for us and them to capitalise on it."
"Which ones?"
"Vassilias Transport and the Campion Charitable Foundation. Apparently there are a whole load of Apathy Grimm out there and we will be going in mob handed to take them out."
Most of the rest of the conversation was on uncontentious matters although he did ask about Daffy's concern about the women she called Magenta.
Nancy grimaced. "Look, it's hard not to feel sorry for her. Her uncle was the first victim of the White Fang's revenge attacks for the Vacuoan mine excesses. She was there when they conned him and his security detail into letting him be taken by people pretending to be members of the Atlas DPS."
Jessica said, "Unfortunately for her if anyone deserved what happened to him, he did. It also did not help that the operation was well executed. No casualties, no collateral damage other than a local CCT relay tower and a display of competence and discipline which after the Rising Sun fiasco was a surprise."
"You're admiring terrorists?"
"We don't have to agree with everything which Amber says to acknowledge that for many Faunus the White Fang are perceived as freedom fighters. An operation which took out someone who was about to become a main board member of the SDC, the man who was the architect of the working practices in the Vacuoan mines, responsible for branding children, and had broken the strikes was understandably popular. Also, the lack of innocent deaths and injuries meant that the normal denouncements could not be made."
"I suppose so. Still there was a but lurking when you talked about Magenta."
Nancy intervened, "She really hates Faunus and assumes that they are all supporters of the White Fang unless proved otherwise. She's a little unhinged on the subject. It goes beyond the normal assumptions that Faunus are servants or are of less importance."
Nancy gestured and Jaune took in the fact that the waiting staff were primarily cat and dog-eared Faunus but the Maître' d was human.
Jessica continued, "Team Blood act like they are good old boys, but as you saw a few months back they are more complicated than that. Daffy really cannot stand Magenta's shtick on the subject and Beau and Orion are embarrassed by it. Lucas tries to pretend that it is only a phase."
After each of the other courses more customers came up for selfies or just to shake the hands of the twins. Nancy said, "Just in case you are wondering about it, we don't think mother is opposed to you becoming a hunter. We think she might be playing a subtle game by not being heavily involved in the discussions about your future."
Jaune looked puzzled and Jessica said, "Judge Blanche may take the view that what mother really wants is for you to stay with the LGDF and eventually take over from her. That might tempt him to support your bid to attend Refuse."
"Refuse?"
Nancy said "Until ten years ago ACS was known as Refuge Combat School. It was known to most people at Haven as Refuse and the headmaster before Brown took it personally and changed the name."
Jaune said, "Ok. Look mother is terribly busy and dad is closer to Brown than she is. Frankly trying to double guess what the best thing is to do is does my head in. I know they want the best for me."
Nancy and Jessica exchanged glances before saying that he was right.
Nancy then said, "You do know that one of Saffy and Terra's best friends is a teacher at Sanctum."
"Yes. Saffy said that she would be coming to dinner tomorrow night. I asked her to investigate the possibility of me applying to Sanctum."
Jessica nodded, "That makes sense. Certainly, avoiding the complications in Ansel seems like a promising idea."
Jaune said, "I will be happy to volunteer for babysitting duties if they put me up."
Nancy laughed, "Well it will give them an opportunity to go out more without overburdening Terra's mother. Still have you met Adrian recently?"
"Looking forward to it. I gather he's crawling now."
"You do remember Debo's theory."
"About what? She has a lot of them."
Jessica laughed, "She does indeed. I think Nancy's thinking about the baby theory."
"What's that one?"
Nancy said, "You may recall that Saffy and Debo looked after the rest of us more than Amber. They were happier to be babysitters and fill in with mother with us."
"I remember Debo doing so,"
"Ok you are four years younger than us. Debo rather took over as she got older because Saffy was dealing with her own stuff when you were old enough to remember."
"I'll take your word. So, what is Debo's theory?"
"Babies either learn to move early so that they could get things themselves or learn to talk early so they could order their parents and sisters to collect things."
Jaune laughed, "So what did she think of the rest of us?"
"Mother said that Debo had definitely been an early talker while you and Amber were early movers. If she took her eyes off either of you for a moment you would vanish."
"I've heard the stories."
"Fair enough. One reason not to bring a girlfriend home is that dad will tell them all about the tin of paint over the new carpet."
Jaune blushed at being reminded of this story. "And you two?"
Jessica said, "Nancy ordered me around from the word go. I crawled first and she told me where to go and what to get."
"Hey, I'm the alpha female."
"And the others?"
"Debo says that Lily learned to crawl early but mainly to escape from us. Saffy and Lavender did both at the same time. They were the easiest of us, apparently. They accepted that mother would look after them – well in Lavender's case that her or Debo would and so would not scream incessantly or investigate."
Jessica snarked, "They are too innocent for this world."
"Ehh?"
"You really don't remember?"
"What?"
"Well, I suppose we did not understand until we were older, but Amber always looked after Saffy in Ansel."
"Sorry?"
"People picked on Saffy. She was always gentle and kind."
"Ok. I can believe that."
"She also decided early on that she did not want to be a hunter."
"I knew she didn't go to ACS."
"Anyway, even before she went to the secondary school she was a target for bullies until Amber saw a group stealing Saffy's pocket money. Five minutes later everyone at the school knew that you did not mess with the Arc family."
It was interesting for Jaune to hear this. In retrospect it made a lot of sense about the family dynamics and why Debo had never been bullied. It also made sense of why Debo had gone to ACS despite never having any intention of going to Haven. Being two years behind Amber had made certain that she was left alone.
Perhaps Jaune should not have been surprised at the end of meal when the waiter explained that the bill and a generous tip had been paid for by another customer. He asked them if that was usual. Nancy said, "Surprisingly often. It's one of the upsides of being willing to be pleasant to our fans."
They bundled him on to the sleeper train. Jaune did his paperwork and watched the scenery pass by while it was still light outside and then went to bed shortly after the sun had set. The second instalment of the picnic provided by Dad and Lavender ended up being eaten when he woke up around three in the morning. One side effect of his aura being unlocked was that he burned calories at a frightening rate and so needed constant refuelling.
The train arrived in Argus around 6.30 in the morning. He had been woken by the attendant with a coffee and croissant by way of a light breakfast at 6 and was ready to depart. He walked through the streets to the house and arrived at 7.30. Saffy opened the door and welcomed him in. He handed over the presents from the family. He was fairly certain that the twins had sent presents which allowed Adrian to make a lot of noise.
Saffy made him some more coffee while he played with Adrian. Adrian had boundless energy and a good set of lungs. He had also decided that Jaune was some kind of horse.
Terra appeared about nine and started preparing the dinner for the evening. Saphron explained as she took over the duties of entertaining Adrian that there would be three other guests. One was a workmate of Terra's at the CCT and his partner who was a teacher at Sanctum. The third guest was the head of admissions at Sanctum. He gave his sister a hug. He had known that Saffy had been investigating the Argus option for him, but clearly she had gone about it more thoroughly than he had been expecting. During the day he caught up with Saphron and Terra as well as admiring young Adrian. It had been the first time they had met since Amber had unlocked his aura so there was a lot to talk about.
They had a guarded conversation about Amber's latest row with dad. Jaune got the sense that Saffy knew more about the details of the latest argument. It was also clear that she was not going to disclose anything Amber had said in private. He knew that it must be linked to Amber unlocking his aura for him but found it hard to imagine how it had escalated as much as it had done. It still seemed that both were expecting the other one to apologise first.
Amber and Saffy had always been close and had had the most difficult relations with dad. Unlike Amber, Saffy now got on well with dad (who also liked Terra) but had no desire to visit Ansel. She had not had many friends there when she had left for university in Argus and had no desire either to pretend that Terra did not exist or to display her publicly to be gawped at.
John and William Latte-Pear arrived first that evening. John worked with Terra at the CTT and was a cousin who had the same complexion as her. William taught unarmed combat and civics at Sanctum. John was a short man with a neat moustache and was slightly overweight. William was taller and broader and looked the part. He spent half the year at Sanctum and the other half carrying out missions as a hunter although usually within Argus province. He had met them before, although usually only briefly. He liked them well enough. Shortly afterwards Julianne Mauve arrived. William had explained to Jaune and Saffy that Julianne knew both the official and unofficial rules about admissions at Sanctum and Haven.
Julianne after being introduced to Jaune, Saphron and Terra whom she had not met previously made an accidental faux pas when she congratulated John on a recent promotion.
John looked embarrassed and Terra looked slightly irritated. Saffy and William exchanged glances and William explained the background. The CCT had been cost cutting recently and in Argus four people were acting heads of sections while not receiving the full pay for the job. John and Terra were two of them.
Some extra funding had been agreed in Mistral City and it had been decided that one out of the four of them would be promoted and the other three would receive a bonus of around 50% of the difference between their current salary and that of the head of section.
Terra added that all four of them deserved a promotion and that it was recognised that it would be a bit of a lottery. When John's had come through it had been assumed that the boss in Mistral had effectively tossed coins between the contenders.
John looking embarrassed said, "It turned out he had broken the deadlock in his mind on a misunderstanding."
Terra said, "None of us hide our relationship in Argus but at a CCT work event in Mistral City where spouses were invited the four of us went together the man responsible for deciding who got the promotion was present. He must have recognised me and John from the files and spent time talking to us. The four of us were sitting together and Saffy was eight months pregnant at the time. He seemed pleasant enough and we did not correct his assumption that John and Saffy and William and me were couples. One never knows how people In Mistral city will react and whether it had been embarrassment, anger, or an attempt to show he was with the program it would have spoilt the evening."
Saffy laughed, "The man decided to break the deadlock on the basis of who needed the money most, He had had children early on in his career and knew how expensive they were. He assumed that Adrian was John's child and hoped the pay rise would allow Saffy to stay at home to look after young Adrian."
Terra said, "Also I suspect that he thought that I had family money behind me because of the address."
Julianne said, "I hadn't wanted to ask but this is a beautiful house and a lovely neighbourhood."
Saffy said, "My sister Amber lent money to us to pay 25% of the deposit to buy the house after her first Vytal Festival and guaranteed the loan. That was more than seven years ago, and prices have rocketed since then."
Terra said, "We aren't complaining. Sometimes things break in one's favour and sometimes they don't."
William asked, "Saphron, have you decided what to do about going back to work yet?"
Saffy said, "Strictly I don't have to decide until early August, so the school has time to get a replacement, but I think that I want to stay at home and bring up Adrian and perhaps have another child in the next eighteen months."
Terra said, "Childcare costs mean that there would not be much of her salary left and with Jaune's sisters staying here for around six months next year and paying rent, we thought it would be good for Adrian for Saffy to spend as much time as possible with him."
The meal was excellent and six very full and satisfied people sat around the living room digesting the mean. Julianne who was around forty and older than the rest of them looked around and said, "Jaune, your siter has told me that you are looking to apply to combat school next year despite being eighteen going on nineteen. Can you fill me in on the details of why you are applying so late?"
Jaune explained the failure to unlock his aura at fourteen, leaving ACS, the two years he spent off school and then the nearly two years he had spent with the Ansel LGDF before Amber unlocked his aura."
Both Julianne and William exchanged glances when Jaune mentioned the manner of his unlocking and William asked him to flare his aura. Jaune warned him about the strength of it and the man braced himself and made certain that there was nothing obviously breakable behind him.
William turned to Julianne, "He wasn't joking about the strength of the aura. I would want someone with this much aura fighting the Grimm if at all possible."
Julianne looked at Jaune. "No doubt everyone has told you that you can do excellent work against the Grimm working for the LGDF. Why do you want to go back to school?"
"Because I think more people can do what I do for the LGDF then can be hunters. I don't think that I'm exceptional. It's not as though mother has not recruited a good group of young people who believe in public service."
He paused, "Also so far people have given me the benefit of the doubt. I work hard and I can pass on information to mother, but eventually I am going to be up for promotion. Not everyone will believe that it is merited and that might undo much of the excellent work mother has done." Jaune had been thinking about this issue and on rebuttals of the just stay put argument.
William said, "Why not move to work for the Argus LGDF? I know that your mother intrigues the current commander and there is a reason he's hired your sisters straight out of Haven for the land reclamation project."
Jaune said, "Because I believe that I have more to give as a hunter."
Julianne looked carefully at him. "You won't be surprised to hear that we are full up for next year and already have a full waiting list for dropouts. We will be looking to see whether some of the people who deferred a year can be moved up to fill in a couple of places in the second year which have become available and perhaps we could add you to that list. No guarantees though and there are some questions I need to ask."
"Ask ahead?" This was more encouraging than Jaune had been expecting.
"These may not make much sense to you, but we had to change some of our entry rules because too many youngsters from Mantle were applying to us."
"Sorry?"
"Atlas Academy has expanded under the leadership of General Ironwood and is seeking to take more students from Mantle. As you may know, if you qualify from Atlas you are required to serve with the Atlas military for a minimum of four years or pay back the cost of tuition. Some combat school students don't want to sign up for eight years. Besides which a lot of young people in Mantle think that there are better chances for them in Argus than Mantle – even if we have huge inequality in Argus, it is physically possible to see where our so-called betters live. In Mantle, you can't walk to Atlas and the city in the sky blocks out the sunlight in more ways than one."
Saffy looked up and screwed up her face. "I think I've heard about this. I just need to check a few things." She disappeared.
William asked, "How is this relevant, Julianne? Argus has been for the last thirty years the place where bright people in Mistral go when they don't have the right connections in the place they grew up."
"It's just a greater issue now. The province is doing well while the rest of Mistral is in problems, and we are adding thousands of people each month. It's one of the reasons reclaiming land from the Grimm is a major project."
Terra sighed, "Sorry, Jaune. You've going to get the lecture about Argus being the victim of its own success. Just now we are going through a time when the fact that newcomers are motivated to work hard and fit in is starting to be seen as a problem."
Julianne sighed, "It's not a lecture. It's just that we now have a rule which favours candidates who were either born in Argus, had a mother who was born in Argus or have lived here four years. In part it's because Atlas and Mistral want to reduce the numbers moving from Mantle to here. It is also an attempt to nip in the bud some of the anti-immigrant feeling, especially against the Faunus and those who are fleeing the Branwen Tribe. We do rely for funding on the provincial government and Atlas also has been generous."
Jaune groaned, "I was born in Ansel. Dad says that I was conceived in Argus."
Terra said, "Didn't your mother grow up here?"
"Yes. Maybe that will be enough?"
Julianne looked doubtful and Jaune asked, "My mother suggested that the fact that I attended ACS for a term might make a difference?"
Julianne said, "We have in the past given a pass to pupils who missed a year or two due to illness. It gives them the diploma, but it is no use if you want to go to Haven."
William said, "Were you formally expelled or struck off the register?"
"I don't recall. Wouldn't that have happened automatically?"
"Well, sometimes when a pupil's parents have moved away for a posting we have kept their place open in case they come back."
Terra said, "You may want to check the position. If someone wants to mess you about they could propose that you be given a passing mark and allowed to graduate."
Julianne said, "It's an unusual position you are in. I can see someone deciding to count your two years with the LGDF as practical experience. Have you fought Grimm?"
"Not hand to hand, but I have shot at them from the bullhead."
Saffy returned, "Jaune, I checked the family tree and history. Mother was born in Mistral City, but that was because she was born early. She lived here until she was twenty and dad met her here."
Julianne sighed, "Jaune, that makes things difficult. If the only oddity were the birth requirements, I have little doubt that the fact you were born just after your parents moved to Ansel and your mother lived here for twenty years would mean that you would be treated as meeting the spirit of the requirements. It's just that the problems of you being older than the rest of the students would be seen as a reason not to exercise a discretion."
William asked, "Are you certain?"
"Not entirely. However, if you are asking me whether Jaune should leave his job and home in Ansel and move here on the chance that he may be allowed to enrol at Sanctum, I would be dishonest if I did not say that it would be a long shot. It does not help that I know of at least two other hard cases which will need to be considered in the next six months. One involves a person who is only two months short of the residence qualification and the other involves a Faunus whose father was born here."
Saffy asked, "Do you have any other suggestions for Jaune?"
"He could try the Mustang route. Working for the LGDF in support of the reclamation project might be a possibility if he wants to move to Argus. Actually, if he works for two years for the LGDF here and has a recommendation from his boss he could enrol at Sanctum the year afterwards."
Saffy said, "But he would be nearly 21 then and would be nearly 25 when he finished combat school."
"Perhaps twenty-four. We could advance him a year."
William said, "What about Vacuo?"
Julianne said, "Mistralians aren't popular there and the fact that Amber is his big sister won't mean the same there as it does here."
Saffy said, "I've heard about Vacuo from Amber. The fact that she is not certain whether some or all of the wildlife, the weather and the sand are more dangerous than the Grimm does not make it an appealing proposition."
William said, "But combat school is not a requirement there."
Julianne said, "Living there is a constant practical exam unless you live in Vacuo City. They are also very individualistic. It's a different mindset."
Jaune decided that he might try and find out more about Shade.
William looked at Jaune and said, "Have you tried out the pool table here?"
Saffy laughed, "The twins asked for one in the cellar. They paid for it so we saw no reason to object as they will be staying here."
Jaune accepted the invite and joined William for a game. They took a bottle of wine with them, but the others stayed behind.
They played one game quickly and then William said, "I have heard a story which your mother needs to hear. I believe that the person who told me it believes it and he debriefed the man who told him. It's one of the reasons Vacuo was on my mind."
Jaune nodded and sat down. William looked uneasy and said, "I know you must remember the killings by the White Fang a few months ago as that was the same week as your aura was unlocked."
"Yes. I don't think that Amber would have unlocked my aura if it hadn't been for them."
"It's odd in Argus. The White Fang have mostly left the city alone and kept to economic targets. The killings were all of ex-multi-Kingdom employees who could be portrayed in Argus as "legitimate" targets."
"I'd gathered that."
"It's not generally known but one of the survivors is hard of hearing and learnt to lip read as a child."
"OK?" Jaune was puzzled by the conversation.
"A decision was made not to broadcast the fact that all but one of those thrown out of the plane were chloroformed before being thrown out. The White Fang did not advertise the fact either and the authorities saw no reason to give the terrorists any more credit."
"All but one?"
"The head of Argus Gold's security division was thrown out wide awake."
Jaune knew that William was referring to Chief Scarlett's brother. "I know who you mean."
"I thought you might. The reason I'm saying this is because the person who was obviously in charge of the operation put on an obviously false voice when he said things in front of the survivors."
Jaune must have looked puzzled.
William said, "The leader posed as an ADPS officer and talked to the three people with most to fear from the White Fang and conned them into getting the others to join them on the plane. He did not address the group generally and his second in command gave all the practical orders using a standard Mantle accent."
"Go on." Jaune could not imagine where this was leading but the Sanctum teacher obviously thought that it was important.
"The brandings happened first. The people who suffered them were offered chloroform first and unsurprisingly took the option. The man my contact met said that he was at that stage hopeful that he would survive as he knew that his actions had been less reprehensible that most of those who had been branded and they included some other operatives from his multi-Kingdom."
"I know the flight had a lot of ex-Atlas Gold employees on it."
"Yes. They accounted for most of the deaths. The White Fang offered six of those who died the option of chloroform before throwing them out of the plane without a parachute and all but one of the rest were given the chloroform option before being thrown to their death. The terrorists had decided that these people needed to know that they were going to die but did not feel the need to make them experience dying."
Jaune nodded.
"My informant could tell that the other White Fang terrorists were fascinated about what was going to happen to Scarlett."
"Fascinated?"
"That was the word which was used. It turned out that the leader had a personal beef with Scarlett and told him in detail why he was going to die. The survivor only caught about a third of the one-sided conversation, but it became clear that the aim was to make Scarlett fear that everything he had ever ordered be done to a Faunus worker or striker would be done to him."
"Was it?"
"In the end not. However, Scarlett was clearly terrified that it would be especially after the terrorist gagged him and then whispered that he had seen Scarlett kill his mother. Unsurprisingly the man evacuated his bowels which seems to have been what was the desired effect. Humiliation and the threat of physical torture rather than torture itself."
"So why does my mother need to know this?"
"The lip reader was puzzled by the leader's lip movements. The man was not speaking with a Mantle accent but with a posh Atlesian accent."
"How could he tell?"
"A sort of lisp and the vocabulary used. Anyway, my contact said that the analysis was that it was likely that the leader was the same person as kidnapped Umber Raddock."
Jaune had heard of him yesterday from the twins. "OK. Why does my mother need to know?"
"Because the lip reader had passed the story onto his fellow survivors. She must assume that it will have got back to Kulsa and that the fact that Chief Scarlett's brother was humiliated before being killed and was singled out will be known there. I can also imagine that the fact that the Faunus posed as humans will go down badly there."
Jaune thought about the implications. "Oh, frack."
"That's what I thought. By the way, the leader just nudged Scarlett with his foot and pushed him out of the plane in the end without being beaten up or physically tortured. After that, the second in command announced that the rest of them were going to live but would be chloroformed to allow the White Fang to get away. I just thought that your mother needed to know what the people in her territory may know about what happened in Argus. This detail is the sort of thing which does not get put in writing."
Sorry for the delay. A mixture of holiday and dissatisfaction at my first draft was responsible. Having established early on that Argus is a sort of hybrid between Atlas and Mistral and is economically more successful, clearly this must have implications for Argus itself.
