A wave of Excitement washed through the training hall, as Erydias Grey unsheathed her Weapon, which turned out to be a weapon set comprised of two items. Weiss looked a bit skeptical at the unfolding shield of Ms. Grey, which reminded her much of Jaune's Crocea Mors. The main difference between his set and hers was the way they were carried by their respective owners. While she carried the shield as a vambrace in its folded state, and thus had a separate sheath for the sword, his shield acted as the sheath when folded. Another difference between the sets was the design of the swords. Crocea Mors on the one hand had a relatively short blade, and almost no guard. On the other hand, the blade of Ms. Grey's weapon seemed to be a bit too long to be wielded with one hand, and provided a guard long enough do parry incoming attacks with relative ease. So she's equipped to fight Grimm, Humans and Faunus alike. Weiss thought to herself. She took a look at some of her classmates, mainly Ruby, Jaune and Pyrrha – the ones closest to herself. All three of them, even Pyrrha, seemed to be impressed by the symbols on the shield; the stylized fists flanking a stylized sword pointing downwards. The heiress herself was not that impressed, because she was familiar with them. But when she took a closer look at them, their style matched the one of the skull mask she and the others had recovered in warehouse #12 of the Schnee Dust Company. Is this a coincidence? Weiss thought, but was immediately dragged into the present when Cardin finally began to assault Ms. Grey.

He was a simplistic fighter, straightforward and working with brute force. Thus, every opponent of Cardin had to evade his onslaught, for his mace dealt a decent amount of damage, even if he did not hit his target properly. However, as he swung the weapon from left to right, Ms. Grey did not even try to dodge the attack. "A hard block?!" one of Weiss' classmates asked aloud, right before Ms. Grey finally moved. She tilted her shield towards herself, and lifted it, when the mace connected. This way, she simply guided it over her head, and created an opening in Cardin's defense, which she almost instantly struck into with a quick stab by her sword. Weiss looked at the display over the duelists, which showed Ms. Grey at 100% and Cardin at 96%. While the class seemed to deem this as weak, considering the experience the Huntress should have had, Weiss just knew there was something off with this, and so did Ruby.

"Maybe she just didn't hit him right…" the little rose whispered.

"No…" Weiss answered, and left it at that, as Cardin attacked once more.

Ms. Grey had not moved an inch away from her initial position, as his mace slammed onto her shield from above. Once. Twice. She did not block the third strike hard, as she did with the previous two, though. Instead, the Huntress guided that blow to her right side, exposing Cardin's back to a counter attack in the process, which followed – again – almost instantaneously. Her strike was a simple swing upwards, while the hand stayed in its natural position, before bringing her shield back up again, while Cardin was tumbling away from her a couple of steps. Weiss used this brief pause to take a look at the display above.

[Grey 98% - 90% Winchester]

Cardin took a brief moment to adjust his position again, while Ms. Grey was already awaiting the young Atlesian's next move. Impressed by the display of skill, patience and discipline so far, the class went silent. Weiss just stared at the White Knight, while Cardin's huffs and clashing of his weapon with the shield of the seasoned Huntress were the only sounds disrupting that silence. Again he tried to overpower his opponent by relentlessly smashing his mace against Ms. Grey's defense. Weiss tensed up, as she seemed to be forced down to her knees. But just as he seemed to have finally broken through, she suddenly dodged his last attack by sidestepping to the left. Ms. Grey was back on her feet again, Cardin seemed to be angered by the maneuver, and attacked again. The feat of finesse was followed by a feat of strength, as the Huntress went on her knees again, and brought the shield in front of her. It was placed so low, though, that Cardin could simply strike over it. Ruby gasped silently, as the class watched his charge against the kneeling Huntress, who then rose, smashed the shield into the charging student, and lifted him off the ground, using his own momentum to throw him over and behind her. Weiss' eyes glanced towards the display above the stage again.

[Grey 95% - 89% Winchester]

"Only three…?" Ruby asked aloud in audible disbelief, to which the heiress had to agree. While Cardin had not taken any beating during that last clash, his onslaught on Ms. Grey had been quite brutal, or so it seemed.

"So that's the strategy…" Weiss mumbled, but Ruby was able to hear it.

"Huh?"

"She's tiring him, look."

As the heiress said it, Ms. Grey countered another of Cardin's attacks. This time he swiped from right to left, which forced her to parry the attack with her sword instead of her shield. The seasoned Huntress guided the mace along the front to her right side, again using the momentum of her opponent against him, but suddenly stopped her own move, and smacked the pommel of her sword into his face, much in the motion of a spear being thrust – Weiss could see the shield moving towards Cardin during this move.

The Huntress seemed to have done what the heiress was assuming, as the class watched Cardin tumble away from her again. "Whoa!" Ruby suddenly exclaimed, nudged Weiss, and pointed to the display after getting the heiress' attention. Cardin's Aura seemed to have dropped to 83%, just by that pommel strike.

"Talk about a critical hit…" the heiress could hear Yang say from behind her, which she deemed to be a good explanation. But the seasoned Huntress continued her defensive strategy, exchanged blows with Cardin, but came out on top of him every time – his Aura depleted faster than hers did. Weiss could overhear Pyrrha and Jaune talk about her swordplay, and how he could improve his own abilities by watching Ms. Grey. Pyrrha's right. Her fighting style could be advantageous to him. Weiss took another look at the display.

[Grey 92% - 75% Winchester]

As Cardin hit the 75% threshold, the duel suddenly changed. Ms. Grey started to move more rapidly, bringing well placed kicks into play in order to throw him off balance. And every time she succeeded in that, a sword strike followed. However, it took Ms. Grey several direct hits to bring Cardin's Aura further down by a relatively low percentage. Meanwhile, he was not able to place any hit that took more than two percent of the seasoned Huntress' Aura at once, and he could not land any follow up strikes. She kept disrupting his momentum, which he needed to actually overpower his opponents, Weiss could detect.

Eventually, Professor Goodwitch halted the duel with the outcome 90% of Ms. Grey's Aura remaining, and 66% of Cardin's.

"Well then, class," the professor spoke up, "Can anyone tell us why Mr. Winchester would have lost in the long run?" she asked, as he sat down, obviously not happy with the results he had today.

Pyrrha answered the question: "It appears Ms. Grey would have gone more to the offense as the duel progressed. I could see Cardin adjust the movements of his body to the momentum of his weapon, but he wasn't able to cope with the disruptions Ms. Grey put him through properly."

"That would be a good observation, Ms. Nikos. Does anyone have something to add?" Prof. Goodwitch asked the class. "Ms. Schnee, what else could you see?"

Weiss was surprised by the professor's sudden choice, although somebody must have raised their hands. "Hm, I could not get behind the strategy of Ms. Grey. At first I thought she was baiting him, and then tiring him… I suppose, that was exactly, what she did: She stayed unpredictable by switching up the approach irregularly," Weiss answered in her usual manner.

Prof. Goodwitch nodded in Agreement. "Yes, Ms. Schnee. It appears Ms. Grey taught you a lesson, while she was at it, class: Do not fall into a fighting routine."

Prof. Goodwitch continued to analyze Ms. Grey's performance with the class, while Weiss herself thought about the symbols on Ms. Grey's equipment, and the similarities to the mask's symbol she and her team had found earlier. The art style was definitely similar, if not even the same. Was there a connection between the Emerald Ghosts and the White Knight, other than her former team mates, or squad mates, as she referred to them as, being suspected to actually BE the Emerald Ghosts? Headmaster Ozpin seemed to be convinced, that the latter was the case. Did she know about this, however? Ms. Grey just sat on the stairs leading up to the stage, weapon still in hand, and watched the class discuss her performance silently, and before long, lunchtime approached.

The heiress and the seven students she proudly called friends, sat at their usual table, team RWBY in that particular order on the one side, and team JNPR on the other, with Nora naturally sitting next to Ren. The main topic of today's talking was, as it was to be expected, the performance of the White Knight. Weiss was actually tired of it, having slight difficulties eating her meal in a proper manner, because of her handicapped arm. That was the reason she had not been paying attention for the most part of the conversation, but instead wondered about the whole evaluation thing. However, sometimes Weiss did listen in, because the opinions of the others about Ms. Grey differed far from her personal experience with that woman – a curiosity the heiress could not simply ignore.

"She surely is one tough Huntress," Yang said in admiration.

"And strong as well," Pyrrha added. "I mean, it takes a lot of physical strength to, well, manhandle a heavy armored fighter like Cardin like that," she then stated, mimicking the movements of Ms. Grey, when she had thrown Cardin above and behind herself.

Yang wanted to continue the conversation, when Blake nudged her ever so slightly. The blonde gave her girlfriend one of warmest smiles Weiss had ever seen up until that point. "Alright, people, change of topic!" Yang then announced, and stood up. "Blake and I have an announcement to make, at least to you guys," she then added, pointing towards Jaune and his team. After Blake rose to her feet hesitantly, Yang told the others about the relationship between herself and the black haired girl, who blushed so much in the process, Ruby could not help but giggle to it.

"Congratulations," Jaune spoke up as the first of team JNPR. The others simply nodded in agreement. It was in that moment, Weiss made a decision: The battle against her fear, yet unknown to her, shall begin at that moment. So she stood up, and placed her right hand on her chest. "I do believe I speak for everyone at this table right now, when I say: We're happy for both of you," she then said in a proud tone, trying to be as honest as she could be. At first there was no reaction, but then Nora and Ren started to knock on the wooden table, and were joined by the rest of the group immediately after.

"Well said, Weiss," Pyrrha praised the heiress, while Jaune nodded in agreement.

"Simple choice of words, but very fitting and effective," Ren added. "Couldn't have done this better myself."

"Of course you could've, Ren!" Nora protested. "You're the master of words, poetry, and pancakes!"

"Especially pancakes!" Jaune jested, which caused everybody – including Ren – to laugh.

As the couple and Weiss sat down again, Blake leaned against her partner, quite relieved. Her happy smile passed onto the others at the table over time, including the heiress. She could not help but adore Ruby's smile in particular, although it was covered most of the time – the little rose was busy eating her meal. Weiss drifted into her trail of thought again, regarding the connection between the White Knight and the Emerald Ghosts, which continued for the remainder of the day, but lead to no epiphany or conclusion.

In the evening, the situation inside the dorm room of team RWBY made Weiss feel uncomfortable for some reason. And the heiress could not tell what the reason could have been. Yang and Blake were sitting on the blonde's bed, the Faunus girl between the legs of her girlfriend. Yang was embracing her lover, while they were reading a book together – a love novel, most likely.

Weiss caught herself looking at certain areas of Ruby's physique – which was of course inappropriate – every time Yang decided to kiss or stroke Blake as a sign of affection, which made the latter return the more or less intimate gestures she had been receiving. And while Ruby pretended to be grossed out by it – or maybe even was grossed out – she decided to play a video game on her Scroll to distract herself from the lovebirds. The little rose lay in Weiss' bed, for obvious reasons, while doing so. Weiss' looks at Ruby went by unnoticed, but the confusion caused by them made the heiress furious. Why would she even consider doing such a thing, let alone do it? The annoying sounds of Ruby's seemingly action packed game and the whispered talk and giggling of the couple eventually reached a breaking point inside Weiss, and she suddenly stood up, and rushed towards the door.

"Something wrong, Weiss?" Yang asked.

"I…" Weiss thought about what to say next for a brief moment. She did not know if or what was bothering her in that moment, so she decided to avoid the question for the time being. "I need to step outside for a bit, take a walk."

"Okay," Yang replied, and then snuggled against Blake; much to the latter's delight. "Don't be home late," she added, and grinned at the heiress afterwards. Weiss took a deep breath, and just left the room. Yang laughed quietly, as the door was shut, and Weiss rushed outside the building. There was nobody to be found on her way out, and it got windy outside over time.

The heiress assumed everyone to be either in their dorm rooms or other interior facilities of the Academy, like the training room or even the Arena, since there was nobody outside either. The heiress decided to just wander around a bit. As she did so, her thoughts trailed to a certain little rose, who sometimes just 'explored' the Academy by wandering around aimlessly – just as Weiss was doing in that moment. She had been wandering around for quite some time as she realized that the sun was about to set, and found herself in an outlying area of the campus she had never been before. It was a garden, with several kinds of roses arranged neatly to complement the colors of those next to them. Chest high hedges surrounded the garden itself, and in the middle of it a couple of tables could be found. Weiss just then noticed to figures sitting at one such table. As she approached she recognized Prof. Ozpin and Erydias Grey, and stopped by a conveniently placed oak tree, which blocked their vision towards her – if they would have decided to look that way, anyway. But that was not likely to happen since they were having a heated discussion about something, and while Weiss could not hear much of what was said, she could see and feel rage building up in- and outside of Ms. Grey as they continued; visible via her body language. Damn it, Blake would be useful here.

Eventually the seasoned Huntress grabbed the table they have been sitting at, and threw it away in the outburst of rage Weiss had anticipated. She dared compare this to the ones Yang tended to have. The conclusion was simple: Yang was worse, since hers happened more rapidly when they did. However, Ms. Grey then just stood there, and stared the Headmaster down, who did not even seem to consider giving in. He put his right hand on her shoulder, and said something to Ms. Grey, before placing the table back where it belonged. Weiss could see him place some papers on the table before he left, with the intention to go the way she had been coming. In an attempt to make it look like she just arrived, Weiss started walking again, taking in the garden once more in the process.

"Good evening, Miss Schnee," he greeted her politely while he passed.

"Good evening, Sir," the heiress greeted him just as politely, if not even more so, and let him pass. After he was out of sight Weiss turned her attention back to Ms. Grey. She was sitting at the table again, holding her black Fedora in her hands. As Weiss came closer, the heiress could see that the seasoned Huntress just looked at the item lost in thought, sad even. The glimpse Weiss was able to take of Ms. Grey's face was too short to actually be conclusive; the Huntress noticed the heiress, and put the Hat back on her head quickly. She kept her face hidden as she spoke up. "Good evening, Weiss," Ms. Grey said politely, though somewhat sad. The heiress' suspicion appeared to be right; the seasoned Huntress was saddened by something – something Prof. Ozpin had said, most likely.

"Good evening, Miss Grey," Weiss greeted her as politely as she could be.

"What brings you to this place?" the seasoned Huntress asked, still hiding her face behind the Fedora.

"I…" Weiss was not sure where that question or her answer to it would lead, and so she thought about her choice of words mid-sentence. "I was just taking a walk," she then answered.

"I see, but isn't it a bit late for that?" Ms. Grey then inquired.

"Well… I just needed to get out of the room, I suppose…"

"Your dorm room, I take it?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"May I ask why?"

Weiss deemed it a good think that the conversation moved away from herself and Ms. Grey alike, and so she answered almost casually: "I needed to get away from the lovebirds and the noise of Ruby's game, so I went out of the dormitory, chose a direction, and ended up here."

The heiress tensed up when Ms. Grey repeated the word 'lovebirds' monotonously.

"Yang got her boyfriend into your room?" the Huntress then asked. What did you do now, Weiss? The heiress got angry at herself again, since she was in no position to tell anyone about the relationship between Yang and Blake.

"Uhm, I… Am actually not supposed to talk about it… It just slipped out," Weiss then answered hesitantly.

"It's Blake, am I right?" Ms. Grey inquired, followed by a long drawn sigh. She still did not show her face, but her mood seemed to change from somewhat saddened and downed to something else, Weiss could not grasp. Weiss nodded subconsciously, which made Ms. Grey sigh out loud again.

"Can you imagine what one of them would feel like, if something happened to the other?" the Huntress then inquired.

"Y-yes…" Weiss answered immediately. Of course she already knew how it felt to see an injured friend suffer, although she was not as close to Ruby as Yang would be for Blake, and vice versa. The Huntress at the table just took a deep breath, and then asked the heiress for a pencil. Naturally Weiss had one on her. As she handed it over to the Huntress, a quick glance was enough to tell Weiss that the papers Prof. Ozpin had handed to Ms. Grey were a contract. …as a tutor? The heiress wondered, as she watched the Huntress sign the contract. She returned the pencil to Weiss afterwards, took the contract, and stood up.

"Thank you, Weiss. If you would excuse me, I need to prepare myself. See you around," Ms. Grey said, and left. There the heiress was… Alone… Again… And full of questions. At first she took a seat at the table, but then she literally rushed back to her dorm room. Weiss had gotten so used to the noise of the trio she called her team mates over their time together, the heiress could not stand being all by herself for too long; in fact, it had been much too long in the past. Her age of solitude had been over when she had first set foot into the very dorm room she just entered.

It was quiet, though. Yang and Blake fell asleep in each other's arms, while Ruby had been sleeping with her scroll still running the game she had been playing when Weiss left. She took the device out of Ruby's hand and after a brief glance of what she had used to keep herself occupied with, the heiress learned that the little rose must have had finished a stage before falling asleep. Hm, it would be kind of bad if she lost her progress there… Weiss thought to herself, and clicked around the game's menu until she finally found the save button, and put it to its intended use. After that she folded the scroll and put it on the end table, before the heiress covered Ruby carefully. Weiss' left hand stayed at Ruby's chest for a few seconds, before she stroked the head of the little rose gently, which caused the latter to smile happily and sheepishly in her sleep.

"Good night, Ruby," the heiress whispered, before she changed to her nightgown, and climbed into the upper bed. There, she found rest rather quickly, and looked forward to the coming days of her life – things were about to change, and she would start the next day.

The next chapter: Trails of thought

Greetings, dear readers. It's been a while since the last chapter, but one particular passage of this one had been very difficult to create in a way that made sense. And after I figured that out, the writing went on rather slowly. In order to pick up the pace again, I need feedback, though.

Please comment, criticize (in a constructive way), and feel free to suggest content for future chapters as you see fit.

Sincerely

Erythreas