Crystal and her father walked along the hall in near silence, their breathing and their footsteps being the only sounds they made. It was tough keeping pace with her father sometime, but he made sure to walk slowly enough for her to keep up. When she caught sight of a door with a certain team name on it, she stopped. Then her father stopped as well and turned back to her. "What is it?" he asked.

"I have business with those inside, father," she replied.

"Is it anything dangerous?"

"Only to them." He nodded in understanding. There were some things that she had to do herself.

She used her semblance to see what was going on inside and discovered that both of them were inside. That was good, as she was there for both of them. She opened the door, knowing that giving them any time—even a small amount—to prepare was too much.

As she opened the door, one of them objected to the intrusion, but quieted himself. "Hey who do you think…"

She looked at both of them one at a time and said, "I am only going to give you one chance; one chance for survival. If you think that you can do whatever you want, then kill that idea. Throw it away because it will only bring you death—by either my hand or someone else's."

They were quit, though one of them was trying to trick her. She kept checking on her with her True Sight to make sure she was where she thought she was.
She continued. "If you think that you can kill me, then let me put that idea down as well." She then turned to look not where her eyes told her she was, but where her semblance told her where she was. "And you can't sneak up on me either, Emerald."

Emerald let go the illusion, and Crystal intensified her gaze. Mercury was just stared amazed at Crystal. "The only thing you two can do while you pretend that you're innocent, and were just as much victims of Cinder as everyone else, is attend classes and don't catch my eye. If you so much as scratch someone in a sparring match, I will kill you without hesitation."

Emerald and Mercury had been an annoyance to her, hiding in plain sight for so long, and pleading innocent of the crimes of Cinder. It sickened her to think the two of them were tolerated by those who knew their guilt. This was her way of making sure they realized how lucky they were that their lie was believed by anyone.

The two of the understood, but just to make her point clear, she drew her right Crystal Blade and brought it to Mercury's neck. It was there, barely touching his skin, before he could react. She grinned, and put away the blade.

"Goodbye, and don't make me kill you." She went back outside to find her father still waiting for her, and the two continued their silent walk through Haven.

Eventually, her father turned to her and said, "Do you want to get in a quick sparring match, Crystal?"

She was surprised. After killing Forester, she would have thought he would be exhausted. "Aren't you at all tired, father?" she asked.

"Of course, but that's the only way this fight can be remotely fair."

That was a challenge. "Alright, but I think the sparring arena is being used."

"No matter. We shall do it similar to how I would do it in my days here; outside."

He led her to one of the large balconies once used as a landing pad, and dropped his coat. "So, first to have their aura run out?" Crystal said.

"I was thinking more until first blood, but I suppose that works." He drew his rapier, and took his stance.

She shook her head. "If first blood is what you want, then so be it."

"Good. Now it's even more like my academy days." She didn't question that or the odd smile he had.

She drew the Crystal Blades, and shattered them, reforming them into a rapier and parrying knife of her own. She then took a stance that almost mirrored his, favoring her right side towards him, so that the dagger could deflect his blade if it got past. "I'll let you have the first strike," he said.

She advanced and lunged. He parried, and fell back. Then he went on the offensive, advancing and attacking quickly, making it difficult for her to counter. More than once, he landed a hit, reducing her aura. It seemed like she didn't even get one hit in.

She advanced aggressively, locked his sword with her dagger, and lunged at his chest. He quickly drew his dagger, and tied to knock her rapier away. He had only succeeded minorly; making her blade hit his arm instead of his chest. It was then that she was surprised to see blood come from his arm.

"Good job," he said. They disengaged from each other. "I almost didn't expect that."

"You didn't have any aura," Crystal said, a little dazed.

He nodded. "I supposed that made it a fair fight, and indeed it did." He put his blades away, prompting Crystal to shatter and reform hers in order to put them in their sheaths. "Good work. Now all I need is a bandage." Before she could open her mouth to say something, he said, "I'll find a nurse. But after that, I'm leaving to give my report to the council."

"Wait," she said as he was about to leave. "Have you told the council about them?" "Them" referred to the Order of the Broken Moon, a secret society bent on ruling the world. She had only recently found out about them from Storm, and she didn't know where he had learned it. She had told her father about them so as to give cause arrest Forester, as she suspected he was a member of their organization, which turned out to be true. She wondered if he had told the Mistral Council about them, as Storm told her to keep it a secret.

"Not yet, no." Then they had been doing these things, and using the council's name to justify them, despite the fact that they were acting on their own—definitely not good. "While I have told them that I suspected Forester of conspiracy, I didn't tell them what conspiracy it was." That was slightly better.

"Father, I think it would be best if you do not reveal them to the council."

"Why?" he said with a questioning gaze. "If we reveal them, they could be dealt with much easier."

"You don't know them, father. If they know that we know about them, they might take violent action. It would be like waking a sleeping giant! They have agents with incredible powers—reading minds, moving the earth with their mind, spellcasting, even something I don't understand. And that's only the ones I know about. If there are those who are even more powerful, then it would be best not to provoke them."

He nodded. "Well, if that's how you feel about it, then I'll take your suggestion under consideration." His voice took a somewhat less serious tone. "In the meantime, I want you to start attending council meetings. Even if you don't have any say yet, the noble houses have almost always elected Taryns, and it would be good if you would start to learn about to the intricacies of the Mistral Council."

While she didn't really want to, she didn't dare to let down her father. "As you wish, father."

"Good. We meet monthly, though perhaps more now, considering what I'm going to suggest."

She eyed him curiously. "What exactly are you going to suggest."

"Rearmament." Rearmament would mean so many things. The Mistral Defense Force would be elevated from their now ceremonial role, to their position before the Great War—the primary defense against the Grimm. Not only that: getting volunteers and equipment would strain Mistral's infrastructure, and perhaps even bring negative feelings into the kingdom—which could be even more damaging. "I know it's a dangerous plan, but it's our best and most consistent defense against the Grimm."

All she could do was stare at him.

After several minutes of silence, he broke the tension with a completely new topic. "So, have you found a boy yet?"

She stepped back. Out of all the things he'd said, that was what gave her the most surprise. "What?"

"I'm not getting any younger, and someday you're going to have to inherit the estate. Before then, I'd be nice to know that you'd have an heir as well. Besides, I want to know if my daughter's got a boyfriend yet."

"Um, no. There are not many noblemen attending the school, so I…"

"I've never said I wanted to have a noble son-in-law. It's not five hundred years ago. Your mother certainly wasn't a noble. You can marry anyone you like." He paused and said very seriously, "Unless it's a girl, in which case, you're disavowed."

He had never made it clear to her that it didn't matter the class of the person. That changed a lot. But she still didn't have anyone. "Father, it's just that there aren't many people going to this school that I find are very… compatible."

"Take your time. With my luck, I'll die at least fifty years from now, so you have nothing to worry about." He took out his pocket watch—he really had one?—and looked at the time. "Excuse me; I've got to report to the council." He turned to leave and then turned back to say, "Don't worry, it's not a public meeting; you wouldn't be allowed to watch anyway."

"Farewell then, father," she said as she curtsied.

"Farewell, Crystal." And he left with a quick walk.

As much as it pained her to admit it, she did have to find someone. Not just for purposes of tradition, but also because she wanted someone to be there for her. If only it was more simple.

Yes, Emerald and Mercury. And yes, Crystal's semblance can easily overcome Emerald's. That should tell you who would win in a fight. See you next time.