Sorry about no chapters last week. There were issues that have been inexplicably resolved. But now you get a present: a longer chapter in place of two chapters.

As a car passed through the street behind her, Faye knocked on the door of her parent's home. It was a little scary to be back this neighborhood, especially since she tried to hide her feathers from them. But she wanted to visit her parents, so she would. Soon enough, her mother answered the door.

Faye's mother had the same blue eyes, and white hair and feathers that she did, and was just as tall as Faye was. She was a bit more tanned though, and Faye believed she got most of her looks from her dad since her mom was prettier. And oddly enough, while individually one could tell their approximate ages, standing next to each other—and it did happen once—they could be mistaken for sisters. But it didn't matter what they looked like; it mattered that this was her mother, which was all.

Mom smiled her warmest smile and said, "Faye." And they hugged. "Oh, it's good to see you."

"It is good to see you as well, Mom," Faye replied.

They drew away and Mom said, "Oh, why don't you ever use contractions?"

Faye looked at her feet. "I don't know."

Her mom drew Faye's face up by her chin and said, "Because you're my Feather." She put her hand on Faye's head. "And don't let anyone take that away from you."

"Well," she said, "I actually decided to go by my middle name from now on."

Her mom shrugged. "What's in a name anyway? Come inside."

As her mom led Faye through the doorway, she left her jacket on a hook in the entrance hall, and went into the kitchen. It was actually a little cleaner than before she left, which she accounted to one less person having to be cooked for. They sat down at the table in the middle of the room, and her mom said, "Your father's recording right now. He won't be out for a while, so that gives us plenty of time to talk just between us. So… anything new?"

Faye told her about how Haven was like, and the people she had met. She told her as much as she could remember about Azura, Rusti, Crystal, Rayne, Ember, Cirocco, and everyone else she had met. She only mentioned Storm a little because she had no idea how to break their relationship to Mom. Eventually she could not think anything else to say.

"It sounds like you've made quite a few friends," her mom said.

Faye sighed. "It certainly sounds like it, but I am unsure about which of them are really my friends." Mom looked interested. "What if some of them are laughing about me behind my back or wondering how much like a gyrfalcon am I."

"If they did, then they wouldn't help you the way you told me they have," her mom told her. "Real friends help you when you need it, and sometimes when you don't, which is what almost every single person you've talked about have done—even that girl Gaia who was bullying you before."

"I suppose you are right," Faye said.

"Hm. I'm a mother and a wife; it's my job to be right, Faye." Her mom had a smile on that told her that she was only kidding a little.

Suddenly, the familiar sound of the door to her dad's recording studio opening, and his footsteps coming up through the hall. His quick voice went ahead of him. "Wynn, I think I need an aspirin. The game I was playing is just so bad it…" He suddenly noticed Faye. "Hi, Feather. How have you been?"

"I have been well, Dad," Faye said.

"And she goes by her middle name now, Silas," her mother noted.

"Huh. So, I finally get my way?" he said, grinning.

Her mother sighed. "Yes, you got your way—about this anyway."

Faye looked confused at the two of them. "What are you talking about?"

"I wanted to name you Faye in the first place, but your mother wouldn't have." His usual fast way of talking slowed as if he was savoring this.

"Feather was the name of my grandmother," Mom explained. "I wanted to keep the name in the family. Besides, you shot down all the other names for being too hard to pronounce."

He shrugged. "Well, at least everything turned out alright." He looked at Faye. "You're lucky that you weren't a boy though. We were actually leaning towards Adam."
Faye grimaced. That would have made for an awkward time at school, certainly, when there was a terrorist with the same name. "Then I am glad that I am a girl," Faye said.
Everyone was smiling when Mom asked, "So, do intend on staying for lunch?"

"I hope I can," Faye replied.

"Good. Because I need to get back to work, and I do want to catch up later," Dad said. He turned around and headed back to his studio.

"Aspirin," Mom said.

"Right." And Dad turned back into the kitchen to get a glass of water for the aspirin.

While he was doing that, Faye asked something she had wanted to for some time. "Mom, why did Grandmother Eirlys have white hair in her youth?"

Mom sighed. "Well, we don't know. Your great grandparents couldn't have children so they adopted your grandmother. But we don't know who her original parents were. We know at least one of them was a Faunus, and one of them probably gave her that hair unless it was a mutation of some sort, but we really know nothing about them."

Faye nodded. "Can I ask her about it?"

Mom frowned and shook her head. "I asked all the questions there are to ask years ago. She's become very tired of being asked them." As Faye became disappointed, her mother put a hand on her shoulder. "But that's enough about that. Tell me," she paused to look around—possibly to see if Dad was behind her—and said, "are you seeing anyone?"

Faye was surprised, if anything, but she did answer. "Well, yes."

Now it was her mother's turn to be surprised, though she was happy too. "Well good for you, Faye. Who is it; one of your friends?"

"Storm, actually."

Mom paused for a moment. "Storm… Who's that?"

"I told you about him. Remember?"

After a moment, her mother said, "Oh, now I remember; he's your team leader. I'm sorry, but you barely mentioned him." Faye nodded in admittance. "So what's he like?"
She told her everything about Storm. It came out with the force a river; once she started talking, she could not stop. Her mother did not say much, though she had an almost proud smile on her face. Eventually she ran out of things to talk about.

It was then that her mother had a question. "So, is he a Gyrfalcon Faunus?" Faye was surprised, so did not immediately respond. Mom decided to interject before Faye could figure out what to say. "If he's not a Gyrfalcon Faunus, I'll understand. I only ask because your father would probably like it if he was, since his family is decidedly Gyrfalcon Faunus."

"He is not," Faye said.

"That's alright with me," she said. "So what sort of Faunus is he then?" Faye grimaced. Mom knew what meant it seemed. "He's not a Faunus is he?" Faye shook her head. "Well… If that's your choice, then there's nothing I can do about it. I don't want to meddle with your life, so I won't."

Faye nodded. "Thank you."

There was a long pause. "So what does he look like?"

Faye took out her scroll, and pulled up Storm's picture. She then showed it to her mother. Mom studied the picture. "I think he needs a shave, but he looks like a nice guy."
She was glad to have her mother's approval, but was a little concerned about what her father would think. While it was unlikely that he would yell at her, a whisper could be just as damaging as a shout. She did not know what he would do, but she hoped he would take it well.

Storm looked out the car window, his mind wandering, as he kept his eyes outside the window, focusing on objects on the side of the road to keep him—even if he hadn't been in years—from getting carsick. He was in the passenger seat of his mother's car, and they were going home for lunch.

They'd spent much of the morning together with his father and Rayne. Dad and Rayne had gone home already, since Dad wasn't feeling well, and Rayne didn't like to be out. Storm actually didn't particularly like being around his father anyway.

Now, they were going home. And he had already figured out a little surprise she had in store. "So, Vermont and Tress are waiting for us back home?" he said.

His mom looked surprised. "How did you guess?" she asked.

"When you've known someone for well over a decade and a half, they start to get a little predictable. Besides, you've been smiling for miles."

"Well, I'll strive to be less predictable in the future."

"Please don't."

She laughed, though kept her eyes on the road. Then her expression turned serious. "Your father might be called up for service soon."

Now it was Storm's turn to be surprised. "What? I thought he left the MDF."

She shook her head slightly. "He never did. He was only transferred to the reserve. At least he'll be an officer though."

Storm sighed. As neutral as he was about his dad sometimes, it still scared him to think about him though, to think about him going to fight Grimm or the White Fang. If only it didn't have to be this way, and if only he could be more scared.

As the pulled up into the driveway, Storm turned to his mom. "So Vermont and Tress. I can't wait to my brother again."

As she turned off the car, she gave him a curious look. "What about your sister?"

"Uh, not as much."

"Turkey!"

Crystal put her napkin down on her plate, and moved her silverware to three o'clock. That had been a nice meal—better than most that she'd had in a while—that she had shared with her father in his penthouse apartment's dining room. She had not had a meal with him like this in some time, and it was as awkward and quiet as she remembered.

Neither of them had talked much, though she had announced that she had found a possible boyfriend. He had said, "That was quick" and not much else. She however continued to tell him about she knew about Jasper, and he found all of it perfectly alright—even the part about him being a southerner. He was taking it rather well.

Right now, as she waited for her father to finish, she looked around the dining room. He had repainted since she'd been here last. Instead of beige color—which she had not particularly like—the walls were now a shade of green that made her feel warm looking at it. She thought that it would be a better shade of paint for the living room or the den, but it was his choice.

This penthouse had been her father's home away from home. While he had trained her at their ancestral home, which they normally lived at, occasionally he had judged that she should come with him to the city. Her times in the city were always under supervision, and thoroughly planned, but she enjoyed them nonetheless. If only she didn't need to live at Haven, then she could live here.

After her father finished, they stood up and left, going through the living room and the entryway out. A servant of some sort would handle the dishes. After they left the apartment, they went into the elevator and started their descent down to the lobby.

It was a long way down from floor 51, though neither of them talked. That was, until floor 43, and her father spoke without directly looking at her. "You know, your mother wasn't a noble." She looked at him, curious. "I met her during a previous Vytal Tournament."

"Was it the one you won?" Crystal asked. She knew that he had won the second Vytal Tournament he was in, as many did. Of course, he didn't particularly like talking about the first one—he lost to a woman with a red Ōdashi.

"It was the first one."

"Oh."

"But I guess it wasn't meant to be. If I had won, I wouldn't have met your mother in the stands. It didn't matter who she was, or where she came from; when I met her, I knew it was her that I would this was the woman I wanted to spend the rest of my life with." He sighed sadly. "If only I did." He turned to her. "Spend all the time you can with the people you love, no matter who they are, because tomorrow they may not be here, Crystal."

Crystal nodded. "I will."

"Good." And he turned back to the doors.

Crystal was about to ask how her mother died, but then the doors opened, and they walked out. They went out the lobby to a car—not a particularly expensive car—and were let in the back by the driver. Before Crystal could ask about it, her father said, "These are dangerous times to be a noble, Crystal. The White Fang will kill anyone with an ounce of notoriety just to prove they can, so we must travel in a vehicle they will not suspect."

"Of course," she said. Soon after the driver started up the car, Crystal asked, "Where are we going?"

"The army offices. General Irving—you remember him from the party last spring, in his honor," of course she did, "told me that he suspects a White Fang attack soon, though he needs a representative of the council to do anything about it."

She was surprised. "Where? When?"

"I don't know either, but soon. Very soon."

They spent a while in silence. In that time, they got onto the highway. Then, as they were parallel with a blue car, the blue car's back left window rolled down and a man with a Grimm mask pointed a rifle at their car.

Wasn't this dramatic? First it's just our three leads spending time with their parents, and that happens. The next chapter should prove interesting.