A/N: And another chapter! I'm attempting to get another out before the holidays strike in full force, but no promises.

As always, please review and let me know your thoughts. I thrive off those things. Plus, I answer back in PMs. No sense bloating my word count with review replies in my story. That drives me nuts when I see that.

The flight to Mistral and Haven itself would take roughly a day and a half, according to the young pilot that flew them. Yarrow, if Malenia recalled his name correctly.

That left time for several things. The first being the book that Ruby had spoken about, and indeed handed to her shortly after they had left Shion.

"This was my mother's. It's a family heirloom, so please be careful with it?" Ruby asked nervously. "There's stories written out in an old language that I don't know at the beginning, but at some point someone in my family started to translate it into Valean Common, which is the language we use across the world today. Those translations are in the back, where you can see the rebinding begin from the original binding."

And indeed, Malenia could. The book itself had a featureless brown leather cover, the front more worn than the back, with the exception of one thing printed onto the front. To Ruby, it would merely be a merging of circles. But to Malenia, it represented something much more.

The Elden Ring. But it was missing one key rune.

Idly, she brought forth her left hand and held it up next to the book, allowing her Great Rune to shimmer into existence above the outstretched hand. The infested rune would have fit right into the design, confirming her suspicion.

Her rune faded back into her body even as she made to open the book, oblivious to the strange looks being directed at her from the other occupants of the airship. And sure enough, she found the language of those who lived in the Lands Between, starting with the story of Godrick the Golden.

Her only encounter with the usurper of Stormveil was when he had sought to insult her while she was on her warpath to remove Radahn as a threat to Miquella's new world. She had thrown him down with embarrassing ease, at which point he begged for his life. She was not without mercy; she had granted his wish, but not before ensuring that he would have no pride remaining after his insults.

More importantly, this story was told within this book accurately. As if the one who wrote it were there. And the more she read, the more she became aware that whoever had written this, had at some point come across the very Remembrances left behind by each of the demigods.

For there was more to be plundered from the book's pages than that of herself and Godrick.

The tale of Godrick was followed by that of Morgott and Mogh. She was entertained, and more than pissed to know that Mogh had been the one to steal her brother from where he had sealed himself into the Haligtree. But Mogh had fallen to the Tarnished who felled herself, and so felt some form of vengeance had been dealt.

Then came the tales of herself, going by her old title of Malenia the Severed, and her beloved Miquella. She was displeased to see that her brother's tale ended when he was captured by Mogh, with no mention of what else may have happened to him.

Then came Rykard, and his disgraceful fall. A shame, as she had originally rather liked her half-brother's wit and personality. After Rykard came Radahn, and to her horror, the fate of Caelid was revealed to her. All those people…

She could feel Rot within her shiver in pleasure at that knowledge.

Never again. I will not allow it.

And finally came Rennala, with her ultimate fate finding her shattered mind put to rest by Ranni and the Tarnished, who had at this point become Elden Lord. And apparently consort to Ranni as well. That meant Ranni had likely succeeded in her goal to become a true God, without being under the control of the Greater Will.

And there, on the final page of the older binding, sat Ranni's crest. It made Malenia pause, seeing the Carian Royal Family's crest combined with a dark moon, but it was Ranni's without a doubt. Which meant this book had at one point been hers as well, though how it came to be in the hands of Ruby's family… she was unsure. She said it was an heirloom, but Malenia would like to think she was adept at spotting descendants of her Father's lineage, in either form. Ruby did not possess the innate power of even a distantly descended member of the Golden Lineage. Which meant an ancestor had somehow gotten hold of Ranni's own copy of the Remembrances she had likely gleaned from the Elden Lord. But she had time for such thoughts at a later time, when she would be able to ruminate in silence, without feeling the stares of those around her.

For that was where the book ended, at least as far as she understood the language for it. In hindsight, she should be happy that the spoken language hadn't changed too much.

"Wait, you actually know how to read the ancient language?" Ruby asked, causing Malenia to nod during her reading. She had just reached Mogh's Remembrance.

"I do, though I cannot claim the same of modern dialects. I was raised to read the tablets and scriptures of my home, which Qrow has already stated is now nothing more than a ruin."

Her gaze was drawn to Jaune as he cleared his throat, though he just seemed to be genuinely nervous instead of actively trying to get her attention.

"What is- I mean, what was your home like?" He finally asked.

Cocking her head, Malenia's prosthetic arm rose to rest beneath her chin.

"That is difficult to say. It saw a great deal of change over many years, I suppose. Elphael, the ruined city of which I awoke within, was originally formed as a brace for the Haligtree as it grew. The Haligtree is the long-dead tree upon the island that Qrow mentioned I was from."

"And you lived in the ruins? Who else was there with you?" Nora asked excitedly.

"In my time, it was myself, my brother, and his Order of the Unalloyed. His Order consisted of all those who spurned our Father's Order, and became a home for any and all who sought freedom from his regime. I fell into a coma after… certain things transpired, and soon the Kindred had joined us as well. I wouldn't be able to tell you of their joining though, as I was still in my coma."

"Order?" Jaune muttered to himself as he tried to make sense of what he was hearing. He wasn't alone, if the looks of contemplation the others had donned was any indication.

"Indeed. My own Order is different from that of which I've spoken, but I never sought to impose it. In fact, I've done my best to keep it from gaining any traction, though the existence of my Cleanrot Knights means I have failed spectacularly. No offense intended, Finlay."

The Knight in question simply shrugged.

It was Ren who spoke next, voicing a question that she was certain was going to be asked eventually.

"In your homeland, are you nobility of some kind? You speak of your Knights as if they were yours. Knights, at least to us, are an outdated term that hasn't been used since the Kingdoms were still ruled by a monarchy instead of a council with figurehead kings and queens, and you mentioned your father's Order that Miquella opposed."

"I am, though I have never leaned upon that fact besides to do whatever I could to aid Miquella. My Cleanrot Knights served me and myself alone, gifted with the curse, the blessing, that only I can give them. I taught them all personally, and each one lost was akin to losing a close friend. Finlay is the last, and the most prestigious. But everyone, and everything, falls eventually to time. Gods, demigods, Empyrean… Man. Nothing is immune to the passage of time. My Order is no different. Finlay is the last, and I doubt I'd find anyone willing to take upon the curse of becoming a Cleanrot Knight outside of my home. It is a rather horrifically intimate experience, and not at all what one might think is involved. Rituals must be observed that may be fine from where I came, but would seem quite barbaric here."

The second thing that was addressed during the flight was Qrow's talk. He boarded perhaps six hours after having taken flight, the presence of Nox magic thick in the air as he transformed back into a man. He was covered in sweat from his activity, though nobody paid the scent any mind due to Finlay's own stench.

He rested for a few minutes before beginning his talk, though his words were oddly more... refined, than Malenia remembered him being before. Mayhaps he knew something about her, if his guarded demeanor towards her meant anything.

His information ultimately didn't surprise Malenia or Finlay, and was only informative to learn the identity of who a potential vessel for an Outer God was. This Salem was certainly a vessel, but not for a God she knew. If she had to hazard a guess based off of the power kept within Ruby's eyes, then Salem was likely a vessel for the God of Darkness, the opposite of Ruby's God of Light.

The others on board the airship on the other hand, appeared to not know that gods were real. She wondered how they might react to learning that she herself harbored one deep within, while being the daughter of one as well.

Regardless of her thoughts, she knew that they were not taking the man's explanation well about the gods, Salem, and these Maidens who seem to have been gifted power by this… wizard. And so she sought to distract them.

Jaune sat in silent contemplation of what Ruby's uncle had just revealed to all of them. He didn't fail to notice that Yarrow's cockpit, far to the front, was closed, so he knew that Qrow's voice hadn't reached the pilot.

But he also noticed that neither Malenia nor Finlay reacted even close to the way that himself and the rest of his team did. Instead of the general feeling of fear and disbelief, he noticed that the red-haired swordswoman had taken what Qrow revealed in stride, as if it didn't just shake the foundations of what was currently known and accepted by most people all over the world.

"Who was this… Pyrrha?" Malenia asked, throwing Jaune for a loop. He figured he wasn't the only one based on everyone's reactions. After glancing around, he found that everyone was looking at him to answer.

Figures.

"Oh. Umm… Well, she was a close friend of ours. She was murdered during the Fall, by a woman named Cinder who was posing as a student at Haven and Beacon Academy. She's our biggest lead on figuring out what's going on."

"I see. And why do I remind you of her?"

The blonde was surprised when Qrow beat him to an explanation.

"She was a red-haired warrior, possessing no small amount of skill. She was renowned for her tournament fighting, as much as she was for being the daughter of another particularly skilled Huntress. As for why you remind us of the girl… your features are rather striking, and Pyrrha possessed many of them. Your hair, for example, is a rather unique shade that she and her mother have, but I've yet to see anyone else have it. Your facial structure matches both hers and her mother's, though yours is… slightly longer, perhaps? But then, you also stand head and shoulder above most people. Without taking a closer look, it is fairly easy to mistake you as her, if she had glowing gold eyes and kept her hair down like yours."

After hearing Qrow's words, Malenia was silent for a few minutes until she spoke again.

"And her mother?"

Jaune left this to Qrow, seeing as he didn't even know who she was.

"A Huntress named Millicent. Uses a curved sword, deceptively fast. Again, red hair like yours that I've only seen on Millicent, Pyrrha, and now you."

"Father?"

At that, Qrow shrugged.

"No clue. Not that Millicent is promiscuous, just that I've never even seen her willingly work with anyone, much less actually become close enough to anyone. Having Pyrrha's name and maternal parentage come across Ozpin's desk before the Fall was as much a shock to us as it was to the world when her mother publicly claimed her a month after. Oz seemed to know who she was though. He was rather happy to see Pyrrha being enrolled, and I wouldn't put it past him to have spoken to Millicent about it."

Silence reigned for another minute until Malenia spoke again.

"How old is Millicent?"

"Good question. She's been an active Huntress at least since the Grimm Reaper was active, who was the inspiration behind my weapon Harbinger and in part Ruby's Crescent Rose." Qrow's features began to scrunch up in thought. "Now that I think about it, the math doesn't quite add up. She'd have to be too old to have given birth to a child, yet Pyrrha was unmistakably hers. I suppose we could always ask her; she's supposed to be in Mistral right now, if Oz's last known location for her was right."

Taking mental notes of the conversation, Jaune rejoined with a question of his own.

"If you're not related to Pyrrha, why the interest?"

His blunt question looked to have caught her off guard, but her answer only caused more questions.

"If I'm not mistaken, Millicent is my… daughter. Of a sort."

Oh.

"W-w-what?!" Ruby and Nora sputtered together. Ruby continued on, though. "How old are you?!"

Malenia declined to answer, instead returning her focus to the book in front of her.

And that, Jaune decided, was perfectly fine. He needed time to wrap his head around things. As interesting as Malenia's connection to Pyrrha was, he had Gods and magic to ponder.

By the end of the flight, Malenia was more than ready to be out of the airship. She had given Ruby back her book, promising to read the rest of the stories contained within at some point. The demigoddess wasn't eager to do so, but she ultimately had no reason not to, and she would be lying to herself if she said that she wished for her brother's story to fade. Maybe this way, her beloved Miquella would be remembered through Ruby's own children.

And, she reasoned to herself, it wasn't as if Radahn's life wasn't worthy of being remembered. If she had to choose a sibling besides Miquella to be remembered, it would likely be her greatest challenge and obstacle to realizing Miquella's Order.

She may even tell the story of Godwyn. While no Shardbearer, he was the first, and greatest, of the children of the Golden Lineage. A true tale that would make for the most wholesome story where the Shardbearers were concerned, if one didn't account for Radahn's friendship with his horse.

But those were thoughts for later. Now, the airship had finally touched down on the dock.

Yarrow's door opened, revealing the tired face of the young man as he stepped out. She hadn't failed to notice the extra pair of ears that reminded her of a fox, but it hardly bothered her. Miquella sought to welcome all within his Order. She would endeavor to hold to his ideals as closely as she could, which wouldn't be hard; even before she had gone on the warpath, Misbegotten and Albinaurics had been flocking to her brother's banner alongside his own men.

Regardless, the young man named Yarrow looked ready to fall asleep. She didn't blame him; he had gone through a harrowing night, followed by a day of grieving, and then another whole day and night flying this contraption without rest. He deserved her gratitude for his aid.

"You have my thanks, Yarrow. Your efforts to transport us have not gone unnoticed. Find some rest."

The young man gave her a strange look, then simply nodded as he opened the airship's side door. Before he disembarked, he glanced back.

"I, uh… don't really know what to do, now. I'll alert the authorities about Shion's plight, but I don't really intend on going back. If you guys need somewhere to go, come find me."

Understandable, in Malenia's eyes. Shion might miss their airship, but she had other things to worry about. Such as what kind of place this… Mistral, was. Only one way to find out.

She and Finlay had stood up, hunched over together to avoid hitting their heads, and were moving towards the exit even before the others had stood up. Part of that was likely due to the fact that most of them, minus Ren, were sleeping prior to landing.

She would admit that Nora's falling asleep on Ren's shoulder was fairly adorable. But that was neither here nor there.

As they disembarked, they were met with a docking official dressed in bright yellow and green clothing. In his hands was a clipboard of sorts, as well as a writing utensil. Yarrow was stopped in front of the man, apparently discussing their docking and payment of docking fees.

The official looked up to see Malenia and Finlay's disembarking, and his eyes seemed to widen at their height. He didn't comment though, instead choosing to return his attention to the paperwork he needed to fill out with Yarrow.

And so Malenia waited for the others. It only took a minute for them to leave the airship with their things and supplies, Qrow included. The man had boarded in the last couple of hours, passing out in mere moments after taking a seat. It was quite impressive. Even now, the man looked more than exhausted. It didn't stop him from calling the others over to him.

"Alright, listen up. We're not marching to Leo's office right away. All of us are tired, and some of us have other things to be doing before we go up to Haven. I'm going to get a place to stay for a while, and the former students among us should get some rest. Malenia, I'll take you over to where I last heard Millicent was staying once the others have settled."

That caused Malenia to frown. Qrow was perhaps the most exhausted among them; if anything, he should be getting some rest.

"I don't agree with your plan. You need to sleep more than any of us, especially after that flight."

The stubborn Branwen twin merely waved his hand to shove her concern aside.

"Don't worry about me. I've gone longer stretches doing more strenuous things. A little walking won't hurt me. Let's go, I think I might remember a place."

A place, Qrow had said.

Jaune didn't think that Ruby's eccentric uncle had meant an entire house situated on an upper level of Mistral.

The city itself, as Qrow had explained it to them as they were walking, was tiered. The two mountains of which the city and Academy were built made for an interesting city plan, where the lower one went, the more unlawful the city became. In the same way, the higher one went, the nicer the city became and more present the law of the land became. And given Qrow's shadier nature, at least in Jaune's eyes, he had expected the man to lead them to some apartment in the lower levels.

Hence his surprise when they walked up to a large house only two levels below Haven. When asked about who owned it, Qrow merely said that it was an old friend's who no longer had any use for it.

When Qrow opened the front door of the two story house, it became obvious that it hadn't been lived in for quite some time. While he and his fellow team members hesitated to enter the dust-filled building, Qrow, Malenia, and Finlay went inside without a second thought.

After glancing at his friends, Jaune shrugged and followed them in.

Mom and my sisters would be appalled to see this place, Jaune thought to himself as he inspected the place.

Despite the dust, he could see a number of clashing colors dominating the home. The entryway was filled with paintings that looked to have little to no relation to each other or the rest of the house, and the staircase to the left had a bright orange carpet covering its steps. The nearly neon green walls, what little of them weren't covered in paintings, conflicted horribly with the eyesore of a carpet. To the immediate right and left of the staircase, a living room they circled around behind was visible, along with some slightly more tame furniture, and even a slightly outdated model of TV. More paintings covered the walls, this time of people. Or at least, mostly taking the shape of people. He was pretty sure people don't have blue skin. A few others held the image of grotesque creatures with long bodies and multiple limbs, carrying glaives. They seemed to be surrounded by some sort of red liquid, but he had a feeling it wasn't supposed to be blood.

"Your uh, friend. Where are they now? They don't look like they've been here in a long time." Jaune asked as his gaze tore away from the painted creatures.

"A fellow named Rowgy. As far as I know he's still alive, but he doesn't ever stay in the same place as Millicent. Neither of them particularly like each other. I figured since Millicent's been hanging around Mistral for a few years, he'd be off elsewhere. Seems I was right."

"Rowgy?" Malenia chirped in, her gaze settling upon Qrow. Jaune felt a twinge of nervousness as he beheld the intensity of her gaze, despite it not falling upon him. "You'd think he would put forth at least a modicum of effort into hiding his name. No matter."

Her gaze retreated from Qrow's form to settle upon the same painted creatures that disturbed Jaune. Jaune watched her face go from stern to almost… fondness as she gazed upon them, and then swiftly turned into the emotionless mask that she had worn upon the airship.

After a few minutes of further exploring the bottom level of the house, Qrow whistled to gather them all back.

"Bedrooms and bathrooms are upstairs, but before you hit the sack, we can at least be good guests and clean up. Behind the staircase is a closet; you'll find cleaning supplies there. If you run out, or there's something missing, then this tier of Mistral has a small marketplace just down the street where you should be able to find some more cleaning supplies." Qrow reached into his pocket and withdrew a small stack of Lien, handing it to Ruby. "Use that to buy anything you need, but also keep in mind we need food as well. So don't spend it all on things we don't need. Cleaning supplies, food, maybe some ammunition if you need it, but also keep in mind that Haven affords students and licensed Huntsmen a stipend of Dust ammunition and crystals as well. Any questions?"

When none came, Qrow sighed and motioned for Malenia to follow him.

"Great. Let's go Malenia. I have a feeling I know where Millicent may be staying. Finlay's gonna have to stay behind though. That much armor's gonna draw attention, and we don't want attention in Mistral Below."

Malenia simply nodded, following Qrow as they left the house.

Which left RNJR and Finlay to begin cleaning. Jaune sighed and took the first step towards the closet.

"Come on, guys. The sooner we start, the sooner we finish." Truthfully, he was surprised that Ruby and Nora hadn't complained about being told to clean. Nora was never bad about it, but she made it known back at Beacon regularly that it was boring. And Jaune recalled Yang and Weiss having to strongarm Ruby into cleaning a good portion of the time if it didn't include cleaning weapons.

A glance at Finlay showed that she was content to stare at the pictures on the wall. Jaune grabbed a bucket and a couple of sponges from the closet, as well as a couple of chemicals, and moved over to her.

"Hey, uh, Finlay. I'll… show you how to clean a bathroom? Let's go see if we can find one upstairs."

The Knight turned to follow him upstairs. After a couple of minutes of searching and learning the layout of the floor, they were able to settle on a bathroom connected to the master bedroom. Contrary to the furnishings and decorations of the lower floor, it seemed this Rowgy person had a better head for colors and decorations when it came to his private rooms. Or maybe he just didn't have the things needed to decorate the upper floor to his liking. Either way, Jaune was glad to find plain tan walls and a dark red wooden floor covering most of the floor outside the various furnished bedrooms.

The master bedroom had walls bearing a strange reddish orange flower pattern along the walls, one that Jaune could have sworn made Finlay hesitate when she entered the room. Hanging from the ceiling was a small chandelier making the same pattern as the walls, where the tips of the blooming flower lit up in a beautiful bright orange that seemed to follow the edges of the bloom up to their roots, which in this case were the chains holding the chandelier.

A plain bed rested just beneath the chandelier, right in the center of the room. A strange place to put it in Jaune's eyes, but it wasn't his home. They entered the master bathroom through a door on the right, where Jaune began to fill the bucket with hot water from the sink while putting in soap.

"So… I know you can't speak all that well. But I was hoping I could ask you a few questions while we clean?" The young man asked after he turned off the water.

Finlay grunted in affirmation as she placed her scythe against the wall and reached for the sponge that Jaune had left next to the sink.

"I'll take that as a yes, I guess?" Jaune muttered. "Okay, so some things aren't making a whole lot of sense to me. I'm not gonna ask for clarification, because that would probably leave me even more confused… and you probably can't answer in more than a yes or no grunt anyways."

Another grunt as the armored Knight knelt down almost comically and began to clean the sink and countertop of the spacious bathroom.

"Okay. Great." Jaune reached for the sponge that remained and turned towards the large shower. It seemed as if it was made for taller people than himself, and left Jaune wondering if this Rowgy fellow was tall like Malenia and Finlay. He stepped into and began to wash the dust away from the top down.

"Sooo… You and Malenia. She says she might be Pyrrha's grandmother, essentially. Sorta. If the last conversation was to be believed, then she's… old?" Are you the same age as her?"

Finlay gave an affirmative grunt.

"Are you the oldest of the Cleanrot Knights?"

Finlay didn't answer immediately, but after a minute gave a negative grunt.

"Oh. On second thought, I guess the oldest ones would have fallen to your… curse. Right?"

This time a positive grunt came immediately.

"And you're all strong. Even without your curse, you would be really good at fighting, right? Do you think, if Malenia sticks with us, she'd be willing to teach me how to fight? I mean, I'm… passable. But even with Pyrrha's guidance, I know I'm the weakest link in my team in a fight. I can make the strategies, but… I'm not great at fighting like they are. I was thinking that if Malenia taught Millicent, and Millicent taught Pyrrha, then perhaps what I've already been taught could mix in well with how she fights. Then I could be more useful on the battlefield."

Something in his words seemed to affect Finlay, who stopped scrubbing to seriously ponder the blonde's words. Several minutes passed as Jaune finished the shower and turned to go clean out his sponge in the bucket when he noticed her pondering his question quite seriously.

Eventually, she pointed to her scythe, then to Jaune.

"Uh… what?" He asked, not sure of what she was asking.

The Knight dropped the sponge into the water and stood, grabbing her scythe from the wall and motioned for Jaune to follow her. Not sure what she was doing, Jaune did as she asked. They walked back downstairs where they found the others hard at work until they noticed Finlay and Jaune.

"Heya Jauney! You guys are already done up there? Nora asked curiously.

"Not quite. I asked Finlay a question and now she wants me to follow her." As he spoke, the others stopped what they were doing and watched as Finlay led him towards the back door. Jaune was surprised to find a very spacious clearing in the back that looked like a small arena.

And as soon as he stepped outside, he felt Finlay's gauntlet grab the front of his breastplate and haul him to one side of the arena, depositing him before she went to the other side and drew her sword.

Oh. She wanted to test him.

When her scythe began to glow, Jaune scrambled to draw Crocea Mors.