Cinder wonders if she has made a mistake by following Raven. Earlier in the morning, the two had reached a cliffside, overlooking a long, beautiful stretch of trees with only thin snowfall. The storm had finally broken as Cinder was set down, and then even more as Raven set down her pack and began to pull a long coil of rope and a hammer, alongside several long and slender metal spikes with cut-out holes near the top.

"Time for your training. You will climb down the cliff."

Raven spoke matter-of-factly and so seriously that Cinder found herself nodding before she even processed what had just been said. By the time her head had caught up, Raven had already begun winding a strange set of ropes, and buckles to Cinder herself, and was tightening it around her inner thigh by the time she processes that Raven has just asked Cinder to climb down a cliffside, on her own.

"Um…"

Raven looks down at the girl, tightening her harness just a little more, and Cinder sees the woman move towards the cliff.

"This cliff is perhaps 90 feet tall. Given the work you've done and the muscle you have, I want you to make it 30 feet down before I carry you to the bottom."

Cinder stares at Raven with something close to incredulity in her gaze, and the woman meets her amber eyes with those red ones and doesn't budge. She extends her hand, holding that bag of spikes, and points to the sharpened points.

"Use these to anchor yourself to the wall, and then secure your rope to each of the spikes. Do you know how to tie the correct knots?"

Cinder flinches as Raven's seriousness fails to drop, and she walks closer to the cliff, inspecting the gigantic drop. Her vision seemed to almost tunnel down deeper focusing on the sharp, daggerlike protrusions, spearing from the cliff, tearing at the sky and screaming their bladed faces for her flesh. Cinder flinched, nearly scaring herself over the edge, until Raven's hand once more caught on her collar, and hauled her back from the edge.

"Not yet, can you tie the knots? No? Here… let me show you."

Raven sat down on the snow and gestured for Cinder to do the same with the cloak the young girl had draped across her shoulders. Upon doing so, Cinder is passed a length of thin, strong, and light rope. She stares at it, until Raven's hand, gloved and soft, touches her chin and directs her gaze across to Raven's own hands, which hold another, similar coil of rope.

Raven's hands move as if by magic, and Cinder watches as the rope took the shape she'd seen the window cleaners use in Raven's grip. If she recalled, they'd said it was something called a fisherman's knot… she wasn't sure.

"This is a double fisherman's knot. It isn't quite what I'll be teaching you as a focus, but it's good to learn it now, because this might save your life one day."

Cinder nods, and then, Raven shows her again, this time much much slower. Cinder follows along, noting as the rope snaps back and forth, under and over, until the knot takes shape, and then, Raven is holding her hands and taking the gloves she's worn until this moment off.

"I'll teach you again, but this time, follow the motions my hands make, place your hands over mine, yes, just like that. Fingers over my own. Close your eyes."

Cinder obeys, letting her eyes shut, a part of her realizes she has closed those eyes in the presence of someone who could kill her, someone who is so exceptionally lethal that killing her wouldn't even really be a problem for her. But… Raven's grip is smooth and careful as she moves around so Cinder is sat upon her lap, and then, her hands are moving and her voice speaks once more.

"Follow along, hands over mine, and feel how the knot takes shape, understood?"

Cinder nods, and her hands follow Raven's own as the larger woman's fingers dextrously shape and twist the knot into being. Then, Raven is moving, and Cinder feels the chill of the air settle back in across her shoulders. She hadn't quite realized that Raven produced so much warmth before…
"Now, its your turn. Do your best, then pay attention when I correct you, alright?"

Cinder is uncertain of just how much time she spends atop that cliff face, tying, untying, and retying three separate knots. Raven calls them essential and shows her how they link into the spikes that she will use to descend the cliffsides, which Raven calls rappelling. Cinder believed she was going to lose hope of ever getting it correct, but Raven once more motivated her to continue with words she'd never heard from the woman before.

"I was tying these knots at age 10, like you, and hunter and huntress students don't learn them until the second year at Beacon. You'll be better than a first-year student, someone 7 years your senior, if you learn how to do these three today."

Those words, that Cinder would be better, that she'd be more powerful, than even a first-year Beacon Student at such a thing, set a raging blaze akindle in her chest, and the girl threw herself into learning the knots, so focused, that she didn't notice when Raven made a fire and began heating up the last of the stew she'd prepared at the cabin.

It is only when the smell and the steam from the bowl visibly sets itself into her vision, that Cinder blearily looks up, spotting that she's being fed, the girl falls upon the bowl with the savagery of a wolf pack, devouring everything, then looking back at Raven, who is running her fingers along the three knots Cinder has been practicing for the last hours.

"Well done."

Cinder is halfway through her second serving of stew when she catches what Raven says. The small girl looking up quizzically, meeting the gaze of the red eyed woman, who simply quirks one side of her face up, her lips ever so small with their smile.

"You're as ready as I can make you in the time we have to descend."

Cinder finishes her stew, feeling suddenly more than a little nauseous and more than a little worried. The girl mechanically dumps snow into the bowl, scourging the sides before pouring the slightly brown mixture back out, she towels off the bowl, before handing it back to Raven, who is packing their food away.

But as she does so, Cinder watches the woman twist to one side, and she winces, it's hard to see, and Cinder would have missed it had she not at that exact moment looked for it, but it's there, and Raven winced hard. Immediately, Cinder's heart is pounding, and she remembers the fight, remembers when Raven was stabbed through her stomach by the stinger of Tyrian. Her heart begins to pound, and the woman thinks back to the flowers and the herbs Raven's been applying every day whenever she thinks Cinder doesn't notice.

Raven's getting weaker, and she's running out of herbs, they need to stop and heal… but the cabin wasn't safe for them, and the tundras out here are nearly barren and lifeless. There are few game animals that Cinder has seen, and the herbs Raven relied upon, the flowers that grew in the densest Atlesian forests, she's uncertain if they grow here.

Perhaps that's why the woman isn't simply carrying Cinder down the cliffs, as she had previously, the snow is thick here, coming up to Cinder's ankles, even in the boots she wears. The small girl's mind moves a thousand miles a minute, how deadly is Tyrian's poison? How dangerous is their situation? They've only been a day's travel from the cabin, could she haul Raven back to there if she had to? Could she build a shelter? She'd seen the one Raven threw together with her tent and tarp during the storm… could Cinder accomplish the same thing?

She would have to try if it happened, and so, when the woman finished placing the meal kits they ate with back into her pack, and shouldered it, she turned to Cinder and pointed to the long rope she'd secured to a vast, Atlesian pine tree a good distance away.

"Ready?"

Cinder swallows heavily, her throat dry and her muscles twitching. She still remembers the close calls she's had on the roof of the hotel, this… this is a far, far larger gap and a more lethal fall.

To her utter horror, that is the last thing Raven says, before the woman leans backward, and falls from the cliff, her arms outstretched until, as Cinder watches, she slows, and eventually stops cold, floating with her eyes blazing in violet energy a good 30 feet down. She cocks her head slightly at Cinder, and then, smiling that ever so present half smile at her, gestures to the wall.

"After you, little Kite."

Cinder takes a step forwards, staggering her breath and carefully, ever so carefully looking over the assembled cliffs and the edges. Raven made it look so easy, but Raven was also flying, so in Cinder's opinion, she was cheating.

As if the other woman could sense her, Raven said from below.

"I could scale this in my sleep, it's quite a simple cliff. The longer you take the harder the first step will be, place your legs just below that ledge, and begin to descend, letting the rope out every 10 feet until you can hammer in another spike.

Cinder listens to the words, and somehow, they slow her hammering heart, and with shaking legs, the woman begins to clamber over the cliff, placing her feet on the small ledge, she feels out with the balls of her feet. Finding it stable, Cinder slowly releases her arm, and latches tightly onto the rope, holding it against herself as she shakily takes out one of the pitons.

Nominally, she should be stronger, but with Raven's insistence, the girl gently taps the piton into the icy rock, until it's so thoroughly embedded that only the loop in the head is visible. Gingerly, Cinder places the hammer back into her harness, and then strings the rope through the eyelet. It takes a little bit of time for her to tie the knot, securing it, and she finds herself breathing hard, staring over the leading edge of the cliff and looking straight down.

That was a mistake, and the drop only seems even larger, as Raven floats in the air some 25 feet down, arms crossed over her chest and one eyebrow raised. The woman looks to Cinder, then speaks simply.

"Time to keep going, little Kite. I trust in your ability to come down."

Cinder wants to yell at her that she isn't a climber, that she has no idea what she's doing, and that Raven must be insane, must be utterly mad if she thinks that Cinder, in all her ten-year-old level of strength, will be able to scale this cliff, especially without aura! Without the superhuman strength of her soul!

How can she step further? Her legs lock tight as she clings to the ledge, the wind whistling through her hair and biting at her skin. It's cold up here, and Cinder can feel the pain sink into her bones as the wind savagely whips her. She steps to one side, pressing herself into the cliff, and then, then she looks back to Raven, only to find the other woman still in her same position, still just watching Cinder delicately, smiling that infernal, thrice damned cocky smirk with only half her face!

Cinder feels in that moment, something akin to spite and frustration boiling up through her, and she lets that temper into her body, temper into who she is. Before she even realizes what she's doing, she steps down, and her foot slips.

Instantly, adrenaline pumps through her body as the ropes on her harness tighten and thoroughly immerse themselves into her muscles and body, painfully jerking her tightly as they hold her in mid-air. Cinder doesn't even realize she's screaming at first until her knees and arms smack painfully into the sheer cliff and she's scrambling for purchase. Something she finds, eventually, as her eyes open and her voice trails off. She feels something warm tickling the back of her neck and then hears a calm, gentle voice speak out.

"Do you see, little Kite? The harness will catch you and hold you in place, now, is this a secure point?"

Cinder cracks an eye open, staring at the even, smooth expanse of ice just above a knotted, jagged gouge in the rocks below. She nods briefly and then turns to face Raven with something akin to slight anger in her tone.

"Why didn't you tell me…?"

Raven responds by laughing in her face and replies a moment after.

"Little Kite, I cannot hold your wings open for you, eventually, you will have to fly, but in this case, I was going to catch you should any of the many safety measures you are wearing would fail. You will need to learn to fly on your own, especially with such a dangerous career as a huntress ahead of you."

Cinder's anger cools rapidly, the explanation making immediate sense to her at some level, the girl knows and understands that while Raven's methods are harsh… she's not punishing the girl for asking her questions, nor even her near shout of anger at the way Raven had her "spread her own wings" in this case.

"Now, you have a further 65 feet to climb, I will be watching you as you rappel, you have nothing to fear."

Cinder's body trembles briefly at the mention of 65 feet, but as the girl looks down at the snowy tundra below, the strong, tall pine trees stretching their needle-laden boughs high above the ground, she feels less uncertain about this. Her hands no longer shake as she hammers the piton into the wall, nor do they struggle to tie the knot into the eyelet.

Then, she is letting rope out, and her legs are sliding down against the wall, Cinder looks for and spots a tiny ledge just below the normal 12-foot range she should drop in increments, and the girl's eyes widen as the ledge rushes up towards her.

She's almost too slow, with her sling-bound arm, to stop her descent, but while she lands heavily enough to cause a spike of pain to rocket through the bones in her legs, the girl does land on the ledge, and her hands are already rapidly hammering a piton into the rock face.

As soon as she is done, Raven is pressing something steaming and warm into her hands, the thick smell of Ozone and chocolate in the air.

"Drink, then look."

Her voice is strong and holds a hint of something that Cinder doesn't recognize in its tone. A note of positive energy bleeds out as Raven flashes a half-smirk at the girl before she turns down to the next leap.

"Only 52 feet to go, you will make this."

For a moment, Raven's lips seem to move further, but no sound emerges, and the woman's gaze quickly becomes shadowed. Cinder wants to ask, wants to demand an answer from her protector, and yet… something in those dull red orbs stops her from opening her mouth, instead, a simple nod is delivered to Raven, who nods once in return and then descends out of view, taking the hot cocoa with her. Cinder wants to have taken just a little more of a sip, but she's got a distance to go, and that distance can't be solved with a hot drink.

She looks out and down, peeping over her shoulder, here, the cliffs are far, far more smooth, the stone worn clean from wind and weather forced into a narrow tunnel between the trees and the rocks themselves. By her own estimates, Cinder would guess that the next clear ledge is a good 20 feet below her current location.

Too far, she'll have to stop her descent, and rely on the harness to keep her floating while she hammers in another piton… unless…

For a moment that quickly turns into a minute, Cinder contemplates whether this would be an opportunity to use her semblance… she might be able to gain something out of it by softening the rock, letting her find an easier hand or leg hold. She could do it… but how long would it take? Would Raven notice her? Would she be punished for doing so?

Her power needed focus, and strong emotions… could she even manifest those trapped on this ledge?

She thought about it, only for Raven to interrupt her train of thought.

"The ice and rocks are dangerous here, little Kite, and this face isn't as stable as it appears. Melting, causing heat, or water on this face could cause you to fall as the pitons slide free. Not to mention that you do not have the protection, and natural immunity to the effects of your semblance. You were capable of melting sand into glass with such a power, the sheer heat you manifested, would burn your hands to the bone."

Raven smirks up at her, and then, that smile turns much, much more genuine as she simply replies.

"Just… come down, be gentle with yourself, power and strength have different meanings, Cinder. To have power is not to have strength, and vice versa. Summer is one of the strongest people I know, and while she was powerful, she was not the strongest I have ever known."

Raven's words are strange to Cinder, what did it mean to be strong, if you weren't powerful? How could one be powerful, but not strong? The girl puzzled over it for a time, standing suspended against the cliff. She could agree that Raven made some level of sense, one could be physically strong and lack the powers that Raven had, or one could have those powers and lack the strength of others. Cinder herself likely fell into that category, someone who was fully capable of causing damage with her semblance, and yet she lacked the strength to take the heat of her own semblance.

But she couldn't stay up here, thinking about it, and as the girl looked down, she found herself searching not for the skull-crushing drop, but the next part of the cliff that she'd have to scale down. The thought occurred to her, that she wasn't as scared as she had been, nervous? Yes. But she was no longer terrified, and her legs no longer shook like leaves in the howling Atlesian gale.

Carefully, she picked out the next two locations, and then, Cinder leaned back and let go, and she shot downwards as if launched from a cannon. The girl felt the wind soar through her hair, and let her lips open wide, an expression of sheer joy bursting forth a moment later as she smiled and screamed her joy for the world.

All too soon, she was arrested in her rappelling, and the girl breathed in and out heavily as she panted from exuberant joy at the sheer experience of landing evenly, Cinder shot a look at Raven and caught for just a moment, the woman's lips turned up in a genuine, small smile, but then her eyes see the thin film of stars in Raven's own, and the woman turns away from Cinder. At that moment, the girl feels a pit tear itself open in her stomach, as Raven wipes at her eyes, and Cinder chooses to simply keep going.

She has no words to temper the loss that Raven feels, nor even a true understanding of how truly awful it must have been. Cinder has never had, nor lost a friend such as Raven had, nor has she understood how much she reminds Raven of a younger Summer.

Instead, Cinder takes another leap, falling, soaring, and landing, now a scant 20 feet above the floor. Another set, another piton hammered into the ice wall, another rope knot tied, and another point secured for Cinder to fall deeper and scale lower. But she has to slow down now, the smoothness has given way to a razor-edged and dangerous set of spiked rocks and twisted ice near the base. Cinder now slides down foot by foot, landing every so often to tie or hammer in another piton, the girl slow in her machinations, and slower in her descent. A part of Cinder roars at the indignation of having to take it even this slow, she wants to run, wants to soar down the cliff like one of the birds that soar above her…

Wait, birds…

Cinder looks up, sharp eyes piercing the sky, and at that moment, she calmly looks down once more, it is a 15-foot drop to the floor, a clear 15-foot drop that she can't land evenly. She cannot take such a landing, but… those birds are nevermore, a trio of larger ones. From here, they look to be the size of large birds of prey, and Cinder knows well enough to know that they are likely far, far larger than that. Far, far larger than one would be capable of defeating, and so the girl makes her choice.

"Raven!"

She calls out, drawing the boot knife and severing the line, and as she begins to fall, she sees Raven dart for her, even as the three black shapes of the nevermore tear down from the sky, sensing that she's seen them and that she's about to escape.

Raven reacts instantly and dives after Cinder as she falls, and for that moment, as Raven dives down to rescue her, as Raven soars from just above her, Cinder feels genuine, true fear covering her lips and face. She can see the massive masked face of the enormous nevermore, see the red in its eyes as it opens its beak and releases an ear-piercing, screeching cry that steals the breath from Cinder's lungs. The girl desperately squeezes her eyes shut, and in that moment she fears the ground rushing up to meet her, rushing up to collapse with and slaughter her, and yet…

The collision never comes, instead, she finds a gentle, light chuckle, and a slightly labored voice simply speaking.

"Good eye, little kite."

Cinder snaps her eyes open, finding Raven holding her tight, the sound of a near deafening smash as the nevermore collides with the ground in an ungainly heap and the snapping and crashing of trees.

Had Raven known about the nevermores? Cinder concludes that she must have, she must have known that they were circling, and was judging if Cinder would make the right choice, would leap and try to get to cover. If she would… survive the trial.

"Hang on tight, little one. This is the dicey part."

The bone-shaking screech echoing through the trees behind them informs Cinder that no, that impact hadn't killed the big feathered bastard. It seemed to have just made it angrier. She squeezed as tight as her single arm could, locking tight to Raven's neck as the maiden shot a glance over the pair of them.

"Mm. Not going to work that well, huh? Cinder, tell me when it gets within 30 feet of us."

Cinder, staggered and stunned by the sudden request for her assistance, stammers out her agreement.

"Uh-y-yes ma'am."

Raven snorts and then speaks once more.

"No Ma'am, just call me Raven, or Rae."

Cinder nods, turning her gaze to the back of the massive Grimm as it tears through the canopy behind them. Already, Cinder's gaze spots that its impact with the ground, and the canopy, has damaged it, long sections of branch impale its wings and body. But in the true spirit of infernal rage, the damned bird just keeps coming, it just keeps burning towards them, wings crushing everything in their way.

It's too far, even now, and as Cinder sees it, she sees it trying to extricate itself from the treetops. Trying to take to the skies above, and while it's close, it's not close enough for whatever Raven has planned.

Cinder's mind moves fast, and the woman tears the spear Raven fashioned for her, the blunt end coming free in her one good arm, poised atop Raven's back, she wraps her broken arm in its sling tight to Raven, and screams from the pain as the spear is let fly from her hand.

This one is the one she carved, half the original, cut down to size and sharpened to a fairly nasty point, and to Cinder's utter horror. Completely ineffective against the Nevermore.

The spear skittered off the creature's bone mask, vanishing into the forest, and Cinder nearly loses her grip on Raven's body, before her throwing arm latches tight to the woman's armored form. She can barely hold on, as Raven rolls to the left and dives under a particularly large tree, the nevermore crashing up and through the trees. It flaps its wings once, and that gust of wind knocks Raven to the right, the woman suddenly whirling Cinder around. Cinder realizes at that moment, that Raven is unable to avoid the branch ahead of her, and has swung Cinder around from her front so the impact only hits Raven against the back.

Her mind whirls back to Madame, to the last things that the woman ever said to her, to the last things spoken, how she'd taken Tyrian's rage upon her own shoulders and died for it. For Cinder herself. Was this how Raven was going to die too? Was this how she was going to be left alone once more? No… no Cinder couldn't let that happen, she couldn't.

"Hold on, this is going to hurt."

Rage and anguish and sorrow at what could happen boiled up and through Cinder, and the girl's eyes snapped open wide. She thinks she sees an amber light burn on the branch ahead of them, she thinks she remembers moving her hand forwards, crushing it into a fist, and closing her eyes, bracing herself for the horrible.

What she is certain she remembers is the gut-wrenching snap of the branch, and then the soft, warm feeling of something crashing against her skin as the hit she's expecting never comes. As Raven soars through the rapidly enflamed branch, the ash cascades down onto Cinder's skin.

Raven is looking at her, she can feel her protector's burning gaze upon her, and as Cinder cracks open her eyes and look up into those strange red orbs, she sees that same emotion that she saw earlier when Raven had looked at her so curiously, it is not happiness… not happiness that Cinder can process, at least… but it is an emotion that seems to be positive. Raven even laughs, throwing her head back, with that wild, unruly mane of black hair showering down and tickling the edge of Cinder's exposed forehead.

"Well done, little kite. Well done indeed. Hold on tight."

The woman darts down, and this time, her hand and arm wrap tight to Cinder's waist, and there is a keening, drawing, shining ring as Raven draws the massive blade at her hip.

Cinder sees that gleaming, beautiful blade curve up sharply, held still in the air. Raven shifts her grip, lowering Cinder to one side of her, angling the blade just a touch-up. Cinder has approximately half a second to wonder what Raven is doing, before the Nevermore bursts through the canopy behind them and above them, and Raven's blade carves its wing clean from its body.

The thing shrieks as it finds itself unable to fly, and Cinder, in wide-eyed wonder, watches as the Nevermore plummets from the sky and slaps into the terrain. Raven continues the motion, swinging her blade down further and letting it soar free from her hand. The crimson length of steel and dust pierced into the core of the nevermore's body and gutted the creature with a flash of brilliant flame.

When Raven set Cinder down on the floor of the forest, the woman leaned down and pulled her sword free of the rapidly decaying corpse, thick black fluids staining the ground as the Grimm disintegrated at Raven's request. The huntress flicked her blade out, sending the same black fluids cascading outwards and then onto the ground as she ran a rag over it. Raven kicked the rapidly decaying form of the Grimm, shattering the bone fragments on its head, then, she turned to Cinder and spoke.

"Do you know why I kicked the Grimm's mask?"

Cinder shrugs her shoulders, the other woman's tone is inquisitive, and questioning, but not outwardly hostile, and that's something that puts Cinder into a relative state of ease. Raven, simply hums, her own face unreadable to the young girl.

"Are you familiar with the Grimm that belong to the emotion known as "Dread"?"

Cinder shakes her head, she knows next to nothing of the Grimm subtypes, only that huntresses and huntsmen fight an eternal war to destroy them utterly.

Raven sighs, and beckons the girl closer, pointing to the backpack, she indicates the largest pocket, and, in a tone that suggests she is tired, gently asks.

"If you can set up the tents, I will tell you all I know of the Dreaded."

Cinder nods, she's watched Raven set up the tent before, and she's seen it enough and retraced it in her head enough to know how to set it up, and while it's tall for her, it shouldn't be hard to construct it, nor should it be particularly hard to piece together in the first place.

She shakes out the tarp, placing it evenly on the ground and weighing it down with rocks at each corner until she can hammer in the stakes that will anchor the tent to the floor of the spruce-like taiga that surrounds them. Raven watches, until, in Cinder's opinion, she's fairly sure that the girl can actually build what she was asked to, and then Raven takes a sip of water and begins her tale.

"They will teach you this later as well, but it is important to know about Dread Grimm now, given what could potentially happen if we were to happen upon one."

A pause as Cinder snaps the central tent pole into place, Raven's red eyes tracking the motions of Cinder's arms as she carefully sockets the central pole into the fabric of the tent, before raising it up.

"Dread grimm are embodiments of forms of dread, where some, such as beowulven or ursae are simpler emotions, such as wrath or rage, and are truly nothing more than mindless, self driven monsters. It is grimm categorized into others that are the most dangerous to a huntress or huntsman."

Raven paused briefly and turned to cast her gaze to the sky.

"Dread grimm can take on a variety of forms, but one of the popular choices is nevermore, and they symbolize the dread of us as beings. They can take upon features akin to our worst nightmares made real, and they are all the more powerful, should they be in proximity to you before they strike."

Cinder, listening, fighting the tent into a standing position and slightly panting from the effort, the girl turns and asks.

"What's… the worst one you've ever fought?"

Raven smirks, and then she reaches into her bodice and removes a small vial on a long chain. Inside it, swirls a Grimm bone, immersed in a liquid, pulsing with red energy and strange, carved markings.

"It took the form of my closest friend, and in many ways, my family. It took her face and voice and tried to convince me it was her. Then it tried to tear my head off the moment I turned my back on it."

Cinder's blood pools in her legs, the thought of a Grimm taking on the face of something… like who? Would it be Summer she faced? Would it be the half-remembered faces of her parents? Would it be the cherubic innocence of her younger sister?

Had she always had a little sister?

A part of Cinder hurts as she thinks about that, the memory so crystal clear that it feels as though someone has left it there. As though someone had simply pulled it from a shelf and placed it in the forefront of her mind. Why is she remembering this now? They were dead! Dead and gone! She'd sobbed for days! She'd lost them! Why did they have to be so present in her head now!?

"Little Kite…"

Raven's touch startles Cinder out of her mood, the woman's grip firm and warm as Raven begins to speak once more.

"I killed it, burst my hand through its heart and tore the beating, broken, awful thing in half with my bare hands. The very core of it was this, thing…"

Raven's face screws up with disgust and even something akin to rage as she holds it up to the light. In the dying rays of the sun, Cinder swears she feels something cold look over Raven's shoulder at her. She feels as though the thing is staring at her once more.

"Dread Grimm don't die easily. You can tear them up and grind them down, but they leave fragments of bone behind, and those are concentrated negativity. Dread Grimm like the Nuckleavee form only when there are such high concentrations of sorrow and dread that they eclipse all other emotions."

Raven tucks the thing back into her shirt.

"This one is nearly dead, and it's been a 6 month wait for it to fade to this extent. But in the next few days, I'll be able to crush it and scatter the disintegrating powder permanently. I don't expect you to ever face one, but you need to know it can wear the face and the voice of those you are close to, especially if you dread an outcome of them."

Raven's face darkens.

"For that reason, if something wearing Summer's face comes out of the darkness, I want you to wake me up immediately. Do not tell it anything other than that it isn't real. Is that clear?"

Cinder nods, white in the face, as Raven tugs her in and closes her arms around her shoulders.

"I truly wish that it were possible for things to be different, but this place will not allow complacence."

Cinder nods, not quite understanding much of Raven's words beyond that she seems genuinely apologetic that this need even be said. But to Cinder, this makes logical sense, if something wearing Summer's face and even vaguely resembling her walked out from the forest, she would likely run to her. Allowing the Grimm a perfect opportunity to tear the girl limb from limb.

"With that said, finish the tent, we have company."

Raven stands up, and Cinder sees the woman pull a white mask from her bag, slipping it on and over her entire face, it looks like a Grimm, and Cinder feels a pang of fear shoot through her. The girl almost unconsciously reaches for a belt knife that isn't quite there as her ears finally pick up the sound.

CLOP, CLOP, CLOP

That's a horse, what is a horse doing out in the midst of Atlas' tundras? Even those who make a home within the tundra don't use horses, the snows are too deep for them…

Cinder looks up and spots a traveler entering the clearing, it's a young woman, perhaps Raven's age if a few years her junior, with short, cropped brown hair and a set of yellow-brown eyes. Strapped to the side of her horse hung a heavy, thick staff with faintly glowing dust crystals at each end. Cinder accidentally makes eye contact, and at that moment, everything freezes.

The other woman stares into her, and Cinder feels as though she's analyzing everything about Cinder herself, staring into and almost ripping out her soul by virtue of existing. It's a uniquely terrifying experience, and Cinder can't help herself as she freezes completely.

In that gaze is something powerful, something wild and untamed and vicious and strong enough to tear Cinder in half if it wished. The girl feels pure, animal panic comes over her, and she genuinely tries to move, but finds her muscles refusing to even make an attempt to do so. She can't move, can't think, can't even really breathe, and then, the tension is dispelled with a single cough from Raven.

"Amber. Release your gaze."

The woman tears her gaze from Cinder, who finds herself capable of breathing once more and collapses into the tent's sidewall, breathing heavily. She's not sure what's happening anymore, she's not sure what's gone wrong, or what the hell she'd just been forced to experience, but she knows enough to know that she never wants to ever feel it happen again.

"Raven Branwen… it has been years, hasn't it?"

Raven turns to look at Cinder first, ignoring the newcomer as she assesses Cinder's condition until Cinder waved her off. She wasn't certain of what had happened, but she was fine, and she could breathe again.

"Nearly 9 since we last saw each other. Does the wizard still keep you locked away in his tower?"

The other woman laughs, its a rich, beautiful sound, and yet Cinder can hear how brittle it is.

"Of course he does. Would there truly be any doubt?"

Raven stares at the woman for a time longer, and then she speaks in a harder, more harsh tone.

"Third year, Beacon, what did Qrow do to you and Summer?"

The other woman flinches, and Cinder sees her cheeks color a brilliant red.

"Raven… do I have to answe-"

Raven cuts her off, stepping forwards and placing a hand on her sword.

"You and I both know this is dread territory. We're too close to the wreckage of the fourth fleet and its field hospital."

Amber flinched and finally gave in.

"You make an excellent point. Fine. Qrow switched mine and Summer's wardrobes with each other, then scheduled our missions a week apart, I had to wear skirts that were too small for a week, and Summer looked like a child. When we caught him, we gave his wardrobe a makeover."
Raven laughs, letting go of her blade and saying, in unison with Amber.

"And then the rat bastard wore it better than the both of us."

She extends a hand to the warrior, beckoning her down and off the horse. Something which Amber quietly obliged, swinging her legs over the back of the great animal and landing herself on the snow. A hand casually unstrapped her staff, and the woman gently whispered something to her steed, which trotted towards the nearby shrubs.

"So, what brings Raven Branwen out into the middle of the Atlesian Tundra, especially so far from Summer Rose?"

She's not looking at Raven as she speaks, but Cinder is, and as Cinder hears the mention of Summer, she sees Raven's face flash through emotions ranging from crippling sadness to rage to utter relief before she composes herself.

"Standard mission. Transporting little Cinder here out of the wreckage of her village, I'll be dropping her at Mistral's orphanage, first chance I get."

Amber's face fell, and she turned to Cinder, kneeling gently in front of the girl, she quickly wrapped her in a hug.

Cinder decided at that moment that Amber was alright.

She was no Summer, and her hug was nowhere near as warm, but her kindness shone through the action, especially because the battle-hardened warrior very clearly could see that Cinder's hand had never left the belt knife. Her choice to immediately choose affection over asking Cinder to disarm showed the younger girl that she had a great deal of faith in Cinder not harming her.

"I am so sorry, little one. Everything will be ok, alright?"

Raven cuts in, perhaps to save Cinder the indignity of lying, perhaps to save her in other ways.

"Don't be too sad for the fates of those abusers. Cinder had a shock collar on when I found her, staggering through the snow on the outskirts of the village's walls. She'd survived only because her emotions were dulled by the abuse she'd gone through."

When Amber looks back down at Cinder, her eyes are shining gently with tears and she spits the next words.

"Then those bastards got what they deserved. Everything will be fine now. Raven's the best huntress I know next to Summer Rose, and she'll get you back safe and sound."

Cinder merely nodded. Choosing to enjoy the warmth of the hug for just a moment until Amber pulled away and returned to her horse. The woman clicked her tongue, and the great animal turned and walked straight to her, presenting the saddlebags on its left flank, as the woman began to gently take from them.

"I have cheese and fresh Winterfruit, as well as a few salamis left. I can at the very least ensure you reach the next town successfully. Raven, do you need a healing poultice for that wound? It looks nasty."

Her tone is now all business, and she tosses a small bag towards Cinder, who barely manages to catch it, the ripe smell of delicious Winterfruit, a tough-skinned, hardy, and warm fruit that only grew in the depths of Atlesian geothermal forests greets her nose. She's heard of these things before, heard of how good they taste and how hard they are to find. Those forests, being warm and wonderful, attracted Grimm in the near thousands. It was difficult at such a level that even Madame only ever bought a single Winterfruit on the birthdays of herself and her twins.

Cinder has never tried one, but now she wants to, she desperately wants to. Her mouth already waters from the heady, delicious scent that is now cloying and playing with her nostrils. She wants it so badly that as she shoots a look toward Raven, she can see the other woman smirking.

"Help yourself, little Kite."

Cinder tears open the bag, and pulls the large fruit from within the burlap.

She feels almost like crying, beholding the massive fruit in her hands, the size of a child's head, her own head, its hard skin a mottled, beautiful blue and white. She knows it would be improper to tear into it, but she's having a very, very hard time resisting the urge to do so.

"Use that knife of yours to strip the skin of the fruit, Raven can use it to wrap her wound and it will help her heal."

Cinder nods, pulling her knife, she waits until Raven isn't looking her way, and then reaches deep into herself as she had earlier. This time, it's a conscious desire that manifests what she wants.

The blade of her little knife begins to steam, and as Cinder stops the flow of energy into the blade, she slumps, her arms falling to one side as if everything overwhelms her all at once. She sees Raven dart towards her, the woman departing from the ground in a mad dash for her, even as Amber reaches for her staff and stares at the borders of the campsite. The horse seems fine, and Cinder vaguely remembers seeing and hearing Raven cry something out.

She vaguely wonders why that sensation hurts in her chest, right before unconsciousness claims her.

Cinder is floating on a sea of warmth, her arms and legs heavy and languid as she swims gently through the pools. She can feel another presence with her, something looking at her, someone looking at her through the steam, and yet as she tries to swim towards them… her legs and arms become so heavy that she's unable to truly resist the call to slumber once more.

"About time, little one. You had us both worried."

Cinder groggily stirs, her head aching, the faces of Amber and Raven swimming into focus as the two women appear in front of her.

"That, little Kite, is why your semblance is dangerous."

Raven purrs, matter of factly.
"One of the side effects of not having a body trained to be a huntress is that the strain of a semblance is something you are completely unprepared for. You tried to heat the blade, right? What did it feel like?"

Cinder shrugs her shoulders, she's terrified that she's about to be punished, and her brain, still sleepy, is uncertain of whether or not she still wears the shock collar that Madame loved to put on her so much.

"Mmm…"

Luckily, it is Amber who saves her from answering more questions.

"Raven… it's been a long day for her, from what you've said, the poor thing is probably exhausted, and you're not making things much better. Go to sleep, and I'll have her out here with me for the evening."

Raven seems to pause in the midst of forming another thought, freezing in the act of planning… something, before she nods.

"I will take the third watch, then. Amber, she is in your care. Do you understand?"

The other woman waved Raven off, stating.

"As if you have to even ask. We'll be fine."

Raven pursed her lips, barely, and then she was gone, and her tent was zipping up behind her.

Amber didn't speak for a time, pressing a small roll filled with cheese and cured meat that is thick and spicy on Cinder's tongue. The girl is so cold that it tastes heavenly, even with the burning in her mouth from the heavy spices. Her lips curving must have given something away, as Amber laughs gently.

"Like it, huh? That's Valean salami, a cured meat made from animals and preserved using a special mixture. I get the milder ones, but I'm sure the hotter ones are more to Raven's preference."

Amber pauses for a brief moment. Before she asks, gently.

"How did you end up with Raven? Did she really rescue you from a ruined village that kept you as a slave? Or is Raven being paranoid about an old friend's intentions?"

Cinder isn't sure how to reply, at least, not at first, does she lie and say that it is exactly as Raven said? Or does she-

"Please don't lie to me, I'm very good at sniffing them out, and I'd really hate to have to interrogate you or Raven."

Her tone is perfectly polite, perfectly friendly, and yet… Cinder freezes as it plays across her face and ears. Something isn't right, something that tells the girl that while she cannot possibly tell the full truth, as Raven has hidden Summer's involvement, she might have to tell the partial truth.

Raven had been good for her, in the past few days she'd fed Cinder everything she wanted, she'd given her so much food the girl had almost felt fit to burst and pop, and yet she'd also let her sleep, trained her, and even praised her for a job well done on multiple occasions. She couldn't betray that. She didn't trust Raven yet, but she absolutely didn't trust Amber, who wore a smile that was strange precisely because-

That was it! Cinder realizes with a sudden burst of inspiration. Amber is a poor woman's replica of Summer. Summer cared, and was genuine about it, she knew damned well what she said and what she meant, and while she had a streak of viciousness that Cinder thinks would have given even Amber and Raven pause… this woman was different.

Amber is kind, yes, but she is not genuine. She does not quite care about Cinder as much as she wants Cinder and Raven to believe she does. More to that point, she is far, far less experienced in hiding her emotions and hiding that lack of caring from others.

Then… what does she want?
"Well? I'm waiting, little one."

Cinder freezes up, her internal thought process interrupted abruptly as Amber turns those fearsome chips of gemstones she calls eyes on her.

"Raven saved my life. I was a slave to those in Atlas. She saved me from them."

Amber smiles, closing her eyes.

"That lines up with what I was told by Captain Ironwood. Seems she didn't kidnap you then, right?"

Cinder rapidly shakes her head. Eyes wide and frightened, and just then, Amber lets out a simple sigh and seems to almost… deflate, visibly.

"Good. Eugh. I hate politics."

Cinder stands up, looking at the huntress, who for all intents and purposes, is doing an excellent impression of someone a third of her age.

"Ummm… why do you ask? Why are you out here Miss Amber?"

Cinder isn't quite sure why she suddenly feels much more at ease, perhaps it is that Amber has stopped putting on airs that aggravate Cinder's own experience with the Madame? But Amber sits back up, knocking a bit of snow off her cape, and then smiling at Cinder, she speaks softly.

"I'm… not really sure, actually. My friend Ozpin sent me out here, he wanted me to find something he called "the temple of the old ones", then I'd be released for a time. But… I don't even really know what I'm supposed to be looking for. Then I get out here and the moment I'm in CCT range, my scroll blows up and Ozpin has me gallivanting off after an explosion in Atlas' warehouse district."

Cinder flinches.

"Yeah… I thought you and Raven had something to do with that. Something about a huntress engaging a wanted criminal and bringing the building down on him with the help of her partner. Ironwood said it was the Masque from Mistral, and that's when I knew it was Raven. Because seriously, only one huntress wears a big ole Grimm mask that's just as tacky as the creatures themselves."

Cinder looks at Amber, looks at this woman that had switched from threatening and terrifying to utterly kind and warm, and she has no idea what to do.

"Let me guess, Raven's training you to be a huntress now, right? She's going to take you with her and then ship you off to Beacon, right?"

Cinder nods, happy about her future and kicking her legs gently through the piling on snow.

"Well! Here, I'm usually pretty far from contact with everyone, but I do send letters out fairly frequently, do you know how to read and write?"

Cinder nods shyly, and Amber smiles evenly.

"Wonderful! Do you want to hear about all my crazy adventures? Tell me about what you're doing for training?"

She leaned in and whispered.

"How much Raven's driving you nuts?"

Cinder can't help it, and she giggles, the sharp, soft sound immediately getting a wide, happy smile from Amber.

"If you do, then here, if you're with Raven… hmm, the Beacon PO box should be a safe enough place."

Cinder frowns. You need full names and addresses to send things to people, right? She only knows this woman as Amber… so she'll need to ask.

"How do I reach you?"

Amber looked up from her pad of stationary and tapped her quill on her cheek.

"Mmmm, here. Let me give you this!"

She took out a sheet of that thick, heavy paper, scrawling down on it a single message.

"Amber Sustrai, Dormir Huntress Box."

This is where I'll be for the foreseeable future, so write your letters to this place, and they'll be delivered to the PO box. I'll tell you if I'm sent off to another place, and give you the Huntress box and town of wherever I'll be staying, that ok?"

Cinder nods, mutely. She can't believe her luck, not one, but two powerful huntresses, both willing to tell her where they've traveled in the case of Amber, or train her to be a huntress among the best like Raven!?

She thinks she might be in heaven if this is what heaven feels like.

A/N: Oh hey, surprise chapter everyone~! Do enjoy, and there is a reveal... somewhere in here that I hope catches some of you off guard~!

As always, the next chapter will be live on the 10th of July, barring another early chapter.

Comments, critiques, praise, etc give me life, and I always read them, so if you enjoy what I'm doing here, feel free to leave one!