A short chapter, but I felt that adding more would have been padding. I slightly revised the end of the last chapter and this one consistent with the revised version.

Jaune shook Evelyn's hand and said, "I'm sorry for your loss, Evelyn." Jaune knew there was no good way of dealing with this issue but had accepted Amber's view that a simple acknowledgement was the least bad option. No point in pretending nothing had happened and better than saying I know how you feel.

Evelyn looked at him and mumbled something which could have been anything, but at least was not angry.

Jaune said, "My name's Jaune. Both Hunter Marine and my boss were very impressed with you today."

"Your boss?" Evelyn looked round the room but could not see a human who was obviously in charge.

Jaune pointed towards Deputy-chief Reynard who was now talking to Darren Marine. Reynard was now in full alpha mode and his tail (he insisted that it should be called a brush) was rampant.

Evelyn's eyes widened, "He's your boss?"

"He's one of the two deputy chiefs of the LGDF in Ansel Province."

Reynard must have been briefed by Darren (or perhaps he had simply overheard the conversation) as he then came over. "Evelyn, well done today. We will have a word later, but me and hunter Marine need to make certain that there are no more fatal intrusions in Awkney county today. Jaune, could you talk to Evelyn about the options?"

Reynard had obviously spotted the same thing as Jaune, which relieved him. He had also decided neither to challenge Evelyn or use a pronoun.

Reynard moved back to Darren and Jaune noted how Darren's body language made it clear that Reynard was in charge. They normally talked as equals which suited them both, but there were times when demonstrating that the civilians were in charge was important. It certainly had an effect on Evelyn.

Jaune said, "Shall we have a coffee?"

"Yes." There was a pause, "I have some better stuff in my room."

"That will be great. Lead on."

Evelyn bounded ahead. She had the Kangaroo legs and he doubted whether it was easy for her to move slowly.

She turned her head to him, "Could you tell me about being in the LGDF? Do you think I could join?"

"I think you already passed the practical test. I joined when I was sixteen."

Evelyn nodded. They reached her room. Jaune noted that it was a single room while most of the other sleeping quarters had been dormitories with four to six beds in them. This again suggested that she was a woman.

Evelyn put the coffee on and as she did the preparations Jaune scanned the posters on the walls, the magazine pictures on the corkboard, and noted that there was a diary and some books on her locker. He made a note of the possible implications. He felt that he should recognise more of the individuals pictured than he did, but it did make him think that he would be pushing on an open door.

As she served him the coffee, she looked at him and said, "Should I know you?"

"No. You may know my older sisters. I look a lot like them. Apparently tall, lean, and blonde runs in the Arc family."

The name obviously triggered her memory.

"Of course. Amber's is my favourite, but the twins are pretty hot stuff as well. Isn't your mother chief of the Ansel LGDF?"

"Yes. That's why I can be confident that you get a job there."

Evelyn smiled, "Thanks."

"How long have you been working in security?"

"I haven't. I'm a lumberjack."

Jaune started to revise down her age and increase his respect level.

"When did your aura unlock?"

"Today. Instead of panicking I just thought I may as well fight and it just happened."

She paused, "I've been in a lot of fights. Don't start them but I do finish them. Never been frightened enough before to need my aura."

"Congratulations on working out your semblance so quickly?"

"Sorry."

"Darren called it dimension door. You seem to be able to move about ten metres just by thinking about it."

"Is that what was happening? I just thought I was moving quickly."

Jaune showing her some of the footage and Evelyn blinked. "I didn't know I was doing that. I just thought that if I was there I could do more damage and just moved."

"I know mother will want you in the LGDF, but have you thought about becoming a hunter?"

Evelyn blushed, "I've dreamed about it for years."

"I saw the posters. Who is the Dog Faunus? I know I should recognise him."

"Marrow Amin. The first Faunus team leader to take his team to the second round of Vytal festival."

"Do you want to follow in his footsteps?"

"He came from a wealthy family in Mantle and even then they put him on a second-rate fighting team. I haven't been to combat school, and I can't see them letting in a half breed Faunus bastard at Haven." Evelyn looked defiantly at him.

Jaune said, "If you don't try, you can't know that for certain."

"Maybe if your mother was in charge of selection." Jaune could tell that she really wanted to tell him that he did not know what it was like being a Faunus but was being polite.

He looked at her, "Excuse me in advance, but how old are you and what is the moustache all about?"

"Seventeen. Well sixteen."

"It's not a trap. I happen to know that three people have dropped out of the first year at ACS and the spaces haven't been filled. If you are sixteen I would be amazed if there would be any trouble about letting you in at the start of next year."

"How do you know I can even read and write?"

"I can see the books and the diary."

Just then a bull Faunus mill worker poked his head around the door and asked, "Evie, are you OK?"

The Faunus youth was mildly irritated but replied politely enough. "I'm fine James. Mr Arc here is just discussing my career options with me."

James looked at Jaune and then relaxed. "Sorry to bother you, but Amanda was concerned. I'll leave you to it."

The head withdrew and then popped back around, "Evie, give me or an Amanda a shout if you need someone to put you up."

James then left for real, and Evelyn looked defiantly at Jaune.

Jaune said, "He didn't give anything away apart from removing the need for me to raise the question. I've got seven sisters."

"I'm told that I've got one and a half brothers – well three."

"And the moustache?"

"Allowed everyone to pretend that I was eighteen and a man."

"The single room?"

"Nepotism. My dad was the manager. Well, we all pretended that he was an honorary uncle who had been friendly with my mother."

Jaune was not surprised and filled in the gaps. Evelyn had never met her brothers and the likelihood was that her father had died in the crash.

Evelyn asked, "What's going to happen to the mill tonight?"

"You will all be evacuated tonight for safety. In the long term it depends on the owners and our experts. I don't know how much damage was done to the mill."

"It'll be shut. The owner and my father died in the crash and the rest of the family won't be interested in carrying it on."

"Perhaps they'll sell it on?"

"They may try but explaining that the owner was killed by Grimm won't help."

"It is possible that it will be mothballed with a skeleton staff to see what happens in the future."

"You may well be right. Anyway, I'll be out of a job whatever happens as they won't choose me. Look, I'll need to earn my own living. Can you talk to your boss about me joining up?"

"Are you certain you don't want to try and become a huntress."

"I don't see how I can afford to. I'm not going back to the orphanage. I've worked for two years now here, and I am used to being responsible for myself."

"If you are accepted at ACS there is a boarding option. It is the only combat school in three provinces and most of the students' board or live with relatives."

"That will cost money."

"There are bursaries and grants available."

"For someone like me?!"

Jaune said, "I don't see why not. Your semblance looks about as useful as my big sister's."

"Amber?"

"Yes. She says that it allows her to get herself out of trouble and to take advantage of openings."

"Can you show me again what I did?"

Jaune did and Evelyn watched agog. "I suppose I was pretty cool. Wish I knew how I did it."

"Amber said that practice makes it automatic. For the moment just remember what you thought and did when you were fighting the Grimm."

"How come you got here so quickly? Actually, who called John?"

"We'd worked out that something was going wrong in Awkney last night and Deputy-Chief Reynard narrowed down the danger spots today. No one answered the phone here and a neighbour mentioned that they heard shooting. The fact that nobody said anything was the biggest clue."

Evie barked a laugh. "Makes sense. I was always more relaxed when someone told me that someone was being a jerk then when both people denied anything was wrong."

The girl then said, "I suppose that I might have just enough potential for them to overlook the fact that I am a Faunus. Especially if I make it clear that I am grateful for the opportunity. No harm in giving it a shot."

Jaune didn't quite know how to respond to this. He did recall something which Nancy had said, "One of my sisters says that if she goes into a room expecting to be liked, it's amazing how often that turns out to be the case while if you go in expecting to be slighted people feel awkward around you. Mother says that it's best to assume that strangers are friends you just haven't met yet."

Evelyn pretended to make a vomiting noise and then smiled. "My dad said something similar about old tom cats having boots thrown at them and kittens being offered prawns and cuddles. It sorta worked here. I only had to have a couple of fights in the compound. Mind you, even before I released my aura I was pretty good at unarmed combat. The legs help."

Jaune helped Evelyn pack her case and take down her posters. One of the magazine pictures caught his attention. It showed the dark-skinned dog Faunus, Marrow Amin, in a military uniform with three other officers at a table during what looked like a ball. One was a human who looked like a poster boy for the stereotypical rich Atlas officer and the second was some form of feline Faunus who was very tanned. The third who was obviously in charge was a beautiful white haired slim woman who looked somehow both stern and proud.

Evelyn looked "Oh, that one. I still don't know what I feel about that photograph."

"Why?"

"Winter Schnee being photographed with two Faunus is a sign of something I suppose. Marrow is now the first Faunus Ace-Ops, so maybe being sent to Vacuo was not meant as an insult. Perhaps a chance to prove himself. Still the other Faunus was assaulted by a senior officer later that night for dancing with a human."

Jaune winced. Still, everyone knew that Atlesians were hypocrites about how they treated their Faunus.

They talked some more. She was, he thought, genuinely interested in the career options and they exchanged scroll numbers. He even tested hers on the basis that he was a dork and needed to make certain he had transcribed it right.

He asked about the fighting by the breach. Evelyn had been on the walls next to the head of security and had said that she had seen something black and white just as the walls fell. It wasn't there afterwards. He was alarmed to hear that a Grimm may have damaged the perimeter wall enough to make it collapse. He sent a scroll message to mother and Reynard to replay all the security footage and especially the body cam of the head of security.

What was alarming was that the medium sized Nevermore which had taken out the corporate plane and the three junior ones which he and Reynard had taken out with the drones had appeared only after the plane had taken off. They had been lucky that there hadn't been more waiting to take out Darren's bullhead. He would report on that observation in private.

Jaune did not know how far he should trust Evelyn's story, but she claimed that her dad's father had refused to leave without his son. The grandfather had come in because he did not trust his son's judgement that they needed to evacuate the site and had only left once the walls had been breached.

By 7 PM he was back at the local HQ. Mother had turned up at six with dad in tow. Dad was there mainly to tell the mill and mine owners that their best chance of remaining in business was to be honest with mother. Jaune spent some time talking with the security team from the Black Rock lumber mill and their friends from other local businesses who had been at least temporarily evacuated.

To his surprise the twins and their two teammates arrived at 8 PM and tomorrow would debrief the security teams, including a few huntsmen. He supposed it made sense considering their Argus posting post qualification for reclaiming forest land and the fact that they were Vytal festival quarterfinalists gave them some credibility. Of course, if there was a Grimm attack tonight or tomorrow, they would join in the defence of the county.

Reynard, Darren, and the local LGDF had talked to enough people to know that it turned out that the delay in anyone notifying the LGDF that there were multiple Grimm assaults going on had been down to the terms of insurance policies. There was a large group which gave no coverage against shutdowns due to Grimm attacks but did give a limited coverage against shutdowns caused by governmental shutdowns in response to Grimm attacks elsewhere. The owners had apparently been playing chicken with each other and the security and huntsman teams had been sniping at Grimm for days. Unsurprisingly the workforces had become increasingly tense including the security teams. It was just the Black Rock's lumber mill's bad luck that their defences had faltered first.

By nine the local LGDF headquarters was emphasising its primary role as a bar. It was interesting watching the twins and dad working the room. Dad had always said that instilling confidence amongst the villagers was the easiest and most enjoyable way of reducing the Grimm threat. From somewhere a piano and a couple of guitars had been found and by ten dad was singing the songs of his youth with Nancy accompanying him on piano.

Occasionally Jessica would take over the singing duties as dad dealt with a mill or mine owner who had just the faced the wrath of mother and talk them into cooperating properly with the authorities. He knew mother was having to struggle to make the decision in the next couple of days as to whether or not to make decisions which could close down multiple businesses or risk putting lives in jeopardy. Whichever decision she made she would be blamed for the consequences. There would be legal challenges from owners and insurers if she closed things down in a way which either did or did not trigger insurance pay outs. Even if she just shut things down for a week while the LGDF did a full risk assessment, she knew that might push some businesses over the edge. Dad's role was to tell the owners that pretending that the tapes had not been working or that the cartridges which the LGDF had found in their compounds were attributable to target practice would not be believed and was only going to make things worse for them. He didn't bother with those who had tried bribery. Mother would only allow businesses which she believed would mostly comply with the rules and guidelines to take the calculated risks which living close to a concentration of Grimm involved.

Towards the end of the evening, he saw Evelyn enter with James and a woman he assumed was Amanda. As the bar was owned by an employee of the LGDF in his private capacity rather than run for its profit, mother's normal approach of saying that the LGDF was not an arm of the police force (other than not turning a blind eye to murder and crimes of violence) applied although keeping an eye out to ensure that those between 16 and 18 did not get too drunk was expected. He was sitting next to Jessica at the time and waved Evelyn over.

He had shown the tape of Evelyn in action to Jessica and Nancy earlier. They had been impressed and wanted to meet the young woman. Evelyn was slightly awestruck which perhaps helped her take in the message which Jessica gave her about applying to ACS and then to Haven or Beacon. Jessica also knew a surprising amount about applying for grants, bursaries, and scholarships. Jaune hadn't realised that the Adel Corporation had a scheme encouraging Faunus to go to combat school and the academies or that Amber had contacts with something called the Travers Foundation in Vale which did something similar.

Eventually Jessica gently kicked him and suggested that he join dad in entertaining the customers. Jaune took the hint. It was time for Jessica to have a woman to woman talk with Evelyn and recruit her. While the twins were not so strident as Amber, both of them agreed with her that there were circumstances where it was hard to blame a Faunus for joining the White Fang and someone with a semblance as useful as Evelyn's would be a terrifying addition.

Dad welcomed him and got him do the authority figure voices in Summertime Blues. As the applause rang out, he whispered to Jaune, "Ask your mother to come out for five minutes."

Jaune went to the office and knocked on the door. Mother and Reynard were there watching the coverage which was coming in from the mines and lumber mills. Both were looking serious. Mother sighed but agreed to join dad. "He's probably right. I've spent so much time beating the locals up tonight that showing I have a softer side is necessary."

Jaune stayed behind with Reynard. Mother and dad being soppy with each other in public was not something he enjoyed watching. Besides which he suspected that Jessica wanted more time with Evelyn. Reynard gestured to him to come over and showed him the footage of the collapse of the walls at Black Rock.

"Thanks for the heads up. Don't speak to anyone else about the possibility of the Nevermore deliberately hiding until the jet took off or the flash of black and white just before the walls were breached. Your mother and I are still deciding what the right balance is between avoiding panic and giving necessary warnings."

Reynard looked carefully at Jaune and seemed to mentally shrug. "I'm going to err on the side of letting you know why we are telling you to keep quiet. Watch the footage."

Jaune watched the footage from the body camera of the head of security. He thought he glimpsed something, but it was very fleeting. Reynard ran the footage backwards in slow motion and there were clearly a few seconds when a black and white object flashed across the screen.

"I think the eyewitnesses were telling the truth when they said that the walls did not collapse because an alpha Grimm charged it, but the footage suggests something nastier may have happened. We're going to have to send it to Haven."

Jaune heard the undertone of resignation in the voice.

"Is there a problem?"

"Neither your mother nor I can convince ourselves that the walls were not undermined from underneath by some form of Grimm. Luckily for the defenders, if that was what happened it was crushed by the falling wall and so had not surfaced inside the compound. Unfortunately, there isn't a clear enough shot for us to rule out the possibility that some form of worm Grimm burrowed underneath the walls."

"I thought blindworms were only found in the deserts of Vacuo?"

"That's what your mother said."

Jaune's face must have reflected his alarm about the possibility that something which could dig under defences was around in Ansel as the deputy-chief nodded.

"No one will want to believe that worm Grimm exist in Mistral. It means rethinking all our defensive walls and even the stone cellars beneath the wooden house model. If we start this hare running, we will be ridiculed by most and panic others. On the other hand, if we don't notify anyone of the possibility then we will be breaching our duty."

"So, what are you going to do?"

"Your mother will add this to the things she talks to Professor Pink about this weekend. The report to Mistral HQ will say further investigation is needed before a verdict on what brought down the walls can be reached. We will also focus on the timing of the Nevermore appearing. The experts at headquarters will spend many an hour debating whether it was intentional, bad luck or instinct which resulted in them breaking cover when they did."

"So, what will mother decide about evacuating the businesses here?"

"She'll sleep on it, but I think that she will let them carry on provided that they plausibly promise to comply with all safety protocols and in particular security cams on the compound walls. This is one of the least densely populated areas of Ansel. It's best that we find out quickly here whether such a threat exists rather than wait a few years and find out in Kulsa or Ansel County."

"What do you think?"

"I believe that there is a not insubstantial risk that there was some form of burrowing Grimm involved. Whether it was a form of worm, or a mole maybe does not matter that much. Certainly, I can talk myself into believing that letting businesses continue here is more like a canary in a coal mine than tethering a goat to attract a tiger."

"How will you make certain that the businesses comply?"

"Your mother has read the riot act to them, and we will be reallocating resources to spot checks in the county. We will close at least two businesses down this week because they cannot be trusted not to cut corners on security. One of them had stored lumber in the panic rooms underground so there won't be much pushback from the others."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Because you know enough to say something dangerous without knowing that it is. Also, we need someone more junior who knows the truth about what we fear to do the inspections and read the reports. If me or Chief Arc do all the inspections it will worry people."

Just then there was a large round of applause from outside. Mother and dad must have finished their duet.

In ten minutes, mother returned. She looked at Reynard and said, "Do you know someone who can look after Evelyn in Ansel long term?"

"My sister Victoria has a spare room and knows how to give people privacy. How long term are you thinking?""

"Three to four years. I will get someone to fund a market rent. I can probably guilt trip her father's family into paying the rent and an allowance to take her off their hands and give her a chance at a career."

Mother then looked at Jaune. "You do know that she's going to take one of the places which you were hoping to fill?"

"Yes. That still leaves two and she's good enough."

Mother nodded, "Thanks for taking it that way."

She turned to Reynard, "Let's discuss which of the locals we can trust to do the job properly. I'm almost certain that I will announce tomorrow that against my better judgement I am going to let the businesses carry on provided they comply with a new set of rules. I suspect that a couple want to shut up shop anyway and we can try and find semi- convincing reasons to say that they are more high risk than the others."

The next morning Jaune watched mother putting on a different act to normal. She normally tried to appear 95% certain when she was only 51% sure. This time it was the opposite impression she was trying to give. It remained to see how it worked. Dad was briefed to make it clear to the owners that mother meant what she said about regular and meaningful inspections. The twins and their team went debriefing mixed in with some Grimm hunting. Marion flew in to take over from mother and Reynard. She would also be good at conveying the message that mother meant what she said while perhaps being a little more open to accepting a few deviations from the strict letter of the orders provided the spirit was followed.

They took Evelyn back with them to Ansel. She had been running on adrenalin and was exhausted after having unleashed her aura and used a lot of her semblance in staying alive. After a large breakfast she had curled up and gone to sleep.

Mother used the flight to brainstorm the use of the drones against the Nevermore. The concept had been proven, but with various caveats. The expense of using fire dust and the drones on medium sized Grimm was marginal apart from the circumstances as yesterday where it was needed to allow the bullhead carrying hunters to deploy quickly. There was also the issue of whether they would do more than irritate larger ones let alone alphas. The biggest concern was how many drones the Ansel LGDF could afford to buy and adapt as potential flying bombs mixed in with security concerns. Imaging the damage which the White Fang could do with these around an airport did not bear thinking about, but as Reynard said it was hardly a huge leap of imagination to use the drones as weapons rather than for surveillance. In the end they decided that they would report the design and the performance test to headquarters and strongly recommend that a bonus be paid to Charlie for both the design modifications and the cry baby device which had on yesterday's showing helped in distracting the flying Grimm.

One thing which struck Jaune that although yesterday had been exciting and had involved him killing Grimm by proxy, he had not been involved in the close combat which he suspected was needed for a mustang admission to Haven. Mother had set up a system which was designed to reduce the risk of LGDF civilians fighting Grimm at close quarters and Reynard had made certain that it had been Darren's team who had borne the brunt of the fighting. Ok, the armoured car had been allowed to run down Beowolfs, but he had not been on board while this happened.

He also recalled the discussions with the security guards. They had known a couple of security guards who had made it on to the mustang track to becoming a hunter. The three factors which they seemed to have in common had been that they had left school early, were cautiously brave and had been landed in situations where it was either die or be a hero. The Ansel LGDF prided itself on leaving its non-hunter employees a line of retreat. It wasn't as though they were careless about the lives of the hunters, but it was clear who was expected to take the greatest risks.

I hadn't expected to get into a pandemic analogy when writing this story, but mother Arc is having to balance safety against economic catastrophe and obtaining further information about the equivalents of transmissibility and virulence in a cost and risk effective manner. It is also interesting trying to make the family dynamic work with seven sisters and two parents to differentiate from each other.