Sienna Khan, Cinder decided, was cool.
Not cool in the way that Raven was, of course, but she was so… effortless. If Raven moved like a jungle cat, all violence and grace, Sienna moved like a wolf did, hungry for everything and anything she saw with her interest. Cinder evoked that interest, and she basked in the attention that the woman saw fit to point at her.
Sienna was currently responding to Raven, in a tone of gentle mockery, the same that Raven had adopted with her when she had first appeared.
"If you wanted merely to introduce your newest protege, you only needed to have asked one of our operatives. I still recall fondly the services of you and your brother in training our militia."
Raven's face twisted for a moment.
"I was a different woman now… and… Cinder is not my protege, she is…"
Raven paused again, her voice trailing off completely, it was Cinder's turn, in fact, to speak up.
"Raven is my guardian, she's teaching me to protect myself and take care of myself."
Sienna studied Raven, then turned to Cinder, facing those orange, pretty eyes to the girl below her. She dropped to one knee, and faced her eyes into Cinder's before she spoke.
"Why did she take an interest in you?"
Cinder, without even missing a beat, simply said.
"My semblance unlocked for me before my aura."
The woman raised an eyebrow, before she spoke.
"Curious, how did you come to encounter this woman? Did she find you or…?"
Cinder stopped her cold there, simply sealing her lips, earning her a terse, but still nice, nod from Raven herself, that simple action sent a pulse of utter warmth through Cinder herself. She pushed for it, she pushed that warmth deeper into herself and delighted in the feeling as it went on, as it continued ever forwards.
"That would be enough, Sienna, how are the plans for Atlas?"
The tigress stood up, and began to beckon the pair of them off to one side, Cinder shot a look to Blake and Ilia and Adam, and witness in order, Blake getting hugged by the older version of her, trying to squeeze free, utterly failing, Ilia and Adam being dragged into the hug immediately afterwards, with embarrassment coloring Ilia's face, and what looked like boiling rage on Adam's face, then they were dragged away towards the edge of camp, and Sienna was speaking again.
"Not well, Argus was to be a foothold, expanding our protests while other operations continued. But Nightingale's influence means the Witch is present… and I strongly dislike that. No one has heard from her in over a decade. I believed that she was killed by an Atlesian strike team. The ones who hit the village she had taken command of. In fact, they claimed her kill bounty… and now serve as adjutants to that utter bitch Calavera."
Raven's face turned thunderous.
"She's still alive? I thought Pele had gotten her for good in Vacuo."
"So did she, the woman got kicked off the bullhead over the sands, we have no idea how she survived."
"She's here now, isn't she."
Sienna confirmed it with a simple nod as Raven swore something so under her breath that even Cinder didn't catch it, and as the group reached the edge of camp, Sienna spoke up simply.
"I know your stance on our organization, so I will not ask you to stay and aid us, I will simply extend an open hand of hospitality to your ward, and I would hope she does the same."
Sienna, without a second thought, in motion so smooth it astounded Cinder, faced the younger girl, and drew a knife across her palm, splitting the skin and gently welling up a line of blood. Raven chose to speak at this moment.
"She is offering you a bond, little Kite, it means she will ensure your safety should something happen to myself, or should something happen that requires you to take sanctuary in this camp. This bond will seal you to her code of conduct while in her camp, but only Ghira or Kali could override it."
Sienna cut in.
"I offer you this boon, little one, because you are one of Raven's, and because you saved the life of Kali's daughter."
That confirmed Cinder's suspicion that the woman had been Blake's mother, but this bond… this boon. She… she could not imagine a force capable of killing or preventing Raven from reaching her. She could only barely remember the concept of such a thing. Her mind and soul felt that as long as Raven lived, a part of her would protect Cinder with everything she had, and with every single mustering force she could pull. But… Did that mean that such forces did not exist?
Twice now, she had heard mention of "the witch", and twice now, that single phrase had sent a shivering chill down her spine. It didn't make a great deal of sense to her why this occurred, perhaps it was the sheer reverence and acknowledgement of the power or sheer fear… but something in Cinder told her that wasn't correct.
If this witch was that powerful… she would need powerful allies, and more power herself. Perhaps Sienna knew things about the maidens that Raven did not, or, better yet, knew how to obtain such powers if possible.
Cinder stretched out a hand, took the blade from Sienna's palms, and drew it across her own hand, before she clasped her hand in Sienna's as the woman spoke quietly.
"Our blood mingles at the source of life, we are entangled, I welcome you into my home, little Cinder, and swear that by my shoulder, no harm will come to thee."
The girl felt something… spark, and a sudden feeling of warmth passed into her aura from the other woman. A flash of gentleness in Sienna's eyes as she whispered to Cinder.
"None will ever bring harm to you, little human, not while I draw breath and you are in my reach."
Cinder felt the conviction in her tone, in her words, and in the way she pulled their arms apart and let her go. She felt the way that Raven's approval washed over her, even if it was tinged with sadness as her mo-guardian took her by the hand and began to lead her from the camp.
The walk through the forest was quiet, and contemplative, Raven striding ahead of Cinder, but never truly letting the girl wander out of sight, and while the silence lasted for quite some time, it was as the two approached the walls that Raven finally deigned to break the silence.
"I am proud of you, little kite."
It was an understatement, then, that Cinder felt such a rush of heady emotions pour through her, slamming into every part of who she was with all the subtlety of a brick through a window. First it was a rush of pure and utter joy, giving way to satisfaction, then to a delightful, thick curiosity.
"Why?"
This time, her words came before Raven could prompt her questions, and Cinder caught the half smirk on Raven's face as she turned away from her.
"Because it takes true strength to acknowledge when one requires bonds of strength greater than they can have. You will be strong enough to stand on your own one day, little Kite, but for now, you are safer with Sienna's aid and mark hanging over your head. Especially due to the debt you now have over them. Sienna's own repayment for you is complete, but I am certain the Belladonna's will wish to do something similarly special for your benefit."
Cinder paused, why… she'd not even been sure she saved Blake's life, the man hadn't seemed to want her dead, only captured, and her frown must have shown on her face because Raven spoke up.
"I reached the scene after you had departed with young Belladonna, and uncovered the trail of the body, but not the body itself. I was more preoccupied with other matters."
Of course, in this case, both Raven and Cinder understood that "other matters" meant Raven's tracking down of Cinder herself, and the likely frenzied search for her. Something that hit Cinder with an uncomfortable twisting in her stomach as she said, with shuffling feet.
"I am sorry, for leaving the room."
Raven seemed to relax, it was a subtle thing, but Cinder noted how her shoulders hunched less, and how some of the accumulated stress of their journey seemed to ever so gently flow out of the woman's shoulders. Then, Raven spoke once more, her tone quiet and gentle.
"Do you know why I wished you to not leave the room we stayed in?"
Cinder shook her head.
"A mistake on my part, one I will rectify in the future. I wanted you to stay in the hotel rooms because you are, technically, a victim of a kidnapping."
Cinder paused, that didn't make sense… Raven and Summer had saved her, if anything, she'd gone with them willingly!
"It is confusing, and I know that it must be confusing when you went with us willingly. But the woman who died, the-"
"Madame."
"Yes, the Madame, she technically owned you, you were regarded by the law as her child, even if not by blood, and when Summer and I rescued you, we did not adopt you legally, we simply took you with us as we left."
She paused, the walls of Mistral ahead of them.
"That… in the eyes of Atlas, means you are little more than a victim of myself and Summer's actions beyond all belief. That you are here by choice is not something they will ever consider, because you do not have the authority to choose for yourself where or when you will go. At least, you do not, until you reach the age of 16, when you could decide to enter a huntress or huntsmen academy of your own volition."
Cinder paused, irritation crackling across her face as she thought about the consequences of what Raven had done at a new level. Another layer had been revealed. She valued what Summer said so vastly, that it had her taking charge of Cinder herself in spite of the laws of the land, in spite of the vast Army at the head of Atlas' call and beck, and in spite of everything. Raven still chose to take Cinder with her, to train her.
"Yes, it was a monumental decision, and one that neither Summer, nor I made lightly when we witnessed what we did in your "bedroom"."
The tone of the woman's voice was derisive and cold, harsh and hardened by years of her experience with such actions. Raven had lived for a long, long time with the caveat that she did not engage with anything that did not benefit her. Until Summer had changed that part of her, and taken her heart while she was at it.
Until Summer, and until Cinder.
Now the girl followed her mother into the city proper, and found it so different compared to what it had been like the night priorly. As they stepped into the paved roads, the quiet bustle of the city surrounded Cinder, and she felt the quiet set in. The roar of protests had died down in the city center, as dozens of people who fancied themselves protestors in the evening, returned to work with bedraggled, tired eyes.
Cinder watched them with her own tired, quiet gaze, she felt the strain of having been up for over 24 hours, but it was much lesser than it would have been prior to her aura unlock. The sheer efficiency of having the barrier continued to let her move and think clearly, because in some cases, as Raven had explained over a campfire one long night in their cabin.
"You may need to remain awake for immense amounts of time in grimm infested territory, aura can help you do that, but do not overuse such a boon. The limit is around 6 to 7 days at most of full consciousness before you will drop. Make no mistake when I say that, you will not just drop, you will fall unconscious for an undetermined amount of time."
She'd been deadly serious when she'd spoken, so deadly serious that Cinder had felt the chill run down her spine as she'd said it. The ability to use aura to enhance one's ability to stay awake was vastly useful, but only in the most dire of circumstances.
Now she could see the way that she moved in difference to those who had been in the protests. Those people moved like zombies, clutching coffee and stimulants in their hands as they flowed around her like a slow moving river. The sheer numbers of people that moved like they were barely there… it astounded Cinder, and her eyes widened as she cast herself around the people.
While aura enhancement would keep her awake and processing, it would still slow her down, affecting her judgment by factors that would be impossible to see for other hunters. But she would notice and know, granted, that was something that she could manage. Something that clearly set her apart from the others in the area who trudged through the streets as Cinder herself danced between the crowds. Here or there, she would see sharp eyed individuals, some of whom even glared at their passerby. Those who chose not to take part in the protests… for whatever reason?
Curious then, that Nightingale's influence didn't affect them… perhaps they'd simply done something else to isolate themselves.
Cinder's silence must have perturbed Raven, who gently poked her on the shoulder, speaking quietly.
"Little Kite?"
"Hmm?"
"Are you hungry?"
Cinder's stomach audibly growled, and her own bright blush was answered with Raven's chuffing laugh.
"Hunger is easily tamped down, little Kite, have you thought more of what weapon you would like to master?"
This was a test, of course, if Cinder chose correctly, or could answer the way that Raven wanted, she would get to choose whatever she liked for food, otherwise it would be Raven's choice on her own.
She hadn't quite thought about it that much, beyond that… something about the bow appealed to her, something about the way she'd been able to take to it, and something in the rhythm of draw, nock, stretch, and release.
The way that it all came together appealed to her, and the sustainability of the weapon… her ability to carve and fletch arrows even in the wildest of places… she had chosen it. So, in response to Raven she simply nodded.
"I have settled on a ranged form, mo-Raven. I wish to use a bow as my ranged complement."
If Raven heard her slipup, she did not comment on it, or perhaps she did, because when Cinder looked to her to gauge her reaction, the woman had turned away, facing far from Cinder as she spoke gently.
"An excellent choice. What would you like to eat?"
Cinder might have imagined a quaver in Raven's voice, but as the woman turned her head back to Cinder, the girl thought she caught an ever so faint glimmer in the older woman's eyes. A glimmer that made Cinder's heart feel warm and content. A gentle feeling even as she said simply.
"Sweetcakes!"
Raven let a small quirk of her lips cross at that, and as she took Cinder by the hand and began to lead her deeper into the city, away from the crowds and into the place where the old and new of Argus collided violently.
Here, the new polymer, glass, and concrete of Atlas, smelling of cleaning solutions and sterility, the buildings quiet and hustling, but barely used beyond the droning and quiet motions of the wage slaves, as Raven called them, who trolled its streets and moved through it. All of that collided with the old wood, ceramic, and stone of Mistral's ancient designs, here, the streets smelled of woodsmoke and streetfood, here there was a bustle of people moving through the streets, from the nicely dressed finery of upper crust Mistrali, to the street food vendors hawking their wares to any who would listen. This early in the morning, this single area in the city felt alive to Cinder, alive in a way that she struggled to put words to.
It was her new favorite place, to sit here and watch the way people moved, the way that the clash of cultures gave way to a sort of dissonance that just saw people living… It was beautiful.
Now, though, something was wrong about the atmosphere, it felt… hurried, rushed, while the calls for people still came, while the merchants hawked their wares, something to Cinder's gaze felt very wrong with it all. As if the people present merely were placing on airs, and while Raven placed Cinder to her side, sweeping through the narrow and clustered streets, a bizarre mishmash of Atlesian asphalt and Mistrali cobbles all clustered together. As she followed Raven from behind, watching the older woman, something began to clear for her.
Raven didn't see the thing she did.
Or rather, she wasn't on edge because of the way the people were acting.
Cinder watched her interact with the street vendor that sold sweetcakes, a Mistrali street food, thick, oil laden cakes covered in fruit and syrups, or meats. It was delicious and something that Cinder had only had a few times in her life, she felt tinges of memory playing at her mind when she tasted the cakes, as though faint memories burdened her, albeit barely.
"Excuse me, little girl, where's your mother?"
The voice cut an immediate way through the fugue and the careful following of Raven with her eyes that Cinder had been doing. But, she couldn't afford to not pay attention, and so, Cinder didn't turn her body, or her head much, but she caught a good look at the approaching woman.
Tall, red haired, and piercing emerald eyes, and a bearing and clarity behind those eyes that suggested… unstrained and unaffected motion.
Unconsciously, Cinder reached out with her aura and flared it into her eyes, the small, slight symbols of aura usage carving themselves into her pupils with a slight tickling sensation.
She didn't have the same snakelike coiling or twisted aura, but she had aura, in spades, actually.
"Not quite as subtle as you want to be, you know."
Cinder looked up, in time to catch the smile from the woman's face, it was a nice smile, the girl concluded, but it was not a friendly smile, she bared her teeth with it in the way a wolf might challenge another.
"Your eyes flash when you do that. A pulse of orange, sure, most people won't pick up on it, but I did."
Cinder stared her down, not saying anything.
"Ah, my apologies, Helena Nikos, Huntress. What's your name?"
"Sunny."
The lie flowed easily from her lips, Cinder had realized, with the embarrassing confrontation with Ilia earlier, that she'd need to not give away anything of the sort in her next lie. Sure, Sunny wasn't a fitting name, but it would be easy to come up with background details.
"For your disposition?"
"No, I had blonde hair as a baby."
Cinder noted from the corner of her eye that Raven was approaching, a pair of sweetcakes held in one hand, even as her eyes took note of the woman Cinder was talking to and her free hand dropped to her waist.
"Well, I'm sure they regretted that decision, once you got hair like this."
"No, they died in a grimm attack before it darkened enough."
Helena's face twisted up, and genuine sadness colored her expression, for a moment, Cinder felt bad about being so aggressive. But only for a moment.
"I am… sorry, little one, to lose your parents so young…"
Cinder noted Raven's approach, now within earshot for the experienced huntress.
"It's ok, I don't really remember them anymore."
If anything, that twisted the knife deeper, based on the sudden shift in the woman's demeanor.
"Do you have a guardian? If you need a place to stay, my family can offer you safety…"
A twist in those green eyes, Cinder didn't trust her. She was beholden to at least one other, and what she strove to do here… was not pleasant.
"My guardian is behind you."
Cinder adopted a tone of voice best described as flat, as Raven shoved past Helena and gently handed over the pair of sweetcakes to her. Then, Raven was turning, and those piercing eyes were staring into Helena's own ones.
"I'm afraid, Nikos, you will have to look elsewhere for a squire for the young one."
Those green eyes hardened into chips of jade, hard and sharp and jagged.
"She would be better off with us than a bandit."
Raven laughed in her face. The cold, high pitched, cackling laugh that shut down arguments and broke people in its wake.
The laugh she did before she killed people.
"No, dear Nikos, you will have to find another child for Pyrrha to vent her frustrations on when your inept family pushes her to shatter like all the prior champions. I wonder, will she make it to the royal guard this time? Or fill the seat of consort instead?"
Helena bristled visibly, and Cinder stepped to one side, gently setting the sweetcakes down on a table lining the street.
If they were about to fight, she was not going to let her breakfast be destroyed by some woman trying to recruit her to be… whatever the hell a squire was supposed to be.
"Better a squire to a noble family than the chosen one of a bandit queen."
"Your noble family has been desperately hard on poor Pyrrha, I wonder… if given the choice, where would *she* go?"
Helena, the woman, breathed in, and then let it out, and then she answered Raven's barbs with ones of her own. Aimed at Cinder.
"I wonder things myself, you know, like if I were to look up this girl's appearance I wouldn't find a kidnapping poster, or something akin to that. I wonder if I wouldn't find that you fled Atlas into the wilderness with a new ward, someone who has not been marked by the Branwen tribe, nor blooded. I see no scars on her arms beyond those related to burns, and wouldn't you know, a girl triggered a heat based semblance shortly before you fled Atlas."
The threat was clear, but Raven didn't rise to the challenge or the bait laid by Helena Nikos.
Instead, she replied with such venom, and such acid in her tone that Cinder was left standing slack jawed.
"They are welcome to try and take her from me. The Branwen tribe has always responded to such threats with elegance and grace, as you are no doubt intimately familiar with. How is dear Iason? And of course, Juno, did she finally wise up? Or is she still trying to flee your family normally?"
She stepped forwards, her hand curling about on the blade at her hip. Cinder wasn't entirely sure if Raven was technically allowed to carry the weapon, but she never went anywhere without it, and it seemed to be something of the nature she'd been encouraging Cinder to adopt. To walk with your head held high against the cowards and the prey of this world, the ones who would die first.
"Pyrrha routinely visits her mother, and the relationship between the two is strong."
Raven smiled like a cat who'd not only caught and eaten the canary, but had promptly blamed it on the family's dog.
"But I didn't ask after her wellbeing, or the relationship with her mother, merely whether she'd finally left the family. Of course, the way you spoke that statement… it was too fast~ When was the last time Pyrrha saw her mother, hmm~? Before or after her father had her buried in the forests."
Helena looked as though she'd been torn in twain.
"Juno is fine. As you would know had you read the latest-"
"The press releases, yes of course~! How could I forget that the firebrand and dedicated champion, then huntress Juno Ashai, would allow another to speak for her, to wrench the words from her mouth."
The venom in Raven's tone finally had Cinder noticing something. There was a tightness in her mo-guardians eyes, a tightness that pressed deeply in on her. She had an affection for this woman… this Juno… instead she bore, respect. Extreme and forward respect for her. Raven was angry because… she felt something had wronged Juno.
Cinder's eyes widened, she wanted to meet this woman, anyone who could command Raven's respect was a worthy ally indeed, a woman who's story she wanted to hear the full tale of. How could someone command *Raven's* energies and affections in such a way that the woman would leap to their defense when they were not present.
"Come back to me when you have something better to lie about. Helena. You will not take my ward from me, and little Pyrrha will need to learn to be strong on her own, with family like you."
The derisive, spitting tone in Raven's voice was only matched by the gentleness in which her guardian took Cinder's hand and began to tow her away. While Cinder followed obediently, reclaiming her breakfast from where she'd set it down. She noted that Raven's peripheral gaze never left Helena, standing alone in the square, or that her wrist never left the handle of Omen.
It took more than a few streets and sudden detours for Raven to relax, but as the woman explained, she wasn't relaxing because they were safe.
"Far from it, actually. We are only "safe" right now because if Helena Nikos wished to come after us, we would now have enough advance warning to split and run. Or fight, if the need was great."
Raven watched as Cinder nibbled on one of her sweetcakes, the girl's mind awhirl with questions about who and what Juno was to her, until the woman finally gave up her pretenses and just said.
"Ask… you should know by now I do not harm you for asking questions. This world is complex at best, and you have many years of learning to catch up with others of your age."
"Why… why is Juno so special to you?"
"Ah… little kite…"
Raven sat down on a bench, the small park she'd led Cinder to at this point a welcome relief to Cinder's tired legs, the walk through the city had stretched and strained her muscles to the point where she wanted to, well, bluntly rest.
"Juno was the combat instructor for Beacon Academy when I attended. She was a former huntress at the time, but still moonlit on missions occasionally when she wasn't teaching. She was one of the strongest women I'd ever met. She'd married into the Nikos family… and then she disappeared. The last time I saw her was when I was traveling through Mistral two to three years ago, and she seemed… so fragile, as though her time with the Nikos' had sapped her of everything."
The woman paused, wiping at her eyes gently.
"I never saw her again, to this day, the family maintains that she's alive, but I have a suspicion that she died, and for whatever reason, they're covering it up. It makes me hate them, perhaps unfairly, but Helena didn't do squat for her mom, or for Pyrrha."
A knowing smile coursed across Raven's lips as she followed up with a much more jovial, insofar as Raven could be jovial, tone.
"Then again, I'm sure you've already seen little Pyrrha, given where you went last night."
Cinder froze, running through the people she'd encountered until she landed on a single one. Flaming red hair, and eyes the color of deep emerald pools, full of emotion. She colored red, feeling the flush cover her neck down.
"Mhm… so you've seen her, then, let me guess, trying to head off protestors in the central square last night?"
Cinder nodded once.
"Yeah… she's got her mom's spirit for good in her, alright. I don't want anything bad to happen to that kid, but I have you already, and she's set for life in a way that would make it very hard to do just about anything. She's slated for tournament brackets, shows strong promise across the board. She'll be watched like a hawk. I hate that I can't do anything for her, because it's probably making Juno roll in her grave, but for now, I'll just have to tolerate it."
Cinder spoke before she realized it.
"What about the Fang, Sienna?"
Raven grimaced.
"It was a good thing to make allies with Sienna, little Kite, but asking her to take in another human, especially one so soon, won't go over well."
"Why not?"
Cinder's voice felt plaintive, she didn't see why they couldn't take in another, especially if Pyrrha was as talented as Raven thought she was.
"Sienna dislikes humans. She was hurt deeply by them in the past, and while Kali and Ghira have helped her heal from it, her body wears the scars of her past upon her back and lower legs."
Cinder didn't ask how Raven knew, somehow she doubted she wanted to hear the answer to that particular question. Somehow it seemed like that might be something she would regret.
"She tolerates her hatred on most days, and she respects who I am for my strength and our memories. She extended a bloodline link to you because you saved Blake, a girl she cares for as much as Ghira and Kali do. But it is not a boon she would casually hand to anyone, and she is a dangerous woman, little Kite."
Cinder believed that. Sienna had moved like a big Siberian cat on the tundra, all fangs and claws and perfect camouflage until sudden brutality saw her prey flayed open and bleeding in front of her.
"So no, there will be no saving Pyrrha, but, if she is strong and bears her mother's spirit as much as I suspect she does, she will be more than capable of extricating herself from them when the time comes. But, that does not mean I would dislike it if you forged a friendship with her should you meet again. Just as you have begun to curate such a relationship with the daughter of Kali."
Cinder flushed at that memory.
"You have a gift for forging alliances and uniting people, little kite. I, for one, cannot wait to see how far you take it."
The praise was unusual, especially from Raven, and Cinder felt a pleased flush cross her face and burn through her as her mother, her mother. Stood up and offered a hand down to her.
"Let's return to the hotel, we'll get you some rest and then train later, does that sound ok to you?"
The question was phrased in a way that opened the door to Cinder for saying no, but the girl shook her head, any excuse to get out of training was something she wouldn't take advantage of. She'd have to be better if Pyrrha could spot her, to say nothing of the figures that might chase her through her life. Be they specters of Atlas or the ghosts of Raven's past.
"No, I just need a nap, I'll be fine to train after that."
And so, with a belly of sweetcakes and a smooth, gentle walk, Cinder followed Raven back to the hotel and allowed the other woman to seal the door shut, then take her usual vigil near the window. The small beams of faint light played across her face, outlining her steely expression as she watched the streets around the hotel, tracking any movement.
Cinder fell asleep to that, she dreamed of that steely gaze saving her, of a vast raven carrying her far, far from home. Of a raven swearing by blood and death to protect her, and then, its beak and her hands outlined in red as another gave her life so the raven could save little Cinder.
All of it done to save her.
Her sleep was pleasant and nice, and when she awoke towards the ending of the afternoon, she found Raven still standing vigil, the older woman turning to face Cinder and tossing her practice weapon at her even as her ward scrambled backwards to catch the incoming blade.
"Ready? What happens if someone attacks you in your bed?"
Then Raven was moving, darting forwards, blade down and angled for her heart, and Cinder was throwing a pillow into her face to obscure her vision as she rolled to one side. Her hand lashed out, catching the flying practice knife, and she was pressing it forwards immediately after rolling.
Her angle of attack left much to be desired, but she'd achieved the most important part of the attack, avoiding the first lethal strike. Raven hadn't been using her aura for this, and like many training exercises with practice weapons, Cinder was expected to learn or bruise until she learned. Raven was ruthless, and a part of Cinder loved every second.
Sure, she reflected that it probably wasn't ideal, and the potent mix of adrenaline and fear that coursed through her every single time that Raven pushed this kind of training and force onto her left her bruised and worried. But the woman never attacked her without a prior agreement for training.
A part of Cinder thought the heroes in the books that she read were silly, none of them were ever attacked in their sleep or when it was inconvenient, none of them had to fight off grimm while protecting innocents who were directly in harm's way.
It was silly that they didn't suffer such a thing. When reality was so clearly and demonstrably different.
So as Cinder felt Raven push her off the bed and as she landed with a painful thump, she gambled everything and threw the practice blade, which twirled end over end into the soft area just above Raven's abdominal muscles. Then she followed it up with a kick and a punch, that while they wouldn't faze the older woman, would signify the end of their bout.
As expected, Raven stood to one side, and tapped her stomach where Cinder had hit her in the chest, first with the dagger, then the kick.
"Well done, not only did you survive the initial strike, the most critical part, but you also kept it up until the followup attacks could be suppressed enough for you to beat them. This performance is satisfactory, even if the choice of strike you went for was more than a little risky. Throwing your weapon away, especially if you do not have one to fall back upon, is a dangerous tactic."
Cinder began to speak, trying to cut off Raven.
"Bu-"
She nodded.
"Yes, your semblance is a unique equalizing factor here, your ability to sear and seriously injure people who think you are unarmed is a useful ability, but it should remain hidden. Already, you rely on having it too much. Remember, it exhausts you, little Kite. Too much and you will not be able to keep up when the fights truly begin to matter, or if your opponent has a card that you do not expect."
Raven extended a hand to Cinder, helping the girl up, and from there it was simple, training physically until Cinder was so exhausted that when night fell she tumbled into bed instantly and was asleep before her head hit the pillow.
Cinder's dreams were quiet and peaceful that night.
It was a far cry from Raven's restless watch, and the way that the raven-formed woman moved throughout the night only woke Cinder for snatches of time. The first when she flew out the window, in the guise of a bird, the second when she returned, the third when she almost drew Omen from its sheathe in response to… something outside.
Beyond that, Cinder slept soundlessly until the early morning, when a slight tap at the window by her bed had her stirring as Raven moved towards the window. Orange eyes met amber ones, and Cinder recognized the form of Blake, crouched outside on the terrace, alone, by the looks of it. Raven looked down at Cinder, who simply nodded, and then the woman opened the window and allowed the small form of the cat faunus to clamber inside.
"So… mom and dad wanted to thank you… so they called in a few favors… it won't be done until we have the plans… but they wanted you to have something to symbolize saving my life…"
Blake handed over a small drawing, a sword, elegant and curved.
Cinder didn't think it was possible to be in love, but that simple drawing, a harsh sketch hashed out of a long, curving blade… it made her feel things. This was her, this was elegant bladework expressed in perfection and beauty, and it was so cleanly designed…
"This… Mom… this one!"
Raven startled, but masked it so excellently that Blake didn't pick it up, simply taking the sketch and staring it down with an appraising eye.
"I… this can be made. Two, then? Cinder?"
Cinder nodded, one from Raven, one from the Fang… one dark… one light. Every single motion, every single line of engraving and careful metal would need to be perfect.
The early morning was spent whiling away the hours, talking with Blake, sketching over the designs on a sheet of the thick, handmade paper Raven used in her travel journals, until by dawn's first rays, the trio had a workable schematic that Blake and Raven could take with them when they left. Sure, on the one hand it was a weapon, but… it was a powerful, good weapon.
It would be a weapon worthy of a huntress.
Cinder hadn't cared about the lack of a ranged form, but she had noticed her mother slowly, gently maneuvering portions of the design in ways she didn't quite understand.
All Raven had said when pressed about it was a simple,
"You'll see."
The second surprise had been the way that Blake had stood up for her people, when Raven had said,
"I do not know if I will be able to find a smith of sufficient caliber to match Summer, but… I will try, Little Kite. Do you have one in the fang capable of matching such quality?"
Blake had stood up, her little hands balled into fists and her cute ears pressed against her head as she'd said.
"My Da and Sienna are the best forgemasters in the camp! They'll be the ones to make this weapon! Sienna wouldn't dare let a subpar one leave her workshop, and Da's the best designer I've ever known!"
The glimmerings of emotion in Raven's eyes sent happy feelings into Cinder as soon as she saw the two. Raven was impressed with Blake, standing up to her, even when she was at her most terrifying, was super hard, but Blake had done it anyways. That showed, tremendously.
By the time Blake was leaving, this time with the civilian form of the woman who had picked up Cinder out of the basket yesterday in the early evenings, it had been easy to forget about the sheer damage the protests that wrought across Argus were still doing, and yet… bizarrely, the protests felt melancholic and strange that night, the few protestors outside, had been halfheartedly shouting things for only a few hours, when Cinder watched them simply turn around and head back inside the various side streets and dwellings they'd come from.
Raven's sheer relief at that had been understated, but as she and Cinder stayed up later than Cinder ever had, speaking with each other candidly and openly, the two had felt that relief set in quickly.
"Why are you so relieved, and who is Nightingale?"
That question had decidedly put a damper on the festivities of the evening.
A/N: Nothing much to say beyond I hope you all enjoy, barring no significant interruptions, the next chapter will be live on Sept, 11.
As always, if you like what I'm doing here or have a comment/critique, leave it for me, I always appreciate such things.
