Hello!

Guess who realized her childhood dream and bought a Barbie and the 12 Dancing Princesses Genevieve doll? Me! This is the best day of my life! Next on the list, Barbie and the Diamond Castle! What do you mean I'm an adult?!

…

We need RWBY dolls. Not figures, actual dolls you can dress up and play with, like "I put Ruby's dress on Blake!". I know that I could just find a doll with the same hair color and make the clothes myself, but still … Hey, let me be five years old in peace!

Also, speaking of age, I just made a shocking discovery!

See, I tried to know when the WF was created, but I couldn't find anything except that it was just after the Faunus Rights Revolution, and of course we don't know when this was either. So I figured it must have been at a moment when Ozpin wasn't in a position of power, because if he had been, we would have heard of it, or he would have tried to intervene. And for him not to be in a position of power, it was probably just after he died and was in a new body that no one knew yet. So I searched his age, and the wiki says "younger than Teodore". Okay, how old is Theodore? Mid-to-late forties. Which would make good old gray-haired Ozpin … in his early forties. Ozpin in V1 is in his early-to-mid forties. So he's… like… five years older than Team STRQ.

Try to look at an image of Raven next to an image of Ozpin and think that one is 40 and the other is 45! Seriously, it means that when Team STRQ arrived at Beacon their headmaster was practically their age! Ozpin could have dated Summer himself instead if he wanted more silver eyes! ... Oh shit we need a fic about that.

Oh and because of that, we can deduce the WF is about 30 years old.

.

Focus.

Eyes burning with red flames, Yang jumped to dodge Qrow's scythe blade, and used her momentum to kick him from above. Qrow dodged to the right, and retracted his weapon in sword form to attack again.

It was very different from training with Rook, Qrow was faster and physically stronger and had a more brutal fighting style, like the people of the tribe, his weapon had much more range, it had a rifle, and the different shapes made it harder to anticipate than a simple crossbow shield. It was the kind of challenge she hadn't had in a long time, even on a mission, and she had missed it.

It was also her first time fighting against a scythe, she had faced all kinds of swords and guns, axes, flails, hammers, and even some kind of giant scissors once, but until today, never a scythe, not even Harbinger because it was the first time he used it against her. It was fun, though it was kinda hard to go up against a top Huntsman who wielded a weapon bigger than her, bare-handed and without killing him, and the heat they were only at half accustomed to didn't help. And yet the two Branwens had a smile glued to their face despite the sweat and the bruises. It was in their family, they had fighting in their blood!

Yang lunged at her uncle again, fist back and covered in flames. In recent weeks she had started to feel more and more her magic moving through her body as she used it, she felt her blood warm up and travel through her arm from her heart to her hand before exploding outside when she sent a fireball. Or like right now, her whole arm was tingling with an energy that felt like her Aura, but different, it was very familiar, like it had always been there but she never noticed it.

Her punch landed squarely in Qrow's jaw, knocking him back a few steps, but he immediately attacked back with several scythe strikes that Yang barely dodged due to their speed. The scythe spun around him so fast that she couldn't even see when his hands let go and caught the handle! No doubt, Qrow was much stronger than the average Huntsman, and she had killed a lot of them so she knew what she was talking about!

The fight ended in a draw, and Yang didn't even know how long it lasted. Usually she hated losing, even to Rook, but this time she didn't mind. She had so much fun, she still had a smile plastered on her face! She even felt like laughing for some reason, but she would probably look crazy.

"You did really well, you're getting stronger every day." Qrow told her, catching his breath. She managed to kick him hard in the chest near the end, but he retaliated by hitting her in the head with the blunt side of his sword, which shattered both of their Auras and ended the fight. She was quite proud of her work!

After catching their breath, they returned to their camp to cool down and wipe the sweat that was streaming down their faces. They didn't have to change location in the end, the temperature had gone down after a week when clouds started to return, so they were able to resume daytime training. On the other hand, they had to take breaks between each exercise, hydrate a lot, put on absurd amounts of sunscreen… She understood that protecting herself from the sun was important, even her mother told her so when she was little, running in diaper between the tents, but now she really felt like they were treating her like a baby. She was thirteen!

Yang sat down next to Rook, grabbed her gourd, and drank more than half of it in one go. Qrow handed her a wet towel and she rubbed it over her face, enjoying the cold sensation on her overheated skin.

"So who won?" Rook asked as she opened her own bottle. She was sweating a lot, she must have been training too. They had all come here for a training trip, it wouldn't be fair if Yang was the only one exercising.

"Draw." she answered with a shrug.

Rook almost spat out her water, and stared at Qrow, her eyes widening with a shocked expression. As her mentor and after years of training together, she knew better than anyone how formidable Yang was in battle, especially with her Semblance activated. On the other hand, she had never seen Qrow fight.

"Really?"

"Really." Qrow confirmed, drinking too, but from his liquor bottle. Funny way to hydrate.

Oceane chuckled at Rook's stunned expression, "Yep. Believe it or not, but Qrow here is one of the best Huntsmen in Remnant."

Qrow made a small bow, which made the whole small group laugh.

They had been here for about a month now, the tensions and mistrust that were there when they arrived had calmed down, Rook and Oceane got along quite well and often talked about weapons and combat tactics. Qrow also seemed to get better, he spent time with her every day now, listened to her talk about her training, interesting stories about the missions she had done, he combed her hair regularly and sometimes trained with her, even though he had never used his scythe until today.

Looking at them, it almost seems like training was secondary, and they were here to relax and spend time together, like a vacation. It was a bit frustrating because she felt like it was slowing down her training, but they had already done a lot to bring her here and take care of her, she wasn't really in a position to ask for more. Plus, she was progressing anyway, she had never felt magic moving in her body so well, and having a precise idea of her movements helped her enormously to react faster and more effectively. She should have done these exercises earlier.

"Anyway, I'm glad I got rid of those bandages, they were so hot, you have no idea." said Oceane, stretching. She had finally been able to remove her bandages, and leave her scarred skin exposed. She was wearing only a dark blue tank top, her biker jacket was tied around her waist, and the burn marks on the right half of her body were now clearly visible. Yang was expecting some kind of red wrinkled skin, like with fire burns, but instead, her arm, shoulder, neck, and even the bottom of her cheek were covered in a pattern that looked like a kind of dense but leafless bush. It was very red, just like the skin underneath, but apparently it should clear up with time, Aura, and the right cream.

It was still a huge, clearly visible scar, which she had received only because Yang had too little control over her emotions and her powers.

After their break, Oceane volunteered to fill the water bottles, leaving Falcon with Qrow and Robyn.

Falcon shifted a little and rested her head on Robyn's shoulder, bringing a smile to her face. The little one had become very tactile since they arrived, she always sat right next to her, often held her hand like a child when they walked even short distances, constantly asked for hugs… That didn't bother Robyn in the least, on the contrary, she loved being able to hug her firecracker, feel her relax and see her smile like a child her age should, especially after seeing her terrified and tearful look after the train incident, when she had been so scared that she had completely withdrawn into herself to the point of not even eating anymore, as if she had resigned herself to waiting for a monster to arise to devour her at any time. And Robyn couldn't do anything but look at her, because she had no idea what was going on.

She had never felt so useless in her entire life.

"Rook?"

Robyn looked down at Falcon. She kept calling her by her fake even though she knew the real one, and even when it was just the two of them. She didn't mind, she had called her that for years after all, and she had no reason to change her habit. It also worked the other way around, Falcon would always be Falcon for her.

"Yes?"

Falcon hesitated to speak for a moment, opening and closing her mouth several times as she struggled with her words. She had also become more talkative since they were here, and Robyn was pretty sure she was slowly going back to how she was before the trauma of her mother's death. Every time life tried to get in her way, she rose up stronger. Just like her Semblance, her true Semblance. "Is…" she hesitated, "Is Oceane mad at me for her scars?"

"Hmm…I don't know, I didn't hear her complain about it." Robyn replied. It was only half true, Oceane never complained about the scars themselves, but she certainly didn't appreciate being covered in bandages in such hot weather. But Falcon didn't seem convinced. "Hey, don't worry, Huntresses are tough, something like that is practically nothing." Robyn assured her, putting an arm around her and shaking her slightly, but the girl didn't answer, so she continued, "Besides, if she was mad at you, she wouldn't be helping you, you don't think?" This time Falcon nodded, although a little hesitantly. The two assassins shared a look, before laughing.

Robyn wasn't the cuddle type, she left her friends, and by friends she meant Fiona, giving her 'it's been a long time' hugs, and she didn't mind playing the role of a climbing wall for the kids at the orphanage when she visited them for Halloween, but she rarely engaged in the hugs herself, it wasn't her thing. Except with Falcon, because she knew how much this little girl needed comfort, someone to take care of her, and she wanted to be that someone.

Pietro had said that Robyn cared about Falcon as much as she cared about Mantle, and he wasn't wrong. It wasn't even just a matter of responsibility anymore, she cared for her firecracker more than she had ever cared about herself, it hurt her to see her suffer and it made her happy to see her smile. It was a really strange feeling, she had never become so attached to someone, not even her friends, she obviously loved them a lot, but she didn't have the same anxiety, the same cold in her stomach when something something was wrong, they were adults, and Robyn knew they could handle their problems on their own or ask for help when they needed it. Falcon couldn't do either of these, and she had a lot of problems. She was a child, she still needed an adult to protect her, even if she refused to admit it.

Robyn looked up from her apprentice, and her eyes met Qrow's. He was staring at them with a look she couldn't describe, but looked away before she could say anything.

"I'm going to take a look around from the sky." he stood up and walked away.

"Okay see you later." Falcon replied, completely oblivious to the awkwardness in the air as she turned happily to Robyn. "Can we train together?"

Robyn hesitated for a moment, and glanced in Qrow's direction, but he was already high in the sky. She held back a sigh so as not to worry Falcon, and got up to join her in the sun. She should take care of him too at some point.

It was the middle of the day, the sun was beating down quite strongly, as always, but it was bearable, and everyone in town was enjoying the nice weather.

Yang hadn't visited Kuo Kuana yet, she just passed by when they arrived, and even though she had tried to pay attention to her surroundings for once, she obviously hadn't seen a lot. Today though, she had plenty of time, Rook almost kicked her out of camp after lunch telling her she needed a day off and forbidding her to come back until the sun started to set. Yang had absolutely no idea why, she didn't need time off, she only spent about ten hours a day training, that wasn't enough to need a day off.

Although she had made great progress, she hadn't completely mastered her flames yet despite her daily efforts, the training fights and the repeated exercises day after day. Worse, she was starting to stagnate again! Now was not the time to train less, she had to keep improving, or she would never unlock the rest of her powers! She could feel it sometimes during fights, a piece of ice or a gust of wind moving inside her and about to come out, but they always disappeared half a second before reaching her fingertips! She had never been so close!

Yang groaned in frustration and kicked a rock, which rolled to the wooden wall of a small house. She was still in the residential part of town, which actually took up the vast majority of the inhabited space, since everyone had to be housed. She had a little trouble understanding why people confined themselves to such a small part of the island, there might be Grimm in the desert, but why not settle in the mountains? It wasn't that far on foot, there were no or few Grimm, and with a bit of effort it wasn't hard to settle in, she had been there for over a month was there. Of course, in her case it was only temporary, she would go back on mission as soon as she had mastered her powers and the tension of Qrow's departure from Ozpin's group had calmed down, but that didn't change the fact that the area was still habitable.

She was also starting to get a little tired of being stuck here, she wasn't made to always live in the same place, she needed to move, to travel. She missed the adrenaline of missions, she liked to vary the adversaries to test her skills, improvise with what she had on hand during infiltrations, the satisfaction of jumping behind someone and breaking their neck, simple, fast, efficient, clean, like pressing an "instant death" button, so satisfying… Training was effective, but it certainly wasn't as entertaining.

Yang finally left the residential area, and arrived at the market in front of the port. The stalls mainly sold food, specifically fruit, vegetables and fish, but there were a few people selling straw hats or handicrafts. Weird, Menagerie was not a tourist area.

Out of curiosity, Yang approached one of the stalls and took a look. On the display were shell jewelry, mostly necklaces and bracelets, a few earrings, and a brooch or two. It was beautiful, it reminded her of all her mother's jewels, she had lots of them, and they were still in her trunk actually.

"It's pretty, isn't it?" the vendor said, a man who must have been the same age as Qrow with scales on his cheeks and neck. Yang didn't answer and took one of the necklaces to observe, it was just a string with a brown cone shell pendant.

"Did you make them?" she asked.

"Yes, they are all handmade." he answered proudly, "My son collects the seashells when he plays on the beach with his friends."

Yang raised an eyebrow, "And that's enough to hold a business?" she asked skeptically, when the vendor laughed.

"Oh, it's not a business." he waved his hand, "I just make this stuff in my spare time, and when I've made enough, I rent a stall like this to sell them, and bring some extra money home. That's what most stalls are for." he explained, gesturing towards the other stalls. So people here… just working for fun? And Rook said she was weird…

It reminded her a little of the few days she had spent in this village with her mother… five years ago? Six? It had been a really long time, but she remembered that trip very well, the two friends she had made there, all the questions she had had about what it meant to be normal, and the argument with her mother…

Yang put the necklace down and walked away from the stall without even saying goodbye to the vendor, and continued on her walk to keep her head occupied. She had money, she might as well spend it, she had nothing else to do today anyway.

With that goal in mind, she was quickly drawn to a steaming squid skewers stall. Hot food in such weather shouldn't appeal to her, yet the smell made her mouth water… She had rarely eaten seafood growing up, she lived in the forest, her meals were usually accompanied by meat.

The skewers stall was hold by an old lady with a fox tail who seemed in a very good mood and was chatting loudly with the saleswoman from the stand next to hers. Since she still hadn't noticed she had a customer, Yang knocked on the counter to get her attention.

The woman finally noticed her and apologized with a big smile that reminded her of Ramy's, "Sorry, sorry. It's so dead today, I didn't expect to have customers right after lunch. You want a skewer, right?"

Yang nodded without a word and handed over the amount shown on the sign. The saleswoman took the money and put a steaming skewer in her hand instead. Did she also hold this stand to make extra money like the man from earlier? Or was it her main job for her?

"Are you open every day?" she finally asked, driven by her curiosity.

"The stand is open yes, but usually my daughter is the one who takes care of it. I own the restaurant by the sea over there." the old lady pointed to a wooden building with a terrace a little away from the port, "It's the only big restaurant on the island so if your parents want a romantic outing they know where go." she added with a wink.

Yang didn't know how to respond to that. She had no parents, but if she said so, the old lady would ask her more questions she didn't want to answer… So she just nodded and left with her grilled squid skewer before the conversation started to drag on. She didn't want to share her life with strangers, she was supposed to keep a low profile, not leave a trace that Ozpin could follow to her… No, she shouldn't worry, Qrow came here every to shop every week and he was much more recognizable than her, yet nothing had happened, they had no police on their heels and no one had been sent after them into the mountains. She had no reason to panic. No reason.

As she munched on her hot skewer, which by the way was delicious, her feet led her to another stall that sold embroidered scarves, perfect to distract her from her worries.

As she approached, Yang wondered how she hadn't noticed this stall earlier, it was so colorful, it had dozens of brightly colored scarves hanging from the roof, green, yellow, orange, red, and purple scarves, all randomly mixed together like a messy rainbow. It reminded her a little of the tent she grew up in, her mother liked to hang decorations from the ceiling like Nevermore feathers or large fabrics she found during raids, while the floor was covered with carpets with traditional Mistralian patterns that must have been worth a small fortune, even their bedding was made of quality sheets that her mother usually took from the houses of the rich… But everything had burned down years ago…

"Can I help you young girl?" Yang was snapped out of her thoughts by the vendor, a very old man with pointy ears that she didn't know what animal they came from.

"No, I'm just watching." she replied, leaning over the scarves spread out in front of her. It was the same kind as the red scarf her mother had in her hair, and which was now at the bottom of her bag. Maybe it was from Menagerie? Someone here who moved to Mistral before their village was attacked?

"Alright, don't hesitate if you see something you like." the vendor smiled at her with his yellow teeth.

Yang didn't answer and looked at the scarves. They were really beautiful, the black and white embroidery was so fine that it looked like it was printed on the fabric, which itself was very light and soft to the touch. It was indeed the same kind as the one at the bottom of her bag, her mother had apparently always had an eye for quality textiles. Maybe she should get one for herself? She didn't dare wear her mother's for fear of damaging it, but nothing prevented her from having one of her own.

But which one? She wasn't very good with colors. Maybe yellow? No, it was too bright, on a mission it would be seen directly. Red? She might get it confused with her mother's, and she didn't want to accidentally damage it. Green? No, that green was also too bright, especially compared to Rook's faded scarf. And orange would make her look like a construction cone. As for the purple… Purple wasn't bad actually. It was a fairly light purple, almost lilac but still brighter than her eyes, and it looked well with her hair, the lower half of which was still dyed. Even though she had used a lot of shampoo…

"I'll take this one." she said, pointing to a hanging purple scarf. The old man smiled and climbed onto a small stool to pick up the scarf, then handed it to Yang. The fabric was so light in her hand that it fluttered with the slightest movement even if there was no wind. The pattern embroidered on it was that of a white stylized tropical flower, and the borders had fringes of mixed white and purple threads. It was beautiful… "Are you the one making them?"

"Yep, all made one by one by hand by me and me alone with local products only." he answered proudly, "Tell me, I've never seen you around here. Did you arrive not long ago?" the vendor asked, leaning on the counter. Yang frowned, why was everyone here asking her so many questions? "Hey hey, calm down kid, I'm not trying to investigate, just to make conversation. No need to look at me like that." he raised his hands with an amused look. Make conversation. She was really dumb sometimes…

"Don't call me 'kid'." Yang replied, putting the scarf back in her pocket. She really hated being called that.

"Okay okay. As you want." the vendor shrugged, then looked Yang up and down, and a small smirk appeared on his face, "So, what type of Faunus are you?"

Yang froze. It was a question she hadn't expected at all, and she had no idea what to answer. If she left without saying anything, it would be suspicious, but if she said she was a human, it would be even worse, it was an island for Faunus after all. What invisible animal trait could she pretend to have? She knew nothing about that! Unless… Unless her transformation into a falcon counted? Did it count? In the end, it was an animal trait that covered her whole body and she was born with it. Did that make her a Faunus? Did she still count as a human? Both of her parents were human. Her mother could also turn into a bird but she wasn't born with that power, unlike Yang. Of all the consequences magic had had on her life, this would certainly be the most bizarre. Not good or bad, just… what?

A loud laugh from the vendor snapped her out of her thoughts, "Yeah, that's what I thought." he said, and Yang turned pale. He knew she was a human. Or at least thought she was a human, she wasn't so sure of the veracity of the information anymore. She expected to have to run before he called the police, but instead his laughter died down and he folded his arms as he leaned against the wooden counter. "Don't worry, I'm not going to throw you out for that, you're just a kid." he asked her gently, "Besides, what kind of example would I set for young humans if I hated them just because of their species? Yes, girl, racism exists both ways."

Yang didn't know what to say. She had never thought about it, in the tribe there had sometimes been small arguments between humans and Faunus, but it was rare and there had always been someone to come and separate them before things got worse, and the camp was big enough to just avoid people you didn't like. Also, since negativity attracted Grimm, it was in everyone's interest not to provoke each other unnecessarily, it was one of the first things her mother told newcomers, if they had things to settle with someone, it was outside, do not bring everyone in your problems.

In the end, the tribe very rarely had problems with racism, the people there were all murderers, thieves, orphans from the streets, escapees from prison, people simply rejected from all the other places they ever went. How could anyone belittle someone for a physical trait when absolutely everyone was already at the bottom of the social ladder? Besides, Ramy, one of the most respected people in the tribe due to his age, was a Faunus, and he was the nicest man Yang had ever met, even the most racist person in the world would change their opinion after talking with him, sitting in front of the fire chopping potatoes.

Yang left the stall and continued to walk around. Menagerie wasn't all that different from her tribe in some ways, it was a safe place for anyone who had nowhere else to go, who was rejected wherever they went and just wanted to be left alone in peace. Too bad there weren't more places like this…

The familiar sound of fluttering wings caught her attention, and when she turned, she saw two toucans on a rooftop staring at her, tilting their heads. Yang smiled and waved at them with her skewer stick. The toucans followed her from rooftop to rooftop for the rest of the day, occasionally nodding their heads yes or no as she looked at the craft stalls. The more the merrier.

The sun was starting to set and the streets were emptying, but Ilia was in no hurry to get home. No one was waiting for her.

She had been living here in Menagarie for a year now. Everything was peaceful, the tropical climate was pleasant, there was enough food for everyone, the seafood was sold at a ridiculously low price, everyone had their own house, no one judged… If only she had been living here with her parents, they could have had simple jobs like florists or carpenters, rather than having to mine Dust all day long for a pittance.

On the one hand, she wanted all Faunus to be able to come here, enjoy the calm and peace that was only offered to them here. But on the other hand, they shouldn't have to come all the way here, to a not even half-habitable island in a corner of the map, to have normal living conditions! As if not being treated like flea-ridden animals was a privilege! And no one was doing anything?!

That was why she joined the White Fang, because nothing would change if all the Faunus just followed the directions they were given and all gathered on the little piece of land that the humans so generously gave them. She understood that not everyone was able to fight, but why was absolutely no one reacting? Even the White Fang had been useless until recently, they had made speeches on TV, boycotted racist stores, organized rallies… For what, thirty years? It had really taken them so long to realize that it didn't do anything? All of this, humans could just ignore, change the channel, keep shopping, bypass the protests. If they wanted things to move, they had to start by moving their butts!

Fortunately, the new leader, Sienna, had quickly taken matters into her own hands, and they were finally starting to see some small changes. Or at least they saw them on TV, because here in Menagerie, nothing had changed, things were still just as peacefu-…

Ilia was cut off from her thoughts when someone bumped her quite hard in passing, almost knocking her down, and without even apologizing. She could understand when it happened in the middle of the day when the streets were crowded, but it was evening and streets were almost empty!

"Hey! You could at least apologize!" she shouted at the person who had shoved her, a girl about her age with very long curly hair, longer than Blake's, blonde from the roots to the chin, then purple all the way down, like a dyeing that wouldn't get off.

The girl looked over her shoulder, and stared at Ilia with a bored and disinterested look, before royally ignoring her and continuing on her way eating a grilled squid skewer. That little-…!

Ilia really wanted to run after her to force her to apologize, but something hit her shoulder, and when she turned her head, she realized with horror that a bird had just pooped on her! Wasting no time, she hurriedly ran home to change, completely forgetting about her encounter with the rude girl.

She had promised Blake to read this book that she had lent her and it was pretty long so she had to get started as soon as possible anyway.

As Yang walked back to their camp, she saw Qrow sitting on a rock drinking while looking at his Scroll. He looked up at her, and a smile appeared on his face the second he saw her.

"So, how was your day around town?" he asked her as he walked with her.

"It was fine. I ate squid skewers and bought myself a scarf." she replied with a shrug, when a noise above them caught her attention, "Oh and I made friends with toucans."

The instant she said that, one of the toucans that had followed her at the market landed on Yang's shoulder, who stroked its neck with her finger. Qrow giggled next to her but didn't comment and continued walking.

As she played with her feathered friend, Yang thought about her conversation with the scarf maker. Did turning into a bird make her a Faunus? Or was she just a human with a power? After all, to someone who didn't know her, it could easily pass for a Semblance. Had Qrow ever asked himself the question? Come to think of it, she didn't know his Semblance, if she didn't know his transformation was magical like her mother's, she would have thought it was that. What was Qrow's Semblance?

Yang opened her mouth to ask, then she spotted Rook at the edge of the tray waving for them to hurry up. The toucan flew away, and the two Branwens quickly climbed the last rocks.

Once at the top, they found Rook and Oceane sitting around the campfire, Oceane was writing something on a notebook, and Rook was finishing putting away her arrows. Everyone was doing their thing, not stepping on each other's toes, but always with someone nearby just in case, in the light of the flames and with the summer sky over their head… Of course that was what she did with Rook most of the time, but it was only the two of them, whereas there were four of them now. It might not be a big difference, but for her it was a lot.

"So, this day in town?" Rook asked, handing her a bowl of soup.

"I became friends with toucans." Yang replied while eating.

The meal went as usual, Rook and Oceane were talking, Qrow intervened from time to time…

Yang had spent the past few years running away from people as much as possible, because being around others scared her, made her suspicious, whereas when she was alone she could clear her head and focus on things that didn't bring back painful or frightening memories. But now that she was part of a group again, she realized how much she had missed the tribal way of life. Not necessarily the raids, although she didn't mind that, but everything else, always having people around her, even without interacting, where everyone does their part and is free to do what they want with the rest of their time, to spend it alone or with others, helping with chores or having a beer with friends, without having to worry about what happens outside the camp. A little corner of peace away from the problems of the world.

Many tribe's members had joined them for this reason, Faunus rejected because of their species, orphans that no one else wanted, criminals hunted by the police, all those who could not find a place anywhere else, if they could do their part to make their little community work, even small things, then the tribe would welcome them with open arms.

But now that there was no tribe anymore, all these people again had nowhere to go, nowhere that would accept them whoever they were or whatever they had done without judging them.

"Everything okay Falcon?" Rook asked her, snapping her out of her thoughts. Yang looked around, and saw that the three adults had already finished their meal, while she had barely eaten half of hers.

"Yes, I was just thinking about stuff." she replied before quickly gobbling down the rest of her soup.

Once the meal was over, Yang went to take refuge in her tent and grabbed her doll, which was waiting for her sitting on her pillow like every day. She untangled its hair by the light of a small lantern, and to change, she tied it in a ponytail with the little ribbon. With only one hand, there weren't many hairstyles she was able to do for it, but she made an effort anyway, this doll had been very important to her mother, and it was already very damaged, with her cracked face and eyes rolling inside its skull, no need to add messy hair.

After combing her doll, she put it next to her bed, and tried to run the comb through her own hair. As always, it was an immediate failure, and she quickly gave up with a sigh. She would ask Qrow to untangle her hair tomorrow.

As she put the comb away in her bag, Rook joined her in the tent and went to sit on her sleeping bag, stretching her arms.

"I don't know for you, but I really needed a day off." she said to start the conversation.

"Yeah. It was cool." Yang admitted, thinking back to the squid skewers and the two toucans that followed her. Rook waited to see if she would elaborate, so Yang pulled out the purple scarf she had bought in the afternoon, "I bought this. I thought it would look good with my hair and eyes."

Rook took the scarf and inspected it carefully, "It's beautiful, and it's really good quality. And you're right, purple looks great on you. Better than orange anyway." she said smiling, then seemed to realize something and frowned, "Didn't Fi's grandma have one like that?" she muttered, staring at the fabric as if it were going to answer her.

Yang shrugged, "Well, Fiona is a Faunus, maybe her grandmother lived here before she went to Mantle?"

Rook shook her head, "No, Atlas is the most racist Kingdow in Remnant while Menagerie is pretty much only for Faunus, no one would make the trip the other way." she stared at the scarf for a moment, before sighing and handing it back, "I'll ask her the next time I see her."

Yang got the scarf back and put it in her bag, "Will you help me put it in my hair? One-handed is a bit tricky."

"Sure, how do you wanna wear it?"

Yang opened her mouth to answer, then hesitated, "I don't know, I haven't thought about it…" Yet she had asked…

Rook smiled at her and slipped into her sleeping bag, "We'll see about that tomorrow then. But you're gonna have to ask your uncle to untangle your hair first, if I do it, it'll take all day."

Yang let out a chuckle as she crawled into her sleeping bag up to her nose clutching her doll. She had asked Rook to comb her hair a few times, but she never managed to do even one streak before she lost her patience and got angry. That must have been why she kept her own hair short.

"Oh and Falcon?"

"Yes?"

"Happy birthday."

"Thanks." she replied, closing her eyes to sleep, before opening them abruptly, "Wait what?!"

Rook didn't answer and blew on the candle in the lantern, plunging the tent into darkness. And Yang was pretty sure her mentor had a big smirk on her face. Bitch…

A faint noise echoed through the tent, waking up Robyn. She looked around quickly alert, but saw nothing but Falcon who was sleeping like a baby in her sleeping bag clutching her doll in the dim moonlight through the roof of the tent. The more Robyn thought about it, the less scary the toy seemed to her, it was just old. And bloody, but that was a detail.

She smiled and gently stroked the girl's tangled hair, careful not to wake her up, it was the middle of the night after all, then focused back on the source of the noise. It was her Scroll vibrating, she'd set an alarm fifteen minutes into her watch, in case Qrow didn't come to wake her up like it happened before, and apparently she had been right.

As she expected, Qrow was still sitting in front of their campfire, alone and silent with a bottle in his hand, any trace of happiness he had had while chatting with Falcon during diner had evaporated.

Robyn sighed and came to sit next to him.

"Were you planning on sleeping here?" she asked playfully trying to lighten the mood. Qrow turned his head towards her as if he hadn't even heard her coming, which was probably the case, then started to stand, when Robyn stopped him with a firm hand on his shoulder. "No no no. I know you need to sleep, but you stay here. I need someone to chat with."

Qrow raised an eyebrow, then sighed and sat back down, staring at the flames again without saying a word.

A tense silence fell over the duo. Until Robyn broke it, like she always did.

"Falcon seems to be doing well here, I've never seen her so cheerful." she began, "Did she show you the scarf she bought? She's starting to find her style and getting into things other than fighting, that's a good thing."

Qrow nodded slightly to say he heard her, but didn't answer. He was like Falcon when she met her, withdrawn, trying to cut himself off from the world. But unlike him, Falcon had shown emotions at the time, even if it was mostly different levels of anger. Qrow just looked… exhausted.

"I talked about the training program with Oceane, she will start making her use the tantôs." she continued as if nothing had happened, "I don't know much about blades, Atlas is more into firearms." She chuckled, "You should have seen my teachers' faces when I told them I wanted a crossbow, a weapon from last century in the kingdom of high technology!"

Still no answer.

"The best thing is that after this, many other students chose other forms of weapons than firearms, my team leader even opted for a fishing pole." she said, holding back a laugh. Hey, in the end, he used it really well! … Sometimes she regretted that they had lost contact, but they clearly had very different visions of their own Kingdom…

Qrow still didn't answer. Seeing that her chatting efforts were going nowhere, Robyn sighed and dropped the funny anecdotes to take a more serious, but not aggressive, tone, "Look, I know it's not easy for you right now." she said quietly, "Your view of the world has been turned upside down, the cause you believed in isn't what you thought, your friends have been brainwashed and you're on your own…" with every fact that she quoted, Qrow lower his head a bit more, until she spoke again, "Believe it or not, but I know exactly how it feels."

This time Qrow looked up at her with curiosity, and Robyn hesitated to continue. Her past was none of his business. Technically Qrow was just Falcon's uncle to her, a fellow Huntsman at best, she had no reason to tell him about her problems unless they affected Falcon, and when he was with her, he was fine.

But she had been in his place, she knew it hurt, even when he didn't show it.

In Mantle she hadn't been one of the poorest, her family had always managed to pay the heating and the rent on time, but it wasn't easy either, she had to save every little coin to stay float until she started to attend Atlas Academy and get paid for her missions. Growing up, she had always told herself that by going to Atlas Academy, she would be able to change things from the inside, that if she could show them that things were bad down there, they would react. That was what the Huntsmen did after all, helping people in need. If they hadn't helped yet, it must have been because they didn't know Mantle needed help, all she had to do was tell them, and everything would be better!

Yeah, she was really naive at seventeen. And unfortunately, she took it pretty hard when she realized how much Atlas did not give a damn about Mantle. When she spoke to her classmates and teachers, they either refused to admit that Mantle needed help, no matter how many evidence she gave them, or they already knew but did nothing anyway. Even those who came from Mantle! Why bother with a stupid little town like Mantle when the great Kingdom of Atlas was welcoming you with open arms? All you had to do was become a good, obedient little soldier with blind faith in those who watched you struggle in the mud all your life doing nothing. And the worst part was that almost everyone accepted!

But it had also helped her realize that if she wanted to change things in Mantle, she would have to do it herself.

At first, she had done missions around the city, many missions, but even if people were grateful to her, she felt that it wasn't enough, that it didn't change anything. So she had to take action, even though she hated it. She had more blood on her hands than any atlasian soldier, and she had done it of her own free will, for money. She had been forced to lower herself to the level of the very people she hated, using abilities she had acquired in order to save lives.

Robyn took a deep breath to keep her composure. She had to admit, she had a lot more anger inside her than she should. She hated Atlas, she was unable to think about it without feeling anything but rage and frustration. And who could blame her? They had never given her the slightest reason not to hate them, quite the contrary.

But she knew she shouldn't. They didn't deserve her wasting her time being mad at them, other people needed her and that was all that mattered. She couldn't change a city that was already rotten at the core, let alone if they treated her like crap when she tried, but she could help Mantle, and she would, no matter the cost. If Atlas didn't do anything at all, then whatever she did would already be more efficient than them, even killing people for money. That was what she needed to focus on. Not the hard years she and all her friends grew up in, not the frustration of not being able to break the teeth of half her class when they needed it badly, not the anger of being looked down on for not giving in to military propaganda, not the blood she had to spill to single-handedly keep afloat an entire city that was supposed to be under the protection of the richest and most advanced Kingdom in the world.

Robyn rubbed her eyes with a sigh. She was still trying to convince Falcon to be more open, maybe she should start by giving a good example. And it wasn't like Qrow could betray her, given his position…

"I was in your place." she said after a moment of silence, "When I graduated from Atlas Academy, everyone expected me to join the army, like everyone else who did as well as I did. Because joining the army is obviously the best career choice, it pays well, it has a lot of perks, it puts you quite high in the social ladder, it's becoming a protector of Atlas, it's to make the right choice. So of course, when I declined to be a normal Huntress and focus on Mantle instead, I disappointed a lot of people. Not everyone, fortunately. But it still hurt. I lost many friends."

Luckily, she had had a few real friends who didn't abandon her, helped her stay sane, move on, and not get swallowed up in her anger. In a way, she had just returned the favor by doing the same thing with Falcon.

"What I mean is, you shouldn't continue to feel bad about the past." she said firmly, as much for Qrow as for herself, "Not when you know there are people who only have you." she nodded towards the tent Falcon was sleeping in. Of course, she didn't have only Qrow, Robyn would be by her side for as long as she needed. But he was her only family, Robyn just stuck along… She didn't know why, but that idea hurt…

Qrow stared at her for a moment without saying anything, and Robyn sighed, rubbing the back of her neck.

"I swear I'm usually better than that at speeches. I must have spent too much time with firecracker, she's rubbing off on me." she muttered.

To her surprise, she heard a chuckle coming from her colleague. A weak, tired chuckle, but a chuckle nonetheless.

Qrow raised the bottle to his lips and slowly took several sips before finally speaking for the first time of the evening, a small smile on the corner of his lips.

"No, you're doing fine." he said softly, staring at the flames with a sad look, "No wonder she loves you so much."

This time it was Robyn who didn't know what to say, she almost didn't expect her speech to work. But Qrow continued before she found her words.

"Thank you for the encouragements. I needed it." he said in a tired voice, "And also… I never thought to say it before, but thank you for taking care of her all this time. I was supposed to be there for her but I didn't even try, so I'm glad she found you."

Robyn didn't answer immediately, surprised by what she had just heard, but calmed down and also turned her gaze towards the campfire with a small smile. "You don't have to thank me for that. I care about her, that's all."

"I know, me too." he said sadly, before continuing, "It didn't stop me from messing up absolutely everything…"

"You had a thousand things to take care of at the same time, it was bound to fall down one day." she reassured him, "You couldn't have known that your friend would be on this mission, just as I couldn't have known that she would recognize the kid, it was just a coincidence that had bad consequences."

"Bad luck."

"Exactly."

There was a long moment of silence, then Qrow took several long sips from his bottle before speaking.

"That's exactly why I say it's my fault. I bring misfortune everywhere I go." he said sadly. Robyn rolled her eyes at his dramatic statement and opened her mouth to respond, but he cut her off, "It's my Semblance."

Another silence. This one, she hadn't expected at all… A Semblance that brings bad luck … It wasn't so hard to believe, after all Clover had the opposite Semblance, but she hadn't expected it to fall on Qrow… But that explained some things, like the tent rope that had snapped as soon as they arrived.

"In the beginning, that was partly why I stayed away from her, but things still turned out badly." Another sip, "It wasn't even my Semblance that got us into this mess. I did it all by myself like a big boy."

Robyn didn't know what to say. She had also had problems because of her Semblance, people were afraid that she would seek out all their secrets and avoided her because of it, but it was nothing compared to something that systematically caused problems for people around her, especially when the situation had gotten so bad that they all had to run away to the other side of the world… Still, she couldn't let him think that it was all his fault, because it wasn't true.

"If it wasn't your Semblance, then it wasn't all on you, there was far too much that you had no control over. Professor Ozpin, for example, it's not your fault that a cult leader who lived thousands of years was smarter than you." she said disdainfully. She had never met Ozpin, but after all she had heard, she didn't have a much better image of him than the rulers of Atlas.

"Smart enough to turn me against my own sister." he said, clenching his fist.

Robyn didn't dare answer immediately, and raised her hands to the fire to warm them. He had explained to her what had happened, their whole team worked for Ozpin, Raven was married to Falcon's father, then one day she left without saying anything, and when Qrow found her in their old tribe, she gave no explanation and blamed Ozpin calling him a liar and manipulator, and no one took her seriously.

"I don't think she blamed you. She trusted you with Falcon after all." she said softly after a moment of silence. It was an enormous sign of trust on the part of a mother to entrust her child to him, that had to mean something.

But Qrow shook his head, "And I left her alone in Mistral while I went on with my life as if nothing happened. She might as well not have sent her to me." he growled, reaching into his pocket to grab his gourd but found nothing there, making him sigh. "Or send her to you directly, you did all the work."

"You seem to forget I never met her." she pointed out. She must have been twelve or thirteen when Falcon was born, on another continent, and she had only arrived in Mistral two years before Raven's death, there was no way they could have met.

"True. But I think you two would have gotten along just fine. You remind me a lot of her." he admitted with a slight smile, arousing Robyn's curiosity.

"How was she?" she asked cautiously, "You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to, but I have to admit it makes me kind of curious to be the only one who didn't know her, and Falcon isn't the most objective person on the matter." After all, she had only known her as a child, looking at her with stars in her eyes.

"No it's okay. You told me about yourself, it's normal if I do the same." he took a photo out of his pocket. Robyn took it and saw four people on it, including Qrow and Raven, along with what she assumed were their teammates, Taiyang and Summer. They looked young, it was probably during their years in Beacon, and on such a clear picture, Falcon's resemblance to her mother was obvious, they had the same shape of face, hair, nose… Her eyes weren't the same red as when the kid activated her Semblance though, it was slightly darker, softer…

But the most disturbing thing was that she also shared a lot of traits with her father, starting with the color of her hair. It made sense, yet Robyn had always put Falcon in the 'orphan' category in her head, even now that she knew that wasn't exactly the case. But now that she saw her two parents side by side, she no longer had any doubts, the little one was the perfect mix between them. The hair color of one and the shape of the other, her mother's face, but with eyes that were more similar to her father's. And to think he didn't even know she existed…

"Don't be fooled by her smile, it was just for the picture. In everyday life, she was a real bitch." Qrow said with a mocking chuckle, surprising Robyn, "She was super condescending to everyone, she always thought she was the boss even if she wasn't, she acted without thinking, hated to be questioned, and if someone she couldn't immediately kick in the ass proved her wrong about something, she would yell at them with words you wouldn't even find in a dictionary and stamp her foot like a kid. Once she even broke the floor." he recounted, holding back a laugh as his eyes shone slightly from the tears that threatened to fall.

"And you say I remind you of her?" Robyn raised an eyebrow with a small, amused smile. He wasn't wrong actually, it sounded pretty much like her, especially the 'act without thinking' part.

"More than you think. I think that's why you piss me off so much." he said, making Robyn chuckle. "She wouldn't hesitate to hit me hard enough to bruise if I made fun of her, and I gotta admit I did that a lot, even knowing what was coming afterward. That's what siblings are for after all." he said with a nostalgic look. "But she was also very protective. One day a guy of the tribe threatened to kill me after I bumped into him, frankly I didn't care, I heard stuff like that every day, bandit tribe and all that, but that didn't stop Raven from breaking his teeth, just in case." he took a few sips and gave a sad little smile, "'Nobody hurts my brother but me,' you see."

"She was pretty violent, wasn't she?" Robyn asked. It explained a lot of Falcon's reactions, beyond her anger issues.

"Given the environment we grew up in, it could've been much worse." he simply shrugged. "Well I say that but… Don't tell the kid, but Raven tended to cry quite easily from the stress. She never let anyone see her, but we slept in the same tent for years. I'm not deaf, I heard her sobbing in her blanket. And I'm pretty sure Tai knows that too. But out of respect for her ego the size of a Nevermore, I never told her I knew." He paused in his story for a moment to take a few more sips.

Falcon apparently took a lot from her mother, even on the bad sides. Looked like neither of them really had time to finish growing up properly.

Qrow looked up at the night sky, "Despite all of that, she was also incredibly loyal." he said firmly, "She had a hard time trusting people, the kind of person who sleeps with a knife under her pillow, but once she got attached to someone, no matter what happened, even if that person betrayed her or hated her, she would remain faithful to them until death." his smile faded and he lowered his head again, "She probably never really trusted Ozpin, she was always the most skeptical of the team about anything he told us, but even after I disowned her for over a decade, she still trusted me enough to entrust me with her daughter. Same with Tai, he remarried only a few months after she left him, and yet she gave his name to the kid and kept wearing her wedding ring." A few more sips. "The only reason I could see her turn against us would be to protect someone she cares about even more."

"Like Falcon." deduced Robyn, without mentioning the part where Qrow confessed that Falcon's real name came from her father's.

"Like her yes." Qrow confirmed, "Although I'm sure if I attacked her tribe she wouldn't hesitate to beat me to death, twin brother or not. She clearly told me she would." he added.

Robyn chuckled as she handed the photo back. Loyal huh…

A quiet silence settled between them, until Qrow tried again to pull out his gourd, only to groan at finding his pocket empty.

"What happened to your gourd?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"It broke when I threw it on Ozpin's desk." he said, taking a sip from his glass bottle, then looked up at her with a smirk, "I was aiming for his head."

Robyn couldn't help laughing. "That's a progress!" she said between laughs, "Oh, that reminds me, I've got something for you."

Without waiting for an answer, she got up and went to grab something from her tent, before quickly returning. She sat down next to Qrow, who seemed quite curious, and handed him a book wrapped in wrapping paper.

"I took this along with Falcon's comics, I thought it would help you. I was planning to give it to you sooner but it slipped my mind, and I wanted to talk a little first."

Qrow took the gift and unwrapped it. The cover said it was the autobiography of a woman he didn't know, so he flipped the book over to read the summary, and his eyes widened when he saw what it was about.

"Even if all those magic and secret war stories are true, you're not the only person on Remnant who was part of a cult. I thought it would help you to see how other people in the same situation have made it through and readjusted to normal life." Robyn explained. In fact, she had read several of those herself when she was at Atlas Academy to make sure she didn't give in to their propaganda, and even after, it had helped her a lot to put things into perspective, to make sure she wasn't just being dramatic and that she hadn't done anything wrong by not joining the military.

Qrow stared at the book with a sad look for a moment, before smiling, "Thanks."

"You're welcome." Robyn hesitated for a moment before speaking, "I know I was kind of a bitch the first time we met, I wasn't exactly happy to work with a Huntsman who could rat me out to the police anytime. I'm not afraid of going to jail, but the money I earn from working goes to people who really need it, and I can't afford to let them down." Kind of like Raven with her tribe. Maybe he was right, they did have a lot in common.

She turned to Qrow, extending her hand to him, with a friendly smile on her face.

"How about we start over? I'm Rook."

Qrow looked at her outstretched hand in amazement, then at the book, and finally took her hand, not squeezing it as hard as he could this time. It was warm.

"Qrow Branwen, nice to meet you."

Tadam!

Finally, the talk between Qrow and Robyn! I waited so long to post it, I wrote that part two chapters ago you know? Qrow is trying to get over Ozpin and everything and be more present for his niece, but for that he needed to vent a bit, about his Semblance, about Raven, how he wasn't physically there for Yang, instead of bottling up everything and pretend he's fine when Yang is around.

I think the similarities between Robyn and Raven could really give some interesting reflections to the characters in the show, especially Qrow, because in the end of V8, when he's at his worst and think his nieces might be dead, he has no Clover, no Raven, no Ozpin, no Winter, no Ironwood, the only person by his side is someone who (should) remind him a lot of the person he grew up with but hates now. That could be the key for a reconciliation with Raven, Qrow complaining about stuff she did and Robyn be like "yeah I did that too, and you still trust me".

And yeah, no Adam this chapter, just a bit of Ilia. Why her? There are two reasons for that. First, as I said, I don't want Yang to already have connections to every character before Beacon, and we already have seen a lot of them. And second… You see, when I started watching RWBY, I didn't know the characters were inspired by fairy tales, or at least not systematically, and when I found out and tried to guess who Yang was inspired from, my first thoughts went directly to Rapunzel, not Goldilocks. Because long glowing blond hair that you mustn't cut or shit goes down. And since this Yang is very different from the original one, why would she have the same fairy tale? As for Ilia, in the Disney movie, who is Rapunzel friend with? That's right! A chameleon!