"Ren, why has Shay been hiding whenever he sees me coming near him?"

"Hmmm, Nora I have to imagine that it has something to do with you threating to crush his private parts into mush with Magnhild when he tried to look up your skirt a few weeks ago."

"Oh okay…that's good!"

Ren cursed to himself as he had to stifle a giggle at Nora's satisfaction with herself. He was trying to mediate, but as usual, having his adoptive sister around always made it rather difficult to do that. Not that he minded her antics typically, in fact it was mostly quite the opposite. But she did know how to break him from his tranquil state, which made the whole point of mediation pretty much impossible to achieve.

Realizing he wasn't likely to accomplish much more in his current situation he opened his eyes, to find Nora falling on his lap an annoyed expression crossing her face.

"REEENNN I'm bored!" Nora whined, flailing her arms above her head. "What are we supposed to do until Raven gets back?"

Ren sighed as he scotched back, causing Nora to slide off his lap and onto the carpeted floor. He did have to admit that not having the Bandit Leader, and more importantly her daughter around had made the last two weeks rather dull. Having finished all of their chores and training for the day, they were left simply to wait in Raven's own tent, until Yang and herself returned from their "bonding experience", as Yang had called it, a mission to scout out a potential settlement site for the tribe. Raven was always rather punctual, and had told them before they left to be her tent at this exact time.

"I don't know Nora, what do you want to do until she gets here?"

"Oh lets go bother the Cook!"

Ren rubbed his forehead "I'm not so sure that's a good idea Nora. He did threaten to chop off your fingers when you ate the entire tribe's supply of honey two weeks ago."

"Nah, we're all good. You helped him cook for everyone last week."

"I think that means he only forgives me for letting you stand on my shoulders to get it."

"So that forgiveness doesn't extend to me?"

"Fraid not"

"Rats!"

Ren chuckled as he laid back on his elbows.

"Maybe I can convince him to let me make something for us quickly, before Raven and Yang get here."

Nora's eyes lit up at this, excited at the prospect of Ren promising snacks.

"Ohhhh, whatcha gonna make me?"

"I will see what I can make US, with what he has available. And it will be healthy."

Nora frowned slightly, and before she could complain about Ren's nutritious snacks a voice interrupted her.

"Well that just takes all the fun out of it doesn't it?"

Ren smiled as he recognized the voice of Yang, as the blonde entered the tent, followed close behind by her mother.

"YANG!" Nora cheered, and leapt to her feet, pouncing into the brawler's arms, attempting to squish Yang in her embrace. Yang, not to be outdone, returned the squeeze with equal strength, easily holding Nora up, as the orange haired girl's legs dangled down and the hammer wielder was thrashed around.

Ren got to his feet almost immediately after, giving Raven a respectful bow as she entered.

"Ma'am, how did the mission go?"

Raven returned the bow with an acknowledging nod.

"The new site appears to be acceptable in terms of hunting and foraging, but the closeness to the village of Oniyuri may prove to be a problem. With a large village like that, we can expect an increased huntsmen presence."

Ren nodded as he considered this. True having a village as large as that one nearby did mean that they would have increased payoff for raids, but the threat of huntsmen tracking them down could be too much of a risk to take.

"Hey quit your pondering, and come here Ninja Boy!" Yang yelled, having finally placed Nora down, and opening her arms up.

Ren paused, feeling awkward with Raven looking directly at him. The Bandit leader simply rolled her eyes.

"Ren, you have known my daughter since you were too small to even hold up a sword. I am not going to stab you with mine just for giving Yang a hug."

Ren let out an inaudible breath of relief, as he closed the distance between himself and Yang, and allowed himself to be pulled into a hug, as Yang wrapped her arms around his neck, and he returned the gesture, squeezing her waist lightly. She rested her chin on his shoulder, and Ren wiggled his nose as he got a face full of her golden hair.

They released each other and turned to face their leader, who had taken a seat at her table, a pot of tea in hand, indicating for the rest to sit. Each sat down on one of the three remaining cushions, as Raven poured a cup of tea for each of them.

"When my twin brother and I were your age our parents, the former leaders of this tribe, sent us to Beacon for one very important reason. Civilian forces were little more than a thorn in our side, but Huntsmen on the other hand were a different story. They were the only ones capable of stopping our raids, tracking us down, and destroying our camps. One singular fully trained huntsmen is worth at least ten of our people in regards to combat skill and training. So that's why we were sent to Beacon. To learn how to kill huntsmen, so that the Tribe could thrive and survive in this unforgiving world. Now it's your turn."

Ren frowned nervously "Ma'am you want us to go to Beacon so that we can kill huntsmen?"

Raven gave a cold laugh in response. "Nothing so crass. No, we discovered during our time at Beacon that huntsmen provide an important service. They keep Grimm populations low enough so that the towns can live in peace and grow prosperous, allowing us to take advantage of that prosperity with our raids. They can afford to lose more, so it is less likely that they will take our attacks as seriously, running and hiding instead of standing to fight. Less of that means less violent action is needed on our end. No as I am sure that you are far too aware, without huntsmen, small towns and groups like ours would likely be overrun with Grimm, and cease to exist…"

Ren knew that all too well. He remembered the day that the truth of this world was revealed to him. The fire, the darkness, the screams and chaos of the town, but above all else he remembered that thing, that abomination, one of the most dangerous Grimm on the planet. The nuckelavee. The way it twisted and writhed, the evil emitted from its soulless glare, and above all else, it's call. The sound of pure terror itself. It killed his entire family, and from what he could tell, what was left of Nora's. It was only due to the sudden emergence of his semblance that they survived that night.

It was there that she found them. Among the ruins and corpses the Bandit leader walked, just having recently taken control of the tribe with a swift swing of her sword. The tribe had weak leadership, and Raven remembered the old adage of their group. So for the tribe's sake, she removed that pathetic pigheaded old fool's head from his shoulders. However a truly strong leader must be able to provide for their followers. Which left Raven to search the ruins of this once prosperous town, looking for food and resources the tribe could us. Instead she found two little orphans, and took Ren and Nora under her wing.

Growing up in the Bandit tribe had been tough. Despite being children Raven had started them under training almost immediately, alongside her own daughter Yang. While they weren't given their signature weapons until they were 13, they trained with whatever weapons they could get their hands on and could actually carry at age 8.

They soon realized that was not a problem for Nora, who showed far more physical strength than most adults at age 10, and wielded full sized clubs and maces with little issue, and by age 15 was able to hit harder than anyone in the tribe, save for their leader. Ren on the other hand quickly learned how to move swiftly through almost any environment, using knives and other small blades to land precise strikes on his opponents, and soon figured out he had a particular aptitude for aura control, using it to further enhance his martial arts. Yang served as almost a happy medium between the two, having the brute force to rival Nora and the martial arts talent to match Ren, she focused on two simple principles. The best defense is a good offense, and get in close by any means necessary.

They were trained by Raven mostly, who had little trust in the rest of the tribe, fearing that they would be too soft on the children, or were too bloodthirsty to be allowed within ten feet of them. Well, she had Vernal to help out too, the short haired brunette acting as surrogate big sister to Yang, Nora and Ren. Well big sister was a relative term, as Vernal was a scarier trainer than even Raven, despite only being three years older than Ren and Nora. She took particular pleasure in trying to break Ren, but their tough love paid off, and the trio soon emerged as among the most skilled combatants of the Branwen tribe by their late teens.

This was particularly impressive as they were also the youngest by far, with the rest of the tribe having at least a decade on them. There was once other one, an angry redheaded sword wielding Faunus around Vernal's age, when Ren first arrived. However he disappeared after a few months of training with Raven, as in her own words while he showed much promise as a fighter, his anger and bloodlust, especially his hatred of most humans made him too risky to keep around.

While Raven wasn't exactly the most traditional mother figure, she did have her own ways of showing her love to her children, adoptive or otherwise. When Ren and Nora turned 15 she took them on their first official mission, alongside Yang. They returned to Kuroyuri, and drew out the source of most of Ren and Nora's nightmares, and what lead them to being adopted by the tribe. The monster that stole their childhoods, the nuckelavee.

Raven, at first, left the children to deal with the threat, wanting to see the results of their training. This however went poorly, as Ren nearly lost himself to the rage at seeing the monster who took away his family from him, and the creature was simply too strong. So Raven came in hard and fast, driving the nuckelavee back with unmatched ferocity and viciousness. She could have finished it, but paused and gave the children a chance to recover. From there they worked together, with Raven slicing off the nuckelavee's arms, Yang breaking the horse's legs, and Nora dealing with the head of the horse with a powerful hammer smash. This left Ren to deal with the rest, coldly and calmly separating the horned head of the monster from its boney shoulders, ending the nightmare for good.

Which is what lead them to the final stage of their training, a stage that Raven had been hinting at for many months now. When they had finished with it they were to become fully fledged members of the Brawnwen Tribe, joining the rest of the bandits on any missions or raids that they took. They all leaned in closer, curious at what Ravens plan was. They were well aware of the fact they would be attending Beacon, but to what end they were unsure.

Raven continued "…No going out of our way to kill Huntsmen is at best pointless, and at worst detrimental to our goals. We simply need to stay up to date on what they are up to, so that we as a tribe can better avoid them. I want you to go to Beacon, learn all that you can on how they operate and work, so that we can slip around their operations more seamlessly. It was nearly two decades since one of our own was well acquainted with their methods, so in my eyes it is wise for us to have an update on their activities."

As three of them nodded, indicating understanding the objective of this mission, Raven passed out some documents to each of them, each contained in a small red letter.

"Here is what you will need to pass as students. Fake IDs, transcripts and letters of acceptance for Beacon."

Ren looked down at his own ID, as well as Yang and Nora's. Raven had decided to keep their names as they were, making sense as there was nothing to connect them to the Tribe, with Lie Ren and Nora Valkyrie being written on their ID's, but Yang's last name was changed, from Brawnen to Xiuying. It also said that he attended Pharos Academy, as did Yang and Nora's.

"You three need to remember above all else, never let anyone know your true identity and where you come from. As temping as it may be sometimes to let your teammates and "friends" in, you must remember that at the end of the day these people will do whatever it takes to end our way of life. Believe me even at the best of times they are more trouble than they are worth."

"Is that where you met Dad?" Yang asked tentatively, as Raven narrowed her eyes at this question.

"Yes, Yang that is where I met your father, along with the rest of Team STRQ. They are the very reason I am telling you to be careful. They made me soft, and I let me guard down, and I lost my brother to them as a result. Which brings me to my final warning. Do not trust Ozpin. He might seem like a kind old man, but there are secrets that he has that would make even my skin crawl. He will lie, cheat and do whatever it takes to get what he wants, regardless of who it hurts. Vernal will come to Beacon from Haven in the fall for the Vytal Festival, where she will meet with you so you can discuss what you have learned. Make sure you use the secure channels to report back to me if you find anything of importance. Remember that if anything goes south, I will use my semblance to come get you. Is that clear?"

All three gave a nod, and got to their feet, not needing Raven to tell them to pack their things to get ready to go. Ren returned to his own tent, while Nora and Yang went next door to theirs. Ren, like most of the bandits, had little in the ways of personal belongings, and was able to fit all that he needed in his suitcase. He packed a spare combat outfit, some causal clothes and pajamas, maintenance equipment for stormflower, a wide range of hair products he shared with Yang and some of the few books he had lying around. He also brought his bed roll and pillow, figuring that there'd be a good chance they wouldn't make it to a place they could stay the night in a warm bed.

Ren and Nora both arrived at the edge of the camp at the same time, the distinctive roar of Yang's bike indicating her arrival. She pulled up, with a small trailer attached to the back end of Bumblebee, already containing Yang's luggage stacked haphazardly. Ren sighed as Nora tossed hers on in a similar manner, and he went to put his own on, before tying all their luggage down, safely and securely.

Almost right on cue and without warning, Raven appeared right next to them. Ren wasn't really surprised none of the rest of the camp had come to see them off. With people always coming and going on various raids, hunting trips and other business, regular disappearances and reappearances of tribe members was fairly normal. Plus he suspected that despite how useful the three could be, the rest of the tribe was probably pretty happy to be rid of Yang and Nora's shenanigans, at least for a little bit, and it wasn't as if Ren made a particular effort to get close to many of the bandits. Save for Raven, sometimes Vernal, and obviously Yang and Nora, there were very few Bandits that he actually trusted enough to form a bond with. Regardless he was likely going to miss this place a fair bit, being the closest thing he'd ever found to home.

"You'd best be heading off now, don't want to be driving around here when it gets too dark out." Raven commented casually, waiting for them to be ready to go.

Yang got off her bike, and walked right up to her mother, wrapping her arms around her mother in a tight hug.

"I'll miss you too Mom."

Raven, surprisingly returned the gesture, giving her daughter a squeeze back, before releasing her to get back on her bike. Ren simply gave the Bandit leader another respectful bow.

"Thank you ma'am, for…for everything."

Raven returned the gesture, and a rare warm smile crossed her face. Which almost instantly disappeared, as Nora half picked her up in a gargantuan hug around her waist.

"Oh come here" Nora said as she pushed her face into Raven's chest with the hug. "I'm gonna miss you too, Raven!"

Raven deadpanned, letting out a clear sound of annoyance "Nora, as much as I appreciate this gesture, this is a bandit camp, not a preschool. Now let me down before I smack you upside the head for making me look like a stuffed animal."

Now there was the Raven they all knew.

Sheepishly Nora let her down, backing up quickly to beside Ren, as Raven dusted herself off.

Raven took a breath "I'll need you all to take care of each other. Do your best to remain on the same team post initiation, but if that fails ensure that you maintain a steady communication between each other for the duration of your stay. DO NOT let your guard down."

Yang sensing her mother's stress, took this seriously instead of making a joke about her going soft. "Okay mom, don't worry we will."

Raven nodded stoically before walking back into the camp, never taking a moment to look back.

"Alright, guess we should get going then." Yang suggested, as she positioned herself at the front of the bike, gripping the handlebars tightly.

Ren nodded, mounting the bike behind Yang, before feeling himself being pushed forward suddenly, as Nora jumped on right behind him, pushing him right up against Yang's backside. He felt his cheeks go red immediately, as Yang turned around with a smirk.

"Wow Ren I didn't think you'd be so forward. Make sure to mind yourself back there."

Sweating bullets, Ren focused on regulating his heartrate and breathing, putting all of his focus and concentration into his mediation techniques. His semblance was all about masking emotions, and while what he was feeling wasn't exactly negative, he did want the side effects of that feeling to stay hidden, at least for the time being. Which was rather difficult with Nora continuously pushing him forward, and nattering at him to scooch.

He couldn't really blame her, this bike really wasn't made to hold three people, but unless he wanted to spend the rest of the night being teased by the both of them for basic biology he needed to get control over his feelings fast. Ugh, maybe he could convince Yang to invest in a sidecar in the near future. He positioned himself in a manner that allowed Nora to stay on completely, despite the closeness that it placed him to the driver, and reluctantly wrapped his arms around Yang's waist, being well aware of what awaited him ahead.

With that they were off, Yang driving like a mad woman through the barely kept game trails, Ren hanging on for dear life as he struggled to maintain tranquility, and Nora cheering her heart out at Yang's recklessness. This was going to be a long drive.