Technically a February release! Not a great consolation, but it's the best that I can do. Fallen Snow took up a lot of my time this past month along with working to create more art commission that will be shown off very soon once the chapters they would spoil are posted.

I don't really have much to say here in the beginning of the chapter, but I do hope you all enjoy.

On with the story!

If Kura was asked to describe the lobby of the Glass Unicorn in a single word, he could find no other descriptor more fitting than 'gaudy'.

Crystal decorations could be seen on almost every table, from flowers to even small grimm, along with two giant statues of an Ursa and Beowolf that resided on either side of the reception desk. The dark reds of the carpets and wooden furnishings blended with the golds and yellows of the other fixtures into what would normally be a warm and inviting atmosphere; but as he entered the establishment with Rhodes, every eye fell on him and all the quiet conversation from the patrons that lay scattered around the room turned to silence as they walked up to the reception desk.

It was certainly an oppressive atmosphere, but it was far milder than the jeering and open scorn Kura had already dealt with for years. With his head held up confidently, he couldn't help but chuckle under his breath at the prideful sneers of those that observed them, but one out of them all was the most openly hateful; and it came from the woman behind the desk they were walking straight towards. Seeing her adjust the 'We Do Not Serve Faunus' plaque as they neared had Kura fighting down the urge to laugh at what they were about to do.

She leveled out her glare to a professional indifference as they stopped in front of the desk, Kura just behind Rhodes. In a nasally voice, the woman spoke coldly: "Mr. Rhodes, you've returned. With a 'curious' traveling companion as well. I didn't think I would need to remind you that we do not serve their kind in my establishment."

Rhodes' expression dimmed but bounced back as he shot back: "You don't serve humans anymore, Mrs. Glass? With that sign you have here at the desk, that would mean your only available clientele would be grimm; though looking around me the only grimm I see are made of crystal. Unless you mean to tell me everyone I see around down here is a new kind of grimm in disguise. I'd be very concerned if that were true."

His cavalier attitude caught the matron off guard as she processed his words. Her eyes switched between him and Kura a few times before she coughed lightly and asked: "You're claiming that his young man behind you is just like you or me? Those feathers around him would seem to imply differently."

Without missing a beat Rhodes replied: "It's simply a cloak, Ma'am. I've met quite a number of your guests before, this young man's attachment to his cloak isn't any more eccentric than a few people I know that are eavesdropping right now." A few rushed coughs amused Kura as several sets of eyes turned away at Rhodes' statement. "He's the son of a very important man in Mistral that I've been employed to keep safe. You have no objection to having him stay with me, I'm sure. He's a quiet person, I'm certain you'll barely remember he's even here after a week, Mrs. Glass."

The woman appeared hesitant, likely weighing the risks of calling Rhodes out on his bluff, but at his assurance that Kura's presence would be small it seemed to be enough to satisfy her so that she wouldn't cause more of a scene at present. Kura himself was about to follow after Rhodes when his instincts kicked in and his head snapped around behind him and he shot a miniscule jolt of energy through his feathers.

"Ouch!" A young girl's voice cried out in pain with rushed steps retreating from him. As Kura's eyes fell on her with malice he was able to put a few things together instantly.

The blond hair, slime green eyes, and expensive clothing connected her to the matron of the hotel instantly, with another girl of similar appearance except for brighter blond hair done into curls behind her; likely the matron's daughters he assumed. Given how the one clutched her hand to her chest, she was extremely surprised at not having been able to go through with her plan. She stuttered up a storm as she withered under Kura's glare with her eyes begging for rescue from her mother:

"I-I-I was just trying to t-take his cloak for him, I swear!"

The woman looked down at her coldly, but did speak up on her behalf: "My daughter should know better than to sneak up on guests, but I assure you her intentions were harmless. We would more than gladly care for your cloak though, young sir."

Kura raised a brow in an aloof manner as to play his part, answering coldly in return: "No one touches this cloak but me. She's lucky to have only gotten a small jolt from the safety measures that are made into this article. You'd do well to remind your daughter to think things through in the future."

Sending one last glare at the petulant girl, he couldn't help the small satisfaction he received at seeing her turn away ashamed. It seemed he was not the only one as he heard a tiny snort that was quickly stifled, but it was enough for Kura to shift his gaze to the source: a young girl dressed mostly in white, appearing as a maid though she was far too young to have been employed at such a place though traditionally legal means.

While the matron's daughters were maybe only a year younger than him, this girl seemed no more than fourteen; several years too young to be working as a maid in a place like this. Her raven hair was half up, half down, and pulled into a generous ponytail. She was lean, and Kura got a sense that it wasn't because she ate healthily; though what caught his eye most was the single adornment around her neck. A necklace with a crystal that could have passed for a topaz, but he knew better; it was a lightning dust crystal. It complemented her amber eyes, so most would have mistaken it for a piece of jewelry, however the implication of it being around her neck did not sit well with Kura.

Her eyes met his for a brief moment, and when she realized that he was looking towards her she quickly busied herself with dusting a table ornament in hopes to not keep his attention. As to not bring any more attention to himself he looked to follow Rhodes, but when he turned he was met with an odd expression on the huntsman's face before the man turned away and started to walk towards an elevator. Kura spared a brief glance back at the matron, but her attention was now on the young girl he had heard snort at her daughter's pain.

He unfortunately could not be concerned with her as he followed Rhodes into the elevator. Traveling swiftly up to their room, Rhodes ensured Kura entered before he took some cautionary glances from outside then entered himself and closed the door behind him. With their privacy ensured, Kura unfurled his wings and sighed as he collapsed down on one of the two beds in the room. While it wasn't exactly hard to keep his wings folded around himself, it was not the most comfortable to hold for long periods of time.

Rhodes smirked as he shed the bits of armor he no longer needed to wear into a nearby corner. Once he had done so, he sat on the edge of his own bed and spoke up in a surprisingly serious voice: "The hard part is over, but you came close there for a moment. Quick thinking to do whatever you did with your feathers, I assume your semblance is related to that?"

Not bothering to sit up, Kura nodded: "You can think of it like that. It's not something that's easy to explain. On another matter, I feel compelled to ask, what makes you stay here? You've apparently been staying here for years and yet the moment you are seen with me your character was put into doubt. Given my impression of you it doesn't seem like you'd be one to stay around a place like this."

Rhodes hmphed in amusement, "Well I see you also aren't above eavesdropping if you know I've been staying here for years. As for the reason, I believe you took notice of her when we were down in the lobby just now."

"The maid girl?" Kura propped himself up on his elbows and turned to the older man. "What? Is she your illegitimate daughter that you had with the owner?"

His statement received a peel of laughter in return: "Hahaha, given what you must have overheard from my argument with Wave, I can see why you'd come to that conclusion! But no. Her name is Cinder, she's Mrs. Glass' adopted daughter. She's been in this hotel since she was ten years old. If I had to give a guess as to why she was adopted… well, having a daughter assist your business is on paper more legal than child labor."

Kura bristled at the idea of using a child for work, memories of images he had been shown of faunus children working in the SDC dust mines resurfaced at the similarities to this Cinder girl's situation. Falling back to the bed while staring at the ceiling he felt compelled to ask: "And nothing can be done? No authorities that could be informed?"

Rhodes sighed: "I'm sure you're expecting these words, but it's not so simple. This is one of the most influential businesses in Atlas, it serves the highest of the elites and many prominent huntsmen and huntresses. There have even been council members from other kingdoms that have stayed here due to its notoriety. That status comes with many willing to overlook the plight of one little girl."

Having expected as much, Kura kept his voice level as best he could: "And your part in this? How are you helping her?"

"I'd prefer to keep that to myself for the moment." Rhodes answered, though his tone became more lax as he heard a sound from Kura. "Let's leave it there for the moment, I believe I promised you a good meal along with a place to stay."

Kura wanted to press for more, but with a second grumble from his stomach he conceded to let the topic go for the moment. Rhodes gave him a nod of thanks and made an order for a pair of meals to be brought up to them. With nothing more to say, silence filled the room until there was a knock at the door. Rising to get it, Rhodes flashed a look to Kura who wrapped his wings back around himself at the sign.

Seemingly satisfied, Rhodes pulled the door open to reveal the same dark head of hair they had been discussing earlier carrying a tray with two lidded plates. The girl gave a small smile, but it looked slightly strained as she glanced past the huntsman into the room. Having decided to stand where he could see her, amber eyes quickly found Kura's cyan ones as he gazed at her critically. She withered instantly under his stare, and in seeing her shuffle slightly so she was hidden by Rhodes, Kura realized that his expression must have been harsher than he intended as he turned aside and mentally cursed himself.

Rhodes observed the exchange with interest before accepting the tray from Cinder and giving her a smile. He saw her eyes flick back past him a couple times and with a small chuckle he whispered to her: "He's a good kid. Don't stress yourself out about him."

To his surprise she actually whispered back to him: "You won't have time for me now, will you?"

With a pat on the head the huntsman assured her: "Of course I will. Now get going before you get in any more trouble."

At his assurance, she gave a more genuine smile before bowing and briskly walking away to fulfill her plethora of neverending duties. Rhodes watched her go before looking to the railing of the hallway that allowed one to see all the way down to the lobby. He contemplated taking a look to see if the matron had been observing them but decided against it as he knew if she saw him now it would be overly suspicious.

In closing the door he heard Kura speak up sarcastically : "You're doing a fantastic job of making me believe she's not your daughter."

Rhodes brought the tray over to a nearby table: "You're quite the smart ass, t. Though it's not like I can't understand why you say that. She likely does see me as a sort of father figure, seeing as she's lacked one for basically all of her life. She's nearly fifteen, in just a couple years she won't need anyone's permission to do as she pleases."

Being served a plate, Kura's thoughts were preoccupied from responding as the scent of food finally reached him. He gave a glance to Rhodes for a moment, before he just shrugged to himself and began to devour the contents of the heavy plate. Being his first true meal in days his calm mask was thrown away in favor of enjoying what had been provided for him. When he had finished his own, Rhodes handed him the second plate that had been delivered to which Kura only spared a small glance before accepting it and proceeding to consume it as well.

Rhodes just sat on his own bed as he watched Kura sate his hunger: "I'll have to go find work tomorrow, since I won't get paid for the mission I came back from today. Most likely I'll just need to take the most readily available one I can find so as to have some capital on hand to account for you; unless you came with your own bank account."

Setting down an empty plate Kura gave a satisfied sigh before answering: "I used up a large portion of my savings in bribing my way onto that cargo ship. I did it remotely, so those funds are now in the deceased pilot's bank account and will likely go to whatever family he had. What I have left could get me by in Atlas for a month or two, but that was not accounting for a place like this. Here I'd maybe be able to stay a week at best from what I suspect the price is."

Nodding along, Rhodes laid down on his bed: "Well that's better than my worst case scenario. If I find something tomorrow I could be gone for up to a week. So it's encouraging to know you could last if that happened. Assuming you don't grow attached to this lifestyle, it's not going to put me under too much of a bind to keep you here for a month or two. That should give you long enough to learn more about Atlas and give you chances to find something you want to do for yourself. Sound fair to you?"

Kura was actually in mild shock at how the man across from him had basically offered to keep him in such a place for more than a month. Recovering with a shake of his head, he replied: "More than I could have asked, really. You've already done so much."

Rhodes waved off Kura's formal tone: "Don't go soft on me already. I usually stay around here in between missions anyway so I know what my wallet can handle. Just keep your head down, even if you see something. Actually, especially if you see something." He rolled over to make sure he had Kura's eyes to show how serious he was. "You'll see what I mean, and you'll just have to remain a shadow while it happens. The alternative is not something that will be easy to walk away from."

Kura wasn't thrilled with the implications of the man's words, but decided it would be better to just nod along and see exactly what he meant for himself in time. He set the plates back on the tray before he prepared to get some sleep for himself, though while he was in the process Rhodes spoke up once more:

"Oh, and take a shower. The reason Mrs. Glass thought you were a faunus likely wasn't just because of those feathers of yours, you smell like you haven't taken a bath in a week."

Realizing that wasn't far from the truth, the embarrassed heat that rose to Kura's face didn't even allow him to retort before he dashed away into the nearby bathroom.

As the next few days passed by, Kura had a clear understanding of why he was warned to simply keep to the shadows. Cinder's treatment was, if anything, underplayed in how terrible it truly was. The poor girl seemed to be the only reason the hotel still functioned smoothly, doing the dusting, laundry, scrubbing the floors, delivering meals, and a seemingly endless amount of other trivial chores that was simply ridiculous to expect one young girl to accomplish. Likely the only thing she didn't do was cook, as he had the impression that the matron would never allow such 'filthy hands' to be responsible for creating her patrons' meals.

He was disgusted by it all, and more so by how blatant the treatment was shown to be; the matron didn't even bother to hide what had to be the trigger for Cinder's 'necklace'. How she would be tormented by her step-sisters, the spite he felt for them having already been established that first evening he arrived. Yet what he had to hate most of all was the purposely obvious attitudes of anyone who saw and ignored the young girl's plight. Even the faunus that were forced to suffer in the dust mines had sympathizers to attempt to improve things, but in Cinder's respect she was shunned and alone. Even in just the short few days of watching, Kura had already considered just burning the place down more than once.

Rhodes had left on a mission just as he had anticipated and had said he would be back in the morning, but Kura felt like he needed to at least do something for the poor girl. He pitied her, and even if he couldn't do anything physically to aid her, he hoped that maybe he could get to know her and give her someone close to her age that she could at least confide in. Though it'd have to wait until late into the night to prevent any unwanted eyes from following him.

Doing as he was asked and keeping to himself, it was well past midnight when Kura rose from his bed and silently exited his room. Making a careful walk around the floor he was on, he scanned for anyone that might still be awake and lingering in hallways or the lobby. A single round was enough to assure him that he should have no surprises as he jumped the railing for the hallway and glided down to the first floor. With all of the mistreatment that was done in this place, Kura supposed it was only natural that there were no serious measures of security in place such as a reliable camera system to worry about.

He had never seen Cinder enter the matron's quarters besides to do a chore, so he knew that she was not sleeping with the rest of her supposed 'family'. That left the staff area and storage room, either of which doubtfully had suitable accommodation for someone to sleep peacefully in. In quietly making his way towards the reception desk, Kura was able to pick out an oddly rhythmic sound the closer he came towards the storage room door. It wasn't until he was nearly to the door that he realized what the sound was; wood striking wood.

Carefully maneuvering himself through the entryway, he followed a small hallway as the sounds grew more distinct. Grunts of exertion joined the sound that Kura could only imagine to be Cinder letting out some aggression in the only way she could safely accomplish. He was nearly to the door at the end of the hallway when the sounds suddenly ceased, his eyebrow rising when he heard a familiar male voice:

"Take a break, Cinder. For my sake, if nothing else."

And the missing piece of the puzzle falls into place. Kura thought to himself as he cracked the door as slow as he could. His efforts were rewarded up to opening the door about a third of the way, when suddenly it released a loud drawn out creak. He froze for a moment, cursing the door for ruining his attempt at remaining undetected, before he just sighed and pushed the door open the rest of the way and revealed himself.

The two faces that greeted him were one of guarded anger and the other filled with mild surprise. Having no other context to the situation, Cinder charged forward with what looked to be a pair of training bokken and a battle cry; which was quickly cut short as Rhodes caught her by the scruff of her smock and chided her:

"And there you go letting your emotions decide your actions again. You didn't even try to see if he had something to say before charging blindly in. And a footnote, you're very lucky I stopped you just now."

Struggling against his grip, Cinder argued: "He can't leave! He's seen us! We got to do something or this entire hotel will know that you've been training me to be a huntress!"

Shaking his head, the older man just let her go with a simple sentence to Kura: "Show her what you are."

Sighing at the turn of events, Kura fell into a loose stance and focused on his aura. Cinder jumped at him and brought down the training bokken at his head, expecting to knock him out, but in a blink all she saw was a flurry of feathers.

Kura had opened his wings to divert the twin strike to either side of himself, his aura doing more than enough to tank the blow considering the weapons she had were only wood. The stunned look on Cinder's face told him well enough that she was still trying to understand what had just happened. He grabbed hold of the bokkens, then with a step forward and a twist of his torso, he pulled them from her grip and flipped the handles into his own grasp.

Cinder took a step back as she watched his feathered 'cloak' extend out into two giant wings that could nearly touch either wall to each side. Her gaze found Kura's as it finally dawned on her just what he was, Rhodes walking up behind her and putting a reassuring hand on her head:

"Now do you see why I tried to stop you? You might be close in age but he's much more experienced than you. And as for him telling anyone about our little training session, I think you can see why he wouldn't be too inclined to do so."

She looked back at the huntsman with a questioning gaze: "What's going on here? Who is he?"

With an amused chuckle, Kura cut in: "You know I'm still right here, right? You could just ask me directly."

Cinder shot him an annoyed glare: "Ok then, who are you and why are you here?"

Pulling his wings back in, Kura answered with a small bow: "Kura Rai, and I had snuck down here because I wanted to get to know you. I didn't expect that Rhodes here had made it back yet, let alone about your little training sessions. Though with everything I've heard, I now understand how you're helping her, Rhodes."

Ruffling Cinder's hair slightly, the huntsman stepped forward with a shrug: "I had planned to let you know about it after maybe another week. I just got back from my mission a few hours ago and wanted to make it up to Cinder since I couldn't train her when the two of us arrived back at the beginning of the week. Though seeing you here, it looks like the idea I had planned can be discussed now."

Both Kura and Cinder looked at him with confusion, Cinder asking the immediate question: "What idea are you talking about?"

Walking in between the two, Rhodes put a hand on each of their shoulders: "Why, to have you two be training partners of course! With Kura's age being closer to yours, he is a much more appropriate person to train with than I am. Plus giving you someone new to practice against will give you more of a challenge. Can't have you wearing me out all the time after all."

While Cinder looked unsure, Kura decided to break up the tense atmosphere that had come down between them: "And here I was believing you were this strong, tough huntsman, Rhodes. But you're saying a girl less than half your age can hold her own against you? I guess I really will need to help train her. If I leave it to you then all she'll be prepared for is fighting the elderly."

He heard a soft snort across from him, and Kura was happy to see that Cinder had a smirk on her face. She looked up to Rhodes and added: "Maybe he's right. Will you need a rocking chair to watch from, old man? I'm sure there's one here in storage somewhere."

Raising his hands in faux indignation, Rhodes scoffed: "Now I almost believe you staged that little display when Kura arrived just to make a fool out of me. And here I thought I'd have to do more to convince you to get along, Cinder."

She shrunk in on herself at his words, looking bashfully down at her feet: "I… was just worried you wouldn't have time for me. If he's going to even help train me, I figured I should at least give him a chance." Raising her amber eyes to Kura, she added, "I'm sorry about attacking you. I never even considered you'd be able to fool that… woman, into believing you weren't a faunus."

Flipping the training bokkens in his hands, Kura presented the handles back to Cinder who accepted them with a small nod. Nodding back, he quipped: "The people here are good at ignoring the obvious. So I can't say I'm surprised that old crone couldn't realize what was right in front of her. After all, if I assume you started training within your first year of staying here, you'd have been fooling the blind hag for almost five years now. That speaks for itself in how unobservant she is."

Cinder couldn't help the smile that crossed her lips at his unabashed insults towards her stepmother and the spineless clientele that gave the woman business. To her Kura had just made himself her new best friend, and her first friend altogether at that. That he was a faunus meant nothing to her, and if anything was just another reason to like him if only for how her stepmother would despise such a thing.

In looking at him without a flurry of emotions to cloud her judgement, she could say that he had this strange air of maturity that made her wonder just what he had to have gone through to earn. In fact beyond the maturity, everything else about him felt like it was veiled in mystery; and it intrigued her. She sent a questioning glance to Rhodes, but upon noticing it he seemed to take it as a sign for something else.

Rhodes clapped a hand on their shoulders once before turning towards the door that led back to the lobby and called back to them: "I think we're done with training for now. Kura, you said you wanted to get to know Cinder, so go ahead. Just remember she needs sleep and you need to not get caught back here. You'll get more time to spend together with training, so keep it brief for tonight."

Without another word the door closed behind the huntsman and left two stunned youth to themselves. Kura turned back to Cinder who had started to walk away towards an air grate. He followed out of curiosity and watched as she carefully removed the cover and stashed away the training bokken. Seeing the size of the space, he speculated: "Have your own set of secret tunnels I see. That must be handy at times."

Securing the cover back in place, Cinder turned around and leaned against the wall: "Less than you might think. I can't exactly use it to hide away from everything, not when I still have this cursed thing around my neck." She grabbed the pendant of the necklace with hatred.

With an understanding nod, Kura took a seat nearby: "Because if you took it off she'd just find something worse to do to you; and running away isn't an option with your age. Rhodes had mentioned you were almost fifteen, which would make you a little more than two years younger than me."

Cinder's eyes lit up with interest: "You're seventeen!? W-wha? If you're as skilled as Rhodes says, why aren't you enrolled in one of the huntsman academies?"

Kura just motioned for her to sit down, as she did so with reverent silence he sighed as he tried to organize his thoughts: "I've nothing really against the academies, but I don't belong in one. It doesn't hurt anything to say this much, but until very recently I had been a member of the White Fang. I was basically born into it, raised by very well known figures within it, and trained to fight by those same people. If I was to join one of the academies, I'd likely be one of the best in terms of combat; and that fact is exactly why I don't want any part of it."

There was only confusion on Cinder's face at his explanation: "That doesn't make any sense. Wouldn't it be a good thing if you're the best at combat? Show that you're capable of being a huntsman?"

Smirking to himself, Kura could only chuckle: "I suppose to anyone else I must sound crazy, but let me put it another way. Huntsmen are the protectors of the people, and their primary goal is the destruction of grimm. For me, my training was never designed to be used against grimm, I was trained to be able to fight people. Those that would interfere or undermine the plans of the White Fang. Plus, I'm in Atlas for a reason, and there is no way I could acquire the documentation I'd need to get into the academy located here. That, and the systemic racism towards the faunus doesn't help anything. I'd be an outcast to even my own team if I went here."

Cinder turned more sheepish with each sentence she heard, finally answering with a small voice: "Oh… I suppose I didn't consider it that far. Just because you've kept your wings a secret here, wouldn't mean you'd be able to do it all the time at the academy. That'd be a hell all its own if you did, wouldn't it." She asked rhetorically.

Nodding along Kura replied: "Very much so. Though that is simply one of the reasons I have no intention of becoming a huntsman. There is another that is far more key to that decision, but that one is more difficult to explain; not to mention personal."

He could see Cinder bite back the question in her throat, wondering what he was not telling her, but she kept it to herself and instead asked a much more surprising question: "C-could I touch your wings?"

Blinking owlishly, Kura remained frozen for a moment as he processed her statement. He tried to keep the heat in his cheeks down as he answered: "I know you couldn't have known this, but asking to touch an avian faunus' wings is an extremely bold thing to do. Kinda similar to if I asked if I could feel you up."

Cinder hugged her knees to herself in a flash, face burning in both shame and embarrassment as she wished she could just disappear into the wall. She turned away from him as she buried her head in her knees, muttering out a response: "J-just forget I asked. It was just a stupid thing that popped into my head anyw—!?"

She was cut off as blue-black feathers entered her vision. Raising her head, she found that Kura was suddenly sitting closer with his back to her and his right wing extended out just within reach. With the only lighting in the storage room coming from the broken moon that shone outside, along with the older boy's naturally tan skin, she couldn't easily tell that there was any embarrassment, but the stiffness of his wing told a different story.

Gingerly reaching out, with the slightest brush of her fingertip his wing jolted under her touch. She snatched her hand back worried that she had committed some unspoken taboo, but as Kura remained silent at her actions she grew bold enough to reach out again. Her second touch was stronger than her first, as she placed her whole hand against his plumage and let it stay there for a moment. She felt it move and shift with each breath from Kura, and a soothing heat that radiated from each quill as she carefully moved her hand in a downward stroke; effectively petting the avian faunus.

Continuing for a few moments more, Cinder felt compelled to comment in order to end the heavy silence that had fallen between them: "They're… surprisingly soft. It almost makes me want an actual cloak of feathers like these."

Clearing his throat, Kura managed as level a response as possible: "Thank you for the compliment. I pride myself on keeping them kept—!" His voice hitched higher as he felt Cinder's touch move under the surface of his secondaries.

Quickly removing her hand once more, she swiftly apologized: "Sorry! I'm sorry! I should have realized my fingers would go under your feathers if I moved my hand up!"

Finally retracting his wing, Kura couldn't help but reflexively place his hand over the spot she had touched: "I-it's fine. That area is just sensitive is all, and you caught me by surprise. No harm done."

Standing, he brushed himself off and hurriedly added: "I should get going. Rhodes was right that you'll need sleep. We'll talk again soon."

Cinder wanted to call for him to wait, but her own embarrassment kept her silent as Kura left the storage area that doubled as her quarters. She buried her head in her knees again to muffle the annoyed groan she released as she realized that she must certainly have done something she shouldn't have. Given a few moments, she eventually raised her head and stared at the hand she had brushed through Kura's feathers and whispered to herself:

"My hand feels like it's tingling."

Yonder

AWWWWW! She's so adorable!

WRW

I'd say your reaction is over the top but I'm used to it from you by now.

Yonder

And Kura! He can be shy too! Such great character moments all around!

WRW

Well I hope the readers agree with you.

I had an enjoyable time with this chapter, you really don't get to see much of Cinder in terms of her canon backstory beyond the anger she clung to, so I strove to give a bit more to her for personality. Make her a bit more human if you will, a trait that seems to be forgotten about at times in the canon.

Next chapter will coming before Fallen Snow's next update, so you can look forward to that. It will be very eventful I can promise you all that, and as always make sure to follow, fav, and comment. It's never not extremely appreciated.

Stay awesome everyone, WRW and Yonder out.