A/N: This was intended to be the first part of a much longer chapter. Since I've dropped the ball a bit and things keep getting in the way... here's something for you all. I hope to get the rest up much, much sooner than before.

Also, as a note, two formerly semi-canon omakes have been promoted to canon status and take place between the previous chapter and this one. The omake can be found in the threadmarks or by these links: The Ride & The Riders.

The fire crackled, its light casting dancing shadows across the assembled Cielans. Without even thinking, Blake reached out to them, drawing them in and folding them into her own shadow.

She'd seen how quickly she could burn through it, after all, and she might need it in the future.

Salem settled to a seat next to her, folding her legs underneath her and watching the shadows move around her. "It's always fascinating to watch you do that. How does it work? Are there limits?"

"Of course. I'm limited by distance, obviously, but there's less obvious things that interfere with it."

"Such as?"

Blake idly traced a hand along her shadow as it flickered slightly. "I can't manipulate shadows cast by the Awakened. Something about their souls interferes in my control. If the soul is broken, in that brief moment before it regenerates itself, I can reach out to them, but nothing else."

"Can you always feel the shadows around yourself?"

"The ones I can manipulate? Yeah. It's a difficult sensation to describe. It's like..."

"It's the sensation of knowing where your body is... except your body is also what's around you. I understand." Salem gave her a look before her eyes darted to the others around them, and Blake understood what she was trying to say. The other Cielans don't know I know about dissociation, I suppose. It wouldfeel like that, wouldn't it?

"I had a few questions as well, if you don't mind answering them, Salem."

"Of course. What did you need to know?"

"I mentioned I never interacted much with the other tribes... I was hoping to understand them better. How do they interact with Ciel? And, maybe more basically... Veve said we're heading for a Watchtower. I'm familiar with the word, but she said it like a title of some kind."

Salem looked wistfully towards the horizon. "Ciel and the Wilder Tribes haven't had... the greatest of relationships. In modern times, we rarely interact, but historically... well. There have been a number of conflicts between us. Ciel has held our territory for a very long time, while the Tribes tend to wander and shuffle. When new Tribes moved in, they didn't know anything about us, and they'd often attempt aggressive negotiations. History says that's how the Tribes have often interacted with each other, but I couldn't say whether it's true... either way, there was a great deal of conflict in the past."

"And today?"

Salem shrugged, and Veve's voice cut through the quiet moment. "Today, the Tribes generally respect our borders. Ciel hasn't expanded in a long time, and the Tribes don't move around as often as they did historically. Even if they did, stories of the city have spread far and it's rare for any Wilder to forget what Ciel represents. The Watchtowers are relics from the days of conflict; they were meant to be bases from which we could fight back the Tribes if necessary, or keep an eye on them during times of 'peace.' These days, they mostly keep watch for wandering beasts at the edges of Cielan territory."

So, cold tensions then... sounds familiar. Blake stared into the fire. I wonder what Weiss would have thought of this?

"Blake? Are you all right?" Salem frowned at her, gaze piercing and concern filling her voice.

"Yeah. Just... thinking of Obsidian's other students."

Salem watched her for a long moment. "Would you... would you like to talk about them? You usually avoid the topic..."

Blake leaned her head back, closing her eyes in thought. "...I just miss them. But... I wouldn't mind. I know you're curious."

Salem shifted a bit closer. "Then... what are they like? Are they like you?"

Blake snorted a laugh. "Hardly. In broad strokes, maybe. We all wanted to be stronger; we all wanted to protect others. Beyond that... we were similar in a few ways, but so different in others."

"There were four of you, you said?"

"Yeah. Ruby, Weiss, Yang, and I. Ruby's... younger than the rest of us, and people look down on her for it sometimes. She has this naive, optimistic air around her, and she believes that things turn out for the best. That heroes always make it in time to save the day." Blake's smile turned brittle. "If you don't pay attention to her, you'd think she just doesn't know how the world works... but I've watched her. She knows exactly how bad it can be, but she chooses to believe anyway. She's stronger than anyone gives her credit for."

"She sounds very special to you."

"They all are. They... we operated as a team. The four of us, but also two partnerships. Ruby and Weiss. Yang and I. We... treated each other like sisters."

"Hmm." Salem's eyes were on Blake, but her gaze was distant.

Finally, Blake cleared her throat. "Anyway... Weiss was something else. She'd left behind a wealthy family to learn, and it showed. She had this... arrogance when we first met, like she knew everything there was to know about the world and anyone who disagreed with her was just a fool. We fought a lot, back then. She'd had bad experiences with... Wilders, and she judged me harshly without meaning to." She watched the fire dance, remembering. "It took me a long time to understand her. The arrogance was just a mask. Underneath it, she was... scared. Afraid of not being her best. The arrogance... was her way of forcing herself to be better." She shook her head.

"Did she... Were you friends? After all that?"

Blake's smile was small, but filled with warmth. "...Yeah. We really were." She looked into the flames -

-Weiss stepped back, desperately raising barriers of Dust and Magic. Cinder matched her step for step, brushing her barriers aside with casual magic that crackled and filled the air. BlakeObsidianthey stepped forward, a vague feeling that burned both hot and cold rising possessivelyprotectively in their chest as the shadows twisted inside and dismantled the Maiden's spell before it could touch Weiss-

- and breathed out a sigh.

"And... Yang?"

"She was my partner. She's... like fire. Full of energy, always in motion... warm and giving if you're with her, destructive and wild if you're against her. She wanted to protect us all, stand between us and anything that would threaten us... She hated Obsidian at the beginning, actually."

"What? Why?" Salem's brow creased in a frown.

"She didn't trust her motives. She thought she was manipulating us for something; some unseen goal. She thought the training we went through was pointlessly cruel. Eventually... Well, I don't know if she changed her mind, but she came to understand Obsidian a bit better, and accepted the lessons."

"...The way you speak about them... It's like they're..."

"They're not dead." Blake's voice wavered only slightly. "At least... I don't think they are. There was a battle, and... a lot of magic was thrown around. Things were chaotic, and the backlash separated us. I ended up here. It's why I was investigating the anomaly where Veve found me. I was... hoping to find a way back."

"Do you know where they are? Where were you sent from?"

She shrugged. "I have a vague idea, but no idea how to get there from here. I'm hoping that if magic got me here..."

"It can get you back. That... explains many things." Veve and Salem shared a look. Finally, Salem spoke. "I'll do what I can to help you, Blake. Just tell me what you need."

Blake smiled. "I will."