Conditionally, I am willing.

"Conditionally?" Weiss placed a hand on her hip.

There is some knowledge that could be dangerous, in General Ironwood's possession. Such knowledge will be restrained.

Blake nodded. "That makes sense. So we'll tell Ironwood that -"

No.

She blinked, as the girls turned back to your shell. "But...don't you want to?"

I am willing. However, the decision is not mine. General Ironwood's assistance would be useful, but you were in the process of choosing. Should you agree, my part shall be upheld. Should you not, then we shall continue as before.

For a long moment, the girls simply stared. Then Yang snorted. "That's a pretty wordy way to say 'I vote yes.' Fitting, I guess." Her eyes flicked across the other girls. "So, with the sixth vote I think we're mostly leaning towards yes."

Ruby nodded. "Okay. We'll tell the General, then...I guess we'll have to negotiate. Um, Weiss, would you...?"

"I'll handle that. But...I think it would be best for us all if we held off for a bit." The heiress shook her head. "This has been a trying conversation for all of us, the General included. We'd best take time to consider things before we determine our limits."

After a round of nods, the girls approached the adults. Qrow seemed irritated at something, but smoothed out his features as they approached.

"Have you come to a decision, then?" Ironwood straightened his shoulders, folding his hands behind his back.

Weiss nodded. "We want to work together, although we'll have some concerns and...clarifications to make. Still, I think it would be best to broach the details later."

The general hummed thoughtfully. "I can agree to that. Still, we'd best do it soon - the enemy won't wait for us."

Blake closed her eyes thoughtfully. "That's true. Still...there are some things we need to take care of before we chase them."

As Kali entered her hotel room, something immediately set her on edge. It took a moment for her conscious senses to catch up, her eyes flicking back and forth until they settled on a chair that had moved, been dragged away from the corner where it had been sitting. A dark shape stirred, barely visible even to her enhanced vision, and -

- "Mom?" -

- an impossible voice filling the air around her. She swallowed, her throat tight and heart pounding, as the shape stepped forward out of the shadows and resolved itself into a familiar shape.

For a moment she stood motionless, eyes wide and ears twitching, her yellow eyes locked with an almost identical pair. Then, the moment broke and she rushed across the room, bumping her shin against the bed but not caring even as she stumbled into the arms of her daughter.

"Blake. My baby, my Blake, I thought you were - you ran off and - how did -" her words and thoughts were scattered, impossible to collect or voice between sobbing breaths.

Her daughter simply held her tightly, her own tears gently streaming from her eyes as she smiled. The seconds stretched into minutes, and she was gently guided to sit on the edge of the bed, clinging to her daughter like a lifeline.

Finally, she'd calmed enough to fall silent - or, perhaps, she'd simply emptied herself and all she could do was sit and quietly sniff back her remaining tears. "Blake...what happened? I couldn't - they said you were..."

"They thought I was. There was - a fight, and something went wrong. I ended up...far away. So far that we weren't sure we could make it back."

"We?"

"Obsidian and I. We...we kept each other safe, and thanks to Ruby we found a way to get back."

Kali sniffed once, trying to regain a motherly air. "I see. I have much to thank her for, then."

Blake smiled. "We both do. I...tried to contact you this morning, but I couldn't get ahold of you. I heard you were staying here, so...I thought I'd wait for you."

She nodded. "My Scroll...didn't make it through the chaos." She stared into her daughter's eyes, noticing the slight tightness at their corners, the tension around Blake's mouth, feeling the tightness of her abdomen as they held each other. "Blake...what's happened?"

"What do you mean?"

"Don't give me that. You have that look your father gets when he has bad news and doesn't want to tell me."

For a moment, Blake looked affronted...then she surprised herself as a laugh burst forth. "I don't know if I should be insulted or not. I can't look that bad."

Kali gave her the look.

Her daughter licked her lips. "I...there's a lot of things I can't tell you, mom. For a lot of reasons, some of them good and some of them not so much...but I made a promise to keep it secret, and my word is important to me." She reached into a pocket and withdrew a small data storage chip. Kali raised an eyebrow. "I...there's a message on here, for you and dad. I want you to watch it when you get back home, okay? But...make sure you aren't connected to anything." Her daughter glanced out the window once. "In fact...for now, you should assume anything that might make it to the CCTS has someone listening to it."

Her eyes narrowed. "Blake...what have you managed to get involved in?"

Blake avoided her gaze. "Something important. Something that I have to keep secret."

She softly pulled Blake's chin towards her, forcing her daughter to look into her face. "Blake...does it have to be you?"

Blake swallowed. "...It does. Nobody else can do it."

She took a deep breath. Oh, Blake...when did you grow up so much?

"Tell me everything you can."

Multiple skills and traits have developed.

Blake's Lucid Dreamer: D+ = B – The art of Dreams and their manipulation. At this level, she is exceedingly comfortable in Dreams, traversing them with unnatural ease and capable of affecting changes to them when not resisted. Enhances training in Dreams. Exceeds the abilities of even extraordinary mortals.

Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, and Yang Xiao Long have learned Lucid Dreamer: D+

Penny Polendina has learned Lucid Dreamer: C+ – The art of Dreams and their manipulation. At this level, she navigates the Dream with ease, traversing obstacles and distances in less time than would normally be possible. Above the capabilities of ordinary mortals.

Penny Polendina has learned Soul Magic: D - The ability to deceive one's own soul, and manipulate the world beyond the body. Penny has only recently begun to walk this path, and while capable of using it with great effort and focus she is far from applying it in combat.