Sorry for the delay. I have been on holiday, and my original draft needed rewriting and placing into two chapters.

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Raven led the young woman back to her tent, trying to imagine how Summer or the fictional Tina the Bandit Queen, would talk to the girl. Empathy didn't come naturally to Raven, although she'd worked at it for the last seven years. She instinctively knew what worked with the Tribe, even the newer members. On the other hand, they expected to be bossed around, so it was just a question of judging the best way to make certain they willingly did what she wanted them to do.

First, she'd have to take the mask off. It's a pity, as she liked being able to consider matters without worrying whether anyone could guess what she was thinking, but she needed the woman to relax with her.

She decided that the best bet was to let the young woman (or was the right phrase, young lady?) talk at her. Her look when she said to Raven, "You understand", suggested that she was desperate for someone to talk honestly to. Her bad luck was that Raven was the young woman's best choice in Mistral. At least she knew that Maidens existed and weren't just a fairy story. She could imagine the rest of Team STRQ's reaction to the idea of anyone unburdening themselves to Raven back at Beacon.

Anyway, she would listen to what "Deborah" or "Debbie" said, and that should give her clues to bring the woman onside. Having a Maiden to help deal with the Grimm would be useful, and she could take over some of Raven's training duties.

She saw Vernal waiting for her by the tent and told her to get refreshments, keep guard on Raven's tent, and prevent anyone from interrupting. She could rely on Vernal to focus on keeping the curious away and to assume that Raven's intentions were carnal. If Raven lasted another twenty or thirty years, then Vernal was one of the few possible successors she had in mind. The girl was single-minded and practical and identified with Raven's desire to protect the Tribe by all means at her disposal from Grimm and the Mistral Government.

Vernal rightly construed the request for refreshments as Raven intended, delivered three wine bottles, gathered her sleeping roll from inside the tent, and placed it outside the tent, just far enough away to let Raven feel she had some privacy from Vernal as well as the Tribe. The girl liked being given responsibility and took it seriously. Anyone getting too close would be told to get lost.

Raven opened the first bottle using the feather and heated tongs trick. OTT, and she would revert to the corkscrew later, but, for the moment, being flamboyant and being larger-than-life was the way to go. A bit rough, but with a good heart underneath, was the image she wanted to portray.

She handed the girl a large mug of wine and said, "As I used to say to my teammates, Quaff evermore saith the Raven."

She chinked the mug of the young woman who called herself Deborah, who laughed excessively and took a gulp to steady her nerves. Raven drank from her own mug in response.

"Obviously, I want to know what Headmaster Moriarty is up to and what they said to you in Watanabe, but first, are you really called Deborah? I didn't think that the Travers Network sold that series in Mistral." Well, of course, they didn't. The series had a whole load of supporting characters who were Faunus, including Comrade Rabbit and the trickster Fox, who was portrayed sympathetically and as running rings around pompous humans. They were also played by Faunus actors rather than humans wearing fake ears and tails. There was no way the Mistral networks would have gone for it and the local stations in Argus hadn't existed back then.

The girl blushed with embarrassment and giggled. "One of my aunts has an apartment in Vale and took me there on holiday. I saw an episode on the TV and loved it. She got me the box set of the first two series as a present."

"You had good taste. Team STRQ watched it on weekend mornings." She didn't mention it was usually while recovering from a session in the college bar. A lot of it was filmed in Patch, so Taiyang had got them to watch an episode. They had rather enjoyed the camp silliness and the incorporation of myths, legends and fairy stories and it had become a guilty pleasure. She wasn't certain if it made it less or more funny now that she knew that a lot of the myths and legends they had referred to turned out to be true.

"And your birth name?"

"I'm Emma."

"Do you want to carry on being Debbie?"

"Yes. Emma was the old me before I became the Spring Maiden. Besides, I've already introduced myself to Shady and his squad."

"Makes no odds to me. By the way, the costume's a good replica but a bit impractical in this part of Mistral."

The woman blushed. "Well, I'm wearing the first-season version. It was meant to be a disguise. The headmaster said that the College uniform or my formal clothes would have made it a bit obvious that I was a student huntress or bait."

Raven said, "You've never talked to anyone from North-West Mistral before, have you? Ah, that was the whole point."

"What do you mean?"

"My understanding was that Gwendolyn was a lady of the old school." Raven put on an exaggerated posh aristocratic accent for the last sentence. "I know that isn't how you talk- well, not quite – but Vernal described you as speaking la di dah. I can assure you as soon as you opened your mouth, any member of the tribe would have known you were almost certainly some form of huntress or a spy, perhaps both."

She saw the girl blush again.

"Either way, they would have warned me so that I could plan to deal with you. Just in case you were a huntress, I would have had ten men and women with unlocked aura, all of whom have been trained by me, ready to fire at you as soon as you moved against me. Your aura would have been depleted, and I would have dealt with you quickly. I don't know exactly how powerful Maidens are, but they aren't invulnerable." Cheating really here, but Fria had mentioned that Gwendolyn had been too brave.

"I suspect that Professor Moriarty was not overjoyed when he found you were the new Maiden?"

The girl nodded unhappily, and the fingers of her free hand tapped on her thigh. She also looked surprised, but she had as good as told Raven that already.

"Did he also suggest who, in the event you died, you should choose as the next Maiden?"

The young woman's eyes filled with tears, and she nodded while taking a large swig of wine.

"I think you and I have been set up. I'm not happy about it, and you should be even more pissed off than I am. At least he believes that he has good reason to try to kill me."

A pause, a swig of wine and then, "If you hadn't killed those Grimm for Shady and been so transparently out of your depth as a spy, it might have worked. One way he won, and the other way he didn't lose." The girl looked poleaxed and Raven poured her some more wine. "But it didn't work out, and I'm glad about it. I would have hated for either of us to have done Moriarty's dirty work for him."

The girl was still looking shocked.

"Why don't you tell me your story? It'll help you work out what you think he was up to, and we can see whether we agree afterwards."

She'd led the young woman far enough. She needed to take the rest of the steps herself.

"I'll just ask Vernal to bring us some food. Take the opportunity to decide how best to tell your story" And more wine, but no need to emphasise that. Just in case the woman was merely pretending to be inept, Raven could bet on herself dealing with too much wine better than a young lady from Mistral. Besides, she was certain that she could strike before Emma/Deborah could raise her aura to the max.

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Emma took another gulp of wine. It was surprisingly good and she really should be savouring it, not swigging it. Her father would have been happy to serve this vintage to the CEOs and CFOs of his companies.

Fortunately, the alcohol made it easier to ignore the voices. Besides, they wanted to know more about Raven Branwen, the huntress who had killed so many other hunters and huntresses. The voice of Wendy added, "All of whom were trying to kill her." They'd been impressed that the woman had known Emma was a Maiden and what that meant and yet had chosen to meet her one-on-one.

Even the voices which wanted her to try to kill Raven Branwen said that there was something in her suggestion that the headmaster didn't much care for her. The view was summed by the one who said that Emma had needed six months to understand and feel comfortable with her powers before taking on the woman and her tribe.

She looked around the tent. Most of it was taken up with a table and chairs. There was a fold-up single bed with a sleeping bag on it, which must be Raven's. There was a vacant space, which she assumed was where the young girl usually slept. She was surprised by the bookcase with maps, history and politics books, most of which were hardbacks with bent spines. Whatever the Tribe made out of its banditry, it didn't look like its Chief went in for luxury.

She looked up as Raven returned and reminded herself that this woman was only 11 years older than her. In one hand, she held a plate of rice wrapped in vine leaves, sausage rolls, and cheese, and in the other, an ice bucket with three wine bottles. Well, maybe they would need them. She needed to let off steam.

Raven caught her eye and said, "There is more food to follow. Vernal anticipated that we would need some nibbles. She also knows me too well." She indicated the ice bucket. "The ice is part of the tribute from the village."

A pause, "I hope you aren't vegetarian. I'm afraid that in this part of Mistral, eating meat is a sign that you aren't poor and is believed to be necessary to have the stamina to fight. Having more than my fair share of protein is an obligation of being the Chief – it reassures the Tribe I am up to my responsibilities."

The woman winked at her, and Emma felt happier. No one had just had a laugh with her rather than at her for so long.

"It's not entirely a joke. I became Chief seven years ago, and I was young, female and not a child of the old Chief. I'd also been away from the Tribe for seven years. I became Chief because the Tribe was under threat of extinction. I was the best fighter the Tribe had and the only one who had a plan. That meant I had to lead from the front. Never show fear, never show stress. I had to be seen to eat and drink enough for them to believe that I knew we would overcome our opponents. It was nearly as important as the actual fighting to keep the Tribe together."

It was said in a matter-of-fact manner as though it was obvious. Well, actually, it was. With great power comes great responsibility, and the woman in front of her had taken it for granted she could do so. Emma wasn't certain that she could handle the responsibility of being the Maiden.

So, where did she start her story? Did she start three months ago when Wendy had come back to Haven to die? But to explain why Martina had passed on her responsibilities to Emma, you needed to go back to when the four teams for the Vytal Festival from their year were chosen. Actually, you really needed to go back to the Mistral Regionals a year before that, but that was excessive.

"Three months ago, Gwendolyn Fitzroy came back to Haven because she was dying of something which aura couldn't protect her from any longer. She'd also made her peace with dying."

She remembered the first time she had met Gwendolyn. It had been two days before the term after the Vytal Festival started. She had come back early, determined to ensure that next time, her team qualified and weren't just there as the alternatives or source of substitutes in the first round.

Unfortunately, only Alex from her team came back early. He had agreed to spar with her but, on the way down to the practice hall, said, "Emma, if I were you, I would be careful with Martina this term. Wait for her to reach out to you."

She must have looked surprised, and the young man laughed bitterly. "I know that the two of you went through Mistral Ladies Combat College together and that she was the Queen Bee there, and you were her faithful sidekick. Unfortunately, the Arcettes watched our team fight and decided you were the most competent fighter."

Emma remembered blushing and said, "But I let Martina down. I was meant to keep Amber Arc occupied, but she just leapt over me."

Alex said, "She used a semblance she had sort of hidden until that fight. They also double-teamed you as soon as Amber took out Trevor to prevent you from interfering rather than Martina. You still took out one of them just before Amber finished Martina off."

"But I'm nowhere near as good as Martina."

Alex smiled at her, "You and Martina may think that. Some of the professors pretend that is true."

"I'm just better at defence."

"Martina always wanted you to keep the best fighter on the opposite team engaged while she took out the weakest member of our team, so, of course, you have more practice at defending. Still, I've seen you jab with that staff of yours. Maybe you lack a killer instinct, but I trust the opinion of the best fighter at Haven. Besides, did anyone from the Arcettes ask Martina for training?"

"But Rose uses a quarterstaff as well. Besides, how did you know?"

"She improved a lot between the choosing of teams and the Vytal Festival. I also recognised some of the moves she used. Don't worry, I didn't tell Martina or Trevor, but they aren't entirely stupid."

"Oh."

Alex said, "I know that we have a lot of work to do as a team before the next Vytal Festival, but we have time. I've been teammates with you for two terms and with Trevor for four and a half years. Off the record, both Trevor and Martina have been half-arsing it since they started at Haven. They both thought that they could qualify for Vytal without putting in the hard work and enjoyed clubbing and going out together."

Alex paused, "I'm certain that Trevor will put in the hard graft if Martina agrees. It's just that she's not ready to take that message from you. It's probably best if I work at him to talk Martina around."

"But I've known Martina as long as you've known Trevor."

"I'm not the one who the best fighter at Haven decided was the biggest threat on our team. Trevor can deal with me telling him that he was lazy last year. Do you really think Martina can deal with recognising that you were better at fighting than her last term and was right to say that we needed to practice harder? She knows it, but she'll need this term and the holidays to decide how to deal with it."

Of course, she didn't say all that to Raven Branwen but just said that she and Alex had been discussing how the team could improve when they saw the headmaster, a huntress. Lilian Fortescue, who had been a Vytal Festival quarterfinalist eight and ten years before, and an old lady with a walking stick, a limp and an arm missing. Just behind her was Archie, one of the older and more trusted Faunus servants at Haven, pushing a wheelchair.

Alex stared at the woman and said, "Emma, that's old Gwendolyn Fitzroy. I didn't know she was still going. She's more or less the only old bold hunter around."

"You know her?"

"She was at school with my grandmother. She visited her about three times a year. Frightening woman and a bit of a snob, but honourable and honest. Remnant, I'd better say hello, or Grandmother will have my guts for garters. Do you want me to introduce you?"

"Yes, please"

The old woman had looked at Alex and recognised him. She'd held out her hand for him to kiss. Alex had introduced Emma, who had curtsied.

The woman had asked Emma about her family and had nodded approvingly at the names of her father and mother. The headmaster had then coughed and said that they had to be moving. The old woman sat in the wheelchair and said, "I'd rather watch the students practising. Perhaps you could ask the supervising Professor to sit with me and tell me about them."

Lilian had said, "Headmaster, I can continue the tour when Wendy has seen enough."

The headmaster looked around and saw that Professor Pink and Professor Lionheart were the two in charge today. He said, "I'd rather keep them concentrating on the students overall. I'll call Professor Aqua to accompany you."

A few days later, just after term officially started, the headmaster announced at a Formal Dinner that Lady Gwendolyn Fitzroy was a great huntress from one of the Kingdom's most illustrious families and had chosen to die at her Alma Mater.

The day afterwards, he had called eight women who either led or were prominent members of their teams to a meeting. They were also members of the historic aristocracy of Mistral. All of the women but her team leader, Martina, had fought at the Vytal festival.

Martina had come back from the meeting in an appalling mood. The Headmaster had told Martina to start visiting the old lady in the hospice at Haven for dying hunters and huntresses. Martina couldn't be bothered to and, as Team Leader, had ordered Emma to take her place, telling her she was as much a member of the aristocracy as Martina. Besides, Emma would enjoy it more than Martina and didn't have a social life.

She looked up at Raven then and said, "It wasn't my fault that the Headmaster had not told Martina the real reason he wanted her to visit the old lady."

Raven nodded, "Well, she'd have thought he was insane if he had. More wine?"

Emma held her mug out as she giggled at the thought of the Headmaster telling eight girls the truth about Wendy.

Emma explained to Raven that when she turned up, Gwendolyn hadn't been that surprised that Martina hadn't come herself. She muttered something about Martina being like her grandmother. She remembered Emma from her visit to the training arena and had seemed happy about the substitution. She did say not to mention it to the headmaster.

Besides the arm, the woman had lost half a leg and an eye to Grimm over the years and had a lot of scars which aura hadn't been able to entirely heal. It made Emma think better of the headmaster that he had wanted students to spend time with Gwendolyn. The man had always been a little short with her, and he was rude to the servants. Emma's father had always taught his children to be distant but polite.

Soon, she called Gwendolyn Wendy and talked to her about her hopes and fears. She liked Wendy's insistence on noblesse oblige and the importance of honour to huntresses and real Mistralian aristocrats. The woman acknowledged that not all huntresses and aristocrats lived up to the ideals, but at least the idea was there. She was particularly scathing about the Atlas aristocrats, who thought honour lay in how big their bank balance was and that it was the poor people who owed obligations to them. Emma wasn't certain that this was different from how her parents' generation thought about things, but she wasn't going to contradict Wendy. She was just glad that someone took seriously the things she believed in.

Wendy also approved of Emma giving Rose lessons from Team Ambrosia (AKA the Arcettes) on using a quarterstaff before the Vytal Festival. "Hunters and huntresses owe it to Remnant to ensure that everyone is as good a hunter as possible."

She ended up seeing the woman a few evenings a week as well. She was happy to learn from the old lady's experience. Besides, initially that term, things were tense in the dorm. Alex's warning had been justified, and it seemed for the best that she kept out of Martina's way when she had been drinking. Alex had said that Martina was going through the anger side of reacting to the failure to qualify for Mistral and was trying to blame anyone but herself for the failure. It was true that normally, the morning afterwards, Martina pretended that nothing had been said and tried to go back to how they had been at combat school, but Amber felt it best to let Martina get it out of her system.

After that, it was a mutual therapy session when Wendy filled in for Martina. Wendy talked about Mistral's history and how it had self-destructed by fighting Vale and then treating the Faunus so badly that they rebelled.

Emma admitted that she wanted to fight Grimm for at least ten years after getting her license, that she had no beau, that her father barely tolerated her, and that her mother was distantly kind to her. She was also upset that she doubted that her team would join her in seeking out the poorer areas of Mistral, which could not afford to hire top-rate hunters.

She also admitted to being fearful of taking a person's life. There had been a match at her Combat school when she had jabbed rapidly with her quarterstaff three times in a row and had taken her opponent's aura down to 1%. She knew she held back a little in class and matches because of that.

Wendy had quizzed her on the use of the word person rather than human and, on learning that this was Emma's way of saying that she thought Faunus were persons without saying so directly, had approved. "Of course, the best Faunus aren't as good as the best humans, but their best are better than the average human. Anyway, they need our protection as much as any human."

Most weekends, Lilian visited Wendy. She had been Wendy's companion for four years and admired the old lady. The two women talked about the Grimm they had fought and the places they had stayed. Lilian had just turned thirty and had been on her way to celebrate her birthday with her family when Wendy had her final battle with the Grimm and blamed herself for not being there.

One evening, she, Lilian and another of her classmates, Edith, were talking to Wendy when Lilian recognised the servant serving them dinner from her time at Haven. The Rabbit Faunus had talked respectfully to them all but was clearly embarrassed, especially when Wendy suddenly became alert when she heard that the Faunus originally came from the Badlands of northwest Mistral.

Wendy said that she had been a huntress in that area three months a year until ten years back. She said that while poor, it was beautiful. She'd spent time there with a previous apprentice. Maria Calavera, who she supposed was now dead. Wendy looked at Lilian, "Darling child, you do know that you are my only apprentice who is still living."

"So you keep telling me, Wendy. Don't worry; I've learnt not to be suicidal in doing my duty. Better to run away and be alive to save more lives another day."

Wendy laughed, "Quite right."

She then turned serious and asked the servant, "Do you know how your people are fairing now that there are no hunters or huntresses to protect them?"

The servant looked startled and said, "I haven't heard from them in years. I think no news is good news. If they had been overrun by Grimm, there would have been refugees."

Wendy relaxed, "I suppose that Raven Branwen was a good enough huntress. Still I do worry about the people there. Bandits are better at killing people than Grimm, and she can't be everywhere."

After the servant, Chloe, had left, Wendy turned to look at Lilian, who said, "No. I've fought Raven Branwen once, and that was more than enough. I'll carry on the rota we've been doing for the last few years. Besides, could you imagine the Raven thinking I was after anything but revenge?"

On hearing this, Raven said, "Good fighter on an otherwise mediocre team of Mistral upper-class entitled twits. Qrow and I fought her in the quarterfinals doubles."

Emma remembered the match. It had been over in less than two minutes. Something on her face must have shown.

"I'm not being sarcastic about her. Ranulf was a waste of space and allowed Qrow to ring him out after fifteen seconds. Actually, he started running for the arena wall before Qrow could even swing Harbinger MK 2 at him, although he claimed it was a strategic withdrawal. Taking me and Qrow on by yourself with both of us at full aura levels is not a barrel of laughs. She at least made an effort. Not surprised that she was chosen to be a Maiden's apprentice." Raven filled the mugs again.

Raven continued, "Look, you know that the quarterfinals aren't knockout, but a mini tournament with three matches for each team. Each member of the team has to fight in one match. The best team usually has an easy time because everyone puts up their two weakest people against them. After all, two teams go through to the semi-finals. Everyone knew that Team STRQ was going to win and that me and Qrow had a special delight in humiliating Teams from Mistral. It showed some guts for the best person on a team to take that bullet."

Emma nodded, "I was impressed by Lilian."

A pause. "Doesn't mean that I and Qrow held back, but we didn't go out of our way to make her a laughing stock. We didn't pants her as we did to our Mistral opponents in the first tournament."

Emma remembered Wendy saying, "Fair enough, Lilian. I think that a young hunter without any baggage from the past should be able to talk to her and persuade her to allow at least one hunter or huntress to help protect the people in the Badlands."

Lilian said, "Maybe someone from Vacuo or Vale could have a go, but, after you know what, why should she trust anyone from Haven."

Lilian appeared to recall that she wasn't only speaking to Wendy and didn't finish the sentence.

Wendy gradually became frailer and slept more. On the final day of term, Lilian sent notes to her and Edith and told them when they arrived, "I think this is the last day. She liked you two best and needs people who care for her now."

She, Lilian and Edith had taken turns to hold her hand and sing to her. Finally, at 10 PM, Edith sent them to bed. "I think she just wants to die now but doesn't want either of you there to see it. I almost wish she had died in battle against the Grimm three months ago." The woman was almost in tears. "I know now that she sent me away because she wanted to go out in glory and not risk me losing her life trying to save her. She just didn't know how good she was or that an Argus LGDF bullhead was in the vicinity."

That night, Emma had what she first thought was a very vivid dream. Wendy appeared and said, "I've chosen you as my successor to be the Spring Maiden. I'm not absolutely certain about this, but you have a good heart and believe in the old ways. I didn't expect to live past Lilian's 30th birthday. I did my best not to."

A pause. "It was between you and Edith, and I picked you because Jim Moriarty didn't choose you. I suspect young Jim Moriarty was trying to ensure that the only women I met think the same way he does. You aren't my worst enemy; you're just the least unpleasant young woman I know who is alive, has an aura and is under thirty. I've been pretending for six years that I agreed with his views on the Badlands. I know you don't hate Faunus, but I have left a note for him suggesting the woman I have chosen does."

There was a pause, "If he sends you to the Badlands, bear in mind that a woman who I trust says that a woman she trusts thinks that Raven Branwen is a pragmatic person who will do good when seeming to do evil."

If she'd known it was more than a dream, she'd have paid more attention. She wasn't surprised she was dreaming about Wendy, but when she woke up, she felt very different. There was a sense of power.

She woke up early and found a scroll message from Lilian asking her to meet her in the dining room. When she got there, Lilian hugged her and gave her a sealed letter. Lilian said, "She woke up just before the end and told me to give you this. In three hours' time, I am to give another letter to the headmaster. Whatever is in it, she expected that he will call you to his office after reading it. Well, after the end-of-term ceremony anyway."

A pause, "I don't know what she meant by it, but she told me to tell you that you were not dreaming and that noblesse oblige is a good maxim to live by."

Raven looked at her and said, "We should eat now. You can tell me about the meeting with Headmaster Moriarty afterwards."

Raven popped her head out of the tent and called for Vernal to arrange for dinner to be served.

Afterwards, she popped back in. "While we are waiting, why did Martina send you instead of her? It sounds like Headmaster Moriarty only wanted the scum de la scum to attend on Wendy."

Emma must have given something away in her look as Raven said, "Sorry, old West Mistral joke. Cream and scum traditionally rise to the top, and some people can't tell the difference. Besides, you would hardly expect me to curtsey to the Mistral Elite. Look, I want to understand why you came to Wendy's attention."

Emma laughed. "OK. I sometimes feel the same way, and I'm meant to be part of the cream. Maybe semi-skimmed, though."

She hesitated, "If you want to understand this, I'm going to have to give you some background which is embarrassing and maybe a bit bitchy."

"Go ahead. No one ever accused me of being polite. It may help me understand why Wendy chose you."

"Martina's mother and mine had been at school together and both had been in the top twenty families. She married into a top-five family and my mother into a top-ten family."

She could tell Raven was trying hard to avoid saying who cares anyway. "It was just that as Martina and I were born four months apart, we saw a lot of each other. We went to the same schools, and in particular, when we were twelve, we went to Mistral Ladies Combat College together."

"Did you watch Tina the Bandit Queen together?"

"No. I'd worked out by then that she wouldn't enjoy it."

"Why not? It was great fun."

Emma felt herself blushing, "It was a Vale show."

"Too many Faunus treated as though they had a brain?"

"I just knew it wouldn't appeal to her." But that was only part of it. The main problem was the fear that Martina would think Emma thought of her as Tina.

She explained that as many young girls from posh Mistral families did, they fantasised about fighting in the Vytal Festival.

Martina blamed Emma for the team's failure to be chosen for the Vytal Festival. However, the team was still good enough to be chosen as the alternate team in case one of the other teams had to drop out. Considering only death would make a team drop out, there was no chance of that happening. The other alternates used this as an excuse to party.

Martina used it as an excuse to sulk. In reality, the weakest link on the team was Martina's boyfriend, Trevor. The truth was that Martina had only wanted to qualify as the fourth-best team in their year at Mistral, possibly beat the third-seeded team in their group, have a decent showing against the second seeds and lose honourably to the first seeds (unless they were facing Winter Schnee's team when no one would blame them for losing provided they didn't burst into tears). On what all of them had known before they started at Haven, qualifying should have been a walk in the park. Martina, despite Emma's attempts to say that they shouldn't take things for granted, had ignored her and spent the first term partying.

Everyone knew that Winter Schnee would be the winner at the Vytal Festival. She had entered the Mistral Regionals in the last year before joining Atlas Academy. Her Father had been born in Argus, so she qualified. She could use Dust as though it cost the same as dust, practised ten hours a day and had no sense of humour. It had been horribly easy for her at the Mistral regionals. For the Vytal Festival, everyone knew that Atlas would build a team around her and equip them with the best weapons and armour her father's money could buy. It was very easy to respect Winter but hard to like her.

Martina had faced her in the first round and had been humiliated. She was never the same after that.

Martina had drawled, "Unless you win, competing is enough for the prestige unless you want to work for a living. Who remembers who came in second?" Well, Emma did, but already she was realising that Martina had changed since they had first met at their elite combat school. Well, maybe she had always been like that. Emma just assumed that all the wealthy had a sense of noblesse oblige.

Perhaps if they had more than two terms to prepare, Emma could have brought Alex and Trevor up to scratch and talked Martina into practising more. It might have been enough if they'd realised early in the first term that Team Ambrosia from Ansel, of all places, was a threat and highly motivated by the fact that no one rated their combat school.

The Arcettes (as they were known because their Team leader was self-evidently the woman in charge) had even been devious enough not to show how good they were until they faced the self-styled Fab Four in the final selection matches for the Vytal Festival.

Professor Pink was their mentor, so no one had taken them seriously, even when they had been placed in the top six teams and given funds to hire a coach. Remnant, they'd then chosen their Team Leader's father. No one even bothered to notice that he was the best-paid non-Vytal Festival contestant hunter in Mistral.

She hadn't realised that Martina had been focused on winning it. Emma had just hoped to be a quarter-finalist and see what the fates had in store for her.

Raven laughed. "That sounds healthy. There was this Team from Vacuo in our year, which just knew that they had no hope of winning but just wanted to test themselves." The woman paused. "They were in the quarterfinals, where we had three doubles matches, and Summer decided that was the fight where she and Qrow would fight." The woman smiled to herself.

"Why?"

"Because they were good enough to take seriously, and she could rely on Qrow beating them but not humiliating them." A pause, "I've said that in the doubles round, me and Qrow always fought the Mistral team?"

"Yes."

"Anyway, instead of just deciding that they would lose honourably, they tried to bluff her and Qrow. Total failure, as those two were the best technical fighters on our team. But at least they tried." She paused, "If not as convincingly as Amber Arc with Winter Schnee at the last Vytal Festival."

Emma knew she couldn't hide the expression on her face and decided not to bother. "If either Winter or Amber had not existed, I would not be here now."

The older woman refilled Emma's glass. "Their semi-final fight was really the final. Bet you the authorities fix things up so they meet in the final next time."

Emma said, "Are you trying to ask me why Wendy chose me and not Amber?"

"Not really, from what you've said about Gwendolyn. I did my own research on the blonde. She's not "one of us", is she?" Raven did quote marks with her fingers. "Her Mother was a waitress in Argus and has a full-time job with the Ansel LGDF."

Emma felt herself blush. Just then, Vernal coughed loudly, and the food arrived.

After Vernal and the cooks had left, Raven said, "We'll talk about your meeting with the Headmaster after we've eaten. I think Wendy was right in saying that we could do with some hunter-trained expertise here, and Lilian was right to say that we have a good reason not to trust hunters. I'm minded to let you stay so long as you carry on being honest with me."

/-/

Raven was desperately trying to be fair to the young woman. She told herself that it had been the right call to get the young woman to tell her everything, but she'd had to listen to an awful lot of self-pity. Still, if the woman had the testicular fortitude of, say, Vernal or Shady, they may have been fighting each other earlier that afternoon.

She was amazed that she hadn't told the girl to stop feeling so sorry for herself. Well, knowing that the girl had around 20% of the powers of an immortal being had helped on that point.

She had to tell herself that the rich took having food on the table and warm bedrooms for granted so they could get miserable about inessentials. Frack, Vernal had lost everyone she had ever known in one night and could come up fighting while this girl was upset that her team leader was a rich lazy bitch who had blamed her for the fact that she hadn't been able to carry the leader and her equally lazy boyfriend to the Vytal Festival. Well, Raven knew what she would have done, and it wouldn't have involved crying into her pillow every night. Remnant, when Taiyang and Qrow had got a little too attached to partying, she and Summer had shown them that they were losing their edge.

Raven knew how much easier her life would be if she had the powers this girl had, and she wouldn't be saying woe is me. Maybe she could just about see where the girl was coming from.

Emma had just wanted to qualify as a huntress, do her duty for a decade, find a partner, have children, and lead a good life. She had done a favour for her bitch of a team leader and visited an old crippled huntress dying of her wounds and cancer. As a result, she had been landed with immortal powers. She recalled Ozpin when he was being enigmatic, telling Summer that no good deed goes unpunished.

To be fair (and Raven hated being fair), the girl had a sense of duty, it was just she was terrified of the responsibility and didn't believe she was good enough. She knew she needed someone to train and guide her and wanted it to be Raven. Well, what she wanted was Tina, the Bandit Queen, but Raven was the nearest thing on offer. She'd also tried to tell Raven the stuff she thought was important to Raven before feeling sorry for herself.

If the rest of Team STRQ had been watching, they would have been what Taiyang used to call ROFLOLing. What on Remnant did that stand for? Oh yes, Rolling On the Floor Laughing Out Loud. Even worse, she could imagine Glynda complimenting her on her maturity and patience.

She was definitely going to have to see Summer soon. There was a woman who instinctively understood empathy and didn't have to fake it.

Summer could also probably translate privileged Mistral girl talk into a language that Raven could understand. Of course, she needed to avoid mentioning the girl was a Maiden. Summer was used, however, to Raven asking her how she could be less of a bitch and provided Raven also asked about the children and seemed interested, she would not mind. The point was that both of them could talk about the stuff they couldn't speak to anyone else.

She might be able to give Raven a few clues as to how to deal with the woman besides telling herself to pull herself together, which even Raven saw wasn't going to work. It was just that Raven knew that when she complimented people directly, they always thought she was being sarcastic. The Tribe were happiest when she nodded or said, "Not bad."

Ok, so far, her guesses had been working out; it was just she had an unpleasant feeling that the option of killing the young woman in her sleep was not a sensible option. In some ways, she was glad about it.