I have my stupid awards ceremony and speech coming up again soon (3rd October) and need to take a week off around it to prepare. I really thought the business would be closed before getting to it, but it appears not ffs.

As such, there will be no updates from Monday 1st to Sunday 6th October. Both to let me get some prep down before, and to have a chance to unwind after it's over. Thankfully this is the last time I'll ever have to do it.

Cover Art: Solace O'Autumn

Chapter 42

Jaune was just finishing up another performance in a local school and putting his guitar away. The quest hadn't given him a success yet, but that probably meant there was more to do; Kuo Kuana had a decent number of schools, and each school had its year groups and classes. The population wasn't massive, but it was far bigger than Ansel, somewhere between a large town and a major city.

As Jaune readied for the usual question and answer session with the kids, he noticed the irritated expression on the teacher's face. He'd assumed it was because of the interruptions he was causing to class at first, but he'd soon realised otherwise.

"Now class, this is a chance for you to ask questions of the human," the teacher explained. "Be polite and raise your hands."

Every single hand went up.

"Jimmy, you may begin."

Jaune braced himself. He'd done this a few times now and had an inkling as to how the questions would go. He could remember a police officer and a doctor visiting his school back home and the excited questions they had asked them. Every child there had seen the pair as heroes (except their own kids, who saw it as horribly embarrassing). This was Kuo Kuana, though. Menagerie. An island the faunus had been forced to.

"Why are faunus enslaved in the human lands?"

The teacher's lips curled just a fraction, but he smoothed it over and turned to Jaune as if to let him handle the question. Jaune cleared his throat. "Jimmy, is it?" The boy nodded. "In truth, faunus aren't enslaved in our lands. Slavery is illegal and has been for hundreds of years. Faunus serve in the military, as huntsmen, as doctors, as police officers—"

"That's not what my dad says!" another child argued. The teacher didn't call them out on interrupting.

"Your father is…" Calling him wrong was a bad idea. Jaune knew how badly that went from the first day doing this. "Your father is probably out of touch with things off the island. A lot of people here have lived on Menagerie their whole lives, so they're telling you what they think happens on the mainland without ever visiting it. I live there. I know for a fact there's no slavery."

"What about the great enemy?"

Jaune blinked. It was the first time he'd heard the phrase. "The Grimm?"

"No. The SDC."

"Oh, you mean the Schnee Dust Company. I mean, I've heard they do take on faunus with terribly low wages, but I also know they take on humans with the same low wages. They're exploitative towards everyone."

He said a silent apology to Weiss, Winter and Whitley for that one. Not that any of those three had any say in the matter. It was cold, hard business decisions made by Jacques. And, realistically speaking, if Jacques hadn't made those decisions then someone else would have done so, pushed the SDC out the market, and replaced them. It wasn't as if they were the first and only company to pay desperate people bad wages.

Jacques didn't have the monopoly on greed.

"But my father says the humans make laws to allow faunus to be treat poorly," said a girl. "And my father visits the mainland all the time on peacekeeping missions."

"Peacekeeping?" Jaune asked. "What does he do?"

"He's a part of the White—"

"Cynthia!" the teacher said, smoothly stepping in. "I believe you've asked your question. It's time for our guest to answer it."

"Right." Jaune sat back, wondering how to field the question of the child's dad being a terrorist. Probably not be saying that in an island-city run by them. "Well, I'm not aware of any such laws – and laws differ from kingdom to kingdom. I'm from Vale and I can tell you right now it's illegal to discriminate on species or race. The same goes for Mistral and Vacuo. You'd have to ask someone else about Atlas. Any other questions?"

Thankfully, there were some normal questions mixed in. Asking about places he'd been to and what the cities were like. Jaune was happy to wax poetic and answer some further questions about the cultures and food. The kids were curious about places they'd never seen, even if most of them didn't have much interest in visiting them.

There was a palpable sense of fear Jaune had noticed over the last few days doing this. When they asked about the other kingdoms and Jaune asked in turn whether they wanted to visit them, the whole class would wildly shake their heads and lean back as if he'd asked if they wanted to see the puppies he had in his conspicuous van with tinted windows. He might as well have asked them if they wanted to have their teeth pulled out. No matter their curiosity, these kids were growing up afraid of the world outside Menagerie, believing it a cruel and violent place looking for any excuse to abduct them.

The questions wrapped up after about half an hour when the bell rang for lunch. Before they left, the teacher had them thank him for his time and they all did so at the same time, a chorus of raised voices. Jaune smiled and told them to study hard before picking up his new guitar case and heading to the door, ignoring the smug teacher.

It was the same day in and day out. Faunus would give him sidelong glances and avoid him, or occasionally offer a terse nod at best. Then there were the ones in grey and black uniforms he'd come to realise were active White Fang, who would stare at him if he looked their way, forcing him to break eye contact first. They didn't try anything and had even pushed back a drunken faunus who quite clearly wanted to cause trouble with him. Jaune supposed he should be grateful.

"Jaune!" Kali waved at him and came over from where she'd conveniently been doing some shopping. He wasn't fooled, but he was grateful. No one ever tried anything if she or Ghira were with him. "How did it go?"

"Oh, same as usual. These children are so… so… sheltered…"

Kali smiled and lowered her voice. "You mean indoctrinated, dearie. There's no reason to lie to me. Ghira and I are aware of it and we hate it, but there's nothing we can do to stop it."

"Isn't Ghira the chieftain?"

"He's still bound by laws," she said, leading him away and back towards her home. "And the teachers are allowed to have their political views. Parents are allowed to teach children how they wish as well, and as long as the teachers help the children get good grades, and the parents don't complain about what is being taught, there's nothing Ghira or I can do to intervene."

"And the parents are probably White Fang as well, right?"

"Hmm. The White Fang aren't seen as terrorists here. They do a lot of good, even I have to admit that." Kali snorted. "It's just that the good they do only happens because it benefits them. Then there are those who live here because they or their parents were forced out their homes. It's difficult to shake those memories of when the humans forced them out."

"I'm sorry about that…"

"Don't apologise." Kali slapped his arm. "If we hold every human responsible for the crimes of the few, we'd have to accept all of us being held for the crimes of the White Fang." She squeezed his arm and offered him a warm, gentle smile. "You're trying. And even if those children aren't convinced, they might ask their parents a few more questions than usual tonight. The world won't change in a day—"

Kali cut off and stopped as well, yanking Jaune to a halt. There, ahead of them at the Belladonna home, stood a man Jaune took a long second to recognise. Red hair, horns, and a slimmer White Fang mask over his eyes.

It was the terrorist from the gala.

"Adam," Kali hissed, fingernails digging into Jaune's arm. "What does he want? Is Blake back?" Hope warred with anger, ultimately winning out. "Stay quiet," she told him, and walked them both closer. "Adam!" she greeted, all warm smiles. "What brings you here?"

"Mrs Belladonna," Adam replied, nodding once. "And this is the human, is it?"

"He's a guest of ours."

"It's no business of mine." If anything, Kali seemed surprised by Adam's willingness to wave it off. "I only came to deliver a message to you."

"A message? From Blake?"

"In a manner of speaking. Blake has betrayed the White Fang and abandoned its cause. She parted with me in the Kingdom of Vale. I'm afraid I don't know her whereabouts, but I can confirm she was unharmed when she left me." Adam's voice was sunken, his words empty. It was like a fire had been snuffed out in him. "Sienna has declared her a traitor to the White Fang."

"Oh no." Kali gasped.

But it was a put-on thing. #

Horrifically insincere.

"Oh no," she repeated. "I'm so incredibly disappointed. Can you hear the disappointment in my voice, Adam? Can you feel it?"

Adam sighed, pushing past them to walk away. "I only came to make you aware. Good day to you, Mrs Belladonna."

Kali waited for him to be gone before muttering, "Asshole. Well," she said, letting out a long sigh. "That's a thing. Sorry for the bit of drama, dearie, but this is good news, all told. My daughter has finally seen sense and abandoned this hateful cause. Ooh, I wonder if she'll call soon." Her voice dipped. "I'll have to resist the urge to say I told her all this would happen. That silly girl. She could have avoided so much heartbreak if she'd just listened to us!"

"Aren't you worried about her?"

"Of course I am! But she was in more danger with Adam and his ilk than she will be on her own. Blake can handle Grimm, but the consequences of her own bad decisions?" Kali shook her head sadly. "No amount of strength is enough to deal with those. I just hope she calls us soon to let us know she's okay. I can't wait to hear from her!"

Little did either of them know, but Kali would be waiting a long, long time.

/-/

Ilia Amitola didn't think much of her mission or of the human she was following. Sienna had chosen her and made it clear it wouldn't be a failure if the human figured out that she was his shadow, and yet he hadn't. He was as oblivious as they came. The fact he wasn't trained to fight was painfully clear. Had she wanted to, she could have killed him a hundred times over.

His morning schedule was as predictable as it was boring, too. Wake up in Blake's room, have breakfast with Blake's parents, go play some music at a local park, get chased off by birds landing on and around him, go to a school, play for kids and answer questions, then go back to have lunch with Blake's parents.

The afternoon was more varied, but rarely all that exciting. He was smart enough to know he wasn't wanted in Kuo Kuana, so he didn't roam far form the Belladonna home. That made following him easy, but also painfully dull. Ilia had taken to bringing a book to read – Ninjas of Love – but no matter how much she tried to get into the series, she really couldn't. It was just so dull. Still, she memorised bits of it as much as she could because it was one of the few things she and Blake had in common, and Blake was always happy to talk about the latest one in the series.

Seeing Adam at the Belladonna home was weird, but she was too far to hear what was said – she'd probably find out later from Blake. Instead, she kept watch as they went inside, but then perked up when an old man approached and knocked on the door. He was, if Ilia remembered correctly, a captain of one of the fishing trawlers. Had something happened down at the docks that needed Ghira's attention? Ilia wouldn't normally care, but she was so bored that even trapped fishing lines would be exciting.

Instead, the captain talked and waved and gestured until the human came out to stand next to Kali, and then the captain began making pleading gestures to him of all people. Ilia didn't get what a fisherman had to ask of the only human in Menagerie, but he looked desperate. Kali and the human just looked confused, and talked to one another briefly, before the human shrugged and agreed to follow the captain, leaving the Belladonna home entirely. Ilia followed at a safe distance.

Naturally, they went down to the docks, where Ilia was faced with the very bizarre sight of various fishermen and sailors bowing their heads to the human, and some even going so far as to shake his hand. When he went by, they made strange signs over their chests, and some kissed seashells or other odd trinkets looped around their necks on bits of string. She'd heard it said sailors were superstitious sorts, but this was ridiculous. When the sailor invited the human onto his ship, Ilia knew she had to show herself, if only because Sienna would be furious if the human had been taken out to sea and murdered on her watch.

"Excuse me!" Ilia said, approaching the captain instead of the human. "Sienna Khan has asked me to check the open ocean for any unusual ships," she lied. "I was wondering if I could come on your vessel. I won't get in the way."

The captain stroked his beard. "A girl on our ship? I don't know…"

Ilia's eye twitched. "Are you afraid I have cooties?"

"None of that, lass. I'm a married man and have a daughter of my own. It's just that it's bad luck to take a lass out to sea." He paused then and glanced to the human stood on the prow. "But maybe his presence will balance that out."

Seeing her chance, Ilia asked. "Him? The human? What's so special about him?"

"Well, you didn't hear it from me but…" The captain leaned in to whisper, and Ilia let him. "I hear it from Old Henrick that he's no human, that one. Not really. Just a skin he wears over his true form."

"Oh?" Sienna had to hear this. "And what's his true form?"

"That of a fish!"

Or… maybe Sienna didn't need to hear this at all…

"What…?"

"Or maybe a shark or dolphin," the old man continued. "I hear he came down two nights ago with a huge sack of meat and sharks came from far and wide to feast – they ate from his hand, like feeding dogs, he was. And Old Henrick says it was sharks that brought him to their ship, demanding he take them and threatening to capsize the vessel when they almost refused."

Ilia tried hard not to offend the man by rolling her eyes. "Wow. Sounds crazy."

"It is, lassie, but he's an emissary of the sea as far as we see it – and it's best not to upset the ocean. He is judging us. That's why we want to show him that we do things proper. Traditional methods, sustainable fishing." He proudly banged his fist to his chest. "And we're careful to never tangle a dolphin, shark or whale in our nets." He chuckled. "Not that the latter need any help being cut out, but it's the thought that counts. We respect the sea, we do."

"Uh-huh. Then bringing him on board is… what? Showing off?"

"Well, that and we asked his help. Our catches have been awful of late. Not enough to worry the island," he added, knowing she'd report back to Sienna. "The people will be fed but… well… it's concerning is all."

"Do you suspect Grimm? I can talk to Sienna."

"Aye, that'd be good of you, but we don't know what to suspect. We're hoping he'll have answers for us out there." Finishing off, the captain decided, "You can come on board, lass. Would do us good to have someone from the White Fang here in case things go bad. You can fight, right?"

Ilia touched her whip. "I can deal with Grimm."

"Then welcome abord, lass. And don't take anyone too seriously if they give you trouble. We're a superstitious lot."

He didn't need to say that! Good lord, an emissary from the sea!? Ilia had the feeling she'd be too embarrassed to report any of this to Sienna. At least this was more interesting than reading Ninjas of Love – and it'd make for a funny story to tell Blake later. Ilia smiled at the thought, boarding the ship and staying out the way as the sailors worked to load nets and cast them off.

It was a peaceful ride out of the shallows and, since she was meant to stay out the way, a fairly relaxing one for her. The human had the same deal but had taken to playing music on his guitar to keep the crew happy. Ilia would admit it was good, but she'd also been hearing it for a few days now. His skill wasn't in question, only his intentions – especially now that he was trying to push pro-human propaganda on children.

Once they were in the right place (something only the captain knew from what she could see) the sailors all cast out their nets and then turned to watch the human. Ilia felt a strange sense of glee and also worry – the former at knowing he'd be proven a fraud, and the latter at how she'd have to be the one to calm the crew down. Really, it was their fault for getting stupid ideas and not his, but that wouldn't matter. The humiliated crew would be furious.

And yet the human wasn't worried. He actually looked a little awkward, mumbling to himself as he started to play and, to Ilia's shock, as he started to… not sing per se, but talk out loud. He was quiet, and the crew gave him a healthy distance, but Ilia was curious enough to slink close and listen in.

"Come to the net, come to the net. No, not you, dolphin, I mean the fish. Not you, shark – no, I don't have any meat. I'll bring some to the dock tonight. Yes, that's the shallow area. No, you mustn't go there and eat any children! What are children? Children are the small, two-legged food. Yes, I'm fine. Thank you. Look, just please herd the fish into the nets. And fish, I'm sorry. What am I sorry about? It's… probably best not to ask."

Oh no.

He'd gone insane as well.

How the hell was she meant to explain to Sienna that she'd let so many people lose their marbles on her watch!? What even happened? Things had been fine an hour ago. Give her back her crappy Ninjas of Love – at least things in there made some small amount of sense. Except for the measurements, because what the fuck was up with those? Ilia was into girls but even she knew there was such a thing as too big! Aaand she was rambling. Panicking. Freaking out. Ilia turned to the crew, ready to calm them down, only to see looks of utter joy on their faces.

"The nets are filling!" cried one. "The fish! God, I could reach down and scoop them out with my bare hands!"

What…?

No way.

Ilia raced to the edge and looked over, and quickly found herself looking down into an ocean of silver scales. There were shoals of fish, this she knew, but she'd never seen a shoal of fish so close to the surface that it practically replaced the water. Like the sailor had said, she could have reached down and cupped her hands and brought it back up with several wriggling fish inside.

The nets were going to burst if this continued.

"Bring the nets up!" the captain roared. "Stop wasting this blessing and get to work! The sea makes it sacrifice so our families can dine well. Respect that or you insult the sea and its denizens!"

Superstitious idiots.

It got them to work, though. Desperate to not look the miracle in the mouth, the sailors raced about and hauled on such catches of fish that even Ilia could tell were ridiculous. The hold was soon filled to the brim and still fish were swarming around the hull of the ship. And a few sharks. That much, Ilia could tell by the fins.

"What the fuck is this?" she whispered.

"It's a sign," whispered a nearby sailor. "The ocean is pleased with us – pleased with us for saving him. He speaks for and with the sea."

Ilia looked back to the human, who was blushing bright red as he put away his guitar. He looked utterly humiliated to be the centre of attention and ducked his head low. Ilia stared, then stared back at the sailor. "You're all bonkers."

"Aye, you think that? Then how do you explain this?" he asked, throwing his hand out to the roiling ocean.

"I can't. I can't explain it." Ilia glared back. "But that still doesn't mean he's some god of the sea! He's a human!"

"He ain't no human, lass. He's a merman, mark my words."

To hell with this mission.

Ilia needed to go spend some time with Blake and regain some sanity.

/-/

"How did your trip go?" asked Kali, very curious about it. It wasn't everyday a sailor came up and asked you to go with them on a fishing trip to act as their good luck charm after all. "Was it successful?"

"Uhhh…"

Jaune glanced back to where the third full net was being hauled off the ship. Kali had come to the docks to wait for them, no doubt worried he was going to be in danger with the crew. Little chance of that now, given the sailors were all cheering, and many were making signs toward him that he was fairly sure were quasi-religious.

It was hard to feel too proud of himself when he'd had to listen to the simplistic fish asking why they were caught in rope, and then listen to them choking and gasping as they suffocated in open air. The dolphins and sharks had understood, seeing the fish as food themselves. It was all a part of the natural food chain.

But there was a reason people didn't eat things that could talk. Fish, they may have been, but they still had minds and voices, even if they barely understood anything about the world around them.

"I think it went well," he said lamely.

"Please, sir!" Another captain approached. "May I ask for your blessing!"

"I'm a little too busy to go out on countless ships." The man paled, as if Jaune had just denied him his future. "But I'm sure you'll fish well as long as you're careful not to harm any dolphins or sharks—"

"No dolphins and sharks!" the hushed whisper spread among the crowd, urgent and strict, and Jaune had the feeling it would become a commandment of some new religion before morning.

I didn't have found a new religion on my bingo card for travelling Remnant…

"I'll make it so!" the captain declared. "I shall jump in myself to cut them loose if needs be!"

The captain of the ship he'd been on quickly accosted him and Kali and forced a basket of fresh fish into their hands – an offering, he said, and Kali accepted it with some small amount of confusion, thanking the man. "It's a shame," she said. "Blake would have loved to have this many fish for dinner."

A girl who had been on the ship with them paused when walking by. Her head swivelled, eyes suddenly wide and alarmed. "Blake?" she asked, pushing forward to stand in front of Kali. "What do you mean Blake would have loved this?" she asked. "Has something happened!?"

"Oh, Ilia." Kali smiled awkwardly. "Not like that – Blake is alive and well. I'm sorry if it sounded otherwise." The girl sagged with relief. "It's just that Adam came to us today and told us that Blake has given up on the White Fang and left. I'm afraid she left him in Vale and didn't come back to Menagerie."

The girl looked stricken. "No… No, you're… you're lying…"

Kali smiled sadly. "I'm afraid I'm not, dear. You can ask Adam. But I'm sure her decision didn't have anything to do with you—" The girl broke and ran off. "Oh dear," said Kali. "That's Ilia," she explained. "The poor girl has been desperately in love with Blake for the longest time. Not that Blake ever noticed. Too lost in Adam's hateful rhetoric to see the people around her sometimes." Kali sighed once more. "I do hope the poor girl doesn't take it too hard."

A terrorist love triangle. He could write a song about that. Jaune couldn't help but feel a little sorry for her despite her joining a band of terrorists. It really looked like the news had hit her hard.

"I think I've seen her around a few times."

"Sienna probably has her watching you." Kali said it so casually that it didn't worry him. "It's obvious she'd have someone do it, and it might as well be her."

"Should I be alarmed?"

"They haven't threatened you so far so I'm sure it's nothing. They're probably just keeping an eye on you. Let's go back and cook up some of this food for Ghira, and then you can tell us all about how you apparently helped them catch this many fish."

"Ugh. I'd rather not."

"Oh, but I insist." Kali giggled. "This sounds like a fun story!"

/-/

It was morning and Jaune was back in the park playing some music to the local birds. The routine was innocent enough that no one questioned it, nor him bringing a bag of seed every morning to feed them with as he played.

But it wasn't entirely for nothing.

"There are no darkstalkers that have been seen," a raven reported, balancing on the back of the wooden bench Jaune was sat on. "None in the sky and none on the land to approach this nest."

Darkstalkers was, he had learned, the bird's term for Grimm. Jaune nodded and brought out a fat and juicy seed. The raven took it. "Thank you," he said. "If you can keep an eye out, I'll honour my deal and keep bringing seeds."

"Good deal! Yes! Good deal!"

The raven flew off with its seed, replaced quickly by a pair of erratic finches.

"Watched-Watched!" they chirped. "You watched! Watcher close!"

That confirmed Kali's suspicions, then. Jaune thanked them and offered them some sunflower seeds as well. The birds were still more aggravating than helpful, and half of them forget to even carry out their tasks, or that they'd agreed to any in the first place, but some didn't.

If he asked twenty birds to keep an eye out for Grimm and let him know if any were coming close, then he only needed one to remember and do it for him. Even if the other nineteen still demanded rewarding, he'd get his information. And with his "On The Run" quest still active, he knew the danger was still out there. Someone involved with the Grimm wanted him, so it only made sense to keep an eye out.

The birds scattered as someone approached. It was the girl from yesterday, the one the finches had warned him about. Ilia – the girl who had liked Kali's daughter. Jaune smiled, acting for all the world like he didn't recognise her. "Good morning! Can I do anything for you?"

Ilia looked awful. Just… awful in every way imaginable. Runny nose, sunken eyes, pallid skin, tired, clothes a messy, hair frizzy, skin clammy. It was like she'd come down with the plague overnight.

"Do… Do you do requests?" she whispered.

"I can do if I know the song."

"Can… Can you play something sad for me…?"

He wanted to ask if she was sure that was a good idea, but he didn't have the stomach for it. Sighing, he tapped the spot next to him and waited for her to sit, then began playing one of the many, many, many breakup songs that had been written. Seriously, it felt like half the songs in existence were either pining for someone who didn't love you or whining about a messy breakup.

Jaune hit the first chorus when the dam broke and the girl burst into tears, latching onto him – a human – and crying her eyes out. Passers-by took one look at the hysterical girl obviously in need of comfort, and quickly averted their eyes and moved on, panicking at the thought that they might have to be the ones to give it.

So much for faunus solidarity.

"There, there," he said, stroking her hair. "There, there."

"WHY!?" she wailed. "WHY SIDE WITH THE FILTHY HUMANS AGAINST US!?"

"T—There, there," Jaune repeated, a little tersely. "I'm human, by the way."

"Why, Blake!? Why?"

Jaune sighed and kept rocking her as she wept, and as the birds initially scared off by her approach came back down to peck at all the seed that had been spilled across the floor when she tackled him. The birds even landed on him and Ilia, picking off loose bits of seed that had spilled on them.

Fucking birds couldn't even read the room.

Next Chapter: 29th September

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