Sorry for the gap since the last chapter, but transitional chapters are hard to write, and I had a false start on this one. The next few chapters should be easier to write.

For those of you who have offered to provide art, thank you for the offers. I apologise for not replying individually, but I was thinking about it. On balance, I don't think that there is one image which can convey what I am aiming for, and besides, the thumbnail spaces on this site don't really offer much room for artistic flair.

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Emma had been with the tribe for five days, and tonight, Raven Branwen would answer her questions and discuss the basis on which Emma (AKA Debbie) would be joining the Tribe, assuming she wanted to. Emma had decided to volunteer if she was even halfway convinced by what Raven would say tonight. She believed that she would be helpful here.

She hadn't known what to expect when she met Raven Branwen – well, it was more that she had been unable to form a clear picture of the woman. She also hadn't expected to encounter her on her first day in the Badlands.

Everyone had agreed that the woman was confident, but some said she was arrogant, and others said she was honest. They agreed she was strong and a good fighter – they disagreed on whether she was cruel or simply efficiently ruthless.

The one thing she hadn't even considered was that the woman would want to employ Emma in ways that Wendy, the old maiden, would so readily have approved of. She also hadn't expected the woman to give her time to think about her decision and allow her to watch the tribe in action.

This morning after she had first met the Bandit Queen, Emma had burnt off a lot of aura dealing with the effects of the alcohol from the previous night. She hoped she hadn't embarrassed herself in front of Raven Branwen last night. Shady and Vernal had joined her in Raven's tent for breakfast. Shady had said that Raven was dealing with an issue in one of the villages under the control of the Branwen Protectorate.

She had left a message for Emma (or Debbie, as they called her) that she should start by demonstrating how she used her quarterstaff to members of Shady's squad while Vernal filmed her. Before they started, Shady said, slightly embarrassedly, "The chief asked me to remind you that we practice fighting Grimm, not people."

"That will be fine." She understood why he had mentioned the point. The problem was that the Vytal Festival and the Mistral Regionals were needed to fund the combat schools and Haven. Still, the emphasis on fighting humans distorted the syllabus and how people behaved. It didn't help that the headmaster had spent ten years of his career fighting bandits, although he did emphasise that where there were bandits, Grimm also gathered and that the hunters attached to the MBAD spent a lot of their time dealing with Grimm.

Although participation in the Vytal festival was unpaid, and honour was meant to be the reward and motivation, things were more complicated in practice. For example, Haven paid for weapon upgrades and special training for the six teams in each academy year who were thought to have a chance of participating in the festival. Even for the teams which had wealthy families, this was a real incentive to be good at fighting people.

In addition, teams and performers were now offered money from companies because of their fame. Amber Arc and her team had been shocked by how much money they had been offered for sponsorship deals after the Vytal Festival, especially when the press had blamed her defeat by Winter Schnee in the semi-final round on the disparity of resources between the Team led by the Atlas heiress and the team of plucky outsiders from the unfashionable province of Ansel.

It could easily have been a difficult moment for the team, except for the fact that Amber insisted on sharing the money equally among the team, even when most of the sponsorship deals were really for her alone.

Shady said that the quarterstaff was a popular weapon in the Badlands against the Grimm as it was easy and cheap to make a basic version. It also had a long reach, so even people whose aura had not been unlocked had a chance against smaller Grimm, and those whose aura had been unlocked could last longer before it was drained. Vernal mentioned that it was also good for avoiding having to get at close quarters with people you were fighting. Shady coughed but clearly agreed with her.

Denise later told her that, traditionally, old men and women in the tribe would use "sticks" to walk, then pass them to their children if fighting was needed.

The first training session was appreciated by the Tribe members, although she was conscious of how much better her weapon was than the quarterstaffs in the Tribe. The strengthening of the staff to reduce the risk of being broken by sharper weapons in a fight and the fact that it could also operate as a rifle impressed even Vernal.

When Raven returned from whatever she had been dealing with, she told Emma, "Before you commit to staying with the tribe and before we let you into too many of our secrets it will be good for you to see how we work."

Raven wanted Emma to work with the Tribe's armourers, train the tribe's members, and fight Grimm. In particular, she wanted details of what equipment Emma thought was needed and advice on recent developments in techniques.

Most of the equipment the Tribe used was standard Mistral military issue. Well, some of it was more advanced. The SAM missiles, in particular, were state-of-the-art. Raven was unapologetic about the fact that most of this had been acquired unusually, although she pointed out that many of these were legitimate spoils of war and that in relation to those acquired from smugglers, the smugglers had been the ones breaking the law.

She had explained that in team STRQ, Summer Rose had been the design enthusiast, and Raven had left the details to her. "She'd been designing her own weapons since she was at primary school and making them since her first day at Signal. I hadn't seen even a second-class workshop before I arrived at Beacon. No way was I going to catch up with her, and I had no intention then of coming back and leading the tribe. I know how to maintain my own weapon, but I'm not an expert on other weapons."

Emma had admired team STRQ as a child. The fact that Summer was in charge had bemused most people. She had always been the quietest one. She also was always interviewed wearing sunglasses and a hood.

Nowadays, she could see that the team had been a dream team. All four of them had been good enough to be Vytal Festival semi-finalists, and two had been champions. Actually, Raven had admitted that when they were at Beacon, she and Qrow had been more or less equals, so they had three people on the team who could have been champions.

Well, strictly, Taiyang had been a two-time Vytal Festival winner in the unarmed combat tournament. Usually, this was left to no-hopers for the main tournament, so having someone that good at fighting in it had been unusual.

She had also worked with Shady as he organised the moves. The fact that all the adults had unlocked auras meant that the fighting part of the tribe moved locations regularly, especially when they were encamped near villages or towns. Usually, they moved base every two days while they worked on bringing the Grimm levels down to an acceptable level. A lot of effort went into ensuring that the new location did not result in the Grimm following them through the newly annexed village. They had not moved yesterday, although they had packed up and were ready to make the move later today.

Raven had explained that they had been trying to concentrate the local Grimm, which had not already been dealt with. "I prefer to cull them on a regular basis, but when we take over new territory, we have to get them down to a manageable level quickly and it's best that we act as bait."

"Why are there so many here?"

"As you heard in Watanabe, the Local LGDF did not believe in spending much effort defending a remote Faunus village. Also, for the last month, the villagers knew that we were getting closer. They were understandably anxious about being taken over by a bandit tribe, and some of my predecessors as Chief activities meant that was a fair enough concern. Negative emotions attract Grimm, as do unlocked auras. We spent time scouting the village so that the takeover would be as straightforward as possible."

A pause, "Even so, those alphas you and Shady met when you arrived were not something I was expecting. It may be that a Maiden is even more attractive to Grimm than the usual unlocked aura."

Raven had spent an hour a day with Emma, trying to help her adjust to her new powers. Wendy's voice was grudgingly appreciative of the efforts. On hearing that the elemental powers of lightning, fire, wind, and ice were potentially available to Emma, she devised exercises for Emma to use. However, as they were in an area consisting of a mixture of forest and farmland, she did veto practising calling on fire, and care was taken to avoid damaging crops.

Emma had spent time getting to know the members of Tribe in the Company led by Shady and Denise. Normally, Raven only visited about once a fortnight, so having her based here half of most days for an extended time was unusual and was only happening because of the village being brought under the protection of the Branwen tribe.

Emma was obviously a source of curiosity to them all. It had taken a couple of days for them to get used to her accent. To her relief, they did not seem to mind the fact that the Chief spent so much time with her. It appeared that while they respected the Chief, she was not someone many of them desired to be watched over by. Even Vernal, who was the nearest to be possessive about the Chief, was reassured by the fact that the Chief still took her when she left the village and seemed to respect Debbie's abilities.

It had been brought home to her that her "disguise" had marked her out as eccentric. The green belly shirt and the short brown skirt were something only someone playing at being a peasant would wear. However, Denise did say that a variant of it might be worn to a dance or celebration if a young woman wanted to attract interest from other young adults. She was now alternating between that outfit and a pair of trousers and boots, plus a less revealing top. She was not used to being the object of desire, but it was clear that the young men of the tribe were both attracted to her and scared of her.

It was the more modest outfit she had worn when she had accompanied Denise, who was carrying Margaret, to a meeting. Denise had explained that she and five of the older women in this part of the tribe were meeting with the local matriarchs. Apart from her and Denise, the women from the Tribe attending the meeting were all in their late forties to late 60s and all, but one, were Faunus.

She started to understand why the group was so constituted when they arrived at a farmhouse. The oldest of the Tribal women, Alice, knocked on the door, which was opened by a young, rather harassed-looking Deer Faunus who curtseyed and said, "Welcome, Gramma and the Guild are ready for you." They were led through the best room of the house and out into the garden, where a long table was set out. Ten elderly women, eight Faunus, and two humans were waiting for them.

Denise had explained that in this part of Mistral, it was the practice of the older women of the villages to form informal Guilds. They didn't exactly run the villages, but their sons, grandsons, and husbands rarely ignored their "suggestions." They also ensured that if any overenthusiastic courting couples had children on the way, the two people involved regularised the situation (or at least someone married the expectant mother). This meeting was, therefore, important in integrating the village into the Branwen Protectorate.

To her surprise, Emma realised that something similar happened in her family. As it was, she recognised something of the steel of her paternal grandmother in the Fox Faunus who was at the head of the table. She found herself quietly panicking. Grandmother had always frightened her and had barely tolerated Emma. This was one reason she believed she was not her Father's daughter when the Headmaster had mentioned the rumours.

Alice, who was Shady's mother, took the lead. She introduced the older women first, then Emma as a new potential recruit who was learning about the tribe with a view to joining it. She then identified Denise as her daughter-in-law, who was also the second in command of this part of the Branwen Tribe. The fact that Denise was holding Margaret, her five-year-old daughter, and a rabbit Faunus of almost unbearable cuteness helped break the ice. Most of the old women at the table were happy to fuss over and compliment Margaret.

The young woman who had opened the door to them soon appeared, leading a battalion of similarly aged and subordinate young women who produced a delicious-smelling mixture of meze dishes, including platters of cheese, meats, hummus and salads. They also produced pitchers of cider and beer.

She sat between two Faunus women from the village, and Denise was opposite her. Fortunately, Denise had briefed her on her cover story and said she would intervene if the questions looked like getting into difficult territory. Also, fortunately, she did believe in equal treatment of Faunus and humans, which, combined with her respect for tough old women, meant that she made no mistakes of etiquette. Besides, she was slightly distracted by the large black bird perched on a tree in the garden and seemed to be listening intently.

Emma had already worked out that Raven was likely to ask her about the meeting tonight, and she should listen carefully and understand its purpose for both sides. After twenty minutes of eating, polite chatting, and drinking, Alice volunteered the story of her second son-in-law, Andrew.

Andrew, who Emma had not yet met, was a Badger Faunus and the second son of a small farmer who had been killed by the Grimm just before the Branwen Tribe had brought his village under their protection. He had watched as the Tribe had dealt with the Grimm around the village.

A few days later, another member of the Tribe referred him to Alice. He admitted that he did not get on well with his older brother and didn't enjoy farming much either. He acknowledged that the farm was too small to split between the family's sons and that, with his father dead, he needed a new career.

The Village Matriarchs had nodded at this. Again, Emma realised that similar things happened in her world. The eldest son got the money and the title, and the younger sons (especially the third and fourth ones) knew that they needed to earn a living for themselves. The military, legal and accountancy professions were dominated by younger sons of the wealthy.

Alice continued. "He asked me if he could fight the Grimm with the Tribe's fighters. He wanted revenge for his father, and he wanted to leave his village."

The head matriarch from the Village asked, "So what happened?"

Alice nodded at Denise, who said, "My husband, Shady, interviewed him and sparred with him. He spoke to the Chief, who unlocked his aura and welcomed him to the Branwen Tribe."

This caught the attention of the Matriarchs. "He joined the Tribe?"

Alice said, "Years ago, a previous Chief decided that inbreeding was a problem, so we have always recruited from outside. Well, always took husbands and wives from outside the Tribe. The Chief says that being a member of the Branwen Tribe is more a state of mind than an accident of birth."

It was then she realised that as far as the Branwen Tribe was concerned, there were two reasons for the meeting. The first was making the village more comfortable with the takeover. The second was a recruitment drive.

Over the next two hours, the women of the Tribe talked about the opportunities the Tribe could give to children who were intellectual to become teachers, the chances for second and third sons to seek other careers (in this regard, Denise's brother-in-law Andrew did dual duty as having become the overseer and head of security at one of the Tribe's Dust mines), troublemakers could become respected fighters of Grimm or dust miners, children who were not strong enough for farming but had skills with their hands could train as plumbers and electricians or work in factories.

There was an audible gasp when Alice mentioned that the Tribe had established schools for training 12-18-year-olds to become teachers, craftsmen, or technicians. As the meal progressed, the old women of the village looked both happier and more thoughtful. This was increased when Denise said that the Chief would be happy to allow a representative of the village to travel within the Branwen Protectorate to verify what they were being told was true,

Alison, the Fox Faunus and the chief matriarch of the village, after having ordered her granddaughter-in-law to bring out desserts and more alcohol, said, "Let me be brutally honest. No one has even bothered promising us anything in the past. But there ain't no such thing as a free lunch."

Alice nodded at Denise, who said, "TANSTAAFL. We agree. But we also believe in giving opportunities and value for money. We are better at dealing with the Grimm than the Watanabe LGDF, which will allow you to grow more crops. Our tributes are less than the taxes from Mistral City, although are more difficult to avoid."

The matriarchs laughed at that. One of them said, "Value for money?"

Denise replied, "Raven Branwen wants it that way. She hates waste and inefficiency. Besides, when she came back seven years ago, the Tribe was on its last legs. Another six months and we would no longer have existed. She only promises what she is confident she can deliver. She has delivered protection from the Grimm to the people who live in the Branwen protectorate. Of course, we can't promise no deaths, but if you ask the villages and the towns we protect, we have reduced deaths by at least sixty per cent."

Alice said, "You have seen the films which that girl Vernal takes."

The matriarchs nodded.

"Has the Watanabe LGDF ever shown you how they deal with the Grimm?"

The answer was clearly no.

The oldest human then asked, "But surely you are one of the best teams the Branwen Tribe has. You aren't going to pretend that you will be here permanently."

"No, we won't. But our B and C teams are better than the Watanabe LGDF, and by the end of the week, we will have reduced the Grimm threat so that the B and C teams can deal with it."

Alison said, "Look, we all watched Raven Branwen win the Vytal Festival held in Mistral. I can't say I minded her showing those assholes from Haven that they were useless. Still, she came over as an arrogant bitch. She is also a human. Why should we trust her?"

Denise and Alice looked at each other. Alice said, "Take Margaret for a walk, dear."

Denise nodded and left the table with Margaret. Alice watched her walk away and said, "The Branwen tribe has been integrated for at least sixty years. The Chief grew up believing that what was important was not whether you were human or Faunus but whether you were or were not a member of the Branwen Tribe. She says that at Beacon, the philosophy was that the Grimm were the enemy and Faunus and humans should fight together. Fighting amongst ourselves is a waste."

The matriarchs nodded. This seemed to be a story which they wanted to believe.

Alice continued, "She and her brother were sent away because it was clear that they were the best fighters of the next generation. There was a good rationale for why they were encouraged to apply to Beacon, but the real reason was that they would, by the time they were in their early twenties, be able to usurp the then Chief and his family."

"Carry on."

"She came back two days after giving birth, abandoning her child because she had seen the photographs that the MBAD had taken of their raid on the main camp of the Branwen Tribe. My daughter, her family, and Denise's oldest child were killed, and their ears were taken as trophies by the LGDF bastards."

Alice said, "While it doesn't bring them back, within a week of the Chief's return, I took the ears of those who ordered the men who killed my family. I took them before they died. Raven Branwen came back because of what had happened to the Faunus members of her Tribe and abandoned her daughter because of that."

A silence, but it was clear that it was one not of disbelief but of people wanting to believe.

Another member of the Tribe's delegation said, "Alice is telling the truth, but please never ask the Chief about it. She doesn't take compliments well."

Emma wanted to go somewhere and vomit. She had heard the rumours from Lilian and Professor Pink when they had advised her not to go to the Badlands.

The idea that someone in the Mistral MBAD had cut off Margaret's older brother or sister's ears as a trophy revolted her. The fact that Denise and Shady had been so welcoming to her despite their history shamed her. OK, she was going to join the Tribe tonight.

She looked up and saw that the large black bird seemed to be embarrassed. She shook her head. She must be imagining things.

The village matriarch said, "So why aren't you robbing us? Fifteen years ago, you raided us, and there wasn't much left."

Alice shrugged, "I think she wants to make the Badlands better. She says we can protect you against the Grimm for less than the Mistral government charges you in taxes and do the job better. We have also defeated the other tribes, so you don't have to worry about them raiding you either."

"Nor do you have to worry about them attacking you."

"True. But I've seen the changes which peace has brought to the Badlands. Farmers grow more crops, and villages trade with each other. Mistral kept the Badlands weak, and the Chief is bringing prosperity."

With a laugh, Alice said, "The chief says we were partly responsible for breaking the Badlands; we are the only ones who can be fracked to fix it, so we may as well do it."

A pause, "Well, she does say we are the only people who can be bothered to give everyone else the chance to better themselves."

All the people at the table laughed, but Emma thought that the old women of the village had been persuaded to give things a go. Emma knew for herself that Alice and the women of the Tribe believed what they were saying.

/-/

Raven was preparing for the evening. She had to ensure that Emma/Debbie joined the Tribe.

Raven had seen enough over the last five days that she had, at best, had a 35% chance of defeating her in battle. If either Edith Fitzroy or Amber Arc were the Maiden, then the odds would be far worse. On the positive side, having the woman on her side would be an asset. She was a competent fighter, although lacked self-confidence. Her family and alleged best friend had done a number on her over the years.

The powers were impressive, and Raven thought that she could train the girl better than the voices in the back of her head. Team STRQ had always specialised in inventive fighting techniques and each of them had motivated each other. She thought that she could persuade the girl that she could best use her powers in the Badlands.

After talking to Summer, listening to the conversation with the Guild, and flying over the area they would fight over tomorrow, Raven was almost certain that Emma was hooked. She just had to avoid a bad mistake to reel her in.

She had heard Alice tell her story before and knew that it had helped reassure villagers to try and make the best of the rule of the Branwen Tribe. She hated thinking of herself as a heroine or a do-gooder. It was just that once she had dealt with the MBAD, she couldn't see an alternative to what she had done next.

Certainly, as most of the Tribe was concerned, her return had saved their lives, and they were willing to follow her and obey. She had known that Mistral would eventually seek revenge, and it had made sense to dispose of enemies in the Badlands, either by making them friends or killing those who wanted to fight her.

Releasing so many auras made it impossible for the tribe to stay in one spot for any length of time, so they needed to source food from the other inhabitants of the Badlands. It was easier to persuade people to give them food more or less voluntarily, and presenting themselves as effective protectors had made that easier. Besides, things had become so hard in the seven years she had been away that the Tribe had been happy to settle for being well-fed and safe.

She hadn't been prepared for how Emma had reacted to Alice's story. In the Badlands, people accepted that life was unfair, brutal and often short. She told herself that Emma lived in a world where snarky comments and neglect were the most she had to fear. Deliberate sadism was not something she had ever had to deal with.

Raven wasn't big on introspection. She occasionally tried it but didn't think it was worth the effort. For example, even now, she couldn't work out what combination of motivations had allowed her to have a child with Taiyang. She liked to believe that it was giving Qrow a clear run at Summer, but knowing herself, proving that she was a better seductress than Summer was as much of a motivation. She probably just hated losing, and until she had won, she had rarely engaged her brain about whether winning was worth it.

She knew that pissing people off was one of her main pleasures. Her Vytal Festival win at the tournament held in Mistral had been sweeter because she could feel the hatred of the Mistralian spectators as well as their grudging respect. She enjoyed fighting and annoying people, and the fact that she and the Tribe were still alive and flourishing was a triumph.

Running the Tribe was a full-time job, and sticking it to the Mistral elite was a grand game. The problem was that she had to go out and fight Grimm most days, and there would always be a risk that one day she would slip or stay fighting just that bit too long.

She was meeting Malbec tomorrow. She told herself that they were using each other, but she never forgot that Malbec's suggestions were designed to weaken Mistral, which usually benefitted the Branwen Tribe, but that was not invariably the case. She knew that he was trying to manipulate her into expanding faster than she felt comfortable with and to be more ruthless than she needed to be. His aim was to impress Salem and show off how clever he was rather than to help the Branwen Tribe. Well, she supposed that he hated the Mistral Elite even more than she did, but that didn't make his advice any more trustworthy. She certainly trusted "Little Miss" Malachite's analysis more than his. Still, that was tomorrow's problem.

Right. Now, she had to clinch the deal. She must show that she trusted the young Maiden more than she really did. Still, the five days of observing her had given her enough information to guess which buttons to press. She must pretend to be more like Summer Rose than she was.

Fortunately, she was confident that it would be a good demonstration. It was time to fight Grimm and show the girl that fighting in larger groups than teams of four was a safer and more destructive bet. Well, at least if you had the Raven Branwen get out of jail free card to play.