"TIMBER!"

The freshly fallen snow was crushed under the weight of the falling tree, its frosted branches shaking loose all the snow that had piled up on them over the past few days. The young woman who had felled the tree pulled her axe up and shouldered it. Using her free hand to brush her bangs out of her eyes, she stepped up to the fallen log and brought the axe down, swinging it across and sheering off some of the branches. She continued sheering off branches, clearing up the log, and gathering up the branches, she carried them to an old wooden cart and dumped them in.

Taking a rope from the back of the cart, she tied it around the sheered log. Wiping sweat from her brow with her arm, she turned to her companion. "You're not going to help at all?"

Leaning against a tree, the sharp-eyed Huntsman looked up from under his hat. "That would mean putting down my gun, Miss Braun. There are Grimm in these woods. You know that."

"Just saying, the helpless woman is gathering lumber, and the big strong man is just standing there not doing anything." She shrugged and went around front of the cart. "You should be protecting the homestead, though. I can take care of myself."

"Miss Braun, either you're helpless or you can take care of yourself. Either way, you've come a long way out here. If Grimm were to attack you, no one would ever know what happened." Pushing off of the tree, he sauntered over to her side at the front of the cart. He grumbled grimly. "Everyone else has gotten lazy, staying in the homestead while you keep going out here. Those miserable people barely do enough to keep themselves alive. Why do you keep coming out here, Miss Braun?"

"Trees are taller." She answered, motioning over her shoulder at the felled tree with her head as she picked up the handles on the front of the cart. "Also, I feel pretty good out here. It's not like back on the farm." She started pulling the cart, and he walked alongside her, keeping his ears and eyes focused on their surroundings in the event the Grimm appeared. She offered him a harmless smile. "And there aren't that many Grimm, either. Or they don't seem interested in people all that much. I've gotten pretty close to one or two, even got spotted by them. It's like they would rather just live like animals, most of them."

He looked at her skeptically. "You can't be serious."

"No, I am. The kids come out here sometimes too. Did you know that? They run along the brook and chase squirrels sometimes. They told me they found a fountain where the water in the brook is coming from." She laughed at that. "Their parents would be so mad at them if they knew. They'd probably be mad at me, actually."

"I'm not sure they would react at all anymore." He shook his head. "This the brook you're talking about?"

They stopped at a tiny bridge over a shallow stream of water running through the snow. They could see speckled stones in the brook, and only the occasional leaf or chunk of snow would drift by on the current. Other than that, the water was clear as crystal, clean and pure. They looked upstream to where the water was coming from. They couldn't see the end of it, but that was to be expected.

Dropping the cart, the young woman started walking upstream. "Come on, Locke. Let's find this fountain for ourselves."

"What? What about the lumber?"

"It'll still be here when we get back. Don't worry, we won't get lost. It's right on the brook." She didn't stop to look and see that he had started following her. It took nearly half an hour, but the two of them eventually found the source of the water. Sure enough, in the side of a rock cliff, inside a small alcove, was a pool of clear water with a thin pipe sticking straight up, pouring water out its top. Braun wasted no time stepping into the pool and approaching the fountain. "I was expecting something more... ornate. This is pretty simplistic. I wonder who made it?"

"Miss Braun, that's not a fountain."

"What? Of course it is. Water's coming out the top."

"No, I mean..." He shook his head, motioning with his gun towards the pipe. "Look at its shape. That's a musical instrument. A flute, I think."

"A flute?" She looked over it again, not sure if she believed him. "Well, hold on now." Crouching down, she got a closer look at the base of the fountain. "Hmm... it doesn't seem to be attached very well. Maybe I can..." She grabbed the flute and pulled it free, and the water started bubbling up from where the flute had rested. "Yeah, I got it."

The flute was simple, as she had already observed, but it still shined in a bright gold. It was heavy, but not too heavy in her hands, and warm like the water that had been running through it. Holding it out for him to see, she felt a sudden pang of pain. It wasn't anything real, though, just the thought that he might take it from her. That felt odd, but for some reason, now that she had it, she didn't want to let go of it. It made her feel happy, like nothing could dim her mood except for losing this precious flute.

He watched as, when she held it out for him to see, her fingers curled around it to prevent him taking it. He didn't care much. "Maybe if you play it back at the homestead, the others will get off their butts and pay attention to something" She laughed at his suggestion, and to her surprise the usually surly Huntsman laughed along with her.

When they finally returned to the farm late that evening, Flint Locke found out that Grimm had made their way into the tunnels underneath the homestead. He died trying to rid them of the Apathy. The next morning, Piper Braun found him dead. Unable to stir the others, she took the children and left Brunswick Farms behind, the Flute of Serenity in her back pocket.

Two men sat at the desk, one on each side. The bigger man, behind the desk, look over his spectacles in barely contained anxiousness. His visitor was actually a good person, and the two men had a very deep connection that they both understood they would give their lives for, even though this was the first time they had ever met or even heard each other's names. No, his anxiety had nothing to do with the man himself, or even anything he'd said. While a few things he'd mentioned were concerning, it was his travel companions who were the most troublesome. First, the visitor's wife, or ex-wife, or something along those lines, was a dangerous woman. Both men's wives were elsewhere, having a serious talk, and it seemed to be ultimately positive the way things were going. As dangerous as she had been, she seemed convincing enough that her dangerousness would be on their side.

No, the real source of anxiety and distress was the small dog they'd brought along. It wasn't inherently dangerous or anything, and it wasn't like he was afraid of dogs or even allergic to them. He just... wasn't a dog person. Neither was his wife, which is why the women were talking elsewhere. If his own nerves hadn't tensed the moment the dog appeared in his office, he would have laughed at the way his wife made use of the shelves to make her way out of the room without getting too close to the dog. Reportedly, their daughter had acted the same way when she first encountered the dog.

That was their connection. Their daughters. Blake and Yang.

Taiyang Xiao Long had just showed up one day, Raven Branwen in tow, and walked right into Ghira Belladonna's office. They'd exchanged names, backgrounds, stories about their daughters, and then the last they'd heard of those daughters. Tai's latest update was from Raven, who had fled to their old home after Yang procured the Relic of Knowledge. With a mind to finding Yang, and his other daughter Ruby, Tai had come to Mistral. That's where he found Ghira, who had some new information for him. Team RWBY had made it to Argus, defeated a colossal Grimm, and then left for Atlas. That was information Ghira had received thanks to a messenger from Argus, on behalf of Caroline Cordovin.

After that point, none of them knew what had happened with Team RWBY, or their companions. What they did have was a major concern. Ghira had on his desk a report of a woman who had been badly injured, attacked by someone who matched the description of Cinder Fall shortly after the Battle of Haven Academy. Cinder was alive, but she had vanished again. There was another report of a fight that started in a shady bar or restaurant, Ghira wasn't sure what exactly the place was, that had broken out into the street where one of the combatants had exhibited abilities that were far from natural. It wasn't certain, since a lot of witnesses were intent on not being snitches, but Ghira believed this was Cinder again. Kali was going over all of this with Raven, who had been the one to battle and defeat Cinder at Haven. The reports did, however, give them enough hints to tell that the other combatant was Neopolitan, a former associate of the now-deceased criminal Roman Torchwick. In Ghira's mind, it was all very connected.

Taiyang, for his part, felt the same way about all of this. Cinder was still at large, and she had another ally. Where her other associates, such as her lackeys Emerald and Mercury, or the intimidating Hazel Rainart and Tyrian Callows, might have gone, they didn't know. At the very least, Cordovin had confirmed the death of Adam Taurus near Argus. That maniac's end took some weight off of all their shoulders. That said, the remaining villains who were still free concerned them all greatly. To both men, it was clear in their minds where all these enemies were headed. They would be following Team RWBY to Atlas. That meant they, as parents, had to go help.

Ghira was in the process of coming to terms with the fact that he could send Taiyang and Raven to Atlas, he could send Kali there, and he could even send some of his more capable students there, but he had to stay at Haven. He was needed here, as the headmaster of Haven. In his mind, he was preparing himself to send the two best teams at his school with Tai and Raven. No doubt Ilia would want to go as well. That was his plan, at least, to give his daughter as much help as possible. But Tai had come to the realization that he would not be able to go to Atlas either. At least for the time being.

Raven gave them a key method of transportation between Mistral and Atlas, but in order to return to Mistral, Tai needed to stay behind. Hopefully, that meant Blake and Yang would return to Mistral together so the two concerned fathers could tell their daughters how proud they were, which they both hoped was well known and not forgotten, but still felt the need to make sure of. Their conversation, at that point, had lapsed into silence, only interrupted by the incessant panting of their third party, Zwei. They both knew what they had to do, and they hoped their daughters would visit, but that didn't make it easier on them. There was still that worry, swirling around in their heads, which wouldn't go away.

And then it started to go away. Something in the back of both their minds was telling them, in a soothing musical tone, that everything would be okay. Their fears and doubts were starting to melt and fade. They both still knew what it was that they feared and doubted, but it suddenly didn't seem so bad. An odd little musical tune floated through the air, barely audible, but certainly there. It was like the quiet notes were carrying off their worries, reassuring them, telling them that it would all work out okay.

Ghira was no fool. He knew when something was messing with his head, and it looked like Tai did too. They both stood up, alert to the intrusion. Wherever the music was coming from, it wasn't inside the school. That meant it was outside, so Ghira turned to look out his office window. Down below, on the ground outside, he saw a young woman sitting on the ground and looking out over the city. She was playing a flute, which glimmered golden in the sunlight. Raven and Kali were not far off, quietly listening to the music as well. It looked harmless, and Ghira was beginning to wonder if his intuition had failed him. Perhaps the sound of music was just calming. Perhaps it was just something he needed right now, and it would remind him of the beauty in this world that was worth protecting.

Tai joined Ghira at the window, looking down at the idyllic scene below them. He thought this seemed all a little sudden, that all of them would be so distracted by something at once. Looking at the girl with the flute now, though, he realized it must have been completely harmless. Probably just some cosmic coincidence, now that he focused on the music, that it was just what he needed. Something comforting him, reminding him what his girls were capable of, and a reason to look in the direction of Raven again without any apprehension. The sunlight caught her hair just right, and he started to remember why he fell for her in the first place. He smiled in spite of himself, recalling how happy he was back then, when Yang had just been born. That was right... his baby girl. That was why he came all this way. To see his daughters again.

Down on the ground, Piper Braun finished playing the golden flute in her hands and lowered the instrument. She shielded her eyes from the bright sunlight shining down on her. The future looked brighter than ever, like a big sun dragon was smiling down on her.