Lord of Gifts in the Forgotten Realm

by Djoklecjan

After his defeat, as the last act of defiance, Sauron strikes a deal with his former Master, and finds himself in the Forsaken World, which is set for a downfall. Will Annatar change Remnant's future for the better? Or Sauron will make it even worse? Or, perhaps, Mairon will change some of his views?

14. Chapter 9: Forge of Stories pt R

Forge of Stories:

Crescent Rose and Gurthang

Daniel made himself comfortable on a chair. He was sitting in the bakery right at the entrance to Limestone, puffed his cigar with delight painted on his face. He couldn't think of better job – just sit in the Cafe, look out for any notable guests in the crowd, get paid.

He snickered after looking at his apple pie and cup full of coffee. Some would say that it is boring job, maybe even uneventful, but comparing to his previous one, it was exactly what he wanted. Pay wasn't that high, but Chief offered additional benefits, like free gym card. Well, normally he wouldn't go, but "sitting in few spots for days might impact your physique" he said. And it's free!

He took a sip from the cup of coffee and looked at tv screen installed in the bakery.

"…Staff of King Abbas the River Shaper could not be found despite the best efforts of the Vacuan Hunters, and it seems that after two-week long search, all of the traces left by the thieves reached the dead ends." As Lisa Lavender, the well-known news reporter spoke, various images appeared beside her on the screen – The Museum in which the staff was safeguarded, then the long golden staff with a large purple diamond at the top. "Although Headmaster Theodore reassures that his Hunters will bring the staff back and put those responsible to justice, the identity of the thieves still remains unknown…"

"They should have guarded it better!" He said to the TV screen and snickered. Those rich just love to lose their expensive shit. With satisfied smile, he took another sip of coffee. Yeah, this is a life…

"C'mon, what are you waiting for!?" He heard, looked at the direction from which the voice coming from, and abruptly spat out his coffee, much to the gathered crowd surprise.

Four Huntresses were approaching him – On the left walked a girl with long white hair wrapped into a ponytail, wearing a white skirt and giving this "rich kid" vibe, looking at the remaining three disgruntled, like they stepped on her toe or something. On the right walked short girl with long, wavy black hair, wearing a mix of black and white, looking uninterested in everything that happens around her. In the center, there walked tallest girl of the group with long golden hair, wide smile on her face at all times.

And jumping around them was…

"Calm down Rubes, it's a forge, it won't grow legs and run away!" Blond girl said to short girl with long, red cape, short black hair and a black dress, who tried her best to pull her forward, like an over enthusiastic child.

"But Yaaang, I want to enter the forge before the large crowd show up!" She said and pulled once again.

'Why would they…!" Girl in white probably wanted to argue, but Yang wiggled her finger before girl's nose.

"Uh uh uh, no complaining sore loser" She said. "You promised, remember?" And girl in white left a sigh.

"All I'm saying is that this whole 'forge' is just an old-fashion-"

"Don'tusethatwordWeiss!" Ruby appeared right before her, her face so close that white dress had to lean backwards, and gave her a stern look.

"…Alright?" Weiss replied after a second, and Ruby jumped away from her, nearly exploding from all of this excitement.

"It will be so much fun!" She run few circles around the group, then stopped before them and scratched her chin, deep in her thoughts, then appeared right before the girl in mix of black and white. "Blake, do you think he use dust or coal in furnaces?"

"I don't know, maybe?" Blake replied while Weiss just left a sigh.

"Of course he must use dust, who would use dirty coal anyway?" Yang gave her an amused look.

"What, afraid that few black rocks will stain your dress?"

"Yang, I told not every coal is a rock!" Ruby shouted and angrily shook her hands, and Yang chuckled and rubbed Ruby's hair.

"I know, I know. But I am more curious how he will react to the Crescent Rose." Ruby giggled in response and gently pat what appeared to be a red box attached to the her waist.

"Don't worry baby, you will blow out his mind, for sure!" She said with even more excitement. "He will be like 'WOAH!' and I will be like 'Yeah, I made that.' And he will say 'No way!' and I…"

People around them looked at this scene with mix of amusement and confusion, Weiss hid her face with her right hand, trying to look like she is here by an accident and she doesn't know these people, Blake looked little nervous because of this unwanted attention, while Yang just laughed, already used to her sister's antics.

"Slow down you little cannonball, we need to get there first!" And Ruby eagerly nodded.

Meanwhile Daniel stared at them, his face of pure terror. He was like small mammal looking right into the eyes of a Cobra. It can't be happening, not again…

Flashback

"Grab the Dust." Roman commanded, and Junior's goons walked to the tubes full of Dust powder.

Daniel attached his container full of red dust and smiled as it sucked dust out of the tube. It was easier than taking candy from a baby, considering the fact that Dust is really expensive. He unattached his container and prepared the next one, but one of the goons pat his shoulder.

"I will finish this one Dan, I still have some space inside mine." Goon beside him showed him half-full container. Daniel nodded and walked to the opposite end of the shop, briefly sharing a look with the shopkeeper, who was still at the gunpoint while another henchman picked up few more dust crystals.

Dust is at the same time expensive, yet it seemed that every shop in Vale has plenty of that stuff. He didn't have Phd in economics, but a lot of product shouldn't equal high price.

He approached the tube and as he was about to attach his container, he noticed someone wearing a long red cape with a hood, standing in the comic book corner of the shop, like she was unaware of what is happening right now.

He frowned with both surprise and annoyance. Is this person blind, deaf, stupid, or all three? You are supposed to be scared during the robbery!

"Alright kid, put your hands where I can see them!" He draw his blade and pointed at the child, but was met with no response. Slightly agitated, he clenched his teeth. Why kids always have to make things difficult?

To be fair, Daniel actually didn't enjoy hurting people, they sent you to the Stonewall for that. It's better when they hand over their belongings peacefully, it's faster and makes both parties happy - one leaves unharmed, the other leaves with lien. That's why he tries to sound as intimidating as possible, it usually works.

"Hey, I said put your hands in the air!" He said with renewed confidence and approached her. Maybe this kid is really stupid? "Are you having a Death Wish?" He took of her hood, revealing just a little girl with headphones on her head.

"That's why she didn't hear me!" Internally, he sighed with relief, but on the outside, he pointed at his ear and put the most intimidating face possible.

"Yes?" She asked after pulling down her headphones.

"I said put your hands in the air, now!" Internally, Daniel hoped that kid will just listen and do as he ordered, and don't throw a temper tantrum or play a hero.

"Are you... robbing me?" She asked with slight confusion in her voice.

Turns out he was right, that kid is not blind or deaf, just stupid.

"Yes!" He replied, tired of dealing with her. But then he noticed her small smile and excited spark in her Silver Eyes.

"Oh." She replied, and in it was at this moment that Daniel knew

He f*cked up.

End of Flashback

"OH HELL NO!" He run as fast as he could, leaving the apple pie and coffee behind, unwilling to deal with this bullshit ever again.

"What's with that guy?" Blake followed the fleeing man with her stare, but Yang just shrugged her arms.

"I can see it the end of the street, c'mon!" Ruby shouted to her teammates and run into the crowd, and the rest of the team followed after, some more reluctantly than others.

"I can't believe we are actually going there." Weiss grumbled under her nose.

"Still mad about the end result Ice Queen?" Yang teased.

"It was one point!" Weiss shot back.

"Too bad for you." Yang said with a smirk. When Professor Lovas gave them their tests back, Yang, as expected, got one hundred percent on the test, which meant all fifty points, Blake got sixty eight, which was way above the average in the class, but most surprising result was between Ruby and Weiss – Heiress scored eighty six percent, while Ruby got eighty seven percent, which meant that Rose won the bet. Even Lovas had to swallow a harsh pill and publicly congratulate unappreciated student.

"You know, she worked pretty hard for that." Blake pointed out, watching Ruby trying to make her way through the crowd. "You saw that firsthand."

"I did too!" Weiss retorted, then paused for a brief moment. "But I admit, not to the same extent."

"That's the thing about Rubes." Yang pointed at her sister. "If she really want to do or achieve something, she will not stop until it's finished." Yang shared a look with her teammates. "You can trust me on that."

For a moment, a memory of Ruby building Crescent Rose came back – How she and Qrow spent whole days and nights in Signal's forge, melting the metal, matching the components, scrapping many prototypes in the process. They were so occupied with their work that they even forgot about making themselves something to eat, so Yang had to bring them food and water.

"Please, may I, ummm…." Ruby tried to push through the tight crowd but to no avail. "Hey, can I…" she tried again, but the crowd was so dense, that she couldn't get past or squeeze through, and was instead forced to walk in what felt for her like a snail's pace. "Why there are so many people!?" She groaned with annoyance.

"It's true, it's feels like in Mantle." Weiss remarked. "But way cleaner, and less noisy."

Blake decided to keep her thoughts to herself, only noting how everything seems so peaceful, no shouting or no faunas and humans throwing insults at one another. This place seemed strangely calm.

Yang stretched her arms and put her hand on Ruby's shoulder.

"Alright Rubes, let the big sis handle this." Yang went up front, put two fingers her mouth and whistled loudly, gathering the attention of nearby people. "Alright folks, better make us a way or I will push right through ya. Understand, or must I spell it?"

People in the crowd first looked at her confident smile, then at her muscles, and decided that it will be better for everyone (especially them) to give her what she wants. And when Team RWBY resumed their walk, crowd dispersed before them like ice cracking under the icebreaker.

"See Rubes? You need to be more out-going and world will open right before you." Yang said.

"I won't call what you did being 'out-going'. " Blake pointed out.

"More like 'brute-forcing'." Weiss added, and Ruby chuckled a little bit.

"An essential part of my personal charm." Yang commented with a smirk.

As they walked down the street, they for some reason felt like they are in some different city – Every building around them was renovated, no old or crumbling bricks in sight, and tall, black streetlights towered above them, each pole in perfect distance from one another, now, since it was early in the morning, they turned off, but are probably capable of enlightening the entire street below them during the night.

The sidewalk was also different from the standard – in Vale, the sidewalk is tiny in comparison to the street, often too small four people to walk side by side, but here, they could walk like that and still have plenty of room to let other people pass, if not for the tight all around crowd.

"You see it too?" Blake asked Weiss, and the Heiress tilted her head to her teammate.

"What exactly?"

"Those buildings, the street." Blake pointed at the other side of the street. "The other side looks exactly the same."

Weiss looked over and noticed that too – If she drew the line perfectly in the middle of the road, both sides of it, would look like perfect mirror view, with no irregularities whatsoever. However, there was one detail which didn't quite fit at first.

"Look at the people." Weiss said, and Blake looked at the other side, right at the large crowd on its way out of Limestone.

"They are all going away, but it's not that strange in comparison to perfectly symmetrical road." Blake said, but Weiss shook her head in denial.

"Look at them again, and how they behave." Weiss urged her to take another look, and after moment of hesitation, Blake looked over again, trying to pay attention to the people on the other side, while Weiss looked around, searching for something.

But aside from the fact that all of them walked from Limestone, they were no different from other citizens. – They talked to each other, laughed, shared experiences. Individual behavior was nothing out of ordinary. But when she paid more attention to them as a whole…

Team RWBY walked towards the Forge, people on the other side of the road walked away from it, nobody tried to move 'against the current' or stop. Both sides walked in the exactly same pace – nobody was running, stalling or blocking the way. Like everyone agreed to follow some unspoken rules.

There were no beggars under the walls, no graffiti painted on the buildings or bikes riding on the sidewalk. One side of the road lead into Limestone, the other lead out of it, like a river. Everything looked and seemed orderly. In fact, when Blake thought about it more, the only irregularity was her team, specifically Yang pushing through the crowd to get to the Forge faster.

"What the…" Blake muttered under her nose while Weiss left an angry huff.

"Nobody is forcing them to behave like this." Weiss added after a while, surprised by the that conclusion. "But there is no way people would act like that on their own. But there must be someone out there enforcing this rules."

"What about us Weiss?" Blake asked. "When we arrived, why we took the right sidewalk like the rest. Why?"

"It was because people were leaving…" Weiss wanted to answer, but words stopped right in her throat. Both girls shared a look.

"Nobody is enforcing rules, because people follow them on their own." Blake commented.

"And by that, other people feel obliged to do so as well…" Weiss added, only for Yang to scoff.

"Nah, you are just overthinking it." She said to both of them. "You sound exactly like those guys from Mistral who sprayed monkeys with a water gun and taught them to not eat the banana."

"That experiment lies at the very foundation of the studies about social engineering…"

"Aaaand bored already." Yang interrupted her teammate, much to Weiss's frustration. "Chill out, we are getting there."

"I can hear it!" Ruby suddenly jumped on Yang's shoulder to get a better look, right when they heard another strike of the hammer against the anvil. "Quicker Yang, quicker! Line is not that long!"

"Then better hang in there Rubes! It will shake a little!" With that said, Yang pushed through the people like a battering ram, and most people jumped out of the brawler's way while Ruby giggled on her sister's back.

Blake and Weiss shared one last look and without saying any word, decided to keep their guards up - Blake because her six's sense kept warning her that something is off here, like many times during missions when she was still an important member of the White Fang. And discussion with Weiss only solidified it.

And Weiss, since she is meant to inherit her father's company one day, was taught from the very young age how social engineering works, and what she saw around her were the very same theories and techniques her father relentlessly explained to her, but put into practice.

Ruby and Yang on the other hand, had no such experiences – both lived most of their lives on Patch, a relatively small, rural island west from Vale. For Yang, city always was something strange, out of ordinary and overly complicated, and thus, she always assumed that's just how people living here behave, while Ruby was too excited with meeting the real Smith to trouble herself with such thoughts.

Meanwhile three henchman before the forge on the 'lookout' position discussed the results of the recent football match.

"How could he miss!?" One henchman holding a beer exclaimed angirly to his colleagues. "The goal keeper was far away, he had a clear shot!"

"I would get that goal I tell ya." Second henchman in the crowd said, but his two colleagues snickered.

"Yeah, you sure would man." Third henchman said with a grin and lifted a beer to his mouth, but then he noticed something approaching them, and his face turned pale as paper.

"G-Guys..." He pointed his finger, and two henchman looked over, and their blood left their faces too.

They were looking at the four girls closing in, with one very familiar face at the front...

"Oh shit!"

"It's her!"

"Blondie disaster!"

"Oh Gods, She came to beat us up again!?"

"She brought up friends!"

"Are they psychos too!?"

"What do we do!?"

Annatar meanwhile was entirely focused on his creation - a violin made of white wood, capable playing a harmonious song even during the most violent storms. So occupied he was in his craft that he didn't notice that not only goons in the crowd, but also those working as the forge's staff started to panic.

System he created to control what is happening outside of his forge at all time was really simple, yet practical - in order to control the crowd's reactions, at least ten percent of the gathering must work together or chant something in unison, and the rest will eventually follow suit. If the crowd is thirty people strong, three of them are enough to control it, if fifty - five and so on. He always placed just enough minions to manipulate this equilibrium, making sure that the crowd is always doing what he wants.

This method is commonly used in political rallies or theater spectacles to ensure their success, and proved to be efficient. However, it had one major downside...

"RUN AWAY! RUN AWAY!" Sauron suddenly heard and immediately turned around to see what is going on, but he was too late to stop the panic.

Goons dropped everything they carried and scattered on the wind, running in all directions like rats abandoning a sinking ship, and the large crowd followed suit, unsure why they should start to run but if everyone is running, then it must be really scary.

"And what's wrong with them?" Weiss asked as people run past them in panic, astonished by that behavior, and Yang gave her a mischievous grin.

"No idea." Brawler replied with amusement, then looked at Ruby. "But look at the bright side, we are now first in the line!"

"Yay!" Ruby jumped from Yang's back.

Meanwhile Sauron facepalmed with his right hand, and slowly dragged it down his face. He took a deep breath and looked at the source of the commotion. And his mood brightened almost instantly.

"Ummm..." Client sitting on an armchair looked little nervous.

"Yowwick." Sauron called, and Nathan opened the door from the storage with a kick, carrying a heavy box in his hands.

"What's up OhGodsit'sthatBlonde." He dropped the box and tried to retreat into the storage while team RWBY approached.

"Stay." Sauron ordered.

"Can I stay in the storage room?"

"Leave the storage room, help my dear guest over here..." Sauron gestured at the guest sitting on the armchair, then handed him his violin. "I sincerely apologize for my staff, I need to make a serious talk with them. Now please, go to the cash register with my friend over there and enjoy your gift." Annatar looked at Yowwick again. "After you finish with this task, stop any more guests from entering until I say otherwise."

"Better be careful Chief, that Blonde alone means trouble." Annatar chuckled hearing that from his disturbed subordinate.

"Oh, I will be fine, I assure you. Now do as I said." As Yowwick went to fulfill his tasks, Annatar fixed his hair a little, then turned his full attention at the incoming half of the Fellowship, and couldn't be more delighted.

The special girl with Silver eyes called Ruby was now at the forefront, and seemed very excited to meet him, closely behind her was that physically strong girl with questionable fashion choices called Yang, and slightly at the back were two remaining members - the elegant, skilled yet arrogant and ungrateful girl called Weiss, and the shady and mysterious girl in black and white called Blake.

He prepared for this encounter long time ago, run background checks and bought information regarding them from various sources. He knew the basics about most of them and perhaps few details, more than enough to potentially steer the conversations in a way he wanted.

"That's him?" Weiss whispered to Blake, looking at the tall man with long, blond hair, and giving them a charming smile. "He doesn't look like a stereotypical Smith."

"Huh, I think I am more buffed than him." Yang commented looking at the Smith's arms.

"And he somehow looks more pale than you Weiss." Ruby leant to the Schnee, and Weiss just rolled her eyes.

"I'm not pale Ruby. But yeah, he does kinda look like he is from Atlas."

"And what's with his ears? Is he a Faunus?" Yang thought out loud as they approached him and got a better look on his pointy ears.

"None I ever heard of." Blake commented in her head.

"Greetings to you." Annatar gracefully bowed before them, like he did before royalty. "My name is Annatar, people call me 'the Dream Smith'."

"Well hello goldi locks!" Yang approached him first, grabbed his right hand and shook it. "Name's Yang Xiao Long, but folks call me simply Yang!"

Sauron rose his eyebrow when Yang didn't let go of his hand, instead trying to squeeze it with great strength. Instead of backing down, he decided to answer her grip, and both entered the unspoken contest of might, and seemed to be evenly matched.

"Yaaang please, not now!" Ruby jumped between them, and when both let go of their hands, she gave Annatar an apologetic look. "Sorry for that, that's just how Yang greets people." Ruby sheepishly explained, but Annatar, much to her relief, left a friendly chuckle in response.

"Oh, don't worry about it." He looked at his hand then at Yang and his smile widened. "You possess great strength, Yang Xiao Long."

"You are not too bad either." Yang replied, still surprised that the Smith didn't even flinch under her grip. Even Pyrrha sweat a little during the arm wrestling.

Annatar then switched his attention to Ruby. "And may I ask you for your name, Young One?"

"Oh right!" Ruby appeared right before him. "My name is Ruby Rose, it's nice to meet you!" She reached with her hand, and again, Annatar replied with a handshake, but unlike with Yang, it was not a steel grip.

"Pleasure to be meeting you, Ruby Rose." Annatar said, then looked both at Ruby and Yang. "Are you both sisters by any chance?"

"That's right!" Yang took Ruby under her, much to the latter's embarrassment. "I'm big sis of this adorable little..."

"Please, don't call me that in front of people!" Ruby pleaded, and Yang laughed and affectionately rubbed her sister's hair.

"Oh Rubes, I'm just messing with ya, you shouldn't be worried about it!"

Smith looked at them both amusement before he switched his attention to the two remaining members of the Fellowship, who seemed less keen on speaking to him. He first approached the girl he knew as Weiss.

"May you honor me with your name, my lady?" He asked, and Weiss rose her eyebrow.

"Weiss Schnee." She replied dryly. "Why are you speaking this way?"

"Since you are member of the nobility, I should address you with proper courtesy." Weiss groaned in response.

"Then stop it, it's weird." She said with great annoyance. In Atlas, everyone she met addressed her in such a manner, and overtime it annoyed her more and more. On the other hand, she disliked the more "casual" way her teammates addressed her in Beacon. Especially nicknames.

Sauron nodded in agreement. "Then, I shall honor your wish, lady Schnee."

"I just told you to not speak that way!" She replied and looked away with frustration painted on her face. Then, Annatar approached the last member of the team.

"May I..."

"Blake." She interrupted him, and Smith rose his left eyebrow.

"Just 'Blake'?" He asked, and Blake nodded in confirmation.

There was this itch in the back of her head that tried to warn her about something, hair on her neck stood up slightly, but every other sense told her brain that everything is fine - that before her stands just a human with strange ears, who gives her a friendly smile, and emanates with friendly aura.

Clearly not a threat. But how can she be sure of that? Years in the Fang sharpened her instincts, to the point that she often relied solely on them during the fights and the missions. On the other hand, her instincts still warn her about Weiss or many other students in Beacon, so it might be a false alarm again.

But then again, she already met someone, who was not a person who she thought he was. Not to mention what both she and Weiss talked about before arriving here.

That didn't mean that she was hostile to Annatar or anything, she just wasn't too keen on suddenly trusting him, and preferred to remain cautious. And after short eye contest, Annatar figured that too. And already planned on turning that skepticism in his favor.

"Very well, Blake." He looked at the whole team and gestured at the Forge. "Please, come in, and make yourself a home."

As they entered, team RWBY curiously looked around, Ruby especially at all the tools and furnaces with sparking eyes.

"Tea, coffee, or perhaps, hot chocolate?" Annatar inquired.

"No thanks." Yang replied while Blake simply shook her head.

"We are not here for too long anyway." Weiss added while Ruby walked around with wide open eyes, and Annatar chuckled in amusement.

"I heard that one before lady Schnee." He said with a smirk. "But in reality, everyone always stay here longer than they preplanned."

"Where did you get these hammers!?" Ruby shouted, holding a hammer in her right hand. She eagerly swinged around few times. "It has a steel head and hilt, yet it weighs less than a feather!"

"Ruby, you cannot touch it without permission!" Weiss shot back.

"Oh right, sorry..." As she wanted to put out down the hammer, Annatar put his hand on the hammer's head.

"On the contrary, I never forbade from touching anything." He said and looked at the three remaining team members. "That includes you too, so please, set your doubts aside." He looked at Weiss with disapproval. "And lady Schnee, please, refrain from setting up your rules in my home. It's not a behavior worthy of a noble."

Weiss scoffed, crossed her arms and sat on an armchair. Blake wanted to just wait this whole ordeal in silence, but Yang had other plans.

"Look at that spooky armor over there!" Yang took Blake under her arm and pushed towards the black, spiked armor in the corner.

"As for you, Ruby Rose, I see you took quite an interest in my tools."

"Not just tools!" She exclaimed, and gestured at the whole room. "Everything here seems like it is unique and handmade!"

"Because it is. Every single piece of equipment here was formed by my hand." Annatar said and showed his hands with great pride, and Ruby blinked few times in response.

"Wait, really?" She asked, and Annatar nodded. "Even furnaces?" She bit her tongue, that was really a weird question...

"Even furnaces." Annatar confirmed, and in a single moment Ruby jumped to the nearest furnace and looked all over it, and touched it.

"Wow." She said after a while, and Annatar knelt right beside her.

"You can feel it, can't you?" And Ruby nodded.

"It really is..." She replied with amazement in her voice, but she couldn't find a good word to describe it.

"Masterfully made?" Annatar inquired after a while, and Ruby eagerly nodded.

Academy's forge was nice and certainly well-equipped, but here, no matter where she looked, she felt that she meets someone new. She had the same feeling whenever she met new people in Beacon, and, most importantly, their amazing weapons.

She always thought that meeting new weapons, or in this case tools, is like meeting new people, but nicer. Tools and weapons don't judge, don't argue, are reliable, and tell everything about their owner.

Now, she felt exactly the same to every single piece of equipment. And she wanted to meet them all, to weigh every single hammer, every pincer and plier... And all this excitement nearly made her squeak.

"Calm down Ruby, calm down." She thought to herself. "You must stay cool, don't embarrass yourself."

"Your actions and behavior begs up the question." Annatar suddenly spoke up, drawing Ruby out of her thoughts. "Are you, perhaps, accustomed, in some way, with my profession?"

"Yes! I am actually a Smith myself." She replied confidently, and Annatar rose his eyebrow in response.

"In such young age?" He asked with genuine curiosity and slight disbelief, and she nodded in confirmation.

"I first started in my home's garage and made my first hammer when I was nine." She told him, Annatar chuckled while Weiss looked at them both with disbelief. "It was not like, the best hammer in the world, but it was my first handmade tool! From there, I made more screwdrivers, wrenches, and even helped my dad repair his motorcycle."

"Remarkable." Annatar commented.

"But when I finally started to attend Signal, one of my first tasks was to make my own weapon in the Academy's forge and..."

"They really ordered you create your weapon in such young age?" Annatar interrupted, astonished by this revelation.

"Every student in Signal creates their weapon. it's nothing unusual." Ruby replied and looked at the Smith curiously. "You didn't know that?"

"In my homeland, we refrain from allowing children to create weapons of war in our forges." He commented, slightly playing on Ruby's ego as she angrily puffed her cheeks. "In my opinion, to create something truly noteworthy, you need to first have a lifetime of the experience."

"And that's where you wrong mister!" Ruby stood up, and retrieved Crescent Rose.

With one swift move of the hand, Crescent Rose unfolded first into a long rifle, high caliber rifle, then with soothing sound of turning gears, into a sharp, durable scythe.

"What was that about 'children can't do anything noteworthy?'" She said with confident smile, and Annatar in turn looked at the Crescent Rose with a mixture of amazement and respect.

Of course, he already saw her scythe in the forest, but from afar. Up close, the weapon was even more impressive.

"You truly made it?" He asked, and Ruby eagerly nodded.

"Yep! I spent days and nights putting her together." Ruby affectionately pat her weapon. "I might went little overboard with her design, but I still work on her."

"There is no such thing as 'going overboard' with your magnum opus." Annatar looked at the blade of the scythe. "May I touch it?"

"Sure, but be careful, it's reeeally sharp." With that said, Annatar's finger touched the tip of the scythe and started to slide on the crescent shaped blade.

Weiss turned away her head, not wanting to see blood after the Smith inevitably cut his fingers.

"Damn, this guy is hella confident." Yang remarked to Blake as the finger reached the end of the blade, while Blake watched with disbelief how Annatar did that without a scratch.

"I see you used both steel and titanium to make this." Annatar remarked. "You wanted to retain titanium's durability, and steel's sharpness, yes?"

"Mhm!" Ruby nodded. "I wanted to be both able to cut through any Grimm, and for it to withstand the impact if I can't pierce it's armor in one go."

"You took a big gamble here." Annatar said. "You could end up with a weapon that can't do any of that."

"Yeaaahhh…" Ruby looked away, trying to not avoid telling how many prototypes she had to scrap. But Annatar gave her a friendly chuckle and pat her shoulder.

"Taking risks is often a necessary part of our profession." He said and kept admiring Ruby's weapon. "And I see it's really heavy as well, you must possess great strength to wield it."

"And I use that and recoil to attack even faster!" Ruby pointed at the top end of the scythe, where now was the end of the barrel, and Annatar followed her finger with a great interest. "You see, I use 20mm dust rounds, which pack REAALLY mean punch, and the recoil would normally threw her out of my hands. However, thanks to the reinforced handle-" She pointed at the handle in the middle of her Scythe. "-I am actually able to use to not only hold it, but also fire mid-swing to strike faster with even more energy!"

"You use that high caliber?" Annatar asked with genuine astonishment, his eyes now lingered on the trigger. "This means you had to use zirconium to reinforce the core."

"I thought about it too, but I decided to use chromium instead." Annatar laughed with delight

"Stainless steel!" He said with a genuine smile. "To make it strong, and unable to corrode over time!"

"Yes!" Ruby replied, happy that someone finally paid more attention to her sweetheart than simply saying. "That's a cool weapon Ruby, it's really sharp scythe Ruby." That guy seemed genuinely interested and asked more and more questions, and Ruby was more than happy to answer them all.

And while they talked about Crescent Rose, Weiss just looked around, uninterested at all. That forge sounded for her like some relic of the old times, when people didn't have electricity or toilet paper. Father often took her on tours to the SDC factories, where they built… well everything. She watched firsthand the dedicated production lines from the tiniest computer components, Atleasian knights, Manta gunships and Eagle fighter-bombers. She even watched firsthand how workers assemble enormous Gallagher class Airship. And yet, for some reason, people seemed to be obsessed about this place.

She looked at Annatar with distrust. There is something off going on here, and although she wasn't sure exactly what, but this guy, now asking about the details of Ruby's Scythe, seemed to have an ulterior motive, she was sure of it.

Not stopping his talk with Ruby, Annatar shared a look with the heiress, his lava like eyes peering into her icy blue with a hint of amusement.

Meanwhile Yang looked at Weiss, then with mischievous smile she poked Blake with her elbow.

"Warn me if the Ice Queen is looking this way." Yang said and approached the armor.

"What are you doing?" Blake asked, seeing how Yang is grabbing the armor's spiky helmet.

"I want to scare her a little." Yang replied and tried to pull the helmet off, but it didn't move an inch. "But first, I have to-" She tried again with more strength, but once again, helmet didn't move. "Oh c'mon, he glued you or something?!"

Suddenly, when Yang used more of her strength, whole armor enlightened with red light, Yang jumped away with surprise on her face, while Blake quickly turned towards the potential danger.

"What the-!?"Both she and Blake muttered just when Annatar finally noticed the commotion.

"I would prefer you to not do that!" Annatar quickly approached them with clear concern painted on his face. "This snaga would much prefer to stay in one piece. Are you hurt?" He asked.

"Pfft, no, but thanks for asking." Yang replied while Blake just looked at the thing with distrust.

"What was that!?" Ruby stared at the spikey armor with astonishment. "It looked like it emanated aura!"

"Don't be silly Ruby, objects can't possess-" Weiss wanted to jump into the conversation, but Annatar didn't let her finish her thought.

"Good observation Ruby Rose, this armor possess an aura." Annatar remarked, much to the shock of everyone. "I call it snaga and it is… an experiment." He touched the armor's shoulder pauldron, and it glowed with red, then orange light.

"You imbued with an aura!?" Ruby and Weiss asked, Ruby in amazement, Weiss with disbelief.

"How?" Blake added, and Annatar chuckled.

"As I said – it is an experiment." He replied. "Back in my home, I was able to…"

"No, no, no, that's impossible!" Weiss interjected. "Objects can't possess aura!"

"And why is that?" He leaned to her, and gave her a curious look.

"Because aura is the manifestation of a soul!" She angrily replied. "Only people, faunus and animals can unlock it!"

"But items can be used with aura…" Ruby pointed out.

"As the conduits Ruby! But can't generate it on their own!"

"Oh, I agree to what you said." Annatar nodded. "However, I must point out that this view is too narrow-minded."

"Narrow-minded?!"

"Have you ever heard the saying 'to put your heart and soul into something?'" He said with a smug smile.

"It does not mean literally!"

"Untrue – your passions and favorite creations contain within a piece of yourself, because they are integral part of you, something that can't be replaced. It gives them meaning beyond their initial purpose."

"It doesn't usually make armors possess souls my guy." Yang commented.

"That's true, unless you have my knowledge and experience." Annatar said, not hiding his pride at all. "Knowledge I could maybe share one day with someone with great potential." He shared a look with Ruby, and her eyes shined like stars due to all of this excitement, myriads of questions she could ask so intense that her thoughts mixed, so she tried to stay calm to not suddenly start babbling incoherently and embarrass herself. But the rest of the team RWBY wasn't so excited, especially Weiss, who shook her head and crossed her hands in total denial.

"For years, scientist from all around the world tried to give items soul, with no results, and now, you are telling me that you were able to achieve it? No way."

"The results speak for themselves." He gestured at the armor. "Unless you are unable to comprehend the truth presented before you. But back to the more important subject." He swiftly approached Ruby and looked at the Scythe in her hands. "Your weapon, does it have a name?"

"Don't try to change the-"

"Crescent Rose." Ruby answered without hesitation, and Weiss gave her a death glare, which went seemingly unnoticed by Rose.

"Crescent Rose." Annatar repeated, paying no attention to angry heiress. "Crescent moon is sharp, a symbol of swift end of life and the Rose, a beautiful and delicate flower, yet with thorns to fend off the greedy and uncaring hands. Two opposites in one."

"Umm yeah, that." Ruby said, and Yang giggled, knowing full well that Ruby named her Scythe like that because it sounded 'cool'.

Annatar smiled. "Yes, that's a good name for her. She would put many great Smiths from my homeland into shame."

"Really!?" Ruby almost jumped in place, but quickly composed herself, trying to remain calm. "I mean, really?"

"No doubt about it." Annatar said. "In such young age, you achieved something many strive for their entire lives." He looked at the scythe with genuine respect. "For Crescent Rose wants to be Crescent Rose."

"Tools can't feel!" Weiss interrupted, and pointed at the armor. "Just like it can't generate aura!"

"That's not true!" Both Ruby and Annatar said at the same time.

"While crafting, you can either force materials into shape, which can create a fine tool no doubt…" Annatar said.

"…But if you put enough care, work and passion…" Ruby continued.

"…You can convince the materials to take the certain shape…"

"…And create something special!"

Yang blinked few times while Blake looked first and Ruby, then at Annatar, then again at Ruby.

"It's…"

"Weird?" Yang inquired.

"I wanted to say 'uncomfortable'."

"That too."

"You try to make it sound like it is normal, but it's not!" Weiss continued and looked at Ruby. "And you! Don't you see he is toying with you!?"

"Well I think…" Ruby wanted to answer.

"So you imply that I am a fraud? A liar?" Annatar leaned closer to the heiress.

"Obviously!" Weiss kept staring into his lava like eyes, but for some reason, it started to become tiresome. "You are just an over glorified horseshoe maker, it is not possible you can give items souls. You probably use your semblance to make those things look magical, only to charge more money for them."

Yang shook her head with disapproval, not because she trusted Annatar that much, but because she was already tired of Schnee's behavior while Ruby looked that she is about to explode out of anger. Weiss tried to keep staring in the lava like eyes, and noticed the fire within them growing with anger, and with that, she finally looked away.

Blake noticed the slight shift in Annatar's body language, like he was about to slap Weiss's face. She could only assume that calling a Smith 'horseshoe maker' is like calling Faunus a critter.

"Horseshoe maker?" Annatar repeated, but then took a deep breath. "I will not bother myself with an opinion of a jealous, ignorant noble."

"I am not jealous, I am calling you out…"

"On what exactly? That I clearly rose up in the society thanks to my honed talents and hard work, while you were given everything on silver platter due to your father's status?" Weiss walked closer, but she couldn't look into his eyes. It was like they were pushing her stare away.

"You know nothing me." She declared nonetheless. "And I won't let you judge me."

"Yet you did exactly the same thing with me." Annatar pointed out with a smirk, Weiss could feel his gaze on her. And it felt the air around her grows hotter and hotter. "But unlike you, I can back up my claims." He gestured at his forge. "And what proof of your accomplishment do you have, lady Schnee?"

Ruby looked at them both, knowing that she should, as a team leader, stop this conflict, but she didn't know how, what words use to persuade them to stop arguing.

"I made to Beacon Academy by myself-"

"Isn't hunt a sport of nobility?" Annatar interrupted with a mocking grin. "From what I heard, among the genuinely gifted children studying at Beacon, there are many from wealthy families, who are there for other purposes than becoming the defenders humanity. Perhaps you are one of them?"

"Guys, we came here to have fun, not fight!" Yang finally stepped in between, separating both Weiss and Smith.

"Don't you see he is hiding something!?" Weiss countered.

"I have nothing to hide." Annatar objected. "Anyone can walk into my forge and look for what they desire."

"So If I told you that I want to roam your forge, you will have nothing against it?" Weiss asked with suspicion.

"Of course." He said, his face showing nothing, like a stone. "But if you want to find something to prove your point, then I can tell you already – there are only four broken things in my Forge, which I intend to repair soon."

Weiss walked past him towards the door to the inner forge, opened them, and looked one last time at Annatar, trying to deduce if he is bluffing or not, but his face remained still.

"Weiss, maybe we…" Ruby tried to step in, but Weiss walked into the forge. "…should talk about it."

"Nice one." Yang said to Annatar, and he gave her a shadow of a smile.

"Her arrogance is palpable, easy to direct if needed." Yang pat Annatar's back.

"She is like that all the time, don't worry about it." Yang said, and noticed that Ruby looks upset." Hey Rubes, you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, everything is fine!" Ruby answered immediately, putting a cheerful smile on her face.

Blake noticed how Annatar's body language change in an instant, to more casual and friendly, like all of the anger vanished in a second. How is he able to control his body that well?

"Ruby Rose, there is something I wish to discuss about the Crescent Rose." She approached the sisters with concern painted on his face.

"Oh, You want to talk about the scope?" She pointed at the scope in the middle, but Annatar shook his head.

"As much as I appreciate your weapon at her design, I noticed two key flaws." Before Ruby could answer to that, Annatar pointed at the handle. "First, it's made entirely of metal, which can conduct the electricity. What if you strike a power generator?"

"Now that's a shocking revelation." Yang commented with a smirk.

"Yaaaang!" Ruby cringed while Blake just rolled her eyes, and Annatar only after a while realized that was again another double-meaning sentence.

"I will just watch out for that." Ruby said after a while, when she composed herself. "But thanks to that, she is in a perfect balance!"

"Oh I agree to that. However, everything can happen in a heat of battle. What if you one day find yourself fighting in a power plant?" Ruby looked at Crescent Rose and thought about what Annatar said.

"…Perhaps some rubber won't hurt…" She thought out loud, then nodded. "And the second flaw you mentioned?" She asked, and Annatar pointed at few pieces of steel linking the blade with the gun.

"I noticed that you worked extensively to ensure the joints and mechanisms won't break because of the absurd caliber you use in Crescent Rose. However, some parts in between are slowly deteriorating. Like this one." He touched the black-painted metal, and three girls carefully looked at it. "Crystals in the material have higher density in that part due to impurity of the used alloy, so pressure on it expressed during shooting is slowly causing that part to fell out." He turned on his feet and went to the storage while three girls looked at it.

"Seems fine to me." Yang commented, and Blake nodded, even her cat eyes couldn't catch anything wrong. Even Ruby seemed doubtful.

"Do you have a magnifying glass? Or a microscope?" She asked, only to realize that Annatar already came out of the storage with a custom-made magnifying glass. "Oh, thanks."

She put Crescent Rose on a table, and looked through the glass, Yang and Blake peeking behind her.

"You were right." Ruby frowned, looked around, picked up a yellow felt-tip pen and searched for more defects, while Yang gave the Craftsman a suspicious look.

"You really saw it without a glass?" Annatar shrugged his arms dismissively.

"I am really proficient at reading materials, it was not an issue for me."

Yang didn't look convinced, but Blake was actually shocked.

Her subspecies naturally has way better eyesight than most humans, and even among her kind she was exceptional. In Vale's branch of the White Fang, only Douglas could match her, and he is not only a hawk subspecies of Faunus, but also a trained sniper.

And this guy was capable of noticing such miniscule detail, while she couldn't, which means his eyesight is better than hers. What is he exactly?

"Or maybe you have a magnifying glass in your eyes?" Yang teased a little, and Annatar left a chuckle deep in his throat.

"Perhaps." He said and looked at Ruby, who now marked all various spots on her scythe. "Don't worry, it is an easy task for someone with your skills."

"Mhm, it shouldn't be a problem!" She nodded and marked another spot with yellow color, then gently pat her weapon. "Don't worry, I will fix you up right after we go back to Beacon! You will-"

"Why wait?" Annatar interrupted, and Ruby looked at him sheepishly.

"Well, all the necessary tools are in Beacon so-"

"I am sure that every tool and material can be found in Eregion." Ruby blinked few times when Annatar said that.

"Huh?" Yang asked, and Annatar stepped aside, gesturing at his forge.

"Fires are still lit, metal is willing, all that is required is-" He shared a look with Ruby. "-a proficient Blacksmith."

"You are joking." Ruby replied, her eyes shining like stars.

"I do not." He reassured her. "You can use my forge to make necessary maintenance and replace faulty components. And before you ask – I personally made sure that every metal and alloy at my disposal are in perfect shape."

"Everything…?" Ruby muttered, looking around at the forge, and she could swear that it started to sing for her.

"Aside from the hammer in the middle." Annatar pointed at his favorite hammer put in special place on the wall. "But I am sure that the rest of tools at your disposal are more than enough." He scratched his chin with his left. "And if you need to protect yourself from the heat, you may search the storage."

"Woah woah woah, slow down goldi locks." Yang stepped in between him and Ruby, giving him looks full of suspicion. "What is the price?"

Annatar chuckled. "Are you asking me how much it will cost for using my equipment and resources?" He thought for a moment, and theatrically looked around the forge. Then his smile shined brightly. "Ah yes. It will be free. Free is enough. Consider it my way of showing appreciation to a fellow blacksmith."

Before Yang could retaliate, Ruby left an excited squealing so high-pitched that it was barely audible for a human ear, and in a burst of rose petals, she disappeared in the storage room.

"Such enthusiasm should be cherished, shouldn't it?" Annatar looked at the two remaining girls., and neither Yang and Blake responded, which made Annatar leave a heavy sigh. "I see you are not yet convinced about my intentions."

"What can I say? I am pretty sure I saw Junior goons running away, screaming like little girls." Yang commented, and for a moment, Annatar's body was tense once again, smile vanishing from his face. "You are working for Xiongs, aren't you?" Annatar scoffed.

"For? No. When I arrived to this city, I needed what you may call 'a starter' – A place and a few people. And Xiong provided me with that."

"And what was the price?" Blake asked, knowing full well how dealing with the Vale's criminal underworld can go.

"Not that high." Annatar crossed his hands. "Part of my revenue and my help with rebuilding his reputation."

"That's surprisingly low." Yang commented, and Annatar gave her a shadow of a smile.

"And I should thank you for that." He replied.

"Me?"

"I heard what you did at his club. How you humiliated him in his own domain, ruined his reputation and brought him low." Annatar recounted. "When I met him, he was on a verge of collapse - his allies left him, and his 'empire' crumbled around him like a house of cards. All I had to do was give him a hand to grab, and lift back up"

"How generous of you." Blake sarcastically remarked, and Annatar shrugged his arms.

"That's just how business works – favor for a favor. But what truly matter is not with who I made business with, but the results of the deal." He made himself comfortable on his armchair. "Do you know how Limestone was called before I arrived here?" Both Yang and Blake shook their heads in denial. "A Dumpster of the East Bank. People living in here were poor, gangs run rampant, and addicts polluted the streets. But when I arrived, I rebuilt this place with clear vision, gave the poor wealth and purpose, and removed all of the unwanted elements." Blake recounted her talk with Weiss, and confirmed her assumptions. "And Junior was necessary in bringing a semblance of order here. If not for me and him, you wouldn't put a single step in here, correct?"

"Well, yeah, I guess." Yang said. "But why are they still here? Everything seems fine now."

"Two reasons. – One, White Fang is on the rise, violently attacking everyone who is not actively supporting their cause. What if one day they come in here and burn down my forge?"

"They are-" Blake bit her tongue. For a moment she wanted to defend the White Fang, but with their recent actions – burning the stores, beating up Atlesian migrants, heists against the small banks. – Annatar's fears were, sadly, justified. Blacksmith looked at her reaction and his eyes burnt a little.

"Better to have some precautions in place." He said after a moment. "And the second reason is simple – they are cheap." Yang snickered.

"Price reflects their skills." Yang commented on that, and Annatar clenched his fist.

"Unfortunately." He admitted, and calmed down after a moment. "But unlike them, I am not a fool, Yang Xiao Long, and learn from the mistakes of others. Even if I had any 'evil' intentions, which I don't, I know it would only end with my forge becoming a pile of smoldering ruins, like the Junior's club. Or the two dozen other night clubs you demolished recently."

"You forgot about one Shish Kebab." Yang said with a grin, and felt Blake's questioning look on her shoulder. "I just told that jerk that his 'spicy' sauce wasn't any good, he didn't have to send his goons and try to kick me out!"

"My point stands." Annatar remarked. "I don't wish to fight you here, I prefer to be on the good terms with my guests. And because of your strength, I have a favor to ask."

"Favors already?" Blake rose her eyebrow, and Annatar shrugged his arms.

"It's more for Ruby Rose than me. You see, she will require a lot of water, and city's running water is not a good quality for such craft as Crescent Rose. That's why I have a well, built in the forge's backyard."

"What, you dug to the sewers?" Yang snickered, and Annatar allowed himself to laugh lightly at this remark.

"That would be counterproductive! I dug deep into the earth, and reached the running water underground. Only someone with great strength and shape can fulfill this task. And sadly-" Annatar touched his left arm. "-I worked the whole day, and strength is lacking now. Without the clear water, alloy's that Ruby Rose will use won't be as ideal as they could be." He looked at Yang. "So I have to ask you, Yang Xiao Long, for assistance, and I will compensate you for your troubles."

Yang thought for a moment, then nodded. "Aight, I will humor ya."

"Great. Walked through this door and walk until you reach the end of the corridor, it's easy to find. There should be at least two buckets you can use."

She walked towards him. "One last reminder – even think about doing something nasty to Rubes and I will burn this whole place down. You can count on that."

"I have no doubts about your word." He replied, and then Yang looked at Blake.

"I will be back soon, don't worry about it. Just watch over Rubes, she can go overboard sometimes." She said and went through the door to the inner forge, leaving Blake and Annatar alone. Both remained silent, Blake not sure what to say or if she even wants to engage into a conversation, while Annatar thought about the best course of action, all the while Ruby searched for the protection googles matching her size.

After awkward minute of silence, it was Annatar who broke it with a question.

"What kind of literature do you like, Blake?" Blake didn't know how to respond to that, since her tastes are... unique*. "I see it in your eyes, you are a dreamer." He leant to her. "Do you, by any chance, like romance stories?"

"Yes." She replied with great relief. The safest option. And upon hearing that, Annatar's smile widened.

"Splendid!" He clapped his hands. "You see, I have a small private library in the back, with some stories from my homeland, and I would love to have someone review some before I decide to publish them. And I am sure some will quite fit your tastes. Are you interested?"

Blake thought about it. On one hand, she always liked to seclude herself and read, and she was also genuinely curious what kind of books Annatar had in his possession. On the other hand, she felt responsible – someone has to look over Ruby.

But then again, Ruby will probably be fully occupied with her weapon, so no chance for even a small talk. Not to mention that she didn't have an idea how this smithing even goes, which meant that she would not be very useful.

But still, she shouldn't leave Ruby alone with him. She wouldn't say it out loud, but she didn't trust him at all. But then, she looked into his lava eyes, and He appeared to her as just a tired, hard-working, yet friendly and cheerful man, like Tukson, or her dad. He was probably the least threatening man in the city. Her instincts once again warn her for nothing.

"I may, if you really want." She said after a while, much to Sauron's amusement.

"I would be honored." He replied and pointed at the door. "Walk through this door, reach the staircase, and on the second floor there is a set of doors made from birchwood, it will be easy to find." With that said, Blake left the forge, and Sauron followed her with his gaze until she disappeared in the doorway, then he left a heavy sigh. Quite distrustful girl, but he worked with worse.

He rose up from the armchair, fixed his hair, and approached the tallest furnace, one made to melt heat-resistant metal, and replenished coal within it.

The stage is set, the actors are in places he wanted them to be.

Blue flames rose withing the furnace, and temperature in the room slowly started to rise. Satisfied, he opened a rarely used stash – with iron which fell from the stars.

Now, let the show begin. And lead actress should be ready… now.

"Yang, how do you think I look!?" Ruby burst out from the room wearing safety googles, leather gloves and long leather cloth to cover her dress. But she was surprised to find out that her teammates left already, only Annatar remaining. "Umm, where are my-?"

"I asked Yang Xiao Long for water necessary for your craft, Blake Belladonna went to my library, and Weiss Schnee probably still tries to prove something to herself." Annatar said while putting the star metal to heat up, and the heat-resistant bucket under the furnace, so when the melt, it will fall to it.

"Oh, I see." Ruby replied, feeling little down, what Sauron noticed right away.

"You would prefer them to be by your side during your craft?" She nodded in agreement.

"I mean, I am used to working alone, since I am the only one going to the Academy's forge-" Annatar nodded in understanding as Ruby talked. "-But I thought if I bring them here, then maybe we will find something we can bond over."

"You mean?" Annatar shoved coal into the furnace, and the gluttonous flames ate it whole and rose even more.

"For months I am trying to be a leader, but everything I do goes wrong!" She said entirely and sat on the armchair. "I tried to befriend Weiss, but it didn't go well, I tried to bond with Blake over books, but again fail." She left a heavy sigh.

"And Xiao Long treats you as a little sister, not a leader?" Annatar inquired.

"Exactly!" She grumbled, then looked at her feet. "Headmaster told me that being a leader is both a badge and the burden, but now, I only feel the burden."

"What Headmaster said is true, but he forgot to ask you an important question." Annatar looked at her. "What kind of leader you wish to be?"

Ruby thought for a moment, scratched her head.

"I just want to get along with my teammates, make friends and then, everything would go smoothly, right?" She looked at Annatar, and he shook his head in denial.

"Being a leader is not that easy task, some even call it being tougher than being a king. And truth to be told, there is no simple answer to that question." He said, and Ruby looked down again.

"I already know that" She said with defeated voice. Jaune got really along with his team, and they are doing amazingly in classes, while she can't even exchange a long conversation with Blake. Maybe she is a problem?

"I have a proposal." Annatar spoke up and Ruby looked at him. "We have plenty of time, since the metal is not ready yet." He pointed at the meteorite iron in the furnace, still not melting under the temperature. "How about I share with you a story from my homeland?"

"About a hero?" Ruby asked with voice full of hope.

"Indeed. About a hero who you may relate to, for he had his own struggles, and being a leader was one of them."

"Of course!" She agreed after barely a second of thought.

"Excellent." Annatar pulled out a second armchair, made himself comfortable, and took a deep breath.

"There was once a man called Turin, son of a Warrior-King of Dor-lomin Hurin. Tall was his posture, standing head above his kin, his blue like ice eyes struck fear in any foe who dared to challenge him, and his short raven hair made him stand out among the knights." Ruby rose her hand to ask a question.

"Was it because they all had long hair like you?" She asked, and after a while, Annatar laughed at the remark.

"It was not a tradition everywhere, but in Doriath, long hair was a common practice."

"Wait, Doriath?" She asked in confusion "But I thought he was a prince in the other kingdom."

"I was about to explain it." He said undeterred. "When Turin was still a child, his father answered the call of his allies and marched his warriors North, to confront the Dark Lord and assault his Fortress."

"The Dark Lord? You mean the Brother?" Ruby interrupted, and Annatar shook his head in denial.

"The Dark Brother and the Dark Lord of this story are entirely two different beings." He said. "But to not confuse you any further, I will now refer to 'my' Dark lord as either a 'Dark Master' or 'The Marrer'"

"The Marrer? Really strange title you give a bad guy." Ruby commented. "Couldn't you just name him "The Demon King'? Or why not simply use his na...?"

"I WON'T invoke the name of the Evil in here." Sauron suddenly shot with a mixture of anger and hatred, taking Ruby aback, her eyes now itching a bit while the shadows around them swelled. "And you should refrain from that too, unless you want to attract his gaze."

"But it is just a story, isn't it?" She replied, shocked by the Smith's reaction.

"Have you ever heard the saying 'In every myth, there is a seed of truth?'"

Of course she knew, and hoped that her childhood stories, for example all of the tales about the Maidens, were true to some degree. Like, she really wanted the magic to be real thing, not just a legend.

But thought about the Big Bads of these stories actually existing never crossed her mind before, and that thought sent shivers down her spine. They certainly can remain in the books, thank you very much.

Annatar calmed down after a moment, and took the deep breath.

"But we are not talking about the Marrer today. Instead, we should focus back on our hero and his father." Annatar said. "For Hurin joined his allies in the great battle before the iron gates of the Dark fortress, and they were nearly successful in their daring assault - they smashed through the strongest of the Marrer's hosts, and nearly broke into his throne room. But ultimately, despite their sacrifices and the struggles, and both due to the treachery of the people called 'Easterlings' and Marrer unleashing his most powerful beasts of war, the Evil claimed victory that day."

"Ohh, that was anticlimactic." Ruby commented with a sour taste in her mouth. "Bad guys are not supposed to win like that!" Annatar looked at her, slightly baffled by her innocence.

"There are some foes you can't defeat with a blade alone." Annatar remarked "But story of the battle is for another time, what matters now were the consequences. For the Dark Master decided to, as the reward for turning on their allies, grant the Dor-lomin to the Easterlings."

"Turin's kingdom..." Ruby gasped, and he nodded in confirmation, and the air around them became colder despite the flames behind them.

"He was only eight years old when they came in great numbers, slaughtering and enslaving now defenseless subjects of Hurin, and, as they settled on the newly conquered land, following the Dark Master's direct command, they sought the prince of Dor-lomin, but Turin, thanks to his mother, Queen Morwen, survived, and was sent to the hidden Kingdom of Doriath, whose king, Elu Thingol, was an ally of Hurin."

"She didn't go with him?"

"Many sought refuge from the barbaric invaders and found it in the domain now ruled by Morwen, for the Easterlings, thanks to her unnatural beauty, assumed she is a powerful witch and were afraid of her."

Ruby giggled at that, now imagining large group of grown man running away after seeing a beautiful lady. What would they do if they tried to do these horrible things on Patch and met her mom? She would kick their sorry butts!

"She knew that if she leaves with her son, she will forsake thousands of people to the fate worse than death. And she also knew that if Turin remains with her, the Marrer won't let him live for long." Annatar continued. "And thus, with broken heart, she had to let him go, while she remained behind, wanting to wait until the storm pass and her people are safe."

"And Turin reached that 'Doriath' kingdom safely?" Ruby asked, and he confirmed with a nod of the head. "How Doriath looked like?"

---

Weiss walked into the living room and looked around for something, anything.

"You are hiding something and I know it." She thought while she opened every drawer. "I just need to find where."

She knew his type – to the outside world, they are this benevolent philanthropists, who fund charity, help those in need, are on the forefront of innovation and all that. But when cameras are off, they always turn out to be callous, and their only goal is either profit, power or both, at the same time.

She slammed the drawer in barely contained anger. Thinking about her father only made her more angry, not to mention people he brought to their house, like Arthur Watts, who, as far as she knew, invented and developed almost all battle robots and weapons used not only by today's Atlesian military but also SDC. Or Sepp, basically a brutal enforcer of her father's orders, and a really creepy man – his grin and missing eye scared her a lot when she was a child, and Sepp knew that really well, yet continued to scare her anyway for his own amusement.

Her grandad would never work with such men. NEVER.

She noticed a red pen put on the table, and Weiss reached for it. She examined it carefully, yet it seemed to be just a normal pen. Hand crafted no doubt, with 'story-telling pen' engraved on it, but aside from that, it was just an ordinary pen.

"He is not that good is he?" She smirked, and pen suddenly jumped out from her hand, flew the nearest paper, and quickly wrote on it.

'He is not that good, is he?' said the Heiress, which was followed by a surprised look. It quickly wrote on the piece of paper.

"I wasn't surprised!"

'I wasn't surprised' she denied, but her face indicates otherwise." Pen quickly wrote again. 'Now she pouted, and decided to leave."

Weiss stormed off the living room, leaving the smug pen behind, as it slowly fell down on the paper.

---

"How Doriath looked like?" Annatar repeated, scratched his chin and thought about it, recalling the reports from his spies, information's he gathered from the captured elves, and his own experience, when he ventured to Doriath after the Gridle was lifted, days before sons of Feanor finished what the Dwarves started. "It was a really fascinating place." He said after a while, while the flames around him started to grow again and give warmth. "Well hidden from the outside world by the Great Forest, which blossomed even during the harshest winters. The leaves on the tall trees were not only green or red, but bloomed with every color known to man, every tree bore eatable, sweet fruits, so none would starve. The air itself seemed full of life there, revitalizing with every breath. From what the tellers say, Doriath was a really beautiful sight to behold during the spring." Smith remarked while Ruby started to imagine the tall oaks around her with colorful leaves, the gentle wind blowing her hair with care, and the sweet apples falling right under her feet...

"Kingdom's inhabitants were attuned to the forest, capable of making their homes in the very trees." Annatar continued and Ruby chuckled.

"They made nests like birds?"

"It was far more than that - They were able to sing to the trees what shape they should take, and the plants obliged to their requests."

"They made houses out of living trees!? That's awesome!"

"The most impressive place in the whole Kingdom was its capital, Menegroth, which translates to the 'City of the Thousand Grotto's'. The finest Dwarven architects and Doriath's greatest craftsman worked day and night to build the city inside the largest hill in the whole Kingdom, pulling so many boulders that they were able to build three smaller hills around the Capital." Ruby's eyes widened in awe, but she didn't say a word. "Inside, Menegroth was adorned with sculptures and woodcraft so detailed that they could be mistaken for real animals and people, golden fountains from which a crystal clear water poured forth and it tasted like finest wine, and carefully placed silver mirrors reflected the light of day into the city below, so even deep in the Grotto's, Menegroth's inhabitants could still bask in the sunlight."

Ruby leant closer, her imagination running wild. She always loved fairy tales and heard many stories, but few were as detailed as this one. It was like she listened to history lesson in Doctor Oobleck's class, but waaay more interesting. She could feel like she was there, walking down the silver halls herself.

Yet, for some reason, she also had a different, nostalgic feeling, like Annatar describes something she should know or recognize by now.

"And in the heart of the city there was a throne room, from which Doriath's king, Elu Thingol, and his wife, Meliana, ruled their realm. Above them, carved into the ceiling was a perfect reflection of the night sky full of the shining silver stars..." Annatar paused at this moment.

"Something's wrong?" Ruby asked, but Annatar shook his head in denial.

"When I think of it now, I could spend hours describing the First Kingdom alone, while the tale of Turin will be left unattended."

"That long!?" Ruby shouted in disbelief and rose from her armchair, only to sit back after a moment of consideration. "I mean, I have nothing against that , but..." She glanced at the fires behind Annatar, and he gave her a friendly chuckle in response.

"I understand, you wish to be with your craft, and I admit, this tale is already overdue, and I didn't even reached its beginning." He rose up from his seat, shoveled more coal into the furnaces, then walked to the table, picked up cup of tea, then returned to Ruby and handed her a cup. "But I ask for your patience, for the flames still have enough fuel, yet the metal is not heated enough." Annatar said, and Ruby nodded after moment and took a sip of her drink. "So, after a long, yet safe journey, Turin reached the Kingdom and found himself before the King Thingol's court, and king Elu took him in and treated like a son."

"Ohhh, that's so sweet."

"Turin grew up into the man I described to you at the beginning - he was tall and strong, and thanks to the tutelage of the best of Thingol's knights, he became master of the blade and bow, capable of pinning a fly to the tree from two hundred feet at night. Mighty was his voice, full of confidence and passion, unshakeable was his sense of justice, but he was still young and brash, tackling every obstacle head on, and was prone to anger, rarely allowing insults slide."

Ruby already could imagine the guy, sitting on the horse in the heroic pose, holding a... huh. Now really important question came to mind.

"Did he have a cool weapon?" She asked. "Every hero has one!" Annatar snickered.

"So did Turin, for he later wielded the powerful blade made of black iron called Gurthang, which translates to 'the Iron of Death'. It was capable of piercing even through the scales of the dragons. He also had a 'Dragon helmet', a family heirloom created hundreds of years ago and given to Turin's ancestors as the sign of ever-lasting friendship between the House of Hador, and the High kings of the Noldor. On top it bore a sculpture of the golden dragon and was adorned with gold and silver, yet underneath, it was forged from steel so durable, that it could withstand any flame." Ruby's smile widened, now the mental image complete with the old-fashioned, yet badass blade. "But not in this moment of the story." Sword popped out of existence, leaving both Turin empty-handed, and Ruby disappointed.

"For now, he had a friend. Beleg Cúthalion was his name, already an accomplished knight and the greatest archer in Thingol's service by the time Turin arrived, for he fought in many battles against the Marrer, even side by side with Hurin. He was responsible for teaching archery and swordsmanship to the young prince of Dor-lomin, and even though they were the opposites in the character - Beleg was stoic and calm, Turin was hot-headed and impulsive, thanks to the time they spent together, two men became good friends, and soon, they were like brothers to one another."

Ruby nodded, slightly envy that Turin could make friends so easily while she struggles to establish some sort of connection with her own teammates, especially Weiss. If only she could only learn this secret.

"But not everyone loved son of Hurin." Annatar continued, and Ruby lifted cup full of tea to her mouth. "One of the lords named Searos grew resentful of him, for Turin, who he considered unworthy outsider, basked in Thingol's favor. So one day, he lured Turin away from the king's court and ambushed him in the forest, but Turin was better swordsman, and when he defeated Searos, he stripped him naked and forced to run through the woods."

Ruby violently spew her drink all over the floor, much to Annatar's surprise.

"Ewww! that's just gross!" She shook her head with disgust painted on her face, trying to remove this particular image from her head. "Just why!?"

"I think Searos attacked him like a wild animal, so Turin treated him as such. But I agree , it was still... distasteful, to say the least." Annatar answered without even blinking, observing Ruby's reactions with amusement. "Is something wrong?"

"No, No! Everything is fine!" Ruby left an awkward chuckle while trying to focus on something else...

Why things like naked butts don't want to leave your head, while topics in Professor Lovas's class disappear minutes after? That's not fair!

"But tragically, during the chase, panicked Searos tried to jump across the river, but he fell on the sharp rocks and lost his life. And Turin, afraid of prosecution, fled the Kingdom."

"Hey, he shouldn't be punished for that!" Ruby objected. "Aside from... you know, he just defended himself!"

"Searos was still a noble, so it could went sour for our hero." Annatar replied. "But in my personal opinion, Turin left Doriath because he heard the call."

"What call?" Ruby asked with curiosity.

"Of adventure of course!" Annatar laughed. "When he grew up, he heard about the heroes of the past, about his father's glorious deeds, and he wanted to forge a legend of his own, to strike at the Marrer and avenge his father. And sitting idle in the hidden Kingdom was not in his nature." He leant closer to Ruby, and flames behind him rose up. "I reckon you heard that call too, didn't you?"

After a moment, Ruby nodded in confirmation, surprised how that remark fell really close - After all, when she graduated from Signal, she left her safe home on Patch to seek adventure in Vale, to kill some Grimm and to be a hero like her Mom. And by sheer luck (?), she stumbled on the dust robbery and Professor Goodwitch, and got to Beacon. After a brief pause, Annatar picked up the tale.

"Turin reached the lands far from Doriath, where lived humans oppressed by the Dark Master's minions, while numerous bands of brigands roamed the countryside, seeking easy target to rob and kill." Annatar continued his tale. "And soon he found himself in one such band. After some time, thanks to his skill and charisma, he became their leader, and turned them from bunch of marauders into a capable warband. Then, he and his bunch of misfits started skirmishing against the Marrer's thralls, ambushing many patrols, destroying enemy's caravans and freeing many slaves."

"Kick their butts Turin." Ruby said under her nose with a wide smile on her face, but after Annatar rose his right eyebrow in amusement, Ruby gave him an apologetic smile. "Sorry, force of habit."

"You have nothing to apologize for." Annatar remarked and continued. "Dark Master's minions started to fear him, avoiding lands south to the great woodlands of Brethil. But Marrer's had countless legions at his disposal, and soon, he sent thousands of his thralls, ordering them to either catch or kill Turin and his band. Day and night he and his men had to run through the woods with little to no sleep, fighting and retreating from their pursuers, in desperate attempt to escape captivity and find a safe shelter."

"It looks really bad." Ruby said, worrying for Turin and his men. Not only chased by the bad guys, but they probably also had to fend off many Grimm. "Did they manage to escape?" Annatar chuckled darkly, which only worried Ruby even more.

"Oh, he was a lucky man, but his fortune came a cost." He looked deep into her life. "A price, he ultimately wouldn't be able to repay."

---

Yang approached the stone well in the courtyard with two empty buckets, giving the well and amused smile.

"He wasn't joking." She thought. "He really dug it in his backyard."

She attached one bucket to the rope, like she did many times back on Patch. Of course, she had running water back home, but dad always preferred to use the water from the well whenever he could, because in his words "Water from the well is as well as the water from the pipe, and it costs only a bit of your strength!"

When Yang pushed the bucket into the well, she briefly thought about her dad back home, how he had to raise up both her and Ruby alone, and he certainly did his best, even though it was clearly exhausting, so when she grew up a little bit more, she tried to help him whenever she could. And one of such tasks was picking up water from the well. And just like her dad said - it worked really well on her muscles.

But as the bucket continued to fall, her thoughts became more bitter. Dad had to raise her and Rubes alone, occasionally uncle Qrow showed up, but his visits were always brief. Dad had to work tirelessly day and night, just to give her and Ruby normal childhoods, while her mom just... left. Why did she left? Was it because mom never wanted to burden herself with her daughter? Or maybe because she hated...

Yang smack her fist against the stone, trying not to think about it anymore. When she finds that Goldi cow, she will choke all of the answers from him, that's for sure.

Only now she noticed that the bucket is still falling down.

"How deep he dug it?" She thought and peeked into the well. The rope was still rapidly descending and the bucket already disappeared in the darkness, yet still no splash.

"Hello!" She yelled into the well.

"Hello! Hello! Hello!..." The echo descended deep into the Earth.

"It's gonna take a while." She thought out loud.

---

"One day, during a particularly long restless night, Turin's men noticed three shadows sneaking near their camp, and they gave chase without a second thought, fearing that the shades were Dark Master's spies. And shady figures started to run away."

"Were they the guys serving the Big Bad?" Ruby asked, now expecting the worst from this introduction.

"They weren't, but Turin couldn't know that when one of his closest men named Androg, fired an arrow after the fleeing." Ruby gasped.

"Did he land a hit on someone!?" She genuinely hoped that it was just a warning shot, or that he missed, because if he accidently hit an innocent…

"They managed to catch one of the fleeing shades, which turned out be an old, petty dwarf called Mim." The smith said.

"This isn't an answer!" Ruby pointed out and rose up the chair, but Annatar rose his hand to calm her down.

"Patience, You will have your answer soon Ruby Rose." Ruby sat back, nervously awaiting the continuation. "Turin's band talked to their leader, pointing out that they can't drag an old captive with them, telling Turin that they should kill Mim to not slow them down, but petty dwarf begged Turin for his life, promising to show him a safe shelter, where they can hide from their pursuers without fear of being discovered. And Turin showed mercy and agreed to his proposal."

"This isn't mercy." Ruby interrupted, but when she saw that Annatar looked at her with surprise, she looked away. "Sorry, you can continue…"

"No, no." Annatar leant closer, flames behind him sparked with curiosity. "I am curious what did you mean by 'it was not mercy'." Ruby cleared her throat.

"I mean, they nearly killed Mim, they keep him hostage, and now wonder that they should kill him or not! What else he could do!?" Ruby explained her point, and Annatar actually thought about it for brief moment.

"But also consider that, from Turin's point of view, he couldn't trust this dwarf – Mim pleas and cries could be a strategy to save his life, and that shelter he promised could be a trap set by his foes."

"Yeah but they still considered to kill him even though he did nothing wrong! That's not how heroes are supposed to act like!" Fallen Maia chuckled, knowing that if she knew the story of Mim beforehand, she wouldn't be so eager to defend him**.

"Turin was first and foremost a leader, responsible for his men." He said. "And leaders are often put before dilemma's like this – trust their instincts and morals, which will go against the wishes of your group, or listen to your teammates. In Turin's case, First option, which was to trust Mim, carried the immense risk, for it could result in finally finding respite, but may as well cause their certain doom. Or he could choose an easy way and kill the dwarf, but it would mean that his band will continue to run from their enemies in a desperate hope that they will finally lose them in the wilderness."

"One doesn't involve taking life." Ruby remarked.

"But second may as well result in them losing theirs." Annatar leant closer to her. "Tell me Ruby Rose, what would you do in Turin's position take this risk?" Annatar asked instead. "Think about it – you will risk not only your life, but life of your companions, maybe even friends. Would you trust the dwarf and spare his life, even though your men disagree?"

Ruby thought about Annatar's point, imagined that it was she and her team in Emerald forest or Forever Fall, they are on the run from a horde of Grimm after few days without sleep, then noticed someone sneaking near their camp, caught him and…

"I would." She replied without a second thought, knowing that it is a good answer.

"Maybe not a wisest of choices, but truly merciful." He made himself comfortable again on the chair. "And Turin made that choice as well, even though his men disagreed. And Mim lead them to his home – A thousand feet high hill above the Moorlands called Amon Rudh, which translated to the 'Bald hill' for on top of it grew deep red flowers in such a quantity, that from afar it looked like the hill-top bled."

"It's not a very good hideout…"

"Marrer's minions couldn't find hidden paths leading to the halls hidden beneath hill, the paths Turin's group traversed safely thanks to Mim. And, as the dwarf promised, Turin's men finally found a safe shelter."

"Then Turin was right trusting him!" Ruby rose up and clapped her hands, while Annatar chuckled.

"Indeed. But when they walked into now empty halls, one of the shades that escaped earlier revealed itself to be son of Mim, Ibun, who whispered something to his father, and both dwarfs quickly ventured deep into their home, and Turin followed them." Ruby's smile faded at that moment, her worries returned tenfold. "And soon, he found Mim crying on top of the body of his second son, Khim."

"Nooooo…"Ruby sat back with a grim expression.

"Turned out, Androg's arrow struck true, right in the dwarf's back, and Khim succumbed to his wounds, and his father arrived too late to share one final farewell." Ruby looked down on her feet, while the flames dimmed, invading shadows into the room.

"That's not fair…" Ruby said with saddened voice.

"Life is rarely fair, Ruby Rose."

"If only Androg didn't shot that arrow…"

"Androg acted rashly, but why don't you blame Turin for the tragedy?" Annatar countered. "After all, Androg acted at his command."

"But Turin couldn't know that they weren't enemies!"

"Neither could Androg, but he listened to Turin's command regardless, for he trusted his leader fully." Annatar reminded her. "I am not saying that Androg wasn't at fault here, only that, like a ruler must take responsibility for his vassals actions, leader is responsible for his men."

"But…" Ruby wanted to counter, but Annatar continued.

"Every leader, no matter how he leads, must not only be ready to take action and choose in heat of the moment, but also take responsibility for not only his ill-judgement, but also for his subordinates who followed his command. For how people under him can entrust their lives to their leader, when he is indecisive and never takes responsibility for his mistakes?"

Ruby didn't look into Annatar's eyes, instead thinking about what he said. Even if it is just a story, she wanted to give a hug the grieving dwarf, help him in some way, deep down knowing that it would bring little comfort. Annatar meanwhile decided to give her a moment before continuing, he rose up from his seat and shoved more coal into the fires.

---

"Few?" Blake thought while looking around the Forge's library with wide-opened eyes. "THAT's what he considers 'few'?"

In all honesty, it was really small room with three large bookshelves, a table and an armchair made of leather, but still, the amount of books on every shelf was astounding.

Each bookshelf was filled to be brim with all-kinds of literature – from scientific to fantasy, from Remnant's oldest fairy tales to more recent novels, like a 'Man with Two Souls'. The list seemingly went on and on, and Blake was more than happy. She felt like she is again in Tukson's bookshop, where she spent many days and nights reading all the books she wanted and forget about the concerns of the world or her responsibilities when she was in the White Fang.

But unlike Tukson's collection, Annatar's library was carefully organized, each book had it's place and seemed to be carefully catalogued, while Tuk had so many books that he often had to put piles of them in the corners.

For a moment her eyes lingered on the Remnants Fairy tales, but she shook her head and moved on. She already read most of them more than once, and although she kept these stories close to her heart, currently she was more curious about what other kinds of literature Smith has in his collection.

While she walked past the table, she noticed that on the table there is an open book with still empty pages, with various history books, some even written by Doctor Oobleck**. "Is he writing a book?" Curious, she took the book and looked at it's brown cover.

"Chronicle of the Seven Year War." She read. "He is going to write about a Great War?" She opened the first page.

"Introduction:

"Seven Years War, more commonly known as the Great War, was a devastating conflict which occurred exactly eighty seven years ago, and involved all major Kingdoms on the Planet – On one side fought coalition of two kingdoms - Mantle and Mistral, on the other fought the Kingdom of Vale, later joined by the Kingdom of Vacuo. Although this conflict shaped the foundation of today's world, giving birth to not only the institution of the Huntsman Academies, but also dissolution of the standing militaries and beginnings of the organization which later will become the White Fang, it is surprisingly ill-documented, some fellow historians even claim that this conflict was finally decided when King Callahan decimated Mantle's men at the shores of Vacuo. In this Chronicle, I intend to gather sources from both sides of the conflict to formulate an unbiased analyses, and also attempt to chronologically put all of the events during this war – from the smallest skirmishes to the largest land battles, through smallest acts of sabotage to the world-scaled game of espionage. I will also examine both sides military strategies, victories and blunders and theorize why the events went in this direction.

This is a fair warning Dear Reader – Although I will portray the events as truthfully as possible, there will be a lot of speculation, which might be right or wrong. My intention here is not only to present the history, but also to take a look at the events which impact the whole world from a new, fresh perspective."

Blake flipped the page, and just like she predicted – He only just started with few sentences, probably lacking time to write more. She put down the book, but couldn't stop thinking about the Great War.

It was the greatest tragedy which befell Remnant – so many people lost their life and achieved nothing, entire towns were ravaged by the hordes of Grimm, many mercenaries turned into bandits clans that roam the countryside to this day, their sons and daughters following their parents footsteps. But thanks to this conflict, Faunus finally decided to stand up for themselves, and thanks to their determination, The Treaty of Vytal guaranteed them equal rights to humans.

Unfortunately, like Adam said many times – "They gave us a lot of promises, but didn't follow any of them."

She shook her head, trying to stop thinking about members of the Fang she left behind, about the friends she made there. She tried to push away thoughts about Nikki and her brothers, about Larian, Dougles…

Adam…

She pushed these thoughts deep back in her head. It was past her, she moved on, and followed different path, the one which didn't require bloody revolution.

Her eyes lingered on the third bookshelf, where she noticed a book with white cover, from which she could swear she hears… a sea?

Curious, she pulled out the book and read it's title:

Tale of the King Tar-Aldarion.

Balke opened the first page, and gentle breeze touched her cheeks, and the air filled with salt went into her lungs.

"This is a tale about a man, whose heart was split between the love of his life, and his passion which burnt brighter than Sun, unable to let one go for the other, which made him try to claim both.

Our story began at the sea…"

---

"May I continue?" Annatar finaly asked after handing Ruby a cup of tea.

"Mhm." Ruby slightly tilted her head an took sip of the tea while Annatar returned to his seat.

"Witnessing the grief of the dwarf , Turin felt the immense guilt, for it was because of him that Mim lost his oldest son. At that moment, he knelt before the dwarf and pledged that he will repay for Khim's death in any way possible, and the petty dwarf, upon seeing Turin's sincere and noble spirit, deeply touched by gesture, decided to agree, stating that it may not heal his bleeding heart, it set it slightly at ease. And thus, the hill was renamed into Bar-en-Danwedh, which translates to "The House of Ransom". Quite fitting name, don't you agree?" Ruby nodded in response.

"At least he tried to set things right in some way." Ruby thought to herself, still sad about the tragedy.

"Thanks to the pact with Mim, Turin finally had a safe space to dwell, hidden from the Marrer's long reach, which his warband used to reorganize, sharp weapons and make arrows. And during next spring, they relaunched the campaign with twice the ferocity, slaughtering many more enemies, gathering spoils and freeing many slaves. Each and every time, Turin lead his men from the forefront, fighting and bleeding alongside his warriors, earning their sworn and unquestioned loyalty."

Now, Ruby could basically hear how Turin's chant his name after a victorious fight, and said hero holding his sword high in a victory pose. Maybe one day, people will chant her name too? Not that she really wanted it, but it would feel nice.

"During winter, they returned to their new home and secluded themselves in its warm quarters, preparing for the next spring." Annatar continued his tale, allowing Rose's imagination to run wild over Turin's heroism. "And during that time, Mim and Turin kept each other's company during the long, dark winter nights near the fire, drinking, sharing stories about their peoples, families, generally having a good time. And thanks to that, Mim started to warm up to Turin, for the first time recognizing an outsider as his friend."

"How is that easy for him?!" Ruby internally shouted,

"One particularly long night, Mim shared a story of his race, that they lived in the eastern parts of the continent, but they were sadly hunted down throught the years, and brought to the near extinction, and thanks to that, their numbers dwindled so much and effectively, he and his son Ibun were last members of their race." Ruby shivered in horror.

"The Marrer is not playing around. What a monster." She noted, and Sauron snickered, for his favorite part of the story finally arrived.

"Although Dark Master had many faults and caused many atrocities, this one wasn't his doing, for petty dwarves were hunted down by the neighboring kingdoms, including Doriath." That sudden revelation shocked Ruby entire being, which froze her in place. "That's why Mim hated with passion every…"

"WHY THEY DID THAT!?" Ruby snapped, but Sauron seemed unbothered.

"Simple, they looked differently, and everyone assumed that they were some kind of more intelligent animals at best, or another of Marrer's abominations at worst, no better than rabid wolves."

"That's disgusting!"

"To their credit, when people of Doriath and Nargothrong learnt their mistake, they ceased their hunts at once. But the damage was already done." Sauron added, relishing at the Firstborn's hypocrisy.

"It shouldn't have happen in the first place! What if someone suddenly decided to hunt down all the Faunus because they look different!? That's… just awful!"

"What a fascinating comparison!" Annatar remarked. "So, if you found anyone mistreating Faunus, you would intervene and stop that atrocity, even though Faunus are different from you?"

"Of course!" Ruby replied with unshaken confidence. "It doesn't matter how someone looks, everyone should be treated fairly!"

Annatar watched Ruby for a moment, finding no lie in her voice and gaze, and he laughed dryly. "If only more thought like you do, Ruby Rose. But we should go back to the story." After venting down, Ruby sat back on the armchair.

"Story of Turin's deeds soon reached far and wide, from the nearby princedoms to the faraway kingdoms, putting Marrer's grip over the continent in peril. This made Marrer redouble his effort on eliminating the threat to his rule, but his thralls were unable to find Turin's elusive warband." Ruby giggled, imagining group of evil men staring at the large hill and saying "There is no way they hide there".

"Soon, news about Turin's war reached even the isolated Kingdom of Doriath, where it found Turin's Brother-in-Arms, Beleg Cuthalion, and the noble warrior asked his liege for permission to leave Doriath and join Turin's efforts."

"And Thingol agreed? Didn't try to stop him or anything?"

"Oh, he did more than that. – He told Beleg that when he find Turin, he first must tell him that the king found him not guilty for Searos murder…"

"NO!" Ruby cringed and covered her eyes, throwing Annatar aback for a moment. He expected a little different reaction, not understanding that the name of the treacherous noble brought back the budd image Ruby desperately tried to erase from her mind. She took few deep breaths and looked at Annatar. "Can you skip that particular part please?" Annatar frowned, but then shrugged his arms.

"Very well, in short – Thingol absolved Turin off his crime and told Beleg to first offer Turin a chance to return to his adoptive home, and if Turin decides to not return, then Beleg was allowed to stay with his brother. And as a sign of the goodwill, he also gave Beleg Turin's family heirloom – a mighty Dragon Helmet and ordered him to give it to Turin when they meet. And after long night of saying goodbyes to his friends and family, Beleg departed Doriath and traveled to Amon Rudh." Ruby rose her hand again to ask a question.

"How was he able to find Turin? Marrer's guys were running in circles for months." Ruby pointed out, and Annatar acknowledged that with a slight gesture of his hand.

"Beleg was not only a great archer, but also a proficient hunter and an expert tracer, he was able to quickly find leads on Turin's whereabouts. But truth to be told, it still took him many sunsets." Ruby giggled again, now imagining Beleg standing before the hill and thinking 'Are you for real Turin?'.

"When brothers reunited in the House of Ransom, just like Beleg promised to his liege, he handed over the Dragon Helmet to it's rightful heir, and asked Turin one more time to go home with him. But as expected, Turin refused to return, for he felt that his actions finally had an impact on the world, and Beleg asked Turin if he could stay with him and fight against the Evil together. And thus, Cuthalion became Turin's second in command, and soon proved to his foes why he was the best archer in the world, falling many mighty warbests with a single arrow to the throat."

Ruby listened to the story and as much as she enjoyed it, something was… missing. She felt like Annatar omits something.

"Together they led their experienced warband to many victories – thanks to their fight, not only lands around the Amon Rudh were freed from the Marrer's grasp, but also territories from the great Woodland of Brethil to the Great Kingdom of Nargothrond were cleansed from the Dark Master's forces. Marrer's legions were so terrified of Turin and Beleg, that they started to refer to the lands around Amon Rudh as "The Land of the Bow and Helmet", and avoided venturing there, knowing there will be no mercy from the Dread helm, as they called Turin.

She wanted to cheer, but deep down she knew that there is a small piece of puzzle that she miss.

Wait, small…

"Their noble struggle brought them fame and glory, and even more eager warriors joined their ranks, and once tiny warband turned into-"

"But what about Mim?" Ruby suddenly asked, for the first time in this conversation surprising Annatar.

"What about him?" He asked, raising left eyebrow.

"Like, you told me that his family was hunted by people from Doriath, and since Beleg is from Doriath, shouldn't he be… upset?"

First, it was a chuckle, deep in Annatar's throat, then it turned into booming, happy laughter.

"I do LOVE when the audience is able to call out the twist." He said, and looked at Ruby like a proud teacher looks at his favorite student in class. "And you are right, Mim was full of rage. He hated Beleg's kind to the core, blaming them for every tragedy that befell his kin, and couldn't endure hosting one he called 'a mindless killer' in his home."

"Turin didn't do anything about? He didn't try to talk with Mim?"

"He was too busy planning his victories." Annatar remarked. "His pride grew with each won skirmish, each slain foe. And Mim? He never went with them to ambush the enemy, never participated in a battle with the axe in hand. Turin had far more important matters to focus on instead of talking with an old dwarf."

"But… Turin promised that he will repay him! They were friends! Why he started to behave like this!?"

"Pride is an insidious killer, Ruby Rose. If unchecked, it grows within your heart and mind, it will blind you to reason and to struggles of others." Smith went silent for a moment. "That, and also imagine how little time he had. At first, he lead few dozen men in small skirmishes, but now, it was more like a small army, he had to plan missions for smaller squads, think about provisions, and people in the land around counted on his protection. It may sound sad, but he probably just forgot about Mim."

"Forgot…?" Ruby looked at her feet with horrified gaze. "It is that easy to lose a friend!? Due to the lack of time? Is this even possible?" She remembered one of the lessons from Professor Port, when he explained that although Hunters study as a Team, often each member is sent on a individual mission which may take weeks, even months. And hunters losing their lives is also not uncommon.

"Could it be that one day, I and Yang go our separate ways and just… forget about each other?" That terrifying thought sent shivers down her spine.

"Mim felt betrayed by the man, who promised him his friendship." Annatar continued. "Felt replaced by the outsider, forced to endure watching a man he despised dining in his house, surrounded by men who looked down on him for his age and size." Annatar kept going. "Thus, an old wound opened, filled his soul with bile and spite, tempting him to take what he viewed as just vengeance, but part of him still loved son of Hurin, and withheld his hand. Instead, he often left the Bar-en-Danwedh, officially to look for sweet berries, mushrooms, fruits, but in reality he wanted to 'cool off', as you may call it."

"Yang also has too cool off from time to time." Ruby added to show that she quite understands Mim here. Academy, exams, teachers, Cardin – it can really get under the skin, and Yang always had… a short temper.

But recently, for some reason, Yang goes downtown every night, and didn't tell her where or why. Ruby tried to ask what's wrong, but Yang dismissed every question or concern, telling her to 'Not worry about it'.

Now. Ruby just hopes that Yang didn't get into too much trouble.

Annatar paused and thought about what Ruby mentioned.

"I see." He simply said. "Then better hope that it won't end like Mim's ventures."

"Yeah…" After a moment what Ruby realized what he said. "Wait, what happened to Mim?"

"He got captured by Marrer's forces one day, a really nasty bunch – orcs they were called." Much to his disbelief, Ruby reacted with a smile.

"Oh, it's not that bad! Orcs are honorable, probably they were just forced or manipulated by the Big Bad."

"…What?" Sauron NEVER expected to hear the words 'honorable' and 'orc' in the same sentence.

"If Mim just talks to them, everything will be-"

"Are we talking about the same orcs?" Annatar rose his hand to stop her, and this time, it was Ruby who was dumbfounded.

"Aren't the orcs this big, strong and honorable green guys, who were manipulated by a demon to wage war on the Burning Legions behalf?" Smith rose his eyebrow.

"Burning what now?"

"They have this large front teeth?" She pointed at her lower jaw, but Annatar just shook his head in denial. "Did you never hear about WoW?" He shook his head again. "A video game?"

He sat there for a moment, processing what Rose just told him, and then, much to her surprise, he burst out laughing like a maniac for better than a minute, nearly falling of the chair.

"I see we face a cultural difference here." He said after wiping a tear from his face. "For orcs in this story are rather frail, small, greyskinned cutthroats with irregular teeth, and a particular taste for human flesh."

"Oh." Ruby processed this information while Annatar calmed down, and mental image in her head shifted. "Ohhhhh… That's bad."

"Indeed." Annatar said, still greatly entertained. "And, as they discussed how exactly should they prepare him, Mim once again beg for his life, but the monsters were just laughing and making a large campfire." His face became dark and serious. "So, in last ditch effort to save his life, he offered the orcs the way into the Amon Rudh." Ruby's eyes widened in horror.

"Wait wait wait, did he just…"

"Yes, he offered them a way straight into Turin's hideout, only wanting from these creatures that they won't kill Turin, and let him kill Beleg, and since it aligned with orcs goals, they gleefully accepted."

"But… He lied, of course!" Ruby tried to deny the reality. "He was Turin's friend, he wouldn't betray him like that!"

"His will to live and hatred for Beleg extinguished the love he had for Turin." Annatar snuffed out the hope. "The orcs led by Mim came at night, when Turin's men rested after a weeks of constant battles, taking them off guard."

"No…" Ruby's voice slowly died down.

"Turin was captured nearly at the beginning of the battle, while many of his men were slaughtered in their nightgowns."

"No…" It was now a whisper.

"Those who had time to take their weapons run on the top of the hill, where they fought to the last men against the tide of enemies."

"No…" Barely pickable sound left her lips.

"But despite their bravery, the orcs broke their last stand, killing nearly everyone, for those who survived had to hide between their dead. That day, top of the hill truly bled." Ruby didn't say anything, merely stared down at her feet, while Annatar finished his tale.

'This isn't how heroes stories go.' She thought on a verge of tears. Heroes should win, even against the odds.' She thought, even a tear fell on her cheek. "That's not fair!" She looked at Annatar, and he shrugged his arms in response, unfazed by her reaction.

"I already told you – life is rarely fair. And the Marrer was not a foe you can defeat with a blade." He said, then looked at the flames in the furnace. "The metal is almost ready, but there is one thing I wish to ask you, Ruby Rose."

"What kind of question?" She sniffed, trying to calm down.

"In your opinion, was Turin a good leader?" he asked, and startled her. "Think about it before you answer."

'Was Turin a good leader? Of course he wasn't, he just got…' Ruby almost said, but realized that was untrue – Turin didn't lose a battle, it was Mim who betrayed them. She looked into Annatar's eyes and knew that the answer should more complex than that.

She thought about the whole story again from the very beginning, carefully examining every major plot point of the story, and after a long time, she looked again into Annatar's eyes and spoke:

"No."

"And why is that?"

"Being a team leader isn't just a title you carry into battle, but a badge you wear constantly." Ruby quoted a sentence headmaster once told her. "Turin was too focused on battles, but failed to be a friend. If he just spent more time with Mim, this wouldn't have happened."

Annatar thought about what she said, and found the answer… satisfying. He started walking around his forge.

"As you know, there are commanders who lead their soldiers into battle, who must know their men strengths and weaknesses, and who enforce their orders with discipline, resolving conflict between him and his men, but not having time for personal arguments between his soldiers. They don't even have to like him, he just must make sure that they obey his command." Annatar grabbed the ceremonial blade on the wall. "Then, there are rulers, who enforce their orders with their authority, and must resolve personal arguments between his subjects, for if not, their realms will fall apart." He grabbed the golden crown from the shelf, walked up to her and presented her both the crown and the sword. "Tell, to which category leader should fall into? Should he be a commander, or a ruler?"

"Sounds like the leader should be… both?" Ruby asked with a hint of uncertainty.

"Good answer." Annatar said, and put both the sword and the crown on the table. "Leaders must take both from the ruler, and from the commander, and be more than them – Like a commander-" He slid his finger over the blade. "-He has to lead his men into battle, but he also must know their personalities and bother himself with their personal struggles. And like a ruler-" He pointed at the crown. "-He has to resolve their personal conflicts, be able to 'walk into their shoes' - understand them, often more than they know themselves, what drives them and what they desire. But unlike a ruler, he can't just remain on his throne and give orders from afar."

"So, good leader must be both, yet not fully commit to neither?"

"Precisely." Annatar confirmed, and Ruby left a heavy sigh.

"That's sounds really hard." She said with defeat with her voice. If a guy like Turin couldn't do it, then how could she?

"On a contrary, I think you have what it takes to be a good leader." Annatar said, and Ruby looked at him with surprise. "From what I have heard, you are not afraid to fight – You faced down Roman Torchwick without a second thought, and made it to Beacon two years ahead of schedule, survived the trails. And you wield a magnificent weapon." He looked at the Crescent Rose. "And when I boasted about Turin's achievements, you asked about a tiny, seemingly insignificant dwarf who most people dismiss, only to get angry at his betrayal. I reckon that you may, or may not resolve this conflict between him and Beleg, but you would at a very least try."

"Then, I simply lack experience?" She asked hopefully.

"Being a leader is something you learn through your entire life, and there is no school which can give you this knowledge on a silver platter." Annatar responded. "You will make mistakes, for humans are not perfect, but you can learn from that, and from the mistakes of others, to make better decisions in the future." Smith picked up the sword and the crown. "But you must never forget to take from both a good rulers, and the good commanders."

While Ruby thought about it, Annatar put the sword and the crown back on their rightful places, and walked to the door.

"Metal is ready now." Ruby finally realized that smith now stands in a doorway. "Do you prefer to work with the light on or off?"

"Are you leaving?" She asked with surprise in her voice.

"I gave you everything you need in your craft, making my presence here no longer required. And I have more, equally important matters to attend to."

"But what if I break something?" Annatar left a friendly chuckle.

"I have full trust in your abilities as a blacksmith, especially when you work on your Magnum opus, but if you ever need something, just call for me, and I will arrive in no time." He pointed at the switch. "So, what do you prefer?"

After a moment, Ruby gave him a smile. "Turn the light off please." And with that said, lightbulb turned off, leaving Ruby only with only emanating from the furnaces and one from Smiths lava like eyes.

"Please, pay our conversation a thought, think about it during the process. Mind works best when body is relaxed during pleasant process. Maybe you will put some of your thoughts within the blade?" He said and left, shutting the door behind him.

Without wasting time, Ruby approached the wall with all the tools with and grabbed a set of pincers in her hands.

"Are you ready for it?" She asked Crescent Rose softly while she approached the furnace in which a metal melt and fell into the heat-resistant bucket, and grabbed the bucket with the pincers.

"Then let's do this."

---

* Do you remember that joke from RWBY chibi about a sword? Because I do!

** In short, Mim attempted to assassinate an elven king, because he hated his guts, which got him and his sons banished from Nargothrond.

*** Remember, when you study at a university, your Professor will always tell you that his book is ALWAYS the best one on the market and advise you to buy it, especially the newest tome.

---

Authors note

Transcript of the conversation between Djoklecjan and Konsilisto

Konsilio: Really now?

Dj: What? I think it's a good chapter!

Konsilio: I know, but it will be 40k words!

Dj: So?

Konsilio: Look at the current word count of the entire fic.

Dj (After a minute): Ohhhh right. Two parter?

Konsilio: Two parter."

So yeah, fragments involving WBY are planned for the next week, if everything goes well of course.

No promises.

But anyway, greetings to you, dear readers! I know it took me a while (More than a month to be accurate) but here it is! I envisoned what will happen in this chapter even before I wrote a prologue, but, like usual, putting an idea on the paper takes far more time than previously expected. I always knew that Sauron will share with Team RWBY some stories from the Middle-Earth, but which stories matched with their characters best? I had to figure it out. And Turin turned to be the best candidate.

As for the WoW referance - I just thought it will be funny that Remnants people view orcs as those honorable creatures instead of wicked monsters. And I can't blame them - they have plenty of those.

Oh, and once again - thanks you EXCUBITORE for writing in one of the first reviews that Ruby is a Smith - I always had it in a back of my head, but thanks to you I realized that I could actually write her smithing, and no one would be suprised.

And so far, I am really pleased by all of the support I am getting for this story! And I can't wait to share more with you.

And one thing - I don't know if it was by design, or because some of you actually perfomored an art of summoning, but during the past two weeks, three favs and follows seemed to disappear, only to return one-two hours later.

To those summoners - Good job, It made me laugh. But don't expect it will work forever.

Now, to answer your reviews:

In response to Ghostcraft9:

A feral cat with chainsaws attached to it's every limb and a tail is quite accurate image of Gothmog.

I hereby announce that, if one day, I somehow hit 1k favs and follows, I will comssion a "Catrog"

In response to Dhestrya:

Ecin

In response to Ultron Emperor

Thank you!

To clarify: If you enjoy Rings of Power, it's totally fine. It's just that I don't like, I will make fun of it, point out it's flaws and inaccuracies, and then call out Amazon for what they are doing.

Maybe one day, Silmarillion will be adapted onto a big screen, and I hope it will be more like they adopted Dune.

But, to give credit where credit is due, They adopted Sauron really well in the series, and if (in my opinion) story was better, his characterization would shine with the script, not in spite off.

In response to Guest:

Good reviet

In response to Kaasinfectie47

Quite a while ago, yeah he did. It wouldn't be a Lord of the Rings story without a Ring, right? And there will be quite a lot of rings, that's for sure.

That's from me today! Have a nice day!

Dj out.