"So, what's the deal with those two girls?"
"Friends." I said with a shrug. Better to go with a simple answer and not overcomplicate it. Whether or not I wanted to reveal the things that I shouldn't know aside, their business was still their business. Not my place go around sharing personal details to someone they didn't know.
Qrow hummed as we stepped forward, nearing the front of the line we were in.
Back in Vale there was a central building that, be it trains or airships, all public transport throughout the city ran through at some point. Given that much of Mistral wasn't exactly on level ground and scattered across a mountain range, that obviously wasn't as feasible for them. Alongside their many gondolas, they set up large buildings at the edges of each part of the city, landing pads hanging up just beyond them for airships. A better way to travel if the place you wanted to head to would take several rides by gondola.
"How about those twins?" Qrow asked, flashing his huntsman license to the fellow huntsman managing security, the both of us allowed through without issue. "Malachite's girls have got a thing for you if you haven't noticed."
It'd only been a few days since he showed up but Qrow had picked up on that quickly. No surprise there. Melanie had never been subtle about her lasting interest and after what went down, the same could be said about Miltia. Between more varied conversations that more than often crossed into explicit territory and constant looks even when they were handling other business in the bar, I couldn't exactly miss it.
The two were attractive, sure, but "I'd rather leave put that kind of thing off until I'm older and got the time for it." I said with another shrug. More specifically until I'd done away with Salem's key players and maybe the immortal herself.
"Sometimes you're too responsible."
"I'm pretty sure everyone would say the opposite about you." I shot back as we found places against the metal walls of the building, Qrow propping himself against it with an amused chuckle, not denying that fact.
I took the chance to look around.
The section of the building we were in, more heavily guarded than all the others, was chalk full of people with weapons. Human, faunus. Men, women. Old, young. Some in uniform and others out. Different as they all looked from one another, all were either licensed hunters or in training.
"Why'd you even want to come along?" Qrow question. "I doubt you suddenly decided to become a huntsman."
"Just curious about what Haven looks like." Qrow stopped his own scan around to give me a pointed look, skepticism clear as day. "Might get a chance to see a few useful semblances in action too. That and I'd like to see what kind of person the headmaster is myself."
Emerald I was confident wouldn't be a problem anymore. Cinder was still something of a flight risk. And I still couldn't be sure Tyrian was in the city let alone the kingdom right now. Not much to be done about any of them so this was the perfect chance to get a deeper look at the question mark that was Haven and its headmaster.
"Your mom say something about him?" Qrow said as the sound of engines neared.
"That he doesn't have enough of a backbone for his position."
"Of course she did." Qrow said, pushing off the wall with a sigh. "Despite what she might've told you, the old man knows what he's doing. Lionheart is where he is because he can be trusted."
What went on in the show spat in the face of that, but I just hummed, following after him and the rest of the crowd as the landing airship settled and rolled out its ramp.
With Qrow here, now was the perfect time to shed some light on how things were there.
XOXO
"And this is your nephew? Ozpin has mentioned him before, but I must admit I'm surprised he would bring someone so young into the fold."
"Oh, it wasn't old Oz's decision. The way I heard it the kid forced himself into all this."
"I see? Well in any case, it's a pleasure to meet you, young man."
Looking away from one of the windows I was gazing out of, I stepped back, joining Qrow in front of the headmaster's desk.
Dark gray hair pulled back and a full beard, the tanned man on the other side of the desk looked as if he had a mane. Standing relatively tall with nails that ended in sharp elongated tips and a gray tail behind him, he had the potential to come off as fierce, but his brown suit and polite smile negated all that.
Leonard Lionheart looked as professional as any headmaster should.
"Likewise." I said, tipping my head to him.
Throat cleared, he turned his attention back to Qrow. "As I reported to Ozpin, there haven't been any usual reports about Grimm from any teams or settlements. The only thing that stood out to me was mention of a group of mercenaries freely protecting settlements, but I can now safely say that isn't an issue now." He explained, referencing Me. "There's been a rise in activity near Argus, but it hasn't lasted long enough to be anything out of the ordinary."
No strange eye movements. No jumpiness. Not any sort of hesitation or fear either. The longer he spoke with Qrow the less reason I had to think there was anything out of the ordinary, say being threatened, happening to the man. Another look around the office, the half circle shaped room decorated with his desk, a table off to side, some bookcases, and those windows lining the back of the place, all led me to the same conclusion.
There was nothing to be suspicious of. Not here at least.
"Excuse me." I said catching both their attention. "Do you mind if I get a look around the place? I've heard about these academies, but this is the first time I've been to one."
"Of course, I don't see any problem with that." The headmaster said, nodding his head towards the office's door after getting a shrug from Qrow. "I'll have my secretary provide you a temporary pass. You'll have access to most of the school's facilities."
"Thank you." Giving the pair I nod, I left them to their discussion, Qrow seemingly here to try to find any leads to chase down while watching over me. If there was anything important Lionheart wasn't holding out on because of my presence, they would've brought it up by now.
As I made my way through the building, I was handed a simple card with a bar code on it by the secretary near the entrance before I stepped outside the building.
There was plenty of information about hunters and their academies that were treated as classified information by governments the world over, the exact details regarding the layout and structure of their campuses one of them. That said, there were still general photos of all of them that could be searched up and were freely available to the public.
As the photos suggested, Haven didn't give off the same grandiose vibe Beacon did. It was all still very fancy, stone paved pathing throughout the campus, with carefully maintained greenery, some fountains, benches, and statues of hunters acting as decorations. The buildings, while not nearly as big as many that could be found at Beacon, all had that classic Mistral architecture, providing a unified aesthetic to the entire place.
But I wasn't interested in taking in the sights, the chance taken to get a look across the entire place. Their modern workshops, training rooms, central classrooms, and plenty more. There were hunters all throughout the place, some students and others fully licensed but making the trip here for their own reasons.
Neither the academy itself nor the people throughout it stood out.
It didn't look like Salem's influence had reached this place just yet so there wasn't much reason for me to be here quite yet.
After that look around I headed back to the building containing the headmaster's office, returning my pass, and walking through the Grand Hall. It was a spacious sparsely decorated room with stairs that led up to Lionheart's office. The only thing that stood out was the statue at the center beneath said stairs.
A woman of gray marble, depicted with a watery dress and her hands held up towards the sky, golden chains hung from her wrist and around her waist, the shackles depicted more as accessories.
I stopped before it, my Sharingan managing to pick up on the smallest of indents at its corners that revealed the secret passage for what it was.
A vault that contained Jinn, a spirit that was for, all intents and purposes, omniscient when it came to Remnant's past and present. A being that could answer three questions every hundred years. Ozpin had wasted the first of this century already, but she should still be able to answer two questions.
How did I end up in Remnant?
Why was I here?
I'd given up on getting answers to those questions and many more, seeing little point in them, but I wouldn't lie, the temptation to retrieve the artifact right here and now held strong in the face of them.
Leonard's pocket watch wouldn't be difficult to snatch without a fight using Emerald's semblance.
The requirement of the Spring Maiden was no obstacle.
Jinn's name, the password to make use of her, was already known to me.
I could have the relic in hand and those two questions answered tonight.
I closed my eyes.
I might be able to have those questions answered. Jinn's perfect knowledge was of Remnant and there was more than enough room to doubt whether my soul fell into that category.
I took a deep breath.
Mom, Dad, Summer, Yang, Ruby, and Uncle Qrow.
I wouldn't waste a tool that could help protect them on a maybe. Even if she could answer those questions, they were more important than some arbitrary bullshit like that. It's not like any answer would change my goals anyways.
I opened my eyes, stepping away from the statue and heading up the stairs.
So long as the Spring Maiden was the only way to open the vault, the relic was already mine, but I didn't need any of the trouble Ozpin might give me if he was somehow able to detect the vault being accessed. Preferably I'd try for it once Qrow wasn't around.
If getting to it didn't go perfectly or Ozpin did have some awareness of access to the vaults, would Qrow choose to trust Ozpin or me? I'd rather not put him in that position at all if I could help it.
At the very least, Jinn would be answering my questions before I left Mistral.
XOXO
"Why not put some lien on it then?"
"Pretty sure you still owe at least fifty."
"You do realize these trips to Mistral aren't cheap."
"If Ozpin isn't paying you enough to cough up fifty lien, you can just say that."
"Talon." As Qrow and I stepped into the apartment building, a call for me cut into our conversation, the both of us slowing our steps. Melanie and Miltia, both coming over from the reception desk, stopped in front of us. Miltia did anyways, Melanie stepping in close and toeing up to look my face over.
"Told you he was cute." Miltia said, paying my face just as much attention.
"Yeah, cute still isn't the word I'd used." Melanie muttered before giving an appreciative nod as if approving of what she saw, a slight smirk forming. "If we asked you to take off those shades, would you actually do it?" She asked.
"Who knows." I said. "What are you two doing here?"
Deciding to leave that be she stepped back beside her sister, arms crossed, smirk dropping for that rare bit of serious whenever they were handling important things for Miss Malachite. "The old lady has got something important to tell you. You might want to bring Cinder and that Emerald girl the both of you run with. They'll probably end up involved in this too."
"Ominous. She give specifics?"
"Nope." Melanie and Miltia walked past, the former patting my shoulder as she did. "You'll just have to come along and find out. We'll wait for you down here."
I glanced towards Qrow who was already giving me a look, both of us of the same mind. No way this was about anything good.
XOXO
Powerstone Goal: 600
(A/N: Talon's very family orientated, more than I originally planned. I wanted him to grab the relic first chance he got when I roughly drafted things out but brother refused to budge to rush to do something that could result in him crossing blades with Qrow so that's being delayed at the very least. I don't mind though. I think the delay will actually work better with the order of events and certain things I have in mind.
Jinn will definitely be interesting either way.
Now we're pretty far in the story and get some consistently great rankings. I was going to wait till chapter 50 but I decided that's just an arbitrary number and we all have a pretty solid feel for my writing and possible intentions by now. I am here petitioning for some reviews. It don't got to be long or anything but I do want more of a representation on what some people might be thinking besides some numbers. If you do leave one, big thanks form your local author. If you don't, I mean, still thanks. You're over a 100k words deep in reading some junk I randomly came up with and been planning. I don't think I will ever not find it weird that people would stick with me for that long on something.
As per usual, the link for those who want to read ahead and/or offer extra support:
patreon .com/ thirdratewriter
I'm pretty confident that PS goal will be hit so I'll probably be seeing you all over the weekend. Looking forward to it!