Normally, while it might have felt a bit slow, Clark would have been fine with following while Qrow flew above as a bird. Or even taking a Bullhead to their destination. This time though, Clark had to get back to Mistral as quickly as possible.

"Ready?" Clark asked, looking down at the bird in his hand.

Qrow nodded in response. Their destination was a good two hundred miles from Haven. Qrow could manage that distance in one trip, but it would take hours. He'd still transformed, not to fly there, but to make it easier for Clark to carry him. Since he was holding a box with his armor with his other arm.

Clark kept the hand holding Qrow steady and raced off to Nyrna. Qrow's head zipped from side-to-side, seemingly surprised by the blurring landscape. Although it was hard to read his emotions on a bird's face, not to mention that he barely even looked like he was moving to Clark's sped up senses.

They didn't go in a straight line, but followed a route with plenty of empty space that Clark had memorized. A good amount of their trip was over water and fields of grass. It was an easy way to relax his senses and just run, since if he were dodging trees or buildings the whole way, this trip would feel a lot longer.

After half a minute, with the morning sun noticeably higher in the sky than when they'd left Haven, they arrived at the edge of a forest near Nyrna. A small fishing town placed off the coast of a river.

With a flap of his wings, Qrow leapt out of Clark's hand and transformed back into a human. He took a look around and whistled. "Damn, you'd have saved me a lot of time over the years if we'd met earlier."

"Really? How often did you have to go on these sorts of trips?" Clark asked as they made their way to the path entering the town.

"Very. Ozpin kept me busy over the years." He snorted. "Heh, even now I'm running around doing his work for him."

Clark went silent at the mention of the dead headmaster. It had only been a few months but Qrow seemed to be pretty easygoing about it. Then again, everyone had their own methods of coping. "By the way, what does Lionheart think we're doing here?"

"Just that I heard some tip about Cinder staying here a while ago and that we're going to check it out. When we come back, we're gonna tell him that it turned out to be a wild goose chase."

Clark nodded. There were a few people out in the streets, which meant they'd have to be careful with their words. "Okay. So, the woman we're looking for, where do we start?"

"The bar." Qrow pointed into the distance.

Clark stopped in his tracks. "Really? Now?"

"Hey, a bar's not just a place to get drinks. In a small town like this, it's the go-to for information."

"Oh, okay then."

"And I fight best with a light buzz."

Clark saw Qrow's grin and shook his head. "Very funny. Let's just go in."

They entered, the sole customers of the bar this early in the day. Behind the counter, the barkeeper cleaned a glass with a cloth. He was on the heavier side and looked to be in his fifties. His eyes went up in mild surprise and he looked at them with a curious expression.

"Welcome," the man said. "It's not often that I see new faces around here. What can I help you with?"

Qrow sat on a stool at the counter. "We're looking for someone, a woman who uses ice attacks." He looked up at the bottles on the shelves. "Can I have some Red Hill's while we talk?"

"Sure thing." The bartender went to fetch the drink.

At Clark's questioning look, Qrow shrugged. "Hey, if we're taking up the man's time, we might as well be polite and buy something."

"Whatever you say."

"So you two are looking for this woman, huh?" The man returned and offered the glass to Qrow, who took an appreciative swig. "That's an interesting sword, you a huntsman?"

Qrow nodded. "Yeah, both of us are."

The bartender frowned. "Then this woman, is she dangerous?"

"Not necessarily," Clark said. "We're here because we think she could be really helpful if she wants to become a huntress."

"Oh, that sounds good then. Grimm aren't too much of a problem around here, but we can never have too many of you guys fighting them off."

"Yeah," Qrow said. "Then, this woman, you know about her?"

"Only a little," the bartender admitted. "I've heard about her a few times. Thought at first that she was a huntress passing by or something, but she's stayed here for a while."

"What kinds of things have you heard?" Clark asked.

"All the stories are from a a bridge upstream at a narrow part of the river. It's dangerous to cross it alone because of bandits, but some try it anyway. A few guys who tried almost got robbed before she came along in a blue hood and fought the bandits off with a bunch of ice walls and spikes."

Clark met Qrow's eyes. That sounded promising. If she helped people with her maiden powers, then it should be simple to convince her to come with them.

The bartender continued. "Oh yeah, there was also a guy who nearly drowned in the river She fished him out and brought him back to shore."

"Seems like they could help us. Where can we find these people?" Qrow asked.

"I can tell you their names and where they live, but you're probably not going to find them at home. Not for a few hours at least."

"Then we'll wait," Qrow said.

The bartender gave them three names along with the area of town they lived in. Their exact addresses weren't necessary, since asking around would be enough to find them.

The two of them visited each house, but as the bartender had said, none of them were in. They were busy fishing, and probably wouldn't take too kindly to Clark or Qrow boarding their boats to ask questions.

So they decided to check out the bridge. It was a concrete arch spanning a few hundred feet with slow running water underneath. Both sides were covered in large trees, with only a few feet of plain mud on the banks.

"See any bandits around?" Qrow asked.

"Nope," Clark said. "Nobody around here but us. There are some paths down in the forest though, that's probably where she comes from."

"See any good spots for you to wait before swooping in?"

"Yeah." There were a number of openings in the trees. He could see through them with X-ray vision if he wanted to but watching from there would require less concentration. "Do you really think that'll be necessary though? She's helping people, there shouldn't be any reason for us to fight."

"You'd think so, but people can surprise you. She might be nice to strangers, but not so much to me. She had a pretty bad disagreement with Ozpin before running off, and even though I didn't play a big part in that, she might still associate me with it."

"Okay, I understand. What's our next step?" Clark asked.

Qrow shrugged. "Wait around I guess. Kill time until we can talk to those guys."

Clark perked up. "Then I can go to Mistral and come back later, right?"

"Whoa, hold your horses." Qrow laid a hand on Clark's shoulder as if to stop him from zooming off.

"Why? You don't need me for anything right now."

"I might later, and the signal in this town isn't great. I'm not gonna let you run off without being able to contact you."

"What if I promise to come back every hour? Or every half hour?"

"No. Clark, relax. This is something I wanted to bring up, but we can talk about it later. For now, just stay here. You promised that you'd listen, and you can go back to the city tonight."

Clark bit the inside of his cheek, more than a bit annoyed. "What am I supposed to do until then?"

"It's only a few hours. I'll spar with you for a bit if you want but stay here."

\\\\\

Kuroyuri was a dilapidated town, its buildings collapsing under the elements and its streets filled with debris. It had been abandoned years ago, and team JNPR had been sent here only because it was nearest to the location of the Nuckelavee.

It simplified some things. Since there weren't any townspeople, team JNPR and their huntsman advisor hadn't needed to consult with anybody. They also didn't have to worry about civilians or defending a location, their objective was simple hunting.

They'd immediately started by scouting the area, which had turned up a few Grimm, but not the one they were searching for. According to reports of the surviving travelers, the Nuckelavee didn't travel in a group. That would make it more difficult to find, but since it was getting dark, they'd wait until tomorrow before going out again.

At the moment, Pyrrha and Jaune were the only ones at camp. Ren and Nora had gone into the abandoned town with their advisor, their lights still visible from here. Pyrrha was unsure why, but those two had been acting strangely ever since their mission had begun. Ren had been more quiet than usual, and even Nora had been subdued.

Pyrrha's sword clashed with Jaune's, sparks flying off their blades. It took more effort than it used to, sparring with him. The hard work he'd put into improving shone through. His footing was sure, his grip firm, and his swings measured.

The sight filled her with pride. She leapt back, transforming her weapon into a shotgun. Jaune blocked the first two shots with his shield, but he deflected the last one with his sword.

When he winced, she had more than an inkling as to why. "Is your hand okay?"

He nodded. "It's fine, but I shouldn't have tried to get fancy there."

"That's not necessarily true. You just need more practice making sure you hit the right point on the blade to reduce vibrations."

"Really? Where is it on mine?" He held his sword up and examined it.

"I'm not sure. It's usually close to the center, but considering the age of your weapon, it might be different."

"Got it." He returned to a fighting stance. "Want to continue?"

"Actually, I think I'd like to rest now." They'd been sparring for quite a while and sweat had built up. An unappealing thought when there was no indoor plumbing nearby.

"Oh, okay then." Jaune transformed his shield back into a scabbard and sheathed his sword. "I'm not bothering you by asking you to keep training me, am I? I could ask Nora later if you want me to."

"It's never a bother," Pyrrha said. "I have noticed something, however. You've kept to a much more rigorous training regimen ever since we arrived at Haven, is there a reason why?"

"Um, is what I'm doing now really that different from how it was back at Beacon?"

"It is. We still have our sessions about as often as back then, but you also spend more time training with Nora and Ren. In addition, there's also the regular, hour-long matches with Clark."

Jaune scratched the back of his head. "Y-yeah, I guess you're right. I didn't think it was that much, I'm surprised you noticed."

"O-of course I did, you're my partner."

He smiled. "Thanks. About me training more, well, I have to if I'm gonna catch up to you guys."

"You don't need to rush, though. Remember that you didn't have any training prior to Beacon. I think you might be pushing yourself too hard to make up a difference that took us years."

"I probably won't do it that fast, but I don't think the amount of training I do comes even close to Clark's."

"Jaune, honestly, none of us measure up to Clark. It's dangerous to try."

"Well, yeah, I know that. He's super fast and strong, but even when he holds back for us, I feel like I can barely keep up."

Pyrrha turned her eyes to the ground. The truth was, even disregarding his incredible strength and speed, Clark's level of skill exceeded Jaune's. That hadn't been the case during her first session with him, but even then she'd noted Clark's excellent dexterity. According to him, he'd needed to develop it as a result of his strength. Not only that, he also had an incredible memory. He could clearly recite advice she'd given long ago, and she didn't think she'd ever needed to remind him of the suggestions she'd made. With his seemingly limitless stamina as another advantage, it was impossible for any human to improve at his rate.

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Pyrrha placed a hand on Jaune's shoulder. "Even so, please don't try to emulate Clark. It's an unhealthy pace, perhaps even for him."

\\\\\

Clark slammed a fist into the rock. Then, his fingers crushed and whittled the material into a throwing spear.

Since this mountain was only a few miles from Nyrna, Qrow hadn't had any problems with Clark training up here. The sound delay wasn't too bad, and Clark could tell that Qrow was talking to someone at the moment. With a little more concentration, Clark could pick up the full conversation.

Clark looked to a nearby peak. A mound of bare gray rock with sides sloped up gently. Not a steep climb at all, it seemed to about a mile and a half high.

This wasn't a waste of time, at least. Even if he still wasn't getting very close to the phantom's flight speed, speed training was always helpful.

That didn't change the fact that he was only here because of Qrow. How could he not see how unreasonable he was? Obviously, Clark didn't expect an absence of a couple days to have an enormous effect on the city, but he'd miss information exchanged between the cartels. He'd agreed to help Qrow and put aside his work in Mistral for this, but not letting him go back during the downtime? When he could be there and back in seconds?!

The spear in Clark's hands crumbled. "Tch." He threw it aside and reached into the rock to make another one.

By the time he'd shaped it, smoothing it out with some heat vision, he'd calmed down. There was no point in getting upset. He was here, he'd argue with Qrow about it later if he still felt like it.

Clark aimed at the nearby mountain and hurled the spear. Marking the start his race with an object shooting through the air with the speed of a meteor. It blasted across the sky with a fiery glow. Since there was less air at this height, it wasn't as bright or destructive as it would have been at ground level, and it took longer to slow down.

A while back, Clark had studied at the trail it left behind with his enhanced vision, just out of curiosity. What he'd seen in the radio range had been surprising. It had been reflecting off radio waves like a mirror, and when he'd read about the phenomenon online, Clark had learned that it was due to the ionized gases in the trail. It only lasted seconds, but it was a beautiful sight. Especially when he could examine it at leisure with super-speed.

Since he was running down a mountain, he only took a moment to appreciate the view above. The brightest reflections were from the Sun, and presumably the others were from distant artificial radio signals bouncing off the upper atmosphere.

It cheered him up a bit, and after looking up, he turned his eyes ahead to focus on his race. He hadn't thrown the spear as hard as he could, there'd be no chance of catching it if he had, but not too long ago that would have been true for this speed as well. Now, he might actually reach the top of the mountain before the spear.

Clark ran through the valley between the two mountains. Dodging a few trees and sweeping around loose boulders. Then, he rushed up the rock side. He kept his eyes straight ahead, and a grin spread across his cheeks when he didn't see the spear in front of him.

Finally, he reached the top. He whirled around to face the spear, and it was still a few hundred feet away. Not a large difference considering they'd both crossed a distance of miles.

His aim hadn't been far off either. If he let it keep going, it would hit a spot about twenty feet to the left from where he'd meant to throw it. However, he wasn't going to let it. His hand reached out and caught the red-hot object. It was somewhat smaller than when he'd thrown it, and the surface was pocked and marked.

Clark repeated the process a few times, racing from peak to peak. His improvement over the weeks of speed training had been steady, and it was often something that helped him relax whenever finding evidence on Dolus became frustrating. It was working wonders for this as well.

Some time later, Qrow called him down. The fishermen had returned from their work and they could go ask them for more details on the Maiden.

The first two didn't give them much more information than they'd gotten from the bartender. According to them, they'd been passing over the nearby bridge and a blue-hooded woman had helped them when bandits had attacked. She'd used ice attacks, and after scaring off the bandits, she'd left without a word.

The third guy they spoke to turned out to be more helpful. They'd caught him on the way to his house, and he'd been enthusiastic about the woman who'd saved him. He was only a few years older than Clark, although like the older fishermen, a handshake revealed his calluses. Reminding Clark of the times he'd held his dad's hand.

"It wasn't that long ago when I met her," George said. "I was walking along the river, looking around at the places I used to swim in when I was a kid. There was this drop near the bridge that we used to dare each other to jump off, and when I went to it and looked over the edge for old time's sake, I slipped. I had a bad tumble down, hurt my leg pretty bad, and couldn't swim out when I hit the water. I guess I made a lot of noise though, because suddenly I was pulled onto a big piece of ice by a woman in a blue hood. She saved my life. You two are looking for her?"

"Yep," Qrow said.

"Then I want to do whatever I can to help."

"Thank you very much, but you've already helped us plenty," Clark said.

"Actually, I think we could use your help," Qrow said. "You have the time to come over to the bridge tomorrow at around three in the afternoon? It shouldn't take too long."

"If it gives me the chance to meet her, yes."

"Wait, Qrow. Tomorrow?" Clark asked.

"Yeah, tomorrow. I don't think she's gonna come out this late, do you? It's already sunset. Besides, George here is probably too busy to help us out right now."

"Um, I am, but if you really need me, I think I could still help."

"We don't right now," Qrow said. "Besides, Clark, we're gonna have a little talk about how George is going to help us out tomorrow. Don't worry, it's not gonna be long, and you'll get to run off to do you-know-what faster."

\\\\\

The next day, Clark had returned from Mistral at around two in the afternoon. Now about an hour later, he and Qrow were up in the trees looking down at the bridge. Clark wore his armor, and below, George waited. Ready to play his role.

"See her?" Qrow asked.

"Yeah, there's a woman with blue hair tied up in a blue hood over there." Clark pointed in the distance. "She's just walking around right now."

"Her hair's blue?"

"Yeah, why?"

"The Spring Maiden I knew didn't have blue hair."

Clark understood. "That doesn't necessarilymean she killed the last one. She could just be the last person the Maiden thought of."

Qrow patted him on the back. "Well, we'll see. It changes a few things. She might not know who I am, and she might be inexperienced with her powers. Still, get ready to save my ass if things go bad."

The huntsman jumped down, shooting near George. As planned, the sound got the Maiden's attention. Her head turned toward the bridge.

Below was a conversation that Clark would have laughed at in pretty much any other situation.

"Come on, George. Try to look more scared. Like I'm about to kill you unless you hand over some money."

"I-I'll try." George raised his voice. "Wait, please! I don't have anything."

"Better." Qrow transformed his weapon into a sword and swiped down by George's feet.

This was their plan. Qrow would pretend to be a bandit stealing from George. Once the Maiden arrived to try and stop it, they'd explain themselves and Qrow would explain why she needed to come with them. If she kept attacking them, Clark would come down and knock her out with a tap to the back of the head. They'd then wait for her to wake back up and hopefully be more open to reason.

Frankly, this whole act had sounded unnecessary at first. However, Qrow had made some good points. While Clark could easily find her if he waited in the area long enough, if she wanted to hide, she wouldn't react well to two people tracking her down. Qrow also wanted to see if she really was as willing to help people as the stories claimed. According to him, Clark put too much faith in them, and there was no guarantee she'd help at all.

But she was helping. The woman in the blue hood ran to the bridge, and when she leapt up, Qrow and George reacted with genuine surprise.

With a wave of her hand, ice spikes shot out at Qrow, and the huntsman jumped to the side to dodge them.

Clark narrowed his eyes, spotting something that he would have seen earlier if he'd looked through her clothing. Now, with her cloak swirling about, he could see it without X-ray vision. He raced down at super-speed, not to knock her out, but to make sure of something.

The world went still as Clark flashed down, but when he went to a spot on the far side of the bridge, his suspicions were confirmed. She made another wave of her arm, but this time, no ice appeared. She reacted with shock, but managed to recover and pulled out a pair of daggers.

George came in between them. "Wait! Wait! Miss, I'm sorry, but this man isn't actually a bandit. I'm sorry about tricking you, but I had to see you again. To thank you. Do you remember me?"

"I . . . yes, I do," she said.

"I'd like to apologize as well," Clark said. He'd walked up from the other side of the bridge. "Qrow, she's not the person we're looking for. She was using these." He held up a few vials of ice Dust.

Qrow shook his head. "Damn."

"Hey! Those were expensive!" She held up her daggers and glared at him. "Give them back."

"Sure," he slowly approached. She apparently hadn't expected that, her eyes widened at first, but when he got close, they narrowed to slits and she swiped them back.

"You made surprisingly powerful effects with only a small amount of Dust. Does your Semblance enhance them in some way?" Clark asked.

"Why should I tell you?"

"No reason, I was just curious. Anyway, I really am sorry about fooling you. The two of us," Clark jerked a thumb over at Qrow, "are looking for someone, and we thought you might be her."

"Yeah? I couldn't care less. You though." She faced George. "What's your name?"

"George, George Reid."

"Well George, I'm Khione. It's good to see you, and I appreciate your thanks." She turned her eyes back to Clark and Qrow. "You two have any other business with me?"

"Actually, we might," Clark said. "Qrow, do you think Khione here could be accepted into Haven?"

"What?" she asked.

"Maybe," Qrow said. "I'd have to see more of what she's made of first. I didn't get to fight her for all that long."

"You won't need to. I'm not going," Khione said. Without another word, she leapt off the bridge. Clark would have preferred to talk more, since he was curious about why she was wandering around the paths here, but it was understandable that she didn't want to talk. She ran back to the trees on the shore, turning a few times to keep a wary eye on them.

"Well, Qrow, I guess we're done here for now," Clark said.

"Yeah. But we're not leaving yet, there's something I want to talk to you about."

\\\\\

Qrow sat down at a table in the bar back in town. He'd paid for a full bottle of Red Hill's, and then found a nice spot where he and Clark could have a private little chat. It would have been easy to rely on Clark to make sure nobody would listen in on them, but he still checked the old-fashioned way. No other customers were in at this hour, early evening, and the owner in the storeroom.

"I don't see why we have to be here," Clark said. "Can't we have this talk at Mistral?"

"With how fast you can go, does it matter where we talk? At least here, I can assume you're probably not gonna leave me stranded while you go off in the city."

"I wouldn't do that."

"Sure. Anyway, there's no need to rush." Qrow took a glass and drank. He filled a second one and pushed it over to Clark. "Here, have a little."

"No thanks."

"Come on, I get that you don't usually drink, but it's good to loosen up sometimes."

Clark pressed a finger on the side of the glass. "I've tried alcohol before, it doesn't 'loosen' me up. It doesn't really do anything for me besides leaving a bad taste in my mouth." He pushed it back.

Qrow's eyes widened, then he chuckled. "Sounds rough, not being able to get drunk. I guess that means more for me."

Clark rolled his eyes.

"So, do you remember what we talked about a while back? About you going to see a therapist?"

"Yes."

"Have you gone to one?" Qrow asked, already knowing the answer.

Clark looked away. "I've been busy."

"Yeah, you have. With all the sparring, the late nights, and the mob boogeyman stuff, it seems like you're really filling up your schedule."

"Okay, is that an issue? You're making it sound like one." Clark said with a frown.

"Because it is. Don't think I haven't noticed that you're sparring first thing weekend mornings when you're also staking out during the night with Ruby and the others. How much sleep are you getting?"

"My sleeping habits are fine," Clark said. "We're different, Qrow. Just because what I do would be harmful for you doesn't mean it is for me." His eyes went to the bottle on the side.

Qrow paused. Clark was an alien, he might be right there. "Maybe, but there are other signs. Ironwood set you up pretty well as the Dart after the attack on Vale. I got that you were in mourning after that, but you still haven't done anything with it. You've actually thrown it away."

"So? It's my choice. What matters is that I'm still helping people."

"You could be helping a lot more if you went public. Or even if you still kept up the secret identity and the Dart stuff. Instead, you went to acting so secretly that most people in Mistral don't even know that you're doing anything. I'm not a doctor, I'm not going to pretend to know what that means, but this change happened just after Penny and Velvet died in the attack. No way it's healthy."

Clark's hand clenched. "Is it supposed to be? They were my friends, of course I'm not going to move forward like everything's fine."

"I'm not saying you have to. Look, these are problems, right? Can we agree on that?"

"I'll agree that you have a point about how I reacted after what happened in Vale. Not that there's anything wrong with how I spend my time."

Qrow sighed. "Okay, that'll have to be good enough. Will you go see a therapist?"

Clark gave a thoughtful expression. A few seconds later, he answered. "I will."

"When? Because I'm pretty sure you said the same thing the last time I asked."

"I said that I'd think about it last time. This time, I will, alright? Just-" Clark turned his to the wall with a confused look. "Wait, I hear something weird outside."

"What is it?"

"A . . . a big red hole in the middle of the air. There's wind blowing out of it. Is this magic? Can Maidens do that?"

Qrow shook his head. Of course, now of all times. "No, it's a Semblance. Let's go, I know who it is."

Clark nodded and followed, still taking glances at the wall. "A woman just stepped out of it." He blinked a couple times. "She looks a lot like Yang."

"Yeah, she's Yang's birth mom. It's been a while since I talked to her. Not exactly sure what to think of her showing up now."

"She saved Yang during the attack on Vale, didn't she?"

"Clark, now's not the time for your bleeding heart routine. She's a killer and a thief."

The two of them stepped out. There wasn't anybody in the streets to see a rogue huntress step out of a swirling red portal. Not that she would have cared if there were.

"What do you want?" Qrow said when he saw her.

She replied with her stupid smirk. "Peeved, brother? Are you that unsettled by my arrival?"

"Don't give yourself too much credit. Dealing with annoying kids takes more of my attention than you ever will."

Her smirk dropped, and she finally spared a glance for Clark. Heh, and she always used to say she was better at judging combat situations. Siccing Clark on her was a tempting thought.

"Enough," she said. "I'm not here to argue. I want to talk."

"Okay, talk."

"Not in front of some brat I don't know."

Qrow shrugged. "Fine. Clark, go."

"Are you sure? I don't think-

"It's fine. Go." Qrow said with some insistence. Then, hardly even moving his lips, he whispered the word "listen".

Clark nodded, and went back inside the bar.

This time, Raven's eyes followed him. "That young man, the way he moves . . ."

"Stop staring at his ass and say what you're here for."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "Looks like your sense of humor hasn't gotten any better over the years. Do you realize how close you are to the tribe?"

"I haven't been keeping track. Should I be? It's not like any of you matter."

Her grip on her sword tightened. Good old predictable Raven, always ready to settle an argument with a fight. "How dare you. The Branwen tribe was your family."

"You're just a bunch of scum I'm glad I left behind."

Raven's nostrils flared. "If that's how you think, fine. So be it. That's not what I'm here to discuss. Vale and Beacon were directly attacked, and Ozpin's dead, for now at least. You're a fool if you stay on his side."

"Really? Things got messy, yeah, but Glynda's still holding down the fort in Vale and Salem's not any closer to getting any of the Relics."

The relief on Raven's face was obvious.

"That was what you wanted to ask about, huh? Then if that's all you need, go and run off like the coward you are."

She bared her teeth at him. "You idiot. Have you forgotten our spars? You think you can ignore a fighter of my caliber when Salem threatens you?"

Qrow grinned back. "Yeah, I do. What, you think you'd show up and I'd ask you for help? We're doing fine on our own, we don't need you."

She took a deep breath. "Perhaps if you'd begged, I would have considered allowing you to survive with us, but you can die as another of Ozpin's good little pawns. One that'll give up his life even without his master to order him around."

"At least I'm doing more than running and hiding. Which, by the way, really shows how strong you are."

"Enough, this clearly turned out to be a waste of time." Raven swung her sword and made a portal.

"You're right about that, but before you leave, one last thing." Qrow's brow furrowed. "Never show your face to Yang again. It should be easy now that you already gave her a save."

Raven left through the portal without another word, pissed off, although definitely not as much as he was. Qrow heard the bar door open and footsteps approach.

"That was . . . intense," Clark said.

"She didn't exactly catch me in a good mood," Qrow explained. "But even if she had, it probably wouldn't have gone that much better."

"Don't you think it was a bit much telling her to never visit her daughter again?"

"If she wanted to, she would have, especially with her Semblance. Truth is, she didn't come once, not even to save Yang when she nearly got herself killed as a kid."

"Okay, your family's . . ." Clark trailed off.

"It's messed up, I know. I don't want to talk about it."

"I would have said complicated, but okay. It's a touchy subject." Clark went silent for a few seconds. "What did she mean about Ozpin being dead 'for now'?"

Oh, right, Clark had heard that too. With more than a little awkwardness, Qrow explained about Ozpin's reincarnations.

"And why didn't you tell us this before?" Clark asked.

"Because I didn't want to give you guys false hope. It'll probably be years before he shows up again. At least, that's what he said. I haven't been around long enough to see it."

"I still think you should have told us about this before. We should all know."

"Yeah, we'll tell them when we get back to Mistral. Before that, you promise to go to a therapist?"

"I do."

"Then let's go, I don't want to stay here for another second."