Adam rose before the sun, which was surprising; given how much all three girls snored, it was a wonder he'd been able to fall asleep at all. He hadn't imagined it, either. They were doing it right now. He dressed quietly and grabbed his shoes and scroll before padding out of the room on silent feet. Once in the hall, he slipped on his shoes and started to head toward the locker room to retrieve Wilt and Blush. He had barely taken two steps when he heard the door across from theirs open. Pyrrha Nikos backed out as quietly as he had and closed her door. She was dressed for a workout of some kind, wearing brown shorts and a loose short sleeve shirt. Her lustrous red hair was tied back in a ponytail, and it swayed as she turned. She jerked back with a start when she realized she wasn't alone.

"Oh!" She winced and covered her mouth. "Good morning," she whispered. He nodded and gave a small smile.

"Good morning to you as well, Pyrrha Nikos." Her frown was so brief that he almost thought he'd imagined it. It was replaced with a winning smile, but she continued to whisper.

"Please, just call me Pyrrha," she murmured. "Adam, right?" She held out her hand, which he clasped briefly; her grip was firm. He gave a nod. "Where are you off to so early in the morning?"

"Probably the same place you are," he said. He leaned his head towards the end of the hallway, eyebrows up in silent query. She nodded and they both set out. The walked in silence for a few moments. Pyrrha spoke up in normal tones once they'd come to the end of the hall.

"Are you planning to run in that?" He frowned and looked down at his street clothes. What was everyone's deal with what he wore? He sighed and gave up any hope of not having to explain himself. She sensed that she'd put her foot in her mouth. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean it like that. It's just… won't you be uncomfortable?" He shrugged a shoulder. Running wasn't his favorite thing to do, but he didn't want anyone to see the scars he'd collected during his less-than fortunate childhood misadventures.

"I'm used to warmer weather," he said simply.

"Ah, I see." The awkward silence hung in the air for a moment. "Do you mind if I join you? I had hoped my team might be willing, but they all seemed… unenthusiastic." He ghosted a grin, certain that the rest of his team would have felt the same, which suited him fine. Still, it couldn't hurt to make an effort to get to know at least some of the students here.

"Only if you promise not to hassle me about my choice of exercise clothing," he quipped. She let out a hearty laugh.

"Done and done!" They stepped outside and Adam turned toward the training hall. "Oh, were you wanting to spar afterward?" she asked. He shook his head. "May I ask why not?"

"I promised Professor Goodwitch that I wouldn't practice with any of the other students until after we'd had a chance to talk." She raised an eyebrow, but said nothing. "My semblance is problematic."

"Oh?" Adam tried to keep the chagrin off of his face, but at some point people were going to learn about his gift. Better that she heard it from him. He explained it to her, and understanding dawned. "I see. Well, if the Professor thinks it's best to discuss things beforehand, I can't disagree with her. Meet you at the quad?"

"Sure, see you there," he said with a wave. She continued past the training hall as he ducked inside. When he met back up with her, she was stretching her limbs. She brightened at his approach.

"Ah, you're a fellow swordsman! I knew there was a reason I liked you. May I?" He hesitated for a moment before remembering where he was. This was probably normal, wasn't it? He held up Blush with an open palm, and she accepted it with both hands, bowing her head in respectful acknowledgement. She inspected it without drawing the blade. "What's her name?" He'd never thought of his weapon as a 'her'. While it was cherished, it was still a weapon.

"The sword is Wilt, its companion is Blush." She nodded in approval as she ran a hand down the length of the jianqiao.

"Twenty-two, no forty-four round capacity?" He nodded and began to limber up. "And you can launch Wilt. What's your style?"

"Single-stroke."

"I look forward to seeing you in action. There was a practitioner in my last tournament that was rather impressive, though her weapon was nothing like this." She grasped the jianpao and gave him a questioning glance. He waved a hand at her; might as well get that over with too. She drew the blade an inch and gasped.

"This is a blood blade!" The look on her face was difficult to read, though shock seemed like a safe bet.

"Who died for this?" Surprise was slipping into anger, and he held up his hands.

"Nobody died for it, I promise. Look at the maker's mark." Her eyes narrowed, but she turned it and held it up to the dim light. She closed her eyes in relief upon seeing it, letting out a breath she'd been holding. "You recognize it." It wasn't a question. She looked at him sheepishly.

"I'm sorry, Adam. Old superstitions and campfire stories get the better of me sometimes." She sheathed the sword, but held onto it while he finished his stretches. "I thought Master Skrin had stopped taking students ages ago. How did you convince her to let you study under her?"

"Not me – my mentor. I still have no idea how she managed it." He knew that they'd had a hell of a match, but he'd been asked to wait outside, so he could only imagine it. Blake had come out bloodied and limping. He'd said nothing, and when she had told him not to waste the opportunity, he had taken it to heart for the next four years. "She's the one who bled for it, though she tried to keep that detail from me." The redhead's jaw dropped open. He stared at the weapon reverently. As far as he was concerned, it was imbued with what seemed like nearly the last of the good in Blake. He wouldn't betray its purpose as she had.

"That's some mentor! Who is she, and what's she like?" A shadow crept across Adam's features. "Did I say something wrong?" He closed his eyes and shook his head.

"Do you mind if we don't talk about her right now, Pyrrha?" He didn't beg, exactly, but he hated how it must have sounded to her. There were some good memories, but they all seemed so far away right now. Pyrrha's voice softened as she gently grasped his wrist and placed Blush in his hand.

"Of course not, Adam. I'm sorry if I stirred up bad memories." He nodded without a word. "If you ever want to talk, I'll gladly listen." He finally opened his eyes and looked at her. The smile was on her face and in her eyes - it felt real enough.

"Maybe some other time. Thank you." He gave himself a shake and placed the weapon on his back. "You ready?"

"I don't know, do you think you can keep up?" Her smile had changed to a wolfish grin. He winked at her and took off at a sprint. "Cheater!" she laughed out from a few steps behind.

Adam and Pyrrha had run for nearly an hour. They made several circuits around the school grounds, and had spied an obstacle course of some kind. The opted to skip it, agreeing that while Adam could see well enough in the pre-dawn light, Pyrrha might need at least one run-through during the day. They returned to the dormitory with a cooldown walk, and made plans to continue meeting in the mornings. She bade him farewell and went into her shared room as quietly as she could.

Adam made no such effort - not that it would have mattered. Weiss and Yang were still fast asleep (and snoring, still). Ruby was nowhere to be seen. He mentally shrugged and leaned his weapon against the end of his bed, and then dug out his soap and towel. He also grabbed the shirt and trousers from his school uniform and made his way to the showers. Thankfully it wasn't communal, having plenty of individual stalls for privacy. No other students were about, so he got cleaned up and dressed. When he returned to the dormitory, Ruby and Yang were both up and dressed. Weiss, on the other hand, was still curled up on her bed.

"G'morining!" Ruby whisper-shouted. Adam waved, and saw her hold up a whistle with a wicked grin. "It looks like someone loves their beauty sleep. Hurry up and finish getting dressed." He squinched his eyes shut and laughed silently, but nodded and rushed to put on the rest of his uniform. He had just finished tying his shoes when Weiss sat up and yawned while stretching. Ruby, refusing to give up on her prank, blared the whistle directly in front of her sleep-muzzy partner. Yang clapped her hands over her ears, but let a huge grin spread across her face. The heiress let out a startled shout and fell to the floor. It was funny, but Adam sincerely hoped she wasn't going to do that every day.

"Goooood morning Team Rowan!" the brunette shouted. Weiss stared at her in annoyed disbelief.

"What in the world is wrong with you?" she complained. Ruby, unperturbed, launched directly to work.

"Now that you're awake, we can officially begin our first order of business." Weiss stood and brushed her arm.

"Excuse me?" Yang piped up as she grabbed an armload of random items.

"Decorating!" She sounded far too enthusiastic about it, but he supposed she had a point. The room was rather drab – not that he had much to contribute. He grabbed his travel pack.

"What?!" The incredulous tone suggested that Weiss' priorities hadn't included that.

"We still have to unpack," he said, dumping the pack on his bed. "And clean, I suppose." Ruby must have decided that Weiss wasn't completely awake yet. She blew her whistle again, once more startling Weiss into falling down.

"Alllright! Weiss, Adam, Yang, and their fearless leader have begun their first mission!" She threw her fist in the air and shouted, "Banzai!" He wasn't sure why Yang echoed it, but he followed suit just to tweak their teammate's nose a bit. They were rewarded with a long-suffering sigh of capitulation from her as she stood once again. He turned his back and sorted through his few belongings to give her a little privacy while she changed into her uniform.

Half an hour later, Adam stared at the jumbled mess of furniture and tried to grasp the logic of how it had happened. It had started simply enough with the hanging of posters and paintings. Ruby had thought it was a good idea to hang a new curtain over the window with her scythe, and ended up ripping it in half. Yang had thought having more space in the middle of the room could be accomplished by turning the beds this way and that, but had needed to lean one on top of another to get more room to maneuver. He mostly tried to stay out of her way by organizing his school books onto a bookshelf.

"Oh. Huh," Yang said. Her tone said it all: This was a bad idea.

"This… isn't going to work." No kidding.

"It's a little too tight to do much else with the beds," he suggested. Maybe they could alternate desks and beds for more efficiency. It would still be crowded, but it would give them a bit more space.

"Maybe we should ditch some of our stuff," Yang suggested.

"OR we could ditch the beds… aaand replace them with bunkbeds!" Ruby shouted, throwing her fists in the air. Weiss looked at her with a mixture of horror and disbelief. Adam smirked and wondered why he hadn't thought of that. The orphanage he'd run away from had stacked beds. That would give them much more floor space.

"Em, that sounds incredibly dangerous." What was life without a little danger? He could think of half a dozen times that had presented far worse than what their leader was suggesting.

"And super-awesome!" Yang replied. She pumped her fist once and smiled, and Adam knew Weiss was going to lose this battle before she could object further.

"It would be better than leaving it like this," he said. "I'm with Ruby on this one." Weiss played her last card by trying to be democratic, which surprised him.

"Well, we should put it to a vote!" She sounded desperate to avoid it altogether.

"I think we just did," Ruby replied. He put his thumb in the air, and Yang made finger-horns. Weiss frowned and stiffened her arms. They all set to work and rearranged the beds. Several minutes later they stood back and looked at their handiwork. Ruby had somehow tied her bed to the ceiling, and he had no idea how she'd done it. Yang had convinced him to stack books on each of his bedposts before putting hers above his. He had not liked how the entire thing wobbled, and had spent several minutes swapping books around until it felt more stable. The man with two souls had been a casualty of the construction, but he had finished most of it and skimmed the rest. It bore further thought, but not at that moment.

"Objective complete!" Ruby said, pleased with the outcome. "Alright! Our second order of business iiiiiis – classes." She started off with so much excitement that he was almost as disappointed as she sounded when she finished the sentence. She plopped down on the edge of her partner's bed and dropped the schedule in her lap.

"Now, we have a few classes together today. At nine we've got a-"

"What?" Weiss interrupted in shock. "Did you say nine o'clock?"

"Umm…"

"It's Eight Fifty Five, you dunce!" Surely they hadn't taken that long to set up their room. There was barely any room to set up. He looked at the clock on the wall, and she was right. She spun and ran out of the room without waiting to see if they followed.

"Uhh, t-to class!" Ruby shouted, following on Weiss' heels. Yang took off and he was on her heels. He had a brief rueful thought about having already had a run for the day.

"We're gonna be late!" shouted a voice behind him. Well, at least they weren't going to be the only ones. They tumbled out of the building with Team Juniper right behind them, and they all booked it across the quad. As they neared the training hall, he noted with chagrin that both Professors Ozpin and Goodwitch were standing to one side of the path. Weiss hit the door, palms out, with enough force that nobody else needed to do more than tap it on their way inside.

They all slid into Professor Port's classroom as the buzzer sounded.

A/N - And it's back! I appreciate your patience as I return from a hectic holiday schedule. I made an executive decision with this chapter to cut off and lump the entirety of the classroom scene into the next chapter for sanity's sake. I hope it isn't too jarring. For those of you that don't follow Dust and Motes, I'm in the process of starting a new piece of original fiction. If you're interested, my fiction press account has a proto-chapter titled Artificial Outlaw. I plan to release a new chapter each month on P atre on, starting tentatively at the end of this month (the FPN short story is being rewritten, currently). Fear not, though: I fully intend to continue writing fanfiction stories here for as long as I have stories to tell! Thanks for reading!