Their journey towards the temple was met with little interference, the forest eerily silent save for the occasional gunshot or roar in the distance. Isra and Vardan, in light of this calm, lowered their guards slightly, taking time to check their weapons and armour. The Ursa's rolling gait proved at first an obstacle to their inspections, but they quickly adjusted to working around it in the silence that their driver demanded. A silence that was broken by the driver herself.

"Hey, guys. The Grimm's picking something up just ahead of us. It's alive, and it's waiting for us."

Isra and Vardan immediately brought their weapons up and slid down off the Ursa. "Roxane, keep the Ursa back. Vardan and I will see what that 'something' is." He brought his rifle to his shoulder as he reached the ground. "Can you tell us anything more than 'it's alive and waiting for us', or is that the limit of that Grimm's senses?"

Roxane shook her head. "There's too many scents. Human and Grimm alike. There's residual Aura there, so somebody came through recently. Sorry I can't be more helpful."

Isra nodded, motioning for Vardan to lead the way through the bushes. "Here's hoping it's not Grimm."

Vardan smiled grimly and pulled back the slides on his pistols. "You and me both. It'd make for a great story if we got through Initiation doing nothing but riding an Ursa."

Isra chuckled as he followed his partner in. "That it would."

The underbrush proved thicker than it looked, as it took longer than the few seconds they expected to cross through it. When they exited into the next clearing, they found it curiously empty, save for a small pile of smoking Beowolf corpses in the centre.

"Check it out. Looks like we were a little late to the party."

Isra nodded as he lowered his rifle slightly. "Yeah. Thing is, these bodies are fresh. Grimm disintegrate after a little while, or so I read. Why didn't we hear fighting?"

"Sniper?"

Isra scanned the trees for any glint that might prove Vardan correct. "If that's the case, then they can see us. Which begs the question of why they haven't come out."

Vardan shrugged, gesturing to the pile of Beowolves. "Maybe they were checking to make sure we weren't one of those things. Because we clearly aren't Grimm, they've moved on. No sense sticking around to say 'hi' to random prospects, or something."

"Try and solo Initiation? I won't say I don't envy them the opportunity."

"You asked for my help making sure you didn't get your ass kicked by the leap. I'm not sure how you think you would've fared any better against Grimm."

Isra shook his head and began to walk over to the pile of corpses. "Grimm aren't gravity. Also, I don't recall asking you for help. I recall you offering to help, though."

"Eh, one person's asking is another person's offering. What's your plan with the bodies?"

Isra kicked at a stray leg. "Make sure they're dead. Like I said, the bodies are fresh. I'd hate to find a live Beowolf in the pile."

Isra's kick provoked a response from the pile, prompting the two to take several steps back from the pile and ready their weapons.

"You see that, Vardan?"

"Yep. Something's in there. Think it's a Beowolf?"

Isra shook his head, applying a little pressure to his rifle's trigger. "Maybe. How smart are the Beowolves you've faced?"

Vardan flicked the safeties off on his pistols, aiming them at the pile. "Not the brightest sparks. I wouldn't say they're too stupid to hide among their dead, though. Think we should put a few rounds in there?"

"Better safe than sorry, right?"

Isra brought his rifle to his shoulder, using the simple iron sights on it to line up his shot. Now, if memory serves, this thing's loaded with ice Dust. Not exactly going to be 'lighting up' the pile, but it'll definitely get a reaction.

He squeezed the trigger, sending a single round into the pile where it burst, showering the body it struck in shards of ice. Isra's weapon got an approving nod from Vardan before he opened fire on the pile in turn, shredding the bodies with a hail of automatic fire. The fusillade soon stopped as a noise that had no place among a pile of Grimm bodies became steadily more distinct. The sound of clacking metal, and the faint tinkling of bullets bouncing off each other.

"Vardan, cut that out."

"It's not me. Sure it's not some of your gear?"

Isra quickly looked over his armour and weapon. "Nope. It's not me. Check your things."

"I don't have a lot of moving parts, Isra. Which means…" They both looked at the pile of bodies, weapons readied in case of any response.

"Hey, you guys done shooting out there?" A muffled voice from within the pile drew their attention.

Isra and Vardan shared a short glance before Isra advanced on the pile, rifle ready for any further reactions. "Who's in there?"

"You're not going to start shooting the pile again?"

Isra lowered his rifle slightly. "I'll do my best not to."

The voice from the pile sighed. "That's all I'm getting out of you? Whatever. I'll work with it. Friendly coming out!"

The pile rustled as whomever the voice belonged to moved around inside it, culminating in one of the bodies suddenly launching itself out of the pile into a hail of gunfire from Vardan.

"Hey! I said 'friendly coming out'! I thought that would be good enough to not get shot at!" A girl rose out of the hole that the body had created in the pile, holding a large shield in front of her.

Vardan ejected the magazines from his pistols, sliding in new ones. "My apologies. I wouldn't exactly call a flying Beowolf a 'friendly coming out'."

The shield collapsed down into a bracer on the girl's forearm as she stepped out from the pile. "Yeah. Probably should have warned you about that." She looked around the clearing as she stepped out, her eyes settling on Isra. "Hey again, Izzie. Funny we should meet down here."

The girl's casual greeting of Isra drew a raised eyebrow from Vardan. "'Izzie'?"

Isra frowned, holstering his rifle. A quick visual inspection revealed it to be the girl who'd spoken to him in the crowd before Initiation. Pale, dark hair, weird glow included – how does she do that? – grey t-shirt, cargo pants, tactical vest – or something that looks like one; I'd say that's her.

"Isra. And hi, Eira."

Eira smirked at Isra's correction of his name. "Seems like you partnered up well."

"Where's yours?"

Eira shrugged, pulling a carbine out of the pile of Beowolves and holstering it over her back. "Don't have one."

The casualness of her response drew a raised eyebrow from Isra and Vardan, only for their response to be cut short by a rumbling. Isra immediately looked at Vardan, who shrugged and looked at the underbrush they'd emerged into the clearing from.

"Vard… please tell me that's not who I think it is."

"If she wants to come find out what all the shooting was about, nothing's going to stop her. And since she's riding-"

"BEAR FORCE!"

Vardan and Isra both turned to witness Roxane's Ursa bounding through the bushes into the clearing, Roxane waving an SMG around with reckless abandon as she arrived. Isra, faintly aware of the sound of a gun being cocked behind him, returned his attention to Eira, who had her weapon levelled at the Ursa's head.

"Eira, don't shoot it. It's friendly."

"Right, Izzie. Everything's friendly until it's trying to kill you."

Isra put a hand on the barrel of Eira's carbine, forcing it down. "This one's friendly as long as the girl on top of it doesn't let go. When she lets go, that's when you should be worried."

Eira shook her weapon free of Isra's grip, re-aiming it at the Ursa. "Pardon me if I'm not so quick to trust."

Roxane slid down off the Ursa's back, keeping her hand on the side of its neck as she did so. "He's not lying. As long as I've got a hand on it, it's going to do pretty much whatever I want." To prove her point, she steadily walked forward, the Ursa moving in pace with her until she was mere feet away from Eira.

"See? This one could've killed you right now. It didn't, because I'm here. I've got this thing handled, so you can take it easy. As long as my hand stays on it, we don't have a problem."

Eira relaxed slightly, drawing a smile from Isra as he walked off. "Right. Just a warning: if that thing makes any moves in my peripheral vision, I don't care how controlled you've got it; I will blow it away."

Roxane nodded, pleased that she'd persuaded another student to accept the Grimm she was handling. "Sounds good to me. Roxane Mallor, by the way. Sorry that I don't shake hands."

Eira slowly holstered her carbine after the introduction, still wary of the large Grimm that they shared the clearing with. "Eira Sable. Who's your red-headed friend?"

Roxane looked over to Vardan, who was inspecting each of the bodies in the pile with Isra to confirm their deaths. "That's Vardi. Uh, Vardan. He's Isra's partner. How'd you guess he was a friend of mine?"

Eira grinned. "Anyone who's met you and not run in the opposite direction is probably a friend of yours, considering what you bring to the table."

"Well, we've never met and you're not running. Does that make us friends?"

"I'm only sticking around because it's more interesting than running back out into the forest. Also, it's not often in life you get to ride an Ursa and damned if I'm passing up an opportunity like this."

Roxane smirked and rubbed the Ursa's neck. "And what makes you think I'll let you ride it?"

Eira nodded at Isra and Vardan. "I doubt you've had them walking while you rode around on the Ursa. Seeing as there's only three of you, that means one of you doesn't have a partner. Therefore, I must be one of your partners under Ozpin's rules from when we started. Considering that those two are interacting with each other more than they are with you, I assume you're the odd one out. By that reasoning, I'm your partner and like hell am I walking to the temple when I could travel in style."

Roxane smirked at the reasoning Eira used to justify riding the Ursa. "Well, you're not wrong. Vardi and Isra are partners, so I'm the one that doesn't have one. Thing is, I've got Isra and Vardi guarding the sides of the Ursa, so where do you fit?"

"I'll watch the rear. Didn't think it'd need a lot of working out. Four sides, four people."

"Guess not. Mount up, then. We're temple-bound shortly." Roxane gestured to the Ursa's back as she turned to look at the boys managing the pile of Beowolves. "Hey, you two! Unless you want to walk to the temple, you'd better get on now!"

The Ursa loped into the clearing that held the temple, two of its four passengers engrossed in discussion.

"So, you think it's the Ursa that's keeping Grimm away from us, Eira?"

"It's better than your theory, Vardan. 'Everyone else is more terrified'?" Eira snorted. "Come on. We're all lucky to have gotten the second call. I doubt that people would have been terrified."

Vardan shook his head. "Feeling lucky and feeling terrified rank on different scales, Ei."

"Says the guy who's friends with the Grimm-rider. You've probably forgotten what terror feels like."

Roxane fired a shot into the air, silencing the two. "You want to talk about terror and fear, Eira, save it for when we're not in Grimm territory. Unless you wanted to walk, that is."

Eira shifted from one side to the other, Roxane's reaction to her comment unsettling her. "Yep. I'll shut up. Anything else you wanted to say, or…"

"Just that we're as close as I can get this Ursa to the temple. It's got a lot more fight in it than I gave it credit for." She nodded at the stand of trees directly in front of them. "The temple should be right on the other side of those trees. Or, you know, the clearing with the temple in it."

Isra slid off the Ursa, Vardan in tow as he walked towards the trees. "Hey, Roxane, you want us to pick up a relic for you guys?"

Roxane glanced down at her Ursa, then at the temple. "No, me and Eira'll come with. Just give me a second." She turned around and motioned for her partner to disembark. "It's going to get a little rough up here soon. You might want to get off now."

Eira raised an eyebrow only for Roxane to remove the magazine from her SMG in response, revealing a blade running the length of the barrel. She glanced down at where Roxane sat on the Ursa – its natural red coloration beginning to return – and realised what was to come, sliding off the beast's back as Roxane plunged her blade into its head. Eira watched as the Ursa shuddered, the combined effects of Roxane's control leaving its mind and her blade entering it proving too much for it to bear and bringing it to the ground.

"Looks more than 'a little rough' to me."

Roxane smiled, wiping the blade on her coat before sliding the magazine back over it. "Yeah, that's what Vardi said the first time he saw me pull that stunt. It was a Beowolf, not an Ursa though. Apparently, the minute or so where it's still figuring out exactly what happened is also the ideal time to damage the brain – or whatever passes for its brain – because it's so confused. One of my teachers at Signal taught me that."

"What, the, 'kill it while it's stunned', or the science behind it?"

Roxane shrugged as she walked over to Isra and Vardan. "Bit of both. I'd already figured out the first because, well, you see where I sit on the thing. The second was a lot more of their work. Even then, it still seems a little off. I've never seen a Grimm get cut apart, so I have no idea if they know what they're talking about."

Eira followed her partner into the temple holding the relics. "Not one to take them at their word?"

"Well, I could, but where's the fun in that? The real fun is in seeing them defend it. Most annoying word a teacher can hear: 'why'." Roxane let a small laugh escape as memories washed over her. "You ever driven a teacher crazy with that?"

Eira looked warily at Roxane. "No. Should I have?"

"You clearly haven't lived. Put it on your graduation bucket list for Beacon. 'Say 'why' until you're told to shut up and accept it'."

Vardan glanced over at the two as Roxane spoke. "I'd say 'don't do that', Eira. Rox can do things like that and get away with it because her family is stupidly rich. I think, by the time Rox graduated Signal, her family had 'donated' something like over a million lien to… well, Rox can tell you why."

Eira chuckled, unzipping her vest to reveal a logo on the shirt beneath it. "I take it you don't recognise the surname, then. Eira Sable, daughter of Colward Sable, the current CEO of Sable Security Group. I think I can get away with 'rich people rules'. And," she looked at Roxane, aghast, "Over a million? What the hell were you doing at Signal that your family needed that much to keep you enrolled?"

"It's a long list."

"How long?"

Vardan grinned and pulled out his scroll. "Several pages. I took a photo of it once, when they left her record out. Top one - 'violation of workshop safety, endangering a student'."

"They couldn't prove that."

"Nope." Vardan took a few steps back from her. "Not without help."

Roxane looked at the gap between them, then at Vardan. "You… really? You told them?!"

"What was I going to do? There wasn't anyone else in our classes that could have done what you did. It was 'lie and slow their investigation for a couple of days, then get in trouble' or 'be sort of honest, point them your way and not get in trouble'. I'm not going to get myself in trouble for you, not when the Mallor name can buy you clear of anything."

"You son of a-" Roxane ran at Vardan, who sprinted off into the surrounding treeline.

Isra and Eira, who'd both stopped in their actions to observe the unfolding argument, soon took to providing their own commentary. "We certainly picked interesting partners, didn't we Eira?"

"You could say that. Think she'll kill him?"

"Why are you asking me?"

Eira shrugged, zipping up her vest. "You've been around them longer than I have. You should know them better."

"I really doubt I know them well enough to make that call."

"I'll take that as a 'no'. You think we should get to picking relics while they… do whatever they're going to do?"

"Sure, unless you think they're going to loop back around. Wish I'd brought popcorn."

Eira snorted, glancing around at the pedestals ringing the interior. "Ozpin said what we did would affect our grading. What do you think the grading's like for these?"

"No idea. What do you think it is?"

"It's probably some test of character. You know, picking a random object is suddenly going to give Ozpin and whoever else does grading a half-decent idea of what we're actually like. So, I guess it comes down to what relic you like better. Personally, I'm a fan of the lantern." Eira nodded to a rusted lantern, empty but for flakes of rust filling the bottom.

"Any reason why?"

"Well, what's a lantern going to say about somebody? That they're protective, possibly a little cloistering, but that they still advocate hope. Of course, that last bit might be moot, considering that there's no candle in it. What about you?"

Isra looked at the arrayed relics, his eyes settling on the candle nearby. "Candle takes my fancy."

"A fitting counterpart to the lantern. Supports the pursuit of knowledge, power through the flame, but untampered and prone to self-destruction if left unchecked."

Isra cast a sideways glance at Eira. "Are you going to do that for every relic?" Eira shrugged, her expression suggesting 'why not?'

"Alright, the coin."

"Favours wealth, fortune – literal and otherwise. Has a tendency towards duality, one aspect markedly different from the other."

"The watch?"

Eira raised an eyebrow. "Are you going to have me give my opinion on each of these relics, or are you going to pick one?"

Isra chuckled. "I've already picked mine. I just wanted to hear what you had to say, apparent philosopher that you are."

"Fine. The watch – symbol, literally, of time. Metaphorically, of fate and awareness thereof. Displays a predilection towards humanity – humans being the only animal to monitor time with machines – and also technology. Shows that you are aware that time is expiring, both in your own life and in the fight against the Grimm."

Eira sighed faintly, pausing a moment before continuing. "Indicates that you know that your time, like all others, will come, but you are willing to spend that time in the most productive manner." Eira looked out at the forest, still echoing with the noise of Roxane's chase. When she spoke, Isra noted a newfound weariness enter her speech.

"Are you finished? Or is there one more relic you would like to hear my opinion on?"

Isra cast a curious eye over his unofficial partner, trying to identify what the problem was. "…No. I'm good. Let's get what we've picked."

Eira smiled, the weariness alleviated some by Isra's statement. "Good. Lantern and Candle, right?"

"Right."

Back on the cliff, Professor Ozpin and Professor Goodwitch were watching the camera feeds from the temple with interest. The four students who were accepted into the second wave with 'special dispensation' had, inexplicably, managed to partner themselves together.

"Ozpin. I want you to tell me, right now, that you didn't plan this. You didn't plan for these four to partner up, and you don't have plans to put them in the same team."

Ozpin sipped from his mug and shrugged his shoulders. "All I gave was a push. I can't guarantee they'll be placed in the same team, nor that they would have partnered up the way they have. If I could have chosen their partnerships, I won't deny that it would have matched how they naturally fell together."

Glynda scowled at him. Once again, the forces of nature were conspiring to do his will. It couldn't be the other way around, she knew him too well for that. He always seemed to be the one in control, which was why events like this were… rare. The Council didn't quite know what they'd gotten themselves in for, making demands of Beacon like they had.

"So they will be teamed with your blessing?"

"I wouldn't put it so romantically, but yes. If they all make it back with the appropriate relics, I will ensure they are teamed together. If nothing else, the Mallor girl and her friend, Mister Marist, have a chemistry that will suit them well on the field. To place them in separate teams would be a criminal waste of potential, albeit one that, given Miss Mallor's predilections at Signal, would likely be quickly rectified."

"You can't seriously be suggesting…"

"That she'd arrange for an accident to befall the other half of her team to ensure that her and Mister Marist would be placed on the same team? We've both seen her disciplinary record. They couldn't get anything to stick, but there's only so much coincidence can explain."

"Ozpin, if you genuinely think she's capable of that, then she deserves to be in a psychiatric institute, not Beacon."

"That might be true, Glynda, but I think that, given what we've seen of late, we could use a little instability."

"No war was won by sinking to the enemy's level, Ozpin."

"It's not a war, Glynda. It's a game. A chess match, if you will. You can't sink to your opponent's level if you begin the same."

Glynda shook her head and cycled the feed away from the temple. "You're wrong, Ozpin. We aren't terrorists. We don't have to justify what we do."

"Neither do they."

"The White Fang do. They-"

"Are an organisation dedicated to ending discrimination against Faunus, whatever the cost. They started out as a Faunus advocacy group, trying to get them accepted within the confines of the law. That failed. Now, they just want people to treat them with respect. What easier way is there to be respected than through fear?"

"By doing what's right."

"What's right when all you've been is wronged?" Ozpin pulled out his own scroll and returned his attention to the temple.

A/N: And I'm back, with this chapter as an apology for my absence.

Thanks to Challos for editing.