Chapter 15

Pyrrha found Ruby tending Glynda's garden. It was one of the duties Ruby had volunteered to take on to lighten the load for Glynda and Pyrrha, and a task it seemed she quite enjoyed. "Almost done Ruby?"

"Yep, just…" Ruby pulled the spray bottle from her satchel and gave the garden one lasts soak. "There. What's up?"

"I was just about go do some training." Pyrrha replied. She was dressed in her armor - bronze greaves, a skirt made from strips of leather and bronze, and leather for her torso and arms - with her shield and spear slung over her back. She carried a large camping backpack in hand. "I thought you might want to join me."

"Sure!" Ruby cheered. "I can gather herbs while you're exercising!"

"Actually, I was hoping you'd train with me." Pyrrha corrected.

"Oh, okay, sounds fun." Ruby agreed. "Do I need to take anything with me?"

"Just wear this." Pyrrha dropped the backpack at Ruby's feet. It sounded as if several wood blocks clunked together within. "It weighs about as much as my armor and weapons."

Ruby put her spray bottle in her satchel, then put the satchel in the backpack. She found what looked like wooden toy weapons inside. She slung the backpack over her shoulders. "It's not that heavy."

"Good." Pyrrha adjusted the pack's position on Ruby's back. "You'll want it to be comfortable. We've got a lot of running to do. Ready?"

"Yep!" Ruby chirped.

"Follow me." Pyrrha instructed. She began jogging toward the town, Ruby following and matching her pace. Pyrrha first followed a winding path through the town, then headed along one of the narrow dirt paths, taking them into the forest. The path twisted and narrowed, the sun increasingly blocked by the overhanging trees. A fallen tree blocked the path. Pyrrha leapt over it and Ruby did the same, both hardly breaking stride. A little farther on, the trees and brush began to thin, until the path opened into a clearing. Pyrrha came to a halt a few steps in, with Ruby standing at her side.

"Ooh, what is this place?" Ruby asked. The field was full of wooden and metal obstacles, almost like a playground for adults. Some fallen trees and branches encroached from the fringes, and most of the obstacles were in obvious disrepair.

"This is the old Huntsman training ground." Pyrrha explained. "Back when I was training to be a Huntress, and when Port still had students before Winter came to the island, this is where we worked out. It hasn't been used much since, so it's fallen into disrepair, but there's enough still standing to make it useful."

"Awesome." Ruby admired.

"Now, are you ready for some real training?" Pyrrha asked.

"Let's do it!" Ruby enthused.

Pyrrha approached a rack of pull-up bars. One looked to be in good shape, but the others were rusted. "I'll clean one up for you." Pyrrha concentrated, whispering a magic spell and holding out her hand toward one of the bars. The rust flaked away, blowing away as dust, until the bar was clean and shiny. "There, let's see how strong you are." She could not help but notice that even after the jog to the training ground, Ruby was not sweating. Even she had worked up a bit of a sweat.

Pyrrha jumped up, grabbing one of the bars, and started doing pull-ups. After watching Pyrrha do a few, Ruby joined in beside her. After two dozen, Pyrrha dropped down, huffing and puffing as sweat streamed down her face. Ruby kept going, not even slowing down. "How long should I keep doing this?" Ruby asked.

"Keep going until you get tired." Pyrrha instructed, though she soon realized that was probably not wise. She kept counting Ruby's reps until she reached 100. "Okay, I think that's enough." Ruby dropped down, looking to Pyrrha for instruction. "How do you feel?"

"Fine." Ruby shrugged.

"Not fatigued?" Pyrrha pressed.

"Nope." Ruby shook her head.

"Well then...I guess I don't have to worry about training your endurance." Pyrrha thought aloud. "Okay, take off your backpack, put it down here." Ruby placed the backpack on the ground at Pyrrha's feet. Pyrrha unzipped it, searching around inside until she found a wooden dagger. "Now I'll teach you to defend yourself."

"Why?" Ruby asked.

"Because...because the world is dangerous." Pyrrha sighed.

"But nothing hurts me." Ruby noted.

"Nothing we tested." Pyrrha corrected. "We couldn't test everything, it would be too dangerous. There might be something out there that can do real harm to you, so it's best to be ready to defend yourself."

"I guess you're right." Ruby allowed.

"I think a dagger is the best weapon for you." Pyrrha explained. "It's light, fast, easily concealable." She walked over to a tree trunk at the edge of the clearing. Bits of bark were missing and gouges had been cut into it. "Watch me carefully. Pretend this tree is an attacker." Pyrrha lunged at the trunk, stabbing repeatedly, wood clunking against wood. She stepped back, reset, and attacked again, using different moves. "Stabbing is always going to be most effective. Only slash if there's no other option." Pyrrha stepped up to the trunk, almost touching it. "If the attacker gets too close, you can't always stab straight on." She jabbed the wooden dagger into the side of the trunk. "There, now you try."

Ruby took the training dagger from Pyrrha and stepped up to the tree trunk. With a series of quick strikes, she matched Pyrrha's demonstration exactly, then repeated it again. "Did I do it right?"

"That was perfect." Pyrrha declared with a hint of shock in her voice. "It usually takes hours of practice, if not days...you're incredible."

"Thanks!" Ruby beamed.

"Maybe we should move on to something more complicated." Pyrrha suggested. "Fortunately I brought the rest of the training gear." She returned to the backpack, pulling a pair of small wooden shields and spears from within. The spears were only about two thirds the length of Pyrrha's, and the shields were barely more than a foot in diameter. They were weighted to be heavier than real weapons, ideal for training. She laid her proper weapons on the ground beside the backpack. "Let me demonstrate a little."

Pyrrha showed Ruby the basics of fighting with a spear and shield, then it was time to spar. When the pair faced off, Pyrrha was effectively fighting herself. Ruby matched every attack and block, and even when Pyrrha threw in some complex maneuvers, Ruby was still able to hold her own. It remained a draw for a long while, until Pyrrha began to get fatigued. Ruby had no such trouble and began to dominate the matchup. Perhaps Pyrrha and Weiss' concerns about Ruby's safety were a tad unfounded.

"That was incredible Ruby." Pyrrha praised as the pair sat on a fallen tree in the shade at the edge of the clearing. Pyrrha had thought to throw a few bottles of water into the backpack before heading out, and she quickly downed them. Ruby appeared to require no such sustenance. "You're something really special. Training to fight like that...it takes years, and you learned in minutes."

"I just did what you showed me." Ruby shrugged.

"I know, and that's part of what's so amazing." Pyrrha nodded. "Just copying someone else's movements sounds simple enough, but being able to do it that fast, in the context of a fight, with all that unpredictability, it's unbelievable."

"How goes your training?" Blake asked, emerging from the forest nearby. She was not entirely in human form, floating a few inches above the ground and passing through the brush without disturbing it.

"Fantastic." Pyrrha answered. "Ruby's a wonderful student. She's already as good as I am, if not better."

"That does not surprise me." Blake shrugged. She took on a fully solid form, standing before the pair. "Her mind's like a sponge, and her control over her essence is excellent."

Pyrrha stood a stretched. "There's just one more lesson I want to teach her."

"That's why I'm here?" Blake suggested.

"Yes, this demonstration requires a live sparring partner." Pyrrha confirmed. "Sometimes you won't have a weapon. In those situations, you need to be able to neutralize your opponent, even if they're bigger and stronger. Just punching and kicking won't do the job. You need to get them to the ground, to give yourself an advantage."

"Alright, kick my ass." Blake smirked, standing in an open spot in the field.

Pyrrha approached Blake, hands up and ready. "Come at me." Blake threw a punch at Pyrrha. Pyrrha slipped out of the way, grabbed Blake's arm, and with a tug and a shift of her hips, flipped Blake over, slamming her down onto her back. Pyrrha then dropped a knee onto Blake's chest before punching her in the throat. Pyrrha stood and turned to Ruby. "Like that."

Blake stood as well, unharmed. "You hit like a sprite."

Pyrrha rolled her eyes. "Now, there are a few more techniques you should learn." Pyrrha demonstrated several more blocks, dodges and grapples on Blake, each ending with a devastating attack on her grounded opponent. Blake did not seem injured or tired, just a bit bored, as usual. Finally Pyrrha had run through all the moves she could think of, and turned to Ruby. "That's it. It's time for you to try."

Ruby stood and approached Blake. "No, not me, you're wrestling her." Blake instructed, gesturing toward Pyrrha. "Let's see who's better, student or teacher."

"I think I already know, but yes, let's see." Pyrrha smiled. "Um...no attacks once one of us is down. We don't want to actually hurt each other."

"You mean you don't want her to actually hurt you." Blake teased.

"Yes, that's exactly what I mean." Pyrrha shot back. "Ready?"

"Ready!" Ruby announced.

"Alright, go!" Blake shouted.

Pyrrha and Ruby locked together in a standing grapple, struggling for leverage and positioning. Ruby was strong, very strong. Still Pyrrha was able to hold her own. "Always watch out for the cheap shot." Pyrrha warned. She slipped her leg behind Ruby's and tripped her. Ruby stood and dusted herself off. The pair clinched again, now not just struggling for position, but exchanging the occasional trip attempt. It was a stalemate, but one Ruby was slowly breaking. Pyrrha's muscles burned with exhaustion, and her stomach rumbled with hunger. Finally her strength gave way and she found herself on her back.

"I did it!" Ruby cheered.

"Again." Pyrrha stood and reengaged. This time Ruby's victory came much more quickly. Her exhaustion and Ruby's seemingly limitless endurance made the latter's victories easier and easier as they went on.

"I'm calling it." Blake declared. "Ruby wins."

"I agree." Pyrrha gasped, lying on her back. She struggled to her feet, hunched over and panting. "I'm spent." She took a deep breath and straightened her posture. "Everything hurts."

"Ooh, I think I can help!" Ruby chirped. She rushed to Pyrrha and wrapped her in a tight embrace, much to Pyrrha's shock.

"Wha-what are you doing?" Pyrrha stammered.

Ruby concentrated, squeezing Pyrrha. The pair began to subtly glow, and for a few moments, Pyrrha felt as though she was floating. Then Ruby released her and stepped back, smiling at her. "Better?"

The burn in Pyrrha's muscles was gone. Suddenly, she felt as though she could run a marathon...but for the rumbling in her empty stomach. "I feel...fantastic. How...how did you do that?"

"Well, the book I read said that your muscles hurting is because of lactic acid and damage caused by exertion." Ruby explained. "It's kind of like any other wound, so I healed you."

"Healed me how?" Pyrrha asked.

"The way I heal myself after a cut." Ruby replied. "I just focused really hard on fixing what was broken, except in your muscles instead of my skin."

"That's astonishing Ruby...I've never...even the healing spells Glynda taught me aren't this good." Pyrrha praised. "You're amazing, absolutely amazing." Ruby beamed. "Now, let's head home. I'm starving."

"Can I have cookies?" Ruby requested.

"Sure, you've earned it." Pyrrha agreed.

"Sweet!" Ruby cheered.

"Blake, can you carry our gear back?" Pyrrha asked.

"Sure." Blake nodded. She once again took on a more ethereal form, gathering up the backpack, training weapons, and Pyrrha's real weapons.

"Today was incredible." Pyrrha gushed. "I never could have imagined you would do so great so fast."

Ruby smiled ear to ear.

A knock on the door distracted Weiss from her work, and she sighed, setting down her pen. Her office had taken some time to get back in order. Winter, bless her orderly heart, had unintentionally thrown everything about in her cleaning. Yang claimed that she had only wiped down the desks and straightened things, and Weiss believed her. This was typical Winter, coming into her room while she was gone and going over things once more. No matter how many times Weiss scolded her for it, her organized chaos just bothered Winter on a fundamental level.

Weiss had hoped that living separately would prevent her habit from plaguing her, but no, something had to give, it always did. Now things were back to the way she preferred, with her most used instruments and resources roughly positioned in and around her workspace, Glynda's book on a stand by her left, a notebook in front, and loose pages to her right, many of which had little notes already. Her new project was already taking shape, but first…

"Yang?" Weiss called out.

"I'll get it." Yang answered from the living room. A whoosh of flames followed, then the thud of Yang's bare footsteps as she strode to the door. "It's Ruby and Blake!" Of course it was. They had been expecting Ruby to visit, Weiss in particular. After the stressful morning they both craved the young aspect's cheerful presence.

"Weiss!" Ruby yelled as she jogged into the room, and Weiss happily turned to welcome her into an embrace.

"Ruby, good afternoon." Weiss greeted, nuzzling into Ruby's shoulder, drinking in her scent, a mixed floral aroma she had sorely missed. "How goes your day?"

Ruby loosened her grasp. "Pyrrha took me on her fitness routine! We ran through the forest and tested our muscles, and she taught me how to fight!" Ruby gushed gleefully.

Weiss felt a pang of relief. So Pyrrha had taken her advice, good, good… "And how did you fare?" Weiss chuckled.

Ruby pulled back and drew her blade, now sheathed by her side instead of stuffed in her bag, twirling it about her fingers effortlessly. "I won! Pyrrha says I'm a really fast learner and that I have great stamina." She held the dagger in an icepick grip, dropping into a low crouch, a playful but confident smirk on her face. Weiss was impressed by Ruby's form.

"Ruby outlasted Pyrrha, effortlessly." Blake chimed in from the doorway, she and Yang leaning on either side.

"It wasn't effortless, Pyrrha really tried!" Ruby corrected. "I just...didn't feel tired, so I kept going, and when Pyrrha couldn't, I tried to give her some of my energy, and it worked!"

"You what?" Weiss balked.

"I thought, hey, I can heal myself easily, and Pyrrha and I have the same blood, maybe I can help." Ruby explained. "The biology book I read said that the pain is just lactic acid eating away at the muscle, and they heal back stronger right? So I hugged her, and did the imagination thing Blake taught me, and it worked!"

"Imagination thing?" Weiss questioned.

"Oh yeah, right, look!" Ruby sliced open her finger, drawing forth her essence, and Weiss found herself hit with a much heavier floral scent, yet oddly, did not feel the need to feed, watching mesmerized as the blood flickered and transformed. "Blake taught me to make cloth!" The essence turned into a crimson swatch, which then attached itself to Ruby's hand, growing like moss across her pale skin until it completely covered to her wrist. She then pulled it off, holding it up like a prize towards Yang, then Weiss. "It's so awesome!"

Weiss took the freshly formed garment and resisted the urge to bury her face in it. The floral scent hung heavy on the cloth, which felt smoother than silk, a deep rich crimson in color. Not a seam could be seen, and when Weiss held it beneath a nearby magnifying glass the weaving was impeccable. "This is beautiful Ruby, you're doing well." She admired, offering the glove back, only to find another in her face.

"They regenerate, and store and conduct energy, and probably more." Ruby noted. "Glynda is still running tests. Maybe you can find a use for them?"

Ruby looked so excited, so hopeful, it made Weiss all the more grateful she had accepted the aspect's friendship. "Thank you Ruby, I will treasure them always." Weiss took the other glove, trying them on. They fit...like...well, what they were, snug without being tight, and warm, they were… "Perfect, flawless Ruby. You taught her well Blake."

"Of course I did." Blake casually preened, oozing pride.

"What are you working on?" Ruby asked. "Can we help?"

Weiss turned to find Ruby looking over her work. "With the writing, not really, but I do have some errands you can run in town, if you'd be so kind." Weiss moved aside several pages of notes before handing one to Ruby.

Ruby looked over the page curiously. "The Huntsman's Guide to Civilian Safety?" Ruby read aloud. The page seemed to be a mock-up of a book cover, currently quite bare, with naught but a simple border, and the title written in bold letters.

"You could also help with that." Weiss noted. "The border needs embellishment, and the cover art will need brainstorming. Perhaps a vampire and a werewolf facing each other down?"

"You're writing a guide for the people?" Blake asked, appearing on Weiss' flank, alongside Yang, who lay a warm hand upon her shoulder.

"I am." Weiss confirmed. "Witches, Huntsman and Templars are all the people rely on to protect themselves. Whenever something dangerous crops up they come running to us, but so often it's far too late by then. Imagine how many lives could be saved by teaching people basic lessons about supernatural beings." She had a fair point. The general populous were relatively ignorant. The Templar Order claimed it was to avoid inciting panic, but in Weiss' opinion, it was to keep their rule secure. If the people ran scared to them at every bump in the night, they would be less likely to reject their more...stifling regulations. "Simple lessons make all the difference, like...like wearing a ring of silver to shake hands with strangers. A vampire would flinch. Or that werewolves aren't natural cannibals, and will leave well enough alone, and may even protect a village from Grimm if reasoned with. The world could be such a safer place if only someone made an effort. And I intend to."

"You shoulda' told me Weiss." Yang said. "I've got loads of knowledge to share."

"Likewise, Nora and Ren would be willing to speak as well." Blake added. "Ren in particular. Nora...might be a bit much for you."

"Ah yes, the Huntsmen...one of which had a taste for my kind if I remember correctly...did you know werewolf bites cause necrosis in vampire flesh?" Weiss shuddered. "Fun fact."

"Nora won't bite." Yang scoffed. "She's got Ren to reel her in. I hunted with them a bit. They're really nice."

Weiss sighed, rubbing the bridge of her nose and nodding. "Okay, perhaps you could seek them out tomorrow."

"They were at the Templar camp when I visited." Ruby noted. "Maybe they're still there? I can stop and see after I run your errands."

"Right, errands." Weiss refocused. "Yes, thank you Ruby, I would appreciate that, follow me." Picking up a piece of paper, her pen and inkwell, Weiss stood, striding from her office into the living room, and crossing to the table where the box of silverware still sat. "This is all the nonessential silver from my home." She explained, laying down her supplies to write. "I'd like you to take them to Port with this commission list." She handed the note to Ruby, who scanned it. A silver dagger made to Velvet's specifications, with the rest to be used to coat as many stiletto daggers as reasonably possible.

"Oh, Velvet is making me a cloak." Ruby observed. "I could ask her myself when I visit." She offered. Weiss hummed, moving to the doorway curtain. Her own cloak hung on a hook, the silver broach gleaming in the firelight. Holding up her hand, she flexed it. Ruby was not burned by silver...maybe…

"Weiss?" Yang's worried voice sounded.

"It's fine." Weiss smirked, turning around, broach in hand. Ruby's glove had protected her. "Ask Port to cast an iron broach for me, and this, I gift to you." She offered the silver object to Ruby. "He can inscribe your initials instead of mine."

"Ruby doesn't have a last name." Blake pointed out.

"Of course she does." Weiss scoffed. "She's Ruby Nikos."