Chapter 43: Flight

Chapter 43: Flight

DISCLAIMER: This story is NOT MINE IN ANY WAY. That honor has gone to the beautiful bastard Ryugii. This has been pulled from his Spacebattle publishment. Anyway on with the show...errr read.

Flight

I lingered in the store for a time, both to give Adam and Blake a chance to leave and to give myself time to absorb it all. I frowned slightly, looking out at the slowly brightening sky, justnot sure how to feel.

I had a lot of questions and few ways of getting answersor, rather, I wasn't even sure if I should try to get answers. The easiest way to satisfy my curiosity would be to ask my parent's butwould that be too suspicious? I hadn't asked her why we were going to Mistral, trusting her to tell me if I needed to know, but Adam's words had forced a tiny spark to burn.

I knew, of course, that she was going there for a reason. More than that, if Ozpin was sending a Huntress of my mother's caliber, it must have been at least potentially serious. He'd want someone who could handle herself in a fight if it came to it.

But on the other handshe was considering bringing me along. And I knew she loved me and knew I wasn't weak, but would she drag me unknowingly into a situation that might erupt into major league violence? It seemed unlikely, which implied

What? That it was serious, but not necessarily dangerous? That there was some way of keeping me out of danger? That there was something else at work? It could have been anything.

But I thought back to the words Ozpin had spoken months ago, about hearing whispers of something in Mistral. Had it just been said in jest or was there some truth to it? Was he sending my mother to investigate and find the source of such rumors? Could such whispers actually be of the White Fang and their new partner? Would they send my mother if it was?

I thought about it. I could see it, maybe; if it was something that wassuspicious, something that might have been big but had nothing definite, sending someone to investigate was only natural. But if it did turn out to be real, it would need to be someone strong enough to fight her way out, too, and bring that information home. To maximize the chances of success, someone who knew the area well would be preferable; someone who was familiar with local groups, who had a reputation and maybe an excuse to be there, someone that might not be immediately suspected of an investigative roleI could see it. From a coldly logical point of view, it might have even made my presence make sense; a high-ranked Huntress travelling alone would draw more suspicion then a mother travelling with her son, showing him her homeland. Even if said mother was a huntress; it was all about perception, framing.

But the addition of another person, someone unassociated with the mission, would make things more difficult. Wouldn't it?

"A festival," I murmured to myself, looking at my reflection in the window. That seemed important, somehow. It was a festival. A major festival at that, the first one after the chaos cause by Ziz was beginning to wind down some.

No, I thought. After the chaos I'd caused was beginning to die down. It was more than just Ziz, after allthis was something bigger. A legendary monster awakened near Vale, on the continent of Vytal. A major terrorist attack on the Schnee Dust Company and an invasion of its home country, Atlas, on the continent of Mantle. Two Kingdom's rocked in short order, while Mistral weathered the storm untouched.

I wonder if anyone had given thought to taking a vacation there. Travel between the kingdom's was so rare because the only way to do so with guaranteed safety was to travel in a large group; a single ship, barring something cutting edge like the White Whale, faced serious risks in venturing beyond the Kingdoms, but twenty ships? Fifty? A hundred? With a military escort?

That was a different matter.

It also wasn't worth the cost, except very, very rarely. While it may have reduced the threat of opportunistic Grimm, flying that many shipsunless there was a huge demand, it was far too expensive. But there were occasions that made it worthwhilelike the Vytal festival.

And MistralMistral had this. An event big enough, famous enough, that it would be worth the cost to mobilize a fleet of transportersseveral of them even, from the different kingdoms.

That's a lot of traffic, I thought. Enough to hide the movements of a terrorist organization or two. It'd be pretty easy for a person to just happen to get lost in a crowd that big, too. And while they're lost, well, who's to say? An excuse to keep me away from dangerand really, all it'd take was one of about fifty million attractionsand boom! Goodbye, Wonder Mom; hello, Super Spy.

Of course, I reminded myself, all this was conjecture. There was nothing to truly support any of it; I mean, the pieces may have fit, but I was making them fit, constructing a situation that fit what I wanted to see. There was nothing saying I was right about my baseless conjectures; in fact, I was probably wrong.

All I'd need to do was ask my mom a question or two and I could prove it, a treacherous part of me whispered, all the more insidious for being completely right. Because, yeah; I could ask my Mom what the mission was about. She might tell me the details, she might not, but either way I'd probably learn something. It'd be way more productive than letting my brain run itself away on a hamster wheel.

But

Maybe I was constructing a situation based on a couple vague hints; I couldn't deny it was possible. I didn't mind that, even, in and of itself; my mom was a busy woman. She was a Huntress, for God's sakeit wasn't surprising that she'd need to work some while away. Hell, even if she only had the idea of bringing me along because it was useful to the mission, I knew she loved me and I was sure that it had been at least partially intended as a reward. She wasn't forcing me to come or anything, either. I wouldn't get mad at her if it turned out she had more than one reason for making the suggestion.

Besides, even if she did intend to bring me to the festival and leave me to my devises while she workedand it was completely possible she didn'tthere was still a pretty awesome part where I got to go to the festival. I was fine with that.

My mom was a Hunter and had to keep secrets sometimes. I was fine with that, too; hell, I'd kept a lot of my own.

Butbut if I asked her and she answered, if she confirmed my probably made up suspicionsthen that put me between my mother and my friends. It would mean I'd know something she was looking for and was keeping it from her, if I said nothingand mean betraying my friends if I spoke.

And Iif that happened

But if I said nothingthen really, it was just me and my over active imagination, wasn't it? Even if

I closed my eyes and leaned my forehead against the glass.

Damn it.

"So" Tukson said a few minutes later, probably watching me just stand there. "Are you gonna buy anything, or?"

In the end, I chose to say nothing. I was afraid of what might happen if I spoke, so I just stayed quiet and tried not to think about itto run away from the possibility, if I was being honest. I got back home before my mom finished her morning routine and let my trip pass without comment, returning to my training as if nothing had ever happened. Because I trained so often and frequently ran around the city early in the morning, I doubted my mother had even noticed anything odd. I went about my day as normal and got back to my training.

Still, she smiled.

"Its fine," She answered what went unspoken. "I go back every now and then, to check on things and fulfill my duties. It's justI get a bit melancholic, I suppose, remembering"

She exhaled slowly, looking past me and far away.

"But" She mused, an odd expression on her face. "The festival is always so beautiful. I think you'll love it. Truly."

I nodded, moving to her said with a bit of uncertainty. The words seemed to at once cheer her and sadden her further, leaving me wondering what she was recalling. My parents had always told me stories about their lives as Hunters, enough so that at times I felt like I had been there alongside themonly to be inevitably reminded that there were parts I had no knowledge of whatsoever. When you'd heard a thousand stories and grown up listening to them every night, it was easy to think you'd heard all there was, but for Hunters a thousand adventures was nothing. My mother didn't talk a lot about her life in Mistral, back when she was Isabelle Roma. I knew some of it, of course, like about my grandmother, but the rest

Well, I suppose could guess, given her maiden name. The Children of the Wolves had a bit of a reputation when it came toeverything.

"Any plans for what we're gonna do at the festival?" I asked, trying to distract her while also carefully tiptoeing around the mission. "Are we going to meet anyone there?"

It seemed to work because she made another face, as if she'd bitten into a lemon with a tongue covered in paper cuts.

"I guess we'll have to go see her while we're nearby," She said, sounding like the words were being forced out of her. "If we don't, she'll find out eventually and that'll only make it worse."

She made it sound like it would be something torturous, which really cut down the possibilities.

"Grandma?" I wondered, trying to keep my lips from twitching.

My mother's scowl deepened at the sound of the word, probably not liking the implication that they were related. I'd never gotten the whole story about that, either; I mean, there must have been something interesting to how I ended up getting named after a woman my mother claimed she hated.

I didn't mind visiting Grandma Jeanne, personally, but I should probably keep that to myself. Mom had always seemed kind of morally outraged that all of us liked our grandmother.

"After that" She mused, seeming to put the thought of her old teacher behind her through sheer force of will. "Let's see, there's the fireworks, the parade, the hunt"

"Are we gonna watch the games?" I asked, not-so-subtly moving the conversation toward the reason why the Olympia festival was so famous. It might have been a little late to get tickets for the good stuff, but I could just find a tall building and watch with Clairvoyance if I had to, doing away with the crowds in the process. Still it'd be more fun to watch it with family and friends then to do so alone, even if my mom would probably just find it amusing.

I wondered if Adam and Blake were gonna watch it.

My mother was silent for a moment, looking at me before slowly exhaling. She opened her mouth to speak, hesitated, and then continued more firmly.

"Actually," She said. "I've been thinking about that, too. Howhow would like to fight in one of the tournaments?"

I tilted my head the side.

"What?" I asked, confused.

"You're certainly strong enough," She continued. "And I figured you might enjoy"

"Yeah," I nodded quickly. "Yeah, no, yeah. I mean, it sounds cool; it's justisn't it a little late now? Don't you kind of have to schedule those kind of things in advanced?"

"A month in advanced, minimum," She nodded before taking a deep breath. "Which is why I called one of my old friends shortly after you came back from your trip. Iyou don't have to, or anything; I'm not trying to force you to do anything, butbut if you were interested, I wanted you to have the option. We can still cancel, but I thought it might be a good experience for you and a chance to have fun. You can fight with people your own age in a relatively safe setting, test yourself against people with other Semblances without fear of the consequences, and maybe practice some of your own skills. Now that your training's over, I thought it might be a good chance to push your limits and see how far you can go."

A dark part of me whispered that it would also be a good way to get rid of me for a few hours while also making sure I was somewhere safe.

I looked that voice in a box and threw it away, nodding my head quickly.

"Yeah," I said. "I couldI don't know. Do you think I could win?"

"Yes?" She shrugged, smiling slightly. "Maybe? I don't really know, but it doesn't really matter, does it?"

And that's what I meant about finding it amusing. Though, in fairness, it didn't matter, not reallycool as it was, it's not like I'd really lose anything if I was defeated. I cared about the rewards and publicity about as much as my mom did and while I guess it was a chance to prove myself, I'd already done so to everyone whose opinion actually mattered to me. Thinking about it that way, whether I won or lost really wasn't all that important, but

But it cool. Dumb in a lot of ways, sure, but still coolsomething mom and I could laugh about at its worst, celebrate at its best, but probably remember fondly one way or another. And maybe I was growing cynic, but there was a part of me that remembered about Adam's words and worried about my mother's mission and thought that maybe, just maybe, this trip would need something to smile about afterwards.

"No," I told her. "It doesn't. Let's do it."