Where Are You Going?
The Frost Mountain Clan wound their way across the landscape in a great caravan, wagons rumbling towards their destination, pulled by patient oxen and strong draught horses, or else by mules which were rather harder to manage. Cattle and sheep were driven along the sides of the wagon train, while men and women in their prime, and children old and strong enough to keep up the pace, walked beside the wooden carts, driving beasts or keeping an eye open for any sign of grimm. The elderly, the sick, and the infirm rode in the wagons, subjected to the bumps of the sometimes uneven surface but at least not forced to walk.
Sunsprite’s Rangers rode up and down the flanks of the column, their cloaks of green and brown billowing behind them as they rode, constantly on patrol, always on the lookout. They were joined by some of the Frost Mountain Clan ahorse, including Prince Rutherford, but it was clear to Sunset that the mounts of the Rangers were superior and that they were superior riders also.
The road down which the convoy travelled was, at least, an actual road and not just a route through the countryside down which they had decided to travel. At times, it even looked like a real road, albeit one of some antiquity, with cracked paving stones lying in a straight column pointing eastwards; at times, there were no stones, but the ground was flat, and that flatness had been driven through the landscape against its will.
“This road was laid down by the first Valish colonists to cross the mountains,” Sunsprite explained. She and Vesper and a few others of their Ranger party rode at the head of the column, and for the moment, they had summoned Sunset up to the head of the column too, so that they might speak with her. “They carved a road all across the landscape as far as the sea, with the intent that they would found forts and settlements all along it, bases from which they could spread out north and south.”
“Did it work?” Sunset asked. Colonisation efforts in the east fell into a sort of grey area between Ancient and Modern History that had not really been covered in the curriculum either at Beacon – in the year that she had actually attended Beacon – or Canterlot. More recent expansion efforts, like the attempt to establish Mountain Glenn as the base for renewed colonisation of the east, formed part of Modern History, but the events that Sunsprite was describing were at once too modern to be ancient and too ancient to be modern; as such, they found no purchase in either course.
“For a time,” Sunsprite said. “Many roads diverge from this, and some of the towns that were founded along them yet survive, but the great cities they meant to establish… those could not be sustained. There were not enough soldiers to man the forts, and the great cities were hard to feed, harder to defend against the grimm, and brought little value to the kingdom on the other side of the mountains. The lord who held these lands retreated, and only a few stubborn souls remained behind to eke out lives amidst the hardship and the grimm.” She paused. “They returned, many years later, as did the men of the east who crossed the sea in their tall ships. The men from the west said the land had always been theirs; the men from the east said that the land belonged to no one before they came. Neither side considered that it had belonged to those already dwelling in it.”
“So which side did they fight on?” Sunset asked. This was another topic that Doctor Oobleck had not covered; indeed, he had – more through ignorance than malice, Sunset was sure – presented these eastern lands as being uninhabited, or so much so as made no difference, virgin land to be taken by either Vale or Mistral, whichever had the strength to claim them. The idea that there had been a network of towns and settlements, that there had been clans wandering across the east, all of this was completely alien to her.
Sunsprite frowned. “The towns and villages divided. Some fought for the west, others for the east, depending on where they lay and how far the colonists had gotten. The clans fought for the westerners, where they fought at all; they sought to rule, but the men from the east would have made slaves of them, while the west did not go so far. Nevertheless, I cannot but think it for the best that, when the war ended, neither east nor west could settle in these lands. I cannot believe they would have kept their word to those who dwelt here.”
“And yet you support the making of a kingdom,” Sunset murmured.
“Our kingdom, fashioned by our people,” Sunsprite declared sharply. “It is not the same thing as being forced into the realm of others.”
Sunset did not argue that point. “And who did the Silver-Eyed Warriors fight for?”
“For neither side,” Sunsprite said. “We fought, as we had always fought, to defend humanity, to stave off the ravages of the grimm drawn by the clamour of the armies.”
“A worthy goal,” Sunset said softly.
“For which we paid dearly,” Sunsprite replied bitterly.
“No doubt,” Sunset muttered. She looked away from the Rangers who rode beside her, looking down upon her. She focussed her attention instead upon the road that lay before them all. “Does this road have a name?” she asked, as they passed the worn down stump of an ancient milestone indicating a certain distance travelled along the highway.
“It is called the Via Crocea Mors,” Sunsprite said. “I do not know why.”
Crocea Mors. Like Jaune’s sword. Jaune - or rather, Jaune’s family - had named the blade after the famous sword once carried by the Duke of Westmorland and his heirs, descendants of the royal line. That made sense, to Sunset at least; a prosperous noble family of that sort would have been well-placed to spearhead an effort to drive the kingdom eastward. To have named the road after their sword, though… the clans had probably been here before them; perhaps, it had been a violent process to drive this road towards the sea.
That, however, was hardly Sunset’s concern. Those who had made this road, those who might have opposed the building of it, they were all long gone, and their bones were dust. What concerned Sunset more was the present and the living.
“Miss Rose,” she said, “may I ask you a question?”
“'Miss Rose'?” Sunsprite repeated. “Why the sudden lapse into formality, Miss Shimmer?”
“Because I should like to know,” Sunset said, “just what are your intentions towards Ruby?”
Sunsprite blinked rapidly in confusion. Then, when she appeared to have gotten over her confusion somewhat, her eyebrows rose in bemusement. “My intentions?”
“Ruby is a very trusting girl, and very eager to discover a new branch of her family that she never knew existed,” Sunset explained. “I would not be pleased if you turned out to be abusing that trust in order to gain something out of her.”
Sunsprite snorted angrily. “And tell me, Miss Shimmer, what is it that you think I stand to gain from my young cousin?”
“I’m not sure,” Sunset admitted. “Nothing, I hope. I merely want to be sure that your intentions are as pure as Ruby’s heart.”
“My intention is to reunite Ruby with her family,” Sunsprite replied. “Does that bother you?”
“Why would it bother me?”
“You seem to have trouble remembering that you are not her family,” Sunsprite declared.
Sunset’s eyes narrowed. “I know exactly what I am to Ruby. I care about her a great deal.”
“But your eyes are not silver,” Sunsprite reminded Sunset, as though she might have forgotten. “Her blood calls out to mine, not to yours. Your name is not Rose; mine is. I am her family. You are no longer needed. Is that what troubles you?”
'No longer needed'? Sunset bared her teeth as her ears flattened down on top of her head. “People rarely talk to me like that.”
“In Vale, that may be so,” Sunsprite conceded, “but this is not Vale, and you are no one here.”
'No one'? “Now listen to me, you little one-eyed-”
“Captain,” Vesper said, cutting Sunset off, “it is discourteous to bait a guest so.”
“Is it not also discourteous to question my intentions thus?” Sunsprite demanded.
“Perhaps, but the Queen is fond of courtesy,” Vesper pointed out. She swung herself down out of the saddle of her horse. “Miss Shimmer - Sunset - if I may, walk with me.” She grabbed her mount by the bridle and turned it back and away from the direction in which the Rangers and the column moved, so that she was walking back down the side of the wagon train in the direction they had come.
Sunset fell in beside her. It wasn’t as though she had much choice; it was clear that Sunsprite Rose had little more intention of having words with her, and if they did have further words, then it was possible that Sunset would get angry enough to do something she would regret later.
Especially since Sunsprite was absolutely right about everything. Ruby didn’t need her anymore. She had her cousin now, a whole new part of her family had just been opened up to her; she had someone who could teach her about her family, about her history, about the legacy of the Silver Eyes. The last thing she needed was an ersatz big sister who only knew how to let her down.
I forgot that Celestia wasn’t my mother, and I paid dearly for that mistake; I should have remembered that, and learnt from it, when it came to Ruby.
She doesn’t need me anymore. Does anybody need me, except maybe Cinder? Does Professor Ozpin even need me? I told Professor Goodwitch that I would seek to give this quest to Ruby, and I have… was there really any need for me to come along? I could have sent Ruby eastward, with her father, and remained behind to face the strange grimm that pursued us.
What am I doing?
What am I now?
Who am I now?
“Sunsprite… can be a little too honest, at times,” Vesper said apologetically. “She can be courteous in speech, but she cannot hide her opinions. And, in fairness to her, you gave the first offence.”
“By being concerned about my friend?” Sunset asked.
“When Sunsprite has done nothing to warrant your concern, yes,” Vesper said. “I do not know whether her assessment of your motives was correct, but you made it easy to assume that was the case.”
Sunset snorted. Perhaps it was. “Does it matter so much to you that we dislike one another?”
“I would have us be friends,” Vesper declared. “I would not fall out with myself.” She chuckled. “Have you considered that Sunsprite might be as protective of Ruby as you are? There are few enough Silver-Eyed Warriors left in the world, to find another… it is as important to her as it is to Ruby.”
Sunset scowled. She hadn’t thought of it that way, and she felt mulish for having failed to do so. “I… I suppose so. Should I apologise?”
“There is no need for that,” Vesper assured her. “But for now, Sunsprite and I would like to speak to your companions, to examine them, and make sure that they are not… that they can be trusted,” she settled on. “Will you bring up…” - she paused for a moment, considering whom she would like to speak to first - “Cinder Fall?”
Cinder’s gaze flickered between Sunsprite Rose and the one calling herself Vesper Radiance. The one who was really Sunset, the Sunset native to this world of Remnant. The Sun Queen of Freeport.
Cinder’s gaze flickered to her because it was with her that true power lay. The only reason it did not remain there was because she did not want to reveal that fact, and so, she forced herself to focus some attention on the place where power ought to have been presumed to lie.
By Sunset’s own admission, Vesper knew not only that Sunset knew but meant to share that knowledge with at least some of the company, those she trusted most. But there might be some advantage to be gained from appearing not to know.
Certainly, Cinder had no intention of telling either of these two all that she knew. Others might be more willing to talk, but she was not. They were all fortunate that only some of their group – Cinder, Ruby, Sunset herself, Taiyang, and Cardin – knew about Professor Ozpin and his miraculous gift. Others knew too much, courtesy of Emerald, but they would be able to keep some secrets, at least.
“Why are you travelling eastward?” Sunsprite asked.
The corner of Cinder’s lip twitched upwards. “Has Sunset not told you?”
“I have spoken with Sunset and with Ruby,” Sunsprite declared. “Now I speak with you.”
“And I say that I don’t know what more I can add,” Cinder replied. “Surely, Sunset has told you that we travel east and seek a ship to carry us further eastward still, across the sea to Anima.”
“Why?”
“Because there are some friends of Sunset and Ruby’s in Mistral, and they are anxious to see them again.”
“Friends to whom you must travel in secret?” Sunsprite asked.
“We have enemies; I do not deny that,” Cinder said. “We are… we are huntsmen, after all; it is our fate to be ever surrounded by foes.”
“But the grimm seldom pursue individuals,” Sunsprite replied. She stared down at Cinder with her one visible silver eye. “Who are these friends across the water whom you are so anxious to meet?”
“I doubt you know them,” Cinder said casually, “but their names are Jaune Arc and Pyrrha Nikos.”
“This is a large company to visit friends,” Vesper pointed out.
“The world has grown perilous, and the road moreso,” Cinder reminded her. “Is it not the case here, also?”
“Indeed,” Vesper conceded. “And yet… you called these two friends of Sunset and Ruby. They are not your friends, are they?”
Cinder cursed inwardly. The other Sunset had caught her out. “I confess… I have no special love for them.”
“And yet, here you are, risking your life on a journey down a fell road to bring others to their side,” Sunsprite observed. “Why?”
Cinder was silent a moment. “For Sunset,” she declared. “She… helped me, when no one else would. I owe her a great deal for that.” Even my life, whatever my life amounts to now.
“There is much that you are not saying,” Sunsprite said.
“There is much that you do not need to know,” Cinder replied. “Why are you so curious about the doings of a small group of strangers who will be gone from your lives before you know it?”
“How do we know that is really true?” Sunsprite asked.
“Put us on a boat,” Cinder suggested. “If we come back, you’ll know we were lying.”
“Your loyalty is perhaps more to be praised than your honesty,” Vesper said.
“Why thank you,” Cinder replied cheerfully. No one had ever praised her honesty, while praises for her loyalty were few and far between.
Neither Sunsprite nor Vesper said anything in response to that. Eventually, Sunsprite requested, “Ask the outcast from the Fall Forest Clan to come up here.”
Sami scowled up at Sunsprite Rose, who in turn looked down on Sami from the top of her horse.
She didn’t see why the woman couldn’t get down off the back of her horse and speak to Sami face to face, like equals. Sunset might think that she was better than Sami, but at least she never got up onto a damn horse and physically looked down her nose at Sami like this.
“You are a long way from home, child of the Fall Forest Clan,” Sunsprite observed.
“My name is Sami,” she grunted, “and I’m not part of the Fall Forest Clan anymore.”
“You wear clan tattoos.”
“Tattoos are hard to get off,” Sami replied. And besides, in Vale where nobody had known what, exactly, they meant, they had made her look tough and intimidating.
“As I understand it,” said the one called Vesper Radiance, “once you are born into the clan, you are part of the clan for life.”
“Does that apply even if you kill your father, the chieftain of the clan?” Sami demanded. “In your understanding?”
“I imagine it might make you eligible for punishment under clan law,” Sunsprite observed.
Sami snorted. “I thought it was the Sun Queen’s law that held sway now.”
“The Sun Queen rules over these lands and upholds the peace within them,” Sunsprite declared, “but the clans are permitted to manage their own affairs, as they did before.”
“Are they permitted to cross the mountains as they did before?” Sami snapped. “Are they permitted to make the blood sacrifices to the old gods, as they did before?”
“The Sun Queen would prefer that all the clans remain within her territory,” Sunsprite said softly, “and the most barbaric practices have been stamped out.”
“Good for you,” Sami said. “I can’t imagine that was popular.”
“I can imagine that a little favour might be restored by the return of a fugitive,” Sunsprite said softly.
Sami’s hand drifted towards her knife. “You didn’t take long to get to threats, did you?”
“Peace amongst the clans - and their continued loyalty to the Sun Queen - is the queen’s highest concern,” Vesper said. “That loyalty might be strengthened by a benevolent gesture.”
Sami grinned. “Unless what?”
“What makes you think there is an 'unless'?” Sunsprite asked.
“Because if you were just going to hand me over to my people to be put to death, you wouldn’t be telling me about it,” Sami growled. “So what do you want?”
Sunsprite was quiet for a moment. “Cinder Fall told us very little,” she admitted. “She is too loyal to Sunset, and Sunset… does not trust me.”
Sami chuckled. “Sunset’s jealous is what she is.”
“Of my relationship with Ruby?” Sunsprite asked.
Sami nodded. “But you knew that already, didn’t you?”
“Yes,” Sunsprite confirmed. “But… you have come on a long journey, Sami, late of the Fall Forest Clan; you killed your father and fled to Vale?”
“We were already over the mountains,” Sami explained. “I just headed for those big city lights.”
“Why?”
“Why did I kill my father, or why did I make for the city?”
“Both,” Vesper elaborated.
Sami spat on the ground. “I killed my father because he needed killing. Every time we crossed the mountains, we sacrificed to the old gods for a safe journey over. One time, it was my own sister who got the knife to her throat. I wasn’t about to wait for that to happen to me. I wasn’t about to watch as it happened to anyone else. Not when I got big enough to do something about it.” She snorted. “Obviously, once I’d slit the old man’s throat, I couldn’t stay where I was. So I left. I went to the city because it would be a big enough place to hide. Somewhere no one would notice me.”
“But someone did notice you,” Vesper pointed out.
“Yeah, well,” Sami muttered, “when I reached the city, it turned out that there were more folks in the world that needed killing than just my father.”
“Who?” Sunsprite asked.
Sami shrugged. “Why do you care? Isn’t it enough for you to know that I got caught and then let out again a little later so I could do their dirty work for them?”
“Is that why you’re here?” Sunsprite asked. “Doing dirty work? Sunset says that she is on her way to Anima to visit friends.”
“Friends,” Sami replied derisively. “Maybe she does have friends in Mistral. Sunset used to be something big and special, the way I understand it-”
“'Used to be'?” Vesper interrupted. “What do you mean? In what way?”
Sami stared at Vesper. She wasn’t sure exactly who she was or why she felt the need to hide her face like a pretentious ass, but she was clearly important in some way because Sunsprite, despite being in charge, didn’t do anything about her interrupting.
“Sunset used to do important work for Ozpin, the old guy who used to run Beacon,” Sami said, choosing her words with care. She had no loyalty to Sunset Shimmer, no concern for any of Sunset’s secrets, but she wasn’t about to spill absolutely everything that she knew to these people either; she wasn’t about to tell them about magic.
They might get ideas of their own about who ought to have it. They might tell their queen about it, and she, being a queen and the kind of person who clearly wanted things, would decide that the best person to have that kind of power was herself.
“But,” Sami continued, “she messed up. Did something terrible. Got herself in prison with the rest of us until they needed her.”
“What did she do?” Sunsprite asked.
“I don’t know; they didn’t let me watch the news in solitary,” Sami said sharply. “Ask her yourself, why don’t you?”
“Perhaps I will,” Sunsprite murmured. “Are you all criminals?”
“Cardin isn’t,” Sami replied. “He’s a good boy. He’s supposed to be holding our leashes.”
“But he does not lead,” Sunsprite pointed out. “Sunset does.”
Sami shrugged. “Sunset’s the kind of person who has to be in charge.” The kind of person I liked to kill.
“I see,” Sunsprite said softly. “So where is she leading you? Not to visit friends in Mistral?”
“Like I said, there might be some,” Sami conceded. “But as far as I know, we’re going to Mistral so we can kidnap someone and bring him back to Vale.”
“Who?”
“Why, do you think you’ll know him?” Sami demanded.
“Who?” Sunsprite repeated.
“Someone named Lionheart.”
“Why?”
“Why should I care? That’s for other people to worry about,” Sami grunted.
Sunsprite stared at her out of her one working eye. Sami kind of wanted to rip the other one out and see how she stared then. She wouldn’t look so haughty blind, Sami was sure.
“Tell your friend with the shotgun that I wish to speak to him,” Sunsprite said.
“So,” Sunsprite said evenly, “you were a farmer?”
Jack scratched at the nascent beard growing under his chin. “That’s right,” he replied. “I was a farmer. Or I guess you could say I was a farm boy, although we didn’t have no man around the house after my Pa. Anyway, that was all before my land got stolen.”
“Bandits?” Sunsprite asked.
“I said stolen, not burned down,” Jack said. “Some jackass from the bank claimed we were in ‘foreclosure,’ whatever that means. They took our land and sold it to some other jackass, all dressed up with fancy law and big words and a bunch of cops. They even hired a huntsman to make sure we quit without any trouble. Which I did. I knew I couldn’t take on a huntsman. I quit the land, and I watched as they took everything that should have been mine. All they left me with was this shotgun.”
“Which you used to kill and steal,” Sunsprite declared.
“When you have a gun and no money, and someone else has money but no gun, it becomes real tempting to use the one to get hold of the other.”
“Until you got caught,” Vesper remarked.
“And now I’m out again,” Jack reminded her.
“Indeed,” Sunsprite said. “But to what purpose? You were released to defend Vale, but here you are, so far from Vale, moving across our lands, heading further eastward still. What waits for you in Anima?”
“Nothing’s waiting for me in Anima but a chance to get myself killed,” Jack muttered. “You have a need for good farmers in this country? Round this Freeport place? Everyone needs to eat, right? Even city folk.”
“Indeed, and Freeport eats much,” Sunsprite agreed. “Fed by the farms beyond the walls and by the villages around about who bring their crops to market in the city.” She paused. “Would you be a farmer again? Would you put aside your gun and take up the plough one more?”
“Sure I would,” Jack said. “Fast as anything. I don’t know if I’d throw my gun away – I’d like to keep it handy in case more lawyers show up – but I wouldn’t mind getting back to the way I lived. I never wanted to be a huntsman or any other kind of warrior. I was forced into this way of living, by the government, twice over. I’d turn my back on it, and Sunset Shimmer and Mister Cardin Winchester and all the rest this minute if I could.”
“Are you offering to betray your comrades for a farm?” Sunsprite asked, her tone mingling curiosity and disgust in equal measure.
“Betrayal is a hard word,” Jack replied. “I’m not going to shoot them while they sleep or nothing. But I’m not going to keep their secrets for them, neither.”
Why should he? What did he owe them, any of them? They had plucked him out of jail, given him his gun back, and forced him to fight for the same kingdom that had stolen his farm away from him. It wasn’t even as if they showed him any respect; Sunset had made it pretty clear that she didn’t like him. There was a hierarchy, with Sunset and Cinder on top and Sami and Jack on the bottom. Now, Jack wasn’t one to need to climb up vines - he’d steal when he had no other recourse - but if he was offered the chance to make an honest living on some good honest land, then he’d take it and be damned to Sunset and all the rest. He was being offered his dream. Why should he turn it down for the chance to keep risking his life for those who wouldn’t miss him if he were gone?
Sunsprite’s eye narrowed. “And what secrets do you think you know, that we do not?”
“I don’t know,” Jack admitted. “What do you think is going on here?”
“I think that you are on your way to Mistral to apprehend a man named Lionheart,” Sunsprite said.
“True enough,” Jack conceded. “But do you know why?”
“According to your friend Sami, such decisions are not for those as low as you to know,” Sunsprite said.
“Oh, is that right?” Jack scoffed. “I don’t know what Sami thinks she has to gain out of all this, but she knows more than she told you.” He paused. “Unfortunately, I’m afraid if I tell you the truth, it’ll all sound a little crazy.”
“There is much that is known to me that others might find unusual, baffling, even impossible,” Sunsprite declared. “Tell me, and I will be the judge of your state of mind and of your honesty.”
“Alright,” Jack said. “You see, we used to be travelling with another girl by the name of Emerald. Now, she and Cinder Fall had a kind of history together. I don’t know all the details, but they used to be close until Cinder got all cosy with Sunset instead. Now, Cinder used to work for the Queen of the Grimm, by the name of Salem, before she grew a conscience or something and decided to quit, maybe because of Sunset, I don’t rightly know how it all happened. But I do know that Sunset used to work for Ozpin, who was fighting Salem, and they were fighting over magic, specifically four magic girls called Maidens. Now, I don’t know for sure on account of Sunset playing everything close to her chest, but I think that this fellow Lionheart is involved with Salem somehow. It’s the only thing that makes sense, right?”
“It does explain your destination,” Sunsprite said quietly. “It also explains your desire for secrecy, in every sense. I must confess that what you have said was new to me, and yet… I believe it. If nothing else, you would be a fool to make up such a tale out of nothing when you have need to convince me of your good faith.”
“And did I?” Jack asked. “Do you think you can convince them to let me go? Do you think that I… that I could stay here?”
“I think that you are correct; Freeport and the Estmorland have need of farmers,” Vesper said. “And when the Queen learns that you have been of so much more help - and so much more honest - than any of your company, she may agree that there is a place for you in the community that we are building here.”
“Now,” Sunsprite said, “ask Cardin Winchester if he will speak with us.”
Cardin was as tall as the shoulder of the horse on which Sunsprite rode, so he barely had to look up at her at all. “So, how much did Sami and Jack tell you?”
“Do you fear that they told me more than you would wish me to know?” Sunsprite demanded.
“Some things are best kept secret,” Cardin replied. “Some things, you’re better off not knowing.”
“Things like Salem?” Sunsprite suggested.
Cardin sighed. “They really told you everything, didn’t they?”
“More than Sunset or Cinder,” Sunsprite agreed. “Why?”
“Like I said, some things, you’re better off not knowing,” Cardin replied. “Some of this stuff, I wish I didn’t know. Things were easier when they were simpler.”
“When there was an enemy to fight and a people to defend,” Sunsprite murmured. “Believe me, from one captain to another, I understand you perfectly. It is for the best that the world is changing, but at the same time, there is a part of me that yearns for the simpler time in the stories spoken of by my grandfather.”
“Except the times were never really simple, were they?” Cardin asked. “We just didn’t realise what was going on around us.”
“I suppose not,” Sunsprite agreed. “You should have been honest with us from the beginning. Now that you have lied-”
“Your queen won’t help us?” Cardin interrupted.
“She may not,” Sunsprite agreed. “She may ask why she should help those who have attempted to deceive us.”
“We haven’t lied,” Cardin said. “We just… omitted a few of the irrelevant details.”
“A distinction which may be lost upon the queen,” Vesper Radiance murmured.
“What does it matter to you exactly what our mission is, whether we can get a boat or not?” Cardin demanded.
“It matters a great deal, if aiding you will bring down Salem’s wrath upon us,” Sunsprite replied. “The Rangers are tasked to their limits battling against the ordinary forces of the grimm that infest this region, protecting the towns and villages from occasional raids. If we were to come under an attack… that was the fate of Vale, was it not?”
“Don’t say it like that,” Cardin muttered. “You make it sound as though Vale fell. It didn’t; it just… you’re right: the grimm did attack Vale, in strength, and more than once. But… Vale isn’t dead. Vale survived.”
“On this occasion,” Sunsprite said.
Cardin scowled. He really wished that she hadn’t said that, and not just because she was reflecting his own fears back at him. Yes, Vale had survived; Vale had survived because of the assistance of the Atlesians and the Mistralians and all the student huntsmen in Vale for the Vytal Festival. They were all gone now, kicked out in some cases; who would be left to defend Vale if the grimm attacked again? It was only the fact that Salem already had exactly what she wanted out of Vale that meant they’d been as lucky as they had been recently. “We’ll survive somehow.”
“Freeport might not be so fortunate,” Sunsprite told him. “At least, the Queen has a right to know in what games she may become embroiled.”
“This isn’t a game,” Cardin said sharply.
“No,” Sunsprite agreed. “This is the survival of our world at stake. A kingdom is at the hazard.”
“It’s not the only one,” Cardin muttered. “And besides, do you really think Salem will leave you alone just because you didn’t help us?”
“I think that the eye of this Mistress of Darkness has not yet turned on Freeport,” Vesper replied. “And may not, not for many years hence, until this realm yet in its infancy has grown to strong and sturdy adulthood. Would the Queen be amiss, if she wished to delay this confrontation and maintain a hidden kingdom for as long as she could?”
Cardin did not reply immediately, because the only reply was to admit, “No. No, that would be the smart thing to do.”
“What of Lionheart?” Sunsprite demanded. “What is he to you? A servant of Salem?”
Cardin nodded. He didn’t see the point in trying to hide the fact. “We’re hoping that if we can grab him, we can find out what the enemy’s next move is.”
“And for that, you go in strength, and you move in secrecy,” Sunsprite said.
“Exactly. Like you said, the stakes are high.”
Sunsprite nodded.
It was Vesper Radiance, not Sunsprite Rose, who spoke next, “Does it not trouble you, to have your command usurped by Sunset Shimmer?”
“What do you mean?”
“You are supposed to be the leader of this company, are you not?” Vesper inquired. “And yet, Sunset has usurped all authority to herself, even though her life is nominally in your hands. Doesn’t it bother you?”
Cardin snorted. “There was a time when it would have, sure. There was a time when I couldn’t stand Sunset Shimmer, when I would have hated having to take orders from her, when I would have relished having authority over her. But that was because I was a stupid kid who didn’t realise what was really going on in the world around him. Now… all that matters is getting the job done, and we need the best person in charge for that.”
“And that is Sunset Shimmer?” Sunsprite asked.
“She’s a better huntsman than I am,” Cardin said honestly. “More talented, smarter… she has her flaws, but we all do. She’s been in some tough spots, and she’s managed to find her way out again.”
“And disgraced herself in the process, as I understand,” Sunsprite replied. “She was held in high honour, was she not, until she did something unforgivable and was punished for it?”
Cardin frowned. “Sunset has changed since then.”
“According to you?”
“Yes, according to me,” Cardin insisted. “Because I know her.”
“And we do not,” Sunsprite agreed. “And so, I ask you, what did she do?”
Cardin bit his lip. “Sunset… Sunset had to make a choice. She had to decide whether she wanted to sacrifice her friends for the greater good or sacrifice the greater good for the sake of her friends.”
“And she chose her friends,” Sunsprite murmured. “What did she risk?”
“It was months ago, and a lot has happened-”
“A city?” Sunsprite suggested. “Your city? Did she sacrifice Vale for the sake of those that mattered to her?”
“The city was saved,” Cardin objected.
“Why do you defend her and her actions?”
“I’m not defending her actions; I just don’t want you to think that Sunset is something other than what she is,” Cardin explained.
“And what is she?” Sunsprite asked.
“Penitent,” Cardin replied. “Remorseful. She wouldn’t make that choice again.”
“Indeed,” Sunsprite said. “Order Roman Torchwick to come here and speak with us.”
“I asked to speak only with you,” Sunsprite reminded Torchwick. “Not with your acolyte also.”
Neo signed something ending in a rude gesture which was not a necessary part of the sentence.
“Neo doesn’t talk,” Roman explained, keeping the grin off his face. “At least, not the way that you’d understand it. Unless you speak sign?”
“Not that dialect,” Sunsprite admitted.
“No,” Torchwick agreed. “Then I guess you’ll have to rely on my translation. Besides, I prefer not to let the kid too far out of my sight. There’s no telling what they’ll get up to if you leave them to their own devices, right?”
Neo rolled her eyes.
“I would not know,” Sunsprite conceded. “I have no children.”
“Aw, don’t beat yourself up about that, toots; you’ve got years left in you for that,” Torchwick said. “Why, I once knew a woman, real driven career type, left it until she was forty to settle down and start thinking about children, but when she did, boy, did they start flying out so fast that it was-”
“Who are you, Roman?” Sunsprite demanded, cutting him off.
“Well, darling-”
“My name is Sunsprite Rose. I am a Captain in the Queen’s Rangers.”
“Right you are, Ms. Rose,” Torchwick agreed. “Please, forgive me. As I was saying, I’m a thief. A gentleman thief when I can be, and a vicious thug when I can’t. Also a raconteur, bon vivant, and a connoisseur of fine cigars. Although I seem to have run out at the moment, which is annoying.”
Neo found it amusing, judging by the smirk on her face. She’d been trying to get him to quit for years.
“How is it that such a man as you ended up involved in this enterprise?” Sunsprite asked.
Neo signed that he, Torchwick, had gotten suckered by a pretty face. Sadly, she wasn’t entirely wrong.
Torchwick laughed nervously. “A lady in red made me an offer that I couldn’t refuse. And at the time, I didn’t want to.”
“Cinder?” Sunsprite guessed.
“Good guess, swee- I mean, great catch, Captain! You have to admit, she’s one hell of a woman,” Torchwick confirmed. “Sadly… I’m not exactly her type.”
Neo pointed out that she could have told him that when Cinder first walked into their den. And she had.
“Your companion seems to have something to say,” Sunsprite observed.
“Neo likes pointing out my mistakes,” Torchwick explained.
Neo informed him that he wouldn’t learn from them otherwise.
“But I’ll survive,” Torchwick continued. “It’s what I do, after all. Whether it’s on the mean streets or… here, it’s all the same. Sometimes, the things you do to stay alive seem counterintuitive, but the fact is that you do what you’ve gotta do to survive, right?”
“And to keep others alive also,” Sunsprite declared pointedly.
Torchwick glanced at Neo. “Yeah,” he agreed, because what was the point in denying it at this point? Had he ever really fooled anyone with that act? “Them too.”
Sunsprite nodded. “I would speak with the one called Bon Bon next.”
“So, let me get this straight,” Vesper said. “One of you was a servant of Salem, the Queen of the Grimm, but the other was not?”
“I was; Lyra wasn’t,” Bon Bon confirmed. “I… didn’t really know that’s what I was, if it makes any difference. Either way, Lyra had no part in my mistakes.”
“I made enough of my own mistakes,” Lyra muttered. “Starting with attending Beacon.”
Sunsprite frowned. “You regret your choice to dedicate yourself to the protection of the world?”
“I wasn’t cut out for it,” Lyra admitted. She had not been summoned, but she had joined Bon Bon nevertheless, and when it became clear that she had no intention of going anywhere else, her presence had been accepted as making things a little quicker. “I didn’t have the skills… or the commitment. I wasn’t prepared for the reality behind the image.”
“That sounds like it could be said of either of you,” Sunsprite declared. “One who wanted to be a hero, one who only half-understood that they were - for want of a better word - a villain, neither prepared for the amount of hard work involved, the commitment that it would demand, the sacrifices that it would ask of her.”
Lyra and Bon Bon looked at one another. “Yeah… that about sums it up, I think,” Lyra admitted. “I wanted to do my part to protect the world, but ultimately… I didn’t have the chops or the ability to work hard enough to get them. I thought that Beacon was going to make me a hero, but when I found out that there were no shortcuts to getting there… I latched onto what I thought was a thing that I could do, a thing that only we could do, something that Sunset and Ruby and all the other teams that were so far above us in every way couldn’t. Only… it turned out to not be the right thing to do. In fact, it turned out to be the very worst thing that we could have done.”
“You only wanted to make a difference in the world,” Bon Bon said. “Or at the very least, to one girl’s life. There’s no… you can’t blame yourself too much. You should blame me; I knew what was going on and did nothing about it.”
“Why?” Sunsprite asked. “For what reason did you forsake your allegiance, abandon your kingdom, turn your back upon your comrades?”
Bon Bon looked away. “Lyra wanted to help protect the world,” she said. “I wanted to change it.”
“Understandable,” Vesper said softly.
“And now?” Sunsprite asked. “Is it redemption that you seek upon this road?”
“Lyra doesn’t need redemption,” Bon Bon insisted.
“I don’t need you to speak for me,” Lyra said. It was a gentle reproach, but it was a reproach all the same. “I betrayed Beacon, I betrayed what huntsmen are supposed to stand for; the fact that I didn’t really get that at the time… it makes me stupid, not innocent.” She looked at Sunsprite. “I told Sunset that I would help put the kingdom of Vale back together after I helped to break it, and that’s what I’ll do. I don’t like her very much, but I trust her judgement more than I trust my own. I’ll fight with her, if she’ll have me.”
“A brave choice, from someone who admits that they are not so skilled as others are,” Sunsprite declared, “and that declaration is, in itself, a brave choice.” She glanced at Bon Bon. “And you?”
“I’ll stand with Lyra,” Bon Bon said. “Whatever choice she makes.”
Sunsprite smiled, if only slightly. “Whatever you have done, your loyalty, it seems, cannot be faulted. Please ask Ruby’s father if he will come and have words with me.”
“I have learned much that has surprised me of late, sir,” Sunsprite said to Taiyang. “Much that concerns me, and no doubt, it will concern my queen also.”
Taiyang’s blue eyes narrowed a little. “You know the truth… about Salem?”
“It was not news to you, clearly,” Sunsprite said.
“No,” Taiyang admitted. “Did you think that Sunset and Ruby were the first ones recruited by Ozpin to help him fight against her?”
“You… and Summer Rose,” Sunsprite murmured.
“Our whole team,” Taiyang clarified.
“Is that… is that why she did not come home?” Sunsprite asked. “Is that why she never returned to these lands?”
Taiyang felt a flash of annoyance but smiled self-deprecatingly. “Well, I’d like to think that I had something to do with it, but… yeah. Once Summer knew the truth, she understood that this evil had to be fought, that someone had to do something… and she was as qualified to do something as anyone, and more than most.”
“I have heard stories of her skill in arms.”
“It’s not just that,” Taiyang said. “It wasn’t justthat.” He sometimes caught himself doing that, referring to Summer as though she were still alive. “She could… she could inspire others, lead them, draw them together with a common purpose.” Only on Raven had those gifts failed, and even then… it had been so close. “She was… Summer was very special.”
“It was in her nature to be special; she was of the silver eyes,” Sunsprite said. “That said… my grandfather has told me that Aunt Summer was close to unique even amongst us.”
“Not unique,” Taiyang said. “So much of Summer lives on in her daughter. And I’m not just talking about her eyes. Ruby… she has her mother’s heart, too.”
“Is that why you let her risk her life in this endeavour?” Sunsprite asked.
“Do you think I could stop her?”
“You could choose more suitable companions for her than this crew of villains,” Sunsprite said, with a touch of a growl in her voice.
“I assume you’re talking about more than just the obvious,” Taiyang said. “Let me guess: Sunset Shimmer.”
“She seems worse than all the rest put together,” Sunsprite declared.
Taiyang scratched the back of his head with one hand. “I’d be lying if I said that I couldn’t see your point, but… I know that she really cares about Ruby.”
Sunsprite did not reply to that directly. “You are a brave man, to wage this struggle against an enemy who cannot be defeated.”
“Summer was the brave one,” Taiyang said. “I… just tried to raise my girls the best I could.”
“For what it may be worth, Ruby is a fine young woman.”
“Yes,” Taiyang agreed. “Yes, she is. Summer would be proud of her.” He looked at her, this niece he’d never known he had. “I’m glad that Ruby met you. She deserves to know where her mother came from; there’s so much that I can’t tell her.”
“I am glad to have met her also,” Sunsprite declared. “In fact,” she added, as she dismounted from her horse, “will you please bring her here, sir? There is so much we have to talk about.”