[Opener: Dear Fellow Traveler--Sea Wolf]

Winter was reviewing the reports from the different squads at the holographic board.

"With that minor delay, we seem to be back on track..." she murmured to herself, moving one mark.

Then she sipped coffee. "Marrow's squad ran into a large nest of Grimm. They'll be delayed also..."

She sighed. "How did the General do this?"

"He had you do it." Qrow was leaning in the doorway--for how long?

Winter spun around. "I thought you were still on a mission."

"We finished early. Grimm ran off once we pulled out the big guns," Qrow replied, shrugging.

"The metaphorical or literal guns?" Winter asked.

"Both. Still getting used to Grimm just running from us." Qrow shrugged. "Though a Silver-Eyed Warrior would have sped it up more."

"I hardly think that area required the biggest hitter," Winter replied. "Did the volunteers behave?"

"Yeah, they were fine." Qrow walked in. "Firecracker's still not back yet?"

"No, but they're fine, just had to deal with a large Grimm." Winter indicated the board. "Raven is also sending us more civilians.... Argus really can't keep taking in so many new people. We'll exhaust our resources."

"Like it or not, outside of Haven, it is the most prosperous city," Qrow said. "It is what it is.... So, everything going fine?"

"As well as can be expected. The Grimm seem to be starting to move out a little. It'll take days to be sure," Winter said.

"So you have time?"

Winter raised en eyebrow. "Time to plan further, yes."

Qrow put a hand on her shoulder. "Planning? That's all you're going to do?"

"Qrow!" Winter hissed, hoping no one was close enough to hear him. "Not on the base! We discussed this before. Strictly professional."

"You know, there's really no fun in working at the base if you're not going to break the rules every now and then," Qrow protested.

"No!" Winter pushed him away. "Can you imagine what would happen if the younger huntsmen found out about it? We can't ask them to act formal on the job if we're not going to."

"But no one is around, and neither of us has anything else to do," Qrow said.

"No!" Winter insisted. "Remember the book?"

"Yeah, but we're already dating," Qrow said.

Winter gave him a look.

"Fine," Qrow pouted. "Take all the fun out of being in charge."

"Honestly, what is with you lately?" Winter said, a bit less miffed. "I swear, the first few months you acted like I was made of glass, and now you're always coming in here and begging. Did I miss something?"

"I really wouldn't put it like that..." Qrow said.

She was 100% right.

"Thank goodness for my impeccable self control," Winter said dryly.

Qrow kissed her on the forehead.

She turned red. "I just said--"

"That was totally innocent, come on. Hey, just once wouldn't be making out. That's just like--I miss you or something," Qrow argued.

Qrow could be quite persuasive, but Winter wasn't about to give in--she hoped.

But before she got the opportunity to figure it out, a red door appeared.

Qrow looked up. "Raven?"

Raven stepped through and frowned at them.

"I'm working my tail off out there fighting Grimm, and this is what I find when I come back? Didn't you get my message?"

"Of course," Winter said hastily. "And nothing was--"

"Save it, Schnee. I really don't need to hear that high school excuse again," Raven said. "Just pull yourself together. I have people with me."

The campers came through. They looked a little wary about using the portal.

"That was so cool!" One of the kids didn't seem as wary. "Can I do it again?"

"No." Raven shut it. "Ow..." She rubbed her head. "That still gets a little wearing after so many seconds."

"Did I miss something?" Qrow asked.

"Little problem with a Caravan...and since you're here already, little brother, I could use some help," Raven said. "I've gotta go back there and find the rest of it. I'm not sure about keeping the younger recruits on the case. This got more serious. If they are alive, the Grimm we scared off will head for them instead. Mudslide was involved too."

"I was told about this." Winter consulted her scroll and then the board. "Some of our scouts have reported seeing signs of Bandits in that area also."

"With that huge grimm?" Raven was skeptical.

"Perhaps a new tribe that didn't know about it," Winter said. "You said it barely attacked anyone anymore. The older ones are more wary, you know."

"I was a little concerned about that," Raven said. "But we'd have heard by now if bandits found them."

"Not necessarily, not if it was recent," Qrow said. "Could take a while for the scouts to find them at all. Is there any White Fang out that way?"

"There's plenty of Faunus in the east side of Mistral," Winter shrugged. "But if any work for the new Fang, I don't know. I could contact Gira Belladonna."

"I need to get back out now. The longer we wait, the less likely I am to find them alive," Raven said. "And there was dust with them also. We retrieved one car, but there were more."

"I think lives are more important than dust, but it's not as if we should lose it," Winter said.

"Uh...where do we go?" one of the family men asked.

"Just head out the side door and across the courtyard to the front office," Winter said. "Penny Polendina handles most of the relocation."

Penny had taken this job, along with helping at the hospital, because she could remember so many things on her computer and keep perfect track of what supplies were available. Also she could move anything the size of a car on her own, so she was perfect for helping people get their luggage to the housing.

Kip often helped her when he wasn't studying. He'd decided to train in the militia also and maybe go into the huntsmen when he was old enough.

If he was able to age, that is.... He seemed to age more slowly than other people.

Pyrrha also helped in that office when she wasn't on missions, as she liked to avoid the public eye more still.

"I can show you," Qrow said. "Unless you need me here?" 

"Just go and come back. This sounds like it might be more complicated than I thought," Winter said.

Qrow took them out.

"Wow, Schnee, sneaking around on base, that is so unprofessional. I'm shocked," Raven said.

"That is not what was happening!" Winter snapped at her. "I'm sure Qrow was just joking around. You know how he is."

"Yeah, I do." Raven gave her a dubious look. "Chipping away at that ice cold, professional exterior of yours, huh? Well, you really could stand to loosen up a little."

"Stop saying that," Winter said. "We have important business to attend to, not your ill-timed remarks."

"They're waiting out a rain storm anyway. We have a little time," Raven said. "And that's good, because I think I'll need to get some reinforcements. Also remind me to talk to you later about those people we assigned from the volunteers. Claw and Piper."

"Did they not perform well?"

"Oh... I guess it depends on what you mean by perform," Raven said tightly. "They're useful enough, but they have a little problem with my authority."

"I was worried about this." Winter wasn't even surprised. "I've...heard some remarks around the base."

"So have I. I don't really care about it if it wasn't interfering in my work, but today it did," Raven said. "A Nemean almost ripped out our throats."

"A...Nemean? I don't know that Grimm."

"I'll explain it later, but we stopped it. Still, we cut it close." Raven shook her head. "Some people are never going to like an ex-bandit being in charge."

"Speaking of which, it's not going to be difficult for you if you run into more of them?" Winter asked warily. "It's not likely, but if they caught sight of a caravan, I can't rule it out. And Grimm follow bandits."

"You sound like Qrow. You think I care? Bandits don't really like each other. And I'm out of it."

"Yes...well, also they might not be pleased if they knew who you were."

"That's why I need some insurance," Raven said.

"I'm afraid we can't really spare that many huntsmen..." Winter checked her list. "We're stretched thin as it is. If we didn't have all the mechs and artillery here to help cover this city, we couldn't risk this little staff as it was. But I don't like to tempt fate."

"No Grimm is going to attack this city, not with Salem gone."

"The Grimm are not just her agents, they are devils, remember?" Winter said primly. "We can't be sure they will always be so timid. The air is different here, since the gods left, but the Grimm are not gone, and that means they have some will of their own."

"Do you ever get tired of going over everything that could go wrong?" Raven asked.

"Do you?"

"Fine, point taken.... What about Rhinehart?"

"Him?" Winter said. "He's not even a huntsman.... He's been...I'm not entirely sure what he's been doing. The last I saw him was the wedding reception."

"He does odd jobs around Argus," Raven said.

"Even so...considering his fighting style, should we really encourage it?" Winter said.

"We don't have a lot of options. He's worth 6 people on his own," Raven insisted. "And if Qrow's not busy, he'd be good too. With Black and Sustrai, we might be able to wear down the Grimm themselves. For bandits, I'd say we'd just have to run--too many of them. Which is why you'd better be here. I need someone to anchor to."

"Hmm, I suppose--which of us did you portal to before, by the way?" Winter asked.

"You, of course. I thought Qrow was still working."

"I keep forgetting that you have a bond with me." Winter had developed enough to almost be teasing Raven about this. "I can't understand how that happened."

"You know, I think we read too much into it," Raven said. "I bet it's simpler than we think. Now I have to hurry."

"You can take Hazel if you can convince him to go," Winter said. "Technically, he's free to do as he wishes. But I think you'll have to make do with the rest of the team you have already and Qrow. I could come, but then you have no escape."

"Fine," Raven said. "Things never do go simply, do they?"

"Compared to what they were like before--"

"I know, I know.... Can't I just complain?" Raven rolled her eyes. "I'll be back. Try to stay focused on the task while I'm gone."

"That will be quite enough--" Winter was cut off by Raven portalling again.

Winter frowned.

* * *

Raven probably should have warned Hazel before she just popped in, but fortunately he was only helping some people unload dust supplies in one of the shipping yards by the train station.

She gave some of the other workers quite a turn, and they backed up.

Hazel, never really fretted by anything, just looked up.

"You should warn people before you do that," he said.

"Nice to see you too." Raven folded her arms. "I'll cut to the chase. I need help."

"If it's with a mission, I think you should be asking the other commanders," Hazel said.

"I just did. We're short staffed. And you're not doing anything." Raven gestured around at the cases of stuff they were moving. "So..."

"Uh, lady," one of the other workers said, "we are kind of in the middle of something--"

"Why, Raven Branwen!" Torchwick said, coming around the corner.

He hadn't lost the suit in all this time.

Neo, as usual, was right behind him--but now she was carrying a sort of table-sized screen that she wrote stuff on.

"Fancy seeing you here," Roman said, tipping his hat. "Are you here for an investigation? Because, I swear, there is nothing else going on here."

Neo made a motion like she was crossing her heart.

"I'm just here to borrow Hazel," Raven said.

"We only loan workers out for a fee," Roman said.

"How about I don't knock you into next Tuesday," Raven said.

"That sounds fair." Roman backed off. "We're on a tight schedule anyway. What's the big emergency?"

"A few Grimm, a few potential bandits," Raven said. "More wares for you if we pull it off."

"Hmm, oh, wait, I know what this is about," Roman said. "We have some supplies that got delayed. Neo, make a note of the reason."

Neo was writing it down already.

"You doing office work? That's just too funny," Raven said.

"We wear many hats," Roman said. "Anyway, it's kinda nice not to be attacked by teenagers and crazy people for a change. And I hear you've really taken to your new role. A bunch of us ex-cons, you know, we're a new thing."

The workers were staring at them.

"Well, get on with it. Time is money!" Roman raised his cane at them.

They cleared off and went back to work.

"Honestly, good help is so hard to find," Roman said.

Neo nodded.

"How does she boss people around when she can't talk?" Raven asked.

"We made them all learn a few motions," Roman said. "And for the rest, she just uses her persuasion."

Neo held up her umbrella.

"Or she uses subtitles," Roman said.

"Sub--oh, ha ha," Raven said.

Neo snapped her fingers, and an illusion appeared in the air in front of her with the words: "I have some new tricks, love."

Raven blinked. "Why didn't you do that before?"

"Took too much control," Roman said. "She only just got it down. But it's a real time saver, isn't it? Also did you know Neo has an accent? I didn't."

Neo snapped her fingers again and the words changed to: "Right on, old chap."

"That's gonna take some getting used to," Raven said. "Anyway, I need to go. Come on." She glanced at Hazel.

Hazel gave Roman a look. "I guess if it's fine with the boss."

"Oh, go, go, it's not like you really have to be here," Roman said.

Neo snapped her fingers, and the words said, "But he's our fastest worker."

"Hmm, Remnant forbid either of you actually do some heavy lifting for yourselves," Raven said.

"That wouldn't look good at all," Roman said. "We'll find someone, I suppose. Little Lord Whitley could come out and work, you know."

"He's too much of a twig to really do much more than hold you back," Raven sniffed. "To think I'll be related to a Schnee before too long at the rate my brother is going."

"It is ironic," Roman said.

"Oh, shut up," Raven said. "Let's go, Rhinehart. I left my daughter out there with some idiots and one intelligent pilot."

"Does he need a good job?" Roman asked.

"Step off, a--hat," Raven said.

"What? Is that some kinda joke because of my--" Roman was cut off by Raven opening a portal and disappearing through it.

Hazel shrugged and followed her.

Neo folded her arms.

"I know, so uncouth," Roman sniffed. "People just don't have our class."

[Yay, I didn't forget about them in the bonus chapters.]

* * *

"These are your reinforcements?" Neptune said.

"Hazel!" Emerald hugged him. "I did not expect you to join us."

Hazel tried very hard not to look like he was touched. "Well, I didn't have much choice..." he said gruffly.

"Mom, did you seriously just drag him here?" Yang asked.

"I said not to call me that on the job," Raven said. "And we needed help, and we're a little short."

The rescue ship was there by now, and the campers were loading all they could into it and then preparing to drive the rest.

"Now, we've gotta find that caravan," Raven said. "Claw, I hope you're rested enough to locate it."

"You should have brought Jaune," Yang said.

"He wasn't available," Raven said.

"This rain is making it impossible for me," Claw spoke up.

"Sure would be nice to be able to fly, huh, sis?" Qrow said.

"Qrow, don't--" Raven realized that she had no hope of Qrow referring to her as Commander while on the job and gave up before she even finished. "Don't say things like that."

"Didn't you complain earlier about magic?" Neptune said.

"I thought better of it since," Raven said. "If I had magic, I couldn't have vanquished that Grimm so easily."

There was a statement you didn't expect to hear.

"Why not just fly that way on the plane?" Royal Zapato spoke up. "The scanner won't be blocked by rain. We can find them. They have to be close to here."

"And leave the others alone?" Qrow said.

"It's not like the Grimm will come back to them, right?" Royal shrugged. "But it's up to the Commander."

"I am liking him more and more," Raven muttered. "He should get a raise--anyway, I think that's the best plan."

All the campers were cleared off this plane and put onto the rescue one, which would take them toward Pan Animarum now, followed by the huntsmen who'd been with them, in the cars.

The dust would be going with them, of course.

The squad headed farther east, a little northward now, to try to find the caravan.

While they were waiting in the plane, Emerald and Mercury told Hazel about the incident with Claw and Piper.

Mercury might have been hoping Hazel would beat them up--or at least look really angrily at them.

But instead he took the whole matter pretty lightly.

"I've heard the same things," he said. "Not as much. Not as many people knew me, but I think it's to be expected. People don't stop thinking like that in one year. Some of them will never recover."

"Well, that's depressing," Mercury said. "Geez...I get why they hate us, but what do they expect us to do about it?"

"It's not about that. They want someone to blame," Hazel said. "You'll just have to wait it out. Do your jobs, whether people will accept you or they won't. We've been more fortunate than most people of our kind--you have friends already."

"Yeah...but we don't get to see them that often," Emerald sighed.

"Then you need to make new alliances," Hazel said.

"New friends, you mean?" Emerald said.

"That's so grade school," Mercury said.

"It is how the world runs. You might as well get used to it. People need to like you in front of you to work with them," Hazel said.

"Do you even have friends?" Emerald asked.

"I get along with the people I work with," Hazel said.

Because he hardly spoke to most of them, so there wasn't much room for fighting. And if they had ever attempted anything like purposely tripping him or sabotaging his work, he'd barely noticed the delay. People usually just left Hazel alone because he was so intimidating, and few of them realized he was kind of a huge softie under it unless you hurt someone he cared about.

And since he didn't work with anyone he was that close to, his temper hadn't erupted in a long time, and most of the people he worked with liked him as far as they knew him--not far, granted, but Hazel didn't really seek companionship that fervently.

"Tell me you only brought him because you needed the help," Qrow said to Raven aside.

"Should the guy who was trying to have fun with his girlfriend on duty really be asking me that?" Raven replied.

"It was harmless," Qrow said. "Nothing like what you're thinking.... And seriously? I thought you gave up on this."

"Who said that? I'm just taking my time," Raven said.

"And why...?" Qrow said.

"That's my business, not yours."

"So you can pry into everyone else's lives, but the second anyone asks about yours, it's off limits?"

"Pretty much." Raven looked out the window.

"Commander, I think I've picked up on something," Zapato said.

* * *

The scanner had finally located some other Grimm but also some weak radio signals that might have been from a car.

The reasons they hadn't seen the caravan were two-fold.

One, the flash flood had washed the roads pretty slick, and the caravan had gone off of them and into the trees to wait it out and then promptly gotten swamped. And the mud slide had made doubling back impossible.

The second reason was that bandits, who often used storms as a cover for them to find hapless people who would be slowed down by them and steal them blind while there was little hope of huntsmen being able to rain in time to help, had swooped in as soon as the rain had stopped.

The plane landed as close as it could, and they got out and ran to the cars.

Several men and women had been killed by the bandits and a few by the storm itself.

A tree had either been knocked by bandits or by the wind onto one of the trucks and kept it from being able to move.

The people who were still alive had been set upon by Grimm after the bandits left, and the bandits had taken as much of the dust as they could carry, leaving only about two pallets of it, and the remaining children and non-fighters left hadn't known how to use it well.

One smarter woman had thought to set fire dust around them and light it on fire, then feed it with dead wood, and that had kept some of the Grimm off, but the rain now had put it out again.

Most of the kids left were hiding in the trucks, and the Grimm didn't claw their way into them, while the few adults were holding the weapons of the fallen huntsmen and trying to think of a way to survive.

When they saw the squad arrive, some of them burst into tears, but a few were angry.

"Now you show up!" one guy said, an older man who had not been able to fight enough to be considered a threat, apparently. "They slaughtered us! The filthy bandits! Left us here to die. Heartless monsters. I think they're worse than Grimm."

Raven looked very hard right then, but Yang and Qrow thought that under it she must have been wincing.

"Oh, wow..." Emerald was upset. "This...this is pretty bad."

"I am surprised there's anyone left," Qrow said grimly. "Usually with the bandits and Grimm attacking together, there's not anything left afterwards. Except maybe a few kids or teens they don't bother to kill and the Grimm pass over for louder targets."

"Didn't you tell us that's how you...uh, you know...?" Yang said.

Qrow nodded.

Raven looked around the caravan wreckage and eyed it.

Some of the kids looked at her hungrily out of the cars. The bandits had taken most of the food with them also.

"Which tribe was it?" Raven asked.

"They didn't tell us," the woman who'd used the fire said tersely. "Some of them had tattoos that looked like a plant on them."

Raven nodded.

"You know who it was?" Qrow asked her in a lower voice.

"We had a report," Raven said. "The Baba Tribe. The tattoo is a sesame plant."

"Why?" Qrow said.

"I don't know," Raven said. "They're kind of ruthless, even for bandits. They move fast. They must have some stronghold that lets them hide from the Grimm, but I don't know anything about it."

"This whole scene makes you think, doesn't it?" Qrow said flatly.

"I don't need your guilt trip, Qrow!" Raven said sharply. "We need to get them ready to go. The rescue plane will have to come back for us once it's done dropping the others off. I can take some of them to Argus also. And what we can salvage of the supplies. If that's not too much to ask of you!"

"Okay, sorry," Qrow held up his hand. "Didn't mean to set you off."

Raven walked away from him.

"She's clearly upset about something," Yang said to Qrow.

"Can you blame her?" Neptune said. "This is kind of the worst. I mean, she would be thinking about what happened to the people she used to leave in her wake."

"She always acted like they didn't know the Grimm would be moving in so fast," Qrow said. "But it's what always happens. If there's anything left, that is. On the road like this, usually there's not. The bandits must have been in a big hurry, not to kill every single person. Didn't take any kids with them either. They do that to replenish their numbers."

"Seems like we could track them now," Emerald said. "Maybe get the stuff back."

"No," Qrow said. "Bandits aren't all as good as huntsmen, but most of them are at least close, for you kids anyway. Black might hold his own. Maybe you could slip past them, but there's too many rookies on this squad. And we'd be outnumbered. Even if I manipulated the odds against them, I just don't think it's possible."

"Hey, you finally called it manipulating the odds," Neptune said.

"Winter gets mad if I call it bad luck." Qrow rubbed his head.

"Somebody's whipped," Mercury said.

"Hey, it's giving it a different name to help change how he thinks of it. That's a really good idea. Maybe I should start calling you 'friendly' or 'nice to be around.'" Emerald shrugged. 

Mercury winced.

Neptune whistled. "Daaang."

"Kind of like how I felt less sneaky about my Semblance once I realized it also gave me a way to show people reality if I was fighting another illusion user. It's all in how you look at it," Emerald continued.

"I just don't like to get Winter mad unless I'm doing it on purpose," Qrow said. "It's only funny if it's on purpose."

"That's sick, man," Mercury said.

"Coming from you, Metal Toes?" Qrow said.

"Maybe we shouldn't joke around," Yang said. "I know that's what we do, but these people don't look like they want to hear it."

They didn't.

Claw and Piper were starting to load them onto the plane.

"Piper, watch out for Grimm," Raven ordered. "Keep them at bay if you can."

"Yes, Ma'am." Piper was far too sombered by the scene to feel like being difficult right now.

Some Grimm did show up, but they were easily handled.

Hazel helped them get the tree on the truck unstuck.

Some of them perked up now that they were actually getting help, including the woman who'd started the fire.

"Thanks," she said. "We had just about lost hope that anyone would find us out here."

"Well, your friends in the other group did tell us where to find you," Yang said.

"Oh, they did?" the woman said. "Was my boyfriend there? Tall? Black hair? Curved sword?"

"Oh, yeah, I think that was one of the huntsmen who was guarding the caravan," Yang said. "Ali or something."

"Good." She looked relieved.

"That wasn't a bad plan you came up with, uh---" Neptune realized she hadn't actually introduced herself.

"Jasmine," she said. "Jasmine Sultan.... Well, I'm not much of a fighter, but I have picked up a few things from Ali's stories..." She shrugged. "You have to keep your wits about you when you're on the road like this."

[I know the Disney reference is on the nose, but it wouldn't be the first time it was, right?]

Emerald followed Raven, who was still walking around the area a bit

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"Why wouldn't I be?" Raven said tersely.

"Uh... Raven--" Emerald didn't bother to use the official title. "--you know it's me, right? Miss Thief/City Destroyer-Turned-Huntress? Do you really think I'm going to judge you?"

Raven paused. Then she said, "I guess you'd know what it's like to be overwhelmed with thoughts of your past, then. Not like I didn't already know what happened to people. But when it served me, I tried not to think about it. Now that I'm trying to prevent it, do I really have the right to call it more reprehensible?"

"If...if it helps, Qrow has said that your tribe was still more decent than most of them," Emerald said. "I mean, you stole...but it could be worse."

"Bandits are survivors," Raven said. "The tribe took us in--may or may not have been because they made us orphans to begin with. In a way, it seems to be a sort of compensation for the damage they wrecked, taking in some of the kids and giving them a place to belong. It's not much of an atonement, but you tell yourself something to make it seem better. I should be past caring about this. It's over. I'm done."

"But you care because you're done," Emerald said. "Because you've chosen to care.... That's what happened to me. I shut it out until I couldn't anymore. And then I felt worse...but the flip side of it is, I feel better about making a difference on the other side. It still haunts me sometimes.... Still, I was a different person then, and so were you. You can't act like you're the same Raven Branwen as before. You asked to be new."

"Yes...but the Raven Branwen I was before did know it was wrong. Maybe I'd like to smack her upside the head," Raven said. "I'm telling you, kid, it's a good think that this religion preaches that you have to kill your old self to receive new life, because that self deserves to die...and it's lucky that it doesn't have to be physical."

"I guess we both have more trouble than the goody two-shoes can," Emerald said. "I just wish there was more we could do to make it better. Just slaying the Grimm doesn't feel like it's personal enough."

"Yeah," Raven said.

Hazel looked over at them, then walked up. "Everyone okay?"

"We're just talking about the past," Emerald said. "It's a little hard for her to look at this, you know."

Hazel nodded curtly. "We all of us have our regrets."

"Maybe we should start a club," Emerald said. "Reformed bad guys.... Sometimes I wish I was more like Mercury and this stuff wouldn't weigh me down anymore."

"I think the boy cares more than he lets on," Hazel said wisely. "But we all chose to give it up and accept a new life. Still, those actions were done, and we can't undo them."

"What about the kids though?" Emerald said. "I've been where they are. Their parents are dead, and these other people aren't going to take them in, even if they could afford to now. Can the Argus center do it?"

"That place is packed," Raven said. "The refugees are still living out of it even now--some of them I'm sure are just staying there because it's cheaper than finding work and getting their own place, but also we get more people all the time form situations like this. That's why Schnee is trying to get the Grimm to lighten up.... The problem is, we already sent more people there earlier today, this is too many. They can't afford it."

"Seems like we should have more money support somehow," Emerald said.

Charity in Remnant, except in the form of donations from wealthy businessmen like Jacques Schnee, and in relief funds from city treasuries, was pretty much non-existent. People who were barely getting by on their own wouldn't think of anyone else.

Also orphans tended to be neglected, and usually the houses for them made the kids work too much or left them to their own fate, as Cinder could have told them if she were around.

Most orphans, if they had no family, ended up like Emerald had, on the street, trying to avoid Grimm and other thieves.

"I don't know what we can do about it," Hazel said aloud.

"It's so bad we don't have people willing to help them, like in Vacuo," Emerald said. "Mr. West just went around asking people for help. I heard some of them were pretty mad about it, but others weren't."

"But normally they wouldn't do that," Raven said. "It worked for him, but everything works for those two differently."

"We could try," Emerald said. "I mean...you can't just throw them into the street, come on. That's what happens if the center doesn't take them in. I mean, look how young some of them are, and it'll be winter soon."

"This isn't really my department," Raven said uncomfortably.

"What about the military barracks? Don't they have extra room now that so many people are dismissed?" Emerald said.

Raven thought. "Maybe it could work.... I'd have to ask Schnee. For now we need to get them out of here. Don't say anything to them about it. No sense raising false hope."

Some of the kids were crying already.

Yang tried to distract them. She was pretty good with kids. She'd taken care of Ruby after all.

Piper offered to play a tune that would make them calm down--they told him no. Too creepy.

And anyone who'd been influenced by Mind Grimm before had an aversion to anything like that.

[Good for them.]