Headquarter (Conti.)

There was a short silence I used to fill the other side of the room with Levant's power, making the sound clearer. Stripping off my still dirty cloak, I took a seat in the chair beside Blake's, mind focused elsewhere as my body went through the motions. I heard something that might have been a click and then the voice continued.

"Yes," Another voice said impatiently. "But is he…?"

"The son of Jacques and Isabelle Arc. Yes."

Someone exhaled slowly.

"You're sure she's Isabelle Roma?"

"As sure as I possibly can be. It was hidden well and she never made a fuss about it in public, but…yes. There's evidence to support it and it's unlikely to be a coincidence."

"Do we know who hid it?" A third voice inquired.

"Does it matter?" Asked a forth.

"Possibly. It could tell us something about her allies and how powerful. Whoever they are, they've kept this hidden for quite some time."

"There was chaos during and after Mistral's Civil War, especially when it was followed so swiftly by Menagerie. Countless people moved between the Kingdoms to escape for conflict; moving a single girl would have taken no great effort—and there were bigger concerns then making sure every single refugee was who the claimed to be. Remember…what was his name? The serial killer that moved to Vacuo?"

"William Blut," A voice answered. "But the situations differ. He was quiet for a long, long time and when he resumed his…activities, well, he was caught in short order, wasn't he? Going unnoticed among thousands upon thousands of other refugees is one thing, especially when the situation is chaotic. Staying that way for a long period of time is quite another. If she were living in some village off the edge of Vale, you might have a point, but she was a Hunter. A famous Hunter, active for decades across the Kingdoms, without so much as changing her first name—an old name, at that. Certainly, many have begun to stray from the color trend nowadays, but go back…twenty? Thirty? Thirty years and a name like Isabelle would have stood out, however famous Lady Elizabeth had been. Yet no one made the connection? Or do you believe he doesn't know?"

There was another pause, but I felt motion through Levant. Someone shaking their head? Making some kind of gesture at least. There were less people in the room then there were voices, so I assumed that some of them were communicating electronically. I could feel a few things I thought might have been hologram sets, but that didn't allow me to judge their body language. I made do with what I could feel, focusing on those in the room itself.

"No, you're right," A voice said. "At the very least, we can assume that Ozpin knows. The girl, Isabelle, would she have…would she have already attended Haven? If not, she'd have been on a team in Vale for at least four years; that's a lot of time to keep secrets and most children grow to trust one another, given time. That's probably at least four more. And her husband surely knows and the children…who else? Family friends? Past lovers? More? And yet we only find out about this now. I think we're all aware of how…fun it is to keep secrets after telling large amounts of people, so it occurs to me that going unnoticed for decades might have been difficult."

"And that's assuming that no one else found out. Knowledge tends to spread, however hard people fight to resist—yet this did not? No…fan boy or girl invested absurd amounts of time into examining every aspect of her history? Unlikely. There are forces at work; an extraordinarily good cover, at the very least, and probably someone silencing things for a time, one way or the other. In the aftermath of the Revolution, things could have been buried more definitely, but before that…"

"There was definitely something keeping her hidden. Hopefully, it was simply the Lupa, but given their reputation, we must at least consider the possibility that Ozpin was involved, in which case…"

"…There's not enough information to say yet. It was most likely Jeanne Roma's work, but we'll keep in mind the possibility. More importantly, what does this mean for us? How much does this change things for us?"

"It's…concerning," One of them admitted. "Perhaps a great deal; potentially not at all. Though her mother has ruled as long as anyone remembers, Isabelle Arc is the technical heir of the Roma family."

"And absent from it for decades and purportedly despises her mother," Another reminded dismissively. "What loyalty would any of them have for her?"

"And yet, here she is, staying in her mother's house—and her son certainly seemed close enough to his grandmother."

"But she left quickly, leaving her son behind. The fight was halted by her as well, implying it occurred without her knowledge or consent. I don't think her presence in the She-wolf's house should be taken as an implication of closeness—at least, not between the two of them."

"Yes," A firm voice interrupted. "Isabelle Roma is, by all appearances, loyal to Ozpin and opposed to her mother. While it could be fabricated, evidence supports their being conflict between them even before she disappeared. She may be the 'heir,' but it's nothing but a word if it's not supported by reality. Given that, I think we can write her off as the primary threat in this regard. The issue is the grandchildren."

"The many, many grandchildren." Another added, voice wry.

"What was it? Seven granddaughters in addition to this grandson?"

"Yes. Hunters, all of them, and close to their grandmother. We didn't know their relationship until now, but looking back…they all spent significant time in the area, working under or near her. Now, her grandson appears to fight in the tournament, beginning with a display of power that should be far beyond someone who hasn't even attended a Hunter's Academy—who'd failed to gain entry into a combat school, even."

There were several disbelieving sounds in response to that. I took to chance to return my attention to my body and glance around absently. I was leaning forward, on elbow on a knee, while Blake and Adam positioned themselves to talk quietly beside me, making it look as though I were listening to them absently. No one else deigned to approach us, though several had wandered in our direction, taking seats positioned such that they were nearby without actually being close before returning to their own activities.

"She must have been planning this for a long time. Keeping them a secret, preparing them…"

"It's hardly a surprise in hindsight. We knew from the beginning that she wouldn't just sit idly by while her powerbase deteriorated. That she had grandchildren in play…it changes things, but it's not complete unexpected. What we need to ask ourselves is 'Why here?' and 'why now?' If she's been preparing her grandchildren for this, she wouldn't reveal that fact unless she was ready to see things through. The question is, what is she planning?"

"A power play?"

"At a time like this? It seems…"

"No, you're right; there's no reason for her to do such a thing now, considering—"

"A statement, then? In comparison, Cynosarges's grandson…even his goddaughter was matched by her youngest. With seven already trained as Huntresses, this generation would seem to favor the wolves. Since the Civil War, Alexandria has been in charge, but with this…"

"That's long term, though."

"Is it? Times are changing and she knows it better than anyone. As things are now, with such a display of power…"

"Worse, if Jeanne decides on a path, Cynosarges will support her—the wolf and the lion hunt together."

There were mutters of agreement at that, drawing back to the point.

"What matters then, as before, is what this means for us." A voice brought them back on topic. "How bad will it be? How bad could it be? Will it be bad at all?"

"…If we assume that she will pick a new heir from amongst her grandchildren, perhaps not. We don't have enough information on them to tell yet, but Jeanne wouldn't choose a fool to lead the Family, nor one who she believed would ruin what she worked for. If this is a show of power, it's possible it was not meant for us—or, if it was, meant as nothing more than a reminder of who we're dealing with. But we hadn't forgotten, had we?"

There was a murmur of agreement.

"What do you propose, then?"

"Patience. Caution. Whether it's a warning, a threat, or simply a display, there does not seem to be any reason for her to betray us—therefore, I would recommend we wait and see. There's no benefit in doing something rash, especially when it's needless, so why do anything without further information. She has her affairs and we have ours; if she chooses to elect a successor, we'll trust her judgment and support her decision, at least for now. If this is something more than that and she wishes to move…well, we can't very well decide what we'd do in that case without anything to go on, can we? But she wouldn't ruin something that benefits her."

"Yes; we can trust in that, if nothing else. We'll be polite, then?"

"Like civilized human beings."

Those words got a quiet chuckle from the hidden room.

"We'll meet with her soon, regardless. Should circumstances allow, we'll make an inquiry. In the meantime, there's still much for us to do."

"Yes. What's next on the agenda? Finances or advertising?"

There was a quiet shifting a cloth and a quiet beep.

"—Ah. A moment, my friends. She's messaged me."

"Oh?" One of the voices seemed worried. "Is it…"

"No, nothing so dire. Rather—"

There was silence for a second.

"She's here," The voice said. "And so is Jian Bing."

I returned to myself in an instant but didn't react otherwise, didn't look up. Instead, without even moving, my senses expanded outwards. I drew up all my Elementals, let light and color swim freely across my vision beneath the full, disorienting might on my Clairvoyance, and drew the entirety of my combat power around me. Invisible currents of air, flows of heat, water vapor, and electromagnetism stood out bright and clear in my mind's eyes, even as time slowed to a crawl around me.

There were things that could hide themselves well—that could become invisible and mask their scent and more. Done right and too the right person, all of a human's senses could be fooled.

But I had a few more than that.

I didn't even twitch as that happened—I stayed as I was, leaning slightly forward, resting an arm on a leg as I looked at Adam as he told his story about some mission or other. It was a short thing that he didn't go to detail on, so he swiftly reached the end of the tale, but each sentence seemed to drag out endlessly. Even so, I waited until he was done.

Then, I spoke, moving nothing but my mouth.

"There's no need for you to stand there, friend. Come sit with us." I spoke to the woman behind me, who hadn't been there until after the words were finished. There was a shift in the air behind me, a sudden access to air that hadn't been there before, and what seemed like everyone in the room suddenly turned to look behind me.

Everyone but me. I wanted to, but appearances were more important, so even as…whatever the hell was going on behind me happened, I stayed as I was, not moving until…

"Hello," A woman's voice said. "Jian Bing."

When she addressed me, I turned to look her way. I was calm and casual as I did so, going so far as to put an arm over the back of the chair as I glanced the woman over.

What I saw surprised me, though I didn't show it. Most of it, I noticed only in the periphery of my vision—long black hair and clothes in red and black; miniskirt and thigh-high boots and a strange looking weapon at her hip—because my eyes were drawn immediately to her face.

Or rather, to the mask covering her face.

"Hello," I replied. "Raven Branwen."

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