The Grimm Huntress

Known by its Song

Vernal poured cups of tea for Eclipse, Raven, Yang, and Weiss. They were now all inside Raven's tent (after quite a bit of complaining from Eclipse) with the latter four seated around a table.

Eclipse's Wyvern, who to Weiss' mixed amusement and horror, she named Wyatt laid across the noirette teen's lap.

"You can wait outside," Raven told Vernal. "Thank you."

Vernal, following her leader's instruction, left the tent letting the cloth flap fall behind her.

"So, what's the "truth"?" Yang asked, getting impatient.

Raven took a sip from her cup. "You know, it's better when it's hot."

"You know, you're really obnoxious." Weiss said.

After being kidnapped, put in a cage, and told she would be put up for ransom she was just meant to politely have tea with this lady?

"I don't like tea." Eclipse frowned, staring down at the dirty leaf water.

Weiss shot her an incredulous look.

"Are you serious right now?"

"What? I don't." the noirette pouted childishly. "It's just- leaf water. I won't succumb to your vegan ways Weiss."

"Eclipse, how many times do I have to tell you I'm not vegan."

"Regardless."

"The truth is that "truth" is hard to come by," Raven interrupted the two. "A story of victory for one person is a story of defeat for someone else. By now, your uncle has surely told Ruby and her friends plenty of stories."

"Well, unlike you he's never given me a reason to doubt him before," Yang replied.

"That doesn't mean those reasons don't exist." Yang glared at her mother. "You know, you and your teammates might as well be the poster children for the Huntsman Academies. Your motives vary, but you all enrolled to try and make the world a better place. It's adorable."

"It's what Huntsmen and Huntresses do." Yang gritted her teeth.

"Not all of them. Some people are just in it for the money and the fame, but there's even more that are just looking to grow stronger. Your Uncle Qrow and I didn't attend Beacon to become Huntsmen, we did it to learn how to kill Huntsmen."

Yang and Weiss gasped at this, exchanging a brief look with each other. Eclipse merely narrowed her eyes, her slitted pupils growing a bit more defined at this revelation.

"Daddy and Uncle left that part out, hm?" Raven began to pour more tea for herself. The other noirette in the room pushed her cup towards the older huntress. "Aside from the Grimm-" she side-eyed Eclipse at that word. "-Huntsmen were the only ones capable of ruining our raids and hunting us down. Our tribe needed a counterforce. And Qrow and I were the perfect age. The entrance exams were child's play compared to what we'd already been through. We were good. So good that we caught the attention of Beacon's very own Headmaster, Professor Ozpin. Even after we were put on a team, I could tell he was keeping his eye on us. Back then, I thought it was because he knew, but it was Team STRQ he was interested in."

"What do you mean by that?" Yang asked.

"Constant attention, extra training missions, turning a blind eye whenever we happened to break the rules and get into more trouble than we should've. Sound familiar?"

The teens shared another glance at each other. Weiss gestured to Yang to keep going.

"What's your point?"

"How much do you know about Professor Ozpin?" Raven asked. "About his past?"

"He was... a prodigy," Weiss thought aloud. "One of the youngest headmasters to be appointed to a school."