Back I am with another small chapter. And a request placed at the very end of the AN. Until then, please enjoy.

RWBY is the property of Rooster Teeth and the creation of Monty Oum, Miles Luna, Kerry Shawcross, and many others.

A shot rang out on the quiet night, disturbing some creatures of the forest and frightening some more. Two more rang out in quick succession, followed by another.

Emerald ran through the trees as fast as her legs could carry her. The night was moonless and the starlight was hidden by the leaves, forcing her to rely entirely on her instinct. Once or twice a shot nearly hit her, passing just a hair's breadth of her ear and deafening her. She tried to get an estimate of where the shots were coming from, but it was futile. The moment she ascertained where the shot cam from, the next one came from another direction altogether.

Panting, she leaned on a tree, keeping her eyes and senses peeled for the slightest of movements. Each leaf, bush, twig, branch, tree, sapling, rock and puddle was under her gaze.

It was as quiet as a grave.

She moved away from the tree, mapping out possible routes. Her pursuer was not in her sight, and as such her powers would not prove useful. If she even knew the neighbourhood of their presence, she would still have been able to affect them.

But still, she had a plan.

Carefully, not opening her guard for an instant, she bent down and picked up a rock. She covertly spied the area, and found a convenient bush. She pulled her arm back, slowly, precisely, and took aim.

A twig broke behind her.

In a blur of motion, she turned around and threw the rock with all of her strength. It hit thin air.

...what?

The next moment, a blast of wind threw her off her feet. Though she slammed into a tree, she just bounced off. Not a scratch came to her. From the direction of the shot, a snort of laughter came out.

"That was the oldest trick in the book, kid.", Mrs Holz stepped out, a small smile on her face. Grumbling, Emerald got to her feet and began to brush the dirt and leaves off her skirt.

"I would have won if we did this in a city.", she complained. Maybe she sounded petulant, but she felt like she could be excused this time. After all, she had just been shot.

Mrs Holz laughed. "I doubt it. All the same, you did pretty well just now. Even though you never saw the shot coming and didn't know where I was, you still kept your Aura up at all times. Not even that little surprise of mine managed to make you slip up.", she bent down and carefully pressed her fingers on Emerald's ribs. "Still, better for you that you did. I think I may have given you bruises if you hadn't activated your Aura."

Emerald beamed at the praise. "Shall we go again? I'm good for it!", she punched the air above her enthusiastically, making Mrs Holz smirk.

"No, not right now. Catch your breathe, get a blanket over yourself before you catch a cold and get your body rested. We will go again in five minutes. Last time, and then we go home to prepare dinner for the guests."

Emerald obediently sat down by a nearby rock and threw the thick field blanket Mrs Holz had brought tied around her waist (how that giant woman managed to sneak up on her with so much added weight was beyond her) and closed her eyes, willing her body to recuperate faster.

She knew that she needed to get stronger. That meant strengthening her Aura, something she had not really cared about at first. But then...

Two weeks after the end of the vacations

Emerald had been folding the sheets on her bed when the call came. With Marie gone to school in Vale as well and Sophie off to Signal, the Inn only had her and Mrs Holz for now. There were just two or three guests in the building left since the majority of the tourists had left for the city.

As such, she was working quietly as Mrs Holz took care of the bar and the kitchens. She was too young to be of any help there, but she could still do the small chores.

Anything to be a little useful.

Even as she arranged the pillows, she picked up her storybook. She had been reading it well into the night until she just fell asleep, and was pleased to discover that she was getting better at it.

Though she still wasn't quite sure what "deliberation" meant. Maybe she could ask Mrs Holz later?

Her thoughts were interrupted by Mrs Holz calling her downstairs.

"I'm coming!", the little girl shouted back, throwing the book into the shelf and quickly scampering to the hall. Mrs Holz was holding a scroll in her hand as she balanced a tray in the other.

"Here.", she grunted, shoving the phone into her hand. "It's for you. From the Arcs." And without further ado, she hurried away to take the tray wherever it was needed.

Alone in the hallway, Emerald put the scroll to her ear. "Hello?"

"Good morning, Emerald. Are you feeling well?", a gentle and stately voice came to her ear.

"Morning, Mrs Arc! I'm fine, how about you?", she said cheerfully. Talking to Leonie Arc was always a very pleasant experience. Ever since she had started to know her, she had discovered that Jaune's mother was a very nice lady.

After all, how many people gave kids mint cookies every time they met?

"I am fine, Emerald. Listen, we are going to get Jaune's letter home in the afternoon. He is hardly capable of writing one himself, of course, but my eldest daughter would have written it for him. Would you like to come here and read it with us?"

Emerald quickly agreed. She had agreed not to mope about Jaune leaving for months on an end...but she still missed having him around. A letter from him would be the next best thing after seeing him again.

She hurried her chores up, impatient to tell Mrs Holz about this and ask her permission to leave.

Emerald knocked sharply on the door of the Arc cottage, giving a low growl closer to a kitten's purr than the intimidating noise she intended when the door didn't open instantly. When it finally did and the tall, slender form of Mrs Leonie Arc came up, she had to remember to behave properly.

"Good morning, Mrs Arc. May I come in?", she asked a trifle desperately, hopping on the spot to bleed out some of her extra energy.

"Good morning, Emerald. I was waiting for you. Come in, I haven't opened it yet. "

Emerald scurried in at once and was sitting on the sofa in less than a minute, eyeing the crisp envelope lying unopened on the table. An inquiring glance at Mrs Arc told her that this was, indeed, the letter.

Jaune's letter.

She fidgeted restlessly as Mrs Arc fetched a letter opener and slit the envelope, opening the letter to read. As his mother, she had the right to read the letter first, but that didn't mean that she won't hate the idea.

She hadn't heard from Jaune for two weeks.

A small period of time when put into perspective. Just about two weeks. Fifteen days. Children were impatient, and could scarcely wait for even that short time when waiting for something they wanted, but this was not just that in play.

It was more. Closer to aawaiting news from a family member than just a good friend.

Because even if she had more people to care for her and to care for, he was still the first and foremost.

As if hearing her restlessness, Mrs Arc looked up in concern. "Emerald, I'm sorry. I forgot. Here." She cleared her throat, and began to read out loud.

"Dear Mom, Lapis, Amber etcetera and Emerald"( she grinned at how her name had been singled out)

"The new school is pretty boring, but I found the school library on the first day. Tell Emerald if she's there that she was wrong, and school is just as boring as I thought.

Well, I'm not going to pile on her that, though. Vale's pretty nice and has more people than the entire village twice over. We need to get on these trains to just go to school! Aunt Charlotte told me that if she just tried to drive me to school, I'd have to wake up before six!

I don't really like that idea.

But that's not the best part! I was looking through the papers here, and I found it! The poster for Signal Academy!"

Mrs Arc's breath suddenly hitched and she stopped reading. Emerald looked curiously at her face, which was oddly pale. However, her voice was steady when she began again.

"You're supposed to be 13 when you get in Signal, so I still have time! All I need to do is train for an year and get my Aura unlocked. Dad can do both, right? I'll come over and get my Aura unlocked in the Winter, and then keep training until next year so that I'm strong enough to train with Dad. Then I'll get into Signal and be a real Huntsman like him!

I can't wait.

Love, Jaune.

PS: Amy and Sophie won't write letters like me. Make them write too. Its wrong for them to not call home. "

Mrs Arc stopped reading, folding the letter with unnatural care and placing it in a pile nearby. Her face was still pale, as if she was afraid. Very afraid. Of what?

Well, there was only one thing she could think of that may have made her scared...

"Mrs Arc,", Emerald asked carefully, hoping that her deduction was right. " Is there a problem with Jaune being interested in Signal?"

As if a spell were broken, Mrs Arc came to. "Nothing important, dear. ", she said quickly, rising to her feet. " I have work to do now. I'm afraid you must leave. I'll send the letter to you tomorrow after my husband has read it as well. Give Aquila my love."

Emerald did not protest as she was made to leave.

" How do you get into Signal, Mrs Holz?", Emerald asked her host as she arranged the plates the old woman was washing in the kitchen sink. The question made the old woman's thick brown eyebrows rise in intrigue.

"Why? You thinking of being a Huntress?", she asked.

"Is there anything wrong with being one?", she challenged back. Mrs Holz snorted.

"Wrong? No, there's nothing wrong with wanting to be a Huntress. You get the fame, the glory, and the money that comes with the job. You never have a dull moment with all the missions you get called into all the time. And then there's the missions themselves. Fighting Grimm invasions across Remnant, beating off major infestations, doing Search and Rescue if some disaster strikes and Grimm follow, guarding Dust mines and farming villages like this and fending off bandits and Grimm from convoys." She shrugged. "It's a good job. "

"You were a Huntress too. ", Emerald observed quietly. It wasn't a question.

"I was.", she admitted. " Graduated from Haven about twenty years ago. Used to do recon missions for the SDC and was an expert in fighting off raiders, Grimm or human. I retired when Sophie was five to look after her. My husband had built this Inn, and I ran it after he died five years ago."

"I'm sorry.", Emerald said. Losing family was horrible. She had had none until a month or so ago, and she could not bear the thought of losing them...of losing him.

"It's alright. So, you want to be a Huntress? Mind if I ask why this thought came to you all of a sudden?"

Emerald looked at the older woman carefully, trying to ascertain how much to say. Finally, she decided upon the truth.

Jaune is getting to me.

She quickly recited her entire evening at the Arc cottage, including Jaune's wish to get into Signal, Mrs Arc's reaction and how she then sent her away. When she finished her explanation, Mrs Holz looked thoughtful.

"I did not lie to you about anything I said about being a Huntress. ", she said quietly. "But I guess there's another way of looking at things." The Innkeeper looked grim and stern, the lines on her face seemingly deepening as she frowned. She closed the tap and turned around to face her straight on, her gimlet like eyes boring into her skull.

"I said that there's money and fame and glory for Huntsmen. That's quite true, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise. However, at the end of the day, it's dangerous and unpredictable. Sometimes there are too many Grimm. Sometimes there is one Grimm that is too much to handle. Sometimes it's other Huntsmen who went rogue. Or all or two of the above at once. Whatever it may be, every Huntsman walks in the shadow of death, and it is only our wits, skills, companions and sometimes blind, dumb luck that makes sure that we survive to go home to our families."

She paused. "That's why I fully retired from the job rather than take my girls to the city and sell this place. They already lost a father. I didn't want to take the risk that they be left alone in the world. Not if I can help it. "

Emerald had gone quiet at the speech, her face down. "I understand.", she said.

There was not a quiver in her voice.

"And you're still set on being a Huntress?", asked the Innkeeper.

"Yes.", Emerald answered firmly, raising her small face to look at Mrs Holz with a quiet, firm determination in her gaze. Something as hard as steel was in both her eyes and her voice, and there was not a trace of doubt in her.

"You won't get to change your mind once you step on it. ", warned the old woman.

"I won't.", she answered.

"This is not a decision you should make on a whim.", she warned. "As I told you, it's a great and terrible duty to be a Huntress. The only reason you should choose to do so is if there is nothing else in the world you would rather be. Because once you have trained yourself to be a warrior who can lift and throw cars, your career options are somewhat limited by how overspecialised your talents are. Many failed or retired Huntsmen get into security or odd jobs, and sometimes even crime, due to how their talents are geared more towards war than peace. You understand the risks?"

"I do.", her response came at once.

Mrs Holz met her unwavering gaze for a few more moments, before she gave a heavy sigh. "Looks like your heart is set on it, then. Very well. I promise to train you as best as I can. You already have your Aura unlocked and even a semblance that could come in use. Until next year or so, I will train you to keep your Aura activated even under duress and to use it consciously for greater power. In six months or so, I will start teaching you to use a weapon alongside your Aura. Training starts from tomorrow night. "

"I will do my very best, mam. I won't let you down.", Emerald promised, standing straighter to look the tall woman in the eye. Mrs Holz gave a grim nod.

"I believe you", she said simply.

Present

The break over, Emerald was running again in the forest. Her pursuer had disappeared again, forcing her to keep moving to avoid getting hit when she couldn't see it coming.

Wait, when she couldn't see it coming?

She abruptly came to a halt, and stood there in the open, ears and eyes alert for any signs of the old Huntress.

The sign came in the form of a Wind Dust bullet that hit her in the back, throwing her off her feet into the tree face first.

Mrs Holz came down from the elm tree she was hiding in. "Well?", she asked.

Emerald stood up easily and smiled at her, completely unhurt by the direct shot. A green wave of Light shimmered over her body from the stricken area , moving like a ripple in clear water.

Mrs Holz's lips curled up into the semblance of a smile. "Good work, kid. It's still far too weak, but it's better. We'll pick it up again tomorrow. Let's go home."

Emerald followed her dutifully, her bruises already healed by now. She was getting stronger each day. She could feel it. When the time to get into Signal came, she would be ready for it. And she would get in alongside Jaune.

The first time she met him, Jaune had fought someone who wanted to and was going to hurt her, and he had chased him off. The second time, he had fought and won against that person and saved her life. Then he had saved her once more by making sure that she had food to eat without thieving or begging. Then he had done his best to get her a family.

He had saved her, and protected her again and again and again. From the very first time they met to now. And if he was going to put himself in danger...even if she wasn't a hero like him...

She would do whatever it took to save him.

No matter what.

Looks like the story is beginning again...the Signal Entry Arc. How does the name sound? It is, I think, the third arc in the story after the Meeting Arc Arc(Not a typo) and the Orleans Arc. It will end when the two reach the age of 13. Speaking of which...

I have reached a snag in my writing due to having started work on two other fics that will, RL permitting, take me until November to finish. As a result, I am having great trouble with writing the chapters of Topaz( which have gone from the planned 1K to 2K) and editing them for publishing. I need a Beta to help me with this if I do not want to put massive delays between successive chapters. I may even be forced to let this fic go dormant until next year if I do not find a good Beta soon. So far, none of the ones I have contacted have answered.

This is to warn all interested readers(if I have any:) ) that there may be major delays soon, and not to worry about it. I intend to finish this fic no matter how many years I have to put in to put just one more chapter in. This fic will not be dead, just dormant.

Have a good day/night!