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“What in brother’s name is her problem, anyway.” Taiyang sounded a bit disgusted as he dropped down onto the grass beside the fire.
“Rae’s… like that. Try not to let it get under your skin.” Qrow hedged carefully, not quite looking at the blond, or Summer, for that matter.
“No one’s blaming you for your sister’s behavior.” Summer said it gently. For her, at least, that was true. “Though I wish she hadn’t just run off in the middle of a mission. We have no idea what’s out there.”
“Raven can take care of herself.”
Summer didn’t look so sure, but said nothing. Instead, the leader set to quietly setting up the tent that they would share, just in case the weather didn’t hold. The sun was setting, finally.
“Do you think she’ll come back?”
“She always does.” Qrow said with some certainty in his tone. “Now, whether it’s before morning… I’m not sure.”
Summer nodded quietly. She wanted to ask. There were a dozen things she wanted to ask about why they were this way. But she’d learned that pushing for answers tended to just result in Qrow shutting down.
“We’re not really used to working with people. Even now it’s… a foreign concept.”
They’d been a team for an entire year by now, but Summer wasn’t really surprised to find out it was a process they hadn’t entirely smoothed into. It was possible to read it in the lines of their bodies and in how they acted around herself and Taiyang.
The four of them were making progress, were becoming a real team. It was more than Summer could have hoped for.
“Was it that bad, where you came from?” Summer asked carefully some time later, when they’d all three settled down with food. She fully expected him to withdraw, but the question came forward despite her initial hesitance to ask at all.
“Yeah. It was.” Qrow said after a moment or two of quiet. “And it’s why Beacon was so hard to get used to.” It was clearly not easy for him to talk about, and Summer didn’t prompt further. “We were raised by bandits in the wilds of Mistral. I don’t know if we were born to it or something else. All I know is that all my memories are of the tribe.”
He didn’t have to say much else, Summer didn’t think. It filled in a lot of blanks, even as vague as the statement was. Raised by a tribe of bandits.
“So, why Beacon?” Taiyang asked, and Summer shot him a look.
“I suggested it because I wanted to get away from the tribe for a while. The tribe even supported it, thinking we could learn how huntsmen work and bring that knowledge back to them. So… Raven agreed to come, too.”
Summer wondered if Taiyang understood the implication of that as well as she did. The tribe believed the twins would come back knowing how to kill huntsman. … Was that their plan after all? Summer didn’t want to ask. She didn’t think she wanted the answer, either.
“It’s different now. Being here, really integrating into a team. I don’t know if I could go back.”
“Well, no one’s going to make you.” Summer spoke up calmly, firmly. “If you don’t want to go, you’ll always have a place with us.” She offered him an open smile.
Summer couldn’t read the expression that Qrow gave her at that. Summer sighed a bit. “I think we should probably all try to get some rest. We’ll have an early start in the morning.”
The boys murmured their agreement, and some of the tension in the air faded. But Summer would never forget what Qrow had confessed to, even as she held him closer and tighter in hopes of showing him he really did have a choice in the matter.
“You okay, shortstack?”
“Fine.” Summer answered briskly.
“Are you sure? You really don’t seem-”
“I said I’m fine.” Summer repeated firmly. Immediately she felt guilty as a flash of hurt clouded garnet colored eyes.
“Wow, Sum, don’t bite his head off. We’re just worried about you.” Taiyang’s interjection came from a bit across the room, where the blond was sitting on his bed, working on an essay from one of their classes. His pen stopped moving as blue eyes regarded her and Qrow. “You’ve been on edge practically since the list of teams going to the Vytal festival this year was announced. If you really don’t want to take part this time, I’m sure headmaster Ozpin would be okay with us dropping.”
Raven wouldn’t be, and Taiyang would be disappointed to, Summer knew full well how much the festival meant to a team trying to distinguish itself.
“I’m sorry.” Summer’s shoulders slumped slightly. “It’s not that. I do want to participate.” And that was true. She wanted to participate in the festival. “It’s just… honestly, it’s stupid. You really shouldn’t worry.”
“You might as well just out with it.” Raven grumbled. “They’re not going to shut up about it until you do.”
Even Raven? No, it seemed more likely that Raven was tired of listening to them go in circles. Summer perched on the side of her bed. Qrow settled next to Tai on the blond’s bed. Both of them were still watching her expectantly.
“I’m serious, it’s really stupid.” Summer said flatly. “But fine.” If they wanted to know so badly, it wouldn’t really hurt. “My mom lives in Atlas.”
“We knew that.” Taiyang reminded her.
Summer nodded. “What you probably don’t know is that she disowned me when I left for Beacon. It’s why I stay here through the holidays. We had a huge fight. And, I know we’ll be housed at the academy and chances are I won’t see her at all. But I’m afraid she’ll cause a scene.” Summer didn’t like scenes, and she had little interest in interacting with the woman who had raised her.
Ginger wasn’t a bad person, not really, but she and Summer weren’t very much alike. They’d lost all common ground over the years as Summer moved towards becoming a Huntress and Ginger got more and more interested in the business side of things.
Raven scoffed slightly. “I’d like to see her try.”
Hm. Even “I appreciate the sentiment, but I do feel the need to remind you that she is a civilian, and it would be best to ignore her rather than engage. It would reflect badly on us all.”
“I think what Raven means,” Taiyang began, “Is that we’re behind you, and even if she tries to start something you don’t have to face it alone. Right?”
“Right.” Qrow said firmly. “We’ll be right there, even if you think it is silly.”
“Sure, that’s what I meant.” Raven’s tone made it quite clear that Summer’s interpretation was closer.
Even so, Summer smothered a laugh behind one hand, and offered her team a real smile. “I appreciate it, guys.”
“No matter what happens, we’re a team. You said that, as I recall.” Taiyang pointed out.
“And you’ll always have a place with us.”
Summer smiled a little more brightly as Qrow quoted her own statement at her. She wondered if he realized how much it meant to her to be here, with them and know that they had her back. They’d always have a place to call home, just as long as they were together.