Omake 19: First Issues (C)

"We have to prepare the child for the path, not the path for the child." – Tim Elmore

I sighed calmly as I immersed myself in what was actually turning to be a really interesting fight. It was a spar but… I really was impressed by the progress made by Nora.

Just as predicted, the girl decided to pursue an active duty to try and become a fighter after seeing how well her big sister was faring in the militia. Cinder had advanced quite nicely in two years of working her way in the ranks. She was still far from any serious position, but Sienna mentioned that many of the officers were fairly positive that she was going to reach the top ranks by her mid-twenties.

She was respectful, but still capable of offering some polite opposition in case the orders felt close to harm her team. Her initiative wasn't born out of arrogance or anything that would have usually pissed off any higher-up in the military- in fact, it was so clear that her drive was mostly logical that some of the big shots were keen to listen to any report coming from her.

I was fairly convinced that it wasn't something that came from reputation alone. I had my own contacts to check if any of the officers in the upper section of the Militia leadership was actually planning to use her as a pawn to further their power, but after a full year of checking, I knew that they just were afraid of trying anything. They thought about it, but those ideas didn't see a reason to exist beyond mere ideas.

There were just too many individuals that would have freaked out at any manipulation attempt, and that spared me from handling all possible chances of facing anyone trying to influence Cinder into doing bad things. I had worked so hard to make her grow on her own into a fine individual. She was far from perfect, but she was seventeen now and she was only going to refine the small issues she gained by going through the harshest bits of her puberty. She was growing fine, with her speed, strength, precision, and beauty equally increasing under some loose control from us. She was aware that she wasn't 100% free of doing what she wanted at the house, but she long learned to respect the fact that it was only for the best if she was left with some limits to handle.

Nora was… a little tougher to deal with when she started to interest herself in Huntsmen School.

Duck.

I complied to Ozpin's word, dodging a cheeky jab that Nora had tried to arrange while I was distracted with how I was supposed to face this very problem. The girl was physically close to my capacity to fight, but definitely far in terms of experience, knowledge, and grasp over what she had within herself. Her potential was largely untapped but… her semblance was already showing some minor changes from the one I remember her using.

Maybe it's because someone was actually nurturing her to improve it through self-learning and suggestions, but the end results were undeniably a change for good on her part. Where the original Nora Valkyrie would have used this Semblance mostly when attacked by electric attacks, Nora Bukharin had developed something that was definitely going to be making the difference in any eventual battles.

High Voltage was now actively reaching out for electric particles within the air, giving Nora the chance of absorbing this electricity, build up within her own body, and then allow her to switch to a Boost that severely heightened her combat capacity. It didn't last longer than twenty minutes at best, and didn't make her as strong as Yang, but the drawback was significantly easier to manage. The after-effects of using this 'phase' weren't as debilitating as the ones the blonde brawler had to keep track of while busy in a close-quartered fight.

But while this gave Nora a clear advantage over someone like me, the truth was far from that. No, despite the fact that I would have had some trouble in a normal circumstance, I've practiced long enough to make proper use of the set of skills I had under my control. While I had the chance of just testing my 'magical prowess' to create items from memories and touch, I still had an impressive capacity of thinking up tools that easily worked against someone like Nora.

The girl was growling while trying to get some hits through my swift weaving, my hands were covered by a pair of reinforced rubber gloves that easily allowed me to deflect any attack coming from her without having to worry about being electrocuted.

Frustration, impatience- those were still weaknesses that easily made it impossible for Nora to win. If she had been a touch more attentive on the matter, she could have given me extra stress to endure while I worked to put an end to that eventual long fight.

By beating her, I also rebuked for the umpteenth time her request to be sent to study to any of the few available pre-combat schools. The ideal one would have been Signal since it was easier to access, I had trustworthy people relatively close to me in there that would have easily helped Nora improve her current skills… but then I had to deny on the basis that giving her that much of a freedom would have just enticed her to ask for too much.

First Signal, then Beacon. Summer was already having some trouble convincing Ruby to consider other choices instead of directly aiming at that kind of career, but the little girl wanted to be a hero and… I doubted Summer was going to keep her from leaving without taking some really drastic decisions to avoid complete annihilation on that front.

"Why not?" Nora inquired in complete stress. "I understand you are worried and all, but I believe combat schools are supposed to be the safest place where to go and study."

"Not always," I remarked quickly. "There are many instances of incidents unfolding in each school. Some even make use of trials that can easily kill or crush many good students in the making. All because of old traditions that 'surely do not hurt prepared huntsmen'."

"How do you… know this much?" She inquired, surprised by how opposed I was at the idea.

"Because I was aware for a long time that you just wouldn't have accepted a peaceful job when you got old enough to think about your future," I replied with a sigh. "You have the need to fight in your blood. To fight for what is right."

"But… Why did you let Cinder train and even visit Atlas at times to spar with Winter every December?"

"That's because Cinder isn't planning to pursue any career as a huntress. She has long accepted that she wanted a job that was honestly aimed to bring peace and safety."

"Huntsmen do that," Nora stubbornly pointed out. "They fight Grimm, they save people-"

"And do much more than that. Else there wouldn't be any difference between a huntsman and a militiaman, am I right?"

…

"What is… the difference, dad?"

I sighed, patting her head as we both sat down on the ground. There was no one around, and I felt considerably too tired to even walk to the bench and resume the conversation there.

"A militiaman does what you just said. The primary purpose of the job is to be sent to exterminate Grimm, protect the borders from any invasion, and serve as peacekeepers if the local police force is unable to step up to that duty," I explained with a serious tone. "Huntsmen are… more than just that. While it's true that Grimm are their natural enemies, the corps' tasks can be scouting, aiding the army, or even being the army of some Kingdoms, being special law enforcement if the police is unable to keep up with spikes of crimes and handle brutal criminals with lethal force… this isn't a pleasant job to take on, mostly because, if you decide to retire and have a life beyond it, you are generally left without a job."

"But I remember Cinder mentioning that the militia allows people to join civilian duty if they are done with the military side of things."

"Yep," I curtly answered, gaining a shocked look out of Nora.

"W-Why isn't it the case for hunters?"

…

"Because they only care for warriors. Beyond that, the only hope they have of getting a job if anyone decides to retire is to become a teacher," I continued. "You've heard what Uncle Tai and Uncle Qrow had to say about it. It was luck on their part that they ended up being the best candidates among many to become two new teachers at Signal."

"T-That's stupid."

[Ouch.]

The situation is far more complicated than just the schools' mindset. The councils are also to blame for never raising this kind of issue. I believe only Atlas has something to provide work to their former soldiers- something to prevent any dangerous uprising if they angered too many veterans at once.

"Yep. Which Is why I don't want you to become a huntress," I replied to her. "I have nothing against you pursuing something like an exciting and… sometimes dangerous job. If you train this hard all the time, then I will never doubt that you have the capacity to be ready to fight your battles when you are old enough to do so."

"So, if I wanted to join the Militia-"

"You would still need to train a lot and wait until you are fifteen. I believe that, compared to the age requirement for huntsmen, this is much easier to wait."

She nodded and I continued.

"You will go far, and I know you will make us all as proud as worried," I finally concluded and she smiled at that.

"I will make you damn proud!"

I huffed. "Language."

She giggled, knowing that this was the least of my headaches since we were now going to explain to Sienna why a mere stroll in the park turned in a full-fledged sparring session.

She was sure going to be pissed when she wasn't around to train Nora herself. Her and her maternal instincts.