Nysa forest, Semavatevi, The outskirts of Atlas

[After the Grimm War, the concentration and growth of Grimm significantly lowered which allowed humanity to explore and reclaim once uninhabitable Grimm-infested lands.

Found on the southern borders of the Nysa forest, one such land is a ruins of a town named Semavatevi by it's discoverer, Bartholemew Oobleck.

Due to the icy climate of the area, much of the town and many artifacts have been preserved, well making it a popular spot for field trips for aspiring archaeology students.

Yang Xiao Long moves forward with an undeterred stride through the arctic forest. She doesn't seem bothered by either the cold or the wasteland around us. Her boots leave imprints on the snow that crack as she steps over debris that consists of various objects, broken weapons and corpses of both man and animal. A member of the famous team RWBY, the blonde professor heads her university's Archaeology department. Along with a class full of students, she moves through the ruins, occasionally stopping to point out to something she finds interesting. She is the fourth of the Arc wives.]

Besides the semester faculty get together, this is without a doubt my favorite part of the semester. No stuffy classrooms. No boring lectures. Just good ol' field and legwork. Pretty much the main reason I got into Archey anyways. It's the only one where you could really go exploring. Reclaiming lost lands. Digging through old caves. Exploring ancient temples. Trekking through the unknown and discovering the world sounds like a perfect action series, if you ask me. I once pitched the idea to Barty but the guy just shook his head and laughed.

There are two types of archaeologists,he would say, the kind that looked for artifacts and the kind that stayed in the labs and became the artifacts themselves. I prefer the former honestly and considering, my class turnouts, I'm not the only one who thinks so.

[She stops and gestures to a piece of metal sticking out of the snow in front of her. It looked to be the barrel of a shotgun with a large shard of red dust tied to it's front, like some sort of bayonet. A few frozen fingers remain wrapped around the barrel, as if aiming it at the blonde.]

Will you look at that? It looks like this guy either went down fighting or fell asleep in the cold but never woke up. See that dust crystal? That's normally the shape and size they used to power lamps back then. Guy probably used it as some sort of light or heat source as crystals are useless for stabbing Grimm. Too short and brittle to get through the hide. Course that doesn't stop folks from trying till even now.

[She points her palm to the site and after a second a click is heard.]

One of the perks of having a robot arm? You can install a ton of stuff, including a camera. It's pretty hand-y. [Chuckling at her own joke(?), she resumes her trekking] We're gonna be seeing that a lot so try to hold on to your appetite.

Speaking of vomit, that's how I actually met Jaune. He's the type to get easily airsick so of course he vomited all over my shoes. Terrible first impressions aside, I soon liked the guy. He had this pureness and honesty in him . Or maybe he was just dumb. [She shrugs] Either way, lady killer was the easiest to hang with in JNPR and sometimes even in my own team. Combine that with his lack of interest in me, and he made a fine pal.

I had a lot of friends, sure, but they soon disappeared during the first semester. Well, I wouldn't really call them friends, compared to the ones I would call now. Didn't see a single one even fight in the fall of Beacon. Jaune was a terrible fighter but he fought in that battle. They ran, He fought. I think that's something I like about Jauney, he knows how to balance things. He knows when to run away and when to fight. You can't just have one after all, gotta balance the two. Not too hot nor too cold. Just right.

[She draws my attention to another object in the ice, what looked to be a guitar-like instrument. It was longer and had four strings instead of the usual six. Next to it, were other instruments, each one familiar but not quite the same as the ones I know of.]

Now, this is some good stuff! [She moves closer to the instruments and starts to take pictures of them.] You see, back then, music had an important role to play which was mainly to keep emotions positive and high. The signs of this many instruments would point out that this was actually a band which may indicate that a large group of people were travelling this route. Bands were often used not just for the cultural importance of the music they played but also to prevent the Grimm from attacking travelers. Sure there were hunters as well but prevention is better than cure as they say. This goes with my hypothesis that when the village was abandoned, most of the villagers traveled this route, up to the mountains which is out of the way of their regular trade routes. There must have been a mass evacuation which is why they needed a band. However, [She kneels closer] the lack of scratches on the instruments might suggest the users just dropped them and made a run for it. Interesting.

You sound excited.

Well, these kinds of discoveries are exciting. Finding new stuff is sweet but that feeling of everything falling into place gives you such a rush. It helps if it's the kind you want to happen. [She flashes a grin] You don't go under Oobleck's wing for three years and not expect to get infected with his energy. Or taste for coffee.

Oy![She waves to a nearby pair of students.] You guys take care of this. Not sure if you could extract them from the ice without damaging them so be careful. Stuff looks like it's made of leather and paper.

[As the pair walk towards our location, bringing out various instruments, Yang steps back to watch them work.]

Sorry, bout bringing you along for this but I didn't realize I had scheduled this trip today but you really have to watch over these kids. When you're young, you think you could do anything and everything even if it's actually the opposite. Hey! Watch that saw, miss Everwood! You're gonna hit one of them! [One of the students cheerily laughs back "I got it, ma'am!" to which just Yang rolls her eyes.] It's all fun and games until someone loses an arm.

Will they be okay?

Those two? Yeah, they'll be fine even if they don't look like it. They're just excited for some dance coming up. I remember when I used to care about that stuff of that. Well, I still do but I toned the party girl part of my life down after Beacon fell. You gotta grow up sometimes, you know? [She rubs her arm before walking away from the pair] Let's go.

Jaune sorta went through the same thing as well when Pyrrha died or that's what I heard, at least. I had some shit to deal with so we didn't see each other for a long while. I had runaways to find while he and Ruby had some adventure. We didn't really hang out again till the end of the war. Well, it's not like there was much hanging out happening during the war proper.

We were both stationed as the vanguard against the main Grimm Army as the others went to battle the main guys. It may have seemed like suicide, or maybe it was, but we were the best choice. He had his aura sword thing so he could clear a ton at once and I had the most destructive potential. We both could also last long thanks to his large aura supplies and my semblance.

[She stops and looks me in the eyes]

You probably can't imagine that ocean of black and white and red. Just wave after wave after endless wave of every sort of Grimm. I've seen and killed enough that eternity to last me five lifetimes. You'd go mad just seeing how much they outnumbered us.

And just like those guys back there, Jaune had the great idea of bringing a boombox to keep our emotions high and all that. We went through that whole playlist twice before it all finally ended. Shame Jaune has such shitty taste in music. I remember wanting to give up but then thinking that there was no way I'm gonna to die listening to "The Realest Faunuz" or "Dancing the Night Away." So you could say it sorta helped.

When Ruby and the rest finally won, the song that was playing when the Grimm around us disintegrated was Tonight And The Rest Of My Life. That song became our song. [She laughs] You should see your face. It's the same as my daughter's whenever I play it. Ruby used to make the same one back when she was Jinmei's age. as well. It's cheesy, yeah, but so is Jaune and I love them both the same. Even had the lyrics engraved on my ring.

When did you know you loved him? Was it then?

[She leans against a nearby tree and stares at the ring on her finger, a simple gold circle.] It was right after my daughter was born. Because of my semblance, I couldn't deliver her normally so a cesarian was suggested. Worse was that they had to put me to sleep so I couldn't even witness my daughter's birth. The endless sea of Grimm will never compare to that creeping darkness as I fell unconscious, knowing that for the next few hours, I wouldn't be able to do anything. Whether my daughter lived or died was out of my hands.

But it went well?

See for yourself. [She hands me a photo that slides out of her right arm's wrist. On display was what looked like a healthy blonde girl, smiling to the camera with a toothy grin.] She's just a huge ball of sunshine and happiness and loves her daddy quite a lot. Well, he was the one to hold her first so maybe that came into play.

It was the first thing I saw when I woke up. He looked terrible, had to considering that the fastest way to travel to Atlas from Vale is a five hour airship trip, yet he was smiling like an idiot as he held our baby. He was there at that moment, and for me, that's really what mattered. Wasn't gonna run away or abandon her. Well, that's what I thought back then and till now.

So for you, this is what mattered? That you would be there for your child? Wouldn't that be harder for someone with multiple wives?