After the Fall

by E. C. Myers

“What?” Coco and Velvet said together.

  The new team considered one another thoughtfully.

  Yatsuhashi looked up at their pictures. “Team CFVY,” he said. “I’m a tea drinker, but I like the sound of that.”

  Velvet did, too.

  “This is going to be fun,” Fox sent to his new teammates for the first time.

  Velvet yelped when she heard his voice in her head. Coco’s mouth fell open. Yatsu looked as placid as ever, as if he’d been expecting all of this.

  Fox smiled and winked. “Yeah, that’s a thing I can do.”

  Yatsuhashi liked watching Velvet work with the townspeople at Feldspar. He was supposed to be helping her interview them, but he was never much of a talker, so Velvet took the lead while he lent quiet support—his specialty.

  Most of the other students at Beacon had the wrong impression of Velvet. She was only shy and reserved around people she didn’t know, protecting herself from whatever hateful and hurtful things they might say. When she was with her team or hanging out with friends like Ruby and Weiss, she was more comfortable, more herself.

  And when she had a job to do, Velvet was great at connecting with new people.

  “What did you feel before the Grimm attacked?” Velvet asked.

  The young mother from Gossan, Amaranth, rubbed a hand over her eyes. “I’m not sure what came over me. Ash started crying and crying and crying.” She jiggled the infant boy in her lap, who giggled and reached up for Velvet’s ears. “And I felt this awful, burning … rage. I’ve never felt anything like it before. I was so scared I was going to hurt him. And then I started crying uncontrollably.”

  Amaranth’s hands shook. Velvet put a hand over hers.

  “Would you describe it as a ‘wave of emotion’?” Velvet asked, echoing the words of many of the other people they had spoken to.

  “Sort of.” Amaranth shook her head. “It was more like … a dam breaking, only it didn’t let the feelings in, it let them out. Like all the frustration and fear and anxiety I had been holding in all flooded out at once.”

  Yatsuhashi gritted his teeth. This sounded like a nightmare.

  Amaranth closed her eyes and tears rolled down her cheeks. Ash patted her wet face gently. She opened her eyes and smiled at him.

  “It had been going on for a while,” she said. “And once the emotions passed, all you were left with was guilt for feeling them—or anger. People argued with one another over things they’d said or done.”

  Velvet nodded.

  “We were always wondering when it would happen again,” Amaranth went on. “And it did happen, over and over again, but the next time it was always worse. The feelings got bigger and blacker every time. Jealousy. Regret. Anger. Sadness. Everyone was feeling it, some more than others. Then the Grimm came. We had to run, leave our homes behind. Some of us even left friends and family, people lost in the attack … We can never take back our last words or apologize to them again.”

  Yatsu and Velvet had heard similar stories from all the recent arrivals at Feldspar. Amaranth and her son had come with dozens of others from the Gossan settlement, but some in their group had experienced the same thing in the Schist and Tuff settlements before that.

  And as they had seen the night before, whatever was happening was moving with the group and getting more powerful, spreading like an infection. It was at Feldspar now, and Slate estimated they had a few days before their first mass Grimm attack.

  It was Beacon all over again.

  “Can you think of anything that connected these surges of emotion?” Velvet asked. “Did they happen in a certain place, or at a certain time? Was anyone else around?”

  “I’m not sure,” Amaranth said. “I think it happened most often at night. But usually I was alone. I mean, with Ash, at home. Once, it happened during the busiest time of day in the market, and everyone was affected at the same time. That was terrible. A Ravager came for us that time. Thank goodness we had those Huntsmen around.”

  Ravagers were nasty flying Grimm, like uglier, meaner versions of the Nevermores, with dark, leathery wings like bats. Yatsuhashi had seen them circling in the distant sky, but Team CFVY hadn’t fought any of them yet. He hoped it stayed that way.

  “Bertilak and Carmine helped evacuate?” Yatsu asked.

  Amaranth blinked up at him, as if she had forgotten he was there. Yatsuhashi briefly worried that he had accidentally used his Semblance on her, but if he had, she’d have forgotten a lot more than Yatsuhashi’s presence. He glanced at the kid on her lap.

  No, just like Yatsuhashi’s quiet, reassuring presence helped Velvet be more outgoing, Velvet had a way of making Yatsu less intimidating. Seeing someone small like her with a big guy like him put others more at ease—another reason why he hadn’t attempted to interview anyone on his own. They made a good team. Perhaps Professor Ozpin had known what he was doing after all when he paired up the teams at Beacon.

  “The Huntsmen were leaving, anyway,” Amaranth said. “We just tagged along. As long as we kept up with them, they didn’t mind. Much.”

  Velvet frowned.

  “I lost my best friend on the way. We lost a whole family. We’re cursed,” Amaranth said.

  Cursed. There was that word again. They had heard it so many times as they talked to people in Feldspar, who now were really people from the Gossan, and Schist, and Tuff tribes—the survivors of numerous Grimm attacks, all the way from the outskirts of Vacuo to here.

  Amaranth’s huddled posture said she was tired. Defeated. Hopeless. Yatsuhashi wanted to put an arm around her shoulders supportively, but better to leave that to Velvet. He had already made the baby cry when he got too close.

  “Thank you,” Velvet said. “Don’t worry; we’ll help figure this out.”

  Amaranth smiled gratefully. Velvet and Yatsuhashi had told everyone the same thing, and Velvet sounded so convincing that even he believed her. But they’d spoken to more than forty people already, and they weren’t any closer to figuring this out. He wasn’t, anyway. Velvet was making charts.

  “Would you mind if I took your picture?” Velvet held up her camera hopefully.

  “Really?” Amaranth wiped the tears from her face. “I’m such a mess.”

  “You look perfect.” Velvet peered through the viewfinder and focused.

  Ash’s face scrunched up. By now Yatsuhashi knew that meant he was about to start bawling. Was it another one of those emotional outbursts? No, just him being a normal baby.

  “Shhh … ,” Amaranth said soothingly.

  Yatsuhashi held up his index and middle fingers in a V behind Velvet’s head, between her ears. Ash’s eyes lit up. He clapped and burbled happily. Velvet snapped the photo.

  Yatsuhashi quickly pulled his hand back to his side and tried to look casual. Velvet turned and looked at him suspiciously.

  “What were you doing?” she asked.

  “Nothing,” he said innocently.

  Amaranth caught his eye and smiled.

  The next five interviews went much the same. They talked to young newlyweds, Opal and Jasper, who had to marry in secret because it was too dangerous to gather so many people in one place. Cursed.

  Celestine was a schoolteacher from Schist, who was too afraid to go back to work when her classroom erupted into a violent argument. Cursed.

  A weaver named Beryl lamented the loss of her home and business, then tried to sell Velvet a new cloak to keep the desert dust off her. Cursed.

  Exhausted, Yatsuhashi and Velvet joined Coco and Fox to share their findings with Slate. They found the mayor in a small tent near the center of town. Ten other people were waiting to talk to her, but when CFVY joined the end of the line, she waved them forward.

  “Give us a few more minutes, folks,” Slate told the waiting settlers. They didn’t seem as annoyed at the delay as Yatsuhashi would have expected.

  “What’s this?” Coco asked, gesturing to the small crowd.

  “People like to tell me their problems.” Slate shr
ugged. “Even if I can’t do anything about them. It’s either me or a therapist, and my ear is free.”

  By now, Yatsuhashi knew most of the people in Feldspar and those who came with Slate from Gossan.

  “The people in Feldspar seem to have embraced you as their mayor,” Yatsuhashi observed. “I thought Vacuans don’t like authority.”

  “They don’t. But there’s a difference between being a leader who tells their people what to do and a leader who cares about what they want. My job is to convince them that, more often than not, those are the same thing,” Slate said.

  Coco nodded. “Didn’t Feldspar have its own leader before you arrived?”

  “Every settlement and tribe has a person, or several people, who end up being in charge. Your natural organizers, those who can motivate others to do more than just scrape by day to day, looking out for themselves and their families.” Slate glanced behind the team at the people waiting in line. She lowered her voice. “The fella before me didn’t want the job any more than I do. But someone’s gotta do it, and I’m just being honest when I say I know I’m the right one for it.”

  “How’s everyone doing?” Coco asked.

  “Absorbing a bunch of new people always takes time. Right now, most folks are worried about Grimm. The Feldspar tribe have started to hear about what happened to everyone from Gossan, Schist, and Tuff, and they aren’t so sure they want us to stay here.”

  “Understandable.” Coco took in the line of people, then looked around the settlement.

  “Have you learned anything helpful yet?” Slate asked.

  “We’ve interviewed almost all the refugees. Their stories are similar, but other than the shared fits of uncontrolled emotions, the Grimm, and the evacuations, we don’t know what else the incidents have in common,” Coco said.

  Velvet thumbed through a spreadsheet on her Scroll. Slate looked interested, so she tilted the screen toward her.

  “I compiled the info from all our interviews. The data suggests that the emotional outbursts happen to everyone at the same time, but not necessarily with the same force.”

  Velvet held up a graph showing a line rising from left to right. “They’re also happening with more frequency, with greater intensity, and lasting for longer periods of time.”

  Velvet showed a couple more charts illustrating the progression and then stared at her Scroll thoughtfully.

  Slate blew out a breath. “I don’t need a fancy chart to tell me that.”

  “We need more time,” Coco said.

  “I’m afraid we’re running out of it,” Slate said.

  “If the trend continues, this is just going to get worse,” Velvet agreed. “It won’t be long before everyone will have to migrate to another settlement again.”

  “It’s also going to get harder to find settlements to take all these people.” Coco twirled a finger in a long lock of her caramel-colored hair. “Feldspar had more than a hundred people before you guys showed up.”

  “The next settlement certainly won’t roll out the welcome mat,” Slate said. “Even with casualties along the way, we’ll probably bring more mouths and bodies than they’re willing or able to accommodate.”

  Yatsuhashi was surprised at how dispassionately Slate spoke about losing people to Grimm, but that seemed to be the reality here. Not feeling every death personally was one of the hardest things he had to learn in his Huntsmen training—or at least not letting that loss paralyze him.

  Yatsuhashi was simply determined not to lose anyone ever again, but he knew all too well that one day he might fail, whether it was a stranger or one of his friends. Enough of Beacon Academy still stood as a testament to their greatest loss.

  Velvet’s ears perked up.

  “What?” Coco asked.

  “I just realized. There is a common element linking all these incidents,” Velvet said.

  The group waited. And waited.

  “Well?” Slate asked.

  “I was being dramatic,” Velvet said.

  Coco turned a hand over, telling her to get on with it.

  “The common element is the four people who came from Vale,” Velvet said. “They’ve been there for every attack.”

  Fox facepalmed. “Of course,” he sent.

  “The Caspians, Bertilak, and Carmine?” Slate frowned.

  Velvet spread her Scroll wider and leaned over it, zipping through her notes. “How long after they arrived did you start experiencing periods of heightened emotion?”

  “I don’t know. We didn’t think anything of it at first. It was only when it got really bad that we realized something unusual was happening, and even then it didn’t become suspicious until we had relocated to Schist and it all repeated again. But if I think back … maybe a few days?”

  “That’s hardly conclusive, but it’s a start,” Coco said.

  “Are you suggesting one of them is causing all this?” Slate asked.

  “I don’t know,” Velvet began. “But Yatsu and I haven’t interviewed them.”

  “Neither did we.” Coco glanced at Fox. “Clearly we need to talk to them, see if they have any idea what could be causing the emotional surges.”

  “Good luck with that,” Slate said. “They aren’t the sharing type. The Caspians hired Bertilak and Carmine for protection, and whatever their faults, those Huntsmen are serious about protecting them—from everyone.”

  “Isn’t that a little paranoid?” Coco asked.

  “You tell me. You’re Huntsmen. I figured it was part of your training.” Slate leaned back. “Either that, or they’re worried about thieves. Edward Caspian is obviously loaded, though money doesn’t do you too much good out in the desert.” She pressed her lips together.

  “Vacuans have a reputation for being dishonest,” Fox explained telepathically. “It’s misplaced, particularly since it’s the other kingdoms who stole from us.”

  “The downside of keeping to yourself is that other people are free to tell your story,” Yatsuhashi replied to the group.

  Fox tipped his head in acknowledgment.

  “Where can we find them?” Coco asked.

  “They’re staying in a sand shed on the north end of Feldspar. Like I said, they keep to themselves.”

  “Thanks, Slate,” Coco said.

  Slate spread her hands. “See? I didn’t do anything. I just listened, shared a little information, and you figured it out for yourself. This job isn’t so bad.” She waved them off. “Next!”

  They left Slate to her supplicants and huddled together in the night market. The moon was high in the western sky, a sprinkle of debris just visible on its edge. This should be one of the busiest times at the market. The fruit stand behind them could have been closed because fruit was scarce, especially with all the extra people to feed. But most of the flimsy wooden stalls were shuttered and empty … clearly business wasn’t booming.

  Yatsuhashi gazed at the boarded-up stalls. He suddenly really wanted to bite into a juicy breadfruit.

  “What do you guys think?” Coco asked in a low voice.

  “Either Bertilak and Carmine aren’t team players, which is odd for Huntsmen, or they’re hiding something,” Fox sent.

  “I agree, we should be careful about trusting them,” Coco said. “Slate seemed a bit down on them herself, and she appears to be a good judge of character.”

  “You’re just saying that because she likes us,” Velvet teased.

  “That’s how I know she’s a good judge of character. So here’s what we’ll do: Fox and I will approach Bertilak and Carmine, while Yatsuhashi and Velvet hang back a bit—”

  “Of course,” Velvet muttered under her breath. Coco gave her a look but ignored the remark. Yatsuhashi placed a hand on Velvet’s shoulder. He felt the tension there, and then she relaxed.

  “Wait for our signal, and then try to talk to the Caspians alone,” Coco said. “I’d like to see if their stories match up with what we’ve been hearing from the Vacuan nomads.”

  Yatsuhashi and Vel
vet trailed a bit behind Coco and Fox as they walked north. Fox pointed out that the northern section of the brick wall separating Feldspar from the desert was taller than the rest and reinforced.

  “Not many people live on this side of settlements because of the Wasting Winds,” Fox sent.

  Velvet shuddered. “What are those?”

  “Forceful sandstorms that come from the north. Even with the wall, this section gets hit pretty hard.”

  Vacuans had exciting names for every natural phenomenon, most of them destructive or deadly: Misery’s Kiss (sunstroke). Lasting Regret (food poisoning). Sudden Demise (a sinkhole spontaneously forming, which occasionally swallowed whole settlements).

  “Hang on,” Velvet said. She patted Yatsuhashi’s arm and then dashed away. “Keep going, I’m right behind you.”

  Yatsuhashi whirled around in confusion, but Velvet was gone. He didn’t like losing sight of her; what kind of trouble was she getting up to now?

  Ahead of him, Coco and Fox reached a sand shed that was conspicuously standing alone on the edge of town. Yatsuhashi leaned against the rough stone wall of a house a hundred feet away and watched as Carmine came outside and began talking with Coco.

  Then Velvet was at Yatsuhashi’s side again. Her sudden appearance made him jump.

  “Here.” She held out a skewer with a brown gooey mess on the end of it and looked at him expectantly.

  Yatsuhashi raised an eyebrow. The thing in his hand seemed to be food. “Uh. What is this?”

  “Breadfruit,” she said.

  “What happened to it?” he asked.

  “It was candied and caramelized.”

  His eyes lit up. “For me?” He took the stick from her.

  “I thought you might want to share?” she said hopefully, steepling her fingers.

  He broke off a piece of the sticky ball and handed it to her. Velvet nibbled at it.

  “This is better than it should be,” Yatsuhashi said, licking his fingers as the sweet and salty flavor exploded in his mouth. “Thank you. How did you know?”

  “I don’t have to be a mind reader when I can see you drooling at the fruit stands,” Velvet said with a giggle.

  “I don’t drool,” Yatsuhashi said.