Ancient trees towered above New Beacon, swaying against the wind. The provided plenty of shade, but the forest surrounding the high walls seemed to trap in the suns heat. For days the air remained hot and sticky, and though hot temperatures was welcome, Aurea could not get used to the humidity. The lion faunus struggled to keep pace with her hulking uncle. Every stride he took, she had to force three quick ones. The two were on their way to the rather small training circle so that Orenz could gauge some of the new arrivals. Headmaster Cobal had already welcomed them and gave a hasty tour. These days he was always busy, doing everything in his power to strengthen the signal. Occasionally he would make an appearance at the arena to critique those partaking in sparring lessons. Today though, with the new ship, the headmaster would be busy aiding the crew in transferring their supplies into storage units around New Beacon.
"I can't believe how many survivors have found their way here in only a couple weeks." Aurea fiddled with the leather straps of her golden wrist plate. "At this rate we'll run out of space to house people."
Her Uncle Orenz chuckled. " If I know Cobal, and I think I do pretty well, He's already got a plan for that."
"What could he possibly come up with? We don't have anything to build shelters with." She motioned to the high wall and said, "We could gather wood from the trees, but there's so many Grimm out there that Headmaster has restricted students from going out there without a hunter and huntress present."
"Wood?" Orenz laughed, "Don't be ridiculous girl." He unzipped his vest and let it slip off his shoulders. "We have new airships coming in more frequently. The way I see it, and I'm sure Cobal is ten steps ahead of me, that's a lot of scrap medal and extra tech. He will find a use for it all."
"Hmm!" Aurea thought in silence. It made sense and with how well the Headmaster designed New beacon, she was suddenly confident that he would figure it all out.
Finally reaching the small arena, Orenz crossed his arms and observed the current spar. Two students were going at it. The spar was a basic training lesson; no abilities and no dust. Swords clanged and scraped in a fury. They seemed evenly matched, but for some reason Orenz grunted.
"Stop holding back you two." The combatants halted immediately, confused. "Don't give me that look. Neither of you are trying. Step out of your comfort zone."
Aurea had noticed it as well. Without the use of the semblance and dust tricks, both were unsure of themselves. Her younger self would have blurted out their faults. Those days were gone now, as her uncle made sure of that. Instead, she stepped onto the platform and bared her claws. She would force them into releasing whatever was holding them back. The sparring only lasted a few moments, but by the end of it, the two who had started were laughing, feeling much better about fighting without the aid of their abilities. Though, Aurea stood over both of them with a genuine smile.
"You never know when you will have to fight using only your skills with weapons. You don't have to be afraid of that now." She helped the two up and congratulated them on their efforts. She could tell they were newer students, and though they had proven themselves at some point to enroll into Beacon before The Calm broke, she didn't expect them to be experts. Neither did Orenz for that matter. After Aurea stepped off the platform, her uncle looked around to the students surrounding the arena.
"Who's up next."