[h2]Sapphire Rode - Airdocks[/h2]
Sapphire had expected the topic to come up at one point or another. It was sort of part of living in close proximity to other people. 'Oh where's your family from? Where'd you grow up? Do you have any siblings? How are your parents?' It wasn't exactly new to Sapphire. Though she did not recall telling [i]Gren[/i] about the Music Box. Of course Gren seemed to be rather adept at gathering information. Perhaps he'd asking Diamond, Emerald or Oswald. In any case these were not the types of questions that she particularly wanted to be answering.

"Do I look like a townie?" Sapphire asked rolling her eyes. Usually the best way to get someone to back off of pleasantry questions was to go on the offensive. No one liked to feel like they were being judged. "My family moved around a lot." She said tossing the answer off like it meant nothing. This was not exactly the truth. In actuality the Rode's had three houses that they had used regularly in Sapphire's childhood (they also had one or two vacation homes but that was besides the point). One of them was on the outskirts of Vale, separated from the community by a long road, a tall wall and imposing gates. 

That was were Sapphire had spent most of her life though they also had a place in Atlas and Mistral. It wasn't often that hunters from other Kingdoms were called in to deal with a problem but when it happened Sapphire's mother and father usually ended up in the area for weeks or even months at a time. Sapphire's mother and father had bought houses in the other two kingdoms the ensure that they could keep there family close to them. They didn't have a house in Vacuo because on the rare occasion that they were called out to that remote location they didn't want to subject there children to that kind of harsh environment. It was also the reason that her brother Oliver had run to Vacuo. Janus didn't have as many connections there.

"What about you Gren?" Sapphire asked with an air that suggested that she was only mildly interested in the answer. "What are your parents like?" That was another way to deflect. It usually ended in one of two ways, if the person had a happy homelife they would be glad to talk about where they came from and forget about any questions related to her past and if they didn't then they dropped there own questions feeling that if they got answers they would be obligated to speak on there childhood.

[h2]Into the Lake[/h2]
What Shiro, Oswald, Napoli, and Robert didn't realize was that the lake was much less calm than it appeared. On the surface of course it was smooth as glass but the lake at the foot of the Beacon cliffs was actually quite turbulent. On the surface it was calm but there further down you went the rougher the waters became. Tossing you this way and that, the currents were merciless.

Not only that but there was something else in the lake with them. Something dangerous. Something that wanted them gone from it's home as quickly as possible. It didn't care if they made it back in one piece. Right now however that threat was not apparent. What Shiro saw at the bottom of the late was something sparkly, metal catching the light. What he couldn't tell from this distance was that there was far too much of it to simply be Sapphire's daggers. 

Once he got closer he would realize that he was looking at a pile of junk, all of it made of metal. Jewelry, engine parts, lost weapons, even some pots and pans. All of the metal that had fallen from the Beacon cliffs resided on the bottom of the late in that particular spot. For the right person it was a pile of treasure. To most everyone else it was more likely just junk. The majority of it was rusting over, except for some of the higher quality jewelry and the weapons which were made of a material designed not to rust in water.

What Shiro couldn't see from this distance was that that pile rested at the mouth of a cave which was almost pitch black inside. Not only that but something rested inside the cave. Something that liked its pile of metal undisturbed. Something that wasn't going to take kindly to a thief.