It had been difficult, but Dove had been able to convince Rot and Go to meet. Well, mostly Rot. Not in public though, never in public. It would be for the best that if both sides believed that their leaders refused the other. She had insisted. It was how politics worked and Dove thankfully was the muscle to her statements. Eventually, all parties arrived, Penny could not help but feel satisfaction as Rot pulled his sullen, sodden body from the reservoir, and dropped himself onto the stony pathway along the wall of the cavern. Satisfaction from seeing him miserable. She was unsure if she should be feeling this way and would most likely need to run a diagnostic afterwards. Rot leaned against the laid wall. Even with her knowledge of stone working, no matter how limited, it was obvious that these stone formations were not natural, even if it had a passing semblance of a sea cliff.

"Alright. I'm here." Grouched the soaked Rot. "Let's shake on it and get this over with."

Go handed Rot a cloth to dry their hands with, and a pristine, pure, dried piece of meat from their robes. "Here you go. Evidence of what I can do."

Rot snatched them from their hands, wiped his own, and tore into the jerky. "This has no flavor," he grimaced.

"Unfortunately, my semblance removes all foreign bodies, including pepper." Admitted Go.

Rot sneered. "Great." He still took another bite. "So, I just leave contaminated gross foods in an area, and you clean them for us?"

"In return, I will take a small tax for my people, and we agree to avoid each other's factions. Fair?"

"How much are we talking about?" Rot sneered. "I don't want you running off with all of our food."

"About fifty percent," shrugged Go.

"That's absurd!" Cursed Rot, spittle flying from his lips.

"You were not going to eat it anyways!" Shot back Go.

"Might as well destroy it if you're going to rob us!"

Dove, who was leaning against the wall, raised his hand to silence them both, before they could escalate further. "Shut it. You want all the grimm to hear us? You're both emitting so much, even I'd pop a tent of murderous intent."

"Now, now Bird. If they spoke a little bit quieter, then their factions would be able to clearly hear them." Helpfully supplied Penny. Penny could see why Dove found this fun. Sarcasm, that is, not politics. She could never enjoy politics.

The two shut their mouths. "Thanks Pence." Dove leaned into their conversation. "So, now that you've been put into time out, I'm going to ask a few questions, ok? Okay, don't care if you agree or not, it's going to happen." Dove first turned to Rot. "So, what would you use the food for, if you don't leave it at the drop point?"

"Bury it. Maybe do a little farming in the four months without snow."

"And what would be the best ratio for you?

"I would say all of it, but I get the feeling you would push me into the reservoir."

"I would most definitely push you into the reservoir."

"That's what I thought." Rot grumbled. "Thirty percent, since we can use the food to make other food later, if we don't trade it?"

"What about forty percent then?"

"Forty percent!" Exclaimed Rot. "I'm getting even less now?"

"Chill. No. I meant he, she, whatever, gets forty. You get the sixty." Explained Dove, exasperatedly.

"Really?" Even Penny could hear the sass.

"It's dirty food upfront, for about the same amount of food."

Rot moaned. "Fine."

"That good with you Go?"

"Yeah, that works for me," shrugged Go. "I mainly want the non-aggression pact."

"Really? And what would that consist of, oh, supposedly Great One?" Penny knew that Rot rolled his eyes, even if she could not see through his visor.

"Just don't raid us. Maybe?" Go sounded really uncertain. "I can probably convince my idiots to stay inside most of the time."

"And how am I supposed to convince my men to do so, without looking weak?" Fair point, for once.

"Dunno, maybe say that even though you lost, my templar figured out that only he was prepared to fight you, and that he surrendered to you, in return for the relief of the Malt?" Spitballed Go. "Maybe?"

"Maybe you can convince your ranks that you beat me in a rematch, because I did not fight you honorably the first time? Only won through treachery?" Tacked on Dove.

Rot raised three digits. "One, I actively encourage taking every advantage you can get. Only the strong survive. Two, there's no reason why we wouldn't just pillage your cavern if we already had your strongest warrior out of the way. And three, templars don't have an honor code."

"Then why are they called templars?" Asked a dumbfounded Dove.

"Iconography." Answered Go. "Propaganda. You get the idea."

"Oh." Dove appeared to be at a loss.

"You could always surrender to me, Go."

"No. Out of the question." Go raised their arms in an 'X'. "Not happening."

"Your boys will be right at home."

"I know what the Rebel Boys do to females. I'm not doing that to my flock."

"Oh, c'mon."

"No means no, Rot." Sneered Dove. "Think of something else."

The four of them stood in the dark, damp cavern for a bit thinking. Then Penny chipped in. "What if we had it so the, quote, unquote, templar wanted to raid the Wall. Then, if you, Rot, hypothetically killed this templar, and took his mask as a prize, along with an item from the Wall, then no one would question your strength as leader. In addition, you could have it so your dominance is established, and Go here gives tribute in clean food, which just so happens to be the new dumping ground for your soiled food. Go gets their peace treaty and some food, you keep your power and establish dominance, and Bird and I get what we need from the Wall, and leave this place, no evidence."

"Only evidence is a verbal agreement between us." Affirmed Dove. "You think you can do that?"

Go and Rot looked at each other. Then looked back at Dove and Penny. "Yeah, but then there's the problem of the wall," Chimed in Go.

"There's no way to attack it." Confirmed Rot. "I've tried."

"Really?" Go sounded interested.

"Technically I told a newbie to try, and he got killed for it, so kind of."

"That's what I thought."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Could you two stop bickering with each other and how impossible this is, and start working on making this work?" Dove sneered.

"Well, I haven't agreed if I'll even be a part of this." Rot snubbed.

"You're going to be replaced if you go back a loser." Corrected Dove. "You have even less of a choice than Go."

Rot seethed, but ultimately backed down. "Fine. Any thoughts Go?"

"No not really." Shrugged Go. "I don't really see many vantages."

"Armor?" Suggested Dove.

"Doesn't do anything against that caliber." Answered Rot.

"Digging?"

"We don't have six months to dig a tunnel." Answered Go. "Even if I could get them to do that."

"Right." Dove tapped his foot. "What if we went from above!"

"You would not survive landing." Answered Penny. "I did the calculations. You would either be shot from the sky, die upon impact, or miss the wall entirely, and still die on impact. And this is we can even find a way to fire you up that high."

"Damn." Dove cursed. "I guess I'm at a loss."

The four fell back into silence thinking. They knew they needed an answer, and fast. But there was something that was not adding up for Penny. Something strange. "Bird. Why did you mention the grimm before you mentioned their followers? They should be closer to us than the grimm."

Dove stopped tapping his foot for a moment and faced the wall. "Of course." He groaned. "Of course. It makes sense."

"What does?" Asked Go.

"Seriously, you're not making sense." Accused Rot.

"I picked up the grimm first, unconsciously." Laughed Dove. "I felt its eyes on us. Because." Dove stared directly into the stonework. "There is a grimm, right behind this wall."

"Okay. What are you trying to say?"

"The reservoir is a lot bigger than we thought it was. And," Dove punched the stone. "If there's a grimm I can feel through this wall, it either means that the grimm is huge, or this wall isn't that thick. Either way, there's more cavern here we can travel through."

"And?" Shifted Go.

"I bet you, that from this position, less than a third of a mile from the Wall, we can use the reservoir to get underneath it. No mass digging. No flying, no death charge. Just a grimm to kill, and we drop the distance to the wall by hundreds of feet."

"Making this venture very possible." Finished Rot. "I like this. So, where do we begin?"

"Everyone, hold your breath." Quietly commented Go. Go placed their hand on the wall, and centuries of dust, lichen, moss, and mold fell off of the wall before Dove. A six-by-four-foot area of the wall was clean of any obstructions. "We begin here."

"Right-o." Rot covered his fist in aura, and punched it into the wall, causing the wall to crumble like a house of cards, brick flying inwards. Dust flew into the air. When the dust settled, the four saw a wide-open cavern, going outwards and downwards into pitch black darkness. "Think we found our ticket."

Penny could feel Dove's smugness. "Think we did." While Penny was glad that Dove was enjoying his ingenuity, she was far more distracted by a stone engraving along one of the walls in this cavern. Too small for most to see it. An eye. Crying. Surrounded by a circle. Salem's symbol. "Looks like we're crossing the Stone Mile."

"Tomorrow." Panted Rot. "That took a lot out of me."

"Not just you." Rested Go. "I'm basically running on red as well."

Dove looked disappointed. "Seriously guys?"

Go looked up at Dove. "I'm sorry that you don't have a semblance that uses up your aura and energy. But we do."

"Ow. Harsh. Fine." Whined Dove. "I'll keep guard. You two rest up."

Penny could not help herself. "You really mean me, did you not?"

"You know it." Clicked Dove as he rested in the new door-frame. "Wake me up if anything down there moves."

"Affirmative."