Cinder Fall was thirsty.

That shouldn't even have been possible, surrounded as she was by all sorts of foods and refreshments. Yet somehow, her green-haired guide was ignoring all the wonderful drinks and quenching fruits as she wove her way through this strange, food-filled labyrinth which sprawled beneath a series of large tents which were so Vale in their inability to properly deal with the heat of thousands of bodies beneath them.

Cinder, contrary to the airs she put on, was not a city girl. She'd grown up along the fringes of civilization, a small village on the southern side of Mistral where food was largely grown by the hands of her neighbors and prepared by the hands of her family. As such, even when her life had led Cinder around the world and to the heart of several kingdoms, she had somehow avoided the strange world of city grocers. She'd been grocery shopping of course, but she generally only ventured into small venues when she hadn't had Emerald or Mercury just get the supplies for her.

As such, Cinder had been technically aware of the existence of massive food markets. Both indoor grocery stores, and outdoor farmers markets like she found herself being chaperoned through today. The kinds which spanned the entirety of a city block, and featured literally every kind of food one could possibly dream of, and several beyond the realm of imagination. But the difference between knowing of them, and actually experiencing the sheer quantity of food first hand was… Cinder struggled to find a word more appropriate than 'terrifying'.

"Cinder. Cinder Fall. Remnant to Cinder" Emerald was trying and failing to get the normally unflappable woman's attention back towards the quest at hand. Even going to far as to snap her fingers in an attempt to attract a mediocram of focus. Unfortunately Cinder was turned so that her blind half was closer to Emerald.

If Cinder had been listening, she would have heard Emerald mumble "I know she's going to hate me for this" before stalking up to the distracted Cinder and yelling over the noise of the busy Bazar "Ash!" but she wasn't listening, too intensely focused on the nearby smoothie cart as she had been.

In response to her old, long retired name being so carelessly uttered in public, Cinder's gaze snapped to the green haired woman. Her one good eye now fully turned towards Emerald. The intensity of which would have once been enough to cause her to react as though she had been physically slapped, but these days Emerald just rolled her eyes and motioned for Cinder to follow before leaning down to the young, orange eyed child who held her hand to exchange a few words as they walked away.

Who even invited that little… I'd say 'bastard' but I think that's maybe just be an accurate label in this case. Dammit. Cinder wallowed in silent defeat from trying to find some insult or name that wasn't completely juvenile to level at the young boy, while continuing to follow Emerald to the supposed cheese paradise they were here for in the first place.

The child in question was young, prepubescent to be sure, not even any missing teeth yet. Though Cinder really hadn't been listening when Emerald had been introducing him, she was fairly certain his name started with a 'B'. He was maybe up to her bust, height-wise, and his black hair was just a hair shorter than her own, though far messier with its tips somehow a slightly different shade of black than the rest. Cinder could see traces of his mothers, in his cheekbones and chin she especially saw a younger Ruby.

Apparently the rest of Vale weren't quite as intimately familiar as Cinder had been with the bone structure of Mrs Rose-Schnee though. Several people on the trip from the landing pad, where Emerald had met Cinder with the little snot-nose in tow, had commented that their child was 'adorable' or 'so well mannered.' Which at first left Cinder utterly confused, since she barely even registered his presence until the third or fourth motherly coo interrupted her otherwise brisk walking pace.

At least Emerald has the excuse of him latching onto her like some overgrown walking tumor. Aside from the eyes and hair, he doesn't even look anything like me!

It wasn't even that Cinder disliked children. She had once found them revolting, certainly. That was just in a more 'never want to imagine them coming out of me' kind of way. She was also, though she would never admit to it, afraid of having a small sentient being of her own to care for. She had seen some downright ambitious, ruthless, and terrifying people she had held respect for utterly change once they introduced a fledgling person into their lives.

Emerald was seemingly another hapless victim of this unfortunate occurrence, even though the child in question wasn't hers. Contrary to the trend, instead of becoming meek and sniveling like so many Cinder had known, she stood straighter when her charge was present. Her shoulders locked into place like she was preparing for an attack from any angle, her eyes scanned the area for incoming threats and inconveniences. Her plans were not reduced down to 'grab the kid and run from danger' like most parental guardians. Instead, she gave off an air not unlike a large maternal wolf; hard, ruthless, and prepared to be terrifying in defence of her living territory.

Cinder's parched mouth was much less of an issue than she remembered before. Not that she'd ever admit it.

Cinder wasn't too proud to say she was drooling a bit.

Her mouth had been beginning to water as her SUPR driver rounded the turn onto a massive driveway. Even before the home became visible over the rolling hills filled with what looked like grape vines, the anticipation had left Cinder's stomach close to growling. As the car grew closer, the aroma of cooking meat finally overtook the inoffensive pine air freshener, recent rain, and wood smoke which itself dominated the smell of ripening fruit and other late-autumn happenings.

"Woah, this driveway is massive. Think they have their own zip code?" the young man with dogwood-colored hair asked with an attempt at friendly humor.

Cinder was drawn out of her daydream involving a troupe of line dancing meat cuts by the question, and she was not happy about that fact. Well. There goes your review score. Shame you were doing so well, but you just had to try and socialize didn't you? Sometimes it was the little evils that made her day, and being petty was almost always fun when done purposefully.

True to her word, Cinder lowered the star rating as she exited his car, all the while giving a warm smile and pleasant but concise farewell.

She now found herself standing in front of a… unique home. Dark teal, with wine red shutters and frames, with a subdued and faded, almost tarnished, golden mural of climbing ivy stretched from around the far side corner and up to the second floor of windows. If Cinder had been more self conscious of her inability to care for plants, she might have been envious of the still-living ivy canopy shrouding the walkway from driveway to tastefully decorated wraparound porch. The door, contrasting the rest of the house but still somehow fitting, was pine green with a breathtaking spread of hand-painted pink lotus blossoms scattered across its width. A comically small yet detailed hammer acted as a decorative knocker, as if someone had been given leave to include just one thing and had decided that one thing would steal the show somehow.

True to form however, Jaune opened the door just before Cinder made it to the welcome mat. His smile beaming and his apron smudged with all sorts of delectable browns and greens. The smell from inside nearly caused Cinder to collapse in ecstasy.

Lucky for the glass dish in her hands, she managed to not fall on the ground in a quivering mess.

"Cinder! Right on time, c'mon in" Jaune motioned as he held the door open wider just a fraction to allow Cinder passage. "Sorry for any mess, but it should be pretty confined to the kitchen" Cinder didn't see a doily out of place as she was lead through what had to be the formal dining room. Even the rather eclectic trinkets which filled the decorative niche of the space were all polished to a shine and their displays dust free.

As they made a quick zig zag along the width of a hallway, Cinder could see even more odds and ends hung along the walls. Where most people might hang paintings or family albums, Jaune's home held everything from masks, to pen bouquets, and Cinder thought she could see a belt buckle or two. It was a downright odd way to decorate, but it was consistent enough that it was more like a stylistic choice than anything.

Just as she was about to ask about the decor, the two of them stepped into The Kitchen. Cinder could hear the capital letters in her mind, and they were deserved. All other kitchens were just trying to be this one, and they made a poor showing of their attempts. Even in-use Cinder could see where everything went and how organized the whole thing was once it was all cleaned and reset, not that it was much of a mess at the moment anyway. The only things noticeably out of place were a damp cleaning rag smudged with the same greens and browns on Jaune's apron, a cutting board with a chunk of meat resting patiently for its time, a meat fork in a set with a gorgeous pair of knives—chef's and carving—a scattering of seasonings and garnishes, and a fleet of serving platters and pots with covers to keep their contents hot.

With her jaw threatening to become a tripping hazard, Cinder finally came back from her Kitchen-induced stupor to find Jaune trying to get her attention "Cinder. Cinder Fall. Remnant to Cinder" he was on the verge of snapping his fingers before she shook the stars from her eyes and forced her focus onto him instead of the heavenly location around her. "Hey, welcome back to land of the living. You can put your dish on the buffet there" he motioned to the covered dishes "unless it needs to be warmed up?"

"It should still be fine" Cinder placed her meagre offering to this holy temple of food onto its altar "it's an appetizer so I doubt it will be waiting long"

Jaune moved towards the cutting board as he covered with her "So, we're a bit out of the way here, how was the drive?" his focus was on the knives and meat, but his attention was clearly turned to Cinder.

"Definitely longer than most, my diver made decent time I suppose." Cinder decided to sit at a nearby pony wall lined with stools. "What brought you all the way out here?"

"Nikki kept saying none of the wines we could get here tasted right. Not even the imported Mistrali ones" he gave a lightheaded chuckle "long story short, my partner bribed me with getting to design a house if I helped her buy the land. An Arc can't be a homebody without a home, and our apartment at the time had a terrible landlord..." he trailed off as if the entire story told itself from there.

Cinder could relate to nothing tasting quite right in Vale. "Is… Nikki? from Mistral?" Jaune gave a nod of assent "What region?"

Jaune answered in a voice that said 'I'd ask if you want the long or the short version of that particular story… ' "Trust me. You don't know it."

"What, afraid the two of us will be some long lost best friends who happen to reconnect purely by chance" Cinder joking questioned "Unless she's from the far south, and given she's—I assume— a huntress, I highly doubt she is."

The far south of Mistral wasn't well enough connected to the infrastructure to even consider travel to the nearest combat school. Up near the inland sea was within reason for a promising warrior to be found and trained, but the farther south the lower that chance became. Cinder was fortunate enough to have not been forced into the ranks of a bandit clan or left to a life of chowder coordinator. Cinder was far from average for her region though.

Jaune sighed 'nobody ever believes the short version…' "She's probably better known for her tournament fights, but yeah, we're still actively licensed. To answer your question though, she's from the far north coast, huge port city, Logos."

That didn't make any sense. The only large port city on the northern coast was Argus. There were port towns all over the place, but Jaune had been very specific about 'huge' and 'city'.

Just before Cinder could question him further, the sound of a door opening and closing sounded. And drew both of their attention to a tall, red-headed woman carrying two bottles in her arms. As she turned, Cinder caught her emerald eyes and the two of them froze with looks of surprise on their faces.

'Do you believe in destiny?' was the first and only thought in Cinder's head, and it kept playing back like a skipping record. Always in the same voice, while staring at those same emerald eyes.

The silent reverence was broken by a single, almost shouted word. A name so rarely used the owner of it nearly forgot it was hers in the first place, only to be reminded of it recently, and then it never seemed to leave her alone.

"Ash!?"

Cinder's mouth went dry.

A/N:

to quote Yell Head "...Nani!"

:D been planning that drop since the party/bar scene's second visit. Promise I'll explain it later, but for first impressions, how was it?

If you've read this far and are a regular, I added some notation to early chapters to better specify the timeframe they occur in. I hope that clears up one of the big issues people have with the fic.

as always feedback-rights! no feedbackophobes allowed in my brain.