Mistral had always been beautiful in the fall, even back in the earliest stretches of Hazel's memory He remembered being young, running through the forests with his sister as the leaves overhead turned to shades of orange and red. He remembered always coming home to a cabin in the woods.

When it had been time for him to start a family of his own, he'd returned to Mistral. He'd been happy, for a little while. Back before everything had burned apart.

Being happy then wasn't enough. It never had been.

Being happy once didn't make up for the knowledge that he no longer had a family to call his own. Not a spouse, not a sister, not a daughter.

Only him.

He'd been struggling to not think about it too much or too hard. Thinking about it made things worse than they already were, made him feel like he was going to suffocate. He needed space that he couldn't get, or direction, or something.

When he managed to sleep, Salem maintained a silence that she'd kept since—-

Since Amber.

He leaned on a balcony outside of the small apartment that Watts had rented for them to use. It would only be theirs for a little while, a month at the very most. A temporary living situation that gave the four of them just enough to ensure they had a place to stay. There being different rooms meant that he at least had the room to be able to breathe for a minute.

"You know— " Watts said from behind him, apparently having decided that it was time for the two of them to talk anyways. "This moping really does not suit you. Not to mention that it's far from productive."

Hazel looked back over his shoulder at Watts and shrugged. There weren't words for what he was feeling or what he was experiencing. "Is there something you need?"

"I wished to check in." Watts muttered, closing the door behind him. Securing their privacy, in a way that felt unprecedented. "Seeing as you're the one that has been around for the while."

"Right." Hazel mumbled, trying not to think about anything they were doing too hard. He needed to pretend as though there hadn't been bloodshed. Like he wasn't hurt. His chest began to burn where his brand was. He tried not to reach up and rub at it in search of relief.

Watts leaned against the balcony beside him, bracing himself on the railing. "You knew the girl, didn't you?"

"Yes." Hazel confirmed. This was going to be something which Watts would use against him later. That didn't mean that he didn't need to be able to talk about what he was going through. "I did."

"I figured." Watts reached down into his pocket, just in the peripheral of Hazel's vision. He removed his scroll and opened something on it. "One Amber Rainart. Lovely name, I must say. Considering."

"Her mother chose it."

"Then that answers that question." Watts replied, reading whatever he'd brought up. When Hazel looked over properly, he found that the man had gotten a dossier of names somewhere. Watts offered Hazel the scroll and Hazel had to hesitate.

It probably contained the answers to things that he didn't want to know about.

But at the same time-

Hazel reached over and took the scroll out of Watts' hand, turning it towards himself. It was a hunter's dossier- meant to be available to anyone that would be interested in hiring her. Hazel was familiar enough with them to begin with. He had to assume that Watts had gotten it in his own manner, and was probably working to get more out of it for the future.

Perhaps this was his way of looking for further leads.

Displayed there on the dossier, plain as day, was a bounty of information. Amber had been away from the kingdom on a patrol mission. She'd made a good name for herself doing search and rescue missions, just like her mother had once.

She'd trained at Beacon Academy.

Hazel closed the scroll and passed it back to Watts. "Is there some reason that you wanted to be here, really?"

"I wanted to know that you were still going to be able to do your job." He said, shrugging slightly. "Seeing as you've now taken part in your own child's murder."

The burning intensified.

Hazel hesitated. Frowned deeper because Watts' jab was something that he didn't think he'd ever be able to properly forget. It was blood he wasn't going to get off of his hands. He couldn't.It wasn't even the first time that he's been involved in a killing, but this one was different. He felt much more like a monster than he ever had before and Watts knew it, and he would worry the wound for as long as he felt necessary to do so.

Salem would not let him go. Of that Hazel could be absolutely certain.

That was why he'd ended up where he was. That was why Amber was lying dead in a ditch, why they hadn't even had the time to bury her body.

Protesting for it would have only raised alarms for the others.

"I will try." Hazel said plainly, unable to think of anything else to tell Watts. He'd go along, if only because he knew that Salem had done something terrible to him. She'd wrapped herself around his essence, his very being. She'd wound around his heart, and if Hazel ever wanted to leave, she only needed to squeeze to stop him from making the effort. "I don't want to."

"Clearly not." Watts said plainly. "I think that it may be safe to assume that we must find the other Maidens. I don't know that I believe in the girl, though."

"I don't know I do either." Hazel said, thinking of Cinder. He wondered whether she was feeling any different about the way that things were now. "She may have been able to do this, but..." His voice trailed off. "If the Maidens are truly in danger, I suspect the other ones will be more closely protected for the future."

Watts shrugged. "I believe that it will depend on Salem herself, Hazel." He looked down at the city of Mistral, down below their balcony. "I have a contact here within Mistral that I'm going to do what I can to keep close. He may be able to tell us more."

Hazel's brow furrowed. "Is that how you got the dossiers?"

"I figured that it was something which could go without saying." Watts mumbled, turning his scroll over in his hands and thinking. "But depending on how things are moving forward, we may need to consider distancing ourselves from the girl."

"And Tyrian?"

"Best kept with us." Watts responded, too quickly, too readily. "he's an obsessive type and you know it. I for one don't trust that creature around other people."

"And if the two girls run?"

"Only the one can, I would guess." Watts said with a little snort. "Emerald may be able to. Cinder... It seems that Salem has truly chosen her for something special. Not that I have any idea what at this point."

It almost sounded like there was a hint of jealousy in Watts' voice, but Hazel didn't want to let himself think about it for too long. Watts being jealous was far from an unusual thing, but that didn't make it any less dangerous. Watts would lash out and hurt if he felt the need to. Hazel had been able to live for some time in some relief knowing that Watts wasn't fighting him directly.

It was going to be a terrible question moving forward.

"If we split from them, we should keep an eye on those girls." Hazel mumbled. "The two of them both know too much, and with what happened— "

"Yes, a rogue maiden would be rather problematic for us." Watts grinned from behind his mustache, eyes narrowed dangerously as though he'd figured out exactly what he wanted and needed to say in order to get his way. "Or is there some other reason that you're worried? She isn't her, you know that."

"I know."

"So why the concern?" Watts inquired. "You care for the girl?"

"She's a child." Hazel grumbled back to Watts. He hoped that was going to be able to get the message through to the other man. It probably wouldn't matter, since the idea was still emotional in nature. "That hasn't changed, power or experience don't matter. She's a child."

"Your daughter's age."

"Younger." Hazel corrected offhandedly. "And the other one is even younger than her. I don't intend to let them be harmed because of this."

"Then you should keep in mind that you're too late."

Their eyes met, and Hazel felt a thousand things that he didn't want to have to acknowledge. The worst thing of all perhaps was that Watts was right, and both of them knew it. Cinder Fall had lost an eye already. Amber Rainart, his daughter, was dead. Emerald Sustrai had been forced to play along with a murder. Both of the girls in their group had blood on their hands now. It was impossible to ignore.

Hazel nodded, unable to think of anything else to say at that point. A concession.

The two of them both understand. When Salem wanted to speak to them, she would. Hazel couldn't leave. That was the important thing.

Already he expected some firsthand reminder of that fact.

"How do you feel?"

That was the one question that it felt like everyone had been asking her. She'd heard it from Watts, then from Hazel. Tyrian had asked it, but since it was them in the house and and doing their best to rest, hearing it from Emerald was far from unexpected. There was a lot that the two of them hadn't talked about. They hadn't talked about most things.

Cinder still didn't even know where Emerald stood with regard to the knowledge that she'd had such an intimate role in a murder.

"I feel strong." Cinder said, feeling like she'd repeated those words a couple of times. "But I don't feel like I can control it. Not yet." She balled her hands into fists.

Emerald nodded, looking down at her feet. Her fingers were twined together in the blankets on the bed that she was sitting on. "Now that you're a maiden-" Emerald started, locking their gazes. Cinder felt almost angry about it because she knew what was about to come. "What do you think is going to happen next?"

"I don't know." Cinder admitted. Since getting to Mistral things had gone eerily quiet. Hazel had been keeping his distance from the rest of them. Watts had been doing what he can to look after her as a doctor. Tyrian had run off to enjoy his time in the city.

Emerald must have been feeling like she was being kept on a leash.

Emerald took a deep breath. "I don't know that I... want to do this anymore." Obvious regret was on her face. "I understood that you wanted someone to help with finding a Maiden, but-"

"But what, Emerald?" Cinder snarled at the other woman, her eye narrowed in anger.

"Killing isn't... what I want to do."

"And where will you go if you leave?" Cinder asked, watching Emerald's entire body for any sign that she was going to move. "I don't think that you have anywhere to go."

"I don't." Emerald sighed, shrinking back. "But I still feel wrong about what we've done. I mean, we killed that woman and now we're just... here. Acting like it didn't happen."

Cinder hesitated. She still didn't quite know how she felt about what had changed so far just yet. Sleeping had gotten to be strange. She needed to find a new way to train without giving away what she is, but without a weapon that was going to be difficult. It wasn't simple at all.

The topic of replacing her weapon was one that hasn't come up quite yet. It had been on Cinder's mind near constantly of late.

"I know." Cinder muttered. They were going to have trouble figuring out how to handle what they'd done in general. "But I don't think that we have much of a choice in backing out now, Emerald."

"What even happens to us next?" Emerald asked, locking her eyes with Cinder's. "Because if you don't even know what's going to happen-"

"We'll figure it out." Cinder replied, hardening her voice as much as she can. "You will have to remain with us and when we know, you will find out."

She cocked her head to the side, attention locked onto Emerald's expression. The girl was still hugging herself, awkwardly and unsure of herself. "How will I know when you do?"

"You'll know because we let you know." Cinder responded, a little too harshly if the way that Emerald almost shrinked back away from her was any indication. "But for now I think that you need to remember your place, and you need to wait."

Emerald took a slight breath and nodded, gluing her eyesight to the floor in a pure act of submission. Cinder almost felt bad, but she didn't suspect that the incident would bring any additional problems for her. Emerald was in it for the long run, regardless of whether she liked it or not

"Yes, ma'am." Emerald finally whispered. Her grip on the blankets has tightened even more. "Of course."

Cinder looked back at Emerald. She was the one that she'd chosen to have a hand in the way things turned out. Now she had the power of the Fall Maiden, and it wouldn't have happened if not for Emerald being there. That is something which had managed to breed some sort of affection in Cinder for Emerald, small as it was.

"Emerald." Cinder lead the conversation a little bit more, for both of their sakes. "I must say that I have been curious since the fight against Amber."

Cinder felt something in her twist and turn at the mention of the name. It was something that she isn't going to be able to get over. It had been happening every time she thought the girls name, and when she'd see Hazel around her, as rare as that had become. Some nights the discomfort made it impossible for her to sleep.

"What is it?" Emerald asked, crossing her legs at the ankles. Nervous.

"I want to know what you made her see." Cinder said carefully. Her conscious nagged at her with a voice that didn't sound right, trying to tell her something that she couldn't make sense of. "According to what we know, her final thoughts would have had to have been about me."

Emerald hugged herself but got up from the bed, wandering over to the window and peering out it. Cinder stayed alongside her, doing the same and searching out something on the horizon. "I made her think that she was surrounded." Emerald mumbled. "By you."

Cinder nodded. It had certainly been effective enough.

"You did well." She reassured Emerald. "Exceptionally well. You're going to be useful moving forward."

"You say that but you don't know-"

Something in Cinder snapped, suddenly. WIthout warning. She reached out and slapped Emerald, a single even strike across the cheek which would be more than enough to shut her up. The girl jerked back, looking deeply upset with her eyes wide. She backed away from Cinder, cowering. "Your job is to obey." Cinder snarled at her, feeling something wrong in her throat. It was familiar, but her voice sounded almost like it simply was not her own.

It was like her conversation with Tyrian. Burning rage that had come suddenly.

"Yes." Emerald repeated. "Right." Her red eyes flicked back to the floor, still wide with upset. "Of course. I'll just-" She shuffled back away from Cinder, looking back at her directly only for a second before rushing to the door and leaving the room.

Cinder took a breath. Alone. She was alone again. The same way that she had been when she'd first become involved in all of this nonsense. The circumstances were different, though. She was back in the place that she'd chosen to leave in the first place.

With no direction for what to do once again. She needed to find a way to understand her new power, but without Salem's intervention or direction, Cinder felt lost once more.

You are not truly alone, a voice in the back of her mind told her. I am here for you. You've done well.

Salem's voice, mixed with another's, buried deep within her head.

Hearing it properly outside of a dream was new. Revolutionary, even. While it had seemed as though this was something that Tyrian had experienced a few times, Cinder had never been given that treatment. Definitely not from within her, at the least. She'd thought that it had merely been a byproduct of Tyrian's own insanity.

"Salem." Cinder said the name, almost feeling for it. "You're here."

"I am." Salem's voice replied, faint as it was in Cinder's mind. "And you have done very well for me. But do not be mistaken."

"My work isn't over, is it?" Cinder asked.

"No." Salem answered. "Far from it." Her voice quieted, and Cinder couldn't help the creeping feeling of dread that clawed its way down her spine. "I need for you to grow stronger. The magic that now lives with you is strong, but it isn't enough."

Cinder nodded, taking a deep breath. "What do you need for me to do?"

"Go to Vale." Salem told her. "With the power of a Maiden, you can claim more."

"Do you want me to go after the other Maidens?"

"I want for you to claim their power for me. With them, we can unlock a new world." Salem made the order. "Vale should have what you need. Go there."

With that, her voice cut out into nothing, and Cinder was left alone, feeling strange and wrong. She felt disconnected from her own body, foreign in her own skin. Cinder stared at her hands, and for a moment she thought that she was beginning to look much paler than she would have otherwise.

Cinder blinked.

She needed to go and find the others. And talk to them so that they could know what she had just learned and had been ordered to do. On the way out, she caught a glance of herself in the bathroom mirror. She felt like she looked wrong entirely.

Cinder took a breath and walked out of the room.

She wandered until she found some of the others. Hazel and Watts were out on the balcony, both of them talking and seeming mostly disinterested in the possibility that someone else could be there. Cinder felt a sickening wave of something crash over her.

"Watts." She said his name, because going after Hazel would have been much worse.

Watts and Hazel both peeled their attention away from their conversation to focus on her in that moment. Watts raised an eyebrow, sucking in a breath like something was definitely going on in his head. Cinder didn't have any idea what, but she felt hotter inside than she should have. Angry.

"Cinder." Watts greeted her. "And what brings you to meet with us?"

"We need to go to Vale." Cinder said, her voice hard and her brow furrowing. There was no additional order that came from within. "Salem came to me."

"Vale." Watts said, directing his attention onto Hazel with a raised eyebrow. "What's there aside from Beacon?"

Hazel frowned, his brow furrowing and his hands balling into fists. "There isn't much of anything beside that." Denial.

"She said that we needed to go there." Cinder said the name, and she watched the raise of eyebrows from the other two. "I think that there may be a Maiden there."

Hazel scoffed, shaking his head and making a point not to look over at her. "Vale is...

"Vale may be the key to something." Watts said, frowning. "A contact of mine informed me that they were dealing with Grimm out there. He hadn't mentioned anything about the other kingdoms in regards to this issue, though."

"It's a start." Hazel grumbled, pushing off from the balcony railing. "I don't think I can do much from Vale."

"No." Watts said, frowning. "I suppose you can't."

Cinder felt surprised by that, her attention snapping straight to Hazel because she had never heard anything about that. "Hazel?"

"It's unimportant." Hazel grumbled, sounding far from happy about it. "If I go I'll be under a close watch. That's all there is to it."

Cinder blinked and looked at Watts. Perhaps there was going to be something that he could give them which might work. He took a breath and shook his head. "We will do what we can to arrange a place for yourself." He said, his voice mostly even. "I'm sure that we can get you into the Academy, along with Emerald."

"Beacon." Cinder said, knowing that her voice came out too harshly. "Why there?"

"Because it places you in a position where you can better watch and arrange a place for yourself." Watts said, his voice hard. "Do not underestimate the power of infiltration."

Cinder swallowed and looked to Hazel now. He closed his eyes. "If you are able to exist as a student, you live under the radar. Myself and Watts would not have that luxury."

She stared between the two of them. "One of you need to tell me what's going on."

"That is none of your business." Watts said, holding his head up high. "Tyrian would be unlikely to do well in the city as well."

Cinder wanted to protest that, since it seemed that Tyrian was capable of handling much more than the others gave him credit for. He may have been a bit unreliable, but he did well enough wandering cities on his own when they stopped there. It was yet another feeling that didn't feel quite like one of her own.

She took a breath. "Do you think that this will work?"

"It puts us in a position to gather information." Watts said, almost evenly. "I will contact professor Lionheart in the morning about your... attendance. Though-"

He focused his eyes on her, green and bright and full of something strange that Cinder couldn't quite identify. "You have a history at Haven, don't you?"

"I don't see how that's important."

Hazel rolled his eyes. "It makes your cover easier. If you have information on file at Haven already, then you can do more."

"Then-"

"We'll arrange Emerald's enrolment and place her on the same team as yourself." Watts frowned, a little too obviously. "You'll need to find a way fo fill out your team of course. I recommend you start looking now. Take Emerald with you."

Cinder blinked. "What about you?"

"We'll be in contact." Watts shrugged. "That's all."

Cinder frowned, but she supposed that if this was going to be the order they were going to pass down, she would follow. It would take her to Vale sooner than later. Once she was there, things would likely become more clear.

"Alright." Cinder held her head up high. If she was going to find Emerald, then now was a good chance to start. After all, if the girl wanted to disappear, she had a semblance that would allow her to. The question was whether or not she had the finesse needed to make that happen properly or not.

Cinder turned her back to the others and began on her way out of the building. Once she was just out of earshot she heard Hazel mumble something, to which Watts replied. Neither of them were easy enough to hear or make out from where she was.

They were keeping her in the dark, she knew it.

She was going to have to light the way on her own, like flames.

The heat in her grew in something that almost felt like agreement. She felt sad for it, but didn't allow for herself to dwell on the thought.