Chapter 66: Mistral - Can't Run Forever

Cover Art by Mi Chumi

Chapter Summary: In which Cinder is attacked without warning.

Things had settled, yet again, into a new normal for Cinder. Normal, in this case, meant no longer panicked and freaked out.

Unfortunately, what took its place was guilt, boredom, and effing depression. Dania, and by extension Cinder, had moved into what Dania had classified as a 'better class of craphole' after the meeting with Miss Malachite. They'd called it a 'safehouse' but it was really a small mostly empty apartment building. At least the rooms had actual beds and pillows. And Dania now had some extra lien to work with.

Miss Malachite put her to work immediately, and that left Cinder… alone.

The first couple of days, she slept mostly, body and mind apparently still exhausted from everything she'd been through. But after that she started to get antsy. Dania had given her some lien and told her safe places where she could get a meal during the day, but insisted she not go wandering around at night, since none of the areas they could afford were exactly safe.

The third day, Cinder found a used books store. It helped and hurt. It helped, in that she could spend hours there, perusing and even reading. The owner, an older man with thick glasses seemed to enjoy the company, and was satisfied that she bought a couple of books with her precious lien the first day.

"Always good to see the youngsters making use of knowledge," he said, tapping his temple. "In fact, if you want, I'll even buy them back from you after you're finished. Discounted of course."

And it hurt, because it reminded her of what she'd lost. She had… she had… an entire bookshelf full of books… back… where she couldn't go. That ache went deep, but she buried herself in the books she had now, and tried to ignore it.

By the end of the first week, she was feeling a new guilt.

"Dania, it's not fair."

"Eh? What's not fair?"

"You're working hard, making money, and you're just… paying for me." Cinder looked at her… whatever the heck Dania was to her… up and down. Dania had come back to the room late last night, and was already up early, heading back over to the Laughing Widow in a few hours. "You're tired, and you're busting your butt for Miss Malachite, and I'm just sittin' around and you give me money and buy me food."

Dania looked around the room. "You've been keeping the place clean."

Cinder scoffed. Keep this place clean?! That was nothing. When she'd been younger, she'd cleaned a hundred rooms like this every day from sunrise to past sunset. "There's gotta be something I can do, Dania. Something that makes money."

Dania shook her head, face paling. "No way, kid. Anything that anybody'd want a young girl like you for… you don't want to know, alright?"

"Well then, can I at least help you?"

That was even worse. Dania rubbed her hands through her hair. She'd cut it short and dyed it purple. Cinder thought it was cool, and was thinking about doing something similar. She watched as the woman walked over and sat down beside her on the bed. "Look, Syrah. I know you wanna help, but these jobs Malachite has me doing, they're dangerous stuff. Guarding people and things. Dealing with thugs and stuff. That's not something—"

"I got my Aura unlocked." Cinder blurted out.

Dania blinked. "Say what now?"

"I got my Aura unlocked. I… I've got some training."

Dania leaned sideways slightly away from Cinder. "You've got what kind of training?"

It was a dumb question. When someone said they had their Aura unlocked, and they had training, they meant Huntsman training. Cinder knew, by now, that Dania had some. Might have even been a Huntress once. That little tidbit had made her feel all queasy at first. But she got over it. She had to. Dania was all she had right now. And Cinder… Cinder was like her, she figured. She could help. It was worth the risk.

"Combat School… I… it didn't work out."

Dania scowled at her. "Didn't work out."

"I don't wanna talk about it, okay, but I can fight if I have to." She could if she got her hands on a blade, or even a staff. "Look, if you can get me a weapon. Like… a sword or saber or even a quarterstaff, I can help you on your jobs."

The truth was, Dania was exhausted. And it wasn't that Malachite was forcing her to work extra jobs, she was volunteering for them specifically because… well because she wanted to get both of them out of this crappy place that was a little less crappy than the previous crappy place. And the sooner the better. And Syrah was a big part of what was driving her. She felt… sick thinking about the kid stuck her alone all day.

Never had siblings, and now I got a little sister or something, she mused.

She sighed. "Tell you what, I'll see what I can dig up for you, and you and me can have a little spar," Cinder felt a little thrill at the words, and then felt guilty for that. "And if you can prove to me that you're not going to get thrashed out there, I'll think about letting you tag along and watch my back. How about that?"

"Great! Perfect! You'll see, Dania. I can totally do it."

. . .

True to her word, Dania stopped by later that evening and dropped off a pair of long-bladed fighting knives. "They aren't what you wanted, but Malachite said I could 'borrow' the for free if it'd stop me whining." She rolled her eyes.

"So do you wanna—"

"Not now, kid. I'm beat. Gonna crash. Got another job at midnight."

Midnight. Ugh. Cinder missed her mechashift weapon. Another painful memory. Cinder was starting to get tired of painful reminders. It was like… everything was a trigger. Books. Weapons.

I should just buck up and accept that… this is my life. I can't have all that stuff. I can't have them.

She found her hand fiddling with her pendant again, and forced it down. She couldn't have her either.

"Tomorrow then?"

"Sure. Tomorrow morning."

That night, Cinder heard Dania drag herself out of bed and out the door in the middle of the night, and felt guilty again. And then she fell asleep, and dreamed of sparring.

Sparring with Rhodes.

She woke up to find Dania had come back, and was sleeping in her clothes. Cinder shook her head, and went outside to find a place to test the fighting knives.

After a couple hours, she felt like she had a good feel for them. They weren't great. Not like… ugh. They were okay. Needed sharpened, and oiled. One was a little heavier than the other one, and the balance was a little off. But they weren't bad.

She started another "shadow spar" when Dania called to her. Cinder turned back to find Dania leaned against a wall, observing.

"Well, you've definitely got the forms down, and good footwork." She pushed away from the wall, and drew one of her two weapons, a leather-wrapped lepip that she said was more of a 'persuader' than a weapon. "And you swear to me that you're Aura's unlocked?"

Cinder nodded, and felt a smile creep across her face. A spar. And then the memories, and the smile thinned. Geez can't I enjoy anything at all? "I do. I'll prove it."

"Alright. Let's see what you've got."

Cinder didn't stand a chance against Dania, she learned very quickly. And it surprised her, but probably shouldn't have. Dania was good! She knew how to fight, and she was really fast. Cinder's heart sank as she felt herself driven backward, trying and failing to avoid strikes and feeling the indirect pain of her Aura being chipped away.

"Alright, that's enough," Dania said, not even panting as she eased back and lowered her lepip.

Cinder felt like crying. "I'm sorry. I thought I could—"

"What the heck? Are you… Syrah, relax. You did okay."

"I… did?"

"Heck, twice as good as I was your age," she shook her head. "Didn't work out, you said. I figured you washed out from the way you said it, but…" she caught Cinder's look of panic "… hey I'm not gonna pry if you don't, right?"

Whew.

"Anyway, what I'm saying is, I'm confident that you can handle the kind of problems we're likely to run into, so… you really want to go on a couple of jobs with me? Are you sure?"

Cinder felt elated. "Yes! I'm sure!"

"Alright. I warn you though. It's mostly boredom and sleep deprivation." Dania rubbed her face. "Won't mind a second set of eyes to watch my back, though."

. . .

Dania was right. A lot of it was boring and tiring. But it was something. And Cinder was being helpful. She'd actually managed to make a difference twice over the next two weeks, and Miss Malachite had even made a positive comment, and suggested that maybe Dania ease up on the schedule a little so she didn't burn out.

They settled into a rhythm that gradually turned into familiarity and trust.

And they kept sparring.

It was well into the second week, right in the middle of a spar, that Cinder had her first complete breakdown.

They'd been going at it, and at some point, the pendent slipped out of her blouse and as she spun, her own freaking knife tip snagged it. Cinder felt a tug, and a snap, and something went flying.

She cried out like she'd been cut down, and freaked out.

"No! Nononono!" It was like a dam, one that had been holding back an ocean of regret and hurt that she hadn't even known was still out there, had suddenly and catastrophically failed. She dropped both knives and began scrambling through the dirt, weeds, and debris that cluttered the 'courtyard' beside their dwelling.

"Holy shit Syrah are you okay?!"

"My… my heart.. my pendent! It… I…" she felt her nose getting all snotty and her eyes filling. "I have to ….it's…"

It took Dania a minute to understand what she was looking for, she was so incoherent, but she was soon on the hunt too. It only took them a few minutes to find the chain.

But the pendent eluded them for another half hour, and by the end of it, Cinder was a wreck. Dania had to lead her back inside and then just let her lay on her bed sobbing in a curled up ball until she fell asleep clutching it in her hand.

. . .

"Hey kid…"

Cinder peeled her eyes open to find Dania peering at her with concern. "Oh… hey I'm… sorry I didn't…"

"It's okay. I have to go do a job here in a bit, but I don't think you're in any shape," she eased over next to her. "You want to talk about them?"

Cinder's brow furrowed, and then she looked down at her hand, still tightly grasping the half-heart. "I…" she felt the tears threatening to well up again. "I… miss her." She looked up at Dania, and saw the woman's face twist with grief.

"Yeah… I… I understand. I've lost people too…" she looked away and wiped at her own face, then turned back and gave a watery smile. But hey. We gotta soldier on, right?"

Soldier on. Yeah. "I just wish… I coulda said goodbye. She's probably worried about me."

Dania's face went slack for a moment. "Oh. She's… sorry I misread that a little." She gave a self-deprecating laugh. "Well… you could always write her a letter."

Cinder shook her head, eyes wide. "She'd come looking for me. She's… smart. My friends would figure out where I mailed it from."

"Then we'll figure something else out. Tell you what. You take some time. Write down what you wish you could tell her. Might be therapy. And I'll see if I can figure out a way to get it delivered for you so it's not obvious where it came from. How about that?"

Cinder gave a choking sob. That sounded… that sounded beautiful. "You… you're the best, Dania. I'm so glad I met you."

Dania's emotions bounced around for a few seconds, and then she closed her eyes. "Me too, kid. I just wish—" she shook her head. "I'm glad we met. Things woulda sucked around here without you."

In the end, Cinder wrote the letter. Four times. Maybe more if you count the paper that got crumpled up before she even got the first word written. She thought about putting the pendent in the envelope too, but she was terrified it would get lost, or someone would steal it or…

Oh that was a bunch of crap. The truth was she knew she should let it go. That she'd never get her happy ending. But she just… couldn't.

And she'd given it to Dania, and Dania had slipped it to some courier that did regular runs to Argus along with some extra lien to drop it off at a specific address.

Sending the letter was a mistake.

Letting go of it had felt… freeing. Like she could breathe again and start her life. Argent would know that she was okay. And that meant a lot. And Argent could live her life and not have to worry about Cinder.

But she'd forgotten how… freaking smart the adults back in Argus were, and she only realized what must have happened when Dania came back to the safe house one morning, face tense and pale.

"Syrah, you're gonna have to bail for a bit."

"Why? What's wrong?"

Dania grabbed Cinder's old backpack, and shoved it into her arms. "Just got word from Malachite, some people are coming to Mistral looking for you. She expects they've got a line on where you might be."

Cinder paled. "Crap. No. It's… I can't. I can't…." Cinder had gone over scenarios in her head. Nightmare scenarios. It could be Garek and Selene, and she couldn't face them after what she'd done. It could be the authorities, to put her in prison. It could be… anyone. And it couldn't be anything good.

"I hear ya. So, tell you what we're gonna do. Don't freak out. Okay? I'm going to give you some money, and we'll pack up clothes and gear for you. I'll stash everything you can't take now somewhere." She paused, "Do you have a place you can go? Somewhere to hide for a couple weeks maybe until things cool down?"

Do I?

Cinder thought furiously about what she knew about that part of Mistral. West was forest, swamp, and a string of small towns and villages, which might have been perfect except that was Raven Branwen's territory. If Garek and Selene were looking for her, they might have Raven looking too. So that was out.

South was Kuchinashi. She didn't know anything about that area, but it was a possibility.

East was wilderness. She'd heard bad things about the Grimm out there, and she'd be alone. That was out too.

North was Wind Path and Barret's Point. She didn't think she could go to back to Barret's Point. There were too many memories there from her orphanage days, but Wind Path…

"I could go—"

"Don't tell me!" Dania said. "If they come here and try to… get it out of me…" she sighed. "It's better if I don't know, right?" She knelt down. "Syrah, you're a strong girl. I've never seen anyone as tough as you…" she shook her head. "You can do this. Just be careful and watch your back like I taught you, okay? Find a spot and hole up for… say a week. Then send me a message. Not before that unless you're in trouble. And if you get a message from me before then, do not answer it. Okay? It might be someone else using my scroll."

"Yeah but… what about you?"

"I'll be fine. Miss Malachite needs me. She won't let anyone hurt me." Too badly, she finished silently.

. . .

Cinder set out the same morning, cloaked and hooded. In the lower reaches of Mistral City, she didn't stand out at all, but she wanted… needed… distance. People would be in the city, looking for her, and if it was The Lone Huntsmen...

Gods how she wanted to see them.

And the thought of it terrified her. What if it wasn't them looking for her? What if it was the authorities from Argus? What if she got caught, and she saw Pete and Sophia, and they… hated her.

Stupid girl. Stupid thinking. Just… soldier on. Right.

. . .

She'd opted to go overland to Wind Path. It was only a day's hike. She could make that easily, and she was paranoid now, about the Argus Express. What if they were watching the stations?! And the main gate?

But there were other ways out of the city, and a few lien later, she knew where they were. Before noon, and short a few more lien, she had a crude map sketched out and was on one of the numerous trails used by the less wealthy, or less honest, that crisscrossed the wilds around Mistral City.

. . .

She found the wilderness soothing, in a way. Unlike when things had first gone wrong, this time she was better prepared. She had food and clothing and money. And above all, she had weapons. She passed a few others coming and going, and everyone generally did their best to ignore each other. Once two men had glanced at her, and one nudged the other and they paused ahead of her.

And all she'd had to do was ease back her cloak, revealing the hilt of one of her weapons, and scowl at them. And frankly, that was how she felt. She'd had… enough. She wasn't going to be intimidated by random thugs. She was… tired of being afraid of things.

And they'd stiffened, and then backed away, and given her a wide berth.

It felt good to be feared a little. To feel strong and confident again.

It was getting dark when she finally reached the road that stretched from the Argus Express station to Wind Path. Turning east, Cinder trudged forward. She was tired, but now she was on a well-traveled road. There'd not likely be Grimm or bandits here. And after another two hours, she saw the walls of the town, lit up in the darkness ahead.

. . .

Cinder didn't know what she expected, but entry into Wind Path was anticlimactic. A few lien for entering after hours and a nod. A couple more got a recommendation on a hostel. Nobody cared that she looked young to be out alone. Nobody cared who she was. She'd heard some of The Spiders talking about the town once. Wind Path had a reputation for turning a blind eye to a lot of things, if you had lien especially. And she wasn't rich, but she had enough to last a couple of weeks if she was careful. That night, she slept in the common room, curled up carefully around her backpack. The next day, she scouted a bit more, and found an old widow, who needed some help with the chores and was willing to offer room and board in exchange.

Two days later, Cinder wondered how her life had come full circle. The old woman wasn't cruel, but she wasn't nice either. It was clear why she'd not had anyone else helping out, that was for sure.

Miserable old coot, Cinder huffed to herself after getting blessed out for the third time that day for not doing things just so. But really, after everything that she'd dealt with growing up, all the things that had happened to her… she could just laugh and keep sweeping.

It wasn't like the old woman hit her or anything.

By the fifth day, Cinder was starting to feel like she was living in some sort of dream state.

Who am I? She mused as she walked to the local market with a shopping list from "Fussy Mary" as she'd dubbed the widow. It was weird. She should have felt… alone? She was but… it was a weird fuzzy comfortable kind of being alone. She hoped that Dania was okay and not worried about her. But… there was something kinda nice about just being "lost" for a while, knowing that she could go back to Mistral at some point. Not like… other places.

It was probably because her mind was wandering that she didn't realize what was happening at first.

"-and I said, I don't serve animals," one of the fruit vendors said sourly. "There's plenty of others here who'll take your lien. Why don't you go bother one of them!"

Cinder frowned. She'd heard that term used before, and she knew what she would see before she turned. Before her was an older teenage rabbit faunus, face tense and ears alternating between trying to droop and trying to stick straight up in frustration.

"I understand… sir… but this is the only stall with star melon, and the list says three star melons and no substitutes. Won't you please—"

The vendor, a hefty, bearded man, literally just turned his back on the girl, who could only stand there, one hand slowly crumpling the apparent list, and the other hand curling and uncurling.

And then the vendor, apparently realizing he was not currently watching his wares, spun around like she was about to pilfer his entire stock. His face twisted and he leaned forward. "There's star melon in Barret's Point, maybe. Or in the City. I'll not take your kind's lien. Not a penny of it. Now are you going to leave or…" his hand snaked under the counter, and the girl started to back away.

Cinder felt a heat build in her chest, and it made her feel… ugly and twisty. She pushed it down. She'd made… mistakes. She'd messed up. But she wasn't gonna keep messing up.

But what that man did wasn't right, either.

She waited for the girl to turn away and walk off, clearly dejected, and approached the stall herself. "Excuse me sir, I need a half dozen apples, three peaches…." she raised her voice slightly… "and three star melons, if you have any." She leaned in. "I'm buying for old Widow Farmsworth."

The man made a face, a mixture of pity and distaste. "Oof. Well best of luck to you then, young lady." He smiled and began gathering and bagging the fruits, and Cinder turned so that she could see the faunus girl. She had paused and was lingering just out of sight of the vendor, frowning slightly. Likely trying to decide whether this was yet another subtle insult against her for being a faunus, or some other game.

With a saccharine smile, Cinder paid the man and turned away.

And with a more genuine expression began walking directly toward the faunus, whose eyes flicked from hers, to the fruit she was carrying, and back toward the stall, before retreating a little further toward the cover of a large sign, where she waited.

Until Cinder stopped, right in front of her, and held out the bag with the melons in it.

"Here you go," she offered. "That guy is a flippin racist, eh?"

The girl's dark green eyes fluttered and her ears drooped. "Uhh… I…. don't know you."

"Duh. Likewise. Doesn't mean we can't be nice to each other, right?"

"Nooo…. I guess… not?" She stretched out her hand, and then pulled it back. "Why?"

"I got… friends. It's not right, treating people like that," she pushed the bag toward her. "I'm… Syrah."

"Veranda," the older girl said automatically. Then she sighed. "Thanks… Syrah. I told Miss Crabtree that sending me to buy those was a mistake, but…" she shook her head. "She's stubborn and doesn't listen."

"Yeah, I'm starting to think that's like, common around here."

"I think it's just old people. They get all used to things being a certain way, and you just can't budge 'em," Veranda said, finally starting to loosen up a little. It made Cinder feel good, helping somebody out, and making them… feel better than they did.

She realized that the girl was looking at her with a sort of quizzical expression. "Something wrong?"

Veranda shook her head. "Nah, I just…" she shrugged. "Thanks, you made my day a lot easier. I really appreciate it. It's not easy to find people who will go out of their way for a stranger in Wind Path."

"Yeah, I'm getting that vibe. Anyway, it's nice to meet you, Veranda."

"You too, Syrah was it? With Widow Farmsworth?"

"Yeah."

"Power to ya, Syrah."

Cinder laughed. "Yeah. Go me."

The next afternoon, Cinder was alone in her room, nursing sore muscles and laying on her stomach reading one of the two books she'd lugged all the way to the City, when she heard Widow Farmsworth muttering down the hall.

She did a lot of muttering. It was practically her only hobby. That and blessing Cinder out for moving the wrong thing, or not moving something. She'd be glad when the week was done and she could call Dania and see if it was okay to come back.

She heard the front door open, and more muttering and then the floorboards squeaked in the hall.

She heard a soft gasp from her doorway.

Something was wrong. Something was very wr—

She managed to get turned partway around before a wall of bodies collided with her. The sound was… indescribable. It was like a hundred animals were being blended alive or something and and she was being assaulted and…

Kissed.

She smelled Argent's shampoo, felt her hair, and started to fall apart immediately as her brain finally started to process and separate the full sensory assault it was undergoing. She was being mobbed by… people. Kids. Her friends. Argent.

She was hearing them crying and babbling and laughing and crying and yelling at her.

And Argent was literally covering every square inch of her face with kisses and had her hands grasping her hair and her blouse as if she was terrified that if she loosened her grip one tiny bit that Cinder would.

Would...

Oh gods. Oh gods oh gods oh gods.

She felt like dying and crying and laughing all at once, but all she could manage was a strangled sound and she… she…

She couldn't run. She wouldn't run. She was caught. And she kissed Argent back and her lips were so soft and her face was wet from crying.

"Well I certainly do not approve of all this!" Widow Farmsworth mutter-yelled from the doorway. "I'll have you out! Yes I will! Ungrateful girl!"

"Oh we're taking her off your hands, ma'am!" Sarah's voice yelled, as she turned from Cinder toward the doorway. "You can bet on that!" There was a pause. "As soon as we can… uh… pry Argent…" her voice lowered a little. "Argent, seriously babe. Let Cinder breathe."

Argent pulled away for a second, and scowled at Sarah. "Shut. Up. Sarah." She turned back to Cinder. "I should… I should get a hammer and.. and beat some sense into your skull, Cinder Scoria."

"Won't help," Tomas said helpfully from just behind Sarah. "She's got Aura."

"And you can shut up too!" Argent yelled, causing the boy to flinch back.

"Holy cow. Cinder, your girlfriend is terrifying, Aura or not."

Cinder sat there, pinned down by Argent and Sarah, and felt someone else ease over against her back. She looked over her shoulder to see Laurel as well, eyes streaming but with a happy grin on her face. And Clay was here, too, though he was by the door arguing with Widow Farmsworth apparently. "Wha… wha…"

Sarah leaned over and grabbed Cinder's jaw in her hand. "You listen here, girl. We have been through absolute fricking hell the last few weeks. Do you have any idea what we have gone through? What you put Argent through?" She was… really upset. Her eyes were filling up even though her mouth couldn't decide whether it wanted to snarl or smile. "So you swear. Right now. You swear to the gods that you won't run, or I will break both of your legs, right now."

"Sarah," Laurel objected.

"No," Argent said, laughing through her tears, "no Sarah's right. Cinder… why? How could you leave me?"

"I… I…" Cinder sobbed. "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! I couldn't… I messed up and…" she felt like her heart was going to hammer out of her chest. What could she say? She couldn't! "I messed up bad…" she whispered. "You can't tell anybody where—"

"Can't tell the adults what, kiddo?" came a terrifyingly familiar deep voice from the doorway.

Cinder felt her muscles seize.

Rhodes.

Is it possible to be completely passed out, but completely aware of the world? To have so much… stuff… coming at you that it doesn't even make any sense any more?

Rhodes.

Because… it was like people were talking to her. And touching her. And trying to get her to say things but…

Rhodes.

None of it made any sense. And she couldn't talk either because she wasn't sure how. Was she even breathing? But she could see..

Rhodes.

And then she couldn't see him, because something was in the way. And she could feel… soft lips on hers, like a balm. Like… she'd been pulled from the snow and wrapped in a warm blanket.

She managed to suck in a breath through her nose, and sobbed as Argent pulled away.

"Hey…." Argent soothed, "It's okay, babe. It's okay. We're here with you. Alright?"

And then Rhodes was kneeling down in front of her. His earlier smile replaced by… worry. "Hey Cinder. I'm sorry I didn't… think you'd react like that." Several of the other kids grumbled at him.

"What are you even doing here?" Sarah muttered.

Rhodes' jaw worked, and he took a deep breath and appeared to be counting. "Well… it appears somebodies told their parents that they were doing a sleepover at each others houses, and instead bought tickets on the Argus Limited to Mistral." Cinder saw, past Rhodes face, Tomas' paling. "And those somebodies bribed a certain Mr. Clay's older brother into buying those tickets to let them do a round trip joy ride on the Argus Express, then ditched him at the station to Wind Path, leaving him terrified that he was going to go to jail for kidnapping, so when he got a call from his parents, he sang like a canary."

"Crap." Clay said.

"And then some other somebodies who happened to be in Mistral City, miserable because they couldn't find a certain young lady," he gave Cinder a wan smile," got a call that a bunch of stupid kids were heading to Wind Path at full speed. And we just happened to have a bullhead and crew handy." Rhodes reached out, and Argent eased back to give him room.

Cinder tensed, and then closed her eyes as his large calloused hand cupped her cheek. "You're okay, Cinder. Everything's going to be okay."

She felt like there was something tearing inside her. It wanted to scream out that it wasn't okay. That it couldn't be okay. That she had… she opened her eyes, and the amount of pain there must have been obvious.

"Easy... Cinder… do you trust me? Do you remember what I asked you to do back at the Glass Unicorn that night?"

Cinder blinked, eyes streaming. She swallowed. "I… yeah. To trust… to… " She sobbed. "But I ruined it…" she felt Argent whisper a denial against her shoulder.

Rhodes shook his head. "Cinder, I don't know everything that happened, but I will. And I promise you. I swear to you. Nothing can make us stop loving you. And I know that…" he glanced around at the kids in the room, weighing his words carefully "Garek and Selene, Reggie and Pete and Sophia… they've talked about what happened. Cinder, they all agree that it wasn't your fault."

"H-How…"

Rhodes shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe come home and find out." He brushed her hair back. "They've all been worried sick about you, kid. All of us, but Selene most of all." He felt someone glaring at him, "Uh… and apparently your girlfriend…"

"Dang right, old man," Sarah said.

"Hey guys, can we… uh… take this somewhere else? This old lady is threatening to call the town militia on us if we don't leave," Clay said from the hallway.

"Yeah that's probably a good idea," Sarah said. "Cinder you ready to go?"

She glanced around… "I… go…. Where?"

"Back home," Argent said softly. "You have to come home," she rubbed across Cinder's cheek with a gentle thumb.

Sarah started pulling at Cinder's arm. "Come on, let's get your stuff together before Mistress Crabbypanties sells it or something."

Cinder felt like… one of the old towels that she once used to clean the rooms at the Glass Unicorn. All threadbare and worn and used up.

Rhodes said it wasn't her fault.

But… he didn't know.

And her friends wanted her home. But they didn't know either.

And then they walked her outside, and Crystal was there. And she looked at Cinder, and Cinder could see it in her eyes. Crystal had been there that night. When… Selene was attacked and… she could see in Crystal's eyes that she knew.

She knew everything.

And Crystal… didn't look at Cinder like she was a monster. She looked… relieved and worried.

Cinder started to believe. Just a little bit.

And then they were through the gates of Wind Path, Cinder clinging to Argent and Sarah holding her other hand and Rhodes behind her with his hand on her back, gently guiding her. And there was the Bullhead and Reggie was there.

And he didn't hate her either. And he knew, Rhodes had said.

. . .

Something nagged at her as the Bullhead spooled up and began lifting off.

"I… I have to call Dania!"

She missed the look the adults shared, then Rhodes handed her his scroll. "Here you go kid."

It took a while for Dania to answer. She was probably trying to decide whether to answer some stranger's call. Finally the screen flickered, and Dania's face registered shock and then concern. "Syrah! Are you alright?"

"I'm fine!" Cinder said, though she probably looked a mess. "I… my friends…Argent and… they found me and…" she hiccuped. "They said… they want me to come home…"

Dania's faced shifted quickly from concern, to relief, to happiness, to something melancholy. "Oh… that's," her lips worked for a second, "great, Syrah."

"Who the heck is Syrah," Tomas muttered, and there was a quiet scolding sound.

"So, you're going back to Argus?"

Realization struck, "Oh.. oh gods Dania…I…" she raised her head and caught Rhodes' eye. "Can we… can we go to Mistral City first? I need to say goodbye! I can't…"

"It's okay hon," Dania interrupted, eyes going slightly glassy. "I'm sure they're all anxious to have you back home."

Cinder felt like her heart was breaking all over again. "But… but…" she choked. "I'll come visit you… I promise. I'm sorry I—"

"Nothing to apologize for, kid. You helped me get over a real bad patch there. I'm a tough girl, just like you. I'll be okay." She looked away for a few seconds and wiped her face. "I'll send your stuff, just get me an address or something."

"Okay. Okay…" She paused. "My name is Cinder."

"Hey Cinder," Dania gave a broken laugh. "I'm Deedee. It's nice to have met you." She swallowed thickly. "I… gotta go. Work to do, you know? You stay in touch, okay? Tell me how things are going so I don't worry about you."

"Okay. I will…." some words wanted to come out, Cinder let them. "Love you, Deedee."

The young woman choked. "You too, Cinder. Bye."

The screen went blank, and Cinder felt Argent pull her back into a snuggle so she could just… let all of everything out.

. . .

In the front of the Bullhead, Reggie and Crystal shared a look as the scroll conversation wound down.

"What the hell are we going to do about that?" Crystal asked quietly.

Reggie just shook his head. No damn idea. "One thing at a time. Let's get this precious cargo home so everybody below the age of seventeen can get their asses properly grounded."

[A/N] So... yeah. Not the orphanage as some guessed, but Wind Path instead. But finally Cinder's heading back to Garek and Selene in Argus, thank goodness. There are a few more chapters with remaining emotional wrap up which will include how the heck they figured out where Cinder was, how the kids got caught, and maybe a visit to Mistral City in November for the Vytal Tournament if the kids aren't all permanently grounded. Might be some fallout with Rhodes too, since he's gonna demand answers now. I can tell you that this arc was the very last of the inter-familial drama trauma between Garek, Selene, and Cinder. Not a fan of stories where it's once BS relationship-destroying arc after another. We've got bigger fish to fry as you will soon learn!