"How much farther?"

"We should be able to see it soon."

"Good. Wake Ruby and Weiss."

Following Ironwood's orders, Jinn went to the back and pulled open the floor panels, revealing the two sleeping girls. She reached in and shook Ruby's shoulder. "Get up." She shook Weiss' as well. "Come on, we're getting close."

Weiss sat up, stretching like she was still in her bed back home, then looked around and seemed to remember where she was. "Has it really been that long already?"

"Five more minutes..." Ruby mumbled.

Weiss glared at her. "I'm making coffee. If you're still in there, I'm gonna step on you." She started getting up, then looked down at herself. She had slept in her clothes, which was no different from anyone else, but she didn't look too happy to realize it. "This is one for the books. How close are we?"

"We should be able to see the plateau through the storm in just a few minutes."

"What? Really?" Ruby jumped up, climbing out of her bed and closing the hatch behind her. Weiss jumped out just in time to avoid it slamming down on top of her as Ruby burst into the front of the cabin. "We're almost there now?"

Ironwood shook his head. "We're close to being able to see it. Considering the size of the place, we'll probably be able to see it long before we're actually there."

Weiss sighed, standing up and smoothing out the wrinkles on her clothes with her hands. "So it's still some ways away. I'm making coffee then. Who wants some?"

"I do!" Ruby answered excitedly.

McCree, who was sitting in the back, raised his hand. "I'll take you up on that, if you don't mind."

Lima waved from the driver's seat. "I'd like one too, please."

Jinn, sitting down across from McCree, gave a negative answer. "I tried some earlier. It's bitter and I don't like it."

"I don't need any right now either." Ironwood said from the front passenger seat. "Thank you for offering."

"Alright." Weiss nodded. "Four coffees." She set about preparing the coffee. Once the machine, set into the wall opposite the shower, was set up and going, it would only take a couple minutes before hot coffee was ready. In the meantime, she stepped up to the front of the LAD, pushing in beside Ruby to try and see when the Plateau would come into view.

"Jinn, you said the plateau is on a piece of ice floating on the ocean. How long before we reach that?" Ironwood asked over his shoulder.

Jinn looked thoughtful. "Not long. Maybe a minute or two after we can see the plateau."

"Good. And we can cross right now?"

"At the moment, yes. I don't know how long that will last, however."

"And is there anything currently in our way? Obstacles like Grimm or active guardians of the Relic?"

"No, the nearest Grimm is a hundred miles away and frozen solid."

"Right." Weiss stepped back and stretched for a moment, then turned around and walked to the back of the LAD. "I'm taking a shower." She ducked into the shower closet and closed the door behind her, then started to wriggle her way out of the arctic clothing she'd been wearing. Opening the compartment that she'd learned led to a washing machine and dryer, a neat little device that quickly performed both functions, she stuffed her clothes inside and closed it, turning on the shower.

Shortly after she had entered, she was finished, toweling off and taking her now-cleaned clothes back. Once she had finished using the showerhead's secondary function, which was as a hairdryer, she opened the door and stepped out to hear the coffeemaker let off a chime. Just in time. She took four mugs from the small cabinet next to the coffeemaker and filled them, handing them out one by one to the people who had requested them, then settling down in her seat next to Jinn.

"It should be any moment now." Jinn leaned forward to look out the front.

A few silent seconds passed, and then Ruby pointed ahead and up excitedly. "I see it! There it is!"

Weiss kept back as Ruby, then Jinn and the two soldiers chattered with excitement and wonder. She heard Ironwood's voice in the incomprehensible mix, which sounded more controlled, but he was definitely also brimming with barely contained energy at the sight. She waited until she could be sure that no one would spill her coffee, then stood up and walked to the front. Looking out, she saw it ahead of them. Like a wall stretching up into the blustery white sky, a dark shadow was slowly starting to fill their view.

"That's it then." Ironwood said. "Jinn, is the crossing still clear?"

"Yes sir. At our current speed, we'll be over in... thirty seconds."

"And then if it breaks off, we're stuck there until it reconnects." Ruby noted grimly.

As much as that didn't sound favorable to Weiss, she was more concerned about the next few seconds. Would they get there before it split off again? Would it split off while they were halfway over the line? That would be disastrous. She didn't want to think about careening into the abyss, or worse, Winter careening into the abyss with Weiss helpless to save her. That was a nightmare in waiting, and it was snuffed as quickly as it had arrived.

"There. We're over. See?" Jinn looked around the cabin smugly. "Everything is fine."

"So now we won't have to readjust our heading again?" Ironwood looked back at her expectantly. If she hadn't been keeping anything else from them, then that should have been the case.

"Yes sir. From now on, when the plateau moves, so do we."

As Jinn sat back down, Weiss took a longer look out the front. "There's a canyon carved through there to the center? And we're walking that distance. In a blizzard. Fantastic."

Beside her, McCree quipped. "It's always a blizzard up here, pretty much. But you'll be almost entirely protected from that when you're in a canyon."

"Well, that's good to know, I guess." Weiss took a sip of coffee. "No way for us to know what the top of that plateau is like, though."

Leaning forward, Ironwood scanned the top of the plateau with his eyes. It looked smooth and barren from this far away, but he suspected it wasn't quite so hospitable up close. If anything could live this far north, it could be hidden up above them and they would never know until it was too late, having left themselves open to attack at the bottom of the cliff. He wasn't keen on that happening, though Jinn hadn't said anything about hostile creatures existing here.

Ironwood reached across and took the radio. "LAD-1, this is General Ironwood. Winter, when we reach the base of the plateau, I want you to have a team scale the side and make sure the area overhead is clear. Clover, I need two Ace Ops up there following along the canyon from the top. Confirm."

"LAD-2 responding. This is Bree, sir. Clover is asleep. I'll wake him and relay your orders."

"LAD-4 confirming. I'll spare four to secure the summit, but we need most of the manpower to construct the outpost as quickly as possible."

"Good. Ironwood out." He put the radio back and quickly turned to Weiss. "In the event of an emergency, you may be required to use your glyphs to evacuate us to the top. Jinn is still your first priority. Yourself and Ruby come next."

Ruby piped up from her seat. "Wait, we're higher priority than you?"

"Your job is to protect Jinn. You that means her survival relies on you being there. And humanity's survival relies on her. I am just one in a long line of Remnant's guardians. I can be replaced, Jinn cannot." He waited for a few seconds as a heavy silence fell over the cabin. Feeling that he should alleviate the ominous pressure they must be feeling, he reassured them. "That was more of a moral lesson than anything. Don't worry. I'm not going to die any time too soon, and the worst we'll have to worry about in there is probably falling rocks and ice."

"Rocks fall, everyone dies. That'd be so anticlimactic."

"Ruby." Weiss gave and exasperated sigh and shook her head, addressing the general. "Well, anyway, you can rest assured that if danger does arise, we'll leave you for dead as per our orders."

"If you do have the time, do feel free to lend a hand." He got the sense that the young Huntress was striking back at him for bringing a dark mood into the moment.

She confirmed his suspicion immediately. "Oh, no, I make it a policy not to get in the way of people's self-sacrificing. It means so much less if you get saved."

"Jinn." Ironwood changed the subject with authority. "Tell me what's on top of that plateau. Is there anything we should be concerned about?"

"Hmm..." She mulled it over, aware that the others around her were watching for her response. "I am sorry, General, but I don't think I can make a judgment on that. There are dangerous things up there, but only if handled improperly."

"Continue." It was clear that wasn't enough for his satisfaction.

She sighed. "Rocks, snow, ice, exposure, frozen lakes, falling off, the wind, and if we were to go too near the center we would risk waking the temple guardian."

He got out of his seat, moving back to face her directly. "I asked you about that before. You said there wasn't anything like a guardian."

"No sir." She looked up at him, obviously worried but unwilling to back down from her position. "We won't wake the temple guardian if we're all in the canyon, and it only guards the temple, not the Cradle. There is no guarantee we will encounter it even if we are on top of the plateau, but regardless, as dangerous as it is, it's not an enemy."

Taking a moment to calm down, Ironwood nodded. "Alright. I understand. I would still like two of the Ace Ops following along from above, so they need to know how to avoid triggering an attack."

"I can't give advice other than common sense. Don't attack or threaten it, and it's less likely to respond violently."

"That's not enough."

"It has its own personality, General. I can't know how it will react to your operatives' presence. You're expecting it to be some programmed machine, but it's not. It has choice, and I can't predict that." She lowered her head, aware that he was unhappy with her limitations. She wasn't content with not knowing either, but there was nothing she could do about it. "We'll be safe from it in the canyon regardless."

"Sir." Lima's voice called from the front. "We're here."

"Good. Can we see the entrance to the canyon?" Ironwood asked, returning to his seat.

"Sir, yes sir. Dead ahead."

As Lima had said, straight ahead of them was a break in the plateau, a narrow crevasse that made a path disappearing into the interior of the plateau. The wind was still whipping snow all around them, but in there they could see the snow had piled up where it had fallen down from above. With the wind unable to whip the snow up off the ground, the inside of the crevasse was calm as it could be with the storm raging on so close by.

"Pull us off to the side. We don't have time to spare."

The three smaller LADs pulled off to the right, stopping side by side, while LAD-4 stopped over on the left. The backs of the LADs were pointed towards the entrance to the canyon, and their crews started getting ready to depart. Inside LAD-1, Ruby and Weiss found the two soldiers Lima and McCree very helpful in making sure they were wearing their cold climate gear properly. General Ironwood was seeing to Jinn personally, ensuring that she wouldn't wind up freezing to death on her first mission. Tugging Jinn's second coat around her tightly and pulling the straps so as to close off any openings where cold air could flood in, Ironwood looked her over. She had clammed up rather firmly, not even answering when he asked her if he had pulled the straps too tight for her comfort.

Feeling like he needed to say something, he checked over his shoulder to make sure the others weren't going to be listening in, then he turned back to her and spoke quietly. "It's my fault. You are capable of so much, and I still overshot with my expectations. You're Human now. You have emotions, limits, and feelings. I should be more mindful of that."

After a few seconds longer in silence, she answered. "I suppose I need to pay more attention to that as well. Right now, however, we have a job to do."

"Yes. We do." Ironwood looked back to the others, seeing that they were ready to go. "Alright. Move out."

The doors opened, and Lima and McCree jumped out first. While they headed over to the larger LAD, Ruby headed straight to the mouth of the canyon and Weiss looked out into the blizzard. Thanks to the plateau right next to them, the spot they were parked in was partly shielded from the storm, so they could see at least far enough not to get lost in the total white. Ironwood helped Jinn out of the LAD and closed the doors, proceeding to lead her to the canyon where they joined Ruby. A few moments later, Weiss joined them.

Standing in the first few feet of the canyon, Ruby looked up at the towering walls of stone on either side of them. "Look at the size of this thing."

"Don't tell me you're getting cold feet." Someone who was only identifiable by her voice appeared beside Ruby. It was Harriet, bundled up in so much climate gear that she looked indistinguishable from Ruby, save for the lack of a giant scythe strapped to her back.

Ruby shifted her weight onto one foot so she could lift the other and shake it. "I have cold feet. I have cold hands, cold ears, and a cold nose. I might have a cold."

Clover's voice came from another one of the bundled up people who joined them. "Harriet, Marrow, I want you up top. One on each side." Once he'd given that order, he started ahead down the canyon, Elm and Vine behind him.

Ironwood motioned for Jinn, Ruby, and Weiss to follow behind him. And so the next leg of their journey began, the trek through the deep snow at the bottom of a narrow canyon through the high plateau in the far north. As the soldiers behind them began their work constructing an outpost under Winter's direction, Harriet and Marrow began to scale the plateau side with Ciel and three of the soldiers. Still the storm raged on.