Jaune's first instinct was to reach for Crocea Mors, but his hand hit nothing but dirt. The sword wasn't where he had left it last night. He quickly glanced around and saw it leaning against a tree, several meters away. But before he could move, Cinder pressed her blade harder against his neck, cutting off any thoughts of activating his Aura.
"Don't even think about it. Not even your Semblance can heal a half-severed head." she said, her voice smooth but edged with menace.
Jaune turned his attention back to her, his pulse quickening. He scanned the area with his eyes, as much as his prone position allowed.
"Where's Thana?" he asked, his worry rising at the girl's absence.
"I sent her to gather blackberries for the road." Cinder replied, a faint smirk curling at the corner of her lips. "I gave her a bag, so we've got plenty of time to talk alone."
"To talk? This feels more like a prelude to a monologue before you kill me." Jaune replied.
"Don't tempt me." she warned, eyes narrowing.
Cinder's grip on her weapon didn't loosen as she continued. "During the night, I had time to reflect on this... little arrangement of ours. You know, it has a certain novelty – two enemies teaming up for a common cause, like in those Mistrali pirate films. Pirates of the Karribian, I think."
Jaune had only a small recollection about them, but he kept silent.
"But there's a common theme in those films. Do you know what it is?" Cinder asked, but he didn't respond. She leaned closer. "They always tried to betray each other in the end. So, I've been wondering. What's stopping you from doing the same to me? I know this truce is temporary, but what's going to stop you from turning me in the moment we cross Vale's gates?"
She shifted, placing her boot upon his chest and applying light pressure. "What guarantee do I have," she asked, voice dropping to a dangerously low tone, "that I'll leave Vale freely?"
"You'll have to trust me," Jaune replied, his voice tight but sincere.
Cinder scoffed, the amusement in her expression gone. "Trust you? We're not on the same side, Arc. We hate each other. You're just waiting for the perfect reason to get rid of me. You always keep me in eyesight, don't think I haven't noticed it. And now, after this," she pressed her sword slightly harder, "you've got the perfect excuse to do what you've been waiting for."
Jaune's eyes flickered with frustration. "Do you seriously expect me not to be cautious? After everything you've done, after how many times you tried to kill me and my friends, of course I'm keeping an eye on you. That's the bare minimum."
She tilted her head, unimpressed. "You still haven't answered my question. What's stopping you from betraying me when the time comes?"
"I can only promise you." Jaune could have explained that when an Arc makes a promise, he keeps it, but he doubted she would care too much.
"Not enough."
Jaune's patience frayed. "Then what do you want to hear?"
Cinder paused, her eyes sharpening as she lowered the blade slightly. "You're after the Relic, aren't you? That's why you're heading to Vale."
Jaune hesitated.
"Don't try to deny it. There's nothing else worthwhile there, just the crown."
"… Yes. I want the crown."
Cinder smirked. "Then let's make a deal."
"A deal?" Jaune echoed, caught off guard.
"The Relic of Choice is hidden differently than the others. I can help you find it." she offered in a smooth tone.
"I know it's hidden differently, but I also know that the Fall Maiden is required to get it." Jaune countered.
Cinder chuckled. "Oh, really?" Her amusement turned into a mocking grin. "Did the wizard tell you this? Did he also tell you where it is or how to open its vault?" No, he did not. "Don't you think that he tried to deceive you?"
Jaune frowned.
"Don't look at me like that. He and Salem have been playing this game for thousands of years. They've been betrayed countless times by servants, friends, and even family. Why would he tell you, to a nobody, any information about the last relic when the odds are against him? He is a wizard, Arc. And they never tell their tricks, especially their biggest one."
He wanted to say that she was wrong, that she didn't know Ozma, that Oscar would've warned him if he felt something fishy from the immortal. He wanted to tell her that she couldn't been farther from the truth, but he couldn't.
Jaune remembered well how angry he had once been at the ancient wizard. Choosing Pyrrha, a first-year student, to be the next Fall Maiden, knowing well how dangerous this duty was and that she wouldn't say no. Lying about the relic and endangering their life and everyone else's on Argus Limited. Who was Salem to him and that she was an immortal being. Abandoning them when all his lies had caught up to him and leaving Oscar in the epicentre of their anger.
That anger had evaporated a long time ago, but it left its mark on Jaune, and he still wished to have along talk with Ozma about all this.
His resentment stopped him from defending Ozma from Cinder's accusations because he knew she might be right.
"I'll help you find the crown. In exchange, you let me leave Vale freely, you don't tell anyone I was there, and I get to use the Crown."
Jaune's eyes narrowed. "Why do you want to use it?"
"That's only for me to know. Once I used it, you can have it." Cinder replied coolly. "So, deal?"
Jaune knew he had little choice in this situation, she wouldn't accept a no. "Deal."
Cinder's grin returned, cold and calculating. "Oh, and one more thing. Before you even think about breaking this partnership early, and somehow, you'd manage to kill me," Her tone turned lethal. "I will make sure you regret it."
Jaune narrowed his eyes. "How?"
"By thinking Salem. She's powerful already, giving her the Maiden powers won't change much for her, but for you and your friends, this will be maybe the final nail in your coffins." She clearly felt confident that this would stop him. She wasn't wrong. This prospect was indeed a dire one for them, but he didn't want to give her the satisfaction to admit it.
"If she could have it, don't you think that she wouldn't have needed you to begin with?"
Cinder's gaze shifted and her grin fell for a moment, but a smirk formed on her lips which gave him chills. "Hm, that's true. But don't you worry, I have a better candidate for my revenge." Jaune didn't like her tone. Admitting that he could be right was strange hearing from her, and this made him worry aboutwhat would come next.
"Who?"
"Amber Arc."
The colour drained from Jaune's face and his whole body felt like made out of ice. Foggy images of a little blonde girl flashed in front of his eyes. Gods, when was the last time he had seen her? He tried to recall her voice, but he couldn't, not completely.
"…What?" he whispered once he realised what Cinder had just said.
"Amber, your little sister, the youngest one." Cinder explained with mock sweetness. "She just started primary school, didn't she? Imagine what would happen if she became the next Fall Maiden."
Salem would hunt her.
"How do you know about her?!" Jaune demanded, panic creeping into his voice.
"Do you think Salem doesn't keep tabs on everyone who sides with Ozma?" Cinder's tone was casual, almost bored. This made Jaune's previously frozen blood boil as his body tensed.
"If anything happens with her I will-"
"Will what? Kill me?" She mocked him with a laugh. "No, you won't do that. Because she will be only safe as long as I am alive." Her sword began to glow then fell apart into shards and flew to herforearm where reformed as it was a cast made from black glass. "And because of that, you will do anything to keep me alive."
She removed her leg from his chest. "Isn't it fantastic?" she asked with a grin.
No, it was definitely not fantastic. He wanted to strangle her to permanently wipe that grin off from her face. But he couldn't do that unless he wanted his sister to be hunted.
"So, any objection?"
"None." He had a lot.
"That's what I thought." she said cheekily. "Now, get up and gather your things. I want to leave as soon as Thana is back."
Jaune watched as she walked away from him to the creek. He got up from the ground and stood there for a second, he let out a sigh in defeat.
"Did you really send her away alone?" he asked.
"The bush is not that far. I can even see her from here." she answered from the bank, looking in the distance. Then she turned back to him with a sharp look. "Don't just stand there, start packing!"
Jaune trudged along the dirt path, a few steps behind Cinder and Thana. His eyes wandered between the pair ahead, the ground, and the forest around them. His mind kept repeating the morning's event.
After each repeat, he wanted to punch something. Mostly himself for allowing this to happen, but a rational part of him knew that this was inevitable, he had to sleep. And now he was stuck in adeal where he had to defend her to defend his sister.
Jaune spent the road so far in silence. Cinder and Thana often chatted about things, mostly the girl asked the woman to tell her about what kind of grimms she had killed, but with less enthusiasm as yesterday.
Thana glanced back at him occasionally, then she looked at Cinder. She could sense the tense atmosphere between the two adults, but she didn't know why they were angry at each other. And Jaune hoped that it would remain that way.
Cinder had taken upon herself the role to dictate their pace and declare when and where they would rest, she was clearly confident in her newfound leadership which was no surprise for Jaune, she had always seemed like a control freak.
Every once in a while, she'd cast a glance over her shoulder at him. Her ember eye always caught his attention, but he couldn't decipher the look she gave him in those moments before she turned back. It would've been easier to figure it out if she would give him her smirk, that at least he could write off as gloating.
"Hey," Thana's voice broke the silence, startling him from his spiralling thoughts. She had stopped, pointing ahead. "Is that a village?"
Jaune blinked and looked up, following her gaze. In the distance, among the trees, he could make out the edges of buildings. Sturdy wooden houses with chimneys.
"Finally." Cinder said, her voice cutting through the quiet. "I was starting to think we'd be wandering through the woods forever. I dearly hope they have an inn."
As they approached the outskirts of the village, the smell of the forest was replaced by the smell of freshly baked bread androasted meat with a hint of smoke. The village was separated from the forest by a simple wooden fence which – in Jaune's opinion – wasn't much with a height of one and a half metres and without guards.
As they passed through the perimeter, the locals who were on the streets took a good look at them. Given the state of the road, he deducted that travellers had become ararity nowadays for them.
The more the trio walked in the village, the more they saw from its everyday life. People moved between the buildings, villagers going about their daily routines. A woman hanging clothes on a line, a few children running through the streets laughing. It was a nice place.
"There's the inn." Cinder said, nodding towards a small building with a weathered sign hanging from a post. The sign swung gently in the breeze, displaying the simple image of a bed and a mug of ale. "Doesn't look like much but better than the forest."
They pushed open the door to the inn, the scent of warm food felt divine for Jaune who was abit hungry now. The common room was small but cosy, with a few tables scattered around and a crackling fire in the hearth. An elderly man stood behind the counter, polishing a mug with a cloth.
Cinder and Jaune approached the counter, Thana followed closely behind them. Cinder glanced at the innkeeper with a charming smile.
"Greetings," she begun, "we would like to rent rooms for three people."
The innkeeper eyed them for a moment while he continued to clean the mug. "Are you Hunters?"
"We are." replied Jaune.
The old man hummed. "Kid's yours?"
"No. We're charged to take her to Vale." answered Jaune quickly.
"She looks like you two, but you look like a bit young to have a kid this old."
Jaune glanced back at Thana. She was still too young to have any defined facial features, but he could be wrong, he had never been good to pick up these things. But the black hair and blue eyes, yes, he could see what the innkeeper meant. He turned back, catching Cinder's eye for a second.
"So, we can have the rooms?" he changed the subject back to the original request.
The man put down the cloth, turned around and placed the mug on a shelf behind him there were a dozen other mugs. "I don't have three rooms for you." He turned back. "That's half of my capacity."
Jaune and Cinder glanced at the empty tables. "Yes, I can see this place is quite popular."
"Hold your horses, lass. What I meant wasthat I can't give three separate rooms, but I didn't say I won't give any. There's aspecial one for you Hunters. Four small bedrooms with single beds connected with a common room, and there is a bathroom with ashower. So far, every team liked it."
"Then we take it for the night." said Jaune while he pulled out his wallet.
"200 lien, dinner and breakfast included."
A bit pricy but he didn't complain, better than sleeping on the ground and eating canned food. Jaune handed over the money and he received the room's key.
"Third floor. Dinner served between six and eight, breakfast from seven to nine."
"Thanks, we'll be here."
The dinner was surprisingly good given that it was in a small village's run-down inn. It was a simple stew with beef, mushroom and carrot. It must had been cooked in the past few hours for the beef to be this tender.
Cinder was a little impressed, she hadn't expected much from the dinner given the inn's 'popularity', but the stew was rather good. It reminded her of the stews she used to make back in the hotel –back when she still worked under the Madam's thumb. Stews were practical, easy to prepare and left her free to catch up on the endless tasks that were piled onto her. Plus, as long as the food was good, the Madam left her alone.
She had a relatively good day today. She had made a good deal with Arc which ensured that he would behave, and she wouldn't have to look over her shoulder because of him. Even better, he was forced to protect her if the need would ever arise which amused her beyond belief and probably frustrated him into oblivion. And she could use the crown once they find it.
Cinder let out a content sigh.
She loved itwhen things went her way.
The trio finished their dinner in mostly silence, the innkeeper was busy with something in the kitchen behind the bar where he had welcomed them a few hours earlier.
Everything was calm until the inn's door opened.
Her seat was viewed the door, so she didn't need to turn her head to the man who walked. He was middle-aged, with greying hair and a thick coat draped over his broad shoulders. His boots were muddy, and his tired eyes scanned the room before landing on the bar.
"Evening." he grated them as he passed them behind Arc.
"Joe, I'm here." he called out. Moments later the innkeeper appeared from the kitchen.
"Allen, how it's going?" asked the older man in a friendly manner.
The newcomer sat down at the bar. "As fine as anyone can be after a long day. I swear if I have to fill another document today, I'm going to murder someone." he fretted.
"Didn't you say a few weeks ago that the administration job would be easy?"
"I was bloody wrong." he declared. Cinder wasn't too interested in their conversation, but it was hard not to hear it given that the room was small, and they were close. Plus, Arc was not in a talkative mood since morning, so hearing this pointless chat was better than nothing.
"So, the usual?" asked the owner.
"Yes please."
The innkeeper turned around to grab two glasses and a black bottle, then he turned back, set down the glasses and opened the bottle.
"Speaking of usual, this is my last bottle of Vytal red. Do you know when we can expect our next shipment?" asked the older man while he poured the wine for them.
The other loudly sighed. "Not for a while. The Western Passage is gone."
This caught her attention, and her blonde partner's as well who spoke up. "Gone? what do you mean it's gone?"
The two older men turned to them. "It is no longer there. The heavy rains have flooded the area, mudslides have destroyed the roads, the whole passage is a death trap now."
Arc looked briefly at her to see her reaction. She bit her lower lip as she processed this information. If the road were destroyed, then their trip changed significantly. The blonde turned back and asked further. "Do you know when they will be repaired?"
The younger man snorted. "I wouldn't hold my breath, kid. This time of the year is always full of storms there, if they fix them now, maybe the next storm will wash it away again in a few weeks. Happens every few years, right, Joe?"
The innkeeper nodded. "Yep. Every five, maybe ten years."
"But when they will be fixed?"
"Between a month and a month and a half, at least," Allen replied with a dismissive wave of his hand. "Maybe longer if the storms keep up."
It was now Cinder who looked at Arc to see his face. His eyes were focused on his empty plate, but he was clearly thinking through this development. She was also trying to come up with some solution to this problem.
"If you want to go to Vale, you have to go a different way." said the innkeeper. "At least you are not from there like that blond couple from last week."
"The scientists?" asked the younger one.
"Yes. A bit weird people – they spent their time mainly in the forest, maybe studying the animals –."
Cinder stopped paying attention to them as they continued their conversation at the bar, their voices now more hushed, discussing other mundane topics from last week.
"This is not good." Jaune said quietly, his voice low so only Cinder and Thana could hear.
Cinder nodded slightly. "We have to find another way to Vale." she murmured in response, her mind racing for alternatives.
"Let's return to our room, we can come up with something there." he said, and Cinder agreed.
Cinder freshly showered stepped out from the bathroom into the common room in her nightclothes: a simple white shirt with a black short which were given toher before they had left Antlers, her chocker around her neck. Her hair was still damp, but she didn't botherto dry it further with a towel because the rooms were comfortably warm.
She had considered to cover her injured arm with the towel – since her shirt didn't offer a means to hide it – but she deemed that she would beridiculous walking around with a wet towel on her shoulder. Plus, it was too short to stay on her and cover her left arm.
Her arm was still noticeably red and a little sensitive to touch, but the redness had gradually started to disappear in recent weeks.
When they had arrived back inthe room after dinner, she and Arc agreed to meet in the common room to talk over their options an hour later.
But when Cinder looked around, he was not here. His room's door was closed. She was tempted to march to his door andknock on it to be sure that he hadn't fallen asleep, but she chose to give him the benefit of the doubt. Also, she didn't think that the agreed time had passed.
While she waited Cinder took a closer look at the common room. It was not big or small, it was somewhere in between. A small coffee table in the middle between two cosy sofas on opposite sides, a creaky wooden floor, white walls with a few generic paintings. The bedrooms' brown doors were in the four corners.
Only one of them was slightly open – Thana's.
Cinder carefully approached the said room, paying attention to not disturb the girl with the creaky sound of the floor if she was sleeping. But when she got closer, she noticed that the lamp in the bedroom was lit. Cinder slowly opened the door and looked in.
Her eye met with Thana's blue ones; she was already in her bed under the covers.
"You should be sleeping by now." said Cinder.
"I'm not sleepy."
Cinder moved into the room, leaving the door open and sat down ona chair next to the bed.
"Oh, really? Aren't you tired from walking all day?"
"A little." she admitted.
"That's why you've been quiet whole day?" Cinder inquired. Given how chatty the girl was with her last week, then with Arc yesterday, her withdrawn demeanour today was odd for Cinder.
"No." she said quietly, avoiding eye contact.
"Then why?"
"Why are you and Jaune so angry with each other?" she asked. Thana's eyes blinked up at her, awaiting an answer.
Cinder paused, caught off guard by the question. "Why do you think we're angry?" she asked softly.
Thana shifted under the covers, her hands fidgeting with the edge of the blanket. "You don't talk much. And when you do, it's like… you're mad. Both of you."
Cinder exhaled quietly. She wished that she could end this conversation here, but she couldn't. Thana seemed too curious to just drop the topic, sooner or later she would seek out Arc for an answer and Cinder had a feeling that he wouldn't tell everything, but it would be enough to seed distrust in Thana towards her. She couldn't lie and put the whole blame on Arc – that would put their deal at risk. Thana didn't need to know the truth, so being vague seemed the best course for Cinder.
"I suppose we are angry." she began after she had gathered her thoughts, "It's a bit… complicated. He and I know each other from… school."
"From a huntsman school?
"Yes. From Beacon."
"You were friends?"
"No, we were not. We just saw each other from time to time." Emerald was the one who had done most of the networking with his and Rose's teams. She had only read their files.
"Then why are you angry with each other? Did you date then broke up?" asked the girl out of nowhere.
"No." she said instantly after she recovered from her momentary shock, "No, we didn't date. The only thing that you need to know isthat we did things witheach other in the past that are hard to forgive or forget."
"But now you two work together."
"Because both of us want the same thing for the moment." she continued after a moment, "Sometimes, you have to work with people you don't like because there's no other choice. That doesn't mean the anger goes away."
Thana looked a little unhappy about this answer. The girl probably thought that things would magically work out just because she and Arc were working together. But Cinder knew for a long time that the world they living indidn't work that way.
"We'll be fine," Cinder said, a small, somewhat forced smile appearing on her lips. "Don't worry about us."
Thana didn't seem entirely convinced, but did she need it? Cinder didn't know. "Go to sleep, okay?" said Cinder.
The girl nodded. The woman was about to stand up when the nine years old stopped her with a request. "Would you sing for me a little?"
Thana's voice wassmaller than Cinder had ever heard it in the past week, but it was strong enough to stop the dreaded Fall Maiden. She could clearly hear the vulnerability in the girl's words, the type that was hard to describe because it was so… pure. That froze Cinder on the spot.
She felt a strange discomfort creep up her spine, she couldn't find words for a few moments, mainly because she had no idea how to react tosuch aninnocent request.
Sing?
She swallowed, keeping her expression neutral as she looked down at Thana, who was watching her with sleepy eyes that held a little anticipation for her answer.
Cinder remembered that once she had had a similar dream when she lived in Mistral. She was adopted by a lovely couple who picked her out of all of the others despite her being skinny and little, not like those window shoppers who in the end had always picked the ones who acted nice and loveable. This imaginary couple had a nice two-story tall house with a little garden which was full of blueberry bushes. Sometimes they had a cat or two, other times a dog. Sometimes she imagined that they had neither so she could have all their love and attention. She had often imagined this other life as a child. In that life, when she went to sleep, her new mother would sing her a lullaby with a lovely melody as she was falling asleep.
"I don't know any song. Sorry." Cinder finally said, her voice quieter than usual. It wasn't a lie – she had never heard one in person. The caretakers in the orphanage hadn't cared that much about them and the Madame would have mocked her if she had ever asked her. The imaginary mother's lullabies were more of a humming than singing.
Thana's face fell slightly, disappointment flickering in her eyes, but she didn't push. She just nodded, curling further under her blanket. "That's okay." she said softly, though the trace of sadness in her voice was clear.
"What's your favourite story?" Cinder asked, trying not to end the day on a sour note for the girl. She knew that people usually enjoyed talking about their favourite things.
"The Girl Who Fell Through the World." answered Thana.
Cinder's lips curved up into a smile. "Do you want to know a secret?" she asked with a conspiratorial voice.
Thana's eyes lit up a bit and nodded.
"That's my favourite too."
"Really?"
"Really. When I read the book as a kid, I always pretended that I was Alyx and I'm adventuring with the Rusted Knight in the Ever After just like Alyx did." Cinder leaned back in the chair, recalling the few enjoyable moments in her childhood when she had been happy. "I used to picture myself travelling through the wildness of the Ever After, meeting strange creatures and solving tricky puzzles for rewards. I even made up a few places to make the journey more exciting and longer." she explained with nostalgia in her voice.
For Cinder, The Girl Who Fell Through the World had meant an escape. A place far from the orphanage, far from Atlas, far from everything that she hated; and most importantly, she would be protected from every danger by the Rusted Knight who one day would rescue her from her adoptive family.
Or rather, just dreamed of it
"Did you manage to save the Rusted Knight from the poison?"
Cinder smiled softly, "Always. Now, try to sleep. We've got a long day ahead of us tomorrow." She stood up, ready to leave the room. But before she did, Cinder paused at the foot of the bed and turned back.
"Thana?"
The girl raised her head from the pillow, her eyes meeting Cinder's "Yes?"
Cinder hesitated for a moment, then let the words come. "How about, the next time I have a connection on my scroll, I… learn a song for you? Would you like that?"
Thana's face lit up, her smile small but genuine. "Yes." she whispered.
Cinder felt a strange tug at her chest. "Good." she said softly, nodding once before turning and leaving the room.
She closed the door gently and turned towards where the sofas were.
Her gaze met with a pair of blue eyes. Arc patiently sat there, waiting for her. He too was in his sleepwear: a light grey shirt with metal grey sweatpants. On the table wasa pair of glasses, a bottle of water and a large piece of paper.
"How much did you hear?" she asked in alow voice so only he could hear. She was not too comfortable that he had possibly heard her previous conversation.
For a moment he looked at her with a strange glance in his eyes then answered. "That you like Alyx's story. But before you get mad, I had no intention to eavesdrop on you, but the door was open."
"You could have made your presence known. Made a noise or something." she said with adip of heat. He had no right to listen in her business.
"Yeah, I could have, but I didn't want to disturb you."
She regarded him for a moment. He looked calm but guarded, his eyes were firmly on her, watching every little movement. He was expecting an outburst from her.
"Disturb us?" she echoed, her voice laced with suspicion, though she kept her tone low. "Since when are you so considerate?"
Jaune leaned back on the sofa. "I have my moments." He glanced at the closed door behind her where Thana was now likely drifting off to sleep. "I just didn't want to ruin your moment."
This caught her unexpectedly. After what happened in the morning, she had thought he would make an effort to be an annoyance for her, a form of petty revenge from him. But no, after brooding for a better part of the day, he chose to be a bigger person.
Maybe this approach of his annoyed her even more.
"Fine." she muttered, walking over to the sofa and sitting across from him. "Let's just get to why we're here."
Jaune leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. In front of them was a map of northeast Sanus where the Kingdom of Vale resided. "Right. With the Western Passage out of commission, our options are limited."
She agreed with Arc. The Western Passage was a narrow 350-kilometre-long area between the sea and the massive Tyrannus Mountains which divided the region into two. From the southern part of the kingdom, the Passage provided the shortest and the fastest way to the capital.
"The Tyrannus Mountains are out of the question, even Salem has dropped a few mentions that we do better to avoid that place. It's filled with old Grimms, not to mention only a handful of people crossed it alive." reasoned Cinder.
"Agreed. So, we either go west to the coast and find a town with someone who still sails to Vale, or we go northeast to go around the whole thing."
"We won't find anyone who would take us Vale. Dust prices skyrocketed since Atlas' destruction; I think settlements would rather keep their dust to run their homes than put them into ships that might sink with them." Arc looked like he wanted to interrupt her when she mentioned Atlas, but he didn't.
"Then we go northeast and spend at least two months to get around the mountains." he traced his finger around the mountains on the map.
"I don't think that will be necessary." she kept her eye ona certain part of the map that caught her attention.
"What do you mean?"
Cinder's finger tapped a place on the map. "Pandora."
"Pandora?" Arc raised an eyebrow. He looked confused for a few moments, then he figured out her plan. "You want to find a transport there?"
"Yes."
The blonde knight focused on the map for afew moments then spoke, "You think they keep their trade route up with Vale."
"The two biggest cities in the kingdom cannot just stop trading with each other, they must maintain a route via bullhead or train – even if it isn't adirect connection. Especially when one of them was built on top of a dust mine, so fuelling shipments should be a bit cheaper and easier." she elaborated.
"Not a bad idea but it's still abit of a gamble to find transport. And Pandora is as far from here as Vale is." he said.
"Of course it's a gamble, but it's better than waiting here and hoping that the Western Passage would open soon." she countered, "At worst we won't find transport, but if we choose to go around Tyrannus, Pandora is already in our way – it's on the east side of the mountain range. We'd only lose a day or two at the most."
Arc stared at the map again. After a long pause, he sighed. "Alright. Pandora it is." He looked up at her. "But we still have a problem."
"What?" she asked confused.
"You."
"Me?"
"Yes, you. Because there's no chance in hell that they won't know who you are." he explained, "We got lucky so far. Only Roslyn found you out and she didn't have the manpower to stop you, but Pandora isn't a little town in the middle of nowhere. It's one of the big three. They must keep one eye open in case you pop up there."
Cinder's eye darkened slightly, but she didn't argue. "Then I'll keep a low profile."
"Are you sure?" he questioned like he didn't believe her.
She rolled her eye. "Yes, I am sure. After all, I did it in both Vale and Atlas. Why are you so concerned about this?"
"I'm concerned because this morning you made me your bodyguard." he said with a bit of anger, "Your security has become one of my chief problems."
She supposed his anger was justified but she wasn't going to pretend that she was sorry. "Don't be so melodramatic. People have bigger headaches than me, they'll bebusy with those." she said confidently as she grabbed the bottle of water from the table and opened it with the help of her knees. "We will be fine."
She was about topour the water into the closer glass, but she misaligned the glass and the bottle's mouth. The water missed the glass and flowed onto the table.
"Shit." Cinder cursed.
Arc snatched up the map from the table, away from the spilt water. Cinder's jaw clenched as she wiped the water off the table with her hand. She could feel his eyes on her, watching her every move, but she refused to look at him. It wasn't the first time she had fumbled like this.
"Here." Jaune said, tossing a pillow from the couch onto the wet surface to absorb the last of the spill. His voice was surprisingly neutral, no mockery or impatience – just practicality.
She shot him a glance, irritation creeping into her expression, though more at herself than him. "I had it handled."
"Sure." he replied dryly, placing the map back on the table once it was dry enough.
It happened again.
She'd lost count of how many times since Beacon she'd had to deal with this – misjudging simple things, reaching for something and missing, bad aiming from time to time, falling because of the lack of depth perception.
It was infuriating.
Losing her eye had been a setback, and it still threw her off at the most inconvenient moments. But now it happened before someone. She had been careful to hide this handicap from the likes like Watts or that half-mad Tyrian who would have mocked her or used it against her.
"Is this because of your eye?" he asked unexpectedly.
"… Yes."
"Does it happen –"
"Goodnight." she interrupted him curtly and hastily retreated into her room, leaving Arc alone at the table.
Cinder shut her door behind her, leaning back against it, closing her remaining eye for a moment to collect herself. The last few minutes were an embarrassment for her. And all of this was Ruby Rose's fault. That blasted girl had ruined her plan in the last moments and maimed her for life. Cinder had felt a great deal of satisfaction when she 'killed' her in that portal space, but the scythe wielder just couldn't stay dead. No, after a few months, she just returned with the rest out of the blue. When Cinder heard of this, she had turned the sand around her into glass in seconds in the desert.
She exhaled slowly and shook her head. Stay focused, she reminded herself, a mantra that had helped her in the past years.
She strode to the bed which was practically calling her after two days' worth long walking. She almost jumped into it and pulled back the covers of the small, modest bed and settled herself beneath them. The warmth of the blankets wrapped around her, chasing away any concept of cold.
As Cinder closed her eye and relaxed, she slowly sank into the land of her imagination where she would meet with the knight who had never come to save her.
It was a fun chapter to write, especially the beginning. :D
And in the end, we can say that Cinder is living her childhood dream, in a way.
PS, I fixed the grammar in the first five chapters where I noticed it.
TheSlySage: Fixed the word, thank you. Your fic idea sounds likesomething that I too would like to read or write but it kinda feels like a mix between this story and my other work Our Forever, just changing the setting and right now I'm working ontwo other stories and a third one would be too much. Maybe later. However I have a rough idea for another knightfall story but that would be placed in the Beacon era which could be interesting. I plan to do a pilot chapter for that in the next year.