The rest of the day spent walking northward passed somehow.

The air was getting a bit cooler and damper, but it was much warmer than you'd think for this far north, and that was uncanny.

Still, the group was almost glad not to see any more giant Grimm or anything unusual in this landscape.

Shine, with her continual resilience that always mystified them, kept singing songs and seemed cheerful in spite of how close they were to Salem.

Wally also seemed upbeat.

It puzzled most of them. They felt that they were getting too close entirely to Salem, and they almost expected to see her over the next rock or in the sky somewhere.

Sun had to be carried part of the way, as he was still very weak. Blake was keeping a close eye on him.

Sun made light of the whole poison thing and seemed to be enjoying the attention, maybe a little too much, Yang said.

Some of the newly formed couples within the group were less ashamed about holding hands or talking... The attacks had kind of taken embarrassment out of them.

Though Winter had no intention of indulging in PDA in front of the younger members--or the older ones for that matter--Raven was insufferably smug about the whole thing.

Pyrrha did ask Winter what happened, more nicely, and Winter told her a small part of it--only that things had been worked out mostly.

Pyrrha was glad to hear it, and she said that they were good together.

Winter wondered why everyone kept saying that. She'd rather expected the opposite reaction.

Weiss still didn't seem too happy about noticing what was up. She kept shooting them strange looks.

Winter was becoming resigned on her end to Meridian's inclusion. He'd been pretty useful and reliable... She didn't approve of his humor, but it seemed too late to care about being refined. And Weiss did at least seem happier, and that was a mercy, especially in this land.

And it wouldn't matter anyway, Winter decided. They were too close to peril now.

[Always a good philosophy to have about your family's love life... lol.]

There was one pair of people who hadn't really resolved this matter though.

Neptune had been too nervous to bring up what happened with Yang to her--or anyone else except Sun.

Sun was no help. He just told Neptune that Yang probably liked him, and why was he worried about it? Didn't he like her?

Well, Neptune had liked Yang, sure. She was cool... but he really wasn't used to girls hitting on him--if you could call it that--and Yang was... well... not the type he usually was brave enough to flirt with, so he never had tried.

Neptune wasn't the sharpest about the aspects of winning girls over, so he couldn't wrap his head around the concept that that might actually have worked in his favor this time around.

Of course worrying about this now seemed silly... but there was literally nothing else to think about except... well, doom...

Yang was getting real tired of waiting for him to talk to her about it, but was too proud to bring it up herself.

Maybe she'd been a little too impulsive there, she thought. Usually guys didn't mind that... in her experience... but maybe it was weirder when it was a friend.

[I think that's actually true... not that I would know, but it does seem people feel a little weird about it.]

"Dude, just talk to her." Sun finally caught him staring.

"Huh?" Neptune said.

"Who?" Blake asked, twitching her ears.

"Yang," Sun said.

"Oh, because of that... thing," Blake said.

"Yeah," Sun said.

"Wait, you know?" Neptune squeaked.

"All of us do," Blake said. "I mean, all the girls. She told us."

"Seriously?" Neptune said.

"You told me," Sun said.

"But we're, like, best buddies. Why would...?" Neptune sputtered.

"Don't guys talk about their scores?" Blake said, cutting her eyes at him.

"Uhh...." Neptune didn't want to answer that. 

[Frankly, I think movies probably exaggerate how often that happens. I've never heard guys in real life do that. I guess it's more of a locker room thing.]

"Tell him he should just talk to her," Sun said. "It's no big deal."

"I mean... it's Yang," Blake said. "She's not really shy. I think she'd be fine with that."

"Wait, why hasn't she though?" Sun twitched his tail.

"I don't know. Maybe she thinks the guy should make a move," Blake shrugged. "If you didn't notice, Yang and I really don't have the same approach to flirting."

[As in Blake has no approach whatsoever most of the time😂.]

"No, really?" Sun couldn't resist saying kind of dryly. Blake pretended to hit his arm.

"I guess," Neptune said. "Does that mean she likes me though?"

"I'm not going to answer that. You ask her," Blake said roundly.

"Well, if she talked about it, she does, right?" Sun said.

"Maybe." Blake was vague.

"But... why?" Neptune said that without thinking. He was pretty tired and not his usual level of trying to be cool.

"Huh?" Sun said.

"Did I say that out loud?" Neptune asked sheepishly.

"Why does she?" Blake said. "I don't know."

"Blake, that's just mean," Sun said. "Neptune's cool."

"I guess, just not normally what I'd think Yang would be into," Blake said. "But then, we've never talked about it. Actually, Yang and I have barely talked about anything."

"But you're partners," Sun said.

"We were more of the punch things together than girl talk partners," Blake said. "I mean, I don't talk that much, period." [They kind of changed her personality completely after Volume 5, didn't they?]

"Well, that's a nice friend right there." Sun made a sweeping motion. "If you fight together, that's real tight."

"Yeah, but I don't think I've ever even talked about where I'm from with her..." Blake was slowly realizing that she wasn't a very good partner.

"You're not scared, are you?" Sun apparently couldn't fathom Neptune being scared of girls. [Couldn't fathom Neptune? See what I did there...'cause ocean?]

"What? No." Neptune sounded totally nervous.

"Dude, just talk to her," Sun said. "That's what I did with Blake."

"You've never actually told me you liked me," Blake said, with a shy look.

"Oh..." Sun looked like he'd completely forgotten that.

[Sun, you're lucky you're endearing--if you get the DBZA reference, you get it.]

"Well... but I asked you out," Sun protested, trying to save his dignity. "That's the same."

"Is it?" Blake said.

"Okay, I'll just walk away and let you work it out," Neptune said hastily, walking away.

"I really don't blame you that much," Blake said after he was gone. "I haven't been very nice to you. I probably wouldn't have either. It's fine."

"No, I don't think it is," Sun said, using his tail to hit himself in the head. "I mean, if it's bothering you."

"It's not bothering me." Blake honestly thought that was the truth. "I just think it's not that easy, you know? What you're telling Neptune to do." She stared at the ground. "It used to be easier. I wonder what makes us so embarrassed to talk about feelings once we get older. Is it because people use them against us?"

Sun rubbed his head. "I don't know, maybe we just care more about our own ego when we're older. I can't really tell ya. I guess I never had much of family, and the bros and I don't really say things like that. It's not a guy thing."

"Honestly, we girls don't say it that much either," Blake said. "Sometimes I wonder how my mom manages it so easily. Or Miss Likstar. I can't just compliment people like that."

"I guess if you're bad at it, we're all just as bad, so it's all even," Sun said.

"I don't know if that's how it works, Sun. Seems like we should be trying to change it," Blake said. "I mean... we're heading to Salem's house, and I've never even told my team how much I care about them. Let alone..." She trailed off.

Sun felt a little bashful. "I'm sure they know..."

"I should still say it," Blake said.

"I think you kind of just did," Sun said.

Blake managed a tiny smile, then she took his hand, to his surprise.

"Just going forward... I don't want to be so afraid," she said. "Not to fight... I was never afraid to fight. But I was... always afraid to love. To care. To be close to people. I might still be that way if you hadn't helped me when we went to Menagerie... I guess I just figured I should keep someone like that around... but why did you leave?"

"Oh... you know, it's kind of funny," Sun said. "You know how you have that whole thing about leaving people so they don't get hurt?"

"The thing you talked me out of?"

"About that... turns out I have this thing about assuming that people don't really need me or care if I'm around, so I guess I just kinda skip town before people can tell me to get lost. Sort of grew up that way. I guess I thought you'd get tired of me once things calmed down."

"They didn't calm down," Blake said. "But why would I get tired of you? You've always been there to help me, and I've hardly even thanked you for it. I really don't deserve that--but at least I could tell you to stay... I mean, if you want to stay."

Awkwardly.

[Not to start a ship war... but just saying all this is the facts, not made up facts for the sake of pushing a ship.]

"I guess we both have a hard time staying," Sun noted. "Maybe that's why I get it, you know? Sometimes you gotta go off alone. I never went after anyone else before. Guess that's the first time I thought about what it was like on the other end of it. That's why I went back to my team, but... hey, I probably should have been honest with you."

"Maybe I should have tried harder," Blake said. "I didn't want to try to keep you, but I... should have said more. Should have talked to my parents more too, but at least I cleared that up before we left. I realized I never did with you though."

"Well, you don't have to worry about me that much," Sun tried to play it off. "I don't get too easily offended. It's not like I'm that important."

"Maybe it's important to me," Blake said firmly. "And anyway--" She yanked his arm hard. "--if you ever scare me like you did yesterday, there won't be anywhere on this planet you can run. I will hunt you down."

Blake trying to be threatening was hilariously unconvincing, but, fortunately for her, Sun thought it was cute.

"Okay, okay, ow," he winced. "I got it. Be careful."

Blake kissed him on the cheek. "At least you're okay though."

Sun's eyes widened.

[Blake plays him like a kazoo... Ah, love.]

* * *

https://youtu.be/hQ5SgpdcmIw

[Been wanting to put this in here because it's called "Neptune" and it actually kind of fits him. Sleeping at Last is always a win for me.]

"I don't know how he does it." Neptune glanced back at Sun and shook his head.

He didn't watch where he was going, and then Emerald winked at Mercury and purposely stepped out of his way so that he ran into Yang, who was just stopping to scan the horizon.

Neptune was sure Emerald had been there a second ago and cast Emerald a strange look.

She tried to look innocently at the sky.

"Ow!" Yang rubbed her head. "Watch it--oh."

She gave him a look.

"Heh..." Neptune laughed real nervously and wished he was anywhere else in the procession.

Emerald nudged Mercury.

"So sappy." Mercury rolled his eyes. "Unless you're just trying to embarrass him."

"Either or," Emerald said.

"Then I approve."

"I don't need your approval." Emerald folded her arms and looked smug.

"What?" Yang asked Neptune pointedly.

"Nothing," he said, looking away.

Yang frowned and shrugged, turning away.

"Actually... can we talk?" Neptune finally found some courage.

Yang glanced back. "Sure."

She stepped farther away from the group.

"Nice, right?" Emerald said, nodding smugly.

"Okay, it was mildly impressive," Mercury said. "How did you know that would work?"

"I can read people, you dumba--," Emerald said. "That's a part of my Semblance."

"And what can you read about me? Nothing, I bet. I have a great poker face," Mercury said.

"No... you really don't."

"Prove it," Mercury said.

"You're going to say some stupid in 2 seconds."

"And when would I ever say anything stupid?" Mercury feigned offense.

"There it was." Emerald gestured dramatically.

Mercury was a little put off by how good she got him and couldn't think of a response.

"So, uh..." Neptune was saying to Yang. "... about the other day..."

Yang raised an eyebrow.

"What was that?" Neptune asked.

"What was what?"

"You know, the thing..."

"What thing?"

"The thing." Neptune was floundering.

"Do you mean the kiss?" Yang was having fun with this now. "It's not a bad word." [To see my sisters react to these moments, you'd think so.]

"Shh." Neptune glanced around. "What if your uncle hears us?"

"So? I don't care," Yang said. "I'll say it louder."

"Don't!" Neptune thought she was serious.

"All right, relax. Geez." Yang held up her human hand. "What's the big deal?"

"I mean, what... why... was that whole thing?" Neptune said.

"I thought it would work... It did."

"That's no reason to just go around doing that," Neptune said.

"Well, I don't 'go around' doing it." Yang made air quotations. "It was just a thing,"

"Just a thing?" Neptune was offended. "That's kind of mean."

"Honestly, I'm surprised you're making such a big deal out of it," Yang said. "Where's all that swag now?"

"Please don't ever use that word again," Neptune said. "That's so outdated. But I just... wasn't expecting it. So... I mean... are you into me?"

"That's your question?" Yang smothered a laugh. "You can't just ask me that outright?"

"Why not?" Poor Neptune was dying.

"It's rude,"Yang said.

"Rude? Rude?!" Neptune got a little mad. "You're the one who started this. I wasn't going to hit on you. It was all worked out. Out of my league and all that. I know when to call it. But then you go and mess that up, and now what am I supposed to do with that, huh? Just brush it off? Because, you know, some people don't do that, all right? I may seem like a player, but I don't actually just toy with people's feelings or self esteem like that--"

Yang covered his mouth with her hand.

Neptune stopped.

"Are you done?" she asked.

He nodded.

"Good." Yang kissed him again.

Neptune gave her a strange look.

"Does that answer your question?" Yang asked.

"Uh... not really..." Neptune said faintly. "Other than I feel like an idiot."

"Yeah, that's about right," Yang said. "Look, we can't stay out of sight of the group for very long so you might want to make this quick. Are you going to have a problem with this?"

"Uh... no..." Neptune said slowly.

"And you understand that I'm an exclusive kind of girl," Yang said, with a warning look.

"Yeah... that's pretty much a given..." Neptune swallowed.

"Okay then," Yang shrugged. "We're cool. Unless you got something else to say right now."

"Not... really..." Neptune said.

"All right then," Yang said.

She turned to walk away.

"So if we survive this," Neptune finally managed to formulate something, "do you want to go out sometime?"

Yang glanced back. "I'll make you a deal: We get out of this alive, and you can name the time and place--but I'm driving."

She winked and walked away.

"Okay..." Neptune said to himself. "Well, that was not how I thought this would go... but actually, I think I like this better."

Maybe he'd been overthinking it.

[Me over here wishing I had Yang's confidence in this area. I wonder how some people pull aggressive flirting off so naturally.]

[Anyone not sold on Flashflood yet...? I really don't care. I think it's fun. And it did give my sisters and me some more lighthearted moments to come up with in an array of very angsty ships.]

* * *

"Is it just me, or is everybody being really lovey-dovey today?" Wally said to Shine.

"They know time is precious," she mused, using binoculars.

"Where did you get those?" Wally asked.

"From Theo. Where did you think?"

"Ah, that tracks... What are you looking at?"

"See for yourself." Shine handed them to him and pointed ahead.

Wally looked.

"I just see some higher rocks, like before," he said. "Not spires, though. Looks more like a regular cliff."

"It looks like Obsidian formations," Shine said. [Above photo is one. It looks grayer because it's weathered and unpolished.]

"Not really a rock person, babe."

"Black, volcanic stones," Shine said. "It makes sense--most of the rocks looked volcanic to me that weren't spires. But my concern is, every time the landscape changes, there's new Grimm in it."

"Yeah, but it's also close to her house. Maybe she just likes it," Wally said. "It doesn't have to be a really bad Grimm... and I don't really see what's that bad about rocks."

"You've said that about every new Grimm before it gets bad," Shine said flatly.

Wally frowned at her. "Well, you don't have to make it sound dumb."

"I was just pointing out that it's not likely that there's no danger."

"What are we going to do about it? That's our course. If we go around, it'll just take longer," Wally said. "And you guys are all pretty slow, so I don't think we should be adding time."

"We're not that slow, Fly Boy," Raven said, perching on a stone to look farther. "But if there's something there... well, why don't we ask the resident, barely adequate experts?"

She looked at Hazel and Cinder.

"I don't remember seeing this," Hazel said. "From the air it might look flatter. It's probably harmless."

"There's no reason to go around it." Cinder sounded tight, like she was trying too hard to sound indifferent and sly as she usually did.

"We need to go around," Shine said immediately.

Cinder raised an eyebrow.

"Why?" Wally asked.

Shine lowered her voice and walked forward with him.

"Cinder wants us to go through," she said.

"She does?" Wally said. "Yeah... if it's straight ahead."

"No, she wants us to for another reason," Shine said. "Whether she's trying to stall, to speed up, or to get us lost, I'm not sure. She thinks there's something there."

"How do you know that?" Wally didn't see it.

"She's been acting odd since earlier. She was off by herself brooding, and she acted real jumpy when I talked to her," Shine said. "She's been a bit more reasonable the last few days. I thought she might be getting used to being in this group. Something made her uneasy. Maybe it was the Grimm, maybe it's getting so close to Salem, maybe it's her arm. I can't know exactly, but if she wants to lose some of us to up her chances, I'm not going to indulge."

If Shine had known how close she was to the truth, she might have been either afraid or angry about it.

Or maybe just smug. With Shine it was hard to say.

"I know you're usually right," Wally said rather grumpily, "but Cinder's not that much of a problem for us. Why can't we just keep going through it? Theo can probably take us now, right? We're close enough. So she won't get us lost. So what if she wants to? She's not done a thing successfully since we left."

"Every time you've dismissed my concerns, something always happens," Shine said. "And why are you so quick to dismiss them? This land is dangerous."

"Because you're always trying to find a trick!" Wally said a bit annoyed. "And sometimes I'd just like to get through something without asking how impossible it is and trying to think of every way it could go wrong."

"My analytical skills have saved our lives dozens of times," Shine said.

"They don't always really help, Shine. Just explaining something doesn't always make it easier to stop it," Wally said. "Sometimes you just gotta go with it."

"Better to know your opponent."

"The opponent is rocks? Or the person who's already with us? What does it matter?"

"Sometimes you're too quick to throw aside strategy." Shine put a hand on her hip.

"Are you two bickering?" Theo asked rudely.

They both frowned at him.

"'Cause we can all see you," Vara said. "And you're kind of holding up the progress. Is there a problem?"

Raven narrowed her eyes at them.

"I'm not sure I like the look of this route," Shine said more loudly. "I was saying we should go around."

"And I think it's too long and we should just keep heading forward," Wally said. "You guys want to put this to vote?"

"I wasn't asking for a vote," Shine said.

"So we don't get a say?" Vara said. "Because I don't want to do anything to make this longer. I feel sicker every second we're here, and I'm tired. You don't understand how bad it is for me, none of you. I never stop feeling bad. I'm not wasting time just because you feel a little chary of it."

"Should we ignore her instincts?" Pyrrha said. "When has she been wrong?"

"It makes no difference in the long run. No way is safe," Theo said.

"Don't be arrogant enough to think we can just get away with making the danger worse," Shine warned him. "If we can avoid it we should."

"Then we shouldn't have taken to walking through the fricking Grimm land in order to avoid them. Whose genius idea was that again?" Theo rubbed his chin. "Right, yours."

"Guys, why are you arguing?" Ruby sounded tired. "We need to decide this fairly."

"Maybe there is some extra risk." Jaune tried to sound reasonable. "So I guess if anyone is against taking more risks, raise your hand."

Emerald, Mercury, Pyrrha, and Oscar all raised their hands. Winter nodded also.

The others looked uncertain.

"And anyone who thinks that saving time is more important than risk...?" Jaune said.

Most of the others raised their hands.

"I don't care anymore," Weiss said. " I just want to finish this. What could possibly be worse than what we've already seen?"

"I have no wish to see it again," Winter said.

"We're worn out," Qrow said. "If we take more days, we're not going to be in shape to fight by the time we get there. We barely are now. We could get there in another day this way. I say it's worth it. We can just watch the land more closely."

"We are watching it," Raven said. "But I don't want to take up more time, not after that long rest."

Shien looked miffed.

"Why shouldn't I just veto this?" 

"You said it's up to us," Yang said, "what we want to do. You go off, then, but we all want to stay on course."

"And you want to do that against my direct counsel?" Shine said incredulously.

They shrugged and sighed.

The group was tired. Perhaps they wouldn't normally have wanted to take this risk, but they were just... so... so tired.

"This seems foolhardy," Winter warned them.

"You don't even know for sure there's danger," Meridian said. "It looks normal enough to me."

Cinder was perhaps smart not to say anything, as that might have raised their suspicions.

Yet a part of her was wondering why they were this stupid. When had their guide ever steered them wrong about the dangers?

But in the end, Shine couldn't talk them out of it, and they proceeded to go forward.

https://youtu.be/AGLKBvV2AC4

["Sidetracked"--Jon Williams. I recommend the YT channel Common Sense for a lot of rare but cool music tracks.]

Shine accepted the situation with more difficulty than usual but nonetheless didn't see much point dwelling on it.

She sang her usual songs to keep her spirits up.

https://youtu.be/eajF4LsyuUA

[AMV to "Soldier, Poet, King"  101Zeus101.]

However, at one point she seemed to take a darker turn.

https://youtu.be/Lw26in3NMj8

["Pale White Horse" by The Oh Hellos.]

"'Down they fell like the children of Eden. Down they fell like the tower...

"'Neither plague nor famine tempered my courage, nor did raids make me cower, but his translucent skin made me shiver deep with my bones...

"'It was a pale white horse, with a crooked smile, and I knew it was my time. It was the raging storm of a foreign war and a face I'd seen before.'"

"Do you mind?" Mercury interrupted her suddenly. "That's not helping anything."

Shine shrugged.

The ground under them was becoming more rocky and less the sandier dirt of before.

The rocks around them got larger and also flatter.

They looked almost like shale, but larger and more upright.

[Shale shelves.]

"Gotta give Salem one thing--" Wally rapped one edge. "--she sure picks different, equally ugly rocks to decorate with."

"I thought you would say she has rockin' style," Shine said.

"Do not start with that," Raven said.

"That's not bad," Yang said. "Matches her stony personality."

"Maybe we shouldn't be making fun of her." Emerald still wondered if Salem was spying on them.

"It's not that hard," Wally said.

"Solid pun." Yang gave a thumbs up.

"Stop..." the others groaned.

"Only one way to stop this," Shine said.

"And that is?" Raven asked.

Shine started singing "We will Rock you".

"Buddy, you're a boy, make a big noise
Playing in the street, gonna be a big man someday
You got mud on your face, you big disgrace
Kicking your can all over the place, singin' 'We will, we will rock you
We will, we will rock you.'"

Wally started clapping in time, while Yang was just disconcerted that she was being mocked in sing song and stopped talking.

[This can work in real life. I've tried it.]

"Okay..." Qrow thought they were all weird.

"Aren't those rocks getting a little high again?" Winter pointed ahead.

The shale-like shelves were rising above their heads. Like a huge maze.

"Kind of looks like those weird lava beds," Wally said. "Better not wander off down different routes."

"We should just fly over it," Winter said. "We'd get hopelessly lost inside."

"I thought you said no magic," Raven said.

"But... do you want to walk over that?" Winter said.

"Who said anything about walking over it?" Raven sprang onto the top of one of them and began running along it.

The kids looked at each other and then rushed to do the same.

[Anyone remember when they could do things like that? Those were the good animation days.]

"I can't do that," Shine said blankly.

"Who can?" Wally didn't even want to try. [Probably too obscure but that's an A League of Their Own reference. The old one, not the crappy reboot.]

Winter summoned a flying creature resolutely and motioned for them to get on it.

"Objection: You've been having a hard time sustaining those," Shine said. "Both of you, really."

True. Weiss was getting weaker with the long walks, not enough rest or food and water, and constant attacks.

"I can handle it." Winter frowned at Shine.

Shine offended her by refusing to get on anyway and resolutely marching into the rocks on foot.

Wally decided to just follow her.

Only about 10 minutes later Winter, lost control of the summoning that she was riding and dropped.

She broke her fall part of the way with a glyph, so she didn't break any bones, and Qrow pulled her back onto one of the rocks.

She tried not to look as embarrassed as she must have felt, but she shot Shine a dubious glance.

Shine said nothing at all, in fact, she didn't appear to have really noticed it. She was looking ahead.

"Nice catch," Cinder said meanly, passing Winter.

Winter used a glyph to shove her off the rock and into one of the in-between passages.

With Aura, this didn't do much more than annoy Cinder, but that was bad enough.

"You want to start it with me, Schnee?" She shot back up.

"Break it up." Qrow got betwixt them. "Enough."

"I've had enough of her snide remarks," Winter said.

"Oh, so haughty." Cinder was one to talk. "You really need to be cut down a peg, Schnee."

"Hey, we don't have any pegs left," Qrow said.

They both gave him a weird look.

"I mean, it doesn't get much lower than being lost in this territory," he amended hastily. "So just cool it. What's wrong with you?"

Winter's eyes widened, and she immediately turned and moved away.

Cinder didn't get it till she realized that that was what everyone had said when new Grimm attacks began to take over.

Now, for some reason, Cinder was almost afraid of the Grimm after what Shine had said. It might have been because Salem's threat made her think she needed to stay in control or she'd get caught along with them... and she didn't think Salem would bother to spare her if that happened.

The idea of being caught up in pride ever scaring Cinder was certainly ironic, but by now she knew not to take the Grimm lightly.

She jumped down and began to follow Shine and Wally instead.

"You think it's working again?" Wally was saying to Shine.

"It's taken a while," Shine said, "but I usually can build up a tolerance to the darkness after enough time. It's been constant here, so I wasn't sure I'd ever get there, but all the resisting Grimm and resting and reading and singing, I think it's helped. It doesn't feel so oppressive anymore, or perhaps it's a gift... We're close. Going to need full power."

"You think you can find her?" Wally asked.

"I think I could if I worked at it for a while," Shine said. "But there's so many Grimm... too confusing. She doesn't have a human look the same as the others... but she didn't seem all Grimm either when I spoke with her before. It's possible. I'd think Theo'd be able to track her though. He's not trying."

"I'm not sure he's in a rush." Wally lowered his voice. "Vara, you know. I can't really blame him."

"No, but putting that above our goals..." Shine trailed off and then glanced back at Cinder. "Problem?"

"No," Cinder lied.

Shine gave Wally a knowing look.

"Hmm, everything all right, Cindy?" Wally asked.

"I just said it was," Cinder said.

"Yeah, but you usually have a problem if you're talking to us," Wally said.

"I just don't want to be near anyone else," Cinder said.

"How sweet." Wally pretended to be touched.

"Shut it," she growled.

"Being out on those shelves is going to make them all an easy target for Grimm." Shine looked up. "They have stayed away, but they won't forever."

That prediction came true within the next 5 minutes.

The Grimm who'd flanked them all at a distance this whole time, as usual when they weren't attacking, suddenly seemed to all get the idea that it was time to attack.

The others saw them charge suddenly, and everyone had to jump off the top of the walls and into the more sheltered inner canyons.

Some of them were quite narrow, but the larger Grimm wouldn't be able to fit in, even if they had wings, so this provided cover... as long as there was no dead end.

They all ran forward, trying to stay within calling distance of each other.

"You are really too good at that," Wally said, pulling Shine along.

"Careful." Shine gritted her teeth. "I can't run that fast."

Cinder glanced back.

She wasn't sure what kind of signal to wait for, but she assumed that if Salem wanted them alive, she was just supposed to keep them distracted while the others got scattered.

But Cinder didn't know the half of it.

A few minutes into running, the shale-like rocks close overhead like tunnels, and the inside of them became much smoother like they'd been burned to a refined state.

They were as reflective as glass, if it was solid glass.

[More refined Obsidian. It's quite beautiful in its way, used for jewelry and decor.]

"Whoa, what is this?" Wally asked.

"Someone must have hollowed this out deliberately. This isn't natural." Shine ran a hand along it, perhaps unwisely, but nothing happened.

"Who would have?" Wally said.

"Salem, who did you think?" Shine's tone was a bit clipped for her. "This is her doing. This is a trap."

Cinder had to give Shine credit. Not many people would have figured that out from rocks being smooth. 

"You sure it couldn't have been done by somebody else in the past?" Wally said.

"The Grimm just happened to attack us now?" Shine was still terse. "Please. At least try to think."

"Hey, whoa, no need to be like that," Wally said. "You kind of jump to conclusions sometimes."

"I--" Shine paused. "We're arguing."

"Yeah, we are." Wally was irritated.

"Over something stupid." Shine smacked herself in the face. "Ah, snap out of it."

Wally's expression changed. "You mean... the... uh oh..."

"At the very least, we're getting close." Shine slowed down. "I wondered before. I was hoping it was just normal crabbiness... not..."

She leaned on the obsidian suddenly, looking nervous. "Not now, we can't run into a Mind Grimm like this, separated and trapped in this rock. It's like being sealed in a tomb..."

"We can run back out the other way," Wally said.

The Grimm also had the idea that they could.

Many of them were blocking off the other exits.

And worse still... some began doing something to hit the rock, and they chipped off pieces and began to block the tunnels.

It became almost pitch black.

Shine pulled out her sword and lit it.

"I can probably dig through that in a while..." Wally said nervously.

"We do not have a while. She wants us to go forward," Shine said. "But we'll have to find some place that opens out to something else hopefully. We can't go back--we'll lose them, and they'll be killed. But we have to watch ourselves. Ego is already starting to take effect. It's only going to get worse. But don't watch ourselves also..."

She closed her eyes and murmured, "'God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.'" [1 Peter 5:5]

"This is wrong!" Cinder shot fire at the rocks and nothing happened. "This wasn't supposed to happen."

"Calm down," Wally said.

Shine paused. "You." She turned to Cinder, holding up her sword, as Cinder winced. "You were in on this."

Cinder should have denied it immediately, but Shine caught her off guard.

"Wh-What?" She was unconvincing.

Shine frowned at her.

They heard rocks clattering.

"We'll discuss it later," Shine said tightly. "Let's go."

She began to hurry again.

Wally gave Cinder a suspicious glance but followed Shine.

Since she couldn't go back, Cinder had no choice but to follow them also.