Shine had found the castle easily enough. At this range, the darkness that emanated from it was enough to alert her, even if her Sight hadn't started working again.

The Grimm all moved away from her as she approached.

Somehow no Seer had spotted her before she got to the door.

She had passed some foul-smelling Grimm ponds that bubbled and threatened more Grimm coming out.

Mercury was in the castle. She could see him, but she couldn't try to get to him, not yet.

Poor kid... she could only imagine what they were doing to him. She felt almost responsible for it.

She prayed as she went and murmured songs to keep her mind off the Grimm.

https://youtu.be/yebAyBWO9nI

["Set it Off" AMV by ConflictRevolution. Made as a trailer for this story.]

"Rope is burning. The world resets the stage. All our heroes are gone without a trace. My time has come.

"All it takes is a spark to light the fuse, strike it off, set it off, nothing to lose. Yah, I'm the one.

"Don't you know that I'm the one that you've been waiting for? Take you higher, the Messiah you've been praying for. Unleash me, let me go. Set it off, set it off, watch it blow.

"My time has come, millennium. The revolution has begun. This time rewriting history. One life, one fire, remember me." [It's criminal that there is no RWBY AMV to this song.]

She waited for Salem to let her in after she got to the big, imposing doorstep. Like a much uglier version of Elsa's castle.

Finally, she knocked.

Still nothing.

After several minutes Shine began to think Salem was either chicken or had left the building to go find the camp. Either of which would ruin her plans.

She turned-- and a Seer was right behind her.

Her sword appeared in her hand.

But Salem's face just appeared in the globe.

"Miss Likstar," she said. "What a delightful surprise." Very sardonically. "Why are you here?"

"Short memory, Salem," Shine said. "You agreed to meet with me before we finalized our little deal. Remember?"

"Yes, but things have changed since then," Salem said.

"Have they?" Shine asked brazenly. "Do you no longer want the Relics?"

"Do you no longer want young Mercury Black alive?" Salem asked.

"You know, you don't have to call everyone young." Shine tilted her head. "We get it, you're immortal. Young is relative."

Salem gave her a glance like she couldn't believe Shine just didn't answer her question.

"Oh, right, about that." Shine crossed her arms. "I still intend to finish this. A deal is a deal. Are you afraid to speak with me? I came alone, as you can see." She gestured around.

"I don't know that. It could be an illusion," Salem said.

Shine slashed her sword through the air.

"See for yourself then."

The Seer moved around the steps and scanned them, looking for anyone.

After finding nothing, it turned back to Shine.

"I didn't want this to seem like it was an invasion," Shine said evenly. "I'd like to have a civil conversation. Then we can discuss the Relics and everything else I mentioned. I held up my end of the deal. We're here. Will you hold up yours? Because if you don't, I can still give the order to take them and hide them away. I thought you'd want to save yourself months of looking for them."

Salem frowned at her.

Of course she wouldn't be ready to let them slip away just like that, not when she was so close she could taste it.

"Shall I leave?" Shine wasn't going to let her stall forever. 

Salem absolutely hated it.

But then she recalled that she had Mercury. Surely she had the upper hand. And it was just one of them. If Shine was mad enough to do this alone, then why not use it? She could trap her in here perhaps.

Yes, maybe this was actually gift-wrapped for her.

[Never trust a silver platter, Salem.]

"Of course not," she said aloud. "Welcome. Come in."

The door swung open.

"Elsa still had more class," Shine muttered to herself.

She kept her grip on her sword and walked in.

The Seer followed her.

Shine gave no indication that this made her nervous, though she made sure not to let it out of her sight.

The inside of the castle had a musty smell, like all Grimm and also like mildew, as nothing but mold would grow in that damp but sunless environment.

It was lit by what looked like real candles, but they had to be maintained by magic, or else it was someone's oddly normal job to relight them.

The stone was all reflective like the obsidian, but thinner and sharper. And reddish and purplish also.

Shine had seen it all on the show before, but not how many rooms there were of just nothing.

And you felt that it was not only because there was no one there, but whoever was there would have been eaten unless Salem said no.

Shine's sword light didn't look right against the walls. It was too bright.

After at least three hallways, Shine finally looked at the Seer.

"All right, come on out and face me yourself," she said. "I won't be following this pathetic, little monster anymore."

She sliced through it.

A shudder went through the castle like that had been an insult.

Salem for her part didn't want to let Shine out of her sight. Furiously she got up and rushed out of her throne room and to the hall Shine was in.

But she found her just standing there and tapping her foot. All the other Grimm had fled away from her once she killed the Seer.

This did not bode well.

Seeing her in person for the first time since Oscar's rescue, and with much more context now, Salem was almost surprised by how normally human she looked. Not at all the impressive figure she seemed to make in all their minds. 

Just her eyes made her look unusual, the way she seemed to look right inside people, and not many people could make Salem feel like that, because no one ever tried to see more of her than they absolutely had to.

Now that she was here, Salem recalled her words to her in Atlas in person:

"The gods screwed this planet up bad. You're not wrong. But you're a fool. Your plan will not work. They'll spite you again, as they always have. For you they will never do anything."

"You can frighten the kingdoms, you can frighten those children, you can frighten that sad man over there, you can even frighten your pathetically selfish little minions. But you don't frighten me."

"I do not fear the darkness anymore. Or cursed, spoiled, overly confident, petty, vengeful, Grimm-infested, immortal hags."

And the last that had kept Salem from trying to kill her right then:

"Anyway, if you kill me, you'll never learn how to defeat the gods." [All this and also their previous encounter in person were in the "Standing in the Storm" arc, the third one of the first book. Chapters "Never Break Me"  and "Standing in the Storm".]

"Why are you staring at me?" Shine broke the silence. "I know I'm a mess, but I've been on the road for a week in Grimm lands. I look pretty good, considering."

"You really came here alone," Salem stated. "How overconfident."

"I thought the same about you allowing us to come here," Shine said. "I mean, all those obstacles weren't very nice, but really, you agreeing at all was a surprise."

"Do you think your scorn is going to get you anywhere?" Salem asked her.

"Is yours? If you'll be polite, I will," Shine offered. "I take it you're not ready for my company. Where shall we begin? You want to stay here, or...?"

"I see you don't have the Relics with you," Salem said.

"Of course not. That wasn't the deal. I keep my word," Shine said. "However little you bother to keep yours."

"You're not dead," Salem said. "Did I ever promise anything further than to hear you out?"

"You weren't even going to do that if you could help it," Shine said. "I didn't think you were so afraid of me."

Salem frowned at her. "You presume much."

"I presume only what I observe." Shine glanced at her. "If that offends you, you won't enjoy the rest of our conversation, because I won't pretend I don't understand you just to curry favor. I think you forget why I'm here. We're going to talk, and if I'm satisfied afterward, then we go on with my plan. If I'm not, then, you're screwed."

"You are confident for such vulgar language," Salem said. "I'm not worried about needing your assistance."

"Then you're a fool," Shine said. "Because after what you've seen, you should be very worried about it. I thought you observed more than that."

"I won't allow you to insult me and live." Salem glanced at her.

Shine didn't flinch.

"I can leave then," she said. "If I stay I will speak as I wish to speak, and you'd better resign yourself to it. I won't ask you to change how you talk to me. Aren't we a little beyond trying to play nice, Salem? Let's not lie to each other."

Salem frowned, then she shrugged almost. "If you insist. Remember that's what you said, Miss Likstar. Come this way."

She gestured haughtily.

Shine didn't like following her, but she supposed playing queen was the only fun Salem had, and she really would have done the same if he had her own castle, so might as well play along.

She held her head high and followed her.

Salem led her to the end of this hall and into the one that had the long table Shine had seen before... The table was new. Clearly the long one had been destroyed. This one had different shaped feet and was smaller. Salem didn't really need such a long one for her singular employee.

"I'm a little surprised you don't just have the throne on a dais," Shine said.

"This is not the throne room," Salem said. "And for a meeting it's inconvenient to sit so far away from the council--" She paused.

Why on Remnant would she even answer that question?

Shine had just asked it so naturally that she'd not registered it as a threat.

No one had spoken to Salem casually in so long that it had slipped past her radar for a moment.

More wary than before, she sat down and motioned at Shine to sit.

"No tea?" Shine took a seat that was at least three spaces away from Salem, so she clearly wasn't 100% at ease... or she was just smart. Salem could have summoned Grimm arms to hold her down if she was within reach and was provoking her enough.

"It would be for show only." Salem held up her hand.

A false tea pot of Grimm formed out of the table, and two cups appeared.

Shine eyed hers. "Well, you don't have to go that method. It's not like I'd drink it anyway."

Salem picked hers up just to make a point and said flatly, "Well, whatever it is you came here to say you might as well begin. I hope you're not attempting to threaten me."

"Oh, no, I don't wish to do that." Shine sat back and checked the chair to see if it was alive. It didn't seem to be. "But I do imagine convincing you of that will be the hard part."

"Indeed, I've been told about you." Salem still thought she could keep the upper hand if she surprised Shine with the information she already knew. "That you intend to come here and persuade me to join your forces and give up what they no doubt have called my mad quest."

"And what is your quest?" Shine asked.

"To build a better world of course." Salem glanced around.

"One like this." Shine glanced at the castle.

"Why not?" Salem said.

"I'll give you points for style, but minus ones for taste," Shine said. "Perhaps you can't tell anymore, but this place is horrifyingly bland. Can you see color?"

"What do you mean? Of course I can." Salem was offended by the question.

"Well, how should I know if Grimm can see color. They don't navigate by sight." Shine shrugged. "And your eyes are different now, aren't they? Rather like the mirror from the Snow Queen story, I suspect."

"This is not related to your goal," Salem said. "Proceed."

"With what, persuading you to do what you think I want?" Shine said. "No thanks."

Salem frowned at her. "So you deny that is your plan?"

"Who were your sources? Cinder? Mercury?" Shine said, casually enough. "I never told them what I really intended to do. I told no one, in fact, except my most trusted friends. I won't tell you who those are. But whatever idea you got from Cinder, did you really trust her judgment?"

Well, she had Salem on that. Salem trusted Cinder not at all.

"Then what is your purpose?" she said, realizing that this had not worked as well as she hoped.

"Now, asking a lady that is rude right off," Shine said. "Don't you know anything about negotiating? I'll tell you what I want in due time. You haven't told me either."

"I did," Salem said flatly.

"I knew that was a lie," Shine said. "And you know I know it is. Why bother lying? You're only going to annoy me by doing it. Is that going to help?"

She put her hand together. "Unless you are willing to tell the truth, we'll have quite a time of it, because I'll have to guess."

"You are quite the impertinent, little whelp," Salem said. "Just like that boy Ozpin is hiding behind currently. Do you think I care what you want? Or if you know the truth--?"

"If you don't care, then it can't hurt to tell me," Shine cut in. "Why are you stalling? Is it because knowledge is power?"

"Those are true words, Likstar."

"I prefer being called Shine. I would ask you, but you have no other name, do you?"

"Your Grace will do."

"I'm not calling you that. The only grace I have is God's," Shine said. [And the one in the X-men story, but that is years in the future.]

"I don't care what I call you," Salem said. "Shine, was it?" She knew perfectly well what it was. "If you didn't come to give me your terms, then why are you here?"

"Enough questions," Shine said. "I have a proposal for you. Before we discuss anything about those magical Mcguffin items, I want to learn more about you. And don't you want me to tell you what I said I would tell you, about the gods?"

Salem frowned. "I have no need of it, but if you have information on them, I would be as prepared as possible."

"Sensible decision." Shine tapped the table. "So we're agreed? We need to know more first. I have some things I've been dying to ask you ever since I heard the story, and you must have some for me. We can take turns or whatever comes naturally."

"I don't wish to have any discussion with you."

"But aren't you bored?" Shine asked, gesturing around. "I can't think Tyrian is much for conversation. And personally I've found Remnant to be a very lackluster world for anyone who's decently observant or strategic. Frankly, I've been looking forward to this because I hoped perhaps you could keep up with me. You understand human nature fairly well, don't you? That's a rare find these days. And you may be the only one who finds Ozpin more annoyingly naive than I do."

Salem looked up at that.

"So I think we could have plenty to talk about that might interest you," Shine said. "And the more you know, the better the odds, right? It's like a game. Who can get the most information out of the other person? And I didn't think you'd back down from such a challenge. Was I wrong?"

"If you want to play a game, it might as well be a useful one." Salem basically agreed to it. "But I don't know that you would answer any of my questions."

"I won't promise to, but then you likely won't answer mine either," Shine said. "Still, even the avoidance of a question can tell you a lot. And I promise at least not to lie to you. If you'd do me the same favor, I'd appreciate it, but it's really inconsequential. I'm pretty good at knowing when people lie."

"Does your group of little heroes know you're here?" Salem asked right off.

Shine hesitated. "Not all of them do," she said.

"And would I be right in thinking that's because you didn't want to them to know, because they're not so enthusiastic about your plan of convincing me to do your bidding as you are?" Salem said.

Shine stared at her.

"And in the end, you are just an overconfident woman who thinks she can talk me around, who's own team does not even believe in her." Salem leaned forward as if she thought she'd found Shine's weakness. "That is a great tragedy."

Shine stared at her longer.

It began to get annoying.

"Do you have nothing to say?" Salem asked.

"Were you finished?" Shine replied.

That one question made Salem angry to the point where she almost lost her cool--but she recalled that it wouldn't do to act affected by it in the nick of time.

"I merely was sympathizing with you," she said.

"There's another lie," Shine snorted. "And suppose you were right. Does it change anything?"

"It's not a great vote of confidence in you if your own team didn't trust you with this," Salem said.

"Oh, Salem, didn't I tell you before that if people have to trust you in order for you to work with them, you're not a very good tactician?" Shine said. "I know I said that to someone, maybe not you."

Salem frowned.

"Don't you agree?" Shine said.

"But they will not hand over the Relics if they disagree with your plan, so this entire meeting was futile," Salem said.

"Well, you don't know that for a fact. I assume you've spied on us enough to at least know that much," Shine said. "But they will do as they must. As will I. I can assure you if this does not go well, the chances of them cooperating will go down. Did you intend to shake me with that question? If you didn't at least know that much after all these years of fighting Ozpin, I would have thought less of your intelligence."

"Don't try to be cute with me," Salem said. "I don't find it amusing."

"I'm not trying to be cute," Shine said. "I mean what I say. Are we going to waste time talking about what my team is willing to do, or shall we get to the relevant part?"

"You don't care what they think?" Salem said.

"If that was the weakness you were trying to exploit from me, you'll find me rather immovable, despite their opinions," Shine said. "Furthermore, the only people whose opinions I really value are supporting me."

"Is that any way of treating the only people you've convinced to follow you blindly?" Salem said.

"You would know what that looks like," Shine said. "But I made them no false promises, nor did I tell them any lies. If they are blind followers at this stage, it couldn't be my fault. And I still fail to see what this has to do with our real purpose. You're trying to trip me up, and if you succeed, it won't help you any more than me. That's why it baffles me why you're trying."

Salem glared at her.

"You think I will trip you up?" Shine guessed. "But I'm really not trying to. I want the truth, is all. If I could trick you into anything, it wouldn't do any good. I need you to do what I want because you want to, or it won't work. I only know how to persuade through reason and truth. Is that not good enough nowadays?"

[A question I ask myself many times interacting with the people in this culture.]

Salem was getting tired of dancing around it, even if Shine was infuriating her.

"Well, what is the question you want to ask me?" she said tightly.

"Questions, actually," Shine said. "I'd like to test your understanding. You see, it's not really you I'm after. It's the gods. But I suspect they'll not be too happy with you if we summon them, and I must be prepared for that possibility. So I need to know where we are. I'd like to see what you understand. If it's more than those foolish gods, then we're probably in a good place. If it's less, then my job becomes a lot harder. Does that sound fair?"

"You want to know if I know more than the gods?" 

"If they are, as I believe, posers, it's not implausible," Shine pointed out.

"And you think they are?" Salem said.

"My goodness, woman, did you not pay attention to anything you read in that book?" Shine sounded offended almost, but not the way Salem expected her to be. "And to what we spoke of before? Now you are making me angry. Was it not clear enough that I don't serve those two fakes? There's another God that I serve and the real deal. If you don't think so, that's one thing, but have the decency to admit that I think I know my own mind."

"First, very few humans know their own minds," Salem said.

"Lumping yourself in with the rest of us there, I hope," Shine irritated her by tacking on.

"Don't interrupt me."

"Sorry."

"And second, the presence of a third does not mean the other two are false," Salem finished. "If this is your position, it's not one I've ever heard of before from anyone else."

"There was one other person who thought so, but they left this world hundreds of years ago," Shine said. "Ozpin never spoke of them to you, of course. He keeps his secrets. I'd tell you about them, but that's perhaps better left for later in this conversation. Do we have an agreement?"

"If only for the sake of curiosity, I would like to hear just what questions you think the gods cannot answer," Salem said.

"There is still the one that they left you with many years ago," Shine said.

Salem frowned.

"But that's too hard for now," Shine said. "I can start with something easier... There's so many places to begin there... but I think the most helpful one will be this: What is the difference between good and evil?"

"Excuse me?" Salem didn't think that would be it.

"I don't believe they could answer this," Shine said. "From all I hear of them, they're dualists. They hold up the ideal of light and darkness having to be equal or complementary to each other, though even so, the elder was still stronger, and that goes to show how even liars mix some truths in because they are undeniable. But even so, there is no real winner with the two of them, is there? What does it even mean to be good or evil when even gods themselves can't decide on it? I can't get an answer out of anyone else, but you don't like the gods. Perhaps you have one."

[If you recall, Shine asked Yang more than once how to know the difference between right and wrong, and Yang never had an answer for her, nor did anyone else. That makes sense in light of the history they were told.]

"Do you mean that you intend to sit here and discuss philosophy while I have one of your own hostage?" Salem really thought Shine would have begun to bargain with her by now.

Shine raised an eyebrow. "What does that have to do with it?"

"What does...? You don't care?" Salem began to think Cinder had misled her.

Shine, not being a liar, wouldn't say that just to psych Salem out, if such a thing was possible.

And with her typical ability to flip like a switch, her sudden intensity almost caught even Salem off guard.

She leaned forward, eyes blazing with anger for a moment.

Salem didn't care if people were angry--it only fueled her--but she didn't quite understand how Shine had gone from 0 to 100 over that question, and she made a move like she might have to summon Grimm just in case.

"What do you think?" Shine asked in a different tone.

"It would seem you do," Salem said.

"Very good." Shine was killingly sarcastic--and no one had spoken to Salem like that in thousands of years, if ever. In fact, Salem didn't remember any time at all, and the tone surprised her.

"Are you threatening me, girl?" she asked.

"You'd like that." Shine stood up. Salem tightened her grip on the table.

"But no," Shine finished.

Salem paused, puzzled. "You're not?"

"Why are you surprised? This is your house. Why would I presume to threaten you in your own house?" Shine asked. "Aren't you threatening me?"

Salem frowned. "Yes."

"And what do you want me to do?" Shine demanded. "I came here to tell you what I agreed to tell you. Are you threatening me to make sure I keep voluntarily doing it? Or do you want more?"

This question was more to Salem's liking.

"Suppose I would return him to you in exchange for the two Relics?" she said.

"And this obvious ploy would gain me what?" Shine said.

"You would get your beloved charge back," Salem said, not sure why Shine was asking her that.

"And you'll use the Relics to kill us all," Shine pointed out.

Salem wasn't used to people having any logical objections to her deals.

"I didn't say that," she said.

"What else would you do with it?" Shine asked. "Unless you gave me your word you wouldn't."

"I could do that," Salem began to offer more slyly. "If you bring them here first."

"And what is your word worth when you already broke it enough times while we were on the way here?" Shine put a hand to her chin. "So, let's look at this my way: I give you the Relics, and I get one person back and then lose him and the entire rest of the team and world. Or, I continue with this and lose only one. I'm not great at math, Salem, but even I can put that one together. Goodness knows I love Mercury and would hate to have anything happen to him, but I wouldn't save him by giving you what you want. And your belief in my shortsightedness offends me. In fact..."

She suddenly slammed the table, which, while it didn't make Salem jump, did catch her off guard.

"You actually had the gall to do something to ruin any faint trust we might have in you to begin with to get you to cooperate with us," Shine said. "And at your presumption that it's my goal in coming here, your best move would have been to play along with me and not touch a hair on any of their heads."

Salem stared at her, angry and also baffled still as to what she was doing.

"I'm appalled at how bad you are at this," Shine said. "Did that Grimm pond addle your brain so much that you can't understand basic diplomacy? Is it true that you can't resist it?"

"How dare you!" Salem exclaimed, angry now. "I ought to rip you limb from limb."

"Try," Shine said.

Pause.

"What?" Salem said.

"Go ahead, try." Shine threw her hands up. "You couldn't before. And I'm not a fool, Salem. That time I stabbed you, it left a mark, didn't it? I can sense it."

"You can--" Salem paused.

Then she put a hand to her side.

"It didn't leave a mark," she said.

"Oh, no? Check," Shine challenged her.

"You impudent little girl, I will do no such thing because you told me to," Salem said.

"Then I'll continue thinking I'm right." Shine sounded like a child, almost, to Salem.

"So this is what becomes of your philosophy?" Salem said surreptitiously. "After all those fine words, you show your true colors, Miss Likstar."

Shine laughed.

Salem frowned again.

Shine shook her head. "Oh, you keep trying so hard."

This was open mockery beyond anything Salem had ever heard.

"What did you say to me?" she suddenly almost screamed.

Shine's sword appeared back in her hand and gleamed brightly.

Salem found the light blinding, though light didn't usually affect her at all.

Then Shine lowered it. "Sorry, I wondered what you would do."

"What I would...?" Salem repeated.

"I didn't come here to threaten you." Shine put the sword down. "Good thing for you, too. I would certainly do a better job if I had. But I wanted to see how far you would try to threaten me. I'm rather disappointed that you resorted to such tricks. I had hoped you'd be interested in my higher ambitions at diplomacy. But if this is all you are capable of, this was over before it started. I should go."

She turned.

The doors in front of her slammed.

A magical circle appeared under her feet, or it had always been there.

"Did you think I would just let you go?" Salem asked her.

Shine turned to look at her--and even now, she had no fear.

"A door slam and a magic circle?" she said, like it was a two-bit magician's trick. "Really?"

Salem's magic always struck fear into the hearts of even the boldest of men, and this reaction miffed her.

"Your mockery won't spare you suffering," she said.

"If I don't make it out of this castle, it's likely the others will take the Relics and leave," Shine said. "But I only point this out to show how irrational your plan is."

"I'm not as big a fool as you think," Salem said to her coldly. "Do you think I don't know that your partner is here with a handful of those fools, trying to rescue the boy even as we speak? This was all only a distraction, was it not?"

Shine blinked at her.

Salem thought she'd finally managed to throw her off and that this would be easy from here. [I really think Salem's overconfidence is hilarious, but considering how everyone on the show always falls for her plots, no matter how obvious they are, I guess she's never had to question it.]

"Caught that, did you?" was what Shine said instead.

Salem glared. "You dare to provoke me after that? They'll never leave here alive."

Shine laughed at her again.

Salem clenched her fist, and Grimm arms began to surround the magic circle.

Shine ignored them.

"Salem, let me explain something to you." She put her sword at the wall like it was a classroom pointer. "I'm well aware that you can sense what goes on around the Grimm. I suspected you would know they came into this castle at some point. But you seem to have misunderstood something. Your Grimm are terrified of us."

Salem tilted her head but said nothing.

Shine continued evenly. "That said, they won't do much damage to us. Your only human asset is Tyrian, who is no match for my partner--who could have done this himself, honestly, if I wasn't worried about trip wires. But with help, it should be easy as pie for them. I should think by now they're either long gone or will soon be gone. All I need to do is keep you here long enough for them to finish the job."

"Keep me here?"

"Not that I think you could stop them, but I wanted to have our chat."

"Then I will leave you here and go and kill them now." Salem finally declared exactly what Shine knew she would.

"Very well," Shine said as Salem began to move past her. "You can try, but before you do, one more thing."

Salem turned just slightly.

Shine, with all the sass expected of her by her friends, kicked aside one of the Grimm arms--and none of them had touched her yet; they were too scared--and then she stepped out of the magic circle like it wasn't there.

"Just so you know, magic cannot bind me if I know it's coming," Shine said. "And I took precautions before I came in here to seal myself against any sort of magical binding. Cinder tipped me off as to what you thought our weaknesses were, and it was limited as it was, but since I knew... well, you wouldn't have gone into a trap you knew was one without some precautionary measures, right?"

Salem stared at her.

[Dang, Shine has got almost as much nerve as Salem herself, considering she took on gods with just magic. This should be interesting to see.]