When they finally touched down in Argus, the team got a surprise when they walked in the doors of the main building.

Shine and Wally, with Grace this time, were waiting there for them.

Everyone stopped and stared at them for a second before the girls and Oscar and Jaune ran forward to hug them.

Shine and Wally sprang up to hug them back.

Grace, who was in a baby carrier/car seat, just cooed at them.

"I don't understand--why are you here?" Emerald asked them. "We were all gone."

"It didn't take long for us both to decide that if you guys all lived through this, we were going to be here," Shine said. "It stings that we can't go to these fights with you, but at least we can be here, waiting."

"That's so sweet," Pyrrha said, starting to cry. "I'm actually really glad you're here. There's so much to talk about..."

"They couldn't wait till I had a chance to clean off first," Cinder said.

"You really think they care?" Mercury commented to her.

"No, but I do." She frowned. "Besides, the last thing I need is another person lecturing me for doing something so 'stupid'."

"Oh, well, Shine's lecture will make all of ours seem mild." Mercury clapped her on the shoulder, making her lurch forward and hiss.

"I'm still recovering there, you jackass!"

"Sorry, I forgot, okay? I'm still sore too."

"Oh really?" Cinder smacked him.

Mercury flinched. "Hey, we all got beaten up, no need to make it personal."

"You should really be more gentle with girls," Royal said, passing Mercury with a knowing look.

"Oh really, I need your advice now?" Mercury followed him, annoyed. "Last I checked, I have a girlfriend, and you don't."

"Emerald is more tolerant," Royal said.

"Tolerant?"

"I'm glad they're up to being so annoying," Yang said, yawning as she followed. "But, boy, are they loud."

Actually, Cinder had only really got lectured by Winter towards the latter half of the ride back, once everyone had calmed down.

Winter had just said that she should never pull anything like that again, and they'd be watching to make sure she didn't. 

Cinder suspected Winter was trying to say she'd been worried, but privately, she didn't think there was any reason. She never wanted to do anything like this ever again.

How did Pyrrha say she didn't regret it? Getting treated like that was a nightmare... Well, perhaps just dying fast would have not been as unpleasant to think about..

Then Cinder realized how weird that thought was and immediately dropped it.

[Yeah, it makes you think how odd this would be still, huh?]

"Where is Cinder?" Shine was already asking, as she didn't see her yet. "I see everyone I was worried about except... Oh, there she is."

"I was just about to say I found her." Wally was standing behind Cinder before she'd even known he'd moved. "Hey, Cinder... Actually you're in better shape than I expected. I guess you won't let a little thing like the Baba Tribe get you down."

His cheerful attitude about it just made her feel worse. Everyone was being way too nice--it wasn't natural.

"Cinder." Shine made her way over and hugged her, despite the dust that was till covering Cinder from head to toe, though some of it she'd managed to get off while on the ship.

"What did they do, though, throw dust on you?" Wally asked.

"We both fell down a pit," Royal said. "I'm still pretty sore actually." He was moving like a tin soldier. "I guess I should go to the medical room. Don't start the party without me."

"Never." Wally waved at him. "Just go... Oh, who's this?"

He noticed Esmeralda, who was gaping at him.

"Did I do something weird?" Wally asked.

"You're so fast," Esmeralda stated bluntly.

"Oh, well, I get that a lot." Wally winked.

She was confused.

"Is this the girl you mentioned?" Shine looked at Esmeralda, letting Cinder go. "She's older than I pictured. Not really a girl."

"I'm not sure how old I am." Esmeralda shrugged. "Time gets confused when you live underground always... Who are you?"

"Shine," Shine said.

"Wait, you're the Shine they keep talking about?" Esmeralda said. "Oh...wow."

"Why do you guys always make me sound so strange to people?" Shine said reproachfully. "I'm sure she's expecting me to be completely eccentric and wild now. I'll disappoint her."

"Oh, give you a few hours," Mercury said. "I'm sure you'll find something shocking to say to her too. Try reading her books."

"What?" Esmeralda said. "I don't have books."

"He means that Shine knows stuff about people," Meridian explained. "She doesn't do it on me much, but if you're hiding something, she figures out what it is. Even if you don't know what it is yourself. She gets a 6th sense. It's frightening but cool."

"It's not that consistent," Shine argued.

"It is when you need it to be," Raven muttered. "Still, I'm glad you're here. We need to talk about the tribe."

"Is all you see me as an information dumping machine?" Shine said.

"Of course not," Pyrrha said. "You're comforting to have around, that's all. I always feel like we're not so alone in this when you two visit."

"That's about the nicest thing anyone has said to us," Wally said. "And honestly, I feel less alone in being a weirdo when we hang out with you guys too. Though I can't tell which group of students is the weirdest."

"They're all weird in their own ways," Shine said. "But this world is fun."

"This...world?" Esmeralda said oddly, then, "Can you tell things about me?"

"Cinder didn't say much about you," Shine said. "No time to fit more."

She looked at her up and down. "Well, you seem sweet and innocent and eager to learn. I like those qualities in a person, so I'm sure we'll get along just fine."

"I don't know if any of that was right." Esmeralda looked disappointed. "I've always been told I'm slow to learn, stupid, and selfish."

"That was just the tribe messing with your head," Cinder said flatly. "Don't believe a word they said."

"I hope that's true," Esmeralda said. "Because I don't think I like what they told me at all. But I'm still trying to believe that they're gone... You must have killed nearly half of them if not more."

"We haven't tallied it up yet," Raven said. "But I already know the council won't care how many we killed. We'll never get cited for excessive violence for this case."

"I'd be more surprised if they didn't think we should have finished them all off," Winter said. "But we can't afford to neglect the possibility that some of them may have been forced. We have to be just and get to the truth of the matter. I know some people will wish to rush the sentences, but that would be lazy."

"Minerva Athens might be willing to take the time," Raven said. "But the other council members are idiots."

"Shush, Raven, someone on this base might hear you," Winter said. "You'll make it worse."

Raven just looked ruffled.

"I guess we have a lot to catch up on," Shine said. "Actually, we've been here for hours. We stopped by some of your houses first to check in, but, as we thought, you weren't back yet. But Ben and Polly did tell us more about what your plan was, as they knew it. Also, I hope you don't mind, but I did cook some dinner. I thought you'd be too tired."

"I'm sure my mother would have..." Pyrrha said.

"Well...I kind of made enough for a lot of people," Shine said. "I'm so used to it now, it's just natural. I mean, we make food for dozens of people where we live now."

"Do you still live in that big school?" Qrow asked.

"For now. We're thinking of getting in our own place soon," Wally said. "I appreciate that our friends there are fine with us living with them, but I'm just not used to not being independent. Anyway they need the room for their students."

"It was so sweet of you to do that." Pyrrha hadn't gotten past the "dinner" part. "Everyone, you should come with us."

"We always seemed to do that after a big mission, but you know what I'm fine with that, " Neptune said. "Yang?"

"If I don't have to make food, I'm  good," Yang said.

"The base did have some rations ready..." Marrow had appeared to welcome them back. "But they're not very good..."

"It's fine, I'm sure we'll have to feed these miscreants something while they're waiting for trial," Raven said. "No need for it to go waste."

"Good point," Marrow said. "So...uh, you did it?"

"You bet we did, Wags!" Robyn pumped a fist. "Somehow... Hey, you all have to tell us how you stopped the big, bad witch herself."

"Please can that wait till tomorrow?" Qrow said. "I'm still not sure what I saw."

"Was it at all like Salem?" Marrow asked.

"No, somehow it wasn't," Winter said. "I cannot believe I'm saying  this, but I think Shine was right about Salem all along. She was always more human than someone who truly wished to be a monster would be."

"I'm used to hearing I'm right," Shine said. "But I admit, even I'm curious about why you think that now."

"Later," Winter said.

"I can't wait," Wally said.

* * *

The team brought Esmeralda with them--and Kate and Taylor, just since they felt like leaving them at the base was too impersonal and overwhelming.

Jasmine and Ali just took the emergency housing option. Ali was going to stay in the emergency unit anyway; they wanted to be sure he had no more hallucinations or other symptoms.

Kate got checked out before she left the base. They said that she had some scars that were expected and she was underfed, but she was safe to go home and recover there, but she should come back if she noticed any unusual symptoms.

Kate understood what that meant, even if Taylor didn't.

"That does make me wonder," Jaune said to the others, aside, "didn't anyone ever...you know, have babies or something in the tribe?"

"You would think, with the things they did..." Pyrrha said.

Later on the answer to this they got was from Hypnosia. She told them that the grimm usage seemed to make the female bandits unable to have children, perhaps the male ones too. Something about how it didn't mix with human DNA well.

She didn't know if removing it would have fixed the problem or not. Most of them likely wouldn't live long enough to find out.

As for the prisoners, if it had happened, she assumed they'd all been killed too soon for it to be noticed. Even Kate had only been there for less than 2 months.

Thankfully, Kate did not have any further complications either in that area or any other medical issue.

The mood at the dinner later was not as upbeat as usual because they knew how difficult the experience must have been.

Emerald didn't want to talk that much about it, but Mercury told them what he'd seen of the hideout before and what the bandits treated them like.

Cinder was very tired, but she told them a little of it also. 

The team listened to it somberly, and Shine and Wally with their usual quiet attentiveness mixed with lighthearted remarks from Wally attempting to lighten the mood.

By now they were used to him and didn't get offended, but some stuff just wasn't funny, and he knew better than to joke about it.

"Even so, I see clear signs of miraculous intervention," Shine said, after a lull in the tale. "It seems even Mala's own spitefulness worked in your favor. That has to be a God thing. She certainly never meant to spare you any pain."

"I agree with you," Cinder amazed the others by saying. "Still..."

"Still working on the part where Mala knew you," Wally said, for by now they'd gone over that. "Just make this weirder."

"You don't think she's at fault, right?" Weiss said.

"No, of course not," Shine said. "Did someone say so?"

"Just wondering." Weiss didn't want to say that Cinder has asked.

But Shine knew Weiss wouldn't have said it without a reason and gave Cinder a look.

"That's been talked over already," Cinder said. "And I'm tired of talking..."

"Are you going to tell her she shouldn't have done it?" Raven asked them.

"Nah," Wally said. "I do stuff like that all the time--I can't talk. I'm glad it worked out though. Good people can really defy the odds if they're not done doing what they need to do in the world."

"We know people who've come back from the dead," Shine said. "Not just here, but other places also, at least nearly the same. I think beating the odds is our thing. I can't tell Cinder not to do something I've also done. I've let myself get captured many times. It's a very elucidating experience...but I admit, the tribe sounds more horrific than most of the people I've been captured by...at least horrific in a different way. I think my courage would have failed me with them."

"No, it wouldn't have," Emerald said. "You would have given it to them. We know you too well."

"What would you have told Mala if you met her?" Oscar asked. "I'm just wondering. I wish we could have reached her...not that she did not deserve what happened, but I'm sorry because I know she's going to be forever tormented by it."

"Oscar, do you remember The Great Divorce book I had?" Shine said.

"Yeah, we've all read it now," Weiss said.

"Do you remember where Lewis wrote that people in the end will say 'I was always in Heaven' or 'I was always in Hell' because their life will be filtered through the lens of its final destination?" Shine said. "Like a puzzle fitting together to show you that all things led back to one picture?"

"I remember the quotes," Oscar said. "I think you added you own spin."

"True...but what I mean is, Mala was in hell already. In her heart. It would have been getting her out of it if she'd been able to turn away. But we do not save anyone--it is God who saves, and God who heals," Shine reminded them.

"We didn't try, though," Ruby said. "I didn't feel like it. Is that wrong?"

"I wouldn't have either," Wally said.

"I doubt anyone who had so much Grimm in their mind could have changed," Shine said. "But then, we know that there are exceptions to that. But she chose it, unlike Salem. She had her chances at redemption in her life, it sounds like, and she scorned them. That is not on you."

Esmeralda was listening to this without commenting, but she asked Thetis, "Is it all right if I have any more?"

"Of course you can," Thetis said, putting more of the food onto her plate. "You look like you could use it. You're thin as a rail."

"Normally, I don't eat this much," Esmeralda said sheepishly, "but this is the best food I've ever had."

"Oh, I'm sure that's just flattery," Thetis said.

"Actually," Kate said flatly, "not really. The food in the camp was bland, mostly, or stale or just poorly made."

"Hard to get fresh food in a cave," Taylor remarked. "I'm used to farm fresh vegetables, but for frozen, these aren't bad."

Thetis played off his country prejudice against city food with the same sense of humor Pyrrha had about similar things.

Kate did kick him to make him realize he'd been rude, but he didn't understand.

"Maybe we should talk about something else." Pyrrha had begun to wonder if it was in good form to talk about this when Esmeralda could hear them, whether she was paying attention or not.

"Just one more question," Oscar said. "You think we were right to kill as many of them as we did...? I mean I didn't, but..."

"I did," Emerald said seriously. "And--I'm not sorry."

She said the last defiantly, like she thought Shine or Wally would be angry.

Wally did look uncomfortable. "Well...you know how I feel about it, but I've told you I'm not in the same position as you. I think you all did what you had to. I know you're not bloodthirsty people."

"Come to think of it," Pyrrha said, "the person I knocked off the edge must have died. I didn't think of it as killing him, but if Cinder and Royal could not get out, he couldn't have either."

"If it makes you feel better--" Cinder was picking at what was left of her food. "--I think the Grimm finished them off, not the fall. They probably would have survived the tumble if they had any Aura, but the monsters wanted their own back."

"Ew," Neptune said.

"Yeah, it was." Cinder frowned. 

"I still feel somewhat responsible," Pyrrha said. "But I'll live with it." She looked determined.

"No need to feel guilty," Shine said. "They were all going to kill you. And they were hardly human anymore."

"But is that just justifying it?" Weiss wondered.

"I think they knew it would happen to them," Cinder said, "from how Mala talked. It didn't seem to bother her."

"Then she was a fool," Wally said. "But we knew that."

"Maybe you'd feel better if you recalled that life and death are in God's hands," Shine said. "You were just the vessels of it. If they had needed to survive, they would have. I do not know how often God intervenes in our schemes against each other--after all, I hardly think it was God's will what Cain killed Abel--but God does allow choice too. There is a verse: 'Those who live by the sword will die by the sword.' I've told it to you before. The bandits were judged by the same judgment they measured out to other people. In that way it's not unfair. And they did monstrous things that must be stopped. At times it's better to kill for the right reason than to spare for the wrong reason. 'To everything there is a season and a time to every purpose under heaven'."

Oscar recognized that she was quoting Ecclesiastes 3, one of the most somber books of the bible.

"'A time to be born,'" he picked up the quote with her, and she nodded and went on: "'And a time to die. A time to plant, and a time to pluck what is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to gain, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to throw away; a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; a time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.'" [This is chapter 3, vv. 2-8]

https://youtu.be/pKP4cfU28vM

["Turn Turn Turn"--The Byrds]

"Well, I'm surprised, Likstar." Theo came to lean in the doorway of the kitchen. "Miss 'Mercy', who wouldn't even let us off this one when we wanted to." He jerked his head at Cinder.

She didn't react, but Royal, who was in the dining area, glared at him.

"I knew it was not our place." Shine was the only one who Theo never seemed to get to. "But I've been reminded of something you and I once discussed. Do you remember when one of the brothers Grimm accused our God of being crueler and more harsh because of the command He gave to wipe out other nations?"

"I remember that. I never did get a full explanation for it," Theo said. "I just decided it didn't matter. The brothers were our problem, not some other nation..."

"But you've never fully accepted our faith because of it, have you?" Shine said.

"I figure it's real and all, but would I really want to know a God like that so intimately?" Theo said. "Doesn't sound like one you could sit down and have a drink with."

"Does any god sound like that?" Winter asked.

"Well, Jesus drank wine," Shine said. "At least I believe so, based on the Last Supper, but perhaps it's better not to speculate about that. The point is this was an obstacle for you, and I did not go into it then because it was so much to explain... Frankly, I did not want to explain what the nations were doing because I did not want to darken your minds. Knowing evil is a burden, and it's best to only know as much as you need...but, as the evil has come to you in this world, as I always knew it would sooner or later...I suppose it can't hurt you more to explain. The nations spoken of did the same things as the Baba tribe. Some of them did even more and even worse, things we cannot speak of where children might hear us. Or where I might, even--it's too upsetting. The Bible only gives a few details, but it paints a pretty gruesome picture even with that. They didn't just sacrifice prisoners, they sacrificed their own children. Israel was supposed to wipe them out (though some scholars say that was figurative and they did not actually wipe them out, because they were also told not to intermarry with them), so that they would not learn their ways. Because people get curious, just as they got drawn to the Baba Tribe for the promise of power and money and later could not get back out. Sin ensnares a person. Israel did not do what they were supposed to, as you may know, and in the end it destroyed them also. But God always preserved some of them, some who would not do such things, or some who could be turned back...as you have found yourselves."

Theo gave her a long look.

"That does put it into perspective," Qrow said. "I now understand why you didn't think it was the same. The brothers wiped out people who rebelled against them, no matter the reason, but people who do those things to each other, to kids, they have no mercy from me either."

"Indeed," Winter agreed, with a frown.

"But that reminds me of something you told me," Qrow said to Shine. "You said that in the name of God evil things  will be done also...and you always warned that the gods leaving was not an end to the evil or the Grimm, but something about this...you're not surprised."

Shine didn't deny it.

"You always knew," Qrow said slowly. "That someone would use the Grimm like this, that people like the tribe would appear. You knew it all along."

The others all looked at Shine and Wally.

Even Wally, the one they were used to not thinking that far ahead, wasn't looking any too stunned right then.

He rubbed his neck. "Well, guys, we've seen it before. Even before I was a DJ, I saw it. I just got a lot better at stopping it after becoming a DJ."

"Your world has all this attention focused on the Grimm usually, when it defines evil," Shine said. "I've said that was to blind you to the real cause of evil. The Grimm do cause it, don't mistake me. They help us...but they do not control us, not entirely. Not at first, anyway. I knew that these things I see in my world, and every other world, would pop up here once the Grimm were not there to take the blame for it all, or were at least less of a threat. Evil will not go away just because you dismantle one of its forms. It's in our nature, and it's in the world. But that was no reason to discourage you. I warned you as best as I could."

"I'll give you that, you did warn us," Raven spoke. "But it was not what I pictured when you did. I never thought anything like this would happen, at least not again, not like Salem."

"Salem may have kept it at bay," Shine said. "In a strange way her constant prowling for followers kept most of the people who'd take advantage of this looking for her. And she killed them once they weren't of use, to keep any of them from trying to figure out how to overpower her."

Cinder sat up strangely and gaped at Shine.

"Wait," she said, "did you...did you think I would learn how to do it? Is that why you tried so hard to turn me to destroying her with your gifts instead?"

"Well, Cinder, truthfully, I did not know if you would succeed, while she was around," Shine said. "But had we faced her without you, even had we forced the magic out of your body against your will, you could have been obsessed with it. It never really lets go until you let it go. I did not know what would happen if we left you to yourself. I'm glad I did not find out. Aren't you?"

"Whoa..." Oscar was stunned.

"Every time I think you're out of surprises about those days," Qrow said, "you manage to pull something else out. How much do you think ahead?"

"That was not hard," Shine said. "In fact I've seen it happen before..." She sipped some tea slowly. "It's not hard to see it coming once you've seen it already. Evil is not creative, it's just appealing to people, unfortunately. I don't know what would have happened, but I had to try to turn her to the right side while I could. But don't give me the credit. If Cinder had really wanted to keep on, she would have, and if she hadn't secretly started to hate the control of the Grimm, she would never have listened to us. I played off her wish to be free because I knew it was a good wish, not to exploit her. I had hope it was enough. Freedom is a valuable thing to want, but only if you know what freedom actually is. It's not a lack of duty or service to something--it's loyalty to the right thing, the thing that will keep you free. I used it on Salem too, but it only worked on them because it was something I wanted too, and I always have. If I had lied about it, it would never have worked. So it's not me you should be crediting, but that."

"Hmm," Oscar said. "I mean, I want to be free too... Oh...uh, that must be why I never had such a  hard time understanding you." He said this to Cinder. "And Salem too. I kind of understood her--I just didn't want to think I did because I thought it meant Ozpin was more weak to her that way, but in the end, I saw it was just that both of us didn't want to be controlled by magic or the gods."

"Ozpin sought security in being their servant," Shine said, "not having to think for himself. Our God does not allow us that security. He tests us to be sure we're doing what we chose to do. That frightens many people. But it's the only way to be sure you're not a blind follower. Salem understands that more than Ozpin, but I'm glad they both found peace about it in the end."

"I feel like that's a thing a lot you people have in common," Ruby said. "You all want to be free. I don't think that was ever my motivation. Oscar put us on that path."

"Love is not any motivation to be ashamed of either, Ruby," Shine said. "I just believe that love and freedom are one and the same in the end. They're compatible. That's why Wally and I work so well together."

"But it does explain a lot," Raven said. "Why all of us ex-bad guys feel like we have more in common with you, Shine, even if you are preachy and inflexible about certain things. All of us mostly got out of the bad stuff, or the good stuff, to feel free."

"I always get my compliments mixed from you, Raven," Shine said. "But I appreciate that they're honest."

"I think you do the same," Raven replied dryly.

"I just wonder..." Cinder curled her hand around her own cup. "...if I could have been like Mala. I still don't understand what really changed things. Are some people just bound by nature to become like that?'

"Bound by nature, if left unchecked," Shine said. "But all of us are bound to destroy ourselves. And not always through violence. You can rot away from lack of anything better just as easily. In fact, it's more common. But grace intervened in your case. It could have in hers. There's always a light, no matter how bad the darkness is. It might have been that woman in there." She nodded at the living room, which was where most of the non-main team group was sitting and where Esmeralda was.

Theo was shaking his head to himself. "Do you swear, Likstar, that your God only judged people for doing things that were messed up? That the people who were destroyed really were all the ones guilty...? What about kids?"

"Again, that might have been hyperbole," Shine said. "But...I'm sure you've seen that kids can be twisted also... Perhaps it is not their fault, but without our authority, which was not introduced till much later than these judgments, what way was there to undo it? Death is the only other option. So I don't know, but I can swear that as far as I have known God, I have never known Him to destroy anything without good reason. Also, the more I know, the more good the reason seems to be. God does not make mistakes. But we do."

"A lot makes more sense after learning about the tribe," Oscar said. "You couldn't keep letting things like that happen.  No one could who had a heart."

"Fine," Theo said. "I guess I can accept that."

"As in...you accept that it's no longer an issue?" Winter said.

"I guess," Theo said. "Don't expect me to be as sentimental as all of you about it, but I can't argue that there's only one punishment for people like that either."

"But...as it stands now, what should we do with the rest of them?" Winter said. "I suppose the Council may decide to execute them all. But, Shine, Wally, I would appreciate your input on this matter. You know much more of the spiritual matters than we do. Should we punish people if they were under the influence of Grimm?"

Shine and Wally exchanged a look.

"In the Bible," Shine said, "no one was ever punished for what they did while they were being possessed by demons. But there was a judgement on people who were influenced by them but did the things of their own accord. I would have to know each person's individual story to know what I think, but the rule I would give you is that anyone who joined the tribe willingly, and did not turn aside from it as that one woman and man that you mentioned did, should be put to death. Unless you truly think they have had a change of heart. You should be able to test that. And then it's up to you and the Council. I won't interfere with justice on that level, not my place. If you're asking about that guilt, I'd say they were guilty, but that does not mean that they have to be punished without mercy. That's something you need to decide. If you were to let them live and they did not actually repent, they could start it all up again, so you'd need to be very sure they were serious."

"I respect that answer," Winter said. "And I agree... But as for the ones we think they forced into it?"

"Anyone who was forced into it should not be treated like they are guilty, straight up," Shine said. "That's my best judgment. If, once the Grimm are out of their heads and they have time to heal, they seem sane and not vicious, there is no reason to punish them further, in my mind. But unfortunately, people can be scarred and changed by such an experience. And some of them may choose not to let it go. In that case, you can't be sure they didn't, in a way, cooperate with what happened. If they chose it to save themselves, for example, rather than get brainwashed completely, you have a more complicated question. If you and the others decide to spare them on the condition that they were held at gunpoint, that may be up to you, but such people can cause other trouble if they do not really heal. So, take caution. That's all I can tell you."

"It can never be simple, can it?" Qrow said.

"Was it simple to get them like that?" Wally said. "A little patience is a good thing to have in times like this."

They conceded that point.