Ren and Nora arrived shortly thereafter, while Shine and Cinder were still outside.

Giving Pyrrha and Jaune a chance to warn them.

Ren took it better than they'd thought.

"But isn't it weird to have her in your house?" Nora asked.

"A little, but she seems more afraid of us than we are of her," Pyrrha said. "Come to think of it, I think she always was."

"The main thing with kids is to have fun with them," Wally was telling Jaune. "Stay in touch with your inner child."

"I was wondering more about principles and values," Jaune said.

"Hmm, I guess I do try to tell the kids to be brave," Wally said. "But I think they just need to feel important to someone. Shine's the teacher. We go together like ice cream and cake, I guess."

"I'm exhausted." Emerald had plane lag almost. "Maybe I should go--oh, but Cinder!"

"She could just stay here if she doesn't mind," Pyrrha offered tentatively. "If it's just for one day."

"That wouldn't make you uncomfortable?" Ren said.

"Ren...we slept in the same camps for two weeks, on the road, in Grimm territory, with Mind Grimm making us fight each other. Comparatively this is nothing," Pyrrha pointed out.

True.

Ren had almost forgotten those days.

The two women came back in then, and Cinder seemed calmer.

She handled Ren and Nora being there with a bit more composure than before.

She also accepted the offer to stay over because getting another place would have been impossible at this hour, at least easily. Argus was still packed; hotel rooms were scarce.

She wan't much for small talk, but with prodding she did tell them about her new job.

No one made fun of it. If anything they were amazed she was doing so well, but only Nora was tactless enough to say it was surprising out loud.

Wally quickly changed the subject.

"So, Jaune, did you really pick up guitar again?" he asked.

[Who remembers that episode?]

"Oh...yeah," Jaune said. "I just have more free time than I used to. Things have slowed down a bit at the hospital, which is a good thing. I thought I could start it up again. I mean, I know how you said not to stop pursuing creative things just because of what we've been through. It is kind of therapeutic."

"It's good," Pyrrha said. "I should get a hobby. But really, I've found an odd kind of solace in taking care of those kids."

"Solace?" Nora said. "From what? Were you sad?"

"Oh, no, not sad," Pyrrha said. "How could I be? I married the man of my dreams, and I'm doing the job I always wanted to do. I just realized that all that wasn't enough. Somehow saving people isn't the same personal contact as being there in other times. It's...chaotic and, for an only child, a bit of an adjustment for me compared to Jaune, but once I got past that, I loved it."

"So it wasn't as seamless as you made it seem," Emerald noted, sipping her tea.

"No...no, I did have a few times where I wanted to scream," Pyrrha said, though no one could picture her doing so. "But Jaune's cool headedness about it helped me rationalize that it wasn't so big a deal."

"Kids will do that if you don't have a sense of humor," Shine noted. "There are times."

"Funny, Jaune isn't normally the calm one out of the two of you," Ren observed.

"Just with this," Jaune said. "7 sisters, you know, so chaotic household stuff doesn't really faze me. They really aren't so much trouble. At first they were kind of subdued, being sad. I'm kind of glad they're more lively now."

"How long are you going to keep them?" Nora asked.

"At this point...maybe indefinitely?" Pyrrha said. "It's just 5 more years or so till some of them could move out on their own. And where would they go? I mean, it's not really that much more trouble."

"Ren, we should have taken some in," Nora said.

Ren looked terrified by that possibility.

"I...don't know if we could afford that," he said.

"We?" Shine said. "Are you living together?"

Her tone implied that was not a good thing.

Cinder gave her an odd look.

Ren and Nora looked uncomfortable.

"Well...it was more cost effective," Nora said.

"Guys," Wally said. "Come on, we told you about this."

"If you want to follow those standards, it's up to you, but we never agreed to it." Ren was prickly.

Jaune winced.

"It's...a little late now," Pyrrha tried to smooth it over.

Shine pursed her lips.

"You should just get married though," Wally said. "You've been together forever. Why didn't you?"

"We're gonna, when we can afford it," Nora said. "Geez, you act like we didn't live together as a team before."

"I never approved that arrangement," Shine said.

"But those are your standards," Ren said. "Not ours."

"They are not just mine. They exist for a reason," Shine said firmly. "There's wisdom in restraint before you've fully committed...but I see I will not sway you by arguing about it."

"I'm confused. What's the problem?" Cinder spoke for the first time.

"Ask me later." Shine didn't go into it in front of them.

"Anyway, you want to hear one of the songs?" Jaune tried to get on a safer subject.

"Sure." Wally was also eager to change the subject.

Jaune played a soothing song.

https://youtu.be/gXbNFQbJ0NI

["Lightning Bug"--A Million in Vermillion. Check them out.]

* * *

Shine and Wally also stayed, as Pyrrha usually made them when they visited. And honestly, everyone felt better about Cinder being there, including Cinder herself, if they were there.

Cinder warmed up more then to talking, at least in private, to Shine, and getting some things explained.

She also told her at length about the pilot's actions, and Shine reassured her that it didn't sound like he'd be out for revenge.

"I'll just make sure tomorrow when we get coffee," she offered. "I'm sure it's not that."

Cinder accepted this as philosophically as she was ever likely to do. "I guess it's the best offer I'll get."

"Hmm, I'm tempted to say I think I like you now," Shine remarked dryly.

"Stop it. You're just as bad as that Valkyrie twit," Cinder said.

"Don't call her that in front of me," Shine said. "Nora's a kind-hearted girl, and just because she doesn't think the way you do doesn't make her a twit."

"But you know people are stupid, even if you don't say it," Cinder insisted. "It's not like you never thought that about those idiots when they ignored your instructions."

"Yes, we all think things that are not kind," Shine admitted. "I'm no exception. But I find the less I give in to saying it and indulging it, the less I think it. I try to focus on other stuff. And not everyone is smart, but I've learned things from the less humanly intelligent that I think 'smart' people miss. And our intelligence is just a joke anyway. What does it really amount to? A slightly easier time navigating the world we've fashioned for ourselves, but not really anything of character. I enjoy being smart the way I enjoy being healthy. But it's not related to my character. So I don't see any reason to insult people about being dumb--dumb and cruel, on the other hand, that's different."

"Talking to you is exhausting," Cinder complained.

"Really?" Shine raised an eyebrow.

"You try to fit an entire book into one conversation," Cinder said

"You know, I think you like me," Shine said. "You just don't like to admit it. You don't want to like anyone, but I suspect even when we first met, you did. Because I'm not afraid of you."

She shrugged and grabbed a pillow.

"I'm going to bed. See you in the morning."

She left the room.

[Gotta love that Shine never gives a single crap about attitude.]

* * *

https://youtu.be/ysIQ7DYbRzk

["Prodigal Soul"--Switchfoot]

Ren and Nora popped in the next morning--to make sure everyone was still alive, probably.

Nora then offered to help Pyrrha entertain the kids. She was good at this...as long as you didn't leave any dangerous objects around.

Cinder asked, not so nicely, if Jaune was ever around.

She got a pretty fiery response from Pyrrha to this question that reminded her that Pyrrha did have a slight temper.

Pyrrha didn't mind taking on more of the responsibility. She liked it, and she liked not having so much attention outside the house.

It had worked out.

Cinder decided to make her exit after that, though Shine told her it wasn't that big a deal.

"But where are you going? You can't leave till later," she said.

"I'm going to request a different flight," Cinder said.

"At this short notice, that's doubtful," Shine said.

"Even so, there's something I'm going investigate while I'm here." Cinder probably couldn't resist using the more dramatic wording there.

"Other than finding that fabric?" Shine was confused.

"That's not that hard. I know where to look." Cinder had been to Argus before. "But since I'm here, I suspect the real reason Ms. Fay sent me was because some of our supplies have been suspiciously under the ordered amount lately. One time, it's a fluke. 3 or 4 times and it looks like someone is cheating."

"I see. I guess even here the most common criminals are always the greedy ones," Shine remarked. "Man, this is Wally's cup of tea. You should ask him to help."

"I don't need his help. I just need to find out where the drop is starting from and correct it," Cinder said coolly. "Then at least this entire thing wouldn't have been a waste of my time. Anyway I know how these people work. Roman's group was just like that."

"You should ask him for help. There's a lot of potential thieves here, especially if it's dust. Is it dust?"

"Some." Vaguely.

"Well, with that new vein of dust, it's sure to be a problem. People will think no one will notice with so much of it." Shine tapped her chin. "You can find him at the shipping yard. I'd go, but I am supposed to have that coffee thing. Let me know if you need help. You can't fight."

"I'm not intending to fight. Checking is not fighting," Cinder said.

"And you promise you won't try to fight it if you find the culprit in person?"

"I suspect the real culprit is outside of Argus...but on the other hand, how would the base not notice that?... But they wouldn't be dumb enough to be around to get caught," Cinder said.

"People are dumber than you expect," Shine said. "I wouldn't be too cocky, and you have to watch it. If someone recognizes you, you know what could happen."

"No one did yesterday." Cinder didn't think anyone would expect her to be doing such a menial task as this.

Shine seemed dubious.

"At least ask Emerald to help," she said. "Or Ren and Nora. They weren't on a mission today."

"Help with what?" Ren had followed them outside. "Where are you going?"

"Cinder needs to find out who's stealing dust and other stuff from the town," Shine said. "Want to help? I can't. Plus technically, you're allowed to be on the base, and I'm not."

"If it's a problem for her, it's probably one for the rest of us," Ren said. "So I'd like to find out if it's really happened.... Are you sure?"

Cinder read an insult to her in his questioning that, whether he meant it or not.

"Why would I make it up? I didn't even plan to be here."

"But you have proof?"

"I have paperwork." Cinder had thought to bring it with her.

"And you didn't mention this yesterday?" Ren said.

Because I didn't want you to join me, Cinder thought mentally, but just gave him a frosty look outwardly.

"Good, then," Shine said. "I'll catch you later, before Wally and I have to go, all right? Now where did that man go?..."

She walked away. [You know your relationship is close when you refer to them as 'that man' or 'that woman' in fond annoyance. And never do that on a first few weeks relationship.]

Now, being stuck with Ren, Cinder didn't know what to do to get rid of him. He'd never been on her radar of either important or threatening people.

Rationalizing that he'd leave if she just showed nothing was out of order, she headed to the shipping yard.

Ren followed about as silently as he usually did, messaging Nora.

* * *

"Huh, he's going to investigate something with Cinder." Nora looked up from her scroll. "That's...weird."

"Something's wrong?" Pyrrha said.

"Just a thing about shipping stuff," Nora said.

"Oh," Pyrrha said.

Nora hesitated.

"Uh...Pyrrha, I've been thinking a little," she said.

"Oh?" Pyrrha was the only one who might not have found Nora saying that funny.

Nora glanced around to make sure none of the kids were around, but they'd just gone into the backyard or off to school.

"About Shine and Wally saying we should have been more...careful," she said.

"Well, their standards are different." Pyrrha was uncomfortable with the topic.

"You followed them, right?" Nora said.

"Yes..." Pyrrha said. Then she said, "After people help you defeat gods and break curses, I suppose you trust their opinion on other things. There's a reason...and Shine gave me some interesting reading on things like that. Standards...but it's...kind of unusual here in our world. I don't think many people would take to it."

"So it's no big deal if we didn't," Nora said.

"I don't know. Do you feel like it is?" Pyrrha said.

"Well, uh... " Nora seemed uncomfortable. "To be honest, Pyrrha, there's something Ren doesn't know about."

Pyrrha blinked and then stared at her.

"Nora..." she said.

"I'm not sure all right!" Nora said, turning red. "But...I just...there's been a bit of a break in pattern for me, if you know what I mean."

"You mean?" Pyrrha didn't voice the thought.

"I mean it could be," Nora said. "But I feel fine, mostly, and being worried for nothing. Just a fluke."

"How much of one?" Pyrrha asked.

"A week..."

"A week is a long time..." Pyrrha said.

"But it can happen," Nora protested. "All the flying around.... Anyway it's no big deal, right?"

"I...don't know, Nora, it's certainly a little sooner than you intended if it is," Pyrrha said. "But we shouldn't jump to conclusions. After all, you just found out about me. Power of suggestion, maybe."

"Right, right," Nora said. "No reason to jump to conclusions.... I mean, I could...go make sure."

Pyrrha pursed her lips. "Yes, that might be a good idea, for peace of mind. But...uh, Nora, if it's....but no, I won't go there." She shrugged. "After all, it should be a happy thing if it is. And if it isn't, then it's nothing."

"Except that...you know it could happen anyway," Nora said. "I guess I just kind of got to thinking about it since last night. I mean, are we being a little too cavalier about the way we live now? All of you took all that teaching so seriously, and you seem to be doing well. But Ren wasn't into that, and I guess I thought I shouldn't look into it too much because he'd be uncomfortable."

"Nora...if you want to know more, you shouldn't let him stop you," Pyrrha said. "You're two different people."

"I know, but we've always been together," Nora said. "What helps one of us would help both together, you know? But then again, look at Emerald. Mercury wasn't going with her vision, and she just dumped him. Still, I don't think they were as serious as we were. I mean, we've been planning to get married and to do all the stuff you guys did, just at a slower pace."

"The trouble is that it's a lot of commitment to be thinking about in the future but not be ready for now," Pyrrha said slowly, "if you want to be secure. I mean, that's why taking chances like that isn't a good idea if you're not ready."

"It's not like it was my plan," Nora said "But even if it's not, are we doing this wrong?"

"I think there's...I mean, there's still ways to turn it around," Pyrrha said. "But I admit, I do appreciate the finality of being married and now that we're in this for life. Jaune and I just didn't think we should waste any of our precious time. But that was us, and I didn't want to tell anyone else how to live."

"I kind of feel like you're just trying to be nice and not say it's wrong," Nora said.

Pyrrha wasn't sure what to say.

Nora sighed. "I guess I should go to the clinic..."

"I can go with you," Pyrrha offered. "I have free time for a few hours...not doing anything else."

"Okay," Nora said.

[I know you weren't expecting that much reality.

But even if this was slice of life, I wanted to keep up with my theme of showing all sides of it. Just like the bandits and Grimm and money issues are still present, there's other real life stuff that's, in a group as large as this team, bound to happen. Not everyone is going to do things the same way. I thought it'd be more realistic to show that.

Not that my take on it is popular, but it is what it is.]

* * *

"My, my, if it isn't Cinder," Roman said when he saw that dubious woman in the yard. "What are you doing here? I thought you'd gone off and crawled under a rock."

"I'm here on business, Roman." Cinder cut her eyes at him.

"I'm sure you are, but I'm not interested," Roman said airily. "I've got an actual job to do now, none of your scheming. Go kick puppies and drown kittens somewhere else."

Ren did not seem to find this amusing, at least. He just looked on blandly.

Good thing. If he'd laughed, Cinder might have blown a gasket. Roman grated on her nerves more than ever now.

"Do you think I'd be here if it was under those pretenses?" Ren asked instead.

"Hmm, I suppose that's a good point. You're too straight-laced." Roman put his cane to his chin. 

Neo walked up and then glared at Cinder.

Words appeared in front of her.

:How's the stab scar doing?

"Oh, just fine. How's your arm?" Cinder said.

Neo shrugged lightly.

"She's as nasty as ever," Cinder said.

Neo glared.

"I imagine Neo's niceties don't extend to people like you." Roman feigned regret.

"I'm here to find out who's stiffing my town on their shipments." Cinder barely controlled her anger. "And I was told you were the person to ask about that. If that's not correct, I'd be happy to move on. Elated, in fact."

"If you're serious, then it wounds me that you'd suspect my men," Roman said. "Why, most of them are quite honest now. And you think Neo wouldn't have caught it if someone was sneaking extra?"

Neo nodded fiercely.

"Then explain this." Cinder held up some sheets of paper. "This is the ordered amount, and this is the received amount. We keep careful track. We don't have money to throw around."

"You could have made that up to get compensation," Roman objected.

"The watermark of the city manager is on it." Cinder pointed. "And I'm not asking for compensation. I just want the problem to be rectified. And if there's a deliberate culprit, I want them caught."

"But isn't that a little rich coming from you?" Roman said. "I mean, you're a criminal, or you were. And you want to stand in the way of some other enterprising fellow? I mean, I don't allow it myself, but you have to acknowledge their skill."

Cinder cut her eyes again.

"We're no longer encouraging crime," Ren spoke up. "And if you don't want to cooperate, I can call Winter and tell her, and she'll finish this."

"Oh, no, no, I'll help," Roman said at once. "Geez, I didn't know you were such friends with Fall."

"Stop saying my name," Cinder said.

"I'm not her friend, but this is important to Argus also," Ren said. 

"Hmm." Roman examined the papers. "Well, there is less here than there should be. But only a little here and there. Perfect way to not get caught. If it was a huge amount, I'd say it was a clerical error."

Neo looked also.

"Well, if we check our records, we should find who was moving those orders," Roman said. "What place were they shipped to again?"

"Eurus." Cinder knew there was no point hiding this fact. He'd find out anyway.

"That's not a big spot," Roman said. "I'm not sure I even know where that is.... Let's see..." He pulled up a map. "Oh...that little town between here and the valley...mmm." He opened another window and typed some things in. "Well, only a few pilots even fly there, and the train doesn't go there at all. They get paid handsomely for it because it's out of the way. Only...oh, Zapato, I know him."

Neo projected an image of Royal, who Ren didn't recognize--but then, he didn't talk to that many people.

"Well, what do you know?" Cinder said flatly.

"Also Teach," Roman added, "I don't know him.... Well, I'd have to know who was on staff when those shipments came in and to know that you'd have to go to the processing center on the base, if they were delivered by airship. We don't have that information. We just handle the train and dust arrivals."

"Look at you, actually being responsible," Cinder said flatly. "And you're not operating anything on the side?"

"Well, frankly I make more this way," Roman said. "And crime has lost its luster since realizing the long term consequences of it.... Plus, you know...when you owe someone your life, it's not nice to repay them by ignoring the one thing they asked of you. But you wouldn't really understand that, would you, Cindy?"

"You are not calling me that," Cinder said.

"You don't scare me anymore," Roman said.

Neo made a fist.

"Oh, shut up," Cinder grumbled. "I knew that pilot was bad news."

"Which one?" Roman asked.

"Zapato...I've had the displeasure of meeting him a few times when Emerald flew in," Cinder said.

"Is that that famous mission she went on? I heard about that. She's quite popular for that," Roman said. "But as for that pilot, I don't think it's likely to be him. Besides being, as I said, quite the upstanding citizen to the point when it's nauseating to even do a background check on him, he's not so badly off financially himself. Why risk his job for a few thousand lien here and there? Someone who was desperate for money might do it. I don't know much about Teach, so it's possible, but then it could be neither pilot and someone at the plant themselves. Sad to think that Atlas hiring strategy would have gone downhill so much, but then, Watts did used to work for Atlas, so if they could smell a rat that far away, we'd not be here."

"Why do you know about this man's finances?" Ren asked.

"I make it my business to know people." Roman tilted his hat. "Old professional habit. And it pays to know the dirt on people. But there's no dirt on him. I've checked out most people who worked for Atlas over time, just to see if anyone might be up to things. Can't be too careful."

"Wow, and do they pay you overtime?" Cinder said that very sarcastically.

"They should, but they couldn't afford me." Roman played it off easily.

Tired of not being able to get to him, Cinder took pictures of the documents on the scroll and then walked away huffily.

"She's not the same," Roman observed to Ren and Neo. "TIme was she'd have choked me out for that remark, but there's not as much fire in her now. To think of all people, Cinder would have softened with time."

Neo made a gagging face.

"No, I doubt we'll ever really like her, but we must be philosophical about it, sweetheart," Roman said.

Ren tired of their flamboyance as fast as he usually did and left.

* * *

https://youtu.be/1RDtuIovSPc

[Cadmium--"Be With You"]

Music was playing in the airship yard, though the qualification for what might keep grimm away seemed looser than before.

Cinder wouldn't have got in without showing her paperwork from Fay, and Ren showing his license, but they knew who he was.

"I'm sure you won't find anything here," the current overseer said indifferently. He was one still left from Argus' old staff and they never did let go of their pompousness. Perhaps only more so because they had so few things left to do.

"Oh hey guys," Sun suddenly appeared from around a ship and waved at them.

"Sun? I thought you were going home," Ren said.

"I am man, but it was like, super late and Blake and I didn't want to hop on the train to the capital so we decided to wait till morning," Sun shrugged. "Besides, this way we could hang a little more, I think she's with Emerald and Yang right now, probably talking about that project of theirs. I thought Neptune and I could hang, but he's doing paperwork for a lot of things right now, so I'm waiting out here. We should hang."

Sun and Ren never 'hung' out outside of work and it seemed like it might be a bad idea, but Ren said calmly. "I'm always working right now."

"Cool, doing what?" Sun said.

Ren explained, to Cinder's further annoyance, as she didn't see why it was necessary--and she couldn't keep going without him escorting her.

"Oh wow, a mystery," Sun said. "This takes me back to being junior detectives with Neptune.

"With all the time you hang out with him, I'm surprised you're not married," Cinder said meanly.

"Oh please, lady, I-" Sun blinked at her. "Cinder?"

"Shh!" Cinder said.

"But...how...you?" Sun apparently hadn't noticed who she was till then.

[Honestly, I tend to look past people I don't know when I'm talking to ones I do know, so I can relate.]

"Business," Ren said.

"Oh...huh...weird," Sun said. "Well...anyway, she's like...but you're working with her?"

"Only loosely," Ren said. "Common problem."

"Dude, I'm so into this," Sun said. "Let me help." He waved his tail.

"If you want," Ren said. "But it's just asking some questions."

"Man, I wish I had my old badge," Sun said.

Cinder wished he was at the bottom of the bay.

She tried to edge away.

"You know, though, we should get some of the others to join us, it'd be like old times," Sun said.

"I don't know if we have time," Ren objected. "It's simple enough to just check, it'll take 5 minutes."

"Oh, okay fine," Sun gave in. "Let's go."

Since there was no getting rid of him, Cinder just followed them unhappily towards the correct building, which was a small one about the size of a trailer, as most on the base were. They had little room for the big processing facilities of Atlas.

Cinder thought petulantly that she could have done all this on her own and they would only slow her down and additionally, they removed any 'cool' factor from the idea of investigating.

Cinder was not so much past her days of acting like a femme Fatale as to not enjoy the dramatic flair of secret investigations, and her life was dull enough to make even this seem exciting by comparison. Though she'd have seen it as a nuisance in the days where she ordered Emerald and Mercury around to do these things.

Irony never did stop.

The two boys went in the processing building.

Even most of this was taken up by crates of supplies and only a small corner of it had a desk with any kind of system to go by, and the people there looked overworked, Argus had to do so much more heavy lifting without Atlas or Mantle to direct things through.

Sun tried to sound official.

"We're here to investigate a little discrepancy in your shipping and arrivals," he said.

The person looked at him flatly.

"And do you have a warrant?" they said.

Now this was balderdash, no licensed huntsmen would have needed a warrant to make an inquiry like that, any customer could have if they had the order number, and a huntsmen was above that in ranking.

Plus Sun was famous.

But this person must not have liked his manner.

"Warrant?" Sun was unaware of this rule and seemed likely to fall for it.

Cinder had no wish to call attention to herself in this area of actual ex-military personnel, but thankfully Ren said "She's kidding."

The woman seemed to recognize Ren. "Oh. Mr. Li...I'm sorry. Of course you don't need a warrant." Sheepishly. "What did you need to verify?"

"Just if you receive this amount of shipment from the territory outside of Mistral," Ren held up the sheet of paper.

The woman checked the routing number and then she typed it into a computer.

"Hmm, yes we received that amount," she said. "In fact, I checked it in myself, and I assure you, I'm never wrong. Was it not satisfactory?"

"It wasn't all delivery," Ren said. "About..." he fumbled for an amount.

"1/16," Cinder supplied tersely.

"About 1/16 of it was missing," Ren amended.

"I see...coffee orders," the woman said. "From Menagerie and southern Mistral." This was in fact the only place coffee grew in Remnant, as it was the only place anything like tropical without being desert. Except for the north of Vacuo, but shipping from there was much more expensive.

Really, Cinder's town of Eurus probably only had coffee because the people had such a weakness for it, it was kind of pricey for them.

"Also some fabric and semi precious stones," the woman noted.

Semi precious stones were not worth much in Remnant, and precious stones weren't worth as much as dust, but tended to be pricey because they were mined less often.

Fay ordered them to adorn dresses with and the one jewelry maker in the village also used them.

But in large amounts it might be worth stealing them.

Cinder knew all this from her days running with Roman's kind of people, though they'd focused on dust after Salem had taken over, but before that, they'd have run all this stuff if they could get it. In fact, it was easier than dust, because less people would care to notice it if went missing.

"And a lot of fire and gravity dust," the woman finished. "Well, this is perplexing."

Despite her words, Cinder didn't think her tone sounded very distraught.

She studied the woman more closely. Was she actually surprised by this or was she pretending to be?

Come to think of it, how would she not have noticed a problem sooner? Surely they had records of what was loaded onto ships as well as what was unloaded, the problem would have shown up sooner.

"Ask her what their records say about the outgo," she hissed to Ren.

"Why?" Ren replied, not liking to be distracted again. "We have proof already."

"Just do it," Cinder said.

"Can you pull up your outgo?" Ren wasn't even sure what that was.

But the woman knew what it was, outgo meant what was sent out of the center of course, and she hesitated.

But then she typed it in.

Her hesitancy told Cidner plenty.

She probably had known the whole time.

And the record indicated, sure enough, that not the same amount had been loaded.

Everyone who loaded cargo would have crossed it off on some list that they loaded certain amounts, and then it would have been checked off again when it was delivered.

Cinder was well aware of this and it was why they'd never tried to steal or launder from Atlas itself but only from Vale, which was easier to slip past.

But that meant, in her mind, that if there was a discrepancy in amounts, it had to happen in between the arrival of the supplies and the loading up of them where only a few people would have check them, and where those people, if they were all in on it, could have removed some stuff and then imputed the wrong numbers.

A thing no one would have thought to check who worked in shipping itself, because it wasn't out of their pockets if it went wrong, but of course, the people loading the supplies would have noticed.

Cinder, whose mind was good at suspecting people of fraud if nothing else, immediately assumed also that the shipments that were stolen from were very likely to have been only going to small towns where the people wouldn't be likely to come investigate it themselves, not to the capitals where one scroll call would have exposed the whole thing.

She'd have done it this way herself if she was going to, unless the goal was to get caught and make a statement.

Thinking all this, she watched the woman behind the desk, who was now giving her a look like she suspected Cinder was the one who was onto her.