“This,” Cinder said as she placed a phone on the table before Akelarre. It looked sleek and shiny next to her half-finished breakfast. “Is a scroll. You’re obviously intelligent enough to figure out how to use it, but if you have any questions then feel free to call Emerald or Mercury. They are both already entered into your contacts.”

Akelarre pushed her bowl of Pumpkin Pete’s to one side and dragged the scroll closer so that it rested before her. “What’s the difference between a scroll and a phone?”

“Scrolls use the CCT network and are locked to a single person’s biometrics after initial use. You’ll see a display that shows your Aura levels and other information after using it for a while,” Cinder explained. “Also, no one has used a phone in decades, it might be best if you avoid the term in public. You wouldn’t want to accidentally reveal your... age.” The last she said while eyeing Akelarre with just a hint of accusation in her amber eyes.

“Are you calling me old?” Akelarre asked. She made sure not to change her tone from anything other than simple, innocent curiosity. The mites she had placed all across Cinder’s body felt her tense.

“Of course not, merely isolated from the rest of Remnant,” Cinder said without missing a beat. “It’s perfectly natural that you would perhaps be misinformed about certain things. If you have any questions I would be honoured to help you.”

“Salem doesn’t have one of these, does she?” she asked as she slid the scroll to one side and brought her bowl back to before her.

Cinder shook her head and sat down properly across from Akelarre. She pulled the box of cereal over and poured herself a bowl, frowning all the while at the colourful food before her. “She does not. Salem doesn’t trust the CCT network and for good reason. Some of her enemies are well placed to intercept any messages to and from the Lands of Darkness. She does use Seers to communicate. I have one in my luggage, if you wish to use it.”

“You have a tentacle Grimm in your luggage?” Akelarre asked.

Cinder gave her a flat look, a spoonful of blue and green and yellow cereal hovering by her mouth.

“Would it be possible to use it? I’d like to say hi to Salem,” she said.

“I don’t see any harm. I don’t usually report this soon to her but she might appreciate knowing that our plans with Torchwick are advancing.”

The rest of their breakfast was quiet, with only the occasional beep from Akelarre’s new scroll as she toyed with its startup menus. Emerald slid into the room at some point, sparing a moment to glare at Arelarre with bleary eyes before dragging herself over to the coffee machine. Mercury did much the same but without the glare.

When Akelarre was done, she stood and placed her bowl in the sink, wiped her face, and walked back over to the kitchen table. “So...”

“Yes, yes, I’m coming,” Cinder said. She pushed her own bowl over towards Emerald where the girl paused to stare at it like a puppy that had just been given an entire box full of balls.

Akelarre moved over to the living room, a wide open area decorated quite lavishly with thick carpets and scenic paintings on every wall. A flat-screen monitor sat on one wall opposite a huge, fluffy couch that waited between two overflowing flower vases. Like the rest of the mansion Cinder had brought her to it was a little over the top, but not so much that she minded.

Cinder returned a few moments later, followed by a Seer that floated behind her whilst emitting its strange low keening. “I suppose this will do. It’s not as private or secure as I would like but there’s no chamber in this home really suited to the task.”

“Also there’s a couch,” Akelarre said before tapping the couch in question right next to where she sat.

“Indeed,” Cinder said. She motioned the Seer over to near where the television was and began setting things up. Akelarre, meanwhile, brought in a few flying bugs of the non-Grimm variety and had them climb along the Seer’s tentacles. “There we go,” Cinder said as she leaned away from the Seer, sat up straight and waited.

The Seer’s black innards shifted and warped like the stars at night seen through a kaleidoscope. Red flashes and black blurs shot by before the image twisted, and from the shadowy darkness came a pair of red eyes. The scene on the Seer refocused and soon Akelarre was able to see Salem in all her glory, the book-covered shelves of her library behind her. “Cinder,” Salem said. “And Akelarre. I didn’t expect you to report so soon.”

“I wanted to see you again!” Akelarre said with mounting enthusiasm. She didn’t miss the tiny twitch of the queen’s lips.

“Just a basic report, my Queen. I wouldn’t usually bother you so soon after leaving, but after certain events,” Cinder said, shooting Akelarre a look from the corner of her eye, “I thought it prudent to inform you now.”

Salem’s attention sharpened. “Very well. Report, Cinder dear.”

Cinder nodded once and Akelarre was almost surprised that she didn’t salute. “We arrived at the summer home near Vale within half an hour of our predicted time. My first contact in the Vale underworld, Roman Torchwick, was present and waiting for us along with a... companion. A young woman named Neo Politan.”

“Wait, her name is like the ice cream?” Akelarre asked.

“Yes, yes it is,” Cinder said. If she sounded a little strained, well, Akelarre wasn’t going to comment. “I’m surprised you didn’t know, seeing as how intimate you two became.”

Akelarre felt the skin of her face warming up and her eyes watering. She shot Salem a glance only to see the older woman focused on her, then tilted her head down and used a spider or two in her hair to hide her blush. “It’s not like that.”

“Then she molested you against your will?” Cinder asked.

“What.” The word wasn’t a question. It was a single-word statement, a declaration that the full story would be told right then and there or no amount of gods were going to help. Salem’s eyes were smoldering through the connection.

Akelarre huffed. “I didn’t get molested.”

“As you wish,” Cinder said.

“Akelarre, dear,” Salem said through the Seer. “Could you please explain this in... greater detail.”

The warmth in her face returned and she was having a hard time finding the right words to parse what she wanted to say. “I made a friend. Her name is Neo. She was very nice. We robbed a councilor’s house together and found all sorts of blackmail. That’s all.”

“You met someone... then robbed a house with her.” Salem stared for a while, an eyebrow climbing up slowly. “Perhaps I have been out of touch with the rest of the world for too long if that is how young people get to know each other today. Regardless. Tell me of this molestation.” Her eyes narrowed.

“Neo is just very clingy.”

“She was riding you. On a bed.”

“We were completely dressed.”

“And covered in ice cream. And jewelry.”

Akelarre crossed her arms and shot a glare at Cinder. “I’ll put spiders in your bed.”

Cinder’s mouth shut with a click.

Salem made her happy sound, one hand raising to hover demurely before her mouth. “Girls, behave,” she chided.

“Yes, ma’am,” they said in stereo.

“Cinder, what are your plans from here on, and has this changed them in any way?”

Cinder shook her head. “No, ma’am. I’m meeting my second contact in two days time near the ruins of Mountain Glenn. The White Fang have an encampment there.”

“I should probably meet Roman again,” Akelarre said. “I still had a lot of questions for him if I’m going to take over the world.”

“The underworld, you mean,” Cinder corrected.

Akelarre nodded. “That too.”

Salem shook her head. “Very well. I’m glad you called and that you seem to both get along so well. Remember to rely on each other; we are, after all, on the same side. Goodbye.”

The vision through the Seer’s head darkened and it wobbled a little.

Cinder sighed and her posture, which had been perfect, slumped forwards. “I’ll arrange transportation to wherever Roman is for tomorrow morning.”

“You’re willing to help?” Akelarre asked.

“Frankly, whatever time you spend with him is time I have to act upon my own plans. They are not mutually exclusive goals, and I hope that my aiding you now might come around later.”

“You’re being very open,” Akelarre pointed out.

“It’s as Salem said, we are on the same side,” Cinder said as she stood.

Akelarre felt a smile tugging at her lips and Cinder’s eyes widened.

But for all of her vaunted skill, Cinder was too slow to avoid Akelarre’s hug.

***

“And if a stranger walks up to you?” her dad asked.

“I tell them that I shouldn't talk to strangers,” Ruby recited.

Taiyang nodded, his frown still firmly in place. “If the stranger offers you cookies?”

“Run away and tell Yang to kill them,” Ruby said.

Her dad blinked, looking ready to deny that, but then reconsidered. “Maybe not kill,” he said. “And if the stranger turns out to be the evil queen of the Grimm?”

Now it was Ruby’s turn to frown. “Run away and let Uncle Qrow deal with it,” she grumbled.

“That’s the spirit,” Uncle Qrow said from where he was flopped on a bench with an open flask.

Ruby crossed her arms under her chest and looked away from her family. The view, at least, was worth it. The ferry they were on was cutting through the waves of the sea between Patch and Vale, choppy waters lapping up against the side of the hull while dozens of people onboard stared out in hopes of seeing their destination, or just loitered about, waiting.

More than one woman was looking their way, but whether that was to eye up Uncle Qrow or her dad didn’t matter to Ruby. Both options were icky. “It’s not fair,” she finally said. “Akelarre was super nice.”

“I know that, sweetie,” Taiyang said. “But she’s... what she is.”

“What your old man is trying to say,” Qrow barged in, earning a squawk from her dad about how he wasn’t old, “is that she was probably trying to trick you. She even stole your cookie jar.”

“She wasn’t!” Ruby said. “A-and it’s okay. I wouldn’t have minded her taking the cookies,” she added while hoping that they wouldn’t notice the reddening of her cheeks.

“Yeah, she sure did steal those cookies well,” Yang, who so far had been pretty quiet, said with a perfectly flat tone. “She even left the empty jar in Zwei’s doghouse, the fiend. I say next time we see her we punch her out, empty her pockets and spend it all on cookies which we won’t share with anyone.”

“You’re just jealous because I made a friend!”

Yang jumped in her seat. “I’m not!”

“Are too!”

“Girls,” Taiyang said. Ruby could tell he was about to start talking them down, probably with a whole speech about how disappointed he was with the way they were acting, and then she’d feel super guilty and even Yang would end up quiet.

She was saved by a melodic ringing that came from the pleats of her skirt.

Everyone turned to her as she reached into her pocket and pulled out her scroll. There was a message flashing on the front under a banner asking her if she wanted to accept or not.

Incoming Call from: Akelarre

“Oh no,” she said.

“Who is it?” her dad asked.

She turned the scroll over even as it continued to ring. Three curious pairs of eyes locked onto the screen, then her face.

“Don’t answer,” Qrow said at the same time as she pressed answer.

She blinked at her uncle and gave him a sheepish smile as she brought the scroll to her ear. “Uh, hi?”

“Ruby, is that you?” Akelarre’s smooth, always calm voice asked.

“Ah, yup, yup it’s me,” she said.

Yang was shaking her head, face buried under her hands.

“So, I just arrived in Vale last night with some... friends. And they got me a scroll! So I thought I would give you a call and see what you’re up to.”

“You just arrived in Vale? That’s cool. I’m heading there now.”

“You are?” Akelarre asked.

“Y-yup. My sister’s going to--” she cut off when everyone next to her started waving their hands in denial. “She’s uh, g-going to the dentist.”

“Oh. I suppose oral health is important.”

Yang started to knock her head against a pillar.

“Y-yeah. You know Yang, she loves her candy.”

“Well, if you’re in Vale with nothing to do, did you want to hang out tomorrow? I have an appointment in the morning but should be free in the afternoon.”

“Ah,” Ruby said. Taiyang, Uncle Qrow and even Yang were all shaking their heads, telling her in no uncertain terms that she should refuse. “S-sure?” she said.

“Brilliant! I’ll meet you in the city square at one. Don’t worry about finding me. I’ll find you first. Anyway, we can talk more tomorrow. I don’t really like these phone things much. Bye!”

“Bye,” she said before lowering her scroll and sighing in relief when the screen went black.

She looked up to three very unamused looks. “Eep.”