It had been a simple mission for Team RWBY: Check some ancient ruins for danger. Then they found themselves in the middle of a frozen wasteland fighting strange ice monsters. That wasn't actually that hard. But finding a way back home? That's much harder. Especially without turning into monsters themselves.
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A Song of Ice and Fire Cut Short by Dust (RWBY in Westeros)
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Prologue & Chapter 1: The Strangers at the Gate
Starfox5
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A Song of Ice and Fire Cut Short by Dust (RWBY in Westeros)
Summary: It had been a simple mission for Team RWBY: Check some ancient ruins for danger. Then they found themselves in the middle of a frozen wasteland fighting strange ice monsters. That wasn't actually that hard. But finding a way back home? That's much harder. Especially without turning into monsters themselves.
Disclaimer: I do not own A Song of Fire and Ice or any of the characters in the series. I do not own RWBY or any of the characters in the series.
Author's Notes: This story is set in an Alternate Universe. While the canon events of RWBY up to Season 2 and of A Game of Thrones before the start of Book 1 happened, there will be changes to either series' background.
Cover:
Prologue: This is not Solitas, is it?
One moment, they were standing around a shiny object; the next moment, they were falling. Free-falling! Ruby Rose had a flashback to the Initiation at Beacon and whipped Crescent Rose around to slow her descent, but she hit the ground before she could pull the trigger.
The impact was jarring but softer than she expected, though when she went to roll with it, she found herself buried halfway in… snow? She scrambled up, coughing and spitting, and looked around. Definitely snow. Lots of it - the whole area was covered in snow! The ground, the trees around them, the hills and mountains in the distance… She blinked. This didn't look like Vale.
"Ruby, you dolt! I told you not to touch that thing!"
Ruby turned around and saw Weiss raising her head from a mound of snow that had seemingly swallowed her. She was angry, but that was kinda normal for her. The small patch of snow on her head that was slowly slipping down was new, though.
"I was already touching it when you said it!" Ruby defended herself. "Besides, our mission was to check out the ruins!" And that meant checking out weird shining objects that kinda floated.
"We were sent to look for any Grimm that might threaten an archaeological expedition to the ruins."
Ruby turned again. Unlike Weiss, Blake didn't look angry, but it was hard to tell - she generally kept cool and calm. She wasn't covered in snow, either, though. "Yes, but checking for other dangers was kinda implied," Ruby told her.
Wait a moment - Weiss, Blake… where was…?
"Woohoo!"
Ruby jerked to the side when another mound of snow exploded in a shower of, well, snow and… steam? Ah, there was Yang, her fists raised and a broad grin on her face. Her sister blinked and looked around. "What happened? This doesn't look like the ruins where we were."
"Our reckless leader didn't listen, again, and triggered something, and we must have been… transported here," Weiss replied as she brushed off more snow from her clothes.
Ruby did the same and grimaced when she noticed some of the snow had already slipped beneath her clothes and was melting. It was cold here, da…very cold. She could see her breath.
"And where is this? It looks like Atlas, doesn't it?" Yang asked.
"You mean Solitas. Atlas is a city," Weiss snapped. "This is the wilderness."
Yang kept grinning. "So, we're stranded in the wilderness near your home?"
"If we're lucky," Weiss replied. She pulled out her scroll, then frowned. "No signal. We're not near Atlas."
"Signal's on Patch." Yang's joke wasn't really funny.
"You don't recognise the place?" Ruby asked before Weiss could blow her top at her sister.
"Do you expect me to recognise every place on an entire continent?" Weiss glared at Ruby as if it was her fault that Yang's sense of humour was kinda questionable.
"I could recognise every spot on Patch." And Yang wasn't helping.
"Your home is a small island. Solitas is a continent," Weiss said. "Now, we need to find out where we are."
"Oh!" Ruby perked up. She knew what to do! "We can check the stars for our position!" She remembered how that worked. Kinda. She had been a bit distracted planning another upgrade for Crescent Rose during that lesson. But it couldn't be too… She blinked and heard someone gasp.
"That's…"
"That's not the moon!"
"Did we skip a phase?"
"That's not our moon." Blake sounded both sure and unsure at the same time. Somehow. "It's different."
"Well, yeah, it's not broken," Yang said.
"It could just be facing us with the unbroken side," Weiss disagreed, but she didn't sound as convinced that she was right as she usually did.
"No. It's not our moon," Blake disagreed. "It looks different from when it's in the full phase."
"I don't think we're on Solitas," Ruby said in a low voice.
"That's… that's impossible!" Weiss sputtered. "It has to be our moon!"
"No," Ruby said. "That doesn't look like our moon. The colour is wrong, and ours doesn't have that big dark sea."
"It's not a sea; it's a crater," Weiss corrected her.
"Whatever, it's not our moon," Ruby shot back. "We're not in our world any more."
"Unless… we went back in time? Before the moon shattered?" Blake ventured.
"That's impossible as well!" Weiss disagreed.
"Well, the moon changing is also impossible," Yang pointed out.
"Whatever," Ruby repeated herself. She was the leader of RWBY, she had to take charge now. "We can't bicker about the moon. We need to decide what we do. Where we're going."
"We don't know where we are, so how can we decide where to go?" Weiss asked. "This is…" she shook her head almost violently, her ponytail whipping around her face. "What do we do?"
"Quiet!" Blake hissed before Ruby could try to calm her friend down. "I hear steps. Someone's coming."
Ruby didn't hear anything, but her ears weren't as good as Blake's. She didn't see anything either, though. "From which direction?" she asked.
"From…" Blake tensed. "From all around us!" she spat, drawing Gambol Shroud.
"Wait!" Ruby held up a hand. "Calm down! We don't want the people here to think we want to do them any harm!"
"I don't…" Blake drew a sharp breath. "What are they?"
What did she mean? Then Ruby saw the first figure appear between the trees, slowly walking towards them. Almost stumbling. The first of many. They looked…
"What are they?" Weiss repeated Blake's question.
Ruby didn't know either. They looked like… "Zombies! Ice zombies!" she blurted out.
"Don't be ridiculous! This is not one of your silly games!" Weiss snapped.
But the people surrounding them, slowly encircling them, looked like zombies. Some of them had visible wounds. Some had missing limbs. And they were armed. Clubs, spears, staffs.
Still… Ruby was the team leader. She had to lead. Maybe the people here looked like this? Maybe this was normal? She smiled and waved. "Hello there! Can you help us? We're kinda lost!"
They didn't react. Didn't say anything. They just kept coming closer. And they didn't look friendly at all!
"We come in peace!" Ruby tried again.
"Ruby!" Yang hissed behind her. "I don't think they're listening."
Ruby didn't think so, either. But what else could they do? "Can you understand me?" She pointed at herself, then at them. "Me Ruby. You?"
"Ruby…" Yang groaned.
The first of the maybe-ice zombies had almost reached her. He - he looked male - raised his club and grunted, showing gapped teeth, before he swung at her.
Without thinking, Ruby parried the blow with Crescent Rose, taking off half his club in the process and sending him stumbling. "Oh, sorry! I just…"
He swung the stump of his club at her again, growling like… like a Grimm!
"Ruby!"
Ruby had reach on him. She hit him with the shaft of Crescent Rose. But instead of sending him back a few steps, as she had wanted, she heard his ribs break as her weapon caved his chest in and sent him flying. Gasping, she stared at him. That was… "I didn't mean to!"
But he got up despite his chest now sporting a hole. And he wasn't bleeding at all!
"They're really ice zombies!" Ruby blurted out - right before the other zombies charged in.
Ruby fended off a staff blow and kicked a smaller zombie trying to stab her with a knife. Her kick caught the zombie's head and ripped it off! For a moment, it felt as if her heart stopped.
But the headless zombie kept swinging its weapon at her.
Horrified, she swung Crescent Rose at it, cutting it in half, then swung her blade around and slashed through two more who were trying to flank her.
Around her, her friends were fighting as well.
"They're not staying down!" Yang shouted, shattering - exploding - a pair of zombies with a series of blows with Ember Celica. "Not even if they lose their heads!"
That wasn't how it worked in the games! But this wasn't a game! They were surrounded by unstoppable ice zombies that kept going! Ruby clenched her teeth, then used her semblance, sweeping through the dozen zombies converging on her and cutting them into pieces before coming to a stop between Blake and Weiss.
"They don't die!" Weiss yelled, stabbing a zombie before blasting it away with a shot of dust. "They keep coming."
That was… "We need to set them on fire!" Ruby yelled. If headshots didn't work, then fire would! It had to! It always did in the movies! "Kill them with fire!"
"Yeah!" Yang roared, diving into the middle of a bunch of zombies.
They jumped on her, and Ruby gasped again. "Yang!"
She started to move, hefting Crescent Rose. A zombie charged at her, and she jumped over it, flipping around and cutting it apart. She landed on a second zombie, kicking it in the chest and pushing off, slicing the zombie's chest open with her scythe in the process. She had to get to Yang! She had to…
In the middle of the zombie group, a fire flared up - Yang had activated her semblance. And the zombies were burning - and falling down!
"Fire works!" Ruby yelled, landing on one knee before sweeping Crescent Rose in an arc around her and cutting off two more zombies at the knees. Literally!
Weiss landed next to her, jumping off a floating glyph. Ruby heard Myrtenaster cycle, and a zombie about to swing a club at her caught a fireball to the face that burned him to ashes.
"Take this!" Yang barreled through another group of zombies, leaving them broken and burning.
Blake, flitting around from clone to clone, leaving cut and falling zombies behind, caught three more in Gambol Shroud and flung them on the burning ones. "They're not that strong," she said as she reached Weiss and Ruby.
"Just hard to kill," Ruby agreed. They were not nearly as dangerous as Grimm, though. They just looked so… She clenched her teeth and activated her semblance again, cutting a swath through the rear of the zombie horde and trying to punt the pieces into the fires the others were starting.
She mostly succeeded. A few pieces missed. One almost hit Weiss, but her partner could handle it.
"Hey!"
Should be able to handle it.
Ruby appeared next to her, taking quick breaths and looked around. Most of the zombies were burning in pieces now, but the rest were still coming, not caring about the fate of the others. "Like Grimm," she whispered. "Just like Grimm." They weren't people. Just people-shaped monsters. They had to be.
"Yes," Weiss agreed, also breathing a bit heavily. "We should… Watch out!"
Ruby spun around and just caught an arrow shattering on one of Weiss's glyphs that had appeared in front of her face. An ice arrow!
She looked around. That had come from… There! Between a patch of trees! Her eyes widened. Sitting on a huge spider, a figure, pale as ice, with glowing blue eyes, was notching another ice arrow to a shiny white bow. And it was surrounded by more of the zombies.
"That's the boss!" Ruby yelled as she flipped Crescent Rose around and shifted her into a rifle.
Another arrow flew toward her - no, toward Blake! But it only hit a clone that turned to ice before shattering.
And Ruby had a bead drawn on the figure. She pulled the trigger, and a dust round from Crescent Rose hit the archer in the chest while she flipped head over heels to compensate for the recoil.
Her target blew up, splattering the zombies passing him with blueish blood or something. But the zombies didn't stop. They kept coming.
Not for long, though - Yang leapt at them, followed by Blake and Weiss. Yang's first blow caved in the spider's head, leaving it twitching on the ground. Weiss jumped from glyph to glyph, firing dust charges with Myrtenaster and fending off feeble blows from broken weapons. Blake wove through the ranks of the enemies, clones confusing them until they fell with their limbs cut or entangled.
And Ruby swept around, cutting into them from behind. Crescent Rose flashed, and parts flew.
A minute later, it was over. A flick of her scythe set the last pieces into the fire Weiss had started over the spider's carcass.
"Whoo! That was…" Yang trailed off with a sigh. "Satisfying," she finished.
"It was cathartic," Weiss surprisingly agreed - at least Ruby thought she did. "But we're still stuck in…. An unknown place, facing unknown dangers."
"And known dangers," Blake said. "We're in the middle of an icy wasteland without shelter or supplies."
Their aura would keep them from freezing. For a time, at least. But… "Does anyone have food on them?" Ruby asked.
"Hungry already, sis?" Yang joked, but Ruby could tell that her sister was concerned.
And she was hungry, actually. And she only had a few chocolate cookies on her. She gasped, then checked her pockets. No! They had been crushed in the fighting!
"We need to find shelter and get some food," Blake said. "We can't…"
Her ears were twitching again, Ruby saw. She grimaced. "More zombies?"
Blake nodded with a grim expression.
More fighting, then. Ruby clenched her teeth and gripped Crescent Rose harder. No matter what stood against them, they would get out of this. She wouldn't let her team down!
Chapter 1: The Strangers at the Gate
'The origin of the group we know as the Ruby Order remains one of the great mysteries of Westeros. It has been agreed by all reliable scholars that their claims to have come from another world were an exaggeration meant to obfuscate their true origin. From a modern perspective, their tales of a broken moon, flying cities and monster hunters are obvious exaggerations like the myths related to the Age of Heroes. Nevertheless, the fact remains that despite extensive research and Maester Aeon's famous but ultimately fruitless expedition to Yi-Ti to investigate a possible link between the Yellow Emperor and Yang Xiao Long, no one has been able to find where the four maidens came from. This, coupled with their choice of obvious noms-de-guerre, has, of course, led to a lot of unfounded speculation ranging from the fantastical - such as the theory, if one could call those ramblings that, of Ruby Rose being a daughter of Brandon the Builder who had been put into a magical sleep with her companions to save Westeros in its time of need, to the utterly mad, such as the claim that the entire tale was a fabrication and that the Ruby Order was actually Daenerys Targaryen and her three dragons, based on nothing more than the colour of Weiss Schnee's hair.
In this work, I will cut through all this speculation and focus on what we can prove based on records, evidence and sound logic.'
The Haunted Forest, Westeros, 298 AC
After four years at the Wall, Will had grown used to the cold, and the Haunted Forest held no terrors for him any more. As a veteran of a hundred rangings, he knew the territory as well as - better than - the Wildlings who claimed the land here, and he knew from experience that he was better at sneaking through the woods than they were.
Proof of that was the fact that he had been tracking the band of wildling raiders they were after for days now without them being able to lose him. And they were getting closer as well.
No, the only thing Will worried about was that he and Gared were under the orders of Ser Waymar Royce, and that noble was not quite as experienced as he thought he was - just enough to be too confident, which was bad everywhere but doubly so beyond the Wall. Three brothers of the Nigth Watch could take half a dozen wildlings, but only if you were smart about it. If you were dumb, even warhorses and the best armour and weapons wouldn't save you from an ambush. Will could only hope that by the time they caught up to their prey, the noble would not be too reckless. The Lord Commander should have let Gared lead this ranging; Gared had been a Brother longer than Will had been alive. But Ser Waymar was a noble, and nobles didn't serve under smallfolk, not even in the Night's Watch, where everyone was a brother.
He snorted and moved ahead another dozen paces, past a scraggly bush. The raiders were loaded down with their loot, and that made them sloppy. They had tried to walk in a single file to hide their numbers but hadn't quite managed it. He checked a broken twig - they were even closer than he had thought. He could almost smell the wildlings…
He blinked, sniffing the air. That was smoke! Had the wildlings set camp already? They weren't that far from the last campsite Will had found, so why would they have stopped here? Sure, the sun would be setting soon, but the wildlings had still been hours ahead of Will's band when they had set out this morning.
He looked at the sky and squinted. It was cloudy, but… yes, that was a column of smoke. That was even weirder - even the dumbest wildling raiders knew how to build a smokeless fire.
Something wasn't right.
He quickly started backtracking to where Gared and Ser Waymar were waiting, not caring about hiding his own tracks any more. This was too important.
It didn't take him long to reach the others. When they saw him running, both jumped up, hands on weapons, and he waved them down.
"There's smoke ahead! Someone made a fire!" he blurted out between catching his breath.
"Hah! We have them!" Ser Waymar grinned.
"Smoke?" Gared, of course, realised what that meant at once. "Can't be. Must be a trap."
That was a possibility Will hadn't considered. But it made sense, kind of. Or not - most brothers would know better than to charge ahead blindly.
"If it's a trap, we'll spring it!" Ser Waymar strode to his horse. "Mount up! We'll show those raiders that they cannot escape the Watch!"
Will exchanged a glance with Gared. The older brother sneered for a moment, then clenched his teeth and started for his own horse.
Will sighed and followed them. He had a bad feeling about this.
"Show us the way, Brother Will!"
Yeah, definitely a bad feeling. But he had sworn the oath, and orders were orders. With his back to the others, he grimaced and started to lead them towards the fire in the distance.
They made good time, but not good enough for Ser Waymar. By the time they approached a small snow-covered ridge that hid the fire from them, the noble was chomping at the bit.
Will held up a hand. "They're beyond that ridge," he whispered - they were still too far away to be overheard, and he hadn't spotted any guards around, but you never knew.
"Good! Follow me!" Ser Waymar didn't stop. He urged his horse up the ridge, sword drawn.
Gared and Will, grimacing again, drew their own swords and did as told.
Ser Waymar was first on the ridge, uttered a battle cry Will didn't quite get, and charged down the slope.
Will heard shouting and high-pitched cries. Then he reached the top of the ridge himself, half a pace ahead of Gared, and his eyes widened.
Ser Waymar was down, his horse riderless. The noble was on the ground, disarmed - but still alive; Will saw him squirming under the boot of a… Will blinked. That wasn't a wildling!
He realised that he had stopped charging, as had Gared next to him. They were facing four people in… colourful clothes. He had never seen, not even heard, of any wildling wearing such garb!
The one holding down Ser Waymar was wearing a bright red cape over a pitch-black garment - and holding the biggest scythe he had ever seen. It was bigger than herself! Next to her stood a woman with a mane of golden hair wearing… Whatever it was, her legs were almost bare! And the one next to her wore a skirt so short it bared her entire legs!
"Targaryen!" Gared whispered next to him.
Yes, the woman had the silver hair of the old kings. And she was wielding a slim, shining sword. And the blonde wore golden gauntlets. Wildlings didn't dress like that. And they didn't have such weapons! And they didn't show any concern or fear faced with two mounted brothers. Of course, they had dismounted Ser Waymar seemingly easily - and for all his overconfidence, the brother was a trained knight.
Will licked his lips. Somehow, he didn't fancy their chances to charge double their numbers. Not to mention they had Ser Waymar at their mercy.
The silver-haired one took a step towards them and pointed her sword at Will. "You there! Why did you attack us?"
She sounded like a noble. She acted like a noble. Best to treat her like a noble.
Will shrugged and pointed at Ser Waymar. "Ser Waymar is in command."
All four looked at the still squirming and cursing knight on the ground. Will thought he heard the shorter one say: 'Oh!' and despite how serious their situation was, he couldn't help snorting.
"Do we look like wildlings? Do we?" Weiss Schnee glared at the oaf who had attacked them. She expected, based on far too much experience, to be attacked by the bandits roaming those woods - she wouldn't call them 'free folk'; they were common criminals - but the members of the Night's Watch were meant to be civilised, not barbarians!
The leader of the small band, supposedly a knight, glared back at her. "Only wildlings live beyond the Wall!"
For someone Ruby had dismounted and disarmed without fully waking up, he had nerve! Weiss sniffed and raised her chin a bit more. "We don't live here, as should be obvious." She was a Schnee, far more refined than this ruffian. How could anyone mistake her for one of those barbarian folks wearing rags? Granted, they had been sleeping under a few layers of furs taken from those barbarians, but still!
"We were stranded in these lands by an accident, and we're on our way south," Ruby chimed in with a wide smile on her face.
"Stranded? We're nowhere near either coast," the younger, more sensible man, Will, blurted out.
"They were unique circumstances," Weiss told him with all the dignity she could muster.
"We got lost," Yang commented. "It took a while until we found someone who could tell us how to get out of here."
"What?" Will stared at her.
Weiss frowned again. Yes, these people here were obviously not as sophisticated as the people back home in Atlas, or in Vale, but that didn't mean they couldn't tell when Yang was making fun of them.
"OK, it was like this! We were on a mission to investigate an old ruin back home, in Vale, when a magic device dropped us in the middle of this country," Ruby interjected. "Before we could really understand what had happened, we were attacked by ice zombies and some white, uh, monsters with glowy blue eyes and ice powers, and monster spiders - with ice powers. We had to fight our way through them - they didn't stop coming even though it was obvious they couldn't really beat us, not when we were working together, but they were like the Grimm, those are monsters back home, monsters we hunt, but they are not like your monsters here, anyway, we had to burn them all so they stayed dead, because otherwise they would keep attacking us, but only until we met their Alpha…"
"King," Weiss corrected. "He wore a crown." And Alphas were animals. She didn't know what those 'Others', as the wildlings called them, were, but they were not animals.
"Witch-King," Yang added with a grin.
"Whatever!" Ruby pouted for a moment. "Anyway, what matters is when we destroyed that guy, everyone else fell down and didn't move any more - ice zombies and other guys. Well, there were a few monsters left, but those were easy."
"And edible."
Weiss glared at Yang. There was no need to remind them that they had had to eat giant spiders to survive. And they didn't taste like lobsters! Weiss had eaten enough lobsters for her palate to know the difference!
"Anyway!" Ruby repeated herself. "We defeated those ice monsters and looked for a way back, but there weren't even ruins where we had landed, and we didn't find anything in the Alpha's - Witch-King's - lair, so we started walking south. At least we think it's south, we don't know if south here is actually south, you know? But back home, south is where the sun is highest at noon. Kinda - it varies with the seasons, I think, and where you are, but it was close enough, and we met the locals, the wildlings, you call them, before we ran out of spider legs. And they told us that further south was the Wall, and behind that wall was civilisation! So, here we are!" She beamed at the three men. "On the way to civilisation so we can get home!"
Weiss suppressed a sigh. It was obvious that none of the men had understood a word Ruby had said. Ruby meant well, but she wasn't experienced enough to deal with this. "We're not wildlings. We have no quarrel with you. We simply wish to travel to civilised lands where you aren't attacked by bandits trying to steal your valuables at every corner." That was technically a slight exaggeration - they hadn't been attacked quite that often, though Weiss was sure that was mostly due to the population of these lands being spread rather thin - but seeing as those barbarians were also trying to 'steal' Weiss and her friends for obvious and utterly disgusting purposes, as some of them had stated before being violently taught the error of their ways, she felt it was a true reflection of the situation.
"Exactly!" Ruby kept beaming at the ruffians dressed in black. "So, can we go back with you? We could probably scale that wall easily, but we'd rather not have another misunderstanding. We just want to go home!"
"Yeah." Yang was smiling as well, though showing more teeth.
Weiss glanced at Blake, who nodded. She hadn't said much so far, but as long as she didn't make things worse, Weiss could live with that.
Really, all they needed was to get out of this wasteland and back to civilisation. Or what passed as civilisation here - it was obvious that they were not as technologically advanced as Atlas or Vale. But then again, a lot of Remnant wasn't either.
At least they knew that they had kingdoms behind the wall. Weiss desperately needed a hot shower - no, a hot bath! And a meal cooked by a chef, not scraps of dried meat roasted over a campfire or spider legs the size of her own legs! And decent clothes and bedrolls! She was so sick of sleeping wrapped in smelly furs!
And they needed to replenish their Dust reserves. They had spent almost everything on fighting the ice monsters and then surviving in this wasteland. Weiss still hated that she had wasted so much expensive Gravity Dust to check for buried ruins under the location where they had arrived, only to find rocks and dirt.
The Wall, Westeros, 298 AC
Blake Belladonna squinted as she gazed up at the top of the Wall ahead of them. The fortification was so massive, even with her sharp eyes, she could barely make out the people - members of the Night's Watch - up there. It was easily over two hundred metres tall, casting a long shadow over the frozen wasteland it separated from the, supposedly, more civilised kingdom behind it. As far as they had been told, it ran across the entire continent, a hundred leagues - about five hundred clicks, if her maths was correct. She could barely imagine how people without modern technology had erected such an edifice. Even if it was, as their semi-voluntary guides claimed, mostly built out of frozen water, it would have taken a very long time to finish it. And the stone foundations it would take to support such a massive structure…
"And I thought the walls back home were tall," Ruby commented.
"It has been standing for eight thousand years, protecting the Seven Kingdoms from the wildlings," Ser Waymar, the leader of the small band of warriors, declared, pride dripping from every word.
"All that for a bunch of bandits?" Yang snorted. "Seems like overkill."
"What?"
While Yang explained what it meant, Blake was tempted to remind her friend that she had denied, on numerous occasions, that such a thing as overkill existed. Yet, Blake held her tongue. The ensuing banter would volunteer more information to the soldiers with them, and the men hadn't earned their trust. Quite the opposite, actually - the so-called 'knight' had attacked them without warning, not bothering with even a token attempt at learning who they were and what they were doing here. Blake wasn't about to lower her guard amongst people whose first impulse was to attack a stranger.
Although she had to admit, if she was honest, that, based on her and her friends' experience so far with the people living in the so-called Haunted Forest, she couldn't completely fault the men for assuming the worst. Every time they had met those nefarious bandits, they had attempted to rob them - and to kidnap them for vile purposes. She would be a hypocrite of the worst order if she ignored how such experiences could form or cement prejudices - she had lived through that herself when she had been in the White Fang.
And yet, Blake neither could ignore how strangely familiar this felt, albeit in a twisted way: A band of outcasts eeking out a difficult existence in a harsh wilderness, kept out of more hospitable lands by the armed guards of supposedly more civilised men? The Atlas military and SDC guards might use more advanced technology, but the principle was the same. The top of the Wall might even be an allusion to Atlas floating above Mantle.
She clenched her teeth as they continued to approach the Wall, her friends and herself easily keeping pace with the mounted warriors. She didn't know if there were Faunus in this world and how they were treated, but she would keep hiding her ears. What she had seen so far from the three members of the Night's Watch had not left her with the impression that they would treat her as an equal. It was obviously a rather stratified society, with nobles ruling commoners, as happened in ancient times on Remnant, and she was intimately familiar with how people on the lower rungs of society tended to look for others who were even worse off in a stupid and self-defeating but, sadly, very common attempt to assure themselves that there were people still beneath them, and so they had an interest in upholding the very order that diminished and oppressed them.
And yet, the Wall also was a symbol of hope. If the people here had been able to build such a monumental fortification in the past, then it was quite likely that they achieved other, similarly impressive feats. Such as creating whatever mythical device transported Team RWBY to this forsaken place in another world and which, therefore, should also be able to transport them back home. Blake still had her doubts about the claim that the Wall was thousands of years old, but unlike the remains of whatever civilisation had preceded the Kingdom of Vale back on Remnant, the Wall had not fallen into ruins, their builders forgotten, lost to a bloody, violent past filled with Grimm.
"I see."
Ser Waymar didn't sound as if he truly understood Yang's explanation, and Blake couldn't honestly blame him for it. Her friend had used so many other terms and examples related to Remnant - people who didn't know firearms wouldn't be familiar with video games, much less memes, which Yang would have been aware of had she shown the least interest in literature set in Remnants past or in fantasy worlds - that the man must be more confused than enlightened. Hell, from what they had gathered, the people here were not even aware of Dust, although the tales of Alchemists creating Wildfire sounded as if at least some people were aware of the properties of Dust. The substance certainly sounded as volatile as Dust.
"Look! There's a gate at the bottom of the ice wall!" Ruby suddenly called out, pointing ahead.
Blake cocked her head and stepped up the faint slope to join her friend who had walked in front of her. Indeed, there was a black gate set into the Wall - directly under the busiest part of the wall she could see, she noted. So, this would be their destination, the way past the Wall, into the Seven Kingdoms.
As they approached, Ruby eagerly rushed ahead, and Blake exchanged glances with Yang and Weiss. If their 'guides' meant them ill, this would be their best opportunity to make a move. A narrow tunnel would be the perfect place for an ambush. And while Blake didn't think much of the chances of even a large force of soldiers such as the three men with them to take on Team RWBY, there were other ways than direct attacks to threaten them. Just closing the tunnel on both sides would be a lethal threat if they could not blast or cut their way free.
Ser Waymar rode ahead, barely keeping pace with an excited Ruby, and pulled out a horn. Blake narrowed her eyes at the harsh sound - it grated on her ears - and glanced at the other two men, Will and Gared. They didn't look tense but relieved, though while she believed that they were not putting up an act, that alone didn't mean that this wasn't a trap. They might still wish them ill, and their relief might be rooted in the - quite mistaken - belief that reunited with the rest of the Night's Watch, they had the power to take on Blake and her friends.
Maybe they should scale the Wall instead? It would avoid an underground trap or ambush. But it would also show that they didn't trust the men here and reveal more of their capabilities.
Blake shook her head. They had been travelling for days with the three soldiers, and while she was not as skilled in judging people as her parents - much less skilled, she had to admit, since she had fallen for Adam's lies and had taken far too long to see him for what he was, despite her parents' misgivings - she was not naive either, and she had observed the three extensively during the nights, when they would have thought themselves safely hidden by the darkness, and had not seen any sign of plotting.
And so they followed their enthusiastic leader to the gate and, after a short discussion between Ser Waymar and the gatekeeper, through it and into a tunnel carved into the ice.
Despite her calculated optimism, Blake didn't relax even a little until they were safely out of the tunnel and Ruby was complaining that the other side was just as cold as the land they had just left.
Castle Black, The Wall, Westeros, 298 AC
"...and then we had to fight a whole bunch of blue-eyed ice zombies and pale Grimm-People until we killed their leader, and then they all fell down. Like puppets with cut strings - you know what puppets with strings are, do you? Marionettes. Anyway, they just fell down and stopped moving."
Yang Xiao Long grinned and leaned back against a wooden fence, arms crossed over her chest, as she watched Ruby and Weiss talk to the 'Lord Commander' of the Night's Watch. Jeor Mormont or something. A really old guy, all wrinkled.
Her sister didn't give the man time to answer and went on: "Anyway, since we couldn't find whatever had dropped us in the middle of the zombie horde, we decided to head south and look for others. Others, as in other people, not more Others, as the wildlings called the Grimm-People - though they weren't really people, you know? People don't stop moving and die when their leader gets cleaved in half. They seemed to be more like some kinda Grimm. Grimm are monsters in our world, you know, which want to kill everyone and which we fight, and that fit the Others here, and…"
"Ruby!"
Ah, Weiss's patience had reached its end.
The girl frowned at Ruby, who looked sheepish for a moment and rubbed the back of her head with that beaming smile of hers, then turned back to Mormont staring at them. "I'm sorry, sir, my friend is, sometimes, a bit too enthusiastic." She flashed what Yang privately called her 'business smile' at the man, polite and cold. "But she is correct; we have been stranded by an unknown device, possibly an uncontrolled interaction of various exotic Dust, in the lands up north, and we are looking for a way to return home."
"I see."
Yang would bet that Mormont didn't see it. Or believed them. The side glance he sent at Waymar told her enough. It reminded her of how Dad would glance at a fellow teacher at Signal whenever they weren't buying Yang's perfectly plausible explanation for whatever had happened.
"So, we would be very grateful if you could point us to the closest expert on similar phenomena," Weiss gamely went on while Ruby nodded with wide eyes and a wider smile.
Yang narrowed her eyes at the expressions she caught on some of the men's faces watching the talk upon hearing that. It reminded her of some of the scum in Vale she'd had to beat up. And why were all the soldiers here men, anyway? She hadn't seen a single woman so far. Talk about a sausage party! And, even worse, they all wore black. As if the name of the castle was an order. No speck of colour or style among them - worse than Junior's goons. In fact, a lot of them gave off the same vibe as those thugs…
She glanced at Blake, who was leaning against a post a few metres away. Her partner was acting bored, but Yang could tell that she was tense. Must have picked up the mood as well.
"Yes!" Ruby nodded emphatically, and Yang sighed. Her innocent sister hadn't got a clue. "We were on an important mission, and we have to return as soon as possible before the school starts worrying. Or informs our families that we're missing."
"The school?" Mormont frowned as if he didn't know what that meant.
"Beacon! The best school for Huntresses in all of Remnant!"
"A distinguished institution with a long tradition of turning out the finest Huntsmen and Huntresses in Vale," Weiss said.
Yang smirked; Weiss couldn't let the claim that Beacon was better than Atlas stand even though she attended the school herself. Her humour didn't last long, though.
Mormont nodded slowly, though he looked even stonier than when Waymar had presented them. "You claim to come from the Vale?"
"Not the Vale," Ruby corrected him, causing Weiss to make another face at her. "The Kingdom of Vale - our home. Well, mine and Yang's, Weiss and Blake aren't from Vale. Our Vale, not yours. Though yours is probably great as well, I think, right?"
Mormont held up his hand. "Please, enough of this."
Ruby blinked, Weiss drew back a little, a frown on her face, and Yang pushed off the fence and rolled her shoulders. Just in case. The old guy didn't give off the same vibes as some of the men, but you never knew. Next to her, Blake didn't move from her spot, but Yang saw her shift her balance some, ready to jump into action.
"Sorry?" Ruby still looked confused. "Did I talk too fast?"
"Ruby!" Weiss hissed.
"What?"
"You made him mad!"
"I didn't mean to! I'm sorry!"
"Let me do the talking!" Weiss flashed another of her business smiles at Mormont. "She's sorry. Please don't hold her youthful enthusiasm against her or us. We really just want to be on our way towards the closest expert on… unknown displacement effects."
Yang snorted. "Good one, Weiss."
It earned her a glare, but Weiss quickly focused on the man in front of them when he cleared his throat.
"Please, before I regret having let you pass through the wall on Ser Waymar's counsel, just tell me, in simple words: Where are you from, and what do you want in the Seven Kingdoms?"
"But…" Ruby was gaping at him. "We told you that already!"
"You spoke a lot, but you didn't tell me much. Not much I could make sense of, at least." Mormont smiled, though a little toothily.
Probably not used to Ruby, Yang thought. Well, he'd probably warm up to her if they stayed here for a while. Everyone did. Not that Yang planned to stay here for long; the cold cramped her style. She didn't want to end up like Weiss.
"I know these lands as I know the back of my hand, on both sides of the wall, and I have never encountered any of those creatures you claim to have met - and fought," Mormont went on. "You are armed with steel, and you dress so…" He looked as if he had swallowed a lemon. "...so outrageously, it is clear you aren't wildlings and not from the North or any other of the Seven Kingdoms."
"Exactly!" Ruby nodded several times, then flinched and ducked her head when Mormont narrowed his eyes at her,
"So, where are you from, and how did you end up in the North? Were you on a ship and stranded on the coast? Do you hail from Braavos?"
"Lys!" one of the men standing in the back yelled, causing a wave of chuckling to spread through the ranks.
Yang scowled. She didn't know what Lys was - but she knew that tone and that reaction. They had just been insulted.
Before she could tell the idiots to shut up or she'd crush their balls, Mormont whipped around and bellowed at his men, loud enough to make Yang and her friends flinch: "Silence!"
The men jerked, a number of them taking a step back. "But, Lord Commander…"
"I said silence! You are men of the watch! Black Brothers! Sworn to defend the realm! Do not shame the Watch or me by acting like boys thinking with their cocks!"
Yang heard Ruby gasp at that, and when she glanced at her, she saw both her sister and Weiss blush a little, which made her smirk.
Mormont was still glaring at his men. "The next one who brings dishonour on us all will rue it. Am I understood?"
"Yes, Lord Commander!"
Taking a deep breath, the old man turned back to address Ruby and Weiss. "I apologise for my men. They serve a noble cause, yet not all of them have forgotten their brutish roots."
"Ah… It's OK!" Ruby chirped with a forced smile that told Yang she wasn't quite sure about the whole thing.
Weiss cleared her throat. "We are not from Braavos - or from any other kingdom you know. We are from a different world."
"It's the truth! Your moon is completely different! Ours is broken!" Ruby cut in.
But Mormont wasn't buying it. The old man was too polite to yell at them, but Yang could tell he didn't believe them. And she knew that neither Ruby nor Weiss would be able to convince him. He was too rigid.
Well, if things were too rigid, they needed a bit of shaking up.
Yang grinned widely and took a step forward, smashing her fists together. "We're not from your world. Let me demonstrate just how much we're not from your world."
"Yang! What are you doing?" Ruby blurted out.
"Don't do anything stupid!" Weiss hissed.
Yang didn't listen to either. She looked around. She could punch a hole into the ground, but people generally didn't like holes in their yards. Backyards or schoolyards. So… ah! There!
She crouched, then jumped over the gathered men, landing ten metres behind them next to a cart. Or wagon, whatever. It looked heavy and sturdy enough for a demonstration. "Watch!" she yelled over the gasps and comments, then gripped the cart's bottom with both hands and lifted.
It was unwieldy, and she had to shift her grip twice while she raised the thing over her head, but a few seconds later, she was holding it up with one arm and smiling widely at the gaping crowd.
"Don't break it, Yang!"
She raised her eyebrows at Weiss. As if she was about to break the cart! Well, to be fair, shattering it with one blow would be really impressive, but she knew better than to break other people's stuff. Unless they deserved it, at least.
"So?" She asked, tossing her head back and grinning at Mormont. "Ever seen this before?"
The old man slowly shook his head. "No, I did not."
Yang smiled. It wasn't exactly a glowing agreement, but it was probably good enough.
"And you haven't seen anything yet!" Ruby blurted out. "Watch this!"
A moment later, she vanished in a cloud of red petals, then reappeared on the roof of a small stable on the side, then flickered around the entire yard like Zwei when he got the zoomies until she stopped - on top of the cart Yang was holding since it suddenly got heavier.
"We're Huntresses! We fight the Grimm to protect the people! Kinda like you, I guess!" Yang heard her announce.
The next thing she heard was the thunk of Crescent Rose's butt slamming into the cart, followed by a creaking, familiar noise as the cart broke into pieces.
"Oops! Sorry!"
"Ruby! You dolt!"
"I'm really sorry!"
Summary: It had been a simple mission for Team RWBY: Check some ancient ruins for danger. Then they found themselves in the middle of a frozen wasteland fighting strange ice monsters. That wasn't actually that hard. But finding a way back home? That's much harder. Especially without turning into monsters themselves.
Disclaimer: I do not own A Song of Fire and Ice or any of the characters in the series. I do not own RWBY or any of the characters in the series.
Author's Notes: This story is set in an Alternate Universe. While the canon events of RWBY up to Season 2 and of A Game of Thrones before the start of Book 1 happened, there will be changes to either series' background.
Cover:
Prologue: This is not Solitas, is it?
One moment, they were standing around a shiny object; the next moment, they were falling. Free-falling! Ruby Rose had a flashback to the Initiation at Beacon and whipped Crescent Rose around to slow her descent, but she hit the ground before she could pull the trigger.
The impact was jarring but softer than she expected, though when she went to roll with it, she found herself buried halfway in… snow? She scrambled up, coughing and spitting, and looked around. Definitely snow. Lots of it - the whole area was covered in snow! The ground, the trees around them, the hills and mountains in the distance… She blinked. This didn't look like Vale.
"Ruby, you dolt! I told you not to touch that thing!"
Ruby turned around and saw Weiss raising her head from a mound of snow that had seemingly swallowed her. She was angry, but that was kinda normal for her. The small patch of snow on her head that was slowly slipping down was new, though.
"I was already touching it when you said it!" Ruby defended herself. "Besides, our mission was to check out the ruins!" And that meant checking out weird shining objects that kinda floated.
"We were sent to look for any Grimm that might threaten an archaeological expedition to the ruins."
Ruby turned again. Unlike Weiss, Blake didn't look angry, but it was hard to tell - she generally kept cool and calm. She wasn't covered in snow, either, though. "Yes, but checking for other dangers was kinda implied," Ruby told her.
Wait a moment - Weiss, Blake… where was…?
"Woohoo!"
Ruby jerked to the side when another mound of snow exploded in a shower of, well, snow and… steam? Ah, there was Yang, her fists raised and a broad grin on her face. Her sister blinked and looked around. "What happened? This doesn't look like the ruins where we were."
"Our reckless leader didn't listen, again, and triggered something, and we must have been… transported here," Weiss replied as she brushed off more snow from her clothes.
Ruby did the same and grimaced when she noticed some of the snow had already slipped beneath her clothes and was melting. It was cold here, da…very cold. She could see her breath.
"And where is this? It looks like Atlas, doesn't it?" Yang asked.
"You mean Solitas. Atlas is a city," Weiss snapped. "This is the wilderness."
Yang kept grinning. "So, we're stranded in the wilderness near your home?"
"If we're lucky," Weiss replied. She pulled out her scroll, then frowned. "No signal. We're not near Atlas."
"Signal's on Patch." Yang's joke wasn't really funny.
"You don't recognise the place?" Ruby asked before Weiss could blow her top at her sister.
"Do you expect me to recognise every place on an entire continent?" Weiss glared at Ruby as if it was her fault that Yang's sense of humour was kinda questionable.
"I could recognise every spot on Patch." And Yang wasn't helping.
"Your home is a small island. Solitas is a continent," Weiss said. "Now, we need to find out where we are."
"Oh!" Ruby perked up. She knew what to do! "We can check the stars for our position!" She remembered how that worked. Kinda. She had been a bit distracted planning another upgrade for Crescent Rose during that lesson. But it couldn't be too… She blinked and heard someone gasp.
"That's…"
"That's not the moon!"
"Did we skip a phase?"
"That's not our moon." Blake sounded both sure and unsure at the same time. Somehow. "It's different."
"Well, yeah, it's not broken," Yang said.
"It could just be facing us with the unbroken side," Weiss disagreed, but she didn't sound as convinced that she was right as she usually did.
"No. It's not our moon," Blake disagreed. "It looks different from when it's in the full phase."
"I don't think we're on Solitas," Ruby said in a low voice.
"That's… that's impossible!" Weiss sputtered. "It has to be our moon!"
"No," Ruby said. "That doesn't look like our moon. The colour is wrong, and ours doesn't have that big dark sea."
"It's not a sea; it's a crater," Weiss corrected her.
"Whatever, it's not our moon," Ruby shot back. "We're not in our world any more."
"Unless… we went back in time? Before the moon shattered?" Blake ventured.
"That's impossible as well!" Weiss disagreed.
"Well, the moon changing is also impossible," Yang pointed out.
"Whatever," Ruby repeated herself. She was the leader of RWBY, she had to take charge now. "We can't bicker about the moon. We need to decide what we do. Where we're going."
"We don't know where we are, so how can we decide where to go?" Weiss asked. "This is…" she shook her head almost violently, her ponytail whipping around her face. "What do we do?"
"Quiet!" Blake hissed before Ruby could try to calm her friend down. "I hear steps. Someone's coming."
Ruby didn't hear anything, but her ears weren't as good as Blake's. She didn't see anything either, though. "From which direction?" she asked.
"From…" Blake tensed. "From all around us!" she spat, drawing Gambol Shroud.
"Wait!" Ruby held up a hand. "Calm down! We don't want the people here to think we want to do them any harm!"
"I don't…" Blake drew a sharp breath. "What are they?"
What did she mean? Then Ruby saw the first figure appear between the trees, slowly walking towards them. Almost stumbling. The first of many. They looked…
"What are they?" Weiss repeated Blake's question.
Ruby didn't know either. They looked like… "Zombies! Ice zombies!" she blurted out.
"Don't be ridiculous! This is not one of your silly games!" Weiss snapped.
But the people surrounding them, slowly encircling them, looked like zombies. Some of them had visible wounds. Some had missing limbs. And they were armed. Clubs, spears, staffs.
Still… Ruby was the team leader. She had to lead. Maybe the people here looked like this? Maybe this was normal? She smiled and waved. "Hello there! Can you help us? We're kinda lost!"
They didn't react. Didn't say anything. They just kept coming closer. And they didn't look friendly at all!
"We come in peace!" Ruby tried again.
"Ruby!" Yang hissed behind her. "I don't think they're listening."
Ruby didn't think so, either. But what else could they do? "Can you understand me?" She pointed at herself, then at them. "Me Ruby. You?"
"Ruby…" Yang groaned.
The first of the maybe-ice zombies had almost reached her. He - he looked male - raised his club and grunted, showing gapped teeth, before he swung at her.
Without thinking, Ruby parried the blow with Crescent Rose, taking off half his club in the process and sending him stumbling. "Oh, sorry! I just…"
He swung the stump of his club at her again, growling like… like a Grimm!
"Ruby!"
Ruby had reach on him. She hit him with the shaft of Crescent Rose. But instead of sending him back a few steps, as she had wanted, she heard his ribs break as her weapon caved his chest in and sent him flying. Gasping, she stared at him. That was… "I didn't mean to!"
But he got up despite his chest now sporting a hole. And he wasn't bleeding at all!
"They're really ice zombies!" Ruby blurted out - right before the other zombies charged in.
Ruby fended off a staff blow and kicked a smaller zombie trying to stab her with a knife. Her kick caught the zombie's head and ripped it off! For a moment, it felt as if her heart stopped.
But the headless zombie kept swinging its weapon at her.
Horrified, she swung Crescent Rose at it, cutting it in half, then swung her blade around and slashed through two more who were trying to flank her.
Around her, her friends were fighting as well.
"They're not staying down!" Yang shouted, shattering - exploding - a pair of zombies with a series of blows with Ember Celica. "Not even if they lose their heads!"
That wasn't how it worked in the games! But this wasn't a game! They were surrounded by unstoppable ice zombies that kept going! Ruby clenched her teeth, then used her semblance, sweeping through the dozen zombies converging on her and cutting them into pieces before coming to a stop between Blake and Weiss.
"They don't die!" Weiss yelled, stabbing a zombie before blasting it away with a shot of dust. "They keep coming."
That was… "We need to set them on fire!" Ruby yelled. If headshots didn't work, then fire would! It had to! It always did in the movies! "Kill them with fire!"
"Yeah!" Yang roared, diving into the middle of a bunch of zombies.
They jumped on her, and Ruby gasped again. "Yang!"
She started to move, hefting Crescent Rose. A zombie charged at her, and she jumped over it, flipping around and cutting it apart. She landed on a second zombie, kicking it in the chest and pushing off, slicing the zombie's chest open with her scythe in the process. She had to get to Yang! She had to…
In the middle of the zombie group, a fire flared up - Yang had activated her semblance. And the zombies were burning - and falling down!
"Fire works!" Ruby yelled, landing on one knee before sweeping Crescent Rose in an arc around her and cutting off two more zombies at the knees. Literally!
Weiss landed next to her, jumping off a floating glyph. Ruby heard Myrtenaster cycle, and a zombie about to swing a club at her caught a fireball to the face that burned him to ashes.
"Take this!" Yang barreled through another group of zombies, leaving them broken and burning.
Blake, flitting around from clone to clone, leaving cut and falling zombies behind, caught three more in Gambol Shroud and flung them on the burning ones. "They're not that strong," she said as she reached Weiss and Ruby.
"Just hard to kill," Ruby agreed. They were not nearly as dangerous as Grimm, though. They just looked so… She clenched her teeth and activated her semblance again, cutting a swath through the rear of the zombie horde and trying to punt the pieces into the fires the others were starting.
She mostly succeeded. A few pieces missed. One almost hit Weiss, but her partner could handle it.
"Hey!"
Should be able to handle it.
Ruby appeared next to her, taking quick breaths and looked around. Most of the zombies were burning in pieces now, but the rest were still coming, not caring about the fate of the others. "Like Grimm," she whispered. "Just like Grimm." They weren't people. Just people-shaped monsters. They had to be.
"Yes," Weiss agreed, also breathing a bit heavily. "We should… Watch out!"
Ruby spun around and just caught an arrow shattering on one of Weiss's glyphs that had appeared in front of her face. An ice arrow!
She looked around. That had come from… There! Between a patch of trees! Her eyes widened. Sitting on a huge spider, a figure, pale as ice, with glowing blue eyes, was notching another ice arrow to a shiny white bow. And it was surrounded by more of the zombies.
"That's the boss!" Ruby yelled as she flipped Crescent Rose around and shifted her into a rifle.
Another arrow flew toward her - no, toward Blake! But it only hit a clone that turned to ice before shattering.
And Ruby had a bead drawn on the figure. She pulled the trigger, and a dust round from Crescent Rose hit the archer in the chest while she flipped head over heels to compensate for the recoil.
Her target blew up, splattering the zombies passing him with blueish blood or something. But the zombies didn't stop. They kept coming.
Not for long, though - Yang leapt at them, followed by Blake and Weiss. Yang's first blow caved in the spider's head, leaving it twitching on the ground. Weiss jumped from glyph to glyph, firing dust charges with Myrtenaster and fending off feeble blows from broken weapons. Blake wove through the ranks of the enemies, clones confusing them until they fell with their limbs cut or entangled.
And Ruby swept around, cutting into them from behind. Crescent Rose flashed, and parts flew.
A minute later, it was over. A flick of her scythe set the last pieces into the fire Weiss had started over the spider's carcass.
"Whoo! That was…" Yang trailed off with a sigh. "Satisfying," she finished.
"It was cathartic," Weiss surprisingly agreed - at least Ruby thought she did. "But we're still stuck in…. An unknown place, facing unknown dangers."
"And known dangers," Blake said. "We're in the middle of an icy wasteland without shelter or supplies."
Their aura would keep them from freezing. For a time, at least. But… "Does anyone have food on them?" Ruby asked.
"Hungry already, sis?" Yang joked, but Ruby could tell that her sister was concerned.
And she was hungry, actually. And she only had a few chocolate cookies on her. She gasped, then checked her pockets. No! They had been crushed in the fighting!
"We need to find shelter and get some food," Blake said. "We can't…"
Her ears were twitching again, Ruby saw. She grimaced. "More zombies?"
Blake nodded with a grim expression.
More fighting, then. Ruby clenched her teeth and gripped Crescent Rose harder. No matter what stood against them, they would get out of this. She wouldn't let her team down!
*****
Chapter 1: The Strangers at the Gate
'The origin of the group we know as the Ruby Order remains one of the great mysteries of Westeros. It has been agreed by all reliable scholars that their claims to have come from another world were an exaggeration meant to obfuscate their true origin. From a modern perspective, their tales of a broken moon, flying cities and monster hunters are obvious exaggerations like the myths related to the Age of Heroes. Nevertheless, the fact remains that despite extensive research and Maester Aeon's famous but ultimately fruitless expedition to Yi-Ti to investigate a possible link between the Yellow Emperor and Yang Xiao Long, no one has been able to find where the four maidens came from. This, coupled with their choice of obvious noms-de-guerre, has, of course, led to a lot of unfounded speculation ranging from the fantastical - such as the theory, if one could call those ramblings that, of Ruby Rose being a daughter of Brandon the Builder who had been put into a magical sleep with her companions to save Westeros in its time of need, to the utterly mad, such as the claim that the entire tale was a fabrication and that the Ruby Order was actually Daenerys Targaryen and her three dragons, based on nothing more than the colour of Weiss Schnee's hair.
In this work, I will cut through all this speculation and focus on what we can prove based on records, evidence and sound logic.'
- A Treatise On The Ruby Order, by Maester Kennet Bracken
*****
The Haunted Forest, Westeros, 298 AC
After four years at the Wall, Will had grown used to the cold, and the Haunted Forest held no terrors for him any more. As a veteran of a hundred rangings, he knew the territory as well as - better than - the Wildlings who claimed the land here, and he knew from experience that he was better at sneaking through the woods than they were.
Proof of that was the fact that he had been tracking the band of wildling raiders they were after for days now without them being able to lose him. And they were getting closer as well.
No, the only thing Will worried about was that he and Gared were under the orders of Ser Waymar Royce, and that noble was not quite as experienced as he thought he was - just enough to be too confident, which was bad everywhere but doubly so beyond the Wall. Three brothers of the Nigth Watch could take half a dozen wildlings, but only if you were smart about it. If you were dumb, even warhorses and the best armour and weapons wouldn't save you from an ambush. Will could only hope that by the time they caught up to their prey, the noble would not be too reckless. The Lord Commander should have let Gared lead this ranging; Gared had been a Brother longer than Will had been alive. But Ser Waymar was a noble, and nobles didn't serve under smallfolk, not even in the Night's Watch, where everyone was a brother.
He snorted and moved ahead another dozen paces, past a scraggly bush. The raiders were loaded down with their loot, and that made them sloppy. They had tried to walk in a single file to hide their numbers but hadn't quite managed it. He checked a broken twig - they were even closer than he had thought. He could almost smell the wildlings…
He blinked, sniffing the air. That was smoke! Had the wildlings set camp already? They weren't that far from the last campsite Will had found, so why would they have stopped here? Sure, the sun would be setting soon, but the wildlings had still been hours ahead of Will's band when they had set out this morning.
He looked at the sky and squinted. It was cloudy, but… yes, that was a column of smoke. That was even weirder - even the dumbest wildling raiders knew how to build a smokeless fire.
Something wasn't right.
He quickly started backtracking to where Gared and Ser Waymar were waiting, not caring about hiding his own tracks any more. This was too important.
It didn't take him long to reach the others. When they saw him running, both jumped up, hands on weapons, and he waved them down.
"There's smoke ahead! Someone made a fire!" he blurted out between catching his breath.
"Hah! We have them!" Ser Waymar grinned.
"Smoke?" Gared, of course, realised what that meant at once. "Can't be. Must be a trap."
That was a possibility Will hadn't considered. But it made sense, kind of. Or not - most brothers would know better than to charge ahead blindly.
"If it's a trap, we'll spring it!" Ser Waymar strode to his horse. "Mount up! We'll show those raiders that they cannot escape the Watch!"
Will exchanged a glance with Gared. The older brother sneered for a moment, then clenched his teeth and started for his own horse.
Will sighed and followed them. He had a bad feeling about this.
"Show us the way, Brother Will!"
Yeah, definitely a bad feeling. But he had sworn the oath, and orders were orders. With his back to the others, he grimaced and started to lead them towards the fire in the distance.
They made good time, but not good enough for Ser Waymar. By the time they approached a small snow-covered ridge that hid the fire from them, the noble was chomping at the bit.
Will held up a hand. "They're beyond that ridge," he whispered - they were still too far away to be overheard, and he hadn't spotted any guards around, but you never knew.
"Good! Follow me!" Ser Waymar didn't stop. He urged his horse up the ridge, sword drawn.
Gared and Will, grimacing again, drew their own swords and did as told.
Ser Waymar was first on the ridge, uttered a battle cry Will didn't quite get, and charged down the slope.
Will heard shouting and high-pitched cries. Then he reached the top of the ridge himself, half a pace ahead of Gared, and his eyes widened.
Ser Waymar was down, his horse riderless. The noble was on the ground, disarmed - but still alive; Will saw him squirming under the boot of a… Will blinked. That wasn't a wildling!
He realised that he had stopped charging, as had Gared next to him. They were facing four people in… colourful clothes. He had never seen, not even heard, of any wildling wearing such garb!
The one holding down Ser Waymar was wearing a bright red cape over a pitch-black garment - and holding the biggest scythe he had ever seen. It was bigger than herself! Next to her stood a woman with a mane of golden hair wearing… Whatever it was, her legs were almost bare! And the one next to her wore a skirt so short it bared her entire legs!
"Targaryen!" Gared whispered next to him.
Yes, the woman had the silver hair of the old kings. And she was wielding a slim, shining sword. And the blonde wore golden gauntlets. Wildlings didn't dress like that. And they didn't have such weapons! And they didn't show any concern or fear faced with two mounted brothers. Of course, they had dismounted Ser Waymar seemingly easily - and for all his overconfidence, the brother was a trained knight.
Will licked his lips. Somehow, he didn't fancy their chances to charge double their numbers. Not to mention they had Ser Waymar at their mercy.
The silver-haired one took a step towards them and pointed her sword at Will. "You there! Why did you attack us?"
She sounded like a noble. She acted like a noble. Best to treat her like a noble.
Will shrugged and pointed at Ser Waymar. "Ser Waymar is in command."
All four looked at the still squirming and cursing knight on the ground. Will thought he heard the shorter one say: 'Oh!' and despite how serious their situation was, he couldn't help snorting.
*****
"Do we look like wildlings? Do we?" Weiss Schnee glared at the oaf who had attacked them. She expected, based on far too much experience, to be attacked by the bandits roaming those woods - she wouldn't call them 'free folk'; they were common criminals - but the members of the Night's Watch were meant to be civilised, not barbarians!
The leader of the small band, supposedly a knight, glared back at her. "Only wildlings live beyond the Wall!"
For someone Ruby had dismounted and disarmed without fully waking up, he had nerve! Weiss sniffed and raised her chin a bit more. "We don't live here, as should be obvious." She was a Schnee, far more refined than this ruffian. How could anyone mistake her for one of those barbarian folks wearing rags? Granted, they had been sleeping under a few layers of furs taken from those barbarians, but still!
"We were stranded in these lands by an accident, and we're on our way south," Ruby chimed in with a wide smile on her face.
"Stranded? We're nowhere near either coast," the younger, more sensible man, Will, blurted out.
"They were unique circumstances," Weiss told him with all the dignity she could muster.
"We got lost," Yang commented. "It took a while until we found someone who could tell us how to get out of here."
"What?" Will stared at her.
Weiss frowned again. Yes, these people here were obviously not as sophisticated as the people back home in Atlas, or in Vale, but that didn't mean they couldn't tell when Yang was making fun of them.
"OK, it was like this! We were on a mission to investigate an old ruin back home, in Vale, when a magic device dropped us in the middle of this country," Ruby interjected. "Before we could really understand what had happened, we were attacked by ice zombies and some white, uh, monsters with glowy blue eyes and ice powers, and monster spiders - with ice powers. We had to fight our way through them - they didn't stop coming even though it was obvious they couldn't really beat us, not when we were working together, but they were like the Grimm, those are monsters back home, monsters we hunt, but they are not like your monsters here, anyway, we had to burn them all so they stayed dead, because otherwise they would keep attacking us, but only until we met their Alpha…"
"King," Weiss corrected. "He wore a crown." And Alphas were animals. She didn't know what those 'Others', as the wildlings called them, were, but they were not animals.
"Witch-King," Yang added with a grin.
"Whatever!" Ruby pouted for a moment. "Anyway, what matters is when we destroyed that guy, everyone else fell down and didn't move any more - ice zombies and other guys. Well, there were a few monsters left, but those were easy."
"And edible."
Weiss glared at Yang. There was no need to remind them that they had had to eat giant spiders to survive. And they didn't taste like lobsters! Weiss had eaten enough lobsters for her palate to know the difference!
"Anyway!" Ruby repeated herself. "We defeated those ice monsters and looked for a way back, but there weren't even ruins where we had landed, and we didn't find anything in the Alpha's - Witch-King's - lair, so we started walking south. At least we think it's south, we don't know if south here is actually south, you know? But back home, south is where the sun is highest at noon. Kinda - it varies with the seasons, I think, and where you are, but it was close enough, and we met the locals, the wildlings, you call them, before we ran out of spider legs. And they told us that further south was the Wall, and behind that wall was civilisation! So, here we are!" She beamed at the three men. "On the way to civilisation so we can get home!"
Weiss suppressed a sigh. It was obvious that none of the men had understood a word Ruby had said. Ruby meant well, but she wasn't experienced enough to deal with this. "We're not wildlings. We have no quarrel with you. We simply wish to travel to civilised lands where you aren't attacked by bandits trying to steal your valuables at every corner." That was technically a slight exaggeration - they hadn't been attacked quite that often, though Weiss was sure that was mostly due to the population of these lands being spread rather thin - but seeing as those barbarians were also trying to 'steal' Weiss and her friends for obvious and utterly disgusting purposes, as some of them had stated before being violently taught the error of their ways, she felt it was a true reflection of the situation.
"Exactly!" Ruby kept beaming at the ruffians dressed in black. "So, can we go back with you? We could probably scale that wall easily, but we'd rather not have another misunderstanding. We just want to go home!"
"Yeah." Yang was smiling as well, though showing more teeth.
Weiss glanced at Blake, who nodded. She hadn't said much so far, but as long as she didn't make things worse, Weiss could live with that.
Really, all they needed was to get out of this wasteland and back to civilisation. Or what passed as civilisation here - it was obvious that they were not as technologically advanced as Atlas or Vale. But then again, a lot of Remnant wasn't either.
At least they knew that they had kingdoms behind the wall. Weiss desperately needed a hot shower - no, a hot bath! And a meal cooked by a chef, not scraps of dried meat roasted over a campfire or spider legs the size of her own legs! And decent clothes and bedrolls! She was so sick of sleeping wrapped in smelly furs!
And they needed to replenish their Dust reserves. They had spent almost everything on fighting the ice monsters and then surviving in this wasteland. Weiss still hated that she had wasted so much expensive Gravity Dust to check for buried ruins under the location where they had arrived, only to find rocks and dirt.
*****
The Wall, Westeros, 298 AC
Blake Belladonna squinted as she gazed up at the top of the Wall ahead of them. The fortification was so massive, even with her sharp eyes, she could barely make out the people - members of the Night's Watch - up there. It was easily over two hundred metres tall, casting a long shadow over the frozen wasteland it separated from the, supposedly, more civilised kingdom behind it. As far as they had been told, it ran across the entire continent, a hundred leagues - about five hundred clicks, if her maths was correct. She could barely imagine how people without modern technology had erected such an edifice. Even if it was, as their semi-voluntary guides claimed, mostly built out of frozen water, it would have taken a very long time to finish it. And the stone foundations it would take to support such a massive structure…
"And I thought the walls back home were tall," Ruby commented.
"It has been standing for eight thousand years, protecting the Seven Kingdoms from the wildlings," Ser Waymar, the leader of the small band of warriors, declared, pride dripping from every word.
"All that for a bunch of bandits?" Yang snorted. "Seems like overkill."
"What?"
While Yang explained what it meant, Blake was tempted to remind her friend that she had denied, on numerous occasions, that such a thing as overkill existed. Yet, Blake held her tongue. The ensuing banter would volunteer more information to the soldiers with them, and the men hadn't earned their trust. Quite the opposite, actually - the so-called 'knight' had attacked them without warning, not bothering with even a token attempt at learning who they were and what they were doing here. Blake wasn't about to lower her guard amongst people whose first impulse was to attack a stranger.
Although she had to admit, if she was honest, that, based on her and her friends' experience so far with the people living in the so-called Haunted Forest, she couldn't completely fault the men for assuming the worst. Every time they had met those nefarious bandits, they had attempted to rob them - and to kidnap them for vile purposes. She would be a hypocrite of the worst order if she ignored how such experiences could form or cement prejudices - she had lived through that herself when she had been in the White Fang.
And yet, Blake neither could ignore how strangely familiar this felt, albeit in a twisted way: A band of outcasts eeking out a difficult existence in a harsh wilderness, kept out of more hospitable lands by the armed guards of supposedly more civilised men? The Atlas military and SDC guards might use more advanced technology, but the principle was the same. The top of the Wall might even be an allusion to Atlas floating above Mantle.
She clenched her teeth as they continued to approach the Wall, her friends and herself easily keeping pace with the mounted warriors. She didn't know if there were Faunus in this world and how they were treated, but she would keep hiding her ears. What she had seen so far from the three members of the Night's Watch had not left her with the impression that they would treat her as an equal. It was obviously a rather stratified society, with nobles ruling commoners, as happened in ancient times on Remnant, and she was intimately familiar with how people on the lower rungs of society tended to look for others who were even worse off in a stupid and self-defeating but, sadly, very common attempt to assure themselves that there were people still beneath them, and so they had an interest in upholding the very order that diminished and oppressed them.
And yet, the Wall also was a symbol of hope. If the people here had been able to build such a monumental fortification in the past, then it was quite likely that they achieved other, similarly impressive feats. Such as creating whatever mythical device transported Team RWBY to this forsaken place in another world and which, therefore, should also be able to transport them back home. Blake still had her doubts about the claim that the Wall was thousands of years old, but unlike the remains of whatever civilisation had preceded the Kingdom of Vale back on Remnant, the Wall had not fallen into ruins, their builders forgotten, lost to a bloody, violent past filled with Grimm.
"I see."
Ser Waymar didn't sound as if he truly understood Yang's explanation, and Blake couldn't honestly blame him for it. Her friend had used so many other terms and examples related to Remnant - people who didn't know firearms wouldn't be familiar with video games, much less memes, which Yang would have been aware of had she shown the least interest in literature set in Remnants past or in fantasy worlds - that the man must be more confused than enlightened. Hell, from what they had gathered, the people here were not even aware of Dust, although the tales of Alchemists creating Wildfire sounded as if at least some people were aware of the properties of Dust. The substance certainly sounded as volatile as Dust.
"Look! There's a gate at the bottom of the ice wall!" Ruby suddenly called out, pointing ahead.
Blake cocked her head and stepped up the faint slope to join her friend who had walked in front of her. Indeed, there was a black gate set into the Wall - directly under the busiest part of the wall she could see, she noted. So, this would be their destination, the way past the Wall, into the Seven Kingdoms.
As they approached, Ruby eagerly rushed ahead, and Blake exchanged glances with Yang and Weiss. If their 'guides' meant them ill, this would be their best opportunity to make a move. A narrow tunnel would be the perfect place for an ambush. And while Blake didn't think much of the chances of even a large force of soldiers such as the three men with them to take on Team RWBY, there were other ways than direct attacks to threaten them. Just closing the tunnel on both sides would be a lethal threat if they could not blast or cut their way free.
Ser Waymar rode ahead, barely keeping pace with an excited Ruby, and pulled out a horn. Blake narrowed her eyes at the harsh sound - it grated on her ears - and glanced at the other two men, Will and Gared. They didn't look tense but relieved, though while she believed that they were not putting up an act, that alone didn't mean that this wasn't a trap. They might still wish them ill, and their relief might be rooted in the - quite mistaken - belief that reunited with the rest of the Night's Watch, they had the power to take on Blake and her friends.
Maybe they should scale the Wall instead? It would avoid an underground trap or ambush. But it would also show that they didn't trust the men here and reveal more of their capabilities.
Blake shook her head. They had been travelling for days with the three soldiers, and while she was not as skilled in judging people as her parents - much less skilled, she had to admit, since she had fallen for Adam's lies and had taken far too long to see him for what he was, despite her parents' misgivings - she was not naive either, and she had observed the three extensively during the nights, when they would have thought themselves safely hidden by the darkness, and had not seen any sign of plotting.
And so they followed their enthusiastic leader to the gate and, after a short discussion between Ser Waymar and the gatekeeper, through it and into a tunnel carved into the ice.
Despite her calculated optimism, Blake didn't relax even a little until they were safely out of the tunnel and Ruby was complaining that the other side was just as cold as the land they had just left.
*****
Castle Black, The Wall, Westeros, 298 AC
"...and then we had to fight a whole bunch of blue-eyed ice zombies and pale Grimm-People until we killed their leader, and then they all fell down. Like puppets with cut strings - you know what puppets with strings are, do you? Marionettes. Anyway, they just fell down and stopped moving."
Yang Xiao Long grinned and leaned back against a wooden fence, arms crossed over her chest, as she watched Ruby and Weiss talk to the 'Lord Commander' of the Night's Watch. Jeor Mormont or something. A really old guy, all wrinkled.
Her sister didn't give the man time to answer and went on: "Anyway, since we couldn't find whatever had dropped us in the middle of the zombie horde, we decided to head south and look for others. Others, as in other people, not more Others, as the wildlings called the Grimm-People - though they weren't really people, you know? People don't stop moving and die when their leader gets cleaved in half. They seemed to be more like some kinda Grimm. Grimm are monsters in our world, you know, which want to kill everyone and which we fight, and that fit the Others here, and…"
"Ruby!"
Ah, Weiss's patience had reached its end.
The girl frowned at Ruby, who looked sheepish for a moment and rubbed the back of her head with that beaming smile of hers, then turned back to Mormont staring at them. "I'm sorry, sir, my friend is, sometimes, a bit too enthusiastic." She flashed what Yang privately called her 'business smile' at the man, polite and cold. "But she is correct; we have been stranded by an unknown device, possibly an uncontrolled interaction of various exotic Dust, in the lands up north, and we are looking for a way to return home."
"I see."
Yang would bet that Mormont didn't see it. Or believed them. The side glance he sent at Waymar told her enough. It reminded her of how Dad would glance at a fellow teacher at Signal whenever they weren't buying Yang's perfectly plausible explanation for whatever had happened.
"So, we would be very grateful if you could point us to the closest expert on similar phenomena," Weiss gamely went on while Ruby nodded with wide eyes and a wider smile.
Yang narrowed her eyes at the expressions she caught on some of the men's faces watching the talk upon hearing that. It reminded her of some of the scum in Vale she'd had to beat up. And why were all the soldiers here men, anyway? She hadn't seen a single woman so far. Talk about a sausage party! And, even worse, they all wore black. As if the name of the castle was an order. No speck of colour or style among them - worse than Junior's goons. In fact, a lot of them gave off the same vibe as those thugs…
She glanced at Blake, who was leaning against a post a few metres away. Her partner was acting bored, but Yang could tell that she was tense. Must have picked up the mood as well.
"Yes!" Ruby nodded emphatically, and Yang sighed. Her innocent sister hadn't got a clue. "We were on an important mission, and we have to return as soon as possible before the school starts worrying. Or informs our families that we're missing."
"The school?" Mormont frowned as if he didn't know what that meant.
"Beacon! The best school for Huntresses in all of Remnant!"
"A distinguished institution with a long tradition of turning out the finest Huntsmen and Huntresses in Vale," Weiss said.
Yang smirked; Weiss couldn't let the claim that Beacon was better than Atlas stand even though she attended the school herself. Her humour didn't last long, though.
Mormont nodded slowly, though he looked even stonier than when Waymar had presented them. "You claim to come from the Vale?"
"Not the Vale," Ruby corrected him, causing Weiss to make another face at her. "The Kingdom of Vale - our home. Well, mine and Yang's, Weiss and Blake aren't from Vale. Our Vale, not yours. Though yours is probably great as well, I think, right?"
Mormont held up his hand. "Please, enough of this."
Ruby blinked, Weiss drew back a little, a frown on her face, and Yang pushed off the fence and rolled her shoulders. Just in case. The old guy didn't give off the same vibes as some of the men, but you never knew. Next to her, Blake didn't move from her spot, but Yang saw her shift her balance some, ready to jump into action.
"Sorry?" Ruby still looked confused. "Did I talk too fast?"
"Ruby!" Weiss hissed.
"What?"
"You made him mad!"
"I didn't mean to! I'm sorry!"
"Let me do the talking!" Weiss flashed another of her business smiles at Mormont. "She's sorry. Please don't hold her youthful enthusiasm against her or us. We really just want to be on our way towards the closest expert on… unknown displacement effects."
Yang snorted. "Good one, Weiss."
It earned her a glare, but Weiss quickly focused on the man in front of them when he cleared his throat.
"Please, before I regret having let you pass through the wall on Ser Waymar's counsel, just tell me, in simple words: Where are you from, and what do you want in the Seven Kingdoms?"
"But…" Ruby was gaping at him. "We told you that already!"
"You spoke a lot, but you didn't tell me much. Not much I could make sense of, at least." Mormont smiled, though a little toothily.
Probably not used to Ruby, Yang thought. Well, he'd probably warm up to her if they stayed here for a while. Everyone did. Not that Yang planned to stay here for long; the cold cramped her style. She didn't want to end up like Weiss.
"I know these lands as I know the back of my hand, on both sides of the wall, and I have never encountered any of those creatures you claim to have met - and fought," Mormont went on. "You are armed with steel, and you dress so…" He looked as if he had swallowed a lemon. "...so outrageously, it is clear you aren't wildlings and not from the North or any other of the Seven Kingdoms."
"Exactly!" Ruby nodded several times, then flinched and ducked her head when Mormont narrowed his eyes at her,
"So, where are you from, and how did you end up in the North? Were you on a ship and stranded on the coast? Do you hail from Braavos?"
"Lys!" one of the men standing in the back yelled, causing a wave of chuckling to spread through the ranks.
Yang scowled. She didn't know what Lys was - but she knew that tone and that reaction. They had just been insulted.
Before she could tell the idiots to shut up or she'd crush their balls, Mormont whipped around and bellowed at his men, loud enough to make Yang and her friends flinch: "Silence!"
The men jerked, a number of them taking a step back. "But, Lord Commander…"
"I said silence! You are men of the watch! Black Brothers! Sworn to defend the realm! Do not shame the Watch or me by acting like boys thinking with their cocks!"
Yang heard Ruby gasp at that, and when she glanced at her, she saw both her sister and Weiss blush a little, which made her smirk.
Mormont was still glaring at his men. "The next one who brings dishonour on us all will rue it. Am I understood?"
"Yes, Lord Commander!"
Taking a deep breath, the old man turned back to address Ruby and Weiss. "I apologise for my men. They serve a noble cause, yet not all of them have forgotten their brutish roots."
"Ah… It's OK!" Ruby chirped with a forced smile that told Yang she wasn't quite sure about the whole thing.
Weiss cleared her throat. "We are not from Braavos - or from any other kingdom you know. We are from a different world."
"It's the truth! Your moon is completely different! Ours is broken!" Ruby cut in.
But Mormont wasn't buying it. The old man was too polite to yell at them, but Yang could tell he didn't believe them. And she knew that neither Ruby nor Weiss would be able to convince him. He was too rigid.
Well, if things were too rigid, they needed a bit of shaking up.
Yang grinned widely and took a step forward, smashing her fists together. "We're not from your world. Let me demonstrate just how much we're not from your world."
"Yang! What are you doing?" Ruby blurted out.
"Don't do anything stupid!" Weiss hissed.
Yang didn't listen to either. She looked around. She could punch a hole into the ground, but people generally didn't like holes in their yards. Backyards or schoolyards. So… ah! There!
She crouched, then jumped over the gathered men, landing ten metres behind them next to a cart. Or wagon, whatever. It looked heavy and sturdy enough for a demonstration. "Watch!" she yelled over the gasps and comments, then gripped the cart's bottom with both hands and lifted.
It was unwieldy, and she had to shift her grip twice while she raised the thing over her head, but a few seconds later, she was holding it up with one arm and smiling widely at the gaping crowd.
"Don't break it, Yang!"
She raised her eyebrows at Weiss. As if she was about to break the cart! Well, to be fair, shattering it with one blow would be really impressive, but she knew better than to break other people's stuff. Unless they deserved it, at least.
"So?" She asked, tossing her head back and grinning at Mormont. "Ever seen this before?"
The old man slowly shook his head. "No, I did not."
Yang smiled. It wasn't exactly a glowing agreement, but it was probably good enough.
"And you haven't seen anything yet!" Ruby blurted out. "Watch this!"
A moment later, she vanished in a cloud of red petals, then reappeared on the roof of a small stable on the side, then flickered around the entire yard like Zwei when he got the zoomies until she stopped - on top of the cart Yang was holding since it suddenly got heavier.
"We're Huntresses! We fight the Grimm to protect the people! Kinda like you, I guess!" Yang heard her announce.
The next thing she heard was the thunk of Crescent Rose's butt slamming into the cart, followed by a creaking, familiar noise as the cart broke into pieces.
"Oops! Sorry!"
"Ruby! You dolt!"
"I'm really sorry!"
*****
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Chapter 2: Visitors to Winterfell
Starfox5
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Chapter 2: Visitors to Winterfell
'It goes without saying that we can safely dismiss the blatantly mythical deeds attributed to the Ruby Order. Their claims to have defeated a horde of humanoid ice creatures in the Lands Beyond the Wall that commanded the dead to rise and attack the living are obviously an exaggeration meant to increase their fame, as much factual as the claims of them performing superhuman deeds such as lifting entire carts with the draft animals still attached or leaping above buildings. Some of my colleagues, even those diligent enough to dismiss such reports, point at the records of the Night's Watch as proof that such 'humanoid ice creatures' existed in the past. Indeed, the Night's Watch records speak of a 'Great Ranging' in AC 298, which discovered the corpses of the 'Others', legendary creatures made of ice and malice. However, at this time, the Night's Watch's reputation was at such a low point that many expected the institution to vanish from Westeros. It is very plausible that its commander, Lord Mormont, used the opportunity to convince the Crown that the Wall served a more important purpose than merely holding back wilding incursions by claiming to have encountered creatures from the Age of Heroes, which were a threat to the entire realm. Creatures whose corpses were all burned, supposedly to ensure they could not be restored to life through fell magic - a convenient excuse for the complete absence of any remains of the creatures they claimed to have found, unlike, for example, the extinct ice spiders, a once-thought mythical beast, but one of which several specimens have been found dead but preserved in the permafrost of the North.'
Castle Black, The Wall, Westeros, 298 AC
Standing in front of the old, weathered desk in the Lord Commander's office, Benjen Stark stared at his friend and superior. "You want me to go to Winterfell when we are preparing a Great Ranging? I'm the First Ranger of the Night's Watch; if anyone should be heading out to investigate the claims of our guests, it should be me!" Ice monsters raising the dead to form an army! It was outrageous, and yet, Aemon had found old records of the very first years of the Watch that matched the descriptions the four girls had given them. And after seeing what those girls could do, Benjen was loath to dismiss any of their tales. Of course, there was a massive difference between being far, far stronger than you looked and raising the dead, but even something not quite as outlandish could present a danger for the realm.
Sitting in a chair older than Benjen's grandfather, Jeor shook his head. "Benjen, we have several rangers who can lead our brothers safely through the Haunted Forest. They might not be as experienced as you are, but they know the lands and how to navigate them and have proved that many times. I need you to accompany our visitors to Winterfell."
Benjen pressed his lips together. Jeor was correct. Benjen would have been a poor fit for his post if he had not ensured that all his men were up to the tasks that their duty demanded. He would trust any of them to serve as a guide in the Haunted Forest. Well, maybe not Kren. The latest brother to join his band had the aptitude and skill to be a ranger, but he was still pining for the home he had been forced to leave when he had been caught poaching and had chosen the Wall over the headman's block. A few more years in the Watch would see to that, though.
And yet, that was no reason for Benjen to miss the most important ranging of the Watch in decades, perhaps even centuries!
"You should be happy to have the opportunity to see your family, Benjen," Aemon, sitting in a chair very close to the fireplace at the back of the room, spoke up in his raspy voice. "You never know when it will be the last time you laid eyes on them. Trust me on this - I lost too many of my own."
Jeor nodded as well, though he had a more grim than sad expression when he did.
Benjen clenched his teeth. His brother was the Warden of the North, the ruler of the entire land between the Neck and the Wall. His family was as safe as you could be in the North. And yet, Aemon was correct - every time Benjen ventured out beyond the Wall, every day he did his duty, he could end up dead. A wildling raider, a wolf or bear that got too desperate or rabid, or just bad luck like slipping on a patch of melted ice and falling down the Wall could end his life. But that didn't matter - he had sworn the oath and knew his duty as a brother of the Night's Watch!
"Benjen!" Jeor spoke up again. "I need you for this. No one else I could send would be trusted by Ned as much as you are."
"I could go after the ranging. I would have more information to share with Ned," Benjen pointed out.
"This cannot wait. You've seen our guests. You think they will wait for weeks before venturing out on their own?" Jeor scoffed.
Benjen winced. No, he didn't think they would wait that long. They were young, seven, eight-and-ten years, or even younger, according to them, and while girls were, as a rule, not as foolish and impatient as most boys that age, that didn't make them mature by any means. Certainly not those girls. And if they decided to leave, the entire Night's Watch couldn't stop them. Of that Benjen was sure after what had seen them do.
"Even worse," Aemon cut in with a dry snort, "imagine if they did wait here."
Benjen winced. Men of the Night's Watch swore an oath not to take a wife or father any children, but they were men all the same, not eunuchs. And their guests were, no matter their origin, great beauties without exception. Exotic beauties, even. The only man Benjen could be sure would not be tempted was Aemon, and only because the Maester was not only far too old to still feel such urges but also blind. That a number of the brothers had been rapists who had chosen the Wall over death or a maiming didn't help, of course.
No, if their guests stayed, no matter their inhuman strength, someone, drunk or simply too worked up, would accost them. And that could end in a catastrophe in light of what power those girls wielded. It would also shame the entire Watch for letting one of their own attack a guest in their headquarters.
He let out a sigh.
Jeor stood and walked over to the window, peering out through the slits left bare by the wooden shutters that kept both prying eyes and the cold somewhat out. "You've seen what they can do."
"Yes."
"I haven't, but I'll take your word for it."
Benjen snorted against his will. To make fun of his blindness! Aemon's wit was very dark and spared no one, not even himself.
Jeor shook his head. "You've heard their plans."
Benjen nodded. "They want to travel south and search for a magical way home. Or so they claim."
"Whatever the truth of that claim, it's clear that they will travel south. Four girls, each of them stronger than a dozen knights."
"Maybe stronger," Benjen said. Each of them was more skilled than the best swordsman he had seen. And their weapons… He wondered how they would match up against Valyrian steel, but they outclassed anything the brotherhood could muster.
"Maybe. Can you imagine what would happen if a lord accosted them?"
Benjen could. He had been imagining what would happen if they turned against the Watch for a few days - ever since they had arrived and had revealed their strength. "Yes."
"So could, and will, others."
"Ah." Others like every noble with ambition and enemies, both real and imagined. Yes, Benjen understood why he had to be the one to present their guests at Winterfell and talk to Ned. He was one of the only people Ned would believe without a demonstration that would set tongues wagging and raven flying.
He sighed again, and Jeor clapped him on the shoulder with a rueful smile.
Kingsroad, South of Castle Black, The North, Westeros, 298 AC
"You know, I am sure we'd be faster if we walked. No, really. This wagon is going soooo slooooow."
"Feel free to walk, Ruby. I don't feel like stumbling along a road that looks more like a trail."
"You wouldn't stumble if you wore sensible boots, Weiss."
"I don't see you walking either, Yang."
"You don't hear me complaining, either, do you?"
Benjen Stark, riding next to the wagon, bit his tongue so he wouldn't make a rude comment in response. The four girls - Team Ruby, as the apparent leader insisted - had done almost nothing but complain ever since they had set out for Winterfell. At least it felt like it. Well, complain and ask questions even a young child should have been able to answer. It was a miracle that the driver, Creg, had kept his temper. Then again, according to rumours, Creg had joined the Watch after raising a dozen children as a widower, so he was probably used to this.
"Besides, my boots are perfectly sensible!"
"As riding boots, yes," Benjen said before he could stop himself. You didn't make fun of people who could shatter boulders with a single blow and fell trees as thick as they were tall with a single swipe of their scythe. Even if they didn't know that freshly cut wood didn't burn well.
"See?" Weiss smiled at him, then turned back to grin at her friends.
"You can't ride, Weiss."
"You can't either!"
"Well…"
"Bumblebee doesn't count!"
"I wasn't going to say anything about my bike…"
"Yang!"
"Yang!"
Complain, ask inane questions and make crude remarks, Benjen amended his thoughts, though the last was limited to Yang. Still, this was an opportunity to learn more about their supposed home. Usually, he would have assumed that 'Bumblebee' was the name of Yang's horse or pony, but he had quickly realised that such assumptions were generally wrong. "What's a bike?"
"The best way to travel!" Yang replied, flashing him a wide, cocky smile.
"Except for airships, bullheads, trains, ferries…"
"Ah, Weiss, don't be jealous that you never got to ride a bike!"
"I am merely stating the objective truth."
"Yang! Weiss!" Ruby spoke up. "Don't fight!" She nodded at both, then turned to smile at Benjen. "I'm sorry about that. Anyway, a bike is a vehicle you drive, with two wheels."
"You don't drive it; you ride it!"
"Like a cart?" Benjen asked.
"Not quite - the two wheels are arranged one before the other. Kinda if you cut this wagon in half length-side and then moved the wheels to the centre," Ruby gave another explanation that did open more questions than it answered. "And it's driven by Dust!"
"Ah." Their world apparently ran on magic dust. Homes were heated with dust, instead of wells, they had water dust - and Benjen was afraid to ask how that was supposed to work - and their weapons and even clothes used dust. It sounded too fantastical to believe, but Ruby had, against Weiss's objection, given him a demonstration. Benjen now knew that magic dust was real - and that they didn't have much of it left.
"And if we had Bumblebee here, I'd already be in Winterfell!"
"You'd be lost in the woods."
"Weiss! Yang!"
"Bumblebee would have trouble on this road," Blake spoke up. The girl was usually quiet, her nose buried in her book, but she rarely missed anything, Benjen had noticed.
"Nothing we couldn't manage!" Yang snorted, then leaned over. "Rubes! Pass me another sausage, will you? I'm feeling a bit peckish."
Benjen winced a little. They would have to restock supplies more often than he had planned. The girls ate more than men twice their number and three times their size. Obviously, the appetite they had shown after arriving at Castle Black hadn't been due to having gone hungry in the Haunted Forest; they ate that much every meal.
"Here, Yang!"
"Thanks, sis!"
Benjen clenched his fist holding the reins. This was something that he had been wondering since they started this trip. He hadn't asked them about it because it was the sort of question that could start fights, and the absolute last thing Benjen wanted was to anger four girls who could tear him limb from limb without trying. But at the same time, he needed to know. Because other people would make assumptions based upon how the four behaved, and if those assumptions were wrong…
Besides, he told himself, the group might be complaining constantly, but overall, they were in a remarkably good mood.
So, he took a deep breath, cleared his throat, and hoped he wouldn't insult his guests. "Lady Ruby, I was wondering…"
"Yes?"
"Your relationships are a little confusing."
"My relationships? I'm not in any relationship!" Ruby blurted out.
For a moment, Benjen's heart seemed to skip a beat. Then he realised that her cheeks were not flushed with rage but embarrassment and felt his own face heat up in return. "I am deeply sorry, I didn't mean to insinuate that…" He trailed off, clenching his teeth for a moment. He couldn't say that. Yang was laughing, but Weiss was glaring at him. "I was merely wondering how you are related," he was quick to explain. "In Westeros, it's very unusual for the older, ah, sibling to follow the orders of the younger."
"Ah, that's because Ozpin, the Headmaster of our school, picked Ruby here as the leader of our team because she's the best!" Yang said, ruffling her sister's hair.
"Yang!"
That explained things. To an extent, at least - Benjen still wondered what would have possessed this man to give such an order.
"You're wondering about their familial relationship, aren't you?" Weiss asked.
Among other things. "Yes," Benjen confirmed. The girls' polite tone still left no doubt that it wasn't a question.
"Oh. Well, we're sisters!" Ruby said. "But I think we already told you that, didn't we?"
"We've got the same dad. And the same mom for all that counts," Yang said. "She raised us both."
Ah. Benjen nodded. That explained it. It was now obvious that the older girl was a bastard raised in the family. 'Xiao Long' likely was their home's 'Snow'. And, of course, that wasn't something the two liked to talk about, so Benjen wouldn't pry further - he was no fool, after all.
It was another thing Ned needed to know about so he wouldn't make a blunder. The heraldry - crests - all four wore was already confusing, not to talk about their foreign manners. To think they expected to bathe every day on the road!
Kingsroad, North of Winterfell, The North, Westeros, 298 AC
"Behold: Winterfell."
Ruby Rose perked up at Benjen's announcement. Winterfell! Finally! She pushed the furs covering her to the side, activated her Semblance and dashed from the wagon next to Benjen in the blink of an eye, or faster! "Yes?" She peered ahead while Benjen struggled a bit to get his startled horse under control - not her fault; the animal should be used to her Semblance by now! - and then rushed forward, up the gentle slope, until she could see over its top.
But now she could see it! "Winterfell!" she breathed at the sight in front of her. "Wow! It's beautiful!" It was a huge castle, bigger than Beacon! It had two tall walls, with lots of towers, one wall overlooking the others! And bigger towers and buildings inside the yard - the castle's keep. It looked straight out of a Fantasy movie!
"Yang! You have to see this!" she yelled without taking her sight off the castle - and the village in front of it!
"We're coming," Weiss replied. "It's not going to go away."
That was… well, true, but still! Ruby pouted. This was great!
Benjen reached her side. He was probably frowning at her for spooking his horse, but that was partially his fault for calling her. And he should have realised she couldn't see anything from his position before calling her!
"Wow!" Yang echoed her reaction. "I guess they make things bigger in the North, huh? Walls, castles and woods…"
"Yang!" Weiss hissed for some reason while Blake giggled.
"What? We've been travelling for ages through a forest!" Yang sounded smug, so Ruby probably had missed something, but that didn't matter.
"This is sooo coool!" she blurted out.
"It's actually warm," Benjen corrected her. "The keep was built over a hot spring, and the water runs through pipes in the walls to heat it."
"You've got central heating? That's even cooler!" Ruby beamed at him for a moment before focusing back on the castle. She couldn't see weapon emplacements, though they probably didn't need them without Grimm to worry about. Still, a catapult or trebuchet would have been even better! Oh, if they had hot springs, couldn't they build a steam catapult?
"'Cool' means 'hot' in this case," Yang told him.
"Yang!" Weiss sounded annoyed. "Cool means both cold and great, actually."
"Ah."
Ruby shook her head. "And that's your brother's castle?"
"Yes. Ned is the Warden of the North. This is his seat. And where I grew up."
"Cool!"
"Ruby!" Weiss was glaring at her, Ruby knew without looking at her. "It's a very impressive castle. I don't think I've seen anything like it before," Weiss told Benjen.
"Yep." Ruby nodded firmly.
"Thank you."
Ruby checked that she hadn't missed anything else, then turned to her friends and Benjen and Creg. "Come on! Let's hurry! We're wasting daylight!" Blake could see perfectly well at night, but Ruby couldn't, and they didn't have good lamps in Westeros, so she didn't want to miss anything on arrival. Oh!
Halfway to the wagon, she turned. "Do you think we'll get a tour of the castle?" she asked Benjen.
"Ruby!" Weiss cleared her throat. "We appreciate the opportunity to visit your family seat."
Benjen snorted. "I don't doubt that you'll get a tour. Even if Ned were too busy to be a good host, my nieces and nephews will love to show you around."
"C… Great!" Ruby beamed at him, then dashed into the wagon. "Team RWBY, assemble! Onward!" They were still burning daylight!
They took ages to reach the castle's gates. Ruby had been so tempted to dash ahead - with her Semblance, she could have covered the distance in no time! - but Benjen had told them not to show off because people were not used to Aura and Semblances and this could scare them. Or cause them to be mistaken for witches or something. In any case, Benjen had been clear that it would be bad.
It didn't matter anyway. Now, after an eternity spent sitting in a slooow wagon, they were finally here! At Winterfell! Inside Winterfell!
Ruby looked everywhere as they entered the castle. Up, to check for murderholes in the gatehouse. (They had some!) Down, to check if the ground was covered in cobblestones. (It was!) Left and right, to check what weapons the guards were carrying. (They had boring spears and swords, no scythe, not even an arbalest.)
And ahead, where a group of men were waiting for them. Men and boys, she corrected herself. Then she blinked, looking at Benjen and back, squinting a little. "Is that your brother? He kinda looks like you."
"That is indeed my brother, Eddard Stark."
Benjen sounded a bit tense, Ruby realised. Did Ned carry a grudge against him? But they were siblings! And everyone seemed to like Benjen - people had been greeting him all the way from the outer gate to the courtyard.
Well, she would be extra-friendly to help smooth things over! Like when Dad and Uncle Qrow had a row!
"Benjen!"
"Ned!"
Ah! Ruby smiled. She had been worrying over nothing - Ned was hugging his brother as soon as Benjen had gotten off his horse. Everyone else was smiling as well - well, almost everyone. The red-haired boy was staring at her team. As were the other boys.
"It's been too long!" Benjen said.
"Indeed. What brings you to Winterfell?"
That was their cue! Ruby smiled widely and jumped over the wagon's railing, letting her furs drop to the wagon's floor behind her. "He was escorting us!" she blurted out. "We're Team RWBY!"
"Ruby!" Weiss hissed behind Ruby as her friends joined her.
Ned blinked, his smile fading a little, Ruby noticed, as he stared at them. Everyone was staring at them, she realised. Like the men at Castle Black had been - in some cases, exactly like the men back there.
Benjen cleared his throat. "Ned, these are Lady Ruby Rose and Team Ruby - Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna and Yang Xiao Long. Lady Ruby, this is Lord Paramount Eddard Stark, Warden of the North."
Ruby almost blurted out that they already knew that but managed not to. That would have been rude. "Hi!" she said instead, waving at him. She had stopped trying to explain that they didn't have noble ladies in Vale. Benjen had insisted that it was the correct title for her rank.
"Hello." Ned - Lord Eddard, Ruby reminded herself - was still blinking but no longer staring. Unlike the rest of the men and boys.
"They are from a far distant kingdom and were stranded in the Haunted Forest beyond the Wall. They're travelling south to look for a way home," Benjen explained.
Ruby nodded a few times.
Weiss nodded as well - no, she was bowing her head, Ruby realised. "Indeed, my lord. We're searching for any information that would show us a way home. We are completely lost."
"You have no idea where your home is?" Lord Eddard asked.
"Unfortunately, no. We don't know how we arrived here," Weiss replied. "We only remember ancient ruins of an unknown origin, and we hope that records of such or similar ruins will help us find a way to return home."
Ruby pressed her lips together in a slight frown. That was technically correct, since they didn't know how they had been transported here, but they knew what brought them here. Weiss, though, knew best how to talk to nobles - well, compared to the rest of the team - and Ruby trusted her. Most of the time, at least. Weiss wasn't perfect even if she wanted to be. "Our families must be frantic with worry," she said. Dad certainly would be. She hoped that Uncle Qrow wasn't drinking too much.
"The Night's Watch couldn't help them, but the Lord Commander thought you might be able to, Ned," Benjen cut in.
"Of course!" Lord Eddard took a deep breath and nodded. "Let me welcome you to Winterfell. These are my eldest son, Robb, and my ward, Theon Greyjoy."
While the two boys smiled and nodded, a man approached them with a tray with salt and bread.
No, bread and salt, Ruby corrected herself as Lord Eddard took a roll of bread and broke it into a few pieces, sprinkling salt over it. Benjen had explained how important that was, so she had to get it right. Once they'd eaten it, they were Lord Eddard's guests. "Thank you!" She beamed at him.
The bread was nice - fresh, although it wasn't warm any more - and the salt wasn't too much. Of course, she'd have preferred a cookie - she hadn't had any cookies since they had arrived in this world! She'd have to ask if they had any. Such a huge castle was bound to have cookies in it, right?
Benjen seemed relieved when this was over. Weird - things were going well. "So, how about you have them shown to the guest quarters while I tell you some news from the wall, Ned?"
Lord Eddard glanced at him, then nodded. "Of course. Robb, show Lady Ruby and her friends the guest quarters. And inform your mother that we have new guests."
"Yes, Father."
Ah, the redhead was his son! He looked kinda cute. And he blushed when he looked at her, which made him look even cuter.
Ruby felt relieved. They were in a Fantasy castle - with central heating! - and everyone was really helpful. Things were definitely looking up now!
"If you'll follow me, my lady?" Robb offered her his arm.
Ruby had seen that in those fantasy movies she didn't watch because they didn't have enough action even though the actors were handsome, and hooked her arm into his - and he was jerked to the side. Oops! She almost forgot her strength. "Sorry!" she told him. "My fault!"
"Ah…" He looked a bit confused. Maybe embarrassed.
Weiss whispered 'dolt!' behind her, but Ruby could exactly turn around and frown at her. "So… lead on?"
"Of course, Lady Ruby."
Winterfell, The North, Westeros, 298 AC
The quarters were adequate, Weiss Schnee found after a brief inspection. For a 'Fantasy Castle', as Ruby called it, at least. The lack of modern amenities was grating - their scrolls had run out of power days ago, and there was no way to recharge them without tapping into their very limited Lightning Dust reserves, something they had to save for emergencies, like should they need such short-range communication or access to their files, like the pictures they had taken of the ruins before this started - but at least it was warm, and the presence of hot springs promised hot baths.
Weiss felt filthy after that trip. They had barely managed to maintain minimal hygiene! If she ever had to use cold water and a sponge to wash herself even once more, it would be one time too many.
"So… What do you think?" Ruby asked from one of the two beds - which used a straw mattress that must be filled with all sorts of things and creatures that shouldn't be near much less inside your bed. "Neat castle, huh?"
Weiss glanced at Blake, who was leaning against the door. Weiss hadn't sensed anyone observing them, but she wasn't really trained in using her Aura for that - that was a skill Huntresses usually acquired later during their career. Blake, on the other hand, was skilled at detecting eavesdroppers.
Her friend shook her head, though.
Good. Weiss took a deep breath. "They seem friendly. And they've welcomed us formally, so we're protected by guest right."
"And that's super-important!" Ruby said. "Benjen said so."
Weiss sighed softly. Ruby was correct - Benjen had told them that breaking guest right would dishonour an entire house, and Weiss didn't think he was lying, but… She was also very familiar with how laws and agreements could be bent and outright broken without the culprit suffering any backlash for it, as long as they were powerful and connected enough. And if Jacques Schnee was able to do it, Eddard Stark, as the absolute ruler of the entire region - one of the Seven Kingdoms forming the realm - certainly would be able to do it as well. "Just remember that guest right binds us as well. If we break it, we also lose its protection."
"Well, we won't break it!" Ruby replied with a wide smile.
"As long as that Greyjoy boy keeps his hands to himself," Yang added, hitting the palm of her hand with her fist without bothering to get up from where she was sprawled across her half of the bed. "He was leering at everyone."
Weiss suppressed a shudder at the memory. The boy had indeed looked at them as if he was picturing them naked - which he probably had been doing. And he hadn't been the only one who had done so, though he had been the most obvious.
"Well, Robb was a perfect gentleman," Ruby said.
Weiss scoffed. "He was checking out your legs."
"He did?" Ruby blushed.
Weiss pressed her lips together. Her friend and team leader was far too naive. "They're not used to Huntresses."
"Well, of course not - none of them have Aura."
"No, I mean, they are not used to women like us," Weiss corrected her. "Haven't you noticed? None of the guards were women."
"How could you tell with their clothes?" Ruby asked. "They were all so drab. The armour, I mean."
"Trust me," Weiss told her. "I could." Growing up in a kingdom renowned for its cold climate, and in a family where any faux pas was grounds for a lecture, she had quickly learned.
"Yeah," Yang added.
Blake nodded as well.
"Well, that's probably how they do things here." Ruby shrugged. "They'll get used to us."
Weiss hoped that Ruby was correct but couldn't help having doubts. "I hope so. But remember: We're guests. You can't crush someone's balls if they annoy you."
"Well, we totally could. But you probably mean we shouldn't," Yang replied with a toothy grin.
Weiss took a deep breath. This wasn't the time to lose her temper over childish comments. "They might not realise that they are annoying you."
"Oh, I usually don't leave any doubt if someone's annoying me."
Ruby and Yang hadn't really gone anywhere but Vale, Weiss reminded herself. "What I am trying to tell you is that we can't expect them to know our customs and vice versa. What is perfectly polite for them and in line with keeping guest right might be annoying to us." Or worse.
"That's not exactly uncommon on Remnant, either," Blake said with a faint smirk.
Weiss shot her a glare. Her friend was correct about that - Weiss had experienced such situations far more than she wished - but this was important. They couldn't annoy much less offend their hosts! They needed their help to find a way home!
"So, we tell them about Remnant!" Ruby said. "That way, there aren't any misunderstandings!"
"We can't!" Weiss snapped. She straightened. Composure, she reminded herself. "I mean, we have to be careful what we tell the people here. We don't know if we can trust them, and revealing our weaknesses would endanger us all."
"I think we can trust Benjen and Ned. And Robb."
Weiss narrowed her eyes for a moment. The last thing they needed was some romantic entanglement. Ruby better not fall for some local boy who had grown up in a completely alien culture with who knew what weird views and expectations! "Even if we can trust them, can we trust everyone they trust? Word travels fast, even without scrolls. And we know from Benjen that the kingdom has seen two rebellions - civil wars! - in his lifetime."
"Well, yes, but…"
Blake cocked her head to the side and raised a hand. "Someone's coming."
Ah. Weiss smoothed her dress out - a dress in dire need of cleaning, even though the battleskirt had held up admirably during their journey so far, thanks to good craftsmanship and her aura - and straightened. Time to put her best face on.
Ruby got up as well. "Who is it?" she asked as she joined Weiss in the middle of the room, followed by Yang.
"It seems to be Lady Stark and her daughters," Blake said.
Oh. Weiss took a deep breath. This would be an important meeting. But she was ready.
"Oh, no!" she heard Blake mutter under her breath.
"What?" Weiss glanced at her. "What's wrong?"
Blake was tense - very tense. Was this an ambush? Weiss looked at the door, then at the bed against which Myrtenaster was leaning. Should they arm themselves?
"Blake?" Yang asked.
"They've got a dog with them!" Blake hissed.
Oh. Weiss relaxed.
"Oh?" Ruby perked up.
"Oh?" And Yang grinned.
Before Blake could say anything else, there was a knock on the door. "Lady Ruby?"
After a moment, Ruby replied: "Yes! Coming!"
Before Weiss could stop her, Ruby had dashed forward and opened the door. "Hi!" she said, beaming at the three - four - people outside. One woman, two girls and a guard. "Come in!" she added before the obvious leader, a redheaded woman in a high-quality gown, could say anything. "Everyone, we've got visitors!"
Weiss swallowed her grimace. This was probably - no, certainly - a faux pas, and it was her fault. She should have explained to Ruby that the leader of their group wasn't supposed to open the door themselves. Or act so… so Ruby-like. At least she hadn't squealed at the two dogs that the girls carried.
Time to mend the ruffled tempers. "Lady Stark, I presume," she said, bowing her head. Fortunately, the others followed her example. Even Blake, though Weiss didn't miss that she was fixated on the two dogs. Unfortunately, so was Ruby.
"You presume correctly. I am Catelyn Stark. These are my daughters, Sansa and Arya," Lady Stark said as she entered. The fourth person, a guard, stayed outside, Weiss noted.
Both girls - one about thirteen years old, the other a bit younger, Weiss estimated, though she didn't know how the life conditions in this kingdom would affect growth - dropped into curtsies. Weiss made a mental note of that.
"And these are Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna and Yang Xia Long. I am Ruby Rose. We're Team RWBY, but you already knew that, right?" Ruby nodded, then leaned forward. "And who are those adorable puppies?"
"Those are our dire wolves!" the younger girl, Aryan, said. "This is Nymeria. And that's Lady."
Wolves? Dire wolves? Weiss eyed the two more closely. Apparently, Ruby had been correct - those were, despite their size, puppies. Weiss wondered how large they would grow.
A hiss next to her, followed by Blake taking a step back, told her that she wasn't the only one wondering that. She really should get over her cynophobia. At least she wasn't running away. That would be a faux pas for sure.
"Arya." Lady Catelyn didn't frown, and her tone was even, but the girl still flinched.
It was obvious, at least to Weiss, that there would be a private scolding after this. She could sympathise from experience.
"Please have a seat!" Ruby said, pointing at the two chairs in the room, next to the small window. "I mean, it's your castle, so it's your room, technically, so I don't want to, ah, sound presumptuous…"
Lady Cately smiled, hopefully amused and not offended, and sat down. Ruby promptly sat down on the closer bed, and Weiss sighed as the two girls eyed each other, obviously unsure if and where they should sit down.
A subtle pinch and whispered hint straightened things out, though, and soon everyone but Blake, who was standing as far from the wolves as she could, trying to fade through the wall, was properly seated - Ruby on the chair, clearly trying not to let the puppies distract her, and the rest on the beds, split between guests and hosts.
"First, allow me to welcome you to Winterfell," Lady Catelyn said. "My lord husband has let me know that you were stranded in the wildings lands and lost your baggage."
"More or less, yes. We've made do," Ruby added. "We've got some furs and food from the wildlings, and the Night's Watch got us some more supplies, but it's not exactly…" She trailed off, glancing at Weiss.
"We only have what supplies we were carrying on us, my lady," Weiss replied. "We don't want to impose on you…"
"It's not an imposition at all," Lady Cately said as soon as Weiss trailed off. "You are our guests."
"We can help you out in return," Ruby offered at once. "We can hunt. Or if you need lots of wood chopped down, we can do that as well." She patted Crescent Rose.
Lady Catelyn looked irritated and slightly confused for a moment. "It would be shameful to have a noble lady working when she's our guest."
"Oh." Ruby blinked.
As Weiss had suspected. "Please excuse our ignorance, my lady. In our homeland, Huntresses like us are expected to offer their help wherever they might find themselves, whether the community needs them or not." She was bending the truth a little - or more than a little - but it was true. Best not to mention that Huntresses were generally remunerated for such help.
"Ah. Well, in the Seven Kingdoms, things are different." Lady Catelyn nodded slowly. "And we would be poor hosts if we would not provide you with suitable clothes."
The glance she sent at their attire, coupled with the way the girls were trying not to stare - the elder, Sansa, was blushing, Weiss noted - left no doubt that their clothes weren't deemed suitable for social occasions. Judging by the people they had seen on the way, their clothes probably were not deemed suitable for any occasion, though that might be explained by the locals' lack of Aura.
"We would be grateful," Weiss told her. A few dresses weren't much of an imposition, at least.
"Yeah," Yang added with a grin. "A girl wants to change her look sometimes, you know? Although we're always dressed to kill."
Lady Catelyn stared at her, and Sansa gasped. Arya, though, leaned forward. "Dressed to kill?"
"It's an idiom in our homeland, my lady," Weiss was quick to explain. "It means to dress very fashionable, in the latest style." There was no need to mention the other meanings of the expression - Lady Stark didn't strike her as the kind of woman who would appreciate her young daughters learning about those.
"Yeah," Yang confirmed, tossing her hair back.
"Oh." Arya sounded disappointed. Her puppy climbed up her lap to lick her face, and she pushed it down into her lap again with a giggle. "Down, Nymeria!"
"They don't mean actual killing, Arya," Sansa whispered, rolling her eyes. "They're ladies."
"We're Huntresses," Ruby said with a nod at the younger girl. "We don't kill people. Only monsters."
"We beat up people who deserve it, though," Yang added, slapping her fist into the palm of her hand. "Like bandits."
"You've fought bandits?" Arya straightened.
"Arya!" There would be a rather pointed scolding from Lady Stark later, in private, in Weiss's opinion.
"Yeah! When we were travelling south to the Wall, we were attacked by bandits," Ruby said. "We beat them, though."
"That's where we got the furs." Yang pointed at the pile of pelts in the corner. "Spoils of war."
"I see." Lady Catelyn nodded, though Weiss couldn't help feeling that the woman remained a little sceptical.
She was tempted to offer proof of their claims but refrained from it since Benjen had impressed the need to be a bit more discreet to avoid upsetting the locals.
Lady Catelyn subtly looked them over for a moment. "You were taken from your homeland and brought to foreign lands. That must have been a terrible experience. Especially for young women."
Weiss frowned slightly. The way she stressed that, she must mean something more than… Oh, no!
"Oh, it wasn't that bad," Ruby said. "It was mostly the surprise, you know? One moment, we were looking at the ruins, the next - poof - we were gone!"
Weiss cut in before Ruby could continue. She had to correct this misunderstanding at the start. "I can assure you, my lady, any distress we suffered was due to our dislocation, not because of anything of a, ah, more personal nature."
Ruby looked confused, but Yang nodded emphatically with a serious expression.
"I am relieved to hear that," Lady Catelyn said with a - seemingly - genuine smile.
Weiss also saw that Sansa suddenly gasped while Arya didn't quite seem to get it. Good. That could have been a very uncomfortable topic to sort out.
"I think I'm missing something…" Ruby frowned, looking from Lady Catelyn to Weiss and back.
"Ah…" Yang trailed off, glancing at Weiss.
Weiss glared back at her.
"Guys?" Ruby was frowning more profoundly now.
Weiss was very relieved when Nymeria suddenly slipped from Arya's grip and started towards Blake, yipping enthusiastically as she began to chase the girl around the room.
It was far easier to explain that Blake was deathly afraid of dogs, and yes, that that included wolves.
Winterfell, The North, Westeros, 298 AC
Standing in the shadow of a tower on the inner wall, gazing at the courtyard below, without anyone present aware of her, Blake Belladonna smiled. She liked Winterfell, and not just because it was a vast castle that dominated the area it was built in and looked as if it had been taken straight out of some of her favourite novels, something she had only seen before in computer games and animated movies. No, she liked the castle because it was actually too big for its garrison - which was by design since, according to Benjen, it housed a lot more people during the long winters, which, again according to Benjen, could and did last years. Blake had no idea how that was possible, but even though she was fairly certain that Benjen was not quite as honest with them as Ruby seemed to think, albeit Blake suspected it was more a case of omitting parts rather than telling falsehoods, she was reasonably certain that Benjen wouldn't be lying about such an easily checked fact of life in Westeros.
Which she reminded herself to check anyway as soon as she had unfettered access to the local library. She was sorely missing her books; the one novel she had taken with her on the mission because she couldn't bear the thought of waiting to finish it until she returned she had read a dozen times by now. She could recite it from memory in her sleep and had done so, at least according to Yang, which meant she was fortunate it hadn't been one of her spicier novels; that would have been embarrassing.
As embarrassing as being spotted by one of the scarce guards on the wall, she reminded herself as she heard steps coming up the stairs inside the tower. The garrison was too small to effectively cover the castle's walls, but that didn't mean they didn't make an honest attempt anyway.
But they were not up to the task of spotting her; she was too skilled at this, and they had no idea about her capabilities. So when the door opened and the guard stepped out on the rampart, she had already used two clones to dart over to the other side, impossible to spot from his position or by anyone on the ground.
Blake herself, on the other hand, just had to take two steps to the side to have a perfect view of the courtyard where the guards and members of the household were training, allowing her to observe and estimate the skill level of the garrison.
Which wasn't very high, if she was honest, albeit higher than she had expected. Unlike most militia fighters on Remnant whom she had seen, both on missions for Beacon as well as during her time in the White Fang, those men - and they were exclusively men - were career soldiers, and Lord Stark obviously wasn't paying them to laze about and grow rusty. She rated them as about as skilled with their weapons, swords and spears today, as the average member of the Atlas military or SDC guard. Which meant that not even taken together, would they pose a threat to even a first-year Huntress, of course, but that aside, they were doing well.
But next to the average guards - men-at-arms, as they were called by some - there were people down below who were more skilled. Lord Stark's eldest son and heir, Robb, who was sparring with the master-at-arms, a Ser Rodrick Cassel, father of the captain of the guards of the castle, was showing to be a quite talented opponent with his sword - more skilled than some students at Beacon, even, though without Aura, the outcome of any fight would still be a foregone conclusion.
Another boy was showing equal if not greater talent as well: Jon Snow, or so she had overheard during her first excursions. Pretty handsome, and not as loud or brash as most boys his age, as far as it seemed, he was apparently a bastard son of Lord Stark, something Robb's friend, the lecherous Theon, seemed almost as fond to mention as he was to talk about Blake and her friends' appearance and appeal when he thought Blake couldn't hear him, although he was not nearly quite as witty about either as he obviously thought he was.
And he was very fortunate that Yang's ears were not nearly as good as Blake's; if she had heard what he was saying, she would likely have done something regrettable about his ability to implement what he was talking about. As it was, Blake was sorely tempted to engineer an accident that would leave the boy in pain for some time, though given the lack of modern medicine, the risk of crippling him was far too high.
Although, she amended her thoughts with a grin, it might not become necessary; apparently, Robb had taken offence to his latest remark - about Ruby's legs - and the sparring match had grown a little heated as a result, so with Robb far more skilled than Theon, at least with blades, the lecherous boy would be nursing bruises for some time.
Snorting, she moved along the rampart to the lesser-used part of the castle, giving the kennels a wide berth. She had no intention at all to go near that cursed area full of dogs and, even worse, wolves, and dire wolves at that - apparently a breed that grew as large as horses according to the gossip of the servants she had overheard complaining about the appetites of the new pets of Lord Stark's children. She shuddered at the thought of a wolf as big as a beowulf.
And, speaking of those children… She shook her head as she spotted the second-youngest son of Lord Stark climbing the walls of a broken tower, something his family disapproved of vocally, as she had observed. The boy seemed determined to reach the top of the tower but he was rushing things a bit too much, in her opinion. He must be at the point where he had enough experience to feel so confident, he was getting slightly… not sloppy, just not as focused as one should be when, without Aura, a single mistake would see him falling to his death. He was barely ten years old, and she gave him even odds of reaching eleven years or not if he didn't wise up. It was not really her business, of course, but his parents', yet what person would she be if she closed her eyes to this potential tragedy?
Frowning, she checked for witnesses with eyes and nose - people here had a stronger body odour than back home, which, while often aggravating, also had advantages. Then she double-checked that the bloodthirsty howling monster Bran treated as a pet wasn't around before quickly jumping down from the ramparts. She didn't use her Semblance and landed in a crouch on the cobblestones below, light as a feather, then dashed across the empty yard here to the base of the tower.
In the meantime, the boy had continued to climb, clearly very familiar with the weathered stones forming the wall, and was about a third from the open window at the top. Should she wait here, in case he slipped? She narrowed her eyes, then decided against it. That wouldn't really serve as a lesson to the young climber. And he might not slip, anyway. Not today.
Instead, she entered the tower, confirming that it was deserted, then rushed up the winding stairs until she reached the room at the top, where she leaned against the wall next to the window and listened to Bran's heavy breathing coming closer and closer as he continued his advance up the wall.
Soon, she saw a small hand reach over the windowsill, grasping for purchase, followed by another, and then Bran's head appeared in the window as he pulled himself up.
"That's dangerous, you know."
He froze with a gasp, but his fingers didn't loosen, much less lose their grip on the windowsill. "Lady Blake!" In the blink of an eye, his scared expression morphed into a charming if mischievous and guilty grin. "What are you doing here?"
"Do your parents know you are climbing walls?" she asked, cocking her head at him.
"Ummm…" He pulled himself into the room, then took his time wiping dust from his clothes, blatantly trying to find a good answer to her question. "Yes, they do."
Technically correct. She snorted. "And do they approve of it?"
"Ah…" He flushed, which was answer enough. But then his lips shifted into a pout. "They worry over nothing. No one beats me at climbing!"
She raised her eyebrows at his boast.
The little scamp flushed some more, then grinned. "I've never seen you climb, Lady Blake."
"What makes you think I know how to climb?"
"You're always on the ramparts, and I never see you climb the stairs," he said.
"Are you watching all the stairs all the time?"
"Ah…" He pouted for a moment. "But can you climb?"
"I can."
"Better than I can?"
Ah, that was his game. In the days since Blake and her friends had arrived at Winterfell, Lord Stark's children had, all in their own ways, tried to satisfy their curiosity about them. As such attempts went, Bran's was better than most - for his age.
Blake grinned. "Follow me."
His face lit up as she walked down the stairs. He undoubtedly expected her to show off by climbing the same tower faster than he could, but she had something else in mind.
Ten minutes later, he was glaring at her between rubbing his posterior after yet another fall. "This is stupid! You can't climb this wall! It's much too smooth!"
Apparently, he didn't like bouldering. To be fair, the wall she had picked out was far smoother than the old tower. But it was also far lower. As Bran had demonstrated quite thoroughly, falling down from it was painful but not really dangerous.
She snorted, then went to demonstrate once more that, yes, she could climb the wall.
When he clenched his teeth and went back to trying to climb it, she smirked. That would occupy the little boy. And maybe teach him that he wasn't as good as he thought while she kept her ears peeled in case Bran might let slip some tidbits he had overheard from his parents.
And it was payback for setting his ravenous beast on her. If the monster had been just a little older, its teeth would have left deep gouges in her leg when it tried to gnaw it off. Even as a puppy, it was almost as bad as Zwei. She suppressed a shudder as she thought, briefly, of the corgi from hell that haunted Ruby and Yang's home - and, occasionally, their dorm, which Blake shared with them.
Winterfell, The North, Westeros, 298 AC
Yang Xiao Long stretched as she walked across the yard. She noticed that Bran was, again, trying to climb a low wall in a corner. Emphasis on trying. She winced when she saw him fall down on his butt. That looked painful. But it wasn't any of her business.
"Yang!"
She turned her head and smiled when she saw Arya. The little girl was running at her, weaving through the people in the yard and almost running into a guy carrying water to the stables. Her little wolf was running after her, barely keeping up. Yang raised her hand and waved. "Yo."
Arya came to a stop in front of her. "Err… Hello! What are you doing?"
Yang liked the kid. She didn't try to talk all posh and stuff, like her sister. Or like Weiss. Just straight to the point. "I'm walking. Or I was, before you stopped me."
And Arya had an adorable pout, like Ruby had when she was little. "I mean, where are you going? Are you going to hunt?" She leaned a bit forward to peer at Yang's combat clothes.
"Nope." Yang shook her head. There weren't any monsters to hunt. At least, she hadn't heard about any.
"But you're wearing your hunting clothes. You're only supposed to wear them when you're hunting, aren't you?"
Ah, right. Lady Stark had been polite and diplomatic about it, but she'd made it clear that trousers were not 'proper garments' for women, guests or not. Or, rather, that anything but a dress that covered you from neck to toe was 'inappropriate'. Yang didn't really care for that kind of bullshit, but Weiss had gone off about guest right this and fitting in that, and that they had to compromise. Well, Yang knew all about how to use loopholes. "That's not quite right," she corrected the girl with a grin. "You're also supposed to wear your hunting clothes for training. How else would you be able to properly train, hm?" It wasn't as if you could fight in a dress that she'd rip to shreds just by stretching. At least Lady Stark had accepted that.
Arya blinked. Apparently, 'train as you'd fight' wasn't something she was familiar with. Well, she was a kid. "You're going to train?"
"Yep." Yang nodded and ran a hand through her hair, noting how the guys nearby were staring. "Check out if we can train there." It had been some time since they had last trained properly. They could go into the woods for a training session, but they would have to hold back some unless the locals needed a lot of firewood, and if they had to hold back anyway, they might as well train in the yard.
"Oh, you can! Everyone trains there!" Arya nodded enthusiastically, and her wolf barked. She seemed as excited as her owner.
"Well, my team isn't everyone," Yang said with a chuckle. "But let's check out the yard." Robb had shown them the area a few days ago, but they had just been passing through, and no one had been training at the time.
"Arya!"
"Jon!" Arya grimaced as a boy about Yang's age approached them, followed by another wolf puppy.
A handsome boy, Yang noted, if a bit too young, so she smiled at him. "Hi there. You must be Jon. I'm Yang."
He looked taken aback for a moment, blushed, then bowed his head. "Lady Yang."
Aw, too cute! "Call me Yang," she told him. Sure, they were supposed to fit in, but all that bowing and scraping and lady this and lord that made her feel as if she was in a period piece of the Great War. One without the correct weapons of the time, as Ruby would point out whenever there was a combat scene.
He nodded, then turned to Arya. "Lady Stark is looking for you. You have lessons today."
Arya ducked her head. "Can't you act as if you didn't find me? We're going to the training yard!"
"You're skipping school?" Yang laughed. "You're the delinquent of the family, huh?"
"Delinquent? What?" Arya looked confused.
"Of course not!" And Jon seemed worked up.
"It's just a manner of speaking," Yang told both. "What we call kids who don't always obey their parents."
"Ah!" Arya nodded. "Then I'm a delinquent!"
"Arya!" Jon hissed.
"I'm also a good host by showing our guest the way to the training yard!" Arya added. "That's more important than some boring needlepoint lessons."
"Arya."
"Jon!"
Yang was tempted to meddle but… this wasn't any of her business. So she watched while the two stared at each other.
Arya sighed first. "Alright." Looking like a condemned prisoner, she slunk off, her wolf puppy trailing after her with a whimper.
"Being an older sibling is hard, huh? They always go for the puppy dog eyes," Yang told him.
"What?"
"Arya reminded me of Ruby when she wanted more cookies or staying up longer," Yang explained. "She used the same sad expression to try and make me give in."
"Oh. It's not… I was merely passing along Lady Stark's request."
"Ah." Yang nodded and watched Arya enter the keep.
"Arya reminded you of your sister?" Jon asked after a moment.
"Well, after we lost Mom, it was basically just Ruby, Dad and me," Yang explained. And Uncle Qrow, but he was struggling with his own problems, so there was no need to go there. "So, we're very close. I wouldn't say I raised her, but… someone had to look after her, and I'm her big sister."
He nodded again with a wistful expression. Yang wondered if he had lost his mother as well - Blake hadn't heard anything about that, and it wasn't something Yang could just ask. Well, enough gloom and doom! "So, wanna head over to the training yard and watch the show?"
"The show?"
"The guys training, sparring, that stuff," she explained.
"I have nothing else to do."
She snorted. "That's just what a girl wants to hear when she's asking a boy to accompany her."
He blushed. "I didn't mean it… I mean…"
"I'm just yanging your chain, relax!"
He didn't laugh at her perfectly placed pun. And it wasn't because she had elbowed him - she had taken care to control her strength. Perhaps he was just the broody type. Well, some girls liked those boys.
While they walked across the yard, she caught him sneaking glances at her and grinned. "Like what you see?"
"I… I wasn't staring." And he was a lousy liar, too. She snorted at him, and he flushed again. "I am… Girls don't dress like that!"
"They don't dress like that here," she said. "It's normal back home."
"I can't imagine such a place."
"Really?" She smirked. He was too easy. Then again, he was the same age as Ruby, maybe even younger. "It's easy. Just imagine every girl you know wearing clothes like we do." She pushed her chest out to underline her point.
Ah, his face was redder than a tomato!
"That's… How can their families allow that?"
Yang frowned at that. "Hey! We fought a war about the right to wear what we want!" It wasn't as if she'd let anyone tell her what to wear. Well, maybe Coco - the girl knew her fashion.
"What?"
"Yeah. Back a few decades, there was the Great War over our rights to express ourselves. All four kingdoms went at it. We won." It was a bit more complicated, but Jon didn't need to know any details. It was ancient history, anyway.
"Your kingdom must be very different," he said, shaking his head.
"Oh, bet your ass it is!" She grinned, then focused on the training yard ahead of them. "Ah, look at that! Your brother's pretty good." Easily better than Jaune - he had that older guard he was fencing with down on the ground in no time.
"He is, yes."
Yang turned and leaned her back against the fence that surrounded the training yard. "How about you?"
"I am a passable swordsman."
"Could you take Robb?" Yang nodded toward his brother.
Jon didn't answer right away.
"I can take my little sister more often than not in a sparring match," she told him. "But she wins her share of our bouts."
"Another difference between your home and the North," he said. And he was back to brooding.
Yang was about to pry some more, but before she could think of the right way to pick at his attitude, someone else cut in. Someone unwelcome.
"Hey! Lady Yang!" Theon Greyjoy waved as he walked over to her. "Did you come to watch us spar?"
She straightened with a frown - not that he'd notice, with his eyes glued to her legs and chest. "I came to check out the training yard. See if it's suitable for training."
"I can assure you it is." He leaned on the fence between them, turning his back to Jon. "As the best archer in the castle, I should know."
"Lady Yang mentioned an interest in swordfighting," Jon said.
Theon scowled for a moment but didn't acknowledge the other boy. "What kind of training has caught your interest, my lady? As the heir to the Iron Islands, I would be only too happy to be of service!"
Oh, boy! Or boys! Usually, Yang didn't mind boys trying to impress her, but not if it involved weapons and no Aura to keep a fight from becoming bloody. "I just want to know if it would be safe for my team to spar here."
"Oh, don't worry - none here would dare harm you!" Theon's smile somehow looked more smarmy than Cardin's back at Beacon.
And Yang felt the same urge to introduce him to a few love taps from Ember Celica she got when Cardin annoyed her. We're guests here, she reminded herself. "I don't think that's a danger," she told him.
"Of course not! We would rather die than let a lady such as you get hurt!" He reached out to grab her hand, but she pulled it back.
The idiot had no clue about Huntresses.
"Theon?" Robb had noticed them and was walking over. "Oh, Lady Yang. Jon." He wiped his face, slightly sweaty, with his padded sleeve.
"Lady Yang is interested in the training yard, Robb," Theon told him.
And Lady Yang doesn't like it when boys speak for her without being asked to, Yang thought. Out loud, she said: "I would like to see if my friends and I can safely train here."
Robb was taken aback. "You are our guest! You are perfectly safe here, my lady!"
"Not what I meant," she said. "I'm not worried about us. I'm worried about damaging the yard."
Robb blinked, and Jon looked confused, but Theon laughed. "Oh, there's absolutely no chance of that, my lady! If all the guards have not damaged it, you won't do anything to it either."
Alright, to hell with not showing off! She wouldn't use Ember Celica, but she had to show that boy what he was dealing with. Yang flashed him a toothy smile, then looked at Robb. "Is that true? There's no chance that I could, say, accidentally punch a hole in the ground?"
"Ah…" Robb looked at her, then at the ground - packed sand - and then back at her. "Even if you did, it would be no trouble at all, my lady."
"Mind if I test that?" She slapped her hands together and stretched.
"Ah… you want to punch the ground?" Robb looked bewildered.
"Yeah." She nodded. "Only if there's no trouble if I do leave a hole."
"Ah, no, go ahead," Robb said.
"Robb!" Jon hissed.
"Are you going to punch the ground?" Theon sounded confused and amused.
Yang flexed her knees and jumped over the fence - and over Theon and Robb. In the air, she pulled her fist back - and punched when she hit the ground. Lightly, of course. Just enough to make a point.
When the sand her impact had thrown up settled, everyone was staring at her. Robb and the others were gaping, even Jon.
Yang made a point at looking at the small crater she was standing in, then at Robb. "Doesn't look that safe to me."
Robb shook his head, and Theon cursed under his breath.
"Yang! What did you do?"
Uh-oh. Here came Weiss, and she looked mad.
Yang flashed a smile at her friend. "I made an impression!"
'It goes without saying that we can safely dismiss the blatantly mythical deeds attributed to the Ruby Order. Their claims to have defeated a horde of humanoid ice creatures in the Lands Beyond the Wall that commanded the dead to rise and attack the living are obviously an exaggeration meant to increase their fame, as much factual as the claims of them performing superhuman deeds such as lifting entire carts with the draft animals still attached or leaping above buildings. Some of my colleagues, even those diligent enough to dismiss such reports, point at the records of the Night's Watch as proof that such 'humanoid ice creatures' existed in the past. Indeed, the Night's Watch records speak of a 'Great Ranging' in AC 298, which discovered the corpses of the 'Others', legendary creatures made of ice and malice. However, at this time, the Night's Watch's reputation was at such a low point that many expected the institution to vanish from Westeros. It is very plausible that its commander, Lord Mormont, used the opportunity to convince the Crown that the Wall served a more important purpose than merely holding back wilding incursions by claiming to have encountered creatures from the Age of Heroes, which were a threat to the entire realm. Creatures whose corpses were all burned, supposedly to ensure they could not be restored to life through fell magic - a convenient excuse for the complete absence of any remains of the creatures they claimed to have found, unlike, for example, the extinct ice spiders, a once-thought mythical beast, but one of which several specimens have been found dead but preserved in the permafrost of the North.'
- A Treatise On The Ruby Order, by Maester Kennet Bracken
*****
Castle Black, The Wall, Westeros, 298 AC
Standing in front of the old, weathered desk in the Lord Commander's office, Benjen Stark stared at his friend and superior. "You want me to go to Winterfell when we are preparing a Great Ranging? I'm the First Ranger of the Night's Watch; if anyone should be heading out to investigate the claims of our guests, it should be me!" Ice monsters raising the dead to form an army! It was outrageous, and yet, Aemon had found old records of the very first years of the Watch that matched the descriptions the four girls had given them. And after seeing what those girls could do, Benjen was loath to dismiss any of their tales. Of course, there was a massive difference between being far, far stronger than you looked and raising the dead, but even something not quite as outlandish could present a danger for the realm.
Sitting in a chair older than Benjen's grandfather, Jeor shook his head. "Benjen, we have several rangers who can lead our brothers safely through the Haunted Forest. They might not be as experienced as you are, but they know the lands and how to navigate them and have proved that many times. I need you to accompany our visitors to Winterfell."
Benjen pressed his lips together. Jeor was correct. Benjen would have been a poor fit for his post if he had not ensured that all his men were up to the tasks that their duty demanded. He would trust any of them to serve as a guide in the Haunted Forest. Well, maybe not Kren. The latest brother to join his band had the aptitude and skill to be a ranger, but he was still pining for the home he had been forced to leave when he had been caught poaching and had chosen the Wall over the headman's block. A few more years in the Watch would see to that, though.
And yet, that was no reason for Benjen to miss the most important ranging of the Watch in decades, perhaps even centuries!
"You should be happy to have the opportunity to see your family, Benjen," Aemon, sitting in a chair very close to the fireplace at the back of the room, spoke up in his raspy voice. "You never know when it will be the last time you laid eyes on them. Trust me on this - I lost too many of my own."
Jeor nodded as well, though he had a more grim than sad expression when he did.
Benjen clenched his teeth. His brother was the Warden of the North, the ruler of the entire land between the Neck and the Wall. His family was as safe as you could be in the North. And yet, Aemon was correct - every time Benjen ventured out beyond the Wall, every day he did his duty, he could end up dead. A wildling raider, a wolf or bear that got too desperate or rabid, or just bad luck like slipping on a patch of melted ice and falling down the Wall could end his life. But that didn't matter - he had sworn the oath and knew his duty as a brother of the Night's Watch!
"Benjen!" Jeor spoke up again. "I need you for this. No one else I could send would be trusted by Ned as much as you are."
"I could go after the ranging. I would have more information to share with Ned," Benjen pointed out.
"This cannot wait. You've seen our guests. You think they will wait for weeks before venturing out on their own?" Jeor scoffed.
Benjen winced. No, he didn't think they would wait that long. They were young, seven, eight-and-ten years, or even younger, according to them, and while girls were, as a rule, not as foolish and impatient as most boys that age, that didn't make them mature by any means. Certainly not those girls. And if they decided to leave, the entire Night's Watch couldn't stop them. Of that Benjen was sure after what had seen them do.
"Even worse," Aemon cut in with a dry snort, "imagine if they did wait here."
Benjen winced. Men of the Night's Watch swore an oath not to take a wife or father any children, but they were men all the same, not eunuchs. And their guests were, no matter their origin, great beauties without exception. Exotic beauties, even. The only man Benjen could be sure would not be tempted was Aemon, and only because the Maester was not only far too old to still feel such urges but also blind. That a number of the brothers had been rapists who had chosen the Wall over death or a maiming didn't help, of course.
No, if their guests stayed, no matter their inhuman strength, someone, drunk or simply too worked up, would accost them. And that could end in a catastrophe in light of what power those girls wielded. It would also shame the entire Watch for letting one of their own attack a guest in their headquarters.
He let out a sigh.
Jeor stood and walked over to the window, peering out through the slits left bare by the wooden shutters that kept both prying eyes and the cold somewhat out. "You've seen what they can do."
"Yes."
"I haven't, but I'll take your word for it."
Benjen snorted against his will. To make fun of his blindness! Aemon's wit was very dark and spared no one, not even himself.
Jeor shook his head. "You've heard their plans."
Benjen nodded. "They want to travel south and search for a magical way home. Or so they claim."
"Whatever the truth of that claim, it's clear that they will travel south. Four girls, each of them stronger than a dozen knights."
"Maybe stronger," Benjen said. Each of them was more skilled than the best swordsman he had seen. And their weapons… He wondered how they would match up against Valyrian steel, but they outclassed anything the brotherhood could muster.
"Maybe. Can you imagine what would happen if a lord accosted them?"
Benjen could. He had been imagining what would happen if they turned against the Watch for a few days - ever since they had arrived and had revealed their strength. "Yes."
"So could, and will, others."
"Ah." Others like every noble with ambition and enemies, both real and imagined. Yes, Benjen understood why he had to be the one to present their guests at Winterfell and talk to Ned. He was one of the only people Ned would believe without a demonstration that would set tongues wagging and raven flying.
He sighed again, and Jeor clapped him on the shoulder with a rueful smile.
*****
Kingsroad, South of Castle Black, The North, Westeros, 298 AC
"You know, I am sure we'd be faster if we walked. No, really. This wagon is going soooo slooooow."
"Feel free to walk, Ruby. I don't feel like stumbling along a road that looks more like a trail."
"You wouldn't stumble if you wore sensible boots, Weiss."
"I don't see you walking either, Yang."
"You don't hear me complaining, either, do you?"
Benjen Stark, riding next to the wagon, bit his tongue so he wouldn't make a rude comment in response. The four girls - Team Ruby, as the apparent leader insisted - had done almost nothing but complain ever since they had set out for Winterfell. At least it felt like it. Well, complain and ask questions even a young child should have been able to answer. It was a miracle that the driver, Creg, had kept his temper. Then again, according to rumours, Creg had joined the Watch after raising a dozen children as a widower, so he was probably used to this.
"Besides, my boots are perfectly sensible!"
"As riding boots, yes," Benjen said before he could stop himself. You didn't make fun of people who could shatter boulders with a single blow and fell trees as thick as they were tall with a single swipe of their scythe. Even if they didn't know that freshly cut wood didn't burn well.
"See?" Weiss smiled at him, then turned back to grin at her friends.
"You can't ride, Weiss."
"You can't either!"
"Well…"
"Bumblebee doesn't count!"
"I wasn't going to say anything about my bike…"
"Yang!"
"Yang!"
Complain, ask inane questions and make crude remarks, Benjen amended his thoughts, though the last was limited to Yang. Still, this was an opportunity to learn more about their supposed home. Usually, he would have assumed that 'Bumblebee' was the name of Yang's horse or pony, but he had quickly realised that such assumptions were generally wrong. "What's a bike?"
"The best way to travel!" Yang replied, flashing him a wide, cocky smile.
"Except for airships, bullheads, trains, ferries…"
"Ah, Weiss, don't be jealous that you never got to ride a bike!"
"I am merely stating the objective truth."
"Yang! Weiss!" Ruby spoke up. "Don't fight!" She nodded at both, then turned to smile at Benjen. "I'm sorry about that. Anyway, a bike is a vehicle you drive, with two wheels."
"You don't drive it; you ride it!"
"Like a cart?" Benjen asked.
"Not quite - the two wheels are arranged one before the other. Kinda if you cut this wagon in half length-side and then moved the wheels to the centre," Ruby gave another explanation that did open more questions than it answered. "And it's driven by Dust!"
"Ah." Their world apparently ran on magic dust. Homes were heated with dust, instead of wells, they had water dust - and Benjen was afraid to ask how that was supposed to work - and their weapons and even clothes used dust. It sounded too fantastical to believe, but Ruby had, against Weiss's objection, given him a demonstration. Benjen now knew that magic dust was real - and that they didn't have much of it left.
"And if we had Bumblebee here, I'd already be in Winterfell!"
"You'd be lost in the woods."
"Weiss! Yang!"
"Bumblebee would have trouble on this road," Blake spoke up. The girl was usually quiet, her nose buried in her book, but she rarely missed anything, Benjen had noticed.
"Nothing we couldn't manage!" Yang snorted, then leaned over. "Rubes! Pass me another sausage, will you? I'm feeling a bit peckish."
Benjen winced a little. They would have to restock supplies more often than he had planned. The girls ate more than men twice their number and three times their size. Obviously, the appetite they had shown after arriving at Castle Black hadn't been due to having gone hungry in the Haunted Forest; they ate that much every meal.
"Here, Yang!"
"Thanks, sis!"
Benjen clenched his fist holding the reins. This was something that he had been wondering since they started this trip. He hadn't asked them about it because it was the sort of question that could start fights, and the absolute last thing Benjen wanted was to anger four girls who could tear him limb from limb without trying. But at the same time, he needed to know. Because other people would make assumptions based upon how the four behaved, and if those assumptions were wrong…
Besides, he told himself, the group might be complaining constantly, but overall, they were in a remarkably good mood.
So, he took a deep breath, cleared his throat, and hoped he wouldn't insult his guests. "Lady Ruby, I was wondering…"
"Yes?"
"Your relationships are a little confusing."
"My relationships? I'm not in any relationship!" Ruby blurted out.
For a moment, Benjen's heart seemed to skip a beat. Then he realised that her cheeks were not flushed with rage but embarrassment and felt his own face heat up in return. "I am deeply sorry, I didn't mean to insinuate that…" He trailed off, clenching his teeth for a moment. He couldn't say that. Yang was laughing, but Weiss was glaring at him. "I was merely wondering how you are related," he was quick to explain. "In Westeros, it's very unusual for the older, ah, sibling to follow the orders of the younger."
"Ah, that's because Ozpin, the Headmaster of our school, picked Ruby here as the leader of our team because she's the best!" Yang said, ruffling her sister's hair.
"Yang!"
That explained things. To an extent, at least - Benjen still wondered what would have possessed this man to give such an order.
"You're wondering about their familial relationship, aren't you?" Weiss asked.
Among other things. "Yes," Benjen confirmed. The girls' polite tone still left no doubt that it wasn't a question.
"Oh. Well, we're sisters!" Ruby said. "But I think we already told you that, didn't we?"
"We've got the same dad. And the same mom for all that counts," Yang said. "She raised us both."
Ah. Benjen nodded. That explained it. It was now obvious that the older girl was a bastard raised in the family. 'Xiao Long' likely was their home's 'Snow'. And, of course, that wasn't something the two liked to talk about, so Benjen wouldn't pry further - he was no fool, after all.
It was another thing Ned needed to know about so he wouldn't make a blunder. The heraldry - crests - all four wore was already confusing, not to talk about their foreign manners. To think they expected to bathe every day on the road!
*****
Kingsroad, North of Winterfell, The North, Westeros, 298 AC
"Behold: Winterfell."
Ruby Rose perked up at Benjen's announcement. Winterfell! Finally! She pushed the furs covering her to the side, activated her Semblance and dashed from the wagon next to Benjen in the blink of an eye, or faster! "Yes?" She peered ahead while Benjen struggled a bit to get his startled horse under control - not her fault; the animal should be used to her Semblance by now! - and then rushed forward, up the gentle slope, until she could see over its top.
But now she could see it! "Winterfell!" she breathed at the sight in front of her. "Wow! It's beautiful!" It was a huge castle, bigger than Beacon! It had two tall walls, with lots of towers, one wall overlooking the others! And bigger towers and buildings inside the yard - the castle's keep. It looked straight out of a Fantasy movie!
"Yang! You have to see this!" she yelled without taking her sight off the castle - and the village in front of it!
"We're coming," Weiss replied. "It's not going to go away."
That was… well, true, but still! Ruby pouted. This was great!
Benjen reached her side. He was probably frowning at her for spooking his horse, but that was partially his fault for calling her. And he should have realised she couldn't see anything from his position before calling her!
"Wow!" Yang echoed her reaction. "I guess they make things bigger in the North, huh? Walls, castles and woods…"
"Yang!" Weiss hissed for some reason while Blake giggled.
"What? We've been travelling for ages through a forest!" Yang sounded smug, so Ruby probably had missed something, but that didn't matter.
"This is sooo coool!" she blurted out.
"It's actually warm," Benjen corrected her. "The keep was built over a hot spring, and the water runs through pipes in the walls to heat it."
"You've got central heating? That's even cooler!" Ruby beamed at him for a moment before focusing back on the castle. She couldn't see weapon emplacements, though they probably didn't need them without Grimm to worry about. Still, a catapult or trebuchet would have been even better! Oh, if they had hot springs, couldn't they build a steam catapult?
"'Cool' means 'hot' in this case," Yang told him.
"Yang!" Weiss sounded annoyed. "Cool means both cold and great, actually."
"Ah."
Ruby shook her head. "And that's your brother's castle?"
"Yes. Ned is the Warden of the North. This is his seat. And where I grew up."
"Cool!"
"Ruby!" Weiss was glaring at her, Ruby knew without looking at her. "It's a very impressive castle. I don't think I've seen anything like it before," Weiss told Benjen.
"Yep." Ruby nodded firmly.
"Thank you."
Ruby checked that she hadn't missed anything else, then turned to her friends and Benjen and Creg. "Come on! Let's hurry! We're wasting daylight!" Blake could see perfectly well at night, but Ruby couldn't, and they didn't have good lamps in Westeros, so she didn't want to miss anything on arrival. Oh!
Halfway to the wagon, she turned. "Do you think we'll get a tour of the castle?" she asked Benjen.
"Ruby!" Weiss cleared her throat. "We appreciate the opportunity to visit your family seat."
Benjen snorted. "I don't doubt that you'll get a tour. Even if Ned were too busy to be a good host, my nieces and nephews will love to show you around."
"C… Great!" Ruby beamed at him, then dashed into the wagon. "Team RWBY, assemble! Onward!" They were still burning daylight!
*****
They took ages to reach the castle's gates. Ruby had been so tempted to dash ahead - with her Semblance, she could have covered the distance in no time! - but Benjen had told them not to show off because people were not used to Aura and Semblances and this could scare them. Or cause them to be mistaken for witches or something. In any case, Benjen had been clear that it would be bad.
It didn't matter anyway. Now, after an eternity spent sitting in a slooow wagon, they were finally here! At Winterfell! Inside Winterfell!
Ruby looked everywhere as they entered the castle. Up, to check for murderholes in the gatehouse. (They had some!) Down, to check if the ground was covered in cobblestones. (It was!) Left and right, to check what weapons the guards were carrying. (They had boring spears and swords, no scythe, not even an arbalest.)
And ahead, where a group of men were waiting for them. Men and boys, she corrected herself. Then she blinked, looking at Benjen and back, squinting a little. "Is that your brother? He kinda looks like you."
"That is indeed my brother, Eddard Stark."
Benjen sounded a bit tense, Ruby realised. Did Ned carry a grudge against him? But they were siblings! And everyone seemed to like Benjen - people had been greeting him all the way from the outer gate to the courtyard.
Well, she would be extra-friendly to help smooth things over! Like when Dad and Uncle Qrow had a row!
"Benjen!"
"Ned!"
Ah! Ruby smiled. She had been worrying over nothing - Ned was hugging his brother as soon as Benjen had gotten off his horse. Everyone else was smiling as well - well, almost everyone. The red-haired boy was staring at her team. As were the other boys.
"It's been too long!" Benjen said.
"Indeed. What brings you to Winterfell?"
That was their cue! Ruby smiled widely and jumped over the wagon's railing, letting her furs drop to the wagon's floor behind her. "He was escorting us!" she blurted out. "We're Team RWBY!"
"Ruby!" Weiss hissed behind Ruby as her friends joined her.
Ned blinked, his smile fading a little, Ruby noticed, as he stared at them. Everyone was staring at them, she realised. Like the men at Castle Black had been - in some cases, exactly like the men back there.
Benjen cleared his throat. "Ned, these are Lady Ruby Rose and Team Ruby - Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna and Yang Xiao Long. Lady Ruby, this is Lord Paramount Eddard Stark, Warden of the North."
Ruby almost blurted out that they already knew that but managed not to. That would have been rude. "Hi!" she said instead, waving at him. She had stopped trying to explain that they didn't have noble ladies in Vale. Benjen had insisted that it was the correct title for her rank.
"Hello." Ned - Lord Eddard, Ruby reminded herself - was still blinking but no longer staring. Unlike the rest of the men and boys.
"They are from a far distant kingdom and were stranded in the Haunted Forest beyond the Wall. They're travelling south to look for a way home," Benjen explained.
Ruby nodded a few times.
Weiss nodded as well - no, she was bowing her head, Ruby realised. "Indeed, my lord. We're searching for any information that would show us a way home. We are completely lost."
"You have no idea where your home is?" Lord Eddard asked.
"Unfortunately, no. We don't know how we arrived here," Weiss replied. "We only remember ancient ruins of an unknown origin, and we hope that records of such or similar ruins will help us find a way to return home."
Ruby pressed her lips together in a slight frown. That was technically correct, since they didn't know how they had been transported here, but they knew what brought them here. Weiss, though, knew best how to talk to nobles - well, compared to the rest of the team - and Ruby trusted her. Most of the time, at least. Weiss wasn't perfect even if she wanted to be. "Our families must be frantic with worry," she said. Dad certainly would be. She hoped that Uncle Qrow wasn't drinking too much.
"The Night's Watch couldn't help them, but the Lord Commander thought you might be able to, Ned," Benjen cut in.
"Of course!" Lord Eddard took a deep breath and nodded. "Let me welcome you to Winterfell. These are my eldest son, Robb, and my ward, Theon Greyjoy."
While the two boys smiled and nodded, a man approached them with a tray with salt and bread.
No, bread and salt, Ruby corrected herself as Lord Eddard took a roll of bread and broke it into a few pieces, sprinkling salt over it. Benjen had explained how important that was, so she had to get it right. Once they'd eaten it, they were Lord Eddard's guests. "Thank you!" She beamed at him.
The bread was nice - fresh, although it wasn't warm any more - and the salt wasn't too much. Of course, she'd have preferred a cookie - she hadn't had any cookies since they had arrived in this world! She'd have to ask if they had any. Such a huge castle was bound to have cookies in it, right?
Benjen seemed relieved when this was over. Weird - things were going well. "So, how about you have them shown to the guest quarters while I tell you some news from the wall, Ned?"
Lord Eddard glanced at him, then nodded. "Of course. Robb, show Lady Ruby and her friends the guest quarters. And inform your mother that we have new guests."
"Yes, Father."
Ah, the redhead was his son! He looked kinda cute. And he blushed when he looked at her, which made him look even cuter.
Ruby felt relieved. They were in a Fantasy castle - with central heating! - and everyone was really helpful. Things were definitely looking up now!
"If you'll follow me, my lady?" Robb offered her his arm.
Ruby had seen that in those fantasy movies she didn't watch because they didn't have enough action even though the actors were handsome, and hooked her arm into his - and he was jerked to the side. Oops! She almost forgot her strength. "Sorry!" she told him. "My fault!"
"Ah…" He looked a bit confused. Maybe embarrassed.
Weiss whispered 'dolt!' behind her, but Ruby could exactly turn around and frown at her. "So… lead on?"
"Of course, Lady Ruby."
*****
Winterfell, The North, Westeros, 298 AC
The quarters were adequate, Weiss Schnee found after a brief inspection. For a 'Fantasy Castle', as Ruby called it, at least. The lack of modern amenities was grating - their scrolls had run out of power days ago, and there was no way to recharge them without tapping into their very limited Lightning Dust reserves, something they had to save for emergencies, like should they need such short-range communication or access to their files, like the pictures they had taken of the ruins before this started - but at least it was warm, and the presence of hot springs promised hot baths.
Weiss felt filthy after that trip. They had barely managed to maintain minimal hygiene! If she ever had to use cold water and a sponge to wash herself even once more, it would be one time too many.
"So… What do you think?" Ruby asked from one of the two beds - which used a straw mattress that must be filled with all sorts of things and creatures that shouldn't be near much less inside your bed. "Neat castle, huh?"
Weiss glanced at Blake, who was leaning against the door. Weiss hadn't sensed anyone observing them, but she wasn't really trained in using her Aura for that - that was a skill Huntresses usually acquired later during their career. Blake, on the other hand, was skilled at detecting eavesdroppers.
Her friend shook her head, though.
Good. Weiss took a deep breath. "They seem friendly. And they've welcomed us formally, so we're protected by guest right."
"And that's super-important!" Ruby said. "Benjen said so."
Weiss sighed softly. Ruby was correct - Benjen had told them that breaking guest right would dishonour an entire house, and Weiss didn't think he was lying, but… She was also very familiar with how laws and agreements could be bent and outright broken without the culprit suffering any backlash for it, as long as they were powerful and connected enough. And if Jacques Schnee was able to do it, Eddard Stark, as the absolute ruler of the entire region - one of the Seven Kingdoms forming the realm - certainly would be able to do it as well. "Just remember that guest right binds us as well. If we break it, we also lose its protection."
"Well, we won't break it!" Ruby replied with a wide smile.
"As long as that Greyjoy boy keeps his hands to himself," Yang added, hitting the palm of her hand with her fist without bothering to get up from where she was sprawled across her half of the bed. "He was leering at everyone."
Weiss suppressed a shudder at the memory. The boy had indeed looked at them as if he was picturing them naked - which he probably had been doing. And he hadn't been the only one who had done so, though he had been the most obvious.
"Well, Robb was a perfect gentleman," Ruby said.
Weiss scoffed. "He was checking out your legs."
"He did?" Ruby blushed.
Weiss pressed her lips together. Her friend and team leader was far too naive. "They're not used to Huntresses."
"Well, of course not - none of them have Aura."
"No, I mean, they are not used to women like us," Weiss corrected her. "Haven't you noticed? None of the guards were women."
"How could you tell with their clothes?" Ruby asked. "They were all so drab. The armour, I mean."
"Trust me," Weiss told her. "I could." Growing up in a kingdom renowned for its cold climate, and in a family where any faux pas was grounds for a lecture, she had quickly learned.
"Yeah," Yang added.
Blake nodded as well.
"Well, that's probably how they do things here." Ruby shrugged. "They'll get used to us."
Weiss hoped that Ruby was correct but couldn't help having doubts. "I hope so. But remember: We're guests. You can't crush someone's balls if they annoy you."
"Well, we totally could. But you probably mean we shouldn't," Yang replied with a toothy grin.
Weiss took a deep breath. This wasn't the time to lose her temper over childish comments. "They might not realise that they are annoying you."
"Oh, I usually don't leave any doubt if someone's annoying me."
Ruby and Yang hadn't really gone anywhere but Vale, Weiss reminded herself. "What I am trying to tell you is that we can't expect them to know our customs and vice versa. What is perfectly polite for them and in line with keeping guest right might be annoying to us." Or worse.
"That's not exactly uncommon on Remnant, either," Blake said with a faint smirk.
Weiss shot her a glare. Her friend was correct about that - Weiss had experienced such situations far more than she wished - but this was important. They couldn't annoy much less offend their hosts! They needed their help to find a way home!
"So, we tell them about Remnant!" Ruby said. "That way, there aren't any misunderstandings!"
"We can't!" Weiss snapped. She straightened. Composure, she reminded herself. "I mean, we have to be careful what we tell the people here. We don't know if we can trust them, and revealing our weaknesses would endanger us all."
"I think we can trust Benjen and Ned. And Robb."
Weiss narrowed her eyes for a moment. The last thing they needed was some romantic entanglement. Ruby better not fall for some local boy who had grown up in a completely alien culture with who knew what weird views and expectations! "Even if we can trust them, can we trust everyone they trust? Word travels fast, even without scrolls. And we know from Benjen that the kingdom has seen two rebellions - civil wars! - in his lifetime."
"Well, yes, but…"
Blake cocked her head to the side and raised a hand. "Someone's coming."
Ah. Weiss smoothed her dress out - a dress in dire need of cleaning, even though the battleskirt had held up admirably during their journey so far, thanks to good craftsmanship and her aura - and straightened. Time to put her best face on.
Ruby got up as well. "Who is it?" she asked as she joined Weiss in the middle of the room, followed by Yang.
"It seems to be Lady Stark and her daughters," Blake said.
Oh. Weiss took a deep breath. This would be an important meeting. But she was ready.
"Oh, no!" she heard Blake mutter under her breath.
"What?" Weiss glanced at her. "What's wrong?"
Blake was tense - very tense. Was this an ambush? Weiss looked at the door, then at the bed against which Myrtenaster was leaning. Should they arm themselves?
"Blake?" Yang asked.
"They've got a dog with them!" Blake hissed.
Oh. Weiss relaxed.
"Oh?" Ruby perked up.
"Oh?" And Yang grinned.
Before Blake could say anything else, there was a knock on the door. "Lady Ruby?"
After a moment, Ruby replied: "Yes! Coming!"
Before Weiss could stop her, Ruby had dashed forward and opened the door. "Hi!" she said, beaming at the three - four - people outside. One woman, two girls and a guard. "Come in!" she added before the obvious leader, a redheaded woman in a high-quality gown, could say anything. "Everyone, we've got visitors!"
Weiss swallowed her grimace. This was probably - no, certainly - a faux pas, and it was her fault. She should have explained to Ruby that the leader of their group wasn't supposed to open the door themselves. Or act so… so Ruby-like. At least she hadn't squealed at the two dogs that the girls carried.
Time to mend the ruffled tempers. "Lady Stark, I presume," she said, bowing her head. Fortunately, the others followed her example. Even Blake, though Weiss didn't miss that she was fixated on the two dogs. Unfortunately, so was Ruby.
"You presume correctly. I am Catelyn Stark. These are my daughters, Sansa and Arya," Lady Stark said as she entered. The fourth person, a guard, stayed outside, Weiss noted.
Both girls - one about thirteen years old, the other a bit younger, Weiss estimated, though she didn't know how the life conditions in this kingdom would affect growth - dropped into curtsies. Weiss made a mental note of that.
"And these are Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna and Yang Xia Long. I am Ruby Rose. We're Team RWBY, but you already knew that, right?" Ruby nodded, then leaned forward. "And who are those adorable puppies?"
"Those are our dire wolves!" the younger girl, Aryan, said. "This is Nymeria. And that's Lady."
Wolves? Dire wolves? Weiss eyed the two more closely. Apparently, Ruby had been correct - those were, despite their size, puppies. Weiss wondered how large they would grow.
A hiss next to her, followed by Blake taking a step back, told her that she wasn't the only one wondering that. She really should get over her cynophobia. At least she wasn't running away. That would be a faux pas for sure.
"Arya." Lady Catelyn didn't frown, and her tone was even, but the girl still flinched.
It was obvious, at least to Weiss, that there would be a private scolding after this. She could sympathise from experience.
"Please have a seat!" Ruby said, pointing at the two chairs in the room, next to the small window. "I mean, it's your castle, so it's your room, technically, so I don't want to, ah, sound presumptuous…"
Lady Cately smiled, hopefully amused and not offended, and sat down. Ruby promptly sat down on the closer bed, and Weiss sighed as the two girls eyed each other, obviously unsure if and where they should sit down.
A subtle pinch and whispered hint straightened things out, though, and soon everyone but Blake, who was standing as far from the wolves as she could, trying to fade through the wall, was properly seated - Ruby on the chair, clearly trying not to let the puppies distract her, and the rest on the beds, split between guests and hosts.
"First, allow me to welcome you to Winterfell," Lady Catelyn said. "My lord husband has let me know that you were stranded in the wildings lands and lost your baggage."
"More or less, yes. We've made do," Ruby added. "We've got some furs and food from the wildlings, and the Night's Watch got us some more supplies, but it's not exactly…" She trailed off, glancing at Weiss.
"We only have what supplies we were carrying on us, my lady," Weiss replied. "We don't want to impose on you…"
"It's not an imposition at all," Lady Cately said as soon as Weiss trailed off. "You are our guests."
"We can help you out in return," Ruby offered at once. "We can hunt. Or if you need lots of wood chopped down, we can do that as well." She patted Crescent Rose.
Lady Catelyn looked irritated and slightly confused for a moment. "It would be shameful to have a noble lady working when she's our guest."
"Oh." Ruby blinked.
As Weiss had suspected. "Please excuse our ignorance, my lady. In our homeland, Huntresses like us are expected to offer their help wherever they might find themselves, whether the community needs them or not." She was bending the truth a little - or more than a little - but it was true. Best not to mention that Huntresses were generally remunerated for such help.
"Ah. Well, in the Seven Kingdoms, things are different." Lady Catelyn nodded slowly. "And we would be poor hosts if we would not provide you with suitable clothes."
The glance she sent at their attire, coupled with the way the girls were trying not to stare - the elder, Sansa, was blushing, Weiss noted - left no doubt that their clothes weren't deemed suitable for social occasions. Judging by the people they had seen on the way, their clothes probably were not deemed suitable for any occasion, though that might be explained by the locals' lack of Aura.
"We would be grateful," Weiss told her. A few dresses weren't much of an imposition, at least.
"Yeah," Yang added with a grin. "A girl wants to change her look sometimes, you know? Although we're always dressed to kill."
Lady Catelyn stared at her, and Sansa gasped. Arya, though, leaned forward. "Dressed to kill?"
"It's an idiom in our homeland, my lady," Weiss was quick to explain. "It means to dress very fashionable, in the latest style." There was no need to mention the other meanings of the expression - Lady Stark didn't strike her as the kind of woman who would appreciate her young daughters learning about those.
"Yeah," Yang confirmed, tossing her hair back.
"Oh." Arya sounded disappointed. Her puppy climbed up her lap to lick her face, and she pushed it down into her lap again with a giggle. "Down, Nymeria!"
"They don't mean actual killing, Arya," Sansa whispered, rolling her eyes. "They're ladies."
"We're Huntresses," Ruby said with a nod at the younger girl. "We don't kill people. Only monsters."
"We beat up people who deserve it, though," Yang added, slapping her fist into the palm of her hand. "Like bandits."
"You've fought bandits?" Arya straightened.
"Arya!" There would be a rather pointed scolding from Lady Stark later, in private, in Weiss's opinion.
"Yeah! When we were travelling south to the Wall, we were attacked by bandits," Ruby said. "We beat them, though."
"That's where we got the furs." Yang pointed at the pile of pelts in the corner. "Spoils of war."
"I see." Lady Catelyn nodded, though Weiss couldn't help feeling that the woman remained a little sceptical.
She was tempted to offer proof of their claims but refrained from it since Benjen had impressed the need to be a bit more discreet to avoid upsetting the locals.
Lady Catelyn subtly looked them over for a moment. "You were taken from your homeland and brought to foreign lands. That must have been a terrible experience. Especially for young women."
Weiss frowned slightly. The way she stressed that, she must mean something more than… Oh, no!
"Oh, it wasn't that bad," Ruby said. "It was mostly the surprise, you know? One moment, we were looking at the ruins, the next - poof - we were gone!"
Weiss cut in before Ruby could continue. She had to correct this misunderstanding at the start. "I can assure you, my lady, any distress we suffered was due to our dislocation, not because of anything of a, ah, more personal nature."
Ruby looked confused, but Yang nodded emphatically with a serious expression.
"I am relieved to hear that," Lady Catelyn said with a - seemingly - genuine smile.
Weiss also saw that Sansa suddenly gasped while Arya didn't quite seem to get it. Good. That could have been a very uncomfortable topic to sort out.
"I think I'm missing something…" Ruby frowned, looking from Lady Catelyn to Weiss and back.
"Ah…" Yang trailed off, glancing at Weiss.
Weiss glared back at her.
"Guys?" Ruby was frowning more profoundly now.
Weiss was very relieved when Nymeria suddenly slipped from Arya's grip and started towards Blake, yipping enthusiastically as she began to chase the girl around the room.
It was far easier to explain that Blake was deathly afraid of dogs, and yes, that that included wolves.
*****
Winterfell, The North, Westeros, 298 AC
Standing in the shadow of a tower on the inner wall, gazing at the courtyard below, without anyone present aware of her, Blake Belladonna smiled. She liked Winterfell, and not just because it was a vast castle that dominated the area it was built in and looked as if it had been taken straight out of some of her favourite novels, something she had only seen before in computer games and animated movies. No, she liked the castle because it was actually too big for its garrison - which was by design since, according to Benjen, it housed a lot more people during the long winters, which, again according to Benjen, could and did last years. Blake had no idea how that was possible, but even though she was fairly certain that Benjen was not quite as honest with them as Ruby seemed to think, albeit Blake suspected it was more a case of omitting parts rather than telling falsehoods, she was reasonably certain that Benjen wouldn't be lying about such an easily checked fact of life in Westeros.
Which she reminded herself to check anyway as soon as she had unfettered access to the local library. She was sorely missing her books; the one novel she had taken with her on the mission because she couldn't bear the thought of waiting to finish it until she returned she had read a dozen times by now. She could recite it from memory in her sleep and had done so, at least according to Yang, which meant she was fortunate it hadn't been one of her spicier novels; that would have been embarrassing.
As embarrassing as being spotted by one of the scarce guards on the wall, she reminded herself as she heard steps coming up the stairs inside the tower. The garrison was too small to effectively cover the castle's walls, but that didn't mean they didn't make an honest attempt anyway.
But they were not up to the task of spotting her; she was too skilled at this, and they had no idea about her capabilities. So when the door opened and the guard stepped out on the rampart, she had already used two clones to dart over to the other side, impossible to spot from his position or by anyone on the ground.
Blake herself, on the other hand, just had to take two steps to the side to have a perfect view of the courtyard where the guards and members of the household were training, allowing her to observe and estimate the skill level of the garrison.
Which wasn't very high, if she was honest, albeit higher than she had expected. Unlike most militia fighters on Remnant whom she had seen, both on missions for Beacon as well as during her time in the White Fang, those men - and they were exclusively men - were career soldiers, and Lord Stark obviously wasn't paying them to laze about and grow rusty. She rated them as about as skilled with their weapons, swords and spears today, as the average member of the Atlas military or SDC guard. Which meant that not even taken together, would they pose a threat to even a first-year Huntress, of course, but that aside, they were doing well.
But next to the average guards - men-at-arms, as they were called by some - there were people down below who were more skilled. Lord Stark's eldest son and heir, Robb, who was sparring with the master-at-arms, a Ser Rodrick Cassel, father of the captain of the guards of the castle, was showing to be a quite talented opponent with his sword - more skilled than some students at Beacon, even, though without Aura, the outcome of any fight would still be a foregone conclusion.
Another boy was showing equal if not greater talent as well: Jon Snow, or so she had overheard during her first excursions. Pretty handsome, and not as loud or brash as most boys his age, as far as it seemed, he was apparently a bastard son of Lord Stark, something Robb's friend, the lecherous Theon, seemed almost as fond to mention as he was to talk about Blake and her friends' appearance and appeal when he thought Blake couldn't hear him, although he was not nearly quite as witty about either as he obviously thought he was.
And he was very fortunate that Yang's ears were not nearly as good as Blake's; if she had heard what he was saying, she would likely have done something regrettable about his ability to implement what he was talking about. As it was, Blake was sorely tempted to engineer an accident that would leave the boy in pain for some time, though given the lack of modern medicine, the risk of crippling him was far too high.
Although, she amended her thoughts with a grin, it might not become necessary; apparently, Robb had taken offence to his latest remark - about Ruby's legs - and the sparring match had grown a little heated as a result, so with Robb far more skilled than Theon, at least with blades, the lecherous boy would be nursing bruises for some time.
Snorting, she moved along the rampart to the lesser-used part of the castle, giving the kennels a wide berth. She had no intention at all to go near that cursed area full of dogs and, even worse, wolves, and dire wolves at that - apparently a breed that grew as large as horses according to the gossip of the servants she had overheard complaining about the appetites of the new pets of Lord Stark's children. She shuddered at the thought of a wolf as big as a beowulf.
And, speaking of those children… She shook her head as she spotted the second-youngest son of Lord Stark climbing the walls of a broken tower, something his family disapproved of vocally, as she had observed. The boy seemed determined to reach the top of the tower but he was rushing things a bit too much, in her opinion. He must be at the point where he had enough experience to feel so confident, he was getting slightly… not sloppy, just not as focused as one should be when, without Aura, a single mistake would see him falling to his death. He was barely ten years old, and she gave him even odds of reaching eleven years or not if he didn't wise up. It was not really her business, of course, but his parents', yet what person would she be if she closed her eyes to this potential tragedy?
Frowning, she checked for witnesses with eyes and nose - people here had a stronger body odour than back home, which, while often aggravating, also had advantages. Then she double-checked that the bloodthirsty howling monster Bran treated as a pet wasn't around before quickly jumping down from the ramparts. She didn't use her Semblance and landed in a crouch on the cobblestones below, light as a feather, then dashed across the empty yard here to the base of the tower.
In the meantime, the boy had continued to climb, clearly very familiar with the weathered stones forming the wall, and was about a third from the open window at the top. Should she wait here, in case he slipped? She narrowed her eyes, then decided against it. That wouldn't really serve as a lesson to the young climber. And he might not slip, anyway. Not today.
Instead, she entered the tower, confirming that it was deserted, then rushed up the winding stairs until she reached the room at the top, where she leaned against the wall next to the window and listened to Bran's heavy breathing coming closer and closer as he continued his advance up the wall.
Soon, she saw a small hand reach over the windowsill, grasping for purchase, followed by another, and then Bran's head appeared in the window as he pulled himself up.
"That's dangerous, you know."
He froze with a gasp, but his fingers didn't loosen, much less lose their grip on the windowsill. "Lady Blake!" In the blink of an eye, his scared expression morphed into a charming if mischievous and guilty grin. "What are you doing here?"
"Do your parents know you are climbing walls?" she asked, cocking her head at him.
"Ummm…" He pulled himself into the room, then took his time wiping dust from his clothes, blatantly trying to find a good answer to her question. "Yes, they do."
Technically correct. She snorted. "And do they approve of it?"
"Ah…" He flushed, which was answer enough. But then his lips shifted into a pout. "They worry over nothing. No one beats me at climbing!"
She raised her eyebrows at his boast.
The little scamp flushed some more, then grinned. "I've never seen you climb, Lady Blake."
"What makes you think I know how to climb?"
"You're always on the ramparts, and I never see you climb the stairs," he said.
"Are you watching all the stairs all the time?"
"Ah…" He pouted for a moment. "But can you climb?"
"I can."
"Better than I can?"
Ah, that was his game. In the days since Blake and her friends had arrived at Winterfell, Lord Stark's children had, all in their own ways, tried to satisfy their curiosity about them. As such attempts went, Bran's was better than most - for his age.
Blake grinned. "Follow me."
His face lit up as she walked down the stairs. He undoubtedly expected her to show off by climbing the same tower faster than he could, but she had something else in mind.
Ten minutes later, he was glaring at her between rubbing his posterior after yet another fall. "This is stupid! You can't climb this wall! It's much too smooth!"
Apparently, he didn't like bouldering. To be fair, the wall she had picked out was far smoother than the old tower. But it was also far lower. As Bran had demonstrated quite thoroughly, falling down from it was painful but not really dangerous.
She snorted, then went to demonstrate once more that, yes, she could climb the wall.
When he clenched his teeth and went back to trying to climb it, she smirked. That would occupy the little boy. And maybe teach him that he wasn't as good as he thought while she kept her ears peeled in case Bran might let slip some tidbits he had overheard from his parents.
And it was payback for setting his ravenous beast on her. If the monster had been just a little older, its teeth would have left deep gouges in her leg when it tried to gnaw it off. Even as a puppy, it was almost as bad as Zwei. She suppressed a shudder as she thought, briefly, of the corgi from hell that haunted Ruby and Yang's home - and, occasionally, their dorm, which Blake shared with them.
*****
Winterfell, The North, Westeros, 298 AC
Yang Xiao Long stretched as she walked across the yard. She noticed that Bran was, again, trying to climb a low wall in a corner. Emphasis on trying. She winced when she saw him fall down on his butt. That looked painful. But it wasn't any of her business.
"Yang!"
She turned her head and smiled when she saw Arya. The little girl was running at her, weaving through the people in the yard and almost running into a guy carrying water to the stables. Her little wolf was running after her, barely keeping up. Yang raised her hand and waved. "Yo."
Arya came to a stop in front of her. "Err… Hello! What are you doing?"
Yang liked the kid. She didn't try to talk all posh and stuff, like her sister. Or like Weiss. Just straight to the point. "I'm walking. Or I was, before you stopped me."
And Arya had an adorable pout, like Ruby had when she was little. "I mean, where are you going? Are you going to hunt?" She leaned a bit forward to peer at Yang's combat clothes.
"Nope." Yang shook her head. There weren't any monsters to hunt. At least, she hadn't heard about any.
"But you're wearing your hunting clothes. You're only supposed to wear them when you're hunting, aren't you?"
Ah, right. Lady Stark had been polite and diplomatic about it, but she'd made it clear that trousers were not 'proper garments' for women, guests or not. Or, rather, that anything but a dress that covered you from neck to toe was 'inappropriate'. Yang didn't really care for that kind of bullshit, but Weiss had gone off about guest right this and fitting in that, and that they had to compromise. Well, Yang knew all about how to use loopholes. "That's not quite right," she corrected the girl with a grin. "You're also supposed to wear your hunting clothes for training. How else would you be able to properly train, hm?" It wasn't as if you could fight in a dress that she'd rip to shreds just by stretching. At least Lady Stark had accepted that.
Arya blinked. Apparently, 'train as you'd fight' wasn't something she was familiar with. Well, she was a kid. "You're going to train?"
"Yep." Yang nodded and ran a hand through her hair, noting how the guys nearby were staring. "Check out if we can train there." It had been some time since they had last trained properly. They could go into the woods for a training session, but they would have to hold back some unless the locals needed a lot of firewood, and if they had to hold back anyway, they might as well train in the yard.
"Oh, you can! Everyone trains there!" Arya nodded enthusiastically, and her wolf barked. She seemed as excited as her owner.
"Well, my team isn't everyone," Yang said with a chuckle. "But let's check out the yard." Robb had shown them the area a few days ago, but they had just been passing through, and no one had been training at the time.
"Arya!"
"Jon!" Arya grimaced as a boy about Yang's age approached them, followed by another wolf puppy.
A handsome boy, Yang noted, if a bit too young, so she smiled at him. "Hi there. You must be Jon. I'm Yang."
He looked taken aback for a moment, blushed, then bowed his head. "Lady Yang."
Aw, too cute! "Call me Yang," she told him. Sure, they were supposed to fit in, but all that bowing and scraping and lady this and lord that made her feel as if she was in a period piece of the Great War. One without the correct weapons of the time, as Ruby would point out whenever there was a combat scene.
He nodded, then turned to Arya. "Lady Stark is looking for you. You have lessons today."
Arya ducked her head. "Can't you act as if you didn't find me? We're going to the training yard!"
"You're skipping school?" Yang laughed. "You're the delinquent of the family, huh?"
"Delinquent? What?" Arya looked confused.
"Of course not!" And Jon seemed worked up.
"It's just a manner of speaking," Yang told both. "What we call kids who don't always obey their parents."
"Ah!" Arya nodded. "Then I'm a delinquent!"
"Arya!" Jon hissed.
"I'm also a good host by showing our guest the way to the training yard!" Arya added. "That's more important than some boring needlepoint lessons."
"Arya."
"Jon!"
Yang was tempted to meddle but… this wasn't any of her business. So she watched while the two stared at each other.
Arya sighed first. "Alright." Looking like a condemned prisoner, she slunk off, her wolf puppy trailing after her with a whimper.
"Being an older sibling is hard, huh? They always go for the puppy dog eyes," Yang told him.
"What?"
"Arya reminded me of Ruby when she wanted more cookies or staying up longer," Yang explained. "She used the same sad expression to try and make me give in."
"Oh. It's not… I was merely passing along Lady Stark's request."
"Ah." Yang nodded and watched Arya enter the keep.
"Arya reminded you of your sister?" Jon asked after a moment.
"Well, after we lost Mom, it was basically just Ruby, Dad and me," Yang explained. And Uncle Qrow, but he was struggling with his own problems, so there was no need to go there. "So, we're very close. I wouldn't say I raised her, but… someone had to look after her, and I'm her big sister."
He nodded again with a wistful expression. Yang wondered if he had lost his mother as well - Blake hadn't heard anything about that, and it wasn't something Yang could just ask. Well, enough gloom and doom! "So, wanna head over to the training yard and watch the show?"
"The show?"
"The guys training, sparring, that stuff," she explained.
"I have nothing else to do."
She snorted. "That's just what a girl wants to hear when she's asking a boy to accompany her."
He blushed. "I didn't mean it… I mean…"
"I'm just yanging your chain, relax!"
He didn't laugh at her perfectly placed pun. And it wasn't because she had elbowed him - she had taken care to control her strength. Perhaps he was just the broody type. Well, some girls liked those boys.
While they walked across the yard, she caught him sneaking glances at her and grinned. "Like what you see?"
"I… I wasn't staring." And he was a lousy liar, too. She snorted at him, and he flushed again. "I am… Girls don't dress like that!"
"They don't dress like that here," she said. "It's normal back home."
"I can't imagine such a place."
"Really?" She smirked. He was too easy. Then again, he was the same age as Ruby, maybe even younger. "It's easy. Just imagine every girl you know wearing clothes like we do." She pushed her chest out to underline her point.
Ah, his face was redder than a tomato!
"That's… How can their families allow that?"
Yang frowned at that. "Hey! We fought a war about the right to wear what we want!" It wasn't as if she'd let anyone tell her what to wear. Well, maybe Coco - the girl knew her fashion.
"What?"
"Yeah. Back a few decades, there was the Great War over our rights to express ourselves. All four kingdoms went at it. We won." It was a bit more complicated, but Jon didn't need to know any details. It was ancient history, anyway.
"Your kingdom must be very different," he said, shaking his head.
"Oh, bet your ass it is!" She grinned, then focused on the training yard ahead of them. "Ah, look at that! Your brother's pretty good." Easily better than Jaune - he had that older guard he was fencing with down on the ground in no time.
"He is, yes."
Yang turned and leaned her back against the fence that surrounded the training yard. "How about you?"
"I am a passable swordsman."
"Could you take Robb?" Yang nodded toward his brother.
Jon didn't answer right away.
"I can take my little sister more often than not in a sparring match," she told him. "But she wins her share of our bouts."
"Another difference between your home and the North," he said. And he was back to brooding.
Yang was about to pry some more, but before she could think of the right way to pick at his attitude, someone else cut in. Someone unwelcome.
"Hey! Lady Yang!" Theon Greyjoy waved as he walked over to her. "Did you come to watch us spar?"
She straightened with a frown - not that he'd notice, with his eyes glued to her legs and chest. "I came to check out the training yard. See if it's suitable for training."
"I can assure you it is." He leaned on the fence between them, turning his back to Jon. "As the best archer in the castle, I should know."
"Lady Yang mentioned an interest in swordfighting," Jon said.
Theon scowled for a moment but didn't acknowledge the other boy. "What kind of training has caught your interest, my lady? As the heir to the Iron Islands, I would be only too happy to be of service!"
Oh, boy! Or boys! Usually, Yang didn't mind boys trying to impress her, but not if it involved weapons and no Aura to keep a fight from becoming bloody. "I just want to know if it would be safe for my team to spar here."
"Oh, don't worry - none here would dare harm you!" Theon's smile somehow looked more smarmy than Cardin's back at Beacon.
And Yang felt the same urge to introduce him to a few love taps from Ember Celica she got when Cardin annoyed her. We're guests here, she reminded herself. "I don't think that's a danger," she told him.
"Of course not! We would rather die than let a lady such as you get hurt!" He reached out to grab her hand, but she pulled it back.
The idiot had no clue about Huntresses.
"Theon?" Robb had noticed them and was walking over. "Oh, Lady Yang. Jon." He wiped his face, slightly sweaty, with his padded sleeve.
"Lady Yang is interested in the training yard, Robb," Theon told him.
And Lady Yang doesn't like it when boys speak for her without being asked to, Yang thought. Out loud, she said: "I would like to see if my friends and I can safely train here."
Robb was taken aback. "You are our guest! You are perfectly safe here, my lady!"
"Not what I meant," she said. "I'm not worried about us. I'm worried about damaging the yard."
Robb blinked, and Jon looked confused, but Theon laughed. "Oh, there's absolutely no chance of that, my lady! If all the guards have not damaged it, you won't do anything to it either."
Alright, to hell with not showing off! She wouldn't use Ember Celica, but she had to show that boy what he was dealing with. Yang flashed him a toothy smile, then looked at Robb. "Is that true? There's no chance that I could, say, accidentally punch a hole in the ground?"
"Ah…" Robb looked at her, then at the ground - packed sand - and then back at her. "Even if you did, it would be no trouble at all, my lady."
"Mind if I test that?" She slapped her hands together and stretched.
"Ah… you want to punch the ground?" Robb looked bewildered.
"Yeah." She nodded. "Only if there's no trouble if I do leave a hole."
"Ah, no, go ahead," Robb said.
"Robb!" Jon hissed.
"Are you going to punch the ground?" Theon sounded confused and amused.
Yang flexed her knees and jumped over the fence - and over Theon and Robb. In the air, she pulled her fist back - and punched when she hit the ground. Lightly, of course. Just enough to make a point.
When the sand her impact had thrown up settled, everyone was staring at her. Robb and the others were gaping, even Jon.
Yang made a point at looking at the small crater she was standing in, then at Robb. "Doesn't look that safe to me."
Robb shook his head, and Theon cursed under his breath.
"Yang! What did you do?"
Uh-oh. Here came Weiss, and she looked mad.
Yang flashed a smile at her friend. "I made an impression!"
*****
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Chapter 3: Cultural Misunderstandings
Starfox5
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Chapter 3: Cultural Misunderstandings
'As mysterious as the origin of the Ruby Order are their customs. Contemporary records, owing to the often very obvious bias and agenda of their authors, are wildly divergent. Even the Citadel's own accounts, sadly, reflect this, as the feud between Maester Halmon Rivers and Maester Leyton Thornbud, which escalated into a brawl that damaged an entire library wing, illustrates. Nevertheless, with a modicum of deductive reasoning and common sense, one cannot fail to sort the truth from fiction. First, the accounts that the Ruby Order dressed and behaved like the most daring women from Dorne are obviously fabricated, a blatant attempt to damage their reputation. Not only would they have frozen to death in the North should they have dressed as scandalously, but my diligent research has unearthed the receipt for the dresses Lady Catelyn Stark had made for them shortly after their arrival at Winterfell, and it is inconceivable that a noblewoman like her would have spent so much money on dresses - this was before technological advances significantly reduced the cost of clothes - that she wouldn't have deemed appropriate attire for a lady.
Second, back then, it was common for political enemies to slander each other and their families by accusing them of libertine behaviour. It goes without saying that this would have applied to the Ruby Order as well, regardless of how they actually behaved. Nevertheless, it is clear that they came from a country with customs that vastly differed from those of Westeros since all sources, even the most disparaging, agree that all four maidens were very skilled fighters, able to match and surpass trained knights and that this was considered normal in their home country - something unheard of even in Dorne at the time.
Winterfell, The North, Westeros, 298 AC
In the privacy of her chambers, seated on her favourite chair and looking through her notes, Catelyn Stark cursed their newest guests. Not out loud, of course - her daughters were in the room, and it would have been a shameful display. They were their guests and deserved to be treated accordingly. But Team Ruby, as the four girls called themselves, was a source of both annoyance and worry for her. Their mere presence threatened to disrupt - was disrupting, she couldn't deny it any longer - the harmony of her household and the way she was running Winterfell, and did so right on the cusp of a royal visit! Catelyn should be focusing on preparing to receive King Robert and his court, ensuring that they could be housed and fed for the duration of their stay, that everything was perfect, instead of dealing with four… foreign noble girls with too much beauty and too little modesty or shame, she amended her first thought. Or common sense.
All members of the so-called 'Team Ruby', to a girl, were used to wearing the most scandalous clothes. Even Lady Weiss, the most… reasonable girl amongst them, saw nothing wrong with wearing skirts so short, even a courtesan from Braavos would baulk at showing off her legs in public like that! Or expose so much skin. And compared to her, the others were worse! Much worse, in the case of Lady Blake and 'Lady' Yang, who did not even wear skirts. Their leader, Lady Ruby, was not as shameless in her attire, although her clothes were still far from what would be considered appropriate, but her manners, or lack of them, made up for it in spades. She was far too friendly with the smallfolk and showed no care for her own station. Not that the others, except for Lady Weiss, were any better.
Really, if not for her good brother's introduction and private explanation, Catelyn would have never taken them for noblewomen! Noble ladies simply did not behave like that!
And yet, in the same way, their manners clearly betrayed their noble, if obviously foreign, upbringing. The way they reacted to the dresses Catelyn had ordered to be made for them, as well as their response to the treats Catelyn had stocked up in preparation for the royal visit, proved that. Only highborn ladies raised in such luxury that they had not the slightest idea of how much work and expense went into a single dress of high quality, and how much it cost to import such delicacies from foreign shores, would treat such gifts with such careless and guileless ignorance. No merchant, no matter how rich, would leave his daughters ignorant of the heartblood of their trade, and no smallfolk would be able to fake such an attitude. They had not been as rude as to complain, but they had not been able to hide that they considered such things common and were accustomed to them.
No, as much as it galled Catelyn to admit it, their guests, well three of them, were noblewomen. Which made their scandalous behaviour much worse, of course! They might have deigned to wear proper dresses for the shared meals, but they insisted on going out in public 'to train' in clothes that caused every man and growing boy in the vicinity to lose their wits. Even her own eldest, Robb, was all but panting after them whenever he saw them in such garb - and Catelyn knew very well that none such meeting was accidental!
How was Catelyn supposed to prepare Winterfell to host King Robert and his family and court like this?
"Mother, did you see Yang and Ruby spar today? I could barely see them move, they were so fast! Some thought they were fighting a duel!"
And, worse, they were training to fight, setting an example that was corrupting even those members of Catelyn's family who weren't lusting after them. Arya would be following them around all day if not for the diligent efforts of Catelyn and Septa Mordane, and Bran was hardly any better. At least he wasn't climbing the towers any more, something she apparently had Lady Blake to thank. But she couldn't dwell on her son when her daughter needed instructions.
"When did you visit the training yard, Arya?" Catelyn frowned at the unruly girl.
"Ah… I saw it from the keep!"
A blatant lie. Catelyn sighed. "I told you to keep away from the training yard. It's no place for a lady."
"But Team Ruby trains there!"
Something Cately cursed every day. The spectacle attracted and distracted far too many of the smallfolk who should be working hard so Winterfell could host royalty.
"They're foreigners, Arya." Sansa, at least, was sensible. "Their customs are different. Ladies don't fight."
"I bet Lady Mormont and her daughters train every day, too!" Arya sniffed. "And they're our bannermen!"
Another thing Catelyn had come to curse.
"And King Aegon the Conqueror's wives - Queen Visenya and Queen Rhaenys - both fought on the battlefield! They must have been training as well." Arya went on, then stuck her tongue out at her sister.
The Targaryens had much to answer for, Catelyn thought. To think she had hoped Arya would dedicate herself to study more. If she had known what kind of books her daughter would study… She would have to talk to Maester Luwin about what books he let her family read.
"And they were mad," Sansa told her sister. "All Targaryens were mad, one way or the other."
That wasn't entirely correct, Catelyn knew, but correcting her daughters would send the wrong message, especially so close to the arrival of King Robert, whose stance on the former ruling dynasty was widely known. Things would be tense enough with Lady Weiss even though she had assured Catelyn that she was not descended from Valyria despite her appearance. Catelyn still wasn't certain that the girl was telling the truth; with their dragons, the Valyrians had been able to travel far, and there were rumours about the Blackfyres surviving…
"They still conquered all of Westeros!"
"Because they had dragons!"
"Team Ruby doesn't need dragons! They are stronger than dragons!"
"Children!" Catelyn raised her voice a bit, and her daughters fell silent. She did not wish to hear Arya ramble about Team Ruby again. She didn't need a reminder of what those girls were capable of. Just seeing the hole one of them had made with her bare fists had shocked her. If Catelyn had not listened to her good brother's seemingly fantastical tales and had insulted their guests because of their attire and manner, who knew what would have happened? She took a deep breath. "Our guests follow their customs, and we follow our own, as is proper."
Sansa nodded with a gloating glance at her sister, but Arya scowled. "That doesn't make sense. Why is it proper for them but not for us?"
"Arya! They're not like us!" Sansa replied before Catelyn could say anything. "It's just like what is proper for knights is not proper for ladies!"
"And what about female knights?" Arya shot back.
"There are no female knights! No woman was ever knighted!"
"Who cares about being knighted! There were plenty of women warriors!"
Catelyn rubbed the bridge of her nose. Team Ruby had a lot to answer for. At least, women training with weapons wasn't unheard of in the North. And, if she was honest, she couldn't blame Arya's interest in those things, as unseemly as it was, on their guests. Despite Catelyn's best efforts, her youngest daughter had wanted to learn how to wield a sword for years before the arrival of Lady Ruby and her friends. And while any nobles in the South would be appalled at such notions, Ned's bannermen were more tolerant of such foibles, so her marriage prospects shouldn't be affected too much.
"Just because they can do something doesn't mean you can do it, Arya!"
"Lady Yang said I can do anything if I really want it!"
"Lady Yang is wrong!"
Wrong and a bastard, Catelyn added in her head while her daughters huffed at and then tried to ignore each other. That was the worst part of it. Those foreigners treated the bastard sister of their leader as one of their own - Lady Ruby even deferred to her illegitimate sister at times, heedless of the danger to her own position! What if this gave Ned's bastard ideas about his station in life? The boy was already talking far too often with that girl, and the other girls seemed to see nothing wrong with that, either…
If only Benjen had never brought them to Winterfell!
No, that was a foolish notion. If her good brother hadn't escorted Team Ruby to Winterfell, someone might have provoked them into a fight - or a feud.
Or, worse, welcomed them as guests. That could cause a catastrophe.
Catelyn didn't think the four girls were more powerful than a dragon, but it was obvious even to her untrained eyes, and Ned and Benjen had both confirmed it, that whatever side the girls joined would win any battle against any foe with ease. If they allied with an ambitious or disgruntled bannerman of Ned… No, despite all the trouble they caused, it was a good thing that they were guests in Winterfell.
But that was merely a temporary solution. If Catelyn's family was to be safe from such a threat, they needed a much closer tie to the girls. As much as she disliked the idea, she had to talk with Ned about this. And she had to sound out their guests, although she would have to be very subtle about it, to ensure that they would not take offence at any offer. They had peculiar customs, after all.
Winterfell, The North, Westeros, 298 AC
"...and then you sweep their legs out from under them, and when they are on their back, you gut them - their belly is not armoured." Ruby Rose finished demonstrating the move - without a training dummy; they were far too easy to break, she had found out - and beamed at Robb while she let Crescent Rose come to rest on her shoulders. Weiss hadn't been happy about the whole thing, but Ruby was pleased that her team didn't have to hide their training sessions any more - well, not completely, at least. They were still not going all-out when sparring in the training yard. No Semblances, no Dust, so Ruby wasn't fighting Blake's clones or dodging Weiss's glyphs when training, and Yang couldn't power up from taking blows. Not that she would do that anyway in the training yard - she would probably punch a hole through both walls or so.
"I see." Robb slowly nodded. "They sound very dangerous."
"Ah, if you know how to handle them, they're easy!" Ruby smiled. "There are Grimm which are a lot more dangerous! We had to fight some of them on our Initiation at Beacon."
He looked surprised. "You had to fight such monsters to enter your school?"
"Yeah!" Ruby nodded. "Beacon only takes the best. You have to show that you have what it takes. If you aren't prepared to fight Grimm, you'll fail." Unless you got really lucky, like Jaune.
"That sounds like a rather strict regime," Robb said. "Dangerous as well."
"Ah, it's not that dangerous. They don't let just anyone try." Ruby shrugged. "Anyway, that's how you fight a Boarbatusk. Of course, flipping a Grimm on their back and gutting them works for other Grimm as well, but most of them, you can usually kill straight away." She gave Crescent Rose a quick check to see if she had to fix anything. Not that there was a real danger of that, her baby was built too well to get damaged in a spar, but a Huntress who didn't regularly check her gear wasn't gonna live long in the field.
As expected, her baby was fine. She patted the shaft and collapsed it to carry it on her back.
"So, you said you were trained by your family as a Huntress since you were little?"
"Yes!" Ruby nodded and grabbed a cup of water from the jar she had brought with them. "Well, mostly by Uncle Qrow. He taught me how to wield Crescent Rose. Dad helped as well - he teaches at the Combat School in our home, so he knows his stuff - but Qrow's an active Huntsman."
She frowned a little. Was she telling Robb too much? They weren't supposed to tell the people here too much about Remnant, but… Robb was nice. He could be trusted. Besides, it wasn't as if they'd ever meet Uncle Qrow or Dad until Team RWBY had found a way home, and then it wouldn't matter what they knew about Remnant one way or the other because Ruby and her friends would be home! Home with their families! Who probably thought they were dead… No, Ruby wasn't going there. She was going home.
"Is he as powerful as you are?"
"Uncle Qrow or Dad? They're better. Both went to Beacon." Dad wasn't active any more, but he still kept his skills up. And Uncle Qrow was, well, Uncle Qrow. One of the best Huntsmen in Remnant.
"They must be impressive knights."
"Ah, well…" Ruby shrugged again with a smile. "They're just family, you know?" Family she was missing. Family she would see again.
"I know." Robb nodded with a serious expression, and Ruby wondered if she had said something weird.
"Anyway, there are lots of different Grimm, and that's why we train like we do - we need to be ready for anything." She grinned. "It takes a lot of training to fight as a unit."
"That's what Father says as well."
Ruby drank another cup of water. If only they had soda here! But they didn't even have coffee. The closest was tea with honey, but she couldn't get that here in the training yard for some reason.
Then she stretched. "Well, I think I'm done with the training today."
"May I escort you to your chambers to change, my lady?"
"Sure. I'll probably not change, though. Not yet. I'm probably gonna just hang around on my bed for a bit. Maybe sketch a bit - Blake found some paper and charcoal stuff - and some of your weapons are interesting." And just begged to be improved - well, if she had access to decent facilities, which she didn't.
Robb blushed for some weird reason. Had Ruby said something wrong? Oh!
"That means I am going to lie down on the bed and sketch. I'm not, like, gonna hang down from the ceiling and do it upside down or something," she explained. "Want to come as well? In case I have questions about weapons? Or are you busy?"
He was blushing harder. "Ah, I am not sure that I should enter your chamber, my lady."
"Why not?"
"It wouldn't be proper."
That again! As if anything would happen just because they were in her room! Sure, Robb was cute, but he wasn't that cute, and Ruby wasn't about to do anything like that anyway. Besides, he probably would die from blushing if a girl kissed him - she might have to warn Yang about that. She still wanted to pick his brain about the local weapons, though.
So she grinned. "But we would have a chaperone!" Weiss had explained about that.
"We would?"
"Yes!" She beamed at him. "Weiss will be there as well. And probably Blake and Yang." They usually met in their room before lunch.
"Ah, but… they can't serve as a chaperone."
"Why not?" That made no sense.
He grimaced. "Well, they are… maidens."
"So?"
"A chaperone needs to be older," he explained. Or, in this case, didn't.
"There's a minimum age?" Drat. "That makes no sense."
"But it is so."
"But why?"
"Ah… it's because an older woman can, well… She wouldn't be… vulnerable?"
She frowned at him. Was that a joke? She patted Crescent Rose to make a point.
"I mean, she wouldn't be… tempted?"
"Tempted?" Ruby frowned. Oh. Tempted like that. She chuckled. "Wow, you've never met a cougar then!"
"A cougar?"
Drat. Now she had to explain what a cougar was. She blushed. At least she knew what they were, thanks to Yang and a few TV shows. "Cougars are, ah, older women who're looking for, well… younger men."
Robb seemed shocked.
It didn't look like Ruby would be able to pick his brain about the local weapons today. Maybe she could write down her questions and ask them over lunch or dinner?
Winterfell, The North, Westeros, 298 AC
Weiss Schnee had been raised as a member of the Schnee family. The ability to control herself, to keep her temper in check, and to remain polite and composed no matter the situation, had been drilled into her since her earliest childhood, and the lessons had been reinforced by her interactions with her father. She had faced deadly danger without losing her cool.
And yet, she was pushed to her limits. The stress of keeping calm was almost unbearable. Nothing had ever challenged her self-control like this. She took a deep breath and kept smiling as she slowly nodded. "Indeed, Sansa, Lady is a very well-trained wolf. And a beauty to boot." And so fluffy, Weiss really, really wanted to just scoop the adorable pup up, hug it and bury her face in its soft fur!
"Oh, yes! She's the best!" Sansa beamed proudly while Lady rolled on her back, wriggled her paws in the air, and presented her belly with her tongue lolling out of her mouth.
Weiss trembled at the sight. But she was a Schnee. Keeping cool was ingrained in her very soul. So, she did not break down but calmly turned to Sansa and asked: "May I pet her?"
"Of course! You don't need to ask, Weiss!"
Weiss knelt down, perhaps a little too fast, and she might have ruffled the puppy's fur a little too enthusiastically according to her family's standards, but who would be able to tell? She sighed with bliss as she indulged her base urges and petted the furball. To think Blake was terrified of those fluffy little puppies! "Who's a good girl? Who's a good girl? You are!" she whispered before she could stop herself.
But all good things came to an end, and so she had to - very reluctantly - leave the little wolf alone and resume her stroll through Winterfell with Sansa and Jeyne. Appearances had to be upheld, after all. Weiss had no doubt that Lady Catelyn and Lord Eddard would not be nearly as welcoming or tolerant, much less helpful, should they find out that the members of Team RWBY weren't nobility - or that while their countries were called kingdoms, they were so in name only, the monarchies having been abolished long ago. Weiss was aware that she could not judge Westeros by the standards and history of Remnant, but she was certain that none of the nobles here, especially not those ruling realms larger than any kingdom back home, would react positively to the very notion of abolishing monarchies and aristocracies. Their disdain towards the neighbouring continent, which apparently was ruled by city-states with differing forms of government, had been very clear when the topic had come up.
And they needed the help of the Starks - and other local noblemen - if they wanted to find a way home. They knew almost nothing about this world. So, they had to stay in the good graces of their hosts.
On the other hand, it was not hard to pretend. Good manners had been drilled into Weiss from birth as well, and Sansa and her friend Jeyne were polite and friendly girls, if just a tiny bit too childish for her taste. Although that might merely be envy - it was obvious that their relationship with their parents, especially in Sansa's case, was vastly more loving than Weiss's own. Weiss's father would only care about her going missing and presumed dead - she knew what the odds were if you disappeared in the wilderness - in as much as it affected SDC's bottom line, and her mother would likely just drink even more. Winter would be devastated, of course - her sister was the only family member who cared. What sadness Whitley might feel would be outweighed by his glee at being Father's heir…
She schooled her features. She wouldn't let her envy influence her. "It's a beautiful day, isn't it?" she commented.
"Oh, yes." Sansa nodded. "I hope the day the king and his court arrive will be equally beautiful; it would be a shame if their first impression of Winterfell were spoilt by rain."
Jeyne nodded.
"If it happens, you could take solace in the fact that any home looks more welcoming if you can seek shelter from the rain in it," Weiss said. "Or from a snowstorm."
"It's not yet winter," Sansa said. "So, let us pray to the Seven Who Are One that there won't be snow."
Weiss nodded with a calm expression. Back home, she would have laughed at the comment, sure that it was meant as a jest, but Sansa might be serious, and Weiss didn't want to give offence to the girl. Religion was a thorny topic.
"Do you pray to the Seven Above as well, Lady Weiss?" Jeyne asked.
Weiss bent down to pet Lady while she weighed her answer. She could lie, but… Her father once said that it was best to be honest about matters when you didn't know enough to convincly make up something, and while she loathed him, she couldn't deny that this at least was useful if situative advice. "No. I rarely pray at all."
"You don't?" Sansa seemed surprised, and Jeyne mirrored her expression.
"Religion is a very private affair in my home," Weiss said. That wasn't a lie, technically. "People worship many gods, and sometimes, that's liable to cause tensions." Mostly when it involved the god of the Faunus, and that was because of politics, but it was close enough.
"Ah, like the differences between the Old Gods and the new?" Jeyne asked.
"Before the Andals came, all of Westeros worshipped the Old Gods, but nowadays, they're only worshipped in the North," Sansa explained. "The godswoods in the South were mostly burned."
Wonderful. Weiss made a mental note to tell the others to avoid getting involved in religious discourses. She could only hope they'd listen to that better than they listened to her about not showing off… "Let's talk about something less… serious," she said. "What are your brothers up to? Is Bran still trying to climb the smoothest wall in the castle?"
Both girls giggled. "He is! He can be quite stubborn when he wants to be," Sansa said.
"And he keeps falling down. One day, he won't be able to sit down for a meal," Jeyne added with a snort. "But do you really want to talk about little boys when there are far more interesting older boys to talk about?"
Ah. That was familiar terrain. Weiss laughed. "What did Robb and Jon do?"
Sansa frowned for a moment, Weiss noted, before nodding with a sly smile. "Well, Robb seems to spend quite some time with Lady Ruby."
Weiss nodded. "She's interested in his views and knowledge of your weapons."
"Is that all she's interested in?" Sansa asked. They had stopped to chat in the covered passage to the keep, and she petted Lady while a pair of servants stepped around them while carrying baskets full of vegetables.
Weiss laughed again. "To the great chagrin of Yang, Ruby seems only interested in weapons."
"Really?" Now Sansa was frowning.
"Yes." Which was a good thing, of course. If Ruby became infatuated with a local boy, that could greatly complicate things. She was the leader of their team but also the most inexperienced of them when it came to relationships. "She's still young, after all."
"She's older than we are," Sansa replied.
Ah. Weiss suppressed a wince. That had been a gaffe, but she could recover from this. "Compared to the rest of the team," she tried to correct her remark.
"Still, at her age, doesn't she have any suitors?" Jeyne asked.
"I think between Crescent Rose and Yang, a number of boys might feel too intimidated to approach her," Weiss said.
"What? Is Yang sabotaging her prospects?" Sansa sounded shocked.
Weiss frowned. That was… a weird take on this. Why would she think that Yang would do such a thing? Different customs, she reminded herself. But she had to correct this assumption. "No, no. Yang's just looking out for her. Some boys would want to take advantage of her."
"Ah." Sansa nodded. "In the absence of their father, and with no brothers around, it falls to Yang to watch over her?"
"Well, she is the older sister." Weiss smiled. "My own older sister did watch out for me as well." Until she joined the Atlas military. To be fair, Winter had tried to keep looking out for Weiss, but after leaving the manor and the family, there hadn't been much she could have done.
"Oh? You have an older sister?" Sansa asked.
"Winter, yes." Weiss nodded.
"Your sister is named Winter?"
"Yes." Weiss had to suppress another frown when the girls giggled at that. It was a good name.
But the girls quickly grew more serious - or curious, to be more precise. "Do you miss her?"
"I do," Weiss replied. "Although I've been missing her since she left our home for the military - to join the army," she added when both girls seemed confused. "She chose to become a soldier."
"Oh." Sansa seemed surprised. "Not a Huntress? I thought women who trained to fight became Huntresses in your home kingdom."
"Men and women serve in my kingdom's army. It's an honourable profession," Weiss said. No matter what her father thought, both served to protect their homes and those who couldn't protect themselves. You could scarcely find a more honourable calling.
"Of course," Sansa said.
"So, what about you? Do you have suitors?" Jeyne asked after a moment.
Weiss laughed. Did Jaune count? "None I would approve of," she said. "I am not planning to marry anyway."
Both girls gasped. "You don't want to marry?"
"No," Weiss said and bent down to pet Lady. Sansa had told her she didn't need to ask, hadn't she?
"And what does your father think about that?"
Weiss froze for a moment. "What my father thinks about that doesn't matter."
She hoped she wasn't lying - and then wondered why the girls seemed shocked.
Winterfell, The North, Westeros, 298 AC
Blake Belladonna was so close to heaven and yet so far away. She was surrounded by books - the greatest collection in the entire North according to Maester Luwin, and she had no reason to doubt him, Winterfell being the seat of the North's ruler - but she wasn't allowed to touch, much less read them, as if she were a heathen who would damage them out of negligence or use them as paperweights or… She pushed the brief memory of a particular bunk bed's construction away. She would never do that with books she had yet to read, or books she didn't own, and Maester Luwin didn't have to know this or he would never let her peruse Winterfell's library. Sure, she was aware that, legally, the library belonged to Lord Stark, but as an avid reader, she also knew that this was a mere technicality and that the one to control access to a library was the librarian, and in Winterfell, this was the resident Maester.
Who was currently smiling at her in an increasingly and frustratingly familiar apologetic manner. "As much as I wish to tell you otherwise, Lady Blake, I must sadly confess that I still haven't found any descriptions or sketches that match what you seek. But please, rest assured that I will continue my search."
Of that, she had no doubt. The Maester - a local kind of scholar, or the closest thing these lands seemed to have to scientists, according to Weiss - had been intrigued by the tale of their translocation, and Blake was quite certain that he would not stop searching for any hint or clue that might help them find the ruins they searched until he either found one or had gone through the last of his books and texts.
Of course, if he weren't the only one pursuing this task, it wouldn't take nearly as long, but Blake couldn't really disagree with both Lord Eddard and Weiss's opinion that such a search should be conducted with all necessary discretion. Of course, that wouldn't prevent Blake or her friends from helping, if not for Luwin's - in Yang and Ruby's case quite understandable - reluctance to let strangers touch his books and for the fact that none of Team RWBY was able to read the local script. Which meant that even if Blake were allowed to touch the books surrounding her, she wouldn't be able to read them.
She had started to learn the alphabet, but it was vexingly complicated and, even worse, there were no standards; apparently, as Luwin had explained, people wrote as they spoke, and with linguistic drift, which he had had to explain, and many local dialects, just knowing the alphabet wasn't enough; you also had to know the author's preferred pronunciation. And that was just for the Common Tongue, as the dominant language of Westeros was known. Many books detailing ancient civilisations were written in foreign languages, some of them dead.
So, for the foreseeable future, they had to rely on Luwin if they wanted to find a way to return home. Blake smiled at him. "Thank you for your effort, Maester. We really appreciate it."
"Oh, please, it's the least I can do for our guests."
"Then I don't want to hold you up any longer." With a smile at the old man and a last glance at the tantalising bounty lining the shelves here, she left.
She had barely set a foot outside the keep when she spotted Bran walking towards her. At once, she checked with eyes, ears and nose if that horrible monstrous wolf masquerading as a pet was in the vicinity. It wasn't, and she let out a soft sigh of relief before raising her eyebrows at the young boy.
"Hello, Lady Blake!" He smiled at her, and she was once again reminded that once he grew up, he'd likely be a heartbreaker, provided he could keep his boyish charm. "What are you doing?"
She was doing many things - watching the people and looking for potential trouble, noting who deferred to whom, which people were friendly to everyone and who reserved such for their superiors - but it wouldn't do to tell Bran that. "Enjoying the fresh air," Blake replied instead. It was not, technically, untrue - between the large number of people that lived in the keep and the lack of deodorants amongst the majority of the population, any time spent outside was a relief for her nose.
"Sounds boring. Are you going to train?"
"Perhaps later today." Blake had to hand it to the kid; he was quite determined. But if he hoped to make her spill any secrets, he would end up disappointed; she had spent years in the White Fang and knew how to talk without revealing anything she didn't want to be revealed.
"And what are you doing until then?"
She shrugged. "I don't know yet. What do you have planned for today?"
"Uhm." He scrunched his nose. Either he hadn't made any plans, or he was trying to think of an answer that wouldn't reveal them. "Enjoying the fresh air?" he asked more than he said.
She snorted with amusement at his cheek; for his age, he was quite cunning as well, but he still was a little boy. "So, you're planning to shadow me all day?"
"Shadow you?" He blinked.
Ah. "It means following me around," she explained, "and watching what I am doing."
"Well, if you ask me to…" He flashed her a wide grin.
She could lose him easily - she now knew the castle well enough to plot a route that would allow her to dash into cover as soon as she broke his line of sight - but what would be the point? She could observe the castle's population and how they interacted with each other with Bran tagging along; the boy was unlikely to notice what she was doing.
And she could see what he let slip at the same time.
"If you can keep up, be my guest." She grinned and picked the closest stairs to reach the ramparts above, hustling all the way.
To his credit, he kept up quite well, though he was breathing heavily when they reached the top. But he recovered quickly and was already babbling when they reached the spot overlooking the training yard.
At this time of the day, soon after breakfast, few people were training down below, and Blake made a mental note to tell the others, in case they wanted to train together with relative - although only relative when compared to the crowds they drew in the afternoon - privacy. Of course, she suspected that if Team RWBY truly wanted to train privately, they could request to be left alone - Lady Catelyn might even be eager to grant them that, based on some dressing-downs Blake had overheard her - but that would be abusing their positions as guests here.
Next to half a dozen guards, Theon and Robb were present as well, both looking a bit worse for wear, likely due to imbibing more alcohol than they could easily handle the evening before. Blake felt her ears twitch slightly under her customary bow when she listened in to what the two boys probably considered witty banter.
"So, did you take up your lady love on the invitation to her chambers?"
"Theon! Of course not!"
"Why not, Robb?"
"Lady Ruby didn't intend it to be taken like you hint at!"
"What else could she have intended when she invited you to her chamber and said that there wouldn't be a chaperone? Did you think she wanted to talk about weapons?"
"Yes, in fact, I believe so!"
"Robb, there's only one sword she's interested in, and that's yours."
Blake frowned at the crude comment. Theon either honestly didn't know anything about Ruby - a not very implausible assumption, in her opinion, given the boy's obvious cultural biases - or he knew and was yanking Robb's chain while spreading rumours about Ruby, likely out of wounded pride since none of Team RWBY had returned his advances.
"Theon!" Well, whatever his aim, he had succeeded in rousing Robb's anger - the heir of Winterfell was glaring at his friend. "You don't talk like that about our guests!"
"Robb! Everyone talks like that about them!"
Blake narrowed her eyes. While she had overheard similar remarks from the castle's staff, they had usually been made in private, not in the middle of the training yard. Hadn't Theon or Robb noticed how the half a dozen guards who were training were neglecting their forms so they could focus on listening to the two boys?
"Not in my presence they don't dare!" Robb spat.
Judging by the way the guards closest to him grimaced and pretended to be busy doing drills, he was correct.
"What are you looking at?" Bran asked. "It's just regular training. Nothing exciting. They're just hitting the posts."
"I'm watching Robb and Theon," she replied without taking her eyes off the two boys.
"They aren't sparring either."
"But they might be - Robb looks angry."
"He does? I can't tell from here." Bran peered over the ramparts.
Blake focused on the talk down below again and tried to ignore the noise from the other people nearby. If only she didn't have to hide her second set of ears; it would be much easier to listen to such talks if she could move her ears!
"Besides, aren't you supposed to court her?" Theon asked. "If you take her maidenhood, marrying her is the honourable thing to do, isn't it?"
"What?" Robb gaped at him. "How… How can you suggest such a thing! Father would tan my hide if I dishonoured a guest!"
"Oh, come on - do you think your father would mind if you married Lady Ruby and secured an alliance with her people?"
"Of course, he would! That's not how such things are done!"
"As long as it works out, who cares?"
"My family does."
Blake hissed under her breath. What was this talk about marriage? Had Ruby…? No, Blake's friend would have mentioned it if she had such an interest in Robb. Blake could imagine her floating into their chamber with the sappiest expression on her face and declaring her undying love or something if she had finally met someone she liked more than her weapon.
So, what was up with this? The way Robb had reacted, Theon's claims were not completely off-base…
She turned to look at Bran and narrowed her eyes. Maybe she should find out what Bran knew about this.
This was great! It had taken a while to convince the locals - smash a few training dummies without trying, and they all think you have no self-control - but Yang finally got someone not from Team RWBY to spar with her!
She grinned as she ducked under Jon's swing, then dodged his follow-up. The boy was good. Sure, she had to hold back, like, a ton, since without Aura, he was slow as ass, but skill was skill.
She met his shield bash head-on with a block and a slight grunt - she had to be careful not to wreck his shield. "Nice one!"
He grunted in return, then stabbed at her legs without hesitation.
She jumped back, and he managed not to stick his sword into the packed earth of the training yard. "Finally realised you won't hurt me?" And it had only taken a deliberate ducking into a swing to convince him that it was safe to spar without her wearing armour. Next step, make him use his real sword!
But first, finish the sparring match! She faked a straight to his head, forcing him to retreat and raise his shield, then circled around his sudden blind side. He managed to move in time to bring his sword to bear, but she ducked under his wild swing, then darted forward, inside his reach, pushed his shield to the side and stopped her headbutt just before she connected. "Tag! You're out!"
And for good measure, she then dropped into a leg sweep that sent him to the ground - although almost head first. Oops! She had to control her strength a little more, but that was on him to get her so worked up.
"Good match!" She beamed at him as she offered him a hand up.
He didn't take it and got up himself, but he nodded curtly, so that was vocal agreement for him.
"Made me work for it," she said as she stepped over to the water can.
"You held back a lot."
"Sure did. None of us would learn anything if I went all-out." She filled one cup, downed it, then another, and grabbed a sausage and a bread roll from the basket next to the can.
Another grunt. She wasn't sure if that was agreement or just wounded male pride. Jon wasn't as bad as Theon. He didn't pout like Robb, either, when the boy was shown, again, that Huntresses were in their own league. But Jon was a local boy, and Yang had yet to meet a local boy who hadn't some issues with getting beaten by a girl. Talk about weird!
She turned both bread and sausage into a sort of not-hot hot dog and wolved it down. Jon drank a cup of water in the meantime, and the 'smallfolk' who had been watching returned to whatever they were supposed to be doing. "Seriously, you did well." For someone without Aura. "Should spar with Blake or Weiss sometime. They both use swords."
"Maybe." That meant 'No' in Jon-speak.
"Suit yourself." She shrugged. Of Team RWBY, she was the only one Jon sparred with. He probably had a crush, but as long as he didn't make a move, she didn't have to shoot him down. He was cute, but he was like Ruby's age. And a bit too brooding for her taste - if she did shoot him down, he might stop sparring, too.
"It wouldn't be appropriate," he said after a moment.
"What?" She frowned. He was sparring with her, wasn't he? So, why wouldn't it be appropriate to spar with the rest of her team? Oh, Hell! Had she missed another cultural difference, as Weiss called it? "Don't tell me sparring is, like, asking someone out!"
"What?" He stared at her.
"You know, start a relationship," she explained.
"What? No!" He flushed like a tomato and shook his head almost as wildly as Zwei after a bath. "It's…" He took a deep breath and lowered his voice. "I'm a bastard," he said through what Yang was sure were clenched teeth.
"Actually, you're too nice for…" She blinked. "Oh, you mean literally." She nodded. "Yeah, we've heard. Still doesn't tell me why you can't spar with the others."
"A bastard shouldn't spar with high-born ladies. I wouldn't spar with you if you hadn't… insisted so strongly." And that pout showed he was Robb's brother.
She grinned at him. Sure, yelling 'Defend yourself!' and jumping at him had maybe been a bit much, but sue her - she liked sparring, and she liked fighting new guys! He wasn't laughing, though, so she turned serious as well. "Sorry to hear that."
He shrugged. "You don't have to feel sorry for me."
He obviously was feeling sorry for himself, but she wasn't gonna needle him over it. That was his business.
He must have caught a clue, though, since he narrowed his eyes at her for a moment. Then he sighed. "I am a bastard. I can't change that."
"It's not as if it's your fault you were born." People blaming kids for their parents were idiots, in her book.
Another half-glare, another sigh, and he nodded. "I just wish I knew my mother."
Oh. Yang knew that feeling. And she knew better than to step on that landmine. But she could sympathise - and did. "Yeah. My own - I mean, the woman who gave birth to me - ran away and left me with Dad when I was a baby. Haven't seen her since. Don't even know if she's still alive." She shrugged as if it was no big deal. But it was. But, thinking of family made her think of Dad. He would be broken. Worse than he had been after Mom hadn't returned from a mission. Now he'd think both Ruby and Yang were dead… She clenched her teeth and took a deep breath. Brooding about stuff she couldn't change right now was pointless.
He must have noticed her mood but he didn't push her on it either, and they just stayed there, silent, for a while, staring at the wall until it got too gloomy for her, and she went back to the rest of her team. It was about time for lunch, anyway - or would be, soon.
But when she entered their room, ready to apologise for having forgotten the time while sparring - not that there was a clock to use, anyway - she wasn't scolded by Weiss for being late. Instead, Ruby jumped up from her bed and rushed to her. "Yang! We've got a problem! A huge problem!"
"What?" Yang tensed. Had someone broken into their room? They had taken a few precautions, like hiding the stuff they couldn't carry with them where normal people couldn't easily get it, but…
"They want to marry us off!"
What?
Weiss sighed. "What the dolt is trying to say is that our hosts apparently plan to ask for the hand in marriage of at least one of us, presumably to forge an alliance with our team and, although that's conjuncture, our home kingdom."
Yang blinked. "Seriously?"
"Yes!" Ruby nodded several times with a pained expression. "Blake overheard them! And Bran confirmed it!"
"Bran? The little boy?" Yang asked. What did little boys know about such things?
"He confirmed that alliances here are done by marrying two family members," Blake said. "Which fits what I overheard from the talk between Theon and Robb."
"And Robb might try to seduce me to trap me in a marriage! I don't want to marry anyone, Yang! I'm too young! And I don't like Robb that way!" Ruby shook her head.
Yang winced. Ruby was going a bit too fast here.
"You don't have to marry anyone, Ruby," Weiss said. "None of us do."
"You said we had to compromise and honour their customs!"
"Not to that extent. Besides, you heard Blake - Robb rejected Theon's idea and said Lord Stark would never condone such underhanded means!"
"And what about not-underhanded means? Overhanded means? What if they just ask for my hands? Hand?" Ruby flitted over to stare at Weiss.
"Then you tell them you're not going to marry anyone," Weiss replied.
"I'm not good at telling people no!"
"Then learn how to tell people no, dolt!"
"Or let me tell them for you," Yang said, bumping her fists together. She clenched her teeth. If anyone tried to do anything underhanded like that with her sister… Well, there would be no holding back on Yang's part! They would have to scrape whoever it was from the ground. And probably the walls and ceiling as well!
'As mysterious as the origin of the Ruby Order are their customs. Contemporary records, owing to the often very obvious bias and agenda of their authors, are wildly divergent. Even the Citadel's own accounts, sadly, reflect this, as the feud between Maester Halmon Rivers and Maester Leyton Thornbud, which escalated into a brawl that damaged an entire library wing, illustrates. Nevertheless, with a modicum of deductive reasoning and common sense, one cannot fail to sort the truth from fiction. First, the accounts that the Ruby Order dressed and behaved like the most daring women from Dorne are obviously fabricated, a blatant attempt to damage their reputation. Not only would they have frozen to death in the North should they have dressed as scandalously, but my diligent research has unearthed the receipt for the dresses Lady Catelyn Stark had made for them shortly after their arrival at Winterfell, and it is inconceivable that a noblewoman like her would have spent so much money on dresses - this was before technological advances significantly reduced the cost of clothes - that she wouldn't have deemed appropriate attire for a lady.
Second, back then, it was common for political enemies to slander each other and their families by accusing them of libertine behaviour. It goes without saying that this would have applied to the Ruby Order as well, regardless of how they actually behaved. Nevertheless, it is clear that they came from a country with customs that vastly differed from those of Westeros since all sources, even the most disparaging, agree that all four maidens were very skilled fighters, able to match and surpass trained knights and that this was considered normal in their home country - something unheard of even in Dorne at the time.
- A Treatise On The Ruby Order, by Maester Kennet Bracken
*****
Winterfell, The North, Westeros, 298 AC
In the privacy of her chambers, seated on her favourite chair and looking through her notes, Catelyn Stark cursed their newest guests. Not out loud, of course - her daughters were in the room, and it would have been a shameful display. They were their guests and deserved to be treated accordingly. But Team Ruby, as the four girls called themselves, was a source of both annoyance and worry for her. Their mere presence threatened to disrupt - was disrupting, she couldn't deny it any longer - the harmony of her household and the way she was running Winterfell, and did so right on the cusp of a royal visit! Catelyn should be focusing on preparing to receive King Robert and his court, ensuring that they could be housed and fed for the duration of their stay, that everything was perfect, instead of dealing with four… foreign noble girls with too much beauty and too little modesty or shame, she amended her first thought. Or common sense.
All members of the so-called 'Team Ruby', to a girl, were used to wearing the most scandalous clothes. Even Lady Weiss, the most… reasonable girl amongst them, saw nothing wrong with wearing skirts so short, even a courtesan from Braavos would baulk at showing off her legs in public like that! Or expose so much skin. And compared to her, the others were worse! Much worse, in the case of Lady Blake and 'Lady' Yang, who did not even wear skirts. Their leader, Lady Ruby, was not as shameless in her attire, although her clothes were still far from what would be considered appropriate, but her manners, or lack of them, made up for it in spades. She was far too friendly with the smallfolk and showed no care for her own station. Not that the others, except for Lady Weiss, were any better.
Really, if not for her good brother's introduction and private explanation, Catelyn would have never taken them for noblewomen! Noble ladies simply did not behave like that!
And yet, in the same way, their manners clearly betrayed their noble, if obviously foreign, upbringing. The way they reacted to the dresses Catelyn had ordered to be made for them, as well as their response to the treats Catelyn had stocked up in preparation for the royal visit, proved that. Only highborn ladies raised in such luxury that they had not the slightest idea of how much work and expense went into a single dress of high quality, and how much it cost to import such delicacies from foreign shores, would treat such gifts with such careless and guileless ignorance. No merchant, no matter how rich, would leave his daughters ignorant of the heartblood of their trade, and no smallfolk would be able to fake such an attitude. They had not been as rude as to complain, but they had not been able to hide that they considered such things common and were accustomed to them.
No, as much as it galled Catelyn to admit it, their guests, well three of them, were noblewomen. Which made their scandalous behaviour much worse, of course! They might have deigned to wear proper dresses for the shared meals, but they insisted on going out in public 'to train' in clothes that caused every man and growing boy in the vicinity to lose their wits. Even her own eldest, Robb, was all but panting after them whenever he saw them in such garb - and Catelyn knew very well that none such meeting was accidental!
How was Catelyn supposed to prepare Winterfell to host King Robert and his family and court like this?
"Mother, did you see Yang and Ruby spar today? I could barely see them move, they were so fast! Some thought they were fighting a duel!"
And, worse, they were training to fight, setting an example that was corrupting even those members of Catelyn's family who weren't lusting after them. Arya would be following them around all day if not for the diligent efforts of Catelyn and Septa Mordane, and Bran was hardly any better. At least he wasn't climbing the towers any more, something she apparently had Lady Blake to thank. But she couldn't dwell on her son when her daughter needed instructions.
"When did you visit the training yard, Arya?" Catelyn frowned at the unruly girl.
"Ah… I saw it from the keep!"
A blatant lie. Catelyn sighed. "I told you to keep away from the training yard. It's no place for a lady."
"But Team Ruby trains there!"
Something Cately cursed every day. The spectacle attracted and distracted far too many of the smallfolk who should be working hard so Winterfell could host royalty.
"They're foreigners, Arya." Sansa, at least, was sensible. "Their customs are different. Ladies don't fight."
"I bet Lady Mormont and her daughters train every day, too!" Arya sniffed. "And they're our bannermen!"
Another thing Catelyn had come to curse.
"And King Aegon the Conqueror's wives - Queen Visenya and Queen Rhaenys - both fought on the battlefield! They must have been training as well." Arya went on, then stuck her tongue out at her sister.
The Targaryens had much to answer for, Catelyn thought. To think she had hoped Arya would dedicate herself to study more. If she had known what kind of books her daughter would study… She would have to talk to Maester Luwin about what books he let her family read.
"And they were mad," Sansa told her sister. "All Targaryens were mad, one way or the other."
That wasn't entirely correct, Catelyn knew, but correcting her daughters would send the wrong message, especially so close to the arrival of King Robert, whose stance on the former ruling dynasty was widely known. Things would be tense enough with Lady Weiss even though she had assured Catelyn that she was not descended from Valyria despite her appearance. Catelyn still wasn't certain that the girl was telling the truth; with their dragons, the Valyrians had been able to travel far, and there were rumours about the Blackfyres surviving…
"They still conquered all of Westeros!"
"Because they had dragons!"
"Team Ruby doesn't need dragons! They are stronger than dragons!"
"Children!" Catelyn raised her voice a bit, and her daughters fell silent. She did not wish to hear Arya ramble about Team Ruby again. She didn't need a reminder of what those girls were capable of. Just seeing the hole one of them had made with her bare fists had shocked her. If Catelyn had not listened to her good brother's seemingly fantastical tales and had insulted their guests because of their attire and manner, who knew what would have happened? She took a deep breath. "Our guests follow their customs, and we follow our own, as is proper."
Sansa nodded with a gloating glance at her sister, but Arya scowled. "That doesn't make sense. Why is it proper for them but not for us?"
"Arya! They're not like us!" Sansa replied before Catelyn could say anything. "It's just like what is proper for knights is not proper for ladies!"
"And what about female knights?" Arya shot back.
"There are no female knights! No woman was ever knighted!"
"Who cares about being knighted! There were plenty of women warriors!"
Catelyn rubbed the bridge of her nose. Team Ruby had a lot to answer for. At least, women training with weapons wasn't unheard of in the North. And, if she was honest, she couldn't blame Arya's interest in those things, as unseemly as it was, on their guests. Despite Catelyn's best efforts, her youngest daughter had wanted to learn how to wield a sword for years before the arrival of Lady Ruby and her friends. And while any nobles in the South would be appalled at such notions, Ned's bannermen were more tolerant of such foibles, so her marriage prospects shouldn't be affected too much.
"Just because they can do something doesn't mean you can do it, Arya!"
"Lady Yang said I can do anything if I really want it!"
"Lady Yang is wrong!"
Wrong and a bastard, Catelyn added in her head while her daughters huffed at and then tried to ignore each other. That was the worst part of it. Those foreigners treated the bastard sister of their leader as one of their own - Lady Ruby even deferred to her illegitimate sister at times, heedless of the danger to her own position! What if this gave Ned's bastard ideas about his station in life? The boy was already talking far too often with that girl, and the other girls seemed to see nothing wrong with that, either…
If only Benjen had never brought them to Winterfell!
No, that was a foolish notion. If her good brother hadn't escorted Team Ruby to Winterfell, someone might have provoked them into a fight - or a feud.
Or, worse, welcomed them as guests. That could cause a catastrophe.
Catelyn didn't think the four girls were more powerful than a dragon, but it was obvious even to her untrained eyes, and Ned and Benjen had both confirmed it, that whatever side the girls joined would win any battle against any foe with ease. If they allied with an ambitious or disgruntled bannerman of Ned… No, despite all the trouble they caused, it was a good thing that they were guests in Winterfell.
But that was merely a temporary solution. If Catelyn's family was to be safe from such a threat, they needed a much closer tie to the girls. As much as she disliked the idea, she had to talk with Ned about this. And she had to sound out their guests, although she would have to be very subtle about it, to ensure that they would not take offence at any offer. They had peculiar customs, after all.
*****
Winterfell, The North, Westeros, 298 AC
"...and then you sweep their legs out from under them, and when they are on their back, you gut them - their belly is not armoured." Ruby Rose finished demonstrating the move - without a training dummy; they were far too easy to break, she had found out - and beamed at Robb while she let Crescent Rose come to rest on her shoulders. Weiss hadn't been happy about the whole thing, but Ruby was pleased that her team didn't have to hide their training sessions any more - well, not completely, at least. They were still not going all-out when sparring in the training yard. No Semblances, no Dust, so Ruby wasn't fighting Blake's clones or dodging Weiss's glyphs when training, and Yang couldn't power up from taking blows. Not that she would do that anyway in the training yard - she would probably punch a hole through both walls or so.
"I see." Robb slowly nodded. "They sound very dangerous."
"Ah, if you know how to handle them, they're easy!" Ruby smiled. "There are Grimm which are a lot more dangerous! We had to fight some of them on our Initiation at Beacon."
He looked surprised. "You had to fight such monsters to enter your school?"
"Yeah!" Ruby nodded. "Beacon only takes the best. You have to show that you have what it takes. If you aren't prepared to fight Grimm, you'll fail." Unless you got really lucky, like Jaune.
"That sounds like a rather strict regime," Robb said. "Dangerous as well."
"Ah, it's not that dangerous. They don't let just anyone try." Ruby shrugged. "Anyway, that's how you fight a Boarbatusk. Of course, flipping a Grimm on their back and gutting them works for other Grimm as well, but most of them, you can usually kill straight away." She gave Crescent Rose a quick check to see if she had to fix anything. Not that there was a real danger of that, her baby was built too well to get damaged in a spar, but a Huntress who didn't regularly check her gear wasn't gonna live long in the field.
As expected, her baby was fine. She patted the shaft and collapsed it to carry it on her back.
"So, you said you were trained by your family as a Huntress since you were little?"
"Yes!" Ruby nodded and grabbed a cup of water from the jar she had brought with them. "Well, mostly by Uncle Qrow. He taught me how to wield Crescent Rose. Dad helped as well - he teaches at the Combat School in our home, so he knows his stuff - but Qrow's an active Huntsman."
She frowned a little. Was she telling Robb too much? They weren't supposed to tell the people here too much about Remnant, but… Robb was nice. He could be trusted. Besides, it wasn't as if they'd ever meet Uncle Qrow or Dad until Team RWBY had found a way home, and then it wouldn't matter what they knew about Remnant one way or the other because Ruby and her friends would be home! Home with their families! Who probably thought they were dead… No, Ruby wasn't going there. She was going home.
"Is he as powerful as you are?"
"Uncle Qrow or Dad? They're better. Both went to Beacon." Dad wasn't active any more, but he still kept his skills up. And Uncle Qrow was, well, Uncle Qrow. One of the best Huntsmen in Remnant.
"They must be impressive knights."
"Ah, well…" Ruby shrugged again with a smile. "They're just family, you know?" Family she was missing. Family she would see again.
"I know." Robb nodded with a serious expression, and Ruby wondered if she had said something weird.
"Anyway, there are lots of different Grimm, and that's why we train like we do - we need to be ready for anything." She grinned. "It takes a lot of training to fight as a unit."
"That's what Father says as well."
Ruby drank another cup of water. If only they had soda here! But they didn't even have coffee. The closest was tea with honey, but she couldn't get that here in the training yard for some reason.
Then she stretched. "Well, I think I'm done with the training today."
"May I escort you to your chambers to change, my lady?"
"Sure. I'll probably not change, though. Not yet. I'm probably gonna just hang around on my bed for a bit. Maybe sketch a bit - Blake found some paper and charcoal stuff - and some of your weapons are interesting." And just begged to be improved - well, if she had access to decent facilities, which she didn't.
Robb blushed for some weird reason. Had Ruby said something wrong? Oh!
"That means I am going to lie down on the bed and sketch. I'm not, like, gonna hang down from the ceiling and do it upside down or something," she explained. "Want to come as well? In case I have questions about weapons? Or are you busy?"
He was blushing harder. "Ah, I am not sure that I should enter your chamber, my lady."
"Why not?"
"It wouldn't be proper."
That again! As if anything would happen just because they were in her room! Sure, Robb was cute, but he wasn't that cute, and Ruby wasn't about to do anything like that anyway. Besides, he probably would die from blushing if a girl kissed him - she might have to warn Yang about that. She still wanted to pick his brain about the local weapons, though.
So she grinned. "But we would have a chaperone!" Weiss had explained about that.
"We would?"
"Yes!" She beamed at him. "Weiss will be there as well. And probably Blake and Yang." They usually met in their room before lunch.
"Ah, but… they can't serve as a chaperone."
"Why not?" That made no sense.
He grimaced. "Well, they are… maidens."
"So?"
"A chaperone needs to be older," he explained. Or, in this case, didn't.
"There's a minimum age?" Drat. "That makes no sense."
"But it is so."
"But why?"
"Ah… it's because an older woman can, well… She wouldn't be… vulnerable?"
She frowned at him. Was that a joke? She patted Crescent Rose to make a point.
"I mean, she wouldn't be… tempted?"
"Tempted?" Ruby frowned. Oh. Tempted like that. She chuckled. "Wow, you've never met a cougar then!"
"A cougar?"
Drat. Now she had to explain what a cougar was. She blushed. At least she knew what they were, thanks to Yang and a few TV shows. "Cougars are, ah, older women who're looking for, well… younger men."
Robb seemed shocked.
It didn't look like Ruby would be able to pick his brain about the local weapons today. Maybe she could write down her questions and ask them over lunch or dinner?
*****
Winterfell, The North, Westeros, 298 AC
Weiss Schnee had been raised as a member of the Schnee family. The ability to control herself, to keep her temper in check, and to remain polite and composed no matter the situation, had been drilled into her since her earliest childhood, and the lessons had been reinforced by her interactions with her father. She had faced deadly danger without losing her cool.
And yet, she was pushed to her limits. The stress of keeping calm was almost unbearable. Nothing had ever challenged her self-control like this. She took a deep breath and kept smiling as she slowly nodded. "Indeed, Sansa, Lady is a very well-trained wolf. And a beauty to boot." And so fluffy, Weiss really, really wanted to just scoop the adorable pup up, hug it and bury her face in its soft fur!
"Oh, yes! She's the best!" Sansa beamed proudly while Lady rolled on her back, wriggled her paws in the air, and presented her belly with her tongue lolling out of her mouth.
Weiss trembled at the sight. But she was a Schnee. Keeping cool was ingrained in her very soul. So, she did not break down but calmly turned to Sansa and asked: "May I pet her?"
"Of course! You don't need to ask, Weiss!"
Weiss knelt down, perhaps a little too fast, and she might have ruffled the puppy's fur a little too enthusiastically according to her family's standards, but who would be able to tell? She sighed with bliss as she indulged her base urges and petted the furball. To think Blake was terrified of those fluffy little puppies! "Who's a good girl? Who's a good girl? You are!" she whispered before she could stop herself.
But all good things came to an end, and so she had to - very reluctantly - leave the little wolf alone and resume her stroll through Winterfell with Sansa and Jeyne. Appearances had to be upheld, after all. Weiss had no doubt that Lady Catelyn and Lord Eddard would not be nearly as welcoming or tolerant, much less helpful, should they find out that the members of Team RWBY weren't nobility - or that while their countries were called kingdoms, they were so in name only, the monarchies having been abolished long ago. Weiss was aware that she could not judge Westeros by the standards and history of Remnant, but she was certain that none of the nobles here, especially not those ruling realms larger than any kingdom back home, would react positively to the very notion of abolishing monarchies and aristocracies. Their disdain towards the neighbouring continent, which apparently was ruled by city-states with differing forms of government, had been very clear when the topic had come up.
And they needed the help of the Starks - and other local noblemen - if they wanted to find a way home. They knew almost nothing about this world. So, they had to stay in the good graces of their hosts.
On the other hand, it was not hard to pretend. Good manners had been drilled into Weiss from birth as well, and Sansa and her friend Jeyne were polite and friendly girls, if just a tiny bit too childish for her taste. Although that might merely be envy - it was obvious that their relationship with their parents, especially in Sansa's case, was vastly more loving than Weiss's own. Weiss's father would only care about her going missing and presumed dead - she knew what the odds were if you disappeared in the wilderness - in as much as it affected SDC's bottom line, and her mother would likely just drink even more. Winter would be devastated, of course - her sister was the only family member who cared. What sadness Whitley might feel would be outweighed by his glee at being Father's heir…
She schooled her features. She wouldn't let her envy influence her. "It's a beautiful day, isn't it?" she commented.
"Oh, yes." Sansa nodded. "I hope the day the king and his court arrive will be equally beautiful; it would be a shame if their first impression of Winterfell were spoilt by rain."
Jeyne nodded.
"If it happens, you could take solace in the fact that any home looks more welcoming if you can seek shelter from the rain in it," Weiss said. "Or from a snowstorm."
"It's not yet winter," Sansa said. "So, let us pray to the Seven Who Are One that there won't be snow."
Weiss nodded with a calm expression. Back home, she would have laughed at the comment, sure that it was meant as a jest, but Sansa might be serious, and Weiss didn't want to give offence to the girl. Religion was a thorny topic.
"Do you pray to the Seven Above as well, Lady Weiss?" Jeyne asked.
Weiss bent down to pet Lady while she weighed her answer. She could lie, but… Her father once said that it was best to be honest about matters when you didn't know enough to convincly make up something, and while she loathed him, she couldn't deny that this at least was useful if situative advice. "No. I rarely pray at all."
"You don't?" Sansa seemed surprised, and Jeyne mirrored her expression.
"Religion is a very private affair in my home," Weiss said. That wasn't a lie, technically. "People worship many gods, and sometimes, that's liable to cause tensions." Mostly when it involved the god of the Faunus, and that was because of politics, but it was close enough.
"Ah, like the differences between the Old Gods and the new?" Jeyne asked.
"Before the Andals came, all of Westeros worshipped the Old Gods, but nowadays, they're only worshipped in the North," Sansa explained. "The godswoods in the South were mostly burned."
Wonderful. Weiss made a mental note to tell the others to avoid getting involved in religious discourses. She could only hope they'd listen to that better than they listened to her about not showing off… "Let's talk about something less… serious," she said. "What are your brothers up to? Is Bran still trying to climb the smoothest wall in the castle?"
Both girls giggled. "He is! He can be quite stubborn when he wants to be," Sansa said.
"And he keeps falling down. One day, he won't be able to sit down for a meal," Jeyne added with a snort. "But do you really want to talk about little boys when there are far more interesting older boys to talk about?"
Ah. That was familiar terrain. Weiss laughed. "What did Robb and Jon do?"
Sansa frowned for a moment, Weiss noted, before nodding with a sly smile. "Well, Robb seems to spend quite some time with Lady Ruby."
Weiss nodded. "She's interested in his views and knowledge of your weapons."
"Is that all she's interested in?" Sansa asked. They had stopped to chat in the covered passage to the keep, and she petted Lady while a pair of servants stepped around them while carrying baskets full of vegetables.
Weiss laughed again. "To the great chagrin of Yang, Ruby seems only interested in weapons."
"Really?" Now Sansa was frowning.
"Yes." Which was a good thing, of course. If Ruby became infatuated with a local boy, that could greatly complicate things. She was the leader of their team but also the most inexperienced of them when it came to relationships. "She's still young, after all."
"She's older than we are," Sansa replied.
Ah. Weiss suppressed a wince. That had been a gaffe, but she could recover from this. "Compared to the rest of the team," she tried to correct her remark.
"Still, at her age, doesn't she have any suitors?" Jeyne asked.
"I think between Crescent Rose and Yang, a number of boys might feel too intimidated to approach her," Weiss said.
"What? Is Yang sabotaging her prospects?" Sansa sounded shocked.
Weiss frowned. That was… a weird take on this. Why would she think that Yang would do such a thing? Different customs, she reminded herself. But she had to correct this assumption. "No, no. Yang's just looking out for her. Some boys would want to take advantage of her."
"Ah." Sansa nodded. "In the absence of their father, and with no brothers around, it falls to Yang to watch over her?"
"Well, she is the older sister." Weiss smiled. "My own older sister did watch out for me as well." Until she joined the Atlas military. To be fair, Winter had tried to keep looking out for Weiss, but after leaving the manor and the family, there hadn't been much she could have done.
"Oh? You have an older sister?" Sansa asked.
"Winter, yes." Weiss nodded.
"Your sister is named Winter?"
"Yes." Weiss had to suppress another frown when the girls giggled at that. It was a good name.
But the girls quickly grew more serious - or curious, to be more precise. "Do you miss her?"
"I do," Weiss replied. "Although I've been missing her since she left our home for the military - to join the army," she added when both girls seemed confused. "She chose to become a soldier."
"Oh." Sansa seemed surprised. "Not a Huntress? I thought women who trained to fight became Huntresses in your home kingdom."
"Men and women serve in my kingdom's army. It's an honourable profession," Weiss said. No matter what her father thought, both served to protect their homes and those who couldn't protect themselves. You could scarcely find a more honourable calling.
"Of course," Sansa said.
"So, what about you? Do you have suitors?" Jeyne asked after a moment.
Weiss laughed. Did Jaune count? "None I would approve of," she said. "I am not planning to marry anyway."
Both girls gasped. "You don't want to marry?"
"No," Weiss said and bent down to pet Lady. Sansa had told her she didn't need to ask, hadn't she?
"And what does your father think about that?"
Weiss froze for a moment. "What my father thinks about that doesn't matter."
She hoped she wasn't lying - and then wondered why the girls seemed shocked.
*****
Winterfell, The North, Westeros, 298 AC
Blake Belladonna was so close to heaven and yet so far away. She was surrounded by books - the greatest collection in the entire North according to Maester Luwin, and she had no reason to doubt him, Winterfell being the seat of the North's ruler - but she wasn't allowed to touch, much less read them, as if she were a heathen who would damage them out of negligence or use them as paperweights or… She pushed the brief memory of a particular bunk bed's construction away. She would never do that with books she had yet to read, or books she didn't own, and Maester Luwin didn't have to know this or he would never let her peruse Winterfell's library. Sure, she was aware that, legally, the library belonged to Lord Stark, but as an avid reader, she also knew that this was a mere technicality and that the one to control access to a library was the librarian, and in Winterfell, this was the resident Maester.
Who was currently smiling at her in an increasingly and frustratingly familiar apologetic manner. "As much as I wish to tell you otherwise, Lady Blake, I must sadly confess that I still haven't found any descriptions or sketches that match what you seek. But please, rest assured that I will continue my search."
Of that, she had no doubt. The Maester - a local kind of scholar, or the closest thing these lands seemed to have to scientists, according to Weiss - had been intrigued by the tale of their translocation, and Blake was quite certain that he would not stop searching for any hint or clue that might help them find the ruins they searched until he either found one or had gone through the last of his books and texts.
Of course, if he weren't the only one pursuing this task, it wouldn't take nearly as long, but Blake couldn't really disagree with both Lord Eddard and Weiss's opinion that such a search should be conducted with all necessary discretion. Of course, that wouldn't prevent Blake or her friends from helping, if not for Luwin's - in Yang and Ruby's case quite understandable - reluctance to let strangers touch his books and for the fact that none of Team RWBY was able to read the local script. Which meant that even if Blake were allowed to touch the books surrounding her, she wouldn't be able to read them.
She had started to learn the alphabet, but it was vexingly complicated and, even worse, there were no standards; apparently, as Luwin had explained, people wrote as they spoke, and with linguistic drift, which he had had to explain, and many local dialects, just knowing the alphabet wasn't enough; you also had to know the author's preferred pronunciation. And that was just for the Common Tongue, as the dominant language of Westeros was known. Many books detailing ancient civilisations were written in foreign languages, some of them dead.
So, for the foreseeable future, they had to rely on Luwin if they wanted to find a way to return home. Blake smiled at him. "Thank you for your effort, Maester. We really appreciate it."
"Oh, please, it's the least I can do for our guests."
"Then I don't want to hold you up any longer." With a smile at the old man and a last glance at the tantalising bounty lining the shelves here, she left.
She had barely set a foot outside the keep when she spotted Bran walking towards her. At once, she checked with eyes, ears and nose if that horrible monstrous wolf masquerading as a pet was in the vicinity. It wasn't, and she let out a soft sigh of relief before raising her eyebrows at the young boy.
"Hello, Lady Blake!" He smiled at her, and she was once again reminded that once he grew up, he'd likely be a heartbreaker, provided he could keep his boyish charm. "What are you doing?"
She was doing many things - watching the people and looking for potential trouble, noting who deferred to whom, which people were friendly to everyone and who reserved such for their superiors - but it wouldn't do to tell Bran that. "Enjoying the fresh air," Blake replied instead. It was not, technically, untrue - between the large number of people that lived in the keep and the lack of deodorants amongst the majority of the population, any time spent outside was a relief for her nose.
"Sounds boring. Are you going to train?"
"Perhaps later today." Blake had to hand it to the kid; he was quite determined. But if he hoped to make her spill any secrets, he would end up disappointed; she had spent years in the White Fang and knew how to talk without revealing anything she didn't want to be revealed.
"And what are you doing until then?"
She shrugged. "I don't know yet. What do you have planned for today?"
"Uhm." He scrunched his nose. Either he hadn't made any plans, or he was trying to think of an answer that wouldn't reveal them. "Enjoying the fresh air?" he asked more than he said.
She snorted with amusement at his cheek; for his age, he was quite cunning as well, but he still was a little boy. "So, you're planning to shadow me all day?"
"Shadow you?" He blinked.
Ah. "It means following me around," she explained, "and watching what I am doing."
"Well, if you ask me to…" He flashed her a wide grin.
She could lose him easily - she now knew the castle well enough to plot a route that would allow her to dash into cover as soon as she broke his line of sight - but what would be the point? She could observe the castle's population and how they interacted with each other with Bran tagging along; the boy was unlikely to notice what she was doing.
And she could see what he let slip at the same time.
"If you can keep up, be my guest." She grinned and picked the closest stairs to reach the ramparts above, hustling all the way.
To his credit, he kept up quite well, though he was breathing heavily when they reached the top. But he recovered quickly and was already babbling when they reached the spot overlooking the training yard.
At this time of the day, soon after breakfast, few people were training down below, and Blake made a mental note to tell the others, in case they wanted to train together with relative - although only relative when compared to the crowds they drew in the afternoon - privacy. Of course, she suspected that if Team RWBY truly wanted to train privately, they could request to be left alone - Lady Catelyn might even be eager to grant them that, based on some dressing-downs Blake had overheard her - but that would be abusing their positions as guests here.
Next to half a dozen guards, Theon and Robb were present as well, both looking a bit worse for wear, likely due to imbibing more alcohol than they could easily handle the evening before. Blake felt her ears twitch slightly under her customary bow when she listened in to what the two boys probably considered witty banter.
"So, did you take up your lady love on the invitation to her chambers?"
"Theon! Of course not!"
"Why not, Robb?"
"Lady Ruby didn't intend it to be taken like you hint at!"
"What else could she have intended when she invited you to her chamber and said that there wouldn't be a chaperone? Did you think she wanted to talk about weapons?"
"Yes, in fact, I believe so!"
"Robb, there's only one sword she's interested in, and that's yours."
Blake frowned at the crude comment. Theon either honestly didn't know anything about Ruby - a not very implausible assumption, in her opinion, given the boy's obvious cultural biases - or he knew and was yanking Robb's chain while spreading rumours about Ruby, likely out of wounded pride since none of Team RWBY had returned his advances.
"Theon!" Well, whatever his aim, he had succeeded in rousing Robb's anger - the heir of Winterfell was glaring at his friend. "You don't talk like that about our guests!"
"Robb! Everyone talks like that about them!"
Blake narrowed her eyes. While she had overheard similar remarks from the castle's staff, they had usually been made in private, not in the middle of the training yard. Hadn't Theon or Robb noticed how the half a dozen guards who were training were neglecting their forms so they could focus on listening to the two boys?
"Not in my presence they don't dare!" Robb spat.
Judging by the way the guards closest to him grimaced and pretended to be busy doing drills, he was correct.
"What are you looking at?" Bran asked. "It's just regular training. Nothing exciting. They're just hitting the posts."
"I'm watching Robb and Theon," she replied without taking her eyes off the two boys.
"They aren't sparring either."
"But they might be - Robb looks angry."
"He does? I can't tell from here." Bran peered over the ramparts.
Blake focused on the talk down below again and tried to ignore the noise from the other people nearby. If only she didn't have to hide her second set of ears; it would be much easier to listen to such talks if she could move her ears!
"Besides, aren't you supposed to court her?" Theon asked. "If you take her maidenhood, marrying her is the honourable thing to do, isn't it?"
"What?" Robb gaped at him. "How… How can you suggest such a thing! Father would tan my hide if I dishonoured a guest!"
"Oh, come on - do you think your father would mind if you married Lady Ruby and secured an alliance with her people?"
"Of course, he would! That's not how such things are done!"
"As long as it works out, who cares?"
"My family does."
Blake hissed under her breath. What was this talk about marriage? Had Ruby…? No, Blake's friend would have mentioned it if she had such an interest in Robb. Blake could imagine her floating into their chamber with the sappiest expression on her face and declaring her undying love or something if she had finally met someone she liked more than her weapon.
So, what was up with this? The way Robb had reacted, Theon's claims were not completely off-base…
She turned to look at Bran and narrowed her eyes. Maybe she should find out what Bran knew about this.
*****
This was great! It had taken a while to convince the locals - smash a few training dummies without trying, and they all think you have no self-control - but Yang finally got someone not from Team RWBY to spar with her!
She grinned as she ducked under Jon's swing, then dodged his follow-up. The boy was good. Sure, she had to hold back, like, a ton, since without Aura, he was slow as ass, but skill was skill.
She met his shield bash head-on with a block and a slight grunt - she had to be careful not to wreck his shield. "Nice one!"
He grunted in return, then stabbed at her legs without hesitation.
She jumped back, and he managed not to stick his sword into the packed earth of the training yard. "Finally realised you won't hurt me?" And it had only taken a deliberate ducking into a swing to convince him that it was safe to spar without her wearing armour. Next step, make him use his real sword!
But first, finish the sparring match! She faked a straight to his head, forcing him to retreat and raise his shield, then circled around his sudden blind side. He managed to move in time to bring his sword to bear, but she ducked under his wild swing, then darted forward, inside his reach, pushed his shield to the side and stopped her headbutt just before she connected. "Tag! You're out!"
And for good measure, she then dropped into a leg sweep that sent him to the ground - although almost head first. Oops! She had to control her strength a little more, but that was on him to get her so worked up.
"Good match!" She beamed at him as she offered him a hand up.
He didn't take it and got up himself, but he nodded curtly, so that was vocal agreement for him.
"Made me work for it," she said as she stepped over to the water can.
"You held back a lot."
"Sure did. None of us would learn anything if I went all-out." She filled one cup, downed it, then another, and grabbed a sausage and a bread roll from the basket next to the can.
Another grunt. She wasn't sure if that was agreement or just wounded male pride. Jon wasn't as bad as Theon. He didn't pout like Robb, either, when the boy was shown, again, that Huntresses were in their own league. But Jon was a local boy, and Yang had yet to meet a local boy who hadn't some issues with getting beaten by a girl. Talk about weird!
She turned both bread and sausage into a sort of not-hot hot dog and wolved it down. Jon drank a cup of water in the meantime, and the 'smallfolk' who had been watching returned to whatever they were supposed to be doing. "Seriously, you did well." For someone without Aura. "Should spar with Blake or Weiss sometime. They both use swords."
"Maybe." That meant 'No' in Jon-speak.
"Suit yourself." She shrugged. Of Team RWBY, she was the only one Jon sparred with. He probably had a crush, but as long as he didn't make a move, she didn't have to shoot him down. He was cute, but he was like Ruby's age. And a bit too brooding for her taste - if she did shoot him down, he might stop sparring, too.
"It wouldn't be appropriate," he said after a moment.
"What?" She frowned. He was sparring with her, wasn't he? So, why wouldn't it be appropriate to spar with the rest of her team? Oh, Hell! Had she missed another cultural difference, as Weiss called it? "Don't tell me sparring is, like, asking someone out!"
"What?" He stared at her.
"You know, start a relationship," she explained.
"What? No!" He flushed like a tomato and shook his head almost as wildly as Zwei after a bath. "It's…" He took a deep breath and lowered his voice. "I'm a bastard," he said through what Yang was sure were clenched teeth.
"Actually, you're too nice for…" She blinked. "Oh, you mean literally." She nodded. "Yeah, we've heard. Still doesn't tell me why you can't spar with the others."
"A bastard shouldn't spar with high-born ladies. I wouldn't spar with you if you hadn't… insisted so strongly." And that pout showed he was Robb's brother.
She grinned at him. Sure, yelling 'Defend yourself!' and jumping at him had maybe been a bit much, but sue her - she liked sparring, and she liked fighting new guys! He wasn't laughing, though, so she turned serious as well. "Sorry to hear that."
He shrugged. "You don't have to feel sorry for me."
He obviously was feeling sorry for himself, but she wasn't gonna needle him over it. That was his business.
He must have caught a clue, though, since he narrowed his eyes at her for a moment. Then he sighed. "I am a bastard. I can't change that."
"It's not as if it's your fault you were born." People blaming kids for their parents were idiots, in her book.
Another half-glare, another sigh, and he nodded. "I just wish I knew my mother."
Oh. Yang knew that feeling. And she knew better than to step on that landmine. But she could sympathise - and did. "Yeah. My own - I mean, the woman who gave birth to me - ran away and left me with Dad when I was a baby. Haven't seen her since. Don't even know if she's still alive." She shrugged as if it was no big deal. But it was. But, thinking of family made her think of Dad. He would be broken. Worse than he had been after Mom hadn't returned from a mission. Now he'd think both Ruby and Yang were dead… She clenched her teeth and took a deep breath. Brooding about stuff she couldn't change right now was pointless.
He must have noticed her mood but he didn't push her on it either, and they just stayed there, silent, for a while, staring at the wall until it got too gloomy for her, and she went back to the rest of her team. It was about time for lunch, anyway - or would be, soon.
But when she entered their room, ready to apologise for having forgotten the time while sparring - not that there was a clock to use, anyway - she wasn't scolded by Weiss for being late. Instead, Ruby jumped up from her bed and rushed to her. "Yang! We've got a problem! A huge problem!"
"What?" Yang tensed. Had someone broken into their room? They had taken a few precautions, like hiding the stuff they couldn't carry with them where normal people couldn't easily get it, but…
"They want to marry us off!"
What?
Weiss sighed. "What the dolt is trying to say is that our hosts apparently plan to ask for the hand in marriage of at least one of us, presumably to forge an alliance with our team and, although that's conjuncture, our home kingdom."
Yang blinked. "Seriously?"
"Yes!" Ruby nodded several times with a pained expression. "Blake overheard them! And Bran confirmed it!"
"Bran? The little boy?" Yang asked. What did little boys know about such things?
"He confirmed that alliances here are done by marrying two family members," Blake said. "Which fits what I overheard from the talk between Theon and Robb."
"And Robb might try to seduce me to trap me in a marriage! I don't want to marry anyone, Yang! I'm too young! And I don't like Robb that way!" Ruby shook her head.
Yang winced. Ruby was going a bit too fast here.
"You don't have to marry anyone, Ruby," Weiss said. "None of us do."
"You said we had to compromise and honour their customs!"
"Not to that extent. Besides, you heard Blake - Robb rejected Theon's idea and said Lord Stark would never condone such underhanded means!"
"And what about not-underhanded means? Overhanded means? What if they just ask for my hands? Hand?" Ruby flitted over to stare at Weiss.
"Then you tell them you're not going to marry anyone," Weiss replied.
"I'm not good at telling people no!"
"Then learn how to tell people no, dolt!"
"Or let me tell them for you," Yang said, bumping her fists together. She clenched her teeth. If anyone tried to do anything underhanded like that with her sister… Well, there would be no holding back on Yang's part! They would have to scrape whoever it was from the ground. And probably the walls and ceiling as well!
*****
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Chapter 4: Thoughts About Marriage
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Chapter 4: Thoughts About Marriage
'Another matter that has been in great contention, according to some sources even during the time of the Ruby Order, was the four maidens' home's views on marriage and related affairs. Some of my colleagues obviously consider the various records that the Ruby Order did not shun bastards of all kinds as proof that their home held views of such things that would not have been amiss in Dorne - might, even, have even been a bit too much for their well-documented customs of the time. However, those people made, and keep making in some cases, a fundamental mistake no scholar can afford: They did not fact-check their sources and claims before making deductions, which leads to their theses being conjectures at best, complete delusions better reserved for the theatre's most base productions at worst. Even if all those records were factually true - and some of them seem quite a bit too convenient to add legitimacy to houses founded by bastards - they would still only prove, and I am using the word lightly here, what the views of the members of the Ruby Order were. And such views are, as even those not used to scholarly pursuits know, generally based on personal biases. Just because one bastard was accepted in the Ruby Order does not mean that this would apply to everyone else. Once again, we have to look at the records and examine them through the lens formed by the biases of those who wrote them.'
Winterfell, The North, Westeros, 298 AC
"I don't know what to do, Jon."
"About what?" Jon Snow asked, encouraging his brother to continue. Robb wouldn't have called him to this deserted section of the ramparts for a talk if it wasn't important.
"I had a talk with our parents." Robb turned to look at the outer wall.
Jon pressed his lips together. Lady Catelyn wasn't his mother. But Robb was his brother all the same.
"They are considering a marriage between me and Lady Ruby."
Ah. Jon nodded. He couldn't say that he had expected it, but… "That makes sense." Robb glared at him, and Jon shrugged. "You're Father's heir." Robb was expected to marry the daughter of either one of their important bannermen or a powerful noble from the South, whatever served the family best, but that had been before Team Ruby had arrived. "And you're closest in age to our guests." Meaning, a marriage wouldn't have to be delayed for years until, say, Bran was of age.
Of course, Jon was about the same age, but… No one would marry a bastard for an alliance. Just the offer would be seen as an insult. A part of Jon was happy about that. A stupid part that should know better - but couldn't let go of the notion that bastards could marry each other even though that only applied to bastards who weren't divided by a gap almost as wide as the one between a bastard and a trueborn heir to a noble house.
"I know!" Robb scoffed and leaned against the stone.
"So, what is the problem?" Jon asked. Lady Ruby was a beauty, although not quite as beautiful as her sister, in Jon's opinion, and both friendly and charming. He had not seen her show malice to anyone. She would make her husband very happy; Jon had no doubt about that. And Robb would know that as well, so why... Oh. "Would you prefer to marry one of her friends?" Or her sister? he thought.
"What? No!" Robb blurted out, shaking his head. "Father can't ask for me to marry one of her ladies; it would be an insult to both of us."
That didn't answer the question Jon had asked. "But would you prefer someone else if that weren't a consideration?"
Robb frowned, then sighed. "I… If I had to choose, I would pick Lady Ruby. She's the most… gentle of them."
Jon briefly glanced around to check that no one was listening, then snorted. "You mean she won't order you around or ignore you." As Lady Weiss and Lady Blake might do - the former clearly was used to getting her way, and the latter apparently used to read a book during meals back at their school. Maester Luwin apparently had taken offence at the thought of putting books at risk like that.
"Yes." Robb nodded. "And Lady Yang…" He trailed off.
"...is a bastard," Jon finished for him.
Robb frowned at him as if Jon had said something untrue. "Lady Yang doesn't seem like she would listen to her husband at all," he said.
"That might depend on the husband," Jon pointed out, though he wasn't sure if that was just his stupid, silly, doomed desire talking.
Robb scoffed. "For that to happen, a man would have to be even stronger than she is." He leaned against the stone wall again and sighed. "In any case, this is not about Lady Yang."
Jon nodded, trying not to smile at that. "What's the problem with Lady Ruby then?"
"It's just… Is it honourable to propose marriage when we can't contact her family?" Robb paced a few steps.
"They can't contact their family either - they don't know how they arrived here or if they can return," Jon pointed out. Team Ruby seemed convinced they would find a way to return home, but Jon couldn't tell if that was merely a baseless hope - one not unlike his own.
"I know. Mother said the same - I think that was what made Father agree," Rob said. "That in those circumstances, Lady Ruby represents her family herself, and so it would fall to her to decide on whom she would marry."
Jon nodded again. That made sense.
"But what if she agrees, and then they manage to find a way to return to their home?" Robb went on. "What would her father think of… everything?"
Oh. Jon grimaced. "If he's as strong as they are…"
"Stronger. Both said their father is stronger than either of them," Robb cut in.
Right. "That could be bad."
"What if he thinks I forced this on her?"
"You didn't, though," Jon replied. "And Lady Ruby would tell him so." His brother didn't look too reassured, so Jon added: "And do you think she would let him hurt you?"
"No, of course not." Robb sighed once more. "Still… It feels as if I am trying to take advantage of her situation."
"But you are not, are you?"
"Of course not! That would be dishonourable." Rob scowled. "Theon suggested I seduce her and then offer to marry her. It was in jest, but still!"
Jon doubted that Theon had been jesting, but he held his tongue.
"But that's not all."
"What else is there?" Jon asked. It seemed simple to him - make the offer and settle things. And, a small voice seemed to whisper in his mind, if Robb married Lady Ruby, her sister would likely stay in Winterfell as well - only a fool would miss how close the two were. Jon had thought about joining the Night's Watch, an honourable choice for a bastard, but what if he stayed? Even bastards could earn a position that allowed them to provide for a family. If he asked Father for a post or maybe even a keep of his own, maybe…
Robb's voice interrupted his silly fancy. "Lady Ruby has never mentioned marriage at all in our talks. Not hers, not anyone's. All we talk about are weapons and fighting. What if she has sworn an oath never to marry?"
Jon blinked. "I think she would have mentioned that." But he wasn't sure. Maybe he should ask Yang about it.
If he could think of a way to ask such a question without embarrassing himself or making it look as if he were asking for himself.
Even if he was, at least partially.
Winterfell, The North, Westeros, 298 AC
Facing the door to the hallway, Ruby Rose took a deep breath and steadied herself. She didn't have anything to fear, she reminded herself. She was a Huntress (in training). She had her Aura awakened, making her stronger, tougher and faster than anyone in this world except for her friends (or so she hoped; at least she hadn't met anyone yet here who had Aura). She had her Semblance, letting her outrun anyone even if they had their Aura awakened (unless they cheated somehow). And she had Crescent Rose, her baby, allowing her to cut through anything (or anyone) or snipe anything from hundreds of metres away (though she didn't have that many bullets left).
She could do this!
"Ruby! What's wrong?"
"Nothing!" She flashed a smile at Yang and rushed out of the door before her sister could pry. She wasn't afraid.
She was just a tiny little bit embarrassed at the thought of talking to someone who wanted to marry her when she didn't want to marry them. That was as bad - no, worse! - as trying to let someone down who had confessed to you without hurting their feelings. Not that she had any experience with such a situation since no one had yet confessed their feelings to her, but she had seen such scenes plenty of times in shows, and just thinking of being in the heroine's place made her blush.
Robb might not even like her, she told herself. He might just be doing this because of his parents - and how barbaric was that? Trying to tell your kids whom to marry? - and might want to marry someone else instead. Maybe a local girl. Or maybe one of Ruby's friends. They were far more attractive, anyway. Weiss was all classy and elegant and composed and smart and could sing and had been raised as a princess (of sorts) in the richest family of Remnant. Blake was all cool and mysterious, with a tragic past and the cutest cat ears you could think of, a real ninja girl but with a hidden romantic soul (or she wouldn't always be reading romances). And Yang was… Yang. Tall, beautiful, athletic, confident, curvy and brave. Always happy, always strong (and always there for her friends and for her sister when it counted.)
Compared to them, Ruby was just… a little girl. Two years younger, not as experienced, not as cool. Why would Robb want to marry her? He probably didn't.
She sighed and kicked a stone on the ground, watching as it flew across the yard and crashed and splintered against the inner wall ten metres ahead. This was… She blinked. Robb not wanting to marry her was a good thing! She didn't want to marry him (she didn't want to marry anyone! She wanted to go home!), and so she wouldn't have to let him down without hurting his feelings, messing up, and starting a feud or whatever - Weiss had mentioned something like that, but Ruby had been a bit too concerned about anyone trying to marry them at the time to listen too closely. If Robb didn't want to marry her, she couldn't hurt his feelings, and Team RWBY wouldn't be forced to cut their way through dozens of guards trying to make them pay for insulting their hosts, breaking guest rights or whatever started a fight in this country.
Sure, it was a bit of a blow to her ego (she was a girl, wasn't she?), but Robb not wanting to marry her was a good thing! Besides, Ruby was a Huntress, not a lady, and she would be a terrible lady - she didn't know anything about running a castle.
Not that she wanted to run a castle. Least of all Winterfell. It was cool and all, like living in a Fantasy movie, but she really missed Dad and Uncle Qrow, her home, Beacon, Zwei… She didn't want to think how they would be doing, back home. She also missed games, cookies and chocolate (they had no chocolate in this kingdom!) and cakes and scrolls and modern bathrooms and everything else, but that wasn't as bad as missing her family…
"Lady Ruby?"
Apparently, she had also missed Robb walking up to her. "Robb? I mean, hello, Lord Robb!" As long as she was polite, it was OK. Weiss had said so. Well, she had implied it. Ruby smiled at him.
He blushed, and she winced. That wasn't a good sign, was it? "I'm sorry if I disturbed you .- you seemed to be lost in thoughts."
And plain lost - she realised she had wandered from their room into the courtyard without realising it. "Oh… I was. But I'm better now! Much better!"
"Ah." He smiled at her.
She smiled back. Even if it was awkward. What did he want?
After a few even more awkward moments, he cleared his throat. "Are you headed to train?"
Right, she was wearing her combat clothes. Because there was no way she was walking around without her baby when people were talking about marrying her. Or about seducing her to trap her in a marriage, though why they thought that would work was anyone's guess. Anyway, Ruby needed Crescent Rose as emotional support weapon, and since carrying her baby could be a bit hard on normal dresses, as she had found out doing maintenance, that meant combat clothes. But those were supposed to be worn for training, and fighting, and since she didn't want to fight… "Yes." She smiled as confidently as she could. "I need to work out a bit, burn some energy, you know?"
"I… think so."
He didn't sound as if he did. But she wouldn't pry. "So… training time? Do you want to go a few bouts?" Talking was awkward, but sparring was OK.
"Ah… well, why not?"
His smile looked a little fake, but whatever! Ruby nodded. "Let's go then!" She reached out to grab his arm, then hesitated. Was that a bit too… forward, they called it in the period dramas?
He tensed a bit when he offered her his arm, but that was normal even though she hadn't accidentally dragged him with her for two days straight now, and they walked over to the training yard.
Unfortunately, Theon was there. The guy whom Blake had overheard talking about seducing her. Fortunately, he wasn't staring at her but nodding at Robb. But he was smirking when he did so.
Whatever! Ruby unfolded Crescent Rose in her scythe mode and swung it in a flourish Uncle Qrow had said never to use in a real fight that made Theon pale a little when her baby's tip passed close to his forehead. "I'm just doing a few drills, then we can spar!" she told the two boys.
Wielding Crescent Rose always calmed her down.
As it turned out, her wielding her baby in a few basic drills and exercises also seemed to calm down the two boys somehow.
"She's still totally freaking out."
Weiss Schnee was forced to agree with Yang. Even after their team talk - she wasn't going to call it 'marriage war council' as Yang had suggested as a joke - and despite Weiss's best assurances that she had nothing to fear, Ruby was still… Weiss wouldn't call her an anxious wreck, but she was clearly not her usual cheery self. She probably blamed herself for stranding them in another world, and she might deny it, but a blind fool could see that she was missing her family. And now this marriage business was adding to her stress.
She pressed her lips together in a slight frown, suppressed the sudden desire to do something painful to whoever was responsible for this - Weiss wasn't quite certain yet of their identity; the culture and society of the people here in 'Westeros' were still largely unknown to her despite her efforts to learn as much as she could - and sighed. "I hope she won't do anything foolish."
"Foolish?" Yang asked, cocking her head to the side. "Like what?"
Like maiming someone who courted her. She didn't say this, though. Ruby wouldn't do that. "Like overreacting to a proposal," she said, taking a few steps to the window.
"Do you mean crushing some balls or accepting it without thinking?"
Weiss scowled as she turned around to face her friend. Did Yang have to be so crude? "Not quite…" She blinked. "You don't think she'd actually accept, do you?" Ruby couldn't be that stupid, could she?
"Naw, I don't think so." Yang shrugged. "Robb's not that cute."
"Whether his appearance is attractive or not does not matter," Weiss explained, putting her fists on her hips. "Even if we were stuck here for good, he clearly wouldn't be a suitable partner for Ruby. They are much too different - Lord Robb was raised in an utterly alien society with completely different values. He is the heir of the feudal ruler of this entire region, a high-ranking noble."
Yang frowned at her. "You sound like Ruby wouldn't be good enough for him."
"What?" That was absurd! "No, quite the contrary," Weiss said, shaking her head.
"You mean he's not good enough for her?" Yang grinned for some reason.
"It's a far more nuanced situation than that, but essentially, yes," Weiss replied. "While I can't claim to be an expert on the local society and norms…"
"You're the best expert we have," Yang interrupted her.
Weiss was both happy at the acknowledgement of her efforts and annoyed at being interrupted as she went on as if Yang hadn't said anything: "...I have talked with Lady Stark and her daughters often enough to know that the expectations raised for a noble's wife in this region would be both impossible to fulfil and unacceptable for Ruby." Ruby was a Huntress, not some… housewife wouldn't be correct; Lady Stark had a fair range of responsibilities, if mostly related to family matters - although that would cover far more here than back home - and was running a household with several hundred members. In any case, Weiss couldn't see Ruby in Lady Stark's position. Not at all.
Yang made an agreeing noise from where she was sprawled on her bed. "Yeah. She's never going to be a princess hobnobbing with high society."
Weiss narrowed her eyes slightly. Was that a dig at her? In any case, Yang was wrong. "I beg to differ. Ruby might need a few lessons in how to avoid making a faux pas, but she could attend a gala in Atlas without a problem." Well, maybe more than a few lessons. But Ruby was a Huntress, and Huntresses were known to be… eccentric. Besides, if Ruby were to attend a Gala in Atlas, Weiss would be with her partner and be able to run interference and smooth things out. Being a Schnee, and the heiress of the Schnee Dust Corporation, granted her a few privileges in society.
Yang snorted. "Ask me about the birthday party of her first friend at Signal if you think so."
Her first friend at Signal? Weiss frowned but decided against indulging her curiosity. "In any case, trying to fit into nobility here would be a challenge magnitudes greater than entering high society back home, for Ruby and for everyone in our group."
"You seem to be doing a fine job," Yang said.
No thanks to you, Weiss thought. If you had not decided to show off and punch a crater into the training yard…
"They are tolerating a lot more than they would from others because they think we're foreign noblewomen," Blake spoke up. "And because we could defeat all of the guards in the castle at once."
Weiss nodded. She hadn't missed the change in Lady Catelyn's attitude after Yang's demonstration. In the meetings shortly after they had arrived at Winterfell, Lady Catelyn hadn't been rude, and it had been subtle, but she had treated Weiss and her friends with a bit of condescension. That had changed after their first training session; the noblewoman had become noticeably more respectful and had treated her as an equal.
"And imagine if they knew what we could do if we went all-out!" Yang grinned and slammed a fist into the palm of her hand. "Think they'd offer us crowns?" she joked.
"Indeed, I think that is what they would do," Weiss told her with a slightly toothy smile. "By offering more marriages."
Seeing Yang blink and then scowl was quite satisfying.
"Or they'd try to murder us in our sleep," Blake said.
"What?" Yang looked at her. "Aren't we under guest right here? Untouchable? Weiss! You were on our backs about that for days!"
Blake raised her eyebrows. "If people feel threatened enough, they will break the law without a thought."
Weiss almost made a comment about the White Fang but merely nodded in agreement instead. This wasn't the time to open that particular can of worms.
"You really think the Starks would do that?" Yang shook her head. "That all their talk about honour is an act?"
"No, I do not believe they would do that," Weiss agreed. Mostly. "But people like… Theon?"
After a moment, Yang nodded with a scowl. "He's just one guy here, though, and a guest like us."
"Some of the guards might also decide to take it upon themselves to remove a threat to their liege without his permission, sacrificing their own honour to do their duty," Blake added.
Weiss frowned. That sounded a little… As if it was taken from one of the novels from Mistral Blake liked but denied reading. "I don't think we can make such assumptions without more information." But neither could they dismiss them. "But for now, we haven't received a formal proposal, so this is not an urgent problem."
"Looks urgent enough to me," Yang commented.
"Not as urgent as it will be if we refuse an offer and keep refusing them," Weiss said. If the locals started to think that Team RWBY wouldn't follow their customs and laws and let themselves be married off… Weiss wasn't quite certain about the most likely reaction to such a development, but she didn't doubt it would be problematic. Very problematic.
"So, what's your take on this mess, partner?"
Blake Belladonna turned her head to look at Yang as they walked along the rampart of the inner wall of Winterfell, avoiding the bustling crowd in the courtyard below and their prying gazes. "Hm?"
"You've been pretty quiet about the whole thing," Yang went on, tilting her head a little to avoid the glaring sun on this part.
"I've informed you about it in the first place," Blake pointed out - after double-checking that no one was listening; you could never be too careful, a lesson many Faunus had to learn early on.
"Yes. But you haven't really said much about it afterwards. Ruby freaked out, Weiss is… well, she's also freaking out, just in her own way. But you've remained pretty cool about everything. As if it doesn't bother you."
Blake suppressed a snort at the notion that the threat of forced marriages wouldn't bother her. The opposite was true, given her past - she merely had a bit more self-control than Ruby. Or than Weiss, whose attempt to cope by trying to micromanage everything and everyone was obvious to anyone who paid attention. "They can't force us into marriage," she said, barely above a whisper. She wouldn't let that happen; she hadn't escaped one abusive relationship to enter another - or to allow one of her few friends to end up in one.
"Of course not!" Yang smashed her gauntlets together, startling a crow nearby. "But what about the rest of what we talked about?"
"That someone might try to assassinate us if we don't submit to their customs?" It did sound straight out of one of her favourite novels, 'Caught Between Duty and Love', to be precise, a captivating tale of a nobleman having to choose between upholding his personal honour and preserving the engagement to his long-lost childhood friend or saving his liege lord and his realm from a war that would cost countless lives. But that didn't make it improbable.
"Yeah. I can smash anyone in a fight, but…" Yang scowled. "I'm not good at dealing with that stuff." She looked at Blake and raised her eyebrows.
"I'm keeping my eyes and ears open," Blake replied in a low voice, feeling her ears trying to lay flat against her skull at the thought of anyone attempting to murder her friends in such a manner.
"But you can't be everywhere at once."
She realised that her partner, who was almost always confident to the point of recklessness and optimistic even in the face of near-certain disaster, was worried about the situation they had found themselves in. "I don't think we're in immediate danger," she said, tracking another bird, a hunting bird, that flew above them, circling as if it was looking for prey below. "We haven't refused anything so far - we haven't even received an offer yet. They haven't even tried to sound us out about that. Except for Bran, but I don't think he was spying on us."
Yang snorted. "Not for his parents, at least. But the little boy is sneaky."
"Not as sneaky as Arya," Blake said. And neither kid was good enough to blindside her friends, much less herself, although they could be stalking horses - or distractions - for the actual spies. Blake hadn't noticed anyone who might be poised to take advantage of such a thing, yet a really dangerous spy wouldn't be noticed at all until their job was done…
"Still…" Yang scowled. "Why do they have to go after Ruby? She hasn't been in a relationship yet. I don't think she's had a crush so far!"
Blake wasn't so sure about that - her partner sometimes had a slightly idealised view of Ruby. Sure, their leader was the youngest member of their team, but at her age, Blake had already been in a relationship - already been emotionally manipulated by Adam. And speaking of that… "She's the leader of us. If they can get her on their side, we will follow. Or so they think."
"Well, they aren't wrong, are they?" Yang cocked her head at Blake, almost challenging.
"Not unless Ruby goes off the deep end and starts indiscriminately killing innocents," Blake replied, meeting her partner's eyes without flinching. She wouldn't let anyone lead her down that path. Never again.
"Ruby?" Yang chuckled. "She'd never do that."
"I know." Blake nodded, though she knew Ruby was, perhaps not as innocent as Yang professed, but still the most vulnerable to emotional manipulation of the kind Blake was familiar with. At least Robb wasn't the kind of boy who would try to take advantage of that - unlike others, she added while clenching her teeth.
"Still, Dad will be amused when he hears that Ruby got a proposal before I got one."
Yang's joke was weak but still better than her puns, and Blake snorted in return. "You sound jealous," she said with a grin.
"Jealous? Please!" Yang sniffed and tossed her hair back with a smooth and sensual motion. "If I wanted, I could lead all the boys in this castle by their noses."
Blake didn't doubt that. Yang was very attractive - both her appearance and her other qualities made her a very desirable woman, and while she was not perfect, her flaws were not a deal breaker but sometimes even endearing. "Well, if Ruby turns Robb down, you'll probably be next in line as her sister." That was how such marriage alliances worked, didn't they?
Yang scoffed. "Robb? He couldn't handle me."
Blake doubted anyone in this world could - at least none whom she had met so far. "Or Jon."
Yang frowned. "I don't think so. He's pretty gloomy about being a bastard or whatever."
Blake nodded; she had noticed the boy's moody disposition as well. "He doesn't seem to be the spare heir."
"The spare heir?" Yang grinned. "That sounds like it's from one of your period drama books."
It was, actually, but Blake shrugged, not willing to admit it or let her thoughts linger on how much she missed her library. "It would be good if they went after you. You could string them along until we've found a way back."
"Ah, yeah, sure." Yang smiled, though Blake could see that her heart wasn't entirely in it - her partner was not as easy to read as Ruby, but Blake knew how her well enough to tell when she was as confident as she acted and when she was merely trying to hide her true feelings behind a brash act.
So she frowned at Yang and made an inquiring sound, letting her partner know she had not been fooled and prompting her to explain.
"Well…" Yang pouted at her, then sighed and looked over the rampart at the landscape in the distance. "I know I am a flirt, but… Stringing someone along? Someone who wants to marry me? I wouldn't do that to someone who just wants to date me, well, not unless he was a complete asshole and needed a lesson in humility or something, and it was just for a short time. And that's back home, where I know the rules of the game. Here?" She shook her head, her golden locks swaying back and forth, briefly hiding her face. "It would be a disaster." Then she perked up. "So, it'll be up to you to play up your cool, mysterious act."
Blake tensed, pressing her lips together so she wouldn't blurt out her first thought. Taking a deep breath, she slowly shook her head. "I really would rather not." She would not follow in Adam's footsteps. Not if she could help it.
Instead of, as Blake had feared, calling her a hypocrite for asking Yang to do what Blake wouldn't, her partner looked at her for a moment, then nodded with a gentle smile. "Yeah." After a moment, she grinned. "So, let's Weiss do it. She probably has the most experience dealing with such stuff."
Blake wasn't certain if that was true - given her status as the heir of the Schnee Dust Corporation, Weiss probably wouldn't have had to string any suitor along - but merely by the method of elimination, she was the best, or the least bad, choice for this. "You're telling her, though."
"Hey!"
Yang glared at her for a moment, then started laughing, and Blake smiled.
Winterfell, The North, Westeros, 298 AC
Yang Xiao Long pressed her lips together so the small screwdriver she was holding in her mouth wouldn't drop while she checked if Ember Celica's shotgun chambers were still perfectly aligned. They were, which she had expected since she hadn't fired them in weeks. And she hadn't really fought, either, just sparred - but you didn't skip weapon maintenance. A Huntress's weapon was her life, as the saying went. And her soul, what with all her Aura strengthening it, but that was pretty much the same thing. Lose your Aura and your life will soon follow was another saying for a reason.
She reassembled her gauntlets, then ran them through the standard checks, chambers clicking empty as she pointed them out the window and cycled the shotgun's firing mechanism. Perfect. As it should be.
She returned her screwdriver to her pocket. If she lost her tools… Well, she could replace most of them if she had access to a smithy, but if she lost most of her tools, she would be screwed. And so would her friends. Without tools, they couldn't maintain their weapons. The best they could do would be to lock them in melee modes.
"Are you done? I need the table for Myrtenaster," Weiss said behind her. "Ruby's hogging all the space for her oversized farming implement."
"Hey! Don't diss Crescent Rose!" Ruby complained from the corner she had taken over, surrounded by the parts and pieces of her own weapons. "Don't listen to her, Baby - I would never treat you like a farming tool!"
Yang grinned "You used it to cut down trees." With great enthusiasm.
"That… that was weapon training! Like when we cut down dummies!" Ruby pouted.
"We're not supposed to cut them down," Weiss told her. "They aren't supposed to be replaced every day."
"It's not my fault! Robb asked me to demonstrate how to wield my baby! Should I have cut down a wagon?" Ruby shot back while fiddling with the receiver of her weapon.
"You don't have to show him everything we can do." Weiss shook her head with a frown, then turned back to her rapier, cleaning the Dust chambers of Myrtenaster.
"I don't! I'm sticking to basic moves!"
Basic moves for a Huntress. The average man here could barely lift Ruby's weapon, much less swing it around, Yang knew.
"Thanks to Benjen, they are already aware that we can do more than what we show in the training yard," Blake said.
"That doesn't mean we should be sloppy," Weiss grumbled. "Information security is paramount to our survival here." She turned her head to frown at Yang.
Yang grinned back. Sure, maybe she had shown off a bit too much, but as Blake had told them, Benjen would have spilt the beans anyway. And it felt good to cut loose from time to time. Besides, they couldn't let their skills grow rusty. They might not be in the wilderness, where Grimm could attack them at any moment, but sometimes, it didn't feel any different.
And Yang was very much aware they didn't have much Dust and bullets left for their weapons. Sure, they could kick the asses of everyone in the castle without either Dust or bullets, but if they stumbled on another bunch of Ice Grimm or whatever the zombie lords were, or something like them, they could be in trouble. They had to stay sharp.
"Showing that we cannot be easily subdued also helps our survival by preventing attempts to use force to control us," Blake said, briefly looking up from where she was checking Gambol Shroud's ribbon for any sign of fraying or tearing.
Yang flashed her partner a grin - Blake had her back, as always. Then she walked over, briefly using her boot to stop one of Ruby's oversized bullets from rolling across the entire room, and sat on the bed next to Blake. "Need any help?"
"I'm almost done," Blake replied.
"That wasn't my question." Yang grinned again.
"I am fine. Thank you for the offer." Blake stood and shifted Gambol Shroud from sword to pistol and then to chain-sickle before checking the sheath's cleaver mode.
"We need to head to the woods for some real training," Yang said. "Where we can go all-out."
"Oh, yes!" Ruby beamed at them as she reassembled her own weapon without looking at the parts. "We need to work on combo attacks, and Weiss said we can't do that here where everyone can watch us."
"Because, you dolt, we don't want to show all our cards to our hosts," Weiss said, doing a few moves and flourishes with her own blade.
"I know! But…" Ruby pouted again. "It feels like we're lying to our hosts."
"We aren't lying to them," Weiss said.
"We are - we're pretending to be noblewomen," Yang corrected her with a grin.
"Technically, we merely didn't deny their assumptions," Weiss replied with a slight pout.
Yang shrugged. "Works out the same from their point of view." That kind of word-mincing never paid off.
"They have no opportunity to find out the truth. Not unless you slip up," Weiss added with a glance at Ruby.
"But Weiss… The more you lie, the bigger the risk you'll mess up! Even a kid knows that!" Ruby protested.
"Some secrets have to stay secrets," Weiss shot back. "Our position as honoured guests here depends on our reputation, which derives from our supposed status."
"And on the knowledge that we could take over the castle if we wanted," Yang added with a grin.
"Oh, yes - we take over a castle we have no idea how to run. We probably kill or drive off all those who do in the process." Weiss scoffed. "And then? We would not be any better than bandits!"
"'Bandit Queen Yang' has a nice ring to it," Yang joked.
"Yang!" Ruby glared at her. Weiss did as well, but that was expected.
"Relax, I am joking." Yang shrugged. "I know we can't do that."
"We shouldn't even think about that! We are Huntresses, not bandits!" Ruby huffed.
"Sure, sure," Yang said. "No taking over the castle. Not unless they try to forcefully marry you to Robb."
Ruby gaped at her. "The Starks wouldn't do that!"
"I know," Yang agreed.
"As long as they are aware that we might be hiding our true power, they will be cautious in their dealings with us," Blake said. "But the line between respect and fear is thin. And fear can drive people to take actions they will regret."
That sounded like a quote from one of Blake's spicy books, but that didn't make it wrong, in Yang's opinion.
"As long as we do not break their laws and respect their customs - within reason," Weiss added with a look at Ruby, "we can handle this."
"I'm not marrying anyone," Ruby said. "I'm too young, and I don't want to be the queen of the castle here."
"Of course not. That's Nora's line!" Yang said, chuckling at the memories of their friend.
"She would love this," Ruby said.
"Only until she realises that she can't get more dust to blow up things here," Yang said.
"Oh, yes." Ruby looked down. "But neither can we."
"Hey!" Yang reached out and tousled her sister's hair. "We don't need Dust to kick ass!"
"But…"
"No buts, or it's noogie time!"
"Eep! I'll be good!"
"Ah, so this is how you do it here. Thank you, Mikken." Yang smiled at the blacksmith even though she wasn't really pleased by his explanation. She wouldn't be able to recreate as many tools as she had thought. Not with the smithies here. "It's a fine smithy." It probably was, for Westeros. Though it would be better if this were a bad smithy - it would mean she could find a better one in this kingdom. Hopefully, they'd be back home before any of their tools or weapons broke.
"Thank you, my lady." The old man smiled back at her, obviously proud. "It might not be up to your standards," - he nodded at Ember Celica - "but I'll match anyone in Westeros when it comes to castle-forged steel."
Yang didn't know if that was an empty boast or not, but the blades she had seen in the smithy were of good quality. For simple steel. Unfortunately, none of Team RWBY's weapons were simple. "I believe you," she said. "If I need to do some work, I'll know where to go."
"'Do some work'?" Mikken cocked his head to the side, seemingly confused.
Yang grinned. "On my weapons - I made them myself." She raised Ember Celica and let the empty chambers cycle and click. "But they need regular maintenance. Care," she added when he didn't seem to understand the word.
"I didn't know you were a blacksmith as well, my lady," he said, staring at her as if he had never seen her before.
"It's tradition for a Huntress to craft her own weapon," Yang explained. "My sister spent months designing and crafting Crescent Rose."
"Oh, I had no idea. Of course, you can use the smithy," he said. After a moment, he added. "I don't want to presume I could watch when you use it?"
"Sure thing," she told him.
His eyes widened and he gasped. "Oh, thank you, thank you, my lady. It's an honour! Thank you!"
Yang nodded, trying not to show how confused she felt. Letting someone watch wasn't a big deal, was it? Of course, if you knew how a Huntress's weapon was built, you could plan how to counter it… Still, Ember Celica was a straightforward weapon. You couldn't get simpler than shotgun-gauntlets - hit stuff and shoot it. OK, you could, but Jaune was an exception.
So she kept smiling, said her goodbye and left the smithy. She would have to check with the others if she had made another mistake.
On the way back, she spotted Jon and Arya in a corner of the yard. They seemed to be arguing with each other - at least Arya seemed angry at him.
Frowning slightly, she changed course. They two were usually thick as thieves, and it didn't look as if Jon was fetching his sister for her mother - Yang was pretty familiar with how that usually went down.
"Yo!" she yelled halfway to their corner and waved.
Both jerked, looking startled, and Jon blushed at once.
Now, that was unusual - and made Yang even more determined to find out what was going on. "What are you up to?" she asked as she joined them.
"Nothing," Jon badly lied.
She raised her eyebrows at him, smirking, and he blushed even more. Then she turned to look at Arya, who was scowling - at Jon.
But the little girl perked up at once. "We were discussing marriage, Lady Yang."
"Arya!" Jon hissed.
"Marriage? Whose?" Yang kept her tone light, but if this concerned Ruby…
"Yours. And Jon's," Arya replied.
Yang blinked. "Mine?"
Jon actually grabbed Arya's shoulder and pulled her back. "Don't listen to her, my lady. She's being stupid. I told her so, but she doesn't listen!"
"Well, I'm listening," Yang said, flashing her teeth at them.
Both froze, but Arya was quicker to recover and wriggled out of his slackened grip. "Jon is being stupid and doesn't want to marry you even though he wants to, and it would be perfect!"
"What?" Yang stared at her.
"My lady… Lady Yang.. please, it's not… Arya! Don't… Don't say such things!" Jon stammered.
Arya, though, glared at him, then stared defiantly at Yang. "It would be perfect! If Jon marries you, we have an alliance and Jon - and you - can stay here!"
It was obvious that Yang was missing something. But the gist was clear. More or less. She didn't know why Jon couldn't stay, but that wasn't important right now. "And why does it have to be me?" she asked, trying not to clench her teeth at Arya.
The way Arya flinched meant Yang hadn't been too successful. But she rallied quickly. "Because he can't marry any of the others, but he can marry you because you're both bastards!"
Bas… "What?"
"Arya!" Jon grabbed her again. "You can't say that!" He pulled her behind himself and faced Yang. "Please… she didn't mean any offence! She's just a little girl who doesn't know anything! A stupid little girl!"
Did he think Yang would actually attack Arya? A girl half her size and about half her age? Really? Yang shook her head. She had to correct that. But, first… "Why do you think I'm a bastard?"
Now both were staring at her as if she had activated her Semblance. "But… Father said so!" Arya blurted out while peeking around Jon.
"Arya!"
"But he did!"
Oh. Yang sighed. Another misunderstanding. "Is this because Ruby and I have different last names?"
"Yes?" Arya didn't seem very sure about that.
"That is how it works, my lady. If you are a bastard, you have a bastard's name. Like Snow," Jon said.
Oh. They hadn't known that. Weiss wouldn't like that. But Yang had to set things straight here. Weiss had been clear that they had to be seen as noblewomen. And Yang might not be an expert on nobility, but she knew that bastards weren't nobles in Westeros. "That's not how it works back home," she told them. "You take the name of one of your parents. I took Dad's, Ruby took Mom's." It was a bit more complicated than that, but Yang wasn't going to explain the Xiao Long/Rose household arrangements.
"Oh. So… you're not a bastard?" Arya started.
"Arya! She just told us that!" Jon said. "Please excuse us, my lady!"
He sounded so desperate, Yang nodded and then waved while he literally dragged Arya away, starting to scold her before they were out of earshot.
Yang sighed. She was sure once she told the others, Weiss would blow her top again.
'Another matter that has been in great contention, according to some sources even during the time of the Ruby Order, was the four maidens' home's views on marriage and related affairs. Some of my colleagues obviously consider the various records that the Ruby Order did not shun bastards of all kinds as proof that their home held views of such things that would not have been amiss in Dorne - might, even, have even been a bit too much for their well-documented customs of the time. However, those people made, and keep making in some cases, a fundamental mistake no scholar can afford: They did not fact-check their sources and claims before making deductions, which leads to their theses being conjectures at best, complete delusions better reserved for the theatre's most base productions at worst. Even if all those records were factually true - and some of them seem quite a bit too convenient to add legitimacy to houses founded by bastards - they would still only prove, and I am using the word lightly here, what the views of the members of the Ruby Order were. And such views are, as even those not used to scholarly pursuits know, generally based on personal biases. Just because one bastard was accepted in the Ruby Order does not mean that this would apply to everyone else. Once again, we have to look at the records and examine them through the lens formed by the biases of those who wrote them.'
- A Treatise On The Ruby Order, by Maester Kennet Bracken
*****
Winterfell, The North, Westeros, 298 AC
"I don't know what to do, Jon."
"About what?" Jon Snow asked, encouraging his brother to continue. Robb wouldn't have called him to this deserted section of the ramparts for a talk if it wasn't important.
"I had a talk with our parents." Robb turned to look at the outer wall.
Jon pressed his lips together. Lady Catelyn wasn't his mother. But Robb was his brother all the same.
"They are considering a marriage between me and Lady Ruby."
Ah. Jon nodded. He couldn't say that he had expected it, but… "That makes sense." Robb glared at him, and Jon shrugged. "You're Father's heir." Robb was expected to marry the daughter of either one of their important bannermen or a powerful noble from the South, whatever served the family best, but that had been before Team Ruby had arrived. "And you're closest in age to our guests." Meaning, a marriage wouldn't have to be delayed for years until, say, Bran was of age.
Of course, Jon was about the same age, but… No one would marry a bastard for an alliance. Just the offer would be seen as an insult. A part of Jon was happy about that. A stupid part that should know better - but couldn't let go of the notion that bastards could marry each other even though that only applied to bastards who weren't divided by a gap almost as wide as the one between a bastard and a trueborn heir to a noble house.
"I know!" Robb scoffed and leaned against the stone.
"So, what is the problem?" Jon asked. Lady Ruby was a beauty, although not quite as beautiful as her sister, in Jon's opinion, and both friendly and charming. He had not seen her show malice to anyone. She would make her husband very happy; Jon had no doubt about that. And Robb would know that as well, so why... Oh. "Would you prefer to marry one of her friends?" Or her sister? he thought.
"What? No!" Robb blurted out, shaking his head. "Father can't ask for me to marry one of her ladies; it would be an insult to both of us."
That didn't answer the question Jon had asked. "But would you prefer someone else if that weren't a consideration?"
Robb frowned, then sighed. "I… If I had to choose, I would pick Lady Ruby. She's the most… gentle of them."
Jon briefly glanced around to check that no one was listening, then snorted. "You mean she won't order you around or ignore you." As Lady Weiss and Lady Blake might do - the former clearly was used to getting her way, and the latter apparently used to read a book during meals back at their school. Maester Luwin apparently had taken offence at the thought of putting books at risk like that.
"Yes." Robb nodded. "And Lady Yang…" He trailed off.
"...is a bastard," Jon finished for him.
Robb frowned at him as if Jon had said something untrue. "Lady Yang doesn't seem like she would listen to her husband at all," he said.
"That might depend on the husband," Jon pointed out, though he wasn't sure if that was just his stupid, silly, doomed desire talking.
Robb scoffed. "For that to happen, a man would have to be even stronger than she is." He leaned against the stone wall again and sighed. "In any case, this is not about Lady Yang."
Jon nodded, trying not to smile at that. "What's the problem with Lady Ruby then?"
"It's just… Is it honourable to propose marriage when we can't contact her family?" Robb paced a few steps.
"They can't contact their family either - they don't know how they arrived here or if they can return," Jon pointed out. Team Ruby seemed convinced they would find a way to return home, but Jon couldn't tell if that was merely a baseless hope - one not unlike his own.
"I know. Mother said the same - I think that was what made Father agree," Rob said. "That in those circumstances, Lady Ruby represents her family herself, and so it would fall to her to decide on whom she would marry."
Jon nodded again. That made sense.
"But what if she agrees, and then they manage to find a way to return to their home?" Robb went on. "What would her father think of… everything?"
Oh. Jon grimaced. "If he's as strong as they are…"
"Stronger. Both said their father is stronger than either of them," Robb cut in.
Right. "That could be bad."
"What if he thinks I forced this on her?"
"You didn't, though," Jon replied. "And Lady Ruby would tell him so." His brother didn't look too reassured, so Jon added: "And do you think she would let him hurt you?"
"No, of course not." Robb sighed once more. "Still… It feels as if I am trying to take advantage of her situation."
"But you are not, are you?"
"Of course not! That would be dishonourable." Rob scowled. "Theon suggested I seduce her and then offer to marry her. It was in jest, but still!"
Jon doubted that Theon had been jesting, but he held his tongue.
"But that's not all."
"What else is there?" Jon asked. It seemed simple to him - make the offer and settle things. And, a small voice seemed to whisper in his mind, if Robb married Lady Ruby, her sister would likely stay in Winterfell as well - only a fool would miss how close the two were. Jon had thought about joining the Night's Watch, an honourable choice for a bastard, but what if he stayed? Even bastards could earn a position that allowed them to provide for a family. If he asked Father for a post or maybe even a keep of his own, maybe…
Robb's voice interrupted his silly fancy. "Lady Ruby has never mentioned marriage at all in our talks. Not hers, not anyone's. All we talk about are weapons and fighting. What if she has sworn an oath never to marry?"
Jon blinked. "I think she would have mentioned that." But he wasn't sure. Maybe he should ask Yang about it.
If he could think of a way to ask such a question without embarrassing himself or making it look as if he were asking for himself.
Even if he was, at least partially.
*****
Winterfell, The North, Westeros, 298 AC
Facing the door to the hallway, Ruby Rose took a deep breath and steadied herself. She didn't have anything to fear, she reminded herself. She was a Huntress (in training). She had her Aura awakened, making her stronger, tougher and faster than anyone in this world except for her friends (or so she hoped; at least she hadn't met anyone yet here who had Aura). She had her Semblance, letting her outrun anyone even if they had their Aura awakened (unless they cheated somehow). And she had Crescent Rose, her baby, allowing her to cut through anything (or anyone) or snipe anything from hundreds of metres away (though she didn't have that many bullets left).
She could do this!
"Ruby! What's wrong?"
"Nothing!" She flashed a smile at Yang and rushed out of the door before her sister could pry. She wasn't afraid.
She was just a tiny little bit embarrassed at the thought of talking to someone who wanted to marry her when she didn't want to marry them. That was as bad - no, worse! - as trying to let someone down who had confessed to you without hurting their feelings. Not that she had any experience with such a situation since no one had yet confessed their feelings to her, but she had seen such scenes plenty of times in shows, and just thinking of being in the heroine's place made her blush.
Robb might not even like her, she told herself. He might just be doing this because of his parents - and how barbaric was that? Trying to tell your kids whom to marry? - and might want to marry someone else instead. Maybe a local girl. Or maybe one of Ruby's friends. They were far more attractive, anyway. Weiss was all classy and elegant and composed and smart and could sing and had been raised as a princess (of sorts) in the richest family of Remnant. Blake was all cool and mysterious, with a tragic past and the cutest cat ears you could think of, a real ninja girl but with a hidden romantic soul (or she wouldn't always be reading romances). And Yang was… Yang. Tall, beautiful, athletic, confident, curvy and brave. Always happy, always strong (and always there for her friends and for her sister when it counted.)
Compared to them, Ruby was just… a little girl. Two years younger, not as experienced, not as cool. Why would Robb want to marry her? He probably didn't.
She sighed and kicked a stone on the ground, watching as it flew across the yard and crashed and splintered against the inner wall ten metres ahead. This was… She blinked. Robb not wanting to marry her was a good thing! She didn't want to marry him (she didn't want to marry anyone! She wanted to go home!), and so she wouldn't have to let him down without hurting his feelings, messing up, and starting a feud or whatever - Weiss had mentioned something like that, but Ruby had been a bit too concerned about anyone trying to marry them at the time to listen too closely. If Robb didn't want to marry her, she couldn't hurt his feelings, and Team RWBY wouldn't be forced to cut their way through dozens of guards trying to make them pay for insulting their hosts, breaking guest rights or whatever started a fight in this country.
Sure, it was a bit of a blow to her ego (she was a girl, wasn't she?), but Robb not wanting to marry her was a good thing! Besides, Ruby was a Huntress, not a lady, and she would be a terrible lady - she didn't know anything about running a castle.
Not that she wanted to run a castle. Least of all Winterfell. It was cool and all, like living in a Fantasy movie, but she really missed Dad and Uncle Qrow, her home, Beacon, Zwei… She didn't want to think how they would be doing, back home. She also missed games, cookies and chocolate (they had no chocolate in this kingdom!) and cakes and scrolls and modern bathrooms and everything else, but that wasn't as bad as missing her family…
"Lady Ruby?"
Apparently, she had also missed Robb walking up to her. "Robb? I mean, hello, Lord Robb!" As long as she was polite, it was OK. Weiss had said so. Well, she had implied it. Ruby smiled at him.
He blushed, and she winced. That wasn't a good sign, was it? "I'm sorry if I disturbed you .- you seemed to be lost in thoughts."
And plain lost - she realised she had wandered from their room into the courtyard without realising it. "Oh… I was. But I'm better now! Much better!"
"Ah." He smiled at her.
She smiled back. Even if it was awkward. What did he want?
After a few even more awkward moments, he cleared his throat. "Are you headed to train?"
Right, she was wearing her combat clothes. Because there was no way she was walking around without her baby when people were talking about marrying her. Or about seducing her to trap her in a marriage, though why they thought that would work was anyone's guess. Anyway, Ruby needed Crescent Rose as emotional support weapon, and since carrying her baby could be a bit hard on normal dresses, as she had found out doing maintenance, that meant combat clothes. But those were supposed to be worn for training, and fighting, and since she didn't want to fight… "Yes." She smiled as confidently as she could. "I need to work out a bit, burn some energy, you know?"
"I… think so."
He didn't sound as if he did. But she wouldn't pry. "So… training time? Do you want to go a few bouts?" Talking was awkward, but sparring was OK.
"Ah… well, why not?"
His smile looked a little fake, but whatever! Ruby nodded. "Let's go then!" She reached out to grab his arm, then hesitated. Was that a bit too… forward, they called it in the period dramas?
He tensed a bit when he offered her his arm, but that was normal even though she hadn't accidentally dragged him with her for two days straight now, and they walked over to the training yard.
Unfortunately, Theon was there. The guy whom Blake had overheard talking about seducing her. Fortunately, he wasn't staring at her but nodding at Robb. But he was smirking when he did so.
Whatever! Ruby unfolded Crescent Rose in her scythe mode and swung it in a flourish Uncle Qrow had said never to use in a real fight that made Theon pale a little when her baby's tip passed close to his forehead. "I'm just doing a few drills, then we can spar!" she told the two boys.
Wielding Crescent Rose always calmed her down.
As it turned out, her wielding her baby in a few basic drills and exercises also seemed to calm down the two boys somehow.
*****
"She's still totally freaking out."
Weiss Schnee was forced to agree with Yang. Even after their team talk - she wasn't going to call it 'marriage war council' as Yang had suggested as a joke - and despite Weiss's best assurances that she had nothing to fear, Ruby was still… Weiss wouldn't call her an anxious wreck, but she was clearly not her usual cheery self. She probably blamed herself for stranding them in another world, and she might deny it, but a blind fool could see that she was missing her family. And now this marriage business was adding to her stress.
She pressed her lips together in a slight frown, suppressed the sudden desire to do something painful to whoever was responsible for this - Weiss wasn't quite certain yet of their identity; the culture and society of the people here in 'Westeros' were still largely unknown to her despite her efforts to learn as much as she could - and sighed. "I hope she won't do anything foolish."
"Foolish?" Yang asked, cocking her head to the side. "Like what?"
Like maiming someone who courted her. She didn't say this, though. Ruby wouldn't do that. "Like overreacting to a proposal," she said, taking a few steps to the window.
"Do you mean crushing some balls or accepting it without thinking?"
Weiss scowled as she turned around to face her friend. Did Yang have to be so crude? "Not quite…" She blinked. "You don't think she'd actually accept, do you?" Ruby couldn't be that stupid, could she?
"Naw, I don't think so." Yang shrugged. "Robb's not that cute."
"Whether his appearance is attractive or not does not matter," Weiss explained, putting her fists on her hips. "Even if we were stuck here for good, he clearly wouldn't be a suitable partner for Ruby. They are much too different - Lord Robb was raised in an utterly alien society with completely different values. He is the heir of the feudal ruler of this entire region, a high-ranking noble."
Yang frowned at her. "You sound like Ruby wouldn't be good enough for him."
"What?" That was absurd! "No, quite the contrary," Weiss said, shaking her head.
"You mean he's not good enough for her?" Yang grinned for some reason.
"It's a far more nuanced situation than that, but essentially, yes," Weiss replied. "While I can't claim to be an expert on the local society and norms…"
"You're the best expert we have," Yang interrupted her.
Weiss was both happy at the acknowledgement of her efforts and annoyed at being interrupted as she went on as if Yang hadn't said anything: "...I have talked with Lady Stark and her daughters often enough to know that the expectations raised for a noble's wife in this region would be both impossible to fulfil and unacceptable for Ruby." Ruby was a Huntress, not some… housewife wouldn't be correct; Lady Stark had a fair range of responsibilities, if mostly related to family matters - although that would cover far more here than back home - and was running a household with several hundred members. In any case, Weiss couldn't see Ruby in Lady Stark's position. Not at all.
Yang made an agreeing noise from where she was sprawled on her bed. "Yeah. She's never going to be a princess hobnobbing with high society."
Weiss narrowed her eyes slightly. Was that a dig at her? In any case, Yang was wrong. "I beg to differ. Ruby might need a few lessons in how to avoid making a faux pas, but she could attend a gala in Atlas without a problem." Well, maybe more than a few lessons. But Ruby was a Huntress, and Huntresses were known to be… eccentric. Besides, if Ruby were to attend a Gala in Atlas, Weiss would be with her partner and be able to run interference and smooth things out. Being a Schnee, and the heiress of the Schnee Dust Corporation, granted her a few privileges in society.
Yang snorted. "Ask me about the birthday party of her first friend at Signal if you think so."
Her first friend at Signal? Weiss frowned but decided against indulging her curiosity. "In any case, trying to fit into nobility here would be a challenge magnitudes greater than entering high society back home, for Ruby and for everyone in our group."
"You seem to be doing a fine job," Yang said.
No thanks to you, Weiss thought. If you had not decided to show off and punch a crater into the training yard…
"They are tolerating a lot more than they would from others because they think we're foreign noblewomen," Blake spoke up. "And because we could defeat all of the guards in the castle at once."
Weiss nodded. She hadn't missed the change in Lady Catelyn's attitude after Yang's demonstration. In the meetings shortly after they had arrived at Winterfell, Lady Catelyn hadn't been rude, and it had been subtle, but she had treated Weiss and her friends with a bit of condescension. That had changed after their first training session; the noblewoman had become noticeably more respectful and had treated her as an equal.
"And imagine if they knew what we could do if we went all-out!" Yang grinned and slammed a fist into the palm of her hand. "Think they'd offer us crowns?" she joked.
"Indeed, I think that is what they would do," Weiss told her with a slightly toothy smile. "By offering more marriages."
Seeing Yang blink and then scowl was quite satisfying.
"Or they'd try to murder us in our sleep," Blake said.
"What?" Yang looked at her. "Aren't we under guest right here? Untouchable? Weiss! You were on our backs about that for days!"
Blake raised her eyebrows. "If people feel threatened enough, they will break the law without a thought."
Weiss almost made a comment about the White Fang but merely nodded in agreement instead. This wasn't the time to open that particular can of worms.
"You really think the Starks would do that?" Yang shook her head. "That all their talk about honour is an act?"
"No, I do not believe they would do that," Weiss agreed. Mostly. "But people like… Theon?"
After a moment, Yang nodded with a scowl. "He's just one guy here, though, and a guest like us."
"Some of the guards might also decide to take it upon themselves to remove a threat to their liege without his permission, sacrificing their own honour to do their duty," Blake added.
Weiss frowned. That sounded a little… As if it was taken from one of the novels from Mistral Blake liked but denied reading. "I don't think we can make such assumptions without more information." But neither could they dismiss them. "But for now, we haven't received a formal proposal, so this is not an urgent problem."
"Looks urgent enough to me," Yang commented.
"Not as urgent as it will be if we refuse an offer and keep refusing them," Weiss said. If the locals started to think that Team RWBY wouldn't follow their customs and laws and let themselves be married off… Weiss wasn't quite certain about the most likely reaction to such a development, but she didn't doubt it would be problematic. Very problematic.
*****
"So, what's your take on this mess, partner?"
Blake Belladonna turned her head to look at Yang as they walked along the rampart of the inner wall of Winterfell, avoiding the bustling crowd in the courtyard below and their prying gazes. "Hm?"
"You've been pretty quiet about the whole thing," Yang went on, tilting her head a little to avoid the glaring sun on this part.
"I've informed you about it in the first place," Blake pointed out - after double-checking that no one was listening; you could never be too careful, a lesson many Faunus had to learn early on.
"Yes. But you haven't really said much about it afterwards. Ruby freaked out, Weiss is… well, she's also freaking out, just in her own way. But you've remained pretty cool about everything. As if it doesn't bother you."
Blake suppressed a snort at the notion that the threat of forced marriages wouldn't bother her. The opposite was true, given her past - she merely had a bit more self-control than Ruby. Or than Weiss, whose attempt to cope by trying to micromanage everything and everyone was obvious to anyone who paid attention. "They can't force us into marriage," she said, barely above a whisper. She wouldn't let that happen; she hadn't escaped one abusive relationship to enter another - or to allow one of her few friends to end up in one.
"Of course not!" Yang smashed her gauntlets together, startling a crow nearby. "But what about the rest of what we talked about?"
"That someone might try to assassinate us if we don't submit to their customs?" It did sound straight out of one of her favourite novels, 'Caught Between Duty and Love', to be precise, a captivating tale of a nobleman having to choose between upholding his personal honour and preserving the engagement to his long-lost childhood friend or saving his liege lord and his realm from a war that would cost countless lives. But that didn't make it improbable.
"Yeah. I can smash anyone in a fight, but…" Yang scowled. "I'm not good at dealing with that stuff." She looked at Blake and raised her eyebrows.
"I'm keeping my eyes and ears open," Blake replied in a low voice, feeling her ears trying to lay flat against her skull at the thought of anyone attempting to murder her friends in such a manner.
"But you can't be everywhere at once."
She realised that her partner, who was almost always confident to the point of recklessness and optimistic even in the face of near-certain disaster, was worried about the situation they had found themselves in. "I don't think we're in immediate danger," she said, tracking another bird, a hunting bird, that flew above them, circling as if it was looking for prey below. "We haven't refused anything so far - we haven't even received an offer yet. They haven't even tried to sound us out about that. Except for Bran, but I don't think he was spying on us."
Yang snorted. "Not for his parents, at least. But the little boy is sneaky."
"Not as sneaky as Arya," Blake said. And neither kid was good enough to blindside her friends, much less herself, although they could be stalking horses - or distractions - for the actual spies. Blake hadn't noticed anyone who might be poised to take advantage of such a thing, yet a really dangerous spy wouldn't be noticed at all until their job was done…
"Still…" Yang scowled. "Why do they have to go after Ruby? She hasn't been in a relationship yet. I don't think she's had a crush so far!"
Blake wasn't so sure about that - her partner sometimes had a slightly idealised view of Ruby. Sure, their leader was the youngest member of their team, but at her age, Blake had already been in a relationship - already been emotionally manipulated by Adam. And speaking of that… "She's the leader of us. If they can get her on their side, we will follow. Or so they think."
"Well, they aren't wrong, are they?" Yang cocked her head at Blake, almost challenging.
"Not unless Ruby goes off the deep end and starts indiscriminately killing innocents," Blake replied, meeting her partner's eyes without flinching. She wouldn't let anyone lead her down that path. Never again.
"Ruby?" Yang chuckled. "She'd never do that."
"I know." Blake nodded, though she knew Ruby was, perhaps not as innocent as Yang professed, but still the most vulnerable to emotional manipulation of the kind Blake was familiar with. At least Robb wasn't the kind of boy who would try to take advantage of that - unlike others, she added while clenching her teeth.
"Still, Dad will be amused when he hears that Ruby got a proposal before I got one."
Yang's joke was weak but still better than her puns, and Blake snorted in return. "You sound jealous," she said with a grin.
"Jealous? Please!" Yang sniffed and tossed her hair back with a smooth and sensual motion. "If I wanted, I could lead all the boys in this castle by their noses."
Blake didn't doubt that. Yang was very attractive - both her appearance and her other qualities made her a very desirable woman, and while she was not perfect, her flaws were not a deal breaker but sometimes even endearing. "Well, if Ruby turns Robb down, you'll probably be next in line as her sister." That was how such marriage alliances worked, didn't they?
Yang scoffed. "Robb? He couldn't handle me."
Blake doubted anyone in this world could - at least none whom she had met so far. "Or Jon."
Yang frowned. "I don't think so. He's pretty gloomy about being a bastard or whatever."
Blake nodded; she had noticed the boy's moody disposition as well. "He doesn't seem to be the spare heir."
"The spare heir?" Yang grinned. "That sounds like it's from one of your period drama books."
It was, actually, but Blake shrugged, not willing to admit it or let her thoughts linger on how much she missed her library. "It would be good if they went after you. You could string them along until we've found a way back."
"Ah, yeah, sure." Yang smiled, though Blake could see that her heart wasn't entirely in it - her partner was not as easy to read as Ruby, but Blake knew how her well enough to tell when she was as confident as she acted and when she was merely trying to hide her true feelings behind a brash act.
So she frowned at Yang and made an inquiring sound, letting her partner know she had not been fooled and prompting her to explain.
"Well…" Yang pouted at her, then sighed and looked over the rampart at the landscape in the distance. "I know I am a flirt, but… Stringing someone along? Someone who wants to marry me? I wouldn't do that to someone who just wants to date me, well, not unless he was a complete asshole and needed a lesson in humility or something, and it was just for a short time. And that's back home, where I know the rules of the game. Here?" She shook her head, her golden locks swaying back and forth, briefly hiding her face. "It would be a disaster." Then she perked up. "So, it'll be up to you to play up your cool, mysterious act."
Blake tensed, pressing her lips together so she wouldn't blurt out her first thought. Taking a deep breath, she slowly shook her head. "I really would rather not." She would not follow in Adam's footsteps. Not if she could help it.
Instead of, as Blake had feared, calling her a hypocrite for asking Yang to do what Blake wouldn't, her partner looked at her for a moment, then nodded with a gentle smile. "Yeah." After a moment, she grinned. "So, let's Weiss do it. She probably has the most experience dealing with such stuff."
Blake wasn't certain if that was true - given her status as the heir of the Schnee Dust Corporation, Weiss probably wouldn't have had to string any suitor along - but merely by the method of elimination, she was the best, or the least bad, choice for this. "You're telling her, though."
"Hey!"
Yang glared at her for a moment, then started laughing, and Blake smiled.
*****
Winterfell, The North, Westeros, 298 AC
Yang Xiao Long pressed her lips together so the small screwdriver she was holding in her mouth wouldn't drop while she checked if Ember Celica's shotgun chambers were still perfectly aligned. They were, which she had expected since she hadn't fired them in weeks. And she hadn't really fought, either, just sparred - but you didn't skip weapon maintenance. A Huntress's weapon was her life, as the saying went. And her soul, what with all her Aura strengthening it, but that was pretty much the same thing. Lose your Aura and your life will soon follow was another saying for a reason.
She reassembled her gauntlets, then ran them through the standard checks, chambers clicking empty as she pointed them out the window and cycled the shotgun's firing mechanism. Perfect. As it should be.
She returned her screwdriver to her pocket. If she lost her tools… Well, she could replace most of them if she had access to a smithy, but if she lost most of her tools, she would be screwed. And so would her friends. Without tools, they couldn't maintain their weapons. The best they could do would be to lock them in melee modes.
"Are you done? I need the table for Myrtenaster," Weiss said behind her. "Ruby's hogging all the space for her oversized farming implement."
"Hey! Don't diss Crescent Rose!" Ruby complained from the corner she had taken over, surrounded by the parts and pieces of her own weapons. "Don't listen to her, Baby - I would never treat you like a farming tool!"
Yang grinned "You used it to cut down trees." With great enthusiasm.
"That… that was weapon training! Like when we cut down dummies!" Ruby pouted.
"We're not supposed to cut them down," Weiss told her. "They aren't supposed to be replaced every day."
"It's not my fault! Robb asked me to demonstrate how to wield my baby! Should I have cut down a wagon?" Ruby shot back while fiddling with the receiver of her weapon.
"You don't have to show him everything we can do." Weiss shook her head with a frown, then turned back to her rapier, cleaning the Dust chambers of Myrtenaster.
"I don't! I'm sticking to basic moves!"
Basic moves for a Huntress. The average man here could barely lift Ruby's weapon, much less swing it around, Yang knew.
"Thanks to Benjen, they are already aware that we can do more than what we show in the training yard," Blake said.
"That doesn't mean we should be sloppy," Weiss grumbled. "Information security is paramount to our survival here." She turned her head to frown at Yang.
Yang grinned back. Sure, maybe she had shown off a bit too much, but as Blake had told them, Benjen would have spilt the beans anyway. And it felt good to cut loose from time to time. Besides, they couldn't let their skills grow rusty. They might not be in the wilderness, where Grimm could attack them at any moment, but sometimes, it didn't feel any different.
And Yang was very much aware they didn't have much Dust and bullets left for their weapons. Sure, they could kick the asses of everyone in the castle without either Dust or bullets, but if they stumbled on another bunch of Ice Grimm or whatever the zombie lords were, or something like them, they could be in trouble. They had to stay sharp.
"Showing that we cannot be easily subdued also helps our survival by preventing attempts to use force to control us," Blake said, briefly looking up from where she was checking Gambol Shroud's ribbon for any sign of fraying or tearing.
Yang flashed her partner a grin - Blake had her back, as always. Then she walked over, briefly using her boot to stop one of Ruby's oversized bullets from rolling across the entire room, and sat on the bed next to Blake. "Need any help?"
"I'm almost done," Blake replied.
"That wasn't my question." Yang grinned again.
"I am fine. Thank you for the offer." Blake stood and shifted Gambol Shroud from sword to pistol and then to chain-sickle before checking the sheath's cleaver mode.
"We need to head to the woods for some real training," Yang said. "Where we can go all-out."
"Oh, yes!" Ruby beamed at them as she reassembled her own weapon without looking at the parts. "We need to work on combo attacks, and Weiss said we can't do that here where everyone can watch us."
"Because, you dolt, we don't want to show all our cards to our hosts," Weiss said, doing a few moves and flourishes with her own blade.
"I know! But…" Ruby pouted again. "It feels like we're lying to our hosts."
"We aren't lying to them," Weiss said.
"We are - we're pretending to be noblewomen," Yang corrected her with a grin.
"Technically, we merely didn't deny their assumptions," Weiss replied with a slight pout.
Yang shrugged. "Works out the same from their point of view." That kind of word-mincing never paid off.
"They have no opportunity to find out the truth. Not unless you slip up," Weiss added with a glance at Ruby.
"But Weiss… The more you lie, the bigger the risk you'll mess up! Even a kid knows that!" Ruby protested.
"Some secrets have to stay secrets," Weiss shot back. "Our position as honoured guests here depends on our reputation, which derives from our supposed status."
"And on the knowledge that we could take over the castle if we wanted," Yang added with a grin.
"Oh, yes - we take over a castle we have no idea how to run. We probably kill or drive off all those who do in the process." Weiss scoffed. "And then? We would not be any better than bandits!"
"'Bandit Queen Yang' has a nice ring to it," Yang joked.
"Yang!" Ruby glared at her. Weiss did as well, but that was expected.
"Relax, I am joking." Yang shrugged. "I know we can't do that."
"We shouldn't even think about that! We are Huntresses, not bandits!" Ruby huffed.
"Sure, sure," Yang said. "No taking over the castle. Not unless they try to forcefully marry you to Robb."
Ruby gaped at her. "The Starks wouldn't do that!"
"I know," Yang agreed.
"As long as they are aware that we might be hiding our true power, they will be cautious in their dealings with us," Blake said. "But the line between respect and fear is thin. And fear can drive people to take actions they will regret."
That sounded like a quote from one of Blake's spicy books, but that didn't make it wrong, in Yang's opinion.
"As long as we do not break their laws and respect their customs - within reason," Weiss added with a look at Ruby, "we can handle this."
"I'm not marrying anyone," Ruby said. "I'm too young, and I don't want to be the queen of the castle here."
"Of course not. That's Nora's line!" Yang said, chuckling at the memories of their friend.
"She would love this," Ruby said.
"Only until she realises that she can't get more dust to blow up things here," Yang said.
"Oh, yes." Ruby looked down. "But neither can we."
"Hey!" Yang reached out and tousled her sister's hair. "We don't need Dust to kick ass!"
"But…"
"No buts, or it's noogie time!"
"Eep! I'll be good!"
*****
"Ah, so this is how you do it here. Thank you, Mikken." Yang smiled at the blacksmith even though she wasn't really pleased by his explanation. She wouldn't be able to recreate as many tools as she had thought. Not with the smithies here. "It's a fine smithy." It probably was, for Westeros. Though it would be better if this were a bad smithy - it would mean she could find a better one in this kingdom. Hopefully, they'd be back home before any of their tools or weapons broke.
"Thank you, my lady." The old man smiled back at her, obviously proud. "It might not be up to your standards," - he nodded at Ember Celica - "but I'll match anyone in Westeros when it comes to castle-forged steel."
Yang didn't know if that was an empty boast or not, but the blades she had seen in the smithy were of good quality. For simple steel. Unfortunately, none of Team RWBY's weapons were simple. "I believe you," she said. "If I need to do some work, I'll know where to go."
"'Do some work'?" Mikken cocked his head to the side, seemingly confused.
Yang grinned. "On my weapons - I made them myself." She raised Ember Celica and let the empty chambers cycle and click. "But they need regular maintenance. Care," she added when he didn't seem to understand the word.
"I didn't know you were a blacksmith as well, my lady," he said, staring at her as if he had never seen her before.
"It's tradition for a Huntress to craft her own weapon," Yang explained. "My sister spent months designing and crafting Crescent Rose."
"Oh, I had no idea. Of course, you can use the smithy," he said. After a moment, he added. "I don't want to presume I could watch when you use it?"
"Sure thing," she told him.
His eyes widened and he gasped. "Oh, thank you, thank you, my lady. It's an honour! Thank you!"
Yang nodded, trying not to show how confused she felt. Letting someone watch wasn't a big deal, was it? Of course, if you knew how a Huntress's weapon was built, you could plan how to counter it… Still, Ember Celica was a straightforward weapon. You couldn't get simpler than shotgun-gauntlets - hit stuff and shoot it. OK, you could, but Jaune was an exception.
So she kept smiling, said her goodbye and left the smithy. She would have to check with the others if she had made another mistake.
On the way back, she spotted Jon and Arya in a corner of the yard. They seemed to be arguing with each other - at least Arya seemed angry at him.
Frowning slightly, she changed course. They two were usually thick as thieves, and it didn't look as if Jon was fetching his sister for her mother - Yang was pretty familiar with how that usually went down.
"Yo!" she yelled halfway to their corner and waved.
Both jerked, looking startled, and Jon blushed at once.
Now, that was unusual - and made Yang even more determined to find out what was going on. "What are you up to?" she asked as she joined them.
"Nothing," Jon badly lied.
She raised her eyebrows at him, smirking, and he blushed even more. Then she turned to look at Arya, who was scowling - at Jon.
But the little girl perked up at once. "We were discussing marriage, Lady Yang."
"Arya!" Jon hissed.
"Marriage? Whose?" Yang kept her tone light, but if this concerned Ruby…
"Yours. And Jon's," Arya replied.
Yang blinked. "Mine?"
Jon actually grabbed Arya's shoulder and pulled her back. "Don't listen to her, my lady. She's being stupid. I told her so, but she doesn't listen!"
"Well, I'm listening," Yang said, flashing her teeth at them.
Both froze, but Arya was quicker to recover and wriggled out of his slackened grip. "Jon is being stupid and doesn't want to marry you even though he wants to, and it would be perfect!"
"What?" Yang stared at her.
"My lady… Lady Yang.. please, it's not… Arya! Don't… Don't say such things!" Jon stammered.
Arya, though, glared at him, then stared defiantly at Yang. "It would be perfect! If Jon marries you, we have an alliance and Jon - and you - can stay here!"
It was obvious that Yang was missing something. But the gist was clear. More or less. She didn't know why Jon couldn't stay, but that wasn't important right now. "And why does it have to be me?" she asked, trying not to clench her teeth at Arya.
The way Arya flinched meant Yang hadn't been too successful. But she rallied quickly. "Because he can't marry any of the others, but he can marry you because you're both bastards!"
Bas… "What?"
"Arya!" Jon grabbed her again. "You can't say that!" He pulled her behind himself and faced Yang. "Please… she didn't mean any offence! She's just a little girl who doesn't know anything! A stupid little girl!"
Did he think Yang would actually attack Arya? A girl half her size and about half her age? Really? Yang shook her head. She had to correct that. But, first… "Why do you think I'm a bastard?"
Now both were staring at her as if she had activated her Semblance. "But… Father said so!" Arya blurted out while peeking around Jon.
"Arya!"
"But he did!"
Oh. Yang sighed. Another misunderstanding. "Is this because Ruby and I have different last names?"
"Yes?" Arya didn't seem very sure about that.
"That is how it works, my lady. If you are a bastard, you have a bastard's name. Like Snow," Jon said.
Oh. They hadn't known that. Weiss wouldn't like that. But Yang had to set things straight here. Weiss had been clear that they had to be seen as noblewomen. And Yang might not be an expert on nobility, but she knew that bastards weren't nobles in Westeros. "That's not how it works back home," she told them. "You take the name of one of your parents. I took Dad's, Ruby took Mom's." It was a bit more complicated than that, but Yang wasn't going to explain the Xiao Long/Rose household arrangements.
"Oh. So… you're not a bastard?" Arya started.
"Arya! She just told us that!" Jon said. "Please excuse us, my lady!"
He sounded so desperate, Yang nodded and then waved while he literally dragged Arya away, starting to scold her before they were out of earshot.
Yang sighed. She was sure once she told the others, Weiss would blow her top again.
*****
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Chapter 5: Meeting Royalty
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Chapter 5: Meeting Royalty
'Most of the records, for obvious reasons, that cover King Robert Baratheon's reign focus on his rebellion against the Targaryen dynasty or the Succession. There is a dearth of sources covering his actual reign, although all agree that it was rather unspectacular, with the Greyjoy Rebellion standing out as the only notable event during the period - showing an unfortunately common bias towards war and other conflicts that persisted for centuries and, together with the loss of various records due to environmental hazards and wars, greatly hampers a modern historian's attempts to gain a clearer picture of the realm at peace in those times. Fortunately, the Ruby Order appeared during the waning days of King Robert's reign, and so we have several primary sources about the King's meeting with the Ruby Order in Winterfell. However, as with most sources from that time, all of them have to be considered biased for the various factions involved in the Succession, so they must be diligently examined and interpreted to sift truth from fiction.
While it is well-documented, again for reasons that should be obvious to anyone even remotely familiar with that period of Westeros, that the King was prone to fathering bastards, even sources very favourable to his house mentioning it, we can state with confidence that he did not have any such relations with the Four Maidens. There is only one, albeit relatively oft-quoted, source claiming this, and the author has been proven not to have been in Winterfell at the time. Lacking any verified sources, the report can be dismissed as a complete fabrication. However, dismissing the claims that Queen Cersei, one of the most controversial persons of the era, showed hostility towards the Order as soon as they were introduced to her is much more difficult. Even sources favourable to her do not deny that she had a volatile temper and was both excessively vain and extremely proud, which would make such a reaction plausible. However, even this task pales in comparison to trying to determine what claim about Prince Joffrey's reaction is actually true. The only thing all sources agree on is that he took great interest in the Four Maidens, albeit that could be said of anyone in the King's company at the time.'
Winterfell, The North, Westeros, 298 AC
"Lady Yang isn't a bastard?" Eddard Stark asked again. Just to be sure he hadn't misunderstood Jon and Arya.
"No, father. We, ah… happened to bring the topic up," Jon said with a glance at Arya that told Ned exactly who had brought up the topic, "and she clearly denied being a bastard - her father had married her mother, but she had left him shortly after Lady Yang's birth."
"Benjen said she had told him she was a bastard." Ned's brother had been clear about that.
"That apparently had been a misunderstanding. It's a sore subject for Lady Yang, with her mother gone, and so she didn't, ah, talk about it much," Jon said. "But she told us that she took her father's name, and Lady Ruby took her mother's name, as was custom in their home."
"Neither of them are bastards," Arya added.
"I see." Ned tried to ignore the sinking feeling in his guts, and the brief guilt for hiding the truth about Jon's parentage from him, and leaned back in his seat. So, he had heard correctly. And what had seemed like another children's scuffle blown out of proportion when Jon and Arya had all but barged into his solar, prompting Cat to scold them both, was now turning out to be a serious affair. Maybe deadly serious - he searched his memory; had he or anyone else ever treated Lady Yang as a bastard? Implied it? Insulted her honour? He didn't recall any such incident, but people might have done so out of his view.
"By the Seven!" Cat whispered. Ned glanced at her and tensed - she had grown deathly pale and had stayed silent since Jon and Arya had started to explain. "We thought… And she knows that we - that all of us - have been mistaking her for a bastard?"
Jon and Arya grimaced, which was answer enough to bury Ned's faint hope that Lady Yang hadn't been aware of this part.
"Ned… she will think we have been telling people that she was a bastard!" Cat was trembling, and with good cause.
Ned felt like his blood had frozen in his veins. Calling someone a bastard… Blood feuds had been started over less. Much less. And if Lady Yang and her friends took offence, they might tear down Winterfell in response. Literally.
"Well, you told us she was!" Arya said. "I wouldn't have asked her if I hadn't thought she was a bastard."
"Arya!" Cat snapped. "What possessed you to ask her such a thing?"
Arya pouted. "I wanted her and Jon to marry so we get our alliance and Jon can stay here."
Ned blinked. Arya had… That was what she had kept in mind from the whole lecture they had given the children?
Cat seemed too shocked to say anything.
And Jon shook his head. "I didn't say anything! It wasn't my idea! I tried to stop her, Father. I did."
"You like her! And she likes you! It was obvious!" Arya protested.
Ned ignored her and looked at Cat. "We have to do something. Quickly."
"Yes." Cat nodded, regaining her composure. "We have to make amends. Before Lady Yang takes action."
And Lady Ruby, of course. It was obvious now that they both were heirs to their families.
"She didn't seem mad," Arya said. "She was more… surprised. Confused. She wasn't mad, I tell you!"
Ned sighed. He couldn't trust his daughter's judgement in this, but maybe he could salvage this. "I'll talk to her." And he'd think about what amends he could offer to avoid a bloodbath.
Winterfell, The North, Westeros, 298 AC
Ned nodded at the courier and let the man take care of his horse and himself; he had ridden hard to bring the news Ned had expected: Robert was arriving today. Unless the wheelhouse of the royal family broke down again, though, unless Ned's friend had suddenly become much more patient, Robert would probably ride ahead anyway.
He suppressed a sigh. Robert had the worst timing. Not that it was his friend's fault. No, if anyone was at fault, it was Ned. And Benjen. If Ned's brother had not mistakenly assured Lady Yang was a bastard, things might be different.
Might be, or might not - even with that knowledge, Ned wasn't sure that he would have managed to secure an engagement between Robb and Lady Ruby or her sister. Cat thought so, but Ned disagreed. Arranging an engagement with the daughter of a house that wasn't part of the North was often a delicate and lengthy affair under the best circumstances. And the circumstances with Team Ruby could hardly be called ideal, even without the unfortunate misunderstanding.
He scoffed at his own thoughts. A misunderstanding? They had mistaken a legitimate noblewoman for a bastard! He had gone to the godswood and prayed to the Old Gods in gratitude that Lady Yang had not taken offence - had, actually, asked him not to punish Arya for her blunder! Despite her somewhat rash manners, she was obviously as kind as her sister.
And, unfortunately, as strange and different as well. All of them were - even Lady Weiss, who seemed the closest to understanding the North, likely because she hailed from a similar region in their homeland. Their manners and views sometimes seemed to be even more outrageous than their power. The way they acted, uncaring of their obvious rank and status, the way they sometimes marvelled at the most common things, such as common lemon cakes from the kitchen, yet seemed to take the Glass Gardens, Ned's pride and joy, and the heated pipes of Winterfell, a marvel in the North, in stride… It was all so confusing. To be so powerful, yet naive in some ways, was as endearing as it was terrifying and made trying to deal with them a challenge. One like trying to transport a jar of Wildfire on a rocky road.
Honestly, Ned would prefer not to deal with their visitors. Send them away to Oldtown or King's Landing, or Essos, and wish them well. But he couldn't do that. The girls were too strong to be set loose, far too strong. If Ned didn't get an alliance with them, someone else would - and Ned knew what many noble houses would do if they achieved that. Honour didn't mean as much in the South as it did in the North, and even oaths would be put aside to satisfy ambition. Team Ruby might not fly or breathe fire, but they would wreck an army in the field as effectively as dragons could, and three dragons had been enough to conquer Westeros. How many nobles would follow Balon Greyjoy's example if they thought - with good reason - that they could win against the might of the Seven Kingdoms?
The answer was: Too many. If Ned wanted to keep his family and lands safe, he needed to have an alliance with his guests. Otherwise, his own oaths to the crown might see him and his banners face them in the field. Ned had fought in two wars already; he didn't want to fight in a third, and certainly not on the side doomed to lose.
Sometimes, Ned thought it would make the most sense to simply ask Lady Ruby straight away if she was amenable to an engagement with Robb, either for herself or for her sister, instead of trying to subtly sound them out beforehand.
But Cat was right; they couldn't risk another blunder. Not when dealing with girls who could not only lift wagons without any trouble and cut down trees thicker than a man's torso with a single swing of their blade, but also took full swings from swords to the face without a scratch. Granted, that had been a training sword, but any normal girl would have been dead or maimed after such a blow instead of telling Jon how happy she was that he finally stopped holding back.
And as terrifying as it was to see them spar with each other, trading blows that could shatter stone on a miss, Ned was certain that they were holding back and hiding their true strength. They were good, easily better than most knights Ned had seen fight, but sometimes, they seemed to stumble or hesitate at odd moments - making mistakes no knight as skilled as they were would do.
No, starting a fight with them would be a disaster for Ned and his family. And that was without considering that some of the smallfolk in Winterfell were muttering about the girls being messengers of the Old Gods. Or the Old Gods themselves. A ludicrous notion, of course - the girls might be foreigners from a strange land, but they were no more divine than Ned himself was unless the gods had truly gone crazy - but Ned didn't want to find out what might happen if his people thought he'd go against the gods. Nothing good would come of that.
But all that didn't change that Ned had failed to secure an engagement with Lady Ruby, and now Robert would arrive, with half the royal court, or so it seemed, and that would complicate matters.
Ned would have to talk to his friend as soon as possible to head off the potential disaster.
"I can see the King's banner!" Perkin, the guard stationed at the top of the closest tower, yelled down.
Ned straightened and looked at his family. Everyone was present and dressed in their finest clothes. Even Arya - after her blunder had imperilled the entire family, his daughter knew better than to disobey her parents again. Cat just finished redoing the ties of her cloak before inspecting the rest of their children. Benjen stood next to them, dressed in the black leathers of the Night's Watch, and… Ned sighed. To the side, near the stables, Lady Yang was chatting with Jon. The last thing Ned wanted was for his nephew to draw Robert's attention, and even wearing a proper Northern dress, Lady Yang's hair and face would draw his friend's eye.
But before he could think of the best way to separate the two, Lady Weiss had already wandered over and all but dragged Lady Yang back to the rest of their group, who were waiting slightly behind Ned as honoured guests. Lady Yang seemed amused rather than offended by being treated like a wayward child, he noticed.
"Alright, Team!" he heard Lady Ruby exclaim. "We're gonna meet a king, so let's be on our best behaviour!"
"Yeah!" Lady Yang chimed in, to the obvious displeasure of Lady Weiss. Lady Blake, on the other hand, seemed to be too busy staring at the kennels on the other side of the courtyard to pay any attention to the scene.
"Well, they aren't wearing their 'combat clothes'," Ned whispered when he saw Cat frowning as she joined his side.
Cat frowned at him in return. "You know how much work that took," she whispered back.
"I know." Kissing her would have been inappropriate, but he wrapped his arm around her waist for a brief, one-sided hug. If Lady Ruby and her friends had insisted on 'making an impression'... Well, no need to worry about it any more.
And there came the King! Ned straightened and took a step forward as the royal party rode into Winterfell, with his friend in the lead, flanked by two members of the Kingsguard. He smiled - he hadn't seen his friend in almost ten years. And Robert…
…had grown fat, Ned realised.
"Ned!" Robert bellowed - at least his voice had not changed - as he dismounted and walked towards him.
"Your Grace." Ned knelt, as did everyone else in the courtyard. He resisted the sudden urge to glance over his shoulder to check if his guests were kneeling as well, though the lack of any reaction from Robert and the others in his party told him they were. "Winterfell is yours."
"Stand up, Ned, and let me look at you! You haven't changed a bit!"
"Unlike you," Ned replied with a faint smile as Robert hugged him. He heard Cat gasp softly next to him, but his friend laughed. "I know, I know! I can still swing a hammer, though!"
Ned believed him - his friend might have grown fat, but his strength hadn't waned much, if at all, as Ned's ribs told him.
Robert released him and greeted Cat. "Lady Catelyn! As beautiful as you were at your wedding!"
"Your Grace." Cat curtsied, and Ned caught Lady Ruby staring intently at her as Robert greeted his children before turning towards the Prince, who had dismounted.
"Joffrey! Come! Let me present you to my best friend!"
Ned studied the lad as he approached. He was slender and had the Lannister hair, Ned noticed. Though, he realised with a mixture of amusement and worry as he saw the Prince stare at Ned's guests, the Prince obviously had his father's eye for the ladies.
Prince Joffrey wasn't too distracted to forget his manners, though, and greeted Ned and his family properly.
Then the queen arrived with her two younger children in tow - on foot, since they must have been travelling in the giant wheelhouse, too wide and tall to pass through Winterfell's gate, and more greetings were exchanged, as well as bread and salt shared. Where Robert was genuine and charming, Queen Cersei was polite but aloof. And her expression when she noticed Lady Ruby and her friends, coupled with a glance at Robert, spelt trouble.
"And who are those charming maidens, Ned?" Robert had noticed them as well, of course.
Ned cleared his throat. "Ah, Your Grace - may I introduce Lady Ruby, Lady Weiss, Lady Blake and Lady Yang. They are guests at Winterfell - they were stranded in the North after a mishap."
To his relief, Lady Ruby didn't cheerfully start telling the royal family about everything they had gone through but merely curtsied with an almost shy smile. "We're honoured to make your acquaintance, Your Grace!" she said as her friends curtsied as well - with more grace than her, Ned couldn't help noticing.
Robert beamed at them, but the Queen's expression could have frozen molten steel, and despite the scowl that appeared on Queen Cersei's face, Ned was relieved when Robert insisted on paying his respects to Lyanna, prompting the Queen to proceed to their quarters with her children without him.
Their quarters, which were, he realised, perhaps, a bit too close to Lady Ruby's, but Ned couldn't do anything about that without offending either the Royal family or Lady Ruby and her friends.
He needed to explain a few things to his friend, and that was best done in private and as soon as possible. Fortunately, the crypt offered both.
"A word, Robert," Ned called when his friend had paid his respects in front of Lyanna's grave.
"Yes?" His friend frowned. "I actually have something to talk to you as well…"
"It's important," Ned told him. "Very important." For everyone. "You need to know a few things about my guests."
"Oh?" Robert grinned.
Ned sighed again. "They are not from Westeros. Nor from Essos. They aren't familiar with our customs, so if they seem to give offence, it's because they don't know better."
"Oh, don't worry! Who could carry a grudge against such lovely maidens?" Robert smiled, then frowned. "Except for Cersei, of course. I see the problem."
No, you don't, Ned thought. He took a deep breath. "Each of the four maidens also could defeat the entire Kingsguard by themselves." Probably with one hand tied behind their back.
Robert blinked. "What?"
Ned sighed. This would take a bit to explain so his friend would believe it.
The King kept looking at them even though they were wearing the proper dresses and looked perfectly normal. So, why did he stare at them as if they had done something wrong? They hadn't! Ruby Rose glanced at her team, who was seated next to her, at the end of the 'high table', as they called the table for the Starks and their guests, to check again, but no, everyone was on their best behaviour. And Blake's cat ears were hidden under her ribbon, as usual, so that wasn't it either. And Ruby hadn't stained her dress.
She glanced at her team. None of their dresses were stained. Or 'inappropriate' - they were covered from neck to floor, not very tight so at least they could move in them though fighting would tear them, with long sleeves - though not as long as the billowing sleeves of the Queen; those almost reached the floor or so - and a high collar with lots of needlework and fur that was slightly itchy if you closed it. They also looked very similar to each other, but apparently, that was the style in the North. At least, they had different colours - Ruby's was dark red, Yang's was dark yellow, Blake's was dark grey and Weiss's was dark blue. But they were so bland, no one should be looking at them!
She clenched her teeth. This was making her nervous! She felt like she did whenever a teacher at Beacon frowned at her even though she had done all her homework and hadn't been sneaking out of the school at night. But they hadn't really done anything - they hadn't even done any training today; Weiss had insisted that they went over, again, how to behave in front of the King instead. All those rules had been very confusing. Fortunately, Ruby had paid attention to how Lady Catelyn curtsied, or she would have messed up.
Oh.
"Do you think Lord Eddard told him about us? The King, I mean," she whispered to Weiss, who was seated directly next to her.
"I believe so, yes," Weiss replied in that tone she sometimes took when she thought Ruby had asked a stupid question.
She blushed and hoped that Benjen, seated on her other side, hadn't overheard them. That would be embarrassing. It wasn't as if she hadn't also assumed that, but it was better to check before making assumptions, especially if they involved royalty. There were just too many mistakes you could make if you were nervous (like she was)! She was very glad that Team RWBY wasn't spread out between the new guests, like the other Starks were, but seated together.
"Where are you from, Lady Ruby?"
She froze for a moment. That was Prince Joffrey, talking to her across the table - he was sitting much closer to Lord Stark, next to Sansa. Was she supposed to talk across so many other people? Wasn't that rude? Oh, the others around them had fallen silent. Even the little man, Lord Lannister. Well, Joffrey was the crown prince. If he spoke, people listened, right?
And she needed to answer, or she'd be rude. To royalty. "We're from Vale," she told him. "Your Grace." Couldn't forget the title. Weiss had been very clear about that. "Not the Vale of Westeros, but one of the four kingdoms of our home. Well, Yang and I are from Vale, Weiss is from Atlas and Blake from Mistral." That was the cover story, at least, since she was hiding her Faunus ears. "But we all go to Beacon, the Huntsman Academy of Vale."
"You have an academy for hunters?" The Prince sounded amused.
"Huntsmen and Huntresses, Your Grace," she corrected him, then flushed in embarrassment. Was she supposed to correct royalty? But if no one corrected them, how would they keep from repeating their mistakes?
"They are the protectors of their people, Prince Joffrey," Lord Eddard cut in. "Like an order of knights."
"Knights?" The Prince was laughing, and Ruby frowned. He wasn't the only one, she noticed - many of the new guests were laughing or smirking. Even the handsome Knight of the Kingsguard.
Arya looked like she wanted to yell at the Prince but didn't. And Sansa looked lost.
"They are formidable warriors, Your Grace," Benjen said. "I've not seen the like in my life."
Ruby smiled at him for his support.
"I'll believe that you haven't seen girls fighting," the Prince replied with a smirk. "You're a Black Brother, aren't you?"
Benjen tensed at that but didn't correct the Prince even though Ruby knew that he had been fighting Wildlings, and they included women - spearwives they were called, as Ruby had learned - amongst their raiders. Some of them had attacked Team RWBY on the way south.
Benjen wasn't the only one who looked annoyed - or angry. Robb was glaring at the Prince, and even Lord Stark was frowning. Maybe Ruby should say something? The King and his family obviously didn't know about Team RWBY, so…
"You have to admit, Ned, that none of them looks as if they could lift a sword, much less swing it while wearing armour," the King spoke up. "Now, I believe you - you have never told me a lie - but you have to admit that it sounds a little far-fetched that they could not merely fight but defeat any knight in the castle, including the Kingsguard."
Ruby almost missed how Lord Stark winced when everyone at the table started to talk at once.
"Preposterous!"
"I've seen them cut through trees with one swing!"
"Little girls like that? Do you think we're fools?"
"They could fight you all at once and win! Maybe they should!"
"Arya!"
"Your Grace, please, I've seen them train myself…"
"And here I thought Lord Stark had no sense of humour!"
"I would not be so sure, brother…"
"Those little girls beating grown knights? Hah!"
"Northern knights, maybe - there's so few of them to begin with."
"I know what swords they are handling!"
"I wouldn't mind 'fighting' them!"
Ruby pressed her lips together and balled her hands into fists under the table. They were supposed to be polite and behave like ladies, but this wasn't how ladies were treated! She didn't know as much about this country's customs as Weiss did, but she knew that! She glared at the King - he was the King, so he was responsible for his people! And he wasn't doing anything! No, even worse - when he looked at her, he was smirking! Smirking when people were mocking her team!
Screw it! She stood up, narrowed her eyes at him with a huff, then activated her Semblance and dashed around the table too fast for anyone to see, much less react, coming to a stop behind him. Gritting her teeth, she grabbed his chair and lifted him over her head while the rose petals trailing behind her faded slowly.
Everyone froze and stared at her, and Ruby felt her cheeks flush before she clenched her teeth. She had no reason to be embarrassed!
"Unhand the King!" someone - one of the knights in white plate armour - snapped, his sword out and pointed at her. The other Kingsguard she recognised, the handsome blonde, though he wasn't wearing his armour, was standing as well, sword drawn.
"Ruby!" Weiss yelled.
"You go, Sis!" Yang cheered.
"Lady Ruby!" Lady Stark looked shocked.
Then the King laughed out loud. She looked up and saw he was leaning over the side - she had to adjust her grip - and he was smiling at her. "So, Ned was right! You are stronger than the Mountain!"
Now, she felt embarrassed. Had he wanted her to lose her temper? Had she played into his hand? But she had made her point. She slowly lowered the chair down to the ground, taking care not to drop it or break it. "I don't know who the Mountain is, but we're pretty strong, yes."
"And modest, too!" The King had a booming laugh, like Professor Port. He had a similar figure as well.
"Well…" What should she say? She felt like a fool for losing her temper. Everyone was staring at her. "...we're Huntresses," she finished. Lame.
He laughed again, and the others joined in. Or almost all of them - the Queen and Lady Stark weren't laughing, she noted. And Weiss was covering her face with her hands.
But the King was laughing, and the creeps making lewd comments had shut up, and her dress hadn't been torn while she ran, so she counted this as a win.
Weiss Schnee was going to kill Ruby. In self-defence because Ruby kept trying to kill her. Assaulting the King! After everything they had gone over about how to act in front of royalty!
At least the king had a sense of humour and was amused - he was laughing and joking with Ruby. And, unless Weiss was completely mistaken, which was unlikely but not entirely impossible, the King had expected something like this to happen - and had engineered it. Of course, as the King, he would be used to plots and power plays, and she could see how he used his portly stature and boisterous nature to fool others into overlooking his depths. Not unlike Professor Port.
She looked away from Ruby, who was blushing furiously in response to another joke from the King, and glanced at the rest of Team RWBY. Blake was as composed as ever, though Weiss could tell she wasn't truly relaxed but ready to spring into action, and Yang…
"That's my little sis!"
…was as cheerful about the whole near-catastrophe as Weiss should have expected.
She sighed under her breath and looked at the rest of the table. Lord Stark was smiling, though it was hard to tell if he was truly relaxed or just polite - he wasn't very expressive. Lady Catelyn, on the other hand, was not happy; Weiss knew her well enough now to be able to tell. Sansa was looking relieved and slightly confused. The girl was obviously still adjusting to the sudden development. And the Prince…
Weiss frowned. The Prince was staring at Ruby. He had gone from dismissive to completely focused, maybe fixated on her. No, she realised when he glanced in her direction, he wasn't fixated on Ruby - he was focused on Team RWBY.
She met his eyes with a cool expression, inclining her head in the slightest hint of a nod. She was a Schnee, and prince or not, Schnees bowed to no one. Well, not unless manners demanded it. But no one would intimidate her.
He smirked and then looked at Blake, then Yang, ignoring Sansa's attempts to restart their conversation.
Weiss suppressed the urge to shake her head and let her gaze wander. Arya was talking the second prince's head off, or so it seemed, and Bran looked like he was answering a lot of questions from the princess. Children being children, in other words. The adults were far more important. Lord Tyrion Lannister, the dwarf, was joking with the blonde Kingsguard; as Weiss understood they were brothers to the queen, though the knight only seemed to listen half-heartedly. He wasn't smirking at them any more, Weiss noted with more than a little satisfaction. While Ruby's impulsive action had gone against the plan they had agreed upon for this - it was pretty much the opposite of keeping your head down and behaving like noble ladies - Weiss had to admit that it had been galling to be laughed at and dismissed as liars.
She would still have a talk with Ruby about this.
Yes, she told herself when she saw the Queen's cold expression as Ruby was talking with the King, they would have to discuss this.
But in private, not in public.
"This was an impressive demonstration, Lady Weiss."
She turned her head and looked at the little man - Lord Tyrion, she corrected herself. "I am happy you think so, my lord," she replied. He had heterochromia, she noticed when she met his eyes.
"Are all of you as fast and strong?"
"We're not quite as fast as Lady Ruby, but we're much stronger than we look." That was already known by everyone in Winterfell, and she had no doubt that the visitors would know it by tomorrow at the latest.
"I've never seen someone so fast you couldn't see them move - not that far, at least," he went on. "Those petals she was trailing… They appeared and vanished like magic."
Oh. "It's a family trait," she told him. And it was an effect of Ruby's Semblance, not 'magic', but that was another topic.
"Ruby's a Rose," Yang added with a grin.
"Ah." Lord Tyrion nodded. "And you have similar traits, I presume."
"Not like her," Weiss said.
"I just hit stuff," Yang cut in again, smacking her fist into her palm.
"Fascinating." The man smiled. "Although, as my dear brother is fond to say, mere strength and quickness will always yield to skill."
Not when facing a Huntress, Weiss thought. "Indeed," she said, smiling politely.
"Well, I suspect we'll be granted the opportunity to judge how skilled you are ourselves - I believe the King will insist on a demonstration." Lord Tyrion nodded towards the head of the table with a smirk.
Weiss followed his gaze and saw that Ruby was still talking to the King, standing between him and Lord Stark - and moving her hands as if she were wielding her scythe while she told him about Crescent Rose. "I believe so as well," she said in a dry voice.
Maybe giving Ruby a chaperone wouldn't have been a bad idea. Weiss wanted to join the discussion, but she knew better than to push their luck and butt in. Ruby's stunt had worked out, but that didn't mean another faux pas would be tolerated, much less welcomed.
"Will you be sparring with the Kingsguard, then, my lady?" Lord Tyrion asked before taking a sip from his glass.
Weiss would rather not spar with, according to Bran, the best fighters in the entire kingdom. She had no doubt that they wouldn't take a loss well. But she also was sure that they couldn't avoid that. Still, this would take a delicate touch to…
"Hell, yeah!" Yang beamed at Lord Tyrion's brother. "Can't wait to find out how good you are!"
The knight seemed surprised at first before he smirked at her. "You took the words out of my mouth, my lady."
"Oh, great, now there are two of them," Blake whispered next to Weiss.
Weiss nodded, but her attention was on the Queen, whose expression had grown even colder - she was openly frowning, and at Yang and the others, not at Ruby any more, Weiss noticed.
And she couldn't help wondering again if Ruby charming the King had been a good idea or not.
They had to discuss this. And soon.
Winterfell, The North, Westeros, 298 AC
"...and you spent the entire evening talking to that barbarian, shaming your own family! Shaming me!"
"What are you talking about, woman? I spent the whole evening next to you!"
"Ignoring me while that harlot all but crawled into your lap!"
"Don't insult Ned's guests, woman! I know the difference between a harlot and a noblewoman!"
"And yet, you treat them all the same! I bet they're already waiting in your bed!"
"It's not as if you'll be there, is it?"
"Get out!"
"With pleasure! Who would want to stay in the same chamber as a woman so cold, even hot springs freeze around her?"
Blake Belladonna, hiding in the shadows beneath the windows leading into the royal bedroom - the Queen's chamber, it seemed, given what she overheard - winced as she heard the sound of a door being slammed shut. It was obvious that the marriage between the King and Queen was… 'rocky' would be an euphemism if this was a typical evening talk for the royal couple.
"That oaf! To disgrace me so by lusting after foreign barbarians! In front of the entire hall and his supposed best friend. So much for the 'honourable Lord Stark'! Shaming me by bringing such foreign sluts to the table as if they were noble ladies! And that after dragging us up to this freezing wasteland just to name this northern oaf as his hand!"
Blake's ears twitched as the Queen ranted on. She presented an icy demeanour, but it seemed that right beneath it, a volatile temper was hiding to erupt as soon as she was in private. And given her obvious jealousy - even though there was no reason for her to be jealous at all; it wasn't as if Ruby had any designs on the king since the man was old enough to be her father and as fat as Professor Port! - that spelt trouble for Team RWBY.
She looked around - the King was supposed to be guarded by at least one member of the Kingsguard at all times, but they obviously didn't patrol the outside of the keep's walls - and, once assured there were no witnesses, quickly climbed along the wall to listen at the next window, which, according to what she had overheard two servants talk about in the morning, would be the Crown Prince's chamber.
"What do you think, Hound? Is it a trick? A mummer's farce?"
Hound? Blake shivered. If the prince had a dog…
"Didn't look like a trick."
That was a harsh voice…. Oh. That would be the Prince's 'sworn sword' - his bodyguard. The one as tall as Yatsuhashi from Team CFVY, with half his face covered in burn scars. Why was he here? Did the Prince fear an assassination attempt in the keep of his father's best friend? Or… did the Prince fear Team RWBY had taken offence at his comments?
"But how could a slip of a girl be so strong? It must be a trick. This is impossible. Oh, no! I know it! She is no girl but a Faceless Man!"
Faceless man? Blake hadn't heard that term before.
The Hound grunted.
"No, it makes perfect sense! They know Father's weakness for pretty women and used that to get close to him to assassinate him! We have to tell the Kingsguard!"
Blake froze as she heard the door swing open. The Prince thought Ruby was an assassin posing as a girl? How would that work? Magic, obviously, but… That could wait; she had to know how the King would react!
Quickly, she scaled the wall, using her Semblance to create clones to push off from, allowing her to jump from hiding spot to hiding spot while they shattered beneath her, until she was hanging from a slight outcrop above the king's chamber. If the Prince was running, he would reach the chamber's doors about… and she should…
Oh. She blushed. The King was… 'busy', or so it sounded. At the very least, he was distracted.
And, she added, when she heard the knocking on the door and his harsh reaction, not happy to be disturbed in the middle of being busy with carnal activities.
"What? Ser Barristan!"
"Your Grace, Prince Joffrey insisted that it was a matter of life and death."
"Yes, Father, it's… what are you doing?"
"Being interrupted, Boy. By you. Why aren't you in bed yet?"
"But… Who's that in your bed?"
"None of your business. Now, what do you want?"
"But…"
"Boy!"
"I know how the girl could lift your chair with you sitting on it, Father! She is a Faceless Man!"
"What?"
"That's why she was so strong, father! It all makes sense! She's here to assassinate you!"
"That's the stupidest thing I've heard all day, Boy!"
"But, father…"
"If she were an assassin, she would have posed as dear… Lerra here."
"It's Lorra, Your Grace."
"Whatever! They would be sneaking into my bed to kill me, not out themselves by showing off their strength!"
"But Father…"
"Now, get out, Boy! I'm busy!"
"But Father…!"
"Out, or I'll tan your hide!"
Blake winced again and left before the king returned to being busy. The others had to hear this.
"What? The Prince thought I was an assassin?"
Blake nodded. "He did. He went to disturb the King in his bed."
"But… how?" Ruby looked incredulous.
"I could imagine a Semblance allowing you to mask your true form," Weiss said, "but since they don't have Aura in this world, it must be magic."
"Or it's bullshit," Yang commented. "Rumours and hearsay. If that was possible, wouldn't someone else have brought it up?" She looked at Blake.
Blake shook her head, "I haven't heard the term until today. I'll check with Luwin tomorrow." Another excuse to visit the library was always welcome.
Ruby was still shaking her head in obvious disbelief. "He thought I was a man? That makes no sense!"
"Well, at least the King set him straight," Yang said. "Imagine if he had believed the Prince!"
Ruby groaned.
"We have another problem, though," Blake said. "The Queen thinks we're trying to seduce the King." Or vice versa - not that it seemed the Queen would care about the difference. "And she's got a low opinion of us." Better not go into details. Yang might take offence on Ruby's behalf.
Weiss sighed.
"We just talked about weapons! He has a huge warhammer!" Ruby blurted out. "And she was right there, next to him! She should have heard everything!"
"I could hear you, and I was sitting at the other end of the table," Weiss said.
"Really?" Ruby blinked.
Blake was intrigued. She had had trouble overhearing Ruby's talk with so many others speaking up, so…
"No. But I knew what you were saying from how you acted," Weiss told her.
Ah.
"Oh." Ruby pouted.
"So… tomorrow. We're expected to demonstrate our 'fighting prowess'," Weiss said. "This will complicate things."
"Why? The Starks and their people already know we're strong," Ruby said.
"The Queen might be even more offended if we show off," Weiss said. "I don't have to explain how bad it is if the wife of the King dislikes us, do I?"
"No…" Ruby sighed. "And I was looking forward to sparring."
"And if the Prince tells others about his theory…" Weiss shook her head.
"We're still sparring," Yang said.
"But now the mood's ruined!"
"Then we'll change the mood!"
Blake smiled. Her partner was always so optimistic. But she doubted that things would be as easy - or smooth - tomorrow. Not after what she had overheard today on her excursion. And she hadn't even reached Lord Tyrion's chamber.
Winterfell, The North, Westeros, 298 AC
As Yang Xiao Long approached the training yard, the men using it stopped at once - the guards of Winterfell because they knew her, the new guys because they were staring at her as if they had never seen a hot Huntress before. Well, they had never seen a hot Huntress in her combat clothes.
"Good morning, Lady Yang. You're early," Ser Rodrik Cassel, the master-at-arms, greeted her. He was frowning, but probably more at the gawking crowd than at her. At least, Yang hoped so - she knew she was disrupting his daily routine. But, hey - she had a reason she was here before the rest of Team RWBY. And the reason was standing in the back with another Kingsguard.
"I promised to spar with Ser Jaime," she said. "I wanted to check if he was available before we give our demonstration."
"Ah, of course." Ser Rodrik smiled broadly. "In that case, the training yard is yours."
"Are you sure?" she asked, frowning a little. She had never seen the man look so happy before.
"Oh, yes. Ser Jaime was concerned he could not train properly in Winterfell, lacking skilled opponents, so I am happy you will step in."
"Ah." So, that was it - the new knight had dissed the guards, and Ser Rodrik wanted to see him taken down a peg or two. Well, Yang was happy to oblige; the knight was handsome, but he had an insufferable smirk.
"Thank you," she told the old man, then jumped over the fence and stepped into the middle of the training yard. "Ser Jaime! Are you free for a little sparring match?"
He looked at her, then looked her over, raising his eyebrows with one of those stupid smirks. "Shouldn't you put your armour on before challenging people?"
Yang snorted and put her hand on her hip, flashing a grin at him. "I am ready; these are my combat clothes."
"You fight in these?" He seemed surprised.
"We train as we fight."
"Without armour? I would never forgive myself if a strike of mine would add a blemish to your fair appearance!"
She rolled her eyes. Unlike Jon, who had said more or less the same, in simpler words, Jaime didn't sound as if he meant it. "Trust me, there's no danger of that."
"You seem very confident for someone who has never seen me fight," he shot back, still smirking. "Strength isn't everything."
She made a point of sighing loudly, then turned to look at their audience, focusing her Aura. "Ser Rodrik, would you mind demonstrating to Ser Jaime that he can't really hurt me?"
"Gladly, Lady Yang." Ser Rodrik started walking towards her and drew his sword. Half the audience started snickering. The other half looked confused.
Ser Jaime was part of the latter and frowned. "I fail to see what…" He trailed off when Ser Rodrik reached Yang, raised his sword high - and brought it down in a two-handed swing, straight on Yang's head.
People screamed, and the older Kingsguard next to Ser Jaime rushed forward, his own sword drawn. "Stop!"
Ser Rodrik didn't stop and hit her on the head. Her Aura took the blow - she could easily afford the cost - and she turned to grin at Ser Jaime while the guards of Winterfell chuckled, and some cheered.
Both Kingsguards were staring at her. The older one recovered first, nodding at her with slightly narrowed eyes as he sheathed his blade, and Ser Jaime smiled wryly. "Well played, my lady," he said as he stepped forward.
She grinned at him and did a few stretches. "Don't hold back."
"Oh, trust me, I won't." In a lower voice, he added: "Let's see if you are as skilled as you are thickheaded."
She chuckled - the guy had some wit to him - and smashed her gauntlets together. "We fight until one yields or is knocked out, alright?"
"As you wish." He nodded, still smiling, but, as Blake would say, it didn't reach his eyes. So, he was taking her seriously. Good.
"Ser Rodrik, if you'd like to give the signal?" Yang asked, turning her head.
"Very well." The knight was still smiling widely, and judging by the narrowed eyes of Ser Jaime, the Kingsguard knew what was up.
"Begin."
Yang dashed forward, drawing her right fist back for a telegraphed punch.
Ser Jaime moved to the side, his shield raised to deflect her blow, and lunged, trying to stab her in the stomach.
She threw herself forward, over his blade, flipping over in the middle of her jump, and planted both boots onto his chest and shoulder. It wasn't really a kick - she flexed her knees as she did so, but it sent him staggering anyway, and when she pushed off, jumping away, he was sent sprawling.
Half the audience cheered again. Loudly. Ser Jaime must know how to make friends.
He rose quickly, shield and sword ready to defend against an attack, but Yang stayed back - it was no fun kicking a guy when he was down.
But it was fun teasing and taunting a guy who was a bit too full of himself, so she smirked and gestured with her right hand, inviting him to attack.
He did and charged at her, and she blocked his sword with her left gauntlet and his shield with her right. He stepped back before her - admittedly slow - kick could sweep his feet, then attacked again, trying to stab her in the calf.
She jumped up, flipping head over heels, and landed in a crouch a few metres away, then charged him. A flip of her left arm struck his sword to the side, and while he got his shield between them, she dropped in front of him and swept his legs out from under him.
Once more, he ended up on the ground, but he got up as quickly as before. "Well done," he said - a bit too lightly, to be honest, in her opinion. "I see I will have to work on my footwork."
Yang grinned. "Let me give you a hand and a leg up!" She dashed forward, and they started trading blows, sword and shield against Ember Celica, with the occasional high kick thrown in.
She was holding back, of course, but he was good. Damned good - he made Jon look like a beginner. If she weren't stronger, faster and hotter, he probably would make her sweat. And he might trounce Jaune even with Jaune not holding back - as long as Jaime could avoid getting hit, of course, which would be a very tall order.
But Yang wasn't Jaune, and so the match ended with Jaime yielding, breathing heavily and not looking quite so smug or shiny any more, and with Yang not even winded.
"And here I thought I wouldn't find good entertainment until the evening. To see my dear brother humbled like this by a mere girl… How will your pride survive this?"
Oh. Lord Tyrion must have arrived at one point during the sparring match, and Yang hadn't noticed. He was smirking at Jaime, and despite how different they looked, they had the same smirk. Definitely brothers.
"My pride would say that there's no one who can stand up to Lady Yang," Ser Jaime shot back. "It was a good bout, my lady. Enlightening, I'd say."
"Yeah, good fight," she replied. But she couldn't help thinking that the man didn't really mean it. Well, Winterfell's guards might have been cheering a bit too loudly at his defeat, and that would hurt anyone's ego or pride.
The other Kingsguard, though, nodded at her with all the signs of honest respect.
"Well, you've got the right hair - can we claim you as a Lannister? So Jaime's loss stays in the family?" Lord Tyrion chuckled at his own joke, and Yang laughed as well.
But she suspected that the small noble wasn't completely joking.
'Most of the records, for obvious reasons, that cover King Robert Baratheon's reign focus on his rebellion against the Targaryen dynasty or the Succession. There is a dearth of sources covering his actual reign, although all agree that it was rather unspectacular, with the Greyjoy Rebellion standing out as the only notable event during the period - showing an unfortunately common bias towards war and other conflicts that persisted for centuries and, together with the loss of various records due to environmental hazards and wars, greatly hampers a modern historian's attempts to gain a clearer picture of the realm at peace in those times. Fortunately, the Ruby Order appeared during the waning days of King Robert's reign, and so we have several primary sources about the King's meeting with the Ruby Order in Winterfell. However, as with most sources from that time, all of them have to be considered biased for the various factions involved in the Succession, so they must be diligently examined and interpreted to sift truth from fiction.
While it is well-documented, again for reasons that should be obvious to anyone even remotely familiar with that period of Westeros, that the King was prone to fathering bastards, even sources very favourable to his house mentioning it, we can state with confidence that he did not have any such relations with the Four Maidens. There is only one, albeit relatively oft-quoted, source claiming this, and the author has been proven not to have been in Winterfell at the time. Lacking any verified sources, the report can be dismissed as a complete fabrication. However, dismissing the claims that Queen Cersei, one of the most controversial persons of the era, showed hostility towards the Order as soon as they were introduced to her is much more difficult. Even sources favourable to her do not deny that she had a volatile temper and was both excessively vain and extremely proud, which would make such a reaction plausible. However, even this task pales in comparison to trying to determine what claim about Prince Joffrey's reaction is actually true. The only thing all sources agree on is that he took great interest in the Four Maidens, albeit that could be said of anyone in the King's company at the time.'
- A Treatise On The Ruby Order, by Maester Kennet Bracken
*****
Winterfell, The North, Westeros, 298 AC
"Lady Yang isn't a bastard?" Eddard Stark asked again. Just to be sure he hadn't misunderstood Jon and Arya.
"No, father. We, ah… happened to bring the topic up," Jon said with a glance at Arya that told Ned exactly who had brought up the topic, "and she clearly denied being a bastard - her father had married her mother, but she had left him shortly after Lady Yang's birth."
"Benjen said she had told him she was a bastard." Ned's brother had been clear about that.
"That apparently had been a misunderstanding. It's a sore subject for Lady Yang, with her mother gone, and so she didn't, ah, talk about it much," Jon said. "But she told us that she took her father's name, and Lady Ruby took her mother's name, as was custom in their home."
"Neither of them are bastards," Arya added.
"I see." Ned tried to ignore the sinking feeling in his guts, and the brief guilt for hiding the truth about Jon's parentage from him, and leaned back in his seat. So, he had heard correctly. And what had seemed like another children's scuffle blown out of proportion when Jon and Arya had all but barged into his solar, prompting Cat to scold them both, was now turning out to be a serious affair. Maybe deadly serious - he searched his memory; had he or anyone else ever treated Lady Yang as a bastard? Implied it? Insulted her honour? He didn't recall any such incident, but people might have done so out of his view.
"By the Seven!" Cat whispered. Ned glanced at her and tensed - she had grown deathly pale and had stayed silent since Jon and Arya had started to explain. "We thought… And she knows that we - that all of us - have been mistaking her for a bastard?"
Jon and Arya grimaced, which was answer enough to bury Ned's faint hope that Lady Yang hadn't been aware of this part.
"Ned… she will think we have been telling people that she was a bastard!" Cat was trembling, and with good cause.
Ned felt like his blood had frozen in his veins. Calling someone a bastard… Blood feuds had been started over less. Much less. And if Lady Yang and her friends took offence, they might tear down Winterfell in response. Literally.
"Well, you told us she was!" Arya said. "I wouldn't have asked her if I hadn't thought she was a bastard."
"Arya!" Cat snapped. "What possessed you to ask her such a thing?"
Arya pouted. "I wanted her and Jon to marry so we get our alliance and Jon can stay here."
Ned blinked. Arya had… That was what she had kept in mind from the whole lecture they had given the children?
Cat seemed too shocked to say anything.
And Jon shook his head. "I didn't say anything! It wasn't my idea! I tried to stop her, Father. I did."
"You like her! And she likes you! It was obvious!" Arya protested.
Ned ignored her and looked at Cat. "We have to do something. Quickly."
"Yes." Cat nodded, regaining her composure. "We have to make amends. Before Lady Yang takes action."
And Lady Ruby, of course. It was obvious now that they both were heirs to their families.
"She didn't seem mad," Arya said. "She was more… surprised. Confused. She wasn't mad, I tell you!"
Ned sighed. He couldn't trust his daughter's judgement in this, but maybe he could salvage this. "I'll talk to her." And he'd think about what amends he could offer to avoid a bloodbath.
*****
Winterfell, The North, Westeros, 298 AC
Ned nodded at the courier and let the man take care of his horse and himself; he had ridden hard to bring the news Ned had expected: Robert was arriving today. Unless the wheelhouse of the royal family broke down again, though, unless Ned's friend had suddenly become much more patient, Robert would probably ride ahead anyway.
He suppressed a sigh. Robert had the worst timing. Not that it was his friend's fault. No, if anyone was at fault, it was Ned. And Benjen. If Ned's brother had not mistakenly assured Lady Yang was a bastard, things might be different.
Might be, or might not - even with that knowledge, Ned wasn't sure that he would have managed to secure an engagement between Robb and Lady Ruby or her sister. Cat thought so, but Ned disagreed. Arranging an engagement with the daughter of a house that wasn't part of the North was often a delicate and lengthy affair under the best circumstances. And the circumstances with Team Ruby could hardly be called ideal, even without the unfortunate misunderstanding.
He scoffed at his own thoughts. A misunderstanding? They had mistaken a legitimate noblewoman for a bastard! He had gone to the godswood and prayed to the Old Gods in gratitude that Lady Yang had not taken offence - had, actually, asked him not to punish Arya for her blunder! Despite her somewhat rash manners, she was obviously as kind as her sister.
And, unfortunately, as strange and different as well. All of them were - even Lady Weiss, who seemed the closest to understanding the North, likely because she hailed from a similar region in their homeland. Their manners and views sometimes seemed to be even more outrageous than their power. The way they acted, uncaring of their obvious rank and status, the way they sometimes marvelled at the most common things, such as common lemon cakes from the kitchen, yet seemed to take the Glass Gardens, Ned's pride and joy, and the heated pipes of Winterfell, a marvel in the North, in stride… It was all so confusing. To be so powerful, yet naive in some ways, was as endearing as it was terrifying and made trying to deal with them a challenge. One like trying to transport a jar of Wildfire on a rocky road.
Honestly, Ned would prefer not to deal with their visitors. Send them away to Oldtown or King's Landing, or Essos, and wish them well. But he couldn't do that. The girls were too strong to be set loose, far too strong. If Ned didn't get an alliance with them, someone else would - and Ned knew what many noble houses would do if they achieved that. Honour didn't mean as much in the South as it did in the North, and even oaths would be put aside to satisfy ambition. Team Ruby might not fly or breathe fire, but they would wreck an army in the field as effectively as dragons could, and three dragons had been enough to conquer Westeros. How many nobles would follow Balon Greyjoy's example if they thought - with good reason - that they could win against the might of the Seven Kingdoms?
The answer was: Too many. If Ned wanted to keep his family and lands safe, he needed to have an alliance with his guests. Otherwise, his own oaths to the crown might see him and his banners face them in the field. Ned had fought in two wars already; he didn't want to fight in a third, and certainly not on the side doomed to lose.
Sometimes, Ned thought it would make the most sense to simply ask Lady Ruby straight away if she was amenable to an engagement with Robb, either for herself or for her sister, instead of trying to subtly sound them out beforehand.
But Cat was right; they couldn't risk another blunder. Not when dealing with girls who could not only lift wagons without any trouble and cut down trees thicker than a man's torso with a single swing of their blade, but also took full swings from swords to the face without a scratch. Granted, that had been a training sword, but any normal girl would have been dead or maimed after such a blow instead of telling Jon how happy she was that he finally stopped holding back.
And as terrifying as it was to see them spar with each other, trading blows that could shatter stone on a miss, Ned was certain that they were holding back and hiding their true strength. They were good, easily better than most knights Ned had seen fight, but sometimes, they seemed to stumble or hesitate at odd moments - making mistakes no knight as skilled as they were would do.
No, starting a fight with them would be a disaster for Ned and his family. And that was without considering that some of the smallfolk in Winterfell were muttering about the girls being messengers of the Old Gods. Or the Old Gods themselves. A ludicrous notion, of course - the girls might be foreigners from a strange land, but they were no more divine than Ned himself was unless the gods had truly gone crazy - but Ned didn't want to find out what might happen if his people thought he'd go against the gods. Nothing good would come of that.
But all that didn't change that Ned had failed to secure an engagement with Lady Ruby, and now Robert would arrive, with half the royal court, or so it seemed, and that would complicate matters.
Ned would have to talk to his friend as soon as possible to head off the potential disaster.
*****
"I can see the King's banner!" Perkin, the guard stationed at the top of the closest tower, yelled down.
Ned straightened and looked at his family. Everyone was present and dressed in their finest clothes. Even Arya - after her blunder had imperilled the entire family, his daughter knew better than to disobey her parents again. Cat just finished redoing the ties of her cloak before inspecting the rest of their children. Benjen stood next to them, dressed in the black leathers of the Night's Watch, and… Ned sighed. To the side, near the stables, Lady Yang was chatting with Jon. The last thing Ned wanted was for his nephew to draw Robert's attention, and even wearing a proper Northern dress, Lady Yang's hair and face would draw his friend's eye.
But before he could think of the best way to separate the two, Lady Weiss had already wandered over and all but dragged Lady Yang back to the rest of their group, who were waiting slightly behind Ned as honoured guests. Lady Yang seemed amused rather than offended by being treated like a wayward child, he noticed.
"Alright, Team!" he heard Lady Ruby exclaim. "We're gonna meet a king, so let's be on our best behaviour!"
"Yeah!" Lady Yang chimed in, to the obvious displeasure of Lady Weiss. Lady Blake, on the other hand, seemed to be too busy staring at the kennels on the other side of the courtyard to pay any attention to the scene.
"Well, they aren't wearing their 'combat clothes'," Ned whispered when he saw Cat frowning as she joined his side.
Cat frowned at him in return. "You know how much work that took," she whispered back.
"I know." Kissing her would have been inappropriate, but he wrapped his arm around her waist for a brief, one-sided hug. If Lady Ruby and her friends had insisted on 'making an impression'... Well, no need to worry about it any more.
And there came the King! Ned straightened and took a step forward as the royal party rode into Winterfell, with his friend in the lead, flanked by two members of the Kingsguard. He smiled - he hadn't seen his friend in almost ten years. And Robert…
…had grown fat, Ned realised.
"Ned!" Robert bellowed - at least his voice had not changed - as he dismounted and walked towards him.
"Your Grace." Ned knelt, as did everyone else in the courtyard. He resisted the sudden urge to glance over his shoulder to check if his guests were kneeling as well, though the lack of any reaction from Robert and the others in his party told him they were. "Winterfell is yours."
"Stand up, Ned, and let me look at you! You haven't changed a bit!"
"Unlike you," Ned replied with a faint smile as Robert hugged him. He heard Cat gasp softly next to him, but his friend laughed. "I know, I know! I can still swing a hammer, though!"
Ned believed him - his friend might have grown fat, but his strength hadn't waned much, if at all, as Ned's ribs told him.
Robert released him and greeted Cat. "Lady Catelyn! As beautiful as you were at your wedding!"
"Your Grace." Cat curtsied, and Ned caught Lady Ruby staring intently at her as Robert greeted his children before turning towards the Prince, who had dismounted.
"Joffrey! Come! Let me present you to my best friend!"
Ned studied the lad as he approached. He was slender and had the Lannister hair, Ned noticed. Though, he realised with a mixture of amusement and worry as he saw the Prince stare at Ned's guests, the Prince obviously had his father's eye for the ladies.
Prince Joffrey wasn't too distracted to forget his manners, though, and greeted Ned and his family properly.
Then the queen arrived with her two younger children in tow - on foot, since they must have been travelling in the giant wheelhouse, too wide and tall to pass through Winterfell's gate, and more greetings were exchanged, as well as bread and salt shared. Where Robert was genuine and charming, Queen Cersei was polite but aloof. And her expression when she noticed Lady Ruby and her friends, coupled with a glance at Robert, spelt trouble.
"And who are those charming maidens, Ned?" Robert had noticed them as well, of course.
Ned cleared his throat. "Ah, Your Grace - may I introduce Lady Ruby, Lady Weiss, Lady Blake and Lady Yang. They are guests at Winterfell - they were stranded in the North after a mishap."
To his relief, Lady Ruby didn't cheerfully start telling the royal family about everything they had gone through but merely curtsied with an almost shy smile. "We're honoured to make your acquaintance, Your Grace!" she said as her friends curtsied as well - with more grace than her, Ned couldn't help noticing.
Robert beamed at them, but the Queen's expression could have frozen molten steel, and despite the scowl that appeared on Queen Cersei's face, Ned was relieved when Robert insisted on paying his respects to Lyanna, prompting the Queen to proceed to their quarters with her children without him.
Their quarters, which were, he realised, perhaps, a bit too close to Lady Ruby's, but Ned couldn't do anything about that without offending either the Royal family or Lady Ruby and her friends.
He needed to explain a few things to his friend, and that was best done in private and as soon as possible. Fortunately, the crypt offered both.
*****
"A word, Robert," Ned called when his friend had paid his respects in front of Lyanna's grave.
"Yes?" His friend frowned. "I actually have something to talk to you as well…"
"It's important," Ned told him. "Very important." For everyone. "You need to know a few things about my guests."
"Oh?" Robert grinned.
Ned sighed again. "They are not from Westeros. Nor from Essos. They aren't familiar with our customs, so if they seem to give offence, it's because they don't know better."
"Oh, don't worry! Who could carry a grudge against such lovely maidens?" Robert smiled, then frowned. "Except for Cersei, of course. I see the problem."
No, you don't, Ned thought. He took a deep breath. "Each of the four maidens also could defeat the entire Kingsguard by themselves." Probably with one hand tied behind their back.
Robert blinked. "What?"
Ned sighed. This would take a bit to explain so his friend would believe it.
*****
The King kept looking at them even though they were wearing the proper dresses and looked perfectly normal. So, why did he stare at them as if they had done something wrong? They hadn't! Ruby Rose glanced at her team, who was seated next to her, at the end of the 'high table', as they called the table for the Starks and their guests, to check again, but no, everyone was on their best behaviour. And Blake's cat ears were hidden under her ribbon, as usual, so that wasn't it either. And Ruby hadn't stained her dress.
She glanced at her team. None of their dresses were stained. Or 'inappropriate' - they were covered from neck to floor, not very tight so at least they could move in them though fighting would tear them, with long sleeves - though not as long as the billowing sleeves of the Queen; those almost reached the floor or so - and a high collar with lots of needlework and fur that was slightly itchy if you closed it. They also looked very similar to each other, but apparently, that was the style in the North. At least, they had different colours - Ruby's was dark red, Yang's was dark yellow, Blake's was dark grey and Weiss's was dark blue. But they were so bland, no one should be looking at them!
She clenched her teeth. This was making her nervous! She felt like she did whenever a teacher at Beacon frowned at her even though she had done all her homework and hadn't been sneaking out of the school at night. But they hadn't really done anything - they hadn't even done any training today; Weiss had insisted that they went over, again, how to behave in front of the King instead. All those rules had been very confusing. Fortunately, Ruby had paid attention to how Lady Catelyn curtsied, or she would have messed up.
Oh.
"Do you think Lord Eddard told him about us? The King, I mean," she whispered to Weiss, who was seated directly next to her.
"I believe so, yes," Weiss replied in that tone she sometimes took when she thought Ruby had asked a stupid question.
She blushed and hoped that Benjen, seated on her other side, hadn't overheard them. That would be embarrassing. It wasn't as if she hadn't also assumed that, but it was better to check before making assumptions, especially if they involved royalty. There were just too many mistakes you could make if you were nervous (like she was)! She was very glad that Team RWBY wasn't spread out between the new guests, like the other Starks were, but seated together.
"Where are you from, Lady Ruby?"
She froze for a moment. That was Prince Joffrey, talking to her across the table - he was sitting much closer to Lord Stark, next to Sansa. Was she supposed to talk across so many other people? Wasn't that rude? Oh, the others around them had fallen silent. Even the little man, Lord Lannister. Well, Joffrey was the crown prince. If he spoke, people listened, right?
And she needed to answer, or she'd be rude. To royalty. "We're from Vale," she told him. "Your Grace." Couldn't forget the title. Weiss had been very clear about that. "Not the Vale of Westeros, but one of the four kingdoms of our home. Well, Yang and I are from Vale, Weiss is from Atlas and Blake from Mistral." That was the cover story, at least, since she was hiding her Faunus ears. "But we all go to Beacon, the Huntsman Academy of Vale."
"You have an academy for hunters?" The Prince sounded amused.
"Huntsmen and Huntresses, Your Grace," she corrected him, then flushed in embarrassment. Was she supposed to correct royalty? But if no one corrected them, how would they keep from repeating their mistakes?
"They are the protectors of their people, Prince Joffrey," Lord Eddard cut in. "Like an order of knights."
"Knights?" The Prince was laughing, and Ruby frowned. He wasn't the only one, she noticed - many of the new guests were laughing or smirking. Even the handsome Knight of the Kingsguard.
Arya looked like she wanted to yell at the Prince but didn't. And Sansa looked lost.
"They are formidable warriors, Your Grace," Benjen said. "I've not seen the like in my life."
Ruby smiled at him for his support.
"I'll believe that you haven't seen girls fighting," the Prince replied with a smirk. "You're a Black Brother, aren't you?"
Benjen tensed at that but didn't correct the Prince even though Ruby knew that he had been fighting Wildlings, and they included women - spearwives they were called, as Ruby had learned - amongst their raiders. Some of them had attacked Team RWBY on the way south.
Benjen wasn't the only one who looked annoyed - or angry. Robb was glaring at the Prince, and even Lord Stark was frowning. Maybe Ruby should say something? The King and his family obviously didn't know about Team RWBY, so…
"You have to admit, Ned, that none of them looks as if they could lift a sword, much less swing it while wearing armour," the King spoke up. "Now, I believe you - you have never told me a lie - but you have to admit that it sounds a little far-fetched that they could not merely fight but defeat any knight in the castle, including the Kingsguard."
Ruby almost missed how Lord Stark winced when everyone at the table started to talk at once.
"Preposterous!"
"I've seen them cut through trees with one swing!"
"Little girls like that? Do you think we're fools?"
"They could fight you all at once and win! Maybe they should!"
"Arya!"
"Your Grace, please, I've seen them train myself…"
"And here I thought Lord Stark had no sense of humour!"
"I would not be so sure, brother…"
"Those little girls beating grown knights? Hah!"
"Northern knights, maybe - there's so few of them to begin with."
"I know what swords they are handling!"
"I wouldn't mind 'fighting' them!"
Ruby pressed her lips together and balled her hands into fists under the table. They were supposed to be polite and behave like ladies, but this wasn't how ladies were treated! She didn't know as much about this country's customs as Weiss did, but she knew that! She glared at the King - he was the King, so he was responsible for his people! And he wasn't doing anything! No, even worse - when he looked at her, he was smirking! Smirking when people were mocking her team!
Screw it! She stood up, narrowed her eyes at him with a huff, then activated her Semblance and dashed around the table too fast for anyone to see, much less react, coming to a stop behind him. Gritting her teeth, she grabbed his chair and lifted him over her head while the rose petals trailing behind her faded slowly.
Everyone froze and stared at her, and Ruby felt her cheeks flush before she clenched her teeth. She had no reason to be embarrassed!
"Unhand the King!" someone - one of the knights in white plate armour - snapped, his sword out and pointed at her. The other Kingsguard she recognised, the handsome blonde, though he wasn't wearing his armour, was standing as well, sword drawn.
"Ruby!" Weiss yelled.
"You go, Sis!" Yang cheered.
"Lady Ruby!" Lady Stark looked shocked.
Then the King laughed out loud. She looked up and saw he was leaning over the side - she had to adjust her grip - and he was smiling at her. "So, Ned was right! You are stronger than the Mountain!"
Now, she felt embarrassed. Had he wanted her to lose her temper? Had she played into his hand? But she had made her point. She slowly lowered the chair down to the ground, taking care not to drop it or break it. "I don't know who the Mountain is, but we're pretty strong, yes."
"And modest, too!" The King had a booming laugh, like Professor Port. He had a similar figure as well.
"Well…" What should she say? She felt like a fool for losing her temper. Everyone was staring at her. "...we're Huntresses," she finished. Lame.
He laughed again, and the others joined in. Or almost all of them - the Queen and Lady Stark weren't laughing, she noted. And Weiss was covering her face with her hands.
But the King was laughing, and the creeps making lewd comments had shut up, and her dress hadn't been torn while she ran, so she counted this as a win.
*****
Weiss Schnee was going to kill Ruby. In self-defence because Ruby kept trying to kill her. Assaulting the King! After everything they had gone over about how to act in front of royalty!
At least the king had a sense of humour and was amused - he was laughing and joking with Ruby. And, unless Weiss was completely mistaken, which was unlikely but not entirely impossible, the King had expected something like this to happen - and had engineered it. Of course, as the King, he would be used to plots and power plays, and she could see how he used his portly stature and boisterous nature to fool others into overlooking his depths. Not unlike Professor Port.
She looked away from Ruby, who was blushing furiously in response to another joke from the King, and glanced at the rest of Team RWBY. Blake was as composed as ever, though Weiss could tell she wasn't truly relaxed but ready to spring into action, and Yang…
"That's my little sis!"
…was as cheerful about the whole near-catastrophe as Weiss should have expected.
She sighed under her breath and looked at the rest of the table. Lord Stark was smiling, though it was hard to tell if he was truly relaxed or just polite - he wasn't very expressive. Lady Catelyn, on the other hand, was not happy; Weiss knew her well enough now to be able to tell. Sansa was looking relieved and slightly confused. The girl was obviously still adjusting to the sudden development. And the Prince…
Weiss frowned. The Prince was staring at Ruby. He had gone from dismissive to completely focused, maybe fixated on her. No, she realised when he glanced in her direction, he wasn't fixated on Ruby - he was focused on Team RWBY.
She met his eyes with a cool expression, inclining her head in the slightest hint of a nod. She was a Schnee, and prince or not, Schnees bowed to no one. Well, not unless manners demanded it. But no one would intimidate her.
He smirked and then looked at Blake, then Yang, ignoring Sansa's attempts to restart their conversation.
Weiss suppressed the urge to shake her head and let her gaze wander. Arya was talking the second prince's head off, or so it seemed, and Bran looked like he was answering a lot of questions from the princess. Children being children, in other words. The adults were far more important. Lord Tyrion Lannister, the dwarf, was joking with the blonde Kingsguard; as Weiss understood they were brothers to the queen, though the knight only seemed to listen half-heartedly. He wasn't smirking at them any more, Weiss noted with more than a little satisfaction. While Ruby's impulsive action had gone against the plan they had agreed upon for this - it was pretty much the opposite of keeping your head down and behaving like noble ladies - Weiss had to admit that it had been galling to be laughed at and dismissed as liars.
She would still have a talk with Ruby about this.
Yes, she told herself when she saw the Queen's cold expression as Ruby was talking with the King, they would have to discuss this.
But in private, not in public.
"This was an impressive demonstration, Lady Weiss."
She turned her head and looked at the little man - Lord Tyrion, she corrected herself. "I am happy you think so, my lord," she replied. He had heterochromia, she noticed when she met his eyes.
"Are all of you as fast and strong?"
"We're not quite as fast as Lady Ruby, but we're much stronger than we look." That was already known by everyone in Winterfell, and she had no doubt that the visitors would know it by tomorrow at the latest.
"I've never seen someone so fast you couldn't see them move - not that far, at least," he went on. "Those petals she was trailing… They appeared and vanished like magic."
Oh. "It's a family trait," she told him. And it was an effect of Ruby's Semblance, not 'magic', but that was another topic.
"Ruby's a Rose," Yang added with a grin.
"Ah." Lord Tyrion nodded. "And you have similar traits, I presume."
"Not like her," Weiss said.
"I just hit stuff," Yang cut in again, smacking her fist into her palm.
"Fascinating." The man smiled. "Although, as my dear brother is fond to say, mere strength and quickness will always yield to skill."
Not when facing a Huntress, Weiss thought. "Indeed," she said, smiling politely.
"Well, I suspect we'll be granted the opportunity to judge how skilled you are ourselves - I believe the King will insist on a demonstration." Lord Tyrion nodded towards the head of the table with a smirk.
Weiss followed his gaze and saw that Ruby was still talking to the King, standing between him and Lord Stark - and moving her hands as if she were wielding her scythe while she told him about Crescent Rose. "I believe so as well," she said in a dry voice.
Maybe giving Ruby a chaperone wouldn't have been a bad idea. Weiss wanted to join the discussion, but she knew better than to push their luck and butt in. Ruby's stunt had worked out, but that didn't mean another faux pas would be tolerated, much less welcomed.
"Will you be sparring with the Kingsguard, then, my lady?" Lord Tyrion asked before taking a sip from his glass.
Weiss would rather not spar with, according to Bran, the best fighters in the entire kingdom. She had no doubt that they wouldn't take a loss well. But she also was sure that they couldn't avoid that. Still, this would take a delicate touch to…
"Hell, yeah!" Yang beamed at Lord Tyrion's brother. "Can't wait to find out how good you are!"
The knight seemed surprised at first before he smirked at her. "You took the words out of my mouth, my lady."
"Oh, great, now there are two of them," Blake whispered next to Weiss.
Weiss nodded, but her attention was on the Queen, whose expression had grown even colder - she was openly frowning, and at Yang and the others, not at Ruby any more, Weiss noticed.
And she couldn't help wondering again if Ruby charming the King had been a good idea or not.
They had to discuss this. And soon.
*****
Winterfell, The North, Westeros, 298 AC
"...and you spent the entire evening talking to that barbarian, shaming your own family! Shaming me!"
"What are you talking about, woman? I spent the whole evening next to you!"
"Ignoring me while that harlot all but crawled into your lap!"
"Don't insult Ned's guests, woman! I know the difference between a harlot and a noblewoman!"
"And yet, you treat them all the same! I bet they're already waiting in your bed!"
"It's not as if you'll be there, is it?"
"Get out!"
"With pleasure! Who would want to stay in the same chamber as a woman so cold, even hot springs freeze around her?"
Blake Belladonna, hiding in the shadows beneath the windows leading into the royal bedroom - the Queen's chamber, it seemed, given what she overheard - winced as she heard the sound of a door being slammed shut. It was obvious that the marriage between the King and Queen was… 'rocky' would be an euphemism if this was a typical evening talk for the royal couple.
"That oaf! To disgrace me so by lusting after foreign barbarians! In front of the entire hall and his supposed best friend. So much for the 'honourable Lord Stark'! Shaming me by bringing such foreign sluts to the table as if they were noble ladies! And that after dragging us up to this freezing wasteland just to name this northern oaf as his hand!"
Blake's ears twitched as the Queen ranted on. She presented an icy demeanour, but it seemed that right beneath it, a volatile temper was hiding to erupt as soon as she was in private. And given her obvious jealousy - even though there was no reason for her to be jealous at all; it wasn't as if Ruby had any designs on the king since the man was old enough to be her father and as fat as Professor Port! - that spelt trouble for Team RWBY.
She looked around - the King was supposed to be guarded by at least one member of the Kingsguard at all times, but they obviously didn't patrol the outside of the keep's walls - and, once assured there were no witnesses, quickly climbed along the wall to listen at the next window, which, according to what she had overheard two servants talk about in the morning, would be the Crown Prince's chamber.
"What do you think, Hound? Is it a trick? A mummer's farce?"
Hound? Blake shivered. If the prince had a dog…
"Didn't look like a trick."
That was a harsh voice…. Oh. That would be the Prince's 'sworn sword' - his bodyguard. The one as tall as Yatsuhashi from Team CFVY, with half his face covered in burn scars. Why was he here? Did the Prince fear an assassination attempt in the keep of his father's best friend? Or… did the Prince fear Team RWBY had taken offence at his comments?
"But how could a slip of a girl be so strong? It must be a trick. This is impossible. Oh, no! I know it! She is no girl but a Faceless Man!"
Faceless man? Blake hadn't heard that term before.
The Hound grunted.
"No, it makes perfect sense! They know Father's weakness for pretty women and used that to get close to him to assassinate him! We have to tell the Kingsguard!"
Blake froze as she heard the door swing open. The Prince thought Ruby was an assassin posing as a girl? How would that work? Magic, obviously, but… That could wait; she had to know how the King would react!
Quickly, she scaled the wall, using her Semblance to create clones to push off from, allowing her to jump from hiding spot to hiding spot while they shattered beneath her, until she was hanging from a slight outcrop above the king's chamber. If the Prince was running, he would reach the chamber's doors about… and she should…
Oh. She blushed. The King was… 'busy', or so it sounded. At the very least, he was distracted.
And, she added, when she heard the knocking on the door and his harsh reaction, not happy to be disturbed in the middle of being busy with carnal activities.
"What? Ser Barristan!"
"Your Grace, Prince Joffrey insisted that it was a matter of life and death."
"Yes, Father, it's… what are you doing?"
"Being interrupted, Boy. By you. Why aren't you in bed yet?"
"But… Who's that in your bed?"
"None of your business. Now, what do you want?"
"But…"
"Boy!"
"I know how the girl could lift your chair with you sitting on it, Father! She is a Faceless Man!"
"What?"
"That's why she was so strong, father! It all makes sense! She's here to assassinate you!"
"That's the stupidest thing I've heard all day, Boy!"
"But, father…"
"If she were an assassin, she would have posed as dear… Lerra here."
"It's Lorra, Your Grace."
"Whatever! They would be sneaking into my bed to kill me, not out themselves by showing off their strength!"
"But Father…"
"Now, get out, Boy! I'm busy!"
"But Father…!"
"Out, or I'll tan your hide!"
Blake winced again and left before the king returned to being busy. The others had to hear this.
*****
"What? The Prince thought I was an assassin?"
Blake nodded. "He did. He went to disturb the King in his bed."
"But… how?" Ruby looked incredulous.
"I could imagine a Semblance allowing you to mask your true form," Weiss said, "but since they don't have Aura in this world, it must be magic."
"Or it's bullshit," Yang commented. "Rumours and hearsay. If that was possible, wouldn't someone else have brought it up?" She looked at Blake.
Blake shook her head, "I haven't heard the term until today. I'll check with Luwin tomorrow." Another excuse to visit the library was always welcome.
Ruby was still shaking her head in obvious disbelief. "He thought I was a man? That makes no sense!"
"Well, at least the King set him straight," Yang said. "Imagine if he had believed the Prince!"
Ruby groaned.
"We have another problem, though," Blake said. "The Queen thinks we're trying to seduce the King." Or vice versa - not that it seemed the Queen would care about the difference. "And she's got a low opinion of us." Better not go into details. Yang might take offence on Ruby's behalf.
Weiss sighed.
"We just talked about weapons! He has a huge warhammer!" Ruby blurted out. "And she was right there, next to him! She should have heard everything!"
"I could hear you, and I was sitting at the other end of the table," Weiss said.
"Really?" Ruby blinked.
Blake was intrigued. She had had trouble overhearing Ruby's talk with so many others speaking up, so…
"No. But I knew what you were saying from how you acted," Weiss told her.
Ah.
"Oh." Ruby pouted.
"So… tomorrow. We're expected to demonstrate our 'fighting prowess'," Weiss said. "This will complicate things."
"Why? The Starks and their people already know we're strong," Ruby said.
"The Queen might be even more offended if we show off," Weiss said. "I don't have to explain how bad it is if the wife of the King dislikes us, do I?"
"No…" Ruby sighed. "And I was looking forward to sparring."
"And if the Prince tells others about his theory…" Weiss shook her head.
"We're still sparring," Yang said.
"But now the mood's ruined!"
"Then we'll change the mood!"
Blake smiled. Her partner was always so optimistic. But she doubted that things would be as easy - or smooth - tomorrow. Not after what she had overheard today on her excursion. And she hadn't even reached Lord Tyrion's chamber.
*****
Winterfell, The North, Westeros, 298 AC
As Yang Xiao Long approached the training yard, the men using it stopped at once - the guards of Winterfell because they knew her, the new guys because they were staring at her as if they had never seen a hot Huntress before. Well, they had never seen a hot Huntress in her combat clothes.
"Good morning, Lady Yang. You're early," Ser Rodrik Cassel, the master-at-arms, greeted her. He was frowning, but probably more at the gawking crowd than at her. At least, Yang hoped so - she knew she was disrupting his daily routine. But, hey - she had a reason she was here before the rest of Team RWBY. And the reason was standing in the back with another Kingsguard.
"I promised to spar with Ser Jaime," she said. "I wanted to check if he was available before we give our demonstration."
"Ah, of course." Ser Rodrik smiled broadly. "In that case, the training yard is yours."
"Are you sure?" she asked, frowning a little. She had never seen the man look so happy before.
"Oh, yes. Ser Jaime was concerned he could not train properly in Winterfell, lacking skilled opponents, so I am happy you will step in."
"Ah." So, that was it - the new knight had dissed the guards, and Ser Rodrik wanted to see him taken down a peg or two. Well, Yang was happy to oblige; the knight was handsome, but he had an insufferable smirk.
"Thank you," she told the old man, then jumped over the fence and stepped into the middle of the training yard. "Ser Jaime! Are you free for a little sparring match?"
He looked at her, then looked her over, raising his eyebrows with one of those stupid smirks. "Shouldn't you put your armour on before challenging people?"
Yang snorted and put her hand on her hip, flashing a grin at him. "I am ready; these are my combat clothes."
"You fight in these?" He seemed surprised.
"We train as we fight."
"Without armour? I would never forgive myself if a strike of mine would add a blemish to your fair appearance!"
She rolled her eyes. Unlike Jon, who had said more or less the same, in simpler words, Jaime didn't sound as if he meant it. "Trust me, there's no danger of that."
"You seem very confident for someone who has never seen me fight," he shot back, still smirking. "Strength isn't everything."
She made a point of sighing loudly, then turned to look at their audience, focusing her Aura. "Ser Rodrik, would you mind demonstrating to Ser Jaime that he can't really hurt me?"
"Gladly, Lady Yang." Ser Rodrik started walking towards her and drew his sword. Half the audience started snickering. The other half looked confused.
Ser Jaime was part of the latter and frowned. "I fail to see what…" He trailed off when Ser Rodrik reached Yang, raised his sword high - and brought it down in a two-handed swing, straight on Yang's head.
People screamed, and the older Kingsguard next to Ser Jaime rushed forward, his own sword drawn. "Stop!"
Ser Rodrik didn't stop and hit her on the head. Her Aura took the blow - she could easily afford the cost - and she turned to grin at Ser Jaime while the guards of Winterfell chuckled, and some cheered.
Both Kingsguards were staring at her. The older one recovered first, nodding at her with slightly narrowed eyes as he sheathed his blade, and Ser Jaime smiled wryly. "Well played, my lady," he said as he stepped forward.
She grinned at him and did a few stretches. "Don't hold back."
"Oh, trust me, I won't." In a lower voice, he added: "Let's see if you are as skilled as you are thickheaded."
She chuckled - the guy had some wit to him - and smashed her gauntlets together. "We fight until one yields or is knocked out, alright?"
"As you wish." He nodded, still smiling, but, as Blake would say, it didn't reach his eyes. So, he was taking her seriously. Good.
"Ser Rodrik, if you'd like to give the signal?" Yang asked, turning her head.
"Very well." The knight was still smiling widely, and judging by the narrowed eyes of Ser Jaime, the Kingsguard knew what was up.
"Begin."
Yang dashed forward, drawing her right fist back for a telegraphed punch.
Ser Jaime moved to the side, his shield raised to deflect her blow, and lunged, trying to stab her in the stomach.
She threw herself forward, over his blade, flipping over in the middle of her jump, and planted both boots onto his chest and shoulder. It wasn't really a kick - she flexed her knees as she did so, but it sent him staggering anyway, and when she pushed off, jumping away, he was sent sprawling.
Half the audience cheered again. Loudly. Ser Jaime must know how to make friends.
He rose quickly, shield and sword ready to defend against an attack, but Yang stayed back - it was no fun kicking a guy when he was down.
But it was fun teasing and taunting a guy who was a bit too full of himself, so she smirked and gestured with her right hand, inviting him to attack.
He did and charged at her, and she blocked his sword with her left gauntlet and his shield with her right. He stepped back before her - admittedly slow - kick could sweep his feet, then attacked again, trying to stab her in the calf.
She jumped up, flipping head over heels, and landed in a crouch a few metres away, then charged him. A flip of her left arm struck his sword to the side, and while he got his shield between them, she dropped in front of him and swept his legs out from under him.
Once more, he ended up on the ground, but he got up as quickly as before. "Well done," he said - a bit too lightly, to be honest, in her opinion. "I see I will have to work on my footwork."
Yang grinned. "Let me give you a hand and a leg up!" She dashed forward, and they started trading blows, sword and shield against Ember Celica, with the occasional high kick thrown in.
She was holding back, of course, but he was good. Damned good - he made Jon look like a beginner. If she weren't stronger, faster and hotter, he probably would make her sweat. And he might trounce Jaune even with Jaune not holding back - as long as Jaime could avoid getting hit, of course, which would be a very tall order.
But Yang wasn't Jaune, and so the match ended with Jaime yielding, breathing heavily and not looking quite so smug or shiny any more, and with Yang not even winded.
"And here I thought I wouldn't find good entertainment until the evening. To see my dear brother humbled like this by a mere girl… How will your pride survive this?"
Oh. Lord Tyrion must have arrived at one point during the sparring match, and Yang hadn't noticed. He was smirking at Jaime, and despite how different they looked, they had the same smirk. Definitely brothers.
"My pride would say that there's no one who can stand up to Lady Yang," Ser Jaime shot back. "It was a good bout, my lady. Enlightening, I'd say."
"Yeah, good fight," she replied. But she couldn't help thinking that the man didn't really mean it. Well, Winterfell's guards might have been cheering a bit too loudly at his defeat, and that would hurt anyone's ego or pride.
The other Kingsguard, though, nodded at her with all the signs of honest respect.
"Well, you've got the right hair - can we claim you as a Lannister? So Jaime's loss stays in the family?" Lord Tyrion chuckled at his own joke, and Yang laughed as well.
But she suspected that the small noble wasn't completely joking.
*****
Chapter 6: Royal Affairs
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Chapter 6: Royal Affairs
'Some might wonder how the Order of the Ruby, stranded far from their home, might have earned such - documented beyond doubt by multiple sources - efforts of various noble houses to form an alliance with them through marriage if they did not actually possess supernatural powers. A few scholars even went so far as to denounce the four maidens as frauds who were using a made-up homeland, conveniently too distant to be reached, to deceive Westeros's nobility in order to secure a life as nobles, citing their lack of familiarity with Westeros's customs and nobility as proof that they were of common origin. However, such deductions could only come from an appalling ignorance of crucial aspects of the culture of the Seven Kingdoms at the time. In this era, Westeros, both smallfolk and nobility, were obsessed with chivalry and martial might, represented by outstanding individuals. Not unjustly so, for this was a time when the armoured knight still ruled the battlefield - at least in Westeros. While the wars in Essos were already showing glimpses of the changes that would, slowly but surely, result in raising the infantry to a status not enjoyed since the days of the Ghiscari legions, before they encountered the Freehold's dragons, battles in Westeros were still mainly decided by the charge of the heavy cavalry. And nothing represented this as well as the mounted knight. Tourneys, where the best knights of the realm showed off their skills, were the highlight of the smallfolk's lives, and whatever house could call a champion their own gained much prestige. The Kingsguard, gathering - at least more often than not - the finest knights of the Seven Kingdoms was renowned not only for their loyalty to the royal family but also for their skill at arms, and several famous battles saw them demonstrate that they had earned their reputation many times over. It should not come as a surprise, then, that four maidens from exotic lands with superb martial skills, on par or superior to the most famous Kingsguard according to how one interprets the entries in the Book of Brothers detailing their encounters with the Order of the Ruby, would garner such interest. What noble house would not wish to claim one of them for their family - and what noble would not hope to see his sons inherit such talent? That the Order of the Ruby inspired many girls and women to follow their example shows the impact the four maidens' martial expertise had on Westeros's society and culture. I would even argue that the Order of the Ruby did more to advance the rights of women in Westeros than Dorne's cultural influence over centuries, although that is harder to prove due to how intertwined both factors often ended up despite Dorne's contribution mainly being limited to the high nobility.'
Winterfell, The North, Westeros, 298 AC
"Hah! Too slow! I will… ack!"
"Haha! Don't boast about being fast when I'm fighting you!"
"Speed doesn't help if you can't hit me!"
"Oops! Didn't see you! Sorry!"
"Yeah, right! Just wait!"
Ser Barristan Selmy had seen many battles, both at tourneys and in war, and many more sparring matches. He was no stranger to how tempers or grudges could turn even a sparring match with training swords into a dangerous fight, and he had seen too many knights die or end up maimed in a tourney not to be aware that every time you crossed blades with someone, the Stranger was paying attention to both of you.
And yet, if not for the laughter and teasing quips the four girls exchanged while fighting each other, he would have thought he was watching a battle to the death. They were exchanging blows that left craters in the earth and smashed wood to splinters when they missed, showing strength and speed that put the best knights he knew to shame. His pride might baulk, but his honesty required him to admit that Lord Stark had been correct - a single one of the four would match the entire Kingsguard in a fair fight. For even if you were quick enough to see them strike - Barristan managed it more often than not unless Lady Ruby used her strange "Semblance" to vanish and reappear in a flurry of petals - how could you win if your enemy could not be hurt even by blows that would shatter stone?
Did shatter stone, he corrected himself with a slight wince when he saw what Lady Ruby's scythe did to the wall that Lady Blake had just used to vault across the entire training yard.
"Sorry! It's Blake's fault for moving!"
"Don't blame me if you can't control your weapon!"
"Hah!" the King, sitting in front of him on a makeshift dais, pounded his armrest, making the page attending him jerk and almost spill his wine. "Did you see that? Who would need siege weapons with that power!"
Lord Stark nodded, not saying much - which, Barristan knew, was typical for the man. He wasn't transfixed by the sight, though, unlike the members of the royal party. Of course, as Barristan understood, this was not new for him or his guards. To think one could grow accustomed to such a display! If Barristan had not been on duty, he would likely have ignored everything outside the training yard.
Prince Joffrey, standing next to his father, nodded. "Yes, Father." The boy, unlike his mother the Queen, had chosen to attend the 'sparring match' - insisted on it, actually, in a rare display of defying his mother's wishes. "And their weapons… any sword except for a Valyrian blade would have shattered."
"Yeah, Boy! Good eye!"
"Thank you, Father!"
Barristan glanced around for potential dangers to the King and his family - other than catching a stray blow from the spectacle in front of them - and hoped that was a sign of the boy leaving the Queen's shadow and forming closer ties with his father, the King. Although he also hoped the boy wouldn't take too much after his sire; the last thing the realm needed was for the crown prince to father a bastard with a girl strong enough to kick down a castle's gate - or wall.
"Hah!"
Lady Ruby swung her 'scythe' in a wide arc, forcing her sister to jump over it, then spun it around so fast for an overhead slash, Barristan could barely follow the movement - yet Lady Yang still blocked the strike with her gauntlets and jumped away.
Next to him, Ser Jaime shook his head and softly snorted. "Strangely, the longer I watch, the more my pride recovers from the blow Lady Yang dealt it."
The King guffawed at that, but his eyes remained fixated on the fight before them even as the page refilled his goblet.
Barristan smiled; his brother in the Kingsguard was not wrong. Who would dare mock him for losing to Lady Yang after seeing this terrifying display of power beyond anything he had ever seen? "They could outwrestle the Mountain, I believe," he said.
"Definitely. Ser Gregor has done many things - often far more horrible things than damaging someone's castle - but even he would not be able to shatter stone like that," Ser Jaime's brother, sipping from a goblet of his own, commented. "I feel I must reassess the tales from the Age of Heroes I've read. Maybe they have not grown as much in the telling for thousands of years as I was assured by the Grand Maester. Although in this case, they would have had to shrink in the telling until grown men were reduced to my size."
Ser Jaime, the Prince and the King laughed at that. "That's a good jibe, Imp!" the King blurted out. "Oh, watch that!"
In front of them, Lady Weiss had caught a kick to the chest that threw her across the yard and into the stone wall, cracking the surface. Barristan winced. The girl recovered, gritted her teeth and kicked off, leading with her sword, and put Lady Yang on the defensive with several lightning-quick stabs.
"Hah! She must be mad!"
While Lady Weiss attacked Lady Yang, and Lady Blake led Lady Ruby on a chase probably meant to exhaust her - or wreck the training yard - Barristan glanced around again. He could still perceive no threats on the rampart or close to them. Everyone present seemed focused on the fight.
"They're so strong…" Prince Joffrey breathed.
The girls were powerful, indeed. They possessed strength beyond belief and were as tough and quick as they were strong. If anyone had told such a tale to him, Barristan wouldn't have believed it.
But, and this wasn't his pride talking, Barristan also knew by now that they were not as skilled as himself or Ser Jaime. The talent was there, no doubt, but their form, if you stripped away their strength and quickness, lacked the refinement that came with experience. The girls, for all their power, hadn't trained and fought for decades. He wouldn't call their strikes sloppy, far from it, but they still had room for improvement.
"Hah! I wonder if I should spar with them - they would give me the fight of my lifetime!"
"Or the last fight of your lifetime," Lord Tyrion quipped.
Barristan winced - as did Lord Stark, he noticed. The King sparring against Team Ruby… He couldn't see anything good that would come of that. Even if the King's pride survived the blows it would receive, people would spread the news, and Barristan knew that those not disposed favourably toward the crown would twist this into a humiliating defeat. And the Queen would certainly take it as something else altogether. And if Team Ruby made a mistake and accidentally hit the King as hard as they were obviously used to hitting each other…
He hoped the King wasn't serious and realised the same. If he didn't, perhaps Lord Stark would manage to convince him of the folly of such an action.
Another glance revealed no lurking assassins, and he studied the fight before him again. The four maidens were still moving in ways that defied common sense. Sometimes, they seemed to fly across the yard, or disappear altogether to reappear somewhere else. It was an exhilarating yet terrifying sight. But… Lady Weiss seemed to be somewhat wanting, if only in comparison to her comrades. Was she less experienced? Not quite, he decided. She was definitely used to fighting, it shone through in many exchanges. And yet, she didn't move as fluently as the others.
She was used to fighting differently, as if she were missing something, Barristan realised. But for the life of him, he couldn't tell what it was. Lady Blake as well, now that he knew what to look for, although it wasn't as evident with her. Incidentally, both were losing the match to the others.
So, what were they missing - or, to be more precise, what were they hiding?
He pondered the question until the sparring match ended, apparently by mutual agreement between the four maidens, and to the applause of the audience.
Later, when the King and his family had returned to their chambers to freshen up before the meal, Barristan and Ser Jaime were left standing guard outside, chatting with Lord Tyrion.
"I am curious, Jaime. Did watching that display of martial might beyond our understanding make you feel as insignificant as I feel when I watch the Kingsguard train?"
The little Lord's question had a slight edge of self-loathing to it, but it was an apt comparison. If the Kingsguard had to face Team Ruby, Ser Barristan would give them the same odds of winning as he'd give Lord Tyrion when facing the Mountain.
Ser Jaime, however, deflected. "I wouldn't know how that felt, Tyrion. But at least you can be assured that you can still verbally eviscerate those who prove to be your betters with the blade."
Lord Tyrion snorted at that. For someone who had matched the King drink for drink, he had kept his wits admirably. "Such displays of wordy might tend to invite more personal displays of martial might from certain parties. And I am not sure my esteemed position as Father's unwanted heir would be enough to keep them from acting on it." He chuckled at his own words, then sighed. "Leaving that aside… what do you think? Was this how our ancestors fought in the Age of Heroes? Is this how far we have fallen since then?"
Barristan frowned. He hadn't really considered that before, but it made sense. "We know the dragons were mere shadows of their ancestors, both far smaller and weaker than the likes of Balerion the Black Dread, when the last of them were killed. Would it be so surprising that men, too, have grown weaker with time?" It was a chilling thought. Would their ancestors see them as failures for growing so weak? And what had caused this to occur in the first place? If it was true, of course. Yet, it would also mean that there was a country whose people had not suffered such a decline. An entire kingdom - four of them, even - full of people with such power… Now that was a terrifying thought.
"Well, men might have fallen, but the women seem to have kept their strength just fine," Ser Jaime quipped. "If the King wants the strongest knights in the Kingsguard, we might have to adapt to sharing our quarters with women."
Barristan frowned at that. His brother of the Kingsguard might be joking, but the King might very well consider this - King Robert had been watching the fight with an intensity Barristan hadn't seen on his face since the Greyjoy Rebellion. And unlike many, he hadn't seemed to be as terrified as much or more as he was impressed. Instead, he had been fascinated and pleased. "We would need an opening to welcome a new member, which we do not have." Only if one of the seven members died would a new one be chosen, and all of them were in good health.
"Let's hope the King will not be tempted to create an opening." Ser Jaime chuckled.
Barristan frowned at the younger knight; Ser Jaime had quite a sharp sense of humour, but there were things you didn't joke about.
"...and this is how Crescent Rose folds up so I can carry her easily on my back!" Ruby Rose smiled as she demonstrated mechashifting for the King. "See?" She turned around so he could see how it rested on her back, ready to be drawn.
"Even I could carry it like that," Lord Tyrion said. "If I could lift it. I don't suppose its weight is reduced as well?"
"No, it weighs the same," Ruby told him. "It's just more compact."
The King chuckled. "I know a few knights who would have loved to have their swords fold up like that so they wouldn't have tripped over them. But don't all those joints and gears weaken the weapon?"
"Oh, no!" Ruby shook her head. "I designed my baby - I mean, my scythe - so the moving parts interlock in a way that reinforces them. Well, kinda - it means they are a tiny bit more flexible, so they withstand blows better. Of course, I had to get the strongest material for that." And it had taken her a number of attempts to get it right; her first version had been a bit too flexible, and hadn't that been embarrassing!
"I see. The hollow shaft is not merely to save weight, then, but also to reinforce it?"
The King knew his weapon mechanics. Ruby nodded. It also served as the barrel for the sniper mode, but she wasn't supposed to say that - or say anything about firearms.
"How would that work? Wouldn't it be stronger if it weren't hollow?" Prince Joffrey asked.
Lord Tyrion grumbled something Ruby didn't catch, mostly because he was drinking deeply from a mug so large, he had to hold it with both hands.
"Under some circumstances, such a shaft would be stronger," Ruby replied. "But it's generally negligible. And the hollow shaft resists most damage much better. Most Grimm can't even scratch it!"
"Grimm." The Prince frowned. "Those are the monsters you fight, yes?"
"Yes." Ruby nodded again. "Most of them die quickly, but some are tougher. Especially the old and large ones. Crescent Rose can cut through a Beowulf or Boarbatusk easily, but a Death Stalker - that's a huge scorpion-like Grimm, as big as your wheelhouse - can withstand a blow." As she had found out the hard way during Initiation.
"And how do you kill those?" The Prince leaned forward across the table, almost pushing over the mug with ale in front of him.
"You have to go for the weaker spots, the joints. Cut off its legs, pincers and stinger, then you can kill it more easily."
"Like when fighting a man in plate armour with a sword?"
"Yes, Boy. Go for the armpits, the gorget, the knees… Or just cave in their chestplate with a warhammer!" the King laughed and emptied another mug of ale.
He drank almost as much as Uncle Qrow, Ruby couldn't help noticing. He ate much more, though, almost as much as a Huntsman, and he was much bigger, too, so he probably wasn't like her uncle. On the other hand, Lord Tyrion was much smaller - he was a head or more smaller than Weiss, and Ruby was taller than her partner! - and he drank almost as much. But everyone drank ale here. Or wine. Because the water usually wasn't safe, you had to boil it like when you were camping. Only they didn't do that here - Benjen had been surprised when they had done it on the trip to Winterfell.
But she was getting distracted! And that while talking with the King and the Crown Prince! And Lord Tyrion, apparently - it wasn't quite clear, as Ruby understood - the heir of the Lord of the Westerlands, Lord Tywin. And Lord Tywin was both the King's father-in-law - they called it good father here - and had the same rank as Lord Stark, so that made his heir important as well.
"Can all your weapons 'shift' like that?" the Prince asked.
"Well…" How could she answer that without lying and without revealing firearms? "Weiss's Myrtenaster doesn't shift. It's a straight sword." Kinda. "Blake's Gambol Shroud can shift into a sickle."
"A sickle?" The Prince chuckled. "You have a scythe, and she has a sickle? Are you facing Grimm wheat as well?"
Ruby frowned - her baby wasn't a farming tool! And neither was Blake's chain-sickle. But she forced herself to chuckle at the Prince's joke as the King laughed again. The Prince didn't know any better, after all. "Well, not unless a Geist possesses a wheatfield. Though I don't know if they can do that. They can possess trees, though. But they prefer tougher objects, like rocks. Or…" She couldn't say machines. "...armour."
"Armour?" The King frowned.
"Yes. If a suit of armour is attacking you without anyone inside, it's probably a Geist. At least back home."
"The more I hear about your home, the more I wonder if I have drunk too much - or not enough," Lord Tyrion said.
The King and the Prince laughed at that.
"Well…" She smiled and shrugged with a slight wince. "...things are different back home compared to here." Very different.
"Oh, I think everyone realised that when you accidentally created a new hole in Lord Stark's inner wall." Lord Tyrion grinned and took another sip from his ale. Or more than a sip. Much more.
Ruby blushed. "It didn't go through the wall, so it's more like a dent," she defended herself.
Everyone else laughed at that. Well, not Ser Barristan, but the man hadn't said a word the whole time she had been talking. He just stood behind the King and to the side, guarding him. Like one of those bodyguards you saw in shows, only without falling in love with their charge. Probably. She'd have to ask Blake about that part; her friend was the expert on such romances. If she wanted to know. (Which she didn't - that was none of her business. People were way too obsessed with the whole relationships and marriage thing here, anyway!)
"I can't imagine how you wage war!" the King said, holding out his mug to be refilled by one of the servants. "You probably put the Field of Fire to shame!"
Ruby blinked. "The Field of Fire?"
The Prince smiled at her. "That was a famous battle during King Aegon's Conquest. His dragon burnt an entire army in the field!"
The King scoffed behind his mug, and the Prince flinched a little. "Bah! Damn Targaryens! Hiding behind their dragons! Without them, they were nothing! I caved in Prince Rhaegar's chest with my hammer in the battle of the Ruby Ford! Put the damn man down for good!"
Ruby winced again. The people here were also far too fond of such gruesome stories. And this one was called the Battle of the Ruby Ford… Ugh! "I guess so," she said, diplomatically. "We don't really fight wars, though."
"Didn't you have a war over clothes?" Lord Tyrion asked. "Or I might be mistaken - the chambermaid telling me did not strike me as especially witty and might have misunderstood a dispute for a literal war."
Ruby frowned a little - all the maids she had met in Winterfell had been nice - and shook her head. "No, it was a war - the Great War, actually, since all four kingdoms were involved. It was between Atlas and Mistral on one side and Vacuo and Vale on the other side. That was…" She narrowed her eyes, trying to remember Obolecks' lesson. "...eighty years ago. But we haven't had a war since then. That's why we also call it The War." Oh, drat - she had forgotten the Faunus Revolution. But Team RWBY had also agreed to keep Faunus a secret, so she couldn't have mentioned that anyway.
The King huffed at that for some reason.
"And it was over fashion?" Lord Tyrion sounded amused.
"Over fashion, arts - our headmaster, Ozpin, likes to say it was over our right to express ourselves," Ruby explained.
"Your right to express yourselves?" the Prince looked confused.
"The right to, well, dress like you want, create art, play music, sing…" Ruby shrugged; she wasn't good at explaining that stuff. "You know, live your life."
"If they banned alcohol and… good food as well, then you'd have been better off dead," Lord Tyrion said.
Ruby didn't know if the war had been over alcohol as well. Probably not - Uncle Qrow once said if a kingdom wanted to ban alcohol, the government would be toppled the next day. Then again, he was a bit of a drunk. "In any case, we - Vale and Vacuo - won, and we've been wearing what clothes we want ever since!"
"Well, I can't say I disagree with the outcome!" The King laughed his booming laugh again. "If more women dressed like you, the world would be a better place!"
Lord Tyrion, and a moment later, the Prince laughed at that. Ruby joined in, though she wasn't quite sure if it was a joke or not. It had to be, hadn't it? Lady Catelyn had insisted that ladies here didn't dress like Team RWBY did.
"What about the men? Do they dress the same?" Lord Tyrion asked. "Or do they wear dresses?"
"Well… they can dress as they want. But most Huntsmen wear clothes that let them fight," Ruby said.
"If you don't need to wear armour, you could fight naked. Now, that would be a sight to see!" the little Lord went on.
Ruby was starting to think that he had had a bit too much ale.
"Watch your tongue, Uncle!" the Prince snapped. "A lady is present."
"A lady that can throw you across both walls of Winterfell if you annoy her," the King added with a chuckle.
Ruby would never do that, of course - and she couldn't throw a grown, well, not grown man, that far. Probably not; she had never tried. But she nodded anyway.
"I beg your pardon, my lady!" Lord Tyrion said, though he didn't look scared - he was still grinning. "I was talking about the men fighting naked, of course!"
Ruby blushed as everyone laughed again and really wished that they could return to talking about weapons. All this… lecherous talk was making her uncomfortable. At least the Prince didn't seem interested in that sort of stuff.
"I am very disappointed that your friends refused my invitation, Lady Weiss."
You have said so before. Twice since you received us in your chambers, Weiss Schnee thought. Out loud, she said. "Unfortunately, Your Grace, Lady Ruby was called to attend the King, and Lady Blake and Lady Yang had already left the castle before your invitation arrived." To check a potential source of rare earth needed for one of Yang's tools that Blake had heard about from Luwin, but there was no need to go into details - Weiss didn't think the Queen understood anything about metallurgy.
The Queen sniffed as if she expected everyone to wait in their chambers in case she deigned to call them. Well, Weiss wouldn't be surprised if she did. At least the Queen had refrained from calling Ruby a hussy. So far.
"I am sure they will be delighted to attend your next invitation, Your Grace," Lady Catelyn said.
The expression on the Queen's face suggested that it was somewhat doubtful another invitation would be forthcoming. But she nodded. "At least you are here, Lady Weiss, to satisfy our curiosity about 'Huntresses' and 'Huntsmen'."
"It's my pleasure, Your Grace," Weiss lied.
"You've spoken a lot about your 'academy' but not much about your family, Lady Weiss. Is your father a Huntsman as well, like Lady Ruby and Lady Yang's father?"
Weiss Schnee shook her head. "No, Your Grace. He rules the family lands."
"And yet you, as his heir, chose to become a Huntress?"
"I wanted to protect people like my grandfather did. He wasn't a Huntsman either." Weiss knew that anticipating the Queen's question like this was rude, but it was the sort of rudeness one could get away with. "But he personally fought for his land and his people, driving out the Grimm, and turned a monster-infested wilderness into productive land."
"He sounds very impressive," Lady Catelyn added with a smile.
"He was. I miss him." Weiss didn't have to fake her sadness. "His example also motivated me to become a Huntress. I wanted to do more than merely rule my family holdings." Corporate holdings, but the sentiment was the same even if she was deliberately obfuscating the truth. "And I wanted to do so in a different kingdom, where my name wouldn't carry as much weight as back home." And where her father's influence was curtailed.
One day, she would restore the good name of her family and continue her grandfather's legacy.
She belatedly realised that she had touched her emblem, embroidered on her dress by Lady Catelyn's tailors, when the Queen smiled with more condescension than Weiss's father managed on a good day and leaned forward to peer at it. "Is this your personal heraldry? How quaint. Did you pick it yourself?"
Her long practice in attending family dinners at home kept Weiss from audibly grinding her teeth at the Queen's question and allowed her to smile politely as she inclined her head. "No, I did not, Your Grace. While most Huntresses pick their own emblem," she replied, emphasising the correct term just a tiny bit, "all members of my family share the same emblem."
"That is unusual for your home kingdom, isn't it?" Lady Catelyn's smile was as strained as Weiss's when she leaned forward a bit, holding her teacup with both hands.
"Yes." Weiss nodded at their host. "But it's a family tradition, my lady."
"So, your family at least follows the proper tradition." The Queen's smirk was subtle but still clear. Especially if one had spent a feast across the table from her brother, Ser Jaime. He had the same expression, if a bit more pronounced, when he mocked someone. Which he had done fairly often during the meal.
It must run in the family. Or it was a twin thing. Weiss didn't dwell on it and tilted her head to the side, feigning confusion. "Actually, we broke tradition there."
"I meant our traditions," the Queen explained with narrowed eyes.
So, she had seen through Weiss's act. Or she took any contradiction, no matter how innocent, as an insult. After an hour with the Queen, even with Lady Catelyn running interference, sniping and needling her, Weiss was leaning towards the latter.
But a Schnee didn't yield to such tactics - or to petty women trying to bully her. She would not lose her temper, she would not pull Myrtenaster and start telling the Queen what the various dust charges loaded into her weapon's chambers would do when used against a target, especially one without Aura, and she most certainly wouldn't tell the Queen what she thought about her. So, she faked more confusion. "Your Grace, why would we follow your traditions? We never heard of Westeros until we were stranded here."
The Queen's smile grew more teeth. "Every civilised country in the world has heard about the Seven Kingdoms, but I don't doubt your claim."
Lady Catelyn grew even more tense, and Weiss was glad that Sansa, Arya and the Princess - who seemed to be the complete opposite of the Queen as far as her character was concerned, had begged their leave a while ago to check with Prince Thommen on the local felines. Oh, if the little prince knew about Blake's nature… She kept from giggling at the stray thought; she had to focus. The Queen's veiled insults had grown less and less subtle over time, and they hadn't really been that subtle to start with.
"Indeed, Your Grace," Weiss told her, nodding as earnestly as she could, "that would be because we aren't from this world."
"I have been told that, but I must confess, it sounds far too fantastical to believe." The Queen sniffed as if she had smelt something unpleasant.
Weiss could, for once, empathise with her - she had felt like that since shortly after this 'friendly gathering' had started.
"I do not doubt it, Your Grace," Lady Catelyn cut in again.
Weiss worried that their host - although she wasn't quite sure if that was technically correct since they were in the Queen's quarters - would crack her teacup if she held it any more tightly. "And why would we be lying about this?" Weiss followed up. "We have been open from the start about the fact that we want to return to our world and need help finding a way back."
"Why would anyone lie about their true origins and goals?" The Queen did not quite shrug but still managed to convey the sentiment. "There are many possible answers if one does not naively accept a foreigner's word at face value."
Weiss narrowed her eyes. Sure, Team RWBY was hiding a great many things about Remnant, but the Queen just suggested they had hostile intentions toward their hosts. "And what would such 'possible answers' be?" she asked. "If there are so many, I am sure you can name a few, Your Grace." Put up or shut up, as Yang would say - and Weiss was, once again, very grateful that Yang wasn't present either; her friend would have lost her temper several times already.
"Spies would hide their true intentions and origin - as would assassins. Or they could be wanted in their homeland, like the Blackfyres."
Lady Catelyn gasped. "Your Grace! You can't mean this!"
Weiss tensed. Had the Prince talked to his mother about his theory? She couldn't use the same argument that the King had used to refute this; that would reveal that they had spied on the King. But she couldn't let this stand. The implication wasn't merely dangerous; it was also insulting. "It would be a poor spy or assassin who revealed their capability like this, Your Grace. If we were from a kingdom in this world that had ill intentions towards your realm, then what we would have revealed here about our might would vastly outweigh what information we might gain." Any fool could see that.
The Queen scoffed. "Aegon the Conqueror would beg to differ. After he demonstrated his power, the mere threat of another such demonstration cowed entire kingdoms - such as the North - and made the vassals of other kingdoms join him - such as the Tullys."
Oh. That was… not quite as far-fetched as Weiss had thought. How could she answer that?
Fortunately, Lady Catelyn had taken offence. She wasn't smiling any more but glaring. "Your Grace, are you insinuating that my husband would betray the king? That my family would?"
The Queen's eyes widened for a moment, apparently surprised, before she put on a smile so fake, it wouldn't have fooled Jaune. "I was merely providing the answers Lady Weiss asked for, Lady Stark. I did not intend to insinuate anything. We have heard and seen so many incredible things since our arrival here, I could not help wondering if there were dangers matching them as well, and my thoughts might have run a bit too freely."
Weiss didn't believe the Queen for an instant, and she doubted that Lady Catelyn did either, but appearances had been kept up.
And Weiss was now convinced that she had to keep her Aura up at all times around the Queen. And maybe ask Blake if there was a way to check for poison in the tea without having Faunus senses.
When Blake Belladonna and her partner entered the chamber Team RWBY shared in Winterfell, she could tell at once that things hadn't gone well in their absence - Weiss was scowling and, Blake could tell from how she moved towards the centre of the room, had been pacing, while Ruby looked like she wanted to use her Semblance to tackle-hug Yang.
"Yang! Blake!"
"Hey! Missed us?" Yang smiled, but the glance she exchanged with Blake showed that she had noticed their team member's distress as well.
Blake checked that the door was locked behind them, listened for eavesdroppers - and checked that she wasn't ignoring a hunch from her Aura - and then sat down on her bed, crossing her legs.
"Please tell me you have good news!" Weiss blurted out.
"Ah… I could, but I would be lying," Yang replied with a wry smile. "Sorry, but the rare earth we were looking for was just raw earth."
Blake rolled her eyes at… she wouldn't even call that a pun.
"I thought you had a good lead." Ruby looked crestfallen. Blake had expected her reaction, of course; every Huntress was attached to their weapon, they put their very soul in it, after all, but Team RWBY's leader was a bit more passionate than usual about hers - and very concerned about not having all the material she would need to repair Crescent Rose.
"Yeah, well…" Yang shrugged. "Turns out that just because the locals know what iron and steel is doesn't mean they use the same elements to make steel as we do. Key parts of our metallurgy aren't known here."
"Or, as I suspect," Blake cut in, "they are known under a different name."
"Works out the same," Yang said with a shrug. "It's a bit hard to describe the stuff if you only can go with its appearance. Maybe those Qohorik smiths we've heard about know more; their steel is supposedly much stronger than the Castle-forged steel here."
"Great!" Weiss scoffed. "Another complication."
"So, what happened here?" Yang asked. "I didn't see any additional holes in the walls, and the guards didn't look scared or angry, so what did we miss?"
Ruby blushed. "It wasn't my fault they build their walls so fragile! That never happened at Beacon!"
"Beacon was built with Huntresses in mind, dolt!" Weiss snapped. "Anyway, you missed our meetings with royalty."
"Oh?" Yang sat straighter. "What did the King do?"
Blake tensed. She had heard enough rumours about the King's 'appetites' while roaming the castle. If the King's interest in Ruby included more than her weapon and fighting ability…
"He invited me to talk about weapons, and we did - I showed him how Crescent Rose could shift, and we had a good talk about it," Ruby said. "He knows his stuff, too; he should talk shop with Nora about warhammers, though his is smaller and wielded in one hand, usually. But you can use it with a two-handed grip if you really need to smash through something - he told me how he beat the Crown Prince during his rebellion." She grimaced a little. "Caved his chest in."
That... didn't sound too bad. Ruby was more innocent than the rest of their team, Blake knew that, but it wasn't as if she was as naive as some thought, having fought criminals and White Fang members before.
"Well, they've got different views here," Yang said. "About killing and stuff."
"It's not that!" Ruby protested. "Well, it's also that, but not much - he just sounded a bit too happy about having killed that man. Like, wanted to kill him a thousand times over, happy!" Yang snorted, and Ruby scowled. "That was what he said, Yang!"
"Oh."
"Prince Rhaegar abducted the King's fiancée, Lord Stark's sister," Weiss said. "We know that."
"Yes, yes, but he doesn't have to be so gleeful about it!" Ruby replied. "Anyway, it wasn't that. But they - the King, and the little Lord, Lord Tyrion - they kept making lewd comments!"
"They made lewd comments about you?" Yang had narrowed her eyes, Blake noted, and showed no trace of her usually easy-going nature any more. If she lost her temper here, with the King so close…
"No. But about other people - well, in general. It was really uncomfortable!"
Ah. Blake nodded. In other words, Ruby had experienced how the locals talked about women when they didn't fear offending Team RWBY.
"Did you tell him you didn't like it?" Yang asked.
"Well…" Ruby looked down. "I didn't want to be rude. But it should have been obvious that I didn't like it! I didn't laugh at the jokes at all! And even the Prince told Lord Tyrion off!"
Blake winced. Hoping that people would notice such things was… naive. People often missed such signals. Or ignored them deliberately.
"If they don't get it, you need to tell them," Yang said.
"But you said we should be on our best behaviour!" Ruby protested with a glance at Weiss.
"Tell them politely, but don't let them push you around," Weiss replied. "The locals here are different. What they consider normal would never fly back home."
"Because it would get their balls crushed," Yang added.
"Don't crush anyone's balls here!" Weiss immediately blurted out. "No matter the temptation!"
Balke felt her ears twitch. That was a rather uncommon comment from her friend - Weiss was usually far more restrained and calm in her responses and wouldn't even tacitly admit that she, too, was sometimes tempted to use violence to deal with such things. "Were you present as well?" she asked.
"No," Weiss replied. "I had a meeting with the Queen." At the last word, her tone grew so cold, it could have frozen an entire lake.
"So… I take it that your meeting didn't go any better than Ruby's?" Yang said.
"Based upon our shared experiences, I am confident to say that it was worse," Weiss replied.
Blake winced. Weiss wasn't prone to hyperbole - unless it involved studying, not studying enough, and sometimes cleaning or not cleaning.
"She hates us!" Ruby blurted out.
"Well, we knew that already." Yang nodded at Blake.
"We suspected," Weiss corrected her. "We knew she was jealous of the King's interest in Ruby and us, but now we know she blames us for it." She shook her head, her ponytail whipping around, and Blake felt a slight urge to grab it, which she suppressed with long practice; she wasn't actually a cat.
"The worst thing isn't that she loathes us; the worst thing is that she doesn't make an effort to hide it," Weiss went on. "She barely stays within the limits of what passes for polite society here when expressing her disdain. She insinuated that we're spies, assassins or wanted criminals!"
Weiss must be affected more than Blake had suspected; she wouldn't have made such a comment about the local customs otherwise. Usually, she was the one to remind Ruby and Yang that they were in a foreign culture and shouldn't judge people as if they were on Remnant.
Although Weiss had good reasons for this - if the Queen of the Realm behaved like this, things were dire. Just the social influence the Queen wielded could make their stay in Westeros far more unpleasant, not to mention how that would affect their search for a way home. Who would defy the queen to help them?
"So, she hates us, and she lets us know it, but what can she actually do to us?" Yang asked. Weiss huffed and frowned at her, which prompted Yang to grin back. "If things come to blows, we can blow her up."
"It's not that simple," Weiss said with a scowl. "It is a bit simplified, but essentially, Westeros is an absolute monarchy. The word of the King is literally law."
"The King likes us," Yang replied.
"Maybe a bit too much," Ruby added. "But I doubt he wants to hurt us or would let her hurt us. I don't think they like each other much."
Which was part of the problem, in Blake's opinion. "And he knows we can beat his guards."
Weiss shook her head again. "Even with the backing of the King, we aren't safe. The Queen must have vast influence and resources at her disposal to deal with her enemies, outside the law if needed. I deduced as much from some of the tales that were shared with me."
Blake nodded. Luwin had shared some of Westeros's history with her that confirmed this.
"But we aren't her enemies!" Ruby said. "Why does she think we are?
"I think she's stupid," Yang said. "Or mad with jealousy. Or both."
Blake nodded; they shouldn't underestimate anyone here, but her impression of Cersei matched Yang's.
"Stupid or not, she is the Queen - and the daughter of the richest Lord in Westeros. Trust me, that means she has a lot of soft power," Weiss went on. "Bribes, favours owed… And a lot of people would take their cues from her when dealing with us, and that includes the guards and officials. How many people will help us if it's known that doing so would risk earning the Queen's enmity?"
"Yes." Blake pressed her lips together. Weiss would know about that from her father's machinations in Atlas. And Blake knew how such biases worked when dealing with Faunus. "And how many will twist the law to follow her whims?"
"Well, even a king is not all-powerful," Yang said. "The last king got killed when he abused his power, right? Started a war that toppled his family."
"But… who would start a war over the Queen bullying us?" Ruby asked. "I wouldn't start a war over being bullied! It's not worth it! We just want to go home!"
"No one wants to start a war," Weiss said.
"Well…" Yang grinned, then held up her hands when Weiss glared at her. "I'm kidding!"
Weiss huffed again. "But she can hurt us anyway - we need the help of the locals to get home. And she sabotages that…"
Blake nodded. "And we don't know how far she'll go. What if she tries to get us assassinated?"
"We have Aura, but it's of limited use against, say, poison," Weiss said.
"It should keep us alive, though," Yang said. "Even Grimm poison can be resisted."
"We don't know how strong the local poisons are," Blake pointed out. "And it'll weaken us and deplete our Aura if it's strong enough." She didn't have to explain that if they were weakened, even the locals could kill them; every Huntress knew that if your Aura was depleted in a fight, you were usually dead soon afterwards. A competent assassin would plan for that.
"How can we detect poison?" Yang asked.
"I can smell most poisons," Blake told her. "And taste them."
"Then it's too late!" Ruby gasped.
"Not if you don't swallow," Yang replied.
"Yang!"
Blake shook her head. "Aura can also give you a hunch, like when you're watched. But don't rely on that." You needed experience for that to work - experience Blake had thanks to her time as a member of the White Fang, but her friends lacked.
"We'll have to be on our guard. Never let your Aura down," Weiss said.
"But…" Ruby bit her lower lip. "Aren't we taking this too far? Do we really expect the Queen to send assassins after us?"
"Can we afford to underestimate her?" Weiss shot back. "I spoke at length with her, and I would rather trust my father to show restraint than her."
Now, that was a damning judgement if Blake had ever heard one.
"Better safe than sorry," Yang added.
"Yes." Weiss nodded. "But there's more."
"More?" Yang stared at her.
Weiss grimaced, which was an even worse sign. "She might - might, I am not sure - expect all of us to attend her next invitation."
Blake froze, and Yang cursed.
Winterfell, The North, Westeros, 298 AC
"...and then I grabbed his balls and squeezed - lightly, mind you. Just enough to make him squeal and maybe answer my question. Of course, instead of answering, he had his men attack me, and things started to get interesting." Yang grinned.
King Robert laughed. "Hah! Facing a dozen foes inside a tavern? That's gutsy!"
"Well, there wasn't much left of the tavern afterwards. The idiot set it on fire trying to get me," Yang replied.
"You either shouldn't have squeezed his balls or crushed them, I wager." Lord Tyrion cut in. "Half-measures don't cut it - I should know for being one!"
Yang had to laugh at his joke. At least the little lord didn't spare himself when he joked. If only he wouldn't stare so much at Yang's chest with a leering expression. Yang was sure that wasn't just an exaggerated joke. She had experience with leering boys or men, after all.
The King guffawed. "Maybe you should give the gold cloaks some pointers. They never seem to be able to curb the thieves in King's Landing."
Those would be like the police, then, Yang thought.
"Uh, I don't think it's a good idea to teach them to burn down buildings while fighting crime." Ruby shook her head.
"But teaching them how to fight would be good! Put some spine into the bunch!"
"They probably already burn down houses if the owners are late with paying their bribes," Lord Tyrion said. "Or if someone else paid them."
Ruby grimaced, and Yang turned her grin into a wince. Her little sister took things a bit too seriously here. Then again, she probably still felt responsible for their team ending up in another world.
The King and Lord Tyrion laughed out loud, of course, but the Prince scowled. "If the city watch is corrupt then they need to be brought to justice! What is Uncle Renly doing?"
"Trying to make merry and forge better relations with the Tyrells, I would guess," Lord Tyrion said with a smirk. "He is still not wed, after all."
Oh, probably a marriage alliance then. Yang took a sip from the ale to hide her grimace. Ruby didn't. That whole thing was incredibly creepy. More so since of everyone here at the table, only the King was married. Well, Ser Jaime was a member of the Kingsguard and not allowed to marry, so he probably didn't count.
"Bah! Let's not talk about the Tyrells! Let's hear more about your fights, my ladies!" the King bellowed. "More ale!"
His page moved to refill his mug. He was Lancel Lannister - Ruby had asked - and about Ruby's age, but Yang hadn't really paid attention to him. The boy seemed too nervous around them. Probably because he kept staring at them.
"Well… I've already told the story of how I fought Torchwick's gang in a Dust shop," Ruby said. "And the fight against those ice zombies."
"And a very amusing story it was, my lady," Ser Jaime cut in with a smile that was a bit too much of a sneer. He wasn't really as good at hiding his wounded pride as he probably thought he was.
Ruby pouted, and Yang leaned forward. "Wouldn't have been amusing for anyone else. Either of the stories. Roman Torchwick is one of the most dangerous criminals in Vale," she said.
"Roman Torchwick?" The King frowned. "Is he from a fallen noble house?"
"Named after candlemakers?" Ser Jaime wondered.
Lord Tyrion shrugged. "If it is, it is a good thing that the Torchwicks aren't from Westeros; the Mad King would have probably burnt them all just to honour the name."
That was the king King Robert had toppled - and whom Ser Jaime had killed. The king who had burnt Lord Stark's father alive.
"No, he's not from a noble house," Ruby said. "At least I don't think so."
"Don't you have records?" Lord Tyrion looked curious. "Lady Blake made it sound as if everyone wrote down everything in your home."
People wrote a lot on their scrolls, but that was it. Not that Yang wanted to go into such details.
"He certainly had the arrogance for a noble," Ruby said with a pout.
Time to change the subject, Yang thought. "Well, there's a very famous - or infamous - fight we all fought in. And it happened in Beacon's own halls! And it was all Ruby's fault." She grinned.
"Yang!" Ruby blushed and stared at her. "You can't tell them that - and it wasn't true!"
Yang shook her head. "Don't be too modest, Ruby. I still remember the moment - you standing in front of us, pointing at the enemy, and loudly declaring: 'Justice will be swift! Justice will be painful! It will be delicious!'" She sighed exaggeratedly.
"Yang!"
Yang ignored her. "Let me tell you all about the infamous... food fight in the Great Hall of Beacon! It all started with a foul betrayal of the worst kind…"
When she had finished, everyone was laughing out loud, even Ser Jaime and the Prince. Well, except for Ruby, Her little sister was fuming in the cutest way.
"Yang! That didn't happen like that at all!"
"I was there, Ruby. I remember what you did."
"It was an accident! I couldn't let them win!"
"So, it is true - everything is stronger in your homeland. Even the food," Lord Tyrion said, chuckling.
Yang wasn't about to tell him about infusing Aura in weapons - or food. And she kicked Ruby in the shin when her sister looked like she wanted to explain.
"Is that food the reason you are so strong?" the Prince asked - he looked like Weiss during a lesson, Yang noticed, focused and eager. Well, Weiss usually didn't look that eager.
"I noticed that you ate more than anyone else at the feast, even including you, Your Grace," Lord Tyrion added with a grin aimed at the King, who threw back his head and laughed.
"Well, hunting is hungry work," Yang said.
"How droll - here, hunting fills your belly," Lord Tyrion replied. "Though do you eat those Grimm?"
"No!" Ruby blurted out with a grimace. "Bleargh! No, they fade as soon as they're dead. Just poof! - they turn to smoke and disperse. We eat normal food. Just a bit more than you do here. And that's only Huntsmen and Huntresses. Not everyone eats so much - well, athletes do so as well. But normal people grow fat if they eat as much as we do. They don't burn so many calories."
The Prince looked disappointed.
Lord Tyrion looked intrigued. "What are those calories you burn? Is that like an offering?"
"No!" Ruby shook her head. "It's like… the food value of, well, food. The stuff that you need not to starve. If you work hard - like a Huntress - you need lots of calories. If you just sit around all day, you don't need as many calories."
"Ah." Lord Tyrion nodded. "I was wondering how you could feed your population if everyone ate as much as you do. The peasants could hardly feed their own families."
"Yeah," Yang said.
"But even so, how can you do farming if such monsters are around?" Lord Tyrion took another sip from his mug. "You'd need a lot of guards."
"We manage. Though we have walls around farmlands in Vale," Yang told him. "And the mountains also act as a barrier."
"And we can grow stuff in greenhouses inside cities," Ruby added. "And there's plant Dust."
"Plant Dust?" Lord Tyrion asked.
"Dust that makes plants grow super-fast!" Ruby explained.
"Even your manure is magical?" The Prince looked boggled.
"It's not magic," Ruby protested. "It's Dust."
"What is this 'Dust'?" the Prince asked.
They had already revealed a lot to Benjen and the Night's Watch when they had asked after Dust, so Yang saw no problem explaining. "Dust is mined and comes in many varieties. You have Water Dust, which produces water, Plant Dust which makes plants grow, Lightning Dust if you want, well lightning, Fire Dust if you want to burn something…" She grinned and showed her teeth. "My favourite!"
The King laughed again, and Lord Tyrion chuckled. "That sounds like magic dust, as my nephew said."
It might as well be magic for people who didn't know anything about Dust. Yang shrugged. "Well, it's not magic. Anyway, I never really thought much about farming - we're Huntresses."
"Yes!" The King chuckled. "You protect the farmers, and they, in turn, feed you. That's the same everywhere!"
That was… not wrong, Yang decided. Not quite the same, though - Huntresses didn't rule over the farmers as the nobles did here. But going over that wouldn't be a good idea.
"Leave the farming to the peasants, yes," the Prince said. "And fighting to those fit for it."
"And speaking of fighting…" Lord Tyrion grinned. "You told us that you fought a war over fashion - and over the right to express yourself however you want to."
Ruby nodded.
"A worthy cause for a war, if I ever saw one! I would go to war as well if it got women to dress like you!" The King laughed at his own joke.
Ruby looked embarrassed, so Yang cut in: "Yes, that's why we dress like we want - because we earned it." She smashed her fist into her palm for emphasis.
"And it's not just restricted to clothes, but includes singing, dancing, everything, right?" Lord Tyrion leaned forward a little, pushing his mug to the side.
"Yes," Ruby replied. "You've got the freedom to do what you want to express yourself."
Yang frowned a little. The guy was working toward something.
"What about loving?" The little Lord laughed and grabbed his mug again. "Some would say it's an art form as well. I certainly know a few women I'd call artists."
Ruby blushed again. "Well… that is…"
"People are free to love who they want," Yang said, baring her teeth at the man. "And they are free to refuse any advances they want as well."
"So… does that mean people choose their own husbands and wives?" Lord Tyrion asked. "It's not a family matter?"
Oh. Yang managed not to wince. That was a question she would rather not answer. But lying would be pointless - the little Lord already had it figured out.
'Some might wonder how the Order of the Ruby, stranded far from their home, might have earned such - documented beyond doubt by multiple sources - efforts of various noble houses to form an alliance with them through marriage if they did not actually possess supernatural powers. A few scholars even went so far as to denounce the four maidens as frauds who were using a made-up homeland, conveniently too distant to be reached, to deceive Westeros's nobility in order to secure a life as nobles, citing their lack of familiarity with Westeros's customs and nobility as proof that they were of common origin. However, such deductions could only come from an appalling ignorance of crucial aspects of the culture of the Seven Kingdoms at the time. In this era, Westeros, both smallfolk and nobility, were obsessed with chivalry and martial might, represented by outstanding individuals. Not unjustly so, for this was a time when the armoured knight still ruled the battlefield - at least in Westeros. While the wars in Essos were already showing glimpses of the changes that would, slowly but surely, result in raising the infantry to a status not enjoyed since the days of the Ghiscari legions, before they encountered the Freehold's dragons, battles in Westeros were still mainly decided by the charge of the heavy cavalry. And nothing represented this as well as the mounted knight. Tourneys, where the best knights of the realm showed off their skills, were the highlight of the smallfolk's lives, and whatever house could call a champion their own gained much prestige. The Kingsguard, gathering - at least more often than not - the finest knights of the Seven Kingdoms was renowned not only for their loyalty to the royal family but also for their skill at arms, and several famous battles saw them demonstrate that they had earned their reputation many times over. It should not come as a surprise, then, that four maidens from exotic lands with superb martial skills, on par or superior to the most famous Kingsguard according to how one interprets the entries in the Book of Brothers detailing their encounters with the Order of the Ruby, would garner such interest. What noble house would not wish to claim one of them for their family - and what noble would not hope to see his sons inherit such talent? That the Order of the Ruby inspired many girls and women to follow their example shows the impact the four maidens' martial expertise had on Westeros's society and culture. I would even argue that the Order of the Ruby did more to advance the rights of women in Westeros than Dorne's cultural influence over centuries, although that is harder to prove due to how intertwined both factors often ended up despite Dorne's contribution mainly being limited to the high nobility.'
- A Treatise On The Ruby Order, by Maester Kennet Bracken
*****
Winterfell, The North, Westeros, 298 AC
"Hah! Too slow! I will… ack!"
"Haha! Don't boast about being fast when I'm fighting you!"
"Speed doesn't help if you can't hit me!"
"Oops! Didn't see you! Sorry!"
"Yeah, right! Just wait!"
Ser Barristan Selmy had seen many battles, both at tourneys and in war, and many more sparring matches. He was no stranger to how tempers or grudges could turn even a sparring match with training swords into a dangerous fight, and he had seen too many knights die or end up maimed in a tourney not to be aware that every time you crossed blades with someone, the Stranger was paying attention to both of you.
And yet, if not for the laughter and teasing quips the four girls exchanged while fighting each other, he would have thought he was watching a battle to the death. They were exchanging blows that left craters in the earth and smashed wood to splinters when they missed, showing strength and speed that put the best knights he knew to shame. His pride might baulk, but his honesty required him to admit that Lord Stark had been correct - a single one of the four would match the entire Kingsguard in a fair fight. For even if you were quick enough to see them strike - Barristan managed it more often than not unless Lady Ruby used her strange "Semblance" to vanish and reappear in a flurry of petals - how could you win if your enemy could not be hurt even by blows that would shatter stone?
Did shatter stone, he corrected himself with a slight wince when he saw what Lady Ruby's scythe did to the wall that Lady Blake had just used to vault across the entire training yard.
"Sorry! It's Blake's fault for moving!"
"Don't blame me if you can't control your weapon!"
"Hah!" the King, sitting in front of him on a makeshift dais, pounded his armrest, making the page attending him jerk and almost spill his wine. "Did you see that? Who would need siege weapons with that power!"
Lord Stark nodded, not saying much - which, Barristan knew, was typical for the man. He wasn't transfixed by the sight, though, unlike the members of the royal party. Of course, as Barristan understood, this was not new for him or his guards. To think one could grow accustomed to such a display! If Barristan had not been on duty, he would likely have ignored everything outside the training yard.
Prince Joffrey, standing next to his father, nodded. "Yes, Father." The boy, unlike his mother the Queen, had chosen to attend the 'sparring match' - insisted on it, actually, in a rare display of defying his mother's wishes. "And their weapons… any sword except for a Valyrian blade would have shattered."
"Yeah, Boy! Good eye!"
"Thank you, Father!"
Barristan glanced around for potential dangers to the King and his family - other than catching a stray blow from the spectacle in front of them - and hoped that was a sign of the boy leaving the Queen's shadow and forming closer ties with his father, the King. Although he also hoped the boy wouldn't take too much after his sire; the last thing the realm needed was for the crown prince to father a bastard with a girl strong enough to kick down a castle's gate - or wall.
"Hah!"
Lady Ruby swung her 'scythe' in a wide arc, forcing her sister to jump over it, then spun it around so fast for an overhead slash, Barristan could barely follow the movement - yet Lady Yang still blocked the strike with her gauntlets and jumped away.
Next to him, Ser Jaime shook his head and softly snorted. "Strangely, the longer I watch, the more my pride recovers from the blow Lady Yang dealt it."
The King guffawed at that, but his eyes remained fixated on the fight before them even as the page refilled his goblet.
Barristan smiled; his brother in the Kingsguard was not wrong. Who would dare mock him for losing to Lady Yang after seeing this terrifying display of power beyond anything he had ever seen? "They could outwrestle the Mountain, I believe," he said.
"Definitely. Ser Gregor has done many things - often far more horrible things than damaging someone's castle - but even he would not be able to shatter stone like that," Ser Jaime's brother, sipping from a goblet of his own, commented. "I feel I must reassess the tales from the Age of Heroes I've read. Maybe they have not grown as much in the telling for thousands of years as I was assured by the Grand Maester. Although in this case, they would have had to shrink in the telling until grown men were reduced to my size."
Ser Jaime, the Prince and the King laughed at that. "That's a good jibe, Imp!" the King blurted out. "Oh, watch that!"
In front of them, Lady Weiss had caught a kick to the chest that threw her across the yard and into the stone wall, cracking the surface. Barristan winced. The girl recovered, gritted her teeth and kicked off, leading with her sword, and put Lady Yang on the defensive with several lightning-quick stabs.
"Hah! She must be mad!"
While Lady Weiss attacked Lady Yang, and Lady Blake led Lady Ruby on a chase probably meant to exhaust her - or wreck the training yard - Barristan glanced around again. He could still perceive no threats on the rampart or close to them. Everyone present seemed focused on the fight.
"They're so strong…" Prince Joffrey breathed.
The girls were powerful, indeed. They possessed strength beyond belief and were as tough and quick as they were strong. If anyone had told such a tale to him, Barristan wouldn't have believed it.
But, and this wasn't his pride talking, Barristan also knew by now that they were not as skilled as himself or Ser Jaime. The talent was there, no doubt, but their form, if you stripped away their strength and quickness, lacked the refinement that came with experience. The girls, for all their power, hadn't trained and fought for decades. He wouldn't call their strikes sloppy, far from it, but they still had room for improvement.
"Hah! I wonder if I should spar with them - they would give me the fight of my lifetime!"
"Or the last fight of your lifetime," Lord Tyrion quipped.
Barristan winced - as did Lord Stark, he noticed. The King sparring against Team Ruby… He couldn't see anything good that would come of that. Even if the King's pride survived the blows it would receive, people would spread the news, and Barristan knew that those not disposed favourably toward the crown would twist this into a humiliating defeat. And the Queen would certainly take it as something else altogether. And if Team Ruby made a mistake and accidentally hit the King as hard as they were obviously used to hitting each other…
He hoped the King wasn't serious and realised the same. If he didn't, perhaps Lord Stark would manage to convince him of the folly of such an action.
Another glance revealed no lurking assassins, and he studied the fight before him again. The four maidens were still moving in ways that defied common sense. Sometimes, they seemed to fly across the yard, or disappear altogether to reappear somewhere else. It was an exhilarating yet terrifying sight. But… Lady Weiss seemed to be somewhat wanting, if only in comparison to her comrades. Was she less experienced? Not quite, he decided. She was definitely used to fighting, it shone through in many exchanges. And yet, she didn't move as fluently as the others.
She was used to fighting differently, as if she were missing something, Barristan realised. But for the life of him, he couldn't tell what it was. Lady Blake as well, now that he knew what to look for, although it wasn't as evident with her. Incidentally, both were losing the match to the others.
So, what were they missing - or, to be more precise, what were they hiding?
He pondered the question until the sparring match ended, apparently by mutual agreement between the four maidens, and to the applause of the audience.
*****
Later, when the King and his family had returned to their chambers to freshen up before the meal, Barristan and Ser Jaime were left standing guard outside, chatting with Lord Tyrion.
"I am curious, Jaime. Did watching that display of martial might beyond our understanding make you feel as insignificant as I feel when I watch the Kingsguard train?"
The little Lord's question had a slight edge of self-loathing to it, but it was an apt comparison. If the Kingsguard had to face Team Ruby, Ser Barristan would give them the same odds of winning as he'd give Lord Tyrion when facing the Mountain.
Ser Jaime, however, deflected. "I wouldn't know how that felt, Tyrion. But at least you can be assured that you can still verbally eviscerate those who prove to be your betters with the blade."
Lord Tyrion snorted at that. For someone who had matched the King drink for drink, he had kept his wits admirably. "Such displays of wordy might tend to invite more personal displays of martial might from certain parties. And I am not sure my esteemed position as Father's unwanted heir would be enough to keep them from acting on it." He chuckled at his own words, then sighed. "Leaving that aside… what do you think? Was this how our ancestors fought in the Age of Heroes? Is this how far we have fallen since then?"
Barristan frowned. He hadn't really considered that before, but it made sense. "We know the dragons were mere shadows of their ancestors, both far smaller and weaker than the likes of Balerion the Black Dread, when the last of them were killed. Would it be so surprising that men, too, have grown weaker with time?" It was a chilling thought. Would their ancestors see them as failures for growing so weak? And what had caused this to occur in the first place? If it was true, of course. Yet, it would also mean that there was a country whose people had not suffered such a decline. An entire kingdom - four of them, even - full of people with such power… Now that was a terrifying thought.
"Well, men might have fallen, but the women seem to have kept their strength just fine," Ser Jaime quipped. "If the King wants the strongest knights in the Kingsguard, we might have to adapt to sharing our quarters with women."
Barristan frowned at that. His brother of the Kingsguard might be joking, but the King might very well consider this - King Robert had been watching the fight with an intensity Barristan hadn't seen on his face since the Greyjoy Rebellion. And unlike many, he hadn't seemed to be as terrified as much or more as he was impressed. Instead, he had been fascinated and pleased. "We would need an opening to welcome a new member, which we do not have." Only if one of the seven members died would a new one be chosen, and all of them were in good health.
"Let's hope the King will not be tempted to create an opening." Ser Jaime chuckled.
Barristan frowned at the younger knight; Ser Jaime had quite a sharp sense of humour, but there were things you didn't joke about.
*****
"...and this is how Crescent Rose folds up so I can carry her easily on my back!" Ruby Rose smiled as she demonstrated mechashifting for the King. "See?" She turned around so he could see how it rested on her back, ready to be drawn.
"Even I could carry it like that," Lord Tyrion said. "If I could lift it. I don't suppose its weight is reduced as well?"
"No, it weighs the same," Ruby told him. "It's just more compact."
The King chuckled. "I know a few knights who would have loved to have their swords fold up like that so they wouldn't have tripped over them. But don't all those joints and gears weaken the weapon?"
"Oh, no!" Ruby shook her head. "I designed my baby - I mean, my scythe - so the moving parts interlock in a way that reinforces them. Well, kinda - it means they are a tiny bit more flexible, so they withstand blows better. Of course, I had to get the strongest material for that." And it had taken her a number of attempts to get it right; her first version had been a bit too flexible, and hadn't that been embarrassing!
"I see. The hollow shaft is not merely to save weight, then, but also to reinforce it?"
The King knew his weapon mechanics. Ruby nodded. It also served as the barrel for the sniper mode, but she wasn't supposed to say that - or say anything about firearms.
"How would that work? Wouldn't it be stronger if it weren't hollow?" Prince Joffrey asked.
Lord Tyrion grumbled something Ruby didn't catch, mostly because he was drinking deeply from a mug so large, he had to hold it with both hands.
"Under some circumstances, such a shaft would be stronger," Ruby replied. "But it's generally negligible. And the hollow shaft resists most damage much better. Most Grimm can't even scratch it!"
"Grimm." The Prince frowned. "Those are the monsters you fight, yes?"
"Yes." Ruby nodded again. "Most of them die quickly, but some are tougher. Especially the old and large ones. Crescent Rose can cut through a Beowulf or Boarbatusk easily, but a Death Stalker - that's a huge scorpion-like Grimm, as big as your wheelhouse - can withstand a blow." As she had found out the hard way during Initiation.
"And how do you kill those?" The Prince leaned forward across the table, almost pushing over the mug with ale in front of him.
"You have to go for the weaker spots, the joints. Cut off its legs, pincers and stinger, then you can kill it more easily."
"Like when fighting a man in plate armour with a sword?"
"Yes, Boy. Go for the armpits, the gorget, the knees… Or just cave in their chestplate with a warhammer!" the King laughed and emptied another mug of ale.
He drank almost as much as Uncle Qrow, Ruby couldn't help noticing. He ate much more, though, almost as much as a Huntsman, and he was much bigger, too, so he probably wasn't like her uncle. On the other hand, Lord Tyrion was much smaller - he was a head or more smaller than Weiss, and Ruby was taller than her partner! - and he drank almost as much. But everyone drank ale here. Or wine. Because the water usually wasn't safe, you had to boil it like when you were camping. Only they didn't do that here - Benjen had been surprised when they had done it on the trip to Winterfell.
But she was getting distracted! And that while talking with the King and the Crown Prince! And Lord Tyrion, apparently - it wasn't quite clear, as Ruby understood - the heir of the Lord of the Westerlands, Lord Tywin. And Lord Tywin was both the King's father-in-law - they called it good father here - and had the same rank as Lord Stark, so that made his heir important as well.
"Can all your weapons 'shift' like that?" the Prince asked.
"Well…" How could she answer that without lying and without revealing firearms? "Weiss's Myrtenaster doesn't shift. It's a straight sword." Kinda. "Blake's Gambol Shroud can shift into a sickle."
"A sickle?" The Prince chuckled. "You have a scythe, and she has a sickle? Are you facing Grimm wheat as well?"
Ruby frowned - her baby wasn't a farming tool! And neither was Blake's chain-sickle. But she forced herself to chuckle at the Prince's joke as the King laughed again. The Prince didn't know any better, after all. "Well, not unless a Geist possesses a wheatfield. Though I don't know if they can do that. They can possess trees, though. But they prefer tougher objects, like rocks. Or…" She couldn't say machines. "...armour."
"Armour?" The King frowned.
"Yes. If a suit of armour is attacking you without anyone inside, it's probably a Geist. At least back home."
"The more I hear about your home, the more I wonder if I have drunk too much - or not enough," Lord Tyrion said.
The King and the Prince laughed at that.
"Well…" She smiled and shrugged with a slight wince. "...things are different back home compared to here." Very different.
"Oh, I think everyone realised that when you accidentally created a new hole in Lord Stark's inner wall." Lord Tyrion grinned and took another sip from his ale. Or more than a sip. Much more.
Ruby blushed. "It didn't go through the wall, so it's more like a dent," she defended herself.
Everyone else laughed at that. Well, not Ser Barristan, but the man hadn't said a word the whole time she had been talking. He just stood behind the King and to the side, guarding him. Like one of those bodyguards you saw in shows, only without falling in love with their charge. Probably. She'd have to ask Blake about that part; her friend was the expert on such romances. If she wanted to know. (Which she didn't - that was none of her business. People were way too obsessed with the whole relationships and marriage thing here, anyway!)
"I can't imagine how you wage war!" the King said, holding out his mug to be refilled by one of the servants. "You probably put the Field of Fire to shame!"
Ruby blinked. "The Field of Fire?"
The Prince smiled at her. "That was a famous battle during King Aegon's Conquest. His dragon burnt an entire army in the field!"
The King scoffed behind his mug, and the Prince flinched a little. "Bah! Damn Targaryens! Hiding behind their dragons! Without them, they were nothing! I caved in Prince Rhaegar's chest with my hammer in the battle of the Ruby Ford! Put the damn man down for good!"
Ruby winced again. The people here were also far too fond of such gruesome stories. And this one was called the Battle of the Ruby Ford… Ugh! "I guess so," she said, diplomatically. "We don't really fight wars, though."
"Didn't you have a war over clothes?" Lord Tyrion asked. "Or I might be mistaken - the chambermaid telling me did not strike me as especially witty and might have misunderstood a dispute for a literal war."
Ruby frowned a little - all the maids she had met in Winterfell had been nice - and shook her head. "No, it was a war - the Great War, actually, since all four kingdoms were involved. It was between Atlas and Mistral on one side and Vacuo and Vale on the other side. That was…" She narrowed her eyes, trying to remember Obolecks' lesson. "...eighty years ago. But we haven't had a war since then. That's why we also call it The War." Oh, drat - she had forgotten the Faunus Revolution. But Team RWBY had also agreed to keep Faunus a secret, so she couldn't have mentioned that anyway.
The King huffed at that for some reason.
"And it was over fashion?" Lord Tyrion sounded amused.
"Over fashion, arts - our headmaster, Ozpin, likes to say it was over our right to express ourselves," Ruby explained.
"Your right to express yourselves?" the Prince looked confused.
"The right to, well, dress like you want, create art, play music, sing…" Ruby shrugged; she wasn't good at explaining that stuff. "You know, live your life."
"If they banned alcohol and… good food as well, then you'd have been better off dead," Lord Tyrion said.
Ruby didn't know if the war had been over alcohol as well. Probably not - Uncle Qrow once said if a kingdom wanted to ban alcohol, the government would be toppled the next day. Then again, he was a bit of a drunk. "In any case, we - Vale and Vacuo - won, and we've been wearing what clothes we want ever since!"
"Well, I can't say I disagree with the outcome!" The King laughed his booming laugh again. "If more women dressed like you, the world would be a better place!"
Lord Tyrion, and a moment later, the Prince laughed at that. Ruby joined in, though she wasn't quite sure if it was a joke or not. It had to be, hadn't it? Lady Catelyn had insisted that ladies here didn't dress like Team RWBY did.
"What about the men? Do they dress the same?" Lord Tyrion asked. "Or do they wear dresses?"
"Well… they can dress as they want. But most Huntsmen wear clothes that let them fight," Ruby said.
"If you don't need to wear armour, you could fight naked. Now, that would be a sight to see!" the little Lord went on.
Ruby was starting to think that he had had a bit too much ale.
"Watch your tongue, Uncle!" the Prince snapped. "A lady is present."
"A lady that can throw you across both walls of Winterfell if you annoy her," the King added with a chuckle.
Ruby would never do that, of course - and she couldn't throw a grown, well, not grown man, that far. Probably not; she had never tried. But she nodded anyway.
"I beg your pardon, my lady!" Lord Tyrion said, though he didn't look scared - he was still grinning. "I was talking about the men fighting naked, of course!"
Ruby blushed as everyone laughed again and really wished that they could return to talking about weapons. All this… lecherous talk was making her uncomfortable. At least the Prince didn't seem interested in that sort of stuff.
*****
"I am very disappointed that your friends refused my invitation, Lady Weiss."
You have said so before. Twice since you received us in your chambers, Weiss Schnee thought. Out loud, she said. "Unfortunately, Your Grace, Lady Ruby was called to attend the King, and Lady Blake and Lady Yang had already left the castle before your invitation arrived." To check a potential source of rare earth needed for one of Yang's tools that Blake had heard about from Luwin, but there was no need to go into details - Weiss didn't think the Queen understood anything about metallurgy.
The Queen sniffed as if she expected everyone to wait in their chambers in case she deigned to call them. Well, Weiss wouldn't be surprised if she did. At least the Queen had refrained from calling Ruby a hussy. So far.
"I am sure they will be delighted to attend your next invitation, Your Grace," Lady Catelyn said.
The expression on the Queen's face suggested that it was somewhat doubtful another invitation would be forthcoming. But she nodded. "At least you are here, Lady Weiss, to satisfy our curiosity about 'Huntresses' and 'Huntsmen'."
"It's my pleasure, Your Grace," Weiss lied.
"You've spoken a lot about your 'academy' but not much about your family, Lady Weiss. Is your father a Huntsman as well, like Lady Ruby and Lady Yang's father?"
Weiss Schnee shook her head. "No, Your Grace. He rules the family lands."
"And yet you, as his heir, chose to become a Huntress?"
"I wanted to protect people like my grandfather did. He wasn't a Huntsman either." Weiss knew that anticipating the Queen's question like this was rude, but it was the sort of rudeness one could get away with. "But he personally fought for his land and his people, driving out the Grimm, and turned a monster-infested wilderness into productive land."
"He sounds very impressive," Lady Catelyn added with a smile.
"He was. I miss him." Weiss didn't have to fake her sadness. "His example also motivated me to become a Huntress. I wanted to do more than merely rule my family holdings." Corporate holdings, but the sentiment was the same even if she was deliberately obfuscating the truth. "And I wanted to do so in a different kingdom, where my name wouldn't carry as much weight as back home." And where her father's influence was curtailed.
One day, she would restore the good name of her family and continue her grandfather's legacy.
She belatedly realised that she had touched her emblem, embroidered on her dress by Lady Catelyn's tailors, when the Queen smiled with more condescension than Weiss's father managed on a good day and leaned forward to peer at it. "Is this your personal heraldry? How quaint. Did you pick it yourself?"
Her long practice in attending family dinners at home kept Weiss from audibly grinding her teeth at the Queen's question and allowed her to smile politely as she inclined her head. "No, I did not, Your Grace. While most Huntresses pick their own emblem," she replied, emphasising the correct term just a tiny bit, "all members of my family share the same emblem."
"That is unusual for your home kingdom, isn't it?" Lady Catelyn's smile was as strained as Weiss's when she leaned forward a bit, holding her teacup with both hands.
"Yes." Weiss nodded at their host. "But it's a family tradition, my lady."
"So, your family at least follows the proper tradition." The Queen's smirk was subtle but still clear. Especially if one had spent a feast across the table from her brother, Ser Jaime. He had the same expression, if a bit more pronounced, when he mocked someone. Which he had done fairly often during the meal.
It must run in the family. Or it was a twin thing. Weiss didn't dwell on it and tilted her head to the side, feigning confusion. "Actually, we broke tradition there."
"I meant our traditions," the Queen explained with narrowed eyes.
So, she had seen through Weiss's act. Or she took any contradiction, no matter how innocent, as an insult. After an hour with the Queen, even with Lady Catelyn running interference, sniping and needling her, Weiss was leaning towards the latter.
But a Schnee didn't yield to such tactics - or to petty women trying to bully her. She would not lose her temper, she would not pull Myrtenaster and start telling the Queen what the various dust charges loaded into her weapon's chambers would do when used against a target, especially one without Aura, and she most certainly wouldn't tell the Queen what she thought about her. So, she faked more confusion. "Your Grace, why would we follow your traditions? We never heard of Westeros until we were stranded here."
The Queen's smile grew more teeth. "Every civilised country in the world has heard about the Seven Kingdoms, but I don't doubt your claim."
Lady Catelyn grew even more tense, and Weiss was glad that Sansa, Arya and the Princess - who seemed to be the complete opposite of the Queen as far as her character was concerned, had begged their leave a while ago to check with Prince Thommen on the local felines. Oh, if the little prince knew about Blake's nature… She kept from giggling at the stray thought; she had to focus. The Queen's veiled insults had grown less and less subtle over time, and they hadn't really been that subtle to start with.
"Indeed, Your Grace," Weiss told her, nodding as earnestly as she could, "that would be because we aren't from this world."
"I have been told that, but I must confess, it sounds far too fantastical to believe." The Queen sniffed as if she had smelt something unpleasant.
Weiss could, for once, empathise with her - she had felt like that since shortly after this 'friendly gathering' had started.
"I do not doubt it, Your Grace," Lady Catelyn cut in again.
Weiss worried that their host - although she wasn't quite sure if that was technically correct since they were in the Queen's quarters - would crack her teacup if she held it any more tightly. "And why would we be lying about this?" Weiss followed up. "We have been open from the start about the fact that we want to return to our world and need help finding a way back."
"Why would anyone lie about their true origins and goals?" The Queen did not quite shrug but still managed to convey the sentiment. "There are many possible answers if one does not naively accept a foreigner's word at face value."
Weiss narrowed her eyes. Sure, Team RWBY was hiding a great many things about Remnant, but the Queen just suggested they had hostile intentions toward their hosts. "And what would such 'possible answers' be?" she asked. "If there are so many, I am sure you can name a few, Your Grace." Put up or shut up, as Yang would say - and Weiss was, once again, very grateful that Yang wasn't present either; her friend would have lost her temper several times already.
"Spies would hide their true intentions and origin - as would assassins. Or they could be wanted in their homeland, like the Blackfyres."
Lady Catelyn gasped. "Your Grace! You can't mean this!"
Weiss tensed. Had the Prince talked to his mother about his theory? She couldn't use the same argument that the King had used to refute this; that would reveal that they had spied on the King. But she couldn't let this stand. The implication wasn't merely dangerous; it was also insulting. "It would be a poor spy or assassin who revealed their capability like this, Your Grace. If we were from a kingdom in this world that had ill intentions towards your realm, then what we would have revealed here about our might would vastly outweigh what information we might gain." Any fool could see that.
The Queen scoffed. "Aegon the Conqueror would beg to differ. After he demonstrated his power, the mere threat of another such demonstration cowed entire kingdoms - such as the North - and made the vassals of other kingdoms join him - such as the Tullys."
Oh. That was… not quite as far-fetched as Weiss had thought. How could she answer that?
Fortunately, Lady Catelyn had taken offence. She wasn't smiling any more but glaring. "Your Grace, are you insinuating that my husband would betray the king? That my family would?"
The Queen's eyes widened for a moment, apparently surprised, before she put on a smile so fake, it wouldn't have fooled Jaune. "I was merely providing the answers Lady Weiss asked for, Lady Stark. I did not intend to insinuate anything. We have heard and seen so many incredible things since our arrival here, I could not help wondering if there were dangers matching them as well, and my thoughts might have run a bit too freely."
Weiss didn't believe the Queen for an instant, and she doubted that Lady Catelyn did either, but appearances had been kept up.
And Weiss was now convinced that she had to keep her Aura up at all times around the Queen. And maybe ask Blake if there was a way to check for poison in the tea without having Faunus senses.
*****
When Blake Belladonna and her partner entered the chamber Team RWBY shared in Winterfell, she could tell at once that things hadn't gone well in their absence - Weiss was scowling and, Blake could tell from how she moved towards the centre of the room, had been pacing, while Ruby looked like she wanted to use her Semblance to tackle-hug Yang.
"Yang! Blake!"
"Hey! Missed us?" Yang smiled, but the glance she exchanged with Blake showed that she had noticed their team member's distress as well.
Blake checked that the door was locked behind them, listened for eavesdroppers - and checked that she wasn't ignoring a hunch from her Aura - and then sat down on her bed, crossing her legs.
"Please tell me you have good news!" Weiss blurted out.
"Ah… I could, but I would be lying," Yang replied with a wry smile. "Sorry, but the rare earth we were looking for was just raw earth."
Blake rolled her eyes at… she wouldn't even call that a pun.
"I thought you had a good lead." Ruby looked crestfallen. Blake had expected her reaction, of course; every Huntress was attached to their weapon, they put their very soul in it, after all, but Team RWBY's leader was a bit more passionate than usual about hers - and very concerned about not having all the material she would need to repair Crescent Rose.
"Yeah, well…" Yang shrugged. "Turns out that just because the locals know what iron and steel is doesn't mean they use the same elements to make steel as we do. Key parts of our metallurgy aren't known here."
"Or, as I suspect," Blake cut in, "they are known under a different name."
"Works out the same," Yang said with a shrug. "It's a bit hard to describe the stuff if you only can go with its appearance. Maybe those Qohorik smiths we've heard about know more; their steel is supposedly much stronger than the Castle-forged steel here."
"Great!" Weiss scoffed. "Another complication."
"So, what happened here?" Yang asked. "I didn't see any additional holes in the walls, and the guards didn't look scared or angry, so what did we miss?"
Ruby blushed. "It wasn't my fault they build their walls so fragile! That never happened at Beacon!"
"Beacon was built with Huntresses in mind, dolt!" Weiss snapped. "Anyway, you missed our meetings with royalty."
"Oh?" Yang sat straighter. "What did the King do?"
Blake tensed. She had heard enough rumours about the King's 'appetites' while roaming the castle. If the King's interest in Ruby included more than her weapon and fighting ability…
"He invited me to talk about weapons, and we did - I showed him how Crescent Rose could shift, and we had a good talk about it," Ruby said. "He knows his stuff, too; he should talk shop with Nora about warhammers, though his is smaller and wielded in one hand, usually. But you can use it with a two-handed grip if you really need to smash through something - he told me how he beat the Crown Prince during his rebellion." She grimaced a little. "Caved his chest in."
That... didn't sound too bad. Ruby was more innocent than the rest of their team, Blake knew that, but it wasn't as if she was as naive as some thought, having fought criminals and White Fang members before.
"Well, they've got different views here," Yang said. "About killing and stuff."
"It's not that!" Ruby protested. "Well, it's also that, but not much - he just sounded a bit too happy about having killed that man. Like, wanted to kill him a thousand times over, happy!" Yang snorted, and Ruby scowled. "That was what he said, Yang!"
"Oh."
"Prince Rhaegar abducted the King's fiancée, Lord Stark's sister," Weiss said. "We know that."
"Yes, yes, but he doesn't have to be so gleeful about it!" Ruby replied. "Anyway, it wasn't that. But they - the King, and the little Lord, Lord Tyrion - they kept making lewd comments!"
"They made lewd comments about you?" Yang had narrowed her eyes, Blake noted, and showed no trace of her usually easy-going nature any more. If she lost her temper here, with the King so close…
"No. But about other people - well, in general. It was really uncomfortable!"
Ah. Blake nodded. In other words, Ruby had experienced how the locals talked about women when they didn't fear offending Team RWBY.
"Did you tell him you didn't like it?" Yang asked.
"Well…" Ruby looked down. "I didn't want to be rude. But it should have been obvious that I didn't like it! I didn't laugh at the jokes at all! And even the Prince told Lord Tyrion off!"
Blake winced. Hoping that people would notice such things was… naive. People often missed such signals. Or ignored them deliberately.
"If they don't get it, you need to tell them," Yang said.
"But you said we should be on our best behaviour!" Ruby protested with a glance at Weiss.
"Tell them politely, but don't let them push you around," Weiss replied. "The locals here are different. What they consider normal would never fly back home."
"Because it would get their balls crushed," Yang added.
"Don't crush anyone's balls here!" Weiss immediately blurted out. "No matter the temptation!"
Balke felt her ears twitch. That was a rather uncommon comment from her friend - Weiss was usually far more restrained and calm in her responses and wouldn't even tacitly admit that she, too, was sometimes tempted to use violence to deal with such things. "Were you present as well?" she asked.
"No," Weiss replied. "I had a meeting with the Queen." At the last word, her tone grew so cold, it could have frozen an entire lake.
"So… I take it that your meeting didn't go any better than Ruby's?" Yang said.
"Based upon our shared experiences, I am confident to say that it was worse," Weiss replied.
Blake winced. Weiss wasn't prone to hyperbole - unless it involved studying, not studying enough, and sometimes cleaning or not cleaning.
"She hates us!" Ruby blurted out.
"Well, we knew that already." Yang nodded at Blake.
"We suspected," Weiss corrected her. "We knew she was jealous of the King's interest in Ruby and us, but now we know she blames us for it." She shook her head, her ponytail whipping around, and Blake felt a slight urge to grab it, which she suppressed with long practice; she wasn't actually a cat.
"The worst thing isn't that she loathes us; the worst thing is that she doesn't make an effort to hide it," Weiss went on. "She barely stays within the limits of what passes for polite society here when expressing her disdain. She insinuated that we're spies, assassins or wanted criminals!"
Weiss must be affected more than Blake had suspected; she wouldn't have made such a comment about the local customs otherwise. Usually, she was the one to remind Ruby and Yang that they were in a foreign culture and shouldn't judge people as if they were on Remnant.
Although Weiss had good reasons for this - if the Queen of the Realm behaved like this, things were dire. Just the social influence the Queen wielded could make their stay in Westeros far more unpleasant, not to mention how that would affect their search for a way home. Who would defy the queen to help them?
"So, she hates us, and she lets us know it, but what can she actually do to us?" Yang asked. Weiss huffed and frowned at her, which prompted Yang to grin back. "If things come to blows, we can blow her up."
"It's not that simple," Weiss said with a scowl. "It is a bit simplified, but essentially, Westeros is an absolute monarchy. The word of the King is literally law."
"The King likes us," Yang replied.
"Maybe a bit too much," Ruby added. "But I doubt he wants to hurt us or would let her hurt us. I don't think they like each other much."
Which was part of the problem, in Blake's opinion. "And he knows we can beat his guards."
Weiss shook her head again. "Even with the backing of the King, we aren't safe. The Queen must have vast influence and resources at her disposal to deal with her enemies, outside the law if needed. I deduced as much from some of the tales that were shared with me."
Blake nodded. Luwin had shared some of Westeros's history with her that confirmed this.
"But we aren't her enemies!" Ruby said. "Why does she think we are?
"I think she's stupid," Yang said. "Or mad with jealousy. Or both."
Blake nodded; they shouldn't underestimate anyone here, but her impression of Cersei matched Yang's.
"Stupid or not, she is the Queen - and the daughter of the richest Lord in Westeros. Trust me, that means she has a lot of soft power," Weiss went on. "Bribes, favours owed… And a lot of people would take their cues from her when dealing with us, and that includes the guards and officials. How many people will help us if it's known that doing so would risk earning the Queen's enmity?"
"Yes." Blake pressed her lips together. Weiss would know about that from her father's machinations in Atlas. And Blake knew how such biases worked when dealing with Faunus. "And how many will twist the law to follow her whims?"
"Well, even a king is not all-powerful," Yang said. "The last king got killed when he abused his power, right? Started a war that toppled his family."
"But… who would start a war over the Queen bullying us?" Ruby asked. "I wouldn't start a war over being bullied! It's not worth it! We just want to go home!"
"No one wants to start a war," Weiss said.
"Well…" Yang grinned, then held up her hands when Weiss glared at her. "I'm kidding!"
Weiss huffed again. "But she can hurt us anyway - we need the help of the locals to get home. And she sabotages that…"
Blake nodded. "And we don't know how far she'll go. What if she tries to get us assassinated?"
"We have Aura, but it's of limited use against, say, poison," Weiss said.
"It should keep us alive, though," Yang said. "Even Grimm poison can be resisted."
"We don't know how strong the local poisons are," Blake pointed out. "And it'll weaken us and deplete our Aura if it's strong enough." She didn't have to explain that if they were weakened, even the locals could kill them; every Huntress knew that if your Aura was depleted in a fight, you were usually dead soon afterwards. A competent assassin would plan for that.
"How can we detect poison?" Yang asked.
"I can smell most poisons," Blake told her. "And taste them."
"Then it's too late!" Ruby gasped.
"Not if you don't swallow," Yang replied.
"Yang!"
Blake shook her head. "Aura can also give you a hunch, like when you're watched. But don't rely on that." You needed experience for that to work - experience Blake had thanks to her time as a member of the White Fang, but her friends lacked.
"We'll have to be on our guard. Never let your Aura down," Weiss said.
"But…" Ruby bit her lower lip. "Aren't we taking this too far? Do we really expect the Queen to send assassins after us?"
"Can we afford to underestimate her?" Weiss shot back. "I spoke at length with her, and I would rather trust my father to show restraint than her."
Now, that was a damning judgement if Blake had ever heard one.
"Better safe than sorry," Yang added.
"Yes." Weiss nodded. "But there's more."
"More?" Yang stared at her.
Weiss grimaced, which was an even worse sign. "She might - might, I am not sure - expect all of us to attend her next invitation."
Blake froze, and Yang cursed.
*****
Winterfell, The North, Westeros, 298 AC
"...and then I grabbed his balls and squeezed - lightly, mind you. Just enough to make him squeal and maybe answer my question. Of course, instead of answering, he had his men attack me, and things started to get interesting." Yang grinned.
King Robert laughed. "Hah! Facing a dozen foes inside a tavern? That's gutsy!"
"Well, there wasn't much left of the tavern afterwards. The idiot set it on fire trying to get me," Yang replied.
"You either shouldn't have squeezed his balls or crushed them, I wager." Lord Tyrion cut in. "Half-measures don't cut it - I should know for being one!"
Yang had to laugh at his joke. At least the little lord didn't spare himself when he joked. If only he wouldn't stare so much at Yang's chest with a leering expression. Yang was sure that wasn't just an exaggerated joke. She had experience with leering boys or men, after all.
The King guffawed. "Maybe you should give the gold cloaks some pointers. They never seem to be able to curb the thieves in King's Landing."
Those would be like the police, then, Yang thought.
"Uh, I don't think it's a good idea to teach them to burn down buildings while fighting crime." Ruby shook her head.
"But teaching them how to fight would be good! Put some spine into the bunch!"
"They probably already burn down houses if the owners are late with paying their bribes," Lord Tyrion said. "Or if someone else paid them."
Ruby grimaced, and Yang turned her grin into a wince. Her little sister took things a bit too seriously here. Then again, she probably still felt responsible for their team ending up in another world.
The King and Lord Tyrion laughed out loud, of course, but the Prince scowled. "If the city watch is corrupt then they need to be brought to justice! What is Uncle Renly doing?"
"Trying to make merry and forge better relations with the Tyrells, I would guess," Lord Tyrion said with a smirk. "He is still not wed, after all."
Oh, probably a marriage alliance then. Yang took a sip from the ale to hide her grimace. Ruby didn't. That whole thing was incredibly creepy. More so since of everyone here at the table, only the King was married. Well, Ser Jaime was a member of the Kingsguard and not allowed to marry, so he probably didn't count.
"Bah! Let's not talk about the Tyrells! Let's hear more about your fights, my ladies!" the King bellowed. "More ale!"
His page moved to refill his mug. He was Lancel Lannister - Ruby had asked - and about Ruby's age, but Yang hadn't really paid attention to him. The boy seemed too nervous around them. Probably because he kept staring at them.
"Well… I've already told the story of how I fought Torchwick's gang in a Dust shop," Ruby said. "And the fight against those ice zombies."
"And a very amusing story it was, my lady," Ser Jaime cut in with a smile that was a bit too much of a sneer. He wasn't really as good at hiding his wounded pride as he probably thought he was.
Ruby pouted, and Yang leaned forward. "Wouldn't have been amusing for anyone else. Either of the stories. Roman Torchwick is one of the most dangerous criminals in Vale," she said.
"Roman Torchwick?" The King frowned. "Is he from a fallen noble house?"
"Named after candlemakers?" Ser Jaime wondered.
Lord Tyrion shrugged. "If it is, it is a good thing that the Torchwicks aren't from Westeros; the Mad King would have probably burnt them all just to honour the name."
That was the king King Robert had toppled - and whom Ser Jaime had killed. The king who had burnt Lord Stark's father alive.
"No, he's not from a noble house," Ruby said. "At least I don't think so."
"Don't you have records?" Lord Tyrion looked curious. "Lady Blake made it sound as if everyone wrote down everything in your home."
People wrote a lot on their scrolls, but that was it. Not that Yang wanted to go into such details.
"He certainly had the arrogance for a noble," Ruby said with a pout.
Time to change the subject, Yang thought. "Well, there's a very famous - or infamous - fight we all fought in. And it happened in Beacon's own halls! And it was all Ruby's fault." She grinned.
"Yang!" Ruby blushed and stared at her. "You can't tell them that - and it wasn't true!"
Yang shook her head. "Don't be too modest, Ruby. I still remember the moment - you standing in front of us, pointing at the enemy, and loudly declaring: 'Justice will be swift! Justice will be painful! It will be delicious!'" She sighed exaggeratedly.
"Yang!"
Yang ignored her. "Let me tell you all about the infamous... food fight in the Great Hall of Beacon! It all started with a foul betrayal of the worst kind…"
When she had finished, everyone was laughing out loud, even Ser Jaime and the Prince. Well, except for Ruby, Her little sister was fuming in the cutest way.
"Yang! That didn't happen like that at all!"
"I was there, Ruby. I remember what you did."
"It was an accident! I couldn't let them win!"
"So, it is true - everything is stronger in your homeland. Even the food," Lord Tyrion said, chuckling.
Yang wasn't about to tell him about infusing Aura in weapons - or food. And she kicked Ruby in the shin when her sister looked like she wanted to explain.
"Is that food the reason you are so strong?" the Prince asked - he looked like Weiss during a lesson, Yang noticed, focused and eager. Well, Weiss usually didn't look that eager.
"I noticed that you ate more than anyone else at the feast, even including you, Your Grace," Lord Tyrion added with a grin aimed at the King, who threw back his head and laughed.
"Well, hunting is hungry work," Yang said.
"How droll - here, hunting fills your belly," Lord Tyrion replied. "Though do you eat those Grimm?"
"No!" Ruby blurted out with a grimace. "Bleargh! No, they fade as soon as they're dead. Just poof! - they turn to smoke and disperse. We eat normal food. Just a bit more than you do here. And that's only Huntsmen and Huntresses. Not everyone eats so much - well, athletes do so as well. But normal people grow fat if they eat as much as we do. They don't burn so many calories."
The Prince looked disappointed.
Lord Tyrion looked intrigued. "What are those calories you burn? Is that like an offering?"
"No!" Ruby shook her head. "It's like… the food value of, well, food. The stuff that you need not to starve. If you work hard - like a Huntress - you need lots of calories. If you just sit around all day, you don't need as many calories."
"Ah." Lord Tyrion nodded. "I was wondering how you could feed your population if everyone ate as much as you do. The peasants could hardly feed their own families."
"Yeah," Yang said.
"But even so, how can you do farming if such monsters are around?" Lord Tyrion took another sip from his mug. "You'd need a lot of guards."
"We manage. Though we have walls around farmlands in Vale," Yang told him. "And the mountains also act as a barrier."
"And we can grow stuff in greenhouses inside cities," Ruby added. "And there's plant Dust."
"Plant Dust?" Lord Tyrion asked.
"Dust that makes plants grow super-fast!" Ruby explained.
"Even your manure is magical?" The Prince looked boggled.
"It's not magic," Ruby protested. "It's Dust."
"What is this 'Dust'?" the Prince asked.
They had already revealed a lot to Benjen and the Night's Watch when they had asked after Dust, so Yang saw no problem explaining. "Dust is mined and comes in many varieties. You have Water Dust, which produces water, Plant Dust which makes plants grow, Lightning Dust if you want, well lightning, Fire Dust if you want to burn something…" She grinned and showed her teeth. "My favourite!"
The King laughed again, and Lord Tyrion chuckled. "That sounds like magic dust, as my nephew said."
It might as well be magic for people who didn't know anything about Dust. Yang shrugged. "Well, it's not magic. Anyway, I never really thought much about farming - we're Huntresses."
"Yes!" The King chuckled. "You protect the farmers, and they, in turn, feed you. That's the same everywhere!"
That was… not wrong, Yang decided. Not quite the same, though - Huntresses didn't rule over the farmers as the nobles did here. But going over that wouldn't be a good idea.
"Leave the farming to the peasants, yes," the Prince said. "And fighting to those fit for it."
"And speaking of fighting…" Lord Tyrion grinned. "You told us that you fought a war over fashion - and over the right to express yourself however you want to."
Ruby nodded.
"A worthy cause for a war, if I ever saw one! I would go to war as well if it got women to dress like you!" The King laughed at his own joke.
Ruby looked embarrassed, so Yang cut in: "Yes, that's why we dress like we want - because we earned it." She smashed her fist into her palm for emphasis.
"And it's not just restricted to clothes, but includes singing, dancing, everything, right?" Lord Tyrion leaned forward a little, pushing his mug to the side.
"Yes," Ruby replied. "You've got the freedom to do what you want to express yourself."
Yang frowned a little. The guy was working toward something.
"What about loving?" The little Lord laughed and grabbed his mug again. "Some would say it's an art form as well. I certainly know a few women I'd call artists."
Ruby blushed again. "Well… that is…"
"People are free to love who they want," Yang said, baring her teeth at the man. "And they are free to refuse any advances they want as well."
"So… does that mean people choose their own husbands and wives?" Lord Tyrion asked. "It's not a family matter?"
Oh. Yang managed not to wince. That was a question she would rather not answer. But lying would be pointless - the little Lord already had it figured out.
*****
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Chapter 7: Crime and Punishment
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Chapter 7: Crime and Punishment
'Some of my colleagues, probably because they are used to modern Westeros, where the law, not nobility, rules supreme, fail to understand just how different life in the Seven Kingdoms was during those times. The smallfolk were, often openly and legally, but always effectively, at the mercy of the nobles ruling their fief. There was no independent judicial system; the law was applied by the nobles as they saw fit. There was almost no codified law, either, at best, there were precedents - although not every noble judging people had studied them, and even those who were aware of precedents which might apply to a case often were ruling according to their own interests or sympathies. That would have been bad enough if smallfolk were litigating against each other, being forced to curry favour with their lord (or bribe them) to have a chance at justice, but in those cases where the smallfolk had grievances against their lord, it was devastating. Their best hope of finding justice or relief when their lord harmed them was appealing to a higher authority - but, as anyone who studied this epoch knows, the odds were stacked against them even so. Many villages were too remote to travel to court - certainly not without the local lord noticing and taking steps to return them home. And many courts sided with the nobles as a rule - a fact some nobles took care to spread amongst their smallfolk to discourage such attempts in the first place. That was the state of the judicial system in Westeros when the Ruby Order appeared, and it should not surprise anyone who has studied the relevant sources and their character that they took offence to it, albeit the exact circumstances and deeds remain, vexingly, vague since judicial records as a rule were not archived in the Citadel, and every scholar of our Order knows what happened to the Royal Court's archives during the Year of the Calamity. Nevertheless, most sources agree that the Ruby Order was appalled by corporal punishment, as it was practiced back then, and advocated for mercy in most cases.'
Winterfell, The North, Westeros, 298 AC
"Are you going to join us, my prince?" Robb Stark asked as he took a step back from his opponent and lowered his blade. It was the polite thing to do - he didn't really want to spar with the prince, who was spending far too much time with Lady Ruby. Well, he wouldn't mind going for a few bouts if the boy insisted. In armour, he wouldn't really be hurt, and everyone expected bruises in the training yard, right?
"Hm… I think not," Joffrey replied as he leaned against the fence separating the training area from the rest of the courtyard. Rebuilt just yesterday, it looked sturdy and new, though Robb knew it wouldn't stand up to a single blow from any of their guests. Behind the Prince, the Hound loomed. "I merely came to watch, Lord Robb," the boy went on.
"To watch?" Robb blinked. Why wouldn't the Prince want to spar? Hadn't he been trained to become a knight? The King was one of the most famous knights in the Realm.
"You spar regularly with Lady Ruby, don't you?" the Prince asked.
Next to Robb, Theon laughed. "I wouldn't call it sparring, my prince. She gives us pointers, and we pretend we can follow her advice."
Robb frowned at his friend. That wasn't how their sparring matches went. Granted, they couldn't really spar, Ruby had to hold back too much, but they did train together. And it wasn't one-sided at all! "We share tips," he said. "While Lady Ruby is great with her scythe, she is not as experienced with blades, and none of her team uses a longsword, so we do train together even if we don't spar."
The prince sniffed. "How many real fights did you take part in?"
Robb clenched his teeth. He hadn't seen a real fight yet, but that wasn't his fault. Father wouldn't let him join any dangerous patrols until he was of age. The closest he got to real fighting was hunting, and that was not much of a challenge.
"I thought so." The prince shook his head. "Lady Ruby, if she needed advice, would be better served to seek it from those with actual experience." He nodded at his sworn sword. "Like the Hound. He could teach her how real men fight. It's not prancing around with blunted blades."
The giant's burn scar twisted when he grinned at Robb, making him look even uglier. And scarier, but Rob tried to ignore that by focusing on his anger.
"How many real fights have you been in, my prince?" Theon asked.
"None, of course. I don't pretend to be a knight while playing around with practice swords." The Prince smiled in such a smug way, Robb wanted to show him what a practice sword could do.
"You don't train?" Theon seemed honestly surprised.
That earned him a frown. "I do train. But I wouldn't claim that it makes me an experienced swordsman. The only way to become experienced is to fight for real." The Prince showed his white teeth in a mocking smile. "Nor would I presume to teach my betters."
"The more you sweat in training, the less you bleed in a fight," Robb shot back. That was what Ser Rodrick had told them whenever they had complained about the training, and it wasn't wrong! And… He grinned. "Lady Ruby told me that." Well, she had agreed with the sentiment, so it counted.
The Prince scowled again before straightening. "Well, she is not wrong - but I doubt she would mistake training for fighting." He shook his head. "Anyway, I've seen enough. Come, Hound, let's go!"
He left without a further word. That was… Well, it felt rude, but Robb didn't remember if princes were supposed to excuse themselves before leaving. Still… "The Prince is such a…" he swallowed the slur he had been about to utter. You didn't insult your guests. Mother had taught him that. You especially didn't insult the Crown Prince of the Realm - history lessons by Luwin had taught him that.
"I know," Theon said, glancing around for anyone who might overhear them.
Robb had checked, though - none of the guards from the royal party, most of them wearing Lannister colours, was close by.
"Insufferable, isn't he?" Theon snorted.
Robb nodded. "I bet he doesn't train at all. Just has his guard hit things for him."
Theon chuckled at that. "Too bad he's not wrong about our experience, though."
Robb glared at his friend. "He's wrong! I did show Lady Ruby a trick with a sword she hadn't seen before!"
"But did she really need it? Or was she just humouring you?" Theon shrugged. "I offered to teach her how to use a bow, but she refused. Several times."
Robb frowned. Was Ruby just humouring him? And if she was, was that bad? It would mean she liked him, wouldn't it? And since according to what he had heard, and confirmed, in her homeland, people chose their spouses themselves, if she liked him, that might mean she would decide…
"Don't get your hopes up," Theon's slightly snide tone interrupted his thoughts. "The Prince has been spending his days with her - as much as he can, or so I hear."
Robb scoffed. That didn't mean anything. "She's just being polite." The Prince was royalty, and you didn't snub them by refusing their invitations.
"She'll be polite all the way to the wedding night, huh?" Theon chuckled.
Robb clenched his teeth again. His friend was so crude. "Lady Ruby would never do that!"
"Do what?"
"Marry someone out of politeness," Robb spat.
"Of course not. You marry the Crown Prince to become Queen, not out of politeness."
"Ruby doesn't want to become Queen!" Robb shook his head. "You don't know her at all."
Theon shrugged. "It's not as if she lets me get to know her."
And that was a good thing, in Robb's opinion. A very good thing. One rival was bad enough. Especially if it was the Crown Prince. But as long as there was no engagement, Robb still had a chance.
He just had to find a way to use it.
Winterfell, The North, Westeros, 298 AC
"Come on, Jon! Don't hold back! You were doing so well before!"
Robb winced when he watched Lady Yang scowl at his brother. She wasn't pleased with their bout.
"I'm doing my best, my lady!" Jon certainly looked the part - covered in dust and sand, breathing heavily, sweat running down his face, he looked as if he had been fighting for hours. Probably felt like it, too.
"No, you're not! You haven't really tried to hit me for days!" Lady Yang shook her head, her hair whipping around.
"We're sparring!"
"Yes, and that means you do your best to hit me! Defend yourself!" She charged ahead, leaving an opening so wide, Bran would have noticed it.
Jon tried to dodge instead of using it and ended up on the ground. A few yards from where he had stood.
Lady Yang huffed. "Stop being stupid!"
"I'm not!" Jon protested.
"Whatever!" Lady Yang ran a hand through her hair and turned away. "Tomorrow, same time!" she called over her shoulder before leaping over the fence and walking away.
Robb sighed and walked over to Jon, who had yet to get up. "You are better than this," he told him.
Jon sighed, still on the ground. "No, I'm not."
"You did better before," Robb told him.
"I know. But that was… before." Jon sighed again and slowly stood.
Before he had found out that Lady Yang wasn't a bastard.
"If Lady Yang deigns to spar with you, the least you could do was to acquiesce to her wishes and put in an effort. Although judging by what I saw, it probably wouldn't make a difference."
Robb glanced to the side and suppressed a scowl. The Prince had been watching the bout as well, though he hadn't made any remarks until now.
When none was answering him, the boy shrugged. "Well, I guess this was the most one could expect from a bastard. Let's go, Hound!"
Robb turned back to Jon. His brother had his lips pressed together but otherwise didn't show any reaction. And yet… That was a lot for Jon. Robb frowned.
Jon looked away and muttered: "He keeps riding me about my sparring with Lady Yang as a bastard."
Robb hadn't known that. "Is that why you…?" He shrugged.
"I can't hit her! Not as a bastard!"
"She wants you to hit her. You heard her."
"Lady Catelyn would take offence." Jon shook his head.
"And Lady Yang seems to be taking offence," Robb pointed out.
"I know. But I can't." Jon sighed again and walked away.
It had to be the Prince's fault. Jon hadn't been like this before. Robb wondered if he should tell the Prince to stop needling Jon. If he told him that it would antagonise Team Ruby, the Prince might listen.
But that would help the Prince with Team Ruby. And that would harm Robb's chances of wooing Lady Ruby. Something he not only wanted but also had to do for his family.
But Jon was also family, and the Prince was a guest.
What should he do?
Winterfell, The North, Westeros, 298 AC
Ruby Rose could do this. She just had to be polite, smile and make the approving noises at the right moments, and surviving this invitation to tea with the Queen (who hated RWBY) would be a piece of cake. (Yummy honey cake, to be exact - Ruby had asked in the kitchen beforehand so she wouldn't be disappointed.)
She took a deep breath and checked her dress again. No stains, and the slight tear on the side she had ripped by accident when handling her baby was barely visible - the tailors here could work miracles! If Ruby had tried that, it would have looked way worse, as her dearly missed favourite plush toy of her childhood proved.
"Stop fidgeting. You're fine."
Ruby didn't feel fine. She glanced at her partner. As expected, Weiss was frowning at her. "I just don't want to be late," she muttered.
"We're not going to be late," Weiss told her. "They don't measure the time here as precisely as we do back home. They don't have the clocks that could do it."
"And I bet you hate that!" Yang said with a grin. "Can't fault anyone for being late."
Weiss sniffed. "Rest assured, the Queen will fault us for being late anyway."
"I think she would do that even if we were knocking on her door at dawn," Yang said with a shrug. "Though that's just from seeing her at the meals and your description."
"I would say it's an accurate guess," Weiss replied. "She's worse in her rooms."
Ruby sighed. "Why can't she just leave us be?"
"Because she's the Queen, and we're hotter, younger and more powerful," Yang said. "And you probably spend more time with the King and the Prince than she does."
"They keep inviting me!" Ruby protested. "And you!"
"Have to keep an eye on my little sister." Yang grinned and rolled her shoulders.
Ruby winced - she had seen Yang rip an old shirt doing that, at home. Fortunately, this dress was tailored to her. And a bit sturdier. She sighed again. She would really be rather home than here.
"I don't think the Queen wants to spend any time with the King," Blake said. "But she resents that you spend time with the Prince."
Ruby hung her head. "And she blames me for it! I didn't do anything! It's all the Prince's fault!"
"She blames all of us for it." Weiss shook her head. "Though I don't know what she hates more - that the Prince wants to spend time with you or that he doesn't obey her. I am leaning towards the latter."
Who cared? They just had to survive this without starting a fight. Or a feud. Whatever! Ruby scoffed. They could do this. All they had to do was not to react and the Queen would be left fuming. But… that never worked with bullies. They escalated. Or went after others who couldn't fight back. And the Queen was the biggest bully Ruby had met so far. So… "Are you sure we can't, like, scare her diplomatically?" she asked Weiss.
"Don't even think about it! Threatening the royal family would be a crime!" Weiss snapped.
"I don't mean threaten-threaten," Ruby explained. "Just… kinda make her see what we can do, you know? Subtle, I mean. Just so she realises that she shouldn't push us. The King and the Prince are always impressed when we tell them about what we do as Huntresses back home."
"I am sure that the Queen is aware of what we can do - well, what we have revealed to the locals," Weiss said.
"I actually am not sure about that," Blake spoke up. "She has never watched us train or spar."
"But the others - the King and the Prince - must have told them!" Yang said. "You were listening to them have a row about about."
"I did," Blake said. "But she seemed to ignore that when it was brought up. She kept berating the King and the Prince for 'carousing' with us."
"Great. The queen of the kingdom is an idiot!" Yang sighed.
Ruby blinked. "Well… isn't that a good thing? I mean, if she hates us…"
"She does. Trust me," Weiss said in a flat voice.
"...since she hates us, isn't it better if she's stupid than smart?" Ruby would prefer a dumb instead of a smart enemy. Dumb bullies were easier to deal with.
Weiss shook her head. "No. If she's dumb, then she might actually try to harm us instead of just sniping at us."
Sniping? Ruby tensed, then sighed. Oh, that kind of sniping. Not the real kind. "Yeah, I get that, but… if she hates us and is smart, couldn't she manage to hurt us? Instead of just trying?"
Weiss frowned as if Ruby had said something wrong but she couldn't argue against it. "In any case, it's hypothetical. The queen is not smart. Trust me on that."
"We do. You're our expert on spoilt princesses," Yang told her with a grin.
Weiss pouted, and Ruby stifled a giggle. Her partner huffed, then turned to the door. "Let's go, or we will be late!"
"But you said they don't measure time that precisely!"
"And I bet she'll complain we're late anyway!"
Ruby smiled as she followed her friends out of their room. They would be OK. It was just an afternoon tea invitation. She had seen that stuff in shows. How bad could it be?
"How nice of you to finally grace us with your presence, Lady Ruby."
Apparently, the answer was 'very bad'. Ruby had to force herself to keep smiling at the Queen's tone. "Well, we already were meeting with the King when you invited us the first time, and we had to wait for another invitation, right, Your Grace?" Oops! She felt Weiss's fingers pinch her in her back, and Lady Catelyn was tense, so Ruby probably had made a gaffe. "And we came as soon as you invited us again." That was true.
But the Queen was still glaring at her, and Ruby wanted to fidget while she stood there feeling uncomfortable. Did they have to wait to sit down, or were they waiting for her to sit down? Or for the Queen? Or Lady Catelyn? Those were the Queen's quarters, but Lady Catelyn was the Lady of Winterfell, and the Queen had invited them, so they were guests… Gah, this was confusing! She had learnt this just the evening before - Weiss had made sure of it.
"Won't you sit down?" the Queen asked, gesturing towards the seats lined up around a low table. Just like a tea party! Ruby sat down after the Queen - wouldn't want to take her seat by mistake - and eyed the tea and cake. Oh, plenty of honey for both! It wasn't as good as chocolate, but it was sweet and even healthy. She would…
…check with Blake if it was poisoned, Ruby reminded herself. They had gone over that as well. She glanced at her friend. Blake looked cool and collected - this wouldn't be fazing her, of course, she was a ninja catgirl - and hadn't said anything or given them the signal, so the tea and cake should be safe. Ruby's Aura hadn't given her a hint either, but Ruby knew she couldn't trust that; her Aura never warned her when she was about to get into trouble at Beacon. It hadn't even warned her when she had been about to be robbed by Torchwick's gang!
But this was safe, and so Ruby beamed when the Queen's attendant - Weiss had said she wasn't a maid - started serving them cake and sweet tea. "Four spoonfuls, please! Large ones!" she said when it was her turn.
The woman didn't even blink like others had and simply poured the honey into Ruby's cup. Perfect!
She sighed with satisfaction after the first sip. She was feeling better already.
"Don't you have sweet tea back home, Lady Ruby?" the Queen asked.
"Oh, we do, yes!" Ruby replied. "But we also have soda, milkshakes, hot chocolate, syrup… we have lots of sweet drinks we can't get here." Oh, how she missed chocolate cookies! But she was supposed to be polite, and that meant complimenting their host. "Though this is great sweet tea. I wonder how it would taste cold."
The Queen blinked. "Cold tea?"
"Yes. Iced!" Ruby smiled. "It's great in the summer if you want to cool down." And it was an easy way to get your sugar fix if your parent or teacher didn't permit you to bring snacks.
"We rarely have to cool down during summer," Lady Catelyn said.
"It's a Patch thing," Yang cut in. "We drink iced tea in the summer on our home island. Weiss, of course, can drink iced anything all year long."
Weiss's smile was past polite and into 'I am annoyed at you'; Ruby could tell. "It's an acquired taste."
Yang grinned.
"Anyway," Ruby went on. "The tea is good."
"Thank you," Lady Catelyn said.
And the cake was even better. If only the Queen were not so bitchy.
"So, my brother told me that in your home, the children pick their spouses."
"Uh, no. You need to be an adult to marry," Ruby told her.
The Queen glared again - she really couldn't stand being wrong, could she? "And do you have a potential husband in mind?"
What? Ruby stared at her. "I'm fifteen! I'm not gonna marry anyone!"
"You're still a child? You haven't flowered?"
Ruby blinked. What was… Oh! She grimaced. "That's not…" How could she ask Ruby that? "That's not important. I'm fifteen," she repeated herself.
"We are considered to be of age when we're eight-and-ten," Weiss explained.
"So, you're all children?" the Queen smirked.
Ruby smiled. "Yes, exactly." Far too young to marry.
The Queen didn't seem happy to hear that, though. At least, her smile was as thin as before. Ruby started to think that the Queen was never happy. "My son is two-and-ten. Still a child. Not yet of age."
"Yes." Ruby nodded. The Prince was definitely a kid.
The Queen glared at her again - Ruby just couldn't please the woman.
Weiss Schnee was both relieved and vexed when they finally left the Queen's chambers. Relieved that Ruby and Yang hadn't lost their tempers. Vexed that the Queen had continued their snide remarks. At least, Ruby had managed to, albeit probably inadvertently, annoy the odious woman. Seeing the Queen become frustrated by Ruby's honest answers to her barbed questions had been quite satisfying for all that it was also dangerous.
But they had managed to get through the visit without blades being drawn - figuratively, of course; they hadn't brought their weapons - or anyone being poisoned, so she counted this as a victory. A small victory, and one that would not further their goal of returning home, but it felt satisfying anyway. And slightly guilty - like eating a cookie before dinner.
Hm. Maybe I'm listening a bit too much to Ruby if I'm starting to use such comparisons, she thought with a grin.
But as soon as she opened the door to their room, any lingering satisfaction vanished at once. One wall was splattered with paint, and several items were not where they had been when they had left.
"My paint trap went off! It worked!" Ruby was awfully cheerful, given their circumstances.
"We have been robbed!" Weiss told her through clenched teeth.
"Yes - but my trap worked!" Ruby nodded.
"And it shouldn't be hard to find the thief now," Yang added.
"Unless they already fled the castle, Blake said. "Let's see what they took." She went and climbed the wall first, to safely check their weapon cache above the rafters.
"Oh, no! My baby!" Ruby was on the rafter in an instant, trailing red petals. If there had been a trap up there… "Ah, here you are, safe and sound!" she cooed a moment later.
The thief probably couldn't have carried your weapon, Weiss thought.
"Our weapons are safe," Blake said. "Though there are cutting marks on the chainlinks holding them there."
"So they found our cache?" Ruby asked.
Weiss suppressed a sigh. "A thief would look on top of the rafters." It was a pretty obvious spot, after all. "We put them there anyway because it would make it harder to take them." For anyone without Aura and a Huntress's strength.
"Did they take anything?" Yang asked.
They quickly checked their belongings.
"They took my scroll!" Ruby exclaimed.
"And mine," Yang added.
"You left them in the room?" Weiss blinked.
"We have to save power," Yang said.
"And I didn't want to be tempted to use it in case the invitation turned out to be boring," Ruby added with an embarrassed smile. "That would have been rude."
Weiss sighed. "Anything else?"
"Doesn't look like it," Yang said.
"They probably took the most obviously advanced piece of gear we have," Blake said. "The weapons were the first target, then they went for the scrolls."
"They knew about the scrolls, then!" Ruby gasped.
"We used them to prove our claims," Weiss reminded her. "I don't think a thief could miss hearing about them."
"Oh, right." Ruby nodded. "But without Lightning Dust, they can't recharge the scrolls. And without our codes, they can't even unlock them if they still have a charge left. Which they should have, actually."
That didn't matter. They had been robbed, and the thief had to be brought to justice. No one stole from Weiss or her friends! "Let's inform Lord Eddard," she said through clenched teeth.
"After we recover our weapons. I am not leaving my baby alone again!" Ruby looked fierce, Weiss noted.
And she was correct. They had been lucky that the thief hadn't had the tools to deal with chains. "Yes." She nodded. After this, Lady Catelyn would hopefully accept that they couldn't leave their weapons unguarded.
Outside Winterfell, The North, Westeros, 298 AC
"The dogs have found the trail of the thief, my lord!"
The kennelmaster sounded excited. Not nearly as excited as the dogs sounded - they were barking loudly. And it affected the wolves with the party - Ghost and Grey Wind looked every which way eager to help, undoubtedly, despite their young age. They were just too adorable. Although… Weiss glanced at Blake. Her cynophobic friend was holding up well, though Weiss could tell that she would rather be elsewhere. But not even dogs could keep her from pursuing the thief.
"Very well, Farlen, set them on the chase," Lord Stark commended.
"Yes, my lord."
"A boar would have given us a bigger challenge," the King commented. He had insisted on coming along, as had the Prince when he'd heard that Robb was with them as well. And that meant Ser Barristan and Ser Jaime had also joined them. All that for one thief.
The dogs charged into the underbrush ahead of them - the thief had made it out of the castle before the alarm had been raised, but the guards had remembered him easily thanks to his face being covered in paint and had pointed the hunting party to the woods in which he had vanished.
And the two puppies followed the dogs despite Robb and Jon's cries to stop. Well, they should be safe with so many dogs around. Still, they best gave chase as well. Weiss looked at Ruby. She was their leader.
"Let's go!" Ruby said. "Err, I mean, with your permission, Lord Eddard."
"Of course, my lady."
Ruby didn't wait a second longer and vanished in a cloud of petals. Weiss sped up as well, with Yang and Blake at her side, leaving the rest of the hunting party, both those on foot and those mounted, behind them. Really, they just should have gone by themselves, maybe with the kennelmaster. Or with the two boys, their puppies probably could track the thief as well as the dogs, and Weiss would keep them safe.
They quickly caught up to the dogs - Blake, unsurprisingly veering off 'to watch our flanks' - and slowed down so they wouldn't overtake them. The thief had been on foot, so if they didn't have a mount stashed nearby, they wouldn't have gone far through the dense forest. Not when they couldn't jump from branch to branch like a Huntress could.
As Weiss had predicted, it didn't take long for the excited barking of the dogs to change - and for a desperate cry to be heard. They had found the thief!
She grinned as she jumped over a fallen tree trunk - if only she could use her glyphs! - and dashed ahead. Time to end this farce!
When she reached the fugitive miscreant, Ruby, of course, was already there. Her friend was glaring at the man, who was on the ground, surrounded by the dogs and two wolf puppies, holding his ankle and whimpering. And his face and upper body was covered in paint. Definitely the thief.
"Please… my lady… I didn't want… please let me go! Oh, it hurts!"
"I didn't hit you that hard! I just tripped you!" Ruby told him.
"And even if we let you go, it doesn't look like you could go on that ankle," Yang added, showing her teeth while she retrieved the stolen scrolls.
Blake, of course, was still guarding their flank.
"Please! I didn't want to… mercy!"
"There will be no mercy!" Ruby spat. "Thieves must be punished! I won't let another one escape on my watch so they can wreck a city afterwards!"
Right, Torchwick's escapes - and escapades - were still a sore point for her friend, Weiss reminded herself. Although she doubted that this wretched man would be able to wreck a highway even if he managed to steal a Paladin.
"I didn't want to steal from you! Please!"
"You shouldn't have broken into our room then! Or tried to steal my baby!"
"What? Baby?" The man looked confused. "Whoever took your child, I didn't do it!"
Weiss sighed. "She means her weapon."
"Oh."
"You tried to steal her!" Ruby spat. "That, I cannot forgive!"
The man started to cry and didn't stop even when the rest of the party caught up. All in all, it was a pathetic display.
Winterfell, The North, Westeros, 298 AC
"It is clear that you were the thief who broke into our guest's chamber to rob them - the stolen items were found on you, and you were marked by the paint left in their room," Lord Eddard, seated on his throne in the Great Hall, declared.
Justice is swift in Westeros, Weiss thought. It had barely been a day after the theft, and they were already holding the trial. Of course, it was a clear-cut case, as Lord Eddard had stated, though the lack of a public defender was still obvious.
"Mercy, my lord!"
One night in the castle's dungeons hadn't done the thief any good, Weiss could tell. He was pale and shivering, and his ankle had swollen so much, they probably had to cut off his boot to treat it. Not that it looked as if they had done much - the bandage wrapped around his foot looked stained, and for all their faults, at least the people of this world were aware of how you had to keep bandages clean. Of course, the man wasn't bleeding, so it might not matter much.
Lord Eddard ignored the man's pleas. "Before I pronounce the sentence, I wish to know if you had accomplices."
Weiss leaned forward. They hadn't found any traces of another thief, and it was certainly possible that the man had acted alone, driven by greed. But not quite too rarely, such thefts were, at least back home, inside jobs, as the police called it. Thieves acting with someone familiar with the target. Weiss wanted to know if there was another thief hiding in the castle.
The man glanced towards the King and Queen as if he was about to beg them for mercy despite the scowl on the King's face and the deadly glare of the Queen. Neither had taken the revelation that one of their servants had stooped as low as to steal from Team RWBY well. The man must have realised that and shook his head. "No, my lord. I acted by myself. I… I thought I could sell the magic devices for gold in King's Landing."
Weiss wasn't quite sure that she believed him. But what motive would he have to protect an accomplice? Criminals, in her admittedly limited experience, rarely showed any loyalty to anyone, and his best chance at clemency and getting a reduced punishment would be to rat out other criminals.
Lord Eddard sighed. "In that case, I pronounce you guilty of theft. In light of the severity of your crime, your hand will be cut off."
Weiss gasped. Cutting off a hand? For theft?
Her friends were shocked as well. Ruby gaped at the thief - and then at Lord Eddard.
The thief was crying.
"You may also choose to join the Night's Watch instead," Lord Eddard went on.
The man kept crying - Weiss wasn't sure if he had heard Lord Eddard.
"He's a cripple who can't walk any more; what use would the Night's watch have for him?" the Prince asked.
"The Night's Watch takes everyone who wishes to join, my prince," Benjen replied. "Even the lame and crippled."
"Crippled? I only broke his ankle!" Ruby blurted out.
Everyone stared at her, Weiss realised.
"It was a complicated break, my lady," Maester Luwin said, wincing slightly. "As such wounds usually are. I did what I could, but it won't heal well."
"Oh." Ruby sat back. "I didn't…" she trailed off, slowly shaking her head.
They couldn't heal a broken ankle? But… Weiss pressed her lips together. Of course, they couldn't heal a compound fracture! They didn't have either modern medicine or Aura!
"I'll take the Black!" the thief blurted out.
"Very well." Lord Eddard nodded at Benjen. "You can take him with you when you return to the Wall."
"I didn't… I wouldn't have hit him if I had known," Ruby said. "I'm sorry."
"We should have realised that," Weiss said before she could help herself, then winced and cursed herself when Ruby flinched and looked even more miserable.
Winterfell, The North, Westeros, 298 AC
When morning broke, and she woke up, Blake Belladonna considered staying in bed a little bit longer. Unlike her friends, she could see perfectly well with moonlight or even just starlight - well, well enough to read and write easily - so the lack of decent artificial lighting didn't restrict her nightly activities as much. On the other hand, as much as she liked napping in a warm bed, her friends needed her. The revelations following the trial of the thief had left them, if not shaken, then burdened.
Besides, Yang was likely to accidentally kick her when she woke up, as had happened before, so the odds of Blake being able to enjoy her nap for a decent length of time were low, anyway.
So, Blake yawned and slipped out of bed, stretching a bit - not like a cat at all, despite Ruby's claims - and quickly used the water bowl next to their bed to wash her face.
The others might complain about the lack of a proper bathroom - if they wanted to bathe, they needed to call servants to prepare a tub - but Blake was used to roughing it in the field. The White Fang's hidden camps in the wilderness rarely had decent facilities - sometimes, they had no facilities at all. Compared to that, or even to an extended field mission for Huntresses, this was still quite nice.
And if Blake kept telling herself that, she would start to believe it. No hunting mission would have gone on for as long as their trip in this world had; a Huntress would either succeed or die long before that.
Sighing, she slipped into her clothes - her combat outfit, not the dress her host had have made for her. With thieves breaking into their room, and having earned, although not through any fault of their own but for merely existing, the enmity of the Queen of the realm, Blake would not leave Gambol Shroud behind for the foreseeable future. And she wouldn't carry her weapon around in a basket or in her hands, which meant she would be wearing an outfit that could accommodate the sheath, which her dress didn't. She tested if she could draw it as easily as she should, which she could, then gave the weapon a quick check.
A yawning noise behind her alerted Blake to the fact that her partner had woken up. "Good morning, Yang," she said without turning away from her weapon.
"How did you know it was me?" Yang asked. "Recognised my Yawng?"
Blake groaned. Yang was a great partner, a great Huntress, and the best friend she could imagine, smart and kind, but her puns barely deserved the name. Though that kind of fault made her even more appealing - she wasn't some perfect Huntress, and not as cool as she could appear at first glance. Which was actually cooler.
Yang got out, complained about the cold floor, as usual, then about the cold water, and finally the state of her hair - which was still great in Blake's opinion - before she started to dress herself. That meant Blake could open the shutters and let the sunlight in. Along with a brief wave of cold air until she closed the windows again, which served nicely to wake up both Ruby and Weiss.
A few minutes later, everyone was awake and up, dressed and armed - Ruby had slept with Crescent Rose again, Blake had noted; their leader had taken the attempted theft badly in more ways than one - and ready to tackle another day in Westeros.
"So…" Ruby, seated on her bed with Crescent Rose, folded up and laid across her lap, sighed. "I forgot to ask yesterday, what with the whole trial and thing, but… does anyone know anything about medicine?"
"Yes," Blake said. Ruby's eyes lit up, but Blake went on: "Just first aid. I can't treat compound fractures."
"You need a surgeon for that," Weiss said, pressing her lips together in a frown.
"And we're Huntresses, not surgeons," Yang stated the obvious.
Ruby sighed again and hunched over. "I didn't know… I didn't think. I should have known."
"It's not your fault. You didn't make the guy break into our room," Weiss told her.
"And he tried to steal your baby," Yang added with a weak grin.
"He's still unable to walk," Ruby said. "And will live in pain for the rest of his life."
"Well, I think he could get a sort of brace that lets him walk by taking the weight off his foot," Yang said. "Shouldn't be too hard to build even here - Mikken should have all the stuff for it."
"But he'd still be in pain if his broken bones heal up wrong," Ruby said.
"They can amputate his foot in that case," Weiss said. "And replace it with a proper prosthetic - or what passes for one here," she added with another frown.
"They wanted to cut off his hand!" Ruby shook her head. "And now they will cut off his foot? How barbaric can you be!"
"They have different laws and traditions," Weiss pointed out, but her defence of their hosts sounded half-heartedly to Blake.
"Yeah, 'different' as in 'fucked-up'," Yang said. "But it's good that we found out. Imagine if we brought in someone who was hungry and stole some food."
Ruby grimaced and hunched over even more, and Weiss looked at Yang. "Are you implying that we should ignore thieves in the future?"
"Do you want to see a guy lose a hand just for stealing?" Yang asked, raising her eyebrows.
Weiss blushed a little. "No, but… ignoring criminals seems wrong. And what if we ignore a thief, and he turns out to be a murderer?"
That was a good point, Blake had to admit. A number of White Fang's more radical members had been petty criminals before joining the organisation.
"Well, we can still stop a criminal and scare them straight; we just don't need to involve the cops." Yang shrugged and grinned. "I bet we can scare anyone straight."
"I don't think the Starks would like that," Weiss said. "It would infringe on their authority."
"Only if they find out."
Weiss huffed at that, but Blake agreed with her partner.
"Yes." Apparently, so did Ruby. "No more delivering thieves to… 'justice'. One maiming is enough." She shook her head. "And we need to train harder so we can hold back better. People aren't just more fragile here, without Aura and Semblances, but they can't fix them as easily as we can back home. Unless…" she trailed off and bit her lower lip.
Weiss frowned at her. "You aren't seriously considering activating the Aura of the man who tried to rob us of our weapons, are you?"
"It would fix him…" Ruby said in a low voice.
"He's a thief!" Weiss hissed. "Would you want to grant such power to a criminal? What do you think he'll do with it? Only we could stop him if he decided to abuse the power!"
"Right…" Ruby winced.
"Further, it would also show everyone that we can grant our powers to someone else," Weiss went on. "Everyone will want to have their Aura activated. And if we refuse after doing so for a thief, they'll be very offended."
"I know…" Ruby whined.
"And they might arrange for 'accidents' to force us to activate someone's Aura to heal them," Blake pointed out. Some of the nobles here would do so, at least. Even to their children. Especially to their children.
Ruby and Weiss both winced at that.
"We don't even know if it will work," Weiss said. "Aura can be activated through stress without any outside influence. Wouldn't that have happened at least a few times here?"
"It's a very stressful life for many, yep," Yang agreed. "But just because it doesn't happen naturally doesn't mean it can't happen artificially, right?"
"We don't know that," Weiss said. "And the only way to find out risks empowering someone. Can we trust anyone here not to abuse such power? Or to hand it to someone else who will abuse it?"
"No…" Ruby sighed.
"But what will we do if, say, one of our friends has an accident, and only Aura can save them?" Yang asked.
Everyone winced at that, including Yang. Weiss shook her head. "We can cross that bridge when we reach it. Let's not experiment with Aura. Those people already know too much for us to be comfortable."
"Sorry…" Ruby said.
"It wasn't your fault," Yang told her. "We kind of underestimated them."
"Yes. Just because they don't know about modern technology, Aura or Dust doesn't mean they're stupid," Weiss said.
Blake nodded. "Some of them are smarter than we are."
Weiss scowled at that but didn't contradict her.
"Let's go to breakfast," Ruby said. "I need some honey bread to feel better."
On the way to the great hall, they saw the Captain of the guards with half a dozen guards standing near a tower - the entrance to the dungeons, Blake realised. And they seemed upset.
"That doesn't look good," Yang commented. "Do you think the prisoner broke out?"
That would make him a deserter to be executed, Blake thought. Probably, at least. But… She cocked her head, focusing on the men's voices.
"...and as I said, when I entered with his bread, I found him dead in his cell."
Blake's eyes widened. The thief was dead? How?
"And you saw no wound?"
"None, Captain. But I found an empty wineskin near him."
"Someone has smuggled some wine into his cells?" Judging by Captain Cassel's expression, he suspected the same as Blake did.
Poison.
Winterfell, The North, Westeros, 298 AC
"I apologise for the delay, Lady Blake, but I had to help with the investigation into the prisoner's death." Luwin sounded honestly apologetic.
"I fully understand that this took priority, Maester Luwin." Blake couldn't and wouldn't fault him for that - his research had confirmed that the thief had been poisoned with a wineskin smuggled into his cell, presumably through the window; the wineskin, even if nearly full, would have fit through the gaps between the bars, as a quick test had shown. Unfortunately, they had found no clue who might have been behind the murder - and behind the theft, of course. Blake was sure that the thief had been killed to prevent him from naming whoever had hired him for the task. It was even more unfortunate that the range of suspects included almost every noble in the castle.
Luwin sighed. "Unfortunately, I have further bad news. I have read through all the books in the library that were likely to contain the sort of information you seek, but after weeks of diligent searching, I remain as empty-handed as I was at the start."
Blake couldn't help frowning at hearing that. It wasn't his fault either, but she had really hoped that they would find information about a way home here - or, at least, information that might lead to such a way home. "I'm sorry to hear that." Really sorry.
Luwin nodded. "If it's any consolidation, despite Lord Stark's care for his library, it pales in comparison to the collection in the Citadel. Or the royal archives in the capital. The former dynasty included many members who were either scholars in their own right or talented dilettantes and bibliophiles, and so the royal archives contain a vast collection of tomes that may yet grant you the information you seek, my lady."
Ah. This wasn't the first time Luwin had mentioned the seat of his order, but to hear that the royal library might also have books not found in Winterkeep was new. Not that it should be a surprise - they didn't have easy ways to make copies of books here, yet many ways to lose one, so the older a book was, the rarer it would be. "Thank you. We will have to think about our next step, then."
Very carefully. There was a murderer around, after all.
Winterfell, The North, Westeros, 298 AC
"...and now we repeat that a lot until the metal's grown harder." Yang Xiao Long grinned as she worked the improvised machine. Cold-working steel wasn't exactly taught at the workshop in Beacon, but she had done some extra-credit work at Signal once.
Mikken stared. "That's… No one but you could bend steel like that, my lady. I don't think you have to fear anyone duplicating your secret."
"It's not my secret," Yang corrected him. "And you can make a machine to bend the steel - just need enough pressure."
"Pressure?"
"Uh…" Hydraulic presses were not a thing here. Yang grimaced. "Well, with a really hard and heavy press, I guess." She had always used the machines at the shops she had access to - it wasn't as if she needed to mass-produce parts. "I guess you could also use heat-treating."
"Heat-treating? We can do that, my lady."
"Yeah, but your oven probably won't reach the heat needed for this steel," Yang said, holding out another piece that might end up part of a tool if this worked out. Even if she couldn't harden the thing and hit the right tolerances - she needed special tools to machine it - it should work to some degree, but wouldn't last long.
"What kind of steel is it?"
"Chromium-vanadium steel," Yang explained. "Chromium makes it resistant to rust."
"Resistant to rust?" Mikken looked even more eager. This tool-crafting session was turning into a little lesson, it seemed.
Yang snorted. If her teachers could see her now…
"My lady?"
"Nothing, just a stray thought. It doesn't rust as easily, and it holds the edge longer."
"Like Valyrian steel?"
"Probably not as much," Yang said. She hadn't examined Ice, Lord Eddard's ancestral blade, Ruby had been a bit too eager when she heard about it, and they had decided not to push it to avoid offending their host, but from what she had heard, those blades were way tougher than any steel on Remnant - unless reinforced with Aura, of course. "But it holds up well if you're in the wilderness."
"And what is Chromium?"
"Uh…" How to describe that? Yang just bought the stuff. She knew the quantities you needed for certain steel, but she wasn't a miner or a geologist. "If you refine it, it kinda looks like this…" she started to explain.
I wish I had written this up in advance, she thought while Mikken was repeating her words to remember them.
Then she blinked.
She really should write that up - Team RWBY could probably trade that for access to other libraries if their owners were being unhelpful.
On the way back from the smithy - Ember Celica was working perfectly as it should - Yang spotted Jon brooding in a corner of the yard. Well, he was sharpening his sword, but Yang could tell that his mind wasn't on it, so he was brooding. The boy didn't do much else these days.
She slowed down a little as she pondered if she should make a detour or not. Well, she had finished a little earlier than she thought - probably; without a scroll, it was hard to tell the time. To think she had laughed at Uncle Qrow for having an antique mechanical wristwatch. He would be so smug if he knew. Anyway, she could spare a little time pulling Jon out of whatever hole he was trying to dig with his mind.
"Yo!" she called out when she closed in - he hadn't even noticed her approach. He'd so fail situational awareness tests at Beacon.
He jerked and jumped to his feet. "Lady Yang!" he bowed.
She rolled her eyes. "No bowing when I'm wearing my combat clothes, remember?"
"But… You're always wearing them nowadays, my lady," he protested.
"So?" She cocked her head to the side and grinned. "And we still wear dresses to dinner. Which you should know if you hadn't been avoiding us."
"Ah…" He grimaced.
She sighed loudly. "Still hung up on the whole bastard thing?"
He pressed his lips together and tensed up.
Oops. "I mean people thinking I'm a bastard," she clarified. She didn't want to make light of his bastard thing. It was stupid, but it was a real problem for him.
"Ah." He blushed.
She quickly shook her head. "You already apologised. Twice. And it wasn't your fault at all."
"Still, my lady…" He glanced around.
"Nu-uh." She wagged her finger at him. "No bullshit about me talking to you not being proper or what."
"But…"
"Are you really trying to tell me who I can and can't talk to?" She frowned at him, and he blushed.
"Ah… no, my lady."
"Good. So, what got you down this time? You usually aren't that gloomy." He pouted at her for a moment, and she grinned back at him. Jon could brood through a pep talk from Ruby, so you had to be a bit harsh to get him to react.
"I was just… letting my thoughts wander, my lady." He shrugged.
She rolled her eyes again. Even Jaune would have seen through his act. "And where did your thoughts wander to? The Gloom&Doom Emporium?"
"What?" he stared at her.
She sighed. Her best quips were useless if people didn't have the context. "What got you so down this time?"
"Nothing, my lady." She kept staring at him, and he relented. "I was… wondering about my future."
"Oh." That wasn't something she could help him with. Maybe she should have let him brood in peace.
But he already went on without looking at her. "In the past, I wanted to join the Night's Watch. It's an honourable calling even for a bastard."
"It's also a very cold calling," she said. He frowned some more, and she suppressed a wince. Right, no making light of this serious discussion.
"But… I thought about, well, other choices. I am good with a sword - this is no empty boast, as you know - so I could become a guard, but people don't tend to trust bastards."
"Wouldn't becoming a guard be like joining the Night's Watch, just with less ice and snow?"
He frowned at her before nodding. "Maybe it is the same, in a way. Just, I wouldn't…" He blushed a little. "I wouldn't have to abandon my family. But it's hard to make a life as a bastard here."
Yang nodded. "Yeah, you people are really stupid about that." He gasped, and she scoffed. "I'm calling it like I see it. Judging someone for being born? That's stupid."
He looked at her like Ruby did when she was little and got told she couldn't have another cookie. "That may be so, but that's how it is, my lady."
Well, he was right about that. But he was still being stupid. "Well, from what we saw, the Night's Watch isn't exactly easy street either. But Benjen probably told you that already."
Jon frowned again. Or he had never really stopped. "He said I should consider that carefully."
"That's uncle-speak for 'No, don't do that'." She grinned. "Trust me, I know."
"But… what else can I do? I'm a bastard, and people don't take bastards into service. I don't want to live on my father's charity - I want to earn my place!" he blurted out.
Yang could understand the feeling. But she couldn't really help him - that sort of problem didn't happen in Vale. Wait. It kinda did - for Faunus. Oh.
Maybe she should tell him to talk to Blake about this? But what could Blake tell him? As far as they knew, there wasn't some bastard community here he could get support from. "Aren't there any people who don't think bastards are untrustworthy and would hire you?"
He shook his head. "Not in Westeros. Maybe in Essos, if I became a sellsword, but… Fighting for coin isn't very honourable."
That sounded a bit picky, but judging by what Uncle Qrow had told them about mercenaries, he probably wasn't wrong. "Well, I'd take you if I had a castle, but I don't."
He stared at her for a moment with a surprised expression before nodding gloomily. "You don't need retainers. And you can't afford them as our guests."
Yang winced. Seen from that angle, they were in a similar position.
When Yang entered their room a bit later, she was feeling like brooding herself. That talk had gone completely wrong. Not only had she failed to cheer up Jon, but she had managed to make herself feel down as well. Way to go, girl! she told herself as she greeted the others.
"Yang! We've got news!" Ruby told her. "Important news!"
Oh? "Good news, I hope," Yang said. But judging by the looks of the others, it was mixed news at best.
"The King has invited us to return with him to King's landing," Weiss said.
"And the Starks are coming along," Ruby went on. "The King is making Lord Eddard his right hand."
"It's called the Hand of the King," Weiss corrected her.
"I knew that."
"That's good, I think," Yang said. "It was the Citadel or King's Landing for more libraries, right?"
"Yes," Blake said. "But it also means we'll be travelling with the most likely suspects behind the attempted theft of our weapons. And behind the murder of the thief."
Right.
'Some of my colleagues, probably because they are used to modern Westeros, where the law, not nobility, rules supreme, fail to understand just how different life in the Seven Kingdoms was during those times. The smallfolk were, often openly and legally, but always effectively, at the mercy of the nobles ruling their fief. There was no independent judicial system; the law was applied by the nobles as they saw fit. There was almost no codified law, either, at best, there were precedents - although not every noble judging people had studied them, and even those who were aware of precedents which might apply to a case often were ruling according to their own interests or sympathies. That would have been bad enough if smallfolk were litigating against each other, being forced to curry favour with their lord (or bribe them) to have a chance at justice, but in those cases where the smallfolk had grievances against their lord, it was devastating. Their best hope of finding justice or relief when their lord harmed them was appealing to a higher authority - but, as anyone who studied this epoch knows, the odds were stacked against them even so. Many villages were too remote to travel to court - certainly not without the local lord noticing and taking steps to return them home. And many courts sided with the nobles as a rule - a fact some nobles took care to spread amongst their smallfolk to discourage such attempts in the first place. That was the state of the judicial system in Westeros when the Ruby Order appeared, and it should not surprise anyone who has studied the relevant sources and their character that they took offence to it, albeit the exact circumstances and deeds remain, vexingly, vague since judicial records as a rule were not archived in the Citadel, and every scholar of our Order knows what happened to the Royal Court's archives during the Year of the Calamity. Nevertheless, most sources agree that the Ruby Order was appalled by corporal punishment, as it was practiced back then, and advocated for mercy in most cases.'
- A Treatise On The Ruby Order, by Maester Kennet Bracken
*****
Winterfell, The North, Westeros, 298 AC
"Are you going to join us, my prince?" Robb Stark asked as he took a step back from his opponent and lowered his blade. It was the polite thing to do - he didn't really want to spar with the prince, who was spending far too much time with Lady Ruby. Well, he wouldn't mind going for a few bouts if the boy insisted. In armour, he wouldn't really be hurt, and everyone expected bruises in the training yard, right?
"Hm… I think not," Joffrey replied as he leaned against the fence separating the training area from the rest of the courtyard. Rebuilt just yesterday, it looked sturdy and new, though Robb knew it wouldn't stand up to a single blow from any of their guests. Behind the Prince, the Hound loomed. "I merely came to watch, Lord Robb," the boy went on.
"To watch?" Robb blinked. Why wouldn't the Prince want to spar? Hadn't he been trained to become a knight? The King was one of the most famous knights in the Realm.
"You spar regularly with Lady Ruby, don't you?" the Prince asked.
Next to Robb, Theon laughed. "I wouldn't call it sparring, my prince. She gives us pointers, and we pretend we can follow her advice."
Robb frowned at his friend. That wasn't how their sparring matches went. Granted, they couldn't really spar, Ruby had to hold back too much, but they did train together. And it wasn't one-sided at all! "We share tips," he said. "While Lady Ruby is great with her scythe, she is not as experienced with blades, and none of her team uses a longsword, so we do train together even if we don't spar."
The prince sniffed. "How many real fights did you take part in?"
Robb clenched his teeth. He hadn't seen a real fight yet, but that wasn't his fault. Father wouldn't let him join any dangerous patrols until he was of age. The closest he got to real fighting was hunting, and that was not much of a challenge.
"I thought so." The prince shook his head. "Lady Ruby, if she needed advice, would be better served to seek it from those with actual experience." He nodded at his sworn sword. "Like the Hound. He could teach her how real men fight. It's not prancing around with blunted blades."
The giant's burn scar twisted when he grinned at Robb, making him look even uglier. And scarier, but Rob tried to ignore that by focusing on his anger.
"How many real fights have you been in, my prince?" Theon asked.
"None, of course. I don't pretend to be a knight while playing around with practice swords." The Prince smiled in such a smug way, Robb wanted to show him what a practice sword could do.
"You don't train?" Theon seemed honestly surprised.
That earned him a frown. "I do train. But I wouldn't claim that it makes me an experienced swordsman. The only way to become experienced is to fight for real." The Prince showed his white teeth in a mocking smile. "Nor would I presume to teach my betters."
"The more you sweat in training, the less you bleed in a fight," Robb shot back. That was what Ser Rodrick had told them whenever they had complained about the training, and it wasn't wrong! And… He grinned. "Lady Ruby told me that." Well, she had agreed with the sentiment, so it counted.
The Prince scowled again before straightening. "Well, she is not wrong - but I doubt she would mistake training for fighting." He shook his head. "Anyway, I've seen enough. Come, Hound, let's go!"
He left without a further word. That was… Well, it felt rude, but Robb didn't remember if princes were supposed to excuse themselves before leaving. Still… "The Prince is such a…" he swallowed the slur he had been about to utter. You didn't insult your guests. Mother had taught him that. You especially didn't insult the Crown Prince of the Realm - history lessons by Luwin had taught him that.
"I know," Theon said, glancing around for anyone who might overhear them.
Robb had checked, though - none of the guards from the royal party, most of them wearing Lannister colours, was close by.
"Insufferable, isn't he?" Theon snorted.
Robb nodded. "I bet he doesn't train at all. Just has his guard hit things for him."
Theon chuckled at that. "Too bad he's not wrong about our experience, though."
Robb glared at his friend. "He's wrong! I did show Lady Ruby a trick with a sword she hadn't seen before!"
"But did she really need it? Or was she just humouring you?" Theon shrugged. "I offered to teach her how to use a bow, but she refused. Several times."
Robb frowned. Was Ruby just humouring him? And if she was, was that bad? It would mean she liked him, wouldn't it? And since according to what he had heard, and confirmed, in her homeland, people chose their spouses themselves, if she liked him, that might mean she would decide…
"Don't get your hopes up," Theon's slightly snide tone interrupted his thoughts. "The Prince has been spending his days with her - as much as he can, or so I hear."
Robb scoffed. That didn't mean anything. "She's just being polite." The Prince was royalty, and you didn't snub them by refusing their invitations.
"She'll be polite all the way to the wedding night, huh?" Theon chuckled.
Robb clenched his teeth again. His friend was so crude. "Lady Ruby would never do that!"
"Do what?"
"Marry someone out of politeness," Robb spat.
"Of course not. You marry the Crown Prince to become Queen, not out of politeness."
"Ruby doesn't want to become Queen!" Robb shook his head. "You don't know her at all."
Theon shrugged. "It's not as if she lets me get to know her."
And that was a good thing, in Robb's opinion. A very good thing. One rival was bad enough. Especially if it was the Crown Prince. But as long as there was no engagement, Robb still had a chance.
He just had to find a way to use it.
*****
Winterfell, The North, Westeros, 298 AC
"Come on, Jon! Don't hold back! You were doing so well before!"
Robb winced when he watched Lady Yang scowl at his brother. She wasn't pleased with their bout.
"I'm doing my best, my lady!" Jon certainly looked the part - covered in dust and sand, breathing heavily, sweat running down his face, he looked as if he had been fighting for hours. Probably felt like it, too.
"No, you're not! You haven't really tried to hit me for days!" Lady Yang shook her head, her hair whipping around.
"We're sparring!"
"Yes, and that means you do your best to hit me! Defend yourself!" She charged ahead, leaving an opening so wide, Bran would have noticed it.
Jon tried to dodge instead of using it and ended up on the ground. A few yards from where he had stood.
Lady Yang huffed. "Stop being stupid!"
"I'm not!" Jon protested.
"Whatever!" Lady Yang ran a hand through her hair and turned away. "Tomorrow, same time!" she called over her shoulder before leaping over the fence and walking away.
Robb sighed and walked over to Jon, who had yet to get up. "You are better than this," he told him.
Jon sighed, still on the ground. "No, I'm not."
"You did better before," Robb told him.
"I know. But that was… before." Jon sighed again and slowly stood.
Before he had found out that Lady Yang wasn't a bastard.
"If Lady Yang deigns to spar with you, the least you could do was to acquiesce to her wishes and put in an effort. Although judging by what I saw, it probably wouldn't make a difference."
Robb glanced to the side and suppressed a scowl. The Prince had been watching the bout as well, though he hadn't made any remarks until now.
When none was answering him, the boy shrugged. "Well, I guess this was the most one could expect from a bastard. Let's go, Hound!"
Robb turned back to Jon. His brother had his lips pressed together but otherwise didn't show any reaction. And yet… That was a lot for Jon. Robb frowned.
Jon looked away and muttered: "He keeps riding me about my sparring with Lady Yang as a bastard."
Robb hadn't known that. "Is that why you…?" He shrugged.
"I can't hit her! Not as a bastard!"
"She wants you to hit her. You heard her."
"Lady Catelyn would take offence." Jon shook his head.
"And Lady Yang seems to be taking offence," Robb pointed out.
"I know. But I can't." Jon sighed again and walked away.
It had to be the Prince's fault. Jon hadn't been like this before. Robb wondered if he should tell the Prince to stop needling Jon. If he told him that it would antagonise Team Ruby, the Prince might listen.
But that would help the Prince with Team Ruby. And that would harm Robb's chances of wooing Lady Ruby. Something he not only wanted but also had to do for his family.
But Jon was also family, and the Prince was a guest.
What should he do?
*****
Winterfell, The North, Westeros, 298 AC
Ruby Rose could do this. She just had to be polite, smile and make the approving noises at the right moments, and surviving this invitation to tea with the Queen (who hated RWBY) would be a piece of cake. (Yummy honey cake, to be exact - Ruby had asked in the kitchen beforehand so she wouldn't be disappointed.)
She took a deep breath and checked her dress again. No stains, and the slight tear on the side she had ripped by accident when handling her baby was barely visible - the tailors here could work miracles! If Ruby had tried that, it would have looked way worse, as her dearly missed favourite plush toy of her childhood proved.
"Stop fidgeting. You're fine."
Ruby didn't feel fine. She glanced at her partner. As expected, Weiss was frowning at her. "I just don't want to be late," she muttered.
"We're not going to be late," Weiss told her. "They don't measure the time here as precisely as we do back home. They don't have the clocks that could do it."
"And I bet you hate that!" Yang said with a grin. "Can't fault anyone for being late."
Weiss sniffed. "Rest assured, the Queen will fault us for being late anyway."
"I think she would do that even if we were knocking on her door at dawn," Yang said with a shrug. "Though that's just from seeing her at the meals and your description."
"I would say it's an accurate guess," Weiss replied. "She's worse in her rooms."
Ruby sighed. "Why can't she just leave us be?"
"Because she's the Queen, and we're hotter, younger and more powerful," Yang said. "And you probably spend more time with the King and the Prince than she does."
"They keep inviting me!" Ruby protested. "And you!"
"Have to keep an eye on my little sister." Yang grinned and rolled her shoulders.
Ruby winced - she had seen Yang rip an old shirt doing that, at home. Fortunately, this dress was tailored to her. And a bit sturdier. She sighed again. She would really be rather home than here.
"I don't think the Queen wants to spend any time with the King," Blake said. "But she resents that you spend time with the Prince."
Ruby hung her head. "And she blames me for it! I didn't do anything! It's all the Prince's fault!"
"She blames all of us for it." Weiss shook her head. "Though I don't know what she hates more - that the Prince wants to spend time with you or that he doesn't obey her. I am leaning towards the latter."
Who cared? They just had to survive this without starting a fight. Or a feud. Whatever! Ruby scoffed. They could do this. All they had to do was not to react and the Queen would be left fuming. But… that never worked with bullies. They escalated. Or went after others who couldn't fight back. And the Queen was the biggest bully Ruby had met so far. So… "Are you sure we can't, like, scare her diplomatically?" she asked Weiss.
"Don't even think about it! Threatening the royal family would be a crime!" Weiss snapped.
"I don't mean threaten-threaten," Ruby explained. "Just… kinda make her see what we can do, you know? Subtle, I mean. Just so she realises that she shouldn't push us. The King and the Prince are always impressed when we tell them about what we do as Huntresses back home."
"I am sure that the Queen is aware of what we can do - well, what we have revealed to the locals," Weiss said.
"I actually am not sure about that," Blake spoke up. "She has never watched us train or spar."
"But the others - the King and the Prince - must have told them!" Yang said. "You were listening to them have a row about about."
"I did," Blake said. "But she seemed to ignore that when it was brought up. She kept berating the King and the Prince for 'carousing' with us."
"Great. The queen of the kingdom is an idiot!" Yang sighed.
Ruby blinked. "Well… isn't that a good thing? I mean, if she hates us…"
"She does. Trust me," Weiss said in a flat voice.
"...since she hates us, isn't it better if she's stupid than smart?" Ruby would prefer a dumb instead of a smart enemy. Dumb bullies were easier to deal with.
Weiss shook her head. "No. If she's dumb, then she might actually try to harm us instead of just sniping at us."
Sniping? Ruby tensed, then sighed. Oh, that kind of sniping. Not the real kind. "Yeah, I get that, but… if she hates us and is smart, couldn't she manage to hurt us? Instead of just trying?"
Weiss frowned as if Ruby had said something wrong but she couldn't argue against it. "In any case, it's hypothetical. The queen is not smart. Trust me on that."
"We do. You're our expert on spoilt princesses," Yang told her with a grin.
Weiss pouted, and Ruby stifled a giggle. Her partner huffed, then turned to the door. "Let's go, or we will be late!"
"But you said they don't measure time that precisely!"
"And I bet she'll complain we're late anyway!"
Ruby smiled as she followed her friends out of their room. They would be OK. It was just an afternoon tea invitation. She had seen that stuff in shows. How bad could it be?
*****
"How nice of you to finally grace us with your presence, Lady Ruby."
Apparently, the answer was 'very bad'. Ruby had to force herself to keep smiling at the Queen's tone. "Well, we already were meeting with the King when you invited us the first time, and we had to wait for another invitation, right, Your Grace?" Oops! She felt Weiss's fingers pinch her in her back, and Lady Catelyn was tense, so Ruby probably had made a gaffe. "And we came as soon as you invited us again." That was true.
But the Queen was still glaring at her, and Ruby wanted to fidget while she stood there feeling uncomfortable. Did they have to wait to sit down, or were they waiting for her to sit down? Or for the Queen? Or Lady Catelyn? Those were the Queen's quarters, but Lady Catelyn was the Lady of Winterfell, and the Queen had invited them, so they were guests… Gah, this was confusing! She had learnt this just the evening before - Weiss had made sure of it.
"Won't you sit down?" the Queen asked, gesturing towards the seats lined up around a low table. Just like a tea party! Ruby sat down after the Queen - wouldn't want to take her seat by mistake - and eyed the tea and cake. Oh, plenty of honey for both! It wasn't as good as chocolate, but it was sweet and even healthy. She would…
…check with Blake if it was poisoned, Ruby reminded herself. They had gone over that as well. She glanced at her friend. Blake looked cool and collected - this wouldn't be fazing her, of course, she was a ninja catgirl - and hadn't said anything or given them the signal, so the tea and cake should be safe. Ruby's Aura hadn't given her a hint either, but Ruby knew she couldn't trust that; her Aura never warned her when she was about to get into trouble at Beacon. It hadn't even warned her when she had been about to be robbed by Torchwick's gang!
But this was safe, and so Ruby beamed when the Queen's attendant - Weiss had said she wasn't a maid - started serving them cake and sweet tea. "Four spoonfuls, please! Large ones!" she said when it was her turn.
The woman didn't even blink like others had and simply poured the honey into Ruby's cup. Perfect!
She sighed with satisfaction after the first sip. She was feeling better already.
"Don't you have sweet tea back home, Lady Ruby?" the Queen asked.
"Oh, we do, yes!" Ruby replied. "But we also have soda, milkshakes, hot chocolate, syrup… we have lots of sweet drinks we can't get here." Oh, how she missed chocolate cookies! But she was supposed to be polite, and that meant complimenting their host. "Though this is great sweet tea. I wonder how it would taste cold."
The Queen blinked. "Cold tea?"
"Yes. Iced!" Ruby smiled. "It's great in the summer if you want to cool down." And it was an easy way to get your sugar fix if your parent or teacher didn't permit you to bring snacks.
"We rarely have to cool down during summer," Lady Catelyn said.
"It's a Patch thing," Yang cut in. "We drink iced tea in the summer on our home island. Weiss, of course, can drink iced anything all year long."
Weiss's smile was past polite and into 'I am annoyed at you'; Ruby could tell. "It's an acquired taste."
Yang grinned.
"Anyway," Ruby went on. "The tea is good."
"Thank you," Lady Catelyn said.
And the cake was even better. If only the Queen were not so bitchy.
"So, my brother told me that in your home, the children pick their spouses."
"Uh, no. You need to be an adult to marry," Ruby told her.
The Queen glared again - she really couldn't stand being wrong, could she? "And do you have a potential husband in mind?"
What? Ruby stared at her. "I'm fifteen! I'm not gonna marry anyone!"
"You're still a child? You haven't flowered?"
Ruby blinked. What was… Oh! She grimaced. "That's not…" How could she ask Ruby that? "That's not important. I'm fifteen," she repeated herself.
"We are considered to be of age when we're eight-and-ten," Weiss explained.
"So, you're all children?" the Queen smirked.
Ruby smiled. "Yes, exactly." Far too young to marry.
The Queen didn't seem happy to hear that, though. At least, her smile was as thin as before. Ruby started to think that the Queen was never happy. "My son is two-and-ten. Still a child. Not yet of age."
"Yes." Ruby nodded. The Prince was definitely a kid.
The Queen glared at her again - Ruby just couldn't please the woman.
*****
Weiss Schnee was both relieved and vexed when they finally left the Queen's chambers. Relieved that Ruby and Yang hadn't lost their tempers. Vexed that the Queen had continued their snide remarks. At least, Ruby had managed to, albeit probably inadvertently, annoy the odious woman. Seeing the Queen become frustrated by Ruby's honest answers to her barbed questions had been quite satisfying for all that it was also dangerous.
But they had managed to get through the visit without blades being drawn - figuratively, of course; they hadn't brought their weapons - or anyone being poisoned, so she counted this as a victory. A small victory, and one that would not further their goal of returning home, but it felt satisfying anyway. And slightly guilty - like eating a cookie before dinner.
Hm. Maybe I'm listening a bit too much to Ruby if I'm starting to use such comparisons, she thought with a grin.
But as soon as she opened the door to their room, any lingering satisfaction vanished at once. One wall was splattered with paint, and several items were not where they had been when they had left.
"My paint trap went off! It worked!" Ruby was awfully cheerful, given their circumstances.
"We have been robbed!" Weiss told her through clenched teeth.
"Yes - but my trap worked!" Ruby nodded.
"And it shouldn't be hard to find the thief now," Yang added.
"Unless they already fled the castle, Blake said. "Let's see what they took." She went and climbed the wall first, to safely check their weapon cache above the rafters.
"Oh, no! My baby!" Ruby was on the rafter in an instant, trailing red petals. If there had been a trap up there… "Ah, here you are, safe and sound!" she cooed a moment later.
The thief probably couldn't have carried your weapon, Weiss thought.
"Our weapons are safe," Blake said. "Though there are cutting marks on the chainlinks holding them there."
"So they found our cache?" Ruby asked.
Weiss suppressed a sigh. "A thief would look on top of the rafters." It was a pretty obvious spot, after all. "We put them there anyway because it would make it harder to take them." For anyone without Aura and a Huntress's strength.
"Did they take anything?" Yang asked.
They quickly checked their belongings.
"They took my scroll!" Ruby exclaimed.
"And mine," Yang added.
"You left them in the room?" Weiss blinked.
"We have to save power," Yang said.
"And I didn't want to be tempted to use it in case the invitation turned out to be boring," Ruby added with an embarrassed smile. "That would have been rude."
Weiss sighed. "Anything else?"
"Doesn't look like it," Yang said.
"They probably took the most obviously advanced piece of gear we have," Blake said. "The weapons were the first target, then they went for the scrolls."
"They knew about the scrolls, then!" Ruby gasped.
"We used them to prove our claims," Weiss reminded her. "I don't think a thief could miss hearing about them."
"Oh, right." Ruby nodded. "But without Lightning Dust, they can't recharge the scrolls. And without our codes, they can't even unlock them if they still have a charge left. Which they should have, actually."
That didn't matter. They had been robbed, and the thief had to be brought to justice. No one stole from Weiss or her friends! "Let's inform Lord Eddard," she said through clenched teeth.
"After we recover our weapons. I am not leaving my baby alone again!" Ruby looked fierce, Weiss noted.
And she was correct. They had been lucky that the thief hadn't had the tools to deal with chains. "Yes." She nodded. After this, Lady Catelyn would hopefully accept that they couldn't leave their weapons unguarded.
*****
Outside Winterfell, The North, Westeros, 298 AC
"The dogs have found the trail of the thief, my lord!"
The kennelmaster sounded excited. Not nearly as excited as the dogs sounded - they were barking loudly. And it affected the wolves with the party - Ghost and Grey Wind looked every which way eager to help, undoubtedly, despite their young age. They were just too adorable. Although… Weiss glanced at Blake. Her cynophobic friend was holding up well, though Weiss could tell that she would rather be elsewhere. But not even dogs could keep her from pursuing the thief.
"Very well, Farlen, set them on the chase," Lord Stark commended.
"Yes, my lord."
"A boar would have given us a bigger challenge," the King commented. He had insisted on coming along, as had the Prince when he'd heard that Robb was with them as well. And that meant Ser Barristan and Ser Jaime had also joined them. All that for one thief.
The dogs charged into the underbrush ahead of them - the thief had made it out of the castle before the alarm had been raised, but the guards had remembered him easily thanks to his face being covered in paint and had pointed the hunting party to the woods in which he had vanished.
And the two puppies followed the dogs despite Robb and Jon's cries to stop. Well, they should be safe with so many dogs around. Still, they best gave chase as well. Weiss looked at Ruby. She was their leader.
"Let's go!" Ruby said. "Err, I mean, with your permission, Lord Eddard."
"Of course, my lady."
Ruby didn't wait a second longer and vanished in a cloud of petals. Weiss sped up as well, with Yang and Blake at her side, leaving the rest of the hunting party, both those on foot and those mounted, behind them. Really, they just should have gone by themselves, maybe with the kennelmaster. Or with the two boys, their puppies probably could track the thief as well as the dogs, and Weiss would keep them safe.
They quickly caught up to the dogs - Blake, unsurprisingly veering off 'to watch our flanks' - and slowed down so they wouldn't overtake them. The thief had been on foot, so if they didn't have a mount stashed nearby, they wouldn't have gone far through the dense forest. Not when they couldn't jump from branch to branch like a Huntress could.
As Weiss had predicted, it didn't take long for the excited barking of the dogs to change - and for a desperate cry to be heard. They had found the thief!
She grinned as she jumped over a fallen tree trunk - if only she could use her glyphs! - and dashed ahead. Time to end this farce!
When she reached the fugitive miscreant, Ruby, of course, was already there. Her friend was glaring at the man, who was on the ground, surrounded by the dogs and two wolf puppies, holding his ankle and whimpering. And his face and upper body was covered in paint. Definitely the thief.
"Please… my lady… I didn't want… please let me go! Oh, it hurts!"
"I didn't hit you that hard! I just tripped you!" Ruby told him.
"And even if we let you go, it doesn't look like you could go on that ankle," Yang added, showing her teeth while she retrieved the stolen scrolls.
Blake, of course, was still guarding their flank.
"Please! I didn't want to… mercy!"
"There will be no mercy!" Ruby spat. "Thieves must be punished! I won't let another one escape on my watch so they can wreck a city afterwards!"
Right, Torchwick's escapes - and escapades - were still a sore point for her friend, Weiss reminded herself. Although she doubted that this wretched man would be able to wreck a highway even if he managed to steal a Paladin.
"I didn't want to steal from you! Please!"
"You shouldn't have broken into our room then! Or tried to steal my baby!"
"What? Baby?" The man looked confused. "Whoever took your child, I didn't do it!"
Weiss sighed. "She means her weapon."
"Oh."
"You tried to steal her!" Ruby spat. "That, I cannot forgive!"
The man started to cry and didn't stop even when the rest of the party caught up. All in all, it was a pathetic display.
*****
Winterfell, The North, Westeros, 298 AC
"It is clear that you were the thief who broke into our guest's chamber to rob them - the stolen items were found on you, and you were marked by the paint left in their room," Lord Eddard, seated on his throne in the Great Hall, declared.
Justice is swift in Westeros, Weiss thought. It had barely been a day after the theft, and they were already holding the trial. Of course, it was a clear-cut case, as Lord Eddard had stated, though the lack of a public defender was still obvious.
"Mercy, my lord!"
One night in the castle's dungeons hadn't done the thief any good, Weiss could tell. He was pale and shivering, and his ankle had swollen so much, they probably had to cut off his boot to treat it. Not that it looked as if they had done much - the bandage wrapped around his foot looked stained, and for all their faults, at least the people of this world were aware of how you had to keep bandages clean. Of course, the man wasn't bleeding, so it might not matter much.
Lord Eddard ignored the man's pleas. "Before I pronounce the sentence, I wish to know if you had accomplices."
Weiss leaned forward. They hadn't found any traces of another thief, and it was certainly possible that the man had acted alone, driven by greed. But not quite too rarely, such thefts were, at least back home, inside jobs, as the police called it. Thieves acting with someone familiar with the target. Weiss wanted to know if there was another thief hiding in the castle.
The man glanced towards the King and Queen as if he was about to beg them for mercy despite the scowl on the King's face and the deadly glare of the Queen. Neither had taken the revelation that one of their servants had stooped as low as to steal from Team RWBY well. The man must have realised that and shook his head. "No, my lord. I acted by myself. I… I thought I could sell the magic devices for gold in King's Landing."
Weiss wasn't quite sure that she believed him. But what motive would he have to protect an accomplice? Criminals, in her admittedly limited experience, rarely showed any loyalty to anyone, and his best chance at clemency and getting a reduced punishment would be to rat out other criminals.
Lord Eddard sighed. "In that case, I pronounce you guilty of theft. In light of the severity of your crime, your hand will be cut off."
Weiss gasped. Cutting off a hand? For theft?
Her friends were shocked as well. Ruby gaped at the thief - and then at Lord Eddard.
The thief was crying.
"You may also choose to join the Night's Watch instead," Lord Eddard went on.
The man kept crying - Weiss wasn't sure if he had heard Lord Eddard.
"He's a cripple who can't walk any more; what use would the Night's watch have for him?" the Prince asked.
"The Night's Watch takes everyone who wishes to join, my prince," Benjen replied. "Even the lame and crippled."
"Crippled? I only broke his ankle!" Ruby blurted out.
Everyone stared at her, Weiss realised.
"It was a complicated break, my lady," Maester Luwin said, wincing slightly. "As such wounds usually are. I did what I could, but it won't heal well."
"Oh." Ruby sat back. "I didn't…" she trailed off, slowly shaking her head.
They couldn't heal a broken ankle? But… Weiss pressed her lips together. Of course, they couldn't heal a compound fracture! They didn't have either modern medicine or Aura!
"I'll take the Black!" the thief blurted out.
"Very well." Lord Eddard nodded at Benjen. "You can take him with you when you return to the Wall."
"I didn't… I wouldn't have hit him if I had known," Ruby said. "I'm sorry."
"We should have realised that," Weiss said before she could help herself, then winced and cursed herself when Ruby flinched and looked even more miserable.
*****
Winterfell, The North, Westeros, 298 AC
When morning broke, and she woke up, Blake Belladonna considered staying in bed a little bit longer. Unlike her friends, she could see perfectly well with moonlight or even just starlight - well, well enough to read and write easily - so the lack of decent artificial lighting didn't restrict her nightly activities as much. On the other hand, as much as she liked napping in a warm bed, her friends needed her. The revelations following the trial of the thief had left them, if not shaken, then burdened.
Besides, Yang was likely to accidentally kick her when she woke up, as had happened before, so the odds of Blake being able to enjoy her nap for a decent length of time were low, anyway.
So, Blake yawned and slipped out of bed, stretching a bit - not like a cat at all, despite Ruby's claims - and quickly used the water bowl next to their bed to wash her face.
The others might complain about the lack of a proper bathroom - if they wanted to bathe, they needed to call servants to prepare a tub - but Blake was used to roughing it in the field. The White Fang's hidden camps in the wilderness rarely had decent facilities - sometimes, they had no facilities at all. Compared to that, or even to an extended field mission for Huntresses, this was still quite nice.
And if Blake kept telling herself that, she would start to believe it. No hunting mission would have gone on for as long as their trip in this world had; a Huntress would either succeed or die long before that.
Sighing, she slipped into her clothes - her combat outfit, not the dress her host had have made for her. With thieves breaking into their room, and having earned, although not through any fault of their own but for merely existing, the enmity of the Queen of the realm, Blake would not leave Gambol Shroud behind for the foreseeable future. And she wouldn't carry her weapon around in a basket or in her hands, which meant she would be wearing an outfit that could accommodate the sheath, which her dress didn't. She tested if she could draw it as easily as she should, which she could, then gave the weapon a quick check.
A yawning noise behind her alerted Blake to the fact that her partner had woken up. "Good morning, Yang," she said without turning away from her weapon.
"How did you know it was me?" Yang asked. "Recognised my Yawng?"
Blake groaned. Yang was a great partner, a great Huntress, and the best friend she could imagine, smart and kind, but her puns barely deserved the name. Though that kind of fault made her even more appealing - she wasn't some perfect Huntress, and not as cool as she could appear at first glance. Which was actually cooler.
Yang got out, complained about the cold floor, as usual, then about the cold water, and finally the state of her hair - which was still great in Blake's opinion - before she started to dress herself. That meant Blake could open the shutters and let the sunlight in. Along with a brief wave of cold air until she closed the windows again, which served nicely to wake up both Ruby and Weiss.
A few minutes later, everyone was awake and up, dressed and armed - Ruby had slept with Crescent Rose again, Blake had noted; their leader had taken the attempted theft badly in more ways than one - and ready to tackle another day in Westeros.
"So…" Ruby, seated on her bed with Crescent Rose, folded up and laid across her lap, sighed. "I forgot to ask yesterday, what with the whole trial and thing, but… does anyone know anything about medicine?"
"Yes," Blake said. Ruby's eyes lit up, but Blake went on: "Just first aid. I can't treat compound fractures."
"You need a surgeon for that," Weiss said, pressing her lips together in a frown.
"And we're Huntresses, not surgeons," Yang stated the obvious.
Ruby sighed again and hunched over. "I didn't know… I didn't think. I should have known."
"It's not your fault. You didn't make the guy break into our room," Weiss told her.
"And he tried to steal your baby," Yang added with a weak grin.
"He's still unable to walk," Ruby said. "And will live in pain for the rest of his life."
"Well, I think he could get a sort of brace that lets him walk by taking the weight off his foot," Yang said. "Shouldn't be too hard to build even here - Mikken should have all the stuff for it."
"But he'd still be in pain if his broken bones heal up wrong," Ruby said.
"They can amputate his foot in that case," Weiss said. "And replace it with a proper prosthetic - or what passes for one here," she added with another frown.
"They wanted to cut off his hand!" Ruby shook her head. "And now they will cut off his foot? How barbaric can you be!"
"They have different laws and traditions," Weiss pointed out, but her defence of their hosts sounded half-heartedly to Blake.
"Yeah, 'different' as in 'fucked-up'," Yang said. "But it's good that we found out. Imagine if we brought in someone who was hungry and stole some food."
Ruby grimaced and hunched over even more, and Weiss looked at Yang. "Are you implying that we should ignore thieves in the future?"
"Do you want to see a guy lose a hand just for stealing?" Yang asked, raising her eyebrows.
Weiss blushed a little. "No, but… ignoring criminals seems wrong. And what if we ignore a thief, and he turns out to be a murderer?"
That was a good point, Blake had to admit. A number of White Fang's more radical members had been petty criminals before joining the organisation.
"Well, we can still stop a criminal and scare them straight; we just don't need to involve the cops." Yang shrugged and grinned. "I bet we can scare anyone straight."
"I don't think the Starks would like that," Weiss said. "It would infringe on their authority."
"Only if they find out."
Weiss huffed at that, but Blake agreed with her partner.
"Yes." Apparently, so did Ruby. "No more delivering thieves to… 'justice'. One maiming is enough." She shook her head. "And we need to train harder so we can hold back better. People aren't just more fragile here, without Aura and Semblances, but they can't fix them as easily as we can back home. Unless…" she trailed off and bit her lower lip.
Weiss frowned at her. "You aren't seriously considering activating the Aura of the man who tried to rob us of our weapons, are you?"
"It would fix him…" Ruby said in a low voice.
"He's a thief!" Weiss hissed. "Would you want to grant such power to a criminal? What do you think he'll do with it? Only we could stop him if he decided to abuse the power!"
"Right…" Ruby winced.
"Further, it would also show everyone that we can grant our powers to someone else," Weiss went on. "Everyone will want to have their Aura activated. And if we refuse after doing so for a thief, they'll be very offended."
"I know…" Ruby whined.
"And they might arrange for 'accidents' to force us to activate someone's Aura to heal them," Blake pointed out. Some of the nobles here would do so, at least. Even to their children. Especially to their children.
Ruby and Weiss both winced at that.
"We don't even know if it will work," Weiss said. "Aura can be activated through stress without any outside influence. Wouldn't that have happened at least a few times here?"
"It's a very stressful life for many, yep," Yang agreed. "But just because it doesn't happen naturally doesn't mean it can't happen artificially, right?"
"We don't know that," Weiss said. "And the only way to find out risks empowering someone. Can we trust anyone here not to abuse such power? Or to hand it to someone else who will abuse it?"
"No…" Ruby sighed.
"But what will we do if, say, one of our friends has an accident, and only Aura can save them?" Yang asked.
Everyone winced at that, including Yang. Weiss shook her head. "We can cross that bridge when we reach it. Let's not experiment with Aura. Those people already know too much for us to be comfortable."
"Sorry…" Ruby said.
"It wasn't your fault," Yang told her. "We kind of underestimated them."
"Yes. Just because they don't know about modern technology, Aura or Dust doesn't mean they're stupid," Weiss said.
Blake nodded. "Some of them are smarter than we are."
Weiss scowled at that but didn't contradict her.
"Let's go to breakfast," Ruby said. "I need some honey bread to feel better."
On the way to the great hall, they saw the Captain of the guards with half a dozen guards standing near a tower - the entrance to the dungeons, Blake realised. And they seemed upset.
"That doesn't look good," Yang commented. "Do you think the prisoner broke out?"
That would make him a deserter to be executed, Blake thought. Probably, at least. But… She cocked her head, focusing on the men's voices.
"...and as I said, when I entered with his bread, I found him dead in his cell."
Blake's eyes widened. The thief was dead? How?
"And you saw no wound?"
"None, Captain. But I found an empty wineskin near him."
"Someone has smuggled some wine into his cells?" Judging by Captain Cassel's expression, he suspected the same as Blake did.
Poison.
*****
Winterfell, The North, Westeros, 298 AC
"I apologise for the delay, Lady Blake, but I had to help with the investigation into the prisoner's death." Luwin sounded honestly apologetic.
"I fully understand that this took priority, Maester Luwin." Blake couldn't and wouldn't fault him for that - his research had confirmed that the thief had been poisoned with a wineskin smuggled into his cell, presumably through the window; the wineskin, even if nearly full, would have fit through the gaps between the bars, as a quick test had shown. Unfortunately, they had found no clue who might have been behind the murder - and behind the theft, of course. Blake was sure that the thief had been killed to prevent him from naming whoever had hired him for the task. It was even more unfortunate that the range of suspects included almost every noble in the castle.
Luwin sighed. "Unfortunately, I have further bad news. I have read through all the books in the library that were likely to contain the sort of information you seek, but after weeks of diligent searching, I remain as empty-handed as I was at the start."
Blake couldn't help frowning at hearing that. It wasn't his fault either, but she had really hoped that they would find information about a way home here - or, at least, information that might lead to such a way home. "I'm sorry to hear that." Really sorry.
Luwin nodded. "If it's any consolidation, despite Lord Stark's care for his library, it pales in comparison to the collection in the Citadel. Or the royal archives in the capital. The former dynasty included many members who were either scholars in their own right or talented dilettantes and bibliophiles, and so the royal archives contain a vast collection of tomes that may yet grant you the information you seek, my lady."
Ah. This wasn't the first time Luwin had mentioned the seat of his order, but to hear that the royal library might also have books not found in Winterkeep was new. Not that it should be a surprise - they didn't have easy ways to make copies of books here, yet many ways to lose one, so the older a book was, the rarer it would be. "Thank you. We will have to think about our next step, then."
Very carefully. There was a murderer around, after all.
*****
Winterfell, The North, Westeros, 298 AC
"...and now we repeat that a lot until the metal's grown harder." Yang Xiao Long grinned as she worked the improvised machine. Cold-working steel wasn't exactly taught at the workshop in Beacon, but she had done some extra-credit work at Signal once.
Mikken stared. "That's… No one but you could bend steel like that, my lady. I don't think you have to fear anyone duplicating your secret."
"It's not my secret," Yang corrected him. "And you can make a machine to bend the steel - just need enough pressure."
"Pressure?"
"Uh…" Hydraulic presses were not a thing here. Yang grimaced. "Well, with a really hard and heavy press, I guess." She had always used the machines at the shops she had access to - it wasn't as if she needed to mass-produce parts. "I guess you could also use heat-treating."
"Heat-treating? We can do that, my lady."
"Yeah, but your oven probably won't reach the heat needed for this steel," Yang said, holding out another piece that might end up part of a tool if this worked out. Even if she couldn't harden the thing and hit the right tolerances - she needed special tools to machine it - it should work to some degree, but wouldn't last long.
"What kind of steel is it?"
"Chromium-vanadium steel," Yang explained. "Chromium makes it resistant to rust."
"Resistant to rust?" Mikken looked even more eager. This tool-crafting session was turning into a little lesson, it seemed.
Yang snorted. If her teachers could see her now…
"My lady?"
"Nothing, just a stray thought. It doesn't rust as easily, and it holds the edge longer."
"Like Valyrian steel?"
"Probably not as much," Yang said. She hadn't examined Ice, Lord Eddard's ancestral blade, Ruby had been a bit too eager when she heard about it, and they had decided not to push it to avoid offending their host, but from what she had heard, those blades were way tougher than any steel on Remnant - unless reinforced with Aura, of course. "But it holds up well if you're in the wilderness."
"And what is Chromium?"
"Uh…" How to describe that? Yang just bought the stuff. She knew the quantities you needed for certain steel, but she wasn't a miner or a geologist. "If you refine it, it kinda looks like this…" she started to explain.
I wish I had written this up in advance, she thought while Mikken was repeating her words to remember them.
Then she blinked.
She really should write that up - Team RWBY could probably trade that for access to other libraries if their owners were being unhelpful.
*****
On the way back from the smithy - Ember Celica was working perfectly as it should - Yang spotted Jon brooding in a corner of the yard. Well, he was sharpening his sword, but Yang could tell that his mind wasn't on it, so he was brooding. The boy didn't do much else these days.
She slowed down a little as she pondered if she should make a detour or not. Well, she had finished a little earlier than she thought - probably; without a scroll, it was hard to tell the time. To think she had laughed at Uncle Qrow for having an antique mechanical wristwatch. He would be so smug if he knew. Anyway, she could spare a little time pulling Jon out of whatever hole he was trying to dig with his mind.
"Yo!" she called out when she closed in - he hadn't even noticed her approach. He'd so fail situational awareness tests at Beacon.
He jerked and jumped to his feet. "Lady Yang!" he bowed.
She rolled her eyes. "No bowing when I'm wearing my combat clothes, remember?"
"But… You're always wearing them nowadays, my lady," he protested.
"So?" She cocked her head to the side and grinned. "And we still wear dresses to dinner. Which you should know if you hadn't been avoiding us."
"Ah…" He grimaced.
She sighed loudly. "Still hung up on the whole bastard thing?"
He pressed his lips together and tensed up.
Oops. "I mean people thinking I'm a bastard," she clarified. She didn't want to make light of his bastard thing. It was stupid, but it was a real problem for him.
"Ah." He blushed.
She quickly shook her head. "You already apologised. Twice. And it wasn't your fault at all."
"Still, my lady…" He glanced around.
"Nu-uh." She wagged her finger at him. "No bullshit about me talking to you not being proper or what."
"But…"
"Are you really trying to tell me who I can and can't talk to?" She frowned at him, and he blushed.
"Ah… no, my lady."
"Good. So, what got you down this time? You usually aren't that gloomy." He pouted at her for a moment, and she grinned back at him. Jon could brood through a pep talk from Ruby, so you had to be a bit harsh to get him to react.
"I was just… letting my thoughts wander, my lady." He shrugged.
She rolled her eyes again. Even Jaune would have seen through his act. "And where did your thoughts wander to? The Gloom&Doom Emporium?"
"What?" he stared at her.
She sighed. Her best quips were useless if people didn't have the context. "What got you so down this time?"
"Nothing, my lady." She kept staring at him, and he relented. "I was… wondering about my future."
"Oh." That wasn't something she could help him with. Maybe she should have let him brood in peace.
But he already went on without looking at her. "In the past, I wanted to join the Night's Watch. It's an honourable calling even for a bastard."
"It's also a very cold calling," she said. He frowned some more, and she suppressed a wince. Right, no making light of this serious discussion.
"But… I thought about, well, other choices. I am good with a sword - this is no empty boast, as you know - so I could become a guard, but people don't tend to trust bastards."
"Wouldn't becoming a guard be like joining the Night's Watch, just with less ice and snow?"
He frowned at her before nodding. "Maybe it is the same, in a way. Just, I wouldn't…" He blushed a little. "I wouldn't have to abandon my family. But it's hard to make a life as a bastard here."
Yang nodded. "Yeah, you people are really stupid about that." He gasped, and she scoffed. "I'm calling it like I see it. Judging someone for being born? That's stupid."
He looked at her like Ruby did when she was little and got told she couldn't have another cookie. "That may be so, but that's how it is, my lady."
Well, he was right about that. But he was still being stupid. "Well, from what we saw, the Night's Watch isn't exactly easy street either. But Benjen probably told you that already."
Jon frowned again. Or he had never really stopped. "He said I should consider that carefully."
"That's uncle-speak for 'No, don't do that'." She grinned. "Trust me, I know."
"But… what else can I do? I'm a bastard, and people don't take bastards into service. I don't want to live on my father's charity - I want to earn my place!" he blurted out.
Yang could understand the feeling. But she couldn't really help him - that sort of problem didn't happen in Vale. Wait. It kinda did - for Faunus. Oh.
Maybe she should tell him to talk to Blake about this? But what could Blake tell him? As far as they knew, there wasn't some bastard community here he could get support from. "Aren't there any people who don't think bastards are untrustworthy and would hire you?"
He shook his head. "Not in Westeros. Maybe in Essos, if I became a sellsword, but… Fighting for coin isn't very honourable."
That sounded a bit picky, but judging by what Uncle Qrow had told them about mercenaries, he probably wasn't wrong. "Well, I'd take you if I had a castle, but I don't."
He stared at her for a moment with a surprised expression before nodding gloomily. "You don't need retainers. And you can't afford them as our guests."
Yang winced. Seen from that angle, they were in a similar position.
*****
When Yang entered their room a bit later, she was feeling like brooding herself. That talk had gone completely wrong. Not only had she failed to cheer up Jon, but she had managed to make herself feel down as well. Way to go, girl! she told herself as she greeted the others.
"Yang! We've got news!" Ruby told her. "Important news!"
Oh? "Good news, I hope," Yang said. But judging by the looks of the others, it was mixed news at best.
"The King has invited us to return with him to King's landing," Weiss said.
"And the Starks are coming along," Ruby went on. "The King is making Lord Eddard his right hand."
"It's called the Hand of the King," Weiss corrected her.
"I knew that."
"That's good, I think," Yang said. "It was the Citadel or King's Landing for more libraries, right?"
"Yes," Blake said. "But it also means we'll be travelling with the most likely suspects behind the attempted theft of our weapons. And behind the murder of the thief."
Right.
*****