A Song of Ice and Fire Cut Short by Dust (RWBY in Westeros)

[Rimu]

I don't have set plans for pairings, but I can safely say that none of the girls will be happy with a local. The cultural differences, and especially the difference in power, is just too big.

Click to shrink...

Ruby sounded interested in Robb in the last chapter so I wasn t sure

And what about each other?

 

[Starfox5]

Ruby sounded interested in Robb in the last chapter so I wasn t sure

And what about each other?

Click to shrink...

That is a possibility, but nothing is set for now.

 

[McReaperking]

Looks promising so far but i do hope they dont nativise and defer too much to the petty lords of westeros (yes that includes the starks). They come from a significantly advanced culture, from technological to cultural advancements. It would be interesting if they could improve things like weapon crafting, metallurgy and even their basic science should be leagues ahead of what maesters know. Im not asking for an uplift style arc, but it would be pretty cool if they improved atleast something.

I really hope Ruby doesn't end up with Robb as he is right now. Robb during the war of 5 kings though would be a much more worthy match.

The records of the maesters is also troubling as he refers to the others and such in myth only. It implies that there wasn't much change to the societal structure of westeros which would be disappointing.


Also there are some interesting places they could investigate. Firstly there are the dawn age era fused stone structures of the fortress Hightower is built upon and the 5 forts in Yi Ti. Then there are the oily black structures of Ashai and Yeen which no living thing grows near. They could also come across the oily black stone chair of old wyk much earlier and have a poor reaction to it because it is very obviously magical in nature and has been theorized to have a corrupting influence which is heavily linked to the corruption of the blood betrayal.

It would also be cool if they explored Old Valyria which is a blank slate. Combined with the fact that It has monsters and an inhospitable climate, it would be perfect grounds for a hunter exploration.

For an even deeper cut would be Rhoyne and the Rhoynar ruins. There is definitely some lingering magic there considering the vision Tyrion had while near them. Also please let them blow up the Warlocks and the house of the undying.

ASOIAF and planetos masquerade as a low fantasy world, but its a high fantasy world in disguise. theres some freaky shit in there. Euron is also a significant threat.

 

[Starfox5]

Looks promising so far but i do hope they dont nativise and defer too much to the petty lords of westeros (yes that includes the starks). They come from a significantly advanced culture, from technological to cultural advancements. It would be interesting if they could improve things like weapon crafting, metallurgy and even their basic science should be leagues ahead of what maesters know. Im not asking for an uplift style arc, but it would be pretty cool if they improved atleast something.

Click to shrink...

They won't go native. They defer to locals mostly because this isn't their country, and they need the locals' assistance in getting home. The issue with uplifting is that any significant improvement, even simple ones, will take more time than the story will cover. Metallurgy is amongst the most difficult to advance - they can give pointers and ideas, but working out the details will take years of trial and error. Even more so for other material sciences. There's just so much between castle-forged steel and the high-performance materials used in Remnant so the locals can't skip those steps. Tools, tolerances, measurements... Often, RWBY won't even know the local names much less what X is in local units. So, they're more inspirational in what they change.

That said, as the excerpts should show or hint at, things did improve. A future excerpt, f.e., refers to the current times as the era when heavy cavalry still ruled the battlefield.

I really hope Ruby doesn't end up with Robb as he is right now. Robb during the war of 5 kings though would be a much more worthy match.

Click to shrink...

The odds of any member of RWBY ending up with a local are very, very low. The gap in attitude, knowledge, expectations and sheer power is just too vast.

The records of the maesters is also troubling as he refers to the others and such in myth only. It implies that there wasn't much change to the societal structure of westeros which would be disappointing.

Click to shrink...

Social structure changed a lot in our world even though we consider the Greek myths myths. (In fact, it's because the world changed that he's trying to disprove any supernatural aspect to the "Order of the Ruby".)

Also there are some interesting places they could investigate. Firstly there are the dawn age era fused stone structures of the fortress Hightower is built upon and the 5 forts in Yi Ti. Then there are the oily black structures of Ashai and Yeen which no living thing grows near. They could also come across the oily black stone chair of old wyk much earlier and have a poor reaction to it because it is very obviously magical in nature and has been theorized to have a corrupting influence which is heavily linked to the corruption of the blood betrayal.

Click to shrink...

Yeah, they'll like visit a bunch of places - I'm not yet set on any specific.

It would also be cool if they explored Old Valyria which is a blank slate. Combined with the fact that It has monsters and an inhospitable climate, it would be perfect grounds for a hunter exploration.

Click to shrink...

A nice vacation from the plots of the courts.

For an even deeper cut would be Rhoyne and the Rhoynar ruins. There is definitely some lingering magic there considering the vision Tyrion had while near them. Also please let them blow up the Warlocks and the house of the undying.

Click to shrink...

Not sure they'll blow up warlocks or anything in Essos.

ASOIAF and planetos masquerade as a low fantasy world, but its a high fantasy world in disguise. theres some freaky shit in there. Euron is also a significant threat.

Click to shrink...

I'm not a fan of Euron - he comes over as too much of a Villain Sue in too many stories, and often arrives out of the blue, with powers tailor-made to challenge whoever is the MC of the story, often looking like a "continuation villain" added after a story was done and the author or publishing house wanted to continue the series for another arc. So, not sure if he will appear. He could be a good "lesson" in how to fight magic villains, I assume.

 

[Starfox5]

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.'

• 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.

*****​

 

[eager slacker]

Okay so Tyrion and eventually others will think that you can breed those powers down the family line which will make suitors come out of the woodwork eventually. Sure being the wife in the marriage will be odd but if your next generation of rulers are fucking invincible, people will easily look past the husband wearing the apron.

Jeffrey may or may not be more of a little shit to random people this time around but like the documentary shows he's gonna be poking at the team quite a bit. He's got that sadist streak and that mistaken idea that he's untouchable. He's basically exactly the caricature of what White Fang hates.

 

[Starfox5]

Okay so Tyrion and eventually others will think that you can breed those powers down the family line which will make suitors come out of the woodwork eventually. Sure being the wife in the marriage will be odd but if your next generation of rulers are fucking invincible, people will easily look past the husband wearing the apron.

Jeffrey may or may not be more of a little shit to random people this time around but like the documentary shows he's gonna be poking at the team quite a bit. He's got that sadist streak and that mistaken idea that he's untouchable. He's basically exactly the caricature of what White Fang hates.

Click to shrink...

Yeah, especially since in Westeros, parents (or grandparents) decide whom their family members marry, so it's not as if they would have to suffer, so to speak.

Joffrey has his moments. I don't want to portray him as dumb as a rock cardboard-cutout.

 

[ATP]

Yeah, especially since in Westeros, parents (or grandparents) decide whom their family members marry, so it's not as if they would have to suffer, so to speak.

Joffrey has his moments. I don't want to portray him as dumb as a rock cardboard-cutout.

Click to shrink...

Choosing wives or husbands were normal in almost all Earth cultures,and i am pretty sure that once it was norm in RWBY world,too
Joeffrey indeed had good ideas,like standing army for example.

I think,that There would be no any accidents here with Blake watching for Bran,and not killing direwolfs if they go with King.
Question is,what next? all factions would try to control them,and when it become impossible,kill.
But - if they survive,there could be no war here.

But - we at least knew,that King would quickly die - he meet them in the end of his reign according to chronicles,after all.

 

[Ultimasaurus Imperatrix]

But - we at least knew,that King would quickly die - he meet them in the end of his reign according to chronicles,after all.

Click to shrink...

You picked up on that too, huh? Question is, will it be murder or a heart attack, he hasn't exactly been keeping himself in the best shape, so I won't be surprised if it's his lifestyle that killed him before anyone else did.

 

[Mike9650]

Hmmm, since Raven can teleport, does that mean that she will come for a visit? I mean she secretly visit Yang anyway.

 

[Ultimasaurus Imperatrix]

Hmmm, since Raven can teleport, does that mean that she will come for a visit? I mean she secretly visit Yang anyway.

Click to shrink...

Since she couldn't get to them in the Everafter I doubt she could get to them while they're on Westeros.

 

[eager slacker]

Well since the ice zombie apocalypse was ended earlier I suspect that the major focus of the story will be centralized to Westeros and its territories and politics. Likely the majority of the fireworks will occur after Robert's demise with largely Cersei and potentially Joffrey being catalysts considering that people do note that Cersei really hates all four of them and is controversial. If we take into accounts the earlier mentioned biased views and them being called harlots then the team likely takes sides in one part of a wide conflict and at the very least is respected for delivering results by everyone.

Perhaps an accusation of other worldly witchcraft causing Robert's demise? It doesn't really track too much considering that history is ambivalent about Joffrey's reaction to them.

I don't know too much about RWBY but isn't Raven really cowardly? If she had the option to be big fish in a small pond that would be fine by her so I doubt that is something she can do.

 

[ATP]

You picked up on that too, huh? Question is, will it be murder or a heart attack, he hasn't exactly been keeping himself in the best shape, so I won't be surprised if it's his lifestyle that killed him before anyone else did.

Click to shrink...

True,or maybe even real accident.He could be drunk and fall from stairs,for example.Becouse of banana peel,of course!

 

[Starfox5]

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.'

• 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.

*****​

 

[Starfox5]

Choosing wives or husbands were normal in almost all Earth cultures,and i am pretty sure that once it was norm in RWBY world,too
Joeffrey indeed had good ideas,like standing army for example.

I think,that There would be no any accidents here with Blake watching for Bran,and not killing direwolfs if they go with King.
Question is,what next? all factions would try to control them,and when it become impossible,kill.
But - if they survive,there could be no war here.

But - we at least knew,that King would quickly die - he meet them in the end of his reign according to chronicles,after all.

Click to shrink...

Choosing your children's spouses was the norm in may places, but it's not any more, and RWBY rightfully find the practice barbaric.

Yeah, it's unlikely that Bran will pick the same wall and moment to climb, and that Cersei and Jaime decide at the same moment to uîndulge their urges.

You picked up on that too, huh? Question is, will it be murder or a heart attack, he hasn't exactly been keeping himself in the best shape, so I won't be surprised if it's his lifestyle that killed him before anyone else did.

Click to shrink...

Or an accident.

Hmmm, since Raven can teleport, does that mean that she will come for a visit? I mean she secretly visit Yang anyway.

Click to shrink...

She can't travel to this world/universe.

Since she couldn't get to them in the Everafter I doubt she could get to them while they're on Westeros.

Click to shrink...

Exactly.

Well since the ice zombie apocalypse was ended earlier I suspect that the major focus of the story will be centralized to Westeros and its territories and politics. Likely the majority of the fireworks will occur after Robert's demise with largely Cersei and potentially Joffrey being catalysts considering that people do note that Cersei really hates all four of them and is controversial. If we take into accounts the earlier mentioned biased views and them being called harlots then the team likely takes sides in one part of a wide conflict and at the very least is respected for delivering results by everyone.

Perhaps an accusation of other worldly witchcraft causing Robert's demise? It doesn't really track too much considering that history is ambivalent about Joffrey's reaction to them.

I don't know too much about RWBY but isn't Raven really cowardly? If she had the option to be big fish in a small pond that would be fine by her so I doubt that is something she can do.

Click to shrink...

Yeah, the Game of Thrones won't be nice even without the zombie invasion.

True,or maybe even real accident.He could be drunk and fall from stairs,for example.Becouse of banana peel,of course!

Click to shrink...

Exactly.

 

[Mike9650]

Clever. Very clever. I love the culture shock. I love people talking to each other and learning more about each other: good and bad.

Is this a permanent thing? Is RWBY stuck in Planetos? Can we expect future appearances of other characters?

To be honest I don't really mind romance with the natives. What's wrong with that? At some point in time they had to learn how to live in the world instead of surviving and finding the way home.

It's going to take at least a few years.

I also like how team RWBY doesn't impose their values on the world but that's to be expected since they are not tyrants.

 

[Starfox5]

Clever. Very clever. I love the culture shock. I love people talking to each other and learning more about each other: good and bad.

Click to shrink...

Thanks!

Is this a permanent thing? Is RWBY stuck in Planetos? Can we expect future appearances of other characters?

Click to shrink...

No, they will return to their home - as the excerpts hint at, they don't stay for a long time.

To be honest I don't really mind romance with the natives. What's wrong with that? At some point in time they had to learn how to live in the world instead of surviving and finding the way home.

Click to shrink...

The issue with romances with locals is that the cultural gap is very wide, as is the power imbalance. That's not a good recipe for a relationship. Plus, I am using book ages, so the usual suspects - Robb, Jon, for one - are younger than Ruby, so RWBY considers them little boys, not boyfriend material. Certainly not husband material.

It's going to take at least a few years.

Click to shrink...

Not quite as long, probably.

I also like how team RWBY doesn't impose their values on the world but that's to be expected since they are not tyrants.

Click to shrink...

That only goes to a certain point. There are lines they wouldn't allow to be crossed, at which point, all bets are off. They aren't tyrants, but neither would they stand by while someone gets raped for example, no matter whether that's legal according to the law or not.

 

[Renko]

Is this a permanent thing? Is RWBY stuck in Planetos? Can we expect future appearances of other characters?

Click to shrink...

They will go home.

No, they will return

Click to shrink...

I prefer if the four of them did more changes because of a prolonged stay.

It seems that this trip to Westeros of their's is more akin to one of those comic crossovers that only has several issues.

 

[Starfox5]

I prefer if the four of them did more changes because of a prolonged stay.

It seems that this trip to Westeros of their's is more akin to one of those comic crossovers that only has several issues.

Click to shrink...

They do leave lasting changes - it's just that those changes take quite some time to actually come into being and spread.

 

[Tager Joseph]

"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.

Click to shrink...

Well she doesn't even have to lie; it depends on where you are, and it depends on the family in question. I sincerely doubt arranged marriages have been completely abolished in all of Remnant, especially in places like Atlas and Mistral.

 

[Starfox5]

Well she doesn't even have to lie; it depends on where you are, and it depends on the family in question. I sincerely doubt arranged marriages have been completely abolished in all of Remnant, especially in places like Atlas and Mistral.

Click to shrink...

I think they are officially abolished, but, of course, some families will still (try to) force that shit on their kids using all kinds of pressure. But when you fight a war for the right to express yourself, the ability to pick your own partner is certainly included.

 

[ATP]

They do leave lasting changes - it's just that those changes take quite some time to actually come into being and spread.

Click to shrink...

Of course.Others are gone,and Bran probably would not be cripple.
If they stay long enough,Ned would be not killed,and war could be shorter with Lannisters loosing quickly.
And,they could made local making muskets...or not? are they aware,how to made muskets and blackpowder? becouse,for example,i knew that they existed,but certainly would be unable to made it!

 

[Starfox5]

Of course.Others are gone,and Bran probably would not be cripple.
If they stay long enough,Ned would be not killed,and war could be shorter with Lannisters loosing quickly.
And,they could made local making muskets...or not? are they aware,how to made muskets and blackpowder? becouse,for example,i knew that they existed,but certainly would be unable to made it!

Click to shrink...

Making muskets would require far too much time to be effective. You need to design and mass-produce the guns, get the infrastructure to supply an army using them (their own guns use Dust, not gunpowder, so they lack the experience to make gunpowder), and then you need to train a large number of soldiers in gunnery and find the best way to use them in a war, then teach their officers that. We're talking multiple years for that - and that would be with someone from Earth who knows musket tactics and history and gunpowder. For Huntresses from Remnant? It would be a fool's errand.

But their example can start a development that will see technology advance and society change. It's not so much about individual actions - those will change as well - but starting last changes in Westeros, changes that will take decades and longer to come to fruition. The excerpts at the start of the chapters will give hints about such developments.

 

[eager slacker]

Uplifting is not some simple process that everyone agrees to after someone makes a working prototype and a picture with squiggly lines. Too many people think that Guilds and Artisans would somehow just allow themselves to become obsolete and fodder when a production line is made.

Not to mention that knights themselves would take offense to losing prestige or have hesitation to cutting off ties or lower influence with people who breed warhorses.

If anything what would happen is everyone would try to copy team RBWY's weapons because of the wow factor although they would not expect the same level of effectiveness with the lack of crazy metallurgy and superhuman strength. The improvements would happen slowly as people notice that those holes are there for shooting things and there's some screws and stuff that make perfect sense when Yang maintains her gauntlets or something like that.

 

[Starfox5]

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.'

• 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.

*****​

 

[Starfox5]

Uplifting is not some simple process that everyone agrees to after someone makes a working prototype and a picture with squiggly lines. Too many people think that Guilds and Artisans would somehow just allow themselves to become obsolete and fodder when a production line is made.

Not to mention that knights themselves would take offense to losing prestige or have hesitation to cutting off ties or lower influence with people who breed warhorses.

If anything what would happen is everyone would try to copy team RBWY's weapons because of the wow factor although they would not expect the same level of effectiveness with the lack of crazy metallurgy and superhuman strength. The improvements would happen slowly as people notice that those holes are there for shooting things and there's some screws and stuff that make perfect sense when Yang maintains her gauntlets or something like that.

Click to shrink...

Indeed. A future excerpt will go into a little bit more about that.

 

[PotatOS2]

The mastermind was lannister guard number 69!!!
Also bran ain't a cripple unless the three eye raven managed to arrange an accident at some point

 

[ATP]

Indeed. A future excerpt will go into a little bit more about that.

Click to shrink...

Good.It would be boring story,if RWBY fixed Westeros in few weeks.
And why Blake do not like Yaung puns? she should be pun-ished !

 

[Mike9650]

Interesting. Wonder how the gang will encounter things there.

 

[justregretsss]

they should really stop conforming.. or they will be forced to soon..