Chapter 8: Unexpected Discoveries
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Starfox5
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Chapter 8: Unexpected Discoveries
'While only an ignorant fool would deny that the Ruby Order has significantly influenced the course of Westeros - one can but wonder how the Succession would have played out without their presence - there has been a tendency among scholars to vastly overestimate their impact and attribute not only far-reaching social changes in Westerosi society but also magical instead of technological advancements of all sorts to them. Now, this is somewhat understandable in earlier epochs, when what had to be fairly advanced weapon technology must have appeared to be magical, and people assumed everything else was as well, but there is no excuse for it in our time, when we have far more information available to properly evaluate those claims - first among them the transcripts of the original treatises on smithing by Lady Ruby and Lady Yang themselves, faithfully preserved by our Order.
First, as should be apparent to anyone with even a little expertise in blacksmithing, there is no magic to it. The weapons and tools described in those documents are entirely mundane. It is so obvious that the fact that so many people in the centuries that followed tried to construct the weapons using magic would have been amusing if not for all the sacrifices made during the more determined attempts. No, as has been demonstrated quite thoroughly, if at great material cost, those designs are almost entirely feasible to build with purely mundane means - as long as you have access to advanced materials far beyond what people had at the time, and for centuries afterwards, and you do not mind that the weapons would require extensive repairs or a complete reconstruction after almost every fight. It is absolutely clear, therefore, that the designs we have preserved were not actual weapons that the Ruby Order used (a fact that should also have been obvious since none of the designs fit any of the weapons the four members used) but designs they imagined yet were not able to build. It is an impressive testament to their brilliance as weapon designers and blacksmiths that their designs could be built once technology had progressed enough. One can but shudder to think what would have been the consequences if that had not been the case, and all the attempts to build them would have been a waste instead of a driving factor in the advancement of metallurgy and smithing that saw Westeros eclipse competing realms, with all the effects on warfare that entailed. The world as we know it would certainly look very different today.'
Winterfell, The North, Westeros, 298 AC
Theon Greyjoy sighed as he leaned against the wall in Winterfell's inner courtyard, looking at the darkening sky above him. It would soon be night and time for the evening feast, but he had a bit more time before that to enjoy the clear air here. With the fat King's court visiting, the Great Hall was always full and busy with guests and servants serving them. It was quite the contrast to the usually much quieter life in Winterfell - a life Theon was very familiar with.
He had grown up with the Starks since his father's rebellion. He was Lord Eddard's ward - a hostage by another name. He was aware of it, and so was everyone else, but it wasn't something anyone brought up, and it wasn't something he worried much about - his father wouldn't be as stupid as to try and take on the rest of the Seven Kingdoms again, would he? Certainly not now, when the Starks apparently had gained the friendship of four girls with the power to smash armies.
Of course, Team Ruby wouldn't be as effective at sea as they were on land, but Theon saw no way for even a reconstructed Iron Fleet to stop them if they were on a ship. Any Ironborn ship trying to board them would be taken. If a ship rammed it, they would simply abandon their ship and take the other ship. Maybe catapults might work, sink their ship from range without getting close, but hitting a target at a distance at sea, with both ships moved up and down by waves… Theon wasn't an expert in sailing or using catapults, but he was, without any boasting, the best archer in Winterfell, maybe the North, and he wouldn't give himself good odds at hitting a target at far ranges under such conditions.
Worse, the Greenlanders weren't Ironborn, but they could sail their ships decently enough, and with Team Ruby, all they needed to do was to reach the Iron Islands, and Father's keep would be pulled down around him as soon as the girls saw it. Theon had told Father in his latest letter what he had seen the girls do, just to ensure that his family knew about Team Ruby.
So, Theon didn't have to worry about his father rebelling against the King.
Of course, if Theon had managed to gain the support of Team Ruby, things would look differently. The Iron Fleet would rule the seas, and the girls would brush away any army trying to stop them on land as easily as Theon could swat a fly. No one would be able to touch the Iron Islands, and no one would be safe from the Iron Fleet. It would be easy to retake the Riverlands, restore Harrenhall, reforge the kingdom of old… But why stop there? With the Iron Fleet and Team Ruby, Theon could take the Iron Throne for himself! He would be the greatest king of the Iron Islands since… He would be the greatest king ever! Covered with glory and surrounded by the riches of the Seven Kingdoms. And the women! The most beautiful women of all the realms would be his! He'd pick his Queen and then take the others as his salt wives!
He smiled and let his imagination run wild a little longer before sighing. It was a great dream, but only that - a dream. Team Ruby hadn't shown the slightest interest in him. Neither his position as the heir to the Iron Islands nor his skill at archery - something none of the girls was skilled at - or his wits had seemed to impress them. And while Theon might not be as experienced as he claimed when he was talking with Robb or the bastard, he was experienced enough with women to know they didn't find him attractive. Of course, if they were from a proper noble family, that wouldn't matter; all he would have to do was to impress their fathers, but since that wasn't the case, Theon's dream would remain a dream.
It was scant comfort that Robb and the bastard weren't faring any better, both mooning after girls they could never have. Maybe they shouldn't have scorned Theon for going to whores as if there were anything wrong with it…
And, just as he had been thinking of them, they appeared! Theon grinned as he saw Robb and the bastard step out of the keep and start walking towards the training yard, their puppies trailing after them. Puppies the size of full-grown hounds, now. Theon had no doubt that they could rip a man to shreds already - and who knew what terrors they would become when fully grown? If only the huntsman who found them had killed them, instead of being afraid of harming the sigil animal of his Lord and bringing them to Winterfell! Lady Catelyn had had the right of them, back then, but the children had fallen in love with the puppies, and Lord Stark had acquiesced. Ah, well - feeding them and controlling them wasn't his problem.
Robb looked frustrated, Theon realised as he moved to cut them off, while the bastard looked… not as sad as he usually did. Something must have happened. "Robb! Bastard! Where were you?"
"Theon." Robb smiled for half a breath at him before scowling. "Father called for a family meeting in the afternoon, when you were in the village."
Theon raised his eyebrows and looked at the bastard. The bastard frowned back at him.
Robb scowled again. "Yes, Jon was also present."
"Really?" Theon didn't have to fake his surprise.
The bastard's glare grew harder, but he didn't say anything. Weak.
"Yes." Robb nodded.
"Then it must have involved Team Ruby," Theon said. He rolled his eyes at Robb's surprised expression. "Everyone knows Lady Yang, for whatever weird, foreign reason, is sweet on him." Not sweet enough to be interested in the bastard as anything but a sparring partner, but he either didn't realise that or didn't want to accept it.
"Lady Yang doesn't care about my birth." The bastard was trying for the cold expression of his father but didn't quite pull it off - Theon could tell that he was fuming.
Whatever, he didn't matter. Robb did. Theon shrugged with a snort and looked at the heir to Winterfell. "And since you're not smiling like an idiot, you didn't get an engagement with Lady Ruby."
Now Robb was scowling as well. "That wasn't what the meeting was about!"
"It wasn't?" Then they were fools. Whoever managed to marry Lady Ruby would rule the realm, either openly or behind the throne.
"The King has offered Father to become his Hand. Father has accepted," Robb explained. "He'll travel with the King back to King's Landing."
Ah. So, that rumour had been true. Theon had thought so - it was obvious that the King considered Lord Eddard his best and most loyal friend, and the Hand of the King had so much power, if they weren't loyal, the kingdom was in trouble. "And where's the problem?" Being the King's hand would make the Starks more powerful. And that meant Robb's prospects had improved.
"I have to stay in Winterfell. A Stark has to stay here at all times," Robb said.
"Oh. And Lady Ruby and her friends will go to King's Landing." Theon nodded. That much was obvious - the King clearly cared more for them than he did for his own children.
"Yes." Robb spat the word through clenched teeth.
"With the royal family."
"Yes." That came out in a hiss.
"So, there's no engagement then?" Theon twisted the knife. He felt a bit bad at Robb's expression, but why should Robb have more success with the four girls than Theon?
"Not with Team Ruby. But the King and Father agreed on an engagement between Sansa and the Prince." Robb smiled a little at that.
Theon was surprised. "The King didn't want his son to marry Lady Ruby?" Sansa was a nice if naive girl and the eldest daughter of Lord Eddard, but she couldn't smash holes into walls with her bare hands and break swords on her head.
Robb shrugged. "Apparently, the Queen insisted, or so Father said he was told by the King."
Theon shook his head. The Queen was stupid, then - the real prize was Team Ruby. But the King must have realised that as well, so why had he agreed to this? Whatever, it was done. "Well, you still have a chance, then," he lied. If the Starks hadn't managed to get an engagement until now, they wouldn't get it once the girls were in King's Landing, surrounded by the most powerful nobles of the Seven Kingdoms.
The bastard nodded with a faint smile. He was taking this far too well, Theon realised. Why wasn't… "Don't tell me they're taking the bastard to King's Landing!"
Both boys were glaring at him.
"I asked Father to let me come with him, and he agreed," the bastard said with the hint of a smirk.
Theon narrowed his eyes at him - bastards should know their place. But if Lord Eddard had agreed to this… was he really hoping that the bastard would be able to win Lady Yang? Was that pure desperation? Or did they know something Theon didn't? The Starks were closest to Team Ruby, after all…
Theon had to look into this. There might be something he could use to change his own fortune.
Of course, he would be stuck in Winterfell as well, but it wasn't as if he had anything better to do.
Winterfell, The North, Westeros, 298 AC
"...and by using hardened steel and interlocking parts - see a) and b) - and polymers, you can achieve the same structural stability at a fracture of the weight."
Ruby Rose nodded as she looked at the notes she had just written down, then added the a) and b) marks to the sketch of her baby. Well, not her baby, but a kind of proto-baby, yet not, since she had never planned to have a scythe without a gun built into it, but if she had, it probably would have looked like this because she had designed it.
Yang peered over her shoulder, then shook her head. "They don't know what polymers are, Rubes."
"I know that," Ruby told her. "But once they know, they can duplicate the design."
"You need to at least describe polymers first, dolt," Weiss added from the bed, where she was scribbling down notes of her own. Well, not scribbling - she had a much better handwriting than Ruby.
"But…" Ruby sighed. "Alright, I'll write a page about how you can mould your own polymer parts." It wasn't that difficult with the right tools and the right materials… Which they didn't have in Westeros.
She looked at Yang, who was grinning at her. "I'll have to write about making the tools…?"
"The tools to make the tools to make the tools." Yang patted her head, and Ruby shook off her sister's hand. "Otherwise, all your notes would be useless for people here."
Ruby pouted. Leaving useless notes in exchange for access to a library wouldn't be honest, would it? But…
"I don't think they can actually make any of the weapons we describe here," Weiss cut in.
"Yep." Yang nodded. "So we don't have to worry about our work being used against us."
Or against others. Which would also be bad.
"The Maesters might accuse us of making up our notes," Weiss said. "If they can't make sense of them."
Yang scoffed. "That's their problem."
"As long as they can examine our weapons, they will realise that we're not trying to con them," Blake commented from the rafters overhead. A moment later, she rolled over the beam and dropped down, twisting to land on her feet like a two-legged cat.
"We will have to make copies as well," Weiss said. "And we need to be careful when negotiating. We can't give away everything at the start - we need to save some notes for later favours."
"Yep." Yang nodded. "Or to sell," she added with a wide smile. "If we need money."
Ruby frowned at her. She knew what Yang meant. "I don't like freeloading, so sue me!" It was bad enough that the Starks had been giving them a room and free food (and even clothes, though that wasn't really a big thing since it was just a dress) without asking for anything in return.
"We're their guests. Their own customs and honour require them to support us," Weiss said. "That's not our fault."
"That doesn't mean we have to exploit them," Ruby disagreed.
"They are trying to exploit us," Weiss said with a sniff. "As is everyone else. I expect some marriage offers in the near future, and not just from the Starks."
Ruby shuddered at the thought. The whole misunderstanding about Yang's, uh, parentage had had one good side: They had stopped all the not-so-subtle talk about weddings and stuff. But it seemed that wouldn't last much longer.
"And we'll tell them we're not ready to marry," Yang said.
"If we are too brusque in our refusal, they'll take offence." Blake's looked at Weiss. "You'll need to be very diplomatic about that."
"I am very much aware of that." Weiss frowned. "Lady Catelyn has been hinting at it again lately, but so far, she hasn't made a straight offer, so I could deflect her comments."
Ruby nodded. "And with the engagement between Sansa and the Prince, we won't have to fear a similar offer from the royal family!"
Weiss rolled her eyes like she usually did whenever she thought Ruby had said something stupid.
"Well, I don't know if I should feel insulted that they think we're not good enough for the Prince or not," Yang said with a chuckle.
"We're not good enough for the Queen," Blake said. "She was very vocal about it with the King when he mentioned the Prince being interested in us. I think anyone could have heard her if they had been near the tower."
Oh. Ruby pressed her lips together. She wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not. On the one hand, the Queen hating them (despite Ruby trying her best to be nice to her) was a bad thing. But it also meant that they wouldn't have to turn down a marriage with the Prince and fight their way through the royal army when they took offence.
"There's still Prince Tommen," Weiss commented.
Ew! Ruby retched. Tommen was like… eight or so. Half her age. And she was the youngest member of her team by two years! Time to change the topic! "Anyway, we need money of our own if we don't want to feel indebted to the Starks. Or the King. We can't just expect them to pay us an allowance just because they think we're noblewomen." Which they weren't - they were, if not lying, then letting the locals believe a lie.
"The King rules the entire kingdom, and Lord Eddard rules the North. I don't think feeding and clothing us will drain their coffers in a noticeable way," Weiss objected. "The King probably spends more on his food and drink than we consume."
"But I would feel indebted if we were freeloading," Ruby pointed out for the umpteenth time. "And we can't expect them to give us money to travel and buy or borrow books." Books were a lot more expensive here, as Blake had told her.
"If they like giving us money, why not?" Yang grinned.
"It's not right!" Ruby insisted.
"Besides, you accepted the King's invitation to King's Landing," Yang told her. "I think he'd be offended if we didn't stay in the palace."
Drat. The King probably would be offended if they did that. Ruby sighed again. She couldn't win. And the Prince kept following her and the others around. Maybe that would stop now that he had a fiancée. Sansa was pretty and his age, so Joffrey should be happy.
"Ruby's not wrong, though - we have to consider the impression we give to others and the obligations we acquire very carefully," Weiss cut in. "If the King thinks we owe him a service, and it's something we won't do, we will have a problem."
Another problem, Ruby thought. The Queen hated her, the Prince was stalking them… at least the King liked them, even if he was a bit pushy about hearing more about Remnant and Huntresses and Grimm, and Prince Tommen and Princess Myrcella were nice kids. And the Prince didn't think they were assassins any more.
So, things could be worse.
"...and then you twist your wrist just so."
"I see. Thank you, Ser Barristan."
Ruby let Crescent Rose's butt rest on the ground while Ser Barristan showed Weiss how he'd parried her strike. Well, how he had parried her held back and slowed down strike - if she had been serious, she would have struck too fast for him to react, and too hard for him to parry; she would have just cut through his blade and arm and himself. Probably - the old knight was very good with his sword and had surprised her before with his tricks. No more than once each time, though. And he was a good teacher.
Too bad most of his moves didn't work with her baby. But she could learn how to counter them, even when used by a Huntress using a sword, as Weiss and Blake had demonstrated before. Next time she sparred with Pyrrha, the girl better watch out!
"Thank you for training with us, my ladies."
And he was very polite and respectful too! He didn't smirk when talking to them. And he didn't frown at them. And he didn't stare at their legs, chests and butts, either, like so many others when they thought Ruby couldn't see them!
Or, she added to herself with a glance at the Prince, who had been watching their training session from the fence, just stared at her and her friends. The Prince apparently still wanted to stalk them instead of spending time with Sansa. It was really weird - not even the King or Arya were as interested in them as the Prince was. And he wasn't just watching; he was always asking questions, too!
Like now - he was already walking towards her just because she had taken a short break. Ruby glanced around, but Weiss was still talking with Ser Barristan, and Blake and Yang were sparring, so she couldn't just act as if she hadn't noticed the Prince.
"That was quite impressive, Lady Ruby!" He smiled at her.
His bodyguard - sworn sword, she reminded herself - grunted, and his scowl made his burn scars look even worse.
Ruby tried to ignore him; he never seemed happy, especially not around her team. And he was always sneering and scowling as if they had personally hurt him or something. "Thank you, Your Grace, but we just did some training. Ser Barristan showed us a new move."
"A move for a sword, yes, I saw." The Prince nodded. "Though you can't use the move with your scythe, can you?"
"Nope!" She grinned. "Some of the moves I can adapt, but that one I can't use - even when I wield Crescent Rose with one hand, the technique just doesn't work out. But it's nice to know when fighting people who use swords."
"Of course. Every little bit of knowledge and training helps, right?"
The Prince got it! She nodded happily. "Exactly!"
"Though all the training cannot compensate for superior strength and speed."
Her smile faltered a little. The Prince kept coming back to that - it must annoy him thoroughly that he didn't have Aura. Not that they had told him or anyone else about Aura. People would want them to unlock theirs, then unlock others, and soon, everyone, even the worst people, would have Aura.
Ruby wasn't an expert, but she knew enough to know that that would be a disaster - the White Fang proved that back home; they weren't Huntresses, but they all had their Auras unlocked, and that alone made them much more dangerous than most bandits. Of course, they didn't know if they could unlock Aura in Westeros - they had never tried. But people wouldn't believe them and get angry and feel betrayed if it didn't work, so best not to talk about it at all. Nothing good would come from it.
But the Prince expected an answer, so she nodded. "Well, sometimes, it does. But you're generally correct, yes."
"And training will only take you so far when it comes to becoming stronger."
"Yes." Ruby nodded again. With Aura, training would take you a very long way, of course. And experience would carry you even further. But the Prince was essentially correct, and agreeing with him was the polite thing.
"I've heard about rituals that bestow boons on people. Supposedly, they can grant insight and let you see the future - there's a priest of R'hllor at the court in King's Landing who spoke about using magic fires for that," the Prince went on.
"Oh?" Ruby perked up. She hadn't heard about anything like that. Magic! And magic rituals! Maybe that was a way home! Or could show them how to get home!
"Yes. So, did you do a magic ritual to become so strong?" The Prince's smile didn't change, but his eyes looked more intense.
"Uh… No. We can't use magic back home. It's just Dust and family traits."
"But your dust is magic, isn't it?"
"No. Dust is… Dust." Ruby shook her head. "Anyone can use Dust. It's… like ore."
"Ah."
Fortunately, Weiss had finished talking with Ser Barristan, and Ruby had an excuse to go spar with her.
Winterfell, The North, Westeros, 298 AC
Weiss Schnee would much prefer to be back in the training yard, crossing blades with Ser Barristan, than sitting in Lady Catelyn's chambers sipping tea with Lady Catelyn, Sansa, Arya, Princess Myrcella and the Queen. She could learn something she didn't know about fencing and sword-fighting from the old Kingsguard and work on adapting it to using it with Myrtenaster. All she could learn here were things she already knew, such as that the Queen was a spiteful woman whose pride far outstripped her intelligence, and she could work on her self-control, which she already had mastered - as proven by the fact that despite ample provocation, she hadn't set lashed out against the Queen, neither verbally nor physically.
"Yes, Your Grace," she lied, smiling as sweetly as she could, "I'm very happy to hear that your son the Prince and Lady Sansa are now betrothed. They seem well-matched." Well-matched in that both were children, and she was happy that the Prince was now officially engaged and Team RWBY didn't have to worry about being offered his hand in marriage any more. But she pitied Sansa for marrying into the royal family; she had no doubt that the Queen was the worst mother-in-law possible. In fact, she couldn't help feeling that her own father had finally found a worthy rival, should there ever be a competition for the title of worst parent possible.
The Queen smiled widely, showing perfect teeth, with a hint of a sneer. "I am very happy to hear that, Lady Weiss. There are so many noble ladies who will now be disappointed that their designs on my dear son have been foiled, it is refreshing to hear you and your friends aren't among them."
Weiss didn't have to fake her laugh. A member of Team RWBY, marrying the Prince? Marrying anyone in Westeros? The notion was truly ludicrous. As if any of her friends, much less Weiss herself, would wish to marry a child - or become the Queen of this barbaric realm! "Unlike many, none of us is delusional, Your Grace."
The way the Queen's satisfied smile waned a little was a clear indicator that she must have picked up at least a hint of Weiss's true feelings. "Delusional indeed. My precious lion would never marry someone beneath him."
Weiss smiled widely and nodded. "A sensible policy, Your Grace. Maintaining standards is very important for every family."
The Queen narrowed her eyes at that - Weiss might have been a bit too smug - but Lady Catelyn cleared her throat before the other woman could say anything. "Yes, we're all very happy with the engagement. Right, Sansa?"
"Oh, yes, Mother!" Sansa was beaming - the verbal sparring must have gone over her head. "Prince Joffrey is such a gallant boy! It's like a dream come true!"
Both the Queen and Lady Catelyn smiled at that - the Queen with an indulgent, patronising expression, Lady Catelyn with a warm and slightly nostalgic - or even sad; Weiss wasn't quite sure - one.
"It will strengthen the realm," the Queen stated the obvious, "and tie the North closer to the rest of the Seven Kingdoms. Imagine the Prince - and future king - married to someone unsuitable! The entire realm would suffer!"
"Indeed, Your Grace." Weiss nodded with an honest smile. The Queen might think she was insulting them - and so did Lady Catelyn, judging by her alarmed expression - but Weiss knew very well how unsuited her friends and herself were for the position of Queen of Westeros. She was certain, for example, that If she were Queen, she would have ordered the odious woman sitting across from her banished from court long ago. Not that the Queen was suited for her position, either; it was quite obvious that the reason she had supported - or insisted on, according to Blake - the engagement between Sansa and the Prince wasn't an honest worry about the future of the kingdom, but the petty desire to keep Team RWBY from marrying into the royal family. Probably because none of them would bow to her. Figuratively; they were bowing to the Queen as protocol dictated, of course.
Maybe Weiss should have acted as if she were disappointed by the news, making the Queen believe her plan had worked perfectly… No. That would have been beneath her. She would not stoop to telling such lies. Not if telling the truth was far more satisfying, at least, she amended her thoughts.
"I am looking forward to calling you my good sister, Lady Sansa." Myrcella beamed at Sansa.
"Thank you, my princess!"
Weiss narrowed her eyes slightly. While Sansa was an open book, Myrcella seemed to be a bit… not lying, not that, but she seemed to feel a little bit guilty. Though Weiss hadn't had much contact with the little princess yet, so she might be mistaken. On the other hand, the notion that a ten-year-old princess could fool her was more than a little preposterous. At least, in Weiss's opinion. It was obvious that the girl, incidentally like Sansa, had led a very sheltered and pampered life. So, what might make her feel so… ambivalent about her brother's engagement? Was she dreading her own arranged marriage? If so, she had good reason to; according to what information Weiss had heard, there had been many truly awful matches in the past.
At least Arya was far easier to get a read on; the girl didn't want to be here and had been told not to pester Weiss with questions about fighting by Lady Catelyn. She was trying not to be obvious about it but failing to hide how bored she was. Interestingly, she hadn't tried to make up an excuse to leave the gathering and was doing her best to act like her sister - well, like her sister if Sansa were scowling whenever she thought no one was looking at her.
Weiss could understand the feeling; she had suffered through many social gatherings where she had to fake interest and hide her true feelings.
Weiss took a deep breath as she watched the Queen leave with Princess Myrcella, Sansa and Arya in tow, ostensibly 'to do some needlework'.
"The Queen is pleased with the engagement between our families."
Weiss turned to look at Lady Catelyn. "Indeed. She said so several times, and quite sincerely." She wasn't about to say what she really thought, of course.
Lady Catelyn hesitated a moment, but once a servant closed the door, she said: "She also seemed to expect you to be unhappy about it."
Weiss wanted to sigh. "She may have been under the mistaken assumption that my friends and I were interested in marrying the Prince. Nothing could be further from our minds, though - we aren't ignorant of the towering difference in status between the Prince and us."
Lady Catelyn nodded. "Becoming Queen is a great challenge. I can only hope that my daughter is up to the task. Fortunately, she will have years to grow into the role."
Weiss nodded and hid her pity for the girl. Sansa would have to grow a lot - she knew this better than most.
Lady Catelyn went on: "However, not every such match is as… challenging. I grew up in the South, and I found that things are often much simpler and more accommodating in the North. What might be seen as an insurmountable gap elsewhere is not quite as much of an obstacle here."
Weiss managed not to scowl. Lady Catelyn wasn't as subtle as she might think she was - or she was perfectly happy to make her intentions clear. How to reply without insulting her? "Indeed. Yet, compared to our home, the difference is still staggering. People back home rarely marry before reaching twenty and often wait a few years longer."
"And at which age do they enter betrothals?"
"Betrothals usually only last a few months, maybe a year, before people marry," Weiss told her.
"Ah. I assume that is because betrothals aren't a matter for the heads of houses in your home." Lady Catelyn nodded.
"Yes." Weiss had a hard time reading the woman, but it seemed she was pleased.
It looked like Weiss had dodged another bullet. Lady Catelyn was quite persistent - and Team RWBY owed their hosts; the Starks had welcomed them into Winterfell and provided them with food, lodging and clothes - everything they needed after getting stranded in another world. Well, everything the locals could provide. So, as annoying as the not-quite-open offers were, Weiss couldn't just bluntly refuse them.
Oh, she couldn't wait to travel to King's Landing. Dealing with Lord Eddard and his younger children would be far easier than this.
Winterfell, The North, Westeros, 298 AC
Several years in the White Fang had taught Blake Belladonna how to fit into a crowd so she didn't catch the attention of the police or anyone else. If you dressed casually but avoided being overdressed or underdressed, neither rushed nor lingered anywhere but walked as if you had an appointment to reach and looked as if you were not paying attention to anything not in your way, people, including the police, tended to dismiss you as not worth their attention. Provided you hid your Faunus traits, of course - many humans, especially the police, considered a Faunus suspicious by default and were always ready and willing to harass them.
The circumstances were different here in Westeros, but the principle was the same - Blake was pretty sure that if she dressed like a servant, hid her ears under a headscarf or something, and walked with her head down carrying a basket full of apples or firewood, she would escape the notice of most people. Most, yet not all - the Kingsguard, especially Ser Barristan, wouldn't miss her; they took their duty seriously, with the possible exception of Ser Jaime, who was often making light of his tasks. And, of course, Blake wasn't just another face in a city full of people but an honoured guest in a large but not very densely populated castle. She didn't doubt that amongst the staff in the castle, almost everyone knew how she looked, and that if she were to disguise herself and end up recognised anyway, people would draw their own conclusions, conclusions that would hinder her own plans and tasks.
So, instead of disguising herself, she stuck to avoiding people while she travelled through the castle, not quite sneaking, in case anyone spotted her, but just casually walking on the ramparts and in usually deserted hallways. And in order to complete her disguise as a harmless guest - as harmless as a Huntress able to crater castle walls could be - she carried a book or at least a scroll with her to fake reading while she walked. No one would expect a loner who walked with her head stuck in a book half of the time to prowl the night like the spy she was. Well, not unless they drew their conclusions from the fact that she taught Bran how to climb without risking life and limb.
She sighed as she walked on a rarely-used path along the outer wall. In hindsight, she shouldn't have exposed that particular talent, but her time in the White Fang also had taught her that you had to do the right thing and help people even if it cost you. The White Fang had been founded by her parents to help Faunus, not hurt humans, something that the rest of the current members apparently had forgotten, and that was why Blake had, albeit too late for her conscience, finally left. If only she had realised that and listened to her parents before she had joined…
She shook her head and peered over her book as she approached the open part of the outer yard. Since it was between the two walls, it was both relatively narrow - at least compared to the inner yard - and didn't contain too many buildings, presumably so anyone who took the outer wall wouldn't have a lot of cover against the archers on the inner wall. A lot of the ground was used to plant herbs and vegetables or to house animals so the smell didn't disturb the people in the keep - unless they had the fine nose of a Faunus, at least, she amended her thought as she caught a whiff of the pigsty.
Frowning, she changed her path, deciding to circle the inner wall in the other direction. She could do without having her nose clogged up by the stench of manure.
Apparently, she discovered as she rounded the base of the closest tower of the inner wall, so did others - Bran and Arya were talking in the shadow of the rampart there. Blake could have reversed course without them realising she had seen them - they hadn't noticed her yet - but she decided against it. Both Bran and Arya had been acting a bit distantly lately - since the day Yang had found out about the misunderstanding regarding her parentage, to be exact - and Blake didn't really think that they had given up on their usual antics. And, for a change, they didn't have their ravenous beasts with them, so this was a good opportunity to talk to them without risking life and limb.
"Hello," she said as she approached them, hiding a grin behind her book as the two children jerked, startled.
"Lady Blake!"
"My lady!"
Blake closed her book and put it into the pouch on her belt that usually housed it. "What are you doing here?" Best to be open about it.
"Ah…" Bran bit his lower lip, apparently not able to come up with a cover story on the spot.
"We're taking a stroll around the inner wall. Like you?" Arya was a bit quicker on her feet.
"Ah. And you decided to take a break here because it was such a long stroll?" Blake smiled.
Arya blushed a little, pouting, but Bran nodded and grinned. "Yes, my lady. Exactly!"
She snorted at his recovered cheek. "So, what kind of mischief are you planning?"
Bran kept grinning, but Arya grimaced. "None!" she said. "We're not planning any mischief! We just… wanted to talk where others couldn't overhear us."
"Like your parents?" Blake nodded. "I know the feeling."
"Ah." Arya looked relieved. "Yes, exactly. We just… wanted some privacy."
"To plot your revenge?" Blake chuckled. "I'm joking."
Bran chuckled, but Arya sighed. "Mother's so unfair! It wasn't my fault that we thought Lady Yang was a bastard! I just believed what I was told!"
"That's not always a good idea," Blake said. "People misunderstand things or make mistakes." And some outright lied and manipulated you. Like Adam, that asshole.
She managed not to grind her teeth at the thought of her former… whatever.
"Well, so we shouldn't believe you when you tell us that something's dangerous?" Bran smiled at her.
She snorted in return. "If you have doubts about something, you should ask for proof - or at least for a reason or explanation. Asking questions is never wrong."
Arya scoffed. "Mother just wants me to do what she says, even if it's stupid. And even if I don't want to do it."
Ah. That sounded like a typical if slightly precocious - Arya wasn't a teenager yet - teenage tantrum. "And what do you want to do?" Blake asked.
"I Know what I don't want to do! I don't want to become a 'southern lady'!" Arya blurted out. "I want to become a Huntress!"
Ah. Blake winced. "You don't have Grimm in this world; you don't need Huntresses," she said.
"We have wildings raiders, bandits, slavers from Essos, Ironborns…" Arya scoffed. "We have plenty of dangers people need to be protected from!"
Well, she wasn't wrong.
"If you don't want to become a 'southern lady', why didn't you protest when Mother told you that you'd go to King's landing with Father and the rest of us?" Bran asked.
Arya glared at him. "Because…" She glanced at Blake. "Because I want to see more of Westeros than the North!"
Ah! Blake nodded. It was obvious what she wanted.
"She wants to train with you - with Team Ruby!" Bran said.
So obvious, Bran was aware of it. Children!
"Bran!"
"What?"
"Our training is quite demanding," Blake said. "It would be best to get more… basic lessons from other people." She was quite certain that Lady Catelyn wouldn't be amused if Team RWBY started to train Arya in fighting; their hostess had made her views on that clear.
"But no one will train me! Not really!" Arya protested. "It's so unfair! Bran, Robb, Jon - everyone gets training, but I don't. Even though I'm better than Bran!"
"That was one fight and you cheated!"
"I won! That's all that matters!"
"Well, you won't win once I get training as a squire!"
Blake sighed. "You want to become a squire?" she asked.
"I want to become a knight, and you need to be a squire first!" Bran nodded.
Arya scoffed. "Knights are weak. Team Ruby could defeat every knight in Winterfell!"
She wasn't wrong, of course, but that wouldn't really help either of them.
"So? Then I'll become a knight who's as strong as a Huntsman!" Bran spat.
Arya scoffed again.
"Well, even a Huntress needs to learn the basics, like a squire," Blake said.
"I know!" Arya pouted. "But no one will teach me!"
Blake didn't have an answer for that. Or shouldn't have one. Ruby would offer to train the girl in a heartbeat, of course, regardless of the problems that would cause. But Blake wasn't Ruby.
On the other hand, Team RWBY was supposed to do the right thing - but what was the right thing here? It was unfair that Bran could follow his dreams and Arya couldn't. Or that Arya wasn't allowed to learn how to defend herself and protect others. Blake knew what happened to people who couldn't fight when they needed to. And how much harm could some training do?
She smiled. "Well, if you can keep it secret, I might be able to give you two a few pointers. Only if you don't tell anyone, though."
Both children beamed at her, and Blake suppressed the slight guilt she felt. At least she knew Ruby would support her. And Yang as well.
Oh!
"And only if you don't bring your dire wolves!" she added with a stern expression.
That had the children whine at her, but Blake remained steadfast - she wouldn't teach anyone with those beasts around. That would be far too dangerous!
On her way to their chambers to 'freshen up' before dinner, Blake passed the empty tower - supposedly used to store food and house people in the long winters - and her ears twitched under her ribbons when she caught voices - familiar voices.
She glanced around, but the whole area was deserted. Sometimes, she thought an enemy army could set up camp inside the castle, and it would take a day until someone noticed. She quickly walked around the tower, then climbed up - not too high, only until she could hear the voices clearly.
"It's been too long! I thought you had forgotten me!"
"Never! But it's not as easy to find some privacy as it is at home."
"We're in a deserted castle, and the King is drinking more than ever - with those foreign harlots with whom you like to train!"
"The Starks have skilled guards and staff. It wasn't easy to arrange this - and it would have been impossible without those girls distracting everyone, especially our brother and my 'brothers'. But I did it."
"It was about time. We'll soon be travelling back to King's Landing, and we won't have any privacy during that ordeal!"
"Then let's make the best of this."
Blake blinked. Those were the Queen and her brother, Ser Jaime, but they talked as if they were the protagonists of 'Forbidden Love'. She snorted - her imagination was running wild. Those things didn't really…
She trailed off as her ears caught sounds that told her, clearly, that such things apparently did happen.
No! This must be… It couldn't, not really. She bit her lower lip, glanced around to ensure there still wasn't anyone watching, and quickly climbed up to the narrow window she could spot from below. This was just some weird local thing she misunderstood.
Then she reached the window - which was more of an arrow slit than a real window, though wide enough she would be able to slip through with some effort - and her eyes confirmed that her imagination hadn't run wild.
The Queen and her twin brother really were in bed together - and together-together, as Nora would say.
"Ewww! The Queen is sleeping with her brother?"
Yang Xiao Long winced - both at the mental image of what Blake had just told them and at Ruby's shrill comment. She shared the sentiment her sister had expressed. Ew. But she knew better than to yell. Fortunately, Blake had insisted on closing the windows and checking if anyone was nearby before revealing what she had observed on her way back to the room.
"Are you certain? It couldn't have been a misunderstanding?" Weiss asked. She sounded almost desperate. "Some kind of, ah, roleplay?"
Yang snorted. She trusted Blake.
Blake frowned. "Yes. I saw them - I recognised their faces. And everything." She grimaced. "They were naked on a makeshift bed."
"But..." Weiss trailed off.
"I think we can exclude the idea that they accidentally mistook each other for their partners," Yang commented. Ser Jaime was a member of the Kingsguard, anyway - he had sworn an oath to be chaste or something. Or was that just an oath not to marry?
"No…" Weiss sighed, then sat down on her bed and groaned. "That's… a catastrophe!"
"It's disgusting, that's what it is!" Ruby blurted out. "With your own brother? Ewww and double-eww!" She made a retching noise.
"They sounded like they had been doing this for some time," Blake added. "She was complaining that he hadn't visited her in some time."
"That's even worse!" Ruby shook her head. "Cheating on your partner would be bad enough - and the King does it every night or so - but with your brother?" She visibly shuddered. "That would be like… me and Yang doing it!"
Yang shuddered at the thought. "Thanks, sis, for that image."
"Sorry!" Ruby winced. "I just… Ugh. We see Ser Jaime regularly when we train! How can I look at him without imagining him and… Ew!"
"Or when meeting the Queen for tea again," Yang added.
"Ew!"
"That's not the worst," Weiss said. "Not by far."
"Huh?" Ruby looked confused.
"If the Queen realises - or even if she merely suspects, I assume - that we know about her infidelity, she will likely attempt to silence us," Weiss said.
Blake nodded. "This secret, if revealed, would ruin her. You don't cheat on the king."
"You shouldn't cheat on your partner, period," Ruby said. Then she blinked. "I mean… partner-partner, not partner. You know what I mean?"
"Yeah," Yang said with a wry smile.
"I believe so," Weiss said in a very dry tone before she pressed her lips together for a moment. "Anyway, if the Queen suspects that we know, I think she won't shy away from the most drastic measures to deal with us."
"You mean that she will attempt to have us murdered?" Yang asked. She could see that, actually.
"Or discredit us thoroughly," Blake added. "If no one would believe us, we cannot expose her secret."
"But…" Ruby trailed off. "Who would believe us, actually, if we told people? She's the Queen and we're just four foreign girls. And you didn't have your scroll charged to take pictures. Not that you should have taken pictures of… that, but it would be proof."
"She's not exactly popular with people," Yang pointed out. And that was putting it lightly.
"Yes. Most members of the castle staff dislike her," Blake confirmed. "If we accuse her of infidelity, some might claim to believe us even if they don't actually do, if only to use us against her."
Yang scoffed. She hated politics.
"The King doesn't like her." Ruby bit her lower lip. "Do you think they'd divorce if both are cheating on each other? Oh, the poor children!"
"I am fairly sure that the result of this scandal being revealed won't be merely a divorce," Weiss said. "Incest is illegal in all of the kingdoms back home."
"Right!" Ruby nodded, then grimaced. "Oh! The King and Lord Tyrion mentioned the Targaryens sleeping with their siblings, I think."
Yang frowned. "That sounds like it's legal here, though."
"I believe it was limited to the royal family," Weiss said.
"Well, we're talking about the Queen here," Yang pointed out. "She's part of the royal family."
"If the King is cheating as well, doesn't that make it legal?" Ruby asked.
"I don't think it's legal if the Queen does it with her brother," Yang said.
"I think the last trial showed us that we cannot draw parallels from our judicial system to Westeros's." Weiss shook her head. "We need more information to decide what, if anything, we should do about this."
That was a good idea. But there were some problems with it, in Yang's opinion. "Well, if we ask people if incest and infidelity are legal, they'll wonder why we are asking about that," she told them. She would rather not have people wonder about the reasons for that kind of question. "And if the Queen hears about it - especially if we ask if there are exceptions for royalty - she will know we know."
"Quite. We need to get access to a book detailing all the laws of the realm," Weiss said. "Provided such a thing exists; they might not have codified their laws to such a degree. They might rely on precedents - or simply let the King and his chosen representatives rule every case."
Yang wasn't an expert, but that sounded terrible to her. "How would that work? How can you judge people if they don't know the law because you never wrote it down?"
"It would work very well for those privileged and protected by the ruler and his proxies," Blake said with a cynical snort. "Further, if they have codified their laws, we still would need to be able to read it," she added. "Despite my efforts, I'm still struggling with their script. "
"And this is the King we're talking about. He's the sovereign," Weiss said. "Unless I am mistaken, he is not bound by law."
"So… he could do what he wants?" Ruby asked.
"Exactly." Weiss nodded.
"But he didn't divorce the Queen already, even though he doesn't like her," Ruby said.
"Probably for political reasons - her father is very rich and very powerful." Weiss scoffed. "I doubt it is because of their children."
Well, you probably know about such things, Yang thought. "So… what do we do?"
"Nothing until we know what the consequences would be. Both for the Queen and her brother and for us, in case we are accused of slandering her." Weiss said.
Ruby nodded.
Yang agreed. She sighed. "Well, tomorrow's training will be interesting."
"Ew!"
'While only an ignorant fool would deny that the Ruby Order has significantly influenced the course of Westeros - one can but wonder how the Succession would have played out without their presence - there has been a tendency among scholars to vastly overestimate their impact and attribute not only far-reaching social changes in Westerosi society but also magical instead of technological advancements of all sorts to them. Now, this is somewhat understandable in earlier epochs, when what had to be fairly advanced weapon technology must have appeared to be magical, and people assumed everything else was as well, but there is no excuse for it in our time, when we have far more information available to properly evaluate those claims - first among them the transcripts of the original treatises on smithing by Lady Ruby and Lady Yang themselves, faithfully preserved by our Order.
First, as should be apparent to anyone with even a little expertise in blacksmithing, there is no magic to it. The weapons and tools described in those documents are entirely mundane. It is so obvious that the fact that so many people in the centuries that followed tried to construct the weapons using magic would have been amusing if not for all the sacrifices made during the more determined attempts. No, as has been demonstrated quite thoroughly, if at great material cost, those designs are almost entirely feasible to build with purely mundane means - as long as you have access to advanced materials far beyond what people had at the time, and for centuries afterwards, and you do not mind that the weapons would require extensive repairs or a complete reconstruction after almost every fight. It is absolutely clear, therefore, that the designs we have preserved were not actual weapons that the Ruby Order used (a fact that should also have been obvious since none of the designs fit any of the weapons the four members used) but designs they imagined yet were not able to build. It is an impressive testament to their brilliance as weapon designers and blacksmiths that their designs could be built once technology had progressed enough. One can but shudder to think what would have been the consequences if that had not been the case, and all the attempts to build them would have been a waste instead of a driving factor in the advancement of metallurgy and smithing that saw Westeros eclipse competing realms, with all the effects on warfare that entailed. The world as we know it would certainly look very different today.'
- A Treatise On The Ruby Order, by Maester Kennet Bracken
*****
Winterfell, The North, Westeros, 298 AC
Theon Greyjoy sighed as he leaned against the wall in Winterfell's inner courtyard, looking at the darkening sky above him. It would soon be night and time for the evening feast, but he had a bit more time before that to enjoy the clear air here. With the fat King's court visiting, the Great Hall was always full and busy with guests and servants serving them. It was quite the contrast to the usually much quieter life in Winterfell - a life Theon was very familiar with.
He had grown up with the Starks since his father's rebellion. He was Lord Eddard's ward - a hostage by another name. He was aware of it, and so was everyone else, but it wasn't something anyone brought up, and it wasn't something he worried much about - his father wouldn't be as stupid as to try and take on the rest of the Seven Kingdoms again, would he? Certainly not now, when the Starks apparently had gained the friendship of four girls with the power to smash armies.
Of course, Team Ruby wouldn't be as effective at sea as they were on land, but Theon saw no way for even a reconstructed Iron Fleet to stop them if they were on a ship. Any Ironborn ship trying to board them would be taken. If a ship rammed it, they would simply abandon their ship and take the other ship. Maybe catapults might work, sink their ship from range without getting close, but hitting a target at a distance at sea, with both ships moved up and down by waves… Theon wasn't an expert in sailing or using catapults, but he was, without any boasting, the best archer in Winterfell, maybe the North, and he wouldn't give himself good odds at hitting a target at far ranges under such conditions.
Worse, the Greenlanders weren't Ironborn, but they could sail their ships decently enough, and with Team Ruby, all they needed to do was to reach the Iron Islands, and Father's keep would be pulled down around him as soon as the girls saw it. Theon had told Father in his latest letter what he had seen the girls do, just to ensure that his family knew about Team Ruby.
So, Theon didn't have to worry about his father rebelling against the King.
Of course, if Theon had managed to gain the support of Team Ruby, things would look differently. The Iron Fleet would rule the seas, and the girls would brush away any army trying to stop them on land as easily as Theon could swat a fly. No one would be able to touch the Iron Islands, and no one would be safe from the Iron Fleet. It would be easy to retake the Riverlands, restore Harrenhall, reforge the kingdom of old… But why stop there? With the Iron Fleet and Team Ruby, Theon could take the Iron Throne for himself! He would be the greatest king of the Iron Islands since… He would be the greatest king ever! Covered with glory and surrounded by the riches of the Seven Kingdoms. And the women! The most beautiful women of all the realms would be his! He'd pick his Queen and then take the others as his salt wives!
He smiled and let his imagination run wild a little longer before sighing. It was a great dream, but only that - a dream. Team Ruby hadn't shown the slightest interest in him. Neither his position as the heir to the Iron Islands nor his skill at archery - something none of the girls was skilled at - or his wits had seemed to impress them. And while Theon might not be as experienced as he claimed when he was talking with Robb or the bastard, he was experienced enough with women to know they didn't find him attractive. Of course, if they were from a proper noble family, that wouldn't matter; all he would have to do was to impress their fathers, but since that wasn't the case, Theon's dream would remain a dream.
It was scant comfort that Robb and the bastard weren't faring any better, both mooning after girls they could never have. Maybe they shouldn't have scorned Theon for going to whores as if there were anything wrong with it…
And, just as he had been thinking of them, they appeared! Theon grinned as he saw Robb and the bastard step out of the keep and start walking towards the training yard, their puppies trailing after them. Puppies the size of full-grown hounds, now. Theon had no doubt that they could rip a man to shreds already - and who knew what terrors they would become when fully grown? If only the huntsman who found them had killed them, instead of being afraid of harming the sigil animal of his Lord and bringing them to Winterfell! Lady Catelyn had had the right of them, back then, but the children had fallen in love with the puppies, and Lord Stark had acquiesced. Ah, well - feeding them and controlling them wasn't his problem.
Robb looked frustrated, Theon realised as he moved to cut them off, while the bastard looked… not as sad as he usually did. Something must have happened. "Robb! Bastard! Where were you?"
"Theon." Robb smiled for half a breath at him before scowling. "Father called for a family meeting in the afternoon, when you were in the village."
Theon raised his eyebrows and looked at the bastard. The bastard frowned back at him.
Robb scowled again. "Yes, Jon was also present."
"Really?" Theon didn't have to fake his surprise.
The bastard's glare grew harder, but he didn't say anything. Weak.
"Yes." Robb nodded.
"Then it must have involved Team Ruby," Theon said. He rolled his eyes at Robb's surprised expression. "Everyone knows Lady Yang, for whatever weird, foreign reason, is sweet on him." Not sweet enough to be interested in the bastard as anything but a sparring partner, but he either didn't realise that or didn't want to accept it.
"Lady Yang doesn't care about my birth." The bastard was trying for the cold expression of his father but didn't quite pull it off - Theon could tell that he was fuming.
Whatever, he didn't matter. Robb did. Theon shrugged with a snort and looked at the heir to Winterfell. "And since you're not smiling like an idiot, you didn't get an engagement with Lady Ruby."
Now Robb was scowling as well. "That wasn't what the meeting was about!"
"It wasn't?" Then they were fools. Whoever managed to marry Lady Ruby would rule the realm, either openly or behind the throne.
"The King has offered Father to become his Hand. Father has accepted," Robb explained. "He'll travel with the King back to King's Landing."
Ah. So, that rumour had been true. Theon had thought so - it was obvious that the King considered Lord Eddard his best and most loyal friend, and the Hand of the King had so much power, if they weren't loyal, the kingdom was in trouble. "And where's the problem?" Being the King's hand would make the Starks more powerful. And that meant Robb's prospects had improved.
"I have to stay in Winterfell. A Stark has to stay here at all times," Robb said.
"Oh. And Lady Ruby and her friends will go to King's Landing." Theon nodded. That much was obvious - the King clearly cared more for them than he did for his own children.
"Yes." Robb spat the word through clenched teeth.
"With the royal family."
"Yes." That came out in a hiss.
"So, there's no engagement then?" Theon twisted the knife. He felt a bit bad at Robb's expression, but why should Robb have more success with the four girls than Theon?
"Not with Team Ruby. But the King and Father agreed on an engagement between Sansa and the Prince." Robb smiled a little at that.
Theon was surprised. "The King didn't want his son to marry Lady Ruby?" Sansa was a nice if naive girl and the eldest daughter of Lord Eddard, but she couldn't smash holes into walls with her bare hands and break swords on her head.
Robb shrugged. "Apparently, the Queen insisted, or so Father said he was told by the King."
Theon shook his head. The Queen was stupid, then - the real prize was Team Ruby. But the King must have realised that as well, so why had he agreed to this? Whatever, it was done. "Well, you still have a chance, then," he lied. If the Starks hadn't managed to get an engagement until now, they wouldn't get it once the girls were in King's Landing, surrounded by the most powerful nobles of the Seven Kingdoms.
The bastard nodded with a faint smile. He was taking this far too well, Theon realised. Why wasn't… "Don't tell me they're taking the bastard to King's Landing!"
Both boys were glaring at him.
"I asked Father to let me come with him, and he agreed," the bastard said with the hint of a smirk.
Theon narrowed his eyes at him - bastards should know their place. But if Lord Eddard had agreed to this… was he really hoping that the bastard would be able to win Lady Yang? Was that pure desperation? Or did they know something Theon didn't? The Starks were closest to Team Ruby, after all…
Theon had to look into this. There might be something he could use to change his own fortune.
Of course, he would be stuck in Winterfell as well, but it wasn't as if he had anything better to do.
*****
Winterfell, The North, Westeros, 298 AC
"...and by using hardened steel and interlocking parts - see a) and b) - and polymers, you can achieve the same structural stability at a fracture of the weight."
Ruby Rose nodded as she looked at the notes she had just written down, then added the a) and b) marks to the sketch of her baby. Well, not her baby, but a kind of proto-baby, yet not, since she had never planned to have a scythe without a gun built into it, but if she had, it probably would have looked like this because she had designed it.
Yang peered over her shoulder, then shook her head. "They don't know what polymers are, Rubes."
"I know that," Ruby told her. "But once they know, they can duplicate the design."
"You need to at least describe polymers first, dolt," Weiss added from the bed, where she was scribbling down notes of her own. Well, not scribbling - she had a much better handwriting than Ruby.
"But…" Ruby sighed. "Alright, I'll write a page about how you can mould your own polymer parts." It wasn't that difficult with the right tools and the right materials… Which they didn't have in Westeros.
She looked at Yang, who was grinning at her. "I'll have to write about making the tools…?"
"The tools to make the tools to make the tools." Yang patted her head, and Ruby shook off her sister's hand. "Otherwise, all your notes would be useless for people here."
Ruby pouted. Leaving useless notes in exchange for access to a library wouldn't be honest, would it? But…
"I don't think they can actually make any of the weapons we describe here," Weiss cut in.
"Yep." Yang nodded. "So we don't have to worry about our work being used against us."
Or against others. Which would also be bad.
"The Maesters might accuse us of making up our notes," Weiss said. "If they can't make sense of them."
Yang scoffed. "That's their problem."
"As long as they can examine our weapons, they will realise that we're not trying to con them," Blake commented from the rafters overhead. A moment later, she rolled over the beam and dropped down, twisting to land on her feet like a two-legged cat.
"We will have to make copies as well," Weiss said. "And we need to be careful when negotiating. We can't give away everything at the start - we need to save some notes for later favours."
"Yep." Yang nodded. "Or to sell," she added with a wide smile. "If we need money."
Ruby frowned at her. She knew what Yang meant. "I don't like freeloading, so sue me!" It was bad enough that the Starks had been giving them a room and free food (and even clothes, though that wasn't really a big thing since it was just a dress) without asking for anything in return.
"We're their guests. Their own customs and honour require them to support us," Weiss said. "That's not our fault."
"That doesn't mean we have to exploit them," Ruby disagreed.
"They are trying to exploit us," Weiss said with a sniff. "As is everyone else. I expect some marriage offers in the near future, and not just from the Starks."
Ruby shuddered at the thought. The whole misunderstanding about Yang's, uh, parentage had had one good side: They had stopped all the not-so-subtle talk about weddings and stuff. But it seemed that wouldn't last much longer.
"And we'll tell them we're not ready to marry," Yang said.
"If we are too brusque in our refusal, they'll take offence." Blake's looked at Weiss. "You'll need to be very diplomatic about that."
"I am very much aware of that." Weiss frowned. "Lady Catelyn has been hinting at it again lately, but so far, she hasn't made a straight offer, so I could deflect her comments."
Ruby nodded. "And with the engagement between Sansa and the Prince, we won't have to fear a similar offer from the royal family!"
Weiss rolled her eyes like she usually did whenever she thought Ruby had said something stupid.
"Well, I don't know if I should feel insulted that they think we're not good enough for the Prince or not," Yang said with a chuckle.
"We're not good enough for the Queen," Blake said. "She was very vocal about it with the King when he mentioned the Prince being interested in us. I think anyone could have heard her if they had been near the tower."
Oh. Ruby pressed her lips together. She wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not. On the one hand, the Queen hating them (despite Ruby trying her best to be nice to her) was a bad thing. But it also meant that they wouldn't have to turn down a marriage with the Prince and fight their way through the royal army when they took offence.
"There's still Prince Tommen," Weiss commented.
Ew! Ruby retched. Tommen was like… eight or so. Half her age. And she was the youngest member of her team by two years! Time to change the topic! "Anyway, we need money of our own if we don't want to feel indebted to the Starks. Or the King. We can't just expect them to pay us an allowance just because they think we're noblewomen." Which they weren't - they were, if not lying, then letting the locals believe a lie.
"The King rules the entire kingdom, and Lord Eddard rules the North. I don't think feeding and clothing us will drain their coffers in a noticeable way," Weiss objected. "The King probably spends more on his food and drink than we consume."
"But I would feel indebted if we were freeloading," Ruby pointed out for the umpteenth time. "And we can't expect them to give us money to travel and buy or borrow books." Books were a lot more expensive here, as Blake had told her.
"If they like giving us money, why not?" Yang grinned.
"It's not right!" Ruby insisted.
"Besides, you accepted the King's invitation to King's Landing," Yang told her. "I think he'd be offended if we didn't stay in the palace."
Drat. The King probably would be offended if they did that. Ruby sighed again. She couldn't win. And the Prince kept following her and the others around. Maybe that would stop now that he had a fiancée. Sansa was pretty and his age, so Joffrey should be happy.
"Ruby's not wrong, though - we have to consider the impression we give to others and the obligations we acquire very carefully," Weiss cut in. "If the King thinks we owe him a service, and it's something we won't do, we will have a problem."
Another problem, Ruby thought. The Queen hated her, the Prince was stalking them… at least the King liked them, even if he was a bit pushy about hearing more about Remnant and Huntresses and Grimm, and Prince Tommen and Princess Myrcella were nice kids. And the Prince didn't think they were assassins any more.
So, things could be worse.
*****
"...and then you twist your wrist just so."
"I see. Thank you, Ser Barristan."
Ruby let Crescent Rose's butt rest on the ground while Ser Barristan showed Weiss how he'd parried her strike. Well, how he had parried her held back and slowed down strike - if she had been serious, she would have struck too fast for him to react, and too hard for him to parry; she would have just cut through his blade and arm and himself. Probably - the old knight was very good with his sword and had surprised her before with his tricks. No more than once each time, though. And he was a good teacher.
Too bad most of his moves didn't work with her baby. But she could learn how to counter them, even when used by a Huntress using a sword, as Weiss and Blake had demonstrated before. Next time she sparred with Pyrrha, the girl better watch out!
"Thank you for training with us, my ladies."
And he was very polite and respectful too! He didn't smirk when talking to them. And he didn't frown at them. And he didn't stare at their legs, chests and butts, either, like so many others when they thought Ruby couldn't see them!
Or, she added to herself with a glance at the Prince, who had been watching their training session from the fence, just stared at her and her friends. The Prince apparently still wanted to stalk them instead of spending time with Sansa. It was really weird - not even the King or Arya were as interested in them as the Prince was. And he wasn't just watching; he was always asking questions, too!
Like now - he was already walking towards her just because she had taken a short break. Ruby glanced around, but Weiss was still talking with Ser Barristan, and Blake and Yang were sparring, so she couldn't just act as if she hadn't noticed the Prince.
"That was quite impressive, Lady Ruby!" He smiled at her.
His bodyguard - sworn sword, she reminded herself - grunted, and his scowl made his burn scars look even worse.
Ruby tried to ignore him; he never seemed happy, especially not around her team. And he was always sneering and scowling as if they had personally hurt him or something. "Thank you, Your Grace, but we just did some training. Ser Barristan showed us a new move."
"A move for a sword, yes, I saw." The Prince nodded. "Though you can't use the move with your scythe, can you?"
"Nope!" She grinned. "Some of the moves I can adapt, but that one I can't use - even when I wield Crescent Rose with one hand, the technique just doesn't work out. But it's nice to know when fighting people who use swords."
"Of course. Every little bit of knowledge and training helps, right?"
The Prince got it! She nodded happily. "Exactly!"
"Though all the training cannot compensate for superior strength and speed."
Her smile faltered a little. The Prince kept coming back to that - it must annoy him thoroughly that he didn't have Aura. Not that they had told him or anyone else about Aura. People would want them to unlock theirs, then unlock others, and soon, everyone, even the worst people, would have Aura.
Ruby wasn't an expert, but she knew enough to know that that would be a disaster - the White Fang proved that back home; they weren't Huntresses, but they all had their Auras unlocked, and that alone made them much more dangerous than most bandits. Of course, they didn't know if they could unlock Aura in Westeros - they had never tried. But people wouldn't believe them and get angry and feel betrayed if it didn't work, so best not to talk about it at all. Nothing good would come from it.
But the Prince expected an answer, so she nodded. "Well, sometimes, it does. But you're generally correct, yes."
"And training will only take you so far when it comes to becoming stronger."
"Yes." Ruby nodded again. With Aura, training would take you a very long way, of course. And experience would carry you even further. But the Prince was essentially correct, and agreeing with him was the polite thing.
"I've heard about rituals that bestow boons on people. Supposedly, they can grant insight and let you see the future - there's a priest of R'hllor at the court in King's Landing who spoke about using magic fires for that," the Prince went on.
"Oh?" Ruby perked up. She hadn't heard about anything like that. Magic! And magic rituals! Maybe that was a way home! Or could show them how to get home!
"Yes. So, did you do a magic ritual to become so strong?" The Prince's smile didn't change, but his eyes looked more intense.
"Uh… No. We can't use magic back home. It's just Dust and family traits."
"But your dust is magic, isn't it?"
"No. Dust is… Dust." Ruby shook her head. "Anyone can use Dust. It's… like ore."
"Ah."
Fortunately, Weiss had finished talking with Ser Barristan, and Ruby had an excuse to go spar with her.
*****
Winterfell, The North, Westeros, 298 AC
Weiss Schnee would much prefer to be back in the training yard, crossing blades with Ser Barristan, than sitting in Lady Catelyn's chambers sipping tea with Lady Catelyn, Sansa, Arya, Princess Myrcella and the Queen. She could learn something she didn't know about fencing and sword-fighting from the old Kingsguard and work on adapting it to using it with Myrtenaster. All she could learn here were things she already knew, such as that the Queen was a spiteful woman whose pride far outstripped her intelligence, and she could work on her self-control, which she already had mastered - as proven by the fact that despite ample provocation, she hadn't set lashed out against the Queen, neither verbally nor physically.
"Yes, Your Grace," she lied, smiling as sweetly as she could, "I'm very happy to hear that your son the Prince and Lady Sansa are now betrothed. They seem well-matched." Well-matched in that both were children, and she was happy that the Prince was now officially engaged and Team RWBY didn't have to worry about being offered his hand in marriage any more. But she pitied Sansa for marrying into the royal family; she had no doubt that the Queen was the worst mother-in-law possible. In fact, she couldn't help feeling that her own father had finally found a worthy rival, should there ever be a competition for the title of worst parent possible.
The Queen smiled widely, showing perfect teeth, with a hint of a sneer. "I am very happy to hear that, Lady Weiss. There are so many noble ladies who will now be disappointed that their designs on my dear son have been foiled, it is refreshing to hear you and your friends aren't among them."
Weiss didn't have to fake her laugh. A member of Team RWBY, marrying the Prince? Marrying anyone in Westeros? The notion was truly ludicrous. As if any of her friends, much less Weiss herself, would wish to marry a child - or become the Queen of this barbaric realm! "Unlike many, none of us is delusional, Your Grace."
The way the Queen's satisfied smile waned a little was a clear indicator that she must have picked up at least a hint of Weiss's true feelings. "Delusional indeed. My precious lion would never marry someone beneath him."
Weiss smiled widely and nodded. "A sensible policy, Your Grace. Maintaining standards is very important for every family."
The Queen narrowed her eyes at that - Weiss might have been a bit too smug - but Lady Catelyn cleared her throat before the other woman could say anything. "Yes, we're all very happy with the engagement. Right, Sansa?"
"Oh, yes, Mother!" Sansa was beaming - the verbal sparring must have gone over her head. "Prince Joffrey is such a gallant boy! It's like a dream come true!"
Both the Queen and Lady Catelyn smiled at that - the Queen with an indulgent, patronising expression, Lady Catelyn with a warm and slightly nostalgic - or even sad; Weiss wasn't quite sure - one.
"It will strengthen the realm," the Queen stated the obvious, "and tie the North closer to the rest of the Seven Kingdoms. Imagine the Prince - and future king - married to someone unsuitable! The entire realm would suffer!"
"Indeed, Your Grace." Weiss nodded with an honest smile. The Queen might think she was insulting them - and so did Lady Catelyn, judging by her alarmed expression - but Weiss knew very well how unsuited her friends and herself were for the position of Queen of Westeros. She was certain, for example, that If she were Queen, she would have ordered the odious woman sitting across from her banished from court long ago. Not that the Queen was suited for her position, either; it was quite obvious that the reason she had supported - or insisted on, according to Blake - the engagement between Sansa and the Prince wasn't an honest worry about the future of the kingdom, but the petty desire to keep Team RWBY from marrying into the royal family. Probably because none of them would bow to her. Figuratively; they were bowing to the Queen as protocol dictated, of course.
Maybe Weiss should have acted as if she were disappointed by the news, making the Queen believe her plan had worked perfectly… No. That would have been beneath her. She would not stoop to telling such lies. Not if telling the truth was far more satisfying, at least, she amended her thoughts.
"I am looking forward to calling you my good sister, Lady Sansa." Myrcella beamed at Sansa.
"Thank you, my princess!"
Weiss narrowed her eyes slightly. While Sansa was an open book, Myrcella seemed to be a bit… not lying, not that, but she seemed to feel a little bit guilty. Though Weiss hadn't had much contact with the little princess yet, so she might be mistaken. On the other hand, the notion that a ten-year-old princess could fool her was more than a little preposterous. At least, in Weiss's opinion. It was obvious that the girl, incidentally like Sansa, had led a very sheltered and pampered life. So, what might make her feel so… ambivalent about her brother's engagement? Was she dreading her own arranged marriage? If so, she had good reason to; according to what information Weiss had heard, there had been many truly awful matches in the past.
At least Arya was far easier to get a read on; the girl didn't want to be here and had been told not to pester Weiss with questions about fighting by Lady Catelyn. She was trying not to be obvious about it but failing to hide how bored she was. Interestingly, she hadn't tried to make up an excuse to leave the gathering and was doing her best to act like her sister - well, like her sister if Sansa were scowling whenever she thought no one was looking at her.
Weiss could understand the feeling; she had suffered through many social gatherings where she had to fake interest and hide her true feelings.
*****
Weiss took a deep breath as she watched the Queen leave with Princess Myrcella, Sansa and Arya in tow, ostensibly 'to do some needlework'.
"The Queen is pleased with the engagement between our families."
Weiss turned to look at Lady Catelyn. "Indeed. She said so several times, and quite sincerely." She wasn't about to say what she really thought, of course.
Lady Catelyn hesitated a moment, but once a servant closed the door, she said: "She also seemed to expect you to be unhappy about it."
Weiss wanted to sigh. "She may have been under the mistaken assumption that my friends and I were interested in marrying the Prince. Nothing could be further from our minds, though - we aren't ignorant of the towering difference in status between the Prince and us."
Lady Catelyn nodded. "Becoming Queen is a great challenge. I can only hope that my daughter is up to the task. Fortunately, she will have years to grow into the role."
Weiss nodded and hid her pity for the girl. Sansa would have to grow a lot - she knew this better than most.
Lady Catelyn went on: "However, not every such match is as… challenging. I grew up in the South, and I found that things are often much simpler and more accommodating in the North. What might be seen as an insurmountable gap elsewhere is not quite as much of an obstacle here."
Weiss managed not to scowl. Lady Catelyn wasn't as subtle as she might think she was - or she was perfectly happy to make her intentions clear. How to reply without insulting her? "Indeed. Yet, compared to our home, the difference is still staggering. People back home rarely marry before reaching twenty and often wait a few years longer."
"And at which age do they enter betrothals?"
"Betrothals usually only last a few months, maybe a year, before people marry," Weiss told her.
"Ah. I assume that is because betrothals aren't a matter for the heads of houses in your home." Lady Catelyn nodded.
"Yes." Weiss had a hard time reading the woman, but it seemed she was pleased.
It looked like Weiss had dodged another bullet. Lady Catelyn was quite persistent - and Team RWBY owed their hosts; the Starks had welcomed them into Winterfell and provided them with food, lodging and clothes - everything they needed after getting stranded in another world. Well, everything the locals could provide. So, as annoying as the not-quite-open offers were, Weiss couldn't just bluntly refuse them.
Oh, she couldn't wait to travel to King's Landing. Dealing with Lord Eddard and his younger children would be far easier than this.
*****
Winterfell, The North, Westeros, 298 AC
Several years in the White Fang had taught Blake Belladonna how to fit into a crowd so she didn't catch the attention of the police or anyone else. If you dressed casually but avoided being overdressed or underdressed, neither rushed nor lingered anywhere but walked as if you had an appointment to reach and looked as if you were not paying attention to anything not in your way, people, including the police, tended to dismiss you as not worth their attention. Provided you hid your Faunus traits, of course - many humans, especially the police, considered a Faunus suspicious by default and were always ready and willing to harass them.
The circumstances were different here in Westeros, but the principle was the same - Blake was pretty sure that if she dressed like a servant, hid her ears under a headscarf or something, and walked with her head down carrying a basket full of apples or firewood, she would escape the notice of most people. Most, yet not all - the Kingsguard, especially Ser Barristan, wouldn't miss her; they took their duty seriously, with the possible exception of Ser Jaime, who was often making light of his tasks. And, of course, Blake wasn't just another face in a city full of people but an honoured guest in a large but not very densely populated castle. She didn't doubt that amongst the staff in the castle, almost everyone knew how she looked, and that if she were to disguise herself and end up recognised anyway, people would draw their own conclusions, conclusions that would hinder her own plans and tasks.
So, instead of disguising herself, she stuck to avoiding people while she travelled through the castle, not quite sneaking, in case anyone spotted her, but just casually walking on the ramparts and in usually deserted hallways. And in order to complete her disguise as a harmless guest - as harmless as a Huntress able to crater castle walls could be - she carried a book or at least a scroll with her to fake reading while she walked. No one would expect a loner who walked with her head stuck in a book half of the time to prowl the night like the spy she was. Well, not unless they drew their conclusions from the fact that she taught Bran how to climb without risking life and limb.
She sighed as she walked on a rarely-used path along the outer wall. In hindsight, she shouldn't have exposed that particular talent, but her time in the White Fang also had taught her that you had to do the right thing and help people even if it cost you. The White Fang had been founded by her parents to help Faunus, not hurt humans, something that the rest of the current members apparently had forgotten, and that was why Blake had, albeit too late for her conscience, finally left. If only she had realised that and listened to her parents before she had joined…
She shook her head and peered over her book as she approached the open part of the outer yard. Since it was between the two walls, it was both relatively narrow - at least compared to the inner yard - and didn't contain too many buildings, presumably so anyone who took the outer wall wouldn't have a lot of cover against the archers on the inner wall. A lot of the ground was used to plant herbs and vegetables or to house animals so the smell didn't disturb the people in the keep - unless they had the fine nose of a Faunus, at least, she amended her thought as she caught a whiff of the pigsty.
Frowning, she changed her path, deciding to circle the inner wall in the other direction. She could do without having her nose clogged up by the stench of manure.
Apparently, she discovered as she rounded the base of the closest tower of the inner wall, so did others - Bran and Arya were talking in the shadow of the rampart there. Blake could have reversed course without them realising she had seen them - they hadn't noticed her yet - but she decided against it. Both Bran and Arya had been acting a bit distantly lately - since the day Yang had found out about the misunderstanding regarding her parentage, to be exact - and Blake didn't really think that they had given up on their usual antics. And, for a change, they didn't have their ravenous beasts with them, so this was a good opportunity to talk to them without risking life and limb.
"Hello," she said as she approached them, hiding a grin behind her book as the two children jerked, startled.
"Lady Blake!"
"My lady!"
Blake closed her book and put it into the pouch on her belt that usually housed it. "What are you doing here?" Best to be open about it.
"Ah…" Bran bit his lower lip, apparently not able to come up with a cover story on the spot.
"We're taking a stroll around the inner wall. Like you?" Arya was a bit quicker on her feet.
"Ah. And you decided to take a break here because it was such a long stroll?" Blake smiled.
Arya blushed a little, pouting, but Bran nodded and grinned. "Yes, my lady. Exactly!"
She snorted at his recovered cheek. "So, what kind of mischief are you planning?"
Bran kept grinning, but Arya grimaced. "None!" she said. "We're not planning any mischief! We just… wanted to talk where others couldn't overhear us."
"Like your parents?" Blake nodded. "I know the feeling."
"Ah." Arya looked relieved. "Yes, exactly. We just… wanted some privacy."
"To plot your revenge?" Blake chuckled. "I'm joking."
Bran chuckled, but Arya sighed. "Mother's so unfair! It wasn't my fault that we thought Lady Yang was a bastard! I just believed what I was told!"
"That's not always a good idea," Blake said. "People misunderstand things or make mistakes." And some outright lied and manipulated you. Like Adam, that asshole.
She managed not to grind her teeth at the thought of her former… whatever.
"Well, so we shouldn't believe you when you tell us that something's dangerous?" Bran smiled at her.
She snorted in return. "If you have doubts about something, you should ask for proof - or at least for a reason or explanation. Asking questions is never wrong."
Arya scoffed. "Mother just wants me to do what she says, even if it's stupid. And even if I don't want to do it."
Ah. That sounded like a typical if slightly precocious - Arya wasn't a teenager yet - teenage tantrum. "And what do you want to do?" Blake asked.
"I Know what I don't want to do! I don't want to become a 'southern lady'!" Arya blurted out. "I want to become a Huntress!"
Ah. Blake winced. "You don't have Grimm in this world; you don't need Huntresses," she said.
"We have wildings raiders, bandits, slavers from Essos, Ironborns…" Arya scoffed. "We have plenty of dangers people need to be protected from!"
Well, she wasn't wrong.
"If you don't want to become a 'southern lady', why didn't you protest when Mother told you that you'd go to King's landing with Father and the rest of us?" Bran asked.
Arya glared at him. "Because…" She glanced at Blake. "Because I want to see more of Westeros than the North!"
Ah! Blake nodded. It was obvious what she wanted.
"She wants to train with you - with Team Ruby!" Bran said.
So obvious, Bran was aware of it. Children!
"Bran!"
"What?"
"Our training is quite demanding," Blake said. "It would be best to get more… basic lessons from other people." She was quite certain that Lady Catelyn wouldn't be amused if Team RWBY started to train Arya in fighting; their hostess had made her views on that clear.
"But no one will train me! Not really!" Arya protested. "It's so unfair! Bran, Robb, Jon - everyone gets training, but I don't. Even though I'm better than Bran!"
"That was one fight and you cheated!"
"I won! That's all that matters!"
"Well, you won't win once I get training as a squire!"
Blake sighed. "You want to become a squire?" she asked.
"I want to become a knight, and you need to be a squire first!" Bran nodded.
Arya scoffed. "Knights are weak. Team Ruby could defeat every knight in Winterfell!"
She wasn't wrong, of course, but that wouldn't really help either of them.
"So? Then I'll become a knight who's as strong as a Huntsman!" Bran spat.
Arya scoffed again.
"Well, even a Huntress needs to learn the basics, like a squire," Blake said.
"I know!" Arya pouted. "But no one will teach me!"
Blake didn't have an answer for that. Or shouldn't have one. Ruby would offer to train the girl in a heartbeat, of course, regardless of the problems that would cause. But Blake wasn't Ruby.
On the other hand, Team RWBY was supposed to do the right thing - but what was the right thing here? It was unfair that Bran could follow his dreams and Arya couldn't. Or that Arya wasn't allowed to learn how to defend herself and protect others. Blake knew what happened to people who couldn't fight when they needed to. And how much harm could some training do?
She smiled. "Well, if you can keep it secret, I might be able to give you two a few pointers. Only if you don't tell anyone, though."
Both children beamed at her, and Blake suppressed the slight guilt she felt. At least she knew Ruby would support her. And Yang as well.
Oh!
"And only if you don't bring your dire wolves!" she added with a stern expression.
That had the children whine at her, but Blake remained steadfast - she wouldn't teach anyone with those beasts around. That would be far too dangerous!
*****
On her way to their chambers to 'freshen up' before dinner, Blake passed the empty tower - supposedly used to store food and house people in the long winters - and her ears twitched under her ribbons when she caught voices - familiar voices.
She glanced around, but the whole area was deserted. Sometimes, she thought an enemy army could set up camp inside the castle, and it would take a day until someone noticed. She quickly walked around the tower, then climbed up - not too high, only until she could hear the voices clearly.
"It's been too long! I thought you had forgotten me!"
"Never! But it's not as easy to find some privacy as it is at home."
"We're in a deserted castle, and the King is drinking more than ever - with those foreign harlots with whom you like to train!"
"The Starks have skilled guards and staff. It wasn't easy to arrange this - and it would have been impossible without those girls distracting everyone, especially our brother and my 'brothers'. But I did it."
"It was about time. We'll soon be travelling back to King's Landing, and we won't have any privacy during that ordeal!"
"Then let's make the best of this."
Blake blinked. Those were the Queen and her brother, Ser Jaime, but they talked as if they were the protagonists of 'Forbidden Love'. She snorted - her imagination was running wild. Those things didn't really…
She trailed off as her ears caught sounds that told her, clearly, that such things apparently did happen.
No! This must be… It couldn't, not really. She bit her lower lip, glanced around to ensure there still wasn't anyone watching, and quickly climbed up to the narrow window she could spot from below. This was just some weird local thing she misunderstood.
Then she reached the window - which was more of an arrow slit than a real window, though wide enough she would be able to slip through with some effort - and her eyes confirmed that her imagination hadn't run wild.
The Queen and her twin brother really were in bed together - and together-together, as Nora would say.
*****
"Ewww! The Queen is sleeping with her brother?"
Yang Xiao Long winced - both at the mental image of what Blake had just told them and at Ruby's shrill comment. She shared the sentiment her sister had expressed. Ew. But she knew better than to yell. Fortunately, Blake had insisted on closing the windows and checking if anyone was nearby before revealing what she had observed on her way back to the room.
"Are you certain? It couldn't have been a misunderstanding?" Weiss asked. She sounded almost desperate. "Some kind of, ah, roleplay?"
Yang snorted. She trusted Blake.
Blake frowned. "Yes. I saw them - I recognised their faces. And everything." She grimaced. "They were naked on a makeshift bed."
"But..." Weiss trailed off.
"I think we can exclude the idea that they accidentally mistook each other for their partners," Yang commented. Ser Jaime was a member of the Kingsguard, anyway - he had sworn an oath to be chaste or something. Or was that just an oath not to marry?
"No…" Weiss sighed, then sat down on her bed and groaned. "That's… a catastrophe!"
"It's disgusting, that's what it is!" Ruby blurted out. "With your own brother? Ewww and double-eww!" She made a retching noise.
"They sounded like they had been doing this for some time," Blake added. "She was complaining that he hadn't visited her in some time."
"That's even worse!" Ruby shook her head. "Cheating on your partner would be bad enough - and the King does it every night or so - but with your brother?" She visibly shuddered. "That would be like… me and Yang doing it!"
Yang shuddered at the thought. "Thanks, sis, for that image."
"Sorry!" Ruby winced. "I just… Ugh. We see Ser Jaime regularly when we train! How can I look at him without imagining him and… Ew!"
"Or when meeting the Queen for tea again," Yang added.
"Ew!"
"That's not the worst," Weiss said. "Not by far."
"Huh?" Ruby looked confused.
"If the Queen realises - or even if she merely suspects, I assume - that we know about her infidelity, she will likely attempt to silence us," Weiss said.
Blake nodded. "This secret, if revealed, would ruin her. You don't cheat on the king."
"You shouldn't cheat on your partner, period," Ruby said. Then she blinked. "I mean… partner-partner, not partner. You know what I mean?"
"Yeah," Yang said with a wry smile.
"I believe so," Weiss said in a very dry tone before she pressed her lips together for a moment. "Anyway, if the Queen suspects that we know, I think she won't shy away from the most drastic measures to deal with us."
"You mean that she will attempt to have us murdered?" Yang asked. She could see that, actually.
"Or discredit us thoroughly," Blake added. "If no one would believe us, we cannot expose her secret."
"But…" Ruby trailed off. "Who would believe us, actually, if we told people? She's the Queen and we're just four foreign girls. And you didn't have your scroll charged to take pictures. Not that you should have taken pictures of… that, but it would be proof."
"She's not exactly popular with people," Yang pointed out. And that was putting it lightly.
"Yes. Most members of the castle staff dislike her," Blake confirmed. "If we accuse her of infidelity, some might claim to believe us even if they don't actually do, if only to use us against her."
Yang scoffed. She hated politics.
"The King doesn't like her." Ruby bit her lower lip. "Do you think they'd divorce if both are cheating on each other? Oh, the poor children!"
"I am fairly sure that the result of this scandal being revealed won't be merely a divorce," Weiss said. "Incest is illegal in all of the kingdoms back home."
"Right!" Ruby nodded, then grimaced. "Oh! The King and Lord Tyrion mentioned the Targaryens sleeping with their siblings, I think."
Yang frowned. "That sounds like it's legal here, though."
"I believe it was limited to the royal family," Weiss said.
"Well, we're talking about the Queen here," Yang pointed out. "She's part of the royal family."
"If the King is cheating as well, doesn't that make it legal?" Ruby asked.
"I don't think it's legal if the Queen does it with her brother," Yang said.
"I think the last trial showed us that we cannot draw parallels from our judicial system to Westeros's." Weiss shook her head. "We need more information to decide what, if anything, we should do about this."
That was a good idea. But there were some problems with it, in Yang's opinion. "Well, if we ask people if incest and infidelity are legal, they'll wonder why we are asking about that," she told them. She would rather not have people wonder about the reasons for that kind of question. "And if the Queen hears about it - especially if we ask if there are exceptions for royalty - she will know we know."
"Quite. We need to get access to a book detailing all the laws of the realm," Weiss said. "Provided such a thing exists; they might not have codified their laws to such a degree. They might rely on precedents - or simply let the King and his chosen representatives rule every case."
Yang wasn't an expert, but that sounded terrible to her. "How would that work? How can you judge people if they don't know the law because you never wrote it down?"
"It would work very well for those privileged and protected by the ruler and his proxies," Blake said with a cynical snort. "Further, if they have codified their laws, we still would need to be able to read it," she added. "Despite my efforts, I'm still struggling with their script. "
"And this is the King we're talking about. He's the sovereign," Weiss said. "Unless I am mistaken, he is not bound by law."
"So… he could do what he wants?" Ruby asked.
"Exactly." Weiss nodded.
"But he didn't divorce the Queen already, even though he doesn't like her," Ruby said.
"Probably for political reasons - her father is very rich and very powerful." Weiss scoffed. "I doubt it is because of their children."
Well, you probably know about such things, Yang thought. "So… what do we do?"
"Nothing until we know what the consequences would be. Both for the Queen and her brother and for us, in case we are accused of slandering her." Weiss said.
Ruby nodded.
Yang agreed. She sighed. "Well, tomorrow's training will be interesting."
"Ew!"
*****
