"Come on Weiss, dear, it's time to stop playing."
A little girl with long white hair and a light blue dress looked up from where she was messing around with little sculpted metal army men. "I don't want to." She said poutily, puffing up her chubby little cheeks.
Queen Schnee looked fondly down at her little daughter, and knelt on the floor beside her, the long green gown she wore pooling on the ground. "Sweetie, we need to go meet the teacher I found. You want to learn things, don't you?"
Weiss looked interested in that. "What kinds of things?" She asked, stopping her play to look up at her mother.
"All sorts of things. Fencing, and music, and math, and history. Everything in the whole world. Now come along, little snowdrop." Her mother was beginning to get impatient, but Weiss still had more questions, and she wasn't leaving until they were answered.
"Is it a boy or a girl?" Weiss asked. "Because I don't like boys. They stink and they're rude and they're too big and too hairy." Weiss had quite the list of complaints, and her mother laughed, scooping the little child up into her arms.
"Why don't we go find out?" She said, taking Weiss out of her room and down the hallway outside."
"You won't tell me." Weiss pouted. "You're mean."
"No dear, I'm mysterious." Her mother replied with a wiggle of her eyebrows.
"Mysterious." Weiss repeated flatly. "No. Mean."
"Very well, snowdrop, I'm mean. Now why don't we go say hi."
"Humph." Weiss grumbled.
They arrived in the great hall about ten minutes later, Weiss still perched up in her mother's arms.
The castle's grand hall lived up to it's name. It was at least a hundred feet high from it's marble floor to it's sparkling, arched quartz ceiling. Thick composite columns, also of marble, supported the room, evenly spaced every twenty feet on either side of the room. A huge table, made of a single giant block piece of carved black volcanic glass sat in the center.
The room was entirely empty except for a small figure in a red cloak, hood up, marveling at the architecture of the room.
As the two Schnees drew closer, the figure tilted their head back to look at the ceiling, their hood slipping off as they did. Hair the color of scarlet autumn leaves held against the night sky came tumbling free to fall about a foot down their back.
The figure turned around, smiling brightly. It was a girl, who looked only maybe twenty years old, though you never could tell with some people. Still, it was very young for a tutor. Her face was round and soft, with huge silver eyes and a small button nose.
Weiss burrowed her head in her mother's gown.
"Aww, she's adorable!" The girl cooed, then realized how informal she had been, cleared her throat, and made an perfect, elegant bow. "My queen, my princess."
The effect was somewhat ruined by the massive grin she still sported.
"Miss Rose." The queen replied. "I'm so happy you could make it on such short notice."
Miss Rose shrugged. "Well, when royalty calls, people like me listen. I was happy to though, your majesty." Her brow furrowed slightly. "Though, hey, where's the king? Shouldn't he be here too?"
Queen Schnee looked pained. "He is... Away. On business." She rolled her eyes, attempting to make light of it. "Again. I think he's only been here for two days in the past two months."
Miss Rose waved her hand, like it was no big deal. "Okay, I'd just like to meet both of you, you know? I mean..." Miss Rose looked at Weiss. "She is your only kid."
Queen Schnee nodded. "That she is." She lowered Weiss gently to the floor, giving her a gentle push towards her new teacher. "Go say hello, Weiss."
Weiss hesitantly walked over, pausing every second or two to look back at her mother. She looked up at Miss Rose, who, even though she wasn't tall, towered over the little girl.
"Hello." She squeaked at last. "I am the princess Weiss Schnee, first in line to the throne of Vale. It's nice to meet you, Miss Rose."
Miss Rose bowed again, finally serious. "Milady, I am pleased to make your acquaintance." She replied. "And also, if I may be so bold, I would like to say you are the cutest little snowflake I have ever seen." Her silver eyes sparkled as they looked into the pale blue ones of the little princess.
Weiss couldn't help it, she giggled. Then she turned back to her mother. "Momma, I like her. Is she staying?"
It was Miss Rose who answered, not the queen. "I'll stay as long as you like Weiss. And please."
"Call me Ruby."
Okay, here's the beginning chapter.
Now, I know I promised a couple of things. First off, that both Weiss and Ruby will be dragons. And they will. Eventually. I promise. And one of them already is, so, you know, there's that.
Secondly, I'm pretty sure I said I wouldn't publish anything until my APs were done.
Well... I kinda flubbed that one. Sorry guys, if you're too disappointed in me, I can just take this down. I know I'm a pretty terrible person for even posting it.
However, this is really just a trailer for the main story. Just because, I think I'll try and publish four of them before Wednesday of next week, the date of my last exam.
Also, this is really a first draft. I wanted to get it out here because if let bad about the huge break this story has taken... But my wonderful beta reader hasn't had time to look at it, so please forgive me for any mistakes.
Also, for the old versions of this story, please check out Silver Archive. Chapter one is the first version, chapter two is the second.
See you guys next time I post.
