Yang stopped dead, dumbfounded, just inside the gates, a large basket under her arm. This was by far the biggest city she'd visited on her journey, and there were probably more people in sight than she'd met in her entire life. Hells, a few years ago she wouldn't have thought there were this many people in the world. And yet here she was, Yang Xiao Long, a nothing village girl from a nothing little village on the island of Patch, standing in the gates of the capital of Atlas.
The area just inside the gates was apparently an open-air market of some sort, and a very busy one too. Over there a man with ebony skin and white hair—no, not a man, an elf, he had pointed ears, a shadow elf, maybe—stood examining the goods of a weapons merchant who looked decidedly Mistrali. Over there a short, squat man (dwarf?) was showing cloth to a pair of men. She blinked when one of them kissed the other on the cheek and the dwarf's only reaction was to smile. So that sort of thing was okay here. That was good.
And that was only the tip of the spear. As she wandered further into the market, Yang was dazzled by the variety of people around her, the clothes, the colors, the smells of food. One man was even performing small feats of real magic for a crowd of children. He called up an illusion of a tiny dragon that swooped over the children's heads, stopping to blow phantom flames into the face of a black-haired little girl. The girl screamed with delight as the watching crowd roared with laughter. Coins rained into the man's hat as he held it out in the manner of street performers since time immemorial. The thought crept unbidden into her mind as she watched. Maybe there's a place for me here? Can I have somewhere to call home? Yang shook her head as she continued on. No, there was no rest for her anymore, no place to truly call home. She would have to be on her way as soon as she had finished her task here.
She stopped as she came to a break in the crowd. In front of her was a huge fountain, with statues of three women standing in the center. One was likely from the Southern isles, given the cat ears that peeked out of her hair. The one facing the gate held a rapier and had a scar over her left eye, a child standing behind her as if she was protecting it. And the third... the third she recognized because she'd met this person. Winter. Winter had been the first one to learn her secret and not reject her or attack her. Winter had given Yang hope that there was a place in the world for her, a place she was safe and accepted. Every now and again a passer-by would stop in front of the fountain, close their eyes with a coin clasped in their hands, then toss the coin into the fountain. "Excuse me," she asked a passing guardsman, "why are people tossing coins into the fountain? Is it some local tradition?"
"Not from around here, eh?" The guard grinned. "When the queen overthrew the old king, she had new fountains put in every marketplace. Said they were a symbol of new hope, new beginnings. From this day on, Atlas was a kingdom where all were welcome, human, elf, dwarf, even Faunus. Couldn't leave out Faunus, given she's married to one!"
"Is that the queen?" Yang asked, pointing at the rapier-wielding statue. "I've never...I don't know what she looks like," she admitted, ashamed.
"Aye, and no shame in not knowing." The guard pointed. "On her left is her wife. I hear she's a wizard of some sort in addition to being a Faunus. For my mind, we could use a few more goodhearted wizards about. Too many of the bad sort around, need some good ones to balance things out."
"And the third?" she asked, pointing at the statue of Winter.
"That's the Queen's sister, Dame Winter. Before she overthrew their father, the Queen smuggled her sister back from exile, used her as a rallying point for the army she raised. In the end, even though she was the older sibling, Dame Winter declined the throne. She said the struggle had been her sister's, and the reward should be too. Right then and there she knelt before her sister and begged her to take the throne."
Yang's mouth dropped. "She refused the throne?" Although it did seem like the kind of thing Winter would do, from the brief time Yang had known her...
"My uncle was there, an armsman in the hall, saw the whole thing. Now she's a knight, sworn to her sister's service." Scratching the scraggly whiskers on his chin, the guard continued. "Getting back to your original question, since the Queen put the fountains in, people have taken to putting their hopes and wishes into a coin and tossing it into the fountains. Makes as much sense as anything, I suppose. Now I've got to be back on my rounds." The guard bowed before wandering off.
Yang shook her head as she picked her basket up again. Silly superstition, tossing coins in a fountain. Still, it couldn't hurt. She fished in her coin purse and came up with a freshly-minted gold crown, with the new Queen's face on it. A good omen if there ever was one. Yang faced the fountain and closed her eyes, focusing on her most heartfelt wish. She tossed the coin towards the fountain. It bounced off the statue of Winter's head before dropping into the water with a plop. Probably for nothing, but it couldn't hurt, after all.
Yang left the marketplace and made her way towards the castle, getting lost more than once on the winding city streets. Stupid city streets, are they trying to get people lost? Eventually, she found herself standing at the opposite end of a square from the castle gates. The fountain here showed the queen kneeling in front of what Yang thought was supposed to be a common farmer. The message here was clear: The queen is the servant of the people. "Okay, here we go," Yang muttered under her breath as she approached the gate, "nothing to worry about. Just walk up and ask where I can find Winter."
The guard stifled a yawn as the blonde woman walked up to the gate. Before Yang could speak, he moved his pike to block her way. "If you've got a grievance with the crown, the Queen's not taking audiences today. She's spending the day with her family. If you've need of a place to stay for the night, the crown will provide you with lodgings until tomorrow."
"Okay, well, I'm not here to see the queen, I'm actually looking for Winter, uh, Dame Winter I guess would be her title. She's a knight. The queen's sister?" Yang added weakly, seeing disbelief on the guard's face.
He looked Yang up and down, taking her travel-worn appearance and plain clothing. "And what," he asked with a sneer, "would the likes of you have to do with the Queen's sister? Off with you."
"That's a personal matter between me and her. And if you're not going to help me, please let me through so I can look for her myself." She tried stepping past the guard, but he brought his pike up to her chest. "I told you to shove off, didn't I?"
"Put that away before I feed it to you," Yang growled. She could feel the fire starting to burn in her belly. Not now, she prayed. She was trying to keep this quiet...
"Like you could. Now piss off before I run you through." He jabbed his pike in the blonde woman's face, hoping she'd take the hint.
There was a soft pop and suddenly the guard found himself face to face with a large reptilian snout. "Now I'm going to ask once more, politely, where is Dame Winter? I really need to speak with her," the dragon rumbled.
The guard fainted. His partner dropped his pike with a clatter and ran screaming into the castle. Yang sighed. So much for doing this the easy way. She sat back on her haunches and rocked the basket she'd been carrying back and forth. Someone was bound to show up to 'sort things out' in short order; maybe they'd be more reasonable.
The sound of running men in armor made Weiss look up from where the twins were chasing each other around the garden. Poor Kali had stumbled and fallen again; thankfully this time she hadn't started crying again and just sat up on her knees. Or maybe she'd spotted a bug again, given the way she was staring at the ground in front of her. If so, it was best to make sure she didn't try to eat it.
A guard captain knelt in front of her, a squad of pikemen behind him. "Your majesty, there's been a disturbance at the castle gate. There's a, well, a dragon."
"A dragon!" Weiss stood, wishing she was still in the habit of wearing the enchanted blade her now-wife had forged for her. "I assume the guard has been called out? Has it hurt anyone yet?"
"Well, no," the captain mumbled, coming to his feet. "All it's really done so far is scare the gate guard and ask to see your sister. Oh, and breathe fire at anyone that gets close, but it hasn't hit anyone yet, thank the gods."
With a sigh, Blake closed her book and stood next to Weiss, dodging Willow along the way. "And the fact that a dragon hasn't killed or injured anyone yet, despite breathing fire at anyone that gets close, tells us what, captain?"
"That it's not very good at breathing fire?" The captain was sweating now; dragons and magic were somewhat beyond his expertise.
"That it doesn't want to hurt anyone, captain," Weiss said with a snort. "So if it's asking to see my sister, send a messenger to the chapterhouse of the Order of the Swan, informing her of what's going on and asking her what business a dragon has with her, and would she be so kind as to come and tell it to go away. Politely, of course. For now, I'll go speak with the beast. It isn't every day one meets a dragon. Come along, Blake. Sorcery may be useful if things go wrong."
"But your majesty-"
Against the protests of, well, everyone but her wife Blake (who knew better), Weiss stepped out into full view of the dragon. Currently, the palace guard and the city watch were doing their best to keep everyone out of view, but she could still spot a few stray faces peering out of windows. Reminding herself that a queen should never show fear, she strode to where the golden-scaled beast was curled around a basket that it seemed oddly protective of, stopping at what she judged to be as far as it could lunge. "State your business, dragon," she snapped.
It looked up from the basked and narrowed its lilac eyes. "You're not Winter. You're her sister, the queen, right? Well, my business is with her. Would your majesty be so kind as to let me speak with her? You have my word, I'm not angry with her or anything, I won't harm her, and afterward, I'll be on my way."
"You've caused quite a bit of commotion, dragon and-"
"Yang."
"Excuse me?" Weiss said sharply, annoyed at the interruption.
"It's my name, Yang. Please don't call me 'dragon' like I'm some sort of dumb beast."
"Fine. Your name is Yang. Now, what is this-"
Again Weiss was interrupted, this time by a large weighted net being launched from behind the fountain, entangling the Yang. A woman in the livery of the Order of the Owl stood up, holding what looked like an overly-complicated crossbow. "Yes, my net-launcher works! Now they've got to let me try it on a griffon hunt. We can capture one alive then."
Yang tested the net, only to find herself well and truly caught in the sticky ropes. "I just wanted to talk to Winter, just for a few minutes," she moaned shifting as best she could to cover her face with her forepaws. "Please, just let me talk to Winter and I will go, never to trouble you again, I promise."
"Yang? Is that you?"
Yang turned her head to peer sheepishly at where Winter was dismounting from her horse. "Yeah, it's me. Sorry about the fuss. I just really, really needed to talk to you."
Winter strode up to Yang, giving her an appraising look. "Do my eyes deceive me, or have you gotten larger?"
"Yeah, I had a growth spurt after-well, that's part of what I need to talk to you about. It's, ah, kinda something I wanted to talk to you in private about."
"Do you actually know this 'Yang', Winter?"
"Remember about two years ago, when you sent me off to sort out a remote mountain village with a dragon problem? Yang was that dragon." Winter sighed. "Squire Rose, why am I not surprised to see you here? Can you remove this sticky mess? I am acquainted for this dragon and will vouch for her behavior. And is that Squire Amitola I see peering out from behind the fountain as well? Again, not a surprise."
"Can do, Dame Winter. I made sure to come up with a solvent for the glue. It, ah, it works on horses a treat, but I dunno about dragon scales. This might sting a bit."
"Why am I not surprised to be your test subject again, sis? Go ahead," Yang said, flexing her wings against the net.
"Will do, Ya-wait, Yang? There's no way you're my sister, Yang. She's a lot smaller and not so, well.." Ruby stood there, the net launcher over her shoulder, scratching her head.
"Not so dragony? Yeah, it's me. And I promise I'll explain after you get this off me and I have my little chat with Winter, okay?" Ruby applied the solvent (it did sting) and Yang shooed everyone off, before once again picking up the basket and showing Winter what was inside. It wasn't more than a moment before a "WHAT?!" rang across the courtyard loud enough to make Weiss wince.
Finally, Winter grabbed Yang by the arm, half-dragging her and the basket over to her where her sister and Blake waited. "Show them," Winter snapped. Yang moved the blankets in the basket so they could see a white-haired baby in the basket. "Weiss, Blake, meet your niece, Zephyr. She is apparently mine and Yang's child."
"Oh. Um, how? I'm pretty sure that two women can't make a child accidentally," Weiss stammered in surprise.
"And how, exactly, did you and Blake conceive little Kali and Willow, then?" Winter asked, arching an eyebrow.
"Well, magic, but that took a ritual. You would have noticed," Blake answered, peering down at the child. "She does resemble both of you, in a way."
"Yeah, she does. And as for the other bit, um, dragon?" Yang added, pursing her lips. By all accounts, wizards did not approve of dragons, and she really wasn't sure she wanted to test the idea with her daughter around.
"Speaking of which, you said you'd explain, sis. And, oh, she's adorable! Must get her looks from Winter," Ruby said, cooing at Zephyr.
"Hey! And yeah, I'll explain. Just… not here in front of everyone, okay?"
"Fine. We'll adjourn to the garden. Have a lunch set up there and we can talk. Squire Rose, that includes you, I suppose."
"Okay," Yang took a deep breath as Ruby played with Zephyr on her lap, "I'm gonna have to explain some stuff about dragons that I'm really not supposed to.
"See, dragons are born human, but they have one dragon parent, even if they haven't actually manifested. In my case, it was my mother, who left me with me and Ruby's dad not long after I was born. At a certain age, things get weird. Their dragon powers start manifesting."
Ruby looked up. "Is that when the back shed caught fire?"
"Yeah, that was me, although it honestly was an accident. The powers all come gradually, no rhyme or reason. Like one day I woke up covered in scale. Freaked me out pretty bad. Eventually, I decided it was too dangerous for me to be around my family, so I left."
"Dad was pretty worried. He searched for you for a long time," Ruby said softly.
"Yeah, I owe him an explanation too, I guess. Somewhere along the way, I met up with another dragon, an old one, maybe the oldest one around. He explained everything, set me straight on a few things.
"So I made a home high in the mountains. Nice and isolated, with a village nearby in case I needed something. Except I wasn't quite careful enough."
"And that's where Yang and I met," interrupted Winter. "We saved the village from bandits, and Yang and the villagers came to an arrangement. And that's the last I saw of her."
"Yes, but how are you sure this is Winter's child, Yang? I see she has white hair, but that's not exclusive to the Schnee family," Weiss said, looking between Yang and Winter. "Is there something you're not telling us?"
"Well..." Yang started, only to have Winter interrupt. "Yang and I did pass an evening together before the bandits attacked the village."
"And I hadn't been with anyone for a long time before Winter, and not after, either," Yang added.
"Fine," Weiss snapped, rubbing the bridge of her nose. "Chancellor Ironwood, where does this leave us regarding Zephyr, legally speaking?"
Ironwood cleared his throat. "Well, assuming Winter intends to officially recognize Zephyr as her child—" Winter snorted; as if she'd do anything else—"then that would place her fourth in the line of succession. I, um, I hesitate to ask, but is the child a dragon? Is there any way to tell?"
Yang shook her head. "I was told that not every child of a dragon will become one, but the guy who explained things was kinda vague about that."
"Then that creates a problem." Weiss stood, pacing back and forth, tapping her teeth. "Right now, dragons are regarded as dangerous monsters, to be slain on sight. Which rather conflicts with having one in the line of succession, doesn't it?
"I think a royal decree is in order, stating that dragons are now recognized as a sentient race, alongside humans, faunus, dwarves, and elves. With all the rights, responsibilities, and privileges thereof, etc, etc. Draft something up, Chancellor Ironwood, make sure it's hard for someone to get around. That'll still allow us to take care of dragons that are a problem while ensuring that dragons that just want to be left alone can live in peace. Will that suffice, Yang?"
"Uh, yeah!" It was better than Yang had dared hope. "I mean, I didn't want to do what my mother did and drop Zephyr on Winter's lap and bolt. I figured I at least ought to let Winter know about Zephyr and explain things."
Winter smiled over at Zephyr. "I think we can say that both you and Zephyr will be well taken care of. I never thought I'd have children, but the gods have a sense of humor, don't they?"
"They do indeed," Yang said with a smile, reaching over to lay a hand on Winter's. "They do indeed."