Chapter VI: Arrangements

November 5, 2006 3:25 PM Vale Standard Time (VST)

"Wow, so you're pretty good at fighting then, right?" Ruby asked the young lady of house Nikos, Pyrrha. The three of them were sitting in the grass in the outside garden where Jaune and Ruby had been training some hours earlier.

Pyrrha shrugged. "I suppose. I never really wanted to do it, but father insisted that I learn it to protect myself just in case. It just sort of came to me naturally, I guess."

"So you're pretty, smart, and a great warrior, and you're the same age as Jaune!" Ruby said with a wide smile. "Sorry, Jaune, but I want to be her knight now."

"Hey! What happened to that whole BFF thing earlier?" he asked defensively.

"Sorry, Jaune. She's just cooler than you are in every way."

Pyrrha chuckled softly. "I don't know about that. I'm sure Mr. Arc is just fine."

"Ah, just Jaune is fine. Father said that this was informal, and we're the same age too," Jaune said with a shy smile.

"Are you sure?" Pyrrha asked hesitantly. "I don't want to come off as too familiar when we barely know each other."

"Nah, it's fine!" Ruby smiled. "You can call me Sir Ruby!"

"Not yet you're not," Jaune jabbed, eliciting another giggle from Pyrrha.

"You two are quite close, aren't you? Are you betrothed?" she asked.

"Woah, woah! Slow down there. N. O." Ruby said assuredly, her arms crossed into an X. "I love Jaune, but not that much. Besides, I'm just a commoner. That don't fly around here."

"Oh, I assumed you were nobility since you lived in the castle. I'm sorry for getting ahead of myself."

"No. I used to be homeless. My mom and I lived on the streets of Vale until she got sick and died when I was little. Jaune's dad found me about six or so months after that and took me in."

"Oh my, I'm sorry to hear that. My condolences."

Ruby shrugged. "Its fine, I guess. I mean, I loved my mom, but my life's pretty good now. I just wish she could have lived to see me now."

"I'm sure she'd be proud of you, Ruby," Jaune said, giving her a small hug.

"Hey, don't hug me right now. You're embarrassing me in front of our guest."

"So you're training to be a knight then, Ruby?" Pyrrha asked.

"Uh huh. Noel tried to make me a lady when I first got here, but I loved watching the squires and knights train. I always wanted to be a knight, like in all the fairy tales." She elbowed Jaune roughly. "I just never expected my damsel to always be in such distress."

"Why do you make fun of me like that, Ruby?" Jaune said with a sigh.

"Hey, I'm just teasing, Mr. Abs." She laughed. "You never answered my question about that earlier."

"We've been training a lot lately. More so since we got back from town on Halloween. It's only natural that I put on some muscle after all that exercising." He sighed again. "I told you we'd get in trouble for that, didn't I?"

Ruby laughed. "Yet you haven't taken that bracelet off, have you, BFF?"

Instinctively, Jaune covered his left wrist with his right hand and blushed. "S-so what. It's a keepsake from my best friend."

Pyrrha laughed full force at that. "You two are quite cute together, you know. I can definitely see that you two cherish each other in your own way. You sure you aren't more than just friends?"

"Not you too, Pyrrha," Jaun said dejectedly.

Ruby simply stuck her tongue out. "Nope. Jaune's not my type. More multiple reasons."

"That's 'cause you prefer-OOF!"

Ruby's fist landed a solid blow on his abdomen. "Don't you dare finish that sentence."

Pyrrha stared at the two of them in confusion for a moment before her eyes went wide with realization. "O-oh. Oh! Oh, I'm sorry, Ruby. I couldn't tell."

"It's not exactly the best kept secret, Ruby. I'll bet most of the castle staff have figured it out by now," Jaune stated.

"Well, I'm still not comfortable with saying it out loud, okay. My secret, my rules!" Ruby yelled. She met Pyrrha's gaze, who was stifling a laugh now. Ruby paused for a moment before a grin crossed her own lips, and the three of them all bust out laughing at once.

"So, what do you think, Orpheus?" Vincent asked as he sipped from his brandy.

Orpheus took in a small mouthful and seemed to gauge the taste before swallowing and going mmm. "Surprisingly, Vincent, I had been thinking the same thing for quite some time."

Vincent laughed. "We really are one in the same, aren't we?"

"I assume you have terms and conditions."

"Only prolonged peace between our courts, and hopefully the others as well."

Orpheus smiled. "Yeah, I suppose Qrow and Jacques would want to celebrate the occasion as well." He sighed. "I do wish those two would get along better though."

"It can't be helped. The Summer and Winter Courts have always been at each others' throats. The alliance during the Hundred Year War was always seen as temporary."

"I have a counter proposition, Vincent," Orpheus said as he took another sip from his brandy.

"Oh?" Orpheus spoke quickly and precisely, eliciting an amused smile from Vincent as he listened. "I think that's a wonderful idea," he said when Lord Nikos had finished. "Should we tell them today?"

"We might as well. They'll need time to adjust to the concept. I know I did when I was told at that age."

"You and me both, friend."

"Dinner?" Orpheus asked.

"Dinner." Vincent agreed.

"Say, Pyrrha," Ruby started. "I have a really, really dumb question."

"There's no such thing as a dumb question, Ruby. What do you want to ask?" Pyrrha answered.

"Would you fight me?"

"What!?" Jaune asked, alarmed. "Ruby, you can't do that! What if she gets hurt? We'd be responsible for injuring Lord Orpheus' daughter!"

"I want to see how good she is," Ruby confessed. "And we didn't get to finish our drills earlier. I'm not ready to rest."

"You can't be serious."

"I don't mind," Pyrrha said with a polite smile. "Though, I hope neither of us gets hurt."

"Of course not," Ruby said with a smile. "Just a friendly little spar. Practice weapons, rules, and everything!" The two girls turned to Jaune. "Jaune can be the judge and everything!"

"Why me?" Jaune sighed.

"If you're not comfortable with it, Jaune, then I'll decline Ruby's challenge," Pyrrha stated plainly.

"No, it's fine I guess. I'd never hear the end of it if I said no." He turned to Ruby. "Just don't injure her, Ruby! I don't want to get yelled at again!"

"Yes, sir, my lord!" Ruby said with a mock salute.

"I'm being serious. I know how good you are, Ruby."

"We'll be fine, Jaune. Relax." She turned to Pyrrha. We usually practice here in the garden." She pointed at a nearby rack with practice weapons laid out. "Pick your poison, Pyrrha."

The two girls approached the weapons; Ruby chose a sword, and Pyrrha grabbed a spear. "Jaune," Pyrrha began. "If we're going with competitive rules, would you draw us a circle in the ground?"

"Hm? Sure, I guess." Grabbing a practice sword, Jaune walked around in a wide perimeter and marked a circle in the grass and dirt.

"You lose when you give up, are disarmed, or step outside of the circle," Pyrrha explained. "Understand?"

"Understood," Ruby said with a smile. "May the best girl win!"

"Good luck to you as well, Ruby."

Jaune stepped back and sighed. "I hope we don't get into trouble again. Oh well. Ready?"

"Ready!" the two girls yelled.

"Where have our children gone off too?" Orpheus asked curiously as he and Vincent walked the grounds.

"They're probably in the garden. It's Ruby's favorite spot, and Jaune usually just goes where she goes," Vincent explained.

"Oh, is he smitten with her?"

"Not quite," Vincent laughed. "More like he doesn't know how to say no to women."

"Ha!" Orpheus laughed. "He'll be a perfect husband someday. We may be lords, but our wives hold the real power."

"It's a shame that Reign couldn't live to see her son grow up," Vincent stated nostalgically. "I'm sure she'd be proud."

"She would be, my friend. I'm sure of it."

"Well, enough of the past. Can't change it, unfortunately. The garden is just around this corner here." The two men rounded the wall just in time to see Jaune swing his straight down.

"Start!" he shouted.

"Oh?" Orpheus said curiously. "This'll be good."

"Indeed," Vincent said with a smile.

Ruby began to circle clockwise with Pyrrha mirroring her; the two young girls were gauging each other, trying to decide who would move first. Ruby made the first real move as she leapt forward with a lunge to Pyrrha's core, which was promptly parried and returned with a counter strike. Ruby herself blocked the counter and jumped back to avoid another strike.

"That was good," she said to the red head. "When Jaune parries that he leaves himself wide open. I couldn't avoid that if I tried."

"Thank you," Pyrrha said with a smile. "You're strike was quite fast. I almost didn't have enough time to react." Her eyes narrowed. "No more commentary, Ruby. Concentrate."

"Right!" Steadying her left hand for another strike, she lunged. Another parry, another counter, and that counter was parried and countered as well. The two girls seemed to be evenly matched for what felt like ages to Ruby. She blocked another of Pyrrha's counters and lunged again. Pyrrha parried it and went for an offensive strike, lunging her spear straight into Ruby's core. Seeing it coming, Ruby used her agility and limber nature to twist and contort her frame to dodge out of the way, just as she did to Jaune earlier in the morning. Jackpot! she thought as she prepared to twist her blade into Pyrrha's back.

The next thing she knew she felt the shaft of the spear slam into her torso, knocking the wind out of her and pushing her to the ground. When she looked up she saw the blunt edge of the spear was up against her throat. "Dead," Pyrrha said with a polite smile. "You give up?"

Ruby's eyes were as wide as saucers. "Y-yeah. You win."

"Sorry about that," Pyrrha said as she pulled the spear away and offered Ruby a helping hand to stand up. "I wasn't expecting you to be so flexible. I reacted as best I could."

"I-I should be the one saying that. I wasn't expecting you to be so fast!" She giggled as she stood up with Pyrrha's help. "I see what Alchemy was saying now. I gotta be careful about that."

"Still, it's quite good. If you can get a little faster, I'd imagine you give a lot of fighters a run for their money."

"Thanks. You're amazing. Like, the best!"

Vincent and Orpheus both began to clap happily. "Well done, girls," Vincent said with a smile.

"Very well done, indeed," Orpheus smiled. "It's been some time since someone actually gave my Pyrrha a challenge."

"F-father!" Pyrrha said, shocked.

"Uh oh," Jaune muttered.

"Uh...hello," Ruby said nervously.

"No need to be worried, children," Orpheus assured. "We were merely spectating. And we enjoyed it."

Vincent nodded. "You're certainly improving, Ruby. I'm proud of you. I'm sure Jaune will be safe in your hands."

"So...you're not mad at us?" Jaune asked cautiously.

"Do I look like Noel?" Ruby laughed as Vincent said the words as seriously as possible. "No, you're all fine. We just came to tell you that dinner will be ready soon. And that we have something we'd like to discuss."

"We'll be there shortly, father," Jaune said with a polite bow.

Dinner was served, and Orpheus and Vincent dropped the bombshell. Jaune and Pyrrha sat blushing and shocked across from each other, while Ruby sat next to Jaune and simply said, "Woah."

"So...this is official?"

"Not yet. Just a verbal agreement at the moment. We'll get the documentation sorted out tonight, or perhaps the morning," Orpheus said with a smile. "I hope this isn't too much for the two of you."

"N-no," Pyrrha said nervously. "Just...sudden. We barely know each other, after all."

"That's the way of these things," Vincent said with a smile. "We wanted you two to meet before we made the final decision. It seems like you get along just fine, so I'm sure everything will be okay."

Ruby covered her mouth, trying not to laugh. "Sh-shut up, Ruby! This is serious!" Jaune whispered.

"I know," Ruby whispered back. "It's just too much at once. I can't help myself."

"I hope the two of you will grow to be even closer," Vincent said with a smile. "When you are both of age, Jaune, Pyrrha, you will be married and the Spring and Autumn Courts will fuse into a single entity."

"Congratulations," Orpheus said with a smile of his own. "The two of you are betrothed."

Jaune and Pyrrha met each other's gaze, and both of them blushed profusely.