Chapter 18
(Blake POV)
One year until marriage, three hundred and sixty-two days remain…
My desire would be to spend the day with Weiss, but I find myself too busy to do so.
At first light I attend breakfast privately with Queen Salem. We take a light meal of warm tea and toasts with jam. Our discussion surrounds general goods. The trading of highly sought tropical plants found only on the island of Menagerie. The meeting goes well, although it lasted longer than I would have liked it too.
I take an audience with King Ozma midmorning. He tells me that everything had been collected, our stock packed away upon the wagon that Yang demanded for. All that's left is to wait for our weapons to be sharpened and our armor to be repaired. The artificers promised to complete the task as soon as possible. Our discussion touched slightly on his lofty expectations, reminding me of what I agreed to.
Early afternoon has me walking the streets of Vale, considering any extra supplies. It's paramount that I select a gift for the Chieftain I'll be visiting. It's Faunus custom to bring gifts and offerings when asking for a favor. A request like mine demands a costly offering. Something special, one of a kind. Bag of coin in hand, I think of all the offerings my father made. Livestock, falcons, gold, and fine cloth. He has made many offerings over the years, each of them special. Making my purchase, my gift is contained inside a small wooden box. It will have to do. I can only hope it will please the chieftain.
Returning to the castle, I find that Yang has locked herself away. She's likely to spend a few days with her little family. Probably offering Winter a very fond farewell before we leave for the outermost villages in Vale.
Weiss is also occupied, busy with missives from across the kingdoms. Letters piling her desk need to be given responses before we leave. There is no shortage of work to do, either. She is a highly prized princess, and it does concern me when I consider my rivals. I have my own letters to tend to, of course. Many of my suitors hail from the other tribes. Particularly those in search of a matriarch. Even if I were interested, I'd never be able to accept. The weight of Menagerie falls onto me.
No matter what, that fact will forever hold true. It doesn't particularly matter if I'm successful in cultivating a kingdom or not. I will always be fated to lead my father's people.
I manage to return to the castle in time for a lunch with Ozpin. The two of us discuss the route that Yang and I plotted the night before. We need approval to use some of the paths, which he freely gives. He also approves alternative routes in case the weather takes a turn. He hands me a short stack of letters for my introduction, as is customary on journeys like these.
The meetings leave me exhausted. I head down the long hallway and back towards my room. A split in the passage has me looking down the wing that Weiss resides in. I can't help but feel my feet carry me to the door of a communal sitting room. I knock, waiting for one of the Schnee royal servants to let me inside. Glynda opens the door, promising to notify Weiss of my arrival, though she doesn't promise that Weiss will actually come to greet me. I step inside to wait. Glynda enters the princess's bedroom. I can only hope for an affirmative answer as the sounds of lovemaking reach my sensitive hearing.
It seems Yang is providing her queen with a very fond farewell indeed…
If only humans could hear themselves. They'd know that a simple door is not enough to stifle the sounds of a woman amidst her greatest pleasure. I can only smirk, wondering to myself if they realize I've come to visit, able to overhear them. Thankfully, I don't have to wait long for Weiss to appear from the confines of her own room, smiling at me as she approaches.
"Your visit honors me." She states pleasantly.
"I'd like to ask your company to the castle gardens before the dinner chimes." I ask her hopefully. Partially because I'd like to leave before I hear any more of her elder sister's moaning. Partially because I'd like to enjoy a few moments, no matter how brief, with my own lovely lady. Both outcomes would be most favorable. "It would please me greatly."
"I'm afraid she cannot." Glynda interrupts. "No one would be there to accompany you. I have been tasked with the oversight of a child. I cannot amuse your whims right now."
"You will not be there to accompany us at all in a few days." I reply with a soft shrug. "Many of the atlesian rules will not hold to their usual standard once we are on the road. I would think that Queen Winter thought of this when she agreed to let the princess come with me. If you cannot trust me to uphold some level of decorum now, what does that imply when we are sleeping beneath the stars with only an arm's length of space between us?"
"A great deal, trust me." Glynda says rather dryly. "A great deal more than I'd think anyone would care to admit."
"Well, I certainly can't stay here." I say, gesturing to the racket coming from the bedroom door. "Not unless I'd like to hear every sordid detail of the lovemaking going on in the next room. Now, wouldn't that be a scandal. Thankfully, I am easily bought off, with the right bribe of course. A little time with the princess is enough for me."
Glynda frowns at me as my ears flick against the noise. Finally she sighs. "No longer than an hour, You'll keep your wits about you." She orders swiftly. "Do you understand?"
"Of course." I say.
"It never occurred to me to do otherwise." Weiss cuts in.
"Princess, I mean it." She says, addressing Weiss with her firmest tone. "Do not let a single urge of depravity take you. You must uphold your honor."
"As if I intended to do anything unsavory in the slightest." Weiss scoffed. "May I go now?"
"Fine, fine, but I'll not have the queen infuriated at me if you choose to misbehave."
Our victory in place, I open the door, allowing Weiss to exit first before I close the door behind us. Honestly, I close it much more firmly than I needed to. Still, with Weiss at my side, I feel no guilt over my actions, only elation. "May I offer you an escort?" I ask, offering my arm for her to take if she wishes.
"That would break a rule you know." Weiss says conspiratorially, even as she take up my offering. The two of us walking side by side.
"Rules already broken in the past." I reply agreeably. "If I believed for an instant your sister followed such strict moral protocol, I'd abide by it too. However, you know Yang as well as I do. If she wasn't even allowed something as simple as this, she would have gone insane."
"True." Weiss replies softly, enjoying this moment as we traverse the castle. "We will be leaving soon, you said?"
"A few days." I tell her. "Are you worried?"
"A little, perhaps." Weiss tells me, but I can tell she suffers from a great deal more anxiety than she feels willing to express. "The wagon, is it really so small?"
"The wagon is, yes. Although I've packed away separate tents for sleeping. I would never be so rude as to expect you to sleep by my side." I can feel how stiff she is, and I worry that she may be having second thoughts. "I realize that you'll be lacking the many comfort of home, but I promise, I'll do the best I can to make the trip as easy as possible."
"Yet Winter thinks it will not be easy enough…"
"She said that?"
"Yes, while I was being fitted for combat attire. That experience alone was…" Weiss shakes her head, refusing to elaborate on that topic. It's no question why.
"It was the first time you've been fitted for battle, isn't it?" I ask, Weiss merely nodding as her eyes fall to the ground. "Among the Faunus, being fitted for armor is a great honor among our people. Only our strongest warriors are bequeathed leathers by our forebears. Although, given the purity culture found within Atlas, I could see why it might be troubling to you."
"It didn't bother you at all?"
"Nudity rarely does." I say simply. "Weiss, I know that this may come as a shock to you, but the physical form is merely that. It's the value we place upon that form that matters. I believe that is what makes the problem. I've seen naked people, men and women, all my life. I was raised to know that a body is nothing more than our soul given physical form. The soul is what matters, not the vessel that it's housed in."
"And yet, isn't the physical form the one that we are usually most attracted to?" She queries a brow upraised in thought. "Generally, that is the form that inspires lust, isn't it?"
A sound argument to make, I suppose. It is amusing that she brings the topic up. It seems as though it has weighed on her mind all of her life. Then again, being attracted to the same gender might have influenced the thought more than once. I can only consider what havoc it played in her youth, wondering if such an attraction might be unnatural. The late king of atlas was a monster on more way than one.
"It has been my experience that lust burns away quite quickly." I tell her. "I realize that it might seem intimidating to you, but lust is merely that of chasing chemicals produced by the body during moments of passion. Without love to go along with it, lust cannot survive for any real length of time. Love comes from the soul, and it cannot be fabricated. This is why it is important to set aside baser urges at first, because the lust will die eventually. Love, when kept aflame, rarely dies."
"And yet, my mind turns to it. I cannot stop it." She looks up at me, a moistness lingering at the edges of endless blue. "I think to myself if we could have a moment alone, something like this, that we could indulge. Even just a kiss, something so simple, and yet I've never experienced it."
Ah, yes, well Atlas is certainly to blame for that.
"A kiss?" I say aloud. "You'd like one so badly that you'd desire it even here in this very hall?"
Weiss says nothing, a beautiful blush on her cheeks as she looks away again. It would be hard not to desire the experience, especially at her age.
I cannot help but be compelled by the request. Still, it may be too early for that. If someone were to catch us, it would spell trouble. "I think about it too, of course." I admit then, as the door to the gardens becomes visible after we turn down another passage. "I have chased those chemicals in my life many times. When the seasonal urge to mate strikes me, it's unavoidable. It's almost painful not to indulge. That said, when courting someone properly as a Faunus, there are a few things that come before kissing."
"Such as?" Weiss murmurs curiously.
"Things, I feel you may enjoy more for their novelty." I reply vaguely. "However, it is not the right time, so I'll have to ask you to wait."