Ruby looked like she'd gotten quite the lecture, Weiss observed when her and Yang came back inside. But she also had an air of satisfaction about her. Weiss wasn't sure why, but it might have had somthing to do with whatever she was shoving in her pocket. A string?

Yang and Blake had rented two rooms at an inn nearby. Each room with only one bed, Weiss discovered. Which was fine, she'd shared a bed with Ruby before, in the other inn. But... She hadn't shared a bed with Ruby while simultaneously being aware of her personal feelings for the girl. Uh-oh. It was getting late, so Yang and Blake left Ruby and Weiss to their own devices in their room. Weiss and Ruby sat on opposite sides of the bed. Weiss was hyper aware of Ruby's presence. Every little move she made, made Weiss want to jump. Why was she so tense? So scared? Ruby felt the same! This was simple!

Weiss started having an argument with the dark side of her mind. Just tell her, and it'll be fine! But what if it isn't. How could it not be?! You've never been in a relationship before. Look at your family relations, do you think you could keep a girlfriend if you can't even act friendly with your father or brother? You'll bore her soon enough. She's a dragon, she could leave you in an instant. You already tried to leave her once, she wouldn't feel bad for doing the same. She'll leave you just like mother, just like Winter, just like everyone does. But what if she doesn't? What if she does.

"AHHHGG!" Weiss banged her head against the wall (on purpose) in frustration, startling Ruby.

"Uh. You ok Weiss..?" Ruby said from the other side of the bed.

Weiss buried her face in her hands, angry at her inability to do that one simple thing. Confess. Confessss! "No." Weiss mumbled through her hands. "My brain hurts."

"Does it hurt because you hit it? Or because its thinking of bad things?" Ruby wormed her way onto Weiss's side of the bed, her head next to Weiss's thighs. She scuttled up a little more and used them as a pillow, gazing gazing up at Weiss. Her silver eyes almost glowed in the dimly lit room. A lot about Ruby glowed. Her smile, her cheeriness, her– stop! Stop! Weiss shook her head, clearing her mind of her dark thoughts, and more recent gay thoughts. She rested a hand on Ruby's head, fluffling up her hair a little. Ruby closed her eyes and curled into a ball as much as she could while still resting her head in Weiss's lap. Weiss smiled softly. She'd begun smiling a lot more since she'd met Ruby.

"I love you Weiss." Ruby said quietly, happily nuzzling Weiss's thighs while her hair was played with. I love you too, Weiss thought to herself. She almost wished that her habit of accidentally speaking her thoughts allowed would show through just then. But it didn't. weiss vowed to herself that she would tell Ruby her feelings the very next day.

...Which of course, didn't happen. The next week was mostly uneventful. Ruby and Weiss wandered about the city, getting used to it. Weiss did a quest on her own, killing some shadow wolves again. Since the trees were so big and spread apart in the forest near this town, she couldn't use her 'gather a bunch and stab their hearts all at once' method. She had to track them down one by one, which took a good two days.

Weiss had so far successfully avoided the guy her and Ruby had taken the dragon scale from. Or more like, he just wasn't around. Odd. Weiss often thought she felt someone watching her, but a few times she saw blake around a corner or something after that feeling, so she began ignoring it. Which may not have been very wise.

It was all fine and peachy (except for Weiss's constant gay struggle to try and confess her love for Ruby) until one afternoon, when Weiss and Ruby were sitting on a bench together eating street food. Weiss spent her whole life in a castle, so it was fun to try all these fried and grease covered options that seemed so abundant in the city. Weiss had just finished her 'mystery meat on a stick' meal, when she saw him. Him. The guy from before, who they had stolen the dragon scale from. Weiss choked on air and hurriedly flipped her hood up, to try and hide herself.

Ruby noticed her sudden movements. "Hm? Whats wrong Weiss?" She asked. Ruby looked around, and saw the guy. "Oh! Him!" she then became very quiet.

Weiss prayed to every god in existence that he walk just walk on by, and not notice them. It seemed the gods weren't answering calls today. He strode over to them and sat next to Ruby, sighing melancholically. Weiss felt like her heart was about to burst from her chest.

"Have you ever been in love?" He asked Ruby wistfully, as if he were barely aware of her presence.

Ruby answered immediately, before Weiss could even tell her not to. "Yeah! I'm in love with someone right now!" She chirped.

The guy sighed again. "Love can be such a painful emotion.."

Ruby tilted her head. "Why? Isn't it a good thing to love?"

"Yes, but your heart feels 'crushed' when you can't see them again." He droned on.

"Oh yeah that is true. I'd be very sad if I couldn't see Weiss for a long time." Ruby nodded.

The guy payed her answer no mind. "I don't even know her name, and yet she's stolen my heart..! Oh cruelest of fates!"

Ruby sneezed. Her sneeze knocked her hood back, letting her face come into full view. The guy gasped. "You!"

"Me!" Ruby said back. "...me, Why?"

"You were with her! The white haired girl, your friend! In the town square! I thought nothing of it at the time, but that meeting must have been fate! I was visited by her in a dream~ We're destined for eachother~" He swooned over his own words.

"What?! No!" Ruby yelped, scaring the guy. "I fell in love with Weiss first! She's mine!" she glared angrily at him.

"So you're a–" he looked Ruby over, thought a moment, and shrugged. "–yeah I could peg you as that type. Aha! So Weiss is her name? How beautiful! And, just because you say you love her, doesn't mean she loves you, am I correct?" One look at Ruby's face was all it took for him to know that Weiss hadn't told Ruby she loved her yet. "Surly, she'll come to realize that I'M the best suited for her!" The guy looked at Ruby and smirked. "I bet she isn't even gay."

"I don't know what that means but she probably is!" Ruby barked.

Weiss, still sitting on the other side of Ruby, felt like she wanted to crawl into a hold and die.

The guy stood up. "I'm going to find her and ask her on a date." He beamed, walking away.

"Wait!" Ruby called. He glanced back at her. "I'm Ruby! Tell me your name so I can curse it in my sleep!" She screeched.

He waved a hand at her and walked off. "Henry Marigold!"

"I think I hate the color blue now." Ruby grumbled, watching him run his hand over his dull blueish colored hair while he left. She looked over at Weiss, who was peeking out from under her cloak at Ruby. "...oh, and now I love it again." She said as soon as she saw Weiss's eyes.

"Thanks for not blowing my cover." Weiss let out a breath of air she felt like she'd been holding the last 5 minuets.

Ruby glared at her. "I told you he was trying to court you. Hmpf." She folded her arms and looked away.

Weiss almost giggled at Ruby's actions. "Come on, you know I wouldn't go out with someone like him. Give me a little credit Ruby." Weiss bonked her on the head lightly.

Weiss could breath a sigh of relief. The guy, Henry, wasn't looking for her because he remembered her being with a dragon. He was just in love with her, that was all. She could turn him down and that would be the end of it. Or at least she hoped it'd be that simple. Maybe she could confess to Ruby and become her girlfriend, thus eliminating any chance of him thinking he could get with her! But, was it ok to use something like that as an excuse to say it..? Ah to hell with it, of course it was. Weiss had been waiting for something like this to come up all week! Tonight I'll tell her, Weiss thought. Tonight, I'll confess.

...yeah fat chance. Later that night, Weiss was in their room at the inn with Ruby. And once again, a similar situation played out before her. Her and Ruby sitting on the bed, in silence. She needed to break the ice, get some, conversation going! "Ruby?" Weiss asked. Ruby looked over at her. "Do you want to go on a quest with me tomorrow?"

Ruby beamed. "Yeah! Yeah I do!" she playfully got on her hands and knees on the bed, bouncing in place. She was like an adorable little puppy...! "Can I eat the stuff you kill?" Ruby asked excitedly.

Weiss blinked. "Uh, I suppose? if you're alright with shadow wolves."

Ruby nodded. "Yep! I like them, for eating. Their fur gets all kinda stuff out of my teeth when I eat them~ I had a bone from from a deer stuck in between my teeth for a month before I tried eating a shadow wolf to get it out!"

"How did you live?" Weiss wondered out loud.

"Huh?"

"Ah, sorry. I mean, how did you spend your time? As a dragon. You don't seem to like talking to people much, except me and Yang. Did you have dragon friends?" Weiss asked.

Ruby paused, and sat in place, thinking. "I mostly just.. Flew around, and ate things, and slept.. My head was all fuzzy. Its become so much clearer since I was able to become human." Ruby lied back, her head resting on the pillow at then top of the bed. She spoke again, and Weiss adjusted her position to lie down next to Ruby. "Some dragons never go human, and they're still really smart. But, I think turning human for a little while helps your head clear. So you can, mature faster? I don't.. Know.." Ruby's expression was blank. "I don't think I ever even met any other dragons, besides my mom, Yang, and our uncle."

Ruby got real quiet, and curled up into a ball, facing Weiss. "Weiss.. If you're going to leave again, make sure to tell me. It really scared me when you left.. You were just fine walking out the door, just like mom.. And then you were gone." Weiss recalled Yang telling her that Ruby's mom had died. Oh... Her leaving, had reminded Ruby of the day her mother left and never returned. No wonder she'd been running after Weiss in so much of a panic, she'd thrown a pig. Weiss's heart ached. She wanted to comfort Ruby, to tell her that it would all be ok.

"Ruby, look at me." Weiss gently place placed hand under Ruby's chin and lifted it a little so their eyes could meet. "I'm here." She said softly. "I promise, that I will never abandon you with out warning ever again. And if I'm gone for more then a day and I didn't tell you anything about it, I'll expect you to come running after me to save me from whatever hole I fell into." She tacked that last sentence on in a light hearted manner.

"Metaphorical holes too?" Ruby smiled. Weiss nodded, her face rending a little. Ruby smiled again and rubbed her cheek against Weiss's hand. "Hey weeeeeisss?" Ruby purred. "Close your eyes for a second~" Weiss did without second thought. She heard Ruby rustle around for a second or two, and then speak again. "Ok, open."

Weiss opened her eyes to see a small heart shaped stone about the size of her pinky finger hanging from a necklace rope. The stone glowed. Not to the eyes, but it still had a presence of glowness. The scale. "You..?" A smile crept upon her lips.

"I carved it into a heart~ Sorry it took so long." Ruby said in a whisper. She put it around Weiss's neck, which was semi difficult since they were both laying down, but still manageable. Weiss felt it, its smooth cool shape resting against her chest now.

"Thankyou." Was all she could manage to say. A heart, Ruby had given her her heart. There was nothing Weiss could give her back that would top this act of affection. And, Ruby didn't even think Weiss loved her back, she was still waiting, so patient. Weiss took a deep breath, and moved closer to Ruby, so close their foreheads were touching. She could feel the heat from Ruby's body radiating off her, like a fire was blazing within her. Weiss closed her eyes, feeling happier and more at peace then she'd felt in years.

"I love you."