Author's Note: If you're reading this as it's being released, I realized that I left a small but important plot point out of Chapter 1, so I've made a tiny edit to it. The change is right near the beginning if you want to read it. Basically, dragons being able to disguise themselves as humans (a common ability in fantasy) is only an unsubstantiated rumor in this setting.

Chapter 3: A Royal Court

Winter tugged at the doublet she was wearing as she examined herself in the looking glass in her quarters. It was the morning after she had brought her royal guest to the castle, and she was making herself presentable for the king's court that would be held today. Deciding that her appearance was acceptable, she reached for a sword belt she had laid out earlier and tied it around her waist. Then she finished her ensemble by grabbing a sheathed saber which was leaning against the wall and tucking it into her belt.

The saber was not Winter's normal arming sword, but a ceremonial weapon instead. It would have been of little use in slaying a dragon, although the blade was still sharp enough to cut down an unarmored human. Winter's magical armor was also nowhere to be seen. She had returned it to the castle's vault where it usually resided when she wasn't actively hunting.

Winter gave her reflection an affirming nod, but her confidence was lacking today. She was loath to spend time in the king's presence, and Yang being there would add an extra element of unpredictability to the encounter. Winter had only known the princess for less than a day, but Yang was quite the firebrand. It was a quality that Winter admired, but there was a time and place for everything. A king's court was not the opportune moment to spit in the face of social protocol.

Suddenly, a scream echoed in the hallway outside of Winter's quarters. Winter's head snapped in the direction of the errant sound. She drew her sword and ran out her door without a second thought.

Winter didn't notice anything out of place as she hastily made her way down the corridor, but the moment she turned a corner she saw two of the castle's chambermaids who were obviously in distress. They were standing next to a partially open door. One was covering her eyes with her hand. The other was as red as a tomato and was wiping sweat off her brow with a cleaning rag.

"What's the matter?!" Winter asked.

The blushing maid pointed at the semi-open door. It was then that Winter realized the room she was standing in front of was the very same one she'd left Princess Yang in last night.

Alarmed, Winter charged through the door and burst into the room. She said, "Princess! Are you alright!?"

Yang was standing at the room's window, basking in the morning sunlight. She turned to Winter and casually said, "Yeah. Why?"

Now it was Winter's turn to blush, and she gave the maid outside a run for her money. The princess didn't have so much as a scrap of clothing on.

Winter spun around, but it was too late. This incident surely wouldn't help Winter repress the idle fantasies about the princess that had been trying to worm their way into her head.

"Uh…. Are you alright?" Yang asked.

"Quite alright!" Winter said, sounding more frantic than she'd intended. "But Her Highness doesn't appear to be dressed."

"Yeah?" Yang said. But then she added, "Oh. Right."

There was an awkward silence. Winter didn't know what to say or do, and she certainly wasn't going to turn back around. She returned her sword to her sheath to keep herself distracted, although she fumbled a bit with the blade.

Yang finally spoke up again. "So my dress kind of got torn up…."

"Yes, I had intended to remedy that issue this morning," Winter said. "The maid who prepared your quarters last night should have laid out a chemise for you."

"Huh? Oh! I wondered what that was for," Yang said.

There was the sound of cloth rustling which Winter hoped meant that Yang was getting dressed. It seemed the princess had some rather unusual notions about what was appropriate attire. Winter wondered if that was a quirk of Patch's royal family or if the whole island had a culture of immodesty. Although it could be that Yang was just weird.

Winter kept her back to Yang, although she was beginning to wonder how long it would take for the princess to finish getting dressed. But then a pair of arms wrapped around her, and she felt a body press up against her from behind.

"Boo!" Yang said as she hugged Winter.

Winter immediately went stiff. Not because she disliked the physical contact but because she did. She turned around, grateful to see that Yang was indeed wearing the chemise that had been provided for her.

Winter pulled herself out of Yang's embrace and cleared her throat. She said, "Now that that's taken care of, we have an important task to do before the king holds his royal court."

"What's that?" Yang asked.

"We need to get you to the seamstress," Winter said.

An hour or two later, Yang was posing in front of a full-length looking glass with Winter standing just behind her. Yang was dressed in an ice-blue gown worthy of a princess. The gown had been Winter's once upon a time, and the seamstress had done a magnificent job of altering it to fit Yang's frame given how little time she'd had. There was a reason she'd been employed by the Schnee royal family for longer than Winter had been alive.

Yang was absolutely preening as she admired herself in the mirror. It was clear that she was enamored with the gown.

"What do you think?" Yang asked.

"It will do for now," Winter said, looking Yang over with a critical eye. "We will need to get some proper gowns and dresses made for you. And I don't think blue is your color. Perhaps something in yellow."

"If we're going to play dress-up. I'm all yours," Yang said. Then she coyly added, "I'll wear whatever you want."

Winter managed not to blush at the enticing offer, but then some of her worries from earlier that morning resurfaced. Her expression grew serious, and she said, "Princess. May I offer you some advice?"

"What if I said no?" Yang asked teasingly.

"Then I would keep my counsel to myself," Winter said.

Yang's smile faded a little. She said, "You really take this whole princess thing seriously, don't you."

"Of course I do," Winter said, perplexed by Yang's statement.

After a moment's pause, Yang said, "Then I will too. What's your advice?"

Winter was still confused by what Yang was saying, but she supposed she should be grateful that the princess was willing to listen to her. She said, "The king is not known to be a jovial man. Your mission of diplomacy would be aided by you remembering that. His Majesty demands the respect he is due. But he will reciprocate in turn."

"I'll keep that in mind," Yang said. And for once, Winter believed her.

The gentle bellow of a horn suddenly rose up in the distance.

"What's that all about?" Yang asked.

"The king's court will begin soon," Winter said. "We should head to the keep. It wouldn't do for us to be late."

The grand hallway leading to the King of Atlas's throne room was not subtle. Each side of the passageway was lined with statues carved in the likenesses of kings and queens who had ruled over Atlas throughout the years, interspersed with paintings on the walls depicting glorious moments in the kingdom's history. Despite the early hour, there was a crowd of nobles gathered in the hallway already, all of them impatiently waiting in line to petition the king for some petty thing or another. However, thanks to Yang's royal status, she and Winter had been put at the front of the line.

A guard in full ceremonial dress was standing at the door that led to the throne room proper. He had a blank expression on his face, the result of years of practice. Winter had no doubt that his patience would be put to the test many times today by the nobles as they grew more restless.

A small bell attached to the wall beside the entrance to the throne room chimed. Without a word, the guard opened the door and ushered Winter and Yang inside.

The throne room of the Grand Castle of Atlas was even more ostentatious than the hallway leading up to it. Plush and colorful carpets covered the floors, and equally luxurious tapestries decorated the walls. All of them boasted the crest of the House of Schnee stitched into them with golden thread. White marble pillars ran from floor to ceiling, and the morning light was streaming in through magnificent stained glass windows. It was a room designed to inspire equal parts awe and envy, and it did not disappoint.

As soon as Winter and Yang had crossed the threshold to the throne room, a herald standing just inside announced, "Presenting, Her Royal Highness, Princess Yang of the Kingdom of Patch and Dame Winter Schnee."

Winter and Yang walked up to the front of a dais upon which was a golden, jewel-encrusted throne. On the throne sat King Jacques I, sovereign of Atlas, dressed in his full regalia complete with scepter and crown.

Winter kneeled before the king as was proper, and Yang curtsied, mimicking Weiss's from yesterday almost flawlessly. Despite Yang's declaration earlier about taking things seriously, Winter was still surprised her guest was actually following protocol so far.

"Princess Yang," King Jacques said. "It is our pleasure to welcome you to our realm. Although we have heard the circumstances of your arrival were less than ideal."

"Thank you, Your Majesty," Yang said. "On behalf of my father…King Taiyang, I extend a gesture of friendship."

"We graciously accept your gesture," King Jacques said. "And we welcome the opportunity to establish closer ties with an honored member of the Empire of Vale."

Winter knew the king was mostly telling a polite lie. The Empire had too many lesser states for any major kingdom such as Atlas to care about even a fraction of them. In fact, it was likely that the king had no more heard of Patch than Winter had. However, it was never prudent to burn bridges. The politics of the Empire were always in motion, and even the smallest state within it could suddenly rise to prominence.

"Dame Schnee," the king said, turning his attention to Winter. "We have heard that the dragon plaguing our lands has not been dealt with yet."

"That is…correct, Your Majesty," Winter begrudgingly said. "But I will—"

The king held up his hand for silence. He said, "We expect you to do your duty, dragon slayer. Prove to us that the exorbitant 'donation' we pay to your order every year is more than wasted gold. Is that clear?"

"Yes…Your Majesty," Winter said. She felt her temper rising. There was a lot more she wanted to say to the king, but she kept silent.

"Very good," King Jacques said dismissively. "Princess Yang? We will dispatch an envoy to your home kingdom to inform your father about your predicament. In the meantime, consider yourself a guest of our house."

"Thank you, Your Majesty," Yang said.

"When you return to the Empire, do give our regards to Duke Ozpin and Queen Glynda," King Jacques said. "And to Emperor Peter of course."

"I will," Yang said.

Winter had actually had the privilege of briefly meeting Emperor Peter IX of the House of Port, the current ruler of the Empire of Vale. He was a jolly man who by all accounts was popular with his subjects. But it was no secret that Duke Ozpin and Queen Glynda were the true leaders of the Empire.

"You are dismissed," the king said.

Winter got off her knees. Her hackles were up about being scolded, in front of Yang nonetheless, but she quickly made her way with Yang to the exit. The herald pulled a cord that would ring the bell back out in the hallway, and the guard on the other side of the door opened it up.

Winter and Yang were soon out of the throne room, and the noble who had been waiting in line behind them was ushered in. Winter could see that Yang was about to say something.

"In a moment," Winter said, preempting Yang. She didn't need a careless word from the princess to be overheard by any of the nobles present. They were like vultures, always on the hunt for easy prey.

Winter and Yang silently walked down the hallway past the line of nobles. They turned several corners through the corridors of the castle keep and finally found themselves alone.

Winter let out an audible sigh. Hopefully that was the last time she would have to deal with the king for a while. Being in his presence was always an ordeal.

Yang must have taken Winter's sigh as a sign that it was safe to speak again because she said, "He sure was bossy."

"He is the king," Winter said absently.

"So?" Yang said.

The earnestness in Yang's single-word reply was so unexpected that it pulled Winter away from her fuming thoughts. She looked at Yang, confused. What kind of royal would question a king's right to do as he thought was best?

"I must visit your kingdom sometime," Winter said, seemingly apropos of nothing. If Yang was anything to go by, Patch must have been a fascinating place.

Yang snickered. But then she said, "You know? I'd like that."

Winter and Yang finally made their way out of the keep and stepped out into the castle's courtyard. Winter was considering how the rest of her day could best be spent when she heard a voice from behind say, "There you are!"

Winter and Yang turned around to see Weiss standing behind them. She said, "Sister. We need to talk."

Author's Note: Alternative title for this chapter: "The Princess's New Clothes". Get it? Because it works both literally and as an allusion to "The Emperor's New Clothes"? Well I thought it was clever. It just didn't fit in with the scheme I'm using.

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