Weiss followed Blake back to the manor. Her heart thrumming. What would her parents be like? Surely they would punish her for her transgressions at the breakfast table the previous morning. She still hadn't received her comeuppance for that. She didn't understand why. Surely they would punish her for upsetting their guests. But wouldn't they have wanted to instill that into her earlier than this? It had only been a little more than a day, but still. She really didn't understand why they would wait so long to punish her. She rarely went more than a few hours without a beating.
She did have to wonder how Auria was handling things. Schnee manor was not an easy environment to live in. The president set such high standards for her and Winter. She wasn't sure how well Auria would handle those standards. But how would she handle the beatings? She hadn't seen Blake get any yet but sure was sure it was yet to happen.
How could Blake be so comfortable going to her parents? She really could not understand. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner were the worst times of day because she had to spend time with her father and brother. Her mother was nowhere to be seen due to her drunkenness. All she knew about her mother was she was a drunk. She had never once been in Weiss' life and never would be now. She was in the fae realm and would never live full time around humans again. It still hurt to know she'd possibly never see her sister again… Hopefully they could figure something out. She already missed Winter so badly even though she'd only seen her a couple of days ago.
They arrive back in the kitchens where the duke and dutchess sat, speaking quietly to each other. However, they stopped speaking as Weiss and Blake approached. The dutchess stood up and Blake ran over, hugging her. "Mom!" Blake and the dutchess smiled warmly, then the duke stood up and wrapped his arms around both of them. "It's so good to see you two again!" Weiss looked away. She had been monopolising Blake's time the past few days. Had she really kept them apart so much she missed them? Wait. Why did she feel bad? Parents should hate their kids and not want anything to do with … That didn't seem to be the case here.
"Sorry for missing lunch; I didn't anticipate how long the beautician's would take." Blake smiled bashfully as she looked up at her parents, her ears flicked back.
"It's okay, honey. A changeling is a lot of work. She has a lot to adapt to and there are a lot of logistics to deal with." The dutchess smiled and patted Blake's head. Her tone was quite warm. What? Wasn't she upset with Blake? Miscalculating time was a big no-no! Weiss was constantly being beat if she lost track of time on something. How could Blake get away with missing something so important? Why weren't her parents beating her? She legitimately could not understand.
"Mom, Dad, this is Weiss Schnee. Weiss, my parents and your new guardians, Kali and Ghira Belladonna, the duke and dutchess."
Weiss offered a low curtsy and kept her gaze on the floor. "I-It's a pleasure to meet you, Your Lordship and Your Ladyship." How was she supposed to interact with nobility? Atlas had its upper class, but they weren't stratified into different titles now. They were different levels based on wealth, not any sort of birth-based system. Families could rise and fall based on decisions and investments they made. They wouldn't eternally stay in certain classes if they were born into them. Really, families could be completely imploded if they made bad decisions with their investments. She'd seen a few less financially important families go bust. The members simply weren't at parties anything anymore and marriages were broken off. She couldn't imagine that happening to the Schnee family. It was run by smart people that knew how to invest and spend well. Though she would never see any of that money now…
"Oh, no need to be so formal, Weiss. Call me Kali and my husband Ghira. You're family now and we'll treat you like it." Kali's voice was warm and gentle and outright inviting. Weiss nodded tentatively. "Now wy don't we sit down and talk a bit?" Her warm smile made Weiss nod again and she tucked the skirts beneath her before smoothing them over. She really didn't want to put a bad first impression. Oh wait. That time had long passed. Her first impression had been yesterday's breakfast. What did they think of her for causing such a faux paux over something she legitimately didn't understand? She had just been trying to follow Blake's instructions…
Kali seemed a bit suspicious, though. How was her presence so calming? Weiss' eyes narrowed. She did notice Kali glance at Blake. "Oh my, is she always so paranoid?" Kali looked at Weiss. "I'm doing nothing to you. I promise you that much. People find me a really comforting presence."
Wait. What?
She glanced down at the shielding ring. "Blake, isn't this supposed to protect my aura from people reading it?" Wasn't that the single purpose of the ring? Why pay good money for something that didn't even work?! Had Blake been lying to her this whole time? Had she seriously simply been unreactive to her thoughts somehow yet was still reading them? She couldn't… Okay, she could believe someone would lie to her like that. It was part of the nature of the upper class. People lied to her all the time for the sake of furthering themselves and their profits especially.
Blake shook her head. "I didn't lie to you about it working. I promise. I would be reacting like I had earlier if it wasn't working on me. They work on, like, 98, 99% of people. There are some people more keyed into the soul than others like the Name Keeper, clergy like my mother, and fortunetellers like Turi. Unless you have really strong protection, you can't hide from them." That…would have been nice to know when she'd been picking hers out. So Kali could still read her. Turi hadn't given any indication she could, but she would keep that in mind in the future. She really didn't like that people could read her. Her mind was the only place that had truly been hers in Schnee manor.
"Are there shielding rings that would protect me from them?" She frowned. She really did not like people being able to read her so easily. It felt so horribly invasive.
"With as strong as my mother and Turi are…not really. It also won't work on really old fae, like above about ten thousand years with my grandparents. I have natural defenses, but they still read me like an open book." Well, that certainly was lovely. But she supposed it made sense to some degree. She was but an insect compared to these people. And Kali and Ghira were considered young despite being in their two hundreds. Would she ever be able to have her mind to herself again? She really did not like any of this, but she had to accept it. It was the natural order of things here. She really couldn't do much about it.
How obnoxious.
"You are right, though. She is quite paranoid," Blake observed.
"I am not paranoid!" She was the proper amount of… Well, she was suspicious of people the proper amount! Nobody in Atlas had altruistic motives. Even the president had ulterior motives when it came to her. He'd always been raising her to sell her off and Weiss knew it. He had made no illusions of her being anything but a doll to him. She was breeding stock to him and not much else to him. Everyone wanted something out of her. The Belladonnas wouldn't be any different and she knew it. Something would happen and they would find some way to profit off her.
"Dydre explained to me she has something called PTSD and would be one of Auria's patients." Blake took a bite of bread and Weiss looked at her incredulously. A patient? What did that mean? What was this PTSD thing? She had never heard of it before. It couldn't be real, could it? She certainly didn't have something that didn't even exist!
"Ah, that does explain a great deal. Thank you, Blake." Kali smiled at Weiss. "Now that that's out of the way, what do you think of Koiria so far?" Her smile was so warm along with her tone. How could she say no to talking to that?
She hesitated. She was trapped in this house with no real way to escape. But she had more freedom than she had ever had in Schnee manor. That much she could appreciate. "It's more than I expected." She hadn't known what to expect when Blake had taken her. It sure wasn't this. And it felt odd to not have to worry about the Grimm too. It really did. They had gone to the forest without a worry or care in the world. They needed to hire four Hunters to go out on their little hunting expedition. It felt strange to not have any Hunters milling about and not need them. They relied on birds for their primary protection, not people. It was all so strange to her.
"That's good. One day you'll be allowed to come and go as you please, but for now, you'll have to stay here. Until then, though, you can have full access to the manor. Our home is your home. We do feel bad about keeping you basically under house arrest, but fae are so particular about manners." Kali smiled but Weiss looked away. Had she caused serious issues between the families by her faux paux the other morning? It sounded like the Belladonna family got enough trouble. Hopefully she hadn't lost them allies or anything like that.
"Was everything okay after my mess up with your allies?" She had to know. It was eating her alive to think she had caused pain to people. She really didn't want to hurt anybody. And if the Belladonnas lost allies because of her…
Kali nodded. "The dutchesses were upset, but once we explained the situation, they understood. It was an honest mistake. You didn't know any better." Kali stood up and wrapped her arms around Weiss. Weiss tensed under the woman's touch. Everything in her screamed danger but she didn't move. She knew better than to move when an authority figure hugged her. It would result in punishment for her. She knew it would.
"Oh, oh dear. " Kali stepped back. "My apologies, Weiss. I didn't know a simple hug meant so much negativity to you. I won't do it again." She sat down, but Weiss remained frozen in her spot. Move and she'd be punished. That was the way of the world. Any infraction against authority meant punishment which mean ta beating. She was so close to getting a beating. She could feel it in every fiber of her being.
Something warm took her hand under the table. No, it was Blake's hand. She looked at the other girl. "Breathe, Weiss. You're safe here." Blaze started counting and Weiss followed along. Eventually, she calmed down though she didn't look back at Kali. "There you go, Weiss. No need to be afraid. You won't be hurt here."
"But…" Her voice barely made it out of her mouth. How could that be true? How could they not beat Blake? Why wouldn't they beat her? It felt so wrong. She was always punished for transgressions. She was always beaten when she angered the president. How could she not have angered them for the faux paux with the dutchesses and now thigs? Why weren't they beating her?
"Physical punishment isn't really used by fae. Hitting a child is a steep offense, punishable by a minimum of twenty years in prison. Hitting a spouse is grounds for state-mandated separation and fifty years minimum in prison. Abuse of any sort if a very serious crim in both courts. It is not tolerate at all. It's even worse if you hit a changeling since the child isn't yours by blood. We aren't going to hit you because it's wrong." Kali put her hands down on the table. "It won't happen here. We can show you the laws later if you want to see them."
Weiss gave a tiny nod, not trusting herself to speak. She would need to see those laws before she could trust their words. Being hit was the norm in the Atlassian upper class. Men hit their wives and their children. It was how they kept order and avoided spoiled brats. She could not believe those words until she saw the laws. "Could we go after this?" Her voice was tiny and shook horribly. She had never asked anything of an authority figure and not been reprimanded. Blake was her age and another girl so she hardly qualified as 'authority.'
"Of course we can, dear. Whatever will make you feel better. We won't hurt you." Kali's tone remained soft and gentle. Blake ran her thumb along the back of Weiss' hand and she looked at her. She didn't know what to say to the other girl. Nobody but Winter had ever shown her kindness like this before. But she knew what kindness could hide. People kissed up to her to get things out of her. THere had to be something they wanted out of her. But what…? If the arranged marriage thing were true, then what could they possibly want out of her? She really couldn't see what they might get out of kidnapping her…
"Would you like to see the arranged marriage laws while we're up there?" Blake asked. Weiss gave a small nod. She wanted to see that. If Blake wasn't lying about that… Then she didn't understand why they would take her. She would only claim resources from them, not offering anything in return. She just… She was having trouble seeing what they could possibly get out of this…
"We can do that then. No worries, Weiss." Blake smiles at Weiss who managed another small nod. This was absolutely terrifying. Asking anything of authority was meant to end in punishment. But they were saying they couldn't and wouldn't punish her by law. They could still yell and scream if they wanted to though. One mode of punishment being banned didn't mean the other modes couldn't and wouldn't be used. The president didn't always beat her. He loved to yell and scream at her about as much as he did beating her. In some regards, that was way worse than the physical punishments. She knew it was only a matter of time until she angered them enough to get some sort of punishment. Although upsetting allies as a pretty bad infraction. That one always earned her a nasty beating, sometimes it go as far as being tossed down the foyer stairs when everyone had left.
So yeah. It was hard to believe Blake and Kali when they said 'no worries.'
They finished up eating and headed back to the library. Weiss couldn't help but practically buzz when they reentered. It was an amazing collection and she wouldn't be able to make her way through even half of these books if she did have several centuries to spend in here. She wanted to sleep and eat in here. It was hard to believe how many books the Belladonnas had at their disposal… She could die in here and be the happiest person in any world.
They made their way to a certain section. It didn't take long for some books to fly out and land in Weiss' hands. The tomes were massive but surprisingly light. "Let's sit down and look, okay?" Kali smiled at Weiss. She nodded and sat at a table with the woman and Blake.
She spent a little while reading the pages in question before she nodded slowly. "All right. I believe you." From what she knew of law and legalese, these passages felt relatively iron clad. She would keep her guard up, though. People could still want something of her. She had to be careful. She couldn't wait to start delving into the changeling laws to see what exactly everything meant. She could at least see any sort of arranged marriages were barred as was corporal punishment. It was strange to believe a society would outright ban one of the easiest ways of breaking a person down. But there were plenty of other ways to break someone. She had experienced so many was to completely shatter somebody's psyche. How Winter had walked away so strong was beyond her.
Kali clapped her hands together. "Now why don't you two get back to town? You can go shop until you drop!" The woman smiled warmly and Blake nodded.
"Let's go, Weiss!" Blake grabbed her hand and started to run. Weiss stumbled for a moment but kept up after that. Shopping for fun would feel strange…
If Weiss' turnaround seems too quick due to how methodical my writing is, please know that I was saving you (and myself) sanity. I don't think anybody wants to read a chapter of someone digging through a bunch of legalese. I didn't want to try to create legalese out of thin air. Plus, reading legal stuff is just boring.
