Weiss sat at her desk, starting to pour over some of the books she'd picked up yesterday. Sayaka stood on a small perch in the corner of the room.
It was a really odd experience. She could see the words were a different language than Atlassian, but she could read them just fine. So this was the effect of the earring outside of the spoken word. There, it just sounded like everyone spoke Atlassian. She hadn't actually heard the fae languages yet. Maybe she could ask Blake to speak to her without the earring later? Would that be considered rude? She had said that fae were very particular about manners. She did understand how that was to some degree. The Atlassian upper class was all about propriety and strict manners.
But what were fae manners? Blake hadn't explained any of this at all to her. Would it be considered rude to have them explained to her? Holy Father, all of this was so confusing. She wanted to try to fit in. They were her kidnappers, but they were being kind to her. Then again, it was probably to get her to lower her guard and then they would do something to her. It really felt like it would be easy to arrange a marriage for their benefit once she was considered "eligible."
She would really have to check what the laws regarding changelings were… But that would take time. There were several large tomes regarding the laws… And hopefully she would be able to understand the fae legalese. She at least had a strong history in reading legal documents thanks to her training and lessons to take over the SDC. It would be easier to understand thanks to that. And Blake wouldn't be able to pull the wool over her eyes since she could directly read the laws herself.
She blinked when she heard a strange noise at her door. It sounded like a knock, but there was a strange scratchiness to it too. Who could it be? Probably not Blake. She would have had a clear knock; she'd heard it before. Plus, it sounded low on the door, not at a normal human height.
She got up and answered it. Dorosi sat there and wagged his tail when he saw her. "Good morning, Weiss!" He sounded…happy to see her. Nobody was ever happy to see her… Well, except Winter or when President Jacques had something he needed her to do for him.
"Um, good morning Dorosi." She was at least presentable now. She couldn't believe that she had walked through the manor with nothing but her pajamas on! But she hadn't had any choice. She had next to no outfits. Hopefully the tailors would be done with her clothes soon. She was tired of the limited wardrobe choices. But none of these clothes were really her style either. Would they be able to replicate Atlassian styles if she showed them? But how would she do that? It wasn't like she had access to the CCTS and image searches. She really missed the Atlassian styles she had become so fond of at home…
"Can I come in?" The wolf stood up on his paws and looked at her hopefully. She bit her lip. What did he want with her? She didn't want anything to do with him. He was yet another stranger in a strange world for her to contend with. She absolutely hated all of the people she was expected to trust. She still didn't even want to trust Blake. She was nice but people hid lots of things behind 'nice.' Dorosi couldn't be much different. He had to have some kind of objective. Everyone around her did. There was no way a nobility couldn't have ulterior motives. Everyone always had ulterior motives in families like this. There was no way any of this could be genuine.
"I suppose. Why?" Why did he want to come in? She didn't understand any of this. Why would a wolf be so interested in her? She didn't understand why his mother had sent him to spend time with her. Wouldn't he be happier staying with his pack and doing whatever it was wolves did?
The wolf trotted in and looked around as a second starling flew in to join Sayaka. They chirped at each other happily and Weiss shook her head. She really didn't understand how anybody could be so happy to see each other. People and animals made no real sense to her. She thought she'd found animals easy to understand thanks to Neige, but that was wrong. She didn't trust animals anymore than she did people. Dorosi was going to be severely disappointed. She really didn't want anything to do with him. She barely wanted anything to do with Blake, but it felt like she had no choice when it came to the fae girl. She did need somebody to help her navigate this bizarre world of magic and talking animals.
"What are you doing?" Dorosi sat near the desk and looked up at the book there. Stubborn wolf. Not answering her question. She wanted to know why he was so keen to push his way into her room.
"Reading some of the books I got at the store yesterday and sorting through how to best organise them." The books were currently in piles on the her floor since she'd gotten a fair fw. There were the law books, the set from Vale with the GRSM book, some out-of-date dust journals, and even a couple of fiction books she'd picked up. She'd never been able to read fiction before so she figured she might as well give it a shot. She'd never been one for escapism since it hadn't appealed to her. But a part of her felt the need to escape this world. She was still being held so she needed something to do. She wasn't really allowed to do anything so she figured she might as well get something to help her pass the time. She didn't have her daily lessons that spanned ten hours. It was so hard to know what to do with herself now that her schedule was entirely free. It was really hard to know what to do. Blake said she had lessons… Would she be able to keep herself entertained for the house she was free?
Dorosi stood up and sniffed the books. "Definitely smells like fae… But some have some of the scents on you… You smell like sterility but there's also some sort of acridness to your general scent too." His ears flipped back. The dragon chief had said the same thing… What could they possibly be talking about? The sterility she could understand. She couldn't imagine the amount of disinfectants that Schnee manor used. She could swear sometimes she could smell them. She'd almost never gotten sick thanks to how crazy sterile the manor was.
"Is it a bad smell?" She really didn't know. She could have sworn something like that would wear off after a shower… How could she still smell acrid even after the intense shower she'd had? She'd almost scribbed her skin raw to get rid of the nasty feeling of the sweat and humidity that hadn't left yesterday.
"A bit… I don't really have the words to describe it other than 'acrid.' It's like smoke but much harsher than woodsmoke… And a lot more variable…"
Weiss thought for a few moments before nodding. "It might be dust smoke you're smelling. I worked with a lot of dust thanks to needing to know my stuff. There are a lot of different types." That would be ingrained into her for a while, she supposed. She had an hour to learn about and experiment with dust as she pleased each day. She outstripped any other dust expert that had tried to teach her. President Jacques had gotten so frustrated when the so-called 'experts' couldn't even keep up with her at thirteen. So he'd just let her have the hour to do as she pleased. She kept her discoveries secret, though. She knew knew he would steal her ideas. He was an incredibly cruel man and would do anything he could to make a profit.
Even sell her off to a man nearly ten years her senior. She really was grateful that she wasn't betrothed anymore. She wouldn't have to endure that awful fate. At least assuming that the Belladonnas didn't arrange her to somebody. That still felt extremely likely. Why not sell off somebody they'd 'rescued' for their own benefit?
Dorosi tilted his head. "Why would you burn dust? It's dust. You can find it everywhere. Plus, wouldn't it be hard to gather?"
"It's not the sort of dust you find floating around in the air. It's crystalline with different types of elements such as fire, wind, earth, and hundreds more types. We use it to power everything in our world. From cars to houses to scrolls… It's an irreplaceable part of our world. We would be in the dark ages without it." How the fae lived without such technology was beyond her. They at least did seem to have magic that functioned in place of technology… And they had running water which was nothing short of a miracle… She would not survive without running water.
However, she did notice a small bowtie around his neck. "What's with the bowtie?" It hadn't been there yesterday. How strange. Plus his fur did have an odd shine to it when, again, it hadn't yesterday.
The wolf wagged his tail and seemed to smile. He didn't have the same musculature in his face as a human, of course, but it did seem like he was smiling. "Oh, the stablehand gave me a nice bath yesterday. If I'm going to be around the fae court, I need to be presentable. The bowtie isn't strictly necessary, but he thought it would look nice. He used a nice-smelling shampoo on me. Do you want want to smell?" Weiss couldn't help but shake her head. That felt like an invasion of personal space. She had already had her fill of that when washing her hair that morning too. Sorting through all her products had been a nightmare. Mainly her skincare since those didn't have any scents to help differentiate them.
"No thanks." She really didn't need to smell a wolf. At least he wouldn't be tracking dirt and grime all over the manor. She could only imagine how President Jacques would react if she had a dog… It would not have gone over well. But she wasn't in Schnee manor anymore. She had always wanted a dog or a cat… But a wolf… How strange. How was she supposed to handle this? He could so easily betray her and reveal her secrets…
"Would you like to come outside with me? The family falconer was going to give me a tour of the grounds. I thought I would invite you since I don't know if you've had a tour yet." He tilted his head, ears flopping to one side.
A tour of the grounds huh? She knew where the stables were. Wasn't that enough knowledge of outside? She really didn't want to spend anymore time outside than needed. It was hot, sticky, and unpleasant. The unicorn forest had been okay but everything else inbetween had been absolute hell. The humidity had left her skin angry at her. She was so used to Atlas' cold, dry air. She would honestly need to entirely change her skin and haircare products. Would the consultant be able to suggest things for her? She really needed a new regime especially if she was going to spend any sort of time outside. Which was tempting since she had unfettered access to Neige. She could spend as much time riding as she wanted as long as he was physically able to.
"I suppose." She mostly wanted to see her horse again above all else. She had no real interest in whatever this 'falconer' was. But if it would let her see her horse, she would bear with it for a little while. Though her skin would be incredibly unhappy when she got back inside.
"Sayaka." The little bird looked up and fluttered over to her shoulder. "Can you help guides us to the falconer?"
"Sure!" she chirped happily. The people and animals in this world sure were chipper. She really didn't understand how people could be so happy all the time. It made no sense to her.
Plus, how had she not been beaten yet? She had made clear mistakes like the faux paux at breakfast. Why hadn't the duke or dutchess been up to beat her for it. Maybe they were waiting to wear her down from anticipation? President Jacques had done that plenty of times. She really couldn't the number of times he'd made her wait hours for a beating. Anticipation really grated on her anxiety and made the beatings far more effective. But she'd be been busy so she hadn't really had time to dwell on it… What was the point of making her wait so long and keep her so busy? She didn't understand the logic.
Maybe they'd deliver it at lunch that day. Blake still had yet to really introduce them. That had to be it. Make an example out of her for Blake. Yes, that was it. Now that Blake had someone her own age, they would take their anger out on her and show Blake how to stay in line. Clever. But she'd figured out their game. It wasn't like she could avoid lunch, though. She needed to eat. She had felt full for the first time in many years yesterday. That egg-fried rice had been really good and more flavorful than anything else she'd had too. Hopefully breakfast would be good. She hadn't paid too much attention to it the previous day.
Thankfully, Dorosi didn't try to make conversation as they walked outside. Sayaka gave her directions as they walked. They headed out toward the west where a row of buildings came into view.
A jail of some sort? They were closed-in buildings with bars instead of windows. It looked like at least ten of them were connected with another several rows behind them.
She saw…birds in them. Birds slept inside the first row of cells. They all looked like owls. A jail complex for birds? Why would anybody jail birds? But, then again, she could see openings in the back. The birds weren't trapped at all, just like the horses. They could come and go from the cells as they liked.
She heard a screech from a bit higher and looked up. A large owl sat on top of the cell row. Its dark reddish-orange eyes stared down at her. "Who are you? What are you doing here?" Its voice was harsh and she stepped back. "An intruder?"
"Calm down, Awiti. No need to get so up in arms." A woman came around the corner, a heavy leather glove on her left hand. A rope dangled off the bottom of it. The woman had dark skin and light pink hair, her soft red eyes focused on the owl. However, her gaze did turn to Weiss with a tilt of her head. "Who are you? I recognise Dorosi, but who are you?"
"Um. Weiss Schnee. The Belladonnas took me on as a changeling a few days ago…" This woman was tall and seemed imposing. She wanted to run. She hadn't expected to be jumped by an owl. This was unnerving. She hadn't expected to be treated so poorly too. Maybe she shouldn't have come here. Or at least had Blake come with her… It seemed safer to have the other girl around since she knew how to handle things. That really should have been what she did…
"Oh, the dutchess mentioned you yesterday. Stand down, Awiti. She's part of the family." The woman smiled up at the owl who let out a soft screech then flew off. The woman turned to face them. "Oh, don't mind her too much. She's always been a bit trigger happy. Plus, it looks like you're from the Misum court, so she was worried. Don't worry about it. I'm Liliana. It's nice to meet you, Miss Schnee." Her red eyes sparkled and she relaxed a little. Okay, maybe this wouldn't be so bad… But she couldn't be sure. People hid all sorts of things behind nice and this wouldn't be any different. She had to keep her guard up.
"A pleasure." She offered a small curtsy in response. She wasn't sure about it being a 'pleasure.' Nobody in this world had been a pleasure to meet. But propriety dictated she be kind about it. It was honestly never a pleasure to meet anybody. But she could just not be truthful about it for the sake of propriety.
The woman tilted her head a bit but said nothing. Probably the curtsy. It wasn't used in the world after all, so it made sense. "I'm the family falconer. I manage the Belladonna's spring court birds." Weiss tilted her head this time.
"What do you mean by spring court birds?" She'd heard the seasonal courts referred to but she didn't really understand what it meant.
"Oh, the fae courts change location every season. The family spends springs and falls in the Lider court then winters and summers in the Misum court. I manage their birds here at the spring manor." That…seemed to be a very inefficient way to handle government, especially if the families managed lands. Then again, they did have teleportation. But it also seemed very cost prohibitive to maintain so many different residences with so much staff. She could only imagine how much it cost to upkeep full staffs across so many different places. Hopefully, it didn't break the bank… But if it had worked for so long, who was she to say anything?
"I see. What are the birds for?" She could see a lot more rows of the strange cells, though she couldn't see how many. Why did such a large manor require so many birds?
"Security during the day and night mostly, but I do have some birds I fly personally. Mostly some micro falcons but I do have a few larger hawks I fly when autumn rolls around. Owls handle the night shift and mostly corvids handle the day shift. I also handle the starlings you see." She pointed to Sayaka who tweeted happily in response. "I also have an eagle I'll fly too, but I'm mostly a microhawker—kestrels and aplomados to be specific. But I do have some Harris hawks I fly as a team and a goshawk. Also got a red-tailed buzzard even though he's getting a bit on in years now."
Liliana looked at Dorosi. "Since she seems to be interested in the birds, would you mind waiting a bit?" The wolf shook his head. "All right—let's introduce you." Liliana led her to the back of the first row of cells and let out a soft whistle. The owl in the enclosure rotated its head toward them and then flew over to land on Liliana's glove. It looked like a barn owl. "This is Cahyo, head of the night shift. Sorry to wake you, boy, but she wants to meet some of you."
The owl's beak opened in a clear yawn, but he nodded and raised a wing. "I saw her last night with Blake."
"And you didn't tell me why?"
The owl raised his wing and tilted his head at quite the angle. "Blake was relaxed and talking to her so I didn't deem her any sort of threat. I hadn't seen her before, but if Blake was so welcoming, I didn't see any need to report it."
"I suppose that makes sense." Liliana sighed, making Weiss squeeze her hands together. She wasn't trying to get anybody in trouble. Plus, Blake probably would be upset at her if she did. She really was simply trying to find he way in this strange new world. She really didn't know where she belonged in general. She'd known her place in Atlas even if she hadn't liked it. Her place was to be a wife and mother. But here, she didn't know what was to be expected of her. She had no lessons or any of that. What was she supposed to do with all of this free time for the rest of her life? She really didn't know.
Liliana let Cahyo go back back to his cell and the owl returned to sleep. "I would introduce you to some of the day staff, but they're all out. We do have some retirees, though." Weiss tilted her head. Retirees? The birds were allowed to retire? How interesting. She was curious about all of this. She'd never seen people work with birds outside of the display the other day with the eagle. And from the looks of it, things ran smoothly and had for quite some time. How long had the fae worked with birds of prey?
Liliana led her and Dorosi several rows of cells back. All sorts of corvids stretched out on perches in the sunshine. Wow… They were beautiful. The sun brought out colors she hadn't known even existed in bird feathers. She'd assumed crows and ravens were only no. She could see subtle hue shifts in the black that only the sun could bring out. How amazing…
However, she also saw some strange birds also sunning themselves. They were tall and lanky and looked like they were mostly leg. They were still beautiful in their own way but she had never seen any bird like them before. "What species are they?" She nodded at the strange, leggy birds. What could they possibly be used for?
"Oh, they're caracaras. We do use some for the day shift too. We mainly use corvids but the caracaras are more able to handle intrudes than the crows over ravens." That made some sort of sense, she supposed. Leggy but beautiful in their own way. Larger and probably sturdier than the much smaller corvids.
"Do you get a lot of threats?" What maintain and train so many birds if there weren't a lot of threats? Then again, she could probably ask the same about the security guards of Schnee manor. They really didn't get many threats at the manor. Atlas was a pretty secure city by its nature, so there really weren't a lot of issues for the guards to deal with.
"No, not really. But it's best to keep an eye out just in case, right?" Liliana smiled and Weiss nodded. An ounce of prevention was worth of pound of cure…or however the saying went. Did it even apply to this? Who knew and who cared. It was dumb anyway.
They walked over to a small area where several birds were tied to perches, fluffed up and napping. "Now these are my personal birds. Uros, Christophe, Samir, and Anita are the kestrels over there. Denisa, Sanda, Papak, and Katica are the aplomados, the orange ones. Raniero and Abriam are the Harris hawks. Then Attikos was the eagle while Divina is the red tail." Liliana motioned to each bird in turn, leaving Weiss a bit overwhelmed. So many names and so many birds. They all looked the same. How could she tell them all apart? At least the ones that were the same species. The eagle and the red tail were easy to pick out among the crowd. But four kestrels and four aplomados. How did she keep them separated? Then again, these were essentially aura breeds… Personalities would help differentiate them. And some of them were obviously a bit bigger or smaller. Maybe that helped too?
She couldn't really stop herself from looking at the aplomados though. "Pretty, aren't they?" Liliana asked.
"Yeah. They're so tiny too. How do you hunt such small birds?" She could imagine the larger birds on prey like rabbits and such, but how did one micro hawk? These birds seemed too tiny to be able to do much of anything. Could they really be active pursuit predators? She couldn't see how that would work.
"We can hunt things like mice and songbirds. I can get the aplomados to go up to quail. It's a challenge to train them to such prey relative to its size, but I can do it. It's a hoot to watch them be so athletic. Plus, dart hawking can be fun."
"Dart hawking?"
Liliana walked over to one of the kestrels and picked it up, then wrapped her hand around it gently as if she were going to throw it. "You literally chuck the bird after doing this. It might seem a bit cruel, but it helps the bird get up to speed faster and gives a bit of an advantage." She placed the kestrel back on its perch. It stretched its wings out and ruffled its feathers before going back to sleep. Wow. She couldn't believe that was a thing people did. That was crazy. Chucking a bird halfway a cros sa field… How insane.
"It's a lot easier with the smaller ones, of course, but I can still manage it with my Harris hawks. Works great on ducks in the winter." Weiss glanced at the two brown hawks with reddish-brown shoulders. To toss a bird like that… That must have taken quite some dexterity. They weren't small birds by any means by they weren't massive like the golden eagle either. How incredible. What must it be like to work with such imposing creatures for a living and pleasure?
"Would you like to see a small hunt?" Weiss blinked at the offer. She'd never seen an actual hunt before. They'd been out on one when she'd escaped, but they hadn't found any foxes at that point. She was glad since it seemed like really unpleasant business. Did she really want to see an anima killed simply for her amusement?
"Will it be wasted?" If anything were to be wasted, she didn't want to see it. Then again, would she even be able to withstand it in the first place? She didn't know. She was incredibly sheltered and even she knew it. The past few days had been incredibly illuminating in showing her how little she truly did know.
"Nope. I"ll put the prey in the freezer and feed it to them later. This isn't falconry season but I can get my kestrels to hunt at basically any point." Well, that was good. She didn't want to see anything go to waste in this case. These were the lives of animals they were talking about. Seeing something go to waste was upsetting for some reason. She didn't want to see a life simply used for her amusement.
Liliana picked up one of the kestrels and took her glove off, then kept the leather straps secured with her ring finger and pinkie. They walked for a little while until they came to the edge of the forest. An assortment of songbirds tweeted and played in a small, drying puddle.
She noticed the kestrel bobbing its head and seeming to assess the situation. Before long, it shot off Liliana's hand. The songbirds let out alarm calls and flew off, scattering in all directions. The kestrel honed in on a dove and chased after it it. It didn't take long for the pair to be tussling on the ground. Liliana stepped in and twisted the dove's head, leaving it limp in her hands. Weiss grimaced a bit.
It didn't stop there, though. Liliana split the bird with her knife and the innards spilled to the ground. She tucked the body in her bag and the kestrel returned to her hand. "It's the middle of the molt so I'm feeding them up as much as they can handle. Need them to grow beautiful feathers." She gently petted the kestrel's head and it leaned into the strokes. As long as the bird wouldn't go to waste… But it was fascinating to watch. Was this what the display with the eagle a few nights ago was for? Some sort of training? How interesting. Though wait…
"If you have your birds molting, shouldn't the day and night shifts be molting too? Why are they not put up too?" That…didn't make much sense to her. Why put up birds when molting and not let all of them do so in peace?
"Different reasons for keeping them. We use the majority of our birds for security. These are hunting birds. Hunting birds only hunt in the fall and winter then get put up to molt and/or breed. Security birds do their job year 'round. The only ethical time to hunt a real falconry bird is when there's no chance animals aren't raising young. I don't mind showing you once because one songbird death one cause a huge drop in the population. But constantly killing would-be parents?" Liliana shook her head. That made some sense, Weiss supposed. One might lead to the death of multiple. Multiply that by as many times as they took prey… Yeah, it would impact the population significantly.
"Would you be interesting in learning? I've never taken an apprentice but I'm only five hundred. You are human, so I can't exactly call you a full child. You age so much faster than we do. You'll need to find your place eventually."
Weiss tilted her head at that. "I'm not sure I've never had any interest in hunting before. I'm from the equivalent of nobility in my world. Doing something like this would be seen as beneath me." It wasn't accusatory; it was a statement of fact. Hunting in a way that wasn't prescribed was seen as beneath her. Plus, it was grimy and dirty work. Having to dispatch and disembowel animals… It was disgusting. "Would I need to learn to fully butcher animals…?" The thought of that made her want to faint. She was not going to take this very well if she did need to learn that.
"To some degree, yes,. While these are awakened animals that can choose to fly or not, weight management can be a useful tool with them. I suggest using it. It makes flying them more consistent. You need to know exactly how much is going into them and how much they weigh to get them to fly consistently. So you will need to cut the prey apart. But at this time of year? We feed them and make them fat for the molt." Liliana started walking back.
Weiss was quiet as they headed back. She would be dealing with dead animals if she pursued this. It was disgusting but maybe she ought to try it. It was an interesting prospect and it would give her something to do with her time. She loved to read but even that would probably gett old in due time. She really needed something to do in this world. She wasn't fae educated, so she wouldn't exactly have any marketable skills. Really, she didn't have any marketable skills to speak of period…
"Would you be willing to give me a chance?" She wanted to give it a try. The idea of working with birds of prey was intriguing. Though, of course, she came in the off season, so how much could she truly learn?
"Of course. I was the one that said she'd never taken an apprentice before. If you commit to a bird, you commit to it. You can't fly a bird once and abandon it. You're with that bird for life especially if it's an imprint. Can you commit to a bird for ten or more years? Or forty or so if you get a golden eagle?" They returned to the perches and Liliana tied the kestrel back to its perch. That…was a lot of dedication. A bird for ten or more years. It'd be with her for a good chunk of her life. This woman had probably been through many birds before this but Weiss would die long before her. Could she really commit to that?
"I see. I've never committed to something like this before, but I've also never been given a chance to either…" It was the best she could offer. She'd been singing since she was a child, but that hadn't been her choice. She'd never had any choice in her life before, so this was entirely new to her. She didn't know if she could invest fully into something like this. She really hoped she could. All of this was incredibly interesting even if some aspects didn't overly appeal to her.
"I'll give you a fair shake. If I feel like you aren't fully into it, I'll let you know. Does that sound fair?"
Weiss nodded. "It does." How could she say no to that? She'd never been given a chance to choose like this before. She wanted it to work out but she couldn't place her hopes in it either. She would probably really be put through her paces here… Which was fine with her. She enjoyed challenges. She was constantly bored in Schnee manor since things weren't challenging enough. She did sometimes miss things and failed assignments at 89 but she passed on through the beatings for failure. She really did love to learn…
"Anyway, how about we get on with that tour of the grounds after I put the dove away?"
"Okay." Weiss smiled a bit. It was still uncomfortably hot, but she was looking forward to it.
§
It took about an hour to fully go around the manor's grounds. Weiss noticed the numerous caracaras walking and many would call to Liliana from a distance. It was an interesting sound, that much was apparent. It was just a call, though; there wasn't any meaning behind it as the earring didn't translate. It was odd to not understand animals as she had already become used to understanding everyone around her.
She was sticky and gross by time they came back, though. She really was not going to take to the walking around part of hunting too well. She had no heat tolerance to speak of. How was she supposed to withstand these warm temperatures when hunting. She really didn't know how to handle this. She would need to take another quick shower after this…
However, she was surprised to see Blake waiting there when they got back there. "Blake, what are you doing here?" What was she doing here?
"It's almost breakfast time. But I got clearance from my parents to eat wherever we want to." At least she wouldn't be able to cause issues with her thoughts being shielded. Although Turi had seemed to see through the shielding ring… So maybe it wasn't completely fool proof. But it was still so much better than having everyone read her thoughts at all times.
"Can I take a quick rinse-off shower before we eat?" She really was disgusting right now. She was sweating so badly. What was she supposed to do to when it came to wanting to spend time outside? Take eternal showers? So much water wasn't good for the skin. At least she wouldn't be in the shower for that long, simply enough to get the sweat off.
"Oh, sure. Plus, the tailors finished off your wardrobe so you can change into some of those clothes. All of our undergowns and trousers are made from cooling cloth." Cooling…? Right. Magic. That was still so obnoxious. Plus, she could finally change fully… Wearing the same underwear for so long was disgusting.
Blake led the way back up to Weiss' room. A huge pile of clothes lay on the bed while people milled in and out of her closet. Blake explained all the layers which was a massive shift for her. Under trousers, a long under dress, petticoats, and a top layer. Although one thing did bother her which made her flush hotly. She moved a bit closer to Blake to whisper to her.
"Blake, how do you handle, um, monthly feminine cycles?" She spoke quietly but it wasn't hard for the cat ears to pick up what she was saying. They were close enough to discuss it in whispers too.
"Huh? Oh, uh, right… Fae don't have to deal with that like humans do. My mom can use a spell on you to stop that." Weiss blinked. No more of that? She nodded enthusiastically. It really was a great relief off her shoulders. She hated the awkwardness of having to ask for those supplies from President Jacques. Not having to worry would be great. Plus, no more cramps or feelings of bloating anymore…
With that, she headed into the shower with her new various layers in hand.