"I feel like an overstuffed turkey." Weiss was used to some level of poof, but this was ridiculous. There were like four layers of thick petticoats and a ton of different layers in general. It'd taken her half an hour to sort through the layers and figure out what went where. At least she could say that she was plenty modest. Everything was ankle and wrist length. She wouldn't have felt comfortable otherwise. Though it was strange to have what passed as underwear here visible to the outside through the outside larey.

Blake shrugged. "You'll get used to it in time. But if you want, I can assign an attendant to you to help guide you on what goes where until then." Weiss was quiet at that. An attendant? Like the olden days? She felt really uncomfortable with that, but at the same time, it might be useful. There was apparently an order to the petticoats that had taken her a while to figure out.

Weiss flushed. "Would they have to see me naked?" It was one thing when it was tailors or doctors. She could deal with that. But anybody else? The thought made her want to faint. She really didn't want anybody to to see her in a compromising position. It was bad enough Blake had seen her in her nightclothes! President Jacques would have had her head!

"No, she wouldn't. She could simply lay things out for you in proper order then you could dress yourself." Blake looked up thoughtfully, her ears twitching. "We do have hangers for children that tell them what goes where. I could go get some from the tailors. The attendant can hang the under layers on the correct hanger then you can follow those. You can pick your top layer, though." Weiss breathed a sigh of relief at that. No compromising situation, thank the Holy Father. She was so glad for that. She'd never needed help dressing since she was in the single digits, so it was mortifying to be confused over something so simple. She really hated how out of her element she was.

"All right. That sounds like a good compromise."

"We can stop by after breakfast. Would you like to eat outside or in the kitchens? Both will be pretty warm so it'll let you test out the cooling cloth." Test the cooling cloth, huh? It would be an ultimate test for that. She was so sensitive to heat that she really didn't need to put it to the test. Still, she'd already spent a decent amount of time outside already today…

"How about the kitchens?" She hesitated for a moment. "And maybe I could have some more of that delicious bread? The cook called it servant's bread…" She really felt like she was about to get rebuked. But she had enjoyed it a lot. Warm bread was really good… It was always her favorite part of a meal. She could only eat a few pieces by President Jacques' decree, though. She was always still hungry after dinner parties. The previous day was the first time in a very long time she'd felt full. It was so easy for her to lose weight due to how restricted her diet was. She was only about eighty-five pounds currently…

Blake blinked then shrugged. "Yeah, sure; I don't see why you can't have some. It's not very good to me, but if you like it… Plus you need to up your caloric intake. I can hear your stomach churning from over here." Weiss flushed more. Oh. She hadn't expected Blake to be able to hear that. She was pretty hungry after that long, hot walk. An aura user would always burn more energy than an average person. Liliana had probably barely broken a sweat while they had walked the grounds. Weiss had burned through probably at least a thousand calories by time they'd gotten back. Plus, it was so much later than her usual breakfast time…

"Let's go eat," Blake said. Weiss motioned for Sayaka to land on her shoulder and the little starling did so. She really was rather adorable now that she'd gotten to spend time with her. Would she really be able to handle hunting songbirds after spending time with one like this? Songbirds were so cute and harmless. Could she really handle the killing of other animals? Of course, the birds needed to eat and she wouldn't begrudge them that. It was what their bodies needed. But could she honestly handle the hunting and killing of animals herself? That was the main conundrum she had to deal with.

They made it down to the kitchens in a little while. The smell of food filled the room and Weiss' mouth watered. She was hungry after the long walk and burning so many calories.

"Well, good morning, Your Grace, Miss Schnee. Is there anything in particular you'd like?" The cook was a different one than she'd met previously. She still had red eyes but her hair was a light sky-blue color. She was really quiet pretty. Her face did have some ash and other grime on it, but that didn't take away from her natural looks.

"No. We'll just take what you cooked for everyone else." Blake sat at a small table in a nook away from the main stoves. This area was a bit cooler than than near the stoves for which she was grateful. She would still feel the heat on her face, hands, and feet, but the majority of the heat from the fires was mitigated. Uncomfortable to a degree but more tolerable than having her whole body one cluster of sweat. She really hated all of this heat. At least the manor house itself was nice and cool. She wasn't sure how she'd deal with things if it was as hot as outside.

Although…

"Um, Miss Cook? Could I have some of the servant's bread?" Her voice was quiet and didn't carry too far, but the woman seemed to catch it despite the roar of the stoves.

"Huh? Why do you want that?" Her question made Weiss look down and she squeezed her hands together. She opened her mouth to speak but Blake did before her.

"She tried it and liked it. Is there any further reason she needs to ask for it?" Blake's tone was polite but curt. It made the woman blanch and shake her head.

"No, Your Grace. I'll include some with the meal for Miss Schnee." The cook withdrew and returned to preparing the meal.

Blake sighed. "Sometimes you have to put your foot down with them. They can be so disrespectful sometimes. Don't be afraid to put your foot down if they start dithering at times." Weiss gave a small nod but didn't meet Blake's eye. Her put her foot down? What madness was this? How could anybody expect her to do that? Standing up to President Jacques had always resulted in consequences. Would there seriously be none for her if she told somebody to simply do their job? In some ways, servants had been above her in Schnee manor…

Thankfully, it didn't take too long for the meal to be brought over. Weiss' portion looked comical in comparison to Blake's. It was easily four or five times larger and took several servants to bring over. She did suddenly feel extremely self-conscious. But she was quite hungry so she wasn't about to turn it away.

They were silent for a while until Blake spoke. "By the way, Weiss… Turi told me something earlier. Auria is investigating your grandfather's journals and figured out where you fall in the family tree. You have three percent fae blood." Weiss blinked and tilted her head.

"What does that mean?" Blake was speaking like it had some important significances. To her, it meant nothing. There was some context she was missing here.

"In short, it means you have enough fae blood to learn magic. You'll have to learn from a Misum teacher. My father could teach you, Turi could, or I could. That or we could find somebody else that specialises in teaching magic. That is, if you want to learn." Blake took a sip of her tea from the teacup in front of her. Learn magic, huh? That…was an interesting prospect.

"What would it entail?" That was probably the best place to start. What would it mean for her? She…didn't want to be taught by Blake's father though. He was big even when sitting. He looked capable of ripping her limb from limb or doing something even worse to her. She would really have no way to fight him if he decided that he wanted to hurt her in some shape, way, or form.

"Well, it will require a lot of tune and dedication. At your age, I'd suggest at least two hours a day in different practice sessions. If you think you can commit to that, then I'd say go for it. It's a unique position to be in. Most changelings don't get to learn magic. There is magic on Serlia, but it's not easy to access. You have just enough fae blood to learn. It'll be a great asset in your arsenal." Blake filled her teacup again while Weiss pondered the situation. She could easily commit to two or more hours per day. That wasn't even a question in her mind. She normally had ten hours of lessons a day. Two hours really was nothing for her. She'd spend all nighters on her Semblance and had gained great control of it in only a few months. Could she really do the same with magic? Plus, Blake had already shown her what it could do. It was all around them.

"That wouldn't be too hard for me. What all would I need in the way of education with it?" Something told her that magic wasn't as simple as it appeared. Nothing worth learning was ever easy. She could at least dedicate herself to whatever was needed.

Blake filled Weiss' teacup as well and Weiss took a sip from it. This really was quite good tea. She'd never had anything like it before. "Well, there will be scientific knowledge you'll need. Magic can mutate the natural laws of the world because we learn how to manipulate the very fabric of time and space. We actually don't have to mine things from the crust because we can easily replicate almost any inanimate material. There are laws in place to prevent precious metals from being replicated, though there are a lot of other laws, too, so people don't go too crazy."

"I see." That made some level of sense. But it was comforting to know that science was still a thing in this world. She could easily dedicate herself to learning different branches of magic since she adored science so much. Though that did raise a question.

"I know more about dust than anybody on Remnant. Could I potentially turn that into magic?" She knew the physical properties of hundreds of different dust types. In theory, if magic worked in accordance with science, she could even potentially make the stuff from scratch. That…was an interesting prospect. She could potentially revolutionise the way fae interacted with the world and made technology.

Blake's ears twitched and she was silent for a few minutes. "In theory, yes. We don't have dust in this world, so it would be foreign to anybody teaching you. You would basically have to make your own branch of magic. I'm not sure how receptive other fae would be to it, but you'd be welcome to try." Make her own branch of magic… That was both an interesting yest terrifying prospect. The fae did seem to have things pretty well sorted out with their lives. But still… It might be worth a shot. Maybe she could revolutionise technology or something. But gaining a gathering would be hard…

"Also, something you should know is that your life will be extended by several orders of magnitude if you pursue magic. Though with your low blood percentage, my guess would be a couple centuries at most." That made Weiss freeze. Live to several centuries? She would live that long? ANd if that was considered young by fae standards…

"How old will you live to be?" That was a very good question. Blake kept telling her how young she was in comparison to even her parents. They were like two hundred or something, weren't they?

"About fifteen to twenty thousand, possibly older. I still have a very long life ahead of me." It sounded like literal torture. But in a society where basically everyone was long lived, it probably wasn't a big deal. Weiss would barely be a blip in Blake's and her parents' lives if she did pursue magic. A couple hundred years compared to tens of thousands of years. That was such a small era… It'd be even less if she didn't pursue magic. Maybe a hundred years if she were lucky…

Did she really want to live to be a few centuries, though? What if she grew tired and wanted to die? She never wanted to outstay her welcome either. What if the Belladonnas got sick of hosting her? Wait, what was she thinking? They had kidnapped her! But then again, would they really off her something as powerful as magic…? Why would Blake off her such power if they wanted to subjugate her? She was so easy to control now as it was… What were they planning with her? She really didn't understand their plans for her.

"What if I live for several centuries but get tired of living?" She wasn't talking about suicide. She meant existential exhaustion. "Don't fae ever get tired of living so long?" Fifteen thousand or more years… She couldn't imagine it. How could anybody not become existentially exhausted? She really didn't get how long they could carry on. How could somebody only get married at two hundred and wait so long to have children? None of this made any sense to her.

"Well, some people do get existentially exhausted and choose to end their lives. Not through suicide but through calling Melanthios. He is the force of death itself, but he's a pretty chilled-out guy. We have spells to call him should we decide we don't want to go on anymore. All he does is take the person to the afterlife. It's pleasant and gentle. There are some people that end their lives dramatically, but it's pretty rare. It's usually serfs that don't know the spells." Blake finished up eating while Weiss was only about halfway done. The force of death himself? So there was a god of death? That…didn't sound like it would make for a very chilled-out person. Dealing with people all the time sounded incredibly taxing. How would anybody possibly not go insane from that? Dealing with her brother and the president was tiring enough.

"So there would be an option if I couldn't bear it anymore." It was completely rhetorical. She was glad to know that she wouldn't have to endure centuries if she didn't want to. Although that did leave her with a lot of questions… So many philosophical questions about life and death popped up.

"I've seen people about 3500 years old take their last rites. It's pretty rare, but I've seen it before. It'll be quite a while until you learn the spells to contact Melanthios since they're more esoteric in nature rather than hard science. But if for some reason you can go now, you can." Blake's ears fell at that and Weiss tilted her head.

"I don't have any plans on dying yet. I was just curious about if I couldn't stand living for so long." She probably shouldn't trust what Blake said. She really shouldn't. But it seemed to be sincere this time. Then again, maybe she had some books. "Are there any major spellbooks I could look at to back up your words?" She really only did trust certain books when it came down to it.

Blake nodded. "We can head up to the manor library after we eat." That made Weiss stop eating and look up at Blake.

"A library?" She wanted to go now. She had been in the Schnee manor library, but she'd never been allowed to browse it before. She could only read what was prescribed by her teachers and the president. It had been her greatest dream to be allowed unfettered access to those books. The bookstore had been a good start, but to have unrestricted access to thousands of books… She could practically feel herself drooling over the prospect.

Blake nodded. "You're part of the family now, so you'll be able to use it whenever you want. All you have to do is ask Sayaka to take you there." She really felt skeptical now. If they were going to marry her off, why let her have access to the library? She was pretty pliable now. She knew nothing of the culture and world. Every husband wanted a good, submissive wife. She was perfect for that now. Why educate and give her power she could easily use against somebody?

"You're still on the arranged marriage things, aren't you? I can't read your soul, but I can see it in your eyes. Well, one thing I can tell you is that arranged marriages are actually illegal. We can check the lawbook when we go up to the library." Blake sighed and Weiss narrowed her eyes. Illegal? That made no sense to her. How could a society so against interracial marriage not have arranged marriages? She really couldn't wrap her mind around that. They had to keep track of bloodlines, right? What was she supposed to do when it came to believing that?

"I'll definitely need to see the laws concerning that." She would not believe until she could see the law with her own eyes. Arranged marriages were a staple of noble or upper-class society. How could they be illegal here? Blake had explained about same-sex marriage stuff and she had seen examples for herself already. But to believe there were no arranged marriages here… She could not wrap her mind around it. "How can there be no arranged marriages? Don't you need to watch out for bloodlines?" A lot of the older Atlassian families couldn't marry between each other due to fears of inbreeding. Old family trees were a tangled mess due to past inbreeding but the Schnee family didn't have to worry about that due to being so new on the scene.

"You're right we do need to worry about that. Not a lot of new blood comes into the nobility. But we are careful to not inbreed too much. There will almost always be some level of inbreeding, though. A marriage will be called off if two people are too closely related. Though that is one upside of changelings: new blood. Though they've fallen out of favor as magic has waned on Serlia…"

"You keep mentioning magic on Remnant. How does that work? I've never seen a magic user in my life." Fae had naturally inborne magic, but it didn't seem like humans (and maybe Faunus) did.

Blakesighed. "Mortals really do forget so easily. Even I know how magic from Serlia works. Do you remember me mentioning Duana?" Weiss nodded. "Well, there are places were humans can obtain magic called Fountains. They can grant Chaos or Order magic, though you would have to go through the Goddess of Potential Celaecyal to get it. Most of the Fountains have been sealed by Duana. The Grimm are sentient blobs of Chaos magic. You can no longer obtain magic because of Duana's influence. That's why ou've never seen a magic user.

"Though there is one exception: Silver-Eyed Warriors. Their magic is semi-divine Chaos magic. It was created by Duana though I can't say I know why." Blake went to pour herself another cup of tea, but frowned when nothing came out. "Can we get some more tea over here?" One of the servants replaced it with a fresh teapot and Blake got another cup of it. "So that's why you've never seen a mage before. All the magic has been slowly sealed away by a malignant figure that wants to destroy humanity."

"Why haven't I heard any of this before?" Weiss frowned. It sure felt like this sort of information should be public knowledge. Why had she never heard it before? Shouldn't the kingdoms be up in arms and trying to defeat this Duana character? Then again, did she really want Atlas having access to magic? Only Holy Father knew what would happen if they did get their hands on it and combine it with technology. It was an absolutely terrifying prospect.

Blake shrugged. "Mortal folly. There have been many ages on Serlia over the past 150,000 years. Many things have been forgotten, rediscovered, then forgotten again. In my Selian history class, I've learned there were once great floating cities all over the place in one age. Now there's only one. We remember many things that have been forgotten to you due to our long lives." Weiss was silent at that. It did make sense, she supposed. Human lives were but insects to fae. Eighty to a hundred years felt like a long time to Weiss, but fae lived many magnitudes longer than that. At least they were surrounded by people with similar lifespans. It did make more sense how fae wouldn't have children until two hundred years or later…

"And, from what I know, it took monumental resources to build Atlas. Did they use magic to replicate materials when building those cities?" She had so many questions about the past eras now. What were they like? How did people in those times live? She wished she could learn more about them. But it seemed so few off and unobtainable. How could she ever ope to learn about the past eras in an accurate and reliable way?

"From my understanding, yes. No need to quarry unnecessarily when you can create what you need out of nothing. But if you want to learn, my Serlian history teacher can teach you too, though at a different time. Your schedule is entirely up to you." Blake poured herself another cup of tea while Weiss finished up eating. It felt good to get the amount of food she actually needed. She hadn't felt full since before she'd had her aura unlocked. And the food was so flavorful compared to the typical Atlassian fare she had. It wasn't spicy, but it was packed with flavor. She would probably die if she had to go back to Atlas' bland, boring cooking! And she would never unless she could visit Winter. Which did bring up a question…

"Will I be able to visit my sister again?" She sorely missed her sister. That five-minute visit had barely been enough to safe her desire to talk to Winter. She really wanted to spend time with her if possible.

She saw Blake purse her lips. "I already broke a multitude of laws when I took you to see her. We can go get you a pearl so you can talk to her, but I can't let you see her unless legal arrangements are made."

"What arrangements would those be?" Weiss frowned. She didn't like the sound of that. Legal stuff was rarely ever straightforward and it sounded like things might be tied up for a while if they went this route.

"My parents would know better. I'm still not super educated when it comes to a lot of different areas of law. I mostly know about my personal rights above all else with a little bit of changeling law. I'll be studying more as I get older." Blake tapped her chin. "We'll have to see if my parents can find anybody that specialises in changeling rights so you can learn what you can and can't do." Her days were shaping up to be quite long. Falconry, magic, law, history… Oh well. It was better than sitting around all day with her thumbs up hre butt. Oh right. She had Misum manners to learn too. She really was shaping up to have packed days. She still wasn't sure what the Belladonnas planned to do with her. If Blake was telling the truth about the arranged marriages, what point did they have in kidnapping her? Why educate her and offer her access to magic? It was easy to have her reliant on them and make her submissive. She was already primed for that. Why try to equip her with certain knowledge and skills so that she could protect herself from them and society at large? Winter wouldn't be able to protect her from harm here, but she hadn't been able to protect her even while they'd been in Schnee manor to get her. So that hadn't really changed at all… And Winter would hold no power over the fae in general, so it wasn't a huge deal. Nothing had changed on that front for her.

"All right. So there's Remnant history, magic classes for at least two hours, Misum manners, law, and falconry lessons. Am I forgetting anything?" Weiss counted off on her fingers. That was probably at least six hours a day. Still only about half of what she was used to at home.

"Horseback riding lessons so you can get used to astride. Plus, learning to ride a pegasus is probably a good idea. Do you want to learn to fly?" Weiss perked up at that. Fly? That sounded amazing.

"That does sound interesting."

"Probably want to split the time in half, then. About thirty minutes astride, thirty minutes for pegasus back. How does that sound?" Blake smiled and Weiss nodded. That sounded great. Being able to fly in the sky? Even if it wasn't on her own power… She'd admired birds for their freedom in being able to go where they wanted. It'd be awesome to have that level of freedom…

However, she narrowed her eyes again. Let her learn to fly on a pegasus? That gave her ample opportunity to escape. Why would they let her do that? Then again, she couldn't exactly survive in the wild by herself. She sighed. What a mess. She was trapped on matter what way she looked at it. She didn't have the teleport crystal thing Blake did, so she coldn't get out that way. And she wouldn't survive in the wilds by herself. They still had her good as trapped… At least she had more freedom here than Schnee manor, but she was no less trapped. Blake was kind but so many things could hide behind sweetness and gentleness. She'd seen how catty upper-class women could be.

A servant cleared away the dishes. "Would you like to see the library now?" Blake asked.

Weiss nodded. "Yes, please." She would very much like to see it…