EDITED 1/5/2020
Word Count: 9,249
Chapter 7 — A New Dawn
Weiss scrambled up the rocky incline, feeling less and less confident every second about the upcoming journey. She wouldn't be the first to say she was fit, exactly, but she never really considered herself out of shape either—at least not until today. However, with her feet and legs growing unsteadier with every step as she trudged over this uneven, sorry excuse for a trail, she had to admit that maybe, possibly, there was a chance that her stamina could use some work. If she was really being honest with herself, her stamina could use a lot of work.
The trip had started out fine. She and her small hooded guide had parted ways with Yang—the latter promising that she'd meet up with them as soon as she squared away a few things and got the rest of the provisions they would need. From there, they made their way through the forest, walking in silence since the younger sister was mute. That wasn't too bad until Weiss realized that wherever this cave was, it was a lot farther away than she thought, because they just kept walking and walking and walking. It felt like they had been trudging through the trees for hours before they finally reached the point where they were now, a huge rocky outcropping smack dab in the middle of the forest. That was when her guide started leading her upwards on a barely visible path on the eastern edge of the rocky formation, leading to her current torturous predicament.
They couldn't have been hiking for more than a few minutes at most, but already Weiss's lungs were struggling to draw breath. Her heart beat furiously to try to keep up with the unaccustomed exertion. Her legs burned with each push upwards, and her feet ached from slipping, tripping, and having to catch herself so many times. Her fine shoes weren't really meant for traipsing through the forest, and she was reminded of that fact every time she slipped on a hidden carpet of moss or a patch of damp soil. Sweat rolled down her face, neck, and back—which only added to her discomfort.
Meanwhile her small guide was breathing no harder than if she were taking an easy stroll. The girl had even relieved Weiss of the half-filled knapsack Yang had helped her pack earlier and was carrying it along with her own, much heavier looking knapsack and a medium-sized basket filled with provisions. Weiss wanted to growl in frustration at seeing the smaller girl do something so seemingly simple that she herself couldn't manage, but she simply didn't have the breath to even attempt it.
Inwardly, a part of her tried to argue that of course she didn't have the stamina for this sort of thing. She was no soldier—no common laborer. She was a Schnee, and it was beneath her to carry her own luggage; that was what servants were for. Yet the thought only served to make her ever more frustrated and angry at herself. Those were her father's thoughts, not hers. They were the kind of thoughts he used to steal away what little power—what little autonomy she had.
"Let the servants dress you, Weiss. It's what they're there for."
"Stop that! We're in front of guests. It's unbecoming for a woman to serve anyone but her husband and father at the dining table. You there! Serve Lady Weiss for the remainder of the meal—small portions, mind you—can't have her seem like a glutton in front of her potential husbands' families."
"No, don't get up. Send a servant to go fetch what you need. They aren't being paid to stand around and do nothing. I swear, Weiss, it's like you don't know your place in the world. You're a Schnee. It's an honor for them to be able to serve you."
Lies. All lies. Falsehoods he instilled into her since childhood to ensure she remained under his thumb—to ensure that she became someone without even the slightest hint of independence or initiative—someone who didn't think and only obeyed. She couldn't even lift a finger, much less dress herself, without someone reporting back to him.
Weiss remembered the one time she decided she didn't want to wear the dress he told her to wear and sent the servants away so she could pick out something else. Less than ten minutes later, he had barged into her room practically screaming that he didn't pay thousands of lien for her dresses for her not to wear them when he needed her to. Weiss remembered cowering in front of his sudden anger and flinching as he threw her personal wardrobe open with a slam and ordered the servants to remove any clothes that he hadn't personally picked out. She would wear what he wanted her to wear or nothing at all.
That was the day she learned her true worth in his eyes.
She was nothing but a trophy to him. A thing to be taken out and shined up to impress his colleagues. A mere doll to be dressed in the finest, most expensive silks and latest styles to show off his wealth. A piece of bait to dangle in front of the other noble families to remind them that they could be a part of the illustrious Schnee family as long as they had a son to offer up as a sacrifice in the game they called politics.
This time Weiss did let out a growl, although it came out more like a pathetic wheeze than anything else. To her great surprise, the hooded girl walking quite a ways in front of her turned at the sound. The girl must have an incredible sense of hearing to have heard that weak exhalation of breath over the sound of their footsteps, the wind rustling through the trees, and the occasional bird calls erupting out of the forest.
The girl made her way back—looking fresher than a daisy, Weiss thought grumpily—and offered Weiss her canteen. Weiss hesitated for all the entirety of two seconds before she took it and thirstily gulped at the cool water inside. A part of her was horrified at the unsanitariness of it all—of using someone else's personal water vessel without thoroughly washing the mouthpiece first—but it was a very small part. She was far too sweaty, tired, and most of all, thirsty, to care at this point. She retained just enough frame of mind not to guzzle all the water, just in case her guide wanted some too, but the other girl just returned the now considerably lighter canteen to her knapsack.
"How much further?" Weiss asked, hoping that their hike would soon be over and in her haste for information, forgetting her companion couldn't answer her in words.
It didn't seem to matter though, because the girl answered by pointing to a pair of boulders a little further up the trail.
"We're close?" She was answered with a nod, and she gave a small sigh of relief. Good. She didn't think she could keep going for very much longer.
As the two of them continued hiking up the trail, Weiss couldn't help but think back to what Yang said to her before they parted ways.
"You know, just because she doesn't speak doesn't mean she's stupid," Yang said as she slipped a pair of socks into the mostly empty knapsack in front of her.
Apparently what little Weiss had been able to pack with her failed to meet Yang's standards, so the other woman was now rummaging through a chest of worn but clean and serviceable clothing to replace what the noble was being forced to leave behind after a long, heated discussion. In the end, Weiss grudgingly accepted that perhaps her fine clothing wasn't quite suitable for the road and agreed to let Yang trade or sell some of the pieces for whatever else they might need for the trip. When Weiss brought up the possibility that selling the fine clothes would leave a trail for her father's men to follow, Yang explained that she could sell it to her uncle who could take it elsewhere before selling it again, effectively leaving a false trail for whoever might be on the lookout for a hidden noble on the run. Weiss had to agree it was a rather clever plan—one that she didn't really expect from an impulsive woman who thought assaulting a group of armed soldiers was a good idea. When the woman had gone out to meet the guards, Weiss thought she was just going to talk to them and perhaps distract them with a false lead, not start a fight. Aura warrior or not, taking on twenty men alone and unarmed was sheer folly, or so Weiss believed up until the foolhardy woman had come waltzing back into the cabin none worse for the wear.
Weiss blinked in confusion as she sorted through which of her clothes she absolutely wanted to keep and which she could be persuaded to part with. "What?"
"Ruby. You haven't really spoken directly to her even once since I got here. You haven't even called her by name. You keep turning to me when you want to know stuff about her, always referring to her as 'my sister' rather than by her name. You're treating her like she's an extension of me rather than her own person. If you want this trip to go smoothly, you're going to have to quit doing that."
Weiss hadn't even realized she was doing so. But what else was she to do? The girl couldn't talk, and Weiss didn't know how to read the myriad of gestures she used to communicate with her sister. It was just easier to let Yang be the middleman rather than try to interact with the girl directly.
The other surprisingly perceptive woman continued as though she knew what Weiss was thinking, "Don't worry; you're not the first to treat her like that. Most people do. They talk to me when they want to ask her to do things even if she's standing right there listening; and most of the time, I don't care. It's easier on both of us just to let clients do what they want when we're only working with them for a short while.
"But this time it's different. This is going to be a long trip, meaning we're going to be stuck with each other for a while, so I won't let you get away with treating Ruby like she doesn't have a mind of her own. Plus, there are going to be times when we might have to split up—much like today, in fact—and at some point you two are going to have to learn to manage without me. Today's as good as any to start."
"And how am I supposed to do that? She's—"
"Nuh-uh. Not 'she.' 'Ruby.' She's got a name. Use it. Use it and keep using it until it sticks. Sure, she's my little sister, but she's also 'Ruby,' a girl who loves strawberries, tinkering, running through the woods, and cuddling by the fire. She's an expert hunter, forager, tracker, and woodsman—well, woodswoman. She's shy, but she's got the biggest heart and will do just about anything to make you smile."
The thought of trying to interact with the younger girl to the extent her older sister was suggesting sent panic rushing through her. Weiss wasn't the greatest at social interaction even on a good day with someone who could actually communicate with her in words. How was she supposed to interact with someone who she couldn't understand at all?
Yang seemed to take pity on her. "Look, I'm not saying be her best friend from day one. I'm just saying try to get to know her. Start small. Call her by her name whenever you have a chance. When you talk to her, use lots of yes or no questions. That's easy enough, right?"
Yes or no questions? That was something she could do. Calling her by her name might be a little harder to remember, but it seemed doable. Eventually.
At least Weiss thought so at the time. Now that she was alone with the girl—Ruby, she mentally reminded herself yet again—it was much harder to summon the courage to say anything. And so here they were, almost to their destination, and Weiss had barely strung together two sentences.
It was that dratted hood that was the problem, Weiss thought to herself irritably. A name was only a word until it could be connected to a series of traits and features that could then be assembled to form an individual entity known as a person. "Ruby" meant nothing to her because she simply didn't know anything about the girl whose name it belonged to. Yes, the girl had rescued her when she was in dire straits, but that didn't tell her anything about the girl personally. The words "guide," "hooded figure," and even simply "girl" had more meaning to Weiss than "Ruby" did. She couldn't even put a face to the name, making it even harder for Weiss to summon enough courage to attempt any meaningful interactions with her. Who knew what the girl was thinking beneath that shadowy hood. For all Weiss knew, the girl could be all but laughing at her poor efforts of communication. She just didn't know and until she knew for certain what the other girl was thinking, it was just easier to maintain the silence.
Weiss turned her eyes to her guide just in time to see the girl vanish. Weiss blinked in shock before hurrying up the trail. She glanced left and right trying to figure out where the girl had gone to no avail. It was like she vanished into thin air.
Weiss licked her lips nervously, summoned her courage, and probably for the first time ever, called out, "R-ruby?"
She was answered by a soft whistle and suddenly, the girl was back, popping in out of nowhere and making Weiss jump.
"Don't do that!" Weiss snapped, more sharply than she intended. She couldn't help it. Her heart was pounding a mile a minute, and she hated being caught off guard.
The other girl visibly flinched and her shoulders curled in, uncomfortably making Weiss picture a kicked puppy. Still, she couldn't quite bring herself to apologize. It was the girl's fault for startling her in the first place.
After an awkward silence, during which Weiss took the time to take a few deep breaths calm her racing heart, Weiss ventured the query, "Where did you go?"
The hooded girl uncurled just a little and gestured weakly to the pair of boulders next to them. Making sure Weiss was watching this time, she slipped between them and was gone. Frowning, Weiss took a few steps closer to the boulders and realized there was indeed a narrow gap between them, though it was nearly invisible unless someone knew it was there. Weiss was impressed in spite of herself. This must be why the two sisters felt the cave was safer than their cabin. A little bit of the tension that had been haunting Weiss since she saw the Schnee Guards at the sisters' cabin eased from her shoulders. For the first time in days, she felt safe. She let out a small sigh of relief and followed after her guide.
"You must be joking," Weiss said flatly as she looked up at the steep cliffside in front of her, not really speaking to anyone since her guide had already scurried up the wall as nimbly as a squirrel.
After leading them to the rocky wall, the other girl had placed all their belongings into what appeared to be a lift. If Weiss wasn't so appalled at being expected to be able to climb the sheer cliff in front of her, she would have been suitably impressed by the amount of effort and craftsmanship that had clearly gone into making the lift. It wasn't just a box attached to a rope like most simple designs she had seen. The box was actually attached to a track that ran parallel to the cliff wall by a set of wheels, most likely to keep it from swinging around in the wind and colliding with the wall as it was hauled up. Simple but practical and far more ingenious than she would have expected from a mere commoner who had probably never even heard of mechanical engineering much less studied it. A tinker indeed.
A rattle and squeaking sound interrupted her thoughts as the lift began to move upwards. Weiss glanced up to see her hooded guide rotating a crank and lever, throwing her entire body into it. Weiss couldn't help but raise an eyebrow. The girl must be a lot stronger than she looked to be able to move the entire lift and its contents by herself. Then again, she was related to that golden-haired, muscle-bound oaf of a sister so perhaps it wasn't so unexpected.
A whistle of warning sounded out from above her, and a rope ladder with wooden rungs unfurled itself with a clatter as it fell from above, stopping beside the young noble and hanging about a foot off the ground. Weiss looked up, yet again, to see the other girl wave for her to climb up and then disappear from view.
Well, at least she wasn't expected to suddenly develop squirrel climbing skills and be able to shimmy up the rock wall with absolutely no help. Not that she had ever climbed such a flimsy ladder before. At least the one in the sisters' cabin had been made entirely of sturdy wood. This one rocked and swayed with every little puff of wind, and she was expected to climb it?
Weiss eyed the ladder uneasily for a moment before tugging on it to see how secure it really was. It seemed...strong enough, she supposed, but it still unnerved her. She glanced up again to make sure she wasn't being watched. Why, she wasn't entirely sure herself, but it galled her to think that the other girl might be watching her unsteadily climb the ladder when the she, herself, had climbed up the wall with only her hands and feet. Weiss took a deep breath and slowly began making her way up, freezing in place every time the ladder swayed too much.
Inwardly, she cursed every life decision that led her up to this moment. This flimsy deathtrap would be her doom. It'd snap when she'd least expect it, and she'd fall to her death. Her mission would fail, her father would succeed in ruining the Schnee name, and she'd never again be able to tell Winter how much she loved her. She was sure of it.
It was to her great and utter shock when several extremely long moments later, she actually made it to the top of the cliff, shaking with nerves, but alive and arguably well. Still, if she had to climb another flimsy rope ladder like that, it would be far too soon. As soon as she cleared the edge of the cliff and had her feet back on solid ground, she quickly turned her back to that dreadful ladder and did all she could to wipe the harrowing memory from her mind.
The "cave" that was their destination was less a cave and more a hole in the rockface, formed from centuries of wind and water erosion. It didn't even have a real roof. Once one went past the arch that served as its entrance, the roomy chamber within offered an unobstructed view of the sky. It was what Weiss imagined standing at the bottom of a canyon would feel like. For a brief moment, Weiss found herself wondering what they did when it rained until she noticed a series of ropes attached to something just out of sight. She moved to take a better look and saw some sort of awning that could be pulled over the hole in the ceiling using the ropes. The other girl must have opened it up shortly before Weiss had arrived. Wooden, handmade shelves lined the room and were covered with various tools, jars, containers, and a plethora of other random objects. It looked more like a workshop than a hideaway, which Weiss would later discover, it was.
As soon as Weiss had cleared the top of the cliff wall, Ruby had led her over to a low stool, sat her down, and began puttering about—sweeping the floor, cleaning this and that, and emptying some of the things from her knapsack to put on the few empty shelves. Weiss had nothing to do but wait and watch as the girl tried to make the place seem more habitable.
It was probably the worst thing that could have happened to her at that point. Having nothing to do meant no distractions. No distractions meant she would start thinking, and thinking meant her mind was almost guaranteed to lead her to places she didn't want to go. As expected, it didn't take long.
It began as a soft murmur at the back of Weiss's mind—a disquieting rustle sending warning signals to her that she didn't quite know how to interpret but knew somewhere, somehow that they should be heeded nonetheless. Then at some point, the sense of disquiet became louder and louder until it was like waves pounding against the shoreline, threatening and succeeding at eroding what little stability she had left.
Time stretched and at some point, the dam broke. Crashing waves overran the flimsy barriers Weiss had haphazardly thrown into place so that she could keep functioning amidst constant flurries of insecurity and anxiety, and suddenly everything that had happened over the past few days overwhelmed her. Missing Winter and Klein, feeling more alone than she ever felt in her life, discovering her father's plans, making the impulsive decision to run away from home, actually running away from home, encountering all sorts of things she was unprepared for, getting captured by that pig of a man who served in her family's household guard—oh, how she would like to go back and see to it that he lost his job, but alas, that was out of her hands at the moment—getting rescued and then rashly attempting to hire her rescuer even though she knew nothing about them.
It was all too much. At every juncture of the path that led her up to this point, she had questioned herself over and over again. Could she really pull this off? Should she really do this? Would her actions really make a difference? What would happen to her after all this? She was sure to be disinherited at the very least. What would she do then? How would she survive or make a living when she knew practically nothing about the world outside the castle?
Every insecurity, every seeping trickle of anxiety struck her all at once and the next thing she knew, the hooded girl, Ruby, was crouching in front of her. At some point, the girl had removed her gloves, and now she reached out to touch Weiss's cheek with those small, pale hands of hers. Weiss flinched at the warmth of those hands and then realized the girl wasn't so much as touching her cheek as she was gently wiping away the tears trailing down them.
"What…" Weiss reached up with her own hands, felt the wetness, and wondered when it got there. She swiped at her face roughly, suddenly flushed with shame and embarrassment. She was a Schnee. Schnees never showed weakness. They never cried in public. The last time she made that mistake, her father spent hours berating her afterwards.
"Worthless child. Stop that unseemly caterwauling. You're being a disgrace to the family."
That had been the day of her mother's funeral. Even the mere memory of those words stabbed through her chest like an icy spear just as they did back then.
Intellectually, she knew her father's words were complete garbage, but a lifetime of conditioning couldn't be overcome in only a few days. She felt humiliated for being caught like this, and that humiliation quickly turned to anger. She jerked away from the girl in front of her.
"Stop that. I'm fine," she forced out through clenched teeth as sobs threatened to erupt from her throat. Hold it in. You're fine.
But she wasn't. The tears that had started as a mere trickle quickly turned into an outpouring of uncontrollable stress and anxiety. Too much had happened to her in the past few days, and what little resilience she had shattered in the face of her exhaustion. Emotions that she had forced away time and time again came roaring back with a vengeance. She turned away, arms wrapped tightly around her stomach, her face hot with tears, her sinuses clogged, and her shoulders shaking at the force of her sobs.
Then the unexpected happened. Two small but unbelievably warm arms wrapped themselves around her, forcing her face against an equally warm shoulder.
It shocked her to the core. She couldn't even remember the last time she had been held like this—like someone actually cared about her. She couldn't even remember the last time she had human contact that wasn't forceful or controlling in nature. She loved her sister, Winter, but neither of them had been much for physical affection. She remembered being hugged as a child, but at some point, those hugs had tapered off into nonexistence.
The embrace was uncomfortable in its unfamiliarity, causing the hairs at the back of her neck to stand on end. At the same time, it was incredibly warm and in its warmth, so very scary.
She panicked.
"Don't touch me!" Weiss cried out, trying to shove the other girl away. She felt the slightest twinge of guilt when she felt the smaller girl stiffen at the acid in her tone, but to her complete and utter shock, for the first time since they'd met, the girl didn't do as she asked. Instead, the girl only tightened her hold.
Weiss struggled to break free, but the other girl was surprisingly strong and eventually, Weiss was sobbing too hard to put up a fight any longer. What little resistance she had melted away in the face of the other girl's warm embrace, and Weiss buried her face in the girl's shoulder. The other girl loosened her hold then, and those small, gentle hands began rubbing deep, comforting circles along Weiss's back.
Weiss could only clutch at her and cry the hardest she'd ever cried in her life. She cried for Winter, who she wasn't sure she'd ever see again. She cried for the loss of her mother and the travesty her father had turned the Schnee family into, tarnishing their honor and making their name synonymous with corruption. She cried for the cold and empty life she had lived thus far, trapped within her father's cage. Most of all, she cried for herself and how pathetic she must seem, suddenly breaking down like this with no warning. Years of pain, hurt, abuse and loneliness exploded from within her, and like a watery torrent breaking free from its prison, the flow of negative emotions would not be stopped until they had fully run their course. Yet all the while, Weiss was still aware at the edges of her consciousness of the warm, gentle arms cradling her shaking shoulders until the moment exhaustion overcame her, finally sending her into the oblivion of sleep.
Wakefulness returned to Weiss in starts and stops, mostly because waking up was the last thing she wanted to do. Waking up meant she would have to face another day of insecurity—another day of not knowing what was going to happen or what she should do. Sleep was far more preferable in that she couldn't second-guess herself to death while in its comforting embrace. Things just seemed less important when she was half-asleep, and it was the only time she could experience what it would feel like to just not worry.
Unfortunately, fate seemed to have other plans for Weiss—assuming fate had decided to take on the shape of a small, mysterious, hooded young girl. A gentle hand kept shaking her shoulder, bringing her closer and closer to the dreaded realm of wakefulness. Finally, Weiss gave up, cracked open a bleary eye that was still burning painfully from all the crying she had done the night before, and glared at the girl attempting to wake her. The flickering lantern in the girl's hand hurt Weiss's eyes all the more. However, before she had the presence of mind to fire off some scathing remark or remember that this was the girl who had witnessed her humiliating, pathetic breakdown, a cool, damp cloth was thrust into her face.
Weiss flinched away before attempting to right herself. That was when she realized she wasn't in her huge, cushy bed at the castle. She blinked confusedly for a moment. Where was she? Then she remembered. The cave. Her sudden breakdown. The girl leading her over to the cot she was now using and tucking her in sometime during the previous night. Weiss blushed red at the thought of being tucked in like a child.
That cloth was thrust into her face yet again, and this time she took it just so that the girl would stop doing that. "What?" she asked irritably.
The hooded girl mimed wiping her hidden face and pointed to a basin of water at the foot of the cot. Oh. She's offering me a chance to clean up.
As soon as the damp cloth touched her face, Weiss couldn't help but sigh in relief. Not only did the coolness of the cloth soothe her aching eyes, but it felt so good wipe away all the traces of her crying from the night before. She couldn't do anything about the shame of losing control and breaking down, but with her face clean, she could at least pretend that none of it had even happened.
That was when she realized it was still dark outside. A jolt of worry ran through her. Had something happened? Did they suddenly have to leave in the dead of night to avoid detection? But if that was the case, then why did her hooded companion seem untroubled?
The girl in question tugged on Weiss's sleeve after cleaning up the basin of water and cloth that Weiss had used.
"What is it now?" Weiss got no answer, just that persistent tugging. "Alright, alright! I'm coming." That seemed to be what the girl had been waiting for, and she led them out of the cave with only the small lantern to guide them.
The girl stopped on the far left side of the cave and held the lantern over the ground so that Weiss could see a rough, staircase-like path leading up. A rope had been wound through a series of metal rings that had been spiked into the rock wall at regular intervals. A handrail of some sort, perhaps? The girl offered Weiss the lantern—presumably so that she could light her own path—and started climbing up first. Weiss grumbled to herself irritably but followed the other girl up regardless. The rough staircase led to a relatively small but flat plateau, in the center of which were two stools that seemed to have been fashioned out of partially hollowed out tree stumps and a low burning fire with a water kettle simmering over it.
Ruby led Weiss over to one of the stools and motioned for her to sit down. The young noble did so with a huff of annoyance, still entirely unsure of why she had been dragged up here and feeling uncomfortable being so close to the one person who had seen her lapse of control. No doubt the smaller girl was looking down on her and judging her just like everyone else in her life did. The thought almost made her want to scream. She wouldn't, however, for doing so would only give the girl more reason to think her weak and pathetic.
The most maddening thing about this whole situation was that the girl didn't speak. Any other time Weiss would be able to regain her equilibrium by verbally sparring with her critics, but should Weiss be the first to speak up and verbally attack the hooded girl, she'd be no better than the people she despised. So she held her tongue even though it was the last thing she wanted to do.
Heedless of Weiss's internal wrath, the girl, Ruby, unfolded what looked to be a blanket, laid it across Weiss's lap despite the latter's squeak of indignation, and then turned her back on the white-haired noble to tend to the fire. A series of soft clinks met Weiss's ears, and the next moment, Ruby was offering her a mug of something that smelled remarkably like...apples and roses? Her curiosity warred with her desire to remain aloof until finally, her curiosity won out. She accepted the mug warily and took a modest sniff. Yes, apples and rosehips. A small sip also told her the tea blend had been mildly sweetened by honey. It was good. More importantly, it was warm and chased away some of the chill that still clung to her. Against her better judgement, Weiss felt herself relax ever so slightly.
She watched as Ruby puttered around the fire a little longer. The girl stopped only once to refill Weiss's mug of tea and add a little more honey. Weiss hadn't even realized she had drunk it so fast. Not that she could help it; it was the best tasting thing she'd had since leaving home. Weiss still didn't know why she had been brought up here, but the tea alone made it worth it.
Quietly, she took in the dark autumn morning. She listened to the soft crackling of the fire, the occasional hoot of an owl, and her companion's rustling movements as she did whatever it was she was doing. The air was chill, but the fire and her apple-rosehip tea were enough to stave off the worst of the cold—that is, until her companion suddenly glanced up towards the horizon, stood up, and put out the small fire with a practiced ease, meticulously snuffing out every glowing ember until everything was dark.
What's going on? Weiss wondered, but despite her reservations and questions, a part of her was extremely reluctant to break the silence. And perhaps, just perhaps, she was slowly starting to learn that her mysterious companion had reasons for whatever she was doing. Weiss had to admit that ever since they had met, the girl had been deliberate and careful, and not once had she done anything to purposely harm her. What was it that the girl's older sister had told her—that she had to learn to watch and listen in order to understand?
Still, without the warmth of the fire, it got noticeably colder up here where there were no trees tall enough to block the worst of the cool morning breeze. However, the moment a shiver ran through Weiss's chilled body, a thick, warm cloak was settled over her shoulders.
A thread excitement ran through Weiss. Had the girl finally removed her cloak, sacrificing her desire to remain hidden from strangers in order to keep Weiss warm? Alas, it was not meant to be. Apparently the girl had more than one of those hideously plain cloaks for her features remained hidden, much to Weiss's displeasure. Why was the girl so intent on hiding herself away? Unless, perhaps, she was horribly disfigured beneath that cloak. Weiss raised a hand to her own scar in spite of herself. If that were really the case, she could understand why the girl would keep her face hidden. Weiss might not like the constant mystery—it was like an itch that begged to be scratched—but she could understand not wanting her physical imperfections to be seen.
Weiss had hidden in her room for weeks after her injury before she decided that she wouldn't let her father win. He had deliberately caused her injury, however indirectly. He had taken her sword lessons away despite her proving that she did indeed have what it took to fight and win against other warriors, but he would not get the satisfaction of seeing her back down just because of a little scar. If he disliked seeing her in public showing her physical imperfection to the world, then he shouldn't have ordered his men to attack her; and if her scar caused him political or social damage, all the better.
Weiss drew the cloak tighter around her shoulders—(privately thankful for it)—and straightened the blanket on her lap so that it covered her legs more thoroughly before cupping her hands around her warm mug of tea once again. In time, her eyes adjusted to the darkness only to realize it wasn't quite as dark as before.
In the distance was a thin ribbon of light that grew wider with every passing moment. It started out two-toned—a light orangish-pink on the bottom shading to a pale yellowish-white on the top. Soon, both colors were wiped out by a brilliant white that slowly took over the horizon as the light rose higher and higher. The darkened sky gradually turned to a clear, beautiful blue, and the clouds were dyed a rosy pink. Weiss watched awestruck as the colors shifted and danced before her eyes as the sun finally peaked its way over the distant horizon, sending magnificent rays of yellow and white across the land and painting the world in color once more. Finally, as though in celebration of light returning to the world, the air was filled with the sound of birds singing, heralding the coming of a new day.
It took Weiss's breath away.
Weiss couldn't remember when she last experienced something so heart-wrenchingly beautiful. She was a noble. She had grown up rich, and though her father had been controlling, she had still wanted for nothing. Every material need or want had been met. She was supposed to have had her pick of beautiful things—clothing, decorations, trinkets, and jewelry—and yet, all of those things paled in comparison to the sight before her. This was something so ordinary, and yet it filled her with wonder. What had she been doing all her life? How could she have missed something so simple as waking up early in the morning to view something so amazing?
Unfortunately, she knew the answer. The castle that had been her domicile had been less a home and more of a prison. Anything she wanted to do outside (and sometimes even within its confines) had to be approved by her father. She wasn't even allowed to step into the gardens without someone stopping her and sending a runner to her father for permission, so in the end, she just stopped trying. The more she antagonized him, the less freedom she received so she learned to pick and choose her battles—to prioritize her desires so she could keep at least some small measure of control in her own life. Visiting the gardens early in the morning to see the sunrise had never even occurred to her because she had more important freedoms to protect—namely, her sword lessons. Ultimately, it had all been for naught since he took away her sword in the end, regardless of all her efforts, but choosing which freedoms to protect had been one of the only ways she was able to maintain even a semblance of self-worth. As long as she found the strength to defy her father even in the smallest of ways, she knew he had not fully broken her—that he didn't own her.
A thought struck her. She was out here in the middle of nowhere far from her father's influence. There were no cold, empty castle walls to confine her—no scores of servants and guards watching her every move in order to report back to her father—no expectations of how she should dress or act. For what might be the first time in her relatively short life, Weiss was free.
Suddenly, everything seemed brighter and more vivid in her eyes. The crisp morning air smelled sweeter and clearer. The sound of wind rustling through the trees down below seemed almost soothing, and the birdsong sounded melodious rather than raucous. Even the nearly forgotten mug of cooled tea in her hands still tasted good as she finished off the last few sips. For the first time since she was a small child, Weiss felt at peace. Right here at this moment, the world expected nothing of her. She could sit here all day soaking in the sun, and no one would fault her for it. It was such a wondrous feeling.
That was when she realized the small hooded girl that had brought her all the way up here and had served her tea was nowhere in sight.
I didn't even notice when she left, Weiss thought to herself.
Then Weiss realized something else. The waking her up when it was still dark out, the lap blanket, the tea, the cloak around her shoulders, the sunrise—it had all been planned.
Was the girl… Weiss frowned at herself. No, not "the girl." She had a name. Ruby. Weiss was surprised to discover that the name didn't feel nearly as foreign as it had the day before. The name was finally starting to feel real. She could actually connect it to a person now—a person who had held her when she was hurting seemingly without judgment the night before—a person who, to all intents and purposes, went out of her way to show Weiss the sunrise, even preparing blankets, tea, and a cloak to make sure she was comfortable as she watched the moment when dawn turned to day. It was nearly impossible for Weiss to believe coming from a world where people only took action when some sort of profit was involved, but…
Was Ruby trying to cheer me up?
And yet Weiss couldn't think of any other plausible explanation for the girl's actions. It brought to mind the days when Klein was still at the castle and went out of his way to personally check up on her in between his many other obligations. It made Weiss feel so...warm...cared for even. Of course, there was still a chance that the girl was indeed motivated by profit like everybody else—or perhaps she had been merely taking pity on the young noble—but for some reason, neither of those seemed very likely. It was a daunting feeling because it required her to trust someone who wasn't Klein or Winter; the thought of which was nerve-wracking and so incredibly foreign.
Weiss shivered in spite of herself. In her world, trust was scary. It was far easier to keep everyone at an arm's distance so that when they inevitably betrayed her, the cut would be shallow at best. However…
She swallowed uneasily as she glanced down at the empty mug in her hands and felt the warmth of the blanket and cloak that still swathed her seated figure. The faint taste of apples, rosehips, and honey filled her mouth again as she licked her lips nervously.
She would wait and see, she decided at last. She was supposed to be learning to interact with Ruby anyway. She would take her time, observe, and think everything through carefully before taking any undue risks. It was safer that way, and if a part of her felt let down by her own decision, she carefully ignored it.
Ruby fought back a yawn as she rubbed her tired eyes. It had been another long night where sleep had been erratic at best. At least it had worked out in her favor this time though. When it became obvious that she wasn't going to get much sleep, her mind had wandered back to the white-haired noble.
Weiss, Ruby mouthed to herself, testing the name on her tongue and feeling the strange sensation of using her mouth to form words that she no longer spoke.
When Ruby had first caught the scent of Weiss's salt-tinged tears and heard the first weak sniffle, she panicked. She had no idea of what to do. However, when the scent of tears had intensified while she was frozen in panic and indecision, Ruby knew she had to do something.
To be honest, the thought of approaching the noble—a virtual stranger—terrified her. While she knew in her head that Weiss meant her no harm, her heart and body remembered times when that wasn't always the case, causing her hands to tremble and sweat, and her pulse to quicken just thinking about it. However, no matter how scared and nervous Ruby was, the other girl was clearly feeling worse, so Ruby forced down her knee-jerk instinct to keep her distance and wrapped her arms around the crying noble, hoping to ease her pain.
Weiss fought back at first, but Ruby remembered times when she, too, fought against Yang who was only trying to comfort her on one of her bad days with a warm embrace. Yang never let Ruby push her away and most of the time, Ruby felt better afterwards because of it, so Ruby wouldn't let go of Weiss either. She wasn't absolutely sure that it was the right thing to do, but she didn't have any better ideas so she just ran with it. Then when the older girl stopped fighting Ruby's hold, Ruby cautiously started rubbing her back like Yang always did for her, and Weiss seemed to collapse in her arms. So Ruby kept holding her, ignoring the growing stiffness in her shoulders and back due to the awkward positioning of her body, and paying no mind to the tears soaking through her cloak and spreading across her shirt and shoulder. She held Weiss until the young noble had cried herself to exhaustion. Then, Ruby took Weiss by the hand, led her to her cot, and tucked her in. Not knowing what else to do, Ruby sat by the cot, holding the noble's hand and gently running her thumb across her knuckles until she heard Weiss's breathing finally deepen into true slumber.
That was when Ruby wandered off to try to get some sleep herself, but when that plan failed, she couldn't help but notice how her thoughts kept going back to Weiss. Ruby had never met anyone who was in so much pain and who seemed so broken before. It bothered her. A lot. No one should have to suffer alone, not when there were so many people out in the world, but what could she do about it? Ruby wasn't like Yang who always seemed to know the right thing to say or do. She wasn't like Uncle Qrow who could always talk her out of her darker moods when she was feeling like she was nothing but a burden to her loved ones.
Ruby rolled over in her bedroll yet again as she scoured her brain for ideas. In the end, she only could think of one and not a very good one at that. Whenever Ruby was feeling down, she had Yang and sometimes Uncle Qrow to cheer her up. Maybe, just maybe, Ruby could be for Weiss what Yang was for her? She didn't know the first thing about cheering someone up, but she knew what always made her feel better so maybe she could do those things for Weiss? It sounded simplistic and childish, even to her, but at the same time, she had to do something—anything to make sure Weiss didn't have to suffer alone anymore.
So she gave up on sleeping and spent the night getting things together and making plans. Of course, those plans now left her extremely tired, but that wasn't anything new. For her, sleep deprivation was the norm more often than not. She counted herself lucky if she got more than three or four hours of uninterrupted sleep at a time. One or two hours of sleep were more common. She was doubly lucky if she was able to fall back asleep at all without wasting the rest of the night tossing and turning.
However…
Ruby's wolf ears twitched as she heard the sound of footsteps climbing down from the upper level, and she glanced over. At that moment, Ruby decided that every hour she had spent making preparations and plans instead of trying to get some much needed sleep had been worth it.
For the first time since Ruby had met her, Weiss looked...not happy, exactly, but calm. Serene almost. There was a sense of peace to the older girl that had been absent before. Her eyes were still red and a little puffy from all the crying she had done. Her clothes were rumpled and her hair was a mess, but something clearly had changed over the past hour. Her shoulders were straighter, her back stood taller, and her gaze was clearer than ever before. She seemed almost...freer?
Ruby couldn't help but wag her tail a little. It was good to see the other girl feeling better.
Ruby hesitantly gave the noble a little wave. Weiss's eyes zeroed in on her hand movement, making Ruby freeze. She couldn't help it. She was never very good at being the center of attention, and usually she never needed to be. Yang was always there to do the people stuff, letting Ruby remain unnoticed.
A strange look crossed Weiss's face when Ruby froze. Consternation? Unhappiness? Either way, Ruby didn't have much of a chance to think about it because at that moment, Weiss spoke.
"Good morning," Weiss said in those polished tones of hers. Her voice was higher than Yang's, and Ruby wondered for a moment what she would sound like if she sang. It'd probably be really pretty. Then, realizing that the noble had just greeted her, Ruby hastily lifted her hand to wave again.
Good morning.
Then Ruby remembered the things she had prepared earlier. She jumped to her feet, inadvertently startling Weiss, and rushed to set things up. She dragged out her workbench from inside the cave and set it beside the stool she had just been sitting on. She went back inside to grab the basin of water she prepared and the roll of cloth she had set beside it earlier. Lastly, she carefully unrolled the cloth and set its contents out in the open: a small mirror and a wooden comb, both of which used to be her mother's. It wasn't the special brush that Yang liked to use on her own gorgeous locks, but Weiss's hair looked more like Ruby's, straighter and not nearly as thick, so she figured her comb would work well enough.
Ruby gestured for Weiss to sit on the stool in front of her. When Yang was feeling down, she liked it when Ruby helped her comb out her beautiful hair, and it made Ruby feel special knowing that her older sister never let anyone touch her hair besides Ruby herself. Personally, Ruby didn't care for getting her own hair brushed that much; she preferred cuddles or ear scratches, but if it cheered Yang up, maybe it'd cheer Weiss up.
Weiss's eyes widened for a moment before looking away. "I can brush my own hair."
Oh. Ruby's shoulders sank, and her wolf ears drooped unseen beneath her hood.
"But...thank you for offering...and for setting all this up."
Ruby perked up at that.
A few moments later, the two of them had quietly rearranged themselves. Weiss sat on the proffered stool and started working through her mussed tresses while Ruby went to fetch another stool from the cave and went to work making breakfast. Porridge again. It wouldn't be as good as the day before—there was no milk up here so it'd have to be made with water—but there were apples and honey to add flavor.
It must have smelled good because soon enough, the rumbling growl of an empty stomach met her ears. Ruby glanced back to see Weiss blushing pink and holding a hand against her stomach as though she could contain the sound through sheer force of will. Quickly, Ruby fetched a spoon and a bowl, filled the latter to the brim, and brought it to Weiss who accepted it with a quiet, somewhat still embarrassed murmur of thanks. Ruby cleared away the hair-care instruments and put a crock of honey in their place. She gestured for Weiss to flavor her food to her liking before turning back to the fire.
"Are you not going to eat?" came a sudden inquiry, catching Ruby off guard.
Ruby cringed inwardly in spite of herself. Weiss didn't know about the roiling, anxious unease that always seemed to grow in the pit of the younger girl's stomach whenever she spent too much time in unfamiliar situations. More often than not, that anxiety killed her appetite (if it didn't make her feel downright queasy at the thought of food), and right now, her stomach felt as though it was tied in knots. It wasn't anything the noble had done; it was just that Ruby couldn't bring herself to relax so close to a stranger. Not that she had the courage to tell Weiss any of that even if she could, so Ruby just sort of shrugged before turning away again.
Even if Ruby didn't eat, all that meant was that there was more for Weiss. She could get seconds. Yang was always happier if she could get seconds. And whatever Weiss didn't eat, Yang would be more than happy to finish off when she came to meet them. Or one of them could eat the leftovers as a midday snack if Yang wasn't back yet. But should she be feeding leftovers to a noble? Maybe she ought to make something else. Should she go and hunt something to get some fresh meat? Rich people liked meat, didn't they? Yang liked meat, but they couldn't eat it every day because they couldn't always afford to. Weiss was probably used to eating meat all the time.
Ruby's wolf ears pinned themselves back against her skull, and her tail swayed uneasily as she gave an inaudible huff. She had no clue what she was doing. Not for the first time did she hope that Yang came back soon. Ruby just had to hold out until she did. She could do that, right? Or so she hoped.
Ruby glanced back briefly at her new companion, once again taking in how much more relaxed the older girl seemed today compared to the day before. She, Ruby, the reclusive hunter of Patch who barely had any social skills to speak of (quite literally in fact since she couldn't speak) had brought that comfort to Weiss. The thought caused her tail to sway in a slow wag and brought her wolf ears back up to their normal position.
She would be fine. And as long as Ruby kept an eye on things, Weiss would be fine. And when Yang came back, they'd all go on a brand new adventure together. Ruby grinned softly to herself at the thought as she turned her mind back to all the things she wanted to get done before her older sister returned.
Authors Ruminations: I've had breakdowns like Weiss's. They're extremely physically and emotionally draining and seem to last forever when they're happening, at least for me. If any of you have experienced similar breakdowns, I hope you have your own Ruby who can drag you out of the darkness and remind you that the dawn will always come.