"And if you look to the left," Rose yelled over the engine of the Bullhead, "You can see Skyhold just coming into view!"
Blake glanced out the window, watching the worn stone of the Inquisition's headquarters come into view. Like Rose said, it was old, it was cold, it was home.
"That's… actually pretty impressive," Yang said, looking at it.
Ruby was vibrating in her seat, looking like she wanted to jump out the ship and rush on over.
Despite them being several thousand feet in the air.
Blake was going to have to ask Rose how she managed to mellow out, and force Ruby to learn how to.
"Tell me," Oobleck, who had been sent with them, yelled back, "Where does the name Skyhold come from? Did you name it or…?"
"Came with it! According to Solas, it comes from ancient Elvish, 'Tarasyl'an Te'las', The Place Where The Sky Was Held Back!"
"How old would that make it?"
"The castle itself is at least Divine Age, so nine hundred years, give or take fifty years! We had to renovate it a lot, obviously, I'm looking forward to getting this over with, then we're going to add Dust heaters to the place, even if it kills me!"
Maker, that sounded divine.
Did she just-? You know what? She didn't care anymore.
"How did you find it?"
"Solas showed us. After we lost Haven, we needed a new base that was easy to defend."
"Haven?"
"The original base of the Inquisition, the town was overrun by Red Templars and a dragon under Corypheus. I ended up burying it under a mountain of snow to buy everyone time to escape."
"Corypheus?"
"Yeah, one of the Magisters responsible for the Second Sin. We spent the first two years fighting him."
Blake couldn't stop the hiss of air she drew. Corypheus was behind the Second Sin? And Ruby had fought him?
"The Second Sin? Magister?"
"The Magisters are the ruling mages of the Tevinter Imperium. The Second Sin… well, it's hard to explain without getting into Chantric teachings."
"Please, try. We know nothing about your culture, and if we're supposed to be able to work together, we need to understand each other."
Rose cursed under her breath.
"Why didn't I bring Cassandra or Leliana with me? Alright, I'll try to stick to the facts. In the Fade, there is a city on an island, it is an equal distance from everywhere. Before -395 Ancient it was golden, after then, it turned black. Seven Magister Sidereals performed a ritual, slaughtering hundreds of slaves to tear open a hole in the Fade to enter the Golden City and meet their gods. This is where things get muddy. According to the Chantry, the hubris of the seven blackened the City and the Maker cast them out, turning them into the first Darkspawn, corrupting Dumat, the Old God of Silence into an Archdemon starting the First Blight, and turning his back on humanity for the second time. Corypheus, however, says that the City was black when they got there."
Oobleck was writing on his note pad, desperately taking down every word.
"You said First Blight, that implies there's more than one?"
"Five so far, the last one was a little over twelve years ago. Or from when we left."
"And what happens during one?"
"The Darkspawn corrupt one of the remaining Old Gods, then they form a horde and come up from the Deep Roads, slaughtering everything in their path and blighting the land until someone kills the Archdemon. Story goes that there are sections of the Anderfels that got hit so hard through their three Blights that bodies don't even decay there. Nothing is alive there to cause decay.
The Bullhead shook as they landed, cutting off the tide of questions, and the door opening to allow them out.
Swords and bows greeted them.
The Inquisition forces had moved like clockwork, surrounding the Bullhead in seconds, Cullen at their head. Blake saw everyone in the Bullhead reach for their weapons, and she opened her mouth to stop them.
"STAND DOWN!"
Blake flinched back as Rose roared the order, leaping from the Bullhead.
The Inquisition soldiers looked at each other, like they weren't sure in they should.
"Anyone who doesn't drop their weapon right now will have to go eleven rounds with me in the training ring."
There was the sound of a hundred swords falling to the ground.
Nice to see that even after six months, Rose was still capable of scaring the troops into submission.
Cullen, however, sheathed his sword, walking forward to meet them.
"Inquisitor, what happened?"
"We were discovered. I need to discuss it with you and Josephine. Krem, Blake, Cole, do you mind showing everyone around?"
"Not at all," Krem said, turning to take Ruby's hand and helping her down. There was a light shrinking of red on the fifteen year old's face.
"Good," Rose nodded, "Cullen, walk with me."
Then she turned on her heel, pushing through the guards and up to the stairs leading to the Throne Room.
When she was halfway up them, she stopped.
"Oh, and Little Rose? Feel free to try out the throne."
The squeal of joy sent the birds in the rookery off.
-X LINE BREAK X-
Krem leaned against the stable wall as Team RWBY fawned over the horses. Oobleck had disappeared to talk with Dagna shortly after they arrived, the Dwarf having been directed their way by the Lady Inquisitor.
The horses (and other assorted animals the Lady Inquisitor had gathered as mounts over the years) were basking in the attention, having been confined to Skyhold for fear of Grimm attacks.
More particularly, they were in the paddock the Lady Inquisitor had given Dennet and his family permission to build in the valley below Skyhold.
Speaking of the Horsemaster, he exited the stable, walking next to Krem.
"So, Tevinter," Dennet's eyes followed where Ruby was desperately clinging to the reins of the pure white horse. An Imperial Warmblood, Krem noticed, recognizing the mount preferred by Magisters of his nation of birth, "That's really a younger version of Inquisition, isn't it?"
"Seems that way," Krem answered easily, having grown used to Dennet's strange way of addressing people in the three years they had both worked for the Inquisition.
If Krem was honest, he was glad the Lady Inquisitor had decided to keep them on a permanent payroll. Not only did it offer him, Bull, Skinner, and Dalish the ability to dodge the various organizations out for their heads, but it gave them a nice place to rest those heads.
"I remember when Inquisition was like that."
Krem didn't respond, watching Yang laugh as her horse tried to buck her off.
"I don't."
Krem jumped slightly as Cole slid out of the shadows. He would find out how the bloody blond bastard did that, one day.
"Where have you been?"
Cole ducked his head, mumbling something out. As he did so, Krem caught sight of the red mark on his neck.
Fighting down the shit eating grin that was rising, Krem laughed slightly, "Visiting Maryden?"
If anything, Cole's face grew brighter.
"Don't tell Ruby?"
Krem seriously considered telling Cole she already knew, and that her, Varric and Bull had already made the prerequisite threats to Maryden's life, employment, and ability to play the lute.
In the end, he decided to let Cole squirm for a bit longer, patting him on the shoulder.
"We won't say a word, right Dennet?"
The Horsemaster grunted.
Eventually, they pulled the group off of the horses, and started to make their way back up the mountain to Skyhold.
At one point, Ruby tripped and Krem stepped forward, catching her by the arm to steadying her.
She yanked her arm free, rushing ahead.
What was that?
"He's kind of cute. Reminds me of one of the knights in the stories Yang would tell me," Cole muttered in Krem's ear, causing the Tevinter man to jump.
"Don't do that!" Krem hissed, trying to keep the blush from showing.
Cute? Nobody had ever said he was cute. Even when his mother had forced him to wear those awful dresses and set him up with equally awful boys it had always been 'Pretty' or 'Beautiful'.
"Do what?"
"Read her thoughts. Those are private!"
"Ruby doesn't mind, neither does Varric or The Iron Bull."
'That's because you might as well be their kid,' Krem thought, 'most people don't take kindly to someone rummaging around in their head.'
"Still, don't do that."
"Ok…?"
"Hey!" Krem and Cole looked up at Yang's call, seeing them further up the path, "You coming, or what?"
Krem did so, putting what Cole said out of mind.
-X LINE BREAK X-
Ruby leaned back as the crystal stopped, waiting for her advisors to, well, advise.
"You know," Cullen pointed out, "My last name is Rutherford."
"Sorry," Ruby apologized, unscrewing the gauntlet's index finger and checking the Lyrium stored inside. Low. Enough for one enhanced spell, if the need arose. She hoped Dagna figured out how to create that Dust-based substitute she had mentioned soon, "I only remembered it started with a R and had Ford in it?"
The excuse sounded hollow, even to her ears.
"It's fine," Cullen answered, eyes hungerily locked on the glowing blue dust, the only sign weakness being him tightening his grip on his sword and gulping involuntarily.
"Oh Maker, Cullen, I'm sorry," Ruby hurried to reseal the Lyrium, "I wasn't-"
"Don't worry about it," Cullen waved it off, "if I caved in every time I got so much as a whiff of Lyrium, I would make a very poor Commander."
"No, really, I'm supposed to think of these-"
"It's fine, Ruby," Cullen's tone brokered no argument, "you have enough to worry about without worrying about me."
'You're my friend, I don't want to hurt you,' Ruby wanted to argue, but knew there was no point.
They were all too headstrong.
Maker, she could already imagine how Orlais would try to twist this, 'Inquisitor bullies recovering Lyrium addict!'
"Inquisitor," Josephine drew their attention, "Back to the matter at hand, it would have been better if you had managed to dictate terms for the meeting instead of allowing Ozpin to do so, but given the circumstances, I understand why you didn't."
Translation: There was no way we were ever going to have the upper hand here, but you could have at least tried.
"Do you think you'll be able to work with this?"
"I should, but there are a few things I need to ask you."
"Go ahead."
"Vacuo is almost assuredly in our pocket, so there is no need to worry about whoever they send. Vale will be a bit harder. Do you know any way to curry favor with them?"
"Maybe bring in some of the people we helped?"
"Maybe. Now, Mistral."
'I don't know,' Ruby thought, 'you're the ambassador, I'd rather be out killing dragons and demons!'
Wasn't it funny, that the last Inquisitor of the old Inquisition and the first Inquisitor of the new one were so similar? How would the Chantry twist her story when she was dead and gone?
They'd probably obliterate any mention of her being a mage, and her support for the Collage. Bull, Solas, and Dorian would be wiped from the history books. Some family would no doubt try to claim to be her descendants, and she would go down as a loyal member of the faith.
"I think a better question," Cullen stepped in, causing Ruby to send a silent prayer of thanks to whoever was listening, "is what we do if they decide they don't like us."
"They can go straight to hell."
"I'm serious."
"So am I. I am sick of being rewarded with things getting worse for us. I stopped the Breach from getting any bigger, and the Chantry wanted to ship me off to Val Royeaux for execution. We stop the Mage-Templar war and shut the Breach, and we lose Haven. We stop Corypheus, we stop Hakon, we stop the Qunari, and Orlais and Ferelden reward us by trying to tear apart everything we spent the last four years working towards. If Remnant wants to reward us for trying to stop a disaster by doing the same, then, pardon my Orlesian, they can go fu-"
"Ruby!"
"It's the truth! The Inquisition is mine and I'm not going to roll over and let them destroy it!"
"We need to at least try to play nice-"
"And we will, but the minute they try to take you all away from me is the minute their opinion becomes irrelevant!"
"We-"
"Enough!" Cullen yelled, cutting them both off, "Listen, let's continue this tomorrow, when tempers are less heated. Inquisi- Ruby, we aren't going to leave you, even if I have to personally march the entirety of our forces to their doorstep, they won't be stopping the Inquisition. Even if they tried, you can hide us."
Ruby closed her eyes, feeling the dragon blood pumping just beneath the surface of her skin.
"Fine. I'm going to find Krem and Cole."
-X LINE BREAK X-
"Dragons in the sky, the fighting has begun
Shadow versus light, and who will stand when it is done?
Magisters and fright, his destiny it calls
Inquisitor your hand will reprimand before he falls!~"
Weiss looked around the cramped building, feeling completely out of place, and wondering if she should have stayed behind with Ruby at the horses. Once they had entered, they had immediately been dragged over by a group of people.
The Herald's Rest Tavern was filled with handmade tables, and rickety, hand carved chairs. The lighting was low, and the woman on the first floor was singing off key.
It made the singer want to go down there and throttle her.
They were crowded around a table on the second floor, watching Cole, a dwarf, and a woman with pointed ears and facial tattoos like Dalish throwing knives at a target. Yang and a black haired man had started drinking, downing flagons of mead.
Weiss looked out the window, out onto the grounds.
Men and women were practicing with mass produced swords, crossbows, and bows and arrows. There were even a few guns.
Weiss looked at the sign over the door to the tavern. On it sat the image of a woman with long blond hair, a crown sat on her brow and light seemed to radiate from her. She wore a simple white dress, and she was carrying another figure in her arms.
This one was covered in a plain white shroud, the only color coming from a green flame covering their left hand as it hung limply.
Huh.
Weiss reached over, tapping Blake on she shoulder. The Faunus, and Weiss was still trying to figure how she should feel about her keeping that from them, looked away from where she was watching the minstrel.
Weiss raised an eyebrow at that.
"You can't think she's good?"
"No," Blake shook her head, "Just thinking how much I would need to pay Heir or Argent to steal Maryden's lute and smash it."
"More than you have on you," the long eared woman said, throwing another knife. So she was either Heir or Argent.
"Damn," Blake muttered into her flagon, casting another glare at Maryden.
"Just drink some more," the mustached man sitting across from Yang, wearing finely made, if archaic, clothing said, "Once you have a few pints of mead in you, even the worst music sounds like fine silk."
"The day that," a man with a shaven head and pockmarks muttered darkly, "sounds like silk is a dark day indeed."
A laugh rippled around the group.
"What did you want?"
"Do you know what that," Weiss pointed to the sign, "is supposed to mean?"
Blake looked at it, before stopping.
"I, I actually don't. Guys?"
The woman sitting across from Blake, who had to be around Rose's age, spoke up. Her hair was pulled into a tight bun.
"Blessed Andraste, carrying the Herald back to us through the Fade to seal the Breach."
That explained nothing.
"It's a picture of the prophet of their religion carrying Rose out of the realm of dreams," Blake translated.
Still nothing.
The pockmarked man apparently understood her confusion, and elaborated.
"There was an event known as the Conclave, Divine Justinia, the leader of the Chantry, gathered the Templars," he nodded at the woman with her hair and a bun, "and Mages," he pointed at himself, "we were supposed to hash out an agreement on the end of our war. Instead," he threw a hand forward, a blast of fire exploding inches from it and making a loud bang. Almost nobody at their table flinched.
"Rion, no magic in the tavern!"
"Sorry, Cabot!" Rion yelled at the bartender, "Anyway, everything went tits up. Whole temple exploded, wiping out everyone inside, and tearing open the biggest hole in the Veil ever seen. Best we've been able to figure out, it would have consumed the entirety of southern Thedas before it even thought about stopping. Demons were raining out of the damn thing and it was causing lesser rifts to tear open from Orlais to Ferelden to as far north as Kirkwall and Ostwick. Korbin, did any appear in the Deep Roads?"
"Couple. It wasn't that bad, Demons are somehow dumber than your average Darkspawn."
"We don't create," Cole mumbled, "they don't know how, all they can do is copy. I can now, it's nice."
"I was actually there when the damn thing went up, or well, in Haven, wouldn't be here if I had been at the Conclave," Rion continued on, ignoring Cole, "Looked like it was the damn end of the world. Couple of Hunger Demons smashed right through the roof of the tavern I was in."
"Falling, forced, fearful. Warped and scared and angry," Cole again, his voice somehow carrying over Maryden's singing, "'Why isn't anything changing? Why is everything so quiet? Why is everything so real?'"
"So, world is ending, people are dying, and a group of soldiers make it to ground zero. The Inquisitor pops out, safe and sound except for the Mark on her hand, and they saw a glowing woman behind her. They had her stop the Breach. People say it was Andraste who brought her to us, that's why she's the Herald. Nobody knows what happened there. At least, if she does, she isn't talking."
"Carrying Qrow, Carrying sins. Penny, Pyrrha, Powerless. Should have been faster, should have been faster. Guilt grinds a gully. Orb falls at my feet. Reach down and pick it up. Where had it come from? Pain, where was I? Where were Qrow and Jaune? Fear. Grimm, men holding severed hands, woman with burning eyes, and laughing men with scorpion tails. Coming up the slope, coming for me! Turn. Run. Glowing light like a mother, reaching for me, comforting me, calls out to me. Climbing, they're still after me, the glowing is brighter, rushing for the portal, men and woman on the other side, holding up their hands, trying to block against something. Dead. She cries, I turn, grabbing her by the arm as the horde of Nightmares grabs her, trying to save her. Blades cut into me, cutting away memories, regrets, parts of who I am. Not saving Penny and Pyrrha, not staying to help Dad with Yang, not being there to stop Weiss and Blake from leaving, never telling Blake- she slaps my hand away from the blades crying, 'go!', and is carried away by the horde. Too slow, again. What good is my Semblance if I'm always too slow? I turn, run through the portal. Towering, tired, tied. A woman with short black hair and a tabard with a spiked eye come forward as I step out, 'can't be her, she's just a girl', catches me as I fall. Safe. I am safe."
Why did Weiss get the feeling Cole knew exactly what had happened there, and just told them?
The door slammed open, and Rose prowled into the room.
"Krem, outside, five minutes."
Then she turned and left.
...Ok then.
-X LINE BREAK X-
Ruby couldn't help but giggle as the horse ate the apple slice from her hand.
She had been helping Dennet feed the horses, preferring to stay here than join the rest at the tavern.
She really didn't get how people enjoyed alcohol. It kept her from noticing things, and made her dizzy, and made it hard to use her Semblance right.
"Thanks for helping me with this, Little Inquisition," Dennet said, pouring oats into a bucket and putting it down in front of the largest horse, "Normally I'd have people to help me with this, but we're spread a bit thin at the moment."
"Whose horse is that?"
"Inquisition's, it's good for the rare occasion where she actually goes out in full armor. Mostly dragon hunting, or when they know there's a big battle."
Ruby's eyebrows met.
"But she has her Aura, she doesn't need armor."
Dennet laughed throwing a piece of meat at the scaled creature in one of the stalls.
"That's what she said at first, but she relented and let Blacksmith and Arcanist make her a suit after Haven. She doesn't wear it as often as she probably should, considering how often she gets in trouble, but there's no harm in making sure she have a backup plan incase her Aura gives out in the middle of a siege, you know?"
"Does that happen often?"
"Sort of, I'm sure you understand but before the-" Dennet glanced around, before gesturing to his left hand, "Inquisition liked to lead from the front. Got her and her team into all sorts of sticky situations, trapped in the Fade fighting a giant fear demon, fighting one of the strongest Grey Warden regiments on Thedas. She likes it, I think."
"Like what?"
"Being in harm's way. The thrill of the fight. I can't imagine her ever settling down. I would have thought she would after Haven."
"What happened there? Rose mentioned something about Red Templars and Cory- Coryph- something?"
"Corypheus," Dennet answered for her, "It was just after Inquisition and the mages closed the Breach. There was a party going on when the guards caught it. Huge army coming over the mountain, apparently the Templars had been taking Red Lyrium, it's like the regular stuff, but more powerful, it also drives people insane. Something about singing, from what Samson said."
Ruby nodded, wondering if she should point out that she didn't know what Lyrium was.
"We launched our trebuchets at them, caused an avalanche. That's when Corypheus revealed his trump card. A High Dragon full of Red Lyrium, tore right through our defenses. We escaped through a tunnel used by the Dragon Cult that used to live there. Inquisition stayed behind to fire the last trebuchet at the mountain above Haven. We were sure she had died."
"But she didn't."
Obviously.
"It was a close thing. When she finally caught up with us, she had a set of bite wounds across her chest, was staggering around and acting like she didn't know where she was. Calling for her mother, your mother. We- we thought we were going to lose her anyway. Commander found her first. Tore off that fur coat of his to cover her up, and grabbed as many blankets as possible. The healers said not to get our hopes up, that she probably wouldn't make it. She pulled through, brought us to Skyhold. Lot of people started believing then. I know I did."
"Believing what?"
"Just, believing. That she was Andraste's Herald. That we could beat the bastard. How could we not? When you look at how many miracles happened that day. Inquisition should have died four times over. She managed to get us out of there with only a few deaths. We wouldn't have survived if not for her, and we didn't have any place to go. That's when we realized I suppose."
"What?"
"She had been leading the Inquisition for a while. She wasn't in the beginning, but somewhere along the way, she had taken charge. More than Seeker, Commander, or Nightingale. It was inevitable, I guess, the Inquisition only had a lot of its credibility because people thought she was the Herald. All that's left was to make it official. That's when she became our Inquisitor."
Ruby didn't say anything.
She had enough trouble leading Team RWBY, she couldn't imagine leading something as big as the Inquisition.
How did Rose do it? They were the same person.
"Ruby! We're heading out!"
"I- I need to go."
"Feel free to come back, Maker knows I don't get visitors often anymore."
-X LINE BREAK X-
Blake watched the people coming for the meeting.
It had been a week since they had arrived back at Beacon, and it seemed like everyone had crawled out of the woodworks to be here.
Atlas, Vacuo, Mistral, the SDC, VNN… the White Fang and Menagerie.
Blake shrunk back from the window as mentor and student met, even though she knew logically there was no way Sienna and her father could see her.
"Worried?" Rose's voice came from behind her as the door swung open and closed.
"A bit, but-" Blake stopped as she turned, jaw dropping as she took in what Rose was wearing.
"Go ahead, laugh it up," Rose said in resignation.
Blake promptly did so, desperately trying to stifle the laughter at her best friend's outfit.
It wasn't even that it was that funny, though there were parts that even Blake could tell were of questionable fashion. It was just Ruby has such a look of irritation on her face, her neck and ears red.
It was still cute.
The least noteworthy part was a pair of breeches that were almost completely covered by the thigh high boots Ruby had on. Then there was the jacket.
It was, on the surface, standard military formal wear. Understandable, the Inquisition was a military organization, even if the two groups Blake regularly met, and worked, with (the Inner Circle and the agents directly below Cullen and Leliana) didn't act like it most of the time, being sent on the most dangerous jobs the Inquisition had meant they had been given almost free reign on their gear and the leadership was willing to turn a blind eye to their various quirks.
Actually, thinking about it, Blake wasn't wasn't sure which of those categories she fit under. She had gone on several jobs with Rion, Cillian, Korban (or Katari or Belinda, depending on how much muscle or support they needed), and Hall (or Thornton), and one really wierd mission with Tamar, Zither, and Sidony when she was being acclimated to the Inquisition, but she was also allowed to the Inner Circles meetings, to the monthly game of Wicked Grace, and answered directly to Ruby. Rose. Whatever.
She considered both groups her friends (except Sidony and Tamar, but Blake didn't think the Necromancer and dragon cultist had any friends, nor wanted any.)
Anyway, back to the uniform.
The first hiccup was the golden embellishments, including two shoulder pads.
Then there was the giant blue sash around her stomach and over her right shoulder. Then the belt cinched around that.
Ruby had also been forced to ditch the gauntlet, instead wearing a pair of gloves that went up to her elbows.
"Yeah. I know. It's the standard Inquisition formal wear. It was this or a dress, and if I went with the dress Leliana would force me into high-heels and I'm not going through that again."
"It isn't that bad."
"I'm just lucky it's red. You didn't answer my question. Are you worried?"
"A bit," Blake looked out the yard, where people had started to trickle towards the dining hall, where the tables had been moved to make room for a giant circular one, "but I have to face them at some point. What about you?"
"Can't be any worse than Halamshiral," Ruby cast a look out, "Hardest part will probably be avoiding eviscerating Weiss's dad."
Blake snorted, "Ever met him?"
"No, but he took Weiss away from us, and that's enough to make me hate his guts. Plus, Fairbanks says he was a dick to the elf Fairbanks has as a secretary while they were there because he thought she was a Faunus, so that's enough to tick me off."
Blake wasn't sure if that was because she 'was a Faunus', or because he wasn't nice to the staff, or because it happened to be a member of the Inquisition Jacques Schnee insulted. From what she had gathered from Cillian, Rion, and Hall, the Inquisition was almost shockingly egalitarian by Thedas's standards, but Ruby always went out of her way to be nice to Skyhold's serving staff and was violently protective of the people under her command.
"Is there any reason you're here, instead of down there? I was planning on going down with Varric and Cole in a bit."
Best to let the opening drama play out.
"Not quite. You're going as my bodyguard," Rose moved her hand, drawing attention to the second uniform at her side, "and everyone's heading down at once. A show of unity or something."
…
…
…
"What!?"
"You're going as my bodyguard, and everyone's being forced into the monkey suits. So hurry up and get it on."
"You don't need a bodyguard, Cullen's going to be there!"
"I don't. It's a political move. Josie's hoping that if we introduce you near the beginning we can win your father over."
"That's- that's devious."
"Welcome to the Grand Game. While this isn't going to be nearly bad as the Orlesian court, every move we make is going to be watched. Now hurry up," Ruby pushed the outfit into her hands, "the sooner we get down there, the sooner we can get this over with and I can go back to repressing the side of me that's good at this political bullshit."
…
She didn't move.
…
"Well?"
"Can you at least get out?"
"Oh. Yeah. Sorry."
Rose's face lit up, and she walked out of the room.
Blake looked down at the black version of the uniform.
'Well,' she thought, throwing off her normal clothes, 'at least this can't get any worse.'
-X LINE BREAK X-
Ruby sat at one of the smaller tables, listening to all the important people being announced by a man holding a large Scroll.
"Jacques and Whitley Schnee, of the Schnee Dust Company!"
"That's your dad and brother?"
"Yeah," Weiss seemed to be doing her best avoid being noticed.
"He doesn't look that bad," Ruby said.
"He's trying to sit at the big table," Krem muttered standing up with Katari.
"Where are you going?"
"To move him. There's exactly enough chairs for the people who are supposed to be there, and he isn't."
"He's not going to be happy about that," Weiss pointed out.
"I don't doubt it. I know the type."
Ruby watched as, through a combination of intimidation and physical dragging, Whitley was relegated to the opposite side of the room. Several people threw disgusted looks his way as he threw insults at Katari for his horns.
The crier coughed, before awkwardly continuing.
"Chieftain Ghira Belladonna and his wife Kali, of Menagerie!"
Say what now.
At the exact same moment, Weiss dropped her head onto the table, before doing it again.
"Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. I knew I had heard that name before!"
"Uh… Weiss?"
"She's the daughter of the previous leader of the White Fang," Weiss said, head still planted on the table, "no wonder she was so angry. I need to apologize to Blake."
"Sienna Khan of the White Fang!"
The Faunus woman strode into the room, her mouth closed into a scowl.
"Is it just me," Ruby mumbled, "or did the Inquisition move towards the door?"
They had, lining up on either side.
"And finally-"
Krem barked something in a different language, and everyone snapped to attention.
"-The Inquisition. Commander Cullen Rutherford of Ferelden, Lady Ambassador Josephine Montilyet of Antiva, Sister Nightingale Leliana of Orlais, Lady Seeker Cassandra Pentaghast of Nevarra, Viscount Varric Tethras of Kirkwall, Ser Thom Rainer of Orlais, Magister Dorian Pavus of the Tevinter Imperium, Knight-Enchanter Vivienne of Orlais, The Iron Bull, Ser Cole Tethras, Lady Inquisitor Rose of Vale, Ferelden, and Kirkwall, and her bodyguard Blake Belladonna of Menagerie!"
They came in at that order, creating quite a different impression than the first time Ruby had seen them.
Instead of a bunch of weird people wearing a hodgepodge of different clothing, they were all wearing the same uniform, only the color differing.
Cullen, Josephine, Leliana, Cassandra, and Rose took seats at the table while the rest situated them around the room. Blake standing right behind Rose with her hands folded behind her.
The message was clear. The Inquisition was not something you wanted to take lightly, they were organized, perhaps even more so than some of the Huntsman guilds.
"So," Rose said with the utmost confidence, "whose first?"