A/N: Hello again! We're back with another chapter for this story. It's a bit rough, so sorry about that. That being said, I hope you enjoy it, regardless.

RWBY is owned by Viz Media and was created by the late Monty Oum


The Lonely Princess

Book 2

Weiss sat in her room and did her best to remain calm, but it wasn't easy. Her father, the König, would calling for her soon. Just as soon as he finished with whatever other business he had with the representatives from Mistral, including the Lord Vasilias. She tried her best not to think about that, about him.

As she ran her small, graceful fingers over the face of the mask that her father insisted that she wore ever since she had ruined her face in that "accident", she couldn't keep the frown off of her face. She had thought that everything was going so well, too. Other than that one misstep on her part with the correction in regards to the government of the Mantlese, the Lord Vasilias had seemed to be pleased with her. So, what had gone wrong?

Was it her speech? Her dancing? She had been so nervous on meeting him she had been unable to speak, to show off all the skills she had been practicing for the dances that night, letting him lead.

The Fürstin just didn't know, and now that was going to be the ruin of her. Her father had said that this was her last chance to impress him, and her mother, the Königin, wouldn't help. The Königin couldn't, not with the Second Princess. Not the Spare. If this had been the die Fürstin Winter, she could've done something to stay her... execution.

Ah, Winter. Perfect, flawless Winter. The Sun to her Moon, as it were, ever reflecting off of her on just how brilliant she was at everything, at every facet of governing their people from proper decorum and etiquette with the way she walked, she talked to her career as the Commander of the Royal Guard for the Königin. If there was something that Winter could excel in then Weiss would inevitably fail at it, according to her father and his sycophants.

She sighed at that, dropping her hands, and the mask held in them, in her lap as she leaned back to look up through the artfully constructed Skylight, staring off at the distant stars and wishing she was anywhere but here. She did her best, but she just never seemed to measure up, not to her father's expectations at any rate.

Her dance instructor said her form was flawless, better than her sisters. Her singing coach said that Winter didn't even know how to carry a tune. Her sword-fighting tutor... Well, she said that her skills were lackluster so she wasn't a very good example. That, or she just liked her sister more.

Weiss couldn't be sure.

knock, knock!

Weiss was jolted from her thoughts at the sound of a soft knocking on her chamber door. She swallowed nervously as she heard the quiet voice of Lily, her long-suffering, personal maid. "Fürstin Schnee," She said softly. "Your father would see you now."

Weiss almost froze in place at that before looking at the grandfather clock in the room, only to blanch at the time. Why so soon? Shouldn't the negotiations take longer? What did this mean? What course of action should she take? Will he be even angrier with her now that the negotiations had fallen through? Had they fallen through?

She felt hot. It was stifling in that room. Her breathing began to accelerate as her heart fluttered in her breast. She clutched at the pendent she wore. The only thing her mother had ever given her as an acknowledgement of her existence. What was she to do? What was she to do? These, and so many other thoughts swirled around her mind in a dizzying, stifling cacophony of sound that held her in place as she sat there, unable to move through the mini panic attack that gave her.

Only the sound of Lilly's soothing voice calling though the door as she knocked again was able to help her get through it. "Milady? Are you well? May I come in? Miss Schnee?"

"No!" She cried, panting. Sweat dripped down her face as she swept a hand through her hair while she sucked in breath and breath as she tried to calm don her hear. "No," She said again, calmer, more in control of herself. "No, I'm fine. Lilly. Give a moment to collect myself and I'll be right out."

There was a pause, before, "...Are you quite sure, Milady? I can stall for time if you need it?"

Weiss smiled at that. Bless her, but that Lilly was too good to her. That alone gave her the resolve to just, get through this. She inhaled deeply before place his mask back on and dusted up the imaginary dust on her dress's skirt as she rose while letting her breath back out. Then, hands clasped before her, she walked out of the room and turned to look at her only companion for the last decade of her life. Lilly's eyes were red with unshed tears. "Oh, Lilly." She crooned softly as she brushed the back of a hand over her cheek, brushing the loose strand of honey brown hair there. "It'll be alright."

The woman, only five years older than her. in turn snatched her up in a tight hug as she wept, the two small grey and brown spotted, car ears atop her head twitching violently as she did so, and said, "It-it isn't fair, Milady! Yo-u-you did nothing wrong!"

Weiss said nothing to that as the woman clutched her to her chest and wept into her shoulder. She merely rubbed her back as she hummed a soothing tone. The same tone that Lilly had taught her over the years, oddly enough. When her aid had finally composed herself and stepped away it was to find Weiss standing there as an elegant lady, face perfectly poised with neutrality. "Come," She said to Lilly with surprising conviction. "Let's us go face him together Lilly. come what may."

The Faunus sniffed and swallowed a hiccup or two as she wiped at her eyes before giving her Lady a determined expression of her own as she said, "Indeed, Milady." Weiss nodded to her before turning to once again make he way towards the Winter Palace from her room here in the Twilight wing of the White House, the detached estate of the Royal Family for all its... more undesirable elements from illegitimate offspring to spurned lovers.

Weiss had been here nearly all her life. Shunned by her immediate family for what she did not know.

She glanced at the various guards who lined the walls. All were standing at attention, sabers up and silvered-white suits cleaned and pressed as always. Silent. Their only inclination of their own inner thoughts on the nature of this situation was they had al changed the masks they wore to the same color as her hair. However, Weiss felt nothing, no gratitude and appreciation at that. At their pity. Though the Masked Guards of the White Estate were nominally under her supervision as she their protection, she knew truth. They worked for her father and no one else.

That was why she said nothing in agreement with Lilly. Too many ears with mouths attached for her liking.

She sighed at that. How she wished that she could have someone other that Lilly to talk with, to chat about, about everything from her angry, fear and resentment of her father and sister, to her own feelings on the nature of their kingdom. To the war! But, no. No. Not even with Lilly could she speak on these matters. Not from the heart at least. That might put her only friend and companion in danger if she did so.

It had happened before after all. With her previous nanny and maids. Her father had made certain that she knew that, too.

She shivered, unable to block the memory, the image of that naked body, bloody and beaten, staked up on the wall for everyone to see. That her father had said Was what happened to traitors. The like you went unspoken. She had learned her lesson well. She wasn't to have friends or confidants. She wasn't allowed.

She had told Lilly that much, and, bless her, the woman had refused to leave her side even then. She loved her for that alone.

As they made their way inside the Palace and started toward the Throne Room, Weiss couldn't help the swallow that came to her, especially as she spied the large, elaborately engraved oval doors before her. She felt sick, nauseous even, at the sight of those doors. She recall all the other times she had been here. Ordered to perform a song or a dance recital for her father's amusement. To recite from memory the losses and wages of the nobility going back five years or the weather or some other obscure bit of trivia. Every time, her father found her lacking.

Be it her voice or her timing or her knowledge her father always found something at fault with her. Whenever her father had something happen that didn't go his way he would send for her, to torture her with his... apathy, his disappointment in her. For the longest time she didn't know why he treated her that way, and for so long, she tried to win him over, thinking that if she just pushed herself hard enough, he would show her the same love and affection he had for her siblings.

But she knew the truth of it now. She just hated that it took her so long to realize it.

Her father, the König, Jacques Gelé of the House of Sol Gelé, love no one and nothing more than himself, and the power that came with being the King of Mantle. A position, he was disgusted with as it would never rise higher than that of the Königin, the Queen. Everything that he did from the way he tried to guide her and her siblings to his false adoration of their mother was a merely one of a series of ploys to seize true power. The power of the throne.

Her mother and her advisors would never let that happen normally. But with the war and some of the other, more domestic issues that she had heard about going on within the Kingdom, such plays for power and influence could work against the Throne. The Matriarchy would never go away, it was too ingrained in the nation's culture for that to happen, the Power behind it had fluxed and waned more than once over the centuries with Gelé being the latest in a series of false kings amidst the power hungry nobles.

Still, all that knowledge meant nothing in the face of her fear of the man.

So, as the doors began to open and the herald announced her presence to those within, her mind drifted back to the other night, to the conversation she had with not with the Malachite Sisters, who bickered and gossiped with her over all the other noblewomen, nor with the Lady Trivia, who hadn't talked once, but with a random stranger who made her feel a little bit better. A girl in a red cloak, black leathers and the most beautiful Silver Eyes she had ever seen.

/ /

She had been sitting there on the bench for a while, long enough for her to grow cold from the marble underneath her, weeping softly when suddenly a chirper, feminine voice called out, "Hi there! I'm Ruby, Ruby Rose. Mind if I sit here?"

She had looked up in confusion, not having expected someone to be there, to talk to her. Especially after what had just occurred. After all, everyone knew that the Fürstin, well, the zweite Prinzessin, the Second Princess as it were, had no influence, no political pull so why talk to her? Unless it was a dare, she supposed.

But when she looked up and saw not some snooty noblewoman looking down at her disdainfully, but a short girl of pale skin with dark hair in a vibrant red hood she was stunlocked into silence. Not that it would've mattered if she even had spoken as the girl then immediately sat down next to her. Well, more flopped down really, spreading her long legs out in a sprawl before she then leaned back to look up at the sky and said as she began to kick her legs playfully, "Ah, nice night, isn't it?"

As the girl then began to hum to herself as she kicked her legs back and forth Weiss finally recovered from her initial shock. She shook her head before demanding, well asking, "Uh, wh-who are you?"

"OH!" The girl said brightly, smiling at her as she leaned forwards and turned to stare at her with those heretofore unknown silver eyes, "Did you not hear me the first time?" At Weiss silent shake of the head, the girl cleared her throat by coughing into a loose fist before saying as she then turned back around to her, "Ahem-hem, Hello! I'm Ruby, Ruby Rose! Nice to meet you!"

She had then presented a hand for Weiss to shake. Not knowing what else to do, she had taken it as she muttered softly, "Weiss Schnee."

Ruby had then taken her hand in a firm grip and shook it handily as she said, "Well, it's nice to meet you, Weiss. Enjoying the evening air, I see. Do you like it? I'm not a fan of the cold usually, but when it's like this, with no wind and a full belly, just staring at the stars? It's nice! How about you?"

Weiss had timidly answered that she did, in fact, like the cold, it being the primary weather of the Solitas Tundra, after all. As soon as she had finished answering that the girl, no, Ruby, had asked another question and then another one after that as she answered it, never letting up as they sat there together. Eventually, Weiss had gotten over her nervousness and shyness around the girl and began to ask her own, often random questions as she tried to come up with something to say, to which Ruby would answer immediately every time.

"Do... Do you like Rice?" She would ask.

"Yes," Ruby would return brightly before going on to explain in explicit detail why white rise was better than brown but yellow rice was the best of all.

And Weiss found herself listening to the girl and her often goofy responses intently, finding comfort in the inanity of it all. In not having to be something she was not. It was, oddly comforting, to just, talk about the most random of things. And, as she realized that, she found herself smiling softly as they talked, found herself loosening up, sitting more upright and even occasionally laughing at the girls antics.

It was, nice. So very nice.

But, all too soon, Ruby stopped talking and chatting with her.

First, she said with a small, sad smile on her face as Weiss was laughing at something said, "Good. That's goo. You do that more often." Weiss had asked her what she meant by that. Instead of answering, she said, though it was with a sympathetic smile on her part, "Well, that's it for me, I'm afraid. My break's 's over."

"Huh," Weis had remarked in confusion before shaking her head as she asked, "What do you mean break? Are you a guard?"

"Oh, please, I wouldn't be caught dead in such a stuffy job." Ruby returned with a dismissive, flippant wave of her hand as she hopped up off the seat next to her before turning to face her as she sat there and revealing the sleek black leather armor, tunic and pants she worn underneath her cloak as well as the silver and black enameled sheath of the dagger she carried. "No," she had proudly proclaimed as she placed her hands as fists fists on her hips. "I, am an Outrider Knight."

Weiss blinked at that, and the fact that she had been chatting amiably with someone she didn't really know, who had been armed, before shaking her head and asking, "Wha-what is that?"

Once more, while not answering her, Ruby had smiled warmly at her then, before suddenly placing a chaste kiss on her cheek. When Weiss had recoiled from that, shocked, she had then said, "Oh, you don't have to worry about that right now, Weiss."

She had then stood back and said as her eyes flicked over to someone beyond her gaze, "Remember, Weiss, that though it might hurt at the time, they're only words. And words can't hurt you unless you let them. Just smile and be happy, for me." Then she had turned and started only to paused and say over her shoulder, "And, hey, maybe we'll meet up again soon, 'kay?"

/ /

That, had been three days ago, and Weiss hadn't been about to forget anything about the girl since, from her oh, so casual manner of speaking to her to that, that kiss. It had not seemed romantic at the time, but, still, Weiss couldn't seem to get it, or Ruby, out of her mind. For someone like her, who prided themselves on their ability to focus on a task, that had been beyond frustrating. Especially as she been unable to learn anything of the mysterious girl, or whatever an Outrider Knight was.

It hadn't helped that she had been confided to her room in the White House as she awaited a summons from her father after that night either, severely limiting her ability to discover anything on the matter. And there was only so much Lilly could do for her in her stead. She know that an Outrider apparently had something to do with the Valean Province.

And here she was now.

Kneeling before her father on the throne as he glared down at her with those piercing, cold blue eyes of his. Her eyes darted to either side as she became aware of the many, many nobles gathered there, quietly whispering amongst themselves. So she thought to herself her father wanted to make a spectacle of this?

For why else would he have so many of the courtiers here when normally he rebuked her in private.

The negotiations must have fallen through then she thought to herself. She grimaced at that, still kneeling there. She didn't want there to be a war. Not again. Their people had already been through so much, to say nothing for the battering that the Royal Army had taken just to maintain a holding action on Anima with Argus and their other colonies there. If not for timely reinforcements sent by her Mother, and headed by her Sister, they might well have lost them all during the ten year long conflict.

And now, thanks to me, we might be heading into another, even greater conflict. Weiss thought bitterly. Or, at least, she was sure that that was what her father, the König, was going to say as he took out his frustration on her for the loss of Commerce, Connections and Trade with the Shoganate of Mistral before the entirety of the Court. If not, for her own guilty feelings over what happened, she might've felt that that was unfair of him. After all, he was the one to propose the merger of their two houses in the first place as a means of ending the war.

But, she didn't. Too distracted as she was by the events of that night, that kiss.

She shook her head, clearing those thoughts, as her father began to speak elegantly before the assembled nobility, "We find ourselves at an impasse. The Ambassadors from the Shogun refuse all further dialogue with the Royal House of Schnee. Must to my own regret. Lords Vasilias and David have already left, and, I'm told, Lord Ayana will be going later on tonight."

He made certain to pause and give his audience the appearance of deepest regret and loss before he went on to say, "It would seem that war is inevitable at this point." Immediately the assembled nobility, both low and high, reacted at that, with many among them speaking fervently, if quietly to each other as the factions took that in. An observant viewer would notice that the discussions were started by mid tier members of the King's Court, the König's personal faction within the ranks of the nobility. After all, one did not talk when He was speaking.

He gave a practiced sigh then, a mixture of regret and self-depreciation, before he then said in as regretful a tone as he could manage while also still looking so stern, "Perhaps it was my fault. Perhaps my decision was too hasty. In an attempt to stop the fighting as soon as possible, I jumped at the first chance we had, not realizing just how, short-sighted that was at the time. The Arrangement between our two houses, Schnee and Vasilias, was meant as a compromise, after all. A, temporary measure as we came to an agreement between our two nations. It was never meant to be a... a permanent solution to the problem at hand. " He then flicked his gaze to his daughter as he asked sternly, "But did you really have to be so callous with the man in your rejection, Fürstin?"

Weiss blinked at that, confused. She... hadn't been... she hadn't done that?! She raised her head to defend herself against that only to hear a voice whisper loudly, "That's right. Did you see the face of the Lord Vasilias while they were dancing? She must've been truly cruel with him at the time."

"Yes, you're right. And, he was so polite the entire time, dancing and eating with her long afterwards, too. What a true gentleman." Another whispered.

Weiss let her gaze dart to either side as the assembled throng been to mutter more and more intensely while giving her looks ranging from disappointment to to disgust. She opened her mouth to say something in her defense when the König said, "It is good then, that the young lord still believe there is hope for your relationship." The throng of sycophants quieted down at that as her father continued, "So much so, that he is willing to host you at his home in his kingdom as part of building up the relationship between the two of you." then he smiled at her, his eyes cold as he said, "Isn't that nice of him, daughter-mine?"

Weiss froze at that.

That, that was, horrible. Simply horrible.

She knew what the nature of such a deal actually meant. She was to be a hostage, a foreign guest of the Shogunate, used for negotiations as the diplomats of the two kingdoms argued over actual recompense for the war. A hostage, that if killed on said foreign soil wouldn't be mourned, but instead used as further compensation. Whose death could used as the reason to incite the next war, to bolster the commonwealth's reason for enlisting into the army.

She opened her mouth to say something, anything to that, only to shut it again. Her father had just removed any chance she had of reneging on this deal by saying she was the reason for the inciting incident in the first place. To deny this, to refuse to go would only further destroy what little reputation she had with the nobility around her. And she barely had one as it was thanks to her father ordering her against being seen before now.

She lowered her head to hide her face as she took that all in. With no influence among the nobles and now no chance to rebuke her own involvement in this, not that she could be sure if she wasn't really at fault in some way, she heaved a sigh before looking up at her father and opening her mouth to agree to the new arrangement.

Only for the doors to the Hall to open loudly as Her Majesty, the Königin, entered with a massive blond-haired man behind her. She smiled graciously at the assembled nobility even as she said to the König while walking up to sit next to him, "Now, now, let's not be too hasty, Beloved. I don't think we need to go that far in treating with the Mistrali."

Weiss looked back at the pair, trying to a good look at the man even as the assembled nobles, mostly the women whispered about the man in question.

"It's the Lion Knight!" One whispered harsh, in either awe or fear.

"The Marshal," Another said.

"The Königin's lover," A third muttered from behind the fan they held up to their face, a sly look about their eyes as they looked over the man. The man in question gave no inclination that he even heard as the various noble's discussed him and his relationship with the Königin. All he did was move to take a position by her throne, forcing the Royal Guards there to step aside. The way he almost walked through one as they were slightly too slow move spoke volumes as to his actual rank in the hierarchy.

"Oh?" The König returned as he kissed the signet ring on her hand before the Königin sat down next to him, a gracious smile on her face the whole time. A smile that did not reach her own blue eyes. "And why is that?" he added cautiously, his eyes wary.

"Yes," She responded with a sly grin as cold as König's own had been. "I just got through with discussing the trade deal with Lord Ayana and, with a few tweaks to the deal on our part, he accepted it. Looks like that war might not be some looming as we all feared, My Lord."

"Indeed," He returned stiffly before sniffing and stated as he waved dismissively in the general are where Weiss continued to kneel, neither of her parents having formally acknowledging her presence as of yet. "How... fortuitous. Still, that doesn't change the matter on the Fürstin's inability, or deliberate breaking of the original arrangement between her and Lord Vasilias. After all, it's not the first time she has done something like this."

"Oh," The Königin returned, hands clasped upon her lap, the gorgeous, midnight blue and gold -lined gown all but hugging her various curves, especially that of her full breasts and large, pump hind with the various tassels and ribbons running up from the bottom of the ankle length gown doing nothing to to hide just how tightly bound her large décolletage actually was. She turned and, tilting her head to look at him, asked, "Such as?"

König sniffed again before saying, "The Menagerian Trade Deal. She was directed to come up with the most optimum solution for us. Instead, she managed to make a bargain that entirely benefitted those animals and not us."

That wasn't how Weiss remembered that. She went to speak, to defend herself, as the nobles around them started to murmuring about that, only for her mother to say, "Oh, yes. I remember that. Lady Belladonna recently informed me that she was most pleased with whoever struck that deal with her Advisor. Apparently, whoever they were had struck such an arrangement with them that boosted their economy by a full three percent within the first year and a steady increase of one percent every year afterwards while still favoring the Mantlese market overall." She didn't quite look at Weiss as she turn her nose up in the air and said, "A stroke of genius, if I do say so myself."

Then she chuckled heartily into her hand before she said, still chuckling, "The Lady Belladonna even went so far as to tell me that her Advisor was so sure that whoever you sent to make the trade deal would only being thinking of our economy, and so was was so thoroughly taken back by the arrangement that he thought it was a trick at first."

"Ah, I was, unaware of that." The König then replied stiffly on the back foot now that the Königin had twice over reduced his testimony of the Fürstin's actions. The Königin smiled at him as she asked, "Were there any other examples of her, uh, less than stellar behavior? My Lord?"

"Uh, ahem, yes, quite. Several, " The König returned after a moment of deliberation. He looked around for a moment before proclaiming, "Some music and refreshments, if you would. This all getting rather dull."

At that various servants, butlers and maids began to parade around the room with flutes of wine and champagne or hors d'oeuvres while a band struck up a lively tune for the assembled nobility to dance to. to which several did at the directions of their factions senior members. Others took that as an opportunity to discuss their next strategy within their faction to influence the Crown amidst all the noise and excitement. And throughout it all the Fürstin knelt before the thrones of the Königin and König while they spoke silently about her and her conduct.

Finally, the Königin stood and said as she stepped down to stand before her daughter, "I see your point, Beloved, and it does seem that the Fürstin has been rather... less than adequate with her role. So, I propose a solution to this problem, a way to rectify it as it were." Weiss looked up to stare at her mother through her mask. The cold, distant look she gave in return had her dropping her head to stare at the ground once more as he mother said to her father, and the assembled nobility. "It has recently come to my attention that one of our recent acquisitions in Vale is far below the required standards of living for such a Prefecture."

As she began to walk around the Fürstin explaining the situation, hands clasped before her person, the assembled nobility quieted down as did the musicians. Weiss refused to raise her head as the Königin said, "so, my offer is this, Beloved. If the Fürstin can turn things around in Patch by year's end we let slide all her previous actions." She topped and swirled about elegantly to face her counterpart while hold aloft one hand and said, "A clean slate as it were." She then folded her hands before her again, clasping them in front of her, and continued with, "Perhaps the time away from the Palace will do her some good. Allow her to stretch her wings as it were. Find her footing."

She then stopped behind the Fürstin and saw with a slight raising of her brows at her husband, "How does that offer sound to you, Beloved?"

The König seemed frown as he rubbed at his chin in thought before with a gleam in his eyes he said, "A fair offer, my love. If we add on a bet or two, to it. Something to spice things up a bit as it were." He then smirked and leaned forwards as their assembled guests held their breath as he said, "After all, should she fail the only one to lose anything in this is the Fürstin. She has no faction, no followers, but you, My Lady," His eyes positively glowed with unconcealed malice as he spoke those two words The man standing by the Königin throne started at that so naked was his hate. "You have all the power in this." He then sniffed and leaned back causing the menacing emanating from his to vanish as he then said in an offhand fashion, "After all, you did just crash my party and involving yourself in the punishment of our child. Something that belongs to me alone."

The Königin nodded and that and said, "Agreed. Place your bet and I will reciprocate in kind, My Lord." The man nodded in agreement at that before stating snobbishly, "My people will contact your people, Beloved."

She nodded again before bending down and whispered softly into Weiss's ear, "This is all I can do for you, my daughter. You must succeed, or bring ruin to us all. I have placed everything I have in this. Used up all my favors with your father and his faction. If you lose, girl, the Crown loses as well, and that cannot be allowed to happen. Good luck," And with that the Königin stood up and left taking the still silent, blond-haired man with her.

As soon as the doors to the Throne Room had closed on her departure, Weiss's father glared at her as he spat, "Go! I have no need of you anymore." Weiss inclined her head at him, stood curtseyed and turned to leave, all but fleeing from the sight of her father and his cold, hate-filled gaze. Behind her the assembled nobility continued their façade of a dance as her father sat back down, lording over it all.


And, that was how she found herself heading to the Prefecture of Patch in distant Vale along the Sanus border later that evening. Her only companions were Lilly, and a handful of guards and other attendants set to take over the Royal Estate there.

She had but two carriages with her. One carried of her various dresses and gowns for whatever events she may need to attend among the local barons and the like. The other held her.

It was a seventeen day journey to the Prefecture, and she was already behind schedule. There was less than seven months left in the year for her to turn around what appeared to be a county of dissentients. she would have her work cut out for her.

First, she would need to contact and discuss the situation with the local governor as to whatever it was that was troubling the Prefecture and bring down its productivity. Then she would have see about speaking with the local militia over the Prefecture's security, and perhaps speak with the...

Her thoughts continued along that route as she set about making a plan of attack for this coming trial by fire, as Lilly had called it on hearing what was going on.

But, as she looked out over the setting sun, she found herself smiling for the first time in some time since that conversation with Ruby. For some reason, she felt confident in her ability to do this. Perhaps it was her mother, the Königin's, faith in her. Perhaps it was simply, as her mother had said, she was going to be away from the Palace, and the König's influence, for some time.

It was... nice to have hope again.

Then, as it often did, her thoughts drifted to think about that strange girl again. would she find Ruby there in Patch. She was apparently a native Valean, it seemed, from what she had found out about the Outrider Knights. She smiled again, deeper. She was looking forwards to seeing her new home.


A/N: And we are done with the chapter. Not the best I'll admit, but I did say that political intrigue is not my strong suit. Believe it or not, but I actually toned down what I originally had for Jacques. Thankfully, he won't reappear for some time and we can focus on the important characters in this.

For those of you who care, the backstory for this bit is that Jacque and Willow had already come to a deal on what to do with Weiss as part of their to factions infighting over the Power of the Crown/Throne. This was merely a show for their noble allies, with Weiss supposedly being none the wiser on the actual compromise from Willow and the real seriousness behind her effective exile. Although, Willow did do her best to hint at the importance of everything.

I couldn't find a way to really explain that in the chapter itself. Sorry.

That being said, I hope you enjoyed it. We'll be seeing Ruby and a couple of others next chapter, including the main love interest for Weiss in this. Also, yes, Neptune will make a return in later chapter. Perhaps a brief bit on him next chapter, too.