Chapter 3: Cultural Misunderstandings

'As mysterious as the origin of the Ruby Order are their customs. Contemporary records, owing to the often very obvious bias and agenda of their authors, are wildly divergent. Even the Citadel's own accounts, sadly, reflect this, as the feud between Maester Halmon Rivers and Maester Leyton Thornbud, which escalated into a brawl that damaged an entire library wing, illustrates. Nevertheless, with a modicum of deductive reasoning and common sense, one cannot fail to sort the truth from fiction. First, the accounts that the Ruby Order dressed and behaved like the most daring women from Dorne are obviously fabricated, a blatant attempt to damage their reputation. Not only would they have frozen to death in the North should they have dressed as scandalously, but my diligent research has unearthed the receipt for the dresses Lady Catelyn Stark had made for them shortly after their arrival at Winterfell, and it is inconceivable that a noblewoman like her would have spent so much money on dresses - this was before technological advances significantly reduced the cost of clothes - that she wouldn't have deemed appropriate attire for a lady.

Second, back then, it was common for political enemies to slander each other and their families by accusing them of libertine behaviour. It goes without saying that this would have applied to the Ruby Order as well, regardless of how they actually behaved. Nevertheless, it is clear that they came from a country with customs that vastly differed from those of Westeros since all sources, even the most disparaging, agree that all four maidens were very skilled fighters, able to match and surpass trained knights and that this was considered normal in their home country - something unheard of even in Dorne at the time.

A Treatise On The Ruby Order, by Maester Kennet Bracken

Winterfell, The North, Westeros, 298 AC

In the privacy of her chambers, seated on her favourite chair and looking through her notes, Catelyn Stark cursed their newest guests. Not out loud, of course - her daughters were in the room, and it would have been a shameful display. They were their guests and deserved to be treated accordingly. But Team Ruby, as the four girls called themselves, was a source of both annoyance and worry for her. Their mere presence threatened to disrupt - was disrupting, she couldn't deny it any longer - the harmony of her household and the way she was running Winterfell, and did so right on the cusp of a royal visit! Catelyn should be focusing on preparing to receive King Robert and his court, ensuring that they could be housed and fed for the duration of their stay, that everything was perfect, instead of dealing with four… foreign noble girls with too much beauty and too little modesty or shame, she amended her first thought. Or common sense.

All members of the so-called 'Team Ruby', to a girl, were used to wearing the most scandalous clothes. Even Lady Weiss, the most… reasonable girl amongst them, saw nothing wrong with wearing skirts so short, even a courtesan from Braavos would baulk at showing off her legs in public like that! Or expose so much skin. And compared to her, the others were worse! Much worse, in the case of Lady Blake and 'Lady' Yang, who did not even wear skirts. Their leader, Lady Ruby, was not as shameless in her attire, although her clothes were still far from what would be considered appropriate, but her manners, or lack of them, made up for it in spades. She was far too friendly with the smallfolk and showed no care for her own station. Not that the others, except for Lady Weiss, were any better.

Really, if not for her good brother's introduction and private explanation, Catelyn would have never taken them for noblewomen! Noble ladies simply did not behave like that!

And yet, in the same way, their manners clearly betrayed their noble, if obviously foreign, upbringing. The way they reacted to the dresses Catelyn had ordered to be made for them, as well as their response to the treats Catelyn had stocked up in preparation for the royal visit, proved that. Only highborn ladies raised in such luxury that they had not the slightest idea of how much work and expense went into a single dress of high quality, and how much it cost to import such delicacies from foreign shores, would treat such gifts with such careless and guileless ignorance. No merchant, no matter how rich, would leave his daughters ignorant of the heartblood of their trade, and no smallfolk would be able to fake such an attitude. They had not been as rude as to complain, but they had not been able to hide that they considered such things common and were accustomed to them.

No, as much as it galled Catelyn to admit it, their guests, well three of them, were noblewomen. Which made their scandalous behaviour much worse, of course! They might have deigned to wear proper dresses for the shared meals, but they insisted on going out in public 'to train' in clothes that caused every man and growing boy in the vicinity to lose their wits. Even her own eldest, Robb, was all but panting after them whenever he saw them in such garb - and Catelyn knew very well that none such meeting was accidental!

How was Catelyn supposed to prepare Winterfell to host King Robert and his family and court like this?

"Mother, did you see Yang and Ruby spar today? I could barely see them move, they were so fast! Some thought they were fighting a duel!"

And, worse, they were training to fight, setting an example that was corrupting even those members of Catelyn's family who weren't lusting after them. Arya would be following them around all day if not for the diligent efforts of Catelyn and Septa Mordane, and Bran was hardly any better. At least he wasn't climbing the towers any more, something she apparently had Lady Blake to thank. But she couldn't dwell on her son when her daughter needed instructions.

"When did you visit the training yard, Arya?" Catelyn frowned at the unruly girl.

"Ah… I saw it from the keep!"

A blatant lie. Catelyn sighed. "I told you to keep away from the training yard. It's no place for a lady."

"But Team Ruby trains there!"

Something Cately cursed every day. The spectacle attracted and distracted far too many of the smallfolk who should be working hard so Winterfell could host royalty.

"They're foreigners, Arya." Sansa, at least, was sensible. "Their customs are different. Ladies don't fight."

"I bet Lady Mormont and her daughters train every day, too!" Arya sniffed. "And they're our bannermen!"

Another thing Catelyn had come to curse.

"And King Aegon the Conqueror's wives - Queen Visenya and Queen Rhaenys - both fought on the battlefield! They must have been training as well." Arya went on, then stuck her tongue out at her sister.

The Targaryens had much to answer for, Catelyn thought. To think she had hoped Arya would dedicate herself to study more. If she had known what kind of books her daughter would study… She would have to talk to Maester Luwin about what books he let her family read.

"And they were mad," Sansa told her sister. "All Targaryens were mad, one way or the other."

That wasn't entirely correct, Catelyn knew, but correcting her daughters would send the wrong message, especially so close to the arrival of King Robert, whose stance on the former ruling dynasty was widely known. Things would be tense enough with Lady Weiss even though she had assured Catelyn that she was not descended from Valyria despite her appearance. Catelyn still wasn't certain that the girl was telling the truth; with their dragons, the Valyrians had been able to travel far, and there were rumours about the Blackfyres surviving…

"They still conquered all of Westeros!"

"Because they had dragons!"

"Team Ruby doesn't need dragons! They are stronger than dragons!"

"Children!" Catelyn raised her voice a bit, and her daughters fell silent. She did not wish to hear Arya ramble about Team Ruby again. She didn't need a reminder of what those girls were capable of. Just seeing the hole one of them had made with her bare fists had shocked her. If Catelyn had not listened to her good brother's seemingly fantastical tales and had insulted their guests because of their attire and manner, who knew what would have happened? She took a deep breath. "Our guests follow their customs, and we follow our own, as is proper."

Sansa nodded with a gloating glance at her sister, but Arya scowled. "That doesn't make sense. Why is it proper for them but not for us?"

"Arya! They're not like us!" Sansa replied before Catelyn could say anything. "It's just like what is proper for knights is not proper for ladies!"

"And what about female knights?" Arya shot back.

"There are no female knights! No woman was ever knighted!"

"Who cares about being knighted! There were plenty of women warriors!"

Catelyn rubbed the bridge of her nose. Team Ruby had a lot to answer for. At least, women training with weapons wasn't unheard of in the North. And, if she was honest, she couldn't blame Arya's interest in those things, as unseemly as it was, on their guests. Despite Catelyn's best efforts, her youngest daughter had wanted to learn how to wield a sword for years before the arrival of Lady Ruby and her friends. And while any nobles in the South would be appalled at such notions, Ned's bannermen were more tolerant of such foibles, so her marriage prospects shouldn't be affected too much.

"Just because they can do something doesn't mean you can do it, Arya!"

"Lady Yang said I can do anything if I really want it!"

"Lady Yang is wrong!"

Wrong and a bastard, Catelyn added in her head while her daughters huffed at and then tried to ignore each other. That was the worst part of it. Those foreigners treated the bastard sister of their leader as one of their own - Lady Ruby even deferred to her illegitimate sister at times, heedless of the danger to her own position! What if this gave Ned's bastard ideas about his station in life? The boy was already talking far too often with that girl, and the other girls seemed to see nothing wrong with that, either…

If only Benjen had never brought them to Winterfell!

No, that was a foolish notion. If her good brother hadn't escorted Team Ruby to Winterfell, someone might have provoked them into a fight - or a feud.

Or, worse, welcomed them as guests. That could cause a catastrophe.

Catelyn didn't think the four girls were more powerful than a dragon, but it was obvious even to her untrained eyes, and Ned and Benjen had both confirmed it, that whatever side the girls joined would win any battle against any foe with ease. If they allied with an ambitious or disgruntled bannerman of Ned… No, despite all the trouble they caused, it was a good thing that they were guests in Winterfell.

But that was merely a temporary solution. If Catelyn's family was to be safe from such a threat, they needed a much closer tie to the girls. As much as she disliked the idea, she had to talk with Ned about this. And she had to sound out their guests, although she would have to be very subtle about it, to ensure that they would not take offence at any offer. They had peculiar customs, after all.

Winterfell, The North, Westeros, 298 AC

"...and then you sweep their legs out from under them, and when they are on their back, you gut them - their belly is not armoured." Ruby Rose finished demonstrating the move - without a training dummy; they were far too easy to break, she had found out - and beamed at Robb while she let Crescent Rose come to rest on her shoulders. Weiss hadn't been happy about the whole thing, but Ruby was pleased that her team didn't have to hide their training sessions any more - well, not completely, at least. They were still not going all-out when sparring in the training yard. No Semblances, no Dust, so Ruby wasn't fighting Blake's clones or dodging Weiss's glyphs when training, and Yang couldn't power up from taking blows. Not that she would do that anyway in the training yard - she would probably punch a hole through both walls or so.

"I see." Robb slowly nodded. "They sound very dangerous."

"Ah, if you know how to handle them, they're easy!" Ruby smiled. "There are Grimm which are a lot more dangerous! We had to fight some of them on our Initiation at Beacon."

He looked surprised. "You had to fight such monsters to enter your school?"

"Yeah!" Ruby nodded. "Beacon only takes the best. You have to show that you have what it takes. If you aren't prepared to fight Grimm, you'll fail." Unless you got really lucky, like Jaune.

"That sounds like a rather strict regime," Robb said. "Dangerous as well."

"Ah, it's not that dangerous. They don't let just anyone try." Ruby shrugged. "Anyway, that's how you fight a Boarbatusk. Of course, flipping a Grimm on their back and gutting them works for other Grimm as well, but most of them, you can usually kill straight away." She gave Crescent Rose a quick check to see if she had to fix anything. Not that there was a real danger of that, her baby was built too well to get damaged in a spar, but a Huntress who didn't regularly check her gear wasn't gonna live long in the field.

As expected, her baby was fine. She patted the shaft and collapsed it to carry it on her back.

"So, you said you were trained by your family as a Huntress since you were little?"

"Yes!" Ruby nodded and grabbed a cup of water from the jar she had brought with them. "Well, mostly by Uncle Qrow. He taught me how to wield Crescent Rose. Dad helped as well - he teaches at the Combat School in our home, so he knows his stuff - but Qrow's an active Huntsman."

She frowned a little. Was she telling Robb too much? They weren't supposed to tell the people here too much about Remnant, but… Robb was nice. He could be trusted. Besides, it wasn't as if they'd ever meet Uncle Qrow or Dad until Team RWBY had found a way home, and then it wouldn't matter what they knew about Remnant one way or the other because Ruby and her friends would be home! Home with their families! Who probably thought they were dead… No, Ruby wasn't going there. She was going home.

"Is he as powerful as you are?"

"Uncle Qrow or Dad? They're better. Both went to Beacon." Dad wasn't active any more, but he still kept his skills up. And Uncle Qrow was, well, Uncle Qrow. One of the best Huntsmen in Remnant.

"They must be impressive knights."

"Ah, well…" Ruby shrugged again with a smile. "They're just family, you know?" Family she was missing. Family she would see again.

"I know." Robb nodded with a serious expression, and Ruby wondered if she had said something weird.

"Anyway, there are lots of different Grimm, and that's why we train like we do - we need to be ready for anything." She grinned. "It takes a lot of training to fight as a unit."

"That's what Father says as well."

Ruby drank another cup of water. If only they had soda here! But they didn't even have coffee. The closest was tea with honey, but she couldn't get that here in the training yard for some reason.

Then she stretched. "Well, I think I'm done with the training today."

"May I escort you to your chambers to change, my lady?"

"Sure. I'll probably not change, though. Not yet. I'm probably gonna just hang around on my bed for a bit. Maybe sketch a bit - Blake found some paper and charcoal stuff - and some of your weapons are interesting." And just begged to be improved - well, if she had access to decent facilities, which she didn't.

Robb blushed for some weird reason. Had Ruby said something wrong? Oh!

"That means I am going to lie down on the bed and sketch. I'm not, like, gonna hang down from the ceiling and do it upside down or something," she explained. "Want to come as well? In case I have questions about weapons? Or are you busy?"

He was blushing harder. "Ah, I am not sure that I should enter your chamber, my lady."

"Why not?"

"It wouldn't be proper."

That again! As if anything would happen just because they were in her room! Sure, Robb was cute, but he wasn't that cute, and Ruby wasn't about to do anything like that anyway. Besides, he probably would die from blushing if a girl kissed him - she might have to warn Yang about that. She still wanted to pick his brain about the local weapons, though.

So she grinned. "But we would have a chaperone!" Weiss had explained about that.

"We would?"

"Yes!" She beamed at him. "Weiss will be there as well. And probably Blake and Yang." They usually met in their room before lunch.

"Ah, but… they can't serve as a chaperone."

"Why not?" That made no sense.

He grimaced. "Well, they are… maidens."

"So?"

"A chaperone needs to be older," he explained. Or, in this case, didn't.

"There's a minimum age?" Drat. "That makes no sense."

"But it is so."

"But why?"

"Ah… it's because an older woman can, well… She wouldn't be… vulnerable?"

She frowned at him. Was that a joke? She patted Crescent Rose to make a point.

"I mean, she wouldn't be… tempted?"

"Tempted?" Ruby frowned. Oh. Tempted like that. She chuckled. "Wow, you've never met a cougar then!"

"A cougar?"

Drat. Now she had to explain what a cougar was. She blushed. At least she knew what they were, thanks to Yang and a few TV shows. "Cougars are, ah, older women who're looking for, well… younger men."

Robb seemed shocked.

It didn't look like Ruby would be able to pick his brain about the local weapons today. Maybe she could write down her questions and ask them over lunch or dinner?

Winterfell, The North, Westeros, 298 AC

Weiss Schnee had been raised as a member of the Schnee family. The ability to control herself, to keep her temper in check, and to remain polite and composed no matter the situation, had been drilled into her since her earliest childhood, and the lessons had been reinforced by her interactions with her father. She had faced deadly danger without losing her cool.

And yet, she was pushed to her limits. The stress of keeping calm was almost unbearable. Nothing had ever challenged her self-control like this. She took a deep breath and kept smiling as she slowly nodded. "Indeed, Sansa, Lady is a very well-trained wolf. And a beauty to boot." And so fluffy, Weiss really, really wanted to just scoop the adorable pup up, hug it and bury her face in its soft fur!

"Oh, yes! She's the best!" Sansa beamed proudly while Lady rolled on her back, wriggled her paws in the air, and presented her belly with her tongue lolling out of her mouth.

Weiss trembled at the sight. But she was a Schnee. Keeping cool was ingrained in her very soul. So, she did not break down but calmly turned to Sansa and asked: "May I pet her?"

"Of course! You don't need to ask, Weiss!"

Weiss knelt down, perhaps a little too fast, and she might have ruffled the puppy's fur a little too enthusiastically according to her family's standards, but who would be able to tell? She sighed with bliss as she indulged her base urges and petted the furball. To think Blake was terrified of those fluffy little puppies! "Who's a good girl? Who's a good girl? You are!" she whispered before she could stop herself.

But all good things came to an end, and so she had to - very reluctantly - leave the little wolf alone and resume her stroll through Winterfell with Sansa and Jeyne. Appearances had to be upheld, after all. Weiss had no doubt that Lady Catelyn and Lord Eddard would not be nearly as welcoming or tolerant, much less helpful, should they find out that the members of Team RWBY weren't nobility - or that while their countries were called kingdoms, they were so in name only, the monarchies having been abolished long ago. Weiss was aware that she could not judge Westeros by the standards and history of Remnant, but she was certain that none of the nobles here, especially not those ruling realms larger than any kingdom back home, would react positively to the very notion of abolishing monarchies and aristocracies. Their disdain towards the neighbouring continent, which apparently was ruled by city-states with differing forms of government, had been very clear when the topic had come up.

And they needed the help of the Starks - and other local noblemen - if they wanted to find a way home. They knew almost nothing about this world. So, they had to stay in the good graces of their hosts.

On the other hand, it was not hard to pretend. Good manners had been drilled into Weiss from birth as well, and Sansa and her friend Jeyne were polite and friendly girls, if just a tiny bit too childish for her taste. Although that might merely be envy - it was obvious that their relationship with their parents, especially in Sansa's case, was vastly more loving than Weiss's own. Weiss's father would only care about her going missing and presumed dead - she knew what the odds were if you disappeared in the wilderness - in as much as it affected SDC's bottom line, and her mother would likely just drink even more. Winter would be devastated, of course - her sister was the only family member who cared. What sadness Whitley might feel would be outweighed by his glee at being Father's heir…

She schooled her features. She wouldn't let her envy influence her. "It's a beautiful day, isn't it?" she commented.

"Oh, yes." Sansa nodded. "I hope the day the king and his court arrive will be equally beautiful; it would be a shame if their first impression of Winterfell were spoilt by rain."

Jeyne nodded.

"If it happens, you could take solace in the fact that any home looks more welcoming if you can seek shelter from the rain in it," Weiss said. "Or from a snowstorm."

"It's not yet winter," Sansa said. "So, let us pray to the Seven Who Are One that there won't be snow."

Weiss nodded with a calm expression. Back home, she would have laughed at the comment, sure that it was meant as a jest, but Sansa might be serious, and Weiss didn't want to give offence to the girl. Religion was a thorny topic.

"Do you pray to the Seven Above as well, Lady Weiss?" Jeyne asked.

Weiss bent down to pet Lady while she weighed her answer. She could lie, but… Her father once said that it was best to be honest about matters when you didn't know enough to convincly make up something, and while she loathed him, she couldn't deny that this at least was useful if situative advice. "No. I rarely pray at all."

"You don't?" Sansa seemed surprised, and Jeyne mirrored her expression.

"Religion is a very private affair in my home," Weiss said. That wasn't a lie, technically. "People worship many gods, and sometimes, that's liable to cause tensions." Mostly when it involved the god of the Faunus, and that was because of politics, but it was close enough.

"Ah, like the differences between the Old Gods and the new?" Jeyne asked.

"Before the Andals came, all of Westeros worshipped the Old Gods, but nowadays, they're only worshipped in the North," Sansa explained. "The godswoods in the South were mostly burned."

Wonderful. Weiss made a mental note to tell the others to avoid getting involved in religious discourses. She could only hope they'd listen to that better than they listened to her about not showing off… "Let's talk about something less… serious," she said. "What are your brothers up to? Is Bran still trying to climb the smoothest wall in the castle?"

Both girls giggled. "He is! He can be quite stubborn when he wants to be," Sansa said.

"And he keeps falling down. One day, he won't be able to sit down for a meal," Jeyne added with a snort. "But do you really want to talk about little boys when there are far more interesting older boys to talk about?"

Ah. That was familiar terrain. Weiss laughed. "What did Robb and Jon do?"

Sansa frowned for a moment, Weiss noted, before nodding with a sly smile. "Well, Robb seems to spend quite some time with Lady Ruby."

Weiss nodded. "She's interested in his views and knowledge of your weapons."

"Is that all she's interested in?" Sansa asked. They had stopped to chat in the covered passage to the keep, and she petted Lady while a pair of servants stepped around them while carrying baskets full of vegetables.

Weiss laughed again. "To the great chagrin of Yang, Ruby seems only interested in weapons."

"Really?" Now Sansa was frowning.

"Yes." Which was a good thing, of course. If Ruby became infatuated with a local boy, that could greatly complicate things. She was the leader of their team but also the most inexperienced of them when it came to relationships. "She's still young, after all."

"She's older than we are," Sansa replied.

Ah. Weiss suppressed a wince. That had been a gaffe, but she could recover from this. "Compared to the rest of the team," she tried to correct her remark.

"Still, at her age, doesn't she have any suitors?" Jeyne asked.

"I think between Crescent Rose and Yang, a number of boys might feel too intimidated to approach her," Weiss said.

"What? Is Yang sabotaging her prospects?" Sansa sounded shocked.

Weiss frowned. That was… a weird take on this. Why would she think that Yang would do such a thing? Different customs, she reminded herself. But she had to correct this assumption. "No, no. Yang's just looking out for her. Some boys would want to take advantage of her."

"Ah." Sansa nodded. "In the absence of their father, and with no brothers around, it falls to Yang to watch over her?"

"Well, she is the older sister." Weiss smiled. "My own older sister did watch out for me as well." Until she joined the Atlas military. To be fair, Winter had tried to keep looking out for Weiss, but after leaving the manor and the family, there hadn't been much she could have done.

"Oh? You have an older sister?" Sansa asked.

"Winter, yes." Weiss nodded.

"Your sister is named Winter?"

"Yes." Weiss had to suppress another frown when the girls giggled at that. It was a good name.

But the girls quickly grew more serious - or curious, to be more precise. "Do you miss her?"

"I do," Weiss replied. "Although I've been missing her since she left our home for the military - to join the army," she added when both girls seemed confused. "She chose to become a soldier."

"Oh." Sansa seemed surprised. "Not a Huntress? I thought women who trained to fight became Huntresses in your home kingdom."

"Men and women serve in my kingdom's army. It's an honourable profession," Weiss said. No matter what her father thought, both served to protect their homes and those who couldn't protect themselves. You could scarcely find a more honourable calling.

"Of course," Sansa said.

"So, what about you? Do you have suitors?" Jeyne asked after a moment.

Weiss laughed. Did Jaune count? "None I would approve of," she said. "I am not planning to marry anyway."

Both girls gasped. "You don't want to marry?"

"No," Weiss said and bent down to pet Lady. Sansa had told her she didn't need to ask, hadn't she?

"And what does your father think about that?"

Weiss froze for a moment. "What my father thinks about that doesn't matter."

She hoped she wasn't lying - and then wondered why the girls seemed shocked.

Winterfell, The North, Westeros, 298 AC

Blake Belladonna was so close to heaven and yet so far away. She was surrounded by books - the greatest collection in the entire North according to Maester Luwin, and she had no reason to doubt him, Winterfell being the seat of the North's ruler - but she wasn't allowed to touch, much less read them, as if she were a heathen who would damage them out of negligence or use them as paperweights or… She pushed the brief memory of a particular bunk bed's construction away. She would never do that with books she had yet to read, or books she didn't own, and Maester Luwin didn't have to know this or he would never let her peruse Winterfell's library. Sure, she was aware that, legally, the library belonged to Lord Stark, but as an avid reader, she also knew that this was a mere technicality and that the one to control access to a library was the librarian, and in Winterfell, this was the resident Maester.

Who was currently smiling at her in an increasingly and frustratingly familiar apologetic manner. "As much as I wish to tell you otherwise, Lady Blake, I must sadly confess that I still haven't found any descriptions or sketches that match what you seek. But please, rest assured that I will continue my search."

Of that, she had no doubt. The Maester - a local kind of scholar, or the closest thing these lands seemed to have to scientists, according to Weiss - had been intrigued by the tale of their translocation, and Blake was quite certain that he would not stop searching for any hint or clue that might help them find the ruins they searched until he either found one or had gone through the last of his books and texts.

Of course, if he weren't the only one pursuing this task, it wouldn't take nearly as long, but Blake couldn't really disagree with both Lord Eddard and Weiss's opinion that such a search should be conducted with all necessary discretion. Of course, that wouldn't prevent Blake or her friends from helping, if not for Luwin's - in Yang and Ruby's case quite understandable - reluctance to let strangers touch his books and for the fact that none of Team RWBY was able to read the local script. Which meant that even if Blake were allowed to touch the books surrounding her, she wouldn't be able to read them.

She had started to learn the alphabet, but it was vexingly complicated and, even worse, there were no standards; apparently, as Luwin had explained, people wrote as they spoke, and with linguistic drift, which he had had to explain, and many local dialects, just knowing the alphabet wasn't enough; you also had to know the author's preferred pronunciation. And that was just for the Common Tongue, as the dominant language of Westeros was known. Many books detailing ancient civilisations were written in foreign languages, some of them dead.

So, for the foreseeable future, they had to rely on Luwin if they wanted to find a way to return home. Blake smiled at him. "Thank you for your effort, Maester. We really appreciate it."

"Oh, please, it's the least I can do for our guests."

"Then I don't want to hold you up any longer." With a smile at the old man and a last glance at the tantalising bounty lining the shelves here, she left.

She had barely set a foot outside the keep when she spotted Bran walking towards her. At once, she checked with eyes, ears and nose if that horrible monstrous wolf masquerading as a pet was in the vicinity. It wasn't, and she let out a soft sigh of relief before raising her eyebrows at the young boy.

"Hello, Lady Blake!" He smiled at her, and she was once again reminded that once he grew up, he'd likely be a heartbreaker, provided he could keep his boyish charm. "What are you doing?"

She was doing many things - watching the people and looking for potential trouble, noting who deferred to whom, which people were friendly to everyone and who reserved such for their superiors - but it wouldn't do to tell Bran that. "Enjoying the fresh air," Blake replied instead. It was not, technically, untrue - between the large number of people that lived in the keep and the lack of deodorants amongst the majority of the population, any time spent outside was a relief for her nose.

"Sounds boring. Are you going to train?"

"Perhaps later today." Blake had to hand it to the kid; he was quite determined. But if he hoped to make her spill any secrets, he would end up disappointed; she had spent years in the White Fang and knew how to talk without revealing anything she didn't want to be revealed.

"And what are you doing until then?"

She shrugged. "I don't know yet. What do you have planned for today?"

"Uhm." He scrunched his nose. Either he hadn't made any plans, or he was trying to think of an answer that wouldn't reveal them. "Enjoying the fresh air?" he asked more than he said.

She snorted with amusement at his cheek; for his age, he was quite cunning as well, but he still was a little boy. "So, you're planning to shadow me all day?"

"Shadow you?" He blinked.

Ah. "It means following me around," she explained, "and watching what I am doing."

"Well, if you ask me to…" He flashed her a wide grin.

She could lose him easily - she now knew the castle well enough to plot a route that would allow her to dash into cover as soon as she broke his line of sight - but what would be the point? She could observe the castle's population and how they interacted with each other with Bran tagging along; the boy was unlikely to notice what she was doing.

And she could see what he let slip at the same time.

"If you can keep up, be my guest." She grinned and picked the closest stairs to reach the ramparts above, hustling all the way.

To his credit, he kept up quite well, though he was breathing heavily when they reached the top. But he recovered quickly and was already babbling when they reached the spot overlooking the training yard.

At this time of the day, soon after breakfast, few people were training down below, and Blake made a mental note to tell the others, in case they wanted to train together with relative - although only relative when compared to the crowds they drew in the afternoon - privacy. Of course, she suspected that if Team RWBY truly wanted to train privately, they could request to be left alone - Lady Catelyn might even be eager to grant them that, based on some dressing-downs Blake had overheard her - but that would be abusing their positions as guests here.

Next to half a dozen guards, Theon and Robb were present as well, both looking a bit worse for wear, likely due to imbibing more alcohol than they could easily handle the evening before. Blake felt her ears twitch slightly under her customary bow when she listened in to what the two boys probably considered witty banter.

"So, did you take up your lady love on the invitation to her chambers?"

"Theon! Of course not!"

"Why not, Robb?"

"Lady Ruby didn't intend it to be taken like you hint at!"

"What else could she have intended when she invited you to her chamber and said that there wouldn't be a chaperone? Did you think she wanted to talk about weapons?"

"Yes, in fact, I believe so!"

"Robb, there's only one sword she's interested in, and that's yours."

Blake frowned at the crude comment. Theon either honestly didn't know anything about Ruby - a not very implausible assumption, in her opinion, given the boy's obvious cultural biases - or he knew and was yanking Robb's chain while spreading rumours about Ruby, likely out of wounded pride since none of Team RWBY had returned his advances.

"Theon!" Well, whatever his aim, he had succeeded in rousing Robb's anger - the heir of Winterfell was glaring at his friend. "You don't talk like that about our guests!"

"Robb! Everyone talks like that about them!"

Blake narrowed her eyes. While she had overheard similar remarks from the castle's staff, they had usually been made in private, not in the middle of the training yard. Hadn't Theon or Robb noticed how the half a dozen guards who were training were neglecting their forms so they could focus on listening to the two boys?

"Not in my presence they don't dare!" Robb spat.

Judging by the way the guards closest to him grimaced and pretended to be busy doing drills, he was correct.

"What are you looking at?" Bran asked. "It's just regular training. Nothing exciting. They're just hitting the posts."

"I'm watching Robb and Theon," she replied without taking her eyes off the two boys.

"They aren't sparring either."

"But they might be - Robb looks angry."

"He does? I can't tell from here." Bran peered over the ramparts.

Blake focused on the talk down below again and tried to ignore the noise from the other people nearby. If only she didn't have to hide her second set of ears; it would be much easier to listen to such talks if she could move her ears!

"Besides, aren't you supposed to court her?" Theon asked. "If you take her maidenhood, marrying her is the honourable thing to do, isn't it?"

"What?" Robb gaped at him. "How… How can you suggest such a thing! Father would tan my hide if I dishonoured a guest!"

"Oh, come on - do you think your father would mind if you married Lady Ruby and secured an alliance with her people?"

"Of course, he would! That's not how such things are done!"

"As long as it works out, who cares?"

"My family does."

Blake hissed under her breath. What was this talk about marriage? Had Ruby…? No, Blake's friend would have mentioned it if she had such an interest in Robb. Blake could imagine her floating into their chamber with the sappiest expression on her face and declaring her undying love or something if she had finally met someone she liked more than her weapon.

So, what was up with this? The way Robb had reacted, Theon's claims were not completely off-base…

She turned to look at Bran and narrowed her eyes. Maybe she should find out what Bran knew about this.

This was great! It had taken a while to convince the locals - smash a few training dummies without trying, and they all think you have no self-control - but Yang finally got someone not from Team RWBY to spar with her!

She grinned as she ducked under Jon's swing, then dodged his follow-up. The boy was good. Sure, she had to hold back, like, a ton, since without Aura, he was slow as ass, but skill was skill.

She met his shield bash head-on with a block and a slight grunt - she had to be careful not to wreck his shield. "Nice one!"

He grunted in return, then stabbed at her legs without hesitation.

She jumped back, and he managed not to stick his sword into the packed earth of the training yard. "Finally realised you won't hurt me?" And it had only taken a deliberate ducking into a swing to convince him that it was safe to spar without her wearing armour. Next step, make him use his real sword!

But first, finish the sparring match! She faked a straight to his head, forcing him to retreat and raise his shield, then circled around his sudden blind side. He managed to move in time to bring his sword to bear, but she ducked under his wild swing, then darted forward, inside his reach, pushed his shield to the side and stopped her headbutt just before she connected. "Tag! You're out!"

And for good measure, she then dropped into a leg sweep that sent him to the ground - although almost head first. Oops! She had to control her strength a little more, but that was on him to get her so worked up.

"Good match!" She beamed at him as she offered him a hand up.

He didn't take it and got up himself, but he nodded curtly, so that was vocal agreement for him.

"Made me work for it," she said as she stepped over to the water can.

"You held back a lot."

"Sure did. None of us would learn anything if I went all-out." She filled one cup, downed it, then another, and grabbed a sausage and a bread roll from the basket next to the can.

Another grunt. She wasn't sure if that was agreement or just wounded male pride. Jon wasn't as bad as Theon. He didn't pout like Robb, either, when the boy was shown, again, that Huntresses were in their own league. But Jon was a local boy, and Yang had yet to meet a local boy who hadn't some issues with getting beaten by a girl. Talk about weird!

She turned both bread and sausage into a sort of not-hot hot dog and wolved it down. Jon drank a cup of water in the meantime, and the 'smallfolk' who had been watching returned to whatever they were supposed to be doing. "Seriously, you did well." For someone without Aura. "Should spar with Blake or Weiss sometime. They both use swords."

"Maybe." That meant 'No' in Jon-speak.

"Suit yourself." She shrugged. Of Team RWBY, she was the only one Jon sparred with. He probably had a crush, but as long as he didn't make a move, she didn't have to shoot him down. He was cute, but he was like Ruby's age. And a bit too brooding for her taste - if she did shoot him down, he might stop sparring, too.

"It wouldn't be appropriate," he said after a moment.

"What?" She frowned. He was sparring with her, wasn't he? So, why wouldn't it be appropriate to spar with the rest of her team? Oh, Hell! Had she missed another cultural difference, as Weiss called it? "Don't tell me sparring is, like, asking someone out!"

"What?" He stared at her.

"You know, start a relationship," she explained.

"What? No!" He flushed like a tomato and shook his head almost as wildly as Zwei after a bath. "It's…" He took a deep breath and lowered his voice. "I'm a bastard," he said through what Yang was sure were clenched teeth.

"Actually, you're too nice for…" She blinked. "Oh, you mean literally." She nodded. "Yeah, we've heard. Still doesn't tell me why you can't spar with the others."

"A bastard shouldn't spar with high-born ladies. I wouldn't spar with you if you hadn't… insisted so strongly." And that pout showed he was Robb's brother.

She grinned at him. Sure, yelling 'Defend yourself!' and jumping at him had maybe been a bit much, but sue her - she liked sparring, and she liked fighting new guys! He wasn't laughing, though, so she turned serious as well. "Sorry to hear that."

He shrugged. "You don't have to feel sorry for me."

He obviously was feeling sorry for himself, but she wasn't gonna needle him over it. That was his business.

He must have caught a clue, though, since he narrowed his eyes at her for a moment. Then he sighed. "I am a bastard. I can't change that."

"It's not as if it's your fault you were born." People blaming kids for their parents were idiots, in her book.

Another half-glare, another sigh, and he nodded. "I just wish I knew my mother."

Oh. Yang knew that feeling. And she knew better than to step on that landmine. But she could sympathise - and did. "Yeah. My own - I mean, the woman who gave birth to me - ran away and left me with Dad when I was a baby. Haven't seen her since. Don't even know if she's still alive." She shrugged as if it was no big deal. But it was. But, thinking of family made her think of Dad. He would be broken. Worse than he had been after Mom hadn't returned from a mission. Now he'd think both Ruby and Yang were dead… She clenched her teeth and took a deep breath. Brooding about stuff she couldn't change right now was pointless.

He must have noticed her mood but he didn't push her on it either, and they just stayed there, silent, for a while, staring at the wall until it got too gloomy for her, and she went back to the rest of her team. It was about time for lunch, anyway - or would be, soon.

But when she entered their room, ready to apologise for having forgotten the time while sparring - not that there was a clock to use, anyway - she wasn't scolded by Weiss for being late. Instead, Ruby jumped up from her bed and rushed to her. "Yang! We've got a problem! A huge problem!"

"What?" Yang tensed. Had someone broken into their room? They had taken a few precautions, like hiding the stuff they couldn't carry with them where normal people couldn't easily get it, but…

"They want to marry us off!"

What?

Weiss sighed. "What the dolt is trying to say is that our hosts apparently plan to ask for the hand in marriage of at least one of us, presumably to forge an alliance with our team and, although that's conjuncture, our home kingdom."

Yang blinked. "Seriously?"

"Yes!" Ruby nodded several times with a pained expression. "Blake overheard them! And Bran confirmed it!"

"Bran? The little boy?" Yang asked. What did little boys know about such things?

"He confirmed that alliances here are done by marrying two family members," Blake said. "Which fits what I overheard from the talk between Theon and Robb."

"And Robb might try to seduce me to trap me in a marriage! I don't want to marry anyone, Yang! I'm too young! And I don't like Robb that way!" Ruby shook her head.

Yang winced. Ruby was going a bit too fast here.

"You don't have to marry anyone, Ruby," Weiss said. "None of us do."

"You said we had to compromise and honour their customs!"

"Not to that extent. Besides, you heard Blake - Robb rejected Theon's idea and said Lord Stark would never condone such underhanded means!"

"And what about not-underhanded means? Overhanded means? What if they just ask for my hands? Hand?" Ruby flitted over to stare at Weiss.

"Then you tell them you're not going to marry anyone," Weiss replied.

"I'm not good at telling people no!"

"Then learn how to tell people no, dolt!"

"Or let me tell them for you," Yang said, bumping her fists together. She clenched her teeth. If anyone tried to do anything underhanded like that with her sister… Well, there would be no holding back on Yang's part! They would have to scrape whoever it was from the ground. And probably the walls and ceiling as well!