Chapter 62: Revelations Part II
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Chapter 62: Revelations Part II
'The Renaissance of Magic, also known as the Return of Magic, started during the time of the Ruby Order, and while most scholars of the arcane arts consider the hatching of the dragons by Princess Daenerys Targaryen the event that, if it didn't not cause it, then it marked it beyond all doubt, some consider the arrival of the Four Maidens as such. Needless to say, that opinion neglects that the Four Maidens did not use magic for their feats, as I have demonstrated conclusively - the failure of countless sorcerers to duplicate their supposed magic proves this beyond any doubt. However, this belief might have been responsible for certain changes in the Faith's stance towards magic that started in this era as well.'
*****
The Red Keep, King's Landing, Westeros, 299 AC
Standing next to Hunter, almost but not quite next to Joram - he was standing behind, but to the side of the guardsman - Bran Stark stared at the three visitors waiting to enter the Tower of the Hand. They were Children of the Forest. Like in the tales of Old Nan. Small - barely taller than Bran himself, and with brown skin. But not like the Dornish, or the people from the Summer Islands, more like nuts. And they had brighter spots! And they were wearing clothes made of leaves! He had thought Team Ruby returning was already great - he had missed them - but this was even better! Children of the Forest! No one had ever seen one of them in ages! And now three of them were here, in front of the tower! In front of Bran!
"Stand back, m'lord," he heard Joram whisper.
"It's fine," Bran replied, not taking his eyes off the three Children. If they were a threat, Hunter would be growling at them. And his wolf wasn't worried at all; they smelled like friends. "Oh!" He noticed that they only had three fingers on each hand, and claws instead of nails when the leader of them raked her fingers through her reddish-brown hair like Sansa did sometimes, when she hadn't a comb with her. It showed off her large ears. The Child's, not Sansa's. And it didn't disturb the flowers and twigs in her mane.
The Child met his eyes, and he stared at her green-gold eyes. Slitted like a cat.
His breath hitched a little; he had never seen so pretty eyes. And she smelled so good. Like a field of blooming flowers.
"M'lord!" Joram repeated himself, and Hunter moved a bit, to place himself between them so Joram couldn't grab Bran.
"We are no threat to the young Stark," the Child spoke up. Her voice sounded… different. But good. She was still looking at him, Bran noticed. She must be their leader - she was standing in front of the other two.
And she knew he was a Stark? "I'm Bran Stark," he said, smiling. "And this is Hunter, my wolf."
"I know," she replied. "I've seen you." She tilted her head to the side and forward, like a skewed bow, of sorts. "You can call me Leaf; my real name would be too long for you to say."
"Try me!" Bran blurted out at once. "I'm good with names!"
She laughed at that, and Bran couldn't help remembering a few old songs he had heard; she really had a voice like a songbird. "It is too long, and you do not speak our tongue. Leaf will be enough."
He pouted. He didn't need to be treated like a child.
She laughed again. "No adult could say my true name, either, Bran."
Oh. He blinked. How had she known what he had been thinking? And… "You've seen us?" he asked, frowning a little. "Me and Hunter?"
She nodded. "Yes. And your siblings. Your pack."
"M'lord!" Joram sounded tense now. Bran glanced around. The other guards were tense, too.
"They don't mean us harm," he said. Then he remembered. Guestright! The Children should have received guestright when they entered the keep. But the goldcloaks guarding the gate were not the best. Sometimes, they didn't even notice Bran and Hunter sneaking around. So, just in case… "Bring bread and salt!"
"What?"
"Bring bread and salt!" he repeated himself without taking his eyes off Leaf. And the others.
"But your father…"
Leaf laughed again, sounding like a series of bells, this time. "You know the old ways."
Bran was a Stark. Of course he did! And so should the guards!
"And you've got old blood," Leaf went on. "And the old ties," she added with a glance at Hunter.
That sounded… weird. And interesting. "Old blood?" he asked.
She nodded, her lips twisting into a smile.
He pouted and was about to ask again when he heard a voice behind him.
"There they are, Lord Eddard!"
Oh. Father had arrived. And Team Ruby! Bran turned to smile at them. "Father! We have guests!"
Lady Yang chuckled, but Father just nodded. "So I see." He turned to the servants. "Bring bread and salt!"
This time, they obeyed, and Bran pouted again. Why couldn't they have done so when he told them to? They would already have it done now!
"Lord Eddard Stark." Leaf did the weird head-bowing again. And again. "Lady Ruby. Lady Weiss. Lady Blake. Lady Yang. I am Leaf, and these are Seeker and Dew."
"Hello!" Lady Ruby beamed at them.
Lady Weiss was a bit more reserved, nodding in return. And Lady Blake…
…was staring at the Children with an expression Bran had rarely seen on her face. Not even when she had fought the Mountain. It was so intense, he almost took a step back.
"Ears, spots, eyes and nails?" Lady Yang smiled. "All together? Three times?"
Bran didn't know what she meant. But the others of her team must have understood what she meant since they glanced at each other.
"We're Children of the Forest," Leaf told them. "You have never seen the like in your world?"
"No," Lady Blake said.
"Not exactly like you," Lady Yang said, then chuckled again when Lady Blake frowned at her. "At least, not in the flesh."
"In the flesh?" Leaf sounded wary all of a sudden, Bran found.
"We have tales of people like you. Children's Tales," Lady Blake said. "Fairy Tales," she added when Lady Yang chuckled again.
"Ah." Leaf nodded, and she seemed to relax. It was hard to tell, though.
"You came here for Lady Ruby and her friends?" Father asked.
"Yes. We mean no harm to you or your people, Lord Eddard," Leaf replied. "But we need to speak to the visitors from another world."
"About what?" Lady Ruby asked.
Leaf looked around, raising her eyebrows at all the people staring at them. The courtyard was filling up, it seemed - how had he missed that? Bran wondered.
"Right!" Lady Ruby blushed. "We need some privacy, then."
"Bread and salt, m'lord!"
Jenna was panting a little when she presented a plate to Father. She must have run to the kitchen and back.
Father took the plate, then offered it to the three Children. "I offer you guestright."
"We accept," Leaf replied, sounding the most serious Bran had heard her so far while she took a piece of bread and sprinkled salt on it before eating it. Her friends did the same.
And then everyone - the Children, Team Ruby and Father - went up to Father's solar.
And Bran had to stay down here.
As Lady Yang would say: Damn, that sucked.
*****
Ruby Rose sneaked glances at the three Children of the Forest as they climbed the stairs to Lord Eddard's solar. They were smaller than her or Weiss, and looked very… Well, they looked like several Fanus traits combined. She had seen Faunus with spotty skin like a deer, Faunus with long, pointy-ish ears - though they usually had normal ears as well - and with slitted eyes. And she had heard of Faunus with claws. But never had she seen or heard of someone with all that combined - and three of them together! And three fingers per hand, she added in her mind. Couldn't forget that. She wasn't sure if there were Faunus with such a trait; she had to ask Blake once they were back in their quarters.
Anyway, this was exciting! Another species! A legendary species, too, at least in the North. But seeing how half the Castle had turned out to look at them, probably in the rest of Westeros as well. And they looked like the fairies out of the old fairy tales back home - at least a bit; descriptions varied, and the shows she had seen usually had bad special effects and masks.
And they wanted to meet Team RWBY. And in secret - well, in private. That was… mysterious. Maybe they needed help from Huntresses?
They reached the floor where Lord Eddard's office was and entered. Ruby almost took her old seat, then stopped. Their new guests should have first pick; they had been waiting for some time. And, she reminded herself, they, too, were guests of Lord Eddard, so it was his call, anyway.
"Please, have a seat." He gestured at the seats, and Ruby was quickly checking the space. Well, if everyone sat close together, it should be enough. Yang and Blake certainly wouldn't mind sharing a seat. Didn't mind, she corrected herself when she saw them squeeze into Yang's old seat.
That left a small couch for Ruby and Weiss, and three seats for the Children. She used her Semblance, then waved at her partner from the couch. "Come on, Weiss, let's sit down!" She patted the cushion next to her for emphasis.
Weiss rolled her eyes but did join her, though she was sitting all tense and stiff. Of course, she usually sat like that in formal meetings, so that wasn't really weird. Just Weiss.
The Children looked a bit out of place when they sat down. Not because of their cool leaf clothes, but because they were too small for the seats. Even if they weren't sitting down cross-legged, their feet wouldn't touch the floor, Ruby guessed, when Weiss sat down next to her - she had to scoot a bit over, and it was still pretty tight; their thighs almost touched.
She looked at Lord Eddard. This was his room, his tower and his court, and Team RWBY and the Children were his guests. And Lord Eddard was looking at her. Oh.
She cleared her throat. "So… you wanted to talk to us?" She suppressed a wince; that was pretty lame as a conversation starter.
"Yes," Leaf replied. The other two didn't say anything. She glanced at Lord Eddard, then at Ruby. "You trust him."
It didn't sound like a question. Ruby nodded anyway. "Yes." He was an honourable man. To a fault, as Blake had called it - and she'd know if he weren't honourable thanks to her spying on everyone. At least, honourable according to Westeros' values, which should be good enough for this, what with guestright given, and him knowing very well what Team RWBY could do.
Leaf nodded. "We've travelled here from our home in the North to meet you."
Ruby nodded - and pressed her lips together so she wouldn't say something stupid like that they could have met when Team RWBY had been in the North. That either hadn't been possible or would make their guests feel stupid.
She noted that Lord Eddard looked surprised, though.
Leaf must have noticed it as well. "Yes, Lord Eddard, we live in the North, albeit not in your lands."
"Beyond the Wall, then?"
Leaf nodded.
"And you've travelled through half the realm without being noticed," he went on.
"We have ways."
Now, that sounded mysterious. It was probably 'Ways', with a capital letter, too. Ruby nodded again. "And why did you want to meet us? Do you need help?"
Leaf smiled. Her teeth also looked a bit off. "You've already helped us - and everyone else in Westeros - more than enough."
Oh. Ruby blinked. They had? She glanced at her friends, but they seemed as surprised as she felt. Unless… "The ice zombies?" Ruby guessed. Leaf was from the lands beyond the wall, and they had fought the zombies there.
"Yes. The Others," Leaf said.
Lord Eddard tensed at that, Ruby saw.
"You helped us, so we're here to help you."
"Help us?" Ruby blurted out before she could stop herself. But she managed not to ask if they offered to kill annoying nobles for them like the Faceless Men had done. Offered, that was. Not killed. At least, she hoped they hadn't done that.
"Yes. You are looking for a way back. To return to your world."
Ruby tensed at once. And she heard Weiss draw a sharp breath next to her. And Yang leaned forward so abruptly, Blake would probably have been pushed off their seat if she hadn't done the same.
"You know how we can return?" Ruby asked,
"We know of a place that might send you back. Might," Leaf stressed. "Ruins of the same kind as the ones you seek. They're old, older than the First Men."
Ruby gasped. "Ruins like the ones that brought us here?"
"The descriptions we know match yours."
That was great! Finally, after a year of searching and researching and everything, a lead! A way home! This was…
"You know what we are looking for?"
…apparently suspicious, at least in Weiss's opinion; Ruby knew her partner and could tell from her tone.
"Yes." Leaf seemed unbothered by Weiss's expression. "A friend was watching you."
Ruby frowned. Someone who knew the Children - people everyone had thought gone, as she understood it - had been watching them?
Lord Eddard, too, was frowning. "You have friends in the Seven Kingdoms? In Winterfell? Here?"
Leaf blinked for a moment, then smiled. "Oh, I thought you had noticed him. He was convinced you had." She said something in a language Ruby didn't understand but sounded like a song, and the two other Children giggled.
"Someone thought we noticed him?" Weiss sounded both confused and suspicious.
"Who is it?" Lord Eddard asked.
"He is known as the Three-Eyed Crow," Leaf said. "And he has the same gift as your children, Lord Eddard."
Lord Eddard looked confused for a moment, then scowled. "What about my children?"
What about… Oh! "He's a skinchanger!" Ruby said. Like Jon. That explained it!
Leaf nodded.
"And he's been watching us through the eyes of animals?" Weiss didn't sound satisfied - she sounded furious.
Leaf nodded again.
Wait! Ruby quickly tried to remember whether they had ever taken a bath with an animal around. She didn't think so, which was a relief.
"The birds," Blake spoke up. "He's been watching us through birds."
Leaf nodded a third time. She wasn't smiling any more, and her friends had stopped laughing. "Yes. He was concerned about your influence on Westeros. You have the power to upend the entire realm, after all."
Right. That was a good reason to keep an eye on someone. Still creepy, kinda, though.
Ruby glanced at her friends, and they seemed to share her view. Well, about this being creepy, at least. Especially Weiss. Good. That… "Oh! The ravens and crows that were watching us!"
And now her friends were frowning at her. "Yes, they just told us that," Weiss said.
"Not that!" Ruby corrected her. "I mean, I was waving and talking to them! And… I think I accidentally killed one."
"Yes. That's why our friend thought you had noticed him." Leaf was grinning. Definitely grinning. Well, it was kinda funny, if Ruby were honest. Still creepy, though.
"And he kept spying on us?" Weiss asked.
"Yes."
Yang slammed her fist into her palm. "And where is your friend? Just in case we want to meet him personally."
"In the lands beyond the wall," Leaf replied.
"That's a long way from here, Yang," Ruby said.
Yang scoffed. "We probably must return there anyway, to find those ruins."
"Oh, no." Leaf shook her head. "The ruins I mentioned are in the South. In Dorne, to be exact."
"In Dorne?" Lord Eddard asked.
"They date back to the times before the Pact, when we used the Hammer of the Water to break the Arm of Dorne to stop the invasion of the First Men," Leaf replied.
"Ah." Lord Eddard nodded after a moment of being still. "So the legends are true."
Leaf smiled. Somehow, she managed to look both mischievous and sad at the same time. "They have a true core. But a lot was lost since that time."
Ruby was lost. What were they talking about?
"What event are you referring to?" Weiss asked.
"Dorne was once connected by land to Essos," Lord Eddard said. "Or so legends claim. The ancestors of the First Men came from Essos to Westeros, and warred with the Children of the Forest - until the Children used their magic to sink the land connecting Dorne and Essos, leaving only a few islands standing."
Ruby blinked. That was… "Magic could do that? Sink a whole kingdom's worth of land?"
Leaf nodded. "We paid a heavy price, though. All such magic requires sacrifice." She looked very serious all of a sudden. Not amused at all any more.
Ruby grimaced. "And we need that magic to return home?"
Leaf tilted her head. "Magic brought you to this world. Magic can send you back."
"But we're no sorceresses," Yang said. "And I'm not fond of sacrifices."
Ruby nodded firmly. "We're not going to sacrifice people."
"You did not pay the price to be transported here. Someone else did," Leaf said.
"'Someone'? Who was it?" Blake asked.
And were they still alive? Ruby wondered.
Leaf shook her head. "I cannot tell." After a moment, she went on: "Magic tends to linger where it was used. The more powerful it was, the longer it was used, the longer it lingers. The ruins I know of were the heart of our people, for a very long time. When we left in the wake of the humans' invasion, we hid it from them with magic. No human ever laid their eyes on them."
"Not in your world, at least," Blake said.
Leaf nodded again. "The oldest stories tell of a world beyond this. A world our ancestors came from. They were said to have arrived there and built the place that fell into the ruins you seek."
"And you think between all the lingering magic and history, it'll see us home?" Weiss sounded like she doubted it.
Leaf nodded. "I have dreamt of it."
"You've 'dreamt'?" Blake sounded doubtful as well.
Leaf nodded with a grave expression.
As did Lord Eddard, Ruby noted.
She nodded as well. Her friends might be sceptical - the Children's arrival seemed very convenient - but this was the best lead they had so far. Definitely the most magical. She was no sorceress, but she knew that sometimes, you had to trust your gut and take a leap of faith.
She nodded once again and smiled. "Then we need to travel to that place!"
*****
Weiss Schnee was torn between annoyance and agreement when she heard Ruby blurt out that they had to travel to Dorne. Yes, on the one hand, this was - apparently, she amended her thoughts - their first decent lead in their search for a way home. Or the hope for a lead, at least; the fact that the ruins were supposedly similar to the ones they had explored on Remnant was, even if this Child of the Forest was honest about it and not trying to deceive them, still thousands of years old, and Weiss was familiar from her studies with the distortion oral records suffered over time. If she weren't, then the Maesters here would have rectified that deficiency with the results of their own research. And, of course, the way rumours spread and warped the facts, both here and back home, in a significantly shorter time, also taught her not to trust such tales too much.
And yet, this was the first time someone at least claimed to know about the ruins they sought. That was far more than anyone else had managed so far. Even the possibility that this was just an attempt to lure them into a trap with lies - which could have been easily made up since Team RWBY had been forced to reveal details about the ruins that had brought them here in order to search for them - was not enough to make her dismiss this lead without checking it out.
On the other hand, Ruby telling everyone they had to go there, potentially never to return, would disrupt what passed for balance and calm at Court. Lord Eddard's reaction - he was not nearly as stoic as some claimed; at least not for someone with her upbringing - proved that. If her team left, both the Lord Regent and Prince Tommen, as well as the RWBY Order members and their other friends, would be rendered quite vulnerable, and she was well aware of what kind of nobles were waiting for such an opportunity.
So she nodded but also frowned at her partner. "Such a trip would require quite the preparations, though. We cannot just rush off at the drop of a hat; certainly not when we just returned from a lengthy absence and might have to deal with a few issues that cropped up over the last month or two."
Ruby, to her credit, quickly understood and nodded. "Oh, yes. I didn't mean leaving right away. People depend on us. And we wouldn't leave our friends hanging."
Lord Eddard didn't smile, but Weiss saw him release a sigh of what she was certain was relief. And Leaf nodded as well. "Of course not. Whatever the impression our friend has of you, he also knows you protect your own, as people should."
Weiss nodded, though she wondered what the woman considered the team's 'own'. The locals did hold being blood-related in very high esteem, after all, an attitude Weiss, thanks to her own experience with her family, did not share. Not that she was condoning, much less contemplating violence against Father, of course. Not unless it were a case of self-defence, at least. And Father, not having bothered to awaken his Aura, would never be a physical threat that would justify using violence on him.
"I am glad to hear that. You have many friends here who would dearly miss you, my ladies," Lord Eddard said.
Like your children, Weiss thought. Which they had to talk to about their - likely - magical gift. But that was not a topic to be mentioned, much less discussed, in front of the newest and most definitely most exotic guests of the Red Keep.
"With that said, we did just arrive and have not even visited our quarters yet," she said. "Perhaps we should adjourn and meet again at a later date to further discuss such matters?"
"Right!" Ruby agreed at once. "We'll have to discuss more stuff with Jon and you, Lord Eddard, and your other children as well."
And Lord Eddard looked wary again - his smile had flattened a bit, and his lips looked a bit thinner, the way he pressed them together as he nodded before replying: "Indeed, my lady."
"Yeah," Yang added, and Weiss saw her glance at Blake - who was looking at Leaf and the other children with obvious interest.
Oh. Weiss felt stupid for not realising it before - her friend was looking at what likely were the Faunus of Westeros, so to speak; a different species than humans. A species that had suffered from human invasions, she added to herself with a grimace, and had apparently been driven beyond the walls, so far removed from the humans to be thought extinct or just a myth.
Weiss couldn't help feeling that this whole affair might become a bit more complicated than she had thought.
*****
"Ser Jon Snow has arrived, m'lord," the servant announced in the doorway.
"Send him in, Joff."
Joff, not Jern. Weiss made a mental note of the name - and was quite glad that she hadn't addressed him as Jern before; to ignore the staff's names could leave you look arrogant and uncaring to them, if they expected the worst of you, but that was still better than to use the wrong name when talking to someone, that would make you look like you were pretending to care about them, and people disliked such dishonesty more than arrogance.
"Father." Jon bowed while Ghost looked around, ears perking up as he saw them on the couches. "My ladies." Jon nodded at them, then bit his lower lip for a moment before straightening up. "There is something we need to discuss, Father. It concerns our family."
"So I was told," Lord Eddard replied, and Weiss had no trouble detecting the hint of annoyance and concern hidden behind his usual stoic facade. "Although nothing more than that." Well, that was more than a hint.
"It wasn't our secret to tell," Ruby defended herself. "It's Jon's. And your, your other children's."
Weiss didn't bother hiding her wince; Lord Eddard likely suspected that Jon had revealed his true parentage to them, but as long as it wasn't said out loud, everyone could pretend otherwise. Ruby had come a bit too close.
"And what secret is that?" Lord Eddard asked. Straight and to the point - and honestly so. He wasn't treating Jon like a servant who had to answer him and didn't deserve politeness; he was merely being direct and frank. Unlike Father.
"I am a Warg, Father. A Skinchanger." And Jon was cut from the same cloth. "And I - we - suspect that all my siblings share this."
Lord Eddard had grown stiff and tense, first staring at Jon, then at Team RWBY.
Weiss met his eyes calmly. Her partner raised her chin, then smiled a bit apologetically. "Well, we know it already because we discovered it. Before Jon realised it, actually. I sparred with him to find out how he had managed to spot a feint by that bravo he duelled before he could actually see it, and after a bit of trial and error, we found out that he can see through Ghost's eyes instinctively. It's really cool, right? And Jon's not using it spy on us, like that creepy Three-Eyed-Raven guy!"
"I would never, my lady!" Jon blurted out, already blushing fiercely.
Weiss focused on Lord Eddard. The man's jaw muscle twitched - he was clenching his teeth - before he asked: "And you think the others share this… talent."
Jon nodded firmly. "Yes, Father. All of us are very close to our wolves. And you know how the wolves listen to us, even better than trained hounds."
"Without actually having been trained by the Kennelmaster." Lord Eddard sighed once more. "And are you certain that this is not merely something normal for direwolves?"
"No, Father. But everything we've done to test it fits what we know Wargs are."
And if this were not an inherent talent of the children but of the puppies, then the result would still be more or less the same, Weiss thought. At least, as far as the reactions of other people were concerned. Indeed, while the public's reaction, should Yang and Blake's relationship be revealed, was still in doubt, given the circumstances and status of Team RWBY in this world, she had learned enough during their search for magic ruins that the majority of the population feared - and often hated - magic. Not entirely without reason, of course, should even a small part of the tales of what Valyrian sorcerers or the Shadowbinders of old had done was true.
But 'warging' didn't involve blood sacrifices. And it wasn't inherently harmful to anyone. So, the - assumed - hatred and fear of those skinchangers were baseless. Even if such a talent were used to spy on others - or to peep - it would not justify murder.
Lord Eddard sighed again. "I see."
Jon seemed to want to say something, but held his tongue.
Ruby didn't. "So, your other kids probably should be told. Before they instinctively do something similar but not so subtle." Lord Eddard narrowed his eyes at her, and Weiss saw her grimace a little. "When Yang and I discovered our Semblances, we kinda did some bad stuff because we didn't know what we were doing. And we don't know much how this thing works."
"Magic is dangerous," Lord Eddard said.
"All the more reason they should be told," Jon added.
"Yes." Lord Eddard said with a deep frown. "Jon, call for your siblings and bring them here."
"Yes, Father." Jon nodded and left, Ghost following him at an easy pace.
Once the door closed behind them, Lord Eddard looked at Team RWBY again. "I doubt I need to tell you how dangerous this secret is. In the North, people might be more understanding, the Old Gods were more tolerant of such things, but even there, skinchangers were distrusted. But here in the South…" He pressed his lips together.
"We wouldn't let anything happen to them, my lord," Ruby said at once. "We will protect them."
"And we're the 'Blessed Maidens'," Yang added.
Lord Eddard nodded, but he didn't seem to think that even Team RWBY's status would be enough for such deep-rooted fear and loathing.
And Weiss couldn't help but agree; to her shame, she was somewhat familiar with how old prejudices worked.
*****
"You wanted to see us, Father?" Lady Sansa was, as usual, perfectly polite and well-mannered, Blake Belladonna noted when the three middle children of Lord Eddard entered the room behind Jon, followed by their direwolves.
"Yes, Sansa."
"Is it about the Children of the Forest?" Bran added excitedly. "They all left the tower; we checked. Hunter didn't smell them around any more."
"And we missed them!" Arya complained.
Blake steeled herself as the solar went from slightly crowded to packed, with four beasts the size of small horses forming a pile of fur and claw and fangs in the middle, half of them ending up under Lord Eddard's desk - and far too close to Blake for what was left of her comfort.
She eyed the window next to her out of the corner of her eyes - leaving those beasts out of her sight was out of the question - and wondered if she had a reason to leave this meeting when she suddenly felt a hand grip hers and squeeze gently. Yang.
She forced herself to relax, taking a deep breath, and managed to smile at her girlfriend. She could do this. She could get through this. She told herself, not for the first time, that she could deal with a pack of Beowolves by herself, and for all their size, direwolves were not on par with Grimm. And, as usual, she knew this was true, but her gut refused to accept and still clenched itself in fear at the sight of the beasts.
And again, Yang was there for her, leaning into her side, once more squeezing her hand and smiling at her. Reassuring her. It helped. It didn't make the fear disappear, but it helped steady her. Helped keep her… there.
She looked at the three kids instead. They were fidgeting a little - Lord Eddard hadn't said anything else since he had answered Sansa - and they were growing impatient. And concerned, at least Sansa; none of the three were that skilled at schooling their expressions.
Lord Eddard slowly nodded. "It concerns all of you - including Jon." He leaned forward. "It is about our family. Our blood."
The three kids had glanced from Lord Eddard to Jon and back but were now leaning forward as well, seemingly captivated by their father's words.
"Have you felt a sort of… bond with your wolves?" Lord Eddard asked. "That they were closer to you than any other pet you ever had?"
"Yes, Father!" Bran replied at once. He patted Hunter's head, and the wolf licked his hand, then tried to wriggle out from underneath Nymeria to place his head in Bran's lap. "Hunter's the best wolf in the realm!"
Lord Eddard nodded and looked at Sansa.
She slowly nodded. "Yes, Father. Lady is the best-behaved pet in the Keep; she obeys every word of mine."
"Unless she's hungry and wants a treat," Arya not-quite-whispered.
"Arya!" Sansa hissed.
"What? It's the truth! Lady is as fond of treats as you are of sweets!" Arya stuck her tongue out, then blushed when Lord Eddard frowned at her. "Sorry, Father. Yes, Nymeria is a great wolf. She follows me everywhere and is a great protector and hunter."
"And she scares the smallfolk," Sansa added with a scowl. "Lady never does that!"
Blake would disagree with both but kept silent. Anyone without aura would be scared of predators that large; they could bite a man's head clean off - Blake had seen that happen to a White Fang member when their group had stumbled upon similarly-sized beowolves in a forest in Mistral.
"And have you ever felt as if you knew things that you shouldn't know? Smelt something odd?" Jon asked. "Like fresh lemon cakes in the kitchen when you were in the courtyard?"
All three were looking at him, and once again, Bran was the first to answer: "Well, the lemoncakes they bake here do smell strongly." Arya nodded, as did, if a bit reluctantly and with a slight blush, Sansa.
Jon glanced at Lord Eddard and nodded.
Lord Eddad sighed once again and said: "I feared this. Children, you may be wargs."
All the beasts perked up, raising their heads and looking alert, at the exact same time as the children gasped. No, there was no 'may' here, Blake knew, they most certainly were wargs.
"Wargs?" Bran sounded delighted.
"Wargs?" Arya sounded confused.
"Wargs?" And Sansa sounded shocked.
"Skinchangers," Jon said, then glanced at Lord Eddard. When the man didn't scowl or frown, he went on: "We can see through the eyes of our wolves. Smell through their noses, hear with their ears."
Which meant they had the same or better senses as Blake had, she reminded herself. She still saw better at night - at least she thought so; she didn't know if direwolves had better sight than dogs - but they had a better sense of smell. She would have to take this into account when she patrolled in the Red Keep.
"You're a Warg as well?" Arya asked.
Jon nodded. "Yes. I didn't realise it, though, until Lady Ruby realised I had seen through Ghost's eyes to defeat a bravo who challenged me to a duel."
"You duelled a bravo?" Bran blurted out.
"A waterdancer?" Arya added, eyes wide and smiling broadly.
"Yes," Jon replied.
"Did you kill him?" Arya asked.
"Yes. He was trying to kill me," Jon added after a moment's pause.
All three children nodded, though Bran and Arya seemed more excited than concerned. Sansa, on the other hand, grimaced, but Blake didn't know if this was because she felt for Jon or just didn't like the act of killing itself. Or both.
"But we need to focus on what this means for you," Jon went on after a glance at Lord Eddard.
"You cannot let others know about this," Lord Eddard said. "Skinchangers - wargs - were hunted and killed in the South. Even in the North," he added. "It's too dangerous to tell anyone."
Blake pressed her lips together. Like her relationship with Yang, only much worse. They were in a completely different world, and yet she had to deal with bigotry and hatred anyway. If her former friends in the White Fang could see her now… She was one of the most powerful people in this world, talking to the literal ruler of the kingdom, and yet all of them had to worry about the world's bigotry and prejudices. Some problems you couldn't solve with violence, no matter how much power you had, a lesson she had been late to learn.
"But Father!" Bran said. "It's a gift from the Old Gods!"
"That's what Old Nan told you," Sansa said.
"She told you as well!" Arya frowned at her.
"Many people here don't hold the Old Gods in high regard," Lord Eddard said. "Few Godswoods survived in the South."
"But…" Bran trailed off, glancing at Blake's friends. "You could tell people that it's nothing bad, right?"
"We could. But we don't know if they would listen," Weiss replied after a moment.
"But you're the Blessed Maidens!" Bran protested.
"And some would claim that us not opposing such magic proves we aren't blessed by the Seven," Weiss told him.
"Some would, though," Yang said.
Blake nodded. Some would most certainly believe them and follow their example - more people put their blind faith into Team RWBY than she was comfortable with, actually; that kind of power was terrifying, especially since she knew what others could do with such loyalty and faith - but many would not. "And there would likely be another riot. Maybe a worse one," she said.
Lord Eddard nodded.
"Also, you don't want your enemies to know about this so you have an ace in the hole!" Yang said with a grin.
"An ace in the hole?" Bran asked.
"A trick they don't know about which you can use against them if you need them," Blake explained.
"Oh!" Bran nodded - quite enthusiastically, as he started to smile. And Arya's smile matched his.
"Yang," Blake whispered with a frown. She knew trouble was brewing when she saw such clear signs.
Yang, of course, knew that as well, but she was grinning shamelessly. "Hey! Whatever works to make them keep the secret, right?" she whispered back.
Blake frowned some more at her, as did Weiss, but Yang just kept grinning.
"So, that seems one problem solved. At least for now, right?" Ruby said, smiling a bit weakly.
She wasn't entirely wrong, but Blake knew that even if Yang's plan - improvised off the cuff - worked, there would be more problems stemming from this.
On the other hand, depending on how things with the Children of the Forest went, Team RWBY might not be around to deal with those.
Might. Blake had no doubt that things wouldn't be simple or easy. Not when it involved another species with which humans had come into conflict. That felt far too familiar for her. She had…
She lost her train of thought when Bran suddenly called out: "I think I can see through Hunter's eyes! Oh! The colours are different! It's all grey, blue or yellow…"
The way the beast's head slowly turned as if he was seeing everything for the first time showed that Bran was probably doing more than just watching through his eyes, Blake noted.
"How did you do it?"
"I don't know, Arya. I just did it."
"What? Tell me exactly what you did!"
"I don't know what I did!"
"Stop bickering!"
"We aren't bickering, Sansa!"
"Yes, you are!"
All the wolves were growing agitated as well. Usually, they just ignored the bickering, Blake knew that. Not today, though. She clenched her teeth. If those beasts lost control…
"Cease this!" Lord Eddard spoke up.
"Yes, Father," Bran quickly replied.
"I am sorry, Father," Sansa apologised.
And Arya mumbled something that might have been taken as an apology by someone without Blake's hearing.
But the beasts were settling down once more, and Blake could force herself to relax - again.
*****
Returning to their quarters in the Red Keep didn't feel like returning home to Yang Xiao Long, but she couldn't deny that there was a certain familiar feeling. She had spent close to a year in these rooms, after all. And that left her a bit torn about it. The last thing she wanted was to forget about her real home and start thinking of home as a few rooms in a castle, instead of a comfortable house on Patch. Or their dorm in Beacon. That would be a bad sign.
"So? Did anyone sneak into our quarters while we were away?" Ruby asked.
Blake shook her head. "I can't tell that, Ruby. Servants would have been regularly cleaning the rooms. And airing them out. But there's no one currently watching us. Neither a human nor an animal."
"Hm." Ruby looked around. "We'll need new traps then; they could have studied our old ones. And traps for birds and mice and rats."
"I'm going to visit Tobho anyway, probably tomorrow," Yang said. "Check up on how the work goes. You can tag along and pick material for new traps."
"Alright!" Ruby nodded with a smile. Then she grew serious. "So…What do you think? About Leaf and her friends."
And the ruins they had mentioned, Yang added in her mind.
"It seems our best lead so far," Weiss replied, "though we cannot dismiss the possibility that this was concocted to lure us into a trap - or merely away from King's Landing long enough for a coup."
"Leaf seemed sincere," Ruby said.
"She could still be a liar. And we cannot anthropomorphise her; she's an alien species, and we don't know anything about the views of the Children of the Forest."
Blake narrowed her eyes at Weiss. "We cannot assume that they are too different either - not any more than any other human culture in this world."
Yang winced before putting a hand on her girlfriend's shoulder and looking at Weiss. "It doesn't matter; she could be honest or a great liar either way."
"More reason to be cautious," Weiss replied. "We have a lot of responsibilities here - many people depend on our protection and need us as a deterrence. If we left them only to realise that it was just a ploy, that would be a tragedy."
"But if this is the lead we've been looking for ever since we arrived here, we cannot ignore it," Ruby said. "And we can't split up - what if half of us accidentally trigger the magic again, and then it's spent?" She shook her head. "If - when - we go to Dorne, we'll have to be ready for returning home."
Yang nodded in agreement. She didn't really think Ruby would touch a weird thing again, but this was magic they were talking about. Old, powerful, weird magic. Who knew how that thing was triggered in the first place?
"And we're not going to leave straight away. Not until we're sure our friends are safe without us."
"As safe as we can realistically expect them to be in this world," Weiss added with a frown. "We cannot guarantee their safety without staying forever, and not even then, I think."
Yang snorted. "Bran and Arya want to become knights like Jon." Probably more than ever, now that they knew about their warging.
"That's not a safe life," Blake agreed. "But it's their decision."
Weiss nodded at that.
Ruby frowned but slowly nodded as well. "I know we cannot protect them - or anyone else - against everything. I also want to return home. More than anything. Almost anything. But we do need to ensure they won't start a civil war here as soon as we're gone for good."
"Yeah," Yang said.
Weiss snorted softly. "The smarter or more cautious nobles, meaning, the more dangerous ones, will be aware that they cannot be assured that we are truly gone for good. But we need to ensure that Lord Eddard and Prince Tommen have enough power backing them to deter any 'adventures' from other noble Houses. That will not be easy, not even with the support from the Faith."
"We also have the support of the Faceless Men," Blake pointed out.
"We're not going to send assassins after people," Ruby said.
"Not if they don't deserve it," Yang added. When her sister frowned at her, she raised her hands. "Hey! If they can get someone who threatens the kids whom we can't get…" She trailed off with a shrug.
Ruby pressed her lips together but didn't have an argument against that.
"And we don't need to actually send assassins after anyone. Just the threat alone should be enough to keep some ambitious nobles in line," Weiss added.
That was a good point, Yang had to admit.
"But first, we need to find out what, if anything, changed in our absence," Blake said. "At court, in the Order and in the city."
"Yes." Weiss nodded firmly.
"And we also need to talk to Leaf and the other Children and find out what they know," Ruby added. "And keep an eye out for spying birds."
Yang snorted. They had their work cut out for them. But, at least, they now had a lead to a way home. Back to their families and friends.
She smiled.
She wouldn't say she had ever been really desperate, but she felt a lot better now. She had hope again.
*****
'The Renaissance of Magic, also known as the Return of Magic, started during the time of the Ruby Order, and while most scholars of the arcane arts consider the hatching of the dragons by Princess Daenerys Targaryen the event that, if it didn't not cause it, then it marked it beyond all doubt, some consider the arrival of the Four Maidens as such. Needless to say, that opinion neglects that the Four Maidens did not use magic for their feats, as I have demonstrated conclusively - the failure of countless sorcerers to duplicate their supposed magic proves this beyond any doubt. However, this belief might have been responsible for certain changes in the Faith's stance towards magic that started in this era as well.'
- A Treatise On The Ruby Order, by Maester Kennet Bracken
*****
The Red Keep, King's Landing, Westeros, 299 AC
Standing next to Hunter, almost but not quite next to Joram - he was standing behind, but to the side of the guardsman - Bran Stark stared at the three visitors waiting to enter the Tower of the Hand. They were Children of the Forest. Like in the tales of Old Nan. Small - barely taller than Bran himself, and with brown skin. But not like the Dornish, or the people from the Summer Islands, more like nuts. And they had brighter spots! And they were wearing clothes made of leaves! He had thought Team Ruby returning was already great - he had missed them - but this was even better! Children of the Forest! No one had ever seen one of them in ages! And now three of them were here, in front of the tower! In front of Bran!
"Stand back, m'lord," he heard Joram whisper.
"It's fine," Bran replied, not taking his eyes off the three Children. If they were a threat, Hunter would be growling at them. And his wolf wasn't worried at all; they smelled like friends. "Oh!" He noticed that they only had three fingers on each hand, and claws instead of nails when the leader of them raked her fingers through her reddish-brown hair like Sansa did sometimes, when she hadn't a comb with her. It showed off her large ears. The Child's, not Sansa's. And it didn't disturb the flowers and twigs in her mane.
The Child met his eyes, and he stared at her green-gold eyes. Slitted like a cat.
His breath hitched a little; he had never seen so pretty eyes. And she smelled so good. Like a field of blooming flowers.
"M'lord!" Joram repeated himself, and Hunter moved a bit, to place himself between them so Joram couldn't grab Bran.
"We are no threat to the young Stark," the Child spoke up. Her voice sounded… different. But good. She was still looking at him, Bran noticed. She must be their leader - she was standing in front of the other two.
And she knew he was a Stark? "I'm Bran Stark," he said, smiling. "And this is Hunter, my wolf."
"I know," she replied. "I've seen you." She tilted her head to the side and forward, like a skewed bow, of sorts. "You can call me Leaf; my real name would be too long for you to say."
"Try me!" Bran blurted out at once. "I'm good with names!"
She laughed at that, and Bran couldn't help remembering a few old songs he had heard; she really had a voice like a songbird. "It is too long, and you do not speak our tongue. Leaf will be enough."
He pouted. He didn't need to be treated like a child.
She laughed again. "No adult could say my true name, either, Bran."
Oh. He blinked. How had she known what he had been thinking? And… "You've seen us?" he asked, frowning a little. "Me and Hunter?"
She nodded. "Yes. And your siblings. Your pack."
"M'lord!" Joram sounded tense now. Bran glanced around. The other guards were tense, too.
"They don't mean us harm," he said. Then he remembered. Guestright! The Children should have received guestright when they entered the keep. But the goldcloaks guarding the gate were not the best. Sometimes, they didn't even notice Bran and Hunter sneaking around. So, just in case… "Bring bread and salt!"
"What?"
"Bring bread and salt!" he repeated himself without taking his eyes off Leaf. And the others.
"But your father…"
Leaf laughed again, sounding like a series of bells, this time. "You know the old ways."
Bran was a Stark. Of course he did! And so should the guards!
"And you've got old blood," Leaf went on. "And the old ties," she added with a glance at Hunter.
That sounded… weird. And interesting. "Old blood?" he asked.
She nodded, her lips twisting into a smile.
He pouted and was about to ask again when he heard a voice behind him.
"There they are, Lord Eddard!"
Oh. Father had arrived. And Team Ruby! Bran turned to smile at them. "Father! We have guests!"
Lady Yang chuckled, but Father just nodded. "So I see." He turned to the servants. "Bring bread and salt!"
This time, they obeyed, and Bran pouted again. Why couldn't they have done so when he told them to? They would already have it done now!
"Lord Eddard Stark." Leaf did the weird head-bowing again. And again. "Lady Ruby. Lady Weiss. Lady Blake. Lady Yang. I am Leaf, and these are Seeker and Dew."
"Hello!" Lady Ruby beamed at them.
Lady Weiss was a bit more reserved, nodding in return. And Lady Blake…
…was staring at the Children with an expression Bran had rarely seen on her face. Not even when she had fought the Mountain. It was so intense, he almost took a step back.
"Ears, spots, eyes and nails?" Lady Yang smiled. "All together? Three times?"
Bran didn't know what she meant. But the others of her team must have understood what she meant since they glanced at each other.
"We're Children of the Forest," Leaf told them. "You have never seen the like in your world?"
"No," Lady Blake said.
"Not exactly like you," Lady Yang said, then chuckled again when Lady Blake frowned at her. "At least, not in the flesh."
"In the flesh?" Leaf sounded wary all of a sudden, Bran found.
"We have tales of people like you. Children's Tales," Lady Blake said. "Fairy Tales," she added when Lady Yang chuckled again.
"Ah." Leaf nodded, and she seemed to relax. It was hard to tell, though.
"You came here for Lady Ruby and her friends?" Father asked.
"Yes. We mean no harm to you or your people, Lord Eddard," Leaf replied. "But we need to speak to the visitors from another world."
"About what?" Lady Ruby asked.
Leaf looked around, raising her eyebrows at all the people staring at them. The courtyard was filling up, it seemed - how had he missed that? Bran wondered.
"Right!" Lady Ruby blushed. "We need some privacy, then."
"Bread and salt, m'lord!"
Jenna was panting a little when she presented a plate to Father. She must have run to the kitchen and back.
Father took the plate, then offered it to the three Children. "I offer you guestright."
"We accept," Leaf replied, sounding the most serious Bran had heard her so far while she took a piece of bread and sprinkled salt on it before eating it. Her friends did the same.
And then everyone - the Children, Team Ruby and Father - went up to Father's solar.
And Bran had to stay down here.
As Lady Yang would say: Damn, that sucked.
*****
Ruby Rose sneaked glances at the three Children of the Forest as they climbed the stairs to Lord Eddard's solar. They were smaller than her or Weiss, and looked very… Well, they looked like several Fanus traits combined. She had seen Faunus with spotty skin like a deer, Faunus with long, pointy-ish ears - though they usually had normal ears as well - and with slitted eyes. And she had heard of Faunus with claws. But never had she seen or heard of someone with all that combined - and three of them together! And three fingers per hand, she added in her mind. Couldn't forget that. She wasn't sure if there were Faunus with such a trait; she had to ask Blake once they were back in their quarters.
Anyway, this was exciting! Another species! A legendary species, too, at least in the North. But seeing how half the Castle had turned out to look at them, probably in the rest of Westeros as well. And they looked like the fairies out of the old fairy tales back home - at least a bit; descriptions varied, and the shows she had seen usually had bad special effects and masks.
And they wanted to meet Team RWBY. And in secret - well, in private. That was… mysterious. Maybe they needed help from Huntresses?
They reached the floor where Lord Eddard's office was and entered. Ruby almost took her old seat, then stopped. Their new guests should have first pick; they had been waiting for some time. And, she reminded herself, they, too, were guests of Lord Eddard, so it was his call, anyway.
"Please, have a seat." He gestured at the seats, and Ruby was quickly checking the space. Well, if everyone sat close together, it should be enough. Yang and Blake certainly wouldn't mind sharing a seat. Didn't mind, she corrected herself when she saw them squeeze into Yang's old seat.
That left a small couch for Ruby and Weiss, and three seats for the Children. She used her Semblance, then waved at her partner from the couch. "Come on, Weiss, let's sit down!" She patted the cushion next to her for emphasis.
Weiss rolled her eyes but did join her, though she was sitting all tense and stiff. Of course, she usually sat like that in formal meetings, so that wasn't really weird. Just Weiss.
The Children looked a bit out of place when they sat down. Not because of their cool leaf clothes, but because they were too small for the seats. Even if they weren't sitting down cross-legged, their feet wouldn't touch the floor, Ruby guessed, when Weiss sat down next to her - she had to scoot a bit over, and it was still pretty tight; their thighs almost touched.
She looked at Lord Eddard. This was his room, his tower and his court, and Team RWBY and the Children were his guests. And Lord Eddard was looking at her. Oh.
She cleared her throat. "So… you wanted to talk to us?" She suppressed a wince; that was pretty lame as a conversation starter.
"Yes," Leaf replied. The other two didn't say anything. She glanced at Lord Eddard, then at Ruby. "You trust him."
It didn't sound like a question. Ruby nodded anyway. "Yes." He was an honourable man. To a fault, as Blake had called it - and she'd know if he weren't honourable thanks to her spying on everyone. At least, honourable according to Westeros' values, which should be good enough for this, what with guestright given, and him knowing very well what Team RWBY could do.
Leaf nodded. "We've travelled here from our home in the North to meet you."
Ruby nodded - and pressed her lips together so she wouldn't say something stupid like that they could have met when Team RWBY had been in the North. That either hadn't been possible or would make their guests feel stupid.
She noted that Lord Eddard looked surprised, though.
Leaf must have noticed it as well. "Yes, Lord Eddard, we live in the North, albeit not in your lands."
"Beyond the Wall, then?"
Leaf nodded.
"And you've travelled through half the realm without being noticed," he went on.
"We have ways."
Now, that sounded mysterious. It was probably 'Ways', with a capital letter, too. Ruby nodded again. "And why did you want to meet us? Do you need help?"
Leaf smiled. Her teeth also looked a bit off. "You've already helped us - and everyone else in Westeros - more than enough."
Oh. Ruby blinked. They had? She glanced at her friends, but they seemed as surprised as she felt. Unless… "The ice zombies?" Ruby guessed. Leaf was from the lands beyond the wall, and they had fought the zombies there.
"Yes. The Others," Leaf said.
Lord Eddard tensed at that, Ruby saw.
"You helped us, so we're here to help you."
"Help us?" Ruby blurted out before she could stop herself. But she managed not to ask if they offered to kill annoying nobles for them like the Faceless Men had done. Offered, that was. Not killed. At least, she hoped they hadn't done that.
"Yes. You are looking for a way back. To return to your world."
Ruby tensed at once. And she heard Weiss draw a sharp breath next to her. And Yang leaned forward so abruptly, Blake would probably have been pushed off their seat if she hadn't done the same.
"You know how we can return?" Ruby asked,
"We know of a place that might send you back. Might," Leaf stressed. "Ruins of the same kind as the ones you seek. They're old, older than the First Men."
Ruby gasped. "Ruins like the ones that brought us here?"
"The descriptions we know match yours."
That was great! Finally, after a year of searching and researching and everything, a lead! A way home! This was…
"You know what we are looking for?"
…apparently suspicious, at least in Weiss's opinion; Ruby knew her partner and could tell from her tone.
"Yes." Leaf seemed unbothered by Weiss's expression. "A friend was watching you."
Ruby frowned. Someone who knew the Children - people everyone had thought gone, as she understood it - had been watching them?
Lord Eddard, too, was frowning. "You have friends in the Seven Kingdoms? In Winterfell? Here?"
Leaf blinked for a moment, then smiled. "Oh, I thought you had noticed him. He was convinced you had." She said something in a language Ruby didn't understand but sounded like a song, and the two other Children giggled.
"Someone thought we noticed him?" Weiss sounded both confused and suspicious.
"Who is it?" Lord Eddard asked.
"He is known as the Three-Eyed Crow," Leaf said. "And he has the same gift as your children, Lord Eddard."
Lord Eddard looked confused for a moment, then scowled. "What about my children?"
What about… Oh! "He's a skinchanger!" Ruby said. Like Jon. That explained it!
Leaf nodded.
"And he's been watching us through the eyes of animals?" Weiss didn't sound satisfied - she sounded furious.
Leaf nodded again.
Wait! Ruby quickly tried to remember whether they had ever taken a bath with an animal around. She didn't think so, which was a relief.
"The birds," Blake spoke up. "He's been watching us through birds."
Leaf nodded a third time. She wasn't smiling any more, and her friends had stopped laughing. "Yes. He was concerned about your influence on Westeros. You have the power to upend the entire realm, after all."
Right. That was a good reason to keep an eye on someone. Still creepy, kinda, though.
Ruby glanced at her friends, and they seemed to share her view. Well, about this being creepy, at least. Especially Weiss. Good. That… "Oh! The ravens and crows that were watching us!"
And now her friends were frowning at her. "Yes, they just told us that," Weiss said.
"Not that!" Ruby corrected her. "I mean, I was waving and talking to them! And… I think I accidentally killed one."
"Yes. That's why our friend thought you had noticed him." Leaf was grinning. Definitely grinning. Well, it was kinda funny, if Ruby were honest. Still creepy, though.
"And he kept spying on us?" Weiss asked.
"Yes."
Yang slammed her fist into her palm. "And where is your friend? Just in case we want to meet him personally."
"In the lands beyond the wall," Leaf replied.
"That's a long way from here, Yang," Ruby said.
Yang scoffed. "We probably must return there anyway, to find those ruins."
"Oh, no." Leaf shook her head. "The ruins I mentioned are in the South. In Dorne, to be exact."
"In Dorne?" Lord Eddard asked.
"They date back to the times before the Pact, when we used the Hammer of the Water to break the Arm of Dorne to stop the invasion of the First Men," Leaf replied.
"Ah." Lord Eddard nodded after a moment of being still. "So the legends are true."
Leaf smiled. Somehow, she managed to look both mischievous and sad at the same time. "They have a true core. But a lot was lost since that time."
Ruby was lost. What were they talking about?
"What event are you referring to?" Weiss asked.
"Dorne was once connected by land to Essos," Lord Eddard said. "Or so legends claim. The ancestors of the First Men came from Essos to Westeros, and warred with the Children of the Forest - until the Children used their magic to sink the land connecting Dorne and Essos, leaving only a few islands standing."
Ruby blinked. That was… "Magic could do that? Sink a whole kingdom's worth of land?"
Leaf nodded. "We paid a heavy price, though. All such magic requires sacrifice." She looked very serious all of a sudden. Not amused at all any more.
Ruby grimaced. "And we need that magic to return home?"
Leaf tilted her head. "Magic brought you to this world. Magic can send you back."
"But we're no sorceresses," Yang said. "And I'm not fond of sacrifices."
Ruby nodded firmly. "We're not going to sacrifice people."
"You did not pay the price to be transported here. Someone else did," Leaf said.
"'Someone'? Who was it?" Blake asked.
And were they still alive? Ruby wondered.
Leaf shook her head. "I cannot tell." After a moment, she went on: "Magic tends to linger where it was used. The more powerful it was, the longer it was used, the longer it lingers. The ruins I know of were the heart of our people, for a very long time. When we left in the wake of the humans' invasion, we hid it from them with magic. No human ever laid their eyes on them."
"Not in your world, at least," Blake said.
Leaf nodded again. "The oldest stories tell of a world beyond this. A world our ancestors came from. They were said to have arrived there and built the place that fell into the ruins you seek."
"And you think between all the lingering magic and history, it'll see us home?" Weiss sounded like she doubted it.
Leaf nodded. "I have dreamt of it."
"You've 'dreamt'?" Blake sounded doubtful as well.
Leaf nodded with a grave expression.
As did Lord Eddard, Ruby noted.
She nodded as well. Her friends might be sceptical - the Children's arrival seemed very convenient - but this was the best lead they had so far. Definitely the most magical. She was no sorceress, but she knew that sometimes, you had to trust your gut and take a leap of faith.
She nodded once again and smiled. "Then we need to travel to that place!"
*****
Weiss Schnee was torn between annoyance and agreement when she heard Ruby blurt out that they had to travel to Dorne. Yes, on the one hand, this was - apparently, she amended her thoughts - their first decent lead in their search for a way home. Or the hope for a lead, at least; the fact that the ruins were supposedly similar to the ones they had explored on Remnant was, even if this Child of the Forest was honest about it and not trying to deceive them, still thousands of years old, and Weiss was familiar from her studies with the distortion oral records suffered over time. If she weren't, then the Maesters here would have rectified that deficiency with the results of their own research. And, of course, the way rumours spread and warped the facts, both here and back home, in a significantly shorter time, also taught her not to trust such tales too much.
And yet, this was the first time someone at least claimed to know about the ruins they sought. That was far more than anyone else had managed so far. Even the possibility that this was just an attempt to lure them into a trap with lies - which could have been easily made up since Team RWBY had been forced to reveal details about the ruins that had brought them here in order to search for them - was not enough to make her dismiss this lead without checking it out.
On the other hand, Ruby telling everyone they had to go there, potentially never to return, would disrupt what passed for balance and calm at Court. Lord Eddard's reaction - he was not nearly as stoic as some claimed; at least not for someone with her upbringing - proved that. If her team left, both the Lord Regent and Prince Tommen, as well as the RWBY Order members and their other friends, would be rendered quite vulnerable, and she was well aware of what kind of nobles were waiting for such an opportunity.
So she nodded but also frowned at her partner. "Such a trip would require quite the preparations, though. We cannot just rush off at the drop of a hat; certainly not when we just returned from a lengthy absence and might have to deal with a few issues that cropped up over the last month or two."
Ruby, to her credit, quickly understood and nodded. "Oh, yes. I didn't mean leaving right away. People depend on us. And we wouldn't leave our friends hanging."
Lord Eddard didn't smile, but Weiss saw him release a sigh of what she was certain was relief. And Leaf nodded as well. "Of course not. Whatever the impression our friend has of you, he also knows you protect your own, as people should."
Weiss nodded, though she wondered what the woman considered the team's 'own'. The locals did hold being blood-related in very high esteem, after all, an attitude Weiss, thanks to her own experience with her family, did not share. Not that she was condoning, much less contemplating violence against Father, of course. Not unless it were a case of self-defence, at least. And Father, not having bothered to awaken his Aura, would never be a physical threat that would justify using violence on him.
"I am glad to hear that. You have many friends here who would dearly miss you, my ladies," Lord Eddard said.
Like your children, Weiss thought. Which they had to talk to about their - likely - magical gift. But that was not a topic to be mentioned, much less discussed, in front of the newest and most definitely most exotic guests of the Red Keep.
"With that said, we did just arrive and have not even visited our quarters yet," she said. "Perhaps we should adjourn and meet again at a later date to further discuss such matters?"
"Right!" Ruby agreed at once. "We'll have to discuss more stuff with Jon and you, Lord Eddard, and your other children as well."
And Lord Eddard looked wary again - his smile had flattened a bit, and his lips looked a bit thinner, the way he pressed them together as he nodded before replying: "Indeed, my lady."
"Yeah," Yang added, and Weiss saw her glance at Blake - who was looking at Leaf and the other children with obvious interest.
Oh. Weiss felt stupid for not realising it before - her friend was looking at what likely were the Faunus of Westeros, so to speak; a different species than humans. A species that had suffered from human invasions, she added to herself with a grimace, and had apparently been driven beyond the walls, so far removed from the humans to be thought extinct or just a myth.
Weiss couldn't help feeling that this whole affair might become a bit more complicated than she had thought.
*****
"Ser Jon Snow has arrived, m'lord," the servant announced in the doorway.
"Send him in, Joff."
Joff, not Jern. Weiss made a mental note of the name - and was quite glad that she hadn't addressed him as Jern before; to ignore the staff's names could leave you look arrogant and uncaring to them, if they expected the worst of you, but that was still better than to use the wrong name when talking to someone, that would make you look like you were pretending to care about them, and people disliked such dishonesty more than arrogance.
"Father." Jon bowed while Ghost looked around, ears perking up as he saw them on the couches. "My ladies." Jon nodded at them, then bit his lower lip for a moment before straightening up. "There is something we need to discuss, Father. It concerns our family."
"So I was told," Lord Eddard replied, and Weiss had no trouble detecting the hint of annoyance and concern hidden behind his usual stoic facade. "Although nothing more than that." Well, that was more than a hint.
"It wasn't our secret to tell," Ruby defended herself. "It's Jon's. And your, your other children's."
Weiss didn't bother hiding her wince; Lord Eddard likely suspected that Jon had revealed his true parentage to them, but as long as it wasn't said out loud, everyone could pretend otherwise. Ruby had come a bit too close.
"And what secret is that?" Lord Eddard asked. Straight and to the point - and honestly so. He wasn't treating Jon like a servant who had to answer him and didn't deserve politeness; he was merely being direct and frank. Unlike Father.
"I am a Warg, Father. A Skinchanger." And Jon was cut from the same cloth. "And I - we - suspect that all my siblings share this."
Lord Eddard had grown stiff and tense, first staring at Jon, then at Team RWBY.
Weiss met his eyes calmly. Her partner raised her chin, then smiled a bit apologetically. "Well, we know it already because we discovered it. Before Jon realised it, actually. I sparred with him to find out how he had managed to spot a feint by that bravo he duelled before he could actually see it, and after a bit of trial and error, we found out that he can see through Ghost's eyes instinctively. It's really cool, right? And Jon's not using it spy on us, like that creepy Three-Eyed-Raven guy!"
"I would never, my lady!" Jon blurted out, already blushing fiercely.
Weiss focused on Lord Eddard. The man's jaw muscle twitched - he was clenching his teeth - before he asked: "And you think the others share this… talent."
Jon nodded firmly. "Yes, Father. All of us are very close to our wolves. And you know how the wolves listen to us, even better than trained hounds."
"Without actually having been trained by the Kennelmaster." Lord Eddard sighed once more. "And are you certain that this is not merely something normal for direwolves?"
"No, Father. But everything we've done to test it fits what we know Wargs are."
And if this were not an inherent talent of the children but of the puppies, then the result would still be more or less the same, Weiss thought. At least, as far as the reactions of other people were concerned. Indeed, while the public's reaction, should Yang and Blake's relationship be revealed, was still in doubt, given the circumstances and status of Team RWBY in this world, she had learned enough during their search for magic ruins that the majority of the population feared - and often hated - magic. Not entirely without reason, of course, should even a small part of the tales of what Valyrian sorcerers or the Shadowbinders of old had done was true.
But 'warging' didn't involve blood sacrifices. And it wasn't inherently harmful to anyone. So, the - assumed - hatred and fear of those skinchangers were baseless. Even if such a talent were used to spy on others - or to peep - it would not justify murder.
Lord Eddard sighed again. "I see."
Jon seemed to want to say something, but held his tongue.
Ruby didn't. "So, your other kids probably should be told. Before they instinctively do something similar but not so subtle." Lord Eddard narrowed his eyes at her, and Weiss saw her grimace a little. "When Yang and I discovered our Semblances, we kinda did some bad stuff because we didn't know what we were doing. And we don't know much how this thing works."
"Magic is dangerous," Lord Eddard said.
"All the more reason they should be told," Jon added.
"Yes." Lord Eddard said with a deep frown. "Jon, call for your siblings and bring them here."
"Yes, Father." Jon nodded and left, Ghost following him at an easy pace.
Once the door closed behind them, Lord Eddard looked at Team RWBY again. "I doubt I need to tell you how dangerous this secret is. In the North, people might be more understanding, the Old Gods were more tolerant of such things, but even there, skinchangers were distrusted. But here in the South…" He pressed his lips together.
"We wouldn't let anything happen to them, my lord," Ruby said at once. "We will protect them."
"And we're the 'Blessed Maidens'," Yang added.
Lord Eddard nodded, but he didn't seem to think that even Team RWBY's status would be enough for such deep-rooted fear and loathing.
And Weiss couldn't help but agree; to her shame, she was somewhat familiar with how old prejudices worked.
*****
"You wanted to see us, Father?" Lady Sansa was, as usual, perfectly polite and well-mannered, Blake Belladonna noted when the three middle children of Lord Eddard entered the room behind Jon, followed by their direwolves.
"Yes, Sansa."
"Is it about the Children of the Forest?" Bran added excitedly. "They all left the tower; we checked. Hunter didn't smell them around any more."
"And we missed them!" Arya complained.
Blake steeled herself as the solar went from slightly crowded to packed, with four beasts the size of small horses forming a pile of fur and claw and fangs in the middle, half of them ending up under Lord Eddard's desk - and far too close to Blake for what was left of her comfort.
She eyed the window next to her out of the corner of her eyes - leaving those beasts out of her sight was out of the question - and wondered if she had a reason to leave this meeting when she suddenly felt a hand grip hers and squeeze gently. Yang.
She forced herself to relax, taking a deep breath, and managed to smile at her girlfriend. She could do this. She could get through this. She told herself, not for the first time, that she could deal with a pack of Beowolves by herself, and for all their size, direwolves were not on par with Grimm. And, as usual, she knew this was true, but her gut refused to accept and still clenched itself in fear at the sight of the beasts.
And again, Yang was there for her, leaning into her side, once more squeezing her hand and smiling at her. Reassuring her. It helped. It didn't make the fear disappear, but it helped steady her. Helped keep her… there.
She looked at the three kids instead. They were fidgeting a little - Lord Eddard hadn't said anything else since he had answered Sansa - and they were growing impatient. And concerned, at least Sansa; none of the three were that skilled at schooling their expressions.
Lord Eddard slowly nodded. "It concerns all of you - including Jon." He leaned forward. "It is about our family. Our blood."
The three kids had glanced from Lord Eddard to Jon and back but were now leaning forward as well, seemingly captivated by their father's words.
"Have you felt a sort of… bond with your wolves?" Lord Eddard asked. "That they were closer to you than any other pet you ever had?"
"Yes, Father!" Bran replied at once. He patted Hunter's head, and the wolf licked his hand, then tried to wriggle out from underneath Nymeria to place his head in Bran's lap. "Hunter's the best wolf in the realm!"
Lord Eddard nodded and looked at Sansa.
She slowly nodded. "Yes, Father. Lady is the best-behaved pet in the Keep; she obeys every word of mine."
"Unless she's hungry and wants a treat," Arya not-quite-whispered.
"Arya!" Sansa hissed.
"What? It's the truth! Lady is as fond of treats as you are of sweets!" Arya stuck her tongue out, then blushed when Lord Eddard frowned at her. "Sorry, Father. Yes, Nymeria is a great wolf. She follows me everywhere and is a great protector and hunter."
"And she scares the smallfolk," Sansa added with a scowl. "Lady never does that!"
Blake would disagree with both but kept silent. Anyone without aura would be scared of predators that large; they could bite a man's head clean off - Blake had seen that happen to a White Fang member when their group had stumbled upon similarly-sized beowolves in a forest in Mistral.
"And have you ever felt as if you knew things that you shouldn't know? Smelt something odd?" Jon asked. "Like fresh lemon cakes in the kitchen when you were in the courtyard?"
All three were looking at him, and once again, Bran was the first to answer: "Well, the lemoncakes they bake here do smell strongly." Arya nodded, as did, if a bit reluctantly and with a slight blush, Sansa.
Jon glanced at Lord Eddard and nodded.
Lord Eddad sighed once again and said: "I feared this. Children, you may be wargs."
All the beasts perked up, raising their heads and looking alert, at the exact same time as the children gasped. No, there was no 'may' here, Blake knew, they most certainly were wargs.
"Wargs?" Bran sounded delighted.
"Wargs?" Arya sounded confused.
"Wargs?" And Sansa sounded shocked.
"Skinchangers," Jon said, then glanced at Lord Eddard. When the man didn't scowl or frown, he went on: "We can see through the eyes of our wolves. Smell through their noses, hear with their ears."
Which meant they had the same or better senses as Blake had, she reminded herself. She still saw better at night - at least she thought so; she didn't know if direwolves had better sight than dogs - but they had a better sense of smell. She would have to take this into account when she patrolled in the Red Keep.
"You're a Warg as well?" Arya asked.
Jon nodded. "Yes. I didn't realise it, though, until Lady Ruby realised I had seen through Ghost's eyes to defeat a bravo who challenged me to a duel."
"You duelled a bravo?" Bran blurted out.
"A waterdancer?" Arya added, eyes wide and smiling broadly.
"Yes," Jon replied.
"Did you kill him?" Arya asked.
"Yes. He was trying to kill me," Jon added after a moment's pause.
All three children nodded, though Bran and Arya seemed more excited than concerned. Sansa, on the other hand, grimaced, but Blake didn't know if this was because she felt for Jon or just didn't like the act of killing itself. Or both.
"But we need to focus on what this means for you," Jon went on after a glance at Lord Eddard.
"You cannot let others know about this," Lord Eddard said. "Skinchangers - wargs - were hunted and killed in the South. Even in the North," he added. "It's too dangerous to tell anyone."
Blake pressed her lips together. Like her relationship with Yang, only much worse. They were in a completely different world, and yet she had to deal with bigotry and hatred anyway. If her former friends in the White Fang could see her now… She was one of the most powerful people in this world, talking to the literal ruler of the kingdom, and yet all of them had to worry about the world's bigotry and prejudices. Some problems you couldn't solve with violence, no matter how much power you had, a lesson she had been late to learn.
"But Father!" Bran said. "It's a gift from the Old Gods!"
"That's what Old Nan told you," Sansa said.
"She told you as well!" Arya frowned at her.
"Many people here don't hold the Old Gods in high regard," Lord Eddard said. "Few Godswoods survived in the South."
"But…" Bran trailed off, glancing at Blake's friends. "You could tell people that it's nothing bad, right?"
"We could. But we don't know if they would listen," Weiss replied after a moment.
"But you're the Blessed Maidens!" Bran protested.
"And some would claim that us not opposing such magic proves we aren't blessed by the Seven," Weiss told him.
"Some would, though," Yang said.
Blake nodded. Some would most certainly believe them and follow their example - more people put their blind faith into Team RWBY than she was comfortable with, actually; that kind of power was terrifying, especially since she knew what others could do with such loyalty and faith - but many would not. "And there would likely be another riot. Maybe a worse one," she said.
Lord Eddard nodded.
"Also, you don't want your enemies to know about this so you have an ace in the hole!" Yang said with a grin.
"An ace in the hole?" Bran asked.
"A trick they don't know about which you can use against them if you need them," Blake explained.
"Oh!" Bran nodded - quite enthusiastically, as he started to smile. And Arya's smile matched his.
"Yang," Blake whispered with a frown. She knew trouble was brewing when she saw such clear signs.
Yang, of course, knew that as well, but she was grinning shamelessly. "Hey! Whatever works to make them keep the secret, right?" she whispered back.
Blake frowned some more at her, as did Weiss, but Yang just kept grinning.
"So, that seems one problem solved. At least for now, right?" Ruby said, smiling a bit weakly.
She wasn't entirely wrong, but Blake knew that even if Yang's plan - improvised off the cuff - worked, there would be more problems stemming from this.
On the other hand, depending on how things with the Children of the Forest went, Team RWBY might not be around to deal with those.
Might. Blake had no doubt that things wouldn't be simple or easy. Not when it involved another species with which humans had come into conflict. That felt far too familiar for her. She had…
She lost her train of thought when Bran suddenly called out: "I think I can see through Hunter's eyes! Oh! The colours are different! It's all grey, blue or yellow…"
The way the beast's head slowly turned as if he was seeing everything for the first time showed that Bran was probably doing more than just watching through his eyes, Blake noted.
"How did you do it?"
"I don't know, Arya. I just did it."
"What? Tell me exactly what you did!"
"I don't know what I did!"
"Stop bickering!"
"We aren't bickering, Sansa!"
"Yes, you are!"
All the wolves were growing agitated as well. Usually, they just ignored the bickering, Blake knew that. Not today, though. She clenched her teeth. If those beasts lost control…
"Cease this!" Lord Eddard spoke up.
"Yes, Father," Bran quickly replied.
"I am sorry, Father," Sansa apologised.
And Arya mumbled something that might have been taken as an apology by someone without Blake's hearing.
But the beasts were settling down once more, and Blake could force herself to relax - again.
*****
Returning to their quarters in the Red Keep didn't feel like returning home to Yang Xiao Long, but she couldn't deny that there was a certain familiar feeling. She had spent close to a year in these rooms, after all. And that left her a bit torn about it. The last thing she wanted was to forget about her real home and start thinking of home as a few rooms in a castle, instead of a comfortable house on Patch. Or their dorm in Beacon. That would be a bad sign.
"So? Did anyone sneak into our quarters while we were away?" Ruby asked.
Blake shook her head. "I can't tell that, Ruby. Servants would have been regularly cleaning the rooms. And airing them out. But there's no one currently watching us. Neither a human nor an animal."
"Hm." Ruby looked around. "We'll need new traps then; they could have studied our old ones. And traps for birds and mice and rats."
"I'm going to visit Tobho anyway, probably tomorrow," Yang said. "Check up on how the work goes. You can tag along and pick material for new traps."
"Alright!" Ruby nodded with a smile. Then she grew serious. "So…What do you think? About Leaf and her friends."
And the ruins they had mentioned, Yang added in her mind.
"It seems our best lead so far," Weiss replied, "though we cannot dismiss the possibility that this was concocted to lure us into a trap - or merely away from King's Landing long enough for a coup."
"Leaf seemed sincere," Ruby said.
"She could still be a liar. And we cannot anthropomorphise her; she's an alien species, and we don't know anything about the views of the Children of the Forest."
Blake narrowed her eyes at Weiss. "We cannot assume that they are too different either - not any more than any other human culture in this world."
Yang winced before putting a hand on her girlfriend's shoulder and looking at Weiss. "It doesn't matter; she could be honest or a great liar either way."
"More reason to be cautious," Weiss replied. "We have a lot of responsibilities here - many people depend on our protection and need us as a deterrence. If we left them only to realise that it was just a ploy, that would be a tragedy."
"But if this is the lead we've been looking for ever since we arrived here, we cannot ignore it," Ruby said. "And we can't split up - what if half of us accidentally trigger the magic again, and then it's spent?" She shook her head. "If - when - we go to Dorne, we'll have to be ready for returning home."
Yang nodded in agreement. She didn't really think Ruby would touch a weird thing again, but this was magic they were talking about. Old, powerful, weird magic. Who knew how that thing was triggered in the first place?
"And we're not going to leave straight away. Not until we're sure our friends are safe without us."
"As safe as we can realistically expect them to be in this world," Weiss added with a frown. "We cannot guarantee their safety without staying forever, and not even then, I think."
Yang snorted. "Bran and Arya want to become knights like Jon." Probably more than ever, now that they knew about their warging.
"That's not a safe life," Blake agreed. "But it's their decision."
Weiss nodded at that.
Ruby frowned but slowly nodded as well. "I know we cannot protect them - or anyone else - against everything. I also want to return home. More than anything. Almost anything. But we do need to ensure they won't start a civil war here as soon as we're gone for good."
"Yeah," Yang said.
Weiss snorted softly. "The smarter or more cautious nobles, meaning, the more dangerous ones, will be aware that they cannot be assured that we are truly gone for good. But we need to ensure that Lord Eddard and Prince Tommen have enough power backing them to deter any 'adventures' from other noble Houses. That will not be easy, not even with the support from the Faith."
"We also have the support of the Faceless Men," Blake pointed out.
"We're not going to send assassins after people," Ruby said.
"Not if they don't deserve it," Yang added. When her sister frowned at her, she raised her hands. "Hey! If they can get someone who threatens the kids whom we can't get…" She trailed off with a shrug.
Ruby pressed her lips together but didn't have an argument against that.
"And we don't need to actually send assassins after anyone. Just the threat alone should be enough to keep some ambitious nobles in line," Weiss added.
That was a good point, Yang had to admit.
"But first, we need to find out what, if anything, changed in our absence," Blake said. "At court, in the Order and in the city."
"Yes." Weiss nodded firmly.
"And we also need to talk to Leaf and the other Children and find out what they know," Ruby added. "And keep an eye out for spying birds."
Yang snorted. They had their work cut out for them. But, at least, they now had a lead to a way home. Back to their families and friends.
She smiled.
She wouldn't say she had ever been really desperate, but she felt a lot better now. She had hope again.
*****