Ruby Rose smiled at Weiss's outburst. Her friend had not enjoyed the latest stretch of their trip. Well, neither had Ruby or Blake and Yang, but Weiss had taken it the worst. At least from Team RWBY - the Queen's complaints had been heard by the entire camp. Poor Blake probably hadn't been able to sleep until the queen had fallen silent.
But now, a bit ahead of the King's caravan, standing on green fields and taking deep breaths, that was over. The Queen would have to find something else to complain about. Which she would - she always had something to complain about.
But Ruby wouldn't let that ruin her good mood. She would enjoy the day!
"We're in the Riverlands now. They're ruled by Lady Catelyn's father," Jon said. They already knew that, of course. But Jon took his duty to be their 'native guide' seriously. So seriously, Weiss hadn't been able to bring herself to admit that she had been sarcastic when she had called him that.
Ruby and the others had had a good laugh about that in private, and even Weiss had been a good sport. Though it probably helped that Jon wasn't looking at Weiss like he was looking at Yang when he thought no one was looking. If Jon had a crush on Weiss, she probably would have scared him to the Wall by now. And, of course, Ghost helped. A lot. Weiss just couldn't resist a puppy.
"Hoster Tully, our grandfather! But we won't go visit him - I asked," Bran said. Hunter, his finally named wolf - really, how could you not name your pet for months? - was at his side, looking around with his tail wagging. "Riverrun is not on the way. It would be a detour that would cost us too much time, Father said."
"Yeah, it probably would." Ruby had seen the map - or what passed as a map here - and it was quite a distance. Especially on this supposed 'Kingsroad', which was more like a better - or worse, in some areas - dirt track.
"Unless you asked the King!" Bran smiled at her. "I'm sure he wouldn't deny you!"
Uh. Ruby frowned at him. Bran might be right about that, but he was also wrong! For suggesting it. "I'm not going to ask to delay the King's return to the capital so we can visit Riverrun, Bran!"
"Why not? I'm sure the King would like it," Bran replied.
Arya, standing a bit behind him, nodded.
Ruby swallowed her first response. The King had been complaining about King's Landing a lot. But that didn't mean he would be shirking his duty. That would be like goofing off on a Hunting mission! Which, well, you did - you had to keep from becoming all doom and gloom, or you would attract more Grimm - but not when delaying meant more people would be endangered. Or even killed!
And the King couldn't just go off for weeks on a whim! He had to rule the kingdom! "He is needed in the capital," she said.
"That doesn't mean he wants to go there." Bran grinned.
"But it means we will be going there," she told him. "Sometimes, you need to do things you don't like because it's the right thing to do."
"Oh!" Yang smiled a bit too sweetly. "My little sister is all grown up! Next, you'll be saying that too many cookies are bad for you!"
Ruby gasped. "Never!" She was a growing girl (and an active girl) and she needed her cookies!
But they didn't have cookies here. Well, not chocolate cookies. Oh, how she missed homemade cookies. And home. And Dad. And Uncle Qrow. And her friends at Beacon. And Beacon. And…
"Ruby?"
"Sorry!" She took a deep breath. "I got lost in thought about… cookies!" She forced herself to smile.
"Ah, of course!" Yang's laughter was also forced, but Bran and Arya should be fooled, and Jon was… probably as well. He was looking at Yang's chest again.
"Figures!" Weiss was shaking her head at her, but she was smiling in that nice way of hers, not her disapproving way (Ruby knew both smiles very well by now).
"So… do you think we're far enough from the others?" Ruby asked when they reached a small clearing.
"Hm." Yang looked around. "Blake?" she yelled.
A moment later, Blake appeared on a high branch of the closest tree. "It's clear!" Blake yelled back, then disappeared into the foliage again.
Ruby sighed. There was being a catgirl ninja, and there was being too afraid of three adorable puppies. Puppies the size of grown shepherd dogs now, but still puppies. Zwei would love to play with them. Ah, well. "So, this should be a good spot to train in secret. No one is going to catch us here, and if anyone comes for us, Blake will spot them way before they reach us, and we can stop and claim you were just watching us train."
Arya and Bran nodded, as eager as they had been on the first day of this trip, but Weiss shook her head. "I am sure that Lord Eddard is aware of what we are doing."
"Father would have said something if he knew!" Bran protested.
"Yes! He'd never let me get training with a blade!" Arya agreed.
Ruby wasn't sure - the two kids knew their father best, but Weiss was smart and had spent a lot of time with Lady Catelyn and she was Ruby's partner, so… "Well, as long as he doesn't say anything, it doesn't matter if he knows."
"Just remember to lie if he asks you," Yang added with a grin.
"Lady Yang!" Jon looked shocked, but Bran and Arya nodded with wide grins.
"And don't forget to thank Sansa," Yang added. "If not for her distracting the Prince, we wouldn't have been able to sneak away!"
"We didn't sneak away," Weiss corrected her. "We told Lord Eddard we would go training and take you with us."
"Well, it's still sneaking since we aren't supposed to train the kids!"
"That's… It doesn't work like that!" Weiss frowned.
"Says you!"
"Because it doesn't work like that!"
"Yang, stop riling up Weiss!" Ruby put her foot down. "Let's start training!"
They couldn't stay here too long - they had to catch up to the caravan afterwards, and even though the whole thing was moving very slowly, the longer they took here, the longer they had to walk back - or run, that was good training as well. At least for the Stark kids.
"Yes. Now that, at long last, you have the basics of dodging and running down, we can start with basic attacks and footwork," Weiss said, drawing Myrtenaster.
"And fisticuffs!" Yang grinned and slammed her fists together.
"And we'll continue raising your stamina!" Ruby beamed at them and drew Crescent Rose. "We've got a lot of things to train and not much time for it, so we'll have a very intense training session. When we're done, you'll wish you were dead!"
All three - even Jon - looked queasy.
Ruby frowned. That was what Uncle Qrow liked to say, and he knew what he was doing when it came to training - he had trained her, after all!
"Ruby, if they can't walk when we return, everyone will know what we've been doing - including the Queen and the Prince," Weiss pointed out. "So, please don't kill them, OK?"
"Save that for our sparring!" Yang added.
"Alright." Ruby sighed. "Now, let's get started, Team JAB!"
*****
Crossroads Inn, Riverlands, Westeros, 298 AC
The inn they were staying at showed the differences between Remnant and Westeros rather starkly, in Weiss Schnee's opinion. This was the crossing of multiple major trade routes. From here, the river road led to the capital of the Riverlands, the high road to the Vale of Arryn, and the Kingsroad to the North and further south. It was also near the Trident, the main river leading east - apparently, the rive had once flown directly under the southern part of the inn - and yet, what should be a major trade hub and settlement was barely a village by Remnant's standards.
At least the inn had enough rooms to house a significant part of the King's travelling group, though the owners had to evict a few smallfolk guests for that - something Weiss knew better than to mention to Ruby and the others. It wouldn't go over well with her friends. Weiss wasn't happy with it, either, but that was how it worked in Westeros: Those with rank and status had privileges, and those deemed of lesser status had to give way to those of a higher rank.
And none outranked the King, of course. Not even the Queen, for which Weiss was grateful every day.
That was actually the only downside of staying in an inn, and sleeping in a real bed, as primitive it might be, in a room instead of a tent, and being able to take a bath in what was seen as comfort in Westeros: They were spending the night in the same building as the Queen, and that meant that dinner was a social event, so to speak.
"Ugh. I never knew how much I loved zippers until we were zapped here. Blake, some help?"
A social event which comes with certain rules, such as dressing appropriately, Weiss thought as she watched Blake lace up Yang's dress.
"Can't we attend in our combat clothes?" Ruby whined. She was sitting on the bed in her underwear, holding up her dress and looking at it as if she was pondering whether she should tear it apart or not.
To think of it, Ruby probably was contemplating that, Weiss realised. If only so she could have an excuse for showing up in combat clothes. Best to nip that in the bud.
"It wouldn't be polite," Weiss told her with a frown. "You don't show up in armour to dinner."
"The Kingsguard do!" Ruby protested.
"When they are on duty as guards. Not when they are attending as guests," Weiss replied.
"We could be guards…"
Serve the King? Or another noble? Perish the thought! "Guards don't eat. And they don't get dessert afterwards." Weiss sighed. "Just the fact that we're allowed to carry our weapons with us is quite the concession."
"It's not as if they could stop us," Yang said with a smirk as she rolled her shoulders and then patted her hips. "I think I'm good, Blake."
Blake nodded.
"You're the only one not yet dressed, Ruby." Weiss shook her head. "You don't want to make us late, do you?"
"No…" Ruby pouted.
"Then get up and get dressed! Honestly!" Weiss huffed, watched for a few seconds as her partner mulishly pulled the dress on, then stepped in and took over. "Team RWBY has a reputation to maintain," she muttered as she adjusted Ruby's dress.
"We already get enough attention - more than enough!"
"And we would get even more if you would show up dressed to fight," Weiss told her.
"But…" Ruby sighed. "I just don't feel comfortable like this. It makes me feel like a local. Like I should bow and scrape and… As if I should forget about Remnant! I don't want to forget that - I don't want to stay here! I want to go home!"
Oh. Weiss drew a sharp breath and wondered what brought this on. "We are going home," she told Ruby as firmly as she could, staring into her eyes. "We won't stay here." She put as much confidence into her words as she could - and forced the doubting voice she sometimes could hear in the back of her head away.
"Yeah, we will get back home!" Yang nodded with a wide smile. She was the genuine article, Weiss knew. Confident and honest. "Nothing can stop us."
Ruby pressed her lips together, obviously not convinced yet. "It just… it just feels like we won't, sometimes, you know? As if we're not good enough to make it home."
Oh, Weiss knew the feeling of not being good enough. Her father had done his best - or worst - to fuel it. But she wouldn't let him win. She placed her hands on Ruby's shoulders and leaned in until their heads were almost touching. "We are, Ruby. We are good enough. We will find our way home no matter what."
Ruby met her eyes and slowly nodded. "Alright. Then let's go to dinner. Dibs on the cake!"
Weiss smiled as Ruby rushed to the door, carrying her folded weapon under one arm. "Don't forget your scroll!" she reminded her.
They wouldn't give a thief a second chance to rob them.
*****
Compared to the hall at Winterfell, or the halls at the keeps they had been staying sometimes during the voyage south, the Inn's common room was smaller. Draftier as well - at least as far as Winterfell was concerned. They knew how to insulate their rooms in the North.
But it was warm enough and, with over a hundred people sitting in the room, stuffy enough that Weiss didn't mind but welcomed the draft. As guests of the King, they were placed pretty close to the fireplace, anyway. Closer than the Queen would have liked, Weiss was certain. If the Queen had her way, Team RWBY would probably be sent to the stables to sleep. Or the dungeons - the noblewoman's attitude had not improved during the trip, quite the contrary.
Yang had speculated that was because she hadn't had any chance to meet her incestuous lover, but Weiss thought it was more likely that the woman simply couldn't stand any competition. Even - or especially - if the competition was entirely in her imagination. None of Team RWBY had any interest in marrying into the royal family or outshining the Queen in her own court.
If they had, they wouldn't be showing up to dinner in decent but quite simple dresses compared to the silks the Queen and her attendants wore. Since they couldn't - for lack of local money and access to Remant's resources - wear dresses made by the finest tailors surpassing the Queen's, decorated with choice pieces of jewellery, they would be wearing their combat clothes and doing their best to play up how different and exotic they were compared to the local nobility.
Weiss knew how the game was played, after all. She was a Schnee. And she didn't lose if she was playing it. Which she wasn't, no matter what the Queen thought or did. She was above that. And above the petty Queen.
No matter how hard it was to stomach the needling slights. But if Weiss lost her grip on her temper, her whole team would follow.
Fortunately, they were seated, due to the location, further away from the Royal couple than they had been at Winterfell, and so she didn't have to endure petty sniping and struggle with the temptation to return the favour with some choice veiled insults.
"It's quite refreshing to be seated so far away that we can't hear my dear sister's voice, isn't it?"
Unfortunately, the seating arrangement also had some downsides. Namely, that Lord Tyrion also had been seated in this section.
She nodded at him. "You sound as if you had chosen this arrangement, my lord."
"Oh, no - although I probably would have, if I had known who would be seated next to me. This was all my dear sister the Queen's doing. I think it's meant as an insult."
"To you or us?" Weiss asked.
"Both, I assume." He downed his mug and held it out for a servant to refill.
For a moment, Weiss tried to estimate whether Lord Tyrion had drunk more mugs of ale than Ruby had wolved down sweet honey cakes. But she had not paid too much attention to either's consumption tally. "How efficient of her."
"She probably considers this a very smart idea."
"As smart as commenting in that manner on the Queen's intellect behind her back?" Weiss raised her eyebrows.
"I do the same to her face," Lord Tyrion took another mouthful of ale. "No doubt one reason why she is not fond of my presence."
Was he trying to curry favour by disparaging his sister? Weiss wouldn't dismiss the possibility. The small Lord was very interested in Team RWBY, if not as blatant about it as the Prince. She shrugged nonchalantly. "You would know your sister best, my lord."
"I should, indeed. And yet, we have been quite distant for years."
"A shame." Was she treating Whitley like the Queen treated her brother? No, of course not. Weiss wasn't the Queen. But she was much closer to her older sister than her little brother - or anyone else in the family.
"Oh, the greater the distance between myself and most of my family, the happier everyone is. I have often wondered if I might be morally obligated to exile myself to Essos so my family would be the happiest ever."
"It does not behove you to put yourself down like that, my lord," Weiss told him. He was obviously fishing for compliments. "Although I would not dare claim that I knew your family better than you did, so I feel compelled to agree with your reasoning."
He laughed. "Well put! But it's a whimsy anyway. My father might prefer not to see my face, but he would never let me go into exile. That would damage our reputation."
Weiss smiled blandly. "I know the type."
"The type?"
"The kind of overbearing parent trying to control your life," she explained.
"Ah. Unfortunately, my father is not trying as much as he is succeeding. I am sure things would be different in your world - albeit, perhaps, not as different as some are imagining." Lord Tyrion raised his mug to her.
"Different enough so he could not stop my elder sister from choosing her own future," Weiss replied. And she would have followed Winter's example if not for the fact that as the heir, it fell to her to restore the reputation of her family and reform the SDC, which meant her father had some leverage on her. But that was a private matter.
"Well…" Lord Tyrion was interrupted by the musicians entertaining the King finishing their latest piece - a rather conventional performance, in Weiss's opinion - and the crowd calling out the names of their favourite songs for the musicians to play next.
Or, rather, for the King to decide what they should play next - everyone was looking at him, the musicians first and foremost.
And the King was looking at Team RWBY, Weiss realised with a sinking feeling.
"Lady Ruby! What would you recommend?" The King certainly had no trouble making himself heard across the entire table.
Ruby, looking startled, hastily swallowed the half of her latest cake still in her mouth, then replied: "I am sorry, but they wouldn't know any of my favourite songs!"
That was a good dodge. Weiss nodded approvingly.
"Could you teach them, my lady?" Lord Tyrion asked as if he were more affected by the alcohol he had imbibed than he actually was.
Ruby looked even more flustered. "Ah… Weiss is the singer, not me!" she blurted out.
"Oh?" Lord Tyrion - and half the table - focused on her, Weiss realised. She sent a frown at her partner; she would get even for this - and chuckled. "Oh, I haven't sung on a stage in years. It was more of a hobby," she lied. She wasn't about to sing for this crowd.
Then she saw the sneering smirk on the Queen's face.
She stood up. "But I think I can sing one of my favourite songs."
She had to wait until the drunken cheering stopped - no doubt courtiers taking their cues from the King - and started to sing.
"Mirror, tell me something…"
Seeing the Queen's expression as the crowd started to fall silent - Weiss had filled concert halls, not taverns, with her performances back home - while she sang was very satisfying. So satisfying, Weiss would have added a few more songs even without the enthusiastic demands from the King and the rest of the audience.
*****
Kingsroad, East of Harrenhall, Riverlands, Westeros, 298 AC
As her friends and the children were training - or, rather, her friends were training the children - Blake Belladonna stood guard, safely hidden, and safely out of reach of the slobbering beasts prowling the ground, in the branches of the tallest tree in the group's vicinity that allowed a good view of the Kingsroad in the distance - and a decent view of the woods in the other direction, behind which, as Jon had explained, Harrenhall, supposedly the largest castle ever built in Westeros, now the biggest ruin in the kingdom, was found. A ruin that still served as a castle, as Blake understood, and, therefore, presented a hypothetical danger to her team and their guest students.
Hypothetical because Blake couldn't think of many ways where someone might be able to hurt the children with her team present. In theory, someone could sneak up on them to shoot at them with a bow or crossbow, but that would require them to get very close without being noticed by Yang, Ruby or Weiss. Or the three hell beasts. Weiss could call them puppies as much as she wanted, Blake knew better. They were dangerous monsters, smarter than any dog or wolf had any right to be, and able to rip a grown man to shreds with their jaws.
She shuddered at the thought and looked toward the Kingsroad again. She could see the back end of the King's caravan passing by - that meant they had about twenty minutes to half an hour left before they had to pack up so they could catch up before the caravan stopped for the day.
It was all very vague since the caravan didn't stick to a fixed schedule, sometimes stopping early or late depending on where a suitable location was to make camp. And sometimes because the Queen complained, her wheelhouse broke down again, or both. Not that the exact time mattered since they didn't have working watches.
That would necessitate recharging their scrolls to coordinate a more complex mission, Blake knew. And that would further cut into their limited Dust supply. The others didn't worry much about that - Weiss was more generally annoyed at the lack of precise time-keeping in Westeros - but Blake did; her time in the White Fang had taught her not to assume that a mission was a milk run until everyone was back in camp and the camp had moved to a safe location.
And her experiences in Westeros had confirmed that her alertness was more than justified. If the Queen and her brother were willing to break both the law and all oaths they had sworn, what else were they willing to do? And Blake doubted that those two were the only ones amongst people with power in the King's entourage who did not follow their own laws and customs. No, sooner or later, they would be forced to act, and unless they wanted to openly fight whoever was moving against them, with all the consequences for everyone and Team RWBY's goals that entailed, they would have to be discreet - and most discreet plans would require careful timing and planning.
Ah, well, maybe they would be lucky and find a way home before that happened. Maybe…
Her ears twitched, and she tensed.
Voices! Two of them - and close, coming closer. Who would… She drew a sharp breath when she recognised the first voice. Prince Joffrey. And he was with Sansa.
She made a soft scoffing noise. The Prince and his fiancée, looking for them? The Prince had attended their training sessions before, albeit not very frequently, yet never with Sansa. What brought this on?
She could ponder this later; she had to act now.
A few quick jumps brought her to the clearing, where Weiss was demonstrating a sword move on some poor tree that Ruby had debranched with Crescent Rose, and Yang was driving Jon across the clearing with a series of slow - for her - kicks he kept almost dodging.
But all of them stopped when she landed on the last branch, tensing up.
"The Prince and Lady Sansa are headed this way," Blake said. She tried to ignore the way the three hell beasts were looking up at her with their mouths open and their razor-sharp teeth gleaming in the sun. "They are probably following our trail."
"Sansa is coming?" Arya whispered to her brother while scowling.
"The Prince is bad enough, but now Sansa?" Bran whispered back.
"Lead them to us before they get lost," Ruby said. "They're probably looking for us and might have a message from the King or Lord Eddard."
That made Bran also grimace, and Jon looked a bit worse as well.
Blake nodded and turned back, jumping from branch to branch again.
Finding the Prince and Lady Sansa would have been a bit of a challenge if the Prince hadn't been talking constantly to his fiancée. As things were, Blake's ears led her directly to him, and after a quick sweep to ensure he wasn't serving as a distraction and was only accompanied by the Hound, who was scowling as usual, and Sansa's beast, which she had deceptively named Lady, she dropped to the ground right behind them - far away from the direwolf in front.
"Prince Joffrey? Lady Sansa?" she asked, as politely as if she had met them in Winterfell's courtyard.
The Hound jerked, drawing his sword with a curse, but Blake acted as if she were ignoring him - while she was ready to counter any move he made; the man's attitude, his barely restrained violence, grated on her nerves. The real threat was the wolf, anyway.
He lowered his sword. "Coulda cut you, crazy girl," he muttered.
She bared her teeth at him. "No, you couldn't."
He tensed up and clenched his teeth, and, for a moment, Blake wondered if he would lose control and attack her, but he scoffed and sheathed his sword again - with more force than needed.
The Prince, though, acted as if he were not fazed at all - and he probably wasn't; he had hung around them while they trained often enough to expect this. "Lady Blake! We were looking for you and your friends!"
Lady Sansa, who had gasped at Blake's arrival, nodded. "Yes. Prince Joffrey suggested we should observe your training session."
As expected. Blake nodded. "Please follow me, then."
She moved past the couple and the scowling Hound, gave the wolf a berth, and started toward the clearing. She didn't quite hurry even though having a wolf at her back made her want to and had her skin crawl, and by the time they reached the others, Bran and Arya were sitting at the edge of the clearing, surrounded by their direwolves, and were watching the others spar - or serve as a training dummy, in Jon's case - while they tried to act as if they hadn't been training before.
Judging by the smirk on the Prince's face, he saw through their act, but he didn't say anything. Blake was sure he was aware of what they were doing and found it amusing to force them to merely watch simply by his presence.
Lady Sansa, on the other hand, didn't seem to suspect anything - after greeting the others, and awkwardly nodding at Jon, she smiled at her siblings and sat down next to them on the log that had, until a few minutes ago, been a fresh target dummy while her beast joined her siblings on the ground. "Oh, this is interesting!"
"Don't act as if you are interested, Sansa," Blake heard Arya whisper. "You're just here because your prince loves watching Team Ruby."
"You're wrong! This is interesting - we can learn a lot here. And a lady is supposed to support her lord's interests, anyway!" Sansa hissed back.
"Hah! You'd jump in a lake if Joffrey asked you to and claim it was a good idea!"
"It would be a good idea if you were burning!" Sansa scowled as well.
"If I am on fire, I don't need anyone to tell me to jump into a lake!"
Blake sighed, softly, at the whispered bickering - of the others, only Bran was close enough to overhear the two sisters - and checked that the four beasts were still lying at the foot of the log and not charging across the clearing toward her while the Prince approached Ruby with a wide smile.
That prompted another round of bickering.
"Better watch your betrothed, Sansa!"
"I trust my prince; his interest in Team Ruby is merely intellectual!"
"Hah!"
"You wouldn't understand!"
"Can you two be silent?" Bran hissed.
"Shut up, Bran. This doesn't concern you!"Arya snapped.
"We're just talking," Sansa added.
"You're bickering!" Bran complained.
"So are you!"
"Only because you are!"
Blake sighed again. Kids! She shook her head and stepped back a little, to keep an eye on both the hell beasts and the Hound. Sure, compared to the direwolves, he wasn't a threat, but at least the beasts would not attack the kids - they probably saw them as part of their pack or something like that. She wasn't so sure about the Hound. Sure, he was sworn to the Prince - at least that was what his title implied - but he didn't strike her as the honourable type. He kept complaining about knights when the topic came up, and how they discredited their honour, but he didn't seem to take this as a reason to act more honourable himself.
Today, he was just standing back and scowling at everyone. As usual, then. She narrowed her eyes slightly when they met his and nodded. At least they knew where they stood.
Jon picked that moment to fail to block the last kick from Yang - more like a nudge, actually, from her; Jon barely was pushed back a yard - and fell down, panting and sweating.
The Prince chuckled at the sight. "You're still insisting on pretending you could be a match for Lady Yang?"
Blake caught Jon's expression, hidden from the Prince's view by facing away, twisting into a scowl before he took a deep breath and turned around. "We're training, my prince," he said with his usual indifferent mask on again.
"Hopeless. You'd do much better setting your sights on something more on your level. You are not bad with a blade; what about becoming a guard? The gold cloaks are hiring. The pay is good, or so I am told." Joffrey shrugged with apparent indifference. "I am sure you can handle the scum of Fleabottom more easily than you can handle facing people so far above you."
Blake pressed her lips together. The Prince was mocking Jon, though his advice had some merit; as far as she knew, the city watch of King's Landing would actually be a way for Jon to make a living. But she also knew Jon would never go for it, certainly not when the Prince suggested it, and she was quite sure the Prince knew that as well.
She had half a mind to ask the Prince to join their training sessions as well - it was obvious that he was jealous of Jon - but that would be problematic for a few reasons, one of them the fact that the Prince had derided Jon's decision to train with Team RWBY often and publicly, so he might consider an invitation to train with them an insult. And if he joined, well… She had a feeling that the prince wouldn't like the kind of training Jon was undergoing at the hands of her team. Yang was a bit too enthusiastic, and both she and Ruby had obviously been trained by rather harsh teachers before they arrived at Beacon.
"Well, I am looking forward to another enlightening performance," the Prince stated, smiling at Ruby and the rest of them, though his smile twisted into a slight sneer when he looked at Jon; Blake caught it in the corner of her eyes before he walked over to join the other spectators.
Blake returned to the closest tree to keep watch.
*****
Kingsroad, Outside King's Landing, Crownlands, Westeros, 298 AC
"Whoa! It's big!"
Yang Xiao Long agreed with Ruby. The capital of Westeros was a big city. Not nearly as big as Vale, of course, but bigger than anything they had seen so far in Westeros. Half a million people, at least according to what they had heard.
"And look at that castle at the end of the city!"
"The Red Keep, my lady. The seat of the King. But don't let its appearance fool you - it's not nearly as appealing as it looks from afar. Quite like the city itself, actually," Lord Tyrion commented.
"Have a care, Uncle!" the Prince protested. "There is no bigger city in Westeros - and none more impressive, either!"
"Actually, I have it on good authority that Oldtown is larger and more impressive." Lord Tyrion grinned. "Although I'll admit that the city is the most populous - the nose doesn't lie."
The Prince scoffed. "What authority would that be? Surely not Father's!"
"Why, my own, as I possess both an impeccable taste and a keen sense of numbers, of course! What better authority could one hope to find than their own?"
Yang snorted softly at the expression on the Prince's face. When it came to insults, the boy could dish it out, but he was much worse at taking it. Though she didn't think too many would dare insult the Prince to his face, so he must not be used to it.
"I have not seen Oldtown, so I couldn't possibly compare the two..." Weiss said.
"Oh, don't let that stop you, my lady! My nephew hasn't seen Oldtown either!"
"...but it certainly is an impressive city," Weiss finished with a slight frown.
"Yes!" The Prince was beaming at her.
"It is very impressive!" Sansa added with a wide smile that felt a bit forced - and faltered a little when the Prince didn't compliment her.
Yang suppressed a sigh. For a boy raised at court, the Prince certainly didn't act courteously toward his fiancée. Maybe she should give Sansa some advice about how to deal with boyfriends who took you for granted or something? Better not, she decided. It wasn't like Sansa could dump the Prince. She wouldn't want to dump him, either, that much was clear.
Ah, well. They were still kids. Maybe things would work themselves out as they grew older. Yang certainly hoped so; they deserved better than some loveless arranged marriage. It still boggled her mind that they were supposed to marry someone chosen by their parents - and at that age. Who knew what either would be like when they were grown up?
"Well, I think it looks neat," Ruby said.
"Thank you, my lady."
"As I said, it looks nicer than it is, my lady." Lord Tyrion said. "Though maybe we should dismount, nephew. It would not look well if we rode through the gate while our guests walked."
The Prince looked surprised, Yang noted. As did Sansa. Well, Yang hadn't thought about the optics of such an entrance, either.
"Don't dismount on our account!" Ruby beamed at them. "We can keep up just fine!"
"Yeah. At this pace, we can go all day," Yang said.
"You could ride in the wheelhouse," Sansa offered. "That would be appropriate, wouldn't it?"
Not if I lose my temper and beat up the Queen before we reach the gate if she keeps needling us, Yang thought.
"Uh… we could ride on a wagon, maybe?" Ruby suggested.
"That would look even worse," Weiss said. "We're not goods to be transported."
"Oh." Ruby pouted as she considered the issue. "We'll walk in with the wagons then!"
"That might not be the best choice, either," Lord Tyrion told her. "People might mistake you for… smallfolk."
Yang snorted. She knew what he meant. 'Camp followers', as Blake liked to call it.
"If that is your concern, Uncle, shouldn't you keep your distance? Mother told me what kind of women you like to spend time with." The Prince sniffed.
Lord Tyrion laughed at his barb, but Yang wondered now why the small Lord had chosen this day to spend in their company. Did he want to appear so close to them?
"Let's just keep walking," she said. She would have added that it didn't matter what people thought, but it did. If people thought they were whores, then that would be a bitch to sort out. Probably involving some broken bones and crushed balls.
Of course, the King could, and likely would, squash any consequences, but it would still cause trouble in the long run. And Weiss would be mad, but that was going to happen every day anyway. Not that Yang could blame the girl. Even after she had started to sing in the evenings, and the Queen had snubbed her even more - and hoo boy, was the Queen jealous of her - Weiss still spent too much time with the bitch.
"It's still not seemly," the Prince insisted. "If the people see you walking when we are riding, it makes us appear as if we were poor hosts."
"Oh, I am sure your mother will get the blame for that."
"Uncle!"
"Please - do you think Cersei's dislike of our guests won't be known by the entire court before the feast today? And by the entire city by tomorrow?" Lord Tyrion chuckled.
The little lord was really trying to get into their good grades by dissing his sister, wasn't he? Well, he had grown up with the woman. Yang laughed anyway. Soon, they would be able to search the royal library. Or have it searched, whatever - the King had promised them his help. With a bit of luck, they would be able to return home soon.
Things were finally looking up!
"Ugh."
What? Yang glanced at Blake. Her partner was making a face. "What's wrong?"
"The stench gets worse the closer we get," Blake replied.
"Stench?" Yang sniffed the air. She didn't smell any… wait! She did!
That was the city? Not some midden off the road ahead?
"Ew!" Ruby made a retching noise, and Lord Tyrion laughed.
Yang felt like retching herself. So much for things looking up!