wanderer's lullaby

A knock came on the door a little while later and Winter blinked. Huh? She’d been so absorbed in her research she hadn’t really noticed the passage of time. She was still reading things the AI had brought up. There was…a lot to dig through when it came to Valian mental health apparently. Trying to understand the legalese was hard. She struggled with Atlassian legalese to some degree, but to read another language was painful. At least she had the AI there to help her understand. She stood up and answered the door. Qrow. “I talked to my relator and she said she could get us in today. So if you don’t mind packing up, Persia is willing to take us. It’s about an hour outside the city.” That…was pretty far. But it being on so many acres and a lake did make sense, she supposed. How far away would be be from the train station? If she was to rely on public transit for a time, it made sense to pin that information down. It was really her main question. Once again, Winter found herself in Persia’s car, though it was in the front seat this time. The two twins sat in the back. The rain pounded down on the car’s roof, making Winter glance up. There hadn’t been any thunder in a little while, so she hoped the worst of it was over. But the rain remained driving and heavy. “By the way, Winter, I found something that might be helpful to you.” She looked over her shoulder at him. What could it be? “There’s a program that allows Atlassian women married to Valian citizens—gender doesn’t matter—to apply for citizenship in three months. I asked Sienna if there was anything I could to do maybe help you and she pointed out that particular program. It’ll be less of a wait for you and you wouldn’t have any visas to worry about. I’ll have to help you apply, but if you have proof your physical safety was in jeopardy in Atlas, you can apply for the program.” Proof, huh? She had more than enough of that. Coco’s videos of her being beaten in Schnee manor proved her lack of safety in Atlas. She didn’t want to use those before she took over the SDC, but if it would help her case… She would pull them out. It might leak things to the media, though… Damn it. What should she do here? She wanted to work and citizenship would grant that. The work vias would take the same amount of time roughly… But citizenship was far more alluring. “I’ll have to think about it.” She could weigh the pros and cons later. Plus, she would have to do research into the program first to get a more comprehensive view of it. She wouldn’t take such a big step without looking into everything fully first. “All right. I was mostly letting you know. There’s no rush to decide.” With that, Qrow fell silent as did Winter. She watched out of the window as the city slowly transformed into country.

α

After about an hour, Winter caught a glimpse of a lake through the trees. It was a bit hard to see with the rain, but it was starting to lighten up. It seemed like the worst was past them so she was glad for that. She really did not enjoy thunder. She could spend the rest of her life without ever hearing it again and be perfectly content. They pulled down the long driveway and saw a car waiting there. The rain continued to lighten. A woman with an umbrella stepped out of the car and waved them over after they parked. Umbrellas went up and the twins and Winter walked over. “Hey, Qrow. I’m not surprised you took this offer up so quick—it seems perfect for what you need.” The woman smiled though quirked an eyebrow at Winter. She said nothing and turned her attention back to Qrow. “Anyway, how about we get this tour under way?” They walked into the house which was disconcertingly empty. She had seen her apartment empty when she’d moved in, but she had never seen a whole house empty. It was really unnerving. Apparently they really wanted to get out of here if they had already moved out before putting the house on the market. But it did give an idea of the space they had to work with. Granted, it was no Schnee manor, but it was certainly larger than the Patch house. It seemed…comfortable. At least it would be if it had furniture in it. The dining room and living room were combined into one with cathedral ceilings on the living room. It still had nothing on some of the ceilings in Schnee manor though. Then again, it was hard to compare anything to the exorbitant decadence of the Atlassian upper class. This house was relatively luxurious by typical Valian standards. The main area was open floor with no extra walls. She could see setting up a TV, couches, and other things in the living room. There was more than enough space for whatever they wanted. It would be mostly up to the others since she didn’t really partake in any sort of entertainment. “And here we have the master bedroom.” The agent opened the door for them and she looked around. It was a decent size, especially when compared to her apartment rooms. A nice compromise between her apartment and Schnee manor. Of course, this would probably be Qrow’s room… He wasthe one paying for the house… “Nah, I’ll let you have this one if we get it, snowy. It’ll give you to spread out. Plus, you can have office space which might be needed depending on what job you get when it comes time for that.” That made Winter blink. He’d give this room to her? It would be nice to have the extra space. Part of her had always felt cramped in her apartment. There had never been quite enough space for her. She could easily fit a bed in here and have room to space for office space. “Would you like to go up or down next?” the agent asked. “The rest of the bedrooms are upstairs mainly, but the basement is a nice secondary living space.” “How about we look downstairs?” Raven spoke up this time. And so they made their way away from the master bedroom to the downstairs. Once again, there was a large, open room in the center which could give plenty of space for whatever was wanted. Maybe they could turn part of it into a training area. She wasn’t keen to lose her edge. Of course, that would be hand to hand stuff, but she didn’t mind. Raven could use the rest of it for what she wanted. There was a small kitchen on the right that made her raise an eyebrow. “This floor is where the house’s caretaker lived. The family didn’t want him interacting with them too much, so he cooked on his own down here.” “Honestly, this floor would be perfect for me. Until I can really integrate with everyone, it would work fine.” Raven smiled which made Winter internally flinch. She felt bad for making Raven feel unwanted. But something about her was so unnerving. She really couldn’t stand to be around her. But like Raven had said a while back, she would have to get used to her at some point… They peeked into the room and the bathroom on the left side of the basement and Raven nodded. “It has all the basic necessities so it’d definitely work. I’ve lived without electricity and plumbing a good chunk of my life, so this is more than enough for me. I’ll be fine as long as I have my own space and this meets those requirements.” That was definitely good… Winter still couldn’t imagine what it was like to live without basic necessities like that. Seriously, how could people live like that? She still couldn’t wrap her mind around it even after Dove explained. “What’s that room over there?” Winter pointed at a door near the kitchen. It looked like the room extended out past the door door connecting the outside to the basement. “Oh, it’s for lake storage. Things like inner tubes, kayaks, and so forth.” The agent opened the door and revealed a rather large, bare-bones room. It was simply tile on the ground and completely empty. It was pretty large too—a little bit larger than even the master bedroom. Winter looked at the twins and guessed they were on the same wavelength. It could easily be used for the birds. It’d be incredibly easy to hose down with only the tile and they could put a freezer or two with their food. Plus, add in a workbench or anything else they needed. It would be the perfect place to keep the birds. Who knew such a room would exist in the house? It would save construction fees for mews, too. They’d have to install some sort of door for the birds to come and go as they pleased… “Upstairs now,” Qrow said. To which they all obliged. This floor was definitely more cramped than the two lower ones thanks to the cathedral ceilings in the living room. They looked through all the rooms. Two were a moderate size, one was fairly large, and the other was absolutely tiny. “I don’t need a lot of space so I can take the small one. The girls can have the one above the garage, then we can probably use the office to hold Summer’s books. Plus, I will need some office space when I start teaching again. Sound good, snowy?” Winter nodded. “That sounds fine.” It wasn’t like she had a ton of books in the first place. They could just use the office as a library mostly, then set up some reading chairs in the nook outside of the office. Set up a couple of recliners or maybe those bowl-shaped chairs she’d seen in some home magazines before. They looked comfortable with the big cushions they had. The girls could also add any books they had to the library. Plus, if she could free her sister, maybe even her brother, there would be rooms for them… Okay, that decided it. She would let Kali and Sienna take over. There were major risks to what she was doing, but she couldn’t leave her sister there any longer than needed. She’d have to talk to the women to see what they could do. It would be wonderful for Weiss and maybe Whitley to grow up in this house. It was beautiful and offered them the ability to free range as they wanted. Winter wouldn’t be able to afford horses unfortunately but… “It’s perfect.” It really was. She could see no faults with it. “How do the inspections look?” She turned her attention to the agent who blinked. “Well, the house has no problems structurally. It’s mainly the Grimm that are why the house is being sold. You still need to have your own inspections done, but I doubt we’ll find anything wrong with it.” Qrow nodded. “We’ll put an offer in then. The Grimm won’t bother us. All three of us are trained fighters and my two nieces are Huntresses in training. It really isn’t a huge deal to us.” “How about we head back to my office and I can get the paperwork written up?” “Sounds good to me.” Qrow grinned and they headed back downstairs. Thankfully, the rain had stopped and Winter looked up at the sky. A rainbow… How beautiful. It almost felt like the Holy Father was smiling down at them. The day had started out pretty horrible but they’d found the perfect house. It had room for everything they needed. There was only one problem though… “What are we going to do about transportation?” They were already in the car. It wasn’t like they could rely on the old woman for all their transportation. An hour outside the city was a major drive. Two hour round trip by car. She couldn’t even imagine what the trek would be like in a train. “And what about the girls’ schooling?” There was no way they’d be able to continue learning on Patch. It was simply too far away… “Well, we’ll both need to get our driver’s licenses probably… You’ll want yours, right?” WInter nodded at the question. Of course she did. Getting one in Atlas was a woman was just too much of a hassle… How easy would it be here to get in Vale? It sounded like it would be easier. “We can enroll in driver’s ed then. It’ll be awkward for me, but it’ll be worth it.” “Do I need any proof to get a license?” Winter frowned. Atlas required so many proofs of citizenship or legal immigration that it was a massive headache. Women also needed to get permission from their male guardians to get one. Whether that be a father or husband if the woman had a man in her life. She needed his permission. Mister Gelé had been the biggest obstacle in her getting a license in Atlas. He was still her father so he would have been the one to sign off on her getting hers. Qrow was silent for a few minutes. “It seems like all you need is a valid visa and passport in Vale. No citizenship needed. You arean adult so you can technically get a learner’s permit, but I would really suggest driver’s ed. It’ll teach you the rules of the road and let you get your first driving experience under a seasoned instructor. I don’t doubt you could learn the rules of the road by yourself, but this will teach you formally.” “I’ll take it, then. How long will it take?” “About six to eight weeks. Rae, you might wanna join us…” Raven groaned. “I really don’t want to drive. Do I need to remind you of Summer’s quadruple rollover that somehow kept going?” Winter’s eyebrows shot up at that. Apparently Summer’s insanity didn’t stop at being a Huntress or creating crazy programs. Qrow groaned in response. “Don’t remind me. But if you want to have a live, you’ll need a car. We aren’t tribals or Hunters anymore. We’ll need to have stable jobs for the girls’ sakes.” Raven sighed. “I guess you're right. I need to sign up too…” She sure didn’t sound too enthused about it. But she couldn’t really blame her. If her experience in cars had been quadruple rollovers, she wouldn’t want to be in a car or possibly another vehicle again. That sounded absolutely terrifying. Thankfully, the general’s personal drivers were all well trained and safe. “What abut the girls’ schooling?” Winter asked again. That seemed the more pressing matter in her book. “I think I’ll just hire a private tutor. Summer had planned to homeschool the girls anyway. And the way Yang and Ruby act… I don’t think they have any friends, so it wouldn’t be like I’d removing them from a strong support network… Rae, got any insight?” “I think you’re right about that. I’ve never seen them have anybody over before. It’s…sad. I think losing all the adults in her life at once left Yang with severe trust issues. She really seems close only to Ruby…” She heard Raven sigh. Winter could understand that to some degree. She’d never lost anybody before, but she could not get wanting to trust people. Everyone had ulterior motives. Everybody wanted something from her. She knew it. Qrow and Raven would eventually want something out of her. She just knewit. She couldn’t quite parse it out yet, but they would in due time. She was waiting for it… “How long until we close on the house?” That…was a good question. She wanted to know how long they would have until they left Patch. That house honestly felt like such a prison. She wouldn’t feel free until she could fully spread her wings. And driver’s ed would take six to eight weeks depending on the program plus extra practice time… “In theory, sixty to ninety days. It’s a short sale. In practice, it could be longer. Hopefully we get the short end of things.” Qrow sighed as did Winter. Sixty days minimum of being trapped in that house. It felt so far away. And to think it could be longer. She really wanted to get away from Patch as soon as possible. Sarah was decent company, but she wanted to work full time again and have her own cash flow coming in. With that, they fell silent for a little while until Raven spoke up. “Hey, Qrow, I have a little bit of an odd idea, but your agent could talk to the owners. Nobody’s gonna be staying in that house and, with the Grimm problem, I doubt they’re going to have anybody taking care of the place. Maybe I could stay here until we move in. I would probably need you to pay rent but…” “That…might not be a terrible idea actually. It is hunting season and I don’t have any sort of land permissions yet since I haven’t had time to look. Plus, the birds aren’t manned to public transit yet. I wonder if the owners would let us hunt the land if you stay there. Plus, I can start teaching Winter about hunting.” Qrow put in. Winter looked over her shoulder at him. She barely knew anything about falconry, let alone hunting or flying the birds. She could be a mobile perch, but that was all she knew how to do. Could he really trust her with the birds when she knew so little? That was what an apprenticeship was about but still… She’d barely been around the birds a few days when it came down to it. It was a good idea, though… She did want to give the birds the best life possible. Dove had entrusted Kiyay to her and she didn’t want to let her down. “What about Yang, though? There’s a lot to work through there and if she wants to talk to you…” Qrow trailed off. “I still need to go grab Ituren from the tribe anyway. I can use him as a portal point. You can text me at any point she wants me and I’ll be there.” “That sounds reasonable. Plus, you will need groceries too…” “Well, this is all assuming they agree. Then again, they clearly don’t want the house. Maybe having somebody take care of it fro the next however many months will be enough.” She saw Raven grin. This was all a very strange arrangement but maybe it would work out in the end. This house was quite nice and she wanted to move in. If she could get her siblings free too… Hm. Maybe she could use her citizenship hearing to work for her. An Atlassian woman needed to prove her lack of safety in Atlas for citizenship, huh? Well, she definitely had proof for that. She was worried about that leaking to the media, but what if she used it to her advantage? Vale would be sympathetic to her if they knew she had been abused. She had more than enough proof that as well as her sister being in extremely unsafe circumstances. She could easily roll her own case into her sister’s. She would have to coordinate with Kali and Sienna to build a case, but she had time for now. She was rapped in that house. How they would build a case was a little beyond her at the moment. It wasn’t like she knew Atlassian laws inside and out. She would need to brush up on the laws so she could see if she could get her sister and brother free from Gelé’s hold. She couldn’t leave them there forever. Weiss was at risk of betrothal. And who knew what the company would look like under Whitley if he took over. She really had heard nothing but negative things about him from Weiss. But there might still be some hope for him. He was still only a child, after all. Maybe an intervention could open his eyes to what the world was really like. Sheknew that everything out of that monster’s mouth ere nothing but lies, but Weiss and Whitley didn’t. She’d tried to guide Weiss, but she could only do so much through brief calls and mostly texts. She really couldn’t have those important conversations with Weiss and not possibly have them found out. She was going to need to have a very long conversation with Kali and Sienna…