Carry You

Weiss want down to the pool and changed into her bathing suit there. It covered everything, but she wasn’t used to having anything so body hugging. Something like this would be absolutelyscandalousin Atlas… So that was probably another reason that President Jacques didn’t want her learning to swim. To see a proper lady of her standing in something so revealing, even if it did cover everything, would be amajorscandal. Shereallydidn’t want to be seen like this, but apparently this was fairly normal for swimming… Shedidunderstand why they couldn’t wear normal clothes in the water ifjustfrom how heavy her hair had gotten before she’d cut it… It still felt strange to not have the weight dragging her down, but it was also so freeing. She went out to the pool proper and found some stairs that would allow her to step in slowly. She started wading in, pleasantly surprised by the warmth. She wasn’t really used to baths as they took much too long, but warm shower water was normal. Still… For some reason, she expected the pool to be chilly. It was warm enough without being scalding. Pleasantly warm. She sat on the steps and the water came up to her shoulders which did unnerve her a little bit, but it wasn’t like she was so deep that she couldn’t stand up. She hoped drowning at such a depth wasn’t likely. And it wasn’t like she was getting any in mouth or anything… She would have to be careful, of course, but this felt fine to her. Plus, sitting like this let her whole body get used to the warmth of the water. And, thankfully, the whole internal area was warm, much warmer than the rest of the house, but it wasn’t so warm that she felt like she wanted to pass out. It was really just the perfect temperature. It was a little bit later that she heard the door open and she blinked, poking her head above the edge of the pool and her cheeks heated up. Blake walked in with a couple of towels and threw them on one of the pool chairs. She wore something that only covered her stomach and bust and what looked likeveryshort shorts. Blake smiled and waved. “Hey Weiss.” She tilted her head to the side. “Is something wrong?” She looked down at her swimsuit. “I don’t see anything out of the ordinary…” “Uh… That would bebeyondscandalous to Atlas…” she said, though it was hard to get too loud. But she knew that Blake could hearjustfine with her cat ears. “Honestly, this is pretty modest as far as swimsuits go… I didn’t do a full-on bikini… This is a tank top and boy shorts.” Blake shrugged then started wading in the water near Weiss. “You didn’t go farther in?” Weiss shook her head. “I was just acclimating to the temperature. It’s not too warm or too cold. It’s pleasant.” Blake nodded. “Some people don’t opt for heated pools, but Mom’s not fond of cold water. I’m surprised you aren’t dying from the humidity…” “I…didn’t even really notice honestly.” “Well, wecankeep it more under control than in the human world from what I understand. Otherwise it’d be like you’re breathing water. And we don’t want the ambient temperature in the room to be cold either since it’d be a bit of a shock from the warmer water.” “Makes sense.” “Anyway, how about we start with some basic lessons?” Weiss nodded at Blake’s words. Blake started helping her with some basic things like kicking, holding Weiss’ hands while she did so. However, when Weiss tried to float, she sunk like a rock. They triednumeroustimes with different methods, but Weisscould notfloat no matterhowhard she tried. Blake frowned. “That’s…going to make swimming hard it you can’t float.” She paused. “If I had to guess, it’s a lack of body fat. You are…very light.” Weiss nodded a bit. “Yeah… It’s because I didn’t get the nutrition I needed growing up. President Jacques only fed me the amount ‘appropriate’ for a lady. He didn’t know I had my aura activated when I was a child.” She had been denied the appropriate amount of food basically her whole life. It was one reason she was soshort,no doubt. And why she didn’t have much in the bust department. She was small all around because of the general lack of food. She would probably put on some weight once she’d been here long enough, but considering it hadn’t been that long, she hadn’t had enough time to pack on any weight. That and it was hard for aura users to put on much if any weight due to the stupid amount of calories they needed. Blake shook her head. “Atlas sounds so fucked up…” “That wasn’t on Atlas; that was on President Jacques. He didn’tknowI needed more food. And if I’d told him, he probably would’ve deprived me more.” Yeah, he would deprive her of everything she needed at the drop of a hat. She knew better than to tell him anything… And on top of that, he probably would’ve inflictedmoredamage on her as well. Just because aura protected her from damage didn’t necessarily mean it protected her from thefullamount of pain that came with being slammed into walls and thrown down stairs. Yeah…That was definitely what he would’ve done had he known that Weiss’ aura was activated. Blake nodded a bit. “Well, if you can’t float, swimming is gonna be really tough… I would suggest just getting a floatie. They’re enchanted to stay in the shallow end of the pool. You can still be in the water without swimming. Plus, it’s not like swimming is anecessaryskill anyway. I just thought it’d be nice if you knew how to… If you want to come down here at any point, you can. There’s always someone on hand to keep track of us in the pool.” She pointed at someone in a chair that was raised above the pool who waved. A young woman with red eyes sat there, dressed in something kind of akin to Blake’s but it was all one piece. “We have a rotating staff of lifeguards. Most people know how to swim, but it’s still best to have someone here that can help if anything were to happen. So you can come down here by yourself if you want to.” Weiss nodded a bit. “Okay. It kind of is nice to be down here.” Her brain still screamed that water meant death, but the warm water really felt nice on her skin. “Do you want me to get one of the floaties?” “Sure, I guess.” Blake got out of the pool and went over to a box and pulled out what looked like a crumpled mess of plastic. With a single touch of her finger, it sprang to life and looked like a small bed. She came back to the pool and put the floatie in front of her, letting Weiss grab it. “Just lay on it and it’ll take you around the pool. There is a slight current that we’ve enchanted to go around the pool, but it’s not something that’s easily felt. You can just relax and let the current carry you.” “Okay.” Weiss got onto the little mattress thing with a bit of difficulty evenwithBlake holding it, but once she got on, she laid back and let the water come over her a bit. She was much more exposed to the air now, so she was glad it wasn’t much colder than the water. She eventually felt the floatie start to drift around and watched as it lazily moved. However, when it reached a certain point, it was like it hit a wall and it slid against the area. She put her hand out, but she couldn’t feel anything. Yeah, it had to be magic that was keeping her from going over toward some boards that extended out past the edge of the water. She saw Blake heading for the boards and she jumped up and down on one before curving and slicing into the water with a bit of a splash. Blake stayed under the water for a little while until she popped her head up from underneath, a bit away from where she’d gone into it. She came over, treading water as if it was the most natural thing to her. “This is what you’d be able to do if you were able to eventually if you swam.” “I see. Why did you go under the surface and what are those things?” “Oh they’re diving boards. They let you dive into the water without potentially scraping the edge. Not recommended to justdiveoff the side. Our pool is smooth, but you could still potentially hurt yourself. I’ve done it and it’s not fun.” Weiss nodded. “I see.” Yeah, it didn’t sound fun to get hurt while trying to get into the water. She was honestly having a nice time just floating along with the current and not doing anything else. Normally, she’d be against being so lazy, but for some reason…it felt nice right now. Her mind was actually relatively quiet and she could close her eyes. For once, she didn’t hear his voice or even Atlas’. The water almost seemed to have some sort of healing properties. “Is the water enchanted or something…?” Blake’s ears twitched and she blinked. “Oh right, yeah, it is. A lot of fae have pools like this meant strictly for relaxation. It’s enchanted specifically to help calm and quiet the mind as well as relax the body. Pools are pretty popular with noble fae because of it. The upkeep is a bit of a nightmare since the water has to be cleaned, but we don’t use any harsh chemicals tokeepit clean. There are water treatment specialists that keep it clean with magic. Though, I still wouldn’t recommenddrinkingthe water. If some splashes in your mouth, that’s one thing, but toconsciouslydrink it? Wouldn’t suggest it.” Weiss shook her head. “I can’t see why Iwould.”That sounded nasty. People could probably do their business in the pool without it being noticed. She didnotwant to risk gettingthatnastiness in her mouth and maybe even getting sick. She would probably unfortunately be forever stuck to the shallow end because she was struggling with floating and swimming in general, but that wasn’t a bad thing. They had safety measures to help prevent drowning from happening. Blake nodded. “Anyway, you can come down here as long as you aren’t in lessons. It’s not like we’re gonna prevent you from being active or just enjoying the pool. It kinda sucks you’re struggling with swimming because it’d be nice to have a buddy I could eventually do laps with…” “Laps?” “Basically just swim around the pool for some exercise. Maybe Mom could figure out how to help you swim better. I’m notexactlya swim teacher either, so it could’ve just been me too.” Blake shrugged. How could she admit to lacking skills so casually? Weiss would’ve been beaten for admitting she couldn’t do something even if she’d never done it before. It really was astonishing that people could admit things like this so openly and so easily. She had no idea how people could live with the fact that they were incapable of doing something… Weiss did want to learn to swim if at all possible. It seemed like it would be fun to go around the pool rather than just being stuck on a floatie. “That sounds kinda nice…” Blake was quiet for a few minutes, a hand over her mouth. “Actually, with Turi here, this might not be a bad way to start teaching you basic magic. You havejustenough blood to learn it. You’re having a bit of a hard time swimming… So this could be the way to start teaching you how to use magic.” Weiss sighed. “I really don’t have any choice when it comes to learning if I want to get a job…” She didn’t want to be reliant on the Belladonnas for her entire life. For them, she’d just be apetmore or less if she only lived her natural lifespan. Maybe around another sixty to seventy years if she didn’t pursue magic. There was an out, of course; she could contact Melanthios if she didn’t want to live for around an entire millennium. Blake shook her head. “Not really unfortunately. Most changelings just live off their adoptive family’s money and don’t worry about a job. A lot of fae professions take decades of study in order to become evenminimallycompetent in the field. By time a normal human was able to handle it, they might very well be to the point they couldn’t really work much. Even a child being raisedspecificallyfor something like library work would only be able to understand their collection by time they were around sixty. After that point. they’d not be able to do much anymore.” Weiss sighed. “That really does suck. I don’t think I want to live for a millennium. But I don’t have much choice.” She wasn’t someone that just wanted to sit around and be spoiled for her life and treated as more or less apet.The human kids raised in Koiria had no idea what it was like to be able to work or study or anything like that. They were treated well—Kali and Ghira were treating her fairly well—and were members of the family, but they were essentially justpetsfor the fae parents that adopted them. They didn’t want to have another child, so they just stole away a human one. “Unfortunately, there really isn’t anything I can do about it… You can really just live the rest of your life in luxury if you don’t want to learn magic, Weiss.” “That’s…not the type of person I am. I don’t like being idle. I wantsomethingto do with my time. For you guys, six months between falconry seasons might not be a big deal, but for a mortal, six months is a long time. It’s just not something I can easilydo.I’m an intellectual. Sitting around and doing nothingfrustratesme.” She couldn’t really hide it. She was someone that needed upward mobility and something to move toward. She didn’t especiallylikefighting but it had been something she could work toward. Same with her Semblance and dust studies. Not that falconry wasn’t something she couldn’t work toward, but it wasn’t something she could constantly do the entire year. She needed things to take upallher time. Blake nodded. “Yeah, I feel you… I’m getting a bit antsy and want to get back to my lessons… I’m sure you feel similar.” Weiss nodded. “Yeah, I want to get back to learning. I havewaytoo much to learn about this place.” She would never truly fit into fae society; she knew that much. Her experiences in Atlas and lack of familiarity with fae culture would hinder her for probably the rest of her life. Especially considering just how she reacted to things… President Jacques had tried to mold her into the perfect little doll. She hated that. She really did. It would take alongtime to undo the damage he had wrought on her psyche and it was the only thing she knew… “Hopefully my parents will get the teachers figured out soon enough. You could spend your entire life in a library without any issues…” Weiss nodded. “Well, you’ve not known having information restricted to you before…” Blake justwould not understandwhy Weiss was so intent on studying so much. She wasthirstyfor knowledge outside of her small little bubble. Absolutelyfamishedfor it. All she had was Atlas’ narrow view of the world and she wanted to learn more about life in general and the world at large. But she’d been denied that. Being so close to the books she could touch them, but not being allowed to evenflipthrough them… It had hurt her terribly. So now that she had unfettered access to information, even if itwasfae information… She really couldn’t just let it go. She wanted to study as much as she possibly could. “Well, you’ll haveplentyof time to study things. I promise you that. We won’t restrict your access to information intentionally. The main things will be if we don’thavesomething or if even a scholar’s charm can’t crack an ancient form of the language we have here. The language does evolve, though much slower than human languages do.” Weiss blinked a bit as she thought. “Shouldn’t we probably take our earrings off so they don’t corrode?” “Considering the absolute utility of them, we enchant them against the elements and wear them all waking hours. The only times we don’t are when we’re asleep.” Weiss nodded. “That does make sense…” She ran her hand over the earring in her ear. She was glad she hadn’t thought to take it off while changing… Otherwise she wouldn’t be able to communicate with Blake. She didn’t wear earrings everyday by any means and, even if she did wear them on a daily basis, they were usually studs, not the dangling of the fae. Pretty much everyone had one of these earrings as far as she’d noticed while out in public. They were obviously just averystandard thing for pretty muchanybodyto have. “If you took it off, you wouldn’t be able to communicate with me.” “It’s weird how quickly I’ve gotten used to having something so dangly.” “Do you not wear anything like this on a normal basis?” Weiss shook her head. “If I wore anything, it was just studs. The only time I wore anything more than that was if it was an event. I had hollowed-out earrings I would put dust into if I ever needed it. Same with a necklace.” Thankfully, nobody had ever gotten her to the point sheneededto use her dust and Semblance, though it had beensorelytempting at times. The men were all pigs that wanted nothing more than to make her have their babies. She was glad she didn’t have to deal with that anymore… She wondered how Auria was faring with Atlas and its nastiness. “I can only wonder how Auria is doing.” “Oh, she’s probably caused absolutehellif at all possible. Misum are known for their chaotic natures. I can’t imagine it’seasyfor her to try to act like you on some level. I wonder if Turi’s talked to her at all…” “You’ll have to ask her.” She didn’t really know Turi other than they were relatives. It wasn’t like she’d extensively spoken to the fae. Same with Auria. They were relatives, but it wasn’t like she’d gotten any chance to get to know them. She probably should spend some time with Turi considering shewasdirectly related to Weiss and a founder of the Schnee bloodline… It was so weird to think someoneolderthan her grandfather was still alive, considering the fact that he hadn’t survived to see his own daughter wed. Blake nodded. “I will. I doubt Auria’s really stood for the abuse to continue… I wouldn’t be surprised if the man who abused you is dead.” Weiss nodded a bit. She wasn’t really sure what to think about that if itwasreality… She thought of him as invincible and untouchable. Not even the law could get after him. Could one fae really kill him…? It didn’t feel possible. He seemed… It just didn’t seem possible to knock him downat all,let alone lead to his death. But if he was dead… The world was frankly better off. She didn’t know the full extent of it, but she knew he causedsomuch damage and didn’t care about the collateral… She was glad if he was dead. Then Winter wouldn’t have to deal with him anymore either… “I won’t say I’d be sad if he died.” “I don’t really blame you. We could probably call Auria after dinner if you wanted to. See how she’s holding up.” Weiss nodded. “That would be nice…” Though she wanted to call Winter too… But getting a report from Auria first would help her decide if or when she could call Winter. Without knowing the situation on Remnant, she couldn’t figure out when would be best to call Winter. They had the ability to talk despite the dimensional barrier which…seemed to just be a polite suggestion atbestto the fae. They could come and go withoutanyreal impunity or issue compared to humans who didn’t even know the barrier existed… Frankly for the best. Again, she couldn’t imagine what Atlas would do if they learned that magic was real… “I’d like to talk to my sister too.” “Well, we can figure that out when we call Auria. How’s that?” Blake smiled and Weiss offered a half one in return. “Anyway, do you want me to grab Turi and she can give you a bit of a crash course in magic to see if it can help you with swimming?” Weiss nodded. “All right.” “Give me a bit. Remember, don’t go in the deep end. Just stay on the floatie.” Blake clearly used her own magic to get out of the pool quicker than walking up the wading stairs and Weiss shrugged. Well, no reason to dismiss what Blake said. So she leaned back on the floatie and stared up at the ceiling while she waited for Blake to return.