Bad Dream

Yang rolled over and woke up, rubbing her eyes as sunlight filtered into the room. She was at least starting to get used to the new schedule that she had arrived in. Granted, it helped she hadn't really seen sunlight for three months when she'd arrived here in Chiole. So she hadn't had to adapt to the new sunlight hours as painfully as was normal when traveling from one place to another. The only light she'd had had been candles and lanterns the sailors had offered her. She got three squares a day and stayed asleep as long as she wanted to. She hadn't had much to do other than just sleep, so that had taken up the majority of her time on the ship. Raven stirred and sat up with a yawn. "Morning, Yang." "Morning." She was glad the woman had agreed to stay with her... She felt a little bit less alone this way. She wasn't around all the time, sure, but she felt better having somebody here than nobody at all. She just really wanted to have some form of support. King Ivan had been so terrible... She didn't understand why he used her as a throwaway for an arranged marriage contract. She didn't even know the man. Maybe he just saw her as a stain on Vale for some reason... She really had no idea. "What do you think you're gonna do today?" Raven looked at Yang who shrugged. "No idea. I'm still kinda at the mercy of Blake and whatever they choose to do with me. Though I do need to start my language lessons soon... We're supposed to spend the mornings doing something, then Elana is supposed to have me for a few hours in the afternoon." She really didn't know what all that entailed. The language was going to be more challenging than Valian to some degree probably. She was glad she was multilingual--she knew Chiri-itak, Standard Central Mistrali, and Valian. But Blake had told her the language was difficult, so she didn't doubt it. Valian was hard with its inconsistent phonetics and spelling while Chilese would be difficult with its tones. "Actually, Yang, if you want to...I can teach you advanced aura too. Everyone around you is an advanced aura user so it'd only be fair for you to learn." Yang blinked at Raven's suggestion. That...did make some level of sense, but she hadn't really expected it. She'd need an uptick in her food if her aura was unlocked though. Aura users required so much more food than normal. But...everyone around her was an aura user. Would it really be that odd for her to have hers unlocked? She would never go into battle or anything, but it seemed like the Belladonnas wouldn't either... So why not? Though she knew it'd take her alongtime to get up to the point of being able to read others' aura...if she ever did. Plenty of people walked the path and never got past the lower Grades. "It might not be a horrible idea. It'd hopefully help level the playing field a bit." Then again, she also did know that some advanced aura users were able to shield themselves from other advanced aura users... Maybe she could at least learn to shield herself from Blake and everyone if nothing else. It was so frustrating to have people responding to her internal thoughts. Her mind was the only thing she thought she had and it wasn't even a refuge for her anymore... She couldn't hide there and not have others not respond to it. "Plus, Blake can help teach you too. They probably go through a more standard order than the Branwen tribe does. I technically know the normal path of advanced aura, but I don't think I could effectively teach it...I'd have to teach you through the Branwen order. What would you rather do?" Yang shrugged. "Does it really matter what order I learn the Grades in? Won't it all eventually lead to the same place? Does taking aslightlydifferent path really matter?" She really didn't care. Though she would get conflicting messages depending on who taught her... "Or are the orders reallythatdifferent I won't be able to really pick where I end up?" "From what I've seen, the first three and last three Grades are immutable. It's the inbetweens that can be rearranged. So it won't matter which way you end up going. Youwillend up at the same place regardless of who teaches you. Just think of it as a looped path that breaks off in the middle, but meets at the end. You'll see different sights, but you'll end up at the same place." Yang nodded at Raven's words. So she was right in that regard. She wasn't sure which way she'd prefer to take... Maybe something to discuss at breakfast. "Though...if I learn the more traditional path, it would let me be closer to the Belladonnas because they'd be the ones teaching me." There was that to consider. She wasn't sure how long Raven would be sticking around. Advanced aura wasn't something to take on lightly. She knew it was a lifestyle, not just a set of abilities. It would forever change who she was. But she was already pretty fairly aware of the things advanced aura taught. She wouldn't changetoomuch, or at least so she hoped. She really didn't want to think about being unrecognisable to her mother and father... Taiyang didn't really understand advanced aura like Yang did... He just saw it as a bunch of nonsense that didn't matter despite how culturally important it was to the Branwen tribe. "True. Very, very true, Yang. Maybe it would be better to ask them to teach you than let me handle it. I won't unlock your aura until you've discussed it with them. It'll give you and Blake another point to bond over." Raven smiled at Yang. Yeah. She was trying her best to bond with her...herwife.It was still going to take time for that to sink in. She could still scarcely believe she was married now. She had hoped for longer to get to know Blake before getting married, but the rampant racism made it much too hard to deal with. "Fair enough..." She sighed and laid back in bed, staring at the ceiling. She wasn't sure what to do until breakfast. She wasn't forced to be confined to her room, but she just didn't know how to deal with any of this. The servants all hated her and would probably take up arms if they ran into her. And she couldn't exactly communicate with most of them either... She could try, but it'd just fall on deaf ears. She felt like such a prisoner. Everyone in Chiole was against her more or less... She hated it... She hated all of this so much. She was doing the best she could, but everyone was treating her like such shit. She couldn't do anything without people questioning her motives. Eventually, though, she got up and changed into normal day clothes and headed down to breakfast with Raven under Emalyn's directions. Everyone had already gathered for the morning meal. The youngest children ran around, playing with each other while they waited. However, once they got down there, Blake waved Yang over and patted the spot next to her. Yang blinked. "You...want me to sit next to you?" They were still getting to know each other, though they were slowly getting more used to each other. Still, it was hard to really know what her motives were. Then again, the Belladonnas didn't seem to have any ulterior motives, so she ought to just go with the flow. Blake nodded, so Yang obliged her. "Well... Youaremy wife now so...it only makes sense we should sit next to each other, right?" She smiled hesitantly at Yang. Yang nodded a bit. They were both trying to take this as seriously as possible. They wanted this to work out, but it was hard when they were still essentially strangers to each other. She was trying her best, so obliging Blake's requests, when reasonable, was probably a good thing to do... It was just sitting next to her. It wasn't like they were having sex or anything... So she settled down next to Blake though she definitely felt more than a little awkward. She was pretty physically affectionate and everything, but, again, they were still more or less strangers to each other. So it felt strange to be close to her. But she did want to try. She was really,reallytrying to make this work. "So, uh, I know this is a bit sudden, but do you think you guys would be willing to teach me advanced aura?" She hesitantly looked around at the Belladonnas, though mostly Blake and Kali. They seemed to be the most involved with this. Hopefully they would be more than willing to teach her... If not, she'd be left in the cold by Raven eventually... The womanwouldneed to leave in order to take back over the tribe. It wasn't like she probablywantedto stay in Chiole for the rest of time. Kali and Blake blinked when Yang spoke, then glanced at each other. "Well, I can't say I was expecting that, but we'd be happy to teach you, Yang." Kali smiled at her warmly, ears twitching ever so slightly. "You do know it's not something you can give up and take up so easily, though, right?" Yang nodded. "I realise it's a lifestyle and way of life, not just a set of techniques. You can't just stop unless you want to lose your abilities. I know it's a big investment. I got to visit the Branwen tribe a few times and I know how culturally important it is for them. It's a big investment, though it's usually easier to start as a kid than it is as an adult." Well, she wasn't an adult quite yet, but she was close enough. She was sixteen. She knew it was easiest to grow up on the path than try to start later in life especially if trauma had accumulated. But she didn't havetoomuch trauma in her life, so she felt like she'd be a good contender for being able to stand up and do it. She wanted to be closer to Blake and this seemed like a good way to do it. She did see Blake's cheeks heat up a little bit and her ears flicked back for a moment. "You shouldn't take up advanced aura if you're just trying to get closer to me, Yang... You should do this becauseyouwant to improve and better yourself. Just getting closer to me isn't a good reason to take this up." "Well, that is part of it. I also want to learn to shield myself from you guys too... It's admittedly pretty frustrating to have my thoughts read all the time." She couldn't deny it. She didn't even have the sanctuary of her mind while she was around Blake and Kali. Though shielding herself from such high-Grade users would probably not come easily... If she could even do it at all. "You'll probably be able to learn to shield yourself from me in due time, but not so much my mother..." Blake glanced at Kali. Kali nodded. "I'm incredibly well trained and have been on the path since I was but a toddler. My parentsreallyimpressed it into me how important being an advanced aura user is to our family... They might have gotten a littletoozealous at times..." Her ears flicked back. Oh... Had something bad happened to Kali? Her body language seemed to imply so. She wouldn't press on the point, though; it wasn't really her place to try to learn about her mother-in-law's past. She really just wanted to learn how to protect herself from their shielding if at all possible. "I can read people through doors and such. Usually, that's next to impossible for advanced aura users." Yang glanced at Raven who nodded. "To be able to do that is pretty impressive. Very few users in the tribe are able to do that. Even the Grade Twelve users usually aren't able to pull that off." She would take Raven's word for it. So that was incredibly frustrating. She just wanted the sanctuary that was her mind back. She could hide things from everyone around her, but here, she was laid open to her wife and mother-in-law. It was incredibly frustrating. She was used to it through Raven, but when they only saw each other once in a while, it wasn't a huge deal. But having it happen basically all day everyday... She hated it. "Sorry, Yang. We're just so used to responding to people's thoughts..." Blake's ears flattened against her head. "It's not like we can exactly turn it off... Once Grade Nine is activated, it's basically impossible to turn it off unless you abandon advanced aura altogether or lose sight of yourself." Yang sighed. "I won't pretend it's okay, but I guess I get it. It'd be like asking someone to suddenly try to turn their sense of hearing off. It's just another extension of your senses, right?" She wasn't happy about it, but she could understand how it worked to some degree. It wasn't like someone could just suddenly not hear of their own free will. It was yet another sense for them. It just went above and beyond what normal senses could do. She could understand, but it wasn't like it wasn't frustrating. "...Especially in a case like yours where you have the extra sensitive hearing." Blake nodded. "That's exactly right. Well. Faunus that have control over their aura and have animal ears like we do can change how aura flows, so we technicallycanturn off our sensitive hearing, but we don't want to. But it's not like you can just expect us to turn our hearing off altogether. That's just not how it works." Yang...hadn't known that, so she nodded. Interesting. But it sounded like it was a rarer ability since aura control to the extent Blake was talking about was difficult. Yang had zero idea how controlling aura worked since she'd never had hers unlocked. "You'll be willing to feed me what I need if I do get my aura unlocked, right?" Probably a stupid question, but the sailors had basically just fed her the bare minimum. She barely had any food and she was pretty sure she'd dropped more than a few pounds in the time between leaving Vale and arriving in Chiole. The Belladonnas hadn't skimped on food for Raven, so it seemed like it was fine but...she just wanted to confirm first. Kali nodded. "We won't deny our guests whatever food they need to maintain aura. Granted, we don't get a lot of aura users in the nobility unless they're meant to be knights and go to war... But there haven't been any wars for quite a while, so I think we're safe for now. Granted, we don't have much of an army and way to defend ourselves..." She frowned then her ears flicked back. "...If you're worried I'm going to report you back to King Ivan, you're wrong. I have no allegiance to the man. Same with Mistral. I grew up there, sure, but it's not like I was ever close to the Emperor. I have nothing to gain by ratting you guys out to people that would only wish me harm." Her father had been thrown out when his marriage had failed. Why would she want to talk to somebody that had more or less forced her to go to somewhere she didn't even know the language of? She spoke Valian now, sure, but it'd taken her quite a long time to learn it even as a child. She really was trying her best to just exist and be the best person to the Chilese people she could be. Kali nodded and breathed a sigh of relief. "All right. Well, we'd be glad to teach you advanced aura then." Breakfast was winding down and they had all mostly finished. Kali took one of Yang's hands and muttered something under her breath in Chilese. Yang felt a rush of warmth through her and a deep sense of wholeness for the first time in her life. She felt so connected to herself in a way she hadn't before. It...felt incredibly nice. She felt so warm and protected... Though she knew this feeling wouldn't last too long especially once she got back out into the city. She still wasn't sure what all they'd be doing today aside from her language lessons. "There you go. We meet as a family in the garden each evening to meditate. We can have your lessons then." Yang nodded. "All right." She looked at Blake. "Do you have any ideas what we should do for the morning until my language lessons...assuming Elana agreed to switch up her schedule so soon?" She wasn't sure if that had changed yet or not. Would it take more than a day and did she want to take longer or would it happen almost immediately? They had spent yesterday at the beach so she wasn't sure what all was going on with her schedule currently... "Yeah, she switched it up; I just wanted to let you get out a bit yesterday. Would you like to do your acolyte lessons in the morning?" Yang noded, though she still wasn't sure if the chaplain would allow her to join or not. Then again, she was part of the royal family now. It wasn't like people could exactly turn away the royal family from entering the premises of a public area like a chapel. Right? Well. She wanted to continue her acolyte lessons as long as she possibly could. She just really wanted to finish her training, though she knew that would never happen especially with her being princess-consort now.... Blake's ears twitched and Yang could tell she was trying to hold back. Yang sighed. "Go ahead." Blake's ears flattened but she nodded. "All right... Well. Youarean official member of the royal family now. So you can't be denied entrance into anywhere. I know we still need to wait for your tiara, but still... Youcanattend your acolyte lessons if you want to. I know they're important..." "They are important to me. I dedicated my life to them. If it weren't for this, I'd still be in training." It was just a simple statement of fact. She didn't blame Kali or Blake at all. They clearly hadn't wanted this anymore than Yang had. Blake was miserable and Kali had obviously fought pretty hard to keep her from coming here. Despite everything, though, they were treating her incredibly well. They didn't have to... It showed they were inherently good people. She still did worry about ulterior motives a bit, but the more she interacted with them, the less she worried about it. She was pretty sure even advanced aura users could have ulterior motives, but not in the same way most other people could. "Well, we can go down to the city and let you study at the chapel then... I wish you could do what you wanted though..." Blake frowned. "You know, even if it is normal for both monarchs to be sitting on the throne, you really don'thaveto try to adapt to Chilese politics... It's going to be an uphill battle. If you want to just focus on being clergy, you can. I won't hold it against you and neither will my parents." Yang sighed. "No, but the people will. Then again, it's kinda damned if I do, damned if I don't. If I do and mess up, then it's all because I'm a human that doesn't actually care about Faunus. If I don't, I'm a cold-heartedbitchwho especially doesn't care about the Faunus." She shook her head. No matter what she did, she would be hated. She could see that now. She hated all of this, but she was trying their absolute best. Damned if she did, damned if she didn't. She would prefer to just focus on being clergy, but she didn't want it to seem like she didn't care at all... That was so far from the truth. She wanted to do right by the Chilese people. She was trying her absolute best despite everything being against her. "Yeah... That's unfortunately true." Blake sighed, her ears drooping. No matter what they did, Yang would be reviled simply because she was a human. She was trying her absolute best to do well by the people, but it seemed like all they cared about was ethnicity. Either be one of us or not at all. Humans didn't seem especially welcome in Chiole. She was trying but...it seemed like her best would never be good enough. "So it's really up to you what you want to do... No matter what you do, you're not going to win. And the people aren't going to accept you... I hate it as much as you do." "I would prefer to focus on being clergy, but I know this entire thing will reflect poorly on you if I don't at least give it a genuine attempt. I don't want people to hate your family because of my own selfish wants and desires." She really hoped it wouldn't reflect poorly on the Belladonnas if she didn't attempt it. Plus...she did want to do her best by the people. Maybe, just maybe, she could change hearts and minds if if she branched out and tried. She'd gained a few allies at the beach yesterday, or so it seemed. Though this did mean most of her time would be taken up. She could interact with people at the chapel and hopefully also gain allies there. The one boy had seemed to warm up to her pretty well... She wasn't sure why, but he seemed to treat her kindly. Plus, she could help out with things like laundry day and making bread for the less fortunate. She would have to bail in the afternoon, but hopefully mornings would be enough time to start changing hearts and minds bit by bit. "Well, all right. If you end up changing your mind at any point, let me know... I always thought I'd have a native Chilese spouse, but if you're willing to learn, we're willing to teach. But if you never want to be on the throne, then that is your right. Noteverymonarch has sat on the throne with their spouse. There are plenty of those that married into the royal family that never really once did much beyond hosting parties or whatever. It's just normal for the spouse to help, but it isn't unheard of for them to not do that..." Yang nodded. "At the very least, I'm gonna attempt to learn the language. I know that much will be important to you guys and how it reflects on me as well as you. If I can't speak the language, then how will I manage to survive around here?" She shrugged. She would gladly learn the language if nothing else. She hoped that was at least okay. If she could speak the language, then she could communicate with people better. Right now, though, she could only communicate in two of the enclaves. If she were to go into the main city, then there was no chance of her ever being able to communicate with anybody. She wanted to be able to go into the main city and talk with everyone. She would have several hours of lessons per day, so that would help... Hopefully she'd get the full language unlocked within a month or so. It just depended on how well she took the language lessons. It was around then that Yang noticed everyone had finished up eating. "Well... It seems like breakfast is done so think we should head on down?" She looked at Blake who nodded. "I suppose we should." They got up and headed to the coach garage where Yang let out a sigh. Well, this was going to be an interesting experience...