Bad Dream

Yang was quiet during the entire trip down to the chapel. Granted, she was entirely alone in the cab with the cabbie being outside, so it wasn’t like she had anybodytotalk to. She wasn’t sure if she would’ve talked to Blake on the way or not. She just… She was so exhausted by all of this. She was trying her best. She hadn’t expected Chiole to be such a bad place for her, but it was. She knew it was Faunus majority, but she hadn’t expected it to be so outrightracisttoward humans. Again, it made sense, but it didn’t mean it waseasyto deal with. She knew it had to be exhausting for others to hear her talk about the racism issue so much, but what else could she do about it? She really had no idea. The only solution so far was to pull rank, but that felt bad… It was lose-lose no matter what they did. She arrived at the chapel and found a small side room to change into her robes. She stashed her clothes in the bag and found the place where the other acolytes stored their changes of clothes. Coming to the chapel in dirty robes wasn’t a good idea, so anybody that commuted would change in the chapel. She went and found her room which has already started lessons and the chaplain gave her a withering look. “I expected you to beon timetoday.” “Sorry, sir, but royal duties call.” She held her head high as best she could, but she was pretty sure it came across as the farce it was. She didn’t know exactly what time it started at and she was still adjusting to the new time schedule. All she could do right now was chalk it up to royal duties. Nobody would question that, or at least she hoped they wouldn’t. She was royalty, so she really didn’tneedto elaborate on why she was late. These had started earlier than she was used to. “How late am I? Lessons in Vale start around ten, ten thirty.” “Even though we are a Valian belief system, it doesn’t mean weareValian. We start at nine.” The man continued to look at her with a withering glare. She wanted to shrink away under his gaze but she refused to back down as best she could. He was trying to intimidate her and make her stop coming. She wanted to continue on her acolyte training no matter what… She’d already missed months worth because of the voyage to Chiole. It sucked so much. She had no idea where they were in the calendar right now… “I’ll take note of that. I won’t be tardy again.” She sat down, trying not to give him the satisfaction of knowing that he had essentially won. She would have to take breakfast on her own here… She felt bad. She wanted to have breakfast with the Belladonnas and make sure they were taking to her well. But, well, if they started that early, she couldn’t afford to be tardy everyday. She would need to get up evenearlierthan she was used to. How annoying… Raven would probably be more used to this time than she was, so she hoped she could rely on Raven to wake her up when needed. With all of that done, the lesson began again and Yang fell silent, taking everything in. She took notes and answered questions where she could. She was clearly behind on the normal liturgical calendar and the lessons that came with them. The chaplain did not look very impressed with how behind she was on things. “Well, maybe if you’d studied, you wouldn’t be so behind,” he said at one point. “Sorry, sir, but I was literally trapped in a small cabin with little to no light for several months. You try being trapped in a dark room and try to read.” There was no way around that at all. It was just the truth of what had happened. “I know I’m behind in the calendar and our lessons, but it’s not really my fault. It’s not like Ichoseto have an arranged marriage to Princess Blake. King Ivan sent me here against my will. Queen Kali had no choice but to accept for the sake of Chiole and making sure everyone has enough supplies.” She wasn’t sure of how to address Blake in public. They were legally married but it wasn’t like there was any romance between them or anything. Plus, she wanted to reinforce her connection to the royal family. There was no way to do that unless she referred to Blake with her title and, well, the situation was a pretty dire one. The man frowned, obviously not really sure what to say to that, so he fell silent and went back to the lesson. She wasn’t sure if his reaction was a good or a bad thing. Eventually, the lesson let out and she made her way to the cafeteria where acolytes from the other temple complexes were gathering to eat. They all looked at her then ignored her. She could pick out several different robe types including Melothin the God of Death, Chogo the Goddess of Fortune, and Athon the God of Order. There werewaymore for Athon and his brother, Kebern the God of Chaos, than anybody else. Verana was a relatively minor goddess, all things considered, so they were fairly small. She saw maybe fifty people in total dressed in Verana’s robes while Athon and Kebern had at least two hundred or more. It was unusual to see people of different faiths mixing so much, but considering the nature of where she was…she supposed it made sense. She went up and went to grab a tray but someone slapped her hand with a spoon. “Hey! What’s that about?” she snapped. She instantly regretted it, but what else was she supposed to do? She was an acolyte just like any other! She was entitled to eat here with her peers. That was standard practice foranytemple or chapel in Vale. “You’re ahuman.You don’t belong here,” one woman said snidely. Her nose was scrunched up and the ears on top of her head laid back. “Actually, I’m an acolyte of Verana directly from ValeandI’m princess-consort, Yang. I’mlawfully weddedto Princess Blake. If you have any issues with me being here, take it up with the queen and kingthemselvesunless you’re too afraid to.” She narrowed her eyes but the woman didn’t budge. “No way the royal family would dirty our bloodline with human blood.” Yang held up the signet ring which held the crest of the royal family itself. “You weresaying?” The woman’s face paled a bit. “There’s no way you could… I…Fine.Take your food and scram!” She let Yang take a tray and she placed several plates on it, letting out a breath. That was one of the worse interactions she’d had here so far… Not that a lot of them had been overallpositive,but that one had been particularly nasty. Being deniedfoodwhen part of the marriage agreement was for food? If it weren’t for her, they wouldn’t be able to have this most likely… She didn’t know the full scope of what was happening, but it was definitely not great. She filled her tray and looked around with a frown. There were clearly cliques that had formed over the years. Most acolytes began their training relatively young, around eight or nine, so they generally grew up together a fair bit. Yang had seen the same thing happen in Vale. It only made sense people would get along with certain other personalities instead of others. She…had nobody to sit with which was incredibly sad. Maybe she ought to just give up on this entire thing… She would never really fit in and she knew it… “Hey!” She blinked when she heard a slightly familiar voice. She looked around and saw someone waving at her. It was that one acolyte that she’d met when she’d been helping with laundry the one day. She pointed at herself and looked around, making sure he wasn’t yelling at anybody else. She saw him nod quite a bit and she hesitantly walked over. He sat with a small group of five other acolytes from a couple other chapels. Of course, none of them looked particularly pleased to have her approach. “Are you sure? I don’t think your friends are too happy about this…” It was one thing when it was people of authority attempting to keep her out of somewhere; it was another when it was interpersonal connections like this. She didn’t feel comfortable pulling rank on people of her same general standing that clearly didn’t want her there. “They can deal with it,” the boy said, letting out a soft hum. Yang couldfeelthe distaste rolling off his friends. She really wasn’t sure if this was a good idea or not. Theyreallydidn’t seem to want her around. She really ought to know better than to sit with people who didn’t want her company, but the boy was kind enough. Maybe she could win them over? She had no idea. She just wanted to be accepted in some shape, way, or form. She probably never would be, though. The Chiliese people hated humans but she would be their queen-consort one day… What else could she do? She sat down and the boy’s friends definitely weren’t happy. “Everyone, this is Yang. She’s an acolyte of Verana. She helped with laundry a couple of days ago. She seems pretty hard working. She did it without complaint.” Yang offered a tentative smile and was met with skeptical looks. “She doesn’t look like she’d be a hard worker. Then again, she’shuman.What can we expect from ahuman?”one of the girls said snidely. “Well, Iamprincess-consort. I’m married to Blake officially and I’ll be queen-consort one day.” She kept her tone neutral, not trying to raise ire. But itwasthe truth of the matter. It wasn’t really related to being a hard worker or not, but she wanted to try to pull rank as quickly as possible. These people really didn’t have any idea of what she’d been through in order to get here or what it was like to be her and forced into a marriage she didn’t want. But she needed to let them know she had a connection to the royal family to try to turn down their racism if at all possible. The girl’s ears went back, something clearly on her mind. “She clearly wants to do all her acolyte duties,” Agam pointed out. “And that includes laundry day. If she didn’t want to do her acolyte duties, would she have come to laundry day or even be here in the first place?” She wasn’t really sure why Agam was standing up for her so much…but she definitely wasn’t going to complain about it. She desperately needed a friend and he might just be her in to befriending other acolytes. She really did want to do her duties most of the time… She wouldn’t be able to become full-blown clergy because she’d ascend the throne in due time but still. “Yeah, I want to do as many duties as I can, though I won’t be able to attend all of them. I mean I have lessons I need to attend in order to learn what I need to do to ascend the throne in the future.” She really did want to be the best queen-consort she could. Blake really had left it up to her what she wanted to do. No matter what she chose, though, it would probably reflect negatively on the Belladonnas. Ascend the throne? Trying to enforce humanity on Faunus. Become full-time clergy? Not invested in the kingdom enough. There really was no winning no matterwhatshe did. All she could do was her best and hope she won people over. “Typical human… Always looking for excuses to escape,” one of the other girls said. Yang sighed internally. That was about what she expected unfortunately. “Anyway, Yang, what do you think of the chapel here?” Agam asked, obviously ignoring his friends. “It’s a lot smaller than the one I’m used to in Vale in terms of dimensions and staff. I do understand Chiole has its own unique religion, though. A lot of people here worship the High Mother?” She hoped using alittlebit of knowledge of their culture would show that she was serious about being the best queen-consort she could be. She really wanted to get along with the people here. “I haven’t delved into the scriptures yet, but Blake’s getting me a copy in Valian to start studying. Do any of you study the High Mother despite following Valian beliefs?” Maybe this would open them up a bit…? She had no idea. She was shooting in the dark here. She just wanted to try to make some friends or something. Agam nodded. “It’s required of any clergy to study the High Mother to some degree. We’re rarely called on to preside over other religions and their services, but sometimes, we are called to do so. But those lessons are in Chilese since that’s the native language that they’re all done in.” Theydidhave an accent which meant they learned to speak Chilese as their main language instead of Valian. Yang’s central Mistrali accent had long vanished since she’d come to Vale as such a young child. “Maybe I can join you guys sooner rather than later… I’m getting Chilese lessons from the royal language tutor.” She doubted she’d ever be called on, but she did want to respect the beliefs of those around her. Learning about the High Mother and the beliefs around her would go a long way in making sure people knew that she really did respect them. She’d arrived not that long ago, so people couldn’t entirely expect her to adapt… She thought she was doing okay, considering how short a time she’d been here. Though, of course, the people would hardly agree. She could see some sort of emotion in two of the girls’ eyes, but since she couldn’t read aura like Raven, Blake, and Kali could, she had no idea what was going on in their heads. She wished she could know… She wanted so desperately to get closer to people and become their friends. She’d lost her support system when she’d been ripped away from Vale. She didn’t blame Kali or Blake… Blake didn’t want this anymore than Yang did and she gave Kali the benefit of the doubt. She knew how King Ivan was and how cruel he could be. He wasn’t a good king like so many other Valian kings… He was cruel and selfish. “I’m hoping to be fluent in the language sooner rather than later, though I know it’s complex. Granted, Valian is pretty stupid in its own right. But Queen Kali said that the system is tonal which makes it hard for foreigners to understand.” She had already spoken a tonal language as a child which…definitely gave her a leg up. Standard Central Mistrali was tonal as so many central Mistrali languages were tonal in and of themselves. Some more than others, of course. But it was still a tonal language which would be frustrating to learn. Agam nodded. “Would you like to hear some of the tones?” Yang nodded. “If you wouldn’t mind.” Agam spoke a short paragraph which was all the same word. She struggled to hear the tones, but she could hear it a little bit. “I can hear it a little,” she said. She was glad she wasn’t going to have to learn this the old-fashioned way. She was still going to have to brute force it more or less, but she hoped she would have enough learned in a week-ish so that way Celaecyal could just impart the full knowledge of the language to her. She wanted to be able to speak with the people sooner rather than later… That way she could hopefully start to win them over and befriend them. She really just wanted to be the best queen-consort for them she could. “It’s definitely hard. I’ve heard different central Mistrali languages and they’re more similar to Chilese than not. But they’re definitely not able to communicate effectively or at all really.” Agam shrugged. Yang nodded. “I was born in central Mistral but I’ve spent most of my life in Vale. My father was arranged to marry a Valian marchioness, a loyal knight, when I was around three, four years old and moved when I was four, five years old.” She was old enough to remember it and it was definitely tough. But she’d been young enough that she’d adapted pretty quickly and she wasn’t upset by that at all… Vale waswaybetter for Faunus than central Mistral was…or anywhere in Mistral for that matter. Agam raised an eyebrow. “So…you were raised where there’s slavery?” Yang sighed. “Technically, yes. Yes, my father owned slaves. He’ssuperfucking racist but with how Vale is, he has to keep his mouth shut unless he wants backlash.Idon’t hate Faunus like a lot of other people from central Mistral. If I hated Faunus, would Ireallybe sitting here and talking with you like it’s no big deal?” She wanted to nip that in the bud as quickly as possible. She had been averyyoung child and it wasn’t like she’dchosento be born there. She’d grown up in Vale and treated all Faunus well. They werepeoplethe same way humans were. She didnotunderstand how people kept slaves. “Slavery is an illness and needs to be abolished.” Agam nodded slowly. “If you hated Faunus, you would definitely be much more outspoken and treating us poorly.” He gave his friends apointedlook and they shifted uncomfortably. He could clearly see past their bullshit and that them treating her the way they were was no better than her treating them poorly. She hadn’t doneanythingto them. Yes, she pulled rank to remind them shewasconnected to the royal family, but that was all she’d done. At worst, she’d really just said she was princess-consort. She’d donenothing elseto them… “While it’s a technicality, I was young enough I didn’t absorb those mindsets. I don’t even reallyrememberbeing in central Mistral to be completely honest. I have somevaguememories of Raven, the woman who gave birth to me, and some other stuff, but they’revague.Vale is my home through and through. It’s where I’ve spent the majority of my life.” “I won’t say Valians areperfectwhen it comes to Faunus, but they’re probably the best,” Agam said. “There’s only ever been equality there as far as I know.” Yang nodded. “Yeah, really. Same with same-sex couples and such. I don’t know much about Mantle, but I hear they’ve oppressed anybody that doesn’t adhere to being with the opposite sex, and that’s to say nothing of how they treat those that don’t stick to how they perceive gender.” It was upsetting that Mantle and other places wouldn’t let people be themselves or just make them outrightslaves.She really hated how people treated others. Vale wasn’t perfect by any means, but it was probably the best kingdom as far as human ruled went. Vacuo…was Vacuo to her understanding. A strange place where humans and Faunus kept to themselves but gave each other different types of power. Agam frowned. “That’s…really upsetting to know. I know Mantaline delegates come here, but they only ever stick to the palace. Not like they have any reason to comehereand I wouldn’t have it any other way.” Yang nodded. “Yeah, you wouldn’t want those bigots coming here… I still can’t believe what Blake told me about how they raid and kidnap people from Chiole.” That was absolutely disgusting. She didn’t understand how anybody could takeanother personto be aslave.But the Mantaline peoplecompletelylooked down on Faunus and saw them completely as lesser. Though, here in Chiole, the Faunus saw humans as lesser. It was really the opposite side of the coin to Mantle, but she’d get absoluteevisceratedif she said that. Blake recognised the fact that racism could go both ways which was good…but it would take time for Yang to win over the people. She really hoped she could in due time. Agam frowned and nodded. “Yeah, they unfortunately do. It’s nasty business… They’ll take entire fishing villages and force them to Mantle. I’ve heard stories of entire towns just…not being there anymore. At least Mistral doesn’t gothatfar. Mantle is just a nasty,nastyplace.” “Sounds like it. I don’t wantanythingto do with the Mantaline. I’ll probably have to deal with them when I become queen-consort though…” She sighed. She had no idea how Kali and Blake and the rest of them maintained decorum when working with the Mantaline. She really didn’t want to have to interact with them, but it would be necessary if she sat on the throne with Blake. She didn’t know anything about Mantaline culture other than it was based on inequality and oppressing others. That was as far as her knowledge on them went. She didn’t envy Blake for having to learn the intricacies of that culture in order to have dealings with them in the future. Agam nodded. “You definitely have a lot to learn… As such, shouldn’t you probably be havingthosesorts of lessons instead of being here?” “Don’t speak the language and all those tutors don’t speak Valian.” She raised her arms. “Can’t learn when there’s a language barrier.” “…Entirely fair. I suppose I should have thought about that.” “Trust me; I’d be learning all of that if I could. But until I get a handle on the language, I’ll be here.” She would have to give up her clergy lessons in due time, but until she could speak the language, she’d stay here. She still wasn’t sure if she should stick to being clergy or take on being queen-consort… No matter what she chose to do, she was in a lose-lose situation. It just… It all sucked so hard. She would likely never really win over anybody. Agam seemed willing to give her the benefit of the doubt, but everyone else had already decided they absolutely hated her. “That does make sense… Otherwise you’d just be sitting around with your thumbs up your ass right?” Yang nodded and sighed. “Yeah, pretty much. Elana, the royal language tutor, has Blake’s other siblings to teach, so it’s not like she can just spend all day with me.” That would be ideal, but it just wasn’t practical. The younger kids needed to learn Valian as well. She knew better than to try to force someone’s hand. Plus, Elana was skittish around humans after her stint as a slave… Not that Yang could blame her. She could onlyimaginewhat poor Elana had been through during that. Slavery was brutal and she shuddered to think what the poor Faunus had been through. A bell tolled and Yang blinked. “Ah, lunch hour is getting close to ending.” “Well, I’m pretty much finished up.” She really only had a few more bites left and ate those. The foods weren’t familiar, but she knew better than to be picky. She just had to deal with what she was served. Thankfully, she wasn’t like Ruby who had severe tantrums when she was served something she didn’t like. Ruby was sensitive toso muchfood in terms of textures and such… Something was definitely different with her but nobody was sure what. “Let’s go take our dishes to get cleaned then.” Yang nodded at Agam’s words and followed him. She took her tray and such over to the drop-off point and put them away. With that done, they headed back to the Verana chapel.