Bad Dream

The carriage ride was relatively quiet as there was no point in talking when they were going to a placetotalk. Yang did feel a little awkward but Blake seemed perfectly content. She had brought some form of needlework with her and worked as they traveled. Honestly, it was impressive she could do that. Yang had never learned needlework of any sort as Vale wasn’t the type to force ladies into such small boxes. She knew how to sew in case of damage to her robes or something like that, but not stuff like embroidery. Blake worked perfectly happily, a small smile on her face. The carriage stopped and Blake put her needlework into a small bag. They got out and headed inside. Blake talked with the barkeep in Chilese, then they were escorted to a room which Yang could tell had thick walls. She couldn’t hearanythingthrough them. “You weren’t joking when you said this place was well insulated.” Despite the thick walls, it wasn’t hot despite the tropical climate she found herself. She made herself comfortable at the lower table, crossing her legs. Blake nodded. “The Sapphire Decanter really is a place meant for activities and discussions that require discretion. I mean we always could have just stayed at home, but I feel like coming out and talking is more fun.” Yang nodded. “Plus, I hate being cooped up…” She was so used to having the city of Vale at her disposal and just going out when and where she wanted to. She really just wanted to be able to go out when and where she wanted to here, but that wasn’t going to happen and she knew it. She hated how limited she was. Even in the Valian enclave, people treated her poorly. She hated it. She knew she sounded broken at this point with how many times she repeated it to herself and to others, but she really did hate it here. “So what were you working on?” Blake blinked. “Oh, uh, just some embroidery. Why do you ask?” “Just curious. Plus, I mean, wearesupposed to be talking to get to know each other, right? An easy way to do that is to discuss our interests.” She wasn’t trying to be nosy or anything; stuff like this was just theeasyway to get to know each other. She hoped she wasn’t pressing on Blake too much. She was so used to this part beingeasyfor her… Someone new popped up in the acolyte program and she was the social butterfly. Now, she was the one that was shunned and treated horribly. She was used to the person that brought people in that were treated badly. She did understand why she was being treated so poorly butugh,she didn’t have to like it. “Fair enough. My parents aren’t super intense about gender roles and stuff since Chiole pretty much treats people equally. But my mother encouraged me to take up needlework. I sometimes have to deal with children of dignitaries from Mantle, and the girls really don’t know how to do much. They often can’t read or write and have a very narrow scope of what they were allowed to learn, unlike me. So I have to approach them on their level as best I can. Needlework is the way to do that. But I do find it fun.” She smiled and took it out of the bag, showing Yang an intensely beautiful scene with gorgeous flowers. “That’s really pretty. Do you use a guide or anything?” “Not at this point. I can free hand things pretty well.” A knock came on the door and someone came in. He offered them each a menu, then retreated. Yang looked down at the menu which was, thankfully, in Valian. It was a list of cocktails that they could order. “Any suggestions? A lot of them look pretty sweet.” A lot of them involved syrups and juices which wasn’t what she was used to. She was used to them being straight alcohol more or less. There were a few like that but they seemed few and far between. “Or can I order things not on the menu?” “You can order things not on the menu, but there’s no guarantee they’ll be available.” Yang sighed. “Yeah, that makes sense.” She wasn’t someone that liked overly sweet things in general. Ruby really liked sweet things and had a massive sweet tooth. Yang didn’t. She didn’t understand the point of having a drink that was covered in all sorts of simple syrups and dripping with fruit juices. She didn’t mind juice sometimes, but it was justso sweet.Ruby would probably like a lot of these drinks since they had so many fruit juices. “Do you think I could get them without the juices?” “You can, but the balance of flavor will be off. It’s up to you though.” “Maybe I’ll get one with and without the juices to compare.” She looked over the menu again and found something that sounded like it might be good. She told Blake her order. Blake got up and went back to the door and spoke softly to the man through the cracked door. She sat back down again after a moment. “They should be out in the next five to ten minutes. This is a popular spot, so it can take a moment for things to arrive. Just don’t go overboard.” Yang shook her head. “I won’t. I’m just getting the same thing twice to compare and contrast. I probably won’t drink all of both of them. I usually don’t go over three full cocktails.” Blake nodded. “I don’t want an alcoholic for a wife…” “You won’t have one. I do drink, but it’s only a couple cocktails socially here and there. You were the one that suggested this.” She hoped Blake wouldn’t see her drinking socially,together,would impact Blake’s opinion of her. Thiswashersuggestion, after all. “We don’t even technically have to drink while we’re here if you don't want to. But no, seeing you drink on my suggestion won’t impact my opinion of you. If you just want water, can you go ahead and get that.” Yang nodded. “All right. I’m really not the type that likes to drink everyday anyway…” She’d try out some of the cocktails here and see if she liked them or not. So many of them just had fruit juices which wasn’t something she wanted. Chiole was rich in fruit, she could see that, so she understood why the cocktail culture would like to have so much juice in them. Vale cocktail culture wassodifferent; it was all about the alcohol, not juices. Yet another small thing she hadn’t thought about, yet was shocked by. She wanted to go back to Vale so badly, but she knew she couldn’t risk war either… Plus, Chiole needed the resources Vale could give. She hated this entire setup. She hadn’t even beenconsulted;it’d just beenmandatedfor her. She sighed heavily and looked down. Blake stood up and sat next to Yang, then offered her a hand. “I know, Yang… I know. This situationisn’teasy foreitherof us… If I could wave a magic wand and have it so we weren’t in this situation, I absolutely would. You’re definitely a very good person and you’refarfrom the worst choice for a partner… But yeah, itsucks.I wish we both could’ve had our choice of partner.” Yang hesitated before putting her hand in Blake’s. They were still essentially strangers so it felt weird to get comfort from her. But…they were going through this and going through ittogether.Who better to rely on for her emotional support than the person that also understood her feelings? Maybe not 100% one for one, but who understoodenough.“It’s not that I don’t think you’re a good person, Blake; you obviously are. It’s just having my choice ripped away from me is what sucks the most. I was never going to have a high marriage, most likely. I live in a weird limbo place. My father and stepmother are nobles, but because my noble title isn’t from Vale, I’m not recognisedasa full-fledged noble. I probably would’ve just married some commoner I met at my chapel. That would’ve been fine with me. Technically, marrying you is abigstep up socially for me, but mentally and emotionally…” Couple all of that with the culture shock and the racism… It was hard. It really was. Blakek nodded. “Arranged marriages are honestlyreallyfrowned upon here in Chiole… Our religion says that free choice is given to us by the High Mother. We value freedom and allowing ourselves to have a choice of our partners. Of course, socially, I would’ve had to marry someone of the nobility. There have been cases of royals marrying commoners, but it’s rare and not really accepted socially.” She shook her head. “I really don’t evenwantto get married, let alone carry on the line…” She paused. “To be honest, I’ve never even really had romantic or sexual feelings towardanybodyyet.” Yang blinked but nodded. “In Vale, the term for that is ‘bloomless’. Like you’ll never bloom in the same way other people do. It’s not the best term for it in my opinion, but it is what it is. But there is precedent for it, at least in Vale. However, a lot of people unfortunately have to push through it and be married to continue family lines and such. I’ve had crushes and stuff, so I definitely can’t relate but…” She wasn’t blaming Blake or anything; it just seemed to be a natural state for a small minority of people. Some people took vows of celibacy in certain orders, though Verana was not one to require any sort of celibacy. She wasn’t sure if some bloomless people did take vows or not… It would make sense. “I have heard of some people not having any attraction to others, but we don’t really have a word for it here in Chiole.” Blake sighed, her ears drooping over. “I thought I was just defective… Pretty much every other girl my age is fawning over someone, wanting to at least have a romantic relationship, if not have sex with somebody. I’ve always felt like an outcast in that regard… I just…” She sighed again. Yang nodded. “Yeah, that’s pretty normal for people our age, but not everyone deals with it the same.” She smiled at Blake. “And if we never feel that way about each other, that’s fine. I know you said we could potentially find someone else to love, but I’d rather be loyal even if there’s no love.” Yeah, Yang wasn’t the type to really want to stray from somebody like that. She knew some people did it, but it didn’t appeal to her, at least not as far as she was aware. She’d rather try to work through this with Blake if at all possible. She wanted to appear as unified to the Chilese people as she possibly could. It would no doubt be hard, but it would really work against them if they had other people on the side. She really would just rather try to work through this with Blake… Blake blinked and looked up, her ears pricking up a bit. “Really…?” Yang nodded. “Yeah, really. Plus, I’m not sure how it’d look to the people if their queen-consort was having a relationship, at minimum, with somebody else.” She was trying to win the people over as best she could, but it was hard. Nobody wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt. The only allies she had really were the people they’d met at the beach that one day and Agam. Five or six people out of an entirenationwasn’t really even a drop in the bucket. She really was trying to be fair to the people, but it was hard when she just wanted to befriend people. She hadn’t done anything wrong or anythingtothem. She had technically owned slaves as a child, but she wasn’t even old enough tounderstandwhat slavery had been or how it negatively impacted the people. Blake sighed. “I suppose that is a fair reason to not want to stray from me…but I also don’t want you to feel like I’m keeping your heart prisoner.” She squeezed Yang’s hand. “You should be free to be yourself.” “Unfortunately, the people don’t see it that way. Damned if I do, damned if I don’t, really.” She really wasn’t going to be winning people over in general, it seemed. She was trying, but it was like trying to scale a sheer rock face that was completely vertical. Pretty much impossible without specialised equipment. She didn’t understand Chilese culture or the language which would be her equipment. She was sticking to the Valian enclave which was more familiar, but it still carried the scars of Chiole’s past and present relationships with Mantle and Mistral. She really hoped that she could win more people over, but it really wasn’t going to work. “Unfortunately, you’re right. It will reflect better on you if you stick with me loyally, but personally, I don’t want you to feel like you have to give your heart to me.” Yang nodded. “You’re really warm and sweet, Blake. If this were another situation, I could see us falling in love naturally.” She smiled at Blake warmly and she saw Blake’s cheeks turn red. “O-Oh… Um… Thank you.” She tucked her hair behind her ear with her free hand. It was then that their cocktails came and Blake took her hand back, starting to sip on hers. Yang followed suit. It wassosweet because of the fruit juices in it. She shook her head. “Man, these are sweet.” “Are they?” Yang nodded. “I’m not used to cocktails that are like 80% fruit juice; I’m used to them being largely spirits with maybe some simple syrup or liqueurs added. I knew they’d be sweet, but tasting it is another thing entirely.” She wasn’t trying to admonish the Chilese palate; it justwas notwhat she was used to byanymeans. It legitimately just tasted like drinking a bunch of mixed fruit juices. She wasnotfond of this, but she didn’t find any cocktails that were mostly just spirits. Of course, those could be pretty harsh, but it was what she was used to. She really was trying, but it was hard when it was just sugar to the face. “I might just get some whiskey or wine…” Wine could be a little sweet, but it wasn’t just pure sugar. Blake nodded. “All right. If you don’t want to finish it, that’s fine.” Yang nodded and sat it down. She opened the door to their private room and got the server to bring her some white wine. She sat back down and opened her mouth, sucking on it a little to try to get the flavor of the fruit juice out. There were other types of wines on the menu, but she wasn’t sure how aggressive they were. “I guess I didn’t think of how a Valian palate would take our unique cocktails…” “It’s not your fault, Blake; seriously. Nobody can account for every detail. I’m just not used to overly sugary things is all. Maybe some simple syrup or a sugarcube in the cocktail, but notthis.If she had tried it in another setting, she might’ve liked it, but not when she was expecting a cocktail that was made entirely of spirits. She wasn’t really a wine drinker, but it sounded better compared to the pure fruit infusion that had greeted her. She wasreallytrying to adapt, but there wasn’t a lot she could do about it. It was hard when she’d not been allowedanysort of study on the culture or language before coming. She just… She really wished she could do more and do better, but there was only so much she could accept at any given time. Maybe she’d get used to Chilese cocktails in time, but right now…she just wanted some wine. Blake nodded a bit. “I’m just used to really fruity ones. I’d probably struggle in the opposite way if I were in Vale.” “Yeah, probably.” “I did see a bunch of other wine types. Are they any good?” “It depends on if you like the fruit or not. Obviously, wine is different than straight fruit juice.” “That is fair, I suppose. And I’ve never heard of most of these fruits before. Like the hell is a mango, kiwi, and pineapple?” She hadneverencountered those before even being in the noble class. They were from very far afield and she had never encountered them before. It was just so strange… There were all sorts of weird fruits that she’d never heard of before. She wasn’t sure if she’d like the wines made by them or not. “Well, we do have them as dried fruit pieces in some of our teas… Maybe we should do that tea-tasting buffet sometime soon… And have a fruit juice tasting too.” “That might help me adapt to the cocktails here.” Shereallywas trying. It was just hard when she’d never encountered most of these flavors before. It wasn’tbad,but it just wasn’t what she expected from cocktails. Vale’s culture and Chiole’s culture when it came to cocktails were completely different. Then again, it wasn’t like Vale had fresh fruit juice available year round for cocktails… They could have spirits, but they definitely didn’t have fruit juice all year. Even apple juice and applejack were only available during the fall months. “I would imagine bars in the Valian enclave are more similar to what we have here, but the Sapphire Decanter is the best place I know of.” Blake’s ears went down. “I’m not mad at you for suggesting something, Blake, so you don’t have to worry. Wedoneed to keep things relatively on the down low.” “What…does that mean?” “Discrete, clandestine, secret. If this is the place you trust to keep us and our dealings secret, then it’s the best place. Just because I have a preference for certain types of cocktails doesn’t mean we have to go somewhere less secure. I’ll get used to it in time.” She smiled. It was then that a knock came on the door. Yang got up and took the tray from the server which had a couple glasses of wine on it. She sat back down and tasted the wine. It was dry and astringent. Wine definitely wasn’t her favorite when it came to alcohol, but it definitely beat the overly sweet cocktails. “You want any? I’m not gonna drink all of this. There’s a difference between a couple drinks and getting completely plastered.” “I’ve never really indulged in wine before since I do prefer our fruity cocktails; it helps mask the taste of the alcohol. But it couldn’t hurt to try.” Blake took one of the glasses and drank it, then started coughing. “Oh… Yeah… That’s…” “Yeah, it’s kinda in your face, but to me, it’s better than the overly fruity cocktails.” She paused. “I wonder if we could ask the bartender if he has any Valian-style cocktails. I think I’m gonna stick to one or two glasses of this tonight and that’s it.” She didn’t want to get absolutely drunk. There was abigdifference between having one or two drinks and getting drunk. She wasn’t the type that liked to get drunk. A drink or two, fine. But drunk? No thanks. She had enough to deal with on her plate right now, and having a hangover the next morning wasnothigh on her to-do list right now. She was just trying to loosen up a bit and talk with Blake. “We could ask. Though if you don’t want to get drunk tonight, it’s probably best we wait.” Yang nodded. “Yeah.” She took a sip of the wine and let out a breath. “So what else do you want to talk about?” She was still pretty awkward with this and she’d reallyjustgotten her alcohol. Blake was about halfway through her first cocktail. They still had plenty of time until they had to leave. “I guess if you have any questions about me as a person…feel free to ask. I mean I do reserve the right to say no to something, though. We’re still kinda strangers.” She didn’t want to feel cornered when it came to answering things. They were still essentially strangers, so she may not want to answer some things. She hoped that was fair… Blake nodded. “It is. Same rules for me, then.” She took a sip of her cocktail. “I guess…what’s your family like? Raven’s obviously your birth mother, but since you’re in Vale, it sounds like somebody else took care of you…” Yang nodded. “Yeah, the woman Iconsidermy mother is Summer Rose. I was too young to remember when Raven left. I didn’t meet Summer until I was around five or six, but she stepped into the mother role for meimmediately.I didn’t understand what she said right at first, but her Semblance helped cut through and communicate what she wanted to a degree.” Blake tilted her head. “What’s her Semblance?” “Projected empathy. Basically, she can make people feel what she feels. She can forcefully change people’s emotions and even crush psyches if she wants to. But that’s not really how she uses her Semblance. She uses it to pass along how she feels to others. She used it to pass along how she felt to me until I started to understand her. I came to Vale not knowing any Valian.” This was all pretty safe, so she had no qualms with answering these questions. It would be one thing if they started digging into her relationships and deep personal traumas, but she felt okay with answering these questions. Blake nodded. “I see… How did your mother and father meet?” Yang sighed. “Arranged marriage. For what, I don’t really know. I was too young to really comprehend it and they’ve never really explained it.” She smiled a bit, though it was sad. She swirled her wine around in the cup, then took a sip. “It’s one of those ones that actually worked out pretty well. They love each other pretty deeply. Granted, Dad does still have some pretty bad views towards Faunus, but he’s learned not to express them.” That wasn’t something he’d ever probably shake, no matter what. He’d spent the majority of his life in Mistral and could comprehend slavery as an institution. He was very pro-slavery, but there had been enough conflicts between him and Summer to make him understand that those views weren’t accepted in Vale. There weren’t too many Faunus in the aristocracy, so he thankfully didn’t have to interact with themtoomuch and potentially offend somebody… Blake cringed. “I wouldn’t like to meet him.” Yang nodded. “Entirely fair. He’s a good man, though his views on Faunus are…reductive.” That was the nice way of putting it. She could see the disapproval in his eyes whenever she brought one of her Faunus friends home. It hurt to know that he didn’t see them as equal to her, but he at least didn’tsayit. However, her Faunus friends could usually tell when they weren’t welcome by him and generally opted to stay away from her house the first time or two after they met Taiyang. They were fine with Summer, but yeah, they definitely could tell Taiyang didn’t approve of them being there. He never said anything to her, but still… She was just glad he kept his mouth shut in front of her friends. “Well, that’s better than most of the Mistrali and Mantaline delegates we get.” Blake sighed, her ears drooping. “Their racism isin our face.They obviouslyhateus. They legitimately think that I should be serving thempersonallyjust because I’m a Faunus. I don’t know how to do anything like cleaning. I mean sometimes I cook because I find it fun, but that’s about as far as it goes for everyday skills. I wouldn’t know how to survive as an everyday person.” “What about the charity work you sometimes do?” “I mostly do cooking and baking things, not really weeding or cleaning or anything like that.” Yang nodded. “Gotcha.” That did make sense. People had their preferences for things and Blake’s were apparently skewed toward kitchen work. “Also, gotta say, love the spicing on the food here.” It was a slight deviation from the topic at hand, but since they were talking about food-related things, it didn’t feeltooout of hand. Blake smiled. “Well, Chiole’s main exportisspices, followed by tea. We really enjoy spiced food.” “Reminds me more of Mistral than Vale. In a good way.” She hoped that saying something reminded her of Mistral wasn’t bad… The foods in Mistrali cooking tended to have a lot of spicing on them, and she had missed that when she went to Vale. She had heard Mantaline foodcompletelylacked spicing in general, but she couldn’t confirm nor deny that. And she hoped tonevergo to Mantle. She’d met expants from there and they were usually women who were escaping for a myriad of reasons. “Are the rumors I’ve heard about how Mantle treats women are true?” Blake nodded and sighed. “Yes, they are, at least from what I’ve seen. Weneverget female delegates. The women that come with their husbands are often just pretty baubles. They’ve just been…broken, for lack of a better term. Their souls are essentially dead. It’s not a good place.” SHe paused. “How about something more pleasant, though. Your mother’s Semblance sounds interesting.” Yang nodded. “It is. When I’m super upset, she would hug me and wrap her warmth and love around me.” She sighed. She might never get to experience that again… She missed Summer and Taiyang so much. Yes, she could go back for a little bit, but it didn’t mean she was happy about it. She wanted to be with themall the time,not just for a short stint. She missed themso much.She might have to visit again in the next couple of days despite the time difference. She really just wanted more of Summer’s hugs, and she missed Ruby too. “It sounds a lot like one of the Grades of advanced aura… Which, by the way… When we get back, we should do some meditation. You said you wanted to follow the path and learn it, right?” Yang nodded. “Thatiswhy I got my aura unlocked.” She swirled her wine around again and finished the glass. “I’ve just never been the type to meditate. Sorry if I’ve forgotten over the past day or two…” Blake shook her head. “No, it’s fine, Yang… There’s been a lot going on. EvenI’veforgotten about doing my daily meditation. My family’s probably doing it right now, but we can do our own sessions after we get back from the Sapphire Decanter if you want.” She tilted her head to the side, obviously curious. “Sounds good.” Though the long days weredefinitelywearing on her… She hated how depleted of energy she was, but there wasn’t a lot she could do about it. The constant in-her-face racism suckedbeyondwords. She hoped that the tiara would be done soon and that she wouldn’t have to wait much longer for it. She really,reallyjust wanted to settle and fit in as much as she could, but that might never happen. She was a human among Faunus. She would probablyneverbe accepted by the Chilese people as their princess-consort, let alone queen-consort. She was trying, but it hadn’t beenthat longthat she’d been there… She could only hope and pray that she would eventually be accepted, but that might never come… Ugh. All she could do was keep trying her best. Blake’s ears twitched. “Are you sure you want to come here and talk…? If you’rethattired…” Yang sighed. “I need to get used to it. I can’t keep going to bed while the sun’s still up. It’s just…mentally taxing to have to deal with what I deal with everyday. I’m sure you feel exhausted after dealing with Mantaline and Mistrali delegates.” “That… Yeah, I do. And you’re just getting it day in and day out, eveninsideof the castle.” She bowed her head. “I’m really sorry, Yang… I wish there was more I could do, but I’ve told you about the difficulties with enforcing our anti-racism laws…” Yang nodded and then yawned widely. Blake’s ears twitched. “You okay, Yang?” “Just…tired all of a sudden. Probably just everything I’ve been dealing with and such…” Yeah, she was tired. “We should probably head back then.” “Are you sure? I haven’t even finished one of the glasses of wine.” She knew that they were royalty, so they didn’t have to worry too much about money, but even so… “If you need to sleep, then so be it. I at least finished my cocktail.” Yang nodded. “All right.” They got the bill and Blake paid, and then they got back into the carriage. Yang stretched and laid down on the seat, closing her eyes. She was tired. So tired. She was looking forward to getting back and sleeping. Thankfully, Blake didn’t try to talk during the ride back. Once back, Yang followed Emmalyn back to her room. Raven looked at her. “Ready to head to bed, kid?” Yang nodded. “Let me get ready, then we can go to sleep.” Thankfully, it didn’t take too long. Once changed, she curled up next to Raven and nodded off.