Bad Dream

Yang returned to her room with Raven and looked at the assembled pictures and such. She was glad to not have any sort of restrictions on hanging things. She simply didn’t want to do something that might make Kali or Ghira angry. She wasn’t sure what the level of Kali’s patience was. It was usually the quiet ones she had to worry about when it came to anger. There was a saying in Vale to beware the quiet ones. Their anger and fury was often farworse than people with actual anger issues. She started moving things around again until a knock came on the door. She blinked and answered it. It was Blake, of course. “Can I come in?” Blake’s ears twitched and Yang looked at the state of disarray. Things hung out of her trunks, pictures lay scattered about… It was pretty clear she was settling in. She didn’t particularly want anybody outside of Raven to see, but if they ended up sharing a room after marriage… Granted, it wasn’t like Yang’s room was normally like this. “I guess.” Yang moved aside and let Blake in. She looked around for a moment but said nothing. “I figured out where we should go. A couple of shelters in the main city, then two chapels in the Valian enclave. The people there know me pretty well. Does that sound okay?” “It’s not like I would know any better.” Yang shrugged. No point in beating around the bush. She didn’t know Chiole or its main city like Blake did. If she thought these places were best, who was she to say no? Yes, this was for the express purpose of getting the people to warm up to Yang, but what else were they supposed to do? It wasn’t like she could mingle with the nobility and speak to them yet… Oh. That did raise a good question… “What about my Chilese lessons?” She was supposed to be getting those a few times a day. That was one thing she did notwant to skimp on. Learning the language really was one of her prime concerns right now. She didn’t want to not be able to speak the language for longer than necessary. She still hadn’t met her language teacher yet and it sounded like she was busy a lot of the time. How was she supposed to learn if she was away from the manor? Plus, she needed manners lessons too… “I can’t really teach you grammar or politeness or anything, but I can help you build basic vocabulary and teach you basic sentence structure. After we get back for the day, Elana can have a longer lesson for you. Does that sound good?” Blake’s head canted to the side and Yang tapped her chin. She had picked up Valian naturally as a child so it wasn’t like she’d ever formally learned a language like this. She had a pretty good attention span, so it wouldn’t be hard for her to sit through an hour-long lesson if it came to that. She’d had acolyte lessons that were three hours or longer at times. Those were the worst, but she didn’t have any real choice in the matter. She needed to learn those things and intensive seminars were sometimes the best way to handle lessons. “All right. That sounds like a decent compromise.” She paused. “Will we still have tea together? Will we come back her for dinner?” She just wanted to know what her day would look like. She wasn’t against doing charity work all day since she was no stranger to it. Sometimes she’d spend the entire weekend down at her chapel to give alms to the poor. They would spend all day finding or baking loaves of bread to give them to those who needed it. It was always reward to help those in need. “I know a good place not too far from our third stop. I figure we can take tea and lunch there. I’ll have someone stop there beforehand to make reservations, then we can come back here for dinner. After that, you can have your language lesson. Sound good?” Yang nodded. “Sounds like a plan.” She had no reason to object really. She was mostly along for the ride at this point. She had no idea where they were going and what they’d be doing. She accepted to get the people on her side and hoped they would accept her in due time. She had really done nothing wrong to the Faunus community as far as she could see… Her Mistrali family had owned slaves, but she hadn’t treated them poorly… Plus, she’d only been a child at that pint. It wasn’t herfault she’d been born into a slave-owning family… “Let’s go then.” Blake stood up and they left the room and Blake knocked on the door across from Yang’s. Tahir was pretty cross from the look on his face and his body language, but he said nothing. Clearly he didn’t like Yang. Probably because she was a human. It was hard to not start to get depressed over her treatment even though it had only been a few days. It wasn’t fair. She’d done nothing wrong to be treated like this. She hated this but was else could she say? The people here didhave reason to be angry at humans. They headed down to the carriage and got in. Yang sighed but looked at Blake. “So where’s our first stop and how long are we staying?” It was about ten thirty at that point, so fitting like place before dinner would be hard. They wouldn’t get a lot of time at each place. She wasn’t looking forward to the first leg of the journey, though… She wouldn’t be able to communicate. “A food pantry. People bring their extra canned and jarred goods for less fortunate people to purchase. They also bake bread there which is what we’ll be helping with.” Yang nodded. Well, that was something she knew how to do at least. She would often spend time in the kitchens at home with the cooks. She made half a dozen to a dozen loaves sometimes and gave them to her chapel to give them away. Low cost for a noble family. “So I won’t interact with the public?” It was just a question. She wasn’t going to be upset if ‘yes’ was the answer. She was trying to understand what her role was going to be. If it was volunteer work, she didn’t care. She gave plenty of her time to different organisations without any expectations of pay. She was noble. Payment didn’t matter to her. “Not really unless you want to help people with using me or Tahir as your translator. I figure it would help ease you in a bit…unless you wantedto?” Blake fidgeted a bit. Yang shrugged. SHe would learn the language in due time, but until then, she would stay in the background. “Okay then. How about some vocabulary?” Blake started teaching her a handful of words, but Yang found herself struggling a bit. Standard Central Mistrali had tones, but not to the degree of Chilese. This was going to be much harder than she anticipated. They arrived at a fairly nondescript location and the guards got out with them. The people looked a bit spooked as the small group made their way inside. Blake talked to an older woman who glanced at Yang a bit nervously. Yang could sadly imagine what she was saying, but Blake’s tone and body language surprisingly told that Blake was defending her. Blake looked at Yang. “She wants to know if you have any kitchen experience.” Yang nodded. “Plenty. I bake bread pretty often so I’m plenty familiar with it.” With that done, the conversation ended and they were led to the back kitchens. If Yang had thought the tropical heat was oppressive, these kitchens were unbearable. Three wood fires all at various stages of heating. It was a bit hectic here, but she was used to how insane kitchens could be. There was always method to the madness. She simply didn’t know how the method here was. She was placed in a line of people and context told her she was to knead the bread. Granted, the Faunus around her looked uneasy. She offered them a smile. They didn’t reciprocate, but there wasn’t any real time to worry about it. Dough started coming her way and she went to work. It didn’t take too long for her to fall into a rhythm and understanding of this particular make of dough. It was far different from what her family normally ate, but it was still dough and her experience wasn’t going to betray her. In due time, though, Blake came over and eventually tapped her shoulder. “It’s been a bit over an hour, Yang.” Really? Though now that she felt her arms… Ow. All of that kneading had definitely given her a workout. She would be feeling that tomorrow. She glanced around to see the Faunus on the stations next to her and the one before her seemed sad. Blake could no doubt read Yang’s aura, so she answered the unspoken question. “She did think you were a good worker. But we have to move on.” Yang nodded and followed Blake back out to the carriage. Once seated inside, Blake did look at Yang. “We will be interacting with the public at the next stop. It’s a low-cost clothes stop. Our measurements are done in inches, so people will know their measurements. A lot of people will be new, so we can help them find what they need. Tahir will be your translator.” Yang glanced at the man who looked entirely off put. She couldn’t do anything about it though. How frustrating. “You really hate me, don’t you?” Yang’s voice was quiet and the main recoiled as if shot. Now he looked nervous. Blake’s gaze on him was cool and he tugged at the collar of his shirt. “O-Of course not. I was simply planning on spending my day doing something different…” “Liar.” It came from Blake. “You can’t hide from me.” Tahir’s face paled and he looked away. Blake sighed. “I really am sorry about this, Yang. Tahir is loyal to us as a family. We thought he’d be a good fit. He really is the best translator we have, but apparently, his loyal isn’t enough to transfer to you.” Yang looked down but gave a sad shrug. “It’s probably asking too much of anybody to truly accept me. I’m a human. Chiole is a refuge for Faunus from humans, but they’re going to be a queen as one in a few years’ time.” She could get why everyone hated her so much. Slavery was an awful institution that disenfranchised millions of lives. For people escaping from that, they would want nothing to do with humans again. Humans could be real bastards; there was no way around it. Was there even a point in trying to win people over at this rate? It felt like an exercise in futility. Everyone would hate her. Blake sighed. “We’re probably better off in the Valian enclave.” She poked her head out of the window and spoke to the driver in rapid Chilese. She felt the carriage take a turn to the right and Blake settled back down. “The people in the Valian enclave are still hurting, but at least you can communicate with most of them. Want work on some more vocabulary until then?” “Sure, I guess.” All of this felt like an exercise in futility. She wasn’t going to win anybody other as long as she was in Chiole. She hated all of this. She was normally a fighter, but she’d seen how people reacted to humans here. It was hard to not get broken down over it. Though, from the look on Blake’s face, something was cooking in her mind. They arrived at a chapel of Alono, the god of summer. Yang didn’t know every Valian god by their robes, but she knew the four seasons on sight. It wasn’t hard to pick out the orange and red robes by sight. Not to mention the highly embroidered sleeves. They were easy standouts among the various sects that Vale was home to. The priests looked wary but Blake offered a bow. “I’m Her Highness, Blake Belladonna, and this is my fiance, Yang Xiao Long. We figured we could help you with clean up around here.” There were a lot of trees and a lot of leaves on the ground. The priests looked at each other and one retreated inside, only to return with the chaplain. Blake spoke coolly to the man who appeared rather ill tempered. He obviously didn’t like Yang being there, but Blake eventually won. “Do you know how to do yard work?” he growled. Sadly, Yang wasn’t too surprised by the treatment. It seemed to be pretty standard at this point. “Yes, sir. I’m plenty familiar with yard work. Tell me what to do and I’ll do it. I’m an acolyte to Verana.” She was a noble, sure, but most things weren’t below her. She had days where she did nothing but yard work or cleaned the choir’s robes. Dusting, sweeping, rug beating, and so on. Nothing was beneath her. He led them to the communal garden. “Weed and water. Some others will help.” Then he stormed off, leaving Blake and Yang alone for the time being. However, a few acolytes came over and looked at them nervously. “Tell me what to do and I’ll do it.” Yang left it there. An acolyte told her the order of things and she nodded. She pulled some beaten up gardening gloves out of the shed and got on her knees. There was no time to waste when it came to weeding. It had to be done everyday so that way the food wouldn’t get overwhelmed and choked out or else it wouldn’t grow. Though she did imagine the growing seasons were much longer here in Chiole… Blake settled in next to her and Yang glanced over. She really wasn’t used to nobles, let alone royals, being so invovled. Blake smiled at her. “A good leader doesn’t observe from a long distance. They do things as best they can.” “Try telling that to King Ivan.” Yeah, the king and his wife were terrible. She hated them so much but there wasn’t much she could do about it. She was some bastard from Mistral with no title or ranking. Granted, she couldn’t really remember how her father had handled things while they were in Mistral. Summer got personal with her knights and squires though. She was a fairly model noble in Yang’s eyes. She would make a far better queen than the current one. With that done, though, they fell silent and went to weeding and watering. Yang moved between the two, pumping up water from the well to water the plants with. If she stayed down too long, she started to feel faint from the heat. Thankfully, an acolyte did provide them with water and they took a five-minute break every half hour. Even though the ministering chaplain wasn’t happy Yang was there, the acolytes were clearly impressed. The main one taking care of them was awestruck. “Wow! I didn’t know humans could work so hard!” Yang sighed internally but ignored it. “I’m nothing if not a hard worker. I’m not so different from you in a lot of respects. I’m a noble—” Sort of, but she didn’t feel like explaining to some random person. “—but I still learned to take care of myself. I help with everything an acolyte does.” Bread making was one of the duties for young acolytes so they could sell or give it to the poor. Same with meal prep. She hadn’t skipped on any of those duties despite being a noble.she knew how to do it all. She even did laundry to help people out that didn’t have the time. She was incredibly domestic due to all the lessons she’d learned at her chapel. The girl’s ears twitched and she looked at Yang. “If you know how to do all the acolyte stuff, could you help us with laundry? We do it twice a week and today’s one of those days. We’re a little short handed for it today…” She looked at Blake who nodded. She didn’t want to up and abandon Blake, but if she could be of use some other way, she’d do it. The chaplain might not be happy about it, but she’d do it. She didn’t really have anything better to do anyway. She could just help all day with stuff like this. “All right. Show me where to go.” She got up and was led to an area with a ton of wicker baskets and large pots of water. Clothes lines sat underneath a pavillion to shade them from inclement weather. It didn’t take Yang too long to fall into her usual habits even if she wasn’t familiar with where things were. The acolytes definitely seemed impressed. “So who’re you?” one asked. He seemed the least off put by her presence. The others kept a safe distance between themselves and Yang, but he approached her pretty fearlessly. It was definitely a nice change of pace to not be treated like the scum of the earth for once. She knew she couldn’t get used to it as the norm but it was so nice. “Yang. I’m an acolyte to Verana and fiance to your princess.” For her, the fiance thing wasn’t as important. She was first and foremost a future clergy member like they were. Or, well, at least been future clergy at one point. SHe wouldn’t attain that title now that she was engaged to Blake. She had too many lessons to learn about Chiole and taking it over one day. She hated that she’d been pulled away from her chosen path, but she couldn’t let these people suffer. Even if almost all of them absolutely despised her. The acolytes looked at each other and obviously started gossiping though it was in Chilese to Yang’s ears. The boy smiled. “We had heard that Her Highness Blake was engaged, but we never expected to meet them. I’m Agam. It’s nice to meet you.” He offered a bow and Yang awkwardly returned it. It’d take her time to get used to that. She hoped she wasn’t broaching any sort of etiquette. She hadn’t had any manners lessons yet. “Nice ta meetcha.” Yang offered an awkward smile to him. She was glad at least one person wasn’t acting like she was scum of the earth. But she fell back into helping with the laundry until a small group of people came up, no doubt to get their stuff. She walked over and smiled at them. “Who’re you? I can help you find your stuff.” She was so used to this she thought nothing of it. But the reaction was unnerved which made Yang sigh internally again. “What’s a humandoing here? You weren’t here earlier.” One of the women looked very upset about all of this. She wasn’t surprised but still… It was so frustrating. She hoped she could win people over but it was going to be a long, uphill battle. “She’s here helping us. She’ll be your queen-consort someday.” Agam approached, hands tucked behind his back. The woman looked outright aghast and said something in Chilese to him. She could only imagine what it was from her tone. Clearly it was nothing particularly kind, though. She wanted to say but she knew it’d be a losing battle. All she could do was stand and watch while Agam handled it. It was then that Blake came over. “Come on, Yang; it’s time for lunch.” Blake looked at the woman but Yang took advantage of the situation and walked away with Blake. Blake sighed. “I really am sorry about all of this, Yang. The people of Chiole are normally kind and gracious—” Yang shrugged. “It is what it is.” There was no point in getting up in arms about it. She had a long, uphill battle ahead of her. SHe would do her best to win them over, but she was in no real position to complain about it. They got int he carriage and she slumped in the seat. Blake was silent, obviously giving her mental space. At least until they came to a stop and Blake looked over. “Ready to eat?” Yang gave a weak nod and stepped out into the bright Chilese sunshine again. At least she’d get a reprieve for a bit.