First Meetings

“Yes. The young Miss Schnee shows quite a lot of promise with music despite her young age. She’s already reading at a level three years above where she should be.” Winter froze at the voice. Her former music teacher, Mr. Brooks. She hadn’t seen him for a few years now. What was he doing back at Schnee manor? And what was he talking about? She was perfect in music as with everything—so who? Willow was an only child and Nicholas had been to the extent of her knowledge. Willow had seemed to continue that legacy with only her, but she had been oddly absent the past several years. Then again, with her alcoholism…     SHe pressed herself against the bookcase, heart pounding in her ears. She needed to get to the bottom of this.     “She is surprisingly astute. She seems to pick up on most things very quickly. Her eye for color with needlepoint is also superb.” Winter wrinkled her nose at the thought. An hour each day was dedicated to the tedious, mind-numbing task. It still didn’t answer her question of who they were talking about, though…     “She’s a lot more obedient than that unruly Winter is.” Mr. Brooks snorted and Winter’s blood turned to ice in her veins. She had a sister? And she wasn’t a toddler from the sound of it. She’d seen Willow broken up more than a few over the past several years for reasons beyond the usual abuse, but now she knew why. Jacques had been hiding at least one sibling from her and she had to know what was going on.     She’d get to the bottom of it that night.     Winter sat on her bed, a hand in front of her mouth. So she had a younger sister. Jacques had hidden her from her for at least a few years. She would likely have been kept in the west wing where the family stayed, but the question was where. The first and second floors were out as Jacques and Willow had their room on the first. Hers was on the second. That left two floors and a fifty-fifty chance of finding her little sister that night. It’d hopefully be easy enough to find the door since she already knew what to look for. But there were dozens of rooms and the servants would report her to her Jacques if they found her. It’d be a race against time and chance.     She had to get this perfect the first time or else she’d likely never meet her little sister.     Well, it wasn’t like this was a situation she hadn’t found herself in before.     She’d try the fourth floor. It made the most sense if they wanted to keep them separated. If she was as restricted to her room as Winter was, then the sound wouldn’t carry down to her room. It’d also probably be on the opposite end of the hall.     With a nod to herself, Winter extracted a bobby pin from her nightstand and slid it inside the lock on her door. Both that and the deadbolt popped open with practiced ease. It’d taken her far too long to learn to pick them, but now, simple muscle memory kicked in. She couldn’t stop the faint smile on her lips at the thought of how easily she slipped past Jacques’ security. It was tight, but nothing could surpass perfection.     She darted through the halls, slate blue eyes scanning the ceiling for any cameras. Jacques’ obsession with security drove her nuts, but by this point, she knew the range and timing of all models due to her traipses to the library. The servants proved more difficult to avoid, but with the late hour, most were only concerned about their duties. It wasn’t as if anybody expected perfect little Winter to break her curfew and deprive herself of sleep.     After what had to have been over half an hour, she started past a door and froze, her eyes narrowing. There it was; her sister’s room. She placed a gloved hand on the knob and put her thumb over the lock. She felt it pop as she slipped inside, closing it silently with practiced ease.     A small noise of fright came from behind the four-poster bed and she took in a deep breath. This was going to be hard on her little sister. She had already anticipated it, but to actually face her down… She really didn’t know if she’d scare her or not. If the earlier conversation and the small noise were anything to go off of, her sister was terrified. She could hardly blame her, though, if she’d suffered even half of the abuse she herself had endured. She could only pray her heard demeanor wouldn’t completely terrify her.     Pushing a strand of her hair back into place, she approached the bed and tapped the hanging curtains. Another small noise responded and her heart sank. No, she had to be strong. She was a Schnee and Schnees did not break.     She pulled the curtain back just enough to peek around it. A small girl about four or five years old huddered against her pillow, innocent blue eyes wide. Her sheets shook as her white hair glowed in the pale moonbeams through the gaps in the curtains. Winter’s heart skipped several beats as a knot formed in her throat. SHe was most definitely a Schnee; they looked too similar to not be siblings.     For the first time Winter knew, she did something unexpected: she smiled softly and allowed her perfection to relax. With how Jacques was, it would only scare her more. That was the last thing she needed.     She sat on the edge of the bed, causing her sister to press against the headboard. She closed her eyes and took in a deep breath before looking back at the terrified girl. She just had to remember how Willow had treated her before turning to alcohol. “I’m sorry for scaring you, but you’ve got nothing to fear from me. I’m your older sister, Winter. What’s your name?” She kept her voice as low as she could and didn’t move an inch. Her sister’s eyes scanned her, though the locked down onto the bed near her hands. Cold fury bubbled in her heart, but she said nothing.     The silence stretched between them and Winter mentally cursed. Of course she was silent; women were to be seen and not heard. She knew Jacques’ mantra all too well: victory through control and perfection. Apparently he’d moved onto controlling her little sister since his plans for perfection through her had failed.     After several more moments of silence, Winter slid off the bed, not wanting to scare her sister any further. Jacques terrorised her enough; she didn’t need it from another family member.     She wouldn’t give up though.     Unfortunately, Winter knew it was too dangerous to sneak out every night. She risked her own safety as well as that of her sister’s whenever she did, so she had to be smart about it. She only visited two more times over the next month with similar results.     She couldn’t stand it any longer, though, and returned to her sister’s room for the fourth time. She heard her soft breaths behind the curtains, glad to know she slept peacefully. She smiled faintly and pulled the curtain back.     It took every ounce of perfection she had to not march down to the first floor and blast Jacques with a Glyph.     A cast adorned her little sister’s arm. She could feel the marble stairs against her own back as she looked at it.     Jacques had gone too far this time.     She pulled a chair over to her little sister’s bed and wrapped her gloved hands around the uncast one. She closed her eyes and searched for the faint memory of when Willow had unlocked hers. It tugged dimly at the corners of her consciousness, but she found it, repeating the words generations before her had spoken.     “For it is in passing that we achieve immortality. Through this, we become a paragon of virtue and glory to rise above all. Infinite in distance and unbound by death, I release your soul, and by my shoulder, protect thee.” She felt a subtle shift in her sister and managed a small smile. At least she’d have her aura to protect her now. She’d have to learn to use it but…     Winter’s head dropped a bit and she rested her arms on the bed. It had been a long day and Jacques had been in a foul mood for the duration. Her own aura had hit bottom and this wasn’t easy to to do since she was so inexperienced. She let her head drop, though she kept her hands wrapped around her sister’s. A few minutes of resting her eyes wouldn’t hurt, right…?     A small shift snapped her awake and she scanned the room. Moonlight filtered through the curtains and she breathed a sigh of relief.     Then her sister’s innocent blue eyes met hers and Winter smiled softly. “I feel different…” Her sister’s words barely reached a whisper and Winter nodded as she sat up. She started to pull away, but her sister held onto one of her hands. Her eyes rounded owlishly.     “Yes… I unlocked your aura. It’ll protect you from this happening again.” Winter kept her voice low as she let her free hand brush over the cast. “You’ll need to learn to activate it, but you are a Schnee; it should come easily.” Even Willow who had never experienced true combat had mastery over her Glyphs…at least before she’d turned to alcohol and sleeping pills. A Schnee could and would take to and master her Glyphs in time. If her sister was even half as skilled as she was.     The girl gave a small nod and looked down. “…Weiss.”     Huh?     Winter blinked and looked up.     “I’m Weiss.”     Winter nodded and shifted to sit on the bed next to Weiss. Weiss tensed but allowed Winter to pull her close. Winter placed a soft kiss on her head before murmuring.     “By my own life, I will protect thee.”