Breaking the Silence

Blake held on for dear life as they rose higher and higher into the air. She wanted to grip onto the feathers, but Wendy had told her explicitly not to do that. She shivered, eyes wide, as they rose high above the trees and she looked around. Airships were common enough on her planet, but flying in the air like this wasn't common at all. It wasn't like they had birds the size of people that could easily carry a person into the sky like this. Some large birds, sure, but they weren't heavy or bulky enough to support a person's weight. She heard Wendy laugh. "You should see the look on your face. It never gets old seeing someone's first flight!" "I'm used to flying; just not like this!" Blake yelped. she was normally not this scared of things, but this was definitely an experience and a half. They were hundreds of feet off the ground. One wrong slip and it'd be lights out for her. How Wendy wasn't afraid, she had no idea. She was absolutely terrified. She already hated this, but it was probably quicker than going around by foot. She wanted a tour of the region and she was definitely going to get it. They flew in silence for a while until Wendy made a hand signal and both birds descended. The speed was kind of frightening as was seeing the ground come so close. But they landed safely and gently without any incident. Blake slid off her Staraptor with shaking legs and practically collapsed on the ground. She had never been so glad to be standing and on the ground. How anyone could deal with flying like that on a daily basis was beyond her. All she heard was a chuckle and looked up to see Wendy standing over her. "Yeah, the first couple flights are usually pretty terrifying. We don't train Rangers to fly until they've graduated, at least. You're not a Ragner, though, so I'm not breaking any protocol by taking you on trips. Granted, Summer would probably let it slide anyway... She's not someone to run a super tight ship aside from some things here and there. She's usually pretty permissive in letting us do things as long as we felt we're in the right. Need a few minutes, though?" "Uh. Yeah." Blake was surprised she managed to get anything out with as shaky as her voice was. She spoke quietly, still terrified out of her mind. She closed her eyes and listened to the thrumming of the earth for a good few minutes before getting up. Her legs still shook quite a bit, but she felt a little more centered at least. She let out a breath and nodded. "Okay, I'm...as good as I can be, at least. For what little time I had." "We won't be going too far right now. I just wanted to show you this place to tell you to avoid it if you go wandering away from the Union." She motioned to cliffs that rose pretty high and looked sandy and unstable. "This is Peril Cliffs. We don't let Rangers under a certain Rank go here unless there's an emergency. Like the name implies, they're pretty perilous and it's easy to slide and fall off if you don't know what you're doing. We train certain Rangers to come here specifically to deal with issues like lost hikers and such. That way there are always some people that know how to deal with the Cliffs. We always keep at least one or two Rangers stationed here since some people can get in their own heads and think they can brave the Cliffs without any training." Wendy motioned to a cabin nearby. "They patrol the area and respond immediately. If any backup is needed, we send Rangers on Staraptor." "I see..." The cliffs did look pretty fucking dangerous with as sandy and crumbly as they were. Someone could definitely get into trouble there if they weren't paying attention or had no idea what was going on. "Oh, yeah, there are a couple places in Almia I'm not going to show you because they're pretty far out of the way like the Haruba Desert with Hippowdon Temple and the Ice Castle. You have no reason to go there, so I won't take us out there." Blake shook her head. "Going to somewhere called the Ice Castle doesn't sound particularly appealing anyway... I'm not particularly fond of the cold." Her home nation was relatively tropical so she wasn't used to cold and ice and snow. Though, if there was a tundra here, it meant this place probably got somewhat cold in the winter... Joy. And she had no idea how long she was going to be here either. It was what it was, but she didn't necessarily have to like it. She would do what she could here, but she truly did just want to go home. But without the queen anywhere to be found... She was essentially useless. She felt bad for leaving her family, but what else could she do? Ironwood had been after her ass to try to extract information from her... Like more or less what had happened to Weiss. She needed to keep her head down and not be found. "Fair enough. I'm showing you mainly Pueltown and Chiole Village today. Maybe some other time we can make the trek out there, but that's a much longer journey." Blake nodded at Wendy's words. She was just fine avoiding a desert and an icy tundra. She saw no reason to push to go visit those places especially if someone native to the area said they weren't worth visiting in one day. She doubted she'd stray too far away from the Union currently. It wasn't like she had any money to buy anything so it wasn't like she could go shopping. Her accounts were all back home and it wasn't like she could just go to the bank and grab money to go out for a day on the town... Guh. That was really annoying. She wasn't a big shopper, but she wouldn't have any financial freedom here, not until she found some sort of employment somewhere. "Would you know anywhere looking for workers?" Blake asked. "Maybe the Union needs a front desk person or something like that." She would need to study up on the various differences in the worlds and learn about Pokemon and such, but she was ready to get to work honestly. Granted, the only life she had known was that of a castle guard so it wasn't like she had many transferable skills... But she knew there were unskilled labor jobs like retail and such that basically anybody could take on if they got hired in. Though... Yeah. She didn't have any sort of traceable history in this world, no references, nothing like that. She would have trouble getting hired anywhere without being paid under the table. "There might be some places in Pueltown, or maybe a farm in Chiole Village could use some help. But unless you get a government ID, nobody can hire you." "That's what I was thinking too." She sighed. "Knowing Summer, she's going through the process of trying to get you and Weiss some sort of IDs and official records. There's a process in Almia and Fiore for people in Oblivia to get government IDs. Most of those people don't legally exist because Oblivia is so cut off from the world." "Oblivia?" "A small tropical island chain. It's basically been forgotten by the world. A couple thousand people live there, but it's mostly a national park and reserve for Pokemon. There's a nasty process to go through in order to move there. It's mainly because there are so many legendaries there and we don't want word getting out to other regions there are, like, a dozen legendaries there." Blake tilted her head. The word meant nothing to her really. "Basically a legendary is a really rare type of Pokemon that there are very few of and they're usually incredibly powerful. Some people attempt to poach them. Unfortunately, the Fiore legendaries of Entei, Rikou, and Suicune got captured by a nasty group called Cipher some years back and were used in terrible experiments. They don't trust people anymore despite having been created by Lord Arceus with the express intent of teaching and guiding humans." "I see." She still didn't entirely get it, but she thought she at least understood the general gist. Poaching could be a problem on her world too. Trying to preserve nature and animal life could be really difficult because it was being pushed further and further to the fringes. The population was still growing quite a bit... There were several billion people on the planet and species were going extinct all the time...and people liked to poach certain species for bushmeat and the illegal pet trade. "Anyway, we should get to Pueltown. Let's go!" Wendy grinned and Blake sighed and got back on her Staraptor. Blake held on for dear life, her heart threatening to pound out of her chest. The scenery was definitely gorgeous, but it was hard to appreciate how pretty it was when she felt like she was skimming over tree tops and could touch them. Falling would absolutely be the end of her if it happened. She had no idea how she wasn't supposed to pull the feathers of the Staraptor. This was almost too much. She really didn't understand how Wendy seemed to be having fun and enjoying herself. She kept swearing, looping, and just obviously enjoying the feeling of flying on a Pokemon in the open sky. She just... Gah, how did anybody find this enjoyable??? Eventually, forest gave way to a small town and they landed on the outskirts. Once again, Blake slid off the bird with shaking legs and practically dropped to the ground. "Where's the public transport?" she asked. Seriously, why wasn't there any? Where were the trains and taxis and buses and everything else? Why didn't they have any of that? She wasn't even sure if this tiny, ho-dunk place had an airport... Seriously, this place was so country living it was insane. "We don't really have any. We're not like the large Trainer regions such as Kanto, Johto, and Kalos. They have tons of public transport. We have one town and multiple small villages. Most people don't really leave where they live unless it's like an emergency and they have to come to Pueltown for medical attention. Pueltown and Chiole Village are the two biggest settlements. Pueltown has a couple thousand people and Chiole Village has a couple hundred. Pueltown has a couple Ranger Bases in it and Chiole Village has one. There are multiple Bases strewn around the countryside since a lot of people live pretty isolated on their farms and such. Those that live out farther do have cars." Not even big enough for public transit... Yeesh. That was terrible. Granted, she wasn't really used to using it at all herself. With her high status, she had private chauffeurs and such. She had never ridden on a public train or anything of the like. It was all private. "Do you guys even have an airport?" "A couple, yeah. One outside of Pueltown, one near the Ice Castle, and one in the Haruba Desert. It's easier to reach those areas with a plane than trying to go out there on Staraptor and such. You can get to the desert by boat though. The tundra the castle is in is landlocked though. Plus, we do get tourists from Trainer regions every so often. It's easiest to come by air since the Ranger regions are so isolated." Blake nodded a bit, though she didn't entirely understand the layout of the world. She would need to see a map to understand what exactly was being talked about. "I see. Would you happen to have a map I can look at sometime...?" "Not on me, but there are plenty of maps around the Union. We can look when we get back. Sound good?" Blake nodded a bit. She forced herself to her feet though her legs kept shaking. "You know... We can go back to the Union after this if you want. You're obviously not doing too well." "I'm just not used to riding on a bird big enough to carry me. Flights are done in airships and planes. Plus, the fact I could just slip off and fall to my doom... Not appealing. I don't understand how you enjoy this so much." She was just being honest. It wasn't an accusation. She just legitimately did not understand how Wendy took this so well and obviously enjoyed it. It made no sense to her. "Well, when you've been doing it for as many years as I have, it becomes second nature. I'm even called the Flying Ranger because I'm so natural in the skies." Wendy chuckled. "It takes most new Rangers a year or two to fully get used to riding on Staraptor, but it's the fastest way to get from Point A to Point B on the main area of Almia, tundra and desert excluded due to the lack of public transit. And most people don't have licenses plus it'd be a real pain to keep up a fleet of cars and off-road vehicles for Rangers to use... that'd just be more training they needed in the Academy when their schedule is already packed." "I guess that makes some sense. But yeah, let's go." She started walking but her legs still shook violently, making it a bit of a slow affair. They entered the town and people milled about. Children played in the streets and on the sidewalks, cars stopping and paying mind to everyone around them. It was definitely a town, not a city. She could see a couple taller buildings, maybe twelve to fifteen stories, but they were few and far between. Most were a couple stories, up to about four, most likely apartment buildings. It was quaint compared to the massive cities Blake was used to. It was also quiet... Almost too quiet. She missed her ears. She didn't understand why the Time Witch would take something like that from her. Then again, it wasn't like she had any magic or any other abilities to give up... Ugh. She missed being able to hear far and wide. She did see some places advertising for help as they walked around, frustrated she couldn't go in and get an application. She let out a frustrated sigh. "They could use help and I could probably provide it..." How fucking frustrating. She wasn't sure how long those slots would stay open either. As it usually was with government bullshit, it'd probably take weeks to months for all of the stuff to go through. "Actually, it usually only takes about a week for applications for Oblivian people to go through, so it won't take that long. If you can hang on for a week, you can start job hunting. Summer will probably just enter you and Weiss as someone from Oblivia. The Trainer region governments will usually accept those applications pretty quickly." Well, that was definitely a relief... She didn't want to have to wait months to start job hunting. "That at least sounds pretty reasonable. I would prefer to start job hunting now but...if I don't have any government papers, they can't find any trace of me." She sighed. It was so frustrating. Even a basic retail job would be better than sitting around and doing nothing. "Are there any hobby shops around here?" She would need something to help pass the time that wasn't reading. Even she could and would get sick of reading after too long. She enjoyed drawing, but if she could figure out something else to do on top of that, she'd be happy. "Uh yeah, there's a small one here in town. It's nothing like the big-box ones in Trainer regioins just because we don't have the ability to support big-box stores. Everything is mom-and-pop. Does that bother you?" Blake shook her head. "Not at all. I just need some drawing supplies and maybe something else." She frowned. "Wait..." She didn't have any money to buy anything. Damn it all. She was getting ahead of herself. She couldn't buy anything for the next week. She had clothes on her at least, given to her by the Time Witch, but nothing else. She literally had nothing but the clothes on her back and some extra outfits. Plus her plasma beam but outside of that… "Well, I can cover some supplies for you. A cut of a Ranger's paycheck is taken to provide food and such for them, but outside of that--and taxes, of course--we have free rein over our money. I don't spend a whole lot since I mostly wear uniforms unless I'm in civvie mode. I have plenty in savings. As long as you don't spend, like, a hundred thousand, we'll be fine." Blake blinked. "No way would I ever spend that much." A hundred thousand was a ton of money. How did Wendy so casually throw that number around? It made no sense. Did she seriously have a hundred thousand just laying around? That was so much money… They made their way through town to a small store on a side street and Wendy motioned. "Go on." Blake nodded and picked up a small handbasket and headed to the art section. Definitely a limited supply of mediums and papers... She'd just have to make do. Oil pastels were still her favorite medium, but she didn't mind graphite and charcoal... She had her preferred brands, but guh, of course they weren't here. She would have to experiment and see which brands she liked. Not that there was a huge selection. She looked at the prices. A pack of seventeen charcoal pencils was nearly 1200?! How did that work? Guh. Different world prices were going to be the death of her. This made no sense at all, but she would deal with it. Things seemed expensive, but the people were living comfortably and such... She didn't really get it. She kept it to a pack of charcoal pencils, some normal pencils, some multimedia paper sketchpads, and some oil pastels. There was a decent selection of yarn and she picked up a pattern book for crochet and knitting. She would investigate to see if there was anything she wanted, then maybe come back for hoots and needles...as long as someone would cover them for her. The art supplies would at least keep her busy for a while. She did need multiple sketchbooks because she could (and would) go through them quickly. Especially if she was doing studies of the wildlife... The Pokemon would definitely provide a lot of good opportunities for her to draw. She took her meager findings to the checkout counter and Wendy paid. "You could've gotten more if you wanted." They headed out of the store. "Twelve hundred for a set of charcoal pencils is a lot..." She still couldn't quite grasp her mind around how expensive that was. "It'd be, like, twelve credits or so for the same pack." "Do you have any of your planet's money with you?" Wendy asked. They sat down outside the shop and Blake pulled out her wallet. They compared and contrasted notes, eventually coming to a conclusion. "A Pokedollar is worth roughly equivalent to one of your cents," Wendy pointed out. "I mean interdimensional exchange rates probably vary and are definitely a headache but...that seems roughly what it's like." "So put in a decimal point after the first two digits." So it was roughly equivalent to twelve credits and some change. It wasn't as expensive as she thought it was, and the hundred thousand comment made a lot more sense now. However, Blake blushed hotly when her stomach roiled loudly. Wendy laughed a bit. "We can go grab some food if you want. There's a great restaurant not too far from here. Kalos cooking. Just prepare for a ton of butter." Blake nodded. "That...sounds good." They stood up and headed to a a restaurant where they got a table for two and Blake looked at the menu. Her brows furrowed as she read the various descriptions and noticed something sorely lacking. "Where's all the meat?" She wasn't a full-on carnivore or anything, but she was used to having meat at a lot of her meals. No chicken, no beef, no pork. She didn't see anything like that on the menu. It was all vegan or vegetarian dishes. Butter and other dairy products most likely, sure, but vegetarian and vegan seemed to be the exclusive modes of eating in this restaurant. "Is this a vegetarian and vegan place?" Wendy blinked, obviously taken aback. "We...don't really eat meat here. A good seventy percent of the population is either vegetarian or vegan. But there are meat substitutes. We just don't list what they are because most people know." Wendy explained what each one was and Blake nodded. "Keep in mind that most Pokemon are as intelligent as humans are... Would you have a clear conscience if you were eating a being as intelligent as you were? There is real meat here, but it's super expensive... It's beyond what most restaurants in Almia and Fiore are willing to pay. Substitutes are much more cost effective and contain the same nutrients as real meat." "I guess that makes a fair amount of sense." She hadn't interacted with Pokemon too much yet, so she felt no real connections to the creatures. There was the Staraptor but that was it. It was just carrying her. It wasn't like she was living in close quarters and interacting with them on an hourly basis or anything yet. Though she suspected she might want to change that very, very soon... It'd probably look weird if she didn't know how to interact with Pokemon in a natural way. "How can I interact with Pokemon more?" "Well, you can literally just walk out into nature and start interacting with them. Ranger-region Pokemon are generally a lot friendlier than Trainer-region ones due to cultural differences. You can't just walk up and start palling around with random, wild Pokemon in Trainer regions due to the culture of battle and capture. Ranger-region Pokemon are more apt to cooperate and be kind to humans because of the cultural understanding of cooperation and teamwork the Union has fostered since its founding." A waiter came over and took some orders for drinks. Blake just got some water since she didn't know what any of the soft drinks were. Plus, water was best after not having any for several hours. She was absolutely parched. She would need to learn the soft drinks eventually, but for right now...water would do. "Will that work with any Pokemon? Because, with normal animals, some are much more aggressive than others. You don't really want to mess with any wild animal as far as my world is concerned. It feels...wrong at the idea of just walking up and messing with something in its natural habitat." There were natural reserves and national parks dotted all around the world and she saw some of the dumb things tourists did... Messing with multi-ton herbivores that could easily gore them if they so wanted to. One charge attack and the person would be dead. Plenty of tourists had died because of their stupidity and it was never on the park because they had chosen to do something so stupid. "Some Pokemon species are definitely way more aggressive than others like a lot of the pseudo-legendaries like Tyrannitar and such. Those you don't want to really approach in the wild. Beedrill is another species you wouldn't want to approach without proper training. We can get you a handbook of species that tells you how to approach Pokemon. There's a bookstore that sells books like that. Luxray's another you generally don't want to approach in the wild. Summer's Luxray, Luno, is about as sweet and gentle as any Pokemon can come, but wild ones are hyper aggressive and will attack you if you enter their territory." "That sounds more like what I expected." The waiter came over and gave them their drinks and they ordered their meals. "I thought it was too good to be true to approach some random animal in the wild and it would be polite, nice, and kind." She shook her head. Plus, it wasn't like most animals on her world were able to think and process like humans and Faunus did. She still hated being called a human, but her ears would definitely have attracted attention here... So far, she wasn't seeing anybody like her. It was all just humans. That did set her on edge, but there wasn't much she could do about it. "I mean most Pokemon are pretty okay with you coming up and palling around with them. As long as you aren't interrupting them from what they're doing. Some are just hyper territorial like Luxray and others. But if it's something like a Jigglypuff or Clefable, then you can usually just pal around with them. Same with a Pikachu or Eevee." Wendy paused. "Honestly, we might wanna get you a big handbook of all currently known species... It'll only have a brief description and overview of each species, but it'll let you start to identify them. But start off with the Almia handbook first. You won't really encounter any other Pokemon in the region aside from those native to it. So worrying about Pokemon from like Kalos or Paldea isn't high on your list." "This might be stupid but...why do you call your nations 'regions' rather than countries? It sounds like they all have names, but you use 'regions' rather than 'country' or 'nation.'" She felt like it was a fair point. She had never heard anybody refer to her home nation as the Amora region. Region often referred to an area that surpassed national borders, like the Amora plains region. It wasn't all in Amora; it went into several different countries beyond there. It was also called the Greater Yelda Plains region, named after the goddess Yelda who was said to reside on the plains... How these people thought of a 'region' didn't quite square with her own vernacular use of the word. Wendy shrugged. "Just how things are. Not everything needs a deep explanation." Well, that was entirely fair, she supposed. How many people knew things back home that didn't have much explanation? Why were countries named the things they were? Usually no explanation. Often just accepted because it was how things were. Same with so many traditions... Things were just passed down from one person to another without too many people questioning it. There was really no reason to do so for most people. Things worked, so why bother questioning it? "Entirely fair. I can't count the amount of things that go unquestioned at home. A lot of things are just because they are. Nothing more than that." She was pretty sure every world would have something like that. People passing down traditions just because they existed... A lot of things were just like that. "Oblivia used to be called a kingdom, but now it's just the Oblivia region like every other region in the world." Wendy shrugged. "Almia and Fiore were once kingdoms too, but as things transitioned to the modern age, we called them regions to fit in. We're the Ranger regions; pretty much everything else is a Trainer region in some shape, way, or form. Most have Pokemon Leagues, but some don't. Alola just joined the conventional League system a while back. Orre doesn't have a League, but it's still a Trainer region." "League?" Wendy explained about the Pokemon Leagues and their structures and Blake listened. The waiter brought their food while Wendy explained and they ate. Huh, interesting. It did make sense there would be different cultures through the world (her own planet had plenty of different cultures) but to see how different Trainers and Rangers were... It was a very interesting contrast. Granted, some cultures had been forced to change majorly... Sexism and homophobia weren't tolerated so much by any culture anymore... Though racism still did happen. Humans could be greedy, disgusting creatures at times, but Faunus were no better half the time. "So yeah... Do you think you'd be interested in going to the Trainer regions at any point? As long as you're registered within regional databases, you can travel pretty freely between regions. Of course, money is always the issue..." Blake sighed. "Yeah. I have no money and I wouldn't want to bum off you. Some basic things, sure, but a full-blow trip somewhere else?" She shook her head. That just felt like it was too much and overstepping a major boundary. They barely knew each other so it wasn't like she was going to ask Wendy to fund an entire trip for her. That really just felt like mooching. She was used to having financial independence so it was definitely hard on her to not have any money whatsoever. She at least has clothes and that was it… "Well, you can eventually save up and go to a Trainer region if you so want to. Just give it about a week and you should be good." Wendy smiled. "It's worth going in my opinion. You could even participate in the Leagues there if you could get the time off work. Most Ranger businesses won't understand, but if you go to a Trainer region more permanently, then that'll be more understanding." "I'm not really sure if I should stray too far from Almia in all honesty... I was sent here for a reason. Plus, Weiss seems like she could use help." She still wasn't thrilled about being forced to babysit someone from another universe, but the Time Witch had put them together for some reason. Plus, it wasn't like Weiss was in any sort of shape to be going through a major move. She was incredibly thin even if her clothes covered her whole body. Her face was so gaunt and eyes. "Well, if you ever want to see a castle, there's Almia castle, the Ice Castle I keep talking about. It's been frozen over for quite a long time, but according to historical records, it wasn't always like that." Blake tilted her head. "How did a castle freeze over like that if it wasn't before?" "Magic or something. Magic is real, but it was really only available to legendaries and such... Maybe the king pissed off Beventi at some point or something. Nobody's really sure why the castle froze over." Wendy shrugged. "I mean I'm more than familiar with magic. I'm no mage myself, but Queen Summer was one of the most accomplished mages on the planet." Very few could keep up with the queen and Ruby. They were geniuses unparalleled in the current era. Nobody could keep up with them when it came to magic or whatever other topics they wanted to pursue. The queen had even pursued computer science and coding, coming up with the planet's first AI. It was an incredible achievement that nobody had done before. But she wouldn't release the coding to anybody for fear that it might cause issues and abuse. It was just one of many reasons Ironwood had attempted to usurp the throne… "Ah, so I see. The magic could technically be used anywhere but with how energy flows in the planet, it's not something easily transferable unless you're a Pokmeon. Pokemon inherently have magic, but they basically never use it since, well, they have natural attacks and that's more than enough to let them survive. It's the legendaries that usually use magic since they were created to teach humanity." "Why are they called legendaries?" "Because they've essentially become legends. They're generally revered as demi-gods and gods in some respects in all regions, but because humans went another route, pretty much all of them have removed themselves from humanity and live in seclusion. It's rare for a person to encounter a legendary, let alone for a trainer to capture one and train them. There's the case of Zekrom and Reshiram in Unova, then Anabel with her Raikou from Johto in Hoenn. Most just don't see any reason to interact with humanity when most people would want one for status and clout." Wendy shrugged. "Humans have moved well past the knowledge legendaries can offer." "That's sad." It really was. to lose sight of important teachers was beyond distressing to Blake... She couldn't imagine just up and leaving her teachers behind. Did she often figure things out that her teachers hadn't taught her or sometimes surpass them? Yeah, sure, but that wasn't any reason for them to be cast out to the fringes of society into the wilderness. It sounded like that was what had happened to the legendary Pokemon... It was sad that people had abandoned teachers as valuable as the legendary Pokemon… Wendy nodded. "It is... I speak to Beventi the most and she has a lot to teach me. All of them do. And with what happened to the Fiore beasts... It's not like we can go listen to them either. My brother nearly died because of saving me from the Raikou's attacks..." "You have a brother?" For some reason, it just didn't seem to register in Blake's mind that Wendy could have siblings. She had three younger siblings herself, Leila and several others. Her parents definitely got jiggy with it quite a bit... She was an adult now, so the thought didn't disgust her as much as it once had. Still not the easiest thing to think about, but it was what it was. The kids had to be made somehow after all. Wendy nodded. "He's over in Fiore. Spenser. He runs the Ringtown Base. Though there's a lot of past drama between me, him, and the other base Leaders that I'd rather not go into. We've made up in more recent years, though. I just prefer to stay over here in Almia while they stay in Fiore." Well, that wasn't ominous. As long as he'd made up with them, that was what mattered most, she supposed. As long as Wendy was happy. Who was she to speak against it? She really had no bearing on this woman's life and couldn't direct her to do anything she didn't want… "I have some younger siblings. Four of them. My family is pretty tight knit." She frowned. They had scattered to the winds as soon as the rebellion and coup had started. Her mother had disappeared some months ago, alongside the queen, King Taiyang, and the two girls. She missed her mother terribly. Her siblings had been sent to fight and her father had been sent off to try to negotiate backing from foreign militaries for help. He was a diplomat, so it only made sense, but to lose track of her siblings... She felt ill. She didn't know if any of them had survived or not. And now... She had no way of contacting them back home. She hated what the coup had done to her beautiful home… "Well, that's definitely good. glad to know you're happy." Wendy smiled and Blake returned it as best she could. She was far from happy. She had lost her queen and her duty to protect the royal family. She'd fled because she would've become a POW in the same vein as Weiss had she stayed. Not much could have made her abandon her home aside from this… Blake didn't respond and was glad when the bill came. The waiter swiped Wendy's card directly at the table and they stood up. "Want to head back to the Union?" "Probably a good idea." They left Pueltown and, once again , Blake found herself terrifyingly high in the air and she clung on for dear life. She couldn't wait to be on the ground again.