Travel Companions
Admiring her own handiwork, Weiss sat down on the blanket she had laid out and warmed her hands by the fire that Ruby had set up before going off into the woods with Jaune. She highly suspected that the two were an item, but she hadn't had an opprotunity to ask them about it without being too obnoxious. They were very close and could finish each other's thoughts. Jaune even gave Ruby portions of his own meal! If that didn't say something about the two of them, she didn't know what else. They probably just went off together to mess around, but Weiss couldn't even begin to think about teasing them about it without starting to get red in the face.
It wasn't that she didn't know what young men and women did with each other behind closed doors... she just... she was a princess! Such indecencies were unheard of! Maybe commoners like Ruby and Jaune could afford such pleasures, but she certainly couldn't. It wasn't like she actually cared that they were doing things with each other anyway. She just didn't want to babysit their dog, that's all.
Tugging on the edges of Ruby's cloak, she wrapped herself inside of them more. It was cold, nothing like the Atlas-cold she knew, still, she found herself unbearably cold. The weight of the hunting knife on her hip made the cold that much more unbearable. There was a soft whine and when she looked down she saw that Zweii had wormed his way into the cloak by sitting on her lap and burrying his head into her stomach. Gingerly, she reached down and stroked Zweii's head. His stump of a tail wagged happily and his pants sounded just as happy.
Stomach growling, she turned to where she had watched Ruby and Jaune's backs fade from view hours ago. Zweii swiveled his head that way too, but inevitably wound up burrying his head into her stomach again, as if to say everyhing was okay. A tiny smile began to edge it's way onto her lips and Weiss continued to scratch at Zweii's ears. Zweii seemed utterly content with just lolling on her lap, tongue sticking out and tail waving. She was just being nice to the dog, nothing more.
"Weiss, look!" Half startled, despite knowing full who that cheery voice belonged to, Weiss abruptly turned to the side to see Ruby coming out of the woods, a rabbit in either hand. "Heh, aren't I good?" Weiss took in the two snow rabbits and found her mouth salivating at the thought of meat, real meat, for a change. No more old, dried pieces of flesh still too hard to chew or half dead fish with more bones than anything. Swallowing, Weiss gave her a curt nod. "You wanna try skinning them?"
"No." She had learned her lesson. As much as she might enjoy eating meat, having to actually clean the carcass to make it edible was most certainly not her cup of tea. "Where's Jaune?" The two of them usually showed up together. While she might not think too highly of Jaune, the boy was slow and dim-witted, he was still their travelling companion and if something happened to him, she'd feel guilty about it. She wanted to tell them who she really was, but that would only do more harm than good, but just because they thought she just another commoner didn't mean she had to act like it all the time.
Ruby was already beginning to work on the two fat rabbits, but didn't ignore Weiss altogether. "He's... probably still getting firewood... Hmm. Can I borrow your knife?"
"What?!"
"Mine is too dull. Yours is pretty sharp," replied Ruby as if the reason should be obvious enough. "I promise to give it back!"
Reluctantly, Weiss handed the knife over to Ruby. It was stupid, but the knife made her feel safe. It was as if the commander was still with her and would continue to protect her so long as the knife was in her posession. Of course, she knew better than to believe in such silly supersitions. When people died they stayed dead. The commander, nor any of the knights who had accompanied her, woud be able to protect her or come to rescue now. Her life was at the mercy of two young adults who probably couldn't even drive off bandits.
Well. Ruby might. She was a pretty good hunter, judging by her ability to bring back game. She might be able to protect them if they got attacked by bandits, but she doubted Ruby would be of much use against assassins or the White Fang. And Jaune... She dismissed the thought at once. Jaune would be pretty useless in a fight, bandits or White Fang. She wasn't even sure if he could fend off wild animals.
"Ooo, this is a really nice one," commented Ruby as she handled the knife, turning it over in her hands a few times and examing the polished steel. "It's really well balanced too. Oooo, the steel's been folded back on itself a few times, I see. This isn't you're average hunting knife, that's for sure." Weiss blinked. So the little red streak knew about weapons. That was a surprise. "Whoa! Is this the Ironwood Guild's insignia?! They make the best weapons ever!"
She considered saying something, but decided it would be better if she just let Ruby gawk over the blade instead of prompting a one sided conversation with her. She hadn't pegged Ruby to be some kind of weapons expert, but she supposed it was a good thing in it's own way. Did she feel just the slightest bit safer now? No. Well, not really. No one was as exceptional as the knights of Atlas, but considering her circumstances, Ruby was starting to seem like an adequate replacement.
"Where'd you get something like this?!" exclaimed Ruby, taking a momentary pause and turning to face Weiss. "Ironwood products are really expensive, even for things like this."
Sh--oot, because princesses don't use such foul langage. "It was a gift," replied Weiss in a clipped tone.
"Aw, I wish I could get something like this as a gift," pouted Ruby. Weiss let go of the breath she didn't know she was holding. Of course. What was she so afraid of? There was no way Ruby, of all people, was going to figure out who she was. What amazing luck. Of all people to recieve help form and run into on Remnant, she had gotten the two people in the whole universe who didn't have the slightest clue as to who she was. "No wonder you didn't want to let me use it. It must be a really special gift from someone you care about," brooded Ruby, seemingly holding the knife with greater care than before. "Here. You can have it back. I'll just go sharpen mine. It'll take longer, but it's okay!"
Weiss just stared at the naked blade that had been shoved back into her hands. "It's fine..." she started, only to trail off as she saw Ruby working on her own knife once she looked up and found Ruby rummaging around in her pack for a whetstone. She didn't know what to say or do. It was just a knife... and yet... Ruby had given it more meaning than it ought to have. "Uh..." Looking at Ruby's own knife, a pit began to form in her stomach. It was small and incredibly dull. Saying it had only recently gotten dull was a bit of an overstatement. She'd been using this old, chipped and dull blade this whole time without complaint. Gently pushing Zweii aside, she got up and dusted herself off. Taking in a deep breath, she walked over to where Ruby was and handed the hunting knife back towards her. "Here."
"Huh? It's okay, Weiss, really." Ruby ignored the offered blade and returned her attention onto her own.
"It's just a knife," sighed Weiss.
"But it's special to you, I can tell. I'm sorry for not noticing sooner."
"..." She wasn't used to this. People usually just did what she asked them to. "It's... it's not that special of a gift. I have others like it, better even."
Ruby stopped and looked up at her with wide, piercing silver eyes. "Yeah, but you didn't take those with you, did you? That means this one's important!" She wanted to point out that she hadn't had much of a choice in being able to bear arms herself because her father forbade it, but then that would involve explaining her family and who she was and that really wasn't an option right now. "It's just like my mom's cloak."
"Your mom's cloak...?" asked Weiss, looking over Ruby again. She was just in a long sleeve and some pants, nothing special and definitely no cloak. Weiss was pretty sure she hadn't even seen Ruby in a cloak since... Oh. "Wait... um... since you're letting me use your mom's cloak, I'm letting you use my knife. Consider it a trade, to be fair and all that." The pit in her stomach grew infinitely heavier. "If you had told me sooner I would've given it back to you."
Ruby just smiled at her. "But you'd be cold!" Nevertheless, she took the knife from Weiss' hands. "I'll be extra careful with it," she promised. Weiss wanted to point out, yet again, that it was just a knife, but she bit back the retort. Ruby was being nice to her and she had been too into her own problems to even notice it. "Do you... want to help...?" Realizing she was still standing there and caught off guard, Weiss nodded. "Oo, since you don't like cleaning them, why don't you make a grate or something? I mean, we could roast them over the fire... but that might take awhile and it looks like Jaune isn't going to be back any time soon."
"Sure." Weiss looked around the campsite only to realize she wasn't quite sure how to make one and they didn't exactly have anything at hand that could be useful.
"There was a small stream a little further in. You can try to see if there are any big flat stones. If we heat them up by the fire, we can probably cook some strips on them. They'll have to be a little thin though," advised Ruby, not even looking up from her work, deft hands quickly skinning the rabbits.
"Right..." nodded Weiss. It was new, being told to do something by someone other than her father, but it wasn't that bad. Ruby didn't get mad at her if she messed up. She'd just give her this look and sigh or smile and explain it to her again. If she still messed up, then she'd help her out with it a little, showing her how to do it before backing off and giving her space to do it on her own. Honestly, she really liked that Ruby gave her chances and was so willing to teach her despite how much she messed up on stuff that was probably second nature to her, judging by how Jaune would just try to stifle his laughter or look at her like she was an idiot. She just... wasn't very good at it making it known that she appreciated Ruby's help and whenever she tired to thank Ruby she wound up snapping at her instead. She supposed her father had instilled the "a Schnee is always right" motto into her pretty darn good despite her constant defiance and clashing opinions with him.
She wished her mother was still alive. Her mother had certainly been strict, but she had a tenderness to her that she liked to show too. While she believed that the Schnees were mostly right, she had also been careful to tell both her and Winter that they needed to listen to the counsel others more knowledgeable and wiser than them. She had made her point by asking them if an assassin was after them, what would they do? Naturally, they had both responded that they'd get one of the knights to help them. It was important for them to the best that they could, but it was okay for them to ask for help too. Princesses weren't gods. They were still human just like the nobles, the knights, the merchants, the craftsmen, and the commoners alike.
"Zweii, go with Weiss!" There was a bark and soon enough, she heard Zweii taking after her.
"I hardly need a dog to help me collect some rocks."
"Zweii needs some exercise."
She made a show of being put off by having to have Zweii accompany her, but she was secretly happy that Ruby had had Zweii go with her. Zweii might not be much protection, but it felt better just knowing that she wouldn't be completely alone in the woods. Just to be careful, she found a heavy branch along the way and took it with her. She had never had any real training with weapons, not unless ceremonial swordplay counted, but it made her feel safer. "Well, Zweii, I'm counting on you," she confided, stooping down and patting him on the head. Zweii just barked and sat down, looking up at her expectantly. Sighing, Weiss continued to make her way towards the stream Ruby had mentioned. "I can't believe I'm talking to a dog..." she mumbled to herself. Zweii merely barked again and continued to trot alongside her.