Winter Solstice: Part 8
Yet another installment in the ongoing Winter Schnee sage. I shall be tagging it under formerlyrunphoenix6769 rwby fanfiction to make it easy to find.
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A Rogue Comes to Visit.
A heavy blanket of mist had rolled down the mountain enveloping the vast Schnee estate, draping everything it touched in a thick layer of moisture. No sunlight twinkled off droplets, both absorbed by the dull grey that stretched as far as the eye could see. It had been weeks since the night of her Father’s bombshell and he had remained true to his word cancelling all of her up and coming engagements.
Nestled in a deep window seat above the only working radiator in the room that gurgled and knocked, Winter stared out of the window into the foggy gloom, choosing to ignore the book in her lap and the droning of the tutor as he paced back and forth his scholarly robes flapping behind him. In the middle of the room at a small desk, Weiss listened intently absorbing his every word, her pen flying across the paper in loops and swirls as she eagerly committed every nugget of information to the page. Outside, the trees naked of plumage reached up their blacked limbs, twisted and gnarled, like hands reaching for the heavens grasping at the last vestiges of life. One large tree seemed to ripple, as black feathers ruffled and a thousand beady eyes watched and waited.
A dark grey and black uniform passed in front of the window obscuring Winter’s view as they strolled back and forth along the promenade that ran around the mansion. She watched as one proceeded to wiggle his fingers in the granite fountain at the entrance to the path that would lead to the now half empty stable yard, his shouts causing the flock of birds to alight from their roost screeching and cawing at his rude intrusion.
No subtlety had been given in the sudden rise in security at the Schnee homestead. A private security firm rather than the usual personnel from the SDC, these men and women looked battle hardened with a steely glint in their eyes and wore their weapons openly as they proceeded on their rounds.
The strain of providing for the extra personnel had done nothing to improve Klein’s mood either, his grumpy persona coming more to the fore as he grumbled about the private contractors and their lack of regard for the household staff as they questioned and inspected everything going in and coming out of the stately home.
Winter could only wonder at the exact nature of it as she had witnessed the stony faced sentinels skulking about the hallways of the entrances to the East Wing where their mother had been cloistered since the revelation. Even Jacques departure with Whitley, who he had taken to keeping close by his side, did nothing to rouse the Schnee matriarch from her solitude.
“Miss Schnee!” the tutor barked, cutting into her moment of reflection. “At what temperature does dust go from a solid to a liquid?”
Winter returned his question with a blank stare.
Weiss sat on the edge of her seat, her hand waving in the air, her little chest puffed out to the point Winter was fully convinced she might take flight if not for the desk grounding her. Ignoring her sister, the tutor continued,
“I would think that as the Heiress to the Schnee Dust Company, you would want to know this?”
Winter replied with a haughty tone,
“And I would think that as an esteemed tutor you would know that it is a trick question!”
Weiss lowered her hand and watched her older sibling wide eyed. The tutor turned on his heel giving Winter his full attention as a wicked smirk twitched at the corner of his lips,
“If you know so much, would you care to elaborate? I am sure your sister would love to hear what wisdom you have gleaned from your years of education.”
Rising to his petty challenge and bid to humiliate her, Winter returned the parry,
“Certainly- ” Leaving the cosy nest of the windowsill, Winter began to casually stroll about the room, “- Not all types of dust ‘boils’ or ‘melts’ at the same point. Dust, as is it collectively known, is actually a number of different types of minerals often found in individual clusters akin to its surroundings. - ” She trailed her fingers long the spines of the books on the nearby shelf “- Therefore, its stands to reason that dust with gravity defying properties, one of the rarest types might I add, will not react in the same way that dust with freezing properties shall. The SDC has refineries across the globe, each equipped with the capability to refine each dust type as its properties dictate.” She teased a book with the emblem of the family sigil embossed in its leather binding from its snug “- Furthermore, the SDC did not become the biggest dust extraction and refining company through sheer monopolisation but rather due to the Schnee name coming to mean excellence and the finest quality of products due to the purity of the dust crystals we provide. Monopolisation of the industry happened after the fact. Absorbtion of our lesser competitors and implementing the Schnee Dust Company’s refining process thereby improving the quality of dust available on Renmant as a whole was merely good business practices.”
Bowing the board pointer in his hands, the tutor huffed. His features became pinched. As he opened his mouth to speak the large grandfather clock began to chime. Snapping the book closed, Winter returned it to its place before turning on her heel and leaving the room without another word.
Ignoring the security guards, Winter began to make her way down the corridor that would lead back into the main house, stewing over her predicament. Where as once over her afternoons had been filled with Violet, training, or taking to the saddle now she was expected in the parlour practising the accursed cello, the same piece of music over and over until she could play it by ear. It was a strict instruction laid down by her Father, who expected her to play the piece for him without sheet music when he returned.
How could she take up her mother’s plea to leave as soon as the opportunity arose if there was nothing she could do in the way of skills that could provide for her?
If it wasn’t for her brother being with him, she would wish the airship would explode with her father in it. At least that way all their problems would be solved.
Behind her she could hear the soles of Weiss’ shoes slapping off the polished floor as she ran to catch up. From in her skinny arms books threatened to spill and the spindly child tried to hug them to her chest.
“Winter.” came the whine, “Please, some help.”
Rolling her eyes, Winter plucked a few before they could cascade onto the floor. Casting a critical eye over the titles,
“What do you even need these for? Most of them are outdated.” She selected one. “Look at this one… Faunus Anatomy…” She flicked it open to a random page and began to read aloud, as Weiss scurried along side her, “- The Faunus are incapable of learning. Due to their physiology,….. Blah blah…. the ridges in their cranium suggest a smaller brain, much akin to an animal.” Winter trailed off before snapping it closed, “- Yeah, Weiss, I’m pretty certain this is just racist propaganda.”
With a sniff, Weiss tried to take a superior tone,
“Dr Gnarls Tarquin was a great Scientist who helped discover the evolution of Grimm!”
“He was also a crack pot who died due to inhaling dust and was married to his cousin! Nearly all of his other theories have been disproved.”
Weiss’ brow furrowed at her sister’s counter argument. Hugging her remaining books tight, she tried to match Winter’s gait.
“We don’t have many books on the faunus.”
“And why are you trying to learn about the Faunus?”
“I want to know why they are different.”
“They’re not… Well, not really.”
“Why do they hate humans then? Why do they want to kill us?”
“They don’t!”
“They killed Uncle Russell and his family!”
Winter sighed,
“That was a handful of very bad people who were trying to make a statement. I don’t think that all the Faunus are like the White Fang.”
After her Father’s outburst at the dinner table, Winter couldn’t even be sure if the White Fang were responsible anymore, instead she lay a gentle hand on her sister’s shoulder.
“Come on, lets go see Klein and get some lunch.” Casting a sly glance behind her, she spotted the security tailing them at a distance, “- I know a short cut.”
Rounding the corner and out of sight of the guards the teenager picked up the pace encouraging her sister to keep up, she guided the young girl down the wide flowing staircase that led down into a wide entrance lobby. Doubling back round under the staircase and beside a suit of highly polished armour, Winter pressed a panel to reveal a small door cleverly hidden within the lattice work.
She gestured for Weiss to follow. The small girl hesitated on the threshold.
“I don’t know, Winter,”
Weiss bit her bottom lip and scratched the back of her left calf with her right foot, a dead give away she was nervous.
“Make up your mind, you boob, before those goons see us……” Winter beckoned again, “It’s quite safe .” Winter assured, “I come down here all the time, it leads down to the kitchens.”
Coming to a decision, Weiss ducked her head and stepped into the gloom, Winter followed easing the door back into its snug so as not to make a sound.
Winter held up her finger to her lips, the heavy footsteps of the guards on the staircase dislodging some of the accumulated dust causing it to rain down, peppering their white hair with grey.
Both girls could hear the voices of the guards,
“Where the hell did they go?”
“I fucking hate this job!”
“Would you shut up!”
“I’m a solider not a glorified babysitter. This not what I signed up for!”
“ It’s a cushty gig. Great pay, bed and board and we don’t get shot at. What more do you want.”
“Dont get shot at? I’d much prefer knowing who the enemy is. The eldest one … I’ve seen that look before… You remember that Faunus village we cleared out, the exact same look…. And I wouldnt put it past the lush going off on one either. Mark my words, this house is gonna go to hell in a…”
The two girls let out the breath they had been holding as the guard’s voices faded out as they moved off. Winter took her sister’s hand, placing it on the back of her waistcoat. Making sure that Weiss had a firm grip she began leading her down the narrow winding pathway.
Weiss whispered,
“What is this? Who built it?”
Winter peered into the gloom, carefully feeling her way long the wall,
“Opa? I don’t know , maybe an ancestor was paranoid that the local peasants would rise up in revolt and slay them in their beds?”
With a small shaky voice, Weiss whined,
“Winter don’t say that. Father says the White Fang might do that any day now.”
A slight breeze caused errant cobwebs to sway, indicating they were going in the right direction as the pathway twisted and turned. They passed a turn off to the right that Winter knew would lead to a heavily barricaded entrance to the garden. She had yet to explore all the passageway’s off shoots. Feeling a slight change in heat, the teenager took the left opening, carefully placing her feet on each stone flag that made up the staircase that spiraled round and down as Weiss held on tight.
“Father is just trying to scare you. He wants us terrified so we wont do anything he disapproves of.” In a bid to alleviate her younger sibling’s fears, she explained, not unkindly, “- Our house is one of the most secure in Remnant. The White Fang wouldn’t make a move towards this house. We are so far in the tundra, there is no way a mass group of faunus would make it so far into the country without being detected. We would see them coming a mile away. ”
“But Father said..”
Winter pushed open the door that would lead into one of the official servants service corridors that were doted all over the house as she snapped in annoyance,
“Well Father is a liar!”
“I would be careful saying that out loud, Miss Winter. The walls have ears.”
Both girls let out a shriek and dropped their books at the voice. Bending down to collect the books in a bid to hide her embarrassment at being so jumpy, Winter mumbled,
“Klein, you nearly gave us a heart attack.”
“Sign of a good butler that is, to be unseen and unheard.”
He comically wiggled his bushy eyebrows at the younger sibling. Taking a handkerchief out of his breast pocket he began to fuss over the pair, wiping and flicking at errant dust and cobwebs on their grey outfits.
“
Cook made some lovely stew.”
The two girls followed him along the servant’s passageway that widened out. Down here was the warmest part of the mansion, housing the laundry and the kitchens. Bustling with activity, uniformed members of staff nodded and bobbed in acknowledgement as they passed by on their errands. A maid stopped to show Klein some stitching on a piece of linen, who wiped out an eye glass to closer inspect it. The butler nodded and praised the young girl for a job well done.
Down here, underneath the icy cold indifference of the family they served, it was warm, light hearted and inviting. It always put Winter in the frame of mind of a rockery. Lift up one of the frozen beautifully carved statues and underneath you would find it teeming with life.
Through one door Winter spied a group of servants polishing the silverware and candle sticks like a dust assembly line, laughing and joking with each other as they worked.
Pausing by an open door, from which wafted the smells of good cooking, Klein called out,
“Mauve, the lil mistresses are here.”
From depths of the kitchens, they heard a jovial voice boom,
“I’ll be along in a minute, deary,”
Klein ushered them further into the bowels of the house finally coming out into a large cosy looking room with a huge fire crackling in the hearth. There was a long table flanked either side with long benches. The blue slate flagged floor shone from being scrubbed. In the far corner next to the fire, a comfortable looking rocking chair and a small table with a set of knitting needles and yarn. Hanging on the walls photos, some new and shiny, others yellowed with age depicting the staff over the years and their masters. Winter paused by one that depicted a huge crowd of staff dressed in black and white old fashioned uniforms outside the front of the Schnee Estate, their faces looking stern. Winter thought she recognised their grandfather as a little boy in shorts that came just above the knees, his white hair messily standing on end.
Weiss looked around in awe at the tall back piano against the far wall. Placing her books on the table she skipped over, she went to touch the keys only to hesitate and look at the butler for permission. He gave her a fatherly smile.
“Your mother used to come down here and play that when your grandfather was alive. He liked being down here.”
As the youngster slid onto the piano chair, Klein patted a seat on the bench closest to the fire for Winter. Weiss began to play a beautiful and haunting melody. Never taking her eyes of her younger sibling’s erect back, Winter quietly asked,
“How is Mama?”
Klein poked the fireplace with the poker,
“Don’t fret your pretty little head. We’re all keeping an eye on her.”
Winter sucked on her bottom lip and gave a little sniff,
“I’m worried about her.” She used her finger nail to pick at a splinter in the well worn wood, “We’ve hardly seen her since….. You know..”
Before the butler could reply, a maid came in with a tray laden with bowls and thick fresh loaves and the cook, Mauve, hot on her heels. Placing the tray on the table, the young woman nodded her head, before beating a hasty retreat and closing the door behind her.
Mauve was dressed in chef whites. Unlike the rest of the household staff she did not have a single accent of grey in her uniform. She was small in stature and rotund, moving with a swift shuffle that belied her size. White hair poked out from under her hat but it was difficult to gauge her age due to the smoothness of her skin. Her cheeks were red from being in the heat of the kitchens and her forearms were thick, no doubt from hauling slabs of meat and huge pans on the cooker. She hefted a huge pot on to the table, wiping her hands on a towel that hung from her apron. With a smile and twinkle on her bright blue eyes, she cajoled the sisters,
“Now then, look at the pair of you. The two luvs look half frozen to death, Klein.” She began to ladle the hot thick stew into the bowls. She inclined her head with a smile, “Come on, Miss Weiss, sit at the table. That’s a good lass.”
Weiss slid off the piano chair and awkwardly tried to clamber over the bench as elegantly as she could in the constricting skirt. Giving up at any attempt, she sat on down on the lip, swinging her legs round, Winter lay a supportive hand to the small of her back so she wouldnt tip over on to the flagstones. Sat in her seat, she shuffled closer to Winter.
Mauve gave the two girls each a huge bowl of stew and a spoon,
“There, get that into you luvs.”
She began to take a knife to the fresh loaves, carving out thick slabs. One of the service bells began to ring out and the phone in the room began to chime. Klein got up to answer it as Mauve began to slather the bread in huge swaths of butter. With a pout, Weiss gave her stew an experimental poke,
“What is it?”
“It’s a dish from my home town.” The cook admitted as she continued to make a pile of bread big enough to feed an army. Weiss began to dubiously inspect the depths of her bowl. Mauve ladled out some more for herself and the butler. “Its Pot stew. Perfect dish on a cold day.”
Finished with the call, Klein squeezed Weiss’s shoulders, putting on one of his many accents,
“It will put hairs on your chest, so it will.”
Weiss let out a gleeful giggle, kicking her legs,
“I don’t want a hairy chest, cause I won’t be able to wear gowns like Mama.”
Selecting some of the bread, Winter began to tear it up, dropping it into her stew. Using the spoon she dunked it before taking a spoonful. Weiss seemed to hold back, watching and waiting for her sister’s reaction. Biting into her spoonful, Winter’s mouth was awash with flavours, the beef was tender and the potatoes soft, the carrots and onions broke on her tongue. The homemade stock was full of aromas that set the taste buds aflame. Winter hadn't realised how hungry she was as she eagerly attacked her bowl. Not to be out done, Weiss took a spoonful only to hum delightedly at the taste. Klein threw Winter a wink as he tucked a napkin into his collar began to eat his own and Mauve watched like a proud mother hen at her hungry brood.
“Nobody on Remnant can hold a candle to Mauve’s stew.”
Winter couldn’t tell if the ruddiness of the cook’s cheeks was a blush or from the heat of the room. Mauve swatted at Klein with her towel, who ducked and gave her a toothy grin. She poured out three glasses of fresh water before taking a seat in the rocking chair by the fire and began to knit. The fire crackled in the hearth as Mauve rocked back and forth, humming a soothing tune. The clinking of cutlery off the porcelain as the food was hungrily devoured joined it’s chorus. Looping another thread over the needle, Mauve asked,
“What was the call?”
“It was the Mistress..”
Winter’s head shot up and Weiss spoon paused half way. Cook continued to make another loop,
“What did she want?”
“She has a guest.”
“She does?”
“I asked Gray to see to it.” He leisurely dunked his bread into the broth, “- When you’ve finished your lunch, she would like to see you, Winter.”
Winter went to stand up, only for Cook to take a mock stern tone, never looking up from her knitting needles,
“Young lady, sit down and finish your lunch. I didn’t slave over a hot stove all day for you to be running off and gallivanting about the place half starved. Not on my watch.”
Winter’s bum collided with the bench at the slight reprimand. Klein pulled a comical face to Weiss causing the young girl to laugh.
Hesitantly, Winter asked,
“Can Weiss come too?”
“Don’t see why not. Mistress didn’t say not to.”
Knitting needles clicked in a steady rhythm making a soothing sound as Winter began to wonder at who the guest could be. Weiss reclaimed one of her books, propping it against her water glass, eyes glued to the words on the page as she continued to haphazardly reach out for the bread plate. Winter moved it closer to the searching hand and stifled a laugh at the youngster dipping her slender finger tips into the butter. Mauve broke the relatively comfortable silence,
“How is your schooling?”
Before Winter could reply, Weiss began to excitedly babble about their lessons. Mauve and Klein listened intently, nodding and awwing at all the appropriate moments. Weiss announced,
“And Winter was cheeky with the tutor.”
“Urrgh , you’re such a tattle tale!” Winter gave her sister a poke in the ribs, “Klein, tell her what happens to tattle tales”
Mauve and Klein replied in unison,
“You slowly become a Grimm.”
Weiss asked, with suspicion,
“What type of Grimm?”
Once again the service bell began to tinkle. Klein cast a glance at the numerous bells set in a row up high, underneath each one a brass plaque with the name of the room written in cursive. Wiping his mouth with his napkin, the butler announced,
“I think your Mother is ready for you. It looks like she is in the conservatory in the East Wing.”
Both girls graciously thanked Mauve for the meal. Weiss hurriedly tried to collect her books only for Klein to assure her not to worry, that they would be in her bedroom later. Winter grabbed a napkin,
“Hold still.”
She dabbed at the younger girl’s mouth making sure that all evidence of lunch had disappeared. It wouldn’t do to turn up to an audience with their mother and her guest looking like a pauper. Weiss crinkled her nose at the onslaught as Winter chided,
“How did you manage to get more of it on your face than in your mouth?”
As they were about to leave, Weiss dashed back to grab the book she was reading before following her sister to the door.
“Thankyou.”
“You come down here any time you like luvs.”
----xx----
At the entrance to the conservatory, Winter paused to straighten her appearance and make sure her sister’s hair was perfect.
“Don’t tell Mama about the passage,” She smoothed a small wisps of hair behind Weiss ears, “- And don’t tell Mama about the tutor.” Weiss silently nodded. Winter made sure her shirt was tucked in and her black lace bow was straight, “- In fact, don’t say anything about anything, ok?”
Pushing open the glass doors into the conservatory the two girls were hit by a sweltering heat. Here their mother teased plants back to life. No expense had been spared in what Winter could only come to think was essentially a green house. It was the biggest collection of global flora in the country outside the of Atlas Botanical Gardens. Trees from Menagerie carefully cultivated sat along side bright and colourful flowers from the floating islands of Mistral. Leafy plants towered over the pair as they navigated the yellow winding paths. Somewhere the soothing noise of a babbling water feature permeated through the plant life.
Snippets of conversation drifted through the undergrowth guiding the siblings towards their destination.
Rounding past a rather wide and bushy plant from the far reaches of Vacuo that would sting you as soon as you looked at it, Winter and her sister came upon their mother bent over a flower bed, deep in conservation, her partner obscured from view,
“As you can see, the Clananis is rather deadly. It is the only plant known in human existence to feed both off Grimm and fauna. It’s sap is extremely poisonous if ingested. Even a sting from one of its barbs is known to cause adverse reactions in the brain leaving one in a depressive state.”
A heavy accent replied,
“I do believe it hails from Menagerie and is rather rare to come by?”
Willow took a long sip of her drink,
“Only in certain circles. If one is to be believed.” Willow gave a light laugh. “ It flourishes in Anima so I am told.”
Grey stood to attention beside a table laden with drinks. As the two girls approached, he gave a polite cough.
Willow turned at the interruption. Her eyes alighting on her daughters, she broke into a huge smile.
“Ah, my darlings.” She placed her glass on a nearby table, approaching the two girls with her arms out stretched. Weiss ran forward into her mother’s arms, hugging her round the middle. Winter remained at a distance, watching as her mother sank into a nearby chaise and patted the seat beside her which Weiss eagerly took. She observed as her mother’s every action was ever so slightly delayed. Willow beckoned over Winter and her guest, “- Come sit. Ciddy, darling, These are my daughters. Weiss.” She affectionately stroked her fingers through the little girl’s long ponytail, “And my eldest, Winter. I believe you have already met?”
Winter gasped as the guest came into view. His beard was gone, replaced by a well trimmed pencil moustache and tiny goatee favoured by the upper echelons of the sea faring merchants of Silas and port towns of Vacuo. His hair was neatly drawn back into a short and low stub of a ponytail that rested at the nuque . A golden earring twinkled in his left ear and he was decked in brightly coloured clothing decidedly warmer than when the last time she saw him.
“Mr Cid!”
His face broke into a wolfish grin,
“Hello, pampered little Schnee.”
Her mother broke into loud laughter.
“That is what you used to call me.”
Berdea Cid gave a chuckle as he took the other chair,
“Amongst other things.”
Gesturing to Grey to make another drink, Willow added,
“Oh you cad.. It’s good to see that some people haven’t changed.”
“But Mama, I don’t understand.” Winter took a cautious step forward, “- What is he doing here?”
Drawing back her long sleeves to reveal her pale arms, Willow graciously accepted her beverage,
“Don’t you remember, darling?” Willow took a sip of her drink, her eyes briefly closing in satisfaction, “ You wanted to learn the Combat Sabre …. This was the man I was speaking of.”
Berdea looked up at Winter, eyes dancing with mirth,
“I am your new swordmaster.”
