Weiss glanced at herself in the mirror. The royal tailors had done impressive work in the less than twenty-four hours they’d had to put something together. He had gowns suitable for noble affairs but not royal ones. She had never been called by the queen herself, so she didn’t have anything really suitable to represent her sponsor. To reflect negatively on the queen in any shape, way, or form would be social and career suicide. Thankfully, the queen had told her to go to the royal tailors and get something made.

  She patted down the front of the dress, smoothing it out with what little it needed. It did feel weird to be wearing almost shoulder-length gloves. Sodocroa was a nation of great modesty (usually. Weiss was aware of some sects that practiced naturalism). About the only skin that could be shown was the neck and face. Even the hands had some weird sexual connotations so even those had to be covered. It was definitely a very unique nation.

  With her ballgown situated, she left her room for the night and looked at her guard. “I’m ready.” This wasn’t really an escort in the traditional sense. The guard was simply seeing her off to the ballroom. Once the dance was done, she was to report to the woman to be escorted back to her room. It was absolutely infuriating to be treated like a terrorist when she was the queen’s behest. The woman was so widely known as a racist that she expected it, but it didn’t make the experience any less infuriating. It wasn’t like Whela and Chiole where her guards protected her. No, this was all about control and making sure she didn’t step a toe out of line. It was one reason she hated taking jobs here… She usually avoided it at all costs.

  They reached the ballroom and she slipped into the crowd, relatively unannounced. Though it didn’t take long for people to start whispering and shooting glances her way. She hated this nation so much, but the nobles that did offer her jobs were usually quite generous with payment despite her being a human. Almost everyone in Sodocroa was racist, but they at least understood the worth of the time and effort she put into her work.

  She opted to make herself at home near the refreshment table, taking a cup of wine to sip while she people watched. Time passed and almost nobody approached her. It wasn’t like it was unexpected either. A few people that did know her said hello, but didn’t linger too long. Nobody in the nation wanted to be associated with a human. They were disgusting creatures that only destroyed according to the creation myth.

  Eventually, though, her head unconsciously snapped up to the grand staircase. “Her Royal Highness, Blake Donati.” The Faunus girl scanned the room and Weiss felt their eyes lock for a brief moment. However, Blake looked away and headed down the staircase.

  This…really did confirm her worst fears. The person on the other end of the soul bond was a member of the royal family. There was no way she’d ever be able to talk to her. It wouldn’t be allowed. Sodocroa was too racist to allow a random human talk to one of the princesses of the nation. They simply wouldn’t understand. And to attempt approaching a princess in such a place… It would be social suicide to do. The queen wasn’t here, but it would definitely get back to her if Weiss even attempted it. Plus, the princess probably wouldn’t want to talk to her…

  ?

  Blake scanned the crowd until her eyes landed on a human over near the refreshment area. Those blue eyes locked with her amber ones though Blake glanced away almost as soon as they did meet. She was so torn. She wanted to get to know the person (her? She was wearing a dress…) but she was a human. It was going to be social suicide of Blake if she approached… It would definitely get back to the queen if they were seen together.

  She did start to head down to the dance floor but tilted her head when she saw two strange birds. An unkindness of raves lained the deck to the observation area, showing how many members of the royal family were there. But two more petite birds sat away from all the ravens. One was white and the other was black, golden speckling all over its feathers. It looked like a starry night made into a bird. It was absolutely beautiful. Where had they come from, though? Something about the did feel familiar somehow.

  She walked over to the two birds. “Can you two understand me?” If they were Sanctified, then they were definitely somebody’s pets. Who would bring their pets with them to a dance, though? The royals brought their ravens everywhere with them, but the ravens were guards. They were not pets. A royal raven would make it known if somebody so much as implied it…

  The black bird tilted its head and extended a wing. “Kinda.” Blake blinked. So they were Sanctified and could mimic speech like ravens? How fascinating. As far as she knew, there weren’t many birds capable of mimicry like that.

  “Who do you belong to?” Maybe a noble had imported them from another country? It wasn’t too uncommon for nobles to import animals as a status symbol. She had seen a lot of foreign horse breeds while out on falconry hunts. It was the same for falconry species. A lot of nobles had foreign species they hunted simply to show off they could afford it. A few even had massive harpy eagles though those were so rare they weren’t Sanctified. The royal family had bred golden eagles and ravens long enough they were all Sanctified.

  “Weiss. Human.” Blake’s heart sank at that though fluttered a moment later.

  “The one with the blue eyes?” There was probably only one human here, but she needed to confirm. She couldn’t depend on hair color… Everyone wore a veil so she really didn’t know anybody’s hair color…

  The bird bobbed her head and Blake held up a small note. “Can you give this to her?” Again came the bob.

  Blake slipped away from the birds and down to the dance floor along its perimeter. She found her way to a small statue in the southwest corner and waited there. Would Weiss respond? Would she come? She had no idea. People were fickle, but humans definitely were. She’d heard so many stories from nobles of them giving humans jobs then the humans failing to do basically anything asked of them. How did human nations function? She didn’t understand. And, apparently, a lot of them were led by men. How could men do anything other than father babies? They really weren’t good for much.

  φ

  Weiss blinked when she saw Lilias fly over to her. She held her hand up and Lilias handed her the scrap of paper in her beak. It was small and held only a single sentence.

  Meet me by the statue in the southwest corner.

  “Was this from—?” She spoke quietly in Welsh, not wanting tip anybody off to what was happening. Plus, it was the language Lilias and Avram knew best. She really doubted any of the nobles here spoke Welsh, let alone the Vobrese version of the language.

  “Blake, yes.” She was so glad that she was the only one that could understand her birds unless they decided to use learned words. She didn’t have to risk her conversations being understood by anybody. Having awakened animals as her pets was really nice sometimes.

  She held her hand up and Lilias returned to her spot shortly away from the ravens. There were quite a few of them. It was one of the most massive gatherings of ravens she’d ever seen. Hopefully they wouldn’t rat her out. She was risking a ton by meeting up with the princess. She might not get to dance with her unless Blake was willing to risk her standing in Sodocroan society. Weiss didn’t want to risk this job with the queen, but this had been driving her crazy since she’d been twelve. She wanted to meet this person so badly.

  Taking in a breath, she stood up and moved along the edge of the ballroom. Southwest, southwest… It had to be this way.

  She eventually found a corner and a small statue in it but didn’t see anybody there. Tapping into the soul bond, Blake was incredibly near. Where was—

  Weiss had to hold back a very as somebody yanked her into the shadows. A door closed behind them and she was in a small passage. She stood face to face with the Faunus girl that had been on the staircase. Almost everything she wore wore was a differing shade of purple. She was definitely royalty if she was wearing that much purple.

  An uncomfortable silence fell over them. Blake didn’t meet her eye. What was she supposed to say? She really didn’t know. It wasn’t like it was everybody somebody was so close to royalty. There was barely any room between them, though. This passage was small and obviously meant to allow the royal family to evacuate should something happen at one of these events… She really was having a lot of trust placed in her being allowed in here.

  You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

  “Who…are you?” came Blake’s quiet question. She blinked. What kind of question was that? Though she would probably be facing racism pretty soon…

  “Weiss Seigel. I’m a historian from Vobron.” That was the only way she knew how to respond. She didn't know what Blake expected of her. She had a job and was from Vobron. She really wasn’t sure what to do about any of this. It was all so strange. She did hesitate before speaking again. “Do you…know about the soul bond too?” She had to know. It seemed like it, but she wanted to know.

  “For a long time now. It was at the strongest it’s ever been yesterday.” Blake’s ears twitched and she could see the tension in Blake’s body. She couldn’t say she was too different. This defied everything they knew about the soul. They shouldn’t have this bond. They’d never met before tonight. How could they possibly have a connection despite that…?

  “So…what do you want from me?” Probably the same thing that Weiss wanted, but even so. She just… Blake was so walled up that she couldn’t get anything off her. Admittedly, Weiss was the same. She didn’t want anybody to read her. She was lucky the queen hadn’t been able to read her with her blocking.

  “To see who you were. I can’t believe I have a soul bond with a human.” Blake sighed and Weiss also did but internally. There was the racism she expected. Humans were the most awful things in the world according to Sodocroa. Even though she herself had never perpetuated harm against Faunus or the nation once. It was simply a sin all humans had been created with according to Sodocroans.

  “Well, if you wanted to see me, then you have. We can part ways here. Or would you rather talk a bit?” Weiss folded her arms and Blake’s ears flattened against her head. Soul reading or no, she could see the clear conflict in Blake’s eyes and body language. Weiss wanted to get to know her, but if she was going to be racist at every turn, it might not be worth it. She had never done anything to hurt Faunus in any nation.

  “We shouldn’t be in here too long. People will notice if I’m gone. Is there any way we can talk outside of hte dance? We shouldn’t be seen together.” Did Blake want to talk to her more despite her better judgment? That…was pretty impressive… Most Sodocroan Faunus would simply leave her alone.

  Weiss got into her bag and pulled out her atlas. She opened to the section on Sodocroa and pointed to the area her job was. “Well, here’s where my job is. There’s a ton about ten mi—er, fifteen kilometers—” Right, Sodocroans used metric instead of imperial. At least she knew how to convert between them easily. “ —away from it. If you could get there somehow…” But she didn’t know how that would happen. Anybody that knew anything about the Sodocroan royal family knew that they really didn’t leave the castle unless they abdicated or married into another noble family. Queen Maryam had an incredibly tight hold over her descendants. She ruled over her subjects and family alike through fear.

  Blake’s ears flattened. “I suppose I can take my Peregrination now… I really ought to have by this point anyway… Queen Maryam won’t be happy about it, though…”

  “Peregrination?” She’d never heard that term before. She was fairly fluent in the language, but she was far from native like Blake was.

  Blake nodded. “It’s a year and a half journey each member of the royal family undertakes to learn about the world. Whatever happens there is on them.” Her ears remained flattened, though. “Queen Maryam won’t be too happy about me taking it… I was…reprimanded after your meeting with her earlier today.” Weiss winced. That…couldn’t have been fun or good. Staying on Queen Maryam’s good side was imperative to being successful in Sodocroa. How much worse must it be to be her descendant and under her scrutiny each day of one’s life? It must be horrible. She was under enough pressure right now as was. One step out of line and her whole career would be negated. Possibly her parents’ too. She absolutely could not mess this job up.

  She supposed that killed the thought she’d had of asking for a dance. Blake was already in trouble and Weiss would be risking so much when it got back to the queen. She really did want at least one dance, but it wasn’t worth the potential social and career suicide to both of them. If this was found out, then it would definitely get her kicked out of Sodocroa. Conspiring with royals would be a one-way ticket to being released from her entire career.

  “Obviously, you’ll have to take care of that on your own. If this were found out…”

  Blake nodded. “I really shouldn’t be doing this in the first place.” Weiss could practically hear Blake’s unspoken thoughts and none of them were pleasant. For her own mental state, she probably shouldn’t be looking into this. Getting racists to budge on their beliefs was generally an exercise in futility. She deserved far better than being cut down at every turn. Blake was not likely to change her beliefs when it came to humans. And yet…

  Her heart still felt compelled to get to know Blake. A part of her finally felt complete. Something had obviously been missing in her life all this time. She was happy with Elior and loved him dearly. She wouldn’t trade him for anybody. They had their troubles, of course, but what couple didn’t? Plus, they were practically engaged. They’d promised to get married when she turned twenty-two if she didn’t find who was on the other end of the soul bond. She…really did feel like things would go nowhere with Blake despite the soul bond. She was so incredibly racist and likely wouldn’t change those views. Weiss was not willing to entertain a racist for too long.

  “Well, should we talk later, then?” She did glance down at her teibas. She brought up the image screen and saw Blake now in her contacts. So they would be able to coordinate now. It was both good and bad. Hopefully Blake would be able to talk to Queen Maryam in the next couple of days to get moved to the town. It was within a reasonable riding distance from her work site, so they’d be able to meet up whenever Weiss was done for the day.

  “I suppose we will.” She saw Blake’s ears twitch, though their eyes still didn’t meet. Sodocroa did use eye contact unlike some countries, so it really did speak volumes to he that Blake wouldn’t meet her. Gods above, this really was so difficult. She deserved better than Sodocroa’s racism. This relationship would probably go nowhere. At this moment in time, she wouldn’t even consider courting or dating Blake. She was perfectly happy in her open relationship with Elior.

  Blake cracked the door behind them and nodded to Weiss who left. She returned to her previous place and grabbed another glass of wine to sip. This really was a mess. She shouldn’t entertain a racist, but she’d waited so long for this. It would be her only chance to get to know Blake. She didn’t want to waste it by any means. Even so, she was still torn… Maybe she shouldn’t entertain it at all… But something told her she would massively regret it if she didn’t…

  φ

  Weiss got back to her room around midnight, yawning widely. Her had been relatively uneventful after Blake had let her go. She’d mostly sat there and people watched. Honestly, it was fine by her. She didn’t want to be cut down by racists at every turn. It was so annoying to be in such a society. Not that she tolerated human human on Faunus racism racism really either .There were too many countries that were racially divided. Thankfully, Whela and Vobron weren’t like that…

  She sat the birds on the desk and she saw they were absolutely exhausted. She wished she could let them sleep, but she couldn’t yet. She had a call to make. Timezones and travel really were quite the pain.

  She did change out of her ballgown into a simple nightgown, then tucked into bed. She held her teibas in her hand and brought up Elior’s contact. The call started to rink and he answered. Thankfully, it was a day off for him. “Hey, Weiss, what’s up? Shouldn’t you and the birds be asleep? Well, or at least trying to. Isn’t it, like, there in the morning or something?”

  “Midnight, actually. Queen Maryam invited me to a party that we just came back from.” It felt good to speak Welsh again. Sodocroan was a very strange language comparatively. So many layers of politeness and a flowing rhythm compared to Welsh’s much harsher constant sounds… “And, normally, yes, but I wanted to let you know I finally met her.”

  Elior blinked and stared at her. ”Seriously? You found the other end of your soul bond?” Yeah, she was honestly equally surprised. The walls of Frosthollow’s castle felt so impenetrable. Yet she’d just so happened to be at the same party Blake had been at. If she believed in intervening gods, she would have thanked them for this. But she didn’t so…

  “Yeah, I wanted to let you know. I’m not really asking for plurality right now… I don’t think this relationship isn’t going to go anywhere… She’s a member of the royal family, so you can guess she’s enamored with the idea of getting to know a human.” Weiss rolled her eyes. This felt absolutely destined to fail. She’d give it a fair chance, but it felt dead on arrival. Racists simply did not change their views very easily.

  Elior winced. “I’m so sorry, Weiss… I know how much you’ve wanted this… I wish I could be there to comfort you.”

  “I wish you could, too…” It was such a blow. She had been looking forward to this for so much of her life. She had built it up so much. She had thought the other person would be so glad to meet her. So excited and thankful to finally be united with her. Of course, that hadn’t happened.

  “I was gonna meet up with Jack tonight, but I don’t think I will.”

  Weiss winced. “Sorry.” Elior loved spending time with Jack since his work also kept him traveling quite often. They were more casual sexual partners than romantic, but Jack was fine. She personally didn’t want to sleep with both men at the same time, though… Something put her off from Jack.

  “It’s fine, Weiss. I can meet up with him tomorrow. I hope things turn out all right for you in the end. I know you’ll make the right decision for you in the end. Anything else to say?”

  She shook her head. “No, not really. I’ll keep you updated on how things progress between me and Blake. I love you.” She smiled at him and returned it.

  “Sleep well, Weiss. I love you too.” The image cut off, so Weiss put her teibas on the nightstand. She walked over to the lamp and used her soul to turn the light off. She climbed back into the bed and curled up. Of course, her body was telling her it was supposed to be daytime. But she’d at least give it a valiant shot…