Weiss sat alone in the dorm, letting the midday pass her by. The Vytal Festival was proceeding nicely, and the duos tier was underway. It was clear to the masses that Beacon's students were performing exceptionally, and RWBY was again slated as the favorite to win in their upcoming battle. With all of the excitement, spirits everywhere were high, and Ruby was back to her cheery self - a wondrous improvement from the night before.

And yet, Weiss couldn't bring herself to join in all the zest, lost in her thoughts, muddled as they were. She reflected on yesterday's events as well as she could, and ran through any answer she could think of. When nothing was satisfactory enough, frustration settled in, and she went back to square one.

"Ugh," she groaned, falling backwards onto her bed. For all her vocal talent, she found it ironic how often she struggled with words. The same question rang in her mind, over and over, in that same adorable voice. Why do you love me?

It almost made her feel bad. She certainly loved Ruby. And she was grateful the younger girl didn't doubt the fact, which made it all the more frustrating for Weiss when she failed to find the perfect words to soothe her lover's heart. So focused was she on her shortcoming that she'd also failed to notice she was no longer alone in the room.

"I figured you'd be practicing for your match."

Weiss stared at the bottom of Ruby's bunk, anxious, but self-controlled, nonetheless. "Professor Peach has advised that it would be unwise to cram up to the last minute before an exam. That you should let your training and studies marinate. That way, you avoid losing confidence in the information you've consolidated."

Blake chuckled under her breath. "Weiss Schnee? Finally learned to relax? Flabbergasted."

"Har har."

Despite her self-control, Weiss couldn't fully hide the flat numbness in her voice, a reflex brought upon by years of learning to suppress distressing emotions, even in private. And it was not lost on Blake. To the outside world, it was just the ice queen. To her team, it was a stress mechanism.

"Something wrong?"

"Absolutely not. Peachy keen."

"Doubt it."

Weiss wasn't going to throw another rebound. She briefly wondered if she could get some advice from the faunus without implicating herself, but after entire minutes of silence had passed, Blake spoke first.

"Is it about Ruby?"

Weiss felt a brief flash of embarrassment, and faltered in her response. She tried to find a way to refute the possibility, but the hesitation gave Blake all she needed. For all her grace, the heiress could badly blunder at the mention of her romance.

"It is about Ruby."

"What makes you so-"

"Weiss," she interrupted. "I have an eye for these things."

Weiss could only glare in resentment of her friend's ability to read people. Anytime the heiress thought she'd been discreet enough, there was Blake, and her uncanny perception.

"Stare too hard, and you'll hurt yourself." she joked. "Look, can we just skip the denial and the cold, hard Schnee bit, and get to the part where you tell me the problem?"

Sighing in defeat, the problem was brought to light. "Ruby asked me why I love her."

Blake waited for Weiss to continue, but when no more words came, there was only confusion. "Well, if there's a problem between you and Ruby, I'd love nothing more than to help you fix it." She sat beside Weiss on the bed, and shrugged. "But unless you don't love her, I'm failing to see the problem."

At the suggestion, it took all of Weiss's willpower to avoid shouting a string of defensive profanities in Blake's direction. "Don't be ridiculous," she countered, making her position clear. "She means the world to me. No less than Yang means to you."

Blake didn't challenge the comparison. She'd save that battle for another day. "Ok. Then, why?"

And again, Weiss wasn't sure where, or how, to start. "Why? Well… she's Ruby."

She was met with a raised brow, urging her to try again.

"She's just… Ruby. She's adorable, she's strong, her very smile lightens up the room, and she likes people for who they are. She loves me for me." Towards the end of the list, Weiss audibly tapered off, taking the last bit to heart.

Blake nodded, processing the list she'd been given. "Weiss Schnee. The heiress. The singer. I'd bet most people wouldn't peg you for the type to have trouble with words."

"Well, as Ozpin would say, at least I do my very best."

"You do." Indeed, Weiss visibly put her best into every endeavor. That much was clear to her peers. "But you're thinking about this the wrong way."

"Excuse me?" Weiss questioned her, confused.

Blakes showed a small smile for the first time since entering the room. "Those are all things you love about her." Blake stared at the wall now, probably allowing the gears in her head to turn in a way Weiss could only aspire to. "But Ruby asked 'why you love her'. Why do you love her as a person?"

Weiss looked away, letting the words sink in, but struggled to understand the question.

"I think I have a decent idea of what you could say." Weiss gave her a hopeful gaze. "But it's not my place. All of this is meaningless unless you craft the words yourself." Weiss's gaze returned to the bottom of Ruby's bunk, disappointedly. "Although, I think I can point you in the right direction."

Blake stood from the bed and made her way over to the bookshelf, kneeling, and scanning the spines and titles with a purpose. Once she'd found the book in mind, she flipped the pages, standing as she searched. "There's a philosophy about love, you know."

"I'd imagine there are several." Weiss eyed the book in Blake's grasp. If someone had bothered to tell her she could find the answer to love in a book, she'd have been all over it.

"You're right," she confirmed, ignoring the sarcasm. "There's one philosophy everyone knows." Finally finding the page she'd been searching for, Blake stood in place, recounting the words to herself. "Although, most people only know it as an idiom."

"Is that so? Well then, enlighten me." At the thought of being out of the loop of such an ingrained piece of knowledge, Weiss almost felt challenged.

"Opposites attract."

Now it was Weiss's turn to be left hanging. She waited for some more sage knowledge, but when none came, she felt cheated. "Is that all? Of course, I've heard that. That doesn't help."

"That's because you're not thinking about it hard enough," Blake insisted. "You're not seeing the trees for the forest. You're seeing the forest, but you're not seeing the trees that compose it."

Weiss took a moment to process the backwards analogy. There was something about the finer details that she wasn't grasping, sure, but she needed help getting there. She took a deep breath. "Alright. So then, how do I do that?"

After having to put her foot down, Blake let out another small smile at Weiss's co-operation. "Ok." She took in a breath of her own. "You need to get to the roots."

She resumed her sitting position on the bed, and the two sat side-by-side, once again. "What is it that you love about Ruby?" Blake reached towards the desk next to the beds, and picked up one of Ruby's spare cross pins, hoping it would help Weiss keep her thoughts focused. "Tell me again."

Weiss held the cross tightly in her left hand, as if losing it would be tantamount to losing the dolt herself. "She's beautiful. But not just with her looks. Her smile is so bright, and warm. It's infectious." Subconsciously, Weiss also started to spin the pin with her fingers, no less careful in its security. "She's childish, and hyper, and has abominable eating habits. But on her, it's endearing. She's not so concerned with what the world thinks. She's free. Free-spirited, and confident and cheerful in almost everything she does." She stopped twiddling with the cross, and enclosed her hand around it, shielding it from the outside. "She's so affectionate. I've struggled with things like these all my life, but she makes it all look easy. She has a way of making her loved ones feel the love, and a way of inspiring those close to her to want to stay close, and reciprocate."

As Weiss's account went on, Blake's grin had grown. "You're getting there." Blake pushed on. "There are a lot of things you love about her. Despite her demeanor, you love the way she is. But why? You're obviously very different in both behavior and attitude. So then, why is her demeanor endearing? What makes you appreciate her different, free spirit?"

Without much hesitation now, Weiss knew exactly what to say. "It's because she's not like me. Growing up, I could never have been so free, or so warm and bright. But with her, it's like a missing piece of a puzzle. It's like…" as she trailed, it clicked in Weiss's head. All of a sudden, she felt as if she'd been so stupid. The green bulbous forest was becoming a sharp composition of the many, beautiful red trees. "She completes me," she concluded, resolute. "I… love her, because all of her endearing qualities make me feel whole, as a person. She makes me feel complete. Where would I be now without her? What kind of person would I be? I love her, because she is the most amazing person in my world, and she makes me a fuller, better person." By this point, in a moment of clarity and excitement, Wiess had stood up from the bed, eager in her declarations.

Blake closed the book, and stood from the bed herself, giving Weiss an approving, proud look. "It's great that you see it that way, Weiss. Now you just need to tell it to the person who matters."

Blake returned the book to its rightful place, and Weiss let out a sigh of great relief. "Thank you, Blake. I feel so much better."

"Happy to help."

They came together in a friendly hug. With that philosophical block out of the way, Weiss was sure she could get through the rest of the day, and her fight, with ease.

"HA! GAAAAY!" But apparently, not without a big, blonde headache.

Weiss and Blake separated and turned their attention to the room's door, finding that the sisters had finally returned from their perusing of some section or another of the fairgrounds. "Is that your way of saying you want Weiss to steal me away?"

Before the heiress or the brawler could quip back, at the mere suggestion that anyone else could capture Weiss's heart, Ruby appeared between the two, and tactlessly pushed them apart. She locked her arms around Weiss's neck, and peppered her face with kisses. "Sorry, Blake. This snowflake is mine." She gave Blake a glare that could only be described as joking and menacing, simultaneously.

Blake's eyes darted between her leader and her girlfriend. "How about a timeshare?"

"Blake! Why must you purr-t me this way?" Yang clutched at her heart, feigning distress.

All in attendance only groaned at the terrible excuse for a pun.

"Alright. We're done here. Let's go." Blake pushed Yang out the door, boots scraping against the floor as they left. "Wouldn't want to miss JNPR's duo matchup, would we?"

As they left, Weiss took the moment of alone-time to kiss Ruby as sweetly, and as sensually as she could manage. Their lips were locked like that for what could have been seconds or minutes – neither of the two cared enough to track.

When the need for air finally tore them apart, lightly panting, Weiss grasped Ruby's hand, and started leading her out the door. "We're going to have a lot to talk about later," she said softly. "But for now, I love you, dolt."

Ruby smiled wider than she had all weekend, and pecked Weiss on the lips for one more kiss as they made their way out of the dorms. "I love you too."