The Duchess - Gruvia

Chapter 04

Inside the carriage with her aya, Master Jose and the small girl, Juvia was feeling a little overwhelmed with all that happened. It had been a shock to see people offending her and she was even more shocked when that young woman, Levy as she said, had been there to welcome the people from the March of the Rain.

"Levy-san... Again, Juvia's sorry..." Jose coughed and Juvia quickly corrected herself. Again. She really needed to stop that. "I am sorry that Gajeel-kun did that, he's really not that scary. You know... once you know him."

The blue haired woman still her eyes wide and was still terrified of what happened, despite Juvia's attempts to make her calm down.

"It's alright, Marchioness." She said with a small voice. "It just took me by surprise."

Juvia bit her lower lip and looked at Master Jose for guidance; he shrugged her off but he talked to the girl.

"How long until we get to Avalanche Castle, girl?" He asked, rather rudely, thought Juvia. The petite woman had a big scare back at the Icy Port – she was still shaking and had a small hand on her throat where Gajeel had grabbed her.

"About an hour, sir." Levy said and the carriage fell into silence again.

With hesitation, Juvia let the matter out of her mind and turned to look outside of her tiny window. Besides the carriage, there were some men in white horses, wearing white clothes as well and most of them had the hood over their heads, and she was sure people, from afar, would take a while to see them.

The ones in brown and black horses belonged to the cortege that came with her in the ship from the March. Gajeel was in a black horse and she could see the smoke that came out every time he took a breath. He noticed her looking to him and made a face.

As the wind blew strongly, Juvia couldn't hear what he mumbled to her, but reading his lips she could understand that he said: "It's fucking cold."

Juvia offered him a small smile, apologizing without any words. And Gajeel just rolled his eyes.

Looking beyond the riders, she could see the forest they were passing between. The Pine trees were huge. The ground (and a few branches of the trees) were very white, giving a contrast with the green. She wondered what was like inside the forest and if she would ever get the chance to see it.

The cold wind blew into her face and instead of scaring her, since the unknown waited for her, it sent chills down her spine and it wasn't a bad chill either. It was a chill she only felt a few times in her whole life.

She was excited with what her new life would bring.

#

Avalanche Castle was no small thing.

The Marchioness was stunned when she saw the grayish stones that formed the castle. In her mind, the place she was going to live from now on, it would be a... well, she was not proud to say that she pictured a small iglu made of heavy pieces of ice. Instead, she found a big castle build with rocks, like her own Storm Rock back at the March.

To enter the limits of the castle, they had to pass through a small village that surrounded the place and people would raise their heads as the carriage passed because of the different people riding colorful horses, unlike the white ones that were always found in the guard.

And others, because they wanted to catch a glimpse of the Ame Onna.

Juvia didn't like the nickname very much. It was like it was an implication that she was the one that brought rain to her homeland and that she would do the exact same thing to this place. Even though she knew they said those things because they didn't know better and that they were afraid; it still hurt to be mistaken for someone so gloomy that would seem like there was rain surrounding them.