Katarina had no trouble at all finding Mother Swan's place; everyone knew her. As Katarina crossed the street, a trio of villagers stepped out of her house and stood on the porch, talking quietly amongst themselves until Katarina showed up.

Wordlessly, the three of them loosely arranged themselves in a rough line at the front of the porch, at the top of the steps, arms folded across chests, brows lowered. Katarina pulled the lemon rind out of her mouth and tossed it into the muddy street with an apparent casualness she didn't really feel. She adopted a laconic expression, and gave them a lazy smile. She'd have to act from a position of strength and bully them, she decided. It wasn't what she wanted to do, but her time in the village was straining everyone's limits, and likely they were beginning to let fear scurry around in their hearts. If she stayed much longer in the village they'd either chase her out, or they'd try to kill her.

"You're going to let me in there." She encouraged challengingly.

"Not if we say you ain't." a dark man with the massive shoulders and arms of a blacksmith warned.

"Sure you will. You'll let me pass. You'll let me talk with Mother Swan as much as I like, and you'll wish me a good day as I pass." She dared, and set her foot on the first step.

"What makes you think that?" the older woman on the end replied, face twisted in a scowl.

"Not because of what I could do to you here and now," She advised, and lifted her sword partway out of the scabbard and they faltered a little at this, "But because of what I will do to your mothers, your fathers, your sons and your daughters and brothers and sisters after I take care of you here and now." she warned dangerously. "Enough fucking around: Make your move or let me pass."

"What in the Seven Graces is goin' on out there?" Mother Swan's voice cracked out from inside the house. "You let that girl in here like I said, you mind me, ya hear!"

As one the three jumped and half-turned away from Katarina and towards Swan's front door with varying expressions of guilt.

Katarina began mounting the steps to the porch and the big one with the massive shoulders reached out his hand, blocking her. "You know what'll happen, you do anythin' to her."

Katarina nodded. "Same thing I'll do to everyone else if I have to." She replied evenly. "My job's to root out heresy wherever it resides. You stand in the way of the sword, don't be surprised when you have to explain to the Goddess why you got cut down."

They reluctantly parted for her as she marched up the steps. Inwardly she resolved to apologize to them, when the big one again stopped her.

"You treat her with respec'." He advised in a low voice. No threatening tone this time, just a careworn patience reserved for honest advice. "She been with us a long time. Lotsa people care 'bout her and she'll be sorely missed, come her time."

Katarina nodded. "I will." She replied contritely.

"Goddess go wi' ye, then." He replied.

Katarina stepped inside, letting her eyes get used to the light.

"Still saucy, aintcha?" Mother Swan observed from her rocking chair, a spill of fabric in her lap. She had a couple small spools of thread tucked between the knuckles of her hand and she gestured with the needle.

"Aye, I can git up to a bit o' helling, wind comes right." Katarina agreed, picking up her mannerism quickly.

"An' now ya mock me." Mother Swan commented. "You taken tea?" She asked. "I leastaways ain't forgotten my manners none." She cut in edgewise, and Katarina nodded. "I met your great... something-or-other granddaughter Harmony up at the manor." She replied easily. "Her tea was as delicious as she was beautiful." Katarina complimented, and Mother Swan chortled.

"Yeah, she's a beaut'." She replied. "Ain't even grown an' already she turnin' heads." She shook her head, still chuckling in her seat. "Shame she won't see her first Beltane here, either."

Katarina eyed the older woman curiously. "Oh?" She asked, and Mother Swan nodded. "I've a notion to send her on down to Aston come summertime. Mayhap even Darnell. She needs herself a proper education." She finished, and then gestured at a straight-backed wooden chair.

"Have yerself a seat, missy. Don't go thinkin' I'll just be bending your ear none, neither. I'mma fixin to put you to work."

She gestured at the mound of cloth she was stitching. "You can embroider, right? They taught you that down in Darnell, right?" She accused, and Katarina pointed to her vest. "I did my own stitching."

Mother Swan peered myopically at Katarina's vest and gave her a nod.

"Welladay, then. Sit yourself and git to work." She commanded, and Katarina nodded and complied.

They worked in mutual silence for almost an hour, and then Swan spoke up. "You say you came here to get out of the rain?" She asked pointedly.

"I didn't say it, it's the truth." Katarina replied.

"You didn't come here to stir up no shit?" She repeated, and Katarina nodded and took a moment to consider her answer.

"When I was younger, I would have come here and started up any old shit I wanted, because either by my Warrant or my gun I could do it and no one could say boo, but I'm older now, and..." She paused. It was true. When she was younger, she would have strode into the village, shoving her authority around and falling back on her weapons when her authority went unremarked. She'd learned the hard way that actions had consequences. "Really, I just wanted to get out of the rain." She replied, and Swan nodded.

"Where's that Witch you brought?" Swan asked sharply, and Katarina nodded.

"She's been given a sleeping potion and is secured at the church. When it's safe to move on west, she'll leave with me."

Mother Swan nodded and they bent to their work again.

"You ain't gonna ask me none of your questions?" Mother Swan asked, and Katarina chuckled.

"All right, then: Who are you?" Katarina asked, and the old woman laughed.

"I thought I tole you, Daughter." Swan replied. "Mother Swan is what they call me." She repeated.

"You know what I mean." Katarina replied. "And I'm not your daughter."

"We're all of us Sons and Daughters of the Goddess, Katarina." She replied patiently. "Such has been our faith for six hundred years." She eyed Katarina with a slanted look. "Though I 'magine you be callin' it heresy or some such."

"Depends." Katarina replied and folded her arms across her chest. "You gonna give me shit for my pants?" She asked with a grin, and the old woman sighed.

"Truce, then." She offered grudgingly, and Katarina nodded and uncrossed her arms.

"Before the Thirty Day War, I s'pose I'd be called a Keeper of Secrets, or a Rememberer." Swan replied after a long moment. "I keep the stories, and I tell the tales. I remind my people of the lessons what need learnin'."

"What history needs to be remembered here?" Katarina asked curiously. "You've been here but sixty or so years."

Swan pointed at the other woman's needlework wordlessly, so Katarina picked it up and dutifully added a few stitches to it.

"I remember what came before." She replied calmly. "Before the Anglish came and subjugated us with fire and sword." She added heavily. Katarina took a breath at that.

"Oh, don't be that way, Katarina." The old woman replied to Katarina's silence with a negligent flip of her hand. "Twas centuries before you or I was born." She explained. "Twas our own damn fault, too." She added.

"What lessons did you carry from your homeland that need to be remembered, Mother Swan?" Katarina asked again.

"I wonder what i should be tellin' you?" She asked rhetorically. "How we were deceived by Atalach-Nacha, the Queen of spiders and the Spinner of Lies?" She asked with a smile. "I know, I'll tell you just a little bit of history: Our lands were beautiful, the fields rich and green, the springs clear and crisp, but all my people wanted was to war with each other." She explained. "We warred and the ground was spoilt and burned, the rivers dried up, and still we fought. By then we fought and each of us sold the losers to the devils across the mountains."

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"Devils?"

"Like Valmont and his sister." She replied. "Our nation is on the other side of the mountains from Lyonesse." She replied. "We sold our own for what we couldn't do for ourselves anymore: food and clothing and the like. Then the Anglish came and conquered us in thirty days." She gave a smile, tired and full of relief.

"It was salvation. Salvation by the sword, but at that point, any salvation would do. We got education, roads, and our land was-" She paused a moment. "We were finally able to plant. No more kin killing kin. No more selling each other into slavery. We were saved." She shook her head. "I don't begrudge the Anglish, nor the Lyonesse, though Valmont is but a fat ass." She confided, and Katarina chuckled.

"Tell me about the lights." Katarina encouraged, and Mother Swan froze a moment.

"What?" She asked guardedly.

"Harmony told me to ask you about them." Katarina replied comfortably.

"That girl." Mother Swan muttered with a sour frown, and then sighed. "Aight. I'll tell ya. Mayhap it's nothin'. Mayhap it's sommin that a Witch Hunter kin help wit." She finished heavily. She folded her hands in her lap.

"For a past coupla days fore you showed, there's been strange lights outside the walls. Not lightning bugs, nor foo lights. One of our own also seen slime onna ground."

Katarina frowned. "Slime?" She asked, and Mother Swan shrugged. "Beats me. Said it was like someone dragged a big ole ball of snot through the woods. I ain't never seen the like, myself."

Katarina nodded. "I'll have a look. Where?" She asked, and Mother Swan nodded and drew a circle on the table. "The town, ye ken?" She asked and Katarina nodded.

She stabbed her finger down inside the circle she described. "Th' church." She gestured, and Katarina nodded. Swan drew a line away from the town. "There's a river down thataway." She advised and drew another line on the table off to the side. "We don't go down that way. River likes to overflow its banks...or undercut them. Too dangerous."

"Hmm. If you don't go down that way, how was this fellow able to see this... slime?" She asked, and Swan shook her head. "I dunno. Mayhap he's daft. Mayhap he's spinnin yarns so's he can get a woman to look at him that maybe ain't his wife." She advised.

"Mmm. I'll check it out anyway." Katarina replied. "To the southwest of town? If it's nothing it's nothing. If it's something I'll see to it." After a moment, Katarina glanced out the window at the town. "I should head on out there now."

Swan shook her head. "Mayhap tomorrow. You go out now an you won't make it back 'fore the storm." She advised. "An' ain't no one no how goin be out in the storm to let you back in, Witch Hunter."

Katarina nodded reluctantly.

Swan nodded. "I'm obliged." She nodded and gestured at the cloth. "You ain't stitchin."

Katarina smirked and she bent to her work again.

"Let me ask you something, Witch Hunter." She offered after a long stretch of time where they worked.

"Anything." Katarina replied.

"What you think about my idea for Harmony?" She asked, and Katarina let out a breath.

"I think she should stay here." Katarina replied after a long minute of thought.

"Why you think that?" Mother Swan asked after a moment.

"An education- like the way you mean it- should have started at six or seven." Katarina replied reluctantly. "The earlier the better. She'll be way behind." She paused. "There will be bullies."

She released the needle in her hand and gestured. "That's assuming you've got the coin to pay for it." She amended. "Copybooks, instructors, clothing, furniture for her room, room and board... It won't come cheap."

"I thought I could send her to the Church and they would educate her." Swan muttered darkly.

"They can, if she's got aptitude," Katarina paused. "They can, but that doesn't mean they simply will. Aptitude isn't enough. You need teachers, and that takes coin. If she can read the church might make her a clerk. If she knows her numbers, they might make her an accountant. If she can't do either they'll stick her in the choir or in the kitchens or in the laundry or in the stables." Katarina explained. "You send her to Darnell, she's less likely to be molested or exploited because it's the Imperial Seat, but there are people everywhere that'll take advantage of her smile and her charm..." She trailed off. "Were you in Darnell I'd say hire tutors to catch her up before you put her in courses."

Swan sighed. "I'd hoped you'd say different, Witch Hunter." She remarked heavily. Suddenly her eyes flicked up to Katarina's.

"You been to Darnell, right?" She asked, and Katarina nodded. "Of course. I was raised there."

Swan let out a pensive breath. "I'mma trust you." She said finally, and Katarina's eyes narrowed a little.

"Iff'n I had the coin, could ye..." Swan paused, "discreetly arrange for it?" She asked in a low voice, barely a whisper.

"What? Tutors? Living space?" She asked, baffled.

"Hist!" She warned. "Lower your tone, missy." She warned, and after a long silence, she nodded. "The whole shebang. A room and bed. Tutors. Books and scrolls and such." She gave Katarina a sidelong glance. "That Jackson's a right sorry excuse for a soggy treestump. He got my girl in a family way and ain't even got the stones to owe up to it proper. He can't be knowin'."

Katarina pressed her lips together. Politics.

"Knowing what? That you have coin, or that you mean to send her on to Darnell?" Katarina asked, and Swan's eyes bulged with anger. "All of it you dumb git!" She hissed.

Katarina palmed her face and sighed.

"I might. Might," She emphasized. "Iff'n as you say, you got the coin, I might be able to set it up." She finally acknowledged. "I make no promises before I send letters to Darnell."

Swan clamped her lips together tightly, whether to hold back another hot outburst or a curse she couldn't say.

"Have you paper and ink?" Katarina asked. "It just so happens I have need to write some letters."

Mother Swan nodded, and carefully got up and moved deeper into her small house.

Katarina strode into the church, hat in hand. Valmont's eyes bulged and he immediately stepped backwards, hands raised in supplication. "What are you doing?!" he cried, and Katarina stopped, hands on her hips, a nonplussed expression on her aristocratic face.

"I'm not here for you, pastor." Katarina replied sourly. "And I'm not going to hit you unless you give me cause to."

"If... if you are not here for me, then what..?" he began. "Ah!" He exclaimed. "You are here for your Witch? Yes?" he asked hopefully. "She is sleeping in the basement. She had not been a problem. She eats when she is told, she does not speak, and she takes her medicine as required. I can wake her for you now." he immediately replied, voice eager.

Katarina shook her head at this. "I'm here for Camille." She replied. His eyes widened even further.

"Not my sister, no! Please, she walks in the light of the Lady!"

"Shut up." Katarina replied. "Shut up and listen, or I really will hit you again." She warned, raising a fist. He shut up at once.

"I need to speak with Camille." Katarina stressed. "Discretely, if possible."

His eyebrows twitched. "Whyever for?" he asked slowly.

"I'm hoping she can help me." Katarina replied, and he sighed. "You are asking for magical services?" He asked quietly. Katarina nodded and gestured at a pew. He nodded back, and she sat. He slowly lowered himself to sit next to her on the pew.

"It wasn't my intention to start an investigation here. I only came here to Higgenfal to get out of the rain." Katarina began, but shrugged. "It doesn't matter; in the interest of duty there is no room for laxity. I need to make an inquiry to the Ministry of Records in Darnell." She neglected to mention her letter for Mother Swan as well.

"She will probably refuse. She does not like her gift. She wishes to serve the Golden Lady, but refuses to use her gift." He replied softly. "She dreams of entering the clergy. She would make a better Pastor than I." He added, and shrugged. "It will never happen. Darnell would never allow a mage to preach Her Word." He finished mournfully. He gestured to the right. "Through that door, and make a right. It will lead to the garden behind the church. She will be there."

Katarina nodded and stood up. "I'll ask."

Camille looked up when Katarina stepped out into the garden and greeted Katarina warmly.

"I need Services." Katarina replied to Camille's greeting. Camille's smile slipped from her face.

"I cannot." She immediately replied in a quiet voice, hands folded at her waist. Katarina frowned at her, and Camille lowered her gaze.

"I'm going to ask you again, Camille," Katarina replied carefully. "And understand that there is a difference between 'cannot' and 'will not'. If you were trained by the Church of the Golden Lady, if you were trained in the magical City of Opal, you should know the spells for Services. I need those spells. If you are refusing, there needs to be an adequate reason."

"I don't..." She started, and then stopped. "I will not lie to you, Madame." She finally replied in a low voice. "I know the spells and rituals for Services. I would wholeheartedly refuse if I could."

Katarina smiled gently at her, and reached out and lifted her head.

"Another Witch Hunter might take offense, but I understand your reasons." Katarina replied levelly. "It's fine that you don't want to." She slipped an arm around Camille's shoulders and walked her a few steps in the garden.

"Madame, I have seen what magic can do. There is more harm than good." Camille stated. "Is that not so? If it were not so, why the need for your duty?" She asked, a desperate, sad tone creeping into her voice.

"You know, I would not come to you and request this of you unless I had a need." Katarina remarked in a kind voice. "I am not a bully." She added.

"What need?" Camille asked quietly, looking up at the taller woman.

Katarina wiped a tear from Camille's face. "As I told your brother, it wasn't my intention to start an investigation here." She gestured at the clouds overhead. "But there are things that are not adding up. There are questions that need to be answered." She let out a short breath. "I need a letter sent to the Ministry of Records in Darnell." She knelt and touched a plant, fingering its leaves thoughtfully. "Maybe it's nothing. Maybe I'm looking too deeply into something that's just a simple matter of lies and bruised egos. Maybe not." She said softly. "But I have to be certain before I can act. Not just a little certain, not a gut feeling, but one hundred percent."

Camille took a deep breath and let it out. "You will have to help me scry for Darnell." She finally decided, and glanced at Katarina. "For I barely remember the place."

Katarina was leaving the church when Sasaki spotted her. Katarina snorted. Sasaki seemed to have decided to attach herself to Katarina for reasons that were a mystery to the taller woman. Sasaki herself was pleasant enough company now, a complete switch to her almost hostile introduction.

"Hello, Katarina." Sasaki greeted. "All is well?" She asked curiously, and Katarina nodded.

"Good. All is as it should be." Sasaki replied. "What next?" She asked curiously.

"I hope you're ready to get muddy." Katarina replied after a moment.

Sasaki let out a small sigh and her mouth twisted in disgust. "My favorite pasttime." She remarked sourly. "You're going to want your horse, right?" She asked, and Katarina nodded. "We're gonna go have a look at the pavilion that the mayor told us about." She replied to the smaller woman.

"Please, Katarina. Call me Tony." Sasaki replied in a low drawl. Katarina snorted, nose wrinkling.

"I'm going to have a quick look at the map in the general store again to make sure I know where we're going." Katarina stated. "Can you meet me there?"

Sasaki frowned up at the taller woman. "You think I'm a servant?"

Katarina didn't say anything at first, just met Sasaki's gaze levelly for a moment. "I'm sorry, I'd begun to think of us as a team." She finally replied, and Sasaki sighed, shoulders drooping.

"You really know how to stick it in and break it off." She muttered irritably. In a stronger voice, then, "All right, fine. We're a team. Just don't expect me to ride on the damnable thing, okay?" She declared hotly, and marched off to the inn, pleated skirts swishing.