CHAPTER 73

Katarina awoke to the sound of Frederika making her bed. In truth she’d awoken when Frederika had climbed out of the bed they shared, but Katarina had immediately tried to go back to sleep.

The sound of the other girls’ industry forced her to grudgingly admit she was awake. She turned over and parted the canopy of heavy curtains around the bed, and spotted the willowy girl as she vigorously shook out the bedspread from her own bed.

"What’re you doing, Rika?" Katarina mumbled sleepily. "You never sleep in it, why are you re-making it?" She asked curiously, and Rika stopped and turned to face Katarina.

"Because they do room inspections, Kat." She replied calmly, violet eyes sparkling with amusement. "They would know this bed hasn’t been slept in, and then they would ask questions." She explained.

The room they shared in the Preux Academy was fit for a noble, though it bore the marks of impartiality. Every suite in the dormitory was modeled exactly the same, though the inhabitants decorated them themselves. Frederika’s family were royalty from the small and somewhat provincial nation of Nauders far to the northeast of the grand capital of Darnell, where they resided, and subsequently they had spared no expense in providing the girl with sumptuous furnishings and decorations. The walls were decorated with long wood panels that had been stained and fitted together so that the natural wood grain picked out an interlocking pattern of eight-pointed stars, which were then polished and edged in gold leaves. There were several large tapestries, and all of the furniture was rather simplistic in construction, but embellished and decorated heavily.

Katarina’s own family were Merchant-Lords, a lower rank of the nobility, and so they had only provided her with plainly-decorated furniture.

"Maybe I should try sleeping in your bed for a change." Katarina offered, sitting up and stretching.

"It’s a thought." Rika allowed, and sighed when Katarina reached into the nightstand by the bed and strapped a dagger to her chest. It was a businesslike knife without ornamentation, a ten-inch blade with a reddish cast to the metal that she had taken from weapons’ practice. She kept it strapped to her ribs, just under her armpit.

"I don’t think you need to do that anymore, Kat". Rika offered. "The other students here are much more refined than..." She trailed off, and Katarina nodded in agreement. "I agree, I don’t think that they would do such things." she replied, "But I’d rather be prepared just in case."

"It’s been five years, Kat." Rika urged. Katarina and Frederika had been assaulted by a gang of bullies when they were younger, victims of being the only two girls in a commoner’s dormitory filled with boys. Since that time, Katarina had trained herself relentlessly.

"I do it more of habit nowadays." Katarina explained. She tapped her head. "I know up here that I can best any of my Witch Hunter classmates. I know that none of my Noble classmates would dare break the boundaries of propriety. I know that." She tapped her chest. "But here, I wonder, ‘but what if?’ and so I keep doing it." She let her gaze wander as she tried to read the feelings in her heart. "It just ...comforts me, knowing that I have... options." She shrugged. "I can’t explain it any better than that." She finished and pushed herself off the bed and gave the willowy girl a hug.

Rika nodded. "All right. I won’t bother you about it again." She replied trustingly, returning the embrace warmly.

"What are you studying today?" Katarina asked, releasing the girl and moving to the closet where their clothes were kept.

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"Today is a Temple day, so I will be studying healing studies and practices." She announced, and Katarina nodded.

"Healing practice... what, do you guys cut each other up and then practice healing prayers?" Katarina asked as she pulled a chemise over her head.

Frederika laughed and shook her head. "I think all of us would be scarred from head to toe if that were the method." She remarked. "We go over prayers and teachings, and we learn of the anatomy of a human." She replied, tucking in the bedspread. She straightened and flicked her hair over her shoulder with a practiced gesture.

"What will you be doing today Kat?" She asked curiously as Katarina struggled with pulling the chemise down. "Here, what are you doing? Let me help you." She amended, hurrying across the room in three quick strides. She struggled to help Katarina pull the chemise over her bosom.

"Really Kat, a chemise is the simplest of clothing. It’s just a tube with arm holes. How can you mess something this simple up?" She admonished gently. Katarina grimaced. "I can’t fit into it." She remarked, and Rika glanced into the cabinet and frowned.

"Kat." She growled, and Katarina grunted. "It won’t work. You can’t fit into my shift." She complained. She helped Kat take it off and slipped it on herself.

"Your bust is already much bigger than mine." Rika grumbled as she adjusted the straps across her shoulders. "You’re taller than me, too. How can I expected to compete?" She complained dolorously, and Katarina shrugged.

"You should stop trying to wear my shifts." Rika challenged. "You’re too tall, and your breasts are much too large."

"I think you should give me one of your shifts." Katarina countered, and reached into the closet for a dress. "I don’t know what they’re made from, but they feel much better than mine."

Rika raised an eyebrow, but giggled. "You can’t fit into them anymore, dearest Kat." She replied. "You’ll simply have to make do with cotton."

Katarina wordlessly turned around and presented her back to Rika, who giggled and helped Katarina with the lacing on the dress.

"We used to look so alike when we first met." Rika mused as she pulled her own dress on. "That priest certainly thought so. Are you sure you’re not from Nauders?"

Katarina snorted. "Every few months for the past five years you’ve asked me that." Katarina replied amiably. "You know as well as I that I’m from Begierde."

"Ah, but the cities of Tannit, Einsamkeit, and Begierde were all originally settled hundreds of years ago by the peoples of Nauders. Your family could be descended from some noble scion of the House of Edelweiss." She speculated. "We could be ...." She considered a moment, and finished, "cousins."

Katarina reached out and lightly tweaked the shorter girls’ nose. "Cousins so far removed that it doesn’t matter." Katarina replied simply, and then continued, "It doesn’t matter what we might be. What matters is what we are." She finished. Rika pouted at this as Katarina turned the slim girl around and quickly laced up the back with quick tugs.

"You’re too much a pragmatist." Rika complained. "You’re about as imaginative as a rock."

"You’re too much of a dreamer." Katarina countered. "You’ve always got your head in the clouds. And I ‘imagine’ just fine." She added as an afterthought. "Kind of in my job description." She gestured at the doorway to the sitting room. "Hurry up and get dressed. Breakfast is probably waiting."

"You asked what I plan on doing today." Katarina mentioned over breakfast. "For me, I’ll be with the Witch Hunters. There’s something going on today, some event or something, but they won’t tell us." She added.

"Well, what have you been learning recently?" Rika asked, trawling a chunk of bread through her soup.

"Wilderness survival. Making shelters, starting fires, tracking animals, things like that." Katarina remarked. "Pretty interesting stuff, although you probably wouldn’t discuss it around a dinner table."

"Do come back safe, sister." Rika encouraged, and Katarina nodded.

No, wait. That couldn’t be right. That happened a little more than a month ago. Did it? Was it a month ago? Her chest hurt as if she’d been kicked in the chest by a horse. It hurt to breathe. Where was she?

-No, Katarina. Not there. Further back. Tell me about Devon.