"You don't have to bathe at the Maiden House, you know." Katarina mentioned to Sasaki as they entered the baths together. The villagers had either gone home or taken rooms and were solidly asleep when Sasaki and Katarina entered the baths. "You're strong enough, certainly capable of avoiding those "entanglements" you mentioned."

Sasaki laughed. "Who said I was a maiden?" She asked, a hand on her hip. Sasaki gave her a sidelong look. "I have no problems whatsoever with sex, Katarina." She argued comfortably. "I just refuse to do it with them." She added. "I prefer my partners to be of singular distinction." She glanced at Katarina, reading her expression. "And I remind you that the same applies to you. You can move to the inn just as easily as I."

Katarina shook her head while laughing. "I'd rather not bathe with either." She gestured at the Maiden House around them. "They're just as bad in some ways. They're..." She trailed off, fruitlessly searching for a word, and then gave up with a shrug and climbed into her tub.

Sasaki laughed nastily. "Don't want to become pillow-friends with a bunch of spinsters-to-be?" She asked, a grin on her face.

Katarina shook her head at that. "Pillow friends? Is that what they call it in Yamato?" She asked curiously. "Besides, as a Witch Hunter, I'm less free than most." She began scrubbing herself with the soap and wondering if Camille was the one that was expected to be the 'sacrifice' that had been mentioned before, or perhaps was in collusion with that mage.

"On the contrary, Katarina. From my perspective you have a great deal of freedom." Sasaki replied. "You can take your pleasure anywhere."

Katarina frowned at this, still focused on the mystery of the mages and the portent of a sacrifice. "You're treading on dangerous ground, Yamato." She warned.

"How so?" Sasaki asked curiously. "Lives are fleeting under the gaze of the Golden Lady. We're like flowers: we grow, we bloom, and then we die. There's no shame or crime in indulging in the pleasures that are available to us, provided that we do not stray from Her holy purpose and that we do not pursue these pleasures to excess." She flapped her hand dismissively.

Katarina clenched her jaw. "While correct in word, this is wrong in action." She replied. If that Olgethorpe had been sent to retrieve someone from this village, did it stand to reason that the plot had been effectively thwarted? Or, now that Oglethorpe was dead, were different agents being dispatched? "When done without love, trust, and respect it is no better than animals rutting." She took a breath. "And if we are separating animals from humans then we must look to the guidance that was given to us by the Golden Lady herself: 'The castle on the hill is seen by all'." she pontificated.

Sasaki rolled her eyes ostentatiously at this. "This is starting to sound like Five Rings bullshit." she replied acidly. There was a hint of warning in her tone, also.

"It means," Katarina continued, "That a person of status and authority has to act in ways that befit their position. We must live wholesome, upright lives as an example to others." She shot a glare at Sasaki. "Taking my pleasure from the people I am responsible for devalues the faith and trust they place in us."

Sasaki sighed as Katarina went through this. "Yep, that sounds exactly like Five Rings bullshit." She replied, rolling her eyes ostentatiously, washing between her toes. Suddenly her voice was a deeper, mockingly jocular tone as she continued. "Duty is a sword, Sasaki. It makes all things simple!" She mocked, continuing, "And like a sword, would kill you as surely as it could be wielded against the enemy." She glared savagely at Katarina, who raised an eyebrow. "A sword you are destined to wield, Sasaki." She finished, and then narrowed her eyes, a frown twisting her doll-like face.

Katarina considered the smaller woman silently for a full minute as she washed. Depending on the location, Sasaki's insouciant attitude might reward her a vigorous flogging or a stern lecture. Katarina didn't particularly disagree with her, but Katarina was still wary of Sasaki, and decided to err on the side of the Church.

Sasaki let out a dramatic sigh and tossed her shoulders. "Don't get me wrong, Katarina, and don't accuse me of heresy, either. Even if the world was barren and the sky was empty and there were no Goddess of the Dawn to warm our souls, I would still do good." Sasaki straightened imperceptibly. "It's the pride of humanity to rise above." She added smugly. "Animals don't know 'good' or 'evil'. They simply live within their instincts. You see it everywhere; once you add intelligence into the mix, the default condition becomes one of base desires. Greed, selfishness, and a desire to do murder." She put one hand on her hip. "I've no problem with doing good." She advised. "I want to do good, because I am better than animals. Because I am better than the beastman, the elf, the mutant, and the abomination. But I do have a problem with all the rules and laws and ordinances and creeds and honors and..." she trailed off gamely. "Bullshit." She finished.

Katarina laughed after Sasaki finished her rant. "Less talking Sasaki, and more washing." She advised, and gestured at Sasaki's yet-untouched tub.

"You're doing it wrong, you know." Sasaki observed from her perch on the large tub.

"What?" Katarina asked confusedly, splashing water on her legs.

"Bathing." Sasaki replied caustically. "You're doing it wrong."

"How old are you, Sasaki?" Katarina asked instead. "I have you pegged at eighteen or so."

Sasaki frowned suspiciously at the change in subject. "I'm nineteen, not that it means anything."

"I'm older than you. I think I know what I'm doing when it comes to taking a bath, seeing as I've been taking them longer than you've been alive." Katarina replied sarcastically.

Sasaki burst into laughter at this sally. "You've been doing it wrong for a very long time, then." Sasaki replied. "These things must be done in order." She scrubbed her elbows with a cloth. "First you wash, and then you rinse. Only after that are you permitted to soak. Elsewise all you do is soak in filthy water. Hardly cleansing." She finished dryly and then grimaced. "I sound like my sensei." She muttered and then gestured in front of her. "Come over here and I'll wash your back."

Katarina thought for a moment, and then shrugged. It didn't hurt to humor her, and besides, it did make a sort of sense. She climbed out of her tub.

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Sasaki eyed the taller woman with undisguised admiration. Katarina was one of the strongest women she'd ever met; as physically powerful as many men she knew. Katarina had been trained to be a Witch Hunter for the Church from a very young age, and she had developed a far greater strength than she normally might have had she not been exposed to the rigors of training. Coupled with years of observing, tracking, and stalking as a hunter, she used her body with ease and moved with uncommon grace.

Sasaki began washing her, and she frowned. "I don't understand how someone can have so many knots in their shoulders and yet manage to move around." She commented, and Katarina laughed. "Pure grit."

"It must be." She agreed. "So which do you choose?" Sasaki asked curiously as she dug her fingers in. "Women? Men? Both?" She asked curiously.

"I don't see how it's any business of yours." Katarina returned, feeling suddenly exposed.

"Just making conversation." Sasaki replied casually. "Even a woman burdened with duty and responsibility can have a heart, and that heart can yearn for things." She let out a sigh. "Even one such as I can desire for what's beyond my reach."

She paused for a moment and then added in a more cheerful voice than the prior, "I think it's our defining characteristic as humans: We want more. We dare stretch out our hand. A deer will forage, mate, flee from predators and fire, and then lay down and die when the time comes, but a person is different. We dare. We reach for more. We want what is just beyond our grasp." She lathered up her hands and went to work on one of Katarina's arms. "So I'm naturally curious what Katarina the Witch Hunter reaches for."

Katarina shook her head. "There's no room for love." She replied. "Not when I have my duty."

Sasaki growled. "You did not answer my question." Katarina shook her head. "And I will not."

"Will it help if I told you my preferences?" Sasaki asked curiously. Katarina shrugged. "It couldn't hurt your chances."

"In Yamato, you are not allowed to have personal preferences." She remarked in a low voice. "The family is all. The clan is all. If you are told you are to marry, then you marry. If you are told to dance, you dance." She stated, and shook her head. "Five Rings bullshit." She rinsed Katarina off with a bucket of water.

Sasaki rolled her eyes at Katarina extravagantly. "If you ever happen to meet a warrior from the Yamato, be careful that you are not endlessly lectured on the virtues of the Five Rings."

"Five Rings?" Katarina asked doubtfully, looking up at the smaller woman. Sasaki nodded. "Mmm. It forms the foundation of the Yamato Empire; its precepts can be seen as much in warfare as in their approaches to economics, government, and even the arrangement of families."

Karatina raised her eyebrow at this, but Sasaki nodded. "Even family arrangement can be attributed to the Five Rings. You Anglish are matriarchal, but the Yamato are patriarchal. One man who is both lord and husband, who oversees his family and wives."

"Wives?" Katarina asked, eyes wide in surprise, leaning back as Sasaki began washing her front.

Sasaki nodded. "According to the Five Rings, a man is entitled to as many wives as his honor can sustain." She rolled her eyes. "It's mostly a political thing. You have one wife as family or politics require; and then you have another to fulfill your..." She trailed off. "Your real heart's calling." She finished with a wry chuckle. "Everyone benefits from this arrangement. But we stray far from my warning: Beware the endless lectures on the Five Rings, Katarina." She finished. "If left to their own devices, they'd lecture you endlessly on the values of asceticism and austerity, the beauty of the most simple gestures." She lowered herself to a sitting position with a weirdly evocative grace and bowed from her position on the bathing floor, and then went to work on Katarina's legs.

"It seems you've learned the lessons well, Sasaki." Katarina observed, and Sasaki nodded, eyes rolling.

"I cannot teach you the Five Rings, but I can tell you what the concepts are." She finished.

"Why can't you teach me?" Katarina asked, and Sasaki laughed. "Do you happen to have twenty years of your life to spare, Katarina?" She asked with a sarcastic incredulity, and Katarina snorted. "Bullshit."

"Just so." Sasaki replied, and they shared a laugh. "Still, the essentials are this: Use the minimum amount."

"Amount of what?" Katarina asked, and Sasaki shrugged. "Everything. Use the minimal amount of movement to close with your foe. When fighting, only use movements and postures that will result in assured victory. No wasted movements." She rolled her eyes. "Before the Reformation, there were great schools that taught the mystery of the sword, spear, bow, and the like. Each school would have it's own set of 'classic', 'secret', and 'assured victory' maneuvers." She added. "But then the Reformation happened," She paused, "Thank you Anglish Empire for reminding the Yamato that we were not alone", she added darkly, and then continued, "And those schools were abolished. I hunted down their writings, spoke with learned historians, and developed my own style. That got me into trouble." She then shrugged nonchalantly. "So I left."

"Wait, you're telling me you left your family and your nation because you couldn't have a personal sword style?" Katarina queried, eyebrow arched, turning to face the smaller woman.

"That's the answer I'll give you for now, Witch Hunter. Leave it at that." Sasaki replied, and stood. "You've been thoroughly washed, Katarina. You can soak," She said, flicking her hair off her face with a distracted hand, and gesturing at Katarina's tub with the other, "Or you can return the favor."

Katarina nodded and stood. "Sit yourself, then." She indicated, and Sasaki handed over the soap.

"You haven't told me your preferences." Katarina mentioned as she soaped the smaller woman. Sasaki laughed. "I haven't, have I?" She replied. "I thought I was clear enough: I prefer my partners to be of exceptional disposition." She replied steadily. "I don't particularly care if they're male or female, they just have to be distinct. I don't bathe with these farmers and woodcutters because I'm afraid for my purity, I just reserve the right to choose my partner." She finished with an irritated sigh, and then added, "And in Yamato, regardless if I had a preference, that preference wouldn't matter in the face of my responsibility to my family. I would be told who I was to be wed, we would be wed regardless of my wishes on the matter, and that would be that."

"You're right, that does sound like bullshit." Katarina observed. "You're not bound by those rules anymore though?" Katarina half-asked, and Sasaki nodded.

"You seem to understand that there is a time and a place for honor and duty, and that there are times when it's simply better to act." Sasaki observed.

Katarina nodded. "Sometimes talking works. Other times, 'out sword and cut', as the saying goes."

"You're not so odious as I thought, Katarina." Sasaki announced. "I was wrong."

"And you lived up to your hype, Sasaki. You thoroughly lectured me on the Five Rings, as promised." Katarina replied with a grin. Sasaki groaned and sank beneath the water in her tub.

After a moment, she surfaced and gestured at Katarina. "Those tattoos on your arms." She began, "Are they an Anglish thing?"

Katarina eyed the tatoos of flwering lilies that climbed, vinelike, from the backs of her wrists up her arms and terminating at her biceps.

"No, they're a Witch Hunter thing." She grinned. "Very secretive."

"A 'If you told me, you'd have to kill me' sort of thing?" Sasaki asked curiously. Katarina shook her head.

"No, not like that. I only learned of them from books and things. I recieved them from my Master, but he died before he could explain their meaning." She ran her hand up her arm, tracking the lilies with a fingertip. "Officially, the Witch Hunters are a part of the Anglish Empire. But there was a time when they stood apart. They were beholden to no one, they belonged to no nation, they were a force unto themselves. They hunted the Witch, the mutant, the heretic wherever they appeared." She shrugged. "Three hundred or so years ago, the Witch Hunters were absorbed into the Anglish Empire." She paused. "These... whatever they are, whatever purpose they serve, are a remnant of that past." She paused. "As I said, my Master died before he could explain them. Perhaps I'll understand their purpose, their signifigance someday. But for now, they're a reminder that I don't just belong to myself. I belong to the Golden Lady, the Goddess of the Dawn, the Lady of Spring."