Sasaki refused to ride on Katarina's horse, either riding double or separately, and although Sasaki told her that the reason she wouldn't ride was because of her clothing, Katarina really believed it was because Sasaki simply didn't know how to ride and refused to embarrass herself.

As they travelled down the road, Katarina on her horse and Sasaki on foot, they made small talk.

"And so I told her that-" She cut off for a fraction of a second and glanced at the trees, "I told her, 'Katarina, we're being watched.'."

Katarina, who had only been listening with half an ear, nodded and drew her gun. The action was still gritty, but it had been thoroughly cleaned and should work.

"You there, behind the trees." Katarina called out, and raised her gun. "Come on out."

Sasaki's reached up to the pommel of her sword, and the bushes rustled, and a young man stepped out from behind the trees.

He was dressed oddly, and didn't have the look of an Anglish and was dressed oddly, as well. He wore a long leather coat fringed in some heavy fur, a simple breastplate that looked battered, scraped, and scratched but still whole, and leather pants. He carried a leather-wrapped parcel slanted over his back exactly the same way Sasaki carried her sword, and a sword in his hand that was as battered as his breastplate, and looked to have been used recently to clear plants. There were a number of small knives and blades about his person, tucked into his belt, strapped to his sleeves, tucked into his boots.

"In the name of the Golden Lady, what's your business here?" Katarina demanded in a clear voice, levelling her gun at him.

The man snorted and sheathed his sword with a disdainful sneer. "Golden Lady." He spat. "I'm a Witch Hunter in service to the Church of the Lady of the Moon." He tapped a silver disk on a chain about his neck. Katarina's eyes widened and her face split in a feral grin.

"I am Katarina, Witch Hunter in service to the Golden Lady." Katarina replied, returning the introduction. "You range afar from your lands, Urthan." She added predatorily.

"Fuck you." He replied comfortably with a grin and gave her the finger. "I'm hunting, so stuff your patriotism in your twat and spin on it till you catch fire for all I care. I got shit to do and you're keeping me from it."

"Who are you hunting?" Katarina responded curiously, leaning forward on her horse a little. She lowered her gun, but didn't holster it.

He let out a long-suffering sigh. "I've been tracking a rogue mage that's been moving about in these parts. He's raised himself a following of mutants and beastmen. You'd know him if you saw him; carries himself with a limp and his face is scarred from removing his Seal."

Katarina scoffed. "You've successfully described a gaping majority." She remarked drily. "Hair color? eye color? Any visible mutations? Favored spells?" She let that hang in the air for a minute, and then added pointedly, "A name?"

The man blew out a long breath. "He's an older man. He's missing a few teeth. When he escaped he had long gray hair he wore in a tail and a short beard. His name is Korin, but he likes to call himself Karingdol."

Sasaki, who had been watching silently at this interchange, laughed suddenly. "You're too late, Urthan. Katarina and I dispatched him and his fell company not a week hence."

The man glanced at her and his mouth twisted. "Yamato?" He asked, and she nodded. He turned his attention back to Katarina. "Have you proof?" He asked, and Katarina shrugged.

"Karingdol was his name, and his goal was to summon an unbound demon to this world." Katarina replied. "He met his end southeast of the village of Higgenfal."

The man let out a breath. "A relief, then." He remarked.

Katarina smirked. "What, are the Witch Hunters of the Moon Lady so weak as to fear their prey?" She remarked, and he shook his head. "You're a cunt." He retorted, and Katarina wiggled her gun meaningfully.

"It vexes me that I'll return without proof." He replied. Katarina nodded silently, and then reached back to her saddlebags and tossed a bundle at the man's feet.

"What's this?" He remarked, eyeing her suspiciously.

"One of the heretic's daggers. It should serve as proof." Katarina replied.

"And now you patronize me. As should be expected of Anglish filth. You know that's not enough." He argued angrily. "Once they scry him through the dagger they'll clearly and plainly see that it wasn't me that did for him. I'll get no bounty for this, and you do me no favors."

Katarina grinned and nodded. "Just so." she gestured at one of her saddlebags with her free hand, still casually keeping her revolver on him. "I took his hand as my proof."

"Why do you have to be a cunt?" He blurted, obviously frustrated, gesturing at her.

"The Lady of Urthan is not my Lady." Katarina replied steadily. "I owe you nothing. Further, you are trespassing."

He let out a frustrated sigh. "Just because you decadent and corrupt Anglish have restricted us from growing southward does not mean you can restrict us from moving eastward. You have no power here."

"These lands are Anglish lands." Katarina rebutted, and he snorted disdainfully. "I see no Anglish claim here, only some wayward unbelievers."

"Would you prefer I grant you release to seek your Lady of the Moon?" Katarina warned threateningly.

He shook his head, and Katarina nodded.

"You should take the dagger anyway." Katarina urged. "Even if the kill is not yours an accounting will still need to be taken. Your superiors will be relieved to know that one more heretic is freed from the skin of the world." He nodded after a moment, and sheathed his sword and picked up the bundle with the dagger inside. His face immediately went through a series of expressions, settling on disgust.

"By the Goddess I can feel the corruption." he muttered sickly. He glanced up at Katarina. "Thank you, Witch Hunter." he extended his right leg, saluted with fist to heart, and bowed. Katarina nodded, and he turned and stepped back into the forest.

Katarina and Sasaki waited for a few minutes until they were sure he had left, and continued their journey.

Several days after they had left Higgenfal found them still on the road, travelling westward towards what Katarina believed to be Aston.

One night, as they made camp, Katarina eyed Sasaki carefully. Sasaki very nearly had all of the qualities of a capable Witch Hunter.

Katarina stared into the fire as Sasaki moved around again. Every so often the wind would change and blow the campfire's smoke towards Sasaki, which would prompt her to move to the other side of the fire. The wind would switch direction and the smoke would blow.

"You're doing it wrong." Katarina finally said quietly after perhaps the fourth or fifth move, and then chuckled. Sasaki immediately frowned at her.

"The smoke is getting in my eyes." She replied sulkily. Katarina nodded.

"Of course it is. You keep moving around." She gestured at the large rock she'd moved by the campfire. "The rock directs the smoke. It's always going to eddy over there, and over there." She gestured, pointing at the spots Sasaki kept moving towards.

Sasaki planted her hands on her hips. "You're saying the best place to be is where you're at?" She asked, and Katarina smirked knowingly and said nothing. Sasaki seated herself next to Katarina and let out a sigh.

"Something's weighing on your mind." Katarina observed, and Sasaki glared at her.

"No shit. Everyone's got something weighing on their mind, if you hadn't noticed." She sneered caustically. "It's part of the human condition."

Katarina waited patiently, though she wanted to skip the back-and-forth that would finally tease open the mystery that was Sasaki.

"Do the Anglish bury their dead?" Sasaki asked suddenly, and Katarina's nose wrinkled in distaste. "By the Goddess, no." She admonished. "Our dead are cremated. In some places sepulchers are raised which hold their belongings; armor, weapons, books and scrolls and the like, but the body is committed to the cleansing fires."

Sasaki nodded easily. "That there is an example of why I cannot trust you completely, Katarina: our worlds are too different." She replied guardedly. Again, Katarina waited patiently. It was obvious to her that Sasaki wanted to tell her something that to Sasaki was important and personal.

"The Yamato bury the dead." She stated simply. Katarina caught her breath, and Sasaki nodded. "You see? We are too far apart." She finished.

"Why..." Katarina paused.

"The Yamato reverence the Golden Lady, but we also respect the land we come from." She began carefully. "The priests teach, 'Sky above, earth below'." She glanced at the other woman with a guarded, careful look on her face. "You understand?" Katarina nodded. It did make a sort of sense, though it did not fit with the canon Katarina had been raised to believe in.

"We respect the world that gives us the food we eat, the clothes we wear, the rain for our crops, the woods and metals and all the things we need." She continued, and Katarina's brow twitched. Those things certainly came from the world, but it was the Goddess from which everything originated.

Sasaki laughed. "I saw that. You probably were just thinking, 'The Goddess put all those things there, so there's no point in respecting the world', weren't you?" She challenged, and Katarina chuckled.

"Something like that, yeah." She replied.

"You respect the storekeeper from which you buy your goods, yes?" Sasaki asked curiously. "You don't simply walk in and say, "The Goddess has given everything to us, so this is mine." She shrugged a little. "When we die, we commit our bodies to the earth. Our souls ascend to the Golden Lady; our bodies become the grass. An inadequate gift to the land that provides us what we need, perhaps, but it's respect all the same."

Katarina nodded.

"How were you taught the sword, Katarina?" Sasaki asked. Katarina blinked at this sudden topic shift, but went with it as she felt Sasaki was on the verge of telling her whatever she felt was important.

"Endless practice." She replied. "There's a woman in Darnell, Nadette, who is ruthless and relentless and will beat you senseless until you can learn to hold a sword properly." She replied, a smirk on her face, and then touched a scar across her collarbone. "I took a javelin through the shoulder from her."

Sasaki's almond eyes widened in awe, and she lightly brushed the scar with her fingertips.

"For the Yamato, it's just as different as how we treat our dead." She finally said. "Don't get me wrong, there is practice, and plenty of it, but before the practice, we are trained."

Katarina gave her a dubious look. "How can you train without practice?" She asked, and Sasaki frowned at her.

"Practice teaches the body." Sasaki replied somewhat disdainfully. "Training teaches the mind." She let out a breath. "I suppose there's nothing for it: I'll have to tell you the whole of it and hope that you don't kill me."

Katarina sucked in a breath at this, but Sasaki was already speaking.

"When you-" She started, and then stopped. "First, there's-" She stopped again, and let out a sigh.

"Did your mother ever sing to you, Katarina?" She asked suddenly.

After a long pause where Katarina mulled the question, she shook her head. "I can't remember. When I was six, I was brought to Darnell to be trained as a Witch Hunter. It's possible that my mother sang to us before bedtime, but it's honestly hard to think back that far." She replied. Sasaki nodded.

"My mother sang to us before bed. It made us feel safe and secure. We were told that if we were disobedient or shameful we would be thrown to the onii to be devoured, but if we were dutiful and attentive daughters our mother's songs would keep us safe." She remarked with a short laugh.

"Onii?" Katarina asked, and Sasaki glanced at her quickly and then away. "A scary monster used to frighten children." She replied shortly. Katarina nodded.

"You are brought into the dojo, and you breathe the incense and they sing to you. Your mind relaxes and becomes still, like water. You're awake, but you're also deeply asleep. You are open, all the way to your soul. They command obedience and you obey. They tell you to remember, and you remember. You don't really remember, not in your waking mind, you don't remember the same way you say, "I had roast chicken and boiled greens last night", She added in a sing-song voice, "You remember deep in your mind where you don't really go." She paused. "You are trained to make the sword part of you. To move in a certain way. To step properly. You are taught the secrets of the sword and you etch them in the deepest parts of your mind where it is impossible to forget. They do this over and over and over again, and then they tell you to open your eyes, to wake and remember, and then they put a sword in your hand. Then you 'practice'." She finished and eyed Katarina. "Am I a heretic yet?" She asked, and Katarina frowned.

"What do you mean?" She asked. "I can't judge that heresy. I don't know what I should call that but 'training', like you said."

Sasaki nodded. "A man can walk fifty miles with his guts in his hands so that he can deliver an urgent message before death claims him. A woman, fearing for her child's life, can lift a burning beam to save that trapped child in a fire." She playfully squeezed Katarina's shoulder. "A woman can travel endless miles on 'pure grit' before exhaustion claims her." She pontificated. "The soul of man has power, Witch Hunter. We are strong, we are powerful, and we shall overcome all adversity as set down in the Golden Lady's Holy Canon." She paused and then continued, reluctantly, "The techniques I have learned take that nascent power that lurks in the soul and brings it out." She paused again. "You can swing a sword, or shoot a gun, but that's just your body. That's just bone and meat and sinew." She added. "I am my sword. My mind, my heart, my body; everything is united in each move, each gesture." She smiled a little. "That's why I said back in the beginning that you were not worth my blade, Katarina. Your skill simply cannot compare to mine, and I refuse to fight the way that I have been taught since I was but a little girl unless I am against a foe that deserves the entirety of my hate."

Katarina shook her head. "Well, with a sword that would be true." She allowed. "But my gun is bonded to my soul. For anyone else it's just a gun, but for me, it's an extension of my hate for the mage." She explained. "My hate, the invocations of the Goddess, they combine into a shot that is unerringly lethal for those that dabble in powers most foul." She shook her head. "You're afraid I will judge you a Witch: I have felt no such power from you." She finished simply.

Sasaki nodded at this. "So what next, Katarina?" She asked, and Katarina gave her a long, considering look, took a breath, and decided to go through with it.

"I'd like you to consider becoming my apprentice." Katarina offered carefully. "You've got a respect and understanding of firearms, you have the right attitude... more importantly however, you have the right mindset. You ask the right questions."

Sasaki was quiet for a few minutes.

"I like you, Katarina." She started, and Katarina's heart fell. "Moreso than I'd like to admit." She eyed Katarina and nodded. "But I'd rather walk beside you as your friend than behind you as your subordinate." She added, and then sighed. "Also, your talk of duty back in that muddy town got to me, I think." She rubbed her nose. "When we get to Aston I think I'm going to go back to Yamato."

She bumped her shoulder against Katarina's. "If I come back, I'll pal around with you again, and we can revisit this conversation, but..." She shook her head. "Most likely I'm going to die."

Katarina was going to ask why, but she remembered the things that Sasaki had told her about her doings. Likely Sasaki would be called to atone for her actions, either through ritualistic suicide or execution.

There was no further talk that evening, and later, Katarina awoke to the sound of Sasaki leaving camp. Katarina thought of getting up, or calling out to her, but instead subsided. Likely Sasaki thought she was being considerate. Katarina decided to cooperate, and relaxed into sleep again.