Chapter 26

Katarina returned to the central hub with Araya and began climbing the spiral staircase. As she reached the third floor, Araya gestured at the door. "While you are here, don’t bother knocking, come right in." She suggested gently. "I want you to feel welcome."

Katarina raised an eyebrow, but followed the instructions, Katarina put her hand on the latch and stepped inside.

The Diviner’s room was dim, but warmly lit, the air perfumed with a light incense. The room was divided into several areas by way of low partitions that were roughly half as high as Katarina. She glanced around and spotted lanterns in the Yamato style, with colored fabrics diffusing the light. There was a fireplace against the wall; Katarina placed it as up against the stairwell she’d climbed up to get here. In front of the fireplace was a low table with a trio of statuettes of the Golden Lady in her aspects: The Lily of Spring, which depicted a nude but faceless woman draped languidly, almost sensually over a lily, cradling a cornucopia overflowing with food against her lower belly; the Defender, an armored woman wearing full plate armor including an obscuring faceplate, carrying a large heater shield with two sheathed swords attached to the shield itself; and finally, the Kneeling Woman, another faceless woman that knelt on one knee, hands together in prayer, hair drawn up into a bun at the nape of her neck.

The walls of the room were covered in massive drapes of green and white brocaded silk that framed various paintings of nature. Here, a waterfall, there a cluster of trees.

Katarina closed the door behind her after Araya stepped in. The smaller woman blinked a couple of times in the low light.

"Much better. It hurts to be in such brightly lit areas." She murmured by way of apology, and stepped past the taller woman into the room.

Katarina eyed the flooring, and took a few steps forward. Involuntarily her hand went for her gun.

"Come in, come in." The oracle’s voice chimed pleasantly in the now-familiar accents of the Yamato. Katarina followed the woman further into the room.

The girl smiled happily up at Katarina. "There are not many that come to see me, you know." She announced. Her face grew complicated as she continued, brow furrowing. "In some ways it’s a relief, because they usually only come for one purpose, to know what I see in my dreams."

She made a gesture with her hand that Katarina recognized from Sasaki, but hadn’t been able to discern. "In other ways it’s a torment, because frankly, it’s boring and sort of lonely." She added, her smile refreshing as she glanced up at the much taller woman.

"Tell me, I have invited you, but would you stay with me for as long as you are here? I receive the best of … everything, it seems. I would happily share everything I have with you if you stay with me."

Katarina removed her hat respectfully. The girl surprised her by reaching up and putting her arms around Katarina’s neck and hugging her affectionately.

"Please?" the girl asked. "Say you’ll stay!"

A multitude of emotions washed over Katarina. "I..." she began, but didn’t know how to finish. She decided that a diplomatic approach was best. "I can’t say how long I’ll be here, but I’ve already committed to staying here with you." She finally agreed. The girl laughed delightedly, and then kissed Katarina on the lips.

"Then I will dream my dreams for you, Katarina the Blessed." She asserted. Katarina frowned immediately. "You shouldn’t say something like that in jest." She warned, disengaging from the girl’s embrace and stepping back.

Araya smiled warmly at her. "I meant it as a compliment." the girl replied smoothly. "Surely the Goddess has blessed you. Your height, your looks, your skill and resourcefulness..." She trailed off blithely. The girl peered into Katarina’s face, vermillion eyes squinting.

"Hmmm. I will need to dream on you tonight, it seems. You have appointments tomorrow that will interfere with..." she broke off, and her lip trembled. "You won’t be staying long at all, will you?" she whispered.

Katarina nodded. "Only until I pick up my next assignment." She replied calmly.

The girl lifted an eyebrow. "You won’t be here long at all, then." She complained, and Katarina nodded.

"That’s usually the case. There’s a surfeit of Witches, and never enough Witch Hunters." She replied.

The young girl’s mouth firmed and she forced a smile. "You’re overwhelmed with duty and pragmatism, it seems. I will not keep you from it." she said with a forced pragmatism of her own. "Sleep with me tonight and I will dream on you."

Katarina frowned as she tried to follow the strange girl’s conversation. "Do you... sleep with everyone that comes to … " She tried to find the word. "It must be uncomfortable to lie with so many different people."

The girl laughed and hugged Katarina again. "Sleep, Katarina. Not sex." She replied. "And usually they sleep in another room, apart from my own." She remarked. "This is also why I’m the only one that has a room on this floor." She added.

"You said ‘usually’," Katarina remarked, as the young girl confidently slipped her hand into Katarina’s, and led her deeper into the dimly lit room, her hair dragging behind her. "Does that mean that you do lie with people?" She asked the smaller woman.

The girl tilted her head in thought. "Only if I especially like them." She replied, and then smiled greedily. "Like Alejandro." She replied with a throaty chuckle. "I braided his hair while he slept."

"Ale-" Katarina stumbled over the name. "Who?"

The girl smiled predatorily. "Aha, you haven’t met him yet?" She asked. "Alejandro don Diego. He is the Witch Hunter from Toledo." She glanced up at the taller woman with a playful smile. "Really handsome." She rounded on the taller woman. "I saw him first!" She suddenly announced boldly, one fist on her slim hip and an accusatory finger in Katarina’s face. "No stealing!"

Katarina adopted a patronizing look. "Aren’t you a little young to be staking claims?"

The girl laughed at that. "I’m older than I look, Witch Hunter." She replied simply.

"Isn’t your hair uncomfortable?" Katarina asked, changing the subject. The girl laughed, the delicate tinkling of bells, and she put a sleeved hand over her mouth. "What an unusual thing for you to say, Katarina." She said. "Your hair is also quite long. Would it not make sense for you to cut it?" She asked curiously, and reached up and tugged Katarina’s braid lightly.

Katarina struggled, and agreed. "Okay, I retract the question." The girl laughed again.

The girl gestured at the doorway she was leading Katarina towards. "That’s the bathing room." She gestured to a door on the other side of the room. "That leads to the privy, so you know." She advised, and Katarina nodded. "We will bathe and afterwards we will have dinner." The girl encouraged, and took Katarina’s hat from her hand and set it aside.

The tub was low and cut from a single piece of rosy marble. the girl released Katarina’s hand and fumbled with the mechanisms.

"I’d ask for your help, but this is magical. It may not work for you." She casually mentioned, and then hot water gushed forth. "I know you Witch Hunters have a habit of disrupting magical devices." She remarked, and Katarina nodded.

"Take a bath with me. I’ll wash your hair and you can wash mine." The girl announced, and began disrobing.

"I have to see to-" Katarina began, but the girl interrupted her with a dismissive tone. "No doubt it’s all being seen to. There are people that are complaining, but they will do as you ask. We owe you that much."

"You can tell that much, just from divination?" Katarina asked. The girl shook her head. "No, but I am sensitive to other things as well, not just the future."

She stepped out of her robes and turned to the taller woman. "I would help you undress, but I am not strong enough to be any use." She said, hands on her slim hips.

Katarina silently agreed. She was willowy and slight, with only the suggestion of a woman’s curves.

Katarina frowned a little, eyes narrowing, and reached out and touched the girl’s cheek, and then traced the girl’s jaw with a fingertip. the girl shivered with a small smile. "That tickles."

Katarina slipped her hand through her hair, and exposed the girl’s ear.

"I had wondered." Katarina murmured. "You have elven blood in you, don’t you?"

The girl’s face went through a complicated series of expressions. "You Anglish always think like that. I am not ‘elvish’, I am Yamato." She replied irritably. "It’s true that the Yamato have a shared ancestry with elves, but we are not elves, or elvish." She hissed angrily. "We are Yamato. All of the Yamato have some of these traits in varying amounts. I have their stature and their age." Katarina’s brows drew together, puzzled. "Traits? Age?"

"The elves have longer lifespans. I myself am twice your age."

"You look …" She laughed. "I had you pegged at half my age." Katarina marveled.

The girl laughed casually at this. "Instead, I am twice it. If the Goddess desires, I will continue to serve for perhaps another century." She tugged on Katarina’s vest. "Hurry, join me in the bath." she urged, stepping in with a hiss at the temperature.

Katarina eyed the smaller woman briefly, thinking back to her encounter with Sasaki. "Not going to wash before entering the bath?" Katarina asked, and the girl’s head came up and she straightened quickly. The two women regarded each other for a long silent moment.

"You’ve had some interesting conversations with that Yamato, haven’t you?" The girl asked, and Katarina nodded. Araya smiled a bit. "Rebellious, wasn’t she?" She asked with a laugh, and Katarina started, and then, remembering the girl’s power as a Diviner, nodded.

"She didn’t agree with the Five Rings." Katarina replied, and the girl snorted. "It’s not the Five Rings she had a problem with." The girl replied with a dismissive wave of her hand.

"You know her?" Katarina replied curiously as she undressed. The girl shook her head. "I can see her in your minds’ eye, Katarina." She replied reluctantly.

Katarina froze for a long moment, a reflexive memory of her childhood flashing through her mind; adrenaline splashing icily against her heart and then added, "I asked her to be my apprentice."

The silver-haired girl nodded. "It’s a shame she didn’t accept, Katarina. You have my sympathy." She offered with unfeigned sincerity.

Araya abruptly laughed. "Think of the scandals and carefully laid plans gone to waste had she accepted!" the girl exclaimed with a delighted laugh, which left Katarina puzzled.

She straddled the larger woman’s legs and sat in her lap and embraced the larger woman.

"I miss my mother. I have always been her happiness and her shame. She loves me because she is my mother, and is ashamed that I am mutated." She said sadly.

"There are places in the Anglsih Empire where albinism is more than tolerated." Katarina said by way of conversation. "Nauders, for instance. Their ruling house is exclusively albino."

Araya nodded simply at that. "I have heard of them, and from time to time I have considered meeting with them." she agreed.

A young woman poked her head into the bath. "Milady, the dinner is prepared." She eyed Katarina coolly, who gazed back calmly. She recognized the woman from earlier, she was one of the choir girls.

They got out of the bath, Araya chattering about this and that. "You know? That girl earlier? She is going to wed soon. I am very envious of her. I am a woman grown, and I do have my needs as any woman should under the Lily of Spring, but there is no man here that would desire me. I would need to go to Yamato, I think. But even then, they have their own … reservations."

Katarina, thinking back to her talk with Sasaki about the arrangement of Noble houses in Yamato, nodded.

"That’s... very frank of you." Katarina remarked, and the girl laughed unreservedly. Katarina helped dry the girl’s hair. "What of the clergy here? It’s not uncommon for a cleric to wed."

The girl nodded in agreement, but then shook her head. "I don’t know if I could ask them. What man could wed a woman who knows the ‘how and when’ of his death?"She asked curiously. "But there is always hope." She switched topics abruptly. "The cove will be completed soon, I think, and then we will have almost a straight path across the ocean from Yamato to the mainland. We’re all very excited to open that up."

The girl provided Katarina with a simple silk robe dyed an oxblood red which made her grimace.

Araya looked up at her quizzically. "You don’t like it?" She asked, and Katarina fingered the robe.

"I don’t like maroon." She replied after a moment. Araya smiled mysteriously. "Would you believe me if I told you that I had it prepared especially for you before you arrived?" She asked, which caused Katarina’s jaw to drop in surprise. Araya laughed delightedly, holding her belly. "Kidding, kidding."

Araya led her to the dining area, where a small feast was prepared. "We can eat, and then we will sleep together. A dream will come to you." She said briefly, and sat down to eat. "I don’t know how long or how short the dream will be, how powerful the dream will be, if you remember it, or even if you will understand what it means." She raised her hands, palms to the sky. "The dream will be between you and the Lily of the Dawn; I will know nothing of what transpires. If you don’t remember the dream in the morning, I will give you a normal divination."

Katarina took a bite of chicken and regarded the smaller woman. "So you’re saying you could give me a divination without the dream?" The girl nodded. "Of course! I said so, didn’t I? I have already performed the task that you came here for. I have divined some of your possible futures."

"Then why all this? The bath, sleeping with you, and the like?" Katarina asked curiously. Araya selected a slice of chicken and took a small mouthful. "I told you already. I’m lonely and I want the company." she said, chewing. She shuddered. "When I saw your future... I think the dream would be best. I am afraid for you. You … face a difficult choice. or perhaps two choices. I am not sure." She stared off into space, eyes unfocused, and spoke dreamily, disconnected. "What is a choice without choices? A choice with no choices is no choice at all. Can a decision even be made?" she blinked a few times and refocused her gaze on Katarina. "It’s not wrong to wander about in a field of flowers, you know." She remarked casually, and then frowned and clutched her head. "Ugh. My head. I don’t mean to divine you now. I don’t-" She began, and then shockingly, she threw up in her lap.

Katarina and Araya stared at the vomit in her lap with equal parts astonishment and disgust.

"Oh my. Excuse me. I am going to need to bathe again." Araya said shakily, and struggled to her feet. "Please... eat your fill. The bed is in the room with the Kneeling Woman carved over the lintel."

Katarina ate slowly, but her thoughts were on the girl in the other room. She pushed herself to her feet, and went into the bathing room. The girl was rinsing herself off and crying.

"Araya, what’s wrong?" She asked, and moved to embrace the girl. Araya pushed Katarina away.

"Please don’t touch me right now." She said, and threw up again.

"Are you all right? Perhaps I should send for a healer."

The girl shook her head. "My power is fickle and capricious. Sometimes it is weak, allowing me only the most basic divinations." She panted. "Sometimes it is so strong that I can see every possibility of every future that can be realized."

She shook her head and then retched again. "It’s too much for me." she whispered, tears squeezing out of her eyes and streaming down her face. "Please go to bed. If you do that... if you can fall asleep, I can dream on you and perhaps that will be enough to keep me from puking all over myself."

Katarina lay in Araya’s bed, eyes closed. She breathed slowly and evenly, trying to fall asleep. Araya’s assertion about Katarina being ‘blessed’ earlier bordered on the heretical and ground on Katarina’s nerves irritably.

The Goddess was sparing with her blessings, and to suggest or insinuate that someone had been so blessed bordered on the obscene. Those that had been truly blessed by the Golden Lady were by necessity elevated to sainthood. The last Saint that had walked the world had been Saint Celestine, who had eventually been called home by the Goddess some seven hundred or so years ago.

Katarina’s instinctive reaction was to chastise her and report her to to her superiors for scourging, however the Yamato had a different interpretation of the beliefs of the Golden Lady, and Araya herself was the daughter of one of the Cardinals of the Book, the council of Lady Cardinals that oversaw the entirety of the Anglish Empire. Katarina let out a frustrated sigh. She would have to wait, and watch. If Araya displayed any more obscenity, or stepped into truly heretical waters, Katarina would need to be prepared to take action.

When Araya climbed into bed with her, she felt the smaller woman crawl across the expansive mattress and lay next to her. Araya sat partway up, leaning over Katarina. Her hair spilled over on the larger woman as she leaned over and kissed Katarina on the forehead. "Go to sleep, Witch Hunter." Katarina smiled up at Araya and relaxed, and sleep washed over her with almost terrifying ease.

It was dark, but there was a small circle of light about her. The light overhead was brilliant but shrouded the rest of the room in complete darkness.

She knelt naked on a wooden floor, the roughly-hewn planks pushing splinters into her knees. A young man sneered at her in the gloom, eyes greedily devouring her. "It has been decided." He announced, and handed her a knife, the blade no wider than her finger, longer than her hand.

"To show the devotion of your labor, blood from your hand is required." He intoned. Another voice nearly echoed his immediately after; feminine and indistinct.

"To show the devotion of your life, blood from your heart is required."

The light faded into darkness as she raised the knife. Whether she plunged it into her hand or chest or not, she could not say.

The darkness disappeared and it seemed as though she floated bodiless over a sumptuous bedroom that bespoke opulent wealth, power, and station. The walls were painted and detailed with a pattern of interwoven vines and fleur-de-lys. Opulent curtains framed ponderously framed paintings. A woman that was perhaps a few years older than her, with black hair that tumbled down her back in waves and curls lay next to a massive, lavish bed, head pillowed on the mattress, sobbing and weeping. Presently she got up and in a temper began throwing things around, tearing down the pictures and paintings, breaking mirrors, sweeping the contents of shelves off onto the floor, shrieking and screaming Katarina’s name in furious, tear-streaked rage.

Her vision was swallowed in darkness again, and suddenly she was overwhelmed with the sound of roaring flames, enough perhaps to burn the entire world to a cinder. She opened her eyes and smoke stung them, her throat squeezed at the searing air as she tried to take a breath. She tried to turn, tried to run, but the fire washed over her and plunged her into darkness again.

She stood at the foot of a long table. At the head of the table, there were three people. One on the left, one on the right, and one at the head. On the table itself between the three of them lay an unsheathed sword.

She could not see who they were. She squinted, peering in the gloom. The one on the left was her. The one on the right was her sister, her twin Alsabet that she had not seen for twenty years. Despite not seeing her for twenty years, she had no trouble at all recognizing her from the girl of six she’d been when they’d parted. Alsabet had always been cheerful, filled with a bubbling vitality that seemed to spill from her at every opportunity, where Katarina had been the tempestuous one.

The third woman that stood at the head of the table was a woman that seemed to have no face at all. The faceless woman pointed. "Take the sword, it’s yours."

Her sister Alsabet slapped her hands on the table and stood, angrily looking down at the Katarina that was reaching to pick up the sword. "You have made your choice, and I have made mine, sister."

Katarina opened her eyes. She was laying on her side. Araya slept with her, spooned against the larger woman.

"Are you awake?" Araya asked quietly. Katarina tried to affirm she was, but her lips were dry. She licked them and tried again. "Yeah."

"Do you remember anything?" She asked, not turning around. Katarina thought back. It seemed like she should remember something but...

"I don’t think I remember anything." She replied, and Araya nodded to herself. "It happens. Let’s get up and have breakfast, my lady."

"Are you feeling better?" Katarina asked. Araya sat up, stretching. "Much better."

She eyed Katarina. "Now comes your questions." She predicted with a wry twist to her mouth. "Ask. I will tell you what is permitted."

Katarina thought for a minute as Araya gazed down at the taller woman. "Is there anything I should- you know, choices I should make, or things I should avoid?"

Araya regarded her with eyes that reflected the low light.

"If I were to tell you, my lady, they would not be your choices, but mine." She smiled warmly, but Katarina was disconcerted because the smile, coupled with her unnatural eyes, seemed predatory. "Would you want me to make your choices for you?"

Katarina shook her head slowly. The girl nodded, and sat up, back straight, hands on her knees, reclining on her heels, a simplistic yet formal posture. Katarina remembered Sasaki’s talks about the Five Rings philosophy the Yamato followed, and attributed her seated posture to it. "Just so. Restate your questions, and I may be able to answer them."

Katarina thought, and unbidden, last night’s conversation came to mind. "Will you really find love?"

The girl sighed. "I can see everyone elses’ future but not my own. Sometimes I am grateful. Who really wants to know the how, when, and why of their death, and yet be powerless to stop it?" she asked the air. "Other times, I wish that I would know whether or not I will find love."

"Do... Do you know how I will die?" Katarina asked.

The girl turned her head away. "No."

"No?"

"No. I will not answer this question for you."

Katarina sighed, breathing air out of her nose. "Well then, will I fall in love?" She asked flippantly. She’d actually never thought of things like love and romance before, so the answer was probably-

"I do not understand." The girl interrupted Katarina’s thoughts abruptly, with a quizzical glance. "Is this a form of Anglish humor?" She asked curiously.

"What?" Katarina replied.

"You ask a strange question." The girl replied. "You have been loved and desired many times, Witch Hunter. However, your heart is locked behind an impenetrable fortress, with high walls and barred gates. Many have loved you, but you’ve never allowed yourself to love in return."

Katarina glared at the Yamato woman in front of her.

"Loved?" She responded abruptly. "You’re joking."

The girl suddenly laughed strangely, jaggedly. "You seek to test my power and prove me a charlatan?" She suddenly sneered, causing Katarina to lean back. "Very well, let us peer into your past, Katarina." She announced, and then leveled a finger at the taller woman.

"Devon loved you, you know." the Yamato began. "He was waiting for you to come of age so that it would be accepted under the eyes of the Goddess to approach you... until you shot him."

Katarina sputtered in furious outrage at this. "He was an abomination with powers most foul!" She shouted. "Manipulative and sinister and hiding under the guise of a priest. He deserved all of it, and more!" She shouted.

Araya smiled wanly. "Certainly he was a man who had lost his way." She remarked in a sad tone. "But there are none so lost that they cannot find their way home, Katarina." She reminded, and her voice cooled. "There are more, would you dare to hear them?" She asked, and after a long moment, Katarina nodded.

"Lennox from the house of MacDuff loved you and struggled to find a way to prove himself your equal." Katarina blinked in shock. Lennox was a Witch Hunter from her class.

"He barely spoke to me." She replied in a whisper. Araya nodded. "He felt that you would not accept him unless he was as strong and quick-thinking as you." She twisted her mouth sadly. "He died two years after his investiture as a Witch Hunter."

Katarina struggled backwards, but Araya pressed forward. "Frederika loved you, you know. Nauders does not share the same perspectives on love as we do, however, so she buried that love behind the bonds of friendship and sisterhood." She smiled a little. "There was nothing she wouldn’t do for you, Katarina. She loves you still. Seek her out in Nauders, if you don’t believe me." Araya took a breath, held it, eyed Katarina and looked away, and then back.

"I am reluctant to tell you of this one. Doing so may change things irrevocably." She finally admitted.

Katarina paused, thinking of Frederika, and then shrugged. "I’m ready. Lay it on me."

"Sasaki desired you. Hers was a physical desire, but if your heart were open and you were willing it might have blossomed into something more. What fate is it that she travels to?" She asked rhetorically. Katarina’s heart hung heavy. She knew the answer to that question.

"When you ask me ‘will I find love?’ I cannot think but that you are joking. There are many that had loved you, if you but let them in." Araya made some gesture with her hand. "There will not be so many opportunities in the future."

She leaned forward. "I will not speak in cryptics for you, Katarina Pavlenko: If you but open your heart, you will have two great loves." She settled back and greeted Katarina with a smile. "You will fall in love, and they with you."

Katarina shook her head. "I have my duty, though. Something like that... seems unrealistic." She struggled.

The girl laughed and touched Katarina’s hand. "Just because you have your duty, that doesn’t mean you can’t have love, right? The two can coexist. You but have to unlock your heart from the shackles you’ve chained it, and allow love to grow within your breast." She laughed again. "If I find love, does that mean I must stop being a Diviner?" She shook her head. "I will give him a thousand children, prepare his meals with my own hands, do whatever it is he asks of me, but I will continue to serve the Church."

Katarina laughed. "You certainly have ambitions."

Araya joined in with her laughter. "I have been waiting a very long time, Katarina. Whoever it is that the Golden Lady matches with me will find himself hopelessly spoiled."

"What about me? Will I have children?" Katarina asked. Araya shook her head. "No, you have your duty, and they have theirs. There will be no children." Her eyes grew distant. "Your first love will be short but passionate. Your second love will be legendary." her eyes cleared, and she smiled warmly.

"You will have an eternity of love, Katarina. Could any woman ask for more?"

"Two loves, huh?" She asked, and the girl nodded sagely.

Katarina got up to go, but Araya touched her arm. She turned back and looked down on the smaller woman.

"If I might make a suggestion, my lady." She began, and then smiled. "From one friend to another?" Katarina nodded.

"There is a woman here that performs the Ritual of the Wisp. Seek her out?"

Katarina shook her head immediately. "I don’t need-" She began, but the girl shook her head.

"It’s not a question of need. You can choose to not go through with it, or you can choose to do it. This is not a choice that will destroy your future." She smiled. "It’s like choosing to step over a mud puddle with the left foot first, or the right foot first. There is no difference in the end, you arrive at the conclusion. But I am asking you, my lady. If you were to let me make a choice for you, then I would make that one."

Katarina struggled with the choice. "I’ll think on it."

Araya smiled. "Thank you. You didn’t have to, but thank you all the same."

"Araya, I want you to tell me about dreams." Katarina stated, arranging her legs so that she sat cross-legged.

"Oho, one night spent dreaming under the Lily of Spring and you want to know of dreams?" Araya teased gently. "Do you often dream, Katarina?" She asked curiously. Katarina shook her head. "No dreams i can remember." She replied comfortably. "Nightmares, sometimes." She admitted after a moment and Araya nodded sympathetically.

"You want to know of dreams." Araya stated. "What would you like to know?"

"Well, dreams are ..." She waved her hands. "How can you tell, truly tell, that what you’re dreaming is in fact the Golden Lady, and not just wishful thinking?" Katarina asked. "How can you tell someone dreams a true dream?" She asked. "I could say that the Goddess has commanded me to flog someone through the streets, and it seems like there’s no ... conclusive way of proving it."

"Well, there’s always the Inquisition, Katarina." Araya replied with a smile. "You should know that. But your concern is genuine, and there are ways to tell. A true dream retains qualities that normal dreams do not." She added. "That’s how we were given the Divine Language, after all. You cannot read in a dream, and yet they were able to." She explained. "When you get a holy dream, the rules change." She added. "You can be wounded or even die in a holy dream, and you will carry that hurt ... or death, with you into the waking world." She explained. "It is said that Saint Andrianna was healed by the Golden Lady in a dream, and she carried that healing with her."

Katarina nodded.

"Finally, a true dream will always be visible to clerics who invoke the proper prayers. If there’s ever any thought of doubt, seek a cleric." Araya replied simply.

"But... dreams are intensely political." Katarina replied guardedly. Araya burst into laughter at this.

"Of course they are. But it’s always helpful to have a friendly cleric on your side... or in your pocket." Araya replied, and Katarina grimaced in distaste.

"Oh, don’t give me that look, Katarina. Were you in need, you could have Frederika confirm your dreams for you. You know she would never reveal them to anyone without your explicit permission. For someone that abhors politics, you are very well-connected." Araya derided.