Chapter 65

After they left the High Court, Lady Olivia stopped her in the hall.

"You may as well go ahead and re-dress, my lady." Olivia encouraged, resting her hip and shoulder on the corridor wall. "Right now you look every part the fractious child, and I'd rather not have that. Let everyone see you for what you are, a beautiful and strong Witch Hunter."

Olivia simply could not believe Katarina's behavior. She couldn't wrap her mind around it. From casually contemptuous, to... indifference? There wasn't any expression Olivia could put to Katarina's face as she gunned down Constance. From indifference to blindingly furious, to overwhelmingly haughty and arrogant.

Olivia had, as part of the Book of the Golden Lady, met two queens, and neither of them held a candle to Katarina's high-handed contempt. She herself had for a moment felt like she had been judged and found wanting under the Witch Hunter's gaze.

Katarina eyed the Lady Cardinal coolly, but slipped her belts on and tied down her holster to her thigh. As she bent over, Olivia casually let her eyes drift over the taller woman's backside and smiled admiringly.

"A bold move, demanding... that one's apartments." She murmured. "As well you did; hers were-" She pressed her hands over her belly in shock. "...right next to mine." Olivia finished in a low voice. She had been living and working next to that thing for years and had never known, not once, not even for a moment.

"Do you want us to sequester her staff?" Olivia asked the other woman as Katarina straightened, flicking her braid over her shoulder with a gesture.

"Turn them over to the Inquisition." Katarina's reply was indifferent. "Besides, how else would you and the rest of the Book insert spies and listeners into my apartments?" She asked sarcastically.

Olivia's mouth twisted at that, but she kept her spiel going. "You're in my custody for now, so that means I will supply you with appropriate staff." She hesitated a moment, wondering how the Witch Hunter was taking this, and then continued. "Our original plan was for you to take individual lessons from each of the Lady Cardinals, though I'm uncertain how that will change since..." She trailed off, leaving the rest unsaid. "Nevertheless, I expect you will be quite busy indeed." Olivia decided, tapping her fingers against her mouth. "And it's quite obvious we'll need clothes made for you."

Katarina snorted. "My own have served me well enough." She paused. "My Lady."

Olivia chuckled at this, but it was empty, devoid of humor. "Does it really really rankle you so, to demonstrate respect?" She gestured down the hall and as they started moving, she added, "Or at the very least, simple manners?"

Katarina shrugged indifferently. "Should I have curtseyed before I put a bullet between her eyes?" Katarina mocked. Olivia sucked in a breath at that.

"You're implying that you suspect me?" Olivia challenged warningly.

Katarina turned and eyed the other woman, a long, assessing look that seemed to strip Olivia bare, weigh and measure her. Katarina's mouth worked. "You don't really understand anything at all, do you?" She finally asked.

"What should I understand, my lady?" Olivia asked curiously. "You can speak your mind to me." Olivia urged, rubbing her hand up and down the woman's arm. Katarina eyed the Lady Cardinal, remembering Alayne's warning about having enemies in the Book of the Golden Lady.

Katarina sighed and rolled her eyes. When she spoke, it was in dry, patronizing tones.

"Fine. North of here there is a frontier city that has been under threat of being raided by fouled dead -reanimated corpses- and demons. While I was up there in the forests, I killed several lesser demons." she began. "Where there are demons, there is magic. I needed to strike at the heart of this problem, which could potentially overwhelm Norn, a principal city in our expansion. I suspect more than one mage, one of which may be my younger sister, who recently went rogue. I also suspect the local clergy of intentionally delaying their report of missing mages by months." She explained, becoming angrier the further along she went. "I was given an assignment, and then told I was not to work that assignment."

She paused for a moment. "And then I was shot -shot- by another Witch Hunter." She absently touched her shoulder where the bullet had gone in.

"I was closer to Begierde than I was Norn, so I continued on. Can you guess what I found waiting for me at the Church of Begierde?" She asked the smaller woman, who shook her head silently. "I found that my own Church had labeled me a sixth-degree moral threat."

Katarina went on. "And you 'wonder' why my civility suffers?" Katarina demanded angrily. "You stole me away from my family twenty years ago, and discarded me when it became convenient to do so. And you wonder why I don't bow and scrape and curtsey and grovel. It completely baffles you that I could be in any way upset that I had to abandon everything simply because some jumped up goatfucker with an ostentatious mitre and stole decided to freeze my authorities as a Witch Hunter." Katarina stated flatly, lips tight against her teeth, and Olivia jumped at the fury that simmered below the surface, shock splashing her face for a moment.

Katarina nodded at that. "Instead of being allowed to do my job, I am instead restricted, forced to obey summonses, delayed, and required to ... take lessons?" She spat. "I have responsibilities that exceed the Book's need to involve me in whatever bullshit you feel necessary to drag me into."

Olivia tried to reach out in sympathy to the taller woman, but Katarina stepped aside, and marched down the hall to the High Court, steadfastly ignoring the patrolling guards, scurrying acolytes, and secretaries carrying stacks of paper.

Olivia hurried to catch up to the taller woman.

"Well, that's certainly one perspective." She suggested delicately. "I think that instead you should be joyous." She offered, and Katarina's gaze slipped to her, and an icepick of fear slid into Olivia's breast, though she did her best to ignore it. She would not be terrified of this woman. "After all, think of what you've done for us with what you did back there!" She urged, catching the Witch Hunter's arm and dragging her to a stop.

Katarina's eyes dipped to Olivia's grip on her arm. "You still don't understand." She stated flatly, and then suddenly placed her hand against the wall of the corridor as if suddenly wearied. She sucked in a strained breath, and another.

"You must be exhausted." Olivia murmured. "We still have a ways to go before we arrive at the apartments set aside for use by the Lady Cardinals I'm afraid, but I promise you'll be able to enjoy a hot bath and a long rest."

"Just what I fucking need." Katarina muttered sarcastically under her breath, and then suddenly sank to her knees.

"Goddess-!" Olivia exclaimed. "A guard-" She began, but Katarina's hand caught hers in a painful steel-clawed grip. "No." She whispered. "No." She muttered in a firmer voice. "I should-" She broke off, and forced herself to her feet.

"I need to remember exactly where I need to direct my anger." She muttered, leaning back against the wall, head back, eyes closed. "But don't think you're off the hook either, Lady Cardinal." She warned. "But now... now isn't the time for anger." She took a deep breath and opened her eyes and regarded the shorter woman. "Show me to these 'apartments' of mine."

You may not use the Mandate of Command again, Katarina. The choir in her head ceased as she hit the floor on her knees with Olivia nearby. This is not discipline, but necessity. Remember compassion. Remember love. Remember the Goddess. Remember life and love and that we are all of us sheltered in Her palm.

This thing- Katarina argued mentally, referring to the Lady Cardinal, but was interrupted.

She is not a thing Katarina. She's just as human as you are. Flawed, imperfect, with hopes and loves and desires the same as yours. Now is not the time for war. Now is the time for patience.

"Just what I fucking need." She spat under her breath.

"A guard-?" Olivia asked, looking up and down the hall. Katarina let out a slow breath. Olivia seemed to think Katarina needed someone to carry her to wherever her apartments were?

Remember dignity, She thought back at the choir of voices, and forced herself to her feet. She'd make it there under her own power.

She eyed the shorter woman. Olivia was attractive in her own way, likely of an age with the Witch Hunter herself. Long black hair framed her face in waves and tumbled past her shoulders. Her eyes were dark and flashed with emotion whenever Katarina dug at her. Whatever else she was, she certainly wasn't spineless.

How am I to be compassionate to this woman? Kind? She wondered, and unbidden, the vision of the entire city of Darnell reduced to rubble and ash rose in her mind.

So much was uncertain, and there was still so much she was expected to do. She leaned back against the wall, and looked up at the gothic vaults soaring overhead.

"I need to remember exactly where I need to direct my anger." She murmured. Ever since she was told to carry Glory, it had fought and struggled to free itself from her. She wasn't sure, but perhaps too much anger could cause it to spill out from her, and that might be the cause of the disaster she'd dreamed.

Katarina clenched her jaw and turned on the Lady Cardinal. "You listen, but you don't hear." She snarled through clenched teeth. "Demons, Lady Cardinal." She stated furiously. "Demons! The walking undead. They're marching on Norn right now, and there's nothing I can do about it, because you and the others want to drag me into some bullshit political theatre so that you can score points off of each other!"

The Lady Cardinal slapped her, and immediately wished she hadn't. Katarina's eyes blazed with fury. It took all of Olivia's considerable will not to quail back in terror from the heat of that rage.

"You forget your civility." Olivia replied coldly. "You forget your civility and you disrespect the Church that has invested you with the powers that you wield in the Golden Lady's name." They glared at each other for a few silent moments. "The Golden Lady will protect the faithful." Olivia added in a gentler voice. "You want to fulfill your responsibilities; this is both admirable and commendable. But before you will be given leave to fulfill those responsibilities, you must tend to the responsibilities we give you here."

Katarina shook her head. "Every time I have returned to Darnell, it's the same thing: "We want you to stay. We want you here, in the city, where we can keep our eye on you. We don't want you to do your job." She shook her head again.

Lady Olivia chuckled. "I'm certain it's not that way at all. All of the Book had to review your file before you were summoned today, my dear." She remarked, wiggling the leather folder significantly. "I'm sure you know this, but most Witch Hunters don't live very long." At Katarina's nod, she continued, "But you yourself have been an invested Witch Hunter for ten years, since you were sixteen. With the exception of Lord Donald Christenson, that's twice as long as the longest-lived Witch Hunter in our history, Katarina. It shows your resourcefulness, skill, and determination to be sure, but more importantly, it shows your irreplaceable value."

Katarina barked a sour laugh at that. It proved nothing but their incompetence; their ignorance. If they hadn't willfully and intentionally murdered the leaders of the Witch Hunters when they were forcibly added to the panoply of Anglish forces, the Witch Hunters would likely have a higher survival rate. Too much had been lost. Witch Hunters were tested for magical resistance, given a crash course in wilderness survival, given a weapon, and tossed to the wolves.

"What would you think of a teaching position here in the temple?" Olivia asked curiously. Katarina shook her head immediately. "Certainly not." she replied stolidly.

"I am not saying that we would move you to a training position, but I invite you to think of your own training, Katarina. Do you think that our Witch Hunters could benefit from your years of experience?" She slipped her arm around Katarina's waist and pulled her closer to avoid a trio of servants moving down the hall in the opposing direction.

"Your experience, passed on to our fledgling Hunters, could save us countless thousands of steel coin, dozens, if not hundreds of lives in the future, and gain you prestige the likes of which you would never gain."

Katarina shrugged Olivia's hand off her hip. "You almost had me." She replied bitterly. "You almost had me. You had a reasonable argument for teaching until you mentioned prestige. I do not care one whit for prestige." She invested the word with scorn. "If I cared about prestige, we would not be having this discussion, Lady Olivia." She replied caustically.

"That may be true." Lady Olivia murmured. "But what of the other? Passing on a decade of hunting tactics, tricks, and skills? Think of how many lives you would save."

Katarina took a breath and considered for a moment, but shook her head. She'd handle that, in her own way, with the Tome of Power she'd received from the Shaper at the College of Firearms. "No. Everything I have learned can be summarized thusly: Keep your head down and don't attack from the front."

Olivia laughed delightedly and bumped her hip against Katarina's. They stepped out from the corridor to an inner garden, and crossed the intervening space.

"I do hope you like your quarters, Lady Katarina." Olivia mentioned, changing the subject. "I'm sure they're a lot more sumptuous than what you're used to. This isn't the frontier, you will find that there are a lot of amenities you can avail yourself of." She laughed abruptly. "I highly recommend the baths. They're quite relaxing, you know." She smiled invitingly. "If you need help, I could always see to you personally."

Katarina arched an eyebrow at the gleam in the Lady Cardinal's eye. "You're definitely in a good humor. A Lady Cardinal acting as a bath attendant?" She questioned sardonically as they passed under a magnificent vaulted archway.

"It would be a pleasure to see to your bath, I think, if you would share some of your stories with me." The Lady Cardinal proposed, "You understand I haven't left Darnell in years, and I haven't seen the rest of the world."

Katarina laughed at that, and they continued silently through the hall until they arrived at her rooms.

"These will be your suites for the time being, Lady Pavlenko." Olivia said, as they arrived. The front door faced a small interior garden with carefully sculpted topiaries of giant cats in various poses. "You won't receive a steward, since the Seneschal of the Temple oversees just about everything-" She began, but was cut off by Katarina.

"Lon Pavlenko." Katarina corrected. Olivia shrugged at that, and then as she opened the door, "You will have a head maid however, and she'll take on the role of your stolnik." Katarina jerked at the use of her mother tongue.

"What? I was born just north of Begierde. I am a von Wolfe." She replied to Katarina's look.

Katarina thought back to her lessons. The von Wolfes were a native-born Begierde noble house. Minor nobility, Bianka would have remarked with a sneer and a dismissive wave. The Pavlenkos, with the assets of an entire country to bring to bear against the native-born nobility, had taken Begierde and Einsamkeit without the need for an army; they simply bought and sold and maneuvered until both cities were reliant upon them. The Ardealean language had seeped in everywhere. A stolnik was essentially a castle's seneschal, overseeing the army of hired help, from the maids to the scullery and everything in between.

Olivia handed the key to Katarina. "They're not palatial, but I'm sure you'll make do." She encouraged, as she gestured for Katarina to follow her inside.

"Not quite a great hall, but this is your foyer." Olivia waved an expansive hand around the large open area, large enough to seat fifty people comfortably.

"To your left, a sitting room, for the entertainment of any company you might have. It also triples up on utility; it's also your study and office. To the right, your dining room." She gestured simply at the doors. "Beyond the dining room there is of course a kitchen, but we do not have any cooking staff on hand to spare." She paused. "That can be remedied if you plan on changing your mind about staying." She added as an afterthought.

Across the great hall, directly opposite the front door to her apartments was another set of double doors. "Beyond those doors is a Drawing Room, should you feel the need to host a salon." Lady Olivia continued, and gestured to the short spiraled staircase in the corner of the great hall. She turned back to Katarina.

"If you were so inclined, you could host a teaching salon for a few of the Witch Hunter trainees that show promise." She invited, but Katarina shook her head.

"No." She replied curtly. Olivia shrugged at this indifferently, as if it were expected, and gestured for Katarina to follow her up the short staircase to the second floor.

The second floor itself was just as richly appointed as the first. Olivia gestured to the left.

"The Master bedroom, the washroom, and the facilities are to the left." She gestured at the double doors that approximated the same area as the Drawing room below. "This is your conservatory." She advised, and pulled open the doors. Wall to wall, plants hung from hanging pots, on elevated benches, vinelike gloriosa lilies climbed strategically placed trellises. Olivia led Katarina through the heady, humid room to an area with comfortable seating and tables.

"A rather pleasant place to entertain more... private company. Or, I suppose, if you're into gardening, you could do that as well. There's a door over there that leads out onto the balcony." She added. "To the right, is your head maid's quarters. In your bedroom, the sitting room, and the conservatory-" she gestured at a heavy braided silk pull-rope- "This will summon your maids to your side."

Katarina eyed the massive, arching glass walls, and even the mild contempt she wore as Olivia explained things to her that she already knew drained away as the planes of her face hardened.

Glass. Glass, in such profligacy. She had ridden from the docks to the Alstroemeria, through the tangle of warehouses, farrier shops, blacksmiths, beggar's nests and whores' cribs. Even Darnell, the Jewel of the Anglish Empire was afflicted with its own poverty. This glass was just as much a representative of the indolent wealth of the elite as the entirety of the Alstroemeria was.

To her, glass was a rare and precious treasure, something that should be cherished and valued, not displayed with such vulgarity. If everyone could not have it, then it must be kept a treasure. You did not waltz down the street, spending steel coin. That was vulgar, uncouth, disgusting. More, it also invited a knife to the ribs. The Church, however, seemed to think otherwise, callously and indifferently displaying its wealth rudely to the world. It was a garish affront.

Olivia caught Katarina's freezing, cold-eyed glare. She'd seen that look before, in the High Court where Katarina had delivered her ultimatum. Olivia's words died in her throat, the spit dried in her mouth, and she shivered as ice danced up and down her spine. Even in her fear, she couldn't help but admire Katarina's regal, imperious beauty. She had a long neck, with a small scar at the side of her throat, a graceful jawline, full mouth, a straight narrow nose, high cheekbones, and brilliant green eyes that were like freezing chips of glacial ice.

"Have I done something to earn your ire, Lady Katarina?" Olivia asked curiously, and her stomach tightened as those green eyes shifted to her. She felt like a mouse, caught under the deadly predator's gaze of a cat.

She could see the muscles in Katarina's neck jumping. She was boiling furious, wasn't she? Olivia wondered.

"You wouldn't understand, and even if you did, you wouldn't care anyway." Katarina replied stiffly, and abruptly turned away from the Lady Cardinal and began threading her way through the low biers covered in plants, heading for the exit. Olivia muttered a very unladylike curse she'd once heard a dockworker yell, and chased after the Witch Hunter.

She caught the woman before she could head downstairs. Oh, she knew exactly what Katarina was going to do: She was going to leave. In her mind, judgement had already been rendered. By what? Olivia couldn't guess. Katarina's last words caught her up: "You wouldn't understand, and even if you did, you wouldn't care anyway." That caused her own blood to boil; the Witch Hunter was casually dismissing her as if she were some insipid hired help, incapable of understanding anything? That woman would get a piece of her mind!

"Lady Katarina." She nearly shouted, voice hard. "We are not finished. Come back up here."

Katarina eyed her from underneath that ridiculously oversized hat consideringly, and then climbed the stairs again. Olivia gestured. "Your private rooms." She urged the Witch Hunter in front of her, so that she couldn't bolt past without Olivia noticing. As she stalked past the Lady Cardinal, the Witch Hunter sent her a side-eyed look.

The private rooms were sumptuous indeed. There was a bedroom, a changing room, several closets, and an expansive bathing room. Katarina indifferently tossed her saddlebags and packs on the floor next to an armoire.

Olivia yanked the bell-pull perhaps harder than was necessary, and the head maid came running, bobbing curtseys at both of the women.

"I need you to run and fetch my seamstresses. All of them. And all of my housemaids, as well. Quickly now, off you go. Scoot." She ordered briskly. She turned back to the Witch Hunter. "In the armoire, not in front of it." She suggested, opening the intricately carved doors. "This should do for your... luggage." She offered, and Katarina shrugged indifferently, looking over the bedroom. The bedroom had a magnificent closet the size of any room at your average inn, and the bed was titanic and canopied in heavy maroon drapes. Maroon. Likely Araya, the Oracle in Aston was laughing her ass off, kicking her feet girlishly.

"I'm going to have you measured for some new clothes, Lady Katarina, so if you would be so kind as to remove your coat and hat?" Olivia offered, her tone making sure it was understood as a command, and not a request.

"New clothes." Katarina replied, eyeing the Lady Cardinal, who nodded. Katarina let out a lengthy sigh, and doffed her hat and coat, indifferently slinging them over the chair at the desk in the corner. Her gloves, covered over and over in intricate stitches in interesting designs, joined them soon after.

Olivia's mouth twisted. There was a perfectly acceptable closet right there, if the woman would simply choose to use it. Was this petulance? Petty defiance?

Katarina unlatched her sword belt and tossed it atop her coat, followed shortly by her gunbelt. Olivia shivereed involuntarily at the sight of the gun, recalling the shattering explosion of gunfire, the cough of smoke, and... whatever that creature was, masquerading as a Lady Cardinal of the Book of the Lady toppling over in her seat. It had all happened so quickly.

"How did..." She began in a small voice, and then firmed it. "How did you know About Constance?" She asked. Katarina glanced at the smaller woman. "Sealed to the Emerald, Lady Cardinal." She replied curtly.

Olivia pursed her lips. "I'm not asking about ... the specific event which took place." She replied carefully. "I am asking how you knew in the first place. That, certainly, is not covered under the Emerald Seal."

Katarina gave her an assessing look. Slippery as a fish dragged from the stream.

"I'm a Witch Hunter." She replied, as if that explained everything.

"As if that explains anything." Olivia complained, drawing a sigh from Katarina.

"It's hardly a secret; Witch Hunters have the capability of seeing, sensing, and destroying magic." She replied, sarcasm on her tongue. "That one had wrapped herself in illusion upon illusion; so dense it was almost impossible to see through."

"But you did." Olivia challenged.

"I did." Katarina agreed, undoing a complicated knot on the deep purple sash that wrapped about her waist, the one with the golden tassels roughly the size of a baby's fist.

"What is this?" Olivia asked, changing the subject abruptly. Going too far into that discussion would definitely break the Emerald Seal, and she wouldn't do that. Dance around it? Certainly. Directly contradict it? Certainly not. Katarina was still an Inquisitor, and could legitimately exercise her rights, up to and including a full intrajudicial sanction. She made a show of examining the cloth. "I don't recognize the feel of it."

"Steag." Katarina replied simply. Olivia blinked; the term sounded familiar. Of course it would, She admonished herself. She was from Begierde, the same as Katarina. The colloquial term was bannercloth. It was a heavy fabric that was as rich and glossy as silk, as dense as triple-weaved cotton, was unburnable, and was mostly used in war banners and heraldic tapestries. As she draped it over a chair, she suddenly realized it actually was a war banner, an older style. A lovely royal purple square with gold fleur-de-lys in a staggered design, edged with golden tassels. Katarina had simply folded it diagonally and wrapped it about her waist like a beach wrap. What went through that woman's head?

With the coat gone, Olivia was able to finally eye Katarina with a critical eye. She wore some sort of vest that was armored, but covered in obviously expensive silk brocade. Her shirt was sized for a man, with loose, flowing sleeves tucked into leather bracers at the wrist, leathered trousers that clung to her hips and legs fetchingly.

As Olivia's seamstresses began filing in, Olivia flapped her hand at Katarina. "The rest of it too, if you please. We have to take your measurements, and that means stripping down. No worries for your modesty; we're all women, here."

Katarina nimbly worked the hooks that held her vest together at the front with the ease of long practice, and tossed it to the side, Olivia noted that it mostly kept its shape; likely the armor inside. Katarina loosened the laces on the bracers she wore and slipped them off, and tossed them onto her coat, along with a number of gold and jeweled bracelets. She untied the shirt at her wrists, then ran down the buttons down the front. The shirt itself hung halfway to her knees, and bore the look of obvious tailoring. Straight, simplistic but utilitarian tailoring.

Did she do that herself? Olivia found herself wondering. It seemed like something the woman would have had to do, but looking at her, seeing her, that aristocratic tilt to her head, that calculating gaze; was she capable of performing her own tailoring?

Olivia seated herself on the chair Katarina had been tossing her things at indifferently, after moving them to the desk, and flipped through Katarina's file.

"So what's in my file?" Katarina asked as the maids removed her shirt and began measuring, stretching her arms out to the sides.