Chapter 67

"I wonder; do you remember? We met once before." Olivia asked curiously.

Katarina eyed the other woman. "Of course I remember." She replied curtly.

"Who would have thought that we'd meet again, in such circumstances?" Olivia offered lightly, but Katarina simply ignored her.

"So tell me about this frontier town you mentioned earlier. What's it like?" She asked, changing the subject.

Katarina was conflicted. It definitely seemed like the woman was flirting with her. Olivia was certainly attractive, and seemed to be within Katarina's age, but Katarina herself was on edge, suspecting a motive.

Katarina raised her head and looked off into the distance. "Norn? I think it's just the same as many frontier towns, though larger. There are a couple of roads and a central green. Several inns and shops. They don't have a wall, because they outgrew it. Norn is ideally placed, I think, to offer rest and succor to people travelling from Darnell to Aston."

"I have always wished to visit the frontier towns. Of course, if someone of my personage were to go, then it would have to be an official visit, with hundreds of guards, attendants, wagons and carriages. Altogether a completely different experience than how you would visit." She remarked with a roll of her eyes.

She continued to ask questions about the town of Norn, and about her visit. Katarina replied, at first curtly and she finally began to relax and speak more and more.

They made their way into the bath, where true to her word, Olivia casually doffed her robe, and negotiated the removal of her undergarments quickly, and joined her. Olivia kept Katarina distracted with questions as she shampooed and rinsed the taller woman's hair, twisting it into a loose braid and draping it over Katarina's front so Olivia could wash her back. Katarina's entire body was covered in scars.

Olivia was straddling Katarina, soaping the taller woman's chest when she noticed a thick scar across Katarina's right collarbone, about two inches across. She reached out and traced it gently. "How did you get this, my lady?" She asked gently.

"About eleven or twelve years ago," She closed her eyes and leaned her head back as she considered Olivia's question. "Perhaps a couple miles from here, I think." She replied. "It was in weapons training here at the Garrison. I took a javelin through the shoulder. The blade went straight through, you can see the scar on my back too."

She opened her eyes and regarded Olivia, who was aggressively running her hands over Katarina's front.

"You've been doing that for some time." She remarked challengingly, eyebrow raised. Olivia snapped out of her reverie. "Oh! Oh my. I'm sorry, I didn't- I was distracted, I think. You have such a beautiful body, it's hard to believe you spend so much time on the roads and in forests."

Katarina smiled distractedly, and sat up. "Should I wash you as well, Lady Cardinal?" She asked. Olivia laughed delightedly and captured Katarina's face in her hands and kissed her lightly on the lips.

"Absolutely, my dear. But you must agree to call me Olivia. We're in the bath, it's awfully silly to think of rank in the bath, wouldn't you agree?"

She got up and repositioned herself and allowed Katarina to wash her hair and then wash her body. Olivia lazily reached back and embraced the taller woman. "You're a very wonderful woman, Katarina. I know you probably don't think so, and I know you probably don't like it here. I wonder if you even feel like you're welcomed?" She mused, drowsing. "But I think you need to know that you're treasured. Valued. Appreciated." She turned and rested her head against Katarina's chest. "You're very precious to us."

Katarina squirmed a little, feeling uncomfortable. She took a breath, considered her words, and laid her trap.

"Do you want to sleep with me, Lady Cardinal?" She asked without embellishment. Olivia's head came up, eyes bright, naked eagerness painted across her face.

"Yes please!" Katarina recoiled a little at the immediate urgency in the smaller woman's reaction. She practically quivered with excitement.

Katarina shook her head. "I can't do that with someone I can't trust, Lady Cardinal." She replied.

Olivia's face fell. Katarina could mark the hurt on her face easily. She watched as the Lady Cardinal tracked from hurt, to angry, to a resolute calm.

"Of course. You're right, of course." Olivia replied. "You've just gotten here, and even now you suspect me of plotting." She murmured.

"I wonder if that's the expression you had on your face when you ordered my arrest as a sixth-degree moral threat, or if it was something different." Katarina murmured back.

Olivia gasped and pushed herself away from the Justicar Witch Hunter and scrambled to the other side of the bathing room. "You accuse me?" She barked, shock on her face. "It wasn't me at all!" she shouted vehemently.

Katarina raised an eyebrow.

Olivia's mouth trembled. "That was-" She began, and then stopped, and took a deep breath. "The bath is no place for this discussion. We will have it as soon as we're dried off." She explained primly. "And I want you to call me Olivia, Katarina."

She grabbed a length of cloth for drying, and a fluffy robe, and stepped out of the bathing area.

Katarina climbed out of the tub, dried herself briskly, slipped into her own robe, and stepped out into the bedroom, where Olivia was drying her hair.

"You may not like the church, I think. We may seem stuffy, and there's all sorts of politics and the like, but the Church is made of people. Some of us may not like you, some of us may think to use you, and some may think that you are just a marker on a game board to be moved to their whim, but I for one just want you to feel welcome." Olivia stated as she smiled up at Katarina. "I'm a firm believer in facts. Not just facts, but verified facts. When there are numerous reports of you not having friends, not participating in public bathing, it draws attention." She paused as she moved to the drinks cabinet and poured two glasses of wine. "Yes, I agreed to freezing your authorities. However, it rapidly became obvious that you were not in fact guilty of any collusion with malignant elements, and that the charges levied were done so for political expediency, and I stood against that. As did many of us, Katarina." She explained. "But you also should understand that there are those of us in the Book that do not much like the idea of any one person accumulating authority that could threaten their own." She paused. "I am not immune from that, either." She mused. "I believe that to show the greatest in all of us, we must show compassion for the least of us. I open orphanages and hospitals wherever I can. If there is someone that threatens that desire, I will do whatever I can to make sure they do not threaten me."

Katarina nodded. "I understand."

Olivia smiled up at Katarina. "You definitely present a strong character, I must say, so that means I may have to be strict with you in the future. Don't think ill of me for it, but do remember there is a significant distance between Olivia and Lady Cardinal Olivia."

She rose to her feet and stepped forward and pulled Katarina's face down to a kiss.

"I think out of all the Lady Cardinals, I alone can appreciate you as a whole: as a woman, as a Hunter, as a member of the holy church."

"You seem to enjoy kissing me." Katarina remarked.

"Of course! You're very beautiful, I can't help myself." Olivia remarked.

Katarina seated herself in one of the plush chairs. "So Olivia, have my authorities been restored?" She asked, and Olivia raised an eyebrow.

"I feel as though if I were to answer 'yes' you would bolt for the front gate as fast as your gorgeous legs could carry you."

Katarina nodded. "Absolutely." She replied.

Olivia watched Katarina brush the lustrous waterfall of her hair for a while as she was lost in thought.

"How did you go from Norn to Ardeal?" Olivia asked curiously, to fill the silence.

"One step at a time." Katarina quipped, irritated.

"I'm sure there's more to it than that, Kat." Olivia replied teasingly. Katarina immediately glared at Olivia, her eyes hard and sharp.

"Katarina." The Witch Hunter stated flatly. "Not Kat. Not Katrina. Kat-a-rina." She explained with a flat terseness. Olivia raised her hands in surrender. "All right, Katarina it is. Now will you tell me what happened?" She asked curiously, trying to draw the other woman back on topic.

Katarina twisted in her chair to the desk and picked up her file. Olivia compressed her lips and glared at the Witch Hunter, but didn't say anything as the taller woman leafed through the pages.

"As I suspected, it's right here, in Pastor Aleima's report." She replied, and gestured at the Lady Cardinal with the papers. "There's even the letter I wrote to the church in Einsamkeit about the thing I found in the boat from Rothgar."

Olivia shook her head. "That doesn't explain anything." She pouted. "I want to hear the story, Katarina."

Katarina's eyes narrowed. "Why would you want to know about that?" She asked carefully, face inscrutable.

Olivia sighed. "We aren't going to be able to get very far without trusting each other, Katarina." She warned testily. "I'm trying to be your friend."

"Will you tell me the names of the people on the Book who ordered my torture and execution?" Katarina asked, and Olivia took a breath and considered her answer in the length of time it took to let it out.

"Decided to play the political game, is it?" Olivia asked curiously. "Or is this simple assassination?" She asked. Katarina raised an eyebrow at that, but shook her head. Olivia was right. If Katarina pursued them, she would be doing the very thing she abhorred, playing the ridiculous games of politics that she strove to avoid. Her goal should be more realistic: either simply escaping the church to continue her work, or convincing them to release her on their own.

Escape would be difficult, and could involve more than simply leaving. Inevitably the choice would need to be made to kill for her freedom, and while she did not particularly like the bureaucratic machinery of the church, she did not want to be attainted of heresy.

Convincing the Alstroemeria to let her continue her work would be impossible. They had their own ideas on how she should behave and how she should do her job, and they would simply refuse to acknowledge her opinions. Of course, in some ways this struggle was purely academic. She had only to show them the full power of Glory and they'd fall all over themselves. Doing it that way, however, would open up a whole host of problems she didn't want to consider.

She could quit being a Witch Hunter. The thought caused a wave of adrenaline to wash over her, making her shiver. She could try, like Alayne, to resign her authorities.

She could live with Aleima's people. She could live with her parents. Her eyes widened at the absurd simplicity of it all. She could just walk away.

She let out a breath. She wasn't without options, she still had a card she could play. How could she play it best? Just get up and walk out? A letter of resignation?

Her mouth twisted. Elizabeth was still waiting for her. Certainly by now Alayne had retrieved the crate from the ship, and would likely have it secured in her estate, but realistically speaking, whatever choice Katarina made, it would have to be with the consideration of the ones she was responsible for.

"I wonder what's going on behind those beautiful green eyes of yours." Olivia murmured, and Katarina's gaze flicked to the Lady Cardinal's.

"I didn't come to Darnell alone." Katarina replied. "There are people that arrived with me that are reliant upon me. Now that I am a prisoner of the Church, I worry about how they'll fare without my help and guidance."

Olivia frowned. "We received no report that you came with anyone." She replied, and added as an afterthought, "And you are no prisoner. Invite them here to stay with you, if you want."

"Then I can dress, collect my things, and leave." Katarina replied, and rose to her feet. She indifferently dropped her robe and opened the wardrobe.

"No, you can't do that, I'm afraid." Olivia warned, rising to her feet.

Katarina turned to face her, hands on her hips. "Let's have this out then, right here. Yes or no, Lady Cardinal; am I a prisoner?" She asked angrily.

Olivia was a bit taken aback. Katarina was lovely to look at, certainly, but mostly it was her indomitable will that impressed Olivia. Here was a woman that commanded absolute obedience with regal bearing and a flashing eye. It didn't matter if she wore rags or opulent dresses or simply nothing at all, Katarina was someone that had been born to nobility and raised by the elite to be the best, and she had wholly embraced and lived that ideal.

"You are not a prisoner, Witch Hunter." Olivia repeated. "But you are under restrictions. You will not be able to leave the Alstroemeria grounds for the time being. Later, when we have a mutual trust, I'll allow you to visit the city of Darnell." she stated firmly, and then smiled at the taller woman. "You are my responsibility, and I've decided that you're not going anywhere. Going to the Book, or Her Grace the Grand Cardinal will avail you nothing." She added. "And before you get the idea in your head of resigning or quitting, or whatever other ideas that comes crawling up from inside your heart that are born from fear, know that I will refuse those as well." Katarina's eyes narrowed at that, but Olivia pressed on, in a kinder voice.

"I'm impressed with you, Katarina." She began with a smile. "And I admire your will. I want to be your friend." She glanced at Katarina's bosom, and her smile widened. "I want to be a lot more than your friend, actually." She corrected herself with a roll of her eyes and a smile. "As for my ambitions for you as a member of the Book of the Golden Lady, I will state them clearly: I have none." Katarina gave her a suspicious look, and folded her arms beneath her breasts.

Olivia continued, "I said it earlier: I feel my mission as a Lady Cardinal of the Anglish Empire is to establish hospitals and orphanages where I can. I want to help the destitute and the downtrodden." She returned Katarina's baffled look. "What does a Witch Hunter have to do with that?" She asked.

"Nothing." Katarina replied flatly, and Olivia nodded. "Just so. But I do have ambitions for you, Katarina."

Katarina inclined her head minutely, and Olivia smirked at the arrogance in the Witch Hunter's gaze. As if she were a queen, receiving the request of a peasant.

"I want to be your friend." She repeated. "I want to earn your trust, I want to take meals with you, bathe with you, dance with you. I want to hear all about your adventures." She stepped closer to the imperious woman who hadn't yet picked up her robe from the floor. "I want you to earn my trust. And I want you to know all about me, as well." She said in a lower voice. She reached out and took one of Katarina's hands in her own and gazed up into the inscrutable Witch Hunter's face.

"My name is Olivia Wolfe." She introduced herself quietly. "And I'd like to have you get dressed before I'm unable to restrain myself anymore." She added with a grin.

After a moment Katarina snorted, and released Olivia's hand.

Katarina had no dresses of her own, and the ones Olivia had commissioned wouldn't be ready until tomorrow. She couldn't take the woman to lunch without stirring up some sort of controversy, so she resolved to take lunch with her.

"What sort of meal would you like, Katarina?" She asked.

Katarina thought about it. "Roast pork. Lots of meat, dripping with gravy. Potatoes." She laughed. "And the darkest, thickest beer you can find." Olivia blinked a few times, but nodded. She summoned a maid to make her requests.

"I confess I don't think I've sampled beer before." Olivia revealed as they sat down to their meal. "Though I am certain I could educate you on wines and brandies."

"In many places, the water is considered suspect and there is always the risk of sickness or infection. Boiling it may not be enough to cleanse it of impurities." Katarina said by way of reply. "The quickest, easiest, and most effective way of solving that problem is turning it into beer." She explained. "Most beer is only mildly alcoholic. You would have to bathe in it before the alcohol would have an effect. But the darker the beer, the richer the flavor, and usually the stronger the alcohol." Katarina finished as the food and a small cask of ale was brought in.

"So you want to get intoxicated?" Olivia asked curiously. Katarina shook her head. "The flavor. I don't drink to excess."

Olivia was beside herself. The meat was rich but the seasonings were coarse. There was no harmony or balance she could determine, where each spice came together to bring out the best possible flavor, there was only the overwhelming flavor of meat and spices. The potatoes were lumpy and blended with some butter, cream, and salt, and the gravy was a mysterious variegated brown liquid that caught and pooled as it willed.

Katarina dug in with a will, taking great bites and chasing them with gulps from her glass. Olivia attempted to keep up for a short time, but the fare was so completely different from what she was used to that she was unable to compete.

Finally, Katarina leaned back in her seat, shoving the plate away from her and polishing off her third glass of beer.

"Ah, that hit the spot." She sighed with contentment. Olivia raised an eyebrow. She'd only been able to get through half of her plate before giving up.

"You certainly have an appetite." she observed to the taller woman.

Katarina shrugged indifferently. "Eat quickly, eat hearty, because you never know where or when your next meal might come." She murmured.

Katarina's gaze slid to Olivia. "You've indulged me, so let's say I'm amenable to negotiation." She decided coolly.

Olivia raised her eyebrow at this as she took another bite of roast. The meat was succulent and tender at least.

"I'm listening, Kat- Katarina." She replied. The beer was strong, bitter and seemed more of a punishment than an actual beverage. She had her doubts that anyone at all could possibly enjoy such a thing- it had all the subtlety of licking a wooden plank- but Katarina was filling a fourth cup, licking her lips with gusto.

"Lady Alayne was-is my friend." Katarina said by way of reply. "I want the freedom to visit her estate."

"I don't think she would prefer to see you." Olivia replied, but Katarina shook her head.

"I paid a visit to the Basilica of the Torchbearers, and learned of her retirement. I also learned where her estate was, and I paid her a visit before coming to the High Court." She explained, causing Olivia to gape at her. "We had a great deal to talk about." Katarina took a long swallow from her glass, and eyed Olivia from across the rim of her cup.

Olivia took a moment to consider the logistics of the request.

"The Book of the Golden Lady has plans for you, you know." Olivia remarked. "One of those plans is for you to take lessons from each of the Lady Cardinals. You may find it difficult to have time available for such a visit."

Katarina shrugged. "I'll make time." She remarked indifferently. "But I do want the freedom to visit her, Cyrillus, and Nadette."

Olivia took another sip of the noxious brew. "It may be possible." She replied, and set her glass down with a distasteful grimace. "But your lessons and training take precedence and priority." she advised, "And I want your evenings."

Katarina's relaxed gaze sharpened, and Olivia had a feeling of being a mouse under a cat's watchful gaze.

"We'll see." Katarina allowed, and Olivia smiled back. "Yes, we will."

They sat in silence for a while, Katarina lost in thought while Olivia picked at her meal and filled her eyes with Katarina.

Almost as soon as Olivia left, there was a chime from the front hall. Her maid Annika appeared and startled Katarina with the appearance of Sawyer, Alayne's maid. Katarina smiled at the young woman roguishly as Annika ducked out. The girl was practically terrified of her.

"Decided you couldn't do without me after all?" Katarina joked. Sawyer smiled up at her winningly. "You'd have to be a man, Lady Katarina." she rapped back smartly. "Though I do have something for you you might like." She murmured, and handed her a thin wooden tube.

Katarina broke the tube and unrolled a strip of paper; it was covered in nonsense words that made no sense at all. After a long minute spent in thought, she remembered the cipher, and painstakingly translated Alayne's message, which was, despite the cipher, largely innocuous. It did let her know that the crate had been successfully retrieved, and had been brought to Alayne's estate.

Katarina was amazed at that. How had she managed that? It wouldn't be night for some hours yet. Through the sewers, perhaps? She shook her head in bafflement and amazement.

Racking her brain for the correct cipher, Katarina composed her own reply, comprised of vague statements and circumlocutions, and returned the paper to Sawyer.

"You sure you won't let me have a taste?" Katarina asked, pressing her against the wall next to the door. "I've just had my meal, and I could go for a dessert."

Sawyer burst into laughter. "You're an insufferable lech!" She exclaimed, and slapped Katarina lightly. "I'm saving that dessert for my husband."

Katarina let out a despondent sigh and rolled her eyes ostentatiously, and Sawyer ducked under her arm gracefully. "I'll return to my Master." She curtseyed gracefully, and left.

Katarina glanced in the direction of Olivia's apartments for a moment as she considered Olivia's undisguised interest.

"No, Katarina." She warned herself. "She just wants to fuck you so that you'll be complacent and malleable in her plans and plots."

"This session is convened to continue the review of Justicar Witch Hunter Katarina lon Pavlenko's current status." The Grand Cardinal formally intoned, opening the court. Katarina leaned against the edge of the Petitioner's stand and twirled the end of her braid lazily, affecting boredom.

"A day late and a Lady Cardinal short, I'd say." Katarina quipped, though her sally was met with nonplussed silence.

"Answer the question from yesterday, Katarina: Tell us what happened in Ardeal."

"You already know the answer to that." Katarina replied disinterestedly, twirling her braid again. She rolled her eyes at them. "Why don't you stop fucking around and ask the real questions hidden behind your lips and heart, Francesca?" She invited.

That at least elicited a response: The Grand Cardinal's jaw visibly clenched, neck twitching.

Katarina sighed, and hoisted herself up onto the railing of the Petitioner's stand and sat there, kicking her feet idly. She was greeted by a number of frowns at this, and she waved her hand at them dismissively.

"What? I'm not sitting on the fuckin' floor." She replied to their stony silence. "As it was reported in my file which you've already read, I encountered a ship from Ardeal in the harbor of Einsamkeit. The whole ship was fouled, polluted. I cut off the head of one of the things aboard the ship and mailed it to the church in Einsamkeit with an explanation of where it came from, and I ordered the ship burned." She paused. "That ship had struck two other boats when it crashed into the harbor. I had them burned as well to avoid pollution." She paused. "All of that was in my file as well."

"And then?" The Grand Cardinal prompted.

"You should know: Dock records are publicly accessible. I hired a cutter and sailed across the Mirras to Ardeal." She adjusted her perch on the Petitioner's stand. "You know this shit already."

"How did you drive back the blight from Ardeal, Katarina?" The Grand Cardinal asked, her voice low and dangerous.

"I answered that yesterday." Katarina replied simply. "I didn't. You seem convinced I did, but it would be blasphemy to claim something like that."

"Then who did?" The Grand Cardinal asked.

"What a stupid fuckin' question," Katarina replied, "considering I just said it would be blasphemy to claim something I didn't do." The court's silence was palpable. She looked from Lady Cardinal to Lady Cardinal, meeting blank, dispassionate gazes. "Oh for fuck's sake. It wasn't me. It was an Angelic Spirit."

After a full minute of complete silence, Katarina sighed and shrugged. "You gonna renew my Writ and Warrant now?"

"So who was it?" Celeste asked, a touch of sarcasm on her tongue. "Celestine? Or perhaps Saint Katherine?"

Katarina rubbed her eyes. "You should quit before you embarrass yourself further." Katarina took a long breath, closed her eyes, and let it out slowly. Her face relaxed into a picture of a calm, serene beauty that radiated an affectionate warmth as she recalled. "In my travels, I have become somewhat..." She paused, eyes still closed, "friendly... with the Simurgh." The Lady Cardinals eyed each other at this statement, and after the pause stretched out, Katarina rolled her eyes. "I believe in the hierarchies of the Codicium Aeternum they're the Im Adad."

"Witch Hunter, there is not a great amount of documentation on the Angelic Spirits." Lady Cardinal Yuriko spoke up quietly. "It should come as no surprise to you that even Lady Cardinals may be unaware of the contents of the Codicium Aeternum."

Katarina blinked in surprise at that, and Celeste gave Yuriko a look that struggled between bafflement and fury.

"You've read the Codicium Aeternum?" Katarina asked, and Yuriko nodded.

"Well." Katarina began, and then shook her head. "I'm not going to give the Book of the Golden Lady a theology lecture-"

"Katarina." The Grand Cardinal interrupted her. "Do it. But be brief." After a moment, she gave the Witch Hunter a half smile. "And try not to be too patronizing."

Katarina barked a laugh at that. "Fine, fine. Brief. Well. I suppose you could just read the Codicium Aeternum yourselves, but the extremely short version is that there are two types of Angels in the Golden Lady's employ: Heroic Angels, and Angelic Spirits. Heroic Angels are humans who have been touched by the celestial: The Blessed Saints Katherine, Alicia, Silviana, Andrianna, and Celestine, may she shine forever in glory." She paused. "There are also Angelic Spirits which are not human. Fragments of divinity, created by Inanna." She paused. "Brief. I encountered what the Codicium Aeternum refers to as The Simurgh, the Angelic Spirit of the Storm." She paused. "The Angelic Spirit was extremely displeased to see a magical storm." She paused again.

"Witch Hunter, you cannot claim any degree of 'friendship' with an Angelic Spirit." Yuriko announced dryly.

"I did not say that I was friends with her." Katarina warned, her voice hot. "I don't claim to know or understand her whimsical, mercurial nature, nor can I." She replied, "Though I can say that for some reason that escapes me, Simurgh has come to my aid on a few occasions. In Ardeal, Im Adad was furious at the magical storm, thinking it a blasphemy, a perversion of the natural order." Katarina explained. "As I said, it was not me that drove the storm back." She let out a short breath. "I did kill the mage that summoned the thing, though." She admitted.

"And how did you do that?" The Grand Cardinal inquired. Katarina gaped at her as if the Grand Cardinal had said something incomprehensibly stupid.

"With-" She paused, remembering Isabella's sacrifice. "With blood, with great sacrifice, and with my gun." Katarina replied.

After another moment of silence that stretched out, Katarina rested her elbows on the podium in front of her.

"I answered you, now you answer me." Katarina demanded. "Why were my authorities revoked? Why were such charges levied against me?"

"In much the same way as you keep an eye on those you suspect, we in turn also keep an eye on those we believe to be... suspicious." Gabrielle was the first to speak. "We've had uncounted reports from all across the continent, Witch Hunter. You make no friends, you have taken no lovers, and one curious addendum stands out with particular repetition:" She observed, "You refuse to bathe with others, as is the manner and custom in those places."

Katarina raised an elegant eyebrow at this. "I'm certain the friends I've made would be distressed to hear these accusations." She replied in a low voice. "I refused to bathe while others were bathing because I did not want to make a virtue of irresponsibility and end my career as a Witch Hunter because I had been saddled with children." She smiled in her reply. "I am prepared for a full inspection, and whatever examinations the Torchbearers are requesting to be visited upon my flesh."

"There is no need for that." The Grand Cardinal replied. "Those charges have been dismissed and expunged."

Katarina smiled up at them beatifically.

"Fantastic news." She cheered. "If you'll excuse me, I have a job to do." She gave them a cheery wave and turned away from the podium.

"Where do you think you're going, Witch Hunter?" A voice called out. "You have not been dismissed."

Katarina turned back to the High Court with a pained sigh.

"Katarina Pavlenko." The Grand Cardinal Francesca repeated, and pointed to the Petitioner's Stand. She waited patiently until Katarina once more stood on the Seal of the Lily.

Katarina briefly entertained the idea of correcting her, and decided to go for it. Her will was adamant, she had been told, and she intended to use it.

"Boiyar Katarina lon Pavlenko." Katarina corrected defiantly.

The Lady Cardinal's face seemed to tighten. "One of our sacred hunters, charged with hunting the unsanctioned." she said, and Katarina nodded.

"Right. So few of you, and so much of the world to scour. And you, my dear Katarina, are one of the best and brightest of our hunters."

"You flatter me. I am the only Witch Hunter in Hesperia." Katarina replied flatly, folding her arms beneath her breasts and shifting her weight to one side. "Also, it's Boiyar Katarina lon Pavlenko. You forgot the title and nobiliary particle." She corrected again. The Grand Lady cocked an eyebrow, but continued on.

"Indeed." The Grand Cardinal replied, nonplussed.

"While you certainly get results, there's a marked disparity between your functionality and your etiquette." She closed her eyes and her eyebrow twitched as she tapped a stack of papers with her finger meaningfully. "I have stacks of complaints from provincial temples demanding your censure and the revocation of your Writ, because of your constant disinterest in civility."

Katarina shrugged dismissively. "I believe in doing my job and serving the Golden Lady. Everything else is secondary." She remarked casually. "Everything. I'd like to get this done and over with. I have a job to do."