Chapter 66

Olivia looked up at the taller woman, drinking in the woman's body. Olivia felt a certain satisfaction just filling her sight with Katarina's figure. It was more than seeing her lush body, rich with womanly curves, yet firm and shapely, with the flat, hard muscles that implied powerful strength. She enjoyed watching her, seeing her naturally graceful movements, seeing her work with the ease of experience and practiced skill. It was obvious to Olivia that Katarina knew exactly how to move and wasted no motions.

Katarina was tall, a good match for any adult man's frame, with the lithe, flat, wiry muscles of real physical strength that were sharply defined in her long arms and legs. She was obviously one of the physically strongest women Olivia'd ever met; as physically powerful as many men she knew.

Katarina had developed a far greater strength than she normally might have in the city, just to keep up as a Witch Hunter. Coupled with years of observing, tracking, and stalking as a hunter, she used her body with ease and moved with uncommon grace. Olivia couldn't keep her eyes off Katarina's figure, marked here and there with telltale scars from combat. Narrow slices and nicks, irregular gouges and gashes here and there. She was tall, with shapely curves and well-defined muscles. Her large breasts still had the firmness of a young woman. A slippery warmth kindled itself in Olivia's lower belly, a hunger with no voice, a need with no mouth. She wanted Katarina in that moment more than anything else in the world. In her mind's eye she chased the woman's scars with kisses, teased, pinched, and tickled until the other woman would lie gasping for release.

Katarina indifferently flipped her thick rope of a braid over her shoulder, letting it slip through her hands to the end, where she untied a leather thong and pulled the braid apart. Olivia felt like swooning. Katarina's hair was a naturally silvery-white, the white of cornsilk, streaked with blonde. Unbraided, her hair fell past her perfectly rounded buttocks.

Olivia blinked, dragging herself back to the present. "This? Just the usual. Want to know what's inside?" She asked, an eyebrow raised suggestively. Katarina nodded. Olivia opened the folder with a smirk, and began reading.

"Katarina Pavlenko, age 26. Born to Rickard and Bianka Pavlenko. You have a twin sister, Alsabet, and a younger brother, Kristoff." Katarina twitched, earning a murmured complaint from one of the seamstresses. "They've recently named you the successor, with Kristoff as an interim head."

Katarina nodded. She hadn't wanted to be named successor, but her family had decided that for her anyway.

"The Pavlenko Merchant's Guild is fairly prosperous, having offices in Tannit, here in Darnell, one in Einsamkeit, and the other in Begierde." She chuckled. "Though they're prosperous, in terms of liquid assets you're probably richer than they are, my Lady. Are you ever going to get around to spending your money?"

Katarina let out a breath. "I trade for most of what I need." Lady Olivia raised an eyebrow. "Is that so?" She replied, and shuffled her papers around.

"You were accepted into the order for Witch Hunters at the age of six after displaying an astonishing resistance to magical effects."

Katarina nodded. "I tested 'charcoal' on the Lucianus Scale." she replied. Olivia nodded at this.

"You stayed in training until you were sixteen. Two years longer than most, but it wasn't because you lacked aptitude, it was because ..." She trailed off, and Katarina nodded knowingly. "Because I mouthed off to the instructors and fought with my classmates."

Olivia chuckled. "Just so." She continued her oratory. "You earned your sash, bells, spurs, and holy symbol, none of which are essential to Witch Hunters, but you earned them anyway. You specialized in the rifle, but was granted the Eagle's Talon." Katarina gestured at the gun on her desk as one of the seamstresses measured her waist.

"It says here you also excelled at the rifle, but it doesn't explain why you chose the pistol, Katarina."

"There were extenuating circumstances." she replied after a bit. Olivia shrugged, mystified at the lack of explanation.

"There are a few things which are sealed by the Grand Cardinal-" She began and Katarina nodded. "I know what those are." She interrupted, and Olivia raised an eyebrow at that. "Indeed? The rest is mostly related to your accomplishments- which are many- and your conduct, which is abysmal, my lady."

Katarina shrugged noncommittally at that, but her gaze sharpened. "Why are you addressing me as 'Lady'?" She asked.

Olivia smiled at that. "Several reasons." She remarked, and held up a finger. "First, because that's your title as an officer of the Church. In order to avoid .... unnecessary social entanglements when performing your duties, your status is naturally raised to Lady of the Church." Her lips quirked in a grin as she held up a second finger. "Additionally, you also hold the authority of a Cleric, an Inquisitor, of course, and a Paladin." she added, and Katarina rolled her eyes at that. "Of course, those titles and authorities are mostly irrelevant formalities, given your responsibilities as a Witch Hunter.", The Lady Cardinal Olivia added, and Katarina nodded.

"Finally, I'm giving respect where respect is due. You're a very formidable woman, strong and capable."

"First the iron fist, and now the velvet glove." Katarina replied knowingly.

"If you choose to think so." Olivia replied. "I am both a Lady Cardinal of the Book, Lady Witch Hunter, and I am also a Olivia Wolfe, a woman, Katarina lon Pavlenko." She finished. "One of these has to be firm, and strict if necessary, while the other wants to be your friend." She blinked, and focused her attention on the Witch Hunter's face.

"What is that in your hair?" She asked curiously.

"A circlet." Katarina replied simply. Bizarrely, Olivia hadn't even noticed the creamy white armband that circled Katarina's upper left bicep, either. How had she missed that?

"You know, when you disrobe for measurements, you're supposed to remove all your jewelry as well." She prodded the Witch Hunter, who shrugged indifferently. "Neither will interfere."

"What is that?" Olivia remarked. It seemed as if she'd seen that metal before, but she couldn't call it to mind. Minerals and metals were irrelevant to her. The Church considered gold a sacred metal, a gift from the Golden Lady, and so it was used to adorn her Churches and certain relics, but neither the circlet, a simple weave of silvery-white metal strands, nor the armband, an inch across and detailed with lilies looked familiar at all.

Putting the matter out of her head with a firm shake, she gestured up at the tall woman. "That thing- was that thing-" She cut herself off and eyed the seamstresses, who were murmuring amongst themselves, and scribbling on parchments. Still, she lowered her voice conspiratorially. "Was that thing really Constance? Or was it, you know, just impersonating her?"

Katarina shifted, putting one hand on her hip and giving the Lady Cardinal a nonplussed expression.

"Sealed to the Emerald?" She reminded the other woman. "I-" She too glanced back at the seamstresses and dressmakers. "I sensed, I saw, I destroyed." She replied in an equally low voice, with a pointed look at the Lady Cardinal, eyebrow raised.

"But what if-!" Olivia began hotly, but Katarina cut her off with a sharp gesture from her hand. "I suggest you engage the Inquisition and find out exactly what that thing has been doing." She replied.

One of the seamstresses approached.

"Excuse me, Lady..." She stammered a bit, unsure of how to address Katarina, who picked up on it immediately.

"Witch Hunter is fine." She replied curtly, glowering at the woman impressively. The woman squeaked, but curtseyed again, deeper than before. "The- um, the bandages." She gestured at Katarina's chest. "We need to get them off if just for a short while...that is, if you don't mind?" She ended in a whispered rush.

Katarina rolled her eyes at Olivia. "They're not bandages, it's a sarashi." She unrolled the silk bands the way Sasaki taught her, and wondered what the Yamato woman was up to at the moment. She mentally counted back and ran some calculations. With a two-month travel time by boat from Aston to Yamato, Sasaki was likely a year dead. Katarina's jaw clenched at that- who could be happy for a pointless, meaningless death for something as ridiculous as honor- She cut herself off at that.

Honor isn't meaningless or ridiculous. It's the dignity of civility, the right and true path.

Sasaki had every right to want to die clean, absolved, and on her own terms. If only she hadn't- Katarina began, but cut that thought off. What was, was.

Olivia's eyes widened and gasped and casually reached out and touched Katarina's bosom as it became visible.

"By the Goddess, girl, what are you feeding them? It's simply unfair that one should be so blessed by the Goddess." She grabbed her own diminutive bust through her dress. "I'm clearly outclassed." Katarina snorted as she gently batted away the Lady Cardinal's hands.

"I never particularly valued them," Katarina replied blandly, "At best they only served to get in the way."

"Nonsense, Lady Katarina. They're powerful tools. A woman's value, her strength is in her flexibility, her ability to use what she has. Part of that is demonstrating the power of your sexuality. You can do much with the right look, a hint of cleavage, and a smile."

Katarina eyed the Lady Cardinal warily. Was she flirting? Unbelievable. If she was, it was extremely aggressive. Her mind did the math for her as the seamstresses conferred with their numbers. Olivia couldn't be that stupid. Or she was playing it up to be underestimated.

Olivia herself wasn't bad looking, Katarina decided. A well-defined face, a good figure, likely her own age or perhaps a little older. Katarina was only marginally paying attention to Olivia and the women around her. Glory wanted to be free, and struggled against her all the time. Most of her actual will was focused in keeping it contained. One slip, and she'd likely explode, her body disintegrating into dust before it even had a chance to hit the floor.

Despite the finality and the abrupt end of her career, it was tempting. It would certainly solve a lot of problems. Or cause more. The vision of the Alstroemeria, shattered and charred, ashes sifting on the wind- could that be the result of Katarina's inability to keep it contained? Or was that a damnation they brought upon themselves? She couldn't remember the specifics of the vision anymore, only flashes. It was just like the castle-

Her thoughts broke off at that.

"Lady Cardinal." Katarina prompted.

Olivia blinked at her, seemingly snapping herself out of some reverie. Was it really so fascinating, ogling her tits? She dismissed that idea. Likely it was the scars. She bet a handful of bullets Olivia had no scars of her own.

"Olivia, please." She replied simply.

"What's the latest news out of- out of Ardeal?" Katarina asked.

The question put a puzzled frown on Olivia's face. "You. More specifically, you evacuating Wallachia to Einsamkeit. You should know that." She paused. "Unless there's something else you'd like to know about?" She asked, her gaze sharpening.

What could she ask? What could she say? "Any reports of a flying castle crashing into the Blackwall cliffsides?" Katarina pondered. Yeah, that'd go over great. That would raise a host of questions she wasn't prepared to answer- wasn't certain she could answer with any degree of reliability. The more vague she got, the more they would press her, and then- what? The Inquisition, again?

Katarina shook her head. "I'd hoped to hear something new about the homeland." She replied instead.

"What new could be said?" Olivia asked, puzzled, but her gaze still sharp on Katarina's face. "If the- if that blight has in fact tainted Ardeal, then it, like the Samarkand Highlands and whatever remains of the Jewel Cities, is tainted and unfit for habitation."

A brief wave of vertigo swept across Katarina, and she wobbled a little. She blinked, and frowned. What was that? She demanded, and the murmured conversation in her head stopped for a moment.

'Don't worry. Some adjustments are necessary.' One of the voices replied back. Saint Anya? Saint Galatea? Wait- what "adjustments" are you- She thought furiously at them.

'Only in the fullness of time are Her mysteries revealed, Witch Hunter. The time is not yet irrevocable. You may abide yet awhile.' Saint Andrianna's flat voice echoed mockingly through Katarina's head.

"What the fuck is that supposed to mean?!" Katarina shouted furiously, her hand groping for the pistol at her waist.

Her gaze cleared. The maids were staring at her. Seamstresses, too. Long cloth measure-tapes were wrapped around her in various places. Olivia was leaning back in her chair, started by Katarina's sudden frenzied outburst. Katarina's eyes cut to the pile of clothing and belts piled on the desk. Stupid. She wasn't even wearing her gun. Her gun was there, on the table. Even had she had it in hand, what was she supposed to do?

"Shit." She muttered tiredly, casting her mind back for the last thing she had heard Olivia say. She let out a breath. "Ardeal is- it should be fit for habitation. If not now, then soon." She explained wearily, and scrubbed at her head with the heel of her hand, biting off a curse as she incidentally ground the crown against her head. Most of the time she wasn't even aware of it.

Olivia leaned forward at that declaration. "Exactly how do you know such a thing?" She asked. "On what grounds can you make such an assertion?"

Katarina let out a breath. She stood there as if wearily exhausted. "How well versed are you in Lucianus' Seven Cardinal Strings of Magical Thought?" She asked Olivia.

Olivia pressed her lips together. "I don't even know what that is." She replied. "A book?" She guessed.

"Sort of." Katarina replied, and then rolled her eyes. "Well, the seven theories are written in a book, yes, but the-" She cut herself off. "Fuck. Nevermind. I can't..." She paused, and glanced back at the seamstresses.

"Aren't you done yet?" Katarina snapped, and they hustled into action. "I'm tired of having my tits in the breeze here."

"They are lovely to look at, Katarina." Olivia quipped gently. "But you're right; It's obvious you're tired. I tell you what: We'll get this finished up quickly and then get some food into you. How does that sound?"

Katarina nodded at that. "I like that idea."

"So skip over the Seven Theories stuff and tell me why Ardeal is somehow habitable again, in direct contradiction with everything we understand about the blight." Olivia requested.

Katarina shook her head. "Just like I explained in the High Court. I fixed it with blood, with great sacrifice, and my gun." She replied.

Olivia rolled her eyes angrily at this. "There's got to be at least a- a- middle ground somewhere-" She started, anger creeping into her voice, but Katarina simply held up her hand.

"It was a personal sacrifice, Lady Cardinal. I've known you for less than two hours." Katarina replied flatly, and cut her eyes towards the maids and seamstresses, who again had retreated, discussing their numbers.

Olivia nodded reluctantly at that.

"We're finished, Mi'lady." One of the seamstresses announced. "Lady- errr, Witch Hunter, ahhh, that is, you can get dressed now. We're finished."

Katarina let out a sigh of relief and stepped past Olivia to pick up the roll of silk that comprised the sarashi she'd received from Sasaki.

"Oh, look at that." Olivia observed from behind Katarina. "Your bottom is just as lovely to look at as your bust." She murmured in a low, teasing voice that didn't carry far, as Katarina slipped her shirt on and began negotiating the buttons.

"Someone's certainly ambitious." Katarina replied in just as low a voice.

"Ambitious? Hardly. I'm just being honest. I find I like seeing you splitternackt." Olivia replied, and glanced up at Katarina's face. The woman was smiling wryly, but her eyes, her eyes were still cool, still calculating.

Katarina's shirt was buttoned, and she turned back to the small cluster of maids that stood to the side as the Lady Cardinal conferred with her seamstresses.

"Okay, which one of you giggling simpletons is my karagöz?" Katarina demanded, fists on hips.

The maids all glanced at each other with baffled expressions. Olivia turned back to the Witch Hunter.

"That's not particularly couth, woman." She stated flatly to the Witch Hunter. A karagöz was an Ardealan buffon, a jester. "If you're looking for your stolnik, that would be Annika, there." She replied, pointing to the young blonde girl with frosted blonde hair in a twist. "She's your head maid, and will oversee the lesser maids here during your stay."

That freezing look of fury immediately reappeared on Katarina's face.

"If you think that I would let even-" She began, but Olivia cut her off.

"You will do as you are told, Witch Hunter." She replied, her voice hard. "And that includes allowing the staff to do the jobs they're assigned."

Katarina snarled at that, and Olivia recoiled. An actual snarl. Bestial fury radiated out from the woman. Olivia saw Katarina's hand once again dip for the gun that should have been at her hip if she had been dressed.

Was that the solution to all of the Witch Hunter's troubles? Simply pull her gun and open fire? Olivia wondered. Dangerous. And she was to be here for months? How many had met their end at the Witch Hunter's gun simply because they were an unwelcome roadblock?

"Fine." Katarina snarled, and then smoothly switched languages to the Nauders tongue.

Olivia struggled with the language herself. How had Katarina managed to master a conversational familiarity with the tongue?

"Annika. Your first assignment is to take down all this maroon crap and replace it with blue, gray, or green. So far from what I've seen of my apartments, it looks like one great blood clot." She ordered in the tongue of Nauders.

"All of it?" Annika whispered, in Anglish. Katarina nodded. "All. The next time I see this room it'd either best be stripped bare or completely replaced. I can't stand the color."

Annika looked towards Olivia in mute bafflement.

"What are you looking at her for?" Katarina demanded of the woman. "You're my steward, right? You take your instruction from me. And I say all of it. Every stitch." Katarina commanded.

She paused. "Tapestries, too... except the one of Blessed Saint Alicia Silverthorn downstairs." She reached into one of her saddlebags and pulled out a fistful of rumpled silk.. "This is my family's crest." She gestured. "Azure, a crowned aquila displayed behind the shield, in its dexter talon a sword, and in its sinister talon a sceptre argent; the shield is white with three horizontally placed azure teeth, signifying the defeat of three elder drakes that were slain to protect the Doamna Pavlenko."

Olivia rolled her eyes at this unnecessary history lesson. They weren't drakes, they were the three family heads of the Draconesti that were later absorbed into the Pavlenko line- the Dragul, the Ecsed, and the Velica families that gave them blood-right to claim Doamna, or "Grand Princess".

"The Societas Draconistarum in green, above the shield but beneath the crown. The banner beneath reads "Nihil Sine Dea", in the High Gothic, meaning "Nothing without the Goddess". Katarina continued, but was interrupted by Olivia.

"You're not of the Doamna line, Katarina." Olivia piped up.

"The fuck I'm not." Katarina protested. "I can name my ancestors all the way to Doamna Mihaela lon Pavlenko." She paused. "I may not be able to claim the title, but the blood is mine." She insisted.

Katarina dressed with a cool efficiency that impressed Olivia. Well, everything about Katarina impressed Olivia. She was completely smitten. The woman was a powerhouse, a warrior. Watching her move and shift as she dressed; seeing the smooth, flat muscles working under Katarina's skin... oooh, shivers. As Katarina turned away from Olivia, she saw the hash of crisscrossing scars across Katarina's upper back and shoulders. At some point, someone had taken a whip to her.

"Did they survive the experience?" Olivia wondered, and then covered her mouth with her hand. She hadn't meant to speak aloud.

Katarina turned to face her. "Who?" She asked, honestly puzzled.

"The one who whipped you." Olivia replied in a low voice. The seamstresses and maids had left her and Olivia alone, but still, she spoke in quiet, low tones.

"I should say he did. It was Cyrillus." Katarina replied simply, stepping into her pants and hoisting them up and over her hips.

"Lord Cleric Cyrillus?" Olivia replied, alarmed.

"The same. I told you, I was an insolent child, and I had to be corrected often." She explained as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"But- but you're nobility!" Olivia sputtered.

"Why should that matter?" Katarina replied. "We're all of us equal beneath the gaze of the Golden Lady. When we fuck up, we're disciplined." She explained simply again.

Olivia shook her head in bafflement. She rose from her seat, and picked up the other woman's sword belt. She awkwardly tugged on the handle of the sword to bare the blade and failed. She gave up with an embarrassed laugh. "I think I would look very ridiculous trying to swing this around." She smiled coquettishly at Katarina. "Though I think you probably look quite dashing." She spooled the belt around the scabbard and set it in the dressing cabinet, and turned to do the same with Katarina's gun, but Katarina reached that first.

"No. That stays with me." Katarina stated flatly.

A splinter of fear and confusion jolted through Olivia, but she immediately drew her eyebrows down as Katarina swung the gunbelt around her hips and secured it quickly.

"You don't need that, here." Olivia affirmed. Katarina just stared at her.

"...Oh. Right. The-" She cut herself off. "The High Court."

Katarina nodded without saying anything. What else needed to be said?

"I'd..." Olivia shuddered. "I'd sleep a lot better knowing that ..." She shook her head. "How can I even sleep?!" She suddenly exclaimed, looking up at Katarina with genuine fear in her eyes. The taller woman tapped the butt of her gun with her thumb in a brief tattoo as she considered her response.

"Trust in the Goddess." Katarina replied simply.