By the time Karla had arrived for the promised sparring session on fifth-day, Wilhelmina and Mairin had arranged matters well enough to give them all a little peace. Caillie was resting with her mother, and Reanna, who'd lost her family to Terreillean soldiers, would soon follow; Morghann had arranged a place for her in Lady Nieve's Court. For the time being, she was still sleeping in Wilhelmina's guest room, but spent most of her time with Morghann, getting hasty lessons in Protocol and other Court necessities. Diccan came by in the mornings to escort her to Morghann, always staying scrupulously outside Wilhelmina's garden wall; she had a barely acknowledged wish he'd step inside once, just to give her an excuse to throw something at him. Overall, it was a precarious sort of peace, but better than she'd feared things might be.
That didn't stop her from telling Karla the entire story - complete with all the comments she'd had to keep to herself at the time, and quite a few she'd thought up since then. The Glacian Queen listened attentively, though not without a telltale sparkle of amusement in her ice-blue eyes. "Overbearing males," she said sympathetically.
"You have _no_ idea."
"And terrified little witches-"
"They're better now."
"And Queens invading your garden." Karla shook her head. "At least it should give you some motivation for hitting things with sticks."
"I try to avoid hitting things with _anything_."
"I know," Karla said, not without sympathy. "But it's either me or Lucivar - not to mention the bullying _I'm_ going to get from him if he finds out I've been avoiding practice."
"What are you going to do, fill in every pond in Glacia?" She'd never seen Lucivar douse any witches, but she'd heard about it. The morning he'd dunked Jaenelle, _everyone_ had heard it.
"Lucivar's quite capable of digging one on the spot, just to toss me into," Karla said dryly. "Ready?" She called in a fighting stick and held it up in a guard position, giving Wilhelmina time to call in her own before making a move.
They worked through the simplest sparring patterns Lucivar had taught Wilhelmina, basic exercises designed more to teach stance and balance than actual fighting. Wilhelmina could relax into the patterns as long as she thought of them as some sort of strange dance, but she didn't think she'd ever be able to improvise well enough to fight effectively. But Karla seemed to be enjoying herself, if the wicked gleam in her eyes was any indication.
Concentrating as she was on the sparring, Wilhelmina forgot that she'd been expecting Dirdre to appear, until she heard footsteps on gravel and caught the girl's muted psychic scent. Karla glanced over her shoulder at the girl, then turned back to Wilhelmina without ever breaking the pace of the exercise. "One in the guest room and one in the garden - what are you doing, running a home for fledgling witches?"
"Don't. Even. Start," Wilhelmina growled.
Karla just grinned. "So what's she standing around for? Or do you think she wants to join in?"
'"I doubt it. Not yet, at least." On a private Sapphire thread, she told Karla what little she _could_ tell her without breaking Mairin's confidence. Karla absorbed the sketchy information thoughtfully, then gave Wilhelmina a speculative look.
*In that case, what are _you_ standing around for? Give her something worth watching!*
*She needs to watch you. You're the one who knows what she's doing.*
*I'm a Queen from a foreign Territory - an exciting novelty at best. You're the one she knows, and you're the one she's going to be watching. So _hit_ me, dammit!*
Wanting to protest and knowing it wouldn't do any good, Wilhelmina made a tentative poke with her stick. Karla blocked it hard enough to set her wrists stinging from the vibration, and her stick bounced up above her head. Her effort to control it stopped it in an elementary guard position, and reflex and the few weeks of training she'd had made it seem like the easiest thing in the world to turn the guard into a two-handed slash. Karla had to move fast to block it, but Wilhelmina thought she saw the trace of a satisfied smile on the Queen's face before she started sparring in earnest.
It was hard work, and nothing she'd ever do for pleasure, but by the time they broke apart, Wilhelmina was starting to feel just a little more comfortable with the weapon in her hand. She'd spent so much of her life running and hiding that the thought of being able to hit something instead was strangely intoxicating. Maybe she could practice on some trees later that afternoon...
Karla looked happy with the exercise and its results, but she winced when she tried to step out of the guard stance she'd been maintaining. "Damn. I overdid it."
"Who could have imagined that?" Wilhelmina inquired with elaborate innocence.
Karla gave her a startled look, then burst out laughing. "You _are_ growing a backbone. Do you mind if we sit for a few minutes before meeting Andra? I'm...afraid I strained something back there." She looked uncomfortable at having to make the admission, and Wilhelmina wondered uneasily what could be wrong with the Court in Glacia, that a Queen would feel threatened when she admitted a weakness. Maybe she could go hit something in Glacia. But she kept her thoughts off her face and merely offered a friendly arm for Karla to lean on.
Once inside, she called in a glass of cool water for Karla and hurried upstairs to change; between the sparring and the gardening she'd been doing earlier that morning, she was damp with sweat and thoroughly disheveled. Alexandra would have verbally flayed her for being in that state at all, and even free of her grandmother, Wilhelmina was fastidious enough to dislike receiving guests looking anything less than her best. Even when her guest had helped her _get_ into that disheveled shape...pointless, really, when she thought about it.
But she changed into a serviceable dress, winced at her tangled reflection in the mirror, and tried her best to restore some order. A few minutes of intensive work had her merely looking rumpled, rather than looking like she'd just been dragged backward through a stable, but she was still reluctant to go back downstairs. Ladies just _didn't_ host their guests looking like...well, looking like they'd been swinging sticks around all morning.
Witches, on the other hand, did whatever they damn well pleased.
She grinned at her reflection, twisted her tousled hair into a rough tail, and went downstairs to play hostess to Karla.
That didn't stop her from telling Karla the entire story - complete with all the comments she'd had to keep to herself at the time, and quite a few she'd thought up since then. The Glacian Queen listened attentively, though not without a telltale sparkle of amusement in her ice-blue eyes. "Overbearing males," she said sympathetically.
"You have _no_ idea."
"And terrified little witches-"
"They're better now."
"And Queens invading your garden." Karla shook her head. "At least it should give you some motivation for hitting things with sticks."
"I try to avoid hitting things with _anything_."
"I know," Karla said, not without sympathy. "But it's either me or Lucivar - not to mention the bullying _I'm_ going to get from him if he finds out I've been avoiding practice."
"What are you going to do, fill in every pond in Glacia?" She'd never seen Lucivar douse any witches, but she'd heard about it. The morning he'd dunked Jaenelle, _everyone_ had heard it.
"Lucivar's quite capable of digging one on the spot, just to toss me into," Karla said dryly. "Ready?" She called in a fighting stick and held it up in a guard position, giving Wilhelmina time to call in her own before making a move.
They worked through the simplest sparring patterns Lucivar had taught Wilhelmina, basic exercises designed more to teach stance and balance than actual fighting. Wilhelmina could relax into the patterns as long as she thought of them as some sort of strange dance, but she didn't think she'd ever be able to improvise well enough to fight effectively. But Karla seemed to be enjoying herself, if the wicked gleam in her eyes was any indication.
Concentrating as she was on the sparring, Wilhelmina forgot that she'd been expecting Dirdre to appear, until she heard footsteps on gravel and caught the girl's muted psychic scent. Karla glanced over her shoulder at the girl, then turned back to Wilhelmina without ever breaking the pace of the exercise. "One in the guest room and one in the garden - what are you doing, running a home for fledgling witches?"
"Don't. Even. Start," Wilhelmina growled.
Karla just grinned. "So what's she standing around for? Or do you think she wants to join in?"
'"I doubt it. Not yet, at least." On a private Sapphire thread, she told Karla what little she _could_ tell her without breaking Mairin's confidence. Karla absorbed the sketchy information thoughtfully, then gave Wilhelmina a speculative look.
*In that case, what are _you_ standing around for? Give her something worth watching!*
*She needs to watch you. You're the one who knows what she's doing.*
*I'm a Queen from a foreign Territory - an exciting novelty at best. You're the one she knows, and you're the one she's going to be watching. So _hit_ me, dammit!*
Wanting to protest and knowing it wouldn't do any good, Wilhelmina made a tentative poke with her stick. Karla blocked it hard enough to set her wrists stinging from the vibration, and her stick bounced up above her head. Her effort to control it stopped it in an elementary guard position, and reflex and the few weeks of training she'd had made it seem like the easiest thing in the world to turn the guard into a two-handed slash. Karla had to move fast to block it, but Wilhelmina thought she saw the trace of a satisfied smile on the Queen's face before she started sparring in earnest.
It was hard work, and nothing she'd ever do for pleasure, but by the time they broke apart, Wilhelmina was starting to feel just a little more comfortable with the weapon in her hand. She'd spent so much of her life running and hiding that the thought of being able to hit something instead was strangely intoxicating. Maybe she could practice on some trees later that afternoon...
Karla looked happy with the exercise and its results, but she winced when she tried to step out of the guard stance she'd been maintaining. "Damn. I overdid it."
"Who could have imagined that?" Wilhelmina inquired with elaborate innocence.
Karla gave her a startled look, then burst out laughing. "You _are_ growing a backbone. Do you mind if we sit for a few minutes before meeting Andra? I'm...afraid I strained something back there." She looked uncomfortable at having to make the admission, and Wilhelmina wondered uneasily what could be wrong with the Court in Glacia, that a Queen would feel threatened when she admitted a weakness. Maybe she could go hit something in Glacia. But she kept her thoughts off her face and merely offered a friendly arm for Karla to lean on.
Once inside, she called in a glass of cool water for Karla and hurried upstairs to change; between the sparring and the gardening she'd been doing earlier that morning, she was damp with sweat and thoroughly disheveled. Alexandra would have verbally flayed her for being in that state at all, and even free of her grandmother, Wilhelmina was fastidious enough to dislike receiving guests looking anything less than her best. Even when her guest had helped her _get_ into that disheveled shape...pointless, really, when she thought about it.
But she changed into a serviceable dress, winced at her tangled reflection in the mirror, and tried her best to restore some order. A few minutes of intensive work had her merely looking rumpled, rather than looking like she'd just been dragged backward through a stable, but she was still reluctant to go back downstairs. Ladies just _didn't_ host their guests looking like...well, looking like they'd been swinging sticks around all morning.
Witches, on the other hand, did whatever they damn well pleased.
She grinned at her reflection, twisted her tousled hair into a rough tail, and went downstairs to play hostess to Karla.