NOTE: It's been such a long time, but I'm glad to be back. Please enjoy.

December 2004

Interlaken Compound

The Coldest Winter

There was a piercing, raw feeling about the cold that could be felt from the top of the Cat's Ears. It was an aggressive cold; a far cry from the fluffy winter that most children enjoyed the prospect of. Ten-year-old Katerina Constantinova al Ghul knew this and hated it.

There is an archetypal picture that one paints in their mind when thinking about the winter. The sun is shining despite the cold and a child is frolicking, rolling in the snow like he has never seen it before. Maybe he really hasn't—his enthusiasm towards it is proof enough. For the ordinary child, winter was supposed to bring rosy cheeks, hot chocolate, and snowball fights.

This was not Katerina's winter. Her winter was bitter and numb and cold like a specter. There were no snowmen, only endless icy terrains to climb and falling icicles to deflect. The ground was not littered with fluffy layers of snow; it was brittle and icy and when she fell on it she could not help but wince at the biting cold on her cheek.

Today, she would endure the wrath of that winter. She would scale the full lengths of the twin peaks that obscured her father's Interlaken compound from the human eye and then train amongst its icy terrain. Her sister, for some odd, enigmatic reason, seemed to enjoy the prospect of the climb. But Katerina was not Talia, and even at the fresh age of ten, she knew it well. There was little about the sisters that was similar, apart from their father and the torturous training that they both underwent. Because while Katerina might have done the things that Talia had all the same, she was not the killer that her sister was. And while Katerina still had her humanity intact, Talia most certainly did not. One look into both of the children's eyes would tell you everything.

Ra's al Ghul entered his daughter's living quarters when the sun shined directly over the center of his compound. "Put your winter clothing on. We are going to the mountains," he said, his voice booming with authority. "Quickly." The young one replied solemnly with a head nod and a slight bow.

These types of interactions were the only ones exchanged between father and daughter. There were no warm hugs, no kisses, no tucking-in or bedtime stories. In Ra's al Ghul's eyes, his youngest blood was a weapon – and only a weapon. And so that was the way she was treated. They might have had the same blood running through their veins, but she was is no way his daughter, nor he her father.

There was a sense of normalcy about the way that they hiked up the mountains. Maybe it was because she had gotten used to the way the cold bit her nose, the way the icy terrain felt underneath her wool-covered feet. It was like the constant howling of the wind and the sharpness of the winter cold had instilled a permanence in her mind. The sensory memory would always be there for her to recall, no matter how much she would later want to forget it.

But even if there was a sense of prevalence in their activity, she would always loathe the mountains and the violent winter that came with them.

"Halt."

Their footsteps halted at the sound of the command. Looming up above them were the two intimidating twin peaks that they were soon expected to scale.

"This is a test," said Ra's al Ghul. "Whoever shall reach the top first will get supper and a warm tent to stay in for the night. The other will stay out in the cold until we make the return-trip home tomorrow morning."

The two sisters turned their heads to look at each other, raging infernos burning in both of their eyes.

Katerina felt no hatred towards her sister, although her eyes did burn with ambition and want for the warm bed that would provide such a contrast from the biting cold that she felt now. But Katerina knew that Talia would not give up without a fight—she was older and harder than her younger sister.

They took their positions at the foot of the ice, bodies at the ready and fates at the mercy of the cold.

"Climb!" He shouted in sharp Arabian.

Katerina had planned her first move carefully. To her left, there was a thick, solid layer of rock that at first glance would have seemed the prime choice for scaling. But as she had observed, there were little to no good footholds higher up that route, so she knew in an instant that her best choice lay to her right.

"Slow and steady," she whispered to herself as her fingers searched for a hold. Talia was fast, which was in itself a strength and a weakness. If Katerina was lucky, her sister would overlook the strength of a crevice due to her speed and take a rough tumble.

Each move of hers was calculated and deliberate. Talia was slightly ahead at the moment, but Katerina had a plan. There was a small plateau approximately eight feet above her, and from what she could see, the terrain above it was slightly less rough than what she was enduring at the moment. If she timed her movements correctly, she could reach the ledge in due time and move as fast as she could from there. She knew indefinitely that if she attempted to bust it from where she was, she would ultimately be slowed down anyway by the rough terrain.

Until then, she let herself concentrate. Don't look down. Every hold, every movement had to be precise. One slip and she was dead. She breathed slowly. In and out. In and out. Inch by inch, she climbed higher with her older sister on her tail. She could feel the lactic acid building up in her muscles as the exhausting climb began to take its toll on her.

She slipped both of her hands into a crevice and held on, lifting her left foot to push herself upward. She looked down at her sister, who was two feet under her. Talia's hand reached up to search for a good hold, landing right behind Katerina's left foot.

This was her chance, she thought. End it. Warm food, warm bed.

She lifted her foot.

Author's Notes:

I know it's been a while but thank you for reading. Reviews are greatly appreciated.