Maria had wanted to speak with her squire before going to bed, but her discussion with Selena and Sophia ran long enough that by the time she returned to her room, Katarina was already asleep, as were Anne and Shana. Sadako still waited for her, however, and the maid helped her remove her hunter's garb. Maria took a quick bath to cleanse herself of the detritus of a day of being on her feet. She would have wanted to sit and soak said feet in warm water, but she needed her sleep. Accepting a towel from Sadako, Maria dried off, and would have gone straight to bed if Sadako hadn't pointedly presented her with the sleepwear she'd been wearing for the past few nights. It was a minor irritation, but Maria made sure Sadako was aware it wasn't aimed at her as the woman helped her put on the garment.

Katarina didn't rouse as Maria slipped in under the sheets, but Shana snapped awake immediately, her eyes searching. She immediately relaxed when she saw Maria and Sadako, shuffling closer to Maria and closing her eyes. By the time Maria had settled in and pulled the blanket up to her shoulders, Shana was once more sleeping, snoring gently.

Her last view was Sadako bowing to her as Maria closed her eyes and went to sleep.

Her dreams were unremarkable, memories of blood and death and screams of both pain and madness, interspersed with blessed darkness and nothingness filled only with the sweet scent of blood, and the smell of moonlight…

Maria's eyes snapped open. It was still dark, though there was a blue glow in the sky that warned that dawn was coming. To her side, Shana and Katarina were still asleep, though she could hear sounds movement around the room. In her shadow, her Dark Familiar trembled, ready to rise, but as she arose, she saw it was only Sadako and Anne and relaxed. The two noticed she was awake, and Sadako bowed in greeting. Anne merely gave her a quick nod, but continued preparing the clothes Katarina would be wearing. Yes, Katarina was acting as a translator, wasn't she? The clothes being laid out weren't here formal armor—which would be too formal, and yet also not rich enough for her—but rather an elegant dress in Katarina's habitual colors.

Speaking of which…

Maria arose, and quickly disrobed from the vegetable-themed clothing. Her own hunters garb—a different but identical set from yesterday—had already been laid out by Sadako. Silken smalls, shirt, leather trousers, cravat, vest, coat, leather cape, boots, throwing knives, caltrops, black powder bombs, antidotes, her swords, her gehrman, additional cylinders of ammunition…

By the time she was done and had arranged her items such that they didn't make any obvious and unsightly bulges, breakfast had arrived for her. She ate quickly as the skies outside the window slowly brightened towards sunrise. Katarina and Shana continued to sleep as she ate and the maids bustled about. When she finished eating, the sky already a bright blue, even as the grounds remained in shadow, save for the light from torches.

"Anne," Maria said as she finished dabbing her lips clean, "did my squire inform you when she is expected to attend the negotiations today?"

"Her grace the Duchess had Charlotte inform me, La—Maria," Anne said. "I have been informed as to the specifics of when and where Lady Katarina is expected to be, and her grace has ordered I ensure she be there."

Maria nodded. "Thank you for putting my mind at ease, Anne. I was worried. Would you please inform my squire that I wish to speak to her later, and to wait up for me?"

"Do you wish to speak to her now? It's about time I wake her up."

Maria considered that, then nodded. "If that is the case, then…"

She stood up and turned towards the sleeping Katarina, only to be stopped as a firm hand came down on her shoulder.

"Maria," Anne said, "are you training Lady Katarina today as your apprentice? If not, then please do not disturb my lady and allow her to rest." Her face was utterly serious, eyes as firm as titanite.

Maria raised an eyebrow. "I thought you intended to wake her?"

"Yes. What does that have to do with anything?"

She stared at Anne, then glanced over the maid's shoulder to see Sadako nodding in agreement.

Anne took her silence as assent. "Excuse me, then." As Maria stared after her, bemused, the maid began to nudge Katarina's shoulder. "Lady Katarina. It's time to wake up…"

It took a while, but soon Katarina was alive, alert, awake and her usual enthusiastic self, even if she was still wearing her night dress.

"Ah! Did we have training this morning and I forgot?" Katarina cried in panic. "Please don't kick me out! I want to keep being your squire! I swear I'll do better next time, I'll—"

"My squire," Maria said, and Katarina's teeth clicked as her mouth snapped shut. "You didn't miss training this morning. We are both busy with duties, after all. I merely wished to quickly speak to you to find out how you did yesterday."

Katarina swallowed nervously, clearly worried. "W-what about?"

"About your role as a translator. Has anyone spoken to you about it?"

Her squire's face brightened, looking relieved. "Oh, you heard about that? Um, a few of my new friends just asked if I'd be willing to be a translator for them tomorrow… ah, I guess today."

Maria nodded. "While you will be probably be informed as to what is expected of you, I thought I should begin in case they are too busy to do so."

"Um, aren't I suppose to just say what they said?"

"There is that," Maria said, "but it is equally important that you do so in a manner that facilitates communication and negotiation. If the meaning of what you just said is unclear to you, ask for clarification so that you can provide a better translation. You must also be impartial in your translation, relaying people's words but no giving your opinion of them. You are there as a translator, not as a negotiator. Let other people deal with that."

Katarina nodded enthusiastically. "Ah, I understand, Lady Maria!"

"However," Maria continued, "some things you must especially take care of. For example, numbers. The different between ten and a tenth is significant, and if you say the wrong thing, you might make things very difficult for everyone, or result in the negotiations incorrectly because of wrong information."

"Ah, you're right! That's very important stuff!"

Maria nodded. "If there's any possibility you heard the numbers incorrectly, ask for them to be written it down. Perhaps you should bring something to write on for moments like that."

Katarina looked around. "Ah, Anne, my notebook! Where is it?"

"On your armor rack, my lady, next to your pocket snake and your emergency snacks."

… of course those were the items her squire carried…

"You won't be wearing your formal armor today, my squire, so you won't be able to bring your snacks."

"My pockets! NO!"

Was Katarina actually… crying?

"Perhaps they'll have little snacks at the negotiations, my squire. They will probably have drinks." A thought occurred to her. "However, as a translator, you can't drink wine, or else your translations might suffer and result in difficulties for the negotiations. Water, tea or juice should be fine, however."

Her squire brightened at the possibility of food.

"However, you cannot simply keep eating," Maria said sternly. "You can't translate with your mouth full, after all, and speaking with your mouth full will reflect badly on Sorcier."

Her squire's brightness lessened. "…Yes, Lady Maria…"

A Katarina Interlude

Katarina was in the middle of getting dressed when there was a knock on the door. Maria had already left, off to protect the king, so Katarina went to answer it.

"My lady, let Sadako-san take care of that," Anne sighed. "You are not yet dressed. You'll cause a scandal if you answer the door dressed as you are."

Oh, right. "Sorry, Anne!"

Katarina let Anne keep on buttoning the back of her dress as Sadako-chan answered the door. "Katarina-dono, Mashu-dono is here. Shall I allow her entry?" the woman said in Ja—oops, she meant Ashinago.

"Hai, Sadako-chan!" Katarina called cheerfully. The door opened and Sadako bowed as Mashu-chan entered, her cousin looking at the maid suspiciously. Eh? "Good morning, Mashu! What are you doing here so early?"

Mashu shook her head, before turning to Katarina with a smile. "Aunt Mili asked me to make sure you get to the negotiations on time. I thought I'd have to wake you up, but it looks like we'll have time to go down and have a full breakfast."

"Of course!" Katarina declared. "Breakfast is the most important meal of the day!"

Mashu laughed. "Well, after breakfast I'm supposed to take you to meet the person from the diplomatic corps who'll tell you wat you're supposed to do."

Katarina sighed in relief. She wasn't sure she could do everything Maria had told her she needed to do, so if she was lucky what the diplomatic corps person tells her would be easier! "Ah, thanks Mashu! I don't really know where I'm supposed to go…"

"The Ad—ahem, Third Prince tried to get to you late last night to supposedly inform you of the details, but Aunt Mili was able to convince him that there was no need to interrupt your rest and that it could wait 'til the morning," Mashu said with a wide smile. "And that's why I'm here. Ready to go?"

"Ah, I'm almost done, Mashu!" Katarina waited until Anne finished buttoning up her dress, and then helped Anne settle everything into place, before she was finally able to put on her belt, and secure her sword onto it. She made the peace bond ribbon was still secure, and she resisted the urge to tug on the part that would untie it. Dame Maria had shown her how to quickly undo it, and even made her practice, but had repeatedly hammered into Katarina that she shouldn't unless she was in real danger, otherwise it would greatly damage her reputation.

She tucked the ends of the ribbons between the sword and the belt so it wouldn't catch on anything—that wouldn't be enough to unravel it, but it made it look neat—then put her pocket snake in her right belt pouch so that it was ready to throw. As she stood up, Anne presented her with a little clutch purse. Katarina didn't usually carry one of those, but now she needed it to carry her notebook full of Maria's reminders, as well as something to write numbers on—wait, why did it feel so full.

Katarina opened the purse and almost cried. Anne had filled the purse with little paper-wrapped candies. "Anne, I love you!"

"I'm sorry my lady, but I cannot return your feelings. I'm in love with a wonderful woman." That made Katarina grin as Anne smiled back. "Try not to eat it until after breakfast, my lady."

Katarina looked down at the purse and then, with an expression of almost physical pain on her face, handed the purse to an amused Cousin Mashu. "Here Cousin Mashu. Don't give it back to me until after breakfast!"

"Of course, dear cousin. Now come on, let's go down to breakfast so you can eat your fill before you have to go translate."