Maria, Mary, Katarina and the others as Sophia and Lady conversed. The two seemed off on their own world, completely ignoring everyone around as they spoke of… well, very strange things.

"Lady Katarina…" Mary said quietly, "you read Night Fall. Do you understand any of this?"

"Uh, a little?" Katarina said, though even she looked slightly lost. "I mean, her theory about the pendant was very nice and it makes sense, but the rest… why do they both think the Accord Girl has anything to do with the Purple-Eyed Queen? I mean, the Purple-Eyed Queen died a long time ago in the books, and there's nothing to connect the two together! Really, the Accord Girl having some kind of connection to the Darkmoon Princess is far more likely…"

"Squire, none of us have any idea what you're talking about," Maria said blandly.

Katarina sighed and muttered something in Ashinago. Maria noted the word. She'd ask Sadako what a 'riajuu' was later. "Well… at least they seem to be getting along!" she said, her voice surprisingly quiet. "Once Sophia likes her, Lady Hyetta will have the strongest possible ally in helping her go down the Nicol route!"

The way Katarina said that with such satisfaction revealed she was completely ignorant about the significance of her being Sophia's best friend. Maria found herself exchanging glances with Mary, the two of them clearly sharing the same thought.

"I've never seen Lady Hyetta so happy," Lady Volcamaison said with a quiet smile.

"Though I wonder what her father will make of it when he hears," Trina said. "He's quite protective of his daughter, after all."

Maria, Mary, and Katarina glanced at them curious as Lady Volcamaison, Dame Millicent and young Trina fell into a contemplative silence at that point.

…

"Eh, it's Sophia's problem now," Mary said heartlessly as she threw her friend under the large swinging log covered in spikes.

Surprisingly, Katarina nodded. "I have my own brother who needs a nice fiancée to worry about." Then she paused and tilted her head thoughtfully. "Hey Mary, are any of your sisters into girls? Because I have a list of nice women who might be available, once Keith makes his choice."

Mary blinked and…

Maria felt the urge to step back and take her innocent—alright, not so innocent, she had been trying to arrange to engage her brother with multiple women and used the words 'trash fetish' in its proper context—more-innocent-than-Mary-Hunt squire with her as Mary's face gained an expression that was positively marchioness-like. "Hmm… You know, you're right! None of my sisters are engaged yet, and they don't seem to have any interest in men." Her smile and tone were innocently beatific, but her eyes… "As their sister with greater social connections, I am positively obligated to find them a nice betrothal… " She began to laugh like someone had just walked up to her and asked her for directions.

Lady Volcamaison moved to interpose herself between Mary and her charge as Dame Milicent moved in front of Trina.

The laughter also finally seemed to cut through Sophia's enthusiastic, if incomprehensible, conversation, for she looked up and sighed. "Oh dear. Lady Mary's having a marchioness moment again."

"I am not having a marchioness moment! I'm not even due to inherit!"

"Since when has that ever stopped a marchioness?" Susanna Randall muttered.

Eventually, the tea party wound down, and people started leaving to rest and recover before meeting up again for dinner.

"It was nice meeting you, Lady Campbell," Trina said with a wide smile and a wave as she and her chaperone left the hall. Lady Carim trailed behind them, her own chaperone walking in front of the blind young woman as she and Sophia continued to speak intently, Sophia making expressive arm gestures that were… well, completely meaningless in the context of the conversation.

"Fu fu fu fu…" Katarina… laughed? Its rhythm sounded like laughter, but it was nothing like how her squire normally laughed, and she was making a strange face as she did it. "Ooh, I can't wait! This is going to be the start of Nicol's romance."

"I don't see why you're so satisfied, my squire. It's not like you did much," Maria said ruthlessly. "Sophia would have talked to her anyway."

"Fu fu fu fu…" There it was again! "Yeah, but if it they'd just met, Sophia would have been all suspicious and overprotective, and probably would have given Lady Hyetta a hard time. This way, they're friends with a lot in common, so Sophia will be more supportive of their love! And Nicol will like her too because Sophia likes her and the two get along. Hyetta basically just has to ask and they'll probably get engaged like that." Katarina snapped her fingers.

Maria and Mary stared at Katarina as she "Fu fu fu fu"-ed some more. "What makes you say that, Lady Katarina?" Mary said, a strange expression on her face.

"Oh, it's obvious. When they were kids the only friends they had was each other. And Nicol was probably really protective of Sophia because of how people bullied her, and Sophia is possessive of Nicol because he was the only one she knew besides her parents who didn't say terrible things about her."

"Haven't you been friends with Sophia since childhood, my squire?"

"Uh, yeah? What does that have to do with anything?"

Maria and Mary exchanged glances. The latter looked both appalled and relieved. Maria herself had to wonder how her squire could be both so perceptive and so blind at the same time.

Katarina let out a sigh. "Ah…! It's been a long day… come on you two, let's go back to our rooms and get ready for dinner." She started to walk off.

Maria's hand came down on her shoulder like a grab attack, trapping Katarina in her grip. "You're still talking to your mother about your methods of interviewing prospective fiancées. Now come on. Lady Mary, will you be accompanying us?"

Mary looked conflicted. "Uh… Lady Katarina, you know you always have my support for everything you do, even this… but if I go with you, her grace might ask me for details, and I'll just get you in more trouble. But if you really want me to be there…!"

"Ah, that's all right, Lady Mary, I don't want you getting in trouble with me."

Mary directed a lukewarm glare Maria's way. "Really, can't you just let this go, Lady Maria? There's no need to tell her grace about this, right?"

Maria gave her a flat look.

Mary sighed. "Well, I tried, Lady Katarina."

"Thanks, Lady Mary. See you at dinner!"

Despite the cheerful fairwell, Katarina walked like someone whose armor made her overburdened, her steps heavy and plodding, but to her credit, she didn't try to run away as Maria led her towards Duchess Claes. Her grace was speaking to her sisters-in-law, the Duchesses Adeth of Hasard, as the three of them moved to leave the hall. Various lesser nobles followed after them, no doubt hoping to be noticed for a moment of their time, but the three did not deign to do so.

On seeing Katarina, however…

"Oh, daughter! And Lady Maria," Duchess Claes greeted. Maria immediately became the target of several glares, which she ignored. "How are you two?" She glanced at the hand on Katarina's shoulder, and was the picture of control as she didn't sigh.

"We are well, your grace," Maria said. "Lady Katarina has a matter she wishes to speak to you about."

Her grace's eyebrow twitched so briefly one would have thought they imagined it. "I see. Well then, why don't you walk with us, Lady Maria. My daughter can tell us all about it…"

A Katarina Interlude

It had been a while since mother had given her a good scolding.

Mother had remained calm as they'd gone to the rooms mother and father had been assigned—which was way bigger that the room she and Maria shared—and she'd remained calm as Maria explained how Katarina had been interviewing the women who'd been asking her about Keith, looking for fiancée candidates for him. It… well, all right, it all sounded pretty ecchi the way Maria explained it, but Katarina swore there was a good reason why she had asked the women whether they wanted to be on top or bottom with another woman!

Now, if she could just remember what it was…

Mother had gotten madder when she had asked Katarina for the notebook she'd written the interview answers on, which she had meekly handed over. The way mother's eyebrows had risen, and that muscle on her temple had started to twitch…

"Thank you for bringing this to my attention, Lady Maria," Mother had said, and Katarina knew that tone. "Could you please excuse us?"

Maria bowed. "Of course, your grace." The look she'd given Katarina had almost been apologetic.

Mother didn't say anything as the door shut behind Maria, even as Katarina had braced herself for a scolding that would be really loud and really scary and would go on for hours and she might even miss dinner…

This scolding… it was a bad one. It started with mother telling her how disappointed she was, then about how her actions reflected on the family name, and then how this reflected on the kingdom to other nations…!

Uh… oops. She'd… uh… forgotten about that.

For the first time in a long time, Katarina felt herself cringing for more than her mother's anger. Because her mother wasn't simply just angry. She knew her mother's anger. It was hard not to after years of tracking mud into the house, and breaking vases, and other things that made that vein in mother's temple bulge. This time, the disappoint was stronger than the anger, a disappointment that had drowned out the fondness and quiet pride that she hadn't realized had been part of her conversations with her mother recently.

All that was gone now.

At the end of the scolding, even the anger was gone, and only disappointment remained. The silence the filled the room was full of wallowing guilt as Katarina regretted the decisions she'd made.

Eventually, her mother sighed and patted the seat next to her on the sofa. "All right," she said, her voice strangely calm and even to Katarina's ears. "Come over here, Katarina. Show me which of these women you think would make a good fiancée for Keith and why."

For a moment, Katarina stared at her mother, confused.

"If you thought it was important enough to make such a disgraceful scene over," her mother said calmly, "then it's important enough for me to find out what you learned."

Katarina hesitated. A part of her, a very strong part, wanted to take this as a sign to forget everything and pretend everything was normal. But…

That disappointment. The pride—the pride in her—that was no longer there…

"Um, I wasn't just looking for a fiancée for Keith, Mother," Katarina said, forcing the words out despite how painful they were. "I… uh… well, you know how Uncle Henryk has Aunt Eileen and Aunt Viola…?"

Katarina chose to believe the look of incredulous disappointment on her mother's face was just regular incredulousness mixed with the disappointment that was already there, and not new disappointment.

She found she couldn't meet her mother's gaze as she pushed her fingers together. "Um, well… I thought it would be nice if Keith could have something like that… and it would help him with all the work he had to do…" Now that she said them out loud, they sounded like stupid justifications…

Katarina heard her mother sigh. "Then I suppose you should show me that too, Katarina," Mother said. She heard a hand patting the sofa again. "Come. Sit here and explain these notes to me. Except for the names I can barely make anything out. Is this all in Xiarmenin?"

"Ashinago," Katarina corrected as she stood hesitantly, then flinched.

"You're notes are in the language of a country so distant we only really know its name…" Mother said, her tone strange. "Well, I suppose that's one way to write secure notes."

As Katarina sat down next to her mother, she caught the faintest little glimpse of pride in mother's eyes again. Then it was gone, and she dearly wished for it back. "All right. This list of names have several marks. What do they mean?"

"Um, well… all these women are disqualified because they only seem to be interested in Keith because he's going to be a duke, and these are all women who are only interested in his looks… I know they haven't met him yet, but they didn't even ask what kind of person he was..."

Quietly, they went through her notebook.