A Mary Hunt Interlude
Seeing her dear Katarina surrounded by so many new people initially sent a rush of burning panic through Mary, as if she'd been crossing a bridge only to see a dragon sweeping down with its mouth open wide and fire in its throat. Every time she saw that, she feared it was the day that someone fell in love with her dear Katarina strongly enough to become a new rival. Not just fell in love with her, though that was distressing too, but those who only casually fell in love with her, like Ginger in the Student Council, Larna Smith, Susanna Randall, and others, they weren't a threat threat. They wouldn't pursue her hard enough to force their way into Katarina's most private social circle and alter the delicate balance of friendships and rivalry they had been gently forming for years.
Maria had somehow forced her way into that circle, and Mary wasn't sure they had really completely recovered yet. Rafael was there too, but he was mostly just along for the ride as Maria's boyfriend and fiancé, and the casual friend of the boys.
And now… this. A whole crowd of people around their age was gathered around her dear Katarina in their garden! The garden that Mary had helped her plant the garden she had helped her till can care for and harvest… all right, there had been everyone else too, but MARY had been the one with the relevant gardening knowledge who'd helped her dear Katarina set it all up when they'd been young and just starting out…!
"Hi Mary!" Of course, her dear Katarina's words immediately broke through the fugue of panic, her mind trained to hear that most beautiful of sounds above all else. "Come meet all my cousins!"
Mary blinked. Cousins? "Cousins?"
Katarina frowned in concern and ah! Her heart! So cute! So pouty! So wonderful…! And now her dear Katarina was putting her hand on Mary's forehead!
"Are you all right, Mary?" her dear Katarina said, concerned for her. Ah! Her dear Katarina was concerned for her! "Your face is so red! Are you coming down with sunstroke?"
"Oh dear," a woman with light brown hair said, looking concerned, and joined her dear Katarina and NO! No, take off your hand! "Ah, she is a bit warm cousin, but I don't think she has heatstroke. Still, perhaps she needs a hat some shade…"
"Ah! Come on Mary, let's get you under that tree…"
Swoon! "Oh… well…. all right…" Mary allowed her to be pulled towards one of the trees left around Katarina's fields. It would probably have been better if they'd been cut down, since the shadows they cast created spots were it was difficult to grow things, but her dear Katarina had never considered it, simply planting around them. She said the trees were too good for climbing to be cut down.
Mary let herself be sat down by her dear Katarina, and she sighed and hoped the grass didn't stain her skirts, but it was a distant concern. Truthfully, grass stains were minor when one was around her dear Katarina. Mary had been stained by mud, fertilizer, manure, various fruit juices… Her dear Katarina would always be stained more, though.
"There Mary, sit down, relax," her dear Katarina said. "Are you feeling better?"
"Yes, Lady Katarina!" Mary exclaimed happily. "I guess I just got too warm running here. I'm feeling much better now." Huh, she actually did feel hot. Mary took out a thick linen cloth—not a silken handkerchief, though she was carrying one of those two, but something more robust—and asked, "Can I have some water from your watering can, Lady Katarina?"
"Hmm? Oh, sure!" her dear Katarina said, holding out the can towards her. This was had been a gift Mary herself had given her when she had outgrown the small, childish watering can she'd started using and had been complaining of needing a larger one. It was solid copper, and while now mildly tarnished and scuffed, when it had been new it had been mirror bright. It warmed Mary's heart and wet her loins every time she saw her dear Katarina using it so happily.
Mary reached towards the top of the can and flipped open the simple hinged top, sticking her finger into the water. With her water magic, she drew out a handful of water and gathered it up, making a ball of ice that she reshape into something like a curving sheet. Mary wrapped her cloth around the ice and placed it one her head, holding it in place with one hand. Ah… so cool…
The brown-haired woman, her hair pulled back in a tail, nodded in approval. "Excellent thinking. Well, it looks like we don't have to send for any ice from the house. Just sit still for a moment and cool off, please. Even if it's not heatstroke, having one's head get overheated is a serious concern."
"…" Mary smiled placidly. "Um, who are you?"
"Ah! Mary, this is my cousin on my mother's side, the Lady Iosefka Adeth of Hasard Duchy," her dear Katarina introduced. "She's single and studying to be a doctor from my uncle. Cousin Iosefka, this is the Lady Mary Hunt, one of the most talented women I know and one of my best friends! I hope you get along."
Hex it! That limited Mary's options… but her dear Katarina was very inattentive. As long as she showed her teeth, she'll just think Mary was smiling…
"A pleasure to meet you, Lady Adeth," Mary said with a warm socialite's smile, welcoming and empty of meaning.
"It's wonderful to finally meet you, Lady Mary," Lady Adeth said, her own smile wide—if not quite as wide as Katarina's but then, whose was?—and warm and welcoming and sincere and made a little part of Mary instinctively cringe with guilt at how insincere her own had been. Mary found her free hand being grabbed and clasped in a distinctly Katarina-esque manner, though the other woman's grip wasn't as strong as her dear Katarina's. "I've heard so much about you from Cousin Katarina here, it's like I know you already! Please, call me Iosefka. Any friend of Cousin Katarina's is a friend of mine!"
Mary blinked and stared. While not as energetic as her dear Katarina, the simple, straightforward statement practically overflowed with sincerity. "You've… heard about me?"
"Oh, yes!" another woman's voice said, suddenly popping up from behind Iosefka. It sounded like a naturally soft voice being enthusiastic, and therefore not managing to be very loud. The dark-haired woman smiled down at Mary. "She said you were the best gardener in the kingdom as well as the best dancer."
Her dear Katarina had said that? Well, Mary knew she'd probably said that, her dear Katarina had said it before, but the part of Mary who had gone to a lot of effort to be good at those things puffed up a little at the acknowledgement… "That's flattering to hear, Lady…?"
"Ah! Sorry, sorry!" her dear Katarina exclaimed. Her brow was furrowed, as if she was thinking of something very hard, or possibly just thinking at all… "Mary, this is Cousin Iosefka's sister, the Lady Adella Adeth of Hasard Duchy. And this is my cousin, Lord Watson Arsene, also from Hasard Duchy. These are the twins, my cousins the Lady Olga Romani and the Lady Marie Romani, and their elder sister the Dame Matthew Romani, and this is my brother Lord Keith Claes of Morpork Duchy…"
"Sister, she knows who we are, you can stop introducing now," Keith said with a sigh and a 'that's Katarina' smile. Mary chortled for a moment, echoing his expression, and for a moment they exchanged looks of mutually understood fondness…
And then the moment was over, and they were frenemy rivals again…
…
And then the moment was over, and they were frenemy rivals again…
…
And then the moment was over, and they were frenemy rivals again…!
…
Keith, stop being so relaxed and unguarded, it's mildly disturbing! Are you all right?
Disturbed, Mary found solace in formality. "It's a pleasure to meet you all," she said. "I've heard of you in passing from Lady Katarina, but I didn't think I would ever meet your acquaintance."
"Oh? Only from Cousin Katarina?" the dark-haired one, Adella, said, her smile becoming teasing as she looked towards Dame Matthew. "Cousin Mashu didn't mention us at all?"
"I was a little busy… And you all promised to stop calling me that!" Dame Matthew said plaintively, practically wailing.
"You didn't write," the one called Marie sniffed. "This is your punishment!"
"Can't I be punished with something else, like ladder duty?"
"No," the one called Olga said sternly, crossing her arms. "Auntie Mili doesn't have an evil ladder."
Mary stared. What were these people talking about…?
Someone sat next to her, and she glanced to find it was Keith, that sort of disturbing smile on his face. "Keith…" she asked plaintively, "what's going on…?"
"It's been like this since yesterday," he said with a strange serenity as Katarina exclaimed about how Dame Matthew hadn't been writing home as often as she should. "It's great, isn't it?"
She stared at him. "Keith, are you drunk?"
"No, it's the middle of the day," he said, still smiling strangely. It was a smile unlike she'd ever seen on him before. It wasn't the bared teeth of when she was foiling the plots of The ADVERSARY And Enemy Of The Alliance, nor was it the blushing, smugly triumphant smile of when he showed off how close he was to her dear Katarina, or the exasperated smile of when her dear Katarina did something cute…
Actually, his smile looked disturbingly like the smiles her dear Katarina made, only not so and full-faced and toothy…
"Then why are you smiling like that?" she asked as, around them, Dame Matthew tried to apologize while begging her punishment be commuted to something besides being called by her infantile nickname. Her relatives were cheerfully unmerciful.
Instead of answering, Keith turned that smile on her. "Mary, remember what your life was like before you met Katarina?"
Mary stared at him. "Of course I do," she said flatly.
He just smiled. "This is all much better now, isn't it?" he said, and his smile…
Oh. It was a happy smile. She'd never really seen that on Keith before.
She glanced towards her dear Katarina, and despite herself began to smile too. "Yeah, it's great," she said quietly.
"Since yesterday, the house has been like there are fourteen Katarinas," Keith said. "I'm sort of… full." His smile became… it looked like the way her dear Katarina's had when she had confronted Rafael in that hidden room, back when they'd known him as Sirius Dieke. What? "Mary?"
"Yes…?" she asked suspiciously.
"I'm glad I know you," he said. He actually looked like he meant it! "If it wasn't for you, the only visitor we'd have ever gotten was The ADVERSARY And Enemy Of The Alliance, showing up every day and being a pushy little brat. But then you started visiting, and because of that, Alan started visiting too… " His tone grew mildly wistful and nostalgic. "I know we were all stupid kids fighting over a girl… but it was fun. And it wasn't just thanks to Katarina. It was thanks to you too. I'm glad your Katarina's friend, Mary. I'm glad to know you."
Mary flushed. "A-are you sure you're not drunk?" she said.
Keith smile and—
Mary was filled with horror, even as her treacherous, stupid heart skipped a beat.
With that stupid look all over his face, Keith looked so much like his sister.
The wet, ice-less clothed fell from Mary's forehead.
"Ah! My fields!" her dear Katarina exclaimed, and Mary tore herself from stupid Keith's stupid face. "I have to get back to work if I'm going to get anything done before lunch!"
"I'll help you Katarina! In fact, I'll help you with the fields every day!"
"Nice try, but that doesn't count as your punishment, Cousin Mashu."
"Hex it!"
"Eh? So… you won't help me?"
"No, of course I'll help Cousin Katarina!"
"We'll help to! We're not wearing heels so we'll be okay."
Keith pushed himself to his feet. "I'll see if we have enough spare hats for everyone, big sister," he said, then offered a hand to Mary, who took it instinctively. "Cousin Watson, can you help me carry them?"
"Of course, Cousin Keith," the man with the fuzzy upper lip said.
Mary found herself blinking, trying to figure out this strangeness, when she felt a slight pressure at her back. "You go help sister with her fields, Mary," Keith said. "After all, you're the one with the Green Thumb. I'm sure sister will be glad for your help." He smiled at her and walked towards Katarina's storage sheds, the sole male cousin walking with him and chatting companionably.
Mary stared, dumbfounded. Had Keith just… encouraged her to spend time with his sister? Without him?
A voice that sounded suspiciously like Maria Campbell whispered of insanity.
It was either that or Keith really was into Nicol…
…
Wait, why was she wasting time thinking about this?
"Ah, I'll help too, Lady Katarina!" she cried, hiking up her skirts and rushing towards her dear Katarina. "What do you need my help with?-!"
If Keith hadn't been restored to his senses by the time she'd left, then she'd worry. For now…
Well, he HAD told her to help Katarina, right?
Rafael Walt hummed happily to himself as he made tea. Given the general mistrust the women under Maria's protection had for men in general, and strong envy of him in the specific, he was glad and a little relieved that they seemed to like his tea. So, with no other recourse to get them to like him, he'd spend free time when Maria was occupied making tea for everyone and passing it around. The act of making the tea was soothing for him, bringing with it happy memories of his mother and nostalgic, self-edited pleasant recollections of times with Maria at the Academy,
He had to make a lot of it, meaning as soon as one pot was finished and handed to a maid to send out, he was making another one, but that was a small price to pay for even incrementally bribing his way into the better graces of many, many women equipped with wooden practice swords and small knives.
Off to the side, Sadako was enjoying such a cup of tea. She held the tea cup a bit awkwardly, supporting the whole thing with both hands, but her face, at least what he could see of it through her curtain of hair, was serene. Whenever she drank, the curtain would actually part to reveal her mouth, curved into a small, tranquil smile…
Making her a small pot just for herself might have been too blatantly trying to get her favor, but despite their little conversation in the bath, he was still nervous around her. And she knew he was nervous around her, which seemed to amuse her, which just made her even more nervous…
The door to the kitchen was pushed open, and while it didn't bounce or slam, it immediately drew the attention of everyone there.
Maria stood framed in the door.
"Rafael, a word?" she said politely, even as her eyes practically glowed… She blinked, then sniffed the air. "Are you making tea?"
"Er, yes," he said. "I'm almost done." Then, because he knew his fiancée (!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!), he added, "Would you like a cup?"
"Please," she said, even as Sadako swiftly finished her tea and miraculously made her used cup vanish. A fresh cup was brought out and she began pouring it from the small pot Rafael had given her, presenting it to her mistress. "Thank you, Sadako-chan."
Maria took a sniff of the tea and sighed, then took a sip. Another sigh, one that made Rafael need to repress a shudder. That sigh had sounded so much like the sighs she had made when they were…!
Rafael focused on making the tea, finishing it and handing it another made, who bowed and took it up to the accountants. By then, Maria had finished a second cup. "All right, I'm done," he said.
Maria nodded. "Walk with me?" she said.
He nodded, falling into step next to her, his hand reaching out to twine with hers…
Her thumb began stroking a line back and forth across his palm.
Rafael blushed. "Uh, isn't it the middle of the day?" he said, trying to sound normal, very aware that Sadako was behind them and definitely knew what 'thumb stroking across palm' meant.
"Katarina is gone from the estate today," she said evenly. "And all my work is in order."
"Oh."
They headed up the stairs, each step getting har—more and more difficult, and then they were in their room…
Rafael found himself being pulled down to the carpet, Maria taking the impact for the both of them as she pulled him on top of her and their lips sought each other. Behind them, Sadako pulled the door closed behind her and locked it. Then she went to the bed and began to turn it down as sounds filled the room…
