A Katarina Interlude

Katarina was glad that for once she wasn't the one being scolded during lessons.

"Your highness, stop leaning forward like that. you're affecting my squire's posture!"

"Your highness, don't pull at my squire, you'll—well, there. Consider those toes a lesson."

"Your highness, stop moving from side to side like that! My squire is still learning the basics, she's not ready for flourishes like that."

"Your highness, you're moving too stiffly. That's not how you dance."

"Your highness, if you're too tired to be able to dance properly, you need only say so, I'm sure I can find someone else to help teach my squire."

"Lady Maria, perhaps you should read the mood?"

"The mood is irrelevant, your highness. This is a lesson so that my squire can learn to dance."

"She already knows how to dance, we've danced together in parties for years!"

"Being spun around by someone else is not dancing, your highness. Any knight will be glad to enlighten you as to the difference between dancing and a grab attack."

Had her fiancée-but-not-really-she-was-just-his-shield been really bad at dancing this whole time and she'd just never realized?

"Actually, are even really qualified to teach someone how to dance?"

Dame Campbell raised an eyebrow, somehow still in the same position next to them despite how they were dancing. "My squire, rest for a moment. It appears I need to prove my qualifications."

It took a while to stop dancing, because every time Katarina let go of her fiancée-but-not-really-she-was-just-his-shield's hand and stepped back to give Maria room, he grabbed her hand again and stepped closer, somehow moving his shoulder back under her hand. Eventually, Katarina was able to get loose and Maria took her place, holding out her arms to dance.

"Really Lady Maria, is this necessary?"

"You were the one who inquired if I was qualified."

Sighing, the black-hearted prince took Dame Campbell's hand and started to dance as Katarina finally managed to sit down and rest. Ah, finally!. While dancing was fun, she wasn't the sort who liked doing it for long periods of time. All the spinning around always made her hungry, and the sight of the poor buffet table with no one taking care of it always moved her to pity and ant to lavish the poor, neglected food with loving attention. She actually looked around for a buffet table before she remembered that this was a dance lesson and not a party,and therefore there wasn't a buffet table.

… she wondered if Lady Maria had any cookies on her?

"Here you go, Lady Katarina, I got you something to drink."

"Oh, thank you, Lady Mary!"

The cup only had cold water, with the sharp distilled taste that meant Mary had made it using her water magic, but after all the dancing it was nice and cool as she drank it.

"Huh. I suppose Maria's good at dancing after all. Who knew?"

"Rafael, probably," Katarina said, looking towards where Sophia was looking.

The Third Prince and Maria were dancing gracefully on the dance floor. There was a lot of spinning as the two blondes moved at the same time. While Maria's face was the usual smooth, straight man expression, the Third Prince actually looked surprised. The two moved faster and faster, the steps looking very complicated. A few times Maria actually looked like she was sliding sideways instead of stepping. For some reason, the hairs on the back of Katarina's neck rose, and she found her hand instinctively patting at the side of her hip where her sword normally was. It took her a while to realize why she felt so nervous and had a strong urge to had a sword in her hands.

Maria was moving like she and the black-hearted sadist prince were sparring.

It was the same casual, almost effortless-seeming glide. The way Dame Cambpell's right arm was held out was far too much like the way she held her sword out before she was suddenly dashing in Katarina's face from across the practice ground. How she leaned her head forward sometimes, that little tell she had that she was about to attack…

Maria was strangely very, very scary when she danced!


"I suppose I must apologize," the Third Prince said as the song ended and the two had finished bowing to each other. "You dance very well, Lady Maria. My compliments."

"Thank you, your highness. Does this mean you will stop being so disruptive of my squire's dance lesson?"

"Lady Maria, can you really blame me for enjoying dancing with my fiancée after all the work I've had to do this week? Surely you can understand the yearnings of the heart?"

"I understand the yearnings of the heart very well, but I have no sympathy when it disrupts trying to teach my squire," Maria said, voice low. "It's hard enough to teach her as it is given the bad habits you all instilled into her at the Academy." She turned and headed back to where her squire was resting.

"If you'd asked her, she'd have told you she already knew how to dance," the Third Prince said.

"Just like she already knew how to comport herself properly?" Maria said.

The Third Prince opened his mouth and paused. "All right, fair enough," he said.

Maria nodded. "Squire," she said as they approached, and Katarina got to her feet. "We shall continue the lesson."

The Third Prince smiled and stepped forward, holding out his hand.

"Not you, your highness. You're obviously not good at this," Maria said.

"Excuse me?" the Third Prince said indignantly.

"May I offer to assist you, Lady Maria?" Lady Mary said, smiling widely. "I'm familiar with both the women's and men's positions when dancing."

Of course she was.

"I appreciate the offer, Lady Hunt, but it is unnecessary," Maria said. She held out her hand to her squire. "Come, squire. The fire is fading."

"Eh?" Katarina said, tilting her head. Maria became very aware of the glares being directed towards her by the Third Prince, Lady Mary and Lady Sophia. Her squire, of course, noticed nothing. "Oh, all right then." She took Maria's hand and stood. For some reason, Katarina's hands were sweaty and tense.

"Relax, my squire. You cannot move properly if you're so stiff," Maria said, leading her to the dance floor again, here other people were standing. Many seemed to be treating this lesson as a break, dancing casually or simply sitting around and chatting. She supposed they were either completely confident in their skills or were going to humiliate themselves when the time came.

"S-sorry."

"Simply relax, my squire. She shall start slowly. Now, lay your hands on me and we'll begin…"

Maria thought the lesson went much more smoothly than when her squire had been dancing with the Third Prince. Her squire seemed to be more confused about dancing than she had thought, however. Katarina sometimes tried backstepping instead of simply stepping back, and once she even threw herself to the side and performed an, admittedly well-executed, I-frame roll.

Her squire didn't get tangled up in her skirt at all, which Maria considered a good thing.


When the lesson ended, it was off to dinner and then back to their rooms, where Lord Keith, Lady Mary, Lady Sophia, Dame Matthew and her squire's other cousins came over to practice the various gestures, greetings and bows they used in Xiarmah. There was apparently a specific bow used for each rank, depending on whether they were higher or lower ranked than you. Given it was considered a deadly insult to use the wrong bow, Maria, Shana, and everyone else took these drilsl deadly seriously. No one wanted Katarina to be slapped and told she was courting death, which was apparently how the Xiarmah challenged you to duels, usually to the death.

The next day, after the lecture on the land of Hallig—famous for its trees, most of its music was played on trumpets, had large colonies of giant ants, stable cavern highways that led down to the so-called Eternal Realms, and was known for its trained battle-eagles—and the afternoon lesson on their etiquette, Maria was surprised to find herself approached by a butler.

"Oh, hi Hershey," Katarina greeted happily.

The butler nodded towards her. "Lady Katarina," he said, before turning towards Maria. "Lady Campbell, you have been summoned by his Majesty to attend him as soon as possible."

Maria blinked. 'As soon as possible' meant 'right the hex now'. "Has something happened?"

"I was not informed, your ladyship," the butler said.

"Eh? Lady Maria's not in trouble, is she?" Katarina asked.

The butler hesitated. "Not that I am aware of, Lady Katarina," he said. "I believe his Majesty simply wants to speak to her."

Maria sighed, but decided now was not the time to chastise her squire about speaking so casually to the staff. "Katarina, since I won't be able to supervise you this afternoon, I am assigning you to do drills until it's time to get ready for dinner. Be sure to keep track of the time so you have plenty of time to return to the room to refresh yourself. You can practice with your weapon of choice. Go."

Katarina's eyes lit up, and Maria assumed this meant she'd be doing greatsword practice all afternoon. "Yes, Dame Campbell," she chirped happily. "See you later, Hershey!"

They watched her skip off.

Maria hadn't actually found anything against skipping in the 'The Noble's Proper Etiquette Reference and Manual of Propriety and Action (Seventh Edition)', so there was technically no reason not to skip, but it felt wrong somehow. It seemed like the sort of thing the universe would disapprove of on principle, skips. Still, until there came out an edition of the 'The Noble's Proper Etiquette Reference and Manual of Propriety and Action' that specifically banned skipping, Maria supposed that skips would remain… well, not a fact of life, but rather a fact of Katarina Claes.

Maria turned back to face the butler. "Lead on," she said.

She wondered what his Majesty needed of her…


Katarina skipped towards the room she shared with Maria, Shana, Anne, Sadako and Lasciel, huming to herself and greeting everyone she knew along the way. Most of the castle staff and guards smiled at her, but because they were so busy, they didn't really have time to talk. That was such a pity. Maybe she should do something nice for them when the International Assembly was over? Ooh! She could give them ice-cream as thanks for all their hard work! They'd probably like that!

She'll have to talk to ジオルド and Alan about that… and maybe uncle Dan too…

"Welcome back, Lady Katarina," Anne greeted her as when she got back to her room. Next to her, Lasciel opened her mouth to greet Maria, and stuttered when she saw Maria wasn't there.

"Hey Anne," Katarina greeted. It looked like Shana wasn't back yet, so she must still be with Mary. "Maria's been called by the king, so she's not back yet. She told me I should practice drills by myself."

"I see. Then you'll be needing your training clothes, my lady…"

Once dressed in her proper training clothes, Katarina happily skipped over to the rack that held her practice weapons, grabbing her wooden replica greatsword. It didn't have a proper sheath yet, so she used a rope she'd gotten hold of to tie it to her back for the moment.

"Well, I'm off," Katrina said cheerfully as she opened the window. "I'll be back before dinner!" She stepped on the tree branch right outside the window, her sword on her back, and began climbing down the tree. Behind her, she heard Anne sigh as she closed the window behind her.

Katarina didn't know what Maria's problem was with climbing trees, but she saw no reason to walk the long way around the castle if the courtyard she was going to practice in was right outside the window!

When she stepped out of the trees, however, she saw that there was someone already there.

"Oh, hello!" Katarina greeted. "Are you going to practice here too? I'm Katarina. What's your name?"