A Katarina Interlude
It was a commonly known fact that Katarina Claes tended to lose track of time. It was, in fact, so common that even Katarina knew it.
It was a less commonly known fact that this had led her to being very good at being able to tell the time by the angle of the sun at any time of the year. Most would have wondered at this, since… well, this wasn't the kind of skill the perpetually distractible and Low-Int Build young woman seemed to have any reason to hone. At least, not until they realize that she never missed a meal, and that meal times in the Claes Manor came at very precise, set times, and she needed to be able to tell when to come in from her fields to get ready to eat. Then it made all sorts of sense for her to have developed this skill.
This skill came in handy now as Katarina trained. Without Maria there to tell her it was time to stop, only the shadows being cast told her it was soon coming on time for dinner. And since they were at the castle, she'd have to get cleaned up and be properly dressed for it so she'd be presentable, because mother was at the castle, and finally switching to deredere mode with Katarina or not, she would probably have a LECTURE for Katarina if she showed up anything less than perfectly presentable in public.
Still, a part of her felt mildly guilty for ceasing her drills as she chanted "Heigh-ho! Heave-ho!" without having heard Maria's familiar "That's enough squire". But really, it couldn't be helped! After all, Maria wasn't there to tell her to stop.
"Oh? Are you stopping already?"
Katarina nearly jumped as she remembered she wasn't alone. Next to her, Siegadme was lowering her hammer, not even looking tired.
"Ah, yes," Katarina said sheepishly. She set aside her sword and began doing her cool-down stretches so she didn't get sore. "It's almost time for dinner, you see, and I need to get cleaned up and presentable or else I'll get lectured."
Siegadme looked around them. "Oh, you're right. I suppose it is getting late. I had better go as well. the other knights are no doubt expecting me." She sighed, looking disappointed, but began joining Katarina in the stretches, hanging her hammer from the side of her belt.
Whoa, that must have been one strong belt!
Katarina gave Siegame a piercing look as she stretched her arms. "Siegadme…" she said slowly as a suspicion began to bubble in her mind. "…were you supposed to be doing something else instead of being here?"
(+0.000000000001 Insight)
A brief guilty look came over the foreign knight's face. Aha, she'd been right! "I'm not shirking my duty, if that is what you are implying," Siegadme said defensively. "N-not really. I'm just… not where I told the other's I'd be."
At the look, Katarina grinned and gave her a wink. "Don't worry, I won't tell anyone," she said, going back to her stretches. "Your secret's safe with me. And I wouldn't even know who to tell anyway, so it's doubly safe! Though you really shouldn't lie to your friends about where you are, you know. You'll hurt their feelings. Besides, what if they want to invite you to have snacks and they can't find you? You'll miss out!"
Siegadme stared at her for a moment, before she covered a hand and smothered a cough. "I-I see," the knight said, also going back to stretching. "I… suppose I can't argue with that reasoning, young squire. Yes, I should probably apologize when I get back to… everyone."
They finished their stretches, sweating, before Katarina started tying her practice greatsword onto her back to carry again. "Do you need any help getting back?" she offered as she secured the big length of wood. "The castle's sort of confusing right now, so you might get lost."
"I thank you for the offer, but I shall manage," Siegadme said. "The castle in New Catarina is also based on mythic architecture, so I am familiar enough with the conventions to navigate on my own."
"Well… if you're sure."
"Quite sure, young squire."
"Okay then…" Katarina shrugged, before giving her new friend a big smile. "Well, I better get going. I have a lot of climbing to do to get back to the room I share with Dame Maria."
"Ah, the climbing," Siegadme sighed, giving her a sympathetic smile. "Well, at least you're not doing it in armor."
Katarina considered how hard it would be to climb a tree while wearing armor, and shuddered. "Yeah," she agreed. "It was nice meeting you Siegadme! See you around."
"Perhaps," Siegadme said with a smile, turning away to leave herself as Katarina headed towards the trees under the window to her room.
Finding the right tree, Katarina began to climb. It was a little more award climbing up with a big, long, hard wooden sword pressing against her hot, sweaty back than it was to limb down, but there was no tree she couldn't climb!
Several meters up later, well above the height that Maria—with the air of someone telling a young child that one shouldn't do drugs, and shouldn't smoke, and shouldn't rouse the vengeful, murderous spirits of the middleschool by doing strange ceremonies one reads about on the internet after class hours—always warned her would instantly be fatal if she fell from it, Katarina knocked on the window of the room.
There was a moment's pause, and the door slid open, revealing Anne. "Lady Katarina," she said with perfect Anne calm. "Come back inside before Maria sees you and has a panic attack about how high off the ground you are. You know how she is about heights."
"Yes, Anne," Katarian sighed, moving from the tree to the ledge just under the window and climbing inside.
"I've drawn you a bath and prepared your dress, my lady," Anne said, beginning to help undo the fastenings of Katarina's armor as the squire stood her practice sword in its place on the weapons rack. "Maria sent word that you are to go ahead to dinner without her, as she is currently occupied."
"Eh? She is? With what?"
"She didn't say, my lady," Anne said. "Now hurry, I'm sure your friends will be along to walk you to the dining hall soon, and you would not want to meet them smelling as you do."
Ugh, yeah, she was kinda ripe, wasn't she? Hurriedly, Katarina go undressed and headed for the bathroom to get washed up.
The next day's lesson was on the land of New Catarina. It was one of the oldest of lands, and while they did not have a complete record of their history owing to the usual historical excitement such as rebellions, usurpations, too much partying, over-consumption of the infamous Siegbrau, and the sixth incarnation of the paledrake who, according to rumor, died of alcohol poisoning, the country is known to have existed in some form or another since the Usurpation of the Flame.
With its long history, New Catarina has had many different forms of government. They have had monarchies, empires, republics, theocracies, anarchies, mercantile ruling councils, democracies… New Catarina has been recorded as trying it at least once. Currently, New Catarina was a Democratic Republic Monarchy, where its people chose representatives for their regions, who then came together and chose a monarch once the previous one either passed away or was removed by a majority vote.
The nation's current ruler, Queen Siegmidala, had only been queen for a few years and had been elected with the strong support of both the nation's trading houses and its knight covenants, in response to the economic encroachment of trading houses from Etran trying to undercut the New Catarina alcohol industry. While Siegbrau was banned outside of most countries beyond their borders—not that it actually stopped people from drinking it—New Catarina's less potent Siegbeers, Sieglagers, Siegwines and Siegbrews (which were most definitely not watered down Siegbrau. That would be wrong. And very silly) were a major export for the country, especially to, ironically (or perhaps not) Etran.
While New Catarina had even less magical capability than most countries, the country was full of ancient bloodlines, and was a repository of ancient arts of war. Despite its reputation of lightheartedness and revelry—the common joke was that every day in New Catarina was a festival—it had a strong martial tradition that allowed it boast that it had never been conquered in war. Beaten? Sometimes. Cornered? Occasionally. But conquered and made to submit? Never. When the world of myth had been burned to empty ash by endless flame, Ancient Catarina had remained proud and strong (because it had been too drunk to realize the end of the world had come, some snide wits might say), and when the new world had been painted in the immortal blood of the Dark Soul, undying and eternal, it had been Catarina who had spread the arts of civilization once more to the shattered world.
Historically, New Catarina was usually politically neutral, in world affairs, and only responded when, as recently, it felt itself being threatened or attacked, but beyond a few reparations, they were usually quite willing to let bygones be bygones. The few times another nation had taken this as a sign of weakness and pressed its luck too far, however…
Well, the ancient land of Corona, remembered in story as the birthplace of Light Magic, existed no longer. Neither did the Dynasty of Blood, the Gran Chaos Empire, the Kingdom of Hermes, the Island of Nantucktar, the nation of Endland, and the realm of the Pale Monarch. And that was only counting the nations New Catarina had fought by itself.
"The culture of the nation of ancient Catarina," Professor Vaati began to close the day's lesson, "survived the time of myth for a reason. Their people are friendly, welcoming, generous and very easy going. But an old king of Sorcier, King Firr MacArtorias, once famously said that all he needed to conquer the world are ten thousand knights of Catarina. His own knights of the time did not protest this assertion."
Maria noted down the remark, finding it very much in line with the expected capabilities of who she might have to face that General Solcrista had informed of the night before. Not that the knights of Catarina were unbeatable—no one was truly unbeatable, not even the gods, hence why they were now the dead gods—but they favored heavy armor and hard hitting weapons, which would make fighting them akin to facing an ogre.
She'd had killed ogres before, but it hadn't exactly been easy or pleasant, and those had been dumb animals.
"My squire," Maria said as they were packing up for the end of the lecture. "You are free to spend this afternoon as you see fit."
"Eh?" her squire said, blinking in surprise as Lady Mary and Sophia both straightened up in attention. "Aren't we going to practice New Catarina etiquette?"
"All New Catarina etiquette involves the formalized consumption of alcohol," Maria said. "Which you will not be partaking in, because strong drink is forbidden to you during your training."
"Eh? It is?"
"Yes, it is."
"I don't remember you telling me that…"
"Naturally, you forget things very easily," Maria said. "But that's how it is."
"Can't I just practice with sweet juice?"
"Fine. You can practice saying, 'I'm sorry, I don't drink alcohol'. Lady Mary, Lady Sophia, will you assist her?"
"Of course, Lady Maria," Lady Mary said cheerfully, hooking one arm around Katarina's elbow.
"We'll be glad to," Sophia said cheerfully, taking the other elbow.
"I'll find the sweet juice and make sure there's nothing mixed in with it," Lord Keith said.
"Eh? But I want to practice more than that!"
"When you're older, my squire."
"We're all the same age!"