Sisterhood - Temptation Ch. 03

"So it's taking place here, at the temple, but before the Summer House was built." As a novice, Katharina had never seen the temple. It was located at the head of the North Wing, beyond the coven council chamber. As far as she knew, only the Seven were permitted to go there, along with the dmurrhisi girls who would be offered. "It's our rite of offering then?" Katharina continued.

"Also correct," Lena clicked her tongue, contemplating the painting again, "Which will take place at dawn tomorrow." Then she gave a curious twitch, like a shudder. Seeing Katharina looking at her, Lena chuckled again, "Sorry. I'm a bit excited about it already."

"But you're, you're not...?" Katharina began.

"No, I won't actually be taking part myself," Lena anticipated, "Sadly. But it's exciting nonetheless."

Katharina looked back at the painting once more. So far, Lena had avoided mentioning the most salient curiosity about the painting, the glowing symbol above the head of one of the robed figures, the focus of Katharina's little quest. She guessed that Lena's omission must be deliberate, the symbol was too prominent to simply miss, but she couldn't work out whether Lena was trying to conceal her own interest, or whether she was ignoring the symbol simply because she knew already what it signified, or something else.

Lena reached out one hand towards the central scene, left it hovering between her and the painting, and it seemed as if she were about to mention the symbol. Then she stroked her chin, "Curious, isn't it? How they all look exactly alike."

The first time she had seen the painting, in the library attic, Katharina had noted already the fact that all of the figures around the altar had long black hair. But now, in the clearer light of Vera's airy chambers, she saw what Lena had just remarked on. It wasn't just the hair, nor the fact that the tight-fitting robes clung to the same sort of figure, fulsome, but narrow at the waist. The faces were the same, too. At least for those four or five figures whose faces were visible, the artist seemed to have gone to some trouble to depict exactly the same features, a slightly prominent, aquiline nose, red lips, and even a small mole on one cheekbone.

Lena continued to study the painting. It seemed as if she was about to say something more, but then the door at the other side of the room swung open and Vera hurried in.

"Sorry, Katja," Vera said, striding over to where Katharina and Lena were standing.

"Oh it's no bother," Katharina waved her hand awkwardly. Vera's pants were almost the same as those she had been wearing, Katharina noted. They had the same tight cut, but instead of plain black the fabric was a speckled dark gray, and the leg was a little shorter.

"Lena has kept you entertained, I hope," Vera nodded at her colleague. Then she noticed the painting, and stopped a few paces away, "Oh. What's this?"

Lena turned. She spoke, it seemed, to Vera, but she looked Katharina in the eyes with an enigmatic smile, "I'll leave you two to study it. Must go prepare." Lena twisted on her heels, angling part way towards the door, but before she walked away she brought her face an inch closer to Katharina's and spoke a single word in an almost voiceless whisper, barely more than mouthing the sounds, "Runt."

Then Lena's head turned away as she strode out of the room. "See you later Vera," she called with a wave over her shoulder as she departed.

"Indeed. See you then," Vera replied absently, already turning to look at the painting.

Katharina stared at the painting without looking at it. She was trying to understand what she had just heard Lena say. Lena had spoken very quietly, but clearly. Katharina didn't think she could have mistaken the word. Her first thought was that Lena had meant in some way to insult or belittle her. And yet her expression as she had spoken had been completely devoid of hostility. Mischievous at worst, and a sort of benign mischief, almost affectionate. Too, of all the things to call someone, it seemed a very obtuse insult.

"Katja?"

"Oh," Katharina realized Vera had been talking, "Sorry?"

"I was just saying I could have sent one of the girls to fetch this," said Vera.

"Oh, it was no bother," Katharina said absently. Something nagged her, a half-formed suspicion that she couldn't quite bring into the focus of her attention.

"Well are you sure you're okay? You don't want to sit down a moment, drink a tea or something?" Vera asked, "I'm sure you're no weakling, a young girl like you, but it's a long way up from the library. Maybe you want to get your strength back."

Katharina only half-heard Vera's concerned inquiry, still pondering. Until one word seemed to pierce her thoughts. "Oh. What did you say?" she turned quickly to Vera.

"Whether you wanted a sit down or a tea. Or maybe you just want to go get ready for the ball," Vera looked at the clock, "It's nearly time."

Katharina felt she had been on the edge of a realization. But now it was slipping away. She persisted, hoping perhaps she could make Vera say again whatever had triggered it, "No, something else. You called me something."

"Oh. I wasn't calling you weak, if that's what you mean. I said you're not a weakling," Vera laughed, seemed a little bemused, "No need to take it to heart."

"No no," Katharina said hurriedly, turning to Vera to give her a look of reassurance, "I didn't mean... I meant just that word. It made me think of something."

"Oh?"

Katharina looked again at the painting, this time focusing purposefully on the symbol. She felt suddenly quite foolish. Then she felt relieved, that she had caught her oversight before she had embarrassed herself. Faced with the intriguing mystery of the painting, she had too quickly convinced herself that the first book she had consulted, the rather dull manual on animal husbandry, had been a red herring. And then she had discarded it before properly considering it in the right context.

"So we both noticed that maybe it has something to do with weakness," Katharina pointed at one particular part of the symbol, "And, well, there was a book explaining how sometimes one animal in a... a litter is a bit weaker. The one born last. So I think maybe it means 'last-born'."

"'Youngest', you mean?" Vera raised one eyebrow.

"Yes, that's simpler," Katharina smiled. The literal translation of what she had read in the first book was simply 'born last', but of course Vera's suggestion was more succinct.

"I see," Vera wore a wry smile as she considered the painting again. She looked excited, "And this here, this depicts the Seven Sisters, then, with the youngest one picked out."

"I suppose so," Katharina replied.

"Doesn't look especially younger than the others," Vera peering closer at the one figure that bore the symbol above her head, "But then I guess it isn't easy to show in a painting. They all kind of look the same."

"Yes, Lena noticed that too," Katharina said.

Vera looked up, and something seemed to occur to her, "Lena. Did she see this? Did she say anything else about it? Wait, did she seem to know what it meant?"

"Well, she guessed it was the Seven Sisters performing the rite of offering. But I suppose that's a fairly obvious guess," Katharina answered.

"Right, but this?" Vera pointed at the symbol.

Katharina smiled when she thought of what Lena had said, just before leaving. Lena hadn't been insulting her, or making some obscure joke, she had been telling her the answer. But that meant of course that Lena knew it herself. Katharina then wondered why Lena had whispered it, so that Vera couldn't hear. Clearly not in order to actually keep it a secret, since Lena would surely expect Katharina to share the solution with her mentor as soon as she found it. The only explanation that occurred to her was that Lena was simply being generous, giving Katharina a private hint that would allow her to claim the glory of solving the mystery for herself.

Katharina pulled herself from her musings, aware she had not answered Vera's question. She couldn't quite bring herself to reveal that Lena had all but told her the answer. "She, um, I think maybe she knows. She made a similar guess."

Vera looked briefly pained, and sank into thought. She hummed quietly to herself for a few moments, then her pensive frown opened up into a smile, "Okay. Well, great. This other book, with the explanation, where you worked out the meaning of the symbol, do you have it?"

Katharina winced, "No. I'm really sorry. I couldn't carry it with the painting at the same time. And I guess I was stupid, I thought the painting must be more important. But I remember where it is. Do you want me to go and get it?"

Katharina could see vividly in her imagination the book lying on the floor in the attic space of the library, in front of the vacant spot where the painting had hung. Then she recalled suddenly the other book she had left behind, the book she and Vera had read earlier, and that had been the initial focus of her little investigation. It, too, was now sitting unguarded on a desk in the library. Katharina felt the focus of her attention drawn out of the room in the direction the library lay. She willed the books to stay put until she could hurry down to retrieve them.

Vera seemed to consider the offer. She wavered back and forth, looking first at the door, then at the clock. "No," she said finally, "If it's just a matter of fetching it then one of the other girls can do that. I can send for it if you tell me where it is."

Katharina felt a little nervous at the thought of having to leave her unfinished task in someone else's hands. "It's where the painting was. I left it there, just on the floor. I can write out the reference for the painting if you like, and for the book, in case it's been put back."

Vera skipped quickly to one of the chests of drawers around the edges of the room and returned with a pencil and a tiny ring-bound notebook, "Here."

Katharina whispered each sequence of letters and numbers that she had memorized to herself as she wrote them down on the top page of the notebook. "Are you sure you don't want me to go? I really don't mind."

"No, you've done your bit. And done it brilliantly, I should add," Vera smiled at her, "You must get ready for the ball. It's your big night. Your time to have fun."

Katharina wondered whether to say something about the other book she had left behind. She had planned on retrieving it herself and discreetly covering up the fact that she had discarded it by mistake. But then Vera spoke again, "Go get ready as quickly as you can." She took the notepad from Katharina and then looked up and fixed her with a serious, straight face, "And may I ask your advice on something quickly? Something else entirely?"

"Of course," Katharina replied quickly.

"Your two roommates, they're also among my students, aren't they?" Vera asked.

"Ivy and Lia. Yes, that's right."

"Ivy and Lia," Vera repeated the names, casting her eyes upwards as if calling them up from memory, "Yes. Which of them would you say is most attractive?"

"Oh, um..." Katharina was caught off guard by the question, not quite sure what Vera even meant by it.

"I don't mean which you like best yourself," Vera added hurriedly, "That would be a very personal question. Just attractive generally. Which do you think is more beautiful, that other girls most want to... um, be with?"

"Dmurrhisi girls?" Katharina was stalling, while she considered how best to formulate her reply in a way that would not make her seem superficial or snide.

"Not necessarily," said Vera slowly.

Katharina realized it didn't really matter. Both dmurrhisi and Sisterhood girls positively drooled over Lia. Slim, statuesque, flawless. She was outrageously flirtatious, and pliant. Ivy was pretty, too, and sassy, but she tended to get into more fights than trysts.

"Lia," Katharina said, "I guess. She's got that model look. Girls seem to like her."

"Okay," Vera seemed to ponder the answer, "Lia. Of course. Yes, she is very lovely, isn't she? And tell me, is she an adventurous girl? She seems like she might be, if I remember."

By Katharina's standards, both of her roommates were adventurous, and self-confident. But perhaps Lia was especially so. Carefree, uninhibited. More so than Ivy. "Yes, I think so," she replied.

"Good. Okay," Vera nodded, "So, Katja, you absolutely must go and get ready. I have kept you much longer than I should have, and you have been excellent help. One last thing, when you get to your dorm, and when you see your friend Lia, tell her to come up here to see me once she's ready, before going down to the ball."

Katharina paused for a moment to take in what Vera was asking of her. "Alright," she said, trying not to let her curiosity show.

"Good. Thanks," Vera smiled brightly, clutching the notepad on which Katharina had just written, "Then enjoy yourself."

Vera did not seem to want to elaborate on what she had planned for Lia. Katharina burned to ask, but she knew that she would only appear overbearing or jealous if she did. She was being dismissed, and would have to content herself for now with the knowledge that she had succeeded with Vera's little research task. She would perhaps get to meet Vera later or another day and they would talk about it again.

"Thank you," Katharina gave an awkward nod of her head, taking her leave. She turned and hurried to the door.

As she slipped out and pulled the door to behind her, she thought of the time. She should have checked the clock in Vera's chambers before leaving. She had lost track since returning from the library, but she had a vague notion that the ball might already be underway. The welcome address was her next target, she didn't want to miss that.