Sisterhood - Temptation Ch. 12

Katharina's surprise deepened, "They're not sisters, you mean? That matters?"

"Well, there was some discussion. Tedious wrangling. But yes, that matters, to traditionalists like Marianne and Lisa. And to... some of the others, for more worldly reasons. And so in any case things are going to be settled slightly differently," Vera paused. She stopped still and faced Katharina, holding her firmly by the shoulder, "Katharina?"

"Yes?"

"It has become somewhat more important now that we select our partners for the North Wing with some care. You and Ivy must enjoy yourselves, of course, and you should feel no compulsion, but it would mean a great deal to me if you were to try to bring with you particularly pliant and excitable girls," Vera's eyes darted briefly to the other end of the courtyard, "Like Caroline, for example. Ones who might consent to be offered and to stay here."

"As ka'ini?"

"Precisely." Then Vera's smile broke into a sudden stifled giggle, "And possibly it might also be good if like Caroline they have, uh, very fulsome behinds."

"Big... behinds?" asked Katharina, bemused.

"Yes," Vera chuckled once more, "My apologies for being so crude."

"No. It's okay," still somewhat puzzled, Katharina pondered how best to make sense of what Vera was telling her. She was unsure what exactly she wanted to clarify about it. "Well... alright. I guess we'll try our best."

"Excellent," Vera struck her hand affectionately against Katharina's chest, "You are both very good students and I have great faith in you. And now, I should get Caroline to the North Wing as soon as possible, and do what I can to prepare her for being offered," Vera spun on her heels and began to lead Katharina somewhat more briskly back towards the foot of the stone staircase where they had met. As they walked, she added hurriedly, "If that is indeed what she wants, of course."

"Right," Katharina skipped along to keep pace with Vera, and the two of them marched back towards where Ivy and Caroline were now locked in a slow, squirming kiss, Ivy's arms stroking their way up and down Caroline's back.

As Katharina approached, Caroline's eyes flicked open and looked at her. Caroline pushed Ivy gently back and let out a short sharp laugh.

"Ivy dear," Vera called out, "Thank you so much for keeping the lovely Caroline so lavishly entertained." Then she addressed Caroline, "Sorry to have to leave you for a moment. I had to discuss something with my student Katharina. Now, we must go."

Caroline put her hand on Ivy's cheek and pursed her lips to blow her a kiss, her full lips smacking together with a faint smooch. She bounded over and grabbed Vera's arm, "Exciting, exciting! Off we go. Will your students be joining us?"

"I am sure they will," Vera smiled at Katharina, "But a little later. We will go on ahead. I am very eager to get you to where you are going."

Somewhat to Katharina's surprise, Caroline turned and thrust her body at Vera, locking her into a tight, passionate kiss. "Mmm, mm, lucky me," Caroline murmured against Vera's lips.

Vera, too, seemed momentarily taken aback and stiffened before relaxing again and meeting Caroline's movements with her own.

Vera gasped as she pulled back from the kiss, "You are absolutely exquisite, you know that?"

"Come on," Caroline purred, "Let's go." She put her mouth at Vera's ear and whispered, but loud enough that Katharina could hear her clearly in the quiet of the garden, "I'm getting really, really wet."

"Great," Vera chuckled. She waved and led Caroline away towards the north archway, "See you later girls. And good luck."

Katharina watched them depart, then turned to watch Ivy watching them depart. Finally, once the other two girls had disappeared, Ivy spoke, "She actually was."

"What?" Katharina frowned.

Ivy whispered, "Getting really wet."

"She... You touched her?"

Ivy nodded.

Katharina felt a slow smile spread across her face as she recalled something from earlier, in the Great Hall. "Ivy," she began, "We're good friends, right? Friends who help each other out and don't judge one another?"

"Yeah," Ivy replied, frowning.

"Then I guess you won't judge me if I just..." Katharina reached out quickly and took both of Ivy's hands by the wrist and lifted them to her face, palms against her mouth and fingers just beneath her nose. She inhaled deeply. Though she hadn't doubted the truth of Ivy's claim, she was still surprised to smell the subtle but unmistakable warm, mealy scent of a girl's pussy, with a trace perhaps of sweat. The tips of Ivy's fingers were even moist against Katharina's top lip.

"Katja!" Ivy shrieked.

"Sorry," Katharina released Ivy's hands, giggling.

"Come on," Ivy scowled, but with a sly grin on her face, "Let's get back upstairs. See whether the coast is clear. We gotta get back to our hot milf dates."

The scent that Katharina had drawn into her lungs lingered subtly on her face, just at the threshold of sensation. She felt a slow shudder of excitement pulse down through her body. She shook herself, and followed Ivy, already skipping up the stone stairway.

"Yeah," Katharina called out as Ivy slowed near the top of the staircase, "About that..."

"Shh," Ivy held out her hand behind her, palm up. Reaching the top, she leaned carefully through the open doorway, clutching the door frame.

"We safe?" Katharina whispered, standing behind.

Ivy's head reappeared. She nodded, "Yeah. Nobody. She's gone. Quick."

Katharina took Ivy's outstretched hand and followed through the doorway. She looked up and down the corridor. It was empty again. They began walking briskly back in the direction of the guest suites and reached quickly the spot that Katharina recalled as having been more or less where Yvonne had collapsed. There was no apparent trace of their scuffle.

"Ivy," Katharina whispered, "About our hot milf dates."

"Yeah," said Ivy, looking around nervously.

Katharina probed cautiously, "You were thinking we could take them to the North Wing?"

Ivy looked at her bemused, "Well yeah. You do want to go there, right?"

"Yes, yes, of course," Katharina replied hurriedly.

"Well, let's ask them, then," Ivy stopped, "Here we are."

Katharina realized they had reached already the door to the same suite they had exited earlier. It felt as if some considerable time had elapsed since then, given all that had occurred in the meantime. Mutia and Jane would surely be long finished with their bath, probably ready and patiently waiting for their return. It worried her, too, that she and Ivy hadn't told the others they were slipping out. She had meant to be gone only for a few minutes, but their flight from Yvonne and the subsequent chance meeting with Vera and Caroline had intervened.

Katharina felt torn, undecided. Miss Vera had emphasized that they should not feel compelled to fulfill her request. And yet, almost as soon as Vera had spoken, Katharina had resolved to do exactly that, as best she could. It was unthinkable to do otherwise, to discard an unexpected fresh opportunity to prove herself and win her mentor's favor. Katharina had to give it her best attempt. And so their current partners were now regrettably a problem. Mutia had a daughter, and she had mentioned that Jane too had children. Katharina judged it very unlikely that the two women would want to be offered, and to remain with the Sisterhood. That would mean bringing their families to live in partial isolation at the Summer House or possibly at one of the Sisterhood's other residences. And even if they wanted to, the coven of Seven would probably not allow it. At a stretch, they might permit it for Mutia's daughter, perhaps, since she was of age, but not Jane's younger children. Katharina had certainly never heard of such a thing occurring.

What had begun to trouble her even more was a slowly burgeoning guilt. Now that she was confronted with the notion of abandoning Mutia in search of another date, Katharina realized just how much she liked the woman. She was good-looking, easy to talk to, intriguing, they had joked together, and above all she had been extremely kind, for no reason that Katharina could discern other than that she apparently found Katharina attractive, and liked her.

Katharina had hoped to have a little more time to sound out the solidity of Ivy's commitment to their two partners. She had hoped also, somewhat more desperately, that in discussing it they might somehow find some reasonable solution that had not yet occurred to her and that would not involve doing anything that might hurt Mutia. But now Ivy's hand was already on the doorknob and twisting it open.

Ivy slipped inside, holding the door open for Katharina to follow, then quietly pressed it shut after them. As she looked around, Katharina weighed up the possibility of taking Mutia to the North Wing, spending some reasonable amount of time with her there, then leaving her in the company of her two friends to return to the ball and search out a second date. It was the only solution that occurred to her. But she did not hold out much hope for its success. It would probably be a long time before she could return to the Great Hall. By then the night would be wearing on and many suitable girls would have found their dates already.

"Huh. Not in the bathroom," Ivy called out.

Katharina realized she was staring blankly up at the wooden beams of the ceiling. She looked down and saw Ivy already walking back into the room, through the door that led into the dressing chamber with adjoining bathroom.

"They're not in the bathroom?" Katharina echoed, still distracted.

"There's a load of nice smelling foam in the bath, and all over the floor," Ivy continued, "So they were definitely in there a while ago at least."

"Hmm. Okay," Katharina noted the calm silence in the chamber. Behind it, there was a distant hum, perhaps the noise of the ball underway, filtered through the echo of the long hallways and the intervening stone walls. It was disconcerting.

"Smells really nice," Ivy wandered over to the door of the bedroom to which she had taken Jane earlier, "Lavender or something."

Katharina walked slowly towards the door that led to the dining room. No doubt the others would be gathering there. She felt sure of it, but with that curious hollow kind of certainty that somehow manages to coexist with an equally solid expectation of disappointment. She opened the door, took one step in, and found herself unsurprised that the dining room, too, was empty. She stood on her tiptoes for a halfhearted glance over the marble counter. Then she chided herself for clutching at straws. She couldn't picture even Lia doing something as silly as hiding in order to surprise them, much less the three other women. Katharina noted with a wistful smile a faint dark smudge of wetness at the very edge of the couch.

Katharina began piecing together her thoughts in the light of this new turn. The best and indeed only reasonable explanation seemed to be that the others had gotten impatient or more probably been unsure when or whether she and Ivy would return. After all, she and Ivy had not announced that they were slipping out. As she reasoned, Katharina's feelings churned in her unconscious, then began to settle and to clarify. With Mutia gone, she felt all the more acutely the nagging guilt that had first arisen when she had found herself earnestly considering the possibility of abandoning Mutia for another date. If the others had returned to the Great Hall or gone in search of her and Ivy elsewhere, then the task of first finding them in addition to then bringing them to the North Wing would surely leave no time to return to the ball afterwards in search of a second date. And she knew now that she had to go and find Mutia. She felt sure that she would only hate herself if she did not. With a certain relief tinged with despondency, she resigned herself to abandoning Vera's request.

Katharina returned to the main chamber of the suite. There she found Ivy sitting on one of the low chaises in the center of the room. Ivy nodded at the one remaining door, wide open, "Yeah, definitely gone. Lia more or less cleaned up, at least."

Katharina considered the room again. The dining room had struck her as being particularly tidy. Although she and Mutia hadn't made all that much mess, the cushions of the couch had at least been set neatly back in place, and the marble counter top looked dry and shiny. Here in the main room, too, it seemed as if a few little details had been set back the way they had been before. The neat hanging arrangement of the curtains, perhaps. Katharina suspected that the room had already been cleaned up by a team of senior girls. As debutantes, she and Ivy had no choice but to attend the ball, but senior girls who did not wish to were given the option of being monitors instead, and were assigned various jobs behind the scenes, including tidying up after guest rooms had been used.

"Yeah, or someone else did," Katharina strode over to the main door and checked the brass slider above the doorknob. It was at the far left. Unoccupied. "You marked the room as occupied when we first came in earlier, right?" she asked.

"Yeah," Ivy nodded, "Definitely."

"It's been set back. I think some monitors have been by to clean up already."

"Right," Ivy sighed. She sat up straight, "Fuck. Well, we better get going and find those milves. They're our ticket to the North Wing."

"Yes," Katharina smiled. She felt energized, with a renewed cheerfulness, "I guess they'll be back in the Great Hall or somewhere."

"Probably," Ivy stretched and yawned, her tongue lapping cat-like at her teeth as her mouth opened, "Well, I don't know about you Katja but I want to take a quick shower before we do. I'm kind of a bit sweaty after that, er... fight."

Katharina could feel a slight prickly stickiness drying on the skin of her chest and her back, beneath her light blouse. "Yeah. Me too. We can be quick."

Ivy sprang up and skipped over to the door that led through to the bathroom. At the threshold, she turned back and looked at Katharina watching her, "Well? You're not gonna wait for me to finish first are you, Katja? The bath is huge. We can save a bit of time."

Katharina shook herself. She had been absent for a moment, lost in a fleeting thought now gone. She wasn't sure what she had been intending to do. "No, no. Of course not. I'm coming."