Sisterhood - Temptation Ch. 14

Katharina watched Ivy flounce out with an exuberant bounce in her step. She hurried after, pulling on her top over her wet hair as she went. Katharina slid the thin fabric of the blouse over her eyes then opened them to see the main chamber, still tidy, clean, and empty.

Ivy held out her hand as she crossed the chamber. Katharina trotted quickly after, and got hold of Ivy as she swung the door open and stepped out into the hallway. Outside, Ivy paused to look up and down. Katharina followed her gaze in each direction. Right, a long way off at the far end of the hallway and already descending the steps, were the figures of two girls. Though Katharina didn't recognize either of them, she was fairly sure neither was Yvonne. One was too tall, and very slender. The other had bright blonde hair.

The two figures disappeared and Ivy and Katharina began walking back down the corridor hand in hand. Katharina felt the still heat of the summer night as the last traces of dampness faded from her skin. Her wet hair sat about her shoulders, cooling her skin.

"So we go and find Jane, and Mutia?" said Katharina after they had walked some distance.

"Yeah," Ivy nodded, keeping her gaze straight ahead, "Would be good to find them again. They're our best bet, if they're still around."

"And if they're not mad that we abandoned them," Katharina added.

"I don't think so," Ivy frowned, "I don't know. I guess they just took off because they weren't sure where we had gone. Though..." she paused, smiling, "That would be kind of hot if they were mad."

Katharina thought of Mutia. It was difficult to imagine the woman being angry. She had a sort of soft, kindly expression, even at rest. At least as far as Katharina could recall, she hadn't seen Mutia even mildly irritated or upset during their time together. She felt again a lingering guilt at how she had been prepared to abandon Mutia in favor of Vera's request that she bring a girl who might be better suited as an offering.

"Here?" Katharina paused as they passed the side door to the courtyard gardens.

Ivy wavered, then nodded ahead, "If we can find them anywhere, it'll be back in the Great Hall. This way is quicker."

Katharina followed the tug on her hand and hurried along the hallway. After a few strides, Ivy slowed again, and lowered her voice, "I'm sorry I delayed us. Back there."

Katharina pulled herself closer to Ivy to match her whisper. "It was worth it," she blurted. Then a moment after hearing herself speak, she laughed out loud, struck by how saccharine and formulaic she sounded.

Ivy coughed, and looked straight ahead, "Yeah. I enjoyed it. Thanks. But Katja, no awkwardness, okay?" Ivy glanced over both shoulders before continuing, "We had sex. For fun. Now we've got to get stuck in to the Summer Ball again. We can still make it to the North Wing. If we can't find them, then we just have to start again. Maybe that minislut girl will let you take her after all."

"Sure," Katharina nodded, "But let's not give up on our milfs yet."

Ivy held up one finger and opened her eyes wide in admonition.

"Sorry. Milves," Katharina chuckled. She wondered then about something, "I mean, you did like Jane, right?"

"Oh yeah," Ivy purred enthusiastically, "She is really quite something. If she's still up for it then I'm definitely taking her straight there, no dawdling. Even if it means I have to take a spanking for being such a bad little girl."

"Oh wow I really hope we get a spanking," Katharina laughed. She felt her mood beginning to lighten after joking and gossiping with Ivy again.

They reached the lip of the wide staircase that led straight down to the spacious hallway at the main entrance to the Great Hall. As they made their way down the steps Katharina sensed some of the same excitement that she had when they had first descended from their dorm at the outset of the ball.

Below at the foot of the staircase was a sparse crowd of girls, making their way slowly in or out of the Hall, loitering waiting for friends, or just standing at rest against the stone walls, some fanning themselves to cool off from the dance. Four girls arm in arm were taking their first step up the staircase. They were dressed in long, shimmering gowns that they had to hitch up awkwardly to clear their heeled feet. Katharina recognized one of them as a senior girl whose name she had perhaps not learned, or had forgotten. As they approached, Katharina gave them a half-smile of recognition and steered Ivy to one side to clear their path. She and Ivy alighted, and with a nod of her head, Ivy led off towards the main door.

"We'll check the bar first," Ivy called out, her voice raised against the looming babble of the Hall, "Then just take a dance I guess and see if we spot them."

Katharina nodded. They squeezed between two knots of girls, one exiting, one entering, and passed into the grand space of the Great Hall. Katharina felt the din, the sound of movement and of excitement, as soon as they crossed the threshold. She couldn't tell whether it was louder than she remembered from their first entrance, or whether she had simply gotten accustomed to the relative silence of the upper floor. It was certainly more crowded than before. The movement of bodies was less structured too. Whereas before most had been standing for the welcome address, and had then flowed either towards or away from the dancing surface at the center of the Hall, now everyone's plans and objectives had blended and diverged, so that pairs and groups of girls were jostling in almost every direction.

Ivy looked back at Katharina, then pulled her firmly into a slow stream of bodies that was flowing leftwards, towards the bar alcove. They shuffled along, slowly enough for it to be slightly frustrating. Katharina kept her eyes down, taking care not to step on feet or trailing dresses. When they reached the bar space, she was relieved to find the crowd open out. Some girls were heading for the side exit beside the bar, others for the toilets. Katharina stood beside Ivy in the bar space. Though the bar itself was almost obscured by a wall of waiting bodies, the seating area was quieter. There was even an empty table.

Ivy looked up and down the long counter, "Shall we split up first and take a look around? You check this end, I'll head along the bar."

"Okay," Katharina let go of Ivy's hand, "See you back here in a moment."

Ivy nodded and strode off along the edge of the crowd at the counter, stopping now and then to peer up over it on the tips of her toes. Katharina watched her go, then turned to walk further into the alcove. She picked a meandering path through the middle of the space, as if she might be heading for the bar counter, or the toilets. As she passed between the tables, she discreetly scanned the faces of the girls seated around them. She was a little self-conscious, walking on her own, without Ivy beside her. She felt sure it was very obvious that she was looking for someone, which embarrassed her, though she felt it shouldn't.

"Are you looking for a seat? Or something else?"

Katharina spun round to see a tall, slim girl bearing a tray full of empty or half-empty glasses. The girl was holding the tray in the air just above her head, and Katharina's eyes were drawn immediately to the smooth pale skin of the girl's exposed armpit. She was wearing tight jeans that sat low on her broad hips. At the first glance, Katharina thought that the girl was topless and had nothing else on, but then she saw the tiny light green bikini top strapped over the girl's petite bust, inconspicuous against her pale skin.

"Um..." Katharina stalled, then became aware that she was staring.

The girl lowered the tray of glasses to hold it by her waist, and blew a puff of air from between her lips to clear her frizzy brown hair from her eyes. Her voice was high-pitched and cheerful, "There's a table there. I could bring you something."

Katharina felt somewhat cornered. She sought for a polite way to dismiss the girl's suggestion without having to confess that she was looking for someone. When she could think of nothing, she pulled an arbitrary thought from her memory, "Um, Louise said we have to order at the bar."

"She's strict. I'm not," the girl replied quickly, "Take a seat. What would you like?"

"Oh. Thanks. Well that's very kind of you. Um, a tonic water then," Katharina took a first hesitant step towards the vacant table the girl had indicated.

The girl nodded, and hoisted the tray back up above her head before snaking away between the tables to the end of the bar. Katharina watched the dangling strap of the girl's bikini sway across her bare back as she walked off. Then she walked round the table and took a seat on one of the stools at the other side, so she could look out towards the main space of the Hall.

Katharina sat and collected her thoughts. She had only just begun to ponder whether she would look ridiculous getting up again immediately to continue looking around, when she saw Ivy returning. Ivy marched out across the front of the bar alcove, looking in both directions. Then she saw Katharina, and Katharina waved her over.

"They're not here either, huh?" Ivy asked as she approached. She swung herself onto a stool across the table from Katharina.

"I don't see them," Katharina replied. She felt as if Ivy had not been gone for very long. "You were quick. You didn't find them?"

"Nah, they're not down there," Ivy shook her head, "Pretty sure. I'd have been able to hear Lia's shouty-bitch megaphone voice if they were."

Katharina had always considered Ivy's own voice to be a lot shoutier than Lia's. But she kept the thought to herself. She liked Ivy's voice. It was distinctive, sultry.

Ivy cocked her head, "Hm. Can't hear her bitch screeching around here either. You check the booths?"

Katharina looked over at the far side of the space, where several taller tables and benches were arranged perpendicular to the wall, and separated from each other by wooden panels. She had glanced over the first few booths as she had made her way into the alcove. They were all occupied, but none of the occupants were any of the three older women. It occurred to Katharina then that Jane would probably even have struggled to fit herself into the narrow space between the bench and the table.

"I checked a few," said Katharina, "I don't think they're in there."

The last two of the booths, furthest into the alcove, were obscured from view, too far away for Katharina to be able to peer in round the wooden divider. Ivy gestured to them with a nod of her head, "At the end there? Wait, is that them? That kind of looks like a gangly Lia leg hanging out."

Katharina looked to where Ivy had gestured. She saw the edge of one girl's figure, seated at the near end of the bench in the penultimate booth. Only a sliver of the girl's hip and shoulder was showing, but one bare leg was draped over the other and hanging out of the booth, a velvety black high-heeled shoe dangling from her toes.

"Don't think that's her," Katharina squinted, "Lia was wearing flat shoes." The leg, too, did not look quite right. The shape matched, long and thin, but the skin was slightly tanned, not as pale as Lia's.

"Quite a nice leg though, huh?" Ivy grinned at her, "Let's go check. Just make sure they're not in there."

Katharina watched Ivy already getting up, "What? Just go over and look in?"

"We'll be discreet," Ivy reassured her. She held out her hand.

Katharina sighed and let Ivy pull her up off her stool. Ivy marched them over to the booth, past the intervening tables. When they approached, Ivy slowed and walked past the open entrance as if heading somewhere else. But then she paused and craned her neck to look inside, in a manner that did not strike Katharina as particularly discreet.

"Hello?" the girl who spoke was the one whose leg had been in view. Katharina recognized her immediately, and felt a cool shot of nervousness soak through her limbs.

Anna was one of the Seven Sisters, and perhaps the one that Katharina found most intimidating. She recalled her earlier brief encounter with another of the Seven, Julie, while in the library. The particular glamour that Katharina had sensed then from Julie was present here too, in the poise of Anna's long legs and her slim figure, and in her subtle, unflinching smile. But whereas Julie's beauty was dazzling, and her aura more aggressively seductive, her energetic demeanor and bright eyes made her seem if not approachable then at least benign. Anna's beauty was of a different sort. Unsettling. She had full, slightly chapped lips, fierce blue-green eyes, and a thick carpet of freckles across her cheekbones and the bridge of her nose. Examining Anna's expression now, Katharina struggled to articulate what was so unsettling about it. She seemed always to be cheerful, and Katharina had seen her often enough talking familiarly with more junior girls. Maybe it was just that Katharina found it difficult to think her way through Anna's expression into the mind behind it. Her elegance and her self-confidence seemed inhuman, never even faltered. Surely nobody could be that supremely at ease with themselves and with their own beauty, without sometimes wavering and having to feign.

Anna uncrossed her legs and swished her dress into place over them. It was a deep black color, long and ruffled. The body and hem were encircled by rings of tiny frills. It was fitted tightly to her slim figure, and stopped just above her almost flat chest, held in place over her shoulders by thin straps.

Anna leaned forward and took a slow suck on the straw that protruded from her drink. She kept her eyes on Ivy and Katharina until she had finished, then continued, "You girls look a bit lost."

Ivy looked at Katharina, then after hesitating she replied, "We were, um, looking for some milves."

"Milfs," Katharina added, flinching.

"Particular ones?" Anna answered immediately.

"Um," Ivy giggled nervously, "Yeah, specific ones. But I guess if there are others about..."

"I'm not sure we can help you," Anna smiled, "I suppose me and my sister are destined to be milfs one day, but we're not quite there yet."

Katharina was aware that the rest of the booth was occupied, but hadn't yet taken her eyes off Anna to examine the other occupants. Now she turned to see Anna's younger sister Miriam sitting opposite her. Katharina knew Miriam too, from meetings of the coven and other events. But unlike Anna, Miriam almost never spoke at meetings.

The resemblance between the two sisters was not striking, but clear enough. Miriam was a little smaller, and meeker. She sat hunched, her body mostly concealed in a long black skirt and a deep red top with long sleeves, and a tasseled shawl over her shoulders. Her full lips were similar to Anna's, and she too had the bridge of freckles across the center of her face, and the thick brown hair, though cut shorter above her shoulders. She looked sweet, and attractive enough in her own way, but seemed very drab beside her sister. The soft skin of her upper lip was downy with fine pale hairs, her eyes were small and squinting, and her hesitant smile bared a slightly awkward pair of prominent front teeth.

Katharina smiled at Miriam and opened her mouth for a mumbled greeting, but before she could speak there came a familiar shrill cry from further into the booth, beside Anna, "Katja!"

Mari leaned out over Anna's lap, then clambered over, clutching Anna's shoulders to steady herself as she swung her legs out and hopped down off the bench. She lunged forward and embraced Katharina about the waist, pressing her cheek to Katharina's stomach.

Anna rolled her eyes, "I see you have met my despicable little goblin. I warn you not to give in to her demands. They will only escalate."

Mari relinquished her grip but held on to Katharina's hips, looking up at her dreamily. "I demand kisses," Mari giggled, "We can escalate from there."

"Hi," Katharina laughed. She felt a little unsettled, with the two senior girls watching as Mari nuzzled at her stomach with her face. She recalled that Anna was Mari's mistress. Mari had told her so, when they had met in Vera's chambers before the ball.

There was an echo of laughter from within the booth, another voice. Katharina saw a second dmurrhisi girl sitting beside Miriam. She recognized the girl also as one of the ka'ini, presumably Miriam's.

"Aria," Miriam chuckled nervously when she met Katharina's gaze.

"Hi," Aria laughed, "I'm the other goblin then I guess. The chubby one."

"A chublin," Anna smiled.

"A chublin! How rude!" Aria put her hand to her mouth and her body shook with a loud fit of giggling. She had a very pleasing, high-pitched voice and a hearty laugh. She smiled broadly, her teeth a stark white against her dark skin and wavy black hair. She was a short girl. Not as short as Mari, but her stature was in part accentuated by her very stout figure. Seated, her broad stomach bulged out in a soft mass over the tops of her thick thighs, held firm in a short, tight dress of a brilliant white color.

"Was somebody wanting a tonic water?" yet another familiar voice spoke from right behind Katharina.

Once again Katharina spun round to see the bar girl that she had spoken to moments earlier. "Oh. Thanks. Sorry, I, um, just moved over here to see some friends."

"No problem," the girl chirped. She lowered her tray and lifted a lone glass off it, gripping the rim of the glass with the tips of her delicate fingers.

"Thank you," Katharina took it with an apologetic smile. She felt the cool of the liquid against the palm of her hand, and heard faintly the fizzing of bubbles as she lifted the drink to her lips for a first sip.

"Anything for the four of you?" the girl leaned over towards the table.

Anna looked at the other three girls sitting with her, then shook her head, "No thank you."

As the bar girl retreated, Anna looked up and held the girl's eyes for a moment. Katharina thought she saw a little frisson of nervousness shake the girl's shoulders. She glanced at the girl's expression but she couldn't decipher it. Desire, perhaps, but apprehension too. Then she was gone.

"Kathrin," said Anna with a detached smile. She took another long drag on her straw, "One of Marianne's girls. She doesn't treat them properly."

"Anna," Miriam chided softly, glancing at Ivy and Katharina, "Don't say that."

Anna shrugged, but remained silent. Then after a moment's pause she drew up and stretched her arms above her head, rolling her shoulders, "Well. Why don't we help you two girls find some milfs then, if that's what you want."

"Oh you don't-" Ivy began.

"Katja," Anna cut her off, addressing Katharina. Then she turned slowly to Ivy, "And you are...?"

"Ivy," Ivy mumbled.

"Ivy," Anna smiled, "How would you like to have Mari?"

"Have her?" Ivy replied.

"Have her for the next dance," Anna explained, "She will help you find what you want. She's a good ice-breaker. Tell her which girls, or milfs, you want to talk to, and she will bully them into doing it."

Mari stepped back from Katharina and turned to face Anna, "I will?"

"If I hear that she hasn't..." Anna let her sentence trail off, not looking at Mari.

"Um, well, if she doesn't mind," Ivy said.

"Come," Mari held out her hand to Ivy, then led her away, skipping. As they departed, Mari cast a glance over her shoulder at Katharina, sticking out her lower lip in a caricature of mournfulness. Ivy looked back, too, bemused.

Katharina smiled at her and shrugged.

"I will take Aria for a dance and the two of us will search together," Anna announced, swinging her legs down off the edge of the bench. She looked at Katharina, and held out her hand behind her, waiting, "She looks empty-headed, but actually she has a very keen eye."