Sisterhood - Temptation Ch. 16

Katharina pulled aside the curtain and stepped out into the relative brightness of the Hall. She looked around briefly. Not wanting to appear furtive or hesitant, she strode out into the space under the dome of the apse.

"Katja!" Katharina was startled by a loud voice. She saw the arms thrown open first, a few meters away, and then recognized Ivy.

"Hi," Katharina breathed a sigh of relief, "Ivy. Great. I was wondering where I would find you."

Ivy's cheeks were pink with warmth. Her open arms fell to her sides as Kattharina approached. A brief awkwardness crossed her face, then she clapped her arm about Katharina's shoulder, "Katja. Yeah, minigirl told me where you would be."

"Where I would be?"

"Where that other girl would take you," Ivy nodded towards the curtained archway at the edge of the dome.

"Right. Aria," Katharina looked too. She wondered about Aria, now making her way to the North Wing, and she looked down at the stone floor.

"So?" Ivy smiled, "You have fun?"

"Yeah," Katharina replied absently, "Yeah. She's really nice. You?"

"Just dancing. Fuck. I already knew I hate dancing, but now..." Ivy rolled her eyes, "Anyway, come. Let's go mingle. I have good news. Sort of."

"Oh," Katharina looked up. Ivy's arm still about her shoulder, she let herself be led back towards the main crowd, where girls were gathering at the edge of the dance.

She and Ivy skirted the thickest part of the crowd and made their way around it towards the further end of the hall. The chatter around them grew louder and they walked for some time in silence, briskly, weaving past occasional clumps of girls in their path, until they were near the main entrance.

When they passed the final pillar Katharina stopped and turned finally to Ivy, "So?"

Ivy leaned closer to speak. She sighed, "Yeah, minicunt agreed to take you to the North Wing."

"To take me?" Katharina replied, frowning, "I mean, me specifically?"

"Yeah. She specifically wants to take you. I can't imagine why," Ivy drawled sarcastically.

"Okay," Katharina replied. She wondered how she felt about the idea. "And you?"

"Well I've still got to find a date if I want to come with you, haven't I?" Ivy waved her hand at the crowd in front of them. "No sign of Jane, or your one. But you should just go, if you want to. Don't wait for me."

"No way," Katharina protested. She held Ivy's hand where it rested over her shoulder, and pulled her closer, "Of course I'm waiting for you."

Ivy gently shrugged off Katharina's embrace. She stood in front of Katharina, facing her, "You don't have to. But anyway, this is kind of theoretical right now. I mean, minibitch said that, that she wanted to take you, but then she just completely fucked off and I don't know where she is."

"She's pretty good at finding people when she wants to," Katharina smiled to herself.

She wondered again. Earlier, after they had set out from the guest suites to look for Jane and Mutia, Katharina had firmly written off her resolution to fulfill Vera's request that they bring new girls to the North Wing. Now, with the two older women seemingly gone, her priorities were open to review. Though the notion of taking Mari as her date was exciting as a matter of simple lust, when Katharina tested it out in her imagination it felt wrong. Whether in Vera's service or otherwise, she realized that she wanted very much to find a new girl. It was the purpose of the Summer Ball, after all. Too, there was Ivy to think of. It seemed unlikely that Mari would have the patience to wait while Ivy found a date, and if Katharina took off with Mari now then she would have to leave Ivy behind.

Katharina took Ivy's hand. She looked out into the crowd. She felt energized, suddenly. It was curious, the way that sometimes, if only from time to time, confidence came upon her and she felt happy with herself, even pleased to be who she was. Maybe it was the memory of her encounter with Aria, who had seemed to so enjoy herself at Katharina's hands. Maybe it was just the visceral satisfaction that came with her own recent orgasm. Maybe it was the gathering rush of activity in the hall, the feeling that something big was underway and that she was part of it. Or maybe it was none of that and it was just arbitrary.

"No," Katharina repeated quietly, "I'm sticking with you. And at least one of us is going to take a new girl. Either we both find one, or you do and then I persuade Mari to still come with us."

"Well, uh..." Ivy shrugged.

Katharina's excitement still simmered. She continued, "You're hot, Ivy. Dmurrhisi girls want you. We're going to find some, and they will all want you."

Ivy snorted, "Katja, did you just get laid or something?"

Katharina scowled, then smiled. She held Ivy's hand tighter and led her closer to the main throng of the dance, "Come on, let's take a look around."

They began both swaying slightly, as if dancing, though barely moving. They hovered at the edge of the action and Katharina saw the whirling movement of dancing couples over the heads of the girls standing in front. As she surveyed the dance, another movement, right at the far edge of her vision, caught her eye, and she looked up.

Far above them, at the base of the high dome of the hall, was the gallery. A narrow walkway made of wooden slats and fenced in by a rail, it skirted three sides of the hall, the two longer edges and the curve of the apse. Katharina had stood on the gallery a few times before, and looked down. But whenever she was in the Great Hall she forgot that it was there, and never thought to look up. At this distance it was inconspicuous. The planks of the flooring formed a regular pattern of thin lines that was almost lost among the crisscross of the stonework and the other ridges and flourishes that adorned the walls and the roof.

Katharina had noticed it now only because there was someone standing there. There was a girl standing there, and she happened, just then, to be looking right at Katharina. Katharina wondered whether it could have been that fact that had drawn her attention, the fact that the girl's gaze was fixed on her. But she couldn't have noticed it at such a distance. Looking now, she wondered whether it was instead the girl's sheer beauty. Her very particular loveliness hit Katharina with a curious flush of embarrassment.

Katharina stared for a second longer, then looked down at her feet. The faint afterimage of the girl's figure remained imprinted on her eyes. Not wanting to look up again, she examined it in her memory, tried to fix it there before she forgot. The girl was wearing something tight, a dress that clung to her figure, held it firm. She was curvy, with a broad back and broader hips, a big bust, and the bare, smooth skin of thick thighs visible beneath the hem. Lush, thick hair, brown, but mousy, lighter than Katharina's own. And a quiet, brooding pout on her lips. She reminded Katharina a little of Caroline, the girl that Vera had been taking to North Wing. Something about the face was vaguely similar, though this girl had a more angular look to her, and a haughty, mysterious expression where Caroline's had been bright, openly flirtatious. Though the girl that Katharina had just seen was slimmer than Caroline, and her figure firmer, she had the same shape. Physically at least, she seemed like just the sort of girl that Vera had wanted.

"What are you staring at? Someone up there?" Ivy's voice called Katharina back from her thoughts.

"Just some girls looking down," Katharina mumbled.

Ivy shifted, tugging on Katharina's hand to turn and switch their places as they both swayed, still half-heartedly making the motions of a dance. "Woah," Ivy sighed under her breath as she looked up. Then she scowled, "Fuck."

"What?" Katharina refrained from looking, "Don't stare. She was looking at us just now."

Ivy's eyes remained fixed pointing upward for several seconds, then finally she looked back at Katharina, blinking, "Which?"

"Which?"

"Which of them was looking at us?"

Katharina thought back and it occurred to her only then that the girl who had been looking down at her had not been alone. There had been two or maybe more figures standing beside her or just behind, but Katharina hadn't looked long enough to examine them. "One of them, I don't know," she replied, "She was... really attractive."

"Not psycho bitch, then?" Ivy frowned, "Or don't tell me you've got the hots for her now."

"What?" Katharina was confused, "Psycho bitch?"

"Has your initial rivalry already blossomed into a burning desire for violent hatred sex?" Ivy cocked one eyebrow, "I bet she secretly loved it when you beat her up earlier. She probably came right there and then."

"What on Earth are you talking about?" Katharina turned to look up again at the gallery.

Ivy yanked on Katharina's arm and shoved her back around by the shoulder, "You said don't look. She was looking at me too right now. Yvonne. Psycho bitch Yvonne. Whose ass you just kicked and who is probably going to kill us later. Or not her ass, but you get me."

"Really? Yvonne?" Katharina wondered that she hadn't noticed Yvonne standing with the other girl.

"Yeah," Ivy looked at her blankly, "What? Which one were you looking at? Not her dumb roommate. Or you mean the other girl they were with was looking at us?"

"Right. The other girl," Katharina nodded.

"Fuck. Tits. She looked hot," Ivy's scowl deepened, "Damn it. How does mega bitch balls stupid fucking dumb cow dick-munching slut Yvonne get all the hot girls? It isn't fucking fair."

"Ivy," Katharina giggled, "Shh."

"What?" Ivy snorted.

Katharina lowered her voice, "You said 'bitch balls'."

"Okay," Ivy waved her hand, "It's a figure of speech."

"You said 'dick-munching' too," Katharina laughed.

"Whatever," Ivy smirked, "That one doesn't matter. She could be munching guys' dicks. Hah! That'd be just like her. Anyway, nobody's listening."

"Alright. So, focus," Katharina looked up again, avoiding the gallery and casting her eyes across the crowd, "We're going to find a new girl for you. Shall we dance again?"

"Right," Ivy turned and hoisted herself up onto her tiptoes, following where Katharina was looking. Then after a moment her fingers closed tight around Katharina's hand and Katharina sensed Ivy's body stiffening, as if in alert, "New girls. Right. Let's dance, quick."

"Ivy?" Katharina felt herself dragged brusquely into the crowd. Ivy shouldered her way ahead between two of the girls arrayed watching the dance, and Katharina followed, squeezing herself through and mumbling an abortive apology.

They fell through into the sudden whirl and flow of the dance. Rather than turning to take up a hold, Ivy pressed on, pulling Katharina behind her. The dance looked a little sparser than it had earlier. There was space in between the movements of neighboring couples, and Ivy weaved quickly and deftly through towards the middle. Her steps quickened to an urgent trot as they made the last few paces before Katharina spied what she guessed was Ivy's target.

In front of them, now turning to look at them, as were a few of the dancers nearby, was a lone girl. She was slim, thin even. Her slender arms and legs showed bare in a short and flimsy white cotton dress with shoulder straps that hung as far as the tops of her small, plump breasts. Across the bright white of the dress were several bold and haphazard splashes of pastel colors, pink, green, sky blue. But more striking still than the girl's dress or her slender figure was her face. She had very bright green eyes and a sweet smile framed in full, moist-looking lips. At her cheeks beneath her tan skin was a slight rosy flush, and a few strands of her red-tinted brown hair clung to her temples held there by a fine damp sweat.

Ivy and the girl in the bright dress stood looking at one another for a moment. Ivy made as if to speak a greeting, then frowned in concentration, and held silent. "Josephine!" she blurted finally.

"Ivy," the girl laughed. Her voice was husky, richer than Katharina had expected for such a petite girl.

The girl, Josephine, threw her arms open and hunched her shoulders excitedly. Ivy stepped up to her and they embraced.

"I'm sorry," Ivy mumbled, planting a kiss on Josephine's mouth.

As she watched, wondering who Josephine might be, Katharina felt a sudden rough shove against her back. She whirled round and saw a pair of elegantly dressed taller girls flounce past, having just shouldered her out of their way. One of them glanced back and scowled at her.

"Um... " Katharina called out as she staggered to the side, seeking out a safe path back to the edge of the dance, "I'll be just over here at the bar, okay?"

Ivy let go of Josephine and reached to grab Katharina's wrist, "Wait."

"Should we go? Or you wanted to dance?" Josephine smiled, but still looked somewhat surprised.

"This is Katja," Ivy said. She took Josephine's hand, "Come with us. Let's get out of the way. Fuck dancing."

Josephine's smile brightened, "Okay."

Katharina led the way. She looked back to make sure the other two were following, then darted ahead between two slower-moving couples and made for the shifting wall of bodies that stood watching at the edges. She smiled to herself. Ivy wanted to stay with her, too, rather than dance on her own with the new girl. The very lovely new girl, Josephine.

Katharina slunk between two standing figures, smiling politely as she passed. Then, as soon as she stepped into the space in front of the bar alcove, she felt a touch at her side and found herself being accosted once more.

Two arms wrapped themselves deftly around her waist and hugged her tight, followed by two legs that leaped up and flung themselves around her at the knee.

"Katjaaa!" a familiar shrill voice exclaimed, "Found you!"

Katharina breathed an exasperated laugh and looked down, "Mari. Hi."

"Oh. Mari," Ivy echoed. She pulled Josephine along behind her, then put her arm about the other girl's shoulder.

Mari slid down Katharina's leg, nuzzling her face affectionately against the tight fabric of Katharina's jeans as she went. When Mari's thighs reached the floor, Katharina felt a familiar warm, damp caress against the bare bridge of her foot where her skin was exposed by the low cut of her shoe. Mari squatted, and lingered there for just a little longer than Katharina found comfortable, then leaned back and sprang to her feet. "Hi," she chirped.

Ivy scowled, "Are you done scent-marking Katja's leg?"

Mari giggled, and nodded. She took hold of Katharina's pants at the thigh and clutched her close. Then she looked up and noticed Josephine, "And who's this bitch?"

"Mari!" Katharina chided.

"This is Josephine," Ivy answered, hugging Josephine to her side. She nodded at Mari, "And this small but concentrated dose of unpleasantness is Mari."

"Though she has other names too," Katharina grinned. She found it difficult to be sure, but it seemed from Mari's energetic demeanor as if her vaguely aggressive remark was, like much of her behavior, merely cuteness, a camped-up affectation.

Josephine's slightly bemused smile remained, but she seemed unperturbed. "Mari. Hi," she replied. Then she turned to Ivy, "There are so many cute girls here tonight."

Ivy looked back at her with a sly smile on her face. "Ahem," she coughed theatrically.

After a pause, Josephine flung her arms around Ivy's neck and looked her in the eye, "But of course, none of them as cute as you."

"Better," Ivy smirked.

Mari let go of Katharina's trouser leg and took her hand, swinging it excitedly, "So, what are you three up to?"

"Well..." Katharina began. She paused, and as she had so often done in moments of indecision, she looked at Ivy.

She tried to read Ivy's expression. Her friend looked curiously very content with herself. Katharina was surprised at the easy intimacy that had sprung up almost immediately between Ivy and Josephine. She assumed that the two of them must have met at some point earlier on, perhaps during the inaugural dance, or while she had been down in the crypt with Aria. To her chagrin, Katharina felt the faintest pang of jealousy at the thought. It was not so much the thought of Ivy's finding another girl that troubled her, rather it was the thought that Ivy had done it on her own, without Katharina having been a part of it.

"Ivy was going to take Josephine for a tour of the house," Katharina continued, a slight hint of a question in her intonation. She searched Ivy's expression for affirmation, then saw her smile and nod.

"Yes, I'd be delighted," said Mari.

Katharina looked down at her, "What?"

"I said that's very kind of you to offer to take me on a tour of the house," Mari smiled, batting her eyelids.

"You live here," Ivy snorted.

"I haven't seen all of the bedrooms," Mari answered quickly, sticking out her tongue.

"Okay, if you like," said Katharina. Then something occurred to her, "If we're not keeping you from your door duty."

Mari snorted, shaking her head, "No no no. It's only just started. I'm not properly late yet. It's much more important for me to accompany you. Because Katja," Mari lowered her voice and flashed Katharina a very conspicuous wink, "Three is not a very good number for 'going on a tour of the house', if you know what I mean."

"I meant rather that Ivy and Jo-"

Mari cut Katharina off, pointing at Josephine, "She a new girl?" Before waiting for an answer, she turned to address Josephine directly, "They fucked you yet?"

"Mari!" Katharina cried. She gave Josephine what she hoped was an apologetic smile.

"No," Josephine laughed, still seemingly unruffled.

"'No' to which?" asked Mari quickly.

"No, they haven't fucked me yet," Josephine laughed again, "And yes I'm a new girl, assuming that's what that means."

"Great," Mari smiled brightly. She snapped her feet together and stood up straight, nodding towards the main entrance, "I'm a new girl too."

Ivy cocked her head back in surprise, "No you're not. From what I've heard, you're probably the un-newest girl there is."

Mari turned her head away from Ivy with a haughty flounce, and looked up at Katharina with a poorly-affected mournful smile, "I am a poor little new, new girl, and this is all so bewildering and exciting. I would love to take a romantic tour and see some more of this beautiful historic building with its massive four-poster beds and spacious showers."

Katharina narrowed her eyes, wary, "Mari, what is this?"

Mari put her hand to the side of her mouth and whispered, "Roleplay. Trust me, it's sexy."

"Okay, whatever, let's just go," Ivy said. She held out her hand and indicated a path through the crowd beside them, "You want to come see a quieter bit of the house Jo? Take a break from dancing?"

"Hell yes," Josephine answered enthusiastically, "Take me." She skipped forward, pulling Ivy along with her.

Katharina smiled at Mari, though fixing her with a stern glare as she offered her hand. Mari took it, a satisfied smirk on her face, and she and Katharina followed.

Ahead, Ivy and Josephine plunged straight into the crowd. As they crossed the densely-packed floor of the hall, Katharina was once again somewhat relieved that the bustle and murmur around them precluded conversation. Every few moments they paused to wait for a path ahead to clear, or to decide which way to skirt round a larger group of girls, and each time they stopped Mari turned to smile excitedly at Katharina.

Near the corner of the hall, beyond the final pillar before the tall archway of the main entrance, the crowd cleared. Ivy looked back and found Katharina's eyes for a brief glance of acknowledgment before heading for the doorway with Josephine in her hand. Walking close behind, Katharina's gaze was drawn to Josephine's bare legs. Josephine's brightly-colored dress was short, the hem sat just below her backside. Josephine was a very slim girl, but there was a subtle musculature to her legs that made her look strong, athletic. Though Josephine's skin was perfectly smooth, close up Katharina fancied she could just make out the whorls and weaves of a pattern of dark follicles across the backs of Josephine's thighs.