A Tutor

[Katarya Frost]

Kat tapped her fingers on the table as she waited for Lord Gidious to make his entrance; no doubt he would do with with some kind of grandeur that the young witch would find grating.

But she didn't get what she expected.

The door opened, and Kat sat up straighter in her seat ... but instead of the self-righteous lord, in walked a squat old woman who stopped for a moment, eyes Katarya with a critical eye then moved to take a seat, sighing as she sat down.

The old woman was dressed in modest clothes, with a heavy dress and thick shawl over her shoulders. She might have been a century old, by the way she held herself. But there was something in her eyes. "So you are Katarya Frost."

Kat raised a brow; despite the old woman's frail appearance, there was an aura of power coming from her. But that could mean anything. "Do I get to know your name? Or should I guess?"

The old woman chuckled. "They weren't wrong about you. I am Clara Carice. Your new teacher."

Kat blinked. "Teacher? I don't need a teacher! I was here to ..."

Clara chuckled. "Everyone needs a teacher, my dear. Especially such an inexperienced little witch like you."

Her eyes narrowed as Kat sat straighter in her chair. "I am no 'inexperienced' witch, I have ..."

"Very little knowledge of who and what you are." The old woman interrupted Kat, once again. She leaned forward slightly in her chair. "You are a witch, as am I. But the difference between us, is that I know restraint and caution. You know only the power you have inherited." She didn't let Kat say anything before she continued. "I knew your grandmother, of course. No witch worth her salt from here to Verdan't Row didn't know who Lilian Frost was; a good woman; kind, considerate. I hear you have even inherited some of these qualities yourself ... a slum healer! I don't know if you do it purely for show, or if you genuinely mean to to help, but you are doing some good. That is an admirable thing."

Kat felt her jaw clench at this woman, speaking so freely of her grandmother and of her!

Clara was not finished. "Your grandmother was a good woman; she could have been one of the best of us, if she had so deigned. But she chose to spend her days lancing boils and giving out petty potions." The old woman laughed at Katarya's furious expression. "I mean no disrespect by it ... well, maybe a little. A woman from the Frost line dealing in draughts and childbirth! She could have been so much more." Leaning forward, the old witch pulled her shawl around herself and looked directly at Kat. "But your great-grandmother ... now she was something! She was as cold as ice, which I can see passed to you. You didn't inherity your grandmother's maternal instinct; that's not who you are."

"You have no idea who I am!" Kat snapped, feeling both uncomfortable and intrigued.

Clara laughed; a throaty sound, with a wisp that suggested this old woman might not be so well. "Oh, my dear child! I have more idea of who you are than you do! For you see, I knew your great-grandmother so, so well. She was a part of our coven, and should have led it - but people thought she was too impulsive and given to using magic at a whim ... sound familiar?"

Kat's fingers gripped under the table. "What do you want?"

Clara laughed, a guttural sound, but one that did not stop Kat from feeling like a little child. "I'm here to teach you!" She said, dabbing her eyes with a kerchief. "And if you weren't such an arrogant, selfish child, you would be all the more grateful for it!"

Kat rose to her feet, her anger now piqued. "You have no idea who I am, or what I can do. I could ..."

"Oh, but I do!" Mrs Carice said, batting her hands together. "You don't get to live as long as I without seeing ten of you power-hungry, spell-happy women walk through the door! You are just like all the rest." She lent forward in her chair. Stretching out her hand. "But you don't have to be, Katarya Frost. You can be so much more. If you let me teach you, then you can be the most formidable witch in Fellsgard. What do you say to that?!"

Kat looked at the woman a moment, reaching out to touch the old witch's parchment thin skin, feeling the power thrumming under there. Then she looked up. "Teach me." She said, after a moment.

Clara laughed, clapping her hands together. "Oh good! This will be such fun ... for me at least. For you; not so much." Slowly, she pushed her frail body from her chair. "Come now; we have much to discuss, you and I."