[Plot] Packages for the Royal Handmaiden

[Narrator]

About a week after Katarina's restoration, Jezabelle would receive two packages from Symkaria. Katarina hadn't informed her of anything arriving, but nevertheless, things were certainly here.

One was a large box that came up to the girls' waist. It had the official royal crest stamped on it; it was clearly Important in a way that was supposed to look Important so everyone knew that it an Important Person was sending Important Things to another Important Person. You know, like you do.

The other was a much, much smaller box, and nondescript -- if not for the Symkarian postmark, it may have gone completely undetected.

((For Jez, though if anyone else wants to see what's inside...))

[Jezabelle Sherlock]

Jez wasn't really in the habit of checking her mailbox too often, as the only things she got were the occasional pizza coupon or credit card offer. But when she'd gotten an email notice to pick up her packages, plural, she'd gone down to retrieve them at the first opportunity open to her. At first she thought it must have been some sort of mistake, that something had been addressed to her room in error. Now she was fumbling her way into her dorm room's common area with two packages in her arms. At least she hadn't dropped either of them so far.

[Narrator]

The larger package was probably too big for one person to carry comfortably, which fortunately is not a problem for Jez. It was more bulky than heavy, though; as if what inside took up a lot of space rather than being particularly dense. It was, however, very solidly packed, no rattle or shake.

The second one could easily be carried in one hand, and rattled -- a couple somethings inside could be heard sliding into one another, maybe two or three somethings?

[Jezabelle Sherlock]

Many hands made light work, but what was made more easy physically was more difficult mentally - but that was mostly because Jez had a lot on her mind lately. She'd been spending most of her free time with Katarina, trying to act as her comforter and protector. Even at that moment while she was bringing the packages into the dorm room's common area, there was a copy of her in the princess' room, so her attention was a little divided. The large package was set down, and the small one upon it, and as Jez consolidated herself she went in search of a knife or scissors so that she could cut open the packaging. It felt a bit like Christmas, this could get to be addicting.

[Narrator]

Katarina could, of course, be very distracting when she wanted to be, but she didn't even know Jez was getting any packages, much less Official Looking Ones from Official Places. So even though she was being carefully tended to, she was only passively drawing attention from the Jezii, unless all her copies wanted to get into the unwrapping spirit. 'Tis the season, apparently.

Some scissors were promptly found, and other than a few curious looks from other students studying in the common area, Jez was set to open her mail.

The Big Box had an Official Looking Royal Seal to slice through, which is always fun. The smaller box was plainer; more inconspicuous. Who would she know from Symkaria who might send her something?

...It wasn't ticking, at the very least. That's probably good.

[Jezabelle Sherlock]

The idea that this might be some sort of trap or warning HAD entered Jez's mind, but she thought it was unlikely. She was a subject of only vague interest to those with agendas against Katarina, barely qualifiable as an obstacle, and in some cases a liability too the princess. Still, the only Symkarian she could see sending her a package was Katarina herself, and some very subtle probing questions from her copy had effectively ruled that out.

She decided to start with the smaller package, carefully opening it to ensure she didn't damage its contents.

[Narrator]

The first thing that caught Jez's eye was gold. A thin chain, with a clasp, perfect to go around her wrist, connected to a web of gold chains, branching off from each other at oblique angles -- like radial cracks. It wasn't too hard to guess the jeweler's inspiration there. The hand chain ended in a golden finger harness that her index finger would tuck nicely into, covering one finger in the shiny metal and keeping the chains taut.

The second thing that caught Jez's eye was the letter:

Dearest Madame Sherlock;

You have no idea how much it pleased me to see that the princess is in good hands with you by her side. It turned my mood right around to see the two of you together. Watching your devotion to her warms an old man's heart. I know she could not ask for a better caretaker at this point in time. You shall help her through this danger, I am sure.

You must assure me as to her state. Not to toot my own horn, but word that I have saved the Princess would be a major coup for my career. I can only imagine the funding I might get after word gets around of an outsider's hand on the princess' visage. You may have been informed us sculptors only are in art for the sake of art. While I admit, beauty is my first master, all except the most hardheaded among us would have to admit that to do what we love, we require our patrons to be generous.

I do hope the new gold is infiltrating the Princess' body smoothly Foreign impurities are to be avoided at all costs. Without careful attention, the influence of non-Symkarian gold would surely cause the Princess to erode over time. Be careful and attentive in keeping her clean and vital; remember that the average Symkarian places their faith in our Golden Girl. She is the physical embodiment of our virtues. It would be improper if she was not fit to once again stand above her people, waving, allowing even the most common folk to gander at our finest work of art. While the Princess prefers terrycloth, may I recommend a fine wire brush to ensure polish transfers to even the hardest-to-reach location?

It's come to my attention that no one had managed to spell out to you Symkaria's skills in jewelry making. From long ago, we have been working our magic on gold of all shapes and sizes. While the House of Fabarge may get the press, they would never dream to impinge upon our efforts. From the highest mountain to the deepest bay, be assured that you will not find works of higher quality.

This enclosed piece is sure to be all the rage among Symkaria's inner circles come the Spring time. I am sure there will be plenty of our finest maidens looking to see who can best play the role of princess! The subtlety of the craftsmanship is matched only by it's elegance of design. Something like this will be on the finger of every eligible maiden, I am certain. I shall have to create an appropriate counterpart for the aspiring prince, as well.

I send this letter to you directly; I know you would not want to draw undue attention to yourself at this point. The princess is missing her homeland, I'm sure. Perhaps you can inform her that the entire nation is praying for her. Perhaps she can find some comfort in the fact that, even in her secluesion, the thoughts of her country are with her.

Know that you have allies in your corner, and friends where you may least expect them.

Faithfully yours in all things,

Jacques Ciseleur

PS: This may be hard to believe but: doughnuts.. The princess adores them. Trust me, I know they sound particularly plebian for a snack for royalty, but a finely-made cream donut is fit for the king, or at least the next best thing.

The letter was sweet and heartfelt and filled with about eight million flashing warning lights for anyone who could read between the lines.

First of all, Jacques was a sculptor, not a jeweler. And nobody called her 'Miss Sherlock'. And if you were trying to start a fashion craze based on Katarina's scars, you would do so with some kind of face piece, not something for the hands!

And while Symkarian was his first language, he didn't seem to have any trouble speaking English when he was here, so what was with the stilted phrases? Especially when whoever wrote it clearly had spent some significant time on the letter -- it appeared to have been written in pencil, then gone over in ink, and then gone over a second time with a thicker pen. Well, at least in places, it had been gone over again -- every here and again, the ink was a little purple, as if it had bled a little when being written.

And while she was mulling over all that, she might catch the slight seam in the lining of the box's padding, too. A slight bulge in the otherwise smooth floor of the box, designed to protect the jewelry from damage in transport.

[Jezabelle Sherlock]

Jez had, at first, taken the gift at face value... no pun intended. After marveling at the craftmanship of the jewelry she began reading the note and things seemed normal enough. Verbal fluency and written fluency were different things, perhaps there was some difficulty between separating casualness from formality. But the more she read, the more things stuck out to her, and the more off things felt. Most in the royal court had addressed her by her position (or less favorable terms), not her name - which was fortunate, as usually when people found out her last name they always commented something about the detective-

Jez's copies froze in place in unison before they quickly gathered up the packages and hustled them out of the room's common space and into her bedroom, shutting and locking the door behind her. Which, if her roommates were paying attention, probably came across as a little odd. And for Katarina, she had a copy that had gone pale and stiff for a moment, before doing it's best to look nonchalant.

One copy was already digging through her desk for paper and a pen, the back of a leaflet serving the purpose for now as she began to furiously scribble down notes. "Sherlock... turned my mood right around... Watching... danger...."

Eventually, she had a new note written;

Sherlock - turned my mood right around - watching - danger - state coup - funding, outsider - informed - all ex - love -
Infiltrating foreign influence - erode over time - faith, virtues, proper-gander propaganda - wire transfers -
Attention - spell - long ago - magic dream bay by baby ???
Play the role of princess - subtlety - finger prince fingerprints
Missing information, find clues
Doughnuts Do not trust the king.

The note was cryptic and concerning, and while she could puzzle out much of what was said, the meaning behind some of it confused her. She read the note over and over out loud, sounding it out and combining words to make new meanings (she had at first thought gander was a reference to her nickname). As much as she was trying to keep Katarina's mind off of things back home, it looked as though she was going to have to involve her - it wasn't right or safe for her to keep this a secret from her.

Meanwhile, another of her was examining the box more closely, carefully tugging at the lining to try and pull it loose without disturbing whatever might be laying underneath.

[Narrator]

The more Jez studied the note, the more she could be certain that, yes, it was cryptic; there weren't complete sentences here, as it was probably harder to smuggle that information through a letter which someone might read (oh god, was someone reading her mail?). She might be able to figure out that "Sherlock" was just a hint that there was a puzzle here; a reference to the famous detective. It was on it's own line, after all. And "All Ex" might mean "Alex", as in the Prince who Jez had punched in the face. But hadn't Nika been the one to inform him about Katarina's feelings? That didn't seem to be what the note was implying. And what was 'Mood turned around' supposed to mean, anyway?

The Jez tugging away at the lining would find a small slit, that had been stitched together once with purple thread. It was easy to open once she had found it, and to find the small USB stick that had been secreted inside. The stick had a black glass square on it -- presumably, a fingerprint reader of some sort.

[Jezabelle Sherlock]

Jez almost immediately went to her laptop, and gave pause. Curiously, one of the others went back to the piece of jewelry and examined it more closely, looking to the index finger portion. Jacques had a great deal of time and access of Katarina's body while she was unconscious, perhaps the sculpture of her head hadn't been the only thing he'd made a cast of....

Another kept working on the note's code. Yes, Alex, of course. It was starting to make a lot more sense to her now. Some foreign influence had been spying on them, tipped Alex off, Nika was just an unnecessary pawn who had inadvertently contributed, and taken the fall. There were just two things that did not make sense to her, the part about a magic dream baby was one of them. Maybe Katarina might know, some sort of folklore? As for the other, turned my mood right around...." Her mind puzzled over it before it struck her.

"Doom...."

It was so obvious! Hell, she'd spent so long thinking that it was the case, why had she ever stopped? But that just reminded her of how the metal monarch's gaze was everywhere, all the time.

"I haven't played Doom in years, I really should do another run." The one at the laptop muttered. Flawless, no one eavesdropping would ever suspect a thing. Not.

[Narrator]

Jez almost immediately went to her laptop, and gave pause. Curiously, one of the others went back to the piece of jewelry and examined it more closely, looking to the index finger portion. Jacques had a great deal of time and access of Katarina's body while she was unconscious, perhaps the sculpture of her head hadn't been the only thing he'd made a cast of....

It wasn't just Katarina's body that Jacques had had access to, it was the princess herself -- and the excess gold, salvaged from the attempt on her life, or from the overflowing molten mixture that had burst out of the mold, the kind that still maybe ached in Jez's chest when she thought about it too hard...

The tip of the finger looked...well, normalish? Really? It was fairly smooth gold, and would probably be fairly hard to differentiate from any other mold of a finger in the world, even for an expert. After all, statues don't really have fingerprints.

Then again, experts didn't have access to the Princess of Symkaria, and couldn't be in two places at once. Katarina's actual index finger seemed like the right match in size, at least, and it seemed like it matched the gauntlet's shape and pattern. Only one way to really find out, mind you...

Another kept working on the note's code. Yes, Alex, of course. It was starting to make a lot more sense to her now. Some foreign influence had been spying on them, tipped Alex off, Nika was just an unnecessary pawn who had inadvertently contributed, and taken the fall. There were just two things that did not make sense to her, the part about a magic dream baby was one of them. Maybe Katarina might know, some sort of folklore? As for the other, turned my mood right around...." Her mind puzzled over it before it struck her.

"Doom...."

It was so obvious! Hell, she'd spent so long thinking that it was the case, why had she ever stopped? But that just reminded her of how the metal monarch's gaze was everywhere, all the time.

"I haven't played Doom in years, I really should do another run." The one at the laptop muttered. Flawless, no one eavesdropping would ever suspect a thing. Not.

Jezabelle Sherlock, superspy. Stealth 100.

"Magic dream baby" didn't quite mesh, however. That was a little out of left field. But 'magic' might, if Doom was involved. Wasn't he Sorcerer Supreme for, like, five minutes? Maybe he just liked bragging about that sort of thing.

[Jezabelle Sherlock]

One of the Jez took the thumb drive and put it in her laptop while another carefully put on the piece of jewelry. She half-suspected that this wasn't actually the key, but sending something that covered her finger, and a thumb drive that had a fingerprint scanner... well she had to try it.

Meanwhile, the third Jez turned to the other package, the larger one. The arrival of two at the same time couldn't be a coincidence, could it? She worked on opening it while her other selves focused on the big mystery.

[Narrator]

Meanwhile, the third Jez turned to the other package, the larger one. The arrival of two at the same time couldn't be a coincidence, could it? She worked on opening it while her other selves focused on the big mystery.

This was, as Jez suspected, not part of the big mystery, though the timing definitely was funky, and something to keep in the back of her mind, at the very least.

What it was, however, was filled with Official Symkarian...stuff.

A big chunk of it was clothing; multiple outfits both in Symkarian colors and Karkov family colors, with the crests embroidered in key points. There were dresses like she had had during her stay at the palace; dresses of the Royal Handmaidens and the like. But there were also more casual outfits for day-to-day use -- and not just skirts and dresses; someone had made sure to include some slacks and things, as well. Then there were more Uniformy-type uniforms. A military-style uniform like the one she may have seen in Nika's closet, only without the various medals and rank insignia. An equestrian outfit, complete with tailcoat, jodhpurs, gloves, even a riding crop with a script "KK" emblazoned on the handle.

But there was also some official identification papers and ID cards, declaring Jez a diplomatically-protected operative of the Symkarian Royal House (and a hefty-looking booklet that explained what privileges that granted her, as well as the responsibilities thereof), as well as booklet explaining rules of protocol, entertaining and the like -- who should sit next to whom, appropriate levels of dress for various events, table etiquette differences between the Continent and America including a diagram of formal silverware arrangement. There was even a badge, with her name engraved on it and everything!

Then there were a couple personal items she'd recognize from Katarina's bedroom -- a journal, a couple dog-eared novels, a photograph of her and her parents, a little crystal jug; some minor personal effects.

Oh, and a gun. A fancy, ceremonial gun, with gold plating and emblems and everything, but definitely a gun. You can't just mail a gun to someone, especially not in the UK, but apparently customs doesn't get to check the diplomatic bag when it arrives in the country.


Attached to all this was a letter, on Royal stationary with a wax seal and the whole lot. It was written in Symkarian, and was very formal, so it would take Jez a few minutes to really get the gist of it, but, in short:

• Katarina's status as a secret Princess was history; everyone knew that she was in the UK now.
• Katarina had been asked to return home, but had refused, and the King was graciously letting her own royal prerogative stand in this matter, despite significant protest from his ministers and advisors.
• That being the case, Katarina must resume her duties as the Golden Girl of Symkaria, and spread a positive image to the people of the United Kingdom; conducting herself in a manner appropriate to her station
• THAT being the case, her UK-based staff --i.e., Jez -- must also represent the Royal Family well, and shall be given the tools to do so.
• A plea to Jez to try to convince the Princess to actually follow these directives, especially in a time of such internal strife in Symkaria, and to reiterate that the Royal Person required a larger staff than just one individual to fully meet all her needs. And to aid the Princess in filling out such a staff as needs be.

It was signed by the head of the Royal Office for Protocol, as opposed to being a letter directly from the King --y'know, her father and all that. If there was a polite, diplomatic way to order someone to straighten up and fly right, this was it; and they were apparently counting on Jez to help ensure their wild and crazy princess would behave responsibly, or at least what they viewed as responsibly. Hopefully, that wasn't what the gun was for! Maybe the riding crop. But in the absence of Nika, apparently they had no one to turn to other than Jez here. May God have mercy on their souls.

Katarina hadn't mentioned anything about any of this to Jez, at the very least, though I suppose Jez hadn't happen to have asked "are they any secret government packages coming for me in the immediate future?" So really, this was surely Jez's fault, and not Katarina trying to ignore things. Definitely not; the Princess can't be blamed for anything, surely.

One of the Jez took the thumb drive and put it in her laptop while another carefully put on the piece of jewelry. She half-suspected that this wasn't actually the key, but sending something that covered her finger, and a thumb drive that had a fingerprint scanner... well she had to try it.

For a moment, nothing happened. And then, as she continued to press the golden finger onto the fingerprint scanner, a green light lit up, and her laptop screen went black.

Just for a moment, before the Symkarian Royal Crest filled the screen as it booted up.

"Good afternoon, Your Highness," a measured, artificial voice came out from the speakers. "May your Golden Light continue to shine upon us all."

Jez's laptop screen ran through some encrypted numbers, before resolving in a secure connection to...something.. There was a map of Symkaria, with shaded regions representing the areas rebelling against the Karkov regime. The little dots were...military units, maybe? Some sort of tactical map? Call of War-style games may not have been atop Jez's playlist, but she could recognize the basic format well enough, at least. And maybe the different colors meant something -- like, those lines of green dots outside Symkaria might represent Dr. Doom's bots? And the red dots on the other border -- was that Transylvania? Eastern European geography sucked. The white dots must be Symkarian units -- though that meant that some of them had actually crossed into the disputed territory. And the grey, flashing dots -- forces belonging to the rebelling houses? Lots of information; an almost overwhelming amount of information.

And that was just the home screen. Tapping another button, she got a map of the location of the 12 current members of the Royal Council, including Katarina here in the UK and Prince Alex in jail back in Aniana. The King himself didn't show up; possibly because Katarina was a level below him and wouldn't have access to that information? Another button brought up some kind of economical map; another a complex web of lines from country to country; some kind of diplomatic chart? All very complex. All sorts of filters that could be, uh, filtered, as well.

And THAT was just the MAP screen. There were other tabs -- access to files from the Symkarian Intelligence Service, and from their Historical Archives. An e-mail inbox for secure, government business. Direct access to the Symkarian legislative chamber. Something labeled Council of the Twelve. Everything a high-ranking government official would need to do her job remotely.

Jezabelle shouldn't have this. No one other than Katarina should have this. It looked like she could, if she wanted to, send orders to the Symkarian military, or their spies. She could implement a decree banning the apostrophe, or order the newspaper to print a story about ham sandwiches on their front page. All because it believed she was Katarina; all because her fingerprint swore she was Katarina.

Jez had never seen Katarina use this in any way, shape or form. Was she using it secretly; not trusting anyone to watch her? Did she think Jez would be bored by it, or that it was above her pay grade? Was she not using it at all, and was shirking any royal duties?

AND, for that matter, how the fuck did someone else have access to this, and send it to her. The fact that it was in her possession, rather than being used to send military units marching across Eastern Europe, was probably a good thing, right? But if they were just a good samaritan returning things, they surely would have sent it to Katarina?


There was also a small flashing red box in the bottom right hand corner of the screen reading "restore last session?", which, if nothing else, indicated that no one else was using this at this point in time.

[Jezabelle Sherlock]

Jez was being hit with multiple bombshells all at once. Any one of them would have been enough to have made for an exciting day. As far as her new duties were concerned, she shouldn't have been too surprised. With Nika relieved of her position, Jez had promised to take her place - she just hadn't anticipated that she'd be doing EVERYTHING. In hindsight, that had been stupid of her. In Symkaria she had witnessed first-hand the daily life of the princess and her entourage of handmaidens, servants, and advisors. Why would she have assumed that this wouldn't carry over to her time in the UK? Still, she had to sit down as she read the letter, another of her sorting through the things and ascertaining what was meant for her, and what she was to impart onto the Princess herself.

The gun was... concerning. Jez wasn't afraid of guns, she'd grown up on army bases and had been trained in their use and safety at a young age. But that was at firing ranges, not being carried around in public places. The moral quandary weighed heavily on her mind; on one hand she didn't like wielding such a lethal weapon, but on the other she had a very serious duty to uphold - the protection of the princess was paramount. She would have to have a talk with the headmistress about this, while she was certain the various documents she'd been sent would give her legal authority to carry a concealed weapon of this sort it didn't feel right for the staff to not know that.

Of course, she also had to deal with what was going on on her laptop. So much information, so much power... too much for any one person to have, there had to be checks and balances. At first she thought that perhaps this had been sent to her for her to pass on to Katarina, but then... why go through the trouble of sending her a means for Jez herself to unlock the drive? No, this had been placed here for her to see. Not for her to use, it would have greeted her differently if that had been the case. Someone wanted her to see what the princess had access to, or something going on behind the curtain, and had provided her the tools to do so.

Jez bit the bullet and clicked the flashing red box, curious to see what might unfold.

[Narrator]

Still, she had to sit down as she read the letter, another of her sorting through the things and ascertaining what was meant for her, and what she was to impart onto the Princess herself.

Most of the things were, in fact, for Jez. The items from home were probably snuck in by some of the other handmaidens, bless. The little crystal jug was a bit weird; a bit of some sort of oily liquid inside which smelled vaguely of lavender and sage, but presumably Katarina would have some idea what the hell it was. It, at the very least, was not a pressing concern.

Jez bit the bullet and clicked the flashing red box, curious to see what might unfold.

Windows popped and whizzed open, coming mostly out of the Intelligence Service and Historical Archives tabs into their own bits of the screen.

The first was just her own intelligence file, and boy, did they know a lot about her, presumably at least in part from Nika's digging around. Her deadname, of course, a psychological profile...and her history. A lot of her own details -- about her time in Acolyte training, about her fighting out against the system, even some notes from some of her professors that she had never seen. Not that the content was surprising; when you have contempt for the system, the system has contempt back, but the intelligence system was something else if they could get a hold of that. Or they were working with Genosha, or something.

At the very least, it looked like The System knew about many of the things she admitted to Katarina before she had actually admitted them. So either Katarina was a very, very good liar when she was surprised and sympathetic to hearing about Jez's past, or she didn't use the system much to look up the people she knew. And if she didn't use the system much, it might indicate that this wasn't Katarina's last session; that someone else had accessed this information and sent it to Jez for some reason.

((Also, it was really tempting and easy just to delete her deadname from her file completely, throwing it away into the ether. Heck, she could write anything she wanted here, couldn't she? She was the 'Princess', after all...))

__________________________________________________________________

The second window were some of Katarina's medical records. It looks like, at various points, she had been prescribed Prazosin, Risperidone and Nabilone. She wasn't taking anything now -- and Jez would probably know well that there was very little chance of her sneaking medication behind her back. But it looked like, even as far back as infancy, doctors were working to find a treatment for restless nights and, well, nightmares.

...What was it Katarina had said?

Are you the Princess? The Dictator? The Lover? The Victorious? The Grateful? The Defeated? You, me and Victor have been swirling through these spots in my head, flowing in and out of one another, twisting and turning and corrupting on top of one another. I'm...having trouble remembering which is real...
Jez. I'm just so scared, all the time. The nightmares, every night...
That's how so many of the nightmares start. A 'work of art'. Behind glass, in a tower, in a crate.
I don't have so many nightmares when we're together.

...'nightmares every night' had to be a figure of speech...right?

__________________________________________________________________

The third window was a regular newspaper story from about 19 years ago -- front page news, celebrating the birth of the Princess Katarina Karkov. Glowing propaganda about the health of the baby girl, whispered scuttlebutt that she had tested positive for an X-Gene, speculation on what that might mean for both the princess and the country, some hasty backtracking from some anti-mutant political factions, things like that.

Highlighted, however, was a passage further down in the article, talking about some of the heads of state that had wired their congratulations to the King -- it included Magneto, and President Kelly, and Count Dracula and King T'Chaka and other important figures. It also mentioned that Lord Victor Von Doom had made a rare, personal state visit to see the baby princess -- the first time he had entered Symkaria since overthrowing (murdering?) the cruel despot, King Vladimir. It was hailed as a potential thawing in relations between the two countries, with a young King Stefan and Young(ish) Von Doom shaking hands in front of the Royal Palace in the second-largest photograph on the page (just below Katarina herself, of course).

__________________________________________________________________

The fourth and final window that had been opened for Jez was another newspaper story, this time from the end of the Symkarian civil war about 50 years ago. 'Unrest in the Balkans' was sadly common enough that Jez probably wouldn't know the full details of the story, but the front-page photo was the newly-crowned King Philip Karkov, proudly accepting the mantle of state in front of cheering soldiers. The article went on to talk about which royal houses would have prominence in the new Symkaria, and outlined the way that the Karkov family would be kept in check by setting up a council of twelve houses, and yadda yadda yadda political stuff. But what was highlighted and circled by Jez's mysterious benefactor was a weapons crate in the very background of the shot; easily missable. Zooming in would reveal that, in one corner, the crate was stamped with the stylized contours of Doom's mask. The symbol of Latveria -- except, it wouldn't have been there 50 years ago; this was the symbol of DOOM'S Symkaria, and it had no place in a 50-year-old photograph. None whatsoever.

[Jezabelle Sherlock]

The deeper that Jez traveled down the rabbit hole, the more concerned she became, and the more obvious it was that someone other than herself and the Princess had access to this account. That Katarina might browse a file on her felt out of character for her, but wasn't out of the question. She had only spent one summer living within palace politics, she couldn't imagine just how thorough and careful she had to be about everyone she interacted with. And while it was tempting for her to edit her own information... if Katarina had access to this information, and some unknown benefactor, AND the king... who was to say that there weren't others watching as well? Others to whom any changes to her file would appear as a red flag. She had dealt with her dead name, it couldn't hurt her any more. And those other "concerning" events... she almost had a smug sense of satisfaction over them. The government should fear the people, wasn't that the saying? She took a little pride in being of such concern to people so high up the chain.

Katarina's own medical file being open, that was where things started to really suggest that this session hadn't been run by the princess herself. Why would she be looking at her own medical records? To see what medication she'd taken to help with her nightmares? She could go to the infirmary and get prescribed something, surely the school would have access to some of this already. But it did raise a very troubling concern - she had thought that these nightmares was due to her trauma of the assassination attempt and the following comatose state, but if there was a history of them, this suggested that there was something of even greater concern going on.

The other windows only served to confirm this even more to her - this was information that was meant for Jezabelle to see, and it didn't look good. It painted a picture of Doom potentially having an interest in the princess from an early age, but having an even greater interest in a Karkov-led Symkaria; to the point of potential time-travel bullshit. And time travel was always bad news. The only time that time travel did anything good was by fixing the problems that were caused by time traveling. And it did not look like that was the case this time. Piecing this together was going to result in a Question-esque corkboard complete with red string and push pins, she could see it already.

[Narrator]

At least there were plenty of Jezii to keep such a corkboard up to date, should it come to that.

Dr. Doom had been known to use time travel from time to time. (Heyo!) There was very little Doom hadn't been known to do, but to what end? Why help the Karkovs take Symkaria? If true -- and it was a supposition at this point -- was it to get King Philip on the throne? Was it to pass the throne to King Stefan? Or was it to get Katarina herself as the heir apparent? His shock proposal in the palace -- was his 'wedding gift' retroactive power? That sounded like something Doom would value, but it didn't quite feel right. Something was missing from that puzzle. There had to be some other piece of information she was missing.


But at least 'magic dream baby' was coming into a little more clarity. The baby must have been Katarina -- or else, why include the news story of her birth? The dreams, clearly the nightmares that she had suffered for ages. The magic -- Doom related? If Doom had had access to the princess when she was young -- either as his younger self, or hell, his current self if time travel was involved -- maybe he had hit her with some kind of juju. Princess under a magical spell seemed at least vaguely thematical, right?

There seemed to be a few possible courses of action which would leap out at Jez.

First, she could obviously go talk to Katarina about what she had found. She didn't have all the pieces yet, but maybe the princess would know more about these sorts of puzzles. Of course, if she was under some sort of magic spell, that could have all kinds of consequences.

Secondly, she could try to talk to someone else who might have experience in this area. Hell, King Karkov himself had basically told her to build up a staff or something here. Maybe Nika would know more -- and, for that matter, where the hell was Nika? Or maybe her spy friend from Genosha. Together, they could corkboard the hell out of this shit. Hell, maybe one of the two terrorist prisoners they still had in the holding cells could tell her something; they were mostly sitting there demanding to be taken to the Symkarian Embassy, but maybe there was some juice to be had there.

Thirdly, she could try to attack this whole 'magic dream baby' problem. This was a crazy campus filled with wizards and telepaths and wanna-be goddesses; flag down the first person she finds with red hair and there's a better-than-zero chance that they could come up with some way of fucking around and possibly finding out. Hell, kissing the girl had woken her from a sleep; these thing apparently worked like that.

Or, of course, Jez could do something entirely unexpected; something even a narrator may not be able to anticipate at this point in time. Mucking about with time travel is, of course, super dangerous, but super dangerous stuff could be effective if done, well, effectively. Or maybe she could keep fidgeting with this USB which apparently gave her all sorts of authority to muck with things; something which would almost certainly be a Bad Idea in the long run, but effective in the short.

[Jezabelle Sherlock]

Jez had a lot of work ahead of her. And while she was multiple bodies, she was still just one girl. Her multi-tasking was good, but it wasn't so good that she could pursue multiple avenues at the exact same time. But what she COULD do was get things into order and prioritize what needed to be done first.

Assembling a staff would take time and work, and a lot of background checks, but it WOULD free her up to focus on some of the other tasks. The trick of course would be to find students who were both trustworthy and willing to put in the kind of work and hours that tending to a Princess' needs would entail. She thought briefly of Colette, though with what that girl had been going through she thought perhaps another source of stress would be the last thing she needed. She wasn't sure how Katarina would react to Nika being brought back into even her outer circle - even if Prince Alex had been tipped off by someone else, Nika HAD betrayed her secret to him - she hadn't known that he already knew. The crime may have been committed by another, but the motive and intent had remained.

Approaching Katarina with this right away seemed... daunting. There was still so much she didn't know. And who knew what kind of things might happen were she to confess it? She had to live with the idea that the princess' room had more bugs than Skyrim, and probably her own as well. She hated going behind her back on this, but she needed more information first, so that she could better answer the redhead's eventual questions. She needed to know what was going on, how it had been done, and why. And right now she's been given a puzzle in a plastic baggie, with no box art to go off of. She had some of the edge pieces provided for her, she had to work in from there.

Doom's motives would be obvious only to Doom and his conspirators, and she doubted that she could approach any of THEM for clarification, even if she knew who they were. Those who seemed to be in leagues with him were likely unwitting pawns, some of which likely believing themselves to be rooks and knights. But the mystic aspect, that might bear fruit. She had to track down some of the campus' spookier denizens and get their advice.

In the meantime however she made herself busy. And as she had the tools at her disposal, she might as well utilize them. It was immoral to delve into people's privacy this way, but that was a guilt she'd have to carry, as the alternative put people's lives at stake, both on campus and in Symkaria. So, closing her own file, she began running the names of various students she thought might make good "handmaidens".

[Narrator]

In the meantime however she made herself busy. And as she had the tools at her disposal, she might as well utilize them. It was immoral to delve into people's privacy this way, but that was a guilt she'd have to carry, as the alternative put people's lives at stake, both on campus and in Symkaria. So, closing her own file, she began running the names of various students she thought might make good "handmaidens".

Quite a few of the students on campus had fairly detailed personal files, especially those who lived on the same floor as Katarina -- many of them clearly having been done by Nika herself. There was quite a bit of personal details in there, though not some of the more surprising twists -- Basil's file made no mention of his recent kidnapping, for instance, and Miriam was still listed as deceased. Good spying, just not necessarily up to date.

I guess that was just one of those things that came with having a princess on campus, though it would seem only polite to have let people know that, rather than having Katarina show up all incognito and whatnot.