by Narrator » Tue Apr 27, 2021 8:44 pm
The next week was an odd one, to say the least, especially for one not used to royal rigmarole.
Katarina had Duties to perform, which was a far cry from her regular schoolwork, and meant she wasn't always available to be with Jez. Jez did get to see Katarina sitting on a throne, hearing minor petitions that the King couldn't be bothered to handle, greeting well-wishers and things like that -- nothing of too much substance, but busy work notwithstanding. It wasn't a full day's work by any stretch of the imagination, but there was at least a solid block each afternoon where the Princess of Symkaria was off doing Princess of Symkiara things.
Through it all, she wore a fabric mask draped over the side of her face; obviously still very self-conscious about the damage she had suffered. A doctor had come to examine the extent of the damage, but Katarina also had meetings with the Royal Sculptor, the one who was responsible for much of the art around the palace and town. Something as delicate as facial reconstruction was not going to be easy, and the exact steps to take were still being discussed on high levels.
All this meant Jez had more time to herself than she was perhaps expecting. She was allowed to be with Katarina during some, but not all, of her meetings, though being conducted in Symkarian, it was a bunch of gobbledy-gook to her. She also had time with Lenka and the other handmaidens, who tried to give Jez at least a brief crash-course in both the language and palace life, just so she wouldn't be totally cast at sea. Jez could leave the palace whenever she wanted, and the handmaidens would occasionally go into town -- be it to pick something up or drop something off, or just to get out and about every now and again -- people needed time off, too! About two days after she arrived, Jez would be surprised to be handed a bankbook, linked to an account in her own name -- apparently, ever since Katarina semi-officially appointed her to a position, she had been getting paid, something the Princess had neglected to mention. If the circumstances were a little different, this might have been a fully pleasant vacation.
And, of course, Symkaria, being a modern country, did have WiFi, so it was not like Jez was cut off from the outside world.
At nights, Jez would be left alone with Katarina, with the Princess claiming she needed Jez's help to keep up with her studies. She was insistent that she would return to London at some point, though the King was equally insistant that she would not.
The two did not do much studying at night, and while no one said anything, Jez would have not-so-subtle suspicions that not everyone was fooled.
And so that became status quo for a week -- get up, have breakfast, spend some time with Katarina exploring the palace and learning about her real life, playing the part of handmaiden, experiencing Symkaria, alternatively quiet and argumentative moments when the King and Katarina found themselves in the same place, nights alone with her girlfriend, and the vague feeling that everyone was watching her on one level or another; this strange foreign element in their world.
And then, one day, Katarina came downstairs back in her flesh-and-blood form for the first time since...well, since she was kidnapped, one would suppose. And instead of her fabric mask, she was wearing one of titanium, covering the left side of her face -- a vaguely Latverian look, if one was honest.