Rhedara was, in fact, home. It was spring, so it was a good time to get the tedious, dusty chores out of the way. Her hair was pulled back in a braid too keep it out of her face, and she wore an old tunic that she used to train in—it was easier to move in, sturdy, and easy to clean after the work was over. She was preparing to clean out the fireplace—her least favored chore, when two knocks came from the door followed by someone calling her name…or rather, the nickname that Raff had given her the night they’d met. Grateful to have any reason to put off a nasty, messy job, she set down the brushes necessary for cleaning and went to the door.

She opened the door to find a woman that looked vaguely familiar to her. Rhedara had seen her around the military wing, but they’d not run in the same circles often enough that she’d ever spoken to her…that she remembered anyways.

“Katerina Winters?” She asked, unsure if she’d identified her correctly, “You know Raff?”

Kat didn’t know Rhedara I’m the slightest, mostly because she hadn’t cared to associate with children when she rejoined the military. And she could tell the girl was young, maybe barely out of basic. Of course this is who Raff had gone for, naive to the world and what was out there. And now she’d gone and gotten herself kicked out of the military, shame. Looked like all she had going on was cleaning, the dust evident. This is who she was meant to help? Goddess help her.

”Yes and yes. He told me you got kicked out for some idiotic shite and didn’t have anyone to train your magic. True?” She didn’t really have any respect for the girl yet, not that it couldn’t change. But she had gotten away with all her curses and pranks so clearly the youth needed a better education in chaos. Maybe she could work on that whole all the stuffy higher ups were away. For now Red, Rhedara, or whatever she wanted to be called could be a trial run.

The woman in front of her was studying her, and Rhedara couldn’t help but think that she’d been found wanting. Was it her age? Her appearance? Both? She certainly hadn’t been caught at her best. Did she care? Not really. Rhedara didn’t have to impress her even if it would be nice if the older woman liked her, being Raff’s friend and all.

At least this Katarina gal was blunt. Rhedara didn’t much care for solving riddles—she had enough of that with her boss. Cryptic, meddling bastard.

She leaned on the doorframe, crossing her arms, “Both are true,” she’d be just as blunt, and wouldn’t bother trying to defend her actions. She had been stupid. It hadn’t been typical behavior for her—snitching on herself, that is—but a loss of tempter could make anybody stupid. Now she was marked as out of control and stupid, “Are you here to train me then?”

It was good that Rhedara could admit her mistakes. Most people made a mistake or two but actually admitting it was rare. Props to her on that, but she wasn’t even sure that the girl had truly realized that moving too quickly was never a good idea. That’s a lesson she could get to for sure. ”Possibly. But I’m not here to waste my time so if you aren’t ready to grow the fuck up I’ll make myself scarce.” It would be a waste of both their times but Kat really only cared about her own in this case. Rhedara could get back to her chores and boring life if she so chose, training to be some boring housewife or whatever.

But considering her actions in the past Kat didn’t think that was the type of woman she was. And maybe this could be a very interesting afternoon.

Well, wasn’t she a pleasant cup of cheer. That was fine, Rhedara had thick skin…well usually. Some people were better at getting under it than others. Would this Kat gal be one of those? Regardless, this would likely be a good opportunity to practice keeping her temper in check.

It was definitely her age this Kat didn’t like. 'Grow up,' indeed. She tried not to make a face. She’d been on her own for years, but one screw up made that little fact not matter a bit. Fine. She'd just have to make a new rep for herself, but that wouldn't happen by stomping her feet and insisting that she was a big, grown-up girl, “I'm ready,” she said, more than willing to polish her skills. It’d been too long since she’d been able to properly stretch them out—other than potion making. She could do that anywhere, "When do we start?"

“I know Raff sent you, but I’m not a charity case,” she said, “Do you wanna be paid?”

Kat opened a portal, it would be to a nice clearing in the forest, one that her and her siblings practiced in often. Magic was something usually passed down in family generations, but with commoners, that was easier said then done. So you got help where you could, and it was good that Rhedara was willing to see that. Help was help, and when it came to magic that was never a waste of time. "Now sounds good. And Raff didn't send me." She had come up with the idea and giving that power to a man was never something she planned to do even if it was a nice sentiment or whatever for a love-struck girl.

"And I don't want your money Rhedara. You clearly need it." She was literally a Lady for fucks sake, why did she need to get paid some paltry sum. A paper trail was better avoided anyways.

Rhedara did not jump in surprise at the sight of the portal, but she did take a step back while watching it with wide eyes, “That’s…” she grinned and had to resist the urge to dance in place, “That’s amazing!” She said it with both awe and a professional sort of jealousy. She’d never seen anybody open a portal before, and she was suddenly really happy that she did not turn down an opportunity to learn from this particular witch.

Kat wasn’t wrong about Rhedara needing the money. She rented a room from an old family friend who would take money off her rent if she kept it clean. Still, you rarely got something for nothing. What was in it for Kat? The ‘why’ didn’t really matter to Rhedara—she wanted to improve her magic. It never hurt to know the why’s though, “If Raff didn’t send you, and you don’t want payment, why are you helping me?”

Regardless of Kat’s answer (if she answers her that is), Rhedara would step into the portal and would find herself in a forest clearing. Before her death, Rhedara’s mother had taken her to the outskirts of Skia to practice her magic, most of the time it would be a beach or around a river—in case of fire. Sometimes though, they would go to a forest like this one. If they had walked, she was sure they would have been trekking through the forest for at least an hour or two.

“Now that is a handy trick!”

"Of course it's amazing, I am and thus my magic is." She was special, as was her magic. Which unfortunately meant that she would not be able to teach it. But with a great many other skills she was sure she could impart something onto Rhedara, stepping through the portal before answering the girls question.

It was a good one, so she clearly had a good head on her shoulders. Closing the portal behind them she looked at the younger brunette. "Potential. You have potential Rhedara, even if the men of the military can't see it." Yes, she had made a bone-head move, but she was practically a child and such things should be overlooked at times. Especially for someone who could use her magic for interesting things, better things.

"Now, obviously you have some skill in curse. But besides subtly, is there anything else you lack? Magic-wise?"

Well she was confident. However, Rhedara would probably be tooting her own horn as much as she could if she could conjure up a portal to anywhere. Would she be able to do something as unique as creating a portal? If she could ever unlock some hidden magic in her, what would it be?

Kat’s answer gave Rhedara a sense of…she didn’t know what. Relief? Validation? Whatever it was, it was like feeling a weight drop off her. Yes, Othello and Keelan had both congratulated her on that brief loss of control—or rather the reason behind it—but it meant something entirely different coming from another witch. Lassiter had looked like she was going to eat her at the time, and Valeria—nice as she was about it—had chided her, too. Raff told her she had potential, but given their relationship, there was a part of her that wondered how much of his opinion was biased in her favor. So Kat saying she had potential when she didn’t know her by anything other than rumors and reports, meant a lot, “Thank you.” Her question hadn’t quite been answered. That couldn’t have been the only reason. Rhedara chose to not dig further though. She may find out soon enough, and in the meantime, there was magic to learn.

Subtly was definitely her weak point. She tended to take things head-on, be it magic or combat. But what else?

“Control,” she remembered what Woodwick had told her about needing to be more in control of herself. They were talking about her temper, but her temper and her magic were related to each other, “This probably ties in to my lack of subtly, but my temper gets the best of my impulse control and I end up releasing my magic in a rushed spell with no available exit,” she thought some more, “Imagination. My curses suck and my summons are okay,” Between making Abbot cluck like a chicken and making that noble boy’s socks keep rolling into his shoes during her training years, her curses were of a more prank-like quality than they were devastating. Woodwick hadn’t been much help in that aspect, but why would a non-magic user be of any help regarding magic? Perhaps these were things better gained with experience, but she had experience standing right in front of her, "And using magic during combat. I don't have much experience knowing how to use it to best benefit me when someone is doing their best to hit or kill me."

Patience might have been something she would have added to the list, but she’d gotten a handle on that little virtue after she’d rushed a potion. A botched healing potion was not something she ever wanted to repeat again. Couldn’t be good with potions if you weren’t patient, and Rhedara’s strong suit was potions.

Kat hadn't expected such a long list of problems. It was good to know that she knew her own issues, but damn that was a lot, and not something she could tackle in one day. This was going to be a long day, and Kat had really hoped that she would get into some drinking. Oh to have noble pursuits.

"Well that's plenty." Rolling her eyes, Kat wasn't sure what she had gotten herself into with this. Did this girl have any magical strengths then? But she just had to take a deep breath and remind herself that she had been at that point once. She of course had still been in mandatory but everyone matured differently.

And so the lesson would begin. "Don't let me cut you then." And Kat would come at Rhedara. If she didn't know how to use magic in combat that was going to be the first lesson. Goddess she'd never make it in the military if she couldn't pull that off.

Rhedara, an overachiever, furrowed her brow at Kat’s sigh. Had she not listed enough problems? Should she have nitpicked herself more? Or maybe she’d been too excited that someone had offered to help her with her magic and said too much. It didn’t really matter—she said what she said.

She wasn’t given a lot of time to overanalyze her own words. Rhedara barely processed that Kat had used the word “cut” before starting at her. Goddess, she wasn’t going to waste any time, was she? Did she have a knife out? She couldn’t see it, but she wasn’t going to take the time to look for it. What was important was not getting cut up.

Rhedara would try to dodge if Kat struck out and look for the right time to put a curse on her. An incantation might be better, but incantations were mercurial things. She had no wish to severely hurt Kat…not only did she not have any healing potions—or the ingredients to make one—but she wasn’t exactly sure where she was at in relation to home.

Dodging wasn't using magic, and Kat was already finding herself disappointed. Kat might have been small and slight, but that made it easier to move on her feet. And so while Rhedara could dodge a little, it would be hard to get out of reach of the knife. She would have to do something, or her knife would slice the woman's arm.

Oh shit, oh shit…Rhedara wasn’t a large person in any sense of the word, so she could dodge quickly herself…only Kat was far more experienced than her, and even the younger and more impulsive witch knew she could only dodge for so long. She’d need to do something, and quick. Of course, her mind went right to a curse.

She didn’t have time to think of what would be the most effective, but this was a “Kat” fight of sorts, and that is what inspired her curse. She’d try and keep away from Kat’s knife as she spat out the words:

“Tugging strands with force,
Painful yanks, tears and despair,
Trapped in locks' cruel snare.”

If the curse went how she wanted, every hair on Kat’s body—scalp hair, little arm hairs, the rug and the curtains—could start to twist and tighten up to a very painful degree. The last word would be uttered right as Kat’s knife touched her skin. Rhedara wouldn’t have time to move away, she could only hope her curse would work well enough that the blade did nothing more than graze her flesh.