Sacrificed to the Dragon

7. Embroidery fiasco

After breakfast, Katherine makes her way to the seamstress quarters. She is thinking of every embroidery design she ever saw, but she still has no idea how those came to be. How does one even start things like that? She has the feeling that it’s everything, just not easy. Maybe Mathilde will explain and show her what they actually want from her. Not that it did her any good yesterday. They did demonstrate the use of the sewing machine to her and she messed it up big time. Her fingers still itch just from thinking about it.

“Good morning!” Anny sings to her when she opens the door. The girl seems to be in a constant good mood and it lifts Katherine’s spirit some.

“Good morning to you, too.” Katherine answers and glances around. There are a few girls missing and Mathilde is not here either. “Where is everybody?”

“Oh, don’t worry. They will come soon enough.” Anny laughs.

“Can you tell me how embroidery works?” Katherine inquires and wishes that a good introduction beforehand can help her out.

“Well…” Anny stutters and looks a bit sheepish. “I haven’t done any, but I do pay attention. Mathilde usually draws the design on the fabric and selects the coloured threads. Then one of the girls stitches it out. You have to do really small stitches and all in the same direction. If done right, it looks painted on.”

“Oh dear!” Katherine exclaims. “And she thinks I can do that?”

“Hey! Maybe you’ll surprise yourself and you’re good at it?” Anny consoles her. “You can’t know if you don’t try.” 

“That was nicely said, Anny.” Mathilde smiles in the door frame. “Katherine, come sit with Lana. Observe what she does and I will draw a simple design for you to start with.”

Katherine sits next to Lana who makes it seem really easy. The needle is flying like with magic and the small blue bird takes visible shape on the white rim of a dress. Katherine thinks that it must take a lot of practise to do something like that and hopes for a simple and easy thing. The surprise on her face must be comical when Mathilde presents her with a napkin in a rim. There is a flower drawn on it and red thread and a needle.

“Show me your fingers first. I think those bandages can come off.” Mathilde says with a smile.

“Oh.” Katherine looks at her own hand. She managed to forget that her fingers are all wrapped up. “You think they can come off?”

“Yes, yes. Look.” Mathilde laughs and unwraps her fingers. There are still the puncture marks visible, but nicely healed. Katherine flexes her fingers and there is but a small sting in the wounds. She will have to be careful to not open them back up. She smiles at Mathilde and the older lady gives her the rimmed napkin and thread.

“Try to make the stitches as small as possible. They have to be really close together.” Mathilde instructs and walks away.

“Just look at what I do and try it. Decide what direction you will go in and start in one edge. A little knot on the thread on the back side is a must. You’ll just pull it all the way through, if you don’t do it.” Lana tells her some more useful information.

“Thank you.” Katherine whispers. She likes the girl instantly. Maybe she will make some friends after all.

Katherine threads the needle and makes a knot. She decides to start at the bottom and work her way up. She glances over to Lana to get a feel for direction. She is not quite sure what they mean with that. Observing closely she thinks that she got the idea now. She starts in the corner, making really small stitches, but her distances are all screwed up. She can see the white in between. She tries to fill in the voids, but manages to make a huge knot of her thread on the back. She glances at Lana who only smiles at her.

“Let’s cut that off and you can start again.” Lana takes the scissors and makes a fast process of cutting the knot and pulling out the threads. Katherine is left with a white piece of cloth and a drawing, again. She sighs and starts again. The needle is fine and sharp and she pricked her fingers numerous times already. She thinks that maybe she can get the hang of this after all. Slowly humming to herself, she makes small stitches over the flower drawing.

After a few hours of trial and error and numerous rescues from Lana, Mathilde shakes her head and the disappointment is evident on the older lady’s face. Katherine managed to get her stitches messed up and in all directions and the knots on the back side are a sad testament of her failure. Her fingers are sore and her hand hurts from holding the needle too tight.

“I don’t think this will work for you. You can’t hold direction, you have the stitches all in different sizes and the back side is a mess. Not to mention all the holes in there.” Mathilde sighs. “I’ll talk it over with Agneta. I’m not comfortable letting you behind the machine and this is not working out. She’ll have to find you something else.”

“I’m sorry.” Katherine whispers. “I tried, I really did.”

“I know you did, dear. We all saw it.” Mathilde smiles sadly. “You’re just not coordinated enough for this work.” 

Katherine nods and she can glimpse the sympathy on the faces of the other girls. She knew this would be bad, just not how much the failure will weigh on her soul. The flower she was supposed to stitch out is a mess and Lana managed four blue birds that look identical and almost alive. It draws her down in the depths of depression and she is on the verge of tears again. She really liked the girls and thought of them as future friends, now she has to go.

“Can I be excused?” Katherine asks quietly.

“Of course, dear. Don’t be too hard on yourself. We all had to learn our skills.” Mathilde tells her with a small smile.

“Thank you, Mathilde.” She nods and makes her way to the door. She needs to hold it together long enough to hide. A small speck of dignity should be allowed to her, she thinks.

She holds her head high and walks slowly down the corridor. She has no idea where she is going, but she has no destination right now. She just wants to get away and be alone for a while. She looks around when she stops and she is in the small graveyard again. She doesn’t know how or why she came here, but it gives her peace to be here. The statue of the unknown lady draws her in and Katherine finds solace with the lady.

She wonders if she would be so gentle and understanding in real life, too. She has the impression that she would be. Was she a real person or just some artists imagination? The guardian of this quiet place. A sad smile creeps on her face just thinking about it. Maybe she can pretend that the lady is her fairy godmother and tells her everything that lies on her soul.

“I failed again.” Katherine whispers to the statue. “I can’t sew, I can’t do embroidery, I think that Mathilde feels sorry for me. I saw it on her face. I don’t need their pity! I have to figure out something I’m good at. I can’t even run away from here. I have no wings. It wouldn’t do me any good anyway. I can’t do anything. I would be dead in an hour.”

“Give yourself some credit! I think you would last two.” He laughs at her and scares her to death. Her heart beats a mile a minute and she is not sure that all can be assigned to the scare. He does something to her just being around. The small flirtatious acts and the general look of him could have a huge impact on her racing heart. The sun seems to love his golden hair and is caressing his tanned skin just right. And again he wears only black. And that smirk on his face! What does he think she is? His personal toy? Can he just come and mess with her as he pleases?

“Aaaaa!” Katherine yells. “You scared me! Why do you have to sneak up on me all the time? Were you just standing there and listening?”

“No.” He chuckles. “I was leaning on the wall.”

“Uh!” She throws her hands in the air in mock anger. He only adds insults to her injury with his sarcasm. And the cute face doesn’t help to distract her right now. “I hate you right now.”

“A bit harsh.” He comments nonchalantly and steps away from the wall. The sly smile is back on his face and she glares at him. “What did I do to you?”

“You are here. I want to be alone.” She whines and hides her tears. She is acting like a child, but she just doesn’t care. She needs time after this latest hit to her self confidence. 

“I see.” He nods. “Well, Queen Anthea is a good listener. I can leave you with her, but don’t expect any advice from her. She doesn’t talk.”

“What?” She exclaims and whirls on him. “You can’t just leave after telling me that! Who is she?”

“Don’t we have an agreement of you not asking me questions?” He muses.

“Only about you. I can ask about the statue.” Katherine is stubborn for once and she wishes that he doesn’t leave. She needs to know more, because she has never heard of a Queen Anthea.

Katherine is thinking hard while looking straight in his blue eyes. He knows she challenged him, she is aware of that. She is also aware that he can turn her down. She did just modify her own statement. He was right, it goes for all questions, so she hopes he will make an exception. And she really can’t remember a Queen in the long history of Loredan that was named Anthea. History was her favourite pastime in the palace library. Although, the books were in bad shape, with parts missing, like the pages were torn out and hardly ever used by anyone. Well, probably she was the only one interested in them. Even her teachers never went further back than her grandfather. She sometimes thought that her father disapproved of her passion, but he let her be.