Admissions

© 2009 by Mr. David R. Dorrycott

Saimmi & Songmark copyright Mr. Simon Barber

Used with Permission

It was mid-July of 1937 and two female figures stood alone on a small islands beach, their feet just above the high water line on what many Euro’s would call an islet. Behind them Main Island was barely a green smudge on the horizon, while the double outrigged canoe that had brought them here was now pulled well above high tide on the wide beach. They were two, an older mink and her young rabbit student. No other mortal was within miles. Still both knew that here, as in many places on and around Spontoon’s many islands, they were not alone.

“Soon after I arrived on Spontoon’s shores the High Priestess asked that my new village give me this place” Alexia Tuinei explained as she walked a well marked path to the islands center. “When I find that I no longer need it and leave, then it will return to them. It has seen many Gods and Goddess not native to Spontoon. It will see many more.”

“Its ah loaner then” Katrina Schmidt decided.

“Yes, this place is a loan to me. One who’s payment I make daily” her older companion agreed. “Yet without it I would find myself traveling to Casino Island weekly. At least in this way I may cast my net on the way back. Fresh fish are always welcome, and there are no oils in this water to add their taste to the meat. It is a win win situation for both of us. My village and I. Katrina my child. I have prayed many nights over your problem. Are you certain that this is the path you wish to follow? For once stepping upon its surface there is no turning back. Ever.”

“Feels righ” the marsh rabbit answered. “Found out ah long time ago tha if tha action feels right, then most likely it is. When it does not, then ahm wrong in doin it.”

“Then come child. For though this is a short ritual, we have little time left us this day.”

Following the well marked path they soon arrived at a low stone altar, a single small paw cut stone cross standing behind it. Katrina had already determined that the entire island could be no more than fifty feet across, perhaps twice that long and no more than a few feet above highest tide. This must be at or near its center then. Alexia spoke again. “This is my personal place of worship child. Where our God and I speak. Though in honesty I tend to chatter on like a mindless little child, speaking a great deal while he only gives a single guiding word here and there. Many months ago your name was one of them.”

Pulling a small red book from her bag the mink placed it gently upon the waiting altar, then stepped back to kneel before the paw carved stone. Katrina quickly followed her example, bowing her head in prayer even though Alexia remained staring at that cross. “My Lord and Master. I bring here this day she whom you have chosen as your newest warrior” Alexia prayed, her paws held clasped before her, her own eyes wide open. “You have given her to me in order to guide her. As you have chosen, so shall I do. Upon Your Altar is the path I have chosen for her. Should this path be the one you desire for her, give sign. Else know that I will find another.”

A sign did come, one that Alexia saw as but barely a glow in the daylight. A glow that seemed to emanate from the coral stone cross before her. Katrina, with her own head bowed saw nothing. A smile of delight came to the minks face. She had prayed for over a week regarding her charges possible future. In answer to her prayers it had been an image of the mother that had come to her. “Thank you my Lord” she continued, slowly standing. Stepping to the altar she retrieved the little red book. “Arise daughter warrior of God” she ordered, her back still to Katrina. She could hear the rabbit rise and again a smile flickered over her face as the rabbit said nothing. ‘What a nun she would have made’ came a thought. But only for a moment. Promising Nun or not, God had a path for the Southern born rabbit that no Claustral convent life awaited. With book in paw the mink turned around, facing the waiting young woman. Like most truly important events, this one had taken little time to occur.

“God has chosen you as his own. Not as a nun, which is the normal path of females chosen to serve the cross. But as a warrior. To you he has already granted the ability to banish demons. Banish them back to wince they came. What else he or Mother Mary may grant you I can not know. Will you accept this destiny? Will you accept the mantel of His warrior?”

Katrina shivered, for they had spoken often about this during the last week since her encounter at Alpha’s dark altar. Now it was time to take an oath, an oath she could never step away from for all eternity. Not and remain a child of her God. “I accept” she managed through dust dry lips, her simple words sealing forever her souls future.

Alexia held out the book, though she kept her own expression as neutral as she could. “Then this is your new path. Walk it most carefully, for those of evil will forever try to draw you away from it.”

Accepting the tome Katrina read what was embossed upon its cover. “Legio Mariae” she whispered as she read. “Legion of Mary?”

Alexia nodded her head in agreement. “The same. They were founded in Erie. They are one of the few religious orders to come from that land that remain true to the path. Mary, Mother of Christ, chosen Consort of God All mighty, Mother of Jesus the son of God is now your true guide. Remain true to her and your path will be clear. Turn aside and darkness shall fall upon you forever. For he will turn his face away from your soul for all eternity. This only, you are to follow this path but you report only to the Holy Father in Rome himself. You bow only to Mary and God himself. None other. And, you will find that by their own vows those of Mary must assist you. No matter what your need. For as long as your body lives you are now Her voice in this world.”

“Not even tha son of God” Katrina asked in disbelief.

“Child. Jesus was sent only as a messenger of his fathers words. Nothing more my dear Katrina. He is but the son of Jehovah and Mary, half mortal himself he is but a godling at best. Nothing more. Yet as he is more than mortal he is not a God himself, for he bows to his father as well as you and I. His was a message given and though he is above even the angels he is but as mortal as you or I. For without his fathers gifts he would never have risen. He now serves our Holy Father just as you will. Just as I have. But neither you or I are his equal, we will never be such. Still your path will be much the same as his. Your message is that our God still lives. That he still protects his children that are truly innocent. And are you not a carpenter yourself?”

Katrina’s skin whitened under her fur as the blood drained from it. “I.. Oh Alexia. Ah cannoh be as Jesus. Ah am no prophet and ah am certainly not tha daughter of God. My parents are quite mortal. Ah am no godling, no angel.”

Alexa placed her paws on Katrina’s shoulders. “No my child. You are not a daughter of God. Such is not your curse. You are a warrior of God. In training yes, but still more now than even myself. For I am refused the joy of fighting darkness. I may only teach. I will assist in your training. But to teach you your path is all I may do. I shall open the gates for you, but only you may walk through them. Never I, for I am not worthy of such. Katrina my dear child you have already faced a true demon. You stopped it from feeding upon your soul. I can not do that, I am not allowed to do that. These last years I have watched two self-righteous priests fall in a battle equal to the one you survived. One was a Bishop. Both were easily absorbed by the dark they battled. Perhaps that is why I am here, for having seen the folly of those two I can see the truth of what is within you. God has granted you a gift, one he did not grant those two who thought themselves, in their self righteous imbecility, to be so holy. Yet all I may do is prepare your soul. You must find your path. Songmark must prepare your body.”

“Songmark” Katrina looked back towards the green smudge that was Main Island. “Mah instructors will noh be so happy about mah decision. And I’m going tah have tah give up love, aren’t I. Noh that I ever truly tasted it.”

Alexia didn’t answer. Instead she walked away from her paw made altar, walking towards the narrow beach that faced East. East, towards the mainland known as North America. Facing away from Spontoon. Katrina followed, her little book now held tightly in her paws. “You are not the first Priestess to be trained at Songmark my child” Alexia abruptly announced. “You will not be the last, though you are the first Christian Priestess they have seen. Though I will not be here to see it I hope that you will not be the last either. You see Katrina. I have a great deal to atone for. Not simply Brother Horance and Bishop Karlton’s destruction. One day God said that I was needed here, that I would be needed here for some time. So here I am.”

She stopped at the waters edge and laughed. “He will send me elsewhere when you may stand alone, though you may not believe yourself ready yet. As for Love child. Though that demon ripped from you your first true love, you are not denied the ability to love again. Just as I am not denied the ability to love again. And hush child, I well know your next question. There is no passage in any of the Gospels. Neither those in the commoners bible nor those hidden still that says a woman cannot love another woman. Not one word. Remember this child. All Gospels were written by mortals. Thus all gospels are subject to suspicion. For mortals ofttimes change Gods words to fit their own agenda, not His. Remember also that every warrior needs one to love. One to give them strength when they falter. One to remind them what they are fighting for. Else they are nothing but a cheap thug claiming to be what they cannot possibly understand.”

Warm sea water washed about Katrina’s ankles. She looked down, surprised that the tide was coming in so fast. Had they spoken so long? Then this was a very low land, of course it would rise quicker here she realized. “I will be called Witch, will I not?”

“And worse, as I and others who speak not as those filled with their own importance wish us to speak. Those who wish power over others, those filled with greed, bigotry and worse. Who have chosen His words to press forward their base needs. Suffer not a poisoner to live says the original text. It was that bastard Innocent the Second that corrupted the Church to his own carnal needs. Even now much of his base lies stand still as truth. Remember this child, in the old tongue Witch means wise one. One must be wise in ways most mortals cannot understand, for even one like you cannot fight the darkness successfully without knowledge. Had not the pagan priestess come to place her own soul between you and that darkness you would have fallen within moments. You owe her more than you can ever repay. Remember that well Katrina Schmidt. Remember that very well. Now you will be the first warrior Priestess in the Church in over a hundred and forty years. I pray that you will be ready for the darkness that comes. Most importantly Katrina.”

“Yes teacher.”

“You will fight beside the Priestess’s of these islands and other lands. Not against them. That one bows to different Gods and Goddess’s does not make one of the darkness. Only followers of another light. There is no one single path to that light, as there is no one true church in this world, as there is no single star in the sky. Our God is but one God. Young yes, but as real as any other.”

“I believe that I understand you teacher.”

“Good my student.” Alexia turned away from the rising tide, towards the West where an afternoon sun was still two paws width above the horizon. “Now like the fisherman of our bible, let us gather food for the children of our village. But Katrina, do you not try to walk on water. For you will sink just as I would sink. Just as the Pope himself would sink. Do not become self-righteous my child, for it will lead only to your own fall.”

Later that August an elderly mink and a very young rabbit approached the home of Spontoon’s Great Mother. “I would speak with the Great Mother” Alexia explained to the elderly rabbit that met her. “I now have my student, and I must speak to your Great Mother about her.”

Without a word the grey furred rabbit made way, gesturing for Alexia to enter the small compound she cared for. Still the mink paused before following. “You will wait here Katrina. Wait until I return with her answer.”

“Of course Sister Alexia” the rabbit agreed. She watched as the ex-nun walked into that strangely silent place. Over the long weeks she had from sunrise to sunset studied not the bible, for she had long ago memorized that tome as a child. But other religious texts placed into her paws by Alexia. Including a letter and book delivered by two silent raccoons, who’s very stance screamed Vatican. Those two had remained only two days, eventually asking Katrina many probing questions, in writing only, before returning to their master with her answers. Their Master was He who sat in Rome the rabbit was certain. Now she waited outside what had to be the home of Spontoon’s High Priestess. Waited to discover what new information could be given her by the reclusive feline. Katrina couldn’t help the one odd thought that flashed through her mind. ‘Alpha would die to be here.’ Perhaps her love of the shrew wasn’t completely consumed after all the rabbit thought.

“Huakava warned me about you” Saimmi said in greeting to the visiting mink, even as she indicated a pillow near her small fire. “I had not expected to meet you so soon in my life.”

“Your own chosen sister faced great darkness and won” the mink answered, settling on the woven pillow. “She has, to protect her great love, changed another to weaken an enemy. That alone would demand that we meet before the next Winter Solstice. Thanks to the actions of a mad scientist and that same young mouse, I now find that I must train yet another to stand against he who I once loved. It is true that I had not planned to meet you quite this soon. Or this abruptly.”

Saimmi offered her visitor water from a waiting fired clay pot. A pot who’s creator had never heard of Spontoon, though his grandchildren had come to these shores. “Please call me Saimmi, I prefer it when speaking in such rarified atmosphere. You, Oharu, Kama. Huakava said that you are older than dirt” Saimmi continued. “That you stood against your own God and lost. Sadly. I must admit that even I find that difficult to believe.”

Alexia laughed. “You are but a mortal little kitten. This is what, the eighth, ninth body your young soul has worn over the past thousand years? Even your vaunted Oharu is a babe in arms to me, though in truth her soul is so much older than my own. Never dying tends to give one an advantage I find. Saimmi. Yes I stood against Jehovah at Lucifer’s side. So in love was I with Lucifer that I denied my own creator. Love, it is such a dangerous emotion. Even to we who were created to fully understand it. Along with him I was struck down, as were hundreds of hundreds of thousands of others. My greatest strength was no more than a leaf’s breath against a volcanoes roar.” She paused to sip her water.

“It was not until Lucifer himself sent me to tempt Jehovah’s son that I woke up. Jesus raised me up from the darkness, only because the boy truly turned my heart back to his father. I have always been a woman of words. Certainly it was his words, his arguments that returned me to the light. But he could only raise me to the mortal plane. Saimmi, his farther was still rather ticked off with me. In my promise to return to his service, and his that I would again walk the streets of heaven, I was given a penance. I am to train those he chooses as warrior of the moment. Male or female, I may never question. I may never assist in their battles. I may show the path, open the gates. They must walk alone, always leaving me behind to watch helplessly as they face their challenges. I have been obeying his decision for over nineteen hundred years Saimmi.” Alexia tasted her water. “I pray each night that the next sunrise will find my task complete. I long to return to Heaven, to the radiance that is Jehovah. If it takes another nineteen hundred, or nine hundred times nine hundred that to complete my penance I shall do so with no anger. I truly deserve what I have earned.”

Saimmi regarded her visitor for some time before speaking again. “Angel to Demon to Angel. How many have done so in your path. Do you even know?”

“Thousands” Alexia admitted. “Thousands upon thousands. Most within centuries of their fall. Yet not a drop in the ocean to those that must, or be forever cast aside. Unlike your Gods Saimmi. Gods who understand that mortals are prone to error. My God is harsh. He demands exact obedience, that the truly pious live exactly as he does. Perhaps it is because he is but late to this world and has yet to find enough of those mortals to spread his word without their own anger, or their own self-serving interest in mind. Still that is not for one such as myself to know. He created me, I truly serve him with all my soul. Yet he lets my heart touch upon others now and then. Perhaps it is to make life on the mortal plane bearable.” Alexia shivered. “In truth without such I may have failed him long ago.”

“Such as you” Saimmi observed. “On my islands. I wonder at the gathering of such power. You, Kama, Oharu and others. Now your Katrina, while there is still the wildcard shrew Alpha to watch. Will your final battle be raised upon my lands poor shores? Will I live to see my people reduced to ash as Gods not their own melt the very lands about them?”

“Armageddon?” Alexia laughed though softly. “I am but a teacher Saimmi. I am denied battle as part of my penance. I have watched every warrior I have ever trained fall. Either drawn into battle too soon against a foe they were not ready to meet, or more often betrayed by those they served. Some eventually worn down by time, dying beside those they love in old age. That though very rarely. All I am able to do is lay their bodies to rest. But you ask about the final battle. Saimmi know this is truth. My Gods final battle with my brother Lucifer will be one upon one as it should always be. Their battle will be upon the Hill of Megiddo. In truth neither desire that battle, for though mortals believe that good always triumphs, this is a lie. You and I know well what cost even your Oharu paid to win that small battle of her own. Her loss of the one she most truly loved was a most horrendous payment for such success. Good does not always win, nor may it win that final battle. Yet Lucifer too does not desire to chance final loss. So they spar with mortal pawns, each hoping to gain an upper paw long enough to force Megiddo upon their own terms. My poor warriors are simply Jehovah’s playing pieces. No Saimmi, my religion will not have its final battle upon such an out of the way land as Spontoon. It will be in the lands of its birth, as are all such final battles.”

Stretching her body out Saimmi chose her next words carefully. “You speak as one who has thought over this a great deal” she remarked.

“I have had over twenty-one unbroken centuries of life to think this puzzle through child. As have Jehovah and Lucifer. With the same information available to us, we have I believe come to the same answer. A final battle will not result in one side triumphing over the other. But the wreckage of all, with those surviving who serve both sides fighting over scraps. All the while the rest of this world looks on in horror to eventually rise up and crush the remains. Then they will pick up the pieces of this world to continue on, forever fearful of all religions even a little like ours. Our kind would never be allowed to rise again. Saimmi, I so much wish that Jehovah would use me as a playing piece. Just once.”

“I believe he does Alexia, you are the trainer of his pawns. If you were not good enough he would have discarded you long ago.”

“As you almost discarded your Oharu?”

Saimmi shook her head no. “Oharu is my most powerful single piece Alexia, though I do not let her know this. She is the foundation that my own warriors will stand upon when this darkness comes to us. Think not of Kama, because she belongs to another. Alexia. Will your Katrina stand beside my warriors when the darkness rolls over these shores?”

“I do not know” the mink admitted. “I must be gone from here before that battle.” She smiled a sad little smile. “I am not even allowed to be near the battlefield my children stand upon, lest I somehow affect the outcome. I am only to train her. Her path will be decided by He whom I serve, though this time I did manage to give her to the Holy Mother instead of directly to the father.” Her smile increased as she drank again. “He allowed it, so I wonder what madness He has in store for my little rabbit.”

“Perhaps she will crush the fashion designers” Saimmi joked, surprised when Alexia broke out laughing.

“Oh I do wish. They imprison us in clothing so restrictive that just breathing is often torture. So much I would like to see them wearing what they demand we wear.” Setting down her empty cup she giggled again. “Oh that would be a sight, would it not? A Holy Avenger striking down the world of fashion with her flaming sword for crimes against women? Saimmi. I did not suspect you had such humor within you. Now I must be serious. Will you tell her the secrets of Songmark?”

“Songmark and Oharu. Yes” Saimmi decided. “Send her in to me and Alexia. You will visit again?”

“Oh yes” the mink agreed as she stood. “Such humor I have not experienced since long years before Huakava was born.”

Saimmi reflected upon the Christian instructor known as Alexia after the mink had left. She had arrived upon Spontoon’s shores in the time of Karoline. That was almost two hundred years ago, and she had arrived apparently as an indentured servant. Since then she had spent her time living quietly on Main Island as a fisher woman. Occasionally marrying but never bearing children. Had Saimmi not already known this she would never have believed what had been told her this day. When Katrina stepped in Saimmi again indicated that same place Alexia has sat. As the rabbit settled down Alexia made a face at Saimmi from behind her student, forcing Spontoon’s High Priestess to battle against her laughter as the mink vanished.

Songmark was days from opening, while a yellow furred hound studied the young rabbit in her office. “It is my understanding that you wish to attend Songmark for your second year” Miss Devinski observed.

“Yes Miss Devinski” Katrina Schmidt answered. She stood in the center of the hounds office, her paws clasped lightly before her. Unlike the year before, Katrina did not attempt to stand at attention, but stood comfortable with her feet a shoulders width apart.

“I see. You have changed over this summer Katrina. I take it then that you will be wanting a new dorm?”

“No Miss Devinski” the marsh rabbit answered. “No more I think than you would wish to change schools. I am quite comfortable with my friends. I would not like to leave them.”

Standing, the yellow furred Labrador walked around her desk, looking down into her students eyes. “I have been granted the power to refuse you. After what you three did in late July. It has quite upset the local authorities. Especially those religious ones.”

“As it should Miss Devinski. I have spoken several times to the Great Mother. We are in agreement. It was an accident, a mistake. She has looked deeply within all of us and found no darkness. We are absolved as long as Alpha and I continue to accept further training in our own paths.”

Reaching to a thin silver chain that hung from Katrina’s neck Miss Devinski dipped her fingers under the young woman’s blouse, brushing fine fur and very soft flesh as she lifted out a very plain cross from its deep hiding place. “Blessed by the Pope himself” she noted, though there was no mark upon its plain silver surface. “You have risen in this world.”

“Or fallen. There is little difference. Is there not” Katrina asked.

Letting the cross fall freely upon Katrina’s blouse Miss Devinski shook her head no. “Alpha has lost more than she will ever suspect. Perhaps it was not meant to be, but had it been. Oh what a threesome you would have made against crime. Katrina. We teach our girls to survive in an angry world. One that see’s women as nothing but meat for their table, bodies for their pleasure, slaves for their fields. We do not teach them to fight demons.”

A smile flickered across Katrina’s face for but a moment. “Not normally no, but there is Helen. There is Amelia and Saffina. There were others, will be others. Without my first year of training Miss Devinski, my soul would have been food for the Demons taking. I had no self worth before coming here. I was all bluff, all show. There was nothing inside me strong enough to stand against even the smallest demon. You four gave me self confidence. You four taught me that I can stand up for myself. You four have shown me that I need not surrender myself to any who desire me. After three years? Please, I have spoken to the Great Mother. I have spoken to your sweet Oharu, who see’s you as her closest friend in this world. I am no longer fooled by your smoke and mirrors Priestess of Minoa. I will stand with you and yours against the coming darkness as prepared as I may make myself. Whither I complete Songmark or not this will be so, though my future after is unknowable even by myself. Miss Devinski, even the worst graduate of Songmark would give the greatest demon a battle it would not soon forget. I am begging you for permission to return. I have so much to learn. Both what Songmark may teach and what Mother Mary may teach. If you wish I will cast ashes upon myself, groveling in the dust naked to the world. I need Songmark. I need what it will teach me.”

“You have matured a great deal this break Katrina. Are you aware that the path you have chosen may result in your complete destruction?”

Katrina bowed her head just enough to look at her clasped paws. “That I may become as Henrika? Or as Molly, or her poor sweet Megan? Or worse? I will fall Miss Devinski. I am aware of that. But on my own terms, not others. May I meet Henrika, please? Miss Devinski. I have chosen the path of a warrior. A warrior of my God. I am no great fool Miss Devinski. I am well aware that it is the rare warrior who’s dies of old age in their bed. I will not be surprised to find my own death long before my body is ready to sleep.”

At the name Henrika the hounds body stiffened, still she allowed Katrina to finish her words before responding. “Is there anything Oharu didn’t tell you” she asked.

“Great mother told me of those two Miss Devinski. Oharu spoke only of things she was certain I already knew, that I spoke of first or she felt that you would not mind me knowing. It was the Great Mother who told me what Songmark truly is. What you truly are. Why Songmark’s instructors may not marry, not even a woman such as your Helen. Not unless they first step aside. Miss Devinski please. Though I know these things I will never speak of them. No more than I will speak of things I have been told by the Popes emissaries. I have already spent time with Megan, before Oharu placed Molly’s mind within that body. Returning her to the mortal world. At such a terrible cost to my sister. I would like to see Henrika. To burn within my soul another mortal danger that I must guard against. And to give her the blessing sent her by the Pope. She was I understand, of the Greek Orthodox Church?”

“She was.” Miss Devinski sat on her desk, studying the rabbit still standing calmly before her. “You have not stayed in shape over the break. Your first month will be hell for you Katrina.”

“I have already looked upon Hell Miss Devinski. I have even lost part of my soul to it.” Katrina absently raised her paw to touch the cross hanging from her neck. “Had I not dealt with that, then no matter how strong my body, my soul could never have stood to a second years test. Certainly not the third. I am out of shape physically yes Mam. This I freely admit. I will be sore for weeks but mentally, emotionally I am stronger than I was at any time in my life. You may break my body Miss Devinski. I accept that possibility. But no mortal may ever break my spirit.”

“All right Katrina. Before I decide there are two questions. First, where will you worship. With Alexia?”

Katrina shook her head no slightly, letting her paw drop from that cross for now. “Not often. Alexia is a days travel away. On holidays yes, for I will need her guidance still for a while. Intensely during next Summer break as well, then she will leave these islands to find her next student. I will remain in my room, worshiping as Mother Mary has taught me. I memorized my bible by the time I was seven Miss Devinski. I can quote any verse you may desire. Attending a building to listen to someone attempt to redefine in their own view those things I already know is no longer any use to me. I still have much to learn yes, but nothing from a simple church. Certainly not from a Priest who speaks only his own words. Not those of God.”

“Very well. Accepted.” Crossing her arms under her breasts Miss Devinski studied the much changed young woman before her. “And Alpha?”

“Alpha” This time Katrina did move, turning her body to face away from her instructor though not quite showing her back to the hound. “I did love her Miss Devinski. I know that, though only a memory of how that felt remains. I was wrong to chase her. For she is married. I broke a commandment. Even though I tried I could not stop loving her. So I prayed to my God for forgiveness and help in letting her go. I have learned something important Miss Devinski. God forgives those who deserve forgiveness, who truly desire forgiveness. But asking him to remove ones love for another can prove to be a life changing experience. Alexia and Oharu have proven to me that I can still love. Alexia and those two silent agents of the Pope have shown me that I may even love another woman without sin. But who that may be or when I may find her. This I do not know. To be honest my instructor, it is something I would rather not deal with right now. Not this year. This has been a very life changing summer for me. To add to that a love. I do not think that I am ready to shoulder such responsibility. Perhaps after Christmass I may think about such. As to Alpha. I will be her friend always, I may even work with the Rotes. But I will never love her again. That is truly forbidden me.”

 A paw on her shoulder surprised Katrina. She had not sensed the older woman move. Certainly not approach her this closely. “I will take you to see Henrika now” Miss Devinski decided. “Then you will report to your dorm in three days as expected. You are correct Katrina, you have a great deal to learn and Songmark will do her best to pound what it can into that hard head of yours.”

“Thank you Miss Devinski.” Under that older paw young muscles relaxed for the first time in many long weeks. Reaching up with one paw the rabbit placed it over her instructors paw. “Thank you.”