When Spiridon entered the Headmistress's office empty-handed, it seemed that none of the Guardians were particularly surprised by this, Kirova was disappointed but not shocked either, "They weren't in the Princess's room, nor in the cafeteria, nor in any public place." Spiridon told everyone as he stood poised in front of the Headmistress's desk.

In the office stood a handful of Guardians, including Dimitri Belikov, the envoy from the Queen's Court to make sure the marking actually happen and to relay information to the Queen, Kirova and the tattoo-artist in the grounds, as well as Spiridon now.

"Is there a specific place that the Princess would retreat to?" Kirova inquired annoyed, sitting down on her chair and looking at everyone in the room.

"Several places Headmistress. But most of them have since been closed off to students since the Princess escape and the others have too many memories with the Novice Hathaway for the Princess to return to them." A senior Guardian, Alberta, replied, stepping away from the wall to speak before returning to her position.

"That could be a reason for her to go to them, because she'll believe we won't search them because of their sentimental value." Another Guardian countered, stepping away from the wall to speak.

"He's got a valuable point." The Headmistress agreed, pointing her finger at the Guardian who spoke.

"Fetch Andre..." Kirova started before trailing off, silently cursing herself for momentarily forgetting that the Dragomir Prince was deceased, a small sigh escaped her lips as she leaned back on her chair.

"Belikov's been training her since her arrival, hasn't he?" Spiridon questioned, moving his dark eyes to the Guardian in question.

Everyone turned to look at Dimitri causing him to slightly shift his weight from one leg to the other, "What about it?" Kirova questioned, truly not understanding what Spiridon was getting at.

"Seeing as Belikov has been training Alistair since her arrival, I'd assume that they've spoken, primarily about the Princess meaning that Belikov might have gotten an insight into how Alistair works." Spiridon clarified.

Kirova moved her eyes to Dimitri next, a silent demand for him to start spewing whatever he knew of Alistair, something that although uncomfortably he did.

"Indeed, I have been training Alistair and yes, we have spoken about the Princess, she even attended Alistair's training session yesterday." He started, watching as a seemingly innocent smirk etched on Spiridon's face. "Alistair told me that she's always focused on keeping the Princess safe, how her first thought is to protect the Princess first, she gave examples of times in which she was unnecessarily over-protective of the Princess but she didn't give much more information."

This information was not valuable to the situation, it was interesting as it piqued everyone's interest as to the situations that might have been mentioned but were useless to the situation on hand.

"At least we know that she hasn't escaped campus." another Guardian claimed, not a crucial point but a semi-valid one, which meant that if they were still on campus they could find them.

"A normal Dhampir, Novice or Guardian, always has the instinct to take their Moroi, charge or friend, to the nearest safest location." Alberta claimed, reminding everyone of their nature.

"But Alistair knows little to nothing about the school grounds." Kirova pointed out, strangely calm regarding the whole situation, which everyone knew that if Rosemarie Hathaway was included she would not be.

"I have to disagree Headmistress," Dimitri claimed, his Russian accent coming out and overshadowing everyone's mainly American one, "We know that the Princess and Alistair share a bond but we know not how deep this bond runs or how far their bond can reach."

"I agree with Guardian Belikov, not once since Alistair's arrival at the Academy has she seemed disorientated about anything and you surely haven't forgotten the time Alistair knocked out cold two Guardians merely because she felt that the Princess was scared." Alberta agreed.

Kirova nodded at the senior Guardians' words but before she could reply to her a soft yet audible knock on the wooden doors was heard, making her say instead "Come in."

The door opened slightly and a brunette head poked in, Kate's features becoming visible to everyone, her features looking strikingly innocent for a young girl who has faced death first hand at least 6 times.

"Is the ceremony going to be here?" she questioned calmly, her forest-green eyes scanning the room, just like any and every Guardian should do before entering a room.

"It is." Kirova replied, making her voice sound menacing. Kate's head disappeared from everyone's view and after a few seconds of hushed arguments Christian Ozera and Princess Vasilisa Dragomir were pushed, lightly, into the room, Christian's presence shocking everyone while the Princess merely waved.

Kate entered after them, shooting the Morois a small glare while she closed the door with her heeled foot. "Why is he here?" Spiridon inquired.

"So he doesn't blabber about the ceremony. Control the people, control the gossip." Kate replied as if it was the most natural thing in the world, her slender and long fingers pulling her hair up and tying it in a messy bun at the top of her head.

"Where do you want me?" The brunette then questioned, looking at the Headmistress, who albeit surprised gestured to the chair before her desk that was replacing the ones that the Princess and the Dhampir had seen and sat on when they first arrived.

"Have you ever gotten a tattoo?" Kirova questioned, unprecedentedly considering she never once had to as a student such question because she knew that they hadn't.

"Does it look like I ever left my Moroi alone to go get tatted." Kate replied sarcastically, making Lissa snicker under her breath at her best friend's bluntness, "Sorry." the Novice muttered, sitting down on the chair and narrowly avoiding Kirova in every way possible.

Every Guardian in the room had to bit back a chuckle that threatened to escape their lips at this small scene, especially Dimitri who had grown accustomed to the young strange Novice lashing out due to frustration or being tired.

"There are seven rules Humans have come up with for when one is getting a tattoo." Kirova started, locking her hands and setting them on the table as she stared at the human before her, "And although we might not mingle with them, we do use these rules when marking someone and teach them to our young. However, you are not one of our young, but you are getting marked so I feel the need to tell you these."

'Is it just me or is the Headmistress actually being kind of nice? '

The sentence was but a thought in Kate's mind, and it was filled with genuine curiosity and wonder, so much so that  the thought traveled to the blonde's mind in the form of a mind telegram, as the tattoo artist began preparing the things and the Headmistress waited for him to do so.

"Rule number 1." The Headmistress began, "Don't remove the bandage too soon, two to four hours after the marking should be enough. Rule number 2. When you shower, wash gently your mark gently as to not irritate the skin."

"Rule number 3. No scratching, something that you youth have the tendency to do when something itches. Rule number 4. Avoid water, going to the beach, swimming pools and rivers, something that you won't have to worry about considering we don't have that here at the Academy." Kirova continued, watching as Kate's head snapped up and a look of disappointment covered her face.

"You don't have a swimming pool? Do you not know how much resistance once can gain from swimming?"

"Kate..." Lissa reminded, fighting off giggles that were bubbling in the back of her throat as Kate's disappointment filled her.

"They don't have a swimming pool Liss." Kate argued, turning around in the chair to look at her best friend.

"Attention Alistair!" Kirova snapped, prompting the three teens in the room to jump, clearly not having expected it.

Kate turned back to the front, her cheeks slightly red with embarrassment while Christian shivered next to Lissa, sure he knew that Kirova was one mean woman but to actually hear her snap angrily at someone was an entirely different thing.

"Rule number 5. Moisturize with your body cream if you have, something that I assume you do. Rule number 6. Avoid buttoning the top button of your uniform shirt and swearing scarves for now. And last but not least rule number 7. Avoid exposing your mark to the sun too much, both to avoid the need to retouch it faster and to avoid grabbing unwanted attention." Kirova finished.

Sooner rather than later, a buzzing sound filled the room and the tattoo man ordered Kate to lean her head forward slightly, which she promptly obeyed. The second the needle touched the nape of Kate's neck Lissa jumped, feeling the same sensation on the back of her neck. A reaction that had Christian turning to her confused as to why she had jumped, something to which she replied with a polite smile and a shake of her head.

Her jade green eyes moved to the Russian Guardian, Guardian Dimitri Belikov, the Guardian that had brought her and Kate to the Academy, the Guardian who, Kate told Lissa, Mason Ashford had a crush on.

Dimitri stood there, emotionless like the rest of the Guardians watching Kate get marked and although he had his Guardian mask on, but Lissa could tell that he was proud, even with knowing Kate for a short period of time. He was proud that Kate wasn't making a big scene out of her marking.

She'd be lying if she said she wasn't proud of her best friend She was, she is incredibly proud of Kate, for being so accepting of everything, Lissa's species, her backstory, her gifts, who she really was, for knowing and understanding that training was the only way to give Lissa a normalish life. 

Amusement and teasing burned through the bond that the two girls shared, coming from Kate, who had a needle poking into her nape repeatedly, yet showed no sign of any emotion on her features. Lissa replied to the emotions that flooded her system with a light amusement of her own, willing the sentence "Your mentor is looking at you rather intensely." to be predominant in her mind so that Kate was able to sense it, to read it in her own mind.

Her attempt was succesful, despite the fact that while many people knew little about the bond, the two girls knew even less sometimes, and this happened to be one of those times. They knew that if there was a sentence that was running rampant in one's minds minds, the other could sense it, but they never actively tried to communicate with their thoughts, much preferring to do so with their emotions.

Kate would have scoffed at the blonde's words as they suddenly began running through her own mind, but seeing as she couldn't necessarily reply to the verbally or check if Lissa was telling the truth, she decided to merely roll her eyes and pinch the palm of her hand, allowing their bond to pass the feeling and pain of the pinch to the blonde.

Lissa inhaled sharply and shot a glare at Kate, while Christian looked at her once more, confused with her reactions to seemingly nothing.

"Are you alright?" he questioned lowly, silently thanking the buzzing that drowned his voice out. Lissa turned her head to him while rubbing that palm of her hand in which she felt the pinch.

"Yeah, why?" she frowned at him. She watched as he moved his different coloured eyes from her to Kate's sitting figure and the to her back before returning to her eyes, raising his brow in silent question.

"Oh." she vocalized, her brows shooting up for a moment before they came back down and an easy smile etched on her lips, "Just a bit of a banter." 

Kate decided to try and and do what Lissa had just done, and thought of the word "Flirt." one single word that had Lissa's cheeks burning while she looked at Christian, prompting her to look away quickly as the blush deepened.

Christian would be lying if he said that he was confused with the whole situation. A confusion that had been borthering him since their first meeting in the chapel and him rescuing her from Jesse Zecklos's annoying ass.

Everyone saw him as a potential Strigoi, following in his parents' footsteps, something that he had actually thought about before, before Lisa came along, after nearly two years away, and treated him normally, like he was just another Moroi.

He knew that the old Lissa, the Lissa that had Rosemarie Hathaway as her Guardian and best friend, wouldn't treat him this way, she would treat him the same way the rest of the students did.

That Lissa mingled with the rest of the Royal Morois, was popular and had the world at her feet, so far this Lissa avoided the Morois almost as if they were a human plague, she seeked refuge in the room above the chapel and kept mostly to herself.

His mind reeled back to the duo's conversation in the room in the chapel before they left for the ceremony, remembering how Lissa mentioned a dream that Kate had, but how would she know what the dream was about if she wasn't in her head.

Then suddenly it hit him, the speech for the priest earlier that day mixed with the girl's conversation hit him like a brick of walls.

"She's shadow-kissed like Anna, St. Vladimir's Dhampir isn't she?"

Christian's low question made Lissa move her jade green eyes to him, uneasiness flashing through them as she looked into his mismatched eyes, the silence from her was the answer that he needed.