It was winter and I huddled around a warm drink at Gertrude's place. She would often sit with me and we spoke about things. The bar was quieter than usual and with only a few regulars who kept to themselves. Ninya would send one of her younger sisters to fetch me when it was time to leave.
It was about this time, I noticed Helen had a red pendant. With Gertrude's help, she gained entry into the inner circle of the Neo-Artesians. They became aware of their shared family heritage and embraced as cousins. Ninya already knew my thoughts and assured me no harm would come to Gertrude, she is a blood descendant of Knut and this meant something to both the sisters and the Neo-Artesians.
She sighed that it was necessary as this particular chapter was astute at weeding out sisters. It was with Gertrude's unwitting assistance that she was spared a gruesome fate. Ninya had personally asked for her help. It was with equally weighted heart she had to inform Helen she was no longer a full fledged sister. Typically, sisters do not take demotions well and she assumed correctly Helen would become an ardent Neo-Artesian in anger at being ejected from the sisterhood.
Helen will likely out her fellow sisters Mina and Donna. They will continue to operate knowing her betrayal was coming and be reassigned to another city or also demoted. The Neo-Artesians will still treat Helen with a certain suspicion and assume this is just an elaborate ruse to make them believe she is a double agent.
I asked if that meant a greater sacrifice would be made. Ninya smiled and patted me on the cheek. She never did that before. It happened a few days later and Ninya was found in an alleyway with her throat cut clean. There was no blood, she had already been drained empty. No reprisal was made and the Neo-Artesians were glib with their major victory. For the time being, this also ended my contact with the sisters and I lost contact with both Mina and Donna.
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