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[survivra]

I need to learn how to make maps. Big maps—I know how to do towns and short distances between roads, but that's not big enough. And I want to know about trading ships. How far do they sail? Do their captains take passengers?

[ She rattles off her list of questions with no explanation, because don't these sound like any reasonable questions no matter why she's asking them? Katsa opens her mouth to say something else, stops, frowns, and then starts again with less of a demand in her voice. This is far more awkward for her, something she's unused to asking or even desiring, and so it's the more difficult request. ]

And... I don't wish to continue training on my own. I don't mean in magic. I've plenty of help. And I don't mean that I need teachers. I need someone who can challenge my Grace. Who can push me so that I don't stop becoming faster and stronger, as far as I can.

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[survivra]

It's—

[ She's got to learn to keep better track of whom she's explained this to before and how she does it each time. She starts again. ]

Where I'm from, children whose eyes settle at a young age are called Gracelings. [ She gestures at her eyes: one blue, one green, abnormally bright. ] We know them by their different colored eyes of any colors. And each Graceling has a skill, a Grace, at which they're better than any Ungraced person could be no matter how hard or long that person trained. One of my uncle's cooks was Graced, and one of his stablehands, and he had a dancer and a woman Graced with numbers working in his countinghouse, the only woman with such a job in all seven kingdoms. Because it was her Grace, so there would be no one better. There are physical Graces, but there are also prescient and mind-reading Graces, like predicting the weather or reading desires.

I'm a Graced fighter. [ Hesitation. ] My true Grace is survival.

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[fulminants]

Huh.

[ That's a lot to take in, but Johnny handles it in stride -- it explains so much. ] That's pretty cool. So you survive no matter what?

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[survivra]

[ She shakes her head. ]

I feel pain if I'm struck. [ Except she feels it far less and can ignore it far better than most. ] I might have frozen to death once. [ If she hadn't known all the ways to avoid it, and if her body hadn't been able to handle the cold better than any normal person's. ] I tire and hunger. [ At an abnormally slow rate. ]

When I compare myself to other people, I can do things that they can't. That are unusual. But I'm sure I can still die from all the usual methods.