the havian heat

prompt: July in the US tends to be hot, and forecasters are expecting a heat wave across much of the country next week. Write a story or poem about getting through a time of exceptionally warm temperatures.
word count: 824

***

Katarina was not used to this heat.

She tugged at the collar of her dress that clung to her neck in an attempt to placate the feelings of suffocation that closed around her throat. She felt the clean, white silk of her dress dampen as beads of sweat began to roll down her back. Her breathing began to quicken as she struggled for air.

"I cannot breathe," she croaked out, her voice hoarse from lack of oxygen. Her chest raised and fell with each labored breath.

"Just take a deep breath, Miss Katarina," one of her attendants said to her sweetly as she began to button the dress closed, "It is just from nerves - they will pass."

"It is so hot. I cannot - I need some fresh air," Katarina stated, her voice shaking with panic.

Another attendant opened the large windows that led out to the balcony, but that did nothing to quell the relentless heat scorching her skin. Katarina fought back the sickness that had begun to pool in her stomach as more of the sticky, thick air wafted into the dressing room, almost choking on her own saliva as she swallowed quickly in an attempt to soothe the copper taste that burned the back of her throat. She tugged at her dress more insistently, each button closed making her hotter, constricting her further, trapping her.

"I have to take this off," she said, frantically pulling at the buttons that lined along her back.

"No, Miss Katarina, there is not time. Please, just calm down," the attendant pleaded at her, trying unsuccessfully to fight away the invading hands threatening to ruin her work.

Katarina was already wrenching at the buttons, recklessly yanking the dress open, too strong and too quick for the poor attendant to control. She desperately needed out before she was asphyxiated. If she could just be free of that vile dress that blanketed her body she could -

"Kat?"

She looked up, suddenly pulled from her racing thoughts by a voice that was not present before.

"M'Lord, I am sorry, you are not supposed to be here -" an attendant began before being interrupted.

"Abigail said Miss Katarina was feeling ill," the voice explained.

Everyone glanced over to Abigail standing in the doorway, her fair skin slightly flushed as if she had just finished a sprint. The young woman was almost always at Katarina’s side, yet she had not even noticed her personal attendant and friend leave. She shook her head, attempting to steady herself.

"No, Danny, I feel fine," Katarina replied, finally finding her voice, "I am just not accustomed to the heat here and this dress is so heavy and I am covered head to toe and they said I cannot carry my dagger and -"

"Ladies, will you please give us a minute?" Daniel asked, looking around the room at the attendants. Slowly the women shuffled out of the room, leaving Daniel and Katarina alone.

Daniel sighed. "Sit down, Kat," he said, motioning to the chair behind her. Katarina hesitated at first, but then finally relented. Daniel walked over to the bureau and collected Katarina's dagger before walking back to where she sat.

"I cannot do much about the weather, but," he began, kneeling before her and slipping his hands under her dress to holster the dagger around her thigh, "I can help with one thing." He looked up at her, one corner of his mouth pulling up in a half-smile.

Katarina laughed and, before he could stand from his knee, had wrapped her arms around his neck and held him tightly.

"I am nervous," he said, wrapping his arms around her waist, "but with you by my side I feel like I can do anything, Kat." He pulled away from her and took her head in his hands, gently stroking the sides of her face with his thumbs. "We will figure this out."

"Everything is going to be different after this, Danny," she said softly.

"Not everything. We will still have each other."

“This might be one of the scariest things we have done together, but I am glad I have you with me,” she said, a smile forming on her lips.

Daniel stood up then, taking Katarina's hands and pulling her up with him. He moved behind her and began fastening the buttons Katarina had ripped open during her earlier panic, his knuckles tenderly grazing the skin of her back with each turn.

"We have faced armies together," he said with a chuckle, "We can do this."

Katarina chuckled, too. "We almost died, Danny," she said as he moved around to face her.

"Ah, but we didn't," he answered back, offering his arm to her. "So, are you ready, Miss Katarina of Vulk?"

"As ready as I will ever be, King Daniel of Hav," she answered, taking his arm.

"Then let’s be married," he said as he escorted her towards the door.