Skylar woke up with a moan of pain, her hand moving to between her breasts to press against the deep throbbing burning pain in her chest. Her eyelids fluttered until they opened and she winced at the gold and blue light filling the inside of the large wagon.

"Are you awake, little Xue'nghozi?" Mistress Stella asked.

"Hurts," Skylar whined, sitting up. She saw the intricate pattern of light beneath her skin, radiating from a complex run surrounded by a circles of flowing runes the size of her palm in between her small but firm large breasts. Skylar swallowed thickly, choking down a scream of fear, and she saw that the intricate lines had formed on the back of her hand and was crawling up her arm.

"Morning mage burn, Skylee," Mistress Stella said. She moved over to Skylar, holding up a bottle and a rag. "You do not understand what is happening to you."

Skylar shook her head, feeling the burn beginning to spread.

Stella climbed up on the bed Skylar had shared with her, using her teeth to pull a cork free of the bottle. She held the rag against the mouth of the bottle, upending, and Skylar could see the cloth darken. When Stella reached forward with the rag Skylar tried to cringe back from the tiny woman.

"Little Xue'nghozi, you need bathed. You are obviously untrained to my eyes. Power fills you, but you are not used to it," Stella said. She set the bottle on the feather filled mattress and held up her left hand. Skylar flinched again as she saw the tiny arcs of blue electricity moving up and down between the fingers. "This, little Skylee, is power such as resides in you. Unlike you, I have learned the ways and methods of controlling my power. I awaken to warmth and comfort."

The tiny woman lifted the rag and wiped Skylar's lips. Skylar tried to resist licking her lips, but did anyway despite her reservations.

"Please, I don't drink," Skylar tried to say.

Stella poured alcohol directly into Skylar's mouth, then covered Skylar's mouth and nose with the rag. The action made Skylar reflexively swallow, the alcohol burning as it went down.

Only the burning stopped and a warm pleasant feeling began to spread out from her stomach. Skylar moaned softly as the tingling spread.

"There you go, little one," Stella said. When Skylar moaned again she poured another splash of alcohol into Skylar's mouth. Skylar swallowed greedily, feeling the burning heartburn she'd been suffering start to ease up. She could see the blue fire began to dim, but it made the red and gold seem brighter.

"You need wiped down. All that gold and red is titan fire and war fire. Titanfire is rare, but you and your two war-slaves are rich with it. Warfire isn't rare. It's uncommon, but the three of you are rich with that too," Stella said. "Let's bathe you, little one. Ease your fire a bit."

Skylar tried not to flinch as Stella rested the damp rag between her breasts. She began making slow circles, the smell of evaporating alcohol filling the wagon. Skylar moaned as the pain began to recede. Stella moved the blanket to the side, slowly giving Skylar an alcohol bath. Each swipe of the damp soft cloth eased the burning pain and turned it into warm tingling. When Stella rolled her over Skylar didn't resist, moving almost eagerly.

Once the alcohol bath was done, Stella washed the girl again, paying attention to the patterns of the different colored fires. Which of the core lines were the thickest and had the most offshoot curls and lines. Which ones had twisting runes of power formed by the power moving beneath the girls skin.

Stella shook her head as she washed the front of the girl's thighs, watching the power light up and then fade as she rubbed the girl's skin with the soft mist-silk cloth. Stella was an accomplished sorceress, not one of higher power, but the most accomplished of the young mages of the Consortium. She had mastered her power over decades of work and practice.

The young Xue'nghozi had more developed and intricate mage scrolling than any sorceress or arcane master that Stella had seen outside of the great armies that clashed in magic and steel during the Lich King War.

What concerned Stella was the fact that the girl's titanfire and warfire was intertwined with her magefire, using the same channels as well as their own intricate power lines. The girl's warfire lines were more intricate and widespread than her titanfire.

The markings concerned Stella, who wasn't sure what that meant for the girl's arcane ability. Stella herself didn't have titanfire or warfire running through her veins, nor did she know of any Phaelan who did. That was without that bloody red eye of the girl's. It was rare, a marking only humans possessed, and it largely meant that the possessor of the war-eye was destined to shake the foundations of history.

The girl had slipped back into a doze, softly snoring, completely relaxed. Stella rocked back, watching the girls fire play beneath her skin. Sparks flickering along her channels, splotches of fire blooming from some of the more powerful runes and channel nexuses to fade slowly. Usually someone untrained and so young would only have a few sparks dancing in the middle of their chest.

Stella sighed, leaving the young girl uncovered. She could already feel the mage-heat radiating off the girl even as she slept.

"You'll need to dress scantily until you can control your mage-heat, little Xue'nghozi," Stella said softly as she reached out and gathered up one of her cloaks. It was early yet, the sun barely risen beyond the horizon, and it was raining still. Stella glanced at the young girl again, making sure that the collar and the shackles were still in place. The inlaid gems were only dimly glittering, the brightness having faded as Stella had given Skylar her bath. The manacles and the collar would keep the girl from wielding her power and the mage-bite would keep her from verbalizing to guide and control her power.

Stella opened the door of her baishin, looking out for any of the young ones who might be running about playing or doing errands. She saw one of the girls, racing in between the columns of baishin with her young girl's braids streaming out behind her in the windy rainy morning.

"Coullemette," Stella called out.

The young girl changed angle, running faster, full speed at the stepping porch of Stella's baishin, her cat-slit pupil eyes shining in the warm light of the magically lit guide-globes that hung on either side of the door Stella was standing in.

The girl launched herself forward, performing a double somersault in mid-air before landing on the stepping porch in a perfect landing. She bowed, holding her hands out to the side to show she had not brought up mage-fire nor was armed.

"Yes, Matron Stelancia?" The girl, Coullemette asked. Spots of color were on her cheeks from exertion and excitement at having the Mistress of Artisans and researcher of the arcane, the Mistress of Sorceresses of the Consortium, directly ask her to do something.

"Find Tharlak, tell him to come to my baishin," Stella said.

Coullemette nodded, smiling. Tharlak was a handsome vendor of perfumes, soft cloth, and lotions with his own baishin as well as a valmik (Shop wagon) of his very own. Coullemette had started to notice the men of the caravan and had become curious about not only them, but what the older Phaelani found so interesting about the Phaelana.

Stella noted the girl's smile and concealed a smile of her own. Coullemette was a bright, inquisitive, and athletic young Phaelani who's breasts were just beginning to bud. Personally, Stella disapproved of the fact that Coullemette's mother still put the young Phaelani in little-girl braids, but a mother's word was law when it came to a child's maturity.

"Right away, Mistress," Coullemette smiled. She squatted down and then launched herself into the air, performing a double backflip with a twist that let her land on the ground facing away from Stella's baishin and take off running.

Stella shook her head, smiling widely at the young Phaelani's exuberance as she went back into her baishin and closed the door. She took off the cloak, lightly patting her hair to brush the raindrops from her flowing locks.

Stella busied herself frying up some vegetables, small river crustaceans, and chopped up fungi. She added sauces and spices to the pan, filling her little home with the smell of a good breakfast meal.

The little Xue'nghozi, Skylee, will need to eat when she wakes up. I can see she's lost weight just from her rub-down. The poor thing has no reserves, she'll need to plump up soon if we don't want her wasting away from her own power, Stella thought to herself, adding chopped meat to the dish she was making.

The knock at the door made Stella wave one hand at it, opening it with just a touch of arcane.

"Mistress Stelancia," Tharlak said, giving a smooth curtsey, holding his hands out at his side. A curtsey put a male off balance slightly, the hands open and to the side showing no weapons, no magic. It was a pose designed to show that the person performing it wasn't prepared to attack in any way.

It was especially important when dealing with humans, Xue'nghozi in particular. Humans were well known for being among the most war-like, the fiercest of warriors, with savagery and strength. Everyone in the Six Worlds knew that it was the mailed fists of the humans that had carried the day to defeating the Lich King Council's icy grip on the Six World.

Humans had cast down and destroyed the Elder Gods in the mists of pre-history, had destroyed the Unnamed Gods when their divine will became too much for the mortals of the Six Worlds to endure, and then had cast down the Lich Kings themselves.

Stella knew humans were dangerous. Every sentient race on the Six Worlds feared humans.

And among humans, the snow pale Xue'nghozi were the most feared. The red-skinned Albenites were the a close second, only their culture of peaceful farming once the wars were over kept them from being universally feared.

Yet they produced Bloody Elshon, who destroyed a Dread Knight of the Black Council and one of the Lich Kings themselves at the end of the war, She shook her head. Who crushed all who rebelled against the Red Queen during Alben's brutal civil war only a few years ago.

"Mistress?" Tharlak asked, still paused at her doorway.

"Apologies, Tharlak," Stella said, shaking herself slightly to banish her dark thoughts. "Please, come in, make yourself comfortable."

"What about the Xue'nghozi?" Tharlak asked, glancing nervously at the young girl on the bed, who's skin was pale and pinkish white, reminding him of sunset touched snow.

"She is asleep. She needed a mage bath," Stella said. "You do not need to make yourself comfortable if you are nervous."

Tharlak nodded gratefully. Despite the Xue'nghozi girl's obvious youth, she was muscled beneath her child fat, her long strong fingers capable of ripping flesh from bone, her body built for warfare and killing.

Tharlak feared her and being in her presence made his mouth dry and the urge to flee surge up. He had seen her fire, barely suppressed by the red-iron cored bronze manacles and collar. He had seen the males that were captured with her and had suffered nightmares all night of the two males breaking free of their bonds and rampaging through the caravan spreading carnage and death.

"How can I help you, Mistress?" Tharlak asked. The food that the Mistress was making smelled delicious, but the sight of the young female Xue'nghozi killed his appetite.

Stella set the wooden whisk aside, turning to face Tharlak. "Your wares."

"Are at your disposal, Mistress," Tharlak said.

"I need mist-silks, or water silks, as well as body lotions and hair oil for sorceresses," Stella said, waving toward the sleeping form of Skylee. "She overheats easily, and the properties of mist and water silk will keep her cool even when her mage and titan fire surge within her."

"I can provide that," Tharlak said.

"Her two males will need the same," Stella said. "We need to keep them healthy and intact so that we may present them as gifts to Warlord Elshon duRalvden in order to gain favor for our Consortium."

"It will be expensive," Tharlak said. "What do you offer in return?"

Stella though for a moment, glancing out of the corner of her eyes at the Phaelana. "I could enchant silks, lotions, and oils for you."

Tharlak thought for a moment, then nodded. "Each time we visit Alben I have specific requests for products. If you help me enchant them with the proper enchantments and glamours so that I can provide my customers with what they desire, I will provide what the Xue'nghozi require."

"Deal," Stella said. She turned and held out her arms. "Seal."

Tharlak stepped into her embrace, kissing her, staring into her open eyes to see the commitment and honesty to the deal.

When the kiss broke, Tharlak bowed.

"I will bring what you desire, Mistress," Tharlak said.

"Come by my baishin tonight," Stella smiled. "We can discuss our dealing further."

Tharlak shivered in pleasure and anticipation as he opened the door and hopped down onto Stella's stepping porch.

Stella went back to making a good healthy breakfast for her and little Skylee.

It was a good omen for the day to start off with a satisfactory bargain.