Skylar gasped as she dropped her power at Matron Stelancia's chopping motion. Her skin was slick with sweat and she started panting as she became aware of just how hot she was. She had held the "magic" for the count of one hundred.

"Drink, little one," Stella said, holding out a dish with a large (for her) glass of juice sitting next to a thickly frosted cookie with several pieces of sugary candy on top.

Skylar grabbed the glass, greedily gulping down the contents despite the taste of whiskey in it. Two days ago she had whined about the whiskey and Mistress Stelancia had made her go all day without an alcohol rubdown or any alcohol to drink.

The burning on her skin and the heartburn had reduced her to sobbing tears by bedtime, when Stella had finally relented and bathed Skylar.

The glass empty Skylar grabbed the cookie, biting into it, relishing the strange foriegn taste of the jam center, the thick frosting, and the chewy candies. She'd finished gobbling it down when Stella held out a second, then a third cookie for the girl to devour.

"Once you have a moment, we will try again," Stella said, moving around behind Skylar and beginning to massage her shoulders with surprisingly strong little fingers. "Now, listen to me closely and attend to my words, little one."

Skylar made the hand motion she'd learned was obedience, chewing on the cookie. Matron Stelancia had proven with pain and magic lightning that Skylar was in no position to disobey and that ignoring her words brought pain. The little woman's fingers tingled with magic, making the massage even more effective.

"We will be moving to the next step, and that is allowing the magic to suffuse your entire body, all of your arcane channels, by your conscious decision," Stella said. Skylar moaned around the mouth of cookie as Stella's little fingers found a knotted muscle and loosened it. Stella chuckled softly then continued speaking. "This is an important step, little one," Stella pecked a kiss on the top of Skylar's head. "You must learn to do this consciously, otherwise wild surges of arcane fire can burn you. Burn your skin, burn your nerves, burn your organs, leave your arcane mage-channels full of arcane burn for the rest of your life."

Skylar nodded, licking the frosting off of her fingers.

...it isn't vegan, I've seen it made with eggs, but it tastes sooooo good and I crave it...

Skylar knew she should feel guilty, eating food with meat in it, enjoying cookies made with fat, butter, and eggs, but since she had begun being tutored by Matron Stelancia she had craved food and been hungry like she had never been in her whole life.

...I'm getting fat. My thigh gap is vanishing...

"I will tell you when to release your power. Do not worry about a snap back, just drop it immediately. If I cannot get you to respond to my words, I will slap your leg first, then your chest, and should you still not respond, I will slap your face," Stella said.

"Mmm-hmm," Stella said, holding up her hand and making the motion she had been taught signified assent.

"This is going to be challenging, little one," Stella said, kissing the top of the girl's head. "Momma is proud of you so far, but this will be difficult for someone as young as you."

...I am your mother, your older sister, your experienced lover guiding you through this, little one...

Stella moved back around in front of Skylar, sitting down and taking the Third Position, which involved sitting down on the floor, knees bent so the heels were next to the buttocks, back straight, hands pressed together in front of the middle of the chest. It was the position Stella was most fond of, while Skylar still felt most comfortable with the First Position.

"Reach out around you, feel the power surging through the world, in the sky, in the ground, in the trees and bushes, where the prime material plane meets the other planes and rubs against them, the people around you," Stella said.

Skylar took a deep breath, closed her eyes, let it out slowly. She did as Stella instructed, building on the earlier lessons. She could feel the power rushing through her, filling her, thudding inside her chest in time with her hearbeat.

...I am an indigo child, destined to lead people to a better future...

...I am blessed with powers and abilities others cannot imagine...

"Now, exclude me and the other living people, the plants, the ground, the sky, stay tapped in only to where you feel the delicate dance of the cosmos," Stella said.

Skylar frowned. This had been the hardest part. The work of an entire day.

"Bring it all inside your chest, between your breasts, beneath your sternum, mate it to the beating of your heart," Stella whispered. She squinted at the girl, watching the child with her own mage sight. Slowly, in fits and starts, the girl managed to accomplish it. The complex and twisting rune between her breasts was lit up with reddish fire.

Stella was careful not to let any hint of her surprise to show. In two days the child had managed to master things other young mages took weeks, months, years to master.

"All right, little one," Stella took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. "Let that power slowly spread out, filling your body. Down your power lines and into your very flesh."

Skylar nodded, then her brow furrowed in concentration. Stella reached down to her belt, taking a small bag out, and carefully undid the strings holding it closed. She bit her lip, watching the power pulse in between the young woman's breasts.

Suddenly it flooded out from the palm sized twisted rune under her skin, washing over her skin. Down her torso, across her breasts and shoulders, down her legs and arms, up her neck, over her face. Stella could smell burning hair and knew the girl would be hairless aside from the hair on her head. First the thick lines of power, then the secondary channels, and finally, all the intricate scrollwork of the runes of power built into her very mage channels.

Skylar gasped, her back arcing slightly, her eyes opening and rolling back in her head. Her mouth opened and she let out a long drawn out moan, glittering motes exhaling with her breath. Her nipples shivered and hardened, her aerole puckering up. Sweat glistened on her skin, making her look as if she had been lightly covered with oil. A flush covered her skin and there was a splattering hiss as liquid spread out from between Skylar's legs.

"Let go of the power, little one," Stella said. The bracers, arm rings on her biceps, anklets, thigh clasps, all began glowing. The glow quickly spreading from the gems into the inlay.

Skylar moaned, shivering, rocking back and forth slightly as golden fire started pulsing here and then across the runes under her skin. Dark crimson warfire sparkled over her heart, beneath her belly button, on her throat, lighting up complex runes that were intertwined with the runes filled with gold or bright red fire.

"Let go, Skyler!" Stella yelled. The jewelry began to glow brighter, the inlay melting and running down the bronze and copper.

Stella had been careful to pick a time where nobody else was practicing to let Skylar practice this dangerous part.

Skylar's hips bucked and she gasped, exhaling more motes of golden sparks that swirled up into the air, twinkling and pulsing.

"Skyler!" Stella smacked the girl's thigh, hard. Gems started popping and cracking on the young woman's jewelry and the necklace fell between her legs as the clasp melted, the molten metal running down Skylar's skin with no more effect that warm water.

The fire in her skin flashed brighter.

Stella called out Skylar's name again, slapping her across the breasts. This time sparks showered from the point of would-be contact, Skylar's mage-fire rebuffing Stella's attempt to strike her. Stella gritted her teeth, bringing up her own arcane protections.

"SKYLAR!" Stella shouted, slapping at the girl's face. The girl's magefire lashed at Stella, seeking to strike back and punish. Molten metal was now running down Skylar's arms, down her thighs and shins to puddle on the floor.

Stella flicked the bag at Skylar, black powder puffing out.

With an audible crack the light snuffed out as the finely ground mixture of obsidian and onyx coated Skylar, sticking to her sweat soaked skin.

Skylar collapsed in a heap, her hair puddled around her head.

Watching the girl to ensure she was breathing, Stella picked up the bottle of whiskey and wetted a rag with it, then took a long pull off the bottle before corking it and standing up.

Stella got up, moving around the young girl, gently wiping at her skin. Where she found the thin strips of metal where the arcane-melted jewelry had hardened once Skylar's power had left, she peeled it away, tossing it off to the side.

"We will try again tomorrow," Stella said gently. "Now you see how your power is dangerous to you. Too long, and the power would have begun to burn you up from the inside, replaced by arcane burn, which would have mingled pleasure with pain until naught was left of you but a blackened skeleton."

Skylar shuddered wordlessly, her face still against the floor, her head still hiding her.

"Several students I attending instruction with died that way, and I still dream of those smiling skulls some nights," Stella said gently. "With practice, with discipline, you will be able to channel that power, hold it witout succumbing to the sweet ecstacy it fills you with."

"I wet myself," Skylar sobbed quietly. She moved and wiggled away from the puddle she had been sitting in.

Stella knew what was wrong and wiped Skylar's backside like she was child. "Momma did the same when she was in your place, little one," Stella said. She bent forward and kissed the back of Skylar's head. "Momma is very proud of you, little one."

"It felt like I was going to die, but I wanted more, it felt so good. I didn't care, I just wanted more," Skylar sobbed. "It hurt but it was sooo good I couldn't help but want more."

Stella shushed her gently, wishing again that she could understand the girl. "That's arcane for you. The death scream of the Elder Gods still reverberating through the cosmos," Stella said. Already Skylar's skin was warming to the touch, faint flickers of arcane fire beginning to twinkle under the young woman's skin.

"Do we try again?" Skylar asked. Just the thought of trying it made her stomach twist in an alien way that was both enticing and repugnant as it was pleasurable.

While she couldn't understand, Stella got the gist of what Skylar was asking from the fear and longing in her voice. Stella shook her head, gently guiding Skylar onto her side and then onto her back, helping the young woman lay on the floor. "No more today, little one. The memory of the pain is gone but the memory of the dreadful pleasure still remains. It is too dangerous," She said, beginning to wipe Skylar's skin with the warm rag moistened with alcohol. She ignored the way Skylar twisted and made soft noises as she bathed her, flickers of arcane fire and titan fire blooming in palm sized patches as she washed away the finely ground powder.

"Most young mages such as you would take hours or days to have the slightest flicker of power show, little one," Stella said, wiping away the powder. "While you may be flush with power, little Xue'nghozi, in some ways you are in more danger that someone who has depleted their strength. Can you feel the lure of your blood, little one?"

"Yes, Momma," Skylar said dreamily. She flushed slightly.

mother, aunt, older sister, experienced lover

"You need time to heal, time for the rippling echoes of pleasure to fade from your body," Stella said. She sighed. "Again, it is unfortunately that you remain untouched and your womb shield unbreached. It would go easier for you if one of your Xue'nghozi males were your lover, their touch could banish the memories of pleasure from your flesh, replace it with the memory of their touch."

ew

"We need to put new jewelry on you to protect you and others, little one," Stella said. "Then we'll go home and Momma will feed you."

I'm hungry, Skylar thought, staring at the ceiling. Each piece of jewelry put on dampened the fire in her chest a little more until it was bearable. At Stella's urging she spit the wad of melted copper out of her mouth and let Stella replace her tongue stud.

No longer was it a spike, it was now a small twinkling emerald atop of a post.

Stella wrapped the docile young woman in a robe of mist-silk and led her out into the rain.

A few more days to Bloody Elshon's manor. Just a few more days... Stella thought to herself. I pray it will be enough.