Uncertain Magic 2 part 1: Uncertain Arrival

by Nuit du loup

This chapter is a bit long and has been split in two for the sake of readability, especially for mobile devices. Also, please not that this is a slowly developing and plot driven story,and the sex is coming later. Otherwise, enjoy!

Under a seemingly endless dome of stars and the occasional stray bit of wispy cloud, Kat sat with her legs curled under the sheet she'd borrowed from her assigned cabin. The glass dome, as wonderful as it was, did not keep the cool of night at bay, so she'd nipped down to fetch something. Otherwise, she'd spent the entire voyage...or was it flight?... on the observation deck, watching the passage of the world below her, or the operation of the ship itself. The only breaks had been a short nap, necessary bathroom trips, and when a young naval rating delivered some food to her. It was only a sandwich and some juice, but it had helped fill a stomach she'd been too preoccupied to realize was empty

As its name, Wind-Cutter, suggested, their journey had been as swift one, and unbelievably smooth. She'd managed to ask one of the ship's crew how they flew so fast, and he'd told her they had a device on the bridge that allowed them to see the air currents ahead and around them. This let them find the best route and how to trim the complicated weave of sails. To her it seemed far more like a mechanical bird instead of just a ship. Far down below, it seemed as if the ground was just panning by her like a display. Details she'd never realized about the world could be observed from up here.

For a while now, they'd been flying over land, the main island if Iskar itself, and she was really getting a feel for how large it really was. Intellectually, she knew there were quite a few people that argued that it should be considered another continent it was so big, but it was another thing entirely to sail above all that land with no sea in sight. It was such a new and bizarre notion to not be able to see the ocean that she'd stared in wonder for an embarrassing amount of time. Part of that had been just how beautiful it all was.

Miles into the air, the ground was shrouded in nighttime shadows, but the glowing, pinprick jewels of people lighting up their world glittered up at her. All the other shapes, unless they were very large, were indistinct most of the time, but she could sometimes make out the patterns of farmland, or the curving lines of roads that were like a lacey pattern in the ground lights. They'd passed over several smaller islands when it was still day out, and she'd loved how she could see the world going about its business. But what drew her eye now were more of the lights, because they were growing in number, brightness, and groupings; towns and villages.

They'd flown over several other cities, but none could hope to match the one they were now headed towards. The others had been fervent, busy places of activity with other ships and ground traffic pouring in and out of them like rivers to a lake. Her active imagination was incredibly fascinated by the sight of large freight and passenger skyships. They were all quite new, and the variations in design ideas made her hands itch to take them apart and see how they worked. Several times squadrons of fighters swirled around them in a swarm as they established their identity and then raced away once again. Some even used the archaic light semaphore system that she had learned about in school.

This city however was entirely another thing altogether. They were still a distance from the coastline, and already approaching the outer limits of the massive urban center. The main island was very large, with mountains and hills near the coast, and she could see the way all the roads swerved and hugged the high ground as they led to the first areas of housing. Also, the sky was much busier than anywhere else. Skyships abounded, even in the dark of night, and that included the swift little mail ships. In the far distance, she could even make out the leviathan shape of a Main-Line battleship. It was brightly lit to display its lethal presence in the sky with an array of weaponry to make any other ship flee in terror if it even looked like it meant business.

Cutting a swath through the glowing blanket below was the sinuous shadow-shape of the Neya River. It was this they were vaguely following now, but in a straight line. A mail ship flitted by them, surely on an important errand, and it was close enough that she heard the hum of its engines. The Wind-Cutter dropped a little lower, and their speed slowed just a tad, drawing the earth closer. In the near distance, a large shape was building into view.

It was tall, circular in shape and a bit like a massive cone, it sat ensconced inside a thick wall of white stone that was the identical coloring of the main structure. In her veins and bones she could feel the telltale, tickling rush sensation of magic, and in her head she could feel it even more strongly from the direction of the object. It was like a beacon, shining bright in the distance and if she concentrated hard on it, there was almost a musical sound too.

"That would be the leyline power station," said a young, male voice behind her. She turned to find another of the numerous navy personnel that crewed the ship. She regarded him, and felt a moment of amusement. He was clearly trying to look her over, and stood there with the pose of a young man trying to impress someone. Too bad it was mostly wasted. That thought drew her lips up in a wicked smile that obviously made the rating uncomfortable. He cleared his throat before speaking again. "Ma'am, the Colonel asked me to check on you."

"I am doing just fine," she replied assuredly, standing. She wasn't tall, but her brown eyes held him, and she wasn't really aware she was doing it either. "Will we be arriving soon?"

"Ah...yes we are," he said. He kept unnecessarily fiddling with his black and crimson uniform. It was kind of annoying actually. "ETA is about thirty minutes, plus a little time to land."

"Great!" she replied, nodding and turning casually back to look out of the glass. Steam was rising from the power station cone like a snake-shaped cloud. She was pretty sure that they must use the water from the river to keep the aether conversion generators cool. Nothing, not even magic, was perfectly efficient and on that scale they would generate a crazy amount of heat. A couple centuries ago, before the magical tech renaissance had really boomed, people would have been terrified a plant like that would just explode and kill everyone.

Not even noticing that her visitor had left, she smiled wider as she felt the faint vibrations through her feet that warned of new shipboard activity. As she knew to watch for now, lines and sails shifted positions, and several were drawn in entirely. The loss of sail area drastically cut down their speed, but she supposed that it might be dangerous to go so fast through such busy skies at night. She also wondered how they kept they sky traffic from becoming a huge mess. Someone had to be directing things, and it had to be an interesting job.

Also along the river was a wide, grand avenue, and even from so far above, she could see the little lighted shapes of vehicles coursing down it, with most headed away from the city at this late hour. It led to a huge, circular road that was blazing with lights, almost enshrining the shape in the center. Her eyes widened at seeing first hand one of the most famous sites in Iskar. On an obsidian platform that was supernaturally strong, would be the Sovereign Defending. The epic statue showed their draconic ruler during the ancient battle against nearly unstoppable invaders, but carved in dark marble so well that it almost seemed like a living thing instead stone. She wanted to take a closer look, but they swung away, turning to head over the sprawling city of hundreds of thousands of people, maybe even millions.

When they reached the northern coast if Iskar, they turned again to follow along it. Below, she could see an amazing thing. Huge freight ships of both kinds were docking at wharves or special cradles in a massive dockyard that seemed to line the coast for miles. She'd seen the machines at work down there before, but never on such a numbing scale. But it made sense, when she remembered that Iskar's vast wealth came from its widespread trade and a dominant transshipment position on the ocean. It was just a bit daunting to see the realization of her nation's financial power laid out before her.

The docks eventually changed over to residences along beaches, and then to upscale communities with large gardens and grounds. Then they came to what she knew had to be true heart of the city. Buildings thrust up into the sky within a wide coastal plain hugged by a ring of ills, with a flurry of activity going on even this late. There were a great many more military shyships here, and the Wind-Cutter wove between their formations, heading towards something in the distance.

Sticking out from the city was a long light-lined strip, like a bridge or causeway over the dark waters of the sea. Then they were curving around the glittering shape of another island just offshore from Iskar that was a bit large, but the dark of night prevented her from seeing fine details just yet. She knew though, exactly what she was looking at, and excitement boiled up inside her like steam trying to escape a kettle. That island, every meter of it, was the Iskar National Academy.

Bright light suddenly illuminated a large patch of ground, and a shape angled up into the air. It was vaguely blade-shaped but hollow, but she could see no reason to have a blade or aether vane that large. She felt a strong pulse of magic from the direction of the object and two smaller, glittering objects rocketed out of the end of the thing, arching in midair in the Wind-Cutter's direction, even as the blade-thing lowered back down. She focused on the magic emanating from the approaching lights, and she felt something a tiny bit familiar. One of the objects did a little looping maneuver and matched their course, flying just to their starboard side.

"A mage!" she gasped aloud, pressing her face and hands to the glass. The figure was hard to see, but from the garb she figured it was one of the Crows. After a short distance, the light of the magic he flew with flared and he banked away, blasting powerfully to join the other one.

They turned a little more, finally moving back over land, and headed towards what looked like a raised area. This proved true, but not in the way she had initially thought. It became clear the area had been constructed into a circular platform, and there were things like great troughs all around its surface, each with a building next to it. She squinted to make out shapes, and gasped. In many of the troughs were skyships, held down in cradles and with attendant gantries. One of these lit up, and was empty.

They turned towards that empty space, and their sails quickly began to be pulled in. Then the masts folded down to their stowed position and she heard the deep hum of the single engine from behind her. The shapes of men and woman ran out onto the platform and the cradle reshaped itself to fit this ship under their control. One man, a mage from the feel of magic coming from him, began to glow from his hands and he used them to quickly send semaphore messages, guiding them in. They slowed to an absolute crawl, and she could now see things in more detail. The buildings sat on rails and could be moved over to cover and protect the troughs, and in the dark mouth of the one nearest to them, she could see additional gantries and other equipment inside. It was kind of freaky looking.

When she heard and felt a dull clunk resound through the ship, she knew they were now docked. A shiver passed through her then, because that sound was like an exclamation point to mark what could be the major turning point in her life. Picking up her borrowed sheet, she made her way back to her cabin to reclaim her bag. Even as she pulled the strap over her shoulder and turned around, she found Colonel Kota standing there, raising a hand as if to knock on the side of the hatch.

"Time to go?" she asked, smiling wide. The adrenaline of excitement was really working on her now. She hoped her eagerness didn't show too much.

"Yes, it is," Kota acknowledged, giving her a raised eyebrow. "You aren't nervous?"

"Why should I be?" she asked, baffled as to why he would think that.

"Well, that's generally the normal reaction for a young person that is suddenly out on their own,"

"Really?" she asked, thinking about it. It sort of made sense. "Well, I like being on my own. Can I ask you a question though?"

"If it's a short one," he grinned. "I need to get you delivered."

She nodded and held up her hand with the bracelet. The silver links clinked musically as they fell along her tanned skin. "How many like me are there? And do you pick them all up?"

The colonel seemed to think it over for a second and then shrugged. "There are usually a dozen or less special invites per enrollment, and for the most part we do pick them all up, unless they are already here on the main island and can just take a train. You are my last one for this year."

"Well...where now?" she asked.

He made a head gesture in the vague direction of the outside hatch, "Temporary housing with the others that have traveled in, which is most of them since we are a nation of islands. Orders were to make sure you would arrive as close to the last minute as possible for some reason, and don't bother to ask me why because I have no clue. In the morning you'll have the real fun." His smile widened with an odd kind of glee. "It's the glorious enterprise known colloquially, as In-processing."

"Sounds exciting," she agreed with a smile. "I'm good here, so go ahead and lead on."

He gave her an odd look, and then turned, "Right, follow me."

She followed him back through the ship and they stepped out onto a long, cantilevered gangway made of steel that had been mated to the outer hatch. Below the corrugated steel, she could see down into the trough. It was pretty deep. A basso rumble started up, and she turned to see the barn thing heading towards them, sliding along the tracks inlaid into the cement of the landing platform.

"Move along!" Kota prompted when she slowed to see what was going on. They crossed over the rail and she could see a small group of men moving about tasks around the ship, and talking with crewmen. The platform looked enormous while standing on it, but she was distracted from that when the headlights of a vehicle crested the side and turned towards them. A moment later a bus stopped only ten feet away. Along the side were the words: Port shuttle bus # 23.

"Climb on!" said the driver, and when the Colonel did so, she followed. They took the first seats since it was entirely empty. The driver nodded at them in his mirror. "Nice to see you again Colonel!"

"Same to you." Kota replied politely

The bus drove them off the platform, past its service buildings and out into the Academy grounds. At first it looked like any University, with grand, old buildings and spacious lawns, but the bus passed all this and entered a more regimented area. After going through an unmarked stone gateway, they pulled in front of a nondescript building labeled Temp Dorm A. The driver stopped and opened the door. "Out you go!"

Kat followed the Colonel out and hurried to catch up as his long legs carried him to the front door of the building. He opened the glass door and led her into a small lobby, with an older woman attending a small counter. "I've got your last one!" Kota said, addressing the woman, who smiled at the sight of them.

"So I see, so she would be Katerina then?" she snorted a laugh, and opened a floppy book in front of her. She picked up a pen and crossed something off. "Young lady, you will only be staying here for tonight since you will get your permanent room assignment later this morning. So please head upstairs and use room 308."

"Sounds great!" she said, taking the proffered key from the woman and looked up the Colonel. "Thank you for the lift!"

"It was a pleasure," Kota replied politely. "Enjoy your time at the Academy." He stood slightly more erect and offered her a quick salute. "Ma'am." With that he turned around and exited the building.

"308 is upstairs?' she asked the woman, gesturing at the ceiling with one hand.

"Yes, top floor," she answered, pointing off to the side where there was a set of stairs.

Nodding her thanks, she hefted her bag up a little better and ascended the stairs at a fast pace, eager for the morning to come. Despite Kota's attempt to intimidate her, she could only feel excitement. She could hear people moving around on the floors she passed but kept going. At the top landing went down a hallway of closed, undecorated doors and stopped at 308. Inserting her key, she opened the door and entered, finding only a bed and a tiny bathroom cubical inside. Shrugging, she locked the door behind her and chucked her bag onto the floor.

She flopped down onto the bed and began undressing, not even thinking to stop at her underwear. She'd always slept naked and refused to stop doing so here. It was actually kind of exciting to be in a strange place and a strange bed with nothing on. In fact, she was very tempted to spend a little time masturbating. She reached down and slid a finger over moist lips. It might help with sleep, but she was in a mood to be loud and any neighbors would be unappreciative of the noise, so she simply turned on her side and contented herself to falling asleep with her hand between her strong legs. It was kind of nice actually.

***

Under the dark blanket of night, a tall man strode with confidence down the filthy back alley of a poor tenement neighborhood on the outskirts of the great capital of Iskar. His booted footsteps were drowned out by the million different sounds of a city at night, and he ignored the scurrying forms of rats around the piles of refuse scattered about the dim passage. The grime produced by the dregs of society was nothing to him. His only source of illumination was the full moon overhead, protecting his desire for nocturnal anonymity.

He reached an intersection where two alleys came together, and pulled a long, tubular device from beneath his ankle-length, body hiding coat. He had no desire for anyone to see him in the area and ask probing questions, so he worked quickly, placing one end of the device against the exact center of the intersection. With it braced between his feet, he folded out the T-shaped handle at the top. Holding it firmly, he pulled the trigger on the left side. There was a soft "phut" sound and then a metallic ping followed, and the device kicked in his hands.

Backing away from the spot, he hid the device back inside the coat, and after a short wait the air over the intersection rippled with shadows. Like a creature slipping from the oily muck of a swamp, the first form squirmed out into the world. It was skinny, skulking, and shifted back and forth from walking on two spindly legs to all fours. The man was glad it was too dark to see well, because none of the darker servants of his Master were pleasant to look at. Even now the air was becoming tainted by its rotten-egg scent, and more were coming through.

After a few of the fetid things arrived, a more humanoid shape strode out, but fuzzy and hard to look at. It came right towards the man, and he spat bile in distaste, hand automatically settling on the familiar pommel of his sword. "You know your orders," he said in a low growl. It was bad enough dealing with his infuriating daughter, but now he had impertinent monsters too. He held out the device. The thing took it silently, and then slipped away, disappearing into the gloom.

Last to arrive was a large, heavy breathing thing on two massive legs. It was a head taller than the man and grotesquely huge. Tubes and what looked like small glass bulbs stuck out from places that the man was glad it was too dark to see. The big thing snuffled the air like a common beast, and pointed off in one direction. The smaller, scuttling things sped off that way, chattering and stinking, even crawling along the sides of the building. The beast gave the man a slow bow, and then strode after his minions, his steps loud.

"Disgusting things," the man spat on the ground again and turned back the way he had come. If he hurried, he could make a few careful bus and train swaps before making his way back home, because a man of his station couldn't be caught where he was now. And getting caught would mean more for him, than simple death.

***

Seemingly only moments after falling into slumber, Kat was rocketed upright in her borrowed bed when the loud bang of the room's door slamming open into the wall jolted her into wakefulness. Her heart immediately went into overdrive and she felt herself readying to fight off the intruder before her conscious mind had a say in the matter. Tears from the shocking intrusion of sunlight blurred her vision and she rapidly blinked them away. It was an extremely jarring way to wake up.

"Nice reflexes cadet!" hollered an ungodly loud female voice. Kat's eyes locked onto the doorway and her brain finally processed the image of a dusky skinned woman of moderate stature and petite shape, standing there with a faintly glowing hand pressed to the door. She was grinning madly. "Get your clothes on pronto and line up with the rest of the little baby birds in front of the building!"

With that she was gone and Kat heard the door across the hall slam open in the same fashion as hers, and the woman screamed. "Time to get that pretty ass out of bed!" and so on, and then again at another door further down.

Groggily, Kat yawned, stretching herself. The air was a little cold, and her nipples were wonderfully hard and thrusting out. She gave one a playful, idle pinch to wake herself up a little more, and reached for her clothes. Since it sounded like she needed to be quick, she just threw back on the stuff from earlier and checked herself over. When she decided she was presentable enough, she did as asked and promptly ran back downstairs. The lobby was empty but she found a couple girls already standing in a rough line on the pavement outside. The sun was only just peaking over the lush green trees of the massive campus and birds were starting their daily songs.

Joining them, she went to the end of the line. "Morning!" she called out.

"It's too damn early to be morning," muttered the first girl in line.

"Haven't seen you around," said another, looking at Kat curiously.

"I just got in last night," she replied, even as more girls were joining them.

"Last—" a new girl asked, sounding confused, then she cut off when her gaze settled on Kat's wrist, and the bracelet. Her voice had an edge when she continued. "Oh! You're one of those girls!"

Kat felt a note of anger, but she had no chance to ask for what the girl had meant by that. The woman that had woken her up strode confidently out of the building, followed by a lethargic mass of young girls of various races and ages ranging from somewhere around eleven or twelve, or up to one girl that looked like she might be eighteen. Now that Kat had a better look at the woman, she was wearing a long, black coat with crimson trim that was open in the front from the hips down, but descended nearly to her boots, and a matching black skirt. Over the coat she wore a long, white collared cloak that fastened via a metal chain just above her breasts. A crimson belt and gold buckle completed the formal uniform.

The woman raised her hand, and Kat felt her magic as she snapped her fingers and created a bright flare of light. "Attention to me, children! I am Major Wallova, and I am in charge of all fresh enrollees into our wonderful Academy! I like to set the proper tone to things at the very start so let me make one thing clear to you all. This is the military, not kiddy school, and you are all in it. That means no more juvenile bullshit, and no more whining home to daddy. I and the other staff are who you will talk to from now on, and we don't like our time wasted. Am I clear?!"

"Clear!" the hundred or so young women shouted in a ragged chorus. Kat was grinning as she did so. She actually liked the sound of the place so far. At least it sounded like the kind of place she wanted to learn from.

"What are you grinning at!?!" Wallova shouted, spotting her.

"I like the no bitching policy," she answered truthfully.

"Who said anything about that?" the Major asked with a wicked smile. "There is going to be lots and lots of bitching coming out of your pretty mouth, or I'm not doing my job right."

Kat thought about that for a moment under the woman's intense gaze, "Oh," she said, nodding. It wasn't like she had expected that hard work wouldn't be a part of things. In fact, she had pretty much assumed that was a given.

"Exactly!" Wallova confirmed, stepping back once again. She cast her gaze over the gathered crowd and shook her head. "Fuck, you are a sorry looking bunch of girls. I'm sick of looking at you like this. It's time to get things started, so you'd all best follow me!"

Wallova turned around, faced towards the road, and began running at a slow pace. Kat quickly tightened her grip on her bag strap and strode out away from the group, not wanting to be slow on the first day. A few others that were quick to understand were right next to her as they began to run behind the woman who was now in charge of them. Several of those girls gave her inquisitive looks, but most were concentrating ahead. The rest of the girls followed in an ugly clump.

"What in the frozen hells am I looking at?!" Wallova hollered, running backwards with complete ease to make her comments. "At least try and look orderly!"

Kat exchanged a look with the girl nearest to her. She was tall, lean and with nicely defined muscles. Her cheekbones were strong, and soft green eyes stared at her above a slightly aquiline nose. Black hair in riotous curls rolled down her back in a cute style and Kat's eyes caught the glimpse of silver at her wrist. Was it another bracelet like hers? "Don't military people move in lines?" She asked, still feeling pretty fresh.

The girl nodded, giving her a considering look, and then waved at the next nearest person. A moment later they were running in a line four abreast, though not at all in synch, down the concrete road. She had no idea what the others behind them did, because she became engrossed in the campus around them. There were many buildings, and both men and women, Valkyries and Crows were already out, all in the formal uniforms the Major was wearing. Were they all students and staff of the College? They traveled down several roads, and after she estimated that they'd gone about a kilometer, Wallova brought them to halt on a quiet sidewalk next to a set of rumbling buses, still grinning.

"All aboard the bus now ladies, time is wasting!"

Kat's small group reached a bus first, and climbed on in a somewhat orderly manner, while the others moaned at having been made to run to a bus. The Major wasted no time on idle chatter and the buses quickly drove through the maze of streets, heading deep into the island. At the very heart of the island they drove around a roundabout that circled the gleaming tower of glass that sat in the center of everything. It had a sign stately proclaiming it Central Academy Administration. Set around the edifice in a square formation were four emplacements that sure looked like massive magical cannons of some kind. Each had a complement of armed soldiers on watch.

They turned off once again and entered a sprawling, beautifully groomed compound with a towering statue of a winged woman with her arms raised up at the roadside. They pulled up in front of a U-shaped building with a simple engraved sign out front: Valkyrie College.

"Out. Out. Out!" Wallova chanted loudly, sweeping her arms at the bus door. They obeyed, pouring out into the morning sunlight, and several women in uniforms like the Major's exited from the building.

"Please come this way!" One called out, gesturing towards the doors. Kat and her mystery running partner turned and headed that way and entered into a utilitarian hallway where they were directed further into the building, still following Major Wallova. Finally, they entered into a huge, open chamber that appeared to be some sort of gymnasium. Most of the floor space was taken up by large, identical travel trunks large enough she could probably climb inside one. They were lined up, one after another in neat rows.

Along one side of the gym were a series of tables manned by a number of women wearing the formal uniform, or in one case, a white version. At the nearest table, a young woman waved and pointed at a sign saying, "line up here!"

The strangely quiet girl that she'd run beside headed right over, and Kat followed, her eyes scanning everything avidly. She liked things that worked well, and it was clear the College had this down to a system. Each person had a job they knew how to do, and were professional about carrying it out.

"Name?" prompted an older woman at the table, a pen poised over several paper sheets.

"Cassius Silanus," the girl replied in a musical voice that was much different than her appearance would suggest. It was very pretty, but Kat thought she sounded stilted, as if she didn't want to say who she was to this woman. "Cassius the Lesser."

The woman scanned her sheets, stopped at one spot and made a mark, and then looked up. "Next!"

Cassius moved along, and before being prompted, Kat introduced herself. "Katerina Genaria." Then she too moved to the next table and was asked for her invitation. She held out her wrist with the bracelet and the attendant nodded for her to wave it over a strange metal plate set on the table, she did so and felt a tingle of magic touch her. There was a chiming sound and the woman raised a glass plate in front of herself that had something like writing and images on it. She tapped the plate and gestured to indicate Kat was done. Then it was on to the next table where she once again stood next to Cassius, who to her surprise was taking her clothes off.

"Clothes off!" said a very old looking woman in a white version of the formal uniform. Oddly, she smelled strongly of expensive cigar smoke, like the ones her uncle smoked after dinner. "No shyness now girl, you haven't got anything I haven't seen a thousand times."

"Is this some kind of medical check-up?" she asked, quickly stripping down. She set her clothes on her bag, which she set aside. Both she and Cassius stood there, completely nude but for their silver bracelets. Cassius was all girl without her clothes and much less hard looking. Her breasts were tiny, but they had such cute little nipples that were poking up and her slit was closed tight like a little girl's. It was like she was trying horribly in vain to hide her femininity. Kat saw no reason why she should, the girl was cute.

"I'm checking for infiltrators," the old woman grinned, chuckling darkly. She raised a hand and this time the magic that thrummed in the air made her skin tingle and power crackled a little in a menacing tone. Then a magical circle appeared beneath their feet and a wave of golden light seemed to roll up and through their bodies as the spell tested them. When it passed her skin held a bit of a glow for a couple seconds and then dimmed to normalcy. The woman's grin widened. "Congratulations, you're exactly who you said you were!"

"Thanks?" Kat said, cocking her head.

"You should be," the woman laughed and waved them off. "Now move along."

Kat walked back over to her stuff, oddly exhilarated at being naked in front of a hundred other people. She noticed Cassius looking at her as she dressed again. "Cassius, right?" she asked putting her clothes on right in front of the girl since it wasn't as if they had a reason to be body shy. "Can I just call you Cassie? Cus it's a cute nickname"

The girl flinched and held still for a moment, but spoke again in her strong, musical voice. "I suppose that's fine." She agreed noncommittally.

"Great! Well, I'm Kat!" she said, introducing herself properly. She held out a hand, wearing only her jeans. Cassie took it and Kat marveled at the calluses on the other girl's hand. This was a girl used to hard work already. She ratcheted her opinion of the girl upwards. "What were you looking at?"

"Oh!" Cassie colored a little, but smiled. "I like your hair, the purple is nice."

"Isn't it!" Kat agreed with a grin. She liked this girl already, and not just because she played up to her vanity. She held up her wrist. "I see they decorated you too."

"Yeah...well," Cassie colored even more and looked away, as if embarrassed by her silver bracelet. She was going to inquire what the problem was, when there was a commotion behind them.

They both turned. The sound was from a small group of the girls, all in their middle teens, muttering in awe at another girl, a very tall one with beautiful shoulder length cyan hair that moved as if in a light breeze, even though they were very much indoors. The magnificently beautiful girl was walking toward the scanning table with a curled smile of confidence, where she began to take off her stylish jeans and blouse as if nudity would only enhance her appearance. It was like she was going to reveal a hidden treasure to the world.

"A succubus," Cassie muttered quietly to her. "They can be like that."

Kat watched in curiosity at this, she'd never seen a real succubus before. Their lands were far from her home island, and dangerously close to the Empire. She'd heard they could change their appearance at will. This one had creamy pale skin, and as she showed when she took off her blouse, wonderfully large breasts capped by proud nipples that begged to be suckled upon. When she was finally naked, it was like a single exhalation from every throat passed through the room. The girl ignored this and just allowed herself to be scanned, round buttocks complete with a long, pointed-tip tail in Kat's direction. She also sported a small pair of blood-red, bat-like wings on her back.

"She is very good looking," Kat admitted, wondering what it took to grow that tall and to get such great boobs. Maybe she drank a lot of milk? She mentally made a firm note to try drinking more milk.

"Good looking!" Cassie said incredulously, looking at Kat as if she couldn't believe she'd said what she did. "That girl probably already has her own fucking harem back home in her mansion."

"They really do that?" Kat asked, curious at both the new girl and at the coarseness of Cassie's way of speaking.

"Of course they do!" Cassie replied. They were both finally dressed again and lifting their bags. "They feed off sex and are never content with a single lover. My father met one, a noblewoman that has nearly a hundred living with her. They followed her around like she was royalty."

When Kat saw the succubus girl, after she'd gotten dressed as well, and who had to be older than either Cassie or herself, she raised her arm and waved a cheerful greeting. The girl gave her an odd look of indecision and slowly began to walk over, a massive bag slung on a shoulder.

"Why did you call her over?!" Cassie hissed, going pink again.

"I want to meet her," Kat answered simply, pleased that things were going well so far.

The girl stopped in front of them, giving them both a quick once over. "Yes?"

"Are you really a succubus?" Kat asked bluntly, also giving the girl a closer appraisal.

The girl looked at her like she was crazy for a second, and then burst into delighted laughter. "Aye, girl. I am. Though I wasn't expecting someone to just come right out and ask."

"Why not?" Kat asked.

"Look at them, the spineless lot," the succubus waved her hand dismissively towards a group of girls that were just standing and staring at them, eyes wide. "That's what I usually get. Lots of staring and not a backbone in the bunch, except you." This last was said with a smirking kind of smile. The strange girl openly gave Kat another look over, but was silent on what she thought.

"That's because she's probably out of her damned mind," Cassie mumbled darkly.

"Another cute one who talks back!" the succubus grinned at Cassie, which sent the girl into a new fit of blushes and indignant sputtering. "I think I like you two!"

"Great," Cassie sighed in surrender.

"Do you really have a harem?" Kat asked, seeing as the girl didn't seem to mind questions.

"Hmm, sort of," the girl answered, still smiling. She turned her gaze back on Kat, but seemed disappointed when Kat didn't react as Cassie had. "As kids, we just borrow from our mother's harem. My mother has some really wonderful lovers in hers though, so I have no complaints. Now that I'm on my own, I have to gather one for myself. It's going to be fun."

Kat tried to imagine that, hunting down a multitude of lovers. It sounded both exciting and tiring at once. Would the girl hold some kind of audition? That would be kind of funny, harem sex auditions. But she realized she was being rude, and introduced herself again.

"Kat? Like a little kitty?" the girl grinned happily, showing perfectly straight teeth. Kat wanted to know how she could stand there and somehow emphasize her breasts the way she was now, as if she was offering them to Kat. It was like they ignored the laws of physics. "Well, you can call me Sarah. I'll only tell you my family name if I really like you." She laughed like that was a great joke and after a moment Kat got it and had to laugh as well. She had no plans to join a harem anytime soon. She wanted to find her own first lover.

"Hey! Quit dawdling!" Wallova hollered at them, pointing sharply at the next table.

"Oops!" Sarah grinned at Wallova, who seemed supremely unaffected.

Kat laughed, kind of enjoying Sarah's boisterousness and headed over to the indicated table, Cassie walking at her side like a guard. Kat noticed Cassie was smiling too, though she was trying very hard to hide it. When they got to the woman attending this station, she held out a small booklet and a thick glass plate like she'd seen earlier. Kat took them and almost dropped them again when a female voice sounded inside her head.

<New owner acquired. Syncing to magical signature....done>

It was like a woman was speaking straight into her brain, but when it finished, her glass plate dinged prettily and the Iskar flag appeared on it for a moment before it blanked again, except for a column of symbols along the left side. She stared in wonderful fascination, until the woman at the table coughed politely.

"Yes?" Kat asked, turning.

"Please use your Glass to identify your assigned equipment trunk."

Bemused, Kat turned around and held the thick glass in front of her face, looking through it at the multitude of luggage crates. Lines of light seemed to trace over them in the Glass, and then one off to the left flashed and pulsed with a blue light, but only when viewed through the Glass. Not when she took it away. Fascinated by the ingenious magical technology, she made her way over to the indicated crate.

It was indeed huge, but she was relieved to see that it had a handle mounted on one end and wheels underneath of the other. She thanked the Sky-Father for that, because it was almost certainly too heavy and awkward for her to lift unaided. She was confused at first by the complete lack of keyholes on the tightly locked latches; at least until she placed her hands on both latches at the same time and blue circles of sigils appeared around her hands, and the latches clicked. When she removed her hands, the latches popped open and she could lift the lid.

"Ohhhh," she breathed, smiling wide at the contents. Stacked in a corner, was a neat pile of textbooks with names like, Introduction to Magical Combat, on the spine. There was the expected box of school supplies, like pens, papers and such next to the books, but the entire rest of the volume was taken up by clothing and supplies. Specifically, the space was taken up by sleek black material that had to be her uniforms, as well as a few other items. What she really wanted to do right then was read through those books and try on the uniform. She closed the lid and wheeled her trunk out of the mass and saw Cassie standing in an open area with her own, so she made her way over.

"Are we lining up here?" she asked, setting her trunk down.

"Yeah," Cassie nodded, and then moaned. "And now she's coming back over too."

Sure enough, Sarah strode over, trunk in tow, and grinned at them. "I just remembered where I've heard your name from, Cass! Your daddy is famous!"

"He is?" Kat asked, frowning as she tried to see if she could remember hearing about it before.

"He's on the Council of Lords, and chief aid to the Sovereign's son," Cassie admitted, sounding unhappy to do so. "He's why I even have this." She held out her wrist and jingled the bracelet.

"Whoa," Sarah replied, with what sounded like real surprise. "You mean he paid to have you here?"

"Yes," Cassie said, sounding pained and angry. "This is going to be a complete, fucking mess."

"Shit!" Kat breathed, remembering Colonel Kota's words about the bracelet clasp test. "Did you at least solve it yourself?"

"Barely," Cassie sighed. "But my father insisted that I attend, and stop being such a disappointment, so here I am."

"Oh, girly, you are in so deep," Sarah giggled, and draped herself languidly against Cassie, who quickly reddened again. She was really going to have to get a grip on that reaction, because all it did was encourage Sarah to do more. "Me and the kitty will take care of you. Won't we?"

"Uh...sure," Kat agreed. "But it's Kat, not kitty."

"It's the same thing isn't it?" Sarah asked, cocking her head.

Kat sighed, realizing that Sarah was going to butcher her name, and Cassie's, no matter what they did. There was no point in getting worked up about it. "Close enough." She held her Glass in front of her again, wondering what she was supposed to do with it now. As if sensing the direction of her thoughts, which was kind of awesome, a line of text appeared and words spoke into her head again.

<Set-up spatial interface now? Yes or no?>

"Yes," she thought aloud, drawing looks from the other two. She didn't notice because the Glass tingled in her hand, and she was suddenly enclosed in a dim, translucent bubble about three full strides across.

<Please insert Glass into interface.> The Glass instructed into her head, and a little animated picture of a person inserting a Glass into the air appeared on the tool. She raised hers up and before her, acting as if she was inserting it into an invisible slot. The air rippled peculiarly around the Glass, and she heard gasps from her new friends. When she let go, the Glass just hung there, looking faded and insubstantial.

<Set-up complete!> The sphere around her snapped closed into invisibility, and her Glass was gone too, and yet not. She could feel it somehow when she concentrated on it. Reaching out, she closed her hands on the spot and when she felt pressure on her fingertips, she pulled and her Glass slipped back out of the air, but she was still vaguely aware of the invisible interface bubble. It was permanent.

"You're getting a little of ahead of the program," commented a familiar voice. She turned and saw Major Wallova smiling at her. "I was going to instruct the whole group on that part, but you just volunteered yourself! And nice dimension bubble by the way!" She walked away, chuckling to herself.

"How did you do that?" Sarah demanded immediately when the officer was gone.

"I asked this," she wiggled her Glass, "and it did all the work."

True to her word, as soon as all the girls were lined up, some better than others, Wallova did her light-snap to get everyone's attention. "Alright ladies, now that we've got you all kitted out with your basic supplies; you won't look like complete crap when I see you from now on! But one of you decided to be a clever bugger and did the next step on her own. Come on up here and introduce yourself!"

Kat walked forward, aware that she was now the attention of all the girls in the room. Once she stood next to Wallova, she turned to face the others and gave her name as instructed. She noticed that she, and specifically her bracelet, were getting frowns. Was it so bad to be invited that way? But Wallova was already continuing.

"From now on, your name is properly preceded by the title, cadet, since that is now your official rank," Major Wallova said to them all. "Most of the staff won't care if you address each other more familiarly, but you will address us by our rank and name. If you do not know an officer's rank, it is permitted and good manners, to ask. All other forms of address will be on a case-by-case basis. Now, Cadet Katerina—"

"Kat," she corrected automatically, forgetting already not to interrupt. She winced internally at the error, but she hated her full name and she didn't want to start out with everyone using it.

"Kat," Wallova frowned severely at her. "Would you be so kind as to show your fellow classmates how to set up their spatial fields?"

Of course, the question was a rhetorical one. It was clearly an order. So she held out her Glass and explained how she'd done it, using as clear and concise an explanation as possible. When the others reached the set-up part, she felt dozens of magical signatures and she concentrated a little and used her own magic. She smiled when all the bubbles became visible, including her faint one, and noticed they were all different sizes and strengths. Cassie's was small and dim, while her own was wide and felt like she could store a truck inside. A minute later, everyone had their Glass stored in the bubble. When she made her vision slip back to normal, nothing was visible.

"Excellent work!" Wallova boomed, clapping Kat on the shoulder with a strong hand. Kat was beginning to think she did everything loudly. "One word of safety about the storage space, don't ever put anything living inside there, and for the few larger ones among you, never people. It will kill them fairly quickly because items stored this way are not quite under the normal physical laws of this universe. Also, just because a thing is in there doesn't mean it weighs nothing. You will feel like you are carrying more weight on your body as the stored mass increases. Any questions?"

"I have one!" a girl near the back called. "What keeps mages from using these things to steal from people?"

"Aside from your crisp, clean consciences?" Wallova chuckled, pacing the area in front of the group. "As Kat here was doing, its easily possible see items stored within a spatial field, and we've made sure devices to do that are cheap for store owners to buy. The penalty for trying such a thing with magic is also extremely severe. We don't like criminals that abuse magic, and it's one of the things we Valkyrie protect the public from."

"Now, I don't know about you young birdies, but I'm feeling a tad bit peckish," the Major continued, walking back and forth as she chuckled at her own bad pun. Kat wondered how long she had to stand in front of everyone when her task was already done. "But I can't have you all hauling your trunks into the dining hall; it'd offend the cooks! So you get to find out where you're going to be living from now on! Cadet Kat!"

"Yes Ma'am?" she asked, realizing that she was still where she was because she was a convenient teaching prop for the officer. It wasn't such a bad role; it meant she got to figure things out first.

"How do you think you would ask your Glass where your dormitory is?"

Kat looked at her quiescent Glass. It had responded and talked to her mind. Maybe she could do that again. It seemed an odd thing to do, but she tried thinking the word 'map' at the device. It chimed, dutifully displayed a map of the campus island and a red dot blinked to show her location, then it seemed to fly at the spot, until a map of the building filled the display. Since that had worked, she thought the word 'home'. There was a new chime, and the map went back out and a green dot appeared. She looked at Wallova. "Like that?"

"Close enough," the woman agreed, smiling. She looked out over the group. "Alright, your turn."

"But she didn't do anything!" complained one girl, with a dark, brooding expression on her face. Kat realized it was the same girl that had been so rude to her earlier and she was glaring at Kat, as if she'd done something personally offensive. She supposed there was no making some people happy. Sarah though was looking at her Glass like it was the greatest toy ever invented and was pointing out something to Cassie, who seemed to be annoyed and trying not to look while her face reddened from the close proximity of Sarah's ample cleavage.

"Didn't she?" Wallova grinned. "Kat?"

"It responds mainly to mental commands," she answered.

"It responds to mental and tactile commands," corrected Wallova. "It's an ingenious little thing and you'll all meet its inventor later on. It's much better than our old difference engines. They were so clunky and reeked of oil."

Everyone retrieved their Glass and began poking at them, yelling at them or just glaring at them. Sarah was laughing heartily, and showing another girl how to do it, even though that other girl was staring mainly at her breasts with her mouth hanging open. She wondered how Sarah could stand that kind of thing. Sarah just smiled and drew the girl's gaze up to her face with a single finger, but she gave Kat a saucy wink when she saw she was being watched. It took a long while, but eventually everyone figured out the knack of controlling the Glass.

"Does everyone think they can find their way home?" Wallova asked with her hands behind her back. Kat itched to wear a uniform like that, it looked so cool. There was a general murmur of assent, and she smiled. "Good! That means you are getting your first assignment. I'm giving you two hours from now to find your dorm, check out your room, shower, change into your uniform, and line up in front of your building. Think you can handle that?"

As before, it wasn't really a question. "Yes!" was the chorus once again, this time a little more in synch.

Major Wallova gave a satisfied nod. "Then get to it!"

The girls all began checking their own Glasses, trying to see how to get to the dormitory from here. Kat moved back over towards her new friends now that she was done being a demonstration piece. Sarah and Cassie were standing together, with both of them frowning down at their Glasses, and Sarah's long tail was moving back and forth in a steady, thoughtful rhythm. When she came up to them, both had the same location indicated on their map, but it looked different for some reason than the one on hers, so she lifted hers back up...and frowned. "Mine's different," she said aloud.

"Hmm?" Sarah hummed in a sultry tone, glancing up at her with ruby-red eyes. Cassie just looked up in silent question.

"Look," she showed them her Glass. "Mine shows a building across the street from yours."

"Are there two dorms for new students?" Cassie asked.

Kat certainly had no idea, so she turned and addressed their commander, "Major Wallova?"

"Yes?" Wallova acknowledged, walking over.

"Is it correct that I'm in a different building than the others?" she asked, showing the women her Glass as well.

Wallova took the Glass, and for a second, her face took on the cast of annoyed consternation and Kat figured someone had screwed the location up. Then something seemed to occur to the women, and she gave Kat an odd look. "Can I ask who gave that to you?" she asked, pointing at the silver bracelet.

"Captain Kyshin, on Corbado."

This time, the look she got was one of understanding, and strangely, Wallova erupted into laughter. It went on long enough that others were turning to look and see what was going on. She wished she had a clue as much as they did. Cassie began to look a little worried for the woman after a minute or two passed. Finally, Wallova slowed down and wiped her eyes with one hand. "Whew, I'm sorry," she said, not really sounding apologetic at all. "I knew Kyshin had selected a girl, but I completely forgot who it was supposed to be. So no, the different location is entirely correct in this case."

"Why am I somewhere else?" she asked the Major.

"I think you'll have more fun learning that on your own," Wallova replied, shaking her head and still chuckling a bit.

"Okay," she said, not getting what was going on. Wallova gave her a dismissive wave, and wandered off. Kat turned back to the others. "I guess that means we should head over."

Neither Sarah nor Cassie argued, and they seemed just as confused as she was by her mystery assignment. "Then let's go," Cassie said finally with a sigh.

They followed the last, dwindling groups leaving the gymnasium through a wide set of double doors that opened onto a sidewalk that ran besides the building. Following the ragged line of other girls, they checked their own maps occasionally, just in case. It didn't take them very long to realize that the distance wasn't actually that far, though they passed several buildings with interesting names like Training Facility 1, and Dining Hall. Most of the Valkyrie buildings were focused in this area. Kat perused her map as they walked, and tried to see what other places there were, and quickly found that if there was something to train in, there was likely a building for it. Some here huge, and others were not so much.

They found the dorms down a tree shaded lane less than half-a-mile from the processing place, with very pleasant looking buildings on either side that had a homey feel. It seemed to be all housing. The buildings were of white stone, with the large windows and balconies typical of Iskaran architecture. They stopped in front of the dorm Cassie and Sarah would be living in. It was two stories tall and new looking, or at least well maintained, and fairly plain otherwise. Just about what Kat expected from a military dorm.

"Not bad," Sarah quipped, head cocked to the side as she evaluated the place. "I just hope the room is big enough."

"For what?" Kat asked.

"Ugh, you have to ask?" Cassie groaned, seeing Sarah's smirk.

"My harem of course, I want at least five to start with. You can't get a good party going with much less," Sarah replied knowingly.

"How do you keep track of five guys?" she asked.

"That's the part that bothers you?" Cassie replied, sounding surprised.

"Well, what's wrong with having sex?" she said, not seeing what the big deal was. She had exactly zero experience anyway, so it wasn't like she had a lot to offer an opinion with; especially since she was very curious about having sex herself.

"I knew I liked you!" Sarah crowed happily, and Kat found herself pulled into firm succubus breasts and hugged tight. The feel of a hard nipple through the white blouse against her cheek sent a shiver of pleasure down her spine. "And just so you know, that's not how we work, Kitten. We love both sexes! Girls get me just as wet as guys do."

"Doesn't it get confusing with so many though," she asked, gently extricating herself from the hold despite how much her body liked it. She smiled apologetically at Sarah's disappointed frown.

"Not really," Sarah replied, grinning again. "They all have unique things about them, and each is fun in different ways. You for example, smell very nice; almost sweet." She licked her lips teasingly, and turned to their other friend. "Want to know what I like about you Cass?"

"I think I'll survive not knowing," Cassie muttered, looking at the dorm. "Our time is running out anyway and we need to get ready soon."

"Oh well, I'll just tell you later if you're shy and don't want Kat to know," Sarah laughed. Then she looked across the empty street at what would be Kat's home. "I think she's gotten the better deal out of this though."

The other building looked quite different. It had decorative molding on the outside, trimmed hedges where there weren't trees and lawn, and was larger in most ways. Any paint was fresh and bright, and none of the decorative, iron balcony railings had a hint of rust. The windows were wide, and the front steps led to a set of solid, wooden double doors. It looked like the mansion of a rich Family, not unlike the one she'd lived in all her life, except less airy and open. She had no idea what the difference meant even in light of the Major's unhelpful explanation that it was where she was supposed to be.

"How do you know the rooms in there aren't tiny?" she asked, smiling at her strange friend.

"Instinct Kat, instinct!" Sarah insisted, undaunted. She reached over and pulled Cassie close, though a bit more gently this time. Even though Cassie frowned and acted embarrassed at this kind of treatment, she'd yet to see her actually resist it at all. In fact, Cassie looked to be more relaxed like that than when she stood on her own.

"Well, let me at least take a look and see if you're right first," she laughed, making a shooing gesture. "Go on, I can take care of myself."

"Sure, but it's so much less fun that way," Sarah replied, even as she obeyed and guided Cassie toward the door of their dorm, trunks in tow.