Uncertain Magic 5: Uncertain Lessons

by Nuit du Loup

"I hate, hate, hate, that girl!" Grabbing the pillow from her dorm bed, Tarina flung it uncaringly across the smallish room where it quickly smacked into the wall near the door and fell to the carpet with a soft, dull thud. Already ignoring her impromptu projectile, she leaned back and braced her arms on the soft mattress and let out a long, cathartic sigh.

Since she was safe in her own dorm room with only her friends there to see her, Tarina felt perfectly entitled to vent her anger, however useless it proved to be. Nothing was going the way she'd been promised by her parents and friends back home when she decided to pursue a career as a Valkyrie after her elder brother had been chosen to inherit her family's financial holdings. She was a hundred times more dignified and better suited than her brother, but he'd always had the silver tongue. Then she'd remembered her uncle who was a Crow mage and how proud her family was of him. She would be the next great mage and she would be the one they all boasted about at dinner parties.

Then along comes that...insufferable little bitch from some two-copper Family of jumped up farmers. They sold fucking tea for all the Gods sakes! She didn't care how much money they made doing it, they were still a bunch of rural nobodies, and that...Kat was the epitome of provincial ignorance. It didn't matter that they were equal under the law. She should be the one with a mentor and praised by her instructors. Instead it was always Kat embarrassing her at every turn.

"I don't see why we can't just wait until she's alone somewhere and teach her a few things," Rais muttered, sitting only a meter away on the other end of her bed, where she was brushing out her straight black hair, freshly washed from the showers they'd taken upon returning to the dorms. Wrapped in only a towel, her short, compact body was hard and lean. Tarina privately thought she looked as gnarled with muscle as tree bark, but Rais never seemed to care about that part of how she looked.

Rais was the fifth and least useful child of a Family that lived here on the Capital Island, which was one of the few that owned valuable silver mining operations. That meant they were richer than shit and Rais knew all the current fashions and fads. Tarina was fairly sure money had greased the wheels to get Rais into the Academy, but that only meant they were natural allies against Kat and her little gang of misfits. Rais especially disliked that Cassie girl who came from such an old Family, and wasted it by making friends with the dross.

"Because Kat would snap your scrawny neck," Kana sneered from where she perched on Tarina's study desk. She had dressed immediately after their showers and almost seemed to fear nudity. Tarina didn't understand that. There was little point in prudishness, and as far as she was concerned, the body was meant to be shown off and enhanced by nice clothes, but nudity was nothing to be ashamed about unless you were too lazy to keep yourself in shape. Kana though rarely smiled and mostly presented the world with scorn and derision, and cared little about how others perceived her.

As far as she knew, Kana was from a clannish offshoot of the Tengu that hated the mainstream members of the race. Kana was one of the most dour and cynical people she had ever met, and yet she liked the girl. If she wasn't so serious all the time, Kana would have been extremely attractive, but Tarina didn't care about that, as she planned on bagging herself a well-placed husband when the time came. What she did care about was Kana's straight-forward, no-bullshit way of facing life. She spoke her mind and didn't care who she offended, and most of all, she was loyal.

In her own head, she thought of Kana as something like a personal advisor or lieutenant, while Rais was her friend and confidant. Both had their uses and functions. Yet neither of them was helping her at all with her Kat problem. Kana loathed the creepy lizard guy after the fracas in the sim-room, but was cowed like a dog if Kat frowned in her direction. Rais talked big, but in every class after a week at the Academy, she still steered well clear of Kat's entire group if they were told to find a partner to work with.

Just earlier Tarina at least had tried to approach her personal enemy, and paired with Kat for their martial-arts instruction. That was part of why she was so damned pissed off. They were supposed to watch each other as they moved through and held a thousand different fighting stances and give corrections when it was obvious. She almost flubbed the entire thing halfway through when she ended up locking stares with Kat. It had been more like matching gazes with her feline namesake instead of a girl with stupidly purple hair, and so unnerving that she'd started screwing up. The unnatural girl sent strange shivers down her back, and she disliked the dangerous feel of Kat's magic, even though every instructor watched the girl like they were her personal fans.

"I could take her if I caught her by surprise!" Rais boasted, not even realizing she was admitting her own weakness by that statement. Sometimes Rais was a little too excitable and let her tongue run. That would catch up with the girl eventually.

"Perhaps you missed that little bit of excitement last week," Tarina cut in, silencing Rais. She could still see the image in her mind of Kat climbing from that truck coated in blood and other body matter, utterly calm and composed beside that damned ice princess of hers. According to rumor, the two became lovers on their very first day and still tried to kill each other on a daily basis over in the Mentor Hall. "Kat doesn't seem to have any particular aversion to killing her enemies, as we all saw."

"Tsch," Rais scoffed. "No one will even tell us what they fought; only that it was some group of monsters or something. We only know that because of the rumors floating around from the Guard and mage patrols. None of Kat's group was even hurt, so it couldn't have been that dangerous. I'm not going to be afraid of gossip."

"You'd know better if you'd partner with her during class," she argued. That was the most galling part. Despite her better origins, no matter what she did, Kat was always performing better than she did. Better than almost the entire class, except for that Cassie girl during sword training, and the succubus during the appallingly dry class that dealt with geopolitics. She didn't think anyone else had noticed it yet, but Wallova spent an inordinate amount of time watching Kat from a distance too. Something was going on with the girl and she didn't like not knowing.

"What's the point?" Kana asked in her quiet murmur.

"The point is learning more about the enemy to beat her," Tarina replied as patiently as she could manage. "We can't keep letting her group get all the glory, so I need to know what I'm up against. One way or another I'm going to make myself great, and if I have to trample Kat and her little pack of mongrels, that is exactly what I am going to do. I'm not all that particular about the methods either, so I just need the right information to exploit."

"Still..." Rais muttered, looking at her with a look of concern that always made her appear petulant, "I'm not sure you should go through with this meeting tonight."

"It's simply an exchange between potential allies, that's all," Tarina said placating. It wouldn't do to have Rais spilling things to the Academy command; deliberately or not. The man who'd discreetly contacted her after class yesterday when she stopped by a small coffee shop in the academic campus that she'd heard good things about as a treat to herself, had told her that the Glass they all carried also spied on them all. That included everything they said, which was parsed by a machine, some kind of computer, and filtered for treasonous actions by dangerously powerful mages working for Iskaran Military Intelligence. So they'd set up another meeting he claimed would be more private, and far more productive.

Tarina wasn't particularly loyal to anyone or anything beyond herself and possibly her Family to some extent. In their case she simply wanted them to acknowledge that she'd become something great. As far as she was concerned, the country was there to serve her, not the other way around, and the idea of swearing and keeping oaths to it was ridiculous. If there was a better route to attaining what she wanted, she wasn't averse to exploring those options. This was simply one of those.

"I don't see why you have to meet this man alone," Kana argued.

"Because no one wants to advertise what's going on!" Tarina answered firmly. In her ear, a disembodied chirp sounded twice and the phantom image of her Glass flashed in the air before her from her personal space. Quickly removing it, she read the one line of text before it disappeared and the device became quiescent again. Then she looked up at her two friends. "That was the signal, so stay here and keep quiet!"

Thanks to Kat's oh-so-wonderful idea to break curfew, the admin people were being particularly fussy about the rule. They'd all received notices that they were being closely watched, and violations would have scalable consequences; ranging from less appetizing food to extended physical training time. Thus her contact had arranged a tight window in which their meeting would be hidden. This indicated to her, that he was someone with enough power and clout to arrange such a thing, and therefore worth talking to. So she left her room and walked calmly through the dorm, greeting people with the outward personae she had carefully upheld in order to win favor and sympathy when she eventually needed it.

It pleased her greatly to know she had many more 'friends' than Kat, whom most of the dorm members were a little afraid off; which was also good in a way. Her only competition here was the succubus Sarah, who mainly kept to her coterie of admirers on the top floor of the dorm where her room was located. The rest were all hers to play with and she happily did so, convincing them that she was simply a victim of Kat's terrible behavior. They ate it up like trained puppies, and always had a smile for her. Public opinion could be a wonderful thing when it was on your side, and it was a tool she planned to wield wisely.

On the ground floor she made her way to the back of the building to a door, through which she slipped unnoticed onto a small, empty loading dock where the dorm supplies were unloaded by the staff and stewards. Normally that door would have been kept locked for multiple reasons, but just as she'd been told in the message, it had been unsecured. Carefully hoping down to the asphalt access drive that slid between the dorm and the building behind it by a narrow margin, she was bathed only by light from two sodium lamps that badly needed replacing. This meant everything had a severe, yellowish cast to it; everything but a small, harshly blue-white spark of light that was fizzling in the gloom a short distance away, and strangely, casting no shadows.

"What does that even mean?" she asked, annoyed by the vague statement from her Glass. She still was sure she liked the idea of machines that were capable of talking to their owners. It seemed an unnatural state of affairs to have one that spoke directly into her head.

"It means you have arrived on time, and our conversation will be kept confidential," said the rich, deliberately cultured voice of an older man. Its owner stepped forward and into the light of a lamp. He was slightly past middle-age, smartly dressed in slacks and a jacket, had curly dark hair, and an aquiline nose that was a bit on the sharp side. The bright spark was fizzing inside a glass sphere on some sort of staff-machine contraption he held propped against the ground in his left hand. Physically attractive, she supposed, but with that bellicose expression he would be more suited for someone like Kana.

"You said we might be able to help each other," she said, turning to face him without a trace of fear. She knew she was in no danger. He was surprisingly short compared to her, and she could see that it bothered him quite a bit. That pleased her though. Anything that gave her an edge, she'd take with both hands.

"As long as you aren't bothered by the tiny detail that you would be committing treason, under the law," he agreed. He was openly looking over her body in that way men always did. Her shirt was a little tight in the bust, and she had deliberately forgone a bra. As young girl, she had grown up learning all the tricks to manipulate men from her mother and sisters. A boy with an erection thought much less well than one without.

"I'm loyal to myself and my Family," she replied, crossing her arms to emphasize her small breasts, knowing her large nipples were partially visible through her civilian clothes since she hadn't worn a bra. If he was attracted towards her body, young as she was, than he would naturally be inclined to be more generous. She grown up around enough older, female family members to learn the power a woman's body could have over men. It was simply another tool in a box of many.

"Then I think we might be able to get along," he said and gave her a tight smile that said he knew the game and approved to a point. "Our goals are not too dissimilar."

"Oh?" she asked.

He nodded firmly. "I wish to tear down the current establishment and bring about a more amiable environment for myself and my interests. The reason I contacted you, was because you are of a similar station as I, and would also benefit from my plans. Your Family as I understand it has lost much under the modern law reforms, and I know you desire much more for yourself. You have ambition."

"And because I'm a scheming bitch," Tarina quipped knowingly, standing a little closer to him, and letting him get a smell of her freshly clean body. It would have worked better if she'd had Rais eat her out first so she'd smell of sex, but she hadn't wanted to play her hand to strongly, and Rais always got stupid and clingy afterwards. It was the same as masturbation, except with someone else doing all the hard work, and Rais should understand that. She had faith the girl would learn the proper way of things eventually though.

"An assessment that would have been impolitic to mention on my own, but in truth, that is indeed a factor," he agreed, clearly in a better mood now. If she played it right, a man like this would have the perfect connections, and according to her older sister, a little 'play' with the right person could have all kinds of benefits. It was how high politics really worked. "We can both benefit from this exchange however. You want to rise to the top of your peers and gain in power, and to defeat a rival. I only seek information on your classmates and the Academy in general and maybe a few small tasks performed."

"What can you know about Kat?" she scoffed, moving into the bargaining they both had come for.

"A sample? Hmmm," the man put a thoughtful finger to his lips and then smiled. "All right, one freebie in good faith. I have the connections to know the reason why she is watched so closely, and is so far ahead. Miss Katerina Genaria is best explained as something like a natural prodigy with magic who until now hadn't truly been allowed to tap into her field of talent. She is a one in five-hundred thousand special case, and as such, a rarity the government covets more than gold. So if it will make you feel better, the girl is far from normal."

Surprisingly, it did make her feel somewhat better knowing that she could think of Kat as being just like an animal that had been bred to be good at one thing. She held out her hand to the man. "If you know of a way I can catch up to her, you will have yourself a deal."

He matched her smile with one that was satisfied, predatory, and lustful at the same time. "I think I can manage something as small as that," he said, and took her hand in a tight grip. "It should prove no problem at all."

******

Under a pleasantly hot afternoon sun, Kat stood on the balls of her feet, with one a half-pace in front of the other. Her boots crunched softly a smallish grassy lawn that filled her nostrils with the scent of a fresh clipping that was on a slight rise from the surrounding ground. She held in both hands, her sword, in one of the grip styles Cassie had shown her, and with the blade held out in something close to a forty-five degree angle to her body. The sunlight was even glinting prettily on the polished metal. After a silent ten-count inside her own head, she thrust sharply forward, and then quickly moved through the following nine movements in the training sequence as smoothly as she was able. When she was done she was right back where she had started from. At least that was what she had hoped.

"Uhm...Kat...you're gripping it wrong now," Cassie complained hesitantly in her deceptively sweet voice, rising smoothly from where she'd been watching intently beside Sarah in the shade under a large red maple that was only a couple meters away. Sarah was lounging back comfortably against the trunk in a way that displayed her body as fully as possible, and Kat felt an unbidden flush of heat when she let her eyes slip toward the offered visual treat. Reshik was sitting cross-legged a short distance away from Sarah in the full sun as he preferred, also watching and occasionally taking an interest in the other students walking around the area.

Kat's small group of friends were all out in front of the large, square building in which their next class was to be held. It was like most in the mage campus, built of stone on the first floor and modernized on the second level with large amounts of glass to let in the sub-tropical sunlight on days like today. It was simply one of many used for magical instruction, but it was just as well kept as the rest of the campus. They'd already had three class sessions in the building and Kat rather liked the comfortably seated classrooms on that second floor. But to today they'd arrived a bit early for what was on the ground level.

Kat had decided to use the extra time, caused by their mutual overexcitement at the coming class, to work some more on her sword forms under Cassie's knowledgeable supervision, but she was finding herself distracted. They weren't the only early arrivals, since most of the class was already here as well, but they were all talking amongst themselves and well away from her small group of friends. That however did not keep Kat from seeing them, hearing them and continuing to learn that she was not well loved by her peers. Not that she'd been shown anything to date that the situation might be otherwise.

Kat's group of friends were quite obviously being kept apart from the rest, by a very clear space of open lawn from the nearest other clumps of girls; despite the upbeat mood in the air. Today they were here for their very first practical lesson in combat magecraft after two weeks of classroom overviews and lectures. The other girls were all just as excited as Kat was herself and talking energetically about it, but she and her friends had been left to their own company. Ever since that night of blood and conflict with the monstrous creatures, the other girls looked at them strangely, especially if Kat was by herself for whatever reason. If Sarah and Cassie were without her, as they had reluctantly revealed to her after she overheard a rumor of such; only then would the girls approach in a much friendlier manner.

"Can...Is it all right if I move your fingers?" Cassie asked with a kind of nervousness that had only gotten worse these last two weeks. Kat had been baffled as to why, because it only happened when Cassie talked closely with her. Even Cassie's usual swearing and cursing had vastly diminished around her, though sometimes it looked like the girl had been force-fed a lemon when she held them back. She was starting to suspect the reason for the behavior, because she wasn't entirely as dense as Sarah claimed she was; but her coming to love both Eva and these two friends was not helping her stress levels any. She could easily see what Sarah liked so much about Cassie; though she suspected that Cass' wouldn't appreciate being thought of as kind of cute and adorable in a sword-slashy kind-of-way. She liked it too.

"Just do it Cass', the whole point of this is so that you can help me," Kat replied, giving Cassie a smile of appreciation.

Carefully, as if Kat might burn her, Cassie came up to place her hands on Kat's, and Kat felt a small tingle of pleasure as her fingers were gently caressed back into the correct position by her friend's knowing touch. Since she was standing up against her right side and almost close enough to be touching arms with her friend, Kat could also smell Cassie, which was something deliciously feminine, and maybe something caused by the heat of the day too. When she was done, Cassie stepped back and frowned down at Kat's hands in a critical way, and then nodded in approval. "They should look exactly like that."

Growling a little in the back of her throat, Kat glared at her offending hands and then over at Sarah who was watching with a knowing smile on her wonderfully plump lips. Kat also couldn't help noticing that Sarah had spread her legs a little more and she had a view right down to the girl's armor clad crotch. Not much was hidden by the skin-tight material and it was a far-too lovely view. "Will you quit that!" she said, knowing she sounded a bit peevish. It couldn't be helped; her friends were trying to drive her crazy!

"Aye, and just how do you know I meant to be doing anything?" Sarah replied with as much innocence as she could manage, which was very little at all. Her accent was also a little strong today, which Kat always liked for some reason; though she still thought Eva's rough burr was sexier. Both sent a little thrill down her spine.

"Maybe it has something to do with the pleased look on your face?" Kat responded, using her blade to punctuate the statement by pointing at the too-pleased girl in question. Love the girl she may, be Sarah be a bit aggravating in a fun kinda way. "Or maybe it was all those little smiles I saw over there while I was practicing."

"Smiling is it?" Sarah laughed. "That's a suspicious mind you have there, my lovey friend, complaining of smiles. It's a good thing Cass' and I love you so much, or we might be offended!" Sarah often included her and Cassie as a unit, and Cassie never seemed bothered, so Kat never thought to question it.

Cassie, who had a proud little smile on her delicate lips, also wore a pretty little blush on her cheeks. Cassie was entirely incapable of keeping her emotions off her face, and Kat was fairly sure she'd stopped trying at Sarah's suggestion. Sarah turned her head to Cassie. "I don't think our dear Kat trusts me."

"I trust you with almost everything," Kat said seriously. Both girls grinned at that, and she swallowed the angry flare inside her belly. It wasn't their fault she was in such a strange and unpleasant mood. She just wanted to hit something and relieve a certain kind of stress; not necessarily in that order.

"Does that mean you trust me too?" Cassie asked hopefully, raising her hand to brush some of her dark curls behind one of her cutely small ears when she saw Kat was looking at her. It had been entirely too deliberate and Kat knew Cassie had done it specifically because she was looking. Cassie was standing nervously, with her body slightly turned to give Kat a tempting glimpse of her firm, wonderfully toned ass. Kat firmly squashed the urge to give it a good feel, as she already had enough temptations floating around inside her head. If only the girl wasn't such a lovely sight, and such a wonderful person, it would be far easier a task.

"Ahh!" she grunted, turning fully to frown at them. "Cass', if you're going to help me, can you at least go through the forms with me? I'm fine with the hand-to-hand stuff, but I need to learn this faster than I am,"

"Sure!" Cassie replied with a bit of awkward eagerness, and made her blade materialize in her hand with ease. They turned towards each other and when she was ready, Kat began the training blade-dance, watching her friend closely for comparison and self-critique. Sarah just watched them both with that laughing smile of hers. At least someone was having fun.

Over the last two weeks, she and everyone else had quickly gotten used to Sarah and Cassie being together, and one look at them would tell you they were lovers. Unfortunately Kat had rediscovered an old feeling when she saw them like that, jealousy. Not that they had found a bit of happiness in each other, but that it was obvious how much they enjoyed having sex with each other, even if it was never said aloud. It was something she wanted, and needed so badly that it was almost painful at this point. Eva had, in her bewildering fashion, granted Kat exactly what she thought she had wanted and it was killing her. Sarah had then decided that she needed to be included into their 'harem,' and she was a little bewildered by how determined Sarah was going about it. She was also sorely tempted to give in to them, but yet again she hesitated.

"You look like someone stroked your fur the wrong way," Sarah teased, obviously enjoying her current role as spectator. The succubus made no effort to hide the fact that she liked looking at them, or of what she wanted.

"Haha, another cat joke," she snorted in a rough laugh that sounded false even in her own head. It wasn't an inaccurate description, if you took it metaphorically and included her current mental state. She felt frazzled and out of balance, and had felt that way ever since Eva had given her exactly what she supposedly wanted. No more 'unwanted' orgasms. No sex at all.

Basically, she was being kept constantly in a high state of arousal by all of Eva's constant touching during lessons, flirting, biting, and overall delicious sexiness, but with no outlet for release. After that time she'd given in to Eva behind the food hall and surrendered to letting the girl pleasure her, Eva had not given her a single orgasm. Not one little release from the torturous desires filling her body and heart. She wasn't even given enough time alone to deal with it herself in a suitable way during the day and she was unwilling to give Eva the satisfaction of taking care of things at night in bed. It was starting to really get to her head, and she could feel her resolve to resist crumbling, which was made worse by the fact that she wasn't even sure why she was resisting in the first place anymore. She was fairly sure that she was actually coming to like Eva just as much as she did Sarah and Cassie.

Her friends' decision to try and include her in their harem was only exacerbating matters. At first she had thought herself immune to Sarah's admittedly ample charms, but it didn't take long for that to erode away under daily temptations and a kind of companionship she'd never felt before in her life. Neither girl had said anything straight out yet, but she just knew what they wanted. Just like with Eva though, she was uncertain about accepting it and resisted. Even the little responses she let slip made her feel guilty and then angry at that guilt. She wasn't Eva's, and neither did she belong in that sense to Sarah and Cassie; and yet a growing part of her wanted an outlet and somewhere to belong.

What was even worse was that a number of her classmates had begun to gravitate towards Tarina, who'd been behaving oddly well of late. It was as if none of them could see the bitter poison hiding under the visage of an admittedly attractive face. Kat had expected some fear and distrust after her bloody appearance, but this rallying towards Tarina meant she was slowly being ostracized by her class peers. It was sped along even more when she tested out of her current math level and was being moved on to the next ahead of the others. It was hardly her fault the others were having trouble with basic, multi-dimensional magical calculations, but Sarah said that kind of jealously could be an ugly thing, and it appeared she was right.

Sarah was excelling in anything that involved things like history and politics, and after one such class, their instructor claimed that Sarah might think on a Valkyrie career as an intelligence officer. More simply put, Sarah was great at reading situations and putting the data into a whole that made sense. Some of this came naturally to her as a succubus, since they were great a dealing with other people and their moods, but Kat thought she had talent there too. So when Sarah gave her advice on such things, she was strongly inclined to accept it. Sarah was also on much more friendly terms with the other girls, so there was that too.

Thankfully she still had friends in the Mentor Dorm, and was quietly accepted among the other mentees who were more curious about her than afraid. In the competitive environment they were all training in, they were generally quick to accept invitations by Eva when asked if they wanted to train together as well. Kat was thriving there, as it was far more interesting than her classes, and often thought it would be simpler if she could just do all her training there, but that was not how a military worked. What she did get to see was the vast range of differences there were between mages and the way they chose to focus their skills.

Some changed their swords, which it turned out could assume the general shape of almost any hand weapon you could think of, and trained with huge great-swords or axes. This meant there were a great variety of different combat styles, which they were encouraged to have, and Kat loved seeing new ones. They also used their magic in wildly different ways too. It was even interesting to see all the different local cultures the other girls came from and how it influenced their choice in abilities. The only problem came from her constant living companion. Eva.

Living in the Mentor Dorm hadn't proved to be as terrible as Eva had hinted at. True, the chores could eat up valuable time, but they weren't all that onerous in the end, and neither she nor Eva made much mess beyond laundry in their room. Clothes though were another matter entirely; especially since her civilian clothing, which she had to remember were called civvies in the military, had arrived via courier from her old home. She had only worn them a couple times during the very scant few free times in which Eva had dragged her about the island to show her around, and yet they always ended up on the floor somehow. She blamed that on fact that her schedule had frequent times where she was in a rush and picking up a dropped sock was way down on her priority scale.

Eva was even worse about that since she had to wear her dress uniforms all the time when she went on patrol around campus. She also had an incredibly poor habit of stripping down while moving, and whole outfits would be strewn about the room as she transitioned from one to another fresh set. Eva also enjoyed, because it drove her crazy she just knew, of lounging about when they were studying in sexy and reveling underwear, of which she had a surprisingly large collection for a girl who only had a small, student living stipend like they all did. This collection tended to decorate the room and it was a complete pain to wash them all and then put them away neatly as Eva liked so she could easily find her favorite ones; which coincidently, she noticed, were the same ones she like the most.

Twice in the last couple weeks she had cleaned up everything top-to-bottom. This included vacuuming, sorting laundry and putting it away nicely in their closet and dressers, making the bed, and a dozen other minor tasks on top of her communal dorm chores. She and the other mentee girls had to clean the shower room on their floor once a week and Kat had been unsurprised when it devolved into water fights and general goofing off before any actual work got done, but it was a fun bonding experience with the older girls so she couldn't really dislike it very much. It also helped that her 'team' during the water fight had won.

During classes, and moments like right now, Kat had only Sarah, Cassie, and Reshik for company, and the Alhawashi boy was a quiet sort most of the time and ignorant of human sexual byplay. As far as he was concerned, Kat was perfectly free to pick whatever mate she wanted and it wasn't his place to intrude on such decisions. Kat was fairly sure Reshik's people were matriarchal, and that was part of his reasoning, but she wasn't rude enough to just ask that. Sarah and Cassie though were the real problem; because as the days passed and she realized she liked them more and more and maybe even loved them, their flirting, even as fumbling as Cassie was about it, sank deeper into her heart.

"Kat, for fuck's sake! You're holding the sword wrong again!" Cassie said with a smile, drawing her out of her musings. She had loosened her grip and the tip was drooping. "Want me to show you the right way again?"

"I got it," she said quickly with a glare as she fixed her grip and moved her stance back into proper form. She was determined to get it right. If she could learn the hand-to-hand stuff as quickly as Eva and the other older girls claimed she was; then she could learn to use the sword proficiently as well. "You keep that ass on the grass."

"Ooh. Angry, nonsensical rhyming from our fierce leader!" Sarah laughed delightedly, and Kat couldn't help smiling a little too. That was part of the problem right there. No matter how grumpy she got, her friends would bring her back to a smile again; even when she was aching hungrily for Eva as she had been. They were fun to be with and all three took her for what she was. Being double-teamed by Sarah, lushly beautiful and caring, and Cass' with her lithe cuteness and a strange devotion towards her; it was entirely unfair. It was like being in a bizarre sort of tug-of-war game where both sides were pulling with all their might on her emotions.

"I can be as nonsensical as I want," Kat huffed, moving smoothly through the next set of sword forms, matching Cassie. This time she remained focused and returned back to the starting stance correctly and felt a smile of satisfaction when Cassie gave her a quick nod of approval.

"Aye? Is that so?" Sarah quipped back. "Maybe you would be doing a smidge better if you weren't paying attention to Cassie's ass."

Kat was thankful Cassie was turned towards her, or otherwise she probably would have been staring. As it was, Cass's cheeks reddened, but she smiled too. Kat resumed her glare. "Thank you, my wise friend," she said sarcastically, but without much heat. "Anymore wonderful words of wisdom?"

"I have some!" broke in a familiar, unwelcome voice.

Kat and the others all turned in the direction of the building, where Tarina had approached them with her usual pair of shadows in tow. They flanked the girl like gloomy bookends, and Kat wondered if either ever wore a real smile. Not the snarky one the smaller girl favored, but a real person's smile. "What are you about?" she asked, carefully keeping her voice neutral.

"You asked for advice, so I came over out of the goodness of my own heart," Tarina replied, poisoned honey dripping from her voice. Gods! How a girl so good looking could be so repulsive, Kat could never figure out. Tarina crossed her arms under her small breasts and smiled at Cassie. "For one, you might consider upgrading your crew of misfits and weaklings. One is only good with that sword and little else, and another thinks with the brain between her legs. Real classy, Katerina."

"What you think of as classy and what I do obviously differs a great deal," Kat replied judiciously, even as her anger smoldered inside. Unconsciously, a tiny spark of electricity snaked and curled up and around her right arm and then dissipated, but a smell of ozone lingered in the air. That kind of thing had been happening a lot, and it always drew interested looks that were never explained from Eva, Wallova and a few others. Tarina's eyes shifted slightly, and her mouth tightened, but she stood firm. Behind her Kat was aware of Sarah rising to her feet, and of Cassie taking a step closer to her. Reshik appeared to be watching with a hooded expression, and his mouth was moving silently, but she somehow knew he was just as ready as the others.

"That is very true," Tarina said, feigning sadness. "And here I was trying to be helpful. Oh well. A lost cause is what it is." A small commotion grew up from the direction of the doors to the building, and a quick glance told her that their classmates had begun to enter eagerly. Tarina saw it too, and gave her a mocking smile. "Time for class." Then she turned smoothly and walked away, heading towards the doors with the others.

"You know," Kat said after a long moment of silence, in a tone of thoughtfulness. "I really can't say there's much I like about that girl."

"She's not far wrong about me though," Cassie muttered unhappily, gripping her sword so hard her fingers whitened.

"And who says I don't like my group of misfit friends," Kat barked with a laugh, reached over to gently put a hand over one of Cassie's, and gave it a gentle squeeze. Cassie gave their hands a startled look, blushed, and relaxed her grip. Kat turned to look at Sarah who was only slightly mollified. "Don't forget, eventually you'll get to pound on her for real when we start sparing in the combat classes. Just wallop her good then."

Sarah gave a long sigh and then smiled, though her long tail was twitching in an agitated way. "I'm not so good with delayed gratification, but I can learn. What were you doing over there Reshik?" she asked curiously.

"Preparing a surprise if it became necessary," Reshik replied with a sheepish smile of his own, clambering to his feet. A dark ball of shadowy mist dropped from his left hand, hit the ground, and seemed to evaporate into the bright, sunlit air.

"Hoohoo!" Sarah laughed happily and yanked a confused Reshik into a hug. Reshik was often baffled by Sarah, and physical interactions were always the worst. Alhawashi were not a hugging people it turned out. So he had no idea what to do when Sarah got excited, as she was now. Sarah quickly let go and walked backwards a few paces towards the doorway. "Every time you get quiet Reshik, you end up proving you're one of us. Haha!"

Kat followed right behind Sarah and the boy, with Cassie at her side and they both put away their swords. One strange thing she had noticed lately, was that Cassie usually walked on the opposite side of her than the one Eva always did, which was her left. Despite the relationship between Sarah and Cassie, Cass spent a lot of time walking near her when she could, often in blushing silence. Sarah never had a problem with it, and tended to move about the group erratically anyway when she was pumped up and energetic.

"Which Sim-room are we in again?" Sarah asked, walking backwards again for the question, never missing a step as they moved up and through the doorway.

"I think the stream of girls would be a clue as to where," Cassie sighed. "But it's room four; and since you never forget things like that, it means you didn't read the instructions. Right?"

"I was distracted," Sarah twitted back innocently. "It's not my fault you came back from the showers right when I meant to read them."

The bottom floor was divided into quadrants, with staircases to the top floor just inside the doors and on the opposite side of the building from them. A crossed pair of halls framed the sections, each of which had only a single visible door. At the center intersection they followed the other girls to the right, and then right again in the middle of the hall through the door labeled: Immersion simulator 4, with a glowing green light underneath the name plaque to indicate the room was in active use. A red light would mean that a room was reserved. Students were free to use any free room, with the functions they were authorized for at their current level, whenever they wanted to train and could be reserved for one hour at a time.

"Lagging behind as usual, Ms. Genaria?" said a very familiar voice as they entered a chamber almost identical to the one they'd used in Ajax's mammoth R&D and manufacturing facility, which was called The Pit for several reasons. Wallova pushed herself away from the wall that she'd been leaning against. Wallova's physical training sessions were brutal, and always left Kat feeling strung out and exhausted, but she liked the woman. She was one of those that really cared about making the girls she was instructing succeed, and her training regimen was always just hard enough to push her limits towards that ultimate, imperceptible goal.

"Right on time," she answered back with a smile. After the event two weeks ago, Wallova and a few of the other instructors had made it obvious that they were watching her, and she could hardly blame them. She deserved almost every chewing out she got.

"Good enough for me," Wallova nodded and jerked her thumb towards the other girls who were forming into a vaguely rectangular block at one end of the room. "Join up with the rest of 'em; you know the drill." They did indeed by now, so they made their way to the back of the class, ignoring the fact that many were ignoring them, and waited patiently on the woman standing silently in the center of the room, who was typing commands into several floating control windows around her person.

The woman was Captain Blaer Romana, the main instructor for combat magic for all female cadets. She was a strikingly tall succubus with long, sinuously moving emerald hair and a fit, but still very womanly figure. She was well past her middle age, which Sarah claimed was somewhere in the high seventies or eighties, but strong of muscle and endurance. As a mature succubus she had a very lovely pair of thin horns set wide on her forehead that curled straight upwards with a twisty shape and flared tips. So far her classes had been rigorously thorough and the most interesting of anything so far, except maybe for Ajax's technology discussions and demonstrations where he seemed overjoyed by anyone that liked the subject. Wallova made her way confidently over near the instructor, as she did in a lot of classes that involved practical exercises as a sometimes observer and aide.

Captain Romana finished inputting commands into the room computer, moved directly in front of the class and stood in a shoulder-width stance. For a succubus, she was a very serious woman during class, but outside she was one of the most willing teachers to help her students one-on-one. Right now she was in serious mode. "Alright, we've gone over as much as we can in a purely classroom setting. It's time to get our hands dirty, figuratively speaking. Which means today we will work on the most basic of offense and defensive spells to give you a taste of how things really work. Who can tell me what these are? Let's start with offense."

The mousy looking girl Kat kind of liked because she was a little bold and had a cute spread of freckles, stepped forward one pace away from the small group of friends she'd been chatting with a moment before the class had started. "The most basic offensive spell is the 'bolt' –type spell ma'am," she said respectively. The girl was always polite to the teachers and attentive. Kat would have said she was a bookworm sort of girl, but that would have been unkind and probably an unfair assessment as well.

"Aye, and so it is," Romana answered, with the same lilting brogue as Sarah, but a little heavier. She turned to Wallova. "Can you start the program I've prepared, please?"

"Sure," Wallova shrugged and raised both hands. An interface generated by the room's systems appeared in the air; then the woman made a quick selection and hit the large confirmation button when it flashed into existence. A buzzer sounded as the interface vanished, to warn them that an augmented reality system was activating, as they were told the sound was for, and the air shimmered at the far end of the rectangular chamber.

Large, oversized bulls-eye style targets appeared and floated in mid-air, supported by nothing. They were about as wide across as Kat was tall, and a simulacrum of painted oak that looked incredibly real, as all immersion-level simulations did. If she cared to touch them, Kat knew her fingers would feel the grain of the wood and the smoothness of the thickly painted red rings. Ajax had shown them that it was capable of far more; and she still wasn't sure about the idea of swimming in an Augmented Reality pool of water that didn't actually exist, and yet could still drown you if certain failsafe's were not in place. That was how real they could make things these days.

"Thank you, my dear," Romana said politely, but with her bad habit of calling other women and girls 'dear' despite many asking her not to. It was simply her way of saying she liked you at the moment when she used it. Sarah said it was very common back in her homeland to address people that way. It made her seem a little more personable.

"As we discussed last time, a bolt is simply a packet of condensed magical energy that you can fire at a target," Romana instructed, turning around to face the aforementioned targets. She pointed downrange and at the tip of her index finger, a flare of dark-orange magical energy snapped into a small magic circle, with a matching one spinning beneath her feet. In almost the same instant a sphere of the same color coalesced in front of that pointing finer that grew rapidly darker as more power was fed into the same tiny volume. Then, with barely more than a 'phut' sound, it shot away very quickly and struck a target almost dead center. On impact there was a loud pop and the released energy tore a temporary divot in the image, complete with splinters.

Turning back to face the class, Romana crossed her arms and wore a firm expression. "Such a simple bolt spell as this one is unlikely to be very effective against prepared foes in real combat; it is however the best place to start learning how to use ranged projectile spells. From here you can change an almost infinite number of parameters, and build upon the spell to make it your own until it becomes something far more capable and more to the style you'll develop over time. What I want all of you to do now is form a line across the room where you are and match up with a target. Thirty meters is a very short range, and the limit without loading a full immersion, but it's where we'll start."

With the others, Kat moved quickly to obey and after some careful chivying from Wallova, they stood in a long line facing the wooden targets. Kat was a bit surprised to find a confidently smiling Tarina standing to her right when it was done, but she said nothing and only exchanged a confused frown with Cassie who had her left. Sarah and then Reshik were on Cassie's opposite side. After a moment of fiddling by Wallova, the targets multiplied and spread out to match each girl. They also gained a nameplate to indicate whose target was whose, as if their CO had expected confusion on that. Given how people were sometimes, Kat wouldn't have been very surprised.

"Now, try forming your bolts," Romana instructed, walking behind them in a slow, watchful cadence. "Don't be surprised if yours looks somewhat different from those around you, or if it makes noise. The bolt is the product of your mind and personality, as all sentient-cast spells are, and will be influenced by that. Only devices and machines are the exact same every time, all the time. So expect some individuality in every spell you cast."

A little disappointed at the simplicity of the task, Kat let out a long, quiet sigh. With Eva and the others in the Mentor dorm, she was already creating far more complex and dangerous spells, but she supposed it couldn't be helped. The others were advancing at the slower pace of the class schedule, while she was smashing forwards. She'd also been trying to show her friends a few things along the way as well, but there hadn't been very much time or opportunity as yet for any practical demonstrations. Lastly, for some reason, Eva kept cautioning her about showing to much advancement in view of her classmates.

Summoning a flow of magic, just a tiny bit for now, she snapped open an array beneath her, creating a circuit and the forms to create the simple spell. Still, every line was precisely placed and each symbol or glyph was correct; all this she did in the space of a single breath and raised her right hand. Eva had been rigorous in making sure she could perform all her spells without gestures if need be, but they were a bit harder without the visual reference point of a finger. Maybe that was why old-time mages carried wooden staffs? Either way, a sphere of blue-white light crackled into existence.

The ball of energy was no thicker than the joint of her index finger, but little curls of electricity teased around it and her finger, producing a slight fizzling sound. It was also incredibly bright to look upon, creating odd shadows in the room. Since hers was the first to successfully form, she could see she was distracting the other girls. Unlike the instructor's spell, hers snapped loudly when she fired it hard across the room. It traveled as a bright blur and on impact there was bang and flash accompanied by flying wood splinters from the burnt-looking hole in the wooden target. Finished, she dropped her hand back to her side.

Other girls were now getting their bolts readied, and she was intrigued by all the different colors and variations. Sarah gave her a roguish smile, flicked her long tail in a teasing manner, and raised her hand to form a ball of deep violet energy. She then turned and seemed to flick it away. It was certainly an unconventional approach towards mage-craft, but Kat couldn't find fault in it, especially when the bolt hit the target dead center. On Kat's other side, Tarina gave her a haughty look, and held her hand palm out toward the other end of the room. Her bolt was a ball of roiling, crimson flames and it hissed as it was fired, where it then set the wood temporarily ablaze until the simulation system reset the target back to normal. She somehow missed what Reshik did, but his happy hiss and smile, as well as his damaged target, said all that needed saying about his effort.

"Cadet Reshik," Romana said in a stern tone. "Was the chanting necessary?"

"My magic is more effective in this way," Reshik answered politely. As always he was unbending in his view that magic was an inherently spiritual art that required communion with the Gods. His spells were always prayers of thanks for the particular effect he was creating. Kat wasn't sure as yet what to think of all that, since she couldn't explain satisfactorily how a golem like the one he'd made would be done with the usual style of magic. Normally golems were a lot dumber.

Cassie though was still standing there with a worried glare on her cute features, and appeared to be muttering to herself. She was staring at her target like it should simply disappear because she wanted it too. When she raised her hand, there was simply a flash of yellowish light and she let out a surprised yelp. Then she snatched her hand back and gave her fingers a worried look.

"Ha! Pathetic," Tarina called, seeing Cassie's failure. Cassie wasn't the only one, since it was evident that Wallova was helping a girl a little further down the line, but Cassie was the obvious target for scorn.

Frowning furiously, but saying nothing in reply, Kat moved over and behind Cassie. "My turn to help I think," she said quietly, putting a hand on her friend's shoulder. Cassie's look of relief made her smile, and she gave a pat with her hand, trying to ignore that her heart had started beating a little faster at the expression. "What was the trouble?"

"As soon as I bring up the energy for the bolt, it just pops right way!" Cassie replied, frustration full in her voice.

"Form your array for me, but go no further," Kat instructed, looking down. When it formed, bathing them in a warm, yellow light, she carefully looked over the circle and its contents. The power was flowing correctly, and while she thought the sigil placement could be a little cleaner and more orderly, they should work well enough, so that left one more problem area to check. "You're having a hard time forming the sphere in your mind?"

"Yeah, it doesn't feel right for some reason," Cassie replied, turning her head slightly to look at her more directly. "Is that bad?"

"No idea actually," Kat laughed. To her, magic was the same as learning math equations, a language or how to walk; all natural parts of life. For Cassie though, who grew up in a rigid childhood of learning her sword and things that were of a manly nature, it would be something far different. That gave her an idea however, and spoke as it formed. "Maybe what you need is to imagine that your magic is another blade you wield. In this case, think of thrusting it into a wooden target."

Using her own magic, she overlaid a new spell form over Cassie's. It was almost the same, but with a few tiny differences she thought Cassie might need, just because it felt right. "Use this to do it."

"Okay," Cassie said skeptically, and turned back towards the target. Most of the other girls had already completed the task, and a few were even taking more shots as practice while they waited for new instructions. She and Cassie ignored them, and she felt it under her hand when Cass' took a calming breath. Then she formed the spell circle and thrust her hand forward sharply. A thin flash of yellow zipped across the room and punched right into, and then through the wood with hardly more of a sound than the thunk of impact.

"I did it!" Cassie cried excitedly, and in a move that completely shocked Kat, her friend turned and gave her a quick, firm hug before turning towards a grinning Sarah. "It worked just like she said!"

"Our Kat is a clever one, my dear Cassie," Sarah chortled, giving Kat a knowing smile at her flummoxed expression. It was hardly her fault since she hadn't expected such a physically intimate response from Cassie, who'd been almost shy of late. Cassie's body had felt undeniably good against her own, and just that tiny bit of stimulus had her aroused again. She imagined it must be what an addict needing a fix felt like, because at that moment it took an act of will not to yank Cassie back into her arms.

Cassie though, appeared not to have noticed what she had done and turned back to Kat. "It makes so much more sense that way! I just never thought of it before."

"Just try and keep that in mind from now on and work on it in your own way," Kat said. "It just means you need your own style of doing things."

"Excuse me, Cadet Genaria," Romana cut in sternly from her place near the side of the room. "May I be permitted to teach my own class now?"

"Sorry," she replied and got back into line, unfazed by the reprimand.

Romana just nodded in satisfaction and moved on. "Now that you know how such a spell is formed, let's add a little more difficulty to the problem." She quickly brought the control menu back up and made a single selection. At the end of the room, a thick marble column formed directly in the way of the targets so only a slight bit of curve was exposed on either side. "Here is a simple obstruction blocking your target. How do you hit it now?"

A tall human girl down the line, with a shoulder-length mop of dark brown hair and a slightly large nose, raised a hand and stepped forward at their teacher's nod. "Send a bolt around," she gave in answer.

"Show me," Romana said simply.

The girl frowned for a long, silent couple of minutes and then shook her head. "I'm not sure how ma'am."

"I can do it!" Tarina barked confidently, and summoned up another little ball of flames. This time it whooshed around in a clean semi-circle and struck the target once again.

"Good," Romana said and looked around. "Anyone else?"

Kat smiled, because it was Sarah that raised a confident hand, and then lowered it into position. Her bolt coalesced again, but this time it stretched out and elongated. She shot it out dead ahead, and when it hit that marble pillar it only slowed and a shimmered a little, then exited on the other side as a slightly lighter color and hit right in the bull's-eye. "It's easier sometimes, to go right for the heart," Sarah said saucily, giving Kat and her other friends a roving smile of camaraderie that was returned warmly by everyone.

"What about you, Reshik?" Romana asked, in a curious sort of tone. "So far your methods have been unorthodox, but effective. How would you solve this problem?"

"I suppose it would be something of this nature," Reshik replied, raising both hands. He burbled a short prayer-spell, weaving his fingers in an odd fashion, and in between his palms a shadowy ball of misty magic formed, which then exploded into a hundred tiny, finger-sized hawks made of the foggy stuff. The miniature raptors flew with amazing realism around the pillar and then collectively suicided into the target where they ripped a hundred bites out of it in their death discharges.

"Now that would be a pain in the ass for a defender!" Wallova chuckled loudly, giving Romana a wide smile. "Imagine that scaled up a thousand fold."

"It does have tactical possibilities," Romana granted, and turned back to the class. "Thank you Cadet Reshik. That was an interesting solution. Now I want everyone to try this for a while, but with a small change. Every time you succeed and hit the target, the simulation will change the obstacle in some way. I want to see problem solving and creativity."

"Tsch," Tarina scoffed under her breath once the class was fully occupied with the exercise, and cast a dismissive glance at Kat. "Not going to show off this time?" With a casual wave of her hand, Tarina summoned up six more roiling balls of flame and each flew on a different trajectory, curling around the pillar, which changed shape, size, material, or location after each successive strike at the target.

Kat ground her teeth, annoyed at the provocation. Eva had told her early on that showing her full strength and abilities in class would be a bad idea for a number of reasons. Her instructors, who could monitor her real progress anyway, would know, so it should have been an easy instruction to follow. But... She smiled as if she didn't care what Tarina was saying and in an instant, formed a new, crackling bolt of power.

Snapping her fingers in a bit of showmanship, her spell flashed away at almost the speed of a real bullet, and struck the pillar dead on. Tarina started to laugh, thinking Kat had failed, but it was Kat who smiled wide when on impact, spell sigils crackled to life all up and down the pillar, and electricity snapped and arced into the air. With a loud, almost deafening boom, twin electric lances of power shot out from the marble column and into her own bull's-eye and Tarina's at the same time, shattering both wooden targets.

"Please refrain from interfering with the targets of others," Romana chided immediately, giving Kat a momentary frown of disapproval. "Otherwise, it was an excellent example of spell transference."

"How did you do that?!" Kat turned from her instructor, who was already moving on to a new girl, to find another of her classmates looking at her intently. She was one of the older ones, and human. A little heavy-set but not fat, with auburn hair. From the startled looks on Cassie and Sarah, the girl must have plowed right past them to ask the question. The girl's face held a small amount of fear, which was a little disheartening.

"Well...uhm..." she gathered her thoughts, ignoring Tarina's scowl. "The bolt I fired at the pillar was basically that new spell array contained in a packet. On impact it opened and executed, performing the exact instructions that were sent. It's not very efficient that way, and you lose some power, but it worked."

"Thank you!" The girl quickly darted back to her place on the other side of Sarah, as if she was afraid Kat would do something to her for wasting Kat's time.

"What was that all about?" Kat asked Sarah.

"Hmm, well, your reputation is a rather interesting one," Sarah replied after a moment of thought, and gave a dismissive flick of her long tail. "Something like a local myth has been forming about you, and it's been helped along by what you and Eva look like when you're together out in public. Even these girls can sense when there are bigger predators around, my Kat."

"Wonderful," Kat muttered to herself.

"It just means we can hog you all to ourselves," Sarah chuckled and glanced at Reshik. "Right?"

"Of course this is so!" Reshik agreed emphatically, quite pleased by his answer.

"And you're not really all that scary anyways," Cassie added, and then gave her a shy, blushing smile. "I can still beat you with a sword whenever you want me to."

Smiling back, Kat was about to speak her thanks, when Tarina broke in. "By all the gods you guys are so gross to listen to. Are you really happy having these three lapdogs yapping at you?"

Facing Tarina squarely, she glared, and for once she noticed that the girl didn't flinch back. Something had given her a degree of confidence. She had no idea what, and hardly cared to ask. Before she could reign in her anger and speak the caustic words that were boiling in her mind, Romana began clapping her hands and loudly calling for attention.

"That's enough for offense for today. You'll have plenty of time to play around and experiment with your own style of combat and the objective today is just to give you all a first taste. We will now move on to defense. What are the three basic categories?" Kat saw Cassie hesitate and stepped over to give her a nudge forward. Romana's eyes locked onto her. "Cadet Silanus?"

"Shield, barrier and area effect spells," Cassie said in a nervous rush that was almost a squeak. Then she darted back to her previous place and gave Kat a look that was a mix of thankful and mulish.

"Exactly right, my dear," Romana replied approvingly. "For now we'll focus on the first two, since area effects are a slightly more complicated subject, as they can be used for many purposes, including magical defense. What is the difference between a shield and a barrier for a mage?"

"How about we have a practical demonstration to show them?" Wallova interjected, pushing away from her place against the wall with an excited smile.

"I see no problem with that," Romana allowed, and nodded. "Words alone are nothing next to experience."

"Excellent!" Wallova crowed, and used the room controls to quickly clear the targets and pillars away. Then she moved to the middle of the open space and light shimmered over her body. Her dress uniform was replaced with her armor, and Kat had to say Wallova always looked good in it with her compact and athletic body. But her appreciation ended when Wallova's smile settled on her, and a familiar sinking feeling replaced it.

"Me again?" she asked.

"Damn right it's you again," Wallova laughed. "I'm still not done punishing you for that mess you made."

"I had help with that, you know," Kat replied, grinning despite the knowledge that she was about be used as a demonstration dummy as usual. Wallova claimed she was 'rigorous' enough to survive, and therefore perfect for the role of class example. The problem was, anything that smelled like a fight excited her, and she could already feel a lightness in her steps, and a quickening of her heart as her body prepared itself. Unconsciously, thanks to the countless magic strengthening exercises Eva made her do, she could vastly increase the flow of magic within herself, and did so now. This manifested in a soft fizzing of electricity in the air around her and little curls of it arcing outwards like curious fingers.

"I know, but you did many times the damage of anyone else," Wallova argued. "But I see Eva has been teaching you a few more things, and you have developed a strong conversion affinity. Very nice."

Kat knew what she was talking about now. Some people just naturally converted what would normally be wasted magic dispelled from the body into another form. In her case, her body converted all the excess into electricity, and into a strong electromagnetic field around herself. If she wasn't careful, it could be dangerous, so she and Eva had been working a lot on controlling it. She was slowly becoming able to do so without thinking about it, but it was useful too since it responded to her will as easily as her muscles.

Kat nodded her thanks for the compliment. "So what do I need to do?"

"Do?" Wallova barked a loud laugh, crouched slightly, and sprang across the distance at Kat. "Defend yourself!"

Startled, Kat simply reacted and once again increased her flow of magic. Then an array exploded open beneath her feet, ready to be adapted into a spell. Wallova's foot touched down just outside it and the woman launched herself right at Kat through the air. Her fist shot forward in a punch that glowed slightly with magical enhancement. Changing her spell form to counter the attack, light gathered in front of Kat's blocking forearm and took the brunt of the impact, and a blast of air from wasted spell energy roared away from them even as Kat herself flew backwards from the hit; just as she'd planned.

Cheating the laws of physics for a moment, she used her magic as she'd learned from sparing with Eva to reorient her body in mid-air so that she landed feet first into the wall and absorbed the impact. That was only a minor distraction because around the arm where the punch had landed, a spell form took shape and converted the absorbed energy of the hit; which was then formed into a dart-shaped bolt that she fired back at the already running Wallova.

Wallova raised a hand and the bolt deflected off a reddish semi-sphere that formed around it and spell instead spent itself harmlessly into the floor. Continuing to raise that hand in a smooth, uninterrupted motion, magic formed into a meter long javelin which the woman hurled at Kat, who had only just dropped down to the floor herself. Though it was wasteful, she opened a new array and formed a dome over herself made of a glowing lattice of blazing, and sizzling lightning. The javelin struck at what looked like a hole in the dome, but bright light flashed and a boom sounded as energy was sent in an instant to that location to destroy the incoming attack. When her eyes cleared, Kat found Wallova regarding her with a smile and standing at ease.

"Is that it for now?" she asked.

"For now," Wallova agreed, looking flushed and excited. Kat certainly knew how that felt, even though it kind of angered her too. Every sparring session with Eva, or demonstration like this one, only served to show that Eva was right. She knew how she felt during a fight, and she couldn't deny that at the moment she was more than slightly aroused as well. If Eva walked through the door this very moment, she knew she'd break and throw herself at the girl and tear her clothes off. Thankfully, Eva was supposed to be out with her patrol team and probably wouldn't show up out of the blue like that.

Kat made her way back into the line of cadets and realized they were gawking worriedly at her again, which was depressing, except for Tarina who wore a scowl as usual. The air reeked of ozone and she could hear ventilation fans humming loudly somewhere nearby to freshen things up. Cassie though just gave her a proud smile and she found herself feeling instantly better, but when her friend gave her an approving touch on the arm, a shiver ran through her body.

"Dear gods!" she thought, trying to regain some measure of control. Without having to check, she knew she'd be wet, and could even smell it a little. It wouldn't do to suddenly have an orgasm in the middle of class. Biting her lip, she tasted blood and the bit of pain almost upset the balance, but after a long, awkward moment, the feeling subsided to a disappointing ache. What in the frozen hells was wrong with her, that having Cassie simply touch her after a fight was enough to set her off?

"You okay?" Cassie asked, sounding concerned, and Kat realized she'd stopped moving and responding long enough to look strange.

"Y-yeah, I'm perfectly fine," she answered, and took a deep breath. "I'm just coming back down from the adrenalin rush."

"Oh, is that all?" Sarah asked; a very knowing smile on her lip. "It certainly seems like you got a little excited."

"It was fun," she replied, which was the honest truth, if not all of it.

"Fun wasn't the point of the demonstration," Wallova interrupted, addressing the whole class. "Did anyone notice the two types of defensive spells during the match?" The mousy girl stepped forward and Wallova nodded. "Cadet Loren Batois?"

"Shield spells were the ones used up until the very end. They were designed to deflect or use the opponent's attack, and were capable of being moved around by the mages using it. At the end, Kat created a barrier. It was more like a solid structure and immobile, and designed to absorb an attack and cover a larger area. It was the less flexible of the two as well."

"Correct on both counts," Romana approved. "However, don't confuse that lack of flexibility with a lack of usefulness. As Cadet Genaria just demonstrated, there are times when both are needed to defend yourself from a determined enemy. Also, one or the other is more useful against certain military weapons, which you'll go over tonight as an assignment. For now I want to see you try and create one spell of each type, and we'll work from there. Form groups to test them as well."

Kat was amused by just how fast her friends formed around her. It went without saying that the four of them were a group. After a short discussion, they decided to go person-by-person until they got it, and Reshik went first. His first attempt at a shield flew around him like a bird, but when they threw the simulated rocks Wallova created with the room system as projectiles, he easily moved it where it needed to go to block them. His barrier was less well-formed, and at first looked like a wall of incredibly dense gray fog, but after a little work he managed to make it so that he could see through it from the inside at least.

Sarah produced both of hers without much difficulty, as she admitted to reading ahead in the book for the class, and only slowed momentarily when she quibbled on how she wanted them to look visually. Cassie needed a little guidance again, but she was an incredibly bright girl, so once Kat pointed her down the right path, she ran down it on her own, so to speak. The only problem there was that she found herself once again touching Cassie a lot when demonstrating things. In the end, she was quite happy with the spells Cassie built and enjoyed herself.

Unfortunately however, they ran out of class time and Romana dismissed them for the day, reminding them of their assignment as she shut down the simulation system. Wallova ducked out quickly with a cheery wave to the class, and then everyone else followed at their own paces. Kat was still walking with Cassie, and discussing her friend's spells, when they slowly walked back out into the sunlight. She snapped her right hand up, purely out of instinct, and snatched a large, green apple out of the air. It would have gone over her shoulder, but she had caught it anyways. She brought it to her mouth and bit a juicy chunk out of it while glaring at the girl who'd thrown the fruit.

"What are you doing here?" she mumbled at Eva, who was standing under the tree they'd used earlier and using it to prop herself up. As usual, just the sight of Eva was enough to excite her, so she hid her flush of happiness by taking another bit of the delicious fruit, and let a trail of juice slip down her chin. "I thought you had patrol training this afternoon?" she asked after chewing long enough to settle her nerves down some.

"I just felt like seeing you, and we were already in this area anyways so I brought a treat for my Kitten," Eva replied in her deep purr that made Kat wet. Eva was always bringing her snacks and fruit. Their higher training regimen meant they went through calories at an atrocious rate, and snacking was entirely necessary for them, but Eva felt it was her job to take care of that. For some reason, Kat never really felt like arguing that point, even when that meant it was another excuse for Eva to come see her during the day. "I watched that bit at the end though. You've been doing the exercises just like I showed you."

"You know I have been," she complained, not sure why Eva was pointing that out. Then she realized it had been a back-handed compliment, and felt momentarily flummoxed at what to say.

Eva just smiled confidently and gestured with her head towards a small group of Valkyrie and Crow cadets standing over by the road. They were all watching and talking amongst themselves; and they were all of an age with Eva, or thereabouts. "I saw a few problems I want to talk about though, so come tag along for a bit. I also have some good news from Ajax about letting you fiddle around in a workroom. He seems to like you for some reason and is willing to let you play with his toys."

Frowning, she felt a flash of anger at whatever she had done incorrectly. She no longer doubted that she had done so, because Eva had demonstrated nothing but competence in such things since they had been together. The timing was annoying though; she didn't want to leave her friends just yet, because she felt just as strongly about them as she did Eva. The news about getting permission from Ajax was a tempting tidbit of information however, and she really wanted to get her fingers busy building things again.

"I won't keep you for very long," Eva promised, pointedly glancing over to where the others were waiting. Sarah looked a bit peeved. She and Eva didn't like each other very much, and it bothered Kat more than a little to know that she was the reason for the mutual dislike between the two girls.

"Fine!" she agreed with a long sigh. It was best to get it over with. So she turned to her friends. "Go ahead to dinner without me. I'll catch up as soon as I can."

"We'll save you a place," Cassie promised, with an awkward eagerness that drew a strange frown from Eva.

Not wanting Eva to start something with Cassie she hurriedly agreed and started walking towards Eva's patrol group for the day. Since she was a new cadet, they generally considered her beneath their notice beyond polite greetings. These cadets were the closest to graduating, she knew, and Eva was the most junior of them. So when she joined Eva they just nodded and started walking. This made her sigh again, but she walked next to Eva all the same.

******

Sarah frowned, once again smothered her feelings of resentment, and just watched as Kat walked away down the street beside Eva. The power that girl had over her Kat was entirely unfair. Though, to be honest, Kat was not entirely hers, since she would be happily sharing with her dear Cassie. Yet, it was taking so much work to try and win her free of Eva's clutches. It was incredibly aggravating and saddening.

She felt an arm slip around her waist, and without thinking, she drew Cass' close to her side. Cassie's pleased murmur when she caressed a long-fingered hand down her girl's back made her smile, and instantly improved her mood. Her expectations about coming to the Academy had been mixed, but she was more than pleased by whatever fates had influenced her first day so that she would meet two of the most perfect girls she could have desired in her dreams. She probably could have ignored Kat when she called out that first time, since she'd been busy with the enrollment stuff, but something had drawn her to respond, and now she was certain that it had been providence of some kind. Every instinct she had cried out that she hurry and make Kat theirs, just as she had with the lovely Cassie. And thinking of Cassie...

Burbling a happy laugh, she drew Cassie in and ignoring the girl's embarrassed squeak, and kissed her deeply right there. At first Cassie hesitated and balked, but quickly relaxed into the embrace and tentatively kissed her back. Cass' didn't like displaying herself in public, but Sarah was working slowly on bringing her out of hiding. There was a lot of depth hidden inside the girl, and she wanted to enjoy all of it. She was also determined that Kat see it with her. When she drew back, she saw Reshik smiling in amusement at them. He was such a polite boy.

"I think I shall go and reserve us a table in the food hall," the strange cat-lizard boy said, hissing a laugh like a leaky tea kettle. He turned and twiddled his fingers in a gesture of farewell as he often did.

"One of these days I'm going to get him to explain how things like this are done with his people, and then we'll see who is amused" she said idly, looking down into Cass's green eyes. They were quite pretty, and she loved staring into them.

"That I have no desire to see!" Cassie huffed, even though she didn't look all that displeased by their close embrace. "I have enough gods-be-damned problems of my own without aggravating Reshik. Did anything I tried work today?"

"More than I think you realize," Sarah smiled with pride. "When Kat was done with her little bit of fun, you almost set her off."

"All I did was touch her though?"

"Which was enough," Sarah insisted, and laughed. "But you were doing great even before then. That hug was the perfect touch. She didn't want you to let go!"

"Crap!" Cassie's eyes widened. "I messed it up then. I got excited and just grabbed her, and thought she'd get upset so I let go as fast as possible."

"Next time, don't, and see what she does," she chuckled, already picturing it. It was a beautiful idea.

Cassie bit her lower lip and pushed some of her dark curls behind an ear, even as a deep flush suffused her skin and a scent Sarah knew well began to flavor the air. A succubus could always detect these things, and it excited her greatly. "How much longer Sarah? I'm trying everything I can, but I'm just not good at this. When will she join us?"

"Very soon," She promised sincerely, placing another light kiss on Cassie's lips. Seeing stares around them, she gently guided the girl around the side of the building. It wasn't private in any sense, but it was at least out of direct sight of most people. Once there she pushed Cassie up against the wall and just enjoyed the feeling of their bodies being together. Cassie made a soft mu and rested her face forward onto her generous breasts as she had come to enjoy. Sarah liked it as well. "I will keep my word."

"I was surprised when you gave it," Cassie laughed softly.

"Well, can you imagine how shocked I was when you told me the whole reason you resisted me so hard was because you had a crush on Kat? That you wanted her as soon as you saw her, and even more so after talking with her?"

"I thought maybe it was part of the way my father messed me up inside my head," Cassie sighed, but still seemed happy enough. "I thought the whole reason I wanted Kat, a girl, was because of how hard he wanted me to be a boy and act like one. It's how I've lived every day of my childhood. Then I saw Kat, and naked even, and I thought she was one of the most beautiful people in the world. Right after that, you came along, trying non-stop to get into my pants, when the girl I secretly wanted just stood by and smiled at us. Until that terrible night, I never seriously thought about making it the three of us. Even now it seems a little selfish, but I want her to be a part of this."

"Shhh," she didn't want Cass to think about that night right now. Despite her sword training, all that blood and real violence had hit the girl hard, and she had downplayed how sick Cassie had been to the others. The only thing that had kept the girl together during the fight had been desperation and Kat literally at her back. Afterwards, she'd been a mess. "Just focus on our goal, and I'm sure we'll win her heart over."

"But that Eva is working just as hard to have Kat to herself!" Cassie harrumphed grumpily. "Kat goes all gooey whenever she shows up. I'm just not as sexy as she is."

That made Sarah laugh in earnest. "Well now, I can say that is certainly a lie. I've seen how she looks at both of us and the attraction is there. Just show her what you've been showing me. Combine that with the fact that it is we who are her closest friends, and we can win."

Cassie reddened further at the reminder of their love-making. She could be so shy about such things, but it was part of what made her so adorable. Sarah had just decided that it was a good opportunity to play with Cassie for a bit, when the intrusion of angry words nearby stayed her. Instead she drew back and realized the sounds were coming from behind another nearby building. Cassie must have heard it as well, because she stilled and went quiet.

Quietly making their way over to see what was going on, she peaked around the corner, hoping that it wasn't something dangerous or complicated. What she did see only confused her. Tarina, the bitch who seemed to delight in aggravating Kat, was standing with her closest cronies and a large, strange man she had never seen before. He was dressed roughly in scruffy pants and a coat, as if he worked outdoors and got dirty often, but was built like a bull. Cassie, impatient, snuck a peak as well and let out a surprised noise that she quickly suppressed with a hand and drew back.

Sarah wanted to ask what the problem was, but something more interesting was going on. After yelling and cursing a lot at the man, Tarina held out a demanding hand. The man mumbled something that sounded impolite, and drew a slim steel case from his coat pocket. From the case he removed a syringe that contained something small that glowed brightly with a light that seemed eerily familiar, and then a small bottle of liquid.

Sticking the syringe into the neck of the bottle he filled it with the liquid until it covered the light, which diffused into it. Tarina shook her arm insistently, and after a long exchange of words, the man injected the now mixed materials. This was then repeated with the other two girls and Sarah a felt strange kind of magic for only a moment. Then the man rummaged in his coat again and took out another case. This time, bafflingly, he filled three syringes with blood from each girl. He grunted something and then loped off toward the far end of building, then Tarina and her girls slowly walked in the same direction a minute or two later, sounding happy about something.

"What in all the hells was that?!" Cassie hissed when Tarina had gone far enough away to be out of sight.

"Something illegal is my guess, but what exactly is a very good question," Sarah mused and glanced at her friend and lover. "What was that surprise about?"

"I think I've seen that guy before," Cassie replied sounding serious. "He looks a lot like someone that my father uses for muscle."

"Muscle?" Sarah couldn't help the surprise in her own voice. "Like goons?"

"Exactly like goons."

"Well my lovely Cassie, we have discovered something unpleasant again, and Kat isn't here. That means her ability to attract trouble might be contagious."

"Do we tell her about this?" Cassie asked.

Laughing, she nodded. "She's our fearless leader after all."

They started to walk towards the Dining Hall, and when Cassie remained quiet for most of the distance, Sarah wondered what she was thinking so intently about. "Something else troubling you?"

"Not bothering me, but I think we may have gotten things a little wrong," Cassie said in a curious tone.

"How so?"

"Well, since we both agree and follow along with Kat most of the time, wouldn't it end up being Kat's harem instead?"

She jolted to a halt at the idea, since as far as she knew, a succubus's harem always formed around that person; except she couldn't fault Cassie's logic. Kat was very certainly the dominant personality in their little group. It would make things very interesting.

"Who knows," she replied with an amused smile. "But I'm hungry, so let's eat.

******

"You're right!" Kat sputtered the words around the water pouring down her face. She almost had to yell to be heard over the downpour in which she and her friends stood as they awaited their turn. Currently, they were enjoying the splendorous wonder that was the Academy's Variable Challenge Course, which was just a fancy name for a huge, muddy obstacle course where the instructor could choose from any number of different paths and obstacles to change the level of difficulty. Under Wallova's direction, they were attempting Route 3, which was the first one in which the use of magic was pretty much required to finish it. The course was almost hidden away near the north coast of the Academy Island where they also put all the gun ranges and other such noisy and dangerous things that had to be done outside for the most part.

Fortunately Wallova didn't care how they finished, as long as they did so. So they were free to take the challenge as teams or individuals as they pleased, and it pleased Kat to have her team. The others hadn't argued at all, and had seemed motivated until the storm had washed in from over the ocean. It was a warm rain, but the shear amount was astounding. In her case, her long hair was plastered together in a wet mess, but no one looked much better. All the girls looked like half-drowned rats.

"Did you have any doubt?!" Sarah laughed, not visibly bothered by the rain at all.

"You know what I mean," she replied, smiling back and looking back out over the course. They were being released in sets so as not to get tangled up with each other, and since their group was the largest, they had received the great pleasure of going last. At the moment they were all watching Tarina's group breezing through each stage when they had struggled with the same thing last week when it was hot and dry. At the two-story log wall, Tarina's tengu friend used a wing assisted leap to the top to set herself up to help the others over.

Sarah had told both her and Reshik about what she had seen, and while it had seemed like some sort of elicit deal at first she couldn't find a problem with Sarah and Cassie's theory that they were somehow getting their natural abilities boosted. Over the last couple days, all three girls had shown greater strength in all magic classes and an increase in physical attributes as well. None of the teachers had remarked on it aloud, but Wallova had been frowning a lot more at Tarina. If they didn't know, than it was probably something new. That meant it was just one more worry on top of the others.

She still hadn't gotten any relief from her temptations in either direction, and there had been several more close calls. Twice she'd nearly given in to Eva and had even been just a moment from joining the older girl in the shower after a particularly vigorous training session. Seeing Eva all flushed, naked and looking at her with desire had been very tempting. Then there had been a hand-to-hand class in which they'd started on throws. Hands had started roam quickly as the sexual tension grew from the constant touching and close contact, and again she come close just throwing herself at her friends to see if they really could make her happy that way. She didn't want to have to choose who she loved more.

Cassie had become the worst. The girl was clumsy with her flirting, but she was just so cute about it and honestly earnest. At the least excuse, Cassie was close by and instead of being annoying, as she would have thought with anyone else, she found she enjoyed it a lot. There was also a great deal of touching going on during Cassie's little sword help sessions during their free moments, and whenever she helped Cassie with her magic stuff, she always received a hug that lasted just a little bit longer than the previous one.

"Why do you look so happy today?" she asked Reshik in order to distract herself. The boy had been quit perky all day, and especially so after the storm began.

"This weather reminds me very much of home, which I have come to miss in this dry place," he said eagerly. "It rains often where I am from, and in generous amounts when the gods are happy."

"It's a good thing when it rains a lot?" Cassie asked, sounding unconvinced.

"Of course! That is when a certain species of insect comes out, which draws the fish we catch closer to the surface in larger numbers. It is also a very cleansing thing."

"Genaria!" Wallova yelled, getting their attention. Several pairs and singletons of girls had just finished their runs. "Move out!"

"All right, let's get this done with!" she said to her friends and they took off for the first obstacle at a careful run so as not to slip in the mud. The first stage was a long, very high up set of monkey bars which then transferred to a long, narrow pole that ran for another several meters over the ground. Reshik reached it first, laced his hands together and stooped down a little. Getting the hint, Kat placed her foot and let herself be boosted up to where she grabbed a bar and began hand-walking across the slightly deeper mud pit. The others followed in sequence and as the tallest and the one with wings as a back-up, Sarah went last.

The leaning wall and wire crawl were easy, and the rain was basically a cheat for the latter. Then Kat came to what was called the building climb. It was a cube shaped climbing structure where you had to climb up one side and then down another. The hand and foothold were on pegs set into holes, so they could be moved easily. This time Kat was first so she decided to make up some time on the other groups. Instead of climbing, she generated a flow of magic inside her body and used it to launch herself at the roof ledge. She caught hold and after a scary moment when one hand slipped a little, she yanked herself upwards.

"You next!" she shouted down at Cassie, who was the most athletic of them all.

Cassie frowned in concentration, but mistimed her leap. Kat saw she was going to come short by only a little so she flung her body flat and thrust out a hand, which was almost a mistake. Unlike in a kid's story, having another person suddenly grab hold of a hand and then hang on it with their whole weight was incredibly painful. Thankfully Cassie thought quickly enough to find new holds for her feet so that Kat could then use another burst of magic to yank her friend up as she rolled back. This ended with Cassie lying right on top of her, breathing hard from exertion, and looking very sexy indeed. For the very first time, Kat really let herself see the fires of desire in Cassie's eyes and she felt her body responding, though she was already wet from the rain. Without even thinking about it, her left hand slid down Cassie's side and then around to hold her firm backside. Even through the armor it felt very good, and Cassie's face lit with a smile.

"Hey, what about us!" Sarah called from below.

Startled back to the task at hand, Kat gently rolled Cassie off her, and almost stopped when she saw a flash of disappointment. Instead they both clambered over to the edge and between the two of them, quickly hauled the other two up to the roof. When it was done and they jumped down from the other side, Kat found she was almost shaking she was so turned on from the close call. Yet again she had nearly let herself go.

For her part, Cassie had immediately gone over to Sarah where she muttered something that sounded angry, but only made the other girl laugh. The entire rest of the course, Kat found her attention slipping towards both Cassie and Sarah. Sarah had decided that what had happened on top of the climbing structure should be replicated as much as possible. From there onwards both girls contrived ways, often together, so that their bodies came in contact with hers as much as they could contrive. Sarah even tripped onto her once and used the opportunity to really feel her up. For some reason she couldn't define, like the reason she ran from her feelings in the first place, she didn't bother to fight the sexual advances and she found herself really having fun.

In the end, they finished the course almost in last place, exhausted from their excessive amount of playing around. Normally, that would have bothered her, but she was feeling really good and when Wallova dismissed the class for the day to go home and get some rest, she simply walked over to a high, grassy hill that sat on one border of the training ground. There she sat down and flopped onto her back, smiling and breathing heavily, letting the rain pour down on her face as the rest of the class hurriedly walked back to the dorm.

She heard the others talking and laughing too, and after several jokes that earned hissing laughter, one person walked away. She knew without looking that it must have been Reshik, deciding that this was something he was didn't need to be involved in. A good guy was their Reshik. He had a heavy tread and there was an occasional soft sound when his tail slid over something but it soon faded. Another few minutes passed, in which a thousand warnings, denials and other useless things rattled through her tired mind, and then she sat back up to find Cassie and Sarah had somehow sat silently on either side of her; both ignoring the wet grass.

The tension in the air was almost a physical thing, like a bailing wire stretched almost to the breaking point, and yet it felt temptingly good. The same lusts and desires that had been boiling inside her for weeks had finally worn her down to the edge of failure and oddly enough, she wasn't sure she cared about that fight anymore. This might have been because both of her friends, if that was what they would still be, mirrored her desires openly. Neither was hiding their own wants, and their heated gazes were certainly making her hot inside. It was a wonderful feeling.

Almost as if her body was driving itself, free of her confused and turbulent thoughts, she turned and climbed astride Cassie's outstretched legs, and before girl, shocked at her speed, could respond, she moved in and kissed her exactly the way she had wanted to for what seemed like a long time now. Cassie's lips where soft, hot, and strangely delicious, and for her first real kiss it was better than she could have imagined. Slowly, in the haze of a hunger that needed to be sated, her arms surrounded her friend and she felt Cassie responding eagerly, kissing her back just as fiercely. It was just like she had wanted in those dreaming moments of self-pleasure back home.

Large, firm breasts pressed against her back at a slight angle, and then the rest of Sarah was there too, so that she was unevenly sandwiched between them. Sarah's body was more lush and softer than Cassie's, but both felt amazing. A hand gently entered her sopping wet hair, cupped her head, and turned it, forcing her lips away from Cassie's. She had just enough time for a breath of fresh air and an abortive moan of protest, when another, somewhat plumper set off lips claimed hers anew. Sarah was no less wonderful in her attention and when she felt a testing tongue, Kat opened her mouth a little and met it, devouring the new sensations.

Cassie, still awkwardly eager and sexily cute, was not idle while Sarah claimed her turn. Small hands ran up her chest, found her breasts and caressed them possessively. She was used to that kind of attention from Eva, and let herself just enjoy the feeling of being loved on. Wanting more of her delightful friend, she kissed Cassie again, while Sarah in turn kissed and licked expertly down her neck and moved a hand around to the seam of her armor. Under the guidance of two pairs of hands, her breasts where bared to the world under the rain, which felt cool now on her heated skin. Then fingers gave her pink nipples a firm, yet gentle pinch, and she let herself cry with the spike of excitement. It was a loud cry too, vocalizing the pleasure throbbing through her.

It was good. So very good. The perfect assault on her sexually riled body. She wanted more and more. She want them so badly that it hurt and soon she would have them! They would throw themselves on the wet grass and she would finally let go. She would let herself be loved.

"Kat!"

The anguished cry of emotional pain was like a crossbow bolt driven into her chest, and like a swimmer bursting to the surface of the sea, she tried to blink back into focus. Standing only a few meters away on a concrete walking path, staring at her in disbelief and with hurt distorting her pale beauty, was Eva, holding a white plastic bag that Kat knew contained hot food that had been meant as a treat for her. That bag dropped with a soft, desultory splat to the mud from suddenly limp fingers. Right in front of her, she could see the life pouring out of her mentor, and Eva went even whiter than normal.

Kat knew this was entirely real, and like a strange nightmare manifest. This was not Eva playing around with her or hiding what she really meant. Eva's expression of shocked betrayal was entirely tangible, and the only thing Kat could think of was, "No no no no," over and over again inside her suddenly hollow mind. Yet here she was, half-naked on top of Cassie, and sandwiched there by Sarah who was even now cupping her right breast. It all felt suddenly wrong, and a kind of terror she had never felt before began to replace the ecstasy of a moment before.

"Eva?" she managed to croak. She sounded like a half-dead animal.

"No!" sharp and direct. With an equally jerky shake of her head, Eva slowly stumbled backwards, turned, and simply began walking away at a rapid pace, disappearing into the pouring rain like a phantom. Kat felt the loss of her presence like a blow to her soul. Without thinking, she made to stand.

"Don't leave us!" Sarah held her tight, desperation in her voice. In front, Cassie looked frightened, and Kat felt a momentary pang at what kind of expression she might have to cause it; but Eva was still foremost in her panicked thoughts. Hot tears dripped onto the back of her neck, and Sarah's voice choked for a moment. "Please, Kat. Let us love you."

More roughly than she really intended, Kat jerked and thrashed, trying to break free to run after Eva. For what reason, and to say what she had no idea, but she knew that she had done something terrible. The sexual arousal of just a moment before washed away in a flood of guilt and confusion as if it had never been. Eva or her friends? Either way she causing pain.

"Don't go!" Sarah cried again, clasping more tightly to her, but it was in vain. Kat unthinkingly channeled magic to her legs and stood, and a spark leapt from her and into Sarah's arm, allowing her to break free. A gasp of pain made her stop and she looked down to see Cassie in tears, unashamedly crying and staring up at her, covered in mud that until just a moment before hadn't mattered. It was Kat who felt shame through her whole being. Like a crashing train, she was only making things worse and she couldn't stop.

"Why can't it be us?" Cassie asked, both looking and sounding as pained as Eva had just a moment before. "Why can't you just stay with us?"

Kat flinched at the asking of that question, and it shamed her anew. Selfishly, she wanted both worlds and it was clear that was terribly wrong. All she was doing was making one mistake after another. Everything had seemed so dreamlike a few minute ago in the arms two girls she realized that she loved just as deeply as she did Eva. Now though, maybe she would have neither friends nor Eva. She had fucked everything up. So she just turned and began walking.

She wasn't sure how long she walked, or when she had the wherewithal to close up the top of her armor, but eventually she made it back to her dorm and once inside she knew something had changed already. Passing several pairs, including those she had thought of as friends, she saw them looking at her in stern disapproval or even disgust. It was another blow.

When she opened the door to her room, it was already dark, and when she tried the switch nothing happened. A shadowy form already occupied the bed, curled under the covers in a fetal position. When she tried to walk there she almost tripped over something. The only thing that saved her from a face-plant was quick reflexes and an arm flung to catch herself on the wall.

Righting herself, she discovered what she had tripped over. The object, she realized in mounting horror, could not have been a more terrible sign of how things now stood. Just as Eva had said on the first day, there had been a folding cot in their closet. It stood there now in the middle of the room, bare and condemning. Wordlessly, she simply disrobed, tossing her dirty armor into the bathroom, and climbed resignedly onto the cot without bothering to get dry or cleaned up. She didn't deserve that yet.

It was uncomfortable, she barely fit, and there were no sheets so she immediately felt cold despite the warm weather. She just laid there and cried silently into the dark, wondering how to fix things and make them better, because now that she had walked away from them, Sarah and Cassie would hate her too. All the promise of a wonderful new future was crashing now because she had given in.

For the first time since she had been a child, she wanted to go home and cry to her mother.