We all looked at each other, concern evident on each face. Robert was the first to speak up.

“So… What exactly are the experiments and tests? I heard Seth saying something about an experiment that he was monitoring. What kind of experiments are we talking about, and why are they necessary?”

Katira nodded thoughtfully as Shutan took his place beside Joaquin to translate. “An excellent question, Initiate. Your experiments are necessary for you to determine the best way for you to conduct your particular brand of Necromancy. Not everyone can manifest their essence in a physical form, but everyone can use their blood as a vehicle for their essence, which is what we will be doing. You do not need much. A few drops at least. In some extremely rare cases, you may need as much as a pint. For most things, drops will be sufficient. There are plenty of reagents in these woods, and we will help you to discover them. Some, you may be familiar with. Others may seem counterintuitive. Still others will seem absolutely silly. They are all vital,” she concluded.

Morita-san raised her hand, and Katira nodded at her. “You say our own brand of Necromancy. What does that mean?”

“You should each have at least one strength in this field. You may, for example, be more adept than most at reanimating a corpse. You may find that healing others is your forte. There are many Necromantic specialities. Your task will be finding out which one is yours, and how to properly access it. These are the first experiments every Necromancer undertakes. It may take you the rest of your life to find out. It may take you a couple of days. Only you can set that pace. You can, if you wish, learn how to constrain your Growth in order to live out the rest of your life virtually the same as it was before. I will speak of Growth later. It is a special concept for Necromancers,” she said.

Joaquin spoke to Shutan, and he relayed, “My Master asks this: Is there any way for us to have an idea what our speciality is beforehand? Like, a way to cross some things off the list?”

“Another excellent question. Yes. You each had a number assigned when you arrived for class by the Thoth. Do any of you remember your number?” Katira asked.

Joaquin looked up and said “Four.”

Robert said “Mine was two.”

Morita-san looked embarrassed as she said “Six.”

I just looked at the cave floor as every eye was trained on me.

“Master. You must speak up. I cannot do it for you,” Katira said gently.

“Aw come on, bro. It can’t be that bad. I’m a two fer cryin’ out loud!” Robert said jovially.

I looked up and sighed softly. “Nine.”

“Nine?” Shutan said with obvious shock.

“What…What does that mean, Katira?” asked Robert.

“It means Initiate Merideth is not far from the current GuildMaster in terms of potential. Those numbers are Tiers. There are ten Tiers. Certain abilities are easier to learn and/or master at or above a certain Tier. This doesn’t mean you can’t do them, only that they will likely be more difficult for you. Initiate Merideth has the potential to utilize almost all known Necromantic abilities. In all honesty, each of you have that same potential, it will just be easier for him. Make no mistake: he will still have to work for it,” she concluded.

I simply stared at the floor, too embarrassed to look at my classmates. Robert took advantage of the awkward silence. “So, what? Will he just have some of these abilities come easier to him? Like some people are just naturally gifted at playing the guitar?” Katira nodded, and Robert continued, “So, he’s just naturally gifted at being a Necromancer, then? Meh. We each have our gifts, I guess. I can probably do things he can’t, and he will be able to do things I can’t. No big deal, then. Oo!! Hey, can I copy off you, dude?” he asked excitedly.

I laughed in spite of myself. “I don’t know that it would do much good, but, yeah. Sure,” I said with a smirk.

Katira chimed in with, “You can, of course, copy off him. As he said, it may not do you much good, however. One’s essence is what determines success in seventy percent of cases. Too little, and nothing happens. Too much, and you could blow yourself up, or drain yourself to death. I have seen both of those things happen in my nearly six thousand years. The largest part of this class is teaching you how to recognize your limits in a safe environment. That is something no amount of reading will do for you. You must feel your limits to understand them. Seth is playing a dangerous game with the ones who stayed, and they don’t even know it. No, there is nothing we can do for them.” She shook her head sadly.

“Tonight, there will be no formal lessons. You may ask me or your own familiar questions, and we will gladly answer. In fact, ask as many questions as you can. You cannot learn if you do not ask,” she finished.

I wandered over to my tent and grabbed my camp chair and set it up near the entrance to the cavern, facing out, and took a seat, contemplating what Katira had said. I heard the other three peppering her with questions and smiled. I would ask mine in private, later in the evening.

As I sat there, Yin padded up behind me on nearly silent paws.

“Hello, Yin,” I said quietly, as I stared off into the distance.

“Hello, Initiate. I am surprised you knew it was me. I came to inform you that my master is in no way bothered by your Tier. In fact, he is rather excited to see just what can be done,” he said just as quietly.

“You’re the only one with paws and four legs. It’s a distinctive sound, my friend. I’m glad he’s not bothered or jealous. That would make this difficult for everyone. As for what I can do? I dunno, man. I may not have any real gifts or affinities, according to what Katira said. We will just have to see,” I said with a sigh.

“Hmm. This is true, Initiate. I will leave you to your musings,” he said and slowly padded off.

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I wondered just what the different abilities were. I sat there, pondering this when I saw two yellow orbs watching me from a perch in one of the trees. I quickly averted my eyes, focusing on a patch of ground just under them, keeping them in my periphery. They lazily blinked, and began moving off to the side. I struggled to keep my breathing under control. As they exited my field of view, I risked a slow shifting in my vision, trying to track the eyes unobtrusively. It worked, as the owner of those eyes made no sudden movement in my direction. I followed the creature as it reached the end of a branch, then jumped down, landing lightly on the forest floor. It slowly padded towards me, and I just as slowly pulled my knife from its sheath, ready to defend myself from what I hoped was a raccoon and not a bobcat or worse.

The others were still peppering our familiars with questions as I watched the thing from the corner of my eye as it lazily closed the distance. Just as I was about to leap from my chair, I heard the familiar warbling purrs of Drake as he sauntered into the cavern. Relief flooded me as my heartbeat began to slow, and I sheathed my knife.

“Drake, I would ask that you announce yourself in some way, please. Some rhythmic taps on a limb or something. I nearly attacked you. Scared the bejeezus out of me,” I murmured.

He cocked his head and bounded over to me, climbing up around my shoulders, trying to be gentle with his claws and failing. He nuzzled my face with his head, and began clicking rapidly.

[Am sorry, Bubba. Will remember to announce in the future. Will say Hello Bubba.]

“That will work, Drake. In the future, I also think it would be best if you were not out after sundown by yourself. Do your hunting during the day. We will all be safer for it, okay?” I asked him and I scritched under his chin.

He leaned into my hand and purred, tapping out an ‘Okay’. I yawned and stretched, dislodging the tiny dragon, and got up, bringing my chair with me. Drake padded alongside me happily.

“I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m tired. It’s been a long day, and an exciting night. I’m going to lay down,” I said with another yawn. “Katira? How safe are we here?”

“As safe as we would be in our workshops, Master. The wards will still keep out the unwanted creatures without the need for a watch. We can still do so, if you wish,” she replied.

“I don’t mind if you guys wish to keep watch, but I’m beat. I’m going to lay down. Goodnight, everyone,” I said, trying and failing to stifle yet another yawn.

Hearing a chorus of ‘Goodnight’ directed to me, I stumbled off to the back of the cavern and into my tent. Drake set himself up at the flap and kept watch. Such an adorable gesture.

Once inside, I disrobed and crawled into my sleeping bag. I was nearly asleep when I heard the flap unzip, and Katira sighed as she sat down beside me.

“Master. I feel we must discuss something,” she said in a quiet, serious tone.

I sighed and sat up. “Must it be now, Katira? I am rather tired,” I said.

“I am sorry, but I think it must,” she said apologetically.

“Okay, then. If you’re certain.”

“Thank you. It concerns Seth and Byron.” I cocked my head to the side and she continued. “What you said to them as we left the Thoth was, in a word, crass,” she said gently. “I have been female for nearly all of my Masters. Referring to them as ‘ladies’ and calling them ‘bitches’ isn’t right. It makes me feel as though you do not respect me or women in general,” she said quietly as silent tears fell from her eyes.

I sighed heavily. There wasn’t any sort of explaining I could do to make this okay, nor should I try. I knew better. “I’m sorry, Katira. That was not my intent. They simply reminded me of the damn popular girls in high school that would talk shit behind everyone’s backs and insult someone just loud enough that you could barely hear them, but quietly enough that they could deny everything when called out. I think ‘catty bitches’ is the term I heard used for such a person. They wanted to insult us. They wanted to hurt us with their words. By ignoring them, I knew I’d just anger them. Calling them ‘ladies’ was me flinging some of that mud back at them. Especially saying it as kindly as I did. I knew exactly how much Seth’s masculinity mattered to him. Especially looking at his familiar. I also knew exactly how to goad him into something stupid. Which is why I did it. I wanted him to know that I wasn’t afraid of him, and that I was proud to be me, no matter what he said. I inadvertently said something that offended you and hurt you. I am sorry for doing so,” I said.

“That will be a start, Master. In the future, I think it would be prudent to not respond to such words to begin with. What was it you said?” she asked and looked as though she were thinking. In a voice that sounded eerily like mine, she said, “Let them speak. Words may be hurtful, but I’m stronger than that. We’re stronger than that.”

I sighed. I had put the lie to my own words not long after I had said them, and my familiar was calling me on it. I smiled and nodded as I said, “Yeah. I think those were my words, alright. I get it. My actions must match my words, or they are simply hollow lies. I will do better in the future, Katira.”

“See that you do, Master. Something like that can cost you greatly, otherwise,” she said as she cupped my cheek.

I sat there, staring into her beautiful blue eyes for a moment. I could get lost there so easily and willingly. I didn’t realize I was leaning toward her until our foreheads touched, and she closed those beautiful pools of blue. I leaned farther into her until my lips were nearly touching her earlobe.

“By all the gods, you are dangerously intoxicating, Katira. A massive part of me wants to simply take you here and now, but I know better. This is training, and we must not allow feelings get in the way of that. Besides that, I really want to make sure that whatever happens between us from here on is real and organic and not a result of the bond,” I murmured softly, gently nipping at her ear. I let my hands trace up her arms and across her shoulders as I continued, “I want anything that develops to be just as passionate on the millionth day as it was on the first. You may know much of what is in my mind, but you do not know the reason why it is there. You simply must” -I let my hands gently caress her heavy breasts, lingering on her hardening nipples- “understand me, as I simply must” -I leaned back, gently holding her panting face a few inches from mine- “understand you.” I kissed her soft lips gently. “Am I understood, Katira?”

She panted softly and swallowed. Gazing into my eyes, she said, “Yes, my Master. I understand you. No sex until after training is complete, and even then, you want to pursue me just as you would any other mate. Am I correct in my words, Master?” she asked me, her head down, looking at me through her eyelashes.

“Yes, Katira. You are,” I said with a small nod.

“Then I will say this: This wasn’t fair,” she said with a soft whimper, her hands beginning to travel southward.

“No, Katira. You won’t take care of that here,” I said sternly.

She whimpered and pouted. “But Master. I am mostly human. You have aroused me so much, and now I am unable to seek release?” she asked quietly.

“Not here. When we finish and get home, you may. Until then, no. They may all think that we are an item already, and that is fine, as long as it doesn’t impact the training. Can you contain yourself for the rest of the week, and still do as you must?” I asked softly.

“Yes, my Master. I can.”

“Then that is what you will do.”

She gasped softly and shivered. “I think it is time for you to get some sleep, Master. Tomorrow, you will be an Initiate, and I will be the one doing the training,” she said as she crawled into the sleeping bag with me.

I lay down, and draped an arm around her waist, pulling her close to me.

“Good night, Katira,” I murmured softly into her ear from behind her.

She shuddered and gripped my arm, holding it tighter to her. “Good night, my Master.” she shakily said.