16

Fifteen

Mirja spent the next three days trying to cram in as many hours as possible reading the book Sigrid had brought her. She had questioned the Sister about how in the seventh she had been able to get access to the restricted section of the Library, but the woman had been as silent as a Scriptomancer in training. Finally, Mirja had given up and Sigrid had left to do whatever it was she was doing at night while Mirja was normally sleeping. She didn't have time for that now, so she drew a little extra from Jarl's bond to stay awake all through the night.

"Mirja," Mistress Lorelee's voice came sharply. "Are you sleeping?"

Mirja opened her eyes and looked up at the Mistress. Next to her she could see a few of the other girls smiling.

"No," Mirja said shaking her head. "I was just contemplating."

"Next time you ... contemplate," Lorelee said. "I would suggest that you avoid snoring."

Mirja flushed red and sat up straight in her chair. A few scattered laughs came from the other girls but were quickly quieted by the Mistress' disapproving look. She had been sleeping. It was just that she was so tired. And anyway, she already knew ovoid trapping patterns better than any of the others, which was one of the reasons she had fallen asleep. It was just so basic. She sighed and stared at the blackboard and did her best not to go to sleep again.

"Mistress Lorelee," she said quietly approaching the woman.

"Yes, Mirja?" she said as if she had been expecting her to come up to her after class.

"I'm sorry about earlier."

The Mistress turned around a little smile on her thick lips. She always managed to keep them sparkling red, something Mirja was sure was not natural. The only question was if it was an illusion or a physical change.

"Oh, they're real," the Mistress said as if she had read her mind.

Mirja swallowed and blushed. Before she knew it the Mistress had stepped closer and taken her chin in her warm hand and raised it so that Mirja looked straight into Lorelee's deep eyes. She understood why men found her so appealing even though she was likely a century older than them.

"I wouldn't recommend continuing to push the sleep away with magic. It is a slippery slope, do you understand?"

Mirja nodded. How did she know?

"I ..." she began. "There is just so much to do. With school. And the parlor. And..." she stopped herself before she said too much.

The Mistress raised an eyebrow. Mirja hurried to continue, to not let the Mistress become more suspicious .

"I think I have found a way of curing the p−," she swallowed. "My client at the parlor. But I need to get access to a male magician with high sexual potency and good channeling skills. One that would be willing to work with me at the parlor a few times."

Mirja wasn't sure but she actually thought that the Mistress Lorelee looked ... surprised.

"Really?" she said the interest clearly spiking her voice. "Tell me more."

Mirja told her about the regimen she had in mind. The Mistress kept nodding along and after almost a half bell of discussion Lorelee seemed satisfied.

"Very good, Mirja. This is exactly what I expected of you. Well done."

Mirja smiled. She was used to compliments from others but coming from Lorelee it felt even better.

"Do you have any suggestions for someone I could work with?"

Lorelee pressed her lips together.

"Why don't you work with your friend Jarl? I know you two are ... connected already."

Mirja shook her head.

"That ... no. That won't work. It's ... impossible."

Mirja looked at the Mistress. Surely she knew who the client was and her relationship to Jarl? The older woman nodded slowly.

"There is someone else that may work. Come see me here after six bells."

Mirja got in another three hours of studying An Analysis of Physioactive Substances and their Effects before Jarl and Sigrid got home. As the door opened, she quickly closed the book and put it at the bottom of her stack of books that she knew Jarl never looked at.

"By the seventh," Jarl exclaimed. "I am so tired. I swear, last night it felt like there were at least two people hanging off my back while I was fucking Mistress Varja."

Mirja felt a sting of guilt. One of those people had been her. At the same time, she was surprised about Jarl's comment. She didn't think that the Masters and Mistresses were allowed to have sexual relations with the students. But it might be different when it was for an ongoing experiment.

"Are they progressing well?" Mirja said.

Jarl shrugged. He looked at her and for a second she thought she saw desire in his eyes, but the tiredness took over and he headed towards the bedroom.

"Don't wake me unless the world is ending. I have the night off," he said slamming the door to the bedroom.

"I'm worried for him," Mirja said turning to Sigrid. "They are sucking him dry. Literally."

Sigrid grunted. Threw a glance at the closed bedroom door and then looked back at Mirja.

"He'll live. Have you found anything?"

Mirja's mind had trouble following Sigrid's change in subject.

"In the book," Sigrid said nodding to the pile of books that was hiding her object of study.

"Maybe," Mirja said. "There are a surprising number of physioactive substances available. And I understand why they hid the book away in the restricted section. I never knew how easy it was to turn yourself into sludge. And the thing is ..."

She picked the book out of the pile again almost toppling another dozen onto the floor, but Sigrid caught them at the last moment.

"Silly me," Mirja said apologetically.

Sigrid pinned her with her eyes.

"You should never apologize. You are the most flawless woman I have ever met."

The force in the Sister's words surprised Mirja and she felt herself blushing. She instinctively shook her head. Sigrid's hand caught her chin and lifted Mirja's face to hers.

"Say it."

"What?"

"Tell me that you are amazing."

Mirja tried moving away but Sigrid easily held her in place. She swallowed.

"I'm amazing," she whispered.

"Louder," the Sister said flatly.

"I am amazing!" Mirja said louder than intended.

A tiny curve of Sigrid's lips was all the reaction that Mirja could see in the other woman. Then she leaned in and kissed Mirja lightly on the lips. Mirja closed her eyes and felt tiny sparks run along her face as if Sigrid's lips were charged with power.

"Tell me," Sigrid said taking a step back.

"What?" Mirja said hoarsely.

"What you found."

Mirja nodded and opened the book up and put it down on the table.

"Yes. Of course. Let's see."

She flipped the pages until she came to the passage that she had read an hour earlier.

"Look here."

Sigrid took a step forward and looked over her shoulder. Mirja pointed at the paragraph of interest.

"I don't read ... whatever that is," Sigrid said and crossed her arms over her chest.

"Oh. Of course," Mirja said apologetically. She cleared her throat and continued. "There seems to be certain materials that are key to bodily transformation. Especially those that deal with the ethereal plane."

"Ethereal plane?" Sigrid said with a frown.

Mirja nodded. The more she thought about it the more sense it made.

"The ethereal plane is an existence that is parallel to our own, in most ways. There are certain things that differ. Things like, the passage of time, and material interactions. I am almost certain that the thing that we are chasing has the ability to shift between the ethereal plane and the physical one."

Sigrid's frown deepened.

"That did not answer my question. What is the ethereal plane?" she said her arms settling into a hard wall in front of her body in what looked like a gesture practiced over a lifetime.

"It's ..." Mirja thought about it for a moment. She knew Sigrid was a bright woman but did not always have the same frame of reference as she did. "The ethereal plane is a copy of our own. But the rules are not fixed. In our world a person cannot walk through a wall. It just doesn't work. But on the ethereal plane, it could work. Given the right circumstances. And it completely overlaps with our own world and things on the ethereal plane can interact with our world, and vice versa. But on a limited scale. Like a ghost moving through a room it rattles the glasses but cannot overturn them."

Sigrid still stared at her with that unnerving look.

"Are you saying the wraith is from this ethereal plane?"

Mirja shook her head. If it had been there would have been much less interaction with it than it had been.

"No. I think it is somewhere in between. In the twilight between real and ethereal."

Sigrid grunted.

"There is something else. Something that doesn't make sense," Mirja said flipping the page.

She looked at Sigrid, but the Sister just kept staring at her.

"Do you agree that the thing we met had a physical body underneath all that ... mist."

Sigrid nodded.

"Yes. And it had a very real blade."

Mirja nodded. This confirmed her suspicions.

"What does this all mean?" Sigrid asked.

Mirja shook her head.

"I don't know. Yet."

Sigrid sighed.

"But. There is something I do know."

Sigrid's eyes widened urging her to continue.

"For all of the potions used to shift a person between the planes th−"

"Potions?" Sigrid interjected.

Mirja nodded.

"Yes. Physical transformation to this degree always requires ingestion. Anyway. All of those potions require certain physioactive substances. Likely Essences of the Aether. Substances that in themselves are fairly stable. But once mixed they don't last very long. Typically not more than a week. And mixing them requires access to a sophisticated laboratory."

Sigrid nodded along slowly as she spoke.

"The laboratory of Animancy," she said as Mirja paused.

"Yes," Mirja affirmed. "I believe that is where they are prepared. I do not think there is anywhere else in the city where there is equipment sophisticated enough."

Sigrid took a deep breath and then held it for longer than Mirja thought possible.

"We will investigate. Tonight," she said finally.

"Tonight?" Mirja said incredulously.

Sigrid nodded.

"I've made a friend that will help us get in."

You've made a friend? Mirja thought. We'll now, there's a surprise.

"I'm not sure that tonight works for me. I have to be at Mistress Lorelee's at six bells and then I am meeting the p− ... a client at nine bells."

"How long will it take?" Sigrid asked gruffly.

Mirja considered this.

"We should be done by midnight."

"Good. We meet by the entrance to the library at two bells sharp. And another thing."

Mirja raised her eyebrows. Sigrid cleared her throat.

"You remember what you promised you'd give me if I got you the book?"

Mirja felt a shiver go through her body. She nodded. Of course she remembered.

"I want the opposite."

"What?" Mirja asked, confusion mixed with the arousal.

"I want you to tell me what to do. For a week. Agreed?"

Mirja opened her mouth to protest but realized there was no point. She nodded.

***

"Mirja. This is Aelric of the Pureborn. I assume that you have met?"

Mirja looked at her classmate from Elemancy and nodded. Aelric looked back at her with a grin.

"I believe that Aelric is ... suitable ... for your needs," the Mistress said running a finger down the young man's cheek. "He has virtually zero resistance to channeling. One of the virtues of being a Pureborn of his pedigree."

Aelric seemed unperturbed by her crass words and just kept smiling. The Mistress turned to Mirja.

"I think I understand what you are trying to achieve, but it must take an ... incredible amount of power, don't you think?"

Mirja nodded in agreement. It would require at least three times as much as she had ever generated before.

"I could of course allow you to channel directly from the College reserves−"

"That won't be necessary," Mirja interrupted.

The Mistress seemed so surprised by being cut off that she didn't even look upset.

"What I mean is, since I will be generating pure matrimantical power and will be channeling it directly at touching distance to the vessel," she said nodding at Aelric who nodded back in return. "What I mean is," she repeated and now clearly had the attention of both practitioners. "There will be zero conversion loss. It would actually be difficult to generate that kind of peak flux even using the College reserves. The node network would likely burn out."

She stopped talking and waited for the Mistress to process what she had just said.

"You are going to channel past the peak flux levels of the node network?" the Mistress said almost mockingly.

Mirja nodded.

"It will not work otherwise. Are you sure that he has zero resistance? Even the smallest amount needs to be accounted for."

Lorelee looked from Mirja to Aelric and back.

"Well, of course there will be some resistance. There always is."

"Can we measure it?" Mirja said hopefully.

"I don't see why not. Hm," she said looking at Mirja with a newfound interest. "Wait here a minute and I will get another test subject."

The Mistress left them alone.

"So ..." Aelric began.

"I have no problem with you. Not like Jarl," Mirja said defensively.

Aelric laughed.

"Well, thank you for making that clear."

"How much do you get?" Mirja said crossing her arms.

Aelric crossed his arms and smiled a wide smile.

"I assume that you are not doing this for free?" she continued.

"Nothing. Yet, at least."

Mirja raised an eyebrow.

"The Mistress will owe you one," she said finally.

The young man nodded.

"You never know when you need it. And besides, I can't imagine it will be that much of a sacrifice from my side. I mean, it's not every day that you get to lie with a beautiful princess, who on top of everything is the wife of a guy you despise."

Mirja's mouth fell open.

"She told you?"

She couldn't believe it. It was not like Lorelee to expose something like this. Aelric shook his head.

"Then ... how?" Mirja said blinking.

"I have my ways," Aelric said with a smirk. "Now be quiet. She's back."

The Mistress entered the room quickly followed by a man that Mirja had only seen in passing. If she remembered correctly, he was one of the caretakers that doubled as a test subject. It was clear what type the Mistress liked, he was tall and muscular with a roughly carved face. To be honest, Mirja didn't mind the Mistress' type. Not one bit. Without further ado the Mistress began undressing. Mirja could not help but admire the woman's body. She didn't know how old she was but given the rituals available at her tier she wouldn't be surprised if she had passed her first centennial, but her body was still that of a thirty-year-old. A very voluptuous thirty-year-old. She had the largest chest that Mirja had seen that seemed to magically stay up even without her clothes. To be honest, there probably was magic involved in keeping her breasts in check.

"Wow," Aelric quietly breathed next to her.

Apparently it was the first time he saw the Mistress naked as well, and the compliment did not pass the Mistress by and she stepped in front of the young man and went up on her toes to give him a kiss before she turned to Mirja.

"Two calibrated, linked nexi," she said handing one to Mirja and putting the other over her head and down around her neck where the glittering metal nestled between her magnificent breasts.

Mirja nodded. Mistress Lorelee went to her knees in front of Aelric and they all watched as she expertly took his very erect member into her mouth and started pleasuring the young man.

"By the seventh," Aelric breathed out. "You're amazing."

Mistress Lorelee looked up at the young man, clearly pleased. As the Mistress continued the fellatio Mirja undressed and the handsome caretaker, who's name she didn't even know, did the same. He had a respectable member and Mirja soon had her own mouth filled. Side by side they prepared their men, Aelric clearly enjoying himself immensely.

"I think they are ready," Lorelee said looking at Mirja.

Mirja nodded back. They linked hands and with quiet words they whispered the incantation into both men's members. They shuddered slightly as the linked spells settled into place. Then Lorelee moved to lie on her back on the bear skin that was lain out before the fireplace. A slow fire continuously burned warming their naked bodies. Aelric positioned himself between the Mistress' legs and with one slow motion slid into her. The Mistress purred like a kitten as the young man started thrusting into her.

Mirja positioned herself with her face close to Aelric's hip and soon she felt the muscular man's hands on her hips and then he penetrated her. He truly did have a wonderful cock, she understood even more why the Mistress liked him. For a long while the two men pleased them with their cocks. She looked over at Lorelee who did not appear to want to rush things. Mirja didn't mind. They could have finished in less than a drop but instead Lorelee enjoyed Aelric's young cock for almost half a bell before looking up at Mirja.

"Ready?"

Mirja nodded. She had almost let herself go at on point, but she knew that orgasming herself could influence the measurement. She looked over her shoulder at the man fucking her and nodded. He nodded back and increased his pace. Mirja monitored his progress towards climax and prepared her simple transferal spell. It was important for the measurement that the spell be as uncomplicated as possible and there was nothing simpler than a clean transfer of pleasure. She lay one hand on Aelric's hip and linked the progress of the two men so that they would climax simultaneously. Taking one deep breath she waited, the man behind her was close now and Mirja had to focus not to orgasm herself, at least until the spell was cast. Then he came, with a roar he filled her quim with his seed and through the magic of the spell Aelric climaxed at the same time. Mirja collected the power from the pleasure of the man inside her and cast the transferal spell.

"Oh! By the Gods! By the seventh!" the Mistress called out as the transferred pleasure brought her over the edge, twice.

Mirja felt the power leave her and as the last of it had ebbed out she let her self-control go and not a blink later she came herself in a sparkling orgasm that had her writhing on the tickling hairs of the bear skin. Some time passed before everyone recovered.

"Good. So very, very good," Mistress Lorelee said running her hand over Aelric's bare chest down towards his cock. "Are you satisfied? Mirja?"

Mirja looked up at her, she was still shivering from the orgasm and was a little disoriented from the power that had coursed through her mind. But it was good practice. The real channeling would be magnitudes more powerful. She reached out with her mind and sensed the readings of the two nexi.

"Yes. It will work."

"And have you got a subject in mind for the power generation?"

Mirja nodded.

"Yes. I have the perfect candidate."

***

"Princess Else," Mirja said curtsying deeply. "I am truly sorry that I am so late. I hope that you can forgive me."

"Oh. Lay off that. Just get over here and tell me what you got," the princess said from over on her divan.

Mirja nodded and hurried over.

"Sit. Sit," the princess said, patting with her well-manicured hand the space just next to her. "Tell me you have good news."

Mirja smiled.

"Yes, your highness, I have good news."

Princess Else sat straight up and beamed.

"Is it true? Tell me you are not jesting," she said with a look that contained the suspicion of someone who had been tricked more times than they could count.

"I am not. However."

"I knew it," the princess said shaking her head in disgust. "Nothing ever goes entirely my way. There's always something ..."