Jean Johnson - The Master

"You," Mariel stated, startling Serina out of her mathemagical daze with a jump, "are unhappy."

One hand pressed to her racing heart, Serina turned to study her friend. "Uh what makes you say that?"

"You have a handsome block of masculinity at your lascivious beck and call, and you've buried yourself in your work," Mariel observed. "That, and your braid is fraying. If you were angry, you'd be searching for spare vases to throw, but you're not; you're trying to tug your scalp bald. Ergo, you're unhappy."

Serina gave her a wry look. "We can't pounce on each other; we have to abstain for five whole days, and that means the last four days have been an exercise in frustrationdon't even think about suggesting we take care of the problem ourselvesI had to explain to Dominor that he couldn't do that, either."

She flashed her friend a quick grin.

"He stopped me before I went into the technical details of why, said it was making things even more difficult for him." Her smile didn't last long, however. Tugging on her pale braid, Serina returned her pensive stare to the chalk marks shifting and moving in their gracefully enchanted dance.

Mariel stepped all the way inside the workroom, shutting the door behind her. "So what's bothering you?"

Sighing, Serina shook her head, looking away.

"Don't you give me that attitude," Mariel chided her friend, folding her arms across her bosom. "You have a man who clearly cares for you, to the point where he finds your mathemagical babble arousing, and you can only sigh and mope?"

Crossing to the chair Dominor often used to read in, Serina flopped into its leather embrace. "He's wonderful! He's charming, he's intelligent, he's witty, he's caring, he's masterful, he's sexy and perfect for me in almost every wayexcept for the glaringly huge fact that he doesn't want children."

Comprehension dawned in Mariel's green gaze. "Oh. And you have to yeah, that is a little awkward. Enough to mope over." Moving over to the chair, Mariel perched on the armrest, embracing her friend in a one-armed hug.

Serina leaned into her side with an unhappy sigh. "And he's perfect for the ritual, too. Only, in order to complete it, I have to lie to him. Well, sort-of lie to him. I don't want to lie to him, you see so I've been creatively hedging around the truth."

"I see. Well, maybe he's not as adamant against children as you might think," Mariel encouraged her. "He's been getting along like cards in a deck with Mikor. If he didn't like children, why would he be so interested in teaching my son, day after day? And in being a good role model, too?" She laughed softly, squeezing Serina's shoulders. "I've never seen Mikor eat his vegetables without complaining, before, until His Lordship came to stay with us. And his greens."

Serina smiled slightly. "Maybe"

"Look, let's go practice some tai in the salle. Mikor and Dominor are in there right now, going through a sword lesson. There's plenty of room for us to do some practicing ourselves and you can see for yourself just how well he gets along with your honorary nephew, all right?" Mariel coaxed, encouraging her friend.

A nod, and Serina extracted herself from the comfortable chair. "All right. I do need something physical to do to burn off all this sexual energy I'm not expending and can't expend until tomorrow afternoon."

"That's the spirit!" her petite friend teased, patting her on the shoulder. "Let's go get changed and show the boys how a pair of real women defend themselves!"

Dominor glanced away from his opponent long enough to take note of the two women entering the salle. The door was located at the midpoint, but he and Mikor were working at the end near the pells and mirrors; the other half of the large, sanded floor was wide open for their own use. They were wearing short-hemmed tunic-dresses that only came to their knees, and footless hose. Tai-fighting clothes.

Returning his attention firmly to his pupil, Dominor pushed away the thought of how sexy Serina's bared ankles and toes looked. They had one more day to endurewhich was the right word for it, considering he wasn't even allowed to do anything to himselfand then they would be making love within the heart of the Fountain. An exhilarating, unnerving prospect to consider. Especially with her lithe body doing some preliminary stretches a handful of body-lengths away. Your wits are wandering againfocus on your pupil!

"All right, Mikor, you've practiced the rote counters and blocks long enough. We're going to do what is called a three-twenty. I will defend, and you will attack. You will get twenty strikes against me, and you should focus mostly on that, but don't forget to defend, too, for I will get to pick three times that I may strike back. Understood?" he asked the youth.

Mikor nodded, shaking out his left arm for a moment before raising it again. Unfortunately, they weren't working with shields, as the only shield-transforming spell Dominor knew formed one too large for the boy to lift. In a real fight, Dominor would pick a shield for himself to get whatever defensive advantage he could, but this was just a practice. He wanted to be fair to the boy or as fair as he could be, given the boy simply wasn't skilled enough to get through his ability to parry Mikor's still clumsy blows.

"Begin!"

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Serina and Mariel closing. He blocked the first few of Mikor's somewhat hesitant swings, distracted by what he was seeing at the other end of the field. Their arms swung and struck, lifted and blocked. Their legs kicked and Mikor backed him around with a flurry of mostly ineffective swings. He glanced down to strike inward in an opening in the boy's nonexistent defenses, thumping him lightly on the hip.

It might leave a bruise, but not much of one. Dominor had too much control over his weapon and the force with which he applied it; in fact, he was in more danger from his pupil's efforts. Mikor gritted his teeth and swung harder, clacking his transformed weapon against Dominor's. In the mirror behind him, Dominor saw a swirl of pale color and glanced up reflexively, just in time to see Mariel's reflected image thudding into the sand-covered floor with an audible oof.

Face-down.

Serina can make someone "eat dirt?" Just like Kelly ca

PAIN!

Breath strangling in his throat, Dominor dropped his sword, his hands, and his body, grabbing and curling protectively around the shattered fragments of his family jewels as he landed awkwardly on his side in the sand. Red waves of blood-streaked agony blurred his vision, alternating with sparkles of lightning-white.

"GodsDominor, I'm so sorry! Mother?" Mikor shouted, his voice sounding strange through the frantic pounding in Dominor's ears. "Mother, HELP!!"

Pounding footsteps matched the pounding in his groin. Sand kicked against his back, a minor inconvenience, then hands were gingerly trying to turn him over. "Let me seewhat did you do, Mikor?"

"I I struck him in the you know! I was expecting him to block it, but he didn't!"

"Dominor, can you hear me? How bad is it?" Mariel's voice coaxed him.

He didn't know where he found the strength, but somehow Dom managed to make his voice work. He couldn't even see her, the pain had clouded his vision to the point of nearly blacking out. In a gravelly, undignified squeak, he gasped, "I am never ever going to have children ever!"

Footsteps pounded across the floor, and the door slammed shut.

"I'm really, really sorry!" Mikor babbled. "I didn't mean to hurt you, honest!"

"Mikor, I need you to back up a little and give me room to work, all right?" Mariel's voice was calm, soothing, though mere tone alone couldn't do much to alleviate Dominor's agony. "In fact, why don't you go wash up, since I think your sword lesson has been canceled for the rest of today."