A Second Generation Whateley Academy Story

Born in Fire

by

Astrodragon

(with thanks to Rosalie Redd for insights into the psychology of teenage girls)

Part One

Born in Fire (Part 1)

Authors Note : While the fire plane and its inhabitants aren't human, and cannot be described in human terms, we have generously converted the images and descriptions into ones that a human can understand. We didn't want to be blamed for readers trying to understand the actual concepts and ending up with their brains trickling from their ears, the mess makes Kristin upset.

Offices of the Academy of Training, Fire Plane.

The robed man stood to greet his visitors, making a polite gesture of welcome.

"Greetings, Lady Hurmiz, Lord Mirdas.

"Master of Training. It's good of you to make time for us."

The Master gave the two a measuring look. Neither of them looked comfortable about being here. "I felt it was necessary to talk with you about your daughter."

"Thulia?" The woman seemed somewhat alarmed. "Has she done something? Is she in trouble of some sort?"

The master waved a hand in a calming gesture. "No, nothing like that! Please don't be alarmed, Thulia has done nothing wrong. Indeed I am pleased with how well she applies herself to her regular studies."

Mirdas looked at the Master, a deep frown on his sharp features. "Well then, why have you called us here? I do have duties..." He ignored the sharp glance his wife gave him at the suggestion his duties were more important than his daughter, but he wanted to find out just why the Master had requested their presence today. He unconsciously tugged his ornate robe, the only sign of uncertainty he permitted himself.

"Thulia is..." the Master paused, stroking his white beard thoughtfully as he worked out the best way to present his explanation to her parents "while she is proving adept at mastering the use of her power and magic, there is another ability she is manifesting which is, well, uncommon among us."

Mirdas gave his wife a quick look before returning his attention to the Master. "When you say 'us', are you referring to her, well, unusual heritage?"

The Master nodded. "While a mixed heritage is hardly unknown, hers is considerably more complex than most. Normally in such cases, when the natural talents differ from the norm they are usually a mix of those normally attributed to the races involved. However, in Thulia's case, the combinations have resulted in something rather unusual. To put it simply, in addition to the normal traits I would have expected her to inherit from her immediate family, she shows signs of abilities more normally associated with humans, and they influence her other abilities."

He held up a hand to forestall the obvious agitation of her mother. "Please, this is not necessarily a bad thing! She still has all the normal abilities we would expect from your daughter, it's just that her heritage has added some additional features and possibilities. In particular, her creative abilities are much greater than we are normally used to seeing."

Thulia's father frowned deeply. "Creative? I'm not sure I like the sound of that, creativity is by no means always a good thing. There is much to be said for traditional teaching and methods."

The Master gave him a considering look, before continuing. "Well, yes, I do realise that the sort of level of invention normally shown by humans is often disconcerting, but then in their case, it seems to be tied to their short life spans, which obviously does not apply to your daughter. Thulia is highly intelligent, and shows a high natural aptitude for the use of magic, what is different is that she applies somewhat unexpected solutions to problems."

Thulia's father was still looking grim. "Is that going to affect her studies?"

The Master looked thoughtful for a moment before replying. "If anything, it seems to be aiding them. She is doing very well by all the traditional measurements we apply, this creativity is in addition, not instead of, the usual abilities we train."

"So what is to be done?"

The Master gave his answer some thought before replying. "I'm not sure if anything should be done directly. It would be hard to force her not to experiment as she is doing very well in all her traditional tasks and knowledge. If she was doing poorly, it might be different, but I am reluctant to effectively punish a student who is showing exceptional talent. On the other hand, her urge to push for new concepts and solutions can be disruptive, and we don't want her affecting the other students in her group." He gave the problem some more thought. "I think the best approach right now would be to give her some additional tasks in her traditional learning, to take up more of her time. I don't think that will stop her extra ideas, but I feel it will be possible to channel them aside so they don't infect the other students. It is not a perfect solution, but it should limit any negative effects while she is still a student."

The Master thought it best not to mention that once Thulia was no longer a student, the pent-up effects might be considerably greater. After all, his task was the training of children, not to deal with what happened after they left his care. Still, perhaps he should examine her situation more closely. There was no point in offending Lord Mirdas unnecessarily, after all, and while technically the actions of his former students were not his responsibility, people could associate some of them with him, which could have social and academic repercussions he would prefer to avoid.

Academy of Training

Siveth made a polite gesture of greeting to the Master of Training as he approached, wondering why the man appeared to be in a bad mood. It wasn't time for the annual accounting session, so something else must have upset the man.

"Good afternoon, Master."

The Master of training nodded to his subordinate, his mouth set in a frown.

"I wondered if you have been talking with Thulia recently, about her studies?"

"Of course, Master. She is one of my apprentices, after all."

"Yes, I know. However I am concerned about her, and the progress she is making."

Siveth raised an eyebrow, puzzled by the comment. "Really, Master? I find her progress is more than satisfactory, what do you see as the problem with it?"

The Master's frown deepened further. "It's not so much the amount of progress, it's the way she is going about it! She takes far too many shortcuts and novel approaches to the traditional methods. It's not a satisfactory basis for her to work from. I have just been talking with her parents, and while I tried to reassure them her... unusual traits... would not be a problem, I am not convinced of that in my own mind."

"I see, Master. But as long as she masters all the techniques and learns what we have to teach her, is that such a problem?"

The Master scowled at Siveth. He was well able to tell when his arguments were being rebutted, even though the actual words used were innocuous.

"The problem is not her, or at least not just her, it is the bad influence she may well be to the other students. I want you to make sure she is fully occupied with her normal training and lessons, if she is kept busy that way, there is less chance of her wasting her time on her ideas."

Siveth bowed formally. "As you wish, of course, Master. I will arrange her schedule accordingly." He watched as the Master nodded and walked off, before shaking his head. While he would of course keep to the letter of the Master's orders, he had deep doubts that it would work with Thulia. The most likely outcome was that the extra work would increase her abilities while not doing much to limit the energy spent on her own ideas.

Academy of Training, apprentice's area, later

Thulia's concentration on her work was disturbed by the rustle of robes. She blinked, then looked up to see her tutor approaching her.

"Good morning, Master Siveth, what can I do for you?"

He smiled at her, then looked down at the slab of red crystal on her workbench.

"I take it you have finished your assigned work for the day?"

The girl blushed slightly but nodded. "Yes Sir. I'm all up to date, so..."

He chuckled. "So you thought you'd spend some time working on" - he looked at the slab again - "whatever this is?"

Thulia brightened at the questioning note in his voice, she was proud of her latest creation and more than happy to show it off.

"It's my modification of Veservias's Quantum Computer, master. The original was very clever, but tricky to make and rather delicate. Mine is much simpler to make, and also it manipulates more qubits. It's not quite ready yet" - she decided not to point out that right now it was decidedly alpha-test hardware - "and if it doesn't add too much complexity, I want to allow the units to be put into a cluster. That will give a significant increase in the available computing power!"

He bent to look at her work, although the slab itself didn't show its power, he could sense the delicate strands of power running through the crystalline matrix. While he kept his face expressionless, the potential of this new idea was impressive, and to be made by such a young girl! Why, she was hardly a teenager yet, if she had progressed to this already..."

Straightening up, he turned to face her again. "It does look very promising. But... I have been asked to speak to you about the time taken from your formal studies."

Thulia's eyes widened and she looked upset. "But Master, I am more than up to date with all my assigned work!"

He raised a hand in a conciliatory gesture. "I realise that, Thulia." He thought for a moment, trying to work out a way to phrase what he'd been told to tell her. He didn't agree with it, the girl was already his leading student, and given that, allowing her to spend her free time on her own projects seemed only fair. His instructions had been clear, but perhaps he could allow a certain amount of... flexibility... in their interpretation.

"Thulia, the Master of Training wishes to increase your formal workload. He feels that you have the capacity to progress faster and in greater depth. However, this will mean that you won't have so much free time."

Thulia looked up at him, emotions washing across her face, then glanced down at the slab, one hand caressing the crystal. "But Master...!"

"Thulia... I am not forbidding you from working on creations like this, but the Master of Training has been most specific. However... as long as you keep up with our new expectations, I see no reason for me to look too closely into whatever else you spend your time doing."

He could see the girl working through the implications in her mind, finally nodding. He was sure she'd reached the conclusion he'd intimated."

"I understand, Master Siveth I assure you I will work diligently as instructed."

He smiled and patted her gently on the shoulder. "I'm sure you will, Thulia.". He thought to himself with a hidden smile that doing so wouldn't have too much effect on her creations. Although advancing ever further in front of the rest of the class might have consequences, but that was a matter for another time.

The mountain outside Thulia's home, somewhere on the Plane of Fire, some years later.

The view down the side of the mountain was spectacular, steep rocky slopes leading precipitously down to the impossibly-green and gently steaming lake at the bottom, but Thulia wasn't in the mood to appreciate the vista. Instead, she sat on one of the flatter rocks outside of her home, allowing herself the luxury of wallowing in her disappointment for a while, ignoring the way that the breeze whipped her long hair into tangles.

"So you didn't get funding?"

Thulia sighed moodily, not bothering to turn around at the sound of Bruce's gravelly voice. Instead of answering, she glared at what was - probably - an innocent boulder, as if daring it to frustrate her as well. There were times when being a teenager sucked.

"None."

Bruce considered saying something consoling, but another look at Thulia made him decide that would not only be condescending, but likely dangerous to his health. So he managed to keep his mouth shut and just nodded.

The girl gave an even deeper sigh, as she finally turned to look at her helper.

"I just don't understand them. I showed them the maths, the calculations, my models. It would be a major advance in learning about how human manifestations and BITS interact, and how to attain a primal elemental connection at the same time. It's as if they just aren't interested in progress!

"Maybe they aren't. They are a pretty conservative bunch."

Thulia moodily kicked the rock she was sitting on. "Conservative? This rock is a radical progressive compared to them! And then more than one made snide remarks about how a mixed-blood, part human, shouldn't get unapproved ideas. At least humans have an idea of progress and learning, that lot wouldn't recognise a new concept if they tripped over it."

"And your family?"

The girl uttered a snort of derision. "What, part with money! They think gold should be hidden away in secret rather than used for anything, they'll barely put anything in the safest of ideas. And as for my father...he makes the rest of them look like progressives."

Bruce patted her on the shoulder. "Well..."

Thulia gave him a sharp look, not happy that she was being patronised, even if it was Bruce. "Well, what? Do you have an idea?"

Bruce looked thoughtful. "I was just thinking. If there isn't a way of funding your project through conventional channels, how about considering some unconventional ones? "

Thulia's eyes unfocussed a little as she considered that. "Hmmm. That - isn't such a bad idea."

Bruce nodded. "Why not talk to your Grandmother? She has a lot of experience most people here don't, and she's had to put up with a lot of prejudice herself. Why not ask her, see if she has some ideas? It can't hurt, right?"

Thulia finally smiled as she hopped off her rock. "Bruce, that's a great idea!"

Behind her back, Bruce shook his head at the rapid change in her demeanour, and hoped he hadn't accidentally unleashed her onto an unsuspecting world.

Thulia's home

"So, you want to see if you can get some humans to agree to fund your experiments?"

Thulia nodded. "Why not, Grandmother? Humans are always eager to do deals with us, why shouldn't I take advantage of that?" She scowled. "The Academy isn't interested. They are so conservative I'm surprised they know what the wheel is! They just want me to go back and do more and more reports. Which won't achieve anything but make me wait forever!"

Her grandmother sat back in her chair, steepling her fingers in front of her as she watched her granddaughter hunch forward in her chair in a show of her frustration. "True. But usually, those who get involved in such deals are, well, a little older."

Her granddaughter scowled. "I'm old enough! And anyway, there aren't any rules which say you have to be a certain age. I checked."

Tanau chuckled. "Oh yes, I'm sure you did! But you do have to realise that there are things that can go wrong, and many humans can't be trusted - if they can take advantage or cheat, they will. Trust me on this, I have experience."

Thulia gave that a little consideration. There were stories of deals which had gone wrong, although how many were real, and how many cautionary tales she couldn't tell. But she felt getting her grandmother to help her would be far more productive than just going ahead anyway. Despite Tanau's origins, which often made people here suspect her, she'd never found her to be anything but helpful and supportive. Far more so than her father, certainly.

"I realise there are certain risks, but I wasn't intending to cut any corners on the protocols." She wisely refrained from mentioning which corners she was prepared to cut if she felt it necessary - after all, what she didn't say couldn't be used as an argument against what she wanted to do.

"Abiding by the rules can be a sensible thing to do, child - while I don't often agree with rules, these particular ones were put in place for very good reasons. However, that doesn't explain why you invited me, does it?" The gleam in her eye suggested to Thulia that she had worked out just why she had asked her to visit but wasn't going to say it herself. Sometimes Tanaus perspicacity could be such a nuisance

Thulia sighed and met her grandmothers' gaze. She'd never really succeeded in fooling Tanau, and this didn't seem like a good time to start trying.

"I need your help and advice. I know there are traps I need to avoid, and I know I don't have any experience in dealing with the human realm. You're the best expert I know of, so I was hoping you could aid me in making this a success."

Tanau took a sip of her wine and looked thoughtful. "Well. I may have a few ideas. But you probably don't want to contact humans directly, you don't have any personal contacts, and I very much doubt if any of my old ones are still alive. In any case, they would have expectations that you probably wouldn't want to fulfil." She saw the disappointed look on Thulia's face and raised a hand in a 'wait' gesture. "But there is a network of beings that do deal in such matters - they act as intermediaries to facilitate mutually beneficial arrangements. They do take a commission on the deal, but using them is a lot safer than jumping into some sort of direct deal yourself."

Thulia finally sat back in her seat. "That... makes sense. I was a bit worried about how to find a suitable human, I've been told a lot of stories about how those sort of deals can go wrong."

Her grandmother nodded. "While they've probably told you about a lot of the things that went bad, as a cautionary tale; there are trustworthy humans, it's just that most of them have developed long-term connections. The ones that haven't are either inexperienced - which is another source of risk to you - or ones who are out to use you. You need to stay clear of those! But the Intermediaries will take care of that - they arrange things so both sides have a safe contract."

Thulia tilted her head. "So what's the catch?"

Tanau laughed softly. "Two things. First, as I said, they charge a fee for your first use, and a commission on your payments." She gave Thulia a much more serious look." Second, they make sure any contract is enforced, so if you make one, make very sure you intend to keep to it."

"But grandmother, my problem is I can't get funding! So how can I pay these people?"

"It's not as bad as that, dear. The commission is straightforward, you don't need to pay that until you get paid for a contract. The starting fee... hmmm... I can stand surety for you on that. Not pay the sum, you can pay that out of your profit. I assume you are planning on a profit?"

Thulia bounced up out of her chair to envelop her grandmother in a hug. "You'd do that for me? Really?"

Tanau hugged her back and smiled. "Yes. I trust you, dear, I'm sure someone will pay properly for your ideas."

The Broker's Office

Thulia bowed politely to the person sitting behind the desk, before seating herself in the chair facing him. She wasn't entirely sure what he - she was fairly sure it was a male - was, she thought. His skin seemed more rocklike than anything else she was familiar with, so she suspected a denizen of the Plane of Earth, but she wasn't familiar with whatever species he was.

He looked up at her, one hand resting on the notes on the desk. "Greetings... Thulia? I believe that is the use-name you will be using with us?"

She nodded. "Yes Sir." She wasn't quite sure who this person was, but it seemed sensible to err on the side of formal politeness, just in case. She certainly couldn't afford to annoy this organisation.

He nodded. "You may call me the Broker. I will be responsible for examining your application for arranging a contact. Now, I see that you haven't worked with us before?"

She shook her head. "No, I was recommended to you."

He looked down at his notes again for a moment and nodded. "So I see. Your sponsor has agreed to stand surety for the initial fees, which will make things much simpler. Now you understand, that fee will be paid out of your profits, and after we will take a percentage of the remainder. In return, we will find and make arrangements with an entity that wishes to make use of your offer. I believe you set a cut-off date of six cycles?" She nodded, and he continued. "If by any chance we cannot find a suitable contract in that time, this contract will stand void and you can then decide if you wish to either leave or arrange a new one with modified terms. In this case, we will also suggest what modifications might make your conditions to be more easily met. Is that all clear?"

Thulia made sure she kept her face expressionless. "Quite clear."

"Good. Now, we will supply full details of the contract to you before you leave. You should go through them, then return it to us within three days, signed in blood."

"What happens then, Sir?"

He took a moment to arrange the papers in front of him into a neat pile. "We will then start looking for suitable contractees. Once we have found one, we will arrange for you to talk to them and discuss terms. We have the details of your suggested fee, which we consider acceptable for the suggested work. If you negotiate an agreement, then either you can arrange with them any details as to where the work will be done, and if it includes your summoning or similar arrangements. You can also arrange your own visitation arrangements, which will reduce our charge. Do you have any questions?"

Thulia shook her head, as he pushed a set of papers to her. "Remember, if you wish to accept our terms, return this to us, signed and attested, within three days."

Thulia's Home

Thulia gave the papers a final inspection, then carefully stabbed her finger with a claw, before letting drops of her blood fall onto the appropriate places. Well, she was committed now, but she had confidence in her work, she was sure someone would want the service she was offering.

"Bruce, I'd like you to deliver this, please."

He eyed her with some worry in his eyes. "You're going ahead with this?"

She nodded. "It's the only way to get the backing I need. And Grandmother says the contract is fair, so... it's time I showed I was old enough to take things into my own hands. When you get back, there are some preparations I want to do here, and..." she gazed off into the distance, lost in thought for some moments "I don't think I want to be summoned at will, but if I need to visit Earth without that I think I'll need to make some personal arrangements.

Thulia's Workroom

Bruce looked on with interest as Thulia finished laying out the last of the circles and diagrams that she expected to need, before straightening up and stretching the kinks out of her back with a sigh of relief.

"Good, that's the circles done. Now to connect them to the cluster and turn them into smart circles."

"You know, boss, I still don't see how you're going to do that. The cluster is tech, the circles need to be magic, the two things don't play well together,"

Thulia wiped her hands clean on a cloth before answering her sidekick with a smug expression. "Two things. First, the cluster is quantum computers, and they seem to work better with magic. But mainly I'm going to use my blood to make the circles attuned to me, like the cluster already is, so I'm avoiding a lot of the issues. Anyway, smart circles are so much better than having to do them all by hand!

Bruce decided not to point out that she could have laid out all the circles she was likely to need in the old-fashioned way in less time. Although if she decided to change things later, it would go faster. And yes, he agreed, way cooler.

"So, when are the cats coming along to set up your connection to the human's Internet?"

Thulia grinned at her sidekick. "Now, remember they don't like being called cats - well, except for the Egyptian ones - even if they are felines. Later today, they promised, I just need the connection to the cluster."

"Still think it would have been cheaper to do it ourselves."

"Probably would have been, Bruce, but you know how touchy they get about their claim to own the Internet access, it's not worth the hassle of fighting with them over it."

"Do we really need our own access?"

Thulia nodded firmly. "Oh yes. I don't trust the Academy not to monitor what I look at, and it's not just technical stuff this time, I need to look at human culture so I can sort some stuff out. I know it isn't cheap, but I need the privacy."

Bruce took a gulp of his beer and snerked. "Yeah, I guess you wouldn't want those old guys seeing what sort of porn you're looking at."

Thulia turned and game him a Glare Of Doom before turning back to her work. She was sure she wouldn't be doing that. Really not. Well, unless it was necessary.

Thulia's Workroom/Laboratory, some time later.

"So this is what I've been working on while I wait on a client being found."

Thulia tapped a few controls, and a hologram appeared in the middle of the room. While female, the naked image didn't look exactly like a human girl. The overall body look was that of a tall, slender girl with modest breasts, with a look of caged power in the muscles under the flawless skin. Tanau wasn't terribly surprised her granddaughter had gone for that look rather than for a softer, more sensuously rounded girl; soft and cuddly weren't major aspects of Thulia's personality. The barely-leashed tigress look was far more her. However while the facial features belonged to Thulia, there were distinct differences.

Her grandmother regarded the image thoughtfully, then slowly walked around it, looking it up and down as she took in all the details. The image had a considerable resemblance to the way Thulia usually manifested herself as a humanoid, but there were several areas where it varied. The horns and claws were subtly different, as was the skin colour - the crimson of Thulia's usual look subtlety tempered and lightened by a more usual human colour. The long hair that fell past her waist was the same shimmering silken firefall she was used to seeing on her granddaughter, but there were facial differences. The image's ears weren't quite as pointed, and her cheekbones were more distinct and sharply defined. She took a moment to look into the hologram's eyes, noting that they at least were the same molten gold colour.

"Hmm. I see you made changes." She looked at Thulia and smiled. "Improvements?"

Thulia looked slightly embarrassed. "Well... sort of. A few. I started by looking at lots of human source material concerning demon-girls and dragon-girls, to get some ideas. I thought I'd see how they thought we looked, that way they wouldn't be surprised at how I appeared to them, and they'd be reassured. There was a lot of variation, and quite a few of the forms were, well, ugly. I mean, they had hooves! I found most consistency in a medium called anime, it seemed to deal with a lot of teenage demon-girls for some reason. But I took that and merged some of it with the way I usually look. But... well, this somehow seems more me than my current look." She gave her grandmother a rather plaintive look. "I can't really explain that, it just seemed right."

Tanau chuckled softly. "Yes, that happens. You're still young, and this is the first time you've tried to express yourself in a form showing your true self-image rather than the one you think people should see."

Thulia fidgeted a little. "So... do you think it's attractive? I mean, to others?" She blushed slightly. "The girls I saw on the Earth data usually had much bigger breasts, and more curves. Do I need to change to look more like that?"

Tanau gave her granddaughter a long look, before giving the image another look. "Granddaughter... the important thing is it reflects you. Yes, many males are attracted by large breasts and curvy figures, but then again many are not. You're young, but when you have my experience you will learn that there is no fixed absolute standard of beauty, and trying to attain it is a myth. So stay with a form that you feel comfortable in. Remember, you are not fully grown yet, your self-image will change over time."

Tanau turned to look at the image, then nodded approvingly. "I like it. It combines power, grace, and beauty. It's worthy of my granddaughter."

The girl smiled shyly. "Thank you, grandmother. I did hope you'd approve." While she was still not entirely convinced she'd made the right choices, the approval of her grandmother was important, and in this field Tanau was most definitely an expert.

Tanau patted her on the shoulder. "I'd like you to go into the details, I may be able to help you with some of them. For a start, this won't blend in well with a human crowd. You were going to use a masking illusion over this?"

"Yes and no. While a shape illusion is versatile and easy enough to do, humans do seem to have a lot of ways to see them or see through them, and that sort of thing always happens at the most inconvenient moment. So I had an idea about that for when not appearing as what I am would be helpful."

She touched the control again, and a second hologram shimmered into being next to the first. This time, although the body looked roughly the same, there were many small differences in appearance. The blazing hair was now a mane of glistening ebony strands, and the horns and claws had vanished. While the ears still looked a little unusual, they were nothing outside the normal human range. The skin colour had changed, no longer having its red look but a tan colour more appropriate for a human.

"I see. An alternate?"

Thulia shook her head. "Not really, it uses some of my power to suppress some of my normal features. As such, it's not an illusion or a seeming, so will pass those tests. Of course, it won't be as easily malleable as my body here, especially with the low essence level of Earth, but I was able to make it somewhat variable. Keeping any changes variations on the central theme made it simpler."

Tanau nodded approvingly. "Clever. I like your forethought." She looked carefully at the two faces, examining each one closely. "Can I see the teeth?"

Thulia played with her controls, as the two images changed to show open mouths.

"Ah yes, you still have your fangs in the horned shape, but normal human teeth in the second one. I thought the shape of the jaw looked slightly different. I'm glad to see you took care of the small details. No body hair on either, I see."

"No grandmother. The sources were, well variant again, but when the anime ones in particular showed the naked form they didn't show body hair, so I assumed that was considered normal. I just simplified things by not having it rather than requiring me to remove it regularly."

"The exterior looks very good. What about internal arrangements? Can I assume you made some changes there as well?"

This time Thulia brought up a series of screens next to the figures, showing anatomical details as well as many energy diagrams. Thulia looked at them for a moment before starting her explanation.

"As I'm starting from the basis of this being a fully manifested body rather than an encapsulated energy field, I needed to make it capable of accessing Fire and holding and manipulating the energy as well as transitioning it safely into my well. So I based my ideas on some of the constructs human mutants have - the ones they term energisers - to deal with a similar problem."

"That's sensible, child. No need to reinvent a perfectly usable solution, after all."

"No Grandmother. However" - she looked at the images, a small frown on her face - "Most of the data I could source had them having additional gross physical structures to handle the sort of energy level I am anticipating." She gave the image another dark look. "It's not elegant. I wanted something more subtle than some extra body organs stuck in at random."

Tanau managed not to look amused at the idea of her granddaughter being offended at the lack of elegance and efficiency in human bodies. She could tell stories... "So how are you going to handle it? I assume you have an idea?"

Thulia looked offended for a moment, which made Tanau work harder at not showing her amusement. "Of course I do!" She pointed at a smaller set of diagrams, displaying details of several human cells. "I've integrated the mechanism at a cellular level. No gross organs that could be damaged, it's a distributed structure with damage control and redundancy built-in. And as an extra benefit, it allows the cells to use the energy to make the body stronger, tougher, overall. This way I can have my power and strength in the human world, without worrying about a heavy maintenance load or having to draw power down deliberately. And as it's all internal, it's far less obvious - there's no glow of power from magic infusing the body."

Tanau looked over the diagrams, then cast a sideways look at Thulia. "You think you will need the physical capabilities this will give you, as well as your magic?"

The girls shrugged. "I might not, but then again I might. Humans seem, well, unpredictable when it comes to dealing with us, and while they will probably expect my magic, this is an edge I hope they won't realise. If I find it necessary I can manifest some additional body armour and protection by drawing on my link with fire to develop a more physically powerful form. I'd rather save that for an emergency; while it makes me a lot stronger and tougher, the essence drain is very high, it takes nearly all my essence flow to maintain it. But it's there in case I need it or if there is a problem with magic."

Tanau nodded, forbearing to comment that all this effort would also, of course, allow Thulia to design something much more complex and powerful than the norm. Her granddaughter seemed to live at times for her ability to push the envelope, and as long as she didn't overreach herself or decide on something with dangerously unexpected consequences, she didn't see too much harm in that. One thing she missed from her time with humans was that sense of the unpredictable. Thulia's ideas would probably have some of the more conservative members of the Academy gibbering in outrage, but she didn't have much respect for their institutional opposition to change. They might live on the Plane of Fire, but somehow they managed to justify a conservative approach as being a fire aspect. For her part, she had always enjoyed the thrill of experimenting with new things.

"Your wings?"

Thulia adjusted some controls, and the horned image grew a large and powerful pair of dragonwings, their surface patterned in delicate shadings of black and crimson. "I didn't want to lose them, they are very useful at times. They stay out of the way unless I manifest them, though - human architecture doesn't seem suitable for wings, especially indoors."

Thulia smiled to herself as she watched Thulia gaze at the image. Granted, wings were at times very useful, but she suspected it was also because she liked them and the freedom they gave her. She'd watched her granddaughter learning to fly, and the expression on her face had been one that was a treasured memory. Still, keeping them out of the way until needed was sensible.

"No tail? Most humans expect us to have tails, you know."

Thulia nibbled on her lip. "I did consider that, a lot of the anime stuff showed tails, But they never explained how they managed with doors." She scowled for a moment at the hologram. "Humans have a lot of doors!"

This time Tanau did not attempt to conceal her amusement. "That's true, they certainly do!" She regarded her granddaughter for a moment, a smile still on her face. "But you, know, a tail can be very... useful... at times."

Thulia thought about that for a few seconds as she looked at her grandmother, before blushing deeply. "Grandmother! Just what are you suggesting!"

Tanau just smirked a bit more. "Why, Thulia. Just what were you thinking of doing with a tail?" From the expression on the still-blushing girl she could work out exactly what she was thinking about tails, and really, she was old enough to know about their more interesting uses. "I'd be happy to assist you in the design of one that is useful and practical. You can always keep it hidden like your wings - you're quite right, they do cause difficulties with doors."

"Uh, yes grandmother." Still blushing, Thulia decided to change the subject to a less intimate topic." How about the appearance? I'd be grateful for your thoughts."

Tanau nodded, moving closer to take a long look at the images. She had to admit, for a teenager Thulia had done a most impressive job, but there was something...

"Hmm. Yes, there is one small flaw. Or rather, there isn't a small flaw."

Thulia looked at her face, then back at the image with a puzzled expression.

"Can you display a copy, I'd like to show you what I'm thinking about."

Still looking puzzled, Thulia obliged, a duplicate hologram of the horned girl appearing. She passed a control unit to her grandmother, interested to see what she'd spotted."

"Yes..." giving the face a close look, Tanau made some small adjustments to the face and the skin tone. "There, what do you think?"

Thulia looked at the new image, comparing it with the old. "It looks... I don't understand what you did, but she looks more... more real now?"

Tanau looked at her subtle adjustments and nodded. "Exactly. It's something you probably weren't aware of when you started, but your image was too perfect, the features completely symmetrical. All I did was to make the face slightly asymmetric, and the skin tone slightly less perfect in places. Only a small change but you'll learn with experience that it's the little touches that which make all the difference."

Thulia nodded, looking carefully between the two images. "yeah...I see what you mean, I made her too perfect. You made her look real."

Tanau laughed. "Well, dear, I do have a lot more experience in creating images that look like real - and desirable - people. Don't worry, it's like all art, these things come with practice. I may have some other suggestions you might find helpful as well?"

"Oh, please! I know this is my first time, but..."

"You want to get it just right, to show the people who doubted you could do it."

Thulia blushed again at her grandmothers' words.

"Well, what sort of a grandmother would I be if I didn't do all I could to help you?" She rubbed her hands together and grinned happily. "I do have a few suggestions that you'll probably find useful when you visit the human world. Nothing externally obvious, but small changes can make a big difference to you."

Abraxus's Office, an island somewhere in the North Sea, Earth

It had taken a lot longer than Thulia had hoped for the Broker to make the connection she needed, she had started to worry her proposal was too esoteric to be of interest, and finally making a contact was a great relief. She finally stood in front of the Adept who was apparently in charge of the group she'd be working with, trying to remain calm and not give away how relieved she was to have made the necessary contact. She wasn't impressed with his appearance - he looked more like a desiccated mummy than a powerful magus, and she wondered if it was a seeming he used. None of her people with the level of power he claimed would lack the skill to look as they pleased, and a little shard of concern nibbled at her at the idea he might actually like to look like this. Still, she had little experience with human mages, so it was probably nothing unusual.

For his part Abraxus was examining the girl closely. She was younger than he'd expected, but then she could appear how she wished, and he knew that some of the Order who were less dedicated could be fooled and entranced by her youthful appearance. He wasn't going to fall into that trap, an entity who could do what she claimed was obviously old and experienced.

"So, you need a test subject. Just the one, or would a group be better?"

Thulia nodded. "Yes. I only need one, as long as they fill the requirements. If you have multiple volunteers, of course, I could select one, but the procedure is quite complex and expensive, and more than one would be redundant unless it fails. Likely, the traits I will be looking for aren't that common in humans, so finding multiple candidates could be difficult anyway.

Volunteers, Abraxus thought. What a quaint idea! After all, if this worked, he would make very sure to have absolute control over the Conduit, so wasting a useful member of the cult would be pointless. There might be some expendable members, but unless they filled her rather restrictive requirements, they would be of no use. He would have a few checked out, but he was already thinking of options for acquiring a suitable experimental subject. After all, even if some of the subjects were unsuitable for the great experiment, human sacrifices were always a useful asset.

"Your needs are quite specific." He pointed at the small device on the table next to them. "I understand this will allow us to test for an appropriate person?"

"Yes. They might not be exactly what I need, but there is a good chance that it will find an acceptable test subject. I'm afraid I can't say how hard it will be to find one, but I can get the rest of the work set up while you look. If initial results are disappointing, I could provide a few more testing devices to help you widen the search more quickly."

"I see. Then I suggest we use that one to start looking while we get the rest of the preparations done; if we haven't found something suitable for you by then, we can widen the search."

Thulia nodded. "Very well. Let me know the co-ordinates you wish me to connect my workroom to, and I will make preparations for a gate."

Thulia's Workroom, some time later

Bruce glanced up as a crystal mounted atop a plinth of rock started to glow and emit a faint hum.

"Boss, we got a caller."

Thulia took a few seconds before looking up from her work - while she was confident about her experiment, it never hurt to refine things, and given that she was just waiting on the cult to find a candidate before starting, she didn't really want to be working on something else. She wriggled out from under the hunk of equipment she'd been working on - no matter how sophisticated it was, or how much of it was solid-state with no moving parts, working on it always seemed to require crawling around and getting into uncomfortable and unlikely positions. She had dark suspicions that some sort of universal law was involved somewhere. Standing slowly, she took a moment to stretch and relieve the kinks her work had put in her back and arms, muscles showing taut for a moment under her leotard, before shaking her head and walking over to the crystal and touching it lightly with a finger.

"Yes?"

The response was, as usual, arrogant almost to the point of parody. She snarled soundlessly - she had been hired to perform a highly complex procedure, indeed one most thought impossible, and the tone of voice that intimated she was a lowly servant was galling. Still, she had signed a contract. And he was paying.

"We have a subject that might be suitable. He passed that test you gave my men, and we have him sedated and ready for you to inspect in Cell 2."

Despite the tone, she felt a smile slide across her face. She'd been starting to think they wouldn't find a suitable volunteer for her, it had certainly taken them long enough.

"Very well, I will be there in a few minutes."

She hadn't bothered to dress up for this, she was too eager to see who they'd finally found for a possible subject to do more than brush some dust off her leotard and slip boots on.

"Your hair's a mess."

Thulia glanced down at her assistant, a flicker of confusion passing across her face. "Does that matter? I want to see what they've found!"

Bruce grinned toothily. "Yeah, it does matter, Boss. You need to appear calm and like this doesn't matter to you, it's the best way to deal with these people. Give me a couple of minutes to brush it, while you practice some meditation to calm down, then we'll go and see."

She thought about that for a moment, then nodded and sat down. "I guess you're right. It's just..."

Bruce gave a gravelly chuckle as he started to work a brush through her extravagantly long hair, flickers of flame splintering from the metal strands as the brush started to put it into some sort of order. "It's just that you're impatient. I get that, but you can't give people like this any indication of weakness. And showing too much eagerness to get going with the project is a weakness they'll try and exploit. Now take a few minutes to calm yourself."

Thulia took a final calming breath as she faced the portal, staff held casually in one hand. Calm, arrogant, in control of what happens. She repeated Bruce's words like a mantra as her face schooled itself into a lack of expression, and the rim of the portal burned with balefire as it opened up into the cult's lair. She wasn't quite sure what a lair actually was, but it did seem an appropriate name for the place. Two of the guards were there waiting for her, as she dismissed her staff and looked down her nose as she gave her best imitation of her mother's imperious look, allowing some frost to trickle into her voice. "Take me there."

Cult cell block

Thulia eyed the prospective subject with considerable interest, even if she managed to keep that interest from showing on her face. While she hadn't worried about the subject's sex - it was, after all, irrelevant to her experiment - she was somewhat surprised he was so young, he looked much more like someone her age. Still, she had no idea what would make a human volunteer to become this cult's conduit, maybe she'd learn more his reasons when she studied him properly. She hadn't had much interaction with humans yet - Abraxus himself was, she hoped, anything but a typical human - and was rather looking forward to finding out more about them. While all the data and video she'd gone through earlier had given her ideas, a lot of it was contradictory and she could really do with someone to help her put it all into context. She tilted her head slightly, still watching him as she drew a symbol in the air in front of her, the red-gold colour of her magic glittering over it as she examined his potential more deeply.

She nodded to herself as it confirmed his suitability - it was after all just a more detailed version of the spell she'd given the search teams, so unless they were trying to pass off a failure she hadn't expected any other result.

"Yes, he does seem suitable, Abraxus. I will of course have to do more detailed tests before I am certain. I will let you know of my progress."

Abraxus gave the girl an oddly calculating look as he nodded and left the cells. Thulia put it to one side for the moment, she had more important things on her mind than his nasty little habits. So she nodded imperiously to one of the guards, who'd been watching the boy closely while this had been going on. These cells were useless for doing anything other than holding people, and there was serious work ahead of her.

"Bring him to my work area, this cell is hardly conductive to a proper examination."

She gave a final look at the boy, who now seemed to be shivering for some reason - was it cold in here? - his eyes fixed on her, then strode off. The guards would deliver him promptly she was sure, they'd been told to obey her by Abraxus and seemed terrified of him.

"Well?"

She grinned in satisfaction at Bruce as she stepped out of the portal into her workroom. "We have a test subject, and so far he seems suitable. I have to do a lot more detailed tests, of course, so they are bringing him here."

Bruce gave her a considering look, before nodding. "I guess we'd better set up for the first set of tests then." He glanced at the crystal cube she'd been under earlier. "As long as you've finished fiddling with the equipment?"

Thulia gave her assistant a long-suffering look as she set her staff down by a console, then rubbed her hands together in gleeful anticipation at finally getting to put her theories into practice. Bruce just watched her, then shook his head slowly and walked over to the portal.

The shimmer of energy defining the edge of the portal flickered with flame for a moment, as the space inside shimmered and hazed over before a teenager stumbled through. Thulia turned her head to look, as the boy looked around her workroom with wide eyes. So busy looking at it seemed he hadn't even noticed her as he turned to look at the portal he'd just walked through. She made a gesture to Bruce, who stepped forward in front of him.

"Ahem. When you've quite finished admiring Thulia's workshop, we do have work to do."

The boy gasped loudly at the sound of Bruce's gravelly tones, looking at him as if he was expecting the squat Imp to leap at him and tear his throat out as he edged backwards, only stopping when he realised he was going to touch the portal. For someone who didn't actually have eyebrows, Bruce made a creditable attempt to raise one, before smiling and taking a step forward, one hand stretched out. Thulia watched with interest; while she'd read about normal people, and watched more than a few movies, she had no real experience with them, unlike her scaly companion. While she'd had some experience with humans and their associates recently, it wasn't as if they'd been typical; at least, she really hoped they weren't typical. The boy hesitated, then finally reached out and shook Bruce's hand. Admittedly while looking like he was expecting Bruce to bite it off. She smiled to herself - while admittedly it wouldn't have been true to say Bruce wouldn't hurt a fly, especially if it annoyed him, he was at heart a peaceful soul.

Thulia's Workroom, some days later.

Thulia finished checking her diagnostic spell circles with a satisfied nod. All set, she just needed to warm up her computer cluster and - oh yes - get Rob.

"Bruce, can you get them to send Rob along? We're ready to do the proper testing at last."

Bruce swung his feet down from the desk, tossing back the last of the beer in his can before making an impeccable throw into the bin. "OK, Boss. It's going to take a while, isn't it?"

Thulia nodded abstractedly as she watched her computer array flicker with shards of crimson as they came on line. "Yes, I'm going to run him through the full set, I want a solid baseline of scans and samples."

"OK, then I'll get a few more beers."

"No, I want you to go and get him yourself. I'm not happy about the way the guards drag him here, I don't want to start the tests with him upset."

Bruce just looked at her. "Oh?"

Thulia deliberately turned away from Bruce to concentrate on her equipment. "It wouldn't let me get the most precise readings, that's all."

Bruce gave her back a suspiciously broad smile and nodded. "Oh yes, of course. I'll get right onto it."

Attention still fixed on her equipment, Thulia half-waved an acknowledgment to her sidekick. She knew that the reason she'd given Bruce was false, but ever since she'd found out that Rob wasn't a volunteer, but had been kidnapped and dragged into her experiment, she'd been feeling increasingly guilty. She knew now just what the Cult was, and if she'd known earlier she would have found some other source of funds, even if that would have meant putting things off. And Rob - well, given his circumstances, he was bearing up well, so the best thing she could do for him now was a successful experiment. She put aside the issue of what would happen after that - the Cult was hardly going to let him go - but first things first. She didn't have many options at the moment but given time something would come up, she was certain.

By the time the portal flared to announce Rob's arrival, everything was humming along nicely. She gave it all one final glance, before turning to smile at Rob, who was looking around at her setup with a rather stunned expression. She was torn - on one hand, it was satisfying to see him so impressed by her setup, she'd spent a lot of effort on it, and admiration was appreciated. On the other hand, she'd slowly been getting to know Rob as a person - or at least as a human - and it was a little annoying to see him ignoring her. While she wasn't prepared to admit it - even, or perhaps especially, to herself - she'd worn an outfit chosen to get his attention. While a robe was, admittedly, de rigeur for mages, at least as far as the shows she'd watched on human television had shown, she'd chosen the type of design usually shown on the young, attractive ones that often, for a reason she hadn't yet managed to work out, seemed to be the villainesses. However she did like the style, the slits showed her legs off with enthusiasm, and while she didn't have the sort of bust size that seemed to be in style with those women, she thought the navel-length V in the front did look good with her firm breasts.

"Hello, Rob."

He jerked slightly as her words dragged him from his perusal of her circles and equipment, then he gulped and stared at her. She preened a little inside - now that was far more the reaction she'd been hoping for.

"Now, today I'm going to do a set of full, detailed scans, as well as taking some samples."

Rob had what she was starting to understand as a very worried look."Samples? What sort of samples?"

She patted him on the arm, in an attempt to reassure him. "Ok, just some blood, cell samples, that sort of thing. Nothing to worry about, really. I mean, it's just a very comprehensive medical" She frowned for a moment. "Uh, you people do have medicals right?"

Rob looked at the circles and equipment she'd prepared, and sighed. "Medicals? Yeah, but I've never had one like this!"

"Well, I'm going to start with a full scan of you. So just take your clothes off and get in the circle, and I'll get things started."

His mouth opened and he stared at her without speaking for a moment, as he tried to get words out. "Uh... take off my clothes?!"

Thulia turned from her examination of her equipment to look at him. His face had gone quite red, something she'd read about as a sign of stress in humans. She hadn't realised he'd have this reaction to removing his clothes; the human males on the movies she'd seen hadn't usually had any issues, although oddly all her animated sources seemed to have missed out on showing them naked, at least from the front. She'd been rather hoping to remedy that lack of knowledge, and, although she didn't want to admit it to herself yet, had been hoping to see Rob naked. Maybe if she explained a bit more he'd calm down?

She looked him in the eyes and tried to look reassuring. "All your clothes, please. We need detailed and accurate readings." He still looked stunned, and something in her couldn't resist that look."If it's too difficult, I could always help you out of them?"

If anything, his expression got even tenser, and the boy gulped audibly. "No, it's OK, I can manage!" he squeaked. She noted with interest that the reddish shade of his skin went much further down than his face, as she watched with interest. Finally, he finished and just stood there, trying not to meet her eyes. She took the opportunity to take a long look. How fascinating, it looked like human males had similar reactions to her people when naked, and quite an impressive reaction at that. She'd wondered, what television she'd looked at hadn't shown or mentioned that. She wondered if it was normal, or whether her presence had any influence on it? She couldn't help it, he looked so worried the comment slipped out almost without her thinking. "Hmm, I suppose that is rather flattering to me."

All that apart, she had serious work to do, so she collected herself and gestured to him to step into the circles without making any more provocative comments. A wave of her hand over one of her controls, and the system started up, holding him and raising him upwards, arms and legs outstretched so she would get the best readings. Turning back to her controls, she watched as the crystal blades of her computer system flickered with the soft scarlet glow of operation, while the scanning rings started to rise and fall up and down his body.

The images of his body, systems, and proto-BIT were looked good to her. The tools she'd given the Cult weren't that accurate, and she was happy that Rob actually seemed a good match for what she needed. If he hadn't, that would have been a major worry, given what the Cult was likely to do to him if he was useless for her experiment.

"Now, that's the first scan all done. It didn't hurt, did it?" Her cheerful words made it obvious she wasn't waiting for an answer as she picked up a few objects. "Now, before I do the next set I'll need some more samples."

The first few were simple enough - a cheek scraping to get some viable cells, then a blood sample. However she needed rather more than just those, the samples would be used for more detailed tests without having to worry about damaging Rob.

"How much longer is this going to take?"

She looked up at the sound of Rob's resigned tone. "Not too much longer, but -" she cast a look at the table next to her, where some medical and surgical tools rested - "I need to take some sample that would be quite painful. Like a sample of your bone marrow. So I'm going to put you to sleep for them, you don't need the pain."

Rob looked at her tools, taking note of far too many sharp edges and long pointy needles, and gulped deeply before nodding. "OK, it's - it's not going to damage me, is it?"

She looked at him with what she hoped was a reassuring smile. "Oh no, you'll be fine! You may have a few sore spots for a day or so, that's all."

He gave her a doubtful look, then sighed and nodded. "OK, Thulia. Go ahead and do what you need to."

Stepping forward, she held her hand in front of his face as she made a few gestures, pushing essence into her spell. He tried to focus on her fingers, then gave a long sigh as his eyes closed and he went limp.

"You didn't tell him about all the samples you wanted."

She turned to Bruce. "He doesn't need to know, I - well, it might upset him. He's been awfully tense this whole time."

Bruce examined the sleeping boy closely. "You know, I've talked with him. He's trusting you to do what you can to get him through this."

Thulia nodded as she got a tool with a long, and worryingly sharp, needle. She didn't feel like responding further to Bruce right now.

"OK, that's a bone marrow sample, spinal fluid, and some cell samples from his heart and liver. Just one left to do."

Bruce watched as she took the lid off a sample jar. "I'll just leave you to do that, shall I?"

She gave her assistant a very sharp look, which rebounded off Bruce's look of bulletproof innocence as the Imp walked away. She looked at the jar, then at the sleeping boy. A part of her wondered if this would be better done with him awake, but... well, she wasn't sure what his reaction would be to being asked to provide this particular sample. Come to that, she wasn't sure what her reaction would be in that circumstance. While her workroom had lots of features, privacy wasn't one of them, she'd never expected to need it. So she moved close to the boy, reaching out to touch him delicately, then as he reacted, to stroke him up and down. She licked her lips as she wondered how long it would take - her grandmother had given her a comprehensive education in these matters, but she hadn't actually provided any practical examples. Still, this was for science, right? Even so, she bit her lip, she couldn't help but look as she collected the sample. He stirred in his sleep and gave a slight moan a she carried on with her task, making her fidget and tried to ignore the physical reaction the feeling of his skin against her hand stirred in her.

So she did her best to put her feelings aside and carried on with her self-imposed task until Rob reacted as expected, filling her sample jar more than adequately. She looked up at him as she put the lid on the jar, an almost disappointed expression on her face. This hadn't felt as she'd imagined it. Wiping her hands, she put the jar with the rest of the sample in the refrigerated storage box, before turning to take a long look at Rob. She wasn't sure why her emotions were still so turbulent, after all she'd needed those samples to make sure he'd be OK. That was all there was to it, nothing more. Really. She pointedly ignored the way her body was feeling right now, she was doing this for Science, not to enjoy the feeling of arousal the task had given her.

Still, she had a few things left to do. She reached up, then paused for a moment, examining Rob's face, before carrying on and touching the centre of his forehead. For some reason she'd been tempted to stroke his cheek, to find out what it felt like, and she had no idea why that seemed important to her right now. He shivered, waking up almost immediately as she broke her sleep spell.

"Are we done yet?"

She turned back to her console. "Almost, I just have to check I got everything I needed and then I can close this all down for now."

It took her longer than she'd expected, she wanted to make sure she'd got everything she could possibly need, and when she turned back Rob didn't seem to be aware of her as the circles let him down gently to stand on the floor again.

"Falling asleep on me?"

His head jerked - part of her wondered with amusement if he had been falling asleep! - before replying to her.

"Ah... no, I was just thinking, that's all." Which she thought was an odd answer, given that he was blushing again. Maybe she'd just embarrassed him again? Or maybe...? She did her best not to blush herself, as she leaned close, for once letting herself give in to her feelings. She could feel the faint warmth from his skin, as she delicately brushed her lips across his cheek in a feather-soft kiss. He stiffened, and she used the chance to turn back to her controls, as Bruce came up to lead the boy out before either of them could see the expression on her face.

Thulia glanced up as Bruce returned through the portal. "Bruce, everything OK?"

Bruce nodded. "He's back safe in his cell." The imp gave a disgusted look. "Not really that safe, of course."

Thulia sighed, pushing her tablet across the table as she scowled. "I hate this. Why couldn't these people use one of their own, rather than someone they kidnapped."

Bruce shrugged. "Probably because they're scum? And only care about themselves."

"If I didn't have a contract with them..."

Bruce snorted. "Then we wouldn't be here, and you'd never have met Rob."

This time Thulia blushed. She still wasn't prepared to admit to herself how much she'd enjoyed meeting Rob, she'd not expected to find a human like him during her visit. He'd been so much more interesting than she'd been expecting, and she was pretty certain that interest was reciprocated. If only she could sort out the complexities of how that made her feel, she'd be happier. Worse though, if she hadn't come he'd likely still be safe at home, not locked in a cell waiting for her to use in her experiment. And there was nothing she could do about it - she had no way of helping him to escape, and even if she did the Cult knew about him, they wouldn't let him live knowing about all this.

"I simply don't understand it, Bruce. Surely they realise the sort of power Rob will have access to? Why not use one of their own?"

Bruce shrugged. He had a pretty good idea of why the Cult would use an expendable subject, and the sort of ways they'd use to persuade Rob to do what they wanted, but for the time being he'd allow Thulia her fantasy that Rob would come out OK. She was anxious enough already about everything, burdening her with the truth wouldn't do anything to help the situation.

She looked at the graphs and equations on her displays to calm herself. Her voice was quiet, almost speaking to herself as she commented on them. "It all looks good, the readings are all promising." Somehow that didn't give her the pleasure she'd been expecting at the thought of finally conducting her experiment.

"Bruce, we'll go ahead tomorrow. Don't tell him; he'll only worry about it."

Bruce tilted his head slightly as he examined her. "You're not getting second thoughts, are you? You seem to be showing quite a bit of feeling for the kid."

"Feelings!" she looked somewhat outraged, but not enough to fool the Imp. "Of course not, I mean...he's only a human. Quite a cute one...and a lot nicer than these scum we're dealing with...no, of course, I don't have any real feelings for him. The idea..."

Bruce kept looking at her, then shrugged. "Considering what these guys would do to him if you didn't go ahead, you're doing him a favour. Even if he does die on the table."

Despite herself, she winced visibly at that remark. Probably because it was accurate, if far blunter than she would have preferred. As much as to reassure herself, she gestured to her setup. "Look, Bruce, it's all going to work. The readings are good, I'm going to make it happen."

Despite all her preparations, she was finally worrying about what might happen tomorrow. Still, her theory was sound, the data was good. The best thing she could do for Rob right now was to make it all work for him. Of course, that didn't really solve his problem, but at least it would put it off for a short time, and who knew what might happen in those days? No, this WAS going to work, failure wasn't an option.

Thulia's Workroom, a day later.

Thulia tried her best to look calm and professional as Rob eyed the table prepared for him. Walking over to him, she placed her hand on his shoulder, trying her best to reassure him. It wasn't easy, the result of all her preparations was finally going to happen, and she felt the tension knotted deep inside her. Bruce gave him a gentle push towards the table. It wasn't just her, she could feel Rob tremble slightly when she touched him, despite his attempt to look in control of himself.

"Just undress and lie down, Rob."

He looked back at her, then at Bruce. "Straps? Why straps?"

"They're to make sure you don't thrash around or something and hurt yourself; if you fell out of the circle it wouldn't be good."

The boy looked at the straps again, then gulped and nodded, starting to slowly remove his shirt.

Thulia gave a final look at her preparations before slipping out of her gown, folding it carefully beside her control console. Doing a ritual of this power, it was so ingrained in her to be naked she had forgotten this was the first time Rob had seen her like this. His gasp surprised her, and she turned to look at him. He was staring at her with an expression she hadn't seen on his face before, although the erection he was displaying gave her an idea of what it meant. She didn't know what to say, so just turned back to her work to let Bruce help him onto the table and strap him down. Bruce's gravelly voice raised a half grin to her face.

"Powerful rituals are done naked, kid. Didn't you know?"

From the muttered reply from Rob, it seemed he didn't. It looked like there was much more to understanding humans and their culture than she'd assumed. She knew they seemed to remain clothed nearly all the time, but surely they didn't do their ritual magic clothed? She shook her head, pushing aside what had just happened. She needed to concentrate now, as she reached for her wand to scribe the necessary symbols on the boy's body to prepare him for the ceremony.

Thulia looked up at her biometric and magical displays with a muttered snarl. And things had started off going so well! His manifestation was going well, the energy patterns moving into her desired forms, and the power tap to Primal Fire had been established and was drawing power. That had been her biggest worry, as it was something she hadn't been able to test. The problem was that the readings were starting to slip from what she was expecting, and she snarled again at the way they weren't doing what she wanted.

Her slender fingers flickered across the glyphs on her control board, but she already had a good idea about what the problem was, and she was coming up short on options to fix it. She had intended the Exemplar mutation to provide the extra resilience Rob would need to handle the stress, but it wasn't growing fast or far enough. The stress was growing, and the rate of increase was rising. His WIZ trait was acting as intended, working to limit the amount of power through the tap, but it looked like even that amount was too much. Not so much too great for him to handle, but enough to affect and destabilise the energy defining the manifestation. His body was starting to go into what the human's called burnout, and there didn't seem to be anything she could do to stop it. On top of that, there was something - unusual - about the power flow, it was fluctuating slightly in ways she wasn't familiar with. She ignored that, there wasn't time to start worrying about things like that, even though all her predictions had said that shouldn't be happening.

Intra-cellular data was showing the start of a general breakdown in the DNA and the cellular mechanisms themselves - even she wasn't sure just what was happening to the mitochondria - and the use of any more power would just cause the damage to speed up. But more power was needed to control the energy flow itself. She scowled at her readings again, trying frantically to work out a solution that would work. She couldn't just let this go, if she did it would kill Rob, and that thought hammered at her emotions much harder than she was expecting. A conventional method wasn't going to help, she needed something radical, or his BIT would shred under the stress and kill him.

She watched helplessly as his bio-data headed for doom with increasing speed before she gasped as an idea finally came. There was a way to strengthen his DNA so it could stand the stress. She tore open a storage compartment in her haste to find a syringe.

Two days later

Thulia had been upset when the men dragged the now-female Rob back to his cell. She'd watched over and monitored her body for the best part of two days while the changes her experiment had enforced settled into a final and hopefully stable configuration, and she'd snarled at the group who'd come to collect her subject. She was blaming her loss of control on her lack of sleep, although when she explained that to Bruce he'd given her a look that as much as said he didn't believe her.

Despite her exhaustion, the tension jangling at her nerves meant she still couldn't sleep, so she was going through the data she'd collected during the experiment; the initial analysis was fascinating, and it helped to take her mind off what had happened to Rob, when Bruce gave a loud and meaningful cough that made her look up. The imp had been watching the CCTV from the cell they'd dumped Rob in while she worked.

"Boss? It looks like Rob is waking up."

Thulia nodded as she stood and stretched. She'd wanted to be there when that occurred, from what she'd read, a transformation - especially one as major as this- would be traumatic to a human, who was used to a far less flexible body type than her people. But the orders from Abraxus had been specific, and her contract didn't allow her to disobey.

"Come on then, let's go see how she's doing."

Bruce gave her another look she couldn't quite interpret, then nodded."Sure Boss."

Thulia made a peremptory gesture to the guard outside the cells, who pressed a button then quickly got out of her way as she strode forward, obviously not caring if she trampled him underfoot or not. She bit her lip as she saw the scene in the cell; Rob wasn't curled up on the cot asleep as she'd left her. Half crouched as she glared at Thulia, her emotions were obvious, and they'd caused her to assume her more powerful median form. Judging by the way much of the cell contents had been twisted into steel art deco, she'd been relieving her frustration on her surroundings. She almost took a half-step back at the look on Rob's face, but she needed to talk, to explain what had happened.

"Why did you do THIS to me?!"

She winced visibly at the rage and pain in the accusing scream but braced herself as she licked her suddenly-dry lips. "I... I never intended this to happen to you."

Her remark didn't seem to calm Rob in the slightest. "Not INTENDED! You mean doing this to me was an ACCIDENT! I thought you knew what you were doing!"

She winced again as Rob took a half step forward, hand raised as if she was going to hit her. She didn't even think of protecting herself, all she could do in the face of her rage was to tell her the truth.

"I did. I do. It... it wasn't exactly an accident. It was the only way to save your life."

Judging by the way Rob's tirade came to an abrupt stop, hand falling to her side as her words shocked her.

Thulia finally sighed deeply as she tried to put what had gone wrong into words he could understand. "I need to explain what happened to you. My procedure started out fine - your BIT was growing as planned, you were exhibiting all the signs of an Exemplar and Wizard, making you ready to absorb the elemental link I had prepared. All as planned. But there was a problem." She looked at Rob almost sadly. "It was working TOO well. You were starting to manifest out of control, the stresses on your body were making you burn out. If I'd let it go on, you would have died."

Rob finally digested what she'd said, then look up angrily. "Then why didn't you just stop it, or tone it down or something?"

"Because trying any of that would just have killed you faster. Once a BIT starts manifesting there is no way of stopping the process. The problem was that the power you were absorbing was growing faster than your Exemplar abilities. I was using your magical talent to control the energy flow from the Fire Plane, so it wouldn't just burn you up, but your body wasn't strong enough. I couldn't use more power to keep you under control; that would just have made it worse, and it's hard enough working with a manifestation with all my resources, I couldn't change the relative speeds. If I had, your BIT would have shaped itself, into anything, with no control. It could easily have killed you or turned you into a monster. So I tried something a bit more desperate."

"Desperate. You turned me into a GIRL!!"

"Actually... not quite a girl." Thulia sighed again. "The only way I could think of to save you was to make your body tough enough to stand the forces transforming you. So I injected you with some of my blood cells."

This time Rob just stared at her, mouth slightly open. Thulia wasn't sure if he was in shock, or if he was seeing her as some sort of monster. She hoped it wasn't the latter, something inside her couldn't take the idea of Rob thinking her a monster now. So she rushed on with her explanation.

.

"Rob. This body of mine" she gestured gracefully at herself "It isn't just a manifestation, it's a real physical one on this plane. There's a condition called CTA - Chimerical Trait Acquisition - which sometimes happens when mutant manifests, and they include elements of another creature. It's often fatal, but that's because the other creature is too far from the human norm, and can't support higher brain functions. I hoped that splicing some of my DNA into yours would make you strong enough to survive." Her head dropped as she looked at the floor, rather than at Rob. "I never thought it would also turn you female."

Thulia's workroom, slightly later that day

Thulia had managed to contain her feelings until she was safely back in her workroom, but once she was back she crumpled to the floor, back pressed against a wall as she put her face in her hands and wept miserably.

"It's all gone wrong! Now he's going to hate me for what I did to him!"

Bruce considered walking over to hold her, but thought better of it. Let her release her emotions, she'd obviously been repressing everything she'd felt over the last few weeks rather than show uncertainty or weakness, and while her skills often made people forget, she was still young. So he waited silently while he watched her shoulders shake and she muttered "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry."

Finally her sobbing slowed down, and this time he knelt down by her, putting his arm around her shoulder.

"Thulia. I know everything didn't go as planned, but it's not as bad as you think." She looked up at him, her cheeks still streaked with tears. "It's not?"

He heard the note of hope in her voice , and squeezed her a bit closer. "Look, Rob's alive, he's not dead or crippled. He has the powers you planned. Yeah, he's a girl, but being a live girl is a whole lot better than being a dead boy, isn't it?"

She thought on that, then nodded jerkily. "But he was happy as a boy! Humans and so inflexible with their forms, he's going to hate me for changing him like this." She sniffled, then spoke very quietly. "I liked him as a boy."

"Look, kid. Give him a day or two to get over the shock, then I think you'll find he still likes you. And if he does, he'll forgive you. He just hadn't had time to work through it all yet. And it's not like you don't like him as a girl, is it?"

She shook her head slightly. "No.... I guess you're right, Bruce, I'll see how he feels in a few days." Then her voice firmed "But, somehow, I'm going to make this right for him. I owe him that."

Thulia's Workroom, a week later.

Bruce returned from shepherding Rob back to his cell to find Thulia gazing at the wall, lost in thought. He watched her for a few minutes before clearing his throat rather noisily.

"Fascinating wall, is it?"

She started, then blushed slightly. "Oh! Sorry, I was just thinking..."

"Oh good, I was wondering if you were planning on redecorating."

She looked down to glare for a moment at her overly-sarcastic sidekick, then sighed miserably. "I wish I'd told Rob exactly how his powers work, rather than being evasive."

Bruce grabbed a can of beer from his coolbox, before giving her a measuring look.

"You know you couldn't have properly explained them to him, he doesn't have the background or the knowledge for a real technical explanation. Magic for dummies was probably about right for him."

Thulia still looked troubled. "I know that, but it's not that. I could have explained better, but..."

Bruce looked puzzled. "But?"

"There are some things in his power set I'm not quite sure about myself. I mean, it looks at first glance as if everything is as it should be, the link providing power to energise a copy of my form. But when I dig into the data in detail, there are discrepancies. I thought at first they were just minor things, incidental. But I've been digging into them a bit more while I examined him, and now I'm not sure that was the right assessment. Some things about the way it went just shouldn't have happened, but my theory can't have been that wrong, or it would never have worked at all."

"Is it going to be a problem for Rob?"

Thulia looked at the displays projected in front of her and tried not to show her frustration. "I don't know! Whatever it is, it's settled down stable, so I don't see anything major changing now." She glared at her displays again. "I can work it out, I just need more time, that's all."

Abraxus's Chamber, the following day.

Thulia gazed at the robed Adept, schooling her face into a mask that revealed nothing of her real feelings. She'd been waiting - and dreading - this meeting for some days, knowing it was going to happen but unable to find any reason to delay it more than she'd already done.

"So, our experiment was successful. Good, then our contract is complete."

Thulia repressed a snarl at the 'our' part of his comment. As if he and his followers had done anything except finding Rob in the first place. She didn't appreciate being condescended to at the best of times, least of all by a pretentious arrogant human sitting on a seat so ostentatious it could almost have been called a throne. To her mind it just showed he was merely playing at power - true power didn't need those sorts of symbols. And he wasn't even playing at it well!

"What are you going to do with her once I leave?"

There, she'd said what she didn't want to say - 'once I leave'. Knowing that would mean leaving Rob behind in the clutches of these people, and powerless to take him with her, the contract she'd signed forbid it.

He chuckled, a dry arid sound that held nothing of humour in it.

"She will be used as a power source, once she has been properly motivated to serve us. Not that it's any business of yours now."

It was a good job her staff was not only strong but had its toughness enhanced by magic, otherwise, the way Thulia's grip tightened on it would have shattered it like delicate crystal. There was a hollow feeling inside her as she imagined just what form his 'motivation' was likely to take. She still could think of no way to significantly delay this, but... maybe there was a possibility.

"I do have a few more tests I would like to perform on the subject before I leave."

His mouth curled in derision. "Yet more tests. Very well, as long as they finish in two hours. Your fee will be paid then, and I expect you to leave as soon as that happens. I will require the report on how to replicate the procedure."

Thulia realised the grinding noise she could hear was her teeth. For a moment she indulged herself; would it be better to slowly burn the flesh off his bones, millimetre by millimetre, or slowly lower him into a pool of molten lead? Both sounded good to her right now. Sadly her contract was quite binding on her, and the wording made such options impossible.

"She will be ready for you in two hours, and the contract between us will be complete. If you wish to repeat the procedure, the notes will be an adequate guide."

She left unsaid the knowledge she'd gained from her experiment - that using her technique to manipulate a BIT during a subject's manifestation would almost certainly result in a fatal burnout. Not to mention the level of computing power needed to control the process in real-time. Let the arrogant mortal find out for himself. Without further comment, she turned and strode out.

She was still seething with rage when she entered her workroom, but the finality of the problem she was facing had made her settle on a plan of action. Probably not the best one - she'd been trying to come up with a good one for some time, but she'd come to the conclusion that the limits on her made a satisfactory one impossible, so she'd just have to settle for one that was at least possible and hope it would be good enough to save Rob.

Bruce and Rob were talking quietly when she stormed in but broke off to stare at her. She tried not to growl at them - her current anger wasn't their fault - but it was hard.

"Bruce, start getting ready to destroy the portal." The small Imp opened his mouth as if to ask why then took another look at her face and decided to keep quiet. Then she turned to look at Rob.

"Take your robe off and get into the testing circle. Quickly, we don't have a lot of time left."

Rob gave her a puzzled look, but seeing the anger in her stance hurriedly slipped out of the borrowed robe she was wearing.

"Thulia, what's the matter?"

She ignored his question, hands gesturing at her controls as some of the circles inlaid in the floor became active, and as soon as the girl was naked, pushed her into the centre circle, before activating her diagnostic program. Good, that would buy her some time while - in theory, at least - she was complying with the wording of her latest arrangement, to do some final tests before she had to leave. It wasn't as if she had to take any notice of the data, anyway.

"Rob, I have a lot to tell you and only a little time to tell it. I'd hoped - well, I'd hoped I wouldn't have to, which was stupid of me." Her lip twisted up into a crooked smile. "Even things like me have hope."

Rob's reply made her pause for a moment.

"You aren't a thing, Thulia."

She opened her mouth to reply but instead shook her head. While she would have loved to explore the ramifications of that comment with Rob, now was not the time.

"It doesn't matter now. What I'm going to tell you is vital, it might be what you need to save your life."

Well, that certainly got his attention. Just as well, as she went into a hurried explanation of just how and why she'd got them into this messed-up situation in the first place. That was straightforward enough to explain, although she kept wincing inside at some of the mistakes she'd made. But the important thing was to prepare Rob for what was going to happen next.

"Rob, I can't do anything directly to help you escape. My contract forbids me, and I can't alter that. In a short while I have to break the connection I have with their lair, and not reconnect it. The contract also stops me from taking any direct action against them after, for anything that involves all of this."

She tried to keep her voice as calm as possible, for Rob's benefit, even though what she really wanted to do was scream loud enough to crack the rock walls. That could come later.

"Rob, there are some things they will want you to do. The first is to enter into an agreement, a contract, to do as they wish. Don't sign it. If you do, they will control you, mind and body. You won't be able to break it on your own." She gave me a worryingly sober look. "They will put pressure on you. Resist it. As long as an oath doesn't bind you, you can try to escape. Something will turn up."

"Yeah." This time, it was Bruce's gravelly Australian accent. "Give it time; something will turn up."

She hoped that would be enough, she was already skirting dangerously close to the limits her contract imposed, but the plan she had sketched out in her mind would only work if Rob didn't sign his soul away to these scum. She had a few ideas about what might be possible even if that did happen, but it would be a lot harder, and take longer. She wasn't at all sure in that case just what state Rob would be in by then, or even if he would still be sane. All she could do was to try and make it as obvious as possible from her tone and body language that he needed to follow her advice.

Bruce cleared his throat, noisily and with obvious meaning. "Thulia, we have to get going, time is almost up."

She nodded and made a casual gesture, the circles surrounding Rob fading immediately. Rob stumbled a little, as she looked into his eyes. Then she made up her mind. Taking a step forward, her hand slipped behind his neck, pulling him close as for the first time she pressed her lips to his in a proper kiss. Rob tensed for a moment, then relaxed into it as he responded. She held it as long as she could bear, then finally broke away, before gently touching his forehead. Rob's eyes turned up, and Bruce caught her before she started to fall, already fast asleep.

Thulia looked down at the sleeping girl, emotions she was still only half-prepared to admit to flickering across her face. "Bruce, carry her back to her cell. I need to finish up here." The little imp nodded, picking the body up with a casual ease that belied his size, deliberately ignoring the expression on his mistresses face. Thulia was standing there, gaze fixed on the girl in his arms, and Bruce winced as he saw the single slow tear trickling down her cheek, even as he carefully lifted the body. He just knew this wasn't going to end well.

Abraxus's Chamber, after Thulia has departed.

Abraxus looked down at the body of his new toy, an unpleasant smile on his face as he stroked his chin. The girl was still sleeping, and he decided not o wake her. He had considered showing her exactly what he was doing to her to make sure she would be receptive to his orders, but on second thoughts he would leave that as a surprise. If she proved tractable, his backup arrangements would not be necessary - indeed, he would then need to remove the spirit before it became dangerous to the girl. That itself could be used to his advantage - telling her he was doing this to save her from what Thulia had done to her would bind her even more tightly to his control. A psychofágos was not a simple spirit to bind into her, but the potential gains were well worth the investment.

To Be Continued