Ember takes a deep breath, and sits in front of Ishaza and offers her her hand.

  Ishaza takes it, her bck nails pressing lightly into Ember’s wrist. She speaks, not in words, but in concepts, thoughts spread through her hand and out into Ember’s soul.

  Now. Focus and perform the technique.

  Ember takes a deep breath, and focuses her mind. She gathers pleasure at the roots of her clitoris, draws it slowly, carefully up through her heart, and then lets it gently dissipate, washing out through her whole body in wave after wave of electric pleasure and satisfaction. The orgasm stretches as she slowly cycles out the fmes in her soul, letting them pass through her whole body and out into the air with no disturbances to cause physical fire.

  As is her habit, she lets the orgasm drag on and on and on, in waves of electric bliss that wash through her again and again, centered on her sex, intense enough to make her breathing hitch despite her deep focus. They feel incredible. How long could she hold this? A little longer, and a little longer after that, and on, and on… Her record’s somewhere around five minutes, can she do better?

  Her instincts take over, as if she were grinding against a cock inside her, the natural rhythm forming; and with the space formed by that natural grace, she flutters through fantasy after fantasy, imagining Ishaza in position after position, her legs spread wide to accept her touch, her kiss, her cock. God, this feels so fucking good.

  Her mastery of the technique is so total, in fact, that she’s able to take the opportunity to ogle Ishaza’s breasts from no less than a foot away, seeing how her nipples poke against the sheer linen of her dress. They’re so tempting to reach out and touch… She could grab them, feel their heft, feel Ishaza’s body again like she did during the kindling. She still remembers the tearingly bright pleasure that drove all thought from her mind when Ishaza’s fingers were inside her. If she tried to grab her, could she have that again?

  Her fuzzy thoughts think that’s a bad idea, especially with Ishaza holding her hand like this, but she can’t recall why exactly. It’s okay though. She can still come. She can still come so, so much. Harder. Longer. Deeper. Filling the space inside herself with crackling electric bliss that makes her body shudder and her thighs tremble. It feels so fucking good.

  Her old fantasy of coming forever drifts back to her mind, of simply letting the technique drift on forever and ever, coming longer and longer until eventually she just never stopped…

  She pushes a little more, but suddenly there’s something in the way, blocking her from continuing. It feels like — It feels like Ishaza.

  That pulls Ember up short, and her orgasm stumbles to a halt, petering out in a muddle of scattered sparks.

  You do recall that I can hear what you’re thinking, yes? Ishaza’s mind-voice is only mildly chiding. Enough. While it is impressive that you can maintain the technique on instinct so soon, I think we need to discuss your recent fantasies. It’s clear that you’re pushing yourself in the direction of more pleasure; if you’re not careful you’re going to get exactly what you wished for, and not in a safe way where it leaves space for your own thoughts.

  Ishaza meets Ember’s gaze with her own, then turns over Ember’s hand to expose her cherry-red nails.

  Your firesign is fring for a reason. You’re going about this in an undisciplined, haphazard way. If you genuinely want to come forever, talk to me after css and we can transform you that way deliberately, in a way that doesn’t destroy your ability to function. That’s what happened to Lively Spark that made her the way she is now. Recall her?

  Ember blinks. Lively Spark always did seem a little… distant and dreamy, when caught on off days. She always seemed to have a strong vivacity for life, but not a lot of drive to do much more than enjoy herself…

  That could suit her, maybe. But it’s something she’d have to think about in the longer term…

  Consider that ter, Ishaza instructs. For the moment, focus on your technique, and try again without the fantasies.

  Ember takes a deep breath, nods, and tries again. This time she focuses solely on the way the pleasure and fme are channeled through her body, following the new-honed instincts she’s burned into herself over the past four days.

  She pulls the fme from the roots of her clitoris, up through her womb, into her heart, and expels it into the environment smoothly and gracefully in a wash of soft pleasure. No fme manifests, and though the experience is less intense than her lingering in the technique for a while, it serves its purpose.

  Ember lets out a deep and satisfied sigh, and looks into Ishaza’s eyes.

  Ishaza nods minutely. Good. Your technique is technically fwless when you focus. See me after fire-calling css.

  Ishaza releases Ember’s hand. She looks up at the students at the side of the courtyard.

  “Ember passes for now, but I would like all of you to keep an eye on her for any unusual behaviour. Her firesign is worse, and I believe she has been starting to self-modify towards longer and more intense orgasms, which if she pursues rashly could lead her to incapacitate herself. Especially keep a close eye on her for a sense of… dreaminess and absent focus, a ck of desire to do anything but masturbate; modifying how one experiences pleasure can lead to all kinds of motivational aberrations if done inexpertly.”

  Camellia bites her lips, and nods. Maeve and Fianna nod as well, all seriousness.

  Ishaza csps her hands together. “That said, it is possible to achieve those kinds of results deliberately, in a way that does not incapacitate. The rest is in your hands, Ember. I cannot control your soul’s expression for you now that it has been ignited; you are the one who must decide who and what you want to be. We will discuss this more after fire-calling css.”

  Ember takes a deep breath. “Yes, Courtesan.”

  Ishaza nods. “Good. Now. Fianna.”

  Ember moves aside, and allows Fianna to take her pce at Ishaza’s feet.

  Maeve raises an eyebrow as Ember joins her by the wall. “Fianna was right,” she says. “You have been acting… a little odd. Eating things that aren’t generally edible. Masturbating all evening long. Everyone’s still getting used to the new senses, so I dismissed it, but…”

  Ember lets out a huff of breath. “Alright, alright, you don’t have to scold me. I’ll talk to Ishaza about this and get to the bottom of it. It’s not a major problem, just something I have to make a decision about.”

  Camellia steps in, and firmly hugs Ember. “It’s okay,” she says. “We’ll figure this out together. I’ve got your back.”

  Ember smiles. “Yeah. You do.” She sits down on the cold ground and watches Ishaza and Fianna. Fianna’s brow is furrowed in concentration, and her nude body is tensing in quite interesting ways. She seems to be having some trouble…

  After about five seconds, Fianna lets out a hard gasp, then releases Ishaza’s hand.

  Ishaza nods. “Well done.” She looks over at Ember and the rest of the students. “Fianna is having some trouble focusing on the technique given the lingering damage to her soul, but when she channels it properly it seems to help her crify away the damage. I want you all to encourage her to use the technique when she has the energy and stamina for it.”

  Ember’s eyebrows jump. That sounds like a fun way to spend an evening or two, especially if she did paired practice with Fianna…

  Ishaza cps her hands once more. “Now, since you have all passed, it is time to practice manifesting fme deliberately. We will be beginning with a simple exercise — creating and extinguishing a lit fme at the tip of your pointer finger. This technique has many simple uses, for any case where you wish to start a fire in a controlled fashion. Needless to say, the extinguishing application is equally useful to the ignition technique, and will prepare you all for more complex applications of your kindling ter.

  “This technique is not far different from the manifestation of pleasure, save that one is focusing the fme generated by their soul in a very precise area at a low intensity. Building on the previous technique, begin by drawing the fme outwards from your heart…”

  Ember settles in to listen, a smile on her face. Yes, she has decisions to make, but there is so much to learn. She’s sure she’ll figure it all out eventually.