Sam threw his big blue body into my legs and knocked me straight back to the hard stone floor.

  I would have normally gotten mad at him and called him a stupid cat. He would have had to sit silently as I lashed out about how he was bound to protect me, not be the thing I needed protection from.

  I would have, if the metal weight I had been trying to pull gently across the table in front of me had not decided to play the part of an errant arrow. My familiar would have been in for a serious scolding if my assignment had not quickly turned to mortal danger.

  Throwing myself flat on my back at the sight of it rushing towards me, it hit the white curtain behind me and did not slow.

  Through the blown open fabric, I saw Precept Seram floating upside down in her bubble.

  The transparent surface turned pastel blue under her palm the same moment that my runaway weight struck her enclosure.

  The weight stopped dead.

  The bubble did not pop.

  A ring of blue power spread out from the impact.

  It rippled back across the shape of my teacher’s working before collapsing down the curve of its far side and bouncing back up once again.

  I rolled onto my stomach and turned Precept Seram right side up again.

  If she had not caught the weight, I would have gone from being her student to being the stupid underwitch that had lost control. I would have broken her head like I had done the wall of my place the day before. I would have hurt her.

  Stay calm. I said to myself, remembering Anna and I’s agreements. It had been an accident. She had not been struck. I was fortunate that she was there or it would have gone tearing through the white curtains on the other side of the room. There is no use in letting yourself spiral into things that did not happen.

  Truth. The Autumn I liked agreed.

  “I’m sorry, Precept Seram, I didn’t mean to.” I said up to her bubble, my voice quavering weakly with the embarrassment I felt.

  With patience and kindness beyond what I deserved, Precept Seram spoke through the small bubble at the top of my place. “Do not apologize, Underwitch Ire. I have spent much of my life protecting myself from inexperienced Underwitches. I am grateful that Master Samsara was here to keep the wind from being driven from your lungs. Perhaps choose a memory of something you desire less than the one you have chosen. Whatever you felt was much too strong for something this small.”

  In hindsight, I should have known that thinking of Anna might have given me a bit too much inspiration.

  It had not been a particular memory, but it had been built by them. All of the moments that we had been close, all the times we had come close to being closer, and all the times I had felt myself wanting to be but not knowing how, I had thought of them all.

  Pulling was much easier for me than pushing had been. It was all too easy to think of why I wanted something.

  Apparently, I wanted Anna so badly that I was willing to maim my teacher in the name of desire.

  Somewhere deep inside me, that realization brought a pleasant feeling of weakness because I knew I was powerless to resist it. If we had still been at the manor, finding the courage and time to approach her would have been less of an issue. But since I had come to the frigid halls of Lun Arcanicil and defied The Mothers by simply not failing, there were too many threads for me to pull up.

  Precept Seram returned the weight to my place and sat it neatly on the table with nothing but her power.

  “You may attempt again whenever you are ready, Underwitch Ire.” Precept Seram’s voice called down to me as the white curtain behind me slid closed.

  Sam sat underneath the table, his deep blue eyes staring at me with obvious distaste.

  “Thank you,” I sighed as I climbed to my feet and tried to rub the sore feeling from my tailbone. “You knew I was going to hurt myself didn’t you? That’s why you came today?”

  “No. As useful as it would be. I am not omniscient.” My familiar said in his low pitched voice with absolutely no expression.

  I already had one person in my life that tried their best to seem emotionless. The loss and afterglow from my failed working turned towards my annoyingly impassive familiar.

  “Then why are you here? We both know you don’t want to be around me.” I said through a sigh and closed my eyes.

  A low growl rose from him before he answered. “You are too childish to understand this, but I have a vested interest in your development. This life would be much more tolerable if you were not so helpless.”

  He wasn’t being any more mean than he usually was, but I was much more sensitive when I was still recovering from a working.

  “Ah, so that’s it then. You came to make sure I was becoming less useless so your terribly difficult life can be less miserable?” I asked, trying with all that I was to not give into sorrow and cry.

  “No.” The big blue cat answered simply.

  My eyes still closed, I spoke quietly. “Is it truly that bad for you, being with me? I don’t ask you for much and the things you do have to do, I don’t even ask you for. I’m not as needy as I used to be. You ran off the other night before I finished answering your third question.”

  “Do not speak of that here. We are not alone.” Sam growled, the table above him shaking from the reverberation.

  “I will excuse myself if it is necessary, Master Samsara.” Precept Seram’s bright voice washed down from her little bubble.

  How could she hold her workings as long as she did? She never sounded sad or tired like I did. I did not care how many different ways I moved the weight, I knew that I would never be able to do anything like she did.

  “Complete this task and I will tell you why I have come, my lady.” Sam growled again.

  I opened my eyes and glared down at him as my afterglow began to fade from sadness to anger. “I’m not dumb. I know you are only calling me that so I will do what you want.”

  “Cling to what you believe to be knowledge if that is what brings you comfort. I no longer care to tell you what I have to tell.” My familiar said as he stood and made his way past me.

  “No, wait,” I called after him with my head hung in defeat. “This will not take long. I want to know.”

  He turned around and sat back down just inside the white curtain. “If you succeed on your next attempt, we will speak. If not, I will hunt.”

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  “That’s not fair! You said we would talk when I completed it, not that I had to complete it now.” I said, my anger growing warm on my face.

  All I received was his blank stare and infuriating silence.

  I put my hands on my hips and glared back down at him. “You do know that I could just command you to tell me, don’t you?”

  “You could, but you will not. You care far too much about what I think of you to bend me to your will for something such as this.” Sam said simply.

  Precept Seram’s lighthearted laugh sounded suddenly from her bubble before stopping just as quickly as it had started. “My apologies to the both of you. I do not mean to eavesdrop. Familiars are so fascinating, I could not help myself.”

  “Are they all this difficult? I need help with mine, I think he is broken.” I called up to her as I turned back to the table.

  Precept Seram laughed again in answer.

  Sam was right. I hated him for it, but he was right. The only times I had ever given him a command had been when I felt like I had no other option or was too emotional to understand what I was doing. If I hated some of The Mothers for punishing me for something I could not remember, I would earn the same ire from my familiar if I made a habit of ordering him around.

  As difficult as he could be, I was fairly certain that the big blue cat and whoever he had been before had not asked to be bound to my will.

  “I am trying again.” I announced as I raised my left hand towards the little metal square.

  Just as I had done before I had almost beheaded my teacher, I let Anna come to the front of my mind. I did not have to bring her there like The River Eae or what I intended to do. She was the thought that all my other thoughts had to compete against.

  Unlike before, I kept my focus far away from anything specific. All the details were what had caused me to lose control before. I could not think about how the hem of her shirt would ride up her stomach when she laid down on the bed or the way her long black hair draped down her bare back when she was getting dressed.

  I could not think about how she made me feel either, those were much more powerful thoughts than the things about her that attracted me. If I let myself weave my working with the feelings of acceptance and love that only she gave me, not even Sam could save me from what it would bring.

  So, I kept her as blurry as I could in my mind. With only her shape and color in my focus, I brought my aura to the channel in my left palm and wished for her to come closer. Not so I could throw my arms around her or kiss her, just closer.

  I pulled the metal square into motion and felt its heaviness resist my will.

  I let my vision of Anna become clearer. I imagined taking her fingers in my own and gently pulling her towards me.

  The weight slid across the smooth wood towards the blue line that shone at the front edge of the table.

  The thought of her laughing with her eyes closed and her nose scrunched as we came to together appeared in the blur.

  As my heart began to thump harder in my chest, the weight began to speed in turn.

  Just before it rushed past the line, I released my working and dropped my hand.

  If I had not, it would have gone the way of the first and I doubted Sam would protect me a second time.

  But, I did, it did not, and he did not need to.

  The little metal square slowed to a stop, the side that faced me ending up even with the back of Precept Seram’s line.

  “Well done, Underwitch Ire!” My teacher congratulated me.

  “Well done indeed.” Sam agreed, his voice coming in stark contrast to Precept Seram’s cheery tone.

  A small smile stretched across my face as I took my vial necklace into my hand in anticipation of the aftermath of my success.

  Completing my second assignment did not feel half as good as my first had. It had been too easy. There had been far less of a struggle for me to do what I had been tasked with doing.

  It had not taken much of me to accomplish it, and I was either growing used to the little sorrowful spells or they were not as strong as they had been at first. I still felt sad and cold, but the feelings that were not mine passed much quicker than they had in the days before.

  Still, I kept the edges of the silver moon charm dug into my palm until well after it had passed. The necklace was not just a touchstone to guide me through the wash of my afterglows, it was a physical reminder of all that I had overcome.

  I was never supposed to be a new moon. The trial was meant to be my only experience at Lun Arcanicil. If things had gone the way they were intended to go, I would be hidden away somewhere inside Azza’s domain. I would likely never know anything resembling freedom again and my memories of it would fade with time.

  Clutching that little moon was that I needed to remember that I had defied the impossible. With nothing but my will, I had become a new moon and I was learning

  Pushing and pulling a weight under the constant encouragement of one of the nicest souls I had ever met was a far cry away from drowning a new sun or bringing another sorceress’s body back from being nearly burnt to ash, but it was a something.

  In the short part of my life that I could remember, there had been precious few of those.

  “If you would like to take a moment to speak with Master Samsara, now is the time. Perhaps you should eat as well, your assignments will only get harder from here. Another Underwitch is heading towards the dining hall, I will ask her to wait for you.” Precept Seram called down to me.

  “You said the same thing yesterday, but no one was out there.” I called back as I pulled the wretched silk dress from its hook and pulled it back on over my tights

  The bubble above me floated out of my place as I fastened my cloak back around my neck and parted the white curtain to leave.

  “She is waiting for you. I am sure of it. Though you all are learning independently now, you will soon be working together. Her name is Underwitch Plia, you should introduce yourself.” Precept Seram assured me as her little bubble rejoined with the big one that hung around the pink haired sorceress.

  A nervous buzz filled my belly as I left the class room, but I did as I was told.

  Alexei stood by the door as he always did. Sam walked beside me and Underwitch Plia was indeed waiting for me outside the door of the covery.

  She was a half a head shorter than me at least. It was hard to tell because of her uniform but she looked to be much thinner as well. Her hair was thin, short, and blonde, and she was starting down at the laces of her black boots.

  I had not known her name before, but I recognized her as the maiden that had passed the trial before Reese and I had.

  If it had not been for Alexei standing by the door when I had come through it, I would have slipped and introduced myself with my real name.

  "Hello, I'm Underwitch Ire," I said with my hands held behind my back and a small bow. "And this is Samsara. Precept Seram said your name is Underwitch Plia?"

  "Yes. Uhm, I have to go." The short girl muttered as she turned away from me.

  "Hey, wait! I'm pretty hungry, do you want to have lunch together?" I asked nervously as I reached out and took her by her wrist gently.

  She shouted and shrank away from me like I had been trying to set her cloak on fire. Her eyes met mine and I found genuine fear within them.

  "I didn't mean to scare you." I said gently as I let her go.

  Without a word, she turned away from me and almost ran down the hall. In a matter of moments, she turned the corner and was gone from my sight.

  "That was strange." I said aloud, still trying to understand what had happened. Did my fellow new moon have a terrible fear of cats or greetings?

  Before I could even come close, Underwitch Tana appeared at the end of the hall and gave me a nasty look for the entirety of her walk to where I stood. Her blue stoned necklace bounced against the front of her dress and she apparently had no need for an under layer like I did.

  I was far more focused on Plia's fear than I was the brown haired underwitch, so I stayed silent as she passed.

  "Master Samsara." She said with a small bow.

  Sam looked up at her and hissed a low gravely hiss.

  She flinched at the sound.

  I could not help myself, and even if I could, I didn't thin I would have, but I laughed at her sudden start.

  Tana balled her fists, gave me another glare, and went through Precept Seram's door.

  "Good cat." I laughed as I reached down and scratched the top of my familiar's big head.

  He hissed at me.

  I flinched at the sound.

  I could not prove it, but I was nearly certain that Alexei let out a little laugh at my sudden start.

  "You have achieved what I required from you," Sam said quietly, his blue eyes flicking back towards Alexei before returning to me. "I came to speak with you this morning because I have achieved what you suggested."

  My familiar did not need to say anything more than what he had for me to understand what he was talking about. I squatted down and wrapped my arms around my legs to keep my balance. If he had managed to slip through the barriers in his mind, there was no end to what I wanted to ask him. "And?"

  "I have succesfully created the being known as Othersam." Sam said simply.

  Created. . .?

  Oh no.