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Crossing Boundaries

Part Eight

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Written by Arian Mabe (Amethyst Mare)

Commissioned by anonymous

Continued from part seven…

He tried to calm his heartbeat as they approached the anthro dragoness' residence, Oshun of the school of battle mages within the university who had called for him. Giselle didn't seem to think that anything at all was out of the ordinary there, walking along with her usual light step, though she would never be trained out of constantly looking for danger, for threats, her eyes sliding one way and then the other, always watchful. Some things, for her species and simply who she had become after her intense training, would always be such for her.

Kael would never have admitted it out loud, but he felt better that she was there with him, the scroll containing directions, which had been sent via a messenger a few hours before, more surprising than he had expected. He had thought that the teachers were housed in a section of the university that was more lavish than the student quarters – even what he had been assigned – but Oshun was off on her own, distant, in the forest that was a part of the school grounds. Rather than being densely populated with conifers or pine trees, something begetting a forest of that size, it was framed in deciduous trees that lost their leaves in the winter. He wondered if that ever made her long for spring more, or maybe the cycle of the seasons was something that Oshun wanted to be closer to. With trees that were evergreen, it was easier to forget, sometimes, the depths of winter. Humans tried to ignore the seasons as much as possible, though expeditions did take them out to learn about the environment too without tarnishing it or trampling what they were allowed to live within in any way.

Light filtered down through the leaves, a hint of warmth on their bare arms. Kael smiled, trying to relax, wearing a tunic style top with a band around the waist and open sleeves that cut around his shoulders, not offering much sleeve at all to cover his arms with. It was a light fabric that was popular with anthros, at least the younger ones at the university, and he appreciated how it allowed his flexibility to be shown to a greater extent. There were no tight restrictions for putting on airs of formality when he had that on. Paired with loose trousers that allowed a full range of motion in a similar, light shade, he was, at the very least, cool and ready for action.

But what, exactly, did he think he had to be ready for? The dragon's residence came into view, Giselle pricking up her ears, though she was too well trained to express her joy at it. It could have been a fairy tale cottage to one who was a little more romantic, but what Kael saw was a larger countryside residence that offered her privacy from the main bustling of the university, a dragon who enjoyed her seclusion, being away from others when she had the space and liberty to do so. The walls outside were designed as if to show the framework of the large cottage, a ground floor and a first floor clearly in view, though the grey tiled roof showed that there was another window up there – perhaps a guest bedroom? Of course, the rest of it appeared more than large enough for whatever was needed of anyone staying there, a pond out front and no fence, though the flowerbeds under the windows were densely populated with reds and yellows and greens. Horticulture, however, was not something that Kael could have claimed to be all that into.

“Ah, I see that you have found your way here without any troubles."

Oshun was a tall dragoness, easily discernible, though there was a quietness to her presence too, moving lightly, fluidly. Battle mages didn't only fling magic, after all, and Kael dug up a memory, however vague it was, from one of his books, the rigorous physical fitness regimes that they had to keep up to be at the peak of their game. A lesser battle mage, of course, could still fight, but the truly refined and well-honed were the ones that tackled such feats that required discipline to the extreme.

Her scales, where shown, splashed through a rich pink-purple, on the edge between the two colours, and a lighter shade of violet, offering the impression that she was, in fact, red and purple – at a glance. There were no plate scales under her chin going down her chest, though the cut of her clothing was more feminine, tightened at the waist, sleeves running down her arms, though the white fabric was more flexible at the elbows. At least, it gave the impression of being such, her trousers a slate-grey, loose and allowing movement, similar to what Kael had adopted for himself.

Her horns, however, were lean and elegant, muscle lining her body where he was able to see it. Those horns though… They reminded him of the branches of a tree when the first buds of spring were blooming forth, unfurling their petals for the first time that year. Each horn split into two tines, yet the focus drew down the shape of her angular muzzle, strong and feminine, to her intense eyes, the shimmering blue like a pool that one could dive into.

She, however, was nothing in comparison to Giselle or Celine, he tried to tell himself, even if he did not believe it. It was difficult to be so convicted about something when his heart turned over strangely and wonderfully at the sight of her, the dragoness a good head taller than him, though Kael was not a small man by any means. He was strong in his own way as he exhaled and smiled politely, though did not quite know whether to extend his hand or not. One thing was certain and that was that he was to keep his feet firmly planted on the ground, the lightly worn path that led to the front door of her dwelling. Whereas humans would float, using their psychic abilities, he could not, despite that being the formal tradition that he was used to.

There was too much to get used to there.

“Yes, thank you – your directions were most comprehensive, Madam Havran."

“Excellent. And, please, call me Oshun also. We do not impose formalities here, not beyond the younger years of schooling. We are all adults here."

The sway of her tail drew his eye and he could not help but be fascinated by it. Whereas he had spent an awful lot of time with Giselle and Celine, a dragon's tail was an entirely different thing, hers tipped with a pointed, triangular tip, though it was not large enough hat he could imagine it being used in battle in any way. She stood tall, her shoulder blades pushed back naturally, though that could have been the weight of her wings that helped her lift her chest more, bracing parts of her body that Kael could not even begin to imagine the sensation of.

“Sit, please."

A table had been set up outside, oddly civilised, or perhaps more friendly than Kael would have expected a meeting with a university teacher to be. His experience of teachers was of stuffy rooms and looking longingly out the window, even if so much of their lives were lived indoors, where they could not affect the outside environment and the environment could not affect them. It was the way of living, though that was something, thankfully, that was slowly changing, all for the better.

Oshun, however, sat him down as if he was equal to her and he carried on in a similar suit, accepting her offer of tea, which had already been brewed. It would have been rude not to have some and even Giselle tried it, though the canine could not quite sit still in her chair where she would have usually preferred to sit on the ground or even stand, ready for action at a moment's notice. Still, that was one more thing in the anthro lands and, beyond that, she was going to have to become used to, over time.

“So…"

Kael grimaced, not wanting to broach the subject that he knew he had to. Over the edge of her teacup, the dragoness eyed him, calmly waiting, a faint curl of smoke wafting from her nostrils.

“We're here to talk about what I did the other day, aren't we?"

It was not the most eloquent way of phrasing it, but he had to know, his heart beating a little quicker, though, for once, not in a good way. He breathed as slowly and as deeply as he could without making it obvious, but even Giselle knew that he was struggling a little, ears swivelling in his direction as she shifted in a little closer. If they had been alone in his quarters, she might have even laid her head in his lap to comfort him, but that was very much not suitable behaviour to undertake out in public – even when it was only Oshun there.

Oshun stirred her tea, diffusing the herbs through the hot water more evenly. Steam rose from the cup.

“Yes, Kael, but not in the way that I sense you are envisioning. To put you at ease, everything is smoothed over. I imagine they will try to speak to you again and that is not something that I can control, but no repercussions are lurking under my wing for you for this meeting or any other one to come."

Kael exhaled, a short laugh of relief breaking his lips as he half-shrugged.

“Thanks – wow, yes, really, thank you. I didn't mean for anything like that to happen, I didn't even think it was allowed on university grounds, but I didn't feel there was any other way to get safely away without hurting anyone else."

She waved him off, staying his explanations, that, to her, had already been understood.

“No need to say more, I completely understand. It is quite common for young dragons to want to test themselves against one another and, bringing them to a university like this, they will continue to test themselves against others, regardless of whether they are dragons or not. Their customs do not cross over to all other species, though I'm sure you saw that most do enjoy a good show too."

Humour tickled her tone and Giselle chuckled, glancing at Kael instinctively. Sometimes, she still thought that she had to ask for permission to speak, but that was no longer the nature of their relationship and, frankly, that was not something that Kael had ever wanted to be between him. Regardless of how other humans saw anthros, as in the dogs, he had always had a little bit of a different perspective, a sense that there was something else there, something that he could find if only he dug deeply enough. In the end, it had not been all that difficult to source, the two of them on an equal level when it came to intelligence, only coming from different worlds. That troubled him a bit, but he could at least be glad that Giselle did not have to be subservient in any way that she did not personally want to be, not with him, not ever with him.

“A lot were watching there," Giselle said, though she struggled a little not to simply lap her tea out of the cup, manners not always something that she had been highly skilled in, during her training. “There were some like that, back where I was trained, that always wanted to be the biggest, the strongest. They didn't understand that they didn't have to push others down for that, but that they could be the strongest merely by being a leader of the pack too. You have to know who to look up to also and looking down on anyone else rarely brings good."

Kael blinked at her. He'd never heard her speak so openly about her time in training but, to be fair, it was not as if he had asked her all that much about it anyway. Things simply had not gone as he'd expected in that regard and he vowed to be a little less curious about the world of the anthros and ask her more about how she had experienced where they had both lived, for there was more to be had there than the wealth of knowledge that he thought that he alone had accumulated.

He asked a lot of questions, but didn't always ask the right people, or anthros, them. That was something that only he could resolve.

The dragoness turned to Giselle, addressing her as an equal too. Of course, though anthros were not the same as dogs with the humans, there was still history there, the part that the dogs had played in the war lingering. Kael wondered if those times, regardless of who had instigated it back then, would ever be forgotten.

“And how much training have you undergone? I understand that you were in a military branch?"

“Yes, military and bodyguard, ma'am."

“Just Oshun, please."

Giselle nodded. Sometimes the little formalities were more comfortable for her to say, but she deferred to the dragoness, as her training indicated. It was not for her, after all, to always be comfortable, not when it came to little things like that.

“There is no need to hold a strong military presence currently, as we were told, but there are more and more humans, nobles and those with the ability to do so, that are wishing to travel. That is one of the reasons that I am here with Kael, to act as a bodyguard."

Giselle smiled, shooting Kael a cheeky look that, before meeting him, she would never have done.

“Not that Kael needs a bodyguard…"

Oshun laughed, the sharp sound of her lilting laugher surprising them, carrying through the small clearing surrounding her abode on the university campus.

“You could say that, couldn't you? I can see where it may have been thought that he required a bodyguard, for I know we do not see humans passing through, not even when it comes to military and diplomatic business, without guards of some kind. That they are always dogs, like you, must mean that they revere your strength."

Giselle's tail wagged, lips parting faintly as she panted happily. However, in that regard, she was too polite to open her maw all the way, something that she had picked up on being a faux pas around humans. Anthros didn't seem to pant like that either, thus she did not, taking care.

“I hope so! I try to do the best I can, ma'am… I mean, Oshun."

The dragoness smiled.

“And what is your role here, if not solely that of a bodyguard!"

“She's a personal assistant too," Kael said, though not even he could keep the fondness out of his tone, wanting so very badly to run his fingers through her fur at that very moment, to feel the curves of her strong body. “I think more so with that than bodyguarding, but it makes my parents feel better, what with me being so far from home."

Oshun made it easier for him to relax and ease into the conversation, exhaling a breath, a smile lightening his expression. It did not, after all, need to be ever so formal all the time.

“So, when it comes to guarding, however…" Oshun leaned forward, obviously curious but not in a position where she felt at all like she had to hide it. “What would you do? Of course, Kael asked you to step aside when the dragon trio attacked in public. What would you have done if they had come for him before he could react?"

The dog's answer was immediate.

“I would have taken them out, Oshun. No one is to lay a hand on Kael when I am around and I would do that, whether or not they are students at the university too."

“How far would you go?"

Kael didn't know why the dragon was pressing the issue, but there was an edge of tension in her, leaning her elbows even further onto the table, which suddenly seemed too small. It didn't offer enough space for two friends and a strange, though he had to be respectful, swallowing his nerves, offering a smile, doing his best. Sometimes, faced with such a strange land that was unfamiliar to him in so many ways, that was the best that Kael felt he could do, even then.

Giselle, however, had no such qualms about answering questions.

“I would give my life for him, Oshun, take a bullet for him. There is nothing that I would not do to protect Kael and any human that I am serving, guarding and protecting at that time."

Her formality and training came through in her repeated use of the dragoness' name, but Oshun was hardly fazed by it, sitting back, crossing her arms, nodding solemnly. Giselle licked her lips, taking another sip of tea, better able, after a little practice, to move her lips more softly around the edge of the cup. It still wasn't the easiest thing for her.

“Very interesting… Not even our battle mages at the highest levels would give so devotedly. But that is a very different thing. Both are trained for battle, to fight, but you see devotion and servitude to those around you as part of it."

Kael did not correct her about the exact nature of the relationship between dogs and humans, for to say that was a little contentious as it was would have been shy of the truth. Dogs were not “true anthros" to many over there, though Giselle had not noticed the sly looks and dark mutterings, not when her attention was elsewhere. Or maybe she didn't care about that sort of thing. Kael could not be sure and didn't want to highlight it to her either by asking the question.

“You would fight for him," Oshun said slowly, maintaining strong eye contact with Giselle, the dog staring back intently, unblinkingly. “You would kill for him. You would die for him. Giselle, are all of these things true?"

“Yes!"

That was the only word that was needed, punctuated with a short, sharp bark, the dog snapping up to her hind paws and to attention, her back ramrod straight and shoulders pushed back. Even her tail was still, as if she was standing in the middle of a line-up at the dog training academy, putting on a presentation and a show to display just who there was the best of the best. In but a single moment, she was back at the academy, showing off why she was top of her class, her ears pricked and her tail stiff, her body strong and powerful, every inch of her primed to fight.

Still, she was breath-taking and it was a moment before Kael blinked himself back to some kind of reality, coughing into his hand, waving her down gently, trying to get her to relax.

“Giselle, you don't have to do that here, don't worry… Oshun isn't being formal in asking that."

“No, no, dear…" Oshun softened her tone, Giselle responding, licking her lips, working her jaw, her legs folding to lower her back into her chair, though she still listened attentively as if the dragoness was the most important thing in the world at that moment. “Don't worry, I'm not assessing you. Only…impressed. I hope that all dogs have your passion for such work as you have truly made me reconsider."

Kael did not know what that meant but Giselle glowed so much, lips quivering as if she wanted to let out a little whimper, that he didn't say anything, letting his leg brush hers under the table. I'm here with you, he wanted to say, though it was not as if either of them could forget with the proximity of their bodies.

One thing, however, had stood out to him when it came to the dragons, how they had behaved, the push for fighting and, simply so, how much of the conversation that it had dominated so far. Were dragons always that aggressive? And how could he ask that when he had a dragon right there before him, drinking tea with the two of them? Was that even something polite that he could bring up at all?

Of course not, but he could not say, could not ask, shaking his head, trying to work through the words in his head. The dragoness' patience had to be noted too, sipping her tea, the tip of her tail curling back and forth. There was a soothing sense of patience about her, though that could very well have come from her role and position in life, what she did for her students, all the teaching that had, in turn, taught her more about life too. At least, Kael could only suppose.

“I see…" He said slowly his thoughts working sluggishly as if through thick mud. “So, what came about with the dragons challenging me… Was that was not something unusual that happened there?"

She smiled as if pleased with him too.

“Only in how you responded to it. Though that is something that we will come to. I assure you that the dragons have been dealt with, but I think that you did the best there, in showing them that their powers were not to be bragged about so callously."

Oshun's lips twisted minutely, perhaps only something more noticeable due to her long, elegant muzzle.

“By pushing their skills into the spotlight, they think that they profess their powers. However, they've only succeeded in showing that they have so much more to learn when it comes to using magic in battle, their minds slow and bodies weaker than they should be at this stage, having trained for such things already. That, however, is a discussion for me to have with them."

Giselle nodded, Kael sitting back. To expect to hear more on that was out of bounds.

“What I am interested in hearing, however, is how you did what you did… That was not magic that I am familiar with, but humans do not share much of their magic with us. Can you tell me a little about how you fought back?"

Kael shifted. Why did everyone want to know so much about that? It felt as wrong to brag about something that he could just do… But everyone else seemed to be impressed by it? Maybe what they envisioned was him spending hours upon hours pouring over texts, scrolls, practising, studying, working hard on his abilities until they, apparently, became what was already second nature to him? That would have at least made him feel a little better about defeating the dragons so easily, though it was not quite so.

“But I think these sorts of things are best placed in a sparring match – a proper one, not like the one that they so rudely attempted to bully you into."

Kael blinked.

“A sparring match? With me?"

It could have been Giselle, of course, for she was the trained fighter between the two of them, though the dragoness' smile told him otherwise.

“Of course. I want to test my magic against the form of it that your people use, to feel the power of it. It may be useful to our teaching here, something that we can blend and bring forth to better the lives of humans and, of course, anthros alike."

She had to be playing to his inclination and affiliation with his people, but Kael's hesitation lingered. Was it fair when he had outmatched the other dragons so easily? But Oshun was much older, much more experienced, the kind of dragon who was more than skilled enough to be entrusted in passing down her knowledge to future generations. Surely, there was no harm that he could do to her?

He took a breath.

“I guess…"

The dragoness stood, not giving him a chance to change his mind.

“Excellent! Please allow me to change into something more appropriate. There is a small clearing nearby that is nicely framed to catch any magic that goes astray."

Oshun smiled tightly, as if to say that her magic never went astray, and he did not doubt that she would hit her mark time after time. That was the most basic of battle magic and she was strong, aged and yet not old, per se, powerful and with a sense that she could spring into motion at any point. He was not dressed specifically for sparring, yet he was grateful that his clothes would still allow him both agility and flexibility when he would suddenly be found to need it the most.

“Look, Kael – that must be the clearing."

The dragoness had pointed in a direction and they quietly paced there, moving lightly and gently as if they were afraid for their footwear to dig any more into the ground than necessary. It was not the sort of forest where one could have at all felt as if they should have been leaving prints behind, disturbing nothing as a blackbird called in the tree. The light warmth of the day filtered down through the trees, though it was still more than cool enough for Kael to be comfortable, at least until he had to start moving. The body, after all, would have to respond sooner or later and it could not be helped if he became a little sweaty, moving from foot to foot.

Should he be stretching out? Should he be practising? What was customary when it came to a sparring match? It was impossible to say, having never faced one before, bar what he had crudely been dragged into out in public – and that had not had any time to prepare at all. What was to take place in the small forest clearing felt both more formal and informal at the same time, all in a very strange way.

Giselle sat cross-legged on the ground, at ease despite what was to take place.

“Aren't you going to stop her from hurting me?" He joked, bumping her shoulder with his hip as the dog yelped playfully. “I thought you were my strong, powerful bodyguard, set to protect me from all harm."

“Do not worry, master," she said, smirking as she showed her teeth in the hint of a feral snarl. “She will not harm you. If she makes one move to do anything more than spar with you, do you not think that I will be there between you, stopping her?"

His heart turned over. Why was she so much more erotic and sexier with that look on her face, the look that said that she could and would take out anyone that came between them, that dared to get between them in any way at all? Anyone that sought to take his life or hurt him would meet their fate at the business end of any weapons at her disposal, even if that meant the canine anthro using her teeth and claws, resorting to cruder methods of dispatch. In that moment, everything that he had found so attractive about her before came rushing back, bringing the heat of colour into his cheeks.

The strength in her, how he could feel her muscles so acutely through her fur when he ran his hands over her body. The power in her glutes, how she could spring and run and jump as if the feats themselves were nothing at all to her. Giselle was a specimen of a dog, it had to be said, but he was there to adore her, to lust for her, to be a friend to her too, as much as his eyes were apt to wander. There, however, with Oshun not yet reappearing, he was free to admire as much as he liked, even the line of her sharply intelligent muzzle, eyes pointing forward, a little greyer than he had ever paid notice to before.

Without thinking about it, his arousal fleshed out just a touch, forcing him to think, to calm himself, closing and opening his hands from and into fists, shaking off the tension in his shoulders.

“Is something wrong, master?"

She wasn't supposed to call him that anymore, but Giselle could have called him absolutely anything at all that she liked with that tone on, licking her lips, deliberately running her tongue salaciously along her face. He groaned and waved her off, striving to calm his pounding heart, nervous sweating, need for her pumping through, curling deep in the pit of his stomach where it should never have been held back.

Yet Oshun was not about to make things any easier for him as she reappeared in what seemed like leather armour – though it was not the kind of armour that covered very much at all. Giselle's ears pricked up, but it was all Kael could do not to stare, torn between two females at that very moment, more of Oshun's violet and rich fuchsia scales on show than ever before. Sure, she wore a brassiere type contraption that covered her breasts fully, though there was still a hint of cleavage there, making him wonder just what the purpose of breasts on a reptilian type anthro was (though dragons, as his research had proven, were old blood types, after all).

“Thank you for your patience. This should be very interesting."

Kael was sure, Giselle stifling a laugh, though Oshun, surely, would not know what had amused the canine so. The rest of her body was similarly uncovered, the leather not restricting her limbs in the slightest, which was, perhaps, the reason for her wearing so little. At her hip was a belt and what could have only just about passed for undergarments, though he didn't quite dare look at what was behind her, for the leather did not give the impression that it covered very much of her backside at all.

Keep it together…

_ _

He had to, fingers twitching, attraction rising in him like it never had for people that he'd seen around when he'd still been living at home, back in the human lands. Anthros, however, even Giselle (well, more her than anyone else) brought a flush of warmth to him, simmering and curdling, rising within him like the head of a serpent that craved release. Tongue flickering out, it was that very serpent that bobbed and swayed back and forth, scenting the air, picking up eroticism and passion, teasing it out where, before, he would not have even known it had existed.

At least there was something to cover the sides of her hips, leather straps of some kind hanging down, though he did not know what the use or the purpose of those was and, at that moment, he didn't like to ask either. Every ounce of his being was taken up by trying not to become obviously aroused, to focus, to concentrate on the sparring match that was about to begin. Yet he had noticed too that the leather straps of her halter top, brassiere…thing… Well, it went up around her neck, defining the length of it and her collarbones in such a way that a part of him, without any will or bidding, yearned to run his lips and teeth along the lines of her scales.

Focus!

_ _

Giselle may have been amused by his distraction, but the dragoness, thankfully, did not know him well enough to see his attraction, though she could have noted how he looked at her. But what was he meant to do when so much of her body was exposed to him? It was not as if humans either walked around with everything bared most of the time – no, that was only for private places, maybe a communal bath house, something like that, and, even then, only when known and accepted. She had covered up everything important to remain modest, but he could not drag his eyes from her, feigning intensity as he waited on her order.

“So, Kael, let's make this interesting, shall we?"

Oh, it's already interesting…

It may have only been a test and a taste of a real sparring match for Oshun, eyes twinkling as her tail flicked back and forth, tempting his eyes to come along with it. Yet he strained, facing her across the clearing, Giselle sitting to the side, though the canine was as quietly watchful as ever.

“If you can hit me during the match, I will ensure there is a prize in it for you. Is that motivation enough for you to not hold back?" She breathed out smoke through her nostrils, eyes intense, sharpening as if the pupils were flickering to slits and back again. “You fought the first time with the will and challenge of a dragon and I'd sorely be amiss if I did not try to tease that from you again. You might make a good battle mage."

Her meaning was wrapped up and hidden behind good intentions, though Kael was not to know what she was doing, a dragon who was older and wiser than him, who may have even fought in the war herself. But that meant that she had more experience, of course, could be seeking to trip him up, and it was not as if he could shake that feeling that something was wrong, that he was about to face some kind of retribution for not using anthro magic and boasting about his psychic powers. He outclassed them in that way – but that very much wasn't what he was at the university for!

He had to calm himself, breathing slowly and evenly, nodding in answer to Oshun's question, for silence could not stretch out between them for too long.

“I'm ready and I agree. I have nothing to offer though."

“That does not matter…" The dragoness sank back into a fighting stance, an arm pulled back behind her as if to let fly an arrow from a bow, though there was nothing there. “We begin in three, two, one… Spar!"

She changed the usual language of dragons in beginning a sparring match to make it easier for him, for the coarse sounds would not be understandable to his ears, unless that was a part of his studies that he wanted to dig into. But such things could be discussed later, at another time, as birds burst from the trees above, shrieking and flying, the clearing suddenly a flurry of action and motion.

She started gently – for her, that was. Forming three bolts of fire, crackling and spitting flame, using the air around them to bring breath and life to them, she took one, leaving the others suspended in mid-air, flinging it forth as if she was throwing a spear. The target, of course, was Kael, the fire leaping and spitting, but he easily blocked the single attack, using his psychic powers to form a block.

The flames fizzled out the moment they hit the block, magic petering out, and Oshun smiled, eyes bright with the thrill of the fight – even if it only was a friendly sparring match.

“Very good… But what about this?"

The other two bolts trembled up without the aid of her hands, flung forth with another spurt of kinetic magic, attacking him from both sides. Those were not for him to block and he tightened his grip on his own body with his psychic energy, shoving himself back, feet leaving the ground, though a part of him still wanted to brace his stance. He stood as if on a platform made of solidified air, lips pressed together, muscles aching where he was contracting too hard. It had been too long since he had fought against another and, even then, it had not been something seriously undertaken, not something that anyone had done seriously back at home when there were dogs to protect them, others more skilled preparing weapons, defences, the sort of thing that his age group had had no reason at all to consider that they could be broken through.

The fiery bolts fizzled out against one another, sparks of flame bursting off, only to be consumed by the air itself when there was no longer any magical source for them to consume. Magic, after all, was finite and needed to have a source, even if magic was used to link it to that source, even from a distance. His understanding of it, when not put into practice, was rudimentary at best and, even then, he felt woefully out of his depth, his powers crude and blocky in comparison. Where magic would be refined and made elegant, great feats made possible, his was a build-up of power, something rougher, crasser, not something that felt at all like being placed in any kind of spotlight.

But he was there, in a new land, someone who could defend themselves but not in the way that one could have expected, not those that were new to him, his presence, breath catching, tugging at his throat. Giselle was there but Kael most certainly had no inclination to want to rely on her even in the slightest, chest heaving as lightning crackled before the dragoness.

“Let's see how you do with this!"

The lightning crackled, bolts trying to lance off as she contained it, allowing the power to build and build, all while Kael cursed under his breath. He blocked it in time, the lightning ball lancing at him from her hands more swiftly than the fire had, upping the ante, the game well and truly on, though the electricity merely washed over him as if he was encased in a dome. But the one thing that Kael had to keep in mind too was the fact that Giselle was right there, able to get hurt if he did not deflect appropriately. If he didn't focus, would Oshun be able to leap in and get Giselle out of the way of harm? It was not as if they were exchanging blows and kicks in a more physical form of combat, after all…

It was hard to think clearly, his body tingling with energy, the feel of his powers wrapped around him pushing him up onto his toes. He held himself there, having to fight back, for merely being on the defence was not part of a sparring match as she prepared something more, the ground rumbling under him. She must not have realised that something like that would not affect him while he was levitating, but that was none of his concern for the moment as he raised his hands, imagining shaping the air around him. It was rougher than any magic would have been, but he was able to pick up a fallen tree branch, grunting as he hurled it at her.

It was a pathetic attack, but Kael hardly knew what else he was to do or what at all he had expected. He couldn't go all out, as that would be one-sided – and what could a fully trained battle mage do anyway? Human accounts were so twisted and anthro accounts showed only one side too: was there an in-between, an interim that made more sense?

She, of course, dodged the tree branch easily by stepping out of the way, the ground bursting under him with tongue-like tendrils of curling, weaving rock, the battle mage bending the very fabric of the earth to her will. It was a taste, to him, of what magic could do, though Giselle yelped and leapt to her hind paws, growling, pacing back and forth. It was one thing to understand what a practise match was when it was going on and quite another for her to not feel like the ground was at all steady under her anymore, bucking and writhing like the back of some wild beast.

“Easy, Giselle, there will be no harm here…"

The growling German Shepherd, however, was not so sure, eyes intent, her back stiff and her tail similarly positioned. Kael tried to form a bolt of his power, like she had with the fire bolts, but he couldn't do that without knowing how much force was behind it. If he slammed it forth as she had, would it pierce her? Would it knock her aside? He didn't know, not practised in such things and finally finding himself frustrated that he neither knew nor understood the extent of his powers. It may have been something he was born with, but, even for him, there was a level of finer tuning that could have gone on there.

She pressed the attack, forcing him to dodge, slamming his power into the ground, psychic abilities cracking the earth, forcing her to drop the rocky ropes of magic. They crumbled back into the ground, leaving the clearing as if it had never been disturbed, though Oshun stepped forward and forward, closing the distance between them, giving him no chance to react. She forced him to dodge a jet of water, a flurry of magically created leaves gusting into his face, hindering his ability while he was “hamstringed" by his own power.

“Keep up, Kael, you're doing excellently so far."

She meant that genuinely, though he was clumsily in his presentation. He didn't want to simply tank everything with a shield of his power, but there hardly seemed to be all that many other options available to him at such a time, panting and heaving, sweat marking dark patches under his arms. It was intense, even as he tried to throw small rocks at her, appearing weaker than he was even while he didn't want to use his whole power, which felt like a farce in itself, growling under his breath in frustration. What was the point in sparring if he could not use his whole power? It would have been better, wholly so, if he had just been able to use magic. Sure, he would have been the one outclassed then, but at least they would both be doing and using the same thing, which was inherently fairer.

His fists came up, blocking attacks, water pouring over him, distorting his vision, though his shield-like block was not enough to stop it streaming down his back. He had not considered that and sucked in a sharp breath as the ice-like temperature of it sent a shock through him, Oshun launching two small fireballs forth, moving quicker and quicker, the sparring match well and truly on. Of course, he would have been a fool to suspect that she was not holding back, more testing his abilities, though it came off, in a way, merely as a cat toying with a mouse. And Kael had not come to magic university to be a mouse before a cat.

Oh, it was a line that he had to walk, even though it was not a line that he was used to walking. His power lanced out towards her, but he misjudged, falling short when he did not put enough force into it, though that was most likely better than knocking her flying. Even the other day, he had not known, not truly, how much force he'd put into knocking the dragons down, unpractised and raw, yet all had come off then as far more ruthless than he had had any intent for it to be.

“Move quickly, Kael."

She was training him, in a way, though he could focus on that, despite the dragoness' excellent aim. That was to be expected, yet she flung rocky projectiles that didn't seem to come from the clearing or the forest around them at all, forming them out of nothing, chasing him with one into the path of another.

Damn it!

_ _

He cursed inwardly, not wanting her to see him sweat, though the intensity of their sparring had, at the very least, made it so that he didn't want to focus on her appearance as much as he had. It forced him to concentrate, for which he was grateful, but the attack pressed with shards of ice, fired at him one after the other, rendered him hurling his body about clumsily, feet no longer touching the ground at all between attacks. It was easier and harder to levitate, forced to split his attention, though it both made him more mobile and less mobile, sweat trickling around the edge of his eyebrows and into his eyes. Striving to blink it away, he missed an attack, a bolt of lightning that was bigger than any other that had been hurled forth so far slamming directly into his front.

His power blocked it, mostly, though it still shocked him back, pushing back at her as if he was shoving both hands into a door that would not budge. There was a feeling of energy there, crackling with life, the heaviness of grinding through it, a growl of fervour ripping itself from the back of his throat. Giselle smiled, knowing something that he didn't, but the ice attacks did not stop, the dragoness leaping and hovering, using her large wings to keep her there, sunlight filtering through them.

“You block well, but your attacks require refining! Use the environment to your advantage!"

But how did he do that? It was not how his abilities worked, even if it was how magic worked, humans creating things with their powers so that they could fight. In its raw form, it was even cruder, and the frustration of that roiled and twisted in the pit of his stomach, no more the pit of snakes than anything else should have been. The lust was gone, flaring through with heart pounding need, the need to stay alive, that was. Every battle would come to be such eventually, the body not recognising the difference between sparring and something that, more truly, was life or death.

But he had to stop it, had to bring it to a close, chest heaving, his grasp on his power growing stronger and stronger. He had to check how much force he could put into things, to explore the safety of using it some, but throwing rocks at Oshun, who merely blocked him by raising rock walls to harry his path and that of his projectiles, was not going to get him anywhere. With a battle cry, she flared out her wings and used her tail to direct ice shards at him again, pressing the attack as if to bear him into the ground, following them as if to break through his defences in following.

Closer and closer, she flew in, jaws agape, eyes gleaming with the thrill of battle. An ice shard that he could not block in time, more like a spike the size of a small person, slammed into his shoulder, distracting him, sending him spinning. The forest turned dizzyingly around him, leaves whirling, but he had to freeze, to place himself, other shards shattering over his defences, the dragoness close – too close!

With his powers, he clung to her, wrapping them around her, freezing her in place, imagining that his power was like the ice that she had spent such a great deal of time accosting him with. Yet that was the part, when he used his powers, that took the least effort at all, finally leaning into something that he felt more than able to do, something that would not hurt her, even if she would not be able to move.

“What in the skies?"

Oshun thrashed, struggling, though the dragoness was not even able to get a single wing free as she was held in place. Maybe the more direct option was the way to go as Kael pressed in around her, his powers building, testing the force, squeezing, her chest heaving, though a moment of distraction as her breasts moved with her snatched breath almost had him releasing her.

And, just like that, everything came easily again, exhaling a sigh of relief, her magic fizzling out where it had been flung around him, spattering uselessly to the ground, the dragoness forced firmly down to the ground, on her knees. She hissed and snarled, using her teeth too to snap, but even her tail was restrained as if in bondage, imagining her frozen, a statute. And even a statute, sooner or later, had to keep their mouths shut too. Thus, it was that he clamped her jaws closed, quieting her protests, eyes wide with shocked fury, though she could not be too angry at him for using what power had been at his disposal.

More gently, he closed his powers around her, immobilising her muscles completely, handing her lightly with the ease that a child would a doll, her arms tugged behind her back. Even the sense of stiffness that she could have used to resist was gone from her, hands pressed together behind her back, Kael smiling faintly, closing the distance between them.

Easier when I use what I've got.

_ _

Yet he still yearned for magic, the elaborate powers that had enticed him to the delicateness of it, the feats of magic that could be performed at any time and any place. A machine to spit bullets could be forced using the powers of human beings, but it would not be as refined nor as delicate as magic and it would have to be taken wherever it was needed. The same went for medical purposes and he felt so very strongly, in his heart, that there was more to be had there, something that both anthros and humans could share, to the betterment of all their species coming together.

Tapping the dragoness lightly on the head, he drew back, setting himself on the grass again, Giselle clapping her hands together as she had seen humans do.

“Well done, Kael!"

Of course, she knew what he was capable of, though he longed for other things, her praise warming him through. He released Oshun and bowed politely, as he had read was customary, though it was still a little bit more awkward than expected, considering the difference between them as student and teacher. Despite feeling as if things were forced in the moment of sparring, his muscles were strong and soft after the match, his breath returned to normal already, the majority of the exertion in his head rather than anything physical.

Oshun blinked, half-dropping forward before she caught herself, standing, shaking her head, laughing out loud.

“Well, well… I can't say that I expected that, young one!"

It almost didn't feel right, not even to her, to call him as a young one, a student, after he had bested her, her heart pounding, shock reeling in the back of her mind.

“Come with me, I think we should rather sit down and discuss that, don't you?"

Continued in part nine…