The rolling hills had turned from purple to almost black as the last rays of red sunset faded from the sky. An encampment of furs was in the middle of a hollow-like area. One set of large fires was the center of a circle of wagons, while one small fire sat a couple of hundred yards away, one tiny beacon in the surrounding darkness. It was between this small fire and the circle of wagons that a small rather slight figure in blue robes walked, hesitating as if torn between the attraction of both fires at once.

Xenith was torn, and the light of the fires was the smallest part of it. Worry and fear for her mistress, sitting exhausted back at the small fire, was uppermost in her mind. But warring with that was fear of actually talking to the furs she was walking towards. She had to do it, in fact it was urgent, but that didn't make it any easier- in fact, it made it harder. Again and again she ran over what she would say to the fur in charge when she found him or her. She had to sound firm enough to be taken seriously, but she didn't want to seem demanding or overbearing. Maybe just being casual would work. But that might get ignored. How about brusque? Even worse. She reached the edge of the circle of wagons and finally fixed on a phrase.

As she walked between the fires, the glances sent her way would have made her shrivel if she hadn't already been too concerned with other things. That didn't mean she didn't notice them. Looks that concealed fear, or didn't fail to hide contempt, disgust, or hatred. Some irrelevent part of her mind started putting names to the expressions- names of family members who had looked that way when they had found out what she was. She was vaguely thankful that she was too preoccupied to pay much attention to it, but even that was gone as she got to the fire and found what she wanted.

Laying a tentative paw on a broad shoulder, she said "Excuse me, but the Adept and I would require our food now." It was supposed to have been gracious, with the words also giving the hint of firmness. It came out-- well, never mind how it came out, she was ready to sink dead away as everything felt jarred inside.

But the target of her attentions, a fat middle-aged vixen, swung around with a smile on her broad muzzle. "Of course, of course! Why didn't I think of that sooner? Here, honey, hold this and I'll fill it up. Lots of good stew tonight, and more on the way soon. Why, that ay-dept of yours got us enough meat for a full six, if I do say so myself. Didn't have time to get any of it in for tonight, though. Still, that was the bravest thing I ever saw, her standing up to that big brute, why it must've been twice as tall as her, and it would've killed who knows how many before we could've filled it with arrows? Did you know, poor Fiss got killed by a monster like that once, of course it was three years ago now, only that one was a lot smaller, hardly more than a good fur-size, but we got that too. It was a shame about Fiss, although I do think his mama carried on way too much, if you get what I mean, it just....."

Xenith just stood and let the words flow over her as the stew was quickly dished into the dishes she carried. Well, one dish and one bowl. The bowl was filled up extra high. As the cook explained "you make sure she gets all of this down, hear? She looked almost ready to drop again when you helped her back into camp. No wonder, either, what with her releasing all that magic, it's bound to wear a body down. 'Course, I don't know that much about magic, but..." Xenith smiled her thanks and slipped away with both platters filled during the first small crack in the monologue. As she walked away, the cook's voice rose in a last "and tell her thanks!"

The looks she got this time seemed to be a little friendlier, but she decided it was just her imagination- or maybe she just hadn't noticed the few happier faces on the way in. About halfway to the outer circle, though, another problem began to make itself known to her hands. She increased her pace a bit and steeled herself, but by the time she got to the small fire where her mistress waited, tears of pain filled her eyes, and she gasped as she said, "Here's supper mistress, but be careful, this bowl is hot!"

Lilith calmly reached out with her left hand and balanced the plate on it carefully. Xenith quickly sat down, sat her plate down, then began licking her burned fingertips. Lilith thoughtfully prodded the stew and remarked "none of this is scurat, is it?" Xenith looked up, and if both paws hadn't been in her mouth, they would've gone there involuntarily at the sight of that hot plate on Lilith's hand. Lilith noted her widened eyes, and after a second she gave a rather wry smile and added "having a metal hand can be handy at times." Oh. Of course. Xenith felt chagrined. She hadn't realized that would happen, but Lilith was perfectly right- with a metallic left hand, there wouldn't be any pain.

"But about this meat?" Lilith interrupted her thoughts with a poke at some lumps in the stew.

"Oh! No, none of it is, the cook said she hadn't had time."

"Good", Lilith said coolly.

"But," Xenith confessed, "she did say that it would be food enough for a six."

"Hmmmm" Lilith murmered to herself as she began to eat. "I think we will eat our own supplies for a couple of days, then."

Xenith dropped her eyes. She didn't know what Lilith had against scurat meat, she rather liked it herself. But if her mistress didn't want to, Xenith wasn't about to argue. She slowly began to eat her own supper while watching Lilith. She was amazed that her mistress could look so cool and collected when Xenith knew that she was desperately tired and exhausted. True, she was huddled over into herself some, but there was only calm concentration on her expression as she ate with what Xenith realized was a deceptive rapidity. Xenith returned her eyes to her own plate, and it reminded her of what she'd been wondering about.

"Mistress," she asked timidly, but she was interrupted before she could get out another word.

"Adept!" Lilith shot back, and continued eating.

Xenith cringed. "Adept...."

After a couple of seconds, Lilith looked up and calmly asked, "well?"

"umm... why won't we eat scurat meat? Isn't it any good?"

Lilith returned her attention to her meal, and Xenith began to wonder if she was going to ignore her. Finally, she said, rather slowly and between bites... "When you kill something like that...... that big, and with magic..... at least the way I used it, well.... you don't want to eat it until the life cords have died, too.... the ones between you and it, that is."

Xenith mulled over that answer. It seemed to make sense, in a way, although she couldn't see what was bad that would happen. But then, the dark-side magicians she had been around either only boasted about killing, or if they had killed it was other furs. She shuddered. Not much chance of cannibalism there. None of them were like this vixen. Lilith had a cool hardness about her that said that she would get the job done, whatever it was, and never mind the fuss about it. It was so easy to mistake her smoothness, Xenith thought. You would think that she wasn't all that important, only to find yourself with her steel through your guts if you stepped wrong.

"M- Adept, I thought you really did great in that situation. The cook said to tell you thanks." she added hastily.

Lilith's head came up sharply, and Xenith blinked as she proclaimed, "that wasn't 'great', that was a big mistake. Two big mistakes."

"I- I don't understand. You killed it, didn't you?"

Lilith sighed. "First, we never should have met it. I told that overstuffed merchant that a scurat had come through here. But no, if he doesn't see any tracks, he's not going to take the word of an Adept who can see life traces he couldn't even comprehend."

"The cook was glad you did it, anyway." Xenith said in a small voice.

"Good. I'm glad she did. Maybe now they will pay attention to what I say and not risk everyone's lives again."

Xenith flinched. You could cut yourself on the sharp edges of those words. They returned to eating- she noticed that Lilith was almost through- when something she said came back to her. "Two mistakes?" she said. Her only response for a while was a tightening of Lilith's lips as she continued to eat. Xenith almost let it go, but found herself just wondering too much. Finally she asked "Wh-what was the other one?"

"Letting myself be forced into an all or nothing showdown, and winding up too exhausted to stand, let alone keep watch tonight."

"But.. what could you have done differently? I mean, I felt it, and you really did...." The word good died on her lips as Lilith's eyes bored into her.

"I got too fancy, whelp. I should have stayed to the front and not tried a circle to the rear just to get the spine. That poison would have slowed it down, and as it tried to chase me I could have used an easier way to kill it."

"I thought the life cords got too big to hold." Somehow, that wasn't exactly what Xenith had wanted to say, but it was the closest she could get.

"As a bunch, yes. But that didn't stop me from getting just part of them. At least it was dramatic enough, I suppose."

Lilith finished her stew without further words and Xenith didn't really feel like talking either. Afterwards, though, Xenith took a deep breath as she looked out. She knew what was coming next, although the exact words surprised her.

"What do you know about standing watch?"

Expecting a command, and not a question, Xenith's off-guard answer made things worse, "What is there to know?" She cringed, expecting to be blasted for what was obviously a stupid question, and probably arrogant too.

Instead, Lilith raised her head to the stars in the sky and softly remarked to them "I have got to get some sleep tonight." She sighed, then looked at Xenith thoughtfully. Finally, she continued in a more normal tone. "Can you spin a life cord?" Xenith shook her head. "Can you detect the presence of what is on the end of a cord?" Xenith shook her head a bit more slowly. Lilith's eyes glinted. "Chabat's mercy, vixen, what did they teach you? Never mind, I don't think I want to hear it." Another sigh. More silence.

Xenith's stare dropped from Lilith to the darkness behind her. She didn't really know what to do, but she was totally unprepared for what came next. "Apprentice!" Lilith snapped.

Xenith bolted up straight and barked back "Mistress!" She could almost feel the rods snapping into place down her back at Lilith's tone. As she realized to her horror that she had used the wrong word again, a sting on the side of her cheek drove the point home.

"It's Adept, Apprentice! I'm not a Master!" Lilith's hand returned to her side as she continued in the same commanding tone. "Apprentice! What is the one basic thing that defines magic?"

Now they were on more familiar ground. Xenith was almost relieved as she replied briskly, "Life cords, Adept!"

"And what basic things can you do to them?" the probing continued.

"Add energy, take energy, change energy and/or position!" was the response.

Dead silence. Xenith stared fearfully. Surely that was right?

"And??" came that hard tone again.

Xenith stared helplessly. "That's all.... Adept!" she added as Lilith continued to stare at her.

"Are you sure?" shot back her examiner. She could only nod helplessly. "Listen, then, whelp, and listen close," Lilith's cadence had softened, but the tone was as firm as ever. "There is one more thing that you can do- but if I ever catch you doing it, you may not live to do it again. You can cut a life cord as well." Xenith stared in horror. Cut a life cord? But that would mean.... "It's death to do it." Lilith continued. "For one thing, every life cord has tension on it, no matter if you've already twisted it into knots or not. Being near the snapping whip of a cut cord is not fun. Nor is the fact that life energy would start gushing through it like a fountain." Her tone grew more grim as she continued. "Nor is the fact that a lot of it would be your life energy any more appealing." Xenith nodded helplessly. "Of course, it won't kill you...I did do it once myself." Lilith continued in a more thoughtful tone. At the sight of Xenith relaxing slightly, she added in a harder tone: "Once! My master didn't have to tell me to not do it again, and even he was almost in awe of how driven he thought I was!" Xenith was totally unsurprised. She couldn't imagine any Magician not being daunted when he or she saw Lilith's steel gaze. Blood-red eyes didn't hurt any, she thought irrelevently.

"Now, for a bit of practice," Lilith said. She slowly brought up her hands, and a life-cord separated itself from the usual tangle that was in the environment. It was a tiny thread that ran from a nearby rock, and it came obediently to her left hand. As she focused on it, it thickened, and she turned to Xenith. "Xenith, bring this cord to you."

Xenith put out her hand, concentrated, and the life cord obediently bloomed towards her. Soon it was in contact with her own system as her attention focused on it. "Now, " Lilith continued softly, "feel the energy in that cord, and don't focus anymore on the cord itself. Focus on the energy. Make it a part of your mind... it's awareness part of yours...." her voice grew softer and more commanding as Xenith followed directions. Soon she saw what Lilith had been driving at. The focus in her mind grew, and she could feel the rock on the other end, it's own being now a part of hers. Unnoticed by her, Lilith's own attention went to that same rock, and another life cord flowed from it, this one directed to a slightly larger rock about 6 feet away. Soon, there was a connection between them, and Xenith found the sensation doubled in her mind. "Let your awareness travel between them..." came the soft voice... "they are a part of you. You are in them, you ride their life cords...." and Xenith did.

Suddenly she snapped back to reality. "Wh-what happened?" she asked. Lilith sat back down. "I stepped through your life cords. When you do what I showed you, your mind becomes a living trip-wire. Anything that interrupts the flow will be detected by you. That is how you are going to stand watch tonight." As Xenith stared, Lilith continued. "I'm too tired to string this myself, but you aren't. Take a life cord again from a convenient marker, and string it around the camp. Make sure you connect it every six to ten feet. Just let energy flow through it for now, don't worry about awareness. All you need is an unbroken circle of life cord around the camp."

Xenith went. To her surprise, she found it far easier than she had expected. Altering the life cords was fun, she had to admit, and keeping energy flowing into it proved no more than a relatively minor distraction in the back of her concentration. Before she realized it, she was back to the small campfire again. She grinned with triumph at Lilith, who seemed not to notice. Her grin faded as Lilith, looking to be in a brown study of some sort, reached out one foot and absent-mindedly let a life cord flow to Xenith's first marker.

"Ok, I've got it," she said, and Xenith felt the pressure ease. Surprised and a little hurt, she soon forgot her feelings as Lilith's penetrating gaze turned to her and she continued "There's something else we need to handle. Let me see those earrings."

Xenith blinked. Now she knew why Lilith had taken over the watch-ring. Without her earrings she could never control anything. Silently, she reached up and took them off, then put them in Lilith's outstretched hand. She noticed that her own paw was shaking slightly. Whatever was going to happen, she didn't think it would be good, and she felt naked without the ability to do any magic. She stared as Lilith held one ring in each hand and let life energy flower into and through the rings. They glowed and pulsed like little fountains. Suddenly they were gone as Lilith's hands snapped closed around them and she found herself staring into Lilith's glare. Uh oh. She had known something was wrong.

"Where did you get these?" Lilith demanded.

For a few seconds Xenith was totally tongue-tied. Finally, she blurted out, "my first master gave them to me and charged them to my guild account."

"For this, he should've given them to you free, " Lilith replied grimly. "I've seen poorer quality, but never wanted to try it. Well, I guess I'll get my chance now." Xenith blinked as Lilith reached up and removed two of her own earrings, and place Xenith's in position. A few ear flicks and a bit of concentration, then she shrugged and said "They'll work. Here." She handed Xenith the rings she had just removed.

Suddenly, the enormity of what had happened hit Xenith. An accomplished Adept had given her magical objects, and high quality ones at that! "B-b-but, I couldn't take these, I'd never do them justice, they're yours I could never...."

Lilith cut her off, "It's a loan until we can get you something better. I'm not going to risk our lives on junk. You need something better to do any good. Now quit dithering and put them on."

"Yes m- Adept" Xenith replied, and almost hurt herself slipping the earrings in as quickly as possible. She blinked. The world suddenly snapped into life in a way she'd never seen before. As her jaw dropped she realized that she had been missing so much of what real magic was like that it was as if she'd been half blind.

Lilith looked at her reaction with satisfaction. "I thought so. How they expected you to learn anything useful, I'll never know." Xenith's only response was a helpless smile as she stared in wonder at the world around her. "Maybe they didn't." Lilith muttered to herself, but Xenith wasn't hearing it.

Lilith's metal left hand rapping her lightly on the cheek brought her back. "Listen carefully, whelp" Lilith told her. "I'm not losing anything by loaning those to you- I intend to get full use of them... through you," she added with a slight smile. At Xenith's nod, she continued "Now, I want you to very carefully return to the watch ring. This time, extend your awareness all the way around the circle, and keep on going."

As Xenith stared at the watch-ring, the clarity of it amazed her. She wasted no time doing as she was told, and instead of being lost in it, she found herself this time staring at Lilith while a cool wind seemed to flow up her back-- and she knew every rock around the encampment like it was in her hands.

Lilith sighed, and slowly got up. She definitely looked tired now. "Ok, just hold that. If anything moves, I'll know about it." Xenith frowned, and Lilith continued "Remember, you're linked to me- what you feel, I know."

"Even in your sleep??"

"Yes, vixen, even in my sleep," was the calm reply, and with that Lilith went to her bedroll and soon only deep breathing filled the air around the dying fire. Xenith turned to face out into the darkness, and shivered a bit. She was glad for the warmth of the fire at her back. It was good to know that it was behind her. Another warm presence in her mind made her realize that she was glad her Adept was behind her, too.