“Okay, Sasha. Cast the spells you know, and tell me which ones you’re casting as you cast them.”

Master had released the control on my collar until sunset, and she sat in one of the chairs in our room, while I stood in front of her. Naked. I really didn’t get why I needed to be naked, and it was more than a little distracting.

“Mmm, I just know two spells: Fire,” I raised a finger and shaped my mana into the proper pattern, and a small gout of flame raised from my finger. I blinked a few times. That spell would usually just get a lighter-sized flame.

“That body’s mana is more concentrated than this one-- you’re going to have to use a small symbol to get the same effect. That’s why I didn’t want you wearing clothes for this.”

“So I have a battle spell!”

“...If you want to try to kill people in a slow and extremely painful way that doesn’t at all stop them from hurting you, sure. You were better off starting campfires with it.” Master considered this for a moment. “I suppose it’s also good for arson, now.”

I furrowed my brow at that, hoping her plans didn’t involve arson. I didn’t know if I could make myself put random people at risk like that.

“...can I put my clothes back on?” Master smiled at the very idea of that.

“No, of course not, pet.”

I flushed and rolled my eyes… I should have known it wasn’t just a safety concern.

“Um… my other spell is Wind.” A gust of wind flickered across the table, blowing a few sheets of paper onto the floor. Master narrowed her eyes at me a little.

“Pick those back up.”

I wanted to complain, but kneeled and picked them up obediently, placing them back on the table in a neat stack. Master reached down and petted my head, and when I tried to get up, gripped my hair and prevented me until I let myself stay kneeling, and then went back to petting me.

“That one is probably a better battle spell for you. Not a good one, but I’d rather have you throwing blasts of wind than blasts of fire without knowing what you’re doing. That said, neither is a good battle spell at all-- they’re wildly inefficient.”

My face fell.

“...oh.” I had learned those spells, at great effort and study, because I thought that having two elements at my command would make me a powerful battle mage, before I learned my magic pool was very… what was the word… well, it wasn’t very powerful, that’s for sure.

“On the plus side, they are absurdly simple. That’s probably a good thing to stay with for you.” Master looked up into the air, and waved her hand. “I’m gonna think for a moment, just wait there for my next words.”

I flushed, but continued to kneel. It wasn’t comfortable at all, physically or emotionally, kneeling naked on the wooden floor. I kind of wanted to ask if I could grab a pillow to kneel on or something, but also Master looked very thoughtful, and I didn’t want to disturb her... partially because I was scared what she'd do if I annoyed her, but mostly because I wanted the best spells possible from her brainstorming.

It took what seemed like eons, and by the end I was more focused on how much my knees hurt than my embarrassment at my lack of clothing or my eyes that were staring up at Master.

Her eyes slowly focused back down at me, and she smiled, petting my head. “Good girl.”

My tail started wagging, and I flushed, looking away.

“You can keep kneeling while I tell you what spells you’re going to learn, or you can sit in my lap.”

...she was absolutely going to touch me if I climbed into her lap, but her touch sounded a lot better than suffering kneeling on the floor any longer. I got to my feet with a bit of a wobble, and climbed up to sit in her lap across her thighs, my shoulder pressed against her firm chest.

She took my chin by the hand, and lifted it a little, turned it so I was looking up at her. “Now. First of all, you’ll learn Null. Null is basically offering mana to the void. If you can touch the core of a mana spell you can use Null to dispel it, but that’s usually impractical in a fight, and anything meant for long term will use the principles of magic worked into stone or metal or wood or the like, rather than mana. In short, it’s a spell that’s easy to practice having control over, because the only effect it will have is on your mana pool, and that means that casting it doesn’t tend to draw attention, because it doesn’t go anywhere… you can practice if I drag you along for the political necessities of long boring meetings and orgies and so forth. It’s also good to help you learn your mana pool.”

“It’s said that most sorcerers develop their abilities by repeatedly casting null, and the void responds by gifting them with their unique magic," she continued. "I don’t think this is true, but if it is, the odds of successfully doing it if you cast null all your life are infinitesimally small, so I wouldn’t worry about it.” She stroked down along the side of my neck and down along my arm, sending a little shiver through me.

She wrote the diagram for Null down on a piece of paper from several angles.

It was a fairly simple shape, and in under an hour I knew how to cast it… which was still too slow for her, she seemed to be getting a little frustrated by waiting for so long.

She groped my butt as I cast it the seventh time in a row, and I glared up at her.

“I’d be learning much faster if you weren’t groping me.”

She smiled and leaned in to kiss my temple, than said softly into my ear: “If you can’t cast something while you’re getting groped, you sure as hell aren’t going to be able to cast it in combat.”

“Well…” Okay, that was probably true, but she didn’t have to get so impatient about it.

“What other spells are you going to teach me?”

“What other spells are you going to teach me, Master,” she corrected.

“Well, you don’t have to call me ‘Master’,” came out of my mouth before I thought about it.

Suddenly her eyes narrowed, and she pinched my nipple hard, causing me to whine and squirm in her lap. “What was that, pet?”

“Sorry, Master!”

She let me go, and shook her head a little. “Okay. There’s three spells you’re going to learn other than that, in the near future: Wall, Heal, and Channel. Wall creates a flat, immobile magical wall. It’s upsides are that it is a very strong defensive spell that lets nothing pass through until destroyed, the downsides are it’s just as hard to take down for the one who created it, unless you just wait it out for the magic to dissipate. So don’t surround yourself with Wall spells in every direction, you’ll run out of fresh air and die. But it’s well suited to those with very concentrated mana pools.”

“...that sounds like a lot of downsides, honestly.”

“I’ve cast Heal on you before… it just creates an aura that accelerates healing in the touched area, and the power controls the radius of your hand. Do not use heal on a broken bone that hasn’t been set properly. If you cast it a little wrong, your hand will also itch. If you feel that, stop immediately if at all possible… you shouldn’t be accelerating your cell reproduction more than needed,” she stroked my belly at this. "...other kinds of reproduction, however...."

“...why are you trying to get me pregnant?”

Master smiled at that question.

“Sasha, I think you’re the sort of woman who, when carrying her lover’s child, would have little thought of betraying them as long as she and the child are protected.” I flushed bright red, but she just kept talking. “Becoming my pregnant concubine should make you nice and fully loyal to me.”

“I’m not a woman!” She slowly looked down along my naked body, then back up to my eyes, and smiled, petting my head.

“Mmm, well, I suppose if you can fully prove your loyalty to me in some other way, I can stop trying to get you pregnant… if you want. I do think our kid would be cute, don’t you?”

I was tensing up in her lap, and she stroked my back and leaned in to kiss my cheek, turning affectionate rather than directly sexual in her attentions to me as she tried to comfort me. “Mmm, it’ll be okay, pet… just trust me, okay?”

I inhaled, exhaled, trying to relax my body a little. “...tell me about the other spell. Channel?”

“Oh. Well, that one’s simple enough. Channel lets you fill someone else’s mana pool with your own mana. I’m far better at spellcasting than you, so having access to your mana pool would be of great benefit.”

I stared for a long moment. “...you only have my shitty mana pool now, huh?”

“Yes... but I can still do a lot with it, since I’m able to actually cast freely. It would be nice to have access to that body’s full power, however.” She teased her fingers through my hair softly, massaging my scalp, and I leaned against her a little.

“...you’re being nice to me today.”

“Of course I am.” She kissed the top of my head. “My cute little pet is obediently turning herself into a better tool for me. Isn’t that something that should be rewarded?” She raised my chin and looked down into my eyes at that. “Or do you have some plans to betray me with the magic I’m going to teach you?”

…seriously, how would I betray her with those spells? I guess I could... overtax her body with Heal, burn down a building with her in it with Fire, overfill her mana pool with Channel, knock her off a cliff she was dangling off of with Wind, or block off her escape with Wall.

“Yes, well, I guess you’re just smart enough to not give you full control over your magic at all times.” She sounded mildly disappointed.

“How foolish do you think I am!? I’d have to be an even bigger fool to try to kill you-- you’re the only one in the world that specifically wants me alive.”

“Mmm, symbiosis, huh? My cute little pet wants to prove she’s not a parasite? That she can support me?”

I nodded. “...you don’t have to put it like that.”

“But yes, you are turning yourself into a better tool for me. You’re going to practice making your body better for sex, turning yourself into my support caster in battle, and in all ways serving me, aren’t you, pet?”

“...you don’t have to put it like that….” I was tearing up, and she cooed softly and drew me close. “It’s okay if you want to be my tool, Sasha. You don’t have to think about complex things anymore… just follow my orders and serve me obediently, and I’ll fix everything.”

I hunched my shoulders a little, pouted. “...you’re just keeping me around because of my mana pool….”

“I’m sure I could find a slave with a better mana pool. But there’s no one in the world quite like you, in my eyes.” I blinked, and looked up at her… wait, did she like me, in some twisted, fucked up way?

“A little rude. But of course I like you, pet. You took the best care of me you could, in your foolish, bumbling way. You’re the only one who gets to stay around despite not being optimal. Everyone else in this world….” She smiled, staring off into the distance with fervor in her eyes, seeing some distant future I could not. “...Well, if they’re going to get in the way, their lives aren’t really that big of a deal, are they? But my cute little pet who took such good care of me and is learning to be my loyal tool? To be utterly devoted to me? My slut to use however I want?”

She stroked my sides, and smiled at me as I stared up at her with slightly parted lips, a bit overwhelmed and having no idea what to say.

“As long as she’s my good girl, I’m going to protect her,” she said softly.

A sudden submissive need to do whatever Master wanted flowed through me, as my mind grabbed onto that idea of being protected by Master. This world was scary, and Master was strong, so Master protecting me was… I shook my head a little, bewildered.

“Oh, I saw that, Sasha… and I’m going to make sure you feel that more and more….”

“...did… did you put that in my mind?”

“Why would I do that? Enchantments can be disenchanted. But an utterly loyal pet… well, she’ll return to her utterly loyal state no matter what enchantments are thrown on her, in time.”

“I’m going to train your mind, body, and soul that every bit of you belongs to me, and you’re going to love it. Okay? Mmm, yes, good girl… it’s okay to get excited….”

I… I was getting wet as she stroked my body, even though she wasn’t going anywhere particularly lewd with her hands? I squirmed out of her lap, and ran over to hide under the covers, trembling, as if it would protect me from her and her magic.

She laughed, but let me hide under the covers, letting me pretend that they were some form of real protection. That I had any protection from anything besides her.