I woke the next morning with Mistress out like a light, right on top of me. She’d fallen asleep before I could pleasure her! Silly Mistress. I wasn’t about to take matters into my own hands, no — we had different rules. That was the way it was, the way it should be, yadda yadda yadda…souls alight, Mistress’ weight on top of me felt so nice. Her slowed breathing, the occasional snore, some murmurs…they were all wonderful sounds.

We were definitely going to need to share a bath after this. Well. If she wanted. I allowed myself the hope for it, though — my hair was caked with…juices, mine and hers. I had no problem with it, but feared that it could reflect poorly on her. For now, though, we were quite alone in this sticky, muggy room, smelling so strongly of each other. The old me would’ve been scared shitless over being late to class, but…

Wait. Class! Mistress still had those. And the time was…Lissy’s pocket sun showed…oh hells, nine am?

Did I wake her? Could I bear to do such a thing? She was so totally blissed out…ruining that was wrong, wasn’t it? But…the greater good, Hilde, think of the greater good! Reluctantly, I nudged her, increasingly firmly until her eyes fluttered awake.

“Hilde…hmmm?”

“Class, Mistress.” I freed a hand to point at the little sun and its position, shining pleasant light on a shattered world locked in orbit.

“Hmmm.” Lissy was calm. But it was the calm before the—“Ah!” She bolted upright, the motion dragging a monochromatic afterimage that stopped when she did. She sprung from the bed, ran to the other room, stopped halfway. “Waiddaminute. Hilde, Hilde, Hilde…oh, you jokester, you.”

“I don’t understand, Mistress?”

Lisette turned around and offered a wry grin. “It’s Sunday, dummy.”

Blood I may or may not have had turned to ice. “I-I woke you up for nothing?” My shame compounded with each word.

“You don’t need to look so upset about it,” Mistress replied. “Mistakes happen. And it was probably time I got up, anyway.”

“Y-you’re sure, Mistress?”

“What, you doubt me?”

"No…”

“Well, that’s a relief.” Mistress looked around, and down at herself. “As nice as smelling like you is, we both probably need a bath. Fetch us some towels and we can get going?”

“Right away!”

The baths were downstairs, and…wow, the magus dorms were so much nicer than the apprentice ones. An entity could get used to this. Mistress wore a bathrobe, not that anyone would question where we were going. I wore what I was quickly finding to be my favorite outfit — nothing at all. Just the uniform shimmery mass that was Hildegard, unencumbered from head to toe.

After all, such mores related to covering yourself were for humans. And Lissy’s indulgent gaze signaled her permission.

There was one passerby who directly acknowledged us on the way down. “You smell like sex,” she observed bluntly. She was — vague recollection struck me — Emmaline’s magus. A hawk was perched on her shoulder, and it didn’t take a genius to figure out who that was.

“That’s how this works, doncha know?” Mistress chirped happily.

“The soulbond is to make a more powerful caster,” Rank Six replied. “Font Emmaline knows that, anyway.” There was the slightest of nods towards the familiar herself.

“And how is my friend?” Lisette asked. There was a new tension in her voice.

“You called that woman your friend? It’s…no matter. I am treating her fairly. As befits her station.” Reading Lisette’s expression, she added “I do not mistreat her. I spare the rod, and…” she finally passed me a second’s glance, the only acknowledgment I was likely to receive, “…I don’t use her in improper ways.”

Mistress seemed unfazed at the slight. “Linking one’s mana takes a variety of forms, but to each their own. Now we should be going, right, Hilde?”

“Indeed, Mistress.” We parted ways with the magus, and I felt Mistress’ tension ease, somewhat. 

“Weird girl,” she muttered. “But you can do much worse, I guess.”

“Sounds like an awfully boring owner to me,” I noted. Among almost all magus and familiar pairings…I’d always assumed that fucking was implicit.

“I’m like, ninety-five percent sure she’s going to try and take over the world someday.”

“Not if we get there first,” I suggested. Mistress gave my shoulder an affectionate squeeze.

The baths were packed. Oh yeah, Sunday morning. Mistress shed her robe and led us to the most sparsely populated pool, down at the end and shrouded by decorative reeds. The more popular baths had other things surrounding them — bamboo, constructed rocky cliffs, even a cluster of palm trees. Each one a microbiome of careful aesthetic, ours also had some lily pads at the fringes.

I watched as Lissy settled in, her hair fanning out to its ludicrous extent. And hers was the shorter of the two of us, now. I lingered at the rim until she waved me over. “Come on, dummy! Don’t think I’m doing this alone!”

“Yes, Mistress.” I floated upwards, crossing my arms like a cadaver in a coffin, and plunged into the magically heated liquid.

“Kinda extra, but cool!” Lissy commented, clapping politely. We drew some looks of ire from a soulbound pair — a magus and her water nymph — whose make out session had been interrupted. “They shoulda just created a water barrier like any normal person,” she said to me, wearing a half smile.

“Wait,” I murmured. “I recognize that girl. The magus. Might I address her, Mistress?”

“One sec, Hildie.” She turned to the other magus, catching her attention. “Hey, my familiar wants to say hello,” she said, “that okay?”

“Um. Wow. Lisette? Uh, yeah, go ahead.”

Mistress turned to me. “You’re up, Hilde.”

“Uh. Hey,” I said lamely.

The other magus frowned. “Is that all?” 

I definitely recognized this girl. “No! No. It’s just, uh…Alexia? Is that you?”

Alexia raised an eyebrow while her nymph cast a curious glance. “Hildegard?”

“You won?” I couldn’t hide my incredulity. Incredulity which would certainly read as an insult to one with her soul still intact. “Ah, s-sorry…”

“You lost?” Her shock was clearly visible as well. I gulped and nodded at who I’d always presumed was a low-level pyromancer.

“Y-you didn’t see the duel?” Our whole class must’ve been there.

“No, I was, uh, hiding. Um, plotting! Planning my own challenge.” She pulled her familiar close; the latter cooed at the former’s attention. “Lisette challenged you?”

I sank a little further into the water, mirroring my counterpart by clutching at my own Mistress. “I challenged her.”

Alexia shook her head and laughed. “Uh. Okay. You challenged her of all people? Look, you were close to the top for a reason, but…wow. What do you know.”

“Things, um, changed. After…”

“After…you realized I was magus-bait and stopped talking to me?” Alexia’s expression was flinty as she recalled buried history.

I whimpered and submerged myself further. Mistress squeezed my shoulder. “You need me to take over?”

“N-no, I can do this,” I reassured, possibly unconvincingly. I faced Alexia once more. “Yeah. After…that.”

“Well, you’re right,” Alexia said. She snapped her fingers, and a tiny black flame hovered off the tip of her index. “Things did change. Did you know that I’m rank eleven, now?”

“That’s wonderful, Lexi.” Shame painted my face. Congratulations were too little, too late.

“I can only go up from here, as the top ten continue to choke on their pride.” Alexia smiled/sneered, as her familiar nodded in affirmation.

“Glad I could assist in your ascent,” I murmured. Mistress tapped my shoulder twice, her signal for me to back off.

“I’d request you stop tormenting my Hildie,” she said coolly, addressing the other human in the pool, and wrapping her arm around me. “What mistakes she made in the past is no matter to you, not now.”

“I’d thought we were...we were friends,” Alexia retorted. “I’d thought she was better than to buy into the, the, hierarchy garbage! But she was just like the others, and fell as they did…will! too.”

There were things I wanted to say. That I was scared, I didn’t want to go through watching my best friend become a non-person. Things that seemed utterly silly, now, but…well. Perhaps Alexia was right. 

“I will apologize on her behalf, then.” No, Mistress, you don’t have to do that… “But Hilde is under my protection. You can see you’re hurting her, and you will stop now. I’m no longer asking.” The water was getting colder.

I definitely didn’t deserve the soaring sensation in my chest, the absolute rush of feeling from Mistress coming to my rescue. She had done so anyway, so I wasn’t about to suppress my gratitude.

Alexia stood up. “Sorry to bother you, then. Danica and I…we’re leaving.” She exited the bath as promised, muttering to herself as the two of them departed. “Gotta find a pool with less hair in it…”

Mistress snorted at the magus’ parting words. I found myself compelled to laugh as well, tugging on one of my own excessive strands. “Tried to spare yourself from the hurt, huh?” I wilted under the weight of Mistress’ question. “Don’t feel bad. I had to do it too. Thought I could avoid those feelings by cutting away the obviously lower tier apprentices in my group of friends, but…” She gave a rueful chuckle, and shook her head. “Dammit, Emmaline.”

There were a few moments of companionable silence. Moments where I wanted to drift off in warm water and warmer arms, Mistress as all-encompassing as I could ever dream of. But eventually, she started scrubbing herself in earnest.

“Gotta actually get clean before I prune up in here! Help a girl out, will you?”

“Um…happily, Mistress!” I submerged myself fully to do as she asked, enjoying the fact that breathing was optional. Some familiars spent most of their lives underwater, if their magi so wished. Danica, as she was called, seemed like she’d be among them. I made the cleaning session as intimate as Mistress indicated she wanted, delighting in the care of every nook, every cranny. A form I’d forever worship.

Eventually, though, Mistress did pull out of the bath, while I took some unsubtle glances at her nude form. Mistress with her hair down was an uncommon sight in public places; she smiled down at me with her face partially occluded by limp strands. I came out of the water as well to brush it for her.

“Yeah…that’s the right idea,” she sighed happily, as I put the bristle brush to work. Starting from the tips with firm but careful strokes, to sensuously drawing the bristles across her scalp while she sounded her approval. At points her hand rested on mine to guide my motions, and her direction was deliberate slowness. I could understand why. “Now lemme get you, okay?”

“It’s not necessary, Mis—“

“It wasn’t a question, dummy,” Mistress cut me off, with a soft titter. 

I grinned back at her. “Well okay then.” I planted myself where she pointed, at the water’s edge. I could feel her grabbing locks to fan them out behind me, like the plumage of a big white bird. When she started with the brush, the strokes and tugs were just as slow, and ever-so gentle. I echoed her pleased sigh, and she gave my shoulder a squeeze.

As she got closer to the peak, she provided sweet nothings. “You’re the best a girl could ask for, Hilde.” A long, delicate pull. “I’m so glad I can make you happy.” A gradual stroke. “And you’ll always be safe.” I couldn’t hold back a moan, which set her alight with giggles. “Okay, wow.” I could hear the smile in her voice.

“Should I hide it, mistress?”

“Hells no. Human, familiar…” I could feel her breath on my ear. “You were always a needy pet.”

Oh, my. “S-someone gets it,” I agreed, smiling at undisputed truths. Alexia could stuff it, for the time being — I was here, getting pampered, while she needed to do, uh, human things. Like paying taxes. She could be angry at me…for…bad…things I…did.

“Get those thoughts out of your mind, Hilde,” Mistress instructed. “I can handle her. Y’know how much of a gulf there is between one and eleven?”

“Um, ten?”

“Something like that.” 

“Alrighty.” 

Mistress continued brushing — there was a lot of ground to cover. Even through the reeds, we were getting a few strange looks — “People think it’s weird to give your familiar some t.l.c.,” Lissy muttered — but that I didn’t let bother me. I had a dopey grin on my face, and they could witness it.

Though Mistress eventually ran out of hair, or maybe time. She motioned me upwards, and handed me a towel. I grabbed the other to give to her, preparing to ask if she wanted me to dry her, but she cheerfully waved me off. Instead she spread her limbs, and I heard a quick hiss as the water on her form evaporated.

Then she grabbed my towel and wiped me down with it, turning me in all sorts of directions as I hovered.

“Alright! We’re as clean as we’re going to get. How does an early lunch sound?” Mistress asked, ruffling my hair.

“I thought I didn’t need to eat?”

“You do if I want you to,” she cheerfully corrected. “C’mon.” I took something close to my usual place, draping over her shoulders.