The dining hall seemed so much smaller than it usually did.

After we had all climbed to our feet and Sam had joined up with us, we had gone to the ticket line together.

Thankfully, Mallory had not repeated her question about Alexei. Plia and Vanda both had asked about where I had gone the morning they had been brought to the meeting grounds.

I had told them about Amabura by the time we had all gotten our food and followed them to a table and sat down to eat in the dining hall for the first time.

"He used you as bait? Tana didn't fall very far from the tree it seems." Vanda said with a smirk as she took a palm sized clock from within her robes and wound it.

"Why does everyone think that," I shook my head in disagreement and asked. "It was not like that."

Mallory wagged her finger at me as she dipped one of the long strips of baked bread she had brought to the table into a small bowl of some sweet smelling liquid. "Next time, he should use me instead. I wouldn't mind."

"Eww." Plia grunted from behind the mound of food she was destroying. It was the first time she had spoken since we sat down, and it was little more than a grunt.

Evidently, when the scrawny little sorceress came to the dining hall, she came to dine.

"I will never understand why you have such a dirty mind." Vanda sighed.

With an innocent look on her face and a shrug of her shoulders, Mallory answered with her mouth full of food. "It's not dirty. Sorry I'm not afraid to admit what I want."

A burst of laughter echoed up from the far corner of the hall, and every soul in the room turned to look.

I saw familiar faces in the circle of sorceresses that had cause the noise. There was the half moon who wore the perfect blue cloak that showed her rank and nothing else. The sorceress that walked around with a white blind tied over her eyes was there as well.

Everyone in their circle was laughing, and Underwitch Maletta seemed to be the one that was making them.

Mallory made a sour looking face that I understood had nothing to do with her food.

"Do you know them?" I asked as I took another bite of my potatoes. I was intentionally eating far slower than I normally would because taking a bite was a good way to buy myself time if another unanswerable question was asked.

Mallory's sour expression turned to disgust. "Just Maletta."

"Me too," I said with just a little too much enthusiasm. It felt good to have something in common with one of the other new moons. "She called me a pet the day we returned from Silkcradle."

"You are lucky she didn't try and make you sit." Mallory said with a roll of her eyes.

Plia turned her attention away from the half a roast chicken she was devouring long enough to meet my eyes. "What happened after the lizard?"

"Oh, right. You were saying that it rained on you, right? Vanda asked.

"No, it was more that I walked under the rain." I continued on with my story.

Just like when I had told Anna and Sam, there was much that I left out. How being with the warden had made me feel, all of the blood pact nonsense with Alexei, and most of what had happened during high tide. They did get a full description of each familiar I had been introduced to, but none of the good dream I had been given or the pain I had felt when it had been taken away.

My potatoes were long gone, Vanda's plate of greens was eaten clean, and Mallory had wiped every last trace of the sweet smelling liquid away with her last piece of bread by the time I finished.

"You did all that in one day while we were sitting in the meeting grounds, twiddling our thumbs? I don't believe it." Mallory said, shaking her head and narrowing her eyes at me.

Vanda gave me another of her small smiles. "It does sound like a lot."

"I believe you." Plia said between spoonfuls of some heavy looking soup.

Mallory leaned forward and I was reminded of the dark robed man that Katarina had been speaking with. "Prove it. You said that you came back with all those things, show us one."

"Leave her alone, Mal." Vanda sighed.

Mallory turned her sharp jawed scowl to Vanda. "Don't you want to see something? She could have just made all that up and we would never know."

"I didn't." I insisted.

"Well, prove it." Mallory insisted even harder.

I didn't feel that she was being unkind or cruel to me. I felt like she knew what she said, and if it had been me that was hearing the story I had told for the first time, I might have been in just as much disbelief.

The problem is that all the things I had brought back from Silkcradle were not mine. They had been gifts, and the raven haired girl I had given them to had put them on the mantle above the fireplace in our quarters.

My hands started moving before I fully understood what I was doing.

Underneath my cloak, I unbuttoned the top three buttons of my jacket before opening it and the top of my dress down with my hand.

"Uhm, don't get me wrong, you are cute and all, but how does this prove anything?" Mallory said, one of her eyebrows raised.

I reached out and grabbed her by the hand before pulling towards my chest. "The quills. When they stabbed me, they left marks. See?"

Her hand was freezing like it had been buried in deep snow, but I dragged the cold tip of her finger across the pearlescent patch that Benny had left me with.

"Oh wow!" Her face relaxed as she leaned closer and laid her eyes on what she had just felt.

Vanda did the same, insisting that I led her hand instead of touching me freely.

Plia kept eating, but she already believed me so I left her to her work.

"Was that sufficient?" Vanda asked at Mallory. as I rebuttoned my jacket and tried to pull my dress straight by its hem.

"Close enough for now. You said you got stuck in a bunch of places? You aren't really my type, but I wouldn't say no to seeing the rest of your proof" Mallory said with a wink.

Heat bloomed on my face immediately, and I felt a radiant blush come to light on my cheeks.

"You really can't help yourself can you? Stop it," Vanda slapped at Mallory's hand and turned to me. "She is a terrible flirt. I think her dad didn't pay enough attention to her when she was little."

Mallory reached over and took my hand in hers. "Don't listen to her, Ire. There is something special between us. I can feel it. Why should we continue to deny it?"

I had met rocks that were less speechless than I was.

She stared into my eyes intently.

I had never noticed the small golden flecks in her eyes or the slight freckles across the bridge of her nose. She was pretty, and it was very easy for me to imagine her standing in the sun of some warm place instead of the frigid grey of Lun.

Her heavy lidded stair broke into a wicked laugh as she threw her head back and laughed. "Look at you! That was so easy. You're as red as The Mother in Red's wedding dress."

Rhiannon's dress had not been red, it had been white, and the edges of it had been burnt by the flames of her familiar. Wrong color or not, she was right about my blushing. I covered my face with my hands and felt like I was warming my palms by a fire place.

"Ignore her, she will lose interest soon and then you can get to-" Vanda started, but a sharp sounding trill cut her off.

Through the gaps in my fingers, I saw her pull out the palm sized clock from within her robes and make it cease its high pitched ringing.

"Alright, Plia. Time to go." Vanda said as she stood.

The scrawny little underwitch looked up from her still full plate of food and there was violence in her eyes.

"I'm not done." She grunted, clutching at the table top to keep herself from being pulled away by Mallory.

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Mallory grunted back. "You're never done. Let's go."

Plia tried to resist.

Either Mallory was much stronger than she looked or Plia weighed even less than I thought she would. Up from her chair and several steps towards the open doors of the dining hall, Mallory carried Plia away from the food she was reaching towards and planted her on her feet.

"If we don't stop her, she will spend the rest of the day in here," Vanda said with a little laugh. "Are you coming?"

All three of them stood beside one another, and each of them were waiting for me.

The dining hall wasn't smaller than it usually was. There was the same number of tables, fireplaces, and underwitches as there were everyday. The difference was that I didn't feel quite as small as I usually did because I was not alone.

"Yes." I smiled as I went to them and all four of us set off for Precept Seram's class room together.

The fifth member of our group, the one who I had almost forgotten was there, dug his claws through my dress and into the skin of my hips just as we started up the singing stairs.

"Hey!" I shouted as he clawed his way up my side and into my arms.

There had been a time when Sam had been small enough that I could hold him in one hand.

That time had long passed.

The others watched my familiars assault with smiles on their faces, but they did nothing to help me. Sam was cute, but he was also big enough that one swipe of his paw could send someone to the medery. It made sense that they were nervous around him.

"What is the matter with you?" I grunted as I tried to shift his weight to something more manageable.

My big blue familiar gave his best attempt at a whisper. "Something has come for you. It is drawing closer."

"You couldn't have just told me that? I just got these dresses. I would like it if they weren't torn to shreds." I whispered back.

The others did not turn around at Sam's hushed words, but they did at my failed attempt at a whisper.

"If you rip my dress, I'll pull off your skin." I growled over the sound of his claws popping free from my jacket.

Plia's eyes went wide at my harsh words. "Whoa."

I shook my head. "No, wait. That isn't as bad as it sounds, I promise."

Sam whispered again. "I would not spoil your opportunity to form bonds. It is to difficult for you as it is. Something here means to take you away. I have felt it before, but I do not know where."

"Azza?" I asked, the golden eyed Mother coming to my mind immediately. If there was anyone who would suddenly show up and snatch me away, it was her.

"No. I know her scent." Sam answered.

"The other Mothers?" I tried.

Sam dug his claws back through my clothes as I tripped on a step. "They are close, but it is not them that I sense."

"I just want to let you know," Mallory said as she turned around and walked backwards up the stairs. "That the point of whispering is so no one can hear you. What are you talking about The Mothers for?"

"Did she tell you?" Vanda asked back over her shoulder.

"Did she tell me what?" Mallory called back, looking confused.

Vanda repeated her question. "Did she tell you why she was talking about The Mothers?"

"No." Mallory answered as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Then she does not wish for you to know. I swear, I am the only civilized moon among you." Vanda sighed.

Plia stopped at the landing we were climbing towards and spun around on the heels of her black laced boots. "That's it, I'm going back. I don't care if it's our last day or not."

"No!" Mallory and Vanda shouted in unison as they took her by her arms and carried her towards Precept Seram's classroom.

When she calmed, they put her down, and Vanda turned back to me.

"We are all going to this tavern in Hymneth after class. Most of the Precepts go there, so they let us stay out after curfew, would you want to go?" She asked me.

The look in her eyes was open and kind, and if it had not been for Sam's weight setting my arms to burning, I may have cried.

Mallory stuck her finger into my chest right where Benny's pearly spot was and glanced at where Alexei stood by the door. "But you can only come if you bring him."

I smiled, truly grateful for the invitation, and swallowed the nervousness that was rising up in my throat.

"No. I can't. I have a date." I said honestly, hoping that I had not just undone all the good things that had come from my time with them.

Mallory pushed me playfully. "What? And you're just saying this now? It would have been nice to know I have competition"

"You don't have to answer, but with who? Is it one of the older moons?" Vanda whispered.

I laughed at the two of them. They seemed so interested, that it felt like they thought that I held all the secrets of chaos within my mind. "She's not a sorceress. She's a mortal."

Plia joined in their curiosity, a smirk turning up the corner of her thin lips. "It's the girl from the library. The one you were kissing, right?"

"She did what in the library? And you didn't tell me?" Mallory gasped.

"I didn't think it was any of your business." Plia shrugged.

I couldn't tell her, but I appreciated her silence far more than she would ever know. It felt strange talking about Anna with the other new moons when only a few short weeks ago, they had thought I was violent and crazy.

"How did you meet?" Is it your first date," Mallory asked, getting closer to me with every question. "Have you, you know?"

My blush returned so quickly and so intensely that I was surprised my face did not burst into flames.

"Mallory!" Vanda groaned at the other new moon's bluntness.

Fortunately for me, Precept Seram stuck her head into the hall before I had to find a way to answer anything.

"Come, I have a gift for you all" My pink haired precept called down to us. Her voice alone was enough to start us walking again, and I hoped her presents would be distracting enough for Mallory to forget that I had not answered her.

Alexei watched us with his one white eye as we passed.

Mallory stopped, crossed her legs, and leaned against the doorway. "We are all going to a tavern in Hymneth after class, if I see you there, I'll buy you a drink."

I could not stop the laughter from rolling out of me. She may be able to make me blush with a word, but I doubted there was anyone in chaos that could bring color to my white haired guard's cheeks.

Sam gave me another of his growling whispers as Vanda pulled Mallory into the classroom after her. "They are close. Stay alert."

Precept Seram stood in the center of the room, a small table having joined the row of chairs that were always there. Ribbons hung around the top of the walls in pristine whites and pastel blues, with clusters of her bubbles holding them together.

"Master Samsara! I am pleased that you have joined us. To celebrate our last day together, I have brought cake and chokeberry wine." Precept Seram said as she waved her hand over the table of sweets and drinks.

Plia reached the center of the room and had taken a slice of cake before I could so much as blink.

"But first, Underwitch Ire has achieved something in her first phase that I believe should be celebrated," Seram said as she took the terraces to my place and pulled open the curtain in one graceful movement. "After much effort and triumph, she has reached the second set of assignments after only one month."

Balanced in the middle of the table where the square metal weight had been not very long before, was a perfect round ball of metal.

"Pretty and strong? That's not fair." Mallory said in feigned disappointment.

Vanda looked me in my eyes and smiled. "I've been here for three years and I still haven't gotten to the balls. Good work."

Mallory snorted.

"Mmhhpf!" Plia grunted through her mouth of cake, one of her little hands held up in approval.

I did not truly understand why they were complimenting me, but it felt much too nice for me to disagree.

"Well done, Underwitch Ire. Well done." Precept Seram called out as they all gave me small applause.

Just as quickly as it began, it ended.

A voice echoed through the door as we all turned to see who had arrived to the classroom.

"Is all this for me? I was only gone for a few days." Tana said as she was carried into the room on the back of the familiar Auden.

Sam writhed in my arms, but I clutched him to my chest despite the pain it caused me.

"Stop, it's okay. I saw him when I was away. He doesn't seem like a threat." I whispered harshly as I retreated into my place.

For once, my contemptuous familiar listened to me.

His eyes glowing yellow and his fangs bared, he looked at me with pain in his face. "And you did not say so earlier? How can I protect you if you are dishonest with me, My Lady?"

I did not know how to answer Othersam, and I watched as the others all ran over to Tana in a jubilant greeting.

Just like with the warden, it should not have hurt me to see them so happy that she had returned, but it did.

Auden glanced at Sam and I with all four of his silver eyes as they passed.

Precept Seram tried to return everyone's attention back to me. "Underwitch Tana, we were just congratulating Underwitch Ire on her impressive achievement."

Tana looked past me from atop her silver furred mount and saw the metal ball resting in the middle of my table.

She may be the daughter of the man that I wished was my father and the others may like her far more than they did me, but at least I was stronger than her.

"That's not bad for you," She said as she pointed at her own place and I heard the sound of her curtain being pulled open. "When you can lift that, I'll be impressed."

I took the steps that I knew I shouldn't have and peered over at her table.

There was a metal ball just like mine, but it was at least three times as large.

I had never been ahead of her.

I had just assumed she was stuck on the same assignment I was when I had been eavesdropping in the covery.

Still clutching Sam to my chest, I turned and left the classroom without another word.

Precept Seram and the others called after me, but I did not slow.

There was one place in Lun, one thing, one person, that Tana could never take from me and I had a date with her that so had just decided to start early.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you about Auden. I will tell you and Anna both when we get to our quarters." I said down to my yellow eyed familiar as I pushed away all of the teary thoughts that filled my mind.

"I forgive you, My Lady. I am sure you had your reasons." Sam said in his higher pitched voice.

I let out a pitiful sounding laugh. "Why can't this Sam be around all the time? Auden was what was troubling you, right? He was the presence you felt."

"You do not need this Sam all the time," Sam said as he pawed at his face. "And no. There is something else that wants to take you, but it has gone away for now."

I sighed and asked him a question that I knew he could not answer. "Why does that make me feel worse?"

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