"Mia, can you search for books on defenses against scrying, wards against astral bodies, and detecting concentrations of mana? Do it discreetly, and, if you find some, buy them along with a variety of other books to be delivered here as soon as possible. If anyone is taking an interest in my purchases, it should just look like I'm stocking my library."

  "Yes, Arabella, although the search will take some time. I will contact you when I have completed the order. At this time I suggest you deactivate your bath's enchantment to conserve mana."

  "I will in just a few minutes. I want to do one more thing while I'm in here."

  Mia didn't answer, which I assumed meant that she was busy searching for the books I wanted. I fiddled with the bath for a few minutes, allowing more hot water to flow in until the temperature had risen suitably. The tepid water hadn't bothered my body, but warm water was much more relaxing. When the water felt just right, I leaned back again and closed my eyes, focusing on my link with Ronaldo.

  The Pegasus was still asleep in the stable but otherwise didn't appear any worse for wear than when I had left him. I couldn't quite tell what he was dreaming about, but the overall impression I received was that he was happy. Unlike my connection with Mia, which gave her access to pretty much everything about me, my bridge to Ronaldo felt like a long tube that stretched between us. When I concentrated on it, I could feel power flowing through the "tube", mostly towards me. That made sense, I currently received a much greater benefit from our connection than he did. Trying to trace the flow of energy back to its source yielded interesting results. I had originally assumed that the power was coming from Ronaldo's spirit, but that wasn't the case at all. It seemed to be coming from the connection itself.

  I tried sending mana through the link but that didn't work at all. It felt like trying to push a rope through a brick wall. I already knew that thoughts and feelings passed through the link, so I didn't bother trying those. After some probably very amusing-looking straining and grunting I gave up and followed Mia's advice. I let the water out of the bathtub and stood up. As I did so, my mental acuity returned to normal but the stress level remained diminished. I chalked that up to the effects of a good, hot bath.

  I climbed out of the tub and looked around for something to dry off with. There was a plush teal bath rug on the floor but nothing in the way of towels, so I would need to figure out a magical solution. Heating my skin up was probably possible but didn't seem like a good idea. Could I make my body repel the water somehow? I stood there pondering the dilemma for a solid minute before realizing the water was already gone.

  "Of course, magical properties in the water," I said to myself.

  Now that I was dry I also wanted to be clothed. It took a few minutes to figure out, but I managed to get my robe to come back out of my skin and stay out. Once I was relatively sure that my clothes were not going to betray my trust, I opened the door to my room.

  Nothing seemed out of place, but somehow I knew that someone had been in my room while I had been in the bathtub. Looking around, I noticed a card made of thick white paper had been placed on the small round table in the center of the room. It read, "Your dinner awaits you in the salon, Madame Arabella".

  I wasn't necessarily hungry but the thought of food sounded good. The only problem was, I wasn't exactly sure what room the salon was in. I figured it was the room with food in it. In hindsight, I needn't have worried. I was able to smell the pot roast as soon as I opened my door and I simply followed my nose down the stairs, across the atrium, and into a small but opulent salon.

  A square table with two chairs at opposite ends stood by the front windows, covered with a white tablecloth and set with fine china dishes and gold cutlery. As I looked at all the dishes, I realized that the table was set for one: all this food was for me. A weird lump stuck in my throat. I didn't really know why the sight of a meal affected me so much, but it did. It took a few deep breaths before the feeling passed.

  I sat down, slowly picked up a fork, and took a small bite of the pot roast meat. It was delicious. I dug in eagerly and within five minutes had more or less demolished the entire meal. I settled back into the chair and rubbed my stomach as I surveyed the damage I had caused. Then, without really thinking about what I was doing, I gathered up all the dishes and started wandering around looking for the kitchen. I passed through a dining room and an equally large salon before I found the entrance.

  It must have been one of the strangest sights the folks in the kitchen had ever seen as I backed into the kitchen. I had managed to stack all the dishes and silverware into a single pile that required both hands to manage, so I had to use my rear end to open the door.

  "Hi everyone," I said with a smile as all six of the kitchen staff ran over to assist me. I didn't have any hands to wave them off, but I shook my head as a burly man in a chef's hat tried to relieve me of the stack of dishes.

  "I'll handle these. I know my way around a kitchen. You're all dismissed for the day unless you need to cook for yourselves. I don't think I'll need another meal...I'm stuffed."

  The staff bowed to me before hustling out through the outer door. A young girl was the last in line.

  "You, in the back there," I called out. "Hold on a second."

  The girl turned to face me, eyes wide with terror. She was probably about nine years old and had dark curly hair with olive skin. I smiled at her and looked for somewhere to set down the dishes. Finding a counter close by, I deposited my burden and walked over to the little girl, then knelt down so that we were eye to eye.

  "What's your name, little one," I asked her. "I'm Arabella."

  "Y-Yasmina, mistress," she stammered.

  "Can you hear me?" I thought at her. "If you can, say 'Boo'."

  I waited a moment for her to say something, smiling at her and looking into her adorable chocolate eyes. I would have loved having a playmate like her a month ago.

  "Did you hear a voice in your mind, just a second ago?" I finally asked.

  "No, mistress, I heard nothing," the little girl answered.

  The knot in my throat reappeared. I had no idea why I had hoped that this little girl would turn out just like me, but I was heartbroken that she wasn't.

  "Well run along and play, sweetie," I choked out. "Tomorrow things will have to go back to normal, I'm afraid."

  Yasmina nodded and ran off, whether out of excitement or fear I wasn't exactly sure. I watched the door bang shut behind her before returning to the task at hand: the dishes.

  The sink was already filled with tepid water, so I added some hot water from a nearby kettle, grabbed a dry rag, and got to work. I had just finished the first plate and set it in the drying rack when I heard someone enter the kitchen. It was Clemencia.

  "Madame Arabella, I confess that I am perplexed. Were the dishes not cleaned to your satisfaction?"

  I put another dish in the rack.

  "Not at all. I just wanted to do the dishes myself. Also, I told all the kitchen staff they could go. I didn't need a team of six people to feed me today."

  "As you wish, Mistress Arabella."

  "By the way, do I actually need to eat? Since I don't have to use the bathroom, I thought maybe..."

  "Technically, you could survive off of mana alone, but I have been told it is not pleasant to do so for too long."

  "So, did one of the kitchen staff come and find you? Or did you guess that I'd end up here?"

  "Yes, I was alerted to your presence in the kitchens, so I came to check on you."

  Stolen novel; please report.

  I thunked another dish down into the drying rack.

  "Well, while you're here I'd like you to gather everyone together tomorrow in the late afternoon when it's cooler outside. I wish to deliver a speech."

  "It will be arranged, Mistress Arabella."

  "Thank you. Anyways, I won't need anything else today, so you can go now."

  "There is one item that I'd like to bring to your attention if you please. The mana in your estate's battery is low and needs recharging. Should I arrange to have a replacement battery teleported here?"

  That was odd. It was my first day here, but I'd already used up most of the mana that powered the estate? It took me a long moment to realize that my long, hot bath must have used more mana than I'd realized.

  "No, I'll recharge it myself. Where is this 'battery'?"

  "You'll find the battery room in the basement. It's next to your personal teleportation chamber and across from the laboratory."

  I had my very own laboratory? That sounded pretty awesome. The only negative was that I had no idea what a laboratory was.

  "What does the battery look like?"

  "It's a large gemstone. An opal to be specific, Mistress Arabella."

  I finished another dish. Clemencia made what I thought was a disapproving face when she saw me reach for the next one, but said nothing.

  "Well, that should narrow things down," I responded. "I'll pop down there when I'm through with these dishes. Why don't you come to find me two hours after sunrise or so? We can have breakfast together and discuss how we'll run things on the estate."

  Clemencia curtseyed deferentially.

  "It will be as you have commanded. Should I have the cooks prepare anything specific for your meals?"

  "No, they can use their best judgment," I replied before holding up one of the last dishes for her to see.

  "But I would prefer smaller meals with fewer dishes. I think we may need to reassign some of the kitchen staff."

  "As you wish, Madame Arabella."

  "Thank you. I'll see you tomorrow."

  Alone again, I made short work of the remaining dishes and set off to find the stairs down to the basement. I could have asked my steward, but the idea of exploring the Estate all by myself and discovering its secrets appealed to me. I made my way to the master staircase by the front door and immediately spotted the magical signature of a secret door. The door swung open my touch, revealing a winding staircase made of dark granite. I descended the staircase and found myself in a shotgun hall that could accommodate four people abreast quite easily.

  Every so often one of the grey slate panels on the walls of the staircase and the ceiling of the corridor beyond gave off a yellowish light that was sufficient to see by, although not very well. The floor was made of the same dark granite as the staircase and felt nice and cool on my bare feet (it wasn't until later that I thought to make myself suitable footwear).

  There were six doors in all: one at the far end, three to the left, and two on the right. The first door on the left was a small teleportation chamber. It was nowhere near as opulent as Bandar's but seemed well-built. The dais was made of a single slab of white marble covered with mystic runes. That reminded me: I needed to have Mia order a book on runes for my library.

  "Mia, please add a book on runes to your shopping list."

  "Acknowledged," my assistant responded in her usual flat tone.

  The next door was on the right-hand side of the hallway. It was made of thick wooden planks reinforced with bands of metal. Despite its bulk, however, it swung open noiselessly, revealing a room even larger than my bedroom. There were numerous devices similar to the ones in my room grouped by what I assumed was function. The floor was springy and seemed to be made all in one piece: I couldn't detect any cracks. The walls were oddly textured. Looking up, the ceiling was the same as the walls, except there were numerous lights that bathed the entire room in a harsh white light.

  "Mia, I'm sorry to bother you if you're still working, but can you tell me what this room is?"

  "This is the Estate’s laboratory. Detecting equipment designed for chemistry, rune-smithing, imbuing, tinkering, and gem-cutting."

  "Those are a lot of different words, yes. I'm going to need a book on each of those subjects, please. And maybe a dictionary."

  "The book order previously requested is complete and contains basic instruction manuals on a variety of topics, Arabella. Please specify if a particular topic requires additional focus."

  I gave Mia a mental thumbs up.

  "No, that's great, thanks. I'm glad you're finished because I need to recharge the estate's battery and I was hoping that you could help me with that."

  "Affirmative. Core programming includes a wide range of functional knowledge designed to benefit new Citizens.”

  "I'll take that as a 'yes'," I chuckled.

  I left the laboratory and walked straight over to the door across the hall. The chamber beyond was indeed the battery room and was much smaller than the room I had just left. Despite the size difference, the battery room radiated both power and importance in a way the laboratory did not. The room was a perfect cube as far as I could tell. Glowing blue lines ran in complex patterns across the jet-black walls, floor, and ceiling. They converged on a single pillar that dominated the center of the room.

  "Step one: open the pillar to access the Mana Battery," Mia explained.

  I took a tentative step forward, fearful that the blue lines would somehow hurt me, but the floor merely felt warm to the touch. I held out my hand to the pillar and gasped when portions of it retracted, revealing a glittering multicolor gemstone the size of my thumb.

  "Step two: Recharge gemstone."

  "But how? I've never done this before."

  "That information is not currently available. Several books are available on the topic. Should an order be placed?"

  "That's not funny, Mia. I have to figure this out."

  My assistant lapsed into silence, allowing me to concentrate on the problem at hand. I had a magic-filled opal that was ready to be filled up and I had mana inside me ready to fill up the gemstone. My best guess was that I needed to make a connection with the opal and then pump mana through that link, much as I had tried earlier with Ronaldo but failed. That made sense, he was a Pegasus and living beings probably had different rules.

  After a few minutes of straining with my mind, I didn't feel any closer to success. I decided to try something else.

  "Let's see," I said to myself. "Isn't my Metagift called 'tactile magic'?"

  Before I even had a chance to ask Mia, floating text appeared.

  "Mia, what's 'tactile magic'?"

  There was a short pause before Mia responded as if she had gone off to look something up.

  "'Tactile magic' is not in the list of known Metagifts."

  "Well, then how is it showing up with my other attributes screen? If there is no information about it, what doesn't it just show as 'unknown'?"

  "Unknown."

  "Ok well there's another mystery to solve when we have the time," I replied, "can you at least tell me what 'tactile' means?"

  "'Tactile' refers to the sense of touch. A sample sentence can be produced if needed."

  "Not necessary, I think I know what I have to do."

  I took a deep breath and took another step towards the pillar. Then I reached out my hand placed my right index finger on the opal itself. Then I gasped. I could feel the magic inside the stone, flowing deep inside the crystalline lattice that gave the gem its hardness and luster. The sensations were incredible and so information-rich. I could feel the tiny imperfections within the stone, its shape and quality, and roughly how much more mana it could store before becoming overloaded. I felt like I was on the verge of some deeper understanding of the nature of the crystal but trying to focus on the knowledge caused it to vanish like a puff of smoke.

  I reached out to the pool of mana stored within the rock and sampled it carefully. The mana was extremely dense and homogenous due to the uniformity of the opal's internal structures. The close examination made me realize that I could do something similar with my own mana if I could properly align my spirit. Something inside me shivered at the realization.

  Having learned as much as I could from the gemstone, it was time to start refilling it. I began pushing mana through my extended senses and targeted a portion of the gem that was already exhausted. Power flowed from me unsteadily at first but the transfer grew smoother as I got the hang of things. As each section filled up I moved to a new area, and before long the gemstone was about a third of the way full. I decided to stop there, I didn't want Clemencia to know how much mana I still had in reserve.

  "Mia, can you tell me how close to being full the opal is now?"

  "The Estate management system shows a thirty-five percent charge."

  “I had a weird feeling while I was touching the gemstone. Do you know what that was?”

  “Scanning for changes. Additional insight detected.”

  The explanation that Mia had given to me previously about insights, epiphanies, and revelations was starting to bother me. Who had decided that my powers needed to be bottled up until I learned ‘enough’ to use them properly? And why sets of seven? The entity that had assisted me during the Metamorphosis had said the ancients were obsessed with threes.

  "Mia, how can you tell that I've gained an insight?"

  "The Soulbond provides access to such information."

  "Can you unlock a portion of my power now?"

  "Negative. Core safety protocols intact. Unable to authorize early release."

  "Blarg. Okay, well can you tell me what some insights are, so I can unlock them quickly?"

  "Negative. Unable to provide direct tutelage in the magical arts."

  The idea of a tutor to help me understand the arcane mysteries that surrounded me sounded like a great idea. On the other hand, I wasn't sure if I'd be able to hide my full potential from another Citizen for very long. I'd have to give the matter some serious thought.

  I sighed. Not only was I a bit fatigued from transferring mana into the estate's battery, but I also wasn't sure what to do now. Mia and I still had much to discuss, Ronaldo was beginning to stir out in the stables, and there was a myriad of magical devices lying around that I wanted to learn about. But what I really wanted was a nap. After all, Ronaldo had gotten one. Why shouldn't I? Having made up my mind, I headed back upstairs and entered my room.

  "Mia, if I don't wake up in two hours, please wake me," I asked my assistant.

  "Acknowledged," she replied in the same even tone she always did.

  I flopped onto the bed and rolled over onto my side. Sleep took me almost instantly.