Yu had just finished her delicious Fire Affinity poultry dinner with spicy peppers in a curry sauce over a bed of rice when one of the group’s new girls, Shaiming Nuo, asked, “Does anyone know when schedules get reassessed? I talked to Elder Yuxi about wanting to shift mine around so I could align my hunting days better with my group, but she said it had to wait until everyone did it at the same time so the schedules would be aligned.”

Yu coughed and Li called, “Don’t talk about schedules with Yu around.”

Most everyone at the table immediately paid attention to the discussion, as usually happens Yu’s name was mentioned. Shing answered, “For your first year, you have to wait until the full year is up, after that, schedules get reassessed every six months. Now what was that about Yu’s schedule?”

“Ummm. My schedule is kind of… umm…”

"Insane!” Li shouted.

“Crazy,” Lu added.

Next to Yu, Ai nodded.

Yu sighed. “I was going to say full. But those work too.”

“What do you mean? How full?” asked Nuo.

Li laughed but Yu just glared at her. Then she cleared her throat and told them. “Well, I have twelve affinity classes, a healing class, a martial class, two enchanting classes, a beast bond training, individual lessons with my master, and two full days per week for hunting and missions.”

Silence fell at the table.

“How the nine hells can you do that?” another girl at the end of the table squeaked.

Yu looked at her and then the rest of those staring and said, “Dedication, determination, and…”

“Stubbornness,” Lu cut in.

“Insanity,” Li added.

Ai nodded again.

Yu sighed. “Well, what else can I do? My master controls my schedule and he isn’t exactly the most flexible fellow.”

“Ha! If there was any more proof needed that he was off, that schedule just proves it,” came from someone else.

“That reminds me,” Yu said, “He’s out of the sect doing something so I have Day 6 evening free him. Anyone want to go to the auction?”

About a third agreed or raised their hands, the rest declined for various reasons.

“Great!” Li called then looked directly at her sister.

Lu nodded and told the group, “Yu has one spot open in her suite. We’ll work out who’s joining us there after dinner.”

Yu looked at the two curiously, wondering what they were up to. She had figured she’d just invite whoever arrived first.

Whatever…

Then Yu got up and headed out with Ai while all the rest stayed.

Before Yu and Ai had made through the dorm door, Li and Lu ran up them. “Hey Yu,” Li said sweetly, giving her big begging eyes that reminded Yu of Bai when he wanted to play with his beast friends after class.

“What?” Yu asked suspiciously.

“Can I have the badge to your auction box tonight?” he asked in begging tone.

Yu sighed. “Again? Who is it this time?” Li had a parade of boys she liked to sucker into taking her out to dinner and then spending a night in Yu’s suite. None of them lasted more than a few evenings before she got bored and moved on. “You know what, never mind. I don’t want to know. As long as you’re happy.” Then she pulled the silver medallion from her ring and tossed to Li.

“Thanks!” she said happily.

“Hey Yu?” Lu asked, with an intentionally over-the-top impersonation of her sister.

Yu laughed. “Yes, Lu, you can have it tomorrow night. As long as I get it back for Thursday’s auction, I’m fine.”

“Thanks!” Lu said, back to her normal calm self, but wearing a blush. In Lu’s case, Yu knew for a fact that it was her favorite eagle rider who would be accompanying Lu tomorrow night. Those two had gotten quite close over the last months. Their shared passion for beasts had been a critical element in their burgeoning relationship and Yu was thrilled for both of them. Additionally, he had seemed to have mostly worked out whatever it was with the nobles because she hadn’t had to heal him in quite a while.

“You should find yourself a man or three also,” Li added not at all helpfully. “You need to destress.”

“No, thank you!” Yu said emphatically. “I destress just fine in the training room I pay two hundred points for.”

“See?” she yelled jabbing her finger at Yu. “You have to pay! Even your destressing is stressing. You need some serious help, Yu. And time with a few men who knows how to—”

“No!” Yu yelled before she had to hear yet more details that made her very uncomfortable. “I really don’t. Do you know what the letter that I got with the portrait of my baby brother said? My father has been receiving engagement requests!”

“Ooooooh. Anybody good?” Li asked excitedly.

“Who cares?” Yu called as a statement more than a question. “Not interested. I wrote back that very moment and told him if he entertained any I wouldn’t be coming home.”

“You’re ridiculous! Both of you.” Lu added.

Suddenly Yu got a strange feeling. She stopped walking and looked around. “What is it?” Li asked.

Yu only held up her hand, turning a slow circle, trying to figure out where that strange sensation was coming from. There was a twinge in her mind, right at the source of her power. Where she had visited earlier that morning to “speak with” in regards to the knife. Beyond that thought, she had become a lot more attuned and sensitive to her affinity over the last nine months. With that her awareness was telling her someone was either using the Spatial Affinity nearby, or she was sensing some sort of event that tweaked at her own power.

“That’s strange,” Yu muttered. “Something’s weird.” Normally she’d ask her master about anything that made her feel as though her power was acting up, but he was long gone and probably millions of Li away. That left her to go to the outer sect leader, her master’s brother and someone else familiar with the Spatial Affinity. Unfortunately, it was too late and he was no longer in his office.

“Maybe you just ate the spicy dinner too fast,” Lu offered.

Li laughed. “Oh gods, that would be so funny! Fenghuang Yu, of all people, getting indigestion!” She nearly fell onto the stone walkway she was laughing so hard at the image.

“Very funny!” Yu huffed. “Never mind, I’ll deal with it tomorrow. Can’t do anything about it anyway. And there’s nothing wrong with liking spicy food!”

That left Li and Lu roaring with laughter and Ai silently laughing into Yu’s shoulder.

“I don’t have indigestion!” Yu shouted while stomping her foot. Then she glared at them all and marched into the dorm.

***

Yu woke in a panic, sitting up in her bed and gasping for breath. She frantically looked around the room, trying to swipe aside the sweat-soaked hair from her face. She rolled out of bed, the wet covers following her until they fell to the floor beneath her bare feet.

Yu turned back and forth, trying to figure out why she had such a dreadful feeling roiling inside of her. But try as she might, she could find nothing in her room that could be a threat.

Stop panicking. Get control.

With an effort beyond what it should require, Yu was able to slow her breathing. She closed her eyes and just stood, calming her panic and looking inward. The first thing she felt was Bai’s worry. She sent thoughts of calm and apologies to him.

Maybe it was a nightmare…

Sensing him relax and her bond return to a sleepy purr, she ran her hand through her hair and grimaced at how gross it felt. All of her felt disgusting in fact. Soaked in sticky sweat, Yu removed all of her clothes and used a cloth and the water basin in her room to wipe herself down. It was no bath, but at least she stopped feeling like she had just left a day in the marsh.

Just as she was grabbing a new set of night clothes and bedding, she heard frantic knocking on her door. Still a bit jumpy from her nightmare, Yu spun, calling on her Qi to create thorns all over her body.

“Yu!” Lu’s voice called. “Wake up. Something happened!”

Yu scrambled to put on her sect uniform as she called back, “What’s going on?”

“Someone attacked my sister!” Lu frantically called.

Yu dropped the outer robe she was about to put on, threw the door aside, and ran out into the suite, her feet still bare. The soles of her feet skidded to a halt as she looked what awaited her.

Standing there were five people. Two of them were larger men wearing all black robes and strange masks. One was a green mask with large white tusks carved out of it, and the other was a red mask shaped to look like a fierce and terrifying grin. In between them stood Li. She wore a thin short nightdress which was wholly inappropriate to be seen in around others. She wasn’t being held, or restrained in any way. In fact, she simply stood there, staring at Yu. It was that contrast, seeing a girl always exuding an untamed life, showing nothing but a lifeless glare that broke Yu from her surprised daze. To her left she saw another disciple, one Yu did not recognize, standing in front of Ai’s door, holding his hands up exuding a cloud of darkness over it. He gave her a leering grin, but said nothing.

“What–” Yu started to ask as she called power. But none would come. Then she felt the Qi around and within her freeze. She’d been seized. Yu began to panic, lurching for her power, pressing as hard as she could against whatever held her, but it was like it at always been, pushing against an immovable object. Only emptiness and helplessness welcomed her.

“Do it,” one of the masked men said in a growly voice.

Then Yu felt a little prick in the side of her neck, followed by Lu walking into her vision, holding a long thin silver needle. Yu immediately began feeling sick to her stomach and her body began to tingle and give off a slight burn. Then everything went somewhat fuzzy in her eyes, but the prickling did not lessen in the least.

The man in a red mask approached. “No badge. Well that makes this easier,” he said. And Yu groggily realized that he was right. She had rushed out so quickly she hadn’t attached it. Her habit was always to do so to her outer robes, which were currently lying on her room floor. “Still awake, hmmm?” Red Mask continued. “I wondered, with you having a high gold body. Don’t worry, we aren’t killing you. The job was to deliver you alive. But I won’t pretend it is going to be painless. This concoction is a bit more… spicy than your dinner.”

“Again,” ordered the green mask and he held out his black-gloved hand with another needle in it. Lu reached forward, took it, and walked up to Yu with a similarly glaring look in her eyes like her sister. Yu tried to send messaged through her eyes, pleading that her friend not do it, that she help. But she saw nothing but that furious glare as she stabbed Yu in the neck again. After only a breath, the tingling burn morphed into a scorching pain throughout her whole body. The blurriness worsened and blackness crept from the edges of her vision into the middle until she saw nothing, but the pain never stopped.

“Move,” she barely heard as just for a brief moment the pressure on her released and she felt her body fall limp. She tried to move, tried to call Qi, but nothing worked. There was only darkness and pain.

Then she felt her body being manipulated. Her legs and arms were tucked into herself and her head was pressed down against her knees.

“She’s still awake.”

“Dose her again.”

“The alchemist said too much would kill her. The risk is—”

“She’ll live. If she’s still awake after two, she can take another. Do it yourself though. I can feel the big one fighting. There’s no reason to press our luck.”

“I knew that alchemist was too full of himself.”

“Just do it. The distractions won’t last forever.”

A few breaths later Yu vaguely felt a third prick in her neck and then Yu knew only pain. She felt like her blood was boiling inside her veins and the pressure would make her explode.

After an eternity, the pain, along with the rest of the world faded into darkness, and Yu knew nothing. Her last thoughts were of the angry eyes of her friends and the terror of an unknown future.