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When the pair sat down, I leaned over to Ela and asked, "Are you okay?"
"I left a little later than I expected, and it was a lot longer walk across the courtyard than I'd planned for," he said.
"But you're okay?" I pressed.
He looked over and his dark eyes caught mine. "I won't be able to guarantee it until after our session, but I am. Everything is perfectly okay, Nari."
Which was all I needed to hear. There was a relief in his gaze that I hadn't expected. All this time, we'd trusted him so much, but he had never dared to trust himself, and nothing I'd done had been able to change that. Ela had been willing to lie to us about this if he had to, and the whole time he'd been struggling to make sure that he never lost control. Now, he finally knew.
Naturally, Saval wanted to talk to him after class. We waited in the hall, only for him to come out with a smile on his face. At lunch, he explained to us that if he could get an excellent on this next session, she would mark him as certified for all pain sessions. He wouldn't need to go through any other testing, because Saval trusted him to judge himself.
Then Wraythe told us all exactly what had happened - including the candle. Surprisingly, Anver was okay with it. Yes, I gave Ela a look of concern, but by the time Wraythe was done telling the story, we were all excited for Ela. Peyron hadn't set limits, and I knew how big of a deal that was for my partner. More than that, the way Wraythe told it, Peyron had even pushed a little, but Ela had stopped on his own. He admitted that the desire to hurt the man had still been there - unlike the time he'd been with Talin - and yet he hadn't lost control. He hadn't even needed to fight himself too hard.
So we all decided to call this a success. That meant Ela shouldn't have a single problem with his session assignment at the end of the week - which was only a day and a half away. My own assignment was going to be easy. Horribly so. In all honesty, I wasn't really looking forward to sex with some pampered, spoiled, rich virgin. I just had a sinking suspicion that this was going to go wrong somehow.
But with another practical lesson in my First Aid class, the time flew by much too quickly. Before I knew it, our entire suite was a mess of chaos as we all hurried to get ready for our appointed session time. We made sure that Anver got what he needed first. Like everyone else, Tishlie had a session tonight, so he needed to head to her room and make sure she managed to make it there.
Then we worried about our own clothes. Thanks to Talin's advice, I decided to go for a dress that was a little more casual-looking and easy to get out of. The sort of thing that I could take off myself. Ela, on the other hand, went with a very ornate suit. It looked really good on him, and gave him a very dangerous air. Considering what his patron had asked for, it was perfect. And both of us had decided to wear nothing but black. It marked us as priests of Zeal, and yet still managed to look seductive.
But for this session, all of our guardians had been instructed to go armed. Wraythe didn't look like he was carrying a weapon, but I knew he'd strapped on his wrist sheath. His size, however, was enough to stop most people before they tried anything. Talin, on the other hand, wore not only the daggers he always carried, but also his formal sword. In my opinion, it looked good on him, the silver hilt a stark contrast against his black suit.
Thankfully, we no longer had to worry about checking in like we had our first year as initiates. Now, Migard made sure a key was sent to us the evening before. Because our sessions were with real patrons, the goal was for us to get to our room before they arrived. Keys in hand, the four of us set out to make it to our rooms in time.
There was a line of people making their way from the initiate halls towards the dome in the center of the temple. When we reached the end of our hall, we joined them. Most were guardians with their desires. A few of the students in our class had started to pair up, making clusters of four, just like ours. For the most part, we all looked happy, or at least at ease about this assignment.
As we reached the center of the temple, groups broke off for the various halls. It was impossible to tell by looking which specialization a Priest or Priestess had claimed, but I could guess with a few. That guy had been known to like pain when he was in primary with me. He likely was a Control specialist now. That woman was the kind to end up in Sensuality.
Glancing at my key, I found it was marked for room 301. I paused, making sure I knew which side of the central hall that would be on, and Ela paused with me. A crease formed in his brow as he looked at his own key. I caught the first number between his fingers. It was a two.
"So, looks like I'm down here," I said.
"Guess they put the more dangerous stuff near the center," Ela teased. "Here's hoping it's an easy session, Nari."
I nodded, agreeing with him. "And you've got this."
"I do," he promised.
But just as I turned to take Talin's arm, I swore I heard my name. It made me pause to look back. Seeing nothing, I shrugged it off and started walking again. Talin gave me a look of confusion, and I just sighed. Then, as I opened my mouth to explain, it happened again.
"Priestess Nariana!" This time, the man's voice was closer.
I barely had time for it to register before he grabbed my arm, pulling me to a halt. Talin didn't hesitate. The dagger he wore on his belt was out of its sheath and in the man's face even as Talin's other hand shoved him back. Only then did I recognize the guy's face.
Migard lifted both hands, making it clear he'd let me go. "I think I made a mistake," he panted, proving he'd run after me to fix this. "I was in my office, and I just happened to look at the assignment page again, and..." He tipped his head at me. "Priestess, I think I gave you the wrong key."
"Is there a problem?" This time, the voice was one I knew very, very well.
"Jamik," I said, turning to find my almost-dad walking up. "No, Migard just surprised me." Then I reached over and pushed Talin's hand down, reminding him that he could put away the dagger. "Sounds like there was a room mix-up."
"And you shouldn't be in this hall," Jamik countered.
"Which is what I was trying to say," Migard insisted. "Priestess Nariana, I think I flipped the numbers. Well, or someone did. You should be in room 103, not 301." He lifted another key to make the point.
So I passed him back the one I had and took the one he offered as replacement. "Ok?"
"What do you mean, 'someone'?" Talin pressed.
Migard bobbed his head in a nod, making it clear he'd heard that. "Well, we have a sheet of our assignments. That's used for scheduling the rooms. With as many sessions as we're having tonight, it's been a bit of a madhouse." He waved that off. "I took my sheet and got keys for each room. Then I checked those and passed them to the priest or priestess assigned to them. It's pretty standard stuff."
