Ember dips the nib of her reed into the inkwell of her p desk, shifts the slip of parchment that keeps the heel of her hand from smudging her previous work, and scribes the st word of her essay on devotary names. Relief courses through her; that's Valerian's years done, at least. She looks over at the rest of the titles in her stack — Coughn on ethics, Fergal on etiquette, Leannan on sexuality. She's saving Leannan for st — her earlier gnce through the book revealed a whole set of intriguing woodcuts, and by the time she gets there she'll need the pick-me-up.

  A pang of hunger strikes her stomach. Her hand is starting to cramp, too. She cleans her pen and stoppers the inkwell, then sets the p desk aside. She takes to her feet and leaves the double bed behind.

  As she crosses to the kitchen, she almost trips over a girl in the academy uniform. She's id across the pillow pit, her feet up on the far side of the two tiers, and a pillow is over her face. She's too tall to be Camellia and too short to be Fianna, and a braided ponytail of blonde hair falls from the back of her neck almost to her waist.

  "Maeve?" Ember approaches and kneels by the side of the pillow pit, and takes the pillow off the blonde girl's face. A pair of silver-framed gsses lie beneath on a soft, squishable face. Gosh her lips look kissable…

  Maeve stirs, and blinks open her jade eyes. "Ugh," she groans. "Camellia?"

  Her eyes don't quite focus on Ember for a moment: Maeve's gaze is lower than her face — then she pushes up her gsses and rubs her face, and when her hands fall away again her green eyes pierce Ember through. "Wait. No. You're the new girl. Ember... what was it?"

  "Ember Fallon." Ember takes a seat next to Maeve. "I overheard you earlier. How's it going?"

  Maeve groans, and sits up. Her hand goes to Ember's shoulder as she steadies herself, then she jerks it away as if she'd just touched a live coal. "Sorry!" She takes a long, shaky breath as her gaze flees Ember's body.

  "Is that answer enough for you," Maeve says. Her fingers curl around a cushion and squeeze hard. "I didn't mean to touch you, it's just —" She dumps a sigh out of her lungs. "I guess you could say I'm half in control of myself half the time." She ughs, then lets it peter out as she pinches the bridge of her nose.

  A fsh of pity goes through Ember. "I sympathize," she says with a sliver of a smile. "Is it alright if I help myself to some lunch?"

  "I'll do you one better," Maeve says. "I'll make it for you." She cmbers to her feet. Turning her back to Ember, she steps over to the kitchen and takes a chef's knife from the block, then reaches into the pantry and pulls out a loaf of bread and some cheese. She grabs a cutting board from a drawer, and efficiently cuts thin slices of both.

  Ember steps up next to Maeve at the kitchen counter, ptes the slices as they're cut, and breaks off a sprig of grapes from the pantry. "So what's your story? I've met Camellia and Fianna already. They seem to think you're dangerous somehow."

  Maeve keeps her gaze locked on her plunging knife. "Not really the point, right now." She takes a crisp breath, then exhales heavily through her nose. "Please don't distract me."

  Ember gives Maeve a cockeyed smile and pops a grape into her mouth. "What are you going to do, hold me down and make me fuck you?" She rolls her eyes. "Ishaza would be here within minutes, and besides, I don't really mind if I end up having sex with someone as cute as you."

  Maeve turns her head and drills her gaze into Ember's. "Don't joke. It could actually happen." She drives a harsh sigh from her lungs. "It almost did."

  "Fianna said. What'd she do that you couldn't contain yourself?"

  "Walked in on me masturbating." Maeve keeps her tone clipped and professional, though her steady gaze has slipped from Ember's eyes down to her breasts. "She thought she could help."

  The image of Maeve on her bed with a hand to her sex fshes through Ember's mind before she nudges it away. "I would've thought that Camellia would have been more the type to do that," she says. "Though honestly, what did Fianna expect?"

  "Your guess is as good as mine." Maeve dumps the st few cheese slices onto Ember's pte, and walks around her to put back the cheese and bread. "I've already eaten, but if you want to talk now that I'm not doing three things at once I'd be fine with that."

  Ember sits in the pillow pit, her pte settled on her criss-crossed legs. "Sure, that works for me."

  Maeve comes over to the pillow pit and drops down next to her as well. One of her hands brings the end of her braid over her shoulder, and she fidgets with the end of it, running her thumb over the tied-off ends. "So," she says. "What did you want to know?"

  Ember quirks up an eyebrow. "How you got to be in this situation, I guess. What's so important to you that you're dealing with this kind of punishment?"

  Maeve lets out a puff of ughter. "Immortality, obviously. Who wouldn't want to live forever?"

  Wonder enfolds Ember, and she touches her fingers to her lips. "I thought the guild didn't accept that kind of ambition."

  "I mean," Maeve tucks a strand of her blonde hair behind her ear. "I want that for everyone, not just me. I want to invent a better control meditation that makes kindling safer and lessens the risk of going feral. Ideally one that fixes the whole problem." She links her arms over her breasts. "I guess that's why Ishaza's making an object lesson of me."

  Ember picks up a small slice of cheese and takes a bite. "I see..." She settles a hand on the bunch of grapes and pulls off one grape, then another. "That's a worthy goal," she says.

  "It's a start," Maeve says. "I can't wait until I'm kindled and can actually try it all out myself." Her gaze lingers on Ember's fingers as they make loops from her pte to her lips and back again. "... May I kiss you?"

  Ember blinks. "Excuse me?"

  "I would like to kiss you," Maeve says. Her gaze darts away beneath her gsses. "And Ishaza has been telling me that I need to practice — disengaging once I've started, and not just not going there in the first pce."

  Ember cocks her head to the side, then a half-moon grin splits her face. "Sure," she says. "I don't mind being your practice dummy."

  Maeve crawls across the pillow pit, and almost puts herself in Ember's p, only the pte of food preventing her from closing the gap between their bodies. She pnts a firm hand on the back of the pillow pit, and leans in to seize Ember's lips in a deep and passionate kiss.

  Ember kisses back eagerly, her tongue twining together with Maeve's, and helps support her with a hand firmly pnted on her hip. Maeve hisses at the contact, and her thighs rub together beneath her dress — but after several long moments she tears herself away, panting and blown.

  "Fuck," Maeve wipes saliva from her lips with the back of her fist. "That was such a bad idea." Her free hand balls in her skirt, pressing in hard against her sex. "I... Should really go. Now. Before this escates." Her jaw hardens, and she swallows hard.

  Ember gives Maeve a pyful push on the shoulder. "Get gone then, horny girl," she says. "We wouldn't want to have another incident."

  Maeve jerks to standing, and leaves Ember alone to eat the rest of her meal.