Professor Vespera's hands were steady as she arranged the equipment on the heavy stone workbench, but her indigo Aether remained a turbulent violet. She pointed to a male student in the second row—a lanky, nervous boy named **Kaelen** who had a decent Earth affinity.
"Kaelen, assist Caelum," Vespera commanded. "We will be demonstrating **Phase-Shift Distillation**. The goal is to turn solid *Aether-Quartz* into a liquid state using only a shared resonance."
Caelum stepped up to the bench. He didn't look at Vespera, but he could feel her heat. He stood opposite Kaelen, a large, jagged crystal sitting in a glass bowl between them.
"Place your hands on the rim of the bowl," Vespera instructed. "Caelum, you provide the heat—the Gold energy. Kaelen, you provide the structure—the Earth energy. You must merge your pulses perfectly, or the glass will shatter."
As the two boys closed their eyes and began to channel, the rest of the class leaned in. But for **Isolde**, sitting in the front row, the "academic" demonstration quickly transformed into something far more primitive.
Isolde watched the way Caelum's fingers gripped the glass. They were the same fingers that had tucked hair behind her ear. They were the same fingers she had seen kneading the soft flesh of Lyra and Seraphina in the moonlight.
As Caelum's **Gold Aether** began to flow, it hummed with a deep, rhythmic throb. To the other students, it was just magic. To Isolde, it was the sound of the wet *slaps* she had heard in the garden.
She watched the crystal in the bowl. Under Caelum's heat, the solid rock began to soften. It turned from a rigid, sharp object into a glowing, melting goo.
*Just like me,* Isolde thought, her breath hitching. She felt a drop of sweat roll down the valley of her breasts, tickling her skin beneath her tight uniform. *He's doing to the stone exactly what he did to them. He's breaking its structure. He's making it wet.*
She imagined Caelum's hands weren't on the glass, but on her waist. She imagined Kaelen's Earth energy was her own "Ice" resistance, trying to hold firm while Caelum's Gold relentlessly melted her down. The "Synthesis" on the table became a metaphor for the penetration she had witnessed. The way the Gold energy pushed into the crystal, forced it to change, and made it overflow the bowl... it was too much.
Her legs crossed and uncrossed under her desk. The friction of her silk stockings was the only thing keeping her from crying out. She could almost feel the "Gold" invading her own Aether, turning her silver into a liquid mess.
"Steady, Kaelen," Vespera warned, her own voice trembling. She was watching Caelum's hands, her mind likely in the same dark place as Isolde's.
Caelum didn't look steady. He looked dominant. He pushed a sudden, massive surge of Gold into the bowl. The crystal didn't just melt; it erupted into a boiling, luminous liquid that splashed against the sides of the glass with a wet, heavy sound.
The scent of ozone and heated minerals filled the room—a scent so close to the musk of the garden that Isolde's head spun.
"Reaction complete," Caelum said, his voice a low growl.
He pulled his hands away. The liquid in the bowl was still bubbling, glowing with a fierce, golden light. Kaelen fell back into his seat, exhausted and panting, but Caelum stood perfectly still, looking directly at Isolde.
He saw the way her eyes were clouded. He saw the way her chest was heaving, the silver fabric of her uniform straining against her gasping breaths. He knew exactly what she was thinking.
"Is the demonstration... satisfactory, Lady Isolde?" Caelum asked, a teasing edge to his words.
Isolde couldn't answer. She grabbed her books and bolted from the room before the bell even rang, her face a bright, shameful red. She had to get away before everyone saw the damp patch forming on the front of her silver skirt.