A few days later, Azriel was almost half asleep when Tara shook her gently awake.
"What is it Tara?"
"It's Malia, she wishes to meet you."
"At this hour?"
"She feels the time is now right for her to meet you for lessons. I'm sorry but none of us really asks her so many questions."
"Oh...all right...that's fine enough I guess," Azriel sighed. In another life, she would have thrown a tantrum and skipped her lesson. She remembered her times in Andora when she had merrily skipped out of music and dancing lessons, and even her other teachers had been the butt of playful pranks. She was no longer a pampered daughter of a vizier, but a woman living a borrowed life, largely dependent on Ashdeer's goodwill. She was terrified that one day she would overstay her welcome. After her sudden breakdown, and Ilana's rousing words and stinging slap,she had tried very hard to focus on getting the best out of herself.
Now, as she hurriedly wore her breeches and slipped her red sash across her torso, she was determined to show all of Irismus that even a young lady from Andora could have a core of steel. However, that determination slowly began to fade, once she began to follow Tara and Wole into the very depths of the fortress. They had made their descent to a small foyer like area, and then Tara had opened a steel door on the side. Slowly, they had made their way down a narrow staircase, cut from the very rock. While torches lit the way, the stairs were uneven and Azriel was terrified of a misstep. They slowly made their journey down, single file till they reached a circular room, with six doors.
"Now what?", asked Azriel almost in exasperation.
Tara placed a finger on her lips and stood there patiently. Suddenly a door opened and a rather self-important looking large grey tabby walked in.
"Oh she's here then!"
Tara gracefully curtsied to the cat, as did Wole. Azriel could only rather incredulously follow suite. She was very shocked to hear a cat speak.
The cat licked it's lips and said, "I'll take over from here then."
Tara and Wole nodded and left back up the stairs, leaving Azriel to fend for herself with the large tabby in attendance. The cat gave her a sneering look and said, "Well, come along then. No point in keeping Malia waiting is it?"
Azriel nodded wordlessly, still shocked that she was listening to a cat scold her and followed the cat to one of the doors. They entered a large cave like structure which seemed to stretch endlessly ahead. It looked like a large cavern carved out of the mountain. As they walked across the cavern, it slowly began to change. The stone's shone an iridescent purple, as if they glowed from within. Large shrubs of oranges, lemons and all sorts of roses grew in profusion across the ground, leaving a narrow pathway for them to walk upon. The cavern began to loop around in a circular fashion with oddly shaped oval pathways leading to more corridors within. Azriel could have sworn that she had heard the laughter of children from one of the pathways, but this place seemed so strange to her that she decided to let it go. As they walked ahead, the flowering shrubs gave way to strange stalactites and stalagmites dripping icy cold water. Azriel shivered as they again went down a steep set of stone stairs, till they reached an oval pavilion. The pavilion was shaped of pure white marble and on it sat a woman in a purple robe, deep in meditation in front of a brass lamp, which held multiple tiny flames across it's corners. Azriel looked at it in fascination. She had never seen anything like it in her life. Nothing of the woman's face or body were visible, she wore the robe tightly wound around her, and a veil covered her face.
The cat wagged it's tail furiously, and the woman looked up without removing her veil. Her voice when she spoke was husky and melodious, with a lilt to it and an accent that Azriel could not recognize.
"The pupil appears..."
Azriel assumed that the pupil was herself and she kept her hands respectfully folded in front of her. She wondered what would happen now, each and every person she met in Irismus appeared to be rather eccentric.
"Leave us....", the woman said to the cat and it left with it's tail between it's legs, disappearing into the shadows. The woman gestured to a place in front of her and a red cushion appeared on the floor. She motioned to Azriel to come and sit with her and said, "We have much to discuss Azriel, but first you must begin to tell me all about yourself. Let me feel you."
Azriel sat next to her feeling very odd, as the woman held out a gloved hand to hold her own. She let the woman keep holding her hand for a while and then she said, "Azriel, would you like to change for me?"
"Here..now?"
"Yes, no time better than now and no place better than here."
Azriel stood up and focused on her wings and her bird form. Nothing happened! She kept focusing for a while and yet, there was no change to her.
"Stop!", said the woman raising her gloved hand. "Take off your robes, I wish to study you."
"Like all my clothes?"
"Yes, ideally Azriel."
Azriel shrugged out of her robes, gently keeping them aside. She had kept the Book in a small secret drawer in her room, for some reason before coming to Malia's, feeling afraid to bring it in front of another magical person. She felt very shy as she kept her back to Malia. She heard a rustle of cloth, as the woman got up and walked upto her. She felt the cold air on her bare skin, and shivered a little, but she kept her shoulders squared and her gaze focused ahead of her, into the distance focusing on the rock formations.
"Powerful magic! So young, so vibrant.....so strong.....", she heard Malia murmur behind her back. The woman was so close, Azriel could sense her presence very strongly.....acutely. She felt very vulnerable to be alone with that woman in this deep and dark cave. Yet, she realized that there seemed to be nothing to fear.
She felt Malia gently trace the silver lines across her back and say, "Change you must learn...I can help you...but you must learn to change on your own. Tell me about the time you did change?"
Azriel blushed remembering the one tie she had achieved her full Phoenix form with Ashmeer.
"You remember surrender?", Malia mused. "I sense more, emotions....love, heartbreak and anger."
Azriel kept quiet. There was no way she was going to tell Malia her most intimate secrets.
"We must learn to make you change without the rush of emotion within." Malia said firmly. "We must learnt to make you expend your magic judiciously without burning the world.
Azriel waited patiently till Malia suddenly held her by her shoulders and turned her around, "Show me what you did to the wraiths by the lake?"
Azriel shook her head, "I can't!"
Malia suddenly looked dismissive and said, "It's all right Azriel. We cannot pry the magic out of you. Come back to me after two days again. I'll send Krish to get you and we will try again. This needs to be coaxed out of you, and I need to understand how."
Azriel wore her clothes grateful to just escape. Unfortunately, she was back in the cavern after two days again sweating it out in front of Malia as she kept trying to focus. Yet, it seemed that nothing was really working.