[sub]in collaboration with [@shagranoz][/sub]

[h1][center][i][u]"The First Lesson"[/u][/i][/center][/h1]

It was a rather dreary day at Castle Bloodrose. The clouds were dark and heavy, although it wasn't raining yet. A perfect day to stay inside and out of the weather. Fortunately, that's exactly what Rebecca had planned for the day.

She had dressed in beautiful lilac robes, and was busy preparing to give Clarissa her necromancy lessons. Various magical baubles were strewn seemingly haphazardly around the room, and a rabbit skeleton lay in the center of some sort of mystical design. There was a knock at her door, and the witch went to answer it.

"Hi!"  Clarissa was beaming at the door as it opened.  "Sorry I'm a touch late,  Medusa had me running around asking questions."

She stepped into the room,  taking a moment to examine the peraphenallia in wonder,  before her eyes settled on Rebecca again.  "Lovely robe!  It looks good on you."

"Thank you, Clarissa. Come in, come in." Rebecca took a seat on her bed. "We'll start with the basics. Skeletons are not nearly as complex as whole bodies, and [i]much[/i] simpler than the shades I showed you yesterday. I also took the liberty of setting up several foci, to better concentrate your power. Now, you need to still your mind, and prepare yourself for a bit of a psychic jolt."

"Still my mind?  Amid all this excitement?"  Clarissa chuckled briefly.  "I will try my best."  It had been a long time since she'd had to summon a true swarm of shadows,  or perform any really noteworthy magical feat,  but as her breathing steadied she fell back into the rhythym of a trained witch.  The room seemed to fade slightly as it slipped from her mind,  her senses dulled,  along with any roaming thoughts,  until finally only the sound of Rebecca's voice remained.

Once she was satisfied she was a prepared as she was going to get she spoke.  "Alright.  I'm ready."

"Now comes the fun part." Rebecca chuckled a little bit. "Concentrate on manipulating all the latent energy in the room into a single spot, about the middle of the rabbit's ribcage. This forms what's called the Spark of Life, the foundation layer of a soul. You're going to feel a pain in your skull, like an annoying headache, but if you do it right, there will be a bright flash, and then you'll be able to puppet the rabbit with your body. Should you get the bond really secure, you can do it with thought alone, but it's rare to be so successful with your first reanimation."

Clarissa nodded briefly before doing as she was instructed.  Closing her eyes she reached out with her will,  lightly at first,  to feel out the energies contained in the small room.  Once she'd gotten a good enough sense she opened her eyes again and began to work.  Carving channels in the magical space,  Clarissa began drawing the energies towards the rabbit's ribcage.  That was the easy part however,  as onced they'd arrived came the work of condensing them enough for the spell to take effect.

As Rebecca had forwarned her a small pressure began to build in her head as she urged the energies slowly - but surely - into a single point,  directly in the center of the ribcage.  Just when she thought she'd got something wrong a bright light,  accompanied by a strange buzzing sensation,  came across her vision.  Surely enough,  when the flash cleared,  at the center of the runework sat an animate rabbit skeleton.

"Wow..."  Clarissa eyes sparkled with wonder,  her face split by a bright smile.  She waved,  causing the skeleton to awkwardly mimic the gesture.  Giggling she looked to Rebecca.  "How'd I do?"
 
"Well done!" Rebecca hopped off the bed, clearly impressed. "Don't tell anyone this, but it took until my sixth try to get it my first time. You've clearly got an aptitude for this sort of magic. Perhaps even more so than myself. With a little bit of practice, you could have legions of the undead at your beck and call, enough to carve out a fortress of your own."

A burst of laughter rocked Clarissa back and forth in her seat.  "Not likely,  I've never had much of a talent for anything useful.  I'm charming sure,  but that's about it."  Once her fit of mirth had passed she gave Rebecca a somewhat serious look.  "Thank you though.  This is... fun,  and rewarding.  It feels good to learn something so fascinating."

A somber look came over Rebecca's face. "Few enough witches find necromancy 'fascinating.' All the ones I've met wanted nothing to do with me, even when I was alive. That's why I never joined a coven before. I was an outcast among outcasts. You, Medusa, all the witches here... you're my family. The only one I can really recall."

"I'm glad you came!  I've never had anyone but Lorelai offer to teach me anything,  and Lorelai's mean so."  Clarissa looked around a little sheepishly.  "You're really nice,  and necromancy has got to be the coolest thing I've seen in years,  maybe ever.  I haven't the faintest idea why you'd be treated so poorly."

She pointed to the rabbit who - much to Clarissa's pleasure - mimicked the expression.  "Dead is supposed to be the end.  It's not ressurection sure,  but the idea that it can move and act.  It's like stealing from the underworld.  It's exhilerating."

Rebecca snapped her fingers-or at least tried to. All she managed to do was flick a decent-sized chunk of flesh across the room. "Damn. I'm going to have to clean that up later. And you hit on why I was so ostracized, though you didn't realize it. Even other witches don't think the boundary between life and death is a plaything."

As horrifying as it probably should have been, Clarissa just giggled as her eyes followed the piece of dead flesh.  "I guess I can understand that,  but aren't we supposed to push boundries?  And change things?  Oh well."

She placed her arm around Clarissa shoulders. "And the idea that you would be virtually cut off from here, unable to come back without someone to guide you? Most people, even if they have magic, don't want to confront their own mortality. It's only at the end when they realize, 'Hey, maybe the crazy woman who spent all her time with corpses would be really handy right about now.' And by then, it's too late."

Laughing again Clarissa nodded.  "No one wants to die,  ironic then that they're so afraid of death they impede the witch that may someday turn it back."  She sighed.  "Isn't that the story of witches though?  Fear of the unknown and small minded people pushing us out?  Occassionally sending us down dark roads of power just to survive?  For every 'black' witch out there there's also a hunter,  or a mob,  that pushed her there."

"True enough. I was a hero to many back home. Used my gifts to solve a murder that had bedeviled the town watch for a week. But when I got sick..." She shuddered. "I've [i]seen[/i] Hell, Clarissa. I knew what was lurking, waiting in the dark to greet me when I died. So I did what I could to avoid that fate. Anyone else in the town would have done the same, were they capable. But they weren't, and they hated me for it."

Clarissa patted Rebecca back in comisseration.  "When I was a girl I used to put on plays for my friends using shadow puppets.  When the townsfolk found out... We've all heard the story,  or a variation of it."  She grinned again.  "People will always fear what they can't understand,  but at least we've got each other,  and a coven of good people."

Suddenly she frowned.  "That is,  if it doesn't tear itself apart first."

Rebecca's eyebrows shot up. Sure, everyone around the castle had seemed rather tense recently, but this was the first time she'd heard that there may be full-blown dissolution of the coven. "Tear itself apart?" she asked, alarmed. "Whatever do you mean?"

"You haven't heard?"  Clarissa supposed that wouldn't be so strange.  While she had no idea why Rebecca wouldn't be more popular the witch probably knew her own situation better than she did.  "Lorelai and Medusa... things are not going well between mommy and mommy.  It's looking like it might get bloody,  it's certainly going to get stormy though."

"Clarissa... believe me when I say this, you are the closest friend I have in this world, or the next." A somber look came over Rebecca's face. "So when I tell you that I cannot take sides in this conflict, you know where I am coming from. A long time ago, when I was caught using my magic for the first time, I was made to swear an oath that I would never use my gifts to harm anyone. To save lives, rather than end them. Over the years, I've taken that promise into my own heart. I can raise my hand against neither Lorelai or Medusa. Should the time come when I have to make that decision, I would far rather consign myself to the Inferno."

"Hopefully you won't have to,  maybe things will blow over,  but I've got a feeling that they won't this time."  Clarissa's eyes were sad.  "I don't want to take sides either,  but I've got to stay afloat somehow.  I don't want to be caught in the middle alone."

She sighed.  "Maybe we'll get lucky,  and it'll all finish up before we're called on to make a choice.  Although if I have to... I don't know,  Medusa seems the likely bet."

"I-I need to leave for a while. Go to the woods, mull some things over on my own. Do not send anyone to find me. I may come back in a few days, I may not. Regardless, I must thank you, Clarissa. For everything." With that, Rebecca turned and departed, heading for a murky and uncertain future.