My body shivered as new power flowed into me. I felt amazingly strong, like my muscles had just grown a set of muscles of their own. As my mind cleared from processing the change, I felt like I could sense a bit of what Ronaldo was thinking through our connection. What's more, I could feel his white-hot anger and disgust when he thought of all the Pegasi across the world that were being kept as sporting goods. As I continued to explore the upgraded connection with my new partner in crime, Mia's calm voice interrupted.

  "New Spirit Oath detected. New Spiritbond detected. Scanning for further changes. Attributes changes detected. New Insights detected."

  I had no idea what Ronaldo and I had just done, but it sounded like a good thing. 'Insights', she had said. Plural.

  "Mia," I shouted through my other mental link. "What just happened?"

  "You have sworn a Spirit Oath to free all Pegasi throughout the world, while your Pegagus swore a Spirit Oath to aid you. Since a Spiritbond is one method for a sentient being to aid another, it was logical that the mana powering the Oaths would choose to take the form of a Spiritbond."

  "I'm guessing based on that rush of power this is a good thing?" I asked.

  "Insufficient data to speculate. Spirit Oaths contain both advantages and drawbacks. As long as the swearer makes reasonable efforts to complete the Oath, they will experience its benefits. Data available indicates the Spiritbond will empower both of you and afford you a stronger than normal mental link. If either of you fails to uphold your Oath, you will both suffer reduced abilities and your link will falter."

  "What exactly is going on here?" Ronaldo interrupted. "I feel weird."

  "Give us a second, Mia," I told my melded assistant before answering the Pegasus.

  "Apparently we just both swore Spirit Oaths that bonded us together and will give us benefits. I got a rush of strength and I can understand your thoughts better. You?"

  "Maybe a tiny bit stronger? I am not sure. But yeah, I have a better idea of what's going on in that weird human mind of yours. I am not sure how much I like that. Anyways, tell me about this oath thing."

  "We have to work toward fulfilling our Spirit Oaths or we'll suffer the drawbacks, which basically means if either of us slacks off too much we'll both get weaker. As long as we stay on track we'll reap the benefits."

  "So what exactly are the benefits? Other than getting to rummage around in either other's thoughts, that is."

  "You mean other than knowing you have an insatiable desire for something called Glimmerhay? One second, let me try something."

  I switched channels and called out to Mia.

  "Hey, Mia, pull up my status screen again, would ya?"

  That looked about right. Each of my physical attributes had gone up by a flat five points, which must have been from linking with a magical animal. My newly acquired strength enabled my mind to handle a bit more augmentation, which explained the extra point of intelligence.

  "Alright, Mia, can you give me a readout for Ronaldo now? And can you show him too?"

  "Partial access to your Pegasus' attributes is available. Stand by."

  "He's not 'my Pegasus'," I managed to rebut before more green floating text appeared.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

  I almost fell over when I saw how much Ronaldo outclassed me. I had figured that he was stronger than I was, but not by that much. It was both a humbling experience and a reminder that I had a very, very long way to go before I could dare challenge someone with hundreds of years of growth.

  Once I recovered from my initial surprise, I took a closer look at the relation between Ronaldo's attributes and my gains. Unless there was more complicated math and/or magic involved, it looked like I gained one physical attribute point for every ten points Ronaldo possessed. I tried (and failed miserably) to think of how to use this information to my advantage, but my almost complete lack of knowledge about how spells, bonds, and attributes worked left me completely clueless. I realized that I was going to have to find someone willing to teach me better than either Ronaldo or Mia could before I would be able to start to take full advantage of the gifts I'd been given.

  I quickly relayed the information that I had been given to Ronaldo, including the specials that showed up.

  "What is 'shrink'?" he asked me.

  "I have no idea either," I confessed. "Do you want to experiment?"

  "To be honest, I think I'm about to fall over. Whatever else this Soulbind thing is, it sure is tiring. I'd kill for a big bag of..."

  "Glimmerhay," I interrupted. "Hold on, I'll see if we have any."

  A quick investigation of the stables revealed nothing but normal hay and oats. By the time I had managed to open a bag of oats and fill up Ronaldo's feed bucket, he was already softly snoring through our mental link. I made a mental note to ask Clemencia to purchase a bale of Glimmerhay as soon as possible.

  Having spent an eventful half-hour with my new comrade, I returned to my chamber to sit down for a while. Although my body still buzzed with energy, my mind felt overwhelmed trying to keep track of everything that had changed since I woke up and there was much I wanted to do today. I needed some time to think about what I had learned from Mia, Clemencia, and Ronaldo. I also wanted to continue the conversation with Mia that had been interrupted. Finally, I wanted to prepare for a meeting with everyone who lived on the estate. That last one was going to be the most difficult. I had to at least enforce some modicum of discipline among the slaves, but I wanted to give everyone as much freedom as possible.

  As I sat on my bed and tried to focus, I couldn't stop thinking about hot water. When I was a slave I had always done my best thinking while washing dishes. The hot water and suds always helped clear my mind and allowed my imagination to run free in the forest, or the sky, or in some distant land where I was a princess. Suddenly realizing what I needed, I summoned Clemencia.

  "I apologize for disturbing you," I said as my steward appeared in the doorway, "but I'm looking for a place to take a bath."

  "Of course, Madame Arabella. You'll find a fully functional bath and shower through here."

  Clemencia pointed to a part of the wall just beyond my workshop in the far corner of the room. I followed her finger but saw nothing out of the ordinary.

  "Place your palm against the wall. The door is keyed to your signature."

  I filed away that new tidbit of information as I made my way over to the spot she had indicated. When I pressed my hand against the wall, a tiny drop of mana trickled out of me, and a portion of the wall swung inward. I looked into the small, square-shaped room beyond: there was a burnished metal bathtub with a showerhead and curtain on the left-hand side and a vanity on the right-hand side equipped with everything I would need to handle my newly-lengthed locks. The only thing missing was a toilet (one of the few magical items that slaves were allowed to use).

  "This is great, thank you. But uh, where is the toilet?"

  Clemencia flashed a knowing smile. I imagined she must have been expecting this exact question.

  "As you have undergone the Metamorphosis, you no longer need to concern yourself with such matters."

  "No poop?" I asked incredulously. I had never dreamed of such a thing.

  "No, Madame Arabella."

  "Nice. Well, unless there is a secret to working the bathtub, I think I should be alright."

  "The water is magical in nature, but your assistant should be able to handle any questions better than I could."

  "Great, oh, and before I forget," I added. "Please order Ronaldo a bale of Glimmerhay."

  The steward blinked in surprise.

  "A whole bale? Madame Arabella, that will be quite expensive."

  "How much?"

  "I do not know the exact amount, but somewhere in the thousands. You see, Glimmerhay is used as a performance enhancer for Pegasi. It increases their strength, speed, and reflexes for a short time, but leaves them weakened afterward. Most trainers use it sparingly, as overuse will render a Pegasus unfit for competition."

  "I see. How much would you recommend getting? Assume that I want to keep Ronaldo in good shape: I intend to get my mana's worth out of him."

  I felt uncomfortable lying to Clemencia's face but I wanted her to think that I was interested in Ronaldo as a business investment and not as a sentient being.

  "A bale would be enough to kill your Pegasus outright. We should order a few buckets at a time."

  "He's..." I almost said that Ronaldo was not my Pegasus but managed to stop myself short.

  "He's ready to play at any time, yes? Or does he require further training?"

  "Bandar the Grand rode him to victory in many polo matches," Clemencia answered. "He should serve you well."

  "I would like to consult with an expert on Pegasi in the near future. Please work on the arrangements tomorrow."

  "It shall be done. Do you have any other desires at this time, Mistress Arabella?"

  "No, you may go. I don't want to keep you from enjoying the day. Oh, yes, there is one last thing. Please make sure everyone receives extra food today as part of the celebration. And send a few extra folks to the kitchen to help wash the resulting dishes."

  "You are too kind, Madame Arabella," Clemencia responded as she curtseyed her way out of my room.

  I waited for her to leave before entering the bathroom and sealing the door. There were three knobs easy-to-understand knobs in the bathtub. I started the water, plugged up the drain, and adjusted the temperature until the water was hot but not scalding.

  With that out of the way, I turned my attention to getting undressed. It was more complicated than I imagined it would be, as I soon discovered that my pink shirt and pants clung to me as if they were part of my body. Thinking back to what had happened just after my Metamorphosis, I placed my hand on my chest and willed them to disappear. After a moment's concentration and the expenditure of a trickle of mana the clothes literally melted into my body. I may or may not have let out a meep as I watched them dissolve.

  Now wearing nothing but the bracelet that contained Mia, I climbed into the tub and leaned back. The hot water was somehow both relaxing and invigorating.

  "This bath has special properties," Mia alerted me. "You can expend mana from your estate's hoard to gain a boost to your intelligence while you are at least partially submerged."

  "That's exactly why I came here. I need to think," I replied. "Go ahead and do it."

  "Activating enhancement," Mia announced.

  My brain instantly felt clearer and the stress I was under, although still intense, was easier to ignore. I decided to tackle the speech I was going to give everyone first. Mia acted as my scribe, recording the words I said and then replaying them using the strange floating text that she was able to generate.

  Once my speech was finished, I moved on to the matter of my Estate's security measures. Mia had mentioned lowering them to transmit an error message earlier. That meant that someone else had designed and set up the defenses that protected me from observation and possibly intrusion. Based on the fact that one of Mia's core functions was to keep tabs on me, I strongly suspected that there were ways of bypassing these defenses to spy on me or worse. The thought of someone looking in on me in the tub gave me the creeps, but there was nothing I could do about it. For now.

  "Mia, can you please explain to me how the estate defenses work?"

  My assistant launched in a lecture so technical that I had to stop her at least once a sentence to ask what a particular word meant. Thankfully, she never lost her patience at being interrupted and without fail started right back up where she had left off. My own patience gave way after an hour or so. As much as I hated to admit it, I wasn't getting any closer to understanding how to reconstruct the defenses. I did, however, have an idea of what I needed to learn.