Like suspended in time, Dellana waited, breathless. Blood was rushing in her ears, and she couldn’t really tell if the moment felt like an eternity because of her nerves, or because her master was stalling for some reason.
But finally, finally his hand moved. She felt the cotton drag along her skin, along her curves, and he tugged her underwear down, baring her to him.
Dellana shivered, her face a flaming red. Gods, why was this the most exhilarating thing that had ever happened to her??

He started caressing her behind, and Dellana squeaked. She shifted her legs a bit, extremely self-conscious of how that bent over position exposed more to him than just her buttocks.

When the girl squeaked and shifted her legs, Thad's breath caught in his throat, hypnotized by the movements of her behind. Was there a glimpse of pink folds between her thighs? A slight glistening wetness? Was that a damp spot on her underwear or just the play of the shadows?

The implications of that last thought brought him out of his reverie. He told himself sternly to stop projecting his dirty thoughts on this innocent little waif and pulled his hand away. He still felt the warmth of her skin on his fingertips, but was no longer mesmerized by that perfect little bottom in front of him. With a lifetimes worth of practiced self-control, Thad regained a tiny bit of his stern master demeanor and cleared his throat.

"Ahem, right, this is your punishment for indirectly trying to avoid your lessons." Thaddeus lifted his hand and brought it swiftly back to smack against the middle of Della's buttocks. The touch, the slight jiggle and the girl's reaction almost made him forget his mission again, but he steeled himself and started delivering swift smacks at a brisk pace. With no cloth in the way, the impact made a much more remarkable slapping sound, but Thad was in fact spanking quite a bit lighter than the last time, partly because he didn't intend for it to be too harsh a lesson, but mostly because he was too distracted by ... Everything ... to focus on proper technique.

"Don't ever sell yourself short, and never try to wiggle out of improving yourself. Getting over your personal limits and fears will be the most vital part of your training going forward." He scolded lightly, a sternness, but no trace of anger, in his voice, as he continued the light thrashing. He was barely aware of what he was saying, but he had been told similar lessons so many times that the words came automatically.

As Thaddeus’ hand fell on her bottom, Dellana jerked in surprise, and let out a choked sound. If she were to think about it for too long, she’d still think his reason for punishing her was kind of bogus, but that first smack ensured she wouldn’t be thinking of that. In fact, the following smacks ensured she wouldn’t be thinking much at all, as all her focus was shifted on that thoroughly confusing sensation, of sharp stinging pain that made her heart go bonkers, her legs go to jelly, and her face flame red.

He spoke, and she listened with half an ear, but she was too distracted by the warring sensations in her body, the pleasure trying to overwhelm the pain, despite her best efforts. She kept trying to muffle the pathetic squeaks that escaped her mouth with every fall of his heavy palm, as she didn’t want to risk full-out moaning. That would be mortifying. She’d have to leave then, or just simply up and summon a demon so it would eat her or something. There was no way she’d be able to face Thaddeus again if he realized his punishments weren’t exactly having the effect one would expect.

(bogus reasons? how dare you!)

Thad enjoyed Dellana's squeeks and her ... well, he enjoyed the situation, while trying to maintain that this was definitely for her own good and not him taking any sort of advantage or anything. After a few more moments, seeing her bottom grow slightly pink from his attention, his conscience won out, and he decided she'd probably had enough, considering that she hadn't really done anything bad on purpose. He gave her three last slaps, a bit harder ones, to make her jump, while adding:

"Ahem, I was expecting a 'YES SIR' or 'YES MASTER' young lady"

He again rested his hand on her bottom, moving it only very slightly, feeling her warmth, idly wondering how to plan the mornings lessons. Wind, fire, earth and water was the traditional progression, and it would let the girl finish on her more comfortable elements, which might give her some confidence for preparing tonights summoning ... on the other hand, after a spanking, even a light one, she might need to compose herself a bit before tackling an unfamiliar element.
Thad looked down at himself. He definitely would need to compose himself before being able to concentrate on the mornings lessons. Another cold dip in the river would, perhaps, be ideal.

Dellana’s squeaks turned to yips as the three harder smacks fell.

“Yes Master, sir,” she repeated quickly, without knowing what she was acquiescing to.

He rested his hand on her warm bottom, holding in the heat, and Dellana suppressed a full-bodied shiver. She squeezed her legs tighter, trying to maintain a semblance of modesty in her bare state. This meant her bottom clenched a bit under Thaddeus’ hand. She couldn’t bring herself to fully relax, but now that he’d stopped slapping her, the warmth and slight residual sting felt quite good, which was probably more embarrassing than being smacked like a little girl.

"Yes, that's better. Good girl" he mumbled absentmindedly, slowly caressing those pink cheeks, feeling her clench under him. He ran his fingers up her left buttock and across her behind, resting his middle finger idly over the dimple at the very top of her bottom cleft, as if contemplating whether to go exploring down between ...

His hand was quite suddenly removed and Dellana's skirt was hurriedly pulled down to cover her rear, followed by a couple of encouraging pats.
"Alright, you may stand up. I suppose corner time or a chore would usually be in order, but I'm not inclined to waste time we could be spending catching up on your studies. If you'll follow me outside, we can begin your practical evaluation on wind control."

Thaddeus had quickly picked up the large tome on aerotheurgy and was holding it in a manner that strategically covered his hip-area as he turned to walk outside. He stopped himself in the doorway, turned his head and added, in a soft voice.
"You can ... take a little time to compose yourself, if you need to." Then cleared his throat and exited the house. The entire exchange lasted only a few moments.

Outside, Thad leaned against a pole in the wooden fence that ringed his garden few seconds to ... well, compose himself. All thoughts of petite young women, round bottoms, smooth hot skin and warm wet folds went away, as he cleared his mind. Well, it would be more accurate to say the thoughts stepped politely to one side so he could concentrate on the last bits of preparation. He looked around for some adequate assistants and smiled when he saw a half-grown grey kitten snoozing by the door to the stable.

She shivered at her master’s praise, and held her breath as his hand roamed around her bottom, acutely aware that it was still bare, and that he could decide to keep spanking her however he saw fit. After all, he’d spanked her much harder and longer the last time, and her behind had truly been singed. But he didn’t keep going. Abruptly, her dress was back in place, and she stood up slowly, on somewhat shaky legs, reeling from how worked up she was.

Thaddeus instructed her to meet him outside once she’d composed herself, and left the cottage. After the door had shut and his steps faded away, Dellana groaned loudly and hid her face in her hands. What the actual Hell? She quickly tugged her underpants back up, remembering how he had lowered them, how she had begged for it, and her face flamed. She touched her bottom, which was barely warm but felt like his hand was still there, resting, caressing, teasing, she recognized suddenly. Had he noticed, how wet she’d become from just a couple smacks? Did he know, how degenerate she was, and walked out knowing she'd feel the urge to touch herself? Was he not gone at all, and was he spying on her, as a test, to see how truly wicked she was? No, no. He was a respectable man. He wouldn’t spy on a maiden.

Dellana shook herself out of her almost-panic, and took a few deep breaths, calming herself down.

This was fine. She was fine. They were starting with wind control? That was fine. Wind was good. She liked it, despite having a shaky control over it. At least it wasn’t fire.

Ignoring the heat in her nethers, Dellana steeled herself and stepped outside. She walked towards Thaddeus when she spotted him.

"Ah, there you are" Thaddeus was the image of the respectable master, standing in the garden with a long willow branch in one hand and the tome of aerotheurgy splayed open in front of him. The book was hovering in mid air, only shifting slightly, the dry pages ruffling in the breeze. This sort of levitation was in itself quite a complicated example of wind control, keeping a constant upward surge of air in place without the book tipping over of flying away. He'd broken the branch off a tree while preparing the lessons earlier. In his experience, all teachers needed to have a pointy stick at hand to gesture wildly and brandish menacingly.

Thad stared at the girl for a moment as she approached, his mouth going dry. She was still blushing quite pink, and looked rather flustered in a very adorable and attractive manner that made him want to make her even more pink and flustered ...
"AHEM, as you can see I've set up a few obstacles for you to overcome in order to test your rudiments. I've secured an assistant for the first test" The branch made an intimidating swishing sound as he gestured towards the grey kitten, sleeping happily on a fence-pole about a meter from a scarecrow wearing some of Thad's rather rustic outdoors-mans clothes and a melon topped with a straw hat for a head.
"As a test of how well you channel controlled bursts, you will stand here, and blow the clothes off of that scarecrow without disturbing our furry friend. Bonus points if you can blow each article of clothing off one at a time, and especially if you can pull the fence-pole off the ground.
Your second test will be in complexity. You'll conjure up a small whirlwind and keep tight control of it. I've raked a pile of leaves together so it will be easier for you to see how well you are doing. If you feel up to it, I want you walk into the eye of the whirlwind, then do a lap around the house while having the whirlwind follow you."
He gestured towards a pile of leaves lying in front of the barn door, cutting the air a few times with the branch, chuckling to himself as he imagined how much like a schoolmaster he must look.
"You can begin whenever you're ready. Oh, and please avoid the garden, I don't want all my vegetables pulled out of the ground."

(("In his experience, all teachers needed to have a pointy stick at hand to gesture wildly and brandish menacingly." God I love this character so much))



Dellana eyed the stick he was holding in his hand wearily. Was he going to smack her with it if she made a mistake? Frankly, she wouldn't put it past him. How humiliating would it be, to try desperately to conjure up a spell, while the thin branch whipped one repeatedly accross the buttocks, leaving thin lines of fire in its wake?


"AHEM"


Thaddeus' loud cough immediately brought Dell at attention, and she ripped her gaze away from the stick to focus on him instead, with her big, bright eyes.

She looked at his improvised training grounds, and couldn't help but giggle a bit when she saw he had made a melon-man for her to strip, of all things. But as he explained in more detail what he expected of her, she grew quite serious. He wasn't starting with the basics. He wanted her to show off quite a lot of precision and dexterity in both the direction of the wind and in its strength.
Dellana had read about wind control the previous evening, and had studied until she'd fallen asleep on her notes. But she still had very little practical experience, which worried her. And him waving his stick around, making a whistling sound every time it cut the air, was not reassuring in the least.


"I'll do my best, Master," she said, soft but determined.


Before starting, she turned away from the scarecrow and the adorable kitten. She blasted a few gusts of air, muttering the spells she remembered from class and from last night, trying them out. She could control the direction pretty well, but the strength was tricky for her. She tended to let too much energy gather in an effort to be precise, which ended up upping the strength much higher than she intended.


Frustrated, Dellana stalled as long as she dared, before turning to the melon scarecrow.


"Ah-hem. Canto Spiritus."


Moving her hands to direct the wind, she managed to take off the scarecrow's overcoat and to pants it in only three bursts. She spent the next few minutes fighting with its shirt, and got it to hang off one of its "hands". Resolving to get to that again later, she aimed at the hat, intending it to flutter off peacefully, but... The strength she put in the burst was inadequate. Dellana almost cursed out loud as the hat went flying off high in the air, and toppled down right above the sleeping kitten. She reflexively held out her arm and tried to push, ruffling the cat's fur, and getting the hat to barely miss it. The hat fell to the ground soundlessly, heedless of the drama it had just caused, and the kitten opened one blue eye lazily before closing it again and seemingly falling back asleep.


Tense, frozen in her one arm outstretched pose, cringing, Dellana waited for Thaddeus to comment on her less-than-perfect performance.

"I'll do my best, Master,"

"Of course you will, I expect no less" He smiled at her, then stood off to the side to give her some room to breathe. He swished the branch through the air a few more times while his apprentice prepared herself. There was something ... extremely appealing about doing that. Maybe it was the way Dellana glanced nervously at the switch as it whistled back and forth.

Truthfully, Thaddeus didn't quite know what to expect from the girl or whether his tests were appropriate for her level. She claimed she had almost no control of wind, but he suspected she had a bad habit of downplaying her abilities and making herself smaller in general. It had also been a long time since he had to learn the basics and wind came very naturally to Thad.

He watched with amusement as Dellana stalled, trying out beginner-level incantations, balancing all the finicky little details in order to make the element comply to her will. When she finally started on the test her efforts were rather experimental and clumsy, but promising. Her main problem seemed to be in measuring her own strength. Often, in Thad's experience from his own scholastic days, boys would tend to go completely overboard and just blast away, exhausting themselves and destroying everything around them (basic fire lessons could be especially interesting to watch), while girls would tend towards overly cautious, and have a hard time learning their own limits and potency.

Thad held his breath watching the straw hat go flying, and applauded inwardly at Dellana's instinctive reaction to save the kitten. While nothing about her performance had been perfect or indeed competent, that last move showed promise. She didn't have time for verbal components or remembering spells, she had just improvised on the fly. That showed an innate knack that he intended to nurture.

"Hmm" Thad approached the nervous girl, willow whip held behind his back as he stared at the scarecrow with narrowed eyes. "Close call there. Good thing you didn't try and go for pulling the post out of the ground. I don't know what I expected, but you're not completely clueless at least. You seem to remember your studies quite well, but you obviously need practical experience. Overcoat, pants, I'll count the shirt as a half point, I think. I'm inclined to give you a penalty for disturbing our little friend, but I'll also award half a point for that instinctive save, clumsy though it was. If this had been a school test you would have failed, but with a week of practice it would probably be a near pass. I expect the next test will be somewhat trickier however" In fact, after seeing her skills thus far, Thad expected controlling a whirlwind would be a bit beyond Dellana. But he'd be right next to her to stop anything going wrong, and it would be useful to see how she dealt with a real challenge.

Still looking at the scarecrow, Thad stepped next to Dellana and inspected the near-nude figure intently for a moment.
"Curious that the easiest part for you was getting him out of his pants"