Free Spacer Clans Adventure 3: Naero's Fury by Mason Elliott Page B

they wished Naero would find a way to upgrade some of their abilities and techniques as well.
    None of them possessed the ability to quick en others in quite the same way that she could. And as Naero shared her gifts freely with the other adepts of the other orders, the sulking Chaos adepts quickly found themselves to be at severe disadvantages when they sparred with the others.
    She’d help them out eventually, but let them stew on that for a while and suffer being outmatched.
    Naero trained and worked more and more with the High Masters each day she was assigned to one of them.
    They carefully studied her every power and ability in great detail. They mindlinked with her as she performed certain actions and techniques, studying the flows of Cosmic energies through her brain, mind, and body. They tried to duplicate some of her feats and abilities. Some they could, to varying degrees. Many others they could not. Certain abilities remained unique to her in both kind and degree.
    Surprisingly, Naero found Master Tree almost as difficult and unyielding to work with as Master Vane. In his own way, Tree was relentlessly demanding, exacting, and exhausting–almost brutally so.
    Everything had to be perfect.
    Everything had to be exact, precise, and complete.
    Sessions with the Order Master were relentless tests of endurance bordering on physical torment and agony. It was a paradox that Tree was at once kind and understanding, and yet still a very harsh taskmaster. He used every moment of their time together efficiently and effectively.
    Naero got used to needing a nap after their marathon sessions.
    And worst of all–Tree demanded to understand the minutiae of every, little, thing. Naero wasted almost an entire day with him trying to perceive and understand the KDM within her. Yet those efforts remained a complete bust in the end.
    At least Naero felt more reassured, now that none of the High Masters would ever be able to sense Om within her mind–since he was part of the KDM.
    Her sessions with Vane were, as he promise d, kept to the bare minimum. No less, no more. But she did manage to learn things from him as well. The opportunities were always there if she looked hard enough. But she could never expect anything extra at all.
    She actually began to appreciate their Cosmic sparring sessions together. Whatever stoic position he claimed, Vane still enjoyed beating on her, and he was in fact, an opponent like no other. Vane remained a superior foe that she could endlessly strive to best, and measure the overall progress of her skills against.
    From h er experience, that only made her better in the long run.
    Truth be told, Naero enjoyed her sessions with Master Jo most of all. She seemed to learn the most from him, and Change wisdom made the most sense to her. It fit in the most with her patterns and general view of things. To Naero’s way of thinking, Enlightened Change made all things seem possible.
    On top of that, High Master Jo was a hoot–the most delightful prankster–a true mercurial trickster after her own heart.
    At the most unexpected moments –maddening moments–he would pull off some of the most astonishing gags with perfect timing, in ways that were both masterful, inspiring, and scintillating.
    Like when he filled the cave they were practicing in with horrible smelling gas, and laughing, holographic apparitions within the glowing vapors.
    He stink bombed them all!
    But what Naero cherished and learned most from Master Jo was a true sense of joy and sheer appreciation. He did everything with a sense of élan and even pure whimsy, whenever he could manage to get away with it. The Eternal Wise Child–he could be both completely serious, and infinitely playful at the same time.
    Another truly wonderful paradox.
    More than any other power, Naero could sense High Master Jo’s love and compassion for all things. They seemed boundless, infinite. Vane seemed incapable of such; his was a raw, harsh justice, stark and