Your dream begins to grow clearer, and you are looking at an unknown woman. Although you are close, her face is in shadow and you cannot see it, although it is framed by deep red hair. You feel like there is something familiar about her, even though you have never met her before. She doesn't appear to be old, but she does have a timeless quality about her. You get the feeling she is smiling at you despite being unable to see her face, but for some reason, you are not comforted by it.
"You've become quite talented," the strange woman says to you, even though you know you are not the person she is speaking to. "But it will never happen if you keep holding back. Look," she continues, her smile growing wider and more ominous, "This is what true power looks like." You stand petrified as the woman's shape seems to grow and darken, becoming like a monstrous living shadow, as you cannot make out her exact form. However, you know she has become something that terrifies you to the bone.
You awaken and sit up horrified, gasping for air. You slide over to the edge of the bed, trembling, and tweak your tail in the process, bringing you back to the present. The fear from your dream is compounded by your inane circumstances, and for a moment you nearly burst into tears. However, you realize that will accomplish nothing, so with a sigh, you sit there for a while stroking your tail, which lies across the bed next to you. The twitter of birds outside the window finally rouses you from your reverie, and you see morning sunlight streaming through the cracks in the shutters. Getting up, you find the breeches Lawson gave you, and spotting a short knife on a chest, proceed to make a hole for your tail. It takes a bit of effort, but you manage to work your long tail through the hole and wear the breeches properly. Cautiously, you exit the room and head downstairs. You hear movement, and find Lawson organizing some papers in a side room. He looks up when he hears your footsteps.
"There's food in the pot by the fire," he states, going back to his work without so much as a "good morning." As you turn, he adds, "Once you're done, come to the library, we have much to do." Scowling to yourself at his tone, you head to the cooking area, where you find a pot of porridge hanging to the side of the fireplace. It isn't much, but it does taste good, and you realize Lawson must have been up early doing the cooking. In fact, considering the size of the place, it was in amazingly good condition with only one person caring for it. While his aplomb still irritates you, you have to admit that he's no lazybones, and definitely works hard. Finishing your meal, you warily wander about the ground floor until you locate a large room filled floor to ceiling with books, where Lawson is hurriedly cleaning a desk and pulling book after book off the shelves.
"Have a seat," he states, indicating the chair by the desk, and you comply. He turns to you, and begins his lecture. "If you are going to learn how to shift forms properly on your own, you need to learn the exact nature of those forms. As you improve your understanding, you will begin to see how you may combine different forms as needed, but for now, we will start with the basics."
"Regular bodies can only stand manipulation from a certain amount of magical energy, so the forms they can shift into are limited. However, a familiar's body can contain a near-infinite amount of magical energy. Therefore, the amount and manner of form changes a familiar can take is only dependent upon the amount of magical energy used. In a normal familiar, because of the binding, the energy is cycled through the mage, so the familiar cannot change form of their own will, and it is the mage's energy that the familiar is dependent upon to shift. However," Lawson continues in an academic tone, "Since you and I are Linked, you possess control over your own magical energy, allowing you to shift forms at will depending on how much magical energy you have at any moment. Once you have trained a bit, you should be able to begin drawing more magical energy into your body and increasing the range of your transformaions. I can still supplement your energy, or change your form using my own, but you will not be dependent upon me to change. Do you understand?"
Your brain spinning from the sudden onslaught of information, you shake your head no, even though some if it sounds like you have heard it before somewhere. Lawson sighs.
"Well, it's only to be expected, we are moving rather fast," he mutters, then turns to grab a few thick leatherbound books from a pile, then thumps them down in front of you. "Your main problem right now is your lack of knowledge, so we need to start remedying that. Let's begin with something relatively simple. The first form we'll begin to study is..."