It began, as things often did around her, with an explosion.

Even the smirking crowd had to admit that, as far as the various blasts went, this one would have high marks in all possible categories. Dirt positively rained in all directions along with thick, billowing smoke. It went more or less unnoticed that the flying clumps were shaped a little oddly because they remained airborne for mere moments before hitting the ground and breaking apart. As the smoke cleared the dismayed face of a pink-haired girl came into view; rather more red than usual as a result of the latest failure.

Though perhaps 'failure' was a strong word given that this time something other than an explosion seemed to have happened. Because, even as the jeers began, she saw a flash of colour in the smoky crater she'd created. There was something there. A familiar... her familiar... it was a thought she barely allowed herself to have as it came with it a terrifyingly intoxicating rush of satisfaction. Of success. There it was, though. Her familiar. A spell cast successfully.

"Well done, Miss Vallière." Professor Colbert stepped up and nodded approvingly as the crowd fell silent. He leaned over the hole and gestured with his staff. A gentle gust of wind pushed the rest of the fumes out of the ground and revealed in full the results of her efforts. It was certainly impressive. Shaped in effigy of a person yet clearly not even close to one given the contours of its body and 'head'. They were both crafted, for surely this was a made thing rather than any natural creature, out of a shiny red metal that had been worked into a remarkably square shape. The limbs were made from some dull black substance and distinct ridging to them yet no clear elbows or knees. These connected to clawed hands more like pincers or perhaps metal tongs and totally flat, toeless feet. Lastly, a three-pronged white horn extended perfectly from the top of its head.

"Is it... some sort of golem?" Louise Françoise Le Blanc de La Vallière looked first to her teacher and then to... well, it was her familiar, wasn't it? The professor frowned and tapped his chin in though.

"Perhaps so? In any case, Miss Vallière, you should complete the ritual while it's still inactive." She nodded and stepped up to the edge of her crater. It wasn't all that deep, really, but it was strangely... uniform. The entire thing was the same depth and the edges were... wobbly, she supposed. They'd collapsed in so it was hard to tell exactly but she got the feeling the shape of the blast had been bizarre. Still, she gingerly moved down the shallow slope and into the hole.

Her familiar didn't move as she got closer. Even when she stood beside it and reached out; gently touching it on one of the right-angled shoulders and feeling the cool metal underneath her fingers. The texture wasn't familiar but the solidity of it reassured her. A metallic golem... so was she an Earth Mage, then? It was an amazing achievement compared to something like Guiche's mole, or even Kirche's salamander. A perfect and magnificent familiar. Unique throughout the ages.

"I am Louise Françoise Le Blanc de La Vallière. By my name I ask the Pentagon of the Five Elemental Powers to bless this humble being and make it my familiar." She spoke the incantation with care and precision befitting her extensive preparations. It was a little awkward with a golem, but she bent down and kissed it on the side of its head as she completed the chant. And yet... something felt wrong. It showed no reaction at all and there was no sign that the familiar runes had been branded.

"... did she call a broken one?" The first murmur came moments later.

"... zero results again." Followed shortly by a slightly louder, more biting remark.

"Should have known. Once success times zero is still zero." Burning hot shame was gathering in her cheeks and eyes as she waited; staring intently at the thing before her. She refused to cry for them. Back where she'd left him waiting Professor Colbert shifted in place but didn't speak out against them. Instead he addressed Louise with what she imagined would have felt like a gentle tone if it weren't for the circumstances turning it into yet another spike driven into her already wounded ego.

"Perhaps try the binding chant again...?" She nodded, holding back tears by force of will alone, and spoke the words again with significantly less confidence than the first time. This time she kissed it on the chest, just in case that had somehow been the problem, but there was no more response than the first time. It just lay there; utterly quiescent. No movement, no light of runes inscribing themselves, no reaction at all. Totally stationary. Colbert frowned and shook his head. "Well, it's unfortunate... we can ask the Earth Mages amongst the senior faculty to examine it and they might be able to figure out if it was damaged somehow during the, ah, summoning." In the explosion is what he clearly meant even if he was too kind to say it.

Then the eyes opened. She hadn't even known they were there until they did. Even saying 'opened' wasn't quite right. Instead, part of the red metal surface of the head suddenly became a pair of upright ovals that glowed yellow. On its chest a perfect rectangle comprised of flickering squares, flashing a variety of colours, appeared just as suddenly. Then it sat up; looking around with a strangely human air of confusion before looking straight at her and, to her surprise, talking to her.

"Excuse me, but how did I get here?" In perfect Tristanian, no less, with scarcely a hint of an accent and none of the... well, she didn't know what it was that she had expected to hear. In truth she hadn't expected it to talk at all. "Last I remember we were having a party, and then…" 'We'? 'Party'? Louise had no idea what sort of revelry a golem would possible engage in, but she ought to respond.

"I brought you here with my magic." That felt safe enough, though she was compelled to continue a moment later. "I require your service." Rather hearteningly the golem seemed to nod, or tried to at the very least.

"Fair enough. Didn't know there was a spell for summoning us, but I guess it makes sense? You'll have to show me that one afterwards." It clumsily pulled itself to its feet and looked around. "Still, with this many here I can't imagine what you could need help with. Odd design for a fortress, though. No roof?" Without waiting for her to respond he waddled out of the hole with surprising speed.

Professor Colbert tensed as it moved; gripping his staff tightly and glancing at Louise as she desperately trailed in its wake. Once it was a few metres clear of the hole it stopped and began looking around. "Hm. High walls, though. And I guess you're all Mages? Well, not like I can judge you for that choice but it helps to have a bit of versatility…" Then it pointed its hand down and there was a flash of silver followed by a solid 'thunk' sound.

It looked like a metallic spike had shot out of the golem's hand and slammed into the ground. A moment later the creature rose rapidly into the air supported by a gleaming silver pole that grew in length as it ascended. Surprising, certainly, and quite interesting but nothing much to speak of when nearly everyone watching could fly. Only the Professor seemed to be ill at ease with the turn of events.

Once it had seemingly reached its full height with that bizarre magic the golem looked around some more before descending just as rapidly as it had risen. Then it turned to Louise; nodding thoughtfully. "Not bad walls, but you probably put more time into them than was strictly wise. Still, it's a nice place. Looks pretty clean out there, too. Guess you're more for 'cleanse' than 'contain', huh? Doesn't look like you've broken the seal yet..."

"I'm sorry, but I'm not really-" Louise tried to express her confusion but was cut off as the golem suddenly smacked its head with a metallic 'clang'.

"Of course! Didn't mean to be rude." Then it held out its clawed appendage to her. "Saito. I look forward to working with you." She frowned and reached out; taking the claw in hand gingerly. Then the golem glanced down and seemed to notice his own hand. "Oh, oops. I forgot to change after the party. Just give me a second…" Then everything changed.

The metal seemed to… she couldn't even describe it. For a moment it was there and then it was stretched and flickering into the golem's hand and then it was just gone along with the rest of her beautiful, unique familiar. Instead she was left with nothing but the taste of confusion and disappointment.

It was a boy. A young man, barely her age if even that, with strange features and equally foreign clothing. Even in Tristain hair that white was unusual and she didn't recognise the style of his doublet or pantaloons. He was grinning at her and holding his hand out again. Really, there was only one viable response.

"What."

"It's not that I don't understand, Louise, but I'm just not really interested in becoming your slave."

That one response was becoming increasingly relevant with every idiotic thing the boy said. Louise's fury had been simmering below the surface ever since he'd revealed his true self and humiliated her in front of all of her classmates. Kirche had made a crack about her even managing to get a zero when trying to hire an actor. It was intolerable.

"I summoned you! That means you're my familiar! That's how it works. It's a sacred ritual passed down from the Founder throughout the generations." Though, come to think of it, she did know of quite a lot of Nobles who didn't really seem to have a familiar. She'd never seen Father's, and had no idea about Éléonore, and Cattleya would never be able to pick just one animal. With Mother there was her manticore and she'd always just assumed…

Regardless! She was the third daughter of the esteemed Vallière family, and she would not be denied her right to participate in this sacred tradition. "I cast the spell and you came out. That means you were chosen for me." Saito tilted his head and frowned at her. He was sitting at her desk chair while she paced the room in frustration.

"Who chose me, though?" Well, obviously it was… uh… well, the Founder, she supposed? That hadn't really come up in any of the classes about the ceremony or the ritual. "Putting that aside for the moment, I'm not just some animal you can make into a pet. I'm a person. What's to stop me from just leaving?" She bit her lip and frowned. "As I said, I appreciate your position but you have to consider things from my perspective. How would you feel if you were yanked out of your home and dumped somewhere else with a young man demanding you obey his every whim?" Well, when he put it like that…

"That's different! I'm the daughter of a Noble House, and a lady as well." Besides which, it was clearly a bad analogy. She would never do any of the things that the scenario he described would imply.

"Not where I come from you're not. Besides, how do you even know I'm not a Noble too?" She gave him a withering look and rolled her eyes. Then the moments before his revelation flickered back to her and she frowned.

"... how did you do that thing with your… with the… oh, whatever it was that you were wearing?" Saito blinked a few times, clearly confused by the change of topic, and then sort of gestured. Next thing she knew that golem-like form had come back and was sitting in the chair.

"My costume, you mean?" The twisting-flicker happened again and it was gone once more. "I just put it away, is all. I've still got it. I wouldn't trash something that hard to get." Louise could feel her eye twitched as she just stared at him.

"... yes, but how did you do that? Is it some sort of magic?" And if it was wouldn't that mean he was a Noble after all? Only he was from a different land wasn't he? Clearly he wasn't Tristanian, nor Germanian, nor Gallian, nor Albian, nor Romalian, or any ethnicity she could conveniently lay her mind to.

"Oh, right. I forget that…" For a moment Saito looked puzzled, like his eyes were about to cross, and then he shook his head. "I mean, I didn't realise you couldn't do it. Not used to that. Everyone I know just sort of… can. It's…" He waved vaguely in the direction of the ceiling. "Somewhere else. If I want it I can get it back." Well, that certainly sounded like magic to her.

"I see... " Thoughts were colliding with each other one after another and she didn't know what to do. She couldn't really just cast his protests aside since she hadn't even contracted with him before running off… that was bad, as well. Didn't this mean she was a failure as a mage? "I thought I had succeeded, but…" Louise trailed off with a sigh; sitting down on her bed and resting her cheek on her hand. The boy stared at her with an inscrutable expression.

"Hm. Well, I guess I can help out for a while." She looked up, hope blooming in her chest, as he slowly shook his head and sighed. "But I don't want any 'contract' or anything like that. I'm not a familiar, nor a servant, but I can help you out with a few things. There's got to be a reason your magic called me, right?" Louise nodded, not quite trusting herself to speak.

Saito stood up, rubbing his chin and staring off into space for a moment. Then he nodded. "Right. I wasn't prepared to go anywhere, so I've not got a lot of my things. Otherwise I'd just give you a replacement familiar."

"There's no such thing. 'Contract Familiar' will only work on the thing that you summon with 'Summon Familiar'." Well, that much was common sense wasn't it? Or else what was to stop her from just asking her Mother for a manticore to contract to? Well, apart from the fact that Mother would never give her one just like that.

"Doesn't matter to me. I have my own methods, Louise." He continued to stare at nothingness then suddenly snapped his fingers. "Aha! Got it. I've got a spare for when I get home, so I don't mind parting with this for now. It's mostly for convenience in my case." Saito turned his hand out, palm-up, and moment of twisting before a sealed glass bottle dropped into it.

The room was immediately suffused in a soft yet rather pale bluish-white glow emanating from inside the jar. He held it out to her with a grin on his face that only grew as Louise gingerly reached for it. "Not sure how it'll work for you, but… well, we'll see. Try, uh…" She ignored him; taking it in her hands and holding it. The glass was oddly cool to the touch and the light was both harsh and soothing all at once. Saito continued somewhat lamely after a notable pause. "Um. Opening it, I guess?"

She did so. The cork popped off easily and the light moved out of the jar. It floated up in front of her and began to spin in place; forming a bright shining core with ethereal, pale flames flickering out of it. Her room was filled even more completely by light as it finished taking form as a sort of… well, if she was being honest, it was half a skull. The lack of a lower jaw made it actually a little cute rather than frightening and she could swear it was watching her curiously.

"It's a Wisp. Usually I use it as a, uh… well, a light source, I guess. Seems to be working for you. They're handy enough? Generally prefer putting some torches up, or using a Shine potion…" Now she was thoroughly ignoring him in favour of mumbling under her breath and reaching out for the light. Yet her hopes were thoroughly dashed when her fingers passed through the ghostly half-skull, the Wisp, as if it wasn't even there. The only difference was a slight chill on her skin.

"... thank you. It's… beautiful." Part of her had been hoping to be able to properly contract it. If Saito brought it with him then maybe it would count as a part of him? But no such luck. Even so, this was certainly something. She stood up and circled around it; noting that the Wisp bobbed and turned to face her. It wasn't a Familiar, as such, but… would anyone be able to tell the difference? And it was certainly unique.

At last something he'd said clicked and she frowned; looking away from her Wisp and to Saito instead. "Did you say 'get home'? You didn't actually tell me where you were from. Is it very far? Can you afford passage there?" If he couldn't, then she might have to… no, Mother wouldn't condone paying for it with her allowance. He chuckled at her questions at first; returning to his seat and watching the Wisp dance about her.

"Quite far indeed. I'll have to see if I can even get the things I need here. Building a door is tricky enough at the best of times…" Why was he talking about carpentry now? Her clear confusion just seemed to amuse him when he noticed it, though. "Ah, I guess it would be kind of out of your frame of reference. You didn't call me from this world. I'm not sure this is even the kind of world I'm used to. Seems a lot bigger…"

"... what."

Wary traveller far from home
Take care to watch the paths ye roam;
For if ye would not go astray,
Then walk only by light of day,
Lest nightfall bind ye in a spell,
To lead thee to a land so fell,
A land where living is so spurned,
That none have trod it and returned.
If this warning ye shall not heed,
And with thy folly must proceed,
Perhaps with care ye may survive,
Though salvation shall ne'er arrive.
So though ye'll surely perish soon,
If ye would live then…

Fear the Moon.