This way I literally cannot follow the stations of canon which I have come to quite dislike. This will mostly be short snips since I have trouble keeping focus writing long chapters, though I'm getting better. Setting is likely to stay in Gallia for the most part and will start before canon. Hope you enjoy.

"Your dad is kinda grouchy." a green haired girl in a yellow shirt and green dress said from atop her shoulder seat.

"That's not nice to say to a King." the middle aged man with blue hair and similarly blue regal wear replied.

"He's a King?!" he recoiled slightly, his ear ringing. Maybe he should reconsider letting her ride on his shoulder.

"Yes." he answered after regaining his balance.

"Doesn't that mean you're a prince?"

"I am."

"You don't look like a prince."

"And that's not a nice thing to say to me."

Joseph d'Gallia ignored the odd looks he received from the passing servants. To them, it would look like he was talking to himself. He was already being called the 'mad prince who talked to ghosts or something'. Amusingly, the servants were not as quiet as they thought they were.

And telling everyone that he had an invisible familiar that only he could perceive... would only exacerbate their views.

"I smell some really nice food."

"That's because we're near the kitchen." Joseph waved a hand in the direction of the left corridor. Another right after at the end of the corridor and you would enter the kitchen where the servants were busy preparing lunch.

"Ooh! Can we go there please?"

"No." he replied whilst going the opposite direction.

"Aww… why not?"

"Because Isabella is waiting for me. We can have lunch after that."

"Who's Isabella?"

"My daughter."

"You have a daughter?"

"Yes."

"Then who's your wife?"

"She died in childbirth." he replied without missing a beat.

"Oh…" Koishi, for once since her summoning, lost her bubbly enthusiasm. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be." he replied in monotone. It had been so long ago and there really was no one who could have helped when even the best water mages failed.

"So what's your daughter like?"

"Bossy and a bit of a sucker up to me."

"Well that doesn't sound too nice."

"She can be quite sweet when she wants to."

He stopped walking right before the suite reserved for him and his family. The sole knight on guard gave him a respectful salute and opened the door for him.

"Wow! This is a nice room." Koishi commented as he let himself in. The guard closing the door behind him.

"Indeed." he scanned the lounge for his daughter. "Isabella?"

"Father!" he spied the blue hair of his daughter popping out of her room. "You're back! Can we have lunch no…"

Her voice died in her mouth when she came out into the lounge. "Who's that?"

Joseph felt a measure of surprise when he realised that his daughter was looking directly at Koishi. That would make her the first person aside from himself to even notice her presence.

"Hi! I'm Koishi!" Koishi floated off of his shoulder and landed right in front of his daughter. "Nice to meetcha!"

His daughter reared up in surprise though he didn't know whether that was from Koishi flying or her upbeat personality. Composing herself, she cast a questioning look at him to which he nodded. Looking back at the waiting Koishi, she performed a small curtsy before adding "Isabella d'Gallia. A pleasure."

"So are we gonna have lunch now?" Koishi left quickly Isabella to float back onto his shoulder.

He simply nodded and held out a hand to his daughter. "Let's go Isabella."

His daughter hesitated and gave an odd look at Koishi before grabbing onto his hand, allowing him to lead her out.

"Father, what is Koishi to you exactly?" Isabella asked as soon as they were out of the door.

"My familiar."

"Yup! He summoned me."

"Familiar? But I thought you said you can't do magic." Isabella sounded surprised.

"My father proved me wrong this morning." and now he had an invisible girl floating by him.

"Yeah! But he was really grumpy about it."

"That's because he couldn't see you."

"Oh. Did he want to see me?"

"Yes he did and now he thinks I've gone mad over."

"Well that's not very nice of him." Koishi huffed out. "We should have a talk with him."

"That's not a good tone to have with a king."

"Isn't it? But I spoke to gods like this and they had no problem."

"Umm... Father?" He heard Isabella meekly call from behind.

"Hm?" Joseph stopped and turned around to look down to Isabella. "What is it?"

"Can... can I also ride on your shoulder?" She asked. He quirked an eye at the unusual behaviour. It was rare to see his daughter act shyly.

"Aren't you a bit old for that?"

"Ah..." Isabella turned her face away. "I understand."

A tap on his shoulder had him see Koishi frowning disapprovingly. She jabbed her finger back in the direction of Isabella and he turned around just in time to see the twinkle of tears before his daughter spun away from him again.

Joseph closed his eyes and let out a long sigh. Kneeling down by his daughter, he took hold of her hand and pulled her close. "I never said no."

And the joyous gleam in her eye and the dazzling smile that appeared on his daughter's face gave him the first genuine smile he's had in a while.

"Joseph. You're late again." His father said as Joseph entered the dining hall.

"And hello to you again father. You needn't have waited for me." He replied in monotone.

His father's eyes shifted onto Isabella and under his cold gaze she squeaked and hopped off of his shoulders. Joseph let out a breath and stretched his shoulders as his daughters weight vanished. Founder, but he had no idea she had gotten so heavy.

"Go take your seat Isabella. I'll join you in a minute." He gave a slight push to his daughter's shoulder.

She nodded and gave a curt curtsy to his grandfather before departing.

"Have you cleared your head since our last conversation?"

"Since I still see Koishi, probably not."

"Hmm?" The girl in question broke out of staring at all the food at the mention of her name. "Oh hey! It's grumpy dad again."

"Don't call him that." He murmured softly. And back to his father, he said "If you still doubt my familiar's existence, ask Isabella. She can see Koishi."

His father scoffed and turned to head towards his seat. Joseph took only a moment to fall in step with the elderly man. Without turning, his father said "Your daughter would agree with anything you say, I suspect."

"And do you wish I would do the same?"

His father halted in his step. "Perhaps I do or perhaps I don't." And with that he seated himself without another word.

Joseph shrugged and seated himself next to him as was his place as a prince. His father dodging the question wasn't an unusual occurrence. It just meant he wasn't sure on the answer himself.

Looking down at his plate, he was less than amused to see that it was empty. Not empty as in the servants forgot to put anything on it, but empty as in someone ate everything on his plate.

He picked up his goblet and shook it. The weight of finest Gallian wine missing. She even drank his wine.

"I... I'm sorry father. I tried to stop her." Isabella uttered from his side.

Having more than just a suspicion on the identity of the culprit, Joseph lifted a single hand and patted the shoulder where Koishi had settled herself. His hand met only the cloth of his shoulder, the space that Koishi had filled before replaced with empty air. So that's why she was so quiet all of a sudden.

Where is she...?" He muttered to himself as he scanned the vast hall for his wayward familiar.

It didn't take very long to identify a floating girl in a yellow dress eating out of a plate. The unfortunate noble below her now aggressively demanding his neighbour to stop hiding his food.

He briefly entertained the idea of reining in his wayward familiar but decided against it. He flagged down the nearest servant and ordered some food.

For the duration of the lunch, Koishi would be someone else's problem.

"This is booooriiiing."

"Quiet! Father's working."

Joseph d'Gallia pretended not to hear the two bickering behind him as he read through the reports. Whilst he was here in Versailles, the news from his own fief of Navarra were forwarded here. It wasn't much really; there were only budget reports and permissions he needed to sign. The minister he left in charge was probably doing a better job of administering his fief than he would.

"Why are you even watching?"

"Because I'll be the one in charge of the duchy one day and I want to be ready when that day comes!"

"Wow! That's really responsible of you."

"Well, it's to be expected from someone like me."

Hmm? Captain Louis wants a budget increase to counter the growing banditry problem. Reading through, most the money would be spent on hiring more men and equipping them for more patrols. He signed that off quickly. The number of complaints about the bandits were beginning to stack and if these new patrols could cull their number, then it would be most helpful.

"You know, I don't think you'll learn much just by watching."

"Well... then I'll..."

He felt someone tug on his shirt. Diverting his attention away from his work, he looked down to see his daughter. "Yes?"

"Father... is there anything that I can help with?"

"Ooh! I'll help too!"

Isabella snapped an irritated look at Koishi. "Do you even know how to read?"

"Of course I do!" Koishi floated up and grabbed the first book she could reach from his desk. The account ledgers for Navarra from the looks of it. "This is uh... this isn't Japanese is it?"

"Ha! So you can't read!"

"Yes I can! I just can't read this."

Joseph shook his head at the two as they started to bicker again. He didn't really need the help of either but he doubted they would simply accept that. Looking at Koishi and Isabella again, an idea came to mind. "Isabella, you can help by teaching Koishi how to read."

"That sounds like a great idea!" Koishi beamed.

"What! But I don't want to!" Isabella admonished.

"Aww, why not?" Koishi appeared right in front of Isabella's face. His daughter taking a step back whilst her hands tried to push Koishi away but to no avail. "Please, please, please."

"No! Why should a princess teach a... uh... someone like you!?" Isabella jeered a finger at Koishi.

"Cause Jojo asked you to?" Koishi innocently said.

"Jo...jo?" Isabella did not even a second to understand and in that second, her entire body began to quiver. "How dare you refer to father by such a name!?"

"Eh? Why can't I? Saying Joseph all the time is such a mouthful though. "

"I'm sure father is offended by such a name!"

"I've been called worse." Joseph said. And really, this would probably be the first name that was not malicious nor denigrating. He placed a hand on Isabella's shoulder and brought her around to look her in the eye. "Look Isabella,it will help me greatly if my familiar could read. So could you please teach Koishi the basics at the very least."

"B... but can't you just get some servant to do it instead?" Isabella protested.

"So far you're the only other person that can see her. So no, I can't." Joseph simply replied. He looked back at Koishi. "Actually… you never did tell me why no one else can see you? ...or why Isabella can."

"Oh! They can see me, they just don't notice me." Koishi told them.

"Isn't that the same thing?" Isabella asked.

"Nope." was the only answer she received.

"And why can Isabella notice you?" Joseph repeated his question.

"I dunno." Koishi shrugged her shoulders. "Kids always seem to notice me for some reason."

"And the eye thing?" Joseph asked first, cutting off the outrage about to burst from Isabella at being called a kid. "What is that?"

"Oh? It's my third eye." Koishi lifted up the closed purple eye. "I closed it a long time ago."

"Why would you keep an eye closed?" Joseph asked her with curiosity. This was so far the most mature and serious talk they've had so far. A very good chance to learn more of his familiar without getting silly answers all the time. "Is there actually any use to it?"

"It lets me read minds." Koishi replied, her tone turning melancholic. "But reading people's minds all the time is really depressing, so I closed it."

Reading people's mind... That sounded like a very useful ability. Social interactions and diplomatic meetings would be much easier if he knew what the other person was speaking about.

"But now it's much easier for me!" Koishi's cheerfulness returned in full force with a smile. Joseph wasn't exactly sure how… or where she had hidden that… but Koishi managed to materialise a white porcelain mask into her hands. Hugging the mask tightly to her chest, Koishi added "Life is much more fun now especially since I found this mask!"

Koishi then skipped back right back to being right in front of Isabella. Isabella holding her ground this time as Koishi flashed her a pleading look. "All that aside. I'll be under your care. Please take care of me." Koishi performed a bow.

"...What?" was the confused reply from Isabella.

"You're teaching me how to read right?" was the innocent reply.

"What! No! I never agreed to anything yet!"

"Yet. So you'll agree later!"

"Never!"

Joseph gave a bemused smile before turning back to his work. He had never seen Isabella react like so before. Usually she would pull her rank to get what she wants though he supposed she couldn't really apply that to Koishi with her ambiguous social status and her personality.

He picked up another sheet and skimmed through it. Something about needing funds to repair a bridge that collapsed. Why they couldn't just grab some earth mage to do it, he didn't know. It sure would save a lot of time rather than building it conventionally.

"So what does this mean?"

"I'm not talking to you anymore."

"You're talking to me now."

"That doesn't count."

"Still talking to me."

"That also doesn't count."

"And you're still-"

"Gah! Be quiet!"

Ah… perhaps having a familiar wasn't too bad after all.

I would like constructive criticisms since, like most of us, I'm an amateur at this stuff. Advise and pointing out errors would be most appreciated. :D