Wow okay second chapter. I kinda feel tingly. Is that normal?

Oh, uh, sidenote, don't expect consistent updates - I'm not good at that sort of thing. I've barely got it planned out to Fouquet either, so I might take a while.

Anyway, it goes without saying I'm not Noboru Yamaguchi, and therefore do not have any rights to Familiar of Zero. The only things I own here are my OCs. -Kamerad Hans

Nemenlos: I had Chapter 2 halfway written when I saw this, I was considering just abandoning Novemus and leaving it a one-shot, but that actually pushed me to publishing the second chapter.

-1:2 - Waking Up-

-Dormitories-

Eyes opening with a stretch, Louise wakes up in her bed. 'Was that all some bad dream?'

Louise cautiously looks over to the hay pile in the corner of her room - ..No, that's.. Her sword. Louise is not looking forward to going to the Infirmary again.. But, she has a duty as a mage to make sure her familiar is in good health. Getting up and getting dressed, she picks up the sword and heads off for the Infirmary.

-Tristain Academy of Magic-

-Infirmary-

Gods above, my head.. A good night's sleep really does wonders, I can finally think straight.. Looking around, that's a bed, four walls and a ceiling, and an.. oil lamp? Triage room, maybe? Magicka is still not recharged yet, which means I still haven't eaten.. when was my last meal? ehhh, Magicka Deficiency would explain the headache..

...They put me in a bed while I'm still wearing my armor..? Oh, wait, right, magically sealed.. They had the courtesy to heal my wounds, at least, but if I am where I think I am, the Ascendancy is gonna have a new piece in prisoner negotiations. Or they might just execute me, don't know which... no, the Ascendancy would've just had me killed, and plus they don't put prisoners in triage centers. So, then, where am I?

Let's take a moment to get my priorities in order then, firstly I need to find out where I am, and then how to get home.. But getting home is probably going to be an eventuality. For now, I need to get something to eat, is there a nurse around? No, no, even if there was, they don't speak Arkseyan here. I'm pretty sure that little girl last night wasn't yelling in Novic, anyway, so I'm probably not in the Ascendancy.

Quietly getting up, I take a peek outside the window - it's almost morning, and there's not even a single pile of snow to be seen. The Empire was right next to the Arctic Circle, hell, Arktiviri live in the snow.. I'm gonna have to keep up a constant bubble of cold air around me if I don't want heat stroke. Lucky for me, I just so happen to be the youngest Novemus mage, probably ever.. Who also happens to be out of Magicka.

Woo. Lucky me.

Much to the current Nurses dismay, I stand up to my full height of 190cm. Short, for an Arktiviri, anyways. I've seen some Arktivir men grow up to 248cm, and that's on the shorter side. But, I digress. They did a very good job of healing here, I barely even feel my wound anymore, except for a little bandaging probably in place of a shirt now.

They must have used magic for this, but then, where's the mage? Humans can't do magic, can they? I don't feel the signature burn of Xennic or Elzikian Energies, or the unpleasant tingling or the dull aches of Svennic and Molttic, respectively, and Erisian Energy should leave you with an odd sense of sleepiness. I feel just fine, so, how did they do it? Maybe it has to do with the runes on my hand?

The nurse tries to stop me, saying something. I simply show her where my wounds were, and their more-than-adequate job of healing me. I give her my thanks with a smile before leaving the room unimpeded.

Stretching, I begin my exploration down the halls of the castle. This either calls for a mess-hall raid or a hunting trip, but I think I'll collapse out of hunger before I find anything edible. I hear a vaguely familiar voice behind me, I can feel a part of me somewhat elated to hear the song that is her voi- ...what the hell? I fought with Pinky for an hour last night. I shouldn't be happy about hearing her voice.

-Tristain Academy of Magic-

-Hallways-

Louise was on her way to the infirmary to visit her familiar, though a peculiar sight interrupted her stride.

Her familiar, already up, out and about. She was there yesterday, she saw it up close. She saw the laceration, from one end of the strangely pale girl's stomach to the other. The Water mages healed it quickly, it was a surprisingly shallow wound given the length of it, but still, it cut muscle and into organ from the looks of it. It should still be sore.

"Hey! Familiar, what are you doing up already? Shouldn't you still be recovering?"

"I still have no idea what you're saying."

"Don't you know any Tristanian? Founder, it wasn't enough to have summoned a commoner girl, and whats worse it was some Germanian commoner who can't even understand me?"

"Please shut up, you're making me wonder if Vincent van Gogh had the right idea."

A loud rumble interrupts their conversation. The Pale Girl's face turns a bright blue. Louise doesn't think she'll ever get used to her having blue blood, she can't be human. But, being an Elf is entirely out of the question too. Elves have sharp ears, right? She just had sharp teeth. And sharp horns. ...Maybe her ears were a little pointed, too. That might have just been her.

'...Sharp teeth are probably more dangerous than sharp ears.'

The Pale Girl is already walking off, looking like she's trying - and failing - to wipe the blue blush off of her face with her mind.

"Hey, Familiar, Whats your name, anyway?"

"I thought we established I can't answer questions I don't understand."

"Louise le Blanc de la Valliere." She states, pointing to herself. "You?" The girl points to her conversational partner.

"Names? Kestrel K. Vulius."

"...Kestrel? Like, the bird?"

"If you said 'Like the Bird', I'm walking out this instant."

Another rumble, and Kestrel's face returns to a tint of turquoise.

-Tristain Academy of Magic-

-Mess Hall-

I was, glad that she brought me to the mess hall.

At first.

No, no, then it all went downhill. Any physician worth his lot knows Arktviri are strictly carnivores - seeing a vegetable broth in front of me, I knew she was trying to kill me. While they're considered poisonous, an Arktviri trying to eat a plant is more akin to a kid with potentially lethal allergies in a field of pollen and dog hair. I know, I know, any human I've come across has told me 'that sounds ridiculous', but its true. I promise. The Ascendancy tried to poison our supply trains with broccoli, and half of Lord Ittermann's Legion was disabled for the better half of a week.

Oddly enough, baked goods - despite being made out of mostly wheat - are perfectly fine. So are mushrooms, for whatever reason, but I guess fungi aren't the same as plants.

Trying to poison me, though? That's all fine. I'm okay with that. Murder is (uniquely) legal in the Arkseyan Empire, put that on top of my being a soldier? I've seen bloodshed, I'm prepared to be poisoned and I'm more than prepared for death.

No. Injury I'm fine with, but humiliation? Dehumanization? I refuse to sit on the floor. I'm the daughter of a duke.

To the protest of my pink-haired 'benefactor', I walk away once again, leaving the bowl of broth on the cafeteria table, and Pi-...Louise, to finish her meal. I can deal with injury, but I will not sustain an insult when I cannot, err, correct, the offending mistake. Leaving through the door I came out of, I'm face to face with quite possibly the largest collection of animals I've ever seen outside of a zoo. Or the Fungal Fields south of the Ascendancy - I swear, the ground itself is alive there.

There's one thing I notice, right off the bat. They've all got runes. None of the humans have runes.

...I come to my own conclusion very quickly, and among my first thoughts; 'Not if I can help it.'

Calmly resuming my walk, I make my goal for the exit of the castle itself. My newfound cold rage should be enough to fuel me to catch a small rabbit, at the least.

In the courtyard, however, I was much too distracted by the shape of the main tower - I'm a soldier, sure, but even I can appreciate a master's work - and thus I bumped into a helpful young maid.

-Tristain Academy of Magic-

-Courtyard-

"Oh- Excuse me, miss!" I regain my own balance quickly, but The Maid is poised to fall. I quickly grab her hand before she has the chance to, keeping her on her feet.

"Excuse me, I should've been looking where i was going!" Gods, damn this language barrier to the Deadlands, let Xenne have at it. From the tone of her voice and the look on her face, though, I could tell she was apologetic. Or, something like it, anyway. I shake my head 'no'. Putting on a smile, I let go of her hand when I'm sure she's stable and offer my other to shake. "No, no, don't worry about it. It was my fault." I try to gently exaggerate the tone of my voice. Not too much to be sarcasm, but enough to be noticeable.

"You're.. not mad?"

I try my hardest to tell her I have no clue what she's saying, but, I'm not good at Charades. She seems to understand, though.

"I'm too hungry to be mad."

"A-alright, Madam, I really need to be going now. I have a lot of work to do."

I know when someone recognizes someone else as an authority figure, so I try to quell her by showing the new runes on my hand. Sliding off my gauntlet, her eyes go wide as she realizes just who I am.

"Oh, you're Miss Valliere's summon! You've really been on the Servant's lips, more so than all the other famili-."

Almost as though my stomach has it out for me, another rumble. If this is going to be common, I'm just going to hide myself out in a cave.

"oh- you must be hungry- follow me, I'll get you something to eat!"

-Tristain Academy of Magic-

-Courtyard-

I left the kitchen, thanking the staff many times over. They were surprised at how much I could eat, and for any normal person it would probably be enough to put a good few pounds on them. But, I'm a mage. Somewhere around three fourths of what I eat is turned into Magicka, stealing it from actually doing anything to alleviate hunger. They were also confused as to why I adamantly avoided any sort of fruit or vegetable they gave me, but I'll try to explain it to them the first chance I get - Language barriers suck. Maybe that Maid - Siesta, her name was? would be willing to teach me?

Ah, anyway. With a full belly, my Magicka should start recharging and I'll more than likely live to see another few days. Realizing the sweltering conditions of this land now that I have nothing distracting me from the temperature, I quickly pool my currently very limited reserves into an endothermic Sadita spell, then using Imperum to shape it to my figure, like a second skin of cold air.

This is probably the best I've felt in a week, I hope this lasts.

-Tristain Academy of Magic-

Sorry about the, eh, two day wait, I was planning on having this out last night actually. Then I got distracted, and lo and behold it was three in the morning and I had a thousand three hundred words down. I actually rewrote this chapter a few times too, or, the start of it anyway. I really need something better to do.

Look forward for an info dump next chapter! Or maybe I'll just make that a second story instead, like a collection of Omake instead? Tutoring with Kestrel & Colbert?