Chapter 2: Settling in
Disclaimer: I do not own anything other than my plot alterations and OC's
"Wake up little master it is time for you to prepare for your classes this morning."
"Ngh! Five more minutes please mother I don't want to get up yet," Said Louise as she tried to swat away the annoying voice that had invaded her dream just as it was getting to the good part.
"I am not your mother and I will not give you any more time to sleep little one if you do not get up this instance you will surely regret your decision." This time Louise recognized the voice speaking to her at the voice of her familiar and the co-star of the mildly embarrassing dream she had just stopped. 'I am never borrowing any books from that maid again.' Then the poor pinkette remembered the events that had happened yesterday right up to where she had passed out.
"Did what I think actually happened yesterday or was that just some sort or unbelievably realistic dream?"
"That would depend on what you think happened, master. If you think I got into a scrimmage with the blonde kid Guiche and embarrassed him pretty badly, no that was not a dream. Neither was the part where I revealed that you have some of the largest magical reserves in the academy, or where I showed that Siesta has potential to be an average mage with some training. What you may not remember, however, is the part where you passed out into my soufflé that Katie gave to me and messed up your uniform. I do not appreciate you making my laundry duties more difficult." 'I really wanted to try that soufflé too, even if it was just to rub it in Guiche's face.'
"What about the parts where you handed me those glasses of yours and I saw a magical aura around you even though you told me twice that you are not a noble?" The man chuckled at her question.
"If I give you the short version will you leave the details be for the time being and go have a shower before breakfast?" She nodded her head once tossing her cute pink bed hair into her face. Therum brushed the hair out of her face before taking a seat next to her on the bed.
"As I told you briefly yesterday, magic is different in my home world than it is here. There are about one in two thousand people that are born with the ability to use magic so of the six billion people that live on my planet about three million or so have the natural ability to work the arcane arts. That is right around .05% of the population. With the weapons the average people have they would destroy even the most powerful mages in the world if they tied to exert the same kind of control over them that the nobles here have, and less than half those born with the gift have any formal training. This is why our mages live in a very loose hidden society away from the rest of the world where their abilities can be mastered without threat of persecution." Louise's eyes were wide with disbelief at this point.
"If the magical population does not rule, who is left to govern the peasants?"
"I'll get to that later, please let me finish my story. As I was saying, there is about another 1% of the population that has repressed magical abilities that would normally never appear unless a much more powerful mage came along to awaken it. I am a member of this latter group who had my abilities awoken just a few years ago. I have very extensive knowledge about magic due to a screw up during the awakening process. I know more spells than anyone with my experience should, but I have fairly low power reserves to cast them with. Personally I prefer to live my life as I did before I discovered all this mess and only use magic as a last resort, or when I am feeling particularly lazy."
"If your power is as great as you claim it is why don't you want to use your magic? You could become nobility here in no time if you let everybody know what you are capable of. Nobody would ever be able to call me Zero anymore." The poor girl was on the verge of tears at this point.
"I will help you in any way that I can but I must insist that you do not tell anybody about my mage abilities until I decide whether or not to let anyone else know. I have already sworn Siesta to secrecy about me and I insist that you do the same. In return I will do anything in my ability to help you find and master your element or find another branch of thaumaturgy for you to work in." He leapt up from the bead with a bright smile on his face. "Now a deal is a deal off to the showers with you, I still smell eau de soufflé in your hair."
About twenty minutes later a slightly damp pink haired master returned to her bed chambers to find her familiar standing in a corner near her window using some sort of marking stick to draw diagrams on her wall. Being the well brought up girl that she is, there was only one proper reaction to his antics. "Explosion!" The offending familiar, his marks and most of the wall that he had been writing on went sailing at an accelerated rate towards the ground at well above a safe velocity. The poor mistreated familiar and a quiet blue haired student reading in the courtyard were quite startled by this turn of events. The wall was quite put out too. Before the blunette had time to react to the situation the flying familiar managed to blurt out a string of words that sounded a lot like an incantation and slowed to a stop just a few feet from the ground, right at eye level with the confused girl. She closed her book and gave the floating man her full attention.
"I'd appreciate it if you didn't tell anybody that this happened," the floating man said. The blue haired girl nodded once. With a less than graceful touchdown he extended his hand to the quiet girl, "Therum Magnus nice to meet you."
"Tabitha," she simply stated, shook his hand once and walked away to find a quieter place to read. The girl's dragon took a moment to stop and look at the dusty man with a slight tilt of its head. Therum prepared to defend himself from the animal before finding himself drenched in dragon saliva. Apparently happy with its handiwork, the animal ran off after her master.
Therum fumed to himself on the way back up to Louise's room while trying to find a clean piece of coat to wipe his face on. 'The mageling and I have a few matters to discuss in regards to morning greetings. Good morning, thank you for setting out my clothes, idle dismissal, are all acceptable to some degree or another. Yelling explosion and sending someone hurtling forty feet to the ground below is not in any form a proper way to greet someone especially when they are trying to do something to help you. If I hadn't been wearing this coat she could have seriously injured me. It still hurt like hell though.'
Upon entering the room after his internal rant, "Familiar what is the meaning of defacing a noble's bed chamber in such a manner?" Apparently she was referencing the new hole in the wall that she put there not ten minutes ago. "Why were you drawing marks on the wall while I was in the shower?" Or she could be completely off scale.
"I was not defacing anything I was drawing a power collection grid so that I could extend the room out a little and give me somewhere private to sleep while still being close enough to assist you if necessary. You were the one telling me that I should use more magic last night. Besides, you are the one who blew a hole in your wall not me. If anything you should apologize to me for almost killing me. If I had been a normal commoner I would have been crippled at best from that fall." At least she had the decency to look a little ashamed of her actions.
"Well next time inform your master before you make any changes to her living quarters. What would you need a power array for I thought you said that you are a powerful mage."
"No I said that I am a skillful mage with very limited power reserves. I can perform just about any magical feat you can throw at me but I usually need to have an external way to gather the mana first. Relying purely on my own reserves I will be able to fix your mess here and redraw the array in time to meet you for class but don't expect me to be much of a grand sorcerer for the rest of the afternoon. Now hurry or you will miss breakfast." He pushed her out into the hallway with a little more force than absolutely necessary before closing the door behind her.
***Break***
'Who does that stupid familiar think that he is ordering me around like some sort little child? I am the master and he is my familiar. If he had told me that he was going to be making renovations I would not have reacted in such a way it is his fault, not mine. I am glad he wasn't injured by that fall though.' Suddenly from behind her she heard the last voice that she wanted to hear today.' This day just keeps getting better.'
"Oh, little Louise there you are. Where is my darling one this morning I would have thought that after yesterday you would allow the poor man to accompany you to the dining hall for a decent meal?" Her face twisted to one of impish delight. "I know you left him exhausted last night after you showed him exactly how much you admire his expert sword-play. That is ok I don't mind sharing him with you. I imagine he is far too much man to be satisfied by one woman alone for too long anyway." Kirche was far too good at pushing Louise's buttons for the other's comfort.
"I did no such thing with him." Louise's face now matched her hair perfectly. "Not all women are as shameless as you Zerbst most proper noble girls have a little thing called decency! He is simply taking care of a task I gave him and he will meet me in class after breakfast. He is just a familiar after all. There is no real reason to have him come into the dining hall. Now if you are done bothering me I would like to have my meal in peace."
"Fine have it your way Vallière Tabitha and I will leave you in peace, but I will have what I desire sooner or later. My heart's fire cannot be put out so easily."
"Pointless," Tabitha commented.
***BREAK***
Elsewhere in the Castle while the familiar in question was chanting and drawing runes to repair a badly damaged wall with a familiar sized hole in it an old man was working his way towards a righteous beating with the aid of a small white mouse. Acting Senile will only get a person so far. A lesson the old man will be sure to learn in the near future.
***BREAK***
After breakfast the students headed to their first classes of the day and the first class at all for the second years after their spring summoning. Louise made it to class just as the bell was ringing and saw that her familiar was already seated at the back with an open journal and what looked like some sort of writing device in front of him. "Glad you made it on time master I saved you a seat," he gestured to the bench beside him. Louise huffed slightly but sat down anyway.
"Why do you have a notebook in front of you? You're not a student here."
"That may be true Louise but if I am going to help you figure what magic you are capable of, I need to gather some idea of what you have been learning so far. For example everyone here seems to be a wand or staff user for the majority of their magic. I personally hate mine and only use it when I cast high cost magic, like fixing tower walls early in the morning after a temperamental girl blasts me through them. Now shush, it looks like the professor is about to begin."
"Good morning class, it seems that the Springtime Familiar Summoning was a great success. I, Chevreuse the Red Clay, always enjoy seeing the new familiars that are summoned each spring. Miss Vallière who is the young man sitting next to you I was not aware that we were going to be having a new transfer student this term?"
"That is not a new student Professor Chevreuse that is my familiar who likes to think himself a student."
"Hey just because I am not technically a student here doesn't mean I want to pass up a chance to learn something."
"That is right professor; Louise summoned a common swordsman as her familiar. He is most assuredly not a student at this academy," said another blonde boy from across the room.
'So says the kid without a degree in Mechanical Engineering.' "I would appreciate it if you would shut it lad and let the professor get on with the lesson. Some of us are actually interested in what she has to say. Even if I am not a noble born magician like you may be, I know when to shut up. Also the common swordsman as you put it has a name, it is Therum Magnus, please use it when speaking to or about me."
Chevreuse was a little surprised at how blunt he was to the boy but he had respecter her and that is the important part. "Thank you Mr. Magnus, now as a review can anyone tell me how many elements there are?"
Guiche was the first to have his hand up and speak,"there are five elements miss: Fire, Air, Water, Wind, and the lost element of Void. My element happens to be Earth just like you professor."
"Very good Mr. Gramont that is correct and in this class we will be reviewing what you should have learned about earth magic last semester and continuing on with line level spells."
"Excuse me Professor, what do you mean by line level spells?" asked Therum.
"Oh yes what a good review point mister Magnus. The power of a mage is determined by how many elements a mage can stack when casting a spell. For instance controlling mud would be a line spell consisting of earth and water and making something out of a single stone would be a dot level earth spell. I believe that most of the students here in year two are dot or line level mages, while I am a triangle class mage and someone like Old Osmond the Headmaster and Professor Colbert are square class mages."
"Are there any mages who can stack all five elements together or that are able to use more than four at a time? It seems kinda limiting to only be able to use one or two elements of magic."
"It is rumored that the royal family can use hexagon class spells but for most that is just speculation. As for using all five that is impossible because the fifth element of Void has been lost for millennia and no mages today are known to be able to use it."
"Thank you Professor Chevreuse that was very informative." Therum was no longer paying attention to the teacher as he started writing in the open book in front of him.
"How about we do a practical demonstration of earth magic now?" Chevreuse bulled three small pieces of coal out of one of the pockets in her robe. With a wave of her wand and a few words the pieces shone for a moment and turned into a shining gold tinted metal.
"Did you just turn those rocks into Gold," Kirche's eyes were wide with amazement.
"No Miss Zerbst these are simple brass I am but a triangle mage and it takes a square class to reproduce the specific properties found in gold." That got Therum's attention for a brief moment.
'If they can turn coal into brass when diamonds would be far simpler, why can't they make gold it is just another element. Heck brass is mostly copper, which is in the same family as gold. These people must have to use more magical power to make up for their lack of understanding with elemental composition gold does have some pretty unique properties. Why do mages always ignore the scientific element?' He made another couple of notes in his book.
"Would anybody else like to give it a try? How about you Miss Vallière it seems as if your familiar has been more active in class than you have today. Come up to the front and give it a go."
"Are you sure you want to do that Professor it could be really dangerous if the Zero tries this." Kirche was back at it.
"Nonsense child there is nothing dangerous about transmutation. Now get up here Miss Vallière and say the spell while thinking of what metal you want to turn the coal into." Louise reluctantly got up from her seat while the rest of the students got under their desks. Tabitha closed her book and silently made her way to the exit. As she made to walk past Therum he stuck his arm out blocking her path without looking up from his notes. She took the hint and sat back down in the seat that Louise had recently vacated.
Therum once again tore his attention away from his notes and calculations to watch Louise work. 'This will be the first time I have seen her cast anything except for an explosion spell. The summoning spell doesn't count because I was on the receiving end of that.' Louise began to cast and the rocks at first appeared to be doing what the professor's had. 'WAIT that's not right, I hope she won't be mad at me for interfering but I have to help.' Just as the coal bits were about to go critical Therum waved his pen slightly and the transformation finished calmly. There sitting on the table were three flawless diamonds about half the size of the original coal chunks. He couldn't tell what surprised the students and teacher the most, the lack of an explosion or the three shining rocks on the table. 'That should get them off her back for a little while.'
"I saw," Tabitha said in barely a whisper from behind her book. She recived a warm half smile in response to her comment.
"Something tells me you are not going to be telling anyone."
The Professor was the first to recover her senses because she had never experienced one of Louise's explosions and only had to deal with the shock of her student producing jewelry quality gems out of a hunk of coal she grabbed from the stove stores before class. "Well done Miss Vallière I will keep one of these for grading and you may keep the other two."
"Are those real diamonds Professor or are they some sort of glass look alike? She could have swapped them during that reaction flash when we weren't looking." Apparently Kirche had just as much interest in shiny things as she does in men.
"That was easily a square class reaction; no way can The Zero suddenly pull that off." Guiche wasn't happy about being shown up twice now by the girl, even if both times were indirect. "I could test them with my familiar; Verdandi has an affinity for rare gem stones."
"Miss Zerbst, Mister Gramont, I will not have one of my students accused of cheating in my class when they have preformed such exemplary work with me watching the whole time. Have a seat Miss Vallière so that we can continue with our class." Louise scooped up the two stones and returned to her seat next to her familiar. Tabitha returned to her own seat next to Kirche.
The rest of the class continued without much else happening. A few more students showed their ability to transmute the bits of coal into various metals such as bronze, iron, copper and the like. The only thing that Therum really care about at all was the intense gaze he was getting from Tabitha when she thought he wasn't looking. 'That girl is too curious for my own good. I hope she doesn't start asking questions about how I fixed Louise's spell.'
As the students were exiting the classroom Louise and Therum ran into a minor road block consisting Of Guiche, Kirche, and Tabitha, the latter of which seemed more interested in her book than what her excitable best friend was up to. Guiche was trying not to make eye contact with the older man while addressing Louise. "Louise may we take a look at those so called diamonds you produced earlier? I want to let Verdandi sniff them to see if they are real or not."
Not wanting to cause any problems she gave the gems to Guiche for inspection. He in turn waived them in front of the giant mole that had burrowed up beside him. As soon as the gems were close enough Verdandi went wild over them thus verifying them as true diamonds. "Well I'll be it looks like one of your screw ups has actually paid off little Louise. There is no way I am going to believe that you were originally aiming for something so magnificent but I suppose even you have to get lucky occasionally."
"Careful Kirche that almost sounded like a compliment, "Guiche quipped, "next thing we know you two will be best friends. Having sleepovers and talking about your lovers."
"There is no way that a Zerbst and a Vallière could ever be friends like that, besides is she talked about all of her lovers there would hardly be time for sleeping in a single night." If nothing else Louise could at least hold her own in an argument with her rival.
"I agree, Louise would actually have to find a lover that likes flat girls before she could discuss her experiences." Louise would have probably tried to strangle the other girl if her shoulder were not being held by the strong grip of her familiar.
"Maybe there is more than you think," Tabitha added. While everyone else thought she was referencing Louise, Therum caught the slight eye contact she gave him over the top of her book. He winked back at her to show he understood her message. She in turn quickly buried her face into her book.
***BREAK***
Towards the end of the class, the old Headmaster was receiving the beating that he had been earning all morning. The final straw for the woman giving the beating had been when the Headmaster has said she was going to be a spinster forever if she couldn't handle someone peeking at her underwear. The kicking would have probably gone on longer if Old Osmond hadn't been saved by the interruption of a weary looking Colbert holding a very old book. "Osmond a minute of your time please," he said through his panting.
"What can I do for you Professor? Miss Longueville and I were just discussing a bit of office policy." Wisely Colbert chose to ignore the flimsy excuse.
"Will you take a look at this book please I want to get your opinion on something from page forty-two."
"A copy of The Founder and his Familiars; what is so important about this that would cause you to run up here like this? All I see on this page is a description of the runes that signified the Founder's familiar, Gandalfr. "
"Exactly sir, now take a look at these runes that appeared on the stranger Louise summoned during the ritual." The old man's eyebrows disappeared into his bangs.
"Miss Longueville would you excuse us for a moment I need to help Colbert here translate this page." After she left Osmond turned to Colbert with a serious expression rarely seen on the old man's face. "If you are implying what I think you are Professor I think that things here in Tristain are about to get much more interesting." The aged Headmaster stroked his beard in an 'I'm wise and mysterious fashion.'
"The runes on the man Therum Magnus are almost exactly the same as the ones on this page. The only difference is the appearance of another fainter symbol that was underneath the familiar runes. I could not tell if it was from the ritual or if it was perhaps something from his life before. With your permission I would like to call him up to your office in the next few days to discuss some of these possibilities with him."
"That will be fine Mister Colbert please have him come up the day after tomorrow as tomorrow is the day of the Void and I imagine the Vallière girl will not want to give up the afternoon with her companion on her day off."
As the two men were wrapping up their impromptu meeting the door to the Headmaster's office burst open again to reveal Miss Chevreuse. "Headmaster did you know that the Vallière girl that you warned me about last week was a Square class earth mage? "
"What is the meaning of this interruption Madame Mister Colbert and I were in the middle of a very important meeting, but seeing as we were just talking about the same person what do you have to say?"
"Today in class I had the girl help with a demonstration of transmutation turning coal into some other substance. When she cast the spell it looked as if she might have overloaded it but at the last moment the reaction completed and three of these were formed." She handed the Headmaster the diamond she had held on to.
Taking the gem from the excited earth mage Osmond produced a jeweler's eyepiece from somewhere. Whether by magic or more likely from the depth of beard space neither of the other educators present could tell. "You are sure that the Vallière girl made this from a piece of coal with the transmutation spell?" A nod was given. "This is some of the finest quality craftsmanship I have ever seen. I have seen the Queen herself wear pieces crafted with less attention to detail. The only problem at all is Miss Vallière has never shown even the slightest affinity for earth magic let alone having the skill to create something like this. I was planning on speaking to the girl in a couple of days I will be sure to congratulate her on the fine work. That will be all Miss Chevreuse." 'It seems that things will definitely be getting more interesting around here.'
***Break***
In the dining hall Therum had decided to join Louise for lunch promising to have dinner in the kitchen with the cooks and maids. Out of nowhere Therum let out a mighty sneeze. "Someone must be talking about me," he said to nobody in particular.
Not hearing what he said Louise turned to Therum once she had finished her 'humble meal' and whispered to him. "I know that you did something this morning. I have experienced enough failed spells to know what one feels like. The transmutation spell was exactly the same until I felt an unfamiliar burst of willpower and the coal turned into diamond. I have never had any success with any type of earth magic it makes no sense for me to suddenly perform square class work. Besides I was trying for brass like the professor had done why did you choose something so flashy?"
"I am sorry for drawing attention to you but I was acting on impulse and diamond was the easiest thing I could think of with exertion of energy you threw at those pieces. Anyway now people will leave you alone and stop calling you The Zero."
"What do you mean the easiest thing you could think of? There are very few mages in the world that can shape jewels with magic let alone create them from a lump of fire coal. What exactly did you do anyway?"
"I am not going to try and explain advanced chemistry to you Louise but in the simplest terms coal and diamonds are both made mostly of a substance called carbon. The primary difference between the two is how the carbon particles bond together. If the bits are loosely packed with other substances mixed in the gaps you get coal or something similar, but if they are tightly packed with few impurities thanks to volcanic heat and pressure you get diamonds. I used your spell energy to remove the impurities and rearranged the carbon particles a little hence you got diamonds instead of a metal. It is my theory that the only reason your mages have such a hard time with precious materials is because you are using mass magic to compensate for lack of material understanding, not because they are more difficult to make. There's a lot more to it all but I would rather not go into it all today. Now let's finish our meal, you have other classes and my array should be ready to give me a place to sleep."
"I don't understand half of what you just said but thanks for keeping me from making another mistake. Kirche would never have let me hear the end of it if I had blown up the classroom, (again)." Striking her palm with her fist she reached into one of the pockets in her cloak. "You mad these so you should have them. As a noble I have plenty of money and I should provide for my familiar as a good master."
"That is ok Louise keep them. I have no need of them at this time because I have no expenses. Keep them as a memento to our first successful piece of joint magic. Your raw magic provided the energy for my work otherwise I would never have been able to cast that quickly without an incantation after fixing that wall this morning. Let's try to keep our temper in check from now on alright. See you this evening after your classes." Not waiting for her to respond Therum got up and left the dining hall heading towards the second year girl's rooms.
***BREAK***
After the last of her classes that afternoon Louise was on her way back to her room thinking about all of the information her increasingly mysterious familiar had laid upon her. If he was to be believed he made constant claims to being no more than an average powered magician like a line or triangle class at best but wanted her to think that a square class transfiguration is easier than making brass. 'Is there really such a difference between being a skilled mage and a powerful one? I was always taught that one eventually comes with the other.'
Therum greeted her as she entered her bedroom. "Oh good you arrived just in time. I think you will enjoy this show greatly but please do not interfere or we could both die."
Pulling something out of his coat, Therum pointed to the piece of wall next to the window that Louise had blown up earlier. On the wall was his now completed array of runes, diagrams and advanced mathematical equations. Shifting her position a little Louise got a look at the item in his hand it was a wand of some kind made out of looked to be the same metal as his sword. There were also two more shining symbols on the back of his hands that Louise had never noticed before, but were definitely different from his familiar markings. The runes on the wand were shifting as Louise watched mesmerized while her familiar began to speak. "Vocem meam audi virtutes mundo. Respondere vocatione hoc humilis triae et da petentibus. Afferte mihi quod meum est." Louise felt a surge of power unlike any that she had ever experienced before and it felt right to her somehow. It had the same feeling as all of her spells that exact moment before they failed a feeling of pure bliss that sang to the magic in her blood. The only time she had ever felt anything this wonderful before was during the summoning ritual and that was not even as strong as the feeling was this time. As suddenly as the feeling had erupted inside her it was gone again leaving only a lingering sense of warmth and a strange looking door on the wall next to her window.
Panting slightly, "Therum what in the name of The Founder did you just do and what is that door doing there?" Paying no attention to his raging master, the magister in question decided that would be the perfect time for a nap.
***BREAK***
About an hour and a half later Therum was brought back to the waking world courtesy of a bucket of cold water. The sputtering and swearing in languages unknown to any in Tristain are clear signs that this attempt was a rousing success. "Thank you maid I have been trying to wake him for the last hour."
"You are welcome Miss Louise. Therum when you get yourself dry, I have saved you some dinner in the kitchen."
Tirade spent Therum was once more capable of his usual speech. "Thank you Siesta, I will be down in a little with the master's laundry." With a polite curtsey Siesta and her 'bucket of evil' left.
"Now that you are awake would you please tell me exactly what it is that you did, and why can't I open that door?"
"In order of importance, you can't open that door because it is keyed to my blood and magic signature nobody but me can open it. Second, what I did was summon my pocket dimension store room from earth to this room. The array that I drew on the wall spent all day collecting ambient magic from the surrounding area so that I didn't have to supply the whole amount myself. Come on I'll show you what's inside.
What was on the other side of that door was almost too much for the mageling to handle. Inside was a room that by all laws of nature should not have existed. Fortunately for Therum and Louise magic is good at bending the laws of nature without creating disastrous paradoxes. Two of the walls were covered from floor to the ten foot ceilings with racks containing every form of weapon that Louise had ever seen or imagined along with many that she had not. There were dozens of swords, bows, strange looking rifles, and several pieces of armor hanging on the walls to name a small portion. On one of the remaining walls was a huge set of book cases again filled to capacity from floor to ceiling? She could only understand the writing on one small section of the books labeled 'French' but were clearly in some dialect of Tristain's writing. The final wall furthest from the door was mostly taken up by a series of cabinets and chests with only a small bed and desk to separate them.
"Welcome to my humble room Louise you are the third person other than me to ever set foot in here. The other two were Alexander and Alexandria Venenatus and that is only because I would never have been able to make this space without their help. Technically we are not in the Tristain Academy of Magic right now. We are actually standing in a hole in the universal fabric created for me to be able to always have a home no matter where I went. The only downside to this place is that the door has to be summoned to a new location each time I move and I kind of underestimated how much energy it would take to move it from my world to this one, hence why I fainted from sudden magical exhaustion. Near as I can tell it is the same principal you used to call me here. Thanks to this symbol under the runes you put on me, this place is somewhat like my familiar. If you promise to respect my privacy I will key you into the door after I have some dinner."
"Can I stay here and look at some of the books on that shelf over there? I think I saw a few that I might be able to read."
"That should be just fine I have a fairly sizeable collection of books in French which is strangely similar to your language. 'This dimensional travel stuff gives me a headache.' Stay away from the weapon on those racks though some of them are magical and pack a nasty punch if the wrong person messes with them. See you in an hour or so." He left the girl to browse while he took care of his business.
***BREAK***
"Hey Siesta how are you this evening? You seem a little bit distracted, anything I can do to repay you for the meal and for helping me with Louise's laundry again." 'I am building a washing machine if I have to keep up with this nonsense.' "Has Guiche or one of the other noble boys been giving you trouble again? I can always hang then from the walls by their toes if you want." That got her attention…
"Nothing like that Mister Magnus, I swear, I was just thinking about some things," the fluster maid replied. "Specifically I was thinking about what you were saying about the possibility of me being a mage. Nothing like that has ever happened to a commoner like me before that I've heard of."
"I can assure you Siesta that I was not playing some joke on you. While you are probably a first generation magical, that spell was all you. While nothing impressive, it is one of the easiest spells I know of and it proves you have a gift. What I would like to know is if I could pull a few strings, would you be interested in joining this school as a student and learning real magic? I am not making any promises at this time but I want to know if going through the effort would be worth it. "
"I could never return home to Tarbes if I passed on such an opportunity of course I would accept the offer. Sadly I could never afford to pay for the tuition not to mention I have to work here to help support my family back home."
"Easy there girl all I needed to know is that you would be willing to give the same dedication to scholastic endeavors that you put forth as a maid. If you can promise me that I will do what I can to help in this endeavor. One condition though, you must call me Therum and none of this Mister Magnus business I am only twenty-four after all."
"Do you really mean that Mister, I mean Therum, you would find a way to help a stranger like me?"
"I mean it Siesta you are one of my only two friends in this world and your temper is nowhere near as violent as Louise's. I do not like the way that these nobles treat those who were not born with a certain gift, of fail to offer equal opportunity to those like you who could learn if given the chance. I may be here against my will but I still have some resources at my disposal and I can't think of a better way to exploit them. If it makes you feel any better I intend to gain a lot of amusement from messing with the nobles."
Siesta couldn't hold in her emotions anymore and did the only thing she could think of at that moment. She reached across the small table the two were sitting at and gave her first kiss to the man that wanted to turn a common maid into a noble. After about five seconds of Therum valiantly failing to offer any resistance the poor girl realized what she was doing. To say that she was embarrassed would be like saying that the nobles thought Founder Brimir was a pretty nice guy. Olympic sprinters would have been embarrassed by how quickly the poor girl fled the kitchens, leaving nothing in her wake but one smirking familiar and a toppled chair. 'That was unexpected.' With a flick of his wrist the dishes he had been using cleaned themselves and returned to the cupboards. 'I best get back before Louise's curiosity gets the better of her and she starts snooping where she doesn't belong.'
When he made it back to Louise's room and more specifically to his own dwelling he found his bed already occupied by a napping pink haired girl. Sometime in the couple of hours that he had been gone Louise had selected a French copy of the Song of Roland. She was currently using said book as an armrest while she snored quietly into Therum's memory foam pillow. 'I can't fault her on her taste in literature but why did she have to take my bed? I was really looking forward to a good night's sleep after all this mess the last couple of days. Oh well I'll let her be for tonight, she is much cuter this way anyhow. That doesn't mean she gets off free for waking me up with that bucket of water though. The girl is in for a rude awakening.' Taking an object of the stand next to the bed he pushed a few buttons on it. 'Let's see how she likes chasing a moving alarm clock at six in the morning.' Setting the world's most annoying clock back on the stand he covered the girl with a blanket and left to sleep in the main room. If she was going to sleep in his bed he was going to sleep in hers.
A/N There you have if folks, chapter two finally edited. There is still not a whole lot of action in this chapter but I feel that it is full of necessary information and plot devices. Sorry if it comes off a bit like an info dump.
For those who are curious I am not sure if actual ages are ever given in canon but I have decided on the following ages for the majority of those who may matter;
Louise, Tabitha, Kirche, and most other 2nd year students: 17- Henrietta: 19 - Siesta: 18 – Jessica: 20 – Therum: 24 - Professor Colbert: 45 - Osmond: 84
As usual love it, hate it want me to try something crazy feel free to leave a review or PM and let me know what you think. I can't make your experience better if I don't know what y'all want.