Chapter 3: Insanity Spreads
"Finally, there you are familiar." Louise stated, as she found the target of her search.
The man in question had disappeared this morning, no doubt off to finish his quests to slay weeds threatening innocent flowers and rescue dirty dishes from tyrannical tables.
Finding him had proved more than difficult. The commotion caused by the duel with Guiche mixed with his earlier servile manner had caused many conflicting stories to spread around the campus. In trying to find the man, Louise had been asked if her familiar was secretly an elf by half the students and the other half had made off handed remarks about servants not dressing above their station. At least no one had asked if he was crazy. Thank Brimir for that.
Eventually, Louise had tracked the damnable man down to the library to find him casually going down one of the many, many book shelves; pulling one book off, looking at the first page, then replacing it where she found it. He paused only to look at her for a moment, then continued in his task. "Hello Louise. Did you need something of me."
How about you start making some damn sense? Louise held her tongue. A noble is always composed. She reminded herself. Taking another in a long line of calming breaths, Louise asked, "Familiar... What are you doing?"
Louise instantly knew she would regret asking. "Oh, just seeing if any of these will help me understand this lands customs." Wait... that didn't sound too odd. If he really wasn't from this land, finding history books would be a, dare she say it, intelligent and rational thing to do. But... There was one problem. "Why are you only reading the first page then?"
Closing another book and replacing it on the shelf, her familiar turned to Louise with that same expression he always did in these situations, one eyebrow raised as if she were the odd one. "Why would I not?"
Calming breath. Nobility. Okay. "If you want to learn from the book, you have to read it through." Perfect. Truly, Louise's patience was second to none.
However, that legendary patience almost snapped when the man belt out a laugh. "I'm just trying to get some information, not relax. Everyone can comprehend everything within a book just by opening it. You only read it when you want to sit back and relax. Like so many do tales of the Argonian Maid." To his credit, the man read Louise baffled expression and put two and two together. "Wait, is this another difference between my land and yours? You mean to tell me you can't comprehend a book without reading it?" In reply, Louise managed a slow nod. "Fascinating..."
If it had been any other situation, any other person, Louise would not have believed an ounce of it. But this was her familiar, her confounding familiar. So, with all the grace of Nobility, she ignored it. "Listen, it is getting late. I'm going to bed. I came to tell you we are leaving for the capital in the morning, so get a good rest."
Louise didn't question the quizzical look her familiar gave her. Knowing it would only lead to another facet of his insane existence. Turning, Louise headed for the girls dormitory. It had been a mentally exhausting day and it was time to sleep it all away. Turning the corner, into the doorway, Louise caught sight of Miss Longueville, reading in the corner. By the stern expression on her face, it must be a very important task, probably related to the vault incident. Louise had no idea Miss Longueville was such a hard worker, staying up late to help with the crisis despite the fact she was only a secretary. Well, good for her.
Fouquet knew. Oh, she knew all right. This man had robbed the vault. She didn't know how he had gotten into the vault. She didn't know how one man had carried off every artifact from the tiniest ring to the largest stone tablets, but she knew he was the one. Between when she last saw the vault and when it was discovered robbed, no one had left campus, she had checked the enchantments herself; and she knew those enchantments better than anyone, she had spent months adjusting them to not register her.
That meant the whole vault was stored somewhere on campus. He must have piled the treasure in an old passage way, or maybe a hidden door these old fortresses were so well known for; hell, maybe even in an old storage closet. Regardless, this man was the key to finding her treasure.
All she had to do was to wait for him to go to sleep. He'd have to have something incriminating on him. Then she could blackmail him into revealing the location of the treasure. Or maybe even just find the treasure if he was dumb enough to leave a map on himself. Fouquet could only hope.
Fouqet sat there, watching the man peruse the library out of the corner of her eye. She had the patience to out wait this man. He thought he had won, that no one knew. But she knew, Fouquet knew, and Fouquet always got the last laugh. Smiling to herself, Fouquet didn't even realizing she was dozing off as the man continued his monotonous routine through the library.
"What?!" Fouquet started awake from her chair. Her eyes immediately scanning her surroundings. Damn, had she fallen asleep? How could she let herself doze off?! She needed to check the enchantments, see if anyone had left campus. She needed to find-
"Well, that's the last one."
Fouquet stopped in her tracks, a faint hope filling her soul. Moving around to the other end of the library, she found her target putting away a book at the very end of the shelves. Had he gone through the entire library? "Did, did you even sleep?" The words left Fouqet's mouth before she could catch herself.
The man turned to her with an odd expression. With one eyebrow perked, he said, "I don't really sleep anymore, too much of a hassle really." Was this man an insanely talented thief, or just insane? Fouquet no longer knew.