"Thirteen thousand new gold."
Louise flinched at the number, even as Rumia, floating at her side, looked both confused and unimpressed.
"That is the estimated expense for the repair of the Vestri court." The headmaster continued, in a gently chiding tone. "Including the filling of potholes, repair of the destroyed patches of marble stonework and walkways, the replacement of the fountain, the rebuilding of the gazebo, and the manpower required to patch up the three of the vestri court's walls that were brought down in the course of this ill fated... hm, duel, if it can reasonably be called that at this point. Oh, do get up off the floor, dearie, there's no need to grovel. The youth can be counted on to, if anything, make errors in judgement and I can't honestly say anyone saw something like this coming. Especially not young Guiche. Has he recovered, by the by?"
"He's locked himself in the bathroom, sir, with a dozen candles and a half dozen oil lamps. He shows no sign of acknowledging anyone else's presence." A nurse spoke up, leaving Louise flinching once more. "Previously, he had occupied the space beneath his bed, curled up and sobbing, however he vacated the position with unusual alacricity when miss Louise's familiar crawled under after him to see what he was doing."
"I like Sir Guiche." Rumia declared cheerily. "He doesn't squish easily."
"Ah, youth." The headmaster chuckled through his beard. "In any case, the money has to come from somewhere, and while some costs can be cut with instructors willing to work at cost, and while I can temporarily dip into other funds to cover what remains, that money must be replaced. I think it only fair that a fine be imposed to the culprits of this little indiscretion, don't you my dear? Capital." He continued, without a chance for Louise to answer either way. "The total revised sum is merely eight thousand new gold. Divided between yourself and Guiche, that would be... a fine of four thousand new gold apiece, for crossing the rules regarding duels, and destruction of property. Should I have a notice penned to your family regarding it?"
"No!" Louise barked, eyes going almost wild for a moment before she could restrain herself. "No, that... that will not be neccessary. This was a personal fault, and... and I see no need to bring others into it." She finished desperately, sweating lightly and trembling. "I will find a way to pay the debt on my own."
The headmaster stroked his beard for a few long moments before shrugging and accepting the matter. He had, after all, met Karin the Heavy Wind on numerous occasions, and couldn't help but admit that the thought of the girl before him desperately begging for money was... yes, worthy of pity indeed. He could only assume that the end result would have worked out much the same in any case, albeit with a different party holding the debts.
"Well, you'll have the time to consider how to earn that sum, I suppose." He said. "Classes are hereby on hold for the next fortnight, until repairs have been properly made, after all. I can give you at the very least that much time to find some means of repayment. In any case, miss Rumia?"
"He started it." She insisted sulkily, before the old man could get another word out. "And it's not like I knew your stuff wasn't guarded against bullets, if he didn't want to fly then he shouldn't have picked a fight where there was a bunch of stuff that could break."
"Oho, that's not what I wanted to say, m'dear." The old man chortled. "The fact of the matter is, however, that we haven't yet gotten a glimpse of the runes bestowed upon you by the summoning, and I must admit that I, at the very least, am somewhat curious. If I could trouble you to, hm, lessen the intensity of your shadows for a few moments?"
"Don't want to." Rumia sulked again, darkness actually deepening further about her in direct opposition to the old man's request.
"Do it." Louise snapped, in ill temper, before heaving breath and softening her tone. "Just... just the runes, okay? You don't have to drop the rest if you don't want to. And I'll get you a nice, juicy rabbit from the kitchens afterwards..."
Rumia grumped softly to herself, but after a few moments, stuck out a hand, and the darkness around it faded slowly away, until pale skin and black symbols were visible... for only a brief moment before she tugged it back and shadow swirled eagerly to fill the empty spot in her shell.
"Thank you, dear." the headmaster said brightly, scribbling down a doodle of the runes on the back of some piece of handy paperwork that had been lying near. "I'll have someone glance through the libraries to see if we find a match for this. In the meantime... well, don't let me keep you two, ladies. I'm sure you've a significant amount of contemplation ahead of you, over the next few days."
"... thousand." Louise mumbled softly to herself. "Four... thousand new gold. Agh, what am I going to do, my allowance for the year was only four hundred, and I've already spent..."
"Is that a lot?" Rumia asked idly, floating on her back through the air near her.
"Of course that's a lot of... ugh, of course. You wouldn't have any use for money. Except clothes, if those are real, maybe."
Louise stared out the window, knuckles going white as she watched the beginning of the reconstruction already under way, then heaved the blinds shut with such force they nearly tore down from their hangings.
"Damn it!" She groaned. "If I was an Earth mage, I could help with reconstruction, or transmute some sort of metal and sell it to blacksmiths. If I was a Water mage I could peddle healing of some sort, or higher quality potions. If I was a Fire or Wind mage, I could... I could do something useful, and earn money."
"Is that so~" Rumia mused. "Then... are you a... wood mage?" she wondered aloud, haphazardly.
"Of course not!" Louise scoffed. "Who ever heard of something that ridiculous... there are only five elements, and Void has been lost. I'm no kind of mage! The only thing I can reliably do is screw up somehow, and blow things up, and..."
She realized she was becoming a little hysterical and sat down abruptly, taking a deep breath to calm herself. Her familiar, predictably, cared nothing for her emotional distress.
"Hm... why not take someone else's-"
"That would make me a bandit, a common thief." Louise shot back, head buried in her hands. "Ugh... my lady-Mother is already going to tear wet strips off my hide for this, no need to make things worse for myself. I'm already a disappointment, being a disgrace as well would be too much to bear..."
Rumia tilted her head in incomprehension.
"Hm. I don't get it. You can't do magic-stuff to get what you want, and you can't just take it from someone. What's left after that?"
"... Commoner labor." Louise answered, a sense of disgust pervading her tone. "Or... things that would be even worse for me to have to explain than thievery. And I can't imagine that... minding a shop like some merchant, or shoveling dung, could possibly get me the money I need, in just two weeks."
Louise leaned back in her chair, staring for a long moment at the ceiling.
"... I need air." She decided. "I feel like the walls are going to crash down on me. I need to go out. Ugh... it's a long shot, but maybe if I walk through the village I'll find... something I can do."
She shook her head and rose.
"Come, familiar."
Rumia spooked animals. Louise supposed that was only to be expected, given that she was obviously some sort of predator, but it was no less annoying to have a mount trembling as she drew near, shying away and threatening to bolt at any sudden movement. The short trip into town had been troublesome right from the start, and of course she hadn't found anything. Noble or not, people had laughed her out of buildings when she asked if they knew of any way to earn that sort of sum within a fortnight. She would have to head back to the academy soon, or miss dinner, but for now she simply sat by an ornate fountain and sulked.
Her familiar wasn't next to her. Instead she was some distance off, casually staring at a board. having nothing better to do, she rose and approached.
"What have you found, there?" She asked dully. "Reading?"
"I'm looking at the pictures." Rumia answered simply. "And the squiggles."
"You can't read." Louise responded with, she realized after a moment, no real sense of surprise at this admission.
"They're very pretty squiggles." Rumia continued. "Hm. I just don't know why so many people would want to have pictures of themselves hung around on boards. Most of them aren't very pretty themselves."
"Those aren't-" Louise began wearily, then stopped as she stood in place, reading the words that she'd only been looking at a moment ago.
Then, as everything clicked into place, she ripped them down.