"... I'm Gandalf? No, I'm Rumia." Rumia said seriously.

"No, my dear, not 'Gandalf'. 'The Gandalfr' is what I believe you are, the title of a legendary familiar unknown since the time of the founder Brimir himself." Osmond corrected.

"... No, I'm 'Youkai of the Dusk'." Rumia counter-corrected, not exactly grasping what the headmaster was driving at, as Louise stood to one side and sighed, rubbing at the bridge of her nose.

"In any case, the power of the Gandalfr was to be able to use any weapon flawlessly, in the defense of his master." Osmond finished. "So I have devised a small but simple test..."

Rumias features couldn't be seen, but she seemed to simply exude casual disinterest as the old man withdrew a dagger from a drawer and set it on the table.

"Do you know anything of knife-fighting, miss Rumia?"

"Why would I want to bother with something like that?" She asked right back, and the headmaster chuckled.

"Well, if you could please pick up this knife with your runed hand?"

Rumia wasn't interested, and Rumia grumbled, but eventually rumia picked up the dagger by the hilt and held it in place. Osmond could almost see the familiar runes lighting up on her hand when she did so, through her veil of gloom. he could also, just barely, notice the odd, near-imperceptible flickering about her head.

"... My hand hurts. And my head hurts." She complained morosely.

"How curious." Osmond mused. "... Tell me, were I to attack you right now, what would you do?"

"I'd wrench your head off." Rumia promised cheerily, and the headmaster coughed.

"Ah... the knife, is what I meant. What would you do with that?"

"... I'd drop it." Rumia said, tilting her head as though she wasn't particularly sure how this was a difficult concept. "Because it's useless."

Old Osmond sat back in his chair, eyes closed and stroking his beard in thought. Could he have been mistaken? No... no, he was quite sure those runes were for the Gandalfr. Though perhaps simply holding a weapon wasn't enough, and they'd have to be put into an actual combat situation before any effect became visible. Hm... or perhaps, no, there had been that odd secondary flicker. Up near her head. Was that it? Could something be interfering with the gift of the runes, preventing them from working quite properly? he could occasionally make out something like a hairpiece, now that he considered it. A disturbing thought, though he supposed he would only find out with testing...

"Miss Rumia, I would like to try-" He began, opening his eyes, only to find the familiar in question long gone.

"She got bored and flew out the window more than a minute ago." Louise said calmly, pointing to the aperture.

"... You didn't stop her?" The old man asked, tone slightly stunned to realize he'd been run out on.

"I saw little point." Louise admitted. "And it is easier to keep her in line if I only force her into line when it's really needed."

"I'm rather alarmed that you think so little of this, miss Valliere." Osmond began reproachfully. "Your familiar could be the legendary Gandalfr."

"I've seen no evidence of that, only that the runes you marked down look similar enough to pass. I've also seen that Rumia can't 'use all weapons instantly and effortlessly, with the hand of a master'." Louise pointed out. "So... no offense to you, of course, headmaster, but isn't it a little more likely that you simply copied the runes wrong, or something?"

"Now, I'm a little more confident in my memory and sketchwork than that..." Osmond objected.

"And besides, what if she is?" Louise questioned again. "Let's suppose for a moment that she might be one of Brimir's Legendary familiars. What then? If people learn that she's been summoned... Not to a legendary void mage. Not to some critical political figure. Not to the reincarnation of Brimir himself... but to me. I'm the youngest daughter of a noble family, my only claim to fame is that I knew the princess for a little while when we were children and my mother is a war-hero, and most importantly I can't make any magic I try work properly. If you're right, and Rumia is indeed the Gandalfr, then... what? How does it matter in any way, and who would believe it even if it's true?"

Osmond shook his head, but didn't deny the points.

"Very well." He said instead. "If you absolutely insist, I'll look back to research for now, and see if I can find any other alternatives. Really, though, I would have thought you, in particular, would be ecstatic to find evidence that your familiar might be special."

"My familiar is already... special." Louise answered dryly. "I don't need to jump at wild stories in order to imagine that it's more than what it already is, though."

Osmond 'harrumph'ed in mild, bemused irritation and sent her off.

Tabitha was gone for two days, an excused absence due to other duties. When she returned, clearly weary from the flight on dragonback, late into the afternoon, sun beginning to set, Louise was waiting outside with wine and a meal. Tabitha almost left to sleep immediately before Siesta, yawning, raised the lid on a canister of spiced soup and the aroma floated outwards. The warring urges to eat and sleep flickered over her face for a moment before she sat down.

Louise said nothing as they ate, quietly. It was almost surreal to the maid's eyes, as they worked their way through the table in unison, neither speaking a word, but each responding instantly to the other's intent, passing wine or salt or what have you without the slightest hesitation. Tabitha sat back in the chair set out.

"... Peasant uprising." She said simply, then named a village. "Taxes."

Louise winced, and Tabitha nodded somberly.

"They wouldn't have stood a chance from the beginning, would they have."

"None." Tabitha replied. "Taken alive... orders. Herded conspirators into local barn. Then barred door, set barn aflame."

"Direct orders from your king? To do otherwise would have left you a traitor. There was nothing you could do."

"... Tired." Tabitha said simply, and rose partially from her seat before a shockwave rippled through the whole academy. "What..."

Louise saw it and stared for a few long moments before she really comprehended.

"Golem. It's a giant stone golem." She said dumbly, watching as the construct hammered almost futilely against the walls of the academy. "Where did it come from though, how did it get missed passing the walls-"

"Irrelevant." Tabitha said simply, lifting her staff. "Academy is under siege.

"Yes, but-"

Louise heard it before she saw, derisive laughter echoing across the courtyard, as she spied a cloaked figure balancing on the shoulder of the Golem. Tabitha took flight, as things began clicking together for Louise.

She wouldn't know how to deal with a freak chance, some golem forming from mystical eddies or nonhuman rituals gone wrong in the wilds, and somehow making its way here unseen. She wouldn't know how to manage an attack from some other kingdom in an unexpected declaration of war against Tristain. But this was nothing more or less than a criminal activity, being perpetrated by a known criminal, with a bounty on their head.

That, in and of itself, was enough to set things in order in her mind, as her body sprang to action without conscious thought, almost out of reflex towards the situation, snatching up her wand in one hand.

"Foquet, the Crumbling Earth!" She called out, not stopping to think about exactly how horribly bad of an idea this was. "Your crimes stand as this: Numerous acts of theft and robbery against the nobility, willful and deliberate destruction and defacement of personal property, and repeated mockery and belittlement of the system of nobility. For these reasons, as well as your ranking as a triangle class mage, the bounty on your head has been set at no less than seventeen thousand new gold. This is the only opportunity you will be given to surrender yourself: take advantage of it now, or it will not be offered again."

"Ahahaha, what kind of a fool would I have to be to do that?" Fouquet jeered, glancing her way but otherwise not giving either of the students even the barest measure of attention as their golem kept pounding away at the wall. A tiny fragment flaked away as Louise watched, and she grit her teeth with disgust, knowing that...

... well, knowing that she could probably turn around and walk away and the entire staff would descend upon Fouquet long before the hours it would take to make even enough of a hole to stick an arm through had run down, at this rate. Fouquet seemed to grasp this as well, and the golem redoubled its efforts, leaning way back and putting its entire body into each perfectly placed strike. It still didn't look like it was going to be enough, but Fouquet seemed to be doing something to improve the golem's power even as Louise watched, and it shrugged off an Icicle from Tabitha like nothing.

Louise raised her wand. Then Louise lowered her wand, and started running to a better spot. She'd never been that good at aiming, and while she didn't think her own spells would do any better at piercing the magically reinforced walls than Fouquet was, there was no reason for her to even accidentally help the thief, no matter how small that aid might be. From a different spot, where the walls of the academy weren't directly behind the golem, just waiting for a slight misjudgement of direction to be hit instead, Louise raised her wand again, even as more ice rained down on the golem, either bouncing off or lodging in, but to no significant effect either way.

Louise tried for a fireball. It wasn't what she got, but the result was destructive enough that she was satisfied in any case, a chunk of stone the size of the golem's fist blasted outward and away, spinning to the ground as the giant construct reeled from the blow.

"... What the devil?" Fouquet shrilled, finally turning attention to Louise. She couldn't even pretend that might be a good thing. "Golem! Crush that miserable whelp, quickly!"

The Golem rose, stomping its way in her direction, and Louise lifted her wand again... only to lower it, realizing it was advancing too fast, it would reach her before she could get off another spell-

"On!" Tabitha demanded, Sylphid touching down right next to her. Louise didn't so much as spare the breath for gratitude as she heaved herself onto dragonback. There was only one saddle... irritating, and she could already feel the edges of the beast's scales rubbing through one fiber of her leggings after another, but it was still the by far preferrable option.

"Get some distance!" Louise said, as they took to the air, managing to just clear the Golem's stomping feet, and then the swinging arms after. "I can damage it if I have the time-"

Tabitha snorted lightly, clearly not impressed by the fact that her classmate's accidents, if they could still be called that if she was doing it on purpose, had more tactical effectiveness than her own spells.

Louise mumbled the chant as they flew, raising her wand and firing as Sylphid banked a quick turn to give her a clear shot. She saw two things, immediately after firing it off. First, that while Fouquet had begun to slowly fill the hole in their golem, her second spell had impacted and done possibly more damage than the first, by virtue of slamming into the construct's shoulder and severing the limb in its entirety. Second, that the Golem had just ripped a tree out of the ground and thrown it at them.

"Go up, go up, go up!" She screamed desperately, and Sylphid flapped in response... but not quite fast enough, as a branch clipped its tail, sending it into a sudden uncontrolled spin, an odd cry of mingled surprise and pain let loose.

Tabitha's saddle had the addition of a belt, securing her in place for just such an occasion. Louise, who was riding bareback, an action her clothes had already paid the price for and her fragile skin had only just come to protest, had no such assistance. And so, she had very suddenly found herself moving alone through the air in a wide arc, watching as the dragon pulled off desperate maneuvers, doing it's best just to right its flight pattern enough to not crash heavily into the ground, both it and rider obviously disoriented enough that they hadn't realized yet that she was missing.

Well, they were near the outer wall, and fortunately enough, it looked like she was falling in that direction, she noted dispassionately, the screaming terror of the situation having not just yet had enough time to sink in. It looked... yes, it looked like she would actually land on the top of the wall itself. That would be something of a relief, she'd probably manage to pull that off without crushing all of her bones to fine powder in a single go. A little closer. Just a little... yes she could definitely make-Oh, wait, no, she'd just started to rapidly lose altitude.

Instead of landing heavily against the top of the wall, she found herself slamming heavily into the side of the wall. Fortunately, though, enough luck was still with her that she had been within arms length of the top, and desperate scrabbling had gotten one hand clamped down on the edge before gravity had re-asserted itself. She breathed heavily for a moment, trying to ignore just how vocal her ribs were being in their disapproval of the most recent few seconds of her life, then carefully gripped her wand between her teeth to free up her other hand, and got a good grip there as well, starting to heave and slowly pull herself up. And then she froze.

The stonework of the wall had a special coating of some kind. She had never been interested in what it was, but the relevant detail for this situation was that it was regularly polished to an impressive mirror sheen, to the point where workers could shave by the wall, if they were so inclined. It had not been so long ago that it had been re-polished, and so Louise could see quite clearly in the stonework she was clinging to how the golem was right behind her, single remaining fist already drawing back in preparation to crush her flatter than parchment against the wall.

There was no way she could heave herself up in time. Instead, she simply let go, pushing down and away, putting her wand back in her hand as she turned, hoping to get one last good spell in before she hit the ground, at least. Masonry shattered outwards from the impact of the golem's fist crashing through the wall entirely, clearly either the wall itself was substandard or the protections on the main building were just very good.

Then her thoughts were interrupted as she slammed back down onto Sylphid's back, eyes watering in pain as it darted through the area between the golem and the wall fast enough that it only withdrew its arm in time to get off a single, angry swipe as they pulled away.

"... I hope not... but I think I may have torn something just now." Louise managed to rasp through the punishing waves of resentment her entire pelvic region was radiating.

"Tendon? Muscle?" Tabitha asked quickly, worriedly.

"No. Just my maidenhead." Louise groaned.

She could feel, pressed back to back against the other girl as she was, the flinch and shudder combination response to her words as she raised her wand again and fired off another blast. It ripped away another chunk of torso, blasting away everything Fouquet had repaired and more. There was no doubt, she was simply inflicting damage faster than the other mage could fix things- if she kept it up, the battle was hers.

If she survived long enough to hit the golem enough times to bring it down, anyway.

"Tree, tree, it's got another tree, move!" She yelled, as the offending vegetation was hurled, and Tabitha's dragon went into a dive to avoid it. It was already stooping to wrench another loose by the time the flight leveled, and Louise wasted no time in picking a target, blasting at the construct's leg, close to the hip. Not enough to sever the limb, it was still standing, but another good shot would take it off. It was already unsteady as it hurled its improvised missile at them, and she yelled the appropriate warning.

By now, students had gathered at the windows and balconies of the academy, pointing outwards and probably talking among themselves as they reveled in the exciting situation and exchanges of blows. She couldn't help but want to yell at the idiots to get back inside, but couldn't spare any more attention than the glance from the corner of her eyes that had revealed them in the first place. At least that meant that, probably, she could expect aid from the faculty pretty soon...

And there it came. A deluge of fire, blasts of cutting wind, and myriad other attacks. None of which, freakishly enough, had any particular effect against Fouquet's golem. They were focused, however, on the mage controlling the construct, forcing the golem to bring up its one arm to shield its creator... cutting off the steady flow of trees, any one of which could have killed all three of them in a single solid blow, she was only just beginning to realize, and more importantly... leaving its legs unprotected and wide open.

Her next spell, with the steady flow of attacks from the teachers not letting up for a second, took off one of the golem's legs, forcing it to slump against the wrecked wall to stay upright. Another two brought the other off, sending the construct crashing to the ground, breaking apart as it fell, seeming to have taken to much damage to remain in one piece. Fouquet screamed, falling through the air to crash into the ground some distance from the cracked apart wreckage of the golem.

Sylphid touched down on the ground, and Louise lurched off, shambling, bow-legged, to the broken and twisted body on the ground. She didn't know if it was to offer the fallen mage a new chance to surrender, even against her own words, or just to finish them off humanely. Either way, it was already too late. Fouquet gurgled softly as she approached, blood bubbling from a corner of her mouth as she tried to keep breathing, and then went completely still and quiet.

She stared for a moment at the body, then turned and managed to make it three steps before the weight of everything that had just happened slammed into her like a runaway cart. She dropped to her knees, as her last meal made an abrupt reappearance, uncaring of the teachers approaching.

Osmond crouched next to the body, inspecting it, then reeled back.

"Why... Fouquet the Crumbling Earth is... this was miss Longueville, my secretary!" He declared, shocked at the discovery.