Siesta groaned as she entered the servant's building main hall and was greeted by the loud voice of Chef Marteau.
"Ah, good morning, Siesta. I know you only got back an hour or two ago but I hope you will be able to work like usual," Chef Marteau laughed as he turned back to the table where he was making the early breakfast for all the servants. Looking over Siesta managed to catch just a glimpse before Sienna pounced on her.
"Oh, are you okay Siesta? Marteau was just telling us how you got back an hour ago from Count Mott's manor, what happened?"
Siesta looked to see all of the Academies other servants in the room. Guess now was a good time to try out her story. "I made a mistake in the kitchen because it was organized differently. Count Mott was so mad that he kicked me out and made me walk all the way back here on my own."
All the servants were quiet, did they believe her story?
"Well, I have to say I would not put it past him honestly. Let's just have things go back to normal then, yes?" Sienna interjected to bring life back to the room.
"Ha! You're right, Sienna. All right, people, eat up quickly and then get to your duties." Marteau roared with a full bellied laugh as he put the pot of food upon the table.
Everyone sat down and said their individual prayers and began eating. As Siesta sat down and joined them she thought to herself. Considering all the things that had happened the day before, she thought that she would be more tired than she was. She also noticed the bruises she had only hours before were almost non-existent now, despite having been very large. Of course, neither of those things was equal to the pounding headache she had and the occasional hot flash that made her body feel like it was on fire inside. Louise had said that this kind of reaction was normal for people, just that for people from the other world it only lasted a few hours and hopefully it lasted that long instead of how long it did for Louise,.. days.
Upon finishing her food and washing her dishes she proceeded to grab all of the bedding from the servant's rooms, after all it was her turn. In minutes she had all of it in the three large washbasins and was cleaning them in the usual way, except it seemed to be going oddly fast. Was this the change that Louise said the infusion could cause? She shook her head once more, now was not the time to think on such things, she could ask Louise all the questions she wanted after dinner when they were going to meet.
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Siesta stood before the door to Louise's room and hesitated before knocking. The day had gone smoothly, even better than smoothly considering how fast she seemed too had been working. However now that she was in the dormitory tower she kept worrying if she was seen. Oh well, no time like the present.
Knock, knock, knock.
"Come in Siesta," came Louise's cheery voice.
Siesta opened the door and was greeted with an odd sight. Louise was sitting on her bed wearing her nightgown; at least Siesta assumed it was a nightgown. Instead of the pale pink full length nightgown she had seen her wear before, Louise seemed to be wearing black shorts with a drawstring coming out of the front, and what looked like a loose red shirt that was cut off at the bottom of her ribs, showing off some fair amount of skin. Seeing her stare, Louise giggled and got up off the bed and walked over to Siesta, ushering her in and closing the door behind her while speaking,
"Let me guess, you did not expect me to wear such nightwear?"
"No, not really. It caught me off guard is all," Siesta tried to explain.
"Don't worry about it, I actually like sleeping like this. It's more comfortable for me now, and it's all Nelda's fault."
"Isee." Siesta commented as she followed Louise onto the edge of the bed. "What now?"
Louise smiled softly. "It's simple, we teach you."
"On what?"
"Well first we'll-… oh, actually hold that thought!" Louise said as she opened up her bracelet. "Legion, is it possible to create that training helm that Alexa and Kane had me use?"
The bracelet let loose Legion's tone after a moment of static. "Affirmative. Though it will take longer than the original it should be possible to fabricate one within twenty four to seventy two hours."
"Excellent. Get to it please," Louise stated as she closed the bracelet and looked back to Siesta who now had a confused look on her face. "What?"
"Um, what's this helm?"
"Oh, remember how I said that I was trained by the brotherhood?"
"Yes?"
" Well, the first training I did was wearing an odd metal helmet. What it did was transferred knowledge of fighting skills and similar information directly to my mind, though I still needed to practice the information to solidify it in my mind.
Siesta was shocked, "That's amazing! Is it possible to learn like that? How would you even make such a thing?"
"It is possible to learn like that. I did, to an extent, but you still have to learn in the field. As to how, the information will come from Legion's database. The material will come from a Tiberium field that he started earlier today."
"Oh I see. Wait, he made a field of Tiberium!?" Siesta almost yelled.
"Not quite. He seeded one on a small ore deposit earlier today, but that will be for later. Have you had any symptoms?"
Siesta went quiet for a moment and seemed uncomfortable. "I've been queasy all day long. I've had random short migraines and I've been having hot flashes at random times. The bruises from last night are gone already though."
"Yeah, that's about what I expected. I had similar symptoms, its normal."
Siesta seemed relived as she heard this and quickly lay down on the bed. "That's good, I was getting slightly worried."
"I wouldn't. If it was going to kill you it would have been within minutes of the injection so you'll be fine. If you're up for it I would like to teach you something."
Siesta looked up at Louise who had turned a bit to better speak to her. "Teach me what?"
"Magic principals of course. The best way to fight mages is to know how we fight." Louise said as she closed her eyes and tilted her head as if it was the most natural thing possible.
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"I'm surprised you have been holding up so well, Siesta!" Sienna commented as the two of them began washing all the dishes from the nobles dinner.
"Why is that?"
"We don't get much sleep because of our duties, but you, you've been having your nighttime meetings with Miss Vallière for the last two nights. If I didn't know better I'd think you were into girls."
Siesta coughed at this, almost falling into the sink. "Sienna!"
"Relax I'm joking. Kinda. What are you doing with her every night anyway?"
"Just talking. Speaking of which, I've finished my set of dishes. I'll be going to meet her now, see you tomorrow." Siesta yelled as she turned and ran for the dormitories.
As Siesta climbed the dormitory tower she could only think about the last few days and what had happened. In two nights Louise had taught her the basics of magic principal and even taught her a few self-defence moves as the odd helm Legion was apparently making was taking a long time. Louise had said that tonight they would do something special too; she could only wonder what it was?
As Siesta came to and opened the door to Louise's room she was greeted with an odd statement from Louise.
"You're going to cast a spell!" Louise stated happily as she stood in her now usual black and red nightwear.
Siesta stared at Louise while she closed the door behind her. What was she going on about? "Um what?"
Louise shook her head and sat down on the bed. "We're going to see if the infusion has given you magic, and if so, what element. I'd like you to follow what I told you of magic and try to shoot some magic out my window."
"But I'm a plebeian, and I don't have a wand."
"You won't need it, I only use mine to filter the Tiberium out of my spells, remember. There's a slight chance the infusion has given you the ability to use magic. I want to see if it has, okay?"
Siesta was unsure about it, but it was worth a shot right? She walked to the center of the room beside Louise and stood facing the open window. She understood the basics of what Louise had told her. Magic was the act of bending the elements of the world to your will through manipulation of mana in the atmosphere, and while only nobles had enough mana in their bodies to manipulate it everyone had mana in their bodies. In this way, Louise figured that since Tiberium amplified magic it could amplify the smaller amount of mana plebeians had in their bodies so that they could do magic. She inwardly chuckled; even the nobles did not know this much about magic from what Louise had said, meaning she might just have a chance.
She concentrated on the concept of heat and fire, thinking of massive firestorms and the power therein and pointed out the window. Nothing.
She concentrated on the strength of the earth and its untold strength, and pointed to the window. Nothing again.
Concentrating on the power of wind and of its smooth destructive power and pointed toward the window. Nothing once more.
She needed to concentrate; only water was left to attempt as there was no way she could use void. She pulled her thoughts inward, thinking on the rains and rivers of her hometown of Tarbes, thinking of water' healing and cleansing power, and thinking of the absolute power of water's strength. She pointed her open hand towards the window and felt a light Scotch mist landing on her face as a torrent of water as wide as a person was tall shot out of her hand and flew out of the window sprinkling the grounds under the tower. The torrent of water stopped as soon as she noticed it, all she could do was stand there and feel what was left of the water that had landed on her. She had just used water magic! She had used magic! She had just stepped where no plebeian had ever before! She was so happy she could barely move and did not even notice Louise hugging and congratulating her.
She had used water magic.
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"I still can't believe it," Siesta muttered as she lay on Louise's bed. Louise was sitting across the room at the vanity table and just snickered to herself.
"But it's a good thing, right? Not only did we confirm the possibility of plebeians using magic, we also confirmed your type and power."
"Yeah, water magic. So that makes me a dot class, right?"
Louise nodded. "Yep, not only that but your spell was very powerful. How did it feel, did it feel almost natural to you?
Siesta thought to herself. "Yeah kind of. It just felt right."
"That's a good sign. Shall we try something else, before we head to sleep?"
"What?"
"Let's see if you can summon a familiar!"
Siesta sat up instantly as she heard this. "Is that even possible?!"
"Let's find out!" Louise stated as she told Siesta the basics.
Within the hour Siesta was standing in the center of the room with her eyes closes. The idea of summoning a familiar was amazing, but she had always thought it was difficult. From what Louise had said, it was just a matter of what you thought about while doing it. Knowing this, she needed to concentrate. Thinking about the rivers of Tarbes and of everything that mattered to her, she slowly began her ritual to see if she could indeed summon a familiar.
"Oh familiar spirit, I call you to join me. By the desire and courage in my heart, I ask that you assist me in my endeavours. Please accept my calling." As Siesta finished she looked before her and was intrigued. A large blue Tiberium crystal had grown out of the floor and then began cracking. A shard popped out and a black snake slithered out of the hole in the crystal. The snake itself was not large, maybe only about half a meter long, and had a small blue Tiberium crystal embedded in the top of its head and another at the end of its tail. Siesta knelt down in front of it and looked it in the eyes. The snake, in reply, slithered over and pressed the top of its head to her lips, confirming the contract, and simultaneously giving Siesta's deep black hair dark blue streaks. As a small rune appeared on the underside of its jaw the snake slithered up her arm and laid itself down on her shoulders, hissing happily as it flicked her cheek with its tongue. "Hey, that tickles!"
Louise giggled as she came over and helped Siesta stand back up. "Congratulations Siesta, you have a cute little familiar there."
Siesta giggled slightly as she scratched the snakes chin. "Yeah, she is cute huh. I even know what she is too!"
"A snake?"
"No, I mean the kind of snake. She's a rare type of river snake called a black river asp. They're very poisonous, but also normally shy."
"Well, she does not seem to be. What will you call her?"
Siesta thought to herself and then replied with a smile "Naga maybe?"
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Siesta woke up as she heard a knock at the door. Sitting up she realized she was in Louise's bed, beside Louise, meaning she had fallen asleep before returning to her room.
Knock
"Ah, Louise. Someone's at the door," Siesta yawned as Louise slowly opened her eyes and looked to the door.
"Apparently," Louise stated as she slowly got up and made sure her short cut red shirt was actually on before walking over to the door. As she opened it up a person in a purple cloak quickly entered and closed the door, causing Louise to step back in shock. Before she could say anything the hooded figure put down their hood and glomped Louise.
"Louise it's so good to see you!" Henrietta screamed.
"Eh, er, princess!"
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Old Osmond sat on the roof of the Academy's tower and looked up at the clear night sky. The stars and moons where vibrant tonight setting the landscape aglow in the moonlight. The information he had received about the Mott manor earlier in the day had disturbed him slightly, especially considering the report said that not a single servant had seen the same thing. Meaning the authorities had no idea who had destroyed the manor and killed all the guards, yet left most of the servants alone. He knew, however, what had happened. The young Vallière and her familiar. He had figured this was a possibility but he did not expect the extent of damage she had caused. Sighing to himself, he stood up and let the gentle wind blow through his hair and beard. He needed to make sure things would not fall apart completely, but he still needed to keep hidden for now. Things where only going to get more difficult at the rate they were going, and working from the shadows was getting far more difficult than he would like.
"I'm too old for this."
Authours note: im happy to say emissary has gotten over 100 followers and as such i would like to thank each and every one of you for your enjoyment of my writing. than k you all for your support