Chapter 11: Advertising Campaign 3

"What are you doing! Don't put that in-!" Louise gave up and sighed as Nimble Rabbit put several leaves from one of the plants into his mouth and chewed. "Putting aside the fact that you don't have permission to handle any of the herbs, why are you doing that?"

Rabbit chewed for a bit more, before spitting the remains of the foliage into the dirt. "Peh… Seeing if it was similar to another plant I've used in some of my mixes. Looked a bit similar, but the flower is the wrong color. Wasn't quite as bitter, either."

Louise covered her face with her hands in embarrassment. "You could just read the sign next to it if you wanted to know what it was!"

"I suppose," he admitted, "but it's kind of a habit. Don't have much for testing these kind of things back home, so you check it yourself from experience. So long as you know what signs you're looking for in the first place, you're good to go."

"And if it had been poisonous?" she asked. "Did you merely forget to list immunity to such in your abilities the other day?"

"I… ah… no, not as such." He rubbed the back of his neck contritely. "Though anything that isn't fenced off wouldn't be all that dangerous to begin with, and so I'd be able to just heal… any…" Rabbit trailed off as Louise glared at him. "Er… sorry, Miss Valliere. Won't do it again without an 'ok.'"

"Good. Honestly, just putting it in your mouth! That's what I would expect from some child, not…" Louise paused for a moment. "… however old you actually are."

Rabbit shrugged. "I live out on the edge of civilization. There's not much available to make things like this more convenient, so you make do with what you have. Plus, whatever signs there are don't say anything about soil quality, watering, methods of keeping away pests…"

Sighing, Louise could only nod. "Yes, yes. I understand the concept, but…"

"Zero? What are you doing here?"

Stifling a groan, Louise turned to face the person approaching. "Montmorency the Flood. Seeing as this is a public area of the school, I don't see why I shouldn't be here."

"That's Montmorency 'the Fragrance' and you know it!" the blonde girl nearly shouted as she stopped in front of the two. "Is this that peasant you summoned as your familiar?"

Louise huffed in annoyance. "Nimble Rabbit, this is Montorency Margarita la Fere de Montmorency. Montmorency, Nimble Rabbit of Leaning Hill. Now if that's all we'll just be-"

"So, is he actually your familiar?" Montmorency asked. Louise glared at her, but the blonde-haired student only shrugged. "As far as I've heard Kirche has been saying that you still haven't actually performed the binding part of the rite. As ridiculous as the situation is, I'd have no problem if the whole thing was set, but if he's not actually your familiar I'm not sure he should be in this area."

"That damn…" Louise muttered. "If you must know; no, he is not technically my familiar. However, I have the Headmaster's permission to show him around the student areas. He expressed interest in the ingredient gardens as he has medical and alchemical training. I figured that, in case Nimble Rabbit does in fact become my familiar, letting him familiarize himself with some of the material he would be able to work with would be reasonable."

"Oh?" Montmorency glanced at Rabbit, taking in his odd appearance. "Just what level of experience do you have?"

"Well, I'm the doctor for Leaning Hill, so the essentials of that," Rabbit began. "A soak for bandages that works pretty well to stop blood loss. Salve for keeping out infection. A couple counters for poisons of the local snakes and plants. One mix that dulls the nerves for when I'd rather not use Barrel's rotgut or he's out of it..." He shrugged. "On the non-serious side I do some herbal teas, soaps, and candles, and every now and then some young lad planning on courting comes for cologne for himself or perfume for a gift. Other than all those, I know of a few more esoteric mixes, but I've yet to work them out quite on if I could make them with what I could get back home."

Montmorency looked at him for a moment. "Hmm… Basic items to be sure, but it's pleasing to see that even the more mundane elements of alchemy and potions are properly continued." She nodded, and turned to Louise. "I'll say this, Valliere; if you had to mess up the familiar ritual enough to summon a person, at least you got one with worth to him."

Louise blinked. There had actually been a compliment in there.

The blonde-haired girl continued, facing Nimble Rabbit. "I practice potion-making as a main area of study, so I'd be interested in seeing what formulas and methods you know of. Should you be free and Valliere allow it, I'd like to discuss such."

Glancing back and forth between the two girls for a moment, Nimble Rabbit nodded. "I wouldn't be against it I'll admit, Miss Montmorency."

"Very good. Well, I was just curious about seeing you two here, so I'll take my leave," Montmorency said. "Valliere. Nimble Rabbit."

Louise nodded warily while Rabbit bowed lightly, and Montmorency walked off down one of the paths.

"Huh. That was unusually civil," Louise mused after a bit. "If the circumstances were different I would actually be a lot more worried."

"If you say so, Miss Valliere. I'll admit surprise at her wanting to speak with me."

Louise waved a hand absently. "You probably got her with the mention of perfumes and such. She makes her own private variety, doesn't let anyone even come close to it unless she's actually wearing it at the time."

"Ah. Well, there are worse ways to have someone's notice, I would say."

"True. And at least she's a proper Tristainian noble, nothing like that woman Zerbst." Louise nodded to herself. If this was the kind of effect having Nimble Rabbit around could have on her peers, she wasn't at all disappointed. "In any case, let's resume. Without eating the plants."

"It was only just the one!"

R&R, C&C, and so forth. Thank you.