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Home is where the heart is

Chapter 1

The only road I've ever known

For the darkness has passed
And the legend yet grows
You'll know, you'll know the Dragonborn's come

- The Dragonborn's come-

Louise had a love-hate relationship with portals.

Oh, she understood their usefulness, the capacity to transport matter between two points with speed and ease gave the powerful magi freedom to build their high towers without having to worry about stairs.

But using them was unpleasant. The moment one crossed the event horizon the universe stopped making sense, it was a fraction of a second where gravity ceased to affect the body and one lost every spatial reference.

The vast majority turned back their stomachs during their first trip, and the fact that the portal that had swallowed Louise had surprised her didn't help.

'And the day had started so well...'

Okay, the trip had ended, her feet had touched ground, her lunch was still inside her and, more importantly, she was still alive. That was something that was always worth celebrating.

Now it was just a matter of answering the questions of how, where, why and, above all, who.

The Thalmor? She doubted it. She didn't really believe that the elves were capable of breaking through the guards put around the Imperial camp by the human Archmages. Not to mention that a teleportation from (or to) their islands would require enormous amounts of energy.

No, this was not the work of mortals, this mess had the sticky fingerprints of the Princes all over it, but... which one of them?

Well, first order of business was checking her equipment. She had Amuq Pacha with her, although she had lost her scabbard, and had her crossbow loaded with incendiary bolts. All in all, it wasn't bad.

Second order of business was finding out where she was.

It was worrisome to see that around her there were only dust and ashes, but there was solid ground beneath her feet. That was a very good thing! It meant that this wasn't the kingdom of fog and broken promises of Malacath.

She pressed her hands on the ground and felt the grass. That was another very good sign! With the presence of vegetation she already could rule out the worst planes of oblivion, like Dagon's Deadlands.

Two seconds had passed and no macabre creature had jumped at her trying to shredder her throat, so she could also discard another pair of possible places.

'Sheogorath? No, not his style. Azura? She would never allow so much dirt in her kingdom. Who else? Who else? Oh… Founder's teeth." From among her candidates, only one remained that could be the shadowy mastermind behind all this, a prince who she would be happy to strangle if that was even possible. Tightening her fingers around the grip of her sword, Louise stood up and at the top of her lungs, shouted:

"Oh, for Founder's sake! Sanguine, if it's you again I'm burning every single distillery from here to Akavir!" She… might have been exaggerating, just a little. Even she wasn't crazy enough to travel to that strange and mysterious continent but, if the Prince of the excesses pressured her, she would try anyway.

What happened next was peculiar. The Noble was waiting laughter, or perhaps even an attack, but instead of that a powerful air gust impacted her from behind, clearing the landscape. With her sight now free of dust, Louise was able to appreciate the environment. She was standing in a small field surrounded by a dense forest and, directly in front of her, was a man with dark hair, a wide forehead that almost reached to his neck and with a cane and a blue tunic that shouted MAGE. Her eyes focused on his ears and she noticed that they were round.

'The College of Whispers? Ophidia is behind this?' Louise knew very well that the emperor's advisor had wanted to get rid of her for a long time now, and it was no secret either that, despite all what they said about being an institution 'free of any political yoke', the old hag had the Grand Master of the College firmly under her thumb.

Her hand went quickly to her crossbow and her muscles tensed, ready to fight or flee if needed.

But… there was something odd. The mage seemed to be as shocked as her for what had happened, his mouth was open forming an 'o' and in his eyes the confusion was evident.

Even more…

Wait a minute…

She knew that man, but from where? Those ears, those eyes, those glasses… she had seen them before. Something was screeching in the back of her mind, trying to remember a name that was eluding her. It was distressing, it was on the tip of her tongue but something, a detail, was missing.

While she was going throw her mind, the man took a step forward and the noble lifted with her left hand the crossbow, ready to pierce his ribcage with a bolt if he ended up being an enemy. Taken aback, the man crossed his cane over his chest, ready to summon a shield if something went wrong.

He didn't look scared.

Military Training? Probably.

They stayed for several seconds in that uncomfortable position before the man dared to speak.

"Miss… Miss Valliére?" He said in a worried voice.

'That voice!' Where had she heard it?

The noble narrowed her eyes and asked in a cutting tone. "Who wants to know?"

The mage flinched as if someone had kicked him in the stomach, but before they could continue with their conversation, the voice of a woman interrupted them.

"Zero? Is that you?!"

Had she called her… had she called her zero?!

No, it couldn't be. Only Delphine, Esbern and Balgruuf knew her by that name and they had kept her more unsavory ventures with the Blades in secret.

Without shifting her aim, Louise twisted her body and with her sword pointed toward the source of the mysterious voice. She pressed her lips in a frown when she saw the two girls, both wearing white shirts and black skirts 'Why do they look so familiar?' One of them, the smaller one, was wearing shoes, had blue hair cut short, glasses and was looking like a wolf observing a possible rival.

The other one, taller, had...

'My God! How can she walk with those?'

The other one could have been the envy of a follower of Azura. She was wearing leather boots that reached up to her thighs, had fiery red hair, dark-skin and her expression looked to be in equal parts amused, surprised and scared.

The most curious thing were the two creatures that were next to them. One appeared to be some type of crocodile, but shorter and broader, with red scales and with a flame burning on the tip of its tail. The other was a huge lizard the size of a house, blue-scaled, with four legs and a pair of wings. It was funny to see the gigantic creature trying to hide its body behind the small frame of the little blue girl.

It was strange, the beast looked like...

Looked like...

No.

It was...

It was a Halkeginian dragon.

The blue-haired girl was named Charlotte,

The red-haired was Kirche,

And the man she almost shot, if her memory wasn't failing her, was Professor Jean Colbert.

"Oh, the... "

The fire mage drew closer, trying to find the correct words to calm the confused girl.

"Miss Valliére, are you...?" But before he could finish his question, a very disturbed laugh escaped from his student's mouth.

"Ha... hahahaha! Okay, it's okay." She exclaimed breathlessly lowering her arms. Then she raised her head and shouted toward the heavens with moistened eyes. "Sheo! It's enough! Very funny, but the jokes went too far."

Kirche and Charlotte exchanged looks, doubtful of the mental health of the young woman who was screaming at the clouds as if she was waiting for the Founder himself to answer her.

Colbert took another step forward.

"Miss, I need you to... Ouch!" The mage rubbed his forehead, where his confused student had just hit him with the flat of her black sword. "What are you doing?"

The young woman looked at him in the eyes, then looked at her sword, then at his eyes again and finally turned around to address her old classmates.

"You're real." She said as if that was the most surprising thing in the world.

"Ehh... last time I checked, we were." The Germanian replied humorously, although with her wand on hand just in case.

"Oh." Louise sighed. "Oh, shit."

Director Osmond took a sip of his tea cup. His secretariat, lovely Miss Longueville, had prepared him an infusion of chamomile to calm his nerves, and for greater effect the elderly mage had added a couple droplets of whisky from his private stash.

All in all, the situation wasn't that bad. Yes, there had been some complications, things that he didn't fully understand and that would be a problem to explain, but...

Oh, who was he kidding? This was a calamity! A total and complete disaster!

In front of him, on the other side of his desktop, were sited his comrades conspirators Colbert, Kirche and Charlotte, with Miss Valliére on his right noticeably distressed. The daughter of Karin kept moving on her chair, crossing her legs, lowering them, moving to the edge or back to the backrest; as if her seat was covered in ants; and each couple seconds she threw furtive glances around the room as if she was searching for enemies in the shadows.

Louise.

Yes, she really looked nothing like the young rose-cheeked girl who had enrolled in his academy a little more than a year ago.

In the first place she had grew some centimeters in height, not much, but enough for those who knew her well to recognize it. To that, one had to add her change of clothing. The third daughter of Karin was wearing a pair of combat boots, a pair of reinforced leather trousers and a duster that made her look like the infernal spawn of a mercenary and a monster hunter.

Osmond stroked his long white beard, reminded of his faraway days as a youthful adventurer. Only then had he seen such disaster.

And she was a disaster! Her hair, that now just reached to her neck, was dirty and misaligned, and seemed to have been cut with a butcher knife. But the worst thing of all was the multitude of small cuts that she exhibited over her skin. She had a scar over her right eye, another one below her left cheek and several between the fingers of her hands.

If Karin came to hear about this, she would kill the ones responsible. And the biggest problem was that she would probably include the faculty in that group for their role in all this mess.

The wall clock rang the bell of half past nine and the girl almost jumped out of her chair.

"Eh! Everything all right over there, Valliére?" The young Germanian asked.

"Yes! Of course I'm fine! Perfectly!" The Tristanian shouted apparently assuming that the noisier she was, the easier it would be for them to believe her. "Why wouldn't I be?"

The old director took the teapot that was at his left, prepared a second cup and offered it to the noble.

"Some tea, Miss? It's good for the nerves."

"I don't need your tea! I'm perfectly calm! Don't you see?" She grabbed the cup and emptied it in a single gulp. "Now give me another!" The director did so with pleasure.

"Yes, of course." Kirche scoffed between giggles. "You are the living image of... ouch! Lotte!"

"Silence." Charlotte reprimanded her while she unceremoniously turned the page of her ever-present book. Kirche clicked her tongue and rubbed the ankle where her friend had kicked her.

Undisturbed by the foreigners' actions, Osmond caressed his beard as was his habit when he was thinking, and turned to his colleague Colbert.

"What's your opinion on all this, my friend?" The director brushed his eyebrows, committing at that moment the mistake of lifting his eyes from his troubled student.

"My sincere opinion?" The fire mage shrugged his shoulders, his voice was rough from exhaustion and lack of sleep. "I... I don't know what to say. As far as I know, a case as strange as this never happened before."

Osmond nodded with his head. He heard the sound of a chair moving but didn't pay attention to it.

"Yes, I understand what you mean." He took another sip of tea and wondered if he should have added a couple more drops of alcohol. "But I'd suggest that we continue with this tomorrow." He leaned on his chair and addressed his three partners. "We're tired, you need rest and..." Wait a minute, three? Osmond made a rapid headcount; there was the bald one, the red one, the blue... Where was the pink one!?

"Window." Charlotte said in response to the silent question, with her gaze over her left shoulder. She had lowered her book and had a slightly crooked mouth, which in the Gallian's body language suggested a great surprise.

Her friend Kirche and the two teachers followed the line of her eyes and saw that, indeed, one of the windows of the director's office was open.

"Oh, Founder!" Colbert cried remembering that they were on a third floor. With a hop the fire mage rose from his seat and ran to the window, with his pupils and the director closely behind him. "Miss Valliére!" He called but no one answered. He stuck his head out and searched the darkness, but the outskirts were empty.

"It seems to me that we lost her again." Kirche's commentary only won the dark-skinned girl three unamused looks. Well, in her opinion it could be worse, there wasn't a red stain under the tower so it was safe to say that Louise was still pretty much alive, but how could she have been left through the window? The closest rooftop was at least fifteen meters away! "Now what?"

Old Osmond sighed and rubbed his eyes with his palms.

"Now, you two," He said, pointing at the girls. "Must return to your rooms. You did enough for now, Colbert and I'll stay here and... Think about something."

"Mph..." The redheaded complained. "Boring." But she had to admit that she was very tired and needed a good night's sleep. She turned around to leave the room but stopped when she saw the metallic object that had been left forgotten next to her rival's chair. A smile spread over her face and grew up to reach her ears.

The Tristanian Academy of Magic consisted of a central tower where most rooms and common areas were located, and five surrounding towers where the classes were dictated, each one represented one of the five holy elements and had been built forming a pentagram in honor to the Founder.

It was one of the oldest and most prestigious institutions of the continent, where the sons of dukes and kings were proud of studying.

And it was a disaster.

'Idiots. Useless. Sloths!'

After her escape...

No!

After her strategic retreat from Osmond's office, Louise had started wandering the gardens and hadn't liked what she found there. Did the nobles really sent their children there? Had she studied there? The place had been built like a fortress, but it was a fortress with its gates unbarred and unguarded!

The noble had already found six blind spots between the lookout posts placed in the walls, and the guards she had seen were buffoons. They were fat and weak. The last time the Academy had been attacked had been four hundred years ago, so it was only natural that people feel confident working there, but here was the future of Tristain! A well-trained command team would have no problem infiltrating the facilities.

'A blasted golem could evade the security.'

Feeling a knot of uneasiness strangling her stomach, Louise sat in one of the eastern garden's benches, near the Earth Tower, and lost herself in her thoughts.

This was… this was truly Tristain, wasn't it? The same buildings, the same people she remembered; even the night sky was the same! Tristanian nights were peaceful, here there weren't those chaotic nebulae of energy or those eerie constellations that never remained in the same place.

That was something not even the strongest Tamrielic illusionist could replicate; the idea of a static nightscape was simply too alien to them.

So, if she was back home, why wasn't she happy? She should be shouting, praising the Funder because she had returned!

But she wasn't, she simply wasn't sure what to feel.

She was just confused, as if she had just woken up from a particularly long afternoon nap without knowing what time it was or if she was still dreaming.

And then a new sensation crawled through her belly, one she knew very well. It was annoyance.

'Stupid Colbert and stupid Kirche.'

They had been trying to help her? Bullshit! Kirche hated her and the professors believed her a lost cause! Louise didn't want their help nor needed it. She had been fine on her own, she had been happy!

She felt like a stranger. Tristain wasn't her place any more, she had to find a way to go back.

'Fuck you, life. And fuck you Mora to.'

Well, she'd do what she always did, she'd put herself together and start walking. Maybe this time she would find a way to take all those lemons that she kept receiving and shove them up life's…

"Hello, what are you doing?" Asked a voice to her right. Louise had been so distracted contemplating the night sky that she didn't hear the footsteps of someone looked up and met with the face of a very pretty young woman, with black hair cut short and sharp factions that made her look like an Akavir descendant. Her black uniform and white apron pointed her as a servant.

"Enjoying the night." Louise replied dismissively with a wave of her hand. "The moons are beautiful, don't you think?"

The maid lifted her gaze and looked at the sky. It was beautiful, that was true, but she didn't see anything noteworthy. "Yes but... they are the same every night, aren't they?"

"I guess you're right." Louise dropped her head and sighed sadly. "You wouldn't understand."

The maid thought about abandoning the woman and continuing with her chores, but her conscience stopped her. "Are you all right?" She asked, concern coloring her tone.

"I've been worse." The noble replied shrugging her shoulders. "Who are you?"

"I'm Siesta." The girl answered with a broad smile as she offered her hand. The noble stood up and shook it.

"Louise." She might have been a bit brusque, because when the maid withdrew her hand she to flex her fingers so she could feel them again. "Did you need something?"

"What?" The maid asked distracted. "Ah! No, nothing! I was just washing clothes," She explained pointing at the basket of recently cleaned and perfumed garments that was on the ground at her left. "And saw you sited alone in the garden, so I came to see if you were fine."

Louise nodded with her head, feeling a lot better. "Thank you, I appreciate that. Do you work here?"

"Yes!" Siesta replied and lifted the basket from the floor. "I came here about a year ago from Tarbes." The noble nodded again, trying to remember where that place was. "And you?" She asked, checking Louise from top to bottom and paying particular attention to the small crossbow she was carrying at her waist. "Are you a bodyguard or something?" It was normal for the spoiled nobles to bring personal guards for security reasons. Siesta knew of a couple of third year students, and another pair from first, that had brought bodyguards, but she hadn't crossed this woman before.

Although, now that she thought about it, it was strange for a woman to be a fighter.

Oh God! What if she was… what if she was a lady of the night? Disguised as guard she could enter the rooms of men without raising suspicions. She had heard some rumors, but…

"Hello, are you listening?" Siesta shook her head violently banishing those thoughts and looked back at Louise. "You looked distracted."

"Yes, yes, forgive me." The maid apologized. That had been embarrassing, she had to stop reading those books. "You were saying?"

"I'm an adventurer." Louise said with pride sticking her chest out. "I traveled from here to there in search of adventures and problems."

"That's awesome!" Siesta exclaimed. A real adventurer? That was very exciting. "Did you ever stay in…"

*Growl*

Trying to contain a chuckle, Siesta looked at Louise or, to be precise, at her stomach.

"I forgot how hungry I was." The noble complained, rubbing her belly.

"Don't worry!" The maid announced, grabbing her hand and dragging her down a nearby corridor. "And follow me to the kitchen. We have today's leftovers and also some wine."

"Thanks, but I'm having some problems and I don't..." Louise thought about refusing, but recalled the events of the day and changed of idea. "Know what? Yes, I'm having some problems and I need a drink. By the way, do you have chaurus pie?"

Siesta lifted an eyebrow. "What's a chaurus?"

The night was perfect, there wasn't a single cloud in the sky, the two moons were shining in all their splendor and the southern garden was completely devoid of prying eyes.

"The stars are beautiful this evening, Mr. Guiche." Ah, yes, and best of all was that Guiche de Gramont currently had a very nice girl at his side. He was the third son of the renowned general de Gramont and a competent earth mage; he had blond hair, blue eyes, and liked to unbutton his shirts so he could show off his chest. He was also a Casanovas.

"They aren't as beautiful as your eyes, my sweet Katie." He said as he delicately caressed her cheek.

The girl had dark hair, was a first year student and the daughter of a lesser noble who had served as a knight in his youth, but had lost much of his fortune after many bad decisions. His family had no money or influence, but she was quite pretty.

"Oh, Mr. Guiche, how can you say things like that?" Katie exclaimed, very happy with the comment.

"I only speak the truth, my sweet lady." Girls loved when he admired their eyes, and young de Gramont was proud of his compliments. After all, that was like the seventh time that he used that same line that year. "By the way, I have something for you." He said putting his hand inside one of the pockets of his shirt.

"Mr. Guiche, you shouldn't have…" Her eyes opened wide when she saw what it was and covered her mouth with her hand. "My… my lord I cannot accept this."

"Of course you can, my sweet Katie." He said putting the overly decorated bottle of perfume in her hands. It was a lilacs scented perfume and had been a gift from his fiancée Montmorency, but Guiche preferred the aroma of roses so he had never opened it. "This is the only way a girl as beautiful as you should smell."

Katie lowered her sight to observe the bottle. "It's very sweet of you." She raised her head to address her partner, "You are very… eep!" and almost falls off her seat.

"Katie, what's wrong?" He asked concerned, looked at the girl's face and saw she had her eyes focused on something that was at his back. The boy turned around to see what it was and,

"Dur! Neh! *hic!* Dur! Neh! *hic!*"

Saw a disheveled woman wandering aimlessly around the garden and speaking gibberish.

"What the…?"

The woman stopped and leaned against a tree. "Durnehviir, where are you?" She cried out. "I don't want to be here anymore!" Then she slipped and landed on the ground.

"I-I don't think she's right, Mister Guiche." Katie whispered at his side. He didn't find it necessary to ask 'You think?' "Let's go check her, she might be injured."

"What?" He spat. "She's just a…" But discovered he couldn't argue with Katie's doggy eyes. "Fine, Fine." The things he did for his girls.

The boy slowly walked to the woman's motionless body followed by Katie behind, inspected her and poked her shoulder with the side of his shoe.

She immediately jumped back to her feet and pierced the boy with a pair of bloodshot and unfocused eyes.

"Who are you and what are you doing here?" She asked, shifting her weight from foot to foot to keep her balance.

"That's what we should be asking!" Guiche shouted back, straightening up and crossing his arms over Katie's shoulders to protect her. Then he committed the mistake of breathing. "Oh, God, your breath stinks, you vulgar plebian!" There was something familiar with the women, the boy was convinced that he had seen her before, but wasn't sure where.

"Plebian, me?" The women stammered. "I'm no plebeian." Then she raised an arm and pointed to the sky. "I am a Dragon! Roarrr!"

The drunken woman looked harmless, but that didn't mean that the young Gramont wasn't going to use the opportunity to look good in front of his latest conquest.

"You are not welcomed here!" He said resolutely. "You must leave no…"

"I know!" She screeched, then hoped and hugged Guiche.

"What are you…?" Babbled the boy who found himself in the very uncomfortable position of having a dirty commoner hanging from his neck.

"But I can't! I already tried!"

"Let her go!" Katie demanded infuriated. "You… you… mean woman!"

The boy shook his shoulders and pushed the commoner back.

"Stand back, Katie." He told the girl. "I will take care of this… eh?" His hand went to his wand-holder, but found it empty.

"Come on! Work, work you stupid thing!" The mysterious woman said while fiddling with a metallic rose.

That was Guiche's wand! How had she stolen it without him noticing? "Give me that back, you thief!" He barked enraged.

"Yes, give him that back, you brute!" Katie squeaked, standing right next to the boy with her own wand on hand and ready to use it.

Any commoner would feel intimidated, finding herself confronted by two mages, but the women didn't even blink; she stepped forward and nailed the girl with her eyes, who was making a great effort to hide the trembling of her knees.

"I like her! And sorry, this isn't the rose I thought it was." The women apologized and gave the wand to the girl, who accepted it with shaky hands and returned it to her partner.

"Here you have, my lord." Katie said with a radiant smile.

"Tha-Thanks you, my go-od lady." Guiche replied, his voice raspy with guilt.

"You know," The commoner added, interrupting their moment. "She's much better that Montmorency, in my opinion."

The young de Gramont's hair stood up on the back of his neck. "Wha-what? I have no idea what you're talking about!" He tried to keep a serious face, but it was undeniable the panic in his eyes.

"The blonde chick!" The woman repeated. "She was your fiancée, wasn't her?"

Guiche paled and Katie's face fell. The arranged marriage between him and Montmorency wasn't exactly a secret, but not a lot of people knew about it, which gave him some... freedom to interact with the girls. How was that the commoner knew about it?

"Or was I mistaken?" The Plebian asked tilting her head to the right.

Guiche's eye twitched. "I-I'm afraid you were, m-my good lady." He replied with a fake smile.

"Why are you so polite with her all of a sudden?" The first-year girl asked, starting to have some doubts about her partner's true intentions.

"It-it's the right thing to do, my dear…" He tried to say, but stopped when he felt the face of the commoner too close to his own for his comfort.

"You're lying." She said. It wasn't a question, just a cold statement.

"What?" Guiche asked, taken aback.

"He's lying?!" Katie cried.

"Wait!" Guiche said, turning to his momentary girlfriend. "Hold on. Katie, are you really beli… agg! What are you…" The commoner grabbed him from the neck, twisted his arm and pushed him to eye-level with the first-year student.

"See here?" The woman said pointing at the boy's face, who was extremely uncomfortable with a finger so close to his eyeballs. "See how the corners of his eyelids don't fold when he smiles? That's because he's lying!"

Guiche wrinkled his nose. "Are you serious?! That's just…"

"Is that true mister Guiche?" Katie asked with her voice trembling with sadness.

"N-no Katie, of course not." The boy reassured her, but found himself unable to look at the girl in the eyes. "It-it's just a big misunderstanding…"

"Oh, God!" Katie said swallowing a scream. "I feel like an idiot!" She turned and broke into a sprint.

"Katie! Wait, don't go!" He tried to reach her with the arm but the commoner had a firm hold of his elbow. "It's all your fault, you stupid woman!" He wrestled out of the grip and threw a punch that the woman easily dodged. He pulled out his wand but flinched when he received a head-butt square in the nose. "Ouch!" He creaked. "How do you dare you blasted…" But when he looked again, the gardens were empty. "Where did she go?"

Siesta ran desperately down the corridors in direction to the servant's quarters, with her hand firmly griped around the wrist of a Louise who could barely walk in a straight line and wasn't entirely sure what was happening.

The maid slammed a nearby door open and pushed the adventurer inside the small bedroom.

"Hey! Don't be brusque!" Louise complained, but the maid didn't care.

"That was..." Siesta exclaimed as she shut the door behind them. "That was terrible! How could you do that?"

"Do what now?" The adventurer asked without a care in the world and with her back resting against the wall.

"You hit a noble!" The poor maid was showing all the symptoms of a panic attack: she had problems breathing, was walking from one side of the room to another and was shaking her arms in the air. "How could a commoner attack a noble?"

"But I'm a..."

"You have to be careful." The maid cut her off, taking off her clothes, throwing them over a chair and putting on her pajamas. She needed to sleep. "You'll have to hide, perhaps leave the kingdom altogether! I have a cousin living in the capital that could..."

"And they tumbled to the heather," Louise interrupted reciting a phrase that the maid felt was suspiciously familiar. "Breeches to bustle, crinoline to burlap; their mansion in ashes, their passion…"

The maid looked at her companion and almost fainted when she saw the book that Louise had in her hands. "Give me that!" She leaped forward and tore it out of the adventurer's hands.

"Eh! I was getting to the good part." Louise complained puffing her cheeks.

"How did you find this?" The maid demanded as she hid the book under her mattress, where it should have been with the rest of her collection.

"I don't know." The adventurer answered sheepishly, unhooking her crossbow from her belt and placing it on a nearby chair.

Siesta frowned. Dealing with the woman was maddening, like trying to deal with any of her younger siblings. With the noticeable difference that Louise had a greater capacity to hurt herself and others.

"Why did you have to drink so much?" Siesta grunted facing the woman. Nobles always left their cups half empty; so every night after a long day of work, the servants would collect them and had a banquet of their own with the leftovers. The problems started when Louise decided that wasn't enough, opened the door to the cellar (somehow bypassing the lock) and started uncorking bottles that cost more than what Siesta earned in a month. Chef Marceau was going to kill her!

Louise opened her mouth, the maid thought that she wanted to say something in her defense, but the only thing that came out of her mouth was an incomprehensible mumble. "Uhhh."

"Are you feeling all right?" Siesta asked, her concern overcoming the anger she felt for the woman, but at that moment Louise's eyes rolled to the back of her skull and began leaning forward and forward. "Oh, no! Wait! Wait!" Louise fell limp, Siesta tried to catch her but tripped and the two girls collapsed on the bed, with the maid under the adventurer.

"Zzzzz..."

Louise had fallen asleep clinging to Siesta's body in a very compromising position.

The maid had a recurrent fantasy which involved taking to her bed a roguish riffraff, but this was not whatshe had in mind. She tried to free herself from the awkward hug but it was useless, Louise was surprisingly strong for her size.

"Founder. This is what I get for trying to be kind to someone."

Louise rolled over her bed. It had been a long and uncomfortable night stormed by old memories.

She thought she had gotten over it.

It had been, what? Six months since the last time she had dreamed about Tristain? More or less, it didn't matter, it had been a nasty dream anyways.

The noble still didn't want to get up, so she turned to her left and hugged her pillow.

'Mmm, best pillow in years.'

It was so soft!

And big!

And… warm?

'Why is it breathing?'

Louise opened her eyes and realized with horror that she had her face firmly planted between the (very prominent) breasts of a young raven-haired woman.

"Oh, God!" The noble screamed and fell off the bed. "Not again!"

The uproar awoke Siesta of a scare. Still trapped between dream and lucidity, the maid tilted her head to the side, grunting because her neck hurt horribly, and saw that the young woman who she believed was a commoner like her was on her knees, with her forehead on the floor begging over and over for forgiveness.

"I swear you that was an accident." She said. "It was the alcohol! I didn't know what I was doing!" She repeated without lifting her face from the ground.

Siesta opened her mouth to explain the misunderstanding, but immediately closed it when a mischievous idea crossed her mind. A perverse smile grew on her face, now she would have her vengeance for the horrible night.

"Oh, miss Louise." She said covering her face with her hands and holding a chuckle. "You have nothing to apologize for. After all you were a… well, I can't say that you were a gentleman, but you were very courteous."

Louise lifted her head and Siesta could see that it was as pale as a bone, with her eyes opened wide as dishes and with her mouth slightly crooked. Deciding that she had already had her fun at expenses of the alleged adventurer, the maid decided to explain what had happened.

"Easy, it's a joke." She said. Louise needed a couple seconds to react.

"A… joke? Then nothing…"

"Absolutely nothing happened. At all." Siesta gave her a friendly nod. "Last night you passed out on my bed, and as I didn't want to sleep on the floor I fixed myself next to you." More details weren't needed.

The previous night's events were confusing, but Louise slowly started to recall what had happened. "Ah, yes, I remember." She said shaking her head. "Your name's Siesta, isn't it?

"Yes."

Louise tilted her head back and cursed with words that would have made a sailor blush. Siesta to, for the matter. "It wasn't a dream."

"What thing?" The maid asked confused.

"Nothing that you need to worry about." The noble shot and stood up. "I need fresh air." She started walking towards the door, but before she could open it she felt someone grabbing her from the forearm.

"Wait!" Siesta warned her. "You can't go out yet."

"And why not?" Louise asked very annoyed. She didn't like people touching her arms.

"Don't you remember? Last night you attacked two students!"

The adventurer frowned and tapped the side of her head. "Ah, yes. That idiot Guiche and one of his girlfriends. And what about it?"

Siesta was taken aback. How was it was possible that she didn't realize the seriousness of the situation? "What? Don't you understand? They are nobles! A plebian like you can't go insulting them, what'll happen if they…"

"I'm a noble."

"…decide to raise complaints against you. Or against me? I could be fired! And what'll be of my family? They need the money I earn here and… pardon me, what did you say?"

"I'm also a noble." Louise repeated. "So I don't care about them or what they say."

Siesta looked at her confused, as if what had just escaped from the mouth of the young woman had been the most absurd thing she had heard in her entire life, but then something made 'click' in her brain and the pieces began to fall into place.

Her name, her pink hair and eyes, that haughty attitude; there was in fact a student that fitted very well with that description and that had won some infamy among the members of the staff because of the damages she caused with her explosions.

"Louise… Louise de la… de la…"

"Louise Françoise Le Blanc de la Valliére." The noble announced proudly extending a hand towards the maid in sign of friendship. "A pleasure to meet you, Siesta of Tarbes."

A noble? Even more, a Valliére? How was that she didn't recognize her?

Several things occurred next.

Siesta's face paled, blinked a couple of times, opened and closed her mouth in a very good imitation of a fish, and finally…

*Tump*

She fainted.

"Damn it." Louise cursed, that wasn't the reaction she was hoping for.

Oh, well, she wasn't going to leave the poor unconscious girl on the floor, so she picked her body up and delicately carried her back to the bed.

As it should have been expected, Louise's bad luck dictated that at that precise moment one of the maid's friends would knock on the door.

"Siesta, are you okay? I heard a…" The girl, a young chestnut-haired cook called Rebeca, opened the door and met with the image of a complete stranger leaning over the half-naked form of her friend from Tarbes. Naturally she did what, she believed, was the most sensible thing. "Excuse me." She stepped back to give them privacy.

Louise dropped her head. "Founder's teeth." Why did those things keep happening to her?

In any case, it was of no importance. Later she would give her explanations and they would believe her or maybe not, she couldn't muster enough interest to care.

She covered the young maid with a sheet to protect her from the cold, grabbed her crossbow and walked out of the room.

She had a very important place to visit.

Third floor, east wing, third door to the left.

To get there one had to take the stairs next to the music room and then ones that were in front of the ladies' bathroom. Only now she had discovered that she had to climb thirty-two steps in total to reach that door.

She liked that number. It was multiple of four.

"Here I am." She said to herself, with the heart beating in her throat.

It felt unreal, like a ridiculous fantasy.

She had forgotten several things with the years. She had forgotten the name of half the teachers and most students, where the classrooms were located and where to find the staffroom. Small things that didn't affect her nor interested her, that's why they had slowly disappeared from her mind.

But this?

She had never forgotten this.

She had seen this place many times in her dreams. And in some nightmares.

"Let's get this over with."

She put her hand on the doorknob and spent a second caressing it with the thumb, feeling the floral prints engraved on the bronze. When she had been living there she hadn't paid attention to it. 'One doesn't know what she has until she loses it'.

She slowly turned the handle and when she heard the 'click' pushed the door and entered the room.

And all of a sudden… it was like being a child once more.

It was like having fifteen years all over again, as the first time she had entered there.

She put one hand over your mouth and wept a single tear.

It was as if she had never left.

Her room was just as she remembered it. Her bed with the frilly silk strips, her colorful curtains, her chair and her desktop; everything was there. She guessed it hadn't been difficult for the staff to keep it that way, based on what Professor Colbert had told her the summoning ritual and her 'accident' had taken place just three days ago. It had been a lot more time for her.

She took a deep breath. That fragrance of vanilla and apples that she liked so much and that the servants used to perfume her things was nostalgic.

To her left was her closet, she opened it and almost started crying.

Four white shirts with four black skirts hung from their perches. When she started the academy she brought with her five sets of clothing in total, now she only had these.

She took off her right glove and passed the white fabric through her fingers.

That was the cloth she remembered. At one time she had tried to find a good tailor in Skyrim who could replicate her uniform, but no one had ever got her a fabric that she liked. She had tested several types of silk, some even of greater quality than the one they had used for her shirt, but none felt right.

She couldn't use her old uniform any more, it was too small, but perhaps… perhaps she could contact the Academy's tailor and get a new set made for her.

No, no, that was a stupid idea, who goes on adventures wearing a school uniform? Besides she couldn't fight with a skirt. She had tried that once and had ended in disaster, that's why she only wore pants nowadays.

She closed the wardrobe and walked to her desk. The morning of the ritual she had left ready a sheet of paper and ink to write her family about…

'Mom! Cattleya!'

Her family! She was back, she could go visit them! How could she have forgotten about them? She could go and talk to Cattleya, hug her parents, argue with Éléonore, recover the lost time and…

She looked at her hands and thought about the multitude of scars that marked her arms, caused by knives, swords, axes and many other sharp instruments. She felt a knot of guilt forming inside her stomach, how was she going to explain that?

'Hi, Mom! I went on a trip to another world and now I came back with a death toll greater than yours, but I could be wrong. Also I might not be completely human, sure you weren't cheating on dad?'

A soft laugh escaped her lips. Yes, that wouldn't work, her older sister's health was delicate and if she tried to start a conversation like that, she feared causing her a heart attack.

She dropped on her bed.

'Damn it, I carried that stupid bottle for six months and now I don't have it." It hadn't been easy, but she managed to convince the Eldergleam tree to give her some of its sap, which was capable of curing any disease, and had kept it with her hoping to return home and give it to Cattleya. But time passed and she lost all hope of ever going back to Tristain so she ended up giving the bottle to Archmage Aicantar so he could replicate its properties. 'Shit.'

She wanted to talk to them but... she needed to get her ideas straight and clear her mind. Yes, yes, she would do that first and then she would write them a letter, let them choose the meeting place.

She sighed depressed, looked at her right and saw something that could improve her mood. Two shoes carefully placed next to her night table, the spare pair that she kept. She grabbed one and put it on the palm of her hand. It was so small, she got it under her nose and sniffed, feeling the aroma of lavender and freshly polished leather.

"That's not weird at all."

"Gya!" Louise shouted in surprise and dropped the footwear.

"But don't worry, I'll not judge your interests. I mean, if you knew half the things I'm into…!"

Louise frowned and made her best effort to kill with her gaze the annoying Germanian that was standing next to her door.

"What're you doing here, von Zerbst?" Louise hissed. "How did you get inside?"

"Through the door!" Kirche exclaimed with a big smile pointing at the entrance with her thumb. "You left it open." Suddenly Louise felt like an idiot.

"Get out!" Shouted the pink-haired girl, standing up and raising the tone of her voice. "You aren't welcomed in my room!"

"Oh, come on Valliére," The redheaded complained inflating her cheeks. "Is this how you treat your friends?"

She dared? After everything Kirche had made Louise go through, after all the times that she had mocked her and had bragged about her own achievements, the Germanian had the galls to say that they were friends?

"We are not friends!" Louise blew up. "We never were and we will never be." Her face was burning with rage, but her outburst seemed just to amuse to the taller girl.

"Oh, how it hurts me that you say such things!" Kirche said feigning sadness. She took a step back and grabbed something that was leaning against the corridor's wall. "And after all the problems I went through to keep this safe."

Louise opened her eyes, horrified to see that the Germanian had her dirty fingers on Amuq Pacha, the sword she now remembered having left abandoned in director Osmond's office. How could she have done such a thing? That sword was almost a third hand for her! An extension of her very body!

Ah, yes, what had happened was that the previous night she had been suffering from a slightly nervous breakdown.

"An apology would be…" Kirche started, but with a rapid movement Louise snatched the sword from her hands. The Germanian had never seen anyone moving like that. "Wow, that was fast." She said openmouthed.

"Yes, yes, I'm sure you say the same thing to everyone." Louise shot while wrapping her sword in a blanket and tying some belts to the ends so she could hang it at her back. Some seconds passed before she realized what she had just said, and to whom.

"Did you just… did you just make a dirty joke, Valliére?" Kirche asked with a mischievous smile that sent chills down the Tristanian's back. "Oh, my little Louise's growing up!" The redhead drew closer and put a hand on Louise's head. "I'm so proud of you."

"Don't touch me, you Germanian barbarian!" The Tristanian complained, shaking her head and taking a step to the side. "And don't treat like a child! I'm older than you!" It was humiliating, Louise had grown several centimeters since the last time she had been in the academy, yet Kirche was still taller than her.

"Oh, but those things don't bother me." Kirche replied with a tone that others would use to speak with a baby. "To me, you'll always be my small and adorable Louise."

The Tristanian had to bite her tongue. 'I'm not going to fall for her game.' She thought. 'I'm older and wiser now. I'm above her childish jokes, her stupid antics and her…'

"By the way, nice haircut."

'Ahhhhhhhhhh!'

Charlotte's days were boring, monotonous and predictable; and that's how she liked it. Kirche, the strange friend she wasn't quite sure how she had made, kept trying 'break her free from her shell' and 'teach her how enjoy her days', but the blue-haired girl refused each and every one of her suggestions.

The Gallian appreciated the Germanian's friendship, after all Kirche was the only person that hadn't been pushed back by her aura of apathy and silence, but she couldn't make her understand that the two of them were looking for different things in life. Kirche was a searing fire, always moving in search of new experiences and emotions. Charlotte had had enough of that; after all, every time her very well-established routine broke, it was because something was wrong somewhere else and that usually involved her family back in Gallia. Or what little that was left of it, to be precise. That was why that morning, when she walked into the dining room at exactly seven o'clock as she always did to eat her breakfast, she felt a ping of apprehension when she saw that her friend had woken up earlier and was sharing a table with the third daughter of house Valliére.

Her name was Louise and she was an unknown.

Charlotte hated unknowns.

Her classmates claimed that the Tristanian noble couldn't cast a single spell, but it was clear that they were wrong. After all, her explosions were evidence that she did have magic, it was just that hers was… a bit different.

The Gallian had her theories, but those had been discarded after the summoning ritual. Lady Valliére had been the last to try her skill and had failed in her attempt to bring forth her familiar, mysteriously disappearing in the process. Three days later, together with Professor Colbert and Kirche, they had managed to revert the faulty spell, but what they had brought back had been… something else.

Something had changed, the girl was different and her presence had troubled her own familiar, the rime dragon named Irukukwu but that everyone else knew by the name of Sylphid, and that was worrisome.

Charlotte approached them and sat in the same table, directly in front of Kirche.

"Come on Louise, tell me, tell me!" The Germanian insisted.

"No!" The Tristanian answered.

Kirche wasn't stupid despite what rumors said. A stupid person wouldn't have been able to enter the Academy challenging the desires of her family, wouldn't have been able to become a triangle-class mage at the age of eighteen or become one of the best students of the institution.

So, if Kirche wasn't stupid, how was that she didn't realize it?

The way the Tristanian walked and her posture, the lines of muscles under her clothes and the scars over her body, how she had seated with her back against a pillar to protect her rear and how every couple of seconds her eyes jumped to the doors and windows of the living room, apparently calculating entry and exit pathways.

Six doors, thirty-seven windows and a wooden hatch over the southern corner. Charlotte had memorized them.

"Please!"

"No!"

"Pretty please? With sugar and cream on top?"

The noble Valliére sighed in defeat and finally answered.

"Fine! My hair got entangled in a spider web and I had to cut it to get away, happy?"

"Very!" The redheaded replied with a big smile of satisfaction. "Hi Lotte! I didn't see you there."

If Charlotte liked to do so, she would have smiled. Her friend wasn't stupid, but she did like playing with fire. Almost as much as she liked solving puzzles.

The two self-proclaimed rival made a pause in their discussion and their attention turned to their breakfast. Kirche had in front of her a collection of fruits while Louise had a variety of cheeses and meats.

For a second the eyes of the Gallian crossed those of the Tristanian, but soon enough the latter's returned to her plate.

Deciding to show some education while she waited for her own meal, Charlotte tried to start a conversation.

"Want to talk about it?" She asked.

"No." Was the harsh reply. "You?"

"No."

And that was the end of it.

For some strange reason Kirche felt that with those three phrases Louise had exchanged more information with Charlotte than what she had done with her during that morning. Feeling a little jealous, she once again swarmed her with a barrage of questions.

"So…" She started placing her index under her chin. "Can you suggest me some good exercise routine?"

Louise slammed the cutlery against the table. "What are you talking about?"

"It's just that I heard that with a good toning of the abdominal muscles a girl can gain one or two sizes." And to further emphasize her point, Kirche jumped on her chair, moving her body up and down and showing off her breasts in front of Louise's face.

"You want… you want them bigger?" The Tristanian asked horrified, and just a tiny bit jealous.

"Besides, you have slender arms." The redheaded continued without paying attention to her rival's expression of disgust. She stretched her hand out and with the thumb and index pinched Louise's forearm. The girl piped in surprise and slipped back.

"Don't touch!" She shouted angrily. "I don't want you to touch me!"

"You don't?" Kirche asked with a very fake expression of sadness. "But everyone else likes it when I touch them."

Louise grinned her teeth in frustration.

"I swear you, von Zerbst, no one will ever find your body."

The Germanian crossed her arms over her stomach. "Ohhh, is that because you want it all for yourself, Valliére?"

*Tump *

That was the sound of Louise's forehead hitting the wooden table.

"No respect!" She complained from her position on the table. "No respect at all."

'Where is a world-ending threat when I need one?'

Immediately after finishing that thought, several shouts and sounds of footsteps came from the nearby hallway. Some voices could be heard speaking something about 'Gramont' and a maid.

"Problems." Charlotte murmured.

"Oh, thanks God for a distraction!" Louise exclaimed, standing up and moving towards the exit.

"Eh! Where are you going, Valliére?" Kirche wondered.

"To poke my nose where nobody called me!" Louise shouted and in whispers added: "It's what I always do."

To say that Guiche de Gramont's night had been bad was saying too little.

After his disastrous night with Katie, the boy had spent the good part of an hour searching for the commoner that had wounded him, but hadn't found trace of her. Long after midnight he decided to return to his quarters and get some much needed rest, but he hadn't slept well and woke up early, still angered for what had happened. So that very morning he decided to restart his search for that strange woman.

First he went to the guards, who told him they had seen a woman like the one he described, but didn't know who or where she might be.

Then he went to the kitchen, where the cooks told him the same. That had been a lie, many had been working the previous night but had remained quiet thinking that the mysterious woman was friends with one of the girls that worked there.

Finally, angry and very tired, the boy had faced a maid who was sweeping the corridors.

The maid in question was named Siesta and had committed the grave error of saying 'I can explain it'.

"But my lord," The frightened girl begged, throwing furtive glances toward the crowd gathered around them asking for assistance. "You don't understand."

"No, the one that doesn't understand is you!" The boy interrupted her. "That friend of yours insulted me, hit me," He pointed at the bandage covering his nose. "And also made an innocent girl cry. I demand an apology!" He screamed, pointing at her with his index.

"She is not my friend!" Siesta tried to explain. "She is..."

"Oh, no! You aren't getting away with this, you and your friend are going to pay for their transgressions."

"But..."

"I had enough of your excuses!" The boy shouted. "You're going to answer me and you're going to..." His hand went to his wand, but for the second time in less than 24 hours, he found his holder empty. "Eh?"

"We have to stop meeting like this." Said a voice to his back.

That was it! That voice belonged to the vulgar plebian who had dared to ruin his evening!

With the maid completely forgotten, Guiche turned on his heels to deal with her.

"So here you are, you dirty...!" The young Gramont started, but immediately stopped. Last night he hadn't paid much attention to her and the darkness had concealed most of her traits, but now that he could see her… his eyes opened in recognition. "Valliére?!" He exclaimed in disbelief. "Is that you? What happened? You look terrible!"

Immediately a humming could be heard coming from the spectators, the students wondering if that was indeed the infamous 'Zero' who was the target of so many jokes and stories.

"Yes, it's me." She answered, shaking from side to side the artificial rose that was in her hand, and immediately regretted it.

All the heads turned to look at her.

She felt a strange sensation in her belly. Nerves. Fear. Disgust.

There were so many eyes.

A cold sweat coursed down her back.

Those were the same eyes that mocked her when she destroyed Professor Villanova's classroom, when she broke Charnock's pot, who laughed when she froze in front of Khunrath, when her most hated nickname was created, who remained in the sidelines when…

No! She wasn't going to lose her composure. Life had been hard but she had proved to be harder. She wasn't going to tear those eyes out of their sockets.

"I went on a trip for a while, I visited some places, met some people and now I'm here." She said with a smile that wasn't entirely reassuring.

Guiche kept looking at her with his mouth opened.

The mysterious disappearance of lady Valliére had started an avalanche of rumors and theories among the students. The most popular one was that, after failing to complete the ritual, Louise had fled to distant lands in shame. Guiche didn't believe that, no, she was too proud to do such a thing; so, like some others, he simply believed that her explosions had finally blown her to pieces. Something regrettable, but ultimately inevitable knowing her character.

It was evident that all those rumors had been wrong because now, looking at her like that, it was obvious that something else had happened.

His wand, flying in collision-course with his head, was what pushed him out of his thoughts.

"Take it, it's not my style." Louise tossed the rose and Guiche caught it in mid-air. He immediately remembered why he was so angry with her.

"You insist on mocking me, Valliére?" He grunted.

"Not really." She replied shrugging her shoulders and staring at the ceiling.

"You say that, after you ruined my night with the help of that maid of yours?" Poor Siesta, who had used the distraction to slowly crawl towards the exit, released an alarmed 'Eep'.

"No, that was just me." Louise said unconcernedly. "But I blame the wine. Siesta later found me fainted in the corridors and escorted me to her room. Isn't that right?" She asked addressing the servant.

"Eh… I… yes." Siesta replied, nervously moving her head up and down. The noble… Louise, was trying to help her?

"Now get back to your job, this doesn't concern you." Louise told her sternly and the maid was more than happy to obey.

"And then?" Guiche continued after seeing the plebian fly from the place. "Am I going to receive the apology that I deserve?"

"No. "

In the ensuing silence, one could have been able to hear the drop of a pin. "What?! After you admitted ruining my night and a sweet girl's because you were drunk?"

Louise sighed and clenched her fists. Her patience was running dry, but then she saw a movement behind Guiche and got a very good idea. "Well, I suppose that I could apologize to her. What do you think, Katie?" She said, speaking to someone behind the boy.

Guiche straightened his back, Katie was there? Yes! That was a perfect chance to set things straight with her. "Oh, my sweet Katie," He started, turning around. "What a pleasure to find you…" But he shut up immediately, because the girl who was behind him hadn't been the young chestnut-haired girl, but a blond one, with curly hair, a red ribbon on her head and a prominent forehead. "Mon… Mon…"

"Who is Katie?" Asked Montmorency Margarita La Fere de Montmorency, the (supposedly) girlfriend of Guiche de Gramont, almost spitting the words.

"No-no, wait a second my beloved Montmorency," The boy nervous babbled, taking a step back. "What happens is that…"

"Who is Katie?!" The angry girl demanded again.

"I…"

"That would be me." Said a soft voice coming from the side, that much to Guiche's dismay belonged to the first-year student.

"Katie, wait!" The boy tried to talk to her, but she didn't listen. Katie walked to him and put a small object in his hands.

"I give your gift back." Then turned around and ran back towards her room, where she had decided to spend the rest of the day and perhaps the next one too.

In the meantime, Guiche didn't know where to go or how to hide the fact that…

"That's one of my perfumes!" Montmorency roared, grabbing her boyfriend from his shirt collar and lifting her hand.

"No Monmon! Wait." He raised his arms trying to defend himself, but it proved to be useless.

*Slap*

"Don't….

*Slap*

"Monmon…

* Slap *

"Me!"

And as final a touch, she nailed the heel of his shoe in the boy's instep.

"Aghh!" Guiche moaned in pain, hopping on one foot.

Following the example of the other girl, the blond turned around and left the place, cursing under her breath and with tears coursing down her face.

The gathered crowd watched in silence, not quite sure whether they should be comforting someone, booing or just laughing.

"Well." Louise announced without paying much attention to the sad show. "I'm done here."

In her opinion the event had run its course and was over, but Guiche de Gramont didn't seem to agree.

"You… you are not going anywhere." He said slowly, carefully placing his injured foot back on the ground. "After what you made me go through? After you insulted my honor and made to two good girls cry? No! I challenge you to a duel!"

Not many students of the Academy truly knew Louise. The irascible noble had pushed back all those who had tried to get close to her and had virtually isolated herself from the rest of her peers. Oh, of course they had heard about her, it was almost impossible not to when every couple of days some classroom had to be rebuilt after one of her explosions; but very few knew her in person.

That was why her sudden change of appearance hadn't raised that many eyebrows.

But now, looking at her down on the floor, laughing like a mad woman, a grim mood spread through them like a sick miasma, as they feared that the explosive scion of the Valliére had finally succumbed to the pressure and had lost her head.

If they just knew.

"Haha... Oh God... Haha... I cannot, I can't breathe... Haha!" Louise tried to speak from the floor, but it was difficult without air in her lungs. "Me... Haha! Against you? Haha."

Guiche, on the other hand, didn't find what was so funny with the situation.

"Stop laughing."

"Haha."

"Stop laughing."

"Haha."

"Stops laughing, damn it! How do you dare?" The son de Gramont demanded. "I just challenged you to a duel of honor! I demand a satisfaction." In response, Louise showed him her right fist with a single extended finger. Guiche's face reddened with anger.

"You know... Thanks, I needed to laugh a bit." Louise breathed and stood up. "Has been a while since the last time someone challenged me to a real duel, I thought I had already taken care of all the idiots. But it is true what they say, a new one is born every minute." A chuckle escaped from the audience.

"How so you dare to mock me, Zero?" Guiche cried out, trying to show confidence.

"I dare, Gramont," Louise said moving forward. "Because I can." In her face a perverse smile appeared showing surprisingly sharp teeth, and a shiver ran down the boy's spine. For some reason he felt the immediate need to flee in fear.

"But... "

"Silence." She cut him off immediately with a raised palm. "I'm not done yet! In the first place," She lifted a finger, the index this time. "And if my memory serves me right, duels between nobles are forbidden." Guiche bit his lip, she was right. "And in second place, what you, kid, want to do is divert the attention from your fuck up, which is completely your fault, and release some pressure." With the thumb she pointed towards a figure of red hair standing next to another smaller figure of blue one. "I'm not going to help you with the first one, but for the second one I'd recommend Kirche."

"Hey." The Germanian exclaimed, who now had all the attention concentrated on her. "That was a good one, Valliére! It seems that my rival is finally showing her fangs." She said placing her hands on her waist.

"Pfff," Louise wheezed dismissively. "As if someone like you could be a worthy rival."

"This is between you and me, zero." Guiche grunted, interrupting the discussion of the two. "Or is it that you are so scared of me that you lower yourself to seek the aid of a von Zerbst?"

The noble grinned her teeth, suppressing her anger. The old enmity that existed between the Valliére and the von Zerbst was well known, the young Gramont didn't need to remind her of that. Her hand went to her crossbow, but before she could do anything with it the redheaded diffused the situation.

"Don't talk to Louise like that, Gramont!" Louise's jaw almost drops to the floor. Was the Germanian… defending her? That was so… "She's twice the man that you are!" No, no, she was still the same Kirche she knew and hated.

"Eh!" Louise protested.

"And for your information," Kirche continued, moving closer to Gramont. "This interests me a lot, because I also feel very offended."

"I don't understand why…" He started, but quickly and without warning Kirche placed a leg between his feet. "Heee…" And his mind went blank.

"I feel offended," She explained slowly, leaning forward and softly pressing her breasts against the boy's body, whose face had turned as red as a tomato. "Because you never came to me, always entertained with other girls." Some of the male spectators found themselves in the need of unbuttoning the necks of their shirts. "But that we can fix easily. We need only a closet," The redheaded stuck her tongue out and sensuously licked her lips and teeth. "And five minutes tops."

Guiche started hyperventilating. He had never… had never reached that far! In a last show of challenge, he hoped back, pointed Louise with his finger and shouted, "This is not over, Valliére!"

"And now what are you blaming me for?" Louise wondered containing her laughs. "I'm not the one who gave you a…"

"Silence!" The boy spat, flexing a little forward and swapping the position of his legs. "You're going to pay for this." He turned around and ran down the corridor, he curved to the right and they lost sight of him.

"That guy," Kirche said five seconds later, breaking the silence. "Is totally a virgin."

Some of the students had the decency to show some discomfort with the comment, but no one could say that it hadn't been entertaining and more than one was giggling merrily. When the stomachs started roaring, they remembered that most of them hadn't yet taken their breakfast and the crowd dispersed.

"Unnecessary." Said a subdued voice to Louise's left. It was Charlotte.

"I guess it was." Louise replied rubbing the back of her neck.

"Come on, you two!" Exclaimed Kirche, getting back to them. "What's with the sour mood? We performed our good deed of the day."

Louise snored and lowered her head. Good deed of the day? The only remarkable thing she did was insulting a clumsy noble who was cheating on his girlfriend. Just a couple of days ago she had been killing elves, now that was something worth praising!

But… she had helped that maid (mostly because Louise herself had been the cause of her troubles) and the truth was that the warm sensation in her chest after bringing some justice to the world was nice.

"Maybe it was, maybe it was." She admitted, and then a bell rang.

"Oh! We better move, Lotte!" Kirche informed her friend. "I want to finish my food before classes! See you later, Valliére!" The Germanian gave the Tristanian a pat on the shoulder and ran back to the dining room.

The Gallian bowed her head politely and followed behind her friend, leaving Louise alone in the corridor.

"Latter." The noble muttered touching her shoulder where Kirche had put her hand on.

Yes, sure.

All that fuss, love problems, irrational hormones and unnecessary teenage drama. It was stupid, she didn't need that in her life.

Now she remembered why she didn't miss the Academy.

She looked to her right.

That path led to the main hall, the dining room and classrooms with teachers who, she already knew, would have never been able to help her. That was a stage of her life that she had long ago left behind and wasn't intended in returning to. She wouldn't even know where to start.

She looked to her left.

That path led to the stables and the outside. The open fields, lonely roads full of mysteries and dangers behind every corner. The road beyond the walls led to the capital Tristania, with nobles and their petty quarrels, traders looking for bodyguards, bounty hunters looking for work and evildoers in need of a slashed throat.

The decision wasn't difficult.

Fifteen minutes later Louise was on the road, with a bag of gold coins she had found in her old room and a horse that she had 'found' in the stables.

She didn't look back.

…

A/N:

Hello everyone! How have you been? I made some things different for this chapter, instead of the high fantasy and grim adventure of previous chapter I tried to return to the more comedic aspects of FoZ. It's nothing like Under Strange Skies' ending but I enjoyed writing it and I need slower chapters like this so I can build up for the future. Besides I had a ton of fun writing Kirche.