Louise wasn't looking forward for class today. It wasn't the first time she'd have this feeling, with how often her classmates had mocked her for her previous lack of magical talents, there were days where she wanted to just stay in her room and not do anything. But this time, it was… a special case.
The door to the classroom finally opened, after she took a good moment staring at it with dread. The moment she did, heads turned towards her. When she stepped inside, she could feel the looks on her.
Some of them whispering as they usually did whenever she walked into the classroom, but the usual giggles were absent.
With her being able to use the Void as a secondary catalyst for her spells, the jokes about her lack of magical talent were no longer applicable. Of course, with the fact that most of her spells still had the same destructive capabilities except now translated to their respective elements, some of the mocking of her lack of ability had turned to slight fear at it. It also didn't help that no one knew about it, so for all they knew she suddenly gained a sudden inexplicable boost to her magical prowess.
But this wasn't what bothered her.
Among the whispers and the fearful looks, was one that was silent but terrified face staring at her from her seat.
To be more specific, they were staring at the two Void Vessels that were following him. She ignored the look, as well as the furious one that belonged to her male companion, and headed towards her usual table. Bug and Sib, following behind her.
When she sat down, she could feel the gaze of another person. She turned her head to see Kirche, who in contrast to her usual smug look, had an unamused one with a singular eyebrow raised.
Her ever quiet Tabitha, was peeking over her book, her eyes following Bug and Sib as they squeezed past her to take their 'seat'.
The whispers eventually died down as the other students spoke about other things, but neither Louise or Kirche broke their little stare down. The red head was still looking at her, while Louise was more than a little uncomfortable at the attention.
Eventually the silence was broken as Louise grumbled out "What do you want Zerbts?"
The Germanian's single eyebrow rose higher at the question "Really Zero, you're going to just pretend to not notice it?"
"Notice what?" Louise asked in return "That you decided to bug me again as usual?"
"Montmorency," Kirche stated bluntly, jabbing a thumb behind her to the blonde Water Mage's general direction "Something happened between you and her, didn't it?"
Her pink eyes widened, before she quickly turned her head away and crossed her arms "I have no idea what you're talking about!" She replied "I did absolutely nothing of note towards Montmorency." She grumbled.
Out the corner of her eye she spotted both Bug and Sib looking at her. Bug looked at its arms before it crudely mimicked her pose, Sib doing the same a moment later.
"You sure?" Kirche didn't sound convince "Because she's been kind of a wreck since yesterday when you two showed up late for class."
Louise gripped her arms tighter, slowly she turned her head and she could see Montmorency. She was still looking at her, still with a rather terrified look on her face. But alongside that was a very tired one, to the point that she could even see the dark circles under her eyes.
It didn't help that, even though she was looking her way, Montmorency seemed to be struggling to stay awake as Guiche tried to stop her from falling asleep.
"I didn't do anything to her," Louise repeated herself "Even if I did, she'd deserve it."
"That's a very dangerous thing to say Louise," Kirche told her "Does this have anything to do with Bug not following you into class yesterday?"
"It has nothing to do with that!" She snapped, before she took a deep breath "Besides, I told you that I didn't do anything to Montmorency. If she's going through something, I had nothing to do with it." Her eyes trailed to her Familiar, the two empty sockets staring back at her "Not me at least."
Even though she wasn't looking at their direction anymore she could still feel the eyes of the Germanian on her.
Any further attempts at interrogation was cut short by the teacher walking in. Louise turned her attention to the lesson, ignoring everything else as she tried to get her thoughts to the lesson.
[Scene]
Later that night, Louise found herself in her room. She was on her bed, sitting with her legs crossed, as she stared at the other bed in the room.
Her pink eyes met with the two pairs of empty eye sockets of her Void Vessels.
Neither of them said anything, not that the Void Vessels could. Louise herself was silent as she contemplated on her words and thoughts.
Until finally she broke the silence with a "Bug, Sib?"
The two of them raised their heads a bit at their names.
"You two are still okay, right?" She asked, she slowly got off the bed and walked towards theirs. She reached for Sib. Her hand ran over its smooth surface of its skull, before she went to Bug. She stopped as she felt a slight scratch mark on the head.
Bug didn't seem to care, it just looked up at her without any change of posture.
She sighed and poked its stomach "You two aren't hurt right?"
NO. THAT WASN'T ENOUGH TO DANGEROUS INJURE US.
Her eyebrows furrowed "No, none of that 'only if it's dangerous' nonsense." She stated firmly "Did you get hurt from yesterday, or not?"
Bug shook its head.
IT WASN'T ENOUGH TO HURT US. I AM FINE.
She gave it a look for a few moments, and when it didn't say anything else she sighed "I guess I can accept that for an answer." Pulling away, she took a chair and sat in front of the Void Vessels' bed.
Once more there was silence in the room. The only sound was her own breathing as mage and Familiar stared at each other.
Eventually however Sib seemed to have gotten bored, as it walked off the edge of the bed and began walking around the room.
That however left Louise to stare at her Familiar. Her eyes were looking over each inch of its shell, before finally they landed onto their empty eyes.
She blinked and then asked "Bug, you said something about your Sibling, the Hollow Knight, fighting an ancient enemy right?"
It nodded.
"Is it gone?" She asked "If it was chosen, then it managed to beat this… ancient enemy right?"
It paused, before it nodded its head again.
She smiled and gave a relieved sigh "So there's no chance of whoever it was coming back?"
It shook its head.
"Thanks Brimir," she muttered under her breath. Then she reached forward to poke its stomach "By the way, what was the name of that ancient enemy?"
Before she could touch him however, she heard the sound of glass cracking from her window.
She pulled her hand away and quickly stood up, her wand was pointed towards the sound. She saw that Sib had jumped up, stabbing the Soul Wand through the glass, aiming to strike at a figure in that was by her window.
The windows rattled however, and then flung open with magical force. Flinging the four horned Void Vessel along with its weapon towards her. Quickly she caught it, stumbling back, before she recovered, and quickly pointed her wand towards a hooded figure with her free hand.
A familiar hooded figure.
Bug, as it usually did whenever Princess Henrietta was a close by, looked at the ground. While Louise was more than a little surprised to see her friend in her room again.
Sib however, being absent from the last time she had entered her room, suddenly dashed off from her grip. Soul Wand high above its head.
It sliced through wood and glass as the Princess barely had time to dodge the attack.
"Sib!" She called out for it.
The Void Vessel landed on the window frame, before it pivoted and dashed towards the princess who was scrambling away from the edge of the Soul Wand.
The tip of the weapon carved a line across her wall as it missed once more.
"SIB STOP!" She shouted.
Sib seemed to have heard her the second time and stopped mid attack, simply abandoning the attack as it plummeted back towards the ground, right in front of the princess.
"Oh my goodness princess," she quickly rushed over to the down figure and held her "I am so so so sorry!" She apologised profusely.
"No…" Henrietta shook her head, causing the hood to fall to reveal her face drenched in sweat as ever so slightly pale "I shouldn't have just entered like that, I apologise." She looked at the Void Vessel in front of her with wide eyes.
Sib however simply walked towards her and the princess, uncaring of the flinch it drew from the latter, and placed its stump of a hand on her own.
I Thought You Said It Was Fine To Attack Those That Were A Danger To Us.
Louise could only look at the Void Vessel for a solid few moments, even forgetting that she was just comforting the princess as the words registered. "The Princess isn't a threat Sib!" She snapped at it, she shook her head "Why are you so quick to attack everything?!"
Because If I Don't, They'll Kill Me Before I Can Kill Them.
"Well knock it off, just because someone is at the window or at the door doesn't mean that they're trouble!" She then remembered that the princess was still in her arms, quickly she turned to her with a blush "Oh my goodness, I'm sorry Princess I forgot that…"
Despite that however, she heard the princess laugh. The fear on her face was gone and instead she just seemed to be happy to be in her arms.
After they managed to right themselves, with Louise telling Bug to stop looking at the ground like it usually did, Louise found herself with the princess in her room once more.
The princess was looking around and noticed the bed "Oh, I see you added something to your room Louise."
She nodded "Yeah," she reached out and patted the closes Void Vessel on the head "I wanted to give them something better to sleep in." She shuddered "I thought it be fine if they slept in my bed, but seeing empty eye sockets the first thing in the morning is too much for me."
Henrietta giggle "I see." The princess looked as Louise continued to pet one of the Void Vessles "You must really care for your Familiars Louise."
The Valliere stopped her petting as the words reached her, the small mage smiled "Yeah. I feel like they should have someone that should care."
She shook her head "But anyway princess," she paused when she received a pout "I mean Henrietta, what brings you in my room again?"
The princess' smile dropped and she stood up, she then spoke in a sad tone "I am to be married to the Emperor of Germania."
"Married?!" She stood up "To some king in Germania? Why?" She asked.
Sib looked at her, before it turned its head towards the door and tilted it when it saw the door handle shake.
Henrietta smile returned, although this time it was a sad and morose one instead of the joy that she had before "Because I have to Louise, to make sure an alliance between Tristain and Germania."
The princess told her of why such an alliance was necessary, the civil war in Albion threatened to overthrow the royalty and would lead to an invasion for Tristain. An alliance with Germania meant that Albion would be intimidated from attacking at best, or at worst they'd have an ally for a war that would come.
"In return for allies, their own mages joining our army, and protection, Tristain would provide a bloodline of Brimir as well as open trading for our advanced mining equipment." Henrietta finished.
"So it's something that you have to do…" Louise said "I don't like that you have to marry someone you don't love."
To her surprised she heard a rather bitter chuckle from her childhood friend, "Don't fret Louise, I've abandon the notion of marriage of love long ago," she closed her eyes and sighed "As Royalty, I must be ready to sacrifice myself for my country, no matter the cost."
Bug and Sib looked at her at the words that she had said.
"But… I didn't come here to merely give you news about my political wedding Louise," she stepped forward and grabbed her friend's small hands "But before I do tell you my main reason for coming here, I want to ask you something Louise."
"W-W-What is it?" She stammered.
"Are you loyal towards me?"
The words made her blink in surprise, Louise stared into the teal eyes of the princess hoping to see some kind of joke or mirth at her words. But there wasn't any of that, instead she was looking at her with a dead serious look.
She returned the grip and nodded her head "I am loyal to you princess, to the crown, to Tristain," she leaned in closer and smiled "And to my friend."
They stayed like this for a while, before a soft smile appeared on her face "I knew I could trust you…"
She pulled her hand away and took out a letter from her pouch "Louise, as you know I am to marry the Emperor of Germania. And obviously the rebels and nobles of Albion do not desire that." She held out the letter towards her "When I was young I wrote a letter towards a certain someone, I said words that if they were to be brought towards the Emperor of Germania, they would cancel out of the engagement completely."
She then pushed the letter in her hands towards Louise "So within this letter, addressed to Prince Wales, is something that must be given towards him so that that letter can be retrieved."
Louise blinked "But how can such a simple letter break an engagement such as this?"
"The words I wrote are not something that the Germanians would prefer," Henrietta explained "more so when those words are written to another prince. If he were to be captured, that letter would fall into his hands, and everything would fall apart." She looked her in the eye "So that is why it is important that you retrieve the letter."
"I'll do it!" Louise placed a hand on her chest and held her head up high "I'll get that letter for you, you have my word as a Valliere, and as a friend."
"Thank you Louise…"
"But." The single word made the atmosphere in the room drop as Louise looked at her friend with an unsure expression "Why did you approach me for this princess? I'm flattered and would be willing to walk through hell itself, but why me specifically?"
Henrietta turned her gaze to her Familiar "Your Familiar is not a Water Spirit," she told her bluntly.
Louise's mouth shut tight as her eyes widened at the words.
"I may not know what it and its sibling is, but I know that it isn't what you claim it to be." She stood over it, and once more Bug looked at the ground "I didn't believe that something like it could be a Familiar, because I've seen others like it. Stronger and more dangerous that your own." She turned to Louise "Initially, I was hesitant to trust you."
The Valliere could feel a slight sting.
"But then I remember that you said that these Familiars of yours are loyal to you and you alone, is that still true?" She asked.
Louise nodded without hesitation "Yes, they are."
Henrietta smiled in response "And that is why I trust you. With your own abilities that let you catch Fouquet, and your control over these powerful spirits. I know that you can do this Louise." She placed her hands on her shoulders "I believe you can."
The Valliere's face flushed red at the words, she turned away embarrassed although failing to keep away the smile on her lips.
The moment was ruined when her door opened however. Revealing a nervous looking Montmorency who walked in with a "Hello, Louise?"
"Montmorency?!" As quick as she could Louise picked up both Bug and Sib and held them protectively in her arms "What are you doing here?! Here to eavesdrop on us?"
"No!" Montmorency snapped. Then she noticed that there was a noticeable figure in the room. Her eyes widened at the sight of the princess, before s quickly bowed "Forgive me your highness," she raised her head "I just wanted to speak with Louise but I didn't expect to see you here."
Henrietta was quiet before she spoke "How much did you hear?"
Montmorency gave a nervous smile, before she sighed "I heard everything."
She Has Been At The Door For A While
Louise looked at Sib in her arms and her mouth fell open "Why didn't you say anything."
Bug came to its Sibling defense with a simple
YOU SAID THAT NOT EVERYONE AT THE DOOR OR WINDOW WAS A THREAT.
Louise took a deep breath and just sat down.
[Scene]
A woman sat quietly in her cell, her head resting against the stone wall as she counted the number of dust on each stone brick.
As she was counted she was jolted out of her thoughts by her cell door getting banged on. Peeking through the slits were a pair of large black eyes "Dinner inmate."
She sighed and stood up. The tray slid into the cell, pushed forward by some distinctly insectoid fingers.
Her eyes widened "You're an insect?" She asked in surprise.
"What's it to ya?" The guard asked.
"Nothing!" She shook her head "Just… surprised that your species would work with royalty is all."
The guard gave a shrug "We get treated better here in Tristain apparently, not that I would know. Never stepped a claw out of this country." The guard turned away from her door and began to walk away.
When she was alone again, the woman looked at the food she was given and sighed "So I heard… but I don't think Tiff would want to just leave Albion unless she has a reason."
So the woman ate, the prison slop wasn't tasty but it was enough to keep her alive for tomorrow.