Louise buzzed with nervous excitement. Today was the day. She was off to Albion, on a royalty-sanctioned mission, and Anne had even let slip that her fiancée was coming with! Though she and Jean-Jacques didn't meet often, she had many fond thoughts of the man who would one day become her husband.

Before Musician was summoned, these thoughts included ideas of how to become worthy of him. Now, though, she felt more confident. Maybe she wasn't on his level, but she was determined not to be some stay-at-home Viscountess. Maybe she could be at his side. Surely the Captain of the Griffin Knights, prestigious military corps that it was, would see the usefulness of explosions—destruction—in a battle.

She smiled and looked up at Musician, then stopped. Her familiar was frowning, seemingly looking vaguely into the distance. "Musician? What's wrong?"

"This song is familiar," he uncharacteristically muttered. "It reminds me of the Queen of Midnight."

"Who?"

Musician twitched slightly, then looked down at her. "No one you need to worry about." He smiled brightly. "This is a time to be alive! We're goin' on an adventure!"

Louise could only nod, slowly. "Riiiight." I won't forget that frown so easily.

"And I believe our guide is here!" Musician held out his hand as Viscount Jean-Jacques Francis de Wardes entered the room. Violins picked up.

Louise blinked as a low, sinister melody stepped in beat with Wardes' footsteps. She stared incredulously at Musician.

"What?" he asked. "The Imperial March is a classic!"

"For a hero?" The question came out far more deadpan than Louise intended.

"Ah…" Musician looked left and right. "Er… debatably?"

Louise turned back with a hum, satisfied on having gotten one over on her familiar. This quickly turned into a very un-noble-like squeal as Wardes picked her up. "Dear Louise. It has been such a long time."

"Wardes…" Quick, say something clever! "Hi."

…

Nailed it.

Wardes chuckled. "Hello, my dear Louise." He set her down. "Who is your companion?"

"Ah, this is The Musician, my—"

"The familiar?" Wardes' eyes moved back and forth. "It is the first time I've heard of a human familiar."

Musician's smile grew, his arms splayed out, and his fingers pointed towards his face. "Yes. Human. That is me." Louise felt her hand rise up and cover her face.

"And I see some of the rumors were correct." Wardes' left eyebrow rose as the violins continued serenading him with their dark proclamations. "You made quite the impression at the familiar exhibition."

Louise groaned and Musician chuckled. "Only good impressions, I hope."

Warde's eyebrow fell noncommittally. "Thank you for… being there, for Louise."

Louise moaned again. Did he have to do this here? This was embarrassing!

"The pleasure is all mine," her familiar said, bowing grandiosely. Before she could elbow him for actively making her embarrassment worse, Wardes had a hand on her shoulders.

"Shall we?" he asked, gesturing to his griffon.

Wardes looked back at Musician, riding on a horse. "Are you… all right with that man, Louise?"

"Eh?" Was… was Wardes jealous?

"He hasn't done anything strange to you, has he?"

Suddenly, memories of Musician punching Valkyries in the face, falling out of windows, and poking her floor clean ran through her mind. A tear ran down her face before the memories were violently shoved back. Luckily, Wardes was sitting behind her and couldn't see it before she quickly wiped it away. "He is… unusual… but he is not lecherous or cruel."

"Forgive me, my Louise, but are you certain you're all right? Listening to that… unholy sound all the time must be maddening."

"You don't know the half of it!" Louise spat. Wardes flinched back, shocked. "All day. All night. During classes, and lunch, and every other time of the day! I don't know even half the instruments he uses. The other day he was playing something that used clicking crab claws as an instrument! Called it a crab rave! I mean seriously, raving crabs; he is utterly insane! And don't even ask me about…!"

Wardes watched. And listened. As his cute, nice, sweet little Louise worked herself into a rage that would make the barbarians from the north green with envy.

"…the only silence I get is when he 'plays' something he calls 4'33". Less than five minutes of quiet. Five minutes! Per week! I can't… I can't even…" She stopped, looking up at him, then sighed. "I shouldn't be complaining to you like this."

"On the contrary. I'm glad you can confide your problems in me." A winning smile played on his lips, and Louise felt her heart melt a little. "It certainly sounds like you're getting along," he said with obvious amusement.

She groaned. "Don't you start too…" Musician does that enough. Kirche does that enough. Is picking on me really that fun?

"My dear Louise," he started, poking her in the side. "This is a side of you I haven't seen. If you didn't want to be teased, you shouldn't have been so cute and feisty."

"I'll show you feisty," she muttered under her breath. Wardes only laughed, holding her closer. And for all she protested, she found herself nestling in more closely.

"Well then," Wardes said as they finished packing up the next morning. "Familiar. I have a confession to make."

"Oh?" Musician leaned against a slightly-collapsed brick wall.

"Yes. When I heard Louise had an unusual familiar, I went to Colbert to ask about her summoning ritual. He told me of the runes on your hand, the runes of the legendary Gandalfr."

There was a moment of silence, of almost reverence for that holy name.

"The what now?"

"Gandalfr. The legendary familiar who could singlehandedly fight off entire armies?"

Musician nodded. "I see. Well, I knew what the runes said, but I wasn't aware they were anything important."

"You knew?" Wardes seemed intrigued.

"Uh-huh. I'm a universal polyglot. It's a useful ability that lets me read and speak any language. It's less useful about giving me context. 'Left Hand of God' just kind of… I don't know… seemed redundant?"

Louise looked down at the left hand of a god marked with the phrase "Left Hand of God." She put a hand on her mouth and started giggling as quietly as she could.

"Redundant?" Musician only shrugged in reply. "Well, in any case, when I learned of this, I wanted to see exactly what such a legendary familiar was capable of. How strong you were. Would you oblige me?"

"A duel, then?" Musician asked as if they were just discussing the weather. Louise's laughter died.

"If you would," Wardes answered in the same tone.

They stared at each other, and then Wardes disappeared, Musician slamming his axe where he'd just been. Louise quickly ducked and rolled out of the battlefield, keeping an eye on them from behind a tree. They'll need a witness.

The music was fast, filled with beeping, buzzing sounds—synthesizers, Musician called them—and also electric guitars. If Louise had to describe the tone of the song, it'd be the sound of a real fight, not the one-sided beatdown that was Guiche or the chaotic ridiculousness of Fouquet.

Musician and Wardes flickered around the battlefield for several seconds before ending up in the middle. Musician was grinning, but to Louise's surprise, Wardes was smiling too. Musician's axe slammed down, but Wardes deflected it, getting inside Musician's guard.

Before he could capitalize, Musician arched back with ridiculous flexibility, then fell down on an arm, kicking out and spinning. Ah, she knew this dance. Br… breakdancing? Was that its name? A masterful series of acrobatic spinning later, Wardes was on the back foot, chanting as he avoided several more slashes.

One wind blast, blade, undercurrent, and small twister later, Musician threw his axe. Louise gasped as Wardes avoided it by a hair and it smashed into a tree right beside him. Before Wardes could advance, though, the tree exploded with a loud crunch. Wardes was knocked to the side, and Louise watched as the axe was launched by the blast back into Musician's hand.

…That was so cool. I wanna do that with my explosions.

Musician launched a flurry of blows from weird angles only made possible because he seemed to run on trees, walls, and even the air. While Wardes managed to deflect or dodge every attack, it was clear that he was disoriented and losing.

At least until, with a crackle, Musician was struck by a lightning bolt. A series of string instruments burst out as her familiar was knocked back. Wardes paused for a moment. The music went silent.

Come on… come on… Louise realized, with surprise, that inside she was cheering her ridiculous familiar on.

Musician barked with laughter. "You're pretty good."

Wardes blinked. "I just hit you with lightning."

"It's just a flesh wound. Okay, I've decided."

Wardes looked at Louise, then back to her familiar. "Decided what?"

Musician brought his fists against his hips, emulating a heroic pose straight from the silly storybooks she used to read. "I judge you, sir, as fit to protect Louise!"

Wardes' jaw dropped.

Musician nodded to himself. "Just barely, of course. I'd have to check in on you once in a while, just in case. But if ever I am out on an errand, I know who to trust!"

Again Wardes turned to Louise, but she just shrugged. For once, it wasn't her problem.

Musician jumped on his horse. "Hi ho, Silver away!" The animal leapt into the air and began speeding into the sky.

"What in the name of the Founder's left bollock?!" Wardes posited.

/I'm a magical pony, flying through the sky,

On a magical journey…/

"Welcome to my life," Louise replied, watching as Musician flew through the air on his horse.

Omake:

Louise blinked a few time, then rubbed her eyes. Nope, the image in front of her didn't change. "Musician?"

A strange beeping trill danced merrily. "Yes?"

"Why is Kirche bound and gagged?"

"It amused me."

Louise glanced over at Siesta, who stopped craning her neck to glance back. "And she's stuck to my ceiling…?"

"For the same reason, of course."

Louise paused to formulate a more helpful question. "What led to her being there?"

"She tried to seduce me."

Louise's head whipped up to Kirche, then back to Musician. "She… wha…?"

She supposed, objectively speaking, that Musician was nice to look at. Nearly seven feet of solid, unbending muscle, with a gold-tinged skin that'd be attractive on anyone else.

It's just that he was… the Musician. She couldn't imagine anyone actually liking him that way. Nor could she imagine him going on a date. It was just too weird.

Musician shrugged and grinned. "Keyword being tried. I'm not one to be interested in that sort of thing. So I duct-taped her to the ceiling for you to sort out."

Duct tape? Was that what that shiny stuff was? She didn't say anything, just trying and failing to think this through. Louise was getting used to Musician's oddities, but there were still many instances where her brain couldn't quite process the situation. She wasn't sure if he did it on purpose or if his way of thinking was just so outside of her experience that it came naturally.

There was a knock on the door. Musician skipped over to it and opened it. "Yeeeeeeees?"

Tabitha was on the other side. "Kirche."

"Purpose?" Musician asked.

"Collect."

"Trouble."

"Irrelevant."

"Judge," Musician stated, pointing at Louise.

"Biased."

"Confuzzled."

Was that even a word?

Tabitha crossed her arms, a more overt display of emotion than Louise had ever seen from the girl. "Mine."

"Assertion?"

"Clearly."

"Authority?"

Tabitha hesitated. "…Princess."

Musician considered this. "Acceptable." He raised a hand, and the tape vanished. Kirche fell to the floor with a heavy thump.

"Good." Tabitha threw her redheaded friend over her shoulder and left.

It was quiet for a moment. "What was that?" Louise asked.

Musician shot another obnoxious smile at her. "Tabitha."

This was a small scene I wrote during chapter 6. I found it amusing, but it didn't really fit into the events at the time. Chronologically, it probably happened earlier, in like chapter 3 or something. Kirche was going to fail at an attempt sooner or later.