Tabitha let herself relax ever so slightly. The sun gently bathed her in warmth, the scent of tea filled her nose, her eyes took in the familiar words of her book, the sweetness of cake tickled her tongue, and her friend was talking to her. It was a rather peaceful scene.
"It's not everything she claimed it would be, but it does seem quite useful doesn't it?"
Tabitha looked out the corner of her eye to see Louise Valliere, the subject in question, sitting alone. In her hands was a cup and saucer. A fork was being held by a tendril that protruded from her 'shirt'. She hummed in agreement with her friend's assessment. If that 'symbiote' was able to fight, then it would be quite useful indeed. Having something that could watch not your back, but every direction, and thus be able to defend from every direction without being known about… She could see the appeal.
Not that she would trade Sylphid for it. No matter how useful it was, it wouldn't be better than having a dragon. No matter how young that dragon was.
"Now, should I let the matter lie, or continue to tease her?"
The Gallian noble looked at her friend over the top of her book. Her friend smiled shamelessly, and seemed to take her deadpan stare as an answer.
"Yeah, I think I should continue too."
Tabitha let out a light sigh as she turned the page. This girl would never change.
A commotion drew their attention towards a different table. Just in time…
"LIAR!"
To see Guiche Gramont get double slapped.
Tabitha gave another sigh. Apparently Kirche wasn't the only one that wouldn't change. She went back to her book as the blonde turned his anger against a nearby maid. It wasn't her place to step in. She didn't have any ties to the situation. Besides if he actually did anything to the maid he would face consequences. Probably wouldn't stop him at the moment, but it would happen.
"Guiche, is your honor so dirty that you would stoop this low? Blaming an innocent? Threatening another's servant? On top of sullying the honor of two maidens? No, I suppose it would be three now." came a rather angry voice. Tabitha looked up again to see Louise approaching the scene, a look of righteous fury on her features. She couldn't prevent the tiny frown that crossed her own features. Louise normally wasn't the type to interfere like this. It was out of character.
"What is she doing?" Kirche asked out loud, obviously as confused as her.
"You DARE question my honor?" Guiche snapped back.
"We are going to do one better." Tabitha's thoughts on what the girl meant by we were cut off when a tendril whipped out and smacked Guiche across the cheek. "We demand satisfaction for your disgraceful actions. You make the rest of us look terrible with them."
This was obviously getting out of control. Duels were very much against the rules. Not to mention this was not the space for it. That didn't seem to matter as Guiche took out a rose, and summoned a golem armed with a spear. "It is I who will get satisfaction, ZERO!"
The pinkette rushed forward. As she did her uniform changed. It became a swirl of black and pink as it covered the girl completely. On top of that, the right arm extended into a blade. While a tendril knocked the thrusted spear aside, the arm blade buried itself deep into the bronze torso. There was the tiniest of twitches in the black and pink figure before the golem crumbled.
That caused quite the stir. Golems only did that when they ran out of mana. Something that simple destruction wouldn't do.
With a look that was a mix of surprise and indignation, the blonde boy summoned further golems. However, this time when they charged, there was no counter charge. Several tendrils lashed out, grabbed hold of the various metal women. Shortly after they each crumbled. Now in a bit of a panic, Guiche raised his rose wand. Whether it was to cast another spell, or perhaps surrender would not be known.
Louise charged in at that moment and bound the boy in several tendrils. In moments, their blade was pressed against Gramont's throat.
"I yield. I yield." The boy called out with a mix of fear and confusion. She thought she heard some tiredness underneath it all as well. Which didn't make sense. For someone with an earth affinity, golems wouldn't be that taxing to their willpower.
To top it off, Louise seemed to hesitate before releasing him. It was honestly a tiny detail. Likely hard to notice if you weren't paying attention. However, Tabitha was always paying attention.
It was why she was still watching the youngest Valliere even as the crowd dispersed. When her familiar took the shape of the academies' uniform once more. It was also why she got closer when the maid that had been the center of all this approached the pinkette.
"Thank you, my lady. I… I take it that this makes us even?"
"What do you mean? I was merely putting a dishonorable cur in his place. The fact that it helped you as well was a coincidence." the noble dismissed airly. "A debt can not be paid with coincidence. Do not think that my honor is so dirty."
The look of surprise slowly turned into a smile. A cautious one perhaps, but a smile nonetheless. "Of course my lady. My apologies."
A hand is waved dismissively at the curtsying maid. "I will give my forgiveness this once. Do not forget my mercy."
"Of course my lady. Thank you." With that the commoner girl left, and the noble continued on her way.
"Did you hear that? Louise owes a commoner a debt? That's a juicy piece of gossip right there. Wonder what it could be." Her friend speculated next to her. Honestly it wasn't any of their business, but she knew she wouldn't be able to stop Kirche once she started. "We could track down the maid. Shouldn't be too hard to get her to talk."
"Trouble."
"Hmm, I suppose you are right. If she feels that she is under the protection of the Valliere's she might clam up. She might even tell Louise. It might be cute to watch her get all upset like that, but maybe we should just cut to the chase then."
She found herself sighing for a third time as she followed after her excitable friend at a sedated pace. This in turn forced the redhead to slow down so as to not leave her behind. She was a good friend, even if her impatience was extremely obvious.
Before too long they stood outside Louise's room, and Kirche gave a very peppy, if obnoxious, knock.
"Who is it, and What do you want?" A rather irritated voice called from within.
"Come now Zero, is this how you treat guests who have come by to congratulate you?" She rolled her eyes at the blatant provocation. There was no way it would…
The door happened and the young Valliere borderline glared at them expectantly.
It worked. That actually worked. She hadn't expected that, and going by her friend's silence, neither had she.
A single eyebrow rose as the silence stretched on.
Kirche coughed into a fist before smiling. "Congratulations on a well fought duel."
Pink eyes turned in her direction. "Congratulations." She said with a small nod.
"Thank you. Now if you would excuse me." With politeness done, the pinkette tried to close her door.
"Actually, I was curious about something related to the duel." However, a certain redhead prevented her from doing so by pressing against it. "I heard something about a debt you owe to the same commoner that was at the heart of the incident."
"What debts I may or may not have are neither your business, nor have anything to do with why I dueled Guiche. He was acting like an honorless cur. I don't see why I need any more reason than that."
"I suppose it makes sense. It's no surprise you have zero dignity too." It was another obvious ploy. Baiting for the information she wanted.
It was the exact wrong thing to say.
The Tristan noble's face twisted into a furious scowl. Her clothes writhed and rippled as tendrils lashed at the air. Kirche backed away in a panic as the smaller girl stomped forward.
"It is exactly BECAUSE we have dignity that we take this debt seriously. When someone, whether they be commoner or noble, does something well they get rewarded. When they go beyond the call of duty their reward should reflect that. A favor freely given when asked for should be paid back in kind."
Tabitha found herself nodding in agreement. Her thoughts went out to the few servants at her own estate who stayed at their posts despite her family's fall from grace.
She was pulled from both her thoughts and the scene in front of her by movement in the corner of her eye. She turned her head and looked into Louise's room. One of the shadows within was moving. It was as she focused on it did she realize that that thought was wrong. It wasn't a shadow, but a puddle of black liquid that was moving under its own power.
"It's because of this that our debt has nothing to do with the duel. We were not asked to interfere, we chose to for our own reasons. The fact that she benefited is inconsequential to us."
She knelt down as the thing approached her. Its movements seemed to be filled with both caution and curiosity. Which was a bit ironic since she was feeling the same way towards it. It looked almost exactly the same as the symbiotic creature that had become Louise's familiar. Had it been pregnant, and this was its spawn? If so, was it now looking for a host? Could it survive without one?
"What did she do then? What are you trying to repay?"
As the creature got closer she held out a hand. She knew that by all rights, she should be far more cautious about this. However, there didn't seem to be any ill side effects with hosting such a creature, if what she saw of Louise was true. Not to mention the possible benefits. Add in the fact that she would be able to train this own from practically birth, and it was quite appealing. This was also a good time, since the others seemed to be quite distracted.
"As we said, it is none of your business, Zerbst."
There was no face, or even a head. Yet, they looked gazes all the same.
"What do you mean by we?"
Pale fingers touched a dark pool.
Her life seemed to play before her eyes as two minds touched. In exchange new information was given to her. Their body was now far tougher and stronger than it once was. They had no fear of magic for it was now nothing but sustenance to them. Even if they could be harmed, they would heal. They had nothing to fear from their uncle now. Though that didn't give them a remedy for their poor mother. Not at the moment anyway.
Behind all of this though, was a question. What would they call themselves now? There was another memory there. A group of names. Well they were adept at both water and wind. However, the water aspect was more to bring forth their runic namesake.
"Tabitha?" the startled voice of their friend called out. They turned their head to look at the two figures standing behind them. As they stood to face them, their second skin took on the form of their school uniform. Kirche seemed confused and upset. On the other hand Louise looked curious. Only it wasn't Lousie anymore was it?
"Do you have a name?" their pregentor and classmate asked.
"We are thinking of going by Fu."
"What the hell is going on!" their friend exclaimed. Honestly she just needed to calm down.