By the time classes had started again she'd gotten used to Utsuho riding along on her shoulder. She'd almost managed to dismiss her familiar's ravings about deity status as delusions from slamming into too many mirrors. It helped that Utsuho was good to her word and spent most of her time in bird form.
Honestly summoning a bird had been very useful. The bigger familiars had to be left outside, while the smaller ones had to be carried. Utsuho on the other hand could accompany her almost anywhere, and didn't take up much space.
She was enjoying that truth right now as she sat in class. Ms. Chevreuse was a new teacher, and for some reason she needed to go over basic earth magic again. Still transmutation was an important skill, especially for nobility. Louise studied the spell carefully.
Still a triangle mage huh? The strongest anyone could get outside of the Royal Families was square class. And earth and fire as the elements. Louise had always hoped for fire or wind. Okay recently she'd hoped for ANYTHING, but when she'd been younger she'd hoped for the more active elements.
Thinking about it, she'd summoned a crow with fire powers. Maybe she was fire and wind! That could be interesting. And having two elements meant she at least qualified as a line mage. She could summon lightning to smite her foes. That'd show Kirche!
"Ms Vallerie. If you're so certain you understand the material, perhaps you could demonstrate it."
Louise started. Crap, she'd been daydreaming in class. How embarrassing.
"Shouldn't you ask someone else?" Kirche asked nervously.
That forced her to her feet. "I can do it," she said. She'd summoned a familiar. A powerful familiar who could take human form! This should be no problem.
She walked down to the desk ignoring everyone else's complaints.
Ms. Chevreuse moved to her side. "Miss Valliere, you have to visualize vividly the metal that you wish to transmute them into."
"Right." She looked down at the stones. Lead would be easiest based on the books. She should be able to do that without trouble. She focused her mind, thinking of the proper ritual.
The magic came to her quickly, like it always did. But this time would be different. She said the words-
And everything twisted again.
She found herself on the ground again, staring at the ceiling. Behind her chaos had erupted.
Louise forced herself to stand up and wipe her face. She tried to ignore the words of her classmates. Tried to focus on what she did wrong.
But in the end only one word resounded in the room and in her head.
"Zero."
Louise was moping in her room while Utsuho stretched her wings. She'd thought it would be different. She'd summoned a powerful familiar. Why hadn't the spell worked this time?
Finally Utsuho walked over. "Why'd you stop your spell?"
Louise whirled on her familiar. "I didn't! It just went wrong, alright!" She glared up at the woman. "What do you know about magic anyway?"
Utsuho glared down at her. "A lot." She snapped her fingers and a globe of fire floated in the air. "I saw you cast the spell and then you dispelled it before it could finish."
"Dispelled?" Louise stomped her foot. "Don't be ridiculous. You can't just dispel magic! Only the founder could perform those feats, and he was a master of the void."
"Unyuu..." Utsuho cocked her head to the side. "Wait. You said your magic is based on the elements of fire, earth, wind, water, and void right?"
"Yes," Louise snapped. "What of it?"
Utsuho nodded. "And familiars are based off of the primary element of the summoner right?"
"Yes."
"Then you're a void mage," Utsuho said. "Because my primary element is void."
Louise opened her mouth, then slowly closed it and sat down. It was unreal. The void had been lost for centuries. No one was a void mage. The only hints as to what it could do were in the tales of Brimir.
But if there was any chance she could learn magic... "You can use the void?" she asked quietly. "I thought you used fire."
"I create fire using void," Utsuho replied. She banished the fireball into a wisp of smoke. "Void is, uh, weird, but I can tell you how I use it. The thing is, voids aren't stable. If there's a void somewhere stuff moves to fill it." Utsuho held up her hand and the smoke trail was sucked into a whirl of air above it. "So if you try to make something with void things get weird and it'll go boom."
"That's... a lot like what happens!" Louise hopped up and rushed over to Utsuho. "Can you teach me? Can you show me how to use my element?"
"Uh, maybe?" Utsuho winced. "I do a lot of stuff by instinct, but I'm sure I can teach you some of my tricks. And I can find you a tutor! After all true magicians use all the elements."
Louise got the sinking feeling she was slipping back into crazy land again, but she had to ask. "True magician?"
"They're immortal and stuff. And they have lots of magic." Utsuho shrugged and smiled. "There were other differences but I didn't think they were important so I forgot them!"
Annoyance finally broke through the barriers of confusion. "Don't say that with a smile you birdbrain!" Louise glared at her familiar. "Ignorance is not a virtue! I won't let you ignore important information any more. You're going to teach me magic, and I'm going to teach you proper etiquette and knowledge that befits a noble's familiar!"
Utsuho blinked. "Unyu? But aren't most familiars just animals?"
"Not the point!" Louise shouted. "You will learn this familiar! That is an order!"
"Fiiine." The raven haired woman rolled her eyes. "So long as you don't demand I stop telling people I'm a god."
"That's the worst part!" Louise snapped. "If you claim to be a god I'll be accused of being a heretic! My whole family might get in trouble! Who claims a god is their familiar?"
Utsuho frowned. "Really? The humans here are that judgmental? I mean I know they're all scared of youkai, but targeting people's families seems mean."
"People will think my family is summoning devils! I'm a Valliere. We guard the border. There are thousands of enemies who will happily strike at us," Louise pointed out.
"Oh. Right, nobility." Utsuho walked over and opened the door. One of the castle maids stumbled in and landed on her face. "So I suppose having her eavesdropping is a problem then," Utsuho said as she shut the door.
Louise stared down at the girl trembling on the floor in front of them. The maid was about her age, though she was taller, like everyone was. And she had shoulder length black hair. Louise had seen her about before. Not one of the important staff, but easily recognizable.
This was bad. This was really bad. How could she keep this secret? What did they do in big sister's books? If she remembered right... they seduced them. That wasn't going to work! Mother was right when she said those books were useless.
Maybe she could rely on her sense of noble dignity. "You heard nothing maid! Okay?"
"Of, of course!" the maid replied. "I'll just leave now-" She stood up and started towards the door, but Utsuho blocked it with a wing.
Utsuho shook her head at Louise. "You didn't think that'd actually work right?"
Louise blushed in embarrassment. Of course that was stupid but she wasn't going to be talked down to by her familiar! Especially not a birdbrain like Utsuho. "Sorry for being polite!"
"That was polite?" Utsuho asked. Louise fumed. Just because her familiar was right didn't mean she should say it!
"Excuse me," the maid said. "But Count Mott has extended me an offer of being his personal maid. My disappearance will be noticed." The girl was quivering, but she managed to keep her voice steady.
"Wait a second, Count Mott? That letch?!" Louise grimaced. She'd heard enough rumors about the man. In fact very few people seemed to like him. And not just because he was the queen's messenger. "You can't possibly be thinking of serving him!"
The maid blinked. "I am... aware of his reputation. But my family needs the money. And it seems his offer will keep me from being killed."
Louise's stomach somehow felt more queasy then before. Oh. That explained why the maid was so afraid. She'd assumed it was just the general respect towards the nobility. Her eyes flickered over to Utsuho. The raven woman didn't seem surprised at all. Her familiar was ready and willing to kill the girl to keep Louise's secret.
Could she do that? No. Not over this. Not to someone who'd just stumbled into it. Louise wasn't going to murder someone to keep this secret. There had be another way. A proper way.
"How much?" Louise blurted out.
"What?" The maid flinched.
The idea solidified in Louise's head. "How much is Count Mott paying you?" Louise asked. "I'll double it."
The maid's jaw dropped. "Double it? For what?"
"You're going to be my personal maid," Louise said. "A member of the Valliere household." And a keeper of its secrets she thought. This must be why mother and father were so insistent on getting trustworthy help. "You'll help me with caring for my familiar and my personal affairs."
"Ooh! Another maid!" Utsuho's serious expression melted into a radiant smile. "What's your power?"
Louise and the maid both stared at Utsuho. "I don't have any magic," the maid said.
"If she had magic she'd be a noble," Louise pointed out.
"Eh? Nothing?" Utsuho looked confused. "You can't stop time? Or create dangerous drugs? Or hypnotise people with your finger?"
Louise took several deep breaths. Where did her familiar get these ideas? "No."
"Oh." Utsuho frowned then shrugged. "Well maybe you're a late bloomer. Anyway! I'm Utsuho, you probably know my master Louise. And what's your name?"
The girl bit her lip. She probably was still considering the offer. But finally she curtsied. "I am Siesta. I look forward to being in your service."
Louise flopped back onto her bed. This was going to be a lot of work, but at least the problem was solved. She'd handle the paperwork later. Unfortunately that brought up one big problem. "We're gonna need to find me a teacher really fast."
"Unyu? Why?" Utsuho asked.
"Because my mom said I was only to buy basic necessities until I learned to master an element," Louise muttered. "And paying four times the going rate for a personal maid is kind a luxury."
"Six times," Siesta quietly said.
Louise nearly choked. "Wait what?! Six times? I only promised to double the Count's salary!"
"He was offering me triple," she replied. Louise's eyes narrowed as she saw a slight smile flicker across the maid's face. Siesta had caught Louise's mistake immediately and had let her make it. Even when she was terrified beyond belief.
"How am I going to justify paying a maid six times normal rate?!" Forget her mother, the staff would want to know why she needed a maid. Everyone would know about the deal within a day. And that meant questions she couldn't answer.
Utsuho shook her head. "Um, well in Miss Satori's books they always just pretended the other person was a mistress."
Louise was burning red at this point. "I am not that kind of woman!"
"But we're both girls," Siesta sputtered at the same time.
The raven woman shrugged. "Well that's what everyone's gonna think anyway. So you might as well let her move in and just live with it."
Louise flopped on the bed. Her life was supposed to be more awesome, not more difficult.
Utsuho quietly hopped beneath the tables. Sure her other body was eating fine, but this one was hungry. She wasn't exactly sure how that happened but it wasn't important. She wanted food so she'd eat. And there were plenty of crumbs about.
She was finishing up a bit of ham when she saw the gleam of something shiny. Something shiny that was unattended. She hopped down and pecked at the item. It looked to be a perfume bottle. Fake crystal but well faceted. And it was still filled with purple liquid. She'd take it!
Of course that was easier thought then done. It was a large bottle for her current size, and she had to twist it around several times to get a grip on it. A bad position, but the best she could do. She flew it up onto the table before dropping it and looking for a better way to grab the bottle.
The boys behind her started chattering about something but Utsuho ignored them. Maybe she could carry it by claw and drop it in her nest?
"Utsuho, what are you doing?"
She looked up to find Louise looking down at her, annoyed for some reason. She cawed in protest. No rules had been broken. This was her shiny thing.
"You can't just grab random things on the floor," Louise snapped back. "Besides this looks like one of Montmorency's perfumes. Someone probably dropped it." From her inflection Louise clearly knew who that someone was too. But she placed it on the table instead of giving it to the person.
Utsuho protested again. If Louise wasn't going to give it back, why couldn't she keep it? She pecked at the bottle in frustration.
"Don't give me that," Louise said and held out her hand. "Now hop on. We've got work to do."
That was true. She had promised to help Louise with magic. She jumped into her master's hand and settled in, just in time to see a foppish looking blond boy get slapped by a girl.
When the second girl came to slap him Utsuho put all the pieces together. Orin might call her birdbrained, but this here was easy to figure out. Someone had been caught two timing. Foolish wandering crow. She laughed at the man's shame.
Her amusement faded as the idiot turned to her master. "Louise, none of this would have happened if your familiar hadn't shown off that bottle. Your crow made those two women cry!"
"She's a raven Guiche," Louise said dryly, making Utsuho preen with pride. "And birds pick up shiny objects. It's like complaining about a dog chasing a stick."
"But-!" The idiot fumed. "Because of her-"
Louise raised Utsuho so she could look at the man's face. "What Guiche? Do you want to duel my bird to restore your pride?"
Utsuho ruffled her feathers and let her third eye glow. She would totally wreck that stupid human.
Guiche on the other hand looked shocked at the suggestion. The fool blinked at Utsuho, then back to his friends who were laughing at the thought of him challenging a familiar. After a moment he cursed, grabbed the bottle and stormed off.
"Finally. Let's go practice," Louise said as she walked out.
Honestly Utsuho was a bit sad. She wondered what the idiot tasted like.
I'm pleasantly surprised at the response this has gotten. Guess I'll have to put a little more effort into it. Especially to clarify details to people who don't know one series or another. (Though Touhou always has a healthy dose of author interpretation).