Louise clenched her wand tightly. Utsuho was going to help her with magic today. Finally she'd learn a spell. And it would be the power of the void!

"Okay!" Utsuho stretched. "First spell, we'll teach you how to fly!"

"Fly?" Louise's hopes fell a bit. "You mean levitation?" She was hoping for something more impressive. Something using the void. Not something everyone can do.

Utsuho shook her head. "No, fly. I mean you can levitate too, but flying's cooler."

That got Louise's attention. Long term flight was difficult even for powerful wind mages. "How much willpower will it take?"

"Unyu?" Utsuho cocked her head. "Um, well it'll be hard at first then get easier with practice. Same as all magic."

Louise had the feeling her familiar hadn't learned at an academy. Still she wasn't going to argue right now. "Okay how does it work?"

"Right." Utsuho's tone shifted as it always did when the raven woman started talking about the void or her other abilities. "So as I said before, the void is the absence of everything. A vacuum."

Utsuho held out her hand and Louise could see the wind bending around it, circling a still point in the middle. The familiar continued. "Nature abhors a vacuum. It wants to fill it. That's one of the reasons why void magic is unstable. So instead of fighting against nature we work with it."

The sphere of air vanished, and then Utsuho levitated off the ground. "You want to go up, so you create the vacuum above yourself, and then nature will make you fill it!"

Louise chewed her lip. It made sense. She'd learned about the strange pockets where there was no air from her textbooks, and how they never lasted. Creating one at will instead of using air magic was strange, but Utsuho could do it so she should be able to as well!

She opened her power up and started the spell. She just needed to focus and create a vacuum to-

"Stop!"

The words cut out Louise's concentration. She found Utsuho waving frantically at her. "What?!"

"Too much power. You want to go up slowly, not fling yourself into the sky," Utsuho said. "Calmly. Slowly. Start with a small amount of power, and increase it as you need it." The raven woman shook her head. "I can't believe I just said to use less power..."

Louise took a deep breath and tried again. Just a little power. Power to remove the air above her. No she wasn't removing air, she was creating a void. A void she would fill.

Magic trickled through her, but this time it didn't twist. She felt her hair start to lift, then her body. "It's working!" Her concentration faltered for a second, but the spell stayed intact. She took control again and finished levitating up to look Utsuho in the face.

"Good job!" Utsuho smiled. "Now you should practice moving side to side. And landing. Normally we just toss people out of the nest, but you humans break bones so we'll stick to low altitude for a bit."

A few hours later the exhilaration had worn off a little. Louise was still pleased with herself though. She'd risen to the top of the trees, and managed to fly in all directions! Once she got past crashing into the ground when going down...

Still she had noticed one thing. "I'm flying pretty slowly." Louise said to Utsuho as she put her wand away. "Will I get faster with practice?"

"A little," Utsuho said. "But flying with the void is always slow. You can get better maneuverability in small areas like caves, but it'll never be as fast as other methods. I use my wings when I need to go fast."

Louise frowned a little. She'd been hoping to soar through the air like a dragon. But this was still impressive. And it was her own magic. "I guess I'll just have to keep practicing then."

"Yep!" Utsuho beemed. "You're very good for a beginner. Maybe you can practice some more after you meet with the headmaster."

Oh right. That was soon. The joy Louise felt finally crumbled. "Let's get that over with." Hopefully the man wouldn't ask too many questions.

Louise's hopes were quickly dashed. She hadn't even made it into the headmaster's room, and the man's secretary, Ms Longville was giving her a look like she was the most evil person in the realm.

It didn't help that Siesta was there as well. And blushing bright red. Louise wanted to take the girl to task for being so embarrassed over something that wasn't true, but she was sure her own face was as pink as her hair right now.

Finally the door opened and Louise followed the secretary in. Headmaster Osmund was standing there of course, the white haired old man stroking his beard. Unfortunately there was someone else there.

Siesta gasped behind her as Louise's stomach flopped again. Count Mott was standing to the side looking smug. This was just getting worse and worse.

Utsuho shifted on her shoulder, nuzzling against her cheek. That helped a little. She forced herself to give the count a polite bow before turning to the headmaster. "What did you need to see me about sir?"

Osmund nodded. "I wanted to ask you about your request to hire Ms Siesta. While normally I don't worry about such matters, you must admit that this situation is slightly abnormal."

"I wanted more time to focus on my magical studies, now that I've had some success," Louise said. "So I hired a personal maid that I knew was qualified." That wasn't entirely true, but the castle staff in general was pretty good.

"For six times the going rate?" Osmund asked.

Louise winced but managed to stick to her script. "She had another offer, so I had to do better."

Count Mott laughed, sending shivers up Louise's spine. "I suppose that is true! But I was offering only three times what she earns now. Six times is quite an increase."

To her surprise Siesta spoke up. "She offered to double your offer before knowing the exact details. I informed her after the deal was struck."

Louise grimaced as everyone else in the room laughed. Ms Longville in particular seemed to think it was hilarious. It wasn't her fault she'd had to make a deal in desperate circumstances!

"I impressed with your cleverness my lovely Siesta," Count Mott said, "which makes me even more curious about your intentions Ms Valliere. Surely another maid would have done as good a job in most circumstances." Utsuho shifted uneasily on her shoulder. Apparently her familiar was getting the same creep vibes.

"I wanted someone I could trust," Louise said. "Siesta seems discrete."

She cringed again as everyone else seemed to come to the wrong conclusion at the same time. Count Mott however pressed on. "Oh? You have a secret you need to keep? Is it something that even the Queen's Messenger can't hear?"

Louise poured all her concentration into keeping her face unconcerned. "I will happily send a sealed message to Princess Henrietta if requested, but it can wait until we see each other again."

That seemed to shut the Count up. Being one of the princesses' royal playmates had benefits sometimes, even if she didn't like using it as a weapon.

Headmaster Osmund coughed. "Yes well... I feel I must make a few things clear Ms Valliere. While some of our students, like Ms Zerbst, have more open proclivities, you must consider your station as a noble. Especially with less... traditional choices. As I'm sure you know..."

Louise fumed as Osmund ineptly tried to accuse her of taking a female servant as a lover without saying it outright. She wasn't a pervert like Count Mott. Who was right there nodding in agreement without a shred self-reflection. What gave them the right to indulge in such hypocrisy just because they were older?

Her thoughts were interrupted as Utsuho burst from her shoulder. Cawing angrily her familiar spat a ball of flame at the floor. Louise stared in shock as it hit... a mouse? A mouse that had run out from beneath her skirt.

The count had drawn his wand, "Ms Valliere, please control your familiar!"

Louise on the other hand peered down at the stunned mouse that Utsuho was pecking at. Then she looked up at the headmaster, who was sweating profusely. "That mouse is your familiar isn't it Headmaster Osmund? The familiar that was trying to look up my skirt."

"Surely you must be mistaken," Osmund said. "We should get back to the subject of-"

"I guess you can eat it then, Utsuho," Louise said sweetly.

The headmaster got very pale. "Now now-"

Count Mott moved forward. "A little harsh for a simple joke Ms Valliere. Still your rebuke is understood I'm sure."

Ms Longville's snort suggested this 'joke' was very common. Louise folded her arms. "Ah, a joke. How funny. Perhaps I'll relay it to my mother in my next letter home." That got both the men looking worried. "Is there anything more you'd like to discuss Headmaster?"

"No, no I think we're done Ms Valliere," Osmund said. "Good luck to you and Ms Siesta."

"Thank you," Louise said before walking out the door. She gave Utsuho a headpat as thanks and made a note to get some extra bread for the raven tonight. The hell raven deserved it.

Louise had hoped that was the end of matters but there was another obstacle along the to the relative safety of her room. Kirche was waiting outside her own door, the dark skinned redhead flanked by her familiar and Tabitha. Fortunately Tabitha was reading as always. Unlike the rest of the school the short blue haired girl hadn't taunted Louise for her failures.

Kirche made up for that and more. And right now she was giving Siesta a once over that had the maid shaking in fear again. Louise decided to clear the battlefield of distractions. "Siesta, please go set up your bed." The maid bowed and hurried into Louise's room.

As she faced off with her Germanian foe Utsuho flew from her shoulder to oppose Flame. The raven stretched her wings to threaten the salamander, while Flame growled fire and smoke in response.

Louise decided to make the first move. "What do you want Kirche?"

"I'm disappointed in you Valliere," Kirche replied. "I thought you were a prude but at least you had morals."

Between them Utsuho had started fluttering over Flame's head, staying just out of range of his bites. Fortunately neither of the two were spitting fire, but there was obviously no love lost.

"I'm not interested in hearing another hypocritical lecture from someone who sleeps with any pretty boy who crosses their path," Louise snapped. "Don't mistake me for you. Siesta is helping me as a servant. Nothing more."

"Which is why you're using her first name?" Kirche retorted. "I suppose that's better then not learning it at all. But it's still questionable."

Utsuho had gotten around to pulling on Flame's tail, sending the Salamander into a spin as it tried to catch the little bird. It reminded her of crows taunting her sister's cats.

"Believe what you want." Louise folded her arms. "But I don't care what you have to say anyway Zerbst. Being a slut with women is no worse than being one with men."

Louise flinched back as Kirche stepped forwards. "You think I care about that Valliere? Better men and women than you have had such desires. What disgusts me is you buying someone to serve as your outlet. Passion should be a flame fanned by both people. Not something taken." She thrust her chest right in Louise's face.

There was a squawk as Flame managed to roll over Utsuho. The raven quickly recovered though and jumped on the Salamander's head, pecking his skull. Flame tried to paw the raven off, but Utsuho dodged every swipe.

"I'd be impressed with you having some kind of morals Kirche, if you weren't so arrogant you'd assume everyone would fall for your charms." Louise turned to walk past the red head. "Anyway as I've said repeatedly I am not sleeping with my maid. So you don't need to be jealous of her." Louise smirked as Kirche's jaw dropped and she decided to twist the knife. "Besides I'd have asked Tabitha for permission if I hit my head hard enough to want to seduce you."

There was a thud as Utsuho lured Flame headfirst into a wall. Utsuho retreated to Louise's shoulder with mocking laughter.

Then Tabitha destroyed everyone by calmly stating, "It's fine. Do as you please."

Louise and Kirche both sputtered protests before Louise decided to escape to her room. Seriously! What was wrong with everyone else?

After a few minutes Louise recovered enough to take a look over her refurbished room. As planned a cot had been moved in for Siesta. In addition a second dresser and a washboard had been added. "It clashes a bit with my furniture," Louise finally decided. Maybe some varnish would help.

"Eh?" Siesta turned from where she was sorting her clothes. "But these are much better than the ones in the servant's quarters."

"Really?" Louise frowned. While the furnishings were cheap compared to her own bed, they were still comparable to the servant's quarters at her own estate. "I didn't realize Osmund was so cheap."

Siesta pursed her lips, obviously trying to swallow a sharp remark towards her betters. "I feel a good deal of the budget goes towards food."

"I suppose." That made Louise feel a little better. She knew the servants were always willing to skim off that budget for their own needs.

Louise put that out of her mind and flopped down on her bed. Well that was everything she needed to do today. Maybe she could practice void magic some more?

As she was considering things Utsuho popped into her human form. "So! We should all get to know each other better! Siesta where are you from?" Louise blinked at Utsuho. Why was she pestering their maid about such petty details?

"My family has a small farm near Tarbes," Siesta said quietly. She grew a little pale. "Don't worry. I haven't told them anything about you."

Louise snorted. "If you had I'd ask Osmund to let you into the school." The post wasn't that good, even if Tristain had one of the better ones.

"And you're the daughter of the duke Ms Valliere?" Siesta asked.

"The third daughter." The admission stung a lot less now that she had magic she could call her own.

"And I'm Utsuho Reiuji, heir to the Yatagarasu!" Utsuho said happily.

Siesta blinked. "The Yatagarasu? The three legged crow that is the sun?"

"Eh?" Louise shot up at that. "You know about this nonsense?"

The maid slowly nodded. "My grandfather claimed he'd come from a different world. He said he was Japanese, and that his people were blessed by the sun Goddess Amaterasu, and her herald the Yatagarasu. He only really talked about it when he was drunk at the start of the year, but my family remembers it fondly."

"Aha! That's why I feel some more faith from you." Utsuho smiled. "I thought it was just because you were terrified of me, but if you know about the gods of Yata then you probably had a little ambient faith."

Louise was pretty sure it was all fear. But that brought up a lot of questions she'd been wanting to ask. "Okay what's with all this faith stuff you're talking about? You're acting like it's food or water."

Utsuho's expression turned serious. "To a goddess like me it kinda is. I got in trouble with that when some of the kappa started worshipping me. Satori thinks I can exist here because I'm your familiar. But I'm a lot weaker than normal. Only worship or fear will get me to my true power. And if I pretend I'm not a god that might banish me. At least that's what the shrine maiden said when I asked her."

"The shrine maiden?" Louise asked.

"I forgot her name. I think it's the green one?" Utsuho shrugged. "Not important."

"Yes it is!" Louise snapped. "Learn people's names!" She turned to Siesta. "Did your grandfather know anything else about Gensoukyo, or old and new hells, or even Japan?"

Siesta shook her head. "He occasionally told stories about machines that flew without magic. And a big war that he'd escaped. But he didn't say much about the gods outside of old fables."

Utsuho tapped her head. "One second. I think there was something I was supposed to remember." After a pause she nodded. "Oh right. Gensoukyo magically sealed itself away from the rest of the world. So it's probably all fairy tales to anyone old enough to be Siesta's grandpa."

Well, that was probably the first thing Utsuho said about her home that made any sense. Magicians occasionally retreated from public life. Especially powerful ones without title. She wasn't sure how they would seal themselves off. Maybe a giant wall? But it would explain how weird Utsuho was.

Louise spent a little more time going over what Utsuho had just said. "So you're saying you could be stronger?"

"A lot stronger," Utsuho said. "But that would probably require blowing up a city or something, and people get really annoyed when you talk about doing that."

"And they're right," Louise quickly replied. She sighed. "Anyway let's try more void magic."

"Sure. You should have rested enough to go back to practice," Utsuho said.

Siesta coughed. "Do you need anything mistress?"

That's right. She had her own maid. A very expensive maid. She should try to get some of her money's worth. "Tea and biscuits for after. And my laundry needs to be done. That should be all for the rest of today."

"As you wish Lady Valliere."

Louise rolled over in her bed. It was warm. How could anyone get up on such a nice spring morning? Especially since the birds were quiet for once. It was a bit bright though...

Her eyes flickered open and once again she found herself confused. This didn't look like her room. It was too big. And the floor was black and white tile that must have cost a fortune. Then her eyes flickered to the other figures in the room.

Utsuho was there, standing next to a green haired maid who was decidedly NOT Siesta. At her familiar's other side was a red haired woman with cat ears in a dark green dress. And standing in front of all of them was a short woman with lavender hair. Tubes surrounded the woman's body like vines, all connected to a sphere that had an eye on it, glaring at her.

Louise saw Siesta sit up on a bed across from hers and scream. That brought a smile to the short woman's face. "Good morning, and welcome to hell. My name is Satori Komeiji and I wanted to talk to you two about how you're treating my pet."

And here begins the great divergence. If you were wondering how Satori would get involved here she is! Expect frequent swaps between the two realities, though the chapters in Gensoukyo will amusingly be the ones with less explosions.