Louise stretched as she pulled herself out of bed. She saw Siesta was already up and was taking tea. She managed to drag herself over to the table and chug a cup of tea to start reviving.

"Good morning," Siesta said.

"Morning," Louise replied. "Ugh, I never thought I'd be so glad to get kidnapped to another world."

Siesta grimaced. "They did spend a lot of time questing us."

"Repeatedly," Louise muttered. Apparently every one of the teachers had needed to hear the story in person. She'd repeated the damn thing five times. Fortunately no one had questioned her about how Foquette had broken into the tower proper. But still, it was exhausting.

She looked around, but she didn't see Utsuho anywhere. With a thought she reached out to her familiar. "Where are you?"

"In the meeting room, getting looked over." The Raven's voice sounded mournful. "Everyone demanded I get a checkup. It's apparently something magical, not a disease, but they're being all smothering about it."

"Deal with it," Louise thought back. She'd been worried about her familiar, so having other people already on the case was a good thing. She hastily wolfed down a croissant and some eggs before standing. "I'm going to head over to check on Utsuho. If you're still eating-"

Siesta shook her head. "I'm not. I was just waiting for you." She stood. "Ryuukoto showed me the way to this meeting room before you woke."

"Thanks." Louise followed the woman through the large corridors to another massive chamber. Satori, Utsuho, Orin, and Ryuukoto were there, along with a lot of animals around the sides. Meanwhile Marisa was sitting in the middle next to a crystal ball. The illusions of three other women were sitting in the room. "Heya Louise, Siesta. Lemme introduce you to the smartest magicians around."

One was a slovenly dressed woman with long purple hair. She had a pile of books next to her, and while her expression was almost as hard to read as Tabitha's she exuded confidence. "Patchouli Knowledge. And she's earned the name."

Patchouli nodded. "Hello."

The second figure was an angelic woman with blue hair. Literally angelic, with her perfect features, blue hair, and white wings. "Mai. Expert on weird stuff from other worlds.

Mai smiled like a sunrise, but said nothing. She seemed perfectly happy to just sit and look pretty.

The last figure was a more earthly beauty, but the blonde woman had a refined air that couldn't be faked. She had to be some kind of noble. "And of course Alice, the one who actually is good with people. Sorta."

"Charmed," Alice replied. "However given the reason why we were called here, we should probably more to business. Could you tell us what type of energy was drained from you, Utsuho?"

"Yeah." Utsuho's feathers rippled. "I'm sure it was life energy. It might have happened before too, but I'm a youkai and a god so I didn't notice."

Orin's tails bristled. "You should have noticed birdbrain! That's dangerous even for a youkai! Just because we can easily replace life with magic doesn't mean we should waste it."

"That's right," Louise added. "You're my familiar! You should tell me if you're in danger." She felt queasy at the notion of losing Utsuho.

There was a rustling of pages as Patchouli paged through a tome. "As a god you should be able to replace any energy drain with faith. That's probably why she didn't notice. However I'm curious- why you couldn't ignore this attack as well?"

"I don't have a lot of faith in that world," Utsuho said. "Louise thinks I'm crazy, and Siesta isn't as afraid of me as she used to be."

Satori looked up. "No you can't terrorize the enemies of Tristain to gather more faith. Unless Louise gives you permission."

Utsuho's eyes went to Louise and she shook her head. "Not unless they declare war!" She didn't need to explain that mess to Princess Henrietta.

"No fun," Utsuho muttered.

Marisa laughed but quickly sobered up. "I'm curious how anyone could target you with that kinda spell. There's no real mages in that world. Maybe you could mimic it with Void element, but Louise doesn't know anything like that, and she doesn't know about any Void casters around."

That was strange. Louise thought about it. "There were some blue runes on her chest when the drain happened."

"Those were just my familiar runes though. See?" Utsuho unbuttoned her blouse, showing the runes surrounding the red eye in her chest. "They flared blue."

Louise peered at the writing, but blushed and looked away when she realized exactly what she was staring at. Then she shook her head and focused on the now. This was a danger to her familiar. She couldn't let her wandering thoughts distract her.

It seemed none of the magicians had been distracted. All of them were studying the runes. "Never seen anything like that," Marisa said.

"Me either," Alice admitted.

Patchouli blinked and frowned. "I have, but it's been a long while. It's used in some of the oldest elemental texts. The meaning has been forgotten so it's mostly just kept as a historical record."

"It's Halkeginian."

Everyone turned to Mai. The sly smile had vanished, and the woman was peering at the runes.

"That's the name of our people," Louise said. "But I can't read the writing. It's not like anything I've seen before."

Siesta nodded. "There's some similarities but it's just a jumble."

"That language died out on earth about six thousand years ago." Mai said. "A tribe of elementalists that were wiped out. At least that's what people assumed when they vanished."

"So if the languages are related, they'd have changed over time," Patchouli said.

Alice nodded to the white winged woman. "Can you read it?"

"Lífþrasir." Mai grimaced and peered at the rest. "That's all that makes sense. The rest seems to be a channeling ritual, but it's archaic garbage."

"Not surprising if it's that old," Alice said with a shrug. "Magic improves every generation."

Louise pondered over that information, then felt a sickening sensation settle in her stomach. "A channeling ritual? Does that mean it's linked to my familiar bond?" Had she stolen her familiar's life energy to fuel her own magic?

What did that mean for her? Would she have to sacrifice Utsuho to cast spells? No! She balked at the thought of breaking her familiar bond, but the magicians here would probably find a way. She'd just have to work harder to master the void.

"Commendable," Satori said with a smile. "But I don't think you'll have to be quite that drastic. Marisa you've already discovered a solution."

"Maybe," Marisa said. "And I'm sure Mai knows something as well." The blue haired woman grinned.

Utsuho rolled her eyes. "I tell you it's not that dangerous. With a little more faith-"

"Not a chance!" Louise found her voice joining everyone from Chireiden's. Utsuho's wings drooped.

Siesta coughed. "Um, excuse me. But there's another issue. The drain happened before Ms Valliere cast a spell."

Louise blinked. That was right. Not only that she hadn't touched the void fully when she had been casting.

"What?" Alice frowned. "That shouldn't be possible. It goes against the whole purpose of the familiar bond."

"A normal familiar bond," Patchouli said. "But it's possible to form a shared bond with a familiar as part of a coven, as we all know. What if the ritual that created Utsuho's bond made a similar pact with other void users?"

A flame kindled in Louise's heart. Sharing her familiar? Unacceptable. "Can you stop that?" she asked.

"Yeah, I made a contract with her, not some other people," Utsuho said.

"We can restrict it," Mai said. "That should be simple. But anything further would be dangerous. It won't stand up to a direct attack."

"Of course Utsuho can murder anyone who tries to steal her power directly." Marisa said. "But there's another problem."

Louise groaned. "What's that?"

Alice was the one to respond. "If Utsuho here is a group familiar for other void mages, that means there must be others who can already touch the void out there somewhere."

Louise stared at the book. She really didn't want to go over the nonsense about castles that had eaten up a hour on her free time.

Satori folded her arms and nodded to Louise. "You're right. Your heart is in no condition to handle my lessons today. For that matter I'm worried about Utsuho as well. We can skip it."

"Thanks?" She wasn't sure how much she enjoyed her emotions being read like a book. Especially given how messy the last few days had been. But if it got her out of a lecture that was fine.

"I can't read your emotions. They're too jumbled," Satori replied. "That's why I'm certain you aren't ready to handle my lessons. And I'm not super interested in seeing you worrying about Utsuho's health, your newly discovered interest in women, and your confusion over Siesta's status."

The last one made Louise grimace. That was a big problem. How could she reconcile Siesta's position as a maid with her magical power? The girl had duplicated a line spell after a single day of study! She was a better mage then most of the first years. And here Louise was ordering her around like a common servant.

"Hm, true. But her potion was only that powerful because of Marisa's ingredients." Satori shrugged. "Without those she'd be weaker then any of your dot mages. So in terms of strength she'd still be lower class."

"That sounds a lot like might makes right," Louise snapped. "I thought we were skipping the lessons."

Satori folded her hands. "It's more 'the strong rule over the weak,' and that's not a lesson because I can't teach you it. The concept comes naturally to youkai, while it's often a detriment to humans. You can follow or ignore it as you wish."

The dismissive air annoyed Louise. "So you're saying you're the strongest around here?"

The woman chuckled. "Oh no. That's Yuugi. But she doesn't want to be in charge so it falls to me." Satori shrugged. "Similarly there's probably several people stronger then your Princess, but if they tried to take over the country their enemies would band together to kill them in the ruler's name. Still the difference between nobility and commoners is the same as the difference between master and pet. Strength, whether of mind or body."

Louise grimaced. The words were harsher, but it did sound like the same teachings. The noble mages were gifted by God with the power to rule, and the responsibility to defend the commoners beneath them.

So why was she so conflicted about Siesta's power? Shouldn't she just ask Princess Henrietta to make the woman a baronet or something? What was eating at her?

"You feel strange because you considered her a nobody until she got magic," Satori replied. "When she had the power all along."

Louise shivered. The truth cut deep. She'd ignored Siesta as just another maid. But now Siesta was worthy of being noble. Louise had dismissed the woman out of pure arrogance, and had been terribly wrong.

Satori sighed. "Again as a youkai I have no understanding or interest in this. You'll need to talk to her yourself." The woman turned to her desk. "After that? Practice with Marisa, or read one of the books here."

"Right." Louise happily left the room. Where would Siesta be? Probably either in a lab or with that other maid, Ruukoto.

She quickly found the makeshift lab. Siesta was looking at a strange white device while potions bubbled away. Even better, Utsuho was there too along with Marisa. Louise decided to face the maid first.

As she approached Siesta turned and bowed. "Lady Valliere."

Louise took a deep breath. "You can call me Louise, Siesta." She bit her lip before continuing. "I know it's a bit early because Princess Henrietta hasn't given you a title, but I'm changing your position to be my lady in waiting."

That understandably shocked the woman into silence. After a bit she folded her hands. "Um, but I'm not a noble."

"You have magic," Louise said, pointing at the potion merrily bubbling away behind her. "If I count as a noble so do you."

Siesta smiled sadly. "Forgive me Ms Valliere, but there's more to that then being a noble. I have no class, no money, and no standing. All I know is how to farm and cook."

"Which puts you ahead of a lot of second rate nobles. At least you know how to do something." Louise grimaced as she thought of all the wastrel baronets who never learned a skill other then looking pretty. "I honestly don't understand a lot of what's gotta be going through your mind. Everything's so confusing. I mean we're in a different world!" Louise gestured around at the room. "But I do know what you're doing here has a chance to change all of Tristan, even if you never get that good at it. So you deserve some kind of position."

"That's-" Siesta's reply was cut off by a chime from the little white item on the table. "Oh! Sorry I have to add the death cap mushrooms now." She began carefully sifting in ingredients while stirring and whispering spells over the mixture.

Louise looked over the strange green concoction. "What's this one do?"

"Explode," Siesta said. "I was worried at first, but it apparently only uses mushrooms! I had to see how that could work. Even if it is a little dangerous."

"Wait," Louise looked over the ingredients on the table. All the items were mushrooms that she could recognize, if not name. "That means you could make this at home?"

"Probably. Though I'm not sure if they'd have much use." Siesta sprinkled in a grated puffball mushroom. "I really want to see if I can get one of these timers." She tapped the white device that had chimed. "They'd be great for baking!"

Louise had to agree. "Much better than hourglasses." It was too easy to miss the last grains of sand. "Well I leave you to that then. I want to check up on Utsuho."

"Alright Ms Valliere," Siesta replied automatically, returning to her potion.

She walked back to where Marisa was looking over some mystic circle that made Louise's eyes hurt. Literally hurt. Every time she tried to focus on one of the symbols she started tearing up. She decided to stop after the second time. Instead she looked over her familiar.

Utsuho seemed disgruntled, but in good health. Still Louise wanted to check. "How are you doing?"

"Unyu." The raven's wings twitched. "All this poking is annoying."

"She'll be fine," Marisa said. "We put up some protections so other void users don't steal your fusion reactor bird here. Just trying to learn as much as we can about the runes here."

"It'd all be fine if you just let people worship me after I blow up a city," Utsuho muttered.

Louise called upon her flight magic to look her familiar in the eye. "Look! Just because it would be easier to be mean to people doesn't mean it's right! Now stop trying to show off and let Marisa keep you safe okay!"

"Fiiiine" Utsuho pouted but she leaned back. "I just don't like people worrying about me."

"I understand," Louise muttered. "But you're my familiar, so I'll worry even if I don't need to."

Marisa chuckled as Utsuho sighed. "Well I'm sure you two will have plenty of chances to worry about each other in the future. Especially if you've got some master thief running around. Other than me that is."

"Ah right!" Utsuho perked up. "Teach Louise here about dodging! She was doing it wrong."

Louise flushed as Marisa turned to her. "I tried to blow up a golem before it hit me. It didn't work."

The older magician's face grew grim. "That's a good way to die. Humans are fragile. And you won't have much defense due to your void magic. You gotta move to safety before retaliating."

"Yeah." Louise hung her head. "It just felt like I was running. I didn't want to give up like that."

Marisa considered that. "Hm, think I get it. Yeah running is bad. Running means you're afraid, just trying to avoid danger. That means you're losing. What you need to do is dodge and maneuver."

The woman held out her hand and a vision of two women dueling with spells as fast as air mages appeared in the air. "I'll show you and Siesta a real bout at some point, but this is a good example. When you're maneuvering you're in control of the situation. Looking for the best place to be right now. Forwards, backwards, to the side? Doesn't matter, you're getting into position to win. If you run, you better keep running because you've given up on the fight."

Louise looked over the illusionary battle. Maneuvering huh? She'd read some of her mother's notes on battle once when she was a child. Just out of admiration. She hadn't understood it of course, but she'd seen a lot about positioning. Maybe that had been the point of the text.

She smiled. "Alright. Next time Fouquette is going down."

"Unyu? You want to find her and fight again?" Utsuho asked. "Shouldn't we leave that to the shrine maiden or whoever does that kinda stuff in your world?"

"It's our fault she broke in," Louise said. "So we're going to fix it."

Vittorio Serevare frowned. That was odd. He'd been almost certain that he'd touched the Heart of God. But now it was blocked.

"Something wrong?" His familiar Julio looked concerned.

The pope chuckled. "More something unexpectedly right. I thought I'd felt Lífþrasir, but it seems I was mistaken."

"Is it possible the familiar already died?" Julio asked.

"No. We would have heard of that by now." Vittorio smiled. "Which means everything is still going according to plan. We need merely wait for Gandalfr."

Back from a convention and an engine failure on my car. A little shorter then I wanted, but I'm halfway through the next segment so I figured I'd put the chapter break here and just keep working away at the next. Should be done soonish.

For those who know nothing of ZnT, don't worry about the ending segment. It will become apparent... later.

For those of you unfamiliar with Touhou, my apologies rushing through the magician's intros. You should learn everything you can about them because witches are great.

For those of you who love Koakuma, I apologize. She's not really a source of infinite magical wisdom. More devils later though.