Siesta carefully recited the words of the spell, making sure she was clear for her audience. As she finished a glowing mote of light appeared between her cupped hands. Her younger brother Thomas gasped in surprise. "It's magic! Really magic!"

Her mother and father were similarly amazed, but she saw the fear in their eyes as well. She forced herself to stay calm. This was normal. She just had to tell them the same truths Marisa and Ryuukoto had taught her. "My teacher Marisa says everyone in our family should have this much talent. If not more."

"So I can do magic too?" Thomas asked nearly bouncing with excitement.

"I'm hoping you'll learn some," Siesta said. "But we'd have to keep it a secret for a little while." She didn't even want to think about what kind of rumors would fly around their little farming village if her family suddenly started throwing magic around. Which was why she hadn't shown her other brothers. They were too young to be trusted with such a secret.

Thomas seemed to catch how serious she was and nodded in understanding. "Okay. But I can try to learn it myself right?"

"Of course." Siesta handed him a scroll with the incantation. It wasn't really needed, but it was useful for a beginner. "Here. Use this to help you focus."

As her brother started working over the scroll, her father placed a hand on her shoulder. "Are you certain this magic is safe? The church is sure to investigate." He gave a wry grin. "I know every commoner child has dreamed of finding out they were secretly a mage. But this will change all our lives."

Siesta took a deep breath. "I know. I wasn't thinking about that when I asked to learn magic, but I think I understand now." She chuckled, "I actually think everyone else is underestimating how big a change this will be. Because I think everyone can learn this magic.

"My teacher said bloodlines like what the nobles have are rare in her world, but anyone with a bloodline has some magic power." Her father looked confused but her mother signaled her to go on. "She also said that bloodlines often lose their unique powers, but always keep the magical talent for a few generations. If what the church says is true, once all of our people could use elemental magic. Which means all of us commoners should still have a little bit of talent."

Her father snorted. "I've heard those words, but I always figured it was the church telling the common folk it was their own fault for not being nobility."

Her mother folded her arms. "But if it is true-"

"Ah!" Thomas caught himself mid yell and hurried over. He opened his hands to reveal the small mote of light he'd summoned. "Look," he said barely restraining his urge to cheer. "I did it! I cast the spell!"

Siesta smiled. "Good work! You were much faster than me."

Her mother gave Thomas a hug. "Excellent. You'll have to show me and Dad later. But remember, keep it a secret for now, okay?"

"Yes mom," he replied before running off with a grin.

Her parents turned back to her. "Amazing," her father said. "Who else knows?"

"Louise, her family, and the Princess," Siesta replied. "Everyone else thinks I'm a water mage. But Princess Henrietta intends to tell everyone, once I've learned enough to teach the other commoners."

"I see. So we have the support of the royals." Her father rubbed his hands together. "Hope that will be enough."

"Aye." Her mother looked back to where Thomas was reading. "Though we'll do our part. After all we all did want magic once upon a time."

"Forgive me." Siesta turned to see Guiche approaching. Her parents started to bow but the young noble lowered his own head first. "Lady Takao, I hate to interrupt, but Louise wishes to meet with you about something she called a Zero fighter. Shall I accompany you there?"

"Ah sure." The man had been taking his duties as a bodyguard almost comically seriously now. But given recent events Siesta had a hard time blaming him. She turned to her parents. "Sorry I have to help Louise with this. It might help us avoid a war with Albion."

Her parents' brows were still furrowed, but her father nodded. "Very well Siesta."

As she turned her mother added, "And Siesta dear, we're both very proud of you."

Siesta beamed, the fear and anxiety turning into warmth and affection. "Thank you."

Louise looked at the Zero fighter. It was... unimpressive visually. Around the size of Sylphid, but all stiff wood. It just looked frail and awkward. "I have a hard time believing this thing could fly."

"Indeed," Kirche said poking the wings. "How does it even flap these? They look like they can only bend up. And even then only at the halfway point."

Siesta flipped through the manual they'd gotten from Satori. Apparently it had involved dealing with some dangerous youkai named Yukari. Fortunately or unfortunately this Yukari had found the situation hilarious and given them not only a training booklet about the plane but a tank of "gasoline." Siesta had been reviewing the information in between teaching her family magic, though it assumed a lot of prior knowledge.

Finally she pointed at some barely perceptible sections cut out on the wings. "Apparently you can change the angle on these to start flying. After that it uses speed to stay in the air."

"Oh it's like gliding," Utsuho said in her mind. "You get the wind under your wings to stay up. I guess if you move fast you can create wind to catch."

"Creating wind and then catching it," Louise muttered. Yeah that made a lot more sense. It was hard to see how the fan at the front could do it. But given all the people in Gensoukyo assured her planes were real, and that this Zero fighter had been one of the strongest in the 'outside world.'

Her friends who hadn't had their common sense twisted were less impressed. "Why have this instead of a dragon?" Guiche asked. "Even if it does fly you'd have to spend time learning to use it. Dragons do that without any training at all!"

"True. But this is faster than a dragon." Louise pulled over a ladder and moved up to look at the cockpit area. "Apparently it can move over two hundred miles per hour."

That got Tabitha's attention. "Twice as fast as Sylphid."

"Actually," Siesta piped up, "that's its normal speed. It can go over three hundred miles per hour if needed."

Louise wondered if she'd had the same shocked look on her face when Momiji had explained the Zero fighter's power. "Dragons are more maneuverable, but the Zero can outrun anything in the sky."

"Powerful," Tabitha said.

"I still say you should master flying yourself," Utsuho thought. "But I suppose for speed this is your best bet." The raven had tried to convince Louise to try creating a 'kappa jetpack' earlier. But Louise wasn't interested in strapping explosives to her body.

Her friends were giving the Zero a closer look now. "What's with these red dots all over it?" Guiche asked. "Some sort of mystic rune?"

That was a good question. "Utsuho?"

"It was to signify the plane was from the nation of Japan. The land of the rising sun," the bird replied. "That's where I'm a god!"

A surprisingly simple answer. "I see. It's heraldry." She looked over the insignias. "We'll have to repaint them with the colors of Tristain then if we take it to battle. If that's alright Siesta?" It was, after all, not her artifact.

Siesta smiled. "It should be fine. After all this is my home now. And it can be repainted if needed."

"Still, I didn't think an artifact like that would be rotting away in a cave," Kirche said. She poked the barrel of the guns. "Are these muskets? An interesting idea, but limited usefulness."

Guiche blinked at the weapons. "How would you load them?"

"Cartridges," Kirche said. "Germanian weaponsmiths played around with them for a while. It allows you to load the gun from the breech. It takes too much work though. The ammunition takes a triangle class earth mage to craft. And even then reloading seems like it would take some time."

Louise was begrudgingly impressed. She hadn't realized Germania had been working on weapons like that, much less that Kirche had been keeping an eye on them. "Apparently the world this came from had much better metal crafting. This was all done without magic."

"That's right." Siesta flipped a few pages. "If I'm reading this right, they're actually rifles, and they load themselves. Though they still have limited ammo."

Everyone was impressed at that. For good reason. Louise had a hard time grasping that herself. "With this we have a weapon that could match an entire flight of dragons," Guiche said.

Siesta coughed. "Unfortunately we can't replace the ammunition. And getting more fuel will be hard."

That didn't matter though. Louise patted the machine. "The important part is I can use this as a casting platform, so I don't get stabbed when I start my spells."

Kirche grinned. "So who's going to fly it?"

"I'll learn," Louise replied.

"Yep. And I'll teach you!" Okuu preened. "I'm great at flying so I can help with all the details."

Tabitha held up a wand. "And cast?"

"That's-" Louise froze. She couldn't concentrate on her magic and keep that thing in the air at the same time, could she.? Despite all her talk she'd also been thinking about it like a dragon. But that wasn't going to work.

Her eyes flickered to Siesta, but the look the woman was giving told her that was a dead end. Siesta wasn't the type to ride into battle, and Louise couldn't fault her. Not after the mess with Wardes.

"Well that decides it!" She felt Kirche's bosom press into her head as she was hugged. "I'll be helping my little Louise by learning to fly!"

Louise did her best to shift out of the woman's embrace, to little effect. "I hunted this down so we wouldn't be dependant on Germania for help, Kirche!"

"Come now Louise. We're allies now!" Kirche set her down and grinned. "Besides I have to show off my many skills if I'm going to properly seduce you."

"Just because all the men I've been interested in turned out to be disappointments doesn't mean I'm going to sleep with you Kirche," Louise snappeed. Then she blushed as all eyes turned to her. That wasn't what she meant!

"Well it was what you meant. But I understand the feeling," Utsuho muttered. "Flying is the bare minimum from a suitor. She'd better have more tricks then that if she wants to be worthy of you."

"You aren't helping!" Louise thought back as she turned away. Out loud she simply said, "Anyway we'll need to arrange transport for this to the school. And I need to get back to Princess Henrietta soon. She'll need to know we've been betrayed."

And that Louise had failed.

Wardes' eye socket itched. An annoying reminder of his failures.

Still he'd refused the offer to have it replaced with a glass replica. An eyepatch would serve. It was a reminder of his mistakes, and his luck. At least he hadn't lost an arm or something even more irreplaceable.

Speaking of losses, that was the next thing on the Reconquista's agenda. The general in charge of the assault stood. "Newcastle is secured. They fought to the last, barring a few elderly servants. Our losses were about four thousand troops. Mostly frontline mercenaries."

"So many?!" Duke Bedford looked panicked. "That's nearly ten to one casualties! How could our troops be so incompetant?"

"We were attacking the strongest fortress in Albion," the general replied calmly. "And we deliberately used our least loyal mercenaries as the spearhead. Eighty percent of the casualties were orcs or criminals."

Wardes nodded in approval. While the losses were high, most of the dead needed killing anyway. Best to use scum like that as cannon fodder than waste troops hunting them down later. Orcs especially. If they weren't dying on the battlefield they'd be raiding villages.

Unfortunately there were more casualties than that. "What of our dragon knights?"

The general blanched. "We lost a full wing pursuing the spies from Tristain. Only one survivor returned, with severe burns."

As he'd feared. "That damn bird is going to be trouble. She's our biggest obstacle for an invasion."

"Surely we can easily defeat a single raven," Duke Stratford said. "It makes matters more dangerous, but hardly impossible."

Cromwell folded his elegantly ringed fingers. "I fear Count Wardes is correct. While our losses in the attack on Newcastle are nothing more than a point our foes can use to soothe their pride, losing precious ships invading Tristain would make our goals unattainable." He smiled. "Fortunately I've already put plans into action to neutralize Tristain's defenses before our invasion."

Duke Bedford shifted. "What might that be your majesty?"

"I have signed a peace treaty with Tristain. While that is in effect I intend to gather some new allies." Cromwell leaned back, and Wardes frowned at the sadistic glee in the back of the man's eyes. "With the power of the void, I shall convert the royal family to my side. After that... well it will hardly be an invasion at all."

Louise looked up at Henrietta's face. She'd expected to see tears. She'd feared seeing hatred. But the Princess' sad, fake smile hurt more than anything she'd expected. The smile of a ruler desperately trying to hide her pain.

"I'm sorry to have asked you for the impossible," Henrietta said. "And I'm glad to see you are safe."

"No, it's my fault." Louise looked down at the marble floor. "I should have noticed how weird the count was acting." She pulled out the ring the prince had given her. "Wales told me to give this to you. I'd hoped you'd be able to give it back but..."

Henreitta reached for the ring, then pulled back and closed her hand. "Keep it. For now." She turned away. "Thank you Louise. For trying. And I thank all of you for assisting her."

Guiche bowed. "I did only my duty your majesty. And I wish I could have done more."

"I'm glad I could keep some people safe," Siesta said quietly.

The princess took a deep breath before turning towards them. The mask of royalty was back. But now Louise wanted to see Henrietta cry. To see her friend was letting her emotions free. To be something more than a ruler. She had to break through that mask.

"Later," Utsuho thought. "After the others leave."

"Newcastle has fallen," Henrietta said. "Though the brave defenders inflicted great losses on the rebels, Albion in under the control of the Reconquista. We have been forced to sign a nonaggression pact with them." The princess' lips quirked up. "And I'm afraid Louise that part of that pact is that you and your familiar are forbidden from being within sixty miles of Calais."

"What?" Louise blinked. "They specifically called out me in the treaty?!"

Henrietta nodded. "You apparently made quite an impression, killing a wing of dragon knights and threatening their entire assault."

For a moment Louise felt a rush of pride. Perhaps this was what Utsuho felt when she fed on fear. But a moment later the political realities forced their way back in. "Your majesty, the rebels can't be trusted to keep that agreement. They're religious fanatics. An oath sworn before God means nothing to them, because they're certain God will forgive their every action."

"I know," Henrietta said. "But we need the political capital from being the victims when they do attack. The... my wedding with Germania has not been canceled, so it is unlikely they will strike until after that has been called off."

That made sense. Louise would have to get the Zero fighter working during the time they had.

Henrietta turned to the rest. "I wish I could give you all greater commendation, but I'll simply have to settle for offering my personal thanks. I will let you return to your studies, but I'm afraid I may have to call upon you again. Hopefully next time my request will be more reasonable."

Her friends bowed and retreated, but Louise stayed. She looked around making sure the meeting room was clear before speaking. "Princess Henrietta, it's not good to hold back so much."

Henrietta turned away. "I can't be the little girl who played together with you anymore Louise. I have to be the princess. Now more than ever."

Utsuho flapped her wings then hopped off Louise's shoulder and transformed. "Even gods cry. You don't have to be perfect."

Henrietta shuddered, and for a moment Louise thought the princess would cry right then. But instead she replied, "I have to be more than a god. I have to be the rock the people can rely on. We will be at war soon, and any weakness will be seen as fear.

"Besides if I'm in mourning, the letters will have even more impact." Henrietta hugged her arms close. "I must hide the truth for the nation."

"At least let us stay here," Louise said. "Just for a night or two. You need someone you can trust around."

"I'm sorry Louise," Henrietta walked away. "I have to face this alone."

Louise clenched her fists as Henrietta stepped out the door. Utsuho put a hand on her shoulder and sighed. "She's probably still really hurt. Try again later when her mind's calmed down a bit."

"Yeah." Louise let out a deep sigh. "Later."