Louise had expected the revelation that everyone could use magic to be a massive event that sent shockwaves throughout the kingdom.

What she hadn't expected was the whole thing would turn into an impromptu festival.

The fliers Henrietta had posted across every major city included the simple light spell, along with several alterations Siesta designed to manipulate it. Within minutes the streets had been filled with colored lights as delighted commoners cast their first spell. Within an hour enterprising merchants opened stalls, and wine was freely flowing.

Louise handed Utsuho some sweetbread she'd bought while watching a group of kids playing next to the square's fountain. The kids were flinging light balls at each other like snowballs, laughing and yelling at each hit and miss. "Looks like that crazy danmaku stuff Marisa and Orin showed us."

"More like a snowball fight," Siesta said. The former maid had been smiling all day. "But maybe one of them will be able to reach those heights when they grow up."

"Does seem more like fairy games," Utsuho said. "But you gotta start somewhere."

"Yeah..." Louise shook her head. "Thinking about it, given how many people there are in the country there's gotta be at least one person who can reach Marisa's level." That was a strange thought. There was a commoner out there who would rise to become stronger than most noble mages could dream of.

She looked over at Siesta. "And their first spell will be that little light trick you wrote down."

Siesta blushed. "It's not that big a deal. But I'm glad the Princess thought up this plan. I was worried about having to show off in front of a crowd."

"I think you deserve the praise, but I suppose it's your choice." Louise said. She looked back to the kids playing. It looked like they'd burnt through most of their willpower, so the fight had turned to the usual roughhousing. The one exception was a small girl who was concentrating really hard at her cupped hands, to no avail.

"Hey Utsuho," she thought to her familiar. "What's she doing wrong?"

The raven cocked her head to get a good look. "Not focused enough. Magic's just bleeding all over and doing nothing. She's pretty young so she probably has a hard time visualising the spell." That made sense. The control and focus to perform any magic was too much for a young child.

Louise stood and walked over to the kid. "It's not working?" she asked.

The little girl looked up with a sour grimace. "I can do it! Just need a little more time!"

"I'm sure you can." Louise's reply surprised the girl. "But it might take a long time, okay? Focusing your power isn't easy. You have to be very careful with your visualization. I had to work for years to learn to cast magic."

The girl blinked in surprise. "But you're a noble. Isn't your magic easier?"

"It still takes concentration. Especially if you're really strong." She patted the girl on the head. "I cast my first spell just this year, and I've become really strong since then. So don't give up. Just do your best every day and eventually you'll get it."

"Thanks!" The girl smiled at her before going back to glaring at her hands. It probably wouldn't help. But hopefully Louise's advice would keep the kid from becoming too frustrated with her failures.

As she headed back to her seat she saw Siesta beaming at her. Louise's cheeks flushed and she looked away. "I just wanted to help a little. I know what it's like to not be able to cast spells when everyone else can."

"Still it was nice of you," Siesta replied.

"Yep," Utsuho thought to her, chest feathers puffing with pride. "As expected of the human who summoned me."

Louise flopped down on the bench. "I wouldn't have even thought about something like that before I summoned Utsuho," she admitted. "I was too wrapped up in my own problems."

"Yes, but people change," Siesta said. "Sometimes a great deal in a short time."

"I feel you'd still be a kind person even if we hadn't met," Louise replied.

Siesta blushed. "I'd like to hope so."

"Louise!"

She looked up to see Kirche and Tabitha arriving. The two walked quickly over. "Sorry we're late," Kirche said.

"Sylphid wanted to play too. She was scaring the horses," Tabitha explained.

"Ah." That made sense. Sylphid was not as smart as Utsuho, but she was pretty bright and probably very bored that all the fun stuff was happening without her. "We should head outside the city and play with her sometime."

Utsuho fluffed her wings. "Good idea. She can work on her transformations too."

"Mm." Tabitha nodded.

Siesta stood. "Well now that we're all here let me show you to my uncle's inn."

The Charming Fairy Inn was easy to pick out even in the crowded streets. Weeks of training meant instead of simple light spells, glowing fairy lights were guiding people towards the store. Louise was impressed. "Jessica really knows marketing."

"She's always been very clever," Siesta said.

Inside was even more impressive. Flowers and lights had been woven into the decor, giving it a fantastic air. "We could probably slip a few actual fairies in here without anyone noticing," Utsuho thought to her.

"Heeeey!" Louise looked over to see Jessica in an even lower cut uniform then usual. The woman hopped over to give Siesta and Louise a hug. "Welcome, welcome! Great to see you cuz!" She turned to their friends. "And welcome to the Charming Fairy Inn. Siesta told me about you. Great to meet you in person."

Tabitha gave a light wave, while Kirche smiled. "I'm glad to meet you as well. Siesta neglected to mention her cousin was such a beauty."

Louise felt her eyebrow twitch. "Could you stop flirting with everyone Kirche?"

"Jealous?" Kirche asked. "In any case with the amount of effort that went into her outfit Ms Jessica deserves some praise."

Jessica laughed. "Damn right I do."

Louise sighed. "I suppose it is impressive how her dress stays on. Don't tell me you've started using tape or something..."

"Nope! Made a spell for it," Jessica said. "Made it so that some of the clumsier girls could feel more secure in the standard outfit, but then I realized I could use it to show off my charms as well!" A shrug made it very clear what she considered her charms to be.

"Very nice," Kirche said. "I absolutely need to learn the spell. Do you think you could show it to me?"

A cunning gleam appeared in Jessica's eye. The one that usually ended with some sucker losing half his wallet. "Well... The place is super busy today. But if I got some help I might have some free time after the dinner rush to show you. I'll even let you keep the costumes."

Louise froze. This was bad. She looked over at Siesta, but her friend just shrugged. Of course Siesta was expecting something like this. Damn. She swapped her attention to Tabitha hoping against hope that her thoughts would get through.

Tabitha closed her book, and Louise's hopes soared.

"New fashion," Tabitha mused. "Useful to know."

And then crashed. "You can't be serious!"

Siesta patted her shoulders as the four shepherded her towards the back. "Now now. I'm sure you'll look cute in it."

"I don't have a huge chest to flaunt," she hissed.

"I'm fine with that," Kirche said.

"Stop complaining," Tabitha said.

She was down to one hope. "Utsuho," she pleaded.

"Sure. I'll transform and join in. That should distract everyone," the hell raven thought back before hopping off her shoulder to find an unused room.

There was no hope.

Pope Vittorio Serevare looked over the reports that Julio had given him. The neat penmanship contrasted the horrid ruin the words implied. He looked over the details searching for some speck of good news. But in the end he found nothing.

He placed the papers to the side before pulling up the simple flier that his agents had procured. The spell formulas there were nearly unrecognizable, but their results were undeniable. "Were you able to reproduce their effects?" he asked Julio.

"Yes," the young man replied. "Incredibly easily. Cardinal Mazerain has sent a message suggesting it's a miracle from the Prophet. The other Cardinals are less enthusiastic."

Vittorio set that aside as well. "I'll convene a council to investigate the matter. I'd prefer not to start a crusade against Tristain. Especially since they've become allies with Germainia. We can reignite that war later." He looked at his familiar. "I'm much more concerned with Louise de Valliere. Are you certain she's a void user? Gandalfr hasn't been summoned, and I can't sense Lífþrasir."

Julio motioned to the flier. "It's likely this new magic was used to dampen Lífþrasir's abilities. Remember you sensed them for a moment before. I matched the time to after Louise summoned her familiar."

"Could this new magic be that powerful?" It was hard for Vittorio to believe. It honestly offended him. A lesser man would have declared it heresy right then and there, but he held himself back. With everything going so wrong he'd need power, and this was another path to it. Best to focus on what needed to be handled now. "In any case, she summoned a raven right? The void summons humans."

"Or elves," Julio reminded him. "And possibly other beings."

"Shapeshifting." Staggeringly rare, but not impossible with an artifact. He picked up the reports again, searching once more for weakness.

Finally he looked over at his familiar. "Do you agree with Wardes' assessment that she can't be seduced? He's much older then her, and I doubt he pressed as hard."

"I haven't tried yet," Julio admitted. "But it seems after Count Wardes' betrayal she found greater interest in the fairer sex. While I think the tales of her debauchery are merely rumors, she's far too close to the Zerbst heir and her lady in waiting to merely be friends."

Vittorio sighed. "What terrible luck. We really need Lífþrasir, but she's become far too much of a wild card. Try to arrange her death in the war. We'll find the next void user for Tristain."

"As you command," Julio said.

Before his familiar could leave Vitrotio held up a hand. "And make sure to use competent but expendable men. She's learned far too much about politics, war, and magic in far too short a time. Her familiar must be some sort of genius."

"Utsuho!" Louise pointed at the smoldering crater. "How many times do I have to tell you not to use your powers to cook!"

"Unyu..."

Tabitha stared down at the note in her hand. For days she'd been searching for a way to help Kirche and her friends without betraying her oath. And now she had the solution in her hands, she felt sick. Because it meant her superiors knew Louise was important. And she knew better than most how 'important' people were treated in today's Gallia.

But she had no choice.

She set the note aflame and smothered the ashes. The matter was settled. She'd do everything she could. Until fate once again ripped everything away from her.

"Big Sister?" Irukuru whispered, bumping her head against Tabitha.

"It's fine," Tabitha murmured back.

Irukuru obviously didn't believe it, but the dragon fell silent as someone walked into the room. "Tabitha? You here?" Kirch's voice rang out.

"Yes," Tabitha replied. She gave her familiar a headrub, and went out to meet her friend.

Kirche seemed a little more subdued than usual. "We're heading out in a couple of days. I really wish you could come with us, Tabitha. But-"

"I got permission to act as your guard," Tabitha said quietly. "Louise and you that is."

"Oh that's wonderful!" Kirche caught her in a hug. "I was afraid you'd be stuck here jealous of all the fun we were having! Now we can all share another grand adventure!"

Tabitha suppressed a flinch. She had been jealous.

No that wasn't right. She was still jealous. She didn't just want Kirche's presence. She wanted the woman's attention. She wanted Kirche to focus on her like the passionate woman focused on Louise. She didn't know if it was romantic love or just her desperate need to be loved by someone. But her heart yearned for it.

It was too bad she wasn't someone worthy of those feelings.

"Tabitha..." She looked up to see Kirche's worried face. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Tabitha lied.

Kirche of course saw right through it. "You really should learn to express yourself Tabitha. Learn to live a little! Let your feelings run wild!"

Tabitha felt her heart crack. And once again with painful familiarity she froze her emotions. "If I let my feelings out, I'll break."

They stood there in pained silence for a minute. Then Kirche knelt down and looked her in the eye. "You're never going to tell me the truth about your feelings are you?"

"Louise won't betray you," Tabitha replied. It wasn't an answer. But Kirche would understand.

Frustration, hurt, and sorrow flashed across Kirche's face. The fire to her ice. But finally Kirche settled on determination. "Tabitha, can I trust you to tell me when to stop?"

There was pain. There was numbness. But strongest of all she felt the flame Kirche had ignited.

"Yes," she replied, strong and clear.

As Kirche leaned forwards to kiss her, Tabitha let herself relax. She couldn't stand for herself. But at least she could surrender to someone worthy.

Been dealing with medication changes and work a lot, as has my editor so a little slow, but I wanted to ost something now that I have it. Got a little more in the pipeline, hopefully it goes better.