Wind of Fate, Part III

Louise was still pressed against him as Jason woke up the next morning, her face still hidden in the hollow of his neck, her arms curled around him . . . but they weren't gripping as tightly as they had last night, so he was able to wiggle out and escape from the bed in but a moment.

Then she whimpered, her hands stretching out, her hands seeking-

Which is actually kind of cute, but if she wakes up right now-!

Looking around quickly, he spotted his discarded t-shirt on the floor. Remembering her grabbiness last night, he picked it up and put it in her hands, whereupon his little mistress immediately pulled the shirt close to her and settled back down.

Heh. Crisis averted.

You know, as badly as she's been sleeping, it might be best to let her sleep in for however long until she wakes up on her own.

In which case, we need breakfast and her makeup assignment.

Assignment first, if Mr. Colbert's awake. Then we can get breakfast for her while it's fresh. And maybe consult with him on an idea for the next not-a-date.

"This is rather early," the professor noted, although he'd clearly been awake long enough to get dressed for the day.

Jason shrugged as he stepped inside the suite. "Louise hasn't woken up yet, so I thought I'd get her morning assignment and then have breakfast ready for her. And I, uh, had a question about, er, noble entertainments and pastimes."

Mr. Colbert's eyebrows rose slightly. "Oh?"

"Do you know much about wargaming?"

"'Wargaming'?" the professor repeated. "Thinking of war as recreation is for the young and the bloodthirsty?" He grimaced. "Yes, I know of that. But perhaps that is not what you meant?"

Overly literal translation, sounds like. So probably not a thing in Halkagenia. "No, this is more like training in strategy. Louise's parents do it, set up scenarios for their children to practice with . . . ?"

"Ah. Strategic training." Mr. Colbert nodded. "I'm not at all surprised to hear that they've kept up the practice. For myself, I've allowed my familiarity with such training to mildew. In fact, your master is likely the best person to approach if you wish to discuss such training."

"Oh . . . well, actually, I was hoping to maybe surprise her. I mean, I think she liked the ice-cream well enough-"

"The chefs certainly appreciate the ice-cream machine you asked me to devise." The professor's eyes gleamed in satisfaction. "They approached me the following day, and asked my help in adapting a turnspit to provide the impetus for it. I imagine that they'll seek to acquire a few more kitchen dogs before classes resume in the fall."

Jason blinked. "Dogs? That's . . . well, there's an interesting way to provide a moderate amount of motive force for machines. Less hassle than a horse, too, if not nearly as much power. Might be a good way to help spread the use of machines among the less wealthy and powerful while we're still figuring out gasoline and batteries."

"'Batteries'?"

"Uh, a way to store tame lightning, so you can use it later to run machines. Not quite as powerful as gasoline, since it's tame lightning, but more convenient in a lot of ways." He smiled ruefully. "Also rather dangerous to experiment with, like smokeless powder. Tame lightning can still kill you, despite being tame."

"I see." Mr. Colbert looked off into the distance for a moment, before refocusing on Jason. "But you were inquiring about war scenarios?"

"Yeah, Louise has mentioned them a time or two, and I think maybe she might miss them a little. Anyway, I mentioned that there were some games on my phone, right? Well, a few of them are wargames, and would probably work better if we simply recreated them physically."

He broke off for a second. "Which reminds me. Do you have anything like decks of playing cards, or dice? I'll want both for one of them."

"Dice and playing cards?" the professor repeated. "I must say, this does sound a good deal more like gaming than training. How are they used in a war scenario?"

"One of the games is called Risk," Jason started. "You use the cards to randomly divide the lands under the control of the different players at the start of the game, and then the dice are used to determine the outcome of battles once the game starts."

He paused as Mr. Colbert looked thoughtful. "It's a contest between the different participants, then? They're not united together against their instructor, as is conventional?"

That got a nod in reply. "That's right. Honestly, it's too simple to offer advanced strategic insights, but it's fun and it does reward an understanding of basic strategy. The importance of choke points, that sort of thing."

Then Jason smiled crookedly. "If you want something that makes use of an instructor, and emphasizes the importance of the human element in warfare, Diplomacy is the way to go. Although I'd rather not be one of the ones playing it."

The professor's eyebrows shot up. "Oh?"

"Yeah. To quote one review of it, 'Originally designed as a game aid to teach people about diplomacy, the game has been destroying friendships, making people pass out from stress, and ruining lives ever since.' See, it's called 'Diplomacy' because the point of the game is to be the best negotiator. You can't win without help." His smile turned even more crooked. "Except that each player is planning to betray the others at some point, and negotiations aren't out in the open, so there's a lot of lying and double-dealing going on. The negotiations happen between moves, and during that time you write down your orders and hand them in, and then the instructor implements them all at once, or disqualifies the ones that are badly written-"

Mr. Colbert's eyebrows went a bit higher. "Badly written? You mean deliberately, to pretend to support another student while failing to do so?"

Jason blinked. "Uh, yeah. In fact that's a well-known stratagem. How did you-"

The professor shrugged. "It seemed an obvious ploy as soon as you mentioned it, and there would be enough uncertainty to give most people pause. Mistakes do happen, after all."

"Right." Did you forget that he has the edge on you in experience and is probably smarter as well? Idiot. "You said the convention is to be united against their instructor, so this style of game isn't used, right?"

"Correct." Mr. Colbert paused. "But I can see the value in learning the different tools of negotiation, and especially in learning that others might lie with a smile on their faces to gain the advantage. It might be worth implementing such a game here at the Academy."

"Yeah, maybe." Jason scratched the back of his head. "The downside is, Diplomacy does have a reputation for ruining friendships. It can get really cutthroat.

"Anyway, like I was saying, Louise mentioned that her family runs training scenarios, and I thought that maybe it'd be fun for her to get to play in one. Diplomacy requires six players and an arbiter, but Risk can be played with anywhere from two to six players-"

He broke off for a moment. "I though maybe if we recreated them, we could test them over the summer and maybe they could be a teaching aid for students when classes resume in the fall?"

"An interesting proposition," the professor allowed. "Miss Valliere isn't the only student who comes from a family with a tradition of military service, after all. If you'd like to prepare this proposal in more detail, I'd be willing to evaluate it further, and perhaps submit it to the Headmaster for consideration."

"In the meantime, I shall provide you with the assignment for your master, and then I think it'd be best to continue on to breakfast."

Haven't figured out how to find out how to buy a Germanian title yet, Jason thought as he made his way towards the kitchens. If we're too obvious about it, we give the whole game away. This isn't the time for that, not with Louise going halfsies on getting closer and pulling back. And dunno if it's even possible for commoners. De Montferat was already a noble, after all.

Still, we just had a pretty decent first date – well, first date that didn't involve shopping – and as soon as we have a Risk board set up maybe we can parley that into a second. Probably best to put Louise and Siesta on a team against us, though. Their first time, after all, and it'd avoid some potential for hurt feelings.

Heh. Boardgames and folklore. Pretty sure we'd be required to turn in our man-card if the guys back home heard we'd been on a date with two hot chicks and things stayed as chaste as they did. But we have to keep it chaste as long as we're trying to court across class lines in a stratified society, so-

His train of thought broke off as he entered his designated dining room and found Siesta waiting for him.

"Where's Miss Vallière?" she asked. "I know you wouldn't let her skip breakfast, not after that time you showed me how to make sandwiches."

"Still in bed," Jason shrugged. "Figured it wouldn't hurt to let her catch up on some lost sleep. Got her assignment from Mr. Colbert, and I thought I'd take her breakfast up to the bedroom once we're finished here."

"Oh." The maid brightened. "So will we be eating together alone, like we used to?"

"Uh, yeah. This morning, at least."

Siesta smiled broadly and came around the table to give him an enthusiastic hug. "That's wonderful! I missed eating with you, while you were gone, and Miss Vallière's always eaten with us since you came back."

Jason chuckled and returned the hug. "It was certainly different at the Inn. So shall we go get breakfast?"

Siesta nodded quickly, and then they were sitting down, and he was cutting up a few rolls to make veggie sandwiches with. Which, with bread fresh out of the oven, was light-years better than porridge, porridge, and more porridge.

"I haven't been able to ask," the maid said as he put the finishing touches on his sandwich, "because Miss Vallière was always there, and I didn't think she'd like it . . . was Jessica serious about trying to marry you?"

Chew. Chew. Swallow. "Serious enough. Have you ever seen Scarron when he's wearing the Charming Faerie Bustier?"

She shook her head.

"Well, Jessica's careful to not look at him when he does, 'cause she doesn't want it bothering her. It's fairly potent, and I gotta wonder how her mother's family managed to hang onto it, 'cause you'd think a noble would have come by and taken it for their own use by now. Seriously, when you see someone wearing it . . . well, when Scarron wore it, it annoyed me, but no more than that, because I don't think of men that way. But the faeries all mooned over him for a few days after that. Even Louise, though she did her best to hide it."

"But when Jessica wore it-" Jason paused, and shook his head. "That was something. Since I am inclined to women, and she's certainly pretty."

"You think so?"

"Well, yeah." He took another bite.

"Am I prettier?"

He froze, not even chewing.

Siesta looked at him expectantly.

After a moment to chew, swallow, and reboot his brain: "Are you looking for flattery? Or do you honestly want me to judge between you and your cousin?"

She sniffed. "I just want to know what you think," she said, albeit with a certain edge to her voice.

"Alright, if you say you want honesty:

"I can't say. I've seen Jessica wearing the Bustier, but I haven't seen you wear it, so that taints my opinion."

Siesta frowned thoughtfully, but then smiled with a glint in her eyes. "So what you're saying is, I need to borrow the Bustier so you can make a proper comparison?"

Jason sighed. "Only if you want to drive Louise into a murderous rage. She was not happy when your cousin wore it and tried to seduce me."

"Oh."

"I mean, about the only way I can think of to use the Bustier that's fair would be to use it on your wedding night, and trade wearing it. So you'd each see the other at their absolute magically-enhanced best, and have that be part of the foundation that the marriage goes on from."

Siesta drew in her breath, her eyes suddenly looking off into the distance. "That does sound romantic. When you get married, will you ask to borrow it?"

He blinked. "I suppose I might. If my bride-to-be agreed, whoever she turns out to be, and I can understand why she'd decline. Even if it's the fairest way to use the Bustier, you're still letting some powerful magic get into your head and pull hard."

"I suppose you're right," she replied thoughtfully. Then Siesta smiled warmly at Jason. "But I think I'd agree to it, if I liked who I married."

"I suppose that would be the ideal." Heh, whoever she ends up falling for had better watch out. But we're gonna owe her help for the poor guy. After all, she's turning out to be a surprisingly valuable wingman, given the objective is courtship rather than quick seduction. "Anyway, let's finish breakfast, so I can go take everything up to Louise."

Carrying buckets of water up the stairs was one thing, and carrying his little mistress up to bed last night hadn't been much harder. Carrying the tray loaded with her breakfast and her makeup homework? That required a lot more in the way of balance, and his muscles were burning with the strain of holding everything level by the time he made to back to Louise's bedroom.

He opened the door and entered, and then his little mistress let out a low groan in response to the sound of the door closing.

"Jason?" she muttered sleepily. "You shouldn't be-"

She broke off, and he paused in laying out her breakfast to glance over to the bed, where Louise was now blinking at his shirt in puzzlement. Then she looked up at him, met his inquiring gaze, and flushed.

He smiled. "Is everything alright, little mistress?"

Her eyes broke contact with his, and then she stiffened as she saw the newly-laden table. "What . . . did you go outside again? Where have you been!?"

"You didn't wake up at the usual time, and you haven't been sleeping well, so I thought it was best to let you sleep in." Especially since we needed to extract ourself before you woke up and told us off for acting as your teddy bear. "I brought you your breakfast and this morning's assignment from Mr. Colbert, since I wasn't sure how long you'd be asleep."

Louise blinked and rubbed bleary eyes. "How long have I slept? I still feel tired."

"Yeah, that can happen sometimes when you oversleep. In event, you slept all night and some of the morning. I'm a little surprised you haven't rushed to the toilet, all things considered."

"To the-" Then her eyes widened, and she leapt out of bed and disappeared into the bathroom.

When she came back out, a few minutes later, she immediately went to the table and took one of the cups of lemonade, drinking about half of it before enthusiastically settling down to breakfast.

Which in short order was nothing more than crumbs, and Jason could keep from smirking at the sight.

Which didn't help when Louise looked up from her breakfast and caught him. "Stop smiling! That wasn't funny."

He shrugged. "It was charming, I'd say. But perhaps I'm biased."

"Hmph." She picked up the assignment for the morning. "Well, at least this one is straightforward enough. I suppose it's time for you to go help Mr. Colbert again."

"I could, if you don't want me to stick around and help."

"Didn't I just say this was a simple assignment? Go. See what you can do before lunch."

"We are not managing to do very much, and it's nearly lunchtime," Jason said ruefully, looking down at the torn cartridge that had spilled gunpowder all over the table.

"No, but we are learning what does not work, and that will lead us to decipher what does work," Mr. Colbert calmly replied, gesturing with his staff and Levitating the gunpowder into a powder horn.

"Yeah, but trying to get the springs for the magazine . . . maybe we should just go with the brass cartridges right away? They won't tear up like paper does."

"We could," the professor replied, "but you won't be able to make them by hand like the paper cartridges."

"But if we can get to the testing point, and prove that repeating rifles can work, then we can mod from there to figure out a magazine that won't tear the paper apart." Jason shook his head. "And it's all good, you know. We're trying to recreate developments that took most of a century to unfold after the caplock was invented. If you didn't have those spells that shape metal, the progress we've made in less than a week would probably have taken all year. Maybe longer."

"Your knowledge of what is possible is just as important, even if you are sadly unfamiliar with the details," Mr. Colbert pointed out. "If we didn't know the general shape of the solution, we could not hope to accomplish anything in time to make a difference in the coming conflict."

"Yeah, if we can figure this out fast enough." He shrugged. "You know, if the war was ten years away, the guns wouldn't be more than a sideline. We'd be working on machines that help with the essentials of living, and by the time war started we'd be able to field an army bigger than any other nation in Halkagenia." And maybe condemn ourselves to hell by displacing a lot of the farmers so that we could then conscript them, but nobody's perfect.

"Truly?"

"Well, maybe. Depends on how well those machines worked out." Jason shrugged again. "And I'd be trying to introduce engine-driven vehicles and long-range communications to help out with logistics and coordination. If we could move reaction forces from any part of Tristain to any other part in less than a day, it'd make it a lot easier to defend the country."

"Indeed. The timely arrival of a Triangle or Square has been known to swing battles from defeat to victory. Unfortunately, keeping flying beasts for swift travel is costly, and many nobles do not bother. In Albion, with their many wind dragons, matters are somewhat different, but Tristain obviously lacks the natural rookeries that dragons prefer to lair in."

"The Queen keeps pegasi, I found out the other day."

"Yes, and-"

Mr. Colbert broke off as Louise came through the door. "Jason? You're still here? Don't you know it's time for luncheon?"

"I . . . yeah, sorry. Got distracted, talking about possible machines for the future."

That earned him a scowl. "I apologize for my familiar's thoughtlessness, Mr. Colbert. Will you want him this afternoon?"

"No, that won't be necessary," the professor replied, shaking his head and pulling out a bag. "But I have devised some shapes for tracing with, and Jason, I would like you to attempt a better set of diagrams with them this afternoon. See if you can work out the logic of your 'pump action' gun."

He nodded and took the offered bag, while Louise picked up her next assignment.

As they turned to go, she paused. "Mr. Colbert, may I have some instruction this afternoon, once I finish this assignment? I have some questions about modifying cantrips."

"Very well," the teacher agreed. "Since Madam Chevreuse is not available."

"Thank you!" And with that, she and Jason left.

"Trying to figure out how to use Light to blind?" he asked, once they were out of earshot.

"Mm-hmm," his little mistress confirmed. "If it's even possible, it'll be a great deal of work, so the sooner I start practicing the better!"

Sounds like that full night's sleep has her feeling more optimistic about things. Good to see.

"Come on!" Louise insisted, later that afternoon, tugging on Jason's hand to pull him along. "The sooner I talk to Mr. Colbert, the more time I have to practice this evening!"

But her excitement quickly soured when they arrived and found Kirche with the professor in the field outside his suite, going over wand movements.

"What are you doing here, Zerbst?" she asked crossly.

"Practicing real magic," the redhead replied, her smirk gleaming in the afternoon light. Then she flicked her wand several times while speaking a short phrase – in other words, she cast a spell – and a flaming whip seemed to crack out from it, to a distance of twenty feet or more. "Like that."

"Yes, but we'll need a good deal more practice before we can cast Searing Rebuke usefully." Mr. Colbert told her. "It does us no good to devise the spell if a Firebolt can be cast more quickly, after all. That's why we need to see if it can be distilled down into a single flick of the wand."

"I don't mind practicing," she replied, turning her smile on him. "But the Zero seems to want your attention."

"Indeed." The teacher turned to Louise. "Yes, Miss Vallière?"

Who was still glaring at her rival. Then she twitched, and turned to face him. "I-I-I'll come back another time! C-come on, Jason!" And with that, she stalked off towards the students' towers.

Mr. Colbert shrugged and turned back to Kirche, as the two left. "Once we have mastered the requisite speed, then we will wish to focus on changing the nature of the fire so produced . . ."

Jason waited until they'd gotten out of earshot before speaking up. "You could have asked him, you know."

"Not while Zerbst was standing there, experimenting with a Triangle!"

He stopped. "Wait, that spell's a Triangle? When it takes practice to become better than a bog-standard Dot?"

"Come on!" Louise snapped, not stopping. Perforce, he followed.

Presently she slowed down, although her expression was no less severe. "I knew it was a Triangle because of how many passes Zerbst needed to make with her wand. But it sounded like she was just starting to learn it."

"Well, yeah, that was obvious."

"To cast a Triangle with just one wand flick-" She broke off, and her frown became less vexed, more pondering. "If the three figura of the Triangle are identical, and aligned perfectly, they might be able to cast it quickly without having to spend months to master it."

"Does that matter? As Mr. Colbert said, Firebolt."

Louise turned her frown up at him. "Don't you remember telling me about that 'Twenty Foot' rule? And then I mentioned it to Mr. Colbert. He must have decided to devise a counter for it."

Then she slumped. "And I'll want to learn it, once I reach Triangle myself, but Zerbst will already know it-"

"Are you seriously going to let the fact that Kirche is learning a spell stop you from learning it as well?" Jason interrupted. "What's next, refusing to learn Fireball because she's good at it?"

She snarled wordlessly and whirled back around, her back hunched as she led him to their tower. Then she grabbed his hand and cast Levitate, but otherwise didn't reply.

He waited until they were at their landing so that she wouldn't be tempted to drop him. "You're going to be getting some practice in modding spells by fiddling with Light. Won't that serve you well when it comes time to modify Lines and Triangles?"

"It had better!" His little mistress spat as she marched down the hallway. "But now I have nothing to do but drill cantrips again tonight!"

"Still useful. And won't it be nice to have all sixteen learned before Kirche manages? I doubt she's putting much effort into getting the Water cantrips down."

Louise's Levitate slammed the door open to her bedroom. "She doesn't need to. She's learning Triangles! Who'd brag about finishing cantrips compared to that?!"

"Eh, fair point. But won't Madam Chevreuse be happy, when she comes back and you can show her that you've got them all?"

She slammed the door shut, and he counted himself lucky that he'd already cleared the threshold. "Jason, you may have found some use for cantrips back at the Inn, but that doesn't mean they're everything there is to magic! I have to be more than a hedge-mage!"

"You have an instinctive spell effect that's comparable to Fireball," he pointed out mildly. "I'll grant that it's taking you longer to learn spells, because your magic doesn't want to cooperate with standard casting methods, but that doesn't mean you don't have some power behind them. If we knew how to compensate for whatever is awry with your magic, you'd probably be at least Line. And I'll bet you hit Triangle quickly, once you untangle your magic."

Louise slumped, then sat down at the table and put her head in her hands. "Well, we don't know how to fix my magic yet, so I'm stuck drilling cantrips," she moaned. "Again." Then she raised her head. "What are you going to do tonight?"

"Uh, I'll write down some recruit training examples, since Henrietta wanted those. Hopefully they'll be close enough to training around that whoever ends up training the slum conscripts find them useful. Or maybe she'll be able to find some open-minded officers willing to give them a try."

Louise nodded, but looked a little confused. "How many training examples do you know, though? You said you weren't a soldier."

"I wasn't, but . . ." He trailed off. How do we explain-? "Okay, the thing is, intense initial training, what my people call 'boot camp', resonates strongly with the idea of transforming from a boy to a man. Certainly a more meaningful transformation than bedding a woman for the first time! Because of that, storytellers will often use it to develop characters.

"And if a particular storyteller is a former soldier, and thus has been through boot camp, they can not only tell it entertainingly, they can include useful information. So I'll go through the books on my phone, the ones written by authors I know have military experience, and transcribe what they have to say."

"Oh. I suppose that might work. Well, get to it! I'm sure her Highness will want them soon, if they're that useful!"

"Zerbst isn't here now, is she?" Louise asked suspiciously the following morning, when they visited Mr. Colbert to pick up her first assignment.

"Miss Vallière, I'm not certain that Miss Zerbst is even out of bed this early, since there are no classes for her to attend," the professor replied. "I must commend you for walking away yesterday, instead of starting a fight with her. But did you still have a question for me?"

She nodded. "In one of my assignments for Madame Chevreuse, we came up with the solution of using Light to blind an enemy by making it exceptionally bright."

Mr. Colbert raised an eyebrow. "Truly? I haven't looked your answers over, or we would have already discussed the difficulties involved in producing such an intense luminosity."

"I know it's not easy," Louise replied. "But I was able to do it, when I tried."

"That . . . would you care to demonstrate that for me, Miss Vallière?"

She nodded, cast Light, and after a moment or two of concentration, caused the glow to intensify until it was too bright to look at directly.

"Enough!" the professor called out, one arm flung up to protect his eyes from the glare. "Dismiss your Light!"

He lowered his arm as she complied. "Impressive, I must allow. You've managed something that most nobles, even after a decade or more of experience, would find difficult to match."

"Jason thought of it," Louise admitted. "He and his friends used to practice tactics against orcs and ogres as a game, and they didn't know how magic works, so they had ideas that are shockingly unconventional."

"That is a hazard of ignorance," Mr. Colbert pointed out. "For every idea that proves correct when put to the test, there are a thousand and more that are mere fancy, suitable only for children."

"Yes, but-" Her chin rose slight in defiance. "It was one of his ignorant ideas that allowed me to start to succeed with cantrips. And I can make Light bright enough to blind."

"True enough," the professor conceded.

"And the nobles in our service . . . sometimes they come up with silly ideas, and then Mother or Father drags them out into the countryside to demonstrate why those are bad ideas, but every now and then one of their ideas works out." She looked a bit uncertain, but then continued. "What I want to do is learn how to keep the Light in front of an enemy's face, so they stay blinded while I'm busy dispatching other foes."

"Disabling a foe with a mere cantrip?" Mr. Colbert's eyebrows shot up. "Jason, is this also one of your ideas?"

"Uh, yeah." Then he cocked his head. "Louise, if your parents already do wargames, why'd you act like it was something new when I mentioned it the first time?"

"No, no, Mother likes to plan wars," his little mistress replied. "You were talking about scenarios for errant questers." She paused. "Father thought the idea had promise, after I wrote him about it, but the last time he mentioned it he said that the rules for skirmishing were turning out to be a lot more complicated than he expected."

"A mêlée can have any number of outcomes," Mr. Colbert agreed. "Especially once formations are broken. And questers rarely have the numbers for useful formations to begin with."

Jason blinked, fighting back a smirk as he pictured a middle-aged man with pink hair, dressed all in Renaissance Faire garb, sitting at a desk and writing over-complicated combat rules for his homebrew RPG. "A serious business," he said, trying to sound as solemn as he could, "but it may be worthwhile to simplify the combat rules in the interests of keeping the scenario moving along. As long as it's risky to get into fights, sacrificing a bit of realism for speed won't ruin things."

"I'll suggest that to him in my next letter," Louise replied. "But that's beside the point. I was able to make the Light bright enough to blind, especially if I cast it into the face of an enemy."

"So if she can leave it there, that's a non-lethal disable, or near enough." He smiled wryly. "I know that we're trying to duplicate the utility of Dazzle, but if there's a way to do it, even if she has to cheat by making a nobilum, or preparing runes in advance-"

"Either of those two possibilities are far more likely to prove fruitful in the near term," Mr. Colbert interrupted. "Such a blinding spell – and I must admit that it is an intriguing idea – would necessarily be a Line. And a most difficult Line to learn, as well. The first figureto provide the illumination, cast as powerfully as possible to produce a blinding glow, as Miss Vallière demonstrated. The second shaped to unravel as slowly as possible, providing the ongoing vis to sustain the first."

The professor shook his head. "Unfortunately, that is a very advanced manner of figura, and it is rarely studied here, except by senior Third Form students. Do you understand why that is?"

Louise nodded, looking a bit disappointed. "Cantrips allow us to practice simple ways of expressing the elements, and the figura we first learn are chosen to build on that practice. Learning to cast complex and intricate figura comes later."

"Precisely," Mr. Colbert replied, nodding. Then, gently: "Nonetheless, it is promising that you can already cast Light so powerfully. If you practice that, and practice your aim with it, then you will be well-served when it at last comes time for you to invent Blinding Light."

"Which shouldn't take that long," Jason pointed out. "Didn't you say that Louise might learn Shield this fall, if things go well? Why not just adapt whatever that uses to persist for a short period?"

"Because praesta are unusual," the teacher replied, "and don't necessarily conform to the structure of elementari. They can be seen as advanced means of expressing the elements, in the same way that cantrips are simple means of elemental expression."

"So, it sounds like Louise needs to figure out how to do Blinding Light as a praestum, then."

The two nobles looked a bit stunned. Then his little mistress buried her head in her hands while Mr. Colbert chuckled.

"Your faith in your master speaks well of your loyalty," that worthy replied. "But Academy students do not have the theoretical grounding or the experience to develop new praesta. No, if Miss Vallière wishes to pursue this as a combat technique, I recommend experimenting with a Marked array."

"I will, Mr. Colbert," Louise replied.

"You genuinely thought I could invent a new praestum," she said in a tone of disbelief, as they left the professor's suite some time later. The details of the instruction she had received had swiftly turned technical to the point where Jason couldn't hope to follow them, so he'd worked on whittling a dowel to see if that would make crafting paper cartridges easier. But apparently his suggestion prior to his dropping out of the conversation had stuck with her.

"I still think it's possible," he replied. "Cantrips and praesta seem to have less formal structure than elementari. At least from what I've been able to glean. Since your approach to magic is less about doing it according to convention and more about focusing on the result you're trying to get, you might have an easier time learning or even inventing a praestum than you're having with elementari."

She shook her head. "If your crazy notions didn't work out as often as they do . . ."

Louise fell silent as they approached their tower. "Thank you for walking me back," she eventually said, "but you should return to Mr. Colbert and help him with those guns you're working on."

"Of course, little mistress." He leaned over and gave a quick hug, and she permitted it for a moment before she broke free and Levitated up to her room.

That night his little mistress tossed and turned restlessly as she lay in bed, until Jason shook his head, cast caution to the wind, and rolled into bed next to her. Whereupon she immediately latched onto him, mumbling Cattleya's name, and promptly settled down.

And then, the next morning, he was awakened with a jolt and a yelp by the fierce bite on his right nipple.

"What. Is. Going. On!" Louise demanded in a dangerous tone, her arms around him, her chemise-clad self against his nightclothes . . . although she didn't seem to be in a hurry to let go.

Then she bit him again . . . and at least there was his nightshirt between him and her teeth, because it hurt enough already! Enough, in fact, to make him scramble away, breaking their somnolent embrace and rolling out of bed.

And then when he levered himself to his knees, she was sitting up and glaring at him. Albeit with eyes that were looking well-rested.

Although any sense of satisfaction with that last was overcome with a sense of trepidation as she brandished her wand in his direction.

"What did you think you were doing?" she hissed, poking him in the chest with it.

"You haven't been sleeping well since we returned to the Academy," Jason replied, raising his hands up . . . and then lowering them, because no warding gesture on his part was going to do any good if she decided to cast anything. "And you were tossing and turning, and then you called for your sister. I thought it might help."

A series of emotions flashed across her face, too quickly for him to follow them all. Anger, loneliness, was that a glimpse of longing? But then her expression firmed, resolute and determined. "I miss Cattleya, yes, but I already knew I wouldn't see her this summer. You can't do this again. If you try, I'll have to punish you. Truly punish you, for once."

"It's not going to help anyone if you aren't able to sleep well. Least of all yourself." He paused. Not that we're any kind of disinterested in this whole mess. "What if I lend you my shirt at night? Maybe if you have something to hold it'll help you sleep better?"

Jason held his breath as Louise thought it over. A doll or teddy-bear would be even better, in terms of something to hold. But getting you to sleep with something that smells like us is at least a fighting retreat, rather than a rout-

"I'll try it," she said, breaking into his train of thought. "But you must obey me this time, no matter what you think is best for me."

He sighed. "As you command. I suppose."

"I got a letter from Jessica this morning," Siesta mentioned, in a very casual tone, at lunch.

Louise grimaced, so perhaps it hadn't been casual enough.

Jason, meanwhile, suppressed a twitch. Hearing the faerie's name still sent an echo of Bustier-tinted memory through him. "Did she say anything interesting?" he asked warily.

"Their business is doing very well, since you two came back to the Academy. They've become popular with a certain woman and her friends, taxes haven't risen, and the dishes you showed them are selling well. She's even gotten a contract to deliver meals to a nearby guardhouse!" Siesta's eyes grew intent. "A certain woman . . . does she mean-"

"Probably not," Jason interrupted. "But one of her agents might find it a good place to eat, and not care if she's remarked on." And if Agnes is a lesbian or bisexual, she probably enjoys the scenery, too. "Deliveries, huh? That is a thing, back where I'm from, but we coordinate those with phone-to-phone communication. Wouldn't be too surprised if that agent arranged for it. Gives a little more protection for the Inn, in case anyone tries to arrange a mischief against it."

"If they're getting protection . . . does that mean you did what you needed to?"

"Yes, we did," Louise stated flatly. "But you need to not ask about the details. It's sensitive."

Siesta nodded vigorously. "I won't!" she promised. "Jessica also says that she hopes you'll come back to Bruxelles to visit your friend this summer. Jason can stay at the Inn, if you like."

"I very much do not like," his little mistress growled. "That place is outrageous!"

"Eh, I'll wager that the truly outrageous places are in the slums and in the mansions of some of the richest nobles," Jason said. "But the Inn is dangerous, for me at least. They're all about getting what they want by not playing fair."

"That's certainly true."

Siesta looked a bit uncertain, but went on: "And her father, Scarron? He's been practicing with your pirate costume, so that he can do a good impersonation when he thinks it might be needed." Then she smiled at Jason. "You must have made a good impression on him, if he's learning your style."

"Arr, me lovely wench, 'tis merely another way of settin' the landlubbers straight!" Then, dropping the growl and accent: "And a willingness to threaten buggery and the lash. That's always going to get people to sit up and take notice."

The maid giggled in reply, and even Louise smirked a bit.

His little mistress had a tight grip on his shirt when he got up the next morning. And she wasn't red-eyed or nearly as irritable when she woke. But she didn't comment on it, and he couldn't think of a way to raise the subject without risking her putting some additional distance between them.

"Mr. Colbert, I brought my phone, if you want to try out some of the games on it."

"Ah, yes. I have been looking forward to seeing what that's like." The professor stepped away from the table where various potential rifle components were piled up. "Very well, we'll take a break from reinvention and examine these diversions."

Jason nodded, and handed the phone over. "Okay, one of the problems with showing you the phone is that the script it uses is in my language, so you'll have trouble with a lot of the different functions. But this particular game, it's called 'Breakout', doesn't rely on that at all, so you should be able to play it just fine."

"Ah. And what, precisely-?"

"Tap the rectangle with the foreign script to start the game. You control the 'paddle' at the bottom with the left and right buttons, and you bounce the 'ball' into the bricks above in order to break them. Sometimes, you can get a special power for your paddle, and you press the middle button to use it."

Mr. Colbert nodded, and tapped the screen to begin. A few button-taps later, and- "I see. The ball will vanish if it hits the lower edge of the screen."

"Yep. You get three tries, and then the game ends."

"And once I succeed in breaking all the bricks?"

"Then you get a new pattern of bricks to break. The patterns get harder as you progress through them."

The professor nodded again, and focused on the game.

"Ah. Which portion of the paddle that the ball strikes influences how it bounces off, allowing one to control the direction of the ball." Then: "This rectangle that is falling down, is that a hazard or . . . no, it simply made the paddle wider. Interesting."

"Yeah, that's how you get the special powers. Most of them, you can only have one at a time, but the ones that make the paddle wider or shorter don't affect the other powers."

Another nod. Then Mr. Colbert's eyes widened slightly, and he began frantically tapping the buttons, until- "If the ball divides into three, one does not have to keep them all from falling out. That was not immediately evident."

Jason bit his lip to suppress a snicker. "Uh, no, I guess not. But it's just a game, so finding things out by trial and error doesn't cost anything but a few moments of time."

"True enough." This was followed by electronic fanfare. "And the new pattern. How many patterns are there in this game?"

"Uh, I think fifty or so. Wanna see how far you can get before you lose those other two tries?"

"I think I shall, yes . . ."

"What are you two doing?" asked Louise, coming into lunch a bit late.

"I was showing Siesta some of the games on my phone," Jason said.

"They're a lot of fun!" the maid declared, looking up for a moment before quickly looking back down to the screen.

"If you like, after lunch we could all play-"

"No!" his little mistress interrupted sharply. Jason couldn't quite tell, but it seemed like a flicker of pain flashed across her face before she lifted her chin. "We both need to be writing up our reports to her Highness, so we don't have time to waste on silly games after luncheon!"

-Risk, he finished, silently. Three people would have been barely enough, but girls v. boy would have worked. Dammit, Louise.

It was a very quiet lunch.

A/N: Kitchen dogs are a breed of mutt that used to be used for stuff like operating a turnspit, so that meat would cook evenly. They haven't survived into the modern era, but they weren't precisely a breed to begin with. True mutts, and without the desired traits for hunting or guarding. They're a handy fig-leaf for a pre-industrial setting if you want a group of people who are good with machines. Kobolds and goblins, in the style of D&D, might find them quite handy for operating mechanical traps.

New Spells: Searing Rebuke – literally a new spell, because Mr. Colbert just invented it. Triangle of Fire. Creates a fiery whip that's supposed to lash out in an instant, thus countering the Twenty Foot rule.

Blinding Light – theoretical spell that Louise might try to come up with, some day, based on Jason's memories of the classic D&D tactic of casting Light into the eyes of opponents.