Chapter 2
Elle was somewhat surprised when she woke up the next morning. She half expected to wake up in a panicked frenzy, wondering where she was or what was happening. Instead, she woke up rather peacefully and feeling quite refreshed, which wasn't something she was used to. She then noticed that rather than standing in the corner, as she said she would, she appeared to be sprawled out on the floor in the middle of the room.
"Finally awake, are you? I thought you said you could sleep standing up?" Louise asked, standing near her dresser, getting ready for a day at school.
"I say a lot of things," Elle settled on, pulling herself into a sitting position. "Cut me some slack, I hadn't had a good sleep in weeks, these things happen. So what's the schedule for today, just normal, boring classes?"
"I don't know," Louise admitted. "The way it was supposed to go was that yesterday everyone would summon a familiar, and today there'd be a class period specifically for the masters to get to learn about said familiar. Since they didn't get through with everyone yesterday, they'll probably try to finish that up today and make the 'learn about your familiar' period as something to be done on the student's own time. There's plenty of time for that in the morning and evenings before and after classes."
"So where's that leave me?" Elle asked. "I don't think they'll just let me wander about as I please, but I'm not exactly a student here so I don't think they'd let me in the classroom."
"That's fine, you'll be accompanying me," Louise told her as she put on her cloak. "The rules state that a Familiar is allowed to attend classes with its master so long as the Familiar isn't too disruptive. Are you planning on being disruptive?"
"I always plan for it, but I can hold off for today," Elle said as she stood up and stretched. "Gimme a moment to get ready."
Elle wasn't exactly beaming at the thought of going to class for varying reasons, but she felt like it'd be a nice refresher. She hadn't been in Halkeginia for years, so many finer details were somewhat lost to her. She didn't want to get mixed up on anything important. She slipped on her boots, zipped up her jacket and pulled the hood over her head.
"Where did you even find that ratty thing?" Louise asked as she examined Elle's jacket. "It looks like it's ready to fall apart."
"Probably because it already has at least twice," Elle replies, looking at the cuts and tears on the jacket. "I've had it for... god, three years now I think? Gift from a friend."
"We'll have to find you a new one next time we're in town," Louise said as she gathered her school supplies. "That or at least a decent tailor to fix it up. You look like a vagrant."
Elle would have been more annoyed by the insult if she hadn't already heard such talk constantly, including from the person who gave her the jacket. She learned to stop caring. The jacket was too comfortable, and she rarely had enough money on hand to actually afford a replacement.
"Whatever, let's just go," Elle said as she headed for the door.
Louise didn't know what exactly to expect from her familiar during class. She anticipated there might be some commotion from the other students when she walked into the class like nothing happened yesterday, but she hoped it would be manageable. Instead once she and Elle walked into the classroom all the students present quieted down. Some of them glared at Elle, some seemed somewhat nervous, and some seemed ready to draw their wand at a moment's notice, but none said a word.
Louise quietly sighed in relief. Perhaps expecting an actual uproar was a bit foolish. She felt that she really should have expected the silent treatment from the start. Louise wondered how many of the students present complained to the headmaster and said she should be expelled. Louise decided she didn't particularly care since she was still here. She also figured that the silent treatment was ultimately a good thing, since it meant she and Elle could take their seats in the back with no commotion.
The lesson itself was rather simple that day. A recap of the basics of magical theory, going over the five elements and their significance, some finer details about the elements usage, the usual stuff Louise had long since memorized. Louise noticed Elle paying close attention to the lesson and idly began wondering why. Even if she'd been a sellsword for several years she still should have been raised a Vallière and magic theory had been a core part of her early learning. Perhaps she was just eager to receive a proper education after living a mercenary's life for a while? Louise figured that explanation made sense, until she noticed Elle getting restless and start fidgeting about in her seat.
"Is there a problem?" Louise whispered.
"I thought it'd be smart to brush back up on this stuff since I haven't had to think about it in like half a decade, but I got the gist of it pretty quickly," Elle replied, keeping her voice low. "Turns out I remember it pretty well, but that means now I'm just kind of bored."
"Well, you'll have to deal with it," Louise said as she looked over her notes.
Elle frowned, but then came up with an idea that caused her to perk up.
"Can I borrow some paper?"
"Planning on taking some notes?" Louise asked, sliding some paper and a pencil to her familiar.
"No, just going to draw to pass the time," Elle said as she took the paper and started sketching.
"You draw?" Louise asked, very surprised at her familiar's hobby.
"A little. I started a while back so I could… well, it's a long story, remind me to tell you later," Elle replied as she continued on her sketch of what looked like some kind of inn.
"Just another difference I suppose," Louise idly thought to herself as she tried to draw a little house in the margins of her paper. At least, it could have been a building. Maybe. Louise looked at the crooked object and sighed.
"Ms. Vallière, is there a problem with my lesson?" the teacher, Mrs. Chevreuse, called out. "You seem displeased."
"H-huh? No of course not! I was just… thinking about something else!" Louise was unimpressed with her excuse.
"Well if you have the time to think about something else, then surely that means you've already learned all there is to know about transmutation magic, correct? Care to demonstrate?" Mrs. Chevreuse asked, gesturing to the pebbles she had on her desk.
"O-Of course!" Louise proudly stated as she stood up from her seat.
"You sure it won't just blow up like usual, Zero?" One of the students asked her.
"Of course it won't, I managed to summon a familiar so clearly I'm not a zero anymore!" Louise defended herself.
"Yeah, and your familiar blew up a courtyard's worth of students, so I'm not sure you should be thinking about not blowing anything up just yet!" the student countered.
Elle briefly raised her head when she heard herself mentioned, but once she realized they weren't actually talking about her she went back to drawing. She was having a hard enough time getting the tiling on the roof correct, she didn't need these people distracting her.
"Just watch," Louise declared as she approached the pebbles on the teacher's desk. "Even I can be a proper mage."
Nurse Evelyn gave a hearty stretch and a sigh of relief. She'd finally managed to finish up all the paperwork and reports on all the students she had to treat as a result of yesterday's incident. She didn't know why exactly the staff wanted a detailed report of every single student she had to treat, why she had to treat them, what she did to treat them and so on, but oh well, that was the job. Not that that stopped her from complaining. She wasn't even supposed to be here this week, but the other nurse was on maternity leave.
"You just had to offer to cover for her, didn't you Evelyn? Well, too late now, where was I?" she asked herself as she looked around for her book. She picked it up and flipped to the page she had marked.
BOOOOOOOOM
"Oh for the love of-" Evelyn grumbled as she put her book down. "That better be the only one this time, that was far nastier than usual."
The nurse sat in her chair, waiting for her patient that was surely going to show up any minute. Sure enough, not long after the explosion, the door to the nurse's office was kicked open and Elle came in carrying her master.
"Her again, huh? Lay her down over here," Evelyn said, gesturing to one of the cots. Elle walked over and laid the unconscious Louise on the cot. "So what happened this time, you try stabbing her again?"
"No, but um… I wasn't paying a whole lot of attention so I don't know the context," Elle admitted. "Something about transmutation? She was going to try that, but it exploded and knocked her backward. I think she hit her head on one of the desks."
Evelyn nodded and lifted Louise's head to examine the supposed wound, then examined the rest of the girl.
"The usual then. Well she's not bleeding so that's something. Probably just knocked herself out, but nothing too serious. At least on that front. That certainly sounded like one of her biggest booms yet, and the evidence is backing that up. Poor girl broke some ribs again. Twice in a week, that's new. Well, certainly nothing a cheap potion can't fix up."
Elle nodded, pulled a chair next to Louise's cot and sat down. Evelyn began poking through her cupboards and eventually found the concoction she was looking for.
"So you're the familiar, huh?" Evelyn asked as she got the vial ready for her patient.
"I am," Elle replied.
"That's unusual."
"So I hear."
Silence. Evelyn wasn't much one for conversation, and Elle didn't know what to say to her.
"So… what were you reading?" Elle asked, nodding towards the book on the nurse's desk.
"Hm? Oh that. Gimme a moment," Evelyn said as she poured the potion into Louise's mouth. "Do it like that aaaaaaand… looking good. She should be up in like fifteen minutes. Probably less. Anyway, I was just reading up on some old legends and stuff. Here."
Evelyn tossed the book toward Elle who caught it. She looked at the title and frowned.
"'Mysteries of the Void: Everything we Know About The Founder's Magic'? A book on Void Magic? What's it even talk about?" Elle asked as she leafed through the pages.
"Wouldn't you know it, it's pretty much nothing," Evelyn says as she starts taking inventory of her remaining potions. "Turns out there's not a lot of reliable info about a magic that was last seen like three weeks ago or whatever."
"Wasn't it six millennia?" Elle wondered. She remember that much about void magic, if nothing else. "That's when Brimir was alive, and he was the only known Void mage."
"Yeah, millennia, whatever," Evelyn said with a dismissive wave of her hand. "I figured if I'm stuck here I might as well do some learning in my downtime and I figured there'd be some interesting stuff to learn about Void magic. Turns out it's just a bunch of crackpot theories and unsubstantiated guesswork about what Void magic could do, what Brimir had as a familiar, that kind of nonsense. Should have brought a medical book, I could at least brush up on some actual nursing know-how. Speaking of, how'd those bandages treat you?"
"Good enough," Elle replied as she rubbed at where her cuts used to be. "I heal quick."
"So's this one," the nurse said with a nod towards Louise. "Though even that has its limits with possible concussions and broken ribs. Should be up in the ten to fifteen minute range. You don't need to stay here for that, you head off now. Go on, shoo."
"… Okay then," Elle said as she stood up. "Here's your book back. Thank you for taking care of her."
"Yeah, yeah, scram," Evelyn said, taking the book back.
Elle gave a small bow before heading out of the clinic. Evelyn gave another weary sigh and sank down into her chair. She decided to read her book to pass some time until Louise woke up. She flipped the pages about randomly before settling on the section about the Founder's possible familiars.
Without Louise there to tell her what class was next and where it actually was, Elle was left at a loss regarding what to do. She didn't know anyone here, nor did she actually know where anything was, so as a result she just kind of wandered about for a bit. She could go back to Louise's room and finish the drawing she was working on, but she wasn't keen on the idea of just shutting herself up like that.
Elle poked at her own bicep, then hopped in place a few times and delivered a few quick punches.
"Hmm… Should probably train a little," she said to herself. "Don't want to fall too far out of practice."
"If you're planning on swinging that sword of yours about, I'd recommend staying out of the courtyard today."
Elle turned towards the voice and saw Kirche approaching her.
"Oh. Hello again," Elle said with a small wave. "Is there any particular reason or…?"
"Next period is when they scheduled the make-up familiar summonings," Kirche explained, crossing her arms in front of her chest. "I was on my way there right now, as a matter of fact."
"I see. Um… If you're looking for Louise she's out cold," Elle pointed towards the nurse's office. "Blew herself up. Again, from what I understand."
"I'm sure. Happens often enough to not be a surprise. Well, I wasn't here to talk to her or shake you down or anything, I just saw you and thought I'd let you know to probably stay out of the courtyard for the next hour or two. I don't think the crowd that's left would feel comfortable with you hanging around there."
"Makes sense. I hope your summoning goes well," Elle wished Kirche luck.
"Well, it'll be hard to make a bigger splash than you did, but we'll see what I can manage," Kirche replied with a smirk.
"Right," Elle quietly responds. "Um… I did apologize to her yesterday. For the uh… losing my temper thing."
"Really? Good for you," Kirche said, still smirking but her voice showing little emotion.
"Yeah, so… uh… bye."
Elle gave a quick bow of her head before fleeing to Louise's room. Once inside, Elle gave both her cheeks a good slap.
"What the hell was that, Louise?" She asked herself. "Pathetic, pathetic! Pull yourself together, you're better than this. Screw it, I need something to punch for a bit, clear my head."
Elle grabbed a pillow off the bed and hung it from the celing using a blanket as a rope. She nodded at her makeshift punching bag with satisfaction, then began smacking it around. She would have preferred some sword practice, but that seemed ill-advised in a room this crowded. Elle continued punching the pillow for the next while, noting that it was a bit too light for her tastes, until she heard the door open. She turned and saw Louise walk into the room looking rather dejected.
"Oh, you're up," Elle said, turning her attention back to the hanging pillow.
"What are you doing?" Louise asked as she watched her familiar smack the pillow around.
"I'd say training, but this isn't really doing much for me so I guess I'll say I'm killing time," Elle responded. She gave one last good smack to the pillow that knocked it free of its loosely tied rope and sent it flying into the wall. "I was going to head to the courtyard and practice some swordplay but they're apparently finishing up the familiar summonings so I thought it'd be best to stay here until it finishes up."
"I see," Louise said as she walked over to her bed and threw herself on top of it.
"Rough day?"
"Just the usual," Louise mumbled into her bed. "I know it was stupid to think this, but
I really hoped that summoning you was at least some kind of sign that I could do proper magic now."
"You're talking to the wrong person if you want some kind of consolation about that," Elle said, picking the pillow up off the floor. "I've got the exact same problem and even less drive to fix it."
Louise groaned and rolled over onto her back.
"Well, you being here at all means I'm not completely impotent when it comes to magic, right?" Louise asked.
"I don't know how else I'd have gotten here," Elle responded with a nod of her head.
"So there's clearly something there, I just need to figure out what it was and how to get it back!" Louise declared as she sits up.
"If you're trying to get that back, wouldn't you just wind up summoning even more Louises?" Elle asked with a tilt of her head.
"Silence, you," Louise glared at her familiar. "You know what I meant. Anyway, there may not be a class, but I have some classwork and reports to do so I'll head to the library and take care of those."
Louise gets up and walks over to her desk to pick up her materials.
"Want me to come too? Just in case?"
"I highly doubt I'd ever manage to blow anything up just by reading a book or two," Louise assured her. "You can stay here. Actually, I'd like you to start putting together a list. Tomorrow's a day off, we can head into town and get some shopping done."
"Understood," Elle said with a salute. "What kind of budget are we looking at?"
"Try to keep costs low. I may be a noble, but that doesn't mean I get all the money in the world to spend."
"Got it. Enjoy your library visit, Louise."
Louise nodded and headed out the door. Once she was gone Elle sat down at the desk and began writing up a grocery list. While she was writing the list she smiled to herself.
"I wonder if the town's anything like I remember it? Probably not, it would have been a pretty long time. Ooh! I wonder if that café Cattleya and Eleonore took me to is still there? We'll have to swing by and check."
Elle spent the rest of her free time working on her checklist. It occurred to her that she hadn't been this excited about an outing in a very, very long time. She could scarcely wait until tomorrow.