Familiar From the Stars
Chapter 7
Hello all, sorry for the wait. I'm back with another chapter of this fanfic. I have plans for the upcoming chapters of this story, so stay tuned and keep reading. Also, this takes place in the early days of the Empire, during the Jedi Purge, so there won't be much from the movies. Though if you want a canon to appear, like say, Starkiller or someone who didn't appear in the movies, just tell me.
On with the show.
Disclaimer: I own only my OC.
"So what do you have planed for the exhibition?" Louise asked her Familiar and Master in the ways of the Force.
"Well," said Z with a light smirk, "why tell you and ruin the surprise?"
"I want this to look good," said Louise, "since the princess herself will be watching."
"Princess?" asked Z, "This is the first I've heard of that."
"Oh right, I forgot to tell you," said Louise, "the Princess of Tristain will be gracing us with her presence during the exhibition."
"Really?" said Z, "I guess that's not really that surprising all things considered."
"What do you mean by that?" asked Louise with a raised eyebrow.
"From what I've seen of this world and all the focus on nobility and status, it's not at all surprising that you have a monarchy here," said Z.
"So what do you have planed?" asked Louise, "I want to be sure that it will impress her."
"Well," said Z, "now that I know I'll be having such an important audience, perhaps I can adjust my plans so we can rehearse a spectacular performance."
Louise beamed, "Thank you!"
Z smiled kindly at his Padawan student, "Let's show your classmates how far you've come from the girl they used to ridicule."
xXsceneXx
That night, Z carried Louise back to her room after a tiring session where they worked on their performance and continued Louise's lightsaber combat training. While they were training, from what Z could gather, the princess had arrived at the academy with her entourage. Louise had wanted to go and see her with the other students, but Z had shot her down, saying that she would need to focus on her training first. Louise had protested, and Z had set the condition that if she could fight him when he was using 20% of his full power, then she could have the day off and Louise had agreed.
Suffice it to say she did not win.
In fact, the fight was the reason Z had to carry her back to her room afterwards. Her body was so sore and tired from Z pushing her past her limits that she couldn't even stand on her own.
"You can be really brutal, you know that?" groaned Louise as they crossed the threshold to her room.
"I wanted to prove a point," said Z as he used the Force to gently place Louise on her bed, "are you going to bathe before you turn in?"
"In a bit," sighed Louise, "once I can move my feet again."
"If you insist," said Z before going to prepare a cup of tea to get some fluids back into Louise.
As he set the pot to boil, Z felt a presence at the door of the room through his connection with the Force. Allowing a KYD-21 blaster pistol to slide into his hand, the Shi'ido spun around, flinging the door open with the Force and leveling the pistol at a hooded figure that had been standing behind the door.
"Ah!" exclaimed the intruder in a surprised and female voice, "Wh-what?"
"What are your intentions here this late?" asked Z, "Are you an assassin?"
"W-wait, what?" exclaimed the figure as she staggered back, causing her hood to fall off her head, revealing a cute face with plum colored hair and a tiara.
"Princess Henrietta?!" exclaimed Louise as she winced painfully as she sat up on her bed, "To what do we owe the honor?"
"Louise Françoise," said Henrietta as she rushed to embrace the pinkette, "it has been too long."
Unfortunately, Louise was still sore from training, so when the princess hugged her, she stiffened and grimaced in pain. Henrietta noticed this and she quickly released her with a look of concern.
"Are you all right?" asked Henrietta.
"It is fine, your highness," said Louise, "I just overdid it a bit exercising."
"Why were you exercising?" asked Henrietta.
"It's kind of complicated," said Louise sheepishly.
"I take it you two know each other," said Z, "sorry for pointing a blaster at you then. Never can be too careful."
"R-right," said Henrietta nervously, "may I ask who you are?"
Z smiled and bowed cordially to the princess, "My name is Z. I am the familiar that Louise summoned to her side."
"A human familiar?" said Henrietta in surprise, "I have never heard of such a thing."
"Apparently it is rather rare," said Z.
"Indeed," nodded Henrietta.
"So," said Z as he tried to change the subject, "how do the two of you know each other?"
"Ah," said Louise before wincing at a random pain, "when I was little, I was granted the honor of being the princess's royal playmate."
"Mou," pouted Henrietta cutely, "can't you just say that we were childhood friends?"
Z chuckled as he went to take the kettle and pour some tea into some cups for Louise and the Princess. Giving the tea to the two girls, he stood to the side as they caught up.
"So your highness," said Louise, "why have you come here so late at night?"
Henrietta smiled at her old friend, "I wanted to visit with you without all of my servants and handlers looking over my shoulder. It has been so long since we chatted. Do you remember all those times we played in the royal gardens."
"Yes, and the chamberlain always told us off for getting so dirty," laughed Louise nostalgically.
"That was because we got into a fight over those cream cakes," said Henrietta, "you would always best me in those fights. You just grabbed my hair and I started crying."
"Not always," protested Louise, "you achieved victory on at least one occasion."
"You remembered!" said Henrietta happily, "Yes, looking back, I believe one could call that the Siege of Amiens."
"That was the time we fought over the dress in the Princess' bedroom," laughed Louise.
Henrietta nodded, "We were playing Make-Believe Royal Court and we both wanted to play the part of the princess. It was my blow to your stomach that ended it."
"Indeed, I fainted in the presence of the princess," said Louise as she lifted her cup to her mouth with a slightly shaky hand.
"Are you sure you are all right, Louise Françoise?" asked Henrietta in concern.
"Do not worry about me, your highness," said Louise, "it's nothing that you need to be concerned about."
"Are you sure?" asked Henrietta, "You seem to be in pain."
"It's nothing I can't sleep off," Louise reassured her old friend, "I should be fine by the time of the exhibition."
"Do not worry," said Z, "I will be sure to take care of Louise."
"Then I leave her in your hands," said Henrietta as she offered her hand, eliciting a small gasp from Louise, "it is good to know Louise Françoise has such kind friends."
"Your words honor me, your highness," said Z as he took her hand and gave it a light kiss on the knuckles.
"I look forward to seeing the two of you perform," said Henrietta as she pulled her hood up and left.
"Now," said Z as he took Louise's cup, "get some rest Louise. You can take a warm bath later when I won't have to worry about you collapsing and drowning in the tub."
"I think I'd like that," said Louise as she flopped onto her bed and fell asleep.
"Sleep well, young one," said Z as he used the Force to tuck the pinkette in for the night.
xXsceneXx
Soon it was time for the Familiar Exhibition and the whole school was eagerly waiting to see what the second year students had planed for their performances with their familiars. Another thing that had the students excited was Princess Henrietta sitting in a special seat with her entourage from the palace. As the students came out to perform the audience was awed by the skilled performances. Kirche had Flame create amazing shapes and colors with his fire breath and Tabitha rode around the sky on Sylphid performing aerial stunts. Not all the acts were quite as spectacular though, in fact, Guiche's act was simply posing with his giant mole, but he was at least somewhat well received.
Soon it was time for Louise's performance, but she was strangely nowhere to be seen. The audience began to mutter about how they probably shouldn't have expected Louise the Zero to put on a good show, but suddenly they heard the flapping of wings in the distance. Looking up, they saw a large avian shape flying closer to the stage. When it got close enough, the students could recognize Louise's riding the creature from her pink hair blowing in the wind. When the creature was close enough, it's form shifted and changed into a monstrous creature as tall as a dragon with leathery skin, beady eyes, and three clawed fingers on each meaty hand. To some, it looked like a cross between a bear and a potato, and to others it was like some sort of ogre, but when it roared, all agreed that it was frightening. The beast roamed around with Louise riding on its back before transforming into a large green creature that looked like a cross between a crustacean, a spider, and a lizard. The new creature leapt over the stage with great agility before jumping up and transforming back to Z as it landed on the stage with the Shi'ido taking a bow upon landing and Louise flipping off of his back. The audience went wild at the performance and Louise and Z walked off the stage to wait for the judges to make their decision.
"You did well," said Z as he walked off with his Padawan.
"It wasn't really that easy to ride those monsters," said Louise, "but your last minute training helped."
Z smiled, his Padawan was truly growing stronger by the day. Soon perhaps, he would administer the final test to see if his student was ready to move on to the next stage of her training. But for now, they would await the results of their performance.