CHAPTER 8

The exhibition

PART 1

She sometimes wished that she would be able to trade her live with another. Responsibilities, she believed to heavy for her to carry, had burdened her since her father had died. She had always believed that responsibilities should never be passed on, but given to those who were strong and worthy to be able to carry the burden that came with said responsibilities.

She was the heir, could not control her own fate. She felt like a puppet, controlled by strings till she would be old and useless, where a new one would be bought and the old one discarded, namely her.

She wished to be a child again, to live without worries, not thinking about the future, but the present and the beautiful moments that came with it. She remembered Louise, her friend. Surely she would be able to raise the spirit of the young but tired princess. She just needed an excuse that would allow her to visit, but what?

She remembered! The familiar exhibition in Tristain Academy! She would use the excuse of wishing to watch the exhibition to visit her friend Louise, who was a student at said academy. Maybe she would even be able to see her familiar perform. Many believed Louise to have not succeeded in summoning a familiar, but she believed and was curious to see what exactly had been summoned.

She made preparations, informing her advisors, letting others inform the servants and guards about her departure and make preparations to inform the academy as well as letting servants prepare the royal carriage for their departure. She envied commoners and their live. They did not need to do all those things. They could go wherever they wanted to whenever the wished to, such an easy life.

They would soon arrive at the academy. While sitting in the carriage she thought about the last few days. She had finally been able to expose the doings of Count Mott. For a while now, she had known that he had sold maids into slavery, but without evident she was not able to stop or hinder him at all. Many other nobles had helped him, using their influence to cover his tracks and stop any serious investigations. Now however, they had been able to catch him red-handedly. Someone had broken into the manor and had destroyed a wall, which thankfully had been reported by a servant. Such assaults toward nobles had happened nowadays quite often and to prevent further injury and destruction the royal guard had been ordered to interfere with said assaults.

They had arrived to find holes going through the wall. It had not been hard to follow said trail and they had soon arrived at what they believed to be a hidden room. There, many indecent clothed maids had sat on the floor, covered with a ripped off curtain. When asked they had told the guards everything about the doings of Count Mott and that an orange haired angel had come to their rescue. Said angel, they had told them, had glowed a beautiful sky blue color and had scared away the evil Count Mott, before covering with the curtain and telling them that everything would be alright, before disappearing like air. Something she believed sounded fairly like a fairy tale, now that she thought of it.

They found the 'evil Count Mott' in a remote corner of his manor. There he had pressed himself into the corner and was at first staring at them in relieve and then in fear. His leg had been injured and he seemed to spot many small scratches scattered all over his body, but nothing life endangering. The report had stated that the Count had suddenly started to panic and tried to get away, seemingly not even understanding what the guard was saying to him and hallucinating.

The next time he awoke, the same results were met. At first there was relieve that was suddenly followed by fear and he would start to panic, screaming about orange and white haired demons, pain, death and staying away from him, recognizing no one. He was soon declared to have gone insane. Whatever had happened to him had traumatized him to such degree that he had lost his mind and sanity.

She sighed softly to herself. The orange haired 'savior and demon', the 'orange haired' part the only thing the description had in common, was nowhere to be found, which was surprising since orange hair was not a normal or even existing hair color. Still at least she had finally exposed Count Mott's doings and was able to give him an appreciate punishment. Not that he would notice much of it now anyway, part of going insane and all she believed, but at least she didn't need to worry about him anymore, one problem less.

The carriage stopped, her flashback having taken longer than she believed. They had arrived. They had arrived at day. She needed to present herself to the academy, wink and smile, wink and smile.

The light of day soon turned into the darkness of night. She quickly escaped her guards with some excuse. Something she had planned all along. She wanted to meet her friend without guards and others being there to watch them. She had used her authority to find Louise's room number and position beforehand and quickly made her way toward the door. She heard voices inside talking, but she couldn't understand. She opened the door with great care, trying to make as little noise as possible, but of course she was still noticed by her good friend.

She saw how Louise, who was already dressed in her nightgown, sat on her bed, staring at her from her position. Where was the other person who she had spoken with? She couldn't see her or him. She let the thought go and returned her gaze toward Louise.

Some emotions welled up inside her. She truly had missed her dear friend Louise. She had been so lonely.

When Louise demanded to know who had disturbed her she reveled her face, taking of her cloak. Louise recognized her right away and fell to her knees. She wished that Louise hadn't. They were friends and should treat each other like ones. Not looking at the positions the others had, but the character possessed. She told Louise to stand up.

"Please friend of mine, talk to me not as a princess, but as your friend." She hoped that Louise would leave the formalities and start to act like her normal, no old self. The one she knew, Louise, who she had played with in their younger days. Louise started to become less formal, still using her title and all, but at least it was a start.

"Louise, if it doesn't give you too much trouble, would I be allowed to see your familiar?" She believed Louise to have succeeded in summoning a familiar, so she didn't even try to question if a familiar existed. At first Louise's eyes darkened, then lightened and then darkened again.

"I would love to show him to you, but he was his own mind and only does whatever he wants to." Louise began to rant.

"I even tried to politely ask him to attend the exhibition, but he just doesn't listen to me!" She almost screamed, just like I remember her. She always had had a hot temper, but she was good at heart and that was what mattered.

"Louise, I have told you rather good reason for why I do not wish to attend. First of all, I do not wish to be on display like a rare creature to be watched and talked about. Second of all, I see no reason to use even the smallest among of strength to amuse others, who by the way are mostly composed of stuck up nobles who believe themselves the be higher beings."

An orange haired man had just suddenly appeared right in the middle of the room.

"Where have you been?" Louise suddenly shouted.

"For your information, I have not left this room, but I did believe that you wish to speak with your friend over their alone, without interruptions." The man only gazed at her for a few second before his eyes returned to Louise's. She had almost shuddered, even thought their eyes had only connected for a few seconds. She had almost felt like he had judged her, something she had never liked.

"You cannot not attend the exhibition. I would be the laughing stock of the whole academy." She gave him a pitiful look and he sighed.

"Alright" he gave another sigh and his scowl deepened "…but only this one time." She gave him a smile and nodded her head. Then she seemed to finally remember that she was there as well and Louise looked at her.

"This" she pointed at the orange haired man "is my familiar." She gave a small proud smile, which she didn't truly understand since Louise seemed to have summoned a human, a commoner of all things.

"At the first glance, he may not look like much, but he is stronger, faster and overall better than most." She gave another small proud smile, this time looking at her familiar out of the corner of her eyes. He gave her a small smile, not a proud one over the compliment like most would when receiving one, but a gentle one with kindness filling his eyes. Louise's smile grew.

She somehow had the feeling that she wasn't truly looking at the relationship of master and familiar, but older brother and younger sister. She somehow felt jealous. She too wanted a big brother to support and help her. Maybe even play the heir and take the burden.

Louise refocused on her again and they started to talk about everything and nothing, the familiar mostly staying out of the conservation. It didn't take long for her to notice it was getting late and with a final goodbye to leave the room and return to her own. Only after entering her chambers did she notice why the orange hair had somehow bothered her so much.

"The orange haired demon and angel" She whispered to herself, finally remembering about the incident at Count Mott's manor. If the report about the occurrences of that event were correct, than that meant that Louise's familiar truly was as strong as Louise had told her. If that was true, then that meant that the exhibition would beyond doubt be very interesting to watch.

Hope you liked it

Part two will hopefully be filled with action

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