If my brothers ever somehow get pictures of me wearing a maid's uniform then I will never, ever hear the end of it. Don't get me wrong, they're not awful, but they're constitutionally incapable of keeping their mouths shut, particularly if it's about something that the big goofs think is funny.

Fortunately, wearing a servant's uniform made me the next best thing to invisible in the eyes of the nobles in the dining hall. I walked straight in front of Louise twice and I'm sure she didn't recognise me - or even look twice at myself or Siesta as we moved up and down the tables, me carrying a huge silver tray of dessert cakes while Siesta served them one by one to the nobles with a pair of tongs. Siesta had wanted me to do the serving at first and had been dubious that I would be able to carry the heavy tray, but I was more concerned that I'd commit some horrible faux pas and get her into trouble. The notion that I'd find a few cakes heavy was laughable - of course, she had no way of knowing that.

I recognised a few of the students other than Louise as we walked up and down the tables. Kirche stood out of course, sitting next to the girl who'd ducked out of the classroom to avoid Louise's explosive demonstration. That girl had her nose buried in the book, reminding me entirely too much of my older brother who is a colossal bookworm, rarely out of arms reach of a novel.

Besides those two, I spotted the blond would-be lothario from yesterday, surrounded by other boys and regaling them with some tale. He had left his frilly shirt partly unbuttoned again and a rose in the pocket of the shirt. Now that I thought about it, he had had a similar one the day before. In fairness, he wasn't all that bad looking.

"Who are you going out with now, Guiche?" one boy asked him as we approached.

He touched a finger to his lips. "Go out? I hold no one woman in such special regard. After all, a rose blooms for the pleasure of many."

...and a rose generally has its roots in manure. I bet he'd never state that sentiment in the hearing of a girl he was sleazing after, I thought in disgust. Siesta was serving cakes to the table behind him and I was looking in that direction but I had my clairvoyance active in case someone jostled me from behind - however well my shield protected me, it wouldn't do a thing for the tray or its contents - so as we moved past the conversation I spotted a small crystal vial under his chair. Shifting my hands so that I was holding the tray up with one hand I crouched for a moment, reached back and pulled it out.

The vial contained a small quantity of a purple liquid. Possibly some sort of magical potion, although it looked more like the sort of bottle I'd expect to be used for an expensive perfume. Standing so that Siesta could reach the cake again (she looked deeply worried that I was now holding the tray with only one hand, although it was of course, still perfectly level) I stretched out my other hand with the vial in it. "Excuse me, sir, is this yours? It was under your seat."

Guiche turned his head to look at the vial, although his eyes quickly focused past it on me. "This is not mine," he assured me, with a charming smile. "Why would I, Guiche de Gramont, carry perfume?" There was a snickering from a couple of the boys with him.

"Perhaps on behalf of a lady friend, sir?" I persisted evenly.

"I know my charms must draw you like a moth to the flame, but it is improper for you to approach me in this way," he changed the subject, his smile growing sly.

I withdrew my hand, noticing that Siesta was ready to move on and shooting me a worried look. "I apologise for taking up your time." There was a snickering from behind me as I walked away with the tray and the glass of the vial cracked as my fingers clenched, the potion dripping onto my fingers. My shield must have activated temporarily as my temper flared, useful in this case since otherwise I'd probably have cut myself on the glass. Hopefully whatever was in the little bottle was merely a perfume as the playboy had suggested, it did at least have a pleasing scent.

Siesta pointed out a waste receptacle I could drop the bottle into discreetly as we reached the bottom of the table. "You can't just approach a noble like that!" she warned me in a horrified whisper. "You could get into the most terrible trouble."

I supposed that for her it would be as if I had walked and asked the question of one of the Empire City Guard, or maybe the Fascist Four (back before Dr Diabolik made a laughingstock of them). Unlike the so-called nobility of my homeworld, this bunch of aristocrats really did have something that made them different from those around them. Which didn't make it right, but did make it understandable.

"I've had no need to grovel thus far in my life," I said simply. "Where I come from it's not done. And I don't propose to begin now, for some spoiled brat."

Her expression was one of amazement. "You must have a lot of courage..."

"You're right that I might get into trouble for it," I admitted as we began to move down the tables again, this time on the other side of the table that Guiche and Louise were sat on. "But I have my own pride too, foolish as it might seem."

I honestly didn't think anything further would come of the matter - well, I suppose that I did consider that Guiche might decide to follow up on his odd assumption that I found him attractive - but I truly had no expectation that I'd not manage to go another few minutes without trouble arising as a result of that minor incident. However, we had only moved a short distance along the table before a girl with her hair in tight rolls, the same Montmorency who had stood next to Guiche yesterday after I was summoned, pushed her chair back and glared at me. Blinking at her sudden movement, I did nothing as she sniffed at the air.

"How dare you!"

Her words hardly explained the cause of her ire and I said as much. "Do you shout at everyone like this, Miss Montmorency or am I being especially privileged this afternoon?"

"Did you really think that I would miss the scent of my own perfume?"

Ah, Montmorency the Fragrance. The perfume bottle must have been hers then.

"You must be very proud of yourself to have stolen without being caught, but you were a fool to have used it around me." The irate girl continued, her voice rising a shriek. Her wand was in her hand.

"You're quick to make the accusation, Miss Montmorency." I gestured discreetly for Siesta to back away - the confrontation was drawing a crowd and getting her into trouble would be poor repayment for her kindness. "But there's a perfectly simple explanation that doesn't include any crime on my part."

She sneered. "My perfume, the work of my own hands, it is never meant for a commoner! For you to wear it is a crime against the love I felt as I created that scent!"

"Would this be your love for a Mr. Guiche?"

Her face paled and then flushed red. "You impudent piece of FILTH! I'll flog you within an inch of your life."

I couldn't help but smile. The girl might be a touch larger than I but it was as plain on the nose on her face that she had no experience of the martial arts. "You know, I think I'd like to see you try. Shall we take this outside?"

Siesta gasped, the sound almost lost in dozens of other reactions around the dining hall. The only one I could identify a source from was an indignant squeak from Louise, who had just realised that it was me confronting her classmate.

Montmorency looked me up and down. From the look on her face, she was just about as confident as I felt. "Finish handing out the cakes, maid. I'll be waiting for you in Vestri Court, if your courage lasts that long."

I bowed slightly. "How considerate of you to consider my other responsibilities. I will meet you shortly."

She sniffed again and stalked off, presumably in the direction of this Vestri Court.

Turning to Siesta I saw that she was quivering, and from the look on her face, not with excitement. "Siesta, I'm terribly sorry to ask this after you've done so much for me already -"

"You're..." She gave a great sob and grasped my free hand, clutching it to her breasts. "You're going to get killed!"

"What?"

"If you truly anger a noble..." She broke off, her voice shaking.

It was pretty clear that one of us was badly misjudging the situation and since Siesta knew as little of my capabilities as I knew of Montmorency's I suppose either one of us could have been wrong. I hadn't seen much from any of the mages so far that seemed a threat, even Louise's much feared accident having been pretty trivial, but Siesta's concern reminded me that in honesty, I hadn't exactly seen much of a sample.

I was considering this when Louise arrived, sparing no time in letting me know exactly how she felt about this. "Did you make your brain melt already! What do you think you're doing?"

"Helping to delivering cakes. Would you like one?" I offered her the tray.

"I'm talking about challenging Montmorency the Flood to a duel!"

"Hey, she called me a thief!"

"It doesn't matter. Just apologize to her."

"What! No way! This is not my fault!"

Louise fixed me with such a severe stare that Siesta shrank back and tried to hide behind me, which given I was still holding the tray worked better than it usually would. "Look, I know you think you're strong, but that's not enough. A commoner can't beat a mage."

I admit, that fact that Louise - having a reasonable notion of what I can do - was of the same mind as Siesta wasn't the most heartening thing that I could have heard. "I won't know unless I try, Louise."

"What's this I hear?" Guiche had approached too - if people kept talking to me then I might be quite a while getting to the Vestri Court. "You are to duel Montmorency?" He held his flower to his nose. "What could have brought two such fair flowers to such an impasse?"

"It seems that the perfume under your chair was hers. I spilt some on my hand and now she thinks I stole it from her."

Louise stared at Guiche suspiciously. "Why would Montmorency's perfume be by your chair? Unless..."

I put the tray down on the table. "Unless of course, she gave it to you." Not needing to support the tray any more I let the shield down and listened. Under the circumstances, Guiche rather naturally had Montmorency and her perfume on her mind and I grunted in disgust as I realised that while he was indeed romantically entangled with the girl, he preferred it be kept quiet so that he could flirt with other girls. Such as a first year who'd been in easy earshot when I found the perfume.

"Nonsense," he assured me. "While there is no such relationship, I do have some small influence upon Montmorency. On your behalf I would delight to persuade her of your innocence."

Well that's more than I expected from him.

"Why don't I walk with you to speak to her," he offered. "I can attest that you are innocent of wrongdoing."

I have to give him points: if I hadn't still been reading his mind and he wasn't...

You know, I was a lot less cynical about boys before I knew what they were thinking.

Still... if I didn't have to fight Montmorency... well, that would be good. I guess. Okay, I really liked the idea of kicking some sense into one of these nobles, but it wasn't exactly the sort of behaviour that mum and dad would approve off. "That would be really nice of you."

.oOo.

Montmorency was waiting as we reached the Vestri Court. So were a lot of other students, apparently drawn here in expectation of a spectacle. The court was actually an lawn between two towers that I alter found out represented the elements of Wind and Fire. More importantly, it was on the west side of the academy and the southern tower cast a shadow over it, keeping it comfortably cool despite the warmth of the day.

"So have you come to apologise?" Montmorency asked haughtily.

Rather than reply directly, I looked over at Guiche. "I believe that there was something you wanted to say, Mr. Guiche?"

He coughed and then gripped his rose, apparently drawing strength from the horticultural sample. It takes all kinds I suppose. "My dear Montmorency, it seems there has been some kind of regrettable misunderstanding."

"There is no misunderstanding. This commoner stole a sample of my personal perfume and I caught her wearing it."

"I... I can assure you that she did not actually steal it." Guiche seemed to be sweating slightly. "You see I happened to be nearby when she found it on the floor of the dining room and she was quite unaware of to whom it belonged."

Montmorency nodded slowly. "I see."

There was a ripple of disappointment from the crowd at the thought that the duel would not take place.

"Could you answer one small questions, I have about all of this?" Montmorency asked Guiche civilly.

He nodded.

"Since you were a witness to this surely you could have told her it was mine?" she snapped suddenly. "You liar! You must have been making moves on her, you unrepentant two-timer!"

"Please, Montmorency the Fragrance. Don't twist your rose-like face in anger like that. It saddens me to see it!" Guiche's face was one of put-upon innocence as he addressed her. "I would be beyond me even to think a lie in your presence..."

"That bottle that I gave to you as a sacred trust..." Montmorency was all but trembling with rage. "You'd use as a token to your commoner wh-"

"Don't say something I'd have to kill you for." I kept my voice flat and even. Not that I would kill her, of course, but the sheer mention might deter any further foolishness. I know it's considered Christian to turn the other cheek, but I didn't think there was all that much more of this that I could put up with.

"Don't think that I'm excusing you in this." The girl whirled to glare at me as menacingly as a teenager with a red bow holding her hair in place can be. "I know your type. Setting your sights above your station... I'll give you a lesson in what your place is."

Guiche stepped aside with a shrug, the first sign of good sense I'd seen coming from him. "Obviously she's beyond reason," he said in what could possibly be mistaken for an apologetic tone. "It would seem she does not understand the meaning of a rose's existence."

"I think she understands you very well, Mr. Guiche. Since you're the cause of this with your philandering, perhaps you'd like to be her opponent instead of me?"

"Dueling is strictly forbidden," Louise interjected. "Leave my familiar alone, Montmorency. She's rude and gluttonous and altogether a nuisance but she's not a liar."

"I'm touched by your kind words," I murmured.

Montmorency looked surprised at first. "Your familiar? Oh! Yes, I see now. Well, Louise the Zero, there's something that you have forgotten. What is forbidden is a duel between two nobles. There is no such rule to prohibit a duel between a noble and a commoner."

I rolled my eyes. So much for getting out of this through diplomacy. "Let's get on with this."

"I agree." Montmorency raised her wand. "I'll teach you a lesson in respect for your betters."

"I don't know where you're going to find one." I charged forwards, raising my shields and extending them to protect not only myself but also my clothes. They were borrowed after all.

Montmorency made a stabbing gesture with her wand and an instant before I could lay hands on the girl the ground fell away from my feet. No... the ground didn't fall. I was rising away from it!

"This is called magic, you stupid commoner," the girl gloated, levitating me off the ground and away from her without my having any means of getting close enough to come to grips.

The duel wasn't off to a good beginning...

"Done already?" Montmorency asked with a little laugh and I floated up and down in the air as her wand shifted slightly in her hand. "Did you think I'd just scuffle in the dirt like a peasant? I am a mage and I fight using magic."

Internally I was cursing myself for underestimating my opponent. This was essentially the same magic that Chevreuse had used on me in her class, but here I had no leverage to prevent her from moving me at her will. At most I can stop her controlling my posture, but otherwise...

I had treated this like a dojo spar, when it was actually something very different.

"Now if you want me to release me then I expect you to apologise to me, properly." She smiled at me and not in a friendly fashion. "The first step of that is to get on your knees. Let me help you with that." Her wand flicked and I felt pressure on my legs. Reflexively I used my shield to reinforce the pressure. Now that I had something to compare it to, I was sure that she had been using less force that Chevreuse had, which meant it was no particular problem to resist.

However, that did lead to one small tactical problem for me: the only talent I had that had a reach longer than my arm was telepathy. And aside from moral issues of using it as an attack, I couldn't use it while I had my shields around me.

Montmorency seemed surprised and sweat sprang up on her brow as she twisted her wand again. "Kneel," she hissed.

"Now you see, you didn't say please. That's a touch rude don't you think?"

She seemed quite baffled that my limbs were not complying with her wishes so I let her stew while I tried to figure out how to turn the table on her. Quite frankly, I was a bit worried. If she gave up on forcing me to knees, then I could probably risk lowering my shields which would reasonably give me the opportunity to... well, in theory there were a lot of things if I started rattling around in her head. Practically speaking though, quite a number of them would leave her brain-dead. Blonde jokes aside, I didn't want to do that to her.

Plus I wasn't entirely sure how messing with her mind might affect the spell she was using to levitate me. If it just stopped then the fall wasn't all that much - a few feet wasn't what you might call a problem for me. If left me stuck up here then that would be a bit more of a problem. And that wasn't the only possible outcome. I didn't think becoming a ballistic missile was likely, but it wouldn't be a great deal of fun either.

"Well, you're certainly a stubborn one." Montmorency made a hooking gesture and relaxed slightly. Great, now she'd hung me up here until someone let me down. "I know something that might loosen your tongue." This time her spell had an incantation and a globe of water about the size of a tennis ball formed above her hand.

"Okay you're trying to make me soggy? Not really shaking in fear here."

"Oh it's a little more sophisticated than that." I really didn't like the way the blonde was smiling. Then she produced a small bottle and uncorked it with her thumb, pouring it into the water. The globe took a pinkish hue as trails of the vial's contents dispersed through it. "This is a little creation of mine. Its effects... well, consider yourself fortunate that I'm merciful and diluting it. This way the effects will wear off... in time."

Crud. Super crud. I could guess what was coming next and took a deep breath before thickening up my shields until they were actually airtight.

It would seem that I'd guessed right, but it was little comfort as Montmorency sent the liquid streaming upward, plastering it across my lower face. If I relaxed my shields to let me breath then I'd be letting the stuff into my mouth and that wasn't a risk I felt like taking.

"Montmorency! You're going too far!" Louise had her own wand out and looked about ready to try my proposed experiment of deliberately creating an explosion.

"Why Louise, so quick to jump to your familiar's defense." Kirche seemed not to like the idea that her entertainment be ended through the smaller girl's intervention. "Do you... like her? One might imagine that having a human familiar could lead to you doing... this and that..."

"No!" Her face burned crimson. "Don't be ridiculous! It's just that I won't put up with having my familiar tormented before my eyes."

My breath was growing shorter. Not short as such... I wasn't sure how long I could hold my breath but I was sure that if I passed out my shield would fall and this potion would enter my body. Lord only knows what it would do to me. The girl was a clever strategist, she'd recognised that direct force wouldn't defeat me and thought of a way around it. My pulse was hammering.

"All she has to do is apologise. Two simple words: I'm sorry. Can't you even do that, Familiar of Zero?"

I wiped at my mouth with one hand, scattering most of the potion but it reformed almost immediately. No surprise there. The lack of air was definitely uncomfortable.

"Ellen, I order you to apologise! Right now!" It looked to me as if Louise's gaze softened for a moment. "Your pride isn't worth this."

I wasn't entirely sure that that was true. Then again, there was a great deal that I wasn't sure of. Among them how I was going to get out of this. For some obscure reason I was feeling uncomfortably warm.

"That was an order! How dare you ignore me!"

I cupped my ears as if to indicate I was having trouble hearing Louise. I didn't think she'd believe that I couldn't hear it, but it was an excuse. There had to be a way. I was supposed to be a mage or at least to have some potential for it, wasn't I? All I had to do was learn magic from the first principles in... a few minutes, maybe less.

Down below, Tabitha had taken Louise's wand off her. I wasn't sure if the third Vallière daughter had been about to use magic on me or on Montmorency but either way I was glad someone had stopped her. This was something I had to do for myself.

I wonder if Minch Grammar School would have had a class I could have taken to deal with this sort of thing.

No, I don't have time for letting my mind wander! I have to do something, now! I brushed at my face with my hand again, feeling the liquid against my shield. I...

A smile crossed my face. I knew how I was going to get out of this.

Swiftly I cupped my hands in front of my face, capturing some of the potion between them. With the shield cutting it off, Montmorency couldn't bring it back to my face the way that she could the rest of it. Raising my hands above my head I calculated the trajectory and then pressed my hands together sharply.

A squirt of liquid sprayed across the Vestri Court. Most of it reached the intended destination: right through the lips of my opponent.

There was a somewhat startled expression on Montmorency's face as she realised what she had just swallowed and then she crumpled backwards to the grass.

"Montmorency!" Guiche cried as he dashed to her side. Well I'll be darned, I guess he did care about her after all.

The potion fell away from my mouth and I was able to carefully weaken my shields and breathe once more. 'None sing hymns to breath. But, oh to be without it!' It's from another of my older brother's vast collection of books. I'd never quite grasped its meaning until now as I gasped in mouthfuls of air. The spell holding me up collapsed a moment later and I landed on my feet. I still felt warm and my pulse hadn't slowed any.

"Are you hurt?" Siesta stepped forwards and took my arm supportively. I hadn't spotted her watching the duel but I guess she wasn't exactly going to force her way through the students to get a place at the front. Now that the fight was over however, she was right there to start picking up the pieces. Decent of her. And quite honestly my knees were sagging. I hadn't thought that this was taking all that much out of me.

"I feel fine." Actually I was having trouble focusing my eyes on anything. But surely I'd be back to normal in a minute. Just a little lightheaded from holding my breath for so long. It hadn't exactly been a furious and kinetic conflict after all so I could hardly have exerted myself much.

Louise approached us. "Montmorency must have used a sleeping potion. But what were you thinking not obeying me when I ordered you to stop? I won't have a disobedient familiar!"

"Oh is that what you said?" I smiled brightly, feeling lightheaded. "I couldn't hear you."

"You already told me that your shield doesn't stop you hearing." I missed whatever she said next and a moment later I felt her hand touch my forehead lightly. "You're burning up!"

Burning up. It sure felt like it. No. That was wrong.

I was...

What's the word.

Word

word

Out.

Burning Out.

I was burning out.

Oh, that's not good, is it?

I could have sworn that I heard my name being called as I fell face first onto the grass. Then blackness.

.oOo.

The next thing that I felt was a sudden freezing shock. My eyes snapped open - believe me, that sort of sensation does wonders for your ability to focus, at least in the short term - to see an unfamiliar ceiling and then the faces of Siesta, Louise and - to my surprise - Kirche and Tabitha. There was also someone squealing in surprise. Me, since my skin was advising me that I'd just been dropped into a bathtub of icy cold water.

"Is she better now?" Kirche asked.

Siesta leant over and pressed her cheek against my forehead for a moment. "Her temperature isn't going down."

No kidding and my pulse was still beating like a jackhammer.

"Ellen, can you hear me?"

Of course I can hear you, idiot. You're about six inches from my ear. "Yes," I told Louise rather more succinctly. She was trying to help me, after all.

"You've got some sort of fever. We're trying to lower your temperature."

Oh. Well that explained why I was freezing my tender bits in a bath tub. Tabitha helpfully illustrated her part in proceedings by tapping her wand on a bucket and then levitating it up to tip the contents of it all over me.

"Aaaah!" It was freezing! I swear, there must have been ice crystals in the bath with me! And shocking as the cold was, it did seem to be helping - I did try to put my shields up a bit again in case she tried it again with more ice.

"Stop being a baby," directed Kirche rather heartlessly. "I hope this isn't catching, whatever it is." Yeah, her 'ardent' nature might not survive being doused repeatedly with cold water. Then again, she'd probably have boys lining up for the chance to drop icy water all over her naked body.

I laughed - not heartily, the most I could manage was a weak chuckle. "'s not catching. It's burnout. Heard 'bout it. Only happens to people like me."

Siesta wrung her hands. "Is there anything we can do?"

My mind went to a picture I'd seen of in the prospectus for Minch Grammar School's modern looking 'clinic' that was apparently unable to avoid a case or two of terminal burn out most years. "Can't think of anything."

Louise got right to the point: "Will you be alright?" Then again I'd given her some degree of warning already that my powers could be as dangerous to myself as they were to everyone else if I made a mistake.

I thought about her question. Burnout wasn't something that mutants like to dwell on, so Minch (and presumably other schools) put pamphlets in their welcome packs to tell young mutants about in gruesome detail about what can happen if you overstretch your talents, go through a 'growth spurt' with regard to your Body Image Template or start to manifest Gross Structural Dystrophy. There are six types, ranked Zero through to Five in increasing severity. A severity Zero or One doesn't require any treatment at all. A severity Four means that your life depends on getting emergency medical treatment. Severity Five... don't bother with a doctor, just hope you have your affairs in order. I could feel my eyes closing again, and wondered how long it had been since I'd eaten anything.

Well I was pretty sure this was at least a Two or I wouldn't have passed out. And there wasn't a hope of getting modern medical treatment so... "I don't know," I admitted.

I'm pretty sure that I was crying when I passed out again - certainly my face was wet, but that could have been Tabitha's fault...

.oOo.

Morning light and a growling stomach woke me. Either it was time for breakfast or Heaven had better have a buffet ready.

Opening my eyes revealed I was back in Louise's room, or one so alike that I couldn't tell the difference. I suppose if I was Batman I would have done some sort of super-secret carving on the wood paneling so I could identify it immediately but as you may have guessed, I am not Batman. However, I'm confident that it was Louise's room since she was sitting at the table, fast asleep with her head pillowed on her forearms and a blanket around her shoulders.

From what I recalled I should probably be feeling quite weak. But to be honest, the worst I could say about my condition was that I was quite hungry. In all other respects I felt... good.

I sat up in the bed, carefully folding the blankets around me since I was wearing about as much as I had been when I was dropped in the bath, which was to say nothing. Looking around my own clothes, though not the dress that Siesta had lent me, were sitting on top of the dresser, neatly folded and as best I could tell from the bed, thoroughly laundered. I'd have to ask Siesta to show me the laundry process around here, so I could take on Louise's chores.

As if my thoughts had acted to summon her, a moment later a soft knock at the door heralded Siesta's arrival, carrying a tray of food. She smiled when she saw me. "So you're awake now, Ellen?"

"I'm sorry to have worried you."

"Oh, you can't help being ill," she said blithely, placing the tray on the table next to Louise's head. I made to push the sheets aside to leave the bed but Siesta fixed me with a firm stare. "Ah-ah, you need to take it easy." She lifted a large bowl of thin soup and placed it on my lap along with a spoon. "Please eat. We weren't sure how long you would sleep and Miss Louise was concerned that you might starve."

"She's really been looking after me." I looked over at my master with some gratitude as I spooned the soup up, little caring how warm it was. She'd done as I asked, treated me as a friend and companion. I owed her the same.

Siesta looked solemn. "We all thought that you would die. Miss Vallière insisted you should have her bed and then had a teacher cast a spell of healing on you."

"A healing spell?" I asked between mouthfuls.

"Yes, a powerful magic to help treat injuries or illness. I never would have thought that a noble would insist that it be used on a commoner, even paying for the reagent that was used."

I looked over at Louise. "She's really something special."

Siesta nodded. "But so are you."

I shook my head in disagreement. I'd been overconfident and very nearly got myself beaten by the first move a half-trained mage had thought to use on me. So much for the great martial artist!

"No, you are," she insisted. "Everyone is talking about it in the kitchens! Nobles were always so scary to us commoners, since we couldn't use magic. I - I couldn't do anything about Miss Montmorency but... I'm not so scared any more, Ellen! You won against a noble, though you're a commoner!"

I could feel the truth of her words: the fear that wasn't as gone as she thought but also the new confidence that I would not have associated with her before now. I can't say I'd ever felt much sympathy for Humanity First before and I'm sure that the experience will pass quickly but it occurred to me that Tristain and the rest of this world were very much what they were afraid might be the future: those with 'special powers' dominating those who lacked them. Bigotry and prejudice might cloak it, but at root their fear was not as unrealistic as I would have liked. How many generations were Minch and other schools like it from being just like this?

"I'm glad to hear that, Siesta. I take it that Miss Montmorency has awoken."

Siesta giggled wickedly. "The headmaster, Old Osmond, declared at dinner that she shall have to sleep until the potion wears off and then catch up on all her classes as a punishment for making such a challenge."

"How long...?"

"Just overnight so far, but they say it could be a week!"

"Has Mr. Guiche tried waking her with a kiss?"

More giggles, this time shared between us. This seemed to be the trigger that woke Louise, whose eyes flickered open. She leant back, stretching her arms out and then froze as she saw me. "You're awake?"

"Yes." I bowed my head. "Thank you, my master, for caring for me."

"Humph." She looked at me, then the bowl in my lap and only then at the tray in front of her. "Breakfast?"

Siesta bobbed a curtsey. "Yes, Miss Vallière."

"Oh. Thank you." Louise reached for the cutlery and then fixed me with a stare. "Don't think that this gets you out of your chores. As soon as you're ready to leave my bed I've got a huge load of laundry for you to take care of. And then the room needs cleaning and you're going to help me with my magic."

"Of course." I took a very private pleasure in the way her momentum broke off when I matter of factly accepted the jobs.

"Don't forget, you're my familiar!"

"I wouldn't dream of it." I drained the dregs from the bowl of soup, the bottomless pit that passed for my stomach if not sated then at least momentarily appeased. Hmm. Maybe I could mooch a second breakfast at the kitchens if the laundry was anywhere near there... or failing that some elevenses. Better yet, both! "Right, I'll just get dressed and make a start on that."

Louise gave me a thoughtful look and then shook her head slightly when Siesta moved to prevent me.

"But..."

"She's my familiar," she added very firmly.

I did run into a couple of problems getting dressed though. No not my health, at least not directly. However, no adjustment I could manage would make my bra fit comfortably. Apparently the boob fairy had visited while I was busy burning out.

"Stop playing with them," Louise ordered brusquely, glowering fiercely at my back.

"I'm not playing," I gave up on the bra and set it aside. "This just doesn't fit."

Siesta frowned as she looked at me. "Is it just me or are you a little taller than you were yesterday?"

I looked over at her and then walked over to stand closer, comparing our relative heights against my recollection from yesterday. I was still smaller than her... but not by quite so much. "I think you're right. I'm not sure it's worth the pain, but I guess there are some compensations..."

Louise's glare didn't lighten in the least. "Put your shirt on! You're not to act like Kirche!"

A surprisingly good argument. The t-shirt provided the necessary minimum of decency although frankly I had to wear the hoodie as well before it was obvious I wasn't wearing a bra. Even that felt snugger than usual although that might have been my imagination.

The first person I saw outside the door of Louise's room was a boy about my own age, sneaking out of Kirche's room. What he had been doing there I don't know and choose not to care except to be glad that the walls were apparently quite thick and sound absorbent. In any case his tongue practically fell out of his mouth at the sight of me.

Imagination, yeah.