Louise lay against an old tree deep in the Tristanian backwoods, letting the bright light of the dual moons illuminate her in their cool gaze. Looking up at the clear night sky she could easily point out every star system that had a Scrin presence, and there were a lot of them, but she did her best to not think about it and just let the cool breeze waft past her.

"Sectlord Lu'eez, this one returns with the required information!"

Louise turned her head to see the prodigy, Saw'veleesh, standing in a break in the treeline. "Alright, how did it look?"

Saw'veleesh bobbed slightly before walking forward and sitting down before her (as much as he could with four legs.) "The facility is surrounded by primitive walls made of wood and stone and.."

"I know what it's built out of, how many people are there, and did any stand out to you?"

Saw'veleesh sat before her quiet for many seconds before responding with a quick nod. "There were many biological signatures both in the facilities main buildings and in its grounds, only one of the signatures I sensed seemed different than the others, like yours when we first met, but slightly different."

Louise turned her gaze back up to the night sky and let out a sigh. "How did it feel different, explain it to me please?"

"Of course. The signature felt cold and strong, but also seemed to warp and change slightly back and forth making it difficult to discern. Does this help in some way?"

Louise smiled at the moons who gave nothing in return but their cool light. "Yes, yes it does. It sounds almost like water magic, so it's likely my father."

"This one does not understand the concept of magic, but does understand the rest of what has been said."

"Nobles of this world use what is called magic. They think it some kind of arcane act, but in reality it is merely them manipulating the atomic structure of molecules around them to change or create a certain effect. My father manipulates H2O with serious skill, but that isn't important, what is important is that it's my father who's the only dangerous one home."

"You are going to eliminate him then?"

"Oh no, that would be too problematic, too many witnesses."

"This one could alter the neural pathways of those in the vicinity; it would be as if they saw nothing."

"No, but I will be having you use that lovely capability of yours, but on my father."

"What would you like this one to do?"

"Can you hear me if I telepathically spoke to you from a distance? And how far reaching is your range for altering a person's mind, or controlling its actions outright?"

"Of course we can speak mind to mind. At almost any distance on the same field of operations, and the same goes for dominating the mind of a lesser being, though I must be close to gain control at first." Saw'veleesh said in his minds tone, directly to Louise's mind.

"Good, how close?"

"Within a distance of three tripod's stride."

Louise let a mischievous grin cross her face as she looked up at the moons in the sky as clouds slowly formed around them. "Good, then here's what we're going to do!"

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Louise tried to keep herself from grinning like an idiot as she calmly walked into the grounds of her family manor and toward the manor itself. From the looks of shock many of the guards wore she could only assume that they expected to find her as a lifeless corpse, and not striding into the grounds as if nothing had happened. Despite the looks on their faces most of them kept their positions and kept to their designated duties, which had seemed to not been altered since last she saw. Only one guard moved from his position, running away from her and toward the manor, nearly throwing himself in the door, likely off to inform the duke.

"Saw, are you in position?" Louise called to Saw'veleesh with her mind.

"This one believes so and shall wait for the signal."

Louise only nodded at his reply as she stopped at the large double doors of the Vallière manor. Staring at them, the thought crossed her mind of blowing them down and killing everything in sight, but that wasn't the plan, and there was no need to do such a thing. Letting out a sigh, Louise mentally prepared herself and opened the door, stepping into the Vallière manor.

The manor's foyer had not changed since she had last seen it. The hardwood walls, flooring and railings were sparkling clean and the carpets upon the floor and stairs were neat as they had always been. Everything was as it had always been and not a thing was out of place, not even her father standing proudly at the top of the grand staircase like he always did to intimidate visitors. Only she wasn't a visitor to him.

Without being given a chance to speak or move, the Duke Vallière began walking down the grand staircase, his boots being forced down onto the steps hard creating a loud cracking with each step. Only once he reached the bottom of the stairs did he glare at Louise and speak, "I am happy to see that you are unharmed, but I demand to know where you have been all this time, Louise. You had us all very worried."

"How worried could you have been over a magic less daughter," Louise replied with a sneer. It was time to get things moving!

The Duke's stern look changed to one of confusion and anger in a blink. "Pardon?"

"You heard me, how worried were you really about my disappearance, huh?"

"How dare you! We had the Tristanian guard out looking for you, and you return to us with such a mouth on you, what has brought this about!"

Louise glared up at him and smiled. "What's the matter, Father! Don't like it when your child actually gets a mind of her own? All those years of trying to mold me into a carbon copy of Eleonore going down the drain must suck for you!"

"A what copy?"

"Never mind. Either way, I'm not going to just do what you say like all those other times. I'm through being you and Mother's little pawn to mold and toy with. Besides, did you have anyone else looking for me when I scampered off, or was it just the guard?"

The Duke's upper lip twitched before he spoke. "Why would it be anything but the Tristanian guard! To have the guard of an entire country to look is of great import!"

"Yes, but we have our own seasoned guards who knew me better and know the area around the manor better. And getting the Tristanian guard to go out to look would take at least a day, meaning you did it only for the sake of official-ness!"

"You- how dare you, you ungrateful child! To your room this minute, I'll deal with you when your mother and sisters return!"

"No."

"Excuse me?"

"I said no. Or did you not hear me?"

Duke Vallière Scowled as he slid his wand out of his pocket and into his hands firm grip. "You ungrateful child, do not make me show you why you need to listen to your betters!"

Louise began chuckling then let out a full bellied laugh causing her father to become completely confused. "Oh, that was good. I would have been worried if Mother was here, but if it's just you then I'm definitely the better of us, so sorry to break it to you!"

"And how do you figure that!" Duke Vallière roared as he pointed his want toward Louise, anger spreading across his face like a plague.

"Because you're nothing more than a slave!" Louise shrieked with laugh.

"Why you-," Duke Vallière began before suddenly looking down as his hand let go of his wand, letting it drop to the floor. He stared at his hand and watched it shake uncontrollably, the shaking becoming larger and more defined by the second. "W-what is this, why?"

"So what Saw said was right, it is easier to control people when they have adrenaline in their system and uncontrolled emotions running wild!" Louise said with another laugh as she walked up beside he father and placed her hand on his shoulder, straining to do so until she forcibly pulled his shoulder down to her level. "Don't worry, you'll love having no control of your actions or mind, it'll be nice and calming I'm sure!"

"You- bi-," Duke Vallière began before finally losing consciousness and falling to the floor, his head making a lovely hard thud as it hit.

"Oh, that looked painful. Good thing he won't feel pain for a while. I know you can hear me Saw, wake him up so I can interrogate him for information!"

Within seconds of saying this, the Duke's body spasmed a bit and then stood up, a dead look in his eyes.

"Hmm, let's see then. Why don't you give an overview of events first, Father. Oh, and prepare paperwork to have me back to the Academy by tomorrow!" Louise ordered with a grin.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"I'm surprised to see you still up this late!" Lady Montmorency stated as she came up behind Mr. Colbert who was at the desk in his workshop.

Mr. Colbert just tilted his head to acknowledge her presence. "I'm just double checking a few things for tomorrow, the last thing we need is for something to not work."

"I'm sure everything will be fine, it is your creation after all."

"Yes but triple checking is always an idea. Why are you up this late?"

Lady Montmorency took a letter out of her cleavage and handed it to Mr. Colbert. "I had this delivered to me just a few mere moments ago; it is from the Duke Vallière."

Mr. Colbert looked at the note for a few moments before handing it back to her. "I've been working too hard. what does it say?"

"That yesterday night the youngest Vallière returned home, with both magic and a familiar, and that the duke requests she join the expedition as penance for her disappearance month ago."

" . . . . That seems . . . . . awfully abrupt."

"Yes, and very unlike the Vallière." Lady Montmorency said with a small frown. "What do you think?"

"We could always use more help for the expedition, but I'm not sure. You?"

"The same. Should we allow it and keep a watch on her? I could have my daughter-."

"And then you and your daughter would not be able to have more time together. I'll find a way to deal with it I guess. We'll just watch her carefully."

"Yes. Very, very carefully."