Dragon Summoning

by LordsFire

Louise summons a creature both capable, and willing to act independently, and in a mature manner. Moved from Familiar and Unfamiliar Summonings.

3. Chapter 3

I'm twenty-five today; October 26th. Here's a little present from me to you all, since I believe it's just as good, if not better, to give than receive.

((()))

"How did you do that?" Louise asked Joshua when he woke her the next morning.

"What?" Joshua asked in return.

"Have your face scraped across half the Vestri Court and not even bleed!" Louise proclaimed, exasperated.

"Ah," Joshua said, sitting back in the chair beside her bed, "That."

"Yes," Louise said, irritation rising in her tone, "'That.'"

"It is not something I am willing to explain when prying ears may be about," Joshua said, and as Sothos was six beds down in the infirmary she was inclined to agree, "But depending on how the change progresses for you, you may eventually be capable of such things yourself."

Louise's eyes widened slightly in shock.

"Me?" She breathed weakly, gesturing towards her chest with her hands.

"Yes, you," Joshua said, leaning forward to bring his face closer to hers, "There is a reason so many have risked death through the years to try and steal the power of my bloodline. No normal human warrior is capable of the physical feats performed by one with the blood of the Dragon in their veins. The corpse I arrived here with weeks ago, was only the most recent amongst more than a dozen Battle-mages I have slain."

Louise's eyes widened even more.

"Battle-mage," Joshua continued, "Is a title with very specific meanings in the region I hail from. No matter how much training, talent, or skill a mage has, they cannot claim the title Battle-mage until they have fought in a full pitched battle, and survived, slaying at least one of their foes in the process."

He leaned back in his seat again and looked away. Louise saw a sad bitterness on his face, and abruptly realized that it was the first emotion other than anger or determination she had ever seen him display.

"I am twenty-one years old," He said, his voice heavy with age in a way that Louise did not understand, "And while I've slain less than a score of Battle-mages, I've slain many score other men in all. Warfare in the lands I come from is horrifying in ways probably beyond your culture's understanding; dozens of men being slain by an enemy they will never see, machines of war that are nigh invulnerable rampaging across farms and laying them to waste, entire cities destroyed in an instant. Our war began three years ago, and millions have died."

Louise's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.

"M-millions?" She breathed faintly.

"Yes," Joshua said, "Millions. The lands I come from are very different than yours, One man and an array of machines can farm land that would take hundreds of men and woman to work in your society here. A factory with three overseers, and occasional teams of engineers to repair failing machinery, will process and work tons of steel in a day. And we're even more efficient at using machines to kill."

Long moments of silence passed, Louise trying to wrap her mind around what her familiar was talking about, before she spoke again.

"If you have such machines," She said, "Why do you still bother with a sword? Why didn't you use one of them against Sothos?"

"Usually, I pilot a machine multiple stories tall into battle," Joshua replied, "The warrior whose corpse I was summoned with did as well. He was a particularly skilled adversary, and by the time I bested him, we had destroyed each other's war machines, as well as deprived each other of or destroyed almost all of our backups."

Joshua paused, carefully drawing his sword, and displaying it for Louise to inspect. It was the first time she had seen the blade up close, and doing so allowed her to see chains of tiny runes engraved up and down the core of the blade.

"This sword is bound to me," He said, "Its sharpness will reflect my own martial prowess, and so long as I live, it can never be broken or damaged in any way. I can recall it to me from any place, no matter how distant, and if I die, it will shatter immediately. This weapon, no adversary can deprive me of. It also bears a few other enchantments."

"So the flames yesterday?" Louise asked hesitantly.

"Fire magic is amongst its enchantments," Joshua confirmed, "The reason I used the flames, was to prevent Sothos from bleeding to death."

"Oh," Louise said, a little relief showing in her voice and on her face, "I was not sure why you did that, and feared it may have been to make it more painful."

For a change, Joshua spent a few moments in silence before responding.

"It is difficult sometimes," He said, the fatigue in his tone telling Louise that this was something he had thought of often, "To maintain a clear head in the heat of battle. Being so close to death, having one's skill and preparation as the only thing standing between yourself and a bloody end, spurs you to a level awareness, a level of aliveness that can be addicting. More, I am intensely competitive, I strive upon the struggle of one against another, to test and prove one's skill in either triumph or defeat. Beyond even that, I find great satisfaction in striking down the unjust, and bringing a halt to their crimes. For all this though, one of the greatest lessons I was ever taught, was to never, ever take pleasure in killing. Satisfaction at the defeat of evil, yes, but always remember that however necessary and right it may have been, it is always, always a tragedy when someone has fallen so far, and become so dangerous, that there is no other really viable way to stop them."

Joshua sighed, and looked away.

"Valuing every sentient life, means every sentient life, even those who need to be put down. The only time killing is appropriate, when taking that precious life away is right, is when it is the only way to protect the lives and value of others threatened."

Joshua shook his head, then looked at her again.

"I'm sorry," He said, "I get like this after bloodshed, and you don't need to hear this. If you want to ask about it in more detail some time, I can share with you then, in the meantime, we should return to your training."

Louise nodded, and they spoke no more of such things that morning. Louise also did not mention how hearing his doubts, some of the honor code which restrained him, and some signs of emotion and weakness that made him more human to her, made her feel much safer around her familiar.

((()))

Colbert sighed as he dropped the healer's report on his desk. Sothos' genitals were well and thoroughly destroyed, the wound cauterized on both ends, and the cauterization on the part of the removed bits had ended up more like 'immolation.' It would only be possible to regenerate the boy's sexual organs with extremely high-end healing spells, requiring exorbitantly expensive reagents. His family was neither particularly poor, nor particularly wealthy, for Tristainian nobility, and it would set them back considerably to pay for the treatment.

He rather suspected that Joshua was not aware such regeneration was possible at all, and Colbert had no intention of telling him. The Knight might do something even more permanent to Sothos if he found out. As the Sothos' family only male heir, Colbert knew they would pay for his treatment, he simply hoped the boy learned something from his encounter with Joshua.

Colbert certainly had.

It had been eleven years since Colbert had come to the Tristain Academy of Magic, and he had not heard word of a single rape during his time there. That Sothos reign of terror had taken place entirely without his notice over the last two years made him wonder how many more had occurred, that he had been stupidly oblivious to. Colbert had come to the academy to retreat from the harsher aspects of life in the army, it appeared he had retreated too far.

He could not afford to remain so oblivious to the world around him, and he needed to regain his edge.

((()))

Sothos was expelled from the academy, and time passed. Siesta began waking early enough to bring Louise and Joshua breakfast in the infirmary during their morning training, and spent the duration of the lessons cleaning the infirmary, or just sitting nearby, listening in. The tingling sensation in Louise's body began to become more pervasive and persistent, lasting for progressively longer periods of time after she had stopped working her magic through that part of her.

When informed of this, Joshua had her begin focusing her exercises on her skin, for reasons he said he would explain later. Part of Louise wanted to demand answers, but between her crush on him, his general intensity, and the amount of time he was devoting to working with her without any request for recompense, she couldn't bring herself to be forceful.

Kirche also began to hang around the infirmary more, trying to tease hints as to her Familiar's location out of Louise, but she found a distinct pleasure in frustrating the redheads efforts with extensive obfustication. Siesta's smiles, and after Kirche left, giggles, endeared the pretty maid to Louise rather thoroughly. It was nice to see some form of appreciation for her efforts.

It was also Siesta who first noticed a rather disturbing change in Louise five days into the third week.

((()))

"I am growing fur," Louise said flatly, glaring at Joshua.

"Yes," Joshua said, trying, badly, to hide a smile, "Pink fur."

Louise intensified her glare, something she knew many people found intimidating with her red eyes. People who would no longer find anything intimidating about her at all once they caught sight of her soft, as-yet-short, pink fur.

"This is not funny," Louise growled when her glare failed to elicit a response from him.

"I'm sorry," He said, managing to, mostly, overcome his smile, "I've simply never seen pink fur on someone before."

He sighed, and the smile disappeared entirely.

"This does mean, however, that it is time for you to leave the academy."

Louise's scowl soured into a frown.

"So soon?" She said, "I have not even heard from my family yet."

"Unfortunately, yes," Joshua said, "This is the point at which the laws of my, and soon to be your, people kick in."

Louise looked at him quizzically. Joshua grimaced.

"I can speak no more of this here," He said, standing, "I will tell you more when we arrive at the safe-house I have set up."

Louise sighed, looking around at the infirmary. She'd never particularly enjoyed it anyways, but she had hoped to hear from her family, and simply retreat to their estates, rather than move to some unknown location.

"When do we leave?" She asked at length.

"Now," Joshua said, then slipped his arms under her, wrapping her up in her blankets, and then picking her up in a bridal carry.

"W-what!" Louise said, her face turning bright red, "At the least I must get dressed!"

"I will have Siesta gather clothes for you," Joshua said, maneuvering around her bed and heading for the infirmary's exit, "And return for them once you are at the safe-house. I'm sorry, but I am legally bound to do this with as much chance of you not being seen as possible. Please don't make this difficult."

The last words were delivered as an honest plea, with no hint of command or coercion. It was something Louise was very much not accustomed to, and found particularly confusing in her position of being maybe-abducted. This also was the first request Joshua had ever made of her that she felt might be unreasonable, and her habit of agreeing with him, combined with the fact that he had yet to prove himself in any way untrustworthy finished the argument in her mind.

"Okay," She said quietly, "But please at least let me walk myself."

"I'm sorry," Joshua said, as they left the infirmary and headed for the nearest exit from the building, "But that really wouldn't work with how we will be travelling."

"Um," Louise said, "How will we be travelling?"

"I'll show you," Joshua said as they stepped outside, "Just remember, I'm quite experienced at this, and have never injured or suffocated anyone in the process."

"Suffocated?" Louise asked, staring at him in a mixture of curiosity and concern.

Her thoughts were cut off as he stepped off the courtyard flagstones, into the ground, the earth opening up before them as they abruptly dropped a dozen feet, Joshua absorbing the shock of their landing with his knees. The ground closed over them, accompanied by utter darkness, the total lack of light.

Panic clawed at Louise, and her grip on Joshua tightened with hysterical strength.

"What are you doing," She said, voice tight with fear as she began to hyperventilate.

"Be calm," Joshua said, his voice soft with compassion, "I have been preparing this place for weeks now, it is well-secured."

It was more his tone, than the words themselves, but Louise found some of her fear abating, if not all.

"Now," Joshua said, and she could clearly see the serious expression on his face in her mind's eye, she had certainly seen it often enough during her training, "In order for things to proceed as best possible, I will need to reveal to you many secrets of myself, and my people, who will soon also be your people, even if you maintain your place in Tristainian society. I need your vow that you will not expose these secrets, save as necessary in defense of yourself or others."

"Um," Louise said hesitantly, "I am sworn to serve the Royalty of Tristainia. I cannot go making oaths of secrecy to foreign powers."

"I'm not asking you to," Joshua said, then sighed, "I suppose I have neglected to explain this before. I am a member both of my nation, and of the Dragon-blooded. The two are distinct entities, though they overlap a great deal, as my nation contains the largest population, by far, of Dragon descendants. I have looked into Tristainian laws, and you are not required to reveal every secret of your family to the Monarch, save it becomes a matter of national security. Which admittedly, it might, but in that case, it is acceptable for you to reveal it anyways. I am asking you not to reveal the secrets of your new family, save when lives are endangered."

Louise nodded slowly, forgetting that Joshua could not see her in the dark.

"I suppose I can do that," She said, "It seems a very permissive oath, however."

Joshua shrugged, and as he was still holding Louise, she didn't need to see in order to know he had.

"It's meant to be realistic," Joshua said, and abruptly there was a tiny tongue of flame providing illumination floating in front of and slightly above him, "Our patriarch, who by merit of both being the progenitor of all of us, as well as unbelievably powerful, sets the rules, and he is a firm believer that the only purpose to martial prowess is being a Hero."

As he spoke, they began moving forward, the earth opening up before them, and then closing behind them, as they progressed through a pocket of air.

"Besides," Joshua said smiling down at her, which made Louise's heart do all kinds of strange things from such a short distance, "Most of what we can do always comes out in the end, it is simply a matter of how much of a benefit can be held from the secrets in the meanwhile. Mostly, I just wanted to be sure you would not go revealing things unnecessarily."

Louise nodded; that made perfect sense to her, and would not put any particularly onerous burden upon her, so in all she found it entirely agreeable.

"Right, so the secrets," Joshua said, "First of all, how many magical effects do you notice around you?"

"Two," Louise said promptly, "The earth-moving and the flame."

"You're missing a third," Joshua said, "One to keep us from using up all the air with the flame and our own breathing, but that one is much more subtle. What is unusual about these techniques?"

Louise paused and thought for a moment, before her eyes widened, something she realized had been happening around her Familiar a lot lately.

"You're not using a wand or staff…" She said.

"True," Joshua said, "Though I am using an enchantment laid into my armor to drive the earth-moving effect. I don't have the focus or control necessary to maintain three effects at the same time, but I am maintaining two. This is the first difference from my people's magic, and that of Halkeginia."

"You don't need a focus for magic," Louise said hesitantly, "Though you can use one if you wish."

"Yes," Joshua said, nodding, "That is only the beginning though. While we can use a focus, it has to be a focus specifically prepared for the spell, to channel our energy into the correct shape, otherwise we are completely unable to use such things. In my land, this actually is a disadvantage, as it is much, much harder for us to control our magic effectively than regular magi."

Louise bit back on the desire to express disappointment, there was clearly more to come.

"The second thing," Joshua said, his voice becoming rather grave, "Is your body, and how it is changing. Once you told me how far you had progressed, I deliberately told you to focus on your skin, so that the fur would come in first. Your entire body will be changing, and many, especially girls, find the changes to their flesh to be rather grotesque if seen directly. The fur coming in first will conceal the worst of that, and eventually, if you survive the process, you will be able to change back into your original, human form."

A shiver of fear ran through Louise at that declaration, and she instinctively curled in tighter to Joshua's armored chest. He gave her a reassuring squeeze, but continued speaking.

"The transformation is not pleasant," He said, "I should be able to guide you away from the worst of the pain, but when it begins to affect your brain, you will spend days, possibly weeks, in a pained delirium, and instinctively lashing out with your magic will probably destroy almost everything in the area."

Louise shivered at his words.

"What am I turning into?" She asked hesitantly.

"It varies from person to person," Joshua said, looking down at her with concern writ large on his face, "The Dragons we are descended from were spirits of the elements before they were Dragons, and while some general details remain the same, you will be changing into a hybrid between the three natures, human, elemental spirit, and Dragon."

"That doesn't sound like a mixture that should be possible," Louise said quietly.

"Not really," Joshua said wryly, "As best we can tell, it is the process of the body finding equilibrium between the three that causes the transformation, and survival is achieved when the body reaches balance. As a warning, unless your magic is even more different than I think, it will be quite some time after the transformation before you will be able to use your magic again."

"How long is 'quite some time'?" Louise asked worriedly.

"For me," Joshua said, "It was two years."

Louise scowled.

"For some," Joshua continued, "It has been literally decades. The shortest known was about six months. Those who are not born into the blood usually both experience the change faster, and have to wait less time. You are seventeen, yes?"

Louise nodded.

"You will be eighteen or nineteen, most likely, before your magic returns," He said, "At most, twenty one, unless you are one of the truly unusual cases."

Louise thought about that for a few moments before responding.

"How do you deal with that?" She asked, "Spending years trapped in some twisted form of your own body, and without magic?"

"We're here," Joshua said, and Louise looked up to find that the earth had opened up into a modest-sized underground chamber.

It was laid out like a cross between a kitchen and a sitting room to Louise's eyes, with simple, but functional wooden chairs, a table, two couches, and a series of shelves stocked with food and utensils cut into the chamber's wall above a stone counter. There were four doorways leading out of the chamber, three of which had doors in them. On the whole, it was far less than Louise was accustomed to, but she held back complaint; it had, after all, been constructed for her sake in the first place, and Joshua was a soldier, not an artisan.

"And as to how people stand years with such afflictions," Joshua said as he set Louise down, then moved over to the couch and sat down, "Those with Dragon blood do not face death due to age. This is one of the more substantive reasons people seek our blood."

"That's…" Louise said, eyes widening, "You're immortal?"

"No," Joshua said shaking his head tiredly, and laughing slightly, "I simply will age only a few more years before my body reaches its peak, and ages no further. It is worthwhile to note, however, that while my people have existed for around three thousand years, the oldest of us are two thousand years old, and the only reason there are two, is they are married. Their progeny over the next sixteen hundred years were the only others of our kind, until the fact that our race still existed came out, and proliferation began through a variety of both healthy and unhealthy practices, starting with their youngest son, who was born some four hundred and forty or so years ago."

Louise felt that if she wasn't so used to shocking revelations at this point, she'd probably be suffering from another bout of widened eyes.

"How could a woman stand to bear children for sixteen hundred years?" Louise asked incredulously.

Joshua started slightly at her tone, then smiled.

"Our fertility rates are lower," He said shaking his head slightly as his eyes drooped, "I believe she has carried seven children, including one set of twins, though there may have been more who simply did not make it big in the history books. I, like most of the modern Dragon-blooded, am descended from the youngest. I've even met him a few times; he makes a point of meeting all those descended from him that he can."

"Four hundred years old?" Louise said, "You have met such a man?"

"Aye," Joshua said, then stood slowly, "I need to go rest now though. Your world is more malleable to my magic than mine is, but moving that much earth has still exhausted me."

He walked slowly to the leftmost room, and opened the door.

"The other room with a door is yours," He said, "The one without is Siesta's, for when I retrieve her. Food and water are on the shelves."

Louise had many, many other questions, but it was extremely obvious that Joshua was very tired, and she couldn't bring herself to argue with him. Especially considering that it was the first time he had shown a possible weakness in front of her, something that for reasons she was not entirely sure of, she did not wish to discourage.

"Um," Louise said, "Goodnight."

"Goodnight, Louise," Joshua said, entering his room, and closing the door behind him.

Leaving Louise alone and unsure of what to do with herself. After a few moment's thought, she decided to start with an exploration of her new living space. It didn't take long; the 'larder' was stocked with food that would last a little while, her room had simple and functional furniture, and Siesta's was larger, but bare. Louise guessed it had been intended as spare space, and Joshua had not yet had time to adapt it. To her surprise, Joshua's door, unlike hers, had a lock, and was locked.

Louise frowned; why did his door have a lock, but not hers? Considering that he had only a limited time, and she doubted he carried much gold on his person, she was willing to accept the rather… utilitarian nature of her new intended residence, her ego as a noble, and especially a Valliere, was not so willing to accept having less than a commoner, even one so exceptional as her Familiar.

Perhaps he simply has not been able to acquire one yet, Louise thought, and considering the lack of door for Siesta's room, and the fact that thus far, he had been the only one living down here, it made sense to her. She would accept it, for now.

Which only left her to deal with an indeterminate amount of time, after she'd just woken up, with no idea what to do with herself. The forces of Boredom began their assault on Louise Valliere.

((()))

A quiet murmur ran through the staff when Colbert entered the kitchens, but he pretended not to notice. A moment spent surveying the kitchen located Marteau, the head chef, who had already noticed him, and was crossing the room to meet him. Rather than wait for the chef to come to him, Colbert moved to meet him halfway, something most nobles would consider beneath them. Marteau was more than observant enough to know Colbert was doing so deliberately.

"Marteau," Colbert said, just loud enough to be clearly audible to anyone in the kitchen without obviously doing it on purpose, "I'm here to speak to you about what happened with Sothos last week."

The only visible reaction Marteau gave to Colbert's words was in his eyes, which was a great deal less than the rest of the kitchen staff, whose activity stopped altogether for a moment, before picking up again much more quietly.

"What do you wish to know about it, Professor?" Marteau asked respectfully, meeting Colbert's eyes unflinchingly.

"Knight N'bara pointed out to me," Colbert said his voice glut with absolute intent, "That crimes such as Sothos' have been transpiring under my nose, while I have been oblivious. This is to my shame."

Marteau said nothing in response, as a commoner, it really was not his place to either agree with, or contradict, a noble's self-criticism unless he was in their personal service or ordered to do so.

"My runic name is not very well known here at the Academy," Colbert continued after a brief pause, "This is deliberate on my My runic name is the Flame Snake, perhaps you have heard of me?"

Marteau's expression did not waver an inch, but the man paled noticeably.

"The Flame Snake was one of the Heavy Wind's battle-companions," Marteau said, his voice scrupulously devoid of inflection.

"Indeed I was," Colbert said nodding, "I came to the academy out of a desire to leave the atrocities of war behind."

Colbert allowed anger to show on his face and in his voice before he continued.

"Now I find that such atrocities have accompanied me here. I have enjoyed the reputation 'Professor Colbert' has as a friendly, approachable sort, but now I find it is time for the Flame Snake to return again. I wish for you to let it be known throughout the castle staff that if any of the other nobles in the Academy, faculty, student, or visitors, rape, harass, or in any other way assault any of the commoners on staff, it is the Flame Snake who will come calling to make them answer for their actions."

Colbert paused for a moment to sweep his gaze around the kitchen, the various men and women no longer even pretending to work as they listened in, before turning his focus back to Marteau.

"Am I understood, Head Chef Marteau?"

A fierce grin formed on Marteau's face.

"You are quite understood, Flame Snake," Marteau said.

((()))

When Louise awoke from her eventual impromptu nap, she heard Siesta singing softly, happily in the main part of the underground residence, as well as a sizzling sound. Also, due to the length of time since her arm had last had a spell cast on it, it was beginning to ache again. Deciding to ignore the pain as best she could, she groggily crawled out of bed, and staggered out to the common area.

There she found Siesta cooking over a glowing section of counter-top, while Joshua sat on the counter-top beside her, occasionally exchanging a few words with the happy girl. Louise spent a few minutes taking the pair in, before approaching.

"Good afternoon, Louise," Joshua said as she approached, "Did you sleep well?"

Louise nodded slightly, then blinked in confusion.

"How would you know if it's afternoon, down here?"

"I have a watch," Joshua said, took in Louise's confused expression, then raised his left arm and indicated for her to look at the back of his wrist, "A portable clock, effectively."

There, on his wrist, a small set of numbers appeared, indicating the time was somewhere after four o'clock.

"What is this?" Louise asked, "How on earth can you fit a clock into part of your glove? How does it display such numbers?"

"My civilization possesses technology far in advance of yours," Joshua said, as Siesta turned from her cooking to look at the numbers as well, "The actual time-keeping mechanism is smaller than the human eye can see, this is simply a display. It can also display other things."

The numbers changed, then after a couple seconds, changed again, then again, though none of the numbers meant much of anything to Louise, save that the last was nearly zero.

"Those were measures of the temperature, air pressure, and how toxic the atmosphere is to a human," Joshua said, "There's more, but it's not particularly important just now. The full data display is supposed to be worked into my helmet, but that did not cross the worlds with me."

Louise frowned, trying to wrap her mind around what Joshua was saying, then gave it up as a bad job.

"My arm is starting to ache again," She said, then trailed off as she wasn't entirely sure where she was going with that thought.

Joshua grimaced, then hopped off the counter, and reached around behind his back. Louise heard a couple of clicking sounds from behind him, then he brought his hand back around, and tossed her a small green tube.

"There are six pills in there," He said, his tone very serious, "Each will last for six hours. They're combat medication, designed to allow a soldier to fight through any amount of pain. I've only got the six, so choose when to use them wisely. The pain will grow worse with time, but as the change progresses, your biology will begin to change to the point where painkillers won't be effective anymore."

Louise scowled at that, glaring fiercely down at the small green tube. Nobody said anything for a few minute, Joshua leaning back to place his hand on the counter again, and Louise going to sit down on the nearby couch.

For those few minutes, all was quiet, save the sounds of Siesta's cooking.

"Finished!" Siesta said cheerfully, breaking the silence, and then proceeded to serve the three of them.

The meal was simple, bread from the academy kitchens, served with seasoned and fried venison, and a variety of vegetables that Louise were fairly certain had been picked from the forest. To compare it to the fare the Academy kitchens customarily served would be an insult to the Academy chefs, but it was still tasty, so Louise chose not to complain.

Or perhaps she chose not to complain because of how Siesta was smiling at her. And Joshua. The maid's smile had seemed permanently affixed since Joshua's fight with Sothos, and when Louise thought about it, she could certainly see why. Joshua had a certain rough handsomeness to him, and though the crush she had experienced when she first met him had faded into a more familial affection, she was still certainly quite aware he was an attractive man.

Louise was pretty sure that after Joshua had, literally, been Siesta's knight in shining armor, the young woman was probably floating in a romantic dreamland. Rather abruptly, Louise realized she was smiling about it herself; she wished the pretty maid luck with her Familiar, it would probably do them both some good, and would be quite convenient considering they were both, in effect, her employees.

A frown formed on Louises's face, as she realized that while a Familiar was supposed to be obedient to their master, hers had mostly been ordering her around. Louise's frown turned to a scowl. That wasn't quite accurate; coming here, underground, was the only time her Familiar had outright told her what she would do. He had given instructions in his role as a teacher, but he had honestly been less forceful about them than most of the Academy instructors, save Colbert. Of course, Colbert never needed to be particularly forceful, but that was an entirely different matter.

Or was it?

Louise's scowl turned back into a frown as she considered the two men. They both had a strong self-assurance about them, a certainty that pervaded their presence, though Joshua's as a whole was much more forceful. Both, though, had far more presence than any of the other men she had encountered at the Academy, certainly more than the male students, like that fop Guiche, or Malicorne.

Yuck.

Her frown relaxing slightly into an expression of simple concentration, Louise began taking stock of all of her classmates, and finding to her disgust, that the most impressive of the students was Kirche, of all people. Or perhaps Tabitha, for all that she was terribly quiet, she had summoned a Dragon, something that any other student would have lorded over their peers.

"What are you thinking of, mistress?" Siesta said, her curious voice interrupting Louise's thoughtful reverie.

"Tabitha," Louise said, blinking, and looking at Siesta, who was seated on a simple wooden chair across from her, "She summoned a Dragon, something I would have looked into, and probably would have drawn more attention from others as well, if Joshua hadn't appeared with a corpse."

"She's very sharp," Joshua put in, from where he was sitting beside her on the couch, "I've tried several times to approach her Dragon, Slyphid, without the girl interfering, but she always manages to suddenly turn up."

"Why would you want to be with her familiar when she isn't around?" Siesta asked curiously.

"Dragons where I come from are sentient," Joshua explained, his face becoming fierce, "If her species is like those I am familiar with, she is little more than a child, and I want to be certain she is not being treated poorly."

His voice had sharpened nearly painfully by the time he finished speaking, and a few moments of chilled silence passed before Louise broke it.

"I hate to say it," She said, disgust pervading her tone, "But you may need to speak to Kirche about Tabitha, she's the only one Tabitha seems to be friends with."

"The immodest over-endowed redhead?" Joshua asked, his tone revealing some distaste.

Louise was secretly thrilled at his apparent disapproval of her rival.

"Yes," She said flatly, and Joshua grimaced.

"I suppose there's no helping it," He said, "Defense of the young is more important than avoiding unpleasant people."

Louise nodded sympathetically, while Siesta demurely raised a hand to cover her smile.

((()))

During the day, Joshua had to emerge from the earth outside the Academy walls, as there was simply too much activity on the grounds to emerge without detection. Once on the surface, gaining entry to the academy was simple; the guards welcomed him with a respectful nod, and he set about looking for Kirche, who he eventually found leaving the Alvis dining hall with some of her classmates.

Who, apparently had also been looking for him.

"Dearest!" She said brightly, opening her arms and rushing towards him.

Caught completely off-guard by the busty girl's spontaneous affection, he froze for a moment, her completely non-threatening body-language failing to trigger his defensive reflexes, enabling the red-head to latch onto him in an enthusiastic embrace. When she moved to kiss him, however, he instinctively jerked away, memories of Louise's unexpected kiss after his summoning spurring him to action.

"I've been looking for you for days!" Kirche said brightly, giving no outward signs of being put off by his evasion of her kiss, undulating against his body, "Wherever have you been hiding?"

It had not yet occurred to Kirche that his full suit of armor was protecting him from the tactile assault of her deliberately sensual embrace, significantly blunting the force of her seductive efforts, and leaving Joshua much more mentally gathered than most of her targets for conquest.

Joshua shook himself, cleared his throat, then carefully took hold of her hands, and removed them from his person, stepping back out of his embrace.

"Miss Zerbst," He said, "I wish to speak with you, alone."

An appreciative murmur ran through the crowd at his words, and Kirche's smile, having dimmed slightly as he backed out of her embrace, intensified threefold.

"Of course darling!" Kirche proclaimed, deftly slipping her right arm into his, gesturing grandly with her left, as she smiled brilliantly up at him, "Lead on to an appropriate place of private rendezvous!"

Joshua did not like the implied greater meaning to her words, but silently escorted her away from the other students, towards a stand of trees within the grounds, deciding it would be more efficient to speak once they were alone.

"Miss Zerbst," Joshua said once they were behind the cover of the trees, disengaging from the red-headed Germanian and turning to face her, "It has been pointed out to me that you are the most likely source of reliable information on Tabitha."

Kirche's suggestive smile morphed into an expression of confusion.

"Tabitha?" She said in confusion, "Why do you want to know about Tabitha?"

"She summoned a Dragon," Joshua said, "In my world, Dragons are uniformly sentient, and if that Dragon's physiology is like any I have met before, she's naught but a child. Every time I have attempted to speak with her alone, Tabitha has made certain she is present, so now, rather than speak with the Dragon, I must attempt to discern Tabitha's character indirectly."

"You could just speak with her, you know," Kirche said, confusion beginning to give way to irritation.

"That," Joshua said, "Was the first thing I tried. She wouldn't speak to me."

"Oh," Kirche said, and seemed suddenly to deflate, growing morose as she stared at the ground, "I sometimes forget that she only really speaks to me, and even then, two dozen words in a half hour of conversation is normal. Somebody did something terrible to that girl, but I've no idea what, and she won't tell me."

Joshua leaned back, closing his eyes. His expression was grim as he took a deep breath, and thought for a long moment, before opening his eyes, and leaning forward to address Kirche again.

"How did you get her to speak with you?" He asked, intense gaze locked on her eyes.

Kirche blushed as she met his gaze, and immediately felt the attraction to him flame anew. His gaze was fierce, his face taut, a man of barely restrained passion and intensity forcing himself to patience with her as he worked towards what he wanted. Kirche knew, that many women would have been disappointed and offended by his focus on Tabitha while he spoke with her. To Kirche though, seeing his drive, his focus, up close, just made her desire him all the more.

"I fought with her," Kirche said, slightly breathless, "I did not approve of her habits, and pushed her to the point where she finally reacted, and we fought, mage to mage."

Kirche paused for a moment, shaking her head before continuing.

"For a brief while, I gained some respect for Tristainian women, but after we had fought each other to exhaustion, and she briefly spoke with me in complete sentences, I found out she's Gallian."

Kirche snorted, then spoke again.

"I doubt that'll work for you," She said, "Tabitha's a triangle-class wind and water mage, but unlike Sothos, she has Slyphid, the Dragon, and she'd just fly away out of reach, and read in the sky."

Joshua frowned, then turned away. It was a nearly a minute before he spoke again, and when he did, he surprised Kirche with an abrupt subject change.

"Why do you call me 'darling'?" He asked.

"Because I'm in love with you!" Kirche declared, her smile returning full force as she stepped around in front of him, reaching forward to lay her hands around his neck.

"In 'love' with me?" Joshua said harshly, catching her hands in his larger, armored ones, "How could you possibly love me, when this is the first time we've even spoken to each other!"

Kirche felt a shiver go down her spine as he glared at her again, those intense eyes blazing down at hers, his strong hands holding hers in a firm, but not painful grip.

"Everything you do speaks of who you are," She said, stepping closer to him, even though his grip on her hands did not budge, "You are a man of great passion," Her voice was becoming passionate and intent as she spoke, "You are powerful, and fight for what you believe in, high ideals which few inside of Germania, and even fewer outside, with power like yours would profess. You are like a blazing bonfire, and I value that in a man."

Joshua stared at her, a slight hint of confusion furrowing his brow; he had not expected such a response, and could not readily think of a way to deny her words. That still didn't mean he found her attractive. After a few moments of deliberation, he released her hands, and stepped away from her again.

"Thank you for the information on Tabitha," He said gruffly, "I will be speaking with her again, whether she speaks with me or not. As for yourself, I don't find you even remotely attractive. If you want me to, you should show some more respect for yourself."

Kirche started violently at his flat rejection, and was still staring at him in shock when he walked out of the secluded copse of trees, onto the academy grounds proper.

"Show more respect for myself?" She asked, confusion and pain in her voice, "What on earth does he mean?"

((()))

Tabitha was not a girl prone to panic, or even fear, really. By the time she was eight years old, after more killing and death than most saw in a life time, she lacked the aversion to death and physical pain that most humans possessed. There were still things that could frighten her, but she doubted any at the Tristain Academy were aware of such things' existence, much less capable of using them against her.

Seeing Joshua N'bara, Louise's familiar, and Kirche's latest crush, emerge from the earth beside her familiar and lay his hand on its neck made her realize she had been wrong. Tabitha dropped her book, and began reaching for her staff, but N'bara laid his other hand on the hilt of his sword, and Tabitha stopped.

He did not speak, but simply stared at her, and for the first time in many months, Tabitha felt fear. Irukuku, whom she had named Slyphid as part of the young Rhyme Dragon's disguise, was her responsibility, and she had been caught off guard. It was dusk, and the pair had been resting by a small lake near the academy, Irukuku sunning herself happily on the lakeshore, Tabitha reclining against a tree and reading. Unfortunately, Irukuku had fallen asleep, and Tabitha had, apparently, not been adequately wary of attack from below.

How N'bara had found her, she did not know, though considering she had also not known he was an earth mage, she suspected there was a great deal more to the man than he let on.

And he still was not speaking.

Tabitha had developed a deeply-ingrained desire to not speak since early childhood, but it was apparent to even her now that she would need to do so.

"What do you want?" She asked quietly.

"If she is like the Dragons of my world," Joshua responded promptly, his own voice low as he did not desire to wake the Dragon beside him, "This Dragon is very, very young, and sentient. I am all too aware of what the familiar bond attempts to do to a person."

He took his hand off of Irukuku's shoulder, and stepped towards Tabitha, who found herself the subject of the most intense glare she had ever experienced in her life.

"I am here to ensure that you are not mistreating her," He said.

Tabitha found that Joshua had evoked another rare emotion in her, one she had not felt in years.

Anger.

Her expression tightened, just a hair, but for her, that was practically screaming, and Joshua was perceptive enough to notice. He said nothing though, again waiting for her to speak.

It took some time, but she spoke again.

"Irukuku," She said, speaking more loudly than she had in quite some time, and the Dragon started awake.

"Kyuu-ee," Irukuku said, yawning then shaking, before rolling to her feet, "What is it big sister?"

Then Irukuku spotted Joshua.

"Uh-oh!" She squeaked, a truly strange sound coming from something the size of a small room, and dashed around behind Tabitha, trying to hide behind the tiny girl, "I'm sorry big sister, I didn't know anybody else was here!"

Neither Joshua nor Tabitha said anything, silence passing as she stared at him, and he looked back and forth between Tabitha and Irukuku, particularly Tabitha's defensive posture and Irukuku's clearly deferential, but not fearful body language. When Irukuku began to make confused noises, Joshua chose to speak.

"I think that answers my question," He said, nodding at Tabitha, "I'm sorry if you felt insulted, but I had to know. If you will keep my secret, I will keep yours."

And then he fell into the ground, it rippling and then closing up over him as though it were water, leaving a confused young Dragon, and Tabitha with a number of new thoughts.

((()))

It was late when Joshua returned to the underground safehouse, and when he did he found Siesta humming quietly in an armchair as she knitted, while Louise had apparently passed out on the couch. The Knight gave Siesta a meaningful look, gesturing to Louise.

"She fell asleep about half an hour ago," The maid whispered, smiling up at N'bara, "When she sleeps, she reminds me of my younger sisters. So cute!"

Joshua closed his eyes, and for a moment, a shadow of pain passed across his face. It was gone as quickly as it came, and Joshua strode quietly across to where Louise slept, inspecting her carefully. Her fur was growing in more noticeably now, and rather than simply adding a faint pinkish tinge, it was starting to make her noticeably fuzzy. Moving carefully, Joshua slipped his arms under her, and picked the tiny girl up, carrying her into her room to put her to bed.

When he returned, Siesta was still where she had been before, and Joshua sized her up for a moment, considering.

"Are you sure you're up for this?" He asked quietly.

"For what?" Siesta asked, looking up at him curiously.

"Staying down here with Louise and I," Joshua said, "Her transformation won't be pleasant, pretty, or safe. She could accidentally kill you when her magic rages out of control."

"It's okay," Siesta said smiling softly up at him, her eyes full of trust, "I trust you to protect me."

Joshua started slightly at the complete lack of doubt in her statement, and it took him a moment to find a response.

"You probably shouldn't," He said gruffly, "I don't have the best track record."

"But you're so strong!" Siesta said, surprised by his self-deprecation, "Strong enough to defeat Nobles without even using magic!"

Joshua's jaw clenched, and he violently turned away from her, his entire body becoming tense.

"Not strong enough to protect my sisters," He said harshly, then strode quickly to his room, and shut the door behind him.

"Oh, poop," Siesta said, deeply regretting bringing up a painful memory on his part, even if it was accidental.

Setting aside her knitting, she quickly crossed the common room to his door, but found that it was locked, ruining her chances at attempting to go comfort him.

"Now what?" She asked nobody in particular, surveying the room around her with a dejected air.

((()))

Time passed at the Academy; Joshua expanded his stamina carrying Siesta to and from the surface every other day to collect supplies and perform tasks that could not be completed in their safehouse, Colbert spent less time on his mechanical studies, and more time working to regain his combat edge, Kirche spent many idle moments attempting to figure out why Joshua didn't think she had respect for herself, Tabitha began studying N'bara when he was on the surface, and Louise began to acclimate herself to the wonders of having fur.

She wasn't very happy about that. Over the next three days, what had begun as extremely fine pink fur, of the same hue as her hair, barely poking out of the surface of her skin, grew into a dense covering that blocked the sight of her skin altogether. It didn't itch exactly, but her fur rubbing against her clothes, and whatever else she happened to be in contact with, was an unfamiliar and constant sensation, and therefore a constant distraction.

It was a distraction she sometimes welcomed though, as after following Joshua's instructions to circulate her magic through every part of her body except for her head, other changes began. First, the tingling sensation that had begun some time ago began to remain all the time, though it was more muted when she was not actively moving her internal energies to that part of her body.

Then one morning, she woke up, and all of her bones hurt. All of them, though her skull and jaw so faintly she barely noticed through what was happening to the rest of her. That was the first time she took one of the pain pills, almost desperately opening the little tube and cramming one into her mouth. It took effect within minutes, and Louise found herself not only no longer in pain, but also slightly hyperactive, and somewhat euphoric.

She also almost tripped on her way out into the common room that morning. Her gait was forced to change, and once Joshua saw her, he immediately swept her off her feet, and told her that walking upright wasn't really going to be an option for her any longer, as her bones were changing, and she'd damage their growth if she walked in any quantity, putting too much pressure on the joints of her lower limbs. It wasn't hard for her to believe either; two days later the shape of her feet and ankles had changed to the point where she could no longer wear shoes.

That was when it really struck Louise for the first time that she was turning into something inhuman, and decided she needed to talk to Joshua about just what, exactly, she was turning into.

((()))

"Joshua?" Louise asked quietly when he came to check on her the next morning, "What am I turning into?"

Joshua conjured a small flame to illuminate Louise's darkened room, and studied her carefully before answering.

"I guess I thought the answer to that was kind of obvious," He said, "Come, and I will show you."

((()))

When Siesta got up that morning, she found that her mistress and Joshua were not in, an unusual thing so early in the day. In her experience, usually Joshua woke first, and would be doing exercises when she roused herself and began to prepare breakfast. Joshua would then check on Louise, before heating a section of the 'stove' for her to cook on, then once he was no longer needed, go to wake the mistress, and as of the last few days, carry her to breakfast. After breakfast, he would either bring Siesta to the surface, or simply go there himself, depending on the day.

It frustrated Siesta that even though she and the mistress now shared living quarters with him, he still spent no more than four hours in a given day with them, especially since she was not entirely sure why. Setting these thoughts aside, Siesta set about preparing an uncooked breakfast, and generally making herself busy until they returned.

So when Joshua returned, slipping out of the wall as he was wont to do, and carrying a madly grinning and giggling Louise, she was considerably confused. When she asked Joshua, he just smiled, and told her she'd learn about it soon enough.

((()))

Another week passed, with no substantial change visited on the three from the outside world. Kirche found, to her frustration, that finding Joshua and ensnaring him in conversation when he did not wish to be was apparently impossible for her, Tabitha noted that Joshua seemed supernaturally aware of when Kirche was approaching, Irukuku tried to figure out why Joshua smelled so strange, Siesta began a subtle campaign to get Joshua to open up to her, Colbert gave stern warnings to three young noblemen with wandering eyes and suggestive words, and Louise hurt.

Her body had begun to swell, driving her appetite into unbelievable extremes, as she ate at least five pounds of food, mostly meat, at every meal. It wasn't a bloated swelling, though her skin was painfully tight as it struggled to keep up with her expansion, it was her bones and organs expanding and reshaping, while her new layers of muscles developed over those that already existed. Louise was certain she was rapidly becoming frightfully strong, but it hurt too much to do anything except lay on her back, and could not test it; the last time she had attempted to sit upright, she had ended up taking the second pain-killer to silence the fire her efforts lit in her spine.

Louise's clothing no longer fit, and she was glad that the fur had come first now, as the steadily lengthening pink body hair was the only thing besides her cloak she now had to preserve her modesty. The couch was now Louise's sole domain when she was not in her bed, and Joshua transported her between the two on a cushion of air now, which he said helped him practice his control.

It was during this time that Louise decided that Siesta was seriously under-paid, and that she would never, ever fire the pretty young woman from Tarbes. Hell, if that was what it took to ensure she never left Louise's service, she would conspire to see her handmaiden wed to her Familiar!

The reasons for Louise's gratitude towards Siesta were simple, though many-fold. Siesta was the only company Louise had during the day, and despite Louise's increasing infirmity, never once complained about being trapped in a hole in the ground with a mistress whose body was an aberration, and she always, always had a friendly smile for Louise.

That meant a lot with the constant pain Louise was in. And not only was the young maid always friendly and cheerful, she was so in spite of what Louise could see was clear frustration with her ability to attempt to get closer to her Familiar, something that confused Louise. The maid was certainly pretty enough, and her friendly and cheerful disposition could hardly be taken as unpleasant, what was it about Siesta that kept Joshua at arm's length?

Siesta did one other very, very precious thing for Louise; she never looked at Louise with revulsion or disappointment, no matter how hideous her body might be, or how utterly incapable of taking care of herself she was becoming. Louise was as concerned about her appearance as any young noble lady, and after all of the put-downs and condescending looks she had received from her peers for her small and undeveloped physique, Siesta's treatment meant a great deal.

Especially when Louise was willing to admit to herself that Siesta was genuinely better looking than she was.

Her handmaiden also did everything she could to relieve her pains, massaging aching muscles, carefully feeding her by hand so that she didn't even have to sit up. Not to mention more humiliating things, such as assisting her with more discrete bodily functions; Louise desperately hoped that Joshua had not noticed her period coming and passing. Without Siesta, she would have had to ask his assistance in dealing with the sanitary issues involved, a humiliation she did not wish to endure.

It was also during this time that a comment from Joshua, made after he caught Louise's grateful gaze directed at Siesta when the maid had fallen asleep in her chair while knitting, that made Louise begin to question just how important the divide between Nobles and Commoners really was, or more importantly, wasn't.

Change came again to life beneath Tristain Academy, when Louise's mother arrived at the Academy.

((()))

"Duchess Valliere!" Osmond said, surprise evident in his voice as he raised an eyebrow at the iron-faced woman who had just entered his office unannounced, "What brings you to the Academy?"

"My daughter," Karin Valliere ne Desiree said harshly, standing before Osmond's desk in an aggressive but not outright combative posture, "She was to have arrived at our estates weeks ago, and I have received no word from the Academy since your initial, painfully vague message, regarding her injury."

"Indeed?" Osmond said, "Your arrival is the first sign we have had that our message was received at all."

Karin closed her eyes for a moment, though Osmond did not suffer the illusion that this made her more vulnerable to attack in the slightest, and when she opened them again, her posture shifted from 'aggressive' to 'displeased.'

"It appears someone has intercepted my messenger," Karin ground out, "Very well then. Where is my daughter now?"

"I am not sure as to her precise whereabouts," Osmond admitted, "You should ask either her handmaiden, Siesta, or her familiar, Joshua."

"Ask her familiar?" Karin asked sharply, "It is capable of speech?"

"He," Osmond said stressing the pronoun, "Is human, or at the least mostly so. He also defeated a line wind mage in a duel with little apparent effort, and possesses, at a minimum, an enchanted weapon and armor, as well as very strong views regarding equality between nobles and commoners."

Karin stared at Osmond for some time, eyes and face in no way revealing her thoughts, before speaking again.

"How did my daughter's familiar end up in a duel with a student?" She asked pointedly.

Osmond grimaced slightly; Karin knew that none of the teaching staff were less than triangle mages, and Osmond knew she had let her awareness of that slip just so that he would know that she knew more about his domain than she had strict need to.

"About that," Osmond said, "You should ask your old protégé, Colbert."

Karin nodded sharply, and left his office, asking no more permission to depart than she had to enter.

"Your pretty face may fool the old goat," She said to Osmond's secretary as she passed the young woman on her way out, "But it doesn't fool me."

((()))

Karin found Joshua first; he was much more distinctive than Siesta, who apparently was her daughter's new handmaiden, and the nobles in the academy simply did not pay much attention to the serving staff unless they had need to. She was, apparently, in luck, as the man spent two hours a day in the library, and she happened to be looking for him during this time, the only time he could be depended upon to stay both in one place, and in sight, for any amount of time, since her daughter had left the Infirmary.

That nobody knew where Louise had been taken did nothing to ease the anger Karin already felt.

When she found him in the library, holed up in one of the more remote corners, Karin immediately sized the Knight up. Even seated, she could see that he was tall, his hair was shaggy, and somewhat wild, running down almost to the collar of his armor in the back, and covering most of his forehead in front. His armor was a simple metallic gray, but crafted in a pattern and complexity she had never seen before, plate that did not covered the majority, but not all of his body, formed of manner smaller interlocking and overlapping pieces rather than a few larger plates. It was backed by some sort of black material that Karin could not identify, and that, if anything, worried her more than the faint engravings she could just discern the presence of from part way across the library.

His he held himself in his own variant of the half-relaxed posture that Karin had seen in hundreds of soldiers who were always on guard, and could relax no further without risking their ability to respond promptly. His face bore a simple expression of focus, and revealed little to her.

"Ahem," She said, and the young man immediately turned his head to look at her, sizing her up in a swift glance, then following up with a more careful one.

"You must be Louise's mother," He said, "Karin of the Heavy Wind."

"Yes," Karin said sharply, "Though I rarely use that title in these days, as I am now the Duchess Valliere."

"I am Joshua N'bara," Joshua said, "Knight Errant of House Gorge, rank of Captain aboard the Imminent Rebuke, until I was summoned here, I was attached to the Marines. I assume you are here to see your daughter?"

"You assume correctly," Karin said, "Where is she?"

"In a secure location," Joshua said, placing a bookmark in the tome he had been reading, then snapping it shut and standing, "I will retrieve her for you."

"No," Karin commanded, "You will take me to her."

Joshua snorted, tension entering his face as he strode forward to stand directly in front of her.

"She is your daughter, Duchess Vallière," He said, "But she has been under my care these past weeks. I am more than willing to remand her to your custody, but that does not mean I am willing to reveal to you the location of my nearest safehouse."

Karin's eyes narrowed as she glared at the Knight in front of her.

"If you are truly my daughter's familiar," Karin said forcefully, "You answer to her, and she answers to me, placing you under my authority."

Joshua snorted derisively before responding.

"I don't know what being a Knight means in this world," Joshua said, a hard edge in his own voice, "But for any of those from my world, fighting off the compulsion enchantment in the familiar bond is nothing more than an irritation. I was summoned from the field of war, Duchess," He practically spat the word, "I could very well have treated your daughter as an enemy combatant for abducting an Officer during time of war. I answer to my superiors within House Gorge, and aboard the Imminent Rebuke, not to a feudal noble in a foreign country."

Karin considered his words for a moment, but long-lived habits of decisive action, combined with her anger, pushed her into an aggressive response.

"Your nation and military, are not here," Karin said firmly, "This is Tristainia, and while you are here, you will respect our laws and authorities."

Joshua laughed, a deep, full bodied laugh with an edge of deadly anticipation to it, which was also reflected on his face.

"Try me, woman," Joshua said, placing his hand on the hilt of his sword, "Shall we see how much of this Academy we can destroy in our duel? I've read about you, and unlike most of the idiot nobles that infest this continent, you actually pose a credible threat to me."

He stepped closer to her again, glaring down at her.

"You might even manage to kill me," He said, "Of course, I might kill you too, but either way, you'll have quite the time finding your daughter, won't you?"

"Her handmaiden will tell me," Karin replied, not intimidated in the least.

"Siesta does not know," Joshua said harshly, "While she is a young woman of strong character, she is neither a soldier nor a warrior, and I would not entrust her with sensitive information as such. Now are we going to fight, or can you set aside your pissy ego for your daughter's sake, and accept a slight delay in seeing her? That is, if she even wants to see you."

Karin ground her teeth, and resisted the urge to spit in the younger man's face, but she could see that he was not bluffing, he was more than ready to fight rather than submit to her authority. She did not like it, but she was not willing to take chances; at least, not until her daughter was safely in hand.

"Very well,' She ground out, "Where should I await your return?"

"In the forest outside the west gate," Joshua said, "If you have any trusted family retainers, feel free to bring them, but no one not sworn to your family's service."

He left before she could decide whether or not to argue with that condition.

((()))

"Louise," Joshua said, "Your mother is at the academy, and wants me to bring you to her."

The panic that lit in Louise's eyes revealed to Joshua a great deal more than Louise was capable of comprehending at the time, and his heart wrenched within him as he saw how another child feared their parent.

"If you don't want to see her," Joshua said gently, reaching down to lay an armored hand softly on her swollen and partially-transformed shoulder, "I'll just tell her that."

"You can't!" Louise said desperately, "She's… She's…"

She trailed off as she failed to find adequate words to express the fears of her mother's reaction to her altered body, as they conflicted with her worries of what would happen to Joshua, or anybody else for that matter, if he attempted to deny her mother what she demanded.

Joshua watched the struggle, waiting for her to speak, but as it stretched from moments to minutes, with Louise only becoming more and more distraught, Joshua decided to offer an alternative.

"If you want," Joshua said reluctantly, "I will collect Siesta and some sheets, and have her set up a blind that you can speak to her from behind, while I guard it against her intrusion."

Desperate for any kind of solution, Louise agreed.

((()))

"Duchess Valliere," Joshua called as he approached her position at the edge of the forest.

She had four armsmen with her wearing the colors of House Valliere; Joshua sized them up. Well equipped with leather and ring mail, longswords and shortbows. Well trained too, judging by their stances, definitely more skilled than the academy guards, but still nowhere near his level. The way they oriented themselves around the Duchess also revealed that while they knew she was far more dangerous than any of them, they still took their jobs seriously. Joshua expected Karin would not tolerate anything less.

"Knight N'bara," Valliere responded icily to his greeting, glaring at him as he approached to within ten paces of her, "Where is my daughter, and what took you so long?"

"This way," Joshua said, turning away, and leading her further into the forest, "And I had to convince your daughter to come," Joshua said, "She did not wish to be seen," He paused and when he continued, his voice carried a heavy undertone of sarcasm, "It's almost as though she were afraid of you, but she wouldn't have any reason to be afraid of her own mother would she?"

One of the guards bristled at Joshua's words, but was too well-disciplined to do anything more.

"What, exactly, are you implying, Knight?" Karin said, her voice painfully sharp.

"That your daughter is afraid of you," Joshua said, not turning back to face the Duchess, "But we'll see soon enough, won't we?"

Karin resisted the urge to grind her teeth, and forced herself to wait. Finding her daughter came first, dealing with the commoner's impudence second. They walked for a handful of minutes through the forest, before arriving in a small clearing, on the opposite side of which an improvised enclosure had been formed from sheets hanging from tree branches. Standing just outside of the enclosure was a very pretty young woman dressed as a maid, with the distinctive facial features that could only be found in Tarbes; Karin assumed she was Siesta, Louise's new handmaiden.

"Louise," Joshua called, and Karin made mental note that even in direct address he failed to call her 'master,' "Your mother is here."

"Hello mother," came a voice from behind the sheets, that sounded slightly off, and strained, but Karin could clearly recognize as her daughter's.

"Louise," Karin said firmly, but not quite harshly, "Come out of there at once."

A moment of silence passed before Louise responded.

"I can't," Louise said, stress rising in her voice, "I can't stand."

Karin immediately stormed across the clearing, signaling for her guards to remain where they were.

"Do you want me to let her in?" Joshua asked as he paced her, and Karin forced herself not to bristle at the implications of his statement.

"Don't try to stop her!" Louise called, voice slightly frantic, and Karin could see the Knight's jaw working tensely out of the corner of her eye.

It was not difficult for Karin to realize that Louise was more afraid of the Knight and herself fighting, than N'bara was himself. Considering Louise had personal experience with her, and N'bara did not, Karin chalked that up as a tentative indication she held an advantage over the Knight.

Then she reached the screens, and stepped inside. Her daughter lay inside, or what had to be her daughter, though she was not entirely sure it could be. Part of her rebelled at the idea that the misshapen creature mostly concealed beneath a blanket could be that which had issued forth from her own womb seventeen years ago, but there was too much of Louise in it for her to deny.

Louise's face was almost entirely untouched, save for the short, downy pink fur that covered it, but her hair had grown much, much longer, and was pooled around her. It was obviously still cared for, but there was no way it could have grown so much at natural speeds since Karin had last seen her daughter. What little of Louise's neck was not covered by the blanket was swollen, not in the manner of one who was, sick, but with thick corded muscles, and here the pink fur was thicker. Looking at the outline of her child under the blanket, she felt physically nauseous in a way she had not since before she was ten years old.

Her daughter's neck was inhumanely long, more than a foot in length, though not by much, and her torso and abdomen were much larger than they should have been, and their shape was subtly changed. The changes were most noticeable in Louise's limbs, however, both arms and legs noticeably stouter and strong, and her knees now reverse-jointed. Her hands and feet had changed substantially as well, the digits extending from each large enough to each be individually outlined by the blanket.

"Hello Mother," Louise said weakly, eyes filled with pain as she stared up at what looked a great deal like an older version of her, before her transformation had begun.

Karin's heart lurched violently within her, desperate desire to solve her daughter's problem utterly stymied by a complete lack of knowledge about what was going on. A small, atrophied part of Karin screamed at her to kneel down and embrace her daughter, but The Heavy Wind that Karin Desiree had lived as her entire life decided upon another course of action.

"You," She hissed, spinning in place to face Joshua, glaring at him, "What have you done to my daughter?"

"It is not what I did to her," He said, staring stone-faced back at her, "I am descended from a Dragon, the magic and blood of Dragons flows through my veins, and your daughter bound herself to that. She did so without informing me of what in all such a bond would mean, or allowing me to explain to her what the consequences of such a thing could be. Now the magic of my people mixes with her own through the bond she formed; she has, out of ignorance, done this to herself."

"That is not how the familiar bond works," Karin spat, drawing her wand, "You will give me the truth, or I will force it from you."

"And you know all things of all magic?" Joshua roared, stepping back and out of the enclosure as he drew his sword, "That you can say with such certainty that it could not be?"

"No," Karin growled, "But I know enough to say that is not a possibility."

"Truly?" Joshua said derisively, "In your world, there are five elements of magic, of which one has been 'lost' for millennia. In my world, there are nine, one of which was rediscovered less than four hundred years ago, and new ways of using each are discovered every year. I have read your culture's history woman, you have stagnated for SIX THOUSAND YEARS!"

The last he shouted, his face twisted in anger.

"SIX THOUSAND YEARS!" He roared again, and Karin could feel the heat of his anger as he retreated into the clearing, "In which not only your magic, but also your technology has been all but stagnant! In five hundred years my people have gone from where yours are now, to machines so advanced you would think them driven by magic! We had machines that flew through the air, vehicles drawn by no animal that could move thousands of miles in a single hour, before we even knew magic existed!"

Joshua was breathing hard, visible waves of heat rolling off his body as he shouted his anger at her.

"DON'T PRESUME TO LECTURE ME ON WHAT IS AND IS NOT POSSIBLE, IGNORANT WOMAN!" He screamed, spit sizzling away into steam as it left his mouth.

That was the final slight for Karin, and without saying a word, she thrust forward with her wand, and sent a powerful blast of compressed air at him, aimed at blasting him across the clearing, and shutting him up.

Joshua's sword moved with lightning speed, smashing into the blast of air the instant before it struck him, and causing the spell to shatter, the mass of air decompressing in a uselessly defuse way, barely jostling Joshua.

"You know," He growled, his entire body tensing as he lowered himself into an aggressive stance, "It's telling how tries to end an argument with violence. It either means they have less self control than the other person, or they can't think of any other way to win. AHHHHH!"

Screaming, engraved runes across his armor coming aglow, and his sword bursting into flame, he charged Karin.

Karin spat, and gestured sharply with her wand, a powerful wall of wind rapidly forming and moving in on Joshua's left side even as she retreated from him. To her shock, he simply tossed his sword from his left hand to his right, and with a gesture from his left hand, disrupted her spell.

Osmond did not say that he was a Wind mage, Karin thought furiously, nor that he could cast without a focus. Or is his armor the focus?

"Supporting fire!" She barked to her armsmen, two of whom were already drawing their bows, the other two of whom had been advancing on the Knight with swords drawn.

The two with swords sheathed them and drew back, while Karin leapt into the sky, wrapping her Wind magic around her to pull her further into the air, and out of the reach of the swordsman beneath her.

The Knight leapt after her, jumping higher than should have been possible for an unarmored man, much less one as heavily armored as he, but Karin withdrew more quickly than he could follow. As the arc of his jump peaked, however, Joshua swept his sword at her, and a blast of flame issued forth. Karin disrupted it with a blade of wind without a thought, still sizing up her opponent's abilities, considering before she began offense in earnest of her own.

Joshua slammed into the earth, digging deep divots into the grassy soil even as his entire body flexed to absorb the impact. Karin could see that he had not cushioned his blow with any kind of wind spell; the impact still should have broken his legs, but as he stood and faced her again, it was obvious that it had not.

Anger was plain on his face as he glared up at her, and it was obvious that he spoke his next words with distaste.

"As much as I hate it," He ground out, the fire fading from his sword, and the glow from his runes, "We shouldn't fight, especially around your daughter and Siesta. This is just a dominance pissing match, and as much as I hate the corpulence of your society, this won't fix it."

Karin answered him as she did every man who drew blade against her, with her wand, and her armsmen followed suit with their bows.

((()))

Classes at the Tristain Academy were interrupted as a massive bestial howl of pain and anger resounded from the forest to the west, drawing the attention of all within save a few over-exhausted staff too deeply within sleep to awaken.

Colbert, who was speaking with Osmond about his old commander's visit, shared a glance with the old headmaster, then immediately left for the forest.

Kirche and Tabitha, who did not have class that hour and were idling in the Vestri court with their familiars, also arrived at a decision with a single glance; they, however, had the speed advantage over Colbert in the form of Dragon flight.

((()))

Snarling, Joshua slammed his jaw down on the arrow that had hooked his cheek, crushing it, and spat out bloody splinters. Hurling his sword at Karin for a moment's distraction, he ripped the other end of the arrow out of his cheek with his right hand, while his left extended out into midair, and closed over something intangible. With a muffled blast of fire, a metallic helm with a reflective faceplate appeared in the hand, and Joshua placed it over his head.

Karin had easily evaded the sword, and was winding up her own offense, when she saw the helmet appear in the Knight's hand. She hesitated for a moment, wondering what, exactly she had just seen, for the helmet was far too finely crafted for him to have simply conjured whole from earth magic, and she knew of nothing else that could have created such a thing. Then he placed it on his head, and it tightened itself into place, fitting extending down to dock with the collar of his armor, forming a seamless bond with that which protected the rest of his body.

Then his sword was abruptly in his hand again, wreathed in flames once more, and a glance behind her informed Karin that he had not simply conjured a new blade, but instead somehow recalled the one that she had dodged a moment before. Doubt nagged at her consciousness for a moment, but then she saw him begin to turn towards her armsmen, and the time to act was upon her.

"Retreat!" She commanded her armsmen, and began to cast real combat spells.

((()))

Siesta watched the fight in mute horror. Being a member of the staff at the academy meant she had seen nobles practicing their magic a great deal, and when Sothos and Joshua had fought, she thought she had seen what real magical combat was like.

Now, though, she realized that assumption had made her even more ignorant than when she had, more accurately, thought she knew nothing at all.

The Duchess' Valliere's first spell after the battle was rejoined smashed into an area a dozen paces across, crushing the earth down into a noticeable indentation centered on where Joshua had been when she cast the spell. Joshua was fast, far faster than he had been when fighting Sothos, but the Heavy Wind was faster still, and he was only halfway outside of the area of the spell when it struck. It slapped him down into the earth like an angry soldier swatting at an irritating crow, slamming him into the earth.

Joshua just roared in anger, still clearly audible through his helmet, and stood again, giving absolutely no indication whatsoever that he had been injured, and ripped a rock out of the earth the size of a small man. He had no chance to use it, however, as another spell slammed down onto him, striking even harder than the first, shattering the rock and pressing him forcefully into the ground.

Then he disappeared into the ground altogether, slipping away into the earth as Siesta had seen him do many times before, and she desperately hopped that this gave him some sort of advantage.

She, herself, turned her attention to her mistress, to try to figure out how to move her away from the fight, and fill her in on what was happening.

((()))

Karin scowled when she realized what N'bara had done; the move was as much a staple of high-level combat for earth magi as flying was for wind magi, and was damned hard to deal with. Worse, it meant that he was at a minimum a triangle mage, showing abilities in earth, wind, and fire. Karin herself had been a square mage for decades, and was more than confident of her ability to out-magic the Knight, but triangle-level magic, combined with his inhuman durability and unknown conjuring powers made him a dangerous unknown quantity.

Raising a strong wind barrier around herself and moving down to the level of the treetops to make herself less of a target, Karin considered her next move. Her opponent would be inviolate for as long as he remained beneath the earth, but they would both be blind to the other's position until he surfaced. He had, thus far shown no effective ability to attack her while she was airborne, and she had plenty of stamina to remain in the air for hours without impeding her combat ability.

This meant she needed to lure her target to the surface, thinking himself capable of striking, without exposing herself. She had the perfect spell for the job.

((()))

Joshua lay beneath the earth, probing the tear in his cheek with his tongue. He had underestimated Karin's armsmen because of their primitive equipment and inferior (to his) martial prowess. It was, obviously now, an idiotic mistake, which he would most likely carry a scar from for as long as he was trapped in this ass-backward world with its antiquated medical technology.

Once he had determined the bleeding would not be sufficient to endanger him or impede his combat ability, he pushed the wound, and accompanying pain, out of his mind, and extended his magical senses, seeking out magic. As always, he was first and most immediately aware of his bond to Louise and her strange magic, and its subtle but persistent attempts to shape his behavior towards the girl. It also directed him towards the girl's general location, but due to the conflict of his magic against hers through the link, he could not pin down her location with any real precision.

Which was unfortunate, as if he had been able, he could have simply retrieved Louise, and Siesta, and withdrawn from the field of battle. It would have left him more than slightly angry to do so, but protection before destruction. Pushing the sensations the bond fed him aside, he reached out further, spreading his awareness through the world above the forest floor. He immediately sensed something that reeked of Karin's intensely powerful and tightly disciplined wind magic, but was nowhere near strong enough to be the woman herself.

He knew that a mage more talented at magic detection, or just a great deal more experienced than him, would likely have been able to discern the magic's shape and purpose, but he lacked the ability, and his anger would have made focusing that clearly difficult anyways. Then he sensed a second magical mass of nearly identical composition, then another, and another, and another.

Determining he needed more information, Joshua neared the surface, and extended a small fiber-optic probe from his helmet through to the surface, and took a look around through it. At every point he sensed the mass of wind magic, there was a clone of Karin.

So apparently 'wind' for Karin includes illusion, Joshua thought, Well, this I can use.

((()))

Karin silently watched her wind clones scour the earth beneath her, keeping track of the half-dozen copies as best she could while remaining reasonably concealed herself. She was neither perfectly concealed, nor totally aware of all of the clones at all times, but long experience had taught her that all that mattered was that she was concealed well enough, was aware enough, to defeat her opponent. Perfection was to be sought in training, in battle, 'mere' success was all that mattered.

She was 'fortunate' enough to be directly watching one of her clones when a thicket of stone lances leapt out of the ground and skewered it through. It dispersed into a mass of air and moisture, dampening the earthen lances as it faded. Karin's clones immediately raced over to the area, studying the forest floor intently, looking for signs of where Joshua had emerged from to direct his spell.

Frowning, Karin realized he need not necessarily have fully emerged, or even emerged up to his waist; she was not certain yet if his spells required a focus or not, but if they didn't, all he would have needed was to emerge enough to see the clone. Changing tactics, Karin subtly directed her clones through her magical tie to them, commanding them to group up in a large clearing and keep a tight watch. She herself conjured a wall of mist to surround the edge of the clearing, blocking out the ability to see within from the forest, hoping to force him to emerge within the clearing itself.

((()))

A bloody, disfigured grin was concealed behind Joshua's helmet, as that part of him that thrilled in struggle, rivalry, and competition sent him near vibrating with excitement. She was good, oh was she ever good. By the sheer weight of the spells she was throwing around, he knew that she was a top-tier battlemage, at least amongst those less than a century old, and in this world, was possibly a peerless warrior, but even so, she fought with her brain, rather than simply attempting to use overwhelming force as a path to victory.

Joshua loved attempting the 'impossible,' and defeating one of the, if not the, greatest warrior in this realm, certainly appealed to him as such. Now, it was time for him to go on the offensive.

((()))

In the center of the clearing Karin occupied, the ground began to rumble, then crack. Karin's clones quickly fled to the wall of mist encompassing the clearing, and none too soon.

The core of the clearing erupted in an explosion of fire and earth, flinging chunks of molten rock upwards and outwards, one of which destroyed one of the wind clones. Rising up through the explosion of magma and rock came an armored Dragon, far larger than the immature Irukuku, its main body was the sixe of a van, with powerful limbs like thick tree trunks ending in deadly claws, immense wings flaring up and out, flicking more lava about the clearing and starting dozens of spot fires in the forest beyond.

It roared, a deep challenging shout at the world at large, defying any and all who would face it. Then it turned and faced Karin, the real Karin, eyes blazing with a fiery light from behind the visored helm, and spoke.

"Last chance, Heavy Wind," The Dragon said, its massive voice causing the trees around Karin to shiver, "Surrender."

For a fraction of a second, shock paralyzed Karin's mind. This was the Knight she had been fighting? The only creature known capable of transformative magic, as well as intelligent speech, was a Rhyme Dragon, but they had been thought extinct for…

Karin's face twisted into a fierce, exultant smile. Her daughter was not weak. No, Louise was not weak, not at all. In all the millennia since Brimir founded Halkegenia, no one had summoned a familiar more powerful than a Rhyme Dragon, and it was already plain to Karin that her daughter's familiar was both immensely powerful, and more importantly, had cunning to match.

Now, it was simply a matter of bringing her daughter's familiar to heel, and forcing it to reverse whatever transformative magic it had been working upon Louise.

"You are a magnificient beast," Karin said, voice projecting clearly over the forest, amplified by her wind magic, "I am proud to see that my daughter has summoned so powerful a creature, even if she has failed to control it, as yet. But she is young yet, whereas I, am not."

And with that, she hurled one of her most powerful attack spells at the Dragon, a staggered series of concussive waves with which she had pulverized entire companies of soldiers before.

((()))

Tabitha and Kirche, sitting astride Slyphid, closed with the battle from above just in time to see a shroud of mist blasted away from a clearing, revealing an armored Dragon crouched down, with claws anchored, in a small puddle of lava. The blast of lava subsided, and it lunged forward, spitting a white-hot fireball at a pink-haired noble flying through the forest. The mage readily dodged, and used a shield of wind to protect itself from wooden shrapnel when the fireball shattered a tree trunk a dozen yards behind her, simultaneously casting another offensive spell.

Tabitha's eyes widened as she recognized the spell; it was an air-lance spell, very similar to a staple combat spell amongst line-class wind mages, save that it was orders of magnitude more powerful, and could only be cast by square-class mages. And the pink-haired mage had just cast it, easily, simultaneously with another spell; Tabitha knew of only one wind mage capable of such feats in all of Halkeginia.

"That is Karin of the Heavy Wind," Tabitha informed Kirche and Sylphid, pointing at the pink haired caster.

Kirche's eyes widened and her jaw dropped open as she stared.

The Dragon thrust itself directly forward into the spell, taking it to the armored chest, which Tabitha was sure would kill it, but the spell somehow failed to penetrate its armor. Roaring, the Dragon wound back one of its forelimbs, and a massive sword suddenly appeared in its grasp, which it used to bat aside a repeat of the wind lance, then another, and another, as it pressed forward towards the edge of the clearing, and the Heavy Wind fell back further into the forest.

It was obviously to everyone that the Dragon was too large to maneuver in the forest, and Irukuku kyuui'd in distress as she worried after the Dragon's welfare. When it reached the edge of the forest, it again dug into the earth with three of its claws, soaking another lance to the chest, and coiling its long neck back as it did so, inhaling deeply, more deeply than seemed possible even for such a massive creature.

The Dragons massive sword burst into flame, not only the surface of the blade catching fire, but the entire body of it glowing orange from the sudden transfusion of heat within, and with one thundering blow, the Dragon swept its blade through twenty-some feet of forest, cutting more than a dozen trees off at the base.

Then its head snapped forward like a striking snake, and it breathed. Its breath erupted with a thunderclap, decompressing air breaking the sound barrier as it rushed to fill all available surrounding space, and a blast-wave shattered the toppling tree trunks the Dragon had just felled, driving razor-sharp splinters and large lugs into the forest at lethal speeds.

Karin of the Heavy Wind instinctively launched a wedge-shaped battering spell directly towards the onrushing wave of the spell, then reinforced her shield, though the battering spell deflected all but smaller ricochets from striking her. Nothing penetrated her shield, but her vision was obscured for several long moment.

From above, Tabitha and company could see the Dragon, of all things chewing up and swallowing chunks of earth, keeping a wary eye directed towards the cloud of smoke and dirt between itself and Karin. To the onlooker's considerable surprise, the Dragon tracked Karin's movements, even through the totally obscuring cloud, as the mage began tracking left.

The moment that both combatants had clear sight of each other, Karin attacked, physically rushing her opponent, to the surprise of all save herself. Roaring in challenge, the Dragon readied itself to meet her, poising its sword for a thrust towards the diminutive mage.

They struck out at each other simultaneously, the Dragon with his massive sword, which had a tang broader than Karin's entire body, and Karin with another lance of wind. Unlike the Dragon, Karin proved more than capable of simultaneous offense and defense, another wind spell deflecting his blade as she continued to close; unlike Karin, the Dragon proved not to need such, its sheer mass and armor readily absorbing the blow.

Then Karin latched onto one of the Dragon's breastplates, and slammed a simple spell into him at point blank range. Snarling, the Dragon responded by slamming its chest into the ground, but Karin had already slipped out of the way, flying up over its back, and firing off another hasty spell. The Dragon rolled on the ground, whipping its sword up and over at the mage, having somehow aimed its blow accurately even without being able to see her, and slamming its sword directly into her shield, knocking her flying into the forest.

Karin, momentarily dazed, operated purely on reflex, tucking into a ball to lower her target profile, and pouring all her available energy into her shield. She smashed through two smaller trees, before coming to a hard stop against an ancient chestnut, further stunning her, which only spurred her to tighten her defenses until her head cleared.

Then the Dragon breathed again.

This time, however, it did not simply spew a mass of compressed air, instead a hurricane of fire and superheated stone erupted from its mouth at supersonic velocities, tearing the landscape and forest before it to shreds in a baptism of fire and brimstone. The forest itself erupted in flame, the heat of the blast alone being enough to ignite it, the direct flames themselves merely amplifying the process.

The Dragon held itself at ready, breathing heavily as it stared through the holocaust of heat, flame, smoke and ash to see if it had slain its opponent, taking deep, panting breaths.

It was in that moment that the clones of Karin, which the Dragon had been ignoring up until that point, struck, each simultaneously pouring all the energy contained within their spell-matrices into a single wind lance, all targeting the Dragon's head. Of the four lances, the Dragon managed to dodge one.

One was not enough.

The lances slammed into the Dragon's armored skull repetitive blunt force passing through the armor in sufficient quantities to knock the Dragon unconscious, concussing it heavily.

The Dragon collapsed heavily to the scorched earth as the clones dispersed, and nothing happened for several long moments.

Then Karin of the Heavy Wind, breathing harshly, face tight with pain, flew slowly out of the holocaust the Dragon's breath weapon had created, staring warily at the unconscious Dragon, her wand held in her left hand, and trained on the unconscious beast. Her right arm was gone, torn off from the shoulder down, the wound cauterized by the mass of magma that had ripped the limb off in the first place. The arm itself was hovering along behind her, held in a grip of the legendary mage's Wind magic.

Moving cautiously, carefully, Karin bound the Dragon with manacles of wind magic, then touched down on its armored head to see if it was really unconscious. Its head was larger than all of her put together, and aside from its claws, contained the only part of the Dragon's body not shielded by its armor. Its eyes no longer glowed through their reflective covering, and Karin carefully inspected its open mouth, especially its tongue. The muscle was totally lax, which Karin took as all the confirmation of the creature's lack of consciousness she would be able to get without much more thorough investigation, which she was in no condition to conduct herself.

"You two!" She shouted up to Tabitha and Kirche, "Get down here!"

((()))

Colbert would have recognized that voice of command on his deathbed. And part of him fully expected Karin to show up when he was dying and order him not to. She was like that with the few subordinates she trusted; death was not an option. His jog hastened to a run at that point, and he arrived at a clearing, recently and violently expanded, finding about the last thing he expected.

For starters, the center of the clearing was a puddle of lava, waves of heat distortion rising off of it, and the surrounding grass was ash. One side of the clearing had been enlarged by what he guessed was some form of massed wind-blade attack, which had left wood shrapnel and sawdust driven further into the woods. The other side of the clearing featured two of his students, two dragons, one standing nervously, the other armored and apparently unconscious, the early stages of a forest fire extending into an utterly demolished section of the forest, and Karin of the Heavy Wind firmly ordering the two students while she gestured with her right arm.

Which was being held in her left hand, as it was no longer directly attached to her body.

Colbert made haste across the clearing. Karin, of course, detected his approach, and addressed him as he closed.

"Jean," She said, giving him a respectful nod as greeting, "It's good to see you're not completely out of shape. Tell me, are the academy healers up to dealing with this?"

She raised her severed arm questioningly. Colbert noted that Tabitha gave no more, or less, reaction than she did to anything else, something that deeply disturbed him, while Kirche looked like she was fighting not to revisit her most recent meal.

"The healers have the skill," Colbert said, "I'm not certain they'd have the reagents in stock, however."

"Are they proficient with sleep spells?" Karin asked.

"I believe so," Colbert said, slightly confused, "Though I've not had much need to know about such."

"Well," Karin said, turning back to Kirche and Tabitha, and gesturing towards the school with her severed arm, "Off you two go, be swift."

Kirche nodded, her eyes still on the aberrant appendage, as Tabitha guided her back to the bluenette's familiar. The two mounted, and took off, flying swiftly back towards the Academy.

"Now Jean," Karin said, turning back to the balding man with a smile, "How have you been?"

What followed was the most surreal 'catching up' conversation Colbert had ever, and would ever, have.

((()))

AN: Probably the last you'll see of this particular story for a while.