Chapter 2 - FNG

Louise was having a bad day. Well, it depended on how she reckoned it .As she sulked her way through the halls behind Professor Colbert, she considered her state. Last night, she had expected today to be the worst day of her life. And, well, it was still in the running. But, at the very least, the summoning ceremony had come and gone, and she remained unexpelled. Her deepest fear of failing to summon anything at all had not come to pass. Inarguably, she had magic, and that fact elated her. But she hadn't summoned a Familiar, she'd summoned a young man. A foreigner from only-Brimir knew where. She couldn't tell how young, she had a hard time guessing ages that were older than her but younger than her parents. He was probably older than her, but younger than the oldest of her sisters. She couldn't tell whether he was older or younger than Cattleya. He could always be the same age.

She supposed he was a commoner based on his unfamiliarity with magic, though he had said no one in his country even knew of it. She could scarcely imagine how such a country was governed, let alone how they merely got by without nobles and magic to take care of them. But if everyone didn't have magic, how was he regarded in his homeland? He also didn't seem like a commoner. She knew heretic lands like Germania allowed sufficiently wealthy commoners to purchase titles of nobility, but people could not change the substance by which God had made them. Nobles were nobles, and suited for their duties, as commoners were for theirs. Implausible as it was, everything about him-even in the little he had spoken-transgressed this dichotomy.

The way he had spoken with Professor Colbert had shown none of the deference a commoner or even a student would have considered essential. Colbert, on account of either his eccentricity or willingness to suspend protocol in such unprecedented circumstances had been remarkably gracious to him. Once the translation spell had taken effect, he had represented himself with an eloquence far beyond what any commoner might have acquired. Of course there was the element of his foreignness and Louise was aware of how the difference might obscure what could have been coarse manners

Beyond that, there was an air of thoughtless confidence. For whatever reason, it was apparent that he addressed nobles without hesitation or regard for their status. This shocked and appalled Louise, who understood well the purpose of the hierarchy and customs that Brimir had ordained. At the same time, his alienness meant there was no protocol to follow with regards to transgressions against what was to be expected of an individual. At the end of the day, he was a foreign guest in her care by happenstance. She supposed it would be as though a foreign ship had been blown aground in her demesne by a storm. What would Mother do?

Guest rite was old law and as such had preeminence over most other concerns. To be inhospitable would not only be impious, but bring shame to the name Valliere. Whether his country granted nobility to commoners like Germainia, or he had some other, more esoteric (and probably heretical) status, was for the time being irrelevant. Her duty was clear. A thus came the sense of terror. She had summoned, but had not summoned a Familiar. Her fate was yet to be decided.

While her heart was too full of self-pity to properly empathize, the idea of being magically dislocated was enough to make her shudder in sympathy. I guess I should be grateful my summoning hadn't been quite so disastrous as to put me somewhere else. The fact that her summoning had gone wrong was clear. She took some measure of comfort in the fact that her magic had produced something other than an explosion. Still, it had not produced a Familiar. Familiars took the form of animals, not people, that was known. In any case, he had been emphatic that he was not a Familiar spirit. She flushed at the thought of her impetuous attempt to complete the Familiar binding ritual. Still, however frankly impossible it seemed, the possibility of a human Familiar could not be disregarded out of hand, nor was she willing to completely abandon hope.

"Professor Colbert, is he my Familiar?" she asked.

Colbert seemed to at least consider the question, which raised her spirits marginally.
"I don't rightly know. You did summon him, but it's well known that humans can't be Familiars and don't correspond to any of the elements."

That was the most damning part of this. An… unorthodox Familiar was manageable. But the lack of an elemental affinity was a deathblow to her magical aspirations.

"I've failed then…" she whispered.

Colbert was silent for a moment, then spoke.

"I'll have to discuss with Headmaster Osmund regarding your peculiar circumstances, but you should consider the fact that your summoning ritual had any effect at all to be demonstrative of your potential."

Louise nodded distantly. Perhaps the fact the spring summoning rite represented the true test of a mage meant that tradition demanded her continued attendance at the academy, regardless of the state of her magic. She wanted to bury her head in her hands. She blinked harshly. She wasn't sure if she could face years more of being the zero. The alternative was something she had dreaded ever since coming here. She couldn't face her sisters, let alone her parents. Just the thought of their pity and disappointment was unbearable. Of course, they'd understand, they'd tell her that of course, there was nothing she could have done…

"Am I not to have a Familiar?" She blurted out.

Colbert was infuriatingly serene.

"That is not yet known to us. Be content that your summoning spell produced anything at all, however unorthodox."

Her chest tightened.

"At least allow me to attempt the binding ritual, or try summoning again!"

"Miss Valliere, I cannot impress on you enough how improper it would be to attempt to bind a human as a Familiar. In any case, more than my permission, you would require his."

Louise flushed, "I don't why I should have to ask a commoner to complete my Brimir-ordained rite."

She was in denial, and she knew it. Had she been in a better mood , she might have appreciated the irony of accepting that she was in denial.

"It would be utter foolishness to treat a foreigner the same as any commoner, let alone attempting to bind him as a Familiar."

She knew very well that Colbert was right, but she desperately wished she could just have a Familiar and move on with her life.

"Then what am I supposed to do?"

"That will have to be decided at a later date, once we know more, both about our guest and your magic. Never before has something like this happened in our history. I'm afraid to say this is rather out of our hands. The Headmaster and Palace will be responsible for deciding how we proceed in this manner."

Her mouth went dry. So her shame would be publicized. She wanted to die. A sinkhole opening under her feet sounded particularly appealing.

Ignoring her outburst, Professor Colbert turned to address her formally.

"Miss de la Valliere, given your role in all this, I'm assigning you the responsibility of representing the academy in this matter. See to it that our guest is comfortable and that he has no reason to think poorly of our hospitality. If what he said is true, you will be giving him and his people their first impression not only of the academy, but of Tristain."

She realized gratefully that Colbert was giving her an opportunity to save face. Representing the academy was an honor, a worthy task for a noble. Certainly it was far from the expulsion she had feared. She was still left in a limbo where she was essentially bereft of a Familiar, but at least she had the opportunity to execute her duties before Brimir. She hadn't quite proven herself magically, but she could do her best as a noble and Valliere.

"Now, let us be seen to regarding these 'pathogens.'"

As it turned out, it was neither of the two people that I knew that retrieved me. Instead, it was an asian, or at least partially asian girl named Siesta dressed in some more plain clothes. A little odd considering "Louise" and "Colbert" had a decided Gallic flavor, but hardly worth remarking on, especially in light of all the other strange things going on. It'd be nice to get my hands on an atlas or something.

She crossed her hands in front of herself and said, "If you'd follow me, sir."

I nodded, and said, "Please, call me Lukas."
She smiled at that, which made me feel a bit better. Great, already making friends. Probably a good idea to get to know some people that don't have a "von" in their name.

Looking back at me as she led me on, she said, "I'm to be responsible for you and Miss Valliere for the duration of your sequestration."

That raised a question I wasn't sure I wanted to know the answer to. I asked nevertheless.

"Did you volunteer for this job-or were you volunteered?"

I asked the question semi-facetiously, but even so, its bluntness apparently made her uncomfortable.

"I-I volunteered. Everyone's talking about this," she said, stealing a glance back at me, "And I supposed if Lady de Valliere was taking the risk then it couldn't be too dangerous."

I regarded her more seriously.

"I wouldn't count on it, Valliere seemed fanatically convinced it was her duty. But, you guys have magic, so I don't know how much can be said about the risk."

"Oh," she blushed so strongly I could see it from behind, "I am not a noble, but if I am severely afflicted I'm sure I'll be taken care of."

The gears started turning in my head.
"Only nobles have magic?"

She seemed as confused by my ignorance as I was by what she was telling me.

"Yes, well for the most part anyway."

A society stratified on the basis of magical potential. It made sense intuitively, and was a pretty common fictional trope. My position seemed a lot more precarious. I had to hope to be able to leverage my foreignness to compensate for my lack of any kind of magical power. I supposed I was very fortunate that Louise and Colbert had not started treating me as a subhuman the moment I revealed my ignorance of magic.

Siesta's polite probing wrenched me from my thoughts.

"How far exactly away are you from that this is not common knowledge, if you don't mind me asking?"

I paused before answering. I wasn't sure exactly how forthcoming I ought to be.

"Farther than I can reckon. Halkeginia does not appear on any of our maps, nor did Professor Colbert recognize my homeland by name."

I omitted the fact that Earth being completely mapped meant I had to be lightyears from home. Thinking about it made me feel vaguely nauseous. I massaged my temples; I could feel a headache coming on.

Her eyes widened, oblivious to my distress.

"Oh wow! To think that Lady de Valliere summoned someone from so far away. You know, most of the staff bet against her summoning anything."

That cut through my consternation. It seemed my friend was something of a shit-wizard. Not sure what that said about my being summoned by her.

"Why would they do that?" I asked slowly, more than a little worried about the answer.
She lowered her voice, as if expecting Louise to be lurking around the next corner, "I guess you wouldn't know, but Miss Valliere hasn't been able to successfully cast anything. Everything she attempts just causes an explosion."

"Interesting," I really wasn't sure what to make of that, "Nothing but explosions then… me."

Siesta nodded vigorously.

"I know, exciting isn't it?"

I stared at her until she realized what she was saying.

"I.. suppose it's not as fun for you."

"No, but it is worth knowing, thanks for telling me."

She perked back up, "What do you think it means?"

"I don't know, there's no obvious correlation. Maybe once I know something about magic it'll become clear."

"You don't… forgive me, I believed you were a noble and was wondering why you were so informal with me."

"No, in my homeland magic simply does not exist."

The maid seemed to forget herself and began to badger me with questions. At the moment, I appreciated someone acting fairly normal after the strange stiltedness of the aristocrats.

"How do you survive? What marks a noble then?"

"I don't really know how to answer the first question other than to attribute it to good-old-fashioned human ingenuity. The second's a bit easier-we don't really have nobles anymore."

"Wow…"

It seemed I'd stunned her into silence as she led me through winding corridors and up staircases through a route I had long given up on remembering. The maid seemed nice enough, a genuine extrovert and someone uncomplicatedly excited about the situation. I had to resist resenting the joy my misfortune had engendered. It's not her fault I'm here, she's the one living under a feudal regime full-time. That being said, she seemed a pleasant enough person to become friendly, if not friends with. My tendency to be rather stilted and awkward when interacting with strangers was hardly noticeable in comparison to the immense culture gap. It would be nice to have someone to talk to. But maids were loyal primarily to their employers. Anything I said to her could be found out by anyone higher on the pecking order who decided that they wanted to know. That's assuming she hasn't been assigned to me specifically to gather information.

It's not that I had particular secrets I was concerned about revealing, but more that I really had little desire to be observed and analyzed. More significantly, my position here was somewhat precarious. I was trading on my foreignness and the unprecedented nature of the situation to claim diplomatic authority and thus protection. Any number of things could result in this edifice I'd erected to crumble beneath me and I'd rather provide as little ammunition as possible to cause that. Until I either got home or managed to shore up my status, I would need to err on the side of caution. For all the little I knew about Tristain, its resemblance to feudal Europe was far from encouraging.

By the way Siesta's pace slowed, it seemed we had arrived at where I was to be quarantined. The hallway was bare, but immaculate, the walls worn almost smooth and the floor having the odd grade that came from uneven usage over many centuries. Concern for the nature of my accommodations grew as we passed progressively dilapidated doors which revealed interiors that ranged anywhere from desolate to outright ruined. Colbert had said we would be housed in a disused area for our quarantine, and there had hardly been enough time since my arrival to refurbish one of these rooms. As my dread mounted it was momentarily replaced by confusion as we passed a single immaculate door. This was followed by two more dilapidated ones before, to my relief, the maid opened a door that was in prime condition and ushered me inside.

Looking at the room I had to remember that magic was a force to be considered. It seemed better attributed to that than the school keeping precisely two rooms in top condition.

"Allow me to express our apologies on behalf of the academy as the room was prepared in a hurry. Please let me know if there's anything not to your satisfaction or that you require."

She paused, and in a less regarded manner continued, "…or that would make you feel more at home."

I grimaced but made my face expressionless before turning back to Siesta.

"Thank you, I'll let you know if I think of anything."

I turned to survey the room, noting both the antiquity and the opulence of the furnishings. Part of me felt as though I were standing in a museum, but there was none of the musty smell I associated with this sort of decadence. I plopped my backpack on the ground with far less care than it deserved, particularly given the circumstances. I just couldn't find it in me to care at the moment.

I noticed Siesta hadn't left and turned back to look at her, doing my best to soften my questioning gaze with a smile.

"S-Sorry," she said, seemingly perplexingly nervous despite the fact I had made it clear I was no aristocrat. "It's just nothing this interesting has happened at the academy as long as I've been here. I mean-I haven't been here for long-but it is a magic academy. I thought I had seen everything when Lady Tabitha summoned a dragon, but now this!"

My smile slipped for a moment to a bemused expression during her excited rambling. I realized she had done nothing to wrong me, but I couldn't help the creeping resentment that ate at me every time someone dared to derive joy from my predicament. I felt a pang of guilt as the maid's face fell and she hurriedly saw herself out. The feeling was fleeting as I walked unsteadily to the large bed and sat on its quilted cover. I cradled my head, the throbbing in my temples remaining, but no particular thoughts filled my mind. My head just felt fuzzy. I unlaced my shoes and swung my legs on the bed, laying for the moment on top of the covers. What time even was it? The last time I remember looking at the time, it was around seven in the evening, but rolling onto my side to look through the large window that constituted most of the longest wall in the room it was far brighter than it ought to be outside. The watch I wore showed ten to eight. Maybe the least surprising thing is that I'm in a different timezone.

AN: Unlike many SI-type fics, I'll be using perspective changes. Let me know what you think!