AUTHORS NOTES:

I'm not sure how the update system at FF works. if it told you there's a new chapter waiting, it lied. This is merely the first of the edited chapters.

The first half is more or less new material. The second half was barely touched.

Big shout-out to All Seeing Eye, who beta-read this chapter, and helped improve it in so many ways.

Disclaimer: Not Mine

ARC III

CHAPTER TWO

Brent yawned as he sat at his computer, cereal in front of him.

He stifled another yawn - fortunately hidden by his avatar. Louise, next to him, was not so fortunate, and the diplomat shot her a brief glare, before continuing.

The lecture droned on - the diplomat's words not really penetrating. Places, names, dates and events all washed over him. Every so often the diplomat would refer these back to the current day. How the scandal of '45 affected Germania's defensive pact with Gallia, which in turn led to the Kandern conflict, resolved by the currently still-standing Addenhausen pact.

Except he didn't know where or what Germania and Gallia were, he didn't know what the Kandern conflict was, and he didn't know anything about the Addenhausen pact. The diplomat's lecture was probably informative. Possibly even useful, if he could make sense of it. But without the background information, he just wasn't able to take any of it in.

It didn't help that the diplomat's voice was practically designed to put people to sleep. The guy's eyes never left his notes, he spoke in a flat monotone, and he constantly interrupted himself with corrections or diversions that didn't go anywhere or mean anything in particular.

He glanced to his left, where Louise was busy scribbling notes.

Bleary eyed herself - the sun had just risen, after all, and still busy taking notes. Apparently the material was new to her...

Back in his bedroom, Brent shrugged. As long as one of them understood what was going on, both of them technically did. Maybe he could look through her notes later.

He frowned, taking another spoonful of his cereal. Getting help from a kid on his studies was just humiliating... Maybe he could install some screen capturing software like Bandicam, and record these lectures to view later.

Something the diplomat said caught his attention and he wrote it down in the word pad in front of him - the fourth such note in as many minutes.

Next to him, Louise turned the page, and started filling yet another page with line after line of tiny, elegant script.

The lecture droned on...

AFTER...

Louise and Brent left the lecture hall, leaving the diplomat still at the lecturn, packing up his notes.

They resembled zombies more than students as they staggered out the door, bleary eyed and with brains barely working.

Or at least, Louise did. Brent's avatar didn't really change it's appearance much.

Louise yawned again, her satchel slipping off her shoulder, some of it's contents spilling out onto the floor.

She stood there looking at it blankly, before kneeling and sliding them back inside.

Brent would have found it adorable if he wasn't so tired himself.

'I feel you... I nearly fell asleep.'

Louise nodded absently and stood back up, just as a bell rang somewhere. 'Breakfast starts soon. I'll see you tonight. Try to be a bit more awake for that.'

She started staggering off in the direction of the dining hall, then turned around, curious.

'Isn't it mid-morning where you are? Why would you be tired?'

Brent grimaced, wondering how she knew. Perhaps he'd told her at some point?

'Well - after reviewing my lectures last night I went and spent four hours gaming. Didn't get to sleep till two.'

Louise frowned, actually focusing on him. 'Four hours gaming? Didn't you say you're behind on your assignment?'

Brent laughed somewhat ruefully. 'Yeah, I meant to get back to it after half an hour, but... somehow it just didn't happen.'

Louise's frown deepened.

Brent disconnected before she could ask any further questions, and Louise continued on to the dining hall, the frown not leaving her face.

Brent's words bothered her. She already knew he had trouble studying, but this seemed like something different. His words, the embarrassed way he said them... They sat there, at the back of her mind, as she worked her way through the day. Breakfast, Maths, Elements, History, Alchemy, Lunch... This time, she didn't notice the space between her and the other students. Didn't notice the conversations that excluded her, or the occasional curious glances. Whatever space in her brain that wasn't taken up with studying obsessed over her familiars words, trying to pick apart why they bothered her so much.

Her day continued. Magical Constructs had a substitute teacher, and they were all mistakenly assigned to take notes from a chapter they'd covered the week before. Her last class was Familiars, which - thanks to her extra training with Mr Angburt, she didn't need to attend at all. As usual, she was spending the extra time in the library, working through the assignments and homework given in other classes.

Once, she would have given her left hand to stay in the class. To show off her superior talents in front of peers. Now, she just didn't have the time. The growing gulf between her and the other students hurt, of course. But she didn't have much time to do anything, or even think about it. And regardless of whether or not they talked to her less than before, they had a growing respect for her. Or, at the absolute least, her position. She had the ear of the princess, and was being personally tutored by the best in the kingdom. While she had been given no official position or title yet, her peers were all of noble birth, and well versed at sensing the shifting political landscape. Now, rather than teasing, there was a wary kind of respect. A respect Louise would have loved to capitalize on. There's nothing she would have liked more than to rub her success into the faces of her rivals, or to show off in front of the few students she admired - but her increased study load meant she simply didn't have the time. She not only had extra lessons for herself, but she had to help Brent with his.

But she was wasting time wool-gathering like this. She had assignments to work on and homework to complete. After this 'class' had finished, she had her actual Familiars lesson with Mr Angburt, followed by the tutorial she was delivering to her Familiar. She pulled out her Elements homework and got started.

Homework done, satchel packed and class over, Louise made her way to the room she was to meet Mr Angburt, ignoring the curious gaze of the students around her. Though it was the end of the school day, there was almost a spring in her step, and a slight smile tugged at the corner of her mouth.

For Louise, her studies had always been largely theoretical. The practical aspects just didn't come to her, so she had compensated by focusing upon the theoretical, until it seemed as natural to her as walking.

Familiar Control was an exception to this. Unlike all her other studies, Familiar Control came as naturally to her as flying came to birds. She had gone from being able to see the device's display, to seeing out of the device's eye, and listening through it's ear in but a few short days. It hadn't taken much to go from there to actually controlling the device. Mr Angburt told her physically controlling one's familiar usually took years to master.

He'd theorized it was much easier for Louise because there was no mind in the device sending conflicting commands. Whatever the reason, to Louise the Zero, it was the first concrete evidence she wasn't a complete failure. Though, unfortunately, it was only concrete evidence for her. Her powers over her familiar weren't really visible to anyone other than herself. And her familiar, of course.

She still couldn't make much sense of the display of her familiar's device, but she found she could sort of interface with the 'mind' of the thing. Rather than interpreting what was on the display into some meaningful information, she was able to get it directly from the machine. She would project a desire for images, for example...

This was something she should practice now, wasn't it? Seeing through her familiar's eyes while doing something else?

She continued walking, but at a slower pace with a slight frown marring her face as the students flowed around her. It wasn't that difficult a task. She wasn't in too much danger of walking into anything...

Really, Brent? Over ten thousand drawings? When did he even have the time to look at that many drawings? No wonder he was a bad student.

The images were in separate 'piles'. One that she somehow knew was called 'art', another called 'wallpapers', whatever they were. One called 'Photos', and one called... She blushed. Well, after what she saw the other day, she really should have expected that.

She was kind of curious about those pictures, but... no. She really shouldn't. Nor did she want to. At all. Proper ladies wern't curious about those sorts of things, so she most definately wasn't!

To distract herself, she sent another query, and the device connected her with it's smaller cousin. The one he usually kept in his pocket.

It had taken a little longer to learn to do that, and she didn't think her familiar even knew she could. She wasn't sure she wanted to tell him...

There seemed to be some sort of control interface, but she just bypassed all that. Just sort of pushed with her thoughts at the machine. Pushed a desire to... for instance, listen through the ears of the portable device, and she could hear him... humming something, apparently. Badly.

She'd used her abilities on and off over the last few days to eavesdrop on him. To get some idea of who he was. And, honestly? She was somewhat disappointed.

When her familiar had first appeared, she had been terrified.

When she had found out about his powers, she had been elated.

When the consequences of those powers started becoming apparent, she had been in awe.

Being able to spy on him through his devices...

He wasn't a god. He wasn't the Messiah. He wasn't a monster, and he wasn't a knight. He was just a student. A mediocre one at that...

Well, her fellow students didn't need to know that. What really mattered was what he could be in their world, not what he was in his.

Though his world was important too. Keeping him interested... keeping him able to keep visiting... His well-being was important.

A thought hit her, and she hung her head, suddenly ashamed.

His well-being was important to her because it'd keep him visiting? Because of the prestige it'd give her?

But he was her familiar. His well-being was her responsibility.

'Familiars and their Mages: The First Year' had stressed that. Just as mages have a responsibility to take care of their plebeians' needs, they also have the same responsibility towards the needs of their familiar. To neglect those needs - to take the service of plebeians, or those of a familiar, and not return the care due to them? It was the mark of a thief. Aristocrats were supposed to have the education and the moral standing to take responsibility for their charges. It was the whole justification for their authority in the first place.

Her familiar shouldn't have even had to have asked for her help... It was part of her responsibilities as his Mistress. But all she'd been thinking about was how he could help her. Well - no more. He was her responsibility, and she'd be here for him. Help him through this trial of his.

Her familiar wasn't exactly a bad student. His study techniques were adequate, and he at least went to classes. The problem seemed to be in his motivation. He put in the bare minimum of time. He went to classes, and spent a few hours a week working towards his assignments, but every other minute was spent gaming, watching moving pictures, listening to music... He'd allow any distraction at all to pull him away from his studies. It was as though he thought that if he just went to classes and spent a few hours a week on his assignments, that would somehow be enough.

The surprise wasn't that he was doing as badly as this, it was that he had gotten this far without getting kicked out.

It was lucky for him, really, that she'd summoned him. He clearly didn't have enough self discipline to do this himself. But with her here now... Well, she'd be here to keep him in line.

Whether he liked it or not.