There is a POLL on my profile to help determine which character will be featured in this winter's Louise Summons One-Shot. The poll is running cross-platform, so check me out on Spacebattles, Ao3, and Ko-Fi as well! Poll closes on Labor Day (September 2) and the candidates are:

Ship (Ben 10)
Po (Kung Fu Panda)
Dr. Doofenshmirtz (Phineas and Ferb)
Lelouch vi Britannia (Code Geass)
Genie (Aladdin)
Irisviel von Einzbern (Fate)
Louise de la Valliere (Familiar of Zero)

And with that out of the way, it's time to begin the Albion Arc!

While the hope was for the three travelers to begin their journey with an immediate ride into the horizon, they quickly ran into an issue.

"Have you ever ridden a horse before?" Wardes asked Tobias.

"Yes," Tobias replied, but his expression was troubled.

"Excellent. My fiancée will ride with me, while you can follow us."

"Bad idea."

Louise groaned. "What is it now?" she asked.

"I don't know how to ride a horse."

Blank stares were sent in his direction.

"You just said you rode a horse before!" Louise exclaimed.

"I did. Once. Technically," he added as an afterthought.

Louise blew an errant pink strand of hair out of her face. "What do you mean by 'technically'?" she asked.

"I see," Wardes said with a nod. "Someone else steered the horse while you rode with them?"

"…not exactly."

"I'm not going to like your explanation, am I?" Louise asked rhetorically.

"I rode the horse alone, while the horse steered itself."

"…"

"…"

"Did you even try to use the stirrups?" Louise asked in exasperation.

"…I was riding bareback."

"Why in the Founder would you ride a horse bareback with no way to control it?!"

"I didn't have a better idea. And it worked out in the end."

That was the best explanation he could give. After all, he couldn't reveal that he had been in Hork-Bajir morph, riding atop of his leader, Jake, who had morphed into a warhorse, while they were in the year 1415 to prevent a time-traveling alien parasite from assassinating Henry V during the Battle of Agincourt for petty reasons while the bastard was on a quest to rewrite history so he could get a promotion.

Even Tobias had trouble believing it, and he was the one who had foiled the assassination attempt by plucking an arrow out of midair.

Wardes laughed. "Louise, your familiar is most amusing."

"Try dealing with this every single day," Louise grumbled. "I swear, he's one of the worst behaved commoners I've ever had to deal with."

"Have your tried training him?" Wardes casually suggested. His eyes wandered to Tobias, who remained impassive.

Unlike her familiar, Louise shivered at the suggestion, remembering the futility of using any method to punish Tobias. "He's better off like this," she mumbled.

"I know I'm supposed to be your pet, but I can still hear you," Tobias commented.

"Familiar!" Louise was quick to correct. "Not pet!"

"And the difference is?"

"Come now," Wardes said jovially. "We have a long journey ahead of us, no need to waste all our breath before we even hit the road. Tobias, let me give you a quick lesson on how to deal with horses. Don't worry, the worst they'll do is try to kick or bite you. Unlike griffons, they won't try to rip your hand off if they don't like you."

"How reassuring," Tobias responded dryly.

Tobias woke up in a cold sweat. His throat was hoarse and dry. Imaginary alarms were ringing through his brain. Every part of his body felt odd. Why was he on his back? Where were his wings? Why was he so heavy? Where was he?

Glancing around, he could see the familiar form of Louise lying not too far away. Another bedroll lay a few feet to the side, unused. From across the fire that sat in the center of the campsite, Wardes sat on a small rock. His sword was drawn, and he was looking at Tobias curiously.

"What?" Tobias rasped.

Wardes waved his sword to the side and mouthed a word. Tobias could feel a shift in the air around him. It was then that he realized that everything had been unnaturally quiet, but now he could hear the cackling of the fire, the wind in the trees, and gentle sounds of insects and other forest creatures.

"You gave me quite a scare," Wardes said with an easygoing smile.

It didn't take Tobias long to deduce why. "Sorry."

"There's no need to apologize," Wardes responded. "Everyone carries their own burdens. I can tell yours trouble you heavily."

Tobias said nothing. He looked into the viscount's eyes, searching for something. The man looked up at the sky, a pensive expression on his face.

"Do you hate me?"

It took Tobias a moment to realize that the viscount was speaking to him. "No?" he replied hesitantly, not certain enough to answer with a statement. "Why do you ask?"

"Every time you look at me, you're always glaring," Wardes looked down to give Tobias a wry grin. "I was worried that I had done something offend you."

"No. You haven't." Tobias hadn't even put much thought into the viscount's presence. The threat of the Reconquista weighed much more heavily on his mind than Louise's mysterious fiancé.

"That's a relief," Wards said with a sigh. "This is a very important mission. In my experience commanding the Griffon Knights, I've learned that it's important to clear the air before our lives are on the line."

Tobias nodded in agreement. It made perfect sense to him.

"Which is why I want to ask you a personal question."

Even as a human, Tobias could feel his feathers rustling. "What kind of question?" he asked with narrowed eyes.

Wardes didn't answer right away. He idly poked at the flames until a large piece of wood cracked open, whether to gather his thoughts or for dramatic effect, Tobias could not say. Then, Wardes asked:

"Are you in love with my fiancée?"

"…"

"You don't have to be shy. I'm aware that she's an attractive girl to those who can look beyond what most people see. It's normal for boys your age to feel jealous or possessive."

Tobias continued to stare at Wardes, his face completely blank as he struggled to properly formulate a response to the absurdity of the viscount's assumption.

"You are her familiar, so you are bound to her; just be aware that as her future husband, there are things I am allowed to do that you are not permitted to. Understand?"

The tone Wardes used was gentle but firm, exactly what Tobias would expect from an adult that was trying to set boundaries without declaring authority or sounding argumentative. However, there was a possessiveness that raised silent alarms.

Wardes, finally noticing that Tobias had been sitting, unblinking for an unusually long time, prompted him, asking "Do you have anything you would like to say?"

"I don't love Louise."

It wasn't the most tactful thing to say, but Tobias thought it got the point across. The words seemed to catch Wardes off guard.

"You don't? Truly?"

The genuine surprise in the visount's voice threw Tobias for a loop. The man was acting like Louise was greatest treasure to ever exist, but Tobias knew that people generally ignored Louise or thought she was a useless failure.

"I have—had… someone else," Tobias said in explanation.

"Ah, I see. Once you see the one for you, all other stars in the sky lose their luster," Wardes said poetically. His expression was distant, as if he was imagining reaching for his own perfect star. There, under the light of the moon, Tobias could see the desire in the man's eyes, the greed—no, arrogance—in his smile. The expression was oddly familiar, reminding Tobias of a troubled comrade from years past…

Tobias did not sleep well that night.

"We're almost there," Wardes called out. "Right up ahead is the port city of La Rochelle."

Tobias looked up at the mountain that towered overhead. He could make out the silhouette of ships that—despite all conventional logic—were flying through the sky as easily as they would through the sea.

"The port is full of flying ships?" he deadpanned.

"Airships," Louise corrected. "How else would we get to Albion?"

"Of course. How could I miss something so obvious," Tobias said dryly.

"Don't tease your familiar too much, my dear," Wardes said with a chuckle. "After all, most commoners don't get to experience the wonders of flight. You can't blame him for his ignorance."

Tobias mentally rolled his eyes. He was not going to correct their assumptions, but they were wrong on many levels. While he'd never ridden in an airship, he'd made multiple trips on airplanes, and he had years of flying experience.

Additionally, their attitudes had been grating on his nerves. He was used to ignoring or sassing Louise when she became bossy, but he had made an effort to tone it down due to the circumstances of the mission. And because he was too tired to think of witty comebacks at times. The viscount's attitude was the real kicker. His passive-aggressive tone toward Tobias and overly affectionate words toward Louise irked the human familiar. Especially since Tobias had seen a glimpse of what lay behind the gentlemanly façade. The boy still wasn't sure what sort of person Wardes truly was, but there was no way he would take the viscount at face value ever again. And he couldn't voice his suspicions to Louise. After all, he had nothing more than a bad feeling to go off on, and Louise clearly trusted the man and thought nothing of his two-faced temperament.

And so, Tobias suffered in relative silence, letting the natural atmosphere ease the weariness on his tired ears and bruised posterior. He couldn't wait to take a "bathroom" break so he could morph out the aches.

Of course, such a convenience was not to come, because at the foot of the mountain they were quickly ambushed by bandits.

Tobias had noticed that the area was unusually quiet as they approached the rocky crags that formed the base of the mountain pass. He instinctively started glancing around, straining his eyes and ears to catch sight of potential threats. While he didn't see or hear anything—cursing his weak human senses—he did notice that the shadow of one of the rocks was very irregular.

"There's a person hiding behind the boulder on our right," he stated calmly. "Probably more hiding in the shadows." He knew Wardes would be able to hear him, and despite his mistrust of the viscount, he wasn't going to let them wander into a trap. At the same time, he didn't want to give away the game too quickly. He knew it was an ambush, but he knew they didn't know he knew it was an ambush.

Unfortunately, Louise was also within earshot, and she lacked his tactical mindset. She snapped her head in the rock's direction and called out, "Identify yourself!"

Tobias wasn't sure whether he should address how quickly she trusted his callout or that she gave away their tactical advantage.

To add to Tobias's surprise, the addressed person did come out from behind the rock. As did half a dozen of his friends who were also hiding with him. And another half dozen who were on the other side of the road. And a few stragglers who had managed to sneak behind them.

"Of course," Tobias grumbled. "I hope you have some kind of force field spell, because some of them have bows."

"I'm not sure what a force field is, but arrows will be no matter for me," said Wardes confidently. He slid off his griffon and boldly strode towards the larger throng of bandits, his hand resting on the sword.

"Louise," Tobias began warningly as he eyed the smaller group behind them. "You better have your wand ready, because if they get close—"

"Explosion!"

Half of the bandits Tobias had been looking at were sent flying away as an explosion erupted in the space between them.

"Explosion!"

"Explosion!"

"Explosion!"

"Explosion!"

All around the battlefield, bodies were sent tumbling through the air and against the unforgiving ground and stone. Tobias stared blankly as Wardes summoned a strong wind to pull the bandits together, including the few Louise had missed, and then transmuted the ground to sink the lower halves of their bodies into the ground.

Tobias blinked. They won while being outnumbered nearly seven to one, in well under a minute, and he didn't have to lift a finger.

"Impressive work my dear," said Wardes. Even his silver tongue couldn't keep the shock out of his voice. "I wasn't aware you had improved to this degree."

"I've been practicing," Louise declared proudly, which was news to Tobias. She flicked her hair to the side as she looked down at the shell-shocked bandits. "Now, what should we do with these criminals?"

Tobias looked to Wardes for direction. This wasn't a kill-or-be-killed situation, so he was out of his element.

The viscount had a thoughtful expression. "We should hand them over to the authorities, but transporting this many prisoners would slow us down considerably. And I don't want to take that risk."

"But we can't just leave them here," Tobias said. "Can we?" He considered the idea.

"They appear to all be commoners, so there's no chance of them transmuting their way out of here," Wardes commented. "I believe the best course of action would be to hurry to the port town and alert the town guard of their presence. As the local authorities, they can take over from there."

"Let's hurry then," said Tobias. He slid off the horse and walked over to the griffon.

"What are you doing?" Louise asked.

"Someone can pick up the horse with the bandits. We're short on time and your griffon looks strong enough to hold an extra person for a short trip."

"Be careful," Wardes warned. "Griffons are proud beasts. My griffon recognizes Louise, but it doesn't know you yet."

"I understand," Tobias said. While he may have dropped out of middle school and missed a lot of mythology, he still could recognize that a griffon was a mythical creature that was a fusion between a hawk and a lion. He had a bad history with lions, but he had a strong affinity for hawks.

Tobias looked the griffon in the eye. The beast screeched and fanned out its feathers, a typical intimidation tactic for raptors. Tobias hunched his shoulders and hissed at it. He didn't try to stand taller than the griffon—that was a clearly futile effort—but he refused to be cowed by it either.

The griffon screeched again, bearing down at his face. Tobias didn't flinch as the creature's beak snapped just centimeters from his face.

Louise gasped. "Tobias!"

She reached forward to pull the griffon's harness, but Wardes held her arm. "Wait," he advised. His attention did not waver from the boy. Griffons usually would only respect powerful wind mages. The fact that it hadn't hurt him yet was curious. The boy's own attitude was even more perplexing. He was both stoic and feral, acting much like a griffon himself.

The viscount's griffon drew itself up. It stepped forward, keeping its face directly in front Tobias. The boy slowly raised his hand and brushed against the griffon's neck.

"Incredible," Wardes said breathlessly.

"How did he do that?" Louise asked. She turned to her familiar. "How did you do that?"

"We came to an understanding," Tobias replied. He jumped and pulled himself onto the griffon's back behind Louise. The motion wasn't graceful, but he was sitting on the back of someone else's griffon, which most mages would consider a major accomplishment. "Well? Let's get moving."

"Two rooms, please."

"Three."

Wardes turned to Tobias, who looked back at him impassively.

The receptionist's gaze flickered between the two of them, decided that Wardes was the more important of the two, and said, "Two rooms then?"

"Yes—"

"W-wait," Louise interrupted. "Who's sleeping with who?"

"Obviously, we'll be sleeping together," said Wardes. "We'll be getting married soon, so there's no issue."

"You're not married yet," Tobias deadpanned.

"Is it wrong for me to keep my fiancée close?" Wardes hinted.

Tobias tilted his head. "As her servant, I insist that you save your married fantasies for after the wedding. We wouldn't want anyone to get the wrong idea."

Wardes had a thin smile on his face. "I suppose that would be presumptuous of me," he said. He then addressed the receptionist. "Three rooms then."

Once they were shown to their rooms, Wardes pulled Louise and Tobias inside his room. "We need to think about our strategy from here on out," he said. "Tobias, while I appreciate your protection of my dear Louise's chastity, a servant doesn't argue with their superior, especially in public."

"Ah, right."

Louise sighed. "Why can't you open your mouth without causing problems."

A shrug was Tobias's response.

"I had hoped to share a room with Louise to ensure her safety," said Wardes. "We can take the rooms on either side and have her in the middle, but it's not the same security as sleeping beside her."

Tobias blinked. "We were planning to sleep through the night?"

"Why wouldn't we?" Louise asked.

"Wardes stayed up late last night and woke up before any of us," said Tobias. "He's probably tired, so I was planning to take the night shift. We're going to set our tomorrow anyway, so I can sleep on the ship on the way to Albion."

"That's not a bad idea," Wardes admitted. "However, I would appreciate if you communicated this earlier. We're not trying to draw attention to ourselves.

"Got it."

Yeah, right. Like he was going to be completely honest to someone like Wardes. Tobias wasn't sure what the viscount's angle was, but he still didn't trust him. The way he spoke of Louise reeked of arrogance and possessiveness. And his attitude toward Tobias didn't help either. Maybe Wardes was simply dedicated to completing the mission and keeping Louise safe and just so happened to be a jerk. Or maybe he was interested in Louise so he could marry the daughter of higher-ranked official. Regardless of his reasons, Tobias would keep an eye on him.

"I'm going to find a ship that can take us to Albion," said Wardes. "Get some rest if you can."

"I will try," Louise said.

Tobias wordlessly nodded.

Once they were alone, Tobias told Louise. "I'm going to check the surrounding area. Stay here until I'm done."

"Don't tell your master what to do."

Tobias stared at her blankly. "Okay. Do you have a better idea?"

"I… well, no," she admitted. "But that doesn't mean you can order me around just because Wardes isn't here. I'm your master, remember?"

Tobias slowly nodded. "Do whatever you want, just try to not get kidnapped while I'm out."

He moved the door, but before he could open it, he heard Louise faintly whisper, "Tobias."

He cocked his head towards her. "Yes?"

"Don't push yourself too hard. Okay?"

The blatant display of concern through him for a loop. And he could see that she meant it. The worry and uncertainty were clear on her face.

"I'll try," he replied.

One uneventful flight later, Tobias was back at the inn.

If there was one thing Tobias hated about being human, it was being stuck indoors. The inn was a respectable one, but it was no modern hotel. Food was eaten in the main room. With La Rochelle being a major trading hub, even a high end inn such as this was packed to the brim. Smells and sounds assaulted Tobias's senses.

"Is something wrong?" Wardes asked.

"Tool loud," Tobias grunted. And far too crowded. Despite the size of the room, the spacing between the tables meant there was only a person-width of space behind himself and the nearest seated patron. The occasional annoyance of someone squeezing behind him only aggravated him further.

It was annoying in the Academy, but at least the school had a vaulted ceiling and an excessive amount of space. The longer Tobias stayed here, the more cramped he felt.

He barely noticed Wardes's gaze lingering on his clenched left hand.

"Do you want to retire early for the night?" Louise suggested mildly.

"Yes." Tobias sat up, uncaring of the food he'd been picking at previously. "Good night."

"Does he have a problem with crowds?" he heard Wardes ask Louise.

"I noticed he usually went off on his own, but I never paid it much mind…" Louise's voice was lost in the crowd as Tobias weaved his way upstairs.

And then he was out, flying from his window in an inconspicuous raven morph. No matter how much time he currently spent as a human, he always felt more at ease feeling the wind caressing his feathers. The drafts of this area were drastically different as well. The port city of La Rochelle was a high-altitude plateau. The Academy was surrounded by low open hills and patches of forest, and back on Earth, Tobias had lived in the valleys and forests of California. As he rode the winds, he let his mind relax as he slowly grew accustomed to his flight.

Given his poor luck at finding trouble on a scouting patrol, it came as little surprise that during this relaxing flight he noticed a familiar group of ill-dressed ruffians hiding in a small grove of trees near the inn. Because of course, an entire group of common thugs would be able to escape from a magical earth trap and track them all the way to the place they were staying.

Tobias's beady raven eyes blinked. 'Wait, wasn't Wardes supposed to alert the guard about these guys?' he thought. 'And even if he forgot—like I did—they shouldn't have been able to find us this quickly. They shouldn't have even tried to find us at all.'

Suspicion raised, Tobias ventured to fly closer to the group. As he expected, none of them glanced up to notice the little birdie listening into their meeting.

Facing the front of the group was a new figure, one that seemed oddly familiar despite wearing an indistinguishable hooded cloak. The voice was also androgynous, making identifying the person nearly impossible.

"I'm telling you, I'll pay you after the job is done, not before," the cloaked figure insisted.

The man at the head of the bandit troupe, who also happened to be the biggest and ugliest, sneered. "You said this was going to be an easy job. That girl was supposed to be a useless deadweight. She nearly killed half of my guys."

"You're unharmed and freed, aren't you?" the person asked rhetorically.

"And I'm planning to stay that way," the bandit leader replied.

"You waited until now to bring this up?" the cloaked person hissed.

"And risk you leaving us to rot?" the leader scoffed. "Please, we know how that would go. We hate the Royalists, but we don't work for free. Pay us half of what you owe up front, and then we'll talk about doing a second hit." His followers gave their hoots of support.

The hooded figure was silent for a few moments. Then, with the speed of a quick-drawing gunslinger, pulled a wand out of their sleeve and chanted, "Transmute."

The bandits' hoots quickly became cries of alarm as they sunk up to their waists. Tobias narrowed his eyes as the cloaked figure sauntered towards the bandit leader. The person leaned forward, letting familiar green locks escape from the cover of their hood.

"Listen here, idiots. The only reason I'm bothering to use you is because I can't be there in person," the cloaked mage said. "You're convenient, but not necessary. If you don't abide by our previous deal, then I'll simply leave you here for the port authorities and find some other thugs to do it for me. Do you understand?"

"Y-y-yes!"

"Excellent. Then our previous deal still stands?"

"Of course!" the bandit leader affirmed. "I wouldn't try to back out of an agreement. Bad for business, you see?"

"I do see," was the amused reply. With a single word and the flick of a wand, the bandits were pushed out of the earth. "I also understand that the risks are higher than originally anticipated, so there will be a hazard pay bonus once the job is complete."

"And you'll provide our escape as well, right?"

"Of course. Going back on agreements is bad for business, right?"

The expression on the bandit leader's face was shaken, but he nodded with a tense smile.

"Good. Off you go. Make it loud, but try not to cause too much actual destruction. We don't want the guards to show up too soon."

"Right. Come on, boys, time to earn some gold!"

Tobias watched them run straight in the direction of the inn. As tempting as it was to run straight back there, he had to gather information first. He eyed the hooded mage, who watched them go and swiftly ran towards the docks.

{Louise. Danger outside. Stay indoors and defend yourself,] Tobias quickly shot out the message before taking off after the mage.

The mage was fast, but there was no way to outrun a bird in flight. Tobias briefly considered the best way to approach this, but quickly decided that there was no time to do anything besides a direct approach. The trees would run out soon and he didn't want to handle this out the open.

{You can run, but you can't hide.}

The mage tripped and fell into a tumble. Their head turned around furiously, searching for the source of the voice.

{You can't recognize my voice? I thought I had made a stronger impression.}

"Where are you?" The androgynous voice was gone, replaced the mature female voice Tobias expected. Fouquet was still glancing around the forest, searching for him. "How did you find me?"

{Didn't I warn you earlier about what would happen if you touched Louise again?} Tobias asked. {If you had just fled to the other side of the continent, we would never have to see each other again. But instead, you came right to me. I thought you were smarter than that.}

"N-no!" Fouquet protested, still trying to figure out where he was. Her voice rose up a pitch in panic. "I'm not here to hurt her!"

{Paying people to hurt her is the same thing,} Tobias deadpanned.

"They aren't going to hurt her! Just scare her! Make her run!" Fouquet insisted. "She's not going to be hurt at all! That's against the plan!"

Plan? Tobias was under the impression that Fouquet didn't do intentional kidnappings. He'd checked after they had returned to the Academy. She was an infamous thief, but that was it. Just a thief. Even on the rare occasion when she was caught mid-heist, the most serious injuries were only to a noble's pride as a mage.

Something wasn't adding up. Fouquet was going against her usual modus operandi, and it clearly wasn't a vengeance-driven mission. She was still terrified of him, and he wasn't her target. Why target Louise? Fouquet was also known to only work solo, so why should she enlist the help of common thugs? Also, wasn't she supposed to be in jail by now? Nothing about this added up.

Unless… she wasn't the one calling the shots.

{How did Wardes convince you to try something this stupid?}

The thief froze. "H-how?" she threw her stammered question to the trees. "How did you know? You weren't even there!"

{It's called having a brain. Something you clearly lack,} Tobias mentally hissed.

Actually, it was an educated guess. The only suspect he had was the suspicious viscount. If Louise was to run, Wardes would be by her side. He also had failed to get the guards to pick up the thugs, if he hadn't intentionally made the spell easy to escape or somehow signaled Fouquet to free them. The biggest leap in logic was that Tobias didn't know how the Viscount could have broken Fouquet out of jail without being noticed, but it wasn't like he had a second suspect tucked under his wing.

{What did you say to that other guy about backing out of agreements?} Tobias asked Fouquet.

"I didn't!"

{You should remember that I warned you about harming Louise. Do I seriously need to clarify that 'harm' can include mental and emotional trauma? Perhaps I should give you a reminder—}

"N-n-no! Not again! Get out of my head!"

Seeing the thief trembling at the thought of his unique form of torture did not give Tobias cathartic relief. It just made him all the more confused. If she was deathly terrified of him, how did Wardes manage to get her on board with all this?

{Give me a good reason why I shouldn't scramble your brains,} he baited her. {And don't give me the excuse of running out of time. I already told Louise about your grunts the same way I'm talking to you know.}

"Kill Wardes!"

Tobias wasn't sure what exactly he was looking for with this interrogation, but that definitely wasn't it.

{…You're going to need to be a lot more specific than that.}

"Wardes wants to run away with Louise to the Reconquista! This entire attack is just a set up so he can separate you from her and get her captured on purpose once they get to Albion!"

{…}

"The goons? They're just there to cause some noise. I'm here because you said you would always be able to find me. Wardes wanted me to draw you away, so he'd be left alone with Louise. If you were bluffing, then I was to head to the dock and force you to leave Louise with Wardes at the ship he found."

{Rather quick to betray your partner, aren't you?}

The thief narrowed her eyes. "He's not my partner. I wouldn't mind pulling off heist for him if he paid well, but he used me as live bait and made me an offer I can't refuse."

{Really?} Tobias asked skeptically.

"You should know, some people would do anything for the people they care about," Fouquet replied.

{…} Tobias didn't have a response ready for that. Blackmail. Of loved ones. That would explain a lot. He was almost surprised that Fouquet had someone she cared about, but then again, she was a thief, not a psycho serial killer.

The brief silence gave Fouquet a moment to calm herself. "I'm only working with Wardes because I don't have a choice. If he were to be removed…"

{Do you seriously think I'm stupid enough to try to take on a square class mage who managed to get an elite military position?}

"I could help you."

{You think I would trust your help?} Tobias scoffed. It was one thing to believe she was being blackmailed; it was another thing for him to believe she wouldn't screw him over the first chance she had. {Forget it. I'll deal with him my own way. Now scram. Next time I catch you, I won't be as lenient.}

The woman looked surprised. "You're letting me go?"

{Are you planning to tell Wardes about what happened here?}

"No!" she protested immediately. "That bastard can rot and die for all I care."

{Interesting. I'll hold you to that. Now run. Far, far away, so I never have to see you again.}

Fouquet didn't need any more urging. She practically flew, no longer heading to the docks, instead towards the city gates. Tobias suspected that she was planning to skip town and disappear before anyone else caught wind of her presence.

It was a good thing she didn't press on his lack of torture during his interrogation. Truthfully, Tobias was already running on fumes due to mental fatigue. The torture method required digging through some very painful memories and playing it back into the victim's head. Which meant he had to replay every exact sensation he had felt. Every euphoric moment. Every second of agony. Thankfully, he had a high mental tolerance, so he hadn't knocked himself out when he had first tried it, but it was still a rough work-in-progress technique. And Tobias wanted to be as close to a hundred percent as possible before he had to deal with Wardes.

Tobias swiftly flew back to the inn. There were sounds of clamor from inside, but he didn't hear anything resembling Louise's explosions. He frowned. While he had sent a message for Louise to stay put, there was a chance she hadn't heard it, or Wardes had convinced her to move regardless.

He landed onto his open windowsill. The clothes that he had left lying on the floor had been kicked against the wall, and the door had been left open. Tobias could only assume that Louise had kicked his clothes out of frustration. She always did hate when he disappeared and left his clothes behind.

A quick peek into Louise and Wardes's windows showed that their rooms were similarly empty, but their doors were closed, and Louise's bed was the only one that looked slept in. He remembered that she had gown down for a nap earlier, so they probably hadn't returned to their rooms after dinner. They likely had visited his room after he had sent the message or just before then. They couldn't have gone far…

'Griffon,' Tobias reminded himself. Those things were supposed to be as fast as their pure avian halves. And if Fouquet was supposed to be running interference at the docks…

Tobias hissed as he hoped into Wardes's room and quickly demorphed. Time was short, but he had to change morphs now. A raven wouldn't do him much good now that the sun was starting to set. He needed a nocturnal morph.

Luckily, during his time living as a hawk, he had encountered plenty of owls who'd tried to poach his clearing when they thought he was sleeping. On one of those fights he'd acquired the owl by instinct. The short-term dazing effect had given him a wide window to maul the nocturnal hunter until it was properly cowed. He'd never had an opportunity to use the morph, as a bat morph was generally more useful for nightly stealth missions, but even untested it would be invaluable.

Tobias crouched down and focused on the owl DNA inside of him. Immediately, his body started shrinking. Grey and white feathered patterns appeared on his skin before sprouting into the third dimension. Two large tufts grew over his eyebrows. His eyes became wider, picking up the details of the room despite the low lighting. Down feathers grew from his skin. Combined with his size, he looked like a particularly ugly child wearing a thick winter coat.

Steadily, his human features began to be replaced by avian ones. His lips were replaced by a hooked beak, and his ears shrank into his body. His hands disappeared as the wings on his arms grew larger. His feet shriveled up and became scaled, wicked talons. Tailfeathers sprouted from his tailbone, providing some much-appreciated balance.

Then the instincts kicked in.

Tobias immediately started hopping and running around. This place was unfamiliar, with smells and sounds that the bird didn't like. He flapped up onto the windowsill and stilled. His first instinct was to go hunting, but that was wrong. Louise. He needed to find Louise.

Once the owl's instincts were properly subdued, Tobias took off into the night. The great-horned owl was a bit smaller and also slightly heavier than his usual red-tail hawk morph, but the differences were easy to handle. He rode the first thermal he could find and made a beeline for the dock.

He was going to find Louise, no matter what.

"We can't leave without Tobias!" Louise protested.

"We can't afford to wait any longer," Wardes insisted. "This ship was the only one willing to take us on such short notice. If we wait for him to show up, we could be stuck in town for another day at least. We don't know how many other people are after us. The longer we stay here, the long you are in danger."

Louise bit the bottom of her lip. She knew that, and yet… "How did they even find us anyway?" she asked. "No one else knew about our mission."

"Perhaps they were ignorant, but noticed your distinctive hair color and decided it was worth pushing their luck," Wardes suggested. "Regardless, we must hurry."

"…Not without Tobias," she insisted stubbornly.

"You can communicate with your familiar from a distance, yes?" Wardes asked rhetorically. She had demonstrated that ability when she had hastened him out of the dining room only seconds before a cry of alarm alerted the residents of bandits storming their way towards the building. He could only assume that her familiar had spotted them by chance and alerted Louise while he went to distract them. Unless the boy had detected Fouquet's presence and was properly distracted by her.

"He's not saying anything," Louise replied.

"My dear, if he's not responding, he might be—"

"He's not dead!" Louise snapped. "I would know if he was."

Wardes raised his hands in surrender. "I wasn't going to suggest that," he lied smoothly. "But he's rather too busy to reply, or unconscious. I'm sure if he was conscious and able to meet with us, he'd contact you."

Louise had nothing to say in denial. Her familiar was brusque, but he was also straightforward, especially when things were serious. He wouldn't leave her in the dark unless there was something wrong. "I can't abandon him…" she said softly.

Wardes put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "He's strong enough to face Fouquet of the Crumbling Earth and come out on top. A couple of common ruffians wouldn't be enough to kill him," he assured her. "He knows I'm with you, so he's probably doing his best to buy time for us to escape. We should take advantage of the opening he's given us."

"B-but…"

"Once the local guards come around, he'll probably find somewhere to hide before returning to Tristan," Wardes said. "It's standard procedure when an escort gets separated. Don't worry, he knows what's going on."

"He does?"

"Yes, we had a long chat last night," Wardes said smoothly. "We are both committed to giving our all for this mission, my dear. So take heart, and press forward."

Louise was still troubled by Tobias's silence, but she also recognized that there was no time for hesitation. She hardened her heart, steeled her gaze, and nodded at Wardes. The Viscount took her arm in his and let her up the walk, onto rickety ship.

"We're ready to go, Captain!" he called out.

"Then we're off! Weigh anchor boys!"

No one noticed when an inconspicuous owl made a last-minute addition to the ship's passengers.

Funny note: If Louise was "better" at aiming her Explosions, the Level Of ViolencE she'd achieve would move this story up a rating.

Figuring out how easily a Summon can read into Wardes is always a challenging thought experiment. Wardes is a pretty good actor, but he's been cruising on people's positive expectations for years with no issues. Tobias is used to reading microexpressions for signs of body-jacking. He lacks social skills but I can't see him missing Wardes being pretty blatant about his possessiveness of Louise. But while he thinks Wardes is a potential liability, that's not enough. Fouquet's testimony helps, but you can never fully trust a thief. Especially one working for you under threat of torture. So now Tobias has to figure out how to complete the mission while separating Louise from a likely traitor and domestic terrorist. Fun.

Hopefully the train of thought makes sense. Also, the Albion arc will be going crazier than it did for Ash and what I have planned for Aang. So stay tuned, and don't forget to vote on the POLL on my profile. And of course, remember, reviews are food for a writer's soul!