Louise Summons a Grey Wizard
Chapter 4: Of Magic
By herself, Louise sat at a table beneath shade. The high wall which connected the center tower to the water tower shielded her from afternoon sunlight. Before her a cup of lukewarm tea and biscuits sat, both remaining untouched, next to them a book–The Practicalities of Magic–laid open. She had hardly been reading from it, her mind adrift. Students and several servants occasionally passed by. The academy staff paid her little attention, several offering drinks or snacks while some of her peers hushed insults. She couldn't be bothered to address any of it.
Over and over, the meeting with Osmond replayed in her head. She kept thinking if there was a better argument, or some rule, she could have mentioned regarding the Ceremony; anything to salvage her predicament. But nothing came.
The headmaster tried to convince her that the expulsion would be honorable, as though it were different from any other expulsion. Louise doubted that it would 'make her parents proud,' for the whole reason she had been sent to the Academy was due to private tutoring failing her. The girl's parents wanted their daughters capable of magic, and she felt she failed them.
What would mother think? Maybe I am a failure… a Zero, she thought, tears threatening to stream forth again.
For so many years the young noble tried to prove herself worthy of the Vallèrie name, to be able to call herself a mage. The time spent studying, the countless explosions casted, the enduring the mockery of her peers, and the title of 'Louise the Zero' was all for nothing.
As Louise lowered her head into folded arms, she noticed a maid of black hair approaching from her side.
It was when she heard her footsteps that the pinkette spoke. "Please, go away," she muffled.
"Miss Vallèrie?" Siesta asked hesitantly.
"I said go away," she again asked.
"Um…" the maid hesitated before speaking, "Sir Gandalf has asked for you."
Her head slowly rose. "Oh?" The young noble quickly rubbed her eyes, trying to brush away the tears so she could look dignified. "What does he want?"
The sound of the Library's door opening caught Gandalf's attention. Looking up from his study, he noticed Siesta's coal-black hair and another's head of familiar pink hair. He was quickly back to his study once realizing who they were. Even as they approached, he kept muttering aloud, scribbling notes as he did so.
"Sir Gandalf, I have your pipe," the maid declared, setting the wooden thing down beside him.
He shot up, eyes wide with glee. "Ah, yes! Thank you!" he said as he snatched it, quickly inspecting it.
"Osmond sends his regards, and he's asked that I also provide you with this," Siesta stated as she withdrew a small box from one of her pockets.
Tentatively, Gandalf inspected it, unlatching and opening it to inspect the contents. "Ah, and… what sort of weed is it?"
"A Romalian harvest, as I've been told."
"Send him my regards," he said as he closed the box. "And my meal?"
"Another servant should have that delivered soon."
The wizard nodded. "You are free to leave now."
Siesta bowed. "I look forward to helping you with your studies again. Sir Gandalf, Miss Louise," she stated before hurrying to her evening duties.
It was before the door closed that the wizard again brought his attention to the book, leaving Louise to stand awkwardly.
"... Sir Gandalf?" she prodded after several minutes of silence.
"Yes yes, one moment." He flipped through several pages, coming to the image of a familiar looking race. Writing some notes in his journal, he asked, "What do you know of elves?"
Louise blinked, uncertain as to how to answer. "... About as much as anyone else."
"Perhaps, but that is not an answer."
"... I don't think I follow."
"Certainly you've heard tales of their magic, crafts, songs, and deeds. Or have you not?"
Louise shivered, remembering the stories her father and caretakers would share with her before sleep. "I have… they're nightmarish."
The grey wizard raised an eyebrow, giving her an odd look.
The pinkette continued, "I know that most who travel to their lands never return. Those that do aren't the same."
"... In what sense?"
"Perhaps where you're from it's different, but… in children's tales it's often said that they eat infants, while others claim that they curse the lands and raise the dead in unholy rituals. Some go even further by asserting that they orchestrate wars and inflict terror among us."
Gandalf's stare grew into one of disbelief. He tried to see if she was joking but found no evidence of such. The young noble believed every word to be true.
"In history it's… not unheard of for villages to be whipped out, simply for being at or within their borders," she clarified, concerned that she somehow offended him.
"..."
"..."
…
[...]
"... It appears I am missing context," he finally stated, slamming the book closed. "The elves I'm accustomed with are more… agreeable."
"That… would be hard to believe," she stated with skepticism.
"Indeed," the wizard agreed with uncertainty. He hardly knew of elves being so barbaric according to her. If he hadn't known any better, he'd thought she was describing orcs, goblins, some other unholy creation of Morgoth, or the recently returned Ringwraiths.
Stranger in a strange land…
Gandalf took a long gaze at the girl, noting her downcast posture and look of sorrow.
"Why did you summon me?" Louise asked, the young noble's tone matching her expression.
The wizard quickly decided they needed a change of scenery. "Walk with me. This library has become stale."
Both had left the premises of the Void tower by the second floor, rising through its narrow stairway and up to the third floor; where the wall's walkway joined with the structure. Gandalf leisurely strolled along, taking in the sight of green hills, gardens, and a late afternoon sky as the young noble followed close behind. No one had passed them, no one to disturb their peaceful walk.
At the center of the long walkway, the wizard stopped, turning and facing more of the surrounding landscape just beyond the Academy's grounds. Louise took his lead by also examining the landscape.
From his pocket, the grey wizard withdrew the recently-gained pipe, expertly stuffing it with a modest amount of the Southfarthing's finest. At the tip of his thumb, a small flame was conjured, and with it he ignited the substance. He took a long inhale, savoring the senses of the Shire.
"You're not well," Gandalf stated as he blew smoke.
The girl did not shift her gaze. "... No."
"Why are you not well?"
She thought about keeping the answer to herself but decided against it. "... I'm being expelled."
"Is it because of me?" he asked as he looked at her.
Louise tried hard to resist the tears. "Yes…" she nearly sobbed.
Gandalf took another long drag from his pipe, again blowing smoke as he thought. "I am terribly sorry," he said with pity, his features subtly becoming downcast.
She began to openly weep. He said nothing, letting the girl vent herself for a long time. When she finished, the sun had lowered just above the hill tops, long shadows streaming down their faces.
"I cannot begin to know your struggles, and how many trials you have faced. But I can tell that you have been extremely hard on yourself," the wizard consoled.
Louise whipped away some of the tears. "No, no one does. But I have to be."
"How so?"
"Because I'm a Zero… I have no magical talent… I can't use Water, Fire, Earth, or Wind spells. I'm an utter failure, and I have to try hard." She briefly looked away in shame, then back to the hills. "There… I said it… Maybe they were all right."
Gandalf nodded thoughtfully, carefully dissecting her words. "You've been… very alone it seems," he stated.
Louise shook her head. "The professors have done all they could. My parents, sisters, and even tutors helped as much as they could."
"What of friends?"
The pinkette opened her mouth but then shut it, wanting to mention her best friend from childhood. Beside her, she had few (if any) friends she could claim.
The wizard took another inhale of his pipe, again blowing smoke. "I see…" he said.
There was another moment of silence as Gandalf took several more puffs, letting his thoughts stew as Louise simply took in the landscape before her. "They're very mistaken," he finally said.
Slowly, she turned her gaze to the wizard. A very faint, flickering feeling of validation took her, snuffed out by doubt.
He continued, "The fact that I'm here… that should speak of your talent… How many of your kind claim to summon a mage?"
Her stare intensified. "... Very few."
"So then why claim so easily of defeat, simply because I am not what most have summoned?"
Indignation coated the young noble's thoughts, though she quickly controlled herself. "I've… tried… I tried everything. Every spell I cast ends with an explosion. Water, earth, air, and fire spells, I've tried them all."
"Everything?" he asked dubiously.
The pinkette was again about to protest but started doubting herself. She thought back to magic which Gandalf demonstrated the night before, that light of pure white. "... I have," she said with less conviction.
He burst into a soft chuckle. "Has it ever occurred to you that your explosions demonstrate your potency?"
Louise was again about to protest but held her tongue. The wizard continued, "There is more to your gifts than the elements you name, and you have been so restricted in your imagination that you have not explored other possibilities."
She shook her head, still stuck on his question. "Sir, what good is my power if I can't wield it? Every teacher, every textbook, has failed me."
"Have you not experimented?" Gandalf repeated.
The volume of her voice increased. "What's left there to experiment? Every spell that can be used has already been discovered. Any other magic is not possible," she finished, referencing the four common elements.
He took a good long look at the girl, his brows furrowed. For a second she thought that she somehow offended him again. "Cast your explosion," he finally ordered.
Slightly caught off guard, she slowly withdrew her wand, aiming it in the center of the courtyard below.
"Not there, out there," Gandalf corrected, pointing with his pipe to the vast landscape beyond the walls.
Mentally slapping herself, Louise redirected her wand, aiming for a distant part of a hill at a good distance away. It would have been bad that in her last few days she would destroy more of the Academy's grounds. She took a moment, then saying, "Explosion!"
From that point, the hill erupted in black smoke and dirt. Not a second passed before the shockwave came.
Boom!*
Both of them stumbled then regained balance quickly. Across the campus, several students and teachers panicked, the sound of the explosion eliciting unpleasant memories.
Gingerly, Louise sheathed her wand, very aware that she may get reprimanded from having disturbed the faculty.
"What element was that?" Gandalf asked.
"Nothing… it wasn't any element."
"No element, you say? What of fire?"
She shook her head, recalling the criticisms of her tutors. "No, it… it never has been."
"Air?"
"No…"
Gandalf kept nodding to himself. "Neither earth nor water?"
"Neither."
The wizard looked away in thought. "Yes… yes…. If it is none of those, then what is it?"
For the first time in a long time, the young noble thought about the nature of her power. "... I don't know."
"Louise," Gandalf began, recalling last night's conversation, "have you not mentioned that a familiar reflects their master's affinity with magic?"
Her eyes narrowed, her mind following a similar recall. Her eyes subtly changed in realization "No… I remember."
The wizard turned to her, ordering, "Cast light."
Again withdrawing her wand, the girl uttered softly, careful not to pour too much will power into the spell. "Light," she said.
Louise's wand flickered with small puffs of smoke, though underneath one could see bright sparks, an unusual trait of her explosions. She stared intently at the display, her mind racing.
Gandalf, for a brief moment, peered into her mind like an open book ascertaining several issues. The girl was hardly trained against such intrusions, as is hardly any living creature. "Your intent is muddled and uncertain. All manipulations of the world require focus and every ounce of your imagination."
"Light!" she nearly shouted. Again, her wand puffed and sparked, though this time with greater ferocity. She had added too much will power that time.
He paused, letting the young noble cast several more times. When she stopped, a long moment of stillness fell on them.
"There is more to magic than dictated by your books and teachings, I sense. How your teachers fail to see this, I do not know," he stated, breaking that silence.
She looked up at him gingerly, a sense of hope clinging to the girl's words. "What am I missing?"
"That remains to be seen. You have not considered paths that are outside what is normally feasible. It is within that possibility that is most important to me."
Louise grew confused, fearing the heretical implications of his suggestion. "What do you mean?"
"The power that resides within you is what has brought me here, and I believe that you are capable of sending me back home." It was only after countless hours of study that brought him to this conclusion. If Middle Earth is beyond physical reach, then it would be important to involve the girl.
She looked away, doubt clouding her thoughts.
"I need your help," he nearly pleaded.
The young noble tried keeping her gaze, lowering her head out of guilt. "Would this be retribution for having summoned you?"
Gandalf shook his head. "You have been punished enough. I know that this task will require more than obedience. No, you must be willing."
She kept her gaze without saying anything. The grey wizard continued, trying a different route of persuasion, "In my homeland… I have been given a grave task. I fear that without my guidance, a great darkness will befall it."
"A darkness?" she echoed, his foreboding capturing more of the girl's attention.
He nodded, trying to best determine how to phrase his next sentences. "A Dark Lord, a terrible and powerful tyrant. He has been gathering his strength, and he threatens to enslave the very people I've been charged to… guide."
The Vallerie tried wrapping her head around this tyrant, this 'Dark Lord.'
Sensing a lack of interest, Gandalf added, "Long has he plagued my homeland. If left to his own whims, he and his armies will destroy all that is good. I must return to stop him." He did not want to give any more detail than necessary. The wizard felt certain that the peoples of Halkeginia were unfamiliar with the Ainur, or with Morgoth and his servants. Expounding on them would make him appear queer.
She thought for a second. "Is he a threat to our kingdom?"
He shook his head. "I suspect that you're well beyond his reach, though that could change."
Slight alarm took her. "What do you mean?"
The wizard paused, gathering his thoughts. "Before now we had only thought that anything beyond our land to be lifeless, a great void. If he succeeds, he may turn his attention beyond."
The implication was not lost on the girl. She fell silent, wrestling with a storm of thoughts. "What would I do?" she finally asked.
"What you have always done."
She hesitated. "I… don't think I can."
Gandalf gave her a peculiar look. "Is it your expulsion that you are concerned about?"
Louise shook her head. "It's not just that… I wouldn't know where else to go." While she felt for the wizard's plight, her own issues still took precedence. The prospect of a distant tyrant taking over Halkeginia felt unconcerning against her own worst nightmares.
The wizard thought for another moment, his expression shifting as he chewed on his pipe. The answer to this predicament seemed obvious to him. The girl believed she had exhausted almost all of the most apparent resources in her pursuit of becoming a mage. She would have to turn to less well known options…
… And it may as well be him.
"Your magic eludes me. Disregarding the… 'four elements,' its nature is something I am not familiar with. But I believe I can help you," he finally answered.
Her head slowly rose. She should have been more elated, but years of failure and disappointment made the young noble's reaction subdued. "You… you can?"
The wizard hesitated. For as long as he lived, Gandalf's duties were those of guidance, advice, and wisdom, for which many kings, queens, regents, scholars, commoners and his fellow istari valued. He felt that the role of a mentor seemed incongruent, making him more influential than he should be. He had always seen himself as an eternal student since his days serving the Valar.
"I can, for the time I remain here," he answered.
Her gaze intensified. Under another flurry of excited thoughts and doubt, her expression remained stoic. Then, for the first time in her long day, she smiled. "Ok…"
It was nearly an hour before Osmond could retire for the night. Outside his tower's window, orange and purple skies greeted him from beyond shadow-covered hills. Before him, of a less-than desired sight, several stacks of correspondence and administrative documents were laid.
Said paperwork could have been reduced considerably were the headmaster not ogling his secretary. After the meetings with the young Valliére and Professor Stephanie, he felt he needed a distraction.
"This is really inappropriate, Headmaster," Longueville said as politely as she could. The green-haired woman had her own tasks, and she did not desire the lecherous man's advances to muddy her concentration.
"Yes, firm indeed…" he said, eyeing her bosom. It hadn't quite crossed his mind how she managed to put up with his blatant comments for several months now. All of his prior (female) assistants lasted several weeks before requesting transfer, or outright quitting. It was strange that she lasted as long, which either spoke of strong will, stubbornness, or something else. "And is it the purple bra or the green one?"
She picked up an empty ceramic mug and hurled it across the office, narrowly missing his head as he lunged left. The thing shattered spectacularly against the wall behind him. "You pervert! You've been sneaking in my room?!" she asked in equal parts hysteria and alarm. The secretary desperately did not want the man, nor anyone, sneaking into her room without permission, and for good reason.
"Never! Your shirt tends to show through!" he quickly defended, not willing to betray his small friend.
Regaining indignant composure, she huffed in frustration, not at all buying the excuse. "I should knock some sense into that thick skull of yours."
"Oooooh, I'll lend you my paddle!"
Longueville growled as she continued with her paperwork.
Several knocks caught the headmaster's attention, his eyes fixed on the door at the far end of his office. "Really now, at this hour?" he muttered. He quickly regained composure before saying, "Yes, come in!"
The door opened, stepping through the source of his (indirect) frustrations. "Sir Gandalf!" he greeted with as much politeness as possible, trying to hide his weariness.
"Sir Osmond," he curtly stated. "Miss Longueville," he also greeted, to which the secretary bowed her head.
The headmaster's eyes drifted behind him, catching a familiar head of pink hair. "Louise?" he greeted with uncertainty.
The girl did not answer, her expression neutral as she followed the grey mage in. She met his eyes for a brief second.
"I trust that the weed was… to your liking?" Osmond asked, referencing the Romalian herb he gifted earlier. He had hoped the offer would persuade him against anything legally damning. Plus, as a fellow smoker, he felt obligated to expand the Grey Mage's horizon.
"I would not know," he stated bluntly.
"Ah…" A cold sweat formed from his brow as he attempted to calm himself. Did he not like it? he thought (unaware that the wizard had, in fact, not tried the stuff yet). "Ahm, to what do I owe this visit?"
The grey mage kept his approach, taking slow steps, the clanking of his staff matching in rhythm. "Several important matters, that is if you permit it."
"And… what matters would those be?" he prodded.
Gandalf's eyes gleamed with a seriousness befitting the royal court. "Those of education and accommodation."
Author's note: I'll be taking a pause on updating this story for a while. If you haven't already, check out SpaceBattles for my profile. I typically post my stories there first. This story, as well as other Louise Summons ones, can be found under RainEStar3's forum "Louise Summons Series."