***Author's note: Thanks for your patience with the missed week update. Just wanted to tweak some stuff to be just right. With any luck we'll be back on normal schedule after this.

III.

Louise, Rider, and Grimaud spent another couple hours meandering through the city before the elderly photographer departed, citing some pictures he wanted to capture while the natural lighting was at a particular level. Louise and Rider saw him off as he left in a taxi and the duo soon found themselves alone.

Her hand still in the air, waving to the departing vehicle, Louise spoke to Rider. "What in the world was all of that about?"

"Generally, kind words are exchanged between friends when they part ways. And an energetic wave of the hand is another way of showing a departing companion that you appreciate their company."

Louise turned sharply at Rider's sarcastic words. "I was not speaking of Grimaud's departure."

"I know very well what you were speaking on." Rider's look turned quickly from playful to sullen.

"Then I believe you owe me some sort of explanation for your insistence on fighting with Ali's companion. The gentleman may have a different upbringing and origin than you, but I'm sure that some sort of mutual understanding can be reached between the two of you."

"It is not our origins that differ. And I assure you that a mutual understanding is impossible," Rider had started walking back in the direction of the hotel as he spoke. Louise took a few quick steps to catch up with him and match his stride.

"Perhaps the two of you have developed a quarrel, but for mine and Ali's sake if you could-"

"I would cease feeling so familiar with the young man if I were you master. It would only serve to make what is to come all the more difficult." Rider visibly bit his mustache as he built up to the important facts he had deduced during the lunch.

"And what business is it of yours if I make some associations while I am here?" Louise was insulted at the implication that Rider had any say in the aspects of what she deemed her personal life.

"Our fates are completely intertwined, surely you can see that. That is what business it is of mine. Tell me, didn't something seem odd about Monsieur Bertuccio's companion? Surely you must have noticed some small detail. Even an odd feeling he gave you." Rider was forced to stop as the two of them waited at a crosswalk for the signal to change, his inability to continue forward further increasing his agitation.

"Well I would certainly say he was a little intimidating. But surely that can be attributed to the high station he holds in society." As the signal changed and the duo started crossing the avenue, Louise felt slightly dumbfounded at Rider's apparent animosity in regards to Lord Wilmore, and replied with a tone that was perhaps more dismissive than appropriate.

"You are the daughter of a prestigious magus family aren't you!? Why in heaven's name would you feel intimidated by someone simply because they are wealthier than the rest of the mundane humans around you?" Rider had stopped as they reached the halfway point of the crosswalk, barring his master's progress forward as he interrogated her.

"I am a daughter of the Saint-Hermine's, a noble and powerful bloodline!"

"So you've told me. Now act like one! Cast aside your foolish compassion for each random stranger you happen to meet and think like you are in the middle of a mortal battle, much like the one you are! Monsiuer Bertuccio, Grimaud, the baker, your sister! Why do you hold these people in your heart so readily?" The light signaling it was safe to cross the street blinked for a few moments before changing to advise pedestrians not to enter the road.

"What exactly are you after?" Louise could feel her blood boil at what she perceived as Rider's impertinent dismissal of her authority. She refused to give him any room to mock her.

"Tell me what you really thought of Lord Wilmore. What. Did. You. Feel!?" Traffic had started to move. Had there been any vehicles stopped at the light, the drivers would have seen the arguing pair immediately and easily gone around them or honked to warn them of their position. However the only vehicles had been a few blocks away, and the truck now barreling down the street towards them would not be able to notice them right away.

"He terrified me! There! Is that what you wanted? " Louise was screaming at Rider before she even realized what she was saying. Yelling if only to drown out his condescending words. Shouting to be heard over the roar of the approaching vehicle.

Within moments Rider had scooped his master up off the road and leapt the thirty-five feet to the other side of the road, the truck flying through the space they had only moments before occupied. "I can protect you from physical dangers like that with ease, master." Rider carefully set Louise down as he spoke. "But I cannot protect you from your own foolish pride and misplaced sympathies. I've seen you in battle. You are fierce, but calculating, you hardly need my assistance. We undoubtedly face many deadly foes, but the greatest danger to you is the one I am incapable of preventing."

Louise was shaking. Not because of the close call with truck, or because of her now revealed fear of Lord Wilmore, but because of how foolish she had been. Rider was the only person other than herself she could count on during the Grail War, but she had been shutting him out from the beginning. Louise thought that perhaps it was time to change that.

"He terrified me, Rider." Louise's words came out low and with no emotion. "I've not felt a pressure like his since leaving my father's presence. There was something otherworldly and altogether menacing about him. How someone as acquiescent as Ali can stand to be constantly in his vicinity is hard for me to understand."

"It was not wrong that you felt him otherworldly, master. It would be accurate to describe him as such. He is like me. He is a servant. "

Louise fell silent. A shocked look stuck on her features as she understood what his being a servant meant. She just stared at Rider for several moments before speaking. "If he is a servant, then the only possible conclusion is that Ali is his master." Her arms fell limply at her side as she said it out loud. "I was just chatting with him so familiarly. As if he were an old friend. But he is my enemy isn't he, Rider? How have I been so foolish?"

"You could not have known before now, my master. Foolish? No. Naive perhaps. But not foolish."

"Some would say that is a greater sin Rider." Louise had started walking again, wanting to put space between herself and the restaurant, the site of her humiliation.

"It is not too late to mend. I do not believe that Monsieur Bertuccio knew before now either, so he does not have an advantage you lack. However, now is the time that we cannot afford to make mistakes." Rider matched Louise's slower pace, understanding the shame she must be feeling.

"What would you have me do Rider?" Louise's tone was dejected and detached.

"That is not my decision to make, master. I am your familiar. I can offer advice and guidance, but you must make the final call. Now is the time to show your true resolve. I trust you."

"You trust me?" It was not what Louise had expected to hear. Until now she was certain that Rider's chastising had come from a desire to be the dominant one in the partnership. If he was willing to trust her, perhaps it was time for her to try and trust him.

"As much as I can. As much as I must. It is not my place as a humble chevalier to issue orders to the one whom I serve. It is my place to follow orders." Rider gave a small bow to Louise as they continued on.

"I will require some time to think about what to do next." Louise gazed off into the distance, her eyes fixed on the unknowable horizon of the future.

"Time is not something we have in excess, but very well." The rest of the walk back was conducted in silence, both of them too distracted by their own thoughts. When they arrived at the hotel Louise quickly prepared for bed, ignoring the relatively early hour. Rider wordlessly let her make her preparations, and as she lay down to sleep he assumed his spirit form and moved to the balcony to watch the street below. "Oh, Athos. Can I get it right this time? Will I be the guiding hand I'm supposed to be?"