IV.

The rest of the night passed quietly and calmly for the household. Louise spent much of her time at the desk she had co-opted as her magical workstation, preparing anything she thought she might need for the meeting with Camille that she was sure would turn into combat. The hardest part about the coming fight, Louise thought, was that unlike her other opponents, Camille more or less knew everything she was capable of. If she was going to have any hope she was going to need to either concoct something new and unexpected, or launch an attack so quick and decisive that Camille's preexisting knowledge wouldn't matter.

It was in reflecting on the use of something Camille would know about that Louise hit upon an idea- a possible use for such a thing that her sister might not expect. Louise scooped up several lengths of engraved chain and began to modify the spells that were imbued within them. It might be a bit of a gamble to use something as dangerous as the spell she was considering, but at this point it felt like a gamble might be the only choice she had.

Occasionally Louise would look over from her work to the bed where Rosa was sleeping, her quiet and contented form having a sort of calming effect on the viewer. Along with being a soothing balm to her tired mind, the view of Rosa was to Louise a reminder of her newfound resolution, the goal she had finally set her heart to. She was reflecting on this decided course when there came a light knock at the door to her rooms.

"Come in." Louise said in a quiet tone, so as not to disturb Rosa, though she hoped it was still loud enough for the other person to hear. A moment later the door opened partially and Rider stuck his head in through the opening and looked quickly around before he saw Louise at her desk. "Good evening, Rider." Louise said with a smile as their eyes met.

"Good evening, Master. I came up to tell you that Grimaud has prepared some dinner and was wondering if you'd come down to eat, or if I should bring it up to you. And I also thought I would see if I should bring some for Rosa as well." Rider indicated with a nod the still sleeping form of the other woman as he spoke, his voice slightly awkward as his feelings about Rosa were still unsure. On the one hand he trusted Louise, and had already once been humbled by her faith in the unstable young woman. But there was a part of him that still considered her with caution, with many of her actions, and his lack of Louise's own intimate understanding, making it hard for him to not be wary.

"No." Louise responded, also looking at Rosa, albeit with a far warmer and more loving expression. "I think it best we let her sleep. I will come down, and perhaps afterwards I'll ask her if she needs anything."

Rider nodded his understanding and left the door ajar as he headed downstairs to where Grimaud was waiting. Louise got up from her work and crossed the room to where Rosa lay. She sat gingerly down on the edge of the bed and spent some seconds smiling on the other young woman. Louise lightly pet Rosa's hair, now soft and springy from the recent shower. The gentle contact roused the injured woman from sleep and she looked up at Louise with an expression of happiness that was mostly lost in the drowsiness born of her still not being quite awake.

"Sorry to wake you. I'm going to go downstairs and eat some dinner. Do you need anything?" Louise asked, her voice a barely audible whisper.

Rosa's only response was a shake of her head and a grunt that sounded less like words and closer to a cough. Louise stopped herself from laughing at the inherent cuteness of Rosa's drowsy state and gently kissed her on the forehead before she lapsed back into unconsciousness.

Louise got up and left the room, closing the door as quietly as she could behind her. She descended the stairs on feather-light steps, using the tiniest bit of magic necessary to mute her footfalls so as not to disturb Rosa's sleep.

As Louise arrived in the lower part of the house she saw the table Grimaud had set and, upon smelling the sumptuous repast, she realized just how hungry she was, having not really eaten for the better part of the past five or six hours. Perhaps her hunger showed in her features in some manner, because Grimaud offered her a bright beaming smile from where he was in the kitchen as he called over to her. "It's just now done, so by all means sit down and we can eat right away."

The trio all took their spots at the table and, beyond a few exchanges that were mostly someone asking another to pass an out-of-reach dish, for some minutes ate in relative silence. It was a comfortable silence, the sort that can be found at a table of good friends or close family, each of them having at some point found familiar peace in one another's presence. Eventually light conversation did start, most of it centering on Grimaud's day and what he had himself been doing as of late. Louise didn't want to worry him with too much Holy Grail War talk and all the fighting it entailed, and so did her best to keep the subject on him.

Grimaud was happy to oblige, enthusiastically rambling about some recent shoots he had done as commission work, about how he was worried about the effect the quickly dropping temperature would have on the multiple plant studies he was still pursuing, about how he had even heard it might snow soon. Louise listened with genuine interest to the old photographer's enthusiastic chattering, urging him to continue while Rider, who was continuing his old habit of abusing the hospitality of Grimaud's wine selection, kept the glasses of all present full.

Dinner eventually ended and, after the dishes and table were cleaned, Grimaud excused himself outside to smoke a cigar and, having changed from the table wine they had been drinking, took a small copita of dessert sherry with him into the alley just beyond the hanging blanket. Rider and Louise sat at the table together as Grimaud made his exit, the one continuing to imbibe his preferred beverage, the other still reveling in feeling full and satisfied by the meal she had just enjoyed.

"So, Master." Rider said, placing his glass down gently but with purpose as he turned a gaze of meaning towards Louise. "Tomorrow is going to be-"

"Rather defining." Louise said interrupting him, her gaze still directed towards where Grimaud had exited, her hand fiddling with a napkin that had been left on the table.

"Not necessarily the word I was going to use." Rider returned, nonplussed at Louise's sudden interruption, but reassured at her clear resolve in regards to the subject at hand.

"Rider, I don't know if you quite recall, but you once asked me what I planned to do when we won, for what purpose I was here and even competing in the Grail War."

"I don't know that I put it in quite those words." Rider responded, slightly embarrassed as he recalled the incredibly harsh manner he had adopted with Louise during the early stages of their partnership.

Louise could almost sense his feelings as she looked over. "It's alright. You were correct to judge me as you did back then. It was true at the time at least, I had no purpose of my own." Louise reflected on the words she had used then, how she had merely echoed sentiments her father had taught her to believe, but she was now beginning to question deeply. "The truth is, I had no resolve at the time outside of the sense of filial duty I felt to my father. I had no wish to offer the Grail if I had laid hands on it. But now..." She trailed off for a moment as she stared resolutely towards the rooms above them.

"But now?" Rider prompted Louise, knowing full well, or at least suspecting the resolution she had made.

"But now I have a purpose. I have something to ask of the Grail."

"And it has nothing to do with the honor of the Saint-Hermine name?" Rider said with a proud smirk raising his glass.

"The Grail's power is great. It is said its abilities and the wishes it can grant are almost limitless. One could do great good with it."

"Or great evil." Rider responded.

"Indeed." Louise agreed. "And at first the naive idea of preventing that was the closest thing I had to a purpose. But now, despite what grand things it may be capable of bringing into being, I have what could maybe be called an incredibly selfish wish for it. Perhaps it is not right to use its power to save only a single life but-"

"It is never the wrong choice to help someone in need, Master." Rider looked on Louise with an expression of deep understanding, his own choices and failures, and the pride and regret he felt equally for both, reflected in his dark and tired eyes.

"I'm going to save her, Rider. Even if the limits of human magecraft are not enough to wrench the blighted curse from her body, something as near omnipotent as the Holy Grail must be." Louise's eye once again met Rider's gaze and he saw in her expression an assurance born of personal resolve that he had not before beheld there.

"And so?" Rider asked. He needed to hear her say the next part, needed to know that this newfound personal desire was as strong as it needed to be.

"And so nothing is going to stop me from accomplishing that end. Not Ali and Wilmore. Not Milady and her Master. Not Madame Fenix and her mad queen. Not even Camille." Louise placed emphasis on the last name. She could feel Rider's desperation to know that she could in fact face her sister without hesitation. "Not even my own sister can shake me from this. I don't know what her plans for the Grail might be, and perhaps it is not the morally right thing of me to stand between her and her ends for the sake of Rosa, but I don't care. This is not the decision I have reached as a mage, nor as a Saint-Hermine." She placed her burned hand on her chest as she spoke, a strong and unwavering smile on her face, a look of pure determination in her eye. "It is the decision I have made for myself."