"Why are you here, Zerbst?" Louise asked, sounding rather annoyed.

"Why, because Tabitha and Aselith are here, of course!" Kirche proudly replied.

"It's not like I asked for her help!"

"Hear that, Tabby? Louise doesn't want you to carry her familiar for her."

Tabitha didn't respond. It was just another little spat between them. At least Kirche didn't start it this time, though she wasn't helping matters.

Not that their argument was important. While Tabitha held Saito in the air with her spell, she was observing Aselith. He continued his observation of the bronze sword Guiche made. It must have been to figure out how Saito was able to defeat all those golems. They were made of the same material, after all.

"Why are you helping me, Tabitha?" After a few more barbs between them, Louise directed her question to Tabitha. "I don't believe we've ever spoken."

They might have, once or twice, but likely it was one of Tabitha's one-word sentences. She was never around Louise without Kirche nearby, and those two would always go at it with one another.

"Interested." Tabitha looked back as she replied, using a one-word sentence.

"In what?" Louise asked.

"Your familiar." She was also interested in Louise, and in her own familiar's interest, but adding that wouldn't have been helpful.

"I see…" It looked like Louise was going to say something else, but the way her expression was clued Tabitha in, along with Kirche's expression.

"Handsome?" Kirche said, causing Tabitha to turn back.

Just as they were about to enter the Water Tower, Aselith held the bronze sword in one hand, the point of it pressed against his other palm.

"Can I help—" Just as the faculty water mage in the tower spoke up, Aselith plunged the sword into his hand. "By the Founder!"

Just as easily, Aselith pulled the sword out again. He grabbed the blade with his wounded hand—which, Tabitha noted, had already healed—and started to bend the blade. In only a few seconds, it was nearly bent in half.

The faculty member looked confused beyond belief, but her attention was drawn to Saito as Tabitha levitated him forward. "Oh dear."

Louise, who looked a shade paler after seeing that, stepped forward. "Yes, um, I require healing for my familiar."

"Of course. Please set him there and I'll see what the damage is." The water mage said.

Tabitha easily moved Saito to a nearby room with a cot. As Louise and the water mage began to talk inside, Tabitha refocused on Aselith.

"It's not magical." He said as if he didn't just stab his own hand.

"That's…Darling, I could have told you that if you asked." Kirche didn't seem to know how to handle that. At least she didn't seem all that worried.

"Then how did Saito cut through the boy's golems?" Aselith asked, pointing the bent and useless blade at the open doorway.

"Hm. That is a good question." Kirche tapped her chin.

It really was. Guiche could have made the sword more durable than his valkyries, but Tabitha didn't think he would have bothered. The fight was practically over until Saito somehow managed to win. And he did so with a sword that shouldn't have been able to cut through Guiche's valkyries.

"It seems there's only one person here that will know the answer." Aselith took the blade and started crushing it with his hands.

"Oh my~! How strong!" Kirche swooned rather obviously.

The water mage seemed distracted by them, but returned to speaking with Louise.

"I see…" After they finished, Louise spoke softly. "Can I…have a moment to think?"

"Of course, Miss Valliere." The water mage said, stepping back. "I have something I need to attend to, but I will return shortly."

As she left the room, Aselith entered, Tabitha and Kirche right behind him. Looking at Saito without his strange clothes on his upper half, he was really injured. Bruises, cuts, his broken right arm, and his swollen eye.

"What now?" Louise asked sharply, keeping her eyes on her familiar as she sat next to him. "Did you want my thanks? You have it. Now leave me alone."

"Is that how you nobles act when someone is about to help you further?" Aselith asked, stepping forward.

Louise scowled at him. "Are you offering to pay? I didn't think a human experiment dressed like a dark priest would have many ecus on hand."

The injuries on Saito would be expensive to heal, thanks to the cost of the reagents needed. That, however, paled to the sudden fear Tabitha felt for Louise's safety, though it was short lived. She was used to Aselith enough that, despite the near-oppressive fear she originally felt, she was confident he wasn't going to harm Louise.

"Many what?" Aselith asked.

"Currency." Tabitha supplied.

"Ah. Well, no, I haven't taken the time to accrue…stamped silver or gold." The way he said that made the concept sound so foreign. "In any case, I assumed healing the boy directly would be sufficient."

Louise looked hopeful for a fraction of a second, then crossed her arms and continued to scowl. "So, not only can you cast spells, but you know one that isn't costly? And you expect me to believe that?"

"I don't need a spell to heal him, girl." Aselith turned around.

"G-G-Girl!?" Louise practically growled. "Tabitha, have you not trained your familiar? He is impudent and condescending to his betters!"

Perhaps going along with Aselith wasn't a good idea. Tabitha should have suggested…well, she was honestly curious, too, so she had no room to talk. At least Louise was interesting to Aselith, so he likely wouldn't react badly to her comments.

"He's better than some mages." Kirche somewhat helpfully offered with a smile. "Malicorne would agree if he bothered showing up to any classes today."

"No one asked you, Zerbst!" Louise yelled.

The door to the room closed, having been closed by Aselith, and he walked toward the cot. He leaned closer to Tabitha for a moment. "Don't want anyone else to see this, right?" He whispered.

Tabitha wasn't sure what he was planning. It might have been in reference to what they spoke about a lunch, about divinity. If so…well, she wanted Kirche to know about her familiar, and Louise was the point of interest regarding divinity.

"What are you doing!?" Louise stood and drew her wand. "Don't come any closer!"

"Defensive, isn't she?" Aselith asked with a smile, ignoring the attempt at intimidation. "I'm going to heal your familiar."

"Why should I believe you?" Louise demanded.

"I do not care if you do." Aselith responded. "I simply wish to know more about the fight and don't care to wait for you to decide whether or not he should be healed."

"Of course I'm going to have him healed!" Louise shouted, then quieted down. "He's my familiar…"

"Then swallow your foolish pride." Aselith stood right in front of Louise.

Tabitha had no doubt Aselith could simply do as he pleased, regardless of Louise's objections. The fact that he was waiting for her response showed he did want to have some form of respectable connection with her.

Louise gritted her teeth as she stared up at the—relatively—towering form of Aselith. "Fine!"

Aselith smiled. "Good." He stepped around the cot, standing next to Saito.

"He's quite fiery, isn't he?" Kirche asked next to Tabitha.

While she would rather try smothering her friend's desires for her familiar, Tabitha was more intrigued by Aselith. Did he really have strong healing magic? He hadn't mentioned it before, though Tabitha was admittedly still too frazzled at the time to ask all the right questions; something to fix today. If he did, perhaps she could learn it from him. Having healing magic without the need for expensive reagents would not only help her whenever she was sent out by her uncle, but it could…

"What are you doing!?" Louise shrieked as Aselith's hand went into Saito's chest, up to his wrist.

Author's Notes:

Cliffhanger!