Louise Summons a Jedi Master
Chapter 3: Uncivilized (Nobles)
Jean Colbert received word from the Water Tower staff that Louise's elusive familiar had been witnessed with its master. The girl had taken it in for an exam, likely concerned of possible injury from the explosion. For the professor, it saved him from having to find the creature and from massive embarrassment.
With his time now free, he was able to pursue breakfast, his daily routine of tasks, and some sensitive research.
He found himself in the academy's library. Beside the usual collection of scholarly and recreational works, the place had an extensive collection of ancient texts. It was a large treasure trove for academic research for those of scientific pursuits and with a taste for hidden knowledge.
Situated at a small desk, the only light came from a lone window and a collection of candles. Before him several texts were displayed, those of Brimir's earliest writings (not the originals, of course) and a compendium of all known magics, including void.
On one particular page, he caught a line of runes, the same runes that were branded on the green goblin.
"Gandalfr…" he whispered.
The Academy boasted an array of five different courtyards, each separated by lines of walls with archways arrayed along each. Within each yard, grass and gardens flourished with an abundance of seating, meant for the enjoyment of both the staff and students. It is here where the nobles-in-training conducted their magics, spells that are too disastrous to perform within the classroom. During certain holidays and royal visits, one courtyard would be decorated and furnished for the hundreds of guests, honor guards, nobles and royalty along with stations for the commoner staff. This essentially made the academy both a center of celebration and of the magical arts.
Yoda had taken a stroll through one of these courts, the shade of archways and walls sheltering him from the sun. Well crafted stone met his bare feet, a testament to the decadence of this primitive civilization. The sight of tall trees along each column of stone, and beds of well-tended flowers, greeted his eyes, and he basked in their grandeur, the life they brought. Without the looming presence of advanced technologies, this was perhaps as close to nature a civilization could get while maintaining a strong level of development. It is a peculiar balance to the alien.
The students and staff that passed by gave him a good amount of space, throwing a mix of fearful and curious glances. The students, he noted, tend to make snide comments of his appearance, the academy's servants more weary in their talk. It mattered not to him. Their words were their own, something he could never control. (Influence, perhaps, but he would never want to.) They hardly affected his mood and sated appetite.
The food he received earlier had taken some convincing of one of the maids. To his disappointment (even as he expected it), there was an incredible amount of waste. Most of the leftovers (he observed) either went back to the staff or were thrown away.
"To be discarded, that is?" he asked.
Mary Anne stood awkwardly, the tray and leftovers delicately held with both hands. She was caught in an awkward bind. The maid was just as sympathetic as she was unnerved. Part of it was the elvish ears, and the fact that if she were to simply hand out discarded food without its master's permission (Louise, if she remembered) she could find herself in trouble.
"I'm… afraid so."
"Then perhaps free it from you, I shall?" Yoda asked innocently.
She shuffled in place, glancing around for anyone watching them. "I really shouldn't."
"Oh, and why is that?"
"There are others that may need this food, and besides it's not… proper to just hand food to any familiar. I could be poisoning you."
It chuckled, softly struck by her concern. "The food will not poison me. But, a servant's job to feed the hungry, is it not?"
"Among others," she admitted.
"It is to feed your fellow servants, your concern then."
"Yes, it is."
"I have nothing to offer," it confessed, "only my gratitude, and that of Louise, will you have."
She again looked around for bystanders, still seeing no one. "Pardon my rudeness, but how can I be certain that Miss Valliere will be gracious?" She knew of the young noble's fiery temper, her reputation extending beyond the ears of her classmates, and it wouldn't do Mary Anne a favor to incur that wrath.
The small tridactyl looked down in thought. "Angry she may be, but protective of those close to her, she is." It looked up to her again. "Between us, tell you a secret, may I?"
It gestured her to kneel down, to put forth her ear. She did so delicately.
"Many of the Nobles, even young Louise, desperate are they for friends, the respect and likeness of not only their peers, but from commoners. Without you, their own wellbeing means nothing."
She nodded, a strange sense of… empathy falling over her.
"A great service, you do. For not a living by what you make, but a life by what you give, that you do."
The maid had parted with a generous bowl of fruit and greens–and only the fruit and greens, for anything else on that tray was to the master's dislike. He had managed to avoid mind tricks, for it was against his creed to excessively rely on the Force for these matters. His mind need not be weakened by cheap tricks, much like machines removing the labors that make the body strong. It is a lesson he had taught to many younglings and padawans.
From a distance, he witnessed various students conferring and eating amongst each other. It hadn't been told to the master that today is dedicated to familiar bonding, and it is why he saw various canines, cats, reptiles, and even a floating eye (to his mild surprise) paired with each of their masters. It was a day the young nobles could spend free of lectures (their assignments notwithstanding) to become familiar with their pets.
Though for some, they choose to spend it flirting with their peers. It is exactly this which the master witnessed at a table not far from him.
Montmorency held her orange frog delicately. She had a faint pink shade on her cheeks, enraptured by a make-believe story. "And where would you take me?" she asked.
Guiche held his rose in a delicate display, "to the to calmest lake, so we could caress the waters in joined hands, drowning in a bottle of viognier to wash our worries away." He ended in a dramatic flare of speech.
Verdante, his giant mole, rested peacefully behind the young noble, fully ignorant of its master's courting.
The girl giggled, letting the boy grasp her left hand. She placed the frog on the table.
He continued, "We would watch the sun fall, the curtain of light drawn to reveal the stars above, letting the heavenly lights kiss us." The blond noble brought her hand to his lips. Her face grew profusely red.
From where he stood, Yoda managed to hear the attempts at flirting. Sensing the playboy's wandering mind, he knew where his intentions were and could only shake his head.
It was then the master caught a strong whiff of perfume. He immediately spotted the source, a glass bottle with a yellow liquid. The master wandered over and picked it up, his curiosity getting the best of him. Bringing it closer made the smell far more potent than he preferred, and he felt his nose protest.
Back at the table, Guiche took notice of Louise's strange creature. It was beyond him why the pinkette would let the small thing walk around on its own, but that was hardly his concern. His eyes were drawn to a familiar bottle it held, and it dawned on him what it was. How does it have that!?
"Guiche, you look worried?" his dearest asked.
"Oh, it's nothing. I only had a strange revelation." In his mind, all he could think was retrieving the perfume bottle before things got complicated.
The tridactyl had half the mind to leave it where it was in the grass. It was very likely that whoever lost it would come back for it. He had little knowledge of who owned it, or where he'd even return it to.
He suddenly felt another presence behind him. Turning around, he took in the sight of a young girl of brown hair and purple eyes, dressed similarly to the students but with a brown cape. She wore a nervous look, carrying a basket with a wonderfully made soufflé.
"W-where did you find that?" she asked, gently kneeling and reaching out for the bottle in apprehension.
Katie wasn't too comfortable being before the creature. Like the good majority of her class, she felt uneasy at the sight of its ears, feeling that it beheld an elvish heritage. She heard rumors of a second year summoning an elf, and the sight of it seemed to confirm as much. For the green creature to have possession of the bottle of perfume hinted at a bad omen. She had, afterall, given it to guiche.
"This belongs to you, I take it?" the not-elf said.
Gently, he placed it in her hand, and she took it delicately. "No…" she trailed. The creature didn't need to know that it was a gift for a crush of hers.
Out of their eyesight, the playboy was beginning to panic. Externally he still managed to keep his composure. I can still salvage this, he thought. "Mon Mon, why don't we take our familiars to a more secluded area."
She gave him a thoughtful look, letting him take her by the hand to stand. "Oh, well…" she resisted, slowing their pace.
Katie's eyes betrayed a look of sadness. The first year focused her gaze on the blond boy and his flirt. Yoda trailed her sight, and immediately understood. "Ah, terribly saddening, this must be," it said. In truth, he hardly felt sad for the girl. This would be an important lesson for her, as was for countless others, and she would be fine. All he could offer was sympathy.
She looked back to him, finding herself in weak denial. "What do you mean?"
He wasn't one to lie. "Perhaps speak with him, you should. Plain to see, will his mind be."
Katie took its words to consideration. The girl was already set on meeting with Guiche, but now she felt there needed to be a different confrontation.
Wordlessly, she carried herself forward.
The blond boy managed to usher his girlfriend, along with their familiars, from their seating and past several occupied tables.
He wasn't fast enough. "Guiche?"
Jolting around, he turned to face the other young girl. "Katie!? What a pleasant surprise!"
Montmorency looked suspiciously at the first-year, watching her withdraw a perfume bottle. "You might have dropped this…" the brown-haired girl said.
A sniff was all it took for Guiche's dearest to recognize the perfume's smell. Her boyfriend had faint traces of it on him when they had met earlier, and it had been played off as a new perfume he had been testing.
"Oh, ah! Yes… I did drop that! How clumsy of me," he said.
Katie held the basket up, "I'd thought we'd share this too, like we talked about last night…"
"What are you trying to pull!?" Fury quickly built up in Montmorency. She wasn't about to let a first year charm away her beloved. To do so, no less in front of her, was tantamount to a challenge.
"She means nothing by it, my dear Mon Mon."
By now, other students were beginning to notice, gathering around to witness the drama unfold.
"N-nothing by it?" Katie weakly murmured.
"No! That's not what I meant," he tried to recover.
"What did you mean?" she asked.
Montmorency stomped forward, placing a hand to gently push the girl away. "You're not pulling the soft maiden act all that well, and I suggest trying it on some other impressionable first year."
Guiche grabbed the blond girl's hand. "Mon, there's no need for that."
Katie didn't answer her, her attention still fixed on the boy. "I… I thought I was yours, you said so last night," tears started welling up from the first-year.
Panic rose within him. "Katie, I meant to say that—I-it wasn't… I think you meant–"
"Guiche, what is she talking about?" Montmorency asked, her suspicion being redirected.
The playboy had to pause himself. "She and I met last night… there was a profession of… love from her. I-it was completely silly. You know you are my most important star." He could feel a cold sweat drip between his shoulders, the heat draining from his face.
"What did you say to her?" she managed to ask through anger.
At this, he had no words. The chill had now turned into a frozen hellscape within him.
The basket Katie held was dropped. She couldn't help but cry as she ran off.
Horror mixed in with the boy's features. He gave her his full attention for a brief moment, witnessing the sweet girl dash between stone columns with her head buried in arms.
"Guiche?" Montmorency gritted, clenching her fists.
Again, he chose his words poorly. "You've always been–"
*Smack!*
Laughter erupted as he fell back, landing hard on his unfortunate familiar, the giant mole squealing in protest.
"You… YOU TWO-TIMING SCUMBAG!" Montmorency's face was flushed in red with veins bulging from her forehead, feeling both embarrassed and angry. "I should have known you would try something like this!" The boy had a reputation for being a shameless flirt. Even in the last year, there were rumors that he had dated nearly all of the first-years and several second-years.
The demeaning comments from the others did little to alleviate the situation.
"Guiche got caught again!"
"You couldn't just stick with one!?"
"What a shameless skirt-chaser."
The boy became red in the face, shame taking him even as he stood tall.
He tried calling to the blond girl as she stormed off, "My dearest, I can explain!"
The laughter of his peers continued, but slowly they drifted away, going back to their familiars and friends.
Embarrassed, he turned his attention to the 'obvious' source of his misfortune: the little green creature.
Even as he stormed to confront it, the tridactyl still held an unassuming gaze. "Thanks to you, two girls' hearts have been broken! You have made a fool out of me!"
It tilted its head. "Oh yes! Of my fault, it is indeed," it easily admitted. He had, after all, directed the young girl to him. It may have been a small act, but it was by his doing.
Guiche hardly expected the not-elf to so casually rat himself out. "Yes it is. I will not let this slight go unpunished."
The master raised his hairless brows, "An apology, you want?"
"From your master as well." He so desperately wanted to rid himself of this embarrassment. Guiche thought of no suitable compensation Louise, much less this creature, could give him. His anger was speaking for him.
It simply laughed. "An apology, you will not have, young one."
"What?" the blond boy grounded out.
It calmly raised his hand. "Nothing, I or Louise may offer, will change the hearts and minds of those around. See you, they did, be confronted and challenged. Have the power to erase their minds, to mend broken hearts, I do not have." The last part he lied. While Yoda had not the knowledge nor technique of the force, they could be learned, but such powers would be unbecoming of him.
"That is hardly at issue."
"Oh, then what is?"
He repeated tersely, "An apology."
"And what will happen if there is none?" It challenged, again in a calm tone.
Guchie blinked, unable to come up with a response. He could challenge it, but what sort of honor was there in dueling a helpless creature? The class would immediately see through such a farce, even if the groundwork was there. He could confront Louise, though she may simply laugh at him. Deep down, he knew his case was weak, and he had only himself to blame.
"Perhaps find a place and think of your misfortune, you should," it suggested.
He desperately wanted to kick it. "Shut up! Shut up you green troglodyte!"
At that he stormed off, much to the amusement of Yoda. "Calm down, he will," he told himself, then laughing.
Yoda's stroll went unimposed and in peace.
He found himself at the base of the Academy's central tower, observing in fascination the stone works and the curious disturbance it radiated. He guessed it might have had something to do with this 'magic' the students talked about.
Much to learn, there is, he thought.
As far he could tell, 'magic' felt… different. Every time he reached out, he could feel its presence as though it were a living being, rippling to his touch.
By the entrance of the main hall, from where he left Louise for her meal, he took notice of the large collection of creatures, those too large or too untrained to take residence within. He had passed them much earlier (in the last hour), paying them little mind. Large cats, wolves, reptiles, and other creatures arrayed themselves along the wall for its shade, empty bowls and plates before them licked clean of food.
The sight of a large blue dragon caught his attention. It was perhaps more than quadruple his size, even sitting down it towered over him.
As Yoda approached the creature, the large reptile gave him its full, curious regard.
"A beautiful creature, you are," he said with sincerity.
It shrilled happily as though saying "thank you!," bowing its head low enough that Yoda was able to admire its piercing green eyes and shimmering blue scales. He reached out to scratch its chin, years of animal handling returning from the depths of his memory. The creature cooed in satisfaction.
"Her master, you are?" Yoda asked a girl who had approached from behind.
Tabitha thought her footsteps were quite enough that she wouldn't catch its attention, not that she purposefully snuck up on it. She had her book in its bag, the large wind staff in her left arm. Her meal left her satiated, and felt that it was time that she resumed bonding with her wind dragon.
"Yes," she said.
"Her name, what is it?"
"Slyphid."
"Hmmmmmm, a fitting name. Spirit of the wind, she is."
The bluette gingerly patted the dragon on her head, its head leaning into the palm as its eyes closed. It loved the attention.
"Come," she ordered.
The dragon obeyed, rising on its legs as she and her owner wandered off along the tower's shade. Around the bend of a wall and underneath the arches, they left his sight.
Suddenly, Yoda heard a peculiar screech, "Familiar!"
The master turned to see Louise approaching, her fists clenched as she wore a scowl. She marched with rage, the animals giving her a wide berth as she passed them. "You are NOT supposed to leave without my say!"
He decided to have some fun. "Enjoy your meal, master?"
Her face seemed to take on a new shade of red, "Familiar!"
The tridactyl cocked its head to one side. "Yes?"
Louise was about to burst before managing to calm herself. Its head is not right, he doesn't know better, she told herself. "It is not… proper to leave my side without permission. In fact, most things you do require my permission."
He faked ignorance, "Oh?"
"From now on, it is required that you stay close to me. Do you understand?"
"Indeed, yes!"
The girl thought back to when it left, realizing that it probably did not understand why she had withheld food from it. She concluded that it likely tracked down one of the maids for sustenance. (Speaking of maids, she would need to instruct the staff to not feed her familiar in the future, not without her say-so.)
Regardless, she withdrew a muffin from her cloak, the same one she had partitioned for it earlier. "I had reduced your food for the chair you broke and the lack of courtesy you showed. I… should have told you sooner."
The master glanced at his impromptu walking stick, causing the girl to twitch slightly. "Ahhhh, yes. My apologies," he said. Hunger tended to suspend his common courtesy from time to time. He should have cared more for the furniture, but at this point he had no regrets.
"This–" she knelt down, handing the pastry to him, "– is yours. You can eat it."
Yoda gingerly took the pastry in his hand, delicately unwrapping the cloth. "Too kind, you are." While it wasn't his preferred snack (being too far removed of natural varieties), the muffin would at least keep him satiated.
She stood back up. "Come, we're going back to the water tower, and we're not leaving until we have you examined properly."
At the water tower, they waited for a considerable amount of time. For most of it, both the girl and alien kept silent, the latter simply falling to a deep meditative state while the former fidgeted. When an hour had rolled around, she was beginning to desire something to read.
When they had finally met with the senior attendant, Mondeville, to the pinkette's displeasure, not even he could determine if the not-elf had any brain damage.
"Are you even certain of what kind of species it is, Louise?"
Louise paused, embarrassment filling her. "No… I still need to find out."
"Well, I can certainly tell you that it's not an elf. The whole structure isn't right," he answered.
He flipped through several pages of notes from the Sifo-Dyas look-alike, scrutinizing their contents. "Seems like the young chap had everything right," the healer said to himself. "No obvious injuries, and it seems the symptoms are signs of other, minor issues."
"Are you certain? What about his odd speech?" the Valliere argued.
"What about it?"
"Wouldn't there be something wrong if he was talking… backwards?" She looked to her familiar, as though silently asking for a demonstration.
"Convinced, she is, that my speech is her fault," the creature plainly stated, then laughing.
Mondeville simply raised an eyebrow, "That… hardly sounds like difficult speech. Would you mind saying something else?"
It obliged, "Interested, you are, in your medicine?"
"Well then, it's either an error of the translation spell, or–more likely–it is how he actually speaks."
Louise was beginning to feel embarrassed. "Could… you check again, just to be certain?" Still, she absolutely needed to know.
"If one of my assistants hadn't found anything wrong with him, I can assure you that I won't find anything more."
"We have to be certain," she pressed. "You may have missed something."
The man shook his head, "You're just as stubborn as your mother, you know that?" he grumbled, but not unkindly.
Still, their visit was better than nothing. It at least confirmed that her familiar had coherent thought, and likely when she first summoned it.
They were back in her room. It was late in the afternoon, and the two of them were in the midst of a much-needed conversation.
"Not an elf, I am," the master said. The small creature sat cross legged on the floor. He had been insistent on sitting on the table, but after some undignified yelling and protest from the pinkette, the not-elf relented to its current seating.
She gave it an incredulous gaze. "You can't be an orc…"
"Not an orc, I am," he agreed.
"But what are you?" She again asked in frustration. Ever since Mondeville posed the question, it had been eating at her. It definitely couldn't be human, and she hoped by the Founder that it wasn't a vampire.
"Yoda is Yoda," the master said as though it were the most obvious thing.
"Your race, what kind of creature are you?" she clarified in a voice laced in frustration.
It slowly closed its eyes, contemplating an answer. "Forgotten, I have. Too long have I lived. Said it was when I was a child." Green irises again met Louise's. "No longer useful, that memory, it is to me. No meaning it has."
"How can you forget!?" she nearly shouted. The idea that being could forget its birthright was such a foreign concept to the young noble. Even she understood that she is a human, not an elf or an orc… or a vampire.
"Too many memories, too little space in my head, yes?" it reasoned. "From your infant years, do you remember? So too, do I not remember all of mine."
"That is not the same, familiar!" While true that she couldn't remember her first several years, in her mind it was hardly a good comparison for the creature to make.
It shook its head. "Too young are you to understand."
"I'm seventeen years old!"
It pointed its chair leg at her, jabbing it in her direction on each word, "My. Point."
Louise collapsed in the chair behind her, giving an exasperated "huff." She hoped that knowing its race would give her some clue as to what element she aligned with. As far as she could tell, 'Yoda' could align with any of the four…
A stray thought took her, There's Elven magic… but if it claimed not be an elf… She was hardly informed of that branch, and she doubted anyone was. No one had lived long enough among the 'monsters' to give detailed writings, at least nothing current. Brimir's teachings made some reference, but nothing concrete that stood out.
For a second, she looked at it contemplatively, the not-elf giving an amused gaze in return. "Can you use magic?" she asked.
Yoda's ears perked. "Oh! Magic! What is that?"
Louise slumped her head into her hands. "Of course you don't know."
He fully understood what she was asking. This was his way of probing for information. Yoda had seen others perform seemingly supernatural feats throughout the day: casting lances of ice, igniting small flames, to even levitating, all from small sticks to staves. He wondered if there was some connection with that consistent disturbance of the translation spell.
"Please enlighten me, 'master,'" he insisted, mocking her title.
She again failed to catch the not-elf's jest. It took her less than a minute to compose herself. "Magic…"
There were many angles she could take with this. The Valliere decided to cover the basics, thinking back to the countless lectures she received at home. "Magic is composed of four elements. There is Air, Earth, Fire, and Water. It is within a mage's power to utilize them under a vast collection of spells, for purposes of harming or healing, for war or peace–"
"No!" he suddenly interrupted.
Silence took the room. Louise offered an ired look, and in a low voice she spoke, "Excuse me?"
Before she could lecture, his voice overpowered her. "Providing uses that which magic gives, you are. The nature of magic, I wish to know." It stomped its chair leg on the ground. "Teach me its origin, you must."
For the briefest moment, the young noble hadn't said a word. "A familiar is not supposed to interrupt their betters. Do not talk over me."
The master ignored the lecture. "Your knowledge, extensive you claim it is, but fail to see your grasp of it, I do. They call you 'Zero,' is this why?" Yoda had heard the name tossed around when students took notice of him, even when they thought he couldn't hear them. It didn't take much deduction to know that the name referred to Louise.
"Don't call me that!" she suddenly stood, becoming flustered. "You are not supposed to question my knowledge of magic!"
"From understanding, comes mastery. It is why I ask," it calmly stated.
The noble didn't feel like giving it a full explanation. "The Founder granted it to us."
"An answer, that is not."
"It is the answer!" Louise had half the mind to give it corporal punishment for its ignorance. But because she was 'merciful if not fair,' she held her hand. "These are things you don't question, familiar."
"Hmmmm, give these powers, he did? Take them he did?" In the known galaxy, he had come across many religions that spouted beliefs similar to Louise's. Most of them centered around a messianic individual (or godly being) shaping the known universe, bringing enlightenment (or sometimes disharmony) to fledgling worlds. He couldn't know how much truth each of those religions held, yet he supposed that at least some of their tenants were founded in reality.
"What did I just say!"
Yoda realized he wasn't going to get a satisfying answer going this route. He decided to pivot. "But powerful, he is. What significance is he?"
She stared at him suspiciously. What sort of game is it playing? Before she had thought of it as an above-average dog in terms of intelligence. She was wrong to assume it ignorant, for anyone or anything with a faithful mindset wouldn't ask these questions.
The not-elf took her silence as an answer. "Powerful indeed," its shook its head, "but not the source of 'magic.'"
"That is heresy," she hissed.
"Is it?"
"He is the focal point, the origin of all the royal families. He blessed us with his powers for the good of the continent. It is why commoners, and you, are below us!"
"Then why, so powerful, are you?"
Louise was taken aback. "Don't be ridiculous," she denied.
He shook his head. "Summon me from across the stars, you did. From my own home, without my want, did you take me. Not a normal feat, that is." He hardly heard of a legend that told of force users teleporting others across the galaxy, much less objects. For someone to do so required a deep connection. He suspected that this 'Founder' might have been just as capable.
"You're making up fantasy, I'm almost certain that explosion is giving you… ideas." She paused, recalling the words she spoke from the ceremony:
"My wise and powerful familiar that exists in the vast Universe!"
"By the Founder…" she whispered.
Contrary to her dissent–from years of humiliation at the inability to cast simple spells–, Yoda sensed her enormous potential. Even in his momentary unconsciousness, her life force radiated brighter than most others, being almost comparable to a certain chosen one. Though like the Force around him, her connection is different… and he wasn't certain he liked it. There were traces of the Darkside embedded there, and the master was uncertain if it was from her upbringing or not.
Immature, she is. What a shame, he thought.
"Powerful, this 'Founder,' you claim him to be. Decide, he did, to give you his power? Who decided, then, to give him his power? Another before him?"
"Heretic… you don't know what you're talking about, familiar. No one has inherited his powers since his passing." She felt a strange mix of rage and terror.
It was the truth that no mage had been given the power of the Void in over 6 millennia, the ability to change reality. She believed, as did the majority of Halkeginia, that no one was ever meant to inherit the forces of a higher power. It went against every teaching of her religion.
Neither of them spoke, the moment lasting only half an agonizing minute. It was Louise that broke the silence. "Where did you come from?"
"The answer to that, you know," Yoda readily answered.
"No, I don't know!" She stomped forward. "Where in Halkeginia did you come from!?"
"Not this world. Far, far away, I. Was. Summoned."
"Not of this world?" she parroted.
The master decided the conversation had run its course. He wasn't going to get anything useful, at least for now.
Standing up, he started shuffling to the door.
"Where are you going!?" Louise protested.
"A walk. Too inexperienced, you are. Yes, not wise enough to be a master. A child, you still are, and too impatient. Nothing to learn, I have."
"I order you to stay!" She withdrew her wand hastily, rage again consuming her.
With his stick, the master began trying to unlatch the door, grunting in frustration.
"I said, I order you to stop!" she brought her wand up for an incantation.
Yoda turned abruptly, reaching out with his palm. To her dismay, her wand was forcefully removed from her grasp in a sudden jerk, gliding to the creature.
He caught it with his outstretched hand, bringing it close to inspect.
Like the switch of a light, her attitude changed abruptly. It took several seconds for her to process what had happened. "Familiar?" she mumbled.
"Curious indeed," he said, somewhat fascinated by the focus.
The same fear the Vallière and others experienced at its summoning returned. She began to shake.
Yoda began walking to her, even as the girl stepped back. To the bed's frame she pressed herself against. She almost considered climbing on top of the mattress.
The not-elf stopped less than a foot from her, holding out the wand. "A master, you are not. Much to learn, you still have."
His words did not register with the noble. "W-what?"
He wiggled the stick. "Take it!" he said impatiently.
She bet down, gently taking her wand.
It proceeded back to the door. "So much fear. Emotional, you are," the master grunted.
With a wave of his hand, the door unlatched itself. The not-elf was soon gone from Louise's sight, leaving the girl to her thoughts.
Her mind raced. Magic… it performed magic!