Louise Valliere, third daughter of the Valliere family, had been in a state of mental turmoil for the last three days. The same thoughts ran through her head endlessly, like rereading the same book with a particularly unhappy ending. She had squandered her last chance to prove herself as a Mage. She had failed, not only failed, but failed so catastrophically, so completely, that there could be no chance to redeem herself. Not only had she been unable to properly summon a familiar, she had nearly killed herself from willpower exhaustion. Her failure would be a disgrace to the house of Valliere. Now all that was left was for the school to alert her family and send her back home.
Blissfully, for those first few days, the symptoms of willpower exhaustion kept her asleep more often than awake, too tired to even dream. During that time she received few visitors save for the school physician who had thoroughly examined her upon waking and would come to check on her condition hourly. However, as the days passed she found that she was less and less able to sleep as her body recovered. The Doctor seemed pleased, saying that it looked like she would make a full recovery. But the prognosis had given Louise no joy.
Isolated in the infirmary and preoccupied with her own worries, Louise had barely noticed the happenings of the Academy. She had been too humiliated to leave her hospital room and too weak besides. The strange comments made by Doctor Vesalius and the maid who brought her meals went without investigation and the ongoing visits by the Germanian Harlott had been vigorously turned away. What did that Zerbst want from her?
The only other visitors had been Professor Colbert and the Headmaster, both of whom had questioned her extensively on the summoning. No doubt her exceptional failure had drawn special attention. They had wanted to know what preparations she had taken for the summoning and asked to examine the notes and references she had used. Louise had come out of her stupor just long enough to tell them that she had only reviewed the standard curriculum, including the first year primers, and her class notes which were no doubt still scattered across her desk in her room. The only other materials she had reviewed was a book from the library on the Elemental alignment and care of common familiars.
She had begun to feel a sense of worming dread churning about within her. Each passing day brought her final judgment closer. Would mother come to collect her personally? Or would she send Eleanor? Or perhaps Louise was no longer considered worthy of the attention of either and would simply be sent home on her own. That last one would probably be for the best, she could disappear into anonymity that way. The only thing worse than having to confront her mother or eldest sister would be to face Cattleya.
'Founder, please don't let news of this worsen her condition.' Louise thought.
Louise knew that her older sisters loved her, but while her eldest sister, Eleanor, had little faith in her, Cattleya had always been supportive. It was thanks in part to Cattleya's gentle insistence that their mother and father had allowed Louise to attend the Academy. The thought of letting Cattleya down took her to a new low in her cycle of self loathing. She would almost have welcomed her mother at that point. Why couldn't she have just died? There would have at least been some dignity in that!
It was on the third day of her mental self flagellation that the maid who brought her food said something that snapped Louise out of her near catatonic haze.
Louise, who had been busily fretting about what she was going to say to her mother and father slowly looked up. “Wait, say that again?” Louise said so suddenly that it startled the dark haired girl and almost caused her to knock over the water pitcher beside the bed.
“I said, the news amongst the school staff is that the Princess will be arriving tomorrow.” The maid said.
“W-what? Here? She's coming here?” Louise asked in a brittle voice. Not that she expected Henrietta to remember her childhood playmate, but Founder forbid if she did, or if she asked how Louise was doing!
The dark haired girl looked surprised. “Of course, the Princess has come personally to speak with the Faeries.”
Louise's internal panic came to a screeching halt. “Wait, what? Faeries?” Louise blinked and then shook her head, “Make sense you commoner!”
The girl raised her hands defensively. “I'm sorry, Miss, I thought you would already have known. It's been the talk of the school. Surely you remember the earthquake and light from three days ago, and what came after of course.”
Louise shook her head again, the Zerbst had tried to tell her something on one of her visits before Louise had shouted her out of the room. “I had . . . I'd just fallen ill.” Louise said, “I must have been unconscious.”
The maid accepted the explanation with a concerned nod. “Well, I don't know if I'm the best one to explain. I'm merely a commoner, Miss, and not versed in affairs of magic. But before noon three days ago there was this terrible shaking and an unearthly noise accompanied by blinding light. When it cleared there was an immense Tree to the north of the Academy. I was told some of the staff went to investigate and met with a party of Faeries. The Headmaster says that something transported the Tree along with an entire Faerie city. Wh-what is it?”
Louise squinted hard at the maid, wondering if she was perhaps deranged. “Is this some sort of joke?”
“I don't understand, Miss.” The maid said cautiously.
“Did that Von Zerbst put you up to this?” Louise asked coldly, was she to be mocked even in her humiliation? The anger was good, it gave her something to focus on, something other than her own inadequacies, though inevitably she would come full circle.
“I don't know what you're talking about. If you don't believe me, then you can look out a window for yourself.” The maid said quickly. Louise sat up in bed. The window by her bedside looked out on Vestri courtyard and blue sky. She cast a suspicious glance to the maid.
“Ah, this room faces East, Miss, you would have to go out into the infirmary to see it.” The maid explained. What are you doing?”
“What does it look like?” Louise said. “I'm getting out of bed so I can go see for myself.” The girl took a couple of tottering steps, dizzy from both the after effects of willpower exhaustion and three days spent bedridden. The maid rushed over to her side to steady her. Louise gave her a resentful glare but said nothing, silently thankful that the servant girl had come to her side rather than let her fall.
“Shouldn't you remain in bed?”
“I'm a noble woman, I can take responsibility for myself.” Louise bit out, she wasn't going to be made a fool of by letting a farce like this go on.
“Very well, Miss.” The maid adjusted her grip on Louise and helped her to walk to the door. The attending Physician, Doctor Vesalius, a small wide set noblewoman wearing a thick pair of glasses, stood from her desk when she saw the maid helping Louise from the room.
"Miss Valliere? Are you feeling alright? You shouldn't be walking about yet." Doctor Vesalius said, coming quickly to her patient's side.
Louise ignored the Doctor as she glanced out the window, again seeing nothing but empty fields of the academy courtyard and clear blue sky over the wall. "So it really was just a joke on the part of that Zerbst, I bet the Princess isn't really . . ." Louise Trailer off as the maid carefully turned her to face the other direction.
"That was South, Miss." The maid said politely.
There was indeed a tree, rising up above the academy wall to the north. At least, it was tree like, in that it had something that could be called a trunk, and branches, and green that might be leaves. But something was wrong, Louise squinted, and then realization began to dawn, her mouth went dry. Clouds, there were clouds in front of the tree. She swallowed. Thin clouds wrapped around its trunk and nestled its crest in fine trails of cotton white. "Wuh- b- buh - Big . . . Tree." Louise stuttered.
"That's what I said, Miss." The maid supplied.
The maid hadn't been lying, in which case, in which, case, she might not be lying about the Faeries, but more importantly, Henrietta! Louise's legs gave out beneath her.
"Miss Valliere!" Doctor Vesalius shouted. "You, Servant, help me get her back to bed, she shouldn't receive any shocks while she's in such a delicate state."
"I'm sorry." The maid said, clutching Louise, "But she seemed quite insistent."
"It's alright." The Doctor said, "I can't expect a Servant to stand up to bossy noble, but if she does this around you again you have my permission as her Doctor to refuse."
Louise was helped back to her feet and marched back to her cot. Doctor Vesalius took her vitals, checking her pulse and feeling her forehead before muttering under her breath about poor humors. "Now then, what caused her to get up?"
"The Princess." Louise said in a small voice. "She's coming here?"
Doctor Vesalius blinked, "Why yes. She's expected tomorrow. The Headmaster has offered her the use of the Academy so that she may meet with the representatives of the Faeries. It has been reported that Cardinal Mazarin is recovering from an incapacitating injury at the moment so the Princess seems to have taken charge of diplomatic affairs." The Doctor smiled, "I must say that if this is her style she will make a fine Queen in a few years."
"But - W-When did . . . I . . . this . . . What?!" Louise shouted the last word. "When did this happen? Why wasn't I informed of these developments?!"
"Miss Valliere, nobody hid any of this from you, if you remember I mentioned the World Tree several times during your examinations, but you did not seem to respond. You have been very out of sorts for the last few days, are you feeling well now?"
Louise shook her head slowly. "I'm fine, fine, I'm quite alright. Don't give me that look!" She said accusingly at the Doctor's unconvinced expression. Louise caught herself and took a breath. "I'll be fine." Louise said carefully. "I just need time to adjust. "You said the Princess will be staying at the Academy to speak with . . . Faeries?"
"That is what the staff has been told." Doctor Vesalius said. "A whole floor in the Tower of Water is being vacated for her private use. Though I imagine the Princess will be too busy to inspect the Academy. Certainly not until this is all sorted out. Are you sure you're well Miss Valliere."
"Quite well." Louise said in a small voice. Henrietta, here, Henrietta, here. Her eye twitched, no, there was no way that she'd ever think to ask about Louise not if, if, well if there were really a city of Faeries. Was she happy that there was a city of Faeries? Faeries?
There was a loud banging on the infirmary door. " I'll be back to check on you." Doctor Vesalius said and went hurrying off to answer the door.
Louise glanced to the maid who was busying herself with clearing Louise's lunch, a bowl of vegetable soup that had hardly been touched, a half eaten loaf of bread, and a small bowl of fruit. Louise could barely remember eating any of it. But she must have at some point. The maid looked familiar, she frowned.
"Are you always the one that delivers my meals?"
The girl looked to Louise. "Yes, Miss. I just happen to be free immediately after meals are served in the dining hall so I usually deliver food to the staff and infirmary."
Louise squirmed as she sifted through foggy memories from the last couple of days. "You talked whenever you came." Louise said.
"Yes, Miss." The maid said, looking nervous. "It's just, you seemed lonely just sitting in here. I thought I would try and cheer you up, and you didn't seem to mind, so . . ." The girl trailed off. "I meant no offense."
"It's alright." Louise said quietly. "I've kept you long enough, I'm sure you have other duties to attend to."
The maid gave Louise a worried look and then glanced to the nearly untouched meal. "Truthfully Miss, I usually return to the Kitchen to eat my own lunch after this. Is there anything else you need?"
Louise hesitated, as soon as the maid left she'd turn back to the gnawing anxiety within. Now with fears of Henrietta closely behind the feelings she had for her mother and sisters. No, that wasn't it, she wasn't so childish, she wanted to know more about what had happened when she was, indisposed, that was it, she wasn't so childish that she would want a Servant to pay attention to her!
"Excuse me? But I don't recall your name."
"Oh, its Siesta, Miss." The maid bowed her head.
"Well then, Siesta." Louise said carefully. "You spoke truthfully about that tree and the Princess, so the Faeries are real too?"
"Yes, Miss." The maid said. "At least, that's what they call themselves, though they don't much look like the Faeries from the stories. They claim to be from a place called Alfheim. The city at the base of the World Tree is their Capitol."
"And they just appeared with that . . . Tree?"
Siesta nodded again, "Yes. Or that's what they claim. There's been lots of talk amongst the staff about that. Some people seem to think they're Elves." The maid quickly waved her arms when she saw Louise's eyes widen. "But the Headmaster says they're not."
"What are they . . . No a servant wouldn't know anything like that." Louise mumbled to herself.
"What are they like?" The maid smiled. "Actually, I had the honor of helping to serve lunch when the Headmaster met with their leaders and I've seen several more since, at least one or two have been at the Academy since the Headmaster informed everyone."
Had she really been so closed off in her own World? Louise wondered. On recollection, she supposed she had. Louise Valliere had always been an obsessive person, the only relief from one focus was to find another and almost defensively she latched onto Siesta's stories to sate her curiosity and find some relief from her worries. She urged the maid to tell her everything she knew, recalling what Siesta had said about eating, Louise eyed her own lunch, it was healthful food, plane but filling, certainly if it was fit for an ill noble it would be suitable for a commoner. She said as much to Siesta and the girl had hesitantly accepted.
It turned out that the maid was very well informed about the events around the academy. Louise supposed she shouldn't have been surprised, the academies servants were innocuous by virtue of being everywhere. Nobody ever paid them any attention and so they were free to collect interesting tidbits of information and pass them on. As the nearest town was a solid half a day's ride distant the servants no doubt mostly entertained themselves with gossip picked up about the nobles. Louise was sorely tempted to ask about Von Zerbst, but she really couldn't imagine there was anything left for the Germanian Harlot to be ashamed of.
"The Headmaster sent messages out to the Palace and the surrounding noble estates almost as soon as he met with the Faeries. Only two answered back before the meeting, it was very short notice. I believe they were Count Woestte and Baron Le Murrow?" Siesta said.
"Le Marou." Louise corrected. "He's the local Garrison Commander and Count Woestte owns lands adjacent to the Academy, get back to the Faeries!"
"Oh, of course." Siesta took a small sip of the soup and continued. "The Headmaster met with one of the Faerie leaders named Lady Sakuya." Siesta frowned a little, "It's funny, that name should seem strange to me, but it's not, my grandfather used to tell us stories about a Princess named Sakuya." Siesta shook her head. "She was very beautiful, I almost mistook her for a noble woman when I saw her, and she brought her retainers with her."
"Retainers?" Louise asked, the thought of a Fairy noble woman was peculiar to her, Faeries were just creatures of myth and fable. They didn't really exist. But, here she was discussing them with a servant girl.
Siesta nodded. "I always though Faeries were supposed to be small and childish, but some of them were taller than the Headmaster and one was gigantic, they called him a Gnome and they called Lady Sakuya a Sylph. There were other funny names too, uhm, Cait Syth, and Spriggan, and one that they called a Salamander, but those are big lizards aren't they?"
"Amphibian." Louise corrected, she plucked a piece of fruit from the bowl and popped it in her mouth. She suddenly felt a bit hungry and was regretting how easily she had offered up her meal to Siesta.
The maid nodded at the correction. "I think it's like being Germanian or Tristanian, that's the way it sounded. I'm afraid I didn't hear much of the conversation between the Headmaster and Lady Sakuya, but it sounded like lots more of their people were transported and not just here. The Count got angry because it might affect his lands and the Baron seemed worried about something to do with animals in the forests. I'm sorry but it was a little beyond me." The maid apologized.
"No, you've been very helpful, this is all interesting." Louise said quickly, and the more she heard the more she felt certain that Henrietta would have no time to visit a long forgotten playmate. With a sense of relief she could go back to fretting about how her failure would affect her family without having to worry about seeing Henrietta.
Siesta brightened a little. "If you like, when I bring dinner, I can come back and help you to the window tonight."
"W-what, why?" Louise asked.
"The Faeries have been sending messengers back and forth between their City and the Headmaster's office. They usually arrive just before sunset and leave after the sun has fallen. They have these beautiful wings and when they fly at night they look like shooting stars." The maid explained.
"Really?" Louise asked. Something struck her as curious. "You don't seem very frightened of these Faeries. In the stories, aren't they supposed to play tricks on commoners until some Noble comes to banish them?"
"Is that so?" Siesta asked. "In the stories I was told, the Faeries would always play tricks on the Nobles until a commoner went and found out what they wanted. Usually, someone had stolen something from them."
Both girls looked levelly at each other and then began to giggle. It felt really good, Louise thought, really good, almost enough to banish the dull pain inside.
"To answer your question, no, I wasn't afraid. Well, I was a little scarred when I was told we would be going to meet Faeries. But after I saw them, and they didn't do anything mischievous, they just seemed like people that can fly. They don't even seem like nobles." Siesta said.
"Well of course they wouldn't, they're Faeries after all." Louise said, realizing that she had no idea how a Faerie would act only after having spoken.
"I suppose so." Siesta agreed thoughtfully, "But they definitely weren't like the Faeries from stories."
The conversation concluded not long after that and Louise excused Siesta to go and attend to her other duties. Doctor Vesalius returned and to check on Louise noting that she seemed to have be doing much better today that she had yesterday, her collapse aside. Louise asked the Doctor if should could sit in the infirmary room and look at the World Tree. Vesalius had been surprised but agreed so long as she remained seated, she was still not ready to leave the infirmary.
Louise had spent most of the rest of the afternoon lost in thought starring at the Immense Tree in the far distance. She was quiet, so nobody bothered her and even Doctor Vesalius. It was so big that even though it was far away it seemed to be just outside of that window. She remained there, lost in her thoughts as afternoon turned to evening. Siesta came back with her dinner, another bowl of a soup and a fresh roll of bread, still warm from the Academy ovens. As darkness settled Louise saw two brilliant green stars flickering in the distance, the streaked past the infirmary window silently. Those must have been the Faeries that Siesta had mentioned. The maid told her that they came in all different colors and that the Green light meant that they were Sylphs. She wondered idly what they were like. It didn't matter of course. Nothing much mattered for her any more, which was in a way liberating, wasn't it?
She must have dosed off at some point because the next thing she remembered was being lain back down in her cot and a blanket being pulled up to cover her. In the darkness her thoughts drifted aimlessly, too tired to worry. What was it that Siesta had said? The World Tree had appeared three days ago. 'Just after I failed my summons . . . Could it be?' Louise wondered drowsily, 'No, of course not, that isn't possible. But wouldn't that be wonderful, it would show that Zerbst.' And with that thought she drifted into a fitful sleep.
When morning came, Louise woke to the sound of birds chirping outside her window. As with the previous three mornings her return to the waking world was met first with confusion and then with a sense of comprehension that turned to dread and the desire to remain under the blankets and just wish the world away. Even so, she felt better today than she had the night before, Doctor Vesalius had apparently been right about her recovery. She sat up slowly and rubbed at her eyes. She opened them slowly, and then wider, and wider. She was not alone in the room this morning. Blood drained from her face and she felt certain that her insides were about to knot themselves around her spinal column. As bad as she had thought it would be. It was tine times worse in real life.
"M-Mo-Mother?" She squeaked.
Seated in a chair beside her bed, the Duchess Karin De La Valliere regarded her daughter with cool eyes. "Good morning Daughter. It seems there are matters of your education to discuss."
https://forums.sufficientvelocity.com/threads/halkegenia-online.3366/page-32#post-380461
https://forums.sufficientvelocity.com/threads/halkegenia-online.3366/page-32#post-380461