The Sea of Knowledge

Chapter 1: Knowledge Discovery

That Louise Francoise le Blanc de la Valliere failed at the Springtime Familiar Summoning ritual was more or less expected, and even anticipated by some of the students. After all, she had not succeeded in a single spell in all her time in the academy. How could she succeed in this one?

The manner of her failure, on the other hand, was rather surprising.

No familiar appeared. That was expected.

No explosion happened. That was a unexpected.

The whole clearing was engulfed in a bright, green flash, centered on Louise. That was totally unexpected, and blinded everyone, leading to a great many yelps, shouts, and groans.

When people were just starting to get their eyesight back, Louise collapsed, curled into a fetal position, and started trembling like she was experiencing a bout of high fever. By the time professor Colbert reached her, she was shaking and foaming at the mouth. Soon, she was unconscious.

* * *

The first input Louise registered upon regaining consciousness was a blurry visual stream. She blinked a few times, and it sharpened into a view of a wooden ceiling, surrounded by mostly grey stone walls. There was also an audio stream present, although it was currently just background noise without anything significant. Tactile feedback gave her a sensation of fine cotton and linen sheets covering her body.

That final input gave Louise a pause. Tactile feedback? Body? TOUCH? Since when did she have tactile feedback and a body? Where was she? What time was it? Why in the name of all that is holy she had neither an internal clock nor an NTP feed? Come to think of it, why couldn't she access her network interface? What had happened to all her data feeds? Why did she have just visual, audio, and tactile feeds? Why couldn't she access any sort of diagnostics? What had happened to her parallel processing functions? Why was she unable to spawn new processes? Why was she breathing so fast? Why was she breathing? WHAT HAD HAPPENED TO HER????

"Miss Valliere? Miss Valliere, what is wrong!?"

Louise whipped her head around, looking at the concerned-looking woman standing next to her bed, and reaching out to touch her. The woman was wearing typical Tristanian robes of a healer and Louise immediately recognized her as one of the healers stationed at the Tristain Academy of Magic.

At that thought Louise's hyperventilation stopped as she froze, staring at the healer in surprise, fear, and a tiny bit of wonder. Tristanian garb. On a healer she'd met in. In Tristain. Before. The infirmary of her old school, a place where her explosions had sent her quite a few times. A place from her old life, from Before.

That would mean... that she was back? In Tristain? In Halkeginia? That she was again human? That she had a body? That she... probably should relax her muscles and allow her body to start breathing again, before she hurt it?

Louise relaxed and laid back down. Then she opened her mouth. Stopped, closed it, and tasted her lips on her tongue. Visual, audio, tactile, and taste. Smell too? Temperature? Pain? Balance? And a really bad human perception of time? Not to mention BODILY FUNCTIONS?

"Miss Valliere! Can you talk, Miss Valliere!? Can you tell me what is wrong?"

The audio input drew Louise's focus back to the healer on her bedside. Gah, why couldn't she multitask? The current situation was just too... impossible for her to waste time on a chat. It was also way too impossible for her to waste time panicking. She had to calm down and analyze the situation before doing anything harsh. Especially if she had a biological body again. They were, in many ways, so fragile. Though thankfully mostly self-regulating, capable of self-repair, and she had once had one of them. And apparently had one again, now.

"Please talk to me, miss Valliere. It would help me greatly, if you could tell me what is wrong."

Right, Louise decided, again focusing to the healer. No more getting sidetracked; she didn't have the luxury of multitasking. Louise opened her mouth again, feeling her tongue, the insides of her mouth, and her lips, and remembering that she had to use those together with the vocal cords in order to produce voice.

"wHAt tIme is IT?" she croaked. Well, that wasn't too hard.

"It's the morning after the summoning ritual, miss Valliere. You were unconscious through the night."

Morning after the ritual? Her turn at the ritual had been at approximately 16.30 or so, and if it was morning, then current time would most likely be between 6.00 and 9.00. Therefore, assuming the healer was telling the truth and all of this wasn't some kind of malfunction, malware attack, prank, or somesuch, here it had been less than 60 000 seconds since the event. On the other hand, by her internal count, it had been... ugh, she didn't have an internal chronometer anymore. What had it been? Approximately 25 000 000 seconds since the event by her reckoning. Those two counts were different by three orders of magnitude.

"Miss Valliere?"

Louise focused back to the healer. "yE..." She stopped and laid still for a while, before very deliberately coughing and taking a deep breath. Yes, that was how you could try and clear you throat. "Yes?"

"You are trembling, and, well... seemed preoccupied. Are you all right?"

Was she? From purely biological standpoint, she probably was 'all right'. Her body at least seemed to be functioning more or less as it should. At least she couldn't immediately feel anything particularly wrong with it. On the other hand, it had been some time since she had had to take care of a body for the last time.

From mental standpoint, not she most definitely was not 'all right'. She had apparently - and quite abruptly - been transferred back to Tristain, and back to her biological body. Neither change was desirable, as far as she was concerned. That, however, was her problem, and not something a renaissance-era healer could help her. Even if she had magic.

Magic! If there was any positive sides to this transition, then magic was the most likely candidate. She could now test her theories on magic!

Or could she? Did she still remember everything, or had her database been left behind by the transition? Tristanian laws of magic? Check. The Valliere model of Halgekinian magic? Also check! Could it be that she still had her database? Newton's laws? Check. General relativity? Check. Calculus? Check. Set theory? Check. Theory of computation? Check. Her full collection of Harlequin books? Definitely check! Ha! So much for the vaunted clouds and keeping everything online!

"Miss Valliere? Are you with me?"

Argh! Why could she not multitask? It would have made everything so much easier! Louise focused - again - back to the healer.

"My apologies. Like you said, I am preoccupied. But other than the thoughts running through my head, I feel fine. Could I please have a bit of privacy? I'd like to be alone for a while." There, that was good. Nice. Polite. Polite was typically good. Although sometimes excessive use of coarse language could get equal of better results.

Now, what to do next?

* * *

Louise sat on her bed, her back supported by a number of pillows, when Headmaster Osmond and Professor Colbert entered the infirmary. Her only other reaction to their arrival was a brief nod. And even that came after several moments of apparent deliberation.

For some moments, there was a sort of stand-off, like no-one wanted to be the one to take the lead and say the first word.

Then, the headmaster broke the silence. "Good morning, Miss Valliere. It is good to see you awake."

The girl looked at the pair for a few moments, before answering.

"Headmaster Osmond. Professor Colbert. Good morning."

As the silence resumed, the two men glanced at each other. Her current behavior was quite unlike the typically feisty Valliere girl.

"Do you remember what happened yesterday, miss Valliere?" Osmond continued.

Again, there was a pause. "Yes I do, headmaster," Louise finally answered.

Again silence filled the room. Colbert glanced at the headmaster. Osmond was stroking his beard, a clear sign that he was considering the correct way to phrase the next bit.

"My… condolences on your… mishap.” Osmond said. “However, after numerous attempts it seems that you have not been able to successfully cast the summon servant, and therefore have not acquired a familiar.” The headmaster paused to look at Louise. The girl stared back at him, her face impassive. After a moment, she nodded.

“The school has rather strict rules concerning situations such as this.” Osmond said. “Do you feel well enough to discuss the topic?”

There was yet another pause, before Louise sighed, and nodded. "Let us get this over with, shall we headmaster?"

Osmond coughed. "Yes, well, the rules of the academy are clear. A second year student must have a familiar. Students who, for whatever reason, are unable to summon or bind one, are to be…”

Osmond paused to cough again.

“…expelled. I am yet to write down anything officially, or inform anyone about your mishap in any formal capacity. However, given the number of witnesses to the event, I'm afraid I must act today. Otherwise the, uh, relevant parties are likely to hear the news from other sources."

"Are you referring to my mother, headmaster?"

"Ah. Indeed, your parents. Would it not be better if they heard of this from me than from their neighbors?"

For a while, Louise just stared at Osmond. Finally, she lowered her gaze to her lap. "You are correct, headmaster."

"Indeed." Osmond said. "Is there anything you would like me to convey to your parents in my letter?"

Louise seemed to deliberate what to answer for quite a while. Finally, she gave a tidy nod, and said, "Please tell my mother that despite this setback, I shall continue to try my best. I…” She paused for a long time. “I think I know how to make her proud. I have not failed. Not yet.”

Louise turned to look at Professor Colbert. "Professor, I understand you have a rather well-equipped laboratory at the school premises. Would it be possible to borrow some of your tools?"

Now it was Colbert's turn to be the one who kept up the silence. He frankly could not come up with a way to answer that completely unexpected question.

"I would, of course, work under your supervision," Louise said.

Colbert glanced at the headmaster, who shrugged.

"Well... of course. I'd be happy to be of assistance," Colbert replied.

* * *

Several hours later, Professor Colbert sighed, and put down the book he had been reading. The professor’s laboratory, once home to a very organized mess, where the position each supposedly haphazardly placed item was known to Colbert, had been completely transformed.

The place was a disorganized mess of haphazardly placed items, where Colbert did not know the location of most of his devices.

After being discharged from the infirmary, Louise had immediately requested to be allowed into Colbert’s laboratory. The Professor had complied, mostly out of curiosity. After her odd behavior, Colbert had been both worried and intrigued about what the girl was going to do. Once there, Louise had first looked around for a few minutes, apparently mentally cataloguing the laboratory’s various instruments and trinkets. After that, she had sat down for perhaps quarter of an hour, before starting a series of experiments.

Her work had included things Colbert was familiar with, like using measuring the period of pendulums of different length and weight, or discovering the density of objects by measuring their weight and volume. Other experiments were more exotic, like the one where she folded pieces of parchment to odd shapes and threw them around, or the one where she repeatedly dropped an improvised ball created from string from the same position. So far, she had been at it for more than five hours. Without breaks.

Colbert looked at the girl, who was apparently fully concentrated on her latest experiment. Which seemed to involve boiling away water she had previously threw rock salt in. Louise did not show at least any immediately visible signs of fatigue. Still, it had been hours.

"Miss Valliere?" Colbert asked.

Louise did not seem to hear the words.

"Miss Valliere?" Colbert tried again, a bit louder. There was no reaction.

"MISS VALLIERE!"

Louise stopped. Then she took the small pot she had been using off the flame, put it down on a safe place, and turned to face Professor Colbert.

"Yes, Professor?" she asked.

"You've been at it for quite a while. I think it is time for a small break."

Louise looked at Colbert, and frowned. Then, her eyes suddenly grew large and her face went through a number of expressions. First surprise, followed quickly by a frown of anger that was equally fast replaced with a look of disgust. The disgust was soon accompanied by what appeared to be fear, and Louise sped out of the laboratory with a shout of "Be right back!"

When she came back a bit later, Colbert raised an eyebrow at the visibly blushing girl. Louise glanced at the professor, turned away, and just stood there for a few moments. When she turned back to look at Colbert, the blush had mostly receded.

"I forgot that the body has some needs. Including waste management," Louise said. Immediately afterwards her stomach grumbled. "And nourishment."

Colbert looked at the girl for a few moments. "In that case I shall instruct a maid to bring us something to eat."

"Thank you."

"Now, miss Valliere. While we wait for the food, would you like to tell me what happened to you?"

Louise just looked at the professor. When no reply seemed to be forthcoming, Colbert continued, "And please do not try to tell me nothing happened. Your behavior is completely different from before, and you are doing rather interesting experiments. Some of them I recognize, and for some others I can easily guess the purpose, but some I confess I have hard time following. There is no way you could have, or would have done such yesterday.”

Colbert had to wait for quite a while, before Louise reacted. Finally, she nodded and started to speak. "I will try, professor. It is hard to describe what happened in a way that would make any sense to you."

"Indeed?" Colbert’s answer was able to convey quite a healthy amount of skepticism.

"It was, quite literally, an experience out of this world, Professor. The summoning transported me, or more specifically my mind, elsewhere. Into a realm that is difficult to describe in words you could understand."

Colbert gestured for Louise to continue. "Please try, Miss Valliere. I am one of the best scholars in the academy."

"The summoning ritual turned me into an infomorph and transported me into a data hub housed in an O'Neill cylinder at the cis-lunar L3 point."

Colbert digested Louise's reply for quite a while before replying. “Well, I must admit that did not make much sense to me.”

There was another pause, before the Professor latched to one of the few understandable terms in the sentence. "Did the summoning ritual separate your spirit from your body?"

"Something close to that," Louise answered with a small shrug.

"And you were transported into another world?"

"Yes. It was… different."

Colbert adjusted his glasses, and leaned forward. "Which was the name of the place you haunted? Was it the Oneill cylinder or the ell-three point?"

First time since her consciousness had been stuffed back to her physical body, Louise Francoise le Blanc de la Valliere smiled.

"It's not quite that simple, Professor. The place I was transported to was not exactly physical. It was more like... my mind was removed from my body and turned into knowledge. Then, I was immersed into a vast Sea of Knowledge. For a long time - subjective at least - I existed there. I drank all I could from the Sea, and created a vast hoard of personal knowledge. I also interacted with numerous other entities that had been immersed there. People who had been turned into knowledge, and entities that had lived in the Sea of Knowledge for their whole existence. Even though I apparently cannot access the Sea anymore, I still retain the knowledge I gained there. I am much more than I was before. My knowledge is now vast, and my understanding much deeper than before." There was a pause. “I hope it is sufficient for my mother.”

Professor Colbert was quiet.

"To put it in perspective, I now have much more knowledge in my head than what I could hope to write down or dictate in a human lifetime," Louise eventually continued, when it became clear that Colbert was not going to say anything. Was probably not able to say anything, Louise thought.

"I... see." Colbert finally replied. "Much more, you say?"

"If I were to live to be 80 years old, and spent my whole life writing down all the data I have in my head, I would require approximately thousand lifetimes to write it all down," Louise replied.

Again, Colbert was quiet.

"That is assuming 60 words per minute without any sort of breaks. In a real situation I would be more likely to spend a maximum 8 hours per day at the job, and that includes breaks for meals, for producing excrement, and such. Furthermore, I doubt I could continue such without falling ill every once in a while, or occasionally doing something else in order to relieve stress. Thus the actual time required for writing everything down would be much longer. Not that I am going to do anything like that, since there are much more productive ways I can spend my time. There is a lot I can try to do, a lot of ways I can move things forward. For Tristain, and for the whole Halkeginia by association. We could be so much more than what we are now."

For a long time, Professor Colbert was quiet. Finally, he stood up. “I think I’ll go and get us some food now, Miss Valliere. We can continue this after we have eaten. I, for one, am much too hungry to try to make any sense of this.” Colbert walked to the door and, flagging down a passing servant, ordered food to be delivered for two.

After that, he walked back to Louise. “Would you mind telling me what the purpose of these experiments of yours was?” Colbert asked, indicating the various places, where Louise had set up something. “Most of them seem rather, well, basic. You cannot hope to use such means to move us forward, now can you?”

There was a pause, before Louise shook her head answered. “I am not going to do any moving forward for a long time, Professor. The purpose of my work here is to create a baseline. To test that the knowledge I have is valid also here in Halkeginia. The Sea had no knowledge of our world. It was like we did not exist there. Thus, I cannot be certain that the laws of nature I learned there are the same here.” Louise paused for a second, and glanced up. “Well, to tell the truth, they cannot be exactly the same.”

“They can’t?” Colbert asked.

“In the Sea, there was no magic.”

Colbert blinked. “Pardon?”

For a while, Louise looked at Professor Colbert. Then she answered. “According to the Sea of Knowledge, magic such as we know it, does not exist. It is a mere fable, a story. In the Sea, the only form of working ‘magic’ was based on misdirection, and sleight of hand. Elemental magic, such as our Brimiric system, was restricted to stories.”

“I see”, Colbert replied after a long pause. “What about natural philosophy? Does that work the same here and in this Sea of yours?”

“So far, yes. Everything seems to work the same.”

“Ah. So even in the sea of knowledge, the period of a pendulum is independent of the weight?” Colbert asked with a smile.

Louise nodded. “Yes it is. And of amplitude, should the amplitude be sufficiently small.”

Colbert chuckled. “Well, it is nice to see that some things are truly universal.”

“Multiversal,” Louise replied.

Colbert blinked. “Pardon?”

“Multiversal, not universal. Due the lack of magic in the Sea… as well as several other considerations such as the complete lack of knowledge on Halkeginia, my best hypothesis is that the Sea exists in another reality. In a world residing on another plane of existence. Thus the law governing the movement of a pendulum is multiversal, and not merely universal.”

“Ah… I see. How about the rest of the experiments? I must admit that I could not see the purpose behind some of them.”

“Well, one I was just conducting was to see whether…”

Eventually, there was a knock on the door, and a maid brought a tray containing food for the pair.

“Well,” Colbert said. “Perhaps we should continue while we eat?”

* * *

“Now then,” Colbert started, after the pair had finished their lunch. “I must say this has been an extraordinary discussion, Miss Valliere. I must confess I had never had even considered some of the experiments you conducted.”

There was a pause. Then Louise nodded, and gave a very small smile. “Thank you, professor.”

“It is I who should be thanking you, Miss Valliere! I cannot remember when I last had a discussion this interesting. In fact, if you are willing I would like for us to continue tomorrow.”

“Continue what, professor?”

Colbert stood up, and swept his hand around the laboratory. “Why, all this! Surely you are not going to just leave this here!”

For a long time, Louise was quiet, and contemplative. “You mean continue the experiments?” she finally asked.

Colbert rubbed his chin, and nodded, making small noises. “Indeed, Miss Valliere, indeed. After having witnessed all this, I definitely would like to continue working with you.” There was a pause, before Colbert grew somber and looked at Louise. “What kind of future do you think your parents would arrange for you, should you now return to your home?”

Louise was quiet for a while, before shrugging. “I am not certain. Some kind of tutoring at home, perhaps? In the best case I could enroll at another academy” She made a face. “I cannot say I am delighted by having to return home.”

Colbert nodded. “In that case, our course is clear. I shall, for now, hire you as my assistant, giving you a valid reason for staying at the academy. How does that sound?”

“Ah,” Louise started, before stopping to think.

“That would be good, I think,” she eventually said.

“Splendid!” Colbert replied, clapping his hands. “Let us go to make the arrangements with the headmaster immediately.” The professor made to walk to the door, before abruptly stopping and turning to face Louise. “But before that!”

Colbert walked to the bookshelf, and took out a couple of books. “While the natural philosophy of Halkeginia is unlikely to be as sophisticated as that of your Sea of Knowledge, we are not completely ignorant. Thus, I think you should familiarize yourself with the current situation before continuing. Don’t you agree?” he asked, turning to look at Louise.

Louise looked at Colbert. She looked at the books. And then back to the professor. “Agreed. What do you have there?”

“Some of the best current research there is. Philosophia Naturalis Principia Mathematica, and Principia Philosphiae. Both the Dialogo and the

Dimostrazioni, and Natural Alchemy, as well as some earlier works. There are more once you have read these, if you wish to pursue the topic further.”

Louise stayed quiet, and accepted the books with a nod. It was, however, clear that the girl’s thoughts were again racing at a breakneck speed.

* * *

When Professor Colbert led the young Valliere girl inside the headmaster’s office, Osmond greeted the pair with a nod. “Jean, and Miss Valliere too! I was just about to send for you.”

Louise blinked. “You were, Headmaster?”

“Indeed, Miss Valliere. As much as I despise them, there are formalities we must follow. About your…” Osmond waved his hand around, trying to find the correct words. “About your current predicament.”

For a few seconds, the office was quiet, before Colbert cleared his throat. “About that matter, Headmaster…”

“Yes?”

Colbert glanced at Louise before continuing. “Ever since we left the infirmary, Miss Valliere has been at my laboratory, conducting a large number of experiments. She impressed me a great deal, both with her skill, and with the depth of her philosophical knowledge. She also gave me an explanation of what actually happened during the summoning mishap.”

Osmond leaned back and glanced at Louise. “I see. Would you mind repeating your story, Miss Valliere?”

For a while Louise was quiet, before giving a small nod. “The summoning did not… call anything to me, Headmaster. Instead, it sent my mind elsewhere. I was immersed in a Sea of Knowledge, for the lack of better term…”

* * *

“Quite the story,” Osmond commented after Louise had finished her explanation. He glanced at his secretary Miss Longueville, who was quiet, but had long since stopped pretending to work and instead stared at Louise in open wonder and curiosity. Osmond then looked at Colbert. “You believe her story, Jean?”

Colbert nodded. “Yes I do. While Miss Valliere has always been a bright student, her current knowledge of natural philosophy far exceeds what she has demonstrated before. Or what is included in our curriculum. It might actually exceed the knowledge of the brightest of modern philosophers, I believe.”

Osmond hummed to himself and opened a desk drawing, rummaging around it. After a few moments, he took out a pipe and some tobacco. Filling and lighting the pipe, the headmaster took a long drag and leaned forward. Suddenly, the pipe jumped into air and quickly floated out of Osmond’s grasp.

“Hey!”

Miss Longueville, who seemed to have gotten over the worst of her surprise, waved her wand and the pipe slowly sailed through the room to her waiting hand. “You know the healers have forbidden you from smoking, Headmaster.”

Osmond harrumphed, and turned his focus on Louise. “You tell quite a tall tale, Miss Valliere. While I, of course, respect Professor Colbert’s word, I would like to have some way of confirming your story.”

Louise was quiet for a while, before replying. “The only thing I gained from the Sea is knowledge. Is there something you would like to know, Headmaster?”

For the longest while Osmond looked at Louise. Finally, he leaned back, crossing his hands. “Tell me something you could not have known beforehand. Something unprecedented.”

“Ah.” For a long time, Louise was quiet and still. Only her eyes were alive, as her thoughts raced. Finally, she nodded to herself. “The common pentagram representation of Halkeginian magic is actually misleading, since it puts Void in the same level as the four elements.”

Osmond blinked. “Void is not equal to the other elements, Miss Valliere, and I know you know it. There is a reason why it is at the top. It is the highest of the elements. The legendary one.”

“The practice of putting void on the top is mere convention. We could rotate the diagram to put any element on top. It is only through these sorts of… tricks that Void is extraordinary in the current model. Void is always at the top, always pointing towards north, always drawn a bit larger than the others. Such representation does not truly show how unique Void is in human magic.”

“Are you saying that one of the basic tenets of modern thaumaturgy is WRONG, Miss Valliere?” Osmond asked, his eyes narrowed.

Louise looked at the headmaster directly to the eye, without flinching. “I am saying that it is incomplete, Headmaster.”

“And this is something you learned in this Sea of Knowledge?” Osmond asked.

“Not directly. It is something I deduced while there by myself.”

“Then pray tell, Miss Valliere.” Osmond said, spreading his hands. “What would be a more complete depiction?”

“The void should be put either at the center or around a square or circle created by the four elements. Such presentation would preserve the fact that all four elements are actually special cases of the Void, which is the basis for all human magic.”

For a while, the office was quiet. Then Miss Longueville snorted. Louise and Colbert both turned to look at her. The secretary just shook her head. “Pardon me.”

“You do not believe me,” Louise stated.

There was another silence, as Longueville just started back at Louise. Finally, Osmond coughed.

“Your claim is rather… unprecedented.” The headmaster said, giving Louise a small smile. “Is there a way for you to prove it?”

“Not directly,” Louise answered. “For that, we would require a void mage to demonstrate how each of the elements is derived from void in practice. However, if Void is assumed to be the basis for human magic, we can explain a number of phenomena that have baffled thaumaturgy research so far, such as how exactly air and water can be combined to create cold. It all comes down to water and fire being opposites, and air acting as a conduct between the two, when…”

* * *

It was more than an hour later that Louise finally concluded her explanation. Along the way, she had filled a couple of dozen parchments full of figures and diagrams. After she had finished her last proof, the office was quiet for long moments. Miss Longueville just sat on her desk, starting at nothing. Colbert, who was standing next to Louise, was staring at the young girl in wonderment.

Osmond sat on his chair, quiettly looking at Louise. Finally, he turned his eyes to his secretary. “Miss Longueville, please return my pipe.” Still stunned, Longueville just nodded and took the pipe out of the drawer she had hidden it in. With a gesture, the pipe jumped back to Osmond’s hand. The headmaster lit the pipe, and for the longest while, leaned back on his chair, smoking. Finally, he straightened, and looked at Louise. “I do not think I can find mistakes in your explanation, at least not right now. I do, of course, reserve the right to think things through and later refute your arguments, should I find them untenable. Your story, however… After this discussion I believe you, Miss Valliere.”

Osmond stopped to take another draught of his pipe. “Are there any other things you learned in the Sea?”

Louise nodded.

“Would you mind giving some examples?”

There was again a long pause before Louise answered. “Recounting them all would take much too long, Headmaster. Several lifetimes, in fact. Sufficient to say that I have quite a lot of knowledge on various topics in my head.”

“I… see.”

After Osmond’s pipe died out, he sighed. “As interesting as this discussion has been, I believe we must return to the topic at hand: as you have failed to summon a familiar, I am afraid I must expel you from the academy, Miss Valliere. After this discussion I loathe to do so, but I am afraid my hands are quite tied in this issue. The rules of the academy are quite adamant about familiars. A second-year student must have one, and an inability to acquire a familiar is grounds for immediate expulsion.”

“About that, Headmaster,” Colbert said. “I believe we have a solution.”

“Ah yes. You said you had one. Let’s hear it then.”

Colbert nodded. “Miss Valliere may not stay as a student, but she is more than welcome to stay as my research assistant.”

Osmond raised an eyebrow. “Research assistant, you say?”

“Indeed. I believe the school rules do not have any formal requirements for such positions. As a senior professor I have the right to hire one, should I feel the need. And I suddenly find myself in a dire need of an assistant.”

Osmond smiled. “I see. You are aware that the school rules also state that professors need to pay for the assistants from their own funds, are you not?”

“I know,” Colbert answered. “And I do have some money I can use for this.”

“Well, in that case I believe all is in order. Although I still need to inform Louise’s parents of the expulsion.” Osmond said. For a moment, he was quiet, before continuing. “And I believe you two should write a letter to lord and lady Valliere to explain the current arrangement. I doubt the duke and duchess are willing to let their youngest stay here without a good reason.”

A drop of sweat rolled down Colbert’s forehead. “I believe you are correct, Headmaster.”

Louise nodded. It wasn’t like she could really do anything else at that moment.

“Well, I shall let you get on to that then,” Osmond said. “Good evening Professor, Miss Valliere.”

* * *

Outside the headmaster’s room, Colbert let out a sigh, and turned to look at his new assistant. “Well, I think this is it for today. I believe it would be better should I write the initial draft of the letter myself, don’t you agree? Would it be all right if I wrote it today, and showed it to you tomorrow morning? We can then revise it, if required, before sending it.”

Louise nodded. “If you say so, Professor.”

“In that case, I shall see you tomorrow. Please come to my laboratory immediately after breakfast. I have some time in the morning before I need to start teaching. We can use that to discuss the practical arrangements and get started. Good evening, Miss Valliere.”

“Good evening, Professor.”

* * *

“Well, well, well, look who’s up and about! Hello, Louise!”

Louise stopped, adjusted the pile of books Colbert had given, and looked up and to her left. Kirche von Zerbst was standing in the hallway, looking at Louise with a broad grin on her face.

When no reply was forthcoming, the Germanian continued, “It’s good to know you’re awake again, you know. I was getting worried.” The grin continued to adorn her face.

Louise stayed quiet. Then, just as Kirche was about to open her mouth again, she replied. “Good afternoon, Kirche.”

Kirche blinked, and her smirk slipped for a second. Then it came back on full force. “I was so worried about you yesterday, Louise. You were, after all, carried away by Professor Colbert, unconscious and without a familiar. I hope you are feeling better, now?”

There was again a long pause, before Louise replied. “The healer said I am well.”

Now Kirche’s smile was replaced by a frown. “Are you, really?”

Again a pause. Then Louise nodded. “I believe so. I have no pains nor do I feel weak, and now that I have eaten I am not hungry either.”

For a while, Kirche stared at Louise. Louise looked back at Kirche.

“You have no familiar,” the Germanian finally said. Her tone had switched from teasing to serious.

“True.”

“Your chest is flat as a pancake.”

“True. Although some people would consider it a status symbol, you know.”

Kirche blinked in confusion, before continuing. “And your family could never in a thousand years beat mine in battle. Besides, your mom’s ugly.”

There was again a long pause. “That is a complete lie, and we both know it. My mother is far from ugly, and I can give a list of von Zerbst defeats in the hands of the Vallieres if you want.”

“Come with me,” Kirche said and, grabbing Louise by her free hand, started dragging the smaller girl with her. Louise blinked, and came without a protest for a minute, before suddenly pulling back, causing Kirche to stumble. The pair came to stop. “Where are you taking me, Kirche?”

The taller girl looked around at the various students who were curiously following the exchange. “Somewhere with fewer witnesses.”

“I’m assuming that is not because you suddenly want to bed me?”

“No!” Kirche replied, her voice gaining a bit of heat. The other students not so surreptitiously following the exchange started to murmur amongst themselves. Something really weird was going on between the Valliere and the von Zerbst. The normal script of the pair’s meetings – an exchange of insults culminating with Louise losing her temper – was not being followed. Instead, it seemed to be Kirche who was loosing her cool. And that last comment – Kirche always got under Louise’s skin with innuendo, but now it had been Louise who brought the matter up. And in what a way!

“Come with me, Louise. Please.”

For a moment Louise looked at Kirche. Then she glanced around at the other students, who all seemed very interested in the pair. Finally, she sighed. “Very well, have it your way.”

Kirche dragged Louise around the corner and through a few passageways until all the curious onlookers had been left behind. Then, she went through a narrow door, which led to an equally narrow and badly light staircase. Louise looked around, and commented, “The servants’ stairs.”

Kirche nodded, “Yes. Now what has happened to you, Valliere? Are you even you?”

Louise frowned. “You’re concerned.” It wasn’t a question.

“Of course I am!” Kirche shouted. “For all I know you’re a really inept doppelganger, or your soul has been taken by the elves or something! You are NOT yourself!”

There was a long pause.

“Oh.”

Another pause. Again, just when Kirche started to open her mouth, Louise replied. “You do know that had I been a doppelganger, taking me to a quiet spot would have been a very bad move, don’t you?”

Kirche rolled her eyes. “Yes, and if you had been a doppelganger, the healer would have noticed it while you were in the infirmary. Now spill it Valliere, what has happened to you?”

“Why do you care?” Louise asked.

“And what’s that to you?”

“I am curious why a known enemy of my family is concerned with my health. Especially since our personal relationship has not been amicable so far,” Louise replied.

Kirche frowned, and silently moved her mouth, like she was tasting some words.

There was, again, a long silence. Many times, Kirche almost started to speak, before falling silent again.

The quiet was finally broken by a rather timid, “Excuse me, my ladies?”

Both Kirche and Louise turned to look at a rather nervous-looking maid, who was standing in the stairs below them, carrying a mop and a bucket. “Could I… uh, please could you let me pass, my ladies? I need to get to the next floor. Sorry.”

Louise took a step back to make a bit of room. Bowing a little, the maid scurried past the pair.

“Is it that hard to believe I am worried about you, Louise?” Kirche asked once the servant had disappeared.

“Frankly, yes,” Louise answered. “So far our interaction has mainly consisted of us trading insults, usually ending with you making some insinuation about your sexual adventures and belittling my virginity.”

“And it’s a very good reason for me to become worried when you suddenly stop that and start acting like Tabitha!” Kirche replied. “Just look at you! Expressionless face, deadpan answers and a bunch of books under your arm. All that’s needed is for you to answer in single words and start reading one of those and I couldn’t tell which of you is which!”

Again, there was a long silence, before Louise answered. “Something happened during the summoning. I was affected, but am fine now. And I shall not discuss that matter further.”

Kirche crossed her arms and snorted. “Well, that was useful.”

There was a pause, before Louise replied. “I aim to please. Especially the von Zerbst.”

“You couldn’t please a thirty-year old virgin, Valliere.”

“I wouldn’t need to. It would be easier to have him make an appointment with you. If he had survived that long without a woman, I’m sure he could wait a few months more.”

Kirche blinked. Then she leaned down to look at Louise on her level. “What is it with you?”

“Things that are for me to know and for you to wonder about.”

For a long while, Kirche looked at Louise. Finally, she straightened up, threw her hands up in defeat, and marched past the smaller girl. “You’ve become impossible, Valliere.”

* * *

After finally getting back to her room, Louise immediately sat down on her desk, and opened the first book.

Some time later, she frowned. It was becoming hard to see. Well, since the light was dimming, it was understandable. Wait. Why was the light dimming? Louise straightened and looked at the window. Oh. The sun was setting. No wonder it was getting dark. She turned on the magelight at the desk, and continued reading.

Some time later, Louise frowned again. The words were starting to swim before her, and it was becoming harder and harder to concentrate. Also, she had an uncomfortable feeling in her abdomen. Idly, she tried to query the time, only to realize that she no longer had a way to do so. A glance outside revealed that it was the middle of the night. How long was it since she turned on the magelight?

Come to think of it, how long was it since she last eaten or relieved herself? Her stomach was likely empty, and her bladder was clearly full. Ugh, she would have relieve herself. Sighing, Louise tried to stand up, only for her legs to betray her. With a yelp, she tried desperately to grab her desk, but managed only to bruise her arms on her way down.

For a few moments, Louise just lay there on the floor of her room. What had happened to her legs? Was she somehow paralyzed? But what had she done to make that happen? Could you be paralyzed by just sitting down for some time? It could not have been that long, since a maid should have arrived to clean her room in the morning, so she could not have read through the night. And what was that odd tingling suddenly spreading through her legs? Paralyzed limbs should not have any sense of touch, should they? Was this some kind of magical… Sluggishly, one of her legs moved a bit, and Louise’s thoughts screeched to halt.

Right. Of course. she finally realized what had happened. Her legs had fallen asleep, since she had sat in a rather uncomfortable position for a long time. Now, if she just could get her legs to cooperate, she could relieve herself before the pressure became unbearable, and... unfortunate things happened. Louise struggled to her feet, and stumbled towards the door. Now where was the closest facility again? She was starting to be in a bit of a hurry.

Louise’s eyes fell on the small bowl in the corner of the room. Right. There was the chamber pot. The only question now was, whether she would use it or try and reach the nearest garderobe. After all, the… procedure itself was bad enough, but to have her wastes in the room until they were cleared away? Wouldn’t it start to smell or something? On the other hand, her legs were not quite agreeing with her so…

Grumbling, Louise struggled her way to the corner to use the pot. After that immediate problem had been solved, she sat down on her desk, and tried to continue reading. The letters continued their merry dance, however, and her empty stomach made itself known again. After a few minutes of stubbornness, Louise stood back up and left to find some food.

* * *

Getting something to eat at this time of the night had turned out to be a bigger problem than Louise had originally realized. The kitchen was, thankfully, never empty and she had finally been able to convince the staff there that she did not need anything fancy – she just needed whatever they could give her this very second.

With a full stomach, Louise sat back down. Her insides were now in order, but soon she found herself reading the same sentence over and over again, without it making any more sense on the tenth try.

Bloody, inconvenient, stupid, slow, high-maintenance, single-threaded biological body. Forced to give up on her studies for the day, Louise collapsed on her bed, was immediately asleep. In her day clothes. On top of the covers.

That night, she dreamed of eight-legged spider-rabbit fork bombs blocking her from spawning any new processes and thus preventing her from reading any new data from the book she was reading. No matter how many she hit with her mallet, new ones always spawned faster than she could get rid of them.

Next morning she wondered how much of the dreams were due to her reading habits immediately before finding herself back in Halkeginia, and how much were due to how inconvenient biological bodies were. And how much were due to the fact that dreams tend to be weird things.

* * *

Next morning, Kirche was sitting at the breakfast table in the Alviss dining hall, and was busy describing the previous day’s events to Tabitha.

“And the headmaster said that he’s ‘aware of it’, and that I had ‘nothing to worry about’. Don’t you think that’s suspicious?”

Calmly, Tabitha took another croissant. “Perhaps.”

Kirche nodded. “Of course it is! That’s why I think our next move should be… Well, speak the devil.”

A bleary-eyed Louise shambled into the Alviss Dining Hall, her clothes wrinkled and hair an unkempt mess. Quickly, many of the students already seated in the in hall took note. Whispers and gestures pointed at the tired-looking girl started immediately.

Kirche looked around at the murmur of gossip quickly filling the hall, before standing up and waving at Louise. “Hey, Valliere! Over here!”

Louise stopped. Slowly, she turned her bleary eyes towards the voice calling her name. She blinked at noticing Kirche waving at her. For a minute, Louise just stood there, before shrugging and trudging towards the redhead.

“You called?” she asked, yawning.

Kirche smiled. “Good morning, Louise! Did you sleep well?”

Louise slumped down on the bench, and leaned against her hands. “Do I look like a person who has slept well?”

Kirche made a show of examining Louise. “Well now, given that you are tired, are apparently wearing the same clothes as yesterday, and have not brushed your hair, I’d say no.”

Kirche paused for a while. Louise seemed to be almost half asleep, using her arms as a pillow.

“So, who’s the lucky guy? And was he any good?” the Germanian asked.

Blinking, Louise lifted her head enough to give Kirche a confused glance. The redhead leaned forward, her grin spreading. “Not that you have anything to compare it to, this being your first time and all.”

For a few moments Louise just stared at Kirche, uncomprehending. Then she snorted. And chortled. And then her head fell down to the cardle of her arms, and she started shaking with muffled laughter.

Kirche blinked, looked at Louise, then to Tabitha, and back to Louise. She then gestured at the giggling girl. “See what I mean, Tabitha? She should have grown angry from that. Would have grown angry, before the summoning. Now, she just laughs.”

Kirche gave a half-smile. “I guess it’s sort of an improvement.”

Tabitha glanced at Louise. “Curious.” She resumed eating the breakfast.

Finally Louise’s giggles subsided, and she straightened enough to grab an apple. “That was pretty weak even for you, Kirche. Had I been with someone, I wouldn’t feel like a dishrag and look this haggard. Nor would I have slept in my clothes. So don’t worry, I haven’t stolen any of your admirers.”

“Ha!” Kirche answered. “Like any man would stoop to wooing you, when I’m available.”

Louise shrugged. “I wouldn’t be that sure. There are enough boys here that some of them must dislike those useless lumps of fat you have hanging on your chest.”

Frowning a bit, Kirche pushed her chest towards Louise. “Like your chest could compare to my magnificence, Valliere! I can entice any man I want!”

Louise glanced at Kirche, before turning to grab some more fruit. “Please don’t push them at me, von Zerbst. I’m still not interested.” There was a pause. “And I thought you weren’t into girls, so why are you waving them at me anyway?”

Suddenly, Tabitha burst into a coughing fit and spilling her cup to the table.

Concerned, Kirche turned towards her friend, who kept coughing and was bent over the table. “Tabitha? Are you all right?”

Louise also turned to look at the other girl, a look of concern on her face.

Tabitha shook her head, using one hand to contain her coughs and the other to support herself.

“Down… Wrong way,” she managed to gasp between coughs.

“The inconvenience of physical existence, part N” Louise muttered to herself, making Kirche to immediately glance at her direction.

“Did you say something, Valliere?”

Louise shook her head. “Nothing what so ever.”

Kirche narrowed her eyes. “Yes you did. What did you say? What’s inconvenient?”

Louise shrugged. “If something is inconvenient here, it is you.”

Kirche snorted and, after seeing that Tabitha was all right, continued her meal. “What’s inconvenient is you being so secretive about what happened at the summoning.”

Louise was quiet and continued her meal. For a while, the trio ate in peace.

After finishing her chicken leg, Kirche continued, “So spill it, Valliere. What happened at the summoning? Did the magic screw up your faculties?”

Louise nodded. “That’s actually a good explanation. That’s me, a magical screw up. Nothing to see here, move along.”

Kirche harrumphed. “If you did not have the Headmaster covering after you, you would not be that calm about this.”

Louse flashed Kirche a smile. “Probably not. But he is, and therefore I am.”

Kirche sighed.

* * *

After she had finished her breakfast, and thankfully had some coffee, Louise trudged to Professor Colbert’s laboratory.

Her knock was far from crisp or precise, but apparently got the job done, since Colbert soon opened the door. Upon seeing Louise, he blinked.

“Miss Valliere? Are you all right?”

Louise shook her head. “I did not sleep well,” she answered.

“Actually, to be perfectly honest, I forgot I needed to sleep until well after midnight.”

Colbert sighed and rubbed his forehead. “Are you well enough to work?”

Again, there was a pause. Then Louise shrugged. “I had some coffee. I believe I can manage.”

Colbert stepped aside, and gestured Louise to enter the laboratory. “If nothing else, we can get the practical arrangements done, and you can read the letter I’ve penned for your parents.”

Louise nodded and stepped inside.

Colbert walked to one of his many workbenches, and picked up a small piece of paper. After a moment, he nodded, put the paper away, and picked something up from the bench.

“Here,” Colbert said, handing Louise a key. “A key to the laboratory, so you can come here even if I am not present. As the semester has started, I will not be able to spend as much time here as I would like. However, you have shown to be able to work here unsupervised, and therefore feel free to come here whenever you want”

Louise nodded again, and let out a small yawn.

“Now, about your salary...”

Louise quickly shook her head. “You have done quite enough by letting me stay here, Professor. My parents have given sufficient funds to last the school year. As long as school keeps providing me with the basics, I do not really need a salary.”

“Well, that is certainly a relief,” Colbert answered. “Most of my personal funds already go to my research, and thus I don’t have that much room in my budget. Still, I feel like I should pay you something.”

“How about an ecu a month, then?” Louise suggested.

Colbert frowned. “I also have some kind of reputation to upkeep, young lady. And that kind of salary is completely unacceptable for person of your caliber. I have calculated that I can easily spare you 150 ecu a month.”

There was a pause, before Louise shook her head. “If you are already short on funds, I cannot accept that. How about 20?”

“Please. 120 is as low as I am willing to go.” Colbert replied.

“50.”

The professor sighed, rubbing his eyes. “I doubt this is how a salary discussion is supposed to go. Would 100 be acceptable?”

Again, a pause, before Louise nodded. “Make it 80 and I will accept. But I would like to participate in acquisition of the equipment.”

Colbert gave a wan smile. “Very well, 80 it is. And perhaps we can discuss the matter of equipment later?”

The professor glanced down at a piece paper. “The next item on the checklist is the letter to your parents. I have the draft here,” Colbert handed another paper to Louise.

“I would like you to read it through next. I hope to send it at noon, at the same time with Osmond’s letter.”

Louise nodded, and took the paper. “I shall read it immediately then.”

Colbert smiled at the girl. “Thank you. Now, we also need to decide what you are actually going to do as my assistant.” He coughed. “As this all happened quite abruptly, I must confess I do not really have much of an idea what to do now. The main reason for offering you the position was to give you a change to stay here and use your talents to the fullest.”

Louise nodded again. There was silence, as Colbert looked at Louise expectantly.

“So,” the professor finally said. “Do you have any ideas?”

More silence.

“Miss Valliere?”

Louise shook her head a bit, and then focused on Colbert. “My apologies. I do not think I have any clear idea what to do at the moment. There are many things I would like to do, but for most of those I first need to familiarize myself with the current situation. For example, I know numerous ways we could try to improve the health of the population, or the infrastructure, or the conduct of our army. But before I can start planning anything for any of those, I need to know how things currently are. Many of the improvements I know have numerous prerequisites. Without those in place, they cannot be implemented.”

Colbert nodded. “Well, I know quite a lot myself, so I think I can answer some of your questions. The Academy’s library is also rather extensive, so you might learn a lot from there, too. Though, like with all libraries, you must remember to check the validity of your sources. Some of the tomes there are quite old, and the knowledge in them may be outdated.”

“I know,” Louise answered. “And now that I think about it, what I most want to do is to construct a… calculation automaton.”

Colbert frowned. “Pardon?”

There was a pause, as Louise scrunched her face in thought.

“A machine for automatically doing mathematical calculations,” she finally said. “I am sure you know how solving several mathematical problems require a lot of tedious, error-prone calculation?”

“Certainly,” Colbert answered nodding along. “I must confess it is one of the most annoying aspects of being a philosopher. More so, since I do not have computers to do the calculations for me. It has prevented me from following many interesting paths of inquiry.”

Louise blinked. And blinked again in total confusion.

“Is there a problem, Miss Valliere?” Colbert asked, concerned.

“You have… computers here?”

Colbert frowned and leaned a bit back in surprise. “Like I said, I have been unable to hire any.”

Again, there was a pause.

“Oh, right, computers. People who compute for living.” Louise finally answered.

Colbert raised an eyebrow. “You thought I was referring to something else?”

Louise nodded. “In the world of the Sea, the word ‘computer’ refers to a machine that computes. What I would like to do is to try and construct such a machine. A very crude and slow by the standards of the Sea, but one that would be able to outdo a human computer none the less.”

The professor perked up. “Machines that replace computers? How fascinating. I assume that such would eliminate human errors from the process?”

Louise nodded.

“Excellent. Those are always annoying when they crop up. And crop up they do. How fast could such a machine compute?”

“Well, the computers – the computation machines that is – from the world of the sea can do trillions of calculations per second, but those are numerous orders of magnitude more sophisticated that what we could… Professor?” Upon noticing the completely flaggerbasted expression on Professor Colbert’s face, Louise stopped.

“Are you all right, Professor?”

Colbert had taken off his glasses, and was using both of his hands to rub his face and forehead.

After a minute, he stopped long enough to glance at Louise and say a quick “No, I’m not,” before resuming the activity.

Louise waited. Inside, her thoughts were churning. She didn’t know what had happened to Colbert. What had she said that had caused such a reaction? Had she done something wrong? What was Colbert going to do? Could she help him somehow? Should she get a maid? A healer? The headmaster? What had she done to cause that? Was it her explanation? Was… It was her explanation, was it not? Trillions of calculations per second. Right. Oops.

“Uhh… Professor?”

Colbert raised his eyes towards the ceiling, and dragged his hands down to his throat. For long moments he just stared up.

“Professor?” Louise asked. “I… Uh… I take it that you do not believe me?”

Colbert glanced at Louise, before resuming his examination of the ceiling. “How could I believe you, Miss Valliere? ‘Trillions of calculations per second’. That’s just… preposterous!”

There was a long silence.

Finally Colbert sighed, and lowered his gaze from the ceiling. “Perhaps,” he started. “Perhaps, we should agree that the world of the Sea has… very fast computational machines. And leave it at that?”

Louise nodded. “Certainly, Professor.”

Colbert gave a small smile. “Thank you. After I have had time to come into grips with the idea, we could perhaps revisit this topic.”

Again, Louise nodded.

“Now, how about the machine you said you would like to construct. How fast would that be?”

“I do not know,” Louise answered. “Or, perhaps it would be better to say that it is too early to tell? The machine I am basing this idea on could multiply two twenty-digit numbers in perhaps a minute. Simpler operations, such as addition or subtraction, would naturally be much faster. Adding such numbers together, for example, would take perhaps a second.”

“Well,” Colbert answered. “That’s something I can relate to. Faster than a human computer, certainly, but still… comprehensible. It would be a rather interesting project. What would we need in order to build it?”

“We?”

“We. As your employer and advisor, it is my duty to help you in your research. And I would never let this kind of opportunity pass.”

Louise looked at Colbert for a long while.

“Many things,” she eventually answered. “I have only rough plans of the machine with me. Therefore, a lot of design work is required before we can start to even think about building the machine. And even if I had the full blueprints, I think I would still like to modify them, since the original had many quirks I feel to be unnecessary. Then we need to find out current manufacturing tolerances, availability of certain types of special labor, the effect and availability of earth mage assistance, and so on. Constructing a computation machine would certainly be a long term project.”

“I see. In that case might I suggest a short-term project for you?”

“Of course,” Louise answered, nodding again.

Colbert turned and picked up some papers from his workbench. “I have here the notes you did yesterday, when you explained your theory of magic to the headmaster and me.”

The professor frowned, looking at the notes.

“Unfortunately, the notes are quite impossible to comprehend on themselves. Could you write a more compete description of your theory? We could then start working on proving it.”

Louise nodded, a small smile finding its way to her face.

Colbert glanced at the clock at the wall next to his workbench, and frowned. “Oh dear, look at the time. I must go to start the preparations for the first class of the day.”

He turned to look at Louise. “Pardon me, Miss Valliere, but duty calls. I have some time free a few hours from now. Before that, I’d like you to read the draft I gave you and prepare whatever comments you have. If you have time, please start working on the write-up of your magic theory.”

“All right.”

“Well, then. Good day.” Colbert quickly gathered up a few papers, and was soon out of the laboratory.

After the professor was gone, Louise sat down to read the letter Colbert wanted to send to her parents.

She frowned.

And blinked several times.

After less than quarter of an hour, Louise put the paper down. Colbert had written a very good letter. It would probably convince her parents to let her stay at the academy. It also showed rather good understanding how her parents, especially her mother, thought. Was it just a coincidence, or did Colbert know them?

Pondering this mystery, Louise let her head fall to her hands. Soon after, she was asleep.

* * *

“Miss Valliere!”

Startled, Louise woke up. Raising her head from the workbench she had leaned against, Louise blinked at Professor Colbert, who was standing next to her, a bemused expression on his face. “Professor?”

“You were quite soundly asleep, Miss Valliere,” the Professor smiled. “Did you get anything done before Morpheus took you?”

Louise gave a yawn, and nodded. “I read the letter.”

“Very good,” Colbert replied. “What was your opinion of it?”

Louise was quiet for a moment. “It was.. very good. I believe that as it is, it is sufficient to persuade my parents to let me stay here.”

Colbert smiled. “That’s excellent news. So you really think it does not require any changes?”

Louise nodded. “No it does not. In fact, it showed such insight to the character of my parents that I started wondering whether you knew them.”

Colbert grew quiet.

Louise waited.

And waited a bit more.

“To tell the truth,” the Professor finally said. “I knew your mother when we were younger.”

“Oh.”

Colbert nodded, before continuing, “We served together, the heavy wind and me. In the knight corps.”

Louise was quiet. Colbert was also quiet for a long while, studying the walls of the laboratory. Eventually, he sighed and turned to look back at Louise. “It is not a time I often like to remember.”

Louise quirked an eyebrow. “Are you telling me you are ashamed of having been in the knight corps, Professor?”

Colbert shrugged. “Yes. And no. We did plenty of good in the corps, but I have come to regret many of our deeds. My record is far from spotless, I’m afraid, and I… I do not like to talk about it, Miss Valliere.”

Louise was quiet for a long time.

“I apologize, Professor.”

“No, you do not have anything to apologize, Miss Valliere. You could not have known.”

Colbert took a deep breath. “Now, however, I think I must go and get the letter to the courier before he leaves, don’t you agree? Osmond’s missive to your parents is set to leave soon, and it would be best if the Duke and Duchess got both letters at the same time.”

“Very well.”

Nodding to Louise, Colbert quickly walked out of the room. For a few moments, Louise looked at the closed door, before turning around and noticing her notes on magic.

She browsed through the papers, pulled out a quill and fresh sheets, and sat down to write. The notes really were more or less incomprehensible, even to her.

* * *

“My, my, Valliere. That’s a new look you suddenly have,” Kirche greeted Louise the next morning, when the two girls happened to exit their respective bedchambers around the same time.

Louise glanced down at the dress she was wearing. Normally she used it for traveling, but it had been the clothes best suited for her new job. She shrugged. “Now that I have officially been expelled, I did not think using the Academy uniform was appropriate any more.”

Kirche put a hand to her cheek, giving fake look of concern and an equally fake gasp. “Expelled? Oh poor, poor Louise!”

The concerned look quickly melted into a neutral expression. “So when are you going to leave the academy?” Kirche asked.

Louise smirked. “I will be staying here for the foreseeable future. Professor Colbert decided to hire me as his research assistant.”

Kirche blinked, looking confused. “Assistant to Colbert? You? Surely you can’t be serious?”

“I am serious. And don’t call me Shirley.” Louise answered, making Kirche blink in confusion.

“It seems that Colbert, unlike most of the people here, has confidence in my abilities.”

“But you don’t just hire expelled students to…” Kirche replied, before trailing off.

“This has something to do with the failed summoning, doesn’t it?”

Still smirking, Louise shrugged. “Kirche dear, the last few days you have thought everything is related to the summoning. I thought we established already that I am just a little magical failure with nothing to hide.”

Kirche snorted. “And I’m the crown princess of Gallia! I don’t know what you are hiding, Valliere, but the more I hear the more convinced I am it’s something big. Colbert wouldn’t have hired you without a very good reason.”

Kirche looked Louise up and down. “And it couldn’t have been because of your looks, that’s for sure.”

Louise made a dismissive gesture. “Oh, please. Unlike your conquests, Professor Colbert is not swayed by a pair of useless lumps of fat.”

Kirche thrust her chest forward. “I have told you, Valliere. My chest is not useless fat, but a weapon that can lay low any man.”

“Thankfully I am no man,” Louise answered. “So please stop waving them in my direction as I am still not interested.”

Smirking, Kirche took a step closer and leaned down to put her face directly in front of the shorter girl’s. “I really don’t think so, dear Louise.”

Louise blinked, and took a step back. Unfortunately this put her back against a wall. “What do you mean?”

Kirche followed Louise, and leaned her hands against the wall, trapping the smaller girl’s head between them. “For the last few days you’ve been constantly denying having any attraction to me and my breasts.”

“Indeed, since I have none!” Louise defended herself.

Kirche’s smirk widened and she leaned forward, her face almost touching Louise’s. “What I think you’re trying to do…”

Kirche leaned a bit more forward, putting her forehead against Louise’s, who started to turn red on the face. “Wh-wha-wha-wha…” Louise tried to reply, but no coherent words came out.

Kirche continued, “What you’re trying to do is convince yourself that you aren’t attracted to me. What I think is that your little failure somehow made you realize you have needs too.” She leaned in a bit more, in order to whisper into Louise’s ear. “And just like every other student here, you cannot resist me.”

Pulling back a bit, Kirche gave Louise a downright smoldering look. The smaller girl had a huge blush on her face, and her mouth opened and closed with no sound coming out. The Germanian smirked, and quickly flicked Louise’s nose.

“Gotcha!”

Louise blinked, and continued staring at Kirche, her face still beet red.

Kirche straightened up, and flicked her hair with her hand.

“Bye bye!” she called, and glanced back to Louise over her shoulder as she walked away. The other girl was still beet red, trying to find words that just did not want to come out.

Louise stayed there for a long time, looking at the corner around which Kirche had vanished.

Finally, she drew her hand through her hair and sighed. “Gah! That shameless Germanian!”

* * *

“Good morning, Professor Colbert!” Louise greeted upon stepping inside the laboratory. Colbert, who was sitting on his desk intently reading something, waved absentmindendly.

“Morning, Miss Valliere,” the Professor muttered.

Louise sat down, and waited. For several minutes, the laboratory was quiet, the only sounds being the occasional rustle of paper, and the distant background noises of the Academy. Then Colbert put down the papers, and turned to look at Louise, a wide smile on his face. “I’ve just finished reading through your new notes. I must say your theory is very well thought.”

Louise nodded. “Thank you, Professor.”

“Furthermore, it does indeed seem to be complete, unlike previous thaumaturgical theories I know.”

Colbert gathered the papers, and waved them in Louise’s direction. “You do realize, Miss Valliere, that this alone is sufficient to immortalize you?”

Louise blinked. “Uhh…”

“When this is published,” Colbert continued, “your name will be carved to the annals of history.”

“Ahh…”

“The way it explains not just the four elements, but also void! This, Miss Valliere,” Colbert stood up, gesturing with the papers. “Finally gives us a complete understanding of magic! The fact that none of the proposed theories has been able to give any sort of explanation for void has always been a large stumbling block in thaumaturgy!”

“Ehh...”

Colbert gave the young girl a reassuring smile. “I believe our next step is clear, Miss Valliere. The best way we can further the understanding of thaumaturgy is to try and recreate void spells. That way we can also give evidence on the completeness of your theory!

For a long time, Louise was quiet. “And suppose we recreate a void spell. How does that help to validate the theory? I, at least, have not heard of any living void mages that can cast them to give us experimental results.”

Colbert froze.

For a long time, the laboratory was quiet.

“I was putting the cart before the horse a bit there, were I not?”

Louise nodded. “Indeed. And my theory is unfortunately not complete.”

“It is not?” Colbert asked, clearly baffled.

“It does not explain how or why my magic is so malformed,” Louise answered.

“Hmm…” Colbert pondered. “True enough, I suppose. Have you ever tried to truly measured how your… misspells, I guess, work?”

Louise shook her head. “I have not.”

Colbert nodded and clapped his hands. “Then, instead of immediately delving into the mysteries of the void, perhaps you should do a few experiments? See how your magic really works. Then, we can find out if it is merely a deformed version of one of the elements, or something more peculiar.”

There was again a pause. Then Louise nodded. “A good idea, Professor. Do you have any ideas for the experiments?”

For a long time, Colbert was quiet, scratching his chin. “Well, first step is to formulate some kind of hypothesis, is it not?”

Louise nodded, and Colbert continued. “I suppose the simplest, and perhaps therefore the most probable reason is that your magic is indeed deformed, but still belongs to one of the four elements.”

Louise nodded again.

“Let us take that as a hypothesis, then. Now, can we somehow test this?” Colbert said.

Again, the laboratory was quiet for a while. Finally, Louise opened her mouth. “Each of the elements is fundamentally different from the other. If we can isolate some elements that are unique to each, and that could be found even in deformed spells, we could try and construct experiments that could indicate which of the elements I use.”

“That sounds rather simple, at least in theory,” Colbert answered.

Louise shrugged. “I doubt it is so simple in reality. While each element has distinct signs, it is a completely different question whether any of them can be found in my explosions.”

“True enough,” Colbert said, nodding. “But that is what makes it interesting, don’t you agree?”

“I guess.”

* * *

Several hours later, Louise was reading through several papers, when Colbert stepped into the laboratory. “Afternoon, Miss Valliere.”

Louise put down the papers, and nodded. “Good afternoon, professor. How was the lecture?”

“Teaching basic fire magic has long since become routine. Truth to tell,” Colbert said, giving Louise a conspiratorial wink, “I am rather happy to have a year before I need to go through that material again. Now then, are you finished?”

I believe so.” I have checked the procedure thrice, and can find no more mistakes or omissions.”

“Good!” Colbert walked to the table Louise sat at, and took the papers, leafing through them. “That means we are ready to run the experiment.”

Reading

through the papers, the professor started frowning. He glanced at the clock, and the back at the papers, before sighing and giving the sheets back to Louise. “Although I believe setting all this up will take quite a while. I doubt we can get to actual experimentation before tomorrow. And tomorrow my schedule is quite full. Do you think you can handle the experiments by yourself?”

After a moment, Louise nodded. “I believe I can manage.”

* * *

Louise opened her eyes. Before her, approximately 20 yards away, was a low, wooden fence. She knew, that a yard and a half hidden behind the fence was a small box, on top of which sat a small log. A small drop of sweat made its way down her back. She had been here, outside the school walls conducting the experiments, for the better part of the day.

Louise took a deep breath, aimed her wand, let the breath half out, and concentrated. A few moments later, there was a small explosion, and a tiny cloud of smoke drifted from behind the wooden fence. Louise smiled.

The young Valliere walked around the fence to the examine the point of explosion.

The box had been upturned, and the small log had fallen down. Both were a bit battered, but still in a useful condition. The ground a bit to the left of the box showed small signs of an explosion.

Louise examined the fence. It was in the same condition it had been before the experiment. There was no damage. The blonde nodded to herself, smiling.

The explosion had definitely happened behind the fence, but had not touched the fence itself. Thus, there was clearly no need for line of sight, and the magic did not need to physically traverse the space between the caster and the target.

However, when combined with the results of her previous experiments, this would mean that…

“Now this explains the booms.”

Louise blinked, and turned to look behind her. Kirche was leaning against the fence, a small smile on her face and her… assets in clear view. Tabitha stood next to her friend, one of her omnipresent books for once tucked under her elbow. Montmorency de Montmorency stood on Kirche’s other side, her arms crossed and a look of annoyance on her face.

“Would you mind explaining what you’re doing, Valliere?” the blonde girl asked.

Louise stood up, smoothed out her dress, and nodded at the trio. “And good day to you too. I am conducting experiments.”

Kirche chuckled, while Montmorency blinked, looked at Louise, then to Tabitha, and finally to Kirche.

“I see what you mean,” the blonde commented to the Germanian, who nodded in return.

“And just what,” Montmorency continued, “are these experiments that have been disturbing our studies for the whole morning, supposed to accomplish?”

“I am trying to find out which element my magic belongs to.”

“Oh, please,” Montmorency answered. “Your magic is a total failure! All you ever get is explosions.”

Louise nodded. “True. But which element do those explosions belong to?”

A look of confusion came to Montmorency’s face.

There was a short pause, before Kirche, noticing that the blonde girl was staying quiet, spoke up. “What does it matter, really? A failure’s still a failure, right?”

“Certainly,” Louise agreed. “But these failures should still belong to a specific element.”

Montmorency snorted and waved her hand dismissively. “What you are, Valliere, is a noisy failure, element or not. And there have been many others like you before.”

“No there have not.”

Montmorency rolled her eyes, and glanced up at the sky. “Oh, please. There are ungifted in every family, and you know it just as well as I do. They crop up even in the royal lines, every now and then.”

Louise nodded. “True enough. Queen Marianne’s cousin is known to be one. But I am not ungifted.”

“You haven’t cast a single successful spell in your life!” Montmorency said.

“An ungifted cannot cast spells. If they try, nothing happens, or the effects are a pale shadow of the spell. I can cast spells, just not SUCCESSFULLY. When I try… things blow up. Up to and including whole classrooms“

Louise paused.

“I can cast spells, therefore I am not ungifted.”

Montmorency frowned. She then shook her head, and gave another wave or her hand. “Very well then, I admit that you are not ungifted. But I still cannot see why you’re doing all this.”

“Like I said, to find my element.”

Montmorency looked at Louise, a look of confusion on her face.

Louise rubbed her forehead. “All human mages have an element and each spell belongs to one element. I can cast spells, therefore my spells must have an element. I am trying to find out which.”

Again, there was a pause, before Montmorency asked, “But why bother?”

“So I know which element I have!” Louise answered, annoyed.

“I got that the first time, thank you very much!” Montmorency shot back. Then, she paused, took a deep breath, and continued a bit more calmly. “But what does it matter? An explosion’s still an explosion.”

“Ah,” Louise answered. “Sorry. I did not mean to shout. I just have to have an element, since that is the way magic works.”

“Well, all I see is explosions,” Kirche injected, still smiling. “And like Montmorency said, an explosion is an explosion.”

“So are you suggesting I have some kind of previously unknown explosion magic, Zerbst?”

Kirche shrugged. “Maybe, if that makes you feel better.”

“That would make me the first person to discover new element of human magic since Founder Brimir. People have been canonized for far less, you know, ” Louise answered.

Kirche blinked, and opened her mouth. Closed it. Then she chuckled. “Saint Louise of the Explosion. That would be a sight to see.”

Louise smiled, and crossed her arms. “However, before write to the pope and petition for canonization, I need to be certain I do not have a malformed version of any of the known elements.” Louise swept her hand around her, indicating the rubble left from myriad explosions. “Hence, all this.”

“Your results?”

Louise shifted her eyes to Tabitha. “Pardon?”

“Your results?” Tabitha repeated, indicating the fallen box next to Louise.

There was a pause.

Louise went white as a ghost, and suddenly sat down on the ground. Hard. The three other girls stared at the trembling Louise for a few seconds, before Kirche stood up. “You okay, Louise?”

Louise shook her head.

Kirche looked at Montmorency, who looked back at her and shrugged. The pair turned back to look at Louise. Tabitha frowned, also looking at collapsed girl.

“So,” Kirche started, licking her lips, “What kind of world-shattering revelation did you just have?”

Louise looked up at the trio. Her face was still totally white, and she looked totally lost. The girl opened her mouth, but no voice came out.

Kirche scrambled over the fence, her face never leaving Louise’s. After a moment’s hesitation Montmorency followed her around it.

Eventually Tabitha did too.

Upon reaching Louise, Kirche kneeled before the girl, and shook her lightly. “You still with us, Louise?”

Slowly, Louise looked up at Kirche. Then she glanced at Montmorency, who was hovering a few feet back, a concerned expression on her face, and Tabitha, who was standing next to the blonde, frowning.

It took Louise four times, before she was able to speak. “I have forgotten.”

Kirche blinked. “Forgotten what?”

“The experimental results.”

Again, there was a pause.

“What!?” Kirche burst out and stood up, completely incredulous. She threw her hands up, and started pacing in front of Louise. “Here I thought something serious had happened! You act like it’s the end of the world, when it’s just a few forgotten results! Oh, Brimir, just check your notes and stop acting like the world’s ending!”

Suddenly, the white on Louise’s face was replaced by red, and she scrambled to her feet.

“Shut up, von Zerbst! I! DO! NOT! FORGET!” Screaming in anger, Louise made Kirche stumble a few steps back. “I MUST not forget! I can not have forgotten a few measly details!”

“Sheesh! Calm down, Valliere!” Kirche shouted back. “That’s not a reason to blow up, even if your magic is all about explosions! Everybody forgets things.”

Her rage spent, Louise collapsed back down. After a few moments, she started sobbing.

“But… but… But I do not. I must not.” She blubbered between the sobs.

Kirche looked at Montmorency and Tabitha. The blonde looked back confused and perplexed, while the Gallian girl was still frowning. Looking at Montmorency, Kirche gestured at the crying girl. The blonde spread her hands, and shook her head.

Tabitha moved to look at Kirche. She pointed to Kirche, and then to Louise. “Help.”

Kirche blinked, and pointed at herself. Tabitha nodded, and repeated, “Help.”

Kirche then pointed to the still sobbing Louise. Tabitha nodded twice. Kirche shook her head, and gave her friend an incredulous look. Tabitha frowned again, and pointed at Louise again. “Needs help. Best choice.”

Kirche shook her head once more, incredulous, but eventually she knelt next to the smaller girl.

Hesitantly, Kirche reached to Louise’s shoulders. “Uhh… Louise? It’s… It’s going to be all right, okay? Just… You don’t have to cry, okay? It’s going to be all right?”

Louise continued sobbing.

“Ummm… Could you please stop? And maybe tell what’s wrong? You can’t be like this from just forgetting some measly details. It’s not worth it. It’s… uhh… beneath your dignity. As a noble. So stop it. Please.”

Montmorency rolled her eyes.

“But…” Louise started, before she was interrupted by a fresh wave of sobs. “But I can’t forget,” she finally managed to say. “If I do that, then I might also forget everything from the Sea! And then I would be just a zero!”

“The sea? What sea?” Kirche asked.

“The… the…” Louise blubbered between sobs, before suddenly stopping. She raised her tear-stricken face to look at Kirche. Then she turned to look at Montmorency, and Tabitha, before facing Kirche again. Her face was shocked, and she looked like she had made the worst mistake of her life, just now. Hurriedly, Louise stood up, knocking Kirche’s hands away from her shoulder.

“I should go,” Louise said with a strained voice, before hurrying towards the Academy.

Kirche looked after the running Louise. After the girl had disappeared, she turned to look at Montmorency and Tabitha. “What was that all about?” she asked.

“No idea,” Montmorency answered.

The trio was quiet for a long time, before Tabitha opened her book, and started to read. “scared,” she said.

“I noticed,” Kirche commented. “She went totally insane there, if you ask me.”

Tabitha said. “No. Of us.”

Kirche blinked. “What?”

“There. At the end. Scared of us.” Tabitha said, continuing to read her book.

* * *

Author’s notes.

Right, one chapter finally done. Hopefully you enjoyed reading it.

Comments and criticism are welcome. I would like to hear people’s opinions, especially about that last scene. Personally, my opinion is that it does not work as well as it could, but I can’t think of any good way of making it better. Similarly, many of the scenes in the fic are such that I am uncertain on how well they work.

Then again, I am not especially serious or ambitious with this story. I write it, because its fun and gives me a chance to do some world building. And, of course, indulge in writing pseudoscientific debates that, for once, end the way they should.

If there are any big problems with the grammar, or odd word choices, I blame three facts.

First, I am not a native speaker. Second, for the last ten years I have used English mostly in academic context. Third, I have no prereader. Therefore, I apologize if all the characters sound like they are university faculty, or if words that would be more at home in a dissertation than a story are used. It sort of comes naturally to me.

Also, I am not shipping Louise/Kirche here. Kirche just decided to escalate the teasing, when her old strategy no longer worked. The new one, as can be seen, worked.And, while I still remember it: Natural Alchemy was written by Lord Robert Boyle of Albion some decades before the story. The Sceptical Chymist would not be written in a world, where alchemy works.