Disclaimer: I don't own ZnT.
Chapter I – Intoxication and Lust
The loud roar of an explosion tore through the air, disrupting the pleasant atmosphere of the spring afternoon. It was followed by a large plume of smoke, which reached up to the sky and was quickly dispersed by a light breeze.
Louise had done it, she had summoned a familiar she had performed her first ever, successful piece of magic. However she didn’t feel the elation she had expected to feel at her first ever success, instead she felt nervous and a little hollow. Her mouth and throat were suddenly very dry making it painful to swallow and she instinctively licked her lips in a vain attempt to make them moist. She could feel the sweat begin to trickle down the back of her neck and knew it wasn’t just from the rather warm spring day. Her stomach began to turn and twist itself into knots as though it was a living thing, she felt like she might be sick.
Her mind had gone blank and her legs wouldn’t or couldn’t move, she knew there was something she was meant to do next but she just didn’t remember what, instead she just stared ahead at the result of her successful summoning. Some small part of her was cackling like she was possessed and questioning whether it was divine mandate that she could never do anything without something happening.
A noise came from the crowd of students that were beginning to get over their shock from the small explosion that had occurred mere seconds earlier. It started as a low murmur that steadily grew and grew until it was the irritable racket of at least thirty people trying to talk over each other. Some of those in the crowd proceeded to throw heckles and jeers at the petite, pink-haired girl but they fell on deaf ears, some laughed but they too went unheard. Memories of the last two weeks were echoing through her slowly reviving mind, memories that made her feel conflicted as a dozen different emotions warred inside her.
Only one other person was silent throughout all of this. A small, blonde girl known as Montmorency was standing near the front of the crowd and eyeing Louise’s summoning apprehensively, with not a small amount of guilt on her face. She too remembered her role in the events of the previous two weeks and her darkest secret was, they were the result of her own selfishness.
Louise stood there for what felt like hours but in reality was at most two minutes, until a middle-aged man carrying a staff placed a hand on her shoulder and cleared his throat in an exaggerated manner. She turned her head to look at the man as he began to speak.
“I said well done Miss Valliére, after three attempts you have successful succeeded in summoning a familiar. Now please proceed with the second part of the ceremony.”
Louise swallowed hard, trying desperately to ease the dryness in her throat and somehow managed to summon the will to speak.
“I-professor, surely there must be a mistake, please allow me to try again.” If the man heard the trace amounts of fear that had managed to slip into her voice despite her best efforts to hide them, he paid them no mind.
“I’m afraid that’s not possible,” he answered, with a sympathetic smile. “The Springtime Familiar Summoning is the most sacred of the rituals performed here, once the familiar is summoned that is it. Now please proceed.”
Very reluctantly Louise began to move forward and tried not to think about her guilt.
- - -
It was an unreasonably warm day for spring and this had put Louise Françoise le Blanc de la Valliére in a foul mood, a state not improved by her current pursuits. It wasn’t so much the weather as the fact that it was causing her to sweat quite heavily, which in turn caused her clothes to stick to her girlish frame and her hair to hang matted and lifeless. Oh and she was starting to stink. Ugh, she was definitely going to need a bath before heading to bed tonight.
She had been practicing her magic, alone in an isolated area not far from the school and she had been practising for at least a few hours, ever since classes had finished for the day. The reason for this was because the ceremony where the seconded-year students summoned their first familiar was less then two weeks away and she had to succeed this time, she had to. Every time she had failed in the past she had accepted the blow to her ego and her pride and the ridicule of her classmates and attempted to soldier on, swearing to do better next time. But this was different. You only got one chance to summon a familiar; if she didn’t succeed on the day then she would never have another chance. The very thought terrified her, she was a member of the Valliére family, to fail to summon a familiar…? She could already imagine the disappointment in her mother’s eyes, the same disappointment she surely caused her mother every day. Not that Louise could hold it against her, her mother was a great and powerful mage how could she be anything but disappointed with a daughter who couldn’t cast even the simplest of spells?
However in all the time she had spent practicing and sweating under the evening sun, she had made absolutely no progress. It didn’t matter how much she practiced, what spell she tried or even how much she concentrated the result was always the same. The only difference lay in the size of the resulting explosion. It almost made her want to cry but she clamp down on that urge, hard. Crying was a sign of weakness, she would not give up, she would become a powerful mage! She would! No matter how much she repeated this mantra in her head she wasn’t sure if even she believed her own boasts anymore.
She raised her head and glanced around the small, meadow-like area, the ground was torn apart and there was dirt everywhere, even Louise realized, on her clothes. She also noticed the hints of orange in the sky and sure enough when she looked she could see the sun begin to set against the horizon. Begrudgingly she began her walk back towards the academy, she had almost spent all her willpower anyway so it wasn’t like she would accomplish much even if she did stay out longer. Her feet dragged along the ground and until she caught sight of other students and then she forced her self to straighten her back and walk properly until she reached the sanctuary of her room. Once inside she decided that the best course of action would be to call for one of the servants to run her a bath and perhaps prepare her something to drink, maybe a glass of red wine? Yes, that sounded like a good idea.
- - -
Montmorency almost felt the desire to cackle as she hovered over her bubbling concoction, counting down the last few minutes until it was finished and ready to be used. She had woken up early to prepare the ingredients and had left them it boiling while she attended her classes, stopping in briefly during her breaks to make sure nothing had gone wrong.
Her face was classically beautiful or would be under normal circumstances but at that moment the effect was ruined by a rather savage grin. Few knew that the Montmorency family had recipes for their own special love-potions, a large part of this was because the Montmorency family itself went to great lengths to keep it secret, after all love-potions were illegal in Tristain. Still, she felt no guilt for it after all it wasn’t like she was going to use it to seduce a king or hold someone against their will. No she just wanted a way to make sure her cheating boyfriend never laid his eyes or hands upon any other girl ever again. She’d caught him flirting with that floozy first-year again today and the sight had made her blood boil. Was her love not good enough for him?
Finally the potion began to boil to the point where it almost overflowed and she sprinkled in a pinch of a fine, white powder. Then she doused the fire and watched as the substance began to cool, first dying down to a simmer then becoming completely still. Next came the wait, she sat patiently at the end of her bed for what felt like hours but was likely only thirty minutes, still it was long enough for the sun to begin to set. When the potion had stopped steaming she put on a pair of thick, leather-like gloves and lifted the beaker from its position and from within her robes she pulled out a smaller glass container, one of the ones she usually used for her perfumes. Slowly, carefully making sure not to spill a single drop she poured about a quarter of the total amount of potion into it and screwed on the cap.
She gazed at the result of her hard-work from every angle proudly; it was the most complex concoction she had ever created. It was colourless and odourless and unless one knew better, one would most likely believe it to be nothing but plain, ordinary water. When she had finished the examination she’d had to suppress yet another cackle, soon Guiche would have no desire to seek out the company of any other woman ever again.
Now the question was, how was she going to get him to drink it? She pondered this for a moment before coming to a conclusion. She couldn’t very well give the potion to him herself, they’d had rather a spectacular bust-up when she had caught him with that tart, and he might get suspicious if she turned up all smiles and sunshine and with a gift as well. So what if she went to him under pretence of making amends. No not pretence that made it sound like she didn’t want him, she did she just needed for him to change a little first. Anyway she could have the serving staff bring them some red wine to drink while they talked, yes he wouldn’t be suspicious of a servant, right? She would have to be careful though, she would need to make sure the servant knew which drink to give to Guiche. Come to think about it maybe she should order red for him and white for herself.
While she was at it she thought it might be a good idea to dilute the potion. Better to have to use the potion multiple times, than to dose him something that was too strong after all.
Her plan made she left her room and began her trek to the kitchens.
- - -
The maid’s name was Siesta and she was looking at the table before her with not a small amount of trepidation.
About half an hour ago she had been called up by one of the students to draw a bath and she had done so. When that same student, Miss Valliére, had sat herself down in the tub she had requested that Siesta prepare her some red wine for after she was done cleansing herself. Officially the students weren’t allowed to order extra food from the kitchens and needed a teacher’s permission to procure alcohol. However a commoner did not disobey a member of the nobility and so Siesta had returned to kitchen and prepared the desired item. Besides which Siesta liked her job and wanted to keep it, it had the highest pay and best working conditions that someone of her class could expect. More than that she needed it, she had left home because her parents could no longer afford to keep her.
Then the cook had requested her help for two minutes and judging that she had plenty of time with Miss Valliére likely enjoying her soak, she had agreed. Upon returning to the table with a serving tray she had found herself in her current predicament, for the single glass of red wine had been joined by a glass of white and a second glass of red wine. Normally this wouldn’t be a problem; they were both the same brand and likely from the same bottle but many nobles could make a fuss over the smallest of things. Miss Valliére was well-known for being particularly volatile. Her nerves began to fray more and more as part knew that the young miss was drawing closer and closer to the conclusion of her bath.
Finally she picked up one of the glasses at random and hoped she wouldn’t know the difference.
- - -
Louise sat in her nightclothes at her desk reading the various pieces of paper that represented the sum total of her research on the summoning of familiars. The bath had left her feeling quite refreshed and even if she didn’t have enough energy for practical exercises she could at least study the theory. Besides it was better to use her time productively than to sit around doing nothing while she waited for the servant to return with her drink.
As though on cue there came a knock at the door.
“Enter.” Louise called. The door opened to reveal the maid who presented her with her ordered drink. She took without a word of thanks after all there was no reason to thank someone for simply doing their job. The maid took up a position behind her waiting for her to finish with the glass as Louise took her first sip before returning to her papers.
After a couple more tastes Louise felt like something warm was rolling over her, she was getting a little…drowsy? Perhaps her activities that afternoon had exhausted her more than she had thought, she should go to bed. She drained the rest of the glass in a single gulp and turned to place back on the tray the maid was carrying when she froze in place.
Hmm, before when she had called for her bath to be prepared she hadn’t paid much attention to how attractive the maid was. Not that she often appreciated the beauty of other women of course, but this one really was quite pretty. Her skin was pale and almost flawless, huh how did she manage that whilst living a servants lifestyle? Her hair was a black, a rare colour in Tristain and shone in a way that said it was well taken-care of. Her figure struck just the right balance between thin and curvy with breasts that weren’t too big but weren’t too small either. In fact Louise might have been jealous if hadn’t found them so…enticing. The uniform was very flattering as well; it seemed fitted in such a way that highlighted her assets. Unconsciously the petite blonde licked her lips.
“M-miss…?” Louise blinked, suddenly realizing that she had moved closer to the maid, far closer in fact, than was entirely appropriate. What had she been doing? Such concerns soon left her though, when she realised that she could smell the other woman. She smelled like soap, so she took care of herself, good.
“Miss?” the maid asked as Louise reached up to play with her hair.
“What is your name servant?” the young noble asked in the huskiest voice she could manage. She brought her other hand up to caress her forearm.
“S-Siesta, miss.” The maid replied. Her eyes were wide like a frightened animal and she was frozen stiff. She didn’t know what to do, she’d heard about stuff like this but she hadn’t expected it from a woman.
“Siesta. Siesta…” she spoke the name as though tasting it, “I like it.” She whispered this last bit straight into the maid’s ear, sending a tremor through her body and pushing back towards her bed. “Why don’t you take a seat.” The edge of the bed came into contact with the back of Siesta’s knees causing them to buckle under her.
“Now we can get to know each other better.” She caught the cute blush on the maid’s face and her eyes trailed down to her lips, they were plump and pink and just so very inviting. She leaned forward her own lips parted slightly.
- - -
Louise awoke the next morning to the sound of the birds singing outside her window, a sound which she normally found quite soothing, it beat the shrill voice of her oldest sister. This particular morning however she had the king of all migraines and as such she found the incessant racket of the birds to be incredibly annoying and painful. With a growl she grabbed her pillow and planted it over her head. Why on Earth did her head heart so much? Had she been more drained on willpower than she had previously thought? After a couple of minutes she remembered that she had class today and so she slowly, grudgingly slid out from underneath her soft, warm covers and went to put on her clothes.
As she stepped out of her room she heard the one thing she did not want to hear when she had a headache like this; the voice of one Kirche von Zerbst.
“Hello Zero.” Louise pressed a hand to her head and grit her teeth. She found the Germanian’s voice to be irritable even on a good day, today it was bordering on unbearable. She had heard boys gush about how her voice using terms like “sweet” and “lyrical”, in what way?!
“What do you want Zerbst?”
“Hmm, is there something wrong with greeting a friend? But I have to ask why are you wearing your uniform on our day off?”
“What are you talking about Zerbst?” Even as she asked the question Louise noticed that instead of the uniform the dark-skinned woman was wearing a rather short dress of questionable taste.
“Oh, are you wearing that for the young maid.” Kirche chuckled in a manner that the blonde found deeply disturbing, “You know Louise, I never would have guessed you tastes ran that way.”
“What maid. Start making sense.”
“Oh there’s no point in trying to play coy now Valliére, after all you spent the last week confessing the truth to anyone who asked. Not to mention witnessing your attempt at courtship. I must say you were far more aggressive than I’d thought you’d be.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” But she did. The memories suddenly struck her like a hammer blow from behind and she felt her stomach sink. She remembered the first night when she’d met when she’d been overcome by desire for the maid, Siesta, if she remembered correctly. She’d had the girl lying on her bed half naked and had been straddling her before the maid had apparently gathered her wits and throwing her off, sprinting out the room at top speed. Oh God, she … she had actually been sucking on her neck and fondling her before the abrupt ending.
Then she had spent the rest of the week trying to corner the young maid and succeeding a number of times but she would always get away or they would be interrupted. She remembered the irritation she felt when one of the serving staff would “ruin the mood” or how her gaze would linger on Siesta’s rear as she hurried away. She recalled the words she’d used in her attempts at seduction, she’d - she’d sounded like an old letch.
She had told the other students about her obsession as well. She hadn’t gone out of her way and shouted it from the rooftops but she hadn’t made any effort to hide it. She’d flirted with her in public; she’d even made public declarations of love. Then when the other students had questioned her on it she had declared her intention to court the maid.
She was brought back to the present by the redhead’s throaty chuckle and felt her face light up like it was on fire, the whole school would know by this point and they’d think she was even more depraved than von Zerbst. Then her face drained of all colour and she felt faint, what if word got back to her mother? She almost felt like crying, she knew she wouldn’t be able to bare it if her mother were to become even more ashamed of her than she already was and if Eleanor found out, her life wouldn’t be worth living.
Immediately she turned on her heel and took of down the hall her vision red, she was going to find that maid and have some words with her. She recognised the symptoms she’d been suffering from, even if she couldn’t actually perform any magic she studied harder than anyone. It was a love potion it had to be, it was the only way to explain her sudden obsession and the just as sudden recovery. That serving girl had slipped her the potion and then taken advantage of her, using her to help her own reputation no doubt. Except the more she walked the more her head cooled and she came to realise that her theory didn’t quite make sense.
Even through her own drug-addled recollections she could tell that the maid had been terrified of her on that first night and if she had been the one to give her the potion then she should have been expecting it. And if she had been planning for Louise to become obsessed with someone else then she would have left the room straight away rather than wait for her to finish her drink. Besides which, preparing a potion of any kind required the ability to perform magic, only a noble would have that ability and no self-respecting noble would provide a commoner with a love-potion; especially since they were illegal. The only conclusion that could be drawn then was that the poor girl had been a puppet, a pawn in someone else’s scheme, someone who no doubt wished to slander the Valliére name, she might have even been unaware of her true role.
So caught up was she in her own thoughts that she didn’t notice the dark looks some of the servants gave her as she passed them.
Suddenly she heard something that made her stop in her tracks, it sounded like snivelling, was someone crying. The corridors were empty, no doubt the students were using their day off to have a sleep-in, so curious Louise followed the noise around the next corner and caught sight of the very person she had been looking for. Siesta was attempting to polish the frame of a large portrait and doing a poor job of it, owing no doubt to the tears clouding her vision. Slowly Louise stepped forward and if the young woman noticed her approach she made no indication of it. When she was within arms reach she cleared her throat.
The maid jump and spun around, her eyes widened when she caught sight of just who had interrupted her. Louise felt something twitch in the base of her stomach as she looked into those eyes; there was genuine fear in them and she suspected that her tears may have something to do with the events of the last week as well.
“Ser-Siesta,” Louise began, cringing when her voice came out harsher than she had intended, “Why are you crying.”
“It is nothing you need to concern yourself about Miss.” She managed to get out through her sobs, her eyes lowered.
“I’ll decide what is my concern and what isn’t.” Louise responded causing the maid to wince and she once again concentrated on softening her voice. “Now please.”
“I…today is my last day at the school Miss. I have been dismissed.”
“I see. May I enquire why?” She managed to get out, although she had a sinking feeling she already knew.
“For…they said I was fraternizing with the students, Miss.” Louise felt her stomach sink for the second time since she had awoken less than an hour ago. The girl was being blamed for her actions over the last week, despite obviously being another victim of whatever nefarious plot had taken place. It also meant that the true culprit would almost certainly get away with what they had done, the very thought incensed her.
“I see. Very well, then I shall have a word with the headmaster on your behalf.”
“But Miss-“
“No buts. No follow me.” With that Louise stormed off in the direction of the headmaster’s office the maid following obediently in her wake.
As it turned out she had absolutely no luck convincing the headmaster to see her point of view. He had simply told her that school rules forbid such interaction between students and staff and that they would be enforced. She had attempted to take Siesta’s supposed crimes on herself knowing she was far less likely to receive an overly-harsh punishment but this idea had been dismissed out of hand. Louise had been tempted to threaten the old man with writing to her mother but they both would have known it to be an empty threat, for several reasons. First it would look like she wasn’t able to take care of her own problems. Secondly and more importantly she would have to explain to her mother why she wanted the maid to keep her position and how the situation had come about in the first place, and then she would know. Louise had very nearly shuddered at the thought.
And so less than five minutes after arriving the two were once again standing outside the headmaster’s door looking thoroughly deflated.
“Thank you for trying anyway, Miss.” The maid said, before curtseying and beginning to walk away. The young noble froze, that was the first time anyone had ever genuinely thanked her for anything, usually it was a case of habit and manners or an attempt at mockery.
“Ah, wait…” Louise began before trailing off, the other girl stopped and turned to face her. Why had she done that? She had failed to save her job, there was nothing she could do now was there? Well, except maybe… Struck by sudden inspiration she opened her mouth again:
“You are in need of employment now, correct? Then how about I employ you as my personal maid?” The look on the maids face was caught somewhere between joy and trepidation, it would have been amusing if Louise hadn’t known the cause behind the latter. “I give my word not to harass or molest you,” she said, galled that she would even need to make such a vow, whoever was responsible for that love potion would pay!
The maid look mollified but only slightly, still it was apparently enough.
“Very well, then I accept.”
- - -
Louise crouch down next to her maid, who apparently now her familiar also and who was lying flat on her back. The girl looked up at her with eyes that were wide and fearful.
“Just relax, it will be over in a moment.” Louise whispered. Slowly she leaned in and placed a chaste kiss on her maid’s lips. Everything was still for a moment and then Siesta cried out in agony and grasp at her right hand. Louise knelt there frozen not knowing what to do, a small part of her wanted to pull the girl into a hug and comfort her, another part insisted that such an acted would not be proper. Before she could make a decision however, the girl’s screams died down, her body relaxed and everything was still again.
Then someone in the crowd of students gave a wolf-whistle and Louise wand was out in a flash and pointed in their direction. The spring air was once again rent apart by a small explosion.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Author's note: Jeez... Okay, this is a story I started way back in spring and basically haven't touched since then, but obviously I plan to get back to it now. It's already up on SB and FFnet but I'm posting it here too because I want to know what you guys think. I was planning to post all three existing chapters here at once but...yeah, having read them it's obvious that they require some polishing.
So anyway, opinions?
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