Chapter Text
It was times like this that one professor Jean Colbert pondered how things got to this state. When he first met Louise Francoise Lu Blanc de la Valliére, he had not known what to make of her. For one such as her, born to the illustrious Valliére family, and yet to have the… peculiar difficulties she possessed was all but unheard of. Oh, she was remarkably intelligent, that was never in question. She usually received top marks in her written tests and oral questions. So at least in that sense, she was one of his better students.
So it was a rather unexplainable mystery that she couldn’t cast a single spell successfully without something exploding. Any cast for any type of spell would invariable end in a rather large explosion, somehow heatless and flameless explosion. In all his years of studying magic, he could not truly find an equivalent way to replicate the effects using any of the usual elemental affinities that might be expected for a young noble to harness. Especially since even the spells that weren’t shaped in one of the four elements, fire, water, wind, and earth, would also explode! It was a rather frustrating conundrum for everyone involved. No teacher could figure out a way to get her to cast magic properly and the reputation as a screw-up she developed because of her consistent and explosive failures made her the object of ridicule to her peers. The girl was nothing, if not stubborn, if her proclamations of showing them all one day were any indication.
"CONFOUND THIS PART! STUPID INFERIOR MATERIAL TOLERANCES! STUPID ALLOY BALANCES! PROFESSOR! I NEED-! OH YES, I NEED THE BALANCES TO BE-!"
He was wondering how she was going to show them all by making some horrendous contraption with many legs and pincer claws… and how she did it by using his prototype of an internal combustion engine meant as a proof for concept for proving fire could be used by something other than destruction, and how she managed to drag him into the whole mess as her… beleaguered assistant.
“BAHAHAHAHAHAH-YES! THIS IS IT! I WILL HAVE MY REVENGE!”
He could certainly do without the maniacal laughter and the… odd harmonics that possessed her voice. And while he appreciated the… practice he was getting with his alchemy and recreating odd and very interesting materials and compounds that were thought to be useless before but turned out to have quite a variety of things that could be done with them, if you knew what you were doing, he was rather concerned for her apparent mental health. Of course, he was hoping to ask her later how she knew such things that could advance the arts of alchemy by such a large degree but-
“AND NOW, WATCH AS I-WHAT IS IT?!” before she could activate the monstrosity she probably wanted to unleash on her less than cordial classmates, she was interrupted by a maid.
“Oh, Miss Valliére, you nearly forgot your dinner~!” Her name was Siesta, a somewhat exotic looking girl that hailed from the farming village of Tarbes. There was a story behind how she came to all but be snatched up by Louise from among the castle maids, but Jean Colbert wasn’t sure what that story might be.
“Nooo, I MUST ACTIVATE MY CREATION AND THEN-!”
“I made those dumplings you like so much!”
“Ooh, gimme!”
And just like that, the odd state of fugue that gripped the girl was completely broken and the girl seemed to calm down and act… normal, if such a thing could really be ascribed to her, with what he had just witnessed. In fact, it seemed like she was becoming drowsier as she ate and drank. Eventually, she finished and pretty much fell asleep on her seat. Siesta ensured to clean her face of any food residue, although Louise had in fact eaten with the sort of impeccable table manners that would be expected of a girl of her upbringing. The maid then just sighed. “Oh, Miss Valliére is going to be so mortified when she wakes up again, isn’t she?” she asked after looking at the thing resembling a crab. “She was probably upset because of the von Zerbst girl again”.
“Ah, yes, their… enmity is known to me,” Senseless and pointless as it was, in the professor’s opinion. Of course, familial grudges usually were in the long run. Too bad the Germanian girl saw their little rivalry as good-natured fun, and just wouldn’t stop herself from bullying Louise at any given chance. The irony that Kirche’s apparent best friend was also the only person in the entire student body that never actually made fun or disparaged the Valliére girl was not lost on him.
Of course, Kirche Augusta Frederica von Anhalst Zerbst wasn’t the only one that was the source of the problem. She started things usually, but others would usually follow her lead. That they were seemingly uncaring that Louise, problems with magic aside, was from what was arguably the most powerful and prestigious of Tristain’s noble families spoke of incredible ignorance or incredible boldness and arrogance. Did they think that because Louise was not exactly talented that her family somehow became weaker?
Not exactly talented… then what would he call her ability to construct things like this horrible crab alviss thing like she did? He would have to disassemble the thing, taking careful notes about it while he did so. Diagrams too, he would have to get his drafting implements. Oh, but she drafted some blueprints of the machine! He should probably study those as well. However, he was soon interrupted from his ponderings by Siesta.
“Professor Colbert, may I please bring Miss Valliére back to her room? It would probably be best if she was in her bed,” she said.
“Oh, will you not need help to do so?” As petite as the noble girl was, the maid wasn’t really that much taller.
“Oh, I assure you, Professor, I can handle it!” Siesta replied with a bright smile. When she picked the sleeping girl, she didn’t seem like she put any effort at all. Ah, right, Tarbes was a farming village; the girl likely packed quite more strength than what was seemingly apparent from helping in the fields. She did leave the implements of Ms. Valliére’s dinner behind, not that that particular action was too odd; the maid would have had to carry the student over her shoulder like a bag of potatoes to be able to carry the tray on her other hand. She or another maid would go and clean up later.
In the meantime… oh, blast, he still needed to prepare his lesson plans for tomorrow. He’d have to make extra sure to lock his workshop until he could dismantle the thing. And he so wanted to look at how she improved upon his engine…
-0-
She was dreaming of that day again. That one day, when it happened.
She was in a boat in the middle of the pond as she usually was whenever she wanted to be alone when she was upset. That day’s magic practice had been as wretched as it usually was. No matter how much effort she put in, it all ended the same way.
She hated it. She hated being defective. She hated Eleanor belittling her. She hated mother’s silent disappointment. She hated father’s pity. She hated how her efforts seemed to be in vain no matter what she did.
And so here she was, in the one place where no one would bother her, where she could let her tears flow without worrying about anyone watching her weakness. She wouldn’t even want her betrothed watching her right now, no matter how nice his words of comfort usually felt.
She wondered what she did to deserve this. Magic was the birthright of those born to nobility. Magic was the sign that one was of the nobility. She couldn’t use magic. Did that make her some sort of fake noble in spite of her being born the daughter to the legendary Heavy Wind?
She didn’t know, but she wanted to not care. She wanted to not care about her mother, about her father, about her sisters, about being noble. She wanted to not care about magic. She wanted to not hurt anymore!
She lost track of the time she had spent there. No doubt, her mother would have some words regarding her lack of self-control and composure. That wasn’t really new. The Rule of Steel demanded for one to be strong and unbendable against difficulties. That was the rule mother lived by. That was the rule she wished she could live by, but it fell just so short of her grasp.
Rowing back to the dock, she noticed that it was as bright as midday in the middle of the afternoon. But when she saw the position of the sun, she realized the brightness was coming from behind her. Then, she turned around to see and-
DANGERDANGERHOPELESSRAGEFRUSTRATIONHELPHELPHELPHELPHELPHELPHELPHELPHELPHELPPAINPAINPAINPAINPAINPAINPAINPAINPAINPAINPAINPAINPAINPAINPAINHELPHELPHELPF̷̱͚̻̻̏̽̊̈́̕͘͜R̴̨͎̗̫͙͙̽̓̂̓͗̒̒̌͝͞Ë̸̡̞̞̙̙̗̻͕͙̍̒̓͂̅͟͡Ȩ̶̠͎̝̱͎̥̄̐̃̂͗̋̀͘D̶̨͓̭̦͕̣͚̻̯̓́͋͊͆̄͢Ơ͔̮͔̦̰̭̬͋͑͋̍͂̿̋̚͜M̢̛̩̲͍͈̹͚͋̆͛̎̇̃̇̇͟͡.
Louise woke up in a cold sweat. Taking steadying breaths to calm down, one particular thought of great importance came to mind.
‘Why am I naked?’
Getting out of her bed in her room (while thanking God and the Founder for small favors like being in her own room instead of, Heaven forbid, someone else’s), the girl looked to her window to see if she needed to put on her night clothes or her uniform. It was still pretty dark; she’d likely have to put on a nightgown. But where was the nightgown that she was supposed to already be wearing if she was in her bed?
She dreaded the answer as she turned on the mage lights in her room. She found exactly what she expected; her desk was all but buried under a mass of papers that likely had some more blueprints and theoretical formulae that she likely drafted while asleep. Again. The desktop also had her missing nightgown. It seemed she had run out of paper and took it off and started scribbling things on it instead. Looking at the diagrams, it seems her nightgown had been sacrificed to make the designs of some kind of self moving trebuchet with several calculations for launching that stupid Germanian cow all the way back to her stupid heathen country! Oh! With the right torsion, she could even-!
Louise forcefully stopped that (fascinating, intriguing, and FUN) train of thought by sheer force of will and took deep breaths to calm down. Then she went and got another nightgown and went to her bed and turned off the mage lights again. Unfortunately, in spite of the mystery of her nakedness being sufficiently solved, the young noble realized that she didn’t remember when she got to her room, never mind getting dressed in her now-ruined nightgown and into bed.
She could just go to sleep and think about it in the morning. Yes, that is what a sensible young lady should be doing. Yes, that is what she should be doing. So of course, she tried to recount the events of the day instead.
‘Let us see… breakfast: It was tasty. Morning Classes: Practical magic classes were terrible as usual; Paper tests were fine. Lunch: Delightful. Afternoon classes: There was a primer on fire magic, it’s history and its particular properties, something that I already knew, so instead of taking notes I-‘
Now she remembered; she had gotten bored about the usual ‘Fire is good at burning things and we must explain this in the most overstated and fancy way of saying fire burns stuff and must also talk about the mages through history that were good at burning stuff’ and started sketching designs of fire using contraptions that would do things with combustion that weren’t just setting things on fire (not that there weren’t some that did). She was so engaged in not listening to the lecture and drawing some ideas that she completely missed as the class was all but over and that stupid von Zerbst just had to make a mess of things!
Didn’t she have anything better to do than torment her over everything ever!? That horseless carriage that didn’t use magic to move was a GREAT idea! But no, the hussy just had to grab her papers, make fun of them and get them ripped up! HOW DARE SHE?! WHY, SHE OUGHT TO-!
Louise slapped herself in the face and forced herself to calm down yet again before she had another episode. Right, she had ran out of her medicine; her next batch was late and she had been trying not to draw Kirche’s attention to prevent her temper from getting out of hand and doing… things. And she had nearly succeeded too, except THAT completely failed due to her idea sketches being ruined because of that idiot Germanian skank that-!
Her other cheek now had a matching handprint. Not like it mattered. She owed Siesta and Montmorency again for getting her under control before she went on a rampage and owed an apology to Professor Colbert for getting him dragged along into her madness. Madness that was becoming harder and harder to get under control the more things she had to get upset over. But she wouldn’t go back home, she couldn’t. She had promised mother things would be fine, that she would be fine here.
It had already been half a year and it look less likely every day that she’d be able to manage it. With a sigh, Louise decided to forget about the whole thing for right now and just go to bed and worry about everything in the morning. She prayed to God that she would at least have pleasant dreams. Hopefully.
(̶̧̹͍̻̠̯̓̓̌̽͛̇͡͠Y̩̝̦̪̜̪̐̅̀̑̏ȏ̡̮͙̦̳̫̩̭͉̐̈̈̾͊̓̒͝ȕ̸̘͕̮͖̽̉̎͘͜͡͞ î̸̭̬̠͚̳̰͑̾̏̌̀̃̏̚͟ͅd̷̬͖̖̺͚̳̀͑̋͘͘͟͢͢i̵͎͍̬̮͙͈͍̟̦̾̑͗͑̒̽͘o̟̦͈̝͖̲̒͑̋̍̍̅͆͘t̹͎̘̣̤̊͋̆͛̀̒̽̕͠͞ͅ ḡ̷̟̟̭̳̥̋͊̌̂̽͠i̶̞͈͓̟̫͎̰̒̀̋̂͐̚͟r̢̧̺̱̬̝̤̱̓̇̊͒̎̈́͋̀̿l̢͓̬͚̻̬̉͂̍̎̋͘̚͟.̴̧̯̲̞͔̜̣̜͙̋̔̐̓̓̉̋̏)̳̣̦͖̯̠̟̫̥̓͗̎̕̚͟͡͝
̶̬̗̠̫̱̞̯̈́̅̇͒͋ ̭̲͉̺͌̾̽̂͛͢(̧̩̩̟͖͛̍̀͛̕͜Ẅ̶̱͉̠͚͖̙̅̚͢͞ͅh̛̻̦͙͓͙̥̉̔̾̆͞ỳ̶͈͙̝̖̅͑͋͟ n̷͚̥̜͖̺̰̲̎͆̚͠͠ọ̸̩͔̥͇̪̩̜͗̒̈́̏̽͑̂͝ţ̶̰̘͖͎̞̮͕̩͌̒̕͘͜͠ d̨̛̛̛̟̝͖̜̭͒̊̅̉̑͋͟͝ę̧̠͚̻̼̱͆̇̊̈́͆͊̚s̸̻̻̞͎̗̋̉̀̿̑͟t̛̙͖͙͚̙̟͚͚͊͛̑͘͟r̴̢̢̠̭̝̘̟̮̻̫̃͗̃͑̂̽͛͘͘̕o̷̰͈̫͕̩͈̦͔͊̈́͆̓̏͠ͅy̥͇͓̬̖̯̥͙͕͋̏̆́̉̓̚͠ ṯ̷̘̖̣͍͊̊́̅̒̊͢ḩ̨̜͕̼̬̝̱̾̉͊̏͆̆͋̕o̷̮̠̟͖̽̇͌̂̐̌̿̿̂͜s̵̡̧͔̙̭̞͖͇͉͔̊̈́̚͘̕ę̷̧̘̪͚͓̟̝̺̏͗̓͗͆̋̋͡ y̛̯͇̹̥̯͂̓͑̈̕͞͝õ̩͙̙̼̰̤̤̖̱̭̆͆̆̃͛͒͘u̵͉̝̜̺̝̼̼̭͑̏̃̾̆̔͑̌̋͢͡ ḩ̨̞̝̟̥̼̺̒̅͌͂̈͟͠a̸̧̨̲̻̜͓͎͛̑̋̃̀̏̈́͘͞t̷̡̲͉̪̥̩͎̲͉̏̋̅͑̂̉͞ę̢̨̗͍̼͕͔̬͇̇̂̑͒̚͡͡?̴̢̳͖͕͇͎̟̮̌̄͛́̇̓́͞ͅ)̴̱͖̬͓̣̝͐͗͊̔̂̏͟͞ ̧̛̺̫̖̠̠̤̳̦̑̈̆̽͛̌͐̚͘ ̱͉͍͕̫̙͍͔͒̑̒̽̆̔͞͞͝
(̶̢̛͕͎̖̫͆̓̾̄͆̚Y̵̢͙̳̱͇̩̞͙͒͋̿̑o̢͕̪͙̭̝̥͖̞͒̒͐̏̈́̐̅̏͊͢͞u̵̢͈̳͎̖̪̯̩̓̑̄̍̓͂̍͢͜ c̴̨̘͕͍̬̘̙͎͗͂̎̃̎̾̐̄͢͡͞a̧͕̹̜̻̎̿͋̊͋̚n̢̻̜͇͔̄̑̈̃̎̆̎͒̏̈́ d̡̺͎̙͙͕̩͎̊͂̆̋̍̏͒̀͘͟o̷̜̳̗͙̮̐̊͊̍͊̌͠ į̞͎̝̞̐̔̋͒͛ţ̶̥̻̺͖̜͚͎̆̏̏͠͞!̞̘̦̬̲̣̃͒̌͛͐͋͂͞͠)̞͚͙̺̟̻̉͂̓̓̌̕͝͡ ̫͇̪̗̗̝͍͗͒̅̍̉̽̇̓͑ ̨̹͖̙͎̺̹͚̼̼̆͊͗̃̽͊̈́̉
(͓̮̠̗̘̞̗̗̇͗͐̅͆̈́͢Ţ̣̻͇̮̍͊̈́̒̓̾͘͠͡ḣ̸̨̺͓͉̦̘̝̥̯̍̾͋͘͠ẹ̸͍͔̗̬̱̈̽̌̉͌̌̄ͅy̵̠͈̼̰̯̝̖̞̮̹̔̀̋͆̐͒̊̇͘͞ d̶̛̛͍̗̰̣̼̰̬͎͉̅͂̈̈̋͋͡ę̶͇͉̬̉͊͗͐̔͐͢s̢̳̹̻̫͉̲͙͌̑̚͡ḙ̸͚̘̗͌͒͑̽́̓̅̕̚͜͡r̢̨̳͙̪͎̤̈̿͋͗̇̄́͂v͓͔̘̩̦͈͂̽͑͋͟͡͠ͅe̶̩̣̲̯̱͊͑̚͞͠ í̸͇͚̜̩͎̳͉̳̦͔͂͂̉͋͒̐͡͞ẗ̢̢̠͙̤̝͉̻̝̣͐͑͛̀̀̇̈́͝͡ f̷̼͙͓̪̦̱̻̉̃̉̿͒o̵̥̙͖̞̰̥̓̊͒̈́̕r̛͕̙̰̭̥̪̻̖̩̒̌̅̔̿ d͙̣͈͓̖̝̰̠̂̋̿̓͠͡o̧͙̰̰͚̭͆͛͋͑͋͘͟͞ų͖̳̭̱͙̓̈͆̈̓͟͞b͕̞̯̜͎̺̓̄̂̀͌ͅt̡͎͇͎̺̫͕̝̍̈̋̑̅̋̉ͅi̵̢̬̭̰͖̞͔̬̅̆͊̐̆͊͠͡ň̢̨̼̰̱̬͎͇̋͂̍͊̀͂ͅg̨͉͎̺̥̭̼̘̼͛͊̇̄̄̋̈́̚͠ y̴̺͓̙̭̜̒̽͊̓̑̑̕̕͟͝͞ǫ̡͕̗̼͚̜̿̂̂̽͡ͅu̷̼͙̯̰̯̼̰̝͛̌̃̉̌͂̅̂̚͟r̸̛͎̙͖͔̙̦͒͒͊̋͐͗̒̇ g̥̟̼̼̔͊̓̏̃̏̍̚̕ͅŗ̷̧̛̻͎̞̰̻̜̱̈͑̂͑͗͌͝͞e̢̲̖͈͕̱̓͋͆̄͆̅̎á̷͔̪̘̳̞̌̓͑̂t̢̛̼̲͓̬͖̿̐̑͐̋̋͑͠͡ň̸̪̻͉̝̥͈͔̱͎̈̾̃͒ȅ̸̘͖̭̺̘̑̇̽͐͟ş̵̯̼͖̘͑͂̌̿̀͑͘͜s̴̨̢͍͚̪̬͈̎͗̈̄̓͊̐͜ͅ!̵̨͖͙͎̞̩̮̖̠̘̇̋̅̿͒̿͞͝͡͠)̧̡̛̛̻̘̞̰͚̐̌͐̑̕
(Shut up, you stupid voice in my head, and let me sleep.)
And so, Louise Françoise Le Blanc de la Vallière slept.
---0---