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===Chapter 8 - Inquisitive Hope===
===Chapter 9 - Bonds of Faith===


By Monday afternoon, Kaede starting to feel burnt out. Not actually being a bookworm, there was only so much reading she could stand before the task started draining her health. Over a week of almost nothing but research pushed even her focus.
"Marina! You have a visitor!" The burly chef called out. He then nodded towards Kaede before returning to the kitchen.


Pascal's dour mood all weekend hadn't helped, but Marina's visit did much to lighten it.
"Thank you."


"You're welcome to come down visit us in the servant's quarters," she offered, her smile bright enough to light the room. "It's just beyond the kitchens at the end of the dining hall."
It was only a half-hour after breakfast ended at the dining hall. By now, the rest of the students already started their daily courses, while the staff busied themselves with cleaning. It was the perfect time to accost one of them without being overheard by the rest.


"I'd love to," Kaede beamed back. "Probably sometimes later this week. Are you around here during the weekends?"
The brown-haired petite maid rushed out in under a minute, still wiping her hands with a cleaning towel.


"Yes. Most of the staff lives around the nearby town of Kluis and goes back home during the weekend," Marina explained. "But just enough of us are left to keep the kitchen and dining hall running. I'm not from this area -- came up here two years ago in search of a job -- so I also work during most of the weekends and holidays."
"Oh, I should have known it was you."


"Wow, that must be tough, two years without a single break." Kaede couldn't imagine doing that herself. With her modern standards, she would lose control from sheer stress alone. "Where did you live before?"
"You don't seem very happy about it," Kaede grinned.


"I was an orphan raised in the western borders of the Empire," Marina casually spoke without any of the melancholy expected of such words. "My parents died during the chaos of the last war ten years ago."
Marina's hands rushed to wave it off.


"I'm sorry," Kaede muttered back with downcast eyes, uncomfortable after breaching such a topic. But Marina merely shook her head and smiled before returning to work.
"No, no, of course I'm glad! I was just surprised; thought it was a staff member or something."


"I do wish this was purely a social call, but... I need your advice on something," Kaede kept up her smile, but the rest of her face fell serious. "Do you have a private room here? Or should we go back to mine? Pascal won't be back for hours, and I need to ask you something important."


Marina's shoulders stiffened as her smile froze. She looked almost paralyzed for seconds, then:


<nowiki>----- * * * -----</nowiki>
"Probably m-mine then. I can think of nobles spying on one another or keeping tabs on their rooms with surveillance spells, but I'm just a servant below their notice. The walls here may be thin, but all of the other servants are out busy at this hour. Should be fine as long as we keep quiet." She then turned around towards the kitchens' rear: "follow me."


''It is usual for a maid to know even that much?'' Kaede thought. ''But then, they would be wary of working under watchful eyes; it only took one incident to leave a lasting lesson among the service staff.''


The wide hallway behind the kitchen connected directly to the outside. On one wall were doors leading down to storage cellars, some of which Marina introduced as magically 'purified' containment cellars housing foodstuffs. The other side held two gateways that linked to the servants' quarters, segregated by gender. These proved no different from old boarding schools' dormitories, with each room furnished in a utilitarian manner: two to four bunk beds lay against exposed stone walls, and a writing desk or two stayed close to the glass windows.


In an unusual turn of events, Kaede found herself waking up late at night. She felt feeble -- weaker than usual these days -- and aching all over, as though she just recovered from a fever. There was also a constant buzzing in her head.
Marina pulled Kaede into a small room just barely large enough to fit two sets of beds and still cram in a table. Clothes, including girls' underwear, hanged off a horizontal bar just above each bed.


"You are finally awake," Pascal noted from beside the bed. With his back against a chair and a book on his lap, his worried eyes drooped in an uncharacteristic display of fatigue. "Do you remember what happened? I found you collapsed on the floor after returning from my classes."
Closing the door behind her, Kaede hovered her palm above its knob and sealed the lock. Facing the wide-eyed maid, she waved her right hand with the turquoise ring around her middle finger:


She looked at the wall clock. It was four in the morning, at least ten hours since she last checked the time.  
"Spell-activation focus from Pascal. I can channel his magic to use a few basics."


''Has he been watching over me the entire time?''
Nodding, Marina gestured for Kaede to sit on one bed before following suit on the other. Despite sitting right under several drying undergarments, Kaede barely even noticed her embarrassment before her determination right marched over it.


Thinking back, Kaede tried to recall her last memory: "I was searching for my cup... but I couldn't find it and was getting thirsty, so I just used yours..." She eyed the silver goblet that sat on the bedside table, which could be infused with ether to conjure clean, refreshing water out of thin air.
"So, what is it that you wanted to ask?" The mask that hid the maid's anxiety and nervousness was paper thin. It was like the day they first met, rather than the relaxed conversations they had nowadays.


Pascal nodded: "It was on the floor also, just beyond your reach. I thought you might have been poisoned, but I scanned both the cup and your system with ''Detection'' and nothing suspicious came up. ''Neutralize'' spells had no effect on you, nor would ''Rejuvenate'' wake you up. You did not have any wounds or noticeable bruises either to indicate being attacked by an intruder. Do you remember anyone or anything suspicious coming into the room, or feel any lingering pains at the moment?"
''If she really is a spy, she's not a very good one,'' Kaede thought. ''Probably some noble just bribed or blackmailed her into doing it. Hopefully, that means I can resolve this without hurting our friendship much.''


Kaeded took a moment to run through her memories again. She had spent the entire afternoon reading, plus her chat during Marina's cleaning visit. It was just like most other weekdays since coming here.
"Marina, I collapsed last night after taking a drink from Pascal's silver chalice that was on the night counter." Being an amateur at this herself, Kaede opted for directness again. At least the weight of information kept the momentum on her side and gave her a better chance at reading the other. "The healers couldn't find anything wrong, so they suspected there was foul play involved. Since you were there cleaning in the afternoon, do you know if anything might have gotten in?"


"...No. Nothing unusual happened. And... my body aches, but not in any specific spot as much as all over."
"Uh, no? I don't remember doing anything there except dusting. Are you alright?"


Pascal's brows furrowed as he ran out of ideas.
Marina's concern seemed genuine, and Kaede felt a stab of guilt as the maid's nervousness continued to feed her suspicions.


"The healers' only suggestion was that you might have been feeling anemic; none of them really knew anything about Samaran physiology."
"I am now, thanks. But are you sure you don't remember anything weird in there when you moved it for dusting?"


"Well... it's true that I haven't been sleeping well, and ''someone'' keeps waking me up every morning; not to mention changing bodies might still be taking its toll," Kaede glared at Pascal with an uncertain scowl. "But I didn't feel dizzy or anything outside the usual sleepiness. It just came out of nowhere.... I don't know if Samarans react poorly to sleep deprivation or something."
"No... Honestly, I didn't really pay much attention to it... And even if I did, magic could easily hide something like that with glamor."


Pascal sighed, partly in response but mostly in relief.
Kaede couldn't place an impression on her statement, but she did agree with its content:


"I did run the basic tests on your blood while you were out, and all I can say is that you are not showing signs of any major illness we know of." He then stood up and began taking off his dress shirt: "Take the day off tomorrow and sleep in. In the future, tell me when you are feeling under the weather. You do have a girl's body to take care of now."
"True, and not like you'd be able to detect that kind of thing. I really should get Pascal to add that to the ring."


Kaede merely nodded back as she sank back under the comforter, her mind already set on visiting the library tomorrow.
"I've heard many nobles have a habit of doing something like that..." Marina's relieved tone was exactly what she wanted.


''I can't even gauge my own health anymore! Seriously this is so annoying...''
"Do you remember anything else that may have seemed unusual? Like residues or dust imprints? Pascal almost never use that counter..."


Kaede trailed off as she thought back to her original plan. She had held back any direct blame to give Marina a moment of reprieve after the opening. But if she was to boomerang the pressure back, it must be done now or she would soon forfeit the initiative in this conversation.


"No... nothing that caught my eye."


<nowiki>----- * * * -----</nowiki>
"Are you sure? Because you were the ''only'' other person who came inside all day."


"Y-yes I'm sure. I d-didn't do anything other than move it to clean."


Kaede took the maid's hands and looked into her sea-green eyes, pleading:


Kaede's morning routine must have set her biological clock. After waking up around the same time as usual, she spent the early morning trying to sleep in, at least until after breakfast when the cadets began their daily courses.
"Marina, I really want to have you as a friend, so please, please don't lie to me. I won't tell Pascal about any of this. He doesn't even know that I'm here. I mean seriously, why should it matter to me if that noble asshat gets poisoned or not?" She felt a prickle of guilt as she spoke her prepared lines. "But this didn't affect him, it made ''me'' sick! And I want to know what it is!"


Pascal made a surprise return after the meal. With no desire to hear any grumpy orders to rest, Kaede pretended to still be asleep. The tray of bread, cheese, and savory veal sausages he left behind for her came as a pleasant surprise.
"B-but I'm telling you the truth!" Marina almost wailed.


"<u>Thanks for the food</u>," she told him over the telepathic bond after finishing. His reply was a simple: "<u>Get better.</u>"
The two of them simply sat on their respective beds, staring at each down. More precisely, Kaede did the staring, all the while feeling like the villain as tears pooled in Marina's eyes.


Her morning and afternoon trips to the library was far less enjoyable. Both times, several nobles made their opinions of her presence in their sanctuary known with disgusted gazes and hushed whispers. Worse yet, after scanning through two dozen books on Samarans in the library's cultural section, all she managed to find out were some general details:
''This is getting nowhere.''


Other than differences in appearance, Samaran physiology was almost equivalent to that of Hyperien humans. They had the exactly same organ functions, biological cycles, and even suffered the same ill effects for nutritional unbalance.
Kaede really wished she could trust in Marina's words, but something just didn't feel right. It was a intuitive feel that she just couldn't explain. She still had one more idea left, but it was an all-or-nothing gamble. If Marina was truly innocent, going down this path would seriously damage their growing relationship.


The only major difference lay in their blood, as the crystal-clear Samaran 'fluid of life' was known for its healing properties. It could close wounds under a minute and chase away all but the worst of diseases within a day. Furthermore, their blood enhanced healing magic, could be transfused into any humanoid race without rejection, and put a gradual stop to bleeding when applied to another's wound.
''But if I don't clear my doubts now, how can I have faith in her in the future? What kind of friendship would that be?''


Scholars believed that the blood was the source of their longevity. Few Samarans were innately capable of sorcery, yet all of them shared the same lifespan as the healthiest of human mages. Upon reaching the prime years of early adulthood, it took twice as long for them to decline in health and youthfulness, living for up to two centuries.
Marina's tears began to trickle down her cheeks, and Kaede hated herself as she gritted her mental teeth to press on.


Given the fact that infusions of Samaran blood actually did treat diseases and improve health, Samaran blood was a highly-sought commodity for as long as history remembered. After waging dozens of wars and funding centuries of black operations against the 'blood traders', the Grand Republic finally gave in and made their fluid of life a national export, managed officially by the Blood Bank of Samara as a diplomatic trade good. As a result, adult Samarans within the Grand Republic paid a very literal 'blood tax'. In return for keeping the blood market's supplies up and profit margins down, they discouraged any illegal sourcing and smuggling of Samaran blood to a manageable state. Threats of embargo, war, and active special operations further helped to deter adventurous individuals and nations alike.
''I swear this is the last one...''


Nevertheless, no less than three layers of security zones and checkpoints covered the Grand Republic's borders, and trade was inspected to near stifling ends for smuggling. Samarans outside the Grand Republic guarded themselves carefully, as human traffickers would pay great ends for a living Samaran body with a crushed will. For a second time, Kaede found herself glad that Pascal gave her a set of defensive runes; reports of Samaran slaves exploited as living blood farms depicted a life too terrible to imagine.
"No, you're not. I borrowed a thought detection spellglyph from Pascal," she bluffed with her sternest expression. "Of course, he doesn't know what it's for. But I can use it well enough to know that you're lying to me."


Unfortunately, she found nothing about Samarans being prone to instantaneously fainting. If anything, the healing properties of Samaran blood should reduce the likelihood of such occurrences.
The maid stiffened into a board as her glassy eyes grew wide, finally giving Kaede a sign of what she sought.


After packing up several cultural books plus a tome on the history of familiars into an extra-dimensional messenger bag Pascal gave her, Kaede departed the library for the dormitory keep. But as she turned around the central keep, she froze mid-step upon coming across the most unusual sight:
"But you're m-mistaken! I really didn't n-notice anything!"


On the grassy lawn of one inner castle courtyard was a giant amorphous ''thing'' that can only be described as a massive blob of silken tofu the size of a small car. Standing next to it was Parzifal, periodically nodding his head and petting the giant tofu as though ''interacting'' with it.
Leaning back against the wall, Kaede used the bunk beds to cast a shadow over her disappointed expression and deepened her voice as ominously as possible:


It took a minute before Kaede could recollect her composure.
"Then what are you hiding? You did do something... I want to know what it is and what for. Otherwise I'll have no choice but to report this."


"Hello again, Parzifal" she called out as she approached Ariadne's boyfriend.
Color rushed out of Marina's countenance as she rushed to her feet:


"Oh, it's you," Parzifal replied in a bland tone, his uninterested glance swiftly returning to the giant tofu before him.
"H-he'll know anyway... you're his..."


"Pardon me but, what is ''that''..."
Kaede sighed. She wasn't sure how she would manage if her gamble had proved wrong. But now, it was time to stop waving the big stick and go back to speaking softly. Interrogation wasn't exactly twentieth century diplomacy, but persuasion was persuasion.


"My familiar is a white pudding from the Northern Lotharingie Mountains."  
"Pascal promised he will not intrude upon my senses without asking. If nothing else redeeming, he's a noble who values his prideful sense of honor. I trust him to keep his word on that, and I promise your secret is safe with me."


Parzifal's casual explanation almost sent Kaede's head into spontaneous meltdown, except her safeties triggered a brief moment of mental paralysis instead.
"H-how can I..."


"That.... ''that''... is... a creature...!?"
"--You'll just have to trust ''me''," Kaede finished for her. "I'm the only one who can help you keep this under wraps."


"Yes. White puddings belong to the ooze kingdom of creatures," Parzifal continued with just a bare tinge of courtesy. "Like most oozes, they're magical decomposers that can engulf and transmute almost any mass into more of itself, although they prefer the remains of dead critters."
She skipped the part that she was also the only one who could do the exact opposite.


The giant tofu wobbled like jelly under his gentle caress. Kaede's eyes almost popped out of their sockets when it bounced once, as though a child hopping in joy.
"It's... it's... i-it's just a knockout poison," the maid finally stuttered out. "It doesn't have any long term effects, just puts the drinker unconscious for a few hours."


It was so far outside the realm of Earth biology that Kaede didn't even know ''how'' to react. She couldn't even imagine how a huge piece of gelatinous mass could function as an living entity, let alone fit into some corner of the ecosystem.
"What's the point of something that weak?"


She also couldn't believe how everyone else walking by ignored the giant tofu as completely normal, but stared curiously at ''her'' instead.
"It's... it's the strongest antimagic poison available."


"What does it... do?"
Sirens blazed through Kaede's mind as Marina revealed the latest information. Immunity to magic instantly solved the riddle of why Pascal could neither detect nor neutralize it. Resources advanced enough that even his profound knowledge had never heard of could only come from a major benefactor.


"They're a food source," with one hand still caressing the giant tofu, Parzifal leaned left and right, examining his familiar as though it had any anatomical features to speak of. "Very bland tasting, but nutritious and easy to consume and digest..."
''And the only pro reason to knock Pascal out for a dozen hours would be to...''


''It really is living tofu!!!'' her battered logic puked out before fainting. Meanwhile, images of cavemen hunting packs of wild tofu with spears paraded across her mind.
"Why are you trying to kill Pascal?" Kaede felt her blood chill as she struggled to keep her tone merely curious.


"--Animals in the mountains treat them as a roaming food source during the winter, and so do the people living there... ahh, finally..."
"W-wouldn't you like to have the link cut and be rid of your master? T-that way you could return to your home in Samara." Marina forced out through her teary gaze.


"Oyyy! Sorry I'm late!" called out a short boy with flaming-red hair.  
Kaede almost froze on the spot. Her eyes sprang wide as she realized that she had almost made a deadly mistake: the maid's seeming naivety and apparently stress under amateurish interrogation could have been all an act. It certainly did not suppress a keen mind that was busy preparing a counter-attack.


"Already used to it," Parzifal sighed. "Seriously Reynald, just because your friends don't hand out military punishments doesn't mean you should keep us waiting. What took you an extra ''half hour''?"
Thankfully, she had left herself an opening earlier when Marina's guilt was still uncertain.


Small and skinny, Reynald was barely five-foot-four and virtually bounced across the distance in his overflowing energy. Underneath his red hair were a pair of spring-green eyes, a narrow, almost-feminine nose, and lightly freckled cheeks sporting a gleeful grin. His features combined for an innocent, boyish look better suited for a high-school initiate than a collegiate academy student. However, he wore an outfit colored in the same burning-red as Ariadne's, which Pascal explained yesterday as the uniform for aspiring cadets of the Knights Phantom -- an elite order within the Weichsel military.  
"I'd love for an opportunity to go back," Kaede's dry voice spelled out her wistful hope. "But that's..."


"Sorry sorry," Reynald waved in apology before stepping up with a large tin bucket in hand. "Gerd won't admit defeat from our early team match and challenged me to a duel right before end-of-class."
"I-impossible? That your life would be forfeit if the link was severed? O-of course ''he'' would tell you that."


''Oh right, he's that guy Pascal complained as being too good at dueling,'' Kaede remembered.
Kaede's eyes narrowed at Marina, her stony gaze demanding an explanation.


"Well well, if it isn't the ''Runelord'''s familiar; the commoner who walloped the princeling." Reynald circled around Kaede, examining her as he went. "Aren't you a bit too adorable to be giving someone the fisticuffs?"
"I-I don't know all the specifics but... f-familiars of those who die naturally and of old age manage fine right? I-if a familiars only die when their master's life ended shockingly, that wouldn't be the case if he p-passed away in his sleep."


"You're one to talk, shorty."  
"Even if that's true... that doesn't help me get back to where I come from." Kaede decided it was best to extract a proposal without revealing that she was from another world.


With her heels on, Kaede was actually an inch or two taller than Reynald. But as he spiraled close to her, her gut instincts began to knot themselves in discomfort.
"My m-master has an excellent Wayfarer -- a teleportation expert. I-I'm sure he could arrange something."


"Miss, you are way too precious to be left an adornment at the side of that noble jerk," he bowed lightly before extending his hand. "Please, allow me to take you home instead and treat you like the adorably warm and tasty muffin that you are."
Remembering that Pascal had also sought the aid of a Professor specializing in it, Kaede realized that the key to returning home probably laid in the wormhole-like effect of teleportation. Pascal also said that something kept her from being 'banished', cast back into her world of origin, and one of the possible causes was their familiar link.


''Are you f'ing serious...?''
It wasn't an assured ticket back. But with no alternative answers, it was also her only shot. Except the price for it...


Kaede's brows twitched twice in irritation. Then, her face flushed red as she felt his hand snaking behind her and brushed down against the skirt covering her rear. She swiftly pulled her arm back... and sent a fist straight into his face.
"P-please," Marina knelt down and begged as tears streaked down her pretty face. "If you can get your master to drink it -- even just coating his chalice with it will work -- my master's men will be able to smuggle us out of the country once their task is done."


Her hand might be small and weak, but it was still enough to leave a swollen eye.
Feeling a metal vial press into her palm, Kaede slowly wrapped her delicate fingers around it as though it was precious and fragile. Meanwhile, her own emotions and thoughts lay in utter chaos.


"Well... that cleared some doubts!" Even with a hand rubbing his blackening eye, Reynald's kept his cheery grin. His tone soon turned into what reminded Kaede of a drawling, British accent: "Little weak but just the right amount of spice. Please lady may I have some more?"
''Can I even trust her? Compared to Pascal?''


''Oh gods a real pervert...''
She quickly concluded that was a stupid question.  


Kaede stiffened and hesitantly took two steps back, her fingers readied themselves to stab the runes on her forearm just in case. But Parzifal injected and stepped in to face the shorter boy:
''But then... will I even have another chance?''


"Control yourself Reynald. Just because she's not a noblewoman doesn't mean you can blatantly insult her like this."
''Still, isn't this premeditated murder!? Even if my hands don't draw blood, I'd still an accomplice!''


Reynald scowled. No, pouted was a better description.
Pascal's selfishness might have caused all her recent problems and put her in this dilemma, but there was no way Kaede could believe that he deserved to die for it.


"Sheesh, you're never any fun Parzifal. Fine fine," he then walked towards the giant pudding and, with one scoop, filled his bucket with a chunk of the giant tofu.
''But what other choices do I have? Even Pascal said that the only way to cut the link -- sever my connection to this world -- was through death.''


"Thanks as always bro!" he began to walk off, backwards. "Nice to meet you as well Muffin! Next time you give that jerk a beating be sure to invite the rest of us to cheer you on!"
''Is committing murder ever acceptable just for my own gains? especially just for a ''chance'' of returning?''


''Talk about noble hypocrisy,'' Kaede thought. ''Even 'that jerk' Pascal has more propriety than him.''
Kaede squeezed the vial in her hand. Though certain that her answer should be obvious, she was nevertheless unwilling to close the other door.


"I'm sorry about that," Parzifal apologized in his deep, sincere voice. "Reynald doesn't mean any harm by that; he just doesn't know any boundaries on when to stop fooling around."
"How do I know that your master and his men will keep their word?"


"That's alright," Kaede nodded back, more surprised that Parzifal was being genial to her.
For a moment, Marina looked uncertain. Then:


"Anyhow, did you need me for something?"
"R-remember when I told you I was an orphan from the Empire? I was raised by a duke, and I've spied for him ever since to repay the life I owe. I can't g-guarantee it, but I doubt my master will throw away a decade of work so easily while I still prove my worth. They will definitely give me a way out, which means helping a second isn't much harder. Besides, we're friends," Marina promised through a tear-stained smile, "and once we return, giving you a teleport home should be easy."


Kaede quickly remembered that the man before him was also a healer:
Barely nodding, Kaede looked down at the metal cylinder in her shaking hand. It was wrong. It stood against everything she believed in. Yet it was also her only opportunity for salvation, for her old life back.


"Yes, actually. I would like to ask if you know anything that may cause someone to fall unconscious with no warning, especially for a Samaran."
She couldn't stop herself from testing the waters once more:


"...You?"
"You want me to coat the chalice in this? Do I need to give you a signal or anything if it worked?"


"Yes. Me," Kaede nodded.
After thinking it over again, Marina clarified as she wiped away her tears:


"I'm no more an expert on Samarans than the rest of the healers," Parzifal scratched his head. But his eyes focused within an instant, revealing the concentration of an apprentice physician who took his job with utmost seriousness. "But if you don't mind some blood testing, come with me to the healers' chapel and maybe we can find something out. You can tell me what happened along the way."
"Wait until tomorrow afternoon. I'll c-contact the other folks to make arrangements today, then give you an update tomorrow on how to proceed. If you want to back out, this is your last chance. Once I tell the rest, they won't hesitate to k-kill you if you try to leave the plan."


"Sure. Thank you," Kaede agreed and began to follow him. Unable to tear her eyes away from the giant tofu that bounced along behind them, she asked:
A cold shiver went down Kaede's spine, but she nevertheless closed her fingers around the vial of antimagic poison.


"Out of curiosity, what did Reynald want with a chunk of... uh, white pudding?"
Kaede wasn't sure if she dared to risk taking Marina's offer, but she did know one thing for certain: regardless of which way she leaned, accepting the task and becoming part of the plan was her best option.


"He has a baby skywhale familiar that's barely old enough to cut milk. White pudding's ease of eating and digesting makes it a decent baby food."
"No. Count me in."
 
Kaede simply nodded. Compared to sentient tofu, skywhales felt like a perfectly logical animal specie in the world.
 
 
 
<nowiki>----- * * * -----</nowiki>
 
 
 
The healer's chapel was a sterile white hall full of beds, which Kaede now found unusual because it was the only room painted white in the entire castle complex. Counters lined up against the far-side wall were packed neatly with potions vials, flasks, and bottles, as well as a dozen transparent quartz crystals the size of tablet computers.
 
Parzifal still held one of them within his hands, through which he examined Kaede over the past half-hour. She felt oddly naked under his focused gaze, but not exactly uncomfortable thanks to his professional demeanor.
 
"As far as I can tell, there's nothing wrong with you, other than a slight vitamin-D deficiency," Parzifal noted as he put the quartz screen back onto his lap. "You need to come outside more often."
 
"Well... people haven't exactly been welcoming my sight."
 
A barely noticeable cringe went through Parzifal before he closed his eyes and sighed.
 
"Yes, and I haven't exactly been helping. I'm sorry about that. I know it's no fault of yours, but... your master and I have a history."
 
"I've heard from Ariadne, don't worry about it," Kaede rushed to wave it off before changing the subject back: "do you know any other reason why people here might faint suddenly?"
 
"Our medical capabilities are nowhere perfect, and there are plenty of possible reasons for losing consciousness over some condition we either overlooked or simply can't detect, but..." his gaze turned from contemplative to warning. "Not for ten plus hours; that's just too serious not to leave an evident sign. Furthermore, ''Rejuvenate'' spells can usually wake up even someone sick to the verge of death. To stop something like that... I can't think of anything BUT a magical effect, except you don't carry any suspicious auras either."
 
"Do all magical effects leave an aura?"
 
"No, but a hidden magical aura isn't a natural occurrence. That means you're not just contracting a magical disease or having an allergic reaction against the wards, but being affected by deliberate foul play. Although, given your master, I wouldn't be surprised if that were the case."
 
Kaede couldn't tell if Pascal was smirking or scowling; probably a bit of both.
 
"Are you sure all you drank was water? That there wasn't anything in that chalice you mentioned?" Parzifal asked.
 
"Pascal said the ''Detection'' spells came out clean. How reliable is that?"
 
"Reliable enough for everything conventional," Parzifal simply shrugged. "But healers aren't in the subterfuge or poison business, and that spell is old, ancient. One of the first things they teach in this school is that as long as there is a way, there is also a counter. Unfortunately... that's all I can really tell you."
 
Kaede nodded as she held onto that thought for later:
 
"Thank you so much for this. I really do appreciate it."
 
For the first time, Kaede saw Parzifal's gentle, almost serene smile directed towards her.
 
"Not to sound mean, but I'd do it even if you were the devil's daughter; that's what it means to take the healers' oath. However, I do promise to try to be cordial in the future... Bet my actions thus far must seem unworthy compared to how dear Aria described me."
 
She sent back a grin of her own:
 
"Not at all. As Ariadne said, you're a very generous guy."
 
The shadow of guilty that entered his almost bashful expression was both what Kaede hoped for and what made her thoughts agree with her words.
 
''Good people aren't always nice, but you can always count on them to strive towards good expectations,'' she thought as she waved to Parzifal before leaving the healers' chapel.
 
...
 
On her way back to the dormitory keep, Kaede replayed all of yesterday afternoon in her memories. Other than Marina's daily cleaning visit, she couldn't think of a single sign of outsider entry into the room. Furthermore, she remembered that Marina didn't just perform the usual, but also gave all the furnishing in the room a thorough dusting and sanitary wipe-down. She must have at least lifted the chalice when cleaning the bedside counter it sat on.
 
''But why would Marina want to harm Pascal? And if this is poison, it's far too low grade... almost like an immature prank.''
 
Kaede knew that history was abundant with cases where the agents of nobles bribed or blackmailed servants into carrying out their dirty schemes. Pascal was the son of Weichsel's Marshal; his father no doubt gathered plenty of enemies. Furthermore, Pascal's own character was hardly to the type to avoid burning bridges. Nevertheless...
 
''I can't just lay suspicion on Marina for no reason; who knows what these nobles may do to a mere servant girl.''
 
The sun was already setting. Pascal would return from class soon. Therefore Kaede's only course of action was to confirm for herself tomorrow.
 
 
 
<nowiki>----- * * * -----</nowiki>
 
 
 
Pascal had been stuck in his irritable mood for several days now.
 
It began late last Friday when he tried to contact Sylviane again, only to be rejected without a single word. Due to her busy schedule, he only called using the ''Farspeak'' spell during weekend nights; but in the past, even when she attended a special council meeting, she always at least sent back a brief answer before closing the connection.
 
The fact he knew exactly why she ignored him only deepened his melancholy. It certainly kept him awake into the depth of the night.
 
Ariadne's invitation to Kaede didn't help his moodiness, but it was a mere drop in the bucket compared to Sylviane hanging up his calls on both Saturday and Sunday nights. Pascal had no wish to further irritate his fiancee by pestering her nonstop, but shutting down two attempts per day made it evident that she was deliberately not talking to him.
 
Sunday night was the first time Pascal realized just how late Kaede stayed awake every night, shifting and turning.
 
Kaede's collapse on Monday night began to push his limits. Fatigue was but one factor; Pascal was also not used to being emotionally strung.
 
On Tuesday morning, a noble who unwisely spoke ill of Rhin-Lotharingie's recent policies received a ferocious tongue lashing from Pascal. After that, everyone stayed twice the distance they usually kept from him. Angering a spellglyph landmine was usually a poor choice, especially when it had genius intellect to channel the explosive force into one's most painful spots.
 
Professor Albert noticed this, and requested some early research discussion from Pascal's ''Pandemonium Doctrine'' project in order to 'keep his thoughts occupied'. As expected, the assignment kept Pascal contemplative for the remainder of the day and well into the evening.
 
"Hey Pascal," Kaede asked from behind him. "Did you know that the familiars of mages who die of old age often revert back to normal and live on?"
 
"Yes." Pascal didn't even bother to look up from his writing desk. "Speculation claims that it is the shock of death carried across the bond that mortally wounds the familiar's psyche and destroys their will to life; the same effect for when a bond is severed by force. Obviously, no one is going to experimentally test either of those hypothesis. But I am nowhere close to the age of dying peacefully."
 
"Can't you at least ''look into'' some method of how I can get back?"
 
Sighing, Pascal put down the ink stone that he used to channel words straight onto parchment. He turned back around to face the familiar girl. Sitting in his bed with another book opened between her small hands, she wore only the white halter-top he dressed her in on the first night. Meanwhile her long canary-white hair draped across her bare back and shoulders, pooling into a pile besides her.
 
"I ''have'' thought about this Kaede, but by all knowledge there is simply no viable solution. We can not just cut the bond and hope a miracle happens to return everything to normal, nor does any banishment magic work on a naturalized body like yours. If fact, I even asked Professor von Grimm -- he teaches teleportation -- to cast the ancient planar banishment spell on those clothes that came with you, and it did not work on them either. Even if we knew exactly which world you came from out of the infinite numbers out there among the multiverse, the magic of the worldwalkers is a myth of old legends and folklore, not something achieved within the annuals of modern human sorcery."
 
Kaede met his stare evenly:
 
"I'm here, aren't I?"
 
"By some fluke of the spell that I still cannot figure out," Pascal admitted with a scowl. Then: "I was impressed how quickly you were adapting to life here; I guess that is not the case after all."
 
"Oh please, it's only been eleven days!" She retorted. "Philosophically, I adhere to the Eastern views of my home world more than the West. So we try our best to be accepting of the world around us, to be at peace with how it molds our lives. But being accepting isn't the same as surrendering to fate; my will still points my way, and I fully intend to explore all options."
 
''The Holy Father may have plans for us all, but under his guidance we shall still strive for our cause,'' Pascal reflected as Kaede declared her intent with hardened eyes. For a second he almost felt impressed, with the urge of pulling into a theological discussion.
 
Almost...
 
"Since there are stories of..."
 
"Yes, from millenniums ago when fiends, celestials, and dragonkin still waged wars across our world, when the very nature of magic was different," Pascal's irritated words cut her off. "I am not going off to chase sorcery that had been lost for thousands of years over an ideal dream. I admit that my mistake brought you here, but I do not owe you all the years of my life in repayment for it!"
 
With final-sounding words, Pascal turned back around to focus on his work, leaving only the back of his head to meet Kaede's burning glare.
 
"<u>You just don't want me to go back, do you?</u>" Kaede passed over the mental link.
 
Pascal froze for a second. ''Do I?''
 
His fatigued thoughts stumbled through a fuzzy world of internal analysis, cycling through memories of the past week-and-half. He admitted that while he did indeed enjoy her company at times, there were many more where he wondered if Kaede was really worth her trouble.
 
It took another minute before he finally replied:
 
"<u>Maybe. But I promise you that if some clue of it being reasonably possible appears, I will look into it. But until then, I refuse to waste any more time chasing what every professor believes a pipe dream based on nothing more than old tales.</u>"
 
The sound of a book slamming shut came from behind him as Kaede haphazardly tossed it onto the counter. She then lowered herself into the bed and pulled the bedcovers over her head.
 
The emotions that flowed across their link had never grown beyond mere annoyance. But even that, when added to his own irritation, was enough to push his current self-control, or lack thereof.
 
''I need sleep.''

Revision as of 03:26, 17 December 2013

Chapter 9 - Bonds of Faith

"Marina! You have a visitor!" The burly chef called out. He then nodded towards Kaede before returning to the kitchen.

"Thank you."

It was only a half-hour after breakfast ended at the dining hall. By now, the rest of the students already started their daily courses, while the staff busied themselves with cleaning. It was the perfect time to accost one of them without being overheard by the rest.

The brown-haired petite maid rushed out in under a minute, still wiping her hands with a cleaning towel.

"Oh, I should have known it was you."

"You don't seem very happy about it," Kaede grinned.

Marina's hands rushed to wave it off.

"No, no, of course I'm glad! I was just surprised; thought it was a staff member or something."

"I do wish this was purely a social call, but... I need your advice on something," Kaede kept up her smile, but the rest of her face fell serious. "Do you have a private room here? Or should we go back to mine? Pascal won't be back for hours, and I need to ask you something important."

Marina's shoulders stiffened as her smile froze. She looked almost paralyzed for seconds, then:

"Probably m-mine then. I can think of nobles spying on one another or keeping tabs on their rooms with surveillance spells, but I'm just a servant below their notice. The walls here may be thin, but all of the other servants are out busy at this hour. Should be fine as long as we keep quiet." She then turned around towards the kitchens' rear: "follow me."

It is usual for a maid to know even that much? Kaede thought. But then, they would be wary of working under watchful eyes; it only took one incident to leave a lasting lesson among the service staff.

The wide hallway behind the kitchen connected directly to the outside. On one wall were doors leading down to storage cellars, some of which Marina introduced as magically 'purified' containment cellars housing foodstuffs. The other side held two gateways that linked to the servants' quarters, segregated by gender. These proved no different from old boarding schools' dormitories, with each room furnished in a utilitarian manner: two to four bunk beds lay against exposed stone walls, and a writing desk or two stayed close to the glass windows.

Marina pulled Kaede into a small room just barely large enough to fit two sets of beds and still cram in a table. Clothes, including girls' underwear, hanged off a horizontal bar just above each bed.

Closing the door behind her, Kaede hovered her palm above its knob and sealed the lock. Facing the wide-eyed maid, she waved her right hand with the turquoise ring around her middle finger:

"Spell-activation focus from Pascal. I can channel his magic to use a few basics."

Nodding, Marina gestured for Kaede to sit on one bed before following suit on the other. Despite sitting right under several drying undergarments, Kaede barely even noticed her embarrassment before her determination right marched over it.

"So, what is it that you wanted to ask?" The mask that hid the maid's anxiety and nervousness was paper thin. It was like the day they first met, rather than the relaxed conversations they had nowadays.

If she really is a spy, she's not a very good one, Kaede thought. Probably some noble just bribed or blackmailed her into doing it. Hopefully, that means I can resolve this without hurting our friendship much.

"Marina, I collapsed last night after taking a drink from Pascal's silver chalice that was on the night counter." Being an amateur at this herself, Kaede opted for directness again. At least the weight of information kept the momentum on her side and gave her a better chance at reading the other. "The healers couldn't find anything wrong, so they suspected there was foul play involved. Since you were there cleaning in the afternoon, do you know if anything might have gotten in?"

"Uh, no? I don't remember doing anything there except dusting. Are you alright?"

Marina's concern seemed genuine, and Kaede felt a stab of guilt as the maid's nervousness continued to feed her suspicions.

"I am now, thanks. But are you sure you don't remember anything weird in there when you moved it for dusting?"

"No... Honestly, I didn't really pay much attention to it... And even if I did, magic could easily hide something like that with glamor."

Kaede couldn't place an impression on her statement, but she did agree with its content:

"True, and not like you'd be able to detect that kind of thing. I really should get Pascal to add that to the ring."

"I've heard many nobles have a habit of doing something like that..." Marina's relieved tone was exactly what she wanted.

"Do you remember anything else that may have seemed unusual? Like residues or dust imprints? Pascal almost never use that counter..."

Kaede trailed off as she thought back to her original plan. She had held back any direct blame to give Marina a moment of reprieve after the opening. But if she was to boomerang the pressure back, it must be done now or she would soon forfeit the initiative in this conversation.

"No... nothing that caught my eye."

"Are you sure? Because you were the only other person who came inside all day."

"Y-yes I'm sure. I d-didn't do anything other than move it to clean."

Kaede took the maid's hands and looked into her sea-green eyes, pleading:

"Marina, I really want to have you as a friend, so please, please don't lie to me. I won't tell Pascal about any of this. He doesn't even know that I'm here. I mean seriously, why should it matter to me if that noble asshat gets poisoned or not?" She felt a prickle of guilt as she spoke her prepared lines. "But this didn't affect him, it made me sick! And I want to know what it is!"

"B-but I'm telling you the truth!" Marina almost wailed.

The two of them simply sat on their respective beds, staring at each down. More precisely, Kaede did the staring, all the while feeling like the villain as tears pooled in Marina's eyes.

This is getting nowhere.

Kaede really wished she could trust in Marina's words, but something just didn't feel right. It was a intuitive feel that she just couldn't explain. She still had one more idea left, but it was an all-or-nothing gamble. If Marina was truly innocent, going down this path would seriously damage their growing relationship.

But if I don't clear my doubts now, how can I have faith in her in the future? What kind of friendship would that be?

Marina's tears began to trickle down her cheeks, and Kaede hated herself as she gritted her mental teeth to press on.

I swear this is the last one...

"No, you're not. I borrowed a thought detection spellglyph from Pascal," she bluffed with her sternest expression. "Of course, he doesn't know what it's for. But I can use it well enough to know that you're lying to me."

The maid stiffened into a board as her glassy eyes grew wide, finally giving Kaede a sign of what she sought.

"But you're m-mistaken! I really didn't n-notice anything!"

Leaning back against the wall, Kaede used the bunk beds to cast a shadow over her disappointed expression and deepened her voice as ominously as possible:

"Then what are you hiding? You did do something... I want to know what it is and what for. Otherwise I'll have no choice but to report this."

Color rushed out of Marina's countenance as she rushed to her feet:

"H-he'll know anyway... you're his..."

Kaede sighed. She wasn't sure how she would manage if her gamble had proved wrong. But now, it was time to stop waving the big stick and go back to speaking softly. Interrogation wasn't exactly twentieth century diplomacy, but persuasion was persuasion.

"Pascal promised he will not intrude upon my senses without asking. If nothing else redeeming, he's a noble who values his prideful sense of honor. I trust him to keep his word on that, and I promise your secret is safe with me."

"H-how can I..."

"--You'll just have to trust me," Kaede finished for her. "I'm the only one who can help you keep this under wraps."

She skipped the part that she was also the only one who could do the exact opposite.

"It's... it's... i-it's just a knockout poison," the maid finally stuttered out. "It doesn't have any long term effects, just puts the drinker unconscious for a few hours."

"What's the point of something that weak?"

"It's... it's the strongest antimagic poison available."

Sirens blazed through Kaede's mind as Marina revealed the latest information. Immunity to magic instantly solved the riddle of why Pascal could neither detect nor neutralize it. Resources advanced enough that even his profound knowledge had never heard of could only come from a major benefactor.

And the only pro reason to knock Pascal out for a dozen hours would be to...

"Why are you trying to kill Pascal?" Kaede felt her blood chill as she struggled to keep her tone merely curious.

"W-wouldn't you like to have the link cut and be rid of your master? T-that way you could return to your home in Samara." Marina forced out through her teary gaze.

Kaede almost froze on the spot. Her eyes sprang wide as she realized that she had almost made a deadly mistake: the maid's seeming naivety and apparently stress under amateurish interrogation could have been all an act. It certainly did not suppress a keen mind that was busy preparing a counter-attack.

Thankfully, she had left herself an opening earlier when Marina's guilt was still uncertain.

"I'd love for an opportunity to go back," Kaede's dry voice spelled out her wistful hope. "But that's..."

"I-impossible? That your life would be forfeit if the link was severed? O-of course he would tell you that."

Kaede's eyes narrowed at Marina, her stony gaze demanding an explanation.

"I-I don't know all the specifics but... f-familiars of those who die naturally and of old age manage fine right? I-if a familiars only die when their master's life ended shockingly, that wouldn't be the case if he p-passed away in his sleep."

"Even if that's true... that doesn't help me get back to where I come from." Kaede decided it was best to extract a proposal without revealing that she was from another world.

"My m-master has an excellent Wayfarer -- a teleportation expert. I-I'm sure he could arrange something."

Remembering that Pascal had also sought the aid of a Professor specializing in it, Kaede realized that the key to returning home probably laid in the wormhole-like effect of teleportation. Pascal also said that something kept her from being 'banished', cast back into her world of origin, and one of the possible causes was their familiar link.

It wasn't an assured ticket back. But with no alternative answers, it was also her only shot. Except the price for it...

"P-please," Marina knelt down and begged as tears streaked down her pretty face. "If you can get your master to drink it -- even just coating his chalice with it will work -- my master's men will be able to smuggle us out of the country once their task is done."

Feeling a metal vial press into her palm, Kaede slowly wrapped her delicate fingers around it as though it was precious and fragile. Meanwhile, her own emotions and thoughts lay in utter chaos.

Can I even trust her? Compared to Pascal?

She quickly concluded that was a stupid question.

But then... will I even have another chance?

Still, isn't this premeditated murder!? Even if my hands don't draw blood, I'd still an accomplice!

Pascal's selfishness might have caused all her recent problems and put her in this dilemma, but there was no way Kaede could believe that he deserved to die for it.

But what other choices do I have? Even Pascal said that the only way to cut the link -- sever my connection to this world -- was through death.

Is committing murder ever acceptable just for my own gains? especially just for a chance of returning?

Kaede squeezed the vial in her hand. Though certain that her answer should be obvious, she was nevertheless unwilling to close the other door.

"How do I know that your master and his men will keep their word?"

For a moment, Marina looked uncertain. Then:

"R-remember when I told you I was an orphan from the Empire? I was raised by a duke, and I've spied for him ever since to repay the life I owe. I can't g-guarantee it, but I doubt my master will throw away a decade of work so easily while I still prove my worth. They will definitely give me a way out, which means helping a second isn't much harder. Besides, we're friends," Marina promised through a tear-stained smile, "and once we return, giving you a teleport home should be easy."

Barely nodding, Kaede looked down at the metal cylinder in her shaking hand. It was wrong. It stood against everything she believed in. Yet it was also her only opportunity for salvation, for her old life back.

She couldn't stop herself from testing the waters once more:

"You want me to coat the chalice in this? Do I need to give you a signal or anything if it worked?"

After thinking it over again, Marina clarified as she wiped away her tears:

"Wait until tomorrow afternoon. I'll c-contact the other folks to make arrangements today, then give you an update tomorrow on how to proceed. If you want to back out, this is your last chance. Once I tell the rest, they won't hesitate to k-kill you if you try to leave the plan."

A cold shiver went down Kaede's spine, but she nevertheless closed her fingers around the vial of antimagic poison.

Kaede wasn't sure if she dared to risk taking Marina's offer, but she did know one thing for certain: regardless of which way she leaned, accepting the task and becoming part of the plan was her best option.

"No. Count me in."

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