A Familiar Void

Chapter 9

"We meet again, Miss Valliere."

Louise shrunk at a bit at the words, even though they were said in a neutral tone. The girl fidgeted in her seat as she sat before the principal of the academy that she resided in.

Osmond, or Old Man Osmond as some of the students would call him, wasn't even looking at her. Instead, his eyes were pre-occupied with the various floating documents that surrounded him. Though there was a gap in between the floating papers that allowed her to see him.

"It's only been a week since the last time you were here," He said, eyes focusing on a document to his left "Just before you summoned your Familiar if I recalled."

"Ye-Yes Principal Osmond," Louise nodded "It was the incident with Professor Chevreuse."

He nodded his head, and gave a thoughtful hum "And I assume that the situation this time is the same as well?" he glanced at her from the corner "That, despite warnings, Professor Levi still asked you cast a spell?"

"Yes," she nodded again "He asked me, specifically, to try and cast the Water Levitation spell." She saw him raise an eyebrow, and explained "He said that it was because of my affinity that he was confident that I could perform the spell."

"I see," the papers that were floating in the air moved, they all shifted into a single neat stack and placed in the middle of his desk. He turned his gaze on her completely, "I hope that you are aware, that in both incidents you harmed both of the professors."

She flinched "I," she gulped down the saliva that she didn't realise was in her mouth "I apologies, Principal Osmond." Her eyes met his "I tried to cast the spell but I failed both times."

Osmond nodded "I appreciate your continued attempts in your spells Miss Valliere" a gentle smile grew on his face "Rest assured that you won't be in too much trouble."

"However," His voice turned from calming to serious "Know this Miss Valliere, even if these were accidents both Professor Chevreuse and Professor Levi were injured because of them." His eyes narrowed "Chevreuse is still somewhat recovering from the explosion last week," he tapped the side of his head "The injury to her head seems to be taking longer to heal, then her injuries to her body."

Louise didn't know that she was still recovering! She seemed fine when she came back to teach any following Earth Classes. All she seemed to notice was that she just flinched a lot.

"And this incident with Professor Levi," Osmond's voice knocked her out of her thoughts "You said that he took two explosions during class?" He asked her.

"Yes, the first one only broke the jug and pushed us away from the table. But the second one was the explosion that broke the table, and knocked out Professor Levi" She explained.

"That's concerning," His eyes looked down "Especially..." he trailed off, before he closed his eyes with a sigh. When he opened them, he had a weary look in them "Miss Valliere, I hope you know how important these two are to their families and to the kingdom. If any of them were to suffer any kind of grievous or permanent injuries, even if by accident, the fallout of such actions cannot be simply dismissed as 'It was their fault'."

Louise didn't say anything.

The thought of her explosions harming someone had never even came up to her, since this was the first time it had been brought up like this.