Maoin's ears twitched and her head raised slightly as a voice grumbled in the general vicinity, eyes opening to a world far too bright. Maoin had curled herself up in a create stuffed with various blankets and pillows. Her mistress had laughed a few times and invited the familiar into her own bed back in Ireland, but the crate was simply the perfect spot to curl up in. While obviously it was inappropriate for a servant to sleep in the same bed as a noblewoman, the create was also easily transportable, warm, and just the right size for a good nap. Even if there was another bed in the room, Maoin probably would have still chosen her nest.
But while her crate was usually next to Gwynn's bed in case services were required, it was now located in the corner furthest from the hungover woman.
"Blaaargh, next time I decide to drink, Maoin. Stop me, please. I don't care whatever drunk me says, you are not to allow me to drink. At all." Maoin glared at her mistress, but rose from her place of rest. She guessed the noblewoman had completely forgotten most of the night.
About half of the way home it was obvious that her mistress had rendered herself utterly incapable of discerning reality. She started singing something about being a pirate captain in unsafe waters and tried to order her servant around as if she was a crewman. After a good amount of time spent forcing her mistress to stumble in the right direction and returning home, her owner started releasing dinner out onto the floor while her familiar awkwardly held the blonde braid back.
After cleaning Gwynn up and putting her to bed, Maoin proceeded to try and clean the mess, but Gwynn wasn't done yet. The drunk noble started ordering her kitten to do various things, including asking Maoin to do a Byzantine strip tease, making Maoin to do a headstand with only her tail, ordering Maoin to do other things (the familiar figured those would be a bad idea given the state of her mistress), ordering Maoin to assist in raiding a castle and assaulting their neighbors, and requesting Maoin's assistance in taking down the headmistress.
Halfway through begging for cheese, Gwynn finally passed out to the relief of the kitten. The younger girl spent twenty minutes cleaning the floor and two more hours cleaning up the green dress from earlier before spending a little more time making sure Gwynn's inebriation wasn't lethal before going to sleep herself for four hours.
Maoin, finally on her feet, responded obediently although with a level of seriousness intense even for the traditional girl.
"Of course, mistress. Your loyal servant will ensure your lips never touch drink until the day she dies."Of course, she still was being useful as she started to prepare breakfast with an adorable yawn and wag of her tail. Maoin had taken note that their mistress had preferred food reminding her of home, so she set out preparing dished that would remind Gwynn of home.
"Do you require assistance in preparing yourself for the day? Classes are about to start."Of course, Maoin was curious if her mistress even remembered the plotting of the previous day.
Swen woke up peacefully from his rest, and headed down to a small café to gather himself a small meal. Ultimately, he had slept well and was ready to go to class. After peacefully finishing a small chapter in the novel he was reading, a thought occurred to him.
It WOULD be awfully nice to have an attendant like his lady. That cat was always loyal, and having someone to help him like that could be very useful.
The location Livia informed to two of them about was a mage's tower some distance away in Antiquane. While the travel would normally take weeks, the pair of Aetheria and Kathrine managed to arrive within minutes due to a scroll of teleporation.
As the scroll disinigrated in Aetheria's hand, she looked over the tower. It was a stubby building, no more than three stories high. The circular turret stood as a relic of an older time with moss crawling up it's side and the ceiling having experienced some obvious wear and tear from the elements.
The secluded tower wasn't exactly what Aetheria had imagined a beast as mighty as the Phoenix using as it's lair. On the other hand, that made it the perfect hiding place for the creature. The former peasant wasn't exactly sure what the fire bird's motivation was for hiding here, but she looked over to her companion to see if she was ready.
Katherine looked over the tower, slightly musing about how this was definitely the last place she'd imagine a pheonix being. She knew this was the place, all things considered, but it was still funny to her overall.
"No time like the present, eh, Aetheria?" Katherine joked slightly.
"I've heard old stories of pheonixes burning the fat off the fattest villager and then combusting all the alcohol he drank just prior." That part wasn't true, but Katherine loved to embellish.
Aetheria shrugged, then decided to start walking towards the tower. Not seeing anyone from her position, the mage avoided Kathrine's teasing and turned the discussion academic.
"Just for clarification with 'Phoenixes': are we discussing one Phoenix through various incarnations, or many different birds?" Academia still debated about whether the Phoenixes were a single reincarnating entity or a countinuous line of a single 'person'.
As the pair of them approached, Aetheria still noticed no reaction from the tower, She readied her already prepared staff ... unsure what to expect. If the white mage was being honest with herself, she believed they would have already been roasted.
After all, wouldn't an open field be a far more advantageous battleground for the monster?
"You're such a stick in the mud, Aetheria." Katherine commented as she took a look around with the white mage. Her dolls were moving out in a spread formation, to lower the chance of casualties if something randomly happened like a giant fire bird swooping down and setting fire to everything.
Katherine would have preferred to not get caught into Aetheria's flow, but did so anyhow as she answered the woman's question.
"That would be assuming that a reincarnated form is the same person over all. I'd like to think that the personalities might differ greatly between ressurections. Assuming they have them." As relaxed as Katherine might have seemed, she had multiple eyes and ears about so she felt no problem with things like this.
"In this case, let's assume they're different birds overall."Aetheria nodded as the two approached within twenty feet of the door. The white mage was sure Kathrine would have said something if one of her dolls had spotted the creature ... but this was getting stranger by the moment.
Wandering across an open field should have made them easy to spot. And they certainly should have been heard. Somewhat neverous, the teacher looked into the eyes of the doll user.
"For the sake of this discussion we will assume that. Anyways ... the little ones haven't seen anything, have they?" A little of the nervousness Aetheria was feeling entered her voice as the two stepped in front of the door without an answer.
Katherine followed her partner in crime up to the door and looked over it a bit, trying to open it to no avail. That lock looked easily pickable. Nothing like the element of surprise upon an unsuspecting bird of godly fire.
"#24, come here for a second." One of the numerous dolls with them waddled over as quickly as it could as Katherine sat it on her hand.
"Now be a good child and pick this lock for me, would you?" She held the doll close as it pulled out a small tool and started to pick the lock.
"Trust me, I'd make a snide comment if one of my numerous pairs of eyes say that a bird of fat burning and combustive alcohol showed it's face. And. . . Done." Katherine mentioned to Aetheria as she set the doll back down on the ground and jimmied the door a little to make sure it was unlocked.
"All for you, my beautiful but logical friend."The white mage rolled her eyes as she slowly opened up the door cautiously, and after a few seconds of searching and mumbling a few detect magic spells realized that there was no trap in the entryway. The pair entered into a large room with old tables sprawled across the room, clearly neglected as spiderwebs ran between the various pieces of furniture. Aetheria headed up the staircase, deciding at this point to be silent rather than countiue her conversation with Katherine. Both of the ambitious women could speak after work if they wanted to.
Katherine noticed the silence from the woman and no reply from her, well, even Katherine knew there was a time for silence. Somehow. For stealth's sake, she decided to keep her lips shut and kept her mental link with her dolls as they proceeded to the next level. . .
The second floor contained nothing of notice as well. Strangely though, recently used instruments of magic lined a wall, with a bedroom door along the other side. Probably former living quaters for the tower's lord ... now converted to a mage's laboratory? What would a Phoenix need with a laboratory? Things were getting stranger by the minute. The white mage scooped a few vials of clear liquid off of a table, placing them in a pouch for later usage.
At this point, Kathrine's dolls would be able to hear the sounds of a young woman begging incoherently and the sound of something impacting flesh. A few seconds later, a man mentioned something about being a disobedient bitch in a harsh tone.
Katherine wasn't a big fan of whatever she heard. It sounded. . . Much too one sided. She liked the one speaking harsh as little as she did slugs. . . And her rewards for slugs was salt.
"Aetheria," Katherine whispered, it was time for inside voices after all. She made her voice go deeper as she continued.
"Something, something, something, disrespectful bitch. Smack, smack. She cleared her throat quietly as she started to say something else.
"At least, that's what the dolls hear up ahead. Personally, I really hope the man's voice isn't the target. I think he needs to know real fear." The scariest part of all of that was the smile across Katherine's face as she said the last part.
Aetheria nodded, keeping a few spells in her head as she headed towards the staircase. Kathrine's cowoker whispered as she countinued in that direction, picking up her pace and motioning for Kathrine to follow.
"Be ready for whatever we run into .... something isn't right though." About three quaters of the way there, she could hear the sounds from above at a reasonable volume.
The white mage headed up the staircase as silently as she could, and watched for a few moments as the scene unfolded before her. Around the corner of the staircase was what was clearly the tower's prison room, probably intended to hold a noble for ransom. A barred iron door led into what appeared to be a small suite.
What was going on in the suite is what perplexed the white mage. Behind the barred doors was a tall man wearing expensive clothes that hardly fit him. At his feet was a red ... no, crimson haired girl in rags being kicked on the ground by the man's boot. It was unlikely that the four foot ten figure was older than fourteen. The man held a hand out and stopped kicking for a moment ... and the girl screamed in pain as she curled into a fetal position, but based on her rising shrieks that was ineffective. The crimson haired girl looked upwards as the man retracted his hand, then collapsed to the floor unmoving.
While abusing the small child would have made many people angry, what followed would have made any women's blood boil. The man lifted the girl into a chair with restraints, reaching to the girl's ragsged shirt and tearing it down the front. Aetheria knew what would follow if she waited, but she was simply too stunned to react. Wasn't there supposed to be a legendary bird of fire here?
"Aside, Aetheria." Katherine said, not caring to keep her voice tone in check.
"So, this girl is the 'disrespectful bitch'? Is she?" Katherine voiced to the man as a couple dozen dolls poured into the room with pointy spears in hand all making great speed to surround the man. If he tried to kick them, well, he'd regret it likely. Everything about them were magically enhanced and they fought back.
"Seems the disrespectful one here would be the man about to do something to a young girl. Katherine took a peak at the girl as she made her way into the room.
"Sure she's kind of cute, but she's still a little young. She was quite sure she could fight back against this man, with whatever tricks he might pull. Actually, she cared very little. She did want to teach him a lesson after all. With a snap of her fingers, a few of her dolls thrusted their spears into the man's legs.
The man screamed in pain as the spears were gouged into his legs, falling to his knees in response.
"I care little if you're some nobleman or royalty. So don't try that, 'Do you know who I am?' routine. Or perhaps I shouldn't have, Miss White Mage?" Katherine asked her partner.
"Or should I try more pain?" Another snap of her fingers and two more dolls stabbed into the side of his hips.
"Tell me now, how do you like the pain? I can always give more."Aetheria had instead gone over to the crimson haired girl, examining the youngest for anything appearing to be lethal. After a quick search, the white mage frowned in concentration as it was unsuccesful.
"I ... I think you can handle this one." Something about this girl bothered Aetheria ... some sort of energy came from the half naked girl, but the teacher couldn't quite place it.
The ones sent into his hips only increased the volume of his cries as tears streaked down his eyes. For a moment, his eyes changed hue and he reached a hand out, palm towards the woman tormenting him so. It was clear the man was trying to focus on some sort of spell.
Without a word, Katherine's eyes narrowed and two dolls jabbed up and stabbed his hand, piercing it through.
"Now, now. I'm teaching you a lesson. Not the other way around. And class is in session." The dolls pulled their spears out quickly, causing the man more pain and tears as Katherine pulled the man toward her, stepped to the side, and let him fall face first into the ground.
The dolls held him in place as Katherine walked over to Aetheria and the crimson-haired girl.
"Now then, my good man. Do answer some questions of ours. Each deliberately wrong answer you get a reprimand. Each wrong answer otherwise, you get a less severe reprimand. Each right answer. . . Well, the better for you." Katherine giggled. It had been so long since she had been able to do this.
"First few questions. Who are you? Who is this girl?" The puppeteer paused for a second as she lifted the tied-girls face ever so gently.
"And why would you harm such a precious girl? If only she were a little older. . ." She mused slightly before turning her peripheral attention back to the man.
The man responded in ragged breaths. "I'm a mage, this is my familiar, and she was being disobedient." Blood pooled from him slowly, although it would not be immediately lethal. A quick look across the room though would reveal more than one device intended to cause pain, however.
The girls eyes struggled to open, but Aetheria observed her slow return to the world.
"Are you hurt, young one?" The girl looked at the man kneeling on the floor, and panic filled her eyes as she passed out again.
"Kathrine ... the young one isn't reacting so well. We should probably settle this quickly.""Come now, dear Aetheria. We need some answers out of this human trash. Maybe make him beg like the dog he is." Of course, even Katherine could link one and one together.
"If she's your familiar, what kind of familiar is she? Cat-Girl? Dog-Girl? Immortal Winged one, Burner of Fat and Combuster of Alcohol?The man's breaths became more rugged. "Does she look like a fucking cat girl?" The mage immediately seemed to regret those words, but countinued afterwards. "Yes, she's the Phoenix. Satisfied?"
Katherine almost thought to stab him for his comment, but not everyone got sarcasm. . . Just like miss logic over here.
"A last question I have, actually. Did you order this poor, innocent, Pheonix Girl to go and burn down a couple of villages? I hope you don't disappoint me."The man blinked a few times. "Of course not. I'm not a murderer." In a way, the tone of his question sounded honest, but also as if he believed Katherine asked the most ridiculous question known to mankind.
"I see, well, that's good for you then. I could have seen a horrible fate in store for you if you did tell her to do so." Truthfully, Katherine didn't believe him much anyhow.
"Well, to be honest, if she's your familiar. . . I need to have here be clear from her familiar pact as soon as possible. I doubt you will relinquish it, and well. . . I don't really like you." Katherine couldn't help but be blunt about it now.
"You're lucky though. I could have brought you back with us and my master could have tortured you for hours if I asked her to. I swear she enjoys the screams of people suffering from time to time." She was slightly embellishing but she wasn't too far off.
"I can't promise it to be quick or painless. . . But hey, it'll end sometime." Katherine giggled like a giddy schoolgirl as she turned to Aetheria.
"I'll carry the girl gently while my dolls are having their fun." Even if she was missing personally, she'd be able to see everything. The dolls would be able to catch up quickly anyhow after they've made a mess of things.
Aetheria nodded, passing the red headed girl over to Kathrine as the two exited the room. "No, no, no, PLEASE!" The screams of the dying mage could be heard as the two women descended the staircase. As the pair of them left the tower, Aetheria pulled out another scroll of teleportation and the two teleported into Livia's main office. After a second or two, they noticed that Livia was already sitting in her main chair.
