Even with the door in front of her Louise was unsure about what she intended to do. They'd never been close, quite the opposite, but in light of recent events, surely…? Well, she supposed that she would find out. Her knuckles rapped on the door and a moment later it open with a thick wave of perfume that filled the hall.

"Oh, Ajax, you're earl-" Kirche's words died in her throat as she saw Louise standing there with an indignant look on her face. They stared at each other for a moment; the taller one with shock and the shorter with a vague sort of contempt due to the fact that the other girl was dressed in nothing but her undergarments and her loosely-hanging school cloak.

The door slammed shut and Louise could hear frantic movement inside for the next half a minute before it was flung open again. This time Kirche was properly dressed and a little more flushed than before. "Louise! What a, uh, pleasant surprise! Was there, ah, something you needed?" Louise leaned to the side and looked past Kirche into the room beyond; lit by floating candles and with rose petals scattered about near the bed.

"... yes, actually." She turned her gaze from the room back to its nervous owner. "You are well acquainted with the rumors and gossip in the school." It wasn't really a question, but Kirche nodded nervously anyway. "And while I have let certain matters go, I think we can both agree that you owe me, Zerbst." Again, Kirche nodded nervously. Louise sighed.

"Oh, do relax, Kirche. I'm not about to extort you. I just need your help. Believe me, I don't like this any more than you do." That, at least, caused the Germanian girl to crack a smile. She visibly relaxed; leaning against the door post in a far more usual fashion for her.

"Well, that's a relief, Vallière! I was worried you were about to extort me for one of my darlings!" Louise groaned but a small smile ghosted across her face in spite of herself. Having Kirche act so firmly out of character was sufficiently disconcerting that it was nice to see her act like her old self. "Alright then. What do you need, exactly?" Louise rested one elbow in her hand and tapped her cheek with the other.

"I need to know about other people in the school who are… like I was. People who are… hurting. You understand?" Kirche's expression turned grave as she nodded slowly. "Otherwise, I want you to find out if there's anyone who has had trouble sleeping the past two weeks. Maybe had weird dreams or been waking up at odd times."

This particular request elicited an odd look from the Germanian that Louise ignored for now. "And one more thing, actually. Has there been… any incidents involving the servants lately?" That question received an even stranger look than the last; albeit one tinged with visible confusion."

"Well, I wouldn't really know, Louise. The staff are, well… the staff. I'm certainly abreast of…" She paused her explanation suddenly with a thoughtful expression dawning on her face. "Actually, there was one thing. Do you remember that inspector person who came to the school?" Louise shook her head. She recalled nothing of the sort. "Oh, well, a few days after... that incident… a representative of the Crown came. The Tristanian one, of course, not mine!"

Kirche's chuckle at what she no doubt thought to be her witty observation died under Louise's withering stare. "Ahem. In any case, he spoke to Old Osmond in private. Your… I mean, Duchess Vallière as well. You didn't know?" She was not, in fact, aware of this at all. Perhaps her mother had chosen to keep it from her, for her peace of mind.

"What has this to do with my question, Zerbst?" Her tone was icy, but Kirche perked up regardless as she was reminded as to what ought have been the point of her response.

"Ah, yes! Well, I have it on good authority that when he left the school he took one of the maids with him! But then she returned to the school after only a week." There was a small, awful 'click' in Louise's mind as pieces fell together for her. "It was such a scandal! Although, afterwards I was able to get a date with this delicious third year boy by talking about how much I hated inconstant men, and how loyal and noble he was, and the-"

"Yes, that is quite enough of that, Zerbst, thank you. I've heard all I care to. You will find out about those other things I asked? Or will you be too distracted?" Rather than showing any shame, like she ought to, the bigger girl just laughed and Louise had to dodge back out of malicious hug range.

"Oh, dear Louise, you're still as sharp as ever! I'll ask around and get back to you. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm expecting company soon… although, you're welcome to sta-" Louise had slammed Kirche's own door in her face, somehow, before she could even finish her ridiculous taunt.

Her thoughts darkened as she made her way through the halls. Despite what Kirche's taunts might suggest Louise wasn't ignorant to the ways of men and women. She knew what must have happened. You heard stories of it all the time… well, at least she'd read a few now and then. Not a lot of them! Just one or two. Star-crossed lovers, forbidden romance between noble and servant… of course, there was a reason such things just did not happen in real life.

Clearly Siesta had become enamoured with this man and followed him to his estate only to find he was... perhaps married, or somesuch. Mayhaps he'd even courted her affections in spite of that. That must be why the poor girl was so bitter about Louise's kindness towards her. Well, it was her own fault in any case. Besides which, it did not explain her earlier blankness on the topic of last night.

All of which assumed that Siesta was the girl in question. Perhaps it had been one of her little friends and she was bitter at being abandoned? That would make sense as well. She could ask the girl later tonight. For now, she went to see her mother.

Cattleya was in their mother's rooms again. She was seated in one of the comfier chairs in the main room with fabric in hand when Louise entered. The shape behind her face was there still. A dead-eyed rictus of frozen pain behind her smile.

"Good morning, Louise. How are you?" In spite of herself, Louise couldn't help but stare. Not just at the mask, but at what Cattleya was doing. She was hand-stitching some sort of pattern on the fabric. There was nothing wrong with that as such, only… she'd never known her sister to be interested in such things.

"Well enough, dear sister. What are you working on?" Louise's heart sank as she saw the mask behind Cattleya's face fracture a tiny bit; with a 'crack' sound that her sister didn't appear to notice. That… she wasn't sure if that was good or bad. She tried not to let it show on her face as she moved over to the chair and peered down at the craftwork.

"Oh, just one of my pets." A sickly smile came across her older sibling's face as she showed Louise the image of a large, fluffy thing that she was still stitching detail into. "They all remained at the estate. My latest healer said that with my health deteriorating it wasn't safe for me to stay around them any more." There was another little crack, and Louise nodded slowly.

"I'm sure father is making sure they're well taken care of." This may have been the wrong thing to say. Cattleya just smiled and nodded and looked down to resume her stitching without another word. Louise wasn't sure what to say. If there even was anything she could say.

"... Is mother in?" She was ashamed of her own cowardice. This was… too much to deal with, here and now. She didn't know enough. Cattleya nodded vaguely, and Louise moved away. "Excuse me then, I must speak with her." Her sister didn't respond as she went to their mother's door and headed into her study.

Within, Karin de la Vallière was seated at her desk with a stack of parchment beside her and an ink pen in hand. She glanced at her daughter but didn't stop writing; so Louise sat on one of the spare seats and waited. Once her mother was done with the sheet she was working on she put it aside and laid the pen down beside the inkwell.

"Louise. Are you well, my dear?" Although her tone was kind her gaze pierced through Louise. Her eyes touched upon every part of her daughter's frame. Perhaps giving the Evoker over to her had been weighing heavily on her mother's mind.

"... well enough. I'm sorry, mother, but there are vitally important matters I must speak with you about. I… scarcely know where to begin." Her mother nodded gravely and turned her chair to give Louise her full attention."

"I shall listen for as long as it takes, Louise. Whatever you have to say to me; I shall hear it." Louise fidgeted in place; her eyes fell to the floor as she sought the words somewhere inside of herself. What was it that Theo had said?

A protective mask. The strength to interact fearlessly with others. Inside of her the Persona looked up as it sensed her thinking about it. This wasn't her Persona, but all the same… if she couldn't talk to her mother about this, how could she face a stranger like Siesta?

"That thing I summoned was… is an entity known as a 'Shadow'. Ordinarily they dwell in a realm apart from ours. It seems, however, I have some kind of fate that connects me to it. That it is why it was summoned in place of my familiar." Karin didn't say anything yet, so Louise was forced to carry on.

"It was a… manifestation of parts of me that I did not wish to face. The darker thoughts that came when… I felt alone. It wasn't… real, but it wasn't fake either." She struggled to summon the right words from within her. Struggled not to look at her mother's face for fear of what she might see in it. "Ever since I came to this school I have struggled to overcome my… natural failings. Sometimes that was harder than others."

Still, Karin said nothing. Louise chanced a look up at her to see that her mother had leaned over on one arm and covered her mouth with her hand. This gave her a distant, yet pensive, air. Louise swallowed heavily and when she spoke again her voice sounded to her as if it came from far away. "Upon fleeing from the creature I briefly found myself elsewhere; face to face with a figure I had only witnessed in a dream. To be clear, I had briefly 'met' them the night before."

Thankfully, her mother did not decry her explanation and simply let it stand. That renewed Louise's confidence some. "His name is Theodore, and I suspect him to be some sort of spirit or possibly a divine messenger. The 'familiar' I ultimately gained from the ritual identified itself as the 'Left Hand of God'; of course, I investigated this phrase in detail but I was unable to find anything in the student library…"

"I have received a letter from Her Majesty's court regarding this." At last, Karin interjected. Her words were like a bolt of lightning that struck Louise down to the very soul and froze her in place. "The spell unleashed by you on that day was visible from Tristania, and the Academy was forced to report the events truthfully." The sound of shifting wood caused Louise to peek up and see that her mother had opened her desk drawer to rifle through it.

When she located the letter she pulled it out and unfolded it on the desk. "Perhaps it is unwise of me to share this information with you, but you are my daughter and it concerns you directly." Louise could see the sigil of the Church of the Founder stamped at the bottom alongside the stamp of the Tristanian Crown.

"The letter is from Primate Mazarin, to be specific. There is, apparently, some connection between the 'Left Hand of God', the entity you summoned, and the secret writings of the church. To that end, he has requested an Inquisitor come to visit the Academy." Karin drummed her fingers on top of the desk while her daughter considered the situation.

Louise was not ignorant of Tristainian politics; her lacking magical skill meant she could not afford to be. If the Inquisitor decided that she was guilty of heresy, or perhaps worse, then things would become extremely awkward for the Vallière family. While the Church lacked official power in Tristain their influence over the Crown was, at present, very high.

"... thank you for telling me, mother. What… do you think I should do?" She looked up at her mother with hope in her gaze. Karin closed her eyes, seemingly lost in thought as her fingertips continued to beat out a rhythm on the desk. Eventually her eyes opened again and resolve shone on her face.

"Do as you will, my daughter! So long as you retain your loyalty to our homeland, I shall support your choices without hesitation. However…" Her expression hardened and a faint apprehension filled the back of Louise's mind. "Make sure this 'Theodore' knows that, regardless of whether he is a spirit or servant of the divine, if he harbours any ill intent towards you I shall ruin him."

The calm seriousness of her mother's threat was actually somewhat comical to Louise, but she didn't laugh. More than being funny it filled her with an undeniable warmth from the depths of her heart. Karin's features softened once more and she coughed with an air of embarrassment. "Now, tell me more about this familiar of yours, and these 'Shadows'."

Louise did her best to explain what Theo had told her; although some of the more philosophical details were difficult for her to elaborate on. Eventually, with some prompting from her mother, she managed to get across the main details.

Shadows were, at least as far as Louise could articulate and Karin could grasp, essentially a form of hateful spirit born from the dark thoughts of others. Normally they were intangible things that existed outside of the world of Halkegenia, yet very close to it, and had no influence on the world. They stayed in their realm, which was a sort of twisted reflection of the 'real' world.

However, something related to Louise had caused this to change. Or perhaps nothing had changed and Louise was simply aware of it now. Regardless, every night Louise was drawn into this world and, thus far, had encountered only one other human there; although she had only gone to explore once.

All of this brought Karin to a perfectly logical conclusion that, nevertheless, Louise had dreaded from the moment she chose to talk to her mother about this. Once they had gone over the situation a few times to make sure that Karin had it right the older woman had said the very words Louise had been afraid of.

"I only wish I could accompany you into this, this…" Karin paused. They had not precisely decided what to refer to the realm of the Shadows as during the discussion. "... this dark realm. But since it seems I cannot do so, and equally am unable to keep you out of it, I shall have to train you properly so that you might have a chance to survive."

Louise winced, but did not refute her mother's claims. At the very least her familiar might be able to utilise its abilities more frequently if she were to improve her constitution. Likewise, since Theo had described that sword stroke as being a 'physical skill' it seemed the Shadows might be vulnerable to more mundane forms of attack; as ludicrous as it was to consider a land-shaping blow such as that to be mundane.

"And what of this other who you spoke of? Who are they, and what capabilities do they possess?" At this question Louise hesitated as well. With the odd behaviour Siesta had displayed earlier it seemed unleashing her mother on the poor girl would be a little cruel. However… lying to her mother at this point, or at the very least not telling her, felt very wrong.

"Her name is Siesta; she's one of the Academy's maids. Except, when I spoke to her earlier today she acted like she had no idea what I was talking about. She also seemed… almost afraid of me.." Louise sighed. Their first meeting had not been under the best conditions but after they were safe she'd thought it had gone fairly well until the very end.

"Someone I spoke to mentioned that inspector who came, and I wondered if it might have been relate-" She cut herself off when she saw her mothers expression had transformed from thoughtful to stony in an instant.

"That man, Louise, is a boorish lout not fit for his position, let alone his title. Your father and I have impugned his character on multiple occasions, and with good cause." Karin grit her teeth and all but snarled her words. "However, with His Majesty passing away some years past, and Her Majesty restraining herself from affairs of state, there has been nobody willing to take action against him." She snorted and rolled her eyes.

"Given Church doctrine, the Primate and his supporters don't particularly care, of course; but I still find his behaviour to be unbefitting of a Nobleman of Tristain. Such indecency befouls the very character of our nation." This was all quite a shock for Louise; who had scarcely seen her mother look quite so upset. The tirade ended with a pointed stare down at her daughter who was, even though she was not the true recipient of that ire, thoroughly intimidated.

"If this 'Siesta' has run afoul of the Count de Mott then I cannot blame her for her trepidation. If you desire to help her or, dare I say, protect her then it is essential that you find a way to restore her faith in Nobility." Certainly, Louise wished to keep the girl safe from the predations of the Shadows but that was a tall order given what her mother was suggesting had happened!

"While Nobility may be our birthright, loyalty is our duty. Part of that loyalty is showing the proper respect to the Crown. The Count's cruelty towards those subjects that have been entrusted to him shows his disrespect for his duties as a Nobleman." Those words rang in the air; firm, and filled with purpose.

Pensive, Louise thanked her mother and left; a polite farewell was said to Cattleya on the way out. Back in her room Louise sat on the bed and stared at the Velvet Key as it rested in the palm of her hand. She hadn't shown it to her mother, in the end, and she wasn't sure why. It was far more important than many of the things she had chosen to share and yet…

Louise gripped it firmly as her mother's last statement rang in her mind. The Key was hers, just as the quest, the duty, the destiny was hers. She, Louise de la Vallière, was the one who had been inherited this role. Not her mother. Not her sisters. Her. So while she would accept her family's aid with gladness she would not risk having this taken from her.

Which just left her to figure out exactly how to handle Siesta.

Within a room steeped in azure the young man regarded the cards on the table; three fanned out around one that was left in the middle. Of those, one in particular pulsed with light that grew ever more radiant; the image on it becoming sharper, the colours more vibrant and the shapes that made it up shifting ever so slightly into motion. He reached out, touching it, and an echo filled the room.

The young man listened to the words that hung in the air and smiled to himself. Then he lifted his hand away from the card and let the words fade. After a little while the light shining from the card finally died down; leaving it with just a faint hint of brightness and an odd gilding to the design.

"Quite an interesting turn of events… I can see why my master wanted me to study this incident so closely." His gaze shifted to the central card. The chains across its surface were still there; but one of the links was trembling. A faint golden light could be seen shining from inside of it.

After he watched it for a little longer without any change he swept the cards back together and began shuffling the deck. "And what a fascinating thing that man has made! The question is... will it shape her? Or... will she will shape it."

He dealt the cards out again as the ship sailed on through the endless starry night.