Raafi steps over to put an arm around her shoulder, subtly encouraging her to lean on him. "Good job, sweetheart."

"W-Was it though?" Scyelen says, slightly hysterical.

The image of the Vault wall shedding its magical protection plays through her head again and again.

She saved Henrietta. She even attained her second Element! She cast a line-class spell perfectly and it did exactly what it was supposed to!

But, "this, Fouquet... she wanted? Ayhrkgl."

Squeeze. "The princess was more important. I don't think you did anything wrong."

Oh founder what if they blame the princess she hadn't even thought of that.

Wait, no, that's obviously ridiculous.

"R-Right. Yes. Okay."

"I am of course relieved that you're both well," Kirche says to Raafi and Scyelen. "But WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT?!"

(Tabitha is staring at Scyelen intently. "Void," she interjects.)

"Wha? Void? No way!" Kirche says excitedly.

"Yeah. Not really the time, Kirche."

"Hm." Smirk. "Yes, it certainly appears that we have more urgent matters to address."

She skips over and presses her body up against Raafi.

"Tabitha and I found clean air to breath up above the fog, but you all must've been drowning in it this whole time. Oh Raafi, you must let me help."

He pales a little and takes a step back. "No."

Kirche pouts as cutely as she can, letting him move but keeping her hands on him.

"Ra~aafi. Please don't be shy. Come, let my flesh be the relief that quenches your mighty heat! My hot, wet, silken embrace is all ready and waiting for yo~ou."

(Clearly, she is taking Miss Vaux's lessons to heart. She didn't allude to love even once!)

This seems to somehow be unconvincing. He ignores her entirely and turns to Scyelen. "Sweetheart, let's go see what Professor Colbert is doing."

Scyelen looks torn between Raafi and Henrietta for a moment... before something occurs to her.

With a little smile of realization that she's capable of things now... Scyelen points her wand at Kirche. "Vortex."

A light little whirlwind springs up around Kirche, making her stumble as it sucks her into its middle with just enough force to break her grip on Raafi.

Kirche sputters, wobbling as whirlwind knocks her off balance.

"Aw, Tabitha why must you spoil my fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuh?"

She sees Tabitha's raised eyebrow, and Scyelen with her wand raised, maintaining the spell. Her jaw drops and for the moment she forgets about Raafi entirely.

Oh, gosh. What's she going to do with that.

Not much, since the spell gets interrupted by Henrietta glomping on to Scyelen again with a cry of delight. "Scyelen! You did it! You discovered your second element! Oh, I'm so happy for you!"

Oh no, grabbing onto Scyelen was maybe not the best idea at the moment; the other girl's body feels utterly alluring, held in Henrietta's arms... The urge to do things to her cute friend is overwhelming, but she somehow resists.

"Come on, you two. Let's go let everyone know you're okay."

Interested parties have mostly already noticed that, but it works as an excuse to get Kirche to stop coming on to him. Scyelen is busy having too many other Feelings to be embarrassed that the horny princess remains attached to her as they return to Henrietta's pavilion.

Colbert is nowhere to be seen oh wait no there he is over there looking disheveled but composed next to Miss Vaux. They confer for a few moments, before:

"Attention!" Colbert calls. "The results of the familiar exhibition will be postponed until tomorrow! Afternoon classes are canceled, and you are all free for the rest of the day while the staff investigates this incident! Be aware that the infirmary will be open and staffed by a double-shift continuously for the next twenty-four hours! Thank you. Dismissed."

A few awkwardly blushing couples make a beeline for the tower as soon as Colbert finishes speaking.

And nobody seems too inclined to come demand an accounting from Scyelen, good. "Do you want to go back to your room, sweetheart?"

Scyelen shakes her head. "I... don't think I should?"

Henrietta very much wants to go back to Scyelen's room with her, but can't right now. "You're a key witness," is how Henrietta decides to frame Scyelen's involvement in the larger incident. "All of us who are, ought reconstruct the sequence of events to the best of our ability, and we ought do so promptly. I will need to report whatever conclusion we reach back to the palace as soon as Our scouts decide it is safe to travel."

She addresses Kirche and Tabitha also, "You as well. And the professor who was on the field."

Henrietta points to one of her guards. "You, please inform the Headmaster that we will be meeting in his office to compile our observations."

As the guard hurries off to do that, Miss Vaux intercepts him and goes with him. Henrietta leads their group over to collect Colbert and leads the lot of them into the tower and up to the headmaster's office. The headmaster himself is the last to arrive, standing awkwardly by when he realizes Henrietta has claimed his usual seat behind the big desk.

Miss Vaux sits at the secretary desk with plenty of blank paper and a fresh pen.

"I've just come from examining the Vault," Osmond says. "Our famed Structural Enforcement Field is entirely destroyed. There is no trace of it left upon the stone."

(Scyelen shrinks into herself.)

"What did that thief take?" Colbert wants to know.

"The only artifact missing from the Vault is one that we have dubbed the Flagon of Hydromancy," Osmond reveals.

"What does this Flagon do?" Henrietta inquires.

"That has always been inconclusive, unfortunately. But I once witnessed it used. It appeared to allow a common man to cast what had to be at least a line-class water spell."

"Power, then?" Colbert speculates. "This Fouquet wishes to become even more powerful? But she must already be square-class, at least."

"That question seems best answered by whoever's already investigating her, they'll know more than we do. Do we know how she got so close to the princess without anyone seeing her?"

"We may never know, but I can only assume that she came from below or from above. In any case, let us begin at the beginning and recount our observations in order."

Henrietta takes a breath.

"Upon becoming aware of her presence, already in our midst, Fouquet immediately incapacitated all of my bodyguards with simple, dot-class water magic. She was precise. None of those struck have lasting injuries despite being taken out of the fight. Fouquet had ample opportunity between dealing with my guards and Raafi's arrival to do as she liked to me. She allowed Raafi and Scyelen to get me away from her, at the beginning."

Raafi nods. "She was watching me finish casting, at the end. I don't think she can have known what I was casting; she was sure enough that she'd be able to handle whatever I was going to throw at her that she waited to see. And I'm not sure she was wrong about that."

"Those naked glass golems were spooky, singing like that. That was when they started grabbing everyone and dragging them off? What was the point of that, though?"

"Psychological tactics," Tabitha opines.

"What, you think that whole battle was just a distraction?" Kirche asks. She taps her lip, thoughtful. "Did anyone see what Fouquet was doing while we were busy fighting her spooky erotic statuary?"

"I didn't see it, but it sounded like she was attacking the tower."