CATHARSIS is a non-canon OC fate/series site, loosely based off of fate/apocrypha. Knowledge of the fate/series canon is helpful, but knowledge of fate/apocrypha isn't needed!
At the incredibly mature and fully grown age of sixteen, Nadia Brand was not an excellent student. The Clock Tower had not seen a worse student in many years.
It wasn't that she wasn't smart. She was reasonably intelligent, enough so that she ought to at least be passing her classes. It wasn't that she had no discipline, her hours spent studying the sword was testament to that. It was, in fact, all those hours that was the problem.
She'd slept through alchemy again. She'd also shown up with what looked like an extremely lost battle all over her left side, all purple bruises and red welts. It was a rough sparring session.
The professor of alchemy had woken her up at the end of class--well after the other students had already left--and primly suggested she show up at the library after dinner. It was the sort of suggestion that Nadia recognized as an order. It was meant to be obeyed, so obey she did.
"A tutor?" she asked, now sitting across from a perfect stranger. "For me? Do you know anything about me? I hope my parents are paying you a small fortune."
This was new. Teaching someone? She’d puzzled over the directive on the ride to the Tower, all the way through the maze of halls and rooms, straight into the library. The library was very familiar to her by now, as her last two iterations had been brought here to memorize copious amounts of information. The face across from her, however, was not.
Her escort, an elderly gentleman from the main family with a gentle disposition, floated about in the peripherals of their conversation, politely skimming books and leaving the two young ladies alone. For her part, Csilla wished he’d handle the introductions at least. She sat straight and poised, hands folded in her lap, and she politely looked Nadia in the eyes as she spoke. The real challenge was…what to say?? “I…” She froze a moment, biting her bottom lip. Oh Csilla, you’ve spoken to people before! Granted, she was always the one being ‘tutored’ and not the other way around, but this was another new experience to be had right? “My…my name is Csilla Barany. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Nadia Brand.” She bowed her head while seated. She looked a little uncomfortable, but her soft voice didn’t waver again. “I was only told that while you excelled in martial pursuits such as swordplay, your academics were suffering lack of attention. And I am not paid, though as I understand it, our respective families came to an agreement easily enough. I hope you will find me to be of use.”
Mmm, yes, okay! That seemed like a good attempt! Certainly, she’d just mimicked the way the head of Barany generally spoke, but that was her safest guess. In a situation like this, it was better to be formal and polite, right? How badly she wanted to turn and look back at her escort, if only for a bit of reassurance!
She waited for her tutor to introduce herself. It took a bit longer than she anticipated, but Nadia didn't interrupt, nor did she look away distractedly. She wasn't distracted. This was a person opposite her, and as much as she did not want tutoring sessions, there were rules of conduct. Respect must be accorded to those who deserve it.
"Awesome. It's really nice to meet you too," Nadia replied, as genuinely as she could despite the incredibly long list of places she'd rather be than here.
She grinned and waved with both hands, not returning Csilla's formality. She could've--perhaps she should've--but the last thing she wanted was for her tutoring sessions to feel like extended hours of class.
"And magic. I suck at that. I think the word they use is 'hopeless.'" At a whim, Nadia charged up her magic circuits, sending prana coursing through them and expelled for no purpose but to show that she had the requisite potential for magic. Nadia knew how to use magic; she just didn't know how to use the magic that her teachers wanted her to use. She honestly wasn't sure what was even going on in most of her classes.
Come to think of it, she wasn't sure there was a single academic course she was passing.
"But it's fine. They don't really test enforcers on alchemy or whatever anyway." Nadia shrugged. It was true, but some basic knowledge of magical theory and spellcraft was required--knowledge that she didn't have at the moment. "So... you can go. I don't have to take up your time. There's got to be tons of other stuff for you to do, right?"
Csilla visibly flinched at the dismissal. Nadia likely did not mean it in that context, but for one who lived life by orders given by humans, it felt like a direct rebuttal. She opened and closed her mouth, like a stunned fish, before finally adjusting ever so slightly so she could glance over her shoulder at her caretaker. The elderly man had a book in his hand, but he was watching them calmly. He simply gave a small shake of his head. Csilla bit her bottom lip and returned her attention to Nadia.
“There…is not. Ordinarily I would spend my time memorizing the information in these books. However, I was given the task to try and teach you. So…I-I apologize but, that is what I must do.” The homunculi looked like she was about to start floundering in her seat. She wasn’t really sure what to do in this situation…her appointed task was being rejected? What if miss Nadia decided to leave? Would she be chastised for failure?
“I…I am better than a text book. I can verbally convey the information to you, and I can try various approaches to explaining topics, until you are able to understand. I am also equipped with a wealth of knowledge on magical topics, from spells to practical application. Please, Lady Brand, let me be of use.” She hadn’t meant to sound a bit desperate, and as if to try and make up for it, she straightened her posture. Her hands were still clenched in her lap, and she couldn’t seem to make them relax. She’d never directly failed in a request before…did she have some pride over that fact? Was the desire for success simply built into her? She bit down on her bottom lip yet again.
She didn't like it. She, in fact, hated the thought of spending extra time (time that she could spend practicing her technique!) stuck in the library. It stood against everything she was willing to stand for, but if Nadia understood one thing about life, it was this: if you're given a task, you better do it.
A task wasn't like a homework assignment, mind you. A task was an order, something that people were counting on you--specifically you--to handle.
Nadia buried her face, and her mess of hair--she hadn't quite developed a steady relationship with her brush yet, not at this age--into her hands, and she sighed deeply. Then she looked. "Alright. Alright, fine. What're you supposed to teach me then? Everything? I don't think I've passed a course since last year. Let's get started then. The sooner we start, the sooner we finish, right?"
There were a stack of books on the table on a variety of topics, and Nadia grabbed the first (Transcendent Alchemy: A Beginner's Primer), which was as good as any other to her. She opened it in front of her to the title page--then she stopped.
"Hey, one thing though. Why does this matter to you so much?" Nadia glanced pointedly at the caretaker, wondering if the caretaker was the reason Csilla looked ready to gnaw her own lip off. "Should I punch him for you?"
Csilla visibly relaxed when Nadia finally ceded. She honestly didn’t know what she would have done if she’d been rejected outright a second time. Her knowledge on basic human interaction was rudimentary at best - ordinarily she was simply left to her own devices, with stacks and stacks of books and scrolls and files to read through. Her task was to learn, constantly learn, and she was very good at it. She supposed that, thinking of it that way, even this awkward interaction with miss Nadia was a learning experience as well. All of it was filed away into her crest, to perhaps be remembered again were they ever to meet in the future.
“Of course!” The sooner they started, the more information they could cover today! She was rather pleased with that logical approach, and was even more enthused when Nadia chose a book she already had memorized. Perfect! Naturally all the basics were things Csilla knew, but on the off chance a book had been presented that she didn’t know cover to cover, she would simply have to read it. There was not a book in this library she couldn’t read in an hour or less.
The question caught her off guard, and she blinked at her ‘student’ a few times. She’d have answered, but the final offer actually made her jump a little. “Oh no, please do not punch him!” Her caretaker cleared his throat, but it sounded suspiciously like a laugh. “Um…ahem. I…it’s not quite that. I was given this task, so I must complete it. As a homunculus, it’s all I can do.”
Nadia was not socially aware enough at this age to wonder if Csilla had been sent here specifically to learn how to interact with other people. Years later, she would suspect this was the case. Nadia was a troublesome teenager, but she wasn't actually an ill-mannered one, making her an ideal choice as an initial student and acquaintance.
"Are you sure?" Nadia asked, more out of hope than in disbelief. She'd really like to have a chance to punch somebody, especially for a pretty lady, and especially if it got her out of these tutoring sessions. Oh, well. She sighed and moved on, "I suppose that's all good then."
They had gone over homunculi in class, but Nadia--unsurprisingly--hadn't paid attention. She wanted to ask for more information, what the hell is a homunculi, what does that mean for Csilla, how does Csilla being a homunculus even answer her question, but instead Nadia just nodded. She would ask later, she decided.
The book was dull, and Nadia had a difficult time paying attention to Csilla. She tried--partly for Csilla's sake, but mostly because she honestly did believe the sooner she learned the material, the sooner this would end--but still she found her mind straying.
As far as first lessons went, it could've been worse. At least Nadia hadn't punched the caretaker.
---
Nadia was, if not exactly a willing student, a very punctual one. She showed up as soon as dinner was over this time, taking only a few minutes to wash up and grab a notebook and pencils before showing up early to the library.
She was too early, it turned out, and that had been her intention. Knowing full well that she hadn't digested anything that was said in the latter half of the last tutoring session, Nadia flipped through the pages of the alchemy textbook until her memory stopped short. She picked up a pencil, noted down the chapter title, headings, and subheadings--then she stopped.
She read the first paragraph. She read it again. She didn't understand a word.
"Ah, fuck," she muttered to herself.
Stubbornly, Nadia stared at a meaningless diagram, just daring it to suddenly make sense, until Csilla showed up.
With no other obligations save the tutoring sessions, Csilla was free to spend her time in the library, digesting copious amounts of information as per usual. Stacks of books were already next to her by the time evening rolled around, and she’d hardly moved from her spot (except for snack breaks, which her gentlemanly escort was always sure she got). Speaking of whom, her escort was floating about the library as was his way, and he was the first to spot Nadia at one of the tables. Intrigued, the elderly man returned to Csilla’s side. Perhaps the homunculus would like to observe this somewhat rare spectacle herself.
Somewhat confused, Csilla abandoned her current read in order to follow her caretaker toward the edge of the towering bookshelves. Instructed to peek around the corner, she did so as carefully as she could manage - considering she’d never ‘snuck about’ before. She spotted Nadia immediately, and the textbook before her. Oh good! Perhaps Lady Brand wanted to get an early start? The enthusiastic thoughts cut short when Csilla realized she was getting ahead of herself. Look at things in context when possible. Nadia had trouble studying even the basics, hence her need for a tutor in the first place. And that expression on her face, though Nadia was not the best judge, did not seem a good one. Perhaps Nadia was putting in the extra effort because it was truly necessary?
Struck by the realization, Csilla immediately decided she needed to double her own efforts. She would learn how to teach Nadia better! She didn’t want young Lady Brand to need to spend even MORE time studying outside their lessons. She couldn’t be sure why she felt so strongly about it, but her resolution was strong. Biting her lip, she stood up a bit straighter, and then marched her way out to meet her student.
“L-Lady Brand! I…I’m so sorry!” She bowed deeply, and what came out next was an awkward, rushed jumble. She didn’t know how to articulate what was going on her brain, but she tried her best! “I should have realized sooner that I wasn’t effective enough! You should not need to spend even an extra moment outside our lessons. I did not realize my own shortcomings, I’m so very sorry! I must become a much better teacher. I will start researching right away, I promise! I’ll make sure you understand everything in every lesson, as easily as is possible!”
She hadn't noticed the caretaker's approach--she wasn't as sensitive to the sound of gentle footsteps on soft carpet as she would become later, after her training to become an enforcer. Nadia was too busy fixating on the charts and diagrams. The words, she'd already given up on. The pictures though, maybe those would make sense.
She had an itching suspicion that the pictures weren't meant to make sense without the words. It was, after all, a textbook, not a picture book.
Csilla's approach was noted but disregarded until she spoke. There was a mess of words that Nadia didn't quite catch in its entirety. Csilla was sorry about something, more or less, and apparently Nadia's academic intellect had fallen dramatically short of expectations. Wait, Csilla had just talked about her own shortcomings, not Nadia's. What shortcomings? What was going on? This was harder to follow than the stuff about alchemy.
Nadia blinked a few times, not comprehending. Then she nodded, still not comprehending, but she seized on what she did understand. "Nadia. Just Nadia, unless you want me to call you Lady Barany," she said, only mildly butchering the pronunciation of Csilla's surname. "I think we're on friendlier terms than that though? You're a tutor, not a servant. Not a professor either, or I'd be Miss Brand. So it's just Nadia, unless I've got a stick up my ass, which I don't."
She turned the book so Csilla could see it right-side-up, nevermind that she knew her tutor had already memorized the contents in its entirety. Nadia pointed to the diagram: a magic circle of some sort. "You went too fast yesterday. Or I went too slow, one or the other, or both. I got lost somewhere around... uh, here. This circle shit. What the hell is this thing?"
Still very confused about Csilla's spiel of apologies, Nadia added, "Half a chapter is the most I've ever read from this book. Half a chapter--only half what you went over last time--is the most I've ever understood from this book. Maybe you're a shitty teacher, and maybe I'm a shitty student, but it's the furthest I've ever gotten, and I got there with your help. I'm just saying."
The homunculus was a bit taken aback by Nadia’s request to use her first name, and Csilla chewed her bottom lip. That didn’t seem quite appropriate but…well, in this situation, Lady Brand knew more than she on the subject right? Granted, she’d always addressed people in a polite way because that was what those around her generally did when guests were about. But Csilla had to acknowledge that she’d never before been in a situation quite like this one, and in that case, she should probably take Lady Brand’s word for it. This was not her home, but a school library. They were tutor and student, as she said. Uncertain as she was, she decided to follow Lady Brand’s lead.
Taking a deep breath, she calmed her oddly shaking nerves, and then took a seat across from her ‘student’. Okay Csilla, one step at a time, you haven’t failed yet. If nothing else, Nadia’s willingness to still be taught was enough to sooth Csilla’s apologetic streak.
“A-Alright, we’ll um…We’ll start here then.” Start with basics. One step at a time. Csilla took a sheet of paper from Nadia’s things and quietly began to deconstruct the circle. One piece at a time, she drew the base, and all subsequent parts, slowly and deliberately. She labeled every single step as she drew it, until the paper was a neat diagram with rows of circles - each with one extra piece than the one before it, each with a little description of what was added, and why, and what it did. At the end of the silent demonstration, Csilla paused and bit her lip again.
