Julia
"Damn birds!", grumbled Emmie. She had wrapped herself in a thick blanket and was staring at the window. Mads leaned against her, yawning, while Joris and Peyo had somehow managed to hug each other in their sleep. Julia was sure that the two hadn't been next to each other originally.
A group of crows were making a fuss in the garden of their hosts and had woken up both Emmie and Mads as well as Julia. The rest of her group was still asleep.
Julia stretched lazily. Leopold lay beside her. Josef slept on top of him as if the elf were nothing more than a comfortable pillow. The little cat lay on his back, stretched his paws up in his sleep, and kicked from time to time. "Good morning", Julia murmured, struggling not to tickle the cat's little paws.
"Not at all!", growled Emmie. "I would have liked to sleep longer. I'm going to chase these birds away! Or hunt them."
"Leave the birds alone!" Mads grumbled, yawning again. His yawn was contagious. Julia and Emmie immediately did the same. "I like birds."
"Me too! As a soup!" Emmie rolled her eyes. Then her gaze wandered to Levi and Peyo. She shook her head in amusement. "Shall we wake them? And get them out of the situation?"
"No, don't. It's going to be fun!" Mads grinned. "When did Peyo get between me and Levi? Is he sleepwalking?"
"I think so. He once woke up in Fritz and Paula's closet", Emmie confirmed.
Julia felt sorry for the two boys. They snuggled up to each other unsuspectingly. Levi smiled contentedly. Which of the two can cope with this better? Peyo buried his face in Levi's clothes with a sigh. Julia smirked.
She originally had not been awakened by the crows but by a vision. She did hear the crows, though. Julia saw Emmie and Mads as children. Just like Adahlia and Einar. Adahlia teased Mads until Emmie saved him and bit Adahlia. The girl had yelled angrily. Einar, who had been watching the situation with relish, laughed at her. Mads and Emmie were no older than six. She couldn't get the images out of her head.
"Emmie? Mads?" Julia asked the two of them. But she wasn't entirely comfortable with it. Mads and Emmie had lost their families. "Can I ask you something?"
"Sure!" Emmie didn't look at her. Instead, she looked amused at Peyo and Levi. Mads, however, now turned his gaze away from the sleepers and looked at Julia. "What do you want to know?", he asked, eyebrows raised and a curious smile on his lips.
"I had a vision." Julis briefly summarized what she had seen. "Your childhood must have been difficult. I know Marko's pack quite well by now, but they didn't speak well of your old pack. How did the dispute come about? I heard that it had been going on for a very long time? Because of the land? It's hard to imagine..."
"How different the packs are? Were?" Emmie finished the sentence and shook her head. "My home pack lived according to old traditions. Very old traditions from cruel times. Marko's pack is a modern pack. Therefore, the packs did not get along. It wasn't just about the land. Originally, the two packs collided."
"But it was mostly about the land!", Mads grumbled, rolling his eyes. "The meadows, the small forest, and the gorge between the two packs. Our pack grew steadily. We needed more space and got too close to Marko's father's pack. They, too, claimed the gorge and everything. Their pack was also growing, but not as fast as ours. When all packs still lived according to old traditions, there were often fights over territories. Two packs couldn't get a foothold too close to each other without it causing problems. And alpha wolves always want to compete against each other. The stronger wins."
"A long time ago, fights and rivalries between packs were normal. Each pack had a territory and often still owns it up to today. Modern packs usually share territories without any problems, but packs that live by old rules have a hard time with this. My mother saw the other pack as an enemy on her land." Emmie grimaced. "Marko's pack was the first to settle in the area, and our pack joined later. A long time ago. As far as I know, we had lost our land to another pack, so we needed another place."
"Oh, yes?" Mads looked at her confused.
"Mads!" Emmie jokingly pushed him. "We were told that in school!"
"I often slept in class. You know that. It was so boring!" He stuck his tongue out at her. "And I could never read the texts!"
"You can't read?" Julia blinked.
"Oh. No not really. But now I can. Or... I improved at it. The letters are always dancing across the paper! But it's gotten better", Mads quickly corrected. "It’s not too bad."
"And I don't want to compete all the time!", growled Emmie. She was about to say more when a half-stifled sound whizzed across the room like a stray, panicked bird.
"Huh? WHAT THE!!!" Shocked, Levi sat up and stared at Peyo, who was now also waking up and rubbing his eyes. Levi slid away from the elf with a pale face so that Peyo was now also aware of his unwanted situation. "What?" Peyo blinked in confusion. "Why? Emmie?"
"You're not Mads!", Levi announced reproachfully, growling angrily. "Go away! I'm not cuddling with you!"
"What?" Peyo blushed and shook his head. "Emmie?" He sounded a little whiny as he looked around for his girlfriend. Emmie grinned and waved at him.
Julia had to smile while Emmie and Mads shook with laughter. The noise woke up the rest of the group. Peyo, on the other hand, jumped up and hid behind Emmie, as Levi was still growling. Mads sauntered over to his angry boyfriend and kissed his cheek. "Peyo is a sleepwalker. Calm down."
"Morning?" Leopold pushed the black cat away from him, Josef immediately hissed, and sat up. "What's the fuss about?"
Later, the group left without Valentina, Paula, and the children. They had been given plenty of supplies. A sack full of apples, bread, cheese, water, and also some money. As much as the family and their neighbors could spare. The people in this village were very friendly and helpful. It hurt Julia's heart to know that they were all suffering. But she would set them free!
The storm had subsided, even though it was still snowing. Fritz and Paul led the way. They discussed the best route. Paul held the card they had gotten from Maxi. The snow was high. Sometimes they sank into it a bit.
The scenery was beautiful, but they couldn't enjoy the sight. They had learned from some villagers that there were a few soldiers nearby who controlled the roads and everything here. Therefore, they were nervous and went beside the from the snow freed roads. Only Josef, still in the body of a cat, jumped blissfully through the snow.
The snow was particularly high here. It was difficult for them to make progress. Julia shivered. She walked as close as possible to Leopold. Mads, Peyo, and Benjamin held hands and helped each other stumble through the snow. Mads scolded quietly, which amused the two elves. However, the wings of the elves trembled restlessly. Chloe looked around nervously as if she expected to see a soldier at any moment. She was pale. Only Levi, Emmie, and Marko seemed to be eager to fight. Emmie and Levi were already discussing strategies for a possible attack. In short, they wanted to bite the soldiers. Finn rode on Marko's back and sarcastically commented on the plans. It was the first he'd said in hours. "Biting soldiers is a wonderful plan if you don't want to attract attention! I pounce on one and cling to one leg. Then I'll bite him in the calf!"
"The calves are a good point of attack!", grumbled Levi. "And the arms. Their hands! The throat!" Marko barked in agreement.
"Yes, please bite every soldier! In the buttocks!", Leopold teased the two. "Then they run away! Amaury would be proud!"
"I'm going to bite you in the butt!", growled Emmie.
"I don't think his butt tastes good. Too straight!", Levi announced. Emmie laughed.
Finn rode on Marko. He was unusually quiet. Julia looked at him again and again. She was worried. Finn never made big speeches, but he rarely missed an opportunity to tease his friends. Or Josef, he particularly liked to annoy the dragon. But Josef jumped through the snow undisturbed and satisfied. Did Finn and Marko have a fight? Was he sick?
Hopefully not.
Julia stumbled through the deep snow. The ground was frozen underneath it, and she couldn't see if there were any hurdles hidden there. There were hurdles hidden! Julia got caught with her foot on a branch hidden in the snow and fell, face first, into the white, ice-cold splendor. She swept the unprepared Leopold along with her. Surprised, they both screamed and freed themselves from the masses of snow, wriggling and annoyed. Julia snorted. "Enough!"
"What's enough? The snow? Feel free to take more!", cried Mads, laughing. "Snow looks great on both of you! Adorable!"
"Hahaha!", growled Julia. She called for her magic and dropped a small amount of snow on the werewolf.
"My hairstyle!", he grumbled.
Grinning contentedly, Julia let Leopold help her up. Then she called for her magic again and pushed the snow aside, creating a path.
"And you're only now thinking of that?", Paul complained immediately. "You could have done this sooner." Fritz simply turned around to them and sighed.
Well, the truth was that it had only now occurred to Julia to use her magic. For a few hours, she had been feeling slightly exhausted. Maybe she'd used too much magic? Especially since she unconsciously used magic to protect herself from her mother's visions. But she kept that to herself. Julia didn't want to make anyone more nervous.
I can’t reach my limit. We would be defenseless.
