Julia
Klarbach was not a small town, even though Charlie and Joris had called it their small town. Well, Julia was expecting a cute little town, but she didn't find one. Quite the opposite. The city close to the seemingly endless elven forests was a big city. Certainly not the largest city in the country, but big enough.
Big, colorful, rich. It smelled of freshly baked bread and dried herbs. Of fragrant oils and perfume.
Amazed, her group walked through the streets and alleys. There was snow on the roofs of the half-timbered houses. The inhabitants hurried past them, smiling. Some greeted Julia and the other 'non-slaves'. Now and then they saw a few daisies that defied the winter weather and stubbornly bloomed as if it were already spring. This was the most romantic city Julia had ever seen. The houses were pretty and old.
She spotted a little fairy sitting on a window sill, happily licking a piece of candy. The little creature waved to Julia, grinning. She waved back with a smile, which led to the fairy, slightly surprised and flattered, with red cheeks, offering her the licked candy. Julia politely declined.
"You like fairies, huh?" Paul murmured, turning to her. "They just keep stealing my sugar."
"Who doesn't suffer from that?" growled Lea.
"Well, I was just offered sugar!" Julia replied with a smile and looked at Leopold. Her boyfriend nodded in amusement, but unlike her, he looked around skeptically. Here he was considered a slave. As a servant. As an object. Julia sighed.
If she could, she would want to live in this city. Together with Leo in a small house. And maybe, someday, adopt children? In such a city, she could almost imagine it. If I wasn't a teenager forever... Then, maybe. If it weren't for slavery, this would be a nice place to spend your life. If magic would bring more than just bad luck. Julia's gaze wandered to the binding spell on Leopold's wrist. The lines shone pale but unmistakable through the thick fabric of his clothes. She saw the spells on Finn, Benjamin, Chloe, Peyo, and Emmie. Even on Marko's wolf form, the magic shimmered through his thick fur. Just bad luck. I'll always be a child... I shouldn't be thinking about adoption. Not now. Never.
But she (presumably) lived forever. Who knew what she would think in a hundred or a thousand years? But now, she couldn't imagine it. And Leopold? Although the two of them didn't really talk about it, he saw it the same way. Besides, they were still young and in the middle of a war. They had other concerns. But a peaceful city like this invited you to dream.
Fritz asked a lady about the 'Goldbarde', but she just shook her head. Every other person they asked as they wandered the streets answered similarly.
Another concern greeted them as the group entered a small pub. Well, only part of her group was allowed to enter the pub. The 'slaves' had to wait outside the door. If they wanted to get something for their 'owners', they had to go to a window in the backyard of the bar. A poster next to the entrance pointed this out. Julia would have liked to slap the owners of the bar.
These posters could be seen at almost every bar and every restaurant or café. Julia just wasn't used to it anymore.
An elderly lady was standing behind the bar. Julia followed Fritz and Paul and looked around skeptically. Above all, older gentlemen and windy figures sat at the small, dirty tables. Some grinned at her. An elderly man licked his lips. Julia grimaced and decided to react very grown-up. She stuck her tongue out at him. The man frowned and averted his gaze.
"Juli?" Fritz asked with raised eyebrows, while Paul smiled softly. Julia just shrugged. What was an old lecher supposed to do to her? She could set him ablaze. Or worse.
Josefine and Lea waited outside with the 'Slaves' so that none of the passers-by or guests would bother them. Julia would have expected a lot from the visitors of this bar.
The lady at the bar, who was now looking at her group skeptically, was about eighty years old and polished milky glasses. When her eyes fell on Julia, she frowned. "Children are not allowed here. Entrance from eighteen."
"She's nineteen", Paul replied quickly. But the old lady shook her head. "Nineteen? My granddaughter is nineteen! When you're nineteen, you look different! How old are you, little one? Fifteen? Never older than sixteen! Out with you. Wait for your... Fathers? Outside, yes? You'll only find drunkards and troublemakers here!", growled the old woman.
Julia raised her eyebrows, as Fritz had done just moments before. "Fathers?"
"Or not? And now out with you!" The old woman waved the tea towel. "I'll make sure your dads don't get too drunk! Go home! And I explain to the men how to raise children!"
Julia smirked. Even before Paul or Fritz corrected the lady, she said goodbye in amusement. "Thank you very much! Dad and Daddy wanted to teach me how to drink. But I don't want alcohol! Please! Spank their butts!" And then she hurried out, leaving her brothers to the now resentful lioness of a barmaid.
"What?" Josefine grinned as Julia walked out of the bar, giggling.
"Oh, nothing! I look too young. I'm not allowed in!" She shrugged. "Are you okay?"
"So far, no one has caused us trouble!" Leopold threw his arms around her. But then he remembered where they were and quickly let go of Julia. She didn't like the city anymore. I'm going to change that! Soon there will be no more slaves. Then no one has to hide anymore.
"That's good!" she said, reaching for Leopold's right hand. Hidden under her cloak, the two held hands. "Did anyone look weird about Finn and Marko? Werewolves are forbidden to take wolf form..." She wasn't used to that either.
"Oh." Finn blinked. "Do you think we're going to get in trouble?"
Julia shook her head.
"Then we'll tell them about your situation", Lea replied at the same time. "But we have to be more careful... I don't want to attract trouble."
"Even if we did, I can bite!" grumbled Emmie. Marko barked approvingly and wiggled his soft wolf ears merrily. Since he was standing close to Julia, with Finn on his back, Julia did not miss the opportunity to pat his head and especially his ears. Smiling, the wolf licked her hand.
A passer-by shook his head. "Teenagers!", the man grumbled. "Her mother should educate her better!" His gaze wandered to Lea. Lea smiled mildly.
"Can we wait somewhere else?", asked Benjamin. His gaze was fixed on all the people who hurried past them. For the most part, they did not pay attention to their group. They wouldn't recognize them either, as Julia hid her face and that of her siblings with a slight illusion. A simple spell that didn't demand much from her. However, Julia hadn't thought about making herself look older.
Benjamin stood close to his sister. The two hid behind Mads and Levi. They were standing in an alley that led to the bar's backyard, but all the people were still too close to the elf. Julia was sorry, but she had to say no. "We can't leave here. Otherwise, Fritz and Paul won't find us."
"It can't take too long. We just want to know if anyone here knows Ingo Fröhlich. And where the Goldbarde is", Lea murmured. "As we couldn't find the bar." And the people on the street had pretended they had never heard of the bar. Julia had a bad feeling.
"Booooooring!” Josefine mumbled. Her stomach growled softly. The dragon girl stared at the crowd with hungry eyes. Julia sighed. Josefine had searched the woods for something to eat, but she found only a half-starved, ancient badger. It didn't fill her stomach for very long.
One more problem, Julia thought. I need to feed a hungry dragon. How about the lecher? Does she like those? He looked a bit rancid. It doesn't matter, better than a starved badger. "Do you like lechers? There's one in there!", she whispered to the dragon girl, hiding a grin.
Josefine nodded sublimely. "Did he molest you? Then it tastes all the better to me."
"Just a bit..." Julia sighed. "I stuck my tongue out at him."
Leopold snorted. "What?"
It didn't take long for Fritz and Paul to leave the bar. With sullen faces.
"And?" asked Mads. "What did you find out?"
"Nothing good!" growled Paul, pulling Julia's hair a little roughly. "Thank you for the lie! The old woman actually wanted to spank our butts! With her rag!"
Now, Julia was a little proud of that. But she could not enjoy her triumph. "Did anyone in the pub know anything?" she asked instead.
Fritz shook his head. "The old one. After we were able to make her understand that we are not your fathers and that we are not raising you miserably!!" Lea, Finn, and Leopold giggled in surprise. Fritz looked annoyed at the three of them. The rest of the group looked away with a hidden smile. Fritz groaned in annoyance. "The Golden Bard no longer exists. After soldiers arrested many rebels, including Mr. Fröhlich, the bar was closed. The rebels met there every Friday. For a while, every pub was closed."
"And today is Thursday! We're a day early!" Paul rolled his eyes. "We claimed that a friend had raved about the pub and was looking for his buddy, Mr. Fröhlich because he hadn't written him letters for a long time. Unfortunately, said friend couldn't come here", he added. "The good thing is! If there are still rebels around, and if they still meet on Fridays, we just have to find them!"
"If...", Chloe whispered.
"Oh." Julia exchanged a desperate look with Leopold. What are we going to do?
