Julia

 

"I missed you, my little girl!" Her mother hugged her tightly. "Did you have a good ride?"

"Yes. But I'm tired." Julia's servants followed Sophie into the castle. Marko carried Julia's bag, which contained her ball gown, to bring it to her room, if he found it. They hadn't been at the castle for a few weeks... But there were enough servants around he could ask.

 Julia would not make her servants work for the rest of the day and Thursday morning. They could rest. Sophie would go to her family in Castle Town at the weekend and come back to the academy on Monday morning. Her older brother's birthday was Sunday.

"Little sister!" Peter rushed towards her. He had tied his hair into a small braid, and he wore a black vest with patterned glass buttons to his otherwise simple clothes. Where did he find these?

Peter wrapped his arms around his little sister, lifted her up, and whirled her through the air. "Welcome back!"

"Put me down, Peter!" Julia laughed while her mother shook her head.

"No, no. No way!" Peter squeezed her even harder. "I'll never let go!"

"Leave the silliness, Peter. Your sister has had a long drive. Julia? Babette will join us at dinner with her parents tonight. Rest until then." Agathe stroked her daughter's hair after Peter put her back on her feet. "I'll see you both at dinner." Then she went back to the castle.

"Babette is coming today?" Julia grimaced.

"Tragic, isn't it? I'm so glad you're here. I could use some backing up. Mom bought me a suit for dinner and one for tomorrow's ball. Obviously to make sure that I look presentable..."

"Presentable?" Julia grinned. "So not as colorful as on my birthday? I like your buttons."

"Apparently, mom doesn't want a repeat of your birthday, and thank you. I bought the buttons in a small jewelry shop and had them sewn to this vest. The original buttons were boring!"

"Let me guess, the suits Mom chose are boring too?"

"They are plain and orderly and terrible! But Babette is much worse! What am I supposed to do with Babette? She's terrible!"

"Mom likes her."

"I think, mother is the only one!" Peter buried his face in his sister's shoulder with a sigh.

"I'm sure Babette's parents like her too." She took him in her arms. "And? What are you up to now?"

"I’m going to pull the blanket over my head and bath in self-pity... And then I'll do something about these suits..."

"And after that, we'll both watch Babette devour every meat dish she's offered! Let's go inside." Julia took her big brother by the hand and together they went into the familiar, endless corridors of the castle. "Should I help you with the suits? I have an idea."

"My hero!"

"Heroine." Julia laughed. "But first I have to see these horrible suits."

"They are terrifying. I'm not sure they're suitable for your innocent eyes."

"So bad?"

Peter sighed theatrically. "Frighteningly bad. Outrageous. A tragedy! What was Mother thinking?"

"That you should look presentable?"

"I am always presentable." Peter snorted. "With or without..."

"I don't think I want you to finish that sentence," Julia interrupted him.

The two arrived at Peter's room and he showed her the objects of his personal clothing tragedy.

"They're so normal," he said. "Babette would like them. That's pretty much the last thing I want. Babette’s approval!"

The suit for dinner was kept simple with a matching white shirt. Smooth, dark blue fabric with dark blue buttons and a silver lining. It was a nice suit, but Peter looked at it as if it were there to torment him. The other suit was made of slightly shimmering silver-grey fabric with grey lining and a dark blue shirt with silver buttons.

"If I hadn't given Finn the rest of the day off, I could ask him to embroider the suits for you..."

"Your servant does embroidery?"

"Yes. Finn can sew, embroider, knit... He enjoys it. Maybe he wants to change the grey suit. There should be enough time for one tomorrow. I don't want to ask him to do that today."

"And how are your other servants? Marko and Leopold?"

"Marko is very friendly and Leopold..." Julia blushed. "He is also very nice and he can be funny. He is more reserved than Marko."

Peter smiled. "You like him. I mean the elf."

"Yes, yes. But he is my servant."

"And? Are you not allowed to like him because of that?" Peter put the grey suit aside.

"Yes? It shouldn’t be. He’s my servant."

"Then be a rebel, little sister. We can be rebellious together!" Peter winked at her. "And now please tell me about your great idea. This suit is terrible!" He held up the blue suit.

 

Finn

 

Finn lay on his bed at the castle and listened to Marko and Leopold. Leopold told of his village and of the capital of his homeland, where he had once been.

"There are trees everywhere. The whole city is green. Sometimes even houses have been built around the trees and there are plenty of tree houses. Flowers bloom everywhere. It's beautiful!" he said. "Unfortunately, I was only there once. As a child."

"Our capital has been carved into the mountains. A city of caves and stone." Marko sat on his bed and threw up a pillow to catch it again. "I've never been there myself. My eldest brother was there once and told me about it. Long before the travel ban was imposed..." Since some werewolves had tried to leave the country across the border, a travel ban for werewolves and elves had been issued some time ago. Escape attempts were severely punished. You could only leave your hometown with a permit: postmen were allowed to move between the places, as well as some others. The three did not yet know that correspondence had also been restricted now. Finn intended to write to his family, but the letter would never be sent.

As a child, Finn had dreamed of seeing the world. Not only his homeland with its capital, which was simply called 'mountain' by the wolves or the elven capital 'Grüngarten', no, he wanted to see everything. The sea, the capital of witches 'Freistadt', the marshland behind the mountains and borders of his homeland, the home of the vampires.  The fairy forests beyond the borders of the elven territory. The deserts and mountains of dragons and the vast steppes of centaurs. That was long before he understood that he would probably never travel.

Long before he was afraid that others might break his bones or that he could fall. Long before he had isolated himself.

Before his bones were actually broken by someone...

As a child, it had been one of his friends. An accident.

He had also fallen many times.

Then the fear came. Along with the knowledge of never being able to turn into a wolf.

Something good had his position as a servant. He had seen more of the world by now. That was something he could be grateful for. Right?

He had seen more than he had ever expected. Perhaps now, as a servant, he would see even more of the world? Maybe he would travel after all. At the princess’ side. Did princesses travel?

Yes. That was something he was grateful for. Even if he would never see his family again.

That was the high price he had to pay.

 

Peter

 

The queen received Babette and her parents exuberantly. Peter stood a little apart from them next to Julia. The two had coordinated their clothes. Julia wore a dark blue dress to match his suit. He had put on a colorful and wildly patterned shirt instead of the white one his mother had ordered him. Julia had lent him an equally colorful, shimmering brooch. A star pattern that matched the star hair clip he had bought in Castle Town. The clip shimmered in his hair.

His mother had been silent with a frown.

Babette's gaze fell on him a lot. She grimaced briefly, but quickly caught herself. With a smile, she approached him and Julia. "Peter, you look good!" she lied. "Hello, Julia."

"Hello, Babette. You look... very special," Julia greeted her.

Babette did look 'special'. Peter had to stop himself from laughing.  She wore a pink dress, pink was not a good choice for her, with voluptuous ruffles and sewn-on white beads. Her hair had been braided into a strange hairstyle and was also decorated with white beads.

She looked really special.

"I'm looking forward to the ball tomorrow." Babette jingled her big eyes. "Then it's finally official. You chose a nice ring for me, didn't you?"

Peter smiled. "The most beautiful of all"

Shortly after the von Steinhofs arrived, and his sister Cleo arrived too. Lea and Fritz were busy in the hospital and would only come to the ball the next day.

Babette chatted animatedly with Peter's older sister, who seemed to hold back a laugh.

Dinner was very quiet. Babette talked about her horses and, as expected, ate a lot of the meat on offer.

And then, finally, dinner was over and Babette and her parents retired to their guest rooms.

Peter looked at Julia, who yawned tiredly. "Tomorrow will be a terrible day," he murmured and yawned as well.

"Probably," Julia agreed. "But there is something positive about it."

"And what?"

"Once again, we will enjoy Babette's unbeatable choice of clothing!"

Peter laughed.