Peter

  He was cold. The b under which he y scratched and the mattress was hard. For a brief moment, he didn't know where he was. But then it came ba: The inn!

  Several men had freed the carriage from the tree iorm. It had not been an easy task and had taken a long time, as they gradually sawed the tree into pieces. After that, they helped the prisoners out of the carriage. The owner of the inn, a friendly man with white hair, had offered them rooms for the night, hot tea, dry clothes, and soup. Peter was grateful for that.

  With difficulty, he got up, everything hurt, and made his way to the spacious restaurant of the inn. His father and the baron, who had also bee clothes, were already waiting for him there. The two men sat at a table and drank coffee. The table was set, and a pot of coffee stood in the middle of it. At the tables around them sat the guests of the inn, as well as their an and the guards, one of whom wore a bandage around his head. Babette was o be seen. Was she still asleep?

  "Good m," Peter murmured, sitting dowo his father.

  "Did you sleep well?", Friedrich wao know.

  "To some extent." Peter rolled his stiff shoulders. "But better than ihe carriage!"

  "Of course, you did!" The innkeeper's wife came to their table and pced a basket of rolls on it. She was youhan her husband. How much younger Peter could imate. Maybe ten years? "Our rooms are much more fortable than a broken carriage. My husband and I missed asking you for your names yesterday?" She looked at the three. When she looked at Peter's father, she smiled amused. "You look like the king!"

  The faces of the royal family had been painted often enough for many citizens them, but not all. The Queen's face was minted on s. A simple painting of the royal family hung in every good inn and on the market square in castle town stood a statue of the queen.

  "Such a ce," Friedrich said dryly.

  The Baron looked sternly at the Unsuspeg Woman. "You are talking to the king." He spoke softly so that the uests would not hear it, so there wouldn’t be a tumult or something simir. So far, none of the guests seemed to have reized them and that should remain so.

  "What?" Now the dy seemed fused.

  "This is King Friedrich", expihe Baron.

  Peter's father smiled. "Thank you for your help. We are very grateful to you."

  The dy blushed. "Oh no! How embarrassing... I'll go ahe rest of your breakfast..." Then she hurried away.

  Babette had now arrived at their table and sat dowo Peter. In the simple clothes she had been given, she actually looked pretty. But she didn't look happy. Her blond hair en, instead of ornate and strangely coiffed.

  "These clothes scratch!", were her first words.

  "Good m Babette," Peter greeted her. "Would you rather wear your wet dress?"

  "Peter!", hissed his father.

  The baron ughed. "These are simple people, Sparrow. That's all we expect from them."

  Peter looked at the clothes he had been given. A simple, beige cotton shirt and dark cloth trousers. "It's clearly better than our soaked clothes, Babette. The dress suits you."

  Babette looked at him suspiciously. She pointed with her hand to the light browhat beloo the innkeeper's daughter, as they had learned in the evening. "This dress? Is this a joke?"

  "Certainly not. You should wear simple dresses more often."

  Now Babette looked angry. "Simple? Me and simple? And what about you? YOU wore a floral scarf with your suit yesterday!"

  "Babette", her father interrupted her. "Please don't make a se here. You talk to Peter about his poorly chosen wardrobe ter."

  Peter rolled his eyes. Poorly chosen! There was a lot of thought (and admittedly defiance) in the choice of his daily wardrobe! And he never chose 'bad'. Even his dressing gown was more dressy than Babette's best choice!

  The innkeeper came back to her table with breakfast.

  Julia

  Julia faced a problem. In about an hour, she would be taught magic again and she didn't know what she wao do. Did she want to keep it a secret that she had shown more magic than she would have liked? Or should she tell her teachers? Which would be reasonable aainly the better decision, but Julia didn't want to be a witch. And she didn't want to be one of the most powerful. Unfortunately, she could not ignore her existence as a witch...

  Julia hardly listened in css. She just had math. But math seemed very unimportant to her pared to the test developments. Besides, she didn't want to help Lea with the financial stuff. So why did she need math?

  And was she really sure she had healed her ankle herself? Had she caused rain? And the wind? Had the wind been her work? Perhaps there was another, simple expnation. Maybe Sophie was a witch? Or elves could use magic? Or the two wolves? Or was it all ce? Had the window perhaps been open after all? The ao all the questions was 'no'. There was only one possibility: it was Julia's magic.

  What crap!

  Her mother would be thrilled as soon as she found out about it.

  In regard to Julia's ly-perfect grades, that might not have been so bad after all. Good news, after all. At least in the eyes of the Queen. What exactly did her mother imagine for her? Julia should bear responsibility, that much was certain. Something her mother expected from all her children. But Julia hadn't found her pce yet.

  The academy should help her with this. But she herself felt out of pce. It was all wrong. Would she ever find her p the world?

  And not tet about her feelings for her servant.

  What was she supposed to do?

  The most sensible thing would be to take a step back. But her heart didn't want that.

  And st, she gued by the vision of Peter. Was he okay? She wao write him a letter ter.

  When it was time for the magic css, she decided to be sensible and told the three teachers what had happehey were surprised and wao test whether it was true.

  And it was true.

  While her cssmates were still talking, she was subjected to a short test:

  She should make a pen float.

  To do this, she should firmly imagine how the pen lifted off the table and the happen. Something that sounded simple, but wasn't easy. After a few unsuccessful attempts, she finally succeeded. And this did not go unnoticed by her cssmates. Even before the actual css begaeachers decided that she needed a tutor for each kind of magic, while her cssmates tried to run her over with their questions.

  Julia sighed.

  Maybe Sophie would teach her how to bake?

  Marie

  Marie couldn't believe her eyes. The princess made a pen float! She knew what this meant: Julia would soon be one of the most powerful witches and wizards! She wasn't just a seer! Maniputive magic! This meant that she could also use healing magic or soon could use it! She would have loved to appud!

  "This is exg!", she said to Pia. "This is so wonderful for her. Julia's magic showed itself very te and now she is one of the most powerful... Or rather, in a few years she will be one of the most powerful. Her magic is still growing."

  "This is really amazing." Pia nodded. "And we apany her on her way. It's an honor."

  "Isn't it? I 't wait to tell my parents about it!"

  "That’s exg, yes."

  Marie had an idea. "We should celebrate this! Let's anize a little celebration and surprise Julia with it!"

  "Yes, that sounds good. But where do we want to celebrate?"

  "That's a good question..." Marie thought for a moment... "Maybe we use our ? Let's ask ter..."

  The lessons began, but Marie could not trate on them. In her mind, she was already gathering ideas for the celebration.

  She wao buy a cake in town and she needed decorations... The celebration should be perfect! After all, it was for the princess!