Julia

Julia has been at the academy for a week now. Still a little tired, she made her simple bed. Sophie had pulled pink silk sheets onto the simple bedding. Her homework was still lying on an equally simple desk. The walls of the room were painted light blue and blue curtains hung in front of the small window. From the window, she could look out onto the courtyard of the apartment building, where all the students occupied their rooms.

There was also a large dining room, but she hadn't been there yet.

As it was announced, she had moved into a whole corridor with her servants. The three boys shared the first room, Sophie's room was the one opposite them. They shared a small, simple bathroom, which was next to Sophie's room. The hallway was painted light grey and laid out with dark wooden floorboards. Colorful pictures in golden frames hung on the walls. Next to the boys' room was a small kitchen. The furniture was old but in good condition. Opposite the kitchen was a dining room, which was wallpapered with cheerful fabric wallpaper with large flowers. Next to it was a modest, but well-furnished living room, which was also decorated with a chic fabric wallpaper, which was decorated with gold tones and geometric patterns. On one wall stood a high bookshelf. The bookshelf had been filled by someone with various books on all topics relevant to her school days, as well as a handful of novels. Presumably, she never had to visit the library of the Academy. Opposite the living room was Julia's large room with a connection to her own small modest bathroom. The bathroom looked freshly renovated. There was also a bookshelf in her room. This was very narrow. She had put there the few books she had brought with her. Her clothes lay in a spacious clothes stand and on another shelf, Sophie had sorted Julia's other, personal belongings.

She put on the school uniform of the academy, for girls this was a dark blue, chic dress with a vest, and stowed her finished homework in her bag. There was silence. She didn't even hear Marko tell a joke.

Juliet left her room and saw Leopold remove the dust from the paintings with a feather duster. "Good morning, Your Highness." He smiled politely. "Did you sleep well?"

"Yes, yes. Where are the others?"

"Marko is still asleep and Finn is down with Sophie to the big kitchen to get eggs and flour. Sophie wants to bake pancakes, but we are out of eggs and flour."

"Marko is still asleep?"

"I tried to wake him up, but he threw a pillow at me. Sophie said that if he didn't get up in ten minutes, she would pour water over his face."

"That sounds uncomfortable." Julia shook her head. "I hope he will be spared from that."

When they arrived at the academy with their servants and moved into their rooms, Julia had learned one of the reasons why Sophie wanted to accompany them.

"A girl! Alone with three boys! In the same hallway! Weren’t her sisters able to send her girls or women... Three boys! And her mother isn't worried either...", the old lady had murmured softly. "At least the three could have been accommodated with the other servants!" After that, Julia had heard Sophie dictate a handful of rules of conduct to the three boys, such as not being allowed to enter Julia's room without permission... Julia had listened with amusement.

Now Sophie came back with the shy Finn. He was telling her about the mountains around his home village. When he noticed Julia and Leopold, he immediately fell silent.

"Good morning," Julia greeted them. Leopold returned to his previous job. She didn't notice him secretly watching her.

"Good morning, Your Highness!" Sophie was carrying a large sack of flour. Finn carried a small basket full of eggs, which he brought to the kitchen. "Is Marko awake?", Sophie turned to Leopold.

"No, not yet."

Sophie snorted. "I will give him a good talking!" Then she went to the kitchen, put the flour there, and went to the boys' room with a glass of water. Shortly afterward, Julia heard Marko cursing loudly. Then he stormed out of the room with a wet face and hair and angrily disappeared into the bathroom. Sophie laughingly followed him to the bathroom door. "Let this be a lesson for you. Our day starts at half past six, not seven!" She looked at Julia. "Breakfast comes immediately. Pancakes! The perfect refreshment for the day. What subjects do you have today?"

"Politics. History and fencing," Julia replied. "And today is the first time I have magic lessons. Just theory." This will probably be really boring...

Sophie disappeared into the kitchen with a nod. Leopold, who had finished the paintings, followed her and fetched plates and cutlery to set the table in the dining room for Juliet. The three servants had already had breakfast at six o'clock. Julia followed Sophie into the kitchen and watched the elderly woman prepare pancakes. Finn was now sitting on a chair with a sewing kit mending the old curtain of the kitchen.

"You'd think everything would be bought new for a princess," he said quietly, without looking at anyone. "But almost everything here is old."

"My registration came at very short notice." Julia sat down on a chair next to him. Finn looked at her briefly, then continued to sew. "According to the headmaster, everything here will be renewed during the holidays. But the furniture is intact, most of the curtains too. Everything is in good condition. That's enough for me." The employees of the academy were used to students being registered at very short notice. A problem with the available rooms was rare and for the Queen's children, they kept the entire corridor free.

Finn nodded. "Me too. I like this kitchen. She is very cozy."

Now Marko came into the kitchen. He was still wearing his pajamas. The T-shirt was damp. "Thanks for the shower," he grumbled. "What's for breakfast?"

Sophie looked at him reproachfully. "Put on something decent and then you can clean the bathrooms," she snorted.

"What? Because I overslept?" Marko looked indignant. He didn’t like cleaning toilets.

"No, because it has to be done. You missed breakfast because you overslept." She shook her head. "So let's go. Get to work Marko! And what's that tone?"

Here at the academy, the servants wore dark green uniforms so that they could be recognized uniformly as such. It was also made available to Julia's servants. The staff of the academy also wore a green uniform, but with white shirts instead of grey ones. Since some of the students came from rich families, the academy was used to students bringing servants with them and also involved them in the daily work to be done.

The teachers were all dressed in black.

While Sophie personally took care of the cooking of Julia's meals, she assigned all the other tasks to the three young servants. Keeping the hallway and rooms clean, bringing laundry to the laundry room and picking it up, running errands, etc. She gave Finn only simple tasks. He often helped her cook. Since Julia was very careful with her clothes, he hadn't had to repair anything yet. When there was no more work to do during the day, Sophie often sent Marko and Leopold to support the staff of the academy. In the residential building, which was located behind the buildings of the academy and in the many gardens, there was a lot to clean.

Julia had noticed that Finn only left their hallway with Sophie, while Marko and Leopold spent their little free time in one of the gardens.

"Don't you like being outside?" she asked him. Finn shook his head. "What do you like to do then?"

"Not much. I like embroidery. I'm good at that." Finally, he smiled. "Animals, flowers, patterns..."

"You embroider?" Julia watched as Finn carefully hung the repaired curtain back outside the window. "That's great. Do you think you can decorate one of my old jackets?"

Finn nodded. "But I don't have enough yarn for it."

"We can buy that," Sophie joined the conversation. "Breakfast is ready, princess. Come on. You don't have much time left until you go to class."

Sophie hurried into the dining room and put a plate on the table, on which many pancakes lay. Julia hurried after her and sat down in her place. Next to the pancakes was a bottle of sweet syrup and sugar. Leopold had put a pot of tea on the table. The dishes looked expensive. "Thank you very much. It looks delicious."

"Enjoy it." Sophie smiled. "I hope you have already made friends and are looking forward to the lessons."

"Well... Everyone is interested in talking to me. But I don't have any friends yet," Julia said, shoveling plenty of sugar onto a pancake. "Everyone is very nice."

"Maybe you'll make friends today," Sophie tried to encourage her. "You just go to a young witch or a young wizard you like and talk to them. Get to know them."

Julia nodded with her mouth full of pancakes.

Marie

She had already been at the academy for a week and Marie felt great. There were twenty students in their class. Also, in their four parallel classes were between twenty and thirty students. The same applied to the higher classes. And none of them were mortal. Only witches and wizards. It was wonderful. No one looked at her enviously when she used her magic, for example, to light a candle, and no one gave her malicious names, such as 'witch b****'.

They had all been jealous. Jealous and stupid!

The most wonderful thing was that the princess went to her class. Unfortunately, she had not yet had the opportunity to talk to her, as she was always surrounded by the other witches and wizards. Partly even by the teachers. Marie was a little annoyed about this.

She poked around in her breakfast cereal, which she had picked up at the breakfast buffet of the dining room. Next to her sat a witch named Pia, who also went to her class and decided that she and Marie were friends. Pia was also 15 years old, very lively, and also sat next to her in class.

Marie missed Theo. In the morning he helped in the kitchen, and throughout the day in the laundry of the academy. She wouldn't see him until the afternoon.

I hope I manage to talk to the princess today. She seems very nice. I would love to be friends with her...

Julia

Julia hurried down the hallways to her classroom. Other students turned to her. She heard whispers everywhere.

Her classroom was a large room with tables for twenty students. Helga, who wore the boys' uniform, dark blue cloth trousers, and a white shirt with a dark blue waistcoat, as she did not like dresses very much, was already sitting at their common table and talking to Philip, who was sitting at the table in front of them. No one else was there.

Julia put down her heavy school bag and pulled out her policy book, since they had politics in the first lesson.

"Good morning Julia." Philip smiled at her.

 On the first day of school, Julia had allowed her classmates to simply call her by name. Otherwise, she would feel strange if she were the only one addressed differently...  However, this permission did not apply to the teachers.

"Hello Helga, hello Philip. What are you talking about?" She put her completed political homework on the table, then her pencil case.

"About the food in the dining room. Yesterday there was cake for dessert. It tasted terrible." Philip sat upside down in his chair and had his arms on the teaching. "And the stew was watery."

"The food is not bad," Helga replied. "Just different from what we're used to. Well, and dear Philip doesn't like that."

"Oh, dear..." Julia watched as a girl with dark skin and two long braids entered the classroom. Marie. She was the only one Julia hadn't spoken to. Should I talk to her? She seems very nice.

As if she had heard Julia's thoughts, Marie came to Juliet's table with a big smile. Helga and Philip grimaced disapprovingly.

"Good morning, Marie," Julia greeted her before Helga and Philip would send her away, which they often tried with all the other students in the early morning. With moderate success. Always when all her classmates arrived, some of them gathered around Julia.

"Good morning, Julia." The girl beamed. "Do you like it at the Academy? I like it. I've never seen you eating..."

"I always eat alone," Julia replied.

"Because otherwise, the whole school would gather around you?"

"Also because of that, yes. What do you like most about the academy?" Julia asked the other girl politely. Slowly the classroom filled up. Classes would start soon.

"I am especially looking forward to the lessons in magic. I can't wait." Marie almost jumped as she said this. Her seatmate Pia now joined them.

"It's going to be exciting! Isn't it?" Pia looked at Marie. She nodded. "What magic talent do you have, princess?", Pia wanted to know. "I’m a healer. And Marie said she could use manipulative magic." The respective talents of the students had not yet been part of the lesson and so far no one had asked Julia about her magic.

"I am a seer," she replied with a queasy feeling. She didn't like to talk about magic. "Like the Queen."

"So you already had a vision?", Marie wanted to know. "What did you see?"

"Not much. Single images only. Not worth mentioning," Julia dodged the question, while her class teacher entered the room and called everyone to their seats.