(Sasi: I DID NOT forget to draw the glasse. Nope... Totally didn't.) 

As a child, I believed that shooting stars could grant wishes.

Once I even saw one. A beautiful shooting star.

I closed my eyes and wished that my dreams were real.

Even then, I had trouble making friends. Other children were only interested in me if they found a reason to annoy me.

They found many reasons.

My glasses, my bad luck, my mega nose, that I kept stumbling...

In my dreams, no one annoyed Princess Naomie. So I wished to always be her. What can I say?

Now? A few years later?

If shooting stars can fulfill wishes, then probably not mine. No. Shooting stars are probably whispering spitefully behind my back.

For a moment I thought about calling Penelope and then complaining to her about my suffering. I could also send her a message, but... No. I preferred to pull the blanket over my head and wallow in my bad mood.

Without an audience.

Thank you.

Maybe I could fake the flu tomorrow? To avoid having to go to class?

But then I wouldn't see Penelope.

I yawned...

"Naomie!" calls Aunt Tanja indignantly and looks at me with her stern eyes. My reflection in the mirror has changed. My hair is suddenly short! Startled, I turn to her.

"What happened to your hair? Not long ago, they weren't like that! That's not appropriate for a girl of higher standing!" My aunt is a tall, slender woman with an always serious face. "Short hair! Are you a soldier now? Since when? Did I not notice the draft? A princess! With the hairstyle of a soldier! I'm stunned."

"That can't be. What happened?" I stammer and run my hand over the short hair. Now, she looks at me angrily and confused at the same time. "You don't know the reason?"

I just shake my head and look around. Everything else is as it should be.

Only my powder box is broken on the floor...

"Damn..." This was MY DREAM. The short hair was not allowed to follow me here.

Aunt Tanja frowns her otherwise wrinkle-free forehead and begins to tug at her dark blue dressing gown with her hands. A gesture that reveals that she is more than just angry. "Then someone played a cruel trick on you. I will probably have to question the servants. Did it happen here, or..." She blinks, then smiles. "We’ll get through this."

 I still looked at her, completely perplexed. 'Or,' she had said. Or what? What had happened here?

"The servants?" I ask. "No, why would they do such a thing?"

My aunt smiles, but there is nothing friendly about her blue eyes. She looks tired. And more than just annoyed. "Go to Hilde. She will be able to fix it." She shakes her head and mumbles to herself, then leaves.

I just nod and walk quickly along the all-too-familiar path through the castle to Hilde's small, gloomy room next to the staff stairs. Short hair is typical for female soldiers. Of course, my aunt is shocked. Long hair is impractical for a fight, so female soldiers usually cut it short. Just like men.

A princess never goes to war. Therefore, it is not appropriate for me to have such short hair. An old tradition. An old symbol of status. A princess's hair must be long. Long and perfect. A symbol of her status.

Personally, I just don't like short hair.

On the walls are shelves made of dark wood filled with dry herbs, pickled, colorful frogs, and all kinds of oddities. I feel sorry for the frogs. Their dead eyes stare into the void. At a table with a red tablecloth are two elegantly decorated chairs made of dark wood. A black candle is burning on the table, which stands on a golden plate. The candle emits a sweet, slightly foggy smell.

Opium. Or something similar.

A small window made of stained glass allows little light to enter the room. Above a simple fireplace hangs an equally simple bronze cauldron in which Hilde brews her magic potions. Even today she stirs the kettle with a long wooden spoon. Whatever she brews, it smells unpleasant. The scent of the candles can hardly compete with it.

 "I've been expecting you, princess!" murmurs the slightly plump woman, without turning around to look at me. She has braided her straight, long, brown hair. The braid is decorated with pearls and raven feathers.

"My aunt is sending me. Because of my hair!" Unhappily, I tug at a short strand.

 Hilde still doesn't turn to me. "Cut off! A shame...  And all because of a brush. You have to be more careful with your hair."

"Excuse me?" I stutter. "Brush?" She could never have known that! This was just a dream.

 Hilde laughs softly. "I'm a witch! Do you think I wouldn't know such a thing?"

Now she looks at me with her cold, brown eyes. She examines my appearance for a moment, then walks to one of her shelves with a bold smile. Hilde does not walk like a normal person; she strides sublimely, as if she were the queen herself. Different stains on her clothes tell a different story.

Between a preserving jar filled with goat's eyes (poor goat...) and one filled with dead tarantulas (ugh!), there is a small bottle. There is a shimmering liquid inside, from which warm light emanates. Hilde reaches for this bottle and hands it to me. “It will grow your hair to its old length. I brewed it for you yesterday. I knew you would need it. I had a hunch."

'A hunch'. That's what she called her ability to know things she shouldn't know.

"What's in it?" I ask, looking at the strange liquid.

Hilde follows my gaze and puts the bottle in my hands. "Grated gems, elf wings, water from the sun spring, and various herbs." She hurries to another shelf and gets a brown leather bag, which she hands to me as well. "For your aunt. She can brew a tea from these herbs. It will help against her sleeping problems! She is obnoxious when she is suffering from tiredness! And now please go. I still have a lot to do."

I quickly thank her and leave the dark room. My thoughts are circling.

Hilde has always been a bit mysterious, but today she had said some strange things. Normally, reality always remained far from my dreams.

Brush. Why had she mentioned the brush?

Did I hate short hair so much that it followed me in a dream?

Through the many windows of the long corridors, I can see part of the castle garden. Young leaves grow on the trees, bushes, and hedges. The first flowers bloom, and colorful birds chirp. White butterflies dance over a few blue flowers, and the spring sun bathes everything in cheerful, warm light. It makes the colorful fabric wallpaper of the corridors shimmer. It is a breathtakingly beautiful sight.

I love this castle.

It is a rather short way from Hilde's workplace to Aunt Tanja's rooms.

My aunt, actually a baroness, acts as deputy queen. Her chambers, therefore, are not close to mine, the princess. My parents' chambers are currently uninhabited.

My aunt reigns in their place.

I don't know my grandparents. They died before I was born. During a war. I would have three more uncles if they hadn't died in that war. The three had not yet been married and had no children. And so only my aunt could take over the reign temporarily.

I walk past a painting of my grandparents surrounded by all their children. Happy faces look at me. They look as if they had just laughed at a joke my grandfather told.

The castle consists of six large buildings, but we only use one for living. In this building, my aunt’s rooms are in the hallway, at the junction of which Hilde's workplace is located. The hallway opposite leads to the library, the small dining room, which is only used by the family, and a small cozy living room with a fireplace. My cousin Wendy lives in two rooms one floor above. On this floor there is also my aunt's office, the office of my uncle, who is hardly ever present, and a large music room. Aunt Tanja is a baroness by marriage, but her daughter is a princess.

The floor above is all mine, although I mainly use only one room. My bedroom with the adjoining bathroom. Otherwise, there is a salon where I sometimes drink tea with Wendy, some nicely furnished rooms that have only representative value, and also my own small library full of novels, fairy tales, and legends.

In the main building there is the throne room, a ballroom, a large dining room where we dine together with our guests, a very large music room, and, as the only exception, my parents' private rooms and their offices. Actually, my rooms would also be there, but since my parents are currently absent, I live in the same building as my aunt, uncle, and cousin.

My uncle is a very busy man.

I rarely see him.

Wendy got her reddish hair from him. She generally looks more like her father than her mother. She would have had two older brothers if they had not died. The first at birth and the second at one year of sudden fever. The same day Wendy was born. While my aunt was in labor.

My aunt never talks about the two, and my uncle has been working almost non-stop since the loss of his children and is always on the road.

The servants live in another building. There is also the kitchen, the laundry room, and the pantry. In the remaining buildings, our guests are accommodated, castle guards and soldiers are quartered, weapons are stored, and whatever else is brought. In addition, there are many sheds in which, among other things, carriages are stored, the horse stables, a granary, Hilde's small hut and, and, and..

. In short: the castle is too big and has too many rooms.

Many rooms remain unused for much of the year.

In the meantime, I am standing in front of the door to my aunt's reading room. Her favorite room.

"Aunt? Are you there?" I call and knock on the white wooden door.

"Just come in!" I hear her answer and enter the room.

As is so often the case, she sits in her armchair and reads. She puts her book on a dainty glass table and looks at me expectantly. “My darling?"

"Hilde gave me this for you. Against your sleep problems." I give her the bag, which Aunt Tanja looks at with interest.

"These are herbs. You should make yourself a tea out of it," I add.

Aunt Tanja opens the bag and smells the herbs. She closes her eyes for a second. "How attentive of Hilde. I didn't even ask her to do it. Hilde is always so attentive," she purrs and turns her eyes back to me. She frowns. "Your hair is still short!"

I show her the bottle.

"Good." A loving smile plays around her lips. "Well, look at you. love. What a pretty person you have become. How fast time flies.... When your parents were forced into exile, I was happy to take over your upbringing here. A playmate for my Wendy, an honorable task for me... It wasn't always easy for us, was it? My darling?"

"Yes, Aunt," I agree. Just like I learned. Respect is important, and my aunt is a very strict person. "I am very grateful to you."

"I know. And I love you like my own daughter."

I nod. "I’ll go then. If you please excuse me. I have to let my hair grow!" I say goodbye and leave the room.

Holding the glowing bottle in my hands, I return to my bedroom. I sit down on the chair in front of my chest of drawers and open the glass bottle. A strange, but not unpleasant smell rises to my nose.

Elven wings... If only I hadn't asked. Bah!

"Well then. Down with it! Cheers!" Carefully, I drink the stuff, which tastes a bit bitter. Nothing happens for a few seconds, then I am amazed to see how my hair grows to its old length in no time.