After multiple trips to the wintering woods spread throughout the week (not accompanied by the twins again, thankfully), I managed to cover the entire plot with a thin sheet of leaves and twigs, covered in animal poop and kitchen waste so it wouldn't blow away with the wind. The first signs of winter fluttered down onto the hard ground.

I wiped my forehead of the sweat that built up there with the back of my hand, then let my head fall back.

“Snow!” Camilla and Eva shouted while running outdoors without their coats or shoes on. Like a child, Camilla spun around in circles with her mouth open to catch snowflakes.

Meanwhile, Eva cupped her hands as if holding something precious and small, and spoke quietly to herself. From her hands, a glittering light of many colours. She lifted her hands, and threw the light into the air, where it dispersed and stuck to the light flurry of snowflakes. She transformed the simple white snow into brilliant lights that filled the sky like a million stars on a clear night.

Camilla lowered her arms and slowly came to a stop. She stumbled for a moment, but was captivated with the magic as I was. Excitedly, she grabbed onto Eva's arm and shook her. “Where did you learn to do that?”

Eva blushed bashfully, “I've been working on my own spells lately.”

Camilla gasped and disregarded personal boundaries by putting her face too close to Eva's. “Tell. Me. Everything!”

I drowned out the conversation about magic and the energy of this specific spell, preferring to watch the hypnotizing sky. Before I knew it, night had arrived, and I had spent too many hours enjoying the view instead of working. With the guilt gnawing at my insides, I took it upon myself to help the staff indoors.

The kitchen staff shooed me away, which, to be fair, was valid of them. The kitchen was already unnecessarily crowded and endlessly busy. The senior chef -an older woman with a limp- pawned me off to the bedroom staff, unloading pounds upon pounds of decorated fabrics onto me, to the point where I couldn't see over the mound in my arms. One of the male servants guided me down a hallway decorated with a purple fabric on the walls, and where giant detailed paintings were aplenty; a part of the castle I've never seen before.

His knock on the door was answered with a familiar voice, but with my vision obscured, I couldn't yet confirm my assumption. Of course, as each item was removed from the heavy pile I was carrying, I found myself staring at the half-dressed prince. He was seated in a chair in front of a full body mirror, servants surrounding him, attempting to assemble an 'appropriate' outfit for him while another brushed his hair back into beautiful waves.

The prince noticed my reflection in the mirror, and turned suddenly despite his hair being worked on. “What are you doing here?”

Feeling as though I'd been caught doing something scandalous, I blushed and lowered my head behind the pile of clothes. “I had spare time, so I'm helping out where I can.”

He chuckled at that, and caught my attention again. “You're strange,” he said to me, before turning back in his chair. “Daryl, can you bring Camilla here?” he asked as a question, as if the servant named Daryl had a choice to decline.

“Yes, sir,” the servant bowed, and made their escape from the crowded room. The chaos continued as it was, and I stood motionless in the center of it all. I traced the delicate patterns of the fabrics in my arms with my eyes until Daryl returned, and Camilla burst in with her peppy personality.

“What's up?” she casually asked her brother, completely ignoring the presence of everyone else in the room.

Leo didn't even look at her in the mirror to acknowledge that he had heard her. “Happy is bored, can you take him with you?”

My face turned beet red.

Camilla's eyes lit up, eagerly searching for me among everyone else. She immediately grabbed my arm and pulled suddenly, which caused me to drop all of the clothes I was holding. “W-wait,” I tried to say, at least to buy me enough time to pick up what I had dropped, but Camilla dragged me along.

“I have so many more questions to ask,” Camilla said, refusing to release my arm so I could walk normally instead of stumbling in reverse. “You've been farming for what, half a dozen years? How old are you anyways? You don't look to be much older than us, but it's incredible to think a commoner so young could accomplish so much in such little time-” She abruptly stopped, and looked at me. “That was rude, wasn't it? I'm sorry.”

I could only manage to open my mouth in shock, still processing all of what she said in a single breath.

Princess Camilla finally let go of my arm, and bowed slightly towards me. My shock turned into panic. “I'm sorry, I've just been so excited to meet you, I've forgotten my manners.”

“I-It's- please, you don't need to do that, it's okay!” She lifted her head at my words. “I'm really nothing special, I'm the one that should be excited to meet you.”

With this, Camilla found her energetic self again, grabbing onto my hands and blabbering about what a fan she and Eva are of my work, heaping more praise onto me in a minute than I’d received in my whole life. The praise dissolved into questions, and we eventually made our way to the library.

A gigantic room with spiral staircases to a second floor, every inch was covered with shelves and filled to the brim with books, with a dark wood and glossy desk in the center. “Woah,” was all I could muster from the amazement, and the only word I could get into the one-sided conversation.

“Earth magic isn't my strong suit,” Camilla continued from her scattered thoughts, scratching her cheek and looking away. “I was hoping you'd be able to help me.”

Huh? “I can't use magic though.”

She tilted her head in confusion. “You can't?”

This castle was a rock, and she was living under it. “Mages are very rare... Even if I could use magic, there aren't many teachers, and I can't afford books.”

She slammed her hands on the table and leaned closer to my face. “What!?” she yelled, which was repeated as an echo off the shelves. “Books are such a valuable source of information though!”

I uncomfortably looked away from her. “I know that, but... I'm just a farmer. My village doesn't have libraries like this either, we only get the basics so we can learn to read.”

Finally, Camilla pulled away. “That's so unfortunate- if I become Queen, I'm going to fill the country with books,” she said as she slid her hand across the air in the shape of a rainbow, and stared off into her imagination.

I wasn't sure how to respond, so I didn't, and so she carried on. A few minutes into her spilling her scattered thoughts about various topics, I zoned out and felt the unease reach my hands. I should be working right now.

I argued with myself against telling Camilla I needed to leave (the decided excuse: I need to turn the compost), and just as I built up the nerve to interrupt her, Eva burst into the library with a sparkle in her eye.

“Where were you?” Camilla asked.

“We were all waiting for you to return for tea,” she answered calmly, but then her eyes brightened when she saw me. “Leo just told me you were here with Happy,” she giggled excitedly. Is this what it feels like to be a popular musician?

In the same fashion, Leo burst in as well, panting and with beads of sweat on his forehead. He cleared his throat, and fixed his blazer. A complete 180 from his entrance, he calmly walked into the room, and leaned against the side of the desk between Eva and I, obscuring my view of her.

Eva bypassed his interception by leaning into view. She continued with her excessive excitement. “So, Happy, how's the field progressing?”

“Ah, well, it's only been a few weeks, so not much has happened...”

Eva laughed uncomfortably, in embarrassment. “Right.” She dipped out of view for a moment, and then popped back in. “Um, Happy, I was wondering if maybe we could practice earth magic together?”

“Oh, I ca-”

Camilla dipped back in her seat, with a hand on her forehead as if she were fainting. “He can’t use magic.”

“What?!”

“I know, it's the greatest tragedy of all”

“We could practice together!” Leo unexpectedly shouted. Even from behind him, I could tell he was blushing from the red on the tips of ears. “I mean, if you want to practice with someone...” He twiddled with his fingers, looking to the side instead of at Eva. 

“Sure,” she replied simply, then focused back on me. She moved around Leo, and stood between Camilla and I, now blocking my view of Camilla. “I really thought you were a mage.” Leo turned to face Eva still blushing, but pouting like an abandoned puppy. “You seem to understand the Earth so well, how were you able to forge such a relationship without feeling magic?”

I shrugged. “I don't feel magic like all of you, but I know there's life in everything. I can see plants growing towards the sun, I can listen to birds sing. Even rotting onions carry live organisms, and we're all connected through these seemingly insignificant interactions.”

Both Eva and Camilla's eyes were glistering. “Wow,” they said breathlessly in sync.

“Um,” Leo interrupted. “I think dinner should be ready now, we should start making our way.”

Camilla sighed and stood up reluctantly, whereas Eva grabbed my right hand and held it between her clasped hands. “Can we chat some more after dinner?”

The physical affection made me unwillingly blush. “Y-yeah, sure.”

She gave me a warm smile before releasing my hand. My eyes followed as they left the library while Leo stood frozen, watching her leave with his hand on his heart. He turned to me and glared as he often did after Eva talked to me, then left stomping. Oh, I get it now.