It was quiet. The vibrations had stopped. Hard fabric was under her cheek. Meia slowly opened her eyes. A cross pattern was in front of her in textile. There was a shimmer in the fabric. Some of the interwoven threads were metal. Meia recognized the piece by its color and understood where she was. Her gaze went higher. She saw the horses, behind them the wagon. They were still in the forest. Trees bordered the path like soldiers with lances. The spear walk led into the stars. Why had they stopped? So the horses could rest? Where was Violet?

Meia turned her head. She didn't find Violet, but someone else. The fairy was sitting on the bench. There was a full cup with a straw between her legs. It was probably tea, but it looked cold. The fairy had missed the best time to drink. The cup was almost up to her chest. The straw would reach her mouth, but she didn't drink. She didn't move a at all, but she wasn't asleep either. Her eyes were wide open. As if under a spell, she stared at the sky. The white moon was reflected in her eyes.

Bang! - A bright bang on wood.

Meia came up like a spring. At the same instant, the fairy flinched.

Someone had hit the carriage with the flat of their hand. One of the horses boredly turned its head backwards.

"Lyr, seriously?" It was Violot's indignant voice, coming from the other side of the carriage. "You were supposed to wake her up."

"I forgot."

"I noticed."

Lyr shook her head, as if trying to wake herself up. Immediately afterward, she simply ascended from the bench into the air, as if she had no weight at all. She floated up to Meia. Incidentally, she rose so high that she was higher than Meia's head. Then, as she floated in front of her, she looked down at her.

"You!" She pointed her finger at Meia. "If you're tired, go to sleep. There's a blanket in the wagon. You don't need to tell that guy in the front."

"Thank you. I'll do so."

"The bottle is for you." The fairy's finger moved in front of the bench where a glas bottle stood. "Take it with you."

Meia picked up the bottle. It wasn't the first one she had received. She got one every now and then. It was always apple juice. The only alternative was water.

With the bottle under her arm, Meia climbed down from the carriage. In the meantime, as she made her way off to the transport wagon, she heard Lyr and Violet continuing to talk.

"Don't you want to go to sleep too?"

"I'm wide awake."

"Are you sure? I'm not gonna carry you again. This time I'll send you back in the post."

"I've never accidentally fallen asleep in my entire life."

"Of course you have. There are witnesses to that. In fact, more than I'd like."

"Oh, yeah? And who would that be?"

"Mark, from the bar."

The answer came as quickly as if Violet had been waiting for it.

It remained silent. The fairy didn't talk back. It was probably a valid witness.

"At least I don't fall asleep drunk in the bathroom and block it for others."

"When was that supposed to have happened? I don't remember somehting like that."

"On my birthday."

This answer also came promptly.

~They argue a lot.~

"You also left the window open and the snow fell in. The whole hallway was flooded with snow. I had to clean it up. On my BIRTHDAY!"

The fairy shouted loudly. It looked like pent-up anger. Once again, the one horse looked behind him, but this time less calmly.

"I didn't know that. Let's just say we're even."

"I accept."

Meia could hear how high her nose was from the emphasis alone.

"Great."

~Already over?~ Not that Meia wanted to listen to the two of them arguing. It was just an unexpected ending.

Meanwhile, Meia arrived at the front of the wagon. The fairy had said that Meia didn't have to tell Falko, but Meia thought it was appropriate.

Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

Falko sat leaning back on the wagon bench with his hands behind his head. He was wearing his glasses again. His eyes were closed. The lamp was off. You would have thought he was asleep, but when Meia climbed up to the bench, he opened his eyes and looked at her. He did not turn his face towards her. He just looked at her. Probably to show that he was awake.

"Um... Hi, thanks for letting me use your wagon."

"Yeah, no problem. Go ahead and make yourself comfortable."

Meia hadn't really come to Falko just for that, of course...

"Violet said you are a mercenary too?"

"Mercenary?" Falko looked into the air in front of him in astonishment. "You could say that... You could also say I'm a freelance tax investigator or private detective, as you like."

"You're a detective?"

"Yes, you could say that."

Meia's eyes opened wide. Violet had said he was gathering information on targets and he had found the convoy in the forest and of course he was a professional peeper if he was a detective. Every detective was a professional peeper. It all made so much sense. Meia was glad she'd come up here to talk to him.

"Was it always the butler in the end?"

Falko smiled. He understood, apparently.

"You like reading? I've got books in the wagon, if you want to read one."

"You know Damon Rom?"

"My work involves a lot of waiting, so I read a lot. Damon Raom is one of my favorite series."

Damon Rom was the name of the book series where it was always the butler in the end, except when it wasn't really the butler but someone else.

Meia was full of euphoria. Someone shared one of her passions.

"Mine too. What's your favorite part?"

"The Case Kron."

"Mine too. Did you notice that the maid had an affair with the master of the house? That's why she was so distraught."

"Yes, on second reading. She said that she was doing the dishes at the time of the crime, but after the meal she indicated that she always does the washing up straight away. Then there were the things in her room and the interests of the master. You come to the conclusion that she was probably in the master's room and that's why she didn't do the dishes until later."

"I didn't even notice that with the dishes. I just thought it was strange that she had the master's things."

"Without the affair, she wouldn't have been in the kitchen at the time of the crime and wouldn't have heard the mechanism. Everything revolves around an affair..."

"Do you like Damon Rom very much? Were you once a soldier and became a detective because of Damon Rom?"

Falko chuckled. "Are you a detective too?" He leaned forward and swung his arms over his head so that his elbows rested on his legs and his hands stayed together. The question probably a rhetorical one, because he continued speaking. "No. It's just something I'm good at. I slipped into it like that. Why do you think I was a soldier?"

Meia grinned. "Because of the haircut and the jacket." she explained proudly.

But Falko remained unimpressed. "Lots of men have that haircut and why the jacket?"

"Um..." Unfortunately, Meia didn't have an answer. That about the haircut was true. "It looks like a military jacket."

"That's all?

"Isn't it one?"

"Yes, it is, and I was a soldier. Do you know what I did there? You might, even if you don't know the jacket."

"Intelligence service?"

"If you only have a yes/no question, you'd better claim a side with conviction, then you'll get a better reaction. I can disagree with you either way, but if you ask, you reveal to me that you have nothing. Otherwise I might have thought it was more than just a hunch and wouldn't risk lying about it."

"You were at the intelligence service." This time Meia said it with conviction. But it wasn't a claim. It was a statement.

"Yes, in the field, but then I stopped because it became too dangerous. The jacket is actually a gift from a colleague. It's a false trail."

~First the glasses, now the jacket.

"Are you in danger?"

"Not that I know of."

"Then why the jacket and the glasses?"

Falko looked down at himself and then into Meia's eyes.

"Don't you think it suits me?"

Meia almost backed away, but then only slightly with her upper body. The counter-question threw her completely off balance. It was flattering that he asked her something like this, but why? Meia twirled the bottle in her hands for no reason. Just because Violet had said that the glasses didn't suit him? Meia had memorized that comment because she didn't think it was true. The glasses did suit him. Now that they were both looking into each other's eyes, Meia realized how beautiful his were. They were as blue as a summer sky. Now Meia realized that she was alone and unobserved with a handsome man on a wagon in the middle of the night by moonlight and he was a detective and he had chuckled and he liked to read and now he had asked if she found him attractive. That was too fast. Meia started to sway.

"I-I think it suits you very well. I'm tired. Goodbye."

Swift as the wind, Meia climbed over the bench into the cargo area, caught her foot and was about to fall.

At the same time, Falko turned to her, but before he could do anything romantic, Meia had already managed to catch her balance.

"Good night, Meiandra. It was nice talking to you."

"I wish you a good night too, Mr. Falko."

The corner of the cover hung via a loop on a hook. Meia took the loop off. The cover fell shut.

Meia took a deep breath. In the last few months, she had hardly spoken to any attractive men who might be genuinely interested in her. She was therefore even less used to it at the moment than she already was in general. So she was relieved. At the same time, however, she was disappointed in herself. It would have been a good opportunity to get used to it again.

By the way, the queen's pretty men didn't count. Meia had chatted with them a bit, but they had treated her like a little girl. Even when Meia had been in her bathrobe, they hadn't even tried to steal a glance. Not that Meia would have let them, but they hadn't even tried. As if there was nothing to see. But there was certainly something to see. Meia too had ... Things that men wanted to see. Unfortunately, according to the current state of research, this was still just a hypothesis.

Perhaps the men from the nobility were simply all too high up for her and that in a double sense. All feelings were always hidden. No one said what they thought openly. Everyone always tried to lead the other around by the nose. Meia didn't have much to offer except her body. There would be a potential heir one day, but she was not the main heir. If she came to another city now, perhaps she should take that chance. By now, her father would certainly be satisfied, as long as he was a half decent man.

Meia took another look behind her at the tarpaulin. The tarpaulin looked opaque, but couldn't be tied. But surely Falko wouldn't try to take a peek? Not that Meia would want him to. After all, Falko had come here for Violet. He probably wasn't really interested in her anyway. Meia had just imagined it once again.

In any case, Falko had been different to how he had spoken to Violet or the fairy before. He seemed much more mature. Violet was fortunate.

.../ End Part