*Amber's POV*

As the weekend approached, the Goldenwing Circus was coming to town and all three of us wanted to see it. I knew that Sofia had been taught how to flip and stuff from them but she's never actually been to the show. However, James was playing ball in the castle. Sofia had run off to do something in the castle after seeing the window. Daddy had told him that it wasn't allowed but right after he left, James started again.

"James!" I said.

"What? It's not like he'll know." James said as he lost control.

The ball flew and smashed through my face in the window.

"JAMES!" I yelled.

"What? I'll just push this to cover it." James said.

He pushed an armor stand to cover the hole but the hole was still noticeable. He tried everything in his brain to try and hide the broken window but he failed and just made it worse. Cedric didn't help either as it just shattered what was left of the window. Right as Cedric left, mom and dad came and saw the window.

Dad was upset, "Alright. Who broke the window?"

I was about to say something when James pointed to Sofia.

"Sofia? Did you break the window?" Dad asked.

"N…" she started.

"I saw her playing ball. I tried to stop her but she didn't listen." James said.

"Sofia, why did you do that?" Dad asked.

"I didn't. I was nowhere near the window." Sofia said calmly.

"Yes you were!" James said.

Sofia just sighed.

"Dad, James was playing ball in the castle." I said.

"No I wasn't. You're just saying that." James huffed.

Sofia just shrugged, "Whatever. I don't need to see the show."

I saw the excitement in her eyes dim a bit but she just kept smiling. Dad sighed and took the rest of us to the circus. Mom looked uncomfortable.

"Rollie." mom said.

"Yes?" dad said.

"I know Sofia. She's always wanted to see the circus. We never were able to because we didn't have enough money to go. It's been one of her biggest dreams. I wished I could give her a better childhood. One where she didn't have to start helping so young. She grew up too quickly as by the time she was five, she had already learned how to hide things from me. I hid our financial problems from her, but not well enough as she had found the bills one day as she cleaned up the store and begun helping out. The circus had been in town for a couple days and Sofia really wanted to go, but we couldn't. It just so happened that when she was trying to flip like the acrobats, she accidentally bumped into one of the acrobats in the show. The acrobat had shown her how to flip and a lot more. The acrobat actually stayed behind to help Sofia learn flips and tricks for a few weeks. By the time the acrobat had to leave, Sofia knew how to do all the tricks. I knew that Sofia gave up on trying to get you to see and just resigned herself to not seeing the show this go round." mom said.

I was proud of Sofia. I decided to learn how to do those things and Sofia was willing to teach me. I don't know how it was possible that I looked up to her since she was younger than me, but I did. She taught me that it was okay to get dirty, that it was fun to climb trees, that it was way easier to make new friends if you were kind to them. I told her that I looked up to her during one of our sister nights and I was in her room. She told me that she looked up to me as well because I knew all the princess things.

Eventually dad found out that James was the one to break the window and we left the show. I looked back to see both the ring leader and an acrobat from up on the high wire, look sad that we left early. They came up to us before we left.

"Excuse me your highnesses." the ring leader said.

"Yes?" dad said.

"If I may, would it be possible to come with you to visit? I would like to surprise Princess Sofia." the ring leader said.

"Uh, sure?" dad said.

Miranda smiled as we all got in the coach.

*Baileywick's POV*

I brought up some tea for Sofia, who was in her room. I was aware that she had not broken the window as she was actually with Violet helping her with her duties. I had heard giggling and gone to see what was going on when I spotted Sofia and Violet playing while cleaning. I held back as I saw both of them smile in a way that was obvious that it had been a while since they smiled like that. I left them to it and went to check on the other children.

I knocked on Sofia's door but didn't hear anything. I heard banging and opened the door to see Sofia building something. She was in a shirt with no sleeves and a pair of pants. In her hands was a hammer and a couple nails. She had a towel around her neck as she worked. I could see the beginnings of a scar on her shoulder. Luna was around Sofia's feet and she lifted her head when I cleared my throat to grab Sofia's attention.

"Oh. Hello Baileywick. I didn't hear you come in." Sofia said as she put the hammer and nails down.

She wiped her hands off on the towel and came over.

"I brought tea. I thought you could use some company." I said.

"That's very kind of you Baileywick. Thank you. " Sofia said.

I put the tea down and pulled a chair out for her. She sat down and I sat across from her. I could actually get a good look at her room now. Ever since she came, she's told me that I didn't need to come to her room to clean up. Violet, the only maid who actually went into her room, told me that Sofia keeps her room well cleaned and that she barely has to do anything. I noticed that things were moved around a lot. The bed had been moved so that the only one side of the bed was accessible. The trunk looked a lot better, fixed really and had a new paint job. The biggest change was where the doll house used to be, what looked like a kitchen. She had something on there cooking actually.

"Sofia, did you do all of this?" I asked.

"Yes. The bed was a challenge to move, but I managed." Sofia said.

I watched her as she went to check on what was cooking. She pulled off the strips and put fresh ones on. She brought the strips in her hand to me.

"Would you like to try? I've been making these for a couple years now." Sofia said.

I was a little hesitant. King Roland never knew about what Sofia went through. I took a piece and stuck it in my mouth. It was good.

"I call it jerky." Sofia said.

I sighed and decided to ask what was bugging me, "Sofia, if you don't mind me asking, where did you get that scar on your shoulder from?"

She stiffened a little, "Mom doesn't know because she was out of town that week. Balthazar had gotten mad at me and hit me. He didn't see the exposed metal of the nail that usually held mom's bag. My shoulder clipped it and I cried out. He patched me up and never hit me again."

I could tell that it was a hard topic to talk about and so I changed it to what happened today with the window.

"Sofia, what really happened with the window?" I asked.

"I don't really know. I wasn't there when it happened. Ask Violet. I was helping her out. But if I had to guess, James was playing ball in the castle and Amber tried to stop him but he wouldn't listen. He lost control of the ball and it hit the window. Obviously, the ball hit at just the right speed as it made a hole in the window. He tried to hide it but it didn't work. Mom and dad were probably just coming to see it and found it broken." she said. "I ran over when I heard the larger crash to see what happened."

I sighed, "So you gave up going to see the circus just so James could go."

She shrugged, "I didn't give up, I just didn't care by that point. Yeah the circus is great, but it's even better to know an acrobat that's apart of the show that taught you the tricks."

It was sad that she was so young.

"Well, how about you show me what you can do?" I asked.

She smiled, "Okay."

So she put on a show for me and it was actually pretty good. I clapped at the end. I looked at the time and saw that it was time to go do some more tasks around the castle. Sofia asked if she could help and so I told her what needed to be done and she smiled.

"Okay." she said.

She put on some cleaner clothes and helped out. She even got Cedric to truly fix the window. I smiled because Cedric obviously did better when it was Sofia who asked him to do something. I resigned myself to being nicer to him. It was around four when the rest of the royal family came home. It was early as I thought the circus was still going. I opened the door to see a disappointed king and queen, a disheartened James, and a smiley Amber.

"How was the show?" I asked.

"Oh the show was great. Just had to come home early because we got James to admit to breaking the window." Roland said.

"Amber told us." Miranda said.

Sofia came down and she was in a tunic and pants. She had a soft smile on her face.

"Mom, how were they?" she asked.

"Oh they were wonderful. They were being discreet about it but they were sad that you weren't there." Miranda said.

Sofia hugged her mom for a bit before letting go.

"Sofia?" James started.

I noticed that Sofia tensed around him.

"Yes?" she asked politely.

"I'm really sorry I pinned the blame on you." James said.

Sofia didn't look impressed.

"I know it was wrong of me to do it. I just wanted to see the circus." he said.

Sofia sighed, "Apology accepted."

James grinned and tried to hug her but she backed up. Amber though wrapped around Sofia and Sofia smiled.

"Oh and there's a surprise for you Sofia." Amber said.

"Really?" Sofia asked.

"Yes, come." Amber said.

Sofia let Amber tug her along and I went with because Amber had been acting more like a kid with Sofia here. I heard Sofia gasp and smile.

"Heather!" she said as she tackled the acrobat, "Roger!"

"Hello again Sof." the two said.

"I'm so glad to see you again." she said.

"Well, we have a surprise for you. The crew is willing to put on a private show for you since you couldn't come." the ring leader said.

"Are you serious?!" Sofia said surprised.

"Yes. We'd be…" Roger started but was tackled in a hug from Sofia.

"That'd be wonderful. Dad?" Sofia said.

Roland chuckled, "OF course. Go on. Amber too."

"Yay!" Sofia said.

And so Sofia got to see the circus after all. I smiled inwardly as I had gotten a private showing already.

*Sofia's POV*

Two days after the whole window thing with James, I was in Art Class, one of the classes I enjoyed because I got to forget about basically my non-existent childhood because of how hard it was to keep up with expenses. We were painting portraits, and this time the subject was Tempest. Of course, I tamed her enough that she was willing to do anything if I would continue riding her and visiting. So I did.

"Alright class. That's enough. Sir Gillium, thank you for your services. Good girl Tempest." Ms. Flora said.

"How do I look Sofia?" Tempest asked on her way out.

I showed her and her tail flicked.

"I must be having a great day." she said as she was led out of the room.

"Alright class. It's time for a new project. For this project, you will be making a model of your dream castle and bring it in to show the class. And because it's such a big project, you will be put into pairs." Ms. Fauna said as she pulled out a scroll, "Now, where did I put my glasses?"

Ms. Flora helped out by pointing to her hat.

"Oh. Thank you Flora." Ms. Fauna said, "Now, Amber and Hildegard. James and Zandar. Jun and Clio. And finally Sofia and Vivian."

"She's in the back." Hildegard said.

I looked in the back to see who I assumed to be Vivian. She saw me and ducked behind her easel. When the class was dismissed, I walked over to say hi but Vivian was shy.

"Do you want to come over to my castle to work on the project?" I asked.

"Not really." Vivian said.

"I can come to yours then." I said.

"A-alright. We have to work on it somewhere I guess." Vivian said as she ran out of the room.

I just had to find out how to pull Vivian out of her shy shell. I was thinking about it but after school, Hildegard was talking about Vivian. I was kind of excited after hearing that she had a pet dragon. I knew the gnomes weren't true and that the bats also weren't true. So after school, I was waiting for the coach to take me to Vivian's castle because we really only have one coach and the whole project thing came last minute. Luna comes with me everywhere except school. I know she follows me though since I find her in the forest by Royal Prep at recess.

"I wonder what she's like outside of school." I said to Luna.

"Hmm…from what I hear, she's a sweet girl. Like you. She just needs to be shown how to express it to others." Luna said.

I rubbed Luna's head. In a short time, we arrived at Vivian's castle and I was greeted by who I assume to be Vivian's mother.

"Hello dear. My name's Cecily. Vivian told us you were coming." she said.

"Hello Queen Cecily. I'm Princess Sofia. Pleasure to meet you." I said curtsying a little. "You have a beautiful home."

"Thank you dear. Vivian. Princess Sofia's here. Why don't you show her to your room?" the queen said.

"Sure mom. Follow me Sofia." Vivian said from behind the door.

I smiled at her and followed.

"I hope you don't mind, but I brought my pet wolf along with me." I said.

"That's alright. I have a pet too." Vivian said.

"What kind of pet?" I asked.

"A dragon." Vivian said as she opened a door.

A little blue dragon came bolting out of the opened door and started running around my feet before jumping into my arms.

"She's adorable." I said.

"That's Crackle." Vivian said.

I put Crackle down so Luna can play. I go with Vivian to start our project. I have some ideas but I wanted to see what Vivian came up with. I had an idea and asked her to show me her favorite room in her castle and she takes me to the music room.

"Whoa. Can you play all of these Vivian?" I asked.

"Yeah. Though not all at once." she said with a slight chuckle, "My favorite's the mandolin."

"That's cool. I like the flute." I said.

"You can play the flute?" she asked.

I nodded. So we had a session and we sang about what we were going to put in the castle. I built it and she helped paint. I made it a goal to try and get Vivian to open up to the others at school. I told Amber what was going on when I got home and she agreed. Luna gave me the idea of how to get Vivian to open up, by showing others her musical talent. I managed to persuade Vivian to sing instead and so when it came time to present our castle, we played. I stepped back after a bit and let her take the lead. Hildegard smiled as did Amber and Clio. I smiled as I watched Vivian make some friends. It was interesting because a few weeks later, Vivian was willing to do a pet contest. I planned to do the contest with Luna because we both had a show that no one has seen. I did show Baileywick my own routine, but not with Luna. I did not let James get in my head saying that Luna wasn't fit for it. Luna grew up with me for a reason. I won. Amber was happy for me as were my other friends. James looked a little jealous but got over it. Over the next few weeks, things were normal. Amber and I had our nights where I would cook something for her and she'd like it. We'd spend the nights chatting and sharing secrets.