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I have a little question at the end of the chapter :)

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1st June 1942

The morning of June 1st was a morning to say goodbye.
Elizabeth went into the barn to allow the siblings their last hours together for a certain period of time.

The medic walked in circles with her hands in her trouser pockets and looking down on the ground. She didn't stop until Basil touched her shoulder lightly with his nose.

"Don't worry. Hans is a tough guy," said the stallion reassuringly. "Besides, he's smart."

"Yea'... But I'm still worried...", Liz looked directly at him, "I don't want t' put you and Martha in danger either."

Basil tilted his head: "What do you mean?"

Elizabeth went to a window and looked outside, Basil followed her. She pulled out Mary's letter from the previous evening and read it again.

Dear Elizabeth,

to answer your question: Yes, I'll take care of Martha.

Take good care of yourself!

Mary

P.S. I will send you another letter very soon!

She folded the letter again and leaned against the wood: "I want t' take you and Martha t' London. There is someone who can take care of you."

Basil snorted and Elizabeth suspected either a sarcastic comment or something like 'I'm not going anywhere'
But to her surprise, he said something completely different: "What if I don't want to stay in London but want to accompany you?"

"What!?" Elizabeth looked at him in disbelief.

"I would like to accompany you. I am very fast, I am in a good condition and can carry you and luggage. You could need me."

Liz couldn't find any words, so she just stroked him thankfully.

"Thank you...", she finally said and patted the stallion gently on the back.

"When do you want to go?"

"This evening."

—

Around six o'clock in the afternoon the final farewell came: Hans would go to the train station and Martha, Elizabeth and Basil would slowly get ready to leave at dusk.

Liz leaned against the wooden gate of the barn with crossed arms and watched the farewell between Hans and Martha.
It was a sight that broke her heart. And it didn't get any better when Martha began to cry bitterly.

Yes, she could have listened to the conversation, but she think it was impolite, which is why she rather listened to the birds.

After a few minutes, Hans sent his little sister into the house and approached Elizabeth. The two just stood there facing each other for a moment. They just looked at each other without .

"Thank you for taking care of Martha and Basil," said Hans and nervously kneaded his hands.

"That's the least I can do."

Silence.

"Where do you take them?"

Elizabeth got quieter: "To my apartment in London."

"What?", You could clearly see the confusion in Hans 'face," you are British!?"

Liz had to smile and nodded: "Yes... Good to know that you hardly notice it."

"Is Elizabeth your real name?"

"Yes, but the English pronunciation."

Hans just stood there and first had to process this information. But finally he smiled warmly at her and hugged her. At first Liz petrified, but then she put her hands on his back.

"I'll miss you, Elizabeth."

"I'll miss you, too…"

"I wish I could write to you. But I doubt that I can send letters to England... "

She stepped away and looked at him; it was time to reveal one more thing.

"You can send us letters by addressing them to me and burning them."

"You are joking…"

Elizabeth said nothing. Instead, she handed him a pen and paper, which she pulled out of her breast pocket.
He took both skeptically and wrote something. In the meantime, Liz lit a fire in a bucket next to them (unnoticed by Hans of course) and watched him.

When he was finished he folded the letter and threw it into the fire with a raised eyebrow.
The paper burned slowly down and only a few seconds after it was burned that exact letter came out of the fire and landed directly in Elizabeth's hands.

"This is impossible!" Hans said with wide eyes and alternately looked back and forth between the letter and Liz.

"You can see for yourself that it worked," she smiled sadly, "so… you can send us letters."

Hans hugged her one last time. "Take care of yourself."

"You are the one who has to take care of yourself..."

They parted and had their farewell with one last "goodbye" before Hans walked away.

Elizabeth stayed there for a while and watched him before she went into the house and packed the last things together with Martha.

—

When it was dark, Elizabeth, Martha and Basil left and headed in the direction Liz had come from months ago.

They didn't have much with them: Martha had a backpack, Basil had a bag and Elizabeth had her usual backpack and the leather bag with her.

They only had something to eat, something to drink and a few clothes with them.
Two blankets for sleeping lay on the back of the stallion.

After about two miles Martha got tired and Liz put her on Basil. One look at her watch told her it was eleven o'clock.

"You don't speak English, do you?" Liz asked the ten year old after a while.

She shook her head: "No, just a little French."

"Hmmm"

Only now did the young woman realised that this could be a bit of a problem in London. Mary could speak German fluently, but Martha should also be able to communicate with other people.

"Can you speak other languages?" The little one asked curiously.

"Yes", Liz nodded, "I can speak German and English fluently and a little French."

"Can you teach me English?"

"Yeah, I wanted to do that anyway. After all, you have to be able to communicate in London. Let's just start... If you want to introduce yourself then you say 'Hello, my name is Martha.' "

The girl repeated the sentence a few times and tried to memorise it.
When she said that she wanted to learn more, Elizabeth explained how she said that she was 10 years old.
She also repeated this sentence a few times; sometimes even in connection with the first.

However, Martha yawned frequently and her eyelids became heavier and heavier, which is why she fell asleep only a little later.

To Liz' amazement, she had no problem sleeping on the back of a walking horse. Nevertheless, she held her so that she would not fall down.

"Do ya want t' sleep too?", Elizabeth asked the stallion, but the stallion said no.

And so they wandered through France until late at night before going to sleep in a suitable place in a forest.

Elizabeth took the girl from Basil's back very carefully and then covered her with one of the blankets. Fortunately it was dry and not too cold.

She herself gazed at the stars for about half an hour before she fell asleep.
But it wasn't supposed to be a quiet night.

—

Elizabeth had one of those strange lucid dreams again. She was used to have dreams like this on a regular basis and she noticed it straight away, because these were so different and not like normal dreams.

So she trotted down the path in her park in London, as always, and waited for the voice. But it just didn't come.
Instead of the voice, however, she saw another figure. A figure who walked the park gracefully as ever.

"Elizabeth?" Asked the melodious voice that went with the figure.

"Mary?"

Both women walked up to each other and hugged each other warmly when they finally met.

They closed their eyes and were glad to see each other again. But then walking noises reached Liz' ear and she opened her eyes.

Not far away, a person came up to her whom she had not seen for over a year: "Bert!"

She broke away from Mary and ran to the former chimney sweep and literally threw herself into his arms.
The young woman clung to him and tears of relief fought from under her closed lids.

Mary came up to them and was drawn into the embrace as well. So they stood there and enjoyed their reunion. They would love to look at each other, but it was far too dark for that. They actually only recognised their silhouettes.

"What's this?" Bert asked when they stepped away from their embrace.

"I don't know," Elizabeth shrugged and Mary didn't know either.

Bert was about to start again when the strangely present voice began to speak:

"Mary Poppins, Herbert Alfred and Elizabeth Katherine Alfred."

They searched the source of the voice. Elizabeth stepped forward, frowning: "What!?" She sounded serious.

The nanny was amazed at how directly and confidently Liz spoke with the voice, because she always showed some kind of subservience.

"25th of May 1923"

Elizabeth raised an eyebrow: "I beg yer pardon!?"

"25th of May 1923"

Then their surroundings became more and more blurred. She turned to Mary and Bert, but it was as if they were being torn apart.

—

Mary, Bert and Elizabeth woke up at the same time in different places. In the places where they had gone to sleep to be precise.
They all had the same dream and everyone was breathing heavily.

Elizabeth didn't understand what the voice was trying to tell her with those words. After all, she wasn't even born on that date.
She looked around to see if there was any hint of the date around her. But there was nothing but forest. At the next opportunity she would do some research and hoped to find answers.

Bert wondered if something special had happened that day, which could be special or even important. But he couldn't think of anything.
The only strange thing that year was that Mary didn't come to London. Like Elizabeth, he decided to find out more about the date.

And then there was Mary Poppins. Her whole body was trembling at the thought of that day.
It was one of the worst, if not the worst day in her life.

I will very likely make a jump in time after the next chapter or the one after that. Just because nothing happens that would advance the story and I finally want to get to the point where MUCH will happen hehe
I would actually skip several months.

Or would you prefer if I'd stretch it?
Send me a message or tell me your opinion in a review if you want :)