This chapter is one of my personal favorites. I'm sure you'll find out why. We are slowly approaching Alexia's home, but it will not appear until the next chapter. Until then, I hope you enjoy reading.

Greetings Petit Erik

The next morning, Alexia got up a little earlier to get ready for her trip. When she was dressed, there was a knock at the door. The landlady had several tablets of breakfast with her. One for Alexia herself and the other for the three boys. She stood in front of Alexia and grinned.

"I've seen how skinny those three are. I'm surprised they haven't fallen over yet. That's why I made them something with lots of protein, so they'd put on some weight and it would strengthen their muscles and bones. I hope that was okay?"

Alexia had tears in her eyes. This woman, instead of looking at the faces of the three, had looked at their bodies and realized how much weight they were missing. The fact that she had now prepared food especially for them with all her love was more than wonderful in her eyes.

"Thank you so much. Of course it's perfectly fine. I am very happy about it and I think the other three will be too," she told the landlady.

She nodded kindly and went back downstairs. Alexia could see that she was serious about the boys' welfare. Her aura reflected everything she had said. If she had lied, Alexia would have known it immediately. She took two tablets in her hands and suddenly her eyes lit up and the other two tablets lifted slightly off the table. All the time she kept full control and in this posture she went into the room where the three were still sleeping.

Quietly she lowered the tablet first, which she checked with her eyes, and then the other two. Then she let the scent of the breakfast spread in the room. Merik opened his eyes first and looked at the door. There stood Alexia, grinning. He grinned too and sat up in bed. Quietly she went to him and sat on his bed.

"Good morning," he murmured softly.

"Morning," she said, "are you hungry?"

"Yes," he replied.

As if on cue, his stomach growled loudly. He blushed and Alexia had to laugh. This woke the other two up as well. Grumbling, they sat up in bed and rubbed the sleep from their eyes. Then they smelled the delicious smell of breakfast and their stomachs also made very distinct noises. The four of them laughed out in amusement and Alexia sent them to the bathroom. The three jumped out of their beds, grabbed fresh clothes and walked out of the room together. Alexia shook her head in amusement and cleared the food from the tablets onto a table because she wanted to eat together with the three of them.

A short time later, when the three of them came back from the bathroom, they sat down at the table with Alexia and enjoyed their breakfast. When they were finished, they packed their clothes and headed back to the carriage. Alexia thanked the landlady for her hospitality and then got into the carriage as well. During the ride, they talked animatedly again and Alexia checked to see if she had received any news from her brother.

She opened her diary and sure enough. On one page, ancient Greek characters suddenly appeared. She quickly read through the message, which also revealed that he had immediately informed her father and that he was delighted about the three new family members. She quickly sent a message back and looked outside again.

As time passed, the boys had fallen asleep in the midday sun and Alexia couldn't help but get out her notebook and draw the three of them. When the three woke up again, they asked Alexia, who had just finished her picture, what she had drawn. "Please don't take offense but I couldn't resist," she said, turning her notepad around.

The three's eyes grew wide and they scooted forward on the bench to get a better look at the picture.

"Is that us?" asked Gerik, his eyes wide.

"Of course," Alexia replied, "do you like it?"

She hoped he was looking at the picture in general and not at his face.

"It's beautiful," he agreed with her, "I never thought I'd look halfway normal in a picture. Well, no one has ever decided to paint me either."

The other two agreed with him and together the four of them looked at the painting Alexia had made.

"How did you manage to make us not look like monsters?" asked Erik shyly.

"You've never looked like monsters before," she replied.

He looked up at her with tears in his eyes.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, very sure, in fact."

"Thank you," he said in a tear-stained voice and hugged her tightly around her waist.

Alexia was a little surprised. Despite his thinness, he was surprisingly strong and soon two other pairs of arms wrapped around her as well. Alexia felt as if her ever-beating heart would leap out of her chest. She thought it was wonderful that the three of them had such confidence in her after only 3 days.

Soon after, the three broke away from her again and she smiled down at them. They looked up at her with their unique eyes and smiled back. Then they sat back down in their seats, except for Merik, who looked at her shyly.

"Yes?" she asked him with a smile.

He blushed a little and looked sheepishly at his shoes.

"May I sit on your lap?" he asked, still not looking up.

"Of course you can," she said, lifting him up and sitting him on her lap.

"Do you have a picture of your family?" he asked, looking at her.

That she had never flinched at his disfigured face surprised him and the other two. But they would enjoy it while it lasted.

"Sure I have one. Wait, I'll show you," she said, rummaging in her bag.

A moment later, she held up a picture frame and showed it to the three of them.

"Who is all this?" asked Erik.

Alexia pointed to the photo.

"That's my dad, as you might be able to tell. We're pretty close and share a lot of interests," she said, pointing to the tall black-haired man.

"Next is my mother. I love her dearly too but however I have the better bond with my dad. My youngest brother has the best bond with her. To be honest, they do a lot together too. And my middle brother," she said, pointing to the boy to her left in the photo, "I love him to death but sometimes our relationship is very strained. Sometimes we would sword fight each other every day but we never seriously hurt each other. I think he still tries to beat me now," she said, grinning. The others grinned too and she gave the picture to Merik.

"You are the tallest of them all," he said.

"That's true but sometimes it's not always so nice to be so tall. But I've come to terms with it. When I found you, I saw you from the entrance of the tent, only I had to get closer to get a good look. If I hadn't been so tall, I wouldn't have seen you at all and we might not be here now."

"I'm glad you were there," Merik murmured, snuggling up to her.

She lovingly stroked his sparse hair.

"I'm glad it turned out that way, too," she said.

He leaned against her shoulder and yawned softly. She giggled and he looked up at her smiling a little sleepily.

"May I sleep a little?" he asked.

"Of course you may. Just rest," she said and he nodded.

"You can sleep some more, too, if you want," she said to the other two.

They nodded and snuggled together as well.

A short time later, all that could be heard were the soft breaths of the three boys, two of whom were snuggled together and the other curled up on Alexia's lap. She quietly hummed something to herself and a smile appeared on the faces of the three boys. When she was done, she noticed how tiredness came over her as well and smiling, she closed her eyes as well. She put her arms around Merik and pulled him to her and he sighed with a smile and snuggled closer to her. So they slept through until early afternoon, when Gerik lolling and sitting up. Soon after, the others woke up as well and sat back up in an upright position.

"Will we be at our destination tomorrow?" asked Erik in a somewhat sleepy voice.

Alexia nodded.

"Yes. About tomorrow afternoon we would arrive there. We'd be on the ship for maybe four days, and then a short distance to Athens."

"So it won't be long now?" asked Gerik.

"No, it won't be that long. But in the summer you can go swimming wonderfully in Piraeus. My brothers and I, we used to go swimming there every summer for several hours every day. It's beautiful."

"Would you teach us?" asked Merik.

"Sure, I'd be happy to. And I think my brothers would like to help you with it, too. But I'd wait until next summer, because it might be a little too cold for that now."

So the four of them talked some more until evening came and it was time to rest again.

Soon, after a short drive on, they passed a small inn. The coachman briefly told Alexia and then ran in to ask if there were three rooms left. After this was answered in the affirmative, he quickly returned and unloaded the luggage while Alexia and the three boys went into the inn. They got their keys and went to their rooms. The boys were really tired and after putting on their sleeping clothes, they lay down in their beds and fell asleep. Alexia smiled, pressed a kiss on each of their foreheads and then went to her own room.

The next morning, all three boys came running into her room, jumping up and down in front of the bed. She grumbled and sleepily opened her eyes to look at the three of them.

"Good morning," she mumbled, "what are you guys doing up so early?"

"We're so excited about the boat ride tonight, that's why we couldn't go back to sleep because of the excitement," Erik explained to her with bright eyes.

"All right. I better hurry then, right?" she said, yawning and getting up.

The three of them cheered and ran out of the room. She smiled and finished dressing before the four of them had their breakfast.

Soon they were back in their carriage for the last day. It would not be long before they would arrive in Marseille. The three boys were overly excited. They had never seen the sea before, so they wanted to know from Alexia what it looked like. But she just shook her head with a smile and told them to be patient. They grumbled and whined, but Alexia persisted. Sulking, they retreated to the padded bench and looked out the window. Alexia smiled and thought that the three of them actually looked very cute with their pouty mouths. So she looked out the window as well, happy to finally be able to see the sea again.

When they finally arrived in Marseille in the afternoon, the three boys had almost jumped out of the carriage with excitement. But Alexia was just able to hold them back. Laughing, she was the first to get out and shortly behind her the three stumbled out of the carriage. Wide-eyed, they looked up at the ship.

"Wow," Gerik said with full awe in his voice, "we're really going to ride that?"

"We will," Alexia confirmed to him.

Then they took their luggage, said goodbye to their coachman, and then walked up the boat ramp. Before they did, they were checked to see who they were, and Alexia explained without detail the circumstances of why three children were traveling with her. They were let through and then taken to their suite.

After removing their clothes and putting their suitcases away, they went outside on deck. The boys were shy, in case someone might see them. But Alexia reassured them, led them to a somewhat secluded spot, and the three were able to remove their cloaks. Soon the ship also set sail and they saw the sea for the first time. Their eyes widened and on their faces was an expression of pure excitement and joy. It seemed that the terrors they had suffered just a few days ago were blown away and had never existed. But Alexia knew that no matter how much love and joy they received now, they would never forget it. But when she saw the joyful faces of the three of them, she pushed her thoughts aside and stood with them at the railing, looking out to sea.

"It's beautiful," Merik whispered reverently.

"Yes, isn't it. And at the other end of this sea, we can go swimming in the summer."

"Really?" he asked, his eyes wide.

"Yes. It will be beautiful. I promise you that," she said.

They looked at her out of adoring eyes and she opened her arms to them. Quickly the three of them snuggled into her arms and together they looked at the land, which was getting smaller and smaller before their eyes and now the vastness of the sea began. Alexia hoped that the Greek people would accept the three of them just as she had. With her parents, she had no worries about that. She knew that her father would love the three of them and possibly already did because of their image. So did her mother. And she had already silently resolved to teach the boys everything she herself could. However, she thought it was a bit too early to train with such strong magic right now. Only when they were older would she show them how to defend themselves in emergencies, how to create beautiful buildings, or how to simply have fun with their abilities.

And moreover, she wished that the offspring of the three boys would also receive these abilities. She knew exactly that somehow in this world there were three girls who would each choose one of them. And she had already found those three girls. Before she left Athens, she received news that a famous Swedish violinist had newly moved to the country with his three daughters. And in her honor as Crown Princess, she saw it as her duty to welcome him.

Thus, when she knocked on the violinist's house one day, a shy, brown-haired girl opened the door for her. She gasped and quickly curtsied, but Alexia just smiled kindly at her and insisted that she didn't have to. The girl smiled and led her inside. Soon she was introduced to the other girls and their father. Another girl, who also had brown hair, asked her if she could come visit her sometimes. Alexia smiled lovingly down at her and kindly answered her question in the affirmative. The girl cheered and fell around her neck, beaming with joy. Alexia laughed heartily and hugged her back as well.

After introducing the girls, which included a third with blond hair, Alexia chatted with the father of the three children. She was surprised at how well he could play the violin. Although, she played a few instruments herself but never wanted to take up the violin. She was more drawn to the piano and organ, which she mastered with absolute perfection.

As they sat together, she realized that it was already time for her to go back. She said goodbye to the little family she had taken to her heart and promised to come back as often as she could.

This had been several weeks ago. Shortly before she left for France, she had told the three of them that she would be away for a while and could not come back. The girls were sad, but Alexia promised them that she would come back. The three little girls asked her if she could bring them three friends. Alexia laughed at their question and said that she promised to look. And as she stood here with these three little boys on a ship headed for their homeland, she had no doubt that she had found these friends.