Fiona looked at her sleeping child before sighing. Motherhood had long since proved more difficult than she had expected. The last four years had hardly allowed her any sleep. Not being able to work for the first year had been bearable; she had saved enough money for at least five years. At least that's what she had thought four years ago. But she had miscalculated. No, she shook her head. She had been naïve. A baby was much more money- and time-consuming than she had expected.

In the second year she had run into a problem, if she didn't start working, her money would soon run out. Unfortunately, there was not much work she could do. Taking care of her child had priority and so she lacked time. Faced with this dilemma, she had decided to finally ignore her pride and went to Heidi to ask for help.

In what she could only describe as a miracle, Heidi’s husband had told her that he needed a helping hand in the inn.

Thus, she had started working there, four hours a day, six days a week. If it had not been for Heidi, who had decided to retire after many years of being a midwife, Fiona would not have been able to work for that long. Luckily the old woman had decided to care for Elise as if she was her own daughter and thus Fiona and Heidi gave Elise all love they could give her. For that, she was grateful and would do her best to repay her kindness.

Fiona looked at her image in the mirror and sighed. The colour of her uniform was, as always, an eyesore. Red hair just didn't go so well with white and black.

“Mommy is going to work,” Fiona whispered and gave her child a kiss before going downstairs.

"Up already?" asked Heidi, looking up briefly before focusing on her project, new clothes for Elise. The young girl had grown, and winter was already approaching. Only a few more weeks and the freezing cold would opress the people once again. Maybe even reap someone's life. Hopefully not, she had taken a liking to the townspeople. She couldn't bear to see another young child or elderly person go.

"Yes," said Fiona, "Heinz informed me that the mayor was looking for a maid. He was sort of telling me to take a chance. Your husband seems rather sad that the closing of the inn is getting closer with every winter."

“Indeed,” Heidi said and slowly nodded. She stood up and continued, “Heinz isn’t that happy about retiring. But it can’t be changed.”

She halted and eyed the stairs, “Is Elise already asleep?”

Fiona nodded, “She sleeps like a stone and her hunger seems to have almost vanished after all these years. I think that she will sleep for at least a few hours, maybe even until dawn.”

The elderly woman laughed heartily before putting her knitting needles and yarn away, “Perhaps… perhaps not. There isn’t much for me to do here until Heinz comes back from his trip to Aschen. So... I guess I will wait for Elise to wake up and read a book.”

“Then I shall take my leave, thank you, Heidi,” Fiona gave her a light hug before quickly leaving the small house

“And once again, silence returns,” Heidi thought, “But I wonder for how long. That lass is… a demanding kid.”

She smiled and walked upstairs before entering the room and taking a book out of the bookshelf.

“That is a good story for a kid her age,” the former midwife thought and sat down onto the old armchair. She stared at the sleeping child and also closed her eyes, “I also deserve some rest.”

Hours passed and the house was filled with silence before a loud cry tore through it, waking Heidi up. She looked at the small bed next to Fiona’s bed and saw that Elise had awoken from a nightmare. The young girl shivered like a pile of leaves and was sweating profusely.

“Granny is here,” she said and moved closer to the girl, “There is nothing to be afraid of.”

That had not calmed her down. Heidi halted and infused her voice with magic.

“Do you want me to read a book to you? We got a new one.”

The effect was immediately noticeable. Her voice seemed to have calmed the girl and Heidi smiled before opening the book.

“There was once a king's daughter who feared nothing,” she started and noticed that the young girl had forgotten her nightmare and was eagerly listening to the story she was telling.

Almost an hour passed, and Heidi reached the last sentence of the story, “Gretel was very happy now, and she became a good and kind queen who did a lot of good and so the story ends happily for everybody.”

She closed the book and looked at Elise. The young girl was smiling and her bright show of happiness did not remain unnoticed. But the girl quickly collected herself before raising her hand and asking, “But why did the dragon help the princess? Wasn’t it powerful and strong enough to remain… indeptent…”

“Independent,” Heidi corrected.

“Yes. Yes. Independent? Forever?” the girl asked.

“Indeed,” Heidi ruffled through Elise’s short red hair, “It was strong. But what is power without friends or allies? The dragon was the strongest but alone. All of its kin had left long ago, and it had no friends. Thus, it opened its heart to the princess and both realized that they could become friends.”

The young girl was dazed for a few moments before furiously nodding and smiling. It appeared as if something had become clear to her. Heidi took notice of the two missing teeth and thought that this looked cute. It felt as if she was looking once again at her son when he had been young.

She missed him, but he probably would never come again. He was now a member of the royal guard, a respected knight and perhaps already a minor noble. She had not seen him in the last twenty years. But she knew that there wasn’t any way for him to come and visit a small town at the edge of the Empire.

“But remember, Elise, this is a story. In our world a monster will be a monster, regardless of how kind it appears. If you are fortunate enough to meet a dragon… try your best to not anger it,” she said.

“Will it turn into Heinz when I do that?” she asked, “I once told him that his beard looked… really ugly and he hated that.”

“No, no,” Heidi replied and vividly imagined the little girl telling her husband that he needed to cut his beard. She laughed, he treasured his beard, but she had recently noticed that he had taken more care of it. Perhaps because of Elise’s words?

“I’ve never met a dragon. But if the tales are true, be smart and leave them alone. They will simply ignore you,” she quickly added.

“But they won’t find friends,” Elise pouted, “And that would be our fault!”

Heidi sighed. Maybe it had not neen the best idea to read Elise a story about a friendly and helpful dragon and then tell her that dragons weren't really like the one in the story. There had been worse ideas. Sure, like telling Elise that she would be allowed to help her cook, only to end up with a few overcooked dishes. But she certainly could have done better.

“Is there anything else we two want to do?” Heidi thus asked to change the topic, “I have a bit of time at hand and it will take some time until your mother comes.”

Elise frowned and started tapping with her index finger onto her cheek, causing Heidi to smile.

“You read a story about a mage. Can I also spew fire from my hands or fix wounds like you?” she asked and eagerly awaited an answer.

“I don’t know,” Heidi replied, “When you are old enough, a Seer will come and guide you, but until then you can only hope.”

The girl’s smile vanished and turned into a frown before once again appearing, “But you can teach me?”

“I am just a humble healer and midwife,” Heidi said and once again ruffled through Elise’s hair, “But I can teach you a bit about magic if you want. But only if you are a nice girl. And only if you are at least able to read all the books here by yourself.”

The mood of the girl visibly worsened, “But I can barley read… it will take years until I can read on my own.”

Heidi once again corrected Elise and then added, “But we two can learn to read if this is what you want.”

Elise’s mood visibly improved, and she eagerly nodded, “Yesh, I want!”

The elderly woman laughed and stood up before grabbing one of the thinnest books in the bookshelf.

“This here is the story of a young boy called Hans and his luck. We both are going to read it. This letter here is an A. It is pronounced like the first letter in Aschen.”

And thus started Elise’s first lesson.