This week was another rollercoaster for me. I had a very busy week, and I worked all weekend so I didn’t get much of a break. This has made me feel stressed and very tired. It feels like no matter how much I work, or how hard I try, it’s never enough. I taught a lot of lessons Friday and Sunday, and I recorded Friday and Saturday. Recording is scary for me, even though I’ve recorded for auditions so many times.

On the bright side, I found out a new way to cope with this fear. Now I occupy my mind with thoughts like “get louder here” or “more expressive in the left hand” instead of freaking out about past or potential mistakes. This keeps me in the moment and focusing on something productive. It keeps my mind calm and organized, so I think I have found a good way to comfort myself. Also, I had really productive violin and viola lessons this week, and my teachers said that I am doing very well with preparing my music! This makes me happy, because I have been spending all week stressing out about not doing enough, but this gives me some validation. I also was able to confirm dates for my recital, so I am excited for that. I know I have a lot of time, and my friends and family will support me no matter what, so I mostly have positive emotions toward that.

„One triple serving of fruit tornado berry speciale, please,” I said, synchronised with Allan.

He stared at me with some kind of puzzled, even almost alarmed expression, while I laughed with maybe a bit too much joy.

“Ehe…heeh… don’t look at me like that, your ‘secret’ ice cream tours have little chance of staying a secret if you are the star of the movie.” I patted at my chest. “Plus, you left the mic on”

First of all: No. Second: Have a different perspective ^^;

‚We hereby announce an heir has been born to Samil’s court.The chosen name is Nima’So far so good.

Raphael had gotten that card as well.

The letter… the letter behind it was something else,though.

It was easy to picture his sister, misinterpreting everysingle thing.

Letters addressed to him were much further in between,but he, too, received letters from the Lady Gabrielle. So, he knew how a cheerfulletter sounded.

This here was one of those. No hidden sadness. Wideletters, exuberant language. It was perfectly fine and she was perfectly happywith the birth of her son.

The things his dear sister had possibly concentrated onwere the fact that it arrived a whole month early. And that she had been withouther husband.

Which, of course, was not exactly true, since the otherthree men were now married to her as well, but Michelle had slight trouble withthat distinction…

Then that it had happened at night… and there had been nohospital. A reason to yell about an ‘uncivilised’ country again.

The much biggerparts about the discussion of names and the happy reunion had likely goneunheard. Neither the feeling of bliss and the awe that shone through when shewrote about how small her son is. How adorable he was in her husbands’ bighands. How happy she was to have them all. How well everything was.

No, Raphael was pretty sure his sister had ignored thatwhen she had saddled a horse, grabbed a purse of money and galloped out thecity door.

Without any kind of message, of course.

Maybe there wasa little bit of excitement mixed in, if the scream ‘TINY GAAAABE’ was any indication, but the muttered curses whilepacking the barest necessities hadn’t been that reassuring in her good gracestowards Gabrielle’s partners.

There was nothing left to do but sigh. And prepare for adiplomatic mission in another country.

After all, he could not leave his seething sister alone

There were always two opposing sides to Jiyong, he realized, whenever he attended things like these. He loved festivals, but he wasn’t overly fond of the crowds. He wished he was more of a social butterfly, but he tended to be too shy. Whenever he was in the middle of crowds, he hunched his shoulders up and gripped onto his backpack strap protectively, not that he worried someone would take it—it was just an instinctual reaction in case he had to run somewhere very fast.

You learn to pick up that kind of stuff after almost two years living on the streets.

Things he wasn’t ever prepared for, however, included colliding head-on into a middle-aged woman, knocking all her bought goods and trinkets and candies out of her arms, causing them all to spill out across the street. She was much bigger than he was, so the impact left him sprawling backwards, waving his hands around for support or balance.

His face burnt a bright red as he realized what had just happened and began apologizing and bowing to her, only to be met with stern condemnation and scolding. She was very, very angry that he’d just basically ruined everything she had, and no amount of apologies could fix it. He scrambled onto the ground to try and pick it all up for her, but she only yelled at him to just nOT TOUCH ANYTHING.