She is Louise - стр. 3
– See you this evening, Mom.
– Have a good day. Don't forget, you have Latin class at five today.
– I remember.
Niels knew that after school he would have to go to the knights of the village, but he still hadn't given up hope of getting a good degree.
Louise walked along the Glade, though she didn't expect to reach the border of the Forests and Steppes today and see the City. Sure, there were a few streets of private houses in that neighborhood, but the girl wasn't afraid of anything. Her wings hadn't appeared yet, so no one would be able to pick on her. Louise had long known that she lived in two worlds at once: the ordinary world of humans and the Forest School, and the magical world of Butterflies and those she would soon be able to meet there.
Louise sat down to rest on a rock in the middle of the golden ears – where she lived, the fields and meadows changed endlessly. It looked like a chessboard. Like it wasn't on this planet.
The girl straightened her hair and threw her head back – now she looked like a fairy princess. She's only twelve, with her whole life ahead of her. Louise looked at the houses and wondered who might live in them: shepherds, farmers or office workers? It would be nice to go to the City just once…
There wasn't a soul around. It was the same as always. Louise's soul longed for adventure and new discoveries, but her inner voice told her that it was better to keep a low profile and stay at home, under Galina's supervision. Galina… who was Galina, anyway? For as long as Louise could remember, her mother had never flown anywhere. Did she have wings? Or maybe they were in the distant past and now they're gone? Galya had always said that Louise's wings would be so huge that sometimes she wouldn't even be able to squeeze through a regular doorway. I wonder if other Butterflies have wings like that. There are insect butterflies, there are girl butterflies, and there are boy butterflies – just boys. How do they live without flying and toasting with wildflower jam? They must be unimaginably bored. By the way, Louise had never spoken to a boy before-she'd never seen one, not even at school. She's kind of weird, this Forest School.
When she got bored of sitting on the lonely rock, she simply climbed down to the ground and took off her wicker sandals (they were her favorite summer shoe, but in winter she and Galya preferred fur boots) to relax her heels. The spikes of wheat tickled them pleasantly. In the fall, local farmers would come here and mow all this wealth, and the soil would remain completely bare. It was a pity, for the cold weather would come, and there would be no shelter. "I've got a blanket, and the earth will do something about it," she thought, and then she lay down on her back and spread her arms as if she wanted to make a snow angel. This is how her summer days passed, each of which was exactly like the previous one. Secretly, the girl hoped that before the wings would appear behind her back, someone would come to her and take her with him – to another world. But for now she just fell asleep, listening to the quiet chorus of field butterflies that sang about blue dewdrops and a bright red heart. Whose was it, though? …