Wow indeed. Melissa had silently watched the entire display with a slightly open mouth and ever widening eyes. This magic was…it was pure and raw and ranging in power. It far surpassed whatever she was able to conjure up. Perhaps she should have felt jealous to her own lack of ability to Alice? No, she felt the opposite. She was proud for the girl, proud for her princess.

“You…you did it!”

Melissa hugged Alice tightly, embracing the taller girl in a warm display of affection. Unheard of in her recent years, but this moment was just too exciting for the both of them.

“See, see? I said you could do it and you did!”

At that moment, a light lit up, though this was not magic. Instead, it came from multiple smaller sources and was being emitted from the castle’s interior. On closer inspection, one could see that multiple torches were being lit up at once. Whoops. They had woken the castle. At once, a plethora of the princess’ guards stormed out of the castle and ran towards their princess. 

“Princess Alice, are you alright?” the first one asked in concern. “We saw lights and thought it to be an invasion…”

His voice trailed off as he spotted Melissa. Unsheathing his blade, he held it out defensively towards the mage before grabbing Alice’s hand and pulling her back to safety.

“Be wary your Highness! The prisoner has escaped!”