Maria sighed as the cool water lapped her ankles. She could hear Gretl giggle beside her. Her other charges were spread around the grounds. Too hot to do anything, they were doing their best to seek out shade. Maria had been very clear to Liesl that she needed to look out for her brothers and sisters, and she trusted the sixteen year old to follow through.

"You aren't going to drown my daughter again, are you Fraulein?" smirked a voice behind her. She turned her head to find the Captain standing right behind the gate. He didn't sound overly harsh, or even stern. 'Maybe,' Maria thought, 'He's starting to trust me.'

It had barely been a week since the Captain had returned from Vienna with his guests; but so much had changed since. After her employer had been reunited with his children upon hearing the song they had sung for Baroness Schraeder – and rehired her just as quickly as he'd dismissed her – Maria found things had changed not only between him and his children, but also between him and her.

"No sir," she smiled up at him. "I'm right here. I'm not going to let her fall." She tightened her hold around the five year old's waist.

However their dynamic had changed, and however kind he was being right now, Maria knew the Captain had a legitimate reason to worry. Little Gretl couldn't swim; in a lot of ways Maria had wondered how on Earth the daughter of a sea captain wouldn't know how to swim, especially when they had a lake practically in their backyard. But the more she thought about it, the more sense it made. Gretl wasn't even two months old when her mother died, and had been estranged from her father ever since. Even if the others knew how to swim, Gretl would never have had the chance to learn.

Maria knew she probably shouldn't have taken Gretl out on the lake that day, even if things had gone differently; even if the boat hadn't tipped. She was so thankful Louisa had been there to save her sister.

"It's just been so hot lately," she continued. "And Gretl wanted to sit by the horses."

At that, Gretl jumped up from beside her and ran over to fling her arms around one of the carved stone horses that stood on either side of the gate.

"They're pegasuses, aren't they, Father?" she squealed. "Brgitta said that pegasuses were horses with wings."

"Well, Brigitta was right," the Captain smiled as he opened the gate and bent down to pick up his daughter. "A Pegasus is indeed a horse with wings. But, when there's more than one, you say pegasi."

"Pegasi," Gretl murmured, as if she was committing the word to memory for future situations. 'Probably to show off to her siblings,' Maria thought.

"It sounds like it should be pegasuses, but it's not," he laughed.

Gretl laughed back. "Pegasi sounds better anyway," she decided with a firm nod.

"But these aren't actually pegasi," continued the Captain. "They're hippocampi. Look closely; they have fish tails."

"They do!"

'Trust a sea captain to have a hippocampus statue,' Maria thought. She was surprised there wasn't a giant statue of a siren or Poseidon somewhere.

She was amazed at how gentle the Captain was with his children. Gretl had known barely anything about the horse statues, and in the last five minutes her father had not only explained the correct term for one group of mythical creatures, but pointed out that the statues were in fact a different mythical creature; all without sounding condescending or annoyed.

And Gretl had been nothing but happy the entire time.

She couldn't imagine anything like this happening on her first day. But the children were so happy to simply have their father in their lives at all that anything that wasn't whistles and orders was wonderful.

"What are…hippocampi…like?" the five year old asked slowly, clearly making sure she was saying the word correctly.

The Captain gently lowered his daughter back down onto the landing, then holding his hand out to her. "Why don't we go find out?"

Father and daughter turned to walk back up to the house, but had taken not even five steps before the Captain looked over his shoulder at Maria, asking:

"Are you coming, Fraulein?"

Five minutes later, Maria found herself sitting on a sofa in her employer's study. She was surprised he'd ask her to come along, rather than watching over the rest of her charges, and even more surprised to be allowed in here. She'd never been inside before; having met him in his office whenever they met to discuss the children. The only person she imagined would be less welcome in this room was one of the children, and yet here she was, with Gretl snuggled at her side.

Maybe things were changing even more than she thought. That thought made her smile.

The Captain ran his fingers over the books in one of the long, tall bookshelves on the wall next to where she sat. He finally stopped, pulling out a large leather-bound book, which he opened as he walked over to stand in front of the sofa.

"Here we go," he mused, finding the page and running his fingers down to the correct passage. "It is said that Poseidon, the god of the sea, drove a chariot pulled by giant creatures called hippocampi. Originating in Greece, the hippocampus has the head and forequarters of a horse and the hindquarters of a giant fish."

"Would you like to see a picture?" he asked his daughter with a smile.

Gretl nodded. She hopped up off the sofa and stood next to her father, who knelt down to show her the book. A puzzled look came over her face.

But the ones on the lake have wings," she said quietly, pointing at one of the illustrations in the book.

"Sometimes they don't have wings," explained the Captain, pointing to another picture.

Gretl smiled.

"The hippocampus lays large, semi-transparent through which the young may be seen," the Captain continued, reading the final line before he closed the book and returned it to its place on the shelf.

"What are the young called Father?" squealed Gretl, barely a breath after her father finished reading.

"Um…" the Captain fumbled. It was clear that that wasn't in the book, "…tadfoal. The babies are called tadfoal."

Gretl beamed at her father, who smiled back.

"Now, run on and play," he cocked his head toward the view of the grounds outside the window.

Knowing she'd also been dismissed, Maria followed her youngest charge out the door and back outside.

"I love what you told her today," Maria smiled at the Captain. Dinner had finished, she'd just finished putting the children to bed, and now they were in his office, for one of their regular meetings about the children.

Maria wondered if, after today, her employer might move the meetings into his study. He certainly seemed to trust her enough, given he'd let her inside earlier today.

'Maybe next time,' she thought wistfully. She knew that it was terribly improper, and even after today, unlikely to ever happen.

"And what was that, Fraulein?"

"'Sometimes they don't have wings'. As if they were real," she replied. "I would've though you wouldn't want your children to believe in fairytales."

"It's not fairytales, Fraulein," he smirked. "It's mythology."

"Mmm hmm," nodded Maria.

"And there was an illustration where they didn't have wings," he added, almost defensively.

Maria was surprised that the Captain would feel the need to defend himself over something like this: an image of a mythical beast. She supposed that, despite how he'd acted with Gretl earlier today, he still wasn't used to being a father.

"Besides," he continued with a sigh. "The world is going to hell. I want them to be children as long as possible."

Another small smile appeared on Maria lips. Like the abolishment of the whistle signals and marches around the grounds, the Captain saying this showed how different things had been before she'd arrived. It hadn't even been a month, but it felt like a lifetime ago. And in a way it had been.

The Captain von Trapp she'd met three weeks ago, who clearly hadn't want his children to be children; the children who were nothing more than unhappy little marching machines, belonged to another world. A world that was, little by little, disappearing, creating a new world in its place.

"I couldn't agree more sir."

This is my fiftieth story! How on Earth did that happen? I've had this idea for a little while, and have written precious few stories about this period in the film, so I hope I can do it well, and that you all enjoy. I am going to be updating this story alongside my other current work-in-progress (but do not fear, I have not left this fandom for Hamilton), so there will be a little longer to wait for updates, but I hope they can be fairly regular.

The description of the hippocampi is partly made up by me, just from what I've read, but also partly taken from the Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them textbook by Newt Scamander (a.k.a J.K. Rowling).

Also, I really wish 'the children' would just be their own character under the character selection. It would make things easier for this story.