A/N: I don't really know how to explain this AU except to say that I was online complaining about my lovely, Christmas-crazed students and ddaulton94 suggested/challenged me to concoct a "Hera teaches school" AU and channel my experiences into little "chapters" of 500 words or less. And I'm procrastinating a final paper right now, so naturally, I wrote this instead. Enjoy.

Also, check out ddaulton94's original web novel, "The Luckless Mage of Greidwhen Academy." It's fantastic! Just go. Read it now. The web url is an acronynm of the title and then dot com. I'd link it, but we all know how this lovely site is about links.

Art

For the first time all day, there was a semblance of quiet in the classroom. Students were either at learning centers or at their desks working on sentence-writing packets. Hera was sitting at her horseshoe table, three students in front of her as she helped them recognize vowel sounds. It was an idyllic moment; all the little minds in her care were fully engaged, working hard to build skills that would contribute to bright futures. A near-maternal pride welled.

And then the classroom door burst open, Sabine Wren striding in, eyes flashing. Hera's stomach sank into her shoes. She hadn't even noticed she had a student missing. "Sabine!" She called, aggrieved. "Where did you just come from?"

It had been well over half an hour since anyone had asked to go to the bathroom—a world record, probably—and it hadn't been Sabine.

The girl tossed her head as she took her seat, folding her hands primly atop her desk. "The bathroom."

Hera swallowed. "Doing?" The answer was most certainly not going pee.

"Art." The reply was decidedly smug and it was then that Hera saw several neon-colored Sharpies sticking out of the girl's pocket.

"Art," she repeated dumbly. She got up and dashed across the hall, poking her head into the girls' restroom to see brilliant designs scrawled across the mirrors. Her mouth fell open—not just because of the magnitude of the girl's vandalism and the efficiency with which she must have worked—but because the drawings were very, very good, displaying the dexterity and talent of a child older than Sabine's six years. For a second, Hera stood and marveled.

And then she heard a shriek.

"Miss Syndulla! Sabine's drawing on the board!"

Hera swore under breath, running back to her classroom. She ran into Coach Jarrus halfway there, and he laughed loudly as he steadied her with hands on her shoulders. "Trouble in paradise?" He teased.

"Shut up," she snapped. She heard him snicker his way back to the gym as she stepped back into the pit of chaos that was now her room. Most of her students were standing behind Sabine at the white board, watching as she wrought artful destruction there. A few students immediately rushed Hera at the door, tugging at her clothing and patting any part of her body they could reach, eager to get her attention and tattle. "I know, I know." She gently pushed the children away, wading through what felt like a sea of them as she tried to get to the board. "Go. Sit. Down."

They didn't.

And as Hera tugged the marker out of Sabine's hand, she heard someone ask suggestively, "Miss Syndulla, is Coach Jarrus your boyyyyfriend?" The entire class giggled and Hera plopped her head against the board, just….standing there. She glanced down at her watch.

It was only ten-thirty.