Disclaimer: I don't own anything (sadly)...

Thanks for the reviews guys, really I love them...
Oh, I forgot to mention it in the first chapter but English is not my first language (I'm Belgian and I speak French but I'm studying English), so please I you see any mistakes (I'm sure there are lots) feel free to say it...

Emma was lying in the gardens, in a sea of blooming flowers. She was looking at the clouds trying to determine their shape, as she was doing when she was a little girl. She was waiting for Killian to join her for their sword fight lesson. Well, actually it was hers, but she needed a partner that wouldn't go easy on her because she was a princess, so he was the most indicated. Most of the time the fights were fair and equal each of them using their different advantages: Emma mainly relied on her instinct; Killian was more the cunning types, predicting the other's movement in every details. They were both fast and swift in their movements and they both used the other's weaknesses as a force. They were good, according to Lancelot who was the one who had been giving them lessons three times a week for the past four years, but too dissipated for their own sake. They were always challenging each other, trying to win both with their swords and words and that let them to commit mistakes that would be fatal in a real life fight.

Killian was late. He knew it, but Sookie had insisted he finished all of his chores before leaving the kitchens to meet Emma. Once he had finished peeling and cutting the vegetables for dinner, he told the chef he was leaving, grabbed two pieces of cake and ran to meet Emma. He hadn't seen her at lunch so he presumed that she'd hungry. He found her at her usual spot, behind a bush of pink flowers behind which she could see a big part of the garden without being seen. She was lying on her back, her golden curls disturbed by a light spring breeze. She was looking at the sky with the same fascination as when she a seven...

-"Hey, Swan! We're late!" he told her, already walking in the opposite direction, towards the small courtyard, near the stables where they trained whether the weather allowed it or not. She got up clumsily and ran to catch up with him. It's her clumsiness and un-princess like behaviour that got her that nickname. Killian thought that she was some sort of bad duckling, not at all a princess and that's why he called her 'Swan' some sort of a friendly mockery.

-"It's your fault, if we're late, walnut!" she said while rubbing off the grass from her trousers.

-"Walnut?" he raised an eyebrow to the insult, giving her cake

-"I was told this morning that a princess was not allowed to swear" she said before biting in the pastry. "So, after thinking about it for some time, I discovered that with the right intonation, any word can be used as an insult. Why are you late anyway?"

He told her about Sookie's decision of not letting him go to join Emma until he has finished all his work. They kept on talking until they arrived in front of a very pissed Lancelot. Without a word, the teenagers went to grab their wooden swords, only to discover that they were real metal swords that day. That meant no more child play... Emma was beaming with joy and for a moment, her smile blinded Killian. They started training, getting used to the heaviness of their weapons adapting their movement. If Killian was getting used to it rather quickly, Emma was struggling a bit. He was used to carrying heavy trays all around the palace but, obviously, not her. Anyway, she did her best to maintain her balance while handling the sword carefully, paying attention not to hurt herself or Killian. Once they got the hang of it, they started moving, this time, adapting their footwork, being careful to stay in equilibrium. Lancelot gave them tips all along, telling them how to hold the sword, where to place their feet, etc. They did not fight that day, the knight wanting them to handle their blades perfectly before getting to fight with them. All the way long, the teenagers bickered with one another to the point that Lancelot sends them away, too tired of the both of them.
Emma's arms were sore but not for a second she regretted the change of equipment, it meant that Killian and her were skilled enough to be trusted with real swords. That was Emma's purpose in all of this, owning something that hadn't been given to her because of her birth. Killian on the other hand, needed to be able to wield with a sword for he wanted to enter the navy and to be able to defend himself and his ship if pirates were to attack them. Emma knew he wanted to join the navy, she had known since the day they met. On their way to the castle, Killian asked his companion why she wasn't present at lunch.

-"My tutor didn't want to let me leave until I was able to give him all the names of the seas and realms known around the Enchanted Forest." She said with a shrug.

-"So that's why you weren't there? You were studying. Then, why didn't came by the kitchen to grab something to eat?" he couldn't grasp her logic nor the fact that she would miss lunch to study.

-"Because I wasn't studying... I got out of the library at the first occasion I got and went straight to the gardens. I can't get to remember all the names of everything and surely didn't want to miss today's practise for a lost cause... So I escaped but I knew that my mother would take the first occasion to tell me off for that, so I didn't want to risk being deprived of the very thing I didn't want to miss... " she said with a smile. There she was, the Emma he knew. They got into the palace through the kitchen, where Emma took some biscuit from a plate and asked for cinnamoned cocoa at Sookie. One of her mother's maid got into the kitchen and when she noticed Emma, she told her that her mother was looking for her.

-"Did my mother looked pissed?" Emma asked even though she already knew the answer.

-"Relatively yes, your Highness. Especially since it is not the first time you did that this month. The Queen is waiting for you in the small parlour" the servant said, before curtsying and leaving the kitchen.

-"You're screwed, Swan." Killian gave her hot cocoa and the biscuits she had asked.

-"I know right" Emma mumbled. Then got an idea and asked Sookie if her mother had already asked for tea.

-"Not yet, Miss" answered the chef. Glad that the answer was negative, Emma asked for her mother's favourite tea exactly as her mother liked it to be ready in twenty minutes. Then, she hurried to the dresser and took two porcelain cups and saucers, and the same number of silver spoons. She also took a porcelain plate that matched the cups and asked Killian if he would mind disposing some biscuits and her mother's favourite cakes on the plate. When she ran out of the room saying that she would be back in time to bring tea herself to her mum, Killian asked her what she was up she simply answered "diplomacy" before sprinting to her bedroom, catching a maid on her way and asking her to help to get changed. Fifteen minutes later, she was all cleaned up, with her hair brushed and she was running as fast as could, which was not fast at all because of the dress she was now wearing, towards the kitchen. When she got there, she almost knocked out one of the kitchen girls who had the misfortune of standing behind the door. She saw that everything she had asked was properly laid out on a tray and ready to be taken away, but when she tried to take it, her hands where started to shake because of the weight of it. Killian noticed it immediately, shook his head, rolled his eyes and took the tray from her telling her that it was not a job for a princess. Normally, Emma would have started to argue with him but the tea was getting cold and her mother certainly angrier. They made their way to the parlour at a steady speed. He looked at her dress with a questioning look.

-"I told you, it's diplomacy. If I get to sooth my mother by showing her that I can take things seriously and that I promise her that I won't run away from my lessons again, maybe she won't ban the sword practise from me for too long..." she explained. When they got in front of the parlour, she took the tray out of Killian's hands and asked him to open the door.

-"Good luck, Swan" he whispered her as she entered.

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-"What's the verdict?" Killian asked Emma when she got back to the kitchen.

-"No practise for the rest of the week and a catch up lesson tomorrow afternoon..." she said, sitting next to him at the table where he was eating and folding her arms on the table. "It wouldn't be that bad if I didn't have to know all what I was supposed to study this morning for tomorrow. I'm screwed!" she buried her face in her arms.

-"I could help you study if you want" he proposed her. Emma raised her head.

-"You... Really? You would do that?" she asked, incredulous.

-"Yeah" she shrugged his shoulders. "Liam taught me everything he knew about the seas and realms before he left."

-"Thanks Killian!" she hugged him before getting up and rushing outside, telling him that she was grabbing her things and that they could meet in ten minutes in the library. Has she hurried to get her books, Killian was left staring blankly at the door, still feeling the ghost of her arms around his neck.

They worked until dinner, and then they got back to the library and kept on working for hours. It was nearly dawn, and Emma was repeating for the last time what she had memorized during the night.

-"It's perfect, Swan. Can we go to sleep now?" he asked while yawning.

-"Okay, go. I'll stay re-read one last time. Thank you, really, I mean it." She told him smiling. He was tempted to do as she said, but the carpet on the library floor was rather comfortable and what bad could ten more minutes do, after all?

In the morning they were found sleeping on the floor, just like when they were children and that they were reading story books.