Updated this chapter with a good deal more. The next one will be longer though.

Disclaimer: Once again, I do not own any of the characters, settings, or names, they are all property of Tamora Pierce. I do infact own the little prince, try and take him and you will be attacked by many large creatures.

How badly he wanted to scream right now, to lash out at the servant woman, knock those scissors out of her hand, and yell that he was the crown prince and would wear his hair how he pleased. But of course, Duke Gareth the younger was lounging quite contentedly in a chair opposite from the one, which the prince so unhappily occupied at the current moment. Their expressions were polar opposites, Gareth was relaxed and smiling, Prince Jonathan was scowling and looked as if he was about to rip the Duke's eyes out.

The King of Tortall was certainly not blind to his son's temper which chose to flare up at the most inconvenient of times, thus he had assigned his cousin the joyful duty of babysitting the prince, while he road out to one of the forts on important kingdom business. After the display in court the previous day though, Gareth had noticed the apparent relief on the king's face at receiving the news of his urgent depart from the palace. Gareth had had his fair share of turns watching the crown prince over the last ten years, most of which had been fairly enjoyable. The boy was full life and a certain curiosity, which always had to be satisfied.

He had reluctantly accepted the king's request, knowing very well why he was being asked. Prince Jonathan was capable of caring for himself, not to mention he was always surrounded by people who obeyed his beck and call. Besides, in a palace, one really was cared for, whether their parents were there or not. Today was no normal day though; it was the day before the prince started his training as a page. This of course meant only one thing, the dreaded haircut.

The servant woman gingerly combed out the mop of ebony hair until no tangles remained. Separating a piece, she held it between her fingers. She slid her two fingers down until they were parallel with the bottom of the prince's ears. Taking the scissors in hand she snipped the hair just below her fingers. The prince gnawed angrily on his lower lip, clasping his hands together in self-restraint. When he made no move to strike out, the woman continued.

Watching the dark locks fall to the stone floor, he vowed to do away with the rule of the page cut once he became king. Jonathan knew very well why knights wore their hair cropped. Long hair was easy for an enemy to grab and pull. He of course would not admit to such a realization. Besides, his hair was above the base of his neck; it certainly wasn't that easy to grab hold of. As he sulked over the loss of his hair, he no longer watched the floor. Instead, he looked over towards Duke Gareth, who did his best to smile reassuringly. He tries so hard, the prince thought with a sigh before returning the smile with a small one of his own.

"Your highness," The servant woman said softly with a curtsy. She held a hand mirror before the prince, anticipating the worst.

Jonathan bit his bottom lip, staring in the mirror at his reflection. His hair had been shortened from just falling short of his shoulders to being neatly clipped about his ears. Instead of commenting on it, he rose from the chair and looked towards Gareth.

The king's advisor nodded with a grin "Now you look like a proper knight trainee." He in turn rose from his own chair, pushing the boy towards the door "It's time you get ready for bed, tomorrow will be a busy day for you."

"What was your first day as a page like?" the prince asked, looking upwards at Gareth.

The two walked in silence for a time as the duke thought back to his first training experience. For all the time he had spent anticipating the day as a lad, the events did not stick in his mind as well as he would have thought. "Interesting…" He said slowly, "I do recall tripping over a training staff and smacking my partner in the chin."

"I take it you were not the most graceful page in the castle." Jon laughed softly.

"I suppose not. But then again, it is expected for pages to be ungraceful in practices. Why do you think they are given wooden staffs as opposed to real swords?" Came Gareth's chuckle filled reply as he reached a hand down to ruffle his charge's hair.

"Using real swords would teach them to be wary of how they grabbed their weapon. There's no wrong way to pick up a staff, thus it's impractical for that aspect of training."

"My little prince, you are wise beyond your years. Or perhaps you have been eavesdropping on the court a bit too much."

Jonathan's cheeks flushed as he reached for the handle on his door. As he pushed the door open, he paused and turned around to look up at Gareth, his face hopeful "Since I am wise beyond my years, does that mean I can have another hour before bed?"

Reaching over the boy's head, Gareth opened the door all the way, "Good night Jonathan."

He watched as the door closed behind the boy before turning and heading back down the hall from which that had come. He had been right those few years ago, despite what his cousin had argued. The little prince had been entirely out of control, and needed a firm hand to keep him in line.

With no work left to do, Gareth's new destination was Balor's Needle. The cool air which always wrapped itself around the tower would clear his mind, which was exactly what he needed right now. The palace was oddly quiet for such early hours of the night. The trainees had arrived that day and must have bedded down early to be ready for tomorrow, which was the only logical explanation to why the halls were deserted. Of course, he should feel grateful for the silence, not suspicious, but with the King away it was hard to feel comfortable.

Treading across the lawn towards the tower, he let the crisp night air fill his lungs. He was so tired of the summer and the overwhelming heat that accompanied it, although the colder months meant being stuck in multiple court discussions and listening to Ader flap his lips over matters they had already dismissed. There was something off about that man, but he couldn't quite place his finger on it. Ader's concern for the kingdom was understandable, but he seemed…for lack of a better word, obsessive. Yet he was a respectable member of the court, despite the fact he could be irritating at times. Gareth certainly would never trust the man with his life. It was hard to trust Ader at all, especially after last year. The way he spoke of the crown prince was shameful and made worse by the fact he spoke in front of the King.

As he ascended the winding staircase inside the tower, Gareth began to hear footsteps up ahead of him. Oh dear, someone was descending. It was common courtesy to call out before descending at it certainly was not late enough in the night to assume no one else would go to the tower. Over half way to the top, he chose to continue walking. There was no point climbing down now. The approaching footsteps grew louder at each step until he could see a small orb of crimson light. There was only one person in the palace that had that color magic.

"Good evening Ader." Gareth said coolly, his deep voice echoing off the stone.

A flash of surprise crossed Ader's face for only an instant before being replaced by a smile. "Evening Gareth." He nodded in acknowledgement, the orb glowing brighter to illuminate the advisor's face. He leaned to the side to look past the other man. "And where is the prince? I was quite sure that he was put in your care for the day."

"In bed." Gareth replied curtly.

"Just as well. Wouldn't want him to be exhausted for his first day as a page now would we?"

"No…" The way Ader replied just didn't sound right, and he knew very well that Ader could care less about how tired the prince was for anything.

"Well, best be on my way." After flashing the advisor a quick smile, Ader pressed himself to the wall and slipped by.

"Interesting." Gareth muttered quietly to himself as he climbed the last few steps to the top.

The view stretched for miles, lights from far off towns and travelers appeared as little specks of yellow. Turning his attention towards the castle he noticed light in the window of the queen's chamber. Poor Thayet was probably up with little Jasson. It really was beyond him how a woman could have five children and look as if she had never had a single one. Of course asking would be impolite…but he could always ask Alanna how she managed four. She would probably sock him in the stomach though.

Tonight had only strengthened his suspicion of Ader of Galron. He would definitely speak to his cousin as soon as he returned, no question about it. But surely if Ader meant any harm to the crown prince he would have done something already? He could only hope that was true. But Ader had no backing in the court for his opposition of the crown prince. The other men were either indifferent to the entire matter, accepted the crown prince as he was, or knew the boy personally, like he did, and thus would never object. Of course it had taken a good deal of convincing on his half to get to this point. The signs were all there at the time, it just took a while to find them, and he had since then found many more. Should he ever need to defend the prince's position again, he was ready.

Author's Note: Wow, that took a long time to update for another stupidly short chapter. Sorry about that. School is consuming my writing muse so I'm pretty dry on ideas right now. Feel free to suggest things, I may or may not use them. The next chapter should be the first day or page training, but I'll have to re-read First Test to remember how that day usually starts. Sad, but I'm only just starting Page. So please refrain from saying anything about those books. If this story goes as far as I'd like it to, you may see her pop up once and a while. The next chapter will certainly be much longer. Please review. Compliments, comments, and ideas are welcomed!

-Stellan