Mariemaia makes her way to Lady Une's office. She takes the stairs and tells herself it's her way of warming up and not that she's avoiding seeing her guardian. A Barton never ran from trouble, a Khushrenada never ran from confrontation. Still, she takes a breath before stepping into the outer office. Zoe Ariti, Lady Une's personal secretary, is sitting at the desk, dark hair pinned back with sparkly clips while she bends over the papers in front of her.

She looks up as Mariemaia enters. "Miss Mariemaia," she greets. "Look at you, growing like a weed."

Mariemaia shrugs. "And just as difficult to be rid of," she replies.

"I didn't mean…"

"Of course not." She smiles pleasantly. "Is Lady Une occupied?"

Zoe turns to her calendar, runs her finger down the schedule. "No, she's got thirty minutes until the meeting with the Trade Federation." She leans over, lowers her voice. "I can say her last meeting didn't leave her in the best of moods, so if you want to come back later…?"

Mariemaia sighs, shakes her head. "No, she requested I come see her after school. Thanks, Zoe."

She squares her shoulders, knocks on the door once, and then enters the office. Lady Une is standing and staring at several images hanging on the back wall of her office. Mariemaia sets her bag down, grabs a peppermint out of the bowl on the desk, and joins her guardian.

"You're slacking," she says. "I could've been anybody."

"Zoe wouldn't have let you pass," Lady Une replies. Mariemaia snorts and Lady Une's mouth twitches with a suppressed smile. "She may not look like much, but the girl can be surprisingly intimidating."

The photographs are a mixture of security footage stills and mug shots. Mariemaia unwraps the peppermint, pops it into her mouth, and stares at the images on display. "Who are they?"

"People of interest," Lady Une replies. She turns away with a frustrated sigh. "That's not important right now. I received a phone call from the school today." Mariemaia makes a face, crosses the room to slouch into one of the leather chairs. "And of course you aren't surprised or curious."

"Have they finally recognized my genius?"

"Don't sass, it's unbecoming." Lady Une takes a seat in the chair next to her, instead of behind her desk. Mariemaia glances at her in mild curiosity. "Why didn't you tell me about the locker? Or the clothes?"

She lifts a shoulder in response, scuffs a foot along the wood floor.

"That's not an answer." Mariemaia glances over at her guardian. Lady Une is sitting with one leg crossed over the other, her arms folded loosely over her chest. The fingers of her left hand are tapping against her arm. "I thought we were past this. Especially after what happened at Saint Cecilia."

Mariemaia makes a face. Her guardian loves to remind her of the Saint Cecilia Incident anytime something goes wrong at school. "It wasn't a big deal. It was annoying, but they were just stupid pranks."

"Theft is not a stupid prank, neither is vandalism. And what if it continued to escalate? Why did I have to hear about this from the Headmistress instead of you?" Lady Une rubs at her temples, her mouth pulls into a grimace. "I can't do anything about it if you don't speak up!"

"Maybe I didn't want you to do anything, did you ever think of that?" Mariemaia snaps. "Maybe I don't need you to fix it! I'm not broken."

"I never said you were."

"You didn't have to," she mutters. She crosses her own arms, stares down at her shoes and refuses to meet Lady Une's prying eyes. "I can handle stupid taunts and pranks, it's nothing new. They get bored or they get caught." Or they end up on the receiving end of a well-earned revenge scheme. "They aren't planning my assassination."

"I know you are capable of handling yourself, but I should still know about these incidents. I am your legal guardian, Mariemaia. It is my duty to protect you." Lady Une reaches over, places a hand on Mariemaia's arm. Mariemaia shrugs it off. "If this is because of the history lessons-"

"I'm not switching schools again. I like this school; it has a good swim team. I'm not going to run from a couple of second-rate bullies." Mariemaia looks up, eyes narrowed at Lady Une.

"You're as stubborn as your father," Lady Une sighs. She sinks back into the leather chair, rigid posture relaxing into a slump. "I don't want to keep you isolated, you know that, right? I want you to go to school normally. But, I don't want anything to happen to you. If that means looking for a better school environment…" she trails off, sighing again.

Mariemaia pushes down the little thrill she gets at Lady Une's words. "I'm fine," she says, voice soft. "I don't need to switch schools. If I leave then they win, they realize they can chase me out, and I'll be starting over. Again."

They sit in silence for several minutes and Mariemaia wishes she could swallow back her words. She knows if her guardian really wants to, she'll switch Mariemaia to another school. Or private tutoring. She sighs.

Lady Une sits up, looks at the clock. "You're late meeting Trowa." She stands, straightens her blouse and reaches for her jacket. "I have a meeting with the Trade Federation again; I'll probably be home late."

"Another missing shipment?"

"Unfortunately."

"Yergin?"

"Of course," Lady Une replies, rolling her eyes. She checks the mirror, smoothing down any stray hairs. "He has a thorn in his side over the whole ordeal and is in an uproar over the loss of shipments from Mars. To top it off, he's refusing to work with Milliardo on it because of some spat they had at Victoria."

"Or just because it's Milliardo," Mariemaia muses. Lady Une shoots her a pointed look in the mirror. Mariemaia pretends not to see it as she bends to grab her bag, or the way Lady Une's mouth quirks into a faint smile of agreement. "You oversee Preventers, just tell him to work with Milliardo and get lost."

Lady Une's mouth blooms fully into a smile. "If only it were that simple."

Mariemaia shrugs, reaching for the doorknob.

"Mariemaia." She pauses, hand on the metal knob and turning back to her guardian. Lady Une is facing her now, neatly pressed into her uniform with her hair pinned back. She looks like the pictures Dr. Arthav had been displaying in class earlier. "We won't look for a new school, but if something else happens…You need to let me know if anything else occurs."

"Yes, ma'am," Mariemaia replies.

. . ... . .

In the end, she wonders if she should've even bothered with attending her unofficial afternoon practice. Trowa was already in the pool room. He hadn't looked up when she entered through the locker room door, and she had paused to observe him. He had an old paperback novel in his hands and was seemingly fixated on the pages in front of him.

"Stop staring and get on the diving block, you're already late," Trowa had ordered, not looking at her.

Mariemaia had frowned, but obeyed. It had become abundantly clear though that her head wasn't in the practice. She kept thinking about Larissa and Minerva being benched, about Lady Une's comment about switching schools, about the meet tomorrow. Her dives were mostly clean, but they lacked the energy needed to propel her in the water.

"You're distracted," Trowa comments. "Are you worried about tomorrow still?"

Mariemaia pulls herself out of the pool, shivering in the cool air. She frowns at the Gundam pilot. "I'm fine."

Trowa raises his eyebrows, but doesn't comment. Instead, he has her get back into position, fires the starting pistol and she dives into the pool. He's more critical of her form, making sure her arms are positioned properly, that her weight is balanced evenly between her feet.

After an hour of consecutive diving, Mariemaia feels her muscles trembling. She takes deep breaths and treads water. Trowa sits cross-legged on the edge of the pool.

"Have you worn yourself out enough to talk, now?"

"Why does everyone suddenly want to talk to me?" she demands. She pulls herself out of the pool and Trowa hands over her towel.

"It must be terrible having people care enough to check-in on you," Trowa comments, voice dry.

Mariemaia glares at him. "I thought this was because of boredom."

"It was."

"And now?"

"I hate leaving things unfinished." He studies her and she feels small and exposed. She hates that the Gundam pilots seem to be able to dissect her so easily, peel back her layers and see what she's thinking. She wants to learn how to do it herself. "Still studying the Eve War?"

She snorts. "Of course. Dr. Arthav loves having a living figure in his classroom. I can see him dreaming of being the one to get me to discuss the rebellion and the role I played in it." She rolls her eyes. "Maybe he'll get a tearful confession of years of abuse and my immense regret at the actions I took during the rebellion. Or, how I was nothing more than a hand puppet and Dekim was deranged."

Trowa is still studying her. "Do you regret it?"

She's saved from responding by the door to the pool opening and she lifts her head. To her surprise it isn't Heero Yuy striding in with his usual uncanny ability of knowing when their session is nearing its conclusion. Instead, Wufei scowls as he enters the room, nose wrinkling at the smell of chlorine that permeates the air. His scowl deepens when he sees them.

"Barton!" he barks, striding over. "Do something with Yuy."

Trowa raises an eyebrow, but he looks more amused than annoyed. "What would you like for me to do, Wufei?"

"Get him out of my hair. Take him for a walk or something."

Mariemaia blinks. "You make him sound like an overexcited puppy."

"That's Maxwell," Wufei replies. He stares at Trowa just shy of imploringly.

Trowa sighs, getting to his feet. "I thought you were supposed to be monitoring Yergin's security detail. What could he have done?"

Wufei actually laughs at that. Mariemaia stares in shock. She doesn't think she's ever heard Wufei laugh, let alone the full-bodied one he's currently displaying. "He threatened to pull a gun on Yergin's head of security."

"Hopkins?"

Wufei shakes his head. "New one," he states. "Noin's detained Yuy in her office for now. Looks like he has history with this one. From the War."

"Fine," Trowa agrees, voice taking on more of a clipped edge. "We're done here anyway." He inclines his head toward the locker rooms. "I'll meet you upstairs."

Wufei nods, looking momentarily relieved, before he turns and strides out of the pool room. The locker room door slams behind him.

Trowa still looks faintly amused as he turns back to Mariemaia, though she can see a wariness to his eyes as well. "Try not to overthink things tonight," he says, leading her toward the locker rooms. "Take some deep breaths, do some yoga and meditation, and rest. I'll see you tomorrow."

He disappears through the door to the men's locker room before she can respond. Mariemaia stands there, blinking, for a moment, before she heads in to change and call for Henri.