Maria had woken up the next morning feeling far lighter than she had the night before.

The golden hue of the sunrise had filtered through the drapes, signaling a new day before her. She had resolved the night before that she would make the most of the day. Without the captain's scrutiny or his barking orders, she felt as if her mission here would become easier. She had caught a glimpse of the carefree, playful nature of the children, and she was determined to bring that side out of them again.

However, she was a little put off that morning when she was met with wary glances and a slug on her plate, but she would not be deterred. She had simply given the children a small smile before taking the creature outside, ignoring the shivers of discomfort that threatened to give her away. The children had seemed discouraged by her reaction. Clearly, they had been hoping for screaming, perhaps for her to run out of the house and never return. They had been hoping for a reason for their father to come back.

The rest of breakfast had passed without an incident and without much conversation from the children. Even when Maria tried to ask conversational questions, they gave polite, quick answers, almost as if they had been trained to do so. It wasn't necessarily surprising. After the previous night's meal, she was able to deduce that the captain tended to like his meals quiet, peaceful from the ramblings of his children, and so they were taught that mealtimes were times to speak only when spoken to. She could feel the newly familiar prickle of anger upon her skin to think that these children had felt silenced by their own father. How could he?

Their lessons, Maria quickly found, were comprised of mathematics and literacy one morning followed by science and history the next. Sundays were the only days where they weren't held down by a structured lesson plan, but rather were given an assignment to complete that day for grading from the subject of their choosing.

Mathematics appeared to be the only subject that had work separated by grade levels. Each child was given three work sheets according to their grade level and they were each expected to have all of the work sheets done by the end of the first hour.

Literacy, however, was grouped together with all of the children. The captain expected her to teach all of the children – ages five to sixteen – the themes and content of Shakespeare's complete works. It had seemed completely absurd, and as she sat there and read out the lines to the children while they struggled to follow along – Kurt very nearly dozing off with his head buried in the pages – Maria decided enough was enough.

She had instructed the children to follow her from the room. She had led them to the backyard. The sun shone down on them warmly, and almost instantly she could see the change in the children as that first inhale of fresh, outdoor air hit them. They looked mildly uncertain as to why their governess would take them outside during their lessons, but there was no protest. Maria led them to a patch of grass and began assigning roles.

They weren't necessarily enthused by the idea at first, but as Maria led the charge, her dramatic re-enactment of Shakespeare's prose causing giggles from the children, they warmed up to the idea. Soon, each of the children, with a little help from their governess, were delivering lines of Shakespeare proudly, acting out each scene theatrically. They had become so immersed in their roles that when something didn't quite make sense to them or they didn't know what a word meant, they looked to Maria for answers, wanting to learn.

Whereas she had only seen the apathetic, disinterested eyes of those stoic little soldiers earlier that morning, she now saw the bright eyed, engaged children she had caught a glimpse of the night before. She couldn't help the smile that stayed planted on her face that morning as she felt the triumph of break through.

But she could still sense a wariness within them. After every laugh, every moment of speaking freely, their faces would fall as if expecting to be reprimanded. Her heart fell every single time. Had they really been made to think that every time they spoke their thoughts aloud that they would be scolded? It pained her to think that their own father or the governesses before her had made them feel as if what they had to say didn't matter.

She knew it would be a slow journey to gaining their trust. She doubted that they had really ever felt heard by an adult since their mother had past, with their father more or less absent, and their governesses only there to follow orders. She had resolved that she would be different. She would listen to them, talk to them, get to know them, and treat them with the compassion and understanding that she believed children needed in order to blossom.

It wouldn't be difficult to want to spend time with these children. As the morning melted into the afternoon, she could see each vibrant personality begin to seep through the cracks in those masks each child had been taught to wear.

Liesl had obviously taken on a parental role at a young age. The way she spoke for the group, and the way she looked after her siblings, especially the two youngest girls, showed her leadership. She was far more mature than Maria would expect from a girl her age, and yet, she had managed to hold onto this innocent wonderment in everything. She was not yet jaded by the ways of the world, and yet, her family's situation had given her a wisdom beyond her years.

Friedrich wasn't so impossible, once Maria was able to get past some of his walls. He would put on a stoic mask, eerily similar to his father, and yet, much easier to crack. He, like his eldest sister, had taken on a role of responsibility with his siblings. He would often quiet them if they spoke their mind too freely, not to silence them necessarily, but to prevent them from being reprimanded. However, she found that after a time, once he began to get comfortable, he could be just as outspoken and cheeky as the rest of them.

Louisa was more of a mystery. She was certainly the most standoffish of the children, and yet, she reminded Maria so much of herself at that age. She was clearly not interested in dresses and dolls as perhaps the rest of her sisters were. In fact, she seemed to have a tomboyish rebellious streak. If Maria had to make a guess, she was certain the Louisa was the mischievous mastermind behind the children's pranks.

Kurt was a little easier to crack than his older brother and sisters. Once he started, the boy nearly never stopped smiling. He had a cheery disposition about him that was infectious. The bright eyes and the wide grin showed his playful, cheeky nature that could rival Louisa's mischievousness.

Brigitta was very bright for her age. She had faired better in grasping Shakespeare's works than her siblings, and Maria had hardly seen her without a book. She was full of facts and knowledge of things that even Maria didn't know. She was very well spoken, and she carried herself in a way that was far more advanced than that of an eleven-year-old.

Marta was rather shy, but she had taken to Maria quickly. She didn't speak very much, but her smile spoke volumes. When she did speak, it was only when she felt she had something to contribute. She was timid, and perhaps a little scared to speak out like the rest of her siblings, but Maria could see the gentle heart that was simply desperate to be loved.

Gretl was the easiest to win over. She stuck to Maria like glue, thrilled that someone was watching her, listening to what she had to say. It was clear that Maria had made her feel important in a way she perhaps hadn't felt in a very long time. For five years old, she was rather outspoken. She made sure her opinion was heard on everything, unlike Marta.

Maria was beginning to feel surprised by just how much she had come to care for these children in the past day and a half. There was this low pulsing in her chest, a fierce protectiveness that she hadn't ever felt before. She had the overwhelming urge to keep these safe and happy, each and every one of them. They had managed to charm her simply by showing their true colours.

An even more jarring observation was in the way they spoke about their father. Maria prided herself on always giving people the benefit of the doubt, of seeing the best in everyone, but she couldn't deny that she had painted a rather unkind picture of the Captain. The way he had abandoned his children so often, the way he treated them like soldiers, the way he brushed them off – how could anyone do that to their own children?

However, the children began to paint a different picture of their father. Little tidbits of stories surfaced absently as he was mentioned, and Maria began to find herself listening eagerly. She could remember that as the day came to a close and Maria read a story to the youngest children, Marta had sighed contently against her shoulder, her eyes drooping.

You tell them like father does.

Does he read to you?

Not anymore, but he did. He did funny voices to make us laugh. He told the best stories.

The girl had fallen asleep shortly after, leaving Maria struggling to picture the nearly authoritarian captain snuggled up in bed with his children reading them a fairy tale theatrically – with several different voices, no less. The image was so foreign and so bizarre that she nearly laughed out loud.

The days had begun to pass much like the first day. Maria would conjure up ways to make their lesson materials more relatable and enjoyable in the morning, and then they'd find another activity to do in the afternoon. Sometimes they stayed on the grounds, other days they would venture into town and explore. In the evenings, Maria would work on making clothes, not only for herself, but for the children using the old drapes in her bedroom. The children had been ecstatic when they had been provided with clothes that they could move freely in, that they could play in without worrying about dirtying them up.

As the children began to open up more and more, Maria found herself painting a new image of the Captain. Occasionally they would provide a memory of the way he was before the passing of their mother.

He used to play piano every night after dinner. Mother would sing.

We would spend entire afternoons together building model airplanes and model ships.

When Father would join us in our games of hide and seek, it would take hours to find him. He always had the best hiding spots.

A picture began to form of the captain that shattered the old image. She could see it so clearly now. The man who played with his children, who listened to his children. She saw him hiding endlessly in closets and hidden nooks around the grounds as he awaited being caught by one of his children. She saw his smile as he held them close or read to them at night. She saw a man who loved his children.

Perhaps she had been too harsh on him. It was obvious by the way the children idolized him and talked about him so lovingly that he had been an incredible father. He had been through a terrible tragedy, and in that, he had become estranged from his children. Perhaps he didn't know how to get back to them.

It solidified in Maria's mind that she knew what she had to do now. She was here not only to help the children prepare for a new mother, but to reconnect them with their father.

It became her mission then. She would spend her days getting to know these children, getting to nurture these children, and upon their father's return, she would show them just what he had been missing. She would remind him just how much he loved these children.

She found herself shocked by the overwhelming longing within her for the Captain to return home.


A/N: We've got a few more chapters in what I like to call the Introspective Character Study Stage. These first six or seven chapters are more or less me diving into what Georg and Maria think and feel about this situation they've both found themselves in. I know that we all know what happens in the movie, and so this might seem a little repetitive as to the events of the movie but bear with me. We are going to be getting to the meatier part of the story in a few chapters ;)

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