A/N: Time to rewind a little bit! The following chapter takes place with Lena at seven, the twins at five, and their baby brother Sterling at one. (I will address the number-of-children thing in due time, but I feel we need some fluff after that last chapter.)

Chapter Seven: Astara the Great

"Keep working on your reading, ladies. I'll be right back," the tutor said. He left the schoolroom for the toilet down the hall, leaving his three young charges to slump in their chairs as soon as his footsteps could not be heard.

"This is so boring," Tara whined. "I don't want to read about march history, or kingdom history. I just want to go outside and play."

"You have to," Lena said. "If you don't then you won't learn about what to do and what not to do when we're adults."

"Yeah, but I'm not going to be a marchioness like you." Tara then looked over at Astra. "Hey Astra, do you think you can take my exam for me? I can pretend to be sick and then you take my paper when I come back. It's not like we don't look the same or anything."

"No Tara, I won't," she said, shaking her head. "Sir Daniel will figure it out. Even though we look the same people still know who is who."

"…only because of your dresses," Lena added. The twins looked at her, confused. "What? You mean you know? Tara has warm colors for her dresses and Astra has cool colors and it's so the adults can tell you apart. I figured it out when I learned the color wheel, and I'm surprised you didn't then too."

"Wait, so, you mean if we just switch dresses, we'll fool everyone?" Tara asked.

"Well, you won't fool me, but I bet you could definitely fool Mama and Papa and Sir Daniel."

"Then let's try it!" Tara gasped. "After lunch, before we come back to the schoolroom, we'll switch dresses!"

"I don't know…" Astra said. "What if we get in trouble?"

"For switching dresses? That's a dumb reason to get in trouble."

"Then we shouldn't risk getting in trouble for a dumb reason," Astra hissed. Tara was just about to say something very rude in reply when the tutor came back and the girls all snapped to attention.

"I see you've been busy while I was away," he chuckled. "Now I think it's about time we put away the history books and practice some arithmetic…"

"This doesn't feel right, Tara," Astra frowned. They had been released from lunch only minutes before and were due back in the classroom in a few more. Tara smoothed out her borrowed blue skirt and chuckled.

"Nah, it feels fine," she replied. "Besides, you look pretty in yellow."

"Tara… we're identical twins. Whatever you look pretty in, I look pretty in."

"Come on, let's get back to class before we're late and in trouble anyways!" Tara said. The two girls ran from the nursery and through the castle to the schoolroom, where the tutor was sitting next to Lena and watching as she outlined a battle strategy with her finger on a map.

"Start reviewing your history lesson from this morning—I'm going to quiz you when we're done," the tutor said, not looking away from the map in front of him and Lena. The twins sat down and opened their books, with Tara pretending to read and Astra attempting to find where they left off.

"Okay, so when Sir Daniel asks for me, you stand up and answer for me, and I'll do the same for you," Tara whispered. "Got that?"

Astra nodded and continued reading. A few minutes passed and after the tutor gave Lena another battle to plan, he turned his attention to her sisters. He blinked at them curiously, trying to figure out what was off, and then it hit him. "Okay, time to go over what you learned this morning. Which one of you can tell me which two sets of marquises were brothers? Astra?"

Tara stood up, barely able to contain her smirk. "It was…"

"No, sit down," the tutor said. Tara's face went red as she complied, watching her sisters out of the corner of her eye; Astra was frozen solid while Lena had turned to look at them in the wide-eyed shock she seemed to have learned from their father. "I asked for Astra. Now come on, tell me which marquises were brothers."

The girl stood and couldn't look her tutor in the eyes directly. "The first and third were brothers, as well as the seventh, eighth, and ninth," she replied quietly.

"Good. Now I don't know why the two of you thought I wouldn't notice, but I did. I'm not an idiot."

"…but how…?" Tara sputtered.

"If I can tell the two of you apart while you're in your identical practice armor, then I can tell you apart when you're in your normal clothes," he replied sternly. The tutor pinched the bridge of his nose in his irritation, right underneath a metal plate that sat between his eyes. "Please don't try this again. I don't care if you share clothes, because frankly that's normal, but take up acting lessons before you try impersonating one another in front of me." He watched as the girls fell into their separate personalities: Astra trying to be as small as possible and Tara being wholly flabbergasted. "Would you like me to let you study a bit longer?"

"Yes please," the twins responded. They returned to their books, defeated for the time being.

Lessons had ended for the day and the girls went back up to the nursery to play a short while before dinner. When they arrived, they found the Marchioness there changing out Sterling's nappy and replacing his baby's dress with one not smeared in the cake he had with tea.

"How were lessons?" she asked as her daughters went to go play.

"They were fine," Lena said. She wasn't going to be the one to mention the twins' failed prank, but she wasn't going to give Astra the opportunity to confess right off the bat. "Sir Daniel gave me three battlefield problems to solve and I finished them all."

"That's great!" the Marchioness replied cheerily. She took her son off the changing table and turned to face the girls, only for her face to morph into a frown. "Astra, Tara, you were not wearing one another's dresses at lunchtime. What's going on?"

"Oh, we were just having a bit of fun, Mama," Tara grumbled, setting up some blocks. "Sir Daniel didn't think it was funny."

"Well just don't think that you're fooling anyone," Mama scolded. "I gave birth to you—I know my girls."

"Yes, Mama," Astra nodded as she had her toy unicorn jump over Tara's block wall. She waited until after the Marchioness put their brother down to play and left the room before she pouted at her sister. "I told you we'd get in trouble."

"At least we weren't trying to trick Mama," Tara sniped. She watched as Sterling crawled over and toppled the block wall, babbling happily as he did so. "Sterling! No! Don't do that!" She picked him up by the middle and dragged him over to the stuffed animals, where she dropped him in face-down. "Stars, babies are stupid."

"…and they grow up stupid if their sisters keep throwing them around," Lena scolded. She rescued Sterling from the toy pile and brought him over to her dolls, where she was having a tea party. The toddler sat down patiently in the toy chair and happily hugged the little doll his eldest sister handed him. "Mama said you have to be careful with babies."

"I didn't put him in the block bin this time," Tara defended. Lena balled up her hands into fists and put them on her hips, intensely cross. She was just about to continue her lecture when the Marquis burst into the room.

"Don't mind me; just need to look out the window," he said, crossing the nursery quickly, his cloak billowing out behind him. He peered through the glass, a judgmental glare on his face. "Astra, starlet, come over here please. I want to know if you can see this."

"Okay, Papa," she replied. The little girl ran over to her father's side and climbed up on top of the toy chest by the window so as to press her nose against the glass. The Marquis looked over at his daughter and blinked.

"Tara, don't think you can replace your sister if I call for her," he huffed. "Just because you look the same doesn't mean you're interchangeable."

"…but Papa…"

"No buts. Now, can you see the topiaries from here?"

"Yeah…?"

"Now what does the one look like, the leftmost?"

"Uhh… like Old Gallifreyan…? What does it say, Papa?"

"Never you mind; thank you, Tara. Now I know I'm not just seeing things. Looks like I need to have a word with the new help we have with the gardens." With that the Marquis glowered his way back out of the room, leaving the girls speechless.

"…woah. Papa can't tell us apart…" Tara marveled. "Our dresses are different for Papa."

"Maybe he just wasn't paying attention because he was angry at whoever did the thing to the topiary," Astra suggested. She looked back out the window and squinted. "I wish I knew what that said. It looks complicated. Can you read it Lena?" Her sister came and joined her, scrunching her nose as she read.

"I can, but I don't know what it means. Do you think it's something rude?"

"It must be if Papa's that upset…"

"Astra! We're assigned colors because of Papa!" Tara repeated. "This means it works!" She brushed off Sterling, who had crawled over to her side and began tugging on the hem of her dress in a demand to be picked up, and rushed over to her sisters. "We can still get away with fooling Papa!"

"I'm not wearing another one of your dresses again," Astra frowned. Her twin simply hopped about the nursery in glee.

"You don't have to do anything, oh cool, oh cool, oh cool!" Tara shrieked. "This is going to be so much fun!" She only stopped her ecstatic giggling when Lena pelted her in the back of the head with a doll. A fight soon developed, which the Marchioness interrupted when she came back to fetch her youngest and instead found Tara in a choke-hold and Astra trying to keep their brother far from the fray. Both Tara and Lena were grounded for a week with no dessert.

The Marquis carefully examined himself in the long mirror, making sure everything was in place before he left. In an hour he would begin the long, annoying ride out to the capital and he at least wanted to appear as if he cared. When everything seemed in order, he knocked on the door to the nursery.

"Starlets, I'm coming in," he announced. As soon as he opened the door, his daughters rammed into his legs in an attempt to get in as many hugs as possible before he left.

"You're just going to the capital! We can go too!" Lena demanded. "It's not dangerous at all!"

"I'm going to a conference, so while it's not dangerous, that is true, I'm afraid you'll find it very boring," the Marquis said. He knelt down to be at eye-level with the children and hugged his girls. Once he was done, Sterling was finally able to catch up and waddled over for a hug of his own. His father picked him up and stood, chuckling wistfully, knowing full-well that before they knew it his kids would be demanding to stay at home instead. "Just keep your mama company until I return, okay?"

"Okay," the girls chorused. They rushed back to their toys, ready to get in as much playtime before their lessons as possible. The Marquis bounced the toddler in his arms and poked his nose.

"You behave for your mama as well, alright?" he told the boy, who babbled in reply. As the toddler began to grab at his father's whiskers, the Marquis raised his voice. "Oh, and Tara? Come here please."

"Yes, Papa," the girl replied. She bounded up to the Marquis and waited for his attention, which came with a double-take.

"Astra, I thought I said the other day that you're not to try to act like you're interchangeable," he said firmly. He watched as his daughter tilted her head.

"What do you mean by that, Papa?" she asked. The Marquis looked at her—brown hair in a long braid, a pale green dress, and her mother's dark eyes—and then glanced over at his other two daughters. Yes, that was Lena there, but the other twin was there… in blue. He closed his eyes and cursed in the ceremonial tongue.

"Okay, Astra, Tara, Astara, I don't care which one you are anymore; just work all this tomfoolery out of your system by the time I return, alright?"

"Yes, Papa," the girl in front of him giggled. He passed her Sterling and left in a huff, genuinely upset although trying not to let his emotions get the best of him. As soon as she was sure her father was out of earshot, Tara dropped her brother on his rear end and, while ignoring his crying, laughed hysterically.

"Tara…" Lena growled. She stomped over and hit her sister on the back of the head before picking up their brother to calm him down. Sterling's sobs had barely even subsided before Tara's heel was in their sister's back and it was down to Astra to once again keep the toddler safe until their mother broke up the scuffle.

No dessert for a month.

The entire ride to the capital the Marquis was grumpier than usual. Everyone in his escort was too afraid to ask and few had any guess as to what it might have been. They kept their ideas to themselves, lest they risk the wrath and ire of their lord and a scolding in a language so ancient it seemed to make the sky above bend at his mercy.

A/N: I've always been interested with the concept of identical twin shenanigans, since all the twins I was ever acquainted with until high school were fraternal. Needless to say, there's always ways to be able to tell identical twins apart, and Johan will get better at it. One day. He's trying though.