A/N: Aaayyyy, it's been a while. I've been doing a bunch of worldbuilding instead of writing when it comes to this story in the meantime, so while I've been able to hammer out a ton of stuff, I unfortunately can't share most of it because spoilers. Hopefully this makes up for it though, the events of which impact just about everything that occurs afterwards chronologically-speaking.

This chapter takes place a few months after the end of the previous. It also does not yet have the official seal of approval from the editor, so I may end up slightly modifying things in the future.

Chapter Ten: The Academy Brat

With a mighty grunt, Tara flipped her sister Lena over her shoulder and into the dust. Both girls were breathing heavily and caked in dirt and sweat. A whistle cut through the air and they looked over at their tutor, whom was having a difficult time hiding his prideful grin.

"Good job, ladies," he said, clapping respectfully. "You can take a break now." The tutor then turned to the horrified younger children—Sterling, Maglina, and his own daughter Oriana—and folded his hands behind his back. "This is the level I want the three of you to be at when you're their age. Oriana? How long was that match?"

"Twelve minutes, forty-three seconds," the girl said, holding up a pocketwatch. "But Dad, Tara's really good… I don't know if I'll ever be as good as her at grappling."

"As long as you try, that's what counts the most," the tutor replied kindly. "I want the three of you to be able to hold your own against one another, just like Lena and Tara."

"With all due respect, Sir Daniel, but Tara was pulling her punches," Lena mentioned. The tutor turned and saw her examining a rip in the knee of her breeches while her sister kicked at the dirt.

"What…?"

"I don't go all-out against Lena, because she can't be going to court with two shiners and a gash on her face," Tara shrugged casually. "I do have some restraint."

"Hmm. I see," the tutor said. He thought for a moment before nodding slowly, clearly having come to a decision on something. "When do you think your parents are available to speak with me next?"

"Wait, you can't get her in trouble for going easy on me!" Lena gasped. She furrowed her brows in outrage. "That's not fair!"

"Hey, hey, relax—Tara's not in any sort of trouble," the tutor assured with a laugh. "It's just that we need to discuss something before it's too late."

Now that confused the children. "Too late for what, Sir Daniel?" Maglina asked. "Is it too late for Astra too? Should I get her from violin practice?"

"No dear; no one is in trouble and nothing is wrong. Sometimes adults need to talk about things, that's all." He patted the girl on the head and gave her a smile.

"Then what do you need to talk to Mama and Papa about?" Tara wondered.

"Oh, I think you'll like this conversation," the tutor chuckled.

The Marquis and Marchioness appeared an equal mixture of concerned and confused as they sat down to tea with their daughter and friend. Tara sat with her back stiff and white-knuckling the sides of her chair, her eyes flitting from one adult to another.

"What has Tara done this time?" the Marquis asked, tone level and practiced. The tutor shook his head.

"Nothing worth scolding over," the tutor replied. "If I'm not mistaken, you're going to make your yearly rounds of the Gallifreyan schools soon, correct?"

"Yes, but what does that have to do with Tara?"

"Everything." The tutor leaned back in his chair and motioned towards the tween. "When you make your visit to the military Academy, I think it would be in your best interest to talk to with the headmistress and have her set aside a spot for Tara in the autumn enrollment."

"Has she been acting difficult again?" the Marchioness asked, sternly focusing her attention on her daughter. The tutor shook his head.

"No; it's just that there's little more I can do for her and once she hits that ceiling she won't be able to go higher," he explained. "If Sterling was a bit older and more athletic I could try to figure out something, but unless you want me to start appropriating the grounds crew into her personal punching bags we have no choice but to send her to the Academy."

Tara's eyes lit up in excitement. "You mean, go to school? An actual school with other kids where we're told to beat each other up and not have to worry about giving opponents black eyes or twisted ankles?!" She began to bounce up and down in excitement. "Can I? Mama? Papa? Can I?"

Both Marquis and Marchioness went silent, with him folding his hands and propping his elbows on the table and her touching her stomach that was beginning to show child.

"Tara?"

"Y-Yes Papa?"

"Leave us, please."

"Okay…" She slipped off her chair and left the lounge, closing the door behind her. At the end of the hall stood her siblings and Oriana, even Astra fresh from violin practice, and she ran over to meet them.

"So? What was that about?" Lena asked. Tara grinned from ear to ear.

"Sir Daniel wants to put me in the Academy," she replied. "If I do that, I'm gonna be a soldier for sure! A real soldier! And I'll be going to school with the people I'll be commanding and working for! It'll be great!"

"…but what did Mama and Papa say?" Astra wondered. "You know how much Mama dislikes our learning how to fight."

"Yeah, but they know I want to be a soldier, and Sir Daniel suggested it, so my bet's that they're just discussing the details like when I'm gonna start and all that." Tara squeaked in happiness, hugging her twin tightly. "I'll finally get to do something!"

"With any luck," Lena chuckled, shaking her head. She glanced over at the younger kids, who were staring at them. "See? I told you that when Sir Daniel says there's no trouble that he's not lying."

"Wow… do you think if Tara goes to the Academy, then that means I can go to the College?" Sterling asked, his eyes wide and brows raised in hope. "The College, and then maybe on to the Royal University in the capital!"

"Hey, I wanna go too!" Oriana protested. "It's wouldn't be fair that you get to go and no one else!"

"If Ori's going, then I'm going!" Maglina added.

"That's enough, the three of you," Lena commanded. "Now, let's go up and order some tea. I think that will do us all some good, don't you think?" With that, she enlisted the help of Astra to usher the youngest children up to the nursery, leaving Tara to follow in a blissful daze.

As soon as Tara exited the room a heavy silence fell over the remaining occupants. The air was tense as the minutes passed, in order to make sure the children were as far away from the conversation before it started.

"I am going to make this perfectly clear," the Marquis glowered, leaning forward in his chair. "My daughter is not going to school where they take all the rejects from the scholars' College, causing me to worry about her safety the entire day from when she leaves at breakfast until I see her again at dinner. I forbid it."

"Then I don't know what you want me to do, Johan," the tutor snapped. "I'm running out of both options and resources quicker than I can replenish them. Tara wants to be a soldier in your army; let her be one."

"I have no objections to her being a soldier, but I do have objections to her being thrown into the rabble while still in her formative years. She is an officer, and officers don't muck about unsupervised with influences that can steer them down the wrong path before they have the skills necessary to see the right one." The Marquis narrowed his eyes as his glare intensified. "She will not attend the Academy."

"Sounding a bit elitist there, aren't you milord?" Turning towards the Marchioness, the tutor scoffed in frustration. "Sometimes I wonder how you ever fell in love with this man, let alone stayed in love with him."

"I would say you are forgetting your place, Daniel, but you do have a point," she sighed. The Marchioness was frowning in worry, lighting drumming her fingers on her stomach. "Why can't Tara attend the Academy? Those are her future comrades after all."

"Some are from good homes and respectable families, this is true, but not all are and as soon as they figure out who Tara is she will be in an incredible amount of danger," the Marquis replied, his voice straining to stay under control as he addressed his wife. "We can't risk her safety like that."

"…then what have I been doing the past seven years? Teaching her how to curtsey and hold her tongue in a man's presence?!" The tutor was standing now, his eyes lit in irritated fury. "Pick the roughest, most thuggish lout you can find and I would bet on your daughter any day of the week, Johan! She needs this!"

"I will not put any of my starlets in danger if I can help it, and you know that!" The Marquis stood as well, matching the tutor snarl-for-snarl. His whiskers bristled in anger that he just barely kept contained. "If you insist on integrating her then you will during the last year of her education, maybe two, but no more!"

"You aren't listening to me!" the tutor shouted, slamming his hands on the table before him. "Put her in now and she'll be at the top of her class! Keep her here until she's sixteen and she will not only be behind all her peers but eaten alive the moment she reports for her first day! I know how these places work and am only thinking about her future!"

"Would you send your daughter to the Academy, Daniel?" the Marquis hissed lowly. The tutor blinked, taken aback. "Well? Would you?"

"Oriana's thirst for academic knowledge greatly outstrips any soldiering ability she might have inherited from me. Sending her to the Academy would be nothing short from a death sentence for her entire future."

"Now you can see where I stand in the matter." The two fathers locked scowls, leaving the mother in the room to groan.

"I don't need the two of you butting heads, not now and not ever," the Marchioness said as she rolled her eyes. "You can't compare Tara and Oriana—they're too different in that regard. They both are on different paths to begin with." She stood and made her way to the door. "Thank you for your advice, Daniel. We'll think about it."

"…but Clara…"

"I said 'we'll think about it', Johan," she said firmly. The Marquis flinched at her words and backed down, returning to his chair. "I hope to have an answer for you soon; we'll send Oriana home when it's time for dinner."

"I think I'll fetch her now," the tutor replied. He kissed the Marchioness on the forehead before leaving the room, allowing the couple time alone.

"He doesn't know what he is talking about," the Marquis spat, slouching in his chair. "He went through the Academy in Gloucester with nothing to lose and everything to gain. Facing danger was second-nature to him, but Tara…"

"You're not being fair," his wife replied. "Our daughter could thrive there if given the chance. What do we really have to fear by allowing her to attend the Academy? That she won't find someone in her year that can be her equal in a sparring match?"

"That she will be treated unfairly because of her position," he groused. "Her instructors would favor her for the wrong reasons, her classmates would either try to curry her favor for low intentions or dismiss her as a highborn airhead trying to kill time, and she would be a walking target for years. I wouldn't be able to rest easy with her suffering through that, day in and day out, as she goes through some of the most difficult years of her life."

"Think about this before you make a final decision, Johan. Think long and hard," the Marchioness said. "You know where I stand on the matter, now we just have to be in agreement." She left the room, allowing her husband to stew in his ire.

Surely it was the better idea to keep Tara's education within the castle, he thought. She was not frail or delicate in any manner, yet she still knew little of the world. It was not her job to become the sovereign ruler of the march, and there was still a sister between her and full inheritance. He wanted her to be happy, but she was still a child—happiness could be found in a career or a marriage or even both, and he didn't want to lock her out of anything due to a decision made by a man that was not her father. How many respectable people would want to wed a highborn woman that went through the Academy? The concept was a rare one, and the only women he could think of that had both an Academy education and a titled father also died alone and full of regrets.

Regret. Those with Ancient Gallifrey in their blood had a very long time to live through their regrets. The Marquis did not want to spend his final years with an estranged daughter who lived spending her days surviving off an unused dowry, nor did he want to force an unwanted lifestyle on her instead. His daughters were all different and Tara was the most brash and wild of the lot. He did not know if he could trust her to keep a level head if she encountered true danger without the safety net of her tutor to diffuse things, and that was what probably pained him most of all. It was near-impossible to know, with the only way to find out was to send her on her way.

The decision, he knew, was not going to be an easy one. He leaned back in his chair and scowled at the empty room—things were much easier when the children did nothing but crave their parents' attention. Now that their attention was desired less and less, it seemed as if the job of parenting was becoming increasingly difficult.

A few weeks later and the Marquis was going through his yearly rounds of the local schools, making sure things were up to standard. The rounds were being made by him alone, unfortunately, as the Marchioness was having some discomfort with their unborn child and they both decided it was safer for her to remain at the castle for the day. He had already gone through the Gallifreyan Primary, as well as the academic College Gallifrey, and now he was on the local branch of the military Academy. The students impressed their lord, showing him a standard that told him that the borders would stay well-fortified even when he passed the reins of the marquisate to his firstborn. The headmistress had just finished showing him the officers' program when they came to a stop in her office.

"Is everything in top order, milord?" she asked. He stared out the window at the training yard below, where students were performing drills for their instructors.

"Yes, it is," he replied, narrowing his eyes as he studied the goings-on outside. "It is no lie that we turn out some of the finest soldiers in the kingdom, and this school can take much of the credit. I think we can definitely find something in the budget to help update your gymnasium."

"Why thank you, milord. You are most kind," the headmistress beamed. She poured them both some tea from the spread that had been laid for them on the table. "Is there anything else I can do for you while you're here? It is nearly the end of the day, but I'm sure we can find the time to do something if our local commander requests it."

The Marquis hesitated, indecision gripping him. Should he? Shouldn't he? His brain warned him to do one thing, the rational thing, yet his gut was screaming that his brain was dead wrong. After clearing his throat he nodded, though reluctantly.

"The castle has a promising young ward, you see, and she seems keen on entering the military upon adulthood," he said. "Could you find a spot for her in the autumn enrollment for me? The castle tutor can't do much more for her, it would seem."

"Of course, milord," the headmistress said with a short bow of her head. "What is her name?"

"Tara… the same as my one daughter. It's been causing some confusion as of late."

"…and what is her surname?"

"…Smith. It's Tara Smith."

"Well, any student with the backing of the Lord Marquis has a place in the Academy as long as I'm in charge," the headmistress replied. "You can inform your ward that she is expected in class first thing in the autumn, and don't worry: I shall be discreet about her benefactor, in case anyone would get the wrong idea."

"Thank you. I'm sure she shall be delighted." A great weight seemed to lift off his shoulders as the headmistress sat down at her desk to write down Tara's name in the ledger. If he was going to regret this, with any luck it would be that he did not reveal it was his daughter they were enrolling and nothing more. "You will keep me updated on her progress, will you? Let me know if things get out of hand with her?"

"I wouldn't worry about that, milord," the headmistress said. She finished writing down Tara's name and closed the ledger. "Rarely do our students get out of hand, even those whom the College consider to be 'problem children', so I wouldn't worry." Giving him a knowing smile, she put her pen down and folded her hands over the closed book. "Your daughter will be given all the same opportunity and treatment as the other students. It is by merit and skill through which our students excel."

"Thank you. That is comforting to kno…" the Marquis began, before realizing his slip. He glanced over at the headmistress as the tips of his ears turned red. "Not a word about this to anyone, you hear?"

"Not a word about what, milord?" she asked with a grin. He opened his mouth to correct her, but realized her intention and sat down in a chair.

"Precisely," he nodded. The Marquis scratched at the edge of his goatee in embarrassment and cleared his throat. "Now, about the refurbishment of your gymnasium…"

A/N: On occasion I open up prompts over on my writing tumblr and in the past month some of them have been SASBB-related. If anyone's interested in a couple Daniel/Martha one-shots and some of Johan being cute, I'm leaving links on my profile.