"Where is the real Prince James?"

For a moment it seemed as though the 'Prince' was going to deny it, going to prolong the fight and try and convince Nemo of a lie. However one look at the stone cold expression on Nemo's face told the man that nothing he said apart from the real truth was ever going to be received by her. With a sigh and a look as though he was always expecting at some point to be caught out, the 'Prince' finally relinquished the truth.

"He died not too long ago, I'm his twin brother,"

For a moment Nemo wanted to argue the point further, at first not buying the whole 'sudden mystery brother appearance', however the look on the man's face that stood in front of her seemed to tell enough that despite of how it sounded, what he had said was the truth. The servant rubbed her hands together for a moment before looking back to the Prince's brother.

"Why didn't the royal family just say that Prince James has died? Why go to all the effort of using you to fool everyone?"

"My brother was meant to slay a dragon in King Midas' kingdom; now that he is gone it's up to me to do it, to keep the kingdom's pride intact, and make sure it doesn't fall to ruin." And nothing is more fragile than the kingdom's pride. Even the slightest comment that the fields might not be as plentiful as the people like to say, and there would nooses ready for treason against king and country. This was probably why Nemo found it pretty easy to believe now that the Royals would leave facts such as their Prince's untimely death well under wraps and away from gossiping ears of others in the court.

Still, there was something else in this equation that was pretty important in order to still keep a good impression.

"You know how to slay Dragons?"

The replacement Prince looked down and chuckled a little under his breath, the uneasiness of his form and very, almost unnoticeable shake of his hands already told Nemo the answer before he even managed to put it into words.

"Not exactly, I'm really a sheep farmer,"

"Ah," Nemo made a sound of sympathy, agreement and worry. Well, this didn't seem like a plan that was going to work out well. Really it seemed as though the King, as much as he wanted to keep the face of his kingdom as near heavenly, he also had the subconscious urge to fire an arrow in his own foot before he could get ahead.

Really taking a quick look over this man seemed to tell Nemo's almost animal connected senses, that he wasn't much of a warrior. At this moment, in the animalistic world of fight or flight, to Nemo he seemed like a runner, or a peace keeper. And if the Kingdom was expecting him, as he was now, to not only fight a dragon, but also win, they were going to be in for one hell of a letdown.

Nemo thought for a moment, hand gently touching at her cheek and stroking as she thought. Fighting, the willingness to attack and destroy those that stood in her way, was something that Nemo felt instinctively in her blood. She could feel it right now, pumping through her heart and to every fiber of her being. It was part of her Beorn nature to be ready for anything, something her family had managed to teach her, before they were ripped away.

A slight shake of the head rid Nemo of the terrible thought of her family, at least the memory of what had been done to them. She needed to remain on target, keep with the issue at hand. After all, there is an opportunity in everything, even the most hopeless looking of scenarios, to get something that one would want.

Perhaps…

"Perhaps…" The twin brother of the Prince looked back to Nemo, who had currently taken to pacing slowly and surely in a straight line, hand still stroking the cheek in absent action as her mind seemed to race. The girl would take a moment to stop and look back at the Prince that stood in front of her. In doing so she couldn't help but think back to the child she was once when her family had found her.

"Perhaps?"

Nemo turned back to face him, a wide smile gracing her lips, one that was wider than it ever before seemed possible. In fact, the Prince couldn't help but feel a slight shiver, one that at that moment he didn't realize was the human centered shiver that was trying to tell him that something about this servant, the very being of her, was unnatural.

"Perhaps, I could help you,"

Lydia had to leave the company of Mary Margaret and David as the nurse pushed her back into the Hospital where her father was waiting. And the entire trip that the teenager took down those hallways that would eventually lead to the visitor's lounge, she spent it trying to think of a way that she could pretend to be unconscious or divert the way so that she didn't have to see him while obviously conscious and able to have a conversation.

She really didn't want to speak to him, especially after the last time they had traded words, when she had been planning for that to be the last time they would ever speak. Speaking to him now, would just be a signed and sealed admission that she failed, and that there was no chance for her now to leave this town that she so apparently hated. And not only that, but now she had to depend on him, the man she still believed didn't really care for her whatsoever.

But still he would let her back into the house, and help her like the doctors would tell him he had to until her injuries healed. And Mr. Gold would do all of that, mostly for the image of a good father that he seemed to like putting up, even though there was a select few of people that could see through the cracks of that mirage. But there was also, in Lydia's mind anyway, the fact that letting her back in the house, would be him just rubbing it in that much more that she had failed.

And there was nothing she could do.

No more running away, no more lies. So, after a few hallways of trying to think of ways to lie and pretend so that she wouldn't have to see him or speak to him, Lydia swallowed back her pride and accepted that this needed to be done.

The visitor's lounge doors were opened for her as the nurse wheeled her in. Lydia had, despite her previous decision to not pretend or lie and instead just face him, her eyes couldn't help but fall to the casts that trapped her legs in this place and maintained eye contact there as she was pushed through the room for a few moments before eventually being placed next t a certain lounge in the corner of the room, away from the other patients and their visitors.

Her father was standing quietly by the window nearby, which was only interesting since that particular window was at the right side and level that he could see the whole Hospital gardens. Lydia watched him from the corner of her eye, through a curtain of her curly blonde hair as her head stayed down the entire time.

"Do you know a David Nolan?" Apparently that was the best that Lydia could do in order to break the ice, or in this case try and take a chip out of it since nothing would really be able to melt away the awkward feeling in the air. Mr. Gold moved away from the window after this little moment of speech, and sat on the lounge that was next to her before bothering to reply.

"David Nolan was a comatose John Doe patient here for a few long months. He was only named when he managed to wake up and his wife identified him. Apart from that, I haven't met him in person," Lydia nodded at her father's reply, head still down and eyes mostly on the floor as she processed this information, again feeling that weird emptiness in her stomach at the mention of his wife, but once again Lydia pushed it off as hunger or something as the conversation between herself and her father moved to another point.

"Are they treating you well here?" For anyone else to ask that question, it would be considered normal small talk that Lydia would feel somewhat thankful for since it gave the impression that they seemed to care about her. But when her father asked that question, it felt alien and as if there was something else going on behind that inquiry. Still the teenager felt for some reason in that moment, too exhausted to bother pointing that out and instead just answered the question.

"Yeah, their breakfast here is pretty great and the gardens are beautiful," Her tone was borderline depressive as her head still didn't lift, mostly because she was too comfortable not looking at her father to bother lifting her head to see him eye to eye. She just didn't seem to have it in her at that moment despite her previous want to see him face to face, and instead wanted to get this over with as quickly as possible.

Perhaps it was finally seeing him, (well it was more like hearing since she hadn't lifted her head to look at him this whole time), after what she had hoped at the time would be the 'final confrontation', combined with having to swallow her pride and accept the embarrassment of her plan to leave being a failure, and overall inability to get away or even stand up. All of it just added to the conclusion of her just being tired out. In that moment, Lydia didn't want to fight him, or anyone really. She just wanted everything to be over with so she could go home and curl up in the bed she had anticipated to never see again.

There wasn't much else of importance to note for a time as they two continued to converse, the subjects of the chatter being the usual for idle small talk, the weather and such. Lydia found the talking eventually so monotonous that she regressed to small back-of-the-throat noises for conformation or disagreement. Her head had lifted somewhat during this time, though really that was mostly because it was starting to hurt her neck having hanged down like she did.

"You had the night terror again last night," Mr. Gold's comment made an attempt to slice through the thick awkwardness that hung in the air, however it turned out just as effective as a butter knife trying to slice through beef. Perhaps his intention had been to somehow rile her up, since he knew how much of a sensitive subject it was for her. How embarrassing it made her feel that at seventeen she still had the same nightmares from when she was a little kid.

But it was more humiliating that even after all this time they still managed to scare her. It was always on the full moons of the month, like clockwork. That meant every day for a week she would either wake herself up in her night terror by screaming loud enough, or woke in the morning in a cold sweat and feeling all over miserable for the entire day. The only thing that seemed to really save her shame about this subject was that as far as she knew only three people knew about it. Herself, Mr. Gold and Dr. Whale.

And while Dr. Whale might be something of a bastard in every other situation, he seemed to hold his vows as a doctor in very high regard, and that thankfully also included patient confidentiality.

Tests had been done when she was younger, and so many medications that the Doctor had really believed would help, but only seemed make it worse. In the end it was suggested that for now Lydia would just have to live with it until the medical professional managed to find another way that might just cure her of this affliction.

In any case, Lydia was not as riled up emotionally as she would have been before, her exhaustion to just get through this situation taking a higher priority as she instead kept her head down and talked as softly as ever.

"Did they say how bad it was?"

"Well no, but it's best not to dwell on the nasty particulars such as that wouldn't you say?" Strange, more often than not with this situation of hers, Mr. Gold would like to bring up the nasty particulars the next morning. Again that was just his way to wind the teenager up whenever he seemed to be bored or possibly annoyed with her. Plus there was the fact that he had brought up the whole mess in the first place so why not talk about the messy details.

Still, the teenager was too tired to bother bringing it up, so instead she just nodded and went along with it.

Apparently this was the straw that broke the metaphorical camel's back as Mr. Gold's patience for her melancholy attitude was spent. The pawn shop owner knelt at his daughter's wheelchair, and considering his leg injury this was something of a great feat, as he moved his hand carefully through the curtain of golden curls to touch under her chin, finally lifting her head so she would look him in the eye.

For a moment there was an attempt from the parent to silently communicate with his child, trying to look through her eyes to see what she was thinking, but Lydia would look away with every opportunity he was given, not wanting him to see her weakness and embarrassment as raw as she felt it. Eventually Mr. Gold decided to drop the effort and instead decided to confront the issue verbally.

"What's wrong?" His tone had never been this soft and almost... tentative, it almost fooled the teenager into thinking that he was genuinely concerned about her and what she was feeling. But Lydia didn't allow that thought to grow from the second it appeared, pushing the very idea to the back of her mind before she bothered to answer back.

"Nothing that you wouldn't enjoy hearing about," Her weaker tone that she had used before this point now gained a sense of distain as her true thoughts finally peeled through the tired exterior. Her self-hate at the thought that her plan had failed, and the fact that she believed he was only here to shove it back in her face taking the main stage in her emotions.

Today was not evidently one where she was emotionally stable, her plans to just let this all happen and try not to fight being dropped several times for the sake of her anger at him and herself.

"I failed okay? I know you're just here to point that out to me, to rub it in the wounds that I'm still here and not just that but now I can't even stand up, much less try to leave again. And not just that, but now I have to depend on you from now on even though that's the last thing I want. So just say it, get it out of the way so I can leave and just get this over with!"

During her emotional spiel her father just stood in front of her, now expressionless and patiently waiting for her to be finished. Though of course that only seemed to annoy her even more, the thought that this was him just succeeding in riling her up at last not even coming to her attention as she just allowed herself to finally burst and say a few things that were bothering her. When she was finished and it seemed at that moment that she was out of words to yell in order to describe her feelings, he finally decided to speak.

"I did not come here to flaunt your failure Dearie; in fact I was expecting more of a fight from you from this point. You want to leave Storybrooke? Well sitting here and wallowing in your lowest moment won't get you any closer to the world on the other side of that town line," She could feel her face heat up in shame as he spoke rather candidly, but didn't bother to turn away from him after he was finished giving his daughter the reality check she apparently needed.

"Then what happens now?" Lydia was quick to follow up after he had spoken, not wanting her embarrassment at being practically told off as though she were still a child to linger in silence.

"Well, I was going to discharge you from the Hospital and take you home, maybe stop at Grannies' on the way and pick up lunch. But apparently the Doctors still want to check you over and Deputy Swann wants to have a word with you before we go," Mr. Gold replied nonchalantly as he walked around to the back of her wheel chair and started to wheel her out of the room, ignoring the nurses and other patients that were by this point staring at the both of them.

Sometimes Lydia was surprised by how little her adoptive father seemed to care on what others thought of him, but then again that was probably helped by the fact that he owned their houses. The teenager decided that instead of bothering to fight further since she was too tired to try, sat back in the wheelchair and watched the people that walked by as she was lead back to her hospital room.

There wasn't much of a conversation after this point between Mr. Gold and his daughter, though Lydia would take a moment or two, whenever she was sure that he wasn't looking, to peek at her father as he pushed her along.

He always seemed to surprise her, even when she was absolutely sure of what he was going to do. Even now he was still managing to surprise those that were around him, since despite the issue he'd always seemed to have about his leg, he still had the ability apparently to push her wheelchair down the halls and back to her room without a problem. Hell, there were times that she was sure as a child when she was sleeping, even as old as fourteen, of him carrying her to bed when she was very close to sleep and her sight was pretty blurry.

Lydia never seemed to be ready to admit that she was never really going to figure her father out, partly because she was still, even now after that rather sad confrontation that had bruised her ego, too stubborn to admit it. But there was also a part of her that seemed to not want to. As if there was something else behind it, something that she was better off not knowing…

"Ah, here we are," Her father's voice brought her back to the present as he opened the door to her hospital room, wheeling her inside. However it seemed as though there was no time for an awkward moment of the father and daughter to wonder how she was going to be lifted back into her hospital bed, as there was someone already in the room, waiting patiently in the visitor's chair in the corner of the room.

Lydia, being the first to enter the room, was of course the first to see who this mystery visitor was. And so because of that her reaction wasn't that great.

"Mayor Mills? I didn't know you made hospital visits," Naturally there was a sarcastic undertone when Lydia spoke, being that the teenager found no joy in this woman being here whatsoever. Mr. Gold, who followed in a second later, seemed no happier with the Mayor being here than even the woman was herself.

"Yes well, Mayoral Priorities always go on the back burner when it comes to my son, I'm sure your father understands the feeling," Regina's reply could be construed as simply a small amount of parental topic chit chat, however Lydia saw it more as a rather candid dig at the teenager, since the Mayor knew just as well as everyone of the strained relationship between father and daughter. Nevertheless Lydia kept her face impassive for the time being as plans begun to form in her head.

There was always something one could get out of a situation, no matter how tedious and unlikely it seemed. That was something Lydia felt she had learned from watching her father's endless deals day in and day out, because to be honest she had to learn at least something from all that. Otherwise that could be seen as a massive waste of time. In any case, Lydia had decided what it was that she wanted from the Mayor, and being snarky from this point on was certainly not going to get her what she desired.

"All too well of course, but what I don't understand is what my daughter has to do with your son right now," Mr. Gold answered back, hands now clasping around his ever present cane. Regina looked a little peeved, but then again she always seemed to have that expression. Lydia didn't bother to mention it as she usually would have, especially considering the fact that as of this moment there was something that the teenager wanted from the Mayor.

"Is Henry okay?" Lydia was sort of using this question as an opening point for her to speak in this conversation, after all if there was anything she hated more, it was being a third wheel to the banter of these two, especially when it could take all day with it. But of course there was also a little concern in the teenager for the ten year old boy she use to baby sit, after all Lydia barely really remembered what happened after the particular mine cave in that injured her, and she was hoping that he was alright.

"Oh Henry's fine, a few bumps and scratches only, thanks to you," Mayor Mills was not someone who often showed that she was thankful, so Lydia took the mention of it as a full thanks and nodded. Still, she was taking her chanced to talk before her adoptive father interrupted with his usual deal making; it was her turn after all.

"Mayor Mills, there was something I wanted to ask of you," Regina raised an eyebrow at the comment, but Lydia tried not look as so unsure of herself as she was suddenly feeling. Really, it seemed as only the only two other people in the hospital room at that moment where ever capable of making her feel this way, as though she were sorry for even speaking. Literally there seemed to be no one else in the two that was capable of making her feel like that, though Lydia felt that she didn't need to figure out exactly why that was.

"And what would that be Miss Gold?" Well, at least Lydia was being given the chance to say what it was she wanted. Now was not the time to lose face, so Lydia took the chance and ran with it.

"I want to babysit Henry again."

The silence was palpable, and more of Regina's answer to that question than her talking could ever imply. Still, the Mayor was someone who liked to make her decision clearly noted to everyone in the town, just to make sure that everyone knew she was in control. A rather annoying trait of her's that the people of the town just had to accept, unless they wanted to be on her list, which was by the way not a good place to be.

"Absolutely not. Need I remind you Miss Gold, that I do not approve of criminals watching my son,"

"That was barely even a crime, the lawnmower survived right?"

"Yes, but the Town's garden center didn't, and that counts as vandalism,"

Lydia did her best not to roll her eyes at the Mayor, after all she was still trying to fight for what she wanted, and insulting Regina was sure fire way to fail in that regard. Still, the woman was quite the memory keeper, and evidently was not one to forgive the past.

"That's hardly relevant right now is it Regina? After all, it was two years ago," Mr. Gold spoke up for the first time for a while in this conversation, the pawnshop owner standing by his adopted daughter's wheelchair, both hands now clutching onto his cane. It wasn't hard for Lydia to notice that he had taken the stance he usually did when making a deal, and any deal he made was always one he won.

This was evidence enough for Lydia to know that Mr. Gold was going to help her, though why he would ever do that was confusing enough. Still, he was helping her and there was no reason she should point this out, after all if she wanted to win, she would need all the tools available to her. So, Mr. Gold had begun his bargaining, possibly before Regina had noticed. The argument changed from between Lydia and Regina, to Regina and Mr. Gold.

"It is relevant because I don't want a vandal watching my son,"

"You didn't seem to mind my daughter watching your son as he ran into a dangerous rock mine and kept him safe, or would you rather that your son's legs were broken rather than my daughter's?" Lydia had to bite her lip to stop herself making some kind of comment along the lines of 'Woop there it is' or 'swerve', after all that might ruin the mood that his comment had created.

"Of course not," Regina's reply was slightly weaker; something that Lydia wasn't even aware was possible. But that wasn't the only surprising thing that happened within those few minutes in the Hospital room; as Mr. Gold then continued on to take a step closer to his current opponent and ended the whole debate, as he usually did, with his last word.

"Well, as a mother who would usually be thankful of someone saving their son from a great deal of pain, one would think you'd be willing to accept her request," There was a moment of silence before he added, "Please".

Regina stared at the pawn shop owner for a moment, her anger pretty clear. And yet for some reason, that possibly had something to do with the 'please' that Mr. Gold who had added at the end, Regina relented. Honestly it was a moment that Lydia had never expected to happen, certainly something that the teenager felt was something to remember and possibly tell her grandchildren some day.

"You have every Friday afternoon Miss Gold, no payment, television and no filling his head with idiotic ideals. Remember what got you fired in the first place,"

And with that last comment, the Mayor of Storybrooke left the Hospital room, the click of her high heels continuing down the somewhat quiet hallway that would lead to the Hospital's exit. Following the silence of her absence, Lydia couldn't really help the sarcastic comment she finally let out.

"Remember what got me fired? I named a dog after her,"

Perhaps the former sheep farmer now known as the Prince didn't believe that Nemo couldn't help him, and to be honest the girl would be understanding where he was coming from with that, but still it seemed as though there were no other substantial options for him to choose from. And so, with some chatting u from the king, the Prince managed to have Nemo set up as his squire.

Of course there was some gossip started in the royal court that the Prince would have a young girl as his squire, but because neither Nemo nor the Prince cared much for the opinions of the royal court, it didn't bother them all that much. The pair eventually found time in between entertaining King Midas and the girls left over duties as a servant to go out into a rather deserted part of the castle's land in order to begin training.

Honestly when Nemo had agreed on somehow training the Prince, she hadn't mean sword fighting. After all, her life was mostly lived in the solace of a forest with her family there was never any kind of sword play. So in that regard she wasn't even as close to being the beginner that the Prince at this point was.

Still in the beginning she asked him to show her the abilities he had at the moment just to see what he was capable of. His sword handling of course was okay, enough to defend himself from the average person. But then again he wasn't going up against a person, this was a dragon that needed to conquered. Simple sword play wasn't going to be enough.

"Not bad, now attack me," Nemo stood ready to be attacked, but the Prince was confused and ill-ready to fight her. She only raised her eyebrow instead of saying anything, and went to attack him first. She was fast, possibly too fast for the normal human, but she wasn't really thinking at the time. A mistake on her part, but still it seemed that he hadn't noticed the complete impossibility of her movements, at least not just yet.

Though it was possible that because she was attacking him he was too busy defending himself from attack to notice the oddity in the way she had done the assault. However one too quick movement was possible to ignore, but one after the another eventually got his attention as the Prince quickly jumped out of the way and looked at the girl he was now incredibly confused by.

"How are you doing that?"

Nemo pondered how well lying would do her at this moment, but the girl could already tell that whatever she said would not convince the Prince from what he had seen with his very eyes. And not just that, but lying to him wasn't really a good way to have the Prince trust her, and that was what she hoped to get out of this in the first place.

But was he trustworthy enough to hold onto her secret? One look again over his expression said that he was curious, suspicious and certainly weary of what she had just managed to do. But she didn't see any fear on him, which was certainly a good thing since fear always lead to hate and then she could be in real danger. So, if he wasn't afraid now, there was a good chance that when she explained it, he would still not be afraid f her.

The girl sighed, the air hissing out through clenched teeth as she was still thinking over what she was going to do. Nemo already knew that she would be gambling on her safety whether she chose to lie or tell the truth.

"Well…"

There was a chance that even if the Prince went the rather primal way of fearing what he didn't understand, that at least he wouldn't go to the court with this information. After all, they were throwing him to a dragon in the place of his brother, he was a tool to them for the saving of their kingdom. He had one use, the court knew that, he knew that, even Nemo knew that. He obviously didn't trust them whatsoever, so why should he tell them anything?

Still, she was gambling.

"I'm…one of the Beorn,"

Life was supposed to be about taking chances wasn't it?

Mr. Gold had left just the moment before Deputy Swann arrived, the teenager being a little thankful of that fact since it gave less of an audience and Lydia had already felt like she had made quite the performance out of herself already today. While attempting to get comfortable in the hospital bed, which was a little difficult to do considering the fact that there was now a very noticeable itch in her cast, Lydia and Emma started talking.

"Hey, how are you holding up?" The Deputy took the guest seat that seemed to have been filled with quite a few characters today.

"Not too terribly, had quite a few visitors today," Lydia attempted one more time to get a little more comfortable before finally giving up and just paying more attention to the conversation.

"Well I promise not to be here long, I just need to ask you some questions about your time in the mines,"

It wasn't a very long process for the teenage to answer the questions and detail her experience in the mines, though the conversation did have her slipping once and a while into the conversation she had had with the ten year old boy while they were down there, and then to the fact that Regina had allowed her to babysit him again.

"Really? I didn't think she'd be open to that kind of request,"

"Well my… Mr. Gold managed to somehow convince her," Lydia winced when she remembered the heart and soul bearing conversation she had had with the Deputy when she partly delirious and partly in pain because her legs had been broken. The almost slip of her usual naming Mr. Gold as her father would have been signal enough for the Deputy to bring that up, but thankfully she didn't.

"Well, he is a deal maker isn't he, must have found a way to get on her good side," Lydia made a rather unsubtle face at what the Deputy had said, finding it hard to believe that Regina had a good side to be on in the first place.

"Not really, he just said please and for some reason, she relented. Still, I get to babysit again so all's well that ends well," Lydia was definitely willing to look over the weirdness of the deal just as long as she got what she wanted, then it was all good and forgotten to her. Deputy Swann however, didn't seem to think that it was worth letting go, judging by the expression on her face, but still the woman didn't say anything more on the subject and instead just moved along to the end of her questioning.

"So, is there anything else you remember about the mines that are worth mentioning, anything that was suspicious or made you feel off?"

"No, but I think that Henry saw something under the stones, something shiny I think he said. I don't think he managed to find it, whatever it was," After that, Lydia seemed to think that she had covered over everything that had happened that night, apart from that tear jerking conversation of course but the teenager would be all too glad to let go.

"Alright, well I don't want to bother you any longer so I'll be going," The Deputy made it to the door of the room before Lydia interrupted her with one last request.

"Could you say hi to Henry for me Deputy?"

"Sure, goodbye Miss Gold," Lydia tried not to show the wince she felt when she was referred to by her last name, and thankfully managed to succeed as Miss Swann said nothing more and opened the door, stopping for a moment as Mr. Gold was on the other side.

"Ah, how nice of you to stop by Deputy, Say hi to Henry for me," The Deputy spared a moment to look between the man and his adopted daughter before finally leaving, the door shutting softly behind her as once more it was just Lydia and Mr. Gold left in the room.

"Not that I really care, but how did you manage to convince Regina to let me babysit?" Lydia as pretty sure that she would rather ask an obvious question instead of leaving the both of them sitting in the awkward silence before the teenager was finally checked over for the last time before being discharged from the Hospital and taken back home.

"Well, it was really more of a gamble than anything. Life is all about taking chances isn't it?"

Nemo watched the Prince for a reaction after telling him that she was one of the Beorn, well, mostly she was waiting for the flash of fear and the replacement of bitter hatred for something that he did not fully understand. It was the reaction that the girl had found herself use to waiting for, the emotions towards her that would be as familiar to her as the faces of those she had loved.

However, after those few futile moments where someone who had been the kindest to her could turn onto one of her worst problems, Nemo saw no change in the Prince's expression, no fear, no anger, no hatred. There was nothing but a blank slate instead. For a moment she wanted to believe that maybe instead he was really good at hiding what he felt, after all he was a pretty good actor when it came to pretending to be his brother. But soon that theory was pushed out too when the Prince spoke.

"What is a Beorn?"

Okay, this was not the sort of reaction that the girl was use to, but at least it wasn't outright anger or hatred. And, it was the kind of chance that she hadn't seen in a long while. The chance to educate, to change the opinion of at least one person so that they could understand. With the training lesson now forgotten for one of a more educational standpoint, the girl sat down on a nearby tree stump, readying herself to be quite the teacher for exactly what Beorn are and what they really do.

"The Beorn are a collection of powerful, yet peaceful beings, some of us are capable of things that other Beorn are not, or we're better at some things than others. We are stronger, faster than the normal human, we heal faster, and have instincts of the earth that is hard to explain to those that have not felt it. But we do not use these powers for anything other than t protect ourselves, and live a life of peace,"

"Were you born a Beorn or…"

Nemo chuckled to herself, and went on in her explanation. She also made sure to cover the rather unsuitable parts of becoming a Beorn that hopefully might chase away any thoughts this Prince might be having of becoming like her in order to slay a certain dragon. After all, there is no real easy way for anything and she was hoping that this might remind him of that fact.

"The Beorn are made, not born. The only time a human can become like me, is when they are very young, otherwise… Well, it is very a painful experience to become one, and requires a lot of work from other Beorn to keep the child alive. Going through the change when you're an adult is a sure and excruciating way to die."

"So, who changed you into one of the Beorn?" The Prince was now sitting by her on one of the tree stumps close to her's. The girl smiled at the proper grammar of the Beorn, hoping that this was one of the many steps forward to educating someone of what was really true about her families.

"Well, usually we keep in groups, families of a great number that goes into the hundreds, it is required of every one of them to help someone go through the change, just to make sure that nothing goes wrong. The choice to change someone is also made by the group as a whole, which was something of a safety net, just to make sure no one horrid of heart was allowed to become what I am,"

"Where is your family?"

Nemo grimaced, her hands now wrapped around her middle in order to comfort her as she felt her mind being pulled back to the memories of log ago. The memories of feeling the heat on her face, and hearing the screams of her family in her ears that still echoed in her mind after all this time.

"They're gone, they're all gone. It's just me now,"

The Prince noticed his blunder and lowered his gaze.

"I'm sorry,"

Nemo jumped off from her tree stump, the educational lesson over as she forcibly shoving the horrid memories of her past to the back of her mind as she instead tried to settle on the issue at hand. The girl attempted to smile like everything was back to the way it was before. To smile despite it all, that was her way of trying to move on.

"Don't be, you didn't kill them did you? Anyway, we're supposed to be training right?"

"Are you going to train me to be as fast as you?" Nemo couldn't help but chuckle again as they moved back to the position they were in before, the

"No, that was a mistake, apologies. Though while I must admit I know nothing about sword fighting, I know a lot about fighting on your instincts. What I'm trying to do, is train you to fight using what you know before you became a Prince, the maneuvers you know by instinct,"

"Are you sure that'll work?"

"Trust me,"

"Trust me Miss Gold, these painkillers are going to work," Doctor Whale handed over the small white pill bottle to the teenager as a conclusion to the final medical check over. The teenager took the bottle gratefully and stuffed it in her pocket, wanting to hold onto the pills herself rather than hand them over to Mr. Gold, who was standing by her wheelchair.

"Whatever you say Doc, though I wish I could go home with some more of that morphine. I was so out of it I couldn't remember what my name was," The teenager grinned and thanked the Doctor one more time before she and her adoptive father were allowed to finally leave the hospital. As she was wheeled out of the hospital, Lydia was looking silently around the halls, hoping to catch a glimpse of David so that she could say goodbye. Not that she would ever admit to anyone she was looking for him, especially not to her father.

"Well, like I said before Dearie, how about we stop by Grannies for Lunch before heading home again?" Her father didn't wait for an answer however as he continued out to the car park of the hospital, where the car was waiting. Lydia made it so that for the last few meters to the vehicle, that she was the one wheeling herself. When reaching the car, the teenager wasn't unsurprised to see that there was a driver with the car, who was now getting out to assist Lydia and her father in getting her into the car.

Though while she was unsurprised, Lydia was a little bit embarrassed that her father needed to pick her up bridle style and move her into the back seat while the driver dealt with folding the wheelchair and placing it in the boot. At least the teenager had managed to convince Mr. Gold that she wasn't so injured that she couldn't fix the seat belt for herself. Eventually they were ready to finally leave the Hospital, and spent the drive to Grannies in complete silence.

When arriving both Mr. Gold and the hired driver once again went through the process of unfolding the wheelchair and placing Lydia in it before she wheeled herself alongside her father into the diner.

After finding a free table in the corner of the diner and ordering a simple lunch of burgers, Lydia couldn't help but admit that she was enjoying just this small moment of normalcy between the two of them, she even managed to make her father laugh once. Of course it was interrupted, which wasn't unusual but the teenager couldn't help but admit that she was slightly disappointed.

The interruption was sourced on this occasion by the entrance of a certain florist by the name of Moe French, who for one reason or another was always on Mr. Gold's bad side, which wasn't helped by the fact that he was always late on his payments due to the fact that the rent price for his shop was higher than it was for any other shop that her father owned in the town. When the florist saw the figure of his landlord in the corner, he knew as well as Lydia did that he had made something of a big mistake.

"Well, it seems that some business has suddenly come up, I'm sorry Dearie but it looks as though I'm going to be held up for a moment, don't let your food get cold," With that, the business man walked over to Mr. French, though by the look in the florist's eyes, it was if the landlord was stalking towards him like a predator did to their prey. Lydia could almost find herself feeling bad for him, but for one reason or another, it was never enough for it to matter.

While her adoptive father was away however, it seemed that Lydia would be occupied with some business of her own, as someone sat directly where her father had been not a moment after he had left. The teenager jumped at the recognition that there was someone else sitting across from her and turned her body to face them, her figure relaxing when she saw who it was.

"Jesus Granny, I forgot how fast you are," The teen sighed as she continued to eat her fries, the older woman that was now sitting across from her, and smiled slightly at the fact that she could still manage to get the curly blonde to jump in surprise.

"I wanted to talk to your while your father was busy with his …. dealings," A slight look back in the direction of her father and Mr. French was enough to tell that Mr. Gold was in the middle of telling the florist exactly how little amount of time he had on this occasion, and that was all by the look of true horror on his face. Lydia looked back to the older woman with something of a nod of understanding.

"So, what do you need?" Lydia sat a little straighter in her wheelchair as she awaited the usual gruff reply from the older woman, possibly something along the lines of telling her not to come into the diner again or something. At least, the teenager was hoping she wouldn't say that, what she was wishing fro was a chance at redemption with the older woman and her red loving granddaughter. After all, the blonde had been somewhat close to them when she was younger, at least that was before she became something of a thrill and daddy attention seeker.

Lydia was ultimately hoping that Granny could see that those days of foolhardiness and vandalism for her own ends were over, even though there was a pair of broken legs that told she was still not completely in her element of becoming a full adult. In any case the teenager found she was now left to wait in anticipation in those few milliseconds for whatever Granny was going to say.

"I don't need you to do anything, I just wanted to say… I was wrong about you," Granny gave a look as though she didn't want the teenager to mention the last sentence out loud and keep it to herself. Lydia only grinned in reply, happy that her wish had been granted instead of her greatest fears.

There was yet another interruption from this discussion by the entrance of David Nolan. However thankfully this man was not going to be suddenly jumped by Mr. Gold today, (who was still in the middle of drowning Mr. French in the amount of debt that was piling only higher and higher). In fact, it seemed that David was here to seek someone out here himself. And judging by the small envelopes that were in his hands, it was more than one person.

"Ah, Lydia and Miss…" David greeted and trailed off as he walked up to the teenager and older woman first, three envelopes being chosen out from the pile that was in his other hand. Lydia smiled almost immediately in reaction, happy that she got to see the man after all today, and was also happy to now that he had obviously been also discharged from the Hospital. Granny in the mean time just smirked at the trail off before replying.

"Just call me Granny Mr. Nolan, everyone else does," The older woman replied.

"Right well… My wife wanted to invite both you and your granddaughter to my… homecoming tomorrow night. Also I wanted to invite you to Lydia, just to have a familiar face around y'know," The two women smiled and accepted the invitations, Granny managing to pass the invite for her granddaughter to Red while she was passing by mid service, the smallest murmur of concentrated 'thanks' coming from the waitress before she placed the invite in her pocket and continued on.

"Thank you David I'd love to be there," Lydia said earnestly as she ate another French fry, Mr. Nolan smiling in agreement before he nodded and walked off to other patrons in the diner to hand out the invites. It was around this time that Mr. Gold seemed finally finished with torturing Moe French, and walked back to the table where he had left his daughter.

Granny had already vacated the seat by this point, obviously not wanting to be around the man that was also her landlord just after he was finished burying another renter with the amount of debt he had. After all, there was a chance that maybe he was up for tormenting another person, and considering the even limited information Lydia knew about her father in the facial expression department, he would definitely be up for that.

"Come on, you can take the burger and fries to go, I think I've lost my appetite," Though it was certainly easy to say that despite not having eaten anything, Mr. Gold was in no way hungry at this moment. Most likely because he was well filled with that sense of power he lorded over people to his leisure. However Lydia just managed to smile off her father's usual behavior as they both left the diner and steadily drove home, especially since she was currently having a very good day.

"My loyal knights, today will be the first in the beginning of greatness for our kingdom. That dragon will meet the cold steel of your courage and bravery, and will have no choice but to fall to it," King George continued on with his speech, detailing probably something to do with honor and diligence and all the great sounding words that you would need to tell someone who was about to go toe to toe with a Dragon and has very little hope of surviving.

Nemo watched the speech from the side of the Prince's horse, gently patting down the muzzle as she waited for her next order. The squire's outfit she was fitted with was a little more than just uncomfortable, while also being a little too big and incredibly itchy when it came to the chainmail. Still, it was better than having no extra armor on her when having to go anywhere near a flame spewing creature, even if it was basically useless.

The Prince mean while was standing by King George and the almost legendary gold touched ruler of King Midas. It the girl strained her eyes and stood on her tip toes, there was a chance that she would catch even the slightest glance of the glint from his fabled golden hand, a blessing and a curse he had received for his greed, at least that was the rumor that was spread, a rumor that have tongues removed from the mouths that dared to speak it in his kingdom. Still, that didn't make it untrue, just a rumor that was better spread by written letter than word of mouth.

Eventually the very long speech was interrupted by the very high pitched and hair rising scream of the dragon itself echoing from the mountains nearby. Nemo winced despite herself as the other knights full on flinched or even ducked in reaction related fear. The King however, decided this was the best time to finish off his speech with one last word of encouragement to the men before both he and King Midas finally retreated back to the safety of the castle nearby.

Typical.

The Prince walked back to where his squire and stead where waiting for them, the expression on hs face saying something along the lines of the fact that he was still not ready for this, not that Nemo could blame him, after all she was still not completely ready to go out there and she was possibly the only one who was sure she would make it out alive no matter what happened. However he was interrupted by the sudden, last minute approach from King Midas, who walked over to the Prince without even the slightest glance in Nemo's location. Again, typical.

"Prince James, I wish you all the luck on your quest, may this be the occasion that brings our kingdoms together," He clapped the prince on the shoulder with his normal hand, before handing him his sword and walking back to where King George was waiting for him. One of the soldiers walked up the Prince next, and quickly fixed one of his incorrectly tightened part of the armor on his suit, and then took his sword.

"Wait, but how am I supposed to fight?"

"You won't be the one fighting, we will. You're not your brother, so you and your little squire over there, are a risk we can afford to have out in the field. All you have to do, is let us kill the dragon, deliver the head to King Midas, and play the part of the conquering hero to all the lands," The knight walked away as soon as he was done, leaving no chance for refute on the side of the Prince and his squire.

"Don't worry, we'll prove him wrong," Nemo muttered as she tightened the saddle on the Prince's horse before he mounted it, climbing on behind him not long after. There was no reply from the Prince as he ordered the horse into a full gallop as he followed the knights which were already riding away to the next camping point that was closer to the dragon's lair.

There was no more conversation between Nemo and the Prince after this point, mostly because there was too much wind whipping in their faces and needing to focus on horse riding in order to bother with friendly chat. Still, Nemo found this time of silence to be the best time to reflect on her time as the Prince's squire. Certainly, he was much kinder than anyone else whom's charge she had been placed under, he had even been kind hearted enough to keep her secret from the royal court.

Surely it would have been no skin off his nose to tell them about it, which was certainly a sign of this Prince being something much greater than his sheep herding, or even now Princely status. There was more, or at least something greater in store for him, it was easy enough to tell that even from her perspective of knowing him for a few months.

Still, there was something of a hope that now flickered weakly in her chest, the hope that since he was so kind enough to keep her secret, to treat her like a human being. That maybe, just maybe he would be kind of heart enough, to let her leave this castle's service, to turn his back while she ran away. Such a hope for possible escape was something Nemo had abandoned during her first few weeks in the hell that was the service of King George, she knew it was somewhat foolish to let that feeling return, but at the same time she sort of couldn't resist it.

The camp near the Dragon's lair was filled with such a layer of tension and anxiety that it could have been cut with a knife. Not that anyone was going to go around flashing bright metal around at this place, since even the slightest glint could be enough to gain the dragon's attention. There was also a limited amount of noise from any of the men, the odd whinny and neigh from the horses. No one spoke, they just nodded and pointed at one another in replacement for actual communication. It was also because of this that any kind of communication between the squire and the Prince was still not possible.

This was possibly for the best, considering that Nemo was still not sure whether or not it was safe enough to even whisper it to him, since she didn't know who was listening. Any wrong word, and she would be meeting the same nooses that people had gone to for saying less. So Nemo was glad for the sense that she should hold her tongue.

Some of the knights sent their limited communication just staring at the Prince and Nemo, before staring at each other and then going back to whatever work they were doing a the time. Sure, it was supposed to be a signal that they didn't trust the two of them, but it didn't stop it from being weird all the same, and it was because of that that the girl found herself avoiding them during the night they spent at this temporary camp.

The next morning wasn't much better, in fact it was only even tenser, which had seemed impossible only yesterday, and yet here Nemo was feeling it all the same. Though of course it was easy for her to say she was bothered by it, but she could never possibly be as disturbed by that feeling of impending doom, as the Prince was that morning.

There were bags under his eyes, his shoulders were tense and the whole closed in body language gave the outlook of a man that was not ready to fight a dragon. The other knights weren't concern with his problems at this moment, mostly because they were too busy with their own. Still, Nemo felt the need to comfort him, even though she felt as uselessly encouraging as King George was just the other day.

"Everything is going to be fine, just follow your instincts, and try to keep your cover," She muttered to the Prince as she tightened his loose armor and handed him a shield, which was shortly taken off him not a second later by another knight. An action which was followed by a rather annoyed sigh on the part of Nemo not long afterwards.

"How could they not want me to help, surely they would need the help of everyone they could get?" The Prince muttered, giving a side look to the knight which had taken the shield from him as he spoke.

"They're still bitter over the death of your brother, don't let it bother you. Just focus on staying alive," Nemo could tell that her words had only managed to go through one ear and out through the other as it was apparent that the lack of support from the other knights still bothered him. Still, it wasn't as if he would have the chance to think this over for much longer as it was apparent that they were heading out again.

Just as Nemo was finished suiting up the Prince and was about to tighten the strap on the horses' saddle when she was also interrupted by a knight.

"I know how to do that thank you," She snapped, feeling no need to be as respectful to these knights as the Prince had, especially since they kept usurping her actions, from handing the defenseless man a shield to protect himself, to tightening the saddle on a horse. However, it seemed that this was the way that they bared bad news, since the knight then chose this one time since arriving at this temporary camp, to finally speak to the Prince, even if the conversation was actually about her.

"We will be going onward only on foot to ensure our unknown status to the dragon. Your squire however will remain here, no need to add another risk, one is more than enough,"

Nemo looked as though she was about to tell the man exactly where he could take his opinions of her and shove them, but before she could finally have that moment of saying something she had probably wanted to say for such a long time, the Prince placed a hand on her shoulder, and gave a quick and firm shake of the head. There was already an amount of danger here, there was no need to add to it.

And so, despite how much enjoyment she probably would have gotten from it, Nemo relented as the Prince had asked, and took only a moment to bid her knight farewell before stalking angrily back to the tent that was her and the Prince's sleeping place.

The girl quickly turned and looked back just in time to see the Prince and knights walking off to their future fight and possible deaths. And of course there was only one of them that weren't armed, and it wasn't hard to know exactly which one it was. Though that only served to infuriate her even more, so infuriated that she was not going to just let this go.

Nemo knew it wasn't in her people's ways to be involved in these sorts of things, but then again she had already sort of broke the rules when she had told the Prince about her kind. Still, it wasn't as if there was anyone in her family group that could have told her off or punished her for it. Not anymore.

Besides, it had been a while since she had shifted, she could feel it in the air, in her bones.

Any good reason to take a walk.

Please review, constructive criticism always welcome.