A/N: I have to admit...you guys are getting so into the ships I'm seriously considering writing an alternate ending this round just to mess with the old readers...

Raider: Dalby is about 6-7 here. You know what happens when Kane comes into the story ;)

AER: Talia indeed :P

Saberin: Yep. Talia = Drama.

Aubrey: Make her read RA! Then she can read these and know what's going on :)

Rebel: Welcome to the fandom within a fandom! LOVE it when new readers give feedback! Careful with the ships...the old readers get pretty passionate about them (despite knowing what happens in the end). Hope you and your friends all continue to enjoy these!

Disclaimer: I'm not John Flanagan. And still not Australian.

As her mother had predicted, William and Ace came for her late that night. She gladly snuck away with them. After just a half hour of tracking it became clear there would be some very happy Wards come sunrise. Scout loved hunting in the woods she knew so well and even more she loved hunting with William and Ace. Having Kane and Daniel there would have been the only thing that made it perfect.

"We better not stay out too late," William teased. "The crown princess of Hibernia needs her beauty rest."

"Shut up," Scout chided. She took out her knife to field dress the ducks they'd shot.

"Testy," Ace harassed. Scout ignored him.

"We'll take it since we have to go back to the village anyway. Have a good night. If you take off before we see you again, good luck with the negotiations."

"Bye William, good bye Ace."

Once the meat was wrapped and ready they went their separate ways. Scout found herself jogging as the sky turned pink. Her mother may know she was out but if Caitlyn woke without her sister she'd be upset. The hunting trips had always been hidden from Caitlyn.

She cut it close. Scout had barely unlaced her boots and slid beneath the blankets on the bed she'd supposedly shared with Caitlyn all night when her sister stirred. "Morning Scout," Caitlyn yawned. "Sleep well?"

"Very well," Scout lied as she feigned stretching. They went to eat breakfast. Scout had smelled it cooking once she was in a hundred meters of her childhood home. Her mother's potatoes weren't matched even by Jenny.

"You've got to leave so soon?" Caitlyn pouted at the table.

"Your sister has duties," Lina said gently as they ate. She nodded to Scout. "Your entourage will be here at ten o'clock. Be ready for them."

"Yes Mama."

There was a knock on the door. Scout's father leaned back in his chair to peer out the window. "Seems like one is early. Come in, girl!"

Scout smiled as Kelly came through the door. She curtsied. "Lady Melissa sent me to see to it you were properly dressed for travel."

"Would you like some breakfast?" Lina asked. Kelly looked unsurely towards Scout.

"I think I can dress myself for traveling," Scout told her. "Come on, my mama makes the best potatoes in Araluen…and Hibernia too I'd think."

Kelly smiled and helped herself. "You're the maid correct?" Liam asked.

"Yes sir," Kelly answered.

"That's Mason, my apprentice. I believe he's the only one you haven't met," Liam said. Kelly nodded to Mason.

"Ranger."

"Scout, can I go with you?" Caitlyn piped up.

"No," Liam, Lina, and Scout answered together. Caitlyn pouted.

"Have you ever been to Arrida, Kelly?" Liam asked. Kelly shook her head.

"I'd never left Hibernia before this trip, Ranger."

"Well then, you're in for an interesting experience to say the least."

"Don't scare her," Lina warned. Scout shared a smile with Kelly. She was glad her maid could be relaxed with her family.

As Scout prepared to leave her family gathered on the porch. Her entourage had arrived at ten o'clock, as promised. Scout reined her horse to face them as two guards began riding ahead. Her father stood tall and strong with one arm around her mother's waist and a hand on Caitlyn's shoulder. Her mother leaned as much on her father as she did the crutches. Mason stood away from the family but had still come out to say goodbye. She smiled and waved to them. They all waved back and she was off. Lady Melissa, Lady Gwen, and Kelly followed after her along with the rest of her guard and staff.

They met up with the Araluen princes and their guards who were also going to Araluen Castle. Scout gladly rode up between William and Ace.

"How come I have to travel with a small army but you only have to keep four guards?" she asked.

"You are a visiting princess. We're in our homeland," William told her.

"But Araluen is my homeland."

"Not anymore," Ace explained. "See, now Hibernia is your home."

Scout frowned. It made sense but she couldn't accept it. She'd grown up in the borders of Araluen, not Hibernia. She didn't even have a Hibernian accent. She knew King Horace and the former king Lord Duncan by name. The only people she really knew of the royal Hibernian family were Sean and Kineta. They were the only living ones who claimed their titles, but still.

"Being princess of a country you weren't brought up in is hard."

"Being a crown heir is hard in general," William assured her. "Rosalina and Ace may have staff and appearances to keep up but all in all they can study what they want and take assignments based upon pleasure from time to time. You and I have to do all that and learn how to run a country."

"Can't argue there," Ace agreed. "I'd go mad if I was the crown heir."

Scout felt she'd go mad most of the time but she kept it to herself. "At least one thing is certain about our futures," William said after a long moment of silence.

"What's that?" Scout asked.

"We aren't kin by blood but you and I might as well be cousins. Araluen and Hibernia will have good relations for at least one more generation."

Scout smiled. "Yes I suppose so."

Once they arrived Scout found King Horace and Queen Cassandra to greet them. At dinner she was welcomed by Lord Duncan. Her grandparents were still in Redmont visiting the Treaty and Leaf families. Scout had heard rumors of her grandfather's trying to talk them into allowing Quinlan and Caitlyn to travel with them on a tour of the country. She wondered if they'd succeed. Scout's parents encouraged travel within Araluen. Scout remembered when they first allowed her to go with Daniel and Kane on a trip to Seacliff. The boys had been charged with ferrying documents to the Ranger there. It was usually the job of an apprentice or messenger or even Courier but as Rangers' children the three were often dispatched.

"Lady Alyss has caught up," Lady Melissa announced. "Time to pick up the pace."

Scout felt reluctant to leave those she loved again but was overly happy when she found her uncle Will was assigned to their escort as a guard for the Araluens involved. An Araluen lawyer joined them as well.

"Where's Quinlan?" she asked as they rode.

"Quinlan is traveling with Halt and Pauline," Will answered her. "They talked your parents into allowing Caitlyn to go as well."

"Really? How'd they swing that?"

"Well…Mason is to be given a mission that will take him out of Redmont soon, leaving your father with the entire fief to look after on his own. Your mother is about to start her own tour of the fief followed by taking the Battalion apprentices on a training mission at Castle Macindaw."

Scout smiled. "Good. Caitlyn seemed restless."

"I only hope a retired Ranger and Courier can handle those two together."

"I've got faith."

"Good because I don't."

They both laughed. "I missed you all," Scout sighed. "I've so few friends in Hibernia."

"Welcome to the life of princess," Alyss told her. "I can't say it will get easier. You can't trust very many people when you're a crown heir."

"So it seems."

Her aunt reached over and touched her hand. "Royal Scouts and huntress outcasts lead lonely lives too you know."

"I know."

"So you think that either of those lives would allow you more freedom than this one as a princess?"

Scout narrowed her eyes. "Did Mama put you up to this?"

"No. I am speaking on my own accord. I want you to be happy, Scout, and in all honesty I don't think joining the Royal Scouts or being a huntress suits you."

"What do you mean?"

"Royal Scouts always follow orders. Their life has more freedom than the average service member, true, but it would be difficult for you to enlist because of your gender and even if you did you'd be subjected to orders all the time. You'd hate that. As a huntress, however, your life wouldn't be predictable enough. You'd grow tired of the constant waiting. And nothing but hunting would bore you. You need more diversity in your days than that."

"And being a crown princess fits?"

"I don't know if it fits but it's a better fit than Royal Scout or huntress."

Scout couldn't argue. "Sometimes logic annoys me you know," she muttered.

"I know. You are a Ranger's daughter, after all. Logic tends to annoy that breed as well."

Scout sighed and kept riding. Why did there have to be so much to think about?