A/N: DFTBA!

Gold: Welcome back :) Hope you had a fun weekend!

Aubrey: Hm...I assume you meant Lina? Yes...they've both had very different lives since leaving the Academy.

Raider: Haha...that's a oneshot in the works :P

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

"Ouch!"

"Hold still," Scout ordered. It felt odd telling a tutor what to do but still she did it. Her music instructor had fallen down the steps coming in and earned himself a deep gash on his upper arm. Scout's parents had taught how to do stitches and she'd had practice on various injured animals Caitlyn brought home. She pulled the needle in and out of her instructor's skin making the lines as neat as possible.

"The king and queen have you studying to be a nurse now?" the tutor said through gritted teeth.

"No, Papa and Mama taught me. There, I'm finished."

"I met your parents when they were at the Academy. I was there too as a teacher. Not one of the heartless ones, mind you, just a Charm teacher…music."

"Go figure," Scout shrugged.

"Your father was a good student. Does he still play his mandola?"

Scout shook her head. "Not really. He will sometimes but my uncle's the only real musical one in the family. My sister plays the flute but her interest comes and goes."

"I taught the flute to your mother. She passed in the top percentile but was nowhere near protégé or even mediocre if she sought a career in it. She could impress the untrained ear enough to carry her flute with her on missions."

Scout leaned back as she washed her hands in a bowl of water. "You knew my parents when they were my age then?"

"Oh yes. Your father was on the quiet side. I always liked him. He was a natural leader, you know. And your mother…she was so pretty the Charm instructors had a fit when she opted into a more offensive position. Her assignments scarred her up in no time but she seemed like she was where she belonged doing them. It was almost scary watching her ride away with little regard for her life but that all changed when your father began to seriously pursue her. I think enough people told her she was nothing but a figurehead she started to believe it. She was trained to, capable of, and often did handle things herself but her mindset was far from that. She was told to stand back and let others do things she'd later take credit for but she never did…however she often acted like she did. It was Yudai, or Liam, who broke her of that."

Scout let the words sink in. Nobody had ever spoken of her parents like that before. "How?"

"They are like those duets I try to teach you. Each side is perfectly adequate on its own but nowhere near what it could be without the other. Individually, they are good but they belong together to become one."

"Which would you say I'm more like?"

The tutor thought for just a few moments. "I'd say you're a balance of both. You got most of your looks from your mother, that's easy to see, but aside from that it's equal. You've got your mother's wit and patience."

"But?"

"You have yet to realize it but Liam's natural leadership is in you."

Scout shook her head. "Everyone else says I'm like Mama. She says she didn't come to run the country because she had no business taking such a task."

"They're wrong. I agree that Nerilina didn't have any business running a country. She let her heart play into her decisions too often for that. Makes for a good scout but never a good queen. You do that to an extent but all in all you apply to do as told while still forming and acting on your own judgments. If that came from your mother I'm a winged swine. You, Princess Scout, got that from your father."

Scout smiled subtly. She was always called her mother's daughter. She had a special relationship with her father that made Caitlyn envy her but still everyone thought her more like her mother.

"Now that this is done let's get some music in today," the tutor finally said.

Scout played on her mandola for a half hour. There was still ten minutes left in the lesson but her ever-faithful and watchful maid Kelly had run off to get a new gown of almost the same color as her original one. A noticeable amount of her tutor's blood had stained the one she wore and Kineta had come that morning to have breakfast with her. It'd been an occasional treat both Sean and Kineta surprised her with from time to time but the point was Kineta had seen her dress already that day.

Scout quickly changed behind a blanket Gwen and Kelly held up. Kelly flitted away with the bloody garment muttering something about how to get it out. Scout and Gwen went to the study used for the next set of lessons.

"Your mother taught you that?" Gwen asked as they sat at the desk.

"Both my parents did. They said I'd never know when I needed to sew someone up and it was so simple I might as well learn."

"Would you teach me?"

Scout studied her lady-in-waiting for a long time. "What?"

"That was just so…amazing you're able to do that."

Scout smiled. "Alright I'll teach you."

The doors burst open but it wasn't her mathematics tutor. It was Captain Jonah, Warden, and another guard called Matthew. Gwen and Scout rose slowly just before Warden took Scout's arm and yanked her towards him.

"I'm sorry but you have to come with us now," Captain Jonah ordered. "Warden, Matthew, you two take the princess to where I told you. Lady Gwen, you know what you're to do."

Gwen nodded. Matthew took Scout's other arm and the two began quickly yanking her towards a door. Scout jerked away. "What's going on?" she demanded.

"The castle's been infiltrated, Princess. We are to take you to the safe house."

"Infiltrated? By whom?" Scout demanded. Warden faced her.

"Scout, there's a man who wants to kill you and your cousins. This happens from time to time but this man's made it past our first steps and now we have to get you to the safe house. Gwen's going to dress herself up like you to throw them off but you must come with us."

"Gwen might get killed."

"Believe it or not this is what she signed up for so come on."