The following months passed by in a flurry.

Pop had been dissatisfied with Vienna's past tutors' education. An era began with what Vienna thought as the 'conveyor belt' of the tutors.

'Uncle Wolf' and 'Aunt Sev' helped by reaching out across the Continent for the educated, which led to a flock of the lesser nobility arriving at the estate.

These nobles came from those who aided the people during the Great War indirectly. Such nobility helped by offering monetary, supply, and/or information-gathering-related backing. Each new royal in the newly made kingdoms kept a wary eye on them. If those nobles had once betrayed friends and family, what would stop them from doing it again when opportunity struck?

The aristocrats who had joined the rebellion themselves, like Vienna's mother, had gained higher nobility titles. With the new government set up, it was known throughout the nobility that their job was to serve the public, not to rule them.

The tutors that answered the call fell into two categories.

First, there were the very young seeking to gain experience. Vienna found that her knowledge would surpass theirs.

The reactions to her advanced knowledge were mixed.

Vienna found herself sighing each time she heard:

"Did your father practice that answer with you?" or "Oh my, those words are bigger than you are!"

A wry grin would be their only answer.

The second category was, however, far too rude.

Vienna herself would soldier on, trying to learn from them even as they talked down towards her. When caught by, Pop wasn't as patient.

When Vienna was five, a tutor came from the Yundilla mountains in the Venaragia kingdom.

The region had fascinated her when she'd first heard of it from the traders that would pass through the hamlet. The crystal-like snow that fell upon the red rocky mountains of Yundilla never stopped sounding fantastical.

When the Terran first arrived, he looked upon their simple grounds with narrowed eyes. His nose wrinkled as he came upon their steps and found he had to wipe his shiny boots on their wickerwork mat at the front door.

He was very slim, skin nearly pink. He looked as if a wild wind could snap his body.

As Vienna showed him to his quarters, her eyes shone. "What is the Snow Folk commerce like in Yundilla?"

Her eyes were wide as she looked up at her new tutor.

His beige lips wrinkled in a withheld sneer, "I don't associate with those ruffians."

One eyebrow rose as she looked over at him again. His paleness was indicative of a more sedentary lifestyle, of life not stepping out from his comfortable noble rooms.

"Surely you are aware of your own culture."

She couldn't miss the sneer this time.

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His slightly furry lip quivered. The failure of a mustache looked like a dead caterpillar on his lip.

As they met the next morning in the Thorne library, the tutor grumbled as he looked around the dim room. Light from the only window fell across the wooden plank flooring.

Even while he frowned, Vienna couldn't help the bright grin that spread across her lips. She strode forward, her booted feet clipping against the smooth stone floors. The library was the pride of their home.

"This is the biggest room in the house. Well, except perhaps the hearth competes with it a bit." She gestures at the built-in bookshelves. "Father always taught me knowledge is far more important than large closets or otherwise wasted space."

Vienna hoped that the tutor had a bad first impression. She hoped his next would be better. She smiled back at him as her fingertips drifted across the bookshelves made from metal rather than wood.

She pointed to the small wooden shelves. Her head tilted so she could see the small initials carved at the bottom of them.

"Father and I built some of these shelves ourselves."

Her gaze drifted off.

Pop and she would seek out fallen tree limbs after a rough storm, and her father would teach her how to preserve the wood until it could be used later. When the time came to make something of them, his calloused fingertips would drift over the knots of the wood. A sad little smile on his lips as he showed how to not waste one piece.

The tutor's nasal voice broke Vienna from her thoughts.

"You will read the assigned materials."

As she looked behind herself, a flash of his almost see-through teeth caused her stomach to turn. He must not be well. All beings in Terra needed to soak in the energy and warmth of the twin suns, but he looked as if he had never did.

She tilted her head and looked at the Terran, whose thin fingers were thrumming at the end of the table.

"I'm sure Ezzie would be happy to get you some biscuits and tea."

His lips pulled tight as he stared her down before he strode away without a word.

Vienna shook her head. "What are they teaching youth these days?"

A giggle left her as she looked at the top of her materials to see the list of handwritten assignments.

"Nothing new," her round cheeks puffed out.

She looked at the book he'd placed to her right. Her nose wrinkled before she brought out her workbook from beneath her other books. Within it, she found the last essay she wrote on the same subject. She placed it by the assigned book for good measure.

A smile moved her cheeks to dimple as she slid off the high-back cushioned chair at the library table.

When she reached the library's arched doorway, she poked her head out. Her head looked both left and right, not seeing 'Whiskers' anywhere. She doubted he'd be back to the library before she was back herself.

Nearing her father's study door, she smiled at the little steps her father had built at the side of the door.

She had opened her father's office door a crack when her arm was yanked back, causing her to stumble, unbalanced, down the small set of stairs.

Vienna let out a surprised squeak.

Her father's study door swung open, his eyes lit with an inner flame.

The hallway seemed to tremble from his ire.

'Whiskers' seemed oblivious to what was coming and continued to drag Vienna down the hallway.

Vienna's lips pursed as she tried to not let out a sound of pain. A small whimper still escaped as she found a sharp stinging pain in her left ankle.

"Let go of her."

The sound that followed was like the limbs of a massive tree breaking during a storm.

The tutor turned to find a bulking shadow over him. "Duke Thorne. Your daughter left our lesson before it was done."

Vienna looked up. Her eyes shifted from her father's piercing gaze to the Terran who started to shake.

"Let go of her arm or you'll find your own no longer attached to your body."

Vienna felt yanked backward as 'Whiskers' made the foolish decision to use her as a shield.

Her father's brown eyes darkened to look like two black holes about to swallow up a couple of solar systems.

His hand shot forward, grabbing onto the muted carnelian wrist, a loud crack was heard as the bones were crushed in one quick moment.

The noble screamed in agony.

Vienna's arm dropped as the Terran fell to the floor in pain.

A shiver ran down Vienna's spine as her gaze fell to the poorly mustached being that rolled on the ground weeping.

She glanced up at her father, whose rage had not subsided.

Her father pulled the tutor up from the ground and dragged him down the hallway.

Once they entered the main hall, he threw him toward the front door.

"Get out of my house, now."

Vienna would later wonder if she preferred being demeaned by absurd, inconsiderate tutors. Or did she prefer ones with badly hidden agendas?