"Oof!" I exclaimed as I landed on my ass on the mat in the gym again, "This is killing me, Comrade."

Dimitri leaned in and offered me his hand to help me back up. "Roza, do you want me to go easy on you? To hold back? Or do you want me to train you hard?"

I smirked. "I want you to do something hard to me, Comrade, but I'm not sure training is what I was thinking of."

"Not funny, Roza. Hit the speed bag for five minutes. You need to be ready when Adrian comes for you. We know he will come," he said.

"I know," I said, as I walked over to begin punching at the speed bag, "but even my bruises have bruises, Dimitri. We've been training hard for the past week - hours each day more than any other novice! I'm going to be so sore by the time I take my trials that I'll be limping my way through the obstacle course."

"Is Lissa still offering to heal you after every session?" Dimitri asked.

"Yes," I said, "She knows what the darkness does to me, though, so I keep turning her down."

Dimitri nodded. "Good. Physical pain will make you stronger, but the darkness from her healing you is just going to make you both more volatile."

"It does make me fight harder, though," I told him, "That could be a good thing against Adrian."

"You haven't told her about him, I hope?" It was a question.

"No," I told him, "I understand why she wasn't told. If there's even a little bit of darkness that I haven't taken from her, she isn't going to handle this well. Let's focus on getting through high school, and then we can tell her. Besides, she is up to something. She's been closing her thoughts off to me again."

Even as we trained, I could feel that she was blocking me out. It was the time on her class schedule when Lissa would be in her element training time and I could feel that she was building up darkness, but I couldn't tell how. I tried not to worry about how and why she'd be blocking me during her spirit training, but I knew that - whatever she was doing - it couldn't be good if she was keeping me out.

"Maybe it is a surprise for you?" Dimitri offered, "Graduation is only a little more than a week away."

"Let's hope so," I said, as I finished with the speed bag. If it's something she's doing during her spirit training, it's absolutely not a surprise for me, I thought to myself.

"Time to hit the weight room," said Dimitri, patting me on the back, "I think you can max at two hundred pounds in the leg press today, Roza."

"Comrade, you're killin' me! I think you're doing this just so I'm not going to be able to walk right for a week if I do that," I told him.

Dimitri replied, "Roza, if my goal was just to have you not walking right for a week, there are much more fun ways to accomplish that." As we made our way down the hallway to the weight room, Dimitri got close to my ear and whispered, "Besides, how else am I going to keep your zadnitsa so nice and toned like this?" He gave me a little pat on the ass as he said it, effectively letting me know exactly what zadnitsa meant. I smirked, knowing he was unintentionally teaching me more Russian swear words.

-=o0/&\0o=-

"I know I should be excited," Lissa told me, as I laid there on her bed while she and Jill studied for their final exams, "but I just don't think I'm ready for the real world. Don't get me wrong, Rose: college seems exciting, but I just don't feel like an 'adult', ready to take on the responsibilities of being at Court, starting to think about living on my own, and taking my family's seat on the council."

"You won't be on your own, though, Liss. I'll be with you. And so will Christian and Eddie and three other guardians," I told her.

"Some people would love to be in your position, Lissa," said Jill, from the bean bag chair in the corner of the room, as she peered out of her science book, "I have three more years until I get to finally graduate. And when I finally do graduate, I can either go to an exclusively-Moroi school that only offers a handful of majors, go to live at Court, or I'll need to go straight into the workforce and get a day job. Normal college is 'too dangerous' for a Moroi without a guardian." She used air quotes. "When I'm home, I can't even leave my parents' house when it's dark out because of the risk of Strigoi."

Lissa blew out a big breath, pushing her bangs off of her face with it, then said, "I know, and I appreciate the fact that I get some privileges that not everyone has. I really do. But I'll be in charge of a lot more than I want to be. I'll be making hard decisions. It's not what I want yet. I'm not ready. I don't even know what to say. Or do."

"Liss," I told her, getting off of the bed and coming to look her in the eye, "I saw you when you were speaking at the lodge in December. You have a way with people. When the time comes, you'll know. Besides, after living alone together in Portland, you and I are better prepared than most of the other seniors."

"And at least you get to make decisions, Lissa," Jill offered, "You'll be a part of making the laws and choosing how our world will go. That's so important! Me, I just have to follow them - unless I can somehow find a royal who wants to marry me. That's still better than Rose, though."

"Hey!" I said, "What's that supposed to mean?"

Jill chewed on her lip, and twisted the pencil in her hands for a minute, averting her eyes before replying. "It's not like you get to choose your career, Rose. You've had your path all planned out for you from the day you were enrolled. For dhampirs, it's either be a guardian or forsake the Moroi world. Or ... worse. I mean, I know that you love what you do and you're so great at it and everything, but it's pretty much all you can do."

"It's not like being a guardian is a bad choice, Jill. I am happy that I'll be Lissa's guardian. I'll get to live with my best friend for the rest of our lives together."

Jill began to shy away, but I could tell she had more to say. "What?" I asked her, "Spit it out, Jailbait."

"Rose," she began, "It's just ... well ... I know you're an amazing, awesome fighter and everything, but the guardian life expectancy isn't exactly high. Haven't you ever wished for something - I don't know - safer?"

"If my being safer means that Lissa is more at risk, then, no. We don't talk about it much, but Lissa saved my life. I owe it to her to do the same. And even if I didn't, I'd still want to protect her. That goes way beyond the Strigoi, too. Liss, I don't want you stressing if you don't have to. If this whole career path thing is really stressing you, maybe you should try talking to Kirova, now that she's back in charge again. I know she can be a bit of a bitch sometimes, but I think she tries to do what's right. And she knows a lot about all this political stuff."

"I don't know, Rose," said Lissa.

"It's either that or talk to Tatiana," I told her. Through the bond, I could feel a chill go up Lissa's spine. "See? My point exactly."

"Okay," Lissa said, "I'll talk to her tomorrow."

-=o0/&\0o=-

I was sitting in an ice bath in the gym soaking my sore knees. I couldn't help but get sucked into her head as Lissa sat nervously in the waiting area of Kirova's office. She was getting better about keeping me out of the bond when she wanted me out and I was getting better at resisting the pull when I didn't want to be there, but high emotions still drew me in. Lissa was tapping her fingers on the arm of the chair, crossing and uncrossing her legs, and nervously wringing the edge of her skirt with her hands as she tried to sit and wait patiently.

"Vasilisa Dragomir," said the receptionist from her desk, "Headmistress Kirova will see you now."

Lissa walked in to Kirova's office and closed the door behind herself.

"Please, have a seat, Vasilisa," Kirova said motioning to one of the chairs in front of her desk, "What brings you to my office today?"

"Headmistress," Lissa began, "I was hoping you could help me understand what I need to do once I leave St. Vladimir's. I mean, I know I'm going off to college and getting a degree, but I wasn't entirely sure what my Court responsibilities would be as far as being on the council."

"Well, that's actually a simple answer, dear. You don't have any Court responsibilities," Kirova laughed. The bitch actually laughed in Lissa's face!

If it was up to me, I would've cold-cocked her right there for that, but Lissa was a bit more level-headed. "What exactly do you mean, Headmistress? Why don't I have any Court responsibilities?"

"Princess Vasilisa, did no one tell you about the quorum law?" she asked.

"Quorum law?" Lissa asked.

"In order for you to assume a place on the council or to use voting rights, at least one other family member must be present. In your case, you have no family members, Vasilisa. You are ineligible for your council seat and voting rights until another Dragomir exists. Once you have a child, you will be able to secure your seat and participate in your council role, but not until then."

"Thank you, headmistress," said Lissa, somewhat shocked. She couldn't find anything further to say, so she stood and walked out of Kirova's office and began to head back to her dorm room. This law completely blind-sided her.

So many questions swirled around in Lissa's head. Did she want to prolong taking on the responsibilities of Court until she was older and had a family? Was this a relief or a burden? Did this mean that she would have to rush into having a family? What would Christian think of this; would this scare him away - or even rush him into a proposal when neither of them were ready for marriage? What if he left her because of this? What if no one wanted to be in a relationship with her because of the pressure to start a family?

This was more than just a need to proliferate the Dragomir line. Most men were scared away from normal fear of commitment, but this ...

Lissa was so preoccupied with all of these thoughts and questions about this that she wasn't watching where she was going and bumped right into Eddie as he was walking with Jill in the quad.

"Lissa," said Eddie, catching her shoulders with his hands. "Whoa, where's the fire?"

"Is everything okay, Lissa?" asked Jill.

As Lissa looked into Jill's face to answer her, she noticed how much Jill's eyes reminded her of the same green she used to see when she'd look into her father's eyes and how much her parents' passing was more than just a loss of all of the family she loved. The conversation with Kirova hit her even harder and she burst into tears.

"Lissa!" Jill cried, circling Lissa in a hug, "What's wrong?"

Between sobs, Lissa bit out, "I ... I ... just ... I can't do this! I don't want to be the only member of my family anymore. I don't want the responsibility. I just ... I don't want this!"

"Lissa," Jill said, smoothing back Lissa's hair, "What happened?"

"I ... I went to talk to Headmistress Kirova ... about the council, like we talked about last night ... She told me ... She told me that there's this law ... I guess Dragomir family doesn't get a vote ... not until there's another Dragomir."

"But you didn't want to deal with all that stuff, anyway, did you, Lissa?" asked Jill, nervously tucking Lissa's hair back behind her ear.

Lissa shook her head. "Well ... I didn't think I did ..."

"So why put all of this pressure on yourself, then?" Jill asked.

I felt Lissa's frustration and confusion welling over. "Jill, do you remember how you were telling me yesterday about how you didn't get any say and how being a part of the council is so important?"

"Yes," said Jill, nodding as she repeated the motion of smoothing Lissa's already-tucked hair behind her ear, "but you don't have to."

"It made me realize that I kind of want to. But I also don't. And I don't want to have a baby yet. I'm not ready to have a baby yet! And what about Christian? What if he leaves me? I don't think he's ready to settle down and have a family, to start making little Dragomirs with me."

All of sudden, it struck me how Lissa's side of this conversation was oddly like Jill's usual babbling.

"Wow, Lissa," Jill said, "That is really tough! But maybe you should tell Christian about all of this? Just try to be honest with him and see what happens? Give him the chance to make his own choices? You shouldn't keep these things from him."

"I know you're right, Jill," said Lissa, "but saying that I'm going to tell him and actually telling him are two very different things."

Eddie coughed, trying to hide a laugh, and said, "Lissa, it's not like you two haven't been enjoying the 'practice' making little Dragomirs."

Jill, in a surprisingly playful move, gave Eddie a little slap in the arm. "Knock it off, Eddie," she told him, giggling hysterically.

He smiled at Jill and said, "Only for you, Jilly-bean." Jill blushed almost painfully red as Eddie added a wink.

"C'mon, Lissa," said Jill, threading her arm through Lissa's, "we'll even go walk you over there to talk to him."

"Well," said Lissa, "okay, I guess."

-=o0/&\0o=-

I got out of the ice bath as soon as the three of them began heading to Christian's dorm and made my way there, also. If Christian thought that he was going to leave Lissa just because he was afraid he might have to have kids early, he had another thing coming, and if Lissa didn't, I was going to make sure to be the one to give it to him.

I ran to the dorm building, but when I got to the front doors, Lissa and the others were already climbing the stairs to his floor. Taking them two at a time, I managed to meet them just as they arrived on his floor.

"Rose," Lissa said, "What are you doing here?"

"Liss, I know what you're doing. I'm going to knock some sense into him if he can't deal."

"How did you know?" Lissa asked.

I tapped the side of my head. "How do you think?"

"Oh," she said, with a frown. She still felt like it was an invasion of her privacy for me to watch her through the bond, especially now that I could block it out better.

"I got sucked in when you were in Kirova's waiting area," I told her, "I couldn't help it. Your emotions were a jumbled mess."

Lissa turned and said, "Jill, Eddie, you two can go."

"Okay, Lissa," said Jill, giving Lissa another surprisingly affectionate hug, "I just know it'll all work out for you two. It'll be great. I'm sure it will. Just wait and see."

Lissa grinned at Jill, and said, "You're still not leaving."

"I know, I know," said Jill.

Eddie had been standing there waiting for Jill. "Jill, didn't we have that thing to do?" he asked, grinning.

"We do," Jill said with a smile, "but I just want to help see Lissa through with this. I don't know; I just feel protective of her, almost like a sister. I always wanted a sister - you know?"

Lissa smiled at Jill and ruffled her messy brown curls, saying, "Jailbait, if I could pick anyone in the world to be my baby sister, it'd be you ... And if I could pick anyone in the world to be my overprotective older sister, it would definitely be Rose!"

"Hey," said Jill, "that gives me an idea. When I'm upset like this and I need to talk to someone, I always talk to my mom." Lissa made a pained face and I was almost afraid of the next words out of Jill's mouth when she said, "Oh, no! No, no, no, no, that's not what I meant! I'm sorry, Lissa! No, what I meant is, I talk to my mom about you all the time. Since my family is on a human schedule, I'm supposed to call her tomorrow morning at six. I know that's kind of early, but if you'd like, maybe when I call her, you could be there with me and talk to her, too - almost like she was your mom, too. I'm sure she'd be willing to!"

"I'd like that, Jill," said Lissa, "I'll stop by first thing in the morning."

"Jailbait, I promise we'll fill you in later," I told her, "so you can go ahead."
"Okay," Jill said again, then she grabbed Eddie's arm as if the two of them were a couple and they walked off together.

"Liss, are those two ... seeing each other?" I asked.

"Mmhm," said Lissa with a nod, "It started while he was with me during field experience. She was just around me so much and eventually the two of them hit it off. I think Eddie really likes her."

"Wow," I said, as Lissa knocked on Christian's door, "I didn't see that coming."

"What do you want?" Christian said as he threw open the door looking angry. Then he saw Lissa's face and immediately softened to a smile. "Liss! What's up?"

"Do you have a few minutes?" Lissa asked, timidly, "It's sort of big." Christian nodded and opened his door, motioning for us to enter.

-=o0/&\0o=-

Author's Notes:

Any thoughts on what you think Lissa might be doing while she's blocking Rose out? Or how the conversation between Emily Mastrano and Lissa is going to go?

Here's my question of the week: Have you ever had a situation where you had planned out something major (like Lissa's political council involvement) and then realized you had to change course?

When I was first went off to college, I was absolutely convinced I was going to be a singer/songwriter. Almost everything in my academic career up to that point was aimed at that end. I had taken so many music classes in high school and had a private voice instructor for years and I auditioned for every musical, play, and talent show that would put me out in front of an audience. I never managed to get the lead part or win the talent show, but I always did very well. When I got to college, almost all of my freshman year classes were in music - and I quickly realized it was the biggest mistake of my life. Once I failed out of most of my freshman year classes, lost auditions (often lost to talented friends I was close to) because I was the second-best instead of the best, and dropped out of school because my dad was leaving our family and financial support with him, I ended up re-evaluating my choice in majors and starting over again. It took me an extra few years because of having to transfer schools and catch up in some subjects I was less educated in, but I'm much happier today than I would've been living out of a suitcase and pandering to an audience in a music career. And I managed to meet my husband along the way!