The next morning was the first training session of many. She was dragged roughly out of bed and pushed out of the window.

Yelling expletives the whole way down, Lillian rolled as she hit the ground and then sprang up, furious. She turned and faced the window, determined to give the person a piece of her mind. Instead, she ended up diving to the side, narrowly missed by the body that had landed next to her.

"Mornin', Miss Lillian!" Fred smiled innocently at her. Lillian growled and launched herself at him, cursing him and her father.

"What the hell do you think you're doing, Fred?! Especially at this godforsaken hour in the morning! It's not even light yet!" She kicked and punched and pushed, but Fred just stood there, smiling down at her. She couldn't even shift him by an inch.

"Miss Lillian, you're not doin' yerself any favours by hittin' me, y'know. Y'won't be able to move me. An' y'need to be awake this early, 'specially if yer a bodyguard." Lillian froze.

Damn… Is that all I am now?

"Didn't know you were a bodyguard, Fred," She said nonchalantly, trying to mask her uncertainty.

"I'm not. But y'need to learn the basics before y'learn the rest of it all, an' I know what the basics are. An' it's important that y'learn to improvise, Miss. That's the first rule."

So Lillian promptly stood on his foot. "Consider the first rule learnt, Fred. And please tell me the next time you want me to be awake this early."

…

A week later, Lillian was beginning to become accustomed to Fred's teaching methods – which mostly consisted of not getting much sleep, and being pushed out of various high windows when she least expected it. She was also being taught to make her own clothes using the materials of the forest and basic cloth. Lillian had taken to wearing tight-fitting leggings beneath the skirt of her dress: Fred had seen up her skirt one time too many.

She had been left to her own devices for nearly an hour now, and was beginning to become suspicious. Fred's lack of… well, lack of anything was unnerving her, and she wished to God that he would show his face soon.

"Honestly Lill, you're really not paying any attention today," Marian frowned at the younger girl, "What's the matter?"

"Do you ever stop talking about Robin, Mary? Ever? Because you need to find something else to talk about; we've just had the same conversation for the fifth time," Lillian said conversationally. Marian grabbed her by the arm and turned her sister towards herself.

"Don't. Avoid. The subject. Lillian Dubois." Marian glared at her younger sister, a stern expression on her face.

Luckily for Lillian, Fred chose that moment to push her off the roof.

…

"Did you see her face?!"

Lillian and Fred had rolled around, red-faced and laughing hysterically, for the best part of twenty minutes. This was the third time that Fred had ejected her from one of the building's higher orifices, and Marian's response had yet to lose its hilarity.

She would scream and point at her sister, as if it would magically help her pull her back. Her eyes would then widen in terror and she'd scream again, covering her eyes. Eventually, she'd come down to find Lillian and Fred relaxing under a tree, and she'd explode. This normally led to a lot of teasing on their part, and Marian would rush off in a red-faced fit of anger and embarrassment.

Lillian knew it was unfair to put her sister through such worry, but couldn't resist the reactions that she could coax out of her.

Besides, she needs to get used to it. Someone needs to be able to save her from Robin. And any other idiot that tries to attack her.

She sobered immediately, and picked herself up off the ground. Her stomach growled, reminding her that she hadn't eaten since last evening, so she left for the forest to check on the animal traps she'd set.

A/N: I apologise profusely! I promise to upload December's chapter as soon as I can, because I know you've all waited a long time for the November one.

I hope this was okay – the story will start picking up soon, I promise!

When school life stops threatening to eat me, I'll start to upload more often too.

A big thank you to just a girl and ShahbanouScheherazade for reviewing, it makes my day hearing from you!

Once again, please review and let me know what you think.

Have a lovely month.

Pan x