Summary: 41 years in an amulet and a painting can take a lot out of a person. For princess Isabel and princess Elena its feeling out of place and nightmares. Good thing they can find solace in their friends and family. First up Isabel and Naomi with an unexpected friend.

Chapter in a nutshell: Isabel finds herself feeling out of place at school. All it takes is just one talk with a friend to make things better.

Note 1: games of graces or nine men morris or quoits are real games that were played in the 19th century. Not necessarily in mexico but in various parts of the world.

Note 2: Dedicated to TheGreatStorycollector! I hope she likes this!

Isabel looked at her notebook as she finished the last math problem. They were covering fractions and it was so simple, she thought as she grinned. Maybe she should be in a fifth-grade class rather than a fourth grade one. Then she turned to help Amara with number fourteen in the book, which had mixed numbers. She had gotten it all done for the day as she didn't have any homework for the weekend.

"Do you want to come over and help me with my invention?" asked Isabel as she was in the middle of working on the problem the correct way. The dark-haired girl looked halfway excited at the suggestion but seemed to have changed her mind about it. Maybe inventing wasn't her thing and they could play some games. "Or we could play with some of my toys, games of graces or nine men morris or quoits."

Hearing this Amara just looked at her confused and even a bit scared. "What kind of toys are those?" she asked uncertain as Isabel stopped grinning.

"You know game of graces, with the ribbon hoop and the sticks? Nine men morris with the pins? Or throwing the circlet around- you know what never mind," she said quickly as Amara looked still a bit confused. Her cheeks burned slightly as she wasn't sure what they would do at the castle now. Her invention and then…

Amara didn't seem to be too bothered after brushing the confusion off. She just rolled her dark eyes at something she thought of. "It doesn't matter I have my chores on the farm and the rest of this homework to work on." She made a face at this as Isabel gave her a light chuckle. She rolled her eyes at the mention of homework as Isabel looked over at the teacher.

"Alright class math is now over and we're done for the day. Make sure you have all fifty questions done and our reading done. Have a safe weekend," said Senorita Marisol as Amara waved at her. Around her the class left as Isabel stayed place in her seat. She looked at her teacher and wondered just how old she was as she slowly packed up the bag.

"Is everything alright Isabel?" asked Senorita Marisol as she looked down at her go pack. She looked at Senorita Marisol's bag and noticed how stylish it looked compared to her bag. Isabel remembered kids at the school compliment her about her bag oh so long ago. Now it just looked bland.

Biting her bottom lip, she looked over at Marisol. "Everything is fine, I was just thinking of a way to show Amara fractions better." Hearing this Senorita Marisol smiled at hearing this. "Before I go I wanted to ask. Have you ever played game of graces?"

Hearing this seemed to light her face up as Senorita Marisol went from smiling to practically lighting up like a navidad tree. "I haven't played that game since I was a little girl. I used to love playing with my sisters." She seemed to get lost in her own thoughts at remembering this.

"Why did you stop?' she asked curious now as she looked out the window. Her carriage was coming to pick her up as she saw the bright red hair from Higgins waiting for her.

At this Senorita Marisol was pulled out of her thoughts as she just shrugged. "Oh, I don't know. Better toys and games have come around since then…" Her voice trailed off as she looked at the young princess. "Isabel-"

"My ride is here, I need to go," she said quickly as her teacher hesitated. She gave her teacher a final look as she raced out of the school doors to Higgins on the coach.

Stupid, stupid, she told herself angry at herself that she had to bring that up. Why didn't she just suggest that they play with the rubber shoes again? Or play with one of her inventions? Even helping her with her homework would have been better than talking out like that. She just got excited that she could possibly bring a friend with her to the castle. Isabel looked at the kids playing with balls, rope, and chalk. She never thought to ask any of them what they were playing or how to play. It was her first week here as she was busy getting caught up in her lessons.

She blinked back tears as the carriage came to a stop just outside of the castle. Higgins opened the door for her as she made her way to her room. Looking around Isabel wanted to go find her sister. Normally, she would be in the library right now in her lessons with Esteban. Unlike her, Elena was going to lessons on how to be a queen. Her lessons ranged from economics to how to properly greet a foreign ruler. Sometimes she would have Naomi with her other times she might have Gabe. Both would be with her in some situations and would know what to do properly.

Peering into the library she saw that nobody was there. Probably still in the grand council meeting. Hmm, she thought before slouching and heading off to her room when she felt her face become wet. Isabel reached up to wipe off her cheek as she realized that she was crying. Not even making it to her room did Isabel stop outside of Elena's bedroom door.

It was silly to be crying about toys and games. Although she felt it run deeper than that as it wasn't completely about that. It was the fact that she was behind. Not in school but in life as she hugged her knees closer to her. Forty-one years have passed while she was in that painting. Unlike Elena who could see time passing, she didn't. When she got out it was like Shuriki invading happened earlier that day.

Life since then everyone in her family had to adjust to. Isabel had seen many of her invention ideas become real in the meantime. She had a machine in mind that would make sewing easier since all of their clothes were hand stitched. Then a sewing machine was created by someone else. There were parts that she had to learn how to use for her experiments. There weren't children in the castle to know what had changed in the meantime. Forty-one years was a long time thinking about it.

"Isabel what are you doi- Are you crying?" asked a soft voice as she looked up to see Naomi standing there.

Staying quiet she just wiped her face. "I was looking for Elena," she said feeling lost for a second. "What are you doing?"

"Elena forgot her notebook and I said I'd get it for her." Then the blond sat down in front of her in the middle of the hallway. Then she brushed her hair to the side of her face. "Isabel, do you want to talk about it? I mean I can help."

Isabel stayed quiet as she looked at her sister's friend. She was much better off thinking of her own solutions. However, in this moment there didn't look like a solution within a suitable reach.

"I feel a bit left behind," she said in a small voice.

"Like at school? I know it's your first week there and it'll take getting used to but you're so smart and could get caught up in no time," said Naomi brightly.

"It's not that. I feel out of place like I shouldn't be there sometimes. If I weren't in a painting I would be there dropping my grandchildren off. I might know what we are covering in school but I'm not sure what people my own age like or anything anymore. When I was castle schooled Cristina was my only friend."

Naomi grew quiet as she thought of the young girl next to her. Isabel and Elena even Francisco and Luisa had every right to feel a bit out of place due to the amulet and painting.

"Everything changed while we were gone. A lot of it is a good thing, I mean the harbor is so much bigger. I have a lot more opportunities with my inventions. Now I can't talk without feeling like an idiot sometimes."

She thought back to earlier that day with Amara and her games.

"No, I get it," said Naomi sympathetically. "I mean all four of you are adapting well and I've never really stopped to notice how you might be feeling emotionally." That struck Naomi hard for a moment as this was the first she thought of this. How would Elena be feeling or Luisa or Francisco? Thinking about it the fifteen-year-old leaned in and hugged the younger girl.

"I want to learn what other people know but at the same time I don't want to change. I mean what Elena and I have are the only traditions we have left," said Isabel as she felt her voice break. Gulping back air, Naomi squeezed her a bit harder.

"Have you talked to your family yet?

"Not yet. I don't want to talk to Elena about this though I don't want to worry her. Or have her try to solve my problems for me. She's not always going to be around."

"Why don't you talk to one of your grandparents or even Esteban? I'm sure they're having issues too."

"Yea I think I'll do that later."

From there Naomi went to get the notebook as the grand council meeting went on. Isabel decided to take a detour to the library. Maybe she could read up on what happened without being told. Sometimes a lot of the adults would talk down to her being much younger. Never mind the fact that she was supposed to be in her mid-fifties.

Browsing through the titles she picked out a book that sounded promising. There were several psychology books that she could have looked at. Then a history of inventions that changed the world. She looked at the copywrite date and saw that it was only two or three years old. Perfect at least she'd know as much. Grabbing two other books she sat down to get reading as she had her journal on her. Behind her the door opened as she didn't think much of it. Probably just Esteban reading up on laws and something to prep Elena on.

From the corner of her eye she saw a flash of burgundy cloth. That didn't seem to matter as she took notes on a possible quicker way to make embroidering fabric a lot easier. Then out of nowhere did Esteban sit down in front of her instead of his study.

"Hi Isabel," he said as he got his own book. She glanced at the spine as it had the title of the Law of Royalty. Figured as much as she grinned a little. It had grown quiet between the two of them as Isabel took notes more and more over different inventions. This was fun as she forgot about her problems from earlier in the day.

She looked up to see that Esteban didn't even turn a page in his book.

"You know I forget sometimes that you're supposed to be around my age," he said as Isabel stopped to look at him.

"Naomi told you," she said flatly.

"The girl had some nerve to come up to me and ask to talk to you. She never actually said what but that I might be able to help you with school."

Isabel let out a sigh of relief. Naomi never actually told him the problem just it was a school issue. Well that seemed a little better she thought. Esteban was just Esteban to her sometimes though. He was sweet on her occasionally, but acted more like a second father. She thought of what she wanted to say before spilling it all out on Esteban. In almost the exact same words that she said to Naomi.

"So, you see it's not really a school issue but rather a life thing," she finished. Once upon a time both used to get along. Now didn't seem to be any different. Especially after Esteban had abruptly sat up and came to sit next to her.

"Isabel," he said in a soft voice. Esteban never thought that he would see the day his youngest cousin sounded like she was going to cry. This was all his fault. He was the one that made Isabel feel like her life was out of control. This was all his fault and he could only think about how his grandparents were feeling or Elena. Worse, she was his favorite cousin. "I- There's just too much that happened between then and now."

She looked up at him as Esteban looked at her not wanting to see the poor girl hurt. This was his mistake and he was determined to fix it. Starting with his young cousin.

"Isa," he said using his cousin's pet name for her. "If you want to talk about anything, you can find me. I mean it. I know there is going to be things you don't want to tell Elena. And I want to help, I mean it because we love each other."

Thinking about it, Isabel gave her cousin a hug. Not a long one but enough to touch them both in a different way. Enough to make Isabel smile. She would find him and they would talk. It was like the times that they would get along and be close with each other.

"Thanks Esteban," she said trying to keep her voice neutral. "We should probably get dinner."

She bound off out of the door with Esteban close at her heels. Then she saw Naomi still standing there as Esteban nodded at her to go with her quickly. She was spying on her the entire time. Rather than curious to know why Isabel threw her arms around the teen. "Thanks for helping Naomi."

"Not a problem, do you want to walk me out to my carriage before dinner?"

"Of course."

Both girls walked down to the front of the palace with Naomi promising that she would be back tomorrow. For what started as a crummy day, this ended beautifully.