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our enemies."
     
          "They are only our enemies because of the mistrust that has built up
between us over the years," Alexander replied.
     
          "And who made you the expert on them?" she asked.
     
          Alexander had a strong look - one she had never seen before. "I
have met many good Esconodians who have come across to trade with us.
If we would spend half as much time trying to understand each other as we
do defending our borders and fighting, the Esconodians would be our
friends, and not our enemies."
     
          Louise was immediately angered by this. Her father, as king,
commanded the armies. "And who made you the expert on war and peace,
you who have never even volunteered for the military?"
     
          That was about as mean a thing as could be said to a man
Alexander's age. All men who were not of royal birth were required to
serve at least four years in the army. Those of royal birth were expected to
volunteer. Those who didn't were considered cowardly.
     
          Alexander didn't seem ruffled at all. "I am more than willing to
defend my country, if it should come to that. But it's the foolishness of the
way the military is run that bothers me."
     
          She was so furious now that she wanted to slap him, but if he was
going to act the part of a traitor, let him do it, and she would have all the
more against him. She held her composure as she spoke. "In what way?"
     
          Alexander looked thoughtfully into space as he reached up and
scratched Lady's ears. "Because I am born of royalty, I would go into the
military as an officer. And who would I command? Let me tell you who I
would command. I would command men who are far more experienced and
know what they are doing. And thus the military runs. It is the
inexperienced commanding the experienced just because of how they were
born. What a way to defend the freedoms of our country. I don't want to be
the one to command men to their deaths due to the fact I am lacking in
judgement."
     
          Louise's anger turned to shock - shock that Alexander's attack on
age-old customs made so much sense.
     
          "And furthermore," he continued, "since a person's rank is
dependent on his birth, I would be the lowest of most officers, and just
above the common soldier, in a place to be commanded and abused by those
above me, and despised by those below me. If I have learned one thing in
life, it is that the essence of a man is his heart and is the true measure of
what he is. It shows in the way he lives his life, not in how he is born. It is
not the nobility of his birth, but how nobly he lives his life that makes a man
small or great."
     
          Alexander looked at Louise and, seeing the look on her face, he must
have felt he had already said too much. "Perhaps," he said, "we should
continue on."
     
          Louise just nodded. He saddled the horses, and they were on their
way. Alexander's words echoed in her ears long after they left the small
lake. It ate at her mind and heart because she knew he was right.
     
          The rest of the ride was quite uneventful, except Alexander was not
quite sure what to do with the chicken. It started squawking in his
saddlebag, so he gave it to an old lady once they reached the village.
Everyone there seemed to like Alexander and knew him well. At first that
made her hate him even more.
     
          Everyone seemed pleased to meet her, and pleased to know that the
future queen would feel their little village was important enough to visit.
She felt a tinge of guilt knowing she would not have come if it hadn't been
for Alexander and the trick she wanted to play on him.
     
          They could only stay about an hour due to the long trip home. And
just as they were getting ready to leave, something else happened that left
Louise in a quandary.