The Exiled Gem

Wind in the Basement

Finding the address would be easy. Convincing a barrister would certainly not be so, Alexandra was very sure. Anybody who had a mastery over the laws was bound to be difficult to talk to, let alone get into the good books of.

But she did find the address right away. It was not too difficult. Alexandra knocked on the door, but she soon remembered that he left at 5 and came back at 5. So the house would be empty now.

She then decided to wait for the sun to set, obviously by - loitering around. She left the Alpine street and wandered through the polished avenues of Idgard. It was the youngest kingdom in all, yet the wealthiest. One of the reasons Vitus had been so bent upon this division: Idgard had everything. Resources, good climate, jovial hearts and sensible brains. It had always been the "richer" half of Cartania. When the partition finally took place, Cartania lost two thirds of its economy. The present Cartanian Empire included wastelands, tall temples, she-buffaloes and a battalion of unemployed loafers. 

Idgard was all good. The male buffaloes had chosen it and hence buffalo population had dwindled easily. Dogs were more common, and when people didn't toss them pieces of bread, they raised an uproar of barks in the neighborhood. For now, all of them had retreated into the shade. The bright, summer sunshine slumped on Alexandra's face like warm blankets. People milled about, wearing clothes remarkably like Betty's. Two women sat on a bench, wearing expensive robes and sipping chilled juices as they complained about life. As far as Alexandra's eyes travelled, there were more and more people and more and more houses. More winding lanes and footpaths. She felt freer and relaxed than she ever had. Though it would have been nice to have some witty company at this hour, to keep her entertained.

Yet she stretched and walked lazily, no destination in mind. Who could have known that she was an exiled princess? A murder? A criminal? Life was good without all of that wound-up, noble tension. It was simple. It was beautiful.

Alexandra had never been attracted to men. It would have been easier to be like Betty - have a crush on half the city, admire them from afar, wink and leave. But she herself was different. A lot different. Alexandra just knew that the single time she fell in the pit of love - it would be forever.

And previously, She hadn't met many men, to start with. All her princess-company had been a group of a huge group of giggling girls. But then suddenly, it was all about men. First Liam - and then the whole espionage. But she had discovered, to her pleasant surprise, that men weren't as bad creatures as she had expected them to be. In fact, her previous ideas had been based upon what Olivia and Rose had told her. 

And they, had got everything wrong.

They had said men didn't cry or feel emotions as deeply as women did. Mark Fannel had proved that wrong. They had said men were clueless. Alexandra was very sure "clueless" didn't exist in Liam's dictionary. They had said men were straightforward and easy to read. That was the most incorrect observation of all. None of the men she had met were remotely "easy" to read. In fact, even Watson had shattered some of her beliefs. Beliefs like men were "serious" and were too competitive to have many "friends". In fact, that was the worst assumption one could have made.

Too late, Alexandra realized the main problem in her old life. She had begun seeing the world through her sisters' eyes. And inevitably, she had begun seeing herself through their eyes too. The reason she had felt incompetent and useless, the black sheep of the family. There was a difference between being "different" and being "special". 

And yes, she was special. Alexandra knew it was almost vanity to feel that. But what had her complaint in Doveland been? That she was nobody's favorite. There couldn't have been a more stupid thing in the world. If she loved herself, nothing else mattered. But Alexandra hardly knew that loving herself was changing her. And as Fannel had said, it was changing her for the better.