Essence Of The Heart (The Royal Tutor)

by Daris Howard

  That was it, then. Trust begets trust. Respect begets respect. It was so obvious. But how could she get her father to let Alexander stay? She couldn't disclose her feelings for Alexander, or her father would send him away for sure. She had to appeal to something else.

  She never went to sleep at all, but by the time the sun was well on its ascent into the sky, she was on her way to visit with her parents. It was late in the day, but after the long night, her parents, Duke Reginald, and Lady Margaret were barely sitting down to breakfast. She greeted them warmly and smiled at them. Her father scowled at her suspiciously. "Did you get some food after the ball?"

  Louise nodded as she took her place at the table. "Alexander was kind enough to make sure I had something to eat. Speaking of which, where is Alexander?"

  She looked around the table pretending to wonder at his absence, though she knew perfectly well where he was. As she did, she nonchalantly picked up some food to eat as if Alexander was only a secondary thought.

  Her father looked her straight in the eye. "I have commanded him to leave by noon for military training."

  Louise frowned. "But, Father, is that wise?"

  The king growled. "What do you mean by that?"

  Louise shrugged as if it was no big deal. "Who will be my escort?"

  "I am having Sir Phillip stay to be your escort," he said triumphantly.

  "But won't you be concerned for my safety?" Louise asked.

  The king looked confused. "What are you driving at, Louise?"

  "Father, why did you send me here?"

  The king looked uncomfortably over at Duke Reginald and Lady Margaret. He was obviously embarrassed to say he thought his own daughter was out of control. By the look on his face, Louise knew he thought she was going to mention it. He stumbled over his words as he spoke. "Well, it's just..."

  Louise interrupted him, turning to Duke Reginald and Lady Margaret. "Father felt that if I were to be queen someday, it would be good if I could get out and meet the people."

  The king breathed a sigh of relief. "Exactly!"

  "But that is exactly the problem," Louise said.

  The king looked at her narrowly. "In what way?"

  "Alexander is a native son here. The people love and respect him, and I feel totally safe when I travel with him. I'm not so sure they would feel the same way about an outsider like Sir Phillip, especially where he is so wealthy and many of the people here are so poor."

  The king's expression showed his thoughts, and Louise continued. "I suppose you could always send an army with us everywhere we went, but I'm afraid that would only make the people suspicious and unfriendly."

  The king turned to Duke Reginald. Duke Reginald nodded his agreement. "It is true, Sire. I could more than guarantee her safety if she is with my son. I am not sure I could say the same about an outsider."

  The king still paused. Louise took a bite and chewed slowly, as if she didn't have a care in the world, disguising her anxiety. She saw her mother reach out and touch her father on the arm. He turned to look at her, and she nodded reassuringly.

  "All right," the king said, "he can stay with you until you don't need him as an escort any more. But then he is to report for military duty."

  Louise was about to complain, but she caught a glance from her mother telling her to let well enough alone and they would deal with the rest later.

  She shrugged. "That's only fair."

  She was so excited she could hardly eat. Her father noticed her lack of appetite.

  "Aren't you hungry, Louise?"

  She smiled at him. "You've got to admit, Father, that I didn't eat that long ago." He smiled at that as she continued. "But someday I've got to have you try raspberries with milk and honey candy."

  Her father and mother exchanged questioning glances while Duke Reginald and Lady Margaret exchanged knowing glances. Perhaps they knew about Alexander in the kitchen after all.

  By the time the meal ended, it was getting close to noon. Louise felt her insides doing flip-flops before it was over. Her heart was racing. In due time the king and Duke Reginald rose to go. The king needed to adjust his orders. Lady Margaret had tears in her eyes as she gave Louise a big hug. Her mother winked at her. "Well done, Louise," she said.

  Finally, Louise was free to head for the balcony overlooking the courtyard - the one from which Alexander had poured the bucket of mop water on her. She wanted to be where she could observe without being seen.

  She saw Alexander with Captain Matthew Johnson and his first officer Lieutenant Jason Richins of the Royal Guard, preparing for departure. They obviously were to escort Alexander to the military training camp. Louise liked Captain Johnson and Lieutenant Richins. They were both kind men and very loyal to her family. Though they were very professional, neither one was beyond stopping to visit with her.

  The cook came out with some food for the men that were leaving, and what Louise was sure was a bag of candy. Many members of the court were there. The people were visibly upset as the three men mounted. It was obvious how much they loved Alexander. Instead of making her hate him, as it would have before, she found that her heart grew tender.

  As the men reined their horses toward the gate she felt panic strike her heart. Where was the messenger from her father? What if he had changed his mind? What if he had seen right through her? It wasn't as if everything she had said wasn't true, because it was. She hoped she had successfully hidden her feelings for Alexander from her father. But her mother wasn't fooled. What if her father hadn't been fooled either? Surely, if they were really leaving, Duke Reginald, or at least Lady Margaret, would be there to bid farewell. But what if her father had forbidden them from being there. Maybe Alexander had thought it would be too hard to have them there. Her mind raced with many dreadful thoughts.

  The three men continued walking their horses toward the gate. Alexander sat tall and straight on Lady. The people were waving, and, as they reached the gate, Alexander turned in his saddle to wave back. He seemed to be searching the crowd - gazing among the people. She suddenly realized he was looking for her. Where was the messenger? The doubts started coming faster and faster. She was ready to deliver the message herself when, as Alexander was disappearing from sight, a young man came running full speed through the court yard. Dodging through the people, he ran swiftly after the three men. The crowd, sensing something was happening, collectively held their breath.

  It seemed like forever to Louse before the men returned. The crowd cheered as news spread that Alexander would be staying. Alexander searched the crowd more vigorously, as if he knew why he had returned, and then he saw her. Their eyes met, and he smiled. She returned his smile as she melted into the shadows of the balcony.

  Louise's parents stayed for two more days. She made sure not to show any kind of affinity for Alexander. That was hard for her, because she now found herself yearning to be with him as much as possible. Louise tried very hard to get along with her father during those two days, and, indeed, found a closeness to him she hadn't enjoyed in a long time. He even accompanied her and Alexander on a ride up into the mountains. The king watched Alexander closely and seemed satisfied both with Alexander's manners and his ability to work with horses and deal with the situations they encountered.

  As her parents were saying good-bye, she felt a slight twinge of homesickness. It was different than she had felt before. It was the feeling a person feels when she knows what she calls home is making way for a new life, as she, herself, is changing from a girl to a woman.

  Her father told her they would be back to take her home in three months, at the end of summer. She said she would be glad to see them. He then turned to Alexander. "You take good care of my daughter."

  Alexander bowed. "I will, Your Majesty."

  Then the king looked from one of them to the other and smiled for a brief moment. Louise wondered if he truly knew more than she thought. As she hugged him good-bye one last time, and he kissed her, she truly knew her father loved her, desp
ite their differences, or perhaps, more likely, because of their similarities. As she waved their carriage down the road, she vowed that, someday, when the time was right, she truly would make sure her parents got to taste raspberries with milk and honey candy.

  Chapter 7

  Learning About The People of Bernodia, Especially One

  Louise regarded that summer at Denville as one of the happiest times in her life. She and Alexander traveled together all over Bernodia. The people truly did love him. When he traveled, he did not stay at inns, as many travelers did. He had so many friends among the common people that he was always invited to stay in their homes, which was exactly what he enjoyed doing. He didn't do it out of economics. Though the people would refuse to take anything from him, he always found a way to hide some money where they would find it later. For that reason, he often chose the homes of those who could use it the most. "The worthy poor," he called them.

  They all knew he did this and would jokingly threaten him if he did it again. He would only look innocent and declare he had no idea what they were talking about. It seemed to be a game between them - him trying to secretly hide the money and them trying to catch him at it.

  They never did catch him, and he even involved Louise in the game. More than once she helped to distract a good man or woman of the house so Alexander could leave a few gold coins in their cupboard. The poorer the family, the more he left.

  He also always left them with another gift which they gladly accepted. He had dug up many little strawberry plants and packed them in a dirt pouch. Since they ate with the families wherever they stayed, they didn't need to take much food, and no bedding, so he had more room for gifts. Each family received a small strawberry plant or two with instructions on how to grow them, but he made them promise that, as their plants created new ones, they would also share. The people were always appreciative of this contribution to their small gardens.

  The meager homes they stayed in usually had only one bedroom and the main living quarters, so the hosts had always insisted he take the one bedroom. Now that she was with him, he insisted she take the bedroom and he slept in the living quarters with the family. "Besides," he laughed, "I've slept on those beds, and I'm sure I can do just as well on the floor."

  She had to admit he really had a point there. She was amazed, however, at the things she found she could sleep on after a long day of riding.

  When dining with these poor families, their fare was always simple, but prepared perfectly. There would be fresh vegetables from the garden, coarse, ground bread hot from the hearth, and if lucky, chicken or some kind of roast pork. She had no doubt they were served the very best the family had, and the food was always extremely delicious even if it was simple. In fact, Louise decided the simplicity of it was what made it so good.

  After dinner, Alexander did something else that drew her heart to him. He would go to his saddlebag and pull out a beautiful book and an old blanket. The book was his pride and joy. He said it was a gift from his grandfather. He would invite his host's children to join him near some tree or on a grassy spot, and he would sit down on the blanket. It seemed the children of the village were watching for this moment, and they would come running from all directions.

  The children, even some in their teens, would gather around, the little ones sitting and the older ones standing. Usually the smallest ones would sit on his lap. He made sure to turn the book around now and then so that everyone could see the pictures. Their little faces would strain to see every detail. As the sun was setting in the sky, he would read of princesses, knights, dragons, and kings. When the stories ended, he would send them home with small bits of sweets in their tattered pockets.

  Alexander loved children and often told Louise he always wanted a little brother or sister, but his parents couldn't have any more after he was born. He had said he'd adopt every child in the villages if he could. Louise thought that, in some ways, he already had. One thing that saddened Alexander was that so few of the Bernodians could read, and books were so hard to come by. He said he hoped someday every one of his people would have a book.

  Louise could remember how her heart had been touched the first night Alexander sat down to read with the children of a small town. Even with what happened in the mountain village, Louise wasn't ready for the scene that appeared before her. As he sat down and all the children clambered around him, she was, at first, nervous. But as his clear, strong voice read the stories, the children looked at him intently, serenely, hanging on every word, and she could feel something in her heart she didn't understand.

  Her emotions overwhelmed her, and she slipped out of sight and sobbed at the memory of the way she had previously treated him. Could she ever forgive herself? Alexander didn't seem to hold any resentment, but at times his eyes belied the scar that had been left in his heart.

  That first night, after the children departed, he came looking for her. "Louise, are you all right?"

  Seeing him coming, she had wiped the tears from her face. She turned to him and smiled. "I've never been better."

  She had never known a man like Alexander. What had made him the way he was? She learned he had traveled through the villages with his father as soon as he could sit astride a horse. When he was almost thirteen, he was allowed to venture on his own, first nearby, then further and further.

  Duke Reginald and Lady Margaret were well-loved by their people. She began to understand that Alexander was indeed his parents' son. He was who he was because of them. They were concerned about everyone. They levied the lightest taxes in all of her father's kingdom. In fact, the national taxes were their heaviest burden in Bernodia. In many of the provinces, the local taxes imposed by the dukes were far heavier than the national ones.

  But Duke Reginald and Lady Margaret didn't demand a high lifestyle. They even had their own gardens and produced much of the food needed for the castle. Louise learned to love these gardens and would often go with Alexander to pick a few fresh raspberries and blackberries, and occasionally some strawberries. He was careful to protect them because he said the Esconodian trader charged him a fortune for a few plants, but he said they were multiplying, allowing him to give some to the villagers to grow.

  There was another plant that he valued highly. He said the Esconodian trader had sold it to him, telling him it came from the New World. He said there they called it "maize" but the trader said that it had been called "corn" here. Alexander said that the previous year they had gotten very little off of it, mostly only enough for some new seed and a little to taste. The trader told him he needed to add lots more manure for better production. He had done this, and the plants looked fantastic.

  Louise had never seen anything like it. It looked like a grass, but the leaves were big. There was lots of it, and Alexander promised, if it turned out well, they would try eating it together at the end of summer. He talked about so many of the plants that she could hardly keep up with him on what was new and what wasn't.

  Though servants did most of the work in the gardens, Alexander would take her out there so they could pick their own berries. He said there was nothing like getting your fingers stained with berry juice to make the food taste better. As she ate, she knew he was right.

  Another thing he taught her to enjoy was snacking on peas right from the garden. Alexander had checked them out for days before he finally declared a pod ready to eat. He cracked one open and had her hold out her hand. He scraped the peas out into her cupped hand.

  She had been reluctant to try them and told him she didn't really like peas. He told her cooked ones and ones fresh from the garden weren't even in the same pod. He often added little bits of dry humor like that. It had annoyed her before. Now she found it to be a fun part of his personality. She carefully put the peas in her mouth and started to chew, fully expecting to spit them out. To her amazement, she did like them. As the peas came on more and more, the two of them would sit out in the patch and munch on them, leaving very little room for their meals
. They would visit about so many wonderful things, and the servants would simply look over at them and smile.

  Alexander also loved to read and to learn about new things. He was always trading with someone for something new. That was how he learned about honey candy. Many of his prized trades were in foods. He had no qualms about trading or learning from the lowliest peasant. She discovered that he often got up before everyone else so he could read in the library when his mind was sharpest. She would stop there in the morning so he could accompany her to breakfast.

  The first time he told her he was going to a market where the Esconodians came to trade, she was very frightened. She knew they were the enemy. But Alexander assured her they were not that different. In fact, he said that many of the people of Bernodia and Esconodia came from the same cultural background. He said they just spoke a slightly different language. He told her he had many Esconodian friends and knew that the animosity between their nations was born of misunderstanding, not of evil intent.

  With his assurance, she went with him. She found the market to be fascinating. Many of the traders smiled and called Alexander by name. He never used a title. He liked to simply to be called "Alexander".

  Alexander seemed to understand most of what the Esconodians said, though he could not really speak their language. As they walked past the vendors, she loved looking at their intricate carvings, beautiful rugs, tapestries, and fabrics. She was impressed by their artisans and weavers. She found their languages were not as different as she had imagined and found she, too, understood much of what they said, even if she couldn't speak it.

  At one point, some of the Esconodians gathered around them. One said something to Alexander. He blushed, and they all laughed, even Alexander. When she asked him what they said, Alexander said, "Oh, nothing really."