Alexander followed Alan and Gemma to the latter's bedroom. The boy and the caracal would have followed her in had the girl not slammed the door shut, an action that caused Alexander's fur to stand on end. Alexander then proceeded to force his head against the door and open it, after which he then entered and found Gemma sobbing into her pillow.
Slowly jumping onto the bed, Alexander meowed at Gemma. Turning to face him, the girl stared at the caracal with a tear-stained countenance and pulled the cat into a hug, something which took Alexander by surprise. His eyes widened, his ears were fully erect, he did not know what to do. He had never been hugged before. What was this? Why was Gemma doing it to him? What did it mean? Why was she holding him close?
"G-Gemma?" Alan asked, from outside of her room. "May I come in?"
"You may, Alan." Gemma answered.
Alan entered to find Gemma holding Alexander close to her and noted how confused the caracal looked, yet that was secondary. He knew what was primary, it was what Gemma was feeling. "Uh… G-Gemma…" he began, taking it slowly and trying to figure out the correct words to say. "W-What I said… As much as I would like to be one of the new bannerets, you are the most… Uh, I worry about what would happen if I were to be killed in action and how it would…" Struggling to get out of Gemma's arms, Alexander gave a small meow to which Gemma responded by releasing him. Walking over to the other end of Gemma's bed, Alexander meowed again, this time to Alan, who replied with giving him a pat on the head. The boy then said: "Gemma, you are the most important person in my life, you are my best friend and I have no idea what the future holds for us, all that I know is that if this is how the thought of me dying in a war affects you, then damn the new bannerets! War has never interested me anyway, I don't find it glorious, I find it ugly and all I know is that it took my parents and I wish I could fight the personification of it just as I did those visionary adversaries when I was a kid, but not at the cost at leaving you in tears. Gemma, I've known you for as long as I can remember and to see you like… like this…" Now tears were starting to flow from Alan's eyes, yet his voice remained calm, or as calm as he could be. "I-It is heartbreaking."
Getting up from her bed, Gemma approached and embraced her lifelong compeer while Alexander stared at the scene before him. Alan soon wrapped his arms around Gemma and Alexander was left to wonder what this was. His parents' master had never embraced anyone, yet even then he had always been kind, and in truth, this was the first time that Alexander had ever seen two humans embrace on another. It was strange, yet good to see.
There was nothing but silence for a few moments. Standing upon the bed, Alexander stared and meowed to get the attentions of Alan and Gemma. Immediately, they both turned to look at him. Emerging from the embrace, Alan stroked the caracal's back while Gemma stroked his chin.
"Alan…" said Gemma. "When you speak of the personification of war what do you imagine?"
"I'm not exactly sure… I know my father died at St Eloi Craters, but I have never imagined Erich von Falkenhayn… At least, how I imagine him to look. I suppose… now that I think about it, that I imagine something classical."
A small smile appeared on Gemma's countenance as she realized what Alan was thinking of. "Alan?" she inquired. "You wouldn't happen to be thinking of Mars, would you? And that would make you Diomedes, correct?"
When Gemma spoke of Mars and Diomedes, she spoke of the scene in the Iliad where the Achaean hero, with the aid of the goddess Minerva, wounded the war god Mars. As the only translation both of them were familiar with was Samuel Butler's 1898 translation where the Roman names were used for the deities, except for Apollo whose name remained the same in both Hellenic and Roman. They had both read it at the age of eleven, Gemma because Captain Smith had made it required reading for his pupil, and Alan because he wanted to. Both loved the epic poem.
Giving a small chuckle, Alan uttered: "Aye, I am."
"And who would your Minerva be?" Gemma inquired, genuinely interested if Alan had thought that far ahead.
Shrugging, Alan confessed: "I can't say I thought that far ahead. All I know is that I would be Diomedes and war personified would be Mars."
It was then Gemma's turn to give a chuckle. Alan was the same as ever: decent, kind, loyal, there was no one better in her eyes.
"Well, well, like uncle like nephew." Alan and Gemma both turned to find Captain Smith standing in the door way, or more accurately leaning against it with his arms crossed. Seeing his master, Alexander's first instinct was to meow a greeting.
"Uncle Kull!" Alan exclaimed with his eyes wide. "Uh, how long were you standing there?"
"In the doorway? About thirty-five seconds. In the hall? Long enough to hear everything that passed between you." Looking to Alexander, Captain Smith then said: "Alexander, come. Time to hunt. Gemma, go fetch my alpenstock. Alan, come with me and we will talk." As Alexander jumped down from the bed and followed his master, he listened to the Captain speak with Alan, following his uncle just as Alexander was. "I wished I could do the same thing when I was fighting in the Second Boer War, Alan. I thought of Diomedes' wounding of Mars, wished I could be do something like that. Then I remembered that the wounding of Diomedes did not stop the Trojan War. As much as we wish that there is some deity or personification, we can face to stop such things, the fact is that we cannot. The Second Boer War ended with the collapse of two republics and the signing of a peace treaty, not from the wounding of a war god. Who knows how the Great War will end? Who knows when it will end?"
"Well, at least when it is done, there will be no more wars!" Alan joyously uttered. "The world will be at peace! The war to end all wars in our lifetime! Isn't it a marvellous thought?"
Captain Smith had no reason to believe war would end with this conflict. He had been born during the Victorian era, which for Canada had been filled with conflict be it in Canada itself or overseas. The Rebellion of 1837 to 1838, the Fenian raids, the Wolseley expedition, the Mahdist War, the North-west Rebellion and the first years of the Second Boer War had all occurred during the reign of Queen Victoria and if that taught a person anything, it was war was always being fought. The only war during the Edwardian era had been the final years of the Second Boer War and when that had been over, Captain Smith had found himself hoping that finally his nation might know peace. Edward VII had since passed on and his son had succeeded him as George V, King of the United Kingdom and British Dominions and Emperor of India. They were now six years into George's reign and two years into a war. All hopes Captain Smith had had of his nation finally knowing peace were as dead as Julius Caesar.
When Captain Smith spoke, it was merely with a grim tone: "It is a thought."
Alan did not notice his uncle's grim tone, yet Alexander did. The caracal paused and stared up at his master. He had no way to know what was going through his master's head, all he knew was that his master needed cheering up, yet alas, he knew not what to do. Was there anything he could do?
Once in the entrance hall, Captain Smith found Gemma waiting with his alpenstock in hand. Taking it from her, the Captain thanked the redheaded girl while Alexander stared at the long, iron-tipped staff.
"Captain Smith, may I inquire why an alpenstock and not a walking-stick?" Gemma asked.
"Oh, just preference, Gemma." Captain Smith answered. "I like the alpenstock better than the cane and the walking stick."
Alexander had seen canes, walking sticks and staffs, yet never had he seen an alpenstock before last night. He has sniffed it, yet all he knew about it was that it belonged to his master, he knew not what it was. It an antecedent on the modern ice axe, yet Alexander had never seen an ice axe and never would have guessed that Captain Smith merely used it as one would a cane. Had Gemma not asked her question, it would have taken Alexander to see his master using it to fully understand.
Looking to the front doors, Alexander then looked up at his master, meowed, then stretched up onto his hind legs while pawing at Captain Smith. The Captain patted the caracal's head and made his way to the door, the redheaded adolescents following him, while Alexander run forward, even going through Alan's legs and nearly tripping the boy.
"He is certainly an excitable little fellow, isn't he?" Alan asked, upon regaining his footing.
"Not as reserved as Darius was." Gemma commented.
"I don't know, there was that one time when that thunder boomed and he went running throughout the house in a panic." Captain Smith chuckled. Alexander sat patiently at the doors, looking up at the three. He took a moment to scratch an itch and then meowed at the three. To this, the Captain commented: "Yes, yes, we're coming. Calm down, Alexander." Alexander's response was to meow again.
"Darius, Roxana, Alexander, I'm starting to wonder if cats hunt to live or if they live to hunt." Gemma mused.
Opening the door, Captain Smith watched with a smile as Alexander ran out the door and down the steps, stopping to wait for the three. As they stepped out the door, the Captain said to the caracal: "Alright, Alexander, lets start you off as we did Darius and Roxana: grey partridge."