At sixteen years of age Alan Carter, the son of Captain Smith and Mr. Smith's late sister, and Gemma Cook, Mr. Cook's younger daughter, were the eldest people living at Quebec Castle who were less than twenty years of age. As a result, keeping an eye on the children would be assigned to them, with thirteen-year-old Mark Dupont assisting them. To Alexander's thinking, it would take much more than three people to keep an eye on the children. There were forty students who attended boarding school at Quebec Castle, Captain Smith's daughter Hippolyta, the butler John Cortes Senior's son and Olga Asimov, the daughter of one of the house staff, that equalled to forty-three children and these ten others brought it to fifty-three.
Laying in a basket of laundry beneath a sunny Autumn sky, Alexander and Roxana both stared at Alan and Gemma. Alan was as lean and hungry in appearance as a man named Gaius Cassius Longinus as portrayed by another man named William Shakespeare and stood at a height of five feet and five inches. He was ruddy-skinned with short, curly red hair and eyes that were small and triangular in appearance, due to close-fitting lids, and mismatched with the left being blue and the right green. His nose was big and hooked, his jaw square, his cheekbones sharp and by human standards, he was not particularly good-looking, quite common, but to Alexander his master's nephew was a pleasant looking fellow. Clad in his usual attire, Alan was wearing a white shirt, black trousers and shoes and a red blazer.
Gemma was a slender girl and an inch taller than Alan. She was light-skinned with large reddish-brown eyes and red hair that was long and straight. She was a fairly attractive girl with an honest face, a cute mouth and a good pair of legs. With her usual kimono having been destroyed in a recent adventure, she wore one that was blue still, yet a different shade, much lighter, and her turban was a brighter pink than the one she typically wore, being more akin to that of her nightgown. She was also wearing a pair of gold earrings, triangular in shape and a pair of blue high heeled shoes.
While Alan and Gemma helped some of the staff with laundry, Alexander and Roxana both listened from where they lay. Alan even stared at the two caracals, the male reddish-tan and the female sandy, and said, his voice a deep baritone: "I know you must find the laundry comfortable, but must you really lay there when it needs folding?" Alexander meowed a response, to which Alan replied by giving the Northern caracal a pat on the head. Turning to Gemma, Alan then said to her: "Alright, so Mark can handle his siblings. Which of the children do you want to take care of?"
"I'll take the babies." Gemma answered with a sweet tone.
"Right, so let's see here…" uttered Alan, attempting to get a sheet out from under Alexander and Roxana. Neither caracal was interested in moving and Roxana even batted Alan's hand away. Sighing, he continued with: "That has three children Mark is looking after, two for you and five for me… Maybe I can ask Ian to help, Natasha is his sister after all."
"Ian will have classes until the day of the wedding and Natasha is still your cousin even if you've never met her before, Alan."
Nodding in agreement, Alan commented: "With Verna being one of the ones getting married I guess that means I can't ask her to keep an eye on her cousin Julius then… Say, Gemma how about you take Theobald too? After all, he is your nephew."
"Alan, you will do fine." Gemma assured her lifelong friend, placing a gentle hand upon his right cheek.
"Will I?" Alan asked with uncertainty.
"If you could rescue me from Herr von Fell's circus, you can do anything." Replied Gemma, smiling warmly as she gazed into his eyes.
Alexander and Roxana both watched the two redheaded adolescents. They remembered how Alan had told Mr. and Mrs. Cortes how he loved Gemma. Was the moment when he would tell Gemma herself soon approaching?
Emerging from the basket, Alexander took a few steps forward towards the river than ran through the heavily forested estate. On the other side he could see Miltiades, the Canada lynx. That yellowish-brown feline was limping along his merry way. What was he off to do now? Kill another badger? The last one had injured his leg, maybe the next would actually… No, Alexander knew that would not be how it happened. He knew that whatever the outcome would be, it would not be another badger that would slay Miltiades. A second battle was coming, there was no mistake.
"Would you look at that!" Alan exclaimed, him and Gemma both coming up from behind Alexander. "Miltiades limping like Shere Khan!"
Shere Khan was a name that Alexander had heard spoken of. The enemy of Mowgli whom the author Rudyard Kipling had written of in his Mowgli Stories in his Jungle Books. There were no buffalo to stampede and trample Miltiades on the estate though.
"Now what do you imagine would be mean enough to do that to him?" inquired Gemma.
Would that Alexander could speak the tongue of man. He could understand it, yet speak it he could not. Unless he were to lead Alan and Gemma to the badger's cadaver, they would not under—
Lead Alan and Gemma to the badger's cadaver! That was a great idea!
Turning to Gemma, Alexander took hold of the end of her kimono with his mouth and proceeded to tug at it, walking in the direction where he had found the badger's body. Seeing this Roxana sat up with wide eyes and ears erect. What was going on here?
"Alexander, stop." Turning, Alexander saw his master Captain Smith approaching. Immediately he let go of Gemma's kimono. Captain Kull Smith was forty-five years of age and stood at a height of six feet and four inches. He was a muscular man who was a quarter Algonquin, a quarter Cayuga, a quarter German and a quarter Irish. There were three moles to the side of his left eye and two scars on the left side of his face with the most notable going through his left eyebrow. His black hair was long and Zeus-like, his handlebar mustache like that of Wyatt Earp and his beard a goatee. His attire was the uniform he had worn during the Second Boer War, which he had turned into everyday wear, and so consisted of a khaki coat, and trousers, a white shirt, black boots and a Stetson hat. As his master stood over him with raised eyebrow, Alexander meowed to which Captain Smith chuckled and asked: "What are you being so strange about? Why were you tugging at Gemma's kimono?" Kneeling down, the captain stroked the Northern caracal and then looked at Roxana. "How's my girl doing? Nervous with all of these strangers around?" Roxana made a chirping noise, which Captain Smith replied to by saying: "Don't worry, Roxana. They aren't here to stay. Just a few days." Standing up, Captain Smith removed his Stetson and ran a hand through his hair. Looking to Gemma, he uttered: "Gemma, Igraine, Eleanor and Verna want to see you on the subject of your dress."
Giving a nod, Gemma said: "Thank you, Captain Smith."
As Gemma made her way to see Ms. Lombard, Ms. Armstrong and Verna, Alexander watched Roxana. She stood up and strode forth from the laundry basket, yet did not follow Gemma, but nonetheless, the Asiatic caracal kept her golden eyes upon the head gardener's daughter until she was out of sight.
"Well now, Alan…" began Captain Smith. "I suppose you and her discussed which of the children you, her and Mark will be taking care of."
"Yes, Uncle Kull."
"And how has it been divided?"
"Mark will look after his siblings Gemma will look after the babies and I will look after everyone else."
Alexander watched as his master stared with eyes glazed over. He knew what his master was thinking. Captain Smith thought it needed better planning.
"My dear nephew…" began Captain Smith, taking a piece of laundry and proceeding to fold it. "I think Young Cortes can help out. You can take Julius, Theobald and Natasha and he can take Clark and Apollo." Alexander watched his master fold the bedsheet. It was with wide eyes that the Northern Caracal watched as his master attempted to fold the bedsheet as small as possible before ultimately giving up. "Well, I'd say that is that for this." Sighing, Captain Smith then said: "Reverend Adams has objected to having the statue of Isis present, not because he considers it a heathenish thing, but because he believes that I should have statues of Hera and Juno present as well."
"You haven't found any statues of Hera and Juno on your expeditions." Commented Alan, quite matter-of-fact in tone. "Not even where there would have been temples to those goddesses."
"I told him that." Stated Captain Smith, shaking his head. "And now he is offering to contact some friends who have such statues."
"Good lord…" Running a hand through his hair, Alan looked at Alexander and Roxana and asked the caracals. "What have you to say to that?"
The caracals did not have anything to say. Alexander was licking his right forepaw and rubbing it against his face and Roxana was scratching an itch.
"I've been declining the offers." Captain Smith uttered, looked at his two caracals with an amused expression. "Isis is enough and I don't need Osiris along with her. I just need the Goddess of Marriage not the…" Pausing from his bath, Alexander looked up at his master. There was a look of realization upon the captain's countenance as he said: "Actually, maybe having the God of Life present as well is not such a bad idea."
"If you say so." Commented Alan, scratching the back of his head.
For a moment, Alexander looked up at Alan, who in turn stared at his uncle with an unsure expression upon his countenance. Noticing the unsure expression, Captain Smith asked: "Something you want to ask, Alan?"
Initially, Alan answered not. He merely looked to the side, or more accurately looked to Alexander and Roxana, both now looking up at him.
Looking his uncle in the eye, Alan inquired: "Would you be opposed to be me and Gemma being romantically involved?"
"Not one bit." Answered Captain Smith with a smile. "Follow your heart, my lad." Noticing a raven flying above him, Alexander leapt up at it, but alas, he failed to strike it. Upon coming back down to earth, he felt his master's hands upon his back. Looking Captain Smith in the eye, the Northern Caracal meowed, to which his master said: "There are better things to hunt than ravens, Alexander, and don't you go hunting while guests are here. I want you and Roxana to stay close to the house. Cnut will stay close, Emma will stay close, Herod and Cleopatra will not be taken out of the house without me to supervise them, all the horses will be staying in the stable and you and Roxana will be staying close as well! Do you understand me?" Alexander's response was to bump his head against his master's knee. Smiling, Captain Smith uttered: "That's my Alexander." Then looking to Roxana, he asked: "Do you understand, Roxana?" When Roxana meowed a response, the captain smiled and proceeded to stroke the Asiatic caracal's sandy fur. "That's right, of course you do!"
"Speaking of the horses, Peter and Catherine will be pulling the carriage you and Igraine will be riding in, right?" inquired Alan.
Peter and Catherine were a pair of American quarter horses owned by Captain Smith. Until the Romani had left the service of Herr von Fell to work for Captain Smith, they had been the only horses at Quebec Castle. Peter was a fine black stallion with a white star upon his forehead and a white sock on his left hind leg while Catherine was an equally fine chestnut mare. John Cortes Senior was absolutely appalled at the idea of these two equines being used to pull a wedding carriage, even saying: "A black horse like Peter is fit for a funeral, but a chestnut horse like Catherine is fit for no special occasion! Trust me about this, Captain Smith! I am a Romani and I know horses like the back of my hand!"
One of the other staff members around Mr. Cortes' age was quick to comment: "Big talk for a man who had never seen a horse until he was twenty-five!"
Alexander looked up at his master, seeing the smile upon Captain Smith's face as the Veteran of the Second Boer War remembered that conversation. With a nod, Captain Smith said: "Yes, Alan, they are."
"And Igraine is alright with it?" asked Alan.
"Igraine told me there are no other horses she would rather have pulling the carriage." Replied Captain Smith. "Old Cortes was even present for that."
"I wasn't…" muttered Alan. He had been present for Old Cortes' objection, but not for Ms. Lombard's defending of the choice of horses.
Scratching an itch, Alexander looked over at the stables where Peter and Catherine were. Peter and Catherine… His good friends, sometimes he would accompany Alan and Gemma when they went riding upon those two, for when those two great steeds went forth from the stables, he wanted to accompany them.