4 Chapter 4

"Well, Princess, this judgment would cost a lot of people a lot of money, including the school government from loss of taxes. How do you propose that we make up the lost revenue?" The questions and challenges went on for a long time. Longer than any other time after Alexandra had sat in judgment. She answered the questions carefully, giving her ruling more thought now than she had when she was filled with anger at the waste of time and money feeding both families' greed. As time passed she became certain that her solution was indeed just. She defended it with passion and conviction. The sun had gone down and the discussion had moved into the town hall. Alexandra had defended her ruling and gone into the various arenas of taxes, hospitality, the reason for the existence of magic and rights of ownership. In the end the markers gave the princess her ruling, not just in the specific case, but the general ruling. It was unprecedented in the history of the school, that a student ruling of such magnitude would be upheld. The discussion went right up to the Board of Governors. It confirmed Alexandra as the best student in the history of the school, and it confirmed her status as the outcast of her class.

After every turn at being judge the children would sneak into the common room after lights out and reenact the day's events to gales of muffled laughter. The evening after Alexandra's turn the children met as usual, but because she was still defending her ruling to the markers she wasn't part of the group. Princess Anaeth took the part of Princess Alexandra and both parties; she portrayed all of them with brutal sarcasm. She had just got to Alexandra's condemnation of the greed of the petitioners and was throwing herself into the part with great abandon.

"You pitiful peasants, you are sooo disgusting. Don't you ever take a bath? But that's right this is a court of law...well, sort of anyway. You people shouldn't be so greedy; after all just be-cause you own the spring doesn't mean you have any right to the water. You should drink out of the town well just like every-one else. You should poison the spring so no one else can use it. While we're at it, why don't we just poison all the magic springs? After all we can't have any of you poor slobs making any money, you might start taking baths..." Anaeth trailed off as she realized that her audience had been distracted. Alexandra stood in the doorway looking exhausted. "Hail to our exalted judge. The markers must have really run you over the coals. After that ruling you will be lucky not to be sent back to Page. Didn't you learn anything in all those boring classes? You don't mess with the tax base. Royalty needs greedy people so they will make money and give it to us. You are a little idiot."

"They gave me my ruling, even the general part of it, pending approval of the School Board of Governors. It took so long because I had to defend the changes in tax structure needed to make up the income lost because of incidental magic being freely available." Alexandra turned as if to leave, ignoring the gasps and even subdued cheering of the other children, but Anaeth stood with her hands clenched and shaking with her rage.

"You're lying. They would never let a little snit like you set that kind of precedent. You must be lying." The beautiful girl was blotchy with rage.

"Why would I lie?" Alexandra said quietly. "You will find out the truth in the morning anyway."

"You fraud, you aren't even a real princess. You have no enchantment to bring a prince to marry you. You will be an old maid, and your kingdom will die."

"Someone else made you a princess, Anaeth. You could be completely brainless. A potato could be a princess in your kingdom if it could fall asleep, and had lips to kiss. Someone else will rule your kingdom; someone else will choose your husband. It doesn't matter who you are or what you are like. You are irrelevant." The Unenchanted Princess turned again and left the room with, though she didn't know it, a grace that left Anaeth speechless with fury.

The following morning Anaeth saw the posting of Alexandra's ruling, and worse, that Alexandra had been made a "Duchess" and was now Anaeth's superior. The tantrum she threw was legendary, but its only effect was to send her to bed with a raging headache. For the foreseeable future, Anaeth would have to obey the Unenchanted Princess.

As soon as she regained control of herself, Anaeth wrote her mother.

The next week the school had a visit from the Queen of Sopo. The princess was closeted with the school council for the better part of the afternoon. No one ever knew what had been spoken of in that meeting. One student swore that she had happened to be at the door as the visitor left.