"So nice of you to join us, Alex," Duke Edward said dryly when they walked in the library. "How considerate."

Alex bit back an angry reply and instead said quietly, "Sorry, my grace. It won't happen again."

The Duke nodded, and then turned to all of the pages. "As you know, today marks the coming of five new pages, as is the custom for pages to be accepted in October." An unfamiliar boy stepped forward. He had dark, curly hair that fell into his deep brown eyes. His skin was still tanned; Alex guessed he had spent the last few months down south. He was very tall, taller even than the Duke. Alex, who only dreamed of being that tall, was in awe. "This is Wendell Harrison. Who will sponsor him?" Hands shot up, and it was no wonder- Wendell's father was George Harrison, a guitarist for the Beatles, whose legend was still famous. "Joshua. Adrian Manning, your sponsor will be Robbie Sinclair. Francis Koneski, you'll sponsor Wilfred Mason. This is Colin Harkins. Walter Dargelis, you're with him. And who will sponsor Rufus Pinarela?" He looked around, but all of the usual sponsors had been picked.

Alex looked Rufus over. He had red hair, worn long, and it covered his eyes. He was average height for a guy his age, but she could tell from his clothes that he was still growing. There was something different about him, Alex could sense, something that made him need to belong, not just desire to. Impulsively, Alex stuck up her hand. "I will sponsor him, if your grace sees fit," she said boldly.

"You, Alexander Tirragen?" Duke Edward asked. "Usually it's a least a second-year page to sponsor."

"Yes, your grace, but I have already been here since May, making that five months to my credit, and I already know the palace by heart," she told him. "I will not let it interefere with my studies, either."

He nodded. "Very well, Rufus Pinarela is assigned to you," he replied. "I suspect all bad habits he picks up will be learned from you. Everyone has today and tomorrow off, to show the new pages around. You will resume your classes on Monday." He exited the library, leaving the pages to talk.

"What did he mean, bad habits I pick up?" Rufus asked Alex, his voice quiet.

She smiled. "Oh, nothing. I just happen to be late a couple times," she explained. "I spend too much time in the stables after riding. Rufus...It means red-haired. Your parents certainly got that right when they named you."

"I don't know my parents," he said quietly. "I was adopted at birth."

"Well, I say you talk to Joshua over there," Alex told him. "He was adopted, too."

"The Highness? Oh, no, I couldn't bother him," he protested.

"Nonsense!" she replied. "Joshua would be delighted to talk to you. He's a great pal, and nice to everyone, unless he has a reason to hate someone. And believe me, he has no reason to hate you," she assured him. "But first, you must do something about that hair in your eyes. How can you see? I find it irritating when I can't see someone's eyes." Quickly, she swept his bangs over to the side of his face, and then stared in shock. His eyes were as yellow as her own.

"I really can see fine like that. What, haven't you ever seen yellow eyes before?" he snapped.

Alex was startled, he hadn't noticed her eyes. "Every day in the mirror," she whispered. "But I've never come across anyone else who had yellow eyes."

"Hey, Alex," Joshua called out, coming over to them. Then he whistled. "Is it just me, or are yellow eyes becoming more common nowadays?" he joked. "First you, Alex, and now this Rufus guy. And Jennifer and Alexandria-"

"Who?" Rufus asked.

"My cousins," the Prince told him. "They both have yellow eyes; they're twins. At least, I hope they still do. Alexandria's been missing for almost a year, and Jennifer's on a different planet, where electricity doesn't work, so we can't communicate with her."

He doesn't realise it's me, Alex thought silently. Then she remembered. Anyone else would have made the connection, between her eyes and being called Alex. But the royal family had always called her Sandry, and the name Alex had never been mentioned in the palace.

"Anyway, Alex, the new pages wanted you to tell them what their names mean," Joshua told her, then said to Rufus, "He's an expert at names' meanings. Any name, he knows it."

"Except for Marek," she told them. "That's the oddest name I've ever come across." She sat on a table. "Okay, gather around. What's your name?"

"Adrian," a dark, handsome boy replied.

"Adrian...it means dark riches," she told him. "You're very spiritual and philosophical. You're a dreamer, quiet and supportive. You care about people, and put others before yourself. You are original, and you like to travel. Your favourite colours are white and all greens."

He nodded and smiled. "Wilfred," another newcomer told her.

She smiled at hime. "Wilfred means will, desire, and peace. You don't like to be alone, even for a little while. You constantly smile, and are very self-confident, but not overly. You are friendly and interesting, and people like to talk to you, and you're respectable. You're adventurous, and often overly generous. Religion means a lot to you. You like shaded colours, especially pale gray." Wendell, the giant, was next. "Your name means 'one who wanders'. You have a great interest in magic and the supernatural, mainly to find if there is a god. You're interested in other cultures and customs. You're imaginative, not practical, and often arrive late for or miss appointments. You're optimistic, and can put anyone at ease. You like colours from pale bluish purple to the richest shades of violet." She went through all of the pages: Colin, "victorious among the people"; Edward, fortunate protector; Francis, independent; Walter, rule and army; Robbie, illustrious fame; Percival, warrior of fire; Randolph, courageous protector; Charles, free man and farmer. He made a face at that, as always.

"What does Alexander mean?" Wendell asked once everyone had been analyzed.

"Man's defender," Alex told them. "Now, come on, I want to show Rufus around before lights-out."

"How do you know all of that?" the sponsored boy asked as they walked through the palace. "To know all of that information off the top of your head..."

She shrugged. "It just comes to me," was her answer. "I never learned all of it. It's kind of like psychics, I guess."

"You mean magic," he said, and she stopped to look at him. "I know all about it. I have it. But not like that. That's a different kind of magic."

Alex pointed to a door. "Don't let the older pages tell you that's a shortcut to your classes. It's just a long, pointless hall that eventually stops at a dead end." Then, she sighed. "Yes, it's a different magic. When I was small, I went to live in the desert with an uncle, and I got accepted into his tribe, one of them that roams the sand. I was inducted into their tribe, and I recieved the magic of fortune telling and name-reading. I never use the fortune telling, though. Last time I did, I got a massive headache that didn't go away for weeks. That was five years ago. But name-reading doesn't give me a headache, and it's always fun to tell people about themselves, and see if they fit their names or not. If they don't, I give them another name. Simple as that. And everyone thinks it's a blast. So, I humour them." She led him into a gallery of the portraits of England's rulers. "When I saw you, I thought there was something different about you. I know everyone's different, but not like you. I thought you needed to belong somewhere. I don't know why I thought that, though."

"Maybe you know my parents," he replied.

"I doubt it," she told him. "It must have been your eyes. That is truly weird."

"The Prince says his cousins have the same yellow eyes," Rufus told her. "Maybe it's not that uncommon. Yet, it is. Isn't it weird how we're the only four, yet we're all linked together, by the Prince? There must be some connection."

Well, there is, but I don't know where you fit in, Alex thought silently. This was puzzling.

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