Free Born to Rule by Kathryn Lasky

arrived for Princess Alicia.”
    “Oh, my package!” Alicia exclaimed. “At last!”
    A few minutes later, Alicia opened her box in the privacy of her bedchamber. There was a note from her father.
Dearest Alicia,
I hope you are finding camp fun as well as a challenging experience. I know that you are up to any challenge. For you are my brave Alicia, and in your heart you are no puffball princess.
Love and Kisses,
Pop
    I hope I’m brave, she thought. “Oh, I miss them so much!” Alicia whispered, picking up the silver-fox muff and rubbing it against her cheek. She even put on the earmuffs, though it was summer outside. Then she got up and peered into the cage at the difficult bird. “Perhaps tomorrow you shall sing?” But the bird only looked back as if to say, “Perhaps not!” Alicia sighed.
    Well, she thought, she might as well not waste time worrying. She turned to Love Letters of a Forgotten Princess . As she picked up the book, she looked at the bird. She had been right. His gaze did soften whenever she opened the book. Cautiously she stepped toward the cage, still holding the book open but pressed to her chest. There was a sudden mad fluttering as the bird hurled itself against the wire. Alicia gave a little shriek. A golden feather floated down toward the floor. She stooped to pick it up, and when she rose up again the little bird cocked his head and looked at her. There was intelligence in his eyes that made Alicia feel he was trying to tell her something.
    Suddenly Alicia understood. “I must let you out, mustn’t I?” she whispered. Somehow she knew that the bird would not fly away. When she opened the door of the cage, the bird flew directly to her bedpost and perched there, seeming to wait for Alicia to begin reading.
    She had left the cage door open so he could return whenever he wanted. But he stayed where he was. He seemed in fact to be reading over her shoulder. When she grew very sleepy, she tucked the golden feather between the pages to mark her place. As she drifted off, she felt something rustle in one corner of her chamber. Did the room grow cold? Did she hear the songbird finally trill in the night? Was it words she had heard, the muffled voices of a man and a woman? Or were words from the book lacing through her dreams?
     
    “For heaven’s sake, Your Highness, what’s your bird doing out of the cage?” Gilly said as she entered the chamber with Alicia’s breakfast tray.
    “Oh, my goodness.” Alicia yawned sleepily. “He’s still there.” She rolled over and looked up at the bedpost, where the weeb was perched. He gave her an interested but not unfriendly look. All this time she had been waiting for him to sing. But now Alicia had the strangest feeling that the weeb was actually waiting for her to do something.
    “What?” she said aloud. The bird opened his beak this time, very wide, but no sound came out.
    “Are you talking to me, milady?” Gilly turned from ironing the tea gowns.
    “Oh, no, Gilly. No, just…nothing.”
    Gilly gave Alicia a close look. “Well, the weather looks good, milady. It will be falconry this morning, then canoeing.”
    “Oh, how nice.”
    “You’ll be using your special falconry glove, I take it. Quite the envy of the other campers.”
    “I’d like to wear my purple suede britches with the violet waistcoat for falconry. And then what for canoeing? It’s a race, and no tiaras are required during races,” said Alicia.
    “Oh, a race!” Gilly said. “If only the Purples can win! You are a bit behind the Crimsons.”
    “Don’t remind me,” Alicia said glumly.
    “Ah, but the Purples have been known to come from behind, milady. Strong finishers they can be!”
    “Let’s hope so. Can you help me figure out what to wear?”
    “Princess Kristen always wears those lightweight silk pantaloons with the matching vest and the plumed hat.”
    “Yes, I know, but I think the pantaloons make my butt look big.”
    “Oh, nonsense, milady!”
    “Are