The House of Black and White had experienced an indescribable amount of strange people over its long life, so it was neigh impossible to startle the kindly man. He found that people were people and as they came and went this fact did not change. Some people had different wants and beliefs perhaps, some were loud and some were quiet and some were big and some were small. But all men went to the Many Faced God in the end and they all acted accordingly. Whether coming to the House for the endless sleep or coming to ask for a Faceless Man to make someone's journey that much quicker, the kindly man could tell what was in the heart of each human that passed through his doors.
The same was the case for the two children who walked through them one day. He knew instantly what they would seek and it put an amused smile on his face.
They were of an age, both near enough full grown that the first signs of puberty clung to them tightly, with the boy being tall and gangly, wearing a mess of curly brown locks cut haphazardly around his ears and the girl being a tiny bony thing with ginger waves cut in the same unskilled manner to just below her shoulders. They were both grimy head to toe and wore rags and no shoes. The boy strode forward first, chin aloft and hazel eyes sparkling with fake confidence. The girl was more somber, hanging behind her companion and watching the kindly man with serious brown eyes.
"Valar morghulis," the boy said boldly, chest puffed out to its full extent and eyes locked on the kindly man.
"Valar dohaeris," the man replied in turn, skin around his eyes crinkled in amusement.
"We want to join the Faceless Men."
Perhaps the Faceless Men and where they originated was a secret somewhere, but to these two street urchins who roamed the streets of Braavos with ears pressed constantly to the doors of better men it was as well known a fact as that they could get free dinner on Tuesday nights at the Boar's Bride inn if they cleaned the privies for it. The kindly man was not surprised. Many a street urchin before had fancied himself the makings of a Faceless Man. Few proved to be right. These two were wrong as well, but the kindly man would lead them to this conclusion instead of throwing them out on the street without an answer.
"Do you now? Why is that?"
The boy did not lie. "I want to kill evil men and I want to be able to be anyone and no one."
"We do not judge good and evil. Gods might, but the Many Faced God takes everyone all the same."
The girl did partially. "I want to be free to do as I choose and I want to be by my brother's side." She gestured to her partner.
"We have no brothers. We are no one and have no family."
The girl's expression did not change for the most part, but her eyes grew sad. The boy shook his head and said, "If I can be anyone I want I can be her brother. So whenever I choose to change disguises, she will too and we will change to be siblings each time."
The kindly man laughed. "Well reasoned. However you cannot think that way to be in our order."
"Why not?" the boy demanded.
The kindly man did not immediately answer his question. He turned to them each in turn and said, "To be faceless you must be no one. Can you do that?"
Both children nodded.
The man turned to the boy. "Who are you?"
"No one," said the boy. The man stared at him thoughtfully and did not contest this. He turned to the girl.
"Who are you?"
"No one."
Again the kindly man was thoughtful and did not disagree. But then looking at the girl he pointed to the boy. "Who is he?"
The girl looked startled. She glanced at the boy quickly. He nodded at her encouragingly and she turned back to the man, worrying her lip. Finally she said of her Dean, "No one."
"You lie," the kindly man said. He turned to the boy, who was ready for the question.
"Who is she?"
"No one," the boy said of his Franky.
"You lie."
Each child could think of themselves as no one. Neither child could think of each other as no one. And they could not be Faceless Men.
"You are two strongly bonded to one another to disentangle, and you cannot think of one another as anyone but who you are now." At the looks of disappointment on their faces the kindly man chuckled. "This is not a bad thing. It means that this is not your calling. Something else will be."
The children knew a dismissal when they heard one. The kindly man smiled at their backs as they left and called after them, "When you are ready you two may come back to face the endless sleep holding hands."
Dean was disappointed. Franky was less so. As they walked away from the House of Black and White Dean complained, "I could be a great assassin! They don't know what they're missing."
"They are missing a loud klutz of a boy," Franky teased.
Dean spun on his heel and replied, "Yeah, we'll they're missing a weak girl who wishes she had a cock!"
Franky flinched. Dean was feeling upset, that was the only reason he would be so mean to her. She could already see an apology forming on his lips when she bulled over him by saying, "I do not wish I had a cock. All you get with a cock is an insatiable craving for sex and a weapon thrust into your hand if there's ever a fight."
Dean grabbed Franky's hand and twirled her around. "Not me! If there's a fight I'll wear a frock and hide behind you!"
"And you think you could be an assassin."
"Assassins don't fight. They sneak."
"Some would say only cowards sneak."
"Some would then die as brave and foolish men."
Franky laughed and kissed Dean lightly on the cheek. "He wouldn't have taken you anyway, even if you weren't half my soul. Don't you know Faceless Men don't kill based on how good or evil a person is? They kill for whoever asks and they don't kill for themselves. You'd run around and slit the throat of all who displeased you and they'd never allow that."
"Yeah well, you only wanted to learn how to be an assassin so you could come and steal away your freckled girl."
Franky cheeks colored pink. She looked at her dirty feet and said, "What I said to the man was true."
"Oh, I don't doubt that. But that was only a small part of why you finally agreed to come with me today." Dean raised an eyebrow knowingly, but he was not angry. He knew his Franky back to front and he knew of her feelings for the freckled girl with gold-spun hair and blue eyes.
"Why would I want to steal her, she's fine where she is."
"You don't like that she's in training to be a whore."
"Courtesan. It's an honor."
"A whore is a whore. You think so too."
"Say that to a courtesan and she'll have your tongue out."
"So I'll never say it to one. But be truthful, you hate the idea of someone else's hands on your freckled girl."
"Her name is Mini. And she's not mine. I'm only another homeless orphan on the streets. She is in training to be a venerated member of the world-renowned courtesans of Braavos. I don't even know why she speaks to me so often and so kindly."
Dean gave her one of his looks and said, "I know. You are Franky. You have the sharp mind only expected of the highborn. It's fun and interesting to talk to you. She is not a stupid girl and takes pleasure from your conversations. She takes pleasure from you."
Franky felt an emptiness where her heart would be. She could not help thinking that Dean was right, she was smart and could have been something special if not for her unlucky low born birth. And he was smart as well; she would have nothing less from the second half of her soul. Although not born of the same mother Dean was as much family as she had ever known and she loved him most out of all, even herself. But Mini was… She was some sort of other type of affection, not like the love she had for her brother.
"Someday you and I will be more than thieves of the docks," Dean said confidently as he balanced with one foot on the edge of the canal. "We are quick and cunning. We could join a thieves guild now if we so choose, but I want to be something even better than a thief, and you and I can be. And you'll forget all about your freckled girl and find someone even more beautiful, maybe two or three someones, male and female. And I'll be awash with lovers." Franky had to laugh at this. That was one thing she loved about Dean. He dreamed big. His low station in life daunted him not at all. He decided he was better than what he was offered and he would go for it, dragging Franky along with him in his quest for glory.
"There is no one more beautiful than Mini," Franky said with certainty. Her blue eyes, so often sad until she saw Franky, when they would light up like a lantern had been turned on behind them, her grin that split her face from ear to ear, her contagious laugh, her dagger japes that were never directed at Franky herself anymore. All that and more made Mini the most beautiful girl in Franky's mind. Franky could not imagine someone else so perfect.
"You will find someone more beautiful," Dean replied with a stubborn frown. He did not like the idea of his Franky getting stuck mooning over a girl that could never be hers, not even for a night. He knew Franky was the type who would want a lover body and soul, forever and completely hers and not just any time that she could pay. And he had no doubt in his mind that while Franky would thieve night and day to get enough coin to buy the freckled girl for just one night, she would come away feeling more cheated than ever before.
Franky could not agree but she did not argue because she knew that she was distressing Dean.
Would that she could whisk Mini away from this, from Braavos to somewhere where she and Mini and Dean could live alone and unbothered by anyone. But there was no such place and Mini would not come with her even if there were, because Franky was only a homeless girl and why would Mini ever? Franky was no one: that was true enough.
Even though Dean wanted to dissuade Franky from loving the freckled girl he could not bear to see the look of hopelessness on his other half's face. So as he often did he just about read her thoughts and said, "She does not think you are nothing Franky. I've seen the way she looks at you. She thinks you are everything."
Franky smiled at her brother. A part of her thought he was lying just to make her feel better, another more dangerous part thought he might be right. But there was nothing either side could do about the matter, even if that was the truth of it. Even if Franky and Mini looked at each other with identical feelings of adoration, they were stuck where they were. Mini especially was stuck, for it was hard to turn one's back on the life of a courtesan once one had been chosen for this high honor. But the very idea that Mini might want what Franky wanted was enough for now.
"Come on my little lion heart," Dean said with a wink, "Let's go steal some coin. Maybe you can buy a kiss from your freckled girl."
Franky followed willingly, but she would use the coin she got for something else. Not a bought kiss. Maybe some flowers. For her freckled girl.