PROLOGUE

King Raminas waved his hand over the cot of his two baby daughters. He was announcing their birth to the people of Dalmasca, and the whole kingdom watched.

'My wife and I have had 2 beautiful babies,' he said, wrapping an arm around his wife's shoulder.

'They shall carry on the legacy of the Dalmascan royalty when my time is up,' he said. 'They will rule the kingdom of Dalmasca one day, strengthen it, protect it, and let the kingdom flourish.'

'Their names have taken a while for us to decide on,' he said, as people cheered. They all wanted to know the names of the two babies.

'We have named them Ashelia and Airelia,' he said, as the crowd burst into applause. Whispers among the crowds were that of 'ohhh,' and 'what beautiful names,' and 'I'm going to call my children that!' The crowd gazed upon the two beautiful babies.

'They do have a meaning,' he said. 'After a fire, what is left?' he asked the crowd. No one answered.

'Ash and air,' he said, supplying the answer. 'I do believe that Ashe and Aire will bring good to the kingdom of Dalmasca.' The crowd cheered. They loved their king, they loved their rulers, they loved their kingdom, and the happiness seemed it would never end.


'I have a surprise for you,' said the King, and the two six year old girls jumped up with enthusiasm.

'What is it, daddy?' asked Aire.

'It's a present,' he said.

'What kind of present?' asked Ashe.

'It's very special,' he said. He held up two necklaces. They were strung on a chain of pure white gold, but it was the pendant which hung from it that was truly beautiful. It was a hollow glass heart, blown into that shape by the finest crafters in all of Ivalice. One was empty, the other had a small amount of ash in the heart.

'Pretty,' said Aire.

'Aire, Ashe, look closely. What are in the hearts?' he asked.

'One's empty, and the other has a pile of dust,' said Aire.

Raminas laughed.

'No, Aire. In one there is ash, in the other there is air. Like your names,' he said.

'Oh yeah!' said Aire. Ashe giggled.

'So do we each get one?' asked Ashe.

'Yes,' he said, handing Aire the one with ash in it and Ashe the one with air.

'Daddy, how come I get the one with ash and Ashe gets the one with air? Shouldn't it be the other way around?' asked Aire.

'No, it's meant to be that way. That way, wherever your travels take you, you will always be with your sister, no matter what.'

'Ohhh,' said Aire. 'Thanks daddy.'


As they grew, the differences between Airelia and Ashelia were becoming more and more pronounced. Firstly, in appearance.

Ashe had very light brown hair which reached down to her neck, but Aire had darker brown hair which reached down to her waist - at her request. This was not really a beauty thing - she found it fun to whack people with her hair. Ashe and Aire had very different facial features as well; Aire's nose was more pronounced than Ashe's, and so were her cheekbones. Ashe's face was more angular, while Aire's was more curved. Aire was slightly taller than Ashe, and had longer legs and a shorter torso. In fact, the only thing they had in common was their grey eyes.

Secondly, and probably more importantly, they had very different personalities. Ashe was a very studious, analysing and political person. She longed to know how things worked, and always was looking for further knowledge. She was the kind of person who planned out everything, and thought everything over, before making a decision.

Aire was the complete opposite. She was a happy-go-lucky kind of girl, carefree and bubbly. She didn't care for studying, or knowledge - and she didn't need to know everything - in fact, she believed life was fun because of the sole fact that you never knew what was coming up next. She launched into decisions without thinking at all, and though sometimes it got her into trouble, she spent a lot less time thinking and more time having fun.

Though she was a princess, Raminas believed Airelia should learn to fight. She had taken a great liking to the arts of fighting, whereas her sister Ashelia had taken a liking to the politics of ruling a country. He would say Airelia was the brawn and Ashelia was the brains, but Airelia was not stupid. She knew things and could work things out very quickly - but she was also a lot more immature than her sister. That was probably why Ashelia was getting married and she wasn't.

Ashe and Aire had many suitors which came to the castle in hope of wooing the princess. While Ashe declined those she did not approve of gracefully, Aire always complained she didn't want to get married and would annoy, be rude to or even prank the suitors she didn't like. It was typical of her. This resulted in Ashe having all the suitors, and Aire having none. This didn't bother her, though. She never liked the idea of getting married.

In fact, when Raminas thought about it, he had named his daughters quite accurately without even knowing. Ashe was grounded, like ash is, and its movements can be predicted. Aire, however, was carefree and went wherever life took her, much like air. Air can't be counted, and in Aire's case (most of the time) counted on, and it's movements unpredictable as ever.

No one in their right mind would call them identical twins.


The Princess Airelia stood by her father, watching the army from the Archadian Empire fight the soldiers of Nabudis.

They were also in the fight. The Princess Ashelia, her twin sister, was back in Rabanastre preparing for her wedding to Lord Rasler - Airelia and her father came to Nabudis to obtain some goods, when the Empire started to attack.

She fought bravely, but was faltering. She had cuts and bruises all over herself, and a quite serious injury on her arm. Her father noticed.

'Aire! Run, I'll take care of the rest.'

'No! I won't leave you here!'

'Aire, there is no point both of us fighting here. I will leave when we resecure Nabudis, and I will come out alive.'

'But-'

'Remember I love you, Aire. Now go.'

Aire dared not argue with her father now.

'Goodbye, father. I love you.'

She left swiftly.


News of Princess Airelia's death reached Rabanastre with unbelievable speed. The newspapers proclaimed her death far and wide, from the Archadian Empire to the Rozzarian Empire.

The tragedy shook Dalmasca to its core, but even so, Airelia's twin sister Ashelia was wed. No one knows how she died - only the Archadian Empire had found her body, and had confirmed that it was her because on the body they had found the necklace which she wore all the time. Little did they know this was a very accurate fake. The King had made it out alive - it was so ironic that he was the one fighting, in the most danger, but it was Airelia that had died. Or so it seemed.