They met, officially, during one of the numerous truces between our clans feudal wars. Not that we are feudal, yet this is the best way to describe our ways to you people. Think mighty lords and haughty ladies. Think spirited lasses and dashing swordplay. But that would be as true as comparing Lascaux and Picasso; works of art albeit…different.
Let suffice to say, we are powerful, very powerful. Way more than you people. She was powerful too, this young sister of mine. Almost my child. I was already a grown woman and a warrior when the Lights brought her to me. I knelt in front of the Beings. If you would not dare to test the millionth of my strength, I would not dare to defy the Beings. They do not fear me, they know my heart is pure and they have blessed my household by giving me a sister at last. Our parents sacrifice was not in vain.
So, it came a time when I was fighting, with a mind elsewhere. A mind circling around the Young One. It was her very first cycle. She was such an innocent. A feisty, plucky one though. My little sister who let a sword fall on the floor of the Great Hall and scurried to hid under the table, hoping I would not hear the noise. Her big sister not turning up, she came out, held the sword and tried to mimic my swordplay. What would you do when you see a child raising a long killing sword? You hold her hand and you show her how to thrust in your enemy throat. The years passed, she grew into a lovely girl, a bouncy girl plenty of curls and giggles. It seemed that her elder sister had chosen to be as sterner as much as the young one had chosen to laugh and smile at life. When you are given the responsibilities that come with power, you do not often smile. I could not smile but my sister did it for us two. I have the responsibility of a clan, a warring clan.
She was not for war this one. She would naturally as befitting to the heir of a warriors clan know how to raise our standard, give as good as she was given, held high the great axe and let it fall on some necks. But she preferred peace, joy, life. She was a warrior daughter, a warrior sister but her heart was not on war. That does not mean she stood idle. Upon hearing some pawns were being played at, and ready for slaughter, she went ahead and freed them alone, all by herself, without informing me of her plan. That is how they really met.
That was my fault, I should have warned her. But how was I to know? It takes a few cycles to understand the rules of our world, the dos and the don'ts, the musts and the taboos, all our laws. Since our creation, clans were made, untold alliances, revered unions, careful alliances, breakings of friendships and factions, rivalry. Yet you could say overall our world was divided from the beginning. You were fighting for and along the Beings or you could and would not surrender to their decisions.
Our clan has always served the Beings; our standard is as pure as snow. We are the Whites, white among whites. Fair ones. The keepers of the equilibrium, the guardians of the Game. No cheating allowed with us around. The Dark Ones resent our interference; they say we spoil the spirit of the Game. The Dark Ones we are not supposed to ally to…
What is the Game? The Game was invented by the Beings, probably out of boredom. But they have taken to it. You create and then you play. We play with you, the pawns.
Yes, it is not fair for you. What is fair? The Beings say they know for they have a plan; we are not told of the contents of the Plan. We just make sure no one mess with the Game, or the Rules or the Plan. We make sure the Dark ones do not foil the plan. The Dark Ones and the Fallen Ones.
Now let me tell you of two brothers. One was already given or almost to the Dark Ones, he was a through and through Fallen, wearing his disgrace as a badge of honour. I knew him; our clans have been allied for a long time before they had entered into the Dark realm. But this one would not accept the rules, would want to choose for his own, his own free will, as if there was such a thing as free will when we are all but the children of the Beings. We are servants, nothing more, nothing less. The Dark Ones rejoiced when he brought his standard in their great Hall and let it fall at their feet. He would serve them. The Game was unfair, the pawns had not enough gifts, the pawns were just the playthings of the Gods…
Fool as he was. His brother was…different. Now, this one with the right friends would have gone up high in the hierarchy. But he loved his brother so he went with him; because the Dark Ones promised him they would protect the object of his solicitude. Now this fool, for both brothers were fools, had taken to fall in love with a mortal, a pawn, like you. The Beings forbid such alliances. The Guardians do not ally with Humans. Lords do not mingle with Slaves.
I was not despairing. First I would tackle this one on his folly and the two together we would talk his brother out of this alliance with the Dark Ones. Time was pressing; already a cunning one was getting his attention. What mischief was brewing, I knew not, except it would be terrible.
This course of action did not happen as War interrupted all our projects. The Brothers fought along the Dark ones; my sister and I along the Guardians. My sister heard of pawns being mistreated, in her good heart she decided to help and free them. I see it now, because I can see it. How? Our world is, as I have said different. Imagine, imagine Olympus, with more futuristic technology than one of your favourite movies. Asgard on steroids. Medieval Japan played in a very, very distant future. So I can see it, here now in the palm of my hands like that. No, do not be afraid; there is nothing to fear of me. I am but a sad and forlorn woman who misses her kin.
They met, they fought, he was stronger; that was not a surprise. He had already seen a few cycles, he was not a child and he knew the Rules. And he dared again to break the Rules. He dared and got punished for it. She fought as I have taught her, but her swordplay was not match to his. When he thought she would surrender, she stroke again and escaped him. That is how he started to look at her with respect. Probably he would have caught her again, but he had to let her go. Our clan upon hearing my sister being in danger of captivity was coming to the rescue. She was saved. She was lost.
The Young One heart has always been pure; always she had a good word for any and every one of us. When Peace came, and it did come, once and awhile, we would have months or years of peace. After this skirmish, a truce, a new truce, another truce was concluded. What do you do during a truce, you rejoice, you feast, you meet and you engage in contest, tournament. That is how they officially met.
He was bored, war was a pain, but peace with all those excited people around was worse. And all those lovers, and the music. He was trying to avoid the crowd, when she bumped into him. That is my fault. I had ordered a round of drinks for my friends, and would you have it, the servants had not brought enough ale. My sister, my own sister went like a servant to bring some from our tent. And I let her, I let her…
He was walking in front of our tent, when she burst out like the child she was, not watching if someone was walking in front and she bumped into him, dousing him with ale. Wars have been started for less. She apologized profusely, she was blushing, and she was so sorry; she was adorable when she was blushing. I suspect the direction of his steps toward our tent were not accidental. That is irrelevant as it was too late.
After that, I can only surmise they met at nights, when everyone was sleeping. When she should have closed her door, when he was old enough to know our clans were now enemies. They were in love; they were blind to the consequences. They entered their name on the Book. On the book, you hear. On the book, they entered their names. They did not ask my permission, as the Head of our Clan. He was their Chieftain, he was not mine. Anyhow, that is how our two clans got allied again. Unbeknownst to me.
War erupted again and this time, we won. We won finally; the Castle of the Dark Ones was raided. Oh, I am no fool; many escaped, but not most of all, not the brothers. As a lady of the Realm, I sat as a judge. The fair brother I condemned to a minor sentence, he had about committed no real crime I could think off except with the mortal; but the dark one, now, he had fought, he had been an ally of the Dark Ones. He was responsible through his folly of the deaths of countless pawns, the pawns he was supposed to love and protect. Let say I do not like you, humans. I despise your smugness, your tendency to betray, your hypocrisy. When you kill, when you ravish a soul, you do not have even the dignity to respect the deads. Whatever, he had killed and had to be punished. I was going to sentence him to the Pit when she ran into my rooms. She begged, she pleaded for mercy. He was not too pleased by that. But it pleased me, not that my sister was a silly wench. But that he knew that an honourable lord does not do pleading. It was a done deal, when she kneeled in front of me, and crawled. Crawled! The shame, the horror…
- "Sister, beloved sister, have mercy; have mercy on him, on me. Please, do not send him to the PIT. Please, please…he is kin…"
I turned and faced them. What did she mean by kin? Our clans were not allied. The world came to crash when she told me about the book.
She had never seen me in a rage. Now she knew why I was a warrior, why I was the head of our Clan. The fool, the fool, she had betrayed me, betrayed our slain parents, betrayed our clan, betrayed the Beings.
He stood in front of me; he dared to defy me and would protect the Young one against me. Despite being my prisoner. Arrogant bastard as he was.
That was when I last saw them. It was the last time I have ever seen them face to face. The three of them and absent but there the human woman the fair one loved.
I had to decide. The Pit was ruled out; I would never send my kin to the Pit. But I was honour bound to avenge the Beings. What was I to do?
I thought of the human and chose the best course of actions. That is what you do when you are a leader. You lead and decide.
I condemned him to exile, on Earth. His memory would be altered. He would forget about our world. He would be a monster among the pawns he had wanted to protect. Nice punishment as it goes. The fair one begged to go with him; he would not leave his brother alone in that cruel exile. So I sentenced him also, but atone it, monster he would be but on a lesser extent. Mean I am not. I knew his good heart, so I made sure he would meet again his human lover. Life would not be easy for them, but they would meet, have a life and a human love.
He did not beg for mercy. Then I looked in my sister eyes and saw so much despair, so much pain I could not but relent, but feel sorry for her. But what could I do? I sentenced her to exile.
-"As it is the last time we meet, unless the Beings, the Council of the Guardians overturns my judgement, let's all drink together, praying for better days"
I poured in every and each cup the golden liquid you, humans reported as ambrosia which it is not! And they all drank, because it was the way and they vanished from the Hall for ever…
Yes, it was cruel for me. I had lost my sister and my children often wonder why I look away. I look away because I try to hear her laugh. I hope she laughs where she is. I know she must, I hope she does. I have let drop in her cup, in his cup some bonding powder. He will look for her, she will look for him and the same goes for the brother. They are going to look for each other, I know, I pray they will find each other. They will not know why, but they will.
As we speak, we have found out some Dark ones are hiding among the human pawns, the Game is not over. So I hope I shall find them soon. I am not afraid for her, whatever happens; her heart is in the right place, my sweet little sister. She will follow the Rules set by the Beings; she will be always on the good side of the fence. The fair one, I am not too worried, oh, he is a fool, and will run into mischief, but with his human lover, they stand a good chance. It is about him, the dark one I worry. His propensity to run into trouble, his tendency to rage and get angry and he fights dirty. Wrong, wrong, my friend. They need to stick together otherwise they can fall. My sister needs him to survive in that cruel world of yours, human. If he crosses the threshold, I cannot protect her. I cannot help any of them. I have to rely to crude magic, except you know it is not magic. Just some much modern nanotechnology than you can't dream off. Just some recognizing intracellular organite, looking for its counterpart, a signal looking for two other signals.
What am I to do? If the triple bound is undone, what I am to do to save the three of them. It is my kin now. They are my kin and I cannot help them. And I am so powerful, human, so powerful and so helpless…