Hi guys! It's Xylia here, with a new story. It's an AU (Alternate Universe) where Tam and Linh are actually around seventeen in the Keeper books—but the timeline in this fanfiction is not going to be set in the time when Sophie arrives in the Lost Cities. It's set many years back, a few years after Tam and Linh are born. And in this AU, Tam and Linh are actually separated from birth and only get together a few years later—which is when the first chapter of this fanfiction is set.
I don't expect many people to support this fanfiction mainly because not many people are supportive of Tam and Linh fanfictions, and that's fine with me because I just wanted to get this story out here for people who are interested to read more about the Song twins. I've always wanted to write a Tam and Linh story, and after Perilheart's Swan Song ended I started thinking up ideas for stories about them. I admit that they are a difficult topic to write about mainly because we don't know much about them, and after Lodestar came out it pretty de-canonized the whole thing—and that is why the story is an AU. You could say it's also somewhat a UA (Universe Alterations) fanfiction.
I know I have not finished Payback's A Nightmare, but I promise you, the last chapter is coming soon. I just need to write the last part, and an epilogue. I'm also planning a spinoff, which would probably not garner as much reads, but it's okay because this is what I enjoy writing. :)
I do not own the Keeper of the Lost Cities series. Anything that matches with the plot or anything in the upcoming unreleased books are completely coincidental.
Okay, without further ado, I present you the very first chapter of Everything Has Changed. I hope you enjoy reading, and don't forget to leave a review to let me know what you think! :)
Word Count: 3,053 words.
CHAPTER ONE: A SHROUD OF SHADOW
"Mummy!" the little girl cried out, one hand reaching out for the shadowy silhouette of the lady, one hand clutching the little jade bracelet—the only gift she had left behind for her. "Don't go…"
The lady stilled, her jet-black hair that cascaded down her shoulders swaying from side to side as she stood there, stiff and motionless. A million emotions coursed through the veins of her body, and she relented and turned around to face her daughter.
The girl was so like her, both in terms of appearance and mind-set. Their raven-black hair that hung down to their waists, their sharp chins and high cheekbones, their pale silvery-blue eyes—whether they were glimmering because of the moon's reflection or because of the tears welling up in both of their eyes, it wasn't clear.
The daughter tugged at her mother's arm as she stared up at the lady she knew so well, yet cast in a hood of shadow. She didn't know if it had something to do with her special ability, or simply because of the dark of the night. Anyway, the girl couldn't see her mother's expression at all, but she knew she could see hers, and that made her feel especially strange and vulnerable.
"Stay. Please."
"Linh…" The girl felt like her mother had just pursed her lips in disapproval, like she had always did when she was disappointed in something that she had done. The sound of her sigh wafted through the air, like a restless breeze. "You know the Council wants me to go. It's a very important mission—one—one that involves finding back of a…lost elf."
That was the first piece of information that actually made some kind of sense. But at the same time, it didn't really make any sense at all. Why would an elf be lost somewhere in the Lost Cities? The Lost Cities…they had goblin guards patrolling along every street.
And every elf had a registry pendant with them, she reminded herself, reaching up to clutch at her own, feeling the cold crystal against her fingers. Wherever someone was, the Council just needed to check their registry pendants to locate them. So why in the world would they need her mother to go and find them?
She couldn't lose her mother. She was the only family she had. Her father was one mystery her mother wouldn't explain to her.
"Why would they be lost?" she asked…then a cold feeling hit her in the chest. She clutched the doll in her hand tighter. "By lost, do you mean in terms of their sanity?"
Her mother flinched, then shook her head. The cloak of shadows surrounded her like a real fabric, drifting along with the wind's patterns. "No…they…are really lost somewhere…And the Council can't track them down—because their registry pendants were torn off from their bodies. Thus, I need to go and find them—now. You'll just need to stay put here and let Aunt Cadence take good care of you. She'll be coming over in a moment. Then I'll be back, probably by tomorrow morning. It depends on how fast I can find them."
"Are they really that important? Are they really more important than me?" Linh asked, her selfish side slowly slipping in again. She felt a little bitter—who were they, that her mother—who had never left her behind before—needed to leave her in someone else's care for the sake of them?
Linh's mother exhaled a shaky breath, and for a split second, the shadows masking her face slipped into nothing, revealing her traumatised face. "I—" her voice hitched and cracked. She cleared her voice. "I have been trying to find the chance to search for them for years, Linh. Ever since you had been born, they have gone missing. And now my chance has come, given to me by the Council. I need to go now. Please don't hate me."
With that, she vanished into the shadows, until nothing could be seen of her, save for a faint outline of her lithe body slowly disappearing into the distance. After a while, the light of a crystal zapped across the empty plains, and she was gone, leaving Linh Song standing there in the light of the full moon. She felt hollow and empty as she stared up at the radiant, bright full moon that hung over the midnight sky. Her mother's words rung inside her head over and over again, like a broken record.
Please don't hate me.
Only when the crow-black clouds had misted over the surface of the moon, she realised that her mother had never really answered her question whether if the lost elves really were more important than her.
Aunt Cadence was her usual stern self, strict and unapproachable. Linh kept her distance from her, and they only came together again when she called her over for a late night supper in the dining room—a simple, long room with a small round table at which Linh and her mother usually sat down to eat their meals the gnomes had cooked for them.
It was the latest meal she'd ever had. Or maybe not really. If her life was considered as one day, the last meal before she died would be her latest meal ever. But then…she probably wouldn't die—since no elf had ever died of old age yet. Maybe they really were immortal.
Linh shoved the strange musings into the back of her mind, not sure what to make of her mind always thinking up with queer and peculiar thoughts that freaked her out every time. She had been getting around old ideas and thinking up with new ones ever since she was gaining knowledge about the world.
The only reason why she hadn't already ran straight to a Washer to wash away her weird thoughts was simply because her mother had always liked hearing her talk about them.
She once said that her theories and concepts could change the world someday, and that she would probably become a Councillor so that she could use these ideas and make the Lost Cities a better place.
Though Linh wasn't so sure about becoming a Councillor. It seemed sort of dull and boring when the image of the twelve regal and elegantly-dressed Councillors came to her mind. They could only sit in their stone-cold thrones every day, hold tribunals in the Tribunal Hall, sit in their palace-like offices, discuss the future of their world…
Linh liked to think what the future could be like, but she didn't like the idea of her future being controlled by twelve people who probably had no insight in her life or any understanding towards her at all.
Especially since the only person she really knew was her mother. But then, after the happenings today, she wasn't so sure if she really knew what was going on in her mother's mind anymore.
She wished she was a Telepath. She would even breach the rules of telepathy to find out what her mother was thinking, if really necessary. She hated it when things were being kept from her. But then, didn't everybody?
Linh didn't know. As she told herself again, she didn't know anybody but herself. Or…maybe she didn't even understand herself. Like how she couldn't understand how to get herself to stop thinking about everything in the world.
That was why she couldn't wait until she was eligible to be enrolled into Foxfire. Every kid in the nobility probably went there, to hone their special abilities and study interesting and eye-opening things. Aunt Cadence was a teacher there—she was both a Polyglot and a Conjurer. Having two talents sounded cool—but Linh knew it was tedious and hard to keep both of them in check.
"Linh." Speak (think) of the devil. Linh looked up immediately and stiffened when she met Aunt Cadence's midnight blue eyes, paired with her raven-black hair, the exact same colour as her and her mother's hair. But this time, she didn't look sharp, or fierce. She looked…a little pitiful. And maybe a little apologetic.
Her aunt seemed like she was expecting a response from her, so she said, "Yes, Aunt Cadence?" She tried to hide her anticipation and curiosity at what her aunt could want to talk to her about. Usually when she came over, they would spend the meal in complete silence, maybe make some stiff small talk. But this felt…different. More important.
"…Do you know exactly why your mum left? Or in this case, where she went?"
Linh coiled back like she'd been stabbed with an arrow. But Aunt Cadence was watching her like a sniper ready to shoot down her enemies, so she forced herself to recover quickly. She sat up straighter in her seat, and shook her head. She didn't speak—she was sure if she spoke, her voice wouldn't be the most pleasant to ears.
She knew she would probably need to open her mouth later, so she tried in vain to clear her throat in a silent way as she watched Aunt Cadence hesitate for a while, before whispering, "She went to find your father."
"What?"
She couldn't help herself from staring at Aunt Cadence like she'd gone mad. The fork in her hand slipped from her fingers and clattered to the floor, a deafening sound in contrast to the cold, deadly silence that had settled in. She, the little elvin girl, only two years old, who'd always had a sharp mind, didn't know what to say to this now.
A bead of cold sweat formed on her forehead as she shook her head. "How could this be possible? My father? After all these years…?" She studied Aunt Cadence's expression carefully, but it was unreadable. "You must be lying to me."
"I'm not, Linh." Aunt Cadence also set down the cutlery in her hand, but instead of throwing it on the marble floor, she simply placed it on the porcelain table. "Your mother has been hoping for a chance to find your missing family for ages already. She'd questioned the Council millions of times, but the Council had no follow-up to where they were—"
"Wait a second." Her voice sounded hoarse, raw from emotion. "They?"
Did that mean that there was another member of her family that she didn't know about? Did that mean her mother had been lying to her all this time that she was an only child?
Aunt Cadence confirmed her absolute fears when she nodded, casting a sad look at Linh, who felt herself going completely numb as she said, "You have a brother…a twin brother."
Linh stood silently on the platform of the balcony, hands clutching the pillars of the parapet to gaze down at the plains where she had last seen her mother. Tears that had welled up in her eyes threatened to fall, but she resisted them and gazed up at the stars instead. They brought her the comfort darkness couldn't. The only kind of darkness that brought her comfort and warmth were the shadows her mother controlled.
Aunt Cadence's words echoed in her mind again, making her suck in a deep, deep breath. It didn't seem to be enough for the shocking revelation that had just been made a truth.
You have a brother…a twin brother.
She was a twin?
Of course, she was naturally very curious about this mysterious twin of hers. Would he look exactly like her—would he share the same pale silvery blue eyes and jet-black hair as her? Or were they just fraternal twins who didn't look exactly like each other?
She hoped the latter was true.
It pained her to think that there might actually be someone who looked exactly like her. If they really were identical twins…comparison between the two could only come down to their morals, values, and…examination results.
Her mind was something she valued very much, and she wanted to make the best use of it. As silly as that sounded, she knew that it meant a lot to her, and no one could change that.
No one, maybe except her brother.
Her twin brother.
She sighed again, hating how depressed she sounded.
Linh was, to say the least, horrified at being a twin. Twins, or triplets, or anyone that shared the same womb at the same time, were hugely cast aside and discriminated against. If her twin brother went with her to Foxfire…wouldn't everyone know that they were twins? She would be shamed so badly and—and her future in Foxfire would be completely destroyed.
And…she didn't want that. No matter how much Linh tried to deny it, deep down in her heart she knew that she couldn't let anything get into her way, not even her own loved ones. That was considering if she'd grow to like her long-lost twin brother.
In one way or another, her twin brother would definitely not be going to Foxfire. And she was going to be the one to make sure of that.
She glanced up at the moon again. It was already slowly turning translucent, the sky getting brighter as brilliant red hues peeked out of the now pure-white clouds.
The colour white should have brought her peace and quiet. But this time, it only made her think of a blank canvas. She frowned, tilting her head side to side, staring at the canvas and mimicked holding a brush. Then, with quick, deft, imaginary strokes, she painted in what she thought her twin brother would look like, and splashed a swooping wave of blue, towering over him and drowning him alive.
Linh gasped, tearing her grip away from her imaginary brush and blinking the image away. Getting her brother out of Foxfire forever was one thing. Murdering him and depriving him of the chance to live would be another. As someone who had immortality in their grasp, who was she to try and deprive another of her kind of the same thing?
Maybe everything was going to change soon enough.
For the better or for the worse, that was the only thing that really ever mattered.
Linh turned her back on the sky of the early morning and climbed the stairs back to her bedroom on the third floor. As soon as she closed the door and fell to the bed, the front door on the first floor swung open slowly to let in three elves, covered in a shroud of shadow and a veil of impending chaos.
The sound of faint voices drifted into Linh's ears. She frowned a little, and squeezed her eyes close. She still wanted to have some more sleep…She was so tired. Every part of her seemed to hurt so, so much.
The voices wouldn't seem to leave her alone. Sighing internally, she fluttered her eyes open dazedly. Flashes of black, silvery-blue swirled in her half-lidded eyesight, and she frowned even more, finally fully opening her eyes. She gaped at the sight she saw, and sat up straight in her bed, pulling the mattresses tighter around her, as if that could somehow protect her.
A boy, who looked around her age, was sitting on the edge of Linh's bed, his little hands playing with the linen sheet that she usually slept with. He looked a lot like her, with his jet-black hair and intelligent silvery, pale blue eyes. The only difference was that his eyebrows were a lot thicker and bolder, and the edges of his face looked sharper than hers, if that was even possible.
The first time he looked at her, she felt…safe. And secure. She tried to shake the feeling away, the feeling that only her mother had been able to make her feel. But even so, she released her tight, vice-like grip on her mattress, letting it fall to the bed. She let out a breath as he smiled at her, blinking his eyes as he stuck out his hand towards her.
Despite the sense of safety she had felt earlier, Linh stared down warily at his hand. His skin was the colour of cream, so like hers, and when she finally took his hand in hers and shook it, it felt soft—almost as soft as dandelion fluff.
"You're my tw—brother, right?" Linh deliberated if she should have said twin or not. Maybe not. It was better to pretend they were just normal brother and sister—not that they were normal at all. But it was good to hide, like all elves always do, to create and build up the illusion that everything in their seemingly immaculate world was perfect. "…I'm Linh, what's your name?"
Just because she wasn't going to let him go to Foxfire with her, it didn't mean that she couldn't act nice to him. Maybe they could actually get along really well.
Just not in Foxfire.
Her brother grinned at her, showing his pair of perfect teeth which gleamed white. He actually would have looked absolutely adorable, if not for the wary glint that was always in his eyes. "I'm Tam."
Tam.
His name was Tam.
She thought about his name, wondering how to get used to the foreign name, when the only name she really had to familiarise herself with was her mother's.
Linh and Tam?
No, she told herself. That doesn't sound right.
Tam and Linh?
Linh sighed. That sounded perfect, like their names had always been meant to be put in that order. Like…Tam was always meant to be in front of her.
Maybe she was always meant to be second. Second in everything, except for Foxfire.
Only for Foxfire, she was going to work to be the first. But for everything else, she would just cower and rely on Tam.
He seemed strong, both physically and mentally. So unlike her—they might look alike, but they were total opposites.
Well…at least, she would make herself seem like the weaker one, to contrast against Tam.
To lead everyone under the false idea that Linh was the helpless one.
And when it was her turn to shine, she would surprise, shock everyone.
She would shine so bright that her light would obliterate the shadows of her own and everybody else.
And that was how Linh Song began to hide in her brother's shadow.
