Chapter One

Of all my memories of my sister and me, one stands out the most. We were young, she no more than eight years old and I only six. I was always trailing after Ywin, for she was the older sister and therefore was the most important person in my eyes. Even mother and father came after her. This particular afternoon I had been wandering about looking for Ywin all over our house, but I had no success. Dejectedly, I was sitting next to the fish pond when I felt a shadow over me. I turned and found Ywin smiling down at me. I grinned back, my young self oblivious to all but the fact that my sister had sought me out instead of the other way around. Ywin sighed and plopped abruptly on the ground next to me, mudding her dress.

"Roon, I'm bored! Let's do something!" Now the thing to understand about my sister is that she is a natural born troublemaker. In our short lives she had spent half of her time being punished for her "playing", which usually involved a servant and some disgusting concoction inevitably landing in their lap. I followed along, thinking it was all in good fun, and after all, they were just servants.

Another key factor that led to this particular day was my desire to impress my sister. After all, what younger sister hasn't at sometime admired their older sibling and wanted to show that they were just as capable as their older counterpart? So when Ywin announced her boredom, I took my chance.

"I have an idea!" My idea was thus: We would fill a bucket with the murky pond water and place it on top of the door to the kitchen and when Dragon Lady, our nickname for the vile cook, walked through she would be soaked! Ywin got a wicked glint in her eye and she left to get a bucket. Once it was filled, I stood on the small stepstool that was kept in the kitchen and placed the bucket on the door while Ywin stood guard. When I was finished I went through the back door to return the stool then quickly and unnoticeably rejoined my sister in the courtyard. In order to watch my plan unfold, we stayed in the courtyard where we could have a clear view of the kitchen door. In order to remain inconspicuous we ran around, playing some made up game about fairies.

Before long, it was almost dinner time and then Dragon Lady would emerge with our dinner and our plan would play out. We stopped our game and hid in the bushes by the pond, giggling to ourselves.

We were so caught up in our mirth that day that that we did not keep our ears open. If we had we would have known that a high ranking official would be coming for dinner. And we would have known that the kitchen help would be more in a frenzy than usual. Lastly, we would have known that our father, as much as a born perfectionist as Ywin was a born mischief maker, would want to make sure the menu was faultless.

However we failed to notice which ultimately caused our demise. An hour before the official arrived, father went through the back door of the kitchen to check on the food. As we had only a view of the front door we could not warn him until it was too late.

Ywin and I watched in horror and fascination as the pail of dirty water cascaded down upon father. There was silence throughout the courtyard, the kitchen workers had paused their work and the servants outside ceased their chores, all in order to gawk at father.

"YWIN! ROON! COME HERE RIGHT THIS INSTANT!" Father broke the silence by screaming for us. I gulped, I was sure to be punished, for it was all my idea. At that thought I began to cry, the streaks cleaning my dirty cheeks.

Ywin turned to look at me. "It will be okay." She took my hand, squeezed it and led us out of the bushes. We immediately fell under father's vindictive eye, his whole body shaking of either rage or cold from the water. I had never been more terrified in my short little life. The tears came faster, but Ywin noticed and gave my hand another squeeze.

We crossed the grass of the courtyard and once we reached father we kneeled in respect. Then he began to speak.

"Rise. Now, I will only ask this once. Which one of you did this?" He looked at me, for my wails and bawling were clear give-aways of my guilt. I didn't know what to do, so my cries grew in anticipation of the punishment to come. Suddenly, Ywin spoke.

"It was I father. Roon is obviously too young to come up with such a plan by herself and too short to reach the top of the door." Father turned sharply towards Ywin.

"You claim responsibility therefore you claim the punishment." He turned towards one of the servants.

"Bring me the cane." I could see Ywin's eyes widen and heard her sharp intake of breath. Father had warned us that he would use the cane, but he had never gone through with it. We had crossed the line and now Ywin would pay for it.

Through my sniffling and sobs, I saw the servant return holding the long, wooden rod. Father took it and commanded Ywin to kneel. Then, he struck her in the back. My sister screamed, neither one of us had felt real pain before. He hit her thrice more than commanded the servants to take Ywin to fix her now bleeding back and to take me to my room. I remember calling my sister's name that night, even when we were both forcibly removed. Eventually, I fell asleep from the exhaustion of sobbing and calling for Ywin.

The next day, I refused to get out of bed, throwing pillows at the servants who tried to dress me. It wasn't until mother came in that I finally calmed. She hugged me to her and whispered that Ywin was alright, that she was resting and I could visit her but I had to be dressed first. I allowed the servants to dress me than begged mother to take me to Ywin. She took my hand and led me to one of the guest rooms. Ywin lay in the bed; face down, with bandages covering her back.

I rushed over and knelt next to the bed, positioning myself so we were face to face. Seeing my sister so weak caused me to start crying again, though not as intensely as the previous night. Ywin was awake, and she moved her hand from under the sheet to grab mine resting on the bed.

"It's ok Roon." She whispered to me, "its ok."

"Why, why did you do it?" I managed to get out amidst the tears running down my face. To my surprise, she smiled.

"You're my sister, and that's what sisters do." Ywin let go of my hand and moved it up to ruffle my hair. Through my tears, I smiled back.

The years following were different for Ywin and I. No longer did we race to greet father when he came home, for we never truly forgave him for his punishment. Even when mother told us it was a common form of discipline, we did not accept it. We did however, cut back on the mischief we caused the servants. Ywin and I were inseparable. We both had our respective friends but we still remained each other's best friend. Ywin continued to look out for me, and very little trouble befell me because of her.

Soon though, would come the day where I would be the one protecting her.