The next day, the twins buried their mother, taking her body out of town and into a flowering meadow. It was a long, depressing job: taking turns shoveling dirt and carving an epitaph into a flat rock until well into the afternoon. When the grave was finished, the pair stood alone in the bright orange light of sunset.
Robin looked over at his sister, who was very determinedly not allowing tears to escape. They were both covered in dirt and sweat from their efforts, with nothing to show for it except a pile of freshly turned earth and an engraved stone reading: Ashira. A Brave Mother.
"What do we do now?" Robin asked, staring at the grave, battling his emotions. Raven brushed back her silver hair, looking up at the rapidly darkening sky.
"We do what we've always done. We keep moving and don't look back."
Robin nodded and turned his back on his mother's grave, walking back into town. Raven followed, but only after picking a flower to lay on her mother's resting place.
Two months later, the twins were in Ylisse, stalking a pack of thieves. The townspeople had asked the pair to ride the countryside of the dangerous robbers, and the sibling had readily agreed. After so long, they could use their fighting skills and tactics for the good of someone else.
Two pairs of dark eyes peered at the thief encampment, measuring the chances of multiple attack plans. In the middle of this contemplation, something flashed bright across the sky, like a flash of lightning. Robin and Raven stared at the sky, both stunned beyond words. Then Raven's sharp eyes spotted something falling, leaving a dusky purple tail, like a comet. She pointed it out to her brother, who nodded in acknowledgement.
The twosome watched at the object slowed it's fall and vanished into the darkness of the night. Robin tugged on Raven's cloak and pointed down at the camp.
Standing in the midst of armed thieves stood a figure wrapped in a cloak. The distance and dark worked to the twins disadvantage, rendering the figure all but invisible. A few words were exchanged, then the crowd of thieves and assassins reached for their weapons. The cloaked figure raised their arm.
The subsequent flash of light blinded both young tacticians, who covered their eyes too late. Then the light was gone, as fast as it had come. Robin blinked black spots from his vision and gasped.
The camp was in flames, every person that had been in camp laying dead. The hooded figure kicked at one of the fallen bodies, their whole form shaking.
"The power of that spell..."Robin whispered. "There's no one left alive..."
"He's laughing?" Raven whispered, appalled. she reached out and seized her twin's hand and dragged him away. "Please Robin, let's go. I want to stay away from him."
"What if it's him?" Robin wondered. "Validar. That was dark magic, most definitely. And mother said that Validar was leader of the Grimeal."
"All the more reason to avoid him," Raven insisted, tossing her silver hair over her shoulder. "Please Robin. I don't want to stay here. I'm scared."
It was the last two words that decided for him: if Raven was scared, then it was his job to protect her. He was the older twin, after all. Turning away from the flames of obliterated tents, the two vanished into the dark, one wanting to stay and learn more, the other desperate to forget the terrible events that had transpired.