The 6th Istari
Chapter 2: Sweet 16 and not dead yet
Note: I may have gotten some facts wrong, and if I did, and you notice, please tell me and I will try to change it asap.
Thoughts are in Italics. Thoughts spoken to each other are "in italics". If they are speaking in elvish, *elvish*, if dwarvish, dwarvish, if they are speaking normally, "It will be normal."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Many years passed, and many people grew. But Tiwena and Rapheal seemed to shoot up to the age of 16 faster than was humanly possible. They matured quickly and learned even quicker. The twins only friends were few, but loyal. On the top of the list was Peranell, their foster mother. Next was Heidi, their foster-sister and close friend. But other than a few lukewarm friends and Peranell's family, the rest of the village distrusted and feared them.
The two rarely were seen talking to each other, but they sometimes laughed at things that others near them never heard or cried at something that no one could see to explain the sudden sadness. No one except for Heidi knew of their ability to mind-speak. The twins were able to speak into anyone's mind with concentration and energy. But they were able to speak to each other without effort, although the greater the distance between them, the more effort it took. If Heidi thought clearly at them, they could hear her quite well.
Although she was a month older, Heidi was very immature and the twins were very mature for their age, so the three got along beautifully. The twins were more serious and laughed only rarely, but when they did, it seemed to make the sun shine and the moon glow, and made your insides flutter like a bunch of butterflies with joy. Heidi was always there with a joke, a laugh, a listening ear, or a restraining hand for the serious and prideful younger Rapheal and older Tiwena. Heidi was fit, but nowhere near the level of fitness of the twins. Plus the twins could DO things, odd things; it just seemed to come out of them.
The twins needed the three-way-friendship, for they were always talked about and gossiped about. They were seldom separated but were strong and agile, and proved very quickly they could protect themselves.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
For a week Rapheal had been watching the men of the village practice sword fighting and Tiwena had been watching the archery practice on a field just outside the village. Tiwena and Raphael sat next to each other, their shoulders touching, their backs against the wooden fencing, silently watching. Heidi sat on the fence behind them, with her arms entwined around the log keeping her balance. Her neck was craned backward, a long stemmed piece of grass sticking out of her mouth, while she staring at the crawling clouds.
The watching pair with their tag-along made the men and boys nervous but they pretended they weren't there. Finally the uneasiness snapped. One boy stomped his foot and marched over to them. Everyone's eyes were immediately riveted upon the angry boy. The boy was Tolliver, and he was a bully, as mean as they come.
"Don't say anything nasty Raph." Tiwena shot her brother a quick glance. "It's not me you should be worrying about Twe." He glared at Tolliver, a big boy who had bullied both of them many times. Heidi thought to the twins, "Tolliver's really mad this time, you better be careful what you say. He might finally challenge you in front of everyone." Tolliver stopped in front of them and glared down. "What are you staring at creeps?!" He shouted. A crowd started to gather, people from both the archery range and the sword side came to hear and see the fight.
"We were watching you practice," Tiwena said evenly. She spread her hands, "What is wrong with that?" It was a query, but not one that Tolliver wanted to answer. There was NOTHING wrong with it, but they were different, and the race of man tends to bristle around what they don't understand.
"What? Think you're so much better than us?" Tolliver pointed at them and addressed the crowd, spinning slowly to see everyone. "They think they can do better than we can. They have hardly ever held a weapon in their life and they think they can be better."
"Idiot." Heidi thought to them, "If he was half as smart as he pretended to be he would see the calloused hands on you two; Raph from the sword and Twe from the bow, and the way you walk as a fighter does, ready for anything at anytime. You practice EVERY day! Just because it's not with them, they assume you know nothing!" The large crowd that had gathered around them heard the angry roars of Tolliver quite well. They fell for what they knew, Tolliver - an angry murmur started to arise.
"I dare you to best us, any of us in the sword," he glared at Rapheal, "and in the bow." He glowered at Tiwena.
"We never said that we were better than ANY of you!" Raphael tried to tell everyone, but no one listened.
Heidi stood up and yelled at Tolliver, "Calm down Tolliv-" but she was cut off by the crowd's angry shootings. One of the best archers, Kerta, came forwards; he held two bows. He threw one at Tiwena, he half-expected her to miss the bow and have it drop on the ground. Yet, she rose up in a smooth rapid motion and caught the bow with her left hand. A naked sword was thrown at Rapheal. The sword flipped and turned and glinted as it rose and fell in the air, but when Rapheal arose and caught it in a swift fluid motion mirroring his sister's, he was holding the handle.
Heidi saw that they had changed somehow, she was afraid of this. She had seen them many times before this way. When they would fight each other they would get very serious, and then they would seem to grow somehow, more noble or regal or focused or something. Before they were two kids, elvish kids, but kids none the less. Now they were fighters, tall strong, and very good, I know from personal experience.
They both had short chin length brown red hair, but Twe's was a little bit shorter and Raph's was a little longer so he could tie it behind his head. They also each wore a shirt that tied up in the center with laces and pants that were to long and when they tucked them into their boots it puffed out. The boots were made of smooth leather and were calf high. They wore belts at their waists. On each belt were some pouches; each was different sized and held different contents. They were lithe and strong, for their build some thought they were normal, nothing special to talk about. But were they wrong.
She knew very well. They had gone swimming a lot and she had seen their muscles. Both were rippling with muscles, each and every one was toned, defined, and well used. Both would have been considered handsome and beautiful, if not for the distrust and menace opposed towards them. They had curves in all the right places and when they smiled they were wonderful to look upon. But now, they were strong, dauntless, and terrible to look upon in the prowess and strength they had worked hard to aquire.
Raph sent Heidi a quick grin over his shoulder, her insides turned over, they had been doing that a lot lately when she was around Raph. "We'll be ok." Twe sent to her her gaze still locked on Kerta, the archer.
Raphael quickly tied his hair back, Tiwena's hair was tied in a ponytail already but because of it's shortness, a lock hung over the front of each her ears. She tucked these behind her ears; it did not help matters that both motions exposed their leaf-like ears more. But they marched to their respective sides the fields.
The crowd split. One half to see the girl try to shoot down the best archer in town, one who could split a willow wand at 50 paces; and the other half to see the boy try to draw first blood with Tolliver, who was already showing great promise to be a fighter.
"Try not to hurt him too hard, Raph, give him some thing to gloat over, maybe a couple of torn places in your clothes?" Heidi told Raph, Twe agreed. But Raph just told them back "humph. You could say the same to Twe." Twe sent them a quick image of her laughing as she hit the archer over the head with the borrowed bow and Kerta ripped her shirt with an arrowhead, "Right, a few rips in my clothes would give an archer some pride!" Heidi groaned, but the twins faces remained expressionless, they were good at that.
Heidi flicked her gaze back and forth, her hazel eyes trying to discern which to watch. But Cealli, the second girl of three came running up at that moment. All Heidi had to say was, "Tolliver has finally challenged them; Raph to swords against himself and Twe to bows with Kerta. Go watch Twe and I'll watch Raph." Cealli merely whistled and raised her eyebrows before they split off to find positions to watch their friends in their respective crowds.
A willow wand was stuck in a tree when Cealli got there and started watching. 50 paces were being counted off. "Why are we doing 50 paces?" Twe asked the crowd, we know Kerta can split a wand at 50, why not more?" The crowd muttered at her digging herself in deeper, but 50 more were counted off.
Heidi got there in time to see Tolliver and Raph standing facing each other. "First blood is easy, why not have a circle match?" Raph asked them. If the crowd thought that Raph would use any advantage he could get, they're wrong. Heidi thought with pride. She didn't see the edges of Raph's lips lift up slightly as he picked up her thought.
The rules were read off.
"The one to split the wand or to get the closest to the wand is the winner; any cheating and you lose." Twe noticed that the last rule was general enough that if she didn't play it safe they could get her for anything. Kerta looked anxiously at his arrows, trying to find the straightest one that would fly the best. Twe took the first one she touched without even looking. She reached amid her perfect arrows and emerged with an odd shaped one. It was almost like a spiral, but not quite. The middle was in a slight loop and if you looked down the center of the shaft you could see a hole that the loop formed.
"The one to draw first blood wins, it is NOT to be a killing stroke! If you step outside the circle you will automatically be forfeit and the other will be declared winner." Tolliver glared at Raph, his upper lip drawing up into a sneer. Raph glanced coolly at Tolliver, his back straight, his eyes, a dark brown, the exact same color of his sister's, leveled on Tolliver.
"GO!" and the fight for who was right and who would be the winner, had begun.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hey again. Chap 2 is a lot like chap 1, it is a starter, it's just so you get to know something about the Twins and Heidi. Things pick up and really start to get going after this, promise! Oh, R/R PLEASE!
~Kit ;)
Chapter 2: Sweet 16 and not dead yet
Note: I may have gotten some facts wrong, and if I did, and you notice, please tell me and I will try to change it asap.
Thoughts are in Italics. Thoughts spoken to each other are "in italics". If they are speaking in elvish, *elvish*, if dwarvish, dwarvish, if they are speaking normally, "It will be normal."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Many years passed, and many people grew. But Tiwena and Rapheal seemed to shoot up to the age of 16 faster than was humanly possible. They matured quickly and learned even quicker. The twins only friends were few, but loyal. On the top of the list was Peranell, their foster mother. Next was Heidi, their foster-sister and close friend. But other than a few lukewarm friends and Peranell's family, the rest of the village distrusted and feared them.
The two rarely were seen talking to each other, but they sometimes laughed at things that others near them never heard or cried at something that no one could see to explain the sudden sadness. No one except for Heidi knew of their ability to mind-speak. The twins were able to speak into anyone's mind with concentration and energy. But they were able to speak to each other without effort, although the greater the distance between them, the more effort it took. If Heidi thought clearly at them, they could hear her quite well.
Although she was a month older, Heidi was very immature and the twins were very mature for their age, so the three got along beautifully. The twins were more serious and laughed only rarely, but when they did, it seemed to make the sun shine and the moon glow, and made your insides flutter like a bunch of butterflies with joy. Heidi was always there with a joke, a laugh, a listening ear, or a restraining hand for the serious and prideful younger Rapheal and older Tiwena. Heidi was fit, but nowhere near the level of fitness of the twins. Plus the twins could DO things, odd things; it just seemed to come out of them.
The twins needed the three-way-friendship, for they were always talked about and gossiped about. They were seldom separated but were strong and agile, and proved very quickly they could protect themselves.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
For a week Rapheal had been watching the men of the village practice sword fighting and Tiwena had been watching the archery practice on a field just outside the village. Tiwena and Raphael sat next to each other, their shoulders touching, their backs against the wooden fencing, silently watching. Heidi sat on the fence behind them, with her arms entwined around the log keeping her balance. Her neck was craned backward, a long stemmed piece of grass sticking out of her mouth, while she staring at the crawling clouds.
The watching pair with their tag-along made the men and boys nervous but they pretended they weren't there. Finally the uneasiness snapped. One boy stomped his foot and marched over to them. Everyone's eyes were immediately riveted upon the angry boy. The boy was Tolliver, and he was a bully, as mean as they come.
"Don't say anything nasty Raph." Tiwena shot her brother a quick glance. "It's not me you should be worrying about Twe." He glared at Tolliver, a big boy who had bullied both of them many times. Heidi thought to the twins, "Tolliver's really mad this time, you better be careful what you say. He might finally challenge you in front of everyone." Tolliver stopped in front of them and glared down. "What are you staring at creeps?!" He shouted. A crowd started to gather, people from both the archery range and the sword side came to hear and see the fight.
"We were watching you practice," Tiwena said evenly. She spread her hands, "What is wrong with that?" It was a query, but not one that Tolliver wanted to answer. There was NOTHING wrong with it, but they were different, and the race of man tends to bristle around what they don't understand.
"What? Think you're so much better than us?" Tolliver pointed at them and addressed the crowd, spinning slowly to see everyone. "They think they can do better than we can. They have hardly ever held a weapon in their life and they think they can be better."
"Idiot." Heidi thought to them, "If he was half as smart as he pretended to be he would see the calloused hands on you two; Raph from the sword and Twe from the bow, and the way you walk as a fighter does, ready for anything at anytime. You practice EVERY day! Just because it's not with them, they assume you know nothing!" The large crowd that had gathered around them heard the angry roars of Tolliver quite well. They fell for what they knew, Tolliver - an angry murmur started to arise.
"I dare you to best us, any of us in the sword," he glared at Rapheal, "and in the bow." He glowered at Tiwena.
"We never said that we were better than ANY of you!" Raphael tried to tell everyone, but no one listened.
Heidi stood up and yelled at Tolliver, "Calm down Tolliv-" but she was cut off by the crowd's angry shootings. One of the best archers, Kerta, came forwards; he held two bows. He threw one at Tiwena, he half-expected her to miss the bow and have it drop on the ground. Yet, she rose up in a smooth rapid motion and caught the bow with her left hand. A naked sword was thrown at Rapheal. The sword flipped and turned and glinted as it rose and fell in the air, but when Rapheal arose and caught it in a swift fluid motion mirroring his sister's, he was holding the handle.
Heidi saw that they had changed somehow, she was afraid of this. She had seen them many times before this way. When they would fight each other they would get very serious, and then they would seem to grow somehow, more noble or regal or focused or something. Before they were two kids, elvish kids, but kids none the less. Now they were fighters, tall strong, and very good, I know from personal experience.
They both had short chin length brown red hair, but Twe's was a little bit shorter and Raph's was a little longer so he could tie it behind his head. They also each wore a shirt that tied up in the center with laces and pants that were to long and when they tucked them into their boots it puffed out. The boots were made of smooth leather and were calf high. They wore belts at their waists. On each belt were some pouches; each was different sized and held different contents. They were lithe and strong, for their build some thought they were normal, nothing special to talk about. But were they wrong.
She knew very well. They had gone swimming a lot and she had seen their muscles. Both were rippling with muscles, each and every one was toned, defined, and well used. Both would have been considered handsome and beautiful, if not for the distrust and menace opposed towards them. They had curves in all the right places and when they smiled they were wonderful to look upon. But now, they were strong, dauntless, and terrible to look upon in the prowess and strength they had worked hard to aquire.
Raph sent Heidi a quick grin over his shoulder, her insides turned over, they had been doing that a lot lately when she was around Raph. "We'll be ok." Twe sent to her her gaze still locked on Kerta, the archer.
Raphael quickly tied his hair back, Tiwena's hair was tied in a ponytail already but because of it's shortness, a lock hung over the front of each her ears. She tucked these behind her ears; it did not help matters that both motions exposed their leaf-like ears more. But they marched to their respective sides the fields.
The crowd split. One half to see the girl try to shoot down the best archer in town, one who could split a willow wand at 50 paces; and the other half to see the boy try to draw first blood with Tolliver, who was already showing great promise to be a fighter.
"Try not to hurt him too hard, Raph, give him some thing to gloat over, maybe a couple of torn places in your clothes?" Heidi told Raph, Twe agreed. But Raph just told them back "humph. You could say the same to Twe." Twe sent them a quick image of her laughing as she hit the archer over the head with the borrowed bow and Kerta ripped her shirt with an arrowhead, "Right, a few rips in my clothes would give an archer some pride!" Heidi groaned, but the twins faces remained expressionless, they were good at that.
Heidi flicked her gaze back and forth, her hazel eyes trying to discern which to watch. But Cealli, the second girl of three came running up at that moment. All Heidi had to say was, "Tolliver has finally challenged them; Raph to swords against himself and Twe to bows with Kerta. Go watch Twe and I'll watch Raph." Cealli merely whistled and raised her eyebrows before they split off to find positions to watch their friends in their respective crowds.
A willow wand was stuck in a tree when Cealli got there and started watching. 50 paces were being counted off. "Why are we doing 50 paces?" Twe asked the crowd, we know Kerta can split a wand at 50, why not more?" The crowd muttered at her digging herself in deeper, but 50 more were counted off.
Heidi got there in time to see Tolliver and Raph standing facing each other. "First blood is easy, why not have a circle match?" Raph asked them. If the crowd thought that Raph would use any advantage he could get, they're wrong. Heidi thought with pride. She didn't see the edges of Raph's lips lift up slightly as he picked up her thought.
The rules were read off.
"The one to split the wand or to get the closest to the wand is the winner; any cheating and you lose." Twe noticed that the last rule was general enough that if she didn't play it safe they could get her for anything. Kerta looked anxiously at his arrows, trying to find the straightest one that would fly the best. Twe took the first one she touched without even looking. She reached amid her perfect arrows and emerged with an odd shaped one. It was almost like a spiral, but not quite. The middle was in a slight loop and if you looked down the center of the shaft you could see a hole that the loop formed.
"The one to draw first blood wins, it is NOT to be a killing stroke! If you step outside the circle you will automatically be forfeit and the other will be declared winner." Tolliver glared at Raph, his upper lip drawing up into a sneer. Raph glanced coolly at Tolliver, his back straight, his eyes, a dark brown, the exact same color of his sister's, leveled on Tolliver.
"GO!" and the fight for who was right and who would be the winner, had begun.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hey again. Chap 2 is a lot like chap 1, it is a starter, it's just so you get to know something about the Twins and Heidi. Things pick up and really start to get going after this, promise! Oh, R/R PLEASE!
~Kit ;)