While Sanya Harkon has gained an audience in her feats of knife throwing skill her twin sister is also enduring the scrutiny of a group of the attendees of the Blackwell/Skelda betrothal feast.
On the other side of the holdfast Talya sat primly with her hands folded in her lap. Her red braid still hung in a perfect plait over her right shoulder. She had not drawn any Blackwell blood this day.
Beside her sat fifteen year old Dalla Flint. The older girl was also perfectly well behaved, although the look on her face was stricken. Across the room her parents were bargaining her off to the heir of Harkon Hall.
Talya tried for an encouraging whisper, "I think you'll really like the Hall once you get used to it and when you marry my brother we'll be sisters."
Dalla made a noise of derision. "It doesn't matter if we get to know each other because you and your twin are just going to be married off in a couple of years anyway."
That was true enough. In fact it might have been Talya's betrothal they were all celebrating to the future Lord of the North if it hadn't been for Trevon Blackwell's folly. Talya didn't mind that though. If Trevon and Miara loved each other than salt gods bless them both. Marrying for love among the nobility of the north was a dream. Not one that was about to come true for Dalla and Herron. And not one that Talya or her twin were likely to enjoy either.
While Papa ranted about his daughter's loss of position, Talya let her mind wander to what she had heard about the happy couple. Trevon had voyaged south on the river after the Blood Moon to try and see what it was all about. What he found was the crater in the ground of what had once been the lands of the Skelda clan. They had been beast riders like the Kiras, masters of drexls. The mere thought of it gave Talya a tingle down her spine. They were said to worship Dxun just like the Kiras.
When Trevon arrived the clan had been completely wiped out, all but for one young woman. She had been put in charge of guarding the last three drexl eggs that the clan possessed. They couldn't be hatched without the fiery breath of one of their parents so they weren't good for much anymore but they were a reminder of her people and the occupation that had made them unique among all other Onderonians. She had brought them north with her. Talya hoped never to lay eyes on them but she was sure her sister would have given nearly anything for a peek.
So anyway there Miara Skelda was, all alone, her family gone, with nothing but three unhatchable drexl eggs and Trevon came off his ship and gave her shelter in his own cabin. He asked her what had happened but it was so awful she couldn't speak of it.
Talya thought it was romantic that she had fallen in love with her rescuer and that they were going to have a baby come autumn. She imagined if she was all alone and some young nobleman came and carried her away…
"Well, now you've got that settled, what are you planning to do with your girls?" One of the gentlemen who were witnessing the negotiations between the Harkons and Flints spoke up and drew Talya out of her daydream. "There's two of them, aye? This one and her identical twin?"
All eyes were on Talya for a moment and she gulped, her own eyes wide and she tried not to show them that she was trembling.
Dalla leaned towards her and murmured, "It's alright, I'm sure any of their holdfasts will be just as fine as the Hall." Talya wasn't sure if the girl was being smug or actually trying to reassure her.
She didn't have time to find out. Mother leaned close to her on the other side. "Where is your sister?"
Talya gave a little cough and then answered her mother in a polite but low voice. "I haven't seen her since she went to find Herron."
"Well, do go and look for her, please. Your father is all but done here and we should be sailing home."
"Aye, Mother." She stood. "Excuse me," She said a little louder and gave a respectful curtsy to the room at large. She kept her gaze down though she knew they were all appraising her like buyers in a fish market.
"You may go, Talya." Her father puffed up proudly at the attention his elder daughter was receiving.
She was glad to be out of that room when she reached the corridor and she wondered if maybe Sanya had the right idea. Talya wished she could be as brave as her sister.
She really didn't begin to know where to look for her wayward twin. Blackhold was vast with many wings and corridors, not to mention the rumored dungeons. Talya supposed she'd have to learn her way around if she was betrothed to the younger Blackwell son like everyone seemed to think she would be.
She wandered hesitantly, trying to remember which way she had come so she could find her way back. Then she heard a cheer coming from an open doorway up ahead along with her sister's confident laugh. "Ha! I bet I could beat you blindfolded!"
Sanya was betting?! Talya raised her skirts a few centimeters so that she could run faster towards the voices. She rounded the corner into the room just as a big teenage boy was advancing on her twin with a dark handkerchief in his hands.
"Stop!" Talya screeched in alarm. All eyes were on her and as frightened as she was, she managed to cross the room to see if Sanya was alright.
"Lya, what's wrong?" Sanya asked her as if nothing at all was amiss.
"He was…" Talya began and she looked around at the audience. Some of them had knives in their hands but they all seemed to stand a bit straighter in the presence of a real lady. One or two of them even hid the weapons behind their backs, with guilty looks upon their faces. "Are you alright?" she said softly to her sister.
Sanya shook her head with half a grin. "Aye. Why wouldn't I be? We were just having a little fun."
"A little fun?" These were the sons of the men their Papa was even now conversing with about their future. These boys looked every bit as intimidating as their fathers, in Talya's opinion. Though one of them, she thought he might have been a Bralykburn, nodded his head solemnly in her direction.
Talya swallowed and reached out to grab Sanya's sleeve only to find that her twin had walked a few steps away. She hurried after her. Sanya tugged at a small knife that was stuck in the wall as if it had been thrown there. It was stuck fast.
"Want some help?" Another boy asked, which Talya thought was kind of him. The young man had a swollen eye surrounded by a darkening bruise. When he turned she also saw that he had a cut across his cheek and she gave a little gasp.
Sanya just scowled at him. "I can do it myself."
"Nya?" Talya tried again.
With a grunt her twin managed to dislodge the blade.
"Papa is about finished with his business. We'll be leaving soon." Talya told her.
Sanya sighed with disappointment and bent to put the knife back into her boot. Talya had no idea she even carried such a thing. "Alright."
Talya was just glad she was going without a fight. She was glad to be leaving all the curious eyes behind. But a hand reached out to stop Sanya before they could get completely away.
Sanya looked at the hand on her shoulder and then boldly up into the face of the heir of Bralyk Keep.
"This isn't over, Lady Knife."
"You want a rematch?" She smirked. "Anytime!"
Talya grabbed her sister's hand and pulled her down the hall they way she had come. At least she hoped it was the way she had come. In her agitation she may have lost her sense of direction. "What were you doing in there with them?"
Sanya absently swept her loose hair back over her shoulder with a sigh. "One of them insulted…" she paused, "our family. I couldn't let him get away with it." She squeezed Talya's hand that she was still holding and took the lead in the matter of finding their way back to their parents. She had a much better sense of direction as well and she seemed to have already recovered from the excitement of the confrontation. "So Papa has everything squared away?"
"For Herron anyway." Talya shrugged. "I don't think anything has been settled yet for you or I."
"It won't be long though." For the first time Sanya looked worried. "They'll force him to make a decision soon." As brave as she was in the presence of all those young men she still squirmed at the idea of marrying one of them.
"Well we don't have to worry about that now." Talya encouraged her. "We'll be sailing home within the hour."
"Sailing." Sanya smiled. That always brightened her mood.
They both turned at the sound of a flurry of footsteps that advanced up the hallway behind them. Jamos Blackwell skidded to a stop when he saw them. "Hey," he smiled. He was holding a cloth to his cheek. "Knife, you wanna see the Drexl eggs?" He offered.
He barely acknowledged Talya, the girl he was probably going to be betrothed to. He should have been offering to take her, not that Talya wanted to see them or would ever consider accepting his invitation.
Sanya huffed at the slight to her sister but, to her at least, it was a tempting proposition.
Talya looked back and forth between them and then whispered to her twin, "What did he call you?"
"Knife," Sanya mumbled, considering. "Because I can…" she mimed throwing a blade.
It might have been a trick. He likely just wanted to get her back for cutting him, but if he really knew where they were and he would take her to see them…
"Well?" Jamos asked. "She can come too." He still didn't spare Talya more than half a glance.
Sanya dithered another moment and then decided. "Aye, alright." It really was too good an opportunity to pass up. If he was telling the truth, that is.
"Nya!" her twin objected. "Mother and Papa said…"
"We won't be long." Sanya patted her on the shoulder. "And if they ask we can just tell them you got lost."
"You don't have to come along if you don't want." Jamos shrugged, finally addressing the elder twin.
"Of course she wants to!" Sanya firmly clamped her hand around Talya's and glared up at the much taller boy. "That is if you really know where they are."
His face broke into a grin at the challenge. "Aye! Come on!"
Sanya followed, pulling her twin along behind her. She was on the lookout for any trap he might have laid for the Harkon twins whom anyone would be a fool to marry but nothing jumped out at them.
He stopped suddenly when they reached a junction of the corridors.
"You don't really know where they are, do you?" Sanya sneered.
"Shhh…" He hissed, looking around the corner. Then he whispered back at them. "She keeps them in her room."
Sanya rolled her eyes and Talya tugged her back. "Maybe we shouldn't…"
"We've come this far."
Jamos waved them forward. Then he pointed into the room. "The box on the dresser," he said softly and then waited as if daring the girls to continue.
Sanya was not one to balk at a challenge. She disengaged herself from her sister's grasp and marched boldly to the indicated piece of furniture. There was a box about half a meter long and she touched the lid gingerly before looking back with raised eyebrows, questioningly, trying to disguise the thrill that ran through her.
The boy gave her a nod and as she turned back to the box she couldn't help but grin. She lifted the lid and sensed Jamos and her sister gather closer behind her.
"Well?" He asked in anticipation of her response.
She frowned. "They look like rocks."
"They're not rocks," he grumbled and reached in to lift one of the oblong spheroid objects out of the box. "Here hold it."
"Sanya, don't!" Talya objected.
Sanya ignored her and took the egg in her hands. It was about twice the size of her fist and felt bumpy and slightly warm. She couldn't keep the corner of her mouth from twitching and when she looked up caught Jamos smiling at her.
He lifted the second egg out of the box and handed it to her and then added the third to the pile in her arms. "Heavy, aren't they?"
"Not really." She would never have admitted it to him even if they were. She was managing just fine until Talya grabbed her arm again and caused her to fumble the eggs a little.
"Someone's coming!" Talya shrieked in a whisper.
"Osik," Jamos breathed. He slammed shut the lid of the box and shoved the twins toward an open closet door.
Sanya, never one to hide from a fight, passed the eggs to her sister and started to bend down to retrieve the knife from her boot.
"There's no time for that," Jamos hissed and gave the twins another push towards the closet. He squeezed in with them and then shut the door, engulfing them in darkness all but for a sliver of light seeping in through the crack.
And none too soon. Two voices filtered into their cramped hiding place. One of the voices was male and the other female but neither one of them was really saying anything. It was more like they were moaning and grunting at each other.
Sanya shifted in the tight space so that she could press her eye to the crack in the doorway. When the couple out there managed to stop sucking each other's faces off she could see that it was Jamos's older brother Trevon and his recently betrothed.
"I thought we would never get away from them," the young woman cooed at her husband-to-be while his hands worked at the ties that closed the front of her bodice.
His eyes traveled hungrily from her chest to her eyes. "I promised that we'd leave as soon as we showed them that house Blackwell isn't ashamed of you." He tapped her nose with his finger and then laid his hand on her round belly. "And we're not ashamed of him either."
The bridge of Sanya's nose wrinkled in disgust. "Guess there goes the theory that he's the child of the Lord of the Demon Moon," She mumbled.
"That's what I was trying to tell your brother," Jamos insisted quietly and very close to her ear.
She turned and glared up at him in the dim light. He had the nerve to smile back. She smirked smugly, "Unless she's actually got a spell on him so he believes the kid is his."
Jamos was ready with a reply before Talya whimpered, interrupting him. She was the only one who had noticed that the sounds from outside the closet door had gone quiet.
Suddenly the closet door was thrown open and the three of them were bathed in light. Trevon stood there with his hands angrily on his hips. Miara had gone to the dresser and opened the box. "Trev, they've stolen the eggs!" she shrieked.
"We didn't steal them." Sanya pushed her way out of the closet and pulled her sister along with her. One by one she took the eggs from Talya's arms and handed them to the frantic young woman. She shot a look at Jamos. "He was probably just trying to get us in trouble."
"I wasn't either," he objected. "I just thought you might want to see them is all. I didn't think they'd be back so soon."
"Aye? Thanks a lot," Sanya countered sarcastically. She took Talya's now empty hand. "Come on. Let's get back to Mother and Papa. Sorry I dragged you along," she said to her sister.
This time it was Talya who held back. She called over her shoulder as politely as she could under the circumstances, "Congratulations on your betrothal, a-and the baby."