Days passed by slowly as autumn turned to winter, the swell of summer's heat vanishing as the weeks crawled by at an infinitely slow pace. The onset of winter and the promised coldness of the season and Sakura could only pout up at her older brother and stare at him with pleading eyes. Frost had covered the grass of their little garden that very morning, proof that summer had passed and the weather was becoming cooler.
"Berenloth," Eithion stated, raising an eyebrow as he stared down at her. "The answer is no. I am not taking you down to the sea."
Hands moved, grabbing at his pant leg, and she stared up at him even more pleadingly. "Please, brother?" she tried, already bored of playing in the garden with her twin. She could only tolerate him in small increments – a step up from the state their relationship had been in only a matter of weeks before. Most flowers in their garden were summer blooms, meaning there were no flowers for a flower crown. There was no snow for them to play with. There was so very little to do besides playing simple games like tag, and that had lost its allure far too quickly, given how small their garden was in the grand scheme of things.
"It is too cold," Eithion grumbled. "I know you Berenloth, and you will undoubtedly fall into the sea or otherwise find injury – and I do not particularly wish to bring the trouble of our dear overprotective older brothers to my doorstep."
Sakura scowled. "It is only going to get colder, and what are you going to do then? Trap me in yours and my other brothers' homes like some wild dog to be tamed?"
"You will not be trapped, dear heart," he murmured, crouching so he was on level with her in an instant. "You will still be able to gaze upon the seas, only you will be situated slightly further away than you might like," he remarked, and Sakura let go of his pant leg, frowning then. "This cold season will pass us by before you realise, and then we will be teaching you to swim in the waters that you so love. Surely that will be worth the wait, no?"
"I do not like it," she grumbled, folding her arms at the thought of being separated from the greyish blue waters she loved to linger in.
"Not everything can be tailored to your specifications, Berenloth," Eithion murmured, fingers weaving through her pink locks as he ruffled her hair. "The weather and the seasons are, fortunately or unfortunately, things that you cannot reason with nor control."
"Hmph," Sakura grumbled, folding her arms. "I could try," she muttered, unsure whether she hated the soft laughter which rang in only her ears at that, even as her brother gazed down at her, interminably fond yet exasperated with her.
"As imperious as ever, dear sister," he said, shaking his head. "Do you wish to read or do something else with your time?" her brother asked, fingers still tangled in her wild pink locks. "Your twin still plays outside…"
"Bored," she mumbled. "There's nothing fun to do…"
"Do you find spending time with me boring then?" Eithion asked, playful and light, and Sakura bit her lip.
"No," she said, looking at the ground then. "Of course not," she added, scowling at the reminder that she wasn't quite a normal elf child. She remembered battle. She remembered the thrum of blood in her veins as she fought. She remembered the grin on her face as she did, teeth bared in a mockery of a savage smile.
But that was neither here nor there. Haruno Sakura was dead, and Berenloth wasn't an ordinary elf child. Sakura didn't quite know what to do about that, other than trying to keep moving forwards.
"Then come and spend some time with your dear older brother then," Eithion said, leading her off into the main room, settling her down on the soft sofa. "I will read to you," he decided, perusing the tall bookshelf in the corner of the room. "Dagnis tells me you enjoy stories as much as Laerdil seems to."
"They are nice to listen to," Sakura murmured, knowing that was only half true. She had, after all, always hungered for information for as long as she could remember. Stories there, in that place, were often rooted in the past, tales of an age long passed. "I like them."
"Good," he replied, smiling as he plucked a bound book from the shelf. "Then let me tell you a tale of Eärendil and Ancalagon…" he trailed off, seating himself down next to her with another smile even as she leant against him, peering at the pages of ink-filled letters he opened.
She leant forwards, pressing her fingers to the still as of yet unfamiliar lettering, pointedly trailing the letters across the page as her brother obligingly read the words. There was still that hunger in her, despite the loss, the death, the reincarnation, the shame, and the confusion of it all. She wanted to know more and more. Knowledge, after all, was key to survival. And that, Sakura mused wryly as she traced the letters, was something she was uncannily good at. She had survived death in the end. Not that anything was supposed to do just that.
Unless they were elves, of course, since death wasn't quite permanent to them. Haruno Sakura hadn't been an elf though. She had been mortal. Human. And now Sakura wasn't.
"Thank you, brother," she murmured softly, even as Eithion kept reading.
A softer expression crossed his face, a hand mussing her pink locks as she leant into his side, still peering at the book with sleepy eyes. "You are welcome, Berenloth," he said fondly. "Tell me if you become too tired, and I will set you down for your nap…"
"I do not need naps," Sakura grumbled, a scowl marring her face, and she glared pointedly at her older brother. She hated the incessant need to sleep at the most inconvenient times, and the fact she was forced to – both by her brothers and her small body. Elven children needed their rest, or so she was told.
Fingers pinched at her cheek, and her scowl only worsened. "You are a child, dear sister," he said pointedly, voice full of wry amusement. "You need your rest. Such a need will fade in time, but for now, please enjoy these sleeps of yours," he continued, thumb tracing circles on her cheek in an oddly soothing way. "You are only young once."
Sakura hummed under her breath, leaning her full weight against her brother then. "Are you really?" she mumbled, yawning even as the delectably soft arms of sleep beckoned to her, enfolding her in their grasp.
Rain pattered against the windows and the roof, the sound almost lulling her into another infernal nap, and Sakura could only scowl at the indignity of it all.
A finger poked her annoyingly chubby cheek. "You are frowning again, sister," Nardhion said pointedly. "Sleep if you are tired. I will watch over you…"
"'m not tired," she grumbled. "I am simply bored."
"These winter months will pass before you know it, sister mine," he told her softly, and the gentle tugs on her hair told her that he was braiding it up in one of those infernally complex styles which Lastriel preferred. "Then the sea will be even prettier for your eyes up close…"
Sakura huffed at that. "The sea is prettiest in winter," she said matter-of-factly.
Nardhion shook his head. "Nay, 'tis too stormy and wild," he replied. "It is better when the sea is calmer; a reflection of golden skies or the pale moon, or perhaps of my sweet sister as she dances upon the shores…"
Her lip curled at the thought of stiller, calmer waters. Something in her gut twisted at the idea of there being no storms. "Storms are pretty," she stated, folding her arms even as she leant against her brother. "They are wild and free, and the beauty of the roiling grey clouds in the skies above, shifting and dancing in tune with the storm's song…"
"You would know all about a storm's song, would you not?" he murmured, thumb tracing the line of her jaw as his gaze turned heavy, the weight of Ossë's attention looming ever over their heads like a thundercloud. And they weren't even the ones that the maia was so very fixated on. Sakura tilted her head, fingers moving to linger over the side that taloned fingers had drawn blood from.
"Of course," she said. "Unlike some uncultured cretins I know, I understand the beauty in the untamed…"
Fingers pinched at her cheek, as her brothers were so prone to doing, and Sakura glared flatly up at her brother. "Dear sister, who exactly are you calling an uncultured cretin?" Nardhion asked, one silvery eyebrow raised, but the smile on his lips belayed his true feelings. "And who exactly taught you the word cretin, darling? I must have words with them about teaching you insults."
"Though we must thank them for not teaching her crass insults, no?" Reniedir said, materialising behind the sofa upon which they sat, having finished whatever menial task he had assigned himself to do that very day. He peered down at the pair of them both, a smile on his lips as he took in the sight of them curled up together. Though all of her brothers tended to be disgustingly smiley whenever they caught sight of her looking adorable, as they put it.
"Well, obviously that means the culprit cannot be any other than my beloved wife," Nardhion mumbled, shaking his head. "Betrayed by my sweet wife… how ever will I cope?"
Sakura rolled her eyes at that.
Reniedir laughed.
"Who exactly has betrayed you?" Lastriel stood behind them then, hands on her hips as she locked eyes with her husband.
"You have been teaching Berenloth words like cretin and uncultured, and now she is using them to insult us all!" Nardhion bemoaned, and his wife smiled wickedly then.
"And now I must be teaching her more," Lastriel declared, lifting her from her brother's lap in an instant. She couldn't even find the strength to protest at the blatant manhandling. Part of her simply felt too tired to – then there was the fact her complaints didn't really do much when her brothers and her sisters-in-law were determined to pick her up and carry her about. She was far too small, and she would be that way for a while yet.
Nothing she did would change that, no matter how out of sorts and frustrated that made her feel.
Snows came, thick and heavy, in the depths of winter.
Part of her could only lament that coldness as she dug her gloved hands into the thick snow piled atop the decking. Her nose was already cold and red, despite the coat and scarves she had been bundled up in. Already, her request to visit the sea had been denied, though it didn't make her feel as trapped as it once had. It was just the cold and her tiny, vulnerable body which complicated matters.
"Perhaps we should invite Maethon out to join us?" Caleniel mused, even as she flopped back into the heavy snows.
"He is playing in the garden with Laerdil," Sakura mumbled, staring at the white skies above then in that instant, infinite and endless as they were. White fluffy flakes drifted down from the cloudy skies, melting where it touched her warm skin. She shivered beneath it all, sighing at the pointed look Reniedir gave her at that. Caleniel was at least more subtle about visually checking her health.
"Is Eithion watching them both then?" Caleniel asked.
"Dagnis is," Eithion replied from his hidden perch atop the porch area. "She and Lastriel both – they said something about Nardhion complaining about them being bad influences on Berenloth," he murmured, a wry amusement entering his voice.
"They are!" Nardhion grumbled from where he sat on one snowy chair, watching the proceedings with amused eyes. "They have been teaching her words like cretin and insipid, and our beloved little sister then uses them to insult us."
"They said they were being good corrupting influences on our dear littlest brother for today, Nardhion, dear," Eithion said, and Caleniel and her could only smile as their silvery-haired brother abruptly climbed to his feet and hurried off to rescue her twin.
"It is simply expanding their vocabulary, Eithion," Reniedir murmured from where he sat on the steps, watching her and his wife like a hawk as they messed about in the snows. "Besides, no siblings of ours should use crass insults. Better they know how to politely insult someone, given what we have to deal with when we venture to Mithlond…"
Sakura sat up at that. "Mithlond?" she echoed, glancing pointedly at her second eldest brother in a bid for more information.
"Where our grandparents reside, dear heart," Eithion supplied succinctly, devolving back into silence seconds later as Reniedir took over the conversation. Not that he ever really seemed to care much about being involved in a conversation; ever quieter than the rest of her brothers.
"It is not something you will have to worry about yet, sister," Reniedir explained. "We will not be travelling to Mithlond for a while yet… Allowing grandmother to parade you and Maethon around before court at such a young age is something both myself and Lithuidor agree upon…"
Her nose wrinkled at the mention of their eldest brother, and Reniedir only sighed softly at that. He froze then, sitting up more stiffly as his pointed ears twitched. "Is something the matter?" Caleniel asked softly, attention turning from her to the road leading to their more isolated dwelling. The main dwelling of their family which was almost at full occupancy that very afternoon-turned-evening.
"Hoofbeats," Reniedir said, rising to his feet. "Fast ones…"
The sound of hoofbeats and crushed snow met her own smaller ears then, and Sakura climbed to her own, smaller feet, eyes narrowed on the road, even as a far too familiar figure in full dress rounded the corner.
Lithuidor.
Her least favourite brother.
Scowling, she tucked herself pointedly behind Caleniel's legs, peering out curiously as Lithuidor rode up to the house with considerable speed. "Where are the twins and Laerdil?" he demanded, black hair fluttering out from beneath the cap of his helmet as he stared down at the group of them, grey eyes quickly singling her out and narrowing.
"Maethon is playing with Laerdil in the garden," Reniedir answered, and Sakura clutched at the skirt Caleniel wore, cautiously meeting the stare of her brother with a stubborn, mistrustful one of her own.
"Is that the voice of my darling eldest brother, I hear?" Nardhion's voice came, soon followed by the ellon himself from the front entrance to their abode. "How wonderful. I thought you were to be away for the rest of the evening…"
"I thought it would be prudent to warn you all, given Berenloth's propensity for wandering afoot – a winter wolf has been spotted in the nearby area," he said, face grave, nervousness flashing across his expression when he looked at her. "Until this situation is dealt with, I would ask that you keep from leaving the house, and failing that, arm yourselves when you leave the house."
Sakura huffed at that.
"Can you manage that, Berenloth?" Lithuidor asked, gaze fixated on her, half hidden from his sight as she was.
"Hmph," she grunted, turning her head pointedly away from him and relishing in the way his eye twitched.
"Berenloth," Lithuidor ground out, raising one eyebrow pointedly. "A verbal answer please."
"Understood," Sakura grumbled.
"Thank you," he said, swinging himself down from his horse, petting its black mane of hair then. "I need to scout the forest soon, but I have some time – so I think I will extract a similar promise from Maethon…"
Help.
Sakura blinked, warily following behind Caleniel as they all ventured into the house, pausing only as Dagnis and Lastriel both clattered down the stares and stopped at the sight of Nardhion in the entranceway. "I leave you alone for five minutes, and you already neglect your duties," Lastriel hissed. "You were supposed to be watching Maethon and Laerdil – not bothering your least favourite brother, you insipid fool!"
"They will be fine," Nardhion muttered, even as Lithuidor hurried towards the garden, wrenching the door open and peering outside.
"They are not here," Lithuidor ground out, stepping into the snowy garden, scanning the faint snowy tracks marked in the snow. "Eithion – your skills are required. Get ready, and swiftly too. The sooner we find out brother and our nephew…"
There is danger afoot, little singer.
Sakura stumbled forwards at the sound of that voice, edging out into the garden, heedless of her eldest brother's presence there. "Maethon," she mumbled, watching as Eithion hurried out of the house, sheathed sword in hand.
A hand landed on her shoulder, and she looked up to find Reniedir standing there, Caleniel close by. "It will be fine, Berenloth," he murmured, but the worry in his own expression wasn't hidden quite well enough. "Lithuidor and Eithion will bring them back before any harm comes to them – your twin simply has picked an inopportune time to explore…"
Something curled up in the back of her mind, another presence brushing against her own, the tendrils wrapping around her chakra familiar. Only she didn't think they called it chakra there. It was fae, in Sindarin. Her soul. And another's was reaching out to her own right then and there in a way she hadn't thought possible.
Help.
"Here," Lithuidor hissed, pushing aside a section of the fence to find an exit to the world outside. "They left from here."
"They cannot have gotten far, brother," Eithion murmured, clapping his hand on Lithuidor's arm in a rare display of support. "We will find them."
An image crept into her mind, a fear pulsing beneath her skin as she stared at the odd clearing – a familiar clearing where they had found nínim, a pretty flower which was a winter-bloom. Her hands shook beneath the weight of that fear, eyes locking with the yellowish ones and the bared, sharp teeth of the hulking creature opposite—
Her eyes snapped open, the abrupt realisation that it wasn't her own fear coming to her. It was Maethon's. Her feet were already moving, cold air burning in her lungs as her chakra pulsed in her legs. Desperation gripped at her heart, her body already moving. She was off in an instant, slipping from her brother's grasp and sprinting out from the gap in the fence her brothers had so kindly made.
"Berenloth!" Lithuidor bellowed. "We don't have the time to search for the both of them…"
"Reniedir! You are unarmed!" Eithion shouted, even as Sakura heard the tell-tale sounds of two of them moving in pursuit.
"You search for Maethon and Laerdil," Lithuidor hissed. "We will go after our foolish sister…"
That clearing she had seen was familiar, and Sakura only thanked Caleniel and her insistence that they explore the forest as well as the shoreline so thoroughly. Snow crunched underfoot, her feet barely making much of an indent in the crisp white snow – such was the nature of her kindred there. Sakura could only be grateful for that, since running was subsequently easier and faster. Fear beat in her own chest then, the thought of not being fast enough making her clear the tall shrubbery in a simple two-step jump off the side of the nearest tree.
It wasn't too far away, and for that Sakura was grateful, even as another bout of Maethon's fear reached her. Dimly, she could hear her older brothers a bit further back, cursing as they tried to go through or around the obstacles she had all but flown over.
I just wanted to show Laerdil the nínim…
Sakura's eyes narrowed, anger and helplessness burning within her, vision burning with furious tears. Strange child – cuckoo – or not, her new family were hers, long since having clawed a place in that strange heart of hers, and they had already lost far too many of their number to fatal injury, torture, and grief. She refused to lose her twin, especially not when she knew she had the strength to save him. And their nephew too. She refused to lose anyone else, not like when she had lived as Haruno Sakura.
I know, she told him in the same way his own thoughts were coming pulsing through her brain. They were twins, after all, and as many of their brothers had told them before; they were supposed to be connected in ways that the rest of them weren't.
The wolf lunged.
Sakura burst from the bushes, coming into the familiar clearing, springing from the nearest hard surface which splintered beneath her final, desperate leap.
They collided midair in a tangle of thick white fur, teeth, and pink hair. Her back slammed into the ground, momentum keeping her rolling over until she was on top of her opponent.
"Beren… loth…?" her twin murmured, falling to his backside, the words a broken whisper of relief.
Her lips pulled back, a guttural snarl escaping her throat, and she lunged forwards, teeth bared and lined with her own chakra as she buried them in that white fur. Hair tickled the back of her throat, but she ignored it all, biting down and biting hard until she tasted blood, and she didn't stop at that. The familiar coppery taste stained her tongue, dripping thickly down over her chin, and she ripped her head back, tearing out a chunk of bloodied flesh and spitting it out.
Teeth sunk into her own shoulder, far too close to the junction of her neck for comfort, and she hissed in pain. Her hands curled into fists, slamming into that furry body, earning a yelp. The cause of the burning pain in her shoulder gone, Sakura stared at the bloodied beast before her, ignoring the familiar voices calling for her. Her heart beat in her chest, the familiar feeling of blood racing through her body making her feel almost impossibly free even as she lunged forwards. Knuckles slammed into the skull of the winter wolf, a nice crack sound echoing in the clearing, followed by a sharp yelp.
A grin curled at her lips, satisfaction pulsing through her as she felt the wind in her hair, the pain in her body, and the sheer thrill of the fight. She had missed it. A low grunt of joy and amusement came to her then, even as her fists moved, blood coating her knuckles as she punched and fought until the beast which had dared to attack her family was nothing more than a lump of bloodied white fur.
There was a blur of movement, and then a sword sunk into the prone body. A hand curled around her uninjured shoulder. "It is dead, Berenloth," Lithuidor told her, grey eyes staring into her sea-coloured ones, mildly perturbed and ever flashing between her face, her shoulder, and her hands.
Something pulsed in the back of her head, another image from Maethon's eyes coming to rest in her mind then: the sight of her standing there, knuckles painted a bloody red, her bloodstained teeth bared in a savage grin as blood continued to roll down over her chin.
Reniedir held Maethon by the hand, Eithion having arrived at some point while she was otherwise occupied and was now with holding his son safely off the ground. "Berenloth…" Reniedir whispered, terror and awe mixed up in his expression. "Why are you smiling?"
Wind caressed her face then, a song on the breeze, and dimly, she heard Ossë laughing in the back of her head.
Maethon startled at that.
Little singer, he crooned, and Sakura felt her smile widen, even as her eyes sought out her twin brother.
"That matters not," Lithuidor said flatly. "We must get them all back home and take Berenloth to the Halls of Healing…" he trailed off, and Sakura felt hands reach for her, undoubtedly to pick her up, but she was already stumbling forwards on legs which felt like a new-born colt's.
Maethon, she whispered, hands up and out, reaching for him then.
He stumbled forwards on similarly shaky legs. Berenloth, he murmured in response, his words clear in her mind.
"Let them be, brother," Eithion said. "We can take them back in a moment…"
Are you feeling well? she asked, peering at her twin as he came to a stop less than an arm's length away. Her fingers brushed against his cheek, leaving a trail of red in their wake.
His eyes flickered over to her bitten shoulder, his hand coming up to crinkle the fabric of the ruined shirt she wore as he grabbed a hold of it. Should I not be the one to ask you that? he wondered, meeting her gaze and her bloodied smile without the barest of flinches.
This… Her attention flickered onto her bloodied shoulder. This is nothing – a minor wound, if that.
Maethon's brows lowered, eyes on her even more concerned, and his grasp on her shirt tugged her closer until they were barely centimetres away from each other.
"Are you two going to do anything beyond staring longingly into each other's eyes?" Reniedir asked, raising an eyebrow at them. "We must return home, and get Berenloth's wounds treated."
"I will take her to the Halls of Healing," Lithuidor said. "Duinenor would insist that we took her there, even if we called him over later. A bite wound from an animal requires more care than other injuries…"
Sakura stared up at Reniedir in confusion. But we are doing more than simply staring at one another… she trailed off, brow furrowing.
Yes, Maethon replied, his own brows pinched together in confusion. We are talking… not simply staring at each other and doing nothing bar that… He chewed on his lip, and Sakura felt it rather made him look adorable – a sensation he obviously gathered, if the pointed look he then sent her was anything to go off of.
A hum of amusement escaped her, the sensation of Maethon's mind tangled up in her own making her feel oddly giddy and light headed.
At least until her hold on her brother tightened, drawing him close in for a hug, and her eyes rolled back into her skull as the bliss of unconsciousness took hold.
Awareness came back to her slowly, the sensation of being warm blanketing her as she opened her eyes. Though she wasn't quite sure if she was opening the eyes of her physical body. The place she was in didn't look anything like the Halls of Healing, nor any of her brother's and their homes.
Where do you suppose we are? Maethon asked, and Sakura only had to look to the side to find her twin there, holding her hand.
Sakura shrugged. I do not know, she replied, staring around at the odd greyish tinge to the misty place they sat in. Though I suppose we can soon find out, she added, earning a confused look from her twin.
How?
Why, dear brother, how else but exploring? she responded, tilting her head, grinning and pulling herself to her feet. Maethon followed suit, and she looked around. Which direction do you wish to try first? she asked, never letting go of his hand – something they both seemingly took comfort in, within that strange, eerily familiar place. She felt as though she ought to recognise it, but she didn't.
How about that direction? Maethon offered, pointing to his side of the grey mist.
Sakura nodded, allowing her twin to lead them into the unknown fog. Together they stepped further and further in, blinking in unison at the scene of a forest which crept before them. This is familiar, she murmured, eyes narrowing when another Maethon and another version of herself ran in front of them, trampling through the forest with Caleniel and Reniedir on their heels. Sakura only blinked, wracking her brain for possible answers.
A memory? Maethon guessed.
Sakura hummed. I think you are correct, but does that not beg the question of how?
How? he echoed.
Yes, brother, she said. How? How are we in a place which allows us to view memories such as these?
Maethon tilted his head, staring at the ever shifting forestry around them, some increment of time passing them by as they stood there, trapped in an odd stupor. Are we not in our minds? he offered, and Sakura could only blink dumbly at that, musing silently on Yamanaka, Uchiha, and how they could get into and affect the mind.
Huh… she murmured. I think you might be right…
And now it is time for the both of you to wake up, a new voice came, and Sakura felt her eyes flutter open for real that time. A far too familiar ceiling of the Halls of Healing came into view, the lyrical song humming in her ears tapering off as Duinenor ceased in his singing. Seeing her eyes open, he stood from the chair he had been using, peering curiously down at her – and her twin brother lying next to her, she realised groggily. "So you finally managed to find your way out," Duinenor spoke, fingers brushing over her cheek. "Good. That is good. For a moment I feared that your faer had become too entangled and entwined…"
Sakura blinked. "Huh?" She just about managed to get out, head aching something fierce, even as both she and Maethon were assisted to a seated position, and a glass of water thrust into each of their hands.
Berenloth?
She turned, peering at her brother then, silently noting the fact that her injuries had been tended to whilst they'd been unconscious, and that she was rather hungry. Ravenous, even. I hope there is food available, she told her brother.
Maethon, for some strange reason, laughed.