New, and hopefully improved.
Disclaimer: Characters such as Chrysalis, Cereanna, Verona, Jorge, Eldan, and other characters with a "*" by their names when they are mentioned the first time, are mine. Take them, and you will be brutally murdered in your sleep.
Other characters/settings are property of Tamora Pierce.
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In the year 460 of the Human Era, first year of Lady Knight Keladry of Mindelan"Leaving?"
"Leaving."
"Tomorrow?"
"Tomorrow."
The twin daughters of Burchard and Aurianne of Stone Mountain stared at the boy in front of them. The girls, Cereanna* and Chrysalis*, had a friendship of sorts with a servant of their fief, named Orin*. Orin had been eavesdropping of the lord and lady of the fief; his favorite pastime. He had heard something quite interesting.
"So," Cereanna, the "oldest" said, "We, my sister and I, are leaving for Corus tomorrow, because our father thinks that at least one of us should marry a suitable noble, so if he dies, the bloodline will remain intact. Is that correct?" She could barely say the sentence without yawning.
Orin thought for a moment. "More or less."
Chrysalis, the second of the twins, just stared. One who spends her nights reading til midnight isn't very attentive at five in the morning.
Seeing none of them was going to speak, Orin simply replied, "I suppose you'll be hearing that again, so no use explaining it. I'd better get out of here."
He quickly got up and snuck out of the room that adjoined the two girls' bed chambers.
Cereanna broke the silence. "We'd better start thinking of what we're going to pack," she yawned, "But…I think now would be a better time to sleep." Without waiting for an answer from her sister, she left the room.
Chrysalis, who was having a case of the "early morning stares" just sat where she was for a while, until she was able to gather enough motivation to walk to the door to her bed chamber.
Neither of them woke, until they were summoned by their parents a few hours later.
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"You two now have the responsibility of marrying noble men, one who will become the lord of Stone Mountain, when I die. To do this, you will have to leave. The most logical place for your destination is Corus. There, you will find many knights who would be happy to have one of you as a wife. I have decided that you will leave at once; that is, tomorrow." Burchard of Stone Mountain was always very blunt, and this speech was no exception. He stared out of a window in his study, looking to the forest surrounding his home.
His two daughters bowed their heads and replied, "Yes, Father," as was expected of them. Burchard's wife, Aurianne, watched from a seat on the other side of the room. She was silent, which was no surprise because Lord Burchard firmly believed that a woman should not speak until spoken to, and no woman, especially his wife, would break that rule dictated by custom.
Burchard, without moving his head, said after a few minutes: "You may go."
The two girls got up and slowly and quietly walked out of the room. But the silence did not last once they were out of their parents' hearing range.
"Corus! Corus! Isn't this wonderful! I've always wanted to see the city. And-" Cereanna continued talking about the wonders of the city, one of which included the many handsome men they were sure to meet there. Chrysalis agreed that would be nice, but was thinking of the training yards. She could only use a staff, but loved to watch practice sessions.
By the same time the next morning, Cereanna and Chrysalis were on their way to Corus.
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When the reached the town of Silence, the small group traveling from Stone Mountain stopped. The town was aptly named; thick trees surrounded the entire town, which consisted of only 34 people, not including the people that passed through. It was always silent, but the silence was a disturbing one.
In the small inn of Silence, the twins were sitting at a table in the common room. The only other people there were a group of three men in the opposite corner.
One of them was the knight Zahir Ibn Alhaz. He was traveling through on his way back from border patrol, which he seemed to be doing quite a bit these days. He had once been one of Joren of Stone Mountain's cronies, until he decided he had better things to do with his time. With him at the table were his friends, Eldan* and Jorge*. It was quite an odd group. Zahir was, of course, a dark skinned, dark eyed Bazhir, who didn't speak much, which made him very intimidating. Eldan of Marmist was a short and rather ugly man with thick brown curls. He had a friendly nature and would talk to anything and everything. And then, there was Jorge. He was perfect. Tall, blonde-haired, brown-eyed, brave, brilliant, Jorge. He was second to no man.
Which was probably why Cereanna couldn't take her eyes off him. Chrysalis was simply too tired to concentrate much. For unknown reasons, she hadn't been sleeping well lately. She looked up and found herself looking at the three men in the corner. Eldan grinned. He got up and walked over to the table. "Hello!" he said, still smiling, "Would you and your sister-she is your sister right?-like to join me and my friends at our table?"
Chrysalis looked over at the other two and then nodded. She pulled her sister out of her seat and followed Eldan to his table. Zahir simply inclined his head slightly and a greeting, while Jorge introduced himself (with a smile). "What brings you to Silence?" he asked.
Chrysalis opened her mouth to answer, but Cereanna, seeing a chance to talk with Jorge, replied first. "We're on our way to Corus. From Stone Mountain."
"Ah, I've been in the area. I knew Joren of Stone Mountain when he was alive. Are you related?"
"We're his sisters." Chrysalis answered, cutting Cereanna off this time.
"Jorge," Zahir spoke up, "We have to reach Corus in four days. That is not much time. I suggest we pack up and leave," he got up and nodded to the two girls and without so much as a second glance walked up the stairs to the second floor.
"Well, that was rude." Cereanna said, feeling a bit miffed that someone would treat her like that.
"Don't mind him. He's just quiet and to the point, that's all. He's really a great person once you get to know him." Eldan replied.
"I think he was right," Jorge answered, "We really should get going. I assume we'll probably meet again in Corus."
Cereanna smiled, as did Chrysalis. "I'm sure we will."
"Good night," he said, bowing his head slightly.
"Good night," the girls answered as he and walked up the stairs.
"It was nice meeting you! Good night!" Eldan said enthusiastically.
Cereanna and Chrysalis said the same thing as he ran/hopped up the stairs.
"I wonder if we will meet again," Chrysalis said, thinking out loud.
"If I have anything to say about it we will!" her sister exclaimed.
Less than a week later, the party from Stone Mountain had reached Corus.
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To clear some things up, "Cereanna" is pronounced "seer-e-ann-a", "Jorge" is prounounced just like "George", and "Aurianne" is pronounced, "or-e-anne".
Please, if you read this, then review. If you can take your time to read through it, then you can take the time to write a sentence or two (or three…or four…) about what you think.