"Rhoae! Wait!" Mirne cried plaintively as she scrambled up the steep incline after her twin sister. Rhoae made a vexed noise in the back of her throat, gracefully flopping down on a nearby stone to wait for her twin sister to catch up. Her huffy breath misted faintly in the crisp morning air, the first sign of winter come to call on their sleepy little village. Rhoae hated winter. It chapped her skin and stung her eyes and made it impossible for her to dress up in the pretty little dresses Cida made for them both. Rhoae did like to dress up, it was one of her favorite pastimes, preening in the mirror, begging to go out, just to hear all the adults gush over how she was getting prettier each day, and the boys too. Rhoae had just discovered boys at the age of eleven and Cida was getting pretty nervous.
There was no doubt in anyone's mind that Rhoae would be a heart breaker in just a few short years. Her perfect, oval face was set with fine, pretty features witch would soon mature into beauty. Perfectly almond shaped eyes were a dark grey, appearing black in most light. Her skin was a glistening, creamy shade of palest gold, a throw back to long forgotten Dhelman relatives in a predominantly short lived line. Thick sable curls framed that blossoming face perfectly. In short, Cida had excellent reason to worry about her young charge.
Rhoae huffed again and rolled her eyes as her younger sister topped the rise. Mirne's blush was hidden by the exertion caused redness spread across her cheeks. She leaned against a tree and fought hard to gather herself quickly, mostly to avoid upsetting her sister any further.
Mirne was a matter completely apart from her sister. She was what Cida insisted on calling "delicate", despite the fact that to everyone else she was simply frail. If she'd wanted to, Cida probably could have snapped one of the poor girl's arms like the twig is resembled. She had a vaguely heart shaped face with very pronounced cheek bones, framed by wild, icy white waves. She had a short nose, too narrow for her face and pointed like a pixie's. Her mouth was too short with lips too plump and pouty for its shape. Her only feature of beauty was her eyes, and those were more lovely than anything Rhoae was, or ever would be. They were large and delicately tilted, with long, thick, pale tipped lashes, but most mesmerizing was their colour. For although her sister's eyes were gray, no matter how you put it, Mirne's eyes sparkled silver. However combined with her pouty mouth the overlarge eyes made her seem always on the verge of tears.
She was unhealthy and constantly falling victim to severe cases of every little sniffle bug or stomach flu that passed through their tiny village. The constant illnesses left her weakened and sickly. She couldn't run and play with the other children without horrible fits; she couldn't even keep up with her sister on this short hike. But she continued to fall ill, no matter what Healing arts Cida plied her with.
"Cida said you should wait for me when we walk together." Mirne protested weakly once her breathing had begun to settle.
Rhoae rolled her eyes again, "Well if you'd only keep up with me in the first place," she tossed back, "we wouldn't have this problem now would we?" She knew it was a ridiculous statement the second it left her mouth and she flushed slightly with embarrassment, but she pushed on even as Mirne opened her mouth to protest. "Besides, this is important. I want to start my Craft lessons out on the right foot. These are a big dealfor me. You wouldn't understand"
Mirne's beautiful eyes widened in shock at the cruel remark from her sister. She quickly looked down to hide her face as she fought the tears she felt rising. She was keenly aware of the Sapphire stone that hung in a little pouch around Rhoae's neck. And she was even further aware of the White Jewel that hung in a similar pouch at her own belt.
It wouldn't have bothered her at all if she had been on her own, or even if they had just been sisters instead of twins. But no one, least of all Mirne understood was she was so far removed from her sister. Their castes were unofficial but everyone knew Rhoae was a little Queen in the making. No one really bothered to check on Mirne while her sister was in the room but she was pretty sure of the itching in her right ring finger. She expected a snake tooth in the next few years but not much else.
Rhoae always felt bad when she said things like that to Mirne, but she just couldn't seem to help it. When they were alone, especially when the matter of Craft came up these cruel words just seemed to roll right off her tongue. But she just couldn't seem to make herself take it back. It felt like admitting something that she wasn't even ready to think about, let alone confirm.
She squirmed uncomfortably for a moment before Mirne raised her head, clear eyes subdued. "Well then," she started shakily, "I guess we should hurry up."
Hours later as they returned home, Rhoae did her very best to match her pace to her drained sister, as a sort of silent apology for her earlier barbs. The Craft tutor they were seeing pushed them hard and while Rhoae was excelling and thriving under the praise success garnered, Mirne was exhausted and crushed under the public reprimands she received when she couldn't keep up with the lesson.
Mistress Pollsa tutored all the youths in the four nearest villages on the uses of their Birthright Jewels, and she certainly believed in tough love. If you were failing it was because of a lack of effort, and slacking would not be tolerated. Mirne's Jewel hummed listlessly at the corners of Rhoae's perception, begging for a very long rest. Rhoae was sure that Cida would deal with this horrible woman just as soon as they explained the situation to her.
Their picturesque little cottage slowly came into view around a bend in the road but what they saw there standing right smack in the middle of their lives stopped the girls dead in their tracks. He looked to be in his twenties but he was clearly long lived so there was no way to know for sure. He saw them round the bend and smiled an almost frightening smile that just didn't quite make them run.
As the girls approached him, hand in hand, he crouched down from his considerable height to eye level with them, though he didn't even glance at Mirne. "You then would be Rhoae." There was no way to take that as a question. His voice was so smooth it didn't even break the silence of the woods but instead seemed to change it, to something sinister. He pressed on "How would you like to come with me on a little trip? Look here, I've already packed a few of your things." He gestured to the little blue suitcase which was the only luggage in sight.
"What about my sister?"
Sister? Novan thought as he glanced at the other girl before him, who could have guessed that. Strange Kylope didn't mention it. She must be working on some pretty basic intelligence. His smile change, and now the girls knew they should have run, just as they knew that now it was too late. "She can't go where we're going. Do you know what the Courts are? That's where I'm taking you."
"Where Cida?" he was taken by surprise when the sister spoke. He decided to ignore her.
"Come on then." He took his charge by the arm and started towards the nearest wind, ignoring the screamed protests and valiant but fruitless attacks on his person. Mirne landed a good, solid kick to the back of his knee throwing him off balance momentarily. She grabbed at the fist still firmly holding her sister and bit down hard, but not nearly hard enough.
Novan took hold of her by her strange white hair fully prepared to kill her as he had been told to. But something stilled his mind as he gathered the small speck of power it would take to snuff out her life. Something stayed his hand as he stared into those silver eyes. He didn't like what he saw there. He tossed her aside and dove toward the Green wind in front of him.
He tried desperately to rid his mind of that horrible encounter, forget that strange girl and the crushing reflection in those silver eyes. In those eyes he saw himself more clearly than he had in years. In those eyes he saw the compromises and the apathy; he saw every exception he had ever made every blind eye he had ever turned. In those eyes was every flaw he'd ever found in himself. In those eyes he had wanted to drown.