A/N: Yes yes its been far too long. Better late than never? I refuse to make meaningless excuses, because that's just tacky. Instead, I'll do a I'm-Very-Sorry Dance for all of you: dances about. I promise there will be plot development soon, I just need to get one more meaningless chapter of exposition (that's this one) before we get on to the good stuff. Right then? Here we go:

Redundancy: Hello, my name is NOT Amelia- Atwater Rhodes. Don't sue, don't steal, ect.

Chapter Seven: The Chapter Before the Important Part

The day after Avia and friends had defeated the two intruders, Siete found the twins in the courtyard, napping underneath a tree. Moving towards them, he saw the strong resemblance between the two even more pronounced as they slept, faces free of all the stress and cares of their waking hours. Loath though he was for a moment to disturb such obviously relaxing time, he strode over and quickly roused the two from their slumber.

"Good Morning" he greeted them civilly, "you had better get up now. We have some work to do."

Avia felt betrayed by her rude awakening. "Work? Who died and made you the taskmaster? We're already going to have enough work trying to explain to Ai and the rest of the temple what happened last night, and you want to pile more on top of that? You inhuman monster!"

Siete raised and eyebrow then shook his head ruefully. If she only knew. "Work on those little toys I gave you last night. Obviously, you can use them, but only just. You need practice, and some sort of education on the subject. I can teach you. As for Arimsa, you really need to learn how to control your…abilities better. I'm not always going to be around to do damage control you know."

Avia stared; had that been an attempt at humor? Shrugging, she stood and followed the men into a more secluded corner of the courtyard. She pulled out her knives, which she had thought prudent to carry with her, and stood awkwardly next to Siete, unsure of what would come next. Moving closer to her, Siete gently nudged her feet and torso into a better stance, then instructed her to practice moving into it. He then removed two knives similar in make to her own and began flexing his wrists to limber up. A low humming noise filled her mind as she watched him move. Catching his glance, she did as he had instructed and began to move, and the noise retreated until it was barely audible.

After checking her position and issuing several corrections, Siete set Avia with some simple lunging actions to practice while he worked with Arimsa on the basics of creating a protective wall of energy around oneself. For a moment, a fleeting thought tugged at Avia's consciousness that something strange was going on, but it retreated below her awareness as quickly as it had come. Without thought, she mindlessly fell into the routine of repetitive gesture.

Over the next hour or so, Siete drilled the twins endlessly in the fundamentals of their respective crafts. When Arimsa simply could not concentrate any longer, the drill sergeant announced that it was time for a break. Groaning with exhaustion, the three sat down next to the pool and began recuperating.

"Will this always be so tiring?" asked Arimsa in an uncharacteristically whining tone.

"Probably not" answered Siete with a slight grin, "as you practice more, your strength and control will grow. You might be tired for a long time before your body adjusts though. " With a sigh, he leaned back against the tree, shifting slightly so as not to lean against the handles of his knives. Avia rubbed her ear, the sound was back again, high- pitched and just above the frequency on which she normally heard things.

"Avi, lend me a knife. I'll bet you I can hit that palm, dead center" Arimsa said after a bit, stretching and rising to his feet. Avia carelessly handed over the knife and moved closer to Siete in Arimsa's absence, resting her head against his shoulder. Arimsa threw the knife, a popular pastime among the temple children, and managed to hit his desired target, but off to the side. He marched to the tree and retrieved the knife, then walked back to Avia and Siete, looking slightly chagrined at their boldness.

Throwing again, he came closer this time, although still slightly listing to the left. Exasperatingly getting the knife again, he returned and threw it a final time towards the palm. However, he had failed to notice a servant of the temple crossing the courtyard with a bucket for water, presumably to fill for dinner. The knife spiraled towards her as the twin's and Siete watched horrified. At the last minute, the woman stumbled slightly, and the knife rebounded off the metal sides of the jug and returned towards Arimsa (A/N: The authoress would appreciate no one questioning the physical improbability of this event. It could happen. Anything could happen.) He back-stepped quickly, narrowly avoiding the spinning blade, and followed its flight path with haunted eyes as it continued straight towards the couple behind him. Things happened so quickly Arimsa could not be sure what had happened, but one minute the knife was headed straight for them, the next a confused looking Avia grasped it in her hand, hilt first.

For a moment, no one spoke. Then, Siete carefully removed an arm from around Avia and plucked the knife from her hand. "Avi, exactly how did you do that?" he asked in a tone too quiet for comfort.

"I…heard it" Avia answered after a pause. Realizing by the men's blank stares that this meant little to nothing to them, she proceeded to elaborate. "The humming got rather loud when Arimsa started throwing the knives, and when it came at me, it shrieked, so I knew that the knife was coming, and I just…knew where it was, so I grabbed it."

Avia told the two about the noises she had been hearing, describing them as best she could. Arimsa looked as though he was overwhelmed with the news, then his face suddenly relaxed. "You know, I should be used to this by now. First with the Goddess appearing left and right, then the undead monsters following us around, sure, now you can hear knives in your head! Why not? Tomorrow, if we're lucky, maybe you can predict the future, and I'll be able to win a round of cards with Anook!"

Siete, however, just looked thoughtful. He stood, then in a fluid movement almost to fast to follow, drew his other dagger from the sash at his waist and thrust it at Avia. With a yelp, the girl threw herself sideways in the nick of time, managing to avoid the swipe of his blade. Siete nodded as though something had been confirmed, then stopped to help Avia off of the ground.

Not about to be undone, Avia gripped the offered hand and dragged Siete to the ground with her. "And what the hell was that for?" she exclaimed in a livid tone, "I could have been killed!"

Siete gave her an indulgent smile, which did nothing to help her mood. "I wanted to see if you really could tell what a blade was doing, and I was right, you can. And I wouldn't have followed through with that strike if I had thought you couldn't dodge it somehow. Do you realize what you can do? You can hear the knife moving, and somehow interpret the sound… you could be a matchless fighter, with a little hard work and practice. "

Avia groaned. Hard work and practice…the two words she most hated to hear in the same sentence.

…………………………time passage……………………………

Over the next year, hard work and practice turned out to be the anthem of the twin's activities. Avia mastered the lessons of the Book of the Dead as best she could, teaching Arimsa what she knew as she went along. After completing the Book, the two would stalk the edges of the desert at dusk, searching for demonic prey to hunt down and destroy. With their nightly vigil, attacks in the region decreased dramatically, until many had forgotten that they had ever been. The goddess had been mysteriously absent since the time Arimsa had summoned her to his room, and this bothered the twins. Neither had been able to summon her again, try as they might.

Avia and Arimsa continued their lessons with Siete as well, although Arimsa generally preferred to work alone. Siete and Avia took to sparring together soon after their initial trial with the knives, and Avia's skills soon passed from competent to proficient. Siete began to teach her the use of the sword as well, feeling that it would benefit her to have a weapon with more distance than her slim daggers. Avia did not enjoy these lessons as much as her knifing ones, but still found an almost instinctual pleasure in the grip of a hilt against her palm. The sword was not as "subtle" as her daggers, and suited the more firey side of her nature.

Arimsa was expected to obtain work in the community now that he was eighteen, and began working alongside the twin's friend Anook in a smithy close to the temple. Arimsa preferred not to speak of his work with Avia, instead gifting her with his latest creations to show the progression of his skill. She had acquired from him sheathes that matched her daggers and could be slipped inside the sleeves of her tunic, clips for her hair, goblets…a vast showcase of skill with no particular theme. Arimsa took his work seriously, saying that he found the mundane tasks to be calming. Late at night, however, Avia would often wake and gaze across the room with bleary eyes to find her brother practicing other skills. Some nights, he would make flames dance across the room; others, wind to rush in through the windows and cool his brow from the heat which rolled from the desert. He could conjure balls of dim blue light to hang about his head and light his work, and seemed to be able to keep others away from their room while he worked during the day. Avia would sometimes help him with his magical endeavors, lending him her strength and control of the powers they raised, and was certainly in control of her abilities, but she was no where near as proficient as Arimsa. She was mostly uninterested in her supernatural skills, preferring to concentrate on perfecting her fighting skills.

Avia concentrated too strenuously on her work to have time for Siete's apparent interest in her. But even she could not fail to meet glances held far too long and lingering, or enjoy sweet kisses when she was able to ditch Arimsa. Their lives fell into a rhythm everyone grew numb too, and the community largely held that Avia and Arimsa had finally grown up and left the pranks of childhood behind. Arimsa's work in the forge was well known, as was the friendship between Avia and Siete, and so it seemed as though the twin's had a future prepared for them. So it seemed.

(A/N: Voila! Things may seem a little rushed…which might have something to do with the fact that they were rushed. I really just wanted to get this chapter up so I can move on with the story. I promise plot development in the next chapter. Now pretty please with whatever you want on top, REVIEW! REVIEWREVIEWREVIEW!)