Authors Note- Owing to Fanfiction.net eating certain symbols, the twins telepathy will now be shown in ...this manner....

There is nothing quite as dull as embroidery, thought Izumi, delicately unpicking the out of place stitch, and trying not to curse under her breath. And what's worse, it's hardly a fun group activity either. She forced a laugh as Princess Kalinda finished her joke, and smiled as another of the group complemented Izumi for the furnishings in her room.

"They're just so amazing! I've never seen our craftsmen produce anything like them!"

Izumi resisted the urge to roll her eyes, and replied in an excited tone, trying to show enthusiasm. "Do you really think so? Father, sweetie that he is, let me bring things from Emeritile to decorate. They just spend hours on these carvings, and on the brocade and covers of the sofa." Damn it, the sweetness of this talk is going to kill me soon. Why did I volunteer my rooms for this tea party? She let her mind wander away from the conversation as it turned towards a comparison of different types of furniture, and instead thought of Junpei, wishing that she was in the blacksmith's hut, talking with him. She had found that when he wasn't flattering her, or trying to make romantic advances he was quite clever, and knew much of how the world outside the court worked. They'd even gone into the city a few times, with Junpei showing her the world beyond the market place that the nobility rarely strayed from. Now she was trapped within the upper end of society, she found that she missed the down to earth worldview of the commoners.

"… And then he gave me a rose, and asked me to dance!" This news brought a fresh bought of giggling from the girls, and Izumi sighed.

"What's the matter?" asked one of the girls Izumi remembered was called Marie. "Have you not got an admirer?"

Izumi considered how to answer this, noticing that Tomoko had paused in her own embroidery, and seemed to be taking her chaperoning of the tea party seriously. Finally she replied "I have an admirer who is unwanted, a commoner."

Many of the girls made noises of disapproval.

"And then, there's the one I care for, only he doesn't care for me the way I want, but only as a friend." She sighed. Sorry for bringing your name through the mud, Junpei. "He's the son of a lord in another kingdom, so I can't be with him often enough to make him like me. He's polite enough, but…" She trailed off as the door to her chambers opened, and the object of her thoughts, Kouichi Minamoto, entered the room, followed by his brother and Takuya.

Kouichi bowed stiffly. "I'm sorry to interrupt, but we have need of talking to…" He hesitated, as if uncertain what phrase to use.

"Your tutor," supplied Takuya. "Privately."

"Leave," added Kouji to the assembled girls, glaring coldly.

Many of the girls huffed, and started to pack up their sewing.

"Really, Lady Izumi," complained Kalinda. "Letting this commoner order a lady about, and you agreeing to it."

"But it's only polite," said Izumi, trying not to let all her good work be undone. "And they are ambassadors of a sort, and two of them are the elf equivalent to a lord."

"Can't it wait?" snapped Kalinda.

"No." Kouji advanced on her slowly. "I suggest you leave before I have to ask you again. If you refuse a second time, I'll throw you bodily out the room."

Kalinda gathered up the remains of her dignity and stormed out, head held high. Her gaggle of friends followed.

Izumi was furious. "Why in the Goddess's name did you do that for!? Do you want me to be a social outcast? What is so important that it couldn't wait half an hour?!"

Both the twins ignored her, instead focusing their attention on Tomoko.

"You are her, aren't you?" asked Kouichi quietly. "Tomoko Kimura, just as I saw."

Tomoko watched them sceptically. "I don't know who you are, or why you've sought me out, but you'll get nothing more from me."

"I don't want anything from you," said Kouichi, moving to put a supportive hand on Kouji's arm. "I'm Kouichi Minamoto. Your son."

Tomoko's mouth opened and shut a few times without any coherent sound escaping.

Takuya moved to take Izumi's arm, and guide her gently out of the room. "We should leave them be a while." He looked nervously at Kouji, who seemed near frozen now, watching his mother's reaction. Just hope they do start to talk. He led Izumi out of the room.

Tomoko moved closer, looking from Kouichi to Kouji, then back to Kouichi again. "How? How have you grown so much?"

Kouichi looked at her, caught between happiness and sadness. "We're not so old…"

Tomoko looked at Kouji. "You look just like me…" She reached a hand out to him, but Kouji jerked back, out of her reach.

"Kouji…" admonished Kouichi.

Kouji just shook his head.

Tomoko sat on one of the couches, her eyes not moving from the twins. Goddess… Why now? Why answer my prayers only after eleven long years? Why bring them back, and not Kousei? Why couldn't we've been together? She looked at them, and asked the question Kouichi hand hoped never to have to answer. "Where's your father? I'd like to see him again, I've missed Kousei so much."

Kouichi shook his head. "You can't."

"Surely he can defy the council again? You must be defying them to be here now, and someone must've defied them to tell you that I existed."

Kouichi sat opposite. "None of us can see him. He died about half a year ago… a human shot him."

Tomoko's hands fluttered to her mouth. "No… Goddess please, no…" She started to cry. I still love him, he can't be gone. He can't be gone until I tell him that I forgive him for what they made him do.

Kouji stayed frozen. This monster that haunted me all my life is crying. The one who I blamed for my trouble is destroyed by the death of my honoured-father, when I thought she would be rejoicing. He tilted his head. She looks so like us… so human…

Kouichi closed his eyes as the old guilt threatened to overwhelm him again. Maybe I could've stopped Honoured-father from going if I'd just tried a little harder… "He never gave up hope."

Tomoko looked up at him. "What?"

Kouichi looked at her again. "That's why he'd left the village. He never gave up hope that the next time he ventured out into the human world he'd find you again… Or at least, that's what I think he was doing. We believed ourselves to be orphans until two weeks ago, when the council told us you were alive." He bowed his head. "I'm sorry to have to bring you that news. He's sorely missed within our village, and we both miss him terribly."

"You don't seem to," snapped Tomoko. "You seem just like all the other elves. You say kind sounding words that you don't mean. Your father's dead, don't you feel anything?"

Kouji growled low, so low that it took Tomoko a moment to realise what the sound was. "Feel? All our lives we've been taught how wrong it is of us to show what we feel. Now you decide to turn our world upside-down, and return from the dead, and we're supposed to instantly be what you always dreamed we'd be like? You don't know how hard it is to be trapped in this series of expectations, and never living up to them, to be outcasts as soon as the one guiding light in your life is extinguished. Our people turned their backs on us, and don't dain to speak to us unless it's to save themselves!"

Tomoko glared at him. "And I've lost nothing? I was forced to leave my love and my children, my home and my family! When I returned, they wouldn't take me back. They sent me here, to this castle, away from him, and away from you to learn my place." She paused. "And I learnt it a little too well… I stopped fighting for what I believed in, and now I'm doing the same to my charge."

Kouichi looked at her sadly. "We're here now. You're the only family we really have, now that our people have called us outcast. Please don't send us away. We need you to serve the greater good of this kingdom."

Tomoko shifted closer. "And you're really my sons? The same ones I held as babies?" She moved a hand out to Kouichi's face, and brushed some of his hair back lightly. "Your hair seems human enough, but these…" She touched Kouichi's ear lightly. "Are you really my Kouichi and Kouji? Are you really half human, like you always should've been?"

"We always were half human," replied Kouichi, placing his hand over hers. "The council judged too quickly that our human half wasn't present. But we feel much like humans do, and our magic isn't that of elves. We age as humans do, love like humans do and think like they do to some extent." He tilted his head, looking at her. "It's strange to see you now, instead of how you once were. Our honoured-father kept a picture of you within our hut. You've changed so much, are all humans this fast to age?"

Tomoko laughed. "Oh Kouichi, you can't go saying things like that to humans. We offend easily about our ages." She let her hand drop, then looked at Kouji. "What ever happened to your smile, Kouji? You used to be so happy as a child."

Kouji sat carefully with his brother. "I think… my smile left with you, to keep you company. I am not a merry person like Kouichi. My human side shows in my quick temper, not an easy smile."

Tomoko looked at them. "I can see your father in you… Some of my family…" She smiled. "I'm glad that you've grown so strong and healthy. Are you healers like your father?"

Kouichi shook his head. "Our human blood reaches into our magic, changing it. Our power is in light and darkness… we learnt only the physical part of the healers craft."

Tomoko smiled sadly. "Kousei would've loved to teach you everything he knew. I learnt so much of the forest when I was with him." She watched them for a few moments, trying to adjust to the new sense of who they were. "I can't believe you've come back to me. I thought I'd never see you again, as no elf would ever break their vow of silence."

Kouichi paused. "It wasn't a welcome choice for them. They need you."

Tomoko looked at them blankly. "Elves admit they need a human? Never." She looked at the guilty posture of Kouichi, and Kouji's embarrassed look. "There is a serious reason, isn't there? Why they've chosen to tell you of me, after all this time?" She paused in thought, recalling the task that her sons had been set. "They are considering peace?"

Kouichi nodded. "And you are the strongest voice for humans trustworthiness. You never broke your silence?"

Tomoko sighed. "Never. My family do not know my reason for disappearing all those years ago." She looked at them. "How self serving of the elves not to tell the truth until it inconveniences them. They destroyed our lives twice over."

Kouji looked unhappy. "They were our only family until our honoured-father died. They protected us."

"They lied to you."

Kouichi nodded. "But we know now." He looked at Kouji, then back to Tomoko. "I know my honoured-father's peoples' ways, I know my elven heritage… I don't know my human half. I've been trying to find out, but I only know half of where I come from. I'd like you to tell me where the other half comes from. I need to find my place."

"We both do." Kouji looked at Tomoko nervously. "I want to know what it is that means I'm not who I want to be. I want to know why I'm not an elf, and why I'm not a human."

Tomoko looked at him. "You are part human. My son. I'll try to show you what that means as well as Kousei taught you about your elven part. I'll take you both into my family, where you always should've been. I'll show you my world, if you'll share with me the time I had stolen from Kousei and I."

Kouichi smiled, took Kouji's hand in his, and held them both out towards Tomoko. "I'd like that. Someone to tell us what our honoured-father loved about your people. Someone who is family."

Tomoko took their outstretched hands in her own. "You are. You are entitled to all the rights…" She blinked. "You are members of the nobility through me. Members of the court."

"Like Izumi?" asked Kouichi. "And Tomoki?"

Tomoko nodded. "You are lords. You could enter the service of the king as pages, or be scholars at one of the temples." She seemed to think. "I must arrange your introduction into the court, although something must be done about your ears… Maybe your hair could be sorted…"

Kouji shook his head. "No. We are who we are. Elves. Our place is not at your side, to bring you disgrace like we did to our honoured-father."

"At least allow me to welcome you, to try to be your mother?" Tomoko rose. "I can get the servants to find you rooms near mine, so we can talk for hours and hours about what each other has missed."

Kouichi shook his head. "We can't. The king is already preparing for a journey to the forest, and we have tasks to perform to the south before then. I think family may have to come second to duty for a while to come. We do want to know you better, but our place, for now, is at Takuya's side. Something evil is creeping though our world, and if we can do something to stop it, we must at least try."

Tomoko shook her head. "I don't understand."

Kouji stood. "And we can't explain. Not yet, anyway. Later, when we return, we will explain, and we are here for a few days, and we will spend as much of it as we can with you."

Tomoko nodded slightly. "Okay… but please excuse me. I need a few hours alone. I have much to think about." She rose, then looked at them again. "I can see Kousei in you… and that's all I shall ever see of him again. I need some time to learn that I have the two of you back in my life." She moved to the door, then paused. "I suggest you leave here. My charge no doubt wants her rooms back, and your friend Takuya must be worried for you." She left.

Kouji watched her go. ...Kouichi?...

Kouichi looked up at him. ...What is it? I can tell you're confused and afraid....

...I don't know what to feel anymore. She's not what I imagined her to be....

...No claws or fangs?... asked Kouichi. He stood and took Kouji's hands in his. ...It's early yet. We can't judge until we know, and we can't know until we talk. All it takes is time....

Kouji sighed. ...And we don't seem to have enough before disaster will strike....

...We'll manage somehow.... Kouichi smiled. ...Takuya may cause a miracle yet. The best for now is for you and he to talk together. His homecoming was no less awkward than ours....

... … Thank you. You always know what to say....

...I know you....