What ever u recognize is TP's and wateva u dnt is mine mwhahahahaha! I still have to work out when this is set and yeah...u may see characters u no but then again u may not lol enjoy...i love my stormeyes teeheehee

Chapter 2

They both rushed to the door and down the stairs, lifting their skirts and petticoats higher and higher as they nearly fell down the stairs in their rush. As soon as they hit the bottom though, they both let their skirts drop and slowed to an elegant walk. They knew better than to let their aunt see them running and with their skirts above their ankles. Melissa stood in the middle of the empty hall with a small bag beside her. All of the other furniture and boxes Jade had seen were gone.

"Come on girls, hurry, we're leaving. Now." And with saying that walked out the open door and got into a waiting coach.

"But, but, Aunt Melissa!" They both started to say as they hurried out the door. Outside in the courtyard Suzy and Mandy also waited in the coach. Jade stopped just outside of the door, her mouth set in a mulish line. Jade took three more steps before she realized that her sister was no longer beside her. She stopped and turned back to look at her.

All of a sudden, it started to snow. Not the gentle flakes that cover the ground like a soft mantle. This was like hail, solid sheets of snow. It drove into the coach making it rock and sway in the vicious wind that came with the snow. The horses whinnied frantically as the ice drove into them, stinging and brining spots of red to their white coats.

"Really Jasmine! Control yourself; we do not have time for such behavior!" Melissa leaned out into the wind and snow, trying to see them. They now knew that this was serious. Melissa never called magic, behavior. Jazz tried to get her worry and temper under control as they stumbled through the snow already thick on the ground. As they got into the coach and sat down, the snow started to ease off.

"Aunt Melissa, I think we are owed an explanation." Jade spoke quickly and calmly, before Jazz could open her mouth and lose her temper again.

"I'm sorry girls, but you will have to wait until we reach our destination."

"And our destination is?" Jazz asked sharply before she could be stopped. Melissa pretended not to hear her and sat staring out the window.

"Aunt Melissa? Aunt Melissa! Where are we going?" Jazz asked indignantly. Jade nudged her, not wanting to upset their aunt any more than she already obviously was. However Jazz seemed blind to this as she ignored her warning and continued to stare at their non-responding aunt.

"We are going to your mother's home." She said suddenly, and then went back to looking out the window.

After this statement Jazz and Jade lapsed into a stunned silence. They hadn't known that their mother had another home. She had died when they were small, only little girls. They couldn't remember exactly how she had died, and they had stopped asking their father and aunt a long time ago. Whenever they had asked they both had said when you are older, but since that time never seemed to arrive, they had stopped.

They both silently decided it would be better to follow their aunt's example, and stared out the window instead of questioning her further. As Jade stared out the window she started to notice familiar landmarks. She knew this route; it was something she had seen not so long ago. Turning to Jazz, she could see her thoughts mirrored on her sister's face. They both stared intently out the window silently communicating with each other as they noticed things that were more and more familiar.

"Why are we going to the city? Our mother didn't live here, did she?" Suddenly Jade knew why it was familiar. Their father had taken them along this route last year when he went to sell his furs in the capital city of Corus. (A/n soz if its spelt rong)

"You will find out when we get there, Jade Marie." Melissa had her stone face on, the one that meant the twins had to be on their best behaviour and call each other Jade Marie and Jasmine. Jazz and Jade exchanged a glance and went back to the window. Thinking back to their long journey, Jade had realized that Suzy and Mandy had not said a word during the whole trip. She looked at them and saw that both their faces were pale and tight. What's going on that would make our two best friends, real friends that is, not fake friends-in-high-places-friends so quiet. She thought. Normally a trip like this would send Suzy into a talking frenzy like it had when our father took us to Corus last year. While she had been sitting there wondering about their friends, they had reached their destination. By now it was dark, they had spent most of the day in the stuffy coach, and mostly in silence. The coach pulled up in a courtyard. They couldn't quite see where they were. They got out of the stifling coach and took in their surroundings. They were standing in a large open courtyard. Suddenly the door was inched open, throwing a long, thin beam of soft firelight onto the stones of the courtyard. The stones were a dark material, one Jade and Jazz didn't recognise. It shone mutely in the moonlight.

"Melissa? Quick, inside now. Before you are noticed." A maid in what looked like a black and white uniform peered out into their faces. " Is that them?" She said suddenly peering at Jazz and Jade as they stood holding each other in this unfamiliar place.

"This way girls, and for goodness sakes, be quiet please." Melissa started to herd them towards the open door, apparently ignoring the last question.

She approached the maid and embraced her. "Esther, thank you so much. We wanted this to be done quietly. After…well you know, we had to get them away. It wasn't safe for them any more."

She just nodded and continued to stare at the twins as they passed through the door and into the warm room beyond it. They stood in the middle of the room, and wondered at their aunt's peculiar statements about it not being safe. Feeling vulnerable in these new surroundings, Suzy and Mandy came to stand beside them and take comfort in their familiarity. The maid Esther motioned towards a stairway.

"Your room is at the top and on the left girls." Her voice was vaguely familiar, like it was from a dream.

All four nodded, and turned to go up the stairs. "Actually Mandy and Suzy, would you mind staying here for a few minutes, and then you can go help the girls get undressed. Go on Jade Marie, Jasmine."

"We don't get to know anything any more." Jazz grumbled as they went up the stairs to their room. "We're in the middle of this, I know it! Why won't they tell us what's going on? I think we deserve to know."

Jade just mumbled an agreeable noise as they got to the top of the stairs. She had too much going on in her head to really answer her sister properly. They turned into the first room they came to on the left and couldn't help letting out a sigh of admiration. It was a beautifully furnished room, with twin beds, side by side.

"Gods, Jade have you every seen something so beautiful?"

The colours were amazing, everything matching, two of everything, like it was made for a set of twins. Made for them. It was all blue and gold. The beds where huge, standing side by side, with matching bedspreads, again coloured blue and gold. The drapes were gold with blue threads shot through it, creating a shimmering mirage of colour. Royal colours, Jade's mind quietly told her. They just stood there, amid all the finery and strangely a sense of coming home hit her all at once.

"How did they know? I mean, it's like this room was made for us." Jazz whispered, not wanting to disturb the silence that hung on the air.

"It was, Jazz. Can't you feel it? It's weird, its like we lived here a long time ago, maybe this was where mother and father lived before they moved to Mallard…"

They both knew that their mother and father had moved to Mallard, where they had lived, up until this morning, fifteen years ago.

Jade walked over to the desk, an ornate, fragile looking thing, identical to the one facing it. She ran her hand over it, then, walked towards the bed, humming a tune under her breath. It was a song that was eluding her memory's grasp.

She heard a stifled breath from the doorway. Jade spun quickly to see the maid, Esther, standing there watching them.

"You remember, don't you?"

Jade nodded slowly to confirm. Esther returned the nod and turned sharply on her heel and walked down the stairs, revealing Suzy and Mandy in the doorway.

"Miss Jade, Miss Jazz? Are you ready for us to help you?" Suzy looked slightly more relaxed now.

"Yes Suzy, and stop with the Miss? Please. Aunt Melissa isn't here right now so you can relax." Jazz had always hated the strict formality of court that had dictated their upbringing.

"Ah, no Miss Jazz, I don't think that would be proper here."

Jazz lapsed into silence, thinking about "here".

They undressed in silence; each of them consumed by their own thoughts. Four sixteen-year-old girls, two of each station, thrown together in a new place. This situation would normally call for a delightful gossip session, but not this time. The reason for this move seemed to have a grim ulterior motive that none of them would like.

By unspoken agreement, Jazz and Jade shared a bed that night, like they used to when they were small, like they hadn't for the last nine years. They both needed the comfort from the other's nearness.

Happy dance first review yay lol

blue mariposa thank u 4 reviewing and all will be reveiled! Um its a bit confusing cause it was originally in first person view but that became too difficult so i changed it to 3rd and yeah lol proved to b difficult!