A/N: Well, here's Chapter 1, as promised. I hope the author's note cleared some things up, and now we're going to meet the girls. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I own nothing except the character names you don't recognize and the plot.
Silence and Shadows: Chapter 1
A young woman turned away from the window of the palace as a gentle hand tapped her on the shoulder. Her black hair was tied into a severe knot at the nape of her neck and her blue-grey eyes held a sparkle of annoyance at the interruption. The young woman's black hair accentuated her blue-gray eyes, set under straight black brows. Her nose was straight, her lips full, and her chin stubborn.
She turned to face the person had tapped her shoulder. The young man that stood behind her had dark brown hair that highlighted his bright blue eyes. "Kei?" he asked. The young woman didn't respond; she just stared at him with a mulish expression in her blue-gray eyes.
"Alec, why in the world did you send me down from that tree?" The young woman demanded, blue-gray eyes flashing.
Alec laughed, blue eyes twinkling. "Keianna, if I had left you in that tree, you never would have come down! You would have stayed there by yourself until the tree died and fell over."
Kei, or Keianna, as she was formally known, lifted a black eyebrow, but a small grin crept over her face, ruining her serious gaze. "I would not have stayed there by myself," she told her brother primly, "Tacy would have kept me company." She petted the golden tabby cat on her lap, who stretched and purred, opening one lazy green eye before closing it again.
Alec laughed again. "Fine company! You, your cat, and nothing but the wind!"
Seeing the humor in it all, Kei gave up and laughed too. Sobering, she told her brother. "I had to get away from the ball, though. I couldn't stand another minute of it!"
Alec's expression changed to a sympathetic one. "Same as last time?"
"Same as last time." Kei confirmed, setting her chin stubbornly. "I had to get away from it all, so I left and climbed the tree."
"I bet Mother was furious," Alec said, watching his sister carefully.
"She was," Kei said carelessly, removing her pins and hair from its knot and letting it flow down her shoulders and back, the way she liked it. "But Mother can go--"
"I wouldn't finish that sentence if I were you, Keianna," a silky voice interrupted.
Kei turned towards the doorway, and her blue-gray eyes flashed with barely concealed hatred. "Adrienne," she spat, addressing her older sister.
Adrienne was a tall lady, with blonde hair and dark blue eyes. She was well-respected at court, but Kei knew better. Adrienne was as heartless and dangerous as a snake, and she never let her "freakish" younger sister forget that she had been adopted seventeen years ago.
Alec looked from older to younger sister, worried. He never liked being caught in the middle of their spats, so he tried not to be in the room with both of them at the same time.
"I can say what I like, Adrienne," Kei informed her sister frostily, still glaring.
Adrienne shrugged indifferently. "Fine," she said loftily, and then her features morphed to one of pure malice. "By the way," she said sweetly, "there's another ball tonight, but Alec would have told you that." She shot an innocent glance at her younger brother before turning and continuing down the hallway. Alec turned red at this parting shot and looked at Kei.
Kei groaned and slumped back against the cushions on the window seat. "Alec!" She moaned, and her brother gave her a sheepish grin.
"Sorry, Kei," he told her, "I really was going to tell you, it just slipped my mind."
Kei cocked an eyebrow at this, but let it go, slouching in her seat and looking dejected. "What's this one for?" She asked without much enthusiasm.
"Some embassy from the Copper Isles is here, and the King wants to welcome them," Alec told her, and Kei looked up at him pleadingly.
"Alec?" She asked sweetly, but Alec raised his hands and backed up, shaking his head.
"No," he said firmly, "no, I am not going to go to Mother and ask her if you can skip this ball. You've tried it twice already and it hasn't worked either time, remember?"
"But," Kei protested, "that was when I asked her, and she wants me to go to these balls and find a husband. When you ask her for something, she gives whatever you want."
Alec shook his head again. "No," he told his younger sister, still shaking his head.
"Alec!" Kei pleaded, "please? It's not like the time I asked her for Shang lessons!"
Her brother grinned. "That didn't go over too well, if I recall correctly."
Kei gave him a wry grin in return. "It didn't," she admitted, scooping up her still-sleeping cat and placing her on the window seat as she made her way to the screen that hid her clothes.
"Kei, I don't want to have to deal with Mother again," Alec protested. Kei didn't answer as she quickly slid out of her dress in favor for a pair of tan breeches. With that came a pale blue shirt, with a pale gray tunic over it.
Her pendant, the one she wore at all times, got caught, and she pulled it free. The pendant was of a sitting black cat, with twinkling sapphires stones for eyes. Kei had been told that she was found with it around her neck as a baby. Tucking the pendant beneath her shirt, she straightened her tunic.
Slipping out from behind the screen, she treated her brother to the best pathetic look she could conjure.
"Please, Alec?" She begged. She saw the indecision in his face, and knowing she had won, added, "you owe me."
Alec frowned slightly, and Kei left him to his contemplation as she went over to the table where her dagger rested. She pulled the blade out of the sheath, gazing at the polished surface as she waited for her brother to make up his mind. Alec sighed, and Kei smiled slightly, knowing she had won.
"Fine," Alec sighed, shaking his head, his brown hair flopping into his eyes. "I'll do it."
Kei sheathed her dagger and turned to her brother, treating him with her best smile. "Thank you, Alec," she grinned, coming over and pressing a soft kiss to his cheek.
"Where are you going?" Alec wanted to know, eyeing Kei's dagger. Kei grabbed her pins again, and this time, she pinned her hair up in a loose bun at the back of her neck.
"Practice courts," she told him, buckling her dagger to her belt. "Coming, Tacy?"
The golden tabby had been watching all this with interested green eyes, and at her mistress's summons, she leapt down from her perch on the window seat, and trotted over to Kei. Leaping up to the young woman's shoulder, she swayed for a moment before settling down.
Alec shook his head. "You're never going to give up, are you?"
Kei grinned at him, blue-gray eyes sparkling. "Never ever," she told her brother, who sighed and shook his head again. Kei looked at him again, serious now.
"You have to go talk to Mother," she said, heading for the door. "Don't wait up." With that, she was out the door and down the hallway before Alec could reply. Shaking his head once more, he followed his persistent sister out the door, heading the opposite direction.
"What do you think, Amaya?" Kaelyn asked as she studied her reflection critically in the mirror in her suite of rooms in the palace of Corus, Tortall. Her reflection stared back at her: Black hair, tied into an ornate braid, green eyes under straight black brows, a straight nose, full lips, and a soft yet stubborn chin.
Kaelyn was wearing a pale green dress that brought out her green eyes. Eyeing herself in the mirror once more, she sighed and turned to Amaya. "Well?"
Her black cat was sitting on the bed, blue eyes wide. Her white-flecked coat shone in the sunlight, and purring, the cat hopped down from the bed where she was perched and leaped onto her mistress's shoulder. Kaelyn slipped her cat off her shoulder and cradled her, sighing softly, nuzzling her cat's fur. Amaya meowed and batted at the chain around Kaelyn's neck. Kaelyn laughed softly, lifting her pendant out from beneath her dress so the cat could inspect it.
Sitting in her palm, sparkling in the sunlight, was her pendant. A cat regarded her there, curled up and showing an imperious expression in its eyes. The cat pendant was of a golden cat, with gleaming emerald eyes that regarded Kaelyn solemnly. Kaelyn kept it with her always, and the only thing she knew about it was that she was found with it around her neck when she was adopted seventeen years ago.
A shrill voice interrupted her musings. "Lyn! Lyn!"
Kaelyn turned just in time to see her younger sister, Anielka, tumbled into the room in a shower of pink lace and ruffles. The girl beamed up at her older sister, hazel eyes gleaming, brown hair flying.
"Lyn!" she cried, bouncing around her sister excitedly, "have you seen my new dress? I'm so excited for the ball tonight! Cousin Dovesary wants us to make a good impression, and I know I will! Aren't you excited?"
"Ani, Ani," Kaelyn soothed, trying to get her sister to calm down, "of course I'm excited, and yes, I love your new dress."
Inwardly, she sighed. Being distantly related to Queen Dovesary of the Copper Isles had its benefits, but Kaelyn had never wanted to leave her beautiful Isles to be part of the embassy. Ani's next sentence brought her back to where she was.
"Oh, yes," the younger girl remembered, "Jamal wanted me to tell you that you have to be in the King's stateroom to discuss your entrance to the ball by the time the bell rings the first hour." She glanced up at her older sister, hazel eyes sparkling.
Kaelyn smiled down at her sister, but her mind was elsewhere. "Ani, what don't you go explore?" She suggested as she straightened her hair again, and Anielka grinned before racing out the door, her brown hair streaming behind her as she called, "Bye, Lyn!"
Kaelyn shook her head, amused, and tucked her pendant back under her dress. Boosting Amaya up onto her shoulder again, she checked her reflection once more before she headed out the door, hoping that she could find someone that could tell her how to get to King Jonathan's stateroom before she got hopelessly lost in this unfamiliar palace.
Sighing, Kaelyn turned down yet another hallway that looked exactly like the one she had just wandered down. Hearing the sounds of someone, she hurried down the hallway and turned to find what she supposed was an outdoor practice court. The person practicing was doing a series of fast blows, kicks, punches, and blocks, almost too fast for the eye to follow. Kaelyn watched all of this with awed amazement, and then noticed with shock that the person was actually a young woman about her age, her raven-black hair tied up in a loose bun, dressed in a pair of tan breeches, a pale blue shirt and a pale gray tunic.
Delivering a high kick to the air, the young woman unsheathed a dagger that gleamed wickedly in the sun. She threw it high, spinning around in a full circle before catching it by the hilt before sheathing it again. If Kaelyn hadn't been well-trained as a lady, her mouth would have dropped open in surprise. She had heard what the fighting ladies of Tortall could do, but she had never seen one in action, until now. She watched with interest as a golden tabby leapt down and padded over to the young woman, purring.
Kaelyn watched the stranger cradle the cat before putting her on her shoulder, much like Amaya did now. Suddenly, without warning, her pendant began to pulse with heat. Surprised, Kaelyn drew the pendant out from beneath the neckline of her dress, and was surprised to find that the golden cat's emerald eyes were glowing a steady green light. The cat grew hotter, burning almost, and suddenly, the heat died away. Kaelyn was distracted from the phenomenon by a voice calling, "Kei!"
Kaelyn looked up as the young woman did. Hurrying across the practice courts was a handsome young man with brown hair and dancing blue eyes. The young woman, Kei, brightened and hurried over to embrace the young man.
"Alec!" She greeted him warmly, "what did Mother say?"
Alec's blue eyes grew grave, and he replied, "Mother said you have to go to the ball."
Kaelyn watched as Kei cursed violently, and her mouth almost dropped open again, but her training held her back.
Kei looked up at her brother, who merely raised an eyebrow at this outburst, and said, "I begged and pleaded, but she still refused." Kei cursed again, and Alec took her by the arm.
"Come, my little Shang," he said, laughing, "it's time for you to get ready for the ball." Kei grumbled again, but followed her brother willingly. Suddenly, she stopped short. Her hand gripped the chain that held her pendant, and she frowned. Her pendant was hot, like a fire's warmth, almost burning, and she had no idea why. Drawing it out from beneath her shirt, she gasped. The black cat's blue eyes glowed with a steady blue light, and the heat from the pendant became almost unbearable. As suddenly as it had come, the heat died away, and the pendant looked like it always had. Deciding to leave this mystery for another time, Kei followed her brother, who didn't seem to notice anything amiss, back into the maze of hallways.
"Kaelyn!" Kaelyn looked around, confused by who was calling her. She had watched the young woman, Kei, and the young man, Alec, go, quite fascinated by them. She relaxed as she recognized the familiar form of her brother heading towards her.
"Kaelyn, I've been looking all over for you," Jamal told her. Kaelyn studied her brother for a moment. Jamal of the Copper Isles was tall, dark and handsome, and could make any court girl swoon. His coal black hair was curly, and his dark brown eyes sparkled with intelligence.
"Kaelyn, did you hear me?" Kaelyn snapped back and looked at her brother, who was looking agitated. "We're already late for the meeting! What happened to you? One minute, you're in your rooms, and the next, you're out here gawking at some young man practicing!"
Kaelyn shook her head, deciding not correct her brother, and to let him rant. She followed her worried brother back into the still-unfamiliar palace, glad for a guide, for her mind was swirling with all the things she had seen and heard.
A/N: That was an introductory chapter, just to get familiar with the characters. Things will get more interesting as I go along. Please review and tell me what you think! No flames please!
Purple Eyed Cat