The Balinor Chronicles: The Celestial Herd
Chapter Thirty-Nine: The Sea and the Flame
After the death of Orcinus, life in the Valley continued along the relatively same routines. The Sentinels kept up their watches; the council meet with the same unicorn (less one); and the foals grew up knowing that they would fight in the war and telling stories of the great heroes among the Herd. The only new addition was the hushed conversations between the remaining five Elementals and, to a lesser extent, The Mare, discussing exactly how those bloody Twilights managed to kill Orcinus. And something frightening happened.
As more and more foals were born under the reigns of Solaris and Moloch, more and more the fighting became natural. It wasn't an atrocity – it was life. It existed, always had, and probably would exist forever. In their sheltered lives as innocent younglings, they didn't care. Foals, being foals, would dream of becoming heroes, of joining the Sentinels.
As for the twins, they became more then of friends. Although they grew up with the shadow of war and death hanging behind them, the years spent as foals were the greatest. As time passed they became inseparable, even when, no especially when, they joined the other younglings in childhood games. In the myriad rounds of hide and seek, they always managed to find a space large enough for two. While playing, the other foals sometimes had to account for two foals as It. And when they grew old enough to mimic the fighting of their dams and sires, the two brothers were always on the same side, and made an unbeatable team.
And only The Mare knew just how truly strange their pairing was.
They had many adventures, but none could ever shake the memory of Orcinus – of the first and last time any of their generation had seen the Elemental. They also had another memory that neither could forget, and that was when they ran with Aeoleus.
Indeed, the war would change their lives in future years, and there would come times in which Raiden could longer see Gaheris, and various colors would come between them, but this image would always remain burned in their minds. And because Aeoleus was of The Sentinels, perhaps that day had a larger effect on the brothers then the philosophers originally thought.
And they would always remember the wind.