Disclaimer: It is sad but true; I own nothing except the twins.
Chapter 3
"Roald?" queried Serena as she followed him around the palace grounds.
"Yes?" he called to her without looking back.
"Do you want to be King? I've noticed that you hate for people to treat you as royalty," said Serena slowly, choosing her words as he tried not to offend the prince.
Roald stopped dead in front of her and sighed softly, "I don't know. What if I'm a horrible King and I lead Tortal into ruins,"
"I'm sure you would make a great King, you've done an excellent job guiding me so far," she said as she walked around to face him.
"Yes but you're only one person, not an entire kingdom," he said looking at the ground.
"Maybe so, but I'm sure your father will teach you everything you need to know, and if he doesn't don't worry being king is in your blood.
"I hope so," Roald mumbled, "but that reminds me there's something I want to ask you,"
"Well since I just asked you something it's only fair, right?" said Serena calmly.
"I suppose so, do either you or your sister possess the gift?" he asked quietly.
"Actually we both do, but we have to combine both our powers to do anything. It gets really annoying sometimes not to be able to use it alone." she said thoughtfully.
"That's strange, so I suppose you will have to travel together once your are nights, and probably as squires as well," Roald said decidedly.
"Yes, I've thought of that," said Serena.
"You will have to take special classes to learn to use your gift better, but don't worry I'll be there and so will Neal," he said.
"I knew Neal possessed the gift, but I didn't know you did as well," said Serena looking at Roald strangely.
"Well there are a lot of things you don't know about me," said Roald with a smile.
Serena returned his smile, with one of her own.
"So, do you and your sister know anything about weaponry?" asked Neal as he led Saline to the library.
"We know how to use a few of the weapons used her in Tortall, but we're better with the more savage weapons of the Carthak," she said straining the word savage lightly.
"You and your sister are from Carthak, then?" Neal queried his eyes growing wide.
"Not exactly, our mother was a Carthak, but our father was a Tortallian born and bred and brought her here so that he could marry her," said Saline smiling at Neal's shock.
"Oh," said Neal softly.
"Neal, where are we going?" asked Saline after a few akward seconds.
"Oh, we're going to the best place in this entire castle. We are going to the library," he said with a huge smile.
"O.k. but why did you ask me about weapons if we're going to the library," she asked confused.
"It just seemed like a good time to ask," said Neal slyly.
"Page Nealan, you are completely out of your mind," said Saline with a smile.
The next day, the girls awoke before the sun had begun to come up. Saline crept quietly out to the hall, and rapped softly on her sister's door. Serena opened it immediately.
"I'm nervous," said Serena quietly to her sister as she started a fire in the cold room.
"Don't be I'm sure everything will be just fine," said Saline in a confident voice though her hands shook in fear.
"We'll see," said Serena removing the water from that she had been heating over the fire and walking behind the screen to bathe.
"It'll be o.k," Saline mumbled to herself as she crept back to her own room.
Serena bathed quickly and changed into a soft, light pink tunic, and black hose. She brushed her hair quickly, pulling it up into a high horsetail. When she was completely ready she sat down on the floor legs crossed over each other and said a silent pray to the Great Mother Goddess.
In her room, Saline did the same as her sister, except she changed into a pale blue tunic. She sat on the floor and said her own prayer, finishing just as the bell rang for the pages to go down to breakfast.
The twins walked quietly down the hall together towards breakfast. When they arrived they found Roald smiling and Neal nearly asleep over his porridge.
"You girls look pretty today," said Roald.
"Really, I like to think we look pretty everyday," said Saline as Serena gasped.
"Well, I like to think that I didn't have to get up this early, but we don't always get what we want," said Neal morosely.
This comment caused everyone to laugh and the mood to lighten.
"So are you to ready for your first day of training," asked Roald with a smile.
"As ready as we'll ever be," said Serena softly.
"Don't worry it's not that bad," said Roald softly.
"Yea, really it's not," said Neal after Neal nudged him.
The bell rang again just as they were finishing their food. The girls rose slowly and followed the boys out to the practice court, not knowing what to expect.
(O.k, I hope you like it. It took me a little while to update and I'm sorry. Pretty please review.)