Trigger Warning: 1) References to Child Mistreatment 2) Scene of Self Un-aliving told in potentially disturbing imagery. Stay Safe Folks~

The Glaerun Twins: Gildor and Gelmir

This duo absolutely must be discussed in tandem. To separate them would be to defy the very thing that defines their existence. These two were an identical set of brothers, and this became both their most incredible strength and also their most desperate weakness. To explore the whole unhappy tale, one must understand the unprecedented depth of their bond.

They were born in Narda to a poor but stable family. When the boys were fairly young, their mother passed away, leaving them alone with their scumbag of a father. He terrorized them to the point that they were unable to leave their house for fear of what the wretch would do to them. During this time the two were utterly alone in a small building with a man they could only fear; they were each other's entire world. Until, one day, one of the twins reached a breaking point. They decided to make a break for it. The pair hid on the streets. A few days later, a gathering crowd drew the boy in; a crowd that just so happened to be awaiting the egg bearers.

This visit was more ceremony than anything else, for the eggs they carried that day were older than most others in the hold. The two eggs were twins as well, but with a fascinating wrinkle to this paradigm: the two shells were fused together. It was largely considered that the hatchlings within could never emerge, so the egg was treated as an ancient treasure; a trick of nature. As it happens, the dragons were just waiting for the perfect candidates; they both had to hatch together, after all. The four made history: twin dragons born to twin riders.

The relationship between these four was nothing like I'd ever seen. As they progressed in their training, they widened their mental bond to include the whole quartet. Information passed fluidly between them all like most people would exchange words. One would assume that this would blur their personalities into some sort of collective but, instead, it seemed to throw their slight differences into even sharper relief.

Gildor was a near prodigy with a sword, though he was less than studious. Gelmir could never quite put on muscle as easily as his twin, but he had an easier time reading and studying. But, even more than that, they became of one heart and one mind, a depth of relationship it took most graduated riders decades and centuries to fully master. The group became codependent; this happened often with young riders, but never to such a degree. No one would deny that it was a dangerous and unhealthy arrangement but, in their prime, they were stronger together than most any rider could hope to be.

Gelmir faced a near-endless parade of harassment from other students, particularly humans who saw his quiet frailty as a weakness. Also, neither of them made an effort to engage romantically with anyone which sparked a series of nasty rumors about the pair (the nature of which should be self-evident). The ever-protective brother did not take kindly to this. Gildor began to face so many disciplinary hearings (the last of which proved particularly severe as the other participant in the brawl walked away with severe head trauma) that the council was debating his expulsion. The twins decided not to risk separation; they deserted into the wilds before Gildor could be brought to task.

They established a small residence on the fringes of the central spine. They lived in relative peace until Gelmir contracted an unknown illness. Gildor did his best to care for his twin, but Gelmir's condition slowly worsened to the point where he could barely eat or drink. Gildor began to despair. Lucky for him, a rogue group of riders was right around the corner.

We discovered their situation when Gelmir was close to death. I offered Kialandi's expertise in exchange for the four of them joining us. Gildor was alone, without the brains of the operation available, and took the offer without hesitation. Kialandi was able to bring Gelmir around and we absorbed them both into the family. The twins were a precious and rare tool, one to be used carefully. They could communicate farther and better between each other and their partners which made them invaluable to our scouting missions. By this point in the war, we were specifically targeting lone riders in their flight patterns to and from outposts. The farther we could cast our web, the less likely that the riders would be able to zero in on our location. The twins were bound at the hip throughout this process; they did nearly everything together. The only exception to this was when Gildor was around Morzan while Gelmir would often gravitate towards Siyamak (the elder never seemed to rebuke him, much to everyone's surprise).

The assault on Doru Araeba was by far the most dangerous thing we'd done. It's honestly shocking that we only lost one member. Unfortunately, it was one of our youngest members: Gildor. The only warning we had was a brief and horrified mental shout from Gildor. He then expended all his available strength to protect Gelmir. Siyamak and I had just enough time to shield the rest of the forsworn before the explosion went off. It devastated the surroundings; shrouding all the world in madness and horror. Nothing was left of Gildor, nor of his dragon. Gelmir had to be hauled bodily from the field, catatonic with shock. He remained that way for weeks, laying in a bed and staring blankly into space.

I think it would have been better for all if he hadn't survived.

When he did come around, he was… different. He barely spoke, except to whisper dreamily into whatever reflective surface he could find. This whispering turned to mumbling, the mumbling into full-blown conversations. To him, Gildor was very much alive. To the rest of us, they may as well both have been ghosts. Gelmir moved into an estate that should have belonged to the two of them; he always slept in "Gildor's" bed. Over the following years, his dragon drifted into the murky insanity that plagued the rest of them, though he seemed to fall faster and farther than the rest. He was distant, almost unresponsive unless he was provoked. Only then would he respond; raging mindlessly until the disturbance had run or perished. Gelmir began to line his estate with mirrors; the highest quality and clarity that he could find. He dressed in oranges and burgundies instead of his preferred greens; he ensured that Gildor would be everywhere he looked.

No one was surprised when the news came.

From what his few surviving servants were able to piece together, that day must have gone something like this. Into the morning everything was running smoothly as usual, until a maid accidentally damaged a mirror very near to where the lord of the house was walking. People heard perplexing shouts of "Gildor? Gildor! You hurt him! Bring him back!" echoing from far away before they faded to wails of anguish. The next thing anyone knew, the whole building shook with an indeterminable force. All of the mirrors, all of the windows, every single pane that could break did, shattering outward with such explosive force that they shredded anything in their way. The few survivors were either outside or in the servants' passages when the deadly missiles took flight. The place became known as "The Hall of Shattered Glass." Gelmir's dragon was never seen again, though I believe that he flew north. We searched for him in the months that followed, but no further trace of him could we find. Even if we had, it would have only been to put the poor thing out of his misery.

The tale of the twins is one of the most heart-rending to me. The only thing they ever wanted was to live quietly together...they never had that chance. Gildor was a charming and simple sort of man, friendly and compassionate. Gelmir was once one of the most inquisitive, gentle, and helpful people I'd ever known. Watching his deterioration was like watching myself from the outside; I too knew the agony of losing a part of yourself. But, for Gelmir at least, it was more than that. His love for Gildor went deeper than any definition of the word applicable to the common tongue; was more than love. Their codependence had dire consequences in the end but, in a way, it was also the idealized representation of a rider and dragon: two hearts become one.

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I love these two so much. The only problem is that (in the long project they're both from) Gildor dies so early on that it's hard to really get a look at both of them. I have no problem doing more solo stuff for the twins someday but, for now, this will have to do.

Re on the egg fusion thing: This does seem to be possible in nature, if only very rarely. In most cases, it seems that they would then be considered nonviable. Add a sprinkle of dragon magic (TM) and I believe we can toe the line of believability. If you disagree, that is completely fair. I acknowledge this one is a stretch.

R+R much appreciated~

Oh! I also changed the picture for this story to some old (and pretty shoddy) art I did of this crew~