Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and altered storyline belong to me, Faolen the Elven Wolf. I am in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any previously copyrighted material. No copyright infringement is intended.
Children of the Sun and Moon
Chapter 2
Homecoming
Solstice didn't remember how she managed to fall asleep outside. As a matter of fact, she didn't remember falling asleep.
"Ugh, what bullshit did Luna get us into this time?" She grumbled lowly to herself while sitting up slowly. She was cold, and – much to her confusion upon closer inspection and further into the process of waking- wet.
Cold and wet did not equal a very happy Sol.
As she noticed her surroundings, she realized she was leaning against a large willow tree and was in front of a rather large looking pond. In a glance, it looked just like their little clearing, but she could tell that this wasn't it. There was another tree across the bank, she noted.
'If this isn't home, then where the heck am I?' She thought with a frown, looking around. 'As a matter of fact, where the hell is Luna?'
"I swear, she decides to play games at the worst possible time."
Standing, she began to walk only to trip and land on all fours into mud.
"Eck!" she cried out, looking down in confusion when she realized that her clothing was overly large on her body and she was in fact barefoot.
"Oh come on! This is so gross!"
On the other side of the bank, a slowly waking Luna rubbed at her aching head.
"Oh gosh, we didn't sneak into Dad's stash of wine, did we?"
She groaned as she moved to stand, opening her eyes slowly.
"What the fuckery is this...?!"
She continued to observe her surroundings, brows furrowed as she forced her mind to recollect how exactly she had gotten into her predicament.
Flashes of lightning, images of gruesome mutant wolves, and blonde hair flashed through her mind.
"Solstice!" she gasped, looking around desperately. Moving quickly after fixing her overgrown clothing ("How the hell did this happen?!") she looked around the pond, spotting the two bags she and Sol had managed to keep with them even through all the chaos. Upon reaching them halfway through circumventing the pond, she noticed a figure near the tree she had seen across the body of water.
"Sol?!" she half gasped, eyes gleaming with hope.
Picking up the bags, which were dry much to her disbelief, she walked to the figure.
"Solstice?!"
Sol's head moved up rapidly, having been too distracted with trying to fix her oversized clothing to notice the approaching girl.
She smiled in relief which ultimately turned to confusion.
"L…Luna..?"
Said twin stopped in her tracks, her own look of confusion spreading onto her face.
"Wait… Sol?"
The blonde twin nodded slowly and they both gaped at each other.
"What happened to you?!" was the simultaneous question.
"Me?!" they continued in unison, "Look at you!"
At the same time, they waddled over to the pond to stare at their reflections, the rising sun giving them a source of light.
Then, a shriek of surprise erupted from both.
"We look like we're five!" Solstice said as she continued to prod at her face, stretching her cheeks out and dragging them down as she stared in horror at her reflection.
Luna continued to inspect her body, pouting at her shorter shoulder length hair. As she moved it aside, she shrieked again.
"What!? What is it?!"
"Sol, take a look at your ears…!"
The younger twin gave her a look of confusion and started to do so while saying, "Why would I- Oh my goodness why the hell are they pointed!?"
"Okay, okay! Don't panic, we'll figure out what's going on. We just… we need to calm down and look at the situation."
"The situation? You mean the whole thing where we had a normal start of what would've been a normal day then suddenly things go batshit crazy and Dad ends up dragging us out of the house while we're being chased down by some weird ass mutant wolves and he takes us to our secret clearing, hands us a letter and necklaces, fights off the things, pushes us into the pond which ultimately leads us to here and now?" She gasps in some air, having said it all in one breath before continuing. "That situation?!"
"Yes, that one."
"Oh yes, because things totally make sense and add up, to the point where we can figure out just what the fuck is going on! Luna, we don't even know if he's alive anymore, he probably died while fighting off those things to save us!"
"Then we can't let his death be in vain!" The brunette said in a loud voice, sounding harsher than she meant. She sighed when Sol had flinched away slightly, saying a low apology that the blonde nodded to.
"Kid, things like this don't happen for no reason. Actually, they're not supposed to happen at all! But it has happened, and we have to figure out our next step. Look, the sun is rising and maybe we can scope out a place to crash at before it gets dark if we don't find a town or something in that amount of time. Now let's fix up our clothes and move out okay?"
Solstice nodded softly and they moved to cut the legs of a dry pair pants and make a makeshift belt out of rope to hold up the jeans, the rope and jeans both being pulled from their bags. They cut the length of the shirts so it wouldn't hang to low and snag even more or possibly trip them, but the bagginess was not something they could easily fix without completely tearing the clothing so they let it be.
With their feet bare, donned in newly tailored clothing, the two children sisters moved along a dirt path, lightly worn but still visible, dragging their duffels bags with small huffs of exertion.
The woodland surrounding them was lush and lively, the sight of deer and small creatures common as they continued to walk down the lightly curved pathway. The happy sound of birdsong filled the air and set their hearts into a happy flutter.
While they still were grieving at their loss, they pushed onwards and let the calm aura of the forest heal their frayed nerves and push the memories away for the time until they were truly safe.
Small chatter from two squirrels caught Sol's attention, and she watched as they chased each other up a tree and jumped across branches. She smiled softly as she thought that is must be the way she and Luna looked when they played such games.
Luna watched them herself, letting out a small laugh as the same thought crossed her mind. Her imagination conjured her and Sol as they were with the tails of squirrels, and she laughed silently, her grin widening.
Suddenly the crunch of a twig nearby broke them out of the spell that nature had woven around them, and the squirrels they had so happily watched before scurried away, finding safety within the high trees.
The twins were not so lucky.
With a huff, they shoved their bags into a nearby large bush, wincing at the noise. One tree was low enough that they could climb the trunk and up into slightly higher branches.
'Please let this be enough to cover us.' Solstice silently pleaded, wringing her hands anxiously, almost in a panic.
Luna's eyes hardened into a glare as she looked out of the small spaces the leaves made. She shifted slowly and prayed that the branches surrounding them would cover her slight movements.
Out of the brush in the direction the noise came from, two men emerged.
They were tall with long dark hair, and their fair faces were alike in a way that made them seem like brothers, twins even. Both were clad in silver-grey cloaks, dark grey tunics tucked into what looked to them like black riding trousers. On their feet they wore high, dark leather boots which the trousers were tucked into.
If their strange clothing didn't ring any alarm bells, the bows in their hands, quivers on their backs, and swords at their sides did. Luna sent a panic-stricken look at her younger sister, receiving one in return as the two men neared their place in the trees.
When Luna made a small, barely noticeable gesture for them to lay flat on the branch, one of the two suddenly had his bow trained on their position.
"Daro! Tolo hí!" [ Stop! Come here! ]
The harsh way the man spoke, in some different tongue, spooked both girls. With a cry they fell back and landed, quite luckily, into a bush below. The two scrambled out of the bushes, and stood back to back in a defensive position, terrified but not willing to let each other get hurt by the newcomers.
The man lowered his bow and his face softened into a more concerned look, noticing their disheveled appearances and small stature, no longer deeming them a threat. He kneeled down before them and set down his bow to show he meant no harm, his companion doing the same behind him.
"Goheno nin, av-'osto. Tolo, davo eithad anech. " [ Forgive me, don't be afraid. Come, let me help you. ]
The girls moved away simultaneously when the one kneeling moved forward a bit. He put his hands up in a placating manner when they narrowed their eyes in distrust towards him and the man behind him.
He continued to talk in his strange language, obviously not figuring out that they had no clue what he was saying to them.
" Man i theled i odulegir hí? " [Why are you here? (pl) ]
When neither responded to him, his dark brows furrowed together and he turned his head back to his partner, quiet words being exchanged between the two as the girls glanced at each other, their eyes communicating their obvious confusion to one another.
"Can you understand me now?" The man said once he turned back to face them, his eyes questioning yet still gentle. They nodded slowly at him, still back to back and slightly defensive, but their stances just a bit more relaxed.
The man smiled and nodded. "Good. I'm Elrohir, this is my brother Elladan. We are the sons of Lord Elrond of Imladris, Rivendell; Who are you two? What are you doing here?"
Luna turned towards Solstice, who shrugged slightly. Neither knew how to react to the introduction, the sudden kindness from the stranger throwing them off slightly.
"The name's Luna," stated the young brunnette, arms crossed over her chest as she eyed them critically. " and she's Sol, my sister. We're the daughters of André. Honestly, we have no clue how we ended up here; woke up by the glade not too far from here, soaking wet, though that was probably from the pond."
Well, she thought to herself, I'm not lying.
Figuring that it'd be better to not mention the whole mutant wolf attack and their little dip in the pond, along with their transformation into their five year old bodies, she told most of the truth. Solstice had the same idea, already getting the message to go along with the half-truth told by the brunnette with a single glance at her counter-part.
Both of the men shared a small look before the one named Elladan whistled a low and long call. Two horses came trotting at the call from the foliage not long after it ended. They were proud and regal looking steeds, both with a shimmery grey coat that glistened under the light that managed to pass through towering and overlapping branches of the ancient trees of the forest. Their hooves stomped slightly, the sound muffled by the soft grass beneath them.
"Come," the slightly more baritone voice of Elladan called out to the girls, a kind smile in place. "we will take you to our father in Rivendell, naught but an hour's ride from here if we move at a slow pace."
When they didn't move, eyes still flashing with distrust and stances taut, ready to flee at any given moment, Elladan sighed softly.
"No harm will befall you, our intent is merely to bring you somewhere safe and help you figure out what it is that happened and where your parents are now. Upon our honor, we swear this."
With a hesitant nod and slightly fearful glances at the horses, the twin girls moved toward a bush a few feet away from them, dragging out their duffel bags. The men looked at the bags in surprise and curiosity but remained quiet when they secured one on each horse before picking up whichever of the two were closest to them to place upon the horse. Each girl was placed at the front of the saddle, the rider mounting gracefully behind them.
With soft nudges to their sides, the horses began moving at a slow walk, the pace lulling both burdened and stressed children into a deep sleep almost 20 minutes later.
For the second time in a day, the twins woke up in a unfamiliar place; though thankfully this time they were both dry, comfortable, and right next to each other when brought back into consciousness.
Solstice was the one to wake first, her eyes unfocused and eyelids heavy with lingering sleep. She stayed in place for a little while, simply letting her mind slip and go blank. Once her mind was reigned back into a working state, she let herself observe her surroundings, sitting up and clenching a small hand into the soft silk of the covers that was splayed over her body and the plush mattress beneath her. The pale walls of the room was brightened by what looked like late afternoon sunlight, streaming in through the many open windows that made up the space, making her wonder just how long she'd been asleep. Glancing to her left, she breathed out a slight sigh of relief noticing the dark-light strands of the hair the belonged to her other half.
As though sensing that the other girl was awake, a grumbling Luna returned to the taxing state of consciousness, pouting slightly as she stretched and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. The brunette looked around with a questioning glare, making her grumpiness known as she tossed the pillow in her arms to the ground with a huff. Sol laughed at the disgruntled girl, stifling herself into light chuckles when the brunette directed her glower at her.
A knock at the open doorway stopped the chuckles and directed the fierce stare at whoever produced the noise.
The man that stood before them was tall, his features similar to that of Elladan and Elrohir, but he had an ageless face, one that was neither young nor old; his grey eyes screamed of his wisdom but beheld a kindness that warmed whoever the gaze was set upon. Upon his head was a circlet of silver, making him look regal.
But of course, this mattered not to Luna.
"Who the hell are you?" she questioned, tiny arms crossed with a mean scowl on her face.
Sol's eyes narrowed as she turned her head to stare at the brunette.
Did the girl not have any type of sense or does her brain really function that badly after just waking up?
The man at the doorway has his brows raised before he chuckled.
"I am Elrond, Lord of Rivendell. I am the one who took care of you two after my sons dropped you off; seems like dehydration and mild starvation caused you two to pass out. How do two young elven children, ones that do not even speak the language, end up alone in the woods, so far from everyone else?"
"Elvish? Is that what we are? What you are?" Sol asked, her hands coming up to brush her hair behind her pointed ears before feeling the tip while looking at the leaf like tip that was partially hidden by the man's own dark hair.
"How do you not know such a thing?" The man- elf, Elrond, questioned with his dark brows furrowed.
"Maybe it has to do with the fact that when we woke up, we were in the bodies we had when we were 6; maybe it has to do with the fact that we have absolutely no clue where we are, what happened to us, and why. We're 17 for crying out loud! Our father probably died while trying to protect us from some monsters that shouldn't exist! Hell, none of this should! And the only thing we have of him is this!-" she tugged harshly at the necklace around her neck, voice quivering as she stood. "- and a damn letter! Maybe that's why! Now I want answers, dammit!"
"Luna..." Sol started softly, reaching for the shaking girl.
Moving away quickly from the reaching hand, unruly brown-blonde hair swayed as Luna shook her head.
"I'm tired of fumbling around in the dark, Solstice, and I know you are too. We can finally get an answer to at least one of our questions and i'll be damned if I don't figure out at least one thing."
There was silence in the room for a few moments, the twins staring at each other before turning to face Elrond as he spoke.
"Where is this letter that you speak of?"
Luna tilted her chin towards the duffel bags near the doorway. "The bag closest to you. Open the pocket on the right side and you should find it in there."
Elrond raised a brow at her orders before bending down and retrieving the crisp white envelope. It looked untouched safe for the few wrinkles created when Luna's hands held tightly onto it.
He opened it the letter and they watched his eyes scan its contents. The grey orbs revealed shock as he went further, and after a moment, he raised the storm colored gaze to them, hands letting the letter slip to the ground before wrapping tightly around them.
"So it is true; my eyes did not cheat my heart into agony."
"What the hell?"
"Hey, hands off buddy!"
Elrond stepped back and smiled, his eyes shining with unshed tears.
"The Celestial Sisters have returned."
My daughters are home.
A/N:
Many thanks to those who have reviewed, the support is appreciated! I'm really sorry for the sporadic updates, it's tough to find free time between all of my homework and chores, and lately my laptop has been causing me tons of trouble so I just don't bother with it anymore.
But anyways, here's a late New Years and holiday gift to you all! I'll be going on vacation soon so hopefully I'll have another chapter written out with my time on the plane and at the airport so look forward to it!
I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Follow the story to keep up with the Celestial Sisters if you haven't already and please review to let me know what you think!
xoxo,
Faolen the Elven Wolf