To value family
Understandably, both Saga and Kanon were crying rather hard at the end of the tale, as Amai and Sade finished the story of their own life.
"...j-just how….much did Romulus and Remus resent not becoming the Gemini Saint to end up causing whole families to be torn apart like that….?"
It was Azel who answered, after that he and Amir remembered their own wives and children for a moment:
"Proving just how childish and self-centered they were for their age, because until the arrival of Lydia and Elena, they had gotten everything they wanted in their lives served to them on a silver plate. To suddenly be rejected in front of all those witnesses by the very Gold Cloth they had trained twelve whole years for, and to see those younger twin sisters gaining a slowly growing support for the very role that they desired….clearly the whole Curse of Gemini was something in style of "If we can not be the Gemini Saint, then those chosen in the future shall pay the price for our rejection, just like Lydia and Elena." And as our lifve stories in the Holy Wars have shown, that damn Curse indeed aimed to not let us Gemini twins show the united powers of us fighting together for Athena. A pair of immature, spoiled brats who were not used to being refused whatever they wanted."
For a moment, the mood around the table from the previous generations was pretty gloomy at that reminder.
"Immature indeed."
"Lydia may be struck at age twelve, but both she, Tiernan, Owen and Elena are way more mature than what those two manchildren ever were."
"Hey! Remember that Elena and I are chronically the oldest ones here! I may not always act mature for my age but I am not menally a toddler!" Lydia protested, and Elena also hurried to defend the Irish twins who was more or less in the middle of said sisters ages:
"Tiernan and Owen may be three years younger, but they are far more likely to be called proper men in terms of understanding that the world does not center around them and their desires or wishes…."
SLAM!
Daria put a rather loud end to the possible quarrel by slamming two pot lids together.
"Behave in front of our guests, will you?" she smiled sweetly, but her Cosmo was raised in a far more threatening manner that was a clear warning. And at her side, Irina was adding a silent death glare that Seti and Ramses knew to fear.
"Yes, madam!"
With the gloomy feeling gone, they changed subject to talk about:
"At least this spiritual version of the Gemini Temple began to feel more like a real home when Sade and Amari arrived. It was not that easy for us four to always fix stuff by ourselves," Elena spoke up.
"It was not a complete disaster with you four living alone here until our arrival, but yes, sometimes the touch of adults are needed, and this temple is too big for only four people living here," Sade smiled at the seventeen-year-old. Checking on his pocket watch to see what time it was out in the real world, Shion could see that he and the living twins needed to return to their bodies soon or the Sanctuary may think that something had happened to them.
"Saga, Kanon. I am afraid that we three can not remain here for much longer today to hear the story of Daria and Irina next. If our souls stay away from our flesh and bone bodies for too long, the thin line between a coma and actual risk of death begins to blur. Besides, you are needed down in the village tomorrow to help your family with the grain harvest, especially if every family wants food over winter."
This caught the attention of the other twin pairs as well.
"Same for us. We may be spirits, but we are trying to pass time by doing what we were used to while being alive. Besides…. " Daria shot a side-glare on her younger twin sister, "since Irina had to witness the Curse affect two generations of the Gemini Saints in the Holy Wars….there are some unpleasant memories that she may find a little too difficult to mention right now."
The female Pope seemed stoic, but from the way her dominant hand had closed around the iron hammer symbol of the Norse thunder god Thor that both of them did wear as necklaces, Daria knew that Irina must be feeling an emotional storm of conflicted feelings inside.
"Then we thank you all for letting Saga and Kanon know about your stories so far, and that we shall meet soon again when there are no pressing demands for us in the real world. I too, have learned details about your lives that have not been well documented in the past for various reasons."
Laying a hand each on the heads of the boys, Shion made them bow slightly in goodbye for the older Gemini generations before they vanished back to their bodies. At once, Daria returned her attention to her sister, since the long sleeve of the robes Irina wore had hidden just how hard she had been holding the hammer like it was a lifeline she could not let go of:
"Irina, let go of the sharpened edge of that hammer, you are holding it so hard that your fingers are bleeding!"
At the sight of the bloodied fingers of their female master and foster mother, both Seti and Ramses naturally freaked out as they knew it to be a bad sign of how Irina was battling the memories of her long life. For her to not even notice herself cutting up the scars that were already on her fingers from before, it meant only two things:
Either the memories of when she and Daria had served as the Gemini Saint in 996, or the night that had led to Seti and Ramses ending up in her care at a very young age. And both events were connected to the Curse of Gemini.
"Ramses, get the first-aid kit now!"
~X~X~X~X~X~X
As it was almost evening here in the real world, Shion escorted Saga and Kanon to their birth home, since their family had wanted them all gathered for a real family dinner today due to the tasks of the following day.
"Shion….do you think we can tell our parents and Grandma about what we have learned today?"
He saw no problems in that, but still requested them to not mention any more private details of the lives of the previous Gemini twins, it would be breaking the newly started trust between them and the brothers that could very well be their new successors in the future.
Of course, the older family generations did notice that their two youngest members seemed oddly quiet while eating the meal. It was a perfectly normal dinner for this time of the year, and normally there would be some talk about tomorrow around the table, but today only the three adults seemed to be talking to each other.
"Boys, have you been having such a poor day that it ended with you two having an argument twice today?" Argyros finally asked his twin sons at one point, half-way through the meal. His wife Eirene and widowed mother Melissa also felt that this was very much out of character for the boys, though they had been unsure how to ask what was wrong.
"Um…lots to think about…we have been told more of the previous generations of Gemini Saints in our history lesson today," Saga started, but Kanon went straight to the point:
"When we were born, did we have those marks that the previous Gemini twins are said to have on their bodies as a sign that they were intended to be in the Holy War?"
"NO!" all three adults said at once, realizing that the boys must have heard about the rumors and possibly been searching out clues in the library if Shion did not mention too many details himself.
"Did not His Holiness say that it was broken somewhere in the previous Holy War from his own youth?"
"What? It was broken in the 18th century!?"
"Yes, something that Pope Shion did not personally witness, though, so we do not know any details…Where are those photos from their birth…" Eirene muttered for herself, leaving the table and went to a small chest with more valuable belongings to the family.
"See? Here are the photos that were taken at your birth and first days of life because some of the Saints had brought those modern cameras from Athen! Do you spot any Gemini symbols on your tiny bodies there? Or have you seen any on your own body so far with the help of a body mirror?"
That was a rather good point from their mother to mention. Thinking back of whatever they would bathe together or other times when they were naked for some reason, neither Saga or Kanon could even remember having such a birthmark.
"No, Mom."
With this the mood around the table lightened up a bit.
But before the brothers went to sleep that night, Eirene had a small talk with them.
"Boys? Are you still awake?"
Both turning around in the bunk bed that they had, and she revealed something that her sons had to learn about, now when they knew about the Curse:
"Even if the Curse of Gemini is broken since the last Holy War….I will admit that due to that Curse affecting so many Holy Wars and its Gemini Saint twins in the past, it was actually part of why my anxiety disorder grew worse when I was pregnant with you two, after learning that my due date was at the end of May unless you was born premature for some reason, and caused the postpartum depression that I got afterwards…I was haunted by nightmares about you being dragged into the Curse somehow, that one of you would die before the other…or that you would end up separated from each other for many years and grow apart…"
It was a burden that Eirene had carried within her, and the shadow of those fears was still deep within her despite the help of the Sanctuary healers and the medicines she got for her anxiety.
"Mom?"
Showing his softer side for a moment, Kanon offered her a hug, which she accepted. And Saga did the same from the lower bed.
~X~X~X~X~X~X
The next day after an early breakfast at dawn, all focus was on the harvest.
"Come on, everyone! The more wheat we can finish today, the less work for tomorrow!"
Even the Saints and their students present in the Sanctuary, had been called in to help. And apart from Saga and Kanon, quite a lot of familiar friends from the village or school classroom were spotted among the adults.
"Aiolia, no! You can not eat wheat grain like that!" Aiolos protested at spotting what his seven years younger little brother was about to do, namely putting the wheat stalk into his mouth to see if it could be eaten or not. With Aiolia being only just over two years, he naturally did not know much of the difference between the wheat being grown on the fields and the finished harvest that would be made into flour or other forms of food.
"Having fun babysitting your brother today, Aiolos?" Kanon teased as their one year younger friend ended up having to put the toddler into a large storage box for apples next to the wagons to avoid that something happened.
"Mom and Dad told me to help keep an eye on him, everyone is so busy today that not all the old grandmothers can watch all the younger children…."
Well, it was no big surprise. If the villages did not manage to get the harvest indoors in the barns before the weather turned worse, or the harvest was poor, the Sanctuary would need to buy grain from the outside world to survive winter.
"Thinking about it, Dad, haven't the Saints mentioned something about most farmers nowadays in the outside world having machines to help?"
Realizing that it may sound like he did not like the physical work that involved the life here in the village just for survival, Kanon hurried to add:
"I am just curious! I have nothing against helping out like this like our ancestors always have done!"
While Argyros rarely was out in Athen and the rest of Greece, he knew what Kanon was thinking about.
"Yes, it is perfectly fine with asking, Kanon, but those often heavy and large machines would be worthless here. Look at the fields around here, many are on the mountain slides that are not exactly nice and flat, and we are trying to use every possible piece of land to grow food with different grains or other sources of food like vegetables or beans. Not to mention the needed pastures further up in the mountains for the goats and sheep that we have for milk and meat, well the wool to make clothing and fabrice from.…"
So many things that a farmer needed to think about every single day, and learn from an early age.
"At least the hens can be kept close to the houses, and the cats as well…oi! That is our missing hen that we thought a fox had taken!"
A stray hen had somehow been spooked from its hiding place among the remaining wheat, scaring quite a few of the workers by suddenly showing up like that.
"Do not let that hen escape again, boys!"
~X~X~X~X~X~X
After quite an eventful day, it was nice to return home.
"Nice to find out that the hen was still alive, if choosing a rather odd hiding spot! Losing even a single animal can be so much trouble when it affects the food on our table…"
Eirene knew what she was talking about, as she carried the hen under her arm. With the whole family having been farmers for countless generations back apart from a few Saints popping up somewhere in the family tree, they all knew how valuable the animals were.
"Mom, dad, grandma? I am really glad that you are still alive."
Knowing about how common it had been to make orphans into Saints, it really made Saga realize just how lucky he and Kanon were to have their family.
"And we are grateful for being blessed with two strong, handsome young sons like you!"
"Mom! Not in the open yard where everyone can see us!" Kanon protested half-heartedly as Eirene caught them in a hug together from behind, as his father and grandmother just laughed at the scene.
"It is really important to value family members when you have them, no matter how the family may look like, boys, because you never know if you may lose them."
~X~X~X~X~X~X
Meanwhile, in the spiritual Gemini Temple inside the Gemini Cloth:
Even if it was just them to the work, the previous generations had also spent most of the day bringing in the harvest.
"Where is Aspros?" Defteros wondered, after not finding his brother anywhere in the usual places.
"Challenging Irina to another duel out in the steppe symbolizing the Mongol origins of Amir and Azel, he said something about trying to win this time," Seti responded from where he was using a part of the lava chamber as his personal forge, holding up a newly crafted fishing hook next to his eye to see if it was acceptable.
"Again? Sometimes I wonder if my brother, for all his cleverness, is just using those duels to bring down his own ego. He knows that arrogance is not viewed fondly by the Greek sisters, after all, due to who they connect it with."
The sounds of a large sheep herd was heard coming closer, as the 15th century twins returned the livestock home for the evening, Ramses taking in the now dry bandages that he had washed the evening before.
"The expected result: Irina sweeping the floor with Aspros without problems despite that we could not see the exact spot where they were. She is not a former Pope for nothing," Amir reported as he dismounted and took off the saddle from his Mongolian pony.
"Of course. She did live to be 272 years old after all. Proving why women can be just as dangerous as the men despite the difference in physical strength and such details."
Having gotten the task of bringing some fresh fish for the dinner, Tiernan and Owen arrived just as Lydia, Elena had started to help Daria to milk the sheeps and goats.
"A nice catch today," Sade said at seeing the basket full of freshes that could be gutted and fried alongside the vegetables, Amari being on the lookout up on the roof to see where Irina and Aspros could be.
Soon, Irina arrived at the temple as well, carrying a quite beaten-up Aspros on her back like he weighed nothing.
"Will you never learn that sometimes, it is cleverness that determines the winner in duels and not physical strength, greenhorn?" she asked, using her nickname on Aspros that had been the result of that compared to her, he really was a greenhorn who had never gotten the role of the Pope despite his gathered knowledge and reaching for that goal.
"How about that I actually enjoy a good challenge once in a while despite losing most of the duels against you? Everyone here is good at fighting, but you have the most experience in combat due to being the most long-lived Gemini Saint apart from Amari and Sade."
She rolled her eyes at that answer.
"Says the one whose twin brother outlived him by two years and is part of the eternal twenty five-year-old years in this gang alongside my desert brats. And it is your turn to wash the dishes after dinner tonight, by the way."
With the setting sun behind the distant mountains, another day was ending for them as well.
~X~X~X~X~X~X
Author note: Argyros is a male name meaning "silver" in ancient Greek. Eirene is a Ancient Greek version of Irene. Melissa means "bee" in Greek
By modern cameras, Eirene refers to the style of cameras that was in use during the late 1950s as Saga and Kanon are born in 1958 if they were 28 in 1986.
Irina calling Aspros "greenhorn" is a joke between them about that yes, he is very smart and gathered a vast amount of knowledge in his goal to become the next Pope after Sage, but since he died two years before the Holy War in the Lost Canvas era, he never got to actually be chosen for that role