Fionnala Harbenger deliberately ignored the jibes of the others, carefully taking aim and pulling the bow string back to her ear. She wasn’t about to let those boys make a mockery of her. She was just as good of an archer as any one of them and today was the day that she was bound and determined to show them, and the boys were just as determined to make her miss. All but one that was. Swiping a quick glance at her brother, Faolan, who returned her glance with an encouraging smile, she released the taunt wire, sending her lovingly made arrow straight to her mark. Bullseye! Silence descended upon the group as three mouths dropped open, one looked smug, and a female one smiled slightly. They weren’t going to be teasing her about going hunting for a while, she had hit her target perfectly, in fact she suspected that she would now occasionally be invited to go on their little hunting forays. Hunting was a big thing to the people of Arbors Glen.

Hunting and raising sheep up on the mountain maybe. But hunting was the main source of meat for the villagers and hunting was more often then not a right of passage for them. Though, unlike most of the hunting of the time theirs was done with plain and simple bows and arrows, sometimes a sling or a boar spear but mostly, bow and arrow. Fionn thought there might have been one or two rusty old rifles hidden up in the village but they were never used.

“I told you she could do it!” came a strong voice that snapped her out of her revery and gave her a moment’s notice before a hand pounded her upon the back in congratulations.

“And you said that she wouldn’t even be able to figure out which way the arrow went!” Faolan continued, laughing at a brown haired boy that only hung his head in reply.

Yep. That was her brother, Faolan, her twin. He was always sure of her, even if she, herself was not. Once the other boys in the village had found out that she had her very own archery set and had gone hunting with her father a few times she had received more than her fair share of ridicule. Also, once they had found this out, her brother had boasted non stop about how good she was that they finally called her out to test her skills. And she was sure she could show them because he was as well.

There was a time, not that long ago it seemed, that she could remember where that unshakable faith in each other had been questioned. She remembered the stories their parents told about how when they were still very young their startlingly white heads of hair had raised a few brows. Their mother had red hair and their father had light brown. The neighbors had once suggested that they might be possibly changelings, faerie children set in place of stolen human babies, but their mother had called the idea preposterous and said that their hair would darken as they got older, just like all the other children. Everyone had excepted this, seeing that they caused no more trouble than the other toddlers, and they didn’t raise any more fuss about it, even when their hair never did darken and retained it’s pure white colouring. From there, however, things only got a little stranger.

There were times when one would skin their knee and the other would complain that it hurt or when one would fall out of a tree and the other would fall unconscious as well. Fionnala even remembered once when their mother had taken them out in the woods to gather plants and she had gotten lost. Her brother had told their mother that he knew exactly where she was then proceeded to lead the way right to where she had curled up in an old tree trunk and fallen asleep. At the time the people of Arbors Glen had raised their brows a bit but held their tongues about the odd occurrences and, eventually, come to accept that they were a little different.

She just smiled and allowed herself to be lead from the others, now heads hanging in admitted defeat, by her brother who could only grin back at her. “We have to tell mum and da and Oren! I just know they’ll want to know how things went! Though there’s no doubt that you would have performed flawlessly..as always” Faolan chattered to her happily when she noticed a tiny figure waving wildly at them from up the path back into the village. As they neared she could make out the stony features of Oren, one of their best friends who accepted everything about them both without question, a quality rare where they lived.

The boy stopped, huffing a short distance from them while they waited patiently for him to catch his breath. “Your..Your mum and da need you” Oren finally huffed out as Faolan and Fionna received and returned curious looks. Oren just nodded and huffed back to the village hurriedly with them as they pondered the peculiarly of the situation. It was an infrequent thing that one of the neighbors would get sent to fetch them.

There house sat quietly as they approached but a whirlwind met them as they opened the door to stare at their parents packing clothing and dishes and other various items.

“Don’t forget the...Oh hunnies! You’re here. Good. I want you to get all your things together, you’re father and I are going away for a while. We’ve arranged for you to stay with Mrs. O’Farren’s. Don’t worry everything will be fine.” there mother prattled as soon as she caught sight of their snow white crowns. Two sets of mouths promptly fell open while the owner of a third tried to inconspicuously edge it’s way out the still open door. “Oh! Oren, good! Why don’t you help them?” Oren sighed and reluctantly fallowed the confused twins to their rooms to help because after all, no one could deny Mrs. Harbenger when she asked you to do something. And so the event was put into play that would lead to a chain of occurrences that would change all their lives forever.

Fionnala Harbenger deliberately ignored the jibes of the others, carefully taking aim and pulling the bow string back to her ear. She wasn’t about to let those boys make a mockery of her. She was just as good of an archer as any one of them and today was the day that she was bound and determined to show them, and the boys were just as determined to make her miss. All but one that was. Swiping a quick glance at her brother, Faolan, who returned her glance with an encouraging smile, she released the taunt wire, sending her lovingly made arrow straight to her mark. Bullseye! Silence descended upon the group as three mouths dropped open, one looked smug, and a female one smiled slightly. They weren’t going to be teasing her about going hunting for a while, she had hit her target perfectly, in fact she suspected that she would now occasionally be invited to go on their little hunting forays.

Hunting was a big thing to the people of Arbors Glen. Hunting and raising sheep up on the mountain maybe. But hunting was the main source of meat for the villagers and hunting was more often then not a right of passage for them. Though, unlike most of the hunting of the time theirs was done with plain and simple bows and arrows, sometimes a sling or a boar spear but mostly, bow and arrow. Fionn thought there might have been one or two rusty old rifles hidden up in the village but they were never used.

“I told you she could do it!” came a strong voice that snapped her out of her revery and gave her a moment’s notice before a hand pounded her upon the back in congratulations.

“And you said that she wouldn’t even be able to figure out which way the arrow went!” Faolan continued, laughing at a brown haired boy that only hung his head in reply.

Yep. That was her brother, Faolan, her twin. He was always sure of her, even if she, herself was not. Once the other boys in the village had found out that she had her very own archery set and had gone hunting with her father a few times she had received more than her fair share of ridicule. Also, once they had found this out, her brother had boasted non stop about how good she was that they finally called her out to test her skills. And she was sure she could show them because he was as well.

There was a time, not that long ago it seemed, that she could remember where that unshakable faith in each other had been questioned. She remembered the stories their parents told about how when they were still very young their startlingly white heads of hair had raised a few brows. Their mother had red hair and their father had light brown. The neighbors had once suggested that they might be possibly changelings, faerie children set in place of stolen human babies, but their mother had called the idea preposterous and said that their hair would darken as they got older, just like all the other children. Everyone had excepted this, seeing that they caused no more trouble than the other toddlers, and they didn’t raise any more fuss about it, even when their hair never did darken and retained it’s pure white colouring. From there, however, things only got a little stranger. There were times when one would skin their knee and the other would complain that it hurt or when one would fall out of a tree and the other would fall unconscious as well. Fionnala even remembered once when their mother had taken them out in the woods to gather plants and she had gotten lost. Her brother had told their mother that he knew exactly where she was then proceeded to lead the way right to where she had curled up in an old tree trunk and fallen asleep. At the time the people of Arbors Glen had raised their brows a bit but held their tongues about the odd occurrences and, eventually, come to accept that they were a little different.

She just smiled and allowed herself to be lead from the others, now heads hanging in admitted defeat, by her brother who could only grin back at her. “We have to tell mum and da and Oren! I just know they’ll want to know how things went! Though there’s no doubt that you would have performed flawlessly..as always” Faolan chattered to her happily when she noticed a tiny figure waving wildly at them from up the path back into the village. As they neared she could make out the stony features of Oren, one of their best friends who accepted everything about them both without question, a quality rare where they lived.

The boy stopped, huffing a short distance from them while they waited patiently for him to catch his breath. “Your..Your mum and da need you” Oren finally huffed out as Faolan and Fionna received and returned curious looks. Oren just nodded and huffed back to the village hurriedly with them as they pondered the peculiarly of the situation. It was an infrequent thing that one of the neighbors would get sent to fetch them.

There house sat quietly as they approached but a whirlwind met them as they opened the door to stare at their parents packing clothing and dishes and other various items.

“Don’t forget the...Oh hunnies! You’re here. Good. I want you to get all your things together, you’re father and I are going away for a while. We’ve arranged for you to stay with Mrs. O’Farren’s. Don’t worry everything will be fine.” there mother prattled as soon as she caught sight of their snow white crowns. Two sets of mouths promptly fell open while the owner of a third tried to inconspicuously edge it’s way out the still open door. “Oh! Oren, good! Why don’t you help them?” Oren sighed and reluctantly fallowed the confused twins to their rooms to help because after all, no one could deny Mrs. Harbenger when she asked you to do something. And so the event was put into play that would lead to a chain of occurrences that would change all their lives forever.

Mushrooms. She hated mushrooms. Fionnala Harbenger frowned and shoved another into her basket non too gently, she didn’t really care if she bruised the damned thing. She was in a terrible mood, it was drisslely, chilly and she was out in the woods collecting mushrooms, being helpful, when all she really wanted to do was curl up in her barrowed bed in her barrowed house with her barrowed family. Sure she had all her clothing and other pointless junk but nothing seemed to be hers anymore in the cramped little house the twins were staying at. The only thing that seemed to be hers was her brother, and even he seemed distant. Nothing was the same ever since their parents went into hiding. And worst of all she was expected to do all the womanly chores, things like cooking and cleaning and gathering the wild plants needed for everything from foods to medicine, plants that could only thrive in the murky depths of the forest. She hated it, and what’s more she knew that Faolan hated it just as much. He had always enjoyed cooking with their mother and talking idly about what plants were best for what but just like her he was expected to only do manly things like hunting and chopping wood. And they said that nothing would change, hah! Everyone expected them to be different now that their parents were gone, but all they wanted to do was be who they’d always been. Themselves.

Unfortunately neither of them could voice their displeasure, that would have been considered rude, and even though they weren’t raised like everyone else in the village their parents did raise them to be polite to those around them.

Their parents had raised them not on the values of what a man and a woman should be but on what they thought each child could be. Taught both of the twins the same so that one day they could hopefully discover what they wanted to do with their lives regardless of what society believed.

A snapping of a twig brought her out of her revery as her head flung up and her vivid green eyes searched out the source of the noise. Crunch. Crunch. Snap. It went again as her eyes came to rest upon the fleeing tail of a brown rabbit. “Hhhh” came the sigh of relief, she didn’t know why but as of recently she’d been wound tighter than a bow string and still couldn’t place her discomfort. Taking a deep breath she steeled herself and silently went back about her offensive task. Ugh! Mushrooms! How she hated mushrooms!

Faolan trudged through the fields, carefully stepped across the near invisible border that marked the end of civilization and the beginning of wilderness. Slouching his shoulders more he grudgingly made his way deeper, bow in hand and arrows strapped securely onto his back., he didn’t want to be out here any more than his sister. If he concentrated, though, he figured that he could find his sister and they could switch tasks, putting a little more sunlight into their day. He didn’t know what the O’Farrens’ were thinking when they divvied out the tasks, Fionn was a far better marksman than he, she could manage a clean kill more often than he and he figured that she was most likely the best shot in town if she tried and he would much rather be out searching for mushrooms than she, at least he could be looking for other useful herbs for cooking then.

Once a ways into the thickening trees the boy stopped and stood stock still, closing his eyes and concentrating slightly. ‘That way’ he looked up and veered off to the left fallowing the trail that clearly said to him, Fionnala. She wasn’t too far off and he could probably find her before the hour was up. Lady’s Seal. He needed to find some Lady’s Seal.

Oren Lawrie smiled happily to himself as he watch Faolan trudge into the woods. Both the twins were in there now, he was sure of it. He liked the twins and was one of the few that didn’t get weirded out by their uncanny knack for finding each other. All he had to do was find them, after all, how could any kid resist making mischief with his two best friends. The boy carefully look around him to make sure that none of the villagers noticed his absence or took note that he had headed into the forest after the white headed twins and slunk behind a barn in great need of repair then sprinted, disappearing into the depths of the trees.

more to come...