Naveen

I felt her eyes on me but I took a few more bites of apple before I turned my head to meet her gaze. My eyes asking the unspoken question of 'Do you see something you like? Or do I have something on my face?'

 

I rolled to my feet with the grace of a predator and moved across the room to a small stone bar. I planted a hand in the center of it and vaulted neatly over it to the other side. I crouched down and surveyed my selection. "Wine? Spirits? Water? A few bottles of juice." I remarked as I ran my eyes over the bottles.

 

"I don't believe in knives for food. If I can't use it to fight with, I would rather not have it." I called as I grabbed the best bottle they had stocked me with. I also drew a knife from the knife rack behind the bar. It was serrated down one side for cutting bread, with the other end sharp to make slices. It would serve her purposes, and it was perfectly balanced for me to throw. I absently spun the knife around in my hand and across my knuckles as I found two glasses for the wine.

 

"Anything can, but not everything should." I said and to prove my point I flicked my wrist towards her without looking. The knife embedded itself about an inch into the mortar between two stones at her feet. "If that was one of your human...eating knifes. It would have broken. I simply have to think practically, I spend most of my life out in the field. Carrying a knife to only be used for eating and food is too much." I walked over to her and curled a finger around the knife to pull it out before wiping it on my pants. I spun it around and offered it hilt first too her.

 

"I am not perfect. The real me is..." I grimaced for a moment then set the bottle of wine aside with the glasses. "Come on." I said an unhappy and guarded look coming to my face.

 

"I may have a grave outside, but that isn't the only marker of who I was." I said as I got to my feet. I moved deeper into the room, hands sliding into pockets on my pants. With a barefoot I pushed open a set of double doors. I looked over my shoulder at her for a moment before continuing through the doors. On the other side was a training room for the Lord of the people. So me. In racks all along the walls were weapons of every size and shape, human, elven, dwarven, and more. But I paid them no mind as I crossed the open space to a thick door on the other side.

 

"If you were wondering, yes I know how to use them all. From birth we are trained to use them." I set my hands on the ornate door. I knelt down and slid my fingers into grooves underneath it and just lifted. The thick door lifted until it caught on hidden locks. I left it then well above my head and moved into the room beyond. Lining the wall on either side were alcoves where portraits, suits of armor, and weapons lay. Each alcove was for a different Lord or noble person. And so I walked down the line naming people and the weapons they used. Near the end I paused to the one and only dual alcove. "My brother and I being twins, we will share one." On one side it had a picture of me above the armor and great sword she had seen me in not to long ago. The other had a different portrait, and a stronger more serious face. I reached up and touched that portrait before flipping it over. I did the same for the one with the great sword. On the back of each portrait was another of the opposite twin. So now my picture rested above dark leather armor with metal plates at the major protection points. Strapped to its back were two blades extending a hand length over the shoulder all the way down till the point went a few inches below the hip. I reached back around it and drew the two weapons, twirling them in my hands. "Do you remember the blade dance that I was doing in the clearing?"

 

"I mentioned that I had never mastered it. I lied. I lived and died by the weapons. I spent hours hiding away from court with the weapon masters. My brother was the one who went to court. My childhood was all about weapons, and combat. I lived for danger, lived for having fun. It's why I can do what I do, perhaps...perhaps it is why I lived and my brother didn't." I twirled the swords through a form before standing at a rest position, points facing towards the floor.

 

"Regret my training? Never. I will show you why in a bit. Do I regret that my choices in activities might have cost me my brother and best friend. Every damn day." I said softly. I twirled the weapons in my hands one more time before I slid them back into their homes behind the armor. "This is the hall of warriors. Each Lord or Lady and their chosen Heirs has a portrait and their personal armor and weapons stored here....these were mine."

 

I reached out a hand to touch my brothers picture before turning it over. I did the same for my own picture swapping the places and armor. We looked alike, we were identical twins after all. But I could tell the difference between us.

Rina:

"Wine sounds even better now." I said, trying to lighten the mood. Whatever my feelings toward him I knew this day must be hard for him, and I was decent enough to try to be a distraction.

"You don't have to fake it. I would prefer honesty over making yourself lighten the mood." I offered her a small smile, brushing the hair from my face. I held it back with my hand as I grew silent for a moment. "Come on, let us get you that wine. I'll grab something else."

 

I let her be silent as I led the way back through to the sitting room. I went behind the bar and grabbed a thicker bottle. I uncorked it and took a long drink from the strong liquid inside.

 

"I could down that bottle and not feel a thing. My race is about as good as humans at drinking. But when we become marked." I tapped the white lines on my skin to show her what I meant, "We become resistant to poisons and disease. Not immune but resistant. The effects of wine, ale, whisky, and the like is a type of poison."