First Love

The blades sang in the air, a chime ringing from them as they struck one another, I had the upper advantage. I remember that as my brother was nowhere near me in physical strength, just as I was nowhere near him in magical. It was a warm day in winter, only 20 cetar...that's about 40 below 0 farenheit. We fought viciously in everything and competed in everything, including for the adoration of our mother, Lilitu. Ayi hai Lilitu. Not the one that was cast from Eden, nay, our mother was the original, from a time long before that God thought of that world, thus creating it. There are worlds older than me, and people, a lot of them, those of earth are not one of them.

Again another striking parry, the same chiming ring as his blade found mine in the air, he was getting better. Phaoton, a young man at the time, we were only 198 summers, had shoulder length silver hair complimentary to my gold. I never understood this til now, but my mother told me that our differences had meaning. Now, I wish I never had a twin. You heard all about my birth, so I am in no way going to remember on it now. He was pale, this brother of mine, pale and beautiful as our moons, silver hair and cool blue eyes, the only thing we have in common. I won the fight as I recall, I ended it with him pressed against my young form, my sword up to his throat. Anyways, on with the traditional way to tell a story.

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The boy cried out in indignation, "Mother! She cheated!" the sound full of his frustration at himself for losing. The girl behind him released him, her delicately slim hand pushing between his shoulder blades and wings, shoving him effectively away from her. She then approached the stately woman with lustrious black hair, the critical eye of LIlitu was on her, making note of her every move. But all the girl did was approach and fall to one knee as a soldier, the action exceptionally more graceful than that of a regular warrior.

Lovely and crisp blue eyes looked up at her, there was pride in them, but also there was something being sought; a wish for approval. "My Lady Mother Lilitu, I have beaten my brother this day. I honor you with this." the woman looking at her reflected on just how much her daughter truly honored 'her' in this action, the look, the grace, everything in the girl's appearance, temperment, and skills reflected her father, wherever he was. Lilitu raised a pale and infinitely noble hand, her voice coming out like that of a songbird, welcome to the ears, and calming, "Yes, you have beaten your brother, and you are honored Livinia, for your skills in the arts of war far surpass your years. You will make a great general once you set out on your own, as your brother will become a formidable one in the arcane arts. You both have your strengths, and both honor me." With this she stood, then turned, walking away from the small throne overseeing the stadium. Her thoughts on the business of state, yes, perhaps she was proud of her children, but she would never openly show it. She would never act anything less than befitting a Lady of the Land of Tears. Cold, and utterly uncaring.

Livinia stood once her mother was out of place, her brother still indignant and licking his wounds, but, instead of standing she jumped and let out a rather primal cry. Phaoton scowled, knowing how this behavior was not to be tolerated, he was quick to reprimand, "Livinia! You behave as a Savage! As one of the..." his nose wrinkled in pure disgust, "daemons." Daemons being the peasants and common folk of the Land, very akin to the Daemons that wander around in Hel save for a few key differences, such as freedom and pride.

Blue eyes regarded those of like color, the look in them looking very much like she didn't care at all. "I 'behave' as I please brother dear. Or have you forgotten that I can kick your ass?" not quite the term she used, but it's the closest translation.

With this, Phaoton stiffened and turned to walk away from the scene before they got into a fight again, nay, a squabble. He was too old for that now, being beyond teasing his little twin sister by the destruction of things that the young nobles of court had given her. He'd get her, but it would be an adult way, after his wandering.

Livinia on the other hand was not above acting like a child, having done so in secret and in corners since in public it was frowned upon and her mother's eyes are enough chastisement for anyone. For they told of innumerable methods of punishment within. But she was alone, or so she thought, so she giggled and did a little dance to a quick tune in her head. That moment a voice spoke out, "I'm not interrupting am I?" this caused her to jump almost 5 feet backwards.

Her eyes flashed worry on her face as she'd been caught and punished for doing so before, but the young man before her had nothing on his face readable other than a smile. A rather dumb one at that she thought, but she wouldn't tell him that. She took in his shape, trying to see if she recognized him from court, having sworn she met most of the ones there. He was maybe a year older than her, she could tell that much, and he was well built under his cloak and armor, the Tears armor being formed quite well to the physique of the individual, being tall for a female she noted that the man was taller than her by at least a head, which made her smile a little, when it came to men, she would flirt, but she was still kind of shy when it came to ones she might actually like, and as she reached his perfectly planed face, the expression a soft and pale mask of youth, and the promise of a prominent and masculine adulthood with two shockingly green eyes, and framed in a long mantle of fiery waves that fell rather hapahazardly around his head. She looked down then, having had a few tan freckles at the time she was a little unsure of her looks, but recalled her mother's words about higher ranking nobility lowering their face to any other, so, against her better judgement, she lifted her chin, donning a look of casualty, a soft smile on her face.

"No, not interrupting anything." She fibbed a little, he wasn't really interrupting her, but he did startle her, and she was worried that he might inform her mother or an elder about the actions he had just whitnessed. At her words, he smiled, again the same dumb smile she started to note aggitated her slightly, "Why do you look at me so, Sir? I do not know you."

At this he was startled, eyes widening a moment, and an almost puppy-ish look of hurt came to the almost warm green. He began to approach her, it was then that she noticed that he was graceful, almost as much as her, impressive for a male. He lowered before her as she had to her mother, his words came out on a voice, not necessarilly deep, it held a gentle tenor, one you would expect to hear from the sweet hero in a romance. "My Lady Livinia, may I say I am chagrined that you do not remember me." with a warm hand he swept up her left, her right still ahold of her training sword, blunted as not to kill, but leave a rather painful bruise if struck with. "We met, many summers ago, in one of your mother's holding of court." he looked up in hope that she would recall him, to his dismay, he saw no recognition, her memory being fairly bad especially for not having lived that long. "It's Sel Sh'y Arten."

Her memory stirred slightly and it registered across her face. With that change in expression she saw hope brighten his eyes. She knew the name, and recalled the young boy, weak, sickly pale, with a dull ruddy brown hair, more freckles than she, and...the same startling green eyes. The other children had teased him for being sick, he had caught one of the Wastelands diseases and was never back for another visit. She had once after that day recieved a gift from him, it was destroyed by Phaoton though and she sent him one since she had felt bad about the other youngsters' incessently horrible jabs. She had come to his defense and beaten up the others who dared speak against her, at which the adults congradulated her for her compassion at the time. Taking her up and away from the young lad, though he had not taken his eyes off of her, asking her name and everything about her, she didn't know that though. When he did not return to the next court, she assumed with a slight grief that the sickness had gotten to him, until she recieved the gift from him. It was a golden firebird, seemingly sculpted by a master goldsmith, every detail so fine and even the expression was so lifelike that one might think it would move any moment. In return, she sent him a craft that she made, an instrument, a glass flute since she had learned how to work in glass. It was a delicate thing with the design of vines she had painted onto it, though it was complimentary, the ivy not overtaking the look of it.

"But, you can't be..." the words came out and she knew it couldn't be true, the boy had ruddy brown hair, not fire red, and he was sick, her words started to come to her again, until they were halted, by the appearance of something in his hand, another golden firebird, even finer than the first, her eyes widened, lips parting as she tried to find the words, but none came, until all she could think of was, "I am glad you beat the illness."

He smiled brightly, it was enough for him, he had adored her since she defended him, being the only one to really give him attention at the time outside of medical. "I couldn't let that get me when I had just met the most lovely and kind girl I'd ever met." He blushed, as well did she, both of them lowering their eyes a moment, he then leaned his head down and let warm lips hover over her hand, not touching though, as they had not been properly introduced aside from when they were children. "It is good to see, you have not changed so much."

"Except I got rid of a few freckles, and I'm taller." she giggled out then, eyes going wide again as she leaned down to look at him closer, "But you've changed terribly" he frowned at this, and she laughed, "No no, I mean a lot, you lost all of your freckles, and, well..." she searched her mind for words that fit, but couldn't really find any available, "what happened to your hair? And..." she brought her sword's blade to tap on his shoulder, indicating his build. "With the health, why didn't you return to court?" She could guess why, he was beautiful now, he was beautiful then, to her, but now everyone would see it, and the others would want it.

"Once the disease was gone, I began to train, getting better and better. I didn't want to return to a court until I thought I'd be able to handle myself, I didn't want to put up with the teasing again, and I didn't want to be saved. I-...I want to be the one to save you." He smiled again, looking to the ground, he said too much.

But he didn't, she admired his boldness, most of the noble young men had played at saying such things, she knew that he meant it though, no one would just come out and say it unless it was so. She had liked him from the moment that she saw him, he was taking the teasing well, as if he didn't notice, but she did, and she had to do something about it, even if it was beating up her peers. Her eyes raised to him, then lowered, repeating this about three times, until she finally lowered near him, and placed a tentative kiss on his brow. He froze, eyes opening wide, he hadn't expected it, and the searing touch of her soft lips acted as a paralyzer, holding him in place, they remained thus for a little.

A dark smirk twisted in the shadows, as someone looked on, then turned on heel and left them be.

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A turn and a half passed, and it was the summer of Livinia and Phaoton's 199th year as well as that of Sh'y. They were all to be released into the realms to fend for themselves, the rest of the youth's had gone, but Livinia, who had been looking forward to this day, remained behind, as well as Phoaton, and Sh'y.

Livinia stood in the Aerie of her home, the dark leather wings folded tight against her body, her hands slightly before her, held by those of Sh'y. Through the seasons, they had gotten to know one another, enjoying company with each other, playing and laughing, each the envy of others, Sh'y because he had Livinia, the brightest light in the Wastelands, promised to one day be as great, and rumored perhaps even greater than her dam, and Livinia because she had Sh'y, aside from her twin brother, the most beautifully striking male of the noble's, and the way they played at a relationship, everyone thought that Sh'y would go out, and conquer lands to place at his illuminous lady's feet, he would have, but as they stood, looking at one another, a silence hanging in the air as full and meaningful as any, their eyes speaking in volumes. Livinia was the first to weep, the tears came like a shimmering brook, slow, and gentle, she had a dream, but she couldn't remember it, she just knew, this, and one other time would be the last she saw him alive.

He ran a firm thumb over her cheek, wiping the tears from the surface and felt a pain new to him, that of true departure, knowing they would not see each other probably for at least 100 turns. Little did he know. Livinia had effectively won her final battle, as did he, a soft breath came from him, a hiss that told her all would be fine. She nodded, the hand that was released taking ahold of the one he still had hers in, squeezing it gently, he took the signal, leaning down to kiss her, it was full of love, everything he had felt, nothing hidden, nothing unsure. He had one final mission on this, their home world, and that was to dispatch a group of Daemons that had raided an sector near the edge of the Land of Tears and that of the Divine Healers. She would follow him, well, track him, though he didn't know it. The mission was something she knew that was not normally done, and a slow suspicion came to her as she thought about it. She would watch him.

"Do not cry darling sun, it will be a while until we see each other again, but it is livable." he murmered as his lips parted from hers.

"My fire...who knows, it might be much longer..." she said this with such a finality in her voice that it made him almost shiver. Thoughts of her brother seeped into her mind, and she swore if anything happened to Sh'y that she could trace back to him, or even suspected it of him, she would wreak divine justice on him with her own hands one day. Sh'y stepped away from her, then lowered to one knee again, kissing her knuckles one by one, before rising and kissing her cheek.

"I will see you when you rise in the sky tomorrow." he smiled, then turned to go to fulfill his orders. As he vanished from sight in the air, the warm scent of spices mixed, that of Cinnimon and Vanilla, with a practical opiate of a smoke as if the burned scent of Dragon's Blood. She just stood there, watching him, until he was truly gone from sight, at that point she took off, following his trail, not only with her true sword on her, but mancatcher in hand, and in a belt, a gun, though technology and magic lived together in fair harmony in the Wastes, guns were rarely used save by commoners. Daemons, the nobles were above such unsporting weapons. But they did have them, she for one. Though Sh'y's father never let him have one, so she knew that he was in even more potential danger if this group was armed.

She tracked until for a moment she lost his scent, the sounds of confrontation was what drew her attention and she quickly dove down to that area of the Wastes outside of the noble walls of her home. Outside of the true royal blood of Lilitu, the other nobles were mortal, ageless, but still, mortal, they could die easilly from blood loss, from illness, and from many other things. Sh'y, was mortal.

Once she landed she peeked around a corner to get a good view of what was going on, and she did. It was Sh'y and a Daemon in a fist fight, they had agreed it seemed that if the Daemon lost then they would leave, being a rather idealistic, he believed it would be a fair fight. The rest were in a swarm around them, yelling, and beating over their hearts in applause, shouting for the leader to beat Sh'y. Seeing that they were armed, and knowing Daemon's don't fight fair, she ran towards the group, trying to push through them yelling for Sh'y, screaming his name, the the sounds of struggle sounded in her ears, echoed by the shouts around her. Eyes frantic as she shoved as hard as she could, until she heard the first shot ring out, someone fired, the sound of the struggle slowed, then there were more shots, 3, 4, 5...6. The final one hit a vital point, she saw that just as she got through the group, at which point the leader held Sh'y in his arms, as he'd fallen forward, the shots came from none of his men, and he was appalled at the action, he actually intended on fighting clean. Her eyes, full of rage, turning to the deep blue of the sky, searched for where the shots came from, which lead her to see the tall figure on the top of the wall, winged as a noble, carried the stance, with shoulder length silver hair like that of moonlight. the rest of his form a shadow, she didn't need to see his face, to get his scent to know who it was, and as soon as that realization came to her, he vanished, in a moonlight shadow, pulling the soul of the young man he just killed with him. The Daemon leader dropped Sh'y, letting him land on his back and as Livinia fought through the group, she learned that Daemon's have some compassion that day, as they didn't kill her, but leave her there, with her slain lover.

She dropped to his side, taking him in her arms, holding him near, and staying with him, murmering to him, "You should have listened to me...By Lilitu why didn't you listen?" She held him, just sitting there, crying, until she finally hauled him up and flew him back to the Aerie, laying him down there, a finger tracing over his lips, paler, cold and deathly still, the scent, gone. She fell asleep in the aerie, with his body in her arms, only to wake a few minutes before dawn broke, her eyes opened momentarilly, and she saw him, transparent and standing over her, he leaned down then kissed her gently.

It didn't bring her to her senses as she was drowsy from sleeping and crying, her eyes half open, her ears, half listening, but hearing him, his voice, the same soothing tenor of the young man who had so much promise. "See you in heaven, far away."

"See you in Heaven,...one day." Her lips worked over the words, before she fell asleep again, only to wake once the sun came to view, his spirit gone, his body, lifeless in her arms, only one more trial her brother put her through, to teach her a lesson.