Sword and Sorcery
Chapter 10

by D.Fire
phongb9@idt.net

	Raeni sighed as she once again slowed down.  This
little contest just wasn't any fun anymore.  Thankfully,
they were almost to town, and she could see various spires
in the distance.  Errin lagged a full ten trees behind, so
she paused on a tree branch awaiting his arrival.  For
most of the trip, the young man had kept pace with her,
but towards the end, he kept slowing down.  It turned out
that although he had speed and agility, stamina was
something he needed to work on.  As he finally came in
view, she flagged him to the tree in which she sat, and
then she sprang to the ground.

	Errin finally reached the Raeni's tree, and,
following her lead, Errin dropped to the ground.  He
roughly pulled his pack off his back and placed it on the
ground, untying it so that Oppy could scramble free, which
it did at the first available opportunity.  The poor dog
stumbled around on wobbly legs for about a minute before
regaining her orientation and running off toward the town.
Her master, on the other hand, spent the same minute
panting and leaning against a tree, trying to regain his
breath.  Eventually, he just slid down the tree to
collapse on the ground, ignoring the roots that poked
uncomfortably into his back.

	Taking her time, Raeni untied the rope binding Azure
to her back.  After freeing him, she picked a spot and sat
down delicately.  She did not breathe hard, nor did she
have any visible sweat.  For all intents and purposes, it
looked like she had just taken a casual stroll through the
forest, not a hair-raising, five-mile tree jumping race. 
Azure sat down at her feet after all the kinks had been
stretched out of his muscles.  She just sat stroking his
fur while she waited for the young man laying five feet
away to recover.

	Five minutes later, Errin had enough breath to talk. 
He still didn't move, but he asked her, "What are you,
some kind of monster in disguise?  You aren't even out of
breath from that stunt we just pulled."

	Smiling at his sideways compliment, Raeni answered,
"Let's just say that I am very fit.  I used to train much
harder than what we just did, so I'm used to it."  She
didn't have the heart to tell him that she hadn't even
gone all out during the race.  Raeni had traveled at a
speed that she had felt would be comfortable for him, but
she had slightly overestimated the pace, resulting in him
struggling to keep up and tiring him much faster than
expected.  "I hope you aren't mad that a girl beat you. 
But I'll tell you this.  You never had a chance."

	Errin waved off the insult, or rather, he flexed his
fingers, barely lifting them from the ground.  "Don't
worry.  Uerris beats me all the time.  She's the one who
introduced me tree-running."  He stared into the sky,
recalling a childhood memory.  In a slightly unfocused
voice, he continued, "We were both about ten at the time. 
Really shocked me when she jumped up so easily to a branch
at least 15 feet in the air.  At the time, I could barely
climb up that high."  He laughed.  "Mother nearly had a
heart attack when she caught us tree-jumping, but Father
just told us to be careful."  Sighing in remembrance of
happy times, he added with a puzzled expression on his
face, "Uerris told me it seemed like the most natural
thing to jump up to the trees."

	Raeni, lost in her own memories, nodded mysteriously.
She could recall all the times in Nerima where street
fights and rampaging martial artists made roof-hopping a
most necessary skill.  'I guess Uerris still recalled
something of Ukyou's life, even with the water from that
nasty fountain,' she thought.  She asked Errin, "Was
Ucchan, ahem, I mean, Uerris always your sister?  You're
the same age right?"

	"Of course, she's always been my sister!  We're
twins, or hadn't you noticed that?"  At the question, he
had propped himself up against the tree and now sat with
his back leaning on the tree.  One knee was bent, while he
kept the other leg straight.  He supported his arms on the
bent leg, and looked very handsome in his pose, sweat and
all.

	"Are you sure about that?  Please think before you
answer," Raeni gently asked him.  She continued to rub
Azure belly as her familiar contentedly purred.

	Errin opened his mouth to immediately object again to
the question but stopped before he could get it out. 
Puzzled, he searched through his own memories, trying to
recall the earliest memory of his sister.

	***

	Ten years ago, relative time.

	Errin, a cute little boy bearing a remarkable
resemblance to chibi-Ukyou, sits up in his room, playing
with some toy soldiers that had been given to him by his
father.  He is very involved in whatever little game he is
playing and doesn't notice the door behind him opening.

	A woman enters through the doorway.  She also
resembles Ukyou, but this woman looks to be in her mid to
late twenties.  She gracefully glides into the room,
quietly closing the door behind her.  The door slowly
swings shut and latches with a click.

	At the click, the boy turns around and sees the
woman.  Standing up, he runs over to her and hugs onto her
leg, happily crying, "Mommie!"

	The woman picks up the child, walks over the bed, and
sits down, with Errin on her lap.  "Hi, my little
deerling.  How's Mommie's favorite son?"  She lets him
continue hugging her as she hugs back.  "I have a big
surprise for you.  How would you like a new friend?"

	The little boy stops his hug and looks up at his
mother, puzzled.  A new friend?  He liked new friends
because new friends always thought up neat new games. 
Giving a solemn nod, he says, "Where Mommie?  Where's my
new friend?"

	Setting him on the ground, the woman leads him by the
hand to the door.  She opens it, and, gently pulling him,
she takes him downstairs to the main room.  There, a man
awaits.  This man is about the same age as the woman and
is very broad of shoulder.  He sports a thick, black beard
and wears a green shirt with matching pants.  Behind the
man, a little girl peeks out from behind a massive leg. 
She, too, looks like a young Ukyou.  Behind her, on a
table and unseen by the boy, a bandolier of small bladed
weapons and a giant spatula laid.

	The little boy points at the little girl, who is
still mostly hidden behind the massive man.  He asks,
"Mommie, is this my new friend?"

	"Well, she's a little more than your friend, Errin. 
This is Uerris.  She's going to be your new sister!" the
woman excitedly explains.

	To Errin, a sister means someone older or someone
younger who is in your family.  The older sisters usually
boss around him and his other friends, and the younger
sisters usually just sit around crying.  "Is she older or
younger, Mommie?"

	"She's the same age, deerling.  She is going to be
your twin sister, and she is going to be your best
friend," Keili answers him.

	A sister of the same age.  This is a new concept.  It
does not fit anywhere, so as young children do, he places
her in the only remaining category.  She is now officially
a friend.  Grinning up at his mother, he says, "'Kay,
Mommie.  She's a friend."  He leaves his mother's side and
approaches his father and the little girl.  After seeing
her up close, he realizes something.  "Wow.  She looks
just like me!"  He grabs onto the girl and gives a her a
great hug.  "Wanna be my friend?"

	"Y-yeah," the girl stutters a reply, still very shy. 
She too is intrigued at the mirror image hugging her.

	"Wanna play soldier?"

	"What's that?" the girl shyly asks.

	"You don't know?  I'll show you!"  The boy pulls the
girl up the stairs after him back into her room and the
door closes.  Soon, giggles and shouts resound from behind
the door.

	On that day forward, life is very good for Errin,
because he now has a friend that never leaves and on his
birthday, he receives twice the amount of presents as
before.  Although half of them belong to his sister, the
way they share things means joint ownership and twice the
fun.

	***

	Present time.

	"I don't get it.  My first memory of Uerris is of
Mother introducing her to me.  We must have been around
five years old."  He shook his head, as if trying to
remove an unpleasant thought.  "That can't be right!  I
must have remembered wrong."

	Raeni didn't answer him.  She just sat calmly
continuing to pet Azure.  She gazed at him knowingly,
imperceptibly nodding in his direction, her own thoughts
confirmed.  Not wanting to be the one that would break the
bad news, she sat in silence.

	Errin's eyes narrows in suspicion as he looked at
her.  Accusing her, he asked, "You didn't do anything to
me, did you?"  He wiggled his fingers in an exaggerated
approximation of spell-casting.

	Sighing at the typical reaction, Raeni rolled her
eyes and shook her head in reply.

	"Well, I'm rested now.  Let's go.  Mother will have
an answer for me."  He abruptly stood up, ignoring the
pained twinges of his muscles, and stalked into town, not
bothering to see to if Raeni followed.

	Raeni sat there in silence as he walked away from
her.  Barely keeping him in view, she trailed after him,
Azure at her heels.  She figured that, right now, Errin
did not want to see her, so she kept her distance.  As she
followed him through town, she took her time and examined
the town in detail.  The last time she was here, she had
been in a hurry to leave and things had been dark and
sinister-looking.  In the bright cheeriness of the
daylight, she could see a beautiful town.

	The houses towards the edge of the town were simple
affairs, looking to be one-level, single-family housing. 
Not in perfect rows, the houses lined a path that wandered
in a zigzag leading eventually to the center of town. 
Quaint little houses made of wood with a single chimney
were predominant, but here and there a house made of white
stone or red brick would pop up, breaking up the monotony
of wood tones.

	Making sure to keep Errin within sight before he
turned the next corner, she walked at a leisurely pace,
taking in the town.  Most of the buildings she passed were
houses, but as she got further into towards the middle of
the village, the homes turned into shops coupled with
upstairs housing.  The houses that contained shops all had
little wooden signs indicating the shop within.  Here, a
sign bearing a loaf of bread proclaimed 'baker'.  The
sweet smells that wafted from within confirmed the
presence of a bakery.  There, another sign, this one
bearing a picture of an anvil, established the presence of
a blacksmith.  Although the door to the front was closed,
she could smell cold iron and hot iron and hear the sound
of hammering filtering through the streets from that
direction.

	The street, although not busy, was still populated by
people coming to and fro, and the ones that passed her on
the street made a point to steer wide of the mistress and
familiar.  It must have been an odd sight, a young,
red-headed girl, being followed docilely by a giant purple
panther, and both walking casually down the town street. 
'At least they were forewarned.'  Raeni could tell because
no one ran screaming away, and although people did shut
their doors as she passed, she considered that a normal
reaction.  No one came up to challenge her, nor did they
take potshots with a bow and arrow as she strolled down
the path with her friend.  Amused, she noted that although
most people closed their doors, the more adventurous of
them came out and watched as she walked by.  The remaining
people took to watching from behind barely opened
shutters, and she felt eyes tracking her.

	This town seemed fairly prosperous.  No naked
children ran amuck in the streets, and the quality of the
clothes of the few people she saw indicated a modicum of
wealth.  Not peasant clothes, these.  Although most of the
men wore dark colors or green, some had on different
colors.  She saw blue more than once, red a couple of
times, and one fellow even wore an outrageous yellow. 
They hadn't quite discovered zippers yet, but pockets were
found aplenty, attached to shirts and trousers of medium
quality, made of material that looked like wool.  

	The women were a different story altogether.  Almost
without fail, the women wore dresses, not the kind with
stiff, hooped skirts, but simpler ones made out of wool
and hanging freely.  Some were simple, made of one color
and one fabric.  Others were more elaborate, bearing
embroidery all over and showing a mix of colors.  Many
women wore hoods to match their dresses, and some carried
simple parasols to ward off the afternoon heat.  It was
rare to see one woman alone; they were often found in
pairs and triples as they went about their business.  One
woman even went so far as to cluck disapprovingly at her
as they passed each other on the street.  An evil glare
from Raeni soon drove her off.

	The houses gradually and visibly grew older as she
approached the center of town.  Pointy spires greeted her,
the same ones she had seen from a distance.  As she neared
the town's heart, the architecture grew more elaborate. 
Multiple chimneys adorned each house, indicating a wealth
of fireplaces.  Metal shutters appeared replacing the
wooden ones she saw on the outskirts of town.  Bas relief
became common on the fence and building walls.  Some
depicted normal animals, but others told of fantastic
scenes of mythical creatures frolicking.  Here and there,
murals could be found, drawn in brilliant, vivid colors. 
Some houses even had metal doors, or at least metal gilded
doors, though she shuddered to think of the weight.

	Raeni turned the final corner, and came up the town
square.  Three buildings came into sight.  One, obviously
a church, had high steeples with stained glass windows. 
It seemed that though glass was not common, at least the
people of this world had the ability to make it. 
Wondering what kinds of Gods and Goddesses these people
looked to, she paused at the gateway leading to the house
of worship.  A priest came out to greet her, but she bowed
her head in respect and turned away, discomfited.  Master
Hariule had never been very religious, and this had been
passed to her.  She knew her religious education was
severely lacking.

	The second of the structures stood opposite the
church.  This one was obviously a courthouse, made of
expensive-looking marble.  'Hmm.  Where did they enough
marble to build that?' she asked herself.  Stone of that
quality must have been imported a great distance to this
place, since the closest mountains were still over 100
miles away.  This town was prosperous enough to have such
a splendid governing center, but she wondered what
industry was rich enough to allow its creation.

	Turning to the last of the buildings, she deduced
that Errin had entered through this gate.  The door was
left ajar in his haste to reach his mother.  Raeni faintly
remembered the outline of the house from the previous
night.  Not as stately as the courthouse, nor as ornate as
the church, this building was a simple two-story house
made of the purest white granite she had ever seen.  The
Lord's manor must have been there for at least 50 years,
judging from the ivy overgrowing the walls.

	'Ah, well,' she thought.  'Ucchan, Destiny has come
to your door.'  She smiled at her own internal joke and
headed into the open gate.