[Solo] The Beacons Are Lit!

Nashaki Calls for Aid! Shall Yuli and Beorn Answer?

5th of Ymiden 716

A blistering desert that stretches for hundreds of miles around Nashaki, with very little relief from the baking heat.
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Yuli'anyh
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[Solo] The Beacons Are Lit!

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5th Ymiden 716
Yuli'anyh's Residence,
Evening
Flicking the reins, Yuli’anyh directed Ahiro to the right a little. One hand grasping casually around the pommel of the stallion’s newly bought saddle, Yuli’anyh began to see why people enjoyed riding leisurely. The padded leather helped to absorb the impact of her rear bumping up and down on Ahiro’s back and with her feet resting in the stirrups, her thighs weren’t so tense.

As the sun lowered towards dusk, a last wave of the Trial’s warmth flooded across the desert dunes. A soft evening breeze carrying a light layer of sand across the Hotlands, made the ground appear as though it were a moving sea of orange.

Swiftly, the sandy humped terrain began to give way to dried cracked earth. In the short distance ahead, the young twin could see her temporary homestead appear on the horizon. Leaning forward a touch, Yuli’anyh kicked in her heels to spur the Namib stallion on into a canter, eager to get home, the threat of war urging her on with haste.

Uncomfortable wearing his new riding gear, the commands given through the bit, odd and awkward, Ahiro snorted and shook his head in protest. He was perfectly content strolling across the sands at a walk and Yuli’anyh new no amounts of pestering would convince the stallion otherwise. He was stubborn and there was no changing his mind.

Squinting crossly into the back of the coffee coated Namib’s head, the young twin sighed and resigned to the stallion’s will. Instead, Yuli’anyh decided to remain vigilant and scanned her surroundings, watching out for any scouting parties. The sooner her and Beorn left this doomed wasteland the better. Residing in a territory at war was to risk everything, better they move on while they had the chance.

Half a break later, Ahiro and the young twin sauntered right up to the twin’s cave opening. Yanking back on the reins Yuli’anyh brought Ahiro to a halt and just as she swung a leg over the stallion’s slender shoulders, she caught Beorn in the doorway, a contrite expression glazing over his clean shaven face.

Frowning down at her twin, Yuli’anyh’s brow furrowed, her emerald eyes glinting with suspicion as she slipped from Ahiro’s back, her feet thumping the ground, “Where are you going?” Her gaze flickered to the full rucksack hanging on Beorn’s back, before slowly dragging back to the lowered gaze of her twin questioningly.

Staring at his feet, Beorn struggled to look his sister in the eye. He didn’t want her to find out like this, he had expected her home far earlier. “Look, I was going to tell you. I wasn’t just going to leave without saying goodbye…” He finally found the courage to look Yuli’anyh in the eye, his gaze stern, devoid of all emotion. At least, if she hadn’t known him as deeply as she did, that’s how he would have appeared. Yuli’anyh could tell the man was fighting back tears. “…I promise you that.”

His whole countenance frightened her. Catching him at the doorway of their home frightened her. Ahiro suddenly began to meander away, swiftly catching hold of the leather reins, Yuli’anyh dragged the stallion back.

Anger began to boil to the surface as the young twin realised Beorn was leaving… without even so much as discussing with her what was going on. Since when did he start keeping secrets from her? “Leaving? Why are you leaving? Why haven’t you said anything to me? Beorn, tell me what’s going on!”
Last edited by Yuli'anyh on Thu Jun 30, 2016 7:33 pm, edited 4 times in total. word count: 615
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Yuli'anyh
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[Solo] The Beacons Are Lit!

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Glancing to the dimming skies, Beorn sighed and let his heavy rucksack slip to the ground, raising a hand up in defence, “Yuli calm down.”

Yuli’anyh physically had to bite the end of her tongue, clenching it between her teeth least she say something she would regret. Raising her brow, her fiery glare urged her twin to quickly explain himself, one hand firmly keeping hold of Ahiro’s reins.

Scratching his head as he considered his words, Beorn rested his other hand on his hip, “Where to start…”

Stomping over to the small desert tree outside their grotto, Yuli’anyh hurriedly tied Ahiro up to the trunk, before spinning on her twin, “From the bloody beginning,”

Gesturing with an open hand for the pair to go inside the protection of their dwelling, Beorn began, his tone tense, edgy, defensive, “Right, well, you see… There’s this Empire, living on the borders of the Hotlands an-"

“I know about the forsaken War B’. I was coming to warn you about it. What has this got to do with you apparently leaving without me?!” Yuli’anyh’s voice began to tremble as the heart breaking hurt of discovering her brother leaving without her began to set in and her anger waned.

Frustrated, Beorn paced, struggling to find the words to express and explain himself to his twin. “I’m, I can’t, I just… I’m not like you Yuli, it’s not as easy for me to stand by and not get involved as it is for you,”

Yuli’anyh’s brow knotted in confusion as she attempted to piece together what her brother was trying to get out, “What do you mean?”

Pausing in front of his sister, Beorn’s expression grew stoic, serious, “The border fortress called for reinforcements today…”

Yuli’anyh shook her head and shrugged, more than a little baffled as to what her twin was getting at, “Yeah, and?”

Raking both his hands through his long snowy locks, Beorn took a deep breath, his voice quiet, grave, “Yuli… I’ve signed up to fight…”

His words were like ice lancing through her. Her heart skipped a beat, she struggled to swallow his words. Her eyes widened beneath raised brows as fear exploded through her. Anger bubbled behind the veil of hurt that he had kept this from her, that he hadn’t even discussed any of it with her. How could he leave her? And to go and fight in some war for a homeland that wasn’t even theirs to call home?!

She was entirely at a loss as to where this was all coming from. Their entire lives Yuli’anyh and Beorn had always been of the same mind. In everything, every decision, every thought, every feeling since the day their father had died was expressed and consulted with one another, always. They had never once kept secrets from each other, not one.

Yuli’anyh could feel her body tremble, shock paralysing her in place, stealing away her voice as her mind raced to process what this meant exactly. Beorn, realising the weight of his words, waited patiently, his steely gaze searched his sister’s for any signs of what she might be thinking. It terrified him. He valued his sister’s opinions and her thoughts greatly, though, in this matter, his heart was set in stone, there would be no changing it.
Last edited by Yuli'anyh on Thu Jun 30, 2016 7:34 pm, edited 3 times in total. word count: 570
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Yuli'anyh
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[Solo] The Beacons Are Lit!

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Flabbergasted, Yuli’anyh racked her fingers through her hair, brushing it away from her face as she turned away to gaze off into nothing, not able to bear the scrutinising eye of her twin. Rage began to eat away her fear, her hurt. “Why do you even care? Why do you care so much to risk your life for them?!”

“Because, Yuli, it’s not right. No Empire should have the audacity to take away the freedom of a people if they do not wish it!” As Yuli’anyh glanced at her twin sideways, she was stunned by the dangerous, fiery passion in his eyes.

In that brief moment, she truly saw into his heart. He was fighting for something more than just the freedoms of the Nashaki people. He was the one after all, who constantly reminded her that this wasteland wasn’t their home. There was something else fuelling his lust to fight. He was keeping more secrets from her and it was infuriating. No, it was harrowing.

Still, Yuli’anyh refused to accept his folly excuses. She wanted to know the true reason, she wanted to know what was going on with her brother. If he wouldn’t tell her, she would anger him to the point where it would all but slip out. She would have to be harsh, she would have to target something that would hurt him.

Tears brimming in her emerald eyes, her voice raised slightly, though quivered on every word, “What happened to us? What happened to looking after US B? We made that promise a long time ago, but that promise has kept us alive. It’s all we’ve got. You’re all I’ve got!”

The sting of throwing their oath in his face was as transparent as the finest of glass. It jolted Beorn down to his very core, his stern expression cracked and gave way to one full of emotion, tears. “I’m not – I would never throw away us. I’m not leaving you. I’m not going back on my word. I love you, Yuli, always will. I just… I have… I just need to do this.”

It was working. Beorn’s stone casing of steely determination was cracking and giving way to the truth. It pained her to sting him with her words so, but she needed to know what he was throwing away his life for. She needed to know where this sudden fire for morality came from. “Where is this coming from? This urge to die. That’s what you’re signing up for if you go – death! So yes, you are leaving me! And it’s all for nothing! The Hotlands isn’t our home. This freedom you’re fighting for isn’t yours! We always agreed to not get involved. ‘We look out for us, no one else’ – you said that!”

Tongue tied, Beorn was slowly being backed into a corner. Frustration and heartache etched weary lines into the twin’s rugged features as he gestured angrily with his hands. “Yes, I did – We should – But this time I can’t just sit back and watch it happen.”

“Why?! What’s changed? What aren’t you telling me? Explain it to me!”

Both twins were locked in a blazing, emotional argument of wills. Beorn refusing to relinquish his secret. Yuli’anyh refusing to allow her brother to go off to war without knowing it. It was fear disguised by wrath, driving the twins to butt heads. For a time, they simply locked gazes in a furious glare, both seething, both on the verge of tears, both hurting.
Last edited by Yuli'anyh on Thu Jun 30, 2016 7:37 pm, edited 2 times in total. word count: 607
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Yuli'anyh
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[Solo] The Beacons Are Lit!

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Realising that anger was not going to push Beorn into telling her, Yuli’anyh sucked in a quavering, calming breath. Planting a hand on her hip, she wiped a tear from her milken cheek. Glancing away from the glower of her twin, she set aside her bubbling fury and let the wave of anguish wash over her. Her words barely audible, she admitted her true fear, “I just don’t want you to die.”

Instantly all ire evaporated from Beorn’s stern countenance as he swiftly closed the gap towards his sister. Sighing gravely, he pulled Yuli’anyh close, although she begrudgingly refused at first. Cupping her head to his shoulder, he stroked her long, snowy hair down the length of her back in soft tickles, just as their father used to. He whispered softly, “I know… I know…”

Tears, freely coursing down her pale cheeks, Yuli’anyh squeezed Beorn tightly, almost as if she was afraid he would be ripped from her grasp. Snuggling her face into her brothers loving embrace, her words came muffled, “I just don’t understand why… I don’t understand why you feel you can’t tell me.”

Sucking in a steadying breath, Yuli’anyh’s head rising and falling with the expansion of his lungs, Beorn chewed the inside of his cheek as he deliberated his words, “This is just something I feel too strongly about to sit back and watch it happen. I know that, I always said we shouldn’t get involved. I know that, I always said we should put ourselves first… But, I can’t any more… I can’t do nothing, when someone should do something…”

For a trill it sounded like Beorn was about to say more, but he quickly bit his tongue and remained silent. He still refused to give voice to his secret. There was more to why Beorn had such a passionate will to fight for Nashaki. His desire to conceal this secret, cracked the wall of trust between the twins. Yuli’anyh would now forever wonder if her twin brother had other secrets he was hiding from her. It was this loss, that now caused the tears to flow.

Knowing, now, that there was nothing she could say to change his mind, Yuli’anyh choked back her tears. Her face relaxed, an impassive, vacant expression peered up at Beorn as she pulled away from their cuddle. Though calm and collected on the outside - inside terror swirled like a tempest in her gut. Wiping away her tears and running nose on the sleeve of her loose blouse, Yuli’anyh sniffed, “Well, then. We should get packing.”

Brow knotted in confusion, Beorn shook his head furiously, “We? No. There is no 'we'. You are staying right here!”

Yuli’anyh simply stared at her twin coolly, patiently waiting for him to finish expressing his denial. With a sad smile, she clasped her left hand in his right, bringing their joined fingers up between their faces for Beorn to see her meaning, their lengthy scars matching as if mirror reflections of one another, “Together. Always and Forever… We promised. I won’t let you go alone…” Yuli’anyh forced a laugh, “Besides, someone's gotta make sure you don't get into trouble,"

It was Beorn’s turn to release the flood of tears as the surge of fear, relief, sorrow, and guilt for dragging his sister with him buffeted him every which way. His fiery disposition caved, and he nodded, unable to force a smile back. The memory of the day they sliced their hands on the hull of the transportation ship all those Arcs ago, flashing before his mind’s eye as if it were only yesterday. “Together. Always and Forever.”

The twins, finally united in their stubborn determinations, were about to go to war. Yuli’anyh struggled to swallow past the trembling lump in her throat. The prospect of battle terrified her to the bone. A crisp chill shivered down her spine. She wasn’t ready to die. But she would lay down her life without hesitation, if it meant her brother could live. He meant everything to her. He was all she had.



The Beacons Were Lit. Nashaki Called For Aid.
And the Twins Would Answer!



End.
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Rosamond
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[Solo] The Beacons Are Lit!

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SKILLS

Riding 1
Detection1
Interrogation 1
Rhetoric 1

BASIC KNOWLEDGES

Beorn: Has signed up to fight for Nashaki
Beorn: “Together. Always and Forever.”

SPECIALIZED KNOWLEDGES

N/A

COMMENTS

Lovely portrait about the relationship between the twins and their feelings! As socialization isn't a skill anymore I gave you a point in rhetoric for the dialogue and discussion. Feel free to PM me if there's something I misunderstood or left out.
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