Silver Carousel: Volume 11

Act 5: Twin Flowers

We don't remember it all that clearly

"Stop him!"

The day we killed someone

"He's cornered! Get him!"

It was like a blur...

"Please, stop..."

...a blur of red

"Kill the child, too!"

And soon

after the screams

"Please, no!"

there was finally peace

silence

and rest

"Thank you, my dear"  he said

and took our hands

"This will be your new home"

he gave us names

and love...

"Don't be afraid anymore"

and we knew

that this was our Lord.

~~~~~~

     "The Chimera," Mo whimpers, "how near is it?"
     "Very near," Narcissus says. "We should leave."
     "Our Lord does not want us in there. We should fight," Hyacinth says.
     "I don't want to fight."
     "Sometimes we must."
     "It's not right."
     "Humans do it all the time. It might not be right, but it's normal...right?"

     The twins look into the distance again.

     "Perhaps we should find it," Hyacinth suggests.
     "Perhaps we should run."
     "Perhaps you're a wimp, Nana."

     Hyacinth jumps through the branches, Narcissus following close behind with Mo in hand. The boy isn't nearly as good as his sister at dodging- most of the small branches smack him in the face. He was the best fighter though. 

I don't want to fight, but...I suppose I must. After a while, it becomes fun.

     Narcissus smiles to himself as he skips a branch and lands on the ground. Hyacinth is on the ground, observing a trail of tracks.

     "Found it," she says.

~~~~~~~

     "Meep!"
     "What did you find, Boni?" Yukio asks, bending down to take a closer look. It was a Kaitens' nest, the tiny, fluffy babies inside meeping for their mother. Small tufts of yellow fur cover them, most likely from the mother- they take their scale-protected fur to cover their babies. Boni stays away. She doesn't want to fight a wild Kaiten. They could get mean.

     Yukio smiles and turns to Cicero, who is sadly sniffing at something in the bushes. Upon taking a closer look, he can see that it's the mother- completely and utterly mauled to death. Natural instincts kick in, and Boni has the babies on her back, still meeping quietly. This wasn't their mother. But she's warm, and warm is what they need.

     They continue on, the trail becoming more and more vegetated as they walk. Yukio is eventually chopping away at a sword Balthier gave him just to walk through. Cicero had tons of burrs and other seeds trapped in his fur, and a few Nipping Beetles made them itch. (Yukio thought it was still fun, though.)
     Once the first sun began to set, the animals got scared- nighttime was the best time, but being natural pets, it was awfully frightening. The soft coos of Luna Owls and the bright blue, luminescent bugs that flew were strange to them. Even the baby Kaitens went silent, careful not to attract predators.