"Quit fidgeting."
"I feel like my ass is hanging out!" Shej hissed.
"That's because it almost is," Leena laughed. "Just remember to crouch instead of bend if you have to pick something up off the floor. Otherwise, yes, all your downstairs goodies will be shown off to whoever is standing behind you. And cross your ankles when you sit, not your knees."
Shej stood up straight, having conquered heels much quicker than she thought she would. The black dress hugged her every curve, cinching at the bottom and only having one full sleeve, leaving the other shoulder bare. It seemed to perfectly compliment Shej's female body style. Leena stood next to her in a green dress that was much more flowing with laced shoulder-caps and it too complimented Leena perfectly. She noticed Leena had always been good about style.
As they neared Cerno's home, several guards came out to greet them.
"Welcome," a woman said. "And I apologize about my water attack on you, Madam Leena." She was dark haired and kept her head bowed.
"You're Rosalie?" Leena smiled as the woman nodded. She walked up and hugged her. "You're why I stopped running. Thank you."
Rosalie looked confused.
"...Yaya?" The voice sounded on the verge of tears.
Shej and Leena looked up as Cerno exited his front doors and was walking toward them. He stopped just in front of Shej and dropped to his knees, bowing down to her.
"Brother, please stand up," she asked quietly, everyone looking upon them and whispering about them being twins.
He sat up onto his knees, his eyes glistening. "Thank you so much for coming. I'm just still so happy you did. I couldn't sleep last night. I hoped if I built Saorsa, one day you would still be looking for freedom and I'd be able to see you again." He got to his feet and hugged her tightly. "I've spent the last 14 years begging that you were still alive."
"May we go in and discuss this more in private? I haven't been in this form in a very long time and I'm feeling a little awkward being gawked at."
"Of course," he said, holding his hand out to direct them inside.
Shej smiled at Leena and held her hand out. Leena quickly came and took it. She tried to ignore the whispers again.
"What happened with Ralnsah after I killed our parents?" Shej asked darkly, getting straight to the point as they entered Cerno's home. Leena stayed silent, sitting next to Shej as she sat on the couch, briefly reminding Shej how to sit proper.
"They looked frantically for you. It was like a witch hunt, and they came questioning me after the fires were out." Cerno sat in an over-sized chair, a young woman bringing them cups of fresh brewed tea. "What happened?"
"What I want to know is...you know that I killed them but you know not why, and yet you spend 14 years looking for me. Building me a city in hopes it would draw me in? Why?"
"Becauseyou're my twin sister and I knew you weren't to blame for whatever happened.You possessed a strong source, widely known bythe people in our city because of our parents.They all wanted to discard you like trash but our parents couldn't bear toseparate us. I knew for a fact you wouldn't hurt anyone though."
"But I did."
"And that's where I'm asking why."
Shej looked down at the cup of tea she held on her lap. She jumped slightly when Leena placed her hand on her arm for reassurance.
"We were in the study—mom, dad, me, and that 'doctor' they called in. I don't remember too much of that man, but I remember enough."
"I remember him. Mom said you were sick," Cerno said softly.
"He was there to convince our parents how to get rid of my source," she advised. She stared into the swirls of steam as they danced on the surface of her tea. The images played in her mind like a fresh wound.
"Elowyse, will you take Cerno to Nan Edna's please?" Sayla asked the handmaid.
"Yay! Yaya, let's go play with Nan Edna's kittens!" Cerno cheered.
"Oh yeah! Susu just had babies!"
"No Cerno, Sheja needs to stay here," Sayla interjected.
"Why mom? We never go anywhere not-together," he whined.
"Tonight you will. Sheja has been sick and we've called a doctor to see her."
"You're sick, Yaya?" He paused then look back up at their mother. "Then I want to stay here with her and help her too."
"You absolutely will not," father boomed. "Elowyse, if you please. Now."
Both children and Elowyse jumped at Jhon's gruff voice. Fighting and crying to stay, Elowyse struggled but managed to pull Cerno from the room. A tall man with a husky figure held the door open for her, entering the room and closing the door once they were out.
"Thank you for coming, Dr. Tasp. Please enlighten us, how does one cure a Taboo from her curse?" Sayla asked.
He sighed. "It's unfortunately not a simple or kind process." His voice was deep and raspy. Sheja tensed up, his voice making her uneasy. "Her source has to be crushed for it to go away. To do that, her spirit itself needs to be crushed, sometimes the body too if necessary."
"What are you suggesting?" Sayla said, almost sounding mortified.
"For her seal to be broken. But it must be at a young age, when it's the most brutal on the body. As they grow older, their bodies get ready for their husbands and it becomes less likely to kill the source."
"You are suggesting someone to bed an eight year old?"
"I am not keen to the idea myself, but it's so far the only thing seen to work."
Sheja sat frozen, not understanding what the adults were talking about, but whatever it was didn't sound good.
"Will you do it?" Jhon asked sternly.
"But Jhon..."
"Be quiet, Sayla," he growled quietly, turning back to Dr. Tasp.
"Again, I'm not keen to the idea, but if no one else will, then yes, with the proper payment I will."
"Then I don't care what it costs. Do it."
Sayla looked at Sheja but stayed silent and immediately looked back at the doctor. Sheja lowered her head a bit, neither parent had ever looked upon her with a look of love. She understood she was a curse forced upon them.
"I will need one hour, at least," Dr. Tasp stated. "No interruptions."
"Whatever you need, just get rid of her curse. Come, Sayla."
Sheja watched her parents leave the study, leaving her alone with this stranger. They didn't even say anything to her as they left.
"Now then young one," he started, shivers crawling up Sheja's spine. "My apologies as this will definitely not be pleasant, but it's the only way to cure you."
"What's wrong with me that I have to be cured?"
"Little girls shouldn't have magic. It's unnatural, it's forbidden."
"Why?"
"That's just the way it is. Take off your dress."
Sheja just sat, not moving. She watched him pull something out of his doctor's tool kit. When he turned back around, something hung from his undone pants and he instantly looked irritated.
"You were told to undress."
"I don't undress in front of strangers!"
"I'm a doctor, you'll do as you're told," he growled, storming over to her as she sat on the sofa. He grabbed her roughly, forcing the dress off of her. "Next, those bloomers."
Sheja yelled at the top of her lungs, pleas for her parents to help her.
The study door never opened.
He grabbed her braided hair and she cried out in pain. Before he could remove anything else from her, she delivered a strong kick to his exposed groin and he instantly let go of her. She sent another hard kick into his face as he was keeled over, causing him to stumble backwards.
The next sound she heard was instantly embedded into her mind, a gargling yell of pain as the man had fallen backwards onto a large globe her parents had. The holder of the globe had a long decorative spike off the top where the North Pole was located and it had buried itself deep into his back, sticking out through his chest. Sheja stopped, trying to understand at first the noise, but then realized the dripping she heard, realizing it was blood trickling to the floor and puddling. She took the opportunity to bolt from the room.
Just outside the door stood her parents and seeing Sheja half naked, they attempted to stop her. Jhon grabbed her tightly and Sayla let out a panicked scream-like yell seeing the now-dead man in their study.
"What have you done!" Sayla yelled.
"He was trying to hurt me!"
"He was trying to fix you!" father yelled directly in Sheja's face.
"We'll find someone else, Jhon. Or take her to the square!"
"No!" Sheja fought. She struggled to try get out of her father's grasp. He was too strong.
"If I wasn't your father, I'd do it myself!" he growled. "Samuel! Mikhale! Simon! One of you, get down here!"
Sheja could hear feet pounding the floor down the hallway. She knew he was going to order one of their servants to hurt her.
"No!" she yelled again. This time, a shock wave radiated away from her, blasting both of her parents away from her. She froze.
Both Sayla and Jhon lay motionless and Sheja could see blood running from their nostrils, ears, and corners of their mouth.
"Mom? Dad?" She walked over to them, pretty certain with how they both blankly stared that they were both dead. Someone down the hall yelled about a fire and only a few seconds later, an explosion erupted from the kitchen, flames bursting into the grand hall. She was thrown to the floor from the extreme heat.
Sheja felt fire painfully licking at her bare flesh, especially across her back. She quickly realized something on fire had landed on her and burnt her hair. As she jumped to her feet to try get the hot item off of her, she realized her braid had been singed off and now laid on the floor, her hair hanging around her chin. As another burst from the kitchen erupted, she didn't think and just ran as fast as she could.
"Cerno!" a woman cried, catching Sheja. "Are you hurt? What happened? Where is your sister?"
Sheja could only shake her head, she was confused since everyone was always able to tell them apart.
"Go to Nan's. Don't stop, just go!"
"But I—"
"Go!" she yelled again.
On her way to Nan Edna's, she once again got stopped by someone and they too mistook her for her brother.
People think I'm Cer? she thought to herself as she reached up and touched her now short hair. Additionally, she was running around topless as only boys do, and with only being eight years of age, her chest was still about as flat as her brothers as she had yet started to develop.
Instantly, she turned into a darkened space between homes as someone starting yelling that the Angevin's had been murdered and that their mansion was ablaze. Sheja panicked and took the darkest route she could until she reached the forest's edge that surrounded their town.
Cerno's eyes went wide, shifting forward in his chair and setting his tea down on the table. "Sheja, I—"
"Let me finish," she said softly. She put her hand over Leena's as it trailed down her arm and rested on the back of hers. "People were yelling, instantly saying I had murdered everyone and that I needed to be found and Squared."
"Squared?" Leena asked.
"It's when they take someone and string them up in the center of the town...and have them killed. Slowly," Cerno replied, shakily.
"I didn't know if you were okay, but I didn't know what you would believe about our parent's death...so obviously, I couldn't stick around. I ran as far as I could using the forest as cover until I couldn't see the blaze anymore. And since people kept thinking I was you...I transformed myself completely into your likeness and dropped the A from my name."
"And then you arrived in Sundres?" Leena asked.
"Not immediately. I must have been walking for months. Maybe a year? Every village or town I came across, every girl was looked down upon. I couldn't allow myself to stay somewhere like that again."
"What happened then?" Cerno asked.
"I was lost. I was just a hollow shell walking at that point. Friends of Leena's parents found me and took me in. They were so kind and loving...so I stayed. I learned that it was still a place where women with sources were considered taboo, so I kept my façade as a boy and no one was the wiser. Leena and her twin brother, Twyndis, refused to let me be alone and eventually got me to open up to them. We became the best of friends."
"You're a twin as well?"
Leena nodded.
"And not to sound insensitive Yaya, but you're a woman and you married Leena...not her brother?"
Shej smiled. "I did. I was still wrapped up as a man, I played as a man for many many years after all. I didn't think of myself as a woman at all anymore, and I still don't actually. But the biggest factor was because she came to me on her Of Age birthday to talk marriage—even though it was another brutal reminder of who I really was. So that night, I told her everything about the real me. She never flinched."
"I grew up knowing Shej and I decided it didn't matter who she was. So, I still wanted to accept Shej as my spouse. Husband, wife...it doesn't matter which. I love Shej for being Shej," Leena added.
"That makes more sense now. Thank you for explaining," Cerno said, smiling. "I'm just sad that I couldn't be at the wedding."
"We eloped anyway," Sheja admitted, laughing. "Twyn pissedher off something fierce and she wanted to get married as soon as possible. Wenever actually courted and weren't even engaged for a whole day." Shej lookedup at her brother then looked around the room. She only just now realized therewere no new family portraits, only old ones that she recognized from the mantlein their family home. The only thing she didn't recognize was a blue bookmarkthat sat propped up against one of the family photos. It looked handmade. "Haveyou not married? We've been Of Age for almostfour years."
"I was arranged to be married, but my fiancé passed unfortunately. I have yet to put any time into looking for another bride as I wanted to find you first."
"We're so sorry to hear that," Leena expressed. "But now that you know Sheja is safe, you can put focus to finding you a wonderful partner to run this city with and to create beautiful heirs that look like you, right?"
Cerno smiled.
Shej's lips parted as she had a thought.
"What is it, Shej?" she asked.
Shej looked briefly at her then back up at her brother, "I have an odd proposition."
"Whatever you need, Yaya."
"Help Leena and I have a baby."
"What?!" both Leena and Cerno exclaimed together.
"And how, pray tell, is he supposed to help with that?" Leena questioned in shock.
"Cerno just has to...umm...donate." Shej blushed, the thought sounding more stupid out loud. She began to bramble nervously, taking Leena's hands in hers. "I mean, Cerno's and my DNA is nearly identical because we're twins. I can try use my source to merge my personal DNA into it further, implant it into you and...you know...you'll get pregnant. With my baby."
Leena looked at Shej and noticed she partially looked hopeful, but also scared for a million other reasons. But most noticeably, it was the first time she had realized that Shej wanted a baby as badly as she had, but in a way that she would never be able to do herself.
"On the condition you settle here in Saorsa," Cerno stated, without blinking.
Shej and Leena both looked up at him.
"Wait, you'd really do it?" Shej asked.
"If you want to be a father so badly that you believe it's possible, then yes. If it means you stay here in Saorsa, yes. And if it means I get to be an uncle? Then absolutely yes."
Shej's eyes widened.
"Hey Shej? I think this is the part where you ask to see that plot of land he offered," Leena playfully whispered, nudging her.
"Want to show us this land you mentioned yesterday?" Shej repeated immediately like a parrot, her heart racing.
"Lunch is served, Sir," the lady who had served tea returned to announce.
"After lunch, of course," Shej added.
Cerno smiled broadly.