I looked at Chanda sharply. “Our wedding night? Why would that be so terrifying to her? I was there, damn it, and fear was the last thing either of us was feeling!”

Chanda shook her head slowly. “No… not your wedding night. Hers and… and… his.” She shuddered, and another tear slowly trickled down her cheek.

I felt the room begin to spin for a moment as her words hit me. “Her… her wedding night? Hers and whose? Just what are you saying?”

Dylas angrily stormed over, quickly joined by Arthur. “What are you people getting at? What do you mean by ‘her wedding night’?” Dylas demanded.

Rishi sighed. “Avani has now slipped from unconsciousness into slumber. I’ll try to explain as best I can while she rests. Perhaps if we return to the fire, we will be less likely to disturb her. I think she needs to sleep for now.”

I shook my head. “No. Absolutely not. I’m not leaving her until she wakes up. I don’t understand what’s going on, but I don’t want her to wake up frightened and alone.”

Chanda stood up and looked at me. “Go ahead. I’ll stay with her.”

“Who are you, anyway?” I asked, frowning, reluctant to just hand my wife over to a total stranger. “Another relative? A sister?”

“I’m her wife,” she replied calmly.

I jumped up angrily. “What the hell!”

Sharmila raised her hand, cutting me off. She turned to Chanda with a reproving look. “Chanda… you know that isn’t true. We can do without unnecessary provocation right now. Things are difficult enough as it is without you making them worse.”

Chanda crossed her arms over her chest and looked down at the floor with a sullen expression. “It should be true. She won me fair and square.”

“What? What is with you people? What do you mean, Avani ‘won’ you? Will someone please explain what’s going on?” I felt anger and frustration displacing my bewilderment, and clenched my fists as I struggled to maintain some composure.

Sharmila took me by the arm, and led me and Rishi back to fire. I glanced back and saw Chanda sit in the chair I had just vacated, watching over Avani as she slept. I sat down in the chair Arthur had previously occupied, from which I could keep an eye on my wife, and glared at the couple on the sofa and waited. Arthur sat down in the other chair, and Dylas stood leaning against the mantel, shifting impatiently.

Laying a hand on Rishi’s arm, Sharmila said, “Perhaps it would be best if I started. You can correct me or add things as you see fit, but I know the story is difficult for you to tell. At least, parts of it.” He hesitated, then nodded agreement, and she looked over at me.

“To begin at the beginning, since you know nothing of us or our people…. As Rishi mentioned, we call ourselves the Ventuani. We once were a great nation, many centuries ago, but we have dwindled both in number and in power. Only a few of us remain, though our blood flows in the veins of many. We were the original Avanani, or what you call ‘Earthmates’. We serve Ventu, the God of Creation, and the manifestation of his will on our plane: the Native Dragon that bears his name, Ventu’s Will.

“Though we once reigned over much of the continent, our people grew decadent and apathetic, and our line became dilute as we intermingled with other races. Eventually we were overthrown, and a new civilization replaced our own—the forefathers of the current monarchy, I believe, though of that I am not entirely certain. The few surviving Ventuani became nomads, wandering to and fro across the continent, crossing borders undetected, before finally settling in the hills and mountains in the far south of your kingdom. In an effort to preserve what was left of our bloodline, we banned marriages to outsiders without explicit permission from our leader, the Ra’mara of the Ventuani. Although once all of our people had been powerful Avanani, now few of us are born with any such power, and even then greatly diminished from our prime. The hallmarks by which an Avanan of our people is known are green eyes or green hair. The more pure the green, the greater the power, and both green eyes and hair represented the greatest potential. Avani was the first child born with both true green eyes and true green hair in many, many generations, and her birth caused a sensation on that account. By comparison, Rishi’s hair is greenish yellow, and his eyes are a very pale blue-green; therefore, he possesses far less runic power than his sister. I have neither, and so I am not an Avanan at all.

“Avani’s green hair and eyes weren’t the only cause for sensation among our people, though. The fact that they were twins, male and female, also was of great interest. In our tribe, such twins are a rarity, and they are destined to become the Dragon Knight and Dragon Priest or Priestess. Usually the role of the Knight falls to the brother, while the sister is trained as Priestess. However, as Rishi was born almost completely blind, he could not fill the customary role of Knight, and so their positions were reversed. Avani was proclaimed the future Dragon Knight, whose duty it is to protect the Priestess—and Ventuswill herself, should we ever return to power.

“Further complicating things was their heritage. Their father was the Ra’mara of the tribe. Our tribe practices male-preferred primogeniture, so although Avani had been born before her brother, Rishi was first in line to inherit the title upon their father’s death or abdication. Some of our people harbored doubts about his fitness to lead the tribe, wondering how a man thus afflicted could effectively lead the tribe should war come to us. Most considered the point moot, as we have been a peaceful people for centuries now, removed from the politics and tribulations of the world around us. Still, there were some skeptics then—and are even to this day.

“Now, in our tribe, we have a triumvirate of seers, bearing the titles of the Nivara, or Maiden; the Janani, or Mother; and the Narmara, or Crone. Upon the death of the Crone, the Mother is promoted to Crone, and the Maiden to Mother, and the first girl child born after the former Crone’s death becomes the new Maiden. As soon as she is weaned from her mother’s breast, she is taken to the temple, where she is raised by the Mother and educated by the Crone. A child born on the night of either the full moon or the new is considered especially auspicious for such a role, as she is believed to be particularly powerful. If born on the night of the new moon, her power is believed to be negative, and she will be revered but feared; if the moon is full, her power is positive, and she will be loved instead of feared. I was such a child, born in the middle of the night of the harvest moon two days after the death of the previous Crone. It was foretold that I would be an especially strong Mother, and I was given a name that means ‘protector’ or ‘comfort’ in the ancient tongue of our people.

“One of the roles of the seer among our people is to determine a child’s name, either before or immediately after birth. The name is always in the old tongue, which is now used only for names, titles, and spells, and although few know the meanings of the names given, they represent the child’s future or personality. Therefore, to name a child is also to name his or her destiny. Rishi means ‘wise man’ and Chanda means ‘fierce’ or ‘passionate’. Avani is related to our word for Earthmates, the Avanani; it is the word for a female Avanan. Avani means ‘woman of the earth’, while Avanani means ‘people of the earth’. The implication of this name was that she would have great rune power, and many hoped that her birth heralded a return to our former glory. In addition, at her birth, the Crone foretold that she would change the fate of the world.

“This prophesy caused a great deal of excitement, as you can no doubt imagine. Unfortunately, it also drew the attention of… of the man she would one day marry. At her birth, he was but a boy of twelve, yet he had already set his feet upon the path that he would follow throughout his life, even to this day. Please excuse me, Leon, but I cannot bring myself to speak his name. None of us three can. It is… an anathema to us, as is its bearer. Even the meaning of his name… it means ‘terrible’ or ‘formidable’.” She shifted in her seat, shivering slightly despite the warmth of the fire, and her eyes dimmed for a moment at some private thought or memory before she continued.

“Anyway, after the prophesy was given, it seems he became determined to marry her, that she was somehow key to his goals, whatever they were. So when he was sixteen years of age and Avani was but a child of four, he approached their father, our Prince, and asked to marry her when she came of age. After some deliberation, her father consented, with the provision that Avani be permitted to retain her title of Dragon Knight and the duties and training appurtenant thereto, and that he wait until she reached the age of eighteen—the age at which her training and education would be considered complete—before the marriage took place. His family was an old family, and one of the few remaining nearly pure bloodlines, but that line was dying out. He was, in fact, the only male born to it in that generation, and its only chance for survival. Marriage to… to the scion of that family line was considered advantageous in many ways, not least of which was that he himself was so well-regarded. He was… is… considered to be extremely handsome, and he can be very charismatic—when it suits him, that is.”

Rishi interrupted in a low voice, his face turned towards the warmth of the fire. “She was a beautiful child, Leon. So happy and good-natured, always kind and helpful. Our mother called her ‘Kunapi’ when she was little, which was our name for a tiny, lively, pretty green songbird found in the mountain forests of our home. She always helped me, guiding me as we walked, and keeping me safe while we played. All my life, I’ve never been able to see more than blurs of light and color. But while my vision was so poor as to be all but useless, I instead gained something else: a telepathic link to my twin. It was only one-way, but it was still something special that tied us even more closely together. I could see what she saw, hear what she heard, feel what she felt… and, with great difficulty, I could even speak to her in her mind. All her senses were at my disposal, but none of mine were at hers. It was a secret that we shared, and we often used it to pull pranks on the adults. I had no control over it, though, as a child, and could not turn it off and on at will.

“As I was saying, she was a lovely, sweet child, and we were the best of friends. I loved my sister dearly, and I would have done anything for her, though my abilities were few in comparison to hers. She began her training for her role as the Knight at an early age, only eight. She could hardly even lift her short sword. She also began instruction in the ways of the Avanani, and that was in addition to her formal education. Her teachers, each and every one of them, remarked in astonishment at her talent, at how quickly she learned, at her thirst for knowledge.

“She had very little time to herself after her education began in earnest. What little playtime she had was usually spent with me or with Chanda, who was marked an outcaste at birth. Despite that, Avani befriended her, though few others would even speak to her—even her own father avoided her. So Chanda rewarded my sister’s kindness to her with absolute, unconditional devotion.”

“Why was she marked an outcaste?” Arthur interrupted, curiously. “Such a thing is unheard of in Norad.”

"Is it?" Rishi asked in honest surprise. "You mean, you have no dregs of society, people who are shunned and avoided and scorned due to something beyond their control, such as illness or injury, poverty or parentage?" Arthur looked somewhat taken aback, but Rishi continued. "You will have noticed Chanda's eyes are unusual. I'm told that one is red and the other is green. Unfortunately, many in our tribe, especially among the older generations, are very superstitious, and such heterochromia is considered an ill omen, particularly if one eye is red—that's considered to be a sign that the person has been marked by the God of Destruction. I know it sounds foolish—and it is foolish. But it wasn't the least bit funny for Chanda growing up like that. I didn't care, in part because I couldn't even see her eyes and in part because Avani assured me that it made no difference. But Avani didn't need anyone to tell her that—she just believed with all her heart that Chanda was a good person. She was unusually egalitarian in her views not only as a child, but as an adult as well.

“And so things continued for a few years, Avani learning swordplay and martial arts, horticulture and animal husbandry, and many other things considered befitting a young lady of our tribe, such as cooking, sewing, needlework, and music, while I prepared for my priestly duties with the Crone, who were simultaneously training Sharmila, the Maiden. In addition to these vocational studies, we still had our formal education: reading, writing, mathematics, tribal history, storytelling, and spellcasting. Some of these I was not taught, due to my impairment, but I learned them nonetheless through Avani’s eyes. And she taught much of what she learned to Chanda, who was denied the opportunity for education after many parents objected to her attendance in our little school. Chanda didn’t care much for formal education, however, and balked at learning much beyond basic reading and writing and arithmetic, though she did enjoy when my sister would relate our history in the form of stories. And she did well at combat training, making a fine sparring partner for Avani—which no doubt contributed to her progress.

“When we were fourteen, though, I became aware one day of a… a difference in my sister—of a new sentiment, a new… focus secreted deep within her thoughts. And soon I realized that my beloved sister—my dearest friend—was in love.”