Ten minutes ago
October, Year 483
Forest of Lacau
State of Nicia
North

Edythe had somehow managed to resist the temptation to roll her eyes as she watched Esau climb up the tree with a steady but slow grip on the aged and mossy bark.

Apologies she was too amused to reply poured out of his mouth with each new height he reached he took.

"C'mon Esau," she whispered, more for herself than for him to hear, "you can do this."

She knew that he was too focused to notice her circle around the tree and effortlessly get on the same branch that he was heading to. She glared at her twin as he struggled to climb up a distance he could have mounted in his sleep.

Typical.

For some reason Esau was scared of everything when he was with her-and Edythe knew for a fact that he was completely fearless alone.

He wasn't afraid of anything but her. To be precise, he was terrified of failing her.

At the thought, Edythe finally allowed her eyes to roll. She wasn't scary and she loved her brother. Sometimes she couldn't just understand why he acted so silly.

She knew he wouldn't have climbed the tree without some persuasion, and since Esau didn't seem to be moved by the threat of being trampled to death, her possible demise was the only other thing that could make him budge-not that she would have let either of them die if her tactics hadn't worked.

Edythe could have carried him up if she wanted, it wouldn't have been that hard for her and she had done it before. But deep down she had a crippling fear that they couldn't always be together-and as much as the thought made her want to curl up into a ball and cry, she couldn't have him being weak when she wasn't around.

They were twins and they were the same. What she could do, he could do. And what either of them could do when they were apart, Edythe and Esau could do with twice the efficiency when they worked together.

It's the way it always is. And we are always together. . . But-

Lost in her troubling thoughts, Edythe almost didn't see Esau looking down into the horde. She almost didn't notice the panicked expression that had seized his features. But it was impossible for her not to feel an instinctive pang of terror.

The fear was hers and his combined.

No. Esau.

Immediately, she shot to her feet. Her brother had never been afraid of heights but all her senses screamed that he was going to fall. He had already reached the branch and was clinging to it with all he had, but his eyes never left the raging flow of beasts.

Look up, look up!

Edythe should have known he would look for her down there but she also knew that he would make the climb.

C'mon E, I'm up here. She screamed in her mind but he never turned his head from the sweeping tide of animals. His gaze drooped and she saw his eyes close.

Are those tears?

Her heart pounded at the sight of them and she prayed that he wouldn't do anything stupid. But lately, nothing seemed to be going her way.

Before she could process what had happened his grip on the branch went slack and he fell.

No, no, no.

She didn't know when she got there, directly in front of him, but her body unconsciously lurched forward, the force almost throwing her off the tree along with Esau.

Edythe stared in shock as her fingers slipped past his collar, and her chest collided with the branch as her feet slipped.

Her vision was blurred by tears but both her hands had managed to wrap around one of Esau's, catching him. His feet dangled just inches above the deadly horde.

Relief flooded her mind as she stared down at the peaceful face of her unconscious brother, thankful that he wasn't hurt or awake.

"Sorry Esau," she whispered, feeling more tears prick at her eyes as she slowly pulled him up. Noe caring about the pain that stung her arms and side, she dragged him into a crushing hug.

"This is why I go through my plans with you first. I don't really think things through," she mumbled by his ear.

Was there even any need to make Esau do things on his own? For all Edythe knew, they would never have to face a situation like that.

She carried him away from the end of the branch, a part of her itching to tie him to the tree when she set him down.

"I'm so stupid," She wiped away the stray tears she hadn't noticed slide down her face. She took off the veil too and stared at her twin carefully.

Her fingers reached out to clean off the little droplets just below his eyes when a suffocating pain in her chest made her want to pull back. With her gloved hands still resting on her brother's face she let out a stifled breath and bearer through the pain. She brushed away his tears, a small smile stretching her lips.

"Sorry for scaring you, Esau," she unhooked the backpack she wore and pulled it in front of her. "You'll probably say that it's just a scratch, right?"

"That I shouldn't worry? But you obviously don't understand." Edythe stared at the cut on his cheek then looked into her bag, glad that she had remembered to take Esau's bow and quiver up here with her. He would how been so upset if they had gotten ruined. "I'm also hurt too. . . I think."

Rummaging through the bag and finding nothing that she wanted, Edythe zipped it back up and set it down next to her brother. "Did we switch bags? The one I'm wearing for yours?"

He didn't reply.

The silence killed her. She had never done well alone.

If Esau was fearless on his own then right now she was terrified. She felt incomplete without anyone to answer the questions she didn't need to ask or start the sentences she didn't care to say.

The girl laughed bitterly and gritted her teeth. She fiddled with straps of Esau's backpack and caught the bag before it fell off him.

"The jars should be in here, right?" Her question was filled with desperation.

Just wake up.

Edythe had never like talking, the ability to project her voice always left her the moment she tried. Growing up, the number of words she said in a day could be counted on one hands, and they were rarely coherent.

She rarely talked to anyone because it was too hard, her head was always filled with words but for some reason she couldn't manage to say them.

Esau had taught her how to speak. She still remembered the first time he had gotten her to talk to him. They were three at the time and it was a stupid day as usual-their birthday. Ma and Pa were not around, and for some reason they were at a hospital.

She sat by Esau on the floor of a completely white room and he held a book. It was a picture book, his favorite one-his birthday present. He read it to her and asked her to do the same, but she couldn't. Despite wanting to please him, the same thing always happened when she tried to speak, nothing.

At that age she already knew that her throat was the cage for her words and her voice was the key, but she had lost it before she ever realized what it was. Something was wrong with her.

She wasn't normal.

Edythe remembered snippets of her parents' conversations from that time too. . . Nothing could pry the words out of her and technology couldn't fix her either.

She remembered wishing that Esau could understand. That maybe now he would see how different they were.

She saw his frustration.

"But we're the same, aren't we?"

That was what he said, in an annoyingly cute and barely understandable voice, like he had read her mind. And he smiled a big bright smile and told her to try thinking louder, because that was what the book was about and that was why he loved it so much. . .

It didn't matter though, regardless of whatever had been going through his mind, he had made her feel normal. The type of normal that wasn't whispered about when backs were turned. The type of normal he was.

That was the first time Edythe realized that they really were the same. She had learnt for the first time that she didn't need to talk to be understood, Esau could hear the words she couldn't speak.

"You can be my voice," she almost whispered to him then, and the sparkle in his eyes told her that had heard the near inexistent words.

He was her voice from that moment on, the key to the words she would never be able to say.

†

More backstory because I'm feeling in the mood for sap. Obviously this happened just moments before the beginning of the other chapter (wow, this book is a mess) anyway, how was it?

I love how in the other's eyes, the other twin is the better one. I'm really dragging these five minutes of tree time, aren't I? Well, what happens next should finally reveal where possibly fake Edythe came from... I think. The way I divert my writing is astonishing, really, my chapters start straight then near the middle they tend to slant of into an abyss of memories.

I'm starting to wonder about Dawn, what about you? Are things getting boring?

Did this chapter disappoint you?

Question of the chapter

What do you think Esau did to get Edythe to start talking like the chatterbox she is right now? ;)