Taboo: Chapter 1: Rite of Passage (Part 2)
Title: Taboo
Genre: Fantasy
Chapter rating: PG
Overall rating: Still unknown, probably R for sexual content
Warnings: None at present
Story Summary: In a world where status is determined by breed, two young men - one low born, one high - work together to tear down the walls placed between them by society. Asher masquerades as a brothel slave to gather information for an upcoming rebellion against the suffocating oppression of his class, desperate to create a world where his siblings can live without fear. Jornen is a Noble about to come into his majority, and the last thing he wants is the fate his father has planned for him. Only together can they shake things up - hopefully for the better - and only together will they find out that love truly is blind.
Chapter Summary: It is New Year's Eve, and Ash doesn't exactly share everyone else's enthusiasm for the holiest of days...
Chapter 1: Part 1
Chapter 1: Part 2
The sun was hanging low in the sky when the preparations for the party were finally completed. His stomach growling to remind him that he hadn't eaten lunch, Ash eyed the exotic foods on the buffet spread and wished he could stay, but he didn't belong at a merchant function; at least, not as a guest, not even on New Year's Eve.
A warm hand settled on his shoulder, drawing Ash's attention away from the temptation of snitching a few meat pockets to the Siamese tom standing beside him. Rozas smiled, creasing the laugh lines around his eyes and mouth. "Thank you for your help, Asher. I appreciate you taking the time to do this. Here. A New Year's gift for you and your family. I trust your mother will be able to divide it up fairly among the little ones." The merchant handed Ash a small, heavy purse.
"Thank you, Rozas," Ash stated with sincerity as he tucked the gift deep into his trouser pocket. He knew the purse held only coppers - maybe, maybe a silver or two as well if Gilan's father was in a generous mood - but the money was much appreciated. It would mean treats and toys for his siblings. "May Cari bless you in the coming year," he prayed, evoking the Caracal god of trade.
"Vela hold and keep you, friend." Rozas gave Ash's shoulder a friendly squeeze before dropping his hand. "Gilan told me you're to take Maye to church tonight for her to hear the Great Story. You'd best be going if you want to make it by sundown."
"Yes, sir. Thank you again." Glad he had already said his goodbyes to Gilan and Teveren, Ash made his way out of the house. He wasn't entirely surprised when Rozas called after him.
"Asher! Please… tell Maryam that my offer still stands," the older tom said, his back straight with hope hiding behind fragile pride.
Even though Ash knew his mother's answer would yet again be no, he still nodded and said, "I will." As he left, Ash could almost hear Gilan complaining, "Father, did you have to?" Shaking his head a bit, the mackerel tabby decided to bypass the congested streets; he would never get home in time if he didn't take a shortcut. Fortunately, Rozas' store was bordered by narrow alleys. It took little effort for Ash's short, sharp claws and roughened leather soles to find purchase on the worn brick wall, and with the help of the opposite wall at his back, he was on the roof of the three story building in moments.
There was still a good hour and some until sunset when Ash dropped down from his rooftop road a few blocks from the high stone wall separating the Commoner's District from the Mage's District. The Lady was in there somewhere, visiting her family for the holiday and probably squirming to escape back to the life she had made for herself. Smirking at that thought, Ash jogged down the crowded street until he saw the sign bearing a curled white serpentine dragon resting on a nest of moss, the same white dragon that was stamped onto the front of his collar. The Dragon's Rest, one of the cleanest, highest class brothels on this side of the Third Wall. Home. A quick trip around the building to the tiny backyard and the down the back stairs to a cramped hallway brought Ash to a very welcome door. Bracing himself for the chaos that usually filled his family's apartment, he unlocked the iron-reinforced wooden door and stepped inside.
Small arms wrapped around his leg almost immediately. "Papa Ash, you're home!" chirped the four-year-old tabby hugging his knee, her sweet baby face smiling up at him and her fuzzy little copper tail trembling with happy excitement.
Smiling, Ash bent down to lift his littlest sibling onto his hip and rubbed his cheek to hers in greeting as she wrapped her arms around his neck. "Hey, Penny. Were you a good kit for Mama?"
"She was a very good kitten," called Maryam from their tiny kitchen. "Unlike two rascals I won't mention by name."
"What did the twins do now?" asked Ash with a roll of his eyes. Striding across the unusually quiet apartment to the kitchen, he found Morwen seated at the small dining table, propped up on a crate so he wouldn't have to strain as he covered a piece of butcher paper with charcoal drawings. The five-year-old didn't even twitch when his big brother ran a hand over one little blue ear, absorbed as he was in his latest creation.
Sighing, Maryam set aside the bowl she had been mixing and wiped her hands on her flour-covered apron. "The same thing they do every time they want to go into town without our knowing. I caught Lydia trying to work my scissors underneath Sorel's collar and cut it off. He's a little scraped up because of it, but mostly it's their pride that's hurt. They're currently on time out." The brown tabby queen shook her head in patient exasperation.
Ash groaned and adjusted Penny's weight. At least this time it had been the scissors and not a kitchen knife; the twins had gotten a lot more than time out for that stunt. "They're never going to understand that the tracking spell is for their own good, are they?"
"They will when they're older. And you were just as bad when you were six, Asher." She smiled at her eldest child's snort of disbelief. "How was your day? Dare I ask just how many people Rozas invited to his party?"
"I didn't stick around long enough to find out how many he invited, but judging by the amount of goods he had delivered today, I'd guess a good half of Catam's merchants. Oh, here." Shifting Penny, Ash dug into his pocket and passed his mother the purse Rozas had given him. "A New Year's gift from Rozas. And he asked me to tell you that his offer still stands."
Maryam undid the ties of the purse and carefully dumped the small pile of coins onto the table. Ash was surprised to see not one or two, but five silver coins among the copper. "Looks like we'll be taking the kittens shopping tomorrow," she said as she divided the coppers into five equal piles.
Morwen's head lifted, his attention caught. "Shopping?"
"Sweetbuns!" Penny exclaimed, bouncing on her brother's hip.
"We'll see." Kissing his sister's cheek, Ash set her down. "Penny, could you please go tell Maye I'm home and see if she's ready to go?" The little queen nodded and quickly toddled off, her fuzzy baby's tail trailing behind her. Satisfied that Penny was occupied, Ash set a hand on Morwen's shoulder. "Morwen, go check on the twins and make sure they're behaving?"
"Can I finish my drawing first?" asked Morwen, pouting slightly but with no real fight.
"Please, Morwen." Ash waited for his little brother to climb down from his chair and disappear into one of the bedrooms, sighing in token protest, before he approached Maryam.
"Are you going to accept his proposal this time?" he asked quietly.
Shaking her head, Maryam scooped the pile of coins back into the purse and tucked it into her apron pocket. "No, and you know why, so please don't pester me about it."
Ash kept his voice low, watching the door in case one of the little ones appeared. "Ma, Rozas can provide for you and the kittens. You know better than I do just how much money he has, how successful he is. He could help you send them to a real school, maybe even get them a private teacher. Maye would get to be just another kit for once. Sorel and Lydia would have enough toys to keep them from destroying the house looking for things to play with."
"The house would be even more of a mess with more things around for them to steal for their crazy games after they've finished taking apart the toys," Maryam interrupted as she turned back to the counter and resumed mixing her bread dough.
"Alright, fine, yes, but Rozas would be able to afford to replace what they break. Morwen could go to art classes. And Penny… Penny could eat all the sweets she wants and have a real doll. Not that the rag doll you made her is a bad one," Ash quickly added, ears flat in submission, when his mother fixed frustrated eyes on him.
"That's all well and good, but what of their safety, Asher? Can Rozas guarantee that?" asked Maryam, dumping the now solid dough onto the counter and kneading with a little more than necessary force.
"Rozas is more than well-off enough to ensure his freedom and -"
"Exactly. His freedom. Rozas is the only one in his family protected by his status. Even Gilan has to keep one eye watching over his shoulder in case a slaver decides to make him a target, and given his education, he would be a very valuable slave. However, Lady Adassa can guarantee my babies' safety, and she has."
Very stubbornly not looking at the servant collar around his mother's neck - the same servant collar that his siblings wore - Ash protested, "Yes, but -"
Maye strode into the kitchen, her arms twisted behind her as she fought with the fastenings and sash of her new dress. In celebration of the special occasion and of her growing closer to adulthood, Maryam had made Maye her first dress where her tail rested overtop her skirts instead of underneath them, and the little queen was having trouble with the unfamiliar buttons. "Mama, can you help - Ash, what are you doing? The sun's almost set and you're all dirty!"
Ash glanced at Maryam, but she had already abandoned her bread to help Maye finish doing up her dress. Knowing that the discussion was done for now, he headed for the bathroom. "I'll be ready in just a second, I promise."
"You'd better!" Maye called after him with an uncharacteristic childishness, her eagerness to leave making her act like the kitten she was for once. "Don't make us late!"
Ash rolled his eyes in affectionate annoyance. The young tom remembered when he was seven and finally old enough to hear the Great Story, and he understood Maye's excitement. If it made her happy, he would listen to the ancient tale once again, even if it was all she had been able to talk about for the last two weeks.
Entering the bathroom, Ash locked the door behind him and quickly undressed, carefully setting the handkerchief Areyla had given him aside. The small room was their one real luxury. It was tiny and often cold, but it had a tub with hot running water, a sink with the same, and a flush convenience, its reliability a true rarity in the Commoner's District. It was a definite improvement from the chamber pots they'd had in the old apartment, before The Dragon's Rest. Ash grabbed a washcloth and wet it with hot, soapy water to clean away the dried remnants of the day's sweat. That done, he turned to the small, pitted mirror above the sink to try and get his dark hair to behave.
Amber eyes were immediately drawn to the reflection of the stamped leather band around his neck, sealed to his skin with magic. The symbol of his greatest sacrifice. His claws twitched with the want to rip the leather from his throat, just for tonight - and he could, he could; the Lady had made it so - but he knew to walk outside without the mark of his slavery even for a few hours would ruin all he had worked so hard for over the past four years. Letting out a tired sigh, Ash reburied the fierce anger and hatred that eternally brewed inside of him so that not even he could see it in his own eyes. A splash of water tamed his wild hair somewhat, and with a towel around his waist, he went to the bedroom he shared with his brothers to get dressed, handkerchief in hand.
Sorel and Morwen were curled up together on the large bed talking quietly when Ash entered. Morwen immediately sat up, worried eyes following Ash around the room. "You and Mama weren't fighting, were you?" he softly asked. The little blue tabby always assumed Ash and Maryam were fighting whenever they asked all the kittens to leave the room; he had been only one when their father had abandoned them, but Morwen still had the occasional nightmare of fighting and screaming, foggy memories from when their father would scream at Maryam or Ash.
"No, Mama and I weren't fighting. We were just talking."
"'Bout what?" demanded Sorel, scooting to the edge of the mattress, his orange ears perked up with intense curiosity.
"About how two little monsters got in trouble again." Ash threw his towel at the redhead before pulling a fresh pair of breeches out of the dresser, tucking the handkerchief into the pocket as he slipped them on.
Wrestling the towel to the floor, Sorel gave Ash a fierce pout. "But we want to go with you and Maye to hear the Story! We don't want to have to wait again! An' we shouldn't have to anyway, 'cause we're holy," the kitten declared, puffing out his little chest.
"You're what?" asked Morwen as Ash scoffed.
"Holy. It means special present," said Sorel with a regal air that made Ash bite his tongue to keep from laughing. "Me and Lydia are a special present 'cause we're twins, 'specially because we're one tom and one queen. Deacon Prata said so."
"First of all, holy means blessed by the gods or given by the gods. Second, yes, you and Lydia are a godly blessing because Pardis had the twins Losa and Panu - though I would argue that you two are a mixed blessing, given how much trouble you get into," Ash teased, earning a scowl from his little brother. "But just because you're a blessing doesn't mean you get to break the rules. You and Lydia still have to wait one more year before you're old enough to hear the story. Besides, everyone who goes to our church knows you're not old enough and would make you stand outside anyway, so-called blessing or no." Finished dressing, Ash grabbed for Sorel's chin. "Let me see. Let me see!" he said again with more force when the kitten tried to dodge his hand.
Above and below the servant's collar Sorel wore, his skin was scraped red in ugly-looking lines from the sharp ends of the scissors, but nowhere had the skin been cut. Foolish as they could be, the twins did try to be careful to not hurt themselves in their troublemaking, and Lydia had done a good job making sure not to harm her brother. Sighing, Ash gave the hated band of leather - stamped with a white stripe running through the center of it to mark Sorel, the other kittens, and Maryam as protected servants rather than slaves - an unhappy glance and dropped Sorel's chin just as Lydia burst into the room. She was identical to her twin in every way save gender - and the mess of badly-tied bows in her tangled red curls probably put there by Penny.
"Mama says time-out's over! And Maye says to hurry your tail or she'll put salt in your porridge tomorrow," she announced, bounding onto the bed straight into a tumble with her brothers.
"I'll be right there!" Ash called before grabbing the twins' shoulders and forcing them to meet his gaze. "Don't try to cut your collars off again, alright? I know you don't like them, but the tracking spell lets Ma know that you're safe, and when you try to get rid of that, it scares her. You'll get to hear the Story in just one more year, and I promise I'll take you if you listen to Ma and not mess with your collars. Do we have a deal?"
"You swear?" asked Sorel.
"Swear on Vela?" added Lydia.
"I swear in Vela's name, if you two behave for Ma, I will be the one to take you to hear the Story next New Year." Getting solemn nods of agreement, Ash rubbed the twins' heads until their ears went flat and they growled in play. "Love you, brats. Morwen, feel free to tie their tails together if they do something stupid again."
"Then I'd always be tying their tails together."
"Exactly." Ash smirked and left the room to find a very impatient Maye tapping her foot in front of his door. "Alright, alright, I'm ready! Let's go."
On to Part 3...
-------------
Thank you very much to sirene_perdue , cigfrainsol , and plalligator for their wonderful reviews so far, and a world of thanks to alabaster_doll for putting up with me while I try to work on this at the same time as I beta her writings.
So that everyone's on the same page: Posts are scheduled for Tuesday nights at midnight. This is to keep me on a regular schedule (which is a test in self-discipline for me - my karate instructor would be proud), and to make sure that I don't post everything that I have done (which is really, really, really tempting because I want the feedback NOW), and then leave you guys waiting for a month while I struggle with the next scene or chapter.
Genre: Fantasy
Chapter rating: PG
Overall rating: Still unknown, probably R for sexual content
Warnings: None at present
Story Summary: In a world where status is determined by breed, two young men - one low born, one high - work together to tear down the walls placed between them by society. Asher masquerades as a brothel slave to gather information for an upcoming rebellion against the suffocating oppression of his class, desperate to create a world where his siblings can live without fear. Jornen is a Noble about to come into his majority, and the last thing he wants is the fate his father has planned for him. Only together can they shake things up - hopefully for the better - and only together will they find out that love truly is blind.
Chapter Summary: It is New Year's Eve, and Ash doesn't exactly share everyone else's enthusiasm for the holiest of days...
Chapter 1: Part 1
Chapter 1: Part 2
The sun was hanging low in the sky when the preparations for the party were finally completed. His stomach growling to remind him that he hadn't eaten lunch, Ash eyed the exotic foods on the buffet spread and wished he could stay, but he didn't belong at a merchant function; at least, not as a guest, not even on New Year's Eve.
A warm hand settled on his shoulder, drawing Ash's attention away from the temptation of snitching a few meat pockets to the Siamese tom standing beside him. Rozas smiled, creasing the laugh lines around his eyes and mouth. "Thank you for your help, Asher. I appreciate you taking the time to do this. Here. A New Year's gift for you and your family. I trust your mother will be able to divide it up fairly among the little ones." The merchant handed Ash a small, heavy purse.
"Thank you, Rozas," Ash stated with sincerity as he tucked the gift deep into his trouser pocket. He knew the purse held only coppers - maybe, maybe a silver or two as well if Gilan's father was in a generous mood - but the money was much appreciated. It would mean treats and toys for his siblings. "May Cari bless you in the coming year," he prayed, evoking the Caracal god of trade.
"Vela hold and keep you, friend." Rozas gave Ash's shoulder a friendly squeeze before dropping his hand. "Gilan told me you're to take Maye to church tonight for her to hear the Great Story. You'd best be going if you want to make it by sundown."
"Yes, sir. Thank you again." Glad he had already said his goodbyes to Gilan and Teveren, Ash made his way out of the house. He wasn't entirely surprised when Rozas called after him.
"Asher! Please… tell Maryam that my offer still stands," the older tom said, his back straight with hope hiding behind fragile pride.
Even though Ash knew his mother's answer would yet again be no, he still nodded and said, "I will." As he left, Ash could almost hear Gilan complaining, "Father, did you have to?" Shaking his head a bit, the mackerel tabby decided to bypass the congested streets; he would never get home in time if he didn't take a shortcut. Fortunately, Rozas' store was bordered by narrow alleys. It took little effort for Ash's short, sharp claws and roughened leather soles to find purchase on the worn brick wall, and with the help of the opposite wall at his back, he was on the roof of the three story building in moments.
There was still a good hour and some until sunset when Ash dropped down from his rooftop road a few blocks from the high stone wall separating the Commoner's District from the Mage's District. The Lady was in there somewhere, visiting her family for the holiday and probably squirming to escape back to the life she had made for herself. Smirking at that thought, Ash jogged down the crowded street until he saw the sign bearing a curled white serpentine dragon resting on a nest of moss, the same white dragon that was stamped onto the front of his collar. The Dragon's Rest, one of the cleanest, highest class brothels on this side of the Third Wall. Home. A quick trip around the building to the tiny backyard and the down the back stairs to a cramped hallway brought Ash to a very welcome door. Bracing himself for the chaos that usually filled his family's apartment, he unlocked the iron-reinforced wooden door and stepped inside.
Small arms wrapped around his leg almost immediately. "Papa Ash, you're home!" chirped the four-year-old tabby hugging his knee, her sweet baby face smiling up at him and her fuzzy little copper tail trembling with happy excitement.
Smiling, Ash bent down to lift his littlest sibling onto his hip and rubbed his cheek to hers in greeting as she wrapped her arms around his neck. "Hey, Penny. Were you a good kit for Mama?"
"She was a very good kitten," called Maryam from their tiny kitchen. "Unlike two rascals I won't mention by name."
"What did the twins do now?" asked Ash with a roll of his eyes. Striding across the unusually quiet apartment to the kitchen, he found Morwen seated at the small dining table, propped up on a crate so he wouldn't have to strain as he covered a piece of butcher paper with charcoal drawings. The five-year-old didn't even twitch when his big brother ran a hand over one little blue ear, absorbed as he was in his latest creation.
Sighing, Maryam set aside the bowl she had been mixing and wiped her hands on her flour-covered apron. "The same thing they do every time they want to go into town without our knowing. I caught Lydia trying to work my scissors underneath Sorel's collar and cut it off. He's a little scraped up because of it, but mostly it's their pride that's hurt. They're currently on time out." The brown tabby queen shook her head in patient exasperation.
Ash groaned and adjusted Penny's weight. At least this time it had been the scissors and not a kitchen knife; the twins had gotten a lot more than time out for that stunt. "They're never going to understand that the tracking spell is for their own good, are they?"
"They will when they're older. And you were just as bad when you were six, Asher." She smiled at her eldest child's snort of disbelief. "How was your day? Dare I ask just how many people Rozas invited to his party?"
"I didn't stick around long enough to find out how many he invited, but judging by the amount of goods he had delivered today, I'd guess a good half of Catam's merchants. Oh, here." Shifting Penny, Ash dug into his pocket and passed his mother the purse Rozas had given him. "A New Year's gift from Rozas. And he asked me to tell you that his offer still stands."
Maryam undid the ties of the purse and carefully dumped the small pile of coins onto the table. Ash was surprised to see not one or two, but five silver coins among the copper. "Looks like we'll be taking the kittens shopping tomorrow," she said as she divided the coppers into five equal piles.
Morwen's head lifted, his attention caught. "Shopping?"
"Sweetbuns!" Penny exclaimed, bouncing on her brother's hip.
"We'll see." Kissing his sister's cheek, Ash set her down. "Penny, could you please go tell Maye I'm home and see if she's ready to go?" The little queen nodded and quickly toddled off, her fuzzy baby's tail trailing behind her. Satisfied that Penny was occupied, Ash set a hand on Morwen's shoulder. "Morwen, go check on the twins and make sure they're behaving?"
"Can I finish my drawing first?" asked Morwen, pouting slightly but with no real fight.
"Please, Morwen." Ash waited for his little brother to climb down from his chair and disappear into one of the bedrooms, sighing in token protest, before he approached Maryam.
"Are you going to accept his proposal this time?" he asked quietly.
Shaking her head, Maryam scooped the pile of coins back into the purse and tucked it into her apron pocket. "No, and you know why, so please don't pester me about it."
Ash kept his voice low, watching the door in case one of the little ones appeared. "Ma, Rozas can provide for you and the kittens. You know better than I do just how much money he has, how successful he is. He could help you send them to a real school, maybe even get them a private teacher. Maye would get to be just another kit for once. Sorel and Lydia would have enough toys to keep them from destroying the house looking for things to play with."
"The house would be even more of a mess with more things around for them to steal for their crazy games after they've finished taking apart the toys," Maryam interrupted as she turned back to the counter and resumed mixing her bread dough.
"Alright, fine, yes, but Rozas would be able to afford to replace what they break. Morwen could go to art classes. And Penny… Penny could eat all the sweets she wants and have a real doll. Not that the rag doll you made her is a bad one," Ash quickly added, ears flat in submission, when his mother fixed frustrated eyes on him.
"That's all well and good, but what of their safety, Asher? Can Rozas guarantee that?" asked Maryam, dumping the now solid dough onto the counter and kneading with a little more than necessary force.
"Rozas is more than well-off enough to ensure his freedom and -"
"Exactly. His freedom. Rozas is the only one in his family protected by his status. Even Gilan has to keep one eye watching over his shoulder in case a slaver decides to make him a target, and given his education, he would be a very valuable slave. However, Lady Adassa can guarantee my babies' safety, and she has."
Very stubbornly not looking at the servant collar around his mother's neck - the same servant collar that his siblings wore - Ash protested, "Yes, but -"
Maye strode into the kitchen, her arms twisted behind her as she fought with the fastenings and sash of her new dress. In celebration of the special occasion and of her growing closer to adulthood, Maryam had made Maye her first dress where her tail rested overtop her skirts instead of underneath them, and the little queen was having trouble with the unfamiliar buttons. "Mama, can you help - Ash, what are you doing? The sun's almost set and you're all dirty!"
Ash glanced at Maryam, but she had already abandoned her bread to help Maye finish doing up her dress. Knowing that the discussion was done for now, he headed for the bathroom. "I'll be ready in just a second, I promise."
"You'd better!" Maye called after him with an uncharacteristic childishness, her eagerness to leave making her act like the kitten she was for once. "Don't make us late!"
Ash rolled his eyes in affectionate annoyance. The young tom remembered when he was seven and finally old enough to hear the Great Story, and he understood Maye's excitement. If it made her happy, he would listen to the ancient tale once again, even if it was all she had been able to talk about for the last two weeks.
Entering the bathroom, Ash locked the door behind him and quickly undressed, carefully setting the handkerchief Areyla had given him aside. The small room was their one real luxury. It was tiny and often cold, but it had a tub with hot running water, a sink with the same, and a flush convenience, its reliability a true rarity in the Commoner's District. It was a definite improvement from the chamber pots they'd had in the old apartment, before The Dragon's Rest. Ash grabbed a washcloth and wet it with hot, soapy water to clean away the dried remnants of the day's sweat. That done, he turned to the small, pitted mirror above the sink to try and get his dark hair to behave.
Amber eyes were immediately drawn to the reflection of the stamped leather band around his neck, sealed to his skin with magic. The symbol of his greatest sacrifice. His claws twitched with the want to rip the leather from his throat, just for tonight - and he could, he could; the Lady had made it so - but he knew to walk outside without the mark of his slavery even for a few hours would ruin all he had worked so hard for over the past four years. Letting out a tired sigh, Ash reburied the fierce anger and hatred that eternally brewed inside of him so that not even he could see it in his own eyes. A splash of water tamed his wild hair somewhat, and with a towel around his waist, he went to the bedroom he shared with his brothers to get dressed, handkerchief in hand.
Sorel and Morwen were curled up together on the large bed talking quietly when Ash entered. Morwen immediately sat up, worried eyes following Ash around the room. "You and Mama weren't fighting, were you?" he softly asked. The little blue tabby always assumed Ash and Maryam were fighting whenever they asked all the kittens to leave the room; he had been only one when their father had abandoned them, but Morwen still had the occasional nightmare of fighting and screaming, foggy memories from when their father would scream at Maryam or Ash.
"No, Mama and I weren't fighting. We were just talking."
"'Bout what?" demanded Sorel, scooting to the edge of the mattress, his orange ears perked up with intense curiosity.
"About how two little monsters got in trouble again." Ash threw his towel at the redhead before pulling a fresh pair of breeches out of the dresser, tucking the handkerchief into the pocket as he slipped them on.
Wrestling the towel to the floor, Sorel gave Ash a fierce pout. "But we want to go with you and Maye to hear the Story! We don't want to have to wait again! An' we shouldn't have to anyway, 'cause we're holy," the kitten declared, puffing out his little chest.
"You're what?" asked Morwen as Ash scoffed.
"Holy. It means special present," said Sorel with a regal air that made Ash bite his tongue to keep from laughing. "Me and Lydia are a special present 'cause we're twins, 'specially because we're one tom and one queen. Deacon Prata said so."
"First of all, holy means blessed by the gods or given by the gods. Second, yes, you and Lydia are a godly blessing because Pardis had the twins Losa and Panu - though I would argue that you two are a mixed blessing, given how much trouble you get into," Ash teased, earning a scowl from his little brother. "But just because you're a blessing doesn't mean you get to break the rules. You and Lydia still have to wait one more year before you're old enough to hear the story. Besides, everyone who goes to our church knows you're not old enough and would make you stand outside anyway, so-called blessing or no." Finished dressing, Ash grabbed for Sorel's chin. "Let me see. Let me see!" he said again with more force when the kitten tried to dodge his hand.
Above and below the servant's collar Sorel wore, his skin was scraped red in ugly-looking lines from the sharp ends of the scissors, but nowhere had the skin been cut. Foolish as they could be, the twins did try to be careful to not hurt themselves in their troublemaking, and Lydia had done a good job making sure not to harm her brother. Sighing, Ash gave the hated band of leather - stamped with a white stripe running through the center of it to mark Sorel, the other kittens, and Maryam as protected servants rather than slaves - an unhappy glance and dropped Sorel's chin just as Lydia burst into the room. She was identical to her twin in every way save gender - and the mess of badly-tied bows in her tangled red curls probably put there by Penny.
"Mama says time-out's over! And Maye says to hurry your tail or she'll put salt in your porridge tomorrow," she announced, bounding onto the bed straight into a tumble with her brothers.
"I'll be right there!" Ash called before grabbing the twins' shoulders and forcing them to meet his gaze. "Don't try to cut your collars off again, alright? I know you don't like them, but the tracking spell lets Ma know that you're safe, and when you try to get rid of that, it scares her. You'll get to hear the Story in just one more year, and I promise I'll take you if you listen to Ma and not mess with your collars. Do we have a deal?"
"You swear?" asked Sorel.
"Swear on Vela?" added Lydia.
"I swear in Vela's name, if you two behave for Ma, I will be the one to take you to hear the Story next New Year." Getting solemn nods of agreement, Ash rubbed the twins' heads until their ears went flat and they growled in play. "Love you, brats. Morwen, feel free to tie their tails together if they do something stupid again."
"Then I'd always be tying their tails together."
"Exactly." Ash smirked and left the room to find a very impatient Maye tapping her foot in front of his door. "Alright, alright, I'm ready! Let's go."
On to Part 3...
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Thank you very much to sirene_perdue , cigfrainsol , and plalligator for their wonderful reviews so far, and a world of thanks to alabaster_doll for putting up with me while I try to work on this at the same time as I beta her writings.
So that everyone's on the same page: Posts are scheduled for Tuesday nights at midnight. This is to keep me on a regular schedule (which is a test in self-discipline for me - my karate instructor would be proud), and to make sure that I don't post everything that I have done (which is really, really, really tempting because I want the feedback NOW), and then leave you guys waiting for a month while I struggle with the next scene or chapter.