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                                -Tempestt
 
 
 

        Waking in the morning, Ariana glanced at her surroundings dazedly.  Where am I?  She was surrounded by rumpled straw mattresses with blankets in disarray. When she rubbed her eyes and the scene didn’t change memory came back.  Stretching, Ariana got up, straightened the blankets, put on her boots, grabbed her cloak, and left the shelter.  Ariana rubbed her eyes, squinting at the bright morning sunlight streaming through the trees.  Self-consciously attempting to tame her tangled hair, she tied it back with a cord at the nape of her neck, as the others wished her good morning from where they sat around the remains of last night’s fire.
        “Care for some breakfast?”
        Ariana noticed she was hungry, and gladly took the proffered bread and honey.  “How long have you been awake?”
        “Oh, about an hour at most, since about sunrise,” Irint replied.
        “The rebellion never sleeps,” Kandar quipped with a smile, “we have too much work to do for that.”  Dark circles were slightly visible around his dancing azure eyes.
        Ariana didn’t want to ask it, but the dreaded question kept forming in her mind, she didn’t want to think about going home.  Sitting cross-legged on the ground, she relished her moments as she surreptitiously licked the honey off of her fingers.
        “We will be leading you-”
        “...to the edge of the forest whenever you are ready,” Heweln finished the sentence Ulz had started.
        Ariana noticed their similarity of appearance for the first time.  Although one had a small pointed goatee and shoulder length sun-streaked hair held back with a leather thong, and the other had a clean-shaven face with slightly darker brown hair brushing the tops of his ears, their facial features were almost identical.  They were about the same height, although Heweln was somewhat more wiry looking than his longhaired brother.
        “Twins,” Besairn said trying to keep from giggling as Ariana looked from one to the other and back again.  “They always finish each other’s sentences.”
        Heweln and Ulz grinned as comprehension flashed in Ariana’s brown-flecked emerald eyes.  “That explains a lot,” she replied again looking from one to the other, “I don’t know how I could have missed it before.”
        “For most it takes a closer look before they can see.”  Ulz got up and tousled his brother’s hair.  “I’m the older one.”
        Heweln gave his brother a playful shove.  “Yes, but I’m wiser.”  Both laughed at what seemed to be a standing joke.
        “Ariana,” Kandar interrupted the revelry, “for now it would be best for you to go home.  We do not want your parents to suspect your involvement or be angry.  We will meet next at the bookshop tonight to finalize plans for your brother’s rescue.  Plans you are to have a big part in, if you feel you are capable of it.  Meet us there at the strike of seven.”  She noticed his tendency for formality when he was trying to impress the importance of something, like he was ordering without ordering.  The yoke of leadership that weighed on his shoulders not only showed in the fatigue around his eyes, but even in his speech.
        “Yes Kandar, I will see you at the bookshop this evening.”  Ariana rose, picked up her staff, and kissed Irint on both cheeks, thanking him for letting her help save her brother.
        “Nonsense child,” Irint replied, “thank your brother, he is the one who gave you his ring and his trust, without that you would know nothing about this.”
        “I will make sure I thank him, when he is free.”  Tears came to Ariana’s eyes.  Her next glance took in all of them.  “Thank you all.”
        Heweln playfully offered her his arm.  “Allow me to escort you.”
        “I thought this formal nobility was what you were trying to end,” Ariana grinned.
        “Well,” Heweln feigned insult, “there’s nothing wrong with a little chivalry, is there?”
        “Get going, will you?” Kandar said laughing and shaking his head.  He didn’t know what he’d do without Heweln providing some humor.
        Ulz shook his head, and gently pushed his brother out of the way.  He took Ariana’s arm and started walking.
        “Hey!  Ulz, wait for me!”  Heweln ran to catch up with his brother.  “You always get the girls, it’s not fair.  Ariana, tell me what’s so attractive about the strong silent type?  What’s he got that I haven’t?”
        Ulz smiled beatifically.  “You wouldn’t understand little brother, you wouldn’t understand.”
        Throughout this exchange Ariana had been trying to restrain her laughter, but her restraint finally failed.  Heweln, throwing a wounded glance at his brother, took Ariana’s other arm.  I wonder what my mother would think of this.  Ariana almost burst out laughing again.  They proceeded for awhile in this fashion, but the path soon became too narrow for three to walk abreast without running to thick undergrowth on one side or the proud ancient trees on the other.
        “I hope my brother’s antics haven’t offended you.  He has no idea how to act around ladies.”
        Heweln stuck his tongue out at Ulz.
        “See what I mean, no idea how to act,” Ulz continued.
        Ariana laughed again, nodding sagely.
        “Really we just like to have fun.  I hope we haven’t made you uncomfortable,” Heweln said sounding serious for a change.
        “Don’t worry, I wasn’t uncomfortable.  I’ll see you at seven.”
        “Good-bye,” Heweln and Ulz replied.
        Ariana turned toward home and tried to put herself in a calm frame of mind for dealing with her parents.  She kept laughing about Heweln and Ulz.  Concentrate.  They’re going to ask where you’ve been.  You need to be able to answer them.  She ironed out the details of going too deep into the woods to get back before nightfall, and deciding to find a place too sleep for the night instead, and coming back in the morning.  That was mostly true, she just left out a lot.  They should believe that.
        Arriving home, she opened the door.  Her parents were standing there waiting.  “Oh thank the Watchers of the Paths that you’re safe!  We were so worried.”  Elliandra ran up to her daughter and put her arms around her.
        “Where were you all night?  We waited.  We were worried when you didn’t come home for dinner.  What is the meaning of staying out all night?  I’m looking for some answers, and they better be good.”  Zarend’s jaw was set.  He was working hard to control his anger.
        “I’m sorry, I-”
        “Sorry?  Where were you; I want answers.”
        “Yes, Father,” Ariana replied as meekly as she could manage.  “I went for a walk in the forest of Ademir starting at about three yesterday afternoon, and before I realized it night was falling and I knew I wouldn’t be able to make it home before dark, so I found someplace to sleep and started home as soon as it got light this morning.”
        “You had us so worried, Ariana,” Elliandra broke in before Zarend could start again.  “Your father was worried too, he just has a different way of showing it.”
        Why don’t you worry about someone, who needs it like Vaneth, she thought, but didn’t say it knowing it would only make them angrier.
        “In the future make sure you keep better track of time,” Zarend finished firmly.  “We were worried,” he added in a softer tone.
        “You don’t need to worry about me so much.  I am practically an adult, you know,” Ariana ventured unable to hold back the comment.
        “Don’t you be disrespectful to your mother and me young lady.  We were young once too, you know.  Our parents still worried about us.  If you want to be treated like an adult you must start acting like one.  Don’t expect privileges unless you take responsibility.”
        “Yes, Father.”  Ariana walked more heavily than necessary to her room, but she shut the door quietly, remembering their threat that if she didn’t know how to properly treat a door, she would no longer have the privilege of one.  She flopped down on her high four poster feather bed, sighing, and thinking she was more comfortable on the straw pallet in the forest hideout.  She wondered what her part in the plan would be.  She hoped she would be able to carry it out.  She knew how to use a knife, but she didn’t think she’d be much help if it came to a fight.  She smiled remembering her father teaching her to use a knife when she was young enough to feel grown up and started going for walks in the forest by herself.  She was startled when the bell rang five in the evening and her parents called her down for dinner.  How am I going to sit there and have dinner with them knowing about Vaneth?
        She walked slowly downstairs and into the dining room.  They always ate in the dining room when her father was entertaining prospective buyers of his goods.  He liked to show them that he was a prosperous merchant, as if somehow that meant his wares were better.  When she was younger she always wished she would be allowed to eat in the dining room with her parents and the guests, now that she had long since earned that privilege she wished she could go back to eating in the kitchen with Cylisa, the ageless elf who kept the house, and used to take care of and tutor her.  Fortunately, she had washed up and changed clothes while she was up in her room thinking.  She would hate to see her mother’s reaction if she came to dinner wearing her dusty forest clothes, and with her hair still snarled from sleeping on it.
        She picked slowly at her food, smiling and nodding at the conversation taking place around her.  Her mother would be pleased she ate so delicately tonight, actually it was because she was nervous about the plans for her brother’s rescue, and she was having trouble squeezing food past the lump of anger in her throat when she thought of her parents’ lies about Vaneth.  The half past six bell rang, and Ariana hurriedly excused herself from the table, went up to her room and changed back into her now clean and dry comfortable clothing.  She stuck her knife in her boot, and put on her cloak before leaving the house, and disappearing into the evening twilight.
        The wind ruffled her hair as she closed the door behind her, and she started walking briskly toward the bookshop, tightening her cloak around herself to keep out the insidious night wind.  Her footsteps fell in the silent night, sounding like an advancing army.  Her heart was a drum beat setting the army’s marching tempo.  It became more forceful as she neared the shop, keeping her feet moving forward at an even pace when her mind was divided between running there in excitement or turning back in fear.
        She finally reached the bookshop, then turned the door handle.  When she realized it was locked, she couldn’t help grinning, remembering the day before.  She knocked lightly, and almost instantly the door opened.
        Kandar’s taut smile and flashing eyes greeted her, and she stared at him for a moment, realizing how much stake he had in this for the first time.  How close was he to Vaneth? she wondered.  Unlocking her eyes from his, she looked for Besairn.
        “I see you locked the door this time, Besairn,” she said with a grin.
        Besairn blushed, his golden curls bouncing a little as he nodded.
        “We couldn’t have you thinking you made a mistake joining us, could we?”  Heweln added.
        “I don’t think there’s much risk of that,” Ariana said, “So what is the plan for tonight?”
        Irint motioned to a chair across from him, between Kandar and Ratirin.
        Ratirin got up and pulled out Ariana’s chair for her.
        Ariana took her place, and Ratirin began to explain the plan he had worked out with Kandar.
       “The one luxury the royal prisoners get, if you could call it a luxury, is visits by their family.” Ratirin began.
        “You mean I could have been visiting him?  I could have visited him, and I haven’t?” Ariana broke in.
        “You didn’t know where he was, child,” Irint said kindly.
“I know, but-”
        “You can help us now, Ariana,” Ratirin interjected, “We need you to get into the dungeon.  You and Kandar can go down there with the purpose of visiting your brother.  If procedures haven’t changed since I was a member of the Palace Guard there will be one soldier down there.  They count on stopping people before they get to the dungeon, so once you get near the dungeon itself there isn’t usually more than one guard.”
        “Okay,” Ariana’s voice was shaky with excitement, “but how do we free him once we’re down there?”
        “I was just getting to that,” Ratirin explained, handing Ariana a rough hand-sketched map of the dungeon.  “This is where the guard will be standing,” Ratirin pointed at an area on the map.  “The keys to the cells will be behind him on this wall, and the cells are past him and around the corner to the right.  You will need to ask the guard to take you to see Vaneth.  Distract him while he’s showing you to the cell.  Kandar needs enough time to take the key to the cell before following you.”
        Ariana looked wary. “What do you mean, distract him?”
        Kandar threw back his head and laughed.  “It won’t cost you your feminine honor.  Just banter with him a little, and bat your long eyelashes.  He’ll be distracted enough by your emerald eyes to give me the chance I need.”
        “Kandar’s a pretty good thief.  I’ve seen him in action before,” Ratirin noted wryly, “Of course, then I was on the other side.  I never could catch him.”
        Kandar flashed a lazy smile at Ratirin, “I made it a point to be faster, and know the city better than any one of you.  There are a few tricks you learn growing up on the streets.”  He turned his grin to Ariana.  “I know them all.”
        Ariana’s eyes flicked back and forth between Kandar and Ratirin.  “You don’t understand.  I don’t know how to distract men like that.  I don’t know how to banter, and bat my eyelashes.”
        Heweln looked up from the hand of cards he was playing with Ulz and Besairn.  “I beg to differ there, Madame.  You had both Ulz and I wrapped around your little finger.  Wouldn’t you agree Ulz?”  Heweln elbowed Ulz as he finished speaking.
        “Hmm?  Oh… yes, wrapped around your little finger.”
        Besairn looked at her with admiring eyes.
        Ariana blushed.
        “See,” Kandar said, “he’ll be helpless.”
        “If you say so,” Ariana said sounding very unconvinced.  “How do we get out once we free Vaneth?”
        “You distract the guard again while Vaneth sneaks by, then we all leave through the back corridors Ratirin has told me about.  They are all mainly servant corridors so we shouldn’t be questioned.”
        “Aren’t you hinging a great deal of your plan on my ability to bat my eyelashes?”
        “Well, you have beautiful eyes, I don’t see why they shouldn’t,” Besairn said shyly, looking at Ariana.
        “Besairn is right,” Ratirin said, a smile wrinkling the corner of his eyes.  “In case something goes wrong, Kandar will be armed.  Do you know how to use a weapon?”
        Ariana pulled the knife out of her boot and set it on the table.  “My father taught me to use this when I started walking in the forest by myself.  I’ve never had to use it, but I know how.”
        “Good enough.  You shouldn’t have to use it tonight either.  Sometime in a few days I’d like to see how skilled you are with it, though,” Ratirin said.  “I’ve already given Kandar the way out of the castle.  Do you have any questions?”
        “I think I can have Kandar clear things up on the way.”
        “Good.  Then one last thing  your costume.”
        Irint, who she hadn’t seen leave, came back into the room with a simple blue dress.  “It shouldn’t hinder your movement at all, but it will help with distracting the guard.”
        Ariana grimaced, “If I must.”  She took the dress from Irint and went into the printing room to put it on.
        When she returned there was a stunned silence, as everyone took a second look.