In the palace training grounds, Herom carefully watched Helan’s movements. “You are too closed up.” He pointed out with a shake of his head.

  Helan stopped, panting from his training. “We are supposed to keep ourselves protected. No?”

  Herom nodded with a wide smile. “You are protecting yourself so much you will never be able to attack. When you swing the sword you need to actually extend your awm.” He demonstrated as he spoke, swinging the sword in a swift circular arc.

  Helan mimicked the motion. “But what happens if someone dodges and then comes towards me? I will not have time to bring my arm back to block.”

  Herom stared at Helan other arm. “You focus too greatly on defense moves- it is better to just show you.” He beckoned Helan forward. “Come at me with the same moves.”

  Herom swung his arm in the circular motion he taught Helan. Helan did not hesitate and ducked lunging forward to attack Herom’s neck.

  Swirling the blade in his hand swiftly before Helan’s sword could reach Herom’s neck, his own blade was at Helan’s throat.

  Helan nodded. “I see, but unless you plan to kill me, your entire body is now vulnerable.” He made the motion to kick to prove his point.

  “As of now, my right hand is locked behind you to hold the blade at your neck. If skilled, one could knock the right hand away.”

  “Exactly,” Helan agreed. “You have no defense moves, and are vulnerable to attack,” he pointed out, trying to understand.

  Herom waved his left hand. “However, with speed one could drop the blade to the other hand and now have more offensive moves than you.” With that he dropped the hilt of his sword and caught it with his left. “Now my opponent; you, are in a dangerous position.”

  Helan attempted to move back, but was blocked. “These moves rely on speed, and leaves room for vulnerability. But the shock of wielding a blade with one’s left could grant time for such moves.” Helan lowered his sword with a nod. “I think you are just used to having two blades in your hands.”

  Herom chuckled. “The Aljehni Sword Dance is not infamous for nothing, as the oldest Aljehni I had to perfect it.“ He lowered his sword. “It is not speed but footwork, the reason you could not move back is because while changing hands I locked my foot behind yours. These moves are easy if your goal is to kill your appointment, but if you wish to keep them alive, you can shock your opponent long enough to get away. Sometimes a fight is just one hesitation away from victory.” He switched the blade to the other hand swiftly. “Shock can only be done once, it is wise that you are cautious. However, too much defense and caution can lead to danger when your appointment gets close.”

  “I see.” Helan sheathed his sword. “I will practice this and use your own moves against you the next time we spar.”

  Herom scoffed. “I have taught you this move, do you truly believe I have no other tricks up here?” He tapped the side of his head.

  Helan walked backwards. “Do you truly believe I will not implement your skills into my own style? I may not be able to wield two swords at once, but that does not mean I am unable to adapt.” He turned his head, the sun shined on his brown eyes highlighting the excitement in them. “Until next time Herom.”

  “If I win you pay the next time we go out for drinks.” Herom laughed as Helan waved before walking away.

  Meanwhile at the Aljehni estate Aaleyah was practicing the fighting techniques she learned from the book she stole out of Herom’s room. It was a book on sword fighting techniques, but she was using a dagger and adjusting the moves.

  Dropping the dagger she grumbled and stared at the book again with a grimace. The fourth image was not easy and she repeated the motion multiple times before trying all the steps again. Spinning her hand she focused on rotating the blade to face the other direction when the sound of high pitched plucking distracted her once more. “Ahhh!” She dropped the dagger and closed the book before she stumped inside the manor to the room Zale was in.

  Zale sat with his tongue sticking out in deep concentration as he moved his fingers across the strings of the lyre. Why was it not sounding like the tutor’s?

  His door slid open with a slam, a slight wind coming from the speed. Zale huffed and gave his twin an aggrieved expression. “Do you mind? I am trying to study.”

  Aaleyah marched into the room and snatched the lyre out of his hands. “I have been trying to practice for an hour and I still am unable to get past the fourth picture because you pluck like a demented dog!” She hugged the lyre carefully in both arms.

  Zale rose, his annoyance teetering on anger when she moved the lyre out of his reach. He spared a glance at the book in her hand. “Do not blame me for your lack of intelligence. That does not look like a book on Aljehni history to me. Looks to me like you are training, something father told you not to do.” Zale stretched his open hand out. “Return the lyre to me and I will pretend I did not see you deliberately disobeying his order.”

  Asbed appeared at the door. “What is going on?”

  “Not now Asbed!” Aaleyah yelled.

  “It does not concern you!” Zale extended his hand again. “Give me the lyre back Aaleyah. I am not entertaining your games.”

  “Games? I have spent the entire morning listening to your off tempo plucking! What is so amazing about this instrument? Can you just let it go? Can you find nothing quieter to do!” She screeched.

  Zale forced himself to laugh, his own annoyance showing through the fist he kept tapping the wall behind him with. “Do you think the sound of your blades is silent? Do you think you are some ghost that can not be heard? Do you think that the sound of you slamming books, kicking rocks, or throwing daggers against the wooden target is silent!” With each word his voice grew louder. He marched towards her and moved her to the door she had slammed open. “The only person loud and annoying in this house is you!”

  Aaleyah titled her head to look up at her twin, anger pouring from her eyes. “If you play this despicable instrument again I will break it.” she threatened coldly.

  “If you break my instrument I will break our promise. I will take your secret and write in on a paper, hanging it in the marketplace for all to see. I will write letters and send it to the neighboring kingdoms so they know your secret as well.” He snatched the lyre out of her hands. “I am not joking this time, Ley Ley.”

  Aaleyah’s eyes filled with rageful tears. “You have threatened to do this before.” She pulled on the collar of his robe, yanking him down so they were eye to eye. “If you betray me in that way I will never forgive you. Take your silly instrument. May you know that every time you play it, you hurt me.” Then with a push she walked away brushing past Asbed without sparing him a look.

  Asbed scratched his head. “You two have been arguing about this more and more, I thought we were done.” Asbed frowned, expressing solicitude over the situation.

  Zale rolled his eyes and walked back to his seat to ignore the growing guilt. “We are not arguing.”

  Asbed pointed in the direction Aaleyah left. “Are you happily communicating?” He asked sarcastically.

  Zale studied the top of the music sheet. “We do not need to communicate at all. She can do whatever she wishes away from me.”

  “And this is called not arguing?”

  “Correct.” Zale positioned his lyre in his lap correctly.

  “Zale, what is this really about?” Asbed asked.

  Zale gave a long and drawn out sigh, and put down the lyre. “What is what about?” He asked, pretending to be confused.

  “What do you mean what do I mean?” He motioned to the door. “The arguments with your sister.” He glanced between the door and Zale enough times that his ponytail swayed left and right.

  “Which sister?” Zale deadpanned.

  Asbed barely restrained his glare. “Do not mock my intelligence, why are you and Aaleyah not getting along?”

  “Why are you asking me? Why not ask Aaleyah?” Zale complained.

  “She is not here.” Was Asbed’s swift response. He stretched his legs, and rested an arm on the table. “Besides, I have so many questions for my dear brother.”

  “I have no desire to answer any of them.” Zale apathetically said, his fingers tapping sadly against his lyre.

  “Fine.” Asbed positioned himself against the wall so he could relax his back. “Then I will not ask them. I will just sit here.” To prove his point he crossed one ankle over the other and rested his head back.

  The room was silent and Zale felt the uncomfortable weight of Asbed’s silence. He lifted the music sheet and put it down multiple times. “I do not want to be a protector.” He mumbled.

  “What?” Asbed opened both eyes.

  “Aaleyah does not want to be the Aljehni Head either.” Zale chose to talk about what Aaleyah did not want instead. “She wants to train, and go into the military. She wants to become as famous and well known as mother. She favours the Zuhos dance more than the Aljehni dual sword one and she does not want to sit and read scrolls and books. She does not want to learn the languages that no one but our family speaks, or the old language of our kingdom. She does not want to cook, she does not want to do history.” The more Zale spoke the more comfortable he felt. The words rolled off his tongue. “She wants to ride horses. She wants to help Amenah make weapons, she wants to study different styles of combat. She wants to win a fight against Herom. She wants to perfect the art of daggers, and throwing knives. She wants to become one of the best even without fighting with a sword.” His throat grew thick with emotion and he clutched the lyre to his chest. “She has so many things that she wants and it is unfair that she is unable to have them. She has so many dreams and ambitions and it is not fair that she has to stay home and follow a predestined fate. It is unfair,” his voice quivered. It was unfair that everyone got to start when they were one Red and five Blue Moons old, but they had to start two Blue Moons earlier.

  “I see.” Asbed slowly moved from the wall and leaned his arms on the table. “It is unfair,” he repeated Zale’s words slowly. “Unfair that Aaleyah has dreams and wishes that she keeps deep in her heart.” Asbed, studying his expression, and Zale looked away with a sniff.

  “It is unfair that there are things that must be done. Fate that prevents us from accomplishing our own wants.” Asbed nodded to himself. “Unfair. So unfair to feel so much anger and resentment for what is out of your control. For the person who you wish to aid you is the very person who seems to have given the unfair fate.”

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  Zale’s eyes stung. “That is not true. I am not angry at Aaleyah.”

  Asbed smiled sadly. “I never said you were.”

  Zale looked up in shock. “I am not- it is not true,” he whispered to himself. “I am not!” He argued with a doleful expression.

  “Why do you think Aaleyah hates the lyre so much?” Asbed motioned towards the instrument responsible for their screaming match. “Since when did our sister loathe music?”

  Zale’s brow furrowed in thought. He was not sure, there was a time where she loved music. She was the one who told him to learn it.

  Asbed tapped his nose and chin. “I wonder if I played the santur, would Aaleyah show me as much hatred and anger she showed you.”

  Zale stared at his lyre. “I do not think she would care,” he whispered.

  “She would not? Hmm, maybe it is because I am good at it,” he joked. “How about if Dharam played the ney? Surely his terrible skills would invoke Aaleyah’s anger.”

  Zale placed the lyre down gently. “I do not think Aaleyah is angry at the instruments.” He frowned. “She is angry with me.”

  Asbed waved his hand. “No, it has to be the instrument. What other reasons does she have to be angry? Anything you have done we have most likely done as well,” Asbed assured.

  “Maybe she is angry I threatened her? But I only threatened her because she said she would break my instrument.” As he said those words, Zale knew that was not why she was angry.

  “Of course. Although…” Asbed pondered aloud.

  “What?” Zale leaned closer to the table with wide eyes.

  “Aaleyah has been very sensitive these moons. She does not really need reason to be angry. It is possible that you are not the one she is truly angry at,” he suggested casually. “Aaleyha is just too sensitive.”

  Zale’s eyes flashed, “That is not true! Ley Ley is not sensitive.”

  Asbed’s eyes brightened. “Then, what logical reason could Ley Ley truly have to be angry? It is not like you have done anything wrong.” He huffed.

  “Ley Ley is just as upset as I am about our luck. We both want different things. Before we were able to support each other, but now we will have to support the other as they go after our own dream. It is not easy.” Zale placed his face in his hands. “It is not that Aaleyah is angry at me, but angry for me, just as I am angry for her.”

  “Ah. So when the two of your scream and argue what you are really upset about is-”

  “That we are helpless to help each other,” Zale interjected.

  Asbed filled his cheeks with air. “Wow, then… arguing with each other may not be helping the situation.” He shrugged.

  Zale thrummed his fingers on the table. “Maybe I should apologize to her.”

  Asbed’s mouth curled and Zale knew he was being manipulated but could not find it in him to care.

  “Should it not be Ley Ley who apologizes first?” Asbed asked.

  Zale shook his head. “It does not matter who apologizes first, what matters is that we apologize. I need to find Ley Ley.”

  As he rushed out the door he heard Asbed mutter, “Hopefully it will be much quieter around here.”

  Hours passed and the entire Aljehni family was seated at the table for dinner. Today the servants had the day off, thus under the orders of Dharam and Amenah, dinner was prepared by the children. Everyone joined hands as Havil said a prayer to the Lord of the Heavens. He added an extra sentence asking for peace over his family. When he was done everyone picked up their spoons to eat.

  Aaleyah bit into her rice, and it was only due to her parents being seated at the table that she remembered her manners and did not spit it out. She struggled to chew the half cooked rice, some bits too hard to chew. Forcing a swallow she gave a graceful smile. “Zale, you made the rice today? It is always easy to pick out that Zale touch.”

  Chiara choked and gulped down water. “What is that? Hard and deadly?”

  “No speaking of death at the dinner table.” Their mother disapproved.

  Zale too struggled to chew the rice. “Where did I go wrong? I followed all of Dharam’s directions,” he whispered to himself. “Thank you Ley Ley,” then with a bright smile towards Chiara, “I made it with you in mind.”

  Chiara beamed and kicked Zale’s shin under the table, her golden eyes daring for him to say something.

  Asbed snuck a look at Aminah’s sharp expression and cleared his throat. “Everyone worked hard to make dinner, how amazing it is that we can say we know how to cook.” He ate a spoon of soup. “Not many noble families can say the same.”

  Chiara rolled her eyes. “Yes they do not have to cook and pretend not to be high status the way we do.”

  “Chiara,” Mother warned as she helped Roset cut up his food.

  Chiara scrunched her nose and went back to the impossible task of eating the dinner prepared by the so called high up and talented family.

  Herom took a swig of water. “Dharam have you seen my book on sword techniques?

  Dharam looked up from his task of squishing the rice with his spoon so it would not be so hard. “Which one?”

  “The new one I recently found after going on the hunting mission. An old teacher who lives in the mountains gifted it to me.”

  Aaleyah and Zale locked eyes before looking down swiftly.

  Dharam shook his head. “I have not seen it, maybe you left it at the palace training camps?” He offered.

  Herom shook his head. “No, I especially brought it home because I wanted to match the moves with other techniques.”

  Dharam set his spoon down, happy to not need to continue eating. “I am not sure, where did you see it last?”

  Herom frowned. “Dharam,” he called in a warning tone, “are you certain that you have not seen it? I know that it was on my table.”

  “Eh? You are blaming me? That is not fair. You lost your book in your room, it has nothing to do with me,” he spoke louder now that he realized he was being accused.

  Amenah frowned. “Dharam has nothing to do with your book Herom,” she said, displeased.

  “Thank you Mei Mei, great that someone trusts me.” Dharam lifted his spoon and smashed at his hard rice.

  Herom scrutinized Dharam’s facial expression. “You really did not take it?”

  Zale kicked at the leg of Aaleyah’s chair. ‘Say something,’ his golden eyes told her.

  ‘No way,’ her eyes responded back. If she was to speak now she would get in trouble.

  Asbed caught their looks. “How about after dinner we all look for it. It must be here. With all of our eyes it will be easy to locate,” he said, making direct eye contact with Aaleyah.

  Dharam twisted his lips in a slight sneer and continued to eat his food, wincing as he bit something hard.

  Herom frowned but said nothing.

  “Now that the accusations are in order we can continue eating,” Chiara snided.

  Asbed rolled his eyes. “Chiara, eat your soup.”

  “Excuse me?” She glared at him with crossed arms. “Watch your tone.”

  Amenah’s eyes darted to their mother’s. “Everyone just quietly eat,” she warned uneasily.

  Dharam snickered. “Yes, eat the rice.”

  Zale dropped his spoon in his soup bowl. “I told you I was not sure if the rice was done or not. You said to trust my instincts.”

  “Which you obviously did not. I also told you to stop taking the top off the rice pot. How did you expect it to cook when you continued to mess with it?”

  “‘How did you expect it to cook when you continued to mess with it?’” Zale mimicked childishly.

  “How miraculous to know that family meals never change.” Their father smoothed Roset’s hair.

  Roset dumped his rice in his soup, splattering it everywhere before looking up at his father with rice on his cheek. “I am happy I did not have to help cook.” His confession brought laughter to the entire table.

  “Roset, you are unable to reach the pot,” Dharam choked a laugh.

  “Even on your tip toes,” Amenah added.

  “I am growing.” To prove his point Roset sat taller in his seat.

  “You are only seven Blue moons, you better still be growing,” Dharam snickered.

  Roset grumbled his annoyance and with a puppy-like expression turned to Amenah for help.

  “You will grow Roset, and you will be just as strong and as tall as your brothers.” Amenah promised.

  Their mother reached over to wipe at the rice on Roset’s cheeks silently.

  Chiara scoffed. “Why is he unable to be as strong and tall as his sisters?”

  Asbed groaned.

  “Heavens Chiara, that is not what she meant. Stop searching for arguments,” Dharam chastised. He copied Roset and poured his rice into his soup. “Must you always act like this?” He asked with a roll of his eyes that mother frowned at.

  Chiara rolled her eyes. “You speak as if you are filled with knowledge, you are only one Blue Moon older than me, you have no right to speak to me like this.”

  “One Blue moon is clearly enough for me to remember to have common manners,” Dharam shot back.

  Their mother exhaled audibly and the entire table went silent.

  Their father took this silence as an opportunity to question Aaleyah on her studies. “Aaleyah.”

  Hearing her full name Aaleyah paused from picking at the vegetables in her soup. Looking up, the expression on her father’s face was obvious. “I did not finish reading it,” she confessed remorsefully.

  After the music fiasco she really did try to return and finish the book her father had assigned to her, but then she remembered that Herom would return early. So she only had so much time to practice the techniques that were in the book. Then Zale came and apologized to her and that threw her off, and she found everything so much easier than studying. “I tried to read it, truly I did. However it was really hard to concentrate, and I knew that I was not focussing well. Father said that to focus one should meditate, so I did that. When you meditate you are also not reading, thus I will have to finish it tomorrow,” she explained in a rush.

  “Aaleyah how many times must I tell you to read only to be met with disappointment? Have you not failed enough times? Was your punishment not enough? Are punishments the only incentives for you to do as you are told? There is much you do not know about the world, yet you take pride in your ignorance.”

  “Father I am to blame I distracted her by-” Zale jumped to defend Aaleyah.

  “Enough,” father cut him off. “I did not ask for you to speak. Am I too lenient? Have you no honor? Do you plan on living in this world unaware? All of my children, do you take my orders as suggestions?” He turned to Dharam. “You fail to attend classes. Why is it that the son of the top scholar refuses to show his face?”

  Dharam dropped his head.

  “Herom, you are aware that you must marry and still refuse to speak to any women.” He moved to his oldest.

  Herom held his tongue between his teeth.

  “Amenah you are to be engaged to Kemal but you have not gone to meet him for half a moon.”

  Their father drilled into each and everyone of them before turning once more to Aaleyah.

  The quiet peace at the dinner table had faded and every child was too nervous to speak.

  “I told you to read, I ordered you to study. My will will be obeyed, and until you learn, you are not to leave this manor.”

  Zale shook his head and mustered up courage. “Father, it really was me. My playing of the lyre was distracting her and she could not focus,” he tried to explain.

  “You were practicing the lyre because you finished the scrolls I assigned to you?” Their father laughed in annoyance.

  Aaleyah pushed Zale’s foot with her own to quiet him. “Father, I was wrong. I take full responsibility and will finish it first thing tomorrow morning.”

  “First thing? I will be sure to let the servants know that you will not need a plate setting for breakfast then,” Dharam joked, wincing when Amenah kicked him in the shin.

  “It is settled.” At their mother’s words everyone looked at her. “Tomorrow Aaleyah will finish her reading. Dharam will attend class, Amenah will meet with Kemal; and when it is all over everyone will learn how to cook rice.”

  Hearing the last of their mother’s words everyone smiled and Zale shyly nodded his head in agreement.