Chapter Text
Moss’s bouncing curls whipped around her face as she twirled from one rock in the shallow river to another. As she gets to a part of the river where the rocks are a little far apart to hop safely, she twists her wrist in an upward motion, causing a rock to emerge from the depths of the rushing water where she needs it to be.
Reaching the shores of the rushing river, she hopped onto dry land, counting on her journey.
As she traverses the woods surrounding Mount Ebbot, she brushes her hand against the leaves and Moss, and a hum leaves her throat, of the tree with practiced knowledge, never touching the ones that will prick the curiosity with a rash or a thorn in her palm.
In the midst of her passing through a brief clearing in the dense forest, with sunshine peaking through the canopy, she hears a very original voice.
“And where do you think you’re going, dear sister?” Moss’s twin, Ross, spoke with a stern voice and a hand on her hip
“Me? I am just taking a stroll, you see, for I did not know: is it against the law to do so?” Moss states
“Good attempt, sister, but I for one know that this is the direction of the human-monster market, the very same market that our mother has forbidden us from going to.” Ross punched her statement with a cross of her arms. Her poncho was bunching at the corners of her angered stance.
Moss mockingly put her hand on her chest and stomped her foot, “Me?! Disobey mother!?! Why I would never!?” She then promptly turns around, facing away, attempting to hide the smile arising on her face.
Unimpressed,” Moss.” Ross responds to her sister’s antics
“Fine. You caught me, now you can go tell mother wheli i make my way to the market.”Ross Reponsdeed quickly turned to walk away from this interaction. She might miss the music performance…
“Moss,” Ross repeated, this time reaching towards Moss with lightning speed and gripping onto her lower arm. Moss turns her head towards her sister and gives her a pointed glare.
“Uggggg! Why must you be so boring!” Ross: “I wouldn’t even be gone long this time, just to do a little dancing!”
“I do not understand why i must do so at that place, there’s plenty of space to dance in the forest, which you do so already.”
“Alright, maybe I was not just going to dance… It’s just so fun there!” Ross explains, There are so many interesting people and things to do.”
“I do not care. You know the tension between the monsters and humans has been running high; we don’t need to be caught up in that.”
“And just how is going to the market getting caught up in such?” Moss stared pointedly at her sister. Before Ross could speak, Moss stated, “You’ve never even been before… don’t you think you deserve a break too?”
Ross stopped looking at her sister, pouting at an attempt to save her from going to the duel-run monster/human market. She has, in fact, never had the privilege of going with her duties as the next leader in the mage hierarchy after their mother and tensions between humans and monsters, skringing their native lands…
Deep down, she knows this is a bad idea, but she’s been working hard for her people… she deserves a break sometime, right?
,
“Fine.” Moss threw her arms into the air at her very rare victory over her sister’s stubborn obstinacy
“We’re only staying for an hour,” Ross interjected at her sister’s celebration. “Any more than that, and I shall drag you to mother myself!”
“Alright! Alright! Alright! Let’s be off now!” Moss answered her sister halfheartedly, grabbed her by the arm, and continued their journey to the market.
-
It wasn’t long before the sisters set foot into the open market. As they did, Rosses felt her inhibitions leap from her body as her bare foot touched the flat, dry land of their destination.
This place was nothing like their settlement in the forest. Their place was quiet, ceremonial, maybe overly so, but compared to the market, it was the middle of the desert. Ross looked around as she witnessed people, both human and monster, bustling about the space, children running, and people dancing to the sound of wooden instruments. As she was about to step forward to venture further into the market, she felt her arm being yanked back.
“Wait,” her sister stated, pulling her sister from view and producing a rather large piece of fabric from the pocket in her loose skirt,
“We need to cover your hair,” she clarified, moving to do so.
Her sister shifted further away to avoid her sister’s clothes. “Why?, I thought you said this place was open to anyone.”
“It is…” Moss started, “But I have learned that the humans are a little uncomfortable around people like us, so it’s just better to hide… distinguishable features.”
“I don’t understand. The humans are ok with monsters having magic, but not us?” Ross confronted
“I acknowledged it is strange, maybe it’s because we look so much like them, but I don’t know why, but it’s just better not to stir them up.”
“This is not reassuring me…”
“It’s not that bad. I always hide mine when I come here, just put some faith in me!” Moss emphasizes with a pout. Ross glanced over the festivities before finally caving under her sister’s will.
“Yes! You shall not have any regrets, I promise!”
After Ross let Moss severely tie the cloth around her head, keeping her horns from detection, other than two barely noticeable bumps, they finally let her completely set foot into the opening in the market, and what a sight to behold.
Her sister led Ross through the throng of people towards a stand selling what Ross could only describe as balls of dough.
“These are fried dough balls, they’re sweet, you love them,” Moss states, exchanging one gold coin for two of the baked goods.
“Where did you get common money?” Ross questioned her sister’s action; their people rarely use that form of currency.
“I have my ways,” Moss states quickly, then hands Moss the treat. “Here, try it!”
Ross took the funding team from her sister and had her ask a question before taking a tiny bite of the bread.
“It’s good?” Ross stared in surprise, and her sister gleamed as she rushed her two to another stall, surviving some other fried dish. This is how she spent the next 30 minutes, being ushered by her sister from one stall to another, sometimes even for trinkets, despite Moss’s hesitance to the situation as a whole. Going somewhere that their mother has very much forbidden and having to cover up her horns, she was beginning to have fun…
“Oh! Mom would love this!” Ross stopped in front of another stall, dislodging herself from Moss’s hold on her. “Don’t you think?”
As Moss turned, Ross pointed out a lovely jade gem on a simple silver chain; the jade itself wasn’t the most polished or clear-cut, but it was cut in the shape of an oak leaf. It had a sort of rough quality.
“Oooh, yes, Mother would love that!” Ross stated getting excited at the prospect of buying the necklaces
“Hol!” Both sisters jumped as they noticed the presumably undetectable vendor. “I am Temmie, r u interested?!” Temmie asked
“How do you do, Temmie? I am Ross,” as Moss began to bow lightly, as in
“People don’t do that here, Moss…” Ross stopped her, smiling awkwardly at Tammie
“Oh.” An embarrassing blush crept around her dark features
“Iz ok!” Temmie spoke up, “r youu interested in the necklace?”
“Yes! How much?” Moss stated, reaching for the coins in her skirt’s pocket,
“Tem Flakes!!!”
Ross looked over to her sibling for an explanation, only for Moss to give the same confused glance at her.
“Sorry, I have no ‘Tem’ Flakes…but I have 4 gold coins. How about that?”
“Hmmmm…” Temmie looked deep in thought, “tem can use dat tu buy tem flakes…Okays! One necklace 4 gold coins! Temmie stated, and Moss placed the 4 gold coins in Temmie’s paw as Temmie reached out to hand the necklace to Moss.
“Thank u!” Temmie stated as the sisters walked off, giggling to each other at the fun interaction that they had just had with Temmie.
They continued to walk, not glancing at the shops anymore, just enjoying the atmosphere that was so different, yet so very welcome, from their home in the forest. The sun turned its brilliant orange as it neared the edge of the horizon, singing another day on the bass of Mount Ebbot. Jars with the bright light of lightning bugs begin to light the streets along with the flickering flame of candles and lanterns.
“Oh, let’s dance, Sister!” Moss began to drag her to the center of the clearing in the market, where a few people were dancing around a group of young men playing various wooden instruments. Now, usually Ross was one to keep her dancing private, but here with her sister, she felt she could let herself go and be dragged into the center.
As they reached the center of the opening in the crowd, the sisters hooked their arms together and smiled at each other as they began twirling, moving their feet in practiced placement in rhythm with the movement.
There were many differences between the sisters. Moss was energetic; Ross was not. Ross was studious; Moss was not. One thing that contented them was dancing. And they continued to do so as more humans and monsters joined in the clearing, the happy cheerings of voices grew louder, and the noise of the lute grew louder.
The swirling of fabrics and feet, rush of bodies, grew so fast and energetic that the sisters eventually separated but were none the wiser as the dancing of the crowd continued…at least until one wrong timing of the placement of her foot had Ross bumping hard into the back of a human, causing both to stumble to the ground as the music and voice came too a a halt.
Ross lifted herself to her arms and knees, feeling the warm feeling of blood flow from a new wound in her knee from the fall. She felt a hand on her shoulder, and another attempt to reach for her hand, as an attempt to help her on her feet.
“I am so sorry! Are you O-” both of the hands left her as soundly as the person stopped talking, and the hushed music and whispers came to a stark silence.
Ross lifted her head to see what was happening and saw every person, mostly human, staring at her in fear, some even backing away. Ross tried to stand up, confused; she had never had anybody look at her like this before. She heard a woman whisper to another.
Look at its hair…” It was then that Ross noticed the handkerchief that had originally covered her horns, lying on the ground right beside her feet. Now Ross understood, and she was scared.
She was finally able to stand up fully, and just as she saw the faces, fearfully angry, and voices, from whispers to shouts.
“Sister!” She heard someone shout as she felt someone yank on her arm, pulling her back roughly. Ross raised her arms defensively over her face.
But suddenly she was not in the market. She wants to be surrounded by angry humans. She was in the same clearing when she caught her sister sneaking off early that day.
“What happened?! Are you hurt!?!!” Ross did not respond as her twin lifted her arm, and finally noticed the scrape on her knee .“I am so sorry, I should have been more careful-”
When Moss tried to hug her, Ross pushed her sister.
“You said that the non-mages would get ‘a little uncomfortable’ at us not doing it right, terrified!
“Yeah… they can be a little weird-”
“What if they attacked us?”
“I handled it, and I got us out of there.” Moss tried to argue, but Ross shook her head and began walking away
“I can’t believe I let you talk me into going with you. How stupid could I be?”
“What are you even talking about? It got a little scary at the end, but we had fun, didn’t we, and nobody got hurt in the end,” Moss stated, trying to catch up with her sister.
Ross suddenly turned to face her sister from behind just as she reached her.
“No wonder I am heir to the throne, not you. Ross states angrily, with a little fear for her sister written on her face. “You’re going to get yourself killed frolicking with these humans and even the monsters.”
Ross turned back around. “When fear grows rampant, and people choose sides…Whose side shall they be on?” Ross finally stated, counting while walking in the direction of their element.
Moss watches her sister walk deeper into the first surrounding mountain ebbot. When she can no longer see Ross, Moss reaches into the pocket of her skirt and takes out the jade necklaces they had bought from a Temmie.
And for a while, she stands there, contemplating her sister’s words and the human’s actions, rolling the jade between her fingers as tears begin to fall from her face.