1 Ch.1- Tilling The Earth

Rowan Vormis lies on the edges of a black pond in the center of his garden, his feet in the dark water as shallow waves lap at the shores. He sits up and faces towards the large, silver-barked tree he has been taking care of since he's been a child. He sighs as he kicks at the waters, the twenty four torches above glowing faintly and reflecting off the quartz walls above. Closing his eyes, Rowan stands up and walks through the pond and out stretches his arms as he walks through the shallow waters. He walks towards the tree and runs the tips of his fingers against the soft, felt-like bark as he looks up with cyan eyes at the wavering onyx-black leaves above. 

He brushes his shoulder-length, night black hair over his ears as he sits back down in the water on his knees; his leather trousers and white robes getting heavy in the water as he clasps his hands together. He whispers a small prayer in a language that not even he understood the meaning of as it isn't his natural dialect, but he continues on saying the words in a hushed voice that makes him sound like he is speaking backwards through a broken radio. He feels the water around him ripple from the tree and ignore his presence as the flames above wavered in a nonexistent breeze. The glossy black leaves above began falling as fog leaks off the silver branches and covers over the water. 

Rowan was suddenly broken out of his trance as he hears someone snap a twig behind him, causing him to stand up and spin around towards the source of the sound with his concealed knife drawn as he slides through the water to the edge of the pond. The figure holds up their hands defensively as Rowan glares at the person in front of him. She wore a starry black dress, a small belt with two pouches hanging off of the sides, and black leather slippers with the straps entwined with silver. He stares at them until he notices two cyan eyes, long black hair that reaches down to their lower back, and a smile that could light up this cavern. The girl gave him a smile filled with mischief. "Glad to see you're still stuck with being the caretaker of this little garden of yours."

  He sighs as he sees a very familiar face in front of him and puts the black iron dagger back underneath his robes. "By the sake of the gods, Morana. Please, tell me when you come down here." 

The girl smiles as she cautiously puts her hands back down. "Well then, I'll keep note of that." She puts her hands behind her back as her hair sways in the breeze coming from the door she left open. She looks at the pond and then at the crystal chamber above, always feeling surprise of the shock and wonder this place gives her every time she comes in. She looks at the plants and shrubbery around her, seeing the flower buds on the ones closest to her hidden in the leaves. Hints of color pokes out from underneath the green pods and makes her eyes sparkle as she brushes the tips of her fingers against the bud. 

She eagerly walks over to her little brother and pats his head. "When do you think the buds will bloom?"  Morana asks as she looks down at the small brush near her. 

Rowan pouts and blushes before he swats Morana's hand away with a small shriek, his sister laughing at his reaction and how shy he is. He tries to calm himself down before he looks at the black buds on the branches of the tree above and smiles slightly as well. He closes his eyes and faces towards the ground as he tries to listen to the garden, smelling the air for any familiar aroma of the upcoming "spring". Though, he doesn't sense any of the signs. He sighs before he looks back to  Morana. 

"Not for another few weeks," he replies with a bit of a sad tone to his features now.

Morana feels sad with her brother, but stays smiling. She walks onto the edge of the water to pat her brother on the shoulder. Until she remembers something. "oh yeah, your little girlfriend is upstairs." 

Rowan's face suddenly bursts red as she said so and pulls the hood of his robes over his head to try and cover his face. "Sh-she's not m-my girlfriend! J-just a friend," he says with a small whine.

Morana chuckles at the sudden shyness of her younger brother. She pats his head before yanking off the hood. "Right, right. Anyways, she's upstairs chatting with Father." 

Rowan gives her a friendly punch on the shoulder before walking through the maze of bud covered shrubs and brush. The torches above flickered slightly; making Morana flinch before she looks at the wavering, golden flames with interest as she rubs her shoulder. She walks out of the water and shakes her feet dry on the soft soil before she walks through the short maze herself. She weaves through the shrubs and brush that doesn't even rise past her waist, each step and movement looking like an elaborate dance through the greenery until she reaches the very edge of the garden. She walks through the hedges at the edge and finds the empty space between the crystalline walls in front of her and the lively plant life growing behind her. 

She ignores seeing Rowan at the doorway back up to the temple and walks past him and the small tools cabinet that her little brother and only her little brother uses and accidentally kicks it open. The metal blades and tools fall to the ground in a series of clangs and and ringing. She covers her ears from the loud noise, keeping an eye on the door to make sure that her brother isn't actually coming back down to check up on her. The sound of thumping footsteps coming closer though, doesn't reassure her on that.

Rowan tries to steady his breathing so his face isn't as red as he goes up the steps to the Nordic temple above. Until he hears clanging suddenly ring up the column. He rushes back down the steps, jumping off the rails once he knows that he would be fine from the drop and out of obstacles. He slams open the door into the chamber as footsteps thud above.

He feels the door suddenly try and shut again by something, but he knows who the only one in that room is. "Morana, quit leaning on the door and let me in."

"No, just go up and talk to," Morana struggles as she feels like she's fighting against a raging storm. "your," She feels her feet skid against the floor. "frie-"

Rowan gives a hard kick against the door, panting and gripping at his chest as his heart rate gets dangerously high. He stumbles into the chamber and keeps a hand on the quartz covered walls as he lets the heavy, dark oak door shut. "I know...you want me to...talk with...Marison more... but," he gives his sister a hard punch on her arm, "quit doing these things by yourself."

Rowan sighs as he walks over to the fallen tools, keeping sure to be careful around the sharp blades of the small scythe and axe as he hangs them back up into the metal closet as he moves slowly. He closes the doors to the tool closet and walks back towards the door back up to the temple as he tries to steady his breathing to slow his thumping heart. Morana rubs her arm, grumbling as she grabs the ladder and a torch cap. Rowan decides he'll apologize to her later and walks up to the door. He reaches for the handle until the door swings open and smacks into him.

Rowan falls to the floor as a tall, thin man walks through the door; having to bow his head slightly to not hit his head on the top of the door frame. The man looks around for the noise until he sees Rowan on the ground, rubbing his bleeding forehead. The man became paler than his already white skin as he kneels down.

"Rowan, what happened?" The man says with worry in his voice as he brushes his hand against the shallow gash, sighing in relief that Rowan isn't that badly hurt.

Rowan smacks the 30-year-old man's hand away, glaring at him as he tries to get up. "I'm fine, Dad. The door just hit me when you opened it," Rowan says as he pats the dirt off his cloths.

The father pats the boys head, sighing in relief before he tends to Rowan's wound. Rowan pouts as his father wraps a piece of linen cloth around his head, Rowan having to hold up his hair as his father mumbles something under his breath. Rowan's father pats the boy's head once again; Rowan getting flustered again as he does the exact same reaction as when Morana did it. Morana almost falls off the ladder as she laughs at the high-pitch sound, steadying herself as she can hear him stomping his foot.

"quit it!" Rowan yells as his face goes bright red. He runs over the door and yanks it open, letting it slam shut as he stomps up the stairs.

Adraimyn looks after his son, sighing as he watches the boy go away in anger. He stands up and looks towards Morana, who was still laughing on the ladder with the torch cap still in her hands. She extinguishes the torch above her before feeling her father's eyes on her and looking over.

"Yes?" she asks, unsure of what her father wants now as she kicks off the wall and lets the ladder fall. she lands on her feet with the pole ladder on her shoulder, looking at her father's worry filled eyes.

"What did you do this time?" Adraimyn asks immediately, anger and curiosity slightly flaring from his features as he rolls up the sleeves of his robes slightly to free up his wrists more.

Morana becomes a bit more nervous as she continues her task, snuffing out the second torch. "I didn't anything that bad, just teased him," she continues going around the chamber, snuffing out every single light until there was only six left to light the area in a dim glow. When she finally got back to the door to put back the cap and the ladder, she finally realizes that her father didn't even hear her or follow her. She palms her forehead at thinking that as she hear her father's short chuckle in the hedges. She opens the door and slams it shut, the sound reverberating off the walls.

Rowan changes his clothes to a cloth tunic and a pair of loose fitting trousers in his small room, walking over the fluffy, yak-skin rug he uses as a bed as he grabs the hand-made jewelry from his father. he puts on the steel necklace and loops the thin chain around his neck twice, letting the small pendant with the etched image of his favorite flower dangle over the top of his sternum as he puts on his bracelets. He goes back into the hall with his pendants and charms dangling and chiming as he moves on through to the main chambers. He passes by a window and covers his eyes from the sunlight as he moves on past the doors to the other kids living here.

As he gets close to the end of the hall, one of the doors in front of him opens out and stops before he can get hit by it. His older step-brother, Nathaniel, walks out with his own jewelry shining in the dim sunlight. Nathaniel stands high as he closes the door with a swift kick, his silver jewelry glittering as the rune of freyr seem to make him glow. Rowan clears his throat and Nathaniel jumps like a scared cat and makes a small, girly scream; not even noticing that he was there.

"What the he-," a series of giggles cuts Nate off and echoes in the hall.

The two boys looks down the hall and sees two, identical looking children panic and close the door. Rowan looks back at Nate looks at each other and nod, deciding to deal with the small scare later. The two of them sneak down the hall, taking off their slippers to make their steps more silent. They hide on the side of the door where the hinges lay so the two children don't see them when they open the door again. The young twins opens the door again, looking down the hall and opens it wider. The six-year-old, identical-looking children pokes their heads past the doors and search down the hall for Rowan and Nate. Not noticing the very two boys they were looking for were right behind them.

Rowan rushes in and snatches up his younger sister, Fae, as Nathan tackles and tickles Fae's brother, Tyke. Rowan picks up face and puts her on his shoulders, the little girl giggling as her identical-twin brother laughs on the floor. The noise echoes down the hall and reaches to another girl in a flower-patterned, white dress who was waiting in the main hall. She walks towards the halls, about to open the door when it was pulled open from the other side.

Marison jumps aside and falls to the ground, holding up her arms as she thinks she is being attacked until she hears more giggling and laughing. She looks up and sighs in relief as she gets up and pats herself off. She watches as Rowan plays with Fae, letting the little girl climb and swing on him as if he was her personal playground until Rowan collapses onto the ground, his arms and legs splaying out as Fae sits on top of his stomach. He breaths heavily as the two of them laugh.

Marison walks up and looks over Rowan with a smile. "Looks like you are getting along with your siblings," she says as she puts her hands on her hips.

Rowan looks up at Marison and chuckles slightly. "What else would we be doing when we don't have a lot of things to do here," he tries to sit up, Fae hopping off her older brother's stomach and runs to help Tyke, who was still being tickled by Nate in the hall way.

Marison shakes her head as Rowan gets up and turns to look at Mari with a smile. To his surprise, he sees her turn and avoid eye contact with him. He walks over to her and she moves a bit farther away, her brown hair bouncing behind her as she looks at Rowan with gleaming eyes and a pink color to her cheeks. Rowan realizes what she was thinking and blushes as well as the words of Morana begins echoing in his head. Specifically the word "girlfriend".

He raises his left arm and rubs the back of his neck as the two of them have a bit of an awkward moment, not noticing Morana and Nate looking through the open door to the hall at them. Nate shakes his head at his brothers timidness as Morana makes a sly smile.

Nate moves back into the hall and asks with a hushed voice so Rowan wouldn't hear, "you think he will ask her today?"

Morana closes the door and looks to Nate. "He will want to, eventually. We just have to wait."

Nate walks back to look through the door and suddenly gets frightened, jumping back from the door with a pale face. Morana looks what scared Nate and yelps as the door swings open, revealing that Rowan was there. Rowan gives them a dark smile as Marison stands behind him with a red face. Scaring Nathaniel and Morana even more.

"So," Rowan says as he cracks his knuckles, "which one of you wants to give the message to me."

Morana swiftly runs away laughing as he leaves Nate behind to deal with Rowan. Nate curses his sister under his breath before looking back to Rowan, who punches Nate's arm lightly. Rowan sighs as he decides that he doesn't actually have time for this and turns to Marison with a small smile. He offers her his hand and she takes it, allowing him to lead her out side of the temple.

Nathan sighs in relief as well, glad to see Rowan isn't the one to keep anger in control, but slowly turns dull as he sits on the ground. He watches after his brother; jealous of the fact that his younger brother, the middle child, is the first one to get a love interest first. He sulks in the small corner until he feels something standing in front of him. Nathaniel looks up to see a young man that looks a lot like Rowan in front of him, except with a white toga held up by a lyre-shaped pin, white blond hair, silver- gold eyes, and a silver tint to their features. The young man smiles down at Nathan as Nathan moves away from the figure.

"Be not afraid, half-brother. You want love, and I shall get it to you," the figure says as they offer a hand to Nate.

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