Sibling Rivalry-Part the (Finished/XP Awarded)

[Aidara]

36, Spring 503 AV It was cold for the spring, but that didn't stop the hearty Inarta from going about their business. The sun shone in a crisp blue sky, teasing of the warmth of summer, as the gusts of wind swept any hopes of a warm day away. The wind blew particularly hard on the cliffs surrounding Wind Reach, but it was beautiful. The view from the edge could extend miles on a clear day, the landscape below a breathtaking thing to behold. Even so,it was dangerous even for one who had grown up with adults scolding to be careful about falling off the mountain. Of course, that made children want even more to go and see exactly what was so dangerous. Without fail, every year a group of kids would sneak out in the dark of night to go see these cliffs. It was a good year if none of them fell. Aidara stood on the edge of these cliffs peering down as if she could see through the clouds that gathered hundreds of feet below. Her hands tucked inside of her coat, an unnatural stance for one who literally toed the line against death. Although, she supposed that if she fell, having her hands in or out of her pockets would make little difference in her plummet to earth. It was still chilly, and even though it was spring Aidara still sported her Katinu, mittens and knee high winter boots. Despite her close proximity to the edge of the cliff, Aidara had no intentions of jumping off... not that it hadn't crossed her mind. She flinched as an eagle wheeled over head, crying down at her in what she took as a mockery. Green eyes swept up towards the bird with a hateful glare before she turned on her heel and strode away from the cliff. She snatched her bow from where she had laid it on a boulder, swinging the quiver full of arrows over her shoulder as she peered around for a place to practice. With a sigh, she headed towards an outcropping of trees.

[Sairque]

There was nothing cheerier than weather than matched one's mood. The joy of clinging for dear life on the back of her newest companion, Catabasis, but the warmth sucked out of it by the jealous anger of her sixteen year old twin.

That wheeling eagle wasn't mocking, Sai had the distinct impression that Catabasis was trying to tell Aidara to grow up and stop making his rider so damn grumpy. That was all he was saying on the matter, however.

"What am I going to do?" Sairque asked, fiddling with one of his feathers as they descended to meet up with her sullen sister.

"Be a good sister to her, be considerate of her feelings, and keep me out of it," he replied with a finality.

"'Keep you out of it?' How am I supposed to do that?!"

His answer was to suddenly fold his wings and drop the last two feet to the ground, jarring his inattentive rider off his back to fall in a graceless heap at his feet. He spread one wing and commenced pretending he had a feather that needed tending to.

"Stupid bird...'keep me out of it'...like he's not directly involved in the whole problem..." the young rider mumbled, picking herself up and dusting off her thick coat. With one last glare at him, she strode off toward the trees her sister had disappeared into. "I got a pissed off sister and a big bird brain that won't help in any way, 'be a good sister'" she mocked in a high pitched voice, the foul mood of her sister encroaching further upon her own attitude.

I can hear you. Catabasis reminded her of their bond and telepathy. It only further incensed her.

When she finally found that sullen pipsqueek she had for a sister, the girl having made an old stump into a target, Sai walked right up to her and poked her in the chest.

"I can't help it, you know. It's not my fault that the bird brain chose me!"

Keep this 'bird brain' nonsense up and you'll be dragging carcasses back home yourself. Sai didn't have the experience with him to know that he was finding this all vastly amusing.

Clenching her fists, Sai rolled her eyes and was disappointed that she couldn't release the jittery anger by beating the crap out of someone. Her eyes lit on her sister, who's foul mood had cleared up proportionate to Sai's darkening. The severity of her stance and mood were somewhat lessened by the bits of grass sticking to her braided hair and scarves.

[Aidara]

"Don't yell at me. I didn't have any choice in this. It's not MY fault either." It looked like Sairque was going to get the fight she was looking for. When she heard the ungraceful landing behind her, Aidara had tensed and spun around, an arrow still nocked in her bow. She wasn't as foolish as to have it pointed at the eagle and his raider, so she held it pointed towards the ground, the string straining against her fingers. Her muscles were locked and tense, and her stance was like a cat ready to spring. "Do you honestly think I like being replaced? How did you expect me to react? We don't even spend time together anymore. I've spent more time with this bow and this stump today than we have in a week. I've stopped being surprised if I don't even see you after darkening." The slender girl huffed, her nostrils flared and her dark red hair whipping around her face. Her cheeks were red with anger and it looked as if tears threatened to spill over the edge of her lids any second. There was a hurt in every line of her face that went deeper than simple jealousy that she didn't have an eagle of her own. The hurt was poorly disguised by the happy carefree mask she wore on a daily basis at at time like this. Now, the mask had fallen off and the raw wound of the hurt on her face was almost painful to look at. "I don't have it in me to hate you. I could never hate you. Catabasis is a part of you now, so that means I can't hate him either, even though I want too. So who am I supposed to hate, other than myself? It's just not fair!" And she lifted her knee, dropping the arrow and bringing her bow down over her upraised leg in one fluid motion. The crack of the breaking wood should have echoed loudly in the girls ears, but the wind had picked up and it swiftly carried the sound up and over the edge of he cliff, along with what sounded like a sob. However, clutching both halves of her ruined weapon in both hands Aidara turned her back on her sister, her fiery head bowed against the wind and her grief. She always was the passionate one, and this time it was taking its toll on her.

[Sairque]

No, Sairque didn’t get the fight she wanted because Aidara was too much of a pansy. All the moping girl did was bitch and moan. Of course she had choice ‘in this’, and it was her fault! She chose to pout and get angry and let her jealousy control her.

The wind whistled through the trees, ripping the warmth from their cheeks. Sai buried her hands in her pockets and glowered at her overly dramatic twin.

“Wah wah wah! I expected you to react like an adult, not a little toddler. All you can do is skulk around feeling sorry for yourself,” Sairque spat, watching the crying girl break her bow in frustration and spin away. A feat that would have been impressive if Aidara wasn’t so pathetic.

Sairque stared at the back of her head, watching the girl’s hair whip in the wind. “Instead of going out and even trying to get your own bond, you spend your time telling yourself you’re not good enough. You’re too much of a coward to even find out for sure. “

And Sai was disgusted with both her own behavior and that of her sister. It was awkward that the girl was being so emotional. Sai bent down and retrieved the arrow, testing the tip with her thumb. Embarrassed at Aidara’s emotional and weak behavior, Sai busied herself checking out its fletching and strength.

[Aidara]

As Sai ran her mouth, Aidara busied herself with removing her coat despite the chill, she wanted to have full arm movement. Suddenlly she charged, movingfaster than either of them thought she could, with only her strangled cry as a warning. Through their empathetic bond, Aidara could feel her sisters disdain for her. Well, she assumed it towards her, and not her behavior. While they could easily sense each other and their emotions, it did backfire sometimes. Anger, pain, anticipation were just a few of the feelings they shared yet it was never known towards who or what, it was a very vague succession. Fueled by the anger than she felt surging towards her, Addy moved against her sister, hunched down to strike her in the stomach with her shoulder, bowling her to the cold rocky ground. The impact jarred her teeth and the metallic taste of blood filled her mouth- she had bitten her tongue. "Don't.... Don't..." Came the furious growl as Aidara pinned Sairque to the ground, both of her hands on her shoulders. Her green eyes shone with pain. It was the pain that drove her actions, not anger. The only reason she was able to knock her sister off her feet was because of the amount of pain Sairque was feeling through their connection. But her sister was strong, she'd always been stronger than Aidara, and she tried to used this momentary advantage as best she could. Before she really thought about what she was doing, Aidara pulled her fist back and slammed it against the left side of her sisters jaw.

[Sairque]

There was a flash of red hair before the hefty momentum of her sister carried her to the ground. Flipped straight from her feet to her back, the air burst out of her lungs and the solid struggling weight of her sister prevented her from replacing it greedily. The pain Sai was getting on her end of the bond was shocking in its intensity. She could deal with fury, that was a familiar emotion, she dealt with her own on a regular basis.

“Don’t… Don’t…”

Sai struggled half heartedly to throw her sister to the side, but why was Aidara so hurt? Don’t do what? She was the one on her back with a furious girl on top of her. She wasn’t attacking here! It wasn't fury, either. It was…debilitating. Tears clung to the inside of her eyes, her chest filled with something heavy, and the muscles along her cheeks and jaw twitched. This wasn’t from the distance that had sprung up between them, this was because she had vocalized her sister’s most shameful opinion of herself. Sairque tried to grab her twin’s arms to prevent her from doing anything drastic…like dislocating her jaw with her fist.

The pain was good. Clearly, the two channels of emotion separated into her own confused hurt and her sister’s shameful pain. Able to distinctly identify her own feelings, the shift back to anger was immediate. And there was only one proper Inarta reaction to being slugged.

Her right hand shot between their bodies and clenched around her sister’s throat, squeezing. Her other hand gripped blindly for a rock but found only the thin, unbroken arrow. It would work. She couldn’t swing it effectively at anything except the girl’s ribcage, but she would do that as long as Aidara would let her. The thin wooden reed whistled through the air, landing with a distinct crack at the end of each blow.

[Aidara]

Aidara wasn't a fighter. She was passionate, yes, but also rather meek and more apt to cower than strike. When in mortal danger she could defend herself, hence her attempt to hone her archery skills. It was only when really hurt or angry would she strike out to intentionally hurt. The two of them rolled on the ground, Aidara trying to get away from the arrow shaft that was cracking relentlessly against her ribs while Sairque kept her grip on her throat. So when Addy rolled, Sai rolled with her. Over and over and over until they were but a hairs breadth from the edge of the cliff. Addy attempted to punch whatever piece of her sisters flesh she could reach, in hopes of forcing her into submission. It was a futile hope. As a last resort, Addy dug her finger nails into the soft flesh of her sisters arm, the one that was slowly cutting off her air supply. She felt a bit light headed, and knew it wasn't long until she completely passed out, and desperation took over. Addy opened and closed her mouth a few times, attempting to lift her head and her gaze to look at her sisters face but she'd gone too far. Sai was not going to listen nor was she going to relent until one of them gave up, so Addys attempts to speak went unnoticed. Despite the blood she drew from her savaging her sisters arm, Sai used her superior strength to hold her sister captive and beat her silly. Aidara could feel the welts that the arrow left all over her body starting to weep, and she was becoming more light headed by the second. And then she was limp in her sisters grasp, tears streaming down her face as she completely gave up. All the energy left her body and she wasn't able to raise her arm for even one more swing. Addy slumped against the ground panting, shaking and clearly defeated. Her head came to rest on the edge of the cliff, her hair slipping down over the edge to tug and pull, a red flag in the wind.

[Sairque]

Over rocks and twigs they rolled, coming close the cliff edge more that once, various parts of their bodies hanging over before the struggle shifted their positions again.

Her sister’s fist smashed into her face repeatedly, the swelling skin oozing blood, until Sai had the sense to keep it turned away and make it a more difficult target. Aidara shifted her punches to her sister’s neck and then finally settled on her stomach, which, unfortunately, had the mechanics that produced the most force. Each blow brought a pained grunt from the body below her, Sai’s abs whipcord tight and iron hard in defense. But the necessary clearance between them for that meant that Sai was getting a large amount of momentum behind her own strikes.

Sai didn’t count the blows she landed, and they didn’t lighten. They weren’t dispersed across the girl’s body, and she knew that they had to be smarting even when she wasn’t hitting the wounds.

Finally, Addy latched onto the arm that was choking her and broke the flesh, dragging her nails down and ripping it open in long gashes. It was a last ditch effort, Sai knew it from the second she felt her skin break, and wasn’t surprised when the desperate body above her sagged.

Mercifully, she disentangled herself and let Addy lay still on the ground. Chest heaving, Sai stumbled to her feet. Blood ran in rivulets down her arm, released by the sharp point digging into her palm while she had clenched it in her fist to commence the previous beating with. The arrow finally followed the occasional red drop to the dirt.

Her other hand came up to wipe at the blood from her lip, her cheek, the explorative touch only bearable because the adrenaline hadn’t been re-metabolized by her system yet. Yellow eyes were cast about blankly for a second before she sat back down at her sister’s side and reached out to take her hand. More in need of Addy returning the touch, letting her know that everything was okay again, than to give comfort or her own forgiveness.

The wind whipped around them, tugging at skin, hair, and the sound of labored breathing. Wisps of hair and ends of scarves ripped from place by the struggle blew about, and twigs, grass and leaves were either dislodged or further tangled by it. It carried the anger and pain away until there was just a blank, vaguely satisfied, yet concerned, feeling left over.

[Aidara]

The pain made it hard to breathe, as if her sister still had her fist wrapped around her throat. Curling into a ball, as if that would keep the pain at bay, Aidara sucked in huge lung fulls of air, her ragged breathing punctuated by sobs. Whether she didn't see her sisters extended hand, or she chose to ignore it was unclear, for she was in a world of pain,it clouded her eyes and shone in every line on her face. She was not trying to get pity, or any kind of response from her sister. She was just in that much pain. She whimpered as she tried to raise from the curled position, gasping and falling back into the dirt as fresh pain lanced through her side. She didn't even need to probe with her fingers to know that she had a least two broken ribs, maybe three. Flopping as gently as she could into her back, Addy stared up at her sister from her position on the ground. Tears still streamed from her eyes, yet it seemed more from the physical pain now than emotional. In fact, Aidara couldn't feel any emotions at all. She felt the satisfaction that came from Sai, along with the concern but she pushed it aside and dove into her own sense of numbness, letting it was over her and sooth her pains. It did little to help. "Catabasis should have been mine, you know." Aidara began. She didn't even really know why she was bothering to talk. Her voice was soft and rough, her throat raw and painful even when she swallowed, let alone talked. Not to mention her sister probably wasn't even going to listen to a word she said. She wasn't the best at communication. "Remember when you used to make fun of me for spending hours taking care of the other riders birds, just so I could be near them? I've always wanted to be an Endal. I've always wanted my own eagle. I met Catabasis while I was there. He was newly brought in, and no one gave him a minutes notice. Said he was boring, or he was never going to choose a rider. He'd been there for months and still had shown no interest in anyone. Except me." She turned her face away, looking out over the cliff, into the distance. "He only let me feed him. I took him out to the yard for exercise. The riders started talking about how maybe the 'old boy' had finally found his rider again. They didn't think he would ever bond for a second time, after he killed his first boy. They almost didn't let him back into the Aerie. I begged them to let him stay. I'd never felt happier in my life. I never thought it was that easy! I always assumed I would never find my bond." Her voice grew hard, though still lacked the thickness of emotion it normally had when she cried. "But it's not that easy, after all. You had to jump off that damn cliff."

[Sairque]

Sai stared at her out stretched hand for long minutes, for the entire time her sister opened up to her. Vaguely, anger sparked at being ignored and having her apology rejected. Of course, the root of the anger was hurt, but who was self aware enough to know that?

Shame piled on to shame. She hadn’t needed to get into a fight with her sister. There was never any doubt over who would win, there was never any doubt that Sai wouldn’t even be in serious danger if she didn’t fought back. It was pride, or some kind of need to solidify her superiority over her twin. This wasn’t self defense, it wasn’t even saving face. From her experience, beating the shit out of someone makes you feel good. Sai had never felt so ashamed and disgusted by her behavior before, never before had winning been such a desolate solace.

She should have just curled into a ball and let her sister work out her frustration. Then, at least, the chasm between them wouldn’t have widened. Just the thought of the satisfaction she had felt, now long gone, left an ashy taste in her mouth.

She wouldn’t apologize for getting the bond with Catabasis. She hadn’t set out to sabotage her sister’s hard work.

Yeah..she had to jump off a damn cliff to get her bond. She had always known, somewhere in the back of her head that she would get it. It had been such an assured thing for her that she felt comfortable waiting for her Eagle to come to her, that it would happen in it’s own time and there was no use rushing it. Her sister had always called her too proud to get a bond, with an attitude like that.

“I never really looked down on you for all the time you spent in the aerie, you know?” Clearly, she didn’t. “I was really glad that you were doing your own thing. It was nice that you could come home and tell me all about everything and I had no clue what you were talking about so it was always so new.”

“I didn’t know that stuff about him. I mean, I knew he had a previous rider, and it took him a long time to bond again. I didn’t know that you two got along so well.” Not surprising, really, seeing as how they were sisters. The base material was the same.

Blood dried quickly in the wind, and Sai reached up to scrape it off the pale skin of her face. Mottled bruises were starting to cover from her jaw up to her brow on the left side of her face. Moving in any way was starting to hurt her abs. Shame flushed her again, knowing that she wasn’t hurting nearly as bad as her sister was and would be.

Yellow eyes settled on the hands folded in her lap, and a moody silence settled over her.