"It was a beautiful kingdom," someone always began. I looked up from sweeping in response, hoping they continued about this 'kingdom.' They never did though, all I knew was, that it was the Kingdom of Thorns on the other side of the eastern mountain range. Nothing but spirits lived there now.

"Because it was sacred ground, soaked with magic," the old blind woman, begging at the town market, always blurted out, when my curious sister asked.

Many others discredited her by claiming, it was nonsense and the creature of darkness drained all magic outside the Ruby castle. No matter how hard I tried, it all felt wrong to me. Whenever I spoke of my concerns about the truth being a lie, the others just looked at me. So, I learned to keep my notions to myself.

"We are a light in the darkness, a flicker, an ember. Even the smallest glimpse is as bright as the sun!" My sister always sang, even when she was a little girl, she sang this song.

I had no clue where she learned it, because I was always with her. I asked once, "Maple?" She looked at me with her amber eyes, flipping her curly auburn hair out of her face, to address me. "Where did you learn that song?"

"Brook... My friends whispered the words to me every night before the fireplace." I stared at her with a raised eyebrow then shrugged, and turned away. "Meany! Why don't you believe me?" She called to me trying to get me to understand.

"But, I do believe you, Maple," I whispered into the ear of my horse, Aqua, a dapple-gray mare.

It was a cold wintry morning. The ground was too hard for me to help farm with the guys, but my duties never ended.

Daily chore checklist: Go to Roentgen's pick up:

Wine
Feed
Bread
Assorted fruits/vegetables
2lbs of beef
Half dozen sweet rolls

Tend the horses
Milk the cows
Collect eggs from the chicken coop
Finally, sweep the floor of the house.

Maple had her own set of chores, but I went to town because, everyone knew not to mess with me. 'The ice princess,’ the other kids teased, for my icy, bluish purple eyes were sharp and piercing. Lavender blond hair, long and straight, and my dominant features as most said, my sharp wit, and frosty tongue. Indeed, I was the cold queen of frost.

I tried once, to befriend the others who were my age, when we were young. However, they never seemed to care for my presence. I tried my hardest to make friends, but no one would come near me. Instead, I got into fistfights with the older boys and beaten all of them. That ended when the adults put a strict enforcing punishment rule on us, no one walked within five feet of me for at least three years after that.

I halted Aqua in front of the Shoppette and dismounted. The dull ring of a rusty bell alerted the owner of my presence when I entered. Roentgen was an old fellow, with a raspy voice, and warm rough hands from too many years of hard labor.

"Ah, Ms. Brook, you look grand as ever. Soon all the boys will be crawling after you."

I laughed humorlessly, even if I was interested, boys avoided me like the plague. The brave few succumbed to my eyes, my heartless, cold, cruel eyes. Maybe I should not have bullied them all those years ago.

"A smile would do you some good," he blathered on nonchalantly. "It would bring some warmth to that porcelain face. Your sister knows what I mean," he winked.

"My sister has a matching warm personality. She never stops to consider the darker side of things. She lives in her happy little world. That's why I'll do whatever it takes to keep it that way."

The man stared at me with a sad, lonely smile, "that is a big burden, my dear. I think your sister would be even happier if you found your own happiness too."

I did not answer, we had this conversation every morning and I did not want to end this with burnt bread and broken eggs. I collected the ingredients from the list, and began to head home. As I rode away, I felt their eyes, everyone's eyes, on my back. The spiteful girls were jealous of my beauty, when some were even more breathtaking than the Ruby princesses. The mocking eyes of boys, thinking that I was too delicate and secretly wished to be the man to sweep me off my feet. I learned to harden myself from their eyes, emotions were useless at times like these. 'You should smile more.' I recalled the old man's words. I turned and looked back at the town. Several people turned away quickly, while others stumbled to act naturally.

'I will never smile for them,' I thought coldly. 'Those smiles are solely Maple's and hers alone.'

I whisked around and sped Aqua to a gallop.

Later that evening, I sat in the living room. The fire was warm, as the sun began to set. Maple read stories in front of the fire, as I fiddled with my sewing. I was not as graceful at it as Mrs. Myrlyn, our adoptive mother. She and her husband took us in many years ago; too many for us to remember. We lived with them and their son, Finnick, and our Uncle Robert. Like us, Robert was an orphan, an orphan giant. We believed he was from the eastern mountain range, where giants and ogres roamed and his clan cast him out for being unusually small. I set down my slow progress of mending clothes.

"The poor dear," Mrs. Myrlyn sympathized, handing me a tray to take to the table. "Found all alone in the woods, stumbling around like a baby."

Uncle Robert flushed a deep red, shifting embarrassed. His dark tanned hands were, at least, three times bigger than mine, and made me wonder how big normal giants were. He once told me they were at least twice the size of him, and whenever I tried to visualize it, a sudden chill ran down my spine.

"I feel bad for the eastern towns next to the mountains. They are so far away from the Ruby castle that they're constantly attacked by giants and ogres," he told us, helping me set the table. The plates and cups were as a child's doll set in his hands. "We had found you and Maple at the base of the mountain, I wonder if your family had been attacked by some giants, and you fled into the mountains."

I considered the thought, but it still seemed wrong to me. I concurred with his opinion anyway, for what could I say otherwise? I could not remember.

We had just to place the food on the table: beef stew, mashed potatoes, gravy, and bread with butter and jam; when 'Father' and Finnick walked in. 'Father' smiled approvingly, his golden hair damp with sweat. "Ah a meal fit for the Ruby king!" He kissed Mrs. Myrlyn.

"Yeah, if the Ruby king is secretly a farmer," Finnick joked. He was so badly sunburned that he almost matched his bright red hair; the same color as his mothers. His squinting eyes and sharp chin gave the impression that he was a pixie, if only he was the same size as those pesky creatures. It annoyed me for some reason, the resemblance, so I pressed my hand against his arm. He yelped in shock and agony. Maple jumped up in horror.

"BROOK! He's in pain!" She rushed over, "let me release the burn!"

"Maple, you know your powers are forbidden. If someone finds out," Mrs. Myrlyn sternly told her.

"Yeah, let the overgrown pixie suffer the consequences of forgetting sunscreen," I coldly added, smirking at Finnick's scowling face. Finnick wasn't much older than I, and so we had this competition to always one up each other. There wasn't anything else for me to do, the other girls didn't let me in their little group, so I hung around Finnick. We dared each other to do stupid stuff and played pranks on each other. He was also the one to dare me to beat up the toughest kid in town. So I started the fights. It wasn't lady like, but I made it a point never to back down from a challenge and never let someone bully me.

Maple persisted, "did anyone see you working today? Does anyone know you're burned?"

"No," he told her, trying to remember the events of the day.

"Then what's the problem? It's not like he wants to be a lobster when he doesn't have to be," she reasoned.

"Maple" I pleaded.

"LET ME HELP HIM, SISTER! YOU WOULD DO THE SAME FOR ME!" Her temper flared suddenly. I stepped back a little, glaring down at her.

"Do whatever you want, I only want what's best for you," I answered thickly, and sat down sulking at the table.

"Thanks!" She smiled and turned back to Finnick, who beamed mischievously at me.

She lightly pressed her hands on his exposed arms. He winced as she slid them down to his wrists. The sticky red color peeled off like a glove. She repeated this until she got all the burn off. Then she tossed all of the evidence of the sunburn into the fireplace. It crackled and sizzled away.

Finally, everyone settled down at the table. 'Father' was at the head, Mrs. Myrlyn on his right, and uncle at his left. Maple sat across from me, next to Mrs. Myrlyn, and Finnick was at the end.

"Hands. Please" 'Father' told us. We complied and placed our left hands into the palm of the person next to us, right hand. We bowed our heads.

"Dear Protector, Lord King of the universe; we thank you for a good harvest, and can only humbly ask for a famine free harvest with no worries in years yet to come. Bless this food, this house, this land. I implore you to protect my family, my loving wife, my hearty brother-in-law, my strong son and my extraordinary daughters. We live, we witness and we rejoin you to live once again."

"We live, we witness and we rejoin you to live once again," we murmured and we broke prayer.

"Such is our fate, isn't it?" Maple asked.

"Who knows," I responded.

Finnick snorted, "Who cares?" He glanced at his parents concerned glares then added, "We'll find out soon enough anyway."

"Well put, nephew." Uncle Robert smiled, helping Mrs. Myrlyn and him to mashed potatoes & gravy. "For now, let's enjoy things while they last."

"Yeah, with how the king runs things, we could be charged with an unreasonable crime, and made example of in the town!" Finnick mocked.

"Finnick!" Mrs. Myrlyn cried in a pleading voice.

"I bet, I'll be first, and the girls joyously celebrate," I joked along with him. Mrs. Myrlyn stared incredulously at me.

"See! Even the ignorant, heartless wonder agrees with me," he laughed. "And may our insides rot in comatose like the puppets we are!"

"Enough!" 'Father shouted, "I will not tolerate this behavior. Now Finnick, you know, it is forbidden to speak that way, and Brook I expected better from you."

I did not turn away from his stare and let the tension rise. Maple, not comprehending the conversation, asked, "I wonder how the Ruby princesses spend the holidays."

Everyone looked at her; the tension shot out of the room in an instant. She smiled innocently and bit into a sweet roll. Everyone turned to me.

"I have no idea what goes on in her head," I justified. "Pass the gravy please." I started to fill my plate. I hesitated, "Ignorant? I get heartless, but ignorant!" I glared at a cringing Finnick. He returned a guilty smile.

The rest of dinner went by with little and uninteresting conversation about new farming tactics and a grumble about last month's rising taxes.

"If the Ruby King keeps raising taxes, we will not have enough net profits to buy new plows for the wheat field," 'father' stated, his hands pressing hard against the table. "We had already used up what we saved before for last year's incident."

"The fact it got so hot in winter last year was a fluke, dear." Mrs. Myrlyn grabbed his hand soothingly, "If anything, if the fields catch fire again, Brook and I will save the field!" Maple suggested.

"That's sweet of you, darling," Mrs. Myrlyn smiled at her. I remained silent. Punishment was mine alone for attempting to put out that fire last year, spent days arguing with that woman on how it would benefit us in the long run, but she didn't want people getting suspicious. I swear her vanity exceeded her so much, she had to have a stranger see how perfect her life was. I purposely popped that bubble, despite the consequences, and watched as she tried her best to recover.

Once everyone excused from the table, Maple and I started to do the dishes. I washed, she dried and we put everything away. With our powers, we finished within three minutes. After that was done, I bended the water out the door in a flash.

Finally, I was done for the day, and walked out into the cold night. My 'parents' did not approve of me walking alone at night, but what could they do, except scold me, it wasn't as if I was breaking any rules.

The moon was full and luminous, showing the world in a new kind of light. I trod carefully into the woods, mindful of where I stepped, for I forgot my shoes. I did not feel like running into Mrs. Myrlyn tonight.

The world was different in the dark, calmer; especially in the later months of winter, when everything was still and white with blankets of snow. I could go out, play for hours and never catch a cold. Just as my sister could hear the voices of a flame, I heard music of water and ice. I listened to the sharp, sweet chimes of bells, my own private symphony strictly for me and me alone.

Soft voices, ranging from flutes to violins, began to rise in the dead silence of the barren woods, as I reached my destination.

"Come on down to Kelpie's grove, where mermaids sing and nixies play the piccolo. Fish keep swimming and frogs keep chirping, all below in Kelpie's grove. Join the fun! Sing along! Come below, the surface will be there every day; so join the fun and sing along, and come on down to Kelpie's grove!" The voices sang.

I peered around the trees to see the stream. The music suddenly hushed, and my heart sank like many times before. I dryly swallowed and stepped forward, unlike previous years. I usually sprinted home, in fear, I had done something wrong but I wanted to listen and join in without hiding. I stood at the edge and looked into the water, tears coming to my eyes. I glumly turned away.

"Come with me, our heir, our queen. Sing with me, lady sovereign! Dance and play in our lovely stream, and turn away from the cold hard land that pins you down with gravity!" A beautiful solo voice sang. "Sing with me, lady sovereign. Let your voice free and let the bells ring! Come with me to your rightful place, my queen, your royal highness."

I stumbled to a halt, and turned. There was a lady far beyond any human beauty. I barely got a glimpse before she dispersed into water. I suddenly felt my head spinning, several images flashed before my eyes, a kingdom on fire, men chasing after me, and a tall beautiful woman fighting. They came too suddenly and I could not grasp the images, like a dream long passed. I turned to the stream and asked myself, where I had heard that song before.

I knelt down to the water once again, and whispered, "See the stream, along the edge, follow into a distant dream. From the ledge, wait and see, soon we will all be free. But wait for now, the skies are dark, to sleep soon we shall be bound. One day we return, to free our land, and to the sea we find so grand."

Sharp images focused clearly, as they scorched my mind. They were the same ones as before, but more vivid and intense. It hurt my head trying to focus on one. The only thing I grasped was a woman, a tall strong woman, holding a duel head spear.

Sudden exhaustion overwhelmed me and I blacked out beside the stream.