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Date Posted: 11:54:06 04/06/02 Sat
Author: Chaos
Subject: dangit
In reply to: Roxanne 's message, "lol" on 15:19:19 04/05/02 Fri

tis not werkin' i'll just put each chapter here at a time


:!+!:Indigo Paths:!+!:


:!+!:Chapter One:!+!:
Lady Bruighana


“One back, two forward. Pull, tie, and snip…”
The voice that echoed slightly in the empty room was that of Lady Bruighana, who was at that moment teaching her youngest daughters how to sew, properly.
Their idea of sewing was to plunge the needle in and out of the fabric with no apparent destination, if any.
Ever since her oldest son, Ruyah, had politely asked one of them to fix his scarf, and the look on his handsome when he got it back, they’d been here everyday after the horses were fed, to sew.
Lady Bruighana turned her attention away from Ceoni, who had plainly decided the fabric was a handkerchief, and looked out of the window overlooking the courtyard.
The only movement was the swaying of the trees in the wind, and the occasional loose leaf floating lazily above the flagstones.
She watched the blood red sun disappear behind the foothills beyond, and the clouds pastel colorings fade to indigo and violet.
A sudden crashing noise followed by a yell and a chicken’s squawk in surprise alerted her attention away from the sky and to the practice grounds.
Lifting her bell beside her, she rang for a servant to tell her what was going on.
A few moments later, a different one the original showed up, breathing hard, and blurted out his message as soon as he could speak.
“Your son and daughter, Ruyah and Malingai, they’re fighting, milady.”
“Damn it, not again!!” Lady Bruighana shouted.
Shaking her head at her now completely interrupted class, her daughters sighed in symmetry with her, and the servant took this as a cue to scamper out of there.
She, however, stopped him short.
“And where do you think, you are going?”
She asked him calmly, her eyes starting to narrow.
He stared silently at her, a strand of his tousled hair following over one eye.
“To go stop them, milady..?” He managed, in a voice that was a little more then a squeak.
She sighed in agitation.
“No, I think I will deal with this, thank you anyway.”
The servant shrugged, looking both tired and relieved, then scuttled out of the room.
Straightening her jeweled headdress, she marched briskly out the door and into the hallway, her leather shoes making very little sound at all.

The Lady Bruighana was an independent and fiery woman, who at her age was also quite attractive.
However, despite her pretty face and high intelligence, she had horrible people skills.
She always managed to lose friends faster then she could replace them, and usually succeeded in alienating herself by pushing away her family.

Her husband was different.
Lord Tenin was grumpy as a spring bear in the morning, yet he had a kind heart, just not in the early hours of the morning.
Although he was slow on the uptake he had a great sense of humor and enjoyed playing practical jokes on his offspring.

The children were again another matter.
The oldest son, his “Lordling” Ruyah they called him, had half the girls in the bower trailing after him in a wave of multicolored skirts, held captivated by his good looks.
His teachers, complimenting him on his high academic success, also followed him around.
Whether or not he actually enjoyed all this attention was something just short of a mystery, but he didn’t seem to receive any compliments from his younger siblings whatsoever, them being jealous and all.
Lord Tenin’s boys were tall, burly, and far from being given any attention.
They loved their brother, Ruyah, although sometimes they tried to force him to fight them, they still treasured the fact that they could be introduced to the ladies that followed him around.
Lady Bruighana’s girls were tall, slender, but they did have their father’s bright green eyes, all except Malingai; who had blue.
Ruyah was the only boy who took after his mother.
From long silver hair, even though he was only 17, so light it had blue highlights, and bright violet eyes.
His mother, however, was a lot less popular at his age, but she didn’t seem to mind.
But if there was a favorite son, it was definitely Ruyah.
She never had to invite him into her bower, he was always there, and waiting for her to ask him to do something in the way of the music he played on his gittern.
Ruyah wasn’t much into music, but he had a beautiful voice, and enjoyed it enough that he kept it up without them asking.

Lady Bruighana’s heels clicked sharply on the marble steps, as she marched out into the sunlight.
Turning right sharply, she headed for the stables, only to see a large group gathering.
It consisted of offspring, servants, and close friends.
About three yards ahead of the crowd, was the center attraction.
Ruyah had gotten Malingai onto the ground, and was, or what seemed to be happening; his hair fell in a curtain around his face, pounding her face into the mud with his fists.
In Malingai’s limp hands lay two small blunt practice daggers, obviously stolen from the practice fields around the corner, but they seemed to be unused.
Ruyah took no notice of the gathering crowd, and lifted one booted foot to kick her as hard as he could.
Lady Bruighana winced inwardly, but she straightened herself and yelled.
“That is quite enough!!”
Ruyah froze, lowered his foot to the ground and stood up slowly, though his eyes still blazed red with anger.
His jaw was set, and he glared at his mother and the forming crowd.
His tunic was ripped at the shoulder, and his breeches covered in mud.
He had several deep cuts around his eyes, and a few small marks on his neck where Malingai’s nails had scratched him.
His lower lip was split and bleeding, but he did not brush the blood away.
He just stared angrily at her.
Malingai however took so long to recover that Lady Bruighana began to worry about her being unconscious; but when she coughed, struggled to a kneel, then a stand, Lady Bruighana began to relax.
Her face however showed no sign of relaxation as she examined her oldest daughter.
Malingai was much worse off then her brother:
Her skirt was torn and darkened with a mixture of blood and dirt, and her tunic ripped to shreds.
The shirt underneath her tunic was soiled and bloodied.
She sported two black eyes and was bleeding heavily from her lip and nose.
One arm hung limply beside her as she tried to remain standing.
“So, this is how it is,” Lady Bruighana said acidly. “My oldest offspring fighting while I’m supposed to be teaching?!
Ridiculous.”
She turned to look at her son, and narrowed her eyes.
“Ruyah, I understand that you and your sister aren’t the best at cooperating, but I know you have better self-control then this!!”
She turned to her daughter.
“And you, Malingai. I don’t care what he did, I know that you’ve been calling him names behind his back, and I won’t have it!!”
Ruyah took this opportunity to stick his tongue out at his sister, who glared icily at him, but didn’t reply.
Lady Bruighana raised an eyebrow.
“Now, both of you, go to your chambers, and I want you each to stay there until I come and give you leave to go elsewhere.
Got it?!
Now march!!”
Ruyah and Malingai both bowed their heads and muttered something in the direction of the grass, that sounded a lot like, “Yes M'lady, I was wrong.”
Nodding her head absently, they took that as a signal of departure, pivoted and stalked off towards their separate rooms.
Ruyah was limping slightly on his right leg, as if it was hurting him, but he ignored it and sped off.
Lady Bruighana heard the doors to the different chambers slam, and then she too retreated to the safety of her bower.

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