Chapter Text
It was a quiet day in the little hut that stood alone in the plains of Sami Thicket. The couple that occupied the hut had recently returned from a trip of visiting their friends in the swamps of Sog and were taking this relaxing day to enjoy their own respected hobbies.
The youngest Vapran princess was laying on her stomach upon the bed, her legs lazily swinging as she read the pages of a rare book that was given to her as a gift from the young Drenchen Maudra.
On the floor, the Spriton Song-Teller was etching in a fresh scroll, documenting the spoken stories of the Drenchen clan.
“Kylan, can you hand me that journal? The one on the chair underneath the scroll.”
He reached for one of the chairs that were covered with scrolls and journals.
“No, the other chair. To your right. Thank you.”
Kylan handed Brea the journal and returned to his dream-etching.
The young couple was admittedly not the most organized with their belongings. Journals, drawing charcoals, scrolls and books were scattered everywhere. It was a good day when they could see the stone floors of their hut. Of course, they knew where everything was but to the un-trained eye their home looked like a disaster. Maudra Mera has emphasized the disaster part many times during her unannounced visits.
To avoid Maudra Mera’s strongly worded lectures, they made a deal with the Spriton guards to warn them if she or anyone else were on their way for a visit. They would knock on their door when someone was near. That would give them some time to clean up before the visitor arrived.
They considered keeping the hut clean but ultimately decided that idea was not for them.
“Did you know that Drenchen have healing vliyaya? I don’t think I remember seeing Naia or Gurjin ever use it.” Brea asked, not looking up from her book.
Kylan recalled his travels with Naia, Amri and Tavra. Naia had tried to using her healing vliyaya to save creatures from the darkness. There was a few times that he thought lost her because of all the energy it took to use it.
“Yes, I’ve seen them both use it. Their mother, Maudra Laesid, was especially talented at it.”
He continued, “It’s a lot like my dream-etching or how Onica is able to far-dream.”
Brea hummed at Kylan’s explanation. In her journal, she drew a gelfing resembling Naia with hands glowing a radiant blue. She wished she would have put more effort into the Librarian’s dream-etching lessons. Perhaps she would ask Kylan to teach her, but that would be for another day. Today was for relaxing.
Kylan decided to take a break from his scroll. He got up and found a free spot next to Brea on the bed to sit down, carefully not to disturb her drawing.
He peaked over the Vapran’s shoulder to admire her work. Sketches of Gelfing, creatures of the Sog and nature with short notes describing each subject adorned the journal’s pages. Kylan never found himself short of awed when he viewed Brea’s journals. She always waved her work off as silly drawings but Kylan found them to be magnificent. While words can tell a story, pictures can paint a memory. It was as if he were dream-fasting with Brea, experiencing the knowledge she retained from a book without having to read the book himself.
He loved the way her clever mind worked.
Brea smiled, feeling Kylan’s eyes on her work. She decided to set down her charcoals and take a break of her own. She fell back onto the bed, pulling Kylan down with her.
“Whoa!” Kylan gasped as his back hit the bed.
The couple looked at each other and giggled together at the sudden change in position.
Brea leaned over to quickly kiss Kylan’s cheek. His face turned red as usual, something Brea found to be endearing even after almost two full trines of courting.
Kylan turned to his side to face Brea. He studied the ghostly blonde hair that fanned around her head, the grin on her pinks lips, and the smudges of charcoal upon her cheeks. He wanted to capture the beauty of this moment and never let it go.
Brea turned on her side as well to face Kylan. His green eyes stared back at her with an expression that made her feel more loved than anything else in Thra. She hoped her expression conveyed the same feeling because that was certainly how she felt about her Song-Teller.
The two cuddled closer together, wanting nothing more than for this moment to last forever.
Knock. Knock. Knock. Knock.
…or at least until they heard the quick knocks at their door.
Kylan and Brea sprung up from the bed, now looking at each other in panic.
“How many knocks was that? Three or four?”
“Four, I think.” Kylan responded, “What is four knocks again?”
“Was it Maudra Mera requesting tea?”
“No, I think that is two knocks.”
“I thought two knocks was for Maurer Mera with company.”
“You’re right, three knocks is for tea with Mera. Tea…three.”
Brea sighed, “I think we made this way too complicated!”
“Four knocks is for Maudra Seladon, she’s on her way from Sami Thicket!” A voice yelled from outside the hut. Kylan recognized the voice as Lun, a member of the Spriton guard.
“Thank you!” The couple shouted back.
Brea began to pace back in a small space that was not covered in Thra knows what. “Seladon? What could Seladon possibly want?”
The oldest and youngest Vapran princesses certainly had their differences, but had grown closer over the last two trine. Brea forgave Seladon for everything that she had done under the influence of the Skeksis and Seladon was finally accepting of that forgiveness. They were sisters, after all.
Kylan was still slightly terrified of Seladon. While she was never mean to him, she carried a presence that was intimidating to say the least.
“Regardless of her reasons, we still need to pick up.” He took a moment to take in just how messy their home was, “and fast.”
“Right, books on the shelf and scrolls in the cabinets!”
The young couple frantically ran around the hut hiding what they could. Kylan did his best to place his scrolls in the upper cabinets. When the bookshelf filled up, Brea started cramming books in the lower cabinets. Charcoals were rolled underneath the bed and journals were placed beneath pillows and blankets.
“The table!” Kylan shouted, noticing that it barely looked like a table anymore with all the stuff that covered it.
Brea grabbed the visible ends of the cloth that covered the table, folding it into a sack with everything inside and stuffed it underneath the bed
“Clever, Brea.”
She winked at her partner and gave the hut a once over. It wasn’t perfect, but she could see the floors and the tabletop. This would have to do.
A few moments later, the couple heard a knock on their door.
Brea quickly fixed her hair and took a deep breath before opening the door.
“Seladon…what a surprise!” she greeted, trying her best to act surprised.
The Vapran Maudra walked right past Brea and surveyed the hut.
“It appears Maurda Mera was over exaggerating the mess.” Seladon turned towards Brea, “Sister, it’s good to see you.”
Brea gave her sister a quick hug, “It’s good to see you too.”
Kylan walked towards the pair, giving Seladon a small wave. “H-hello, All-Maudra—-oh! I-I mean Maudra Seladon…sorry.”
“Good to see you too, Kylan.” She put her hand on Kylan’s shoulder for a moment, “Please call me Seladon, we are practically family after all.”
Kylan sheepishly looked down at his feet. He could just imagine Maudra Mera ringing his neck if she heard him address the Vapran Maudra just by her name. “Right, Seladon. My apologies.”
The three stood in an awkward silence for a bit. Brea was hoping that Seladon would speak up and get to the point of her unexpected visit but that didn’t seem to be happening anytime son.
“So, uh, Seladon. To what do we owe this pleasure?”
“Am I not just able to visit my dear sister without having an agenda?”
“Well, no. I mean, yes, but you usually announce your visits a few days in advanced.”
“You two are hard to find with all your travels as of lately. Mera was telling me how you just got back from the Sog, and Stone-In-the-Wood not long before that.”
The couple were quite the travelers these days. Without much movement from the Skeksis, Gelfling started migrating back to the home of their clans. The Resistance meetings were not as often either, so Kylan and Brea didn’t see their friends nearly as much. They traveled as often as they could to see them.
Seladon cleared her throat, “Shall we sit and have some tea, perhaps?”
Brea’s eyes went wide. Tea, of course! How could she forget to take out the tea? Where even was the tea?
“Tea, right. Let me just get the tea from that place we normally store the tea.”
She looked to Kylan, his eyes also wide. He nudged his head to the left.
Brea reached for the lower cabinet on the left.
He started shaking his head profusely, knowing scrolls and books would come flying out if she opened that door. Brea paused.
“Kylan, are you okay?” Seladon asked, noticing Kylan still shaking his head.
“Yes, of course! What’s UP with you, all-maudra?”
Brea nodded, understanding Kylan’s hint.
“Seladon. Just Seladon. We are almost family, remember?”
When Brea opened the upper left cabinet, one of her journals fell out. She reacted fast enough and was able to catch it.
“Seladon, why don’t you sit down here?” Kylan quickly said, leading the Maudra to their table. He pulled out a chair and she sat, her back now completely turned to Brea.
Kylan motioned to Brea to throw him the journal. He caught it and found a place to hide it out of sight.
“Thank you, Kylan” Seladon said. “Speaking of almost being family, when do you two plan on getting married?”
Brea dropped the tea bag she had finally managed to find.
Seladon continued, “You two have been courting for nearly two trine now and even live together.”
“Sister, We’ve talked about this before. It doesn’t seem right to have such a celebration considering all that has happened.”
Kylan stood beside Brea and held her hand. “We are happy just being together. That’s all we need.”
It’s not that the couple didn’t want to marry, it just almost seemed silly to think of such a thing during the resistance. They loved each other and that is all that mattered. Titles such as “husband” and “wife” wouldn’t change that. Although, they did long to have all their friends together in one place again.
“Very well,” Seladon sighed. She suddenly got up from the chair and started walking towards the door.
Brea chased after her sister, “Where are you going?”
“We are going to have tea with Maudra Mera.”
“But you were going to have tea with us…?”
“Wait, we?” Kylan whispered to himself.
“Brea dropped what seems to be the last tea bag on the floor and Mera had mentioned that she wanted to have tea with the two of you.”
Brea and Kylan eyed each other suspiciously. Tea with Maudra Mera never actually involved having tea. There was the one time that she gifted the couple with the hut, but every other time had involved strongly worded lectures about the importance of cleanliness and participating in Spriton events.
And why Seladon wait to tell them that the Spriton Maurda wanted tea?
“Come along you two,” Seladon said, opening the door to the hut. “We all know very well that Maudra Mera does not like to be kept waiting.”
The couple nodded and followed the Vapran Maurda out the door.