Sartha n. - One of the moons above the planet Eratherus. When it's full it is often associated with bad luck and evil. 'Sarthan' is also used to describe something that is dark red, the same color as the moon.
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The beautiful identical twins, Allora and Adalla stood on the balcony with their silky raven-black hair uncovered and hanging to mid-back in their formless flowing gossamer nightgowns. Each wore a long necklace with a stone pendant. Their bright blue eyes were gazing out at the dark horizon where the forest met the road. Allora was resting her folded arms on a pillow perched on the edge of the balcony. Clouds obscured the stars leaving the large red moon as the only illumination in the sky
"I can't wait," Allora said with a grin.
"Shouldn't they have arrived by now?" Adalla said. "Maybe they forgot." She shrugged.
"They will come," Allora said with certainty.
"I'm tired, let's relax on the bed," Adalla replied with a yawn.
"Alright."
Allora left the pillow on the edge. Soon after they had got into bed, Adalla fell asleep. Allora was content to gaze at the crackling fire from her position beneath the sheets. A moment after Adalla began snoring there was the sound of a rock hitting their wall outside. Allora popped up immediately with a smile and went to the balcony to look down. There she saw Salbrec and Deikuneist wearing tight fitting cotehardies with pants and hooded cloaks. Deikuneist was wearing red and Salbrec was wearing blue.
Salbrec carefully climbed up the trellis until he reached the top of the balcony where he crawled over with a huff and stood tall with a smile and a length of rope slung around his shoulder.
"Hello cousin," Allora said.
"Good evening Allora. I trust you are well?"
"Yes, thank you. How did you know it was me? Usually you guess wrong."
"The necklace Deikuneist gave you was red," he smiled. "I gave Adalla the blue one, and I wore the same color to match."
"Oh yes, of course," she laughed.
"Where's your sister?"
"Sleeping, let me get her."
"Alright, and get dressed, we have a long way to travel, I don't want you to catch a cold," he said with concern.
"Not a problem," she said, pulling up her night dress over her waist.
"Oh my," he exclaimed, covering his eyes. He peeked between his fingers, smiling slightly. Underneath her long flowing night clothing she was fully dressed in a tight fitting green top with flowing skirts. White linen sleeves flared out from the elbows that were cut out and trimmed with thin but colorful bands of Deiru patterns. "Oh," he frowned when her dress was fully revealed.
"What?" she asked, "You don't like green?"
"No green is fine," Salbrec said quickly.
"Did I pass gas?" she said, sniffing the air and then blushing. "Vegetables sometimes cause me-"
"No," he said, interrupting quickly. "No, no everything's ok," he assured her.
"Ok good," she smiled.
Allora made her way to the bedchamber and woke her sister. They took only a moment to get ready and go to the balcony where Salbrec was waiting. They each put dark hooded cloaks over their dresses.
"Good evening Adalla," Salbrec said with a bow.
"Good evening cousin." Adalla curtsied.
"I'll help you get down by tying this rope around and lowering you," he explained.
"I don't know..."
"I won't drop you," he said with a smile. "I promise," he assured her. "So are you ready?"
"Yes," she said hesitantly.
"Lift your arms."
When she did so, he wrapped the rope around her waist and tied it with a square knot. Salbrec lifted her up and set her on top of the balcony wall.
"Don't fall off," he warned. Allora stood beside her sister, holding her hand. Aldgageir braced himself against the wall inside the twins' room and wrapped the rope around himself. "Alright grab onto the rope and lower yourself over the edge carefully," he said.
"Alright, slowly," she warned.
"Of course."
She took a deep breath and put her legs over the other side of the balcony, and released her sister's hand so she could hold the rope. Salbrec slowly lowered her down.
"Ow its hurting my hands," she complained.
"Almost there," she heard from below. Then after a couple more feet she felt Deikuneist's arms around her. He smiled broadly.
"Thank you," she said.
"You're welcome Adalla," he said, setting her down.
"Untie the rope," Salbrec instructed, whispering loudly from above.
"Excuse me," Deikuneist said, putting his hands to her waist and untying the thick cord. Salbrec pulled up the length of rope and then wrapped it around Allora. After lowering her down as well, he pulled up the rope, looped it over his shoulder, and climbed down the trellis to meet the others.
"So where are we going?" Adalla asked.
"It's not too far," Salbrec said, breathing hard after he got to the bottom. "And the moon is bright, so we shouldn't have too much trouble finding it. Hoods up so no one recognizes us. Let's get moving, or they might start without us."
"Start without us?" Adalla replied. They began walking around the manor, towards the main road.
"Yeah we have a late party for your birthday planned, but... well we had to get some friends to pitch in too. A bunch of people our age are meeting at the temple ruins in the forest."
"For our birthday? Why in the quiet of the night?"
"Well...I don't think our parents would agree to us seeing each other," Deikuneist said frankly. "Me being low-born and all. But... w-we thought it would be romantic." He handed a hooded lantern to Salbrec who led the way.
"That's..." Adalla began.
"So sweet," Allora smiled.
Adalla glared at her sister, but Allora ignored her. Allora grabbed Deikuneist's hand and set her head on his shoulder. They looked very happy together. Adalla was watching them, not noticing that Salbrec tried to grab her hand. When he reached for it, she just happened to fold her arms at the same time. She lowered her arms, and he tried again, but only briefly, as she was refolding her arms across her chest. Salbrec awkwardly brought his hand up and scratched the back of his head with a sheepish smile when Adalla looked at him with confusion. She turned back, Salbrec watched with jealousy as Allora and Deikuneist walked hand in hand down the road. The clouds overhead briefly covered the moons, plunging those below in darkness, except for the dim light from the lantern. Allora hugged Deikuneist in fear and he put his hand on her shoulder.
"It's so dark," Allora said with fear.
"I thought you said it would be bright," Adalla complained.
"The clouds... well I didn't think they'd be out tonight," Salbrec admitted. "At least we're almost there. See the marking?" He pointed to a short stack of flat rocks near the edge of the main road that cast a shadow as they approached with the lantern. "This way," he said, leading their troupe forward.
"What are we going to do when we get there?" she asked curiously.
"Oh well... we thought-"
"It's supposed to be a surprise," Deikuneist quickly interrupted.
"Right, sorry. Surprise," Salbrec said with a wan smile.
"You can't give us a little hint?" Allora asked. She squeezed Deikuneist's hand gently.
"No sorry, not till we get there."
"Hurry, let's get to the ruins then," she laughed, running up ahead towards flickering lights with Deikuneist in tow. Adalla and Salbrec chased after them.
"What is it really?" Adalla asked.
"You'll see," Salbrec replied.
As they approached the light they saw a short stone wall lining the thin path which led to a tattered building about 30 feet height. The roof was in shambles and several sections of the walls were cracking. Light glowed from within, out through the broken windows. Nibbling on the grass was a dark brown horse tied to a tree near the entrance.
Deikuneist and Allora stalled near the building, so Salbrec took the lead, walking them to the front and through the open portico entryway. The ceiling in the entrance was only partially intact, with large gaping holes in the shingles. The front doors to the building had fallen from their hinges and nearly blocked the front passage, leaving barely a four foot high gap.
They ducked below the slanted doors and entered the main temple, a tall rectangular room with high walls. It went about 100 feet deep and was about half as wide. Tall columns held up portions of the roof and stone benches lined the hall, although many lay cracked and useless. Tenacious weeds grew nearly two feet high between the flat stones on the floor, brushing against their boots and clothing as they walked into the room. Flickering candlelight illuminated various sections of the space. On the far end of the chamber, there was a short wooden table covered in a blue tablecloth on a low dais. Arranged on the table were wooden cups next to a small keg. And next to that was a pie with a lemon garnish on the top. Across the barely lit wall behind the dais, was a large engraving of a nude woman of a perfect figure, holding a sphere in her hand. Gouges across the stone face obscured her identity. Old writing above her relief was marred by scratches and time making it completely illegible.
In the large room were several young people, most likely serfs according to their dress. This included a slim woman resting her chin against her hand sleepily on one of the benches and a short man in his mid thirties with a high forehead and more colorful clothing than the other serfs (perhaps lower nobility, but otherwise unremarkable) filling a tankard from the keg. There were also several couples, a man and a woman with a ruddy complexion sitting on a bench near the door with a few candles burning low. The young man was looking towards the woman longingly, while she faced the other way, her finger following a crack along the wall she found of more interest than the other's company. There was a second couple near the right wall holding hands and gazing into each other's eyes. And a third, who walked quickly hand in hand to a cracked door at the back. The man held aloft a candle on a wooden plate as he pulled open the door with a screech. The woman turned beet red and ran through the door before the male pulled the door shut behind them.
Deikuneist nudged Salbrec, pointing with his chin to the recently closed door. Allora tapped Deikuneist's shoulder.
"What are you looking at?" she asked with curiosity.
"Oh umm...," Deikuneist paused with guilt in his voice.
"What?" Adalla asked.
"Oh... uh, don't you think this temple is great for your party?"
"Uh, not really. It's all dark and.. falling apart."
"That's the point," Deikuneist said. "Your parents will never look for us here."
Behind the cracked door the couple leaned against the wall.
"Oh I could die," the young woman said with embarrassment. "Do they know we're going to do... it?" she asked with concern.
"Who cares?"
"I care. I don't want them to think I'm some sort of loose quim."
"But you are."
"Gods! Borkot, why do you say such things?"
"That's why I asked you back here to scrump."
She sighed.
"We are, right?" he asked. "Or did you change your mind? I thought you said-"
