The Twins at Ten Winters
The settlement had grown beyond a few low stone huts crouched against the wind. Several families lived on this particular bay, where the rivers emptied, thick with fish, and the crops grew in the rich black soil.
The lord, father to the twins, husband of long-dead Eira, was rich with wealth and respect. He had seen them through the rough, early days and protected them with swords and spears, if necessary. Raiders were uncommon this far north, but it does happen.
The twins were born and entered the world with the cold air on their bodies, the screams of their mother in their ears, and were small, having shared the womb. Their father had looked at them, two mewling things wrapped in bloody wool, and said only, "They’ll live or they won’t."
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