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Chapter One
"Rise and shine!"
There was no response. The brown haired boy wrinkled his nose and tapped his foot. “Rise and shine!” he repeated, slightly louder than before.
The other boy, tall with pale skin, jerked awake. "Sheesh, Indi! Not now, please. It’s too early," he yawned. He was, needless to say, not a morning person.
"Tut tut! None of that! Up up!" the brown haired boy chided, pulling the covers off of the other boy in a quick sweep. The blankets fell to the ground as he crossed his arms and grinned, devilishly.
This was their regular routine. On almost all days, Indun would wake up in a perfectly good mood and have the urge to share his perkiness with his best friend immediately. Rorin was never very receptive of Indun’s kindness, though.
Rorin rubbed his eyes. He looked out the window, his eyes still adjusting to the light. "What? It's not even dawn yet!”
"So?" Indun asked, smiling insanely. "Who cares about the sun being up? What's it ever done for me? I don’t need the sun at all! Why, the sun needs me!" He stood triumphantly, closing his eyes and turning his head to the ceiling.
"You're crazy," Rorin mumbled, running his hand through his hair and trying to pat it down.
"Hardly," Indun contradicted. "Just a little nutty. And there’s nothing wrong with that."
Rorin sighed as he buttoned his shirt. His best friend had always been a bit more energetic than he was. It hadn’t been so bad when they were little, but now that they were nearly full grown it was really getting on his nerves.
"Always so quiet and depressed," Indun would complain dramatically. "You act as if the world is just filled with one bad thing after another! Smile a little. It ain't that bad, Rori." Rorin’s usual response was a scowl.
Indun bounced a little on his toes, a smile still on his face. "Besides, the earlier we get up, the more time we have to do whatever we want before work!"
Rorin and Indun were servants of Count Rederick and Countess Baria, along with their daughter, Onna. Often the poorer people were picked to be servants at birth for the Count’n’Countess. They weren’t paid well, but they were given food and board, so most didn’t complain. Actually, Rorin was one of the few who realized that they’d been given the bad end of the deal.
“Like what?” Rorin asked. “There’s nothing to do if no one else is awake. Honestly now, Indi. Just because you wake up at a hideously early hour doesn’t mean that the rest of the world does, too.” Actually, both Rorin and Indun knew very little about the rest of the world and anything outside of their town was a mystery.
"Mary might be up," Indun suggested, not bothering to comb his messy hair, as Rorin did ardently every morning.
"Doubt it," Rorin said, putting on his shoes. “And just because Mary’s almost as weird as you doesn’t mean that she doesn’t have the sense to sleep in until she’s supposed to."
"But what's the fun in that?" Indun asked, hardly able to keep still. "Sure, I like sleep and all, but it’s so boring! Unless of course you have an interesting dream. Which reminds me, last night I dreamt that we were dancing on the roof when a really big butterfly came by and started talking to us. Then...”
“Indun, you’re straying off topic again,” Rorin sighed.
“Hmm? Oh, sorry,” Indun said. “Anyways, as I was saying, we should go by Mary’s apartment to see if she’s awake.”
Rorin shook his head. "Even if she is awake, you know Birdie won't be."
Rorin was very right about Mary and Birdie. The two girls, who were roommates, had stayed up very late that night before talking about socks. Mary, a brown skinned and plain looking girl with large eyes, had insisted that socks were by far the most useful invention ever. Ellie, a tall and blonde girl who was slightly pudgy, had argued that Mary made absolutely no sense and should shut up and let her sleep.
“We could check, anyways,” Indun said. “You never know.”
“Actually, I know a great deal more than you’d think,” Rorin said, preening himself as he looked sharply into the mirror. Once he was positive that he looked striking and that his hair was perfect, he said, “Fine, we can check. But I’m telling you, they won’t be awake.”
"Alright, let's go!" Indun said, practically leaping out of the room and unleashing himself into the world.
"Indi! Be quiet!" Rorin whispered, running after him. "Do you want to wake everybody up?"
Indun smiled, his nose scrunching up upon his freckily face and his brown-red hair gleaming in the small amount of light there was. "Please, Rori. Nothing could wake these people up."
"Except for you," Rorin muttered, passing his hand through his black hair, again. It was a habit he’d gotten into a while back and couldn’t seem to kick.
The two boys passed by Mary and Birdie's apartment. Like Rorin had guessed, neither one was awake. "Darn," Indun said. "Why are they still sleeping? They slept last night!"
Rorin rolled his eyes. It was best to ignore Indun's attempt at making a joke.
"You need to laugh more," Indun commented.
"Why bother laughing over things you don't think are funny?" Rorin asked.
Indun shrugged. "Why not? Laughing about it is half of what makes it funny."
Rorin was about to reply when he was interrupted by the bell tower.
Bong... Bong... Bong... Bong... Bong!
"What? Five already? My, how the time does fly!" Indun sighed.
"Come on, let's go to the kitchens," Rorin said, striding in the general direction of the main house. Indun skipped along by Rorin. The dark haired boy glanced at his friend and raised an eyebrow. "Why are you so happy? We have to work now. All day. That's not supposed to be a good thing."
"And why not?" Indun asked, sliding into the kitchens. "We work every day. As I see it, if we're going to do something, why not be happy about it?" Indun turned away from Rorin and began rummaging through the silverware drawer, humming a little.
“Aw, wise words from a great philosopher,” Rorin said, shaking his head. "You're a hopeless optimist, you know that?" he added, pulling out three fancy plates from the cupboard, each with a detailed design of small, blue flowers circling the rim.
"And you're a hopeless worrier," Indun said. He stood up strait and said in a triumphant tone, "There are worriers and there are warriors. I am a warrior!" He flexed the muscles in his arms, though it did not help his scrawniness in the least.
Rorin snorted. "Yeah, right."
Indun grinned. "I'd be the most pathetic 'warrior' in the world, wouldn't I?"
"You bet," Rorin said, pulling out three bowls from a shelf, all of which matched the plates.
“You know, these dishes would be a lot more interesting if everything wasn’t so matching and perfect,” Indun commented. “If they were at least all different colors, I could forgive the matching pattern. But blue flowers? It’s so... boring.”
“Some people like their things to actually look nice,” Rorin said, checking out his reflection in a large, silver spoon.
Indun lined the silverware up, all of which was matching and exact.
Rorin glanced over at Indun. “They’re crooked, you know. And that smallish fork goes on the right of large one, not the left.
Indun was about to reply when the kitchen door swung open. Winny, the assistant cook, strode in. She was a tall girl with large, brown eyes and straight hair. She had a shyness to her look, though nothing about her was shy in actuality. "You've already set up the dishes and the silverware? Couldn't even wait for me and Cookie to fix breaky?"
"Nope," Indun replied, setting the last spoon in it's proper place on the tray, wishing that everything didn’t have to be so exact. "We figured you and Cookie could fix up breaky just fine with the dishes and silverware already set out." Indun emphasized the word “breaky.” He’d taken to it all the sudden, thinking that the childishness of the word suited him very well. “Breaky... breaky...” he repeated to himself. “Breaky...”
Winny tilted her head and squinted her eyes. "You're weird, Indun."
"You got that right," Rorin muttered. Indun gave him a smile, which was not returned.
Indun looked outside. From where he was, he could see Mary and Birdie washing laundry outside. Birdie hung up the clothes on a line, having to stretch up a bit to reach it, despite how tall she was. Mary was bent down, soaking a shirt and wringing it out. The two girls were talking and laughing. Though Indun didn’t know it, they were actually continuing their conversation about socks.
"What’re lookin' at?" Winny asked, peering over Indun's shoulder at the two girls. "Ugh. Now, don't tell me your lookin' at Birdie. I swear, I just can't stand that girl! She's annoying as 'ell and won't never shut up."
“Ever,” Rorin said as he passed by, though he was completely ignored by the other two.
"No, I’m not looking at Birdie," Indun replied, taking on Rorin’s habit and rolling his eyes a bit.
"Then who?" Winny asked. "Mary?"
"Maybe," Indun replied, a bit mischievously.
Winny scrunched up her mouth. "She’s too short. Besides, she’s so weird..."
"Huh?" Indun asked, turning to Winny. He wondered what Winny’s view of weird would be, considering that Indun himself had never meet a normal person in his life.
"She says weird things,” Winny continued. “She talks about fairies and magic like they were real. She can talk for hours about pointless things, like the color blue or why she thinks that all shoe laces should be striped. I dunno, she’s just odd...”
Indun looked out at Mary, her sandy skin and curly, black hair glittering in the sun light. He scowled a little, something he rarely did. But, then a smile stretched across his face. “Good. I could never allow one of my friends to be anything but weird.”
Winny shrugged. "Fine. Suit yerself."
Rorin had overheard the conversation. He chose to ignore it.
Cookie entered the door. She was a large woman with a round neck and limbs. She wasn't necessarily fat, but sturdy. Years of hard work had made her strong and had added muscle to her build. Her real name was Sarrie, but no one called her that anymore, seeing as she’s worked as a cook her whole life. Granted, the nickname “Cookie” was incredibly unimaginative, but that was how their town worked. Thinking to hard and being creative was not in its nature. It was a lazy town if there ever was one.
"You boys done here?" Cookie asked.
"Yup," Indun said, finally snapping back to reality and letting his gaze wander from the window.
"Well, I suppose you can go see if anyone in the stables needs some help. We're having Sellie, Nirin, and Hezzie serve the Count'n'Countess today. We don't want another incident happening like last time." She looked at Indun, pursing her lips.
"All righty!" Indun said, leaping immediately out the door. Cookie had never forgiven him for the incident that had happened the last time Indun had been assigned to serve the Count’n’Countess. He, Rorin, and Birdie had entered the room nicely, making sure to stand up strait and speak with deep respect, even if it was forced. Rorin had set the table with no incident and Birdie had poured the drinks carefully. But, when it came time for Indun to serve the food he'd tripped. Needless to say, the Count'n'Countess had not been happy about being covered in salad dressing and potato soup.
Rorin took a more subtle approach to leaving and slipped out the door. From behind him, he could hear Cookie saying, "That Indun! Such an odd boy. Too bad he couldn’t be more like his friend..."
Rorin scowled. For as long as he'd known his best friend -which was as long as he could remember- he’d known that he was considered better than Indun. A harder worker. An intellectual. Thoughtful. Better looking. More well behaved.
Rorin crossed his arms. Yes, everyone did consider him better than his happy-go-lucky friend. Everyone but him. Perhaps it was Indun's ability to laugh at everything and to find joy everywhere he looked that made Rorin jealous of him. Everything came so easy to Indun, because he let it come easily to him. Rorin had always been different. More difficult. He couldn't smile when he didn't feel like it. He was too strict. Too tense. Too serious.
Indun skipped ahead of Rorin. He hummed to himself, pleased with the way the world was going; oblivious to the things around him.
That's when Indun caught sight of Mary. Pretty Mary, her black hair and brown eyes glowing as they always did. Her olive skin and large smile entrancing him. To Indun, Mary was anything but plain.
Rorin caught up to Indun, whose eyes were transfixed on the laughing girl by the water. “Honestly now, Indun...”
“What?” Indun asked, glancing at Rorin.
Rorin opened his mouth to speak, but couldn’t find the right words to say. Finally, he just rolled his eyes and said, “Indun, you’re so weird.”
“Why?” Indun asked, a genuinely innocent look on his face.
Rorin looked at Indun. The way his friend looked at plain, short Mary... “Ah, geeze, Indi. You like her, don’t you?”
"Like who?” Indun asked.
“Don’t be stupid,” Rorin said. “Mary.”
“Well, why shouldn't I like her? She’s one of my friends. You’re supposed to like your friends, Rorin.” Indun sighed and looked disappointed. “Oh, little Rorin. Someday you will find out how the world works...”
“Not like that,” Rorin sighed. “I mean you like her as in you think she’s... you know...”
“The most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen?” Indun suggested.
“Er, yeah... Something like that,” Rorin said.
“Well, I suppose that must mean she is,” Indun said, simply.
“Fine. But, I mean, there are other girls. Why do you have to like the strangest out of all of them?”
Indun grinned. “Rori, you do realize who you’re talking to, right?”
Rorin looked at Indun. “Good point.” He glanced up at the large clock on the bell tower. "Come on, we have to get back to work."
"Okay," Indun said. He paused. "Race you!"
And, with that, the two boys set off, running as fast as they could.
It lets his character come to light straight away, which is good
