Brenndel & Caita

Brenndel sat bolt upright in bed. Something was wrong, very wrong. He slid out of bed and tiptoed from the nursery. The sibilant whispers from his satiny sleep clothes brushing together were louder than his footsteps on the hallway floor. Everything was quiet until he reached the infirmary. Within lay his aunt, who was expected to give birth any day. Apparently today was the day, and it wasn't going well.

Brenndel sat in the hallway and waited, naively hoping his presence would help his aunt get through this time. Brenndel wasn't sure when he dozed off, but he awoke when a child began to squall. Sleepily, the not quite four-year-old crept bravely through the doorway. His uncle held a blanket wrapped bundle, rocking and murmuring to it.

"Can I see?" Brenndel asked, and climbed up onto a chair. Being short had disadvantages. His uncle smiled kindly and sat down beside the boy, still trying to calm the child.

"Brenndel, this is your new cousin Caita. Say hi to Brenndel, Caity!" he said cheerfully. Caita bawled.

"Jenlot? Could you come in here please?" a nurse said. Jenlot looked worried.

"Brenndel, can you be a big boy and hold Caita until I get back?"

"Yes Uncle Jenlot." Brenndel said, and carefully took the baby. "Hi Caita." He whispered as Jenlot walked towards the doctors. Caita grew quiet and snuggled against him. Jenlot looked back, surprised at the silence. "She likes me, Uncle Jenlot!" Brenndel laughed.

After a while Jenlot returned, and took the sleeping Caita back to the nurses, to be weighed and fed. Her identical twin hadn't survived, and Selai had been lucky to.

* * *

It was surprising how similar Brenndel and Caita looked - they were often mistaken as siblings by visitors. They both had dark brown hair - Brenndel wore his short, and Caita wore hers not-quite-so-short. It barely reached her shoulders, and was often held back by a ribbon. Brenndel stood 6' tall at 18, and his cousin stood a mere four inches shorter. They were both slim, and attractive, and attached to each other like a gryph to their bond; completely inseparable.

Caita was treated like a princess by most of the house - whether they were related to her or not. She didn't have a problem with the preferential treatment, as long as Brenndel wasn't treated like a second class citizen in the process. It started early, with no interference on Brenndel's part. Someone offered her a candy, and she smiled at them. "Brenn one too?" she'd asked in her toddler way. This always resulted in a second piece appearing because insisting that something was "girls only" and that Brenndel couldn't have or do it resulted in a screaming fit. Fortunately for Brenndel, Caita quickly grew out of that.

As she grew, Caita not only began to defend Brenndel, but any boy who was being treated like a boy. Of her own free will, she'd taken to seeing that men around her were treated will. She knew full well that the Aerie and the surrounding society was matriarchal, but she didn't think women should be treated that drastically differently than men. After all, it took both to make a child, didn't it?

Brenndel did everything in his rather limited power to support his cousin in her quest for equality. Uncle Jenlot and Aunt Selai never had any more children, and some of the Aunties of the house thought that being an only child caused her to pursue this, while others credited her closeness with her cousin Brenndel with keeping her in control. Of course, this sparked new arguments. How could a male control a female?

* * *

Brenndel and Caita were having a snowball fight in a snowcovered field when a pair of gryphons swooped low past them. Caita flung her snowball at one, but it missed. Brenndel's snowball found it's mark, causing Caita to lose her balance and fall backward into the snow.

She laughed and hurried to get up and return fire. A volley of snowballs ensued, and after a moment the gryphons returned, and dropped loads of powdery snow on the cousins. They laughed and dug themselves out.

The gryphs landed and played with them, deflecting snowballs with their wide wings and sending showers of powder snow back at them with carefully executed sweeps of their wings.

By noontime, all four were in need of a rest and something more.

Once inside, the gryphs were pleased at their warm welcome by the folks of the house, and doubly pleased to find that their playmate was truly female, and not just girlishly voiced. Youths bundled up against the cold all looked alike in their fur lined jackets. Not all of the girls were rowdy enough to actually play with the gryphons.

The welcome lasted, and the gryphs spent the night at the house, meeting the children and being pampered with extra brushing. Linx and Krilix were bond-brothers, and were returning from delivering something to the Caer when Caita's snowball had summoned them to the house. They were young, and appreciated the diversion. Caita had been worried that Mother Yence would be mad that they dallied, but they assured her they would not get into trouble for not returning this evening, and promised Brenndel when she was out of earshot that they wouldn't lie to her.

Come morning, Kace and Lanice arrived at the house to spread the news of the bonder exchange. Everyone had questions; When would it start, who was going, where were they going, how were they getting there...

The messengers did their best to answer the questions. "As for the who, we haven't chosen anyone specific yet. We have to arrange for some gryphons to fly the bonders to Volia-Kaun." Lanice said.

Linx' head went up. "We'll convey them, Lanice." He said.

"But we have to report back to Mother Yence first." Krilix finished.

Kace nodded at them. "Thank you." She said.

"Fly well." Brenndel patted Linx' flank and Caita gave Krilix' fur a quick rub. They were proud of their new gryph friends for volunteering for such a long flight. A small downy white feather fell from Krilix and drifted to the floor. Brenndel and Caita saw it, and smiled at each other. "You take it." He whispered to his cousin.

Caita picked up the feather and tucked it in the pocket of her overalls. Gryph feathers were lucky... luckier when you knew which Gryphon they belonged to.

A few days went by, and Kace returned with Linx and Krilix in tow. The house eagerly gathered together to see which of their house would be priviledged to be among the fist of the bonders exchanged with other Alskyrian Aeries.

"So?" someone inquired from the front. "Who is it?"

Kace smiled. "Caita..."

Eager eyes turned to tee the 15 year old girl's response.

She wasn't exactly pleased. "I won't go."

Kace gave the gryphonic equivalent of a shrug. "Then Brenndel will just have to go without you."

Caita's jaw dropped.

"What? You think we didn't notice you two were joined at the hip? Go and pack already. Linx and Krilix are eager to set off."

Caita and Brenndel ran out so fast, heads were spinning trying to follow them.

"I think Krilix' feather brought us both luck." Brenndel said, hugging his cousin around the shoulders.

"That, or my snowball!" Caita laughed. "Either way, we're off to Volia-Kaun. Aren't you excited?

"Very."

The cousins split to their separate sleeping areas, and carefully, if quickly, packed their things.

* * *

The flight was exhilarating, and the gryph brothers made it memorable. Aerie Volia-Kaun was very nice, and they felt right at home.

Once Caita left, the house breathed a sigh of relief - now they could go back to their doting on their daughters again - or could they?

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