Gemma looked fondly at her children, cold grey eyes warming at the sight of the twin boys as they toddled up and down the narrow alley. She watched them closely, making sure they did not stray onto the street, where passing horses or even men might trip over or trample them. They were so small. But then, they were young, and had plenty of time to grow. Though they would always be a bit thin, from not getting enough nourishment early in life. The mother's eyes reflected pain and she let her soft smile fall as she thought about that. They were already weaning themselves, and she was having trouble finding food for them. Would she be able to keep them alive as they grew? The thought made her eyes burn with unshed tears. She didn't want to lose these ones. They looked so much like Rigel, the way he had looked before he had died and left her a widow. From the bright red, almost orange hair to the mismatched eyes - one brown, one green - they were the very image of their father. And the only way for her to tell them apart was their eyes. Pollux, the elder twin, had the green on the left and the brown on the right. On Castor, it was the exact opposite.
"Wook mama!" Castor held out something he'd found, beaming at her. His first teeth were coming in. Soon he'd want solid food more than ever.
Gemma took the thing from her son. It looked like just a lump of dirt, and she was about to give it back to him when it glinted dully. She rubbed at it a bit with her fingers, and began to realize that she was holding money. A single copper to be exact.
"Where did you find this?"
Pollux came up, smiling just as brightly as Castor now because he knew his mother was pleased. He pointed down toward where the alley opened up into the street. "Dopit," he said, and after a puzzled silence Gemma understood that someone had dropped it as they'd passed.
Staring in slight wonder at the what seemed a tiny fortune to her now, she then took both her sons and held them close in an embrace. "Thank the Windlady, we can live another day." she wept.
Her boys were still smiling when she let them go, and as the sun set behind the hills in the west the threesome curled up under a wooden lean-to. And as Gemma watched her boys fall asleep, she wept again because she knew that coppers didn't last forever. Someday, someday soon, her children would be taken from her.

The servant who had answered the door looked at the woman suspiciously. She had dull brown hair, and in her arms were two twin boys with flaming hair and mismatched eyes.
"Why should I let you in?" he asked. "What business have you here?"
"I would like to see miss Delphinus please. Tell her my name is Gemma Aldebaran."
The woman was no doubt either homeless or the poorest woman in town. Her clothes could hardly be called clothes. They were more like dirty rags, torn in odd places and clinging together in even odder. The children were not dressed any better. But the woman faced him down with such calm confidence that he nodded and went to go fetch his mistress.
A minute later a very different kind of woman stepped out to meet Gemma. Her dress was beautiful, finely sewn, probably made of silk. Her gold hair was done up carefully, and her bearing was every bit as dignified as the beggar woman's, though she seemed to exheed Gemma in that area solely because she was not dressed in rags. But now, lady Delphinus was staring at the mother of the twins with eyes wide and filled with surprise. Then the lady shot forward and embraced Gemma.
"It's been too long, Gemma. Come in." she said as she pulled away. The beggar woman shook her head, but she was smiling.
"I would not want to dirty your house. Would it be alright if we just visited in the garden?"
The woman frowned, then smiled more brightly than ever and laughed. "Dirty my house...alright my friend, the garden it is. Though I now suspect that this is more than just a friendly visit."
Gemma laughed softly, and followed the woman through a gate on the side of the house, into a wonderfully tended garden. They both sat down on a stone bench near a fountain that played them soft melodies as the water tinkled down into the bottom basin.
Now the lady leaned forward and spoke softly to the poor mother. "I hadn't heard you had children. Where is Rigel?"
The older woman sighed, and her eyes seemed to darken suddenly. "He has passed. But as you might have guessed, these are his children." She shrugged, indicating the two children, one on either hip. Both were getting restless, so she let them wriggle out of the blankets and run around in the courtyard.
"I'm sorry." Delphinus said, and she truly looked sorrowful at the ill news. For a moment her eyes were downcast, but then she let them trail after the children as they chased eachother around the fountain. "I didn't know you lived around here. I would have visited."
"I still live in Pleiades, but it doesn't really matter now. I don't have a house anymore. But these two..." she looked at her children and smiled. "They are all the home I need. I walked here."
Delphinus gasped. "Carrying those two?."
"Of coarse. What, do you think I would let them get run over by the wagons?"
"Well no, but...they aren't big but they're bound to get heavy after a while, surely?"
Gemma shrugged. "I needed to bring them here, so I did. That's all there is to it."
There was a long silence. "What happened to you Gemma? Why did our lives turn out so differently?"
The beggar woman smiled kindly at her old friend. "Who knows where fate can take them. I could be where you are if I really wanted that. If I really wanted that for my children. But I don't. Not that I love being poor and homeless, but if my children grow up to be good, honest men, then I'm content. That's why I need you to take them as your servants."
"What?" she gasped. "Servants? Gemma, no! I will take you in as my sister, and you can raise your children as part of my house, but I will not have them as servants."
"Thank you for the offer, but I do not deserve what you try to give to me. But my children..." she shook her head. "Take them as servants, Delpha, I beg you. And take me as a servant as well, so I can watch my children grow, and see if they become what I've dreamed of as their future. Only don't let them know who I am. I don't think I could bear the shame."
Gemma slumped, her thin frame shaking a little as she tried to hold back her sadness. Delphinus put an arm around her friend.
"I will." she murmured. "But only because you asked me to, Gemma. Only because you ask."

"Where ya been Zeni?"
The older of the twins clapped the younger on the shoulder in what was supposed to be a manly gesture but turned out looking more boyish than usual because of their size. The younger twin made a funny face and then laughed, his mismatched eyes twinkling.
"I got us anothe' book, that's where I been!" The boy reached behind his back and revealed a thick leatherbound book.
The older's face lit up, but at the same time he made a sharp noise and motioned toward an open door to the right. "Quick, get it outta sight! We dun want Master Antares to catch us."
Zeni ducked into the room they shared and emerged a minute later with empty hands.
And not a moment to soon. "Zenith! I need one of you in the kitchen to help me!" the cook bellowed.
The twins grinned at eachother. They both had been given the same name by their master, for the simple reason that nobody bothered to tell them apart. But, so that they could tell the difference between each other, the older called himself Zen, the younger Zeni. Together they were Zenith.
"You first?" Zeni made a sweeping gesture and stepped backward, inviting Zen to go on into the kitchens.
"No, no, you first!" Zen did a very good imitation of one of the fancy bows haughty gentlemen made. Zeni laughed and clapped his hands.
"I don't care which one of you, just get in here!" the cook broke into their giggling. Zen waved briefly to Zeni and did a dive-roll into the kitchen. Zeni laughed as he left. He could hear the cook mumbling something like "..stupid acrobats, you'd think we were running a circus or something..."
Zeni skipped down the hallway, past all the doors to the servants quarters, but finally stopped in front of one. It was Deneb's room, that snobby little servant boy who thought he was so good just 'cause his father and his grandfather and his great-grandfather and all those other greats and grands had worked for Master Antares. Zeni wrinkled his nose. Then, curious, he peeked in through the crack between the door and the doorframe. Hmmm. Don't look like Deneb's inside. Maybe a little prank'll do 'im good...
Snickering softly, Zeni slipped in and shut the door behind him. Then he paused, thinking. Coming up with good pranks wasn't as easy as some made it out to be. This one'd have to be really good. Really really good.
He sorted through several ideas before finding one he really liked. It might take some time, but it'd be worth it. Slipping back out of the room, Zeni made his way up several flights of stairs to the attic.
No one came up there anymore. It had long since been infested with spiders and mice. For a moment Zeni wondered if mice would work better than spiders. No, Deneb was scared of spiders way more than he was scared of mice. Spiders would be best.
Rummaging through a box of junk, he came out with a glass jar and a really big cork that just happened to fit. Then he spent the next hour plucking spiders off of old clothes and out of corners and putting them in the jar. None that were poisonous of coarse, and none that really hurt when they bit. He just wanted to give Deneb a good scare, that was all.
And so it was with much pleasure that Zeni emptied the jar of spiders into Deneb's underwear drawer, and closed it quickly so that none of them got out. It might take a while for Deneb to find 'em, but that's okay. The younger of the twins had satisfied his need for mischief for today.

It didn't take long. Both the twins were washing dishes for the cook when a loud shriek came from the servants quarters. Zen jumped, and when he looked at Zeni, all the younger twin could do was grin happily. Otherwise cook might suspect something. A grin slowly crept across Zen's face, and then both gave a snort of laughter and turned back to their work, only looking up when Deneb rounded the corner of the hallway and ran up the stairs like a herd of elephants was after him. Then they both shrieked and laughed until they were lying on the floor holding their sides. Cook had to jab them with her foot and drag them to a stand before they calmed down enough to start scrubbing again.
Not five minutes later, Deneb was back, but this time with a grin on his face and an ally at his side. Master Antares looked at them sternly.
"Did one of you put spiders in Deneb's quarters?" His tone of voice told them that he already suspected them highly, but wouldn't pronounce them guilty until he had proof. He might be cruel sometimes, but he was always, always fair.
"Yessir, that'd be me!" Zeni bobbed his fire-crowned head, but his broad grin never slipped. He knew he was in trouble.
Their master's mouth pulled down in a frown, and he nodded, then turned and herded Deneb back into his room. A moment later he was back, with one of the servant women at his side. The twins recognized her. Miss Gemma always came when Master Antares was about to assign them punishments. She was a servant just like the rest of them, but she must have some kind of special relationship with the Master because he always asked her if his punishment for the twins was alright. Sometimes she would say yes, sometimes she would ask him to do something else, usually less harsh. It depended on what they'd done.
"Does missing a meal or two sound alright Gemma?" Antares asked after explaining what Zeni'd done. "Or maybe just extra work?"
The woman stared at the two of them for a while. Then she shook her head. "Which one did it?"
The question was directed at them. Usually if the punishment was harsh, Zen would go in Zeni's place, even though the younger twin was usually the one who got them in trouble most often. But as he was raising his hand Zeni motioned for him to put it back down and raised his own high above his head. Zen gave him a questioning look, but Zeni kept his eyes on Gemma.
Antares motioned for the younger twin to come and stand by him. Zeni bounced to his feet and walked over, his smile still in place but his shoulders rigid.
Gemma continued to stare blankly at the younger of the Zenith. "First you will go back into Deneb's room and apologize to him. Then you will find all the spiders you can, put them back in the jar and let them out in the garden. They'll help keep the bugs away..."
Zeni just grinned and nodded agreeably, but Zen could see that he was relieved.
As all three walked out of the kitchen, Zeni waved with one hand behind his back, and turned his head just slightly, so he could see when Zen gave him a thumbs-up to encourage him. Then they were gone.
Zen turned back to washing the dishes with a sigh. For a while he just got lost in the repeated motions of scrubbing and rinsing, but after a bit he realized that there was a conversation going on in the front room, and if he scrubbed the dishes underwater, so their sound was muffled, he could hear a little of what they were saying.
"...need..listen by the door...make sure...apologizes...sincere..." That sounded like lady Gemma...
"....we do then?" said the deeper voice of Master Antares.
"...if..cruel about it...short beating."
"Are..sure?"
"Yes. He must learn kindness."
The words were getting clearer, and louder. Zen realized that Gemma and Antares were getting closer to the kitchen and he quickly shoved his hands back into the soapy water.
"But he's your son...surely you don't want.."
There was a scuffling sound, as if one of them had suddenly stopped and turned around. A shadow crept under the door and Zen realized Lady Gemma was listening to see if he had heard.
He started scrubbing one of the plates again, purposely bumping it into the sides of the washtub every now and then to give a convincing clink.
Gemma was obviously convinced that he had been too busy doing dishes to have heard. There was that scuffling sound again.
"Please master Antares, don't speak so loudly where you are sure to be heard by anyone with ears. Especially about that particular secret of mine." Gemma whispered this, but if Zen strained, he could still make out most of it. "Neither of them need to know about that until later. Please do not mention it so easily again."
Zen dropped the plate he'd been holding, and it fell back into the washtub, making a muffled clanging as it hit one of the bowls. But Zeni wasn't thinking about whether he'd get caught eavesdropping or not. For one thing, he was amazed that any servant, even Lady Gemma, would speak to Master Antares in such a chiding, irritated tone of voice. And second...had he heard right? Had Gemma said that Zeni, of all people, was her...her son? The very thought left Zen grasping for understanding, and it was only after several minutes of stunned silence that he realized that if Zeni was Gemma's son, that made him Gemma's son also. They were brothers after all. And then he realized that it was silent outside the kitchen door. Just to be on the safe side, Zen bent over and washed the rest of the dishes hurriedly and noisily. Then he stood and waited for cook to dismiss him. She did so with a curt nod and a grumble, and with the knees of his pants still wet from the soapy water, he started pacing up and down the hallway of the servant's quarters, feeling restless and confused.

Zeni slipped into Deneb's room and found the other servant boy glaring at him nastily. Wonderful, he thought. The boy probably wasn't in any sort of mood to accept apologies. But then, Zeni wasn't in much of a mood to give them. But he had to, or there would be worse punishments in store. Taking a deep breath, he tried to start, but Deneb interrupted him.
"I hate you, you gleeking son of an old fart!" the servant boy exploded, face turning purple before Zeni's very eyes. Jus' wonderful he thought again. We're down to name-callin' already.
"I'm sorry, you artless milk-livered flapdragon!" he said in as meek a voice as he could manage. The insults just sort of slipped in.
Deneb jumped off the bed and hollered, "Are not, lout!"
"Am too, maggot-pie!"
"Stinky bush-pig!"
There was an awkward silence during which Zeni tried in vain to think of an insult to top Deneb's last. He finally ended it by smacking the other boy on the head. Deneb shrieked in fury, then jumped and pounced on Zeni, and within seconds they were rolling around on the ground, kicking and hitting each other, both not strong enough nor skilled enough to really hurt the other.
The door opened.
"Zenith!"
The boys stopped their wrestling match. Zeni stood up, wincing. Deneb had managed to kick him pretty hard in the side. He looked over and saw Antares standing in the doorway, looking even more serious and dangerous than before.
"Zenith, I've told you before that there is to be no fighting in my house. I'm going to have to punish you severely for this, you know."
Zeni nodded, and he smiled brightly, even though inside he was steeling himself for what was coming. He walked stiffly, bouncing nervously off the balls of his feet, but to anyone else it would look as if he were skipping for joy.

Zen was sitting on his mat in the room he shared with his twin, when Zeni came in, his usual smile so bright as to be unnatural looking. That meant that the younger twin was greatly upset. But it wasn't until Zeni closed the door and flopped onto his mat that he broke down, shoulders shaking as he cried and tears wetting his pillow.
Zen went to his brother and asked what was wrong, his own usual smile slipping.
"It burns." was all Zeni said, and then it was a hoarse whisper, interrupted by sobs. "It burns. It burns."
Zen helped his younger twin take his shirt off, and he flinched inside when he saw the red marks on his brother's back. Master Antares had never beat them bad enough to break the skin, but it still hurt nearly as bad.
"What happened, Zeni?"
"Stupid...jerk..." Zeni beat his pillow with his fist.
"You didn't fight with Deneb again didja?"
"Ugly...slimeball..."
Zen sighed and left, coming back with some strips of cloth and a waterskin. He wet a few of the strips and laid them across Zeni's back, hoping they would help ease the burning sensation.
As the younger twin's crying subsided, Zen wondered if maybe he should tell his brother about what he'd overheard in the kitchens. After a long struggle with himself, he decided not to. Zeni needed calm, not confusion.
"s'not so bad now..." Zeni murmured, and he lifted himself carefully into a cross-legged sit. "I wanna show you that book I got us earlier, c'mon!"
Together they fetched the book out of the hiding place beneath the floorboards they'd discovered long ago. There were many books hidden beneath there. Occasionally they returned one they'd stolen, after they'd read it for the tenth time. They'd learned how to read a couple of years before, when they were about seven. They'd taught themselves, and it had taken them a long time. Since then they had stolen a book from the Master's library every few months. If they got caught now, they could very likely be banished from the house. But for now, their theiving had gone undetected. Together they opened the old book and turned the heavy pages.
"What kinda book ya think it is Zen?"
"Uh.." The older leaned forward, reading the table of contents. "I can't find the title nowhere. But I think itsa story."
"Can I read first?"
"Yeah, sure. Read the firs' page, then it's my turn."

***A Month Later***

Zen and Zeni closed the book together, and Zeni grinned. It wasn't the masking grin that he used whenever someone else was watching him either. It was geniune, sincere, true.
"That was a good story, dontcha think Zen?"
"Yep."
They sat for a minute, looking at the blank cover of the book, then they opened the little space in the floor and put the book down inside. They were about to cover up the hiding place with their mats again, when they heard a snicker and realized that Deneb was standing in the door, looking frighteningly triumphant. Zeni growled, and he wasn't smiling either.
"Oooh, you guys are gonna get it!" Deneb whooped, then turned on his heel and shot down the hallway like a rocket.
"Deneb you two-faced idiot! Come back here!" Zeni jumped to his feet and yelled loudly. Then he turned back and looked at Zen.
"What are we gonna do?"
"I dunno."
"What are we gonna DO?!?!?" Both twin's eyes were wide now as the dangers of their situation sunk in.
Zen looked close to panic. "Maybe we should try and find a different hiding place for 'em."
"Mm'kay, but we gotta hurry!"
They dug all the books out and left them on the floor while they searched, high and low, for another place to put them. When they finally knew it was useless, Zen suggested they put them all back in the library before the Master came down. So they each scooped up half of them and raced each other down the hall. Right, left, left again, right- BAM! They knocked into someone coming around the corner, and it was only after they stood up, holding their heads and groaning, that they realized it was Master Antares.
And he was looking pretty mad.
As a matter of fact, Zenith had never seen him this angry. Neither of them. That's how bad it was.
"So it's true, is it? You've been stealing. You've been stealing my books."
"Yessir," they said, but it came out in a kind of choked whisper, and neither of them were grinning like they usually would have.
They were both beaten, and this time Antares didn't ask lady Gemma before he did it. And it was a bad beating. The worst they'd ever had, in fact, and by the end they were both laughing as hard as they could to cover up the pain - so hard their sides ached - and they could feel tiny drops of blood trickling down their backs. Antares had them literally thrown out of the house and into the street.
It was winter. They landed hard, and their bodies made imprints in the snow. They scrambled to their feet in time to watch the door shut, and then they stood there hugging themselves and shivering violently, their toes already going numb from the cold, their breath misty vapor before them.
"What're we gonna do?" Zeni asked, tears - blessedly warm tears - trickling down his cheeks now that he'd stopped laughing.
"We gotta find someplace warm..." Zen was just as inexperienced in this situation as Zeni was. He'd never been out of the house in his entire memory of exhistance, and he knew that he could get lost very easily in the streets, having never walked them before. But nevertheless, for his younger twins sake, he took the lead. They wandered for a long time, bare feet losing feeling now.
Finally they stopped. Both were crying silently now, glad of the warmth their tears gave them, seeming so hot on their chilled faces, seeming to burn almost.
"Zen? I'm scared, Zen." Zeni choked on a sob and fell silent.
Zen hung his head. The only thing he could think of to do now was knock on some random door and ask a stranger to take them in. Otherwise they'd freeze. And so he squared his shoulders and knocked hard on the door of the nearest house: a small building, but there was smoke coming out of the chimney, and that alone made it look very inviting. Zeni came forward and stood by his brother, and they both grinned with tears still on their faces at the man who opened the door.
He was a middle-aged man, with a grizzly beard that was the same color as his hair. Gray. He wasn't tall, but since they were young and just the tiniest bit small for their age, they had to crane their necks to meet his eyes.
"Sir, we're pretty cold. We were thrown out of our home, and we don't have nowhere to go. Could we jus' warm up by yer fire before we go on?" Zen was the one who spoke, still shivering. His feet were now totally numb. But he kept his grin on bravely, and Zeni followed his example.
The man's eyes moved from one to the other of the twins, and back again. Finally, he nodded and stepped back to let them in.
"Thank ye sir!" Zeni piped up from behind, and the man nodded again, a tiny smile creeping onto his medium-skinned face.
Once they were inside they huddled around the fire, holding out their hands and their feet for warmth. Not half a minute after they got there Zeni pulled his feet away from the fire. "My feet're burnin' Zen!" he yowled softly, holding his toes with his cold hands. That just seemed to make them hurt worse.
"Careful there.." The man came over with a towel - a lovely, thick, soft towel - and wrapped Zeni's feet in it. Then he went back and got one for Zen. "If your feet are frozen you don't want to warm them up too fast, else they hurt like nothin' else."
"Thanks again sir." Zeni said, smiling all the brighter.
The man sat down in a wooden chair close by. "So what're you youngster's names?"
"Zenith." they both said at once, then giggled.
"Both the same name eh? And same face too. Any special secret to tellin' you apart?"
Both boys looked up at the man blankly. "Uhhh..." "ummmm..." they both said. Then the man clapped his hands so loud the twins jumped.
"Aha!" he said. "It's yer eyes. They're on opposite sides. So what am I to call each of you?"
Zen smiled. "I wouldn't want you to bother with us, sir, since we'll be leavin' as soon as we thaw out."
"Nonsense. Why dontcha stay the night?"
Surprise was easy to see on both faces. "Yer too kind, sir."
"Nonsense," he said again. "Now what do you call each other?"
Zen grinned and introduced him and his younger twin. "And what do we have the priv'ledge of callin' you, sir?"
"Just call me Regelus."
"Pleased to meetcha Master Regelus." Zeni said.
The man frowned. "Master? I dunno if I like that. Just call me Regelus, I said, I and I meant it."
"Yessir, Master Regelus, sir." Zen grinned.
The man chuckled and eyed them carefully. "You two used to be servants 'eh?"
"Yessir. How'd ya know?"
He shrugged. "Just the way you keep callin' me master n' all, I figured only servants talked like that."
Zeni giggled. "Yeh sure are smart, Master Regelus sir."
Regelus laughed again. "So what happened to ya'll? Why'd ya get kicked out?"
"We wanted to read so we stole somma our master's books. He got real mad, I tell yeh!" Zen shivered.
"My feet are warm 'gain Zen!" Zeni unwrapped his feet and wiggled his toes. "I can feel 'em!" he whooped.
"Mine too!" Zen wiggled his toes too, with obvious glee.
"That's good," said Regelus. Then he looked out the window. "It's gettin' dark. I have a place for you two up in the loft of my barn if that's alright. Sound good?"
"Yessir"
"Thank yeh sir!"
Regelus chuckled softly as he led them out his back door and into the warm barn. Then the twins said goodnight to their new friend and climbed the ladder to the loft, falling asleep within minutes, despite the soreness of the untended wounds on their backs.

Zen woke in the middle of the night. Or maybe it was more toward the end. He couldn't really tell. The loft was dark enough that even after several minutes he couldn't even see his hand in front of his face. There was a howling noise coming from outside the barn...it sounded like some very wild wind.
Zen lay for a moment, wondering what had woken him. Then the aching in his back registered in his senses, and he groaned, barely able to hold back a whimper. He turned quickly onto his side, hoping to relieve some of the pain. His eyes burned, much as he tried to stop the tears. He couldn't laugh to relieve his suffering, for that would wake Zeni, and Zen was sure his brother was almost as sore as he.
"Zen?"
There was the soft sound as his twin rolled over in the hay. Zen could feel his brother's eyes on him.
"Yeah?"
Zeni suddenly broke out in giggles. "My back really, REALLY hurts, Zen. It's pretty bad..."
"I know." Now that Zeni was awake, Zen laughed, and it sounded as loud as a thunderclap in the silence of the night.
They laughed together, and some of the hurt seemed to ease, for a moment at least.
When it finally died down, Zen propped himself up on an elbow. In the past month since he'd overheard Lady Gemma and Master Antares, he'd thought alot about what Gemma - no, his mother - had said. He still hadn't told Zeni any of what he'd heard. He was so unsure of it all himself, he didn't want to put the same doubts and confusion into his younger twin.
He sat up, and started feeling around in the hay, for the hole where the ladder led down to the main part of the barn. He didn't want to find it by falling in...
"Whatcha doin' Zen?"
"I'm just gonna go somewhere. I'll be back real quick, don' worry."
"Where ya goin'?"
Zen paused. "I'm gonna go see Lady Gemma."
"How come?"
"Cuz, I gotta ask her somethin'."
"Zen, you hidin' somethin' from me?"
Zen paused again. Zeni went on.
"I know you been hidin' somethin' from me Zen! Tell me what it is, c'mon!"
Zen sighed. There was no way out of this. So he told Zeni what he'd overheard.
There was a long, long silence after he finished. Then Zeni sat up.
"So you goin' back to rescue 'er?"
"What?" Zen sat in puzzled silence for a minute. That thought hadn't even crossed his mind.
"C'mon Zen! If she's our Ma then we gotta rescue 'er!"
Zen finally nodded. "Well ask 'er if she can come with us, and we can all stay at Master Regelus' house until we find some other place."
Zeni clapped his hands. "Let's go then!"
They both found the ladder and crept down it. The horses in the stalls were still asleep, but one or two lifted their eyelids and blinked at them as they passed, before dropping back into dreams.
They opened the door and stepped out into the snow, and then they remembered just how cold it was outside. They hesitated in the doorway for a minute, then shot across the dark, snow-covered backyard, through the back door into Regelus' house.
They stood there, shivering, looking at the empty fireplace and wishing there were a fire inside it. Then they looked at each other.
"Think we can make it to Master Antares' house before we freeze our feet again?"
Zeni paused, then nodded, grinning. Zen grinned back, and they went on, pausing once more at the front door. Then, in a burst of energy, they flug it open, stepped outside, shut it, then shot down the street.
"D'you remember how to get there, Zen?" Zeni asked him as they ran together.
"Sorta...."
They went on, and Zen led the way. They did get there pretty fast, with only a few wrong turns. Instead of going in through the front door, they climbed the side gate and dropped into the courtyard, entering through the back door, into the kitchens. Then they crept into the servant's quarters, and finally opened the door to Lady Gemma's room, and stepped inside.
She was waiting for them.
"So, you did hear."
Zen nodded, the grins slipping off both their faces. "Yes'm"
"We came to rescue you!" Zeni piped up, his grin flashing back on.
She smiled kindly at them. "I don't need any rescueing. I'm living as well as I deserve here. And I daresay your feet are frozen from running here."
"Yes'm, they sure are!" Zeni giggled.
Their mother made a gentle quieting gesture, and they lowered their voices.
"I was hoping you would come back to see me. This is a bit sooner than I thought, but that's alright."
Suddenly Zen had a pressing question that could not go unanswered. "Lady Ge- er..Ma? How come you let Master Antares beat us sometimes? It hurts Ma."
She smiled sadly. "I know, but if I didn't let him treat you like normal servants, you would grow up thinking you were better than everyone else, and that's not what I want."
Zeni face twisted in an odd frown. "Well how come yeh didn't want us to find out who yeh were?"
"Because I thought you'd be happier, not knowing."
Of coarse, that didn't make much sense to the twins, young as they were, but they thought about it.
Gemma broke into their silence. "Before you leave I want you to know your proper names." She came forward and laid a hand on Zen's head. "The name I gave you was Pollux Aldebaran." She put her other hand on Zeni. "And yours was Castor Aldebaran. Your father's name was Rigel. Remember that."
They both nodded, with her hands still on their heads. "Yes ma."
She smiled kindly and knelt down, giving them each an embrace. "Did you find a warm place to sleep tonight?"
"Yes'm, Master Regelus let us sleep in his loft." Zeni grinned.
"Good." She smiled again. "As soon as the weather warms, I want you to leave the town and find a place of your own to live. I know you are strong enough to take care of yourselves. Promise me you won't forget me."
"We won't."
"I love you, my children. Good luck."
"'bye ma."
They both turned, but as they stepped out into the hallway, Zeni turned.
"Sure yeh don't wanna come with us ma?"
She shook her head, smiling. "You go on. I can live the rest of my life in peace now, knowing that you two are growing up to be fine young men. I hope you stay that way."
"Yes mama."
"G'bye ma."