24 Where We Come From (1/2)
The past few days seemed like a dream to Artemis. It was not even a week prior that she and Yami were in danger of having to return to their village because of money constraints. Instead of racking her brain, trying to figure out how the two of them would be able to afford their next meal without selling sacred or necessary equipment, they were able to spend the day off without having to worry about making ends meet.
Of course, as the worrier that she is, the thoughts didn't completely leave the back of her mind she found herself at a loss of what to do. She had heard that having a day to rest, especially after an entire month of being stressed out with just surviving, would be good for her, but she couldn't help but feel somewhat fidgety and helpless.
She was currently sitting in her small and dingy inn room that she and Yami had been staying in. Because of often ridiculous rewards that seemed to pop forth from the woodworks whenever they went on a quest with their new partner Kalin. Although he was so cute and small, Kalin was extremely powerful and capable. Kalin was so capable, in fact, that Artemis started to worry about him quickly outgrowing their help, leaving them behind in the dust.
As children, Artemis and Yami were considered prodigious in their small, nameless village. As a member of the spiritus tribe, there were a couple differences between their lives growing up and settlements ruled by lords and laws. While there was some trade between them and a few traveling merchants, the majority of their daily necessities were made by the villagers or traded with by surrounding tribes. Each of the charms and religious ornaments they wore were made by their friends in the village. While there was clothing in the village, it was relatively expensive and mostly designated for use by channelers and promising youngsters. Most people would wear ceremonial jewelry, sandals, and perhaps a draped piece of fabric over their loins. Like many less civilized villages, however, most people wore clothing only in cases of protection, spending most of their time in the nude.
Growing up, the twins didn't know who their parents were. It wasn't that they died or anything, it was just because of the traditions of the village. There was no concept of marriage in the tribe, as everybody there was already family. Perhaps stemming from their close relation to nature spirits, they overall tended to be a whimsical and free race. When they were born, they were raised by the collective community. Of the large family consisting of all 900+ members of the tribe, they were breastfed by more than 100 of their elder 'sisters'. While the adults rotated child raising duties, it wasn't an uncommon sight to see a hungry toddler be picked up by the closest woman to be suckled and nursed on the spot. The only reason Yami and Artemis knew they were biological sisters was because they were twins, a rare occurrence in the spiritus tribe.
At a young age, they had been discovered to be extremely talented in communicating with the gods. Their prodigious abilities made them famous and highly sheltered from outsiders of the clan, though this didn't stop them from meeting the occasional artisan and merchant to fit clothing and learn of outsider society. These rare encounters caused Artemis to fall in love with the thought of roaming the lands and leaving the confines of the small village. One traveler in particular became a large influence on her and her life-long hero.
The person who made the priestly raiment for the local channelers was an old man in the nearest town. On the days the twins would go to get measured to order new clothing, frequently, there would be a young woman visiting the shop. After stumbling across the town on her travels to see some of the secluded tribes in the area, the two of them became acquainted. The woman, a bard and a drifter, became close friends with the old man, while he became somewhat of a fatherly figure in her life. His place became the closest thing she had to a home, so she would often return to the town after her journeys around the land. Whenever Artemis saw her, the bard would tell and sing stories of her travels, adventures, and romances throughout the endless lands, the last kind of story was always rewarded with a scolding by the old man, as he would tell her to stop fooling around and get married. Her response would always be to brush him off with an unrestrained laugh.
Unlike the people in the village that seemed detached from the world and whimsical in nature, these stories made Artemis feel alive and her laugh brought her joy. It was these interactions that caused her to fall in love with the idea of leaving the village to find her own stories and adventures.
Only diverging this secret to Yami, she carried this secret in her hear. The two eventually signed contracts with the twin goddesses of the moon. They were trained how to fight, heal and bless people as well as the ability to channel the powers of divinity through their interactions with the two goddesses.
Yami had a slightly different childhood from Artemis because of her personality. Although she was surprisingly sharp with an intuition that bordered on wise, she was not a very fast thinker. While Artemis had childhood hobbies such as shooting bows and singing songs, always busying herself yearning toward the outside world, Yami could be often found sleeping, watching ants walk in lines, having staring contests with cats of various sizes, and blinking several times, trying to figure out what the strange shapes she saw whenever she blinked were. While Artemis's hero was the bard woman, Yami's hero was Artemis.
Artemis was the only person in the village who truly understood her. Even without her verbalizing things, Artemis was able to tell what Yami felt and what she was trying to say. Yami was very good at making friends too, if you counted animals and bugs. She was a very misunderstood child. Most members of their family both revered and feared her because of her devastating power that came from her contract combined with her unique personality. Many of the other children thought she was 'creepy' due to her often allowing bugs and animals act as their perch. In their defense, it isn't very comforting seeing a 6-year-old child allowing poisonous bugs and snakes slither and crawl around her body and talking to them.
Maybe because of their fear of the unknown, maybe because of her immense talent for destruction, and maybe a little bit of both, the village treated Yami like a princess or a porcelain doll, being even stricter on the number of people she could interact with than even Artemis who felt ostracized from the rest of the family. However, Yami never seemed to mind. Her only friend in the village was Artemis, and she could often be found following her around while holding the fabric of her clothes.
Upon reaching the age of adulthood in their tribe at the age of 15, which was relatively high compared to most human settlements which averaged at the age of 13, Artemis expressed her desire to leave the village. While most of the members of the tribe looked down on her conviction and even mocked her because of her desire, dismissing her wish as childish, Yami was the only one that supported her. That night she gathered up all her belongings to leave for town before sneaking out of her home toward the edge of the village. To her surprise, she found Yami there, waiting for her. Though surprised that Yami outwitted her, she was even more surprised to see her with her own bag ready to set on their journey together. When she asked her sister why Yami wanted to leave with her, the only response she got was a confused expression that Artemis translated as the inability to comprehend the obviousness of the situation. Obviously, if Artemis was going to leave, Yami would be following her.