The Clan of Outcasts (Seasons 1 and 2)

Part 12: "Exchange"

At the White Castle, some years ago...

The gates swung open slowly before the small family huddled just outside them. A mother and her two young children slowly inched their way into the courtyard.

The one on her right—a boy barely eight years old, with deep green eyes and soft red curls—hunched closer.

"Are you certain we should be here, mother?" He whispered. Their tattered clothes seemed dreadfully out of place here. It was too grand a place for the likes of them.

"Of course, dear," his mother answered. "The castle was in need of a washerwoman, and the summons allowed me a small apartment of my own on the palace grounds."

The little girl—no more than three minutes older than her brother— shrank into her mother's skirts as servants intent on their duties stopped to gawk rudely at the newcomers.

"Mama," she whimpered, "I'm scared!"

Veransa Clissander held her children's hands a little tighter as she was confronted with the misgivings weighing on her heart. She swallowed the doubts and shook her head. "Now then!" She spoke as much to herself as to her children. "We cannot let fear of what may be, and what others tell us should be, get in between us and what is! We—I have received this opportunity, and it won't do to let it go to waste merely because we weren't at all sure about how this would all turn out." She met the gaze of both her children. "Chins up!" She instructed them. "Smiles on! You know that we have worked hard to arrive at the point we are at, and we have earned this new situation, which promises to provide for us for as long as we need it."

The boy blinked his eyes as they wandered the lowly service halls in the bowels of the castle. Only their mother seemed to know just where to go. She turned the corner and a man stepped in front of them, as if he had been waiting for their approach.

"Oh there you are!" He cried. "When you said you would arrive today, I had no idea it would be so late."

The dutiful mother bowed her head. "My apologies. The market was a little more crowded than I was expecting."

The man sniffed. "Hm, yes; well, you're here, so you might as well get started right away. Peraven!" He raised his voice only slightly as a woman in plain clothes with full skirts joined him and immediately took the daughter's hand. She frowned and tried to twist away, but Peraven's grip held as she also moved to herd the children away from their mother.

She reached for them frantically. "What are you doing?"

"Come now, Veransa," the man chided her. "Surely you did not think we would allow you to bring children down there! Do not worry; Peraven watches the Crown Prince, as well. They will be in good hands while you work."

Peraven's wide skirts served as an impassable barrier as she goaded the children onward, toward the stairs that would bring them to the main level of the castle.

"Come along," she cooed sweetly. "What are your names?"

The boy sniffed as he thought of his mother, all alone. "K... Kaidan," he stammered.

Peraven turned her gaze to the little girl, but she hung her head without a sound.

"'S my sister, Javira," muttered Kaidan. "We're twins."

"Kaidan and Javira?" Peraven repeated. "How wonderful you get to join us! Come and meet your new friend; his name is Beren, and I think you'll get along just splendidly!"