Alright. @wrong-constantine forced me to write a story about young Nachtee. Thematically, this will be my first attempt at such! Haha.
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Nachtee was not always the quiet and deadly assassin. In her younger years she was, at best, an absolute handful. At her worst, she was a tiny terrible terror. Stubborn, Headstrong, and ALWAYS getting into all sorts of trouble. So, basically the only thing that has changed as she grew, was the addition of sharp pointy implements to her varied arsenal.
Goddess forbid her mother, or her older sister, Aschkanai, told her with no uncertainty not to do something - because then it would become her life's mission. One such instance, was upon her first visit to the Moonwell. She wanted desperately to scale the finely engraved arches and dive into it. The stern watchers of the well observed her as she pleaded to do it. "Please? Can I!? I can climb it no problem! "
Her mother merely laughed, "Honey, I don't think the Moonwell is deep enough for you to dive into it." Aschkanai, being early in her sentinel training was nothing but grimfaced and stern, scoffing at Nachtee "If you do that they'll haul you away and lock away the key. I'll be sure to stop by every hundred years and laugh at you."
This caused Nachtee to laugh derisively before responding "You're just jealous because you got beat up in training today Ass-can." She knew how to push her older sister's buttons; any variation of her name starting with "Ass" was something she KNEW would rile her up.
Asch snarled, and dove after her. "Say that again you little shit!" She was young, but she was fast and easily sidestepped her older sister. "I thought training was supposed to make you faster Assss-can!" the emphasis not lost on the enraged sister "I swear I am going to punt you over the Moonwell so hard - AHH!" she did not get the chance to finish. At that moment, Nachtee dropped to the ground in a flash, letting her charging older sister tumble over her, face first into the Moonwell.
The guards silently watched, but the ghost of a snicker would have been heard if Asch's rage had not been fierce enough to nearly boil the water off of her. "THAT'S IT! I AM GOING TO -"
"ENOUGH!" Their mother's stern voice cracking the air, causing no small of the surrounding vegetation to withdraw in its own fear of her fury. "Mom! She started it!" Nachtee pleaded as Asch tried her own version "Mother, but.." "NOT A SINGLE WORD! I want the BOTH of you to march home. Oh, and on your way" she said handing each a leather pouch "You will plant these seeds. One. By. One. "
Nachtee tried pleading once again "But mooom. There's gotta be at least 100 in here!" "I don't care. Each of these will be planted, no closer than 5 feet from each other or they will strangle their sisters as they grow. There's actually 500 in each of your bags. " Asch chimed in in her own way "Oh come on! I've got my sword and archery exercises to do!" "You should have thought that before antagonizing your sister. I will see both of you at home when you are finished."
They both grumbled, and went their separate ways. Nachtee always preferred to work smarter, rather than harder: she stalked the young Lynxes and wolves of the forest as they dug in the dirt and ran off, playing with their litter mates. Once they were clear, she would drop a single seed in each hole, gently kicking the loose dirt over covering it up. She found other holes left by the forest animals, by the elk as they dug for roots, and by the boar as they rooted out morels. By dusk, all 500 of her seeds were planted.
It was at this point, that she noticed the guards watching the Moonwell had left their post for a shift change. Nach grinned devilishly to herself - This was her chance! She snuck up to the glowing Moonwell, and began to quickly ascend the ornamental arc at its back. She looked down, swallowed, and dove...
Aschkanai was delicately eating a Star plum in the atrium of their manor, while her mother was sitting, thoughtfully weaving feathers and beads into an elaborate dream catcher. There was a sudden authoritative knock at their door - the kind of knock that prefaces trouble. Their mother gently placed the dream catcher on the table before moving to open the door. Asch had a knowing smirk on her face as she took another bite out of the juicy fruit, and remained silent.
When their mother opened the door, she was greeted by two sentinels, one of which whom held Nachtee by the scruff of her neck as she dripped water all over the flanking sentinels and the floor. Her mother grimaced "You.. You didn't?!" She asked as her voice was tinged with disbelief, and a small amount of barely checked amusement. "We're sorry to bother you, Ma'am, but we found this little one in the Moonwell, half passed out. We think she fell in and bumped her head."
Her mother pinched the bridge of her nose, and sighed. "No, it is I who should apologize. My daughter got it into her head earlier today that she wanted to dive into the Moonwell, and it looks like she accomplished that." Her anger was tempered by her motherly instinct as she gently ran her hands through Nachtee's silver white hair. "Are you okay? What have you learned today?"
Nachtee scowled a minute, before replying simply "To check if the water is deep enough before diving in."
The guard holding Nach by the scruff of her neck finally lost her battle with her composure, and let out a small laugh before quickly coughing in an attempt to cover it up. Her mother looked at the two guards, and put a hand on each of their shoulders before nodding "Thank you for bringing my daughter home." "It's no problem, Ma'am." one said before gently releasing Nacht to stand by her mother.
Asch took this moment to taunt her little sister, approaching with the smuggest of grins. "Well well, looks like little baby got a bump on her head. I bet you didn't even plant your seeds, did you?" Nacht was angered, but also amused by her older sister's taunt, as she responded stubbornly "I planted my seeds! All 500 of them, Unlike you! Did you decide to take a nap or did a hare beat you up?"
Well, that did it. Asch rushed Nacht, picking her up by the collar of her tunic, yelling "What makes you think that you filthy little cretin!? I planted ALL of my seeds, long before you did! " Their mother watched with narrowed eyes, while the guards took one step back fearing the fury of a mother priestess and her ilk.
Instead of recoiling in terror at her older sister, a small fiendish grin spread itself across her features "What are these, then?" she said simply, holding up a bumpy pouch that seemingly came out of nowhere. Their mother stepped forward towards the pair, and said in a voice that threatened all of the Goddesses' fury "Asch... What is the meaning of this?"
"Those aren't my seeds Mother! They're hers, she's just trying to pawn off her screw up on me!" Their mother gently took the pouch, opening it and looking intently at its contents. "Asch, these are yours. I gave each of you different seeds. Your little sister had a pouch of Moon Thistle, and you had a pouch of Peacebloom. These are most certainly Peacebloom.” The priestess said sternly, with that sharp edge of parental disappointment that could easily cut to the bone..
Their mother looked back at Nachtee for a moment, before raising her eyebrow "How did you even get these?" Nacht's grin became as large as it was mischievous. "I took them out of her pocket, mom!" The guard that had broken her professional composure earlier faltered once again as she chuckled "You better watch out, Ma'am. She is going to be one hell of a sneak thief when she gets older!"
