(Content warning: Contains mentions/implied parental neglect, favoritism, and other such uncomfortable topics. Reader discretion is advised.)
Hmmmm yep, writing about these guys again.
Basically this is the day that Orelus was born from Tairn’s perspective (he’s roughly about the equivalent of a 5 year-old here) and then jumps forward a bit to the day that he finds out what him and his brother’s names mean and...well, let’s just say that his parents were showing favoritism from day one.
Still have no idea what else I’m going to do with these guys or what story they’d fit into, but have some angst, I suppose.
Like always, he was on his best behavior: not talking, not complaining, not fidgeting.
He was a good boy, and would never go against his parents' wishes.
And even if he did, at such a young age, he already recognized that all of his behavior, good or bad, wouldn’t be recognized by his parents anyway.
Regardless, he would be good.
Tairn looked up from his book as a servant approached him, bowing to the royal child as she quickly uttered:
"Master Tairn, the King and Queen want to see you: your baby brother has finally joined us!"
A bright smile crossed Tairn's face, rosy pink and red eyes bright with excitement as he took the servant's hand, and although he would have normally noticed the slight hesitation she felt in taking a hand made of cursed, ivory white flesh like Tairn's, the young giant couldn't care less.
He had a brother now.
The servant gently pushed the door to the main bedchamber open, Tairn releasing her hand and dashing across the room to stand next to his father, next to the bed where his mother lay.
Her usually curly, well-kept locks were drooping, usually warm, bright eyes half-shut, from both exhaustion and the tears of joy that had left streaks down her face. In her strong, scarred arms, limbs as battle-worn and staunch as she was, was a very small, feeble creature, wrapped in a blanket.
Tairn tilted his head at the baby, noting his wispy brown hair, his quiet breathing, his closed eyes.
"Tairn," his mother cooed, "this is your baby brother, Orelus."
He leaned over the edge of the bed a little, smiling as he chirped:
"He's pretty small, huh?"
"Yes," Tairn's father chimed in, resting a hand on his eldest son’s shoulder, "small and strong."
Tairn laughed a little, filled with joy. Certainly, his parents were happier than he: Orelus was, after all, not born with the white flesh of death that had cursed Tairn’s existence, the putrid color of the frost-bitten mountaintops and the frost dragons that were the only creatures strong enough, vicious enough to hunt and kill giants.
Tairn was an omen, and Orelus would be their blessing.
“Can I hold him?”
Tairn’s mother looked up to her husband, nodding, making it clear that she wanted him to help Tairn if he faltered, and then very gently transferred the tiny child to his older brother’s arms. Tairn held him just as gently, smiling down and marveling that he finally had, after all these years, a friend, a comrade in arms.
He would be there, in this very castle, alongside Tairn, another royal child, someone he could teach all his secrets to, show all the hidden nooks and crannies in the palace to, share his favorite books with him and tell him his favorite stories…
“I promise I’ll protect him Mother, Father.”
Tairn said it with such confidence, with such a strong tone and certainty that both his parents looked from one another in silence for a moment, then smiled at their eldest son. From their response Tairn was certain that they had seen beyond his skin, beyond his pale red eyes and the curse he was, seen his hopes and dreams for his brother’s future…
He could not have been more wrong.
“Thank you, Tairn: you do us, your brother, and our people proud with such a promise.”
Tairn smiled, bubbling up with pride and happiness, and looked down at his brother, who made a small, seemingly content gurgle.
Yes, he would protect his brother, protect him always…
---
It would take many more years of book-reading, seclusion, and time spent helping to raise his brother for Tairn to realize the truth.
By the time most giant children were learning the basics of their trades, working in the fields, slaving over a blacksmith’s stove, preparing to become soldiers, Tairn had already mastered basic swordplay, diplomacy, and foreign languages, all on his own volition.
With his knowledge of his native tongue finally reaching its peak, he went through the royal library, a young man who, despite being of age to begin working, already stood almost as tall as some the smaller soldiers in the army.
His strode in long, confident steps, his wispy white hair resting on his shoulders, his rosy red eyes filled with a fire, a determination to live up to his royal blood that only grew each year as he watched his brother grow and his parents fade.
They would need a successor, and as the eldest child of the royal family, he had much to learn and much to live up to, especially with skin such as his.
He looked through the books, compendiums of words and phrases, history of his people’s language and culture and sighed with relief when he finally found his and his brother’s names. His parents had never explained to either of them for reasons he and Orelus simply didn’t understand…and he quickly realized why.
He felt his heart drop, cold and heavy like a stone.
Tairn: Void, Nothing.
Orelus: Unrelenting, Unyielding, Unstoppable.
…he should have been crying, yelling, doing anything but just sitting there, staring at the words, but he was unmoved. He should have expected this, perhaps.
His parents, from the first day of him and his brother’s lives, had chosen their successor, chosen him and had not even had the courage to tell their eldest son that he, burden that he was, curse that he was, pale omen of death, would not have the throne, that he, in fact, was NOTHING to them.
A giant’s name was a badge, an honor they wore throughout their lives, something that their parents hoped they would live up to, become.
They had wished for Orelus to become strong, unstoppable, as unrelenting and powerful and they had been.
And they had wished for Tairn to become nothing, a cold, bottomless void.
Sitting the empty library, unmoved by the howling wind and frigid tundra outside the windows behind him, storming, swirling snow as white as his flesh, unable to cry, to scream, to do anything but simply sit in hardened, learned acceptance, they may have already succeeded in making Tairn what they hoped he would become...
Working on another little drabble for Tairn and Orelus.
Basically it’s the day when Orelus was born from Tairn’s perspective.
Aaaaaand then it skips forward in time to explain the fact that their parents basically named Orelus “unrelenting/unstoppable” and Tairn’s name translates to “void” or “nothing.”
Ouch.
Why do I feel the need to make my characters’ lives Hell right from the start?
