<div style="text-align: justify;"><div style="background-color:#353535; border:1px solid black; margin:10px 10px; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 5px;">"Sister dear!"<br/><br/>Alexa held out her arms in welcome of her little sister, Alexis, who smiled stiffly and walked down the cool marble staircase of the small castle where she lived to greet her sibling. She embraced her with all the emotion of a statue. Alexa pretended not to notice, linking their arms and leading her sister down the long entrance hall, with gentle force and animated chatter, and towards the front gates where their people were waiting. Today marked an important day; the day the gods gave their father his divine right to rule his little part of the world. Or, in more political terms, his 20<span style="vertical-align: super;"><span style="font-size: 85%; line-height: 116%;">th</span></span> coronation day.<br/><br/>The sisters were identical twins, born in the same hour under the same stars, but for nobles, there must always be an elder and an heir. Alexa had drawn the longest straw and popped out minutes before Alexis. Ever the little sister, Alexis had only been allowed to attend lessons of military strategy, riding, fencing, and other such practical things on the sidelines with the second-best instructors available. She watched as Alexa was given responsibility for maintaining the army, keeping order in the country and at the borders, while she was tasked with keeping the spirits of the people high through prayer and song. Forbidden from pursuing interests deemed "unfit" since the age of fifteen, she had grown into a bitter twenty-two-year-old woman who resented her sister and everything she stood for that should have been hers.<br/><br/>Emerging, arm in arm, from the main gates to the castle with a flourish of trumpets, the sisters made their entrance onto the sun-kissed platform from which the people of Aershire could look adoringly up at them, while the princesses themselves stayed pristine above the masses. Alexis looked down at the cheering crowd, Alexa taking a polite step backwards. This was not her territory. If not for the color of their dresses and the fact that Alexis bore a viciously curved ceremonial dagger at her right side, they would have been indistinguishable from one another.<br/><br/>Alexis raised her arms high above her head, commandeering silence. "People of Aershire," she shouted, silver batwing sleeves waving in the gentle breeze, "today is a beautiful day. A day to celebrate the peace and justice that has been upheld by our illustrious king, Salomon the Third, for twenty good years today. Pray for the continued glory of our nation! Sing songs of its majesty! And let us cast aside all enmities to join hands as true men and women of Aershire!"<br/><br/>Screaming and shouting, the crowd slowly, but surely, moved  in unison to the Great Temple of Anu. Alexis let her arms fall to her side again, her right hand brushing the smooth, mother-of-pearl handle of the dagger. Her deep brown hair, oiled and braided to perfection, gleamed in the bright sunlight as she turned her back to the plaza to disappear into the castle again, her sister following closely behind her. They would be taking a different route to the temple, on horseback. They had a ritualistic sacrifice to perform there, and were not to dirty their feet unnecessarily until then.</div></div>