#dawnrose

"You realize normal kids don't live like this...right?" Moira sat on the roof of the palace and looked over at Emma, Rosa and Una with a grin on her face. The other girls all smiled back. "Yeah, I know." Emma leaned back and stared up at the sky. "But normal kids don't have /our/ parents." "Sometimes I feel bad for them...and sometimes I'm jealous..." muttered Rosa, looked up again from her sewing. "Jealous of our folks?" "No, Emma, of the other kids. Nevermind...forget it..."

"Get your hands off me, Songchaser." The younger boy growled the words and Conlan just laughed, shoving him lightly. "Or what /your highness/? Whatcha gonna do? Gonna fight me, are ya? Are ya, Oisin?" "Conlan, leave him alone." That voice was Emma, the only one out of the entire group who had even half a prayer of control her erstwhile twin. "Maybe I just will." The words were only barely audible as Oisin punched Conlan in the face as hard as he could and then turned into a small, but still respectable, green dragon. "Now you gone and done it, Conlan!" Emma tried to grab her brother and pull him away but he was still laughing. "Wouldja lookie at that. Oisin can't even handle his fights like a man. Gotta go turnin' into a dragon." Suddenly, a voice of authority broke up the scene. "Conlan, Oisin, stop it right now. Do you want to get /another/ session working on your tempers with Auntie Bri? Do you?" It was Una, the accepted ruler of the little court of children, with Setanta standing beside her, a scowl on his face and still in his padded practice armor. "I swear by my Grandda, Con. Its like you're trying to get yourself killed...Come on, lets get you cleaned up before your Ma catches you like this. Though, knowing her, she already knows."

"Alright, so think about it this way, if they do catch us, what's the worst they can do?" Setanta rolled his eyes and looked down at his little sister. "Mo, you greatly underestimate Ma's creativity..." Nevertheless, he reached down and pulled her up the outer walls of the palace grounds, then helped her down the other side to where Una and her brothers were waiting. Moira was the last one, as usual, so now they were off to see what trouble a group of palace brats could get up to in the lower city. None of them noticed the silent shadow that followed them, making sure they stayed out of real trouble. Katry would hate for anything to happen to the rapscallions, after all.