Willow's Points Story: Two Brothers
Willow’s story: I've been wondering about Brinnid a lot and his formative years. I would like a story from his childhood, preferably an interaction with his mother. This is what came out. I know it's short and raises more questions than it answers, but this is the best ending for it for now.
Cordeneen, Sairland, 968 KY
“I told you to stay away from the old cistern!” said Queen Arricta. She scrubbed algae from her young son’s ears, harder than she needed to.
“I’m sorry, Mama!” wailed Brinnid.
“You know no one goes down there! You could have drowned! If your brother hadn’t been with you, you would have! And you!” she said, turning on Bannig. “You’re the elder, you should know better!”
“I didn’t fall in,” grumbled Bannig.
“And more’s the pity! Hellenis, finish him up,” said Arricta, handing her maid the washcloth and her still-green son. “I expect you to pay attention when Mama says don’t do something. Shall I have Nana start following you around? Or should I attach leading strings to your clothes again?”
“No, Mama,” the boys said together, Brinnid remorseful, Bannig aggrieved.
“I don’t see why I should get in trouble, it was Brinnid’s idea, anyway!” said Bannig.
“Brinnid is five,” said Arricta. “How old are you?”
“Nine,” said Bannig reluctantly.
“And is following the lead of a five-year-old a good idea?”
“No,” said Bannig.
“No, it is not!” said the Queen. By now, Hellenis had finished stripping off Brinnid’s dripping, algae-covered clothes and getting the worst of the gunk off his face and hands. “You, young sir, need a bath now,” said his mother.
“Can I have a hug first, please?” he sniffed.
Arricta took the naked little boy into her lap and held him close, heedless of algae stains on her dress. “You know why Mama is angry, yes? You scared me!”
“I was scared too!” said Brinnid, breaking into fresh tears.
“So was I,” murmured Bannig, but he stayed across the room, with head down and his hands in fists at his side. Arricta ignored him, rocking her youngest, and Bannig stole from the room.
“Now, my chick,” she said, “See? Hellenis has fetched Nana and now you’re off to the bath. Be good and don’t splash her!” Brinnid gave her one last hug, slipped down from her lap, and ran after Nana down the hall, still naked. Arricta chuckled in spite of herself. “If they don’t stop trying to kill themselves, I shall go distracted, Hellenis,” she said. "Where's Bannig? I imagine he needs a hug too, poor thing."
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OK...so i'm confused...
how did Brinnid become king and not Bannig? Who is Nana? Is she a dog? Cuz that would make my inner child smile a whole lot.
Nothing of me is original. I am the combined efforts of everybody I've ever known. -Chuck Palahniuk, Invisible Monsters
angelsdescendants.wordpress.com/
emotionalcutter.wordpress.com/
Questions indeed
the most obvious being, what happened to Bannig?
Some people bring joy wherever they go, others, whenever they go.
Some people would call me astute, others, ass toot.
Exactly!
Did he get killed or die or what?
Nothing of me is original. I am the combined efforts of everybody I've ever known. -Chuck Palahniuk, Invisible Monsters
angelsdescendants.wordpress.com/
emotionalcutter.wordpress.com/
Ohh, big brother?
Oh well, a big brother?! That's nearly as shocking as finding Dexter had a big brother... I wonder what Bannig was scared about? Did he fall in when he was younger? Was he worried he would get in trouble (or was he actively trying to drown his little brother)? Ooh this does bring up more questions. Like what happened to the older brother, how did Brinnid come to be king? Hmmm...
hmm
Guess I'm naive. I assumed Bannig was scared *for* Brinnid. Seriously--I didn't consider alternate scenarios until reading Blue Coyote's comment.
Same here ! I guess our
Same here ! I guess our brains are too simple and linear
I think...
most of us just remember having siblings and being in situations like that, where your siblings definitely weren't concerned about you.
or vice versa.
or vice versa.
It's supposed to be a challenge, that's why they call it a shortcut. If it was easy it would just be the way.
--Road Trip
"Funny. Terrible, but funny." (that's typically my aim)
-NorthwoodsMan
That's pretty fair.
I'm a middle child (the second of four), so I've actually been on both ends of that spectrum, but I figured I'd give everyone else the benefit of the doubt
I'm the oldest
with one bio brother and a stepsister I actually spent a decent amount of time with growing up (have 4 other steps, but I never lived with any of them).
Maybe it's cuz our parents were divorced and I had to assume the parent role early on, or maybe it's cuz I'm a worrier and a sap, but I remember being scared for both of my sibs quite a bit. It really stands out to me about my brother because we did not get along *at all* growing up, but I still was very protective.
But caring about me like that? Hmm...I doubt they ever did. I'll attribute that to them being younger
I assumed...
that Nana was the nanny or nursemaid, although that can also mean grandmother. I, too, am curious to see what happened to Bannig (was he illigitimate? killed?).
ETA: Mei, did you know about Bannig all along, or did he come up because of this story?
illegitimate, killed...
natural death?
It's supposed to be a challenge, that's why they call it a shortcut. If it was easy it would just be the way.
--Road Trip
"Funny. Terrible, but funny." (that's typically my aim)
-NorthwoodsMan
I've known about Bannig for a long while
He got accidentally written out with one word in Chapter 17, which has been retconned. He is not illegitimate, and Brinnid is rightful, unchallenged king in 990 KY. You may draw your own conclusions for now.
Ebil Meilin is ebil.
Ebil Meilin is ebil.
Supreme Minister of All Livestock
"Use, do not abuse. Neither abstinence nor excess renders man happy." - Voltaire
all in favor, aye!
damnit. I can't get to the "that's what she said" smiley...
PETA = People Eating Tasty Animals
A failure to plan on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part.
Aw
She wanted to give her eldest son a hug, if only he waited longer.
Me thinks that something happens between the brothers that gets the oldest one killed.
Did Sairland have a few...
off his rocker kings? Was Bannig overthrown? Did he die? Did Brinnid kill Bannig? Was there war? Did he pull a Warin the Wise and go live in the forest? Did he renounce his throne? May I have a hint?
Nothing of me is original. I am the combined efforts of everybody I've ever known. -Chuck Palahniuk, Invisible Monsters
angelsdescendants.wordpress.com/
emotionalcutter.wordpress.com/
Bannig...
sounds like he might not have been the best king ever, given his sullen nature and the fact that he is quick to anger. I'm wondering if he turned out evil. I'm also wondering if he has anything to do with the rebellion Brinnid is facing, if he was overthrown (whether he was killed or not). He may have also pulled a Warin and defected, although that doesn't seem the likely choice for an evil king. It's also clear early on that Brinnid is the natural leader, so I'm wondering how that has affected their childhoods. It's also possible that Bannig was never even crowned king.
come now...
let's not judge Bannig's whole character by one scene. Haven't you ever had a sullen moment after exercising poor judgement?
no.
no.
It's supposed to be a challenge, that's why they call it a shortcut. If it was easy it would just be the way.
--Road Trip
"Funny. Terrible, but funny." (that's typically my aim)
-NorthwoodsMan
To be fair...
I probably wouldn't judge a person that way. I've read a lot of books, however, and it's usually more likely to be safe to judge a character that way than it would be to judge a person that way. I can't help but feel that Bannig's character was written the way he was for a reason. When an author chooses one scene to represent a whole person (at least for now) by introducing him that way, I generally think it's indicative of some trait, present or future, that we're supposed to make note of. Further, I can't imagine that growing up slightly ignored, second to an adorable brother (in your mother's eyes, anyway), is very good for making you an empathetic delightful-to-be-around young man. Maybe I'm wrong, but that's how I read it.
Huh?
He sure didn't seem unreasonable or sullen to me. He just freely expressed his emotions on the matter. Seems healthy... where is the anger? I didn't see any anger... angst at worst. Anger no. =/
I'm also willing to cut some slack...
to a nine year old. By that age I was pretty free thinking and responsible for my actions, but I still remember throwing a tantrum or two that I was not proud of afterwards, especially in situations where safety/well-being of a family member was involved. A lot of my core character is the same, but the parts of me that learned to cope with difficult situations like these are where I [and I think most mature folks] have changed the most.
That said, I do agree that, in a literary sense, seeing this as his introduction makes much more of an impression. However, knowing the depth of the other characters in the story, and the author's experience with children of her own, I'm willing to file this away as childish behaviour until I see more.
It's TDM!
All this and no questions? The natives grow restless!
Wow! Sarcasm! That's original!
Bannig's also an older
Bannig's also an older brother and he's older than his younger brother by 4 years. The age difference between me and my sister is 4.5 and I can tell you it's no picnic being the oldest at the 9/5 stage. You're expected to do everything together which is just peachy for the younger one who feels important hanging out with the older one, but the older one just gets frustrated and bored and the resentment runs high at the inability of adults to realize that 10 and 5 are completely different from each other. However, you are also expected "to know better" than to let the younger one get into trouble, but if you try and stop them, you get yelled at for bossing them around. Not a good age for the older one at ALL.
I am
The middle child, a sister 2.5 year older who was always off doing her own stuff. Because nobody in their right minds would have expected her and I to hang out together, We honestly would have killed each other (almost literally).
My Brother is 4 years younger than me. When told to play with my brother, I would grab a book or something, let him do his own thing & haul him out of his own stupidity when the time came. The idiot boy could not resist starting trouble with the bully who was 2 years older than him. After rescuing him from the bully a few times too many, I one day grabbed him by the hand hauled him home & proceeded to wail the tar off his bottom in front of my mother while telling her all about it, and how ineffectual complaining to her about this had always been.. I git grounded of course; but he finally learned that while I would keep him safe from others, forcing me to protect him meant that he would have me to deal with later.
Anything that kills your inner-song is always going to be bad for you. - Personal Wisdom
My sister and I
fought like hell and still do. My parents never seemed to learn that putting us in the same room was going to end in screaming... It seems our relationship to each other is made up of arguing and oddly enough, the ability to pick out good gifts for each other.
I am
the youngest! *cheeky grin*
We still share a lot of our friends and our household is the center of many things in your friends group 
I have an older bother by 3 years and an older sister by 6, but we got along just great
But I have heard some stories of how 'cute' I was when I was little x) So I agree, I got the sweeter deal most of the times
It get's the other way around when you are not kids anymore and your oldest sibling starts to study for something. I got 'kicked out' of the house a lot, so she could have peace, as well as when my brother studied .... I didn't get that treatment x) Parents got bored of the whole process by then
So I guess it evens out eventually x)
I still get "But you got to take outdoor toys inside when we couldn't! It's so unfair!" When I don't even remember the whole thing xD
The Freudian slip...
... reveals the truth (or untruth, as the case may be) of that statement.
Screaming was
the least of my mother's worries where my sister & I were concerned, Although that got on her nerves too. No mom came to worry about blood, (hers) broken bones, (mine) & poison (her used on me twice). Mom quickly came to understand that her best chance in getting us both to adulthood was to keep us as far apart as she could as often as possible. Yes my sister was a demon seed, & I always fought back. However, my godmother always taught me that I could fight with my family all that I had too, God help anyone else who tried to hurt them though, that's when they would learn that we did have solidarity in our own fashion.
Anything that kills your inner-song is always going to be bad for you. - Personal Wisdom
this story
...while not verbatim, is SO based on No1 and No2, who are nearly 4 years apart.
expectations...
Going to have to try and remember this in five years when the five year old is ten and the as yet unborn child is five....
PETA = People Eating Tasty Animals
A failure to plan on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part.
Very intriguing
Definitely more questions than answers. If he is legal (is that the right word?) and recognized king, something happened to his brother. Either death or abdication, though I would imagine more the former and not the latter.
On a related note, you retconned "one word" in chapter 17. Was it when Teacher is talking to him about his title as Earl of Maccal, and he says it had been one of Brinnid's titles "from childhood"? Did that originally read "from birth"?
This message is brought to you, in part, by a donation from Zandu Ink: Playing God in the lives of fictional characters since 1991.
Losers always whine about their best. Winners go home and fuck the prom queen. - Sean Connery, The Rock
right you are
...and even at the time I wrote that I knew that Brinnid hadn't held the title from birth; his older brother had it first. It just came out my fingers the wrong way.
WEEE!!!!
I check and I have a points story
I totally wasn't expecting it. Thanks Mei! 
<----- because I like pirates
This reminds me of
A silly story from my childhood. Tikki-tikki-tembo-no-sa-rembo-sari-bari-ruchi-pip-peri-pembo has fallen into the well!
Like everyone else, I am intrigued about the absence of Bannig. I'm guessing he's dead.
Clare K. R. Miller, author of Chatoyant College
http://clarekrmiller.digitalnovelists.com
Children who fall into wells shouldn't long names
I think I know the song with a different victim: Eddie-Cuchi-Cachi-Cama-Cosanira-Cosanaka-Sammy-Cammy-Wacky-Brown fell into the well, fell into the well, fell into the deep dark well. Either way... these people ought to get nicknames.
Tikki-Tikki-Tembo-etc.
Isn't that the magic spell Genie used to turn Abu into "Prince Ali's" elephant?
This message is brought to you, in part, by a donation from Zandu Ink: Playing God in the lives of fictional characters since 1991.
Losers always whine about their best. Winners go home and fuck the prom queen. - Sean Connery, The Rock
If it is
It came from the story and not the other way around. Tikki-tikki-tembo is old.
When you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth. -Arthur Conan Doyle
------
It is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue.
It's not
While they do sound alike, they are not the same. I was just being cheeky. Oh well.
This message is brought to you, in part, by a donation from Zandu Ink: Playing God in the lives of fictional characters since 1991.
Losers always whine about their best. Winners go home and fuck the prom queen. - Sean Connery, The Rock
Hrrrmmm...
My thoughts initially immediately ran to the rebellion going on in Sairland, but if MeiLin says Brinnid is the "unchallenged" king... I dunno, my money's still on Bannig being involved in the rebellion.
Let's make completely unfounded theories!
Spent today arguing with a missionary spouting Young Earth theory, and now I'm faced with this. I'm going to take a Devil's Advocate stance and use his method of radical and unfounded theories.
Bannig will die tragically whilst saving Brinnid from some situation he secretly got him in to trying to prove himself to his mother or earn his mothers approval.
Either that, or he'll run off to the front lines of some war or the other despite his mother's protests since he feels neglected or ignored and gets killed violently. Possibly by pirates or something from the eastern trading company who's name eludes me at the moment. This seems less likely since he does not appear old enough.
I like the first one.
Seems like it'd leave Brinnid with a guilt complex and some interesting emotional scars, and I do so love a brooder.
When you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth. -Arthur Conan Doyle
------
It is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue.
Hey now hey now
Radical and unfounded theories are what makes this place tick
Wow! Sarcasm! That's original!
confusion...
I thought it was speculation and subtext?
PETA = People Eating Tasty Animals
A failure to plan on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part.
Radical and unfounded
Radical and unfounded theories get us talking, and subtext brings us back.
That, and pictures of Stormy.
This message is brought to you, in part, by a donation from Zandu Ink: Playing God in the lives of fictional characters since 1991.
Losers always whine about their best. Winners go home and fuck the prom queen. - Sean Connery, The Rock
typo
That, and pictures of
Stormyforum-ladies rockin' the shirts.There, I fixed it.
It's supposed to be a challenge, that's why they call it a shortcut. If it was easy it would just be the way.
--Road Trip
"Funny. Terrible, but funny." (that's typically my aim)
-NorthwoodsMan
People have to buy shirts
to rock 'em. just sayin'.
I just bought one
it's on the way!
Imperfection is beauty; Madness is genius.
And it's better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring.
woohoo!
Thanks! I don't know if you guys saw, but I changed the support box up top to PATRONIZE ME!
Also I added a direct link to the tees at the bottom of the right hand column, and there's a little note there: KINDLE 2s ARE ON SALE. Yes. If you were thinking about it, now's a good time. I'm not kidding, I totally love mine.
gallery...
And when do the model pics get posted?
PETA = People Eating Tasty Animals
A failure to plan on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part.
Approximately..
half an hour after the package gets here? Assuming my camera cooperates?
Imperfection is beauty; Madness is genius.
And it's better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring.
we'll wait with bated
we'll wait with bated breath...or 'bating hands...or some'm. I'm sure that'll vary from reader to reader.
It's supposed to be a challenge, that's why they call it a shortcut. If it was easy it would just be the way.
--Road Trip
"Funny. Terrible, but funny." (that's typically my aim)
-NorthwoodsMan
Help control pet populations
Does God need to get his kitten smiting button ready?
This message is brought to you, in part, by a donation from Zandu Ink: Playing God in the lives of fictional characters since 1991.
Losers always whine about their best. Winners go home and fuck the prom queen. - Sean Connery, The Rock
won't that depend on the
won't that depend on the picture?
It's supposed to be a challenge, that's why they call it a shortcut. If it was easy it would just be the way.
--Road Trip
"Funny. Terrible, but funny." (that's typically my aim)
-NorthwoodsMan
Not if you've got a good
Not if you've got a good imagination.
>.> I do, btw.
This message is brought to you, in part, by a donation from Zandu Ink: Playing God in the lives of fictional characters since 1991.
Losers always whine about their best. Winners go home and fuck the prom queen. - Sean Connery, The Rock
I see what you did there. I
I see what you did there. I approve.
That is all.
This message is brought to you, in part, by a donation from Zandu Ink: Playing God in the lives of fictional characters since 1991.
Losers always whine about their best. Winners go home and fuck the prom queen. - Sean Connery, The Rock
(No subject)
It's supposed to be a challenge, that's why they call it a shortcut. If it was easy it would just be the way.
--Road Trip
"Funny. Terrible, but funny." (that's typically my aim)
-NorthwoodsMan
Who said what?
(>'(>o<)
Surprise subtext.
This message is brought to you, in part, by a donation from Zandu Ink: Playing God in the lives of fictional characters since 1991.
Losers always whine about their best. Winners go home and fuck the prom queen. - Sean Connery, The Rock
Thanks
Zandu AND TB. I like using my...assets...to advertise MeiLin, but if I have my druthers, I'd much prefer lookin' at pics of forum hotties (note I didn't specify just ladies. *ahem* boys?) than lookin' at pics of meself.
images...
And we all love to see your assetts...
PETA = People Eating Tasty Animals
A failure to plan on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part.
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