Two part 3: Lessons

"So, darling, you know how this goes?"

"Yes, Daddy.
There's to be no feud between our cities than that of brotherly rivalry.."

"That is true. But what do you think it means?"

"We shouldn't argue?"

"You can argue," warm, fatherly laughter echoed in the classroom. "Everyone argues sometimes. It means don't let it take over your friendship.

You see, a long, long time ago, there was a big and horrifying war between Day and Night..."

"How long?"

"At least a thousand years. The cities weren't much more than villages and unlikely yet called Night and Day.
But focus now, dear. I know this isn't fun, but you need to know these things.
There was a war and the whole land was suffering. The high king, a wise man that he was, sent two of his sons to negotiate peace. And they did.
The two brothers were different in many ways, and I'm sure they argued a lot sometimes, but they kept the peace. They figured out ways to trade, so life got easier. They made companions of very different folks.
They became the first Lords of Day and Night, remained close and together wrote a law to keep the peace. So that their descendants wouldn't start another war, they should meet as children, grow up keeping as much contact as they could and, if possible, think of each other as brothers."

"Or sisters!"

"Yes, indeed."

The same lessons in history and life were given to both Sunny and Ray, by their fathers. They wrote long letters to each other, trying to figure out themselves, the others and growing up in general.

"Dad?" Sunny asked shyly one day. She was fourteen years old now and had noticed an ever growing gap between her and her girlfriends. "What if I don't want to marry?"
Her father was perfecting a stone, fitting it into a bracelet. He stopped to think.
"I don't know dear," he answered.

In Day the Lord and his son were planting apricots.
"Dad, why do you read so much?"
"I want to have answers for your questions. Yours, and your sisters."
Ray nodded, padded the dirt softly over the fragile roots of the tiny tree and wished it luck.