Axel and Anissa: reading secret.

On the timeline, Axel and Anissa are 15 years old, and Axel will start his training as the Prince's Elite guard soon. At present, the prince still needs to approve of the others in the team. If everything goes according to plan, the men will leave for the training camp in under a month. If you would like to see more of these characters (which I hope you do), I am writing my first book called 'A deck of cards' which features the following characters and more.


     Axel walks inside the house, still feeling the pleasant warmth of the sunshine on his back, going straight to his room to put his coat away. He grabs the small book he hid in his pocket before walking over to Anissa's room. His sister is sitting at the end of her bed in a lovely dark green dress and her hair tied in a careful knot on her head, her body half-way facing the window, a needle in between her fingers and a brown fabric in her other hand. He knocks on her half open door. She turns back to look at him with a scowl. Her face opens up in joy as she jumps up exclaiming:

    'Axel, it's you! I thought...'

    He grins, forgetting today's events already. Closing the door behind him, he says with a shake of his head:

    'There's no thread on that needle Ani.'

    'I know.' She laughs: 'I'm done for today. My eyes hurt and I can't even see the thread anymore... I think mum will be grateful that I'm not doing more and messing all her work.'

     Axel nods, knowing that their mum won't be happy, nor will she be disappointed. When it comes to all those 'womanly duties', Laura is as strict as their father is at work. Personally, Axel doesn't really understand the importance of such things. A tidy house doesn't need to be tidied even more each day. Yet women clean the same thing everyday, as if it really got dirty in a day?

     At the moment, Anissa's jobs are small, at least to him they are. Still, how can such small duties take so many hours? It's not for him to point out though. He isn't stupid. Neither his mum nor his sister would be happy if he told them his own opinion, and since they are the ones making sure food is on the table and his clothes are clean, he'll say thanks every time, and nothing else.

     
     'I'll show you what I got only if you put a thread through that needle and pretend to be busy,' Axel says, looking at his sister with a smile.

     She nods and quickly gets ready. Within minutes, they are both sitting comfortably: him sitting on the bed with his back against the wall, Anissa sitting on a chair facing him, her back to the door and her feet on the mattress. They do this as often as possible, a rare bonding time between siblings who both grow up in different directions. If their mum or dad happens to walk past, that's all they will see. They will not see a brother helping his sister read because he wants her to be smart. They won't see his worry at what she will become once he isn't around anymore. Only they, Axel and Anissa, both know why they do this.

       She'd told him, several month back -in such a serene way- how she'll have to settle and do her duty, just as he will need to do his. She'd whispered how she wished she had been born a man, so that she would be able to travel and see different places, how she would have fought for a world that's different from this one. The confession had taken him aback, although he should not have been surprised. He'd ordered her not to settle, not to lose hope, all the while trying to find a way to make her wish come true. 

    Then an idea bubbled in his mind. Books. That was the solution. At least, a temporary solution.

    Books are the perfect escape.

      He loves books, always has. They have been a source of knowledge but also a valuable way to get away from his everyday life. He won't admit it to anyone but her. He'd told her, the first day he brought a book home. She'd refused the gift, saying that she would get in trouble along with him for this: books are not supposed to be used for pleasure, only for learning purposes. He found a place where he could get those books easily enough. He understands the risk, but as he told her, this isn't just for her, it's for him too.

      He's going to the Palace twice a week at the moment, in preparation to his future duties. As long as he gets on well with the prince, he will get the position his father holds and the bloodline will follow its course. He just need to be on his best behaviour, something that Anissa reminded him. At the beginning. Now she just accepts that he will do whatever he wants and take the consequences where they may fall. She knows him well enough to understand this and he knows that she accepts this part of him.

      Now, she reads the pages he turns for her, while he reads the words upside down on the page. He is worried for their future. He worries for his sister, but also for women in general. Their father said the same thing, but he doesn't seem keen to do anything about it. Surely, he should be able to do something about it: working for the King, there isn't a better position for changing the rules.Yet, his father doesn't do anything. When he becomes Commander of the Guard, once the Prince finally becomes King, Axel will make sure that he does something to make the city better. Looking over at his sister, he makes this silent promise. 

I won't stand to the side when I can do something about it. when I can change people's view. For her I'll do it.