IV.

The King of November returned that eve from his riding to just such a remarkable bundle, and it shocked him nearly out of his saddle.

"We tried to warn you..." Tittered the rooks and cawed the crows.

"Oh, you shut up, meddling birds." He snapped, picking up the infants for a better look.

By the shimmering fair skin and the starlit strands of their hair and by their twilight eyes, the King Mar'vel rather sullenly deduced that here was the culumnation of the trick that had been executed upon him by that one-horned equine hussy; these were indeed, probably his.

Although, given the appearent moral stature (or lack thereof) of that beast, they really could be anyone's. So using his many and nefarious magics, Mar'vel drew a circle above the infant heads, leaned into it and asked, "All right, so what is my name?"

"Daddy!" Said the dark-haired one, brightly.

"Father." Said the gold-haired one, sedately.

King Ma'rvel sighed deeply, removing his circle. No doubt about it, these were /his/ little ones. He took them in anyway. The wild woods of November are no place for innocent children. Although niether of them had looks that could exactly be called innocent. So King Mar'vel leaned his head to one side, peering at the babes and said, "I hope to hades you two don't take after your mother. Well, in any way but looks. Sort of." The unicorn had been a very handsome beast, after all.

But Hades knew what the King meant, and arranged it with the Fates that any instance in the life-threads of the little Princesses of November in which they blithely and wantonly ensnared a hapless victim with their feminine wiles to said victim's ultimate embarrasment be summarily snipped out. Old Atropos-of-the-shears whistled when she was finished, and in a tone of deep awe, crowed that a right century more-or-less must have been clipped, combined, out of those little ladies' lives. But /that/ particular detail was left out of what it was Hades told King Marvel. Which wasn't really much... he just gave the king a wink and a thumbs up, and the King sighed deeply in relief.

As for the care of the little princesses; as their mother had been enquine, he nursed them upon a prized mare of his that had foaled recently- also twins- two little stallions, whom he summarilly gelded, and were raised up with the little girls. They were dappled foals, and summarilly roan and chestnut; and the princesses called them their brothers. Which didn't bother the king at all; he looked upon his horses and his dogs- for indeed, he had fine kennels, sired from a prized pair of the Lord Soril (who also posessed a wonderful stable by way of thanks)- as his family anyway. And the way the horses and the dogs all seemed to dote upon his little daughters, it seemed very likely that they would make a relatively unobtrusive addition to that.

Soon, the little princesses were large enough to wean and walk. Or trot rather, as they were possessed of little silver-flocked hooves, and soft fur on their legs that was silver or gold with the light. But they were overall quite fair to look upon, trotting about as their father taught them on the backs of their 'brothers', which were named, respectively to the roan and the chestnut, Beth and Aleph. The geldings belonged, also respectively, to the dark-haired princess and the fair-haired one. For even though quite some time had passed; the King Mar'vel had neglected to give his daughters names.

This was a dangerous state of affairs, for as long as the princesses had no names, they could be named by just /anyone/. Lord Soril rather anxiously sent rooks from time to time to inquire after the princesses- though Mar'vel coudn't fathom why on earth /he/ cared, unless it had to do with worry at the namelessness of any of November's royalty, something which, he admitted, could seriously comprimise the realm.