Ah, Dawn in the kingdom of Boerdom!

This is a peaceful mountain kingdom. Home of 400 simple souls, ruled by a generous man of royal blood. This was a kingdom of prosperity and plenty. The birds greeted the morning sun, which was turning the shale walls of Castle Boerdom the same color as the sky. If you listened very carefully, you could hear the opening strains of Beethoven's Pastoral.

Suddenly, there was a funny, sploop-y noise that broke the stillness of the fuscia dawn. It sounded remarkably like a maple syrup balloon hitting a cold stone wall at high velocity.

Unsurprising, because that's precisely what it was

There soon followed a couple of shrill giggles, a sproing and another sploop. The source of these strange noises were two girls, aged 20. These were the twin princessis of the kingdom. They were also totally imature, irresponsible, and all sorts of nasty words starting with I. It's unfortunate that they're so beautiful. Otherwise, they might get away with a whole lot less.

The one on the left, manning the slingshot, well, that's Mo. Short for Princess Larissa Maurine Anastasia Boer the III. She's tall, muscular, whip-thin, with dark features and even darker leather clothes. On her person are various implents of destruction and mayhem.

Princess Chloe Elizabeth Danielle Boer, Mo's sister, sits filling the maple syrup balloons. She is short, plump, fair where her sister is dark, and is a mage where her sister's a warrior. She's also the mastermind behind many of many of the girl's escapades.

Now, don't misunderstand. These girls were not bad girls. They were simply spoiled. Without a mother around to help raise them, their father, the king, had indulged them shamelessly. This led Mo, the eldest, to become a fighter, a leader of armies, and Chloe to pursue the hardest of the intellectual arts, magic.

Sproing. Sploop. Giggle.

These girls, these twins who looked nothing alike, were the cherished and adored daughters of all the Kingdom. They were to inherit the Kingdom jointly when their father, Boer, passed to his eternal reward. But until then, they were going to have fun. At any cost.

The girls were aiming for a slit in the wall, what was ostensibly a window, but not one that could be upheld in a court of law. The slit belonged to Rubin, Royal Steward to His Higness, King Boer.

Sproing. Sploop. Giggle.

Rubin had been raised in Castle Boerdom, knew all the twists and turns. He had become the king's steward just last year, after the unfortunate accident had killed the last one. The bits they had found, at least, were dead. He had been a mage, and had led a rebellion against the king. But one of the spells had backfired, and Poof!

Sproing. Sploop. Giggle.

Rubin was a very tall, pale lad with red-brown hair and green eyes. His height was so unusual that it had earned him the nickname Troll. He wasn't un-handsome, but because his duties to the king kept him so busy, he had little time for personal appearence. His hair fell in clumps. His eyes were more than a little wild.

He was also head over heels in love with Princess Chole, and had been for years.

Sproing. Sploop. Giggle.

The reasons were the usual obvious ones, of course. She was beautiful, for starters, and intelligent and charming and talented and, unlike her sister, didn't carry various pointy things on her immediate person. But Chloe, being the child that she was, had no interest in poor Troll. In fact, she had made it known to him that she would rather be covered in rancid yak's blood and licked clean by a pack of rabid marmosets than be involved with him.

Sproing. Sploop. Giggle.

It probably went back to the day, ten years ago, when Rubin, before he was the responsible adult he was today, had pulled on Chloe's braids and pushed her down a flight of stairs, not realizing how dangerous that was. Chloe had nearly died. She had been fixed up with magic, which had gone a long way towards fueling her obsession with magic. Rubin, who was terrified for her life, had been pardoned, as the king said it was an acident. Chloe, on the other hand, knew better. She never told anyone but Mo what had happened that day. The two of them had then gone on to make his life miserable. Practical jokes, ordering him around like a common servant, rude awakenings, written reports with the king's seal telling him to dig himself into the swamp.

Thus the maple syrup balloons

Sproing. Gasp.

"AAARGH!!!"