Brightly Husking Away

It is the story of a pair of sisters. One was beloved of the Manna Weave, and the other of the Huskline. During the day, the Bright Twin (that is the girl of Manna) was glorious and cheerful and beautiful and well-loved. The Husk Twin was wafish and unhealthy, feeble in her thoughts and without eloquence to her words. The townsfolk all loved the Bright Twin and eschewed the Husk Twin.
However, as soon as the sun fell and the darkness came out to blanket the world, the Bright Twin grew unsure and afraid. She cowered as figments and wept without ceasing. She could not sleep for the way the dreams would plague her, and she would toss and turn throughout the night. The Husk Twin, meanwhile, became calm and sure of herself. She, though still not loquacious, would speak calmly and truly. She understood the mysteries of the world, and knew where the shadows lay before they ever drew into sight. She would bloom in the darkness, becoming stronger the deeper the night became, and it was to her that the Bright Twin would retell her horrifying dreams.

The Husk Twin would sooth her fears, explain the monsters that harried her through the Dreamland and would sing wordless songs that made the very stars twinkle in understanding. But with morning, the Husk Twin's surety would crumble once more, and the waking world never knew of the strength that she possessed.

As they grew older, the men of the town all courted the Bright Twin, each man entreating her to be him wife. To the Husk Twin they offered nothing but scorn. But though the Bright Twin knew of her sister's own strengths she never spoke of them, and when the villagers castigated the Husk Twin for her morose nature, the Bright Twin did not defend her. Still, any of her suitors that scorned or ridiculed the Husk Twin, the Bright Twin would spurn them and refuse to take their favours. But at last she found a man who was kind to the Husk Twin, and who bore compassion and understanding for the world. The Bright Twin married this man and so moved out of her father's house to be with her husband.

However, when night fell upon their wedding, the Bright Twin fell ill, as always she did.
Her groom, concerned with his new bride called every doctor and healer, but none knew the cause of her ailment, and none could offer a cure. The Bright Twin assured him that when morning came she would recover, but this time, when the sun rose, she did not return to her normal state. Instead she grew weaker and more frantic as the days passed. Finally, at a loss for what else he could do, the
Groom sent for the Husk Twin to ask her advice. This was the first time the Husk Twin had ever been summoned. It was the first time any of the villagers had spoken directly to her, rather than speak to her through conversation with her sister. She found, to her own amazement that when he pressed her for a solution, he usual weariness and apathy lifted enough for her to find her voice and speak
plainly. She went at once to see her sister, who had locked herself in her room, all her shutters closed and curtains drawn, all the lamps burning brightly to try and stave off the dark.

The Husk Twin asked the Groom to be patient, and he listened to her. The Husk Twin had been seen, heard, and now obeyed. Emboldened by this treatment, she placed her hand to the door behind which her sister hid and she sang her heart song. There were no words, but the message of beauty it carried was understood by the Groom. He joined in with her, adding his voice to hers. The power of their music, that of those who loved the Bright Twin best in the world, carried their emotion through the locked door and into the stuffy room. It chased away the monsters, it beat back the demons in her mind, and
she felt truly at peace that night for the first. She stood from her bed, bedraggled and wild-haired, and came to the door to let them in.

There she stood, his once-beautiful bride, seeming half-mad, strained, and eyes red-rimmed, her beautiful skin waxen and pale. And here stood the Husk Twin in nighttime, mysterious, glowing and compelling. The Husk Twin opened her arms to her sister, and
the Bright Twin embraced her. And the Groom, understanding the nature of their two hearts, of their duality, of their inseparability, stepped forward and wrapped his arms around them both, and kissed their hair...

And when he looked down, he saw but one face peering up at him, with eyes full of deep wisdom belonging to the Husk Twin, and radiant smile belonging to the Bright Twin, and finally
with heart full and whole and mended, for she had been seen for all that she was, and had at last been accepted and loved.


There's the tale. lawl I knew it was somewhere.