The weather was such that the page was reluctant to remain indoors, and so the afternoon saw him sprawled in the shade of one of the many trees on the palace grounds. Half asleep, half watching the fragments of light as the tree’s leaves were jostled by the light breeze, Tristran had already determined that his mathematics would be left undone, for all he knew it would earn him a scolding the next time he saw the master. For now, the boy was content, all family worries, thoughts of his latest blunders, and worries of the future left forgotten as his mind focused on more pleasant things – the smell of the grass; the fact that summer wasn’t long off; and the fact that, once again, he’d proven himself one of the most capable of his year with a sword.

‘Still, though,’ the teen thought with a lazy yawn, maneuvering his left arm to cushion his head, ‘a bit more certainty might be nice…’ If it would not have forced him out of his comfortable position, the fourth year would have likely shaken his head to rid his mind of any even remotely important thought; as it was, the lanky teen scrunched his nose slightly, as if disgusted that his consciousness would drag up such unpleasantness.

Instead, his imagination skipped the four years ahead of him, and a few years after that, to when Tris would become a famed knight. The lord of Naxen, he would have taken the most attractive of all the noblewomen in Tortall – no, the entire Eastern Lands – for his wife, and would have equally gorgeous daughters to marry off, and sons already being recognized for greatness – though none so promising as to possibly surpass him. Alexander would be slain (well, perhaps not slain; at the very least, banished to the Isles or some such) by his own hand, a feat for which Tristran would be commended by no less by the king. Life would be perfect. Of course, every once and a while there would be an elaborate battle to be fought – he mustn’t, of course, let himself go to waste, and times of peace were likely to become dull after a time.

His fantasies were not realistic ones, something the page would be the first to admit; nor was the Naxen page even certain what he envisioned would bring him true happiness. For now, though, it was the best his mind could devise, and so would have to carry him until experience and age brought him new ideals.

A group of men – including his mathematics master – settled on a nearby bench, prompting the light-haired boy to relocate; for all he was prepared to be hassled by the man later for unfinished work, any excuses he could muster would be nullified if he was spotted. Instead, he headed for a slightly more populated area of the palace’s gardens, bare feet (his boots were held firmly over one shoulder by the hand previously employed as a headrest) slapping lightly on the stones of the courtyard as he did so. His mind still preoccupied with relaxation, Tristran failed to note where his feet were placed, one catching on the leg of someone seated nearby, prompting him to stumble significantly. Thankfully, the boy was able to regain his balance before falling, however his face blushed as he turned to face the witness to his blunder.

“My apologies,” he offered sheepishly to the one seated before him. “I wasn’t paying close enough attention to my feet.”

It was a beautiful day out, prompting Landon to take his book from the library to the garden. He left the room with a warning of "you better not let that book get ruined!" and headed outdoors. Landon knew the old librarian trusted him or he never would have let the squire leave in the first place. Besides, Landon was awfully careful with all of his belongings anyway, so he would never let anything happen to another's. If anything did, there were always plenty of mages around to help him fix it.

Landon was going to go to a quieter section of the gardens, but found all of the benches taken by young couples in love as the dictated. He shyly skirted around them, hoping not to disturb. Looking at them made him think about his own love life. Or lack of it. Avery had been chasing after a girl for a few weeks and often prompted his brother to do the same. Landon just smiled and shook his head, knowing that he couldn't do it. He reasoned that he had plenty of time and wasn't even knighted yet. It was only two years away, but he wanted to adventure some before settling down. That was exactly what he told his twin, but Avery, as usual, had a comeback. It would be nice to have a pretty girl waiting for you at home while you adventured, wouldn't it?

As he entered another section, Landon dismissed those thoughts for now and looked for a bench. He found one under the shade of a tree that hadn't been snatched up. There were quite a few people about, but it was still quiet enough that Landon felt comfortable reading. He opened his book on his particularly favorite story and began to read. As he progressed, Landon stuck his legs out on the path a bit to stretch. He hadn't been sitting like that for more than ten minutes when somebody tripped over him. Landon looked up, his brown eyes squinting slightly in the sun to see a page before him. He thought he recognized the boy as a fourth year page: Tristran of somewhere. Naxen, perhaps? Landon couldn't really be sure, but smiled anyway.

The boy was apologizing to him, saying he wasn't looking at his feet. Landon smiled and made his own apology. "Not to worry. It's not your fault at all. If my feet weren't in the way, you wouldn't have tripped," the squire remarked, closing his book. Deciding to take a guess at the boy's name, Landon said, "It's Tristran of Naxen, isn't it?" He really should have known, but the boys who were younger pages when Landon was all looked so different now. Like this one was probably a whole head taller than him. Must have got his growth spurt early.

Relief at the other male’s lack of hard feelings, and surprise at being correctly identified, filled Tris after the other spoke, and the page gave a slight nod acknowledging both the foot-related logic and the accuracy of the guess. Hazel eyes looked him over, trying to give a name to a reasonably familiar face. The unfortunate ‘road block’ of sorts was a squire – of that much Naxen was certain – and likely not too many years Tris’ senior. Tirrsmont came to mind (‘It’s not like there’s an army of pages running around each year; this shouldn’t be so hard!’), however, if he recalled correctly, there had been than one Tirrsmont page since he had come to the palace four years previously.

‘Twins! That’s it! Avery and Landon!’

Though the fourth year felt like a complete idiot to have taken so long to come to that conclusion – though not his year mates, he’d still trained with them – he was also relatively confident in his accuracy, and didn’t feel even the slightest twinge of apprehension when he replied.

“It is. And you’re… Avery of Tirrsmont? Or is it Landon?”

Tristran offered the squire a brief smile as he rested his tall frame against a nearby tree – standing, this time; he had a feeling that if he were to get too comfortable, he’d never get around to going inside. Unless it started to rain, but one brief glance at the sky suggested this was not even a remote possibility.

He wasn’t surprised at the recent influx of squires to the palace, in addition to those usually there. The upcoming tournament meant more knights would be finding excuses to come back to the capital, squires in tow. As usual, thoughts of the upcoming events sent a brief flicker of jealousy through him – pages, after all, were not permitted to compete – followed by quick mental planning: tournaments equaled knights, which in turn equaled opportunity to show himself off and perhaps find a master for the following autumn.

It was a miracle he didn’t walk into walls, what with the amount of time his mind spent elsewhere.

[OOC: I’m going off the assumption that the two are identical twins, or at the very least resemble one another enough to have their names used interchangeably by mere acquaintances.

Also, this wound up being short, and stupid >.< Sorry!]

Landon watched as the boy in front of him guessed at his own name. He had managed to narrow it down to two, which was fairly impressive. From there he had fifty-fifty shot and it wasn't so wrong of him to guess Avery. Most people did guess Avery. Landon's twin certainly got out more than Landon did himself, causing many to forget Landon's name. Currently though, Avery was away, so it should have made the guessing easier. Landon didn't mind that Tristran had guessed wrong, however. Besides, technically he didn't because he did put Landon's name in there.

"Avery's my twin," Landon told the boy, watching him lean against the tree. He felt small in comparison to the page. Tristran had to be at least five inches taller than him. Not that Landon much minded anymore. Avery might have felt the need to make himself look taller, but his twin certainly did not. Landon had been told by many that he would grow soon, anyway. So, he wasn't worried in the slightest.

"Good guess though. People get us mixed up all the time," Landon explained after the brief pause used to think about being taller. "What have you been doing on this lovely day?" he continued, trying to make conversation. It was the least he could do after causing the other boy to trip. Unless, he didn't want to stick around and talk to Landon, but in that case Tristran would have to make his own excuses. Landon was just trying to be friendly and he didn't think that the page across from him wouldn't try back.

Going for another route, Landon asked, "Do you plan to watch the tournament at all?" Landon hoped to catch a few jousts, but didn't know how many he'd be able to. The boy wished that he could have entered, but had to take care of other things. Also, his knight master would probably need him for his own matches, which left Landon with limited time.

(OOC: Sorry mine's short as well.)