I was quite surprised to learn that twin daughters were different than twin sons. Aster and Rowan were born only a year and a half after Bûk. And while some things were the same-- they did cry and hunger and need to be changed at the same time-- some things were different. They were much more alike in disposition than their older brothers. As babies, when they were happy they would spend hours gurgling at one another in a strange tongue that was theirs alone. Yet they had times when one would strike out at the other-- sometimes it was Aster, sometimes Rowan, and we had to separate them. Then they would mourn until they could be together once more.

As they grew older most of the time they were content with one another, yet sometimes quarreled harshly over what seemed to me to be the most trivial of things, not speaking to one another for hours on end. Yet they could not sleep apart from one another, no matter how they had fought during the day.
This came to a head when they reached their tweens. For once they did not do things at the same time-- Rowan was the first to discover lads, and Aster did not understand. Yet Aster first attracted a lad-- a youth from a Harfoot village who had come to visit our village. His name was Herugar. It was he whom Aster eventually wed.

Rowan was dreadfully jealous of their courtship, and for a while Tûk and I feared the breach between them could not be healed. It was not until the day of the wedding that Rowan came to her senses, as she realised her sister was about to move away for good. There was weeping and embracing then, and all was well.