Railing Ohmsford smiled as he said it, knowing full well that this was exactly what they were going to do, having already decided as much while they were testing the Sprints over the broad expanse of the Rainbow Lake. But testing a craft over open water wasn’t as challenging as taking it through an obstacle course of dead trees and jagged rocks. Their mother had made them promise not to race the Sprints anywhere but over the lake, but like most boys verging on manhood and testing the limits of parental authority, they didn’t always listen.

Besides, they had rationalized, talking it over to convince themselves that it was all right to breach this agreement, they had flown everything from flits to skimmers to sleeks, so surely they could handle this. They might not have flown warships yet, the great ships-of-the-line that required entire crews to sail them, but they would get around to it eventually.

Their unwritten rule regarding airships was that if they could build it, they could fly it. Anywhere they wished.

“Well, it’s a good day to try it out,” Redden replied, grinning back at his mirror image—small, lean, and fit, with mischievous blue eyes, wild red hair, and only a hint in his ears, brows, and cheekbones of the Elven blood they had inherited from their mother. It was a wonder, he thought for the umpteenth time, that anyone could tell them apart.

It was scary fun, really. Frequently, they pretended to be each other, just because they could get away with it. Sometimes twins weren’t really all that much alike, in either looks or behavior. Sometimes they looked a lot alike, but you could still always tell them apart. But not Redden and Railing Ohmsford. Right down to their Elven features, they looked exactly the same. A human father and an Elven mother had produced Halfling twins in a family that had never had twins before. What were the odds that an anomaly would produce exact duplicates? Even their mother had trouble, and she saw them practically every day and knew everything there was to know about them.

Well, practically everything. No boy ever told his mother everything.

In any event, only one person—Mirai Leah—could tell the difference. The brothers thought they knew why, but it wasn’t something they ever discussed.

Railing looked over at Redden. “What are we waiting for?”