Koujou (鎤上) and Kouka (鎤下) were born in the summer under the sign of the Philosophers to a Lucid mother who held a position as Postmaster of the City, and a Dreaming father who was a skilled dancer and actor. Their mother (and to a lesser extent, their father) gained a bit of fame locally as Koujou and Kouka were actually the family's second pair of twins, though one older brother had died of sickness before the younger twins were born. Neighbors jokingly encouraged the younger pair to strive for the military arts, as they had likely inherited the fortitude their mother undoubtedly possessed to make it through two double-births. Brother and sister showed undeniable spunk growing up, and so they both began training in athletics as soon as they were able.

Koujou was the smarter and older of the two, but always remained very close to her brother, and also very protective. In return, Kouka adored his elder sister. Koujou was sent to a military training school for girls when she was old enough, leaving her brother to his own studies for long hours of the day. The two of them still spent much of their free time together, generally locked in mock battles that Koujou almost always won. At the same time, their single elder brother trained in dance, but was not able to spend much time with his younger siblings.

At first, the more sensitive Kouka was also sent to a school for dancers in hopes that he could make good use of his abundant physical energy without ever seeing the horrors of battle. However, at his Naming day, Kouka surprised everyone by speaking his mind and stating that he truthfully would rather follow his sister into battle, but would be willing to settle down into a quieter profession such as dance if whatever woman he married so desired it. He was granted the name of Lucid Earth, while his sister was named Lucid Fire.

The twins then both entered more formal military school. Koujou grew into a young woman known for her boldness and her skill, though she also seemed to have trouble controlling her temper at times. Kouka similarly blossomed into a fine warrior maiden, even if he tended to be a bit more forward than other men his age. Koujou remained protective of her brother, and it may have been this attitude that kept the majority of girls their age from looking twice at Kouka. It did not help much when their mother passed away – in childbirth, ironically enough – when Koujou and Kouka were both 15. Koujou stepped up to take full responsibility for her brother, which drove off the remainder of the possible ladies while at the same time earning the then-mourning Kouka's further adoration.

When their training was complete, Koujou and Kouka both entered the regular forces of their Queen, serving to help put down rebellions on the fringes of their homeland that were deemed unworthy of the Imperial army's attention. They were allowed relative autonomy on the battlefield, though they could of course not be considered actual Knights. The twins even began to attract a certain number of local tales, limited primarily to the places where they fought, but after a few years, most everyone in their homeland had at least heard their names in passing.

Kouka's superiors began to wonder more and more as the boy reached the prime of his life, however, whether he would be courted and married off, and if he would then make good on his promise to leave the military if his wife desired it. Fortunately or unfortunately, his prospects seemed unlikely, as he was womanly enough to give most prospective wives pause, and his sister was manly enough to let her temper show in the few cases where she deemed one of the ones with an eye on Kouka unworthy. As for Koujou, she seemed entirely uninterested in marriage, and rather enjoyed the reputation she and her brother were building up as thumpers of bandits. A few stories described her as a woman who was married to the battlefield; other darker rumors speculated that her relationship with her brother went deeper than just being siblings, but the military always staunchly disregarded such accusations.

The stories of the twins' accomplishments reached the ears of the Empress when the twins reached the age of about 18. She decided that it might be best to turn the pair of them into Thumpers of Bandits in the Name of the Empire, as allowing their home Queendom to keep its up-and-coming folktale heroes might prove troublesome in the future. She sent a request for Koujou and Kouka to come to the capital in order to allow them to become Squires and eventually Knights, which the twins did with great enthusiasm. She was careful to give Kouka to a male Knight, though at this point his age was also beginning to become a deterrent to potential wives. A few years later, after the pair had trained and proven to be truly skilled and not just the biggest bullies of the fringe territories, both were Knighted. A year after that, Koujou was promoted to a Dragon Knight.

The Empress felt she had all but sealed the loyalty of the eager military woman with the honor of the title, but concern still remained with regards to Kouka. He was now 24 and still unmarried, and had enough fame and remained close enough to his sister that there could be cause for worry if someone ambitious enough somehow chose to wed him and use his fame for herself. On top of that, Koujou had returned to her homeland with her newfound autonomy as a Dragon Knight, and taken her brother with her back to the battlefield, so that they were again far from the capital. The Empress could not make him a Dragon Knight because he was a man, and doing so would still not prevent him from ever marrying, yet she still needed some way to bring both siblings back closer to her. A plan did begin to develop in her mind, however, when her Consort of the time fell ill with a wasting sickness.

The Empress Consort was a beautiful man, and the Empress was certainly distraught at the thought of losing him. Though the Empress doted on him until his last breath eight months after Koujou became a Dragon Knight, she decided to take Kouka on as her own husband as soon as the time passed for mourning. If his sister chose to show her temper to the Empress, then the knight could easily be replaced, likely damaging her reputation in the process enough so that Koujou would no longer pose an issue when she returned to her homeland. And if she did not, perhaps having hold on Kouka would further ensure the Dragon Knight's loyalty. If she so desired it, she could even order Kouka to give up on his military ambitions, assuming he was still the loyal boy he had been at his Naming ceremony.

Koujou outwardly reacted favorably to the request for marriage, and of course knew she could say nothing against the Empress. In place of their departed mother, she led the entourage to bring Kouka to the capital herself, to give him to the Empress. The Queen of their homeland came as well to offer her well-wishes, though she also did so because it seemed well and proper, as the Empress had chosen a champion warrior of her land.

Though the ceremony itself was a splendid occasion that went off without a hitch, it was clear by the next morning that something had gone wrong. The Empress, in bonding with Kouka, had found him "lacking"; Kouka himself spent the next few days mentally wasting away, and had died by his own hand before the week was out. Furious at the insult, and perhaps further incensed at the loss of two husbands in such rapid succession, the Empress drove Koujou and her Queen and the remainder of their entourage out of the capital and stripped the Dragon Knight of her rank. Koujou, upon returning home, confessed to having had a long-term affair with her brother. No one could be sure whether it was truth, or an effort to help her Queen and her country save face, but with all of her countrymen condemning her incest, Koujou felt she had no choice but to join her brother in shameful death.

The Empress ultimately allowed the Queen to retain her position, though she kept a closer eye on her. The Dragon Knight, however, she assured the Empire, did not need to be replaced. Subsequent Empresses kept the number of Dragon Knights at four as an example that even within the highest order of Knights, insults against nature and against the Empress would absolutely not be tolerated. Koujou would go on to be remembered at best as a misguided and hot-headed youth who cared more than was proper for her brother without realizing what she was doing, and at worst as a woman twisted by the worst possible greed, willing to mate-bond her own brother to keep him for herself. Kouka's only place in history would be as a poor pawn of his sister, his story told only as a mostly fictional drama intended to stand as a cautionary tale against mate-bonding young without going through the proper steps of courtship and without parental guidance.