SOLVED. YA about an orphan who finds her twin brother whose been enslaved by the antagonist, they have tattoos on the back of their heads. [s]

[Michaela]

I read this book around 2010. The protagonist was definitely a teenager, I think she was sixteen. I can't remember the genre, but I have a hunch it had fantasy undertones. Dystopian undertones too?

The main character is called something like Ness or Nessa, I think. She works in a pub serving food, the owners took her in as a child and the only belonging she had was a broken flute. The pub is named after a drowned dog or a boy, I remember there was some kind of story around it. Basically one of the customers saves her from guards, but she doesn't know he's her uncle or that the guards are searching for her in the first place. The owned of the pub tells her the truth, and the uncle's name begins with an M. Mattias, Marius, Michael, something like that.
The Uncle gets some horses and they go on the run, leaving via ship. She dyes her hair to be less recognizable.
She dreams of her twin brother, I think his name was Kit. Kit is smaller than her, he looks very childlike and he doesn't speak. She finds him after having dreams about him, and gains his trust before helping him escape with her and their Uncle.
Kit was caught when they were kids, where basically the King or the emporer or something attacked the village. Nessa was hid in a tree and heard the guards kill her Mother, clutching the broken flute. Kit was taken because he was still in the Village during the attack. The Uncle found Nessa because he was hunting with a friend, but his friend abandoned them because they were slowing him down ultimately.
A lot of the book is traveling.
They join a theatre company. There's a library that only allows women inside. Nessa cooks for the company, the Uncle does repairs on equipment and stage props, Kit learns to juggle.
The whole book had something to do with who the characters were, like a specific race or something.

[Mai]

Searching "novel" "her twin brother" "her uncle" "broken flute" this book came up:
The Keepers' Tattoo by Gill Arbuthnott, published in 2009.


It sounds like your book!
"Ten years ago, Alaric, leader of the Shadowmen, killed most of the Keepers--teachers of ancient knowledge that threatened his barbaric rule. Young Kit was captured, but his twin sister, Nyssa, escaped. Only later will she learn that both she and her lost brother bear the secret words of their people: three lines each of strange, unintelligible writing tattooed on their scalps. Now the Shadowmen are on the attack again, determined to quell a growing rebellion. Nyssa must find her brother, and together they must unlock the meaning--the power--behind the mysterious words."

[Michaela]

Mai wrote: "Searching "novel" "her twin brother" "her uncle" "broken flute" this book came up:
The Keepers' Tattoo by Gill Arbuthnott, published in 2009.
[bookcover:The Keepers' ..."

That's it! That's the book- Thank you so much!