Disclaimer: I do not own these characters, these places, or this world. They would belong to Tamora Pierce and her wonderful imagination. ((Which I can only wish I owned :P))
((Reviews are very, very welcome, even if it's nothing but criticsm.))
Daja brushed a sweat-soaked braid off of her face, groaning as her muscles screamed in protest at the slight motion. Her mentor grinned at her as he noticed the flicker of pain across her face.
"Someone took it easy on the road," Dedicate Frostpine said, his voice a dull roar to get over the sound of the bellows his newest apprentice was using. "Didn't get much time to swing a hammer, did you, Daja?" He clapped her on the shoulder, causing the muscular young woman to groan again. If it wasn't for how much she respected Frostpine, then she would have gone after him with the hammer she had just dropped. Or, as she admitted to herself as she pushed away from the wall, if she believed that she would be able to pick the hammer back up.
"I was busy, Frostpine," she muttered, her dark eyes sullen. The Trader had had no idea whatsoever that she was so out of practice. It wasn't right that a smith-mage should be made to travel away from her forge. "With training those twins I came across until suitable teachers were found. And then with..." she trailed off, a very faint blush tinging her dark cheeks. "Lessons with Lark." She quickly adverted her gaze, hand shooting out to grasp the smooth wooden staff that marked her as a proper Trader instead of the outcast she had once been. Leaning on it she started towards the front of the forge. "I have to get back to Discipline, Lark expects me to help with supper since none of the others will be returning for several days." She felt the slightest tinge of jealously, quickly suppressed, shoot through her as she thought of Rosethorn returning. Lark was so excited about that, it was obvious that she missed the woman terribly. And why? Rosethorn is just a- no... she's wonderful. She sighed, wishing that she could wish ill on the Dedicate.
A bushy gray eyebrow shot up as Frostpine took in the blush of his former student. Daja caught the look on his face and her blush only deepend. "Well," he rumbled, giving his broad shoulders a shrug. "Enjoy the next few days. Rest up and don't come down here for any other reason than to say hello. Your muscles need to rest or you won't be able to work for even longer. Tell Lark that I say hello and welcome back to Winding Circle."
At Frostpine's words Daja's dark eyes came alight and, despite the protests of her body, she hugged the larger man. "Thank you, Frostpine! I'll be sure to make it up for you when I come back!" With another grin she turned and hurried away as quickly as she could. The next few days would see her alone with Lark, the last few days she would be able to claim with the woman before Rosethorn and the others returned. Yes, she was eager to see them all, but she wasn't ready to share Lark yet... Not after the months they had spent traveling while Frostpine had decided to remain at Winding Circle. The fingers that were not curled around the Trader staff drifted up to her lips, a different sort of smile forming as she remembered the kiss that had been left there that morning before she left, along with the promise that had been whispered.
It seemed like it took an eternity before the small, neat cottage that would always be home to Daja came into view. Her heart sped up, and her feet kept up with the tempo. The moment that she opened the small gate that stood as a little sentry to guard the cottage the front door swung open to reveal a woman in her middle years with a gentle smile on her face. Daja's breath caught, she always forgot how beautiful Lark was. As she moved forward, her Trader staff falling to the ground when her hands reached out to take Lark's, she wondered why it had taken her so long to see it in the first place. And I understand why Rosethorn is so protective of her... Then Lark's lips, warm and even more gentle than her smile, were on Daja's and her thoughts stopped.
((So... this is the first time I've written anything like this in years. It's also just the beginning. There are seven main chapters in the works, along with an epilogue. So yeah, more on the way.))
