A/N: Hi guys! So, I've decided to put this up again. I'll warn you now that updates will be few and far between. I'm sorry about this, but that's just the way it is! Please give this story love, and if you have any suggestions for anything, please review! Thanks! This chapter, by the way, is the epilogue to Talia and the first chapter of ACF. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I'm not TP.

Epilogue: Six months later

Tris was sitting at the window of her room on the top floor of the Cheeseman Street house, her face turned toward the wind.

The visions she was seeing were of everyday life. A small child playing in the dusty street, a woman hanging clothes on a line in her yard, someone handing over coins to pay for a loaf of bread. A man and wife kissing each other goodbye before they parted for the day.

A breeze from closer to home brought her the image of two figures in a garden. The man helped the woman up and wrapped his arms around her, kissing her. They pulled apart after a second and laughed together.

Tris sighed and tried to move on to the next breeze. More meaningless activities. She stared out her window until her head ached and she was getting dizzy.

"Tris!" Talia called.

"What?" Tris called back.

"Come down here a minute."

"Why?"

Coppercurls, come on, Briar called through their connection. Just come downstairs. What's it going to hurt?

Tris rolled her eyes and jammed her spectacles up her nose. She shoved away from the window and began the descent down the stairs. When she got down there, she followed the voices of Briar and Talia to the kitchen.

They were sitting at the table with someone Tris had never seen before. He was facing away from her, so all she could see of him was his messy dark brown hair. He turned when Tris entered the room, and flashed a grin in her direction. His dark green eyes were twinkling at her.

Tris raised an eyebrow. "I'm here. What was so important?"

"I just wanted you to meet a friend of mine," Talia said. "He's a smith mage. I've met him with Daja a few times."

"Well, nice to meet you, smith mage friend of Talia and Daja's," Tris said, nodding her head. She was about to turn around and go back up to her room, but something stopped her.

He continued to smile at her, even as he spoke. "It's Hunter." He held out his hand for Tris to shake.

As their palms touched, Tris felt a swirl of electricity and heat flare between them. She narrowed her eyes and took her hand from his, subtly wiping it on her skirts. She could still feel the fizz of the spark of fire on her hand, and wasn't sure if she liked it or not. "Tris."

xXx

"So what do you think of him?" Talia asked a while later. She twisted the gold ring on her left hand, a reminder of the vows she and Briar had made to each other a month before.

"Of who?"

"Hunter! Honestly, Tris, you'd think you were blind or something."

"What about him?" Tris asked, deliberately trying to get on Talia's nerves.

"What do you think of him?"

"What should I think of him?"

Talia rolled her eyes. "Come on, Tris. Give me something to work with."

"Why did you introduce us, Talia?" Tris asked impatiently.

"He was just here," Talia said, looking away from her friend.

"Uh huh. You didn't have to call me down to meet him, though."

Talia bit her lip and looked around the room as if it would give her the answer she was looking for. "You seem lonely sometimes, Tris," she began. Tris cut her off after this sentence was out in the open.

"Lonely? When I'm living in a house with three other mages and a glass dragon?" She snorted a laugh. "Lonely isn't even a word in my vocabulary."

"That would be nice, if it were true," Talia said quietly.

Tris glanced at her sharply. "Excuse me?"

Talia shrugged. "I don't know. You've seemed distant lately. Ever since Briar and I…" she trailed off and started twisting her ring again.

"So you're trying to find someone who will 'lift my spirits'?" Tris asked. Her anger was past now. She actually found this a little bit funny now, in a backwards sort of way.

"Not exactly. I mean, I just thought that you would enjoy meeting someone new for a change." Talia looked Tris straight in the eye, suddenly gaining her confidence back. "I think you should get to know him. Just a little. I think you'll like him."

"Like him as what?" Tris asked suspiciously.

"As a friend, for starters."

"Does Briar know about this?"

Talia bit her lip again. "Not really. I invited Hunter over to meet you and didn't say anything to Briar about it. Daja knows, but that's it."

Tris stood up and started pacing. "Thank you for wanting to see me happy," she finally said. "I just don't think that was the right way to do it."

"So you won't see him again?"

Tris looked at Talia, who had a hopeful look on her face. "Sure, because he would really want to see me again," Tris said with sarcasm.

"Actually, he made a point of asking if I would ask you if you wanted to see him again," Talia said, inspecting her fingernails. "But if you don't want to…"

Tris stared at her friend, and then sat down heavily on the bed. Talia hid a smile. "Shall I tell him you'll meet up with him, then?" she asked nonchalantly.

Tris blinked a few times, unable to speak. "Well?" Talia asked, and her voice seemed to snap Tris out of whatever spell she was under.

She hitched up a shoulder. "Do whatever you want," she said with a slight scowl. "You seem to do that already."

Talia held in her smile and replaced it with a frown so that Tris wouldn't be able to tell how excited she was. She didn't say anything else to Tris, just left the room and went downstairs.

xXx

"What do you think of him?" This time it was Tris's turn to ask the question, and Briar was the one she was asking. It was just after the midday meal that she cornered him in his workshop to ask.

"Hunter?" Briar asked. Tris nodded. "I don't know. I mean, he's all right. It's all right if Talia wants to be friends with him, but I doubt he and I will ever be mates, you know?" He glanced over at Tris before looking back down at the project he was finishing. "Why?"

Tris shrugged. "Talia just asked me, and I thought I'd ask you what you thought of him."

Briar turned all the way around and leaned his hips against the table, crossing his arms over his chest. "If you like him, Coppercurls, be my guest," he told her with a shake of his head. "Just don't expect me to play nice."

xXx

Briar was still in his workshop when Talia came to find him to get him to come to supper. "What are you working on?" she asked, resting her chin on his shoulder as she came up behind him.

He turned to kiss her nose before answering. "I started this a while ago. Before our kidnapping." He gestured to the plant that was on the table. "It's taken me this long to get it exactly right."

He edged out from in front of Talia and let her look at what he'd made for her. Talia's hand went to her throat as she looked at the heart shaped cluster of pale pink roses. "It's beautiful!" she exclaimed softly. She turned to look at him, and he saw the sheen of tears in her eyes.

She came to him and kissed him, wrapping her arms around his neck. "Thank you so much. It's the best present I could've gotten."

Briar grinned. "It was my pleasure, seeing as you're the best present I've ever gotten. One question, though."

Talia's head tilted to the side as she looked up at her husband. "What?"

"Why did you invite Hunter over today?"

"You've talked to Tris," Talia said, stepping away from him.

"I have. Did you invite him for her?"

Talia turned to smell the roses in her gift. "Well, I thought it would be nice. He's a very nice man, and I think they would get along well together. That's all."

"So you're going to force him on her as often as possible?"

"Who said anything about force?" Talia scoffed. "She practically fainted when I told her that he wanted to see her again. She's attracted to him."

"Attraction is one thing, sweetheart. Actually liking someone is different."

Talia turned her nose up. "Well, I still think it's worth a try. If she doesn't like him, or if he doesn't like her, then it's done. Tris would be the first to let us know if nothing happened. She'd lord it over me for weeks."

Briar smiled again. "At least there's some guaranteed entertainment in it."

Talia patted his chest lightly. "There you go. Look on the bright side."

xXx

The next morning, Tris opened her eyes. She stretched lightly and then got out of bed. She looked around for the book she was currently reading, thinking to read through breakfast, but couldn't find it in her room.

She thought back to what she'd done the day before, and then went up to the roof from her room. Something metal caught her eye. Drawing near to it, she saw that it was her book, but there was something sparkling on it in the morning light.

Laying on the book was a flower fashioned from what looked like copper. It had a small H etched into the stem that left no doubt as to who had made it. Tris studied the flower for a minute, trying to figure out what it was. Finally, she realized. She hadn't lived with Briar for ten years without picking up some flower names and their meanings. "Gloxinia," she recited to herself. "Love at first sight."

She twirled the flower in her fingers and smiled softly.

Chapter 1

"Briar doesn't much like you," Talia commented to Hunter later that day. She was sitting in his forge two streets over from the house on Cheeseman Street, having dropped in on her way to the market.

"No?" He shot her a glance as he pounded aluminum into thin sheets.

Talia shook her head and leaned on her hand, watching him. "I'm not really sure why."

With a smile, Hunter set the finished sheet aside and moved to the next. "Have you heard anything from Tris?" he asked, hoping he wasn't being way too obvious.

"Not since I spoke to her yesterday," Talia replied. "Why?"

Hunter shook his head. "No reason."

Talia looked at him for a minute and then grinned. "You're blushing."

Hunter turned farther away so she couldn't see the flush on his cheekbones anymore. "Am not. I thought you were on your way to the market, anyway."

"I am. I've got to pick up some things for the plants. And probably some glass coloring for Chime."

"Chime?"

"Tris's glass dragon," Talia explained. "She likes the powders that color glass."

"So why are you here bothering me instead of at the market?" he asked, changing the topic.

"Just thought I'd drop in," Talia replied. "Problem?"

"Not at all. But if your husband doesn't like me, you ought to be careful visiting me."

Talia laughed lightly. "Briar knows my plans for you and Tris," she told him.

"Oh? What did he say to that?"

"Not much, surprisingly. He asked me if I was forcing you on her. I told him no, that I thought you would get along well. He decided he would get entertainment out of it."

Hunter snorted. "That makes one of us."

Talia smiled and stood. "Well, I should be going. They'll be wondering where I am soon. I'll see you around, Hunter."

"Bye, Talia. You'll let me know if…"

Talia nodded, understanding. "I'll let you know."

xXx

After Talia had gone, Hunter set down his hammer and put his fists on the table, propping himself up. He couldn't believe he'd sunk to the level of desperation so quickly. He'd even gone so far as to work late into the night on that flower that he wasn't even sure she'd see, much less know the meaning of.

It was bad enough that he'd barely been able to sit still for the rest of the time he'd been at that house, but then he'd asked Talia about her again today.

He just hoped Tris figured out what she wanted, and fast, because he didn't know how much longer he was going to be sane.

xXx

Tris sat up in her third floor bedroom, but instead of scrying the wind for visions and sounds, as she usually did while sequestered there, she held a copper flower in her hand.

Tris? It was Briar's voice that called to her. We haven't seen you all day. Are you all right?

Tris smiled to herself. I'm fine, Briar.

Are you sure?

Positive.

Briar took a closer look in her mind. What've you got there, Coppercurls? he asked.

Tris snapped back to reality for a second. She shot up in her bed, her back ramrod straight as she closed her eyes tightly. It's nothing! she exclaimed. Leave me alone.

xXx

"He gave her a flower," Briar said to Talia.

"And?"

"A copper flower."

"He's a smith. He makes things out of metal. Unless I'm seriously misinformed, copper is a metal. I still don't see what the problem is," Talia replied. She'd just gotten back from the market, and was still setting things in their proper places in the workshop.

"Nothing's the matter, really."

"Then why do you keep repeating it?"

Briar glared at his wife. "He gave her a gloxinia."

"Those are pretty," Talia said, glancing at him over her shoulder.

"They mean 'love at first sight,'" Briar stated.

"Well, then, I suppose it's perfect, isn't it?" Talia picked up a small jar of glass coloring agent. "I'm going to go give this to her for Chime," she said. "I'll find out what I can, okay?"

She crossed to there Briar was scowling and kissed him gently. "Calm down. Is it so bad that they like each other? I know you don't like him, but are you willing for that to get in the way of Tris being happy? You know she values your opinion."

Briar frowned harder and muttered something under his breath. "I didn't catch that," Talia said, and he sighed.

"I said I guess not."

She patted his arm. "Smart." She walked slowly up to Tris's room and knocked on the door.

"Who is it?"

"Talia. I brought you something from the market."

"Come in."

Talia opened the door. Tris was sitting on her bed with a book at her side, but she wasn't reading it. "What is it?"

"I bought Chime some powder at the market," Talia said, holding it up.

"Oh. Thank you. You can put it there." Tris nodded her head at the table next to the window where she did her scrying.

Talia placed the jar on the table carefully and slowly, looking around and trying not to be obvious about looking.

"It's over here," Tris said finally.

Talia faced her and tried to keep the flush from her cheeks. "What is?"

"The flower."

"May I see it?"

Tris nodded and held the small flower up. Talia came to sit next to her on the bed, and gently took the flower from Tris's hand. She exhaled reverently. "This is beautiful," she whispered. "How did you get it?"

Tris smiled softly. "It was on my book. I left it out on the roof. When I went up this morning to find it, I saw that."

Talia held her tongue for a moment, and then looked sideways at Tris. "You know, if you wanted to say thank you, his forge is two streets over."

A/N: Any and all comments, thoughts and suggestions welcome! Thanks to everyone, especially Kate of Carlay, my beta. :D --SSS