Disclaimer: I do not claim anything created by Tamora Peirce.

Ok so i haven't been writing for a long time and am really rusty. I hope you enjoy reading this.

~*~

They had been living at Number 6 Cheeseman Street for a few years now, all four of them. It wasn't easy all the time. More than a couple of times, tempers had risen high and it seemed as if things would never get better, but at their core they were all unavoidably connected and would turn to each other again, to their house at Number 6 Cheeseman Street.

In the summer everything about them came alive. The flowers were in bloom painting the outside of the house with colour and a cool evening breeze alleviated the stifling hot of the preceding day.

Sandry sat in her airy workshop mending clothes and adding new spells for protection and cleanliness. Daja sweated over her forge, working with her coppery living metal that grew off her arm and in his own workshop Briar looked up from his parchment as Tris entered the room.

'Good evening Copper curls.' He said putting down his quill with a flourish, 'To what purpose do I owe for your noble presence?'

Tris pursed her lips, briefly wondering if Briar could do anything without some sort of flamboyant sarcasm 'Just came to get some herbs off you, I'm running low in some of my stores and need to put them up now while they're still in season. I would get them myself but you get grouchy if someone even touches your plants without permission, let alone cutting bits of them off'

Briar raised an eyebrow 'Well your not exactly inviting me to play with all those sparkly little lightning locks'

'That's because if I let you play with my 'sparkly little lightning locks', as you call them, you would blow us all up' she said matter-of-factly.

'Which is why I don't play with them' Briar grinned back, matter-of-factly 'But that aside, let me just grab some clippers and we'll be on our way then. What delicious feast are you cooking for me tonight with my wondrous herbs?'

Tris paused thinking 'Roast lamb with rosemary and onion. Maybe some stuffed grilled tomatoes if your lucky.'

'Mouth-watering' Briar said and opened a door out into his garden.

On this particular summer evening, it seemed things at Number 6 Cheeseman Street had never been more serene.

However on this very same evening, not to far from Cheeseman Street, the world was not so serene.

At the end of an alleyway a tall and incredibly handsome man was backed into a corner as three large and slightly inebriated men closed in around him.

This tall handsome man was Lyn. Lyn couldn't understand how he had gotten into this situation, or what the men even wanted, but he knew he was in trouble; the dangerous kind. He silently wished Mai was here to help, she at least could speak this country's language, and perhaps sort out this whole situation. Then again he wouldn't want his pretty little sister near any of these hard looking men.

The man to his left who was dark and skinny with a shining pink scar on his chin made a comment to the man in the middle and all three started laughing. The man in the middle, who was medium height with dark hair and a big nose, was obviously in charge and started talking to Lyn.

Lyn couldn't tell what he was saying or asking and was just shaking his head to everything that was said when the middle man put out a big sausage finger and poked him hard in the chest, jabbing him backwards until he was up against the wall.

'No! I haven't done anything!' he yelled out as they advanced. But they didn't understand a word and simply proceeded to advance.

The biggest one on the right made his move, lunging forward with his fist. Lyn ducked and heard the crash of flesh making contact with hard wall followed by what was probably a curse. A gap was made as Man On The Right had moved forward to attack. Lyn saw this as his chance and he threw himself through the space, past the other two men, running at full speed.

He didn't know where he was going in this unfamiliar city, in an unfamiliar country (whose language he didn't know) but one thing was certain. If there was any hope he would be able to avoid any more catastrophes like those, he was going to need to find Mai. The real question is, where?

So as Lyn ran (unpursued by his assailants who at this point discover they are slightly too inebriated to run after him without falling flat on their faces) on into the night, in a place not to far from Cheeseman Street, the world was far from serene.

We come to a decrepit warehouse on the edges of the slums where captured slaves sit waiting for auction. They come from all walks of life and all different backgrounds though they all have one thing in common; none of them want to be slaves. In this unfortunate flock we find a girl. She is not particularly pretty but there is something striking about her, and she appears to be about 17. Her name is Valimai.

Valimai had not lived an enchanted life. She had not even lived an easy life. In fact Valimai had lived a life harder than most, which is why when she had arrived in the slums of Summersea, she had felt a strange familiarity with the gaunt, starved look of the occupant. It was a look she knew from the faces of the people in her village, her friends, her family and a look that had been carved into her own face.

Maybe that attachment and ensuing intimacy is why she let her guard down and was why she was in this awful muddle right now. Muddle. That hardly began to describe her predicament. But sitting under the stars on this particular evening, with sleeping bodies jammed in close all around her, Valimai decided it was time for a trip down memory lane, to once again brood over the cause of her distress.

I guess you could pinpoint the actual cause as the kidnapping and being made into a slave. However the one whose fault it was for the kidnapping and being made into a slave, well that was all Albert.

Albert was perfect for his job. He was charming, handsome, desperate for money and above all he was a stunning liar.

Thinking about it Mai (that was what everyone had always called her) realised that anyone with those kind of credentials could do almost anything. But it just so happened that Albert had chosen slave trade.

Mai sighed deeply as she thought about him. How could she have been so foolish? It wasn't like this sort of thing never happened. She had heard about plenty of people being snatched and knew several from her own hometown who had been taken by raiders. She never usually accepted drinks from strange men to avoid just this, but Albert was just so…charming. Mai felt the girl next to her shift in her sleep, reminding her of where she was. Charming she thought Bloody fucking charming.

There had to be some way to get out of this.

But Mai wasn't stupid (though she could be foolish) so she knew there was no way out of this muddle. Not alone at least.

~*~

OK so tell me what you think. Continue? Discontinue? Do i suck at writing?