Disclaimer: I do not own any Tamora Pierce's characters...sadly.

This is my first story, so please review, but be gentle.


Sandry glared at the mages surrounding her. Briar was on his way, but she doubted the mages would wait that long.

"What exactly are you mad at me for. Again?" Sandry asked, stalling for time. The mages around her shifted, moving into their fighting stance.

"You know exactly what you did, you little noble," the mage named Dawson sneered. Sandry sighed. He really couldn't let this go, could he? I mean why it was such a big deal to him that she disguised as a peasant? And that I hid my medallion? I'll bet he's just jealous, Sandry. Briar said in her mind. Hush, I need to focus! I bet that they won't wait for you to join our little party, she replied.

As Sandry and Briar were arguing, Dawson and his mages started preparing their magic for an attack. Sandry snapped to attention as a ball of white fire was hurled at her. She calculated her chances as she dodged the deadly balls of multicolored fire; there were eleven reasonably powerful mages against one of her. Not a good looking chance by her standards. Sandry twirled to the left as purple fire singed one of her braids. Several threads screamed out to her in pain. Sandry glanced down, only to see the hem of her favorite dress in flames. She stamped out the fire and shot a death glare at the mage who threw the fire ball, Hourig.

Sandry leaped into action. Looking into herself, she searched through the strands of her power. Finding the one she wanted, she reached out to the threads in Dawson's clothes. They responded eagerly when she asked them to tighten. Then the sleeves laced together and laced those to his breeches. She repeated that on the other ten mages. As she studied them, she realized she wanted to do more to them, but only to teach them a lesson!

Sandry decided to lace the backs of their tunics together. As she supervised the threads tying themselves together, Briar climbed up the hill that led to where Sandry was. She tied off the last string and spun on her heel, only to come face-to-face with a very surprised Briar.

"You did all this? In the short amount of time that it took me to get here, you tied them up?" Briar asked, incredulous.

"I have my pride, you know. Don't insult me, please," Sandry told him tartly.

Then he glanced down, and saw the burned hem, "What happened to your dress?"

At that she burst into tears.