This isn't the best chapter, but please don't give up on me!

Disclaimer: I'm not Tamora Pierce


Chapter 2: Trial

The next morning, Echo wakes up and changes quickly, and then pours the hairpins into her palm. There are only eleven of them, but Echo carefully puts a small decoration on each of them. When she's finished, she chooses one with three hawk feathers on it to slide into the top of her braid.

She stands up and puts the other pins back in the bag, then reties her sash before strapping on her knives and tucking the bag of pins into her pouch again, also slipping three packets of healing salve and a roll of bandages in a bag. Absentmindedly, she rubs the X on her left hand, then makes her way out of the Sharktooth den and into the already crowded streets of Nanta.

The other street urchins steer clear of her, knowing what her hair and clothes mean; She's part of the most successful and respected (in the gutter society) gang.

She successfully nicks two small handfuls of coins off of lazy merchants, but as she tries to take one from a rich, fat man, a Street Guard grabs her wrist painfully. She cries out and tries to pull away, but the Guardsman keeps a firm grip on her. When he notices that he's hurting her, he moves his grip from her wrist to her upper arm, allowing Echo to cradle her wrist as she bites back tears of pain.

The Guardsman leads her to the holding cell again, and when he pushes her in, he is more gentle than the other guards were on her last two visits. Alone in the cell, Echo pulls out the roll of bandages and wraps it around her wrist. She pulls herself into the smallest ball she can and drifts off to sleep.

On Firesday, Echo and the other double-X children are loaded into a cart and driven to Hajra to get judged by the magistrate.

They are thrown in a holding cell, and once more Echo is handled by the kinder guard, only getting nudged into the cell instead of shoved to the ground. She casts a small smile at the guard and then walks in, knowing that he wouldn't be so kind if she ran. A corner of the cell is covered in moss, and Echo walks over to it, laying down on the soft plant and trying to stop her shivers.

Not long after, a group of boys a little older than Echo are shoved in, and one walks over to the moss. The kind guard tosses in a bundle of blankets, and Echo scrambles to get one. The other urchins keep out of her way, recognizing her as a Sharktooth. She gets a blanket large enough for two people and brings it back over to her corner, wrapping it around herself and settling down again, pulling her knees into her chest and becoming as small as possible. When she notices the older boy's shivers, she silently nudges him with her knee and offers him one side of the blanket.

The two lean against the wall until their shivers stop. Echo looks at the boy. "Name's Echo, of the Sharktooth gang in Nanta."

"Roach, from the Thief-Lord's Lightnings," Roach said. Echo wrinkles her nose.

"Why do you keep that name?" she asks, turning her blue-green eyes on Roach.

"I ain't got a death wish," Roach says. "You don't argue with the Thief-Lord."

Echo nods, understanding. "You got double Xs too?" she asks, showing Roach her hands. The bandage covers half of one X, but Echo knows that Roach will understand. In response, Roach shows her his own hands, each with an X.

As the others in the cell scramble for the slop that passes for food, Echo pulls out a small loaf of bread and breaks it in half, handing one piece to Roach as he whispers something to the moss. Echo decides not to bother him about it, especially since she does the same thing with with animals.

"Where'd you get this?" Roach whispers to her.

"One of the guards back at Nanta was nice. He gave me a few of these."

Roach nods and devours it. Despite the fact that the next day she will be sentenced to what will probably be a slow death, she sleeps well.

When Echo wakes, she finds Roach already awake, and she pushes the blanket off. One of the guards at the door calls, "Weevil. Dancer. Alleycat. Viper. Slug." At this, Echo hears Roach hiss quietly. "Cheater. Turtle. Roach. Ace. Pip. Echo."

The eleven that he calls stand, and Echo looks around to see that she is the youngest with two Xs, and the only girl. The one of the other guards at the door is the nice guard, so Echo starts toward the door with the others, her chin raised defiantly. Suddenly, a whip cracks right next to her, and she flinches away from it.

In the Judging Chamber, Echo is guided firmly to the back by the kind guard. She looks up at him and mouths What is your name?

He glances around, gives her a tiny smile, and whispers, "Kerem Bishai."

As the testimony is given, Kerem keeps a hand around Echo's arm. Echo doesn't pay attention until Roach is called up. He fights the guards, but his only reward is getting his hands slammed on the table with even more force.

"Docks," the woman announces, yawning.

The guards start dragging Roach to the pen, but a light male voice says, "A moment." The way he says it makes it a command more than a request. The guards look back. "May I see the boy again?"

"Bring him." The magistrate sounds bored. Roach is hauled back to stand in front of the man, and Echo studies him critically. His clothes are expensive and elegant, so he is wealthy, but his belt holds only a knife, so he isn't an officer. A Money-Bag, then. Someone who wears power without trying.

The man studies Roach, then nods and whispers something to the magistrate, who makes a face. The Bag holds something in front of her, and she glares at Roach but nods. "Their majesties are inclined to mercy, as you are but a youth." She rattles it off quickly, glaring at Roach the whole time. "You have a choice- the docks, or exile from Sotat and service-" She falters, and the Bag leans down to whisper to her.

"You have a choice of the docks, or apprenticeship to the Winding Circle Temple in Emelan, until you take formal vows at the temple, or until its governing council rules that you are fit to enter society. Temple or docks, boy. Choose."

Without hesitation, Roach replies, "Temple."

"Make out transfer papers," she tells a clerk. "Master Niklaren" -this is the man- "will you take charge of him?"

"Of course."

"I can't make out papers for a 'Roach'" the clerk whines. "Not to a temple."

"This is a chance, lad," Niklaren says in his light voice. "You can pick a name, one that's yours alone. You can choose how you will be seen from now on."

"Choose, boy, and hurry up," the judge snaps. "I've other cases besides yours."

Roach studies his hands. Suddenly, he looks up at Niklaren.

"What's them vines with needles on them? Big, sharp ones that rip chunks out when you grab 'em?"

"Roses. Briars," Niklaren says, smiling.

"Briar, then," Roach/Briar says.

"You need a last name," the clerk says, rolling his eyes.

Roach/Briar gets a slightly puzzled look, but says, "Moss."

"Briar Moss," the clerk says. "Master Niko, I'll need your signature."

Echo frowns in thought. 'Master' is a word for professors, judges, and wizards. Who is this man who just saved Briar?

"Cut him loose," Niko orders the guards next to Briar.

"Pardon, sir, but you don't know what he's like," growls one of the guards. "He's born and bred to vice-"

"Are those remarks addressed to me?" he asks coolly, his black eyes cutting into the man. The guard goes white as milk, and his partner cuts Briar loose.

"That's Roger," Kerem mutters to me. "He's never nice."

"Briar won't run," Master Niko says pleasantly. "Will you, lad?"

Echo tunes out again until Kerem tugs her arm, and she allows him to guide her up to magistrate. He puts her hands on the table, raising an eyebrow at her when he sees the bandages. The small girl looks up at him, her doe eyes wide and innocent. Kerem's mouth twitches up in amusement.

"Mines," the judge says, and Kerem starts leading Echo to the pen, but Master Niko halts them again.

Kerem's POV

When Master Niko stops him, Kerem feels a touch of hope. Echo seems like a wonderful girl with bad luck. As the two turn around, he feels a twinge of longing as he sees a light of hope appearing in Echo's blue-green eyes, so much like his daughter's.

"May I see her again?" he asks, and Kerem gently guides her over to him. Again, Master Niko whispers to the magistrate, and again she offers Echo a choice between the mines and the temple.

"Temple," the girl answers.

"Master Niklaren, will you also take charge of her?" the judge asks, even though she already knows the answer.

"Of course."

"You need a last name," the clerk says, and Echo tilts her head, then glances back at Kerem, meeting his gaze for a moment before looking back at the clerk.

"Bishai," she says, and a small smile forms on Kerem's face. Something about the small girl touches Kerem, and the fact that she wants his last name for her own warms his heart. Kerem isn't worried about his name getting recognized because he kept it to himself.

Master Niko signs the papers, and looks at Kerem. "Cut her free," he orders, and Kerem starts untying the bonds happily, smiling at Echo, who returns the smile with happiness shining in her eyes.


You will see Kerem again later in the story, I promise. Review because it makes me feel all fuzzy inside.