Okay, folks! After a total of 14 hours after I posted the first chapter, I'm posting the second. If I keep this up, this story'll be a whole novel by next month! Yay, me!
Oh, and mucho gracias to xWaitingxForxThexEndx for my first ever Fanfiction review!
Chapter Two
Number 6 Cheeseman Street was a handsome, 3-story house and forge. The verdant and attractive garden in front of the house coupled with the intricate ironwork on the front gate gave the impression that a wealthy noble family inhabited it. The small forge protruded from the side of house, its chimneystack billowing smoke, and windows glowing from the hearty fire within.
Inside the forge, a tall, dark young woman worked on a copper window-frame, deep in concentration. Occasionally, she looked up from her work to pump a bellows to keep the fire roaring. She jumped and started as Briar came strolling into the forge, hand in his pockets.
"Hi, Daj'," he greeted his foster-sister.
"What've you been up to, boy?" Daja asked suspiciously. Briar shrugged and she raised her eyebrows, but did not say anything. As Daja bent over her work again, he strolled over to pump the bellows for her.
"Where's Coppercurls and Sandry?" Briar pumped steadily, being careful not to overheat the piece of copper in the fire.
Daja grunted as she twisted, then welded together, two pieces of metal. "Tris is upstairs, tinkering with some spell or another. Where our Duchess is, I have no clue. She mentioned something about 'more blasted paperwork', though."
"Oh," Briar nodded. "Well, after the flooding last summer, I bet the whole Citadel's busy. Sandry's probably stuck fixing most of it up."
"That, or she's decided that we still don't have enough fancy suits and she'll make them herself," his sister rolled her eyes.
A plump, redheaded young woman walked into the forge as Briar snorted with laughter.
"Nice to see someone's having fun." Trisana Chandler said grumpily. Briar grinned at her wolfishly.
"What's gotten your skirts up in a twist?"
"Nothing. Just another gods-curst spell, is all," his foster-sister scowled. "This wretched academic is as dry as dust! I'm surprised Niko hasn't died of boredom after all these years of working those confounded spells and charms!"
"Briar and Daja rolled their eyes at each other, used to the litany Tris gave every time she had trouble with her academic magic training.
Tris glared at her siblings, then noticed Briar's shirt. "How is it that you can still be so ignorant, despite the fact that you've been through enough to age a toddler? How did you get so dirty?" She shook the back of his shirt to shake off the dirt and dust.
"Oh, that." Briar stood still as Daja helped brush it off. The dirt slipped off his clothes as easily as if his shirt was made of glass. Their foster-sister, Sandry, had spun, woven, and sewed all of the fours' garments by hand, using her cloth-magic to make them water-, stain-, and wrinkle-proof.
"What have you been doing?" Daja asked, slightly reprimanding.
"I got into a little tussle with a girl." Briar shrugged, and then grinned when both girls looked startled. "Not that kind of tussle!"
"Oh?" Tris sounded skeptical.
Briar sighed, used to his sisters' reactions to his affairs with other ladies. "I just saw her getting beat up by a couple of novices from the Fire Temple. I offered to teach her a thing or two about hand-to-hand combat, but she didn't seem to appreciate the offer too much. She started a fight. Ended it too. She actually got me pinned down." Briar smiled. "Destroyed my dignity and stole my heart within the half hour. Amazing girl, that Savi."
Tris and Daja snorted. Briar was confused, and slightly annoyed, that they weren't taking him seriously. He had actually meant what he had said. For once.