Running, endless running though a meadow laced with patches of color, endless beauty. Sandry collapsed onto the grass, laughing with her friends. It was a picnic by the sea, a picturesque scene. The waves crashed far below and Sandry chased Tris around in a game of tag. They seemed years younger, life was uncomplicated.
"Sandry...."
The landscape changed, slinking away in the the shadows, like water clearing paint from the canvas. The four of them were sitting on the roof of Discipline watching the mess of colors dip under the horizon. It seemed to be late summer, a cricket chirped somewhere and the air was the heavy moist of early evening. They weren't talking, a simple glance was enough to communicate, they were content to observe.
"Sandry...."
It had been such a good dream, Sandry reflected. Her mind was fogged with sleep and her eyelids were heavy. How long had it been since they had all been together
"Sandry, wake up"
Why couldn't Briar just let me sleep? "Leave-" She had meant to yell at him, only to find a hand clamped tight over her mouth. Her eyes flicked open to reveal, not Briar, but Daja.. Cautiously, carefully Daja removed her hand.
Shh, Saati, it's time to go. Your cousins got people searching for you. Daja used their connection to explain. Suddenly, Sandry felt wide awake, answering Daja with a nod. She slung her cloak around her shoulders, taking care to cast her face into darkness. Daja grabbed her bag and tossed it to her. Sandry caught it easily and the two of them left the rented room exactly as they found it.
Swiftly and silently the pair crossed the hall, Sandry's inquisitive eyes noticed the men dressed in the cousin's colors, arguing with the innkeeper at the foot of the stairs. My, my they are being thorough, she commented to Daja, Where's Briar?
Waiting for us, came the easy response and Daja led her to the window of the adjacent room. She threw the bags down and they landed on a conveniently placed hay bale some way down. Daja jumped down after, lithely and a silently as possible. Rubbing the last bugs of sleep from her eyes she followed but rather less gracefully. Sandry landed with a soft "thump" in the scratchy hay and clambered out of the huge pile picking the hay out of her hair.
She ignored Briar laughing at her and the three of them skulked in the shadows at the side of the road, close enough to hear the travelers that will be streaming along the road in a couple hours time but not be seen by them.
Light finally arrived and along with the predicted hustle and bustle at which point the three of them joined the good humored people on their way to the next town. They weaved through the long trail of laughing, uncomplicated folk masquerading as friends traveling to see the world. Their mage medallions were safely hidden beneath inconspicuous clothing.
The three of them chatted happily yet rather superficially. Sandry tactfully avoided mentioning last night and Briar followed suit.
Finally at midday, the three of them, stopped to eat at a local inn. Briar spoke to one of the serving women about the distance to Lightsbidge, "I'b dorry misder, but it's still aboud a week 'r dwo dependen on da weadher." She sounded like she had a bad cold.
"I'm sorry, I couldn't help but overhear, you're going to Lightsbridge?" A woman with a baby on her hip walked over. She had stringy hair and was covered in baby spit.
"Yes, actually." Sandry smiled at the woman. She looked exhausted, overwhelmed, but happy.
"Well, my man John and I are going there as well, with little Emmy" She bounce the baby on her hip, "And Angie, Sara, and Micheal, our other three. Do you want to make your way with us? We got a wagon. My sister is having a baby and we're moving up to help. Anyway, you are more than welcome to join us, we don't got much but...?"
Sandry silently consulted Briar and Daja and then carefully accepted her invitation. "Wonderful! We could use another couple sets of hands, if you don't mined helping out a bit. So if you want to grab your stuff and finish eating we can go! I'm Amelia by the way."
Daja scooped the rest of the stew into her mouth as Briar grabbed his bag and Sandry stood up. "Lots of kids.." Briar muttered.
Briar don't you DARE screw this up, it's perfect for getting over the borders. They'll be looking for a trio of young adults not a family of nine. Daja admonished him.
"No, I just meant, never mind."He grumbled as they trudged outside.
***
In Magical Theory the next day Tris noticed a new student. It would probably be more accurate to say that the class, as an entire entity, noticed the new student. The entire room buzzed with curiosityandinterest. Why had he been allowed to start in the middle of the semester?
The dark haired guy wore a lazily arrogant grin. The merchant ingrained in her quickly gaged his wealth. Judging by the style and make of his clothes he was a wealthy merchant's son or a lower ranking noble. From her magical sight she could tell that he was powerful, more so than most of the pathetically weak students at the school.
Class began and most of her classmates managed to tear their eye off the oddity to listen to the lecture. Trisana however, could not for the life of her, take her eyes off the stranger. There was something about him, something she couldn't quite place, that glued her eyes to the back of his head. The newcomer turned, almost as if he sensed her gaze and quirked an eyebrow at her. This, of course, simply made her blush furiously and he grinned back before returning to the lecture.
"What was that about?" Mara asked Tris in a whisper.
"Honestly? I have no idea. I've never seen him in my life but I feel like I should remember him, it's the weirdest feeling." she muttered back to her friend.
Finally the clanging bell sounded for the end of class and Tris and Mara packed up quickly. They were almost across the courtyard to their next class when a voice sounded from behind them.
"You are awfully powerful to be in normal beginning classes." It was the newcomer, of course, she should have known that he would be able to tell how powerful she was as she could with him.
She mutter to Mara that she's meet up with her later in class, who walked off reluctantly. Tris then turned to face the boy with her hands on her hips, "I could say the same to you."
The tip of the boy's mouth curled into a smile, "I'm Alesso, I may be powerful but I'm very untrained, that is why I came in the middle of the semester." A likely story, Tris didn't believe him.
"I'm Tris and I'm disinclined to tell you why I'm in beginning classes." She retorted before turned her back on him and walked up toward her next class.
Alesso simply stared after, smiling at her manner before, finally, turning and retreating back into his next class, shaking his head, he was intrigued.
Alesso was in several other classes of hers but he did not approach her again that day. Every time she looked at him, she got that same feeling, a sort of half-remembrance, it was unnerving.
When her classes had finished for the day, Tris continued to the library, renewing her search through the dusty shelves for any mention of a little glass globe with buildings inside.
***
I suppose I should offer an explanation for why I haven't written in a year. Well, shortly after I finished the third chapter my computer completely crashed. When I finally got it up again, it had some bizarre virus that recorded my logins for various sites. That took forever to get rid of and when I finally fixed that, I ended up having to delete my account on my computer so I lost all my documents. I was so busy with school and soccer and stuff, I just didn't have enough time to write. Anyway, by that time I'd completely forgotten about it all. One of my friends mentioned it recently and I had to come finish the story. So I'm back, hopefully for good.