Um...please don't kill me for the ridiculously late update?

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Evvy gazed at herself in the mirror. Hair done up, makeup on her face, and wearing the most beautiful dress she had ever seen, Evvy believed this was the best she'd ever looked in her life.

She smiled broadly at her image, but it faded away just as fast as it had come. The dress's low neckline still irked her. She placed a hand on the exposed skin below her neck and sighed.

"If only it wasn't so…so, bare!" she said to herself. As if this declaration had been the key to solving the problem, Evvy rushed to her bed and began rummaging through her bags.

"Where is it, where is it…" Evvy mumbled to herself, parting piles of knick-knacks and clothes in order to see the bottom. A strand of hair fell from her up-do into her eyes. She blew it away. "Here you are!" she said triumphantly as she pulled out a rolled sheet of canvas.

The stone alphabet. The tool Briar had used to help teach her reading and writing…and the first gift Evvy had ever received.

She smiled at the memory and undid the ties. When it was unrolled, she stared at it thoughtfully. It had been months since she had last opened it. She ran a finger down the rows of neatly drawn letters and found the pocket labeled 'J'. Lifting the flap, she plucked out the stone inside.

Jade, the same gray-green color of the dress she was wearing.

Evvy's eyebrows shot up as she gazed at the stone in her palm. The color had also prodded another old memory. Jade eyes.

"Oh, that's right…"

Jade-eyed Boy. It was the label she had used for Briar until she had learned his real name.

Evvy closed her hand lightly around the stone and began to breathe deep. She concentrated her energy on the stone, trying to empty her mind. However, she couldn't help but smile as her thoughts lingered on the image of Briar's eyes and the way they had looked on the day she had first seen them, how the boy behind them had stirred a great curiosity in her, leading her to who she was today.

She opened her fist and looked at the gem. It had a teardrop shape to it now, with a small loop at its point. Evvy frowned.

It was a shade too dark to completely match her dress. In fact, it had become the exact shade as Briar's eyes. Evvy made a face at it.

"If anyone says anything," she muttered to herself as she dug out a silver chain from a pocket in her bag, "I'll tell them it was Pahan's fault my concentration was broken."

She crossed the room to stand in front of her vanity mirror as she hooked the chain's clasp. She stared at her reflection, gently fingering the amulet that now occupied the space in the neckline. She grinned.

"Well, at least it's a pretty color," she said as she left the room.

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Briar was leaning up against a wall on the far side of the hall, trying to convince himself that he wasn't hiding. Even though this ball was in honor of him, he felt exceedingly uncomfortable. Especially when the barker had announced him descended the stairs. He had tried to smile as dozens of pairs of eyes turned to stare at him, but he had found it extremely difficult.

"Lady Sandrilene fa Toren."

He glanced up to watch Sandry step elegantly down the staircase, smiling as naturally as she had done all her life. Briar smiled at the sight, a bit envious. Being noble certainly had its perks.

Briar saw that she was walking toward him. He gulped. She was wearing a face he didn't like.

"You seem to be having fun," she said icily.

"Uh…yeah, plenty," he tried to assure her. Sandry glared.

"So, after all the work I put into this party I suppose you plan to sit here and be a rock for the entire night?" she demanded.

"Of course not!" Briar said in mock horror. "Dear Sandry, I would never sit here and 'be a rock', as you so charmingly put it. I at least have the courtesy to stand." He desperately hoped that the little joke would be enough to get her off his back.

"Briar," she said, not amused.

He sighed in defeat. "All right. You caught me. I guess I'll dance a little." He flashed her one of his trademark, lady-killing grins. "Would you be so kind as to direct me to a large group of ridiculously attractive girls?" Sandry kicked him.

"Ow! Ok, I get it, I get it. 'Stop being such an ass, Briar,'" he said in an exaggerated girlish tone as he stalked off. He thought he heard Sandry irritably mutter the word 'men' once his back was turned.

Rubbing his shin, he glanced around the room and spotted a pretty brunette watching the couples waltz from a corner of the room. He smirked.

"I bet she's lonely," he said to himself. However, before he could make his way to her, he was stopped by the barker's voice once again.

"Miss Evumeimei Dingzai."

His head automatically turned to the stairs, his conquest almost immediately forgotten. The sight that met his eyes astounded him.

Evvy was…beautiful. There was no way around that fact. He knew she had certainly never been ugly, but not like this. This was…very different. Briar realized suddenly that he was staring and coughed, forcing himself to act more like an art critic than some smitten teenage boy.

"Sandry did some good work. I ought to thank her later," he said in the most offhanded manner he could manage.

He nodded with approval as he looked at her newly curled and piled hair, the hints of makeup that had been applied to her face, the green pendant that accented the dress's low neckline on her…chest?

Briar felt heat crawling up his neck and shook himself quickly. He looked around the room at the other gawking males and cursed Sandry. She could have chosen a more modest dress.

Briar inhaled sharply and whirled his head to look at whatever had just caught his eye. To his relief, it was just Evvy. He let out a breath. For a second, out of a corner of his eye, he could have sworn she had looked just like…no. No.

The dream from that morning came flooding back to him.

…a lady around the age of twenty…ebony hair piled on top of her head…full lips and almond eyes…cold, blank eyes; emotionless, like…stone.

Briar began to panic. Was it going to happen tonight? Is that what it meant? What could he do? He began to push through the crowd to reach Evvy. Was there any way he could warn her?

Before he could get to her, someone held out a hand to Evvy first. Briar watched as she put her hand into the stranger's and nervously step out onto the dance floor. Briar stopped and scowled as he recognized who it was.

"Pasco."

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A year and a couple months? Has it really been that long since this was updated? Uh...what can I say...sorry? And the chapter's so short too. Ouch. Well, lemme just say to all you Pasco fans before you get worked up...it'll be ok in the end. Promise. Well, until next time, I suppose (whenever that'll be...)