This was supposed to be the last chapter, but it got too long. Split it up!
Briar couldn't believe it. He wouldn't believe it. Even if he wanted to force himself to listen to the facts and accept her terrible fate, his heart simply could not accept that Evvy was truly gone.
He felt the familiar manic energy begin to take hold of him again, but he forced it down. He would have to stay rational this time if he were to go through with the plan that was slowly forming in his mind.
"We'll keep looking, Briar," Sandry had assured him, tears sparkling in her red-rimmed eyes. "We won't give up." He only nodded, feigning shock as his friends filed in one-by-one to offer condolences. Rosethorn murmured a few soft words then reached for the now customary vial of poppy powder. The look on Briar's face, however, made her reluctantly stuff it back in her sleeve.
"Of course. Forgive me." She reached to give Briar's shoulder a gentle squeeze, then hesitated. Suddenly she was kneeling beside him, pulling him into a rough embrace. Her shoulders quivered. "I'm so sorry, Briar. She was my responsibility too." Her voice cracked. "I've failed you as well. Please forgive me."
Briar could only chance a sad smile. He didn't trust himself to speak, for it pained him to deceive his former teacher so. He hugged her back gratefully, then wiggled himself back deep beneath the sheets and waited for her to leave.
As the light under his door dimmed and quiet steadily settled over the Citadel, Briar eased himself out of bed. It was slow and difficult to dress with only one stiff arm, but at least his head had finally stopped swimming. He packed a modest mage kit into a satchel and made for the door.
He opened it a crack and nearly yelped when he saw Tris' long-nosed face leering back at him from the hallway. She clamped a hand over his mouth and brought her stormy grey eyes level with his.
"No noise. No fuss. We'll talk in the courtyard," she said in a low voice, barely above a whisper. Briar opened his lips to protest when he saw lightning flash briefly in the darkness from a braid just behind her ear. "Courtyard," she hissed. She didn't need to tell him again.
When they walked out of the Citadel into the night air, Briar rounded on her. "You can't—"
"I can," she countered. "And you're in no position to refuse me." She smiled while lightning continued to play threateningly in light sparkles through her hair. The effect was quite frightening.
"I can't believe you've resorted to bullying," he complained. How was he going to get away from her with only one good arm? And worse, how would he do it without alerting the whole Citadel?
"I'm not bullying. I'm forcibly offering my help." At Briar's skeptical look, she continued, "If you think she's still out there, Briar, you have a right to look for answers. But even you must admit, you're not in the best shape to be wandering the streets alone," she added wryly.
Briar felt his pride stir defensively. He may be injured, but he was not some weak lamb. "I'm not looking for brawls, Tris. Just one lost girl." Her stubborn expression did not change. "And unless you have, I don't know, scouts made of cyclones, or a lightning-powered seeking machine, I don't see how your help is going to make much difference," he added hotly.
Tris just smiled. "I have the wind."
Evvy realized it had been more than a day since she had left her makeshift hollow. The darkness of late evening was a welcome camouflage, but Evvy still squirmed nervously. There seemed to be an army of people this late in the marketplace; the noise gave her a headache. She accepted her food from the vendor, left a copper crescent, and scurried away.
It had taken some work to get this meal. When no respectable vendor would speak to her due to her beggarly appearance, she was forced to commit her first act of thievery in years. A careless washerwoman had been slow to collect a basket left out in a back alley, and Evvy took this opportunity to nab a simple cotton dress and a headscarf. For coin, she magicked a pebble into the appearance of a precious stone and pawned it. Evvy felt uneasy for her growing list of crimes, but quickly convinced herself that there was no other way. She couldn't very well sneak back to the citadel for her belongings; squads of Harriers could be scouring the lower city for her as it was.
No. She sighed, thinking sadly of the treasures she would have to leave behind, including her precious stone alphabet. I can't go back.
Leaning against a wall to enjoy her first real meal in days, Evvy thought hard about her next steps. She had to leave Summersea and eventually Emelan altogether. That much was obvious. But to where? She jangled the bits of copper and silver in her pocket. She had enough for a ship's passage, not much more. She evaluated the options left to her. She had heard of a sizable jewel trade in the markets of Anderran. A stone mage would find little trouble finding an obscure living there, or so she hoped. She took a last mouthful of hot bread, and made for Summersea's docks.
"Aye," the sailor said as he inspected her coin. "That'll do. We sail in two hours. A minute late, and we'll leave you behind, sure as rain."
Evvy nodded, smiling slightly. The old man's price had been surprisingly cheap; she suspected she could afford to buy another set of clothes and more food before her journey. She trotted in the direction of the night market.
Halfway down what she thought was a deserted alley, someone lightly touched her arm.
"Slow, Little Love. Where is it you rush with such speed?" Evvy readied a sharp retort, but the breath caught in her throat. A grand young man stood before her.
He was attractive; longish, dirty-blonde hair and warm brown eyes that seemed to taunt and invite at the same time. But Evvy also noticed he was dressed much too handsomely for someone who frequented alleyways at night; an ivory silk shirt, wine-colored brocade overcoat, black wool hose, and shiny leather boots. She soon understood why: a heavy mage's medallion rested against his chest from an expensive silver chain, more like a badge of office than a simple credential. Rosethorn and Briar had always worn theirs inconspicuously beneath their shirts.
A pet mage? she wondered disapprovingly. She saw the medallion was not his only ornament. Twin garnets dangled from his ears, and despite her distrust Evvy could not help but admire the way the red glimmer mirrored the gleam of his eyes in the torchlight.
"Night market, if it pleases milord," she said, keeping her eyes downcast. She judged it better to play ignorant guttersnipe than pique the interest of a peacock, even one who smiled as charmingly as this one. His notice already unsettled her; had news of a runaway Yanjingyi girl already traveled through the city?
"Jasper lal Tasche, a mage of the Emerald Triangle. Please allow me to escort you." He smiled down at her warmly. Evvy stayed silent, unsure of how best to refuse the offer. The suspicion must have shown on her face because he added, "A pretty young lady alone is like to attract unwanted harassment in these, ah…rougher parts of the city." She still hesitated; the gentle-bred and well educated were no pals to common folk. The garnets in his ears tinkled a friendly tune with the turn of his head, and Evvy reluctantly felt herself relax.
Evvy knew she ought to refuse, but instead uttered a quiet "Thank you, milord." Her plan to avoid people was temporarily cast aside, but she convinced herself that she could possibly wheedle some valuable news of the Citadel from her companion. No doubt he was the type to flit about privileged gossip circles. She didn't have to wait long for him to speak.
"Your coloring is most exotic for Emelan," he began conversationally. "From where do you hail, Miss…?"
"Mei," she replied too quickly. She blushed, trying to recall the story she had worked out just before leaving her hollow. She could feel the man's amused brown eyes on her. "I've just arrived from Karang. To visit the Winding Circle temple." She knew a well-traveled man would find this dubious at best, but the mage was either too unfamiliar or disinterested in the far-east country to remark further on it. Citadel guards would be looking for a Yanjingyi girl, if they were looking for her at all. It was best to lie about her heritage for now.
He asked her how she liked Winding Circle and Summersea. As their conversation wound on, she found she needed to remind herself several times to stay guarded; lal Tasche's presence beside her was making her altogether too light-headed for comfort.
She suddenly noticed that they were well past Spicer Street, the most direct route to the market.
"Sir, the market—"
"A more scenic route, I assure you. No doubt you would love to see the sights of our famous Copper Triangle." He held out his elbow for her to grasp, and Evvy conveniently forgot her visit to the Copper Triangle with Briar and Sandry not days before. She found she couldn't refuse that wicked grin as she compulsively placed a dirty hand atop his richly dressed sleeve.
Briar was growing restless. Tris had told him that her scrying required complete focus and patience, but it had been almost two hours. He wanted nothing more than to sneak off and scour the lower city on his own. Every time he contemplated this urge, however, he reminded himself that would leave him no closer to finding Evvy than he was sitting there on the lip of the square's fountain. Summersea was enormous. Briar sighed and slid a knife from his sleeve to pick his nails.
He had just transferred the knife awkwardly to his wounded arm when he heard Tris inhale sharply. Briar nearly dropped the knife in his rush to her side.
"What is it?" Briar asked breathlessly. "Do you see her?"
"No. But I see a fool." Tris' eyes narrowed with distaste. "It seems the Emerald Triangle's favorite magician is prowling the Night Market."
"Who?" Briar was mystified.
"Jasper lal Tasche. Niko and I had the pleasure of meeting the popular "Stone-Blooded" idiot at a conference en route to Tharios." Tris' eyes remained unblinking, focusing sharply on the image she had plucked from the wind. "He's looking for her as well. I'm sure of it."
"Why?" he demanded. "What would he want with Evvy?"
"Lal Tasche is ambitious and vain, but generally harmless. I expect he wants to steal her as student, or at least sell information to the Citadel."
Briar snorted. "She'd eat him alive."
"That's what I'm afraid of," she continued. "He's attractive, popular, and well-regarded, but no ambient mage. Just a clever academic with a flair for parlor tricks. I find it amazing he's gotten so far with only his charm to recommend him." Tris broke her connection with the wind and stiffly got to her feet. "If Evvy is out there, we should stop him before he gets too close; she's likely to tear him to pieces rather than be caught." She made to walk away, but Briar stopped her with an arm.
"We're not seriously going to waste time making small talk with some fraud?" he asked her sharply. "What about Evvy?"
Tris swatted his hand away and took a deep breath, silently asking Mila of the Grain to grant her patience. "At best, he'll have clues for us. Worst, he finds her before we do and she kills him. I'm not joking, Briar," she snapped at his scoffing look. "She has no control. A ruined courtyard is one thing, but a wanton murder? She would be hanged."
"The duke would never—"
"He would," she hissed. "Duke Vedris is more bound by the law than anyone." She sighed, feeling weary with what she was about to ask of him. Tris placed her hands on his shoulders and met his eyes squarely. "You must promise that you will do what is necessary should things go wrong," she said gravely.
He stared at her, aghast. "You can't mean that."
Tris gripped him even harder. "I know that you feel honor-bound to this girl, Briar. But we also have a duty to this city. To these people. We are mages, and we protect lives. At all cost." She looked at him hard, then added, "And if you can't do that, I will."
"It won't come to that." He turned out of her grip and walked in the direction Tris' wind image had come. "We'll find her first, and it won't come to that."
Thank god for the Tamora Pierce wiki.