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Chapter 4: Pretending to love you. . . for a joke's sake.
Trying to think clearly and weaving wasn't working well for Sandry today. Being frustrated and weaving wasn't any better. She probably had every right to be frustrated, but she didn't really know who she was frustrated at. Herself or Pasco.
Why had she let him meditate by himself? Sandry let down the shirt she was trying to stitch together and rested her chin on her hand. Perhaps he had earned her trust and she had felt guilty about not giving him her full and undivided trust. Or, maybe, it was because he had successfully meditated by himself before. That should had given Sandry enough of a reason to trust him. She had pitied him. So, why not let him try?
Sandry sighed. She really hadn't expected his magic to go flying everywhere and disrupt his family.
It had just happened today. It was a lazy afternoon and Sandry had been stitching a shirt for Pasco. He was going to a rather big, social event held by her uncle later in the week and Sandry was determined to finish him a truly well stitched shirt. She had even agreed to weave a little magic into it. When she had asked Pasco what he wanted woven into it, he had answered in what Sandry had thought. . .silly. He wanted the shirt to have a special shine. That was what he wanted of all things. A "special shine."
Sandry rolled her eyes in exasperation. What a waste of magic. But, if it made Pasco happy, she supposed it was worth the effort.
She had almost uninvited Pasco to the formal ball this afternoon. It had happened when she had let Pasco do afternoon-meditation by himself. She had been quite pleased with his progress in training so far, so, stupidly, she didn't monitor him while he was in meditation. Instead, she sat up in one of Pasco's family rooms. There, she followed a simple stitch pattern that gave off a shiny, flattering appearance. Lark had showed it to her a few days ago when Pasco asked for the shirt.
When Lark had heard what he wanted, she had burst out into laughter. Not mocking, just simple amusement. Nevertheless, Sandry had to hide the blush creeping on her cheeks.
However, the pattern was fairly easy and Sandry was almost half-way done with the shirt when she heard a cry from downstairs, in the courtyard.
The cry was pretty explanatory. It was simply, "Paaassccccooo!"
Sandry had looked up from her sewing before she heard another cry, "Lady Sandilene! Pasco!" She had jumped up from sewing and ran down a small flight of stairs to see Pasco's family lying helplessly on the ground, hands and legs pinned down by some invisible force.
Forcing herself to not gape, Sandry stood there, staring blankly, "Why happened?!" She finally asked, dumb-founded.
One of Pasco's family members averted his eyes towards Sandry. He wasn't able to actually move his head due to the fact that it was pinned to the ground. "Don't know exactly, milady. We were just doing our chores when all of a sudden --out of nowhere-- we all were shoved to the ground. Now, don't get me wrong, milady, but Pasco's the only magic we's got in the family, and. . ."
He wasn't able to get anything out of his mouth for Sandry was dashing up the stairs, skirts pulled up to mid shin. When she finally came to the room that Pasco was meditating in, she forced the door opened and let it slam against the wall. She watched as Pasco, surprised, jumped to his feet and stared at her in horror. Sandry could see now how he looked that way. When she stood in his doorway, her hair was in disarray and she panting like an angered animal. Sandry suspected she had a I'm-about-the-wring-your-neck look in her eyes.
"Wha. . .what did I do?" He asked nervously, biting his lip.
Sandry raised an exasperated eyebrow before bellowing, "What did you do? Look outside and see what you did." She then pursed her lips and crossed her arms as she watched Pasco run over to his window.
He took a glance outside, caught his breath, and then looked at her apprehensively, "I didn't do it! I was just meditating and then you walked. . ."
She dismissed him with a wave of her hand, "What were you thinking about when you were meditating?" Lips still angrily pursed, she walked closer to Pasco before glowering over him.
Pasco stared at her blankly before shaking his head, "What's that supposed to mean?"
Pointing a finger in his direction, Sandry scolded, "You were thinking about the ball this week, weren't you?" She looked at him accusingly, "Weren't you?"
"I. . .I," He faltered, looking up at Sandry through guilty eyelashes, "Okay, I was." Something instantly became interesting at the bottom of his foot as he pushed in around. "Sorry," he managed to murmur weakly.
Sandry unpursed her lips and uncrossed her arms. She knew she couldn't stay mad at him. It was her curse in life. She just couldn't be mad at boys who were mischievous. She'd have to add Pasco to the list she had of mischievous boys. Briar was already on it.
Sandry had managed to "un-weave," Pasco's "dance" that he had managed to do in his head. Fortunately for the both of them, the they were able to get Pasco's family from lying with their backs to the sky, legs and arms outstretched. It was a good thing too. It reminded both Sandry and Pasco too much of a dissection project.
However, when that was over with, Sandry dragged Pasco up to her room at her uncle's so she could keep a close eye on him.
Pasco had fidgeted the whole afternoon. That bothered Sandry. No, it had annoyed her to the point of insanity.
In fact, she was about to scold him again when she heard a slight tap at her door. Sandry glanced up surprised, before putting Pasco's almost finished shirt on her chair and walking up to the door.
Pulling open the door, Sandry glanced at the person in front of her before blinking. Then, with a sudden yelp, she exclaimed, "Jaque! How good to see you!"
The man standing in front of her was a middle-aged man with a sturdy build, not bulky but losing it's prime fitness. He had a slightly gray beard that was neatly trimmed, and a large leather bag was held up by his shoulders. When he saw Sandry's reaction to his appearance, he laughed jolly. "That's quite all right, Lady Sadrilene. You know you don't really want to see me." He smiled at her sweetly, before reaching in his bag and producing a small brown package, "I'm sure ma'am, you wanted to see this rather." He waved the package around, still smiling.
Eyeing the package, Sandry managed to put her hand on the older man's arm and say, "Now, now, Jaque. I'm delighted to see you," she then watched the package in Jaque's hand and licked her lips, "but, Jaque, who's the package from?"
The old man laughed again, "Thought you'd be interested." He pushed the package into Sandry's hands. "It's another package from this friend of yours: Briar Moss." He watched as her eyes lighted up and she started to tear open the package. Laughing, he roared, "You sure do enjoy his packages, don't you, Lady Sandrilene?"
Sandry, eyes smiling, glanced up at Jaque. Shaking her head, she shrugged, "Oh, you know Jaque. I enjoy any kind of package. . ."
"Yes, yes," The older man interrupted, swinging his leather bag further on his shoulder, "but you have gotten quite a few from this young man lately." Something in his voice made Sandry look up at him in surprise. Blinking her eyes, she smiled questionably.
"I feel like you're implying something, Jaque." Despite what she thought he was saying, Sandry smiled at the old man.
The old man didn't answer. Instead, he merely smiled bitter-sweet at her before saying, "I don't imply anything, Milady." And then, his smile became cheerful, "I simply know." He winked at her, "Remember this and you'll find all life's answers for all of life's big questions: Ask your heart and you'll always be right." With that, the older man bowed to her and made his way down to her uncle's quarters.
There was a brief silence before Pasco broke it abruptly, "What in the world is that supposed to mean?"
Sandry turned to him and frowned. "Aren't you supposed to be reading?" She asked accusingly, before making her way to her desk.
"Yeah, yeah," Pasco replied poutingly, picking up his book on mages and pretending to read. Unfortunately, his stunt didn't work. The book was upside down.
She sighed before smiling weakly at the pouting Pasco. Sitting down at her desk, she turned to her student, "All right, do you want to read Briar's letter with me?"
Immediately, his eyes glanced up from his upside-down book to her. He smiled largely at her before speaking cheerfully, "If you insist. . ." With that, he practically skipped over to Sandry's desk and stood over her.
Sandry rolled her eyes before opening the box that was wrapped in a brown-yellow paper. Inside, there were papers and something shining underneath them. Assuming that the papers were Briar's letter, Sandry pulled them out first. Ignoring whatever was shiny, she about to read his letter when Pasco yelped.
"Holy Harrier the Clawed!" He exclaimed, pointing to the shiny something at the bottom of the package. Sandry looked at Pasco in surprise before looking whatever he was pointing to. When she saw it, she gasped.
"Holy is right," She whispered huskily, before reaching in to grab the once shiny thing. Now, it was blinding.
Sandry examined it, squinting her eyes. The shiny-thing was really a rock, brimming over with bright magic. Pink flashes of light were shining through the surface, making neon pin prick lights. Then, after a few brief seconds, the light turned to a light green. The light green shone for a minute before it changed to a bright red. Sandry supposed, even to the naked eye, one could faintly see the lights.
"I thought you said that Briar's magic involved plants," Pasco said almost a bit scoldingly, as if she had told him a lie.
Sandry frowned up at him, "It is." She retorted sharply, before she calmed herself down, "It is, Pasco. I just. . . I don't really know." Putting the rock down, Sandry turned to Briar's letter and picked it up. "Maybe this will answer to what this. . .thing is."
The letter was rolled up in a scroll-like fashion, tied together snugly with a string. Using her magic, Sandry called the string out of it's knot and started to unroll the letter. It was only a page and half long, but Sandry didn't mind; Briar had already sent her two letters before this month. They had been decently long. Tris and Daja had sent her three letters in the whole time they had been out. She could understand though. They all were quite busy. Plus, truth be told, she secretly enjoyed Briar's letters a bit more. She wasn't quite sure why she did. They were just. . .comforting.
"Well, are you going to read it or not?" Pasco snapped impatiently, crossing his arms across his chest.
Sandry simply smiled a weak, exasperated smile at him. "If you insist. . ." She mumbled before she started to read the letter out loud:
Sandry,
And you say your life is hard. Hah! Try being stuck with Rosethorn for more than a month while she in one of her bad moods. It's not exactly fun. Every night she comes home from the Earth Temple so she can complain about stuff. But of coarse, she likes to do that all the time, but it's gotten worse in the last week. And, if that's not enough to drive a guy to insanity, I've got my own squirt to look after.
You said you have your own student to teach the basics to, huh? They're real fun, aren't they? Found this girl shining magic into the rocks. Don't ask, I've never heard of it either. But, as luck has it, I got to be her "mentor," and spoon feed her the basics. Yeah, real fun. But, you probably love having a kid hanging on your every word, right?
At this point, Sandry burst into laughter. Pasco was simply pouting with a tight mouth. When she managed to get herself under control, Sandry went on with reading the letter.
Anyways, that's why there's that rock in the package. You probably
figured out by this point that the thing has enough magic in it to light
up all of Winding Circle. Damn