Adam sat under a tree, reading his book. He tried to concentrate on it, but just couldn't. Finally giving up, he closed the book and sat back against the tree's rough bark. He sighed. Why? That's all I want to know Tris. Why? Did I ever do anything to you? Hurt you in some way? Anything? Adam didn't send the thought out to her, but kept it in his head. They were rhetorical questions and he sat wondering about them until something interrupted his thoughts. He heard the yell before he saw the man. Darien came running at him with an axe in his hands. He threw it with all his might at Adam, who managed to throw himself to the side just in time. He got up and tackled Darien to the ground.

"Are you mad?!" He demanded once he had him pinned. "I'm a freaking mage! You're going to attack me with an axe? What the bloody hell is wrong with you?" (A/N: I just saw Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets last night. Don't mind the "bloody hell" thing)

"Give it back!" Darien cried. "Give me my magic back!"

"Even if I wanted to I couldn't." Adam informed him. "It's not mine to give back. You know very well that I don't have it."

"Of course I do. Yes…yes…I know that…I do…" Darien muttered and then quieted. Adam got off him and hauled Darien to his feet, keeping his arms firmly locked behind his back.

"It's not like you don't deserve it." He informed him. "After everything you pulled, you should have gotten off worse than you did. I suggest you deal with it, and in a healthier way than by attacking me with a deadly weapon. And here I've not even done anything to you."

Darien pulled away from him. "Oh I'll deal with it. I'll deal with it just fine. By getting my power back and killing that little wench!" And he took off at a run. Adam didn't even bother following him.

"That boy's lost his mind." He said, thinking out-loud. And he was right.

"He what?" Elizabeth asked when Adam told her what Darien had done to him.

"I know." He answered her. "I couldn't believe it either. It's not like him to act so rash. I think he went insane after Tris took his magic from him." He confessed, honestly.

Elizabeth shook her head, "I can't believe it. First Tris, now Darien. Will it never end?"

"Tris? I know she's being rude," He said, thinking that must be the understatement of the year, "but she's hardly up there with Darien." Elizabeth looked at him strangely for a moment before she gasped.

"You don't know, do you?" She asked.

"Know what?" Adam was curious now. Elizabeth told him about Sandry's encounter with Tris. He was shocked.

"She set fire to Sandry?" He asked, his face contorted in disbelief and anger. "I can't believe I liked her." Well, loved her. He amended to himself bitterly.

Elizabeth looked at him, searching his face for something. Finally she said, "Maybe you should talk to her." Adam looked at her in alarm. "Well, you seem to connect with her." She said, defending her statement. Adam shook his head.

"I can't. Not after what she said. I can't."

Elizabeth looked at him pleadingly. "Adam, please. You saved her once, can't you try to do it one more time?" Adam sighed. Liz had struck a cord with him. Finally he gave a grudging nod.

"I'll try, but I can't promise you anything." He told her. Elizabeth hugged him in thanks and went off, leaving him to decide how to approach Tris. Guess there's no other way except the direct approach.

Tris sat in her room, reading, when she heard someone knocking on her door.

"What?" She demanded, annoyed at having been interrupted. Adam came in. She glared fiercely at him. "I didn't tell you to come in." She informed him forcefully. He looked at her nervously.

"Tris can we talk? And please, don't pull a disappearing act on me. I need to talk to you, not your image. It's important." Tris stopped. She had been in the middle of setting up just such an illusion, but something in Adam's eyes stopped her. She sighed.

"Fine. But make it quick."

"Tris, what's going on? You were never like this. You were always a little afraid of your magic, and now you're attacking Sandry with it." Tris rolled her eyes.

"And? What's your point? So I have a little more confidence in my abilities now, why are you all mad about that? I'm just not afraid anymore." She told him.

"But you're hurting people!" Adam protested. "Sandry has kept you alive on more than one occasion and you tried to torch her! You could have killed her! Don't you get it?" He asked her.

"Sandry isn't stupid Adam! She wasn't about to let herself go up in flames, besides it's not like I meant to hit her, I was just trying to scare her a little and it got away from me. That's to be expected when one acquires new powers." She said.

"But why would you want to scare her in the first place? She's Sandry! She'd never do anything to offend you or hurt you."

"She called me Trisana Chandler. Only my family called me that." It sounded lame even to her ears. Sure, Tris's family was a major sore spot, but that was still no excuse to do that. Sandry was closer to Tris than her real family had ever been. "Oh gods." She sighed. "What's going on with me? Adam, I'm so sorry. About…about everything." She said, and she meant it. She was sorry about everything she'd been doing and saying lately, but there was also a specific apology in there for him. He found it. Adam put his arms around her and pulled her close again.

"It's okay. I understand." He told her.

"I don't know what's wrong." She confessed. "This isn't me." Adam nodded.

"I know. But we'll find out what it is. In the mean time, try to stay away heavily wooded areas, okay?" He asked jokingly. She smacked his arm in a playful reproach.

Author's Note: Okay, I'll think of something to put in to keep this story breathing a little longer, but it might take a little while. I think I might have something, as long as I'm careful not to let Rosethorn and Lark in on Tris's odd behavior. I think they'd know what was wrong, and I can't have that happen until I'm ready to end it.

Eve of Mirkwood: Okay, I give up! I got as far as pdsw, but then I got stuck. Care to translate the rest for me?