((a/n: I don't know how to do italics in here so whenever a word is
supposed to be in italics it'll just be in these: ~~))
CHAPTER THREE
When they got to an open courtyard, a voice called, "Hey, Evvy!" Evvy turned, waving to someone. "Be right back, okay?" Evvy didn't give them a chance to answer; she just darted off, leaving Adi, Lutra, and Ness standing lost-no, confused-in the courtyard.
"Hey, look at them!" A voice called. One of the native boys had seen these three strange looking girls. "Where are you from?" He demanded, putting his hands on his hips. "Certainly not from anywhere in Summersea." "No, we're from. . .across the ocean." Ness said. The older boy scowled. "Well, let me tell you that we don't much like newcomers taking up our land. Especially here, you see, this is me and my boys' territory." He glared at them. "We don't put up with foreign people, do we, Gerry?" He turned to the shorter boy next to him. "No, Shanno, we don't." Gerry replied. "This land doesn't belong to anyone. I know for a fact it doesn't." Adi countered. "So what are you going to do, fight us off or something?" Lutra added, becoming thoroughly annoyed with these boys.
"Yeah. We will." Shanno said challengingly, jumping an aiming a punch at Lutra. She ducked to one side, leaving him only to graze her cheek. "Missed." Lutra said, sticking out her tongue. "Hey, don't try to hit my friend!" Adi exclaimed, dodging him and giving him a good hard kick in the shins. Shanno let out a yelp, stumbling back a few paces. "Well, get them!" He shouted to Gerry. Gerry kicked Ness hard behind the knees, making her fall down with a cry. Shanno then called for help-several other boys came from behind, and soon a full fight was brewing.
After five minutes of brawling, and people gathering in the courtyard, the three girls seemed to. . .lose control.
Adi stood up, looking oddly dignified despite the fact that her eye was starting too look black and blue, and flung her arms out. Someone punched at Lutra and she threw her arms up in defence. Ness got up and aimed a punch at another guy, and then. . . Well, let's just say that things changed a bit.
For a second everything seemed to hang in the air, and then the boys all. . .changed. They were suddenly all flat, and frozen. According to Ness they were all two dimensional. According to Adi they were frozen in space. And according to Lutra, they were frozen in time.
The people who had been watching the fight were now bewildered and confused, and began slowly departing.
"Evvy!" A voice-Briar's-called. "Evvy, where are you? When I said to show the newcomers around, I didn't mean. . ." At that moment, Briar caught sight of Adi, Lutra, and Ness.
Evvy came out of wherever she was. "Um, Briar? I was just showing them. . ." But Briar was ignoring her-instead he was staring at the three confused girls who, in his eyes, were shining bright silver. "How did you do that? Wait-~what~ did you do?" Briar asked them in disbelief. "Uh. . ." Adi was just speechless. "I froze them in space. Don't ask me how, I just know I did." She finally managed to say. "Yeah, and I froze them in time." Lutra added, feeling slightly less like she was crazy when Adi said it. Briar, still bewildered, turned to hear Ness's answer. "I turned them two dimensional." She said. "Again." She muttered under her breath.
Evvy ran up beside Briar. "Why are you staring at the other-side-of-the- ocean people?" Evvy demanded, poking Briar's arm. "They do look odd, but I guess that's because they do things different on the other side of the ocean. . ." Evvy's voice kind of faded out when she realized that Briar was ignoring her. Briar looked at the three girls. "Do. . .any of you. . .know that you are mages?" He said. All he got was blank stares. "At least it's better than having them ~run away~." He muttered, remembering what happened with Evvy. Sighing, Briar looked at the boys in a rather unfortunate predicament. "Sorry about that." He told them. "I'll have them reverse the spell in no time." Unfortunately they were two dimensional and frozen in time and space, so they didn't hear him.
The three girls continued to stare blankly at him. "But. . .we. . .don't even. . .know what we did." Adi said. "So how can we reverse it?" Briar shrugged. "I don't know." He said. Lutra turned to the boys. They were frozen in time. Well, that day at colorguard practice, time had slowed down at her call, so maybe it would unfreeze at her call to. . .
She reached out a hand, cautiously touching the time that was around them. To Lutra it seemed like a tangible thing. Somehow the time reached out to her, and upon her thought of it unfreezing. . . It did just that.
Lutra now could tell that the time around them was unfrozen and moving normally once more. She smirked to herself, satisfied. Briar turned to Lutra. "You. . .unfroze them?" He asked.
Ooh. . .the strange boy was talking to ~her~! "Yeah." Lutra said, happy that he was addressing her. "Only in time, though." She added quickly. "I'll unfreeze them in space." Adi announced, clearly trying to get Briar's attention drawn to her. "See?" Adi, just on a whim, flung her hands out at the frozen, flat boys. There was another odd sense, and the two dimensional boys fell flat on the ground.
Adi blinked in surprise. Had she truly unfrozen them? The space around them was moving again. But Adi was just saying she could to get Briar's attention. . . Briar, anyway, nodded his approval to her. Ness was last-the boys were still two-dimensional. She walked up to the crumpled, flat boys, not knowing exactly what to do. But then again, it looked like Adi and Lutra didn't know either, and were "just guessing." So she would just have to guess, too. She lifted a hand, taking the two-dimensional shapes and mentally thinking of them as normal. There was a pause, and the two boys were once again their normal selves. Ness smiled slightly, not knowing what she did but just glad she did it.
"Well." Briar said, not knowing what else to say as he looked at the three girls. Evvy started at them. She could sometimes recognize magic when she saw it. "Are they mages, Briar?" She asked. "Like me?" Briar glared at Evvy. "Evvy, you are coming close to being kicked." He said. Evvy grinned, knowing that he threatened her all the time, ever so reminiscent of his own teacher.
"Mages?" Out of the three of them, only Ness vaguely knew what that meant. Mages, as far as Ness knew, were "trained wizards." Ness also knew that they were fictional. Crossing her arms, she said, "Yeah, right." Briar paused, looking thoughtful. "This may sound strange, but I need you three to come with me." He said. "Oh, you mean you're taking them back to- ow!" Briar stepped hard on Evvy's foot to keep her from finishing her sentence. "Take us where?" Adi demanded. She knew where everything was, and always liked to know where exactly she was going. Briar sighed. "Follow me." He said. To Evvy, he said, "They're from the other side of the ocean. We don't want to ~scare~ them."
Briar started off through the courtyard and out into the marketplace. Adi, Lutra, and Ness all followed close behind. Briar stopped at his stall, touching each of his miniature trees in turn before closing the stall down. He did take one tree with him-a miniature pine that grew in an S shape sharply to the right, clearly marked with a "Not for sale" sign. "That's Briar's shakkan." Evvy said knowingly, although the girls didn't exactly know what a "shakkan" was. "Come, follow me." Briar then left the marketplace itself and walked along the streets. Finally, they reached a medium-sized house. "Well, we're here." Briar announced, pushing the door open. Evvy grinned and bounced inside. "Hey, Pasco!" She said. A boy, looking about Evvy's age, waved at her. "I thought you were at your dance school." Evvy said. "No, I'm coming home for several days. Yasmin is actually giving me a break, imagine that." Replied the boy, Pasco. Evvy grinned. "That's good." She went inside, and her and Pasco started talking.
A girl about the same age as Briar looked up from something she was weaving. "Oh, Briar, you're back early." She said. "Yeah, well, I have a reason." Briar replied, setting the plant-the shakkan-on the table. He turned to the girls, indicating for them to come in. "This is Sandry, my foster-sister." He told them. Sandry waved a cheerful greeting. "Oh, so Briar brought-" She stopped abruptly in mid-sentence, suddenly noticing that to her magical vision these three girls Briar brought were glowing silver. She looked at Briar. "That's why you brought them here." She said. "But do ~they~ know?" Briar shook his head.
Adi, Lutra, and Ness were still confused. "Sorry. You're not from here?" Sandry asked. "We're from across the ocean." Ness said. "Yeah, our ship crashed." Lutra added, knowing they'd have to make up something plausible. Sandry nodded, looking sympathetic. "And you're the only survivors?" "Uh. . .yeah." Adi finished. "I'm sorry." Sandry said, looking like she was indeed. The three of them didn't know how to reply to ~that~. . .it was just a story they made up.
Sandry motioned for Briar to come with her. "Briar, can I see you in. . .the garden for a second?" Her eyes flicked to the three girls. Briar, understanding, nodded and walked out to the garden, Sandry following him.
"Well, that was strange." Adi said after the two people left. "And it's been more than a second already." Lutra said to no one in particular. "And Briar is hot." She whispered to Adi. "Yeah!" Adi agreed, nodding her head vehemently. Ness just rolled her eyes.
A few minutes later (approximately 5 minutes and 42 seconds, Lutra noted). "We'll wait for Daja to return before we used hers scrying mirror." Sandry said.
Briar cleared his throat, getting everyone's attention. "May I ask a question?" He began. "Have you. . .ever. . .done magic before?"
~What??~
Adi snorted. ~Magic?~ The three of them exchanged glances. "Are you crazy?" Adi said. "Magic's not real." "Except in books. But that's fictional." Ness added.
Sandry and Briar looked at each other. "I see." Briar said. "Well, it's true." Adi protested. "Also, magic defies all the laws of nature. How can you just make something ~appear~ our of nowhere? Matter cannot be created or destroyed. It's a law! And also-" Adi was cut off by Lutra stepping on her foot.
Briar sighed. "Sandry," He said. "This is going to be harder than I thought."
CHAPTER THREE
When they got to an open courtyard, a voice called, "Hey, Evvy!" Evvy turned, waving to someone. "Be right back, okay?" Evvy didn't give them a chance to answer; she just darted off, leaving Adi, Lutra, and Ness standing lost-no, confused-in the courtyard.
"Hey, look at them!" A voice called. One of the native boys had seen these three strange looking girls. "Where are you from?" He demanded, putting his hands on his hips. "Certainly not from anywhere in Summersea." "No, we're from. . .across the ocean." Ness said. The older boy scowled. "Well, let me tell you that we don't much like newcomers taking up our land. Especially here, you see, this is me and my boys' territory." He glared at them. "We don't put up with foreign people, do we, Gerry?" He turned to the shorter boy next to him. "No, Shanno, we don't." Gerry replied. "This land doesn't belong to anyone. I know for a fact it doesn't." Adi countered. "So what are you going to do, fight us off or something?" Lutra added, becoming thoroughly annoyed with these boys.
"Yeah. We will." Shanno said challengingly, jumping an aiming a punch at Lutra. She ducked to one side, leaving him only to graze her cheek. "Missed." Lutra said, sticking out her tongue. "Hey, don't try to hit my friend!" Adi exclaimed, dodging him and giving him a good hard kick in the shins. Shanno let out a yelp, stumbling back a few paces. "Well, get them!" He shouted to Gerry. Gerry kicked Ness hard behind the knees, making her fall down with a cry. Shanno then called for help-several other boys came from behind, and soon a full fight was brewing.
After five minutes of brawling, and people gathering in the courtyard, the three girls seemed to. . .lose control.
Adi stood up, looking oddly dignified despite the fact that her eye was starting too look black and blue, and flung her arms out. Someone punched at Lutra and she threw her arms up in defence. Ness got up and aimed a punch at another guy, and then. . . Well, let's just say that things changed a bit.
For a second everything seemed to hang in the air, and then the boys all. . .changed. They were suddenly all flat, and frozen. According to Ness they were all two dimensional. According to Adi they were frozen in space. And according to Lutra, they were frozen in time.
The people who had been watching the fight were now bewildered and confused, and began slowly departing.
"Evvy!" A voice-Briar's-called. "Evvy, where are you? When I said to show the newcomers around, I didn't mean. . ." At that moment, Briar caught sight of Adi, Lutra, and Ness.
Evvy came out of wherever she was. "Um, Briar? I was just showing them. . ." But Briar was ignoring her-instead he was staring at the three confused girls who, in his eyes, were shining bright silver. "How did you do that? Wait-~what~ did you do?" Briar asked them in disbelief. "Uh. . ." Adi was just speechless. "I froze them in space. Don't ask me how, I just know I did." She finally managed to say. "Yeah, and I froze them in time." Lutra added, feeling slightly less like she was crazy when Adi said it. Briar, still bewildered, turned to hear Ness's answer. "I turned them two dimensional." She said. "Again." She muttered under her breath.
Evvy ran up beside Briar. "Why are you staring at the other-side-of-the- ocean people?" Evvy demanded, poking Briar's arm. "They do look odd, but I guess that's because they do things different on the other side of the ocean. . ." Evvy's voice kind of faded out when she realized that Briar was ignoring her. Briar looked at the three girls. "Do. . .any of you. . .know that you are mages?" He said. All he got was blank stares. "At least it's better than having them ~run away~." He muttered, remembering what happened with Evvy. Sighing, Briar looked at the boys in a rather unfortunate predicament. "Sorry about that." He told them. "I'll have them reverse the spell in no time." Unfortunately they were two dimensional and frozen in time and space, so they didn't hear him.
The three girls continued to stare blankly at him. "But. . .we. . .don't even. . .know what we did." Adi said. "So how can we reverse it?" Briar shrugged. "I don't know." He said. Lutra turned to the boys. They were frozen in time. Well, that day at colorguard practice, time had slowed down at her call, so maybe it would unfreeze at her call to. . .
She reached out a hand, cautiously touching the time that was around them. To Lutra it seemed like a tangible thing. Somehow the time reached out to her, and upon her thought of it unfreezing. . . It did just that.
Lutra now could tell that the time around them was unfrozen and moving normally once more. She smirked to herself, satisfied. Briar turned to Lutra. "You. . .unfroze them?" He asked.
Ooh. . .the strange boy was talking to ~her~! "Yeah." Lutra said, happy that he was addressing her. "Only in time, though." She added quickly. "I'll unfreeze them in space." Adi announced, clearly trying to get Briar's attention drawn to her. "See?" Adi, just on a whim, flung her hands out at the frozen, flat boys. There was another odd sense, and the two dimensional boys fell flat on the ground.
Adi blinked in surprise. Had she truly unfrozen them? The space around them was moving again. But Adi was just saying she could to get Briar's attention. . . Briar, anyway, nodded his approval to her. Ness was last-the boys were still two-dimensional. She walked up to the crumpled, flat boys, not knowing exactly what to do. But then again, it looked like Adi and Lutra didn't know either, and were "just guessing." So she would just have to guess, too. She lifted a hand, taking the two-dimensional shapes and mentally thinking of them as normal. There was a pause, and the two boys were once again their normal selves. Ness smiled slightly, not knowing what she did but just glad she did it.
"Well." Briar said, not knowing what else to say as he looked at the three girls. Evvy started at them. She could sometimes recognize magic when she saw it. "Are they mages, Briar?" She asked. "Like me?" Briar glared at Evvy. "Evvy, you are coming close to being kicked." He said. Evvy grinned, knowing that he threatened her all the time, ever so reminiscent of his own teacher.
"Mages?" Out of the three of them, only Ness vaguely knew what that meant. Mages, as far as Ness knew, were "trained wizards." Ness also knew that they were fictional. Crossing her arms, she said, "Yeah, right." Briar paused, looking thoughtful. "This may sound strange, but I need you three to come with me." He said. "Oh, you mean you're taking them back to- ow!" Briar stepped hard on Evvy's foot to keep her from finishing her sentence. "Take us where?" Adi demanded. She knew where everything was, and always liked to know where exactly she was going. Briar sighed. "Follow me." He said. To Evvy, he said, "They're from the other side of the ocean. We don't want to ~scare~ them."
Briar started off through the courtyard and out into the marketplace. Adi, Lutra, and Ness all followed close behind. Briar stopped at his stall, touching each of his miniature trees in turn before closing the stall down. He did take one tree with him-a miniature pine that grew in an S shape sharply to the right, clearly marked with a "Not for sale" sign. "That's Briar's shakkan." Evvy said knowingly, although the girls didn't exactly know what a "shakkan" was. "Come, follow me." Briar then left the marketplace itself and walked along the streets. Finally, they reached a medium-sized house. "Well, we're here." Briar announced, pushing the door open. Evvy grinned and bounced inside. "Hey, Pasco!" She said. A boy, looking about Evvy's age, waved at her. "I thought you were at your dance school." Evvy said. "No, I'm coming home for several days. Yasmin is actually giving me a break, imagine that." Replied the boy, Pasco. Evvy grinned. "That's good." She went inside, and her and Pasco started talking.
A girl about the same age as Briar looked up from something she was weaving. "Oh, Briar, you're back early." She said. "Yeah, well, I have a reason." Briar replied, setting the plant-the shakkan-on the table. He turned to the girls, indicating for them to come in. "This is Sandry, my foster-sister." He told them. Sandry waved a cheerful greeting. "Oh, so Briar brought-" She stopped abruptly in mid-sentence, suddenly noticing that to her magical vision these three girls Briar brought were glowing silver. She looked at Briar. "That's why you brought them here." She said. "But do ~they~ know?" Briar shook his head.
Adi, Lutra, and Ness were still confused. "Sorry. You're not from here?" Sandry asked. "We're from across the ocean." Ness said. "Yeah, our ship crashed." Lutra added, knowing they'd have to make up something plausible. Sandry nodded, looking sympathetic. "And you're the only survivors?" "Uh. . .yeah." Adi finished. "I'm sorry." Sandry said, looking like she was indeed. The three of them didn't know how to reply to ~that~. . .it was just a story they made up.
Sandry motioned for Briar to come with her. "Briar, can I see you in. . .the garden for a second?" Her eyes flicked to the three girls. Briar, understanding, nodded and walked out to the garden, Sandry following him.
"Well, that was strange." Adi said after the two people left. "And it's been more than a second already." Lutra said to no one in particular. "And Briar is hot." She whispered to Adi. "Yeah!" Adi agreed, nodding her head vehemently. Ness just rolled her eyes.
A few minutes later (approximately 5 minutes and 42 seconds, Lutra noted). "We'll wait for Daja to return before we used hers scrying mirror." Sandry said.
Briar cleared his throat, getting everyone's attention. "May I ask a question?" He began. "Have you. . .ever. . .done magic before?"
~What??~
Adi snorted. ~Magic?~ The three of them exchanged glances. "Are you crazy?" Adi said. "Magic's not real." "Except in books. But that's fictional." Ness added.
Sandry and Briar looked at each other. "I see." Briar said. "Well, it's true." Adi protested. "Also, magic defies all the laws of nature. How can you just make something ~appear~ our of nowhere? Matter cannot be created or destroyed. It's a law! And also-" Adi was cut off by Lutra stepping on her foot.
Briar sighed. "Sandry," He said. "This is going to be harder than I thought."