((Here's an update. Not many people read this story anymore, do they?))

DISCLAIMER: Tristan, Lissien, Numair, Copper, Steel, Silver, Gold, Bronze, Platinum, Kynara, Marpessa, Xanthe, Ariadne, Jasmine, Nikan, Somem, and Padkar are my original characters.

Sandry collapsed, exhausted, into one of the chairs in the room. "So what are we going to do?" she asked everyone. "Does anyone know?" They had all gone over what had happened and reasons why, now it was far into the night and they still didn't know what to do.

"Go after them of course," Briar said. "Send out a search party and bring them back home where they belong. And where they'll get a beating like they've never dreamed of for running off like they did."

"What if they did what they did for a good reason?" Trisana asked quietly. "What if they had a reason for running away and bringing them back would only make them hate us for it?"

Niko smiled and said, "I'm proud of you for considering that Trisana. I'm proud that at least one of our former students discovered that forcing young people to do things is not always the right thing to do. Sometimes it is, but sometimes it is not."

"Then will we just let them go?" Sandry demanded angrily. "Allow our children, who've never been out of Emelan, to explore the world alone?"

"No," Trisana said. "I never said that."

"Then what did you mean?"

"I meant that we do not drag them back here against their will."

"Then what do you propose we do?"

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"This is not the best idea you've ever had," Sandry, told Tris the next afternoon. "You do know that right?"

"Would you rather stay home?" Trisana asked.

"Hell no!" Sandry replied. "Three of my children are out there, I have more right to go then anyone else does."

"Well we're coming too Aunt Sandry," Silver said. She had a backpack on and held a Trader's Staff in her hand. "We want to help find our siblings, friends and we want to see the world that is outside of Emelan."

"Well I am grateful for the help of two strong young smiths," Sandry said with a smile.

"And what about me?" Nikan asked. "Do you not want my help?"

"I never said that Nikan," Sandry replied. "I was simply talking to Silver. Of course a strong young mage will be a great help." Like his namesake, Niko, Nikan had studied to become a mage at Lightsbridge Academy. And he was a very successful one. At the age of twenty-five he had graduated and had taken the name Greenfire.

"Who else is coming with us Aunt Sandry?" Silver asked as she helped Steel with his pack.

"Dedicate Lark," Sandry replied. "She knows a lot about traveling and did quite a bit when she was younger. Her help will be greatly appreciated."

"Why thank you, dear," Lark said as she walked up. "It's nice to know that someone appreciates me."

"We all appreciate you Lark," Trisana protested. "It's just that Sandry shows it more often because you were you teacher."

"Not only because of that!" Sandry said. "It's because I love her, she was my teacher and is my friend."

"Well know that we have determined who loves me," Lark said with a smile. "Let's get going."

"Finally!" Nikan said. "How are we going to search for them?"

"Magic of course," Sandry said.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"What are you doing?" Tristan asked Lissien. Her younger sister was bending over the trail they had come from, mumbling words and waving her hands over the path.

"Magic," Lissien said in response.

"I can see that!" Tristan snapped. They could all see magic; it had been passed onto them from their parents. "But why are you doing that? They will be able to trace us far easier if we leave a trail of magic behind."

Lissien looked up at Tristan and rolled her eyes. "Please Tristan," she said. "Do you really think that I'm that stupid? I'm having a trail of magic follow us and then I'm sending it off to the west. It'll keep going at a normal walking pace for at least three weeks. Hopefully anyone they send out after us will be fooled into following it."

"That's a good idea," Copper said. "I'm really glad that you thought of it."

"Can we continue on please?" Kynara asked. "It's nearing mid-afternoon and I really think we should be on a boat, headed anywhere soon. I'd like a head start on our trackers."

"I agree," Numair said from the head of the line. "Let me go and find a boat and pay our passage and then I'll come back and get you."

"How will you get a ship? And what if someone sees you and tells mother?" Lissien asked.

Numair grinned crookedly at her and said, "Lissien I hang out with street rats most of the time. Give me a break, sneaking around the ports without being seen? As easy as getting out of the castle!" Then he was gone.

"He better stop being so confident," Copper muttered as she sat on a crate. "He could get us into some major trouble that way."

"He's always been confident," Tristan said as she took a drink of water. "In everything he does."

"He gets it from dad," Lissien said. "He's confident too."

Everyone got quiet after that, until Bronze began to sing quietly. Copper stuffed her fingers in her ears then smacked him on the back of the head. "Stop that," she said crossly.

"Why'd you hit him for?" Lissien asked.

"Because the last time he sang near me I ended up dancing for eight hours straight and could not stop," Copper said sullenly. "And the time before that I recited poetry that I had never even heard of for an entire day. Mother had to have Dedicate Lark weave me a charm to get rid of that one. I have to wear it, if I take it off then I begin reciting again."

"That's a powerful spell," Kynara said, her eyes wide. "How can one so young be so strong in his magic?"

"I don't know," Bronze said honestly. "I don't even fully know how to control it. I didn't mean to put that spell on Copper, the poem one that is. I did mean to make her dance however."

Everyone, even Copper, laughed at that and Numair came in with a beaming smile upon his face. "Come on guys!" he said. "I got us passage on a boat heading away!"

((Sorry the end part sucks, but hey, it works and I was rushed.))