An Unlikely Pairing by Lady Jen of Conté

For Kitty Ryan, who requested a Briar/Jarality ficlet

~*~

"Are we almost there?" the sixteen year old girl asked, bouncing with excitement. "We've been moving forever. Besides, I'm bored and hungry."

"No Miss," the man said patiently, sighing. "We are not there yet."

The girl looked deflated for a minute and shifted so that she was lying down. Her sister gently moved her head out of her way. "Jory, I'm trying to read," she chided her gently.

Jorality Bancanor shrugged, eyes shining. "But I'm so excited. Imagine, we get to visit Daja! We haven't seen her in four whole years!"

Nia couldn't help the smile that spread to her lips. It was exciting, and she couldn't really fault Jory for being Jory.

Nia's thoughts were interrupted by Jory's exclamation of "Are we there now?"

~*~

"Briar," Daja called for the third time, irritation slipping into her voice. "It's time to come in. My old students are coming any minute. They're already late. You've been pulling weeds for hours."

"Fine," the eighteen year old said, getting to his feet and wiping his hands on his breeches. However, it didn't do any good since he'd been kneeling in dirt all morning and his knees were no cleaner than the rest of him.

Sandry would've cried if she could've see how horrifically Briar's clothes had been messed up. It had gotten so that even her cleaning spells on the cloth could do nothing. However, Sandry wasn't there. She was in Summersea with her Great Uncle, helping him run things and preparing for when she would take the throne herself.

Briar walked into Discipline, and quickly dashed his hands under water, more to please the girls than for anything else. He found a sugar bun in the cold box and began to eat it at the table, relaxing his stiff legs.

~*~

Jory bounced up and down on the steps of Discipline eagerly, knocking. Within a moment, the door opened and Daja was covered in hugs. Laughing, she invited them all in. Serg teetered in a minute later, carrying Jory's bags.

After hugs all around, Jory surveyed the place. Discipline looked warm and comfortable. Not just in physicality, but just the atmosphere. She could see why Daja loved it so much.

"Hey Daja, are they Jory and Nia?" a male voice interrupted, causing Jory to look towards the door. Jory's eyes looked over a tall boy with coarse-cut black hair and jade-green eyes. Eyes the color of her favorite jewels. He was filthy, but something about that made him even more interesting to her.

Jory felt her cheeks warm as he looked at her and Nia in turn. "I'm Jory," she managed to say finally. "You must be Briar." He looked exactly like Daja's description of him, right down to the moving tattoo on his arm. "This is my sister Nia," she said finally, in order to draw attention away from her red face.

Nia looked up from examining the wood on the stairs to greet Briar softly. In those few moments, she looked at her sister's face and saw all she needed to know; Jory was smitten. Nia prepared herself for an extremely emotional visit.

~*~

Briar and Jory hardly saw each other at all in the next three days. Briar was busy weeding and tending the rest of the garden, and the Bancanors spent most of their time with Daja.

However, Daja was busy with a huge project that could be put off no longer and Nia had went to examine the trees in Winding Circle to determine wood quality. That left Briar and Jory alone in the kitchen.

Jory had a hard time speaking normally around Briar, so she babbled endlessly about absolutely nothing. However, there was something she'd been dying to hear before she'd gotten here, since she'd first heard about it.

"Will you whistle?" she asked.

Briar looked at her, confused. "What?" he asked.

"Whistle. Daja showed us, and she said she learned it from you. I want to hear you do it."

Briar was quite confused, but he obliged with a piercing whistle.

"Loud," Jory observed with a respectful nod. "Sounds like Viymese Potcracker directing her cooks.

"I heard she's tough," Briar said, repeating what Daja had told him.

Jory laughed and nodded. "She is, but she's great all the same. People just don't know her bark is worse than her bite."

"I know just what you mean," Briar said. "That's just how it is with Rosethorn. She yells and screams, but underneath, she's amazing."

The two reminisced about funny stories about their teachers, most of them involving death threats. Briar found himself strangely drawn to the enchanting girl, like a moth to a lamp. Jory liked Briar increasingly with each word, and felt her girlish admiration grow and shift into something else. Something she was entirely unfamiliar with.

"So, you leave tomorrow?" Briar asked, feeling a strange mix of sorrow and regret.

"Yes," she said softly, looking solemn. Then her eyes brightened with hope. "Viymese Potcracker wants me to get some practice with other cooks. I could ask her if I could spend some time here working with Gorse. That is, if you think that's a good idea."

"I'd like that," Briar said simply, his eyes saying much more than his mere words.