Bored to Death: Aww, we got our first flamer! patpat Go play in traffic like a good boy, now. Ahm... Anyhow... I'm going to pretend that by this: "way too much background blather and only the MOST FREAKIN' CLICHED IDEA EVER PUBLISHED! gimme a break... when you have some content, then post. until do the rest of us a favor and don't use up space with stuff like this" you meant "I think you talk a bit too much about background info; in my opinion, a faster-moving plot is better. Also, the idea's a bit cliched. I don't really like this." In response to that, we'd like to apologize for not getting to the plot quicker. The background is important too, though! And although I have seen this idea used in a tacky manner once or twice before, we plan to write so dynamically you won't so much as remember the others. And while we're sorry you don't like the story, we can't please everyone.
Shadowdancer: We're glad you like it! We'll try to update more, but with exams and all we've been having trouble...
The Kumquat Warrior: We love Circle of Magic too, obviously! Not enough fanfiction gets written about it.
writergirl122711: Well, we did warn you! Hang in there, with luck this chapter will clear most of the confusion up.
Tanydwr: Yes, one of them has animal magic (the Circle equivalent of wild magic), but as for the other... you'll have to wait and see! There's a hint in the chapter: "...Jen burned herself no less than three times on various hot foods..." We do know of another really good circle fic, if you want to check it out: "Kezia", by Steelsings. It's awesome, although it's not done.
Chapter Three: Homegoing
Much Later (except, in a way, not.):
"We wish we were home again!"
As the last strains of the tacky elevator music died away, Ellen and Jen gave simultaneous groans and slowly sat up. Ellen was massaging her head.
"There has got," she murmured, "to be a way to do that without getting a splitting headache in the bargain."
"Gah," Jen agreed, rubbing her temples. For a few moments neither of them spoke, then at last Jen said, "I thought I'd be happy to be back." The unsaid, 'but I'm not' hung heavily in the air.
"Yeah," said Ellen after a while. "It's so quiet, now, without the voices in the background. I thought I'd learned to ignore them, but now that they're gone… the phrase 'a deafening silence' is taking on a whole new meaning."
"Yeah," said Jen, somewhat listlessly. "And I feel so…"
"Empty?" Ellen suggested, and Jen nodded. "Almost like a piece of me is missing," she added.
For a while the two girls sat in silence, brooding, then Jen suddenly perked up. "Hey, I know what'll cheer us up!" she exclaimed, then winced and, with a glance towards the upper floor where her family was sleeping, repeated in a softer voice, "I know what will cheer us up. Lets get the books and see if they've changed at all! Like, if we're in them."
Ellen seemed to go from seated to upright without passing through a single stage in between. "Lets go!" she exclaimed in the loudest whisper she could muster. "Come on, come on, come on!" she urged, practically dancing on the spot. "And… can we turn on the TV? If I don't get some background noise, I'm gonna crack."
In the frantic rush upstairs, Ellen had snatched two of the three books that remained upstairs, Jen had grabbed one. They were now sitting mutely on the floor, all four books spread out in front of them, staring at the titles and cover art in shock.
The first book remained more-or-less the same, the shot of the roof with Sandry and Briar on top, except now all six young mages were laughing and chattering away atop Discipline. The title, however, now read 'Magic Times'.
It was by the second book things got bad. The cover showed Niko, Tris, Daja, Frostpine, Sandry, Briar and Rosethorn spiraling away into a black abyss. A glowing strand of magic connected Tris, Daja and Sandry to Briar; he had anchored himself to what looked like his shakkan with another glowing vine of pure power. At Briar's feet, Lark lay unconscious, bleeding from a head wound. The title now read 'Beginning of the End'.
The third book was titled 'Tales of a Wanderer'. The cover shoved Briar, lines of exhaustion etched on his face and clad in rags, hiking down a long road with no seeming end. His shakkan was tucked under his arm. With his free hand, he held Lark's hand. The woman was smiling happily at nothing, and she was bobbing along behind Briar like a young child behind a parent.
The fourth book showed a frightful scene. It was a city square with a fountain in the center. A dog was sniffing at a horribly familiar pair of corpses. A shriveled, withered shakkan had spilled from its cracked pot and was toppled beside them. The title read, 'The Circle Ends'.
Ellen took a deep, ragged breath that hinted of suppressed tears. "We… we did all this, didn't we. We killed them…" Quietly, she reach for 'Beginning of the End', and flipped through the pages, skimming the words. Here and there, a phrase jumped out and caught her eye…
…Sandry stared at Aymery's corpse, the smoking black burn on his chest indicating where the lighting bolt had entered him. But how… I don't have lighting magic… her thought whirled, and she dropped to her knees as Tris let out a heart-wrenching scream…
…shaking with grief, Tris fingered her cousin's earring. Something caught the corner of her eye. A boat? Without thinking, she whirled around and attacked, hurling raw magic at the now fully visible raiders ship…
…exploded overhead, Briar saw Tris go rigid abruptly, then collapse to the ground. He felt himself slipping, being pulled somewhere unknown, and without thinking he threw an anchoring vine of magic to the shakkan…
..of them dead, and he with one foot in the land of the dead alongside them. Turning, Briar let out a wail of…
…simple now, having never recovered from the blow to the head. He himself, Briar knew, would only last as long as the shakkan could provide power for their vine. When it ran out, it died, he would tumble after his friends, pulled to the land of the dead by their magical connection, leaving the child-like Lark to fend…
…nowhere to go, now the pirates controlled Winding Circle. Nowhere to go… suddenly, Briar recalled something Niko had mentioned once. Another place, like Winding Circle, a place for mages to learn. Lightsbridge. Maybe they could help, could fight away the pirates. "Come on, Lark," he called the…
Silently, Ellen set the book down. Glancing up, she saw Jen setting down 'Tales of a Wander'. Obviously she'd gleaned enough information from it to know what had happened in 'Beginning of the End', because she quietly said,
"Lightsbridge won't help. He goes to all kinds of places, but everywhere he goes they're afraid to fight people who got some of the most powerful mages around with such ease." There was a small, barely controlled tremor in Jen's voice.
Their eyes met, and without a word they both turned and dove for the final book. Jen flipped to the last few pages and, huddled together, they began reading. A moment later Ellen turned away, looking somewhat nauseated. Jen continued reading, unable to set it down. Finishing the last line, she set the book down with the solemn reverence one usually reserved for lowering a casket into a grave. Which, in a way, she was.
"We have to go back," Ellen said abruptly, reaching for the newly re-named 'Magic Times'. "We've got to go back and tell them Sandry will zap Av-what's-his-face so that she won't, or even just tell them about the pirates ahead of time or something, and personal philosophy about meddling with time be hanged!"
"Wait a sec." Jen intervened, reaching out to block Ellen's hand. "We have to go, yes, but not yet."
"And why," Ellen demanded, "not?"
"Two words: indoor plumbing. Do what you want, but I'm having a hot shower before we go back."
Ellen considered this for a moment, weighing her feeling of urgency against the wonders of Canadian civilization. Civilization won.
Having located 'modern' clothing and changed, the two showed up for breakfast slightly less the bright eyed and bushy tailed. "It's like jet-lag, without the jet," Ellen groaned under her breath.
"Seizure in a bottle, without the bottle," Jen quipped wearily, quoting one of their old inside jokes.
Ellen groaned again, and began gently beating her head on the table, just as Jen's mother walked in the room. She blinked, and wisely didn't ask.
"Morning, Mom," Jen said. Her mother paused.
"There's something funny about your voice, Jen," she commented.
Jen and Ellen exchanged looks, then Ellen flippantly proclaimed, "Oh, that's just our Imperial accent."
Her mother gave the laugh of someone who understands that what has been said is supposed to be funny, but doesn't see the humour. Glancing at the girls, and taking in their 'look what the cat dragged in' appearance, she added, "How late did you girls stay up?"
They exchanged looks again. This time, Jen spoke. "Oh, about a year." (Authors' Note: That's about how long Sandry's book took, right?)
Jen's mother laughed. "Right," she said. The rest of Jen's family arrived, and breakfast began.
Jen burned herself no less than three times on various hot foods, while Ellen chattered nonstop (literally) because 'everything seems so quiet'.
After an hour long shower apiece (marveling all the while at the miracle that was Jen's family's hot-water tank), the two sat crossed legged in the relative privacy of Jen's room. They were re-clad in the Circle clothing that had been washed in the sink and laboriously dried with Jen's ancient hair-dryer, although after twenty minutes ineffectual work, Ellen used a different word than 'ancient'.
They locked eyes, then reaching for the book together...
"We wish we were there again!"