A/N: Sorry this is so slow in coming! I'm going to try to get back on trak now that it's summer and FINALS ARE OVER!!! Thanks again to everyone who reviews and reads my story!

Chapter 14

"Have either of you two ever been on a horse?" Briar asked. Lady Aethra and Baron Erdogun had already been gone an hour, and Colt, Kodi, and Briar were packed and ready to go, whatever the nobles said.

"No," Kodi replied derisively. "Where would we get a horse?"

"Alright, alright." They set off to a stable, where Briar could buy horses for his students and himself.

The stable owner was a businesslike woman who set about getting horses for them as if street rats walked into her shop everyday.

"How old are you?" she asked briskly, leading Kodi into the barn.

"Fourteen," Kodi replied, a touch defensively.

The woman surveyed her dubiously. "You look ten."

I thought you were twelve," Briar added helpfully, with only a ghost of his usual grin.

Colt snorted with laughter. "She gets that a lot," he replied wickedly.

Kodi kicked him. Hard. Her small size had always been a bit of a sore spot. It was useful- she'd gotten quite a bit of free food from people who thought she was just a cute little girl- but at times like these she wished desperately for about four more inches.

"Well why don't you try Coati?" the owner suggested, leading a pony out of his stall.

Kodi approached it warily. Coati was a small, even-tempered pony with a chocolate brown coat. He snorted but kept still when she put a hand on his flank. Confidence growing, she got a leg up from the owner and sat precariously on Coati's back.

"This ain't so bad," Kodi said, patting the pony's head.

"Speak for yourself!" Colt was sitting like a sack of grain on the only pony large enough to hold up his long limbs. "This is horrible!"

Now it was Kodi's turn to laugh.

Horses bought and supplies packed, Briar, Colt, and Kodi were quickly riding towards the city of Arrahn, where they could catch a ship to Emelan safely.

Kodi caught the rhythm of riding fairly easily, and even began to feel affectionate towards the pony. Colt, on the other hand, was sore from the many pits and bumps on the road. "I'm never getting on a horse again!" he moaned.

Kodi laughed. Briar didn't even smile. He seemed to be getting sadder and sadder with each step his horse took. Colt and Kodi looked at each other askance. Neither of them were good in situations like this.

Finally, Colt asked, "Was one of the mages that got enslaved your- your girlfriend or something?"

Kodi looked at him sharply, and Briar managed a weak chuckle. "No, my sister."

"But you've got different last names!" Colt objected.

This launched Briar into an explanation of how he'd come to Winding Circle Temple and had his magic woven together with that of three girls. With every word, Briar seemed to grow stronger. He even laughed a little at some of his past escapades.

"No wonder you were feeling lousy," Colt said, "One sister's enslaved by pirates, one's in a Trader ship fighting them, and one's Duchess of a city under attack."

"Yes," Briar replied soberly.

"I have heard of you," Kodi said abruptly. I didn't realize it was you, but you're one of those four great mages at everyone talks about. I didn't believe the stories were true."

"I believed the stories from the start," Colt replied.

"Well you'd believe almost anything."

Kodi ducked to avoid Colt's good natured punch.

They stopped for the night at a small inn in the village of Southerside. The inn was old, and it had a slightly musty air, but it was cheap and the food was decent. Kodi practically inhaled some spiced curry, mutton, and bread before asking, "Briar?"

"Yes?" Briar replied, swallowing the piece of mutton he'd been chewing.

"How're we going to get to Summersea?" It's a couple of months by sea, right?"

"Normally." He reached into his mage kit and pulled out a knotted cord. It pulsed with blue-gold power in Kodi's magical vision. She stared.

"What is it?" she asked.

"Its wind, knotted into a cord. My mate Tr- Tris made it for me. It'll be like riding a hurricane, but this cord will blow us home in a couple of days. Here, hold it."

Kodi reached out reverently and held the cord in her palm. The pulse was louder now, and Kodi could feel the beat of the tides drawing in and out, in and out. Without even realizing it, Kodi breathed in rhythm will the pulse.

In- and out.

In. Out.

A dull roar pounded in her ears and blackness melted into the edges of her vision. Soon she felt her consciousness slip out of her body and into the air. She thought she was having another vision, but that couldn't be right. There was no insistent tug pulling her towards the site of a vision. She just hovered above her unconscious body.

What happened? she asked. Is this meditation?

Colt didn't appear to hear, but Briar replied. Not like I know it. What'd you do? Green power spilled out with his words, and her sense of him as a giant tree grew.

I was breathing with the tide and it just sort of happened. I dunno.

Maybe this is meditation for you. Can you sense your power?

I think so. Is it that roaring feeling, like a waterfall? Now that she had identified her magic, it released its hold on her, and she slipped back into her body again.