Part 3, Yaaay!! Thanks for the reviews everyone. I guess that my story isn't as bad as I thought. Anyways, this part is about Sandry.

Disclaimer: Does anyone even read these? Oh, well, if anyone does, I do not own the Circle of Magic or its characters.

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In the Duke's Citadel in Summersea in Emelan:

After Erdogun withdrew from the room, Sandry went back to jabbing with her needle. However, after she pricked herself for the fourth time, she gave up. She couldn't embroider or do anything if she was upset.

'How dare he insult Uncle, how dare he!' she thought. 'He's lucky that Uncle still cares about him. Otherwise he would be suffocating in a cocoon right now!' She could still hear his scornful voice insulting her and the Duke. She would not have cared if he had only insulted her. She was used to being badmouthed and scorned by nobles who thought that she behaved improperly and by mages who hated or envied her. However, he had insulted her uncle as well as her, and that, in her eyes, was unforgivable.

'Ooh, now I can't concentrate on anything! Why did he have to come?' Sandry closed her eyes as she thought about what had occurred that morning.

~*~

"How is my grandniece?" Duke Vedris asked Baron Erdogun.

"She was badmouthing him in the sitting room last I checked. It would not surprise me if she was planning an elaborate revenge right now." The Duke chuckled dryly.

"Lady Sandrilene is rather protective of me. Nevertheless, I must say that her anger is justified, as is Lord Frantsen's. After all, my son was anticipating inheriting my realm after I died."

"But your Grace," Erdogun protested, "we all know that he would have made a horrible ruler."

"I know, you know, Sandrilene knows, and Frantsen himself probably knows. But how would you feel if you found out that your own father had passed over you and chosen a 16 year old girl instead of you?"

"I probably would be angry," the baron admitted, "but that does not justify insulting one's father and cousin."

A knock sounded at the door and Sandry stuck her head in. "Uncle, I'm going to Winding Circle to visit Lark. Could you tell Pasco that our lesson today is cancelled?"

"Of course, my dear. Have a good time. Give Dedicate Lark my regards."

"Okay. I'll probably be back around dinnertime. Bye." Sandry left the room after giving her uncle a quick peck on the cheek.

"She tried valiantly to hide her anger from you," Erdogun remarked.

"Yes, she is a wonderful young lady. I hope that Dedicate Lark can help her to calm down."'

"Your Grace?"

"I take it that you did not see the tapestries and rugs wiggling. Apparently her anger is making her lose her grip on her magic."

Erdogun thought for a moment. Sandry was extremely powerful, as she had already demonstrated many times in the past few years. "I suppose that we should be thanking the gods that she is not her friend Tris. I have the oddest feeling that if she had been her foster-sister, this citadel might not be standing right now," the baron said.

~*~

Sandry walked to the stables after bidding her uncle and Erdogun goodbye. Kwaben and Oama were waiting for her at the gate and followed her as she left through the gate. The company rode in silence for a time. When they were in the outskirts of the city, Sandry broke the silence. "I suppose you know what happened this morning?" she inquired.

"Yes, milady," Oama replied. It would have been impossible not to hear the Duke's son shouting in the meeting room and as he left the Citadel.

"Do you know what Lord Frantsen is like?" Sandry asked. "All that I know is that he married Nissa and lives with her in his palace up north."

" Do you know what Lady Nissa is like?" Oama asked.

"Yes, I happen to know her from when I visited my cousins in Namorn." Sandry had taken an immediate dislike to the nosy gossipy woman. Her loud, argumentive voice had grated on Sandry ears and frayed her control on her magic. "I had to restrain myself from doing her bodily harm as she insulted half the court and talked about her friends behind their backs. She insulted my cousins and while I do not care for them myself, she acts all sweet and gooey with them and later insults them in private."

"From the few times that I have seen her, she seems to think that she deserves more than her lot in life," Kwaben said, joining the conversation.

"That describes her exactly, Sandry said. "She is very wealthy and living well, but she acted like she was better than everyone and as such deserved more."

"Well Lord Frantsen is like that," Oama said, answering Sandry's earlier question. He is also vindictive and likes to hold grudges."

"Oh dear, I do hope her doesn't try to hurt Uncle," Sandry said worriedly.

"He wouldn't hurt his father milady. You should worry about yourself; he will most likely plot against you."

"He can try to hurt me, but he will not succeed."

"He does not harm someone directly," Oama said shaking her head. "He hurts them in spirit, through their friends and family or by making their life miserable with gossip and such."

Sandry's eyes blazed when Oama mentioned Frantsen hurting someone's friends. "He had better not harm my friends."

'Gods help him if he does,' Kwaben thought as he looked at Sandry. Oama had drawn back from Sandry's glare. Sandry closed her eyes and counted to ten silently. She opened her eyes.

"Let's hurry," she said kicking her horse into a gallop. 'I desperately need to talk to Lark,' she thought. Oama and Kwaben followed their mistress as she set out to the one place where she could be comforted and soothed.

~*~

Lark looked up as she heard the ring of horseshoes on the gravel path. She looked out to see Sandry dismounting and handing the reigns to her escort.

"Go wait for me at the Hub. I'll go there when I'm ready," Sandry ordered. She turned to see Lark opening the door of Discipline with a smile.

"Welcome back Sandry," Lark said warmly.

Sandry gave Lark a hug. "I missed you Lark. There isn't anyone to talk with in Summersea. I do have uncle and Yazmin and everyone, but no one quite understands me." Lark nodded in understanding. "Anyways, I badly need someone to talk with and give me advice." Lark lead Sandry to her workroom. She sat at her loom while Sandry sat at the stool next to the worktable. "Where's Comas?" Sandry asked.

"He's at the Hub learning lessons. He won't be back until after dinner, so we have time for a good heart-to-heart. We haven't had one of those in a good while.

"Yes," Sandry agreed.

After chatting pleasantly about friends and acquaintances, Lark asked Sandry, "So what is wrong? I can feel everything in my workshop reacting to your anger and confusion." Sandry muttered an apology, then sighed.

"You know how my uncle was talking about how Lord Frantsen would not be a ruler to follow him?" Lark nodded. "Well, this morning Uncle summoned Lord Frantsen and told him that he was not going to inherit the throne. Lord Frantsen would get his share of uncle's fortune with slightly more to compensate for the loss of position. I suspected that Lord Frantsen would be passed over from the stories that I've heard of him. But I thought that Lord Rimst would inherit the throne because he doesn't seem to be too bad of a character."

"And it isn't Lord Rimst?"

"No; and it isn't Lord Hirim either."

"But there is no one else except…" Lark trailed of as she looked at Sandry.

"Yep, Uncle wants me to become the Duchess after he dies."

"And you don't want to?"

"I neither do nor don't. I would if there was no one better, but I have not seen my other two cousins in quite awhile."

"So your indecision is why you came to see me?"

"Yes, that and I am very mad at Lord Frantsen."

"Why?"

"Because he insulted Uncle," Sandry burst out. "He called him a 'senile old fool' who was not in his right mind. He said all sorts of bad things about Uncle and called him bad names. He was so rude and obnoxious."

"Did he insult you?" Sandry nodded. "Yet you are not angry about that?'

"He insulted his own father for Mila's sake!! I'm fine with his insulting me. I am the 'slip-of-a-girl' who has taken his power and riches from him. But Uncle is his father. Uncle raised him and cared for him; he did not have the least bit of gratitude."

"Sandry, there are different types of people in this world. Some are nice and gentle and caring like you and me, but some only think about the unfairness of life. Lord Frantsen is not thinking about what he has. He is thinking about what he does not and cannot have."

"But he has so much. And he was brought up well and everything. Why is he like that?"

"That is human nature, Sandry. People are the way that they are for many reasons or no reasons at all. It could have something to do with his life, such as friends or acquaintances as a child, or it could just be the way that he was born. If he looked at the world and decided to be a certain way, to act a certain way, well, that's just life."

"But what do I do? Oama and Kwaben say that he likes to get revenge indirectly through friends and family. What if he tries to hurt you or Pasco or someone I care about?"

"I cannot tell you what to do Sandry. This is your decision to make. It is too important in your life. What you do now could shape your life and affect the many people."

"But Lark, I need help. I don't know what to do, how to act."

"I am not going to tell you how to deal with this. I will give you some advice. Think about the whys, why is the situation like that, and your options. Think of every single option, no matter how impossible, and then think of the consequences of your actions. Not just the consequences on yourself, but also on others."

"Like Uncle and you?"

"Not just those you care for."

"Do you mean like on the people of Emelan."

"The people affected by your actions; the neutral people. And…"

"And…my enemies? Like Frantsen? But why?"

"He will do things in return for what you do. For every action, there are many consequences."

"I think I see. So if I do something bad to him, he would probably do something bad too right?" Lark smiled at her. "I'm not any less confused, but somehow I am strangely content, satisfied."

"You just needed a direction to go in."

"Maybe. Oh well, enough about me. What about you Lark?" Lark related how life around the Temple had been and Sandry listened and they talked contently for the rest of the visit

~*~

"I'm home Uncle," Sandry called out.

"Hello my dear. Did you have a good visit?" Vedris inquired.

"Wonderful. I feel so much better, although I'm still a little confused. I ate supper at the Temple, so I think I'll retire early. Goodnight. Don't stay up too long either," Sandry said as she headed up the stairs. "Don't think that you can get away with staying up just because I won't be pestering you."

Baron Erdogun had entered in time to catch the end of the conversation. "Don't worry Lady Sandrilene. I'll see to it that he does not misbehave."

"Good," she said with conviction. "See you in the morning."

"Dedicate Lark must be a god. This morning she was so mad, she could have killed Frantsen with her glare. Now, she is cheerful enough to nag and joke."

"Dedicate Lark is not a god; she is much better. She is a teacher and mentor, and she will teach Sandrilene to be compassionate and wonderful."

~*~

Upstairs, Sandry lay on her bed and thought about the situation. She pulled out the thread circle and looked at it for inspiration. 'What would Tris, Daja, and Briar do? What would they say?' She knew them well enough to know what they would do, but what about herself? 'It is very strange,' she thought wryly. 'I know what they would do, but I don't know what I would do. It's like I know them but not myself.' What would they expect you to do? a voice asked. You know them, so they know you. So what would they expect you to do. 'Well, they would expect me to do things to help everyone, I think. Because I usually try to help. But they might also think about how much I love Uncle, and they might think that I would try to hurt him.' So if those are your choices then you must choose. That is what the Sandry that they know and love would do. Now you must choose. 'Yes, I will choose, and I am going to make sure that I make the best choice. And once I do, I only need to think of what to do. Tired but satisfied, Sandry drifted off into sleep.

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Wow, I can't believe I just wrote this. It's way too deep for me, so how did I write this?!? It's also longer than my other chapters. Maybe it's just cuz I'm getting more into the story. Oh well, just goes to show what can happen when you get carried away with a story. I'm writing these a lot faster than I anticipated. That is good until I run out of ideas of what to write. Anyway, I'm sure we all know the choice Sandry will make. If you don't well… Since this chapter is so-I don't know-philosophical I guess, there are probably going to be many opinions on Lark and Sandry's conversation. You can flame if you want because I know not everyone's going to agree. I think next chapter will be Tris because I still need to think of an idea for Daja. I'm trying to give each group their own problem, but it's hard to think of one for Daja. See ya next chapter.

*Star Lily*