Yay, Briar's second chapter. Now you all get to find out what happens and who Ryku is, so stop threatening me!! Anyways, on with the story.
Disclaimer: Okay, I do not own the characters or CoM and CoMO. They belong to Tamora Pierce, which is why this story is under the category Tamora Pierce.
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In Lingrei in Yanjing:
Ryku Dingzai?!?
Evvy turned pale under her golden skin and looked like she was about to faint or be sick.
"Evvy, what's wrong? Are you sick? Do you know him?"
Evvy paid no attention to her teacher's questions. "Ryku?" she repeated, her voice a soft whisper. Ryku looked at her, puzzled. "It's me, Evumeimei."
"Evumeimei?" he asked, drawing his breath in sharply. "What are you doing here? Mother and father sold you in Chammur." At the words 'mother and father' the happy look in Evvy's eyes faded as they darkened.
"They aren't my parents," she said fiercely, hate swirling in her eyes. "I hate them. I never want to see them again. I hope they rot and die!!" She turned and ran out the door, tears streaming from her eyes.
"Evumeimei!"
"Evvy, wait!" Briar ran out after her, leaving Rosethorn, Malip, and Ryku standing in an awkward silence.
"Well," Rosethorn said, breaking the silence, "Maybe we ought to sit down and you can explain Ryku." Ryku opened his mouth to protest. "Now," she said, her voice sharp. He blinked and obediently sat down. She looked at the Djai, who hastily followed the young man's example.
~*~
"Jeez, Evvy," Briar panted. "You sure run fast." Scanning his surroundings, he could see no sign of the stone mage. He closed his eyes and felt for her vine. Opening his eyes, he walked to a pile of rocks and saw her sobbing between two boulders. "C'mon Evvy, let's go back."
"No, I'm not going back if he's still there!"
"Evvy, you are coming back whether you like it or not. Now, you can either come peacefully or I can have my plants escort you back to the house." She glared at him stubbornly.
"Fine," she said. "But don't expect me to do anything. And I'm not talking to him."
"Fine," Briar agreed tiredly. He just wanted to get home.
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"Evumeimei was-is the youngest in my family and my only sister. About 5 years ago, when I was 12, my parents decided to move west. We needed money, so as we were passing through Chammur, my parents sold her." Rosethorn looked at him disdainfully.
"Now what?" she demanded.
"Huh," he asked confused.
"What are you going to do now?" she elaborated. "Evvy obviously doesn't want to talk or even look at you or her old family."
"I know," Ryku whispered sadly. "Evumeimei cried as hard as anything when we sold her and then she shouted that she hated us all. I suppose we deserve it; our parents sold her and we, my brothers and I, didn't do anything to help her."
"Your, not our," Evvy said abruptly, following Briar in.
"Evumeimei," Ryku breathed. "Listen, I'm so, so, sor-"
"Shut up!" she yelled. I don't want to listen to you. She glared at him and jutted her chin out stubbornly. He lowered his gaze from her flashing eyes.
"Evumeimei-"
"It's Evvy, she interrupted. "Not that you need to know because you are never going to talk to me again!"
"Evumeimei wait, listen to me!" Ryku grabbed her arm and spun her to face him. The house rumbled and he staggered.
"Don't ever touch me again," she hissed. The floor trembled again.
"Evvy," Briar said sharply. "Calm down before you bring the house down around our ears." She looked at him and looked down, ashamed. She breathed in and out slowly and the ground stopped shaking.
"Don't ever talk, touch, or try to contact me." Evvy said quietly. "If you do," the floor trembled slightly. She walked out, closing the door with a snap.
"Well," Djai Malip said into the sudden quiet.
"That was rather exciting," Rosethorn said dryly. The tension in the room lessened slightly at her ridiculous statement.
"We better get going," Malip said to Ryku. "We need to get to work finding the components of the serum."
"What?" Rosethorn demanded. "Your decoding a serum."
Malip looked at her wearily. "We're trying, but none of our mages can even touch the stuff without getting rejected."
Rosethorn's eyes flickered with interest. "It rejects you?"
"Weak mages, yes." He rubbed his eyes tiredly. "We're working on it now."
"Well then, you just happen to be in the presence of a plant mage who specializes in taking apart substances. Where are you working? I'll help you tomorrow."
"The Mage Laboratory on Sea Street," he said slowly, as though the situation was moving far too fast for him.
"Well, the boy and I shall see you tomorrow," Rosethorn said, leading Malip and Ryku to the door. "Go to bed, boy. We'll be up early tomorrow. I can't wait to see this serum."
Upstairs, Evvy listened to their conversation. 'I guess I can try to help them,' she thought. I've heard them talk about picking apart stuff. I might be able to pick stuff apart too.' Shifting Asa aside, Evvy laid her head on her pillow and dozed off.
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Evvy woke up early the next morning and bounced out of bed eagerly. She remembered that today she might learn how to take apart things. Evvy loved learning new things, and the unpleasantness of the day before was overruled by her happiness of learning. Hopping down the steps, she skipped into the kitchen and plopped down in her seat.
"I'm glad to see that you're not bothered by yesterday," Rosethorn remarked.
Evvy frowned a little at the memory, but then she cheerfully grinned again. "Today I can learn to take the serum apart," she said.
Rosethorn looked surprised. "Actually," she said slowly, "I wasn't planning to take you." Evvy looked aghast.
"C'mon Rosethorn, let her. She wants to learn and she might have a gift for it," Briar said, yawning as he entered the kitchen.
"Okay I suppose, but don't get into mischief. It is dreadfully dull so if you get bored you'll still have to stay and not complain," Rosethorn warned.
"Okay, I promise. So when are we going?"
"Well leave right after we finish breakfast."
Evvy gobbled down her breakfast in record time. "Hurry Pahan Briar, hurry!" she urged.
"Calm down kid," he growled. "I intend to enjoy my breakfast before I'm dragged of for a boring day of torture."
Nonetheless, he did speed up a little, and they were soon walking to the laboratory. Evvy skipped around the two mages, happy that she would soon learn something new and exciting. Rosethorn had once described the process, and Evvy thought that it sounded interesting. Pahan Briar always complained and groaned, but then again, he complained and groaned about everything. The laboratory was not too far from the house, and they arrived in a few minutes.
"Come with me Evvy," Rosethorn said grabbing Evvy's hand and dragging her to a door on one side of the entry hall. Briar went through a door on the opposite side of the room. "We need to scrub first," Rosethorn explained, handing the girl a scrubber, soap, and clothes. "That way, we will not bring in any outside influences that can affect our research. Evvy scrubbed and changed quickly. The gloves were a little big, but the robe and mask fit reasonably well. "Just roll up the sides," Rosethorn advised. "That will keep the gloves from slipping down." Evvy did as Rosethorn said as they entered the laboratory.
Evvy looked up from her gloves and glanced around in awe. The bright sunlight entered through the glass roof and south wall. The rays were reflected off of the glassware and shiny tabletops and utensils. People of varied ages were working at counters, measuring and testing mixtures.
"About time," Briar said. "Honestly, girls take forever to get ready." Evvy rolled her eyes, used to Briar's comments.
"Oh, Scijia Rosethorn," Malip said, coming in from a door to their right. "This way." He led the group through the door and down a corridor with many doors opening off of it. He opened a door near the end of the hallway. The room was slightly large and square, and the top half of all of the walls were glass windows. There were two skylights, one above the counter with cabinets and one above the two small tables close to the door.
"The serum's in that cabinet," he said pointing to a glass cabinet above the counter.
The glass was very thick and Evvy could only see dark blobs through the doors. Evvy walked over to the counter and pulled open the doors. They were about 3 inches thick, and she could smell herbs from the oils brushed over them. Sniffing, she recognized the herbs that Briar and Rosethorn used in their oils for cleansing and protection. Inside were 4 shelves and a covered basket sat on the bottom shelf. There was a sealed glass jar next to the basket about half full of a yellow-tinted liquid, and the top three shelves were full of various bottles, jars, and packets.
"This is the Herastor," Malip said, grabbing the jar on the bottom shelf. He carried it over to a table and helped Rosethorn and Briar set out the bowls, jars, and utensils that they needed.
Evvy peered inside the basket and recognized the green bottle from the day before. 'I guess I'll bring this,' she thought. She grabbed the handles but her gloves prevented her from getting a firm grip. 'I'll just bring the bottle,' she thought. 'After all, it is the only cure for Herastor and I don't want to spill it. Lifting the bottle up, she felt something cool and comforting flow through her veins and decided that it wasn't going to reject her. She peered inside and saw less than a spoonful of amber liquid. 'There's not much,' she thought. Evvy brought the bottle over to the table.
"What should I do with this?" she asked.
"You can set it next to the disease," Briar told her absentmindedly, still setting up his workstation. Rosethorn pointed to the jar out to the girl and turned back to her station. Malip, however, was staring at her, his face ashen.
"What?" she demanded crossly, gently setting the bottle down before turning to glare at the Djai. Rosethorn and Briar turned at her tone of voice and also stared at the man, though with curiosity and not annoyance.
"How?" he said in a strangled voice.
"How what?!" Evvy asked.
"How can you touch it," a voice whispered quietly from the doorway. Evvy scowled and immediately turned her glare to Ryku. However, he was looking at the bottle on the table with an odd look on his face.
"To touch it, you put your hands around the bottle and grab it," Evvy retorted, dislike evident in her voice.
"Yesterday-," Malip cleared his throat. "Yesterday, our most accomplished and strongest mage couldn't even set one finger on it.
"Really?" Briar asked interested. He grabbed the bottle. He gave a squeak of surprise when small lightnings danced over his hand and the rubber of his glove melted from the heat. "What's going on? This didn't happen yesterday." Briar held the bottle near his eyes. He seemed indifferent to the lightning and heat. "There's something written around the neck," he said squinting at it.
"Where?!" Malip demanded. He peered at the bottle. "I don't see anything!" he shouted, outraged.
"It's written in magic," Briar said carelessly, still squinting at the rim. "It's written in a weird language though." Evvy stood on her toes and looked over Briar's shoulder at the bottle. Squiggly lines were glowing around the neck.
"Hold it lower," she commanded, yanking on his arm. "I want to see too." Malip and Rosethorn looked at her.
"You can see it?" Rosethorn asked with surprise.
"Of course I can. It's glowing bright as anything. Pahan Briar, I still can't see." She grabbed the bulb of the bottle, intending to take it from him. When she touched it, there was a burst of bright light that faded instantly. Briar set the bottle on the table as he and Evvy wiped their watering eyes.
"And what was that?" Evvy asked irritably. This picking apart stuff wasn't turning out to be as fun as she thought.
"Don't ask me," Briar retorted. "It only happened when you touched it. And now that I think about it, it only attacked me after you had touched it."
"Hey, I can see the writing," Ryku said, interrupting the quarrel.
Everyone gathered round the bottle. Malip gingerly tapped it lightly with a finger. "Hey, it's not rejecting me," he said excitedly. He held it up to the light and pulled out a seeing crystal. Looking at it, Evvy could see the words magnified. "It's written in the old language. Ryku, give me some paper so I can write it down."
He carefully copied the scribbles and soon had gone around the whole rim. He sat at the table and translated it. It took a very long time and Evvy grew restless with impatience. Ryku had to leave to go home and help his parents. Evvy went over to the cabinet and looked at the powders and syrups, taking care to read the labels first. She had learned her lesson after sniffing a bottle of redroot. She had itched and sneezed for weeks while both Briar and Rosethorn lectured her about getting into unknown substances.
She recognized many of them and examined the unfamiliar ones. She could guess what some ingredients were from her lessons from Briar. Idly touching the bottles and jars, she paused when her fingers came in contact with a small packet wedged in a crack at the back of a shelf. 'It must have gotten lost back there,' she thought, blowing dust off of it. It felt very strong, yet oddly familiar and comforting. Opening the packet, she stuck a finger in the gray dust. She was immediately assailed with images of the Chammur marketplace and Nahim's stall. 'This is one of my rocks.' she realized. 'I made it…but…why is it so strong. It's like something else was mixed in.'
She examined the packet and saw the words 'blessed nitad' penciled in the corner. 'Nitad,' she thought. Closing her eyes, she tried to remember the nitad rocks she had cleaned. She had touched nitad rarely as the gray gemstone was rather rare and hard to get. A memory immediately surfaced.
It had been cold that day and she had tried to rush through the baskets. About to leave, Nahim had set a basket and told her she'd receive an extra copper when she cleaned them. The nitad had been at the bottom and she had reached it at the end when she was weary. She had reached into the basket and grabbed the nitad. Immediately, prickles went through her skin and she felt an alien force enter her body. She had pushed it out ('my magic' she realized) and tried to clean it of the evil force. She scrubbed it hard, trying to push the darkness out. A blast of heat had passed from her palms to the stone and afterward, the rock had felt pure and clean.
She had chalked it up to imagination then, but now she realized that she had done something to the stone-changed it.
"Pahan Briar…" Something about her voice made him turn to face her with a worried look. She walked towards him unsteadily, feeling lightheaded and dizzy. The packet seemed to be warming in her fingers as she approached the group at the table. She handed the packet to him wordlessly. He grabbed it and lightning bolts played about his hand. It glowed slightly.
"It's like the serum," he whispered. "But how.." He looked at Evvy, but she just looked as confused as him.
"I've got it! It gives the instructions for making the serum!" Malip shouted in excitement. "Let's see…chamomile, astim…parld,…" He mumbled the ingredients, scanning them to see if the had them all. "Wait, what's this," he asked, frowning. "It says a pure, cleansed stone. What does that mean?"
Mutely Briar held the packet out to him. "This is a cleansed stone, Djai Malip. My guess is that only stone mages may cleanse stones; an extremely strong mage is needed to completely purify the stone and it must reject anything tainted. Magic is pure so only mages could get close to it. However, I'm afraid that our souls aren't pure enough for the stone. The rejection probably destroys any contamination, including illnesses."
"They must have diluted the stone to weaken the effects so that only illnesses were attacked." Rosethorn smiled crookedly. "Otherwise, I'm afraid that the patient would have been shocked and burned to death."
"Evvy, it looks like you're the only one who can make it. After all, you do have one of the strongest stone magicks I know. Even the mages at Winding Circle would have a hard time breaking a diamond."
'I can make the serum,' Evvy thought as realization sunk in. 'I can make it to heal people and save lives.'
"Djai, Djai!!!!" Ryku dashed into the room. "My mother has Herastor! She's already delirious! You have to help her! You need to give her the serum!"
"Here now, Ryku," Malip said hesitantly, "there's not much left and what we have, we need to experiment with."
"But my mother!!!"
"Don't worry Ryku. She'll hang on for at least two more weeks, long enough for our stone mage here to whip up a new batch." He turned to beam at Evvy. "Tomorrow you can start cleansing stones to make the serum."
Briar looked at Evvy with concern. She was trembling slightly and her fists were tightly clenched.
Malip rattled on, oblivious to Evvy's countenance. "We'll give it to Ryku's mother and she'll be fine, completely recovered."
"No! Absolutely not!" Evvy's eyes blazed as she glared at the Djai. "I will never help her! Ever! I hate her and I'm glad she's going to die of Herastor! I'd rather she become crippled but I'll settle for her dying!" She glared at her audience defiantly as she shouted her last sentence.
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Oooh, exciting. Evvy's not gonna help her dying mother. You'll need to wait four more chapters to see what happens. By the way, before anyone asks, it's not Briar/Evvy. Even though they are close, they are not like that. They are teacher and student and that's all. Next is Sandry so now you can find out her plan.
*Star Lily*