Part Two- Lightning, fire and Thorns don't mix.
"Daja, stop it." Tris complained as she walked through the market with the black girl.
"I'm not doing anything." Daja argued.
"I want to be alone. Leave me alone." Tris said, and the black girl glared at her, before going off to find Briar.
Tris sighed happily. She knew she was being really mean, but this was the first opportunity she'd had to be alone in so long that she wasn't going to waste it with the other girl. This was also the first time she'd had to look at books, and she even had money. As she wondered to the bookstore she wondered where she'd be if she hadn't come here.
'Probably some other home.' She thought. 'They're all the same anyway.'
She looked at the range of books, she wished she had enough money to get them all, as she loved reading and found it difficult to decide. When she had finally chosen a couple and was bargaining over prices, she heard some cries coming from nearby.
Briar was talking to some local street rats, glad to be talking to some people like him, instead of a group of stuffy girls. Talking to some real people, who understood life beyond clothes and baths and schoolings.
'It's good,' Briar thought as the street rats were telling him about their gang and some of their best robberies.
"So, ya thieved that place?" Briar said, interestedly referring to the local jewelers shop.
"Yep." The thief said proudly. "An' we even did that place o'er there, th'–"
The street rat was interrupted by cries coming from a nearby alley. They all looked at the alley.
"Where was I?" The street rat asked. "Oh, yeah we thieved that place o'er there, th'–"
"Aint ya gunna go see what's happenin' over there?" Briar asked, shocked at their behavior.
The street rats looked at him in surprise.
"No." The first one said.
"It aint our business." The other added.
Briar looked at them, and remembered when he'd been exactly the same. If it wasn't him, or his gang in trouble he didn't care. They just looked out for themselves and no one else. He didn't think he'd changed that much at winding circle, but obviously he had. Besides if it was a fight he wanted to be part of it. He hadn't had some action for a while.
He looked at the street rats. "Seya, I'm gunna check it out."
And he walked off, leaving them behind him.
Sandry followed the sounds of the cries to an alleyway, and bravely, or more stupidly, walked into the alleyway.
In front of her was a fight going on between five town boys and a black girl with a stick. The black girl, obviously outnumbered, was being smashed, and Sandry couldn't stand to see any person go through this.
"Stop it, leave her alone." Sandry cried attacking the nearest boy.
All the boys turned to look at this stupid girl, giving the black girl a chance to attack. Even though the odds had been made more even, the girls were still outnumbered. But that didn't make the girls give up. In fact they seemed to fight harder because of it. But they did show any sign of winning.
Briar surveyed the sight in front of him; it seemed to be two girls, one who looked a lot like Daja, fighting against five strong, healthy town boys.
'Those girls are insane.' He thought, but decided to help them anyway. He went to grab the nearest boy when he felt someone hit him over the head. He turned to see the white girl glaring at him. He glared back.
"I'm trying to help you, dammit." He said, to her angrily.
She gasped, but didn't reply. Instead she turned to fight another boy.
'That girls got guts.' He admired and began to fight.
Tris looked at the alleyway, feeling frightened. She knew that chances are someone would be getting hurt, and she hated seeing, or hearing, others getting hurt. However, she hated getting hurt even more.
'It's none of my business anyway.' She told herself. 'You should just look out for yourself.'
If she had known that Briar used to follow that very same thing, she would have been horrified. She didn't like to think she had anything in common with her two housemates. But, in fact, she had more in common with them than she realized.
Sandry felt like this fight would go on forever. She knew that the two girls couldn't win, but there was no way they would give up. She almost wanted to give up, as her ribs were sore where someone had dug their elbow into her, her head ached and she could feel all the bruises. She was so busy trying to prevent more injuries that she didn't notice someone come up until a voice yelled.
"Stop!" Everyone turned to look at the person speaking. She wasn't very tall, with chocolate coloured skin and a usually kind face, Sandry guessed, but at that very moment it was tightened with anger.
"What's going on here?" She demanded. Sandry was surprised to see the boys shrink away from her. She didn't see what made woman so scary. But then she hadn't lived in the actual town and she didn't know much about Winding Circle, and didn't recognize the Winding Circle symbol on her clothes.
"Who started the fight?" The woman asked, after everyone seemed to refuse answer o her other question.
"They did." One boy replied shakily.
"We did not." Sandry said angrily before she could stop herself.
"Oh." The lady looked at Sandry. "What happened?"
"Well," Sandry began. "I heard some cries and came to investigate. When I arrived I came to find these five ganging up on her. So, of course I helped, finding it unfair for them to do so."
"Daja," The lady addressed the other girl and Sandry was surprised to know she knew the girl's name. "Is this true?"
The girl nodded. "Yes, they were ganging up on me because I'm a Trader."
Sandry looked at her in surprise, then saw she was carrying a staff, that Sandry vaguely recalled as a Trader's staff.
"I 'elped too." The boy Sandry had hit, who claimed to be helping them, said.
"Really?" The lady raised her eyebrows at him. "You two worked together?"
He shrugged. "Looked like a good fight."
"Well, you boys should run along, before I tell your parents what has happened." The boys didn't need to be told twice. They all ran from fear of the lady.
"As for you," She nodded to Sandry. "We'll take you to your parents."
"It's okay." Sandry said brightly. "My uncle is usually busy, so I should stay here for a while.
"Okay, but why don't you come with us." She said, her forehead creasing. "I think Rosethorn has some stuff to help with your bruises."
Sandry nodded happily, and walked beside the Trader girl.
The trader looked at Sandry. "I'm Daja." She offered by introduction. The boy coughed from the other side of her. "Oh, and this is Briar."
Sandry grinned. "I'm Sandry."
"Hello Sandry, nice to meet you." The woman said. "My name is Lark."
When they got back to the winding circle wagon they were greeted by, in Sandry's opinion, a scary looking woman.
"What have you children been up to?" She said, looking exasperated.
"Nuthin'" Briar mumbled.
"What did you say, boy?" The woman, Rosethorn said.
"I didn't say nothing." Briar said.
Sandry looked at him. She found it strange that he was with these people. Not wanting to be rude, but he sounded like he was off the street, and none of the others did.
"Yeah, yeah thief boy." Daja teased.
Before Sandry could inquire any more, someone rode by on a horse.
"Good day, Duke." Lark offered warmly.
"Good day, Lark."
The duke looked at them, and his mouth widened with shock. "Sandry?
What in God's name happened to you child?"
Sandry blushed.
"It's okay uncle. I'm not seriously hurt."
'Uncle?' Briar thought, shocked. 'She's a noble.'
That shocked him even more than it would have, because he'd seen her fight so well. She didn't act like a noble, except for maybe her talking. It was too proper to be normal, but other than that, she seemed to be a normal town girl.
"Yes Sandry, but what happened?" Her uncle persisted.
"It's quite all right, Duke." Lark said. "You see, Daja, here–" She put an arm around Daja as she said that. "–Was in a bit of trouble, and Sandry just helped her out."
"Oh." The duke relaxed from his tense position and managed to smile wryly. "That's okay. You should really put some ice on your bruises, sweetie."
Sandry nodded clearly glad he wasn't mad at her.
Sandry was so relieved that her uncle wasn't going to stop her from going to the city any more. However, this faded when she turned to look at Briar and Daja's faces. They were both staring at her like she wasn't human. She sighed, and just when she thought she'd made some new friends.
Okay, and I'll end it there. Please review, and any ideas will be appreciated.
