Disclaimer: I promise there will be no more disclaimers after this. None at all. Not a single one to say that I don't own Briar, Evvy, Rosethorn, their magic or the dancing. I LOVE Nadraks!

Hi everybody, I was so happy to get all your reviews. Sorry about the chocolate cake thing, but I tell you what, if you review I'll give you a discount on the real thing! Instead of £30 you only have to pay £10! (plus £4,000 package and handling).

Zerrin of the wind: Thanks for the idea, it is a good one, so one will use it! Like 'Chicago'? lol!

Nativewildmage: hey, M, i will go into Rosey's past, in ?'s P.O.V.! read FUNFUNFUN!

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to seabiscuit0810 and Kaysin (i checked to see who had my story on alert), PLEEEAAASE REVIEW THIS TIME, coz i really wanna know wot u think!

Chapter Five

Explanation and Meditation

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To recap

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S

"Excuse me, umm Dedicate Rosethorn?"

She turns to me. "Yes."

"Do you know which room saicholl Briar is staying in?"

Her left eyebrow shoots straight up in a questioning arch. I have never seen anyone so skilled at eyebrow acrobatics! She looks at me for a second more, then stalks, hands on hips, to the doorway and yells "BRIAR!"

"No!" I exclaim, dumbstruck, turning to Evvy in amazement.

"Yes." She affirms nodding, her eyebrows halfway up her forehead.

"What is it Rosethorn?" asks saicholl Briar curiously though somewhat nervously, coming to the door. He sees me. His face takes on a look of panic.

"Would you care to explain this?" asks Rosethorn tartly

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B

"BRIAR!"

What NOW!"What is it Rosethorn?" I ask apprehensively, coming to the door. I peer out into the passageway. I see a familiar face. HELP! I never got round to telling Rosethorn about Shadiyah, and she HATES people being invited without her knowing! I fee like banging my head against the wall at my stupidity! Goodbye Briar in the sun, hello Moss down the local well!

"Would you care to explain this?"

"Ahh…ummm……Rosethorn, Evvy, this's Shadiyah. Shadiyah be's the daugh'er'v a local farmer, and gots sound magic. Disna Shadiyah, Rosethorn's me teacher, and Evvy's me studen'."

"I see." Says Rosethorn. She looks like a tigress ready to pounce.

I wince. This is not going well. "Oh, and you know that knife wot—oh, um, never mind!" BOTH of my dangerous teacher's thin black eyebrows are arched high on her forehead, and that is NOT a good sign!

"Yes Briar?"

"Well, ummm……uh…………she, um, well…she was the one wot caught it."

"What."

"Well, she, ahh, reached out and caught it 'fore it hit me." Rosethorn look as though she is about to explode! Help! I'm going to be BLOWN INTO TINY LITTLE BITS! THEY'LL HAVE TO SCOOP ME OUT OF THE WELL WITH A SIEVE! Somebody HEEEEEEELP!

Shadiyah snorts with laughter. Rosethorn and Evvy turn to look at her. She blushes, "Well, it's just…umm…I-I don't…quite…know…how to explain it...umm…"

Help me! I don't know what it is I do! I don't even know if this is working! Suddenly I hear her voice in my head, just like one of the girls'. It sounds like, well, sounds. Beautiful music and jarring explosions. Every voice in the world is reflected in her mind

"She can hear thoughts, and…project them!" I explain. Now my own eyebrows are raised in amazement. We should start an eyebrow raiser's club! I think wryly. Shadiyah stifles a giggle. I grin at her.

"If you two have quite finished having conversations which the rest of us cannot hear," Rosethorn interrupts, "I would quite like to know why you, Briar, didn't tell me she was coming!"

"I…forgot." Rosethorn opens her mouth, but before she can speak, my wonderful, amazing, talented, perceptive, intelligent student butts in. "Dedicate Rosethorn, can you go do something about that git down the alley? Before he gets away?"

Rosethorn looks at her for a second, nods, then gives me a look which clearly says I'll deal with you later!. She turns and marches off down the hall. I resist the urge to run as fast as I can in the other direction the minute she is out of sight partly because I know she would catch me eventually anyhow, and partly because straight out an open window five stories up is not the most preferable place to run. Instead I sigh, and turn to Shadiyah.

"Okay, umm w-why don't you come in?" a flicker of a smile touches her lips, and she nods. I enter the room, and she and Evvy follow me inside. Evvy closes the door behind her, and I colapse into a chair. I look up at Evvy and grin "Thaks, Evvy, you saved me skin!" Evvy grins back, and falls into an armchair.

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S

The room I enter is small, brown and smells of cats. A fireplace is set into the right hand wall, but the fire is not lit. on the mantelpiece are various items; a polishing cloth, a box of small, light green stones, a heavy, blue bound book and a pair of slightly rusted hedge clippers. To the far side of the fireplace is an open door which leads into the bathroom. Heavy beige curtains frame a large window in the opposite wall, and a low wooden table with four chairs stands next to it. two doors, presumably leading to the bedrooms stand side-by-side in the wall to my left, with a bookshelf in the gap between them. There are only books on two of the shelves, however, as the rest have been filled with many different plants, all positively screaming their happiness. In the centre of the room is a large ornate carpet. A fur-lined basket next to the fireplace, and its feline occupants explain the smell.

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B

"Can I sit down, Mage, or did you want me to stand at the door?" Shadiyah looks wryly down at me.

"Oh, um, yeah, d'you wanna siddown?"

She sits on the hard wooden chair to my left me and looks around. "Nice place. The plants seem to like it."

"Yeah."

(A/N: an awkward silence ensues)

"Umm…so…le-let's see what you can do." I conclude lamely. She sits up eagerly.

"OK!" Then she frowns "Umm, what should I do?"

I frown too. In actuality I have no idea what to ask her. I am about to come up with another weak answer, when Evvy buts in.

"Say something."

"What?" ask Shadiyah, completely perplxed. "What do you mean? Say what?"

"Say something, like you did in the street. You said 'stop' and we stopped. Do something like that."

Shadiyah frowns thoughtfully, then nods. She looks around, and her dark eyes come to rest on a book sitting on the mantlepiece. She extends one delicate but callused hand. "Come."

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S

"Come."

Nothing happens. I am crushed. It OUGHT to be flying through the air into my open hand. I try again. "Come!" I repeat a little louder. Nothing. I frown, and look at saicholl Briar. He frowns thoughtfully at me.

"Say it like you mean it."

"Like how?"

"Think about exactly what you want it to do, then TELL it to come. MAKE it come."

I turn back to the book. I imagine it flying through the air towards me, and landing in my open palm, I imagine the 'whoosh' it will make as it zooms towards me. A curious sensation comes over me, and I can hear a slight humming in my ears. I stretch out my hand.

"COME!"

'WHOOSH'

'thump'

I stare, thunderstruck, at "Stones of the South-East and their Magical Properties" which is lying motionless in my left palm. Evvy gives a whoop, and claps loudly. Saicholl Briar grins at me.

"Great!"

The humming in my ears is fading away now and normal sounds replace it. I laugh in amazement! I really did it!

I look up at the two mages. "Now what?"

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B

Now I see what I gotta do. She has amazing control, but she needs to learn how to concentrate her power without having to shout. Meditation.

"Meditation?" she asks. I give an exasperated sigh, and glare at her.

"Do you have any idea how annoying it is not to be able even to think privately!" I snap.

She shrugs. "I can block my ears if you like?"

I sigh again. Out of the corner of my eye I see my troublesome, annoying, frustrating, cheeky student trying to smother her laughter. I glare at her, and she laughs even harder.

Muttering bad temperedly about nosey people who hear too much and unruly students who laugh at the slightest thing, I rise and make a circle of power around the clear space in the middle of the room. I motion Shadiyah to step inside, then enter the circle myself and close it. Evvy retrives her book from the table and heads for the "female" bedroom.

"Ok, sit down."

She complies, seating herself tailor style with the unconscious grace of a dancer. I gulp slightly, thirsty you understand, and seat myself on the floor beside her.

"Ok. Now close your eyes. Good. Now I want you to take a deep breath in while counting to seven, hold it while counting to seven, and release it with seven. Ok?" She nods, and does so, smoothly sinking into the calming rhythm of her breath. Now for the difficult bit. "Ok." I speak quietly in her ear. "Now I want you to follow your breath. Follow it out. Travel with it. Flow…"

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S

1…2…3…4…5…6…7…1…2…3…4…5…6…7…"Now I want you to follow your breath. Follow it out. Travel with it. Flow…" I try to do as he says. I try to follow my breath, to fly up with it, but I can't. I know what he means. It happens to me sometimes when I listen to glorious music. I feel myself flowing through the notes, following their excited procession up and down the delicate scales. I try to do the same with my breath, but it doesn't have the same beauty. I can't feel it like I can the music. I give an exasperated sigh, and open my eyes crossly.

"Don't worry, disna Shadiyah. It'll come to you eventually."

"But it already has! Not here, but it's happened to me before! Whenever I listen to wonderful music it's a sort of thrill, like I'm soaring with the notes, flowing with them, like you said! I just can't do the same with my breath! It's not--not…magic." I conclude, with frustration.

He looks closely at me. "You've done it before?" He asks, his voice surprised.

I nod in the affirmative. "Every time I hear amazing music."

He appears thoughtful. He nods slightly to himself, then looks up at me. When he speaks his voice is thoughtful, and just a little secretive. "Alright, well," he glances out the window, where the sun is showing off with a splendorous sunset for the calmly watching crescent moon. "It's getting late so why don't we leave it at that for tonight?"

I am a bit surprised, but offer no comment. He obviously has a plan of some sort, but he is carefully avoiding thinking of it. Drat him! Oh well, I suppose he'll tell me sooner or later. I get up to leave, and bump into………nothing! I stick my hand out and feel solid air. I turn. "Ummmm…saicholl Briar…"

"Hmm?"

"The air…"

He looks puzzled for a moment, the something clicks. "Oh! Yeah. Right. Um." He scuffs out a circle of herbs in the floor. A tiny tingling bell rings in my ear, but I pay no attention to it.

"Is the air, umm…airy…again?"

"Yeah, yeah i' is now."

I step out of the scuffed circle of herbs, and slowly walk back home. I have a lot to think about.

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She left. She didn't even tell me. She just left. I came and she was gone. BUT NOW SHE HAS RETURNED, AND SHE WILL PAY FOR LEAVING! LEAVING WITHOUT FAREWELL! I WILL HURT HER AS SHE HURT ME!

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AHHHHHH! Whew! Done at LAST! FINNITE! FIN! COMPLETED! ENDED! FINISHED! CONCLUDED! TERMINATED! ACCOMPLISHED! FULFILLED! OVER AND DONE WITH! ENDED! THROUGH! READY! PREPARED!

sorry about the wait everyone! Please forgive me! I'm a SLOW writer!

Now review or I'll send out my savage rabbit monster thingy. RUN AWAY, RUN AWAY! Lol!