(A/N) : First of all, I want to thank all of you that have reviewed since I updated. Your reviews help motivate me to write even faster so that I can update for you sooner. Unfortunately I haven't gotten any good ideas to work with, except to bring one of Briar's friends in from when he was 'Roach,' and I tried that, but it kinda blew up in my face, which was the first thing that made me want to rewrite the story. I rewrote it like 3 times, and I threw each of them out… LOL. (By the way, that idea came from elfin2 on 3-28-2004). Anyways, I hope you like this chapter… some of it may seem a little OOC, but bear with me here. I'm way out of practice!

(A/N 2) : I know that The Will of the Empress: The Circle Reforged is out now, but I haven't read it. I've read an excerpt though, and the characters seemed very OOC to me, but that's just my opinion.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything. Maybe someday I will actually get something published and have a bunch of my own characters and places, but you would not find me writing anything here if I were getting published.

Chapter 5: News

"Sandry! Briar! Could you come down here, please?" Rosethorn called. Up on the roof, Sandry and Briar looked questioningly at each other and went back inside.

"What is it, Lark?" Sandry asked when she and Briar found Lark and Rosethorn in the kitchen.

"We received some letters today. Daja and Frostpine are due back in about two weeks, and Tris and Niko in a month." Rosethorn handed the letters to Sandry and Briar so that they could read them. The circle would soon be together again.

Sandry's uncle had summoned her to the Citadel the next day, so she stayed there for a few days. She was surprised to find how much she missed Briar, even though he was still close enough for them to mind-speak. Sandry's uncle kept her busy, however, so she didn't have time to ponder her new feelings toward Briar.

On her last day at the Citadel, the Duke informed Sandry that there was to be a ball held in honor of the young mage quartet as soon as they were all back in one place. Sandry pretended to be excited about the ball, but in truth she had never liked those fancy socials. There were always too many conceded rich men with nothing to talk about other than how much money they had and how expensive everything they own is.

Sandry told Briar about the ball as soon as she got back to Discipline and he made a face. "Now I'm going to have to get all dressed up, and learn how to dance, aren't I?"

Sandry laughed and hit him on the arm playfully. "If it makes you feel better, I don't want to go either. I hate those things. And you don't have to dance if you don't want to. I, however, won't have a choice."

Daja and Frostpine arrived a few days later. Daja and Briar told each other about their adventures abroad, but Sandry stayed strangely quiet about her time in Emelan. Daja inquired to Briar about Sandry's ambiguousness, and Briar told her that Sandry couldn't talk about it and that he didn't know anything about it either.

Tris and Niko arrived the next week, and the ball was only a few days later. Sandry, Briar, Daja, and Tris stayed at the Citadel the night before the ball so that they could have more time to get ready. Sandry had made Tris' and Daja's gowns as well as her own; she had also given Briar's birthday present (a beautifully made hunter green cloak with silver vines embroidered into it) to him early so that he could wear it to the ball if he wanted to.

Just as Sandry finished getting dressed, there was a knock on her door. "Are you ready, Sandry? Or should we be calling you Sandrilene tonight?" Briar joked from the other side of the door.

"Very funny, Briar." Sandry flung the door and Briar almost fell inside.

As soon as Briar saw Sandry in her strapless lavender gown that fit her figure perfectly, with her light brown hair falling down her back in ringlets, and her cornflower blue eyes sparkling, he froze just as he had on his first day back.

Sandry noticed that Briar had stopped just inside of the doorway, and turned to face him. "What? Is something wrong with it? Is it too much?" She hurried over to the full-length mirror on the other side of the room to examine her gown once more.

Briar came out of his trance he was in and stepped into the room, closing the door behind him nervously. "N-no," he stuttered, "It's perfect. You look beautiful."

Sandry relaxed and turned away from the mirror. "Thank you."

Briar couldn't think of anything more to say, and he looked everywhere but at Sandry. Why am I being such a bleater? It's just Sandry, Briar thought.

There was another knock on the door and Tris and Daja came into the room. Tris was wearing a sky blue off-the-shoulder dress with long sleeves, and Daja's was a fiery red short-sleeved v-neck dress. Both girls had their hair up in their usual ways. "You clean up good, Thief-boy," Tris told Briar.

"Same to you, Coppercurls," Briar replied.

"These dresses are beautiful, Sandry." Daja complimented as the four of them exited Sandry's bedroom.

Ten minutes later they were in the elegantly decorated ballroom with the other guests. Briar watched as Sandry was asked to dance with every eligible bachelor there, and even some ineligible men. He took notice that she had her fake smile on, but knew that only someone who really knew her would be able to tell it wasn't genuine. Briar turned away, feeling a pang of jealousy, but refusing to admit that he wanted to be the only one that Sandry was dancing with.

(A/N): How was it? Was the end of this chapter a bit too cheesey? I can't decide. Please tell me what you think so that I can hurry up and post the next chapter… By the way, I think more people need to write Sandry/Briar fics, cuz there seriously aren't enough out there. And has anyone read The Circle Reforged yet?

How was it? Was the end of this chapter a bit too cheesey? I can't decide. Please tell me what you think so that I can hurry up and post the next chapter… By the way, I think more people need to write Sandry/Briar fics, cuz there seriously aren't enough out there. And has anyone read yet?