A/N: Thanks for the reviews, guys! Heads up for part two!

Jon had been unceremoniously thrown out of the bedroom he and Sandry shared, which was currently playing host to not only his wife but Alanna and Cythera as well. Taking the hint, the Crown Prince had vanished to do some sparring with the other two husbands, which mainly consisted of the three of them hitting each other as they desperately tried to work out what their significant others were saying about them.

Inside the lavishly decorated chamber, the three girls were sprawled across the massive bed, a tray of fruits between them, and talking avidly.

"What is it with men and socks?" Alanna demanded viciously munching on a grape. "Was I paying attention in the Convent? No. I expect Gary is better at mending socks than me, so why is it suddenly my job to be official sock-herder? 'Pick up that sock, will you, Aly?' 'Just darn that heel for me, will you?' As if!"

Cythera rolled her eyes with the air of a long-suffering mother hen. "Maybe if you actually had paid attention in the Convent, you would realise that picking up socks is just one of those things married women have to put up with… unlike getting sung at every night?"

"What?" confused Sandry and Alanna shared a rather bewildered look. Cythera groaned.

"Have I not told you about that? Raoul sings in his sleep. Songs about killing dragons, actually. Some of them are quite graphic." She grinned. "It's really rather sweet."

Sandry buried her face in her hands. "Sounds wonderful." She said grumpily. "At least your husband gives you half the bedcovers. Jon's awful, he always steals them all. I wake up shivering in the middle of the night."

There was a series of chuckles, and then the three of them each took a piece of fruit and munched it in silence for a moment, leaning back. Suddenly, Alanna said, "It would be a lot easier to be mad at them if they weren't so incredibly sweet, really."

There was a chorus of sage nods from the other two.

"Or, you know, if they weren't so funny."

"Or kind."

"Or handsome.

"Not being hopelessly in love with them would help, too."

There was another silence for a moment, and then they burst out laughing.

Meanwhile, Trisana Chandler was on a mission. She was curled up just behind a hedge, invisible to anybody approaching from either direction, and she was waiting. Because she wasn't particularly good at waiting, she had brought a book. It was about precipitation. She found this fascinating.

Specifically, she was waiting for Briar.

She knew he wasn't in the Palace, just as he had barely been inside the palace for the last three weeks. That meant he was outside the palace, and that meant that he would have to come back in through this garden. And when he did, she would be ready for him.

Until then, she was doing just fine with Wode's Ultimate Treatise on the Manner of Precipitation; the Third Volume; on the Effects and Causality of Precipitation over High Altitudes. She had just got to a passage describing the effects of heat and pressure on the speed of precipitation when a twig snapped behind her, and she realised that she could sense Briar's presence getting swiftly closer in her mind. Almost falling over herself in her hurry, she quickly (but carefully) stuffed the book into the bag she had brought, and jumped up, smoothing down her skirts as she did so.

She was only just in time. Briar, with his hands stuck in his pockets and whistling, strode round the corner and nearly had a heart attack at the sight of her.

When he had calmed down a bit, Tris said sarcastically, "That scary, am I?"

"Terrifying." Her friend shot back, grinning. "It's the hair."

"My hair is…." Tris started to protest, her voice rising rapidly as she glowered at her foster-brother. "Never mind. You are not going to sidetrack me, Briar Moss. I want to know where you've been sneaking off to."

He smiled innocently. "Who, me? Oh, you know…. Exploring the city, trying to avoid deliriously happy brides fainting all over me…"

"Nice try. Why don't you have a go at the truth for once? You are supposed to be a reformed character, remember."

"Point taken." He sighed, and seemed to consider things for a moment. Then he nodded decisively, and grabbed Tris by the wrist, making her yelp.

"What? Where are we going?" she demanded, eyes whirling. She hadn't actually expected Briar to tell her anything…

"You wanted to know what I've been doing. I want to show you. And there's somebody I'd like you to meet…"

A/N: In the next chapter: Sandry/Jon fluff, possibly some other pairings as well; Vedris makes an appearance; and Tris and George meet for the first time…