A/n: Hey there, guys… It's your favourite Magess, come back to haunt you! Before I start, I would like to convey my undying gratitude to Debbie, for giving me one of my very few coherent decently long reviews. You raised two points: about the charming, and about Daine's age. Where Daine's age is concerned, THIS IS WHY PEOPLE SHOULD READ THE AUTHOR'S NOTES- I do know her age is off, but hey, this story is AU anyway, she's fun to play around with. You do have a point about the charming- 'spelled' would have been a better word- but you can spell things to do that kind of thing in Tortall, I believe, and it doesn't take constant concentration of power. Kaddar had jewellery spelled to detect poison, didn't he?

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Briar strolled through the convoluted network of alleys centred around the Dancing Dove. It was late evening, and he had promised to have dinner with Sandry and the others tonight. All the same, somehow he couldn't bring himself to leave just yet. There was something addictive about this place. It smelt of freedom.

He moves unconsciously, avoiding by instinct the street haunted by shadows. He wasn't in the mood to have to deal with some imbecilic amateur. In some part of his mind he had almost slipped into his old thought patterns, the ones honed to perfection back home- except that here there was no gang to watch his back.

This place wasn't really so different, he reflected silently. The streets could have come out of the thieves' quarter of Summersea without anybody noticing the difference. And Sandry and the others seem to be fitting right into the court here. We're all slipping back into our old lives.

They were a long way from Discipline, though. It was hard not to think of the cosy, sunny cottage they had all thought of as home for so long without feeling a slight tug of nostalgia. Well, the others all seemed to be managing fine. They had even fallen in love, for the Green Man's sake. He should have known Sandry would go for the princely type.

Not that he regretted coming to Tortall, of course. Meeting the people here had been worth the confusion, and George ran a fascinating court in Corus. He…

Suddenly Briar realised that he had broken into a run, and it took him a moment to work out why. Then his conscious mind caught up with his legs, and noted that he appeared to be dashing down a side alley- and towards the sound of screaming. By the time he had reminded himself that this was a completely insane thing to do, and that it was none of his affair, he had already pulled up short in front of a veritable melee.

It took him only a split-second to process the scene in front of him. Three men, scrawny and rather badly dressed, were tussling with a… lady of the night. She was dressed in a bright red dress, and her hair was down about her shoulders in black ringlets. It was she who had been cheerfully screaming for help, and the racket showed no signs of abating until aid was forthcoming. The men were becoming frenzied, trying to silence her.

Briar sighed. Just his luck to get caught up in this sort of thing, but he couldn't very well leave now. Leaping into the fight, he started cracking the men on their heads, knocking them down with ease. Dead drunk, he noted scornfully. Pitiful. Once they were all lying on the ground and groaning, Briar held out a hand to the woman, who was idly kicking them in the groins with the heel of her boots.

"About bloody time too," she said, clearly showing no signs of remorse for her situation. "I was beginning to think I would have to deal with them myself, and blood is so unattractive, you just can't get it out of satin. And I'm not entirely sure my dagger would have done the job quickly, it would have been altogether too messy. Shall we go? I think you'd better escort me back to the Dove. George will want to know the Trio have been making trouble again." Giving her aggressors a few last idle kicks, she set off down the road, her hips swaying gently as she went, as if out of habit. Shrugging, Briar set off after her, dinner at the Palace forgotten. This would certainly be interesting.