Disclaimer : Look. I am NOT claiming ownership of her magnificent characters okay! Jeez!

Author's Note: I was wondering what you guys think. Should I do a little "Next Chapter Teaser" thing at the end of each Chapter so that you have a vague idea of what's to come. Tell me what you think.

The Circle Reunited

Chapter Three: Strange Happenings

A week had passed since they had found the two children; and in that week, neither had awakened. What was strange was that Briar had performed every test he knew of, and that was saying something. Despite this, he could not determine an illness that was keeping them sleep for such an extended amount of time.

After the plant mage had given up on finding an illness (as they were not losing weight and had no symptoms of any disease), the mages took shifts in watching the sleeping children. For the most part, they had no qualms doing it. Whenever it was their shifts, they would preoccupy themselves with something they normally would leave their study hours for. Sandry carried a journal and thread with her with every watching, attempting to discover new thread spells. Daja normally wrote letters to her girlfriend in the North; when she was not writing letters, she too would attempt to create new spells specific to the art of Smith-craft. Briar would bring in his shakkans to be trimmed along with other plants to be tended to. Sometimes he would bring his cauldron and his ingredients to re-make any potions they might have been running low on. Tris, as usual, took a book with her to read; but she too brought a journal with her. She recorded any weather changes in it and also attempted to discover new spells. After her study at the University school, she had brought back her knowledge of spell-making to her friends.

It was in the third week of Barley Moon that the twins began to stir. On the eve of Cold Born, as the moon began to rise, the twin that had whispered into Briar's ear about a promise, shifted to lie on his side, facing his brother. As if he were a mirror reflection, the other twin shifted so that he was also facing his double.

Sandry's head dropped and rose as she began to slip in and out of unconsciousness.

"You can get up now," Briar said quietly. Though he had long given up his belief that the twins would awaken with too much noise, Daja and Tris were sleeping and he would rather not irritate two great mages.

Sandry snapped out of her reverie.

"I'm not sleeping," she said defensively. "I was just… just…,"she managed before yawning broadly.

"Right," Briar retorted, smirking. "Don't worry about it. Doesn't look like I missed much…but…," he paused. He looked at the twins. Outside, bells began to ring as they announced midnight. "They've changed position," he finished. Sandry did not look like she largely cared abut the changed position of the children. She merely nodded before he headed for the door. The sixth ring chimed just as Sandry reached the door. Turning his attention to the sleeping brood, Briar muttered, "You know, you two really ought to wake up…." The twelfth ring resounded, echoing around utterly silent city.

Once the sound of the bell had stopped, two pairs of eyelids snapped open to reveal strange blue eyes. They both seemed to have an intimidating intensity about them; light blue with flecks of dark blue.

"You promised!" gasped the same boy as before, sitting straight up. His brother slowly rose from his sleeping position and curiously looked around. Sandry froze in the doorway and turned around.

"And what, prêt ell, have I promised you?" Briar asked an eyebrow arched in a startling resemblance to Rosethorn as Sandry made her way over to the twins. The boy's head jerked to look at the plant-mage and his mouth opened to speak, but his brother placed his hand over his mouth as if stopping him from saying something stupid. His hand still over his brother's mouth, he spoke.

"Who are you?" he asked in a clearly baffled tone that, at the same time, was gentle and soothing. Sandry and Briar exchanged looks.

I have half a mind to ask them that, Briar told Sandry through thought. His response was a stern, Don't you dare be rude to those two. They've been through a horrible ordeal. They both looked back to the twins who were shielding their eyes. Briar looked behind him at the candles. Reasoning that had he been asleep for a week his eyes would be a bit sensitive, he looked at Sandry and jerked his head. With a look at the candlewicks, the light extinguished itself. It seemed to have worked as they timidly blinked their eyes open.

"I am Briar Moss," he told them, deciding it best not to worry them about his being a mage. "And this is–"

"—Lady Sandrilene fa Toren," she finished. "May I ask who you are?" She asked gently.

"My name is Vitalis Gerik," said the boy who had placed his hand over his brother's mouth. "This is my brother–"

"—I can speak for myself, Vito," interrupted the other. "My name is Justis Gerik. Where are we?"

"You are in the infirmary of our manor in Summersea, Emelan," Briar informed them. Vito and Justis looked at each other before Justis pulled his legs under himself and Vito asked, his voice breaking, "Are our parents alright?" Though Briar may have missed it, Sandry noticed it was a question to which they already knew the answer.

"You two were the only ones we could find in what was left of your home," Sandry said sadly. "Do you remember what happened?"

The expression of fear in both of the twins' eyes told her that they remembered all too well what happened. Nevertheless, Vito spoke. "I remember being in the cell—I mean, our room and our parents had an argument with our ma—I mean, our landlord. Then… it's kind of fuzzy after that." Briar did not need to be a Truthsayer to know that they were lying. Sandry shared the same look on her face before she shook her head "no" at Briar.

"I think it's best you two go back to sleep now," Briar said in an uncanny Rosethorn-like tone. "You've been asleep for a week, true, but it's late. You'll need all the sleep you can get. You've got some questions to answer tomorrow."

"But I'm not sleepy and you're not my father," Justis said scathingly.

Briar's eyebrows rose high enough that it almost disappeared into his hair. He advanced on Justis and lowered his head so that they were eye-level. "Listen," he hissed, "I don't really like kids and I'm beginning to like you even less, so I suggest you go to sleep!"

"No!" Justis said defiantly, though the fact that his voice was cracking showed he was scared. "You think just because you're a mage that you can just order us around and–"

"—Now!" Briar ordered. Justis flinched, covering his face as if expecting heavy punishment for his insolence. Seeing this, Briar sighed. "Look. I'm not going to hurt you… unless, of course, you give me a reason to. Rudeness, while I don't like it, isn't enough for that here." Those words, however, did not stop him from drawing his legs to his chest in the same manner as his brother.

"How did you know I was a mage anyway?" Briar asked as an afterthought. Neither said anything, but both stared in the same direction… his chest. At the moment, Briar was bare-chested except for one thing. "Oh… the medallion. Well, yeah, that is a giveaway… I didn't know kids your age would recognize something like this." Shrugging, he turned to the door. Sandry had fallen asleep on her feet. Shaking his head, he looked back to the twins. "Really. You should try to at least get some rest. Trust me. If you don't, by tomorrow morning, you'll wish you had."

With that, he turned and scooped up Sandry to take her to her room. The twins laid down to rest, but it would be hours before their minds would stop chattering and they would actually drift off into sleep.

Vito and Justis woke the next morning to being shaken by Sandry and Briar.

"Wake up you two, unless you want to starve," Briar ordered as they protested to the early awakenings. Sandry scowled at Briar's less than kind words, but agreed.

"Yes. It is probably best that you eat something for today. You have a lot of people here to see you," Sandry informed them as she gently shook Vito. Briar, however, was getting frustrated at their stubbornness.

"If you don't wake right now, I will cover you both in poison ivy!"

Those words seemed to work as the twins' eyes snapped open and they sat up in their beds. As Justis wiped the sleep out of his eyes, Vito turned his head to Briar and said, "Who has to speak with us? We don't have many people who know us."

"These people are here to inquire about your health," Sandry explained.

"Among other things," Briar added. "Such as what made your home explode and what mage placed that ward around you. Then we have to figure out if there are any relatives that we can send you to—"

"—There aren't any relatives you can send us to," Justis interjected with a touch of bitterness in his voice. "Any relatives we have are either dead or are—"

"—Unable to care for us," Vito finished for him, shooting a glare at his twin. Justis' eyes rose for a second as if just realizing something. He nodded slowly to his twin and drew his legs into his chest and stared at the wall in front of him.

Sandry and Briar shared significant looks. They did not need to mind speak to let each other know that the twins were trying to hide something from them. Briar opened his mouth to speak, but Sandry rose a hand to stop him. Under normal circumstances, he would not have responded to what appeared to be an order. Unfortunately, it seemed his vocal cords were refusing to work. He looked, wide-eyed at Sandry who smiled before she spoke.

"Alright. You two need to get washed and—"

"Excuse me?" Justis asked looking at her in shock. "You want us to do what?"

"Get washed. You are not going to come to breakfast dirty."

"And you slob," added Briar, who now had now regained control of his vocal cords, to Justis.

"But… are you sure that's sanitary? It seems questionable to me. I mean, without a good layer of dirt, how can we protect ourselves against sickness and such?"

"No disease would dare enter his household," Briar said sharply, as though he were talking to the diseases in question. "And without proper washing, you're much more likely to get sick than not.

"I've never been sick a day in my life!"

"Then you are a very lucky boy," Sandry said, interrupting the argument. "The simple fact is, you will bathe. The baths for this floor are just across the hall. After that, you will get dressed. I have taken the liberty of making you some clothes to wear until I can get your exact dress sizes. After that, you will come downstairs to the first floor and follow your noses to the food. And then you will eat. This is not a request," she added when Justis opened his mouth. He closed it instantly and scowled.

"And luckily for you, I haven't bathed yet, so I'll be right outside the door when you come out," Briar told them with a look that Justis determined to be pure evil. "Just because you don't want to bathe don't mean we should have to smell you." That said, he turned and walked briskly out of the room. Sandry looked as if she wanted to say something but, instead, forced a smile and left the room.

"Just who do they think they are!" Justis exploded when the door closed. "They think just cause they're mages that they can boss us around. Well, I don't care what they're offering! We're not staying here!" Jumping out of the bed, he strode over to the window. The threw it open and immediately found two reasons why going out the window was not smart. First, they happened to be on the third floor of the manor, just under the attic. Secondly, opening the window invited smells of cooking food into the infirmary; and for two stomachs that had not eaten in days it was painful teasing. Justis' face just hardened and he opened his mouth to speak, but Vito cut him off.

"Justis," he said, his voice ever-gentle. "I'm starving, we have no where to go, and more importantly, I'm starving. Besides, you know the master would never let us sit at his table if we didn't wash up a bit and—"

"—He would never let sit at his table. And if we did, it was only when—"

"—AND I don't know why you expect these mages to be any different," Vito pressed on, raising his voice but somehow still managing to keep it soft. "These rich people… they're all the same… they're very… clean people. So we're going to bathe. It's not going to kill us, Justis," he added at the face his brother made, "but not eating will."

"I still don't like them."

"Then don't," Vito said cheerfully. "We can eat, and if you have a plan of where we are going to go, we can leave then. But until you know where to take us, we're staying here." It seemed that if there were one person in the world that Justis would willingly listen to it was his brother. Without another word, he walked out of the room and into the bathroom. Grabbing the towels and bathrobes Sandry had left, he followed his brother into the bathroom.

While Briar was less than nice, it seemed he was true to his word. When the twins came out of the bathroom, the cleanest they had been in months, Briar was sitting in a chair reading a book; upon seeing them exit, he slammed it shut. They got a brief glimpse of the illustration of a cauldron with sparks and smoke coming from it before he put it at his side.

"Have fun did we?" Instead of a response, one of the twins, Justis by the attitude simply stormed off to the opposite room.

"I had to wash him myself," Vito explained with a grin. "He didn't appreciate it."

"I'm sure," Briar said, his tone filled with humor before he entered the bathroom.

The twins entered the dining room of the manor to several people they had never before seen in their lives. There was a man who looked a bit too proper and, in the words of the few friends they had met on the street, baggish; he was obviously no getting old, as the silver streaks in his black hair indicated. He was talking to a woman in a blue habit who, while she seemed much less stiff than he did, had an official feel about her. There was also a cinnamon-skinned woman with who was talking to a man with a wiry mane of graying hair. Another woman with red hair braided and pinned in what seemed a specific pattern set the table along with Sandry and another woman with short, black curls while a transparent creature glided over their heads. In a corner, a small girl played with a dog that looked big enough that the girl would serve as a good meal. Briar was talking to a woman with short auburn hair.

Justis and Vito stood in the doorway for a long time, staring at the people in the room before Sandry noticed them and ushered them in.

"Alright everyone," she called out over the chatter. Everyone's head turned to her and the twins, and their identical faces blushed. "This is…," she stopped, looking intently at them before she continued. "Well, one of these two is Justis Gerik and the other is Vitalis Gerik. Who is whom I couldn't tell you just yet. If they ever find their voices, we'll know," she said kindly.

She directed them over to the girl and the dog.

"This is Glaki and Little Bear," she told them. Glaki smiled broadly, stood, and stuck her hand straight out for them to shake. Vito took the hand first, and shook it followed at once by his brother. And from there it went. They were introduced to the woman Briar was talking to: Rosethorn. Immediately, they noticed the unmistakable resemblance in their personalities. While she was far from rude, she also had the heir of someone not to fool with. They were introduced to Lark; the woman with the short black hair. She, it seemed, was a direct juxtaposition to Rosethorn. She seemed completely inviting and even managed to get them to mumble their names. They were introduced to Tris, the woman with the braided, patterned hair and her pet dragon; who, on second glance, turned out to be made completely of glass. They met Daja and Frostpine, both of whom seemed to warm their hearts in welcome in the handshake they gave. The woman in the blue habit was introduced as Honored Moonstream: The Head of the Winding Circle. And then there was the last man.

"Niklaren Goldeye," he introduced himself extending a hand. When Justis took his hand, he felt something strange. Niko looked into his eyes in a strange manner. It lasted only a second, but Vito also experienced this searching-for-more gaze. They looked at each other and were sure they could hear each other's thoughts about what they thought of this man: definitely powerful and definitely not someone whose buttons you wanted to push.

"Now that that's done," Sandry said so suddenly that the twins, still in awe of the man before them, jumped, "we should eat breakfast. Everyone to the table." Breakfast was full of chatter for most people present. In fact, the only ones who were quiet while they ate were Justis and Vito; even Glaki was, more or less, talking with Niko and Tris. They both ate their breakfast slowly, Justis looking around observing people. He found it striking how much Sandry and Briar were like their teachers. He noticed that Niko and Tris kept glancing in their direction and, after a while, it began to annoy him and he concentrated on eating his food. They remained silent when they finished their meals, though both of their stomachs craved more food. Shaking her head, Tris rose and came to the twins. Without a word, she restocked their plates with eggs, toast, porridge, and ham; their cups she refilled with milk. Still showing their restraint, they mumbled thanks in unison and continued to eat.

"You know," she said irritably, "No one is going to starve you here. If you are hungry, eat. You two are nothing but skin and bones anyway." Without waiting for a response, she returned to her seat with her teacher who greeted her with an amused expression. In fact, the same look was planted on the faces of her foster family as well. "Do not start!" she said, glaring at her family. They merely returned to their conversations, the look still on their faces. They were sure they heard her say to Niko that just because she did not like children that she liked to see them starve.

When everyone was done eating and properly full, Frostpine took Glaki out into the city, saying that he would find something sweet for her to eat. When they left, Justis and Vito were very uncomfortable to find every eye in the room focused on them. Instantaneously, the twins were put on guard. A scowl decorated Justis' brows while Vito's eyes were turned to the ground, seemingly very interested in whatever was there.

"Do we owe you now?" Justis asked bluntly, bitterness dripping from every word.

"Of course no—," Sandry started before Briar cut in.

"—Yes, actually," he said, his boring into the hateful blue eyes that were now directed at him. "You see, we have guests here for you; specifically Honored Moonstream and Niko. And you will—"

"—We ask," Sandry interrupted, "that you cooperate with them. Honored Moonstream is here to evaluate your health. You understand of course, do you not? You were out cold for a week without food or drink. We have to make sure it hasn't damaged you in any way. And then our teacher, Master Niklaren Goldeye, has a couple of questions for you."

"Are we expected to call him master?" Justis demanded.

"Hardly," Niko responded. "I would rather you not use that title, in fact. I have no power over you and you do not know me well enough for me to demand your respect and thus, I do expect you to call me by my name." This seemed to satisfy Justis as he stopped asking questions; his scowl, however, was more prominent than ever.

Attempting to break the tension that, surprisingly, two young children had created, Moonstream spoke. "So, we should get to it, should we not?"

"Quite right," Sandry agreed. Moonstream rose from her seat gracefully and say next to Vito.

"Vitalis, isn't it?" He looked up, surprised she had recognized the difference between them so quickly; he nodded. "May I have your hand?" She said it in a manner that was unbelievably gentle; certainly more than even Vito who always spoke in that tone. He found himself unable to deny her the simple request; the gentleness of her voice made him feel that if he did not oblige her request that he would be the largest jerk of the century. She smiled as she took it and closed her eyes; seemingly following her lead, Justis and Vito closed their eyes as well.

The magic she summoned conjured a feeling of peace throughout the entire room, making those who were already full and sleepy dose off. When she stopped, gradually drawing her power back into herself, some in the room had to restrain themselves from protesting. She opened her eyes at the same time the twins did. She sat back and frowned before she spoke again. "Well, aside from the fact that I'm not able to explore every part of your being, you are physically perfectly healthy." The way she told them this, it seemed more like she was talking to herself than anyone else.

Shaking her head slightly, she moved to sit next to Justis and asked him in the same tone as she had asked Vito, she asked, "Justis? Would you mind terribly if I took your hand?" Despite that he had heard that tone before, his eyebrows still rose slightly at her words and it seemed he was unconsciously lifting his hand to give to her. As she closed her eyes, the twins did the same once again.

The same calm surrounded the room once more and this time, Briar really did fall asleep and fell out of his chair before rising, an embarrassed tinge on his cheeks. This time, instead of the calm gradually vanishing, it stopped quite abruptly, and everyone's heads, except the twins', snapped up. Timidly, they opened their eyes as well. "Oh, really now," she said, her voice slightly impatient. Looking even more incredulously at the twins, she said, "Well, again, you are in perfect health, but when I tried for a more detailed analysis, I was pushed out." He looked at the twins again, each in turn, with the very same look Niko had given them upon their first meeting. "And neither of you have magic, so it makes little sense. I suppose your parents, or whomever put this spell on you, did not like those that pried," she finished with a smirk.

Neither of the twins shared her humor.

"Well then," she continued, "I had best be getting back to the Winding Circle. I am sure that my office is full in the few hours that I have been absent." She rose from her seat with the grace of the healer that she was. Tris escorted her to the door and returned moments later to Niko and Justis seemingly having a staring contest. It was only when Tris took her seat that he said anything.

"She was certainly right," he said as if making a grand pronouncement. "You have no magic in you and yet, magic stops working on you two at a certain point. I'll have to investigate that at a certain point. In any case, we should begin." In the air, he drew out symbols which immediately began to glow with a pale light, emitting a smell of cinnamon; everyone in the room squinted. "Right. So, just to test if it is working properly, what are your names?"

"Justis Gerik."

"Vitalis Gerik."

The symbols released a soft white light, showing they were telling the truth. Niko looked at Briar and then at the twins before saying, "If you are able, I need you to tell a lie."

"Briar is the most idiotic and numb-brained person in this house," Justis said, showing no signs that he was not serious. The symbols again glowed a pale white light, showing he was telling the truth. An uproar of laughter exploded when this happened; the only ones not amused were Briar and the twins.

"It will not say you are lying if you truly believe it," Niko told him between chuckles.

"But I don't think that's true," Justis said defensively. "I don't know him enough to say that and mean it. He could very well be the most brilliant person in this house." At his words, the symbols turned black. Laughter again shook the room at the Truth-Saying Spell's response.

"Well, it certainly seems that you do not believe he is the most brilliant person here either. So, on with the questions. Where were you born?"

Looking at Vito, he shrugged and said, "We don't know. We think we were born in this city, but we could be wrong. I know it's the only place we ever remember living." And so the questions continued. They were asked about basic stuff: their beliefs, their likes, their dislikes, whether they had ever stolen anything, about their parents and whether they were living or not. Yet Niko finally asked a question that got to the twins and that they could not answer honestly.

"Did they die of old age?" He asked gently, though not nearly as gentle as Moonstream or Vito.

"No," they both said at once, in unison, this being the first time Vito spoke up. The symbols glowed a bright white light, showing not only were they not lying, but there was more to the story.

"How did they die?" He asked, ever-gentler.

"We don't know," they both said bitterly, surprising most in the room. The looks the donned their faces with the response was nothing with the reaction when the symbols turned jet black. Niko's eyes widened and he looked closer at the twins. Before he asked his next question. "Did you kill your parents?"

"NO!" they shouted. The white light resonated brilliantly, giving everything in the room a lighter color before it returned to its soft glow. Tris stood to close the window which was rattling in an intense wind that had picked up.

Niko looked thoughtful before he asked, "Were your parents killed?"

Justis opened his mouth to speak, but Vito placed a hand on his shoulder and said simply, "Yes."

"I see," he told them, sitting back in his chair. Silence overtook the room as they waited for Niko's interrogation to continue. It seem, however, that Niko had received all the knowledge he was going to get from the children on the subject. Again boring his eyes into Justis', he asked his next question. "Briar and Sandry tell me that you rarely bathe. So, if I may ask… were you slaves?"

The twins gave no response. Instead, their gaze was focused on the truth-symbols which were giving off a color they had yet to see. It had turned a blood red and was getting brighter by the second. Niko's eyes widened in what could only be described as pure shock before the symbols glowed bright red and vanished in a flare of flame that left a scent of sulfur in its disappearance. The mage quickly regained his composure, only saying, "Strange."

After many minutes in silence, Lark finally spoke. "Well, I think that is enough questions for one day, don't you think?" Niko nodded in agreement, rubbing his beard in a thoughtful manner. "Would you two mind staying here with these four until we can assess your situation?" Vito and Justis exchanged a look and nodded to Lark. "And not try to run away?" she asked gently. Justis' looked surprised that she had even mentioned it and again looked at his brother and again, they nodded. "Well then," she continued. "The library is on the second floor if either of you are interested. The gardens are outside through the kitchen. Whatever you do, we need you men to leave now; you are all hopeless in the kitchen and we need to start to prepare the Cold Born Feast."

Author's Afternote: I am so sorry about how long this took. My free time turned out to be a lot less than expected this summer. Well, I hope I've planted a few more questions in your heads. Oh, also I apologize to those of you who don't like long chapters. Its just that my chapters only end when they end, so… yeah… this will probably be one of my longer ones.

Response to Reviews:

The Golden Shadow: Glad you liked the chapter. And in my opinion, its going to get vary interesting, especially when I make the sequels to this fic (I plan to do 4 in total of The Circle Reunited… and then another series I can only tell you about after I finish the first 3 fics). The summer program was long… and fun at times (it was a scholarship internship thingy)… the $1000 stipend was cool. Thanks for the review!

Newfoundhope: Well, they're still teenagers. Think senior in high school. Hopefully the reader won't have much of a problem relating to them still. If they do, the new characters are quite young and are the center of this story. And yes… this took me much longer than I expected to update. Yesterday, I decided to stay up until 2 to finish it. I only had to finish the last three pages and respond to the reviews. Thanks for the review!

Tessadragon: Wow. Thanks. Erm… yeah… I'm not sure what else to say and I'm rarely one to be tongue-tied. Hm… I suppose what I can say is Adulatio mos adeptos undique. Thanks for the review!

Jinks: Yeah… I finally read Shatterglass. But it seems while Tris is not motherly with children, she does care about them and I hope I properly portrayed that in this chapter. As far as Briar and his trees, I'll say the same thing as before: Shakkans must travel to gather the wisdom and knowledge and magic they are known for. I think he's more protective of his own Shakkan than anything else, but he's not going to refuse the sell unless the tree objects. Oh, and thanks for saying you'd help. I might take you up on it. I'm gonna need a beta reader to tell me what they think of my chapters. Thanks for the review!

Gatermage: Thanks. I find that towards the beginning of fics, its an excellent way to keep the readers reading. Introduce questions, answer them, introduce more, leave them hanging. It's a good strategy. Thanks for the review!

From the front desk: NP about the spelling. I have problems with it too. And thanks for the review! I was going to a coherent continuation of the Circle Series and I'm glad you think its believable.

Elentariel: Well, I think you should have more a clue-in as to what he's talking about. If not, it'll be answered sooner or later. I'll start working on Chapter 4 tomorrow. My site Administrators are gonna kill me if I don't start working some more on the site stuff, but I think I'll split my schedule. By day, I'll work on my site stuff, by night I'll work on this fic. Fair enough? Thanks for the review!

Author Request: I am thinking of having beta readers - two I think. If you are interested, please email me or tell me in your review. Or, you can IM me on Yahoo! Instant Messenger student2lawyer