Disclaimer: Wow! I own Circle of Magic! Oh wait, it was only a dream. I have also been told that there seems to be some Holes in this ficcy, I don't own that either T.T
Not Where I Belong
Chapter Four
From last time:
Briar had stopped twitching and Sandry was leaning over him staring concerning with her cornflower blue eyes when his eyes shot open to reveal a startling gray-green coloring staring right back at her in panic. Sandry realized that herself and the other two girls were still holding him down. Briar started to fight again, not registering the caring look in Sandry's eyes, so often that kindness had not been for him that he didn't think it was now.
'A kind household is not where I belong,' were Briar's last thoughts before pain exploded behind his eyes and he went limp in the girl's attempts to hold him still. 'Not where I belong.'
Briar awoke the next morning because light was streaming between the crack in the curtains hitting him directly on the face from his position on the bed. At first he just gave a groan and rolled over to escape the sun's ray from his sleep. And then he remembered. He sat upright in bed and looked wildly around recognizing nothing of his surroundings.
He was sitting on a bed that was off the floor, not good. The rats could eat through the bottom. There was a large pine wardrobe across the room. On the top of the wardrobe were a bunch of potted plants that were turned towards the sun so that they could bathe in its light.
But when Briar's eyes landed on the plants, they stopped looking at the sun and turned so that their faces (if they had them where they would be) were looking at Briar. And then the English ivy began creeping over its pots rim and stretched itself across the room until it was settled around Briar's shoulders.
The other plants soon joined their English friend until quite a number of the plants had wrapped their tendrils around Briar. He himself was having trouble moving due to the restraints around his arms. But for some reason, the plants seemed to be speaking to him in whispers and he could actually understand them. They were welcoming him home.
"Home?" questioned Briar out loud in a soft whisper, "how can this be home? Home is on the streets where I grew up... this place is too nice for me to stay." The green-gray eyed boy made to rise to leave the bed and that was when he realized two things. One, the plants were still holding him on the bed, and two, he was wearing clean clothes and smelled of soap that all the Bags used all the time.
Sandry was in the kitchen preparing a pot of willowbark tea for Briar who she was certain was going to wake up soon. She was whistling happily, everything was going to be all right. Besides the fact that she and her two housemates and almost been strangled by plants last night, everything was looking very well. For some odd reason, Briar's fever had gone down slightly after last night's escapade.
The teapot whistled signaling that the water that was boiling was at the perfect temperature. Sandry took two cups off the shelf, in both she poured the steaming liquid. In the first cup she added a teabag and in the other, she added the mixture for the willowbark tea. Those filled, the teapot was returned to the stove (did they have stoves?) to keep the water warm in case someone else in the household wanted one.
The young noble was balancing the two tea cups in one hand while she slowly opened Briar's bedroom door with the other. The sight that greeted her was not one that she had been expecting. Briar was completely tangled up in the plants that had come down from the wardrobe, and they continued to tighten their hold on him as he struggled to get loose.
"You know," she said matter or factly, "if you would stop moving they wouldn't have to keep a grip on you. They just don't want to leave the bed, Lark's orders."
Briar let out a startled gasp when Sandry made aware of her presence. "Who are you? Where am I? What happened?"
"You're certainly full of questions, aren't you?" responded Sandry as she set the tea cups down on the nightstand next to the bed. "I'll answer them after you drink this," she said handing him the cup with the willowbark tea. "It's to help bring your fever down and I'm sorry about the taste, it's not the best stuff ever made."
Briar glanced warily at the cup that Sandry had handed him. He then took a small sip and Sandry giggled at the face he made in response to the tea's horrible taste. But since Briar wanted answers, he plugged his nose with his left hand that was now free of plants and gulped the tea down at once. A little too fast he realized when he choked on it.
Sandry reached over and gently patted his back, not knowing that his back was very tender due to whippings, but those at least were starting to heal nicely although they would scar. Briar winced slightly, but didn't comment, not really wanting to tell this strange girl what had happened.
"Now will you answer my questions?" demanded Briar. He was getting impatient. If it had been him who had been asked and he answered he might have gotten roughed up a bit, being a suspect withholding valuable information.
"Okay, my name is Sandrilene fa Toren, but everyone calls me Sandry. You-"
"I'm living with nobles? Just perfect." Briar put his head in his hands. "What's next?"
"You didn't let me finish. So you know I'm not like most nobles. Anyways, you are at Discipline Cottage in Winding Circle Temple in Emelan. You're not here to be punished," she continued in answer to Briar's look. "All of us are here because we have unnatural magic."
"Magic?" scoffed Briar, "that stuff is all fakery, none of it is real."
"So if it isn't real, how come all the plants are over here and not basking in the sun? It is a sunny day you know."
"How the heck am I supposed to know why plants are gathering around me? What happened anyways?"
"Well if you would stop interrupting I would be able to tell you," Sandry huffed. "I'm not quite sure what happened," she said in a softer voice, "Rosethorn came home yesterday with you in hysterics. Daja was sent to get a healer and none of the adults would let us in until late. You were running a pretty high fever and from I understand you were in a mining cave-in and you breathed in poison."
The black haired boy's eyes widened in shock and remembrance. "Ratter! What happened to Ratter?"
The stitch witch cocked her head. "Who's Ratter?"
Briar was about to answer her question when a call interrupted him. "Sandry, is he up yet?"
"Yes Lark. Do you want me to go get Niko, Rosethorn, Daja and Tris?" A dark skinned woman entered the room and smiled warmly at Briar.
"If you could Sandry that would be great. Daja and Frostpine are at the forge, Niko and Tris are up my the wall, and Rosethorn is in the garden. Just tell them all to come in."
Sandry nodded and left the room first stop was Rosethorn. She popped her head into the extremely large garden that was in their backyard. Not seeing Rosethorn at first glance, Sandry walked down a row that contained bean and tomato plants. She saw Rosethorn in the next row over pruning her carrots.
"Rosethorn? Briar woke up. I have to go find everybody else so I'll be back soon." Sandry ran off to the forge and alerted Daja and Frostpine and then to the wall where she told Tris and Niko. All hastened back to the little cottage where they found Rosethorn talking quietly to Lark outside the door.
Lark looked up and smiled at all of them. "Now when we go in, I want everyone to introduce themselves and don't be intimidating. He is still unsure about his surroundings and all the people who are here. Remember, he grew up learning not to trust people." Six heads nodded to Rosethorn's statement and they all entered the room.
Briar was once again surrounded by plants and looked up when the seven people entered. Tris and Daja looked at him uncertainly, they didn't know what to say, Sandry was the people person, not them.
Niko started first. "My name is Nikarian Goldeye. I am a truthsayer and a seer and am Trisana's teacher. Most people here call me Niko." Briar gave a small nod and tugged on one of the plants that would not let go of his arm. Frostpine stepped forward next.
"My name is Frostpine and I'm a smith mage. I am working with Daja," he said nodding at the incredibly tall girl. He then pushed Daja forward a bit.
She sighed. "My name is Daja Kibuso. I am a Trader, but also Trangashi. I'm also a smith mage."
Niko gave the redhead a small shove and she looked at Briar over her spectacles. "Trisana Chandler. Everyone calls me Tris. I work with the weather. Storms, typhoons, lightning if you know what I mean." Briar nodded again and his gaze fell on the only person who had yet to introduce themselves. He was guessing that this must be Rosethorn.
The Earth Dedicate looked at the boy whom she had rescued. "My name," she said curtly, "is Rosethorn. And you boy, are going to be my student. And just so that you know in advance, I do not accept laziness, sloppiness, or carelessness. None of that will be tolerated when you are under my rule."
Briar looked quite stunned at the turn of events. He was going to be a student? For what though? He couldn't even read or write. It had gone from name introductions to statements of his apprenticeship. Briar opened his mouth but closed it not knowing what he wanted to say, making him look much like a fish.
All the younger girls especially Sandry, were looking at Rosethorn as if she had lost her mind. She was already ordering Briar around and as Sandry knew, Briar thought that magic didn't exist.
Rosethorn turned and left the room, Frostpine and Niko following her. Lark looked at the four children, and said "why don't you four learn a bit more about each other? And don't let Briar out of bed."
The girls all sat down. Sandry on the foot of the bed, Tris on the chair that everyone had been keeping vigil on the night before, and Daja settled herself comfortably on the floor. The all of them looked at each other. None of them really knew Briar, and Briar didn't know any of them. 'Plus,' he thought, 'they're all girls.'
Daja was playing idly with her Trader staff that had no design on the top that declared her as Trangashi. Briar looked over to where she was rubbing the polished cap and asked in Trader although a little sloppily, "What happened to 'em?" He nodded towards her staff.
The young Trader girl looked up in surprise when he spoke to her in her native tongue. Sandry looked equally surprised. "You, speak Trader?" she asked curiously.
"I might be from the streets, but I ain't stupid. So you gonna answer my question or not?"
"My family's ship sank. I was the only survivor. Now I'm Trangashi because I am supposed to bring bad luck to other Traders." Daja felt tears pricking on her eyelids and quickly blinked them back and fiddled wit the red armband she wore to show that she was in mourning.
"Sorry about that. So where are you two's parents?" he asked looking at Tris and Sandry.
The two girls who hadn't answered looked at each other and then Sandry spoke. "My parents are dead of smallpox. My uncle, the Duke comes here often to see me."
Briar's mouth opened and closed again, the noble he had been talking to was related to the Duke of Emelan, she could possibly grow up to be the Duchess! Tris took this moment to speak her part. "My family tossed m out and said they never wanted to see me again because demons were inside of me."
Briar whistled. "Now that's something. So what was it?"
Sandry shook her head. "Tris has weather magic Briar. Everyone here has magic, even you. So magic is real no matter how much you deny it, and you do have it. Tell me Briar, why do you have the name of a plant? Surely that couldn't have been your gang name."
Briar shrugged. "I honestly don't know. I thought the wind told me, but that's just too weird to be true. Can the wind talk anyway? Cuz these plants sure talk enough." he finished nodding his head at the plants that were gathered around the bed.
Daja and Tris looked surprised. At the same time they questioned, "Plants can talk? What did it say?"
The boy looked at them, puzzlement written all over his features. "You mean you can't hear 'em?" His eyes widened when all three girls shook their heads in a negative answer. "But I thought everyone could...."
"Well they can't Boy. Only you and I can because we are plant mages." All four children looked up to see Rosethorn standing in the doorway holding a cup that smelled like willowbark tea. She walked over to the bed and handed Briar the cup. "Drink up if you want to get better. Midday will be ready in fifteen minutes." Rosethorn turned and left the room.
Briar was staring into his tea with a thoughtful expression on his face. He then plugged his nose and swallowed the tea in a few gulps, not as big as the first time so that he wouldn't choke like he did the first time. "You guys are certain that you can't hear the plants?"
"No we can't. I guess what Rosethorn said was true. Only plant mages can understand the plants. Like how Daja and Frostpine can hear metal, Tris can talk to the winds and the weather, and Lark and I can understand threads."
Briar just stared into his empty teacup. Maybe he did have magic then. Everyone in that he had met so far seemed to think so. The room was silent for a few minutes everyone lost in their own thoughts. The silence was broken by Lark calling them to midday. The girls rose from wherever they had been sitting and exited the room, Briar following behind, but letting his nose take him to where he wanted to be.
His nose led him to a table that was laden with very good smelling food. The girls were sitting down in what looked like their usual seats and the adults minus Frostpine were also sitting down. There was one spot left on the bench and Briar didn't know if that was for him or not. It was next o Daja so he assumed that they were waiting for Frostpine.
"Hurry up Boy! We can't start till you are sitting down!" Briar actually gave a small jump when Rosethorn barked out to him, and he very self-consciously slid into the empty seat. A blessing was said over the food and then the serving, eating and talking began.
Rosethorn was in a discussion with Lark about how some man that Briar didn't recognize the name of, Crane, was trying to grow tomato plants in his greenhouse. "It'll never work," she was saying, "you can't force every plant to grow out of season and still expect the perfect flavor out of it."
The newly discovered plant mage who was stating to believe it himself had never heard of what Rosethorn had been talking about. "What's a greenhouse?" he asked quietly hoping that no one would laugh because he didn't know what they already did.
Rosethorn actually seemed pleased by the question. "A greenhouse Boy, is a house made completely out of glass so that plants can grow all year round without dying in the winter due to the frost. But remember," she said shaking a finger at him, "that the plants that grow there are out of their normal growing patterns so they don't always taste as good as they should, hence bland flavor in the tomato plants."
Sandry was then reminded that Briar was there and he had still not answered the question she asked previously. 'Of course', she mentally slapped herself, 'you forgot to remind him. Might as well as him now.' "Briar," she said aloud, "you never answered my question earlier..."
Briar looked up from the piece of bread he was eating. "And what was that Duchess?"
"Who's Ratter?"
Briar stiffened in his seat and then panic set into his wyes. How could he have forgotten to ask about what had happened to his friend? Everyone noticed him stiffen and Rosethorn got out of her seat and walked around the table. She placed a gentle and callused hand on Briar's shoulder and whispered something in his ear and then as he stood up guided him out of the room into the garden.
"What did I say?," questioned Sandry. Everyone else shrugged, they had no idea.
Briar POV (A bit backwards, but I had to do it)
"Who's Ratter? I felt my shoulders stiffen, I had forgotten to ask about my only friend in that dump of a camp. Rosethorn must have noticed my unease because she came around the table and put a hand on my shoulder.
She then whispered quietly in my ear so that no one else could hear, "Let's go outside, I need to tell you something." I gave a short nod and then let Rosethorn lead me into a huge garden in the back of the house. Rosethorn led me to a little bench and sat me down. "Briar you need to know this. Ratter is dead."
I went numb with shock, this couldn't be happening, it just couldn't. Ratter couldn't be dead. "How?" was the only thing I managed to get pas the lump that was starting to grow in my throat.
"There was poison in the area where you were working. None of the boys were treated and everyone from there died except for you. Ratter did tell me to tell you before he died that you were a good mate. I'm very sorry it had to come out like this."
I pulled his knees up to my chest and then buried my head on top of them. My shoulders were shaking with suppressed sobs so I knew that Rosethorn knew that I was crying, but right now I didn't care. Why did he have to die and I lived? Why him? He was the only one there who was nice to me. The only one who cared. "Why," I sobbed, "did he have to die? It should have been me! How the heck did I live if I was down there and he was in the open air? It's not fair!" I yelled, my eyes glinting angrily.
"I was wondering why you had survived as well," Rosethorn said calmly to me. "But I sent out my connection to the plants that were still alive at the mine and asked them how you lived. They took the air from outside and transferred it to you. And they also somehow made you start breathing."
"It's still not fair! I deserved to die! I'm still a street kid no matter which way you look at it, I'll never belong here!" I jumped up from the bench and ran around to the front of the house, entered, and went to my room slamming the door behind me. Then I moved the blankets to the floor, curled up in my 'nest' and cried myself to sleep.
End Briar POV
Rosethorn entered back into the kitchen by herself and sat down back in her seat with a sigh. "What did I say Rosethorn?" Sandry questioned wondered what she had said to upset Briar.
The Earth dedicate looked over at Sandry. "Ratter, was Briar's friend at the mining camp. He died helping to save Briar's life. The poison in the mine section that Briar was in killed every boy except Briar. And the boy only lived because the plants supplied him with oxygen that was purer than what everyone else was inhaling."
"Oh my goodness." Sandry hung her head in shame. "I'm sorry Rosethorn, he mentioned him and I wanted to know who he was."
"It's not me you should be apologizing to Sandrilene, it's Briar. Speaking of which, did he come back? After I explained to him what happened he ran off."
"He's back," said Tris, "or at least that is what I interpret the slamming door to be." Tris actually felt a bit bad for Briar. Losing a friend must be hard, she would never know. She didn't really have any friends, she preferred animals because they couldn't tease her about her weight or her spectacles.
Sandry nodded. "I'll go talk to him," she said as she stood up from her seat. The brown haired girl left the room only to return moments later. "He's asleep and he needs the rest. I don't want to wake him. Although, he did move all the blankets to the floor and is sleeping down there."
"Just let him stay there for now," said Lark. "If being closer to the ground makes him feel more comfortable, we should let him stay there. Most kids from the streets would want o be on the ground anyways. The rats can't eat through the bed."
"That's gross," stated Tris. "Who would even let a rat near them? I would have it killed."
"I'm sure that he isn't fond of rats Tris, but he and his gang probably had to fight with the rats for territory and possessions. Why do you think kids on the streets are called street rats?"
"Rats were never a problem on my family's ship. My cousins and I were in charge of finding any rats that were in the lower decks and toss them overboard. But I highly doubt that Briar and his gang even thought about doing that. But of course, when your at sea, you don't necessarily endanger people's health's."
"How long do you think he's been on his own?" inquired Sandry. "He doesn't seem to speak properly, all slang, but he seems that he was able to care for himself."
"Well," said Lark, "he was probably ganged up, meaning that he was in a gang where he had people to watch his back."
There was a knock on the front door, which turned out to be Frostpine's apprentice, Kirel, saying that Frostpine wanted Daja to come down to the forge when she was done with midday, he had something to show her. Daja, since she was finished with her meal, bid everyone good bye and left the cottage with Kirel.
Niko decided that he and Tris should get back to work, so the two of them headed to a hill near the ocean. Lark thought that it was a good time for her how to start teaching Sandry to weave correctly so they disappeared into Lark's workroom. Rosethorn went into her workroom to finish labeling some jars of a new sleeping powder.
A few hours later Briar woke up on the floor and looked around not remembering where he was. But after he had sat up and rubbed the sleep from his eyes, it occurred to him why he was sleeping in the middle of the day. Ratter was dead. Ratter was dead and there was nothing he could do to bring him back to life.
Meanwhile, Sandry had decided that it was time to stop for the day. Her fingers were starting to ache something terrible, and she had to go start preparing dinner. 'But first, I need to apologize to Briar. He should be up by now.' That thought in mind, Sandry packed up her supplies and made her way to Briar's room and knocked softly. When he didn't answer, she pushed the door open a crack, to see him sitting up in his 'nest' surrounded by his plants.
"Briar?" she asked tentatively as she stepped into the room and silently closed the door behind her. "I wanted to say I was-"
"No need to apologize, you didn't know," Briar said into his hands without looking at her.
Sandry mentally let out a sigh of relief as she stepped further into the room and sat down on the edge of the unoccupied bed. "So do you want to talk about anything? Otherwise I have to go make dinner, want to help?"
Briar looked at her in surprise. "I can't cook," he stated firmly.
"Of course you can silly, anyone can! All you need is practice. I didn't know how to cook when I got here, but I can make the basics. Besides it is one of our chores."
"Chores?"
"Yes, since we all live here we have to pitch in with the cooking, cleaning, stuff like that. Lark keeps a chart that tells us who does what each day. Today I'm in charge of making dinner. I'm just making spaghetti, if you want, you could make the garlic bread."
Sandry smiled sweetly and held out her hand to Briar. Come on! It'll be fun!" Briar cautiously put his hand in hers and let her pull him up and together they left his room and headed to the kitchen. Briar looked around in confusion as to where the rest of the household was.
"Everyone's still working or practicing, whichever one they are doing." Sandry went to the counter and picked up a list. Then went into the pantry and came out with some garlic powder, and uncooked pasta. Going over to the windowsill she pulled down some tomatoes and a basil leaf for the pasta sauce. "Before we start we need to go down to the kitchens to get some butter and bread."
The blue eyed girl grabbed Briar by his sleeve, poked her head into to Larks room and told her that her and Briar we leaving to get some ingredients from Dedicate Gorse and then dragged Briar and a basket out the front door. "That's nice dear," called Lark and then after the door had closed, "Wait! Briar went too?" Lark smiled to herself and went back to her weaving.
The two children made their way down the road to the kitchens, Sandry pointing out different buildings. "There's the greenhouse," she said pointing to a see through house between a thicket of trees. "And the bathhouses," Briar made a face, "and the forge, and here we are at the kitchens."
Sandry pushed open the door and Briar's nose was filled with the smell of delicious food being cooked all around him. A rather round man wearing a food stained apron made his way over to the two youths. "What can I get you today Lady Sandry? And who's your friend?"
"We need some butter and a large loaf of bread. Briar I'd like you to meet Dedicate Gorse, head of the kitchens. Dedicate Gorse, this is my new housemate Briar."
"Nice to meet you Briar. Let me go get those things for you Sandry." The man dipped his head and walked off through thee bustling kitchens and came back with what Sandry had asked for, as well as a tin of chocolate chip cookies and two strawberry pasties. "Pasties are for now, don't let them ruin your appetites, keep the cookies for dessert." Sandry thanked him for both herself and Briar and then the children left the kitchens to head back for Discipline.
Briar was eating his pasty in large bites and finished in five. "Those are good," he commented. Sandry was nibbling slowly on hers, wanting to savor the taste. She ate half and then offered the rest to Briar.
"I don't want to spoil my supper, but you look like you could use another. We need you to gain some weight, I bet you're lighter than me!" Briar took the offered pasty and finished the uneaten half in two bites. By that time they had arrived in front of their home. Walking back into the kitchen with their supplies, Sandry started boiling some water in a kettle and then began to instruct Briar on how to make garlic bread.
"First, we have to cut the bread so that it is in slices. Like this." Sandry cut the first piece and it fell neatly onto the cutting board. "Now you try." Briar carefully placed his left hand on top of the loaf and put the knife in the same manner Sandry had. He began to cut in a downward motion until his piece landed next to Sandry's. It was a little thicker in some parts than others, but it looked okay. "Good job," praised Sandry. "Now do that to the rest of the loaf while I start the sauce."
Five minutes later, the water had reached the boiling point and Sandry tossed in the spaghetti noodles and went back to stirring her sauce that was starting to smell very appetizing. Briar had finished slicing the loaf of bread and had put each piece in a row on cookie sheet (don't know if that's right, but that is what my family uses ) "I'm done Duchess, now what?"
Sandry came over to inspect Briar's work and nodded in approval. "Now you need the butter." Taking a knife she took some of the butter out of the container that Dedicate Gorse had given her and spread it evenly over a piece of bread. "Do that for each piece, don't use too much butter, but make sure you cover the whole thing. Otherwise it'll be just plain bread."
The ex-thief nodded and set about his new task while Sandry went back to tend to her sauce to make sure that it would not burn. Briar finished his task shortly and turned back to Sandry who was tasting a noodle to see if it was cooked. "A bit longer," she muttered to herself. "Oh are you done Briar?" Briar bobbed his head. She went back over to her 'student' and brought with her the garlic powder she had gotten from the pantry. "All you have to do is sprinkle some of this on each piece. But not too much," she cautioned, "unless we want it to be really garlicy, and trust me it doesn't taste very good."
Briar put just enough on each slice and then Sandry put them in the oven to cook. "Everyone should start coming back right about now," she said and sure enough the front door opened and Tris, Daja, and Niko walked in. All three went to wash their hands and then Daja began to set the table. "Supper will be ready in a few minutes," Sandry called loudly enough so that no matter where you were in the house you could hear her.
Minutes later, everyone from the household trooped into the cozy kitchen and took their seats at the set table. Sandry and Briar came with the food on plates and set it down in the middle of the table and then slid into their appointed seats. Blessings were said over the meal and then the food was passed around the table.
"Sandry did you cook?" asked Niko. "Everyone is delicious! Garlic bread is just perfect."
"Well, I made the spaghetti and the sauce, but Briar made the garlic bread. He did a very good job for his first time at cooking." Everyone looked at Briar who looked at his plate, a slight blush coating his cheeks from his the double praise.
"Very good Briar, I couldn't have done better myself. Now, all four of you listen carefully. Tomorrow we are going to be practicing meditating because all of you need it, and Briar needs to learn so he doesn't lose control o f his power like he did last night."
"I lost control? How? When? What happened?"
"You tried to have your plants strangle us when we were trying to keep you on the bed when you were having a fit last night."
"Sorry about that Coppercurls, next time wake me up."
Daja sighed. "We tried to wake you up, but you didn't. It was lucky that Tris made a strong enough wind to wake all of the adults up. Rosethorn was able to tell the plants to go back to her workroom."
When supper was ended, Tris went upstairs to read a book and Daja went to her room. Sandry went to the roof and invited Briar to go with her, but before they got to the stairs, Lark put a hand on Briar's shoulder and said that he would be up in a few minutes she had to talk with him. Sandry nodded and went up.
Lark brought Briar to his room and sat him down on the bed. "Please take off your shirt, I need to re-bandage and clean your back injuries." Briar sighed but did as he was told. Lark undid the bandages and was pleased to see that the lacerations on his back were healing nicely. "Briar you do know that you will have some scarring on your back from your lashing."
The former street rat nodded sadly and sat in silence until Lark applied some hydrogen peroxide to a particularly deep cut that she wanted to make sure did not get infected. "Ow! What was that for? It stings!"
"I'm sorry Briar, but I need to make sure none of these get infected or it could be worse. Just to let you know, you don't have to tell anyone about these. Currently only Niko, Rosethorn, Dedicate Lily, and I know. No one else will learn unless you tell them and that is completely up to you."
Briar made no acknowledgement to her statement. By that time Lark had finished re-wrapping the bandages and told him he could put his shirt back on. "Run along Briar. Sandry is waiting for you on the roof." Briar left the room and climbed the ladder to the roof where he found the young noble gazing at the stars.
She looked up when the light from the trapdoor illuminated Briar. "Aren't they beautiful?" she queried letting her gaze travel back to the constellations in the black sky. "There's the Big Dipper, and the Little Dipper. And over there is Draco. So pretty. I wonder what one looks like up close." She sighed in contentment.
"Do you come up here every night just to look at the stars? Not much to see after the first time."
"I come whenever I have the time; it's so peaceful up here. And no, they are changing all the time. I could never get tired of looking at them. I would love to sleep out here one night, but Lark is scared of me rolling off the roof." She giggled. "Sort of silly isn't it? That I would actually roll off of roof? Of course Uncle wouldn't be very pleased if I did fall and broke a bone."
The two of them sat up their quietly in contented silence just glad of each other's company. The spell was broken by Rosethorn. "Sandry! Boy! I know you are both up there! Come down and get ready for bed."
The two stargazers climbed down the ladder and then went down the staircase. They both stopped at Sandry's door. G' Night Sandry," said Briar awkwardly.
"Good night Briar. Sweet dreams." Sandry disappeared into her room and Briar continued to his. Settling down in his heap of blankets he too went to sleep hoping for good dreams.
Author's Notes:
No cliffy this time, yay! This story, popularity wise, is doing so much better than I expected! Almost eight reviews a chapter! You guys (and girls) are great!
Now I know that it takes a lot longer to cook pasta than what Sandry and Briar did it in, but I did have to speed things up a bit. Dinner was started a little late. n.n
If any of you are familiar with Emelan money and what there worth is, if you could leave that in your review or send me an e-mail about it, it would be appreciated! I don't own the books or I would check myself, but wherever they travel the currency changes! So I would love some help!
Just so all of you know, I have started my sophomore year in high school and because I am in honors classes, I get a lot of homework. What I'm trying to say is that updates might take longer than usual because my schoolwork comes before fanfics and fun!
Please push that little review button on the bottom. I'm hoping to get a total review count of 32 reviews before I update (and write) the next chapter!
Reviewer's Comments:
IcyPanther: Well now we are even n.n You called both Toboe and Hige, Hiei in your story. I did go back and fix it though. You welcome for the credit!
Dreamerdoll: Hehe I checked your favorite authors n.n Yeah that is torture, I'd hate to be in your spot. I do read the Tortall series, but haven't read them in a while (like over a year) so I need to reread them to figure out who I like with who. As for Circle of Magic, I really like Briar/Sandry and I think Daja and Kirel make a cute couple. How about you?
Lizai: I should have explained that better. He saw the kindness in Sandry's eyes when he woke up and he wasn't used to that or to people being nice to him so he thought he didn't belong. Did this chapter help to clear any of that up?
This-Is-Not-A-Flame: Love your penname! Very interesting! I'm really glad you like it! I do hope I put Rosethorn back into her character. She was just being a bit concerned seeing as her student was half dead. n.n I don't know if I put more suspense in the writing, or if I'm still laconic. I did try more desrciption. Any suggestions? I thought it also had a slight flavor of Holes so I added it to the disclaimer. Technically, this is my second story, but the first is going through re-editing so this is really my first really good one. Thankies so much for your support! Hope to see you next chapter!
warrior of tortall: Glad you like it!! n.n Hope to see you next chappie!
Liarra: I was so happy to get three reviews from you! n.n! Glad Briar is your fave too! I love the angst also! Please don't explode, here is your chapter! n.n
ooga: I hate cliffys too.... especially when I'm left hanging! Hope to see you next chapter!
Emma Lee18: Spellcheck doesn't catch everything sadly T.T and my eyes don't catch everything when proofreading. Yeah as for Rosethorn hitting herself on the head... A candle wouldn't have worked, but she could have come up with something, ne? Catch ya next chappie!