Disclaimer: I can dream and wish as much as a want, but I will never own the Circle of Magic or Briar.
Thank you to my beta, Rosethorn.
Not Where I Belong
Chapter Six
From last time:
Sandry made it to her bed and even got changed into her nightgown before she collapsed on her bed and was fast asleep. The new pet of the house curled up on the floor and also went to bed. Briar was another story. Now that he was awake he wasn't sleepy anymore. Instead he was wide awake so he just sat in his blanket heap and thought over the events of the day. It had started out okay, and then he had ran into Slug. Oh, how he wanted that kid dead. If Slug had just been a good lookout, he would never have been sent to the mines and would still be running around Hajra. 'But,' a little voice in his head responded, 'if it wasn't for Slug, you would never have been brought to Winding Circle.' That thought in mind, Briar now suddenly tired, fell asleep.
Sandry awoke to something wet licking at her face. She opened her eyes and was met with the sight of the little dog she had rescued yesterday, trying to lick her to death. "I'm up, I'm up!" Sandry said, sitting up and pushing the dog into her lap. Her face felt incredibly sticky from the puppy slobber that was coating her face so the young noble climbed out of bed and padded over to the dresser where she had a water basin and a wash cloth. Rubbing some soap on the rag, Sandry washed her face thoroughly.
After she had washed up, Sandry pulled out a cotton dress from her large wardrobe and got dressed. Then, she brushed and plaited her light brown hair into two neat braids, and pinned them up on the sides of her head. Nodding at her reflection in the mirror, Sandry walked out of the room with the puppy following at her heels.
Upon entering the kitchen, the dog took off for the pan that was sitting on the cooking the breakfast bacon. Lark, entering the kitchen after getting flour from the pantry, gasped in surprise at the scene that was laid out in front of her. Sandry had the dog pinned on the ground and was trying to hold him still as he wriggled to get out of her grip to get at the bacon.
Sandry and the dog looked up at the startled gasp from Lark, and the dog, seeing a friendly new face, who happened to be carrying something that was food, (even though flour wasn't very appetizing), broke free of Sandry's grasp and pounced on Lark. Lark dropped the bag of flour, which burst open, causing the three occupants of the kitchen to be covered in the white powder.
From the noise coming from the kitchen, the other house members rushed into the kitchen to see what the commotion was all about. Briar looked at the two flour covered humans and remarked, "What happened to you two?"
Tris, who had now ventured into the kitchen, armed with a broom intent on cleaning up the mess, gave a short scream when one of the white mounds, that Tris had taken to be flour, moved and tackled the merchant girl. A wet, pink little tongue came away from the white mass and started covering Tris in puppy kisses.
"Oh you poor little thing, how did you get coated in flour?" Tris cooed to the dog. Tris had a very soft spot for animals, and a floured covered one was no exception.
Sandry was apologizing rapidly to everyone, for waking them up, and especially to Lark, who was now dusting herself free of flour. "I had no idea that he was going to do that, I'm so sorry, Lark!" Turning to the dog, now sitting quietly in Tris' lap, she continued, "And as for you, you should know not to jump on people. I guess we will need to teach you some manners." Sandry gestured at the children standing around the room.
Rosethorn had been staring around with scorn at the mess that the mutt had managed to create, when Daja ran past her to the stove, where she quickly pulled the bacon off the stove. Sadly, she was a little late, and the bacon slices were now charred, black crisps. The Trader gave a half smile. "I guess we won't be eating any bacon today."
"Can we go down and get something at Dedicate Gorse's?" asked Briar, his mouth already watering at the taste of the head cook's food.
"Yes, you children go pick up some breakfast for us," said Lark, "Rosie and I will stay here and get this place cleaned up."
"Bring that dog with you. You can fashion a lead for it with some rope out back," added Rosethorn.
"Make sure you all stay out of trouble," cautioned Lark. "Have fun."
"Yes, Lark," the children said. Sandry took the offered token from Lark so that they could travel freely without getting into trouble for being out alone. The children brought the dog to the back of the cottage where Briar found the rope and tied it around the dog's neck using a large square knot. Sandry dusted herself off as Briar did this and was soon presentable.
"Shouldn't break out of that. The only way he can get loose know is if someone lets go of the leash. I'll walk him first." Briar took the rope and the group headed out the front gate and down the path to the kitchens.
"You know," said Tris, "he needs a name. We can't keep calling him the dog."
"That's a good idea," agreed Daja, "but what should we call him?"
"Prince? King?"
"Dino? Big Foot?" Name after name was suggested, but nothing seemed to fit the little dog.
"How about Little Bear?" suggested Tris. "He's little now, but he is probably going to grow up to be pretty big.
The other three nodded their agreement. Briar stopped walking and bent down in front of the dog's face. "Your name is Little Bear. Do you like it?" Little Bear gave a happy yip and tackled Briar in the middle of the road and started licking him.
"I think he does," said Daja wryly. "We are going to have to teach him to stop doing that. We can't have him jumping on anyone that talks to him." Sandry and Tris nodded, Briar was still trying to get the wriggling puppy off of him. Eventually with help from all the girls, Briar was back on his feet and they continued down the road.
When they reached the building all four realized something very important. They could not, under any circumstances, bring Little Bear into the kitchens. They shuddered involuntarily at the havoc Little Bear would cause.
Briar took the end of the rope that he had been holding, and walked over to a large oak tree. He securely tied the rope around the trunk. "Now stay here and be good."
"Shouldn't one of us stay with him?" asked Daja eyeing the dog warily. "We don't want him to attack anyone."
"Nah, he'll be fine. We'll only be gone for a few minutes anyways." The children gave a wave to their new pet and trooped into the kitchens which were as busy as ever.
Dedicate Gorse made his way over to the quartet who were standing just inside the doorway. "Ah good morning Sandry, Tris, Daja, and Briar. What can I do for you today? Some butter? Freshly baked bread?"
Sandry looked at the jolly chef sheepishly. "Actually Dedicate, we are going to need a whole meal. Our dog got into the kitchen this morning and ruined the breakfast."
Dedicate Gorse chuckled. "When did you get a dog? I highly doubt Rosethorn, of all people, would let a dog in the house."
"Sandry rescued it yesterday while we were in town," said Daja, "and now he is tied up on the tree out front until we come back."
"Then I'd best hurry," said the dedicate. "Be back in a wink of an eye." Gorse disappeared into the crowd of people and came back moments later carrying a huge basket. "Here you go, besides breakfast are some treats for you four for later. There are also some kitchen scraps in a bag. Maybe you can use them to train your dog."
"Thank you very much, Dedicate Gorse," said Sandry. Daja took the basket and they all went back the way they had come, stepping out into the bright sunshine. Little Bear had been lying down under the tree, but at the sight of the children, and the smell of food, he jumped up and started to bark.
"Didja miss us Boy?" asked Briar, bending down and scratching the dog between his ears. At the whiffing sound as the dog smelling the air, Briar grinned. "Guess not, you just want the food. Well you can have some if you are a good boy on the way back to Discipline." The ex-thief undid the knot that was holding the dog to the tree and they set back up the road.
Little Bear kept straining at his lead, trying to get to Daja, who had the food. Briar kept the dog in check and a few minutes later, they reached home safely. The four children and Little Bear entered the house and Little Bear dragged them to the now clean kitchen The flour mess had been swept up, the bacon pan washed, and the table set.
Daja set the basket of food on the center of the table and the rest of the occupants sat down to eat. Briar sat after tying Little Bear to a the leg of the stove. Tris opened the basket and took out a plate covered with tinfoil. Undoing that, she revealed a full plate of gigantic blueberry muffins that smelled delicious. Wrapped in a large plaid cloth, there were a number of different kinds of pastries. Also a tin of cookies with a note on top that said 'Later', another container that had a fresh fruit salad, and two fresh loaves of bread.
"Yummy!" exclaimed Briar as his hand automatically reached for a strawberry pastry.
Rosethorn slapped his hand away from the pastry. "You may have one, after you have some fruit salad and a muffin." "Honestly," she muttered under her breath, "Gorse will spoil the four of you rotten." Briar just grinned and took a large portion of the fruit salad, which contained apple pieces, grapes, bananas, and raspberries.
After each child had eaten the required healthy food, all took a pastry and began to eat. Sandry nibbled at hers, savoring the flavor like always. Tris ate hers primly, wiping her face with a napkin after each bite. Daja ate hers neatly, but wasn't being 'Miss Proper' to do so. Briar was just eating his as he pleased. And that was taking extremely large bites. Briar finished first and was reaching for a second, but Rosethorn put the lid on the container.
"I think that one is enough for all of you," she said as she put the pastries on a shelf in the pantry.
"Look," said Sandry, reaching into the basket, "here are the scraps that Dedicate Gorse said Little Bear could have."
"Little Bear?" asked Lark. "The name sure fits him well enough." She smiled at the little dog in the corner, who raised his head and wagged his tail. "I think someone is hungry," she continued. "You children should give him some breakfast."
Rosethorn stepped in to speak her piece. "While that dog is under my roof, you children will feed, walk, clean up after, and play with him regularly. And he is not allowed in my quarters, or out he goes."
The children nodded solemnly, none of them wanted to lose Little Bear after they had just gotten him. Tris fed the dog the scraps that Gorse had given them, but saved some so that they could start training him later.
Lark clapped her hands. "All right, everyone. We really need to get to work. We will start by doing some meditation, and then we will break up into smaller groups. Agreed?"
Heads nodded, so Lark and Rosethorn started to make the protective circle around the room so that no magic could escape. Briar looked a bit nervous, being the only one who had never meditated before. Sandry noticed this and gave him an encouraging smile. "Don't worry, Briar, it isn't hard. Actually kind of fun."
Briar gave a weak smile in return and all of the children sat down in the circle. Little Bear barked from outside the protected bubble; he wanted to come in too. Rosethorn shook a finger at him and he immediately became silent. "Now this is how we do it," Rosethorn said. "I will start counting by sevens. For the first seven counts you breathe in. On the next seven you hold. Then you exhale for seven. And so on."
The other Earth Dedicate chimed in. "Imagine that you are putting all of your power into a very small object, all right? And keep your eyes closed, it helps."
"Here we go." Rosethorn began counting as the small group breathed in and out. Sandry put herself into a small spindle. Tris entered into a slip of wind. Daja became a piece of metal that was being melted over the fire. Briar grew to be a fine vein in a plant stem. After awhile Rosethorn stopped counting and the cluster continued to breathe.
Eventually, Lark whispered, "Everyone open your eyes and look around." The four children opened their eyes and looked at each other in amazement. All four of them were glowing different colors. Tris was a deep ocean blue of the sea, Daja was a vibrant fire red of the forge, Briar was a dark leafy green like the plants, and Sandry was a pale cream color like thread. Rosethorn matched Briar, bit a slightly lighter shade, and Lark was creamier than Sandry.
"That," said Rosethorn, gesturing to the glowing substance, "is your power. You all glow based on where your particular magic is centered. Tris goes with the weather, so she has blue. Daja has metal magic, so she has the red of the forge. Briar is tied to the plants, hence his is green, as is mine. Sandry and Lark are cloth mages. So they are cream like thread before it has any changes made to it."
"Wow," breathed Sandry, "It's so pretty. Should we start our real work now?"
"This is work Sandry. Now all of you close your eyes and the pull your power back to you. Good," she said when they had finished. " I was going tro have you do something else but this is enough. Besides, we have two small problems. The first is that Niko and Frostpine aren't here, so Tris and Daja would not be able to get anything done. The second is that you four need to start training that dog. We will start real lessons tomorrow when Niko and Frostpine return."
The two dedicates broke the protective circle and the kids scrambled out. Tris went over and untied their dog while Daja grabbed what was left of the scraps, then they all trooped out to the backyard where there was plenty of room to work with.
"Has anyone ever trained an animal before?" asked Sandry. "I never have because I wasn't allowed to have a pet. Really go near animals unless we were going on a trip and needed to use horses," she added, as an afterthought.
"Don't look at me," said Briar. "I couldn't have had one, feeding yourself is hard enough on the streets without a pet."
Daja shook her head. "Animals weren't allowed on the ship. The only thing we ever had were rats which we got rid of."
Everyone turned to look at Tris. "Well, I have had a little experience. At one of my aunt's houses, she had a lot of cats. And we sort of became friends, I guess is how you would put it. They would all come to me when I called their names."
"I think we have our animal trainer specialist," said Sandry, gleefully. "How should we start with Little Bear?"
"First," said Tris, "we need to make certain that he knows his name. He can't respond to everything that is said. Little Bear," she called, snapping her fingers, with a piece of food in her other hand, "come here." Little Bear bounded over to her and took the offered bacon bit.
"So does he know his name, or was he just responding to the food?" asked Briar. "I think it was the food."
"I agree with Briar," said Daja, "he wouldn't just automatically know his name from you calling him once."
"That may be true, but remember he has been hearing his name all day as he was introduced to others. So he is most likely starting to learn it. Watch." Tris called the dog's name again, this time without holding any scraps. Little Bear looked up from sniffing the ground and cocked his head at Tris. "See? He does know his name. I think the most important thing that we should work on is teaching him how to sit for starters."
"How do you want to do that, Coppercurls? You can't just say sit and expect him to do it, can you?"
"No we can't just tell him to sit. Watch. Little Bear, sit." Little Bear just looked at Tris and went back to exploring the yard. "We have to teach it to him step-by-step. Sandry, bring him back here."
Sandry took a hold of Little Bear's leash and brought him back over to the group. Tris went around to the back of the puppy and gently pushed his rump to the ground until he was sitting on his haunches. "Sit," she said firmly. The dog wagged his tail and stood up. "No, sit," said Tris pushing him back into the sitting position.
"Ah, I get it," said Sandry. "By forcing him to sit and then telling him what he is doing, he will learn what sit means and what to do when we tell him to do it."
"Exactly," responded Tris. She let the dog stand up. "Sit, Little Bear." Little Bear looked around the circle at the children and sat down on his haunches. "Good boy," praised Tris. "Daja go ahead and give him a treat."
The Trader girl held out a treat and Little Bear took it eagerly and ate. "Now what should we teach him? Can we teach him everything today?"
"No," said Tris. "As much as I would like him to learn everything today, he can't. Otherwise he won't remember everything, or he'll mix up commands. Before we end today though, we should teach him how to lay down and to stay. Coming will probably feed into the staying part. Let's get started."
A few hours later, Little Bear could effectively sit, lie down, stay, and come on command. He was having a few problems with the staying part, but Tris had assured the group that they could fine tune that later. Right now, she was glad that he had learned the basics.
The sun had started to set, casting golden red glows across the yard. The four young mages and their trained pet sat on the grass and watched the beauty of the sunset. Everyone and everything was quiet until Lark broke the silence to call them in for supper.
All four went into the house and washed up for supper. Supper consisted of large pieces of chicken , baked potatoes, a large tossed salad for all to share, and one of the fresh loaves of bread that Dedicate Gorse had given them, with butter. Rosethorn blessed the food and the humans began to eat, Little Bear sitting close to the table waiting to be fed.
"Go lie down, Little Bear," said Tris, "you'll be fed after we have eaten." Little Bear tucked his tail between his legs and went to lie down in the corner.
"You children certainly taught him well for his first day of lessons." said Lark smiling in amazement. The children all smiled at each other and continued to eat, although the girls did say thank you for the compliment.
When supper was finished, Sandry washed the dishes as Daja cleared the table. Tris and Briar prepared a bowl of leftover chicken scraps for Little Bear's supper. Following that, the whole 'family' walked to the other side of the kitchen, where it was more of a sitting room. A fire was crackling merrily in the large fireplace for them to enjoy its warmth.
Tris curled up in an overstuffed armchair with a book that she wanted to finish. Sandry decided to finish spinning some thread on her drop spindle. Daja began to read her book on different metals that Frostpine had given her, and Briar played with Little Bear. Lark was in the process of knitting a blanket and Rosethorn was making labels for some concoction or another.
Eventually everyone got up from thir spots around the room and went to sleep.
Briar was awoken the next morning with a strange feeling that something, somewhere needed his help. Rolling out of bed, he slipped on a shirt and a pair of pants, and slipped out the back door of Discipline without waking anyone.
The signal seemed to be coming from the direction towards the main part of Winding Circle. Briar followed it, and every step he took, it seemed to grow stronger. When he reached the outside of the greenhouse, it was pulsing.
The young plant mage tried the door, and found it locked. Reaching into his pocket, he came out with a homemade set of lock picks. No one about these, of course. He would get in a lot of trouble if someone saw him using them. After a few tries with different picks, the lock clicked and Briar entered.
He followed his senses to the back of the greenhouse, and along the far wall, there was a little tree getting covered up by a large leafy green one. The little tree, or bush, Briar didn't know what it was, seemed to be very sick.
Briar leaned over and picked up the tree, hearing it thank him for planning on helping it, and then made for the door. He was just on his way out, when a voice that vibrated around the glass house shouted, "Stop Thief!"
Author's Notes:
Uh oh! Briar's in trouble! Gonna have to wait to see what happens, coming up in the next chapter! I'm really sorry if part of the story is out of order, but I don't have the books. Besides, this order seems to work well. Could any of you tell me how the children get stuck in the earthquake? I'm having a memory lapse. n.n
I'm naturally a curious person, so for fun, how old is everyone? I'm 15 and will be turing 16 in December.
I want to let you all know, that I had my internet time back for awhile, but now I have lost an hour again. T.T But my other fic is currently on hold so I should still be able to update sooner than I orginally planned.
I was extremely pleased and very happy with the reviewer turnout loast chapter! Let's hope that it is the same, or even better!
See you all next chappie!
Reviewer's Comments:
Dreamerdoll: They are the cutest couple that I can think of in the Circle of Magic series! They will get together, I'm looking forward to writing that! But I disagree, Briar is mine. But I will give you a Briar Plushie. ((Gives Dreamerdoll Briar Plushie))
warrior of tortallNo, you never said that you wouldn't talk to me. Youi said how it was nice of me to leave you a comment even though you didn't say much. Glad you liked it!
LiarraI agree. Not enough people update in this section. Hope this update makes you happy! n.n
cheekychik: Wow! You have almost hit the nail on the head! Slug will show up again with a few new buddies, any guesses who? Are you a mind reader by chance? Either way, I appluad you for your thinking!
dragonsgrlI'm very glad that you like it, but I do hope that you read past chapter one, seeing as I just completed six! n.n Hope to see you next chapter!
IcyPantherd og was the only mistake. Rosethorn is a very good beta. That must have been me when I edited it. n.n Thankies! I knew that Lark wouldn't and Rosethorn would! It is just like them! n.n I'm glad I'm transistioning well. n.n Glad you liked that scene. The reasom Briar didn't explain was because he was getting fixed up by Lark, and Sandry was feeling a bit guilty for getting him into the fight in the first place.
The Summer Stars Don't feel bad Lell, it took me forever to start writing it. Thankies for the compliment! Since it features Briar, I have to make bad things happen to him, right? Briar is the best! Hehe, now I'm blabbing! Hope to see you next chapter!
TamiaEternityHope this update is good enough for you! And I hope to see you next chapter!
Emma Lee18: Glad you liked it! See you next chapter!
Sorceress Sakura Briar is the best character! I don't see how people could not like him! Hope to see you next chapter!