A/N: I had quite a number of questions regarding Rosethorn's flashback. For those of you who don't know, or don't remember, Niva was what Rosethorn was called when she was still an initiate. Just as Crane was called Isas. Now, onto the fic!

Briar woke up to find himself buried beneath his blankets, his arms tangled up and unavailable to help him get his pet off of him. Little Bear had woken up and gone in search of a friendly person and had happened to stumble upon Briar. The dog was now happily licking his young master all over the face, and the young plant mage was helpless to stop it.

'If I open my mouth to call for help, he'll probably get his tongue in.' Briar shuddered at the thought. Five minutes later, Little Bear lost interest in Briar and went off in search of a new victim.

The black haired boy untangled himself from his bed and made his way over to his washstand and started scrubbing at his face with a washcloth. 'Never thought I'd see the day when I decided that I wanted to get clean.' Briar shook his head at his wall and made his way out of his room. He wasn't even going to try to go back to bed with that dog running loose.

Upon entering the kitchen, Briar was surprised to see Sandry boiling water on the stove. She must have heard him, for without turning she asked, "Would you like a cup of tea, Briar?"

Briar accepted the cup and sat down at his usual seat at the table. Sandry joined him a few minutes later. "Sandry, what are you doing up so early?"

"I was about to ask you the same question," she replied. "I had a bad dream about my parents. What about you?"

"A crazy dog came in and decided that it was time for me to get up." A scream was heard from upstairs. "Looks like he got Coppercurls too."

Sandry clapped her hands to her mouth. "Oh my gosh, I am so sorry Briar. It didn't even occur to me that Little Bear had spent the night in my room."

"I wouldn't be apologizing to me, Sandry, but to Tris when she gets down here. She doesn't sound to happy about losing sleep." And indeed, there was a breeze blowing through the house and rattling things around the kitchen that should not have been there.

Sandry winced. "Oh dear, Tris is definitely not going to be very happy. At least she likes Little Bear, right?" Sandry walked around the kitchen, pulling off Tris's and Daja's mugs from the rack where the residents of Discipline kept their dishes. "At least I can make her a nice hot cup of tea for when she gets down... Daja will probably want one too..."

Briar shook his head at his teacup. This was just like Sandry, worrying about how everyone else would feel before considering her own feelings. "Duchess, it's okay. I'm pretty sure she won't be too mad. Besides it's almost eight, everyone should be getting up soon." Briar grinned.

"Easy for you to say," grumbled a sleepy eyed Tris who made her way into the kitchen and plopped down at the table. "You are probably used to getting up at all hours of the day. This Merchant needs her sleep." Tris pointed an accusing finger at Briar and then took the teacup that Sandy was holding out to her.

Daja appeared in the doorway a few moments later with an ivory ball of fuzz trailing after her. "Little Bear certainly is up and about this morning," Daja yawned. "Do you think he needs something?"

Sandry shrugged and walked over the door that led into Rosethorn's garden. As soon as she opened it, Little Bear bounded out, and disappeared behind the shed to do his business. The young noble smiled and then set about preparing breakfast for the residents of Discipline.

"So," drawled Briar, "what do you think we're gonna do today?

"You, young buck," said Rosethorn as she entered the kitchen wearing a fresh robe, "are going to help me with one of my favorite things, weeding."

"Weeding, weeding, weeding, don't you ever do anything else?"

"I do, but this is the season to weed. As soon as you are done eating we shall start."

Briar groaned and lightly banged his head on the table, but after he had drunken his tea and eaten a large bowl of oatmeal he got changed and followed Rosethorn into the garden. Now, Boy, tell mw why we need to weed, and don't tell me it's because I want to work you too hard."

The ex-thief had a pretty good reason as to why he thought people weeded, their were Bags' houses all over that had their own gardener to keep their yards looking beautiful. But he didn't want to make Rosethorn mad if he got it wrong, she probably expected him to already know the answer.

"Errr... I ain't sure if this is right, -"

"Boy, first of all it's I'm not sure and second I don't expect you to know everything, just give me a guess."

"Well, don't you have to weed so that the roots are able to get enough nutrients from the soil without crowding each other?"

Rosethorn gave a hint of a smile. "That's right, boy. See you do know more than you think you do."

Briar's cheeks turned a light shade of pink at the praise and looked at his feet. Still staring at the ground, he mumbled, "so are we going to get started or what?"

"Yes we are. Seeing as the tomatoes seemed to like you so much, I've decided that you will be weeding their patch." Rosethorn led Briar over to the tomatoes and bent down so that she was even with the tomato plants that were growing at a steady pace. "Boy, I only want you to pull the weeds. If I see you pulling out any of my shoots I'll hang you in the well. Is that clear?"

The young boy nodded vigorously not wanting to get into any trouble here if he could help it. "Ummm, Rosethorn?"

"What is it, boy?" asked Rosethorn as she pulled weeds away from her corn stalks.

"How exactly do I tell if it's a weed or not?" Briar blushed slightly with embarrassment and inwardly cringed expecting a slap even though Rosethorn had told him just the day before that she would never hit him.

Rosethorn saw the cringe and sighed. Briar would never be able to face the world if all that he had always known was constantly in his mind. So, the Earth Dedicate knew what she had to do. "Briar, come here."

Briar looked up slightly startled that she had actually used his name and not Boy. He padded over quietly and stood in front of his teacher, eyes downcast.

"Briar, I want you to look into my eyes." Briar chanced a hesitant glance up, but quickly looked back down. Rosethorn bit back a sigh; this was a repeat of the previous day. "Briar. In order to overcome your fear you must face it. Now look into my eyes and let yourself be assured that I would never hurt you."

The newly found plant mage looked into her deep brown eyes and didn't see what he'd been anticipating. There was no anger or hatred in her gaze. Instead kindness, a sense of authority, and Briar was somewhat surprised, which turned to a feeling of ease when her saw the trust and promise that she would protect him.

"You see, I don't hate you, I won't hurt you, and I'll keep you safe Briar. Nothing will change that, no matter what happens. But I will still hang you in the well. As to your question, use your powers. Feel for the plants. Learn the touch, the smell, breathe in the taste and you will know what to pull. You'll know if you make a mistake."

Briar rubbed the back of his head, gave a small smile, whispered, "thank you," so quietly that Rosethorn almost missed it, and then headed back to the tasty red fruits. He kneeled down next to the plants and dug his fingertips into the fresh soil. Willing a tendril of his power to leave the wound it though the roots and explored this new territory.

He could feel the growth of the plants and within moments had stumbled across something that was definitely not a tomato plant root. This new addition to his area was a power hungry source that was invading the area that his plants needed to use to grow strong and healthy. Briar knew at once that this was a weed.

Opening his eyes without even knowing when he had closed them, he found his hand hovering over a plant that was slightly shorter than the tomatoes but bore an incredibly close resemblance. However, to Briar's senses this green thing radiated a different smell than what he knew to be a tomato plant. He firmly grasped the base of the offending weed and pulled, dragging the root out along with the leaves so that it would never grow back again.

After weeding for an hour Briar was starting to wonder how Rosethorn managed to do this day after day. His back hurt from constantly bending over, the sun had risen quite a bit and was making him sweat, and he was starting to get hungry even though he'd only eaten a little over an hour ago.

Rosethorn looked up from her work (she was now weeding the beans) when she noticed that Briar had stopped weeding the enormously large tomato garden. "Are you done yet, boy?"

Briar looked over at his instructor. "Almost. I never realized how many weeds could be in one area."

"Well, after you finish we shall take a break and get some lunch. Does that work with you?" Briar nodded and set back to work with a vigor with the prospect of food so close. Half an hour later Briar had finished his weeding duties and jumped up from the tomato patch.

"Come on, Rosethorn! Let's go get lunch!" Rosethorn stood up gingerly from her beans and headed towards the house. Upon entering it was clear that the girls were at their lessons. Briar could hear Lark teaching Sandry how to spin wool without losing control of the spindle.

Rosethorn bustled around the kitchen and prepared a fruit salad, which she set on the table along with a tray that had thick slices of bread and some meat and cheese so that you could make your own sandwich. "Boy, go see if Lark and Sandry would like to take their meal with us."

Briar knocked on Lark's workroom door and then carefully poked his head in. "Rosethorn wants to know if you want to have lunch with us..." he trailed off, not knowing quite what else to say. Sandry smiled and readily agreed that her fingers were starting to cramp up.

"We'd be happy to join you, Briar," Lark said as she began to clean up her work area. "We can start again after we've eaten, Sandry. Just let us pick up and we will be right out, Briar."

The black head nodded once and ducked out of the room and began to gently set out plates and silverware for everyone to use. Minutes later, two mages and two apprentices were sitting out and eating happily.

Sandry glanced at Briar as she neatly ate a strawberry off of her fork. "So, what have you been doing in the garden, Briar?"

"Weeding the tomato plants. It's weeding season after all. What have you been doing?"

The young noble looked at her hands that were now folded in her lap. I'm still trying to make a decent piece of wool. No matter how hard I try I just can't seem to get it. Children could do it better than me."

Lark patted Sandry comfortingly on the shoulder. "Don't worry, Sandry. I'm sure you will get it really soon and then you'll be able to do a lot more. I can feel it."

Sandry gave a small smile. "Thanks, Lark. I think I needed to hear that." The conversation then turned to something that I was going on with Crane and his greenhouse. The two students were content to listen to their teachers talk and Briar continued to eat.

After lunch was finished both groups went back to working (Briar was moved to the squashes) and work commenced for the rest of the afternoon with a break in the middle so that Briar could get a snack.

It was a quiet day, and nobody knew what the next day was going to bring. What they didn't know was that they were not going to like it.

Author's Notes:

Hey everyone! I know it has been a very long time, I ended up getting a job anyway. I am a Target Team Member. I received a review recently and had the urge to finish typing this chapter and get it uploaded. Hope you all liked it! Comments and reviews are always welcome and a big thank you to all of you who have stuck with this story and reviewed it! It means a lot to me. The next chapter should be up a lot sooner than this one took!