Disclaimer: Jian's mine, but unless I've suddenly become Tamora Pierce, the rest isn't.
Chapter 6 - The Truth Is Out: Two days later, the residents of Discipline were up at dawn. It was Lark's and Rosethorn's turn to man the Winding Circle booth in Summersea's marketplace, and the children were coming along. Jian was excited; she was a city girl, after all, and she'd liked the look of Summersea when she'd come through it with Niko.
That morning it was just Rosethorn with the children. Lark had gone somewhere else. Briar and Daja guarded the booth. Tris, Sandry, and Jian showed items. Rosethorn was at the cashbox.
They worked straight through midday, eating standing up. Lark returned soon after that, and talked Rosethorn into letting the children explore. Rosethorn agreed, and gave each child five copper crescents, to Jian's surprise.
They spent a crescent each at a nearby sweetshop, and then washed their hands in a fountain before splitting up. Jian wandered around, looking at the wares of various stalls, paying special attention to anything made of wood. Her only purchase was a small set of headcloths. Back home, women of the first and second ranks usually wore veils that covered everything from below their eyes to their chin, but artisan women - which was what she was now on her way to becoming - and merchant women wore headcloths. She bought a black one, a white one, a dark blue one, and a deep green one, at a crescent each.
She had just finished tying the green one around her head - it matched the dark green shirt and white leggings she wore - when she heard a commotion. She turned and was surprised to see that Sandry, Daja, and Briar had gotten into a fight with some local boys. She could see Briar picking a fight, and maybe even Daja if she were sufficiently provoked, but Sandry? True, she'd been quick to defend Briar the previous morning after he'd stolen that little tree of his, but a physical fight? Jian bit her lip. Should she get involved? She didn't know much about fighting, but her housemates were outnumbered. Sighing - she would regret this, she knew - she ran over to help where she could.
Tris looked around when she was done with the bookseller. She was upset to see her housemates involved in a fight. Daja was laying about her with her staff, Briar doing quick things that made his opponents yelp, Sandry was lobbing gutter dirt at a boy, and Jian elbowed a boy when he grabbed her by the hair. Tris hated fighting, but she had to do something. She lifted water from the ocean, intending to dump it on the boys the other four were fighting, but someone spun her around and the water became a waterspout. She tried to hold it, but eventually failed. Luckily, Daja had gotten Lark, who stopped it with some kind of spell using a piece of thread and a spindle.
The group had hoped to get away without trouble, but no luck. There were people shouting about unlicensed magic, healers, and so on. When, of all people, the ruling duke of Emelan, Duke Vedris, rode up with Niko, things only got worse, to Jian's mind. Though the parents of the boys left, knowing that they'd have to pay a fine for animal cruelty - apparently, Sandry had started the fight, in defense of a small puppy she now held - others demanded to know about Tris' waterspout. When Niko explained that Tris didn't know she was a mage, and that this was an accident, they demanded to know how that could be. One woman said "If she's ignorant of it, then why is she with Lark and Rosethorn? Everyone knows the mageborn are placed in their care!" Daja, Sandry, Jian, and Briar glanced at each other, startled.
I'm a mage? Jian thought. And then the rest of the woman's statement hit her. She looked at the sick-looking Tris and felt a rush of anger that startled her. She stood up. All four of the others had said something already, but she had remained silent. Now, suddenly, she was speaking, to the woman who had talked about Lark and Rosethorn.
"Well, we didn't know!" she shouted, shocking herself. She didn't even notice that her housemates' jaws dropped; that even Lark, Rosethorn, and Niko were startled. "We're not from around here, so please explain to me how we were supposed to know that Lark and Rosethorn take care of mages?" No one answered. Briar tugged her down.
In the end, an agreement was reached and they were able to leave. The duke rode with them, along with a group of soldiers. They stopped for dinner, and afterwards, there was a bit of a talk about the dog, what they would name him. Little Bear was the suggestion, but there was also a slight fuss over Sandry's use of the word 'we'.
Sandry then said, "Did you know? About - magic?"
"No," Briar whispered. Daja answered as well, explaining about Trader attitudes towards crafts and what had happened when she'd caught a red hot iron bar in her hands the day before at Frostpine's forge. When she was done, Jian joined in.
"We're like that, in Janaal. Each rank has its own duties. I don't belong to the artisan class, so it was illegal for me to work with wood." Briar glanced at her.
"You know, I'd've never thought you could talk that loud, like earlier," Briar remarked. Jian blushed, and Briar turned his attentions to Tris, who wasn't pleased about it.
When they got back to Winding Circle, they confronted Niko about why he hadn't told them about magic. He explained that they had all endured a difficult year, and that he preferred they grow into their power, rather than have it thrust on them. Jian supposed it made sense, though she wished it didn't. They returned to Discipline after that, and practically collapsed into bed, new revelations or no.
A/N: I know I skipped a lot of detail here, but I'm assuming that if you're reading this, you've read Sandry's Book (or The Magic in the Weaving, in the UK, from what I hear) and know this scene pretty well. I didn't think it was necessary to rehash everything.