Briar had to wait an hour before the blonde man gave up looking for him. By that time, the market had mostly cleared out, and there was a kid about ten or so years old tied by hemp cords to the cart that carried the shakkans. Briar sighed as he untied the young opportunist.
"Don't you lot know yet to not touch my things?" he asked the child.
The boy glared at him and ran off as soon as he was free. In the distance, Briar saw him rejoin his associates. They had no doubt been waiting around to see what would happen to their friend.
Briar repacked the cart and hitched up the mare in silence, thinking. What was it about the blonde man that made him so very uncomfortable? Perhaps it had something to do with the look in his eyes when he looked at Briar… a mixture of confusion and panic, with perhaps a hint of malice. Briar had plenty of enemies, he was sure, but he could usually figure out what it was he had done to deserve the enmity.
He mused on this all the way back to Cheeseman St., where he unpacked his shakkans and checked on all the others growing in his workshop. It felt like only a few minutes later – though more than likely it had been a few hours – when Daja stuck her head around the door. "Briar! You aren't even dressed!"
He looked up at her. She was wearing her best dress tunic and leggings that Sandry had embroidered herself. "Hm?"
"Dinner!"
"Oh, right."
"What is wrong with you lately?"
His face darkened. "None of your beeswax, thank you." He put the last of his shakkans away and pushed past her on the way to his room. He got changed to the impatient sounds of Daja crashing around in the kitchen and the cook's protests. When he came out, fully decked out in his Sunsday best, she was waiting for him with a box under one arm and a covered pan in the other. He took the tray from her as a silent apology. She raised her eyebrows at him, but let him take it. "Don't eat them."
"What are they?" he asked as they went out to the yard. "It smells good."
"I made something for dinner. I thought Lark might like it."
"Riiight."
"Oh, shut up."
They hitched the small cart and Daja took the reins. In no time at all, it seemed, they were approaching Winding Circle.
"Did this place get smaller?" Briar asked vaguely as they clattered up the path to Discipline Cottage.
"No, your head just got bigger. Be polite to Comas this time, won't you?"
"What? I'm always polite to him."
"Yes, but you always manage to be polite in a way that scares him out of his wits."
Sandry was waiting for them at the gate by the time they reached it. "Well, finally," she said haughtily, wrinkling her button nose at them in disapproval.
"Blame Briar, please," Daja said, giving her friend a hug. "If he hadn't taken an age to get dressed…"
"Not listening," Briar said, climbing off the cart with some difficulty, since he had Daja's tray in one hand and the box in the other. "Why am I carrying all your stuff?"
Daja took her things from him and went on into the cottage, leaving Briar to face Sandry alone.
"I want to talk to you," she said, giving him a look.
"No you don't," he said, tying the horse to the fence at a place where he wouldn't be able to reach Rosethorn's garden.
"Oh yes I do. What was that last night?"
"Nothing. Why do you girls always make such a big problem out of everything?"
"Well, for one thing I don't want you to be dreaming my dreams."
He stared at her. "You saw my dream?"
"Well, yes. Didn't you realise?"
"No. I thought you just heard me wake up." He could feel his face heating up. She had seen that? Daja, too?
"All four of us were there. Even Tris, and she's far too far away to –"
"Oh look, here's Niko," Briar said quickly, running back to the gate and waving enthusiastically. "Hoi, Niko!"
"Don't think this is getting you out of anything," Sandry muttered, before going to greet the older Mage.
Briar smirked and went inside, where he was promptly set upon by Evvy, who wanted to show him everything she'd been learning over the past couple of months all at once. He watched patiently as she did various things with stones and lectured him about volcanoes and all the different types of rock. Rosethorn was in avid conversation with Frostpine about protective circles, and Daja was showing Lark the pile of intricate jewellery from the box she had brought from the house, with Comas looking on with interest. Niko had engaged Sandry in conversation, and she was replying politely, but occasionally shooting Briar looks that said I'll get you later.
Eventually, Lark called for dinner. Briar noticed that both she and Rosethorn were wearing their new necklaces – despite Rosethorn's usual protests that jewellery simply got in her way. He sat down between Rosethorn and Evvy. "Where's Luvo?" he asked his former student.
"In my room," Evvy said. "Playing. He doesn't like crowds."
Lark and Sandry served the food, including Daja's odd little savoury cakes, which tasted delicious with the roast lamb. Everyone congratulated her on them, and she positively glowed.
"Where did you get the recipe for these, Daja?" Lark asked her.
"Oh… a friend," Daja said mysteriously.
"The baker's daughter," Briar clarified with a smirk. "I thought she was more than a friend."
"BRIAR!"
"What? I live downstairs. I'm not deaf."
"You are such a… a…"
"Now now," he said. "Don't go a-calling me names."
"Briar," Rosethorn warned.
"What's the matter with you?" Evvy asked, taking Briar rather aback.
"Why does everyone keep asking me that?" he snapped. "Were you in my dreams as well?"
"No," she said, looking hurt. "There's no need to get catty with me."
"What's this?" Niko asked calmly, his eyes shrewd. Suddenly Briar didn't feel very hungry.
"Nothing," he muttered. "It's not my fault my sisters are all dream-hopping sticky-beaks."
"We didn't mean to be in your dream, Briar," Sandry said, sounding exasperated.
"I thought that sort of thing wasn't supposed to happen anymore," he replied, glaring at her. "I thought you put us all back in our own heads, with your map-weaving."
"Oh, so it's my fault, now?"
"That's enough." Rosethorn's most dangerous voice was enough to ensure sudden silence at the dinner table. "Briar," she continued, in a softer tone. "You told me you saw a mind-healer about those dreams."
"It wasn't about Gyonxe," he told her, his anger losing momentum halfway through the sentence. He sighed, feeling the sudden desperate need to be alone. "Thank you for dinner, Lark. Excuse me." He pushed back his chair and left the cottage, ignoring Sandry's indignant protests. Closing the door behind him, he leant against it for a moment, just able to hear her say, "Well really! Such a stupid thing to get angry over – "
"He's not angry," he heard Evvy reply. "He would have slammed the door, elsewise."
"Otherwise," Rosethorn corrected her, absent-mindedly.
Briar walked away from the door and went to sit with Rosethorn's plants around the side of the house. There was a convenient spot there that couldn't be seen from the door, or any of the windows. The plants wrapped themselves around his wrists and ankles, making him feel a little better. After a few minutes, he started to feel a bit of an idiot. It was a silly thing to be angry about, he supposed. It was only that it was the first time he could ever remember dreaming about his mother, and he would have preferred it to be a private experience. He wondered if the girls were telling the others about it right now. Then he felt awful for thinking it. They wouldn't do that, he knew. Whatever the four foster-siblings shared through their mind-link remained private to the four of them, unless mutually agreed otherwise. He wondered what they were saying to save his dignity. Sandry probably wouldn't even bother.
Perhaps about half an hour later, he sensed both his sisters creeping up on him. He looked up at them, Sandry, little nineteen-year-old Sandry in her beautifully embroidered summer gown and riding boots, and the darker, taller Daja in leggings and tunic. He was suddenly very grateful for their presence.
What's the matter with me? he wondered. I might as well be a girl, the way I keep changing my mind all the time.
"I knew you'd be here," Sandry said, eyeing the vines and stems that curled around Briar.
"Don't squash the plants," Briar said in invitation. Sandry flashed a triumphant expression and sat down gracefully beside him. Daja flopped down less gracefully on his other side. "Sorry for being a whiny bleater," he said after they had sat there in silence for a while.
"You were, rather," Sandry replied.
"No need to spare my feelings," he sighed. "I suppose I should apologise to Lark, as well."
"Later," Daja said. "We need to talk."
"No we don't."
"Stop that," said Sandry. You shouldn't keep it all inside this way.
I'm not, he replied.
Is that how it really happened? she asked, without a trace of pity in her mind-voice, which Briar was glad of. The dream, I mean.
I dunno, he said. I don't remember it, do I?
You can't dream something you don't remember, Daja cut in. That's logic.
Do you know what triggered it? asked a fourth voice.
TRIS! They all exclaimed at once.
Not so loud, she winced.
How are you doing that? Sandry asked, sounding fascinated. You're miles and MILES away.
Just something I'm working on, Tris explained vaguely.
Then how are WE doing it? Daja asked.
I'm holding the connection strong, Tris said. You can use it as long as I start it.
Then how did you hear what we were talking about? asked Briar.
Can you three stop interrogating me for a minute? I asked Briar a question.I heard you.
Well? Do you know what might have prompted the dream?
No.
There must be something.
No, Tris. Sorry.
He's being stubborn about the whole thing, Sandry complained to Tris.
Hey, would you be all right with it if I started picking apart dreams you had about any of YOUR parents? Briar asked them all. There was a notable silence.
We're a tragic bunch really, aren't we? Daja said eventually.
What about the man, Briar? From this morning?
Briar turned to stare at Sandry. "What?" he said, forgetting in his surprise to speak mind-to-mind.
"The blonde man."
"What blonde man?" Daja asked.
Are you three talking out loud? Tris asked, sounding strained. I'm good, but I'm not that good.
Sorry, Tris, said Sandry. I was asking Briar about some man he asked me to find out about. He was at the market this morning.
Did you recognise him? Tris asked Briar.
No! Briar said. He was just following me around and I didn't like it.
Getting jumpy in your old age, are you? Daja chuckled.
Something like that. Anyway, this is an entirely different problem.
Maybe they're connected, said Tris thoughtfully. There's no such thing as coincidences.
You would say that, said Daja fondly. Maybe we should track this fellow down.
I tried, said Sandry. Uncle didn't recognise the description, so he's probably not a diplomat, or anything like that. Not that he was well-dressed enough for one, she added knowledgably. I just thought I'd check, in case he was in disguise, or something…
Briar decided not to ask why she seemed to think it was normal for diplomats to wander around the market in 'disguise'.
Anyway, I'll ask the guards, tomorrow. They might know something.
Tris, from miles away, sighed. Why don't you just ask Niko to scry him?
Will that work? Daja asked.
Of course it will. It might take him a while without ever having actually seen him himself. If I was there I could probably do it in minutes.
Show off, Sandry said fondly.
I'd rather not ask him, Briar said tentatively. If the blonde man had anything to do with his dream… not that he understood how he would… as far as he was concerned they were two completely unrelated events.
It's up to you, said Tris, in a tone that said it really wasn't. Oh blast, I've a class. Good luck, Briar.
Thanks, he said, and she was gone.
"Well," said Daja. "That was…"
"Yeah," said Briar.
"Well if anything, I'm telling Niko about Tris," Sandry said. "I bet it takes more out of her than she lets on, to reach that far."
"Maybe she's not reaching that far," Briar suggested. "Maybe she's not really at Lightsbridge."
"Of course she's at Lightsbridge!" said Sandry incredulously. "She just said she had a class!"
"Yeah, but she didn't say what, where or with whom," Briar pointed out.
Sandry beamed. "I love it when you say words like 'whom'. It makes me glad we actually managed to teach you something."
"Harhar," said Briar.
"So?" asked Daja. "Will you ask Niko?"
"Not yet," he said. "Lets see what Sandry finds out first. There's probably no point, anyway, he might have just been looking to steal some trees, not some kind of… Dream Mage."
Sandry shivered. "Do you think he might be?"
Daja muttered a quick prayer in Tradertalk. "Dream Mages," she spat. "Pirates. Invaders."
"There's no Dream Mage!" Briar said, rolling his eyes. "Come on, let's go finish dinner. I'm hungry."
"You already had a whole side of lamb," Sandry pointed out as they stood up and Briar coaxed the plants away from his ankles.
Daja shook her head. "When has that ever meant anything to our Briar?"