Enlightenment

by NoirGrimoir

After returning from Lightsbridge, determined to start her own business working as an ordinary mage, romance is the last thing on Tris's mind. Unfortunately, her siblings don't seem to understand that. Tris/OC, Daja/OC, Briar/Evvy, more.

5. Chapter 5

Notes: Ah! What happened!? Why did this take so long?! Don't ask me, I don't know. I do know that this chapter was cut up, rewritten and rearranged half a dozen times, however. Most of the next chapter (which was formally most of this chapter) got scrapped as well. It wasn't awful or anything, it just wasn't right. But I'm finally more or less happy with it. I hope you will be, too. There's going to be some typing errors and such, so you can message me if you notice them, and I'll get on it. Also, for the record, I'd put the time of year this story takes place at near the end of May (or Goose Moon, as they call it). I don't think I'd mentioned that in the story anywhere. And I feel a little bad that Sandry isn't in this chapter at all, but that's what happens when you live in the palace, you miss all the fun. (And also the fighting, but mostly the fun.) I think she'll manage an appearance next chapter, but it's a little up in the air, at this point.

Some quick review responses! First, thank you to Karma Kat 281, L.A.H.H, TheTinyestOne, and Ten-Faced and everyone else who reviewedfor your wonderful comments and encouragement! To those with questions, Rember, where is Sandry you ask? Doing responsible palace things. Chapters three and four take place on the same day so she hasn't had much time for anything else beyond giving Alzander the invitation yet. As for the next day...well, you'll have to wait and see. YokaiMoonRiver12, I will put your fears to rest and tell you that Briar is absolutely not going to be paired with Tris, or any of the circle members for that matter. I'm glad you like the story, and I have taken a while to come back to it, but I haven't forgotten about it! Loveretriever, I'm glad you lol'd! I mean, I tend to think what I'm writing is pretty entertaining, but it's always good to know that I'm not deluding myself, heh. I think this chapter is kind of serious, actually, but rest assured that it doesn't last long. And don't worry, Briar and Heinz and Tris and Daeved are a go. They will not be glossed over, ufufufu. Roserapier, I'm happy you like the characters as I've written them. Will there be anything from Battle Magic in it? Well, honestly I haven't even read it yet, (should probably get on that, huh?) Considering where it is in the timeline, I can't imagine that anything that took place in that book would be especially relevant to this story, but after I do catch up on it, a few bits might sneak there way in, if it makes sense for them to do so.

Again, thank you everyone who took a chance on reading this story and who have been avidly waiting for the next installment, this is for you!

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Chapter Five

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The next morning, as soon as Tris had become occupied with her customers, Briar took his leave of their house to set up a shakkan in the home of a wealthy merchant who was a frequent patron of his. The visit went excellently, and Master Rubrik now had a miniature willow to add to his collection, positioned with the others in one of his beautiful courtyards.

Feeling good about the sale and certain the man's gardeners would take great care of his friend, he was now being filled-in by Daja as he made his way to the corner of Carpenters Way and Peacock Row. Despite Daja's previous misgivings about his plan, he was determined to shed some light upon the mysterious Heinz who had so enraged his sister (and had such ridiculously small handwriting that Briar had broken down and borrowed Daja's magnifying lens to read some of the annotated margins in the book he'd bought yesterday).

What! You already set her up on a date? That's cheating, is what that is, Briar complained as his trader-sister told him the news mind-to-mind.

Well, Yosleen did, Daja answered Briar sheepishly. I kind of forgot to mention that last night would be more of a scouting trip to her before she took things into her own hands.

Briar sent her an impression of rolled eyes. Why does that not surprise me? he said. Briar and his sibs knew Yosleen well enough to know the girl never let an opportunity to get something she wanted slip, nor did she do anything halfway when she could go overboard instead, but Daja always seemed to forget (or ignore) it. It was just one of those things that seemed to happen when you were in love, he supposed. Luckily Yosleen was a good person, because when it came to her, Daja had a blind spot the size of the Duke's Palace.

But Daeved is a great match so I think it will be a success, or at least not a bad experience for her, Daja said, ignoring Briar's dig. I still haven't figured out how I'm going to get her to go to the meet-up, but I'll think of something.

Hearing this he was somewhat mollified, even though he'd have liked to have been more involved in the selection process of the first 'date', but if Daja said it would work out then he believed her. Well, alright. If you like him, then me and Sandry probably would, too. I suppose I'll forgive you for beating me to the punch.

Heh, alright, was the amused response. Though for the record, I still don't think this Heinz-guy is going to work out, even if Daeved doesn't wow her at their lunch tomorrow—which he will.

Briar grinned to himself. Getting cocky there, aren't ya? Want to make a bet of it?

Tris would call down a lightning storm on us if she knew we made bets on her love-life, Daja warned him. I'm in for five silver crescents on Daeved.

Briar snickered. She'd warned him off of betting but had no hesitation in doing it herself. Oh yeah? Well eight on Heinz.

Psh, on a man you haven't even met yet? I'm recording this moment for posterity, Daja told him, and then gave him an image of her looking up from engraving work at her forge to make a note of their bet in the pocket notepad she used to sketch sudden ideas for metal pieces. You can't back out later, I've got written proof now.

Heh, that's what I'm going to say when you whine to me about handing over my winnings,he shot back jauntily. Daja gave him the impression of a chuckle and they bid each other 'see you tonight's before breaking off their connection. Briar made sure he was shielding his mind right and tight so Tris wouldn't be able to peak in on his activities if she suddenly decided to get nosy, then continued on his way without further mental conversation.

A few minutes later, he reached the area of town Tris had described the night before, during her tirade of loathing for all things involving Heinz and his intrusion on her life. Examining the buildings and businesses, Briar found he'd been correct about having seen the shop before and he eyed the handsome establishment with fascination.

It was a brick building faced with decorative slate in a very good part of town. The rather large sign above it read Maps and Exotics by Master Geoffrey Crato. A large window in the front held stacks of rolled scrolls, a framed map on a stand, and a large celestial globe of inlaid precious stones that he was certain Evvy would gush over if she saw it. Just outside the building was a small table with a shelf divided into slots which held scrolls of paper and parchment. A young man hovering near it shouted to anyone and everyone that the building held the best maps in not just the city, but the entire Pebbled Sea, as well as declaring that any tourist or newcomer to the city absolutely needed a map right now.

Good salesman, Briar thought as he walked up to the person.

As the young man noticed him, Briar held up an apologetic hand and smiled, stopping the hawker from reiterating his spiel before he could even start, by asking, "Master Crato?"

The young man immediately jerked his thumb into the building. "He's inside," the fellow said and went back to petitioning passersby with descriptions of sale items.

Perfect, he's in, Briar thought excitedly. Finally, finally, he would talk to someone who had real information about this mysterious Heinz! Hopefully the man's friend would be forthcoming enough for Briar to figure out if his sister was genuinely smitten or really did hate him as much as she professed to. If Master Crato refused to talk then Briar honestly wasn't sure what he would do next...

Briar smiled to himself wryly. Then I'll just have to turn on the charm, he thought.

Walking through the door, it jingled with the sound of a bell attached to the handle to signal that someone had arrived. Briar squinted as his eyes adjusted to the dimmer indoor light and as soon as it did, he whistled in appreciation.

There were maps everywhere. Rolled up and stuffed into bins and shelves as well as framed and hung on the walls. Beautiful calligraphic maps with sea monsters infesting the seas, plain utilitarian maps showing only cities and country borders in unadorned lettering. Some were as small as a sheet of letter paper, others taking up large amounts of space on the walls. They depicted whole stretches of the continent, or what lands were held by countries, or the streets of cities or merely the property of a landholder. Some looked to depict historical borders from hundreds of years ago, or bathymetric maps of the depth and breadth of bodies of water, and there was even a few which looked to be of the western lands across the sea.

And everyone of them probably cost a fortune, Briar had no doubts about that. This building might hold more maps than he'd seen in one place in his entire life, even at the libraries in Winding Circle, the Gyongxe Mother Temple or Duke Vedris's office. Maybe even more than all of them put together. It was a good thing the building had top of the line thief-proofing spells gleaming bright silver in his magical vision. This Master Crato had spared no expense.

"Welcome! How might I serve you, good sir?" said a blond man in his mid-thirties who was a few inches shorter than Briar himself. He was standing behind a long table that held more stacks of what Briar assumed to be parchment sheets on one end and an open area with what looked to be drafting tools and supplies on the other end with an open space in the middle. Probably a work table, Briar realized. There was nothing on it right now though, so presumably the man wasn't especially busy.

"No need for all of that 'Sir' stuff," Briar informed him with a lopsided smile, approaching the counter. "It's just plain old Briar Moss and I happen to be looking for Master Crato."

"Well, I happen to be Master Crato, pleasure to meet you, my good man," the Crato said with an exuberant cheerfulness that was infectious, offering a hand over the table to shake. Briar took it, liking this man immediately. Heck, if this was an indication of how utterly contradictory Tris's opinions on people were then Heinz was probably a saint.

"So what exactly brings you here to see me, Master Moss?" the cartographer asked him curiously. Briar couldn't blame him. It wasn't as if the green mage looked low class or anything of that sort, but there was no getting around that Briar wasn't Master Crato's usual sort of clientele. "Looking for a map?" Crato asked. "Best in the Pebbled Sea in accuracy, legibility and durability! Not to mention they look quite handsome framed above a mantel."

"Just 'Briar' is fine," the green mage corrected. "And I'm certain they are, this is an amazing shop you've got here, but I actually came to ask you a few questions." Steadying his nerves, Briar confessed, "You see, I believe you met my sister, yesterday..."

Master Crato took a thoughtful expression. "Is that so? And which lady might she be? Of those I met yesterday I can't guess which might have been this sister of yours, I'm afraid."

The former thief smiled. It was true that none of his adopted siblings looked like they might be his blood family. "Oh, you'll know the one. Redhead with a bad attitude, crashed headfirst into a friend of yours by the name of Heinz?"

Master Crato's brows shot up immediately in recognition. "Ah, yes! Interesting meeting we had there," he said wryly.

Briar grinned. Interesting, huh? Well, Tris would be happy to know that someone thought meeting her had been interesting—as apposed to, say, perturbing or upsetting, which were descriptions probably closer to the reality. "She is a bit of a spitfire," Briar remarked, as if offhand.

"I'll say. Nearly bit Heinz's head off." Master Crato feigned horror at the memory. "Luckily, he's highly resistant to insult and only sustained mild injuries. I, on the other hand, was quite traumatized," the man said and he only seemed to be half joking.

Yup, that was Tris alright, Briar thought to himself fondly, prickly as a desert cactus on her bad days, and the last few had been, from the way she went on about them.

"Yeah, really sorry about that." Briar itched the side of his face sheepishly. "She can be a bit difficult, but she usually gets along fine with people. She's just been testy lately is all, and that Heinz of yours really brings out the bite in her. Tell you what though, you ever need anything a Green Mage can help you with, then you come down to Cheeseman Street and I'll hook you up with a discount for your trouble."

Master Crato raised an interested brow. "Huh, I may take you up on that," he said, then took an extra moment to examine Briar more carefully before asking, "And would you be the Green Mage in question?"

Briar nodded, proud despite himself, and gave a half bow. "That's right," he said, "Briar Moss, accredited Plant Mage." He still had the dirt under his fingernails from installing Master Rubrik's shakkan to prove it.

The cartographer leaned over the table seeming to hit upon a thought. "You wouldn't happen to be that Briar Moss, would you? One of those four from Winding Circle?"

"'Fraid so," he admitted to Master Crato as he shrugged in mock apology. Briar wasn't nearly so against revealing his identity as Tris was, but then he'd never really had much of a problem with people thinking he was stuck up, or someone to be feared. That was the nature of green magic, it was ordinary, people were used to it, they found it valuable. Then again, people tended to underestimate Briar a lot more then they might Tris simply because he was a 'harmless' garden mage.

I s'pose I should have expected to be recognized, Briar thought to himself, but he was still a bit surprised he's been pegged so quickly.

Upon receiving this information Master Crato's eyes widened in epiphany. "Oh my, then that sister of yours is…"

"Right, Trisana Chandler, Weather Witch," he confirmed. Tris would hate that someone knew her secret, but he also knew that lying about it would be stupid since he'd already admitted he was that Briar and his sister who looked nothing like him just happened to have the same name as the famous Weather Mage of Winding Circle who was one of the four young mages of Discipline Cottage.

"I see," was all Crato said, as he rubbed his short beard contemplatively. At that moment, Briar would have given a lot to know what the man was thinking.

Well, I guess I had better steer this conversation onto Heinz now, Briar decided, before he starts asking too many question about Tris. As it is she'd be pretty distressed if she was aware that I told this virtual stranger about her.

"Actually, the reason I'm here has to do with my sister," Briar informed Master Crato, trying to segue as best he could given where the talk had left off. "That is, if you happened to have some time?"

Master Crato seemed somewhat confused, but spread his hands, indicating his empty work bench. "By all means," he allowed. Well that seemed promising, right? Briar chose to think that it was.

Trying to phrase his request in as nonthreatening a manner as possible, the plant mage said, "Well, the thing is, I wanted to get in contact with your friend Heinz, if it isn't too much trouble."

Now the man suddenly became very suspicious, his eyes narrowed, arms crossed, and mouth pulled into a frown. "Oh? And why is that, exactly?" Master Crato asked. His tone was pleasant on the surface, but beneath it was a hard edge indicating that whatever Briar said next had better be good.

Briar was too used to thinking under pressure (from his days as a street rat and the various battles he'd had to fight to survive over the years) to noticeably gulp, but he couldn't help but wonder if what he had to say was good enough to forestall any antagonism. Briar couldn't really imagine what the man would or could do to him, but he figured Master Crato was capable of mustering the ingenuity to do something uncomfortable to him, if the situation called for it. Classy but capable, that was the impression of this man that Briar got.

Still, this was one of the questions Briar had expected to be asked, and on the way over after speaking with Daja, he'd prepared a response. "Oh, you know, to apologize for the way Tris has been acting lately, same as with you—only I don't really know where he lives or works," Briar answered, and it wasn't really a lie, he'd certainly convey his apologies to Heinz, the young mage would just have his own reasons for doing so.

Master Crato considered this answer, rubbing the beard on his chin. "Is that so? You want to apologize, do you?"

"Um...Yes?" Briar confirmed, confused as to why Master Crato seemed so doubtful of his motives. Not that his motives were completely without guile, but Briar generally figured himself to be pretty at good lying to people (though he would say calling it 'lying' was a bit too strong of a word for this instance), so he wasn't sure where he'd messed up.

The cartographer narrowed his eyes as he scrutinized Briar's face. Finally the man sat back on his heels and shrugged to himself. "Well, you can apologize if you like, but I don't see what you mean to accomplish by it," he said, with a touch of indignation. "Shouldn't this sort of thing come from the interloper herself? Not that it's likely Heinz was really upset about any of it, though if it were me, I certainly would have been, given his state of health!"

Briar blinked in flat confusion. "His state of health?" he repeated.

"Yes, yes!" Master Crato said impatiently, as if what he was saying should be common knowledge. "It isn't as if his life is in any danger, but you can't go knocking into people with The Vertigo without a care! You can bed-ridden a person for a month that way!"

Briar shook his head, his mind whirring as he interpreted what he'd just been told. "Wait, so Heinz has...what exactly?" he asked. "Vertigo? That's a symptom, not an illness, isn't it?"

One of Briar's specialties was medicines and he'd thought he'd heard of just about every illness there was, and could even rattle off the herbal treatments available for it forwards, backwards and sideways (because if he hadn't, Rosethorn would have never let him get past the weeding stage in his studies). But he'd never heard of any illness referred to as 'The Vertigo'. Not that he could remember, at any rate.

About this, Master Crato was helpfully forthcoming, even if it came in the form of a lecture. "It's an illness when it refers to 'Positional Vertigo'—that's what the healers call it," he said with agitated briskness. "There are other symptoms too, but vertigo is the main part of it. 'Top-shelf Vertigo', some call it, because just looking up at a shelf is enough to land a person on their back for weeks."

And that description jogged Briar's memory. "Now that you mention it, I think I have heard of it before," he said as his recollection began to crystallize.

Now that he'd been reminded of it, he, Evvy and Rosethorn had traveled with a trader caravan on the way to Gyonxye who'd had someone with the exact same condition. Apparently most of the time the person could get along normally as long as they were careful with getting jarred too much, so it wasn't outwardly obvious when someone had it. This particular woman had it come on her suddenly after her horse spooked and kicked her off. She wasn't injured, just had the breath knocked out of her, but she developed a terrible dizziness that incapacitated her so thoroughly she had to be carted across the desert in a wagon for over a week before she felt well enough to even try mounting a horse, much less sitting on it for any period of time. Rosethorn had told him about it then, but honestly there wasn't much to say so perhaps he could be forgiven for momentarily forgetting about it.

Violent vertigo, lightheadedness and nausea were the primary symptoms, he recalled. The condition could be caused by a head injury or illness, which dislodged particulates in the ear which interfered with the part of the brain that helped a person keep their balance. There was no wound, so healing was an ineffective treatment. Actually, outside of treating the symptoms and waiting for the issue to clear up on its own, there just plain wasn't a treatment. The symptoms could come upon someone with abrupt angle changes of the head, or if a person happened to knock more particles out of place with rough activities. It was more common in the elderly but could happen to anyone who'd had so much as a bump to the head or a bad ear infection.

The woman he'd met with it didn't have much trouble with nausea then, but he was told by the caravan's mimander and healer, who had recognized the problem as part of her condition and not a concussion or head-bleed, that it had happened one time where she had trouble keeping food or water down for a few days, which in a desert might actually be long enough without nutrients to kill someone. So while on it's own it wasn't particularly dangerous, it certainly wasn't pleasant and had the potential to put one's life at risk through other factors.

"I think the person called it 'Sitting Whiplash', on account of it felt like being spun around and around while just sitting still," Briar mused allowed, as he drew up more memories of the incident. "The eyes even flicked about, as if the horizon kept moving."

"That's the one," Master Crato confirmed for him with a solemn nod.

Briar sighed and rubbed the back of his head, not liking the sound of this at all. Man, Tris was going to feel really bad once she heard this, he knew. His foster-sister might put up an icy front to people, but generally she felt bad about it afterward. He'd had the impression that the weather witch wasn't too happy with her own behavior the day before, and hearing that she'd even unknowingly put an ill person in danger and then treated them poorly would make her feel even worse, even if she never admitted it aloud.

He figured he'd better make sure there hadn't been any complications. "So is he okay then?" Briar asked with real concern. "Tris did say she'd clonked into him accidentally. I think she'd have been a bit kinder if she'd known it could have caused something serious. She's not the type to be cruel to a sick person no matter how short her temper. It's just not her way," he tried to explain.

Master Crato harrumphed. "I should hope so, or I'd think much less of the girl," he said, with a tone that suggested he didn't think much of her now. He sighed then continued in an exasperated voice, saying, "Well, Heinz seemed alright, but it's hard to tell with him. His definition of 'alright' is too warped to compare to a normal person. That guy won't acknowledge he might have a problem until it's so big it's practically a national disaster!"

Briar made a face, feeling the criticism of Heinz hit a little too close to home for comfort. The girls had told him and anyone who would listen similar things referring to him, regarding the nightmares Briar had experienced upon returning from Gyonxye. He didn't like to admit that he might be overly stubborn when it came to things like accepting his weaknesses or the help of others, but when the green mage was confronted with people who shared the same trait it always made him feel convicted.

Well, I guess that's a check down in the 'flaws' category, Briar thought. Important to know those too, when it comes to looking for suitors, I would expect.

"Well, all the more reason to make amends," Briar said, having taken in this insight into Heinz's personality. "Though all in all Heinz seems like a rather easy-going fellow if he isn't mad about any of it," Briar suggested.

Master Crato considered this statement and seemed to have a hard time with it. Finally he said, "Hm, that's accurate, I suppose. For the most part."

Briar raised a brow. "Only the most part?" he asked. Briar would have thought that deciding whether someone fit the description of 'easy-going' would be pretty straight forward. For example, Lark was easy-going, Rosethorn was not. Daja was easy-going, Tris was not, and so on and etc. It was maybe hard to say whether Niko could be described as such or not, but than Niko was Niko. He simply defied categorization.

"Ugh, don't ask me any more," Master Crato answered as if the subject tormented him. "Honestly, I gave up trying to understand Heinz years ago, and I couldn't even begin to explain him to someone else." Becoming animated, the cartographer railed almost as vehemently as Tris while he complained, "With him you have to wade through all his nattering about books and trivia, but fight for any bit of personal details you can get, and in the end you still won't end up with much!"

Pausing, the man sighed and scratched the back of his head. "But listen to me complaining. You'd think I was a mother hen, the way I'm harping on" he said, chagrined despite himself. With an ironic smile, he added, "This is what knowing Heinz does to people, you know. I suppose I can't blame your sister all that much for going off on him. The man's certainly infuriating enough."

"Heh, I say the same things about my student and my sisters. All our complaining just goes to show how much we worry about 'em, huh?" Briar admitted with not a little humor for the all the times he'd himself complained about his own siblings, student, and teacher to mask his concern for them. Taking that into account, Briar rather thought this Heinz had an uncommonly good friend in Master Crato.

With a smirk, Briar added, "They ought to be grateful, gettin' two solid fellows like us all troubled."

Like he thought, Master Crato was amused by this. With a fervent nod and genial smile, he said, "You're damn right, they should!" And after another moment to bask in the truth of this statement he turned to Briar and said, "You know what, boy? You're alright!" and clapped him genially on the shoulder.

Both appreciative and relieved, Briar accepted the pat and put on a cheeky smile and lofty air, with a ponderous hand to his chin, saying, "Oh, so you noticed? Though only 'alright' is a bit of an understatement, don'cha think? I bet I rate at least an 'amazing'."

Master Crato laughed out loud and Briar considered this a job well done. "You must have been some form of entertainer in another life," the cartographer decided.

"I like to imagine that I might have been a tree in another life," Briar mused offhandedly, mostly to himself.

In a more sarcastic tone, Master Crato added, "I think Heinz was probably a rock in another life. One that held down papers on some overworked scribe's desk. He'd probably like that, actually. And your sister Tris was something with lots of teeth and an irritable temperament."

Briar pretended to get angry. "Hey! That might be true, but she's still my sister, you know! Only I get to say she's the reincarnation of something with lots of teeth and an irritable temperament! Like, say, a crocodile," he suggested with a completely straight face.

Master Crato chuckled. "Oh, pardon me, you're absolutely right. It's the brother's place to complain about his sister."

"That's right, it is," Briar said, nodding to himself sagely.

"Heinz doesn't have any brothers, so I'm forced to take on the responsibility. I could do without it, but it is what it is." Master Crato sighed as if resigned to his fate. After a moment of silence, (wherein Briar supposed that Master Crato was probably thinking something along the lines of, Gods, how did I wrangle myself that job, anyway? by the expression he was wearing), the man shook his head free of the thought and formed a confused expression.

"Anyway, what were we talking about again?" he asked, then before Briar could answer, he clapped his hands together, saying, "Oh, right! You wanted to speak with Heinz. Well, I supposed I could give Ivar the rest of the day off and close up shop early. Heinz's place isn't all that far from here, I could show you."

Briar blinked in surprise that the man would go that far for a stranger, even if Master Crato did seem to like him. "You don't have to go to all the trouble."

Master Crato shook his head. "No trouble. Ivar's been hawking all day, he deserves a break, and I've a mind to see if Heinz is really as fine as he claimed to be yesterday—and then give him a piece of my mind if he isn't."

Briar smirked. And the truth comes out, he thought. "Well in that case, I accept," the mage said.

With a decisive nod Master Crato said, "Alright then, let me just tell Ivar and lock up, and we'll be on our way," and walked around his work table, heading for the door.

Following him out, Briar said, "Thanks for this, Master Crato."

"Call me Geo, everyone does," the man told him as they reached the door. "Even Heinz does, at that, though it took him a few years."

Briar smiled. Even if the whole Heinz-and-Tris didn't work out, at least he'd made a new friend out of the ordeal, Briar thought cheerfully. "As you please, Geo. And thanks again."

Master Crato nodded as if pleased to hear it. "Your welcome, Briar."

Leaving her client's house, having finished an exhausting but satisfying piece of spell work, Tris was not even surprised when she heard a now familiar cry of, "Mistress Mage! Tris! Wait for me! Wait!" from somewhere behind her.

Calyra again. How does that girl always find me? Tris wondered, but nonetheless she stopped walking and waited for the other girl to catch up.

Tris sighed quietly and not for the first time thought to herself that she was getting much too soft. In the old days she'd have snapped at the girl to leave her alone on their very first meeting. The fact that she continued to allow their acquaintance was a matter of inertia. The more Calyra kept appearing, the stranger and more awkward Tris felt about the idea of telling her off.

It's getting to the point that I might actually have to consider us friends, Tris thought wryly.

"Ah, good morning! What a coincidence, I keep seeing you!" Calyra said with the same enthusiastic over-friendliness that Tris had come to expect from the student mage. "But I'm glad I did, today is my day off from the print house and I just went shopping. What are you doing out?"

"I just finished spelling a client's house against theft," Tris answered succinctly, pushing up her glasses.

Calyra clapped her hands together and beamed a smile. "Oh, exciting!"

"Not really," Tris disagreed with a raised brow at the overreaction. She liked her work and she was good at it, but if she had to label it, she wouldn't have described it as anything more exhilarating than 'routine'—which was exactly what she'd been aiming for with her occupation.

"Maybe not to you, but it's not something I can do, so to me it is." Calyra said, undeterred. Was there anything that could dampen this girl's energy? If such a thing existed Tris didn't seem to posses it. "I wish I could do academic magic, too," Calyra added wistfully. "It's really useful, isn't it? And you're so good at it."

"Well, I don't really..." Tris muttered uncomfortably as a blush of embarrassment blossomed on her cheeks. She didn't think she'd ever get used to praise. It just always seemed so unexpected and undeserved to her.

Luckily for Tris's complexion, Calyra moved onto a new subject quickly, true to that rapid-fire manner of hers. "But I was really excited when I saw you!" she said. "My master is at home right now, did you want to meet him? He actually isn't feeling all that well—he didn't bring his cane last time he was out! You remember I told you he keeps forgetting it? Serves him right too, he fell somehow and got himself into this situation—but I think a visitor who is interested in his magic would definitely cheer him up."

Tris was caught blinking. "Now?" she asked, biting her lip as she swallowed a bout of giddiness. The weather mage cleared her throat and tried to sound nonchalant as she fiddled needlessly with her glasses and answered, "Well...I could, I suppose, if you let me drop some of this equipment off at my house."

"Sure!" Calyra answered easily, and didn't seem to have noticed anything unusual about Tris's behavior—so either she was very dense or Tris had managed a decent cover of her anticipation. "Is your house far?" the other girl wondered.

Tris shook her head. "No, it's just past—"

She and Calyra flinched, startled by the sudden roar of an explosion and scattered thuds from debris hitting the ground. The entire street erupted into startled confusion as everyone stopped to search for the origin, scanning the cityscape for signs of fire, even as the scent of smoke began to permeate the air.

Calyra looked at Tris with wide eyes. "What was that?"

"I'm not sure," Tris said, wearing a frown as her mind quickly took in the situation. "It sounded like it was coming from a street over. Hold on."

Without stopping to think about the consequences, Tris gathered the winds around her and sent them up and then out, gusting across the immediate area, searching from the epicenter of the explosion. Fragmented visions rushed across her magical sight as her breezes brought back information from everything they touched and she removed her glasses to focus on the images better.

She saw stunned faces, worried glances, heightened interest and people in premature hysterics. Tris shoved them aside, she wanted the source. One street over, two streets, shouting people, startled animals, there, there.

Tris used her magic to lasso a fleeting image in time to see a wild burst of silvery magic die down from the courtyard of a workshop of some kind. Flames began to lick at the edge of the whitewashed building and terracotta roof tiles as black smoke belched up into the sky. Spells against fire flared, keeping the main building from catching alight. They looked like they'd hold, but they wouldn't help any furniture or equipment inside that might not be spelled, not to mention any people.

"Ah! There's smoke! Oh no, is there a fire?" Tris heard Calyra say.

Tris shook her head clear from the afterimages left by her scrying and replaced her glasses. "It was some kind of magical accident, two streets over," she informed the girl. "We should see if we can help."

Calyra gaped and pointed to herself in seeming confusion. "M-me? But what can I do?"

Tris crushed her brows together in a scowl, somewhat appalled that she had to explain the matter. "You're a mage, aren't you? I'm sure there will be something, come on!"

Tris tugged Calyra along by the hand, at first reluctantly, but as Tris broke into a run the girl began to keep up on her own. Tris followed her breeze to the shop where her vision had originated, down an alleyway, along a street, across a main road and through another alley, following that to Potter's Way. Tris realized they were in an area with a lot of ceramics workshops. Only a few days ago she walked this street and admired the work of the craftsman that had studios here for working and firing clay.

Recognition suddenly struck as she rushed towards the accident. The explosion came from a potter's kiln, Tris realized, that's what exploded.

As the two mages approached their destination, they came upon smoke rising from within a small building complex, and Tris was forced to shove aside those gathering to gawk along the street just to get close enough to see much else. As she pushed her way through the crowd, she saw that an entire section of a wall was blown out into the road with bits of bricks from the both the wall and the remains of a large potter's kiln scattered about. Someone was shouting for a healer, and as Tris managed to break into the inner ring around the disaster with Calyra in tow, they realized why.

"Somebody run to the water temple!" one worker shouted as he stumbled out of the smokey courtyard with another limp man's arm slung across his shoulder. His own forehead had a nasty gash and soot covered both of them from head to toe. There was a great deal of yelling from within the courtyard, it was a large prosperous shop and had probably had a lot of people working inside—a lot of people who were still currently in danger.

Calyra gasped, her hands going to her mouth. "That person's arm is broken!" she said, as another worker came out of the courtyard, one arm hanging at an unnatural angle.

"You help those men, I'm going to do something about the fire," Tris said as she took a deep breath and prepared herself to call upon her power.

Calyra shot her a panicked look, but when Tris's stern gaze dared her to argue, the girl took a deep breath and seemed to gather her confidence. "R-right, okay," she said and ran over to assist the people who had managed to make it into the street.

Tris sighed, and moved her attention to the courtyard, still thick with smoke and flames. Sinking into the rhythm of meditative breathing she'd been taught so long ago as a child, she cast out her magic, letting it flow over the surface of the wreckage, checking every nook and cranny for anything that would resonate with her magic and give her information she needed to take appropriate measures.

Hmm, the fire-proofing spells on the building itself are holding, but there is something still burning in there, Tris thought as her power delicately picked at the remains of the ceramics workshop. She could see and feel a good blaze still building within the ruins, which wasn't good but the situation was not yet uncontrollable. She didn't know the extent of the damage, but at least a full-on building fire might be prevented if she acted quickly and managed to douse whatever had caught aflame inside.

Water, Tris decided, That's what I need. There was some rain last night and in the early morning, calling it back for an hour or so to give this place a good soaking wouldn't hurt anything. But how far has it gone?

Positioning herself at the edge of the crowd where hopefully no one would stumble into her, Tris's magical self flew out of her body like a weightless cloud into the sky. Casting her senses out into the winds of the high atmosphere, she found the clouds from the morning already on the periphery of her senses, hastened along by a powerful breeze blowing north from the coastline. While easily within the range of her power, pulling it back would would be a long, arduous task and it would be at least the evening before even a sprinkle managed to land on the building fire, but by then it would be nothing but a smoking ruins anyway.

Tris bit her lip, frustrated that her first idea was immediately thwarted by factors outside her control. This isn't good, she thought. I need something faster. Where can I find water? Where...

Oh! The sea! she realized suddenly. Summersea was a port town, directly along the water. In her callous youth, after just beginning her life at Winding Circle Temple, she'd once called sea water to douse some boys who picked a fight with her siblings after Sandry called them out for harming a defenseless dog, who later became the house pet, Little Bear.

At the time her control of her magic had been weak, as she's only just discovered and begun training it, and an unexpected nudge from some street brats had left her—and the water she'd intended to drench them with—spinning, and what she'd meant to be just a bit of water had turned into a full-blown water spout that took their mage teachers to dispel.

Well, I'm much better than I was then, Tris told herself. This time, it's going to be deliberate and used for something far more important than running off some rowdy kids.

Drawing in a breathe, she exhaled deeply, letting the air from her lungs co-mingle with the air around her, saturating it with her magic. Using a wind from her braids would be too powerful for what she wanted to do here. A tiny hurricane, like she'd made combat a storm on the Syth in Namorn, would terrorize the city, she needed a few winds only just strong enough for a good sized whirlwind, and the best ones for that were those that washed along the streets from the ocean everyday. Those very same winds that were blowing along her face at this very instant.

Sending out magical 'fingers' she caught the tails of local breezes and twisted them together like Sandry would a thread, making a stronger breeze. The winds tugged at her hold lightly, but not being the kinds of energetic gusts that she tended to siphon into her braids, they didn't fight hard. What is this? What are we doing all twisted up? they asked.

I need a small funnel cloud over the water, she told them. Will you spin for me?

Not being much for diplomacy, the winds didn't bother conferring with each other, and just expressed mild interest, faint approval or excitement as per each one's tendency. Thank you, she told them and with a wave of her hand, she stirred up her rope of air like she might stir a pot of stew. They coiled and spun into a tight cone that she lead carefully over the city, not allowing it to touch the ground and cause any destruction. Reaching the water, she sent the whirlwind down into the port and sucked up water like a straw.

And now you're going to stretch, she told the winds and lengthened the funnel, pulling it along so it formed an arc of water across the sky, it's mouth hovering over the still blazing building. Fighting gravity, the sea water was dragging up from the ocean and along the swirling road created by her twisted breezes until it was finally released at the end of the whirlwind where her winds frayed into a thousand tiny swirls of air.

Water, salty and cold from sitting in the ocean, fell like rain over the smoking building in large droplets that drenched the courtyard and street beside it. Tris guided the water to areas where flames still flickered within, gathering the drops into a thin vortex that she could manipulate. The fire now being taken care of, Tris risked a breeze that before would have fed the flames only higher, letting it snake it's way inside, bringing in fresh, rain-clean air and carrying the deadly smoke away.

Good work wind, Tris thought to her breeze and released them back into the local atmosphere where they limped a bit weakly, drained of some of their power, but Tris knew as soon as the pressure changed with the weather they'd be up and energetic again. With the water spout gone, the sky opened up clear and sunny with only the damp street and the wet clothes of the onlookers to prove anything unusual had just happened. Taking a braid from her hair holding the heat of volcanoes, Tris decided it wouldn't mind a bit of fire which, as hot and damaging as it was, couldn't come close to such powerful forces. She didn't have as much affinity with it as Daja did, but she was able to call the heat of the flames away and siphon them into her braid, and with that gone the smaller fires snuffed out.

"Tris? Tris!" She heard and woke up to herself to see Calyra next to her worriedly, the image blurred by water droplets running down the weather mage's spectacles. The student paper mage's hands were stretched out toward her, as if she wanted to touch Tris but didn't quite dare.

Blinking her eyes as her vision came into better focus, and she willed the water from the surface of her lenses with a miniscule amount of power, Tris's face fell as she realized what she'd done.

She knows, Tris thought in sudden horror. She must know, that I'm an ambient mage, that I lied, that I'm exactly the sort of over-powered mage that makes her feel bad about her own abilities. She felt the blood drain from her face and suddenly Tris felt incredibly tired. Home, that's what she wanted. She didn't want to be here at all. Why did she always have to involve herself in situations like this? They only gave her trouble...

"Tris, are you alright?" Calyra asked, looking concerned. "You're swaying and you did all that magic. I saw that incredible whirlwind douse the building with water. You must be really tired."

"Some," she admitted with a snap to her tone, unable to meet the girl's eyes. "I'll be fine."

Despite the curt reply, Calyra just sighed with a hand to her breast in relief. "Oh, that's good, but all the same, you should rest," the other mage suggested.

Tris bit her lip in shame. Rest? She wants me to rest? This girl...

Tris glanced away, determined not to show any weakness, even as she hesitantly asked, "A-aren't you...angry with me?"

The other girl blinked in confusion. "Angry? Why?"

Tris rubbed her temples and removed her glasses, idly trying to clean them with her sleeve to give her hands something to do as she voiced her sins. It wasn't working well because her sleeves were wet. "I lied," Tris confessed in a small voice very unlike her. Her long nose was for once pointed down towards the ground as she bent her head, instead of raised pridefully in the air. "I'm an ambient mage. I'm a weather witch, a powerful one. I made a stream of water in the sky." As the silence from Calyra stretched on, Tris finally replaced her glasses and managed to look up with a wince as if expecting to be slapped. "Doesn't that...disturb you?"

Calyra's expression was utterly blank, and for a moment Tris was certain she'd alienated the girl beyond all repair of their strange, brief and heretofore one-sided relationship.

But suddenly the girl's face contorted into one of air-headed confusion and she shrugged, apparently completely unperturbed. "You didn't really lie," Calyra said, "you just didn't tell me the whole truth. I know you must have had a good reason for it."

Tris blinked, not having expected this at all. Where was the anger and scorn she'd so often come across from other mages? Where was the jealously and the snide remarks? She was so used to receiving such reactions that when confronted with acceptance (indifference? obliviousness?) she didn't know how to react.

"And I thought what you did was really amazing!" Calyra continued, stars suddenly bursting in her eyes as she seemed to recall the events that had just taken place with near worshipful admiration. "You just leaped in and helped these people, without anyone asking. Not everyone would have done that."

Hearing this suggestion, Tris frowned without thinking and pushed her glasses up her long, freckled nose. "They should," the redhead stated, her blunt and forceful personality reasserting itself, leaving no room for argument. "If you can do something to help other people, you should. That's the duty a mage has," Tris said, and she firmly believed every word of it to her very core. "We have a power that most people don't, so we have a responsibility to use it for others, if that power can help. That's what my teachers taught me."

Calyra listened to her until she finished, then glanced anxiously at the ground. "I wasn't really able to do much...the best I could do was to help a little with the wounded," was her tiny-voiced response. "I can make my paper keep a shape, so I was able to use it to splint the broken arm of a man until they could get him to a healer. But that was about all I could do, outside of helping people onto stretchers." She sighed and stared at her feet. "I was pretty useless."

Tris put her hand on Calyra's shoulder and caught her gaze as she glanced up, their eyes meeting stormy gray to clear blue. "No, Calyra, that was good work," Tris told her. "You helped, that's what matters. I'm sure that man will remember what you did."

Calyra looked up at her with an earnest, hopeful gaze. "Do you think so?" she asked as if her entire self-worth hung on Tris's response.

"Yes," Tris assured with absolute confidence.

At this Calyra smiled beatifically, beaming like a sunflower that had just been watered. Vaguely Tris wondered what kind of life this girl had away from Tris's eyes that only a few kind words would make her glow like a candle.

The impending crisis averted, her confession meeting an amicable end, Tris mirrored Calyra's happiness with her own small, slightly embarrassed smile. However, when in the mutual silence she became aware of a strange conversation taking place nearby, and she turned to listen with furrowed brows.

"—boy, you're being ridiculous, this wasn't you're fault. It was an accident. The kiln must have had some flaw in it...," a tired female voice argued.

"You don't understand, Master Winnum. There's something inside me that keeps making these things happen," a younger male voice responded. "I thought it might be coincidence before, but...now I know that it's me. It's always been me..."

The woman made a sound of frustration. "'Something inside you'? I don't understand. Like a ghost? A vengeful spirit? What are you talking about?"

"No, I don't know, I'm just...I'm just really sorry, Master Winnum. I'm really sorry...", the boy trailed off miserably, the tell-tale sounds of held-back tears garbling his words.

Tris peaked around Calyra, looking for the source of the voices and finding it.

The female voice was a woman, small and wiry in her early forties, her frame taught and strong as if her muscles were high tensile cables. Her shoulder-length hair was an ashy brown striped with silver and tied back from her face. The rolled-up sleeves of her shirt, trousers and canvas apron were covered in what looked like red mud but was probably clay, and smeared in black soot from the accident, only partially washed away by the sea water that was soaking her clothes. The back of one arm looked an angry red, lightly burned from the fire, and various superficial scrapes lined her exposed skin. Though she'd just been in a dangerous explosion that had destroyed a large section of her workspace, the woman's will seemed intact, her shoulders slumped from fatigue rather than defeat or misery.

Opposite the woman was a boy, or a young man really, of about sixteen in an equally ravaged state of soot-covered dampness, with light injuries that included a shallow cut across his right eyebrow and singed clay-covered clothes and canvas apron. His mousey brown hair was cut very short around his lightly-tanned face that was wan with distress and weariness. At about five-foot seven he was of average height for his age, and his copper-brown eyes were grave with resignation and bright with unshed tears.

The woman frowned and crossed her arms, careful to do so with the burned appendage on top. "Nand, this is crazy. You didn't do this."

The boy took a shuddering breath and shook his head silently, sinking to the ground to balance on the balls of his feet, hiding his face behind his arms crossed over his knees. It was the fetal pose of someone lost in depression, reduced to trying to shut out the world. His thin shoulders shook with soundless sobs.

As Tris watched, a lick of silver fire leapt out from the boy before dissolving away. An instant later more rivulets of escaping magic darted out from his skin, wild and feverish, as if searching for some way to make themselves known, for something that belonged to the elements they could influence. To Tris's eyes it was almost as if the power was trying to seek the comfort of such things.

Of course, Tris thought as a mix of emotions flooding into her—irritation at finding yet another young mage she would have to help, and excitement for the exact same reason. Sorrow that the boy was right, this really was his fault, or the fault of his power at least, and relief that she'd found him before something even worse had happened.

"You, boy! Nand was it?" Tris said, unceremoniously walking straight up to the two strangers with a confused Calyra following closely.

"Fernand Rusch, or just Nand," the boy volunteered readily enough, gazing up at his interrupter dully.

"Nand, then. Are you aware that you have magic?"

Master Winnum raised her brows. "Who are you?" the woman asked suspiciously of Tris. It was the suspicion toward someone who'd suddenly appeared and begun making strange pronouncements, not that of someone who'd just made a water funnel appear in the sky, so Tris realized they must not have noticed that she was the one who had been in command of the phenomenon.

"I'm Trisana Chandler, a mage with a medallion from Winding Circle and a license from Lightsbridge." Tris informed them. Pulling her mage's medallion as proof of her power from it's place hanging on a silk cord from her neck, she proffered it for the craftswoman to see. "I saw magic flare from the explosion. His magic. I can see it bursting out of him right now."

The craftswoman rubbed her finger on Tris's medallion and seemed to accept it (if she even knew what it was) but she still frowned in confusion as she said, "Magic? Nand hasn't any magic. He would have known if he had the type of magic you study out of books, wouldn't he? That kind shows up early. And if he had the craft magic, I would have known. I haven't any power myself, but there are ways us masters can tell when someone has the natural gift. Nand here is a fine apprentice and he'll be a great potter and ceramist if he keeps up his work—and he's a hard worker, so I have reasonable expectations that he will—but he hasn't got the magic for it. That's the sort of thing that's hard to miss if you know what you're looking for. Nand here's a good lad, but he's no mage."

Tris pushed her glasses up roughly and fought not to sigh in irritation. "I assure you, Mistress, that he is a mage and he does have magic, though to discover the kind, I would need to experiment a bit. The magic itself, however, is as clear as day, it's flickering around him at this very instant."

"Magic?" Nand said, mumbling at the ground. "I don't know anything about magic. I just know that when I'm nervous or anxious, sometimes...sometimes things happen."

This was a song Tris knew all too well. Taking a knee next to the boy, she placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "What kinds of things?" she asked him, pitching her voice more gently than her normal waspish clip. She couldn't say she thought the boy's hopeless attitude was particularly admirable, but she knew exactly how it felt to have strange things happen around you and think it was your fault—to know deep in your gut that it was your fault—to wonder what was wrong with you, and to feel the horrible guilt for it even though you'd had no control over such things. It made her a bit more forgiving and sympathetic than usual.

"Like the kiln explosion," Nand said without looking up. "But usually less...well, less."

"What upset you today, then?" Tris asked gently.

Nand raised his eyes toward her briefly, but they moved to stare down at the ground after only a few seconds. For a moment, Tris thought he would clam up as boys seemed to do, but after a moment he did go on. "Well, I'd been out of sorts all day," the boy began quietly. "Things have been happening at home that have made things really difficult for me, and today I walked into the shop and Journeyman Laklin takes me to task for not cleaning the tools properly. I apologized, I didn't know it was my turn again, but he didn't listen."

"That ass!" Master Winnum interrupted, "It was his turn to clean the tools, I'd specifically demoted him to cleaning duty after the last time I'd caught him harassing apprentices."

Tris narrowed her eyes at the woman for interjecting, but Nand was already moving on.

"I knew I was feeling the way I do when bad things tend to happen and it worried me more," Nand admitted. "Then Moris startled me and one of the custom stoneware pieces Journeyman Sheyla had just taken out of the kiln exploded on the shelf, and I knew it was me. I felt terrible, and then...and then...well, the kiln..." After a ragged breath he ducked his head back behind his arms to hide his face once again.

Master Winnum knelt down on their level and placed a hand on the boy's other shoulder. "Even if it was your magic, it wasn't your fault," she said without hesitation. "I know how magic is, it isn't the kind of thing that's easy to control, especially if you don't even know it's there."

Nand did seem to respond to this kind of straight forward treatment, at least peaking out from beneath his arms. Tris nodded in agreement with Master Winnum and said, "That's true, even great mages sometimes have magic that gets away with them, but as long as you learn the safeguards, one can handle it safely. Whatever kind of magic you have, they've excellent teachers at Winding Circle that can teach you such things. I'll take you there personally," Tris promised him.

"No, I can't," the boy said immediately in a firm voice that almost sounded as if it belonged to another person.

Tris frowned down her long nose at him. "What do you mean, you can't?" she demanded, her brows snapping together with an almost audible click. "You must be taught, and at Winding Circle they have the best Ambient Mages on the continent. It's but hours away, and you'll even be able to visit home."

Nand shook his head. "No, I can't go away. Not even for a night. I can't leave my family."

Tris rolled her eyes, assuming this must be a simple case of a child overly attached to his parents. "Preposterous, you'll be fine."

Nand's quite serious expression suggested otherwise, however. He actually dropped his teary-eyed victim act to stand up and explain the situation to her with all the sober authority a sixteen year old covered in soot and sea water could muster. "You don't understand, it's not me I'm worried about. My mother is very sick. My aunt sends us some money so we aren't afraid of being turned out on the street or being unable to afford her medicine, but I'm all she's got to tend her. My father died of the blue pox in the epidemic, and my little sister...I can't leave her alone with that. She just turned eight for gods sakes!"

Tris wobbled a bit as she too stood up and straightened her skirt (Sandry-made or no, it needed a more than just straightening to look presentable, but she didn't have time to mess with it). Well, admittedly Nand did sound as though he was in a predicament. She bit her lip, wondering if the boy's situation was as sensitive as he described or if he was merely being over-protective. If so, than she might be able to convince his mother to make him go, but if he really couldn't...well, she'd figure something out.

"In that case, we may be able to find a teacher for you in the city," she told him, mostly to reassure him for the moment. She wasn't about to let the matter of Winding Circle drop so easily. "First we need to discover what kind of magic you have and work on your control so things like this don't happen."

The boy sighed, looking as if he'd hardly heard her, so caught up was he in his problems. It seemed the amount of fortitude he'd shown only a moment ago was already slipping away. "I don't want to be a mage. I want to be a potter."

Tris shook her head in exasperation. Teenagers, they were so dramatic. "You don't have a choice about the mage part I'm afraid, but there's no reason you can't still be a potter, no matter what you're magic is. Once you have it under control you can do whatever you like."

This didn't seem to reassure him. "But what if I'm some kind of craft mage? What if I have to learn a whole different craft? I'll have to stop doing pottery. Stop being an apprentice here, if I even still am one."

Master Winnum punched the boy lightly on the shoulder with a frown, having stood up when the rest of them did. "What are you talking about? Of course you're still my apprentice, boy. Though there isn't much we can do until the shop is rebuilt. I'll have to look for a space to rent until then. If it really is untrained magic that caused the accident, the mages council has funds set aside for situations like this to help pay for it all. Use that time to get yourself under control, then when everything's ready you can come back."

Nand's lips quivered for a moement and he staired back at the ground as if trying his hardest not to cry. "T-thank you, Master Winnum. This is more than I deserve."

"Nonsense!" she said and slapped him on the back so hard he almost fell over. Turning to Tris she said, "And you, mage girl, I want weekly updates! And a place where I can reach you, in case there are any more magical accidents."

"Yes, I'll keep in touch with you," she said, fishing one of the pamphlets for her business out of her mage kit, it conveniently having her address and qualifications already on it. She handed it to Master Winnum with an explanation of when and how to reach her. After this was settled, Master Winnum left to speak with the Water Temple dedicates who were still tending her injured people.

Now alone with the thus far silent Calyra and the boy, Tris put a hand on Nand's shoulder and said, "Nand, you're coming with me. We'll sort you out as best we can, for now."

Tris had them all stop at a bath house to wash the smoke and soot from there skins. Tris always kept a bit of Briar's heal-all salve in her mage kit for minor cuts and scrapes she or someone else might get, so she lathered it on Nand's burns and scratches until better treatment was at hand. Nand audibly sighed in relief when the balm was applied, suggesting that his injuries, though minor, had probably been painful enough to effect his mood negatively. She herself relaxed at the presence of her brother's familiar magic in the salve and she realized she hadn't exactly been unstressed by the situation either, despite being a minor player in it.

Her dress having been made by Sandry, Tris's clothing had escaped the ordeal none the worse for wear and a dunk in warm water and a few good shakes made it pristine as if she'd just pulled it from the wash, and a simply application of magic dried it off quickly. There was little to be done about Calyra and Nand's clothes but they brushed what they could off before changing back into them.

"Good thing these are the clothes I print in. They're stained with ink already, anyway," Calyra said as she looked down at herself wryly.

"Yeah, my trousers were already covered in clay," Nand agreed, eying Tris's perfectly clean dress in confusion.

Tris straitened her glasses, which had also been wiped off and were now perfectly clear. "A stitch witch made my clothing, it's practically unstainable. I'll admit it comes in handy," she said, answering the unasked question in Nand's eyes.

"Who are you again, Mistress?" Nand asked carefully, as if certain the answer was something he'd be better off not knowing, but unable to resist asking anyway. She vaguely wondered what his impression actually was of her.

"Not Mistress, Tris. Trisana Chandler, Weather Witch and accredited academic mage with a certification from Lightsbridge and a medallion from Winding Circle," she repeated for his benefit. Aside from the name 'Lightsbridge' it didn't seem to mean much to him.

"Tris is the one who called the water spout up and stopped the fire," Calyra added cheerfully, and Tris was a little touched that she actually thought this was something worth telling people about, rather than something Tris would have liked to hide. Still, she would have preferred Calyra keep her trap shut at that particular moment.

Not unexpectedly, Nand's eyes widened in a mixture of awe and fear and he might have taken a step back from her if they weren't walking. "W-what's someone like you bothering with someone like me?" he stuttered, looking everywhere but at her face.

Tris narrowed her eyes and repositioned her glasses with a quiet sigh. This was such typical behavior around Tris that it hardly even bothered her anymore. Actually, the fact that he was still trundling along with them and not trying to escape was a good sign. "I don't believe I know what you mean by, 'someone like me'."

"You've been to Lightsbridge and I'm just an apprentice potter. The only reason I can afford my 'preticeship is because Master Winnum is so nice. She thinks I have talent, otherwise I'd probably be doing drudge work to help my family," he said.

Entering lecture-mode automatically Tris gave him the facts that would hopefully quash this line of thinking before it even got off the ground. "Magic is something that transcends class, I believe you'll find. It doesn't matter where you come from or what your background is, it has to be controlled. Which is what you'll learn, otherwise it's a danger to everyone, whatever your social class. Besides, the governing mages council has rules and they take them quite seriously. They could haul me up for charges if I discovered an uneducated mage and ignored him, 'just an apprentice potter' or no. A mage is a mage, young Nand."

Checking the affects of her speech, Tris wasn't certain it had accomplished her goal. Nand seemed as gloomy as ever, even hearing Tris's attempts to assure him that his social status didn't matter.

"Cheer up, Nand!" Calyra said with her usual brilliant smile as she pat him on the shoulder. "Tris is really good at magic, I'm sure she can help you, just like my master helped me! My family practically forced me into carpentry because that's just what everyone in my family does, and I've got all kinds of carpentry mage siblings and cousins, but I was horrible at it and hated it. But then my master found my magic was in paper and now things don't get away from me like they always did with wood."

"And who are you?" Nand asked, eying Calyra as if for the first time. Tris couldn't exactly blame him for being confused about her presence, it wasn't as though she'd been introduced to him at all.

"I'm Calyra, Tris's friend, and I'm studying to be a paper mage with my master," she answered without skipping a beat. "We both came to help when we heard the explosion."

Nand looked at her dispiritedly. "I don't suppose you ever blew up a building?" he asked. He seemed to think he already knew the answer to this and Tris couldn't say he was wrong to think so. It wasn't exactly every day that student mages blew up buildings, although Tris wouldn't hesitate to think it hadn't happened before at some point. Magic was just that unpredictable and occasionally destructive.

"Well, no," Calyra admitted, "but I did accidentally cause one of my Master's books to rip itself to shreds, when I first started. It really wasn't my fault, but he still brings it up every once in a while. You'd think I'd blown up five buildings, the way he puts it." Calyra scowled. "I mean, it's not like I knew that could happen, he should have warned me! Some of my master's books act really weird. I didn't realize how weird until that happened. All I did was spill ink on it accidentally and the thing acted like it was gangrene and started hacking up it's own pages to get rid of it!"

Nand looked vaguely appalled upon hearing this, though for what reason, she wasn't sure. Maybe just the fact that a book could act alive and perform what amounted to self-mutilation all on its own. Tris consented that tearing itself up to get rid of ink stains was abnormal behavior for an inanimate object, but she suspected the cause.

"It sounds like an effect of 'bleeding'," Tris said. "Your Master probably had that book for a really long time."

Calyra was thoughtful as she responded, "Yeah, he'd said that he did...how did you guess that, Tris?"

"Objects connected to an ambient mage's power can become infused with magic when they are around powerful working magic over a period of time," Tris explained. "It can make them act strangely, even have a sort of personality. I've seen it happen to things owned by my foster siblings and my teachers." Though to her knowledge no such objects had tried to commit suicide.

Briar's shakkan was a perfect example of this, having been steeped in power for over a hundred years, it would pine for its owner or shed leaves as if it was unhappy if Briar ignored it for a few days, even though the neglect would have no reason to induce such a reaction if the shakkan had been an ordinary plant. Sandry and Daja's mage tools, while never having shown a mind of their own, had demonstrably strange effects at times when used without magic. In particular they tended to 'leak' and produce magical effects where magic hadn't been intended or even supplied for the purpose. Briar's living tattoos were such a result. And just lately Daja had been forced to carefully dispose of a few of her tools that got so saturated with her magic they were doing strange things to her normal, magic-less works if she tried to use them for that purpose.

"But not you?" Nand asked. His expression said it all—he'd be much more comfortable if the answer was no.

Luckily for him that was the answer, this time. "My magic works through the weather and the forces of earth," Tris said. "The air you walk through today isn't going to be the same air you pass through tomorrow, it's always moving and changing. The same with water. The things that respond to my magic don't exactly hang around long enough to become strange from absorbing my power."

"That's good to know," Nand said with a sigh of relief.

"And I'll have you know," Tris continued, now that she had nand's attention, "that while I haven't accidentally blown up a building, I've done similar things, Nand." Like kill a perfectly innocent tree with a lightning strike back at Broken Circle Temple, or try to stop the tides, resulting in a strand that was now called 'Gravel Beach' back at Winding Circle Temple. She was half surprise no one had named her 'A Plague Upon Temples' at some point in her life. "Don't focus on feeling blame for what's happened, just focus on fixing it. That's what your teacher will help you with."

"But I like pottery. I don't want to learn something else," Nand whined. And it really was a whine and not a depressed moan of self-hatred, so Tris thought that her and Calyra's words might be sinking in a bit. Whining was actually an improvement, here.

"Well, despite what Master Winnum said, we don't necessarily know that your magic isn't in pottery, or perhaps some particular aspect of it." Tris pointed out to him. "That's why I'm taking you to my house. Daja, my foster-sister, has a scrying mirror that will show where a mage's power lies. We're going to borrow it and find out for certain so we can look for a teacher for you in town." Speaking of, she hadn't actually informed Daja about this yet...

"I hope we can find one," Nand mumbled pitifully. Tris hoped so as well.

Daja, do you still have that scrying mirror you used to check your students' power? Tris mind spoke to her sibling as she lead the two student mages through the streets to her home.

Yeah. Why? came the casual response along with an image of Daja at a writing desk, sketching designs for a new piece of metal work. Tris opened her mind up and shared with Daja the recent events that had landed her with a new mage with unknown magic and waited a moment for the other girl to sort through everything she'd just received.

You do have a habit for picking up strays, don't you? She heard Daja respond with humor in her mind voice. First Little Bear, then Shriek, then Chime and Glaki and now this Nand boy? What's next, a lost whale? How about an entire trader caravan?

Oh, hush, Tris snapped, hiding her embarrassment with sharpness. It isn't as if I search these things out, they just find me.

She sensed Daja smile through their bond. I know, but it's because you're such a good person that you don't ignore them like most folks would.

Tris felt herself blush but she refused to acknowledge it. Will you let me use the mirror or not, Trader? Since it was made for the purpose of divining gifts, it's actually even more reliable than if I were to scry it in water.

Sure, bring your friends by the house, Daja sent. I have a feeling about this one though, Tris. Something tells me this boy is going to be a difficult case.

Tris rolled her eyes. As if I didn't already know that. I just pulled him from an explosion for gods' sakes, you don't have to tell me he's going to be difficult. As long as he makes less of a fuss than Keth though, then I'll be grateful.

Daja chuckled but didn't respond further, instead going back to her sketches, so Tris didn't say anything further, but allowed her sister get back to work without anymore interruptions.

"Come along, my house is this way," Tris said to the two young mages trailing after her.

"Is it alright that I'm coming, too?" Calyra asked nervously. Tris didn't know why, she'd already invited herself into Tris's life thus far without bothering to ask how Tris felt about it.

Though admittedly, Tris thought, I did all but force her to participate in the daring fire rescue.

"It's fine," Tris said, walking ahead of them at a brisk pace. It actually hadn't occurred to her that Calyra might split from the pair, rather than tagging along, wanted or no. "Nand still seems in shock, anyway. Try to distract him from what's happened for me, won't you?" she said, certain this was the perfect job to occupy the excessively chatty girl.

Calyra nodded, apparently taking this assignment very seriously. She went to work trying to draw the unresponsive Nand into conversation as they followed Tris through a few more streets and around a corner before coming upon the house she shared with her siblings on Cheeseman street.

"Oh, it's big!" Calyra said, eying the large house. "Do you live here alone?"

"My foster siblings live with me," Tris said, and showed them through Briar's garden and into the house. Calyra looked around with interest while Nand seemed afraid to even touch the ground, finding the relative prosperity and richness worrying. All at once, his magic began to boil about from his body again in a way that unnerved Tris. She didn't want him to find a way to blow up her house, too!

"Nand, calm down, the magic is leaking out of you," Tris snapped, before she could remember to curb her tongue.

"Sorry!" the boy said with his arms pulled close to his body, his shoulders raised to his ears and his face pale from fear. He resembled more closely a quivering mass of frayed nerves than a boy. This kid was all stress and mess, without a calm bone in his body. "I've just never been in a house this nice, I don't want to mess anything up!"

"You don't have to worry about getting anything dirty. That's what the maids are for, and anything Amyl can't clean, Sandry probably can," Tris said, more to comfort his nerves and stop his outpouring of raw magic than that she actually felt that way. Obviously she didn't want to give him free reign to grub up the house, but she didn't want him worrying about something that couldn't be helped, either. Besides, he seemed a responsible young man, he wouldn't take advantage of the pardon.

"So what have we here?" Tris heard Daja say as she entered the room. The big black woman smiled at their two guests amiably. In one hand she was carrying the mirror Tris had asked her about, and in the other two sets of old clothes, one of Daja's and another of Briars, both trousers and shirts were old and out of style (as Sandry claimed) but without enough wear or defects to justify being thrown out. Neither of the siblings would miss their absence in the least.

What's with the clothes? Tris asked her silently, though she was already getting an inkling.

No one's going to feel comfortable wearing those soot-stained rags, Daja sent her reasonably. Let your guests get comfortable before you start flinging magic at them. Especially that boy, he seems about to faint, poor kid. Tris acknowledged that this was a good idea, she was just a little annoyed that she hadn't thought of it herself.

"Nand, Calyra, this is my sister Daja, she's a smith mage," Tris explained, which only resulted in the two mages looking more lost then they even had been initially. Tris couldn't recall if she'd explained her family situation to Calyra, but Nand was certainly in the dark about it. She might explain more later but she didn't have any intention of doing so right now.

You just told me about Nand, but how'd you meet the girl? Daja mind-voiced her, all the while keeping up the pretense with the two guests that nothing in particular was going on.

Oh, she works at the printing house I spelled the other day. She's a student paper mage. We ran into each other right before the explosion and went to help together, Tris explained briefly.

Got it, Daja answered.

"I was expecting you," she said with a wink and a grin at the two guests expressions of confusion. It had occurred to both of the student mages that Daja couldn't possibly have known they were coming unless magic or divine foresight had been involved.

"I've brought some clean clothes since both of yours have been through an ordeal," Daja continued, handing said clothing over to the two guests. To Nand she said, "These are our brother's old things. They're probably a bit big, but I didn't think you'd want to wear something a girl had, even if it was just some trousers and a shirt." Nand's grateful expression at her words said it all. "And these are mine Calyra, I hope you don't mind trousers. I don't wear skirts and Tris's clothes are too small for you."

"Thank you! I don't mind trousers, I wear them for working all the time," Calyra assured her with another exuberant smile and Daja smiled back just as brightly so that they were just a couple of idiots smiling at each other.

She's pretty cute, Daja saw fit to inform her, for no reason that Tris could tell.

Tris scowled. You have a girlfriend! she reminded her sister sternly.

I know that! Daja sent back, along with assurances of her undying love for Yosleen. I was just saying is all...

"Why don't I show you two where you can change and while you do that the cook can make us something to eat. It is passed lunch time after all, everyone is probably hungry. Especially you, Tris. You were working big magic, weren't you? You aren't looking so fresh," Daja said, leading the two guests to guest rooms.

Tris snorted in irritation but moved into the dining room, her bath from before having been enough of a refresher since her clothing had survived the incident perfectly thanks to Sandry's ingenuity. A place to sit down and have some good food sounded wonderfully revitalizing though, not that she'd tell Daja that.

The weather witch had a few blessed minutes of peace (which she half-expected to be destroyed by Chime, but a quick question to the made revealed her glass friend to be sleeping upstairs having not even noticed she was home), but shortly Calyra and Nand returned, guided by Daja and wearing their fresh clothes. Calyra was only an inch shorter than Daja, but quite a bit slimmer, so the waist of her trousers and arms of her shirt were rather loose, but it wasn't that noticeable. Nand and Calyra being about the same height, Daja's clothes probably would have fit Nand almost perfectly if he hadn't been uncomfortable with the idea of wearing a female's hand-me-downs. Briar's shirt and pants were quite a bit large on him, as the plant mage had grown over the years to just under six feet, but Nand seemed used to dealing with clothes that didn't quite fit and folded them down in a way that wasn't especially conspicuous.

They all sat down, and a few minutes later their cook came in with a tray of sliced cheeses, fruit and cold sausage and crackers and everyone dug right in as if starved. Once they all had some food in them, Daja began, just as the two sisters had silently discussed through their bonds while eating. "So I heard you just found out you have magic, Nand," she said to the boy.

He looked up at her startled, but Daja just smiled secretively. Tris wondered when her sister had become such a tease.

"That's what Mistress Tris says," he answered gloomily in between nibbling on a cracker like a guinea pig. "I guess it must be true. Odd things have been happening around me for a while..."

"Tris is rarely wrong about this stuff," Daja agreed. "But scrying your power will tell us for sure that it's there and what it is. Do you mind if we do that right now?"

Nand sighed as if resigned to the necessity. "Alright. What do you need me to do?"

"Just hold this mirror and look into it, okay?" Daja explained as she and Tris both stood up and walked over to his chair. "It'll show us glimpses of your power."

"Okay," Nand said a bit skeptically as if he was taking their word for it, and accepted the mirror of living metal, looking into it. The symbols for sight and seeing etched into the rim flared and Tris and Daja watched over his shoulder for the reflections that would describe where his magic lay.

All at once, the shiny metal surface flooded with images of fire and earth. Tris saw lava pouring from the ground, a rumbling volcano, shaking pebbles and landslides, steam rising from vents. The two sisters exchanged loaded glances between them.

"I guess that explains why the kiln exploded. His power runs through the natural forces of earth and fire, and a kiln harnesses both," Tris said thoughtfully.

Daja nodded. "You know what this means though, right?"

"I know. Who else in the city has power over nature but me? He's my responsibility now, though I may need your help with the fire. I can't really control it precisely the way you do, but it could be that he might be able to."

"No problem," Daja said and held up a flat hand, which after a few seconds Tris reluctantly slapped in a gesture of camaraderie. Upon Daja's smug expression, the redhead immediately regretted the action.

Naturally, Calyra gushed at this revelation. "Wow, earth and fire magic! That's really cool Nand!" she said, elbowing the boy excitedly.

For Nand's part, he didn't look happy to have a boney elbow in his rib, friendly or otherwise, and he winced at the physical contact. "So what now?" he asked, not even a little excited. Daja and Calyra both seemed a bit deflated at the boy's lack of reaction, but Tris wasn't worried. She figured he'd change his tune once he realized his magic was just that: something that was magical, instead of something to be feared.

Tris adjusted her spectacles. "'What now' is I find a way to keep your power in check so you don't explode any ovens or hearths tonight when I can't watch you," she answered him, catching the way Daja's brows knit upon hearing her words. For Nand's benefit as well as Daja's she further explained, "I wouldn't generally consider this necessary, but your power seems especially volatile, and your fear that something might happen just keeps feeding it. I think the only thing that's going to relieve that fear is some form of protection. Once that's finished then you go home to get some rest and show up back here in the morning for instruction."

Nand opened his mouth to say something and then closed it. "I guess I don't have to report to Master Winnum tomorrow morning with the shop destroyed." The boy rubbed his face miserably. "Damn, why did this have to happen?"

"Don't worry about it too much. Just know this isn't your fault," Daja advised him.

"But it was my magic. My fault," he argued, drooping in his chair unattractively.

Tris shook her head in exasperation. At the moment, she thought, there's nothing to distinguish this boy from a wet rag. She hoped he perked up at some point, otherwise she was liable to smack him, if this behavior went on much longer than their first few days together.

"But you didn't—" Daja began with a frown, trying to argue back, but Tris stopped her with a hand on her shoulder and a pointed look.

Don't bother arguing with him, Daja, she sent. He's just feeling sorry for himself. He'll buck up once he starts getting control.

You're right, I suppose, the smith admitted, but she wasn't happy about it. I'm still not sure about this whole warding thing, though.

The two sisters conferred a bit more, quickly deciding that what more they had to say to each other was too complex and involved to try discussing under their guests noses. It would just look strange, and be rude besides, so they excused themselves to Calyra and Nand and moved their conversation into the kitchen next door.

In the kitchen, the cook was busy cleaning up what small amount of mess had been made preparing lunch and planning what to make the household for dinner. She payed the two mages no mind other than to exchange pleasant 'good afternoon's while the two talked.

"What I was going to say is our teachers never did anything like putting us to bed in a magic circle, when we were kids," Daja said as soon as they were clear. "Do you really think sending him home with some kind of ward is necessary?"

"Don't you?" Tris asked with a raised brow. "My magic was erratic and dangerous as a child, just like his, but Niko himself said I'd subconsciously learned some control on my own or I'd have been dead by the time he found me. Most lightning mages are the same way. This isn't lightning, but it's nearly as dangerous, and I can't see anything like control in that mess."

Daja sighed, scratching the back of her head in thought. "Well, you're right about that. He's just sitting there and his magic is trying to find trouble. It's a wonder he's alive, actually. But how are you going to keep him from using magic by accident when you aren't there?"

"Hmm, not sure," Tris answered. "Any ideas?"

Daja laughed nervously. "Um, no, actually. This kind of spontaneous, unconscious magic is really difficult to protect against. Regular charms won't work very well. Ambient magic is especially hard to seal against anyway, since it can catch onto anything it's power runs through, warded or no. I mean, a protective circle is almost always effective, but you can't exactly carry one around."

"Even that's suspect," Tris said. "When Keth's magic was out of control, his power zapped a protective circle right out from under a mage." She remembered the incident well. Keth, completely untrained and only finding out he had a mix of lightning and glass magic but hours before, had been sitting in jail accused of murder by the Khalos arurim, surrounded by a protective circle meant to keep him from retaliating or escaping the authorities. And then an instant later he wasn't, because unbeknownst to Keth, his lightning magic had flared and charred the powders the mage had used to create her circle. That was just how ambient magic worked, it could effect anything material as though it wasn't magic but it's element itself. Any object Tris might use in an attempt to seal Nand's magic could be destroyed by his fire without the spell even coming into effect.

"Earth is usually stable" Tris acknowledged, "but fire is nearly as unpredictable as lightning and I don't see many options when it comes to containing it." Thinking for a moment, she decided to voice the vague idea she'd had since she realized this might be a problem. It wasn't fool proof but it was what she had. "I suppose I could walk him home, put a circle in his room and activate it before I leave and pick him up in the morning and deactivate it."

Daja had a rebuttal. "But what if he has to get out for some reason? And if he used magic inside the circle, he'd be trapped inside with the results. A fire is dangerous inside a circle or out."

Tris reluctantly had to agree that this was true.

Daja had a thought. "Hey, you remember when Sandry was kidnapped in Namorn and the mages hung charms on her to suppress her magic? What about something like that? Surely you learned how to make those in Lightsbridge."

While Tris didn't believe this to be an awful idea, it had a number of flaws that she could see. "I didn't exactly specialize in mage-napping, but yes, in theory I know how to make such a thing. You need the proper runes, though. For a stitch witch like Sandry the common ones used are for unraveling, but his isn't exactly a standard power, it's a mix. I know the runes against earth mages and those against fire, but each charm would be vulnerable to the other element, it isn't a good system for this type of thing."

"I guess that makes sense," Daja admitted, looking a bit wilted that her idea had been shot down.

"Also, physical charms are vulnerable to ambient magic," Tris realized as she said it. "Even as an anti-fire charm, a charm made of paper or fabric would be vulnerable to magic with a fire affinity—his fire. And metal charms might also be at risk from the earth side of his power. You know yourself how ambient magic can almost literally take on the characteristics of it's craft or element."

Daja just nodded, thoroughly defeated. "Well, this is a pickle isn't it," she said, and really it said it all. Neither Tris nor Daja had any viable ideas to fix the situation. Maybe Briar or Sandry might, but both of them seemed to be shielding for some reason (doing something private, perhaps?) so there was no asking either of them right now either.

"Um...Tris?" came a quiet voice from the kitchen door.

Tris turned around to see peaking out from behind the sill, Nand next to her and pretending he wasn't doing the same. She supposed she should have expected, or at least noticed, this bit of spying but in her defense she'd been a bit preoccupied.

"Yes?" Tris asked, trying not to sound as though she was angry. She wasn't, but she didn't trust herself not to come off that way at the moment. In this situation it wouldn't be unexpected for her to be made at the two students.

Calyra came out from behind the sill and squared her shoulders. When Nand tried to duck behind the door, she tugged him out against his will, where he stood looking uncomfortable and exposed as he examined the floor with more scrutiny than it deserved, his eyes occasionally flicking to Calyra as if interested in what she had to say despite himself. Tris was actually interested as well. She suspected whatever it was would be brilliant or ridiculous, Calyra just came off as that sort of girl.

The paper mage swallowed nervously before opening her mouth again. "I think...I think..."

Tris sighed. "Spit it out." The weather mage wasn't known for patience and this stuttering was trying what she had of it.

"I...might have an idea," Calyra finally said.

"What is it?" Daja asked gently, her head quirked in a listening posture.

"Well...it seems to me that you want to keep the magic from escaping and making mischief by catching onto something, but you also want it to be portable," the girl said with a fair explanation of the particular issues at hand. At Tris and Daja's nods of agreement she took a breath and spat out, "So...well, why don't you put the protections on his skin?"

Daja and Tris looked at each other. "Go on," Tris said, confused but intrigued.

"It's something I've seen my teacher do before," Calyra explained. "He has ink that will carry his magic and he paints symbols on the skin to make a seal to keep the magic inside the person."

"But won't the ink wash or rub off?" Daja asked with a raised brow of skepticism.

Calyra smiled. "Not this ink. It's special."

Tris rubbed her chin thoughtfully. "How much would your master charge for something like that?" She had some money put away and she'd been making a profit lately from her business, be she wasn't exactly rich, especially not compared to Daja or Briar who basically were rich, by any meaning of the word. She didn't want to borrow money from them if she didn't have to, but if it was for a student she supposed she could suck of her pride.

Ugh, but I really don't want to, Tris thought. Simply the possibility of being in someone's debt gave her indigestion.

Luckily, Calyra frowned at the very notion of payment. "What? He wouldn't charge you for something like this!" she assured Tris, loudly and with confidence. "It's mages helping mages. It would either be free, or I would kick him in the shin and then it would be free!"

Daja snickered at this pronouncement while Tris released a breath in relief. Well, at least that was one less thing to worry about.

"Well...I can't think that at least consulting a great mage would be a bad idea..." Tris said, pretending to be reluctant, though secretly she was excited at the prospect of meeting Calyra's teacher.

Daja raised her brows. "Her teacher is a Great Mage?" she inquired.

"Master Lampblack," Tris explained.

The smith nodded her head, obviously familiar with the name. "I'm impressed."

Pondering a moment more, Tris asked of Calyra, "Do you think he'd mind if we went to see him right now?"

"Of course not!" Calyra said, her hands forming fists in her elation. "That's where we were headed before the explosion happened, anyway."

Oh, right, it was, Tris realized. For some reason that seemed so long ago. Well, with all the excitement and unexpected happenings, it made sense that she'd have forgotten.

With a sigh, Tris pushed up her glasses. "Alright then, let's go see him." Turning to the trembling mess pretending it didn't exist that was her new student, Tris said, "I know you're probably tired Nand, but if this works out, then you'll be able to get a night's rest without any worries of your magic escaping from you at home."

"That would be a relief," Nand admitted, looking away as he itched his elbow. Tris was unhappy to realize he was still leaking magic everywhere. Hopefully Calyra was right and her master's technique was something that could solve their predicament.

"I'll bet," Daja said to Nand. "You look like you haven't slept well in months."

"To be honest, I haven't," the boy responded, and Tris couldn't help feeling a stab of pity upon hearing it. Come to think of it, back when she hadn't realized she had magic, the weather witch hadn't slept well either. It could have been just her circumstances in general, never knowing when she was going to wake up and see her bags already packed for her, with her latest relatives unceremoniously shoving her out the door, but the fact that she never knew when something strange was going to happen to incite getting kicked out was just as much of a detriment to her rest.

Daja rubbed her chin in thought. After a moment, she looked over at her foster-sister and said, "Tris, I think I'll go with you guys. There ought to be someone fresh with you in case one of you three collapses en route."

Tris rolled her eyes. She should have expected a quip like that. "None of us are going to collapse, but suit yourself."

Daja grinned. "I will."

Standing outside the gate of a lot surrounded by stucco pillars and iron fencing, the sweet scent of oranges and lemons filling the air, Briar and Geo stopped dead in their tracks as they encountered a large group of people approaching the gate from the opposite direction. Two of their number were strangely familiar.

"No. No, no, no, NO!" Tris shouted in woeful tones as she turned on her heels and stomped out into the street where she had the space to yank at her braids and bemoan her situation at maximum volume and exposure. That she didn't seem to realize she was making a spectacle of herself in public probably said the most about her state of mind. Briar honestly didn't think he'd ever seen her act this way and he'd known her so long and so well he hadn't thought there was anything about his sibs he didn't know or couldn't at least guess at. The situation would have been amusing, if it wasn't a little frighting.

Not sure what was going on, except for the fact that he'd probably just been caught by Tris trying to make contact with her arch-enemy Heinz, Briar pasted on a nervous smile and said, "Hey Tris, Daja, and...other people. Fancy seeing you guys here. What's uh...what's all this?"

All this was a skinny blond teenage girl wearing what looked like some of Daja's old clothes and a depressed looking boy of a similar age wearing what looked like Briar's old clothes, blinking up at him with no recognition at all. The girl seemed on edge and worried about Tris, while the boy looked taken aback at her tantrum. Briar was annoyed to notice that the boy was shooting out gouts of flame-like silver light from his person, which caused the plant mage to squint to see passed to the glare. It was pretty uncomfortable.

"It's kind of complicated," Daja said, and her expression spoke volumes. 'Complicated' was probably an understatement here. "I'll fill you in later," she promised. "What are you doing here?"

"Me and Geo were just coming to see the infamous Heinz," Briar admitted, since he was caught anyway. No point trying to make up something, it would just confuse Geo and get Briar into even more trouble. "What are you and these kids doing here?"

"We're consulting the great book mage, Master Lampblack," Daja said with a contemplative hand to her chin as she seemed to come to a realization. "And I'm starting to suspect that his first name is Heinz..."

"Of course it is," said the strawberry blond girl beside his sister, looking confused. "Didn't I say that?"

"No! No, you didn't!" Tris interjected stomping back over to drop in where her hysterics weren't appreciated. Briar suspected she might start throwing off sparks at any moment. They needed to find a way to calm this girl down. He figured throwing one of the overripe lemons on the ground at her was probably unhelpful but he kind of wanted to anyway—she would deserve it with the childish way she was acting.

"Tris has actually met your master before," Daja explained to the girl next to her, "though she didn't know it. And let's just say they don't get along..."

"Good gods, I'll say!" Geoffrey interjected. "I've only seen them together once, but once was enough!" Briar chuckled at the man's fervor in asserting this. He was beginning to think the man really had been traumatized by his meeting with Briar's most short-tempered sister. And wasn't that an accomplishment?

"Oh, hi, Master Crato, I didn't notice you for some reason!" the blond girl said, practically dancing up to the man, cheerfully. "Did you come to see Master Lampblack?

"Well I did, but I'm beginning to reconsider," Geo said, chatting familiarly with the blond. "I didn't realize I would be taking my life in my hands by doing so."

The girl just looked confused by this.

The boy, who'd been silent through the entire incident (and was still flaring magic, by the way) sidled up next to Daja and whispered, "So...what's this mean for me?"

"Nothing!" Tris said through gritted teeth as she seemed to decide that her fit wasn't productive (and it was about time, too). "It means nothing! Heinz or no, if he has something that can help your situation then I'll be civil with the man, but I sure as Lakik's Mercy don't have to like it!"

Ho, things are bad when Tris of all people is invoking Lakik's Mercy, Briar thought amused. He was only slightly disappointed that lemon-chucking hadn't ended up being necessary to bring his sister to heel.

"Careful there, you sound like Sandry," Briar retorted.

"You, I'll deal with later!" Tris napped with her brows crushed together and her finger stabbing at him in a fashion that was somewhat alarming, considering she had only to point to call the forces of lightning to her hand. "Sneaking around trying to to talk to Heinz...did you really think I wouldn't find out?" her growled.

He almost wanted to say 'yes' just to see what kind of reaction he'd get but Briar wasn't that suicidal.

"Mistress Tris...do you and my Master really not get along?" his sisters' blond friend asked, apologetically. "I was really excited when you said you wanted to meet him. I thought it would be nice to have my friends become friends, but I suppose it was really just me overstepping like I always do. I'm sorry."

To Briar's surprise, this didn't draw Tris's fire but rather caused her to focus. "Don't apologize Calyra," she said. "His idiocy has nothing to do with you. I did want to meet your master, and you were trying to help by suggesting we see him. Whether I can stand to be in the same room as Heinz doesn't diminish the fact that you had a good idea."

"What's the idea exactly?" Briar asked, completely lost.

"It's to help her new student," Daja said.

"What the—!" Briar flung up his hands in disbelief. This was the only viable reaction to such a development. "Tris, you've only been back home for two weeks! How did you find another student already?"

Daja's brows rose in good humor and she flashed white teeth in a huge grin at her foster-sister's expense. "I know, right? And wait until you hear about how it happened. I'm telling you, she's escalating!"

"Ha ha. Very funny," Tris deadpanned shooting her siblings a glare that promised they were dead. Absolutely dead. They were dead men walking. "Calyra, Nand, we don't need these two jokers. Let's get this over with. The sooner the better," she declared and walked through the iron gate with her back stiff, her nose in the air and her eyes storming with thunder and lightning. Briar did not envy Heinz, Master Lampblack or no, a title wasn't going to save the poor man from Tris's probably misguided wrath.

"I was going tostay and make an evening's entertainment of all this," Geo said, turning to Briar apologetically. "But on second thoughts I think I'd rather miss the fireworks. Call on me at my shop any time, Briar—that is if you live through your sister's retribution."

Briar laughed nervously. That was the question, wasn't it? "Sure, thanks. You're a smart man, Master Crato."

"Smarter than you, boy, I daresay!" the man said as he turned in the opposite direction and very deliberately made his escape. Briar didn't exactly blame him for chickening out, but he suddenly felt abandoned and exposed.

For Tris's part, she hadn't waited for her siblings to catch up. Actually, she would have preferred that they just get lost stay out of her damned business, but that wasn't going to happen any time soon, such she'd decided to simply ignore them in the interim. So with Calyra and Nand in tow, she stalked up to the door (Heinz's door!) and just managed to stop herself from banging on it with all her might.

Instead she just knocked politely. (But she would have liked it to be known that what she would really have preferred to do, is bang on it so hard it fell off it's hinges.)

And then she waited.