DISCLAIMER: Do I own CoM? Yes, yes I do. I just let Tamora Pierce pretend to own it, because I'm nice like that.
Hey everyone. The Circle of Magic Quartet is a guilty little pleasure of mine, and seeing as how my mind has been constantly wandering back to those books in the last couple of days, I've decided to write a fanfiction story about them. Yea. I am a HUGE Tris shipper. She is the ultimate. Period. And B/T rocks. Which I hope this ultimately will become.
READER NOTE: Everything that you've read in The Circle Opens series, forget it. In this world, none of that stuff has happened.
FOR THE LOVE OF THE DEITIES OF THIS WORLD AND THE NEXT,
PLEASE REVIEW!!!
With that out of the way, here we go.
EAST of the ALTER
by Anyanka
"Break, break, break
At the foot of thy stones, O Sea!
And I would that I could utter
The thoughts that arise in me!"
Aleister Crowley
A storm was coming in. The dark swirls of gray and white cloud danced around in the wind, hitting and combining with each other to form larger tendrils of what would be spectacular storm clouds. It's like a dance , Tris thought to herself, her chubby hand supporting her head as she gazed out of her window.
Trisana Chandler had seen many storms during her sixteen years in this life, but they never failed to fascinate her. Her friends, Sandry, Briar and Daja, assumed that the curly-haired red head loved watching storms get born because of her magic, her ability to control weather to by her mere whim. Tris used to think that also, but as she watched the graceful movements of the clouds, she realized that she would watch storms even if she had no magic at all.
Up there, where the clouds were, everything was free.
No worrying about controlling your magic, wondering if people think you are too fat, no nothing. You're absolutely free. She sighed and closed her eyes, sending herself out on her exhaled breath. If only, she thought, if only I could get up there. Then I'd be happy. Then I'd belong.
She let her mind drift, and focused only on what it would be like to be in the storm, not just her magical self, but her real self. No one would be there to criticize her. She smiled. Up in the storm, she could dance around, a thing she never dared do in reality for fear of being teased. Tris could almost feel the cool breeze running over her body as she twirled like a piece of cloud, caught up in a dance that had no rhythm and did not heed time.
"Tris," called a voice from downstairs.
Tris's eyes popped open as she was jerked back into reality. Now when did I close my eyes, she thought to herself as she brought her hands up to rub them.
"Supper's ready Tris, and I don't think Briar can wait much longer." The voice belonged to Sandry, one of Tris's three house mates.
Tris continued to rub the sleep out of her eyes. "You can wait a few more minutes," she whispered under her breath, fiercely wishing that Sandry could leave her alone so that she could keep dancing with the clouds. She had been having such a great time, and now it was spoiled.
Thumps began echoing in the hallway as Sandry scurried up the stairs to see what was taking Tris so long. With each step, Sandry grew more and more vexed with her friend. Supper had been ready for nearly ten minutes. Uncharacteristically late, Briar had shown up at the table only a few minutes ago, with an even more out of character pout on his tanned face. So it's not entirely Tris's fault that we've been waiting, she told herself, although, I don't know why she didn't answer when I mind spoke to her. Maybe she's in one of her moods.
Sandry opened the door to Tris's bedroom. "Come on Tris, the soup is getting cold-" Sandry trailed off, her mouth gaping in a very unladylike manner.
There was a complete, miniature storm system in Tris's bedroom, and Tris was standing in the middle, apparently unaware of it as she rubbed her eyes clumsily.
"I'm coming, I'm coming," Tris replied, her hands still rubbing her eyes. They felt weird for some reason, sort of tingly all over as if she had just stared into a bright light. She finally opened her eyes and gasped. "How did this get here?" she asked quietly. Sandry, not knowing if she had asked her or herself, didn't answer immediately. Instead, she observed the storm more closely. The storm was in a strange curved pattern, roughly ten feet long at its longest point. It came up to Tris's middle, so to the sixteen year old noble it seemed that Tris was a towering spirit that had no legs, only clouds. To the right side of the storm it had begun to rain.
"Tris, you'd better stop it. It's raining all over your rug," Sandry said, her eyes glued to the perfect little raindrops that were falling.
"Cat dirt," Tris muttered, wading though the storm to examine her now wet rug. Sandry gasped as she caught a glimpse of the red heads eyes.
"Tris, your, your eyes!"
"What about them?" Tris mumbled as she gently coaxed the storm into ceasing its downpour.
"They're…gone."
"What are you talking about? I can see you clear as day."
Unable to find the words to describe them, Sandry reached into her pouch that hung by her waist to pull our a piece of looking glass. As she did this, she sent a silent mind message to Briar and Daja downstairs. Briar, Daja, get Niko up here right now, she commanded the two in a hushed, calm tone.
What are you two girls doing up there, gabbing while I sit here and starve? Briar demanded, a wave of moodiness clinging onto his mind speak. Sandry felt an inner part of her smile at this. So, it seems Briar is finally joining the ranks of a "moody teenager". She quickly put that thought aside.
Sandry flashed a picture of what was going on to the two of them. Just get him up here, and maybe Lark and Rosethorn also.
Alright, responded Daja. She felt them break their link and heard a scuffle of chairs from downstairs. This mind conversation was done in a matter of seconds, and as Sandry finished talking to them she handed Tris her looking glass.
"Oh...my," was all Tris managed to say as she stared into the mirror. Her eyes, usually a piercing gray, looked as if they were made up of lightening. The whites of her eyes were gone, also. The only thing that stared back at her were eye shaped flashes of bright yellow.
The door swung open and the remainder of the inhabitants of Discipline entered with their teachers, with Niko leading the way. Tris head jerked sharply at the noise of the door opening, and she met them all with a glowing stare. Niko halted upon making eye contact with Tris, causing everyone behind him to stop as well. He maintained his stare with Tris, his eyebrows knitting as if he was in deep thought about what he was seeing.
Briar peered over Niko's shoulder to examine Tris. Her eyes had unnerved him when Sandry had flashed them in his mind moments ago. They reminded him of a story he used to hear on the streets as a boy, about young girls who were possessed by evil spirits and killed people by staring at them with fiery eyes. Sure this hasn't happened to Coppercurls, he told himself, eerily eyeing the storm that was swimming around his waist. This is probably just something to do with her magic, maybe she discovered a new way to grow lightening.
"Trisana," Niko said, breaking the silence that had entered the room along with him, "please remove this storm from your room at once." His voice sounded strained to Tris, like he was forcing himself to be calm.
"Sure." Tris replied, a little disturbed by how everyone was staring at her like she was, was…a demon. Tris closed her eyes, even though the others could still see the lightening underneath her lids, and focused her magic.
This storm came from me, so I'll just put it back. She opened her hand, and waved it in a circle in front of her, calling the storm into the palm of her hand. She quickly closed her hand into a fist, capturing the storm into a tight ball and sending it back into her body. She opened her eyes. The storm was gone, but she could tell by the look on everyone's faces that her eyes had yet to return to normal. Tris did not feel comfortably under their scrutiny, and quickly turned away from them, facing a wall so they couldn't see her eyes. "I don't know what I did to my eyes, but I don't think it helps any that you all are staring at me like a leper."
"You're right, of course," Niko responded smoothly turning to the others. "Children, you may all go down to supper and begin eating. You may too, Tris, if you would like to. Lark, Rosethorn," he added as Daja, Briar, Sandry and Tris shuffled down the stairs, Tris with a more distinctive sense of lagging than the others, "I believe that we might need a conference, Frostpine included. It looks like," he stopped, glancing down the stairs to make sure that the children were not in hearing range, "it looks like one of my initial worries is coming true."
"God-head," Lark responded quietly, making a gods-circle on her chest. Rosethorn's face took on a grimmer aspect at hearing her friend speak those words.
"Yes, and if that is the case, we all know what we must do."
~*~*~*~*~
I already have the next chapter, but will wait to update. The amount of REIVIEWS I receive *hint hint* will help me along. Any feedback is much appreciated, either through the reviews or email at [email protected]