It was Spring in Emelan and that meant that the city was beginning to stir with life again after a cold winter. A young man walked down the street, munching on an apple as his grey-green eyes returned the sidelong glance that a passing girl gave him. Briar Moss grinned as he continued to make his way towards the market. He always appreciated it when a girl took note of his looks. There was no doubt that Briar was very handsome. Golden brown skin and almond shaped eyes pointed to an Eastern heritage, but his thin bladed nose and eye colour said otherwise. His black hair was cut short to around an inch to keep it from curling and to make it easier to take care of. The clothes he wore were well-made, fashionable and of good quality. They had to be, considering his foster-sister Sandry who was a stitch witch had made them just for him.

Spring was always his favourite season. It meant the air smelt faintly of dirt as plants burst into growth in wake of the disappearing cold. The eagerness of the plants to grow hummed in his veins, providing him with a spring in his step. Apart from the season being good for plants, Briar also liked this time of the year because it meant that caravans of goods, which were unable to travel in the snow, were free to make their way towards sea ports like Emelan in order to trade their wares. He was headed towards the market now, drawn by its bustle and the promise of excitement. Having been back home for a few months now, he found himself bored by the same food, same people, and same chatter. He missed all the different languages, food, and faces that travel had spoilt him with.

Briar had spent over four years travelling with his teacher Rosethorn and student Evvy, the three of them traversing the East in search of adventure, and to share their knowledge of magic with other mages they met along the way. He stopped for a moment and shuddered slightly before continuing to make his way toward the market. They had ended up encountering more than they had asked for during their travels, and he never could forget what had happened in Gyongxe. He still got nightmares.

"Never mind that" Briar muttered to himself, "It's all done and there's no use moping over what happened back then in a place that's thousands of miles away like some bleater. Just focus on what you gotta do now."

What he had to do was find out if he could reserve a stall to sell his shakkans. They were miniature trees, shaped in certain formations in order to achieve certain purposes like drawing luck or health to a household, or warding the home against fire. He cared for the trees like they were his children, pleading, arguing, and cajoling them while he shaped them with his magic. The shakkans were precious to him, but he knew their value as a source of income and had been cultivating and selling them for a few years now. They were what had helped fund his long trip from home, providing Rosethorn, Evvy, and himself with coin to continue their journey. He had not planned to have a stall at the market, but it gave him an excuse to get out of the house and away from his foster-sisters. There was only so much a young man could take, living in such close proximity to the girls, especially if that young man ended up having female guests over more often than not.

The only problem was that with the market having been open for a few weeks now it would be difficult to find a stall to reserve, since most were booked months in advance to ensure that merchants selling their wares would have a place to sell them once they arrived in Emelan in the Spring. However, luck was on his side. He was able to negotiate a deal with a merchant who had to leave Emelan on short notice due to problems with the cargo that he had been expecting. Having finished his business earlier than planned, Briar walked lazily around the market, taking in the sights and sounds. He followed his nose to a stall that sold delicious smelling lamb skewers that came with a mint sauce. The flavours burst on his tongue as he eagerly wolfed the food down. He then went on to purchase some fruit juice and pasties stuffed with sausage and gravy.

Foreign languages being spoken all around him were like music to his ears as he continued to wander through the market with his food, stopping every now and then to peer at goods that caught his eyes. His ears picked up snippets of Yanjingi, Namornese, and Chammuri, along with a few languages he knew and some others he didn't recognise. Briar had missed being able to talk in languages other than Imperial, the native tongue of Emelan and his birthplace of Sotat. The only other people he knew who spoke the foreign tongues he knew were the girls, Lark, Rosethorn, Evvy, Frostpine, Niko, and Dedicate Crane, but he had left most of them behind at Discipline in his need to get away from the Temple grounds that reminded him so much of Gyongxe. While he enjoyed being in the company of his foster-sisters - he had missed them so much when he was away and they had grown even closer after what happened in Namorn – it was too much trouble to bring a girl to his room with all of them living together. He'd considered purchasing his own house in order to get away from Tris' raised eyebrows and the disapproving look that Sandry always gave him. In the end he decided against the idea. It wasn't that money was an issue - Briar always kept a decent amount of money saved away for a rainy day. It was the knowledge that he'd get lonely living on his own, without Tris to discuss books with, the staff practice he had with Daja, and Sandry to tease. Not that he'd ever tell them.

After he had his fill of the market food and entertainment Briar returned to the house on Cheeseman Street. He was so busy thinking over his stall and replying to the welcome that his plants sang out that he didn't notice the uncommon silence in the house until he reached the kitchen. He halted, hearing soft voices.

"-still don't know if we should be doing this. He's going to be mad," said one voice, sounding unsure.

"I know Daja, but I really think that we need to talk about this. We have to, for his own good," replied another voice.

"I don't like doing this either but leaving it alone is even worse. If this continues I don't know what I'll end up doing, but it won't be good." The final voice sounded annoyed.

"And we all know that keeping you full of smiles and giggles is important." Briar drawled, "Isn't that right Coppercurls?" He walked into the room to find his foster sisters gathered there. They all turned to look at him as he spoke.

"What's this then? Whispered conversations behind doors? I'm happy that you've all stopped nattering away but to tell you the truth I'm a bit surprised. I know how you girls like to carry on." He leaned against the wooden door frame, raising an eyebrow - a habit he'd learnt from Rosethorn. "Now what are you all talking about? Why am I going to be mad?"

Daja, who was leaning against the wall, cast her eyes down to the floor, suddenly very interested in the wood grain pattern. Tris folded her arms and glared at him from her place on a chair by the dining table. If their behaviour wasn't enough indication that something was about to happen and he really wasn't going to like it, the look on Sandry's face made it all clear. She had that look on her face, the one that meant she was going to rearrange your life to her her liking, not caring if you minded or not. Briar hated that look – he never could stop Sandry once she was in one of those moods.

He looked at her warily, then sighed and said, "What is it? Just tell me and get it over with." Sandry pursed her lips, opened her mouth, and then closed it again. After a short silence she spoke.

"Well, you see, the thing is... I, I mean we, feel that we need to talk to you about your...relationships."

Briar was shocked at what he heard, and then began to feel angry. Very angry. "My what?" he exclaimed. "Now listen here miss noble, what I do with whoever I do it with is my business and mine alone. You ain't got no right sticking your neb where it ain't wanted." He kept his voice at a normal level, but slipping into thieving cant was a telltale sign that he was losing his temper.

"Briar, I know but please listen!" Sandry pleaded. "It's not like that, I swear."

"What else can that mean! I ain't a chuffle brain. I know you disapprove of what I do, but I thought you at least had the decency not to pry. You just want to use my life as a project to distract you from being bored up to your ears with accounts that your uncle gave you to do!" Briar liked Sandry's great uncle, Duke Vedris, who was the ruler of Emelan, but having her interfere with something as personal as his relationships was too much for him to handle.

"What!" Sandry gasped, "That is not true! I will have you know that I am perfectly fine-"

"Will you two stop? This is besides the point and my head is starting to hurt from hearing you two bicker like children!" Tris snapped. Daja, who had been quiet until then, spoke up.

"She's right Sandry, this isn't what we're here for." The black girl with muscular arms stood upright and walked over to Sandry, putting a hand on the other girl's shoulder. Daja looked at Briar and calmly said, "Come on Briar, just hear us out. You know we wouldn't be talking about this if it weren't important. Especially if we're all here to talk to you about it."

Briar took a deep breath to calm himself. He had been surprised to know that Daja and Tris both felt the same as Sandry. Daja was always level headed and Tris was too caught up in books or scrying the wind to care about anything else. Briefly he sent his power out to soothe the plants in the house that had bristled when they felt his growing anger.

"Fine," he responded angrily, "but I ain't saying that I'll like this or that I'll agree to nothin'."

"Fair enough," Daja replied, "Sandry?"

It was the blonde girl's turn to take a deep breath. Her cornflower-blue eyes looked directly at Briar as she started to explain what was going on, for the second time. "Briar, we need to talk to you about your relationships. Now it's not that we don't want you to be happy, and it's not about how many girls you choose to be with-"

"It is a bit," Daja interrupted. "Alright," Sandry admitted, "It is a bit. But that's not the point."

"And what exactly is the point?" Briar was still testy and inwardly seething. Trust the noble to decide what was right and wrong, what people should and shouldn't do!

Sandry bit her lip. "It's just that...we trust you, we really do, but could you be a bit more...careful, about choosing who you're with?" That threw Briar off. "What?" he said confused.

"What she means, is that we'd appreciate it if you decided to bed someone with some sense, instead of girls who only have fluff between their ears," Tris said tartly.

"Tris!" said Sandry, shocked.

"Well it's true, and we weren't getting anywhere with you trying to find a polite way to put it," the redhead retorted. Briar opened his mouth to let out a few choice words he had been thinking while this was going on, but seeing it Sandry hurried to finish what she had to say.

"Look, normally we wouldn't say anything, but it's really starting to get out of hand now. Remember last month? I came by to drop off some things for you and that one girl threw a book at me out of nowhere, because she thought I was one of your bed mates!" Her eyes narrowed at the memory.

Briar did remember that happening. He also remembered the slap that he had received from said girl before she had huffed out of the house.

"Look-" he started, but Tris interrupted saying, "And usually I couldn't care less who you bring around, but I'm sure you remember the delightful thing that happened last week." Tris' voice had gone dangerously sweet and her grey eyes flashed angrily. Briar heard Daja mutter "Kaq" under her breath.

He also remembered the incident that had happened a week ago, wincing at the memory. The girl he had bedded the night before had exited his chambers to find Tris dusting the shelves, taking it upon herself to be the housekeeper in order to earn her keep. The girl, he had forgotten her name but remembered the dimple on her left cheek - he was a sucker for dimples - had thought that Tris was a maid and ordered her to get breakfast ready, before haughtily making a rude comment about the redhead's size. That comment had earned Dimple Girl an equally rude removal from his place by means of a small wind cyclone that neatly whirled her down the stairs before tossing her out onto the street. Briar hadn't seen Dimple Girl since then.

"Okay, I see how you might have gotten mad about those times, I would be too. But that's no reason to be telling me who I should and shouldn't be with, it's not like they're all like that...right?" Briar only asked the last question because he saw the exchange of uneasy glances between Sandry and Daja. It was the latter who decided to speak this time.

"Briar...it's happened more often than you think. Sure, those two were some of the worst of it, but the three of us have each experienced the bad end of your relationships. More than a few times. We just never told you because we didn't think it was enough to bother you with. What happened to Tris and Sandry was the final straw."

Sandry's eyes softened as she looked at her foster-brother. "We know it's not really our place to be telling you how to live your life, but we know what this is really about. We know you still have nightmares."

He stiffened at what she said. "Gyongxe..." Briar whispered, and silently cursed himself for letting that slip out.

The war.

Sandry was right, he still woke up in the middle of the night drenched in sweat and gasping for air at the memory of burning flesh, bloated corpses, and images of Rosethorn and Evvy dying in his arms. He had told the girls about what had happened, slowly, after they had returned from Namorn. They knew some things from their shared bond that allowed them to see what each other saw. But he hadn't told them everything. It was too painful. He also thought that he had successfully fooled them into thinking that he was simply bedding girls for the pleasure of it, but apparently he was wrong. He should have known that they would figure it out. Sometimes they understood him better than he understood himself. Being able to flirt and do more than flirt was fun, but what Briar really needed, deep down, was someone warm to hold at night in order to keep the nightmares at bay. In order to remember that the war was over and he was safe.

Sandry continued to speak. "We're worried about you Briar. We know that you need to be with someone, but you need to be with the right someone."

"What are you talking about Sandry?" he said, keeping his eyes on her face.

She sighed. "You need someone to talk to about what happened. I know I said that we don't necessarily approve of whom you're deciding to spend time with, but it's also not right of you to use women in an attempt to heal yourself. That's not the right way and it isn't fair to them." Seeing that he was listening, she went on to say, "Rosethorn has Lark, and Evvy has Luvo to talk to, strange as it is. You need someone that you can trust, who understands what you went through. And it's not any of us."

"And what am I supposed to do till then, till I find this 'someone'? Wake up screaming and alone in the dark?" he asked bitterly. "No thanks."

At that Sandry walked over to Briar and put her arms around his shoulders. He didn't shake her off, but he turned his head away from her.

"Briar...just...think about it. Please? We're just worried about you," she said softly to him.

He stayed silent, and she drew away from him. Briar stayed standing there, unmoving.

"Well..." Daja finally said after a long pause, "I've got to get back to Winding Circle, Frostpine and I are working on something at the forge." She moved past Briar towards the door, stopping briefly to put her hand on his shoulder. Sandry made her way out too, mentioning some meeting that she had to be at with the Duke and Baron Erdogun. Tris was the last to leave. She reached into the satchel she had on her and pulled out a heavy tome.

"Here's the book I said I'd lend you. You'd better return it looking exactly the same mind you."

Briar's mouth twisted into a wry smile at her warning. "I always do. As if I'd ruin any of your precious books." Tris turned to leave and then stopped in the door way.

"Briar...I know you're fair with the girls you're with, but to some people what you're doing is a serious thing. Its not just play, it means more. It ought to mean more," she said softly.

Eyes-wide since Tris rarely talked about love or romance, Briar turned to look at her but she had already gone to the roof in order to meditate.

He sat on the sill of a window that looked out onto the street, his eyes following the Sandry and Daja until they had left his sight. He could still sense where they parted ways, connected by their magic as they always were. Briar knew that the three girls had only spoken out of concern for him, but was still slightly irked that they had decided to poke at his life. "Trust girls to get all fussy about feelings, wanting to talk things out. Like that would ever fix anything," he said to himself.

What Sandry had said echoed in his mind.

"The right someone...huh." Who exactly would that be? Did that person even exist? Briar had travelled a lot in the past few years, seen many things, and met many people. He still had no idea what Sandry meant by 'the right someone'. He mulled over the idea for a bit, and then shook his head. There was no use wasting time thinking about some unknown girl that was supposed to change his life. He was too busy with getting his stall ready and other important things than wonder about airy notions like love and serious relationships. He'd known from a young age that showing affection just gave people the idea that they could take and demand whatever they wanted from you.

Several plants scolded him for neglecting them despite being home for so long. With a sigh, Briar Moss turned his attention toward the green voices.

His shakkans needed him.