After breakfast he read for a while. Normally he’d expect his sisters to be awake not long after dawn—their lives had made all of them into early risers—but after a gathering like last night, he couldn’t blame them for sleeping in. When the ornamented clock in his sitting room chimed the hour before midday, he put his book aside and went in search of Daja.

At first, when he knocked on her door and there was no response right away, he thought she might have gone out. Then he heard female voices, muffled ones.

Maybe the maid will know where she got to, Briar thought, and pounded harder. At last he heard fumbling at the latch. The door opened to reveal Daja wearing only last night’s rumpled tunic. “Sorry,” she mumbled, letting him in. “I couldn’t find a robe.”

Briar smiled at her knowingly and glanced at the open bedroom door. Rizu stood there, wrapping a sheet around herself. Her long curls were free of their pins and dangled to her waist. The sheet only enhanced her buxom figure.

Briar raised his eyebrows at Rizu, then looked at Daja, who scratched at the floor with a bare toe. “Well, that explains more than it doesn’t,” Briar remarked. He told himself, Now I know why I was sure Rizu was never interested in me, or any man. “Daja, why didn’t you say you’re a nisamohi?” he asked, using the Tradertalk word for a woman who loved other women. “What with Lark and Rosethorn, did you think we cared?”

“I didn’t know that I was a nisamohi,” Daja whispered, still not looking at him. She shrugged. “I’ve been too busy, and there was never anyone…” She looked back at Rizu, who smiled at her with a beautiful light in her eyes.

“I’ll go away in a hurry if you’ve got some of that heavy copper wire,” Briar said. “The stuff you can just manage to bend around your wrist.”

Daja went over to her mage’s kit and hunted until she produced the coil of heavy copper wire. “It’s not spelled, so it should act as you want,” she said, handing the wire to Briar with one hand as she pushed him to the door with the other. “Don’t tell Sandry or Tris yet, please,” she added as she let him out. “It’s just…so new.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it,” Briar said, but she had already shut and locked the door. Grinning and shaking his head, he headed down the hall to the garden door, tossing and catching the copper wire as he went. So that only leaves one of us who isn’t human, the way Sandry keeps tracking Shan when she thinks no one is looking, he thought cheerfully. And I tremble to think what kind of person Tris might like. They’d have to be all dressed in lightning and rain for her even to look at them, that’s for certain!

Whistling a tune that their adopted mother Lark had forbidden him to whistle under her roof, Briar opened the hall door and passed out into the spring day.

After the upheavals of the party, Sandry was grateful for a quieter day after. The empress took chosen members of her court for a sail on her private ship. It meant that none of Sandry’s suitors could corner her, though it amazed her how, on such a small vessel, she never found herself next to Shan. She gave up trying and stayed close to Daja and Rizu, enjoying the safety of the number of their friends as well as the bright glances and touches they exchanged.

The ship carried them to a cove on the eastern coast where they dropped anchor and went ashore for an excellent midday. On the way back, everyone cajoled until Tris released a breeze that filled their sails. While it carried them along, Tris turned aside the prevailing winds so they could make headway, earning many strange looks from captain and crew. Chime entertained nobles and crew alike. Tris had brought glass-coloring agents along. Chime ate them with glee, then spat glass flames in different colors so that everyone had a flame-shaped memento for the day. She then flew around the ship in loops and spirals, the sun glancing off her wings in flashes of rainbow light. As most of the court watched her, Sandry noticed that Ishabal had drawn Tris over to sit between her and Quen.

Those two certainly have a lot to say to Tris, Sandry thought, watching them. And why does Tris have that polite look on her face? It’s the one most good courtiers learn so they never offend anyone in case they’re bored or angry at what’s being said.

She turned her head and saw Briar leaning against the rail near Berenene. She was laughing. Looking more closely, Sandry saw why: He’d brought a dozen tiny sprigs to life from a plank just under the rail, creating a tiny forest there. Briar looked up and caught Sandry’s eye. He winked, and the sprigs shrank, retreating back into the wood.

“There. How can you possibly say no to my offer?” Sandry heard Berenene ask.

Sandry grimaced and turned her head. It’s not just me she wants to stay, Sandry thought. It’s Briar and Tris. She glanced at Daja and Rizu. Rizu was whispering into Daja’s ear, making Daja laugh. And maybe even Daja Berenene wants to keep here. Why not? Even among ambient mages, they’ve done unusual things, brilliant things. Shakkans and living metal creations have made Briar and Daja rich and famous. Tris could be, if she were willing to do battle magic. Even as a weather mage she would make people think.

Sandry looked down, tracing the brocade pattern of her overgown so she could hide her face from those around her. If my cousin has her way, I might just have to stay here to keep seeing my sisters and brother. What will I do? What will I do if I have to choose between them and Uncle Vedris?

A tear dropped onto the brocade.

With the court dazed after a day in the sun, they were given the evening to themselves. Sandry invited her sisters and brother to supper in the elegant small dining room that was part of her suite. She would have asked Rizu as well, but Rizu had gone with Berenene to a meeting. Sandry wasn’t sure if Briar and Tris knew what was going on, or if they would appreciate Rizu’s presence at a dinner that was confined to their small family.