Niko stalked in the door in a swirl of robes and steel-coloured hair. "What is the matter with you four?" he cried, black eyes flashing.
Daja, Sandry and Tris drew closer together. Frostpine, brewing a fresh pot of tea, looked at Niko with raised eyebrows. Aymery pretended to inspect the nestling's box.
"Have you no hold on yourselves?" Niko continued furiously. "Can't you tell when you're about to pass your own limits? You could be dead at this very -"
"They were hurting Briar and Rosethorn." Sandry forced herself to meet Niko's blazing eyes. "We thought they were killing Rosethorn."
"She is a senior mage who knows the difference between momentary discomfort and true danger, which none of you seem to understand! Have you not learned that you simply cannot throw yourselves into the great magics as if they were bathtubs?"
"We're just kids," snapped Tris, lips trembling as she fought tears. "We haven't had time to learn hardly anything!"
"We've learned some," Daja added quietly. "But not huge things."
"At least they did help," growled Briar. He had followed Niko from the gate, determined to get home under his own power. And he had managed it - just. When Sandry helped him to the table, he couldn't bring himself to object. Once seated, he glared at Niko. "They didn't stand there like a bag of bleaters, waiting for mamma's leave to romp."
"Those bleaters, as you so delightfully call them, are mages who know better than to enter a pattern-magic without the primary mage's permission." With a sigh, Niko sat on the bench next to Tris. "They wouldn't have been able to." Looking at each of the girls, he said wistfully, "You shouldn't have been able to."
"That was pattern-magic they interrupted?" Aymery wanted to know, eyes wide. "These - children broke into -"
"If it's something 'children' can't do then we kids didn't do it." Briar glared at Aymery.
"Drink this." Frostpine pressed a mug into the boy's hands. "It'll make you feel more human."
Niko rested a hand on Tris's shoulder. She yanked away and turned her back to him, still fighting tears. She had been scolded so rarely at Discipline that it hurt twice as much as before, when it had happened so often.
"I'm sorry I lost my temper," Niko murmured. "You frightened me. I didn't know if you would be alive when I got here."
Tris shook her head, refusing to look at him.
"I think the bird wants supper," Frostpine said.
It was true - the nestling was screaming. "You're not supposed to yell or be loud around him," Tris said to no one in particular. "It upsets him." Picking up the nest, she carried it into Rosethorn's workshop.
"I'll help." Sandry collected milk and honey from the cold-box, and followed Tris.
Frostpine stared at the door to Rosethorn's bedroom, rubbing his bald spot. "Will she stay with Moonstream or at the Water temple tonight? I don't think she ought to sleep on a pallet in her shop - she'll be drained - but she won't let me sleep in there. I could go back to my forge."
"She's coming here," replied Niko. "Some of Skyfire's people are carrying her up. Lark's with them. It's just taking them more time than it did me."
Briar slumped forward against the table, resting his head on his arms. "She hates being carried, even when she can't walk," he mumbled. "Sleep in my room, Frostpine. She won't mind if I'm in her shop. Just let me neaten up." Getting to his feet, he stumbled into his room.
Frostpine raised his arms over his head with a groan. "I'll make Rosethorn's bed." He went into Rosethorn's room. Aymery started to brew more tea with the water Frostpine had set to boil.
Niko said nothing for a while. When he spoke, it was to Daja. "I thought you were depleted - exhausted - from this morning."
The black girl shrugged. "I had Rosethorn's green stuff to drink," she replied. "Same as Frostpine. It did a lot of good."
"But the basic dose of tonic can restore only so much. Where did you find the strength to help Briar so - dramatically?"
Daja shrugged again, looking at the table.
"I must know, for your own sake. Did you drink more tonic than you were supposed to?"
Daja shook her head. "It's the string we spun in the earthquake," she told Niko. "It made Sandry feel better this morning, and it made me feel stronger when she had me touch my lump."
"Your lump?" Aymery enquired, then winced. "Sorry, Master Niko. Must I go?"
"No, that's all right," said Niko, holding up a hand to silence him. "Your lump?" he asked Daja.
"There's a lump in the thread circle for each of us. I touched mine, and I felt better. Not as strong as the rest, when Briar called for help, but lots better than when I got up."
When Sandry returned, Niko said, "I wish to see this string of yours."
She put her hands on her hips, glaring at him. "Tris is crying. She's never been under catapult attack before. She's frightened."
"So are we all," Niko said. "I will go to her, but in a moment. The string, Lady Sandrilene." He held out one long, thin hand.
Her little nostrils flared, as if she scented trouble. "It's ours."
"It could have got you into trouble that all of your teachers combined could not have saved you from. I will have it, if you please."