Title – Divergence (boo, silly name)

Author – Fancy Schmancy name for 'deranged freak' ;) Anyway – Salek.

Rating – Well, I would have said M15+ from here in Australia, but we only have PG13+ or R18+. Urk. So far it's nowhere near an R, so I guess it would have to be a 'mature' PG13+, I guess.

Pairing – A/J, A/G as well, I guess (in bite sized amounts), though it's primarily an A/J

Category – Action/Adventure. Romance. Can I put in Mystery? I think it's pretty mystery like…but maybe that's related to the 'deranged freak' bit.

Disclaimer – Disclaimer Haiku.

            I own nothing

            Tamora P. rules this world

            Please do not sue me

Note – Uhm, this is my first Tamora Pierce fic, though I've been a fan of hers for a while. I've also read a lot of the fics on this board, so…I guess I have a feel for them. Sorta? I'm probably not a very good writer, but meh. Apologies for any inconsistencies with the books, I've not got them too hand, unfortunately. I'd appreciate it if they could be pointed out, though.

Oh, also, general note. I realised after I'd written a good 30+ pages of this that I had been using names and the like from other fics I had read on this board. Now…I didn't actually mean to do that, it just happened subconsciously. Honest! (*weeps*) So, if you see something which is kinda your idea originally, can you just imagine that I'm writing in an homage to you, rather than shamelessly 'stealing'? Because I really didn't mean to! They're such good ideas, though…

(hmm…I had real issues uploading this and formatting it correctly. Looks like there's big gaps between the lines. That's not good, is it…? *cries*)

Divergence

A woman, a picture of perfect beauty, walked around the small pool in the center of the room. Her gown threatened to draw across the – was it water? It looked somewhat like polished silver – that filled the pool, but the gown seemed to lift above the surface of the pool of its own accord. The woman tossed her head to the side as she went, raven locks falling about her face, framing a face that was utterly perfect, yet one that was also displaying utter frustration.

"It is not yet time." A deep voice rumbled from behind her, and she turned to come face to face with the speaker, a barrel chested man of golden complexion. "You know this, we must wait for them to ask for us."

"I know." She replied simply. "That does not mean that I cannot await her call."

The man gave a small nod of his head. "You also know that we cannot intervene much. Merely point a path and hope that they follow."

"I know this also, brother." The woman sharply retorted. "But you should also be concerned with this moment – the junction of important events draws near, the future depends upon such an event."

"That is untrue," the woman's 'brother' stated firmly, "Only your perception of the future relies upon this. Life will proceed as normal regardless of her path."

"Though many lives depend on her!"

"Many lives have also been lost because of her. She is not as important as you may believe."

"Oh come now, brother! Surely you cannot believe this?"

The man gave a sigh, before sitting. As he lowered himself, a chair arose out of the floor to support him. "Sister, current events may rely upon her, yes. But life will continue whether she takes on the role you have prescribed for her or not." A small scrap of parchment appeared in his hands'. Pointing to a section, he spoke authoritatively; "Here. A king dies that would have been saved had she intervened." He pointed to another section, parallel to the first mark, "And yet here, another man lives that would have died. And here, the kings death leads to a new king, a new future, a new cycle."

The woman's perfect features scrunched into a frown. "Balance."

The man nodded. The woman sighed. She too sat suddenly, another chair rising to meet her.

"Regardless," she softly spoke, "I will point her in the right direction. I will guide her the way I desire."

The man shrugged, shaggy hair brushing his forehead again. "As you wish." The both of them sat in silence, awaiting the time when they would be invoked and be able to touch the lives of those they desired.

***

Alanna was troubled.

She'd been hoping that Thom, her twin would have agreed to the plan she'd devised. She knew that it would have worked – their father would be unlikely to check on them, after all – and she was the one who was taking on all the risk here. Thom merely would have had to ensure that no-one caught wind of what Alanna herself was doing in Corus; he wouldn't have to pretend to be female. No, she was the one who had the difficult side of the bargain. To pretend to be a boy for eight years, in order to win her Shield and be able to realise her dreams.

That's what this whole situation was about, of course. Alanna had always dreamt of being a warrior, fighting evil and helping others. In short, the exact opposite of what she'd been 'born' to do. Ladies didn't battle anything, besides boredom and scandal. Ladies simpered, and gossiped, a-and dalianced! She wanted no part of that.

Yet Thom was being stubborn. He didn't seem to recognise how perfect her plan was. He, unlike her, had never wanted to be a Knight, a warrior. No, he wanted to be a powerful sorcerer, using his Gift in the vein of those mighty wielders of magic in the stories that Maude often told to them.

Yet it seemed fate had other ideas for them – Alanna was to be going to the City of the Gods; to the Convent, to become a Lady. Thom was to go to Corus and learn to be a Knight, despite the fact that he would rather be going to the same place she was going, to learn from the Priests at the temples of the City of the Gods and work with his Gift.

It was during a prank the two of them pulled on the groomsman the other day that the idea had come to Alanna; why not switch places? Thom could travel to the City of the Gods and become the Sorceror he'd always wanted to be, and Alanna could travel to Corus in an attempt to win her Shield? She didn't know why it hadn't come to her beforehand; it had seemed that obvious. Thom had said no to her originally, but she knew her twin – and that merely meant that he was going to think it over. If he wanted no part of the idea, he'd have convinced her of it's folly, which he'd not done – so she hoped that he would eventually come around to the idea.

She was of a mind to stuff her brother in a chest and strap him to a horse, sending him on his way to the City of the Gods, if he didn't agree to her plan. Of course, Thom being Thom, caution before action, he was being stubborn. She told him so after he had registered his worry at her plan.

"You're being stubborn, Thom."

"Am not. I'm just being reasonable, that's all. You know this would never work, and fathe-"

"Of course it would work! And father doesn't care about us at all-" she swallowed her sadness at these words, however true they were and however much she knew this, they still hurt "-so I don't see why you're so worried about that. You don't even have to do anything – just be Thom! I'm the one who has to worry about stuff."

"Alanna, I-I just don't want to see you hurt." He looked at her, purple eyes wide.

"What do you mean?"

"When they find out that you're a girl, and send you kicking and screaming back here, or to the Convent, you know? Have you get so close to your dream but to not actually…reach it."

"That's not why you're against the idea, is it?" she asked, disbelievingly. "I can look after my own end of it, don't worry about me."
"But I do! You're my sister, Alanna, and I don't want to see you go through that."

"Thom."

"Don't 'Thom' me."

Alanna growled in frustration. "Look, do you want to be a knight?"

"No, b-"

"And I don't want to be a Lady! I want to go where you're going, and you want to go where I'm going. I don't care if I get found out-" She held out her hand to stop his reply "-No! I don't care! I don't want to live my life as a-a Lady" she injected the word with as much venom as she could, "thinking that I'd never even tried to be what I wanted to be. I'm going to try, and I'm going to do it whether you'll help me or not." Finishing with a satisfied nod, Alanna watched Thom's eyes narrow in suspicion.

"What do you mean, with my help or not?"

"What do you think? If you don't help me, I'll run away! I'll make Maude take me to Corus, or, I dunno, Carthak! Or somewhere else! I'm not going to that Convent, Thom. The only thing is whether you will in my place or not."

"Now who's being stubborn?"

"Shut up." She hit him on the arm to punctuate her reply. With a grimace – she was always much stronger than he was – he gave a resigned sigh.

"I still don't like it. I just, I don't know." He looked at his hands, "I have a feeling about this."

"A good one?"

"No. Not really."

"Maybe you should see Maude, see if she's got any herbs for you."

"Don't think that'll help." They stood in silence for a moment or two, Alanna not wanting to pressure her twin any more than she already had, and Thom seemingly not wanting to answer the unspoken question – Yes or no?

Thom shot a look towards his sister, then began to walk away. Alanna, with a questioning look on her face, trotted after him. After a while, she realised where he was heading.

"Taking my advice, anyway?" she asked softly, noting that he was moving towards the small house that Maude stayed in. Thom merely grunted. Alanna didn't really blame him for being terse; he'd never been one to make decisions quickly – especially one this important! – and her continued prodding wasn't going to improve his mood.

Still, they didn't really have any time for Thom to think it over for too long. She'd read a notice her father had received the other week, requesting 'Young Trebond's' presence at Corus within the month. She was, she supposed, going to be sent off to the Convent as soon as Thom had left. She felt another twinge of hurt, and a flash of anger, at what she saw as their father attempting to get rid of them as soon as he could.

"Maude? Maude?" snapping out of her reverie, Alanna trudged towards Thom, who was rapping on Maude's door. "Hello?"

The door creaked open, and Maude's kindly face peered out. "I may be old, Thom, but I'm not deaf." Thom gave her an apologetic look, and a smile spread across Maude's plain face. "Come in, come in."

***

Within the room with the silver pool, the two beings remained seated. The man had closed his eyes, seemingly meditating on whatever occupied his thoughts for the moment. The woman sat straight in her seat, peering intently into the pool, thoughts of red hair and amethyst eyes filling her thoughts.

She was becoming impatient, and impatience can be a dangerous thing. For a moment, she took her attention away from the pool, closing her eyes and allowing her thoughts to reside elsewhere.

At that moment, a patch of darkness opened beside the pool, a sickly stench arising from within its depths. A thin black thread of purest Chaos shot out of this patch, slipping onto the floor of the room. The patch of darkness disappeared, and the small black thread seemed to be confused for a moment, an end waving about in the air.

With a sudden movement, it appeared to have come to a decision, and slithered into the pool. For a moment, the silver surface turned jet-black; still reflective, but with an oily skin. Then it was silver again; no evidence whatsoever remained of the dark things' presence, whatever it was.

The woman opened her eyes once more, sighing as she realised the pool was still reflecting nothing but her own face.

***

Maude had sat the two of them on a small bench around a slightly larger table. It was uncomfortable, but Alanna did not mind. She waited for Thom to start speaking, but he didn't really seem to be about to talk. Gesturing to get his attention, she raised her eyebrows at him. He lowered his in reply, telling her in no uncertain terms that he wasn't going to speak first. She rolled her eyes at him, before exhaling loudly and resting her arms and chin on the table.

"Now then, children, what can I help you with?" Maude's voice seemed tinged with amusement, possibly because of the sibling interaction occurring in front of her. She'd reached into a small pouch, procuring two roots – Tinterherb, Alanna noted with pride. Healing was the one part of 'being a Lady' which she didn't particularly mind, and was actually quite eager to learn. Although Maude had professed that at the Convent she'd not be taught any more on the topic than she already knew – handing them to the twins. Alanna took the herb with a nod of thanks, before sticking it in her mouth and chewing it, the slightly minty taste and the smooth texture calming her nerves.

"Ahh," she began. Perhaps her nerves hadn't been calmed that much, after all, "We were talking about what we were going to do in the future. About what we're supposed to do, soon, I mean." Maude gave an understanding nod, "and what we wanted out of it." She motioned to Thom.

"She wants us to change places." Thom said softly. Maude's eyes widened in surprise, before she leant back in her chair. Tapping her lip in thought, she spent a while mulling this over.

"Well. That would certainly mean you'd get what you both wanted, or that you could work towards what you both wanted." She began, "Though of course, your father would have none of it."

"He doesn't need to know." Alanna stated firmly.

"Come now, child. He is your father."

"Not in anything but name." Maude looked uncomfortable at hearing this, shifting on her seat slightly.

"That may well be, Alanna, but that doesn't mean that he isn't."

"I don't care," the firm tone was still present, "I don't care, Maude. I'm not going to that Convent, simple as that. Whether Thom goes to Corus or the City of the Gods is another matter."

"Whether Thom goes to Corus or not is something that Thom should get a say in." Thom interjected, "Maude, I was wondering if you could…uhh-" he licked his lips, anxiety getting the better of him, "-Look in the Fire? Just to get an idea of what we should do?"

Maude didn't respond for a moment, she seemed to be studying the two of them with a heavy eye, weighing them up and making her mind up about something. After a while, she gave a small nod.

"Very well. I will need your help, though. Both of you. You and your Gifts."

***

Alanna built the fire up exactly to Maude's specifications, bringing in small pieces of wood from outside and arranging them in a small pyramid shape. Maude and Thom then placed some tinder underneath this, Maude arranging some herbs among the dried grass.

"Are you alright, sister? You look…pale." Thom whispered to Alanna, arranging himself next to her on the small bench. Alanna nodded stiffly. It wasn't that she was afraid of what the Fire might show, not entirely. She'd already made up her mind that she wasn't going to the Convent, so what the Fire was going to show didn't matter to her. Not really, anyway. It was just that it seemed that she'd lived her entire life for this moment, that it was so important to her and to others…sighing, she shook her head. It was not the Fire that worried her, it was what Maude and Thom might make out of it. She loved them both, and while she may have made her mind up already, she still wanted to do what was best by them.

"Come, we're ready." Maude stated simply, before reaching for her tinderbox. Thom gave a small grin, before he reached his hands out. A small flame of Amethyst, the colour of the Trebond Gift, danced across his palm before setting alight to the tinder. Maude gave a slightly reproachful look his way, before offering her hands to the both of them. Clasping their hands together, the three of them formed a brace around the small fire on the table in front of them. "Concentrate," Maude continued, "be calm, be at peace. I will reach out for you, don't try and do anything." Thom gave a short nod at the command, but Alanna frowned. Not do anything? That was not easy for her. Still, she shut her eyes tightly and attempted to clear her mind.

Alanna emptied her mind. Coram had taught her a concentration exercise that worked in a similar fashion when she had begun to learn the bow. She remembered his steady support and words of encouragement when she had begun what he referred to as 'walking her destiny'. Coram had always believed that she could do anything she set her mind to. She realised that this wasn't what Maude had in mind, and attempted to quash all thought, to float through, well, nothing. To think of nothing.

As she had thought to herself earlier, this was hard for Alanna.

Still, she supposed that what she had done was sufficient. It appeared that this was the case, as with a gasp Alanna realised that her Gift was now being added to Thom's and Maude's own, as the latter directed the flow into the Fire, chanting words as she went. Cries to the Gods; Mithros and the Mother Goddess, filled Alanna's mind, and she found herself mentally repeating them, echoing Maude's words, hopeful that her true path would present itself.

She opened her eyes, and peered intently into the now brightly glowing flames. Purple danced with the natural red of the flame – Maude's Gift was almost invisible, so powerful was the Trebond Gift. Alanna felt herself shudder slightly, no matter how much Thom might enjoy it, their shared Gift would always trouble her. Still, for the moment, she hoped that this power would aid her in scrying her path. She strained her eyes till they ached, but she could make out no image within the Fire.

For some reason, this struck her as odd, despite the fact that Maude had told them both that only she would see anything.

Suddenly, a wind blew, and the fire went out. The bright purple colour of her and Thom's gift flared for a moment, before it too disappeared. She heard herself sigh in exhaustion – she hadn't realised just how tired she was, as the power snapped back into her. She noticed Thom and Maude also breathing heavily. Maude looked shocked, eyes darting furiously between Alanna and her twin.

"Did you…?" Thom began.

"Yes." Maude offered simply, still breathing heavily. "I have seen what we should do."

Alanna should have been thankful. She should have been thanking the Gods that they had allowed Maude to see so clearly – the old woman sounded very sure of what she had seen – but she still couldn't shake the feeling that something had gone wrong, that something should be…different.

Maude looked directly at Thom, gazing at him with the strongest look Alanna had ever seen on her face.

"You shall go to the City of the Gods, and train to be a Sorcerer with the Priests in residence there." Thom's eyes widened, before he nodded his head slightly. He opened his mouth as if to speak, but closed it before he said anything. Maude then looked towards Alanna, whose smile was already threatening to split her face.

"So I'm going to Corus?" she asked, excitedly.

"No." Maude slowly said, as if she did not believe it herself. "You are to go somewhere different."

***

Alanna frowned again. It had been a day since Maude had Looked into the Fire, and she still hadn't revealed to Alanna just what exactly she had seen. Still, Alanna was somewhat content – she had managed to discern that at least Maude wasn't attempting to drag her off to the Convent. Not that she would have let herself go, of course, but at least Maude had helped them officially arrange documents and the like to ensure that Thom wouldn't be troubled when he reached the City of the Gods.

Her brother, the boy in question, had apparently taken Maude's directions as a message from the Gods. He had professed to Alanna his joy at hearing that he would get to learn what he had always wanted to, and that he'd not have to become a Knight. He said that he had wanted to go along with Alanna's plan at first, but he still had some reservations. Reservations, it appeared, that no longer troubled him.

She was happy for her brother, she really was, but she was still a little upset that she wasn't being allowed to go to Corus – to earn her Shield. She felt slightly put out by this, that she had done all this work convincing Thom that they could do it, for it to be taken away from her. The odd feeling she had felt yesterday after Maude had Looked into the Fire – that something had gone wrong – merely intensified her slight feeling of bitterness.

"Lass," a voice from behind her forced her round, her smile splitting across her face as she realised who it belonged to. "I 'ear that you 'n I will be enjoyin' each other's company for a wee bit longer."

The bitterness was still there, oh yes, but this was another reason that she fought it down. Maude had told Coram that he should accompany Alanna – wherever she was supposed to go – and Alanna couldn't be happier. Well actually, she thought with a smile, she had told Coram to go with her; Coram was still somewhat frightened of Maude. Her Gift, he had told her, 'gave him the willies'. She nodded her head up and down wildly, blushing as Coram gave a chuckle at her youthful exuberance. He slapped his hand onto her shoulder and gave it a reassuring squeeze.

"Maude wants a word wit' ye." He told her, "Go on. I'll start t' get things ready for us t' leave."

"Do you know what she wants?" Coram shook his head, and she nodded. Making her way towards Maude's house, she stopped and turned back to the burly man. "Coram? I, ah, just want to say how much it means to me that you're coming with me. Wherever we're going, that is." The man gave her a smile.

She headed towards Maude's with a renewed sense of purpose. However…odd things might have seemed, at the moment everything seemed well, and that was good enough for her.

***

"Where is she going?" the perfect woman asked the golden skinned man, a slight tremor of worry in her voice as she stood before him. "I couldn't touch her as I planned, I don't know her thoughts at all."

"Then you must rely upon her own skill and judgment, sister."

"Surely you will look into what went awry?"

"Aye. I will." The man gravely nodded. The woman gave a wry smile, before settling down onto a chair once more.

"It will be interesting to see how your balance is affected by this, will it not?"

***

"You wanted to see me, Maude?" Alanna poked her head into the open doorway, spying the older woman sitting at the table. She was picking her way through a batch of herbs.

"Yes, child. Sit, sit, please." Alanna did so, slipping onto the bench across from Maude. "Help me sort through these, hmm?" glancing down at the herbs Maude had pushed towards her, Alanna noted that some were useful in healing, other's were decidedly not. With a nod, she began picking at the ones which were to be useful, trimming them of leaves and stems to leave a bare root.

After a while of this, she realised Maude was simply staring at her. She asked the other woman what she had wanted to talk about. Maude sighed in apparent resignation.

"I suppose you want to know what I saw for you, then." Alanna simply nodded, "Very well. I saw that Thom should go to the City of the Gods, as I said. That much was clear to me, very clear. But with you – I saw nothing. Well, nothing I recognized, anyway. All I had was a name – Winspur."

"Winspur? What does that mean? Is it a place?" Alanna fired off questions at Maude, so confused by what she had been told.

Maude gave a small nod. "I don't know much about it, but I know that it's a small town a few days ride north-east of Corus. I don't know what is there, or why you're supposed to go there, but that's what I saw in the Fire. Winspur."

Alanna just sat there. This seemed too…unreal. Could she still make her way to Corus anyway, and pass herself off as Thom? No, not without Coram and Maude's help, and they seemed to have accepted what Maude saw in the Fire.

"So I'm to go to this Winspur. Why, exactly?"

"I don't know. I know what I saw, and that's that. You said you'd run away if you were sent to the Convent, but where would you have gone? At least now you have a name to go on."

Sitting there, surrounded by herbs, Alanna realised Maude was right. She had something to go on, whatever it may turn out to be.

***

"Goodbye Maude. Thank you for, well, everything." Alanna reached up and gave Maude a tight hug, the older woman leaning down from her pony. It had been another week since the name Winspur had first been uttered, and Maude and Thom were about to set off for the City of the Gods. Maude gave her a motherly smile, giving Alanna a peck on the cheek.

Maude's smile turned sly as she muttered, "Be good for Coram." A snort from behind her indicated that the man in question had come up behind them, and had heard what Maude had said. Instead of commenting, though, probably out of a desire not to rile Maude's temper, the burly man merely patted her on the shoulder.

"Ye brother's having some difficulty bringin' 'is pack out. Why don' ye go help him, lass?"

***

"Thom?" She called through the hallways of the lower level of the manor. "Thom?"

"Here!"

She found him halfway down the stairs; a large pack on his back seemed to have forced him off balance. He was sitting in a highly awkward position, unable to get up. She laughed at him.

"Stop laughing! It's not funny!"

She laughed harder. He growled at her to help him, and she did. Hauling him onto his feet, she rocked unsteadily as well, but Thom grabbed her and she remained upright.

"Thanks." She said, but Thom just waved her thanks away.

"Hey, if you hadn't helped me I'd probably have had to stay here, here on the stairs." He gave her a smile. The smile trembled a little as they both realised this could well be the last time they stood on these stairs for some time. Thom sighed, and reached into his pocket. "I was going to give you this outside, but-" he cut off as he fished a small pendant out, handing it to Alanna. It was a small thing, a silver chain holding a tiny amethyst in silver claws.

"Oh, Thom." Taking it into her hands, she examined it closer.

"S'alright. Father gave me some money to buy some weapons and armour once I'd reached Corus, and since I didn't need them any more…well." He blushed slightly, "Thought it should be spent on the person who convinced me not to end up going."

"Thank you, Thom."

***

"So, probably won't see you for a while."

"Yeah." Thom was sitting on his pony, awkwardly looking down at Alanna. He began to chew his lip, playing with the reigns, anything to relieve the tension. She smiled.

"Thom?"

"Yes?"

She said nothing, just continuing to smile up at him. He seemed to get the message, and he leant down to hug her. She held back a tear as he moved the pony away from her, riding out to meet with Maude on the road away from Trebond. He was an idiot at times, her brother, but she still loved him. She played with the small pendant he had given her, twisting it around in her hands. Watching till they were just a speck on the road ahead of her, she hardly noticed when Coram came up behind her.

"We should be getting some sleep, lass. Day of riding tomorrow."

She nodded, and head back into the manor house.

***

Alanna and Coram made their way out of Trebond the next day, heading first to Corus. There they met with a Duke Gareth, and told him of Lord Trebond's change of heart, that young Thom was to follow his dreams of becoming a sorcerer instead. It appeared lucky that Gareth knew of her Father, since he was not surprised that Lord Trebond could be so, as he put it, 'flippant with his son's future'. She still felt a pining for her original plan when they roamed within the Palace, but she was attempting to put such thoughts out of her mind, now. Focus on Winspur, and what awaited her there, rather than what might have been here.

Windspur was reached within the week after leaving Corus, and at first it seemed to be nothing out of the ordinary. Standard houses, standard farmers, standard Lord. It didn't make sense, and she had told Coram of this many times.

"Aye, lass. Give it time."

She didn't want to give it time

Sure enough, however, Maude's words seemed true enough. For when the two of them were almost despairing in the lack of – well, anything, a stranger arrived to town. A stranger who was, he claimed, of the Shang, willing to test the youth of the town for any possible 'talent'.

***

Time passed, lives changed, destinies diverged from their previous paths. The Queen of Chaos' influence altered much, though none would ever know it.