Тамора Пирс - The Will of the Empress

Sandry looked down at her knees. She wore pink, as she had that same day in the advocate’s office. “I tore three people to pieces to save the life of my student,” she said flatly. She heard Tris draw a deep breath. “Did you think I would be safe at home? They were murderers, they were being eaten alive by unmagic, with little humanity left in them. There was no other way, and yet—” She put her face on her knees.

“So now we know the things we hid from each other,” Tris said drily after a while. “Does it change anything?”

“How could it?” Briar wanted to know. “Fighting off those pirates didn’t make us hate each other. We knew why we did it. Not being able to forgive ourselves isn’t the same as understanding each other. We’re a lot easier on each other than we are on ourselves. As for you , Coppercurls, you’ve always been fooling around with the weird magics.”

“That’s just you, Tris,” said Daja.

Sandry lifted her head. “I wouldn’t be you for a thousand gold majas, Tris. I see the way people twitch around you. But that doesn’t change how I feel about you.”

Tris looked at her. “So we’re a circle again.”

“Suits me,” Briar said. “I never knew how much I missed it till we came back.”

“Till we remade us,” said Daja. “Till Berenene reforged us.”

“You’ll forgive me if I don’t thank her,” Sandry told them as she lay back on the thatch. “She may be related to me by blood, but I much prefer the family I chose.”

“Briar, can we come back here?” Daja asked. “Will this be here?”

“I made it for us,” he replied, surprised she hadn’t realized it. Here, in this place, they could feel what he felt. “All right, I made it for me first, but it was us. It is us.”

It’s always us , the four said.