Keeper of the Lost Cities: War

Chapter 5

Sophie Elizabeth Foster wanted to go home.

This elven world had been full of wonders and surprises and joys- even during some of the more trivial moments with the Neverseen.
But as much as the Elven world had given her, it had taken most of it away in mere seconds.

The explosion she had created three years ago ricocheted and set off a disastrous domino effect of destruction.

The Lost Cities had turned from this mystical land that she could finally call her home into a place that had been shattered because of her own actions.
Yet somehow- her mind didn't feel the slightest bit splintered with guilt.
Even knowing that her own actions had been the root of so many people's pain and grief.
No- instead it was one of two things depending on the situation.
Normally- and at the moment- it was numbingly empty— void of any emotion or partiality at all. But there was the occasional time where something would set off a trigger and she would go nuts.

If someone mentioned Sandor.
Or Flori.
Or Biana.
Or Mr. Forkle.
Or Fitz.
Or Keefe

Once on the battlefield one of the people she was fighting brought up her mother- Edaline- and the aftermath had been resulted to dust.
Just the mention of how it was Sophie's fault she died had set off a wave of emotions so powerful that Sophie couldn't even control it.

She had been left standing in a pile of ash at the result of what happened— she didn't recall what exactly had happened, but she supposed it was exactly like the mountain accident, given she didn't remember what happened then either, even though numerous people had given her their account of the accident.

Sophie wasn't sure if she was supposed to be freaked out about her abilities developing the way they did, combining inflicting with telepathy and telekinesis, to target the nerves, the mind, and the physical matter all at once, but she guessed that part of her always knew how tremendous her power given some things the Black Swan and Neverseen had told her.

Even now though— she still didn't fear herself or what she was capable of doing, instead, she knew she needed to make all the pain everyone had gone through, worth it.
To make what her friends and family had died for a reality.
She needed the Lost Cities to win this war.

And to do that, she needed to find someone who everyone assumed was dead, even she wasn't sure if he was still alive.

She didn't need his abilities, or even to see him, Sophie just needed to know if Keefe Sencen was alive. Then, she could get the final push she needed to help end this war for good.
She needed the hope his survival would bring, hope that promised a better life.

Sophie snapped back into the real world, taking a deep breath as her hands tightened around the railing to the balcony she was standing on, watching yet another sunset fall over the unfinished war.

She tightened the whispy white nightgown around herself as the brisk cold air wafted across her cheeks, blowing through her long blonde hair, making it dance in the breeze.

"You really should be in bed." Jensi's voice came from the doorway, waiting for Sophie to let them in.
Sophie waved them inside and Jensi entered, coming beside her on the balcony.

"How's Dex?" Sophie whispered, even though she could telepathically monitor everyone she cared about, she wanted to hear it from someone else's judgement.

"He's the same as you, overworked and trying to cover it up so that he can keep going strong for everyone else." Jensi paused briefly before adding. "And on the verge of an emotional meltdown, which I'm sure you saw."

Sophie nodded, thinking that maybe she could convince Linh to escort her to go see Dex, though it was highly unlikely since Sophie had recently had a trigger stepped on which made her wipe out another quarter mile radius of people, and she still felt drained from it physically speaking.

Which made her remember exactly who she hadn't checked up on today.
Sophie closed her eyes and focused, her mind following the familiar pull towards her father, Grady.

When she finally connected, she saw the same thing she always did when checking up on him.
He was inside Tinker's workshop, surrounded by gadgets of all sorts, smiling.

After his mind had broken from Edaline's loss, Tinker stepped forward and explained her entire story to the Black Swan— well to those who didn't know— which was everyone aside from Livvy and Mr. Forkle.

Tinker first had started by showing that she wasn't just a technopath, but also a conjurer. Then she removed her mask to show the burn scar it had been hiding.

This whole time, she had faked her death by Brant's hands, even though she had been unconscious for several weeks due to her injuries, by the time she had awoken, her parents Grady and Edaline had already had a funeral and believed her to be dead.
She insisted from then on to go by Tinker, hiding her true identity from the world, even going as far as dying her hair with special elixirs to disguise herself.

They had then decided to heal Grady's mind and the fact that Jolie was still alive, was enough to keep him from breaking all over again.
Though he often wished that he, Jolie, and Edaline could have gotten one last day together.

And now, even though Grady was absolutely no help to Jolie as she worked on the Lost Cities' defenses, he still insisted on being by her side every step of the way.

Which Sophie was grateful for, not only because it enabled him to have some sort of happiness, but because it kept Grady out of the front lines, and thus also away from Sophie.
While she didn't like being apart from him, Sophie knew it was for the better because one, she was occasionally called out to the field, and two, because Sophie feared that if something happened to Jolie while Grady was with Sophie, then his mind would be irreparable.

"I mean it Sophie, do you want me to get someone to help you sleep or maybe a s—" Jensi interrupted her thoughts, breaking her connection with Grady.

"No sedatives." Sophie insisted, turning to walk back into her room. While it wasn't as homey as the now destroyed room she had in Havenfield, it was still nice. Pretty understated by the elves previous standards, as the room was mostly soft creams and gold, lacking the obnoxious sparkles an elven room typically would.
The only blossom of color were the twisted blooms of flowers around her headboard, which had been created by Flori to mimic what Calla had done before she had been taken out on the field.
And Sophie spent her downtime tending to them to keep the plants alive.

"Okay no sedatives but you at least have to rest." Jensi insisted, sitting on the edge of the bed on the soft cream blanket.

"How can I rest knowing that there are people out there suffering while I lay in a fluffy bed getting beauty sleep?" Sophie finally asked, though her voice was void of any emotion, more like a sigh.

"Because of the stunt you pulled on the field, remember you have to let yourself rest or you'll be no good to anyone if you're dead." Jensi pointed out as Sophie sat, pulling her knees against her chest.
"Now don't argue with me, lay down and rest, you'll be able to help more people if you sleep more." Jensi soothed.

It took Sophie a second before she relented, letting them have their way because she didn't want to start an argument.

Jensi waited for her to lay down before pulling the blanket over her and tucking it under her chin. They squeezed her shoulder as she let her eyes slip closed to the soft tone of their voice lulling her to sleep.
Sending her into a whirl of flowers and singing winds dancing in the clouds.

— Bay Logan