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Chapter 10

"Sophie? What are you doing here?" Oralie asked, opening the door.

"Is that any way to greet your daughter?" Sophie replied.

"Don't say such tings around here."

"I see nothing has changed. But on that note, I have to speak with you."

"Why me in particular?"

"For one thing, you're my mother. Another thing is, I don't know which Councillor's castle is which, so I came to yours."

"Come inside, then," Oralie said, and pulled Sophie into the room. "Now what was so important that you had to come to my castle and interrogate me?"

"This isn't an interrogation. I needed to tell you about an unregistered Hydrokinetic. She's my friend, but she's also very young."

"You came across an unregistered Hydrokinetic?"

"Yes. She was abandoned by her parents." Sophie said, glaring at Oralie, and Oralie squirmed in her seat. "Anyways, I found her last year, when she was 4. I didn't know she was a Hydrokinetic until today, so I got Linh to train her for the time being."

"Okay, and what should I do about it?"

"I don't know, you're a Councillor. Shouldn't you know what to do in these kinds of situations?"

"It's never occurred before."

"Are you sure about that?" Sophie asked, gesturing to herself.

"I . . . alright. I'll speak to the rest of the Council about it. I'll get back to you on it."

"Thank you." Sophie said, and got up to leave. "Oralie?"

"Yes, Sophie?"

"I just want you to know that I don't hate you. Even though I'm Unmatchable because of you and everything."

"Okay. And Sophie?" she turned around to face her mother. "I'm sorry for what my involvement in the Black Swan's experiment has caused you. I'm truly sorry."

"There's nothing you can do to change that now," Sophie said sadly. "Goodbye."

"Goodbye, Sophie." Oralie replied as Sophie leaped away.

Sophie came back to Biana's house and found Linh and Arina training outside by the lake. 

"To be able to properly harness the force of water, you must become like water. Graceful but strong." Linh said, instructing Arina step-by-step.

"You guys seem to be having fun." Sophie called, walking up to them. 

"Hi, Sophie! Do you wanna see a move that Linh taught me?"

"Sure." she replied, and Arina lifted water from the lake and drenched Sophie. 

"What was that for?" Sophie asked, shivering. 

"You'll see." Arina said quickly, and slowly removed all the moisture from Sophie's hair and clothes.

"That was amazing, Arina." Linh complimented. Arina blushed in embarrassment. 

"Thank you." she said bashfully. 

"I need to go now, but you did very well for your first session." Linh said to Arina, and turned to Sophie. "I need to speak with you before I go." after they were in the secluded living room, Linh turned serious. "Arina is already very advanced, with only a few months of training. You can't let anyone that is against us know about her powers. They'll most likely try to exploit her."

"Okay. I'll keep that in mind. And thank you so much for helping me with Arina."

"No problem, Sophie. Anything for the Moonlark." Linh said with a swishy smile. Sophie laughed.

"Bye, Linh."

"Goodbye, Sophie!"

Since it was pretty late, Sophie prepared dinner for Arina quickly and asked, "How was your training with Linh?"

"It was really fun. I think I'm getting the hang of it."

Sophie smiled, saying, "I'm glad." They finished their dinner and Sophie washed the dishes. After, they showered, brushed their teeth, and got ready for bed. As soon as Arina was settled into bed, a knock came at the door. Sophie rushed downstairs and opened the door to find a smiling Biana and a worried Keefe. Biana only said, "I'll leave you two alone."

As soon as Biana was gone, Keefe took a few slow steps forward, and then crushed her in a hug.

"Are you okay?" he asked, concerned.

"Yeah." Sophie replied, assuming he was talking about the Fitz incident earlier that day.

"I knew he would probably be mad about us, but I didn't know he would be that mad. Are you sure you're okay?"

"I'm okay. Besides, Arina revealed her Hydrokinetics and helped out."

"She's a Hydrokinetic?"

"It's a long story. I'll tell you another time." she said, leaning her forehead into his chest. "Let's just stay like this for a little bit." He nestled his chin onto her forehead, and they settled into a comfortable embrace.

After a few minutes, Keefe interrupted their moment, saying, "I think it's time for me to go now. Unless you don't want me to go?"

"It's okay. I've taken up enough of your time."

"You will never be a waste of time, Sophie. You'll always be my top priority." he said, making her blush.

"You'll always be one of my top priorities as well."

"One of your top priorities? Why am I not your top priority."

"As much as I love you, I have other things to be worried about."

"You already worry too much," he said, smoothing out the worry line she had. "You don't need to worry about me."

"Thank you, Keefe."

"For what?"

"For being here. For always being there."

"I wanted to be there anyways. It was never an obligation." Keefe replied, stroking her hair softly.  "I should probably go now, shouldn't I?"

"I guess." Sophie said reluctantly. She gently kissed his cheek and then he leaped away. 

"You guys make an amazing couple." Biana said. Sophie only knew it was her because only Biana would spy on her and Keefe and compliment them. Actually, it could have been any of their friends, except Fitz. 

"You've already told me that."

"And I'm going to keep telling you that. Especially on your wedding day."

Sophie flushed, and said, "Don't you think you're looking a little too far into the future?"

"You know that it's going to happen, Sophie. He loves you so much."

"I know. I . . . love him a lot too."