KOTLC After Stellarlune-A Sokeefe Story

Painting (part 1)

**A few days later**

    Sophie had spent most of the day in and out of meetings with Team Valiant. Her friends--and sometimes even Stina--were starting to really recognize her as a leader, and she was finally starting to feel like maybe she really could live up to it.

     The hardest part, by far, was having Oralie as her point of contact on the council. And as her team members would generally check in with her throughout the day, leaving her to contact Oralie, it seemed like she was speaking with her more and more frequently. Sophie had briefly considered asking one of the other team members to start hailing Oralie in her place, but she knew that would look suspicious since Sophie was the leader. And, they all knew she and Keefe had been searching for her birth parents.

    So all in all, she was mentally weary when she leapt back home to Havenfield in the late afternoon sun, her mind vaguely hoping for some relaxation in the form of mallowmelt and a handsome blonde boy who knew how to make her laugh.

    Thankfully, she immediately found him seated under the Panakes tree, surrounded by his art supplies. He was so engrossed in whatever he was painting that he didn't seem to have noticed her sudden appearance. She took a moment to just stand and watch him work. She loved that he was drawing and painting again, and tried to push away the anger she felt knowing how Lord Cassius had nearly squashed that beautiful talent out of him years ago.

    It must've been the anger that alerted Keefe to her presence. The encounter with Elysian had put his abilities back in balance, though it was taking time to fully return to normal--or as normal as his abilities could be now. He looked up, and immediately jumped up and started towards her. Sophie may have imagined it, but it looked like he intentionally blocked  his painting from her view before she could see it.

    "Lady Fos-Boss home at last, I see? Busy kicking butt and being adorable bossing everyone around?" he teased, his eyes full of mischief. Then he stretched and looked up at the location of the sun in the sky. "Man, I'm stiff. I didn't realize how long I'd been sitting there."   

    Sophie rolled her eyes at the unfortunate nickname, but chose not to take the bait. "Hardly. Besides, I'm far more interested in what you've been working on here all day. Can I see it?"

    Keefe immediately shook his head. "Nope. Top secret. What I want to know is why you seemed angry a second ago," he commented with raised eyebrows. "And also...I'm hungry. Are you hungry?"

    Normally Sophie would've been more curious, but his cute attempts at being evasive just made her laugh instead. "Okay, fine. And it's nothing. I'm just glad to see you painting and I guess remembering how unappreciative your parents have been of this talent made me mad. And yes actually, I'm starving." She looked up at the beautiful tree. "Want to help me make some starkflower stew? I haven't made any in ages. We could eat and give the rest to Calla."

    "Sounds good to me. But...you going to make stew looking like you're ready to go to a ball?" Keefe asked, as his eyes slowly raked over her glittering crown and matching bejeweled gown. He took a step closer. "I mean, don't get me wrong, you look good, but if we break out in a food fight I'd hate to wreck such nice clothes," he added with mock earnest, softly tracing the sapphires sewn into the waistband of her dress with his hand.

    "There will be no food fights," Sophie retorted quickly, hoping he didn't notice the heat creeping up her cheeks as she blushed. "But no, I'm so ready to wear normal clothes that don't swish or glitter. I'll be right back."

    Sophie greeted Grady and Edaline as she walked inside and informed them of her dinner plans. Grady sighed, but Edaline smacked his arm and he didn't say anything. In her room, Sophie gratefully removed her crown and changed into a simple tunic and leggings. By the time she came down, she couldn't help but notice Keefe's art supplies had all disappeared. "Why don't you want me to see what you're working on?" she asked him. "Do you not let people see things before they're finished or something?"

    Keefe merely smirked and shook his head before stepping closer. "Well, you may not be Lady Fos-Boss anymore, but the Mysterious Miss F looks pretty good too," he murmured, putting his arms around her waist.

    "I'm not the one being mysterious," Sophie grumbled as Keefe pulled her in for a hug. But she put her arms around him anyway.

    Keefe laughed softly. "Never you mind. Time to make stew?" He kissed her cheek as he pulled away and they got to work.