KOTLC After Stellarlune-A Sokeefe Story

Friends

One morning, Sophie was sitting on their balcony enjoying the view. They had taken to eating breakfast out there. Sophie knew that slow, peaceful mornings like this would become far more rare in a few days, with Foxfire starting back up, so she was relishing the time as much as possible.

"I can't believe we've been married for over two weeks already," Keefe said as he stepped out onto the balcony, food in his hands. He leaned over and kissed her lightly, setting the food down on the table.

"I was just thinking the same thing," Sophie agreed. "Funny how it feels so new, still, but at the same time it feels like..."

"Like you and I have just...always been?"

Sophie smiled. "Yes, exactly."

Keefe smiled warmly at her and reached out to tuck her hair behind her ear. "We should probably check in with everyone today, see what's going on in the rest of the world," he said somewhat reluctantly. "Get used to being around other people again."

"You mean get used to being fully clothed again?"

Keefe groaned. "Ugh, don't remind me. I want to just stay in this sexy cocoon forever."

Sophie laughed. "Me too."

"Okay, I say we hail our friends and invite them all over later today to check out the house. I showed Fitz after showing you, and Dex was here that night to help with the TV, but no one else has been here."

"That sounds nice," Sophie said.

Everyone agreed that Aeternum was the perfect place for Sophie and Keefe. It was great to have them all over, to show them the house and the grounds, talking and laughing.

Sophie and Keefe hadn't even realized that Biana, Dex, Tam and Linh had moved into the Gold Tower the previous day. They shared that news while picnicking under the shade of the tree by the pond. Tam manipulated the shadows to ensure everyone was able to sit in the shade rather than the heat of the sun.

"I'm so sorry!" Sophie told Biana. "We should've been there to help!"

"No, we handled it," Biana assured her. "We didn't want to bother you."

"I appreciate that," Keefe said, smirking and winking suggestively at Sophie, who blushed slightly but grinned back at him.

Fitz rolled his eyes. "Being friends with the both of you just got a lot weirder."

Jensi just laughed. "I can give them a little shock if they start getting too gross," he offered.

"Or I could splash them in the face," Linh mused.

"Maybe I'll shine enough light in their eyes to distract them," Wylie agreed. "And then...maybe start spending more time with my friends my own age."

"I could put them in separate force fields so they can't get to each other," Maruca added.

"You'd better not, you know Foster could totally inflict on you if you did," Keefe shot back to all of them with a smirk.

Dex just rolled his eyes. "You all know perfectly well you won't do any of those things."

"I'm not setting anyone on fire, no matter how gross they are," Marella declared.

"I can't imagine anyone inflicting on Linh, she's too sweet," Biana added.

"Agreed," Fitz said, smiling at Linh.

The conversation turned to other things, but Sophie thought she saw a light blush on Linh's cheeks as she smiled back at Fitz.

She had wondered, before, if Fitz was interested in Linh. But that was when they'd first met, and Sophie felt jealous. His feelings turned out to be for Sophie, not for Linh, though he was clearly fond of her.

Maybe that could turn into something more.

And maybe this time Fitz wouldn't get hurt.

Or would it turn out the same way? Linh hadn't registered for the match. And what about Wylie? He was older, but in another year or two that really wouldn't matter at all.

She knew Wylie had friends his own age, but he did seem to hang out with Linh's friends a lot too. Though she supposed he was on Team Valiant with Sophie and many of her friends. which could be part of it.

Did Linh care for Wylie that way, or was he just like another brother to her?

Did Fitz even like Linh or was Sophie reading too much into it?

Keefe's hand slipped into Sophie's. "Feeling a whole lot of confusion coming off of you right now," he whispered. "I just wish I knew why."

"I'll tell you later," she promised.

As the last of their friends left, Keefe wrapped an arm around Sophie's waist and lead her back towards the house. "It's interesting," he mused.

"What's interesting?"

"We've been so secluded the last couple of weeks, and I'm really going to miss that. But then, today also showed me how right I was in thinking that the busyness of everyday life will be easier to handle now that we're married."

"Because while everyone else said bye and went their separate ways, we are still here together?"

"Yeah. Like, before, I'd have stayed at Havenfield as late as possible just to be with you, and then wouldn't have gotten much done once I left. I would've been distracted thinking of you and missing you. But now, even when everyone else is gone, we're still here together. Even if we are just here in the evenings studying, we will still be together. And then when we are done with our studying, we'll have dinner together, we get to go to sleep together, all of it. Little parts of the day when we used to be apart and now we don't have to be."

Inside the house now, Sophie stopped and wrapped her arms around Keefe. "I completely get what you mean. This time last year I was sad, you were leaving the Grove and moving into the towers and I was afraid I wouldn't see as much of you. We made it work but I agree...this year should be much better."

Keefe leaned in and kissed her sweetly. "Exactly." Then he pulled away and walked over to sit on the couch. "Okay, now tell me what had you feeling all confused—and maybe slightly hopeful?—earlier."

Sophie explained her Fitz/Linh/Wylie conundrum.

"I guess I should've found a way to try to take a reading when they were all here today," Keefe said thoughtfully. "I actually really think Fitz and Linh would be good together. He's always kind of looked out for her and she really seems to care about him. But I could also see maybe Wylie waiting for her to be of age before pursuing a relationship with her. She was there for him during a very traumatic time and that does tend to bring people together."

"So...we just wait and see?"

Keefe laughed. "I guess so. Or we could hail Fitz to come back over, pretty sure he was just setting up stuff in his new room in the Silver tower tonight. Though he may not want to be interrogated by the both of us."

"You could talk to him and I could just...I don't know, hide somewhere." Sophie got up to put away the picnic blanket she'd just folded.

"Or you could go all Cognate on him and just transmit to him now," Keefe pointed out. "Or we could hail Tammy Boy and ask him what he knows, or go straight to the source and ask Linh. Although..." he got up and walked over to where Sophie was standing, with her back to him, having just set down the blanket. He wrapped his arms around her waist and began planting kisses seductively along her shoulder and up her neck. "It's nice to finally be alone..."

Sophie—heart already racing as Keefe's hands slid softly under her tunic, slowly pulling it up and over her head—turned herself around to face him. Her hands reached for his face and, instead of responding aloud, she simply pulled his face roughly towards her own and kissed him, relishing the feel of his warm hands in direct contact with her bare skin as he gripped her waist. "Alone," she finally managed to mutter in agreement, exhilarated.

Everything else could wait.