KOTLC After Stellarlune-A Sokeefe Story

Now What?

Keefe's reaction was not a surprising one.

Sophie sat next to him on the couch and held his hand, but found she couldn't speak at first. Thankfully, Fitz sat in a chair across from them and quickly filled Keefe in on the news.

"I tried to get us out of it," Fitz insisted when Keefe didn't speak up immediately. "I told Tiergan it was horrible to expect Sophie to do this to her husband's mother, no matter how estranged your relationship with her is."

"I don't care about that," Keefe said. Sophie opened her mouth to speak but Keefe cut her off, looking into her eyes. "I don't," he said. "We were prepared to kill her, remember?"

"Yes, and I remember we were both relieved when we didn't have to."

Keefe shook his head. "All I'm saying is, you don't need to feel all this panic and fear for my sake. I do think it's pretty crappy of them to ask the two of you to do this, but I understand why they would want to. No one is a more powerful Telepathic pair than the two of you. And it's not like I have any contact with my mom, ever. After what she did to me in Loamnore, any remaining affection I had for her is gone. It's not like in Alluveterre when I thought she was dead. I have come to terms with all of that now."

Sophie just looked at him. Not fully buying it.

Keefe looked at Fitz. "Okay. Honestly? Yes. This sucks. But I can deal. Right now I care more about the painful position they've put the two of you in--my two favorite people in the world--than I do about my mom. She put herself into this mess. She could've just been a normal person and a loving parent, but no." He looked at Sophie now. "I can deal," he repeated. "And I won't do anything stupid. You'll tell the Council yes. It's not worth facing a tribunal."

Fitz nodded slowly and looked at Sophie, who still felt a deep sense of dread. But she also had an idea, one last avenue she could try before giving in.

"Let us sleep on it tonight, before we officially agree?" Sophie asked. Fitz consented and they decided on a time to meet the next morning, and then he left, giving Sophie and Keefe their privacy.

Keefe immediately stood up and pulled Sophie into his arms. "Please don't be so freaked out over this. Sophie, I swear, it's not as big of a deal as you think it is. And if we get important information, it'll be worth it."

"You know they'll want us to have an Empath with us, to help monitor our emotions while we're in her mind." Sophie pulled back slightly to look Keefe in the eyes.

"That'll be me." His voice took on a hard edge.

"Do you think they'd allow that? For you to be present at your own mother's memory break?"

"They'll have to," Keefe said savagely. "I'm not letting my wife and my best friend walk in there and interrogate my mother, enter her dangerous mind, without me personally there to look after you both."

"But what if they--"

"We won't let them say no," Keefe assured her. "We're a package deal. If they're going to insist that you two do this, they'll have to accept that I will be involved. It's a deal breaker if they say no."

"I want to try one more thing first." Sophie pulled out her Imparter.

A few minutes later, Oralie was standing in Sophie and Keefe's living room.

"I think I know what this is about," she began. "And please believe that I tried to convince them to ask someone else--anyone else."

"Is it really necessary to do this? After all this time?"

"We're hoping it'll prove superfluous, but we feel we can't leave any stone unturned. But Sophie..." Oralie's eyes shone with unshed tears. "I didn't want you to have to do this. I truly don't think it'll be dangerous, but I knew you wouldn't want to do it. Not given the fact that she's Keefe's mother. But the other Councilors agreed that you and Fitz Vacker would be the best candidates."

"What does Cassius say about all of this?" Sophie asked. "Has he been asked? Or even told?"

Oralie nodded. "Yes, we approached him. I was one of the ones in that meeting. He said Gisela was nothing to him now and he didn't care what we did or didn't do. He seemed truly indifferent. But..." she hesitated. "I told him that the majority had agreed to assign this task to you and Fitz. That angered him greatly."

Sophie glanced at Keefe. "It did? Why?"

Oralie's eyes flicked from Sophie to Keefe. "I understand you do not have a solid relationship with your father. And I do not pretend to be ignorant as to why. He's never been a warm or a kind person. But at least in this instance...he was very protective of you."

Keefe scoffed. "He may be trying to be more respectful these days, but that still doesn't make sense."

"He was enraged that we would be willing to use your wife and your best friend to shatter your mother's mind. I think he was worried that we were taking away the last few people you trusted in telling them to do this. Do with that what you will, but I thought you should know. He was angry because he was worried about what this whole situation would do to you."

Keefe looked bewildered. "I don't know what to make of that."

Oralie nodded in understanding. Then she looked at Sophie. "I'm really, truly sorry I couldn't make this go away for you. Honestly sometimes I wonder why I bothered staying on the Council. I wanted to try to make sure you had an ally on the Council once you came home to us, but I don't know how much help I've ended up being. I'm only one vote out of twelve." Her eyes filled with tears. "Maybe I should've stepped away one of the many times Kenric asked." She shook her head as though to clear it. "But that's not your burden to bear. I'll leave you alone now, but please reach out if there's anything I can do to help. I can be there, at the memory break. Keefe, I will plead your case as I'm sure you'll want to be there. Maybe if you're not the only Empath in the room, they'll be more open to it."

Keefe mumbled his thanks and they said their goodbyes.

Finally alone, Keefe turned to Sophie. "Now what?"