Sacrifices

Chapter Two

Please note, certain times may be skipped at any time in the story. And please finish reading at least Legacy before this.

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"Wow, I haven't been to Havenfield in ages," Fitz breathed, taking in the glory of Sophie's home. Sophie blushed.

"Yeah, it's pretty amazing," she agreed shyly. Then she froze. 

Fitz frowned, concerned. "Hey, are you okay?"

"I'm fine, but I just realized we light leaped without Sandor!"

Fitz burst out laughing. "Yeah, whatever. He'll find a way back."

Sure enough, Sandor materialized in the spot beside them, looking cross. "You made me a promise, Miss Foster," he said in his squeaky voice.

Sophie grimaced. "Weeeeeelllll, to be fair, I just... forgot."

"Well, just because you have a boyfriend now doesn't mean you forget your bodyguard," Sandor said huffily.

Sophie raised her eyebrows. "And just because you have duties doesn't mean you should ignore Grizel."

Sandor flushed. "That is irrelevant. You snuck off without me, Bo, and Tarina!"

"Oof, how many of them are there?" Fitz asked.

Sophie shrugged. "Five, but Flori was making me holsters for weapons and Nubiti can't be exposed to sunlight."

Fitz winced. "And I thought Grizel was bad."

Right on cue, Grizel materialized beside him. "You ditched me, too," she said sternly.

Fitz laughed nervously. "Yeah, um... Sophie and I had other things on our minds."

Grizel raised her eyebrows. "Like training with just the two of you? Without your bodyguards, who are the ones training you in the first place?"

Sophie suppressed a laugh. "Okay, that wasn't the smartest move..."

"It was by far the dumbest!" Sandor snarled. "How am I supposed to protect my charge if you keep running off?"

"Hey, I'm not as bad as Biana," Sophie pointed out, feeling sympathetic as she thought about Woltzer, who was constantly being scolded by Grizel for "losing sight of his charge".

Sandor sighed. "Doesn't change anything, and we didn't have any training lined up. I wanted you to relax a little."

Sophie and Fitz both brightened. Sure, Sophie had been looking forward to training, but if there wasn't any, she was alone with Fitz. Well, as alone as it got with a few peeping bodyguards.

Sandor grinned evilly. "Well, not relax exactly."

Sophie knew that look. "You scheduled an Elwin visit?" she groaned.

Sandor nodded. "I know your echo hasn't been bothering you that much, but you've been taking sedatives each night. That can't be good."

"Reminds me, I need to check in with Silveny tomorrow morning," Sophie nodded to herself. "Are we still talking tonight?" she asked Fitz.

"Unless you were planning not to."

She hadn't been.

"Well, I'll hail Elwin, then," Sophie said and pulled out her Imparter.

Just then, Fitz's Imparter buzzed. Sophie cut off her call.

Elwin's face appeared on Fitz's Imparter. "Oh, I thought you might be there," he said, taking in the lush green fields of Havenfield. "Well, saves me time since I was coming for you later!"