The Insider ~ A Fitzphie FanFic KOTLC

Chapter 16

This is a very important chapter. Pivotal Point, as I like to call it. Weeks of planning have got us here, and it can only get better, so enjoy!

"Hi Bronte." Sophie never thought she would ever be on a first name basis with Councilor Bronte. He was the coldest of them all when she first came to the Lost Cities. He outwardly despised her and proposed they throw her in exile the minute she breathed too loud. And now here she was, in a classroom at Foxfire with Bronte, learning the limits of inflicting. 

"Hello Sophie. I have a question." Bronte said from his throne. Despite their newfound connection, Bronte insist he sit on his mighty throne and she sit in a small chair across from him.

"Yes?" Sophie set her bag around the back of the chair and sat down with her hands in her lap.

"What is the best flavor of mallowmelt?" His serious look did not match his silly question.

"Uh, there's only one, I think."

"Correct! You passed!" Bronte smiled. A real genuine smile. Sophie wished he wouldn't because it didn't suit his face.

"Passed what?" 

"Your final."

"Really? just a simple opinionated question that only has one answer?" she pondered.

"There's really nothing I can test you on when your powers more than likely exceed mine." 

Her jaw dropped. Her powers exceeded Bronte's? Councilor Bronte, the ancient elf who had been studying his power for over three thousand years?

"Yes, yes I know. I can't believe it myself. A small fifteen-year-old exceeding my ancient Councilor powers. It's taken me months to come to terms with." 

"Well I'm actually sixteen now, Bronte." Sophie added with a sly grin.

"Is that so? That makes me 3,423 years older."

"You're 3,439?!" Sophie didn't think her jaw could go any farther, but it yet again fell. 

"Don't act so surprised. I'm not even the oldest one of the Ancients."

"It's one of the Vackers, isn't it?" 

Bronte sighed in a defeated manner. "Yes, Frewyn Vacker. He is Fallon's father."

"So he was around before there was a Council?" Sophie thought the Council had always been around like rocks had always been on the Earth, the council had always been with the elves.

"Yes, there was once a time when the elves were without a Council. I was never there, I was born shortly after the Council released the first set of laws. But when there was no Council, the population was considerably small, only twenty or thirty of us if I remember correctly. There was no need for a Council."

"It's so strange to think of a time when you were a child. You seem like someone who was born an adult."

Bronte sighed again, "In many ways, I was born an adult. I had no interest in activities outside of school, even girls. Ever. I was a scarily adequate child as my mother likes to say."

"Your mother is still alive?" Sophie hadn't meant to raise her voice, but it happened anyway.

"Yes, as tough as it is to believe. She's retired and spends her time writing about plants. She likes tending to them with the gnomes."

Sophie had never truly thought of the elves' life span. They can live for as long as they want with little complications besides the burden of knowledge and the past. There was nothing stopping them from being thousands of years old. And maybe this was their true advantage over humans. They could live indefinitely. Sophie bet if humans had more time they too would accomplish much more. Humans have had to survive on short term solutions whereas elves get to live to see their long term efforts in things. It's a miracle humans haven't died all together based on their short term solutions.