Lost

Chapter Four

"So, Della and I thought it would be best for you two to see Elwin," Alden announced at the breakfast table.

"And then we'll go home? Or at least say goodbye?" Sophie asked in her annoyingly bratty voice.

Alden's voice softened, he actually seemed to care enough for Sophie that he tolerated her. "Look, Sophie, I know this is hard. But you can't go back."

"Aren't they freaking out now?" Sophie demanded, tapping her foot.

"Sophie," Lily warned, but instead of quietly accepting the warning, Sophie whirled around, her hair smacking Lily's face.

"I don't need your help!" she spat, then turned back to glare at Alden, fury radiating off her.

"They... Are currently being overseen by the Council, and our Telepaths are carefully staging an accident in their minds. Both of you are dead," Alden went on. His gaze was filled with sorrow and his voice tinged with reluctance to tell them, but as usual, even though she was the Telepath, Sophie completely disregarded it.

"Oh, great! And you didn't think to tell us before this?" Sophie snapped, and, without waiting for Alden's reply, she stalked off.

Fitz went after her, for what reason Lily didn't know, and Alden sank further down in his chair, running a hand over his face. "I assume you're mad as well?" he asked Lily.

Lily shook her head. "No. I'm not glad that I'm being forgotten, but it's better than us being missing. I think she overreacted. A lot." 

Alden sighed. "Has she... Always been like this?"

"Emo? Angry? Yeah, sort of," Lily responded.

Alden glanced again at Sophie's breakfast, completely untouched. "Well, that means she'll be seeing Elwin on an empty stomach."

"I'm not seeing Elwin!" Sophie yelled from the stairs.

"Sophie - Sophie," Fitz's soft voice murmured, and Sophie's yelling subsided.

"Well... Biana, can you take Lily to see Elwin first, then? I'll take Sophie another day. Not to mention the Council is still demanding a Probe."

"A... Probe? Like a search? What do they want to search us for?" Lily asked, alarmed.

"Honestly? I don't think they want to search you. But neither me nor Fitz have been able to penetrate Sophie's blocking, and that's... Well, unusual. We'll see if Quinlin can. If he can't... She may have an impenetrable mind."

"So... They're not interested in me," Lily said flatly. It wasn't that she wanted to be the subject of the Council's interrogation, just...

She'd come to the Lost Cities hoping not to be treated like dirt for once. Among her own kind, surely, the mistreatment would end. But now? Again, Sophie and the special treatment. Really? Was she going to be worthless everywhere she went?

Alden looked like he might've read her mind and was hiding it, but responded, "Believe me, Lily, you don't want the Council to be interested in you. It's not a good thing."

"Yeah... Of course it isn't." It didn't change the fact that she was, as always, unremarkable.

"I'll take you to Elwin, stop moping," Biana grinned, grabbing Lily's hand. "Come on! I'm sure the canteen will have some good food - Elvin food, mind, not, well, the slop humans eat."

"Biana," Alden said warningly.

"It's fine," Lily replied breezily. Biana was only trying to help, after all.

"Oh, by the way, she needs a nexus," Biana said suddenly.

"Oh. Well, we'll just give her the one we meant to give Sophie, then."

Of course they hadn't catered for her. She wasn't meant to have existed, after all. Time to deal with it. Lily smiled gratefully as Biana strapped the black band with a sapphire crystal on it around her arm.

"Come on, to Elwin's!" Biana said cheerily, and, grabbing Lily's arm, she dashed into the Leapmaster and light leaped them away.

**

"So... You're Sophie? I wasn't expecting the green eyes," Elwin said.

"No, I'm Lily. Sophie's sister."

Elwin glanced questioningly at Biana, Biana gave him a look that basically said, I'll explain later.

Elwin led Lily to a chair where he started flashing around different colored lights. Lily narrowed her eyes suspiciously at them.

"Can all elves do this?" Lily asked. Was it some kind of ability they picked up in med school?

"No, it's my ability. I'm a Flasher."

"You're a what? Ew," Lily said.

"Ew?" Elwin asked, looking very confused.

"A Flasher is... Ew. Never mind. I guess you manipulate lights?" Lily asked.

"Yes..." Elwin said, still looking shocked. Lily supposed that when it came to discussing special abilities, the word 'ew' had never been used to describe Elwin's before. 

Still, though, when you considered what a Flasher was in human terms... Ew.

"Here, drink this," Elwin said, handing her a bottle.

"Oh -- sure." She downed it in one go, and it tasted something like a fruity breath freshener. "What's this?"

"Youth."

"You're kidding," she said. "I don't want to become younger, thank you very much."

"What?" Elwin burst out laughing. "No! It doesn't do that. It helps cleanse your system. Every elf drinks one to two bottles a day."

"Plus water?" Lily gagged. The amount of liquids a day... Unimaginable.

"We... Don't drink water," Biana said awkwardly.

"Oh. Makes sense. Although that must be why all your breath smells."

Biana looked insulted, but she cracked up a few seconds later.

Elwin looked like he was trying to smother his own laugh too as he continued. "Drink this. And this. Tell you what, drink the whole tray."

After drinking what was probably half his store if medicine, Elwin said, "You're free to... Whoa."

"Whoa what?" Lily asked.

"Your eyes."

"My... What?"

"Biana, a mirror, please."

Biana passed Lily a mirror and Lily gasped at her own reflection.

She was exactly the same, only her hair was shinier, her skin smoother, and her eyes... Her eyes. They were a deep oceanic blue, sparkling in the light.

"I've never seen that shade before," Elwin breathed. "Amazing." 

There was just a tinge of turquoise at the corners of her eyes, proof that she had been green-eyed before. "This is going to take some getting used to," Lily breathed.

"It won't. Believe me, you look a LOT better now," Biana said, awed. "Well, come on! That seashell dress isn't going to match you as well anymore. Don't worry, I have a TON of blue dresses."

"Don't forget to drink more Youth at home!" Elwin called after her, right before Biana pulled Lily into the Leapmaster and they disappeared in a flash of light.