Mirrored Conflicts (a Sokeefe story)

Prologue: Sophie and Dex's Kidnapping (Keefe Meets the Moonlark)

Keefe Sencen had never felt conflicted about any other mission in his life.

It wasn't that Keefe was always happy with everything going on around him. Though he believed in the Neverseen and their cause, being the golden child of the rebellion was a lot of pressure sometimes. And as warm as it felt to have his mother glow about his legacy and his importance after spending the earliest years of his life under the harsh criticism and detachment of his father, setting the expectations for him so high often felt like it was just begging for the answer to the question: what would happen if they failed?

If Keefe didn't fulfill his legacy?

He knew better than to complain around his friends in the Neverseen, of course, who despite their sincere care and protectiveness over him still resented the fact that his familial connection to Lady Gisela made him so "important" at such a young age. It was part of the reason he hid behind humor and built his own, separate personality from the steep expectations his mother was counting on him to live up to: that way, if the Black Swan won, he wouldn't have nothing left. He could still be Keefe without the Sencen.

But he'd never felt like anything they were doing as a group might be misguided. Not until this specific situation—and it wasn't even that the principle was wrong. It was just the way it was being handled.

Keefe had known his whole life that somewhere out there, he had a nemesis. The Black Swan's greatest weapon.

Their Moonlark.

And he knew, naturally, that this Moonlark would probably be someone around his age. Someone similar to him—but working for the wrong side.

The Moonlark would be dangerous.

It was a good thing Keefe was raised to be dangerous too.

However, he couldn't help remembering the perspective he'd gotten the first and only time before now that he had met her...

—

As soon as it was learned that the Moonlark had been found and brought to the Lost Cities, Keefe was tasked with running into her and having a small conversation that could be disguised as a friendly discussion with another kid her age, seeing if he could get any information out of her.

He'd ran into her purposefully in Atlantis in Kesler Dizznee's shop, Slurps and Burps (which was an epic name for an apothecary, if he did say so himself). He bumped into her "accidentally," scrambling to ask if she was okay afterwards and helping her pick up the stuff she'd dropped.

He knew he'd found the right girl when she looked up at him with her rich brown eyes with little gold flecks. It was unexpected.

It was unique.

It was... pretty.

But it was also a sign that she was the only elf in the world of her kind—meaning she had to be the Black Swan's Moonlark.

"I'm so sorry," Keefe apologized as he handed her the things she'd dropped. "I can be a bit uncoordinated when I see a pretty girl." He flashed her his famous smirk, hoping she'd let her guard down or perhaps blush at the flattery and let him begin talking. And she did flush a little.

But her emotions (which were way stronger than your average elf, by the way, and took a lot of getting used to) told her she was really feeling slightly confused. A bit disbelieving.

Had no one ever told her she was pretty?

He wasn't even actually flirting with her. He was literally trying to get information out of her so he could help take down her organization. But objectively speaking, she was a beautiful girl.