You Fall, I Fall

seven

-Sophie yawned a little as she walked to telepathy. She had stayed up for half the night studying telepathy with Fitz, and was almost starting to regret it as she walked to one of their last sessions with Tiergan before their big test, which was coming up, and soon. Final exams were even earlier, and so Sophie would have to work that into her study schedule as well, minimizing her free time even more. Sigh, if only the Black Swan had given her the ability to manipulate time too.

Without thinking, she turned a corner, about to make a turn into the door when she bumped into her cognate, quite literally. Her forehead hit his chest while his chin smacked against the top of her head, and Sophie wondered when he had gotten so tall in these past few years.

"Sorry," smiled Fitz shamefacedly, "I was just thinking about stuff... and thinking too hard apparently." He laughed a little, "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm sorry too. Let me guess, we're both thinking about the cognate trials?" Sophie asked, even though she already knew his answer- cognate's intuition you might call it.

"I'm nervous," he admitted, "I know we can do it, I just... We don't know what they're going to throw at us, I don't feel ready." With a short sigh, Fitz's eyes flicked away from hers, "Even after all this practicing..." He ran his fingers through his hair, "I'm sorry-"

"Don't be," Sophie cut him off, her hands up like she was surrendering, and in a way, she was, "I don't feel ready either, and I don't think we'll ever feel ready."

Fitz nodded, a smile growing on his face, "But when the time comes we'll rise up to the challenge."

"Exactly," she confirmed.

"Thanks, Sophie, I needed that-"

"Barf! You guys are so gross, I can't believe you're not cognates already," Biana sauntered up to them with a childish face of disgust.

Sophie's almost-cognate frowned a little, "Yet you pining over Dex isn't gross?"

Biana was stunned, and pointed at Sophie accusingly, hurt starting to well in her eyes, "I told you to keep it secret!"

"I didn't tell," Sophie swore, hands up in innocence.

"She didn't," Fitz promised, "Your eyes just scream it," he paused before adding in a slightly dull, serious tone, "constantly."

Red faced, Biana protested, "They do not!"

"Do too," Fitz countered juvenilely.

"Then you have the same eyes when you look at-" Biana started, but Tiergan arrived, cutting her off.

"What's all this about? Ms. Vacker, shouldn't you be getting to class? Shoo!"

Biana did the classic 'I'm-watching-you' gesture to Fitz before scurrying off, leaving Sophie curious as to who Fitz made those eyes to. Tiergan then ushered the two cognates to be inside, 
"I have something very important to talk to you both about today, about your cognate trials."

Suddenly very intrigued, the two cognates shared a glance before sitting next to each other in the seats in front of Tiergan's desk. Slowly, their teacher sat down at his desk, taking a deep breath, looking like he was about to deliver some bad news. Out of instinct, Sophie grabbed Fitz's hand and squeezed it tightly, feeling a little bit better to know they were on the same page. She looked at Tiergan expectedly, her eyes never leaving their mentor, even though she could feel Fitz glance at her, she needed answers to explain all these bad vibes.

"As you know, I send a report to the test administrators council of your progress every week until your test so they know what you've worked on and what you should be tested on. I've dutifully documented everything so far... except for the fact that you haven't told one another your biggest secret," Tiergan rubbed his temples slightly before propping his chin up on his hands. "If you don't tell each other before our last session, I'll have to put it in, and there's a chance it'll be one of the three trials you'll go through..." Noticing the distressed look on Sophie's face, he corrected, "I'm not saying now, I'm not saying here. I'm just saying you should probably prepare to do it soon, okay?"