Teal Love

Chapter 4

Over the next few days, Sophie settled back into the rhythm of normal elven life. She spent much of her time at Foxfire or helping her parents tend to Havenfield's dense animal population. The return to a set schedule was refreshing, not to mention the disappear of the constant worrying; the Neverseen hadn't made an appearance since Tam had been taken. The Black Swan had no leads to go off of, so Sophie and her friends couldn't plan for anything. Instead, Mr. Forkle and the rest of the Collective had been trying to make the Lost Cities more secure. Sandor and Sophie's other bodyguards had been busy devising new security tactics.

Fitz had been as amazing as ever. Sophie began to grow closer and closer to him not just in Cognate training, but in everyday life as well. Oftentimes she found herself chatting with Fitz, speaking more freely than she had felt in a long time. They maintained their nightly talks together, sometimes through transmission when Fitz was feeling up to it, other times through the simple Imparter call. With each conversation, the pair seemed to open up more about their current feelings. Although they were Cognates and were obligated to share everything anyway, this trust was built naturally.

However, there was a very different situation taking place with someone else. Keefe had been growing more and more distant ever since Lady Gisela had shot the Alicorns and taken Tam. Sophie and the others had stayed away from him when he made it clear he wanted to be alone for some time. It had been going on for an excessively long time, though, Sophie thought, and she started to notice it more clearly with her focus on school. Keefe barely ever cracked jokes anymore, instead completely silent in class and everywhere else. He wasn't even being given detention anymore, since he didn't disrupt class, but Sophie suspected his grades were dropping; he never seemed to be listening to the Mentors. At this point, Sophie was getting worried for him.

When Sophie got to Foxfire the next day, Keefe was nowhere to be found.

This wasn't an unusual act for him, but given his recent behavior, Sophie immediately began to worry. The morning classes she shared with Keefe seemed oddly empty without him there. Her fretting had only heightened by lunch, when Keefe still hadn't arrived. She thought about expressing her worry to Fitz when she sat down, but he was in deep conversation with Dex, looking almost parallel to Marella and Linh giggling on Sophie's left.

Linh? Giggling? Sophie wondered. Linh was usually the most serious in their group.

Fire and water, I guess, she thought absentmindedly. It was good that Marella had recovered from their talk about the Match yesterday.

The rest of the day's classes whizzed by in a flurry of worry. After the final bell rang, Sophie gathered her numerous bodyguards and headed to one of Foxfire's Leapmasters.

~~~

The Shores of Solace was unexpectedly cold; Sophie had imagined a beach house would be sunny all the time, with warm sand and cool waves. This place, though, was cold, windy, and had a beach of hard rocks. Fitting for Keefe's dad, Sophie thought as she shivered in her comparatively light Foxfire uniform. The building itself was huge, though nowhere near the size of Candleshade, and Sophie could only describe it as something like a sand castle made entirely of stone.

She had decided not to warn Keefe of her arrival, since knowing his brooding side he'd probably turn her away. Sophie knee that Keefe would most likely resist any solace, ironically enough what with where he was currently living. She strode up to what could only be the front door, a very large archway with stone doors, and knocked.

"Keefe!"

A moment later she realized the house was so huge he probably couldn't hear her, but the door opened almost immediately.

"Sophie? What are you doing here?"

Keefe looked, to say the least, a mess. His hair was unkempt, his clothes wrinkled, and there were bags under his eyes. All he had left were his natural Elven good looks. He hadn't even called her Foster.

"I came to check on you. Can I come in?"

"Yeah, sure." Keefe led the way into the house and up a spiral staircase to a massive bedroom. He gestured for Sophie and, unsuccessfully, her bodyguards to take a seat. "What's up?"

"You tell me. You don't talk for weeks, push us all away, now you're skipping class. What's going on, Keefe?"

Sophie could see Keefe going into self-deprecation mode, so she went into another area of conversation. "I know Lady Gisela poisoned the Alicorns and took Tam, but it isn't your fault! Please don't blame yourself for something you didn't do. Don't give her the satisfaction of seeing it affect you like this. This is what she wants, for you to beat yourself up over what she does. She may be your mother, but Keefe... she isn't your family. We are, and we don't want to see you like this. If there's any way we can help...."

Keefe blinked. "Sophie... thanks. I actually feel a lot better. I'm sorry I've been acting weird lately. It's just with Tam gone... I haven't been feeling capable enough. I mean, she's my mom, and my responsibility."

"Just don't let her get to you. Will you come back to Foxfire? We're all missing you."

"Maybe. You know I'll do anything for you, Foster," he smirked.

~~~

After her talk with Keefe, Sophie felt satisfied that he was acting more like his old self, although she knew it would take a lot more to get him completely recovered. As such, she was still full of worry the next day at Foxfire. When she walked into the welcome hall, though, she spotted some familiar faces immediately, including Keefe's. He wasn't at his usual level of enthusiasm by any means, but at least he was actively participating in class again and was talking to their group of friends. He and Biana delved into deep conversation during lunch. Throughout her idle conversation with Fitz, Sophie caught snatches of talk reveling that Keefe was back.

During her afternoon classes, Sophie came across a revelation of her own. If she could help Keefe this much, support someone she cared about and protect him from his pain, what did that say about her? What was to stop her from protecting her own self? There was room for risk in life; that's what made it life. Sophie decided to take leap, not of faith, but of trust.

After her classes, she found Fitz at his locker. "Fitz, hey!"

"Hey, Soph. What's up?" As always, Sophie flushed at his smile, especially with what she was about to say.

"Fitz, do you want to go out with me?"