Survivor

Chapter 43

Sophie finished brushing out her hair on the seat of the vanity, taking a deep breath and bowing her head anxiously she clenched the side of the table. It wasn't nervousness per say just... the thought of going to Eden's planting weighed on her a bit. She looked down at herself, only wearing her bra and leggings she made her way to the closet and in the last drawer was an array of green outfits. In honor of Eden's impeccable fashion sense she selected a short knee length dress with off the shoulder sleeves in a deep emerald green. She put her up hair in a side style bun and looked back at her reflection, she took another deep breath and flattened out a few creases in the dress before walking out. Keefe was already downstairs leaning against one of the banisters, he smiled a bit when he saw her but it was pained, more sad than one of his usual smirks but she smiled back in kind. They didn't say a word to each other before she looped her arm through his and they raised they're crystals to the light and disappeared in a shimmery mist.

In the wanderlings there were about a hundred people crowded around one tree, it had silver bark and sea blue leaves. Everyone sat around it looking up at the sprawling branches. Zeph sat on a little bench closest to the tree looking straight ahead at the silvery bark with a look of anguish on his face. Sophie gave Keefe a peck on the cheek then walked up behind Zeph and took a seat beside him, she didn't say anything but she understood how he felt. She intertwined her hand with his and laid her head on his shoulder comfortingly, they sat like that for a while until she felt him go rigid. Looking up confusedly she saw two elves a man and a woman approaching and whoever they were they seemed to make Zeph angrier than she had ever seen him. He stalked over and the man help up his hands placatingly but that did nothing to lesser Zeph's anger. Quicker than anything she had ever seen Zeph move he swung and hit the man right in the nose sending him to the ground.
"What are you doing here." He snarled looking down at the man.
"Eden may have been a disappointment but she was our daughter." He scoffed through the blood streaming from his nose. Evidently the wrong choice of words because that infuriated Zeph even more, he lunged forward and the woman who Sophie belived to be Eden's mother tried to pry him off as he pummeled her husband. Keefe made his way through the crowd and was the only one brave enough to actually approach and pull Zeph off of him, of course Sophie would have helped but she was enjoying the beating after what her father had said about Eden. It was like wrangling cats and Sophie felt bad for her fiancé and rushed to help, taking Zeph's other arm and hauling him away. Zeph shook them off but did not advance back to the man.
"You never loved her!" He yelled and tears were starting to pool in his eyes.
"When you kicked her out, who took care of her? ME! When her scroll came back without my name who comforted her? ME! You never cared about her, it's all about your precious family legacy!" He shouted and Eden's parents didn't say anything they just looked down, hands clenched together. Zeph just shook his head and made his way back to the bench looking down at the ground again.

Everyone cleared out and it was just Sophie Keefe and Zeph left standing by the tree. But eventually even Sophie and Keefe light leaped away, leaving Zeph to his shadows in front of the wandering of his one love. Sophie pushed the doors open and kicked off her heels frustratedly yanking her hair out of its bun and letting it tumble down to her lower back. She heard the door close behind her and she whipped around and rushed to Keefe's arms her face buried in her chest, he wrapped his arms around her tightly and gave her a kiss on the head.
"I don't want to loose you like that." She whispered.
"You never will, love." He whispered back pulling her back and kissing her gently.
"I'm never going to leave you Foster."