Leap Of Faith

|Chapter 7| Strong Alliances

Sophie Foster didn't want to wake up. Her bed was impossibly warm, and her pillows were so incredibly soft. She felt so warm and safe, but she also knew she had to wake up.

She groaned and rolled over, blinking against the sunlight that streamed through her windows. Even from where she laid, she could see the sprawling estate that was Havenfield.

She stumbled out of bed, and managed to throw on a shirt and some pants before heading downstairs. As she walked down the stairs, she ran her hand through her hair attempting to tame it. When that failed though, she started to pull her hair up into a low ponytail.

She finished tying it up just as she walked into the kitchen. Grady was at the table, looking over some papers, and Edaline was also sitting at the table, but she was eating.

Sophie yawned and stretched. The action brought her parents attention to her, and Edaline motioned for Sophie to sit with them. Sophie sat at the remaining chair, as Edaline snapped her fingers. A plate of food appeared, and Sophie dug in.

She glanced at the papers Grady was looking at. "What are you looking at?" she asked him, taking another bite of her food.

"It's some records on those people who took you. We haven't been able to identify who exactly took you, but we do know that they were a part of some government agency called," he looked back at the paper, "S.H.I.E.L.D. Or what's left off it."

"What do you mean by 'what's left of it'?" she asked, as she set her fork on her now empty plate. Edaline snapped her fingers and the plates on the table disappeared.

"A couple years ago it was taken down or something. I'm not quite sure what the exact reasoning is but apparently, it had been infiltrated by another agency called Hydra. I'm not sure about the details but it looks like Hydra and S.H.I.E.L.D. were rivals of some sort." He shrugged.

"After the humans second world war," his brow crinkled, and he looked back at the paper, "It says that 'Hydra grew along with S.H.I.E.L.D. Eventually, Hydra infiltrated S.H.I.E.L.D., putting its leaders in positions of power in the other agency. It's super convoluted and confusing."

Edaline rolled her eyes, "Humans are always like that. Creating wars, then claiming they stand for peace. Hypocrites I say." She stood up from the table, and after kissing Grady's and Sophie's foreheads, she left the room.

Sophie found herself nodding along. "Can I look over those documents?"

"Course kiddo." Grady said, sliding the papers across the table.

Sophie shook her head grinning. "Dad, I'm 24. I'm not a kid anymore."

"Okay Mrs. I'm-an-adult. When you're done with those documents come outside." He grinned. "It's feeding day!" And with that he left the room as well, heading to the pastures behind the house.

"Oh joy." Sophie mumbled. Feeding day was always full of spit up food, her trying to communicate with overly stubborn animals, and a lot of quality time with her adoptive parents. But sometimes quality time could turn awkward or boring whenever Grady decided to lecture her.

As much as she loved her dad, Grady's lectures were always boring. Or akward. Sometimes both.

After a few minutes of reviewing the seemingly endless amount of papers and documents, Sophie got up from the table. She quickly went upstairs, and changed into some work clothes, then went outside for the long process of feeding.

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They were struggling. A few weeks ago they had gotten yet another T-Rex, and unfortunately, this one was just as hard to feed as Verdi. The gnomes had just pelted the final round of food into the animals mouth when Sophie felt a buzz from her imparter.

After excusing herself, she stood to the side to check the message from none other than Councillor Bronte. Confused, she opened it.

Meeting in Eternalia at 3:00 pm. Semi-formal attire. Wear your cape and pin, and the white circlet. Meet in the Seat of Eminence.

Sighing at the annoyingly vague message, she pocketed her imparter again, and checked her watch. She had just over an hour till the meeting. She made sure to inform Grady and Edaline of her change in plans, and they said she was free to go. The remaining animals they had to feed were all easy enough to feed. She was free to go.

Even after taking a purposely long shower to remove the dirt and mud that had gotten into her hair, Sophie still had about 45 minutes till the meeting. She spent at least 15 of those trying to figure out the right clothes to wear.

What in the hell did semi formal mean?

Just as she was considering throwing on the first pair of pants and tunic she saw, Edaline came in to save the day. She helped her choose a blush coloured tunic, and a pair of light grey slacks. She slipped on a pair of low heeled white boots, and Edaline helped her with her circlet. As Sophie pinned her cape on, she couldn't help but wonder about this meeting.

This was hardly the first meeting Sophie had ever attended. In the nearly nine years since the creation of Team Valiant, she had attended hundreds of meetings. Some were serious and impromptu, while others were relaxed and full of lectures which no one listened to, and plenty of games of tic tac toe or rock paper scissors with Dex or Biana. Sometimes even Stina or wylie would join in, but that was a rare occurrence.

This one felt different. She had no clue what the meeting was even about, and seeing as she had been informed of it barely an hour before it started it definitely wasn't planned. The cold feeling of dread settled in her stomach, but Sophie pushed it away.

Now was not a time for dread.

Just before she left her home, Edaline smoothed out her hair one more time. She looked at Sophie and smiled wide, and said "You look so much older whenever you wear that circlet. And so incredibly beautiful."

Sophie smiled. She kissed her parents on their cheeks, and stepped into the light from the leap master. In the blink of an eye, she was gone, having been whisked away to the capital of the elven cities.

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Sophie sat down at the meeting table three minutes to three. The entire council was already there, along with Wylie and Biana. There was another person who Sophie didn't recognize standing to the Council. He was tall, with a red cape draping from his left shoulder, and an eye patch over his right eye.

The arrival of Dex and then Stina allowed the meeting to start. Councillor Emery introduced their guest. "This is Thor." his eyes turned to Sophie, "I'm assuming you know him from the-" he looked to Thor.

"The Avengers." Thor said. "The Avengers are part of the group who attacked you, and I must say, I am deeply sorry for their actions." His hand formed a fist as he spoke. "They are given orders by a man named Nicholas Fury. He is a fairly good man, but he doesn't always make the best decisions. He has never understood that some things are best left alone."

The meeting continued in a normal fashion, with Thor giving them information on the Avengers and their individual strengths and weaknesses.

Once he was done, Wylie spoke up. "I must ask you, how do we know you are on our side? You worked with these people for years, so whats saying that you haven't given them information on us?"

"I can promise you that I would never dream of that. You are Asgards strongest allies, and I would never want to compromise that." He leaned forward, and placed his hands on the table in front of him. "I promise that Asgard will follow your world anywhere, even into war."