Shades of Starlight (Hiatus)

Chapter Fourteen

Sophie didn't look scared as she curtsied ungracefully to the twelve Councillors. She didn't really have a reason to be afraid, and we had faced worse, but still. If I was in her place, I'd be shaking. Alden was sitting next to Sophie on their pedestal. There were hundreds of elves in the room, and most of them had probably never heard of Sophie before. I even caught a glimpse of Stina glaring at Sophie a few rows behind me. Keefe sat to my right, and Mom sat to my left. Father sat next to Mom, at the end of the aisle. Fitz, Biana, Della, and Dex were in the four seats next to Keefe.

Councillor Bronte rose and read out Sophie's charges. Five major transgressions and eleven minor transgressions. It was a new record, one that I was not happy Sophie had broken. At least half of the transgressions could send Sophie to Exile. But she still looked unafraid.

"Miss Foster," Councillor Emery said kindly. "On behalf of the entire Council, I'd like to express our relief that you and Miss Sencen made it home safely. We'd also like to assure you that we will find whoever was responsible for your kidnapping and make them see justice for their actions."

"Thank you," Sophie said in a surprisingly strong voice.

"That being said, you stand before us today accused of very serious charges. What have you to say in your defense?" He asked. Sophie cleared her throat and paused, then addressed the entire Council.

"I never wanted to break the law, and I don't plan on doing it again. But people were losing their houses. People were dying. I know they were humans, but I couldn't sit back and let it happen. I'm sorry if that's a crime. I won't argue if you punish me for my choice, but I firmly believe it was the right decision. I'd rather be punished for making the right decision than live with the guilt of making the wrong one for the rest of my life." The room filled with whispers and mutters. Keefe and I clapped, Father shooting us a murderous look. Mom didn't seem to care.

I noticed that Councillor Terik winked at Sophie while the Council debated. Eventually, Councillor Emery held out his hands to silence the arguments between the Council. He was a Telepath, and the Councillors held their discussions in his head. Emory's eyes locked with Sophie's, but I couldn't read his face.

"Thank you for your honesty, Miss Foster. While some of us-" Emery looked over at Councillor Bronte-"feel that your attitude is disrespectful and rebellious, none of us can deny that your actions uncovered a problem and conspiracy we ourselves had overlooked, and for that we owe you our gratitude. We can't, however, simply ignore the fact that laws were broken." I grabbed Keefe's hand, preparing for the worst.

"There was much debate on what proper punishment would be, but a decision has been reached, and it is unanimous. Considering the fact that we, as your rulers, failed to protect you from recent unfortunate experiences, we feel that it would be inappropriate to assign any further punishment. Your transgressions will go on your permanent record, but your punishment will be marked as 'already served' and that will be the end of the matter. Is that understood?" I breathed a sigh of relief, and I heard Keefe and Biana do the same. Had Sophie really gotten off that easily?

"Which brings us to the matter of your Foxfire admission," Councillor Emery said over the noise of hundreds of elves talking over each other. The room fell silent. I felt a cold chill settle over me.

"Miss Foster, you were admitted to Foxfire on a provisional basis, and the matter was to be revisited once we've seen your performance in your sessions. Due, however, to the aforementioned unfortunate experiences, you missed all of your final exams and are currently failing all of your sessions. And in order to preserve the integrity of our testing process, we cannot allow the exams to be made up at this time. So we're at a bit of a loss as far as how to proceed." Councillor Bronte opened his mouth.