Her Imperfections

Chapter Twenty-Three

Fitz and Mr. Forkle were waiting for her under the branches of the treehouse base. As Sophie walked towards them, she took note of their postures. Mr. Forkle was hunched over, both from age and most likely the awkwardness left from their past conversation. Fitz on the other hand could not have had a straighter back. He smiled almost too widely at her and Sophie could tell he was eager to practice with her.
She just had to get though the session. "Morning." Sophie tucked a piece of hair back and tired to match Fitz's excited expression.
Mr. Forkle grumbled at their smiles, "I'll leave you kids to it. Just be back before lunch."
"Of course." Fitz promised and they both watched Mr. Forkle walk away until he was surely out of earshot. Once he was gone, Fitz grinned much more genuinely. "Ready?"
Sophie tried to grin too, but she was exhausted. She had been up all night waiting for Fintan and preparing her mind for the session. It was early dawn when all of her memories of Fintan's conversations were finally well hidden from Fitz.
Sophie dove into Fitz's mind, not giving him the chance to ask her to open up hers first. They circled around each other, like fighters before a match. It had been a while since they had practiced Cognate training but their rings still throbbed for each other. Sophie was surprised to find that she wasn't worried about Fitz and her relationship, and more on the Neverseen. It felt like the first time in their training that affairs of the heart were not the main problem.
Sophie had to admit she hated it. She would rather be worried about her teenage relationship than an evil rebel group destroying her world. So, what are we supposed to do?
I thought we could just catch about the pat week. I haven't seen you in a while. And I want to review your memories of the Neverseen base.
Sophie stomach flipped, I've already told you everything.
She must have been sharper than she wanted because Fitz gave a nervous chuckle, Relax, we don't have to.
No, it's fine. She would just feed him a few boring memories and hope it was enough to convince him that was all that happened.
They watched each other's memories for a while. Fitz baking, Biana and him teasing each other, hanging out with their friends. It made Sophie realize she had been neglecting their friend group.
In turn, she shared only a little with Fitz. When he poked a little deeper, farther than Sophie liked, She cringed and held a hand to her head with feigned pain. "Fitz, I need to lie down. The mind elixir has some.... effects on my Telepathy."
Fitz nodded a little disappointed, "No problem. Thank you for this. It's been nice."
Sophie smiled, but walked away quicker than she wanted to. She needed to keep working, especially with the sudden calm that came before an expected battle. The Neverseen would attack any day now. They couldn't stop.
But she went from one problem to another.
Sophie bumped into someone and looked up into the watery eyes of Mr. Forkle and breathed out with enough silent curses to spoil milk. "Mr. Forkle." Sophie said flatly.
"I was wondering if we could speak. I don't want us to be at odds forever."
Sophie chewed her lip, then leaned against the tree and waved her hand. "Go on."
"I know you want to answers about your other ability. But please listen. There are none that I can give you. And even if you tried to find them, the answers you would get are not the ones you want."
Sophie almost snorted. It all just sounded like riddles that circle each other. Yet Mr. Forkle's face was dead serious. "There are things I hide from you for good reason. Do not go looking."
"What if my ability could help us? Even if you have no idea what it is." Sophie prodded.
Mr. Forkle hesitated a moment before saying, "I don't even know what your ability is."