7/9/21 1:52 AM

* Reviewed and edited 

T.W: Food...

A/N - Hey! Sorry this came in late. Like I said before, my publishing schedule is a little mixed up and not organized. This chapter will probably be short- since it's the start fo the book, and there ins't a LOT of plot coming yet. I also need some sleep for a tennis match tomorrow, so this maybe sloppy and unedited. 

Also a reminder: Keefe did NOT leave for the forbidden cities, but has his abilities. 

Sophie dragged her feet through the Havenfield pastures, after the incident and 'talk' with Mr.Forkle. Sandor with his occasional grumbling, had a tight grip on the hilt of his sword. Flori, too, was in an alert position, her hands up so she could call the vines at any sight of trouble. She couldn't blame them, after her decision, the Neverseen were sure to get payback. 

"I'm home" she mumbled after entering through the doors of her home. 

"Hey, kiddo" Grady greeted with a strained smile, from his position near some scrolls from the warehouse at the couch. Edaline soon followed with a giant bear hug. Though, if you looked closely you could see her eyes had lost their usual brightness and had light bags. The atmosphere around them was a sharp contrast to the cheerful, bright, enthusiastic one there was before. Almost like the one when her parents were still getting over Jolie. Sophie hated to be the cause of this. A pang of guilt shot through her, but she shoved it down. She couldn't break now. 

You made a right choice- and have no reason to be guilty. If you didn't change and made hard choices, the Neverseen would have the upper hand and nothing would change for YOU she reminded herself. (A/N Quote up above but a little tweaked)

She snapped back to reality when she scented sweet Elven desserts coming through the kitchen. 

"Custard bursts?" she asked with a small smile. 

Edaline nodded and strolled to the oven and took out a batch of warm custard bursts and mallowmelt. One thing Sophie had learned about her adoptive mom after all of these months, was that she baked when she was nervous. A distraction from the problems going on outside the baking world. 

She took one and bit down on the gooey delight. She searched her mind for something to say. What could you say to your mom after you 'provoked a war'? As much as she wanted to say sorry, her stubbornness kept reminding her she made the right decision and didn't have to ask for an apology. She made a choice that could wreck the Neverseen from the inside- nothing bad about that. 

A sharp ring from her imparter cut through the silence in the room. She expected it to be one of her friends who hadn't talked to her after the warehouse combustion fiasco. But she almost choked on her dessert when she read the name on the gadget. Stina Heks 

Must be Team Valiant business,  she thought. 

Ignoring the rising depression after realizing that it wasn't one of her close friends, she quickly piling a few custard bursts and pieces of mallowmelt on a plate, gave a quick side hug to her Mom, and ran up the stairs. Well, tried too. On the last step she tripped and almost lost her precious desserts. Sandor snickered from where he was standing, his mood less grumpy, but still alert nevertheless. With a quick glare and curse of warm pillows for a week to the Black Swan, she closed the door to her room and accepted the call. 

A image of a girl with frizzy brown hair and navy blue eyes popped up. her eyes pierced through Sophie. But not with hatred or panic because of her Smart-but-stupid-decision. In contrast, there was a tiny bit of concern and a tad little bit of kindness in them. Sophie, startled by this, tripped over Iggy and face planted onto her flower woven carpet. Iggy in return gave a toxic fart mixed with a murderous glare, and flew to his cage. A soft muffled chuckling sounded. Sophie quickly stood up, her face heated red with embarrassment, and picked up the imparter. 

Setting her plate on the desk she walked to her bed. "Hey, Stina. Reason why you called?" she inquired. 

Stina in response bit her lip, as if hesitant to say it. After a few seconds, she spoke again. 

"Look, Sophie, I-I heard what happened at the base...and, I know I'm not part of your little bird club, but I am part of Team Valiant. And I may not have fancy abilities like the rest of you, I want to help as much as I can for the Lost Cities. Even if it means conversing with you." She mumbled the last part. 

Sophie fumbled for words as she wrapped her mind around Stina's explanation. She was shocked that Stina would want to help her. More shocked with the fact that her frenemy-maybe-not-but-maybe would want to talk with her after her actions at the warehouse. 

Stina kept going, "I know we aren't n the same boat a lot of times. But that doesn't mean I don't want to help the Elvin people. Now, I don't want to break the law- I like myself without any tribunals thank you very much, but I can do many things as a reagent. "

Sophie fumbled for words. Finally she replied, "Uh, yeah, yeah. We can figure something out. Tomorrow my house at noon we can plan ideas. And then host a Team Valiant meeting so the other members can also help in their own way." Stina nodded in agreement, and gave an award bye as she cut the imparter.

Sophie flopped down on her bed and thought about what she did. Her mind was nagging her that she made an awful decision to hang out with her frenemy that would probably annoy her to death. But when she blocked the thoughts out and listened to another voice, strangely coming from her heart, it told her that she made the right choice and should give Stina another chance like she gave to Biana. 

Wait - Biana

Sophie looked at the time. It had been almost more than a hour since any of her friends from Tiergan's house had contacted her. Usually one of them would come over or call her and talk with her. She frowned, and picked up her imparter and started calling them. 

Biana - No answer 

Fitz - No answer

Dex- No answer

Tam - No answer

Linh - No answer

Marella - No answer 

Wylie - No answer

Maruca - No answer

No one had answered. Something wet dropped on her hand as she looked at all the calls she'd given. Sophie blinked hard and shook her head to get rid of the depressing, guilty thoughts. After a few seconds, she pushed her consciousness towards Fitz. 

Fitz? 

Fitz?!

FITZ!? 

Soon a whispery soft voice answered, Sophie?

Sophie could see Fitz in his bedroom, on his bed facing the setting sun. She tried not to think about the imparter laying on the bed side table as she answered, 

Hey, I tried calling you and Biana. Were you busy? And do you know why the others won't pick up? 

Biana and me- we just- we just needed some time. And the body guards were checking our room for a long time, so we might have missed your calls. For the other people, I'm not sure why. I- I gotta go, Sophie. We'll talk later. Fitz answered

Sophie, relieved a little that their friendship hadn't been destroyed because of her choice, but not fully convinced about his response, replied with a bye and cut off the connection. She sighed and went to rub Iggy. Her mind wandered to the good times before the whole Vespera fiasco. How answers were easier to find at that time. The cognate exercises, starkflower stew, window slumber parties with Keefe- wait Keefe. She looked back at her imparter, she forgot about Keefe! Streching her mind, she imagined her consciousness flying like an arrow to it's target. As she found Elwin's house, she couldn't help but hope that one of her friends didn't shut her out after learning about her actions. 

Keefe? she thought

A/N: Like I said, I'm sleep deprived and need some ASAP. I'll edit this tomorrow but, yeah, here's is your first official chapter. Didn't add a song yet, but will tomorrow! Have fun! 

From the future: I edited it- there isn't a good song to go with it- so none this chapter. I promise the plot is going to come soon, this is just the first chapter. 

~ Asha/Author/Whatever-you-want-to-call-me