"Elwin?" Sophie repeated. "My father is ELWIN?"

The matchmaking lady nodded. "It appears so. Here's your packet." She passed Sophie her list of questions.

It took Sophie the better part of five days to get all the questions done, and she cringed at some of the rather personal questions asked. It even had a question that went: Do you already have a crush? And since she was forced to answer truthfully, she put down that she did. They didn't ask for the name of the crush which relieved her quite a bit.

She had Grady turn in her packet for her since he still seemed annoyed that she had gone for matchmaking. It was amazing seeing him struggle away from Verdi only to have her ask him if he wanted to turn in her packet. He gave her the raised eyebrows but eventually agreed, but probably only because Edaline was laughing at the side.

Sophie had continued her evening check-ins with Fitz, but she hadn't talked to him face-to-face in ages. She hailed him on her Imparter after Grady returned from turning in her packet.

His face appeared on her screen immediately, teal eyes sparkling when he saw her. "Hey, Sophie," he said, and waved. "Something happened?"

"I'm willing to tell you that tiny secret I've been keeping," Sophie said.

"The one you said you were keeping for my own good?"

"Nah, just wanted to shock you. I just turned in my packet," Sophie explained.

Fitz looked stricken, mainly because she hadn't even told him she'd collected her packet. Then he burst out laughing.

"So... will I be seeing you at my Winnowing Galas, then?" he asked.

Sophie grinned. "Maybe? Since I'm a Telepath, they also asked if I had a Cognate - did you get that, too?"

Fitz frowned. "No, I didn't. Or maybe I did and I forgot."

Sophie wanted to whack him but she'd only end up hitting her own Imparter. "Well, they asked that so obviously I said yes and put your name down."

Fitz grinned. "They're so gonna match us. You don't think they'd match you with Keefe, do you? Imagine Keefe teasing you all throughout your Winnowing Galas."

"I hope not," Sophie said, grimacing. "That wouldn't be pleasant."

"Hey, do you want to come over?" Fitz asked.

Sophie paused. "Hang on, I'll check with Sandor. I don't know why he's so insistent about his security protocols, but you know if I don't let him, he's like an overprotective mom."

"Miss Foster!" Sandor hollered from behind her. Sophie grinned at Fitz's amused face.

She went to the leaping crystal and found Sandor, Tarina, Bo and Flori all there. Even Nubiti seemed to be there.

Sophie winced. Her concentration was strong, but she'd have to hold them all together. Well, whatever. She leapt them all to Everglen and crashed straight into Fitz.

But then he turned around, and he wasn't Fitz.

"Alvar?" she cried, and immediately sent a telepathic message to Fitz, 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘐 𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘈𝘭𝘷𝘢𝘳 𝘰𝘯 𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘨𝘭𝘦𝘯 - 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘤𝘬!

"I wasn't aware that my brother's girlfriend was coming over," Alvar drawled.

But he actually looked awful, his skin sunken, and he was skin and bone. Even standing up made him shaky.

"The orange substance killed me in advance," he rasped, and his cough shook his entire body.

Sophie narrowed her eyes. "What? So you came to your family for help?"

"I wanted to apologize. I'm not with the Neverseen anymore."

"Yeah, fat chance of us accepting your apology." Fitz had his hands on his waist.

Alvar almost choked when he saw Fitz. He'd evidently been hoping for Alden or Della or Biana - someone who had forgiven him earlier.

"Please. Show me to Dad. I can reason..."

"All the more not to show you Dad," Fitz said harshly. His eyes met Sophie's and softened. "Everything okay?" he asked.

"We literally just talked," Sophie pointed out, and he laughed, but his laugh turned into a hard stare when his eyes landed on Alvar.

Alvar gave another rattling cough and fell to his knees.

Fitz looked around, ran up to Alvar and yanked away his leaping crystal.

Alvar choked again.

"No light leaping away," Fitz declared. "We're going to get another Tribunal for you. And maybe this time you'll get a life sentence in Exile."

Alvar didn't look pleased with the idea. Then with what little strength he had left, he pulled out another leaping crystal and disappeared in a flash of light.

Fitz stared at where Alvar had disappeared.

"We just let him go," he said bleakly. "Again."

He fell to his knees. Sophie bent down beside him. "It's okay, Fitz. We'll find another way to trap him."

Fitz looked up. "You know what's weird? When it comes to you, you're always pessimistic, but when you're talking to me, you're always super positive."

"I have to be," Sophie reminded him. "I want you to be happy, Fitz. Not angry."

He wrapped his arms around her. "I love you, Sophie."

She hugged him back. "Was there any particular reason why you invited me over?"

"I need your help to convince Mom not to collect my list today," Fitz explained. "If it's today, they won't have processed yours yet. I think they need at least another week. Anyway Mom set Winnowing Galas for two weeks away."

"Ouch, that's soon," Sophie commented.

Fitz nodded, wincing too. "So... can you come with me?"

"You haven't talked to her much, have you?" Sophie asked, reading his body language.

Fitz shook his head. "It's been a mess. Alvar caused a rift between us. Because she knows I was right about Alvar, but she also doesn't want to believe that she's lost him permanently. Same goes with Dad - and Biana."

Realization struck Sophie. "Have I been the only person you've talked to?"

"I hailed Keefe once," Fitz admitted, "but otherwise, that's all. And we're going back to Foxfire in a bit, remember?"

"Foxfire. Oh, right," Sophie said. Fitz laughed.

"Judging by that, you forgot. You're a Year Five now. Isn't that great?"

"And you're Year Six?" Sophie guessed.

Fitz winked. "Is that what five plus one is?"

Sophie smacked him. "Yeah! Whatever. So..."

Fitz looked over at his house. "Mom's baking something. They're nowhere near as good as Edaline's, though."

Sophie laughed. "Yeah, Mom always makes the best food. So... let's go in, then."

And they entered Fitz's house, awaiting the drama that they'd experience.