Swan Song

Chapter Forty Three

No one on here guessed her father's identity correctly, muahaha.

Anyway.

Be prepared, this chapter is FRICKIN' LONG! 2500 or something. Too many.

Crowd: Even one would be too many, if it was from an author as awful as you!

Me: Wow, thanks.

Okay, anyway, enjoy!

Mr. Forkle cleared his throat. "Alright. Do you remember the memory that you and Mr. Dizznee saw in Councillor Oralie's cache?"

Sophie nodded slowly. "Yes...?"

"Your father is the... former elf, Mr. Laron Wainright. Ethan Benedict Wright."

Sophie felt nothing more than mild surprise. Her world was not flipped upside down. She hadn't expected it, certainly- nor had she suspected her father to be a dead criminal- but she didn't particularly care. "Why?"

"For one thing, we thought it would be beneficial to remove the stigma surrounding talentless elves if the most powerful elf had a talentless parent. He had also been 'turned' human, and part of your role as moonlark was to establish a connection between humans and elves- though of course, his DNA matches elvin DNA, so you are still one hundred percent elf."

"And alicorn," Sophie couldn't resist muttering.

"Not actually," Mr. Forkle corrected. "But hopefully that answer satisfied your curiosity."

"It did. Yes. Thank you."

"Please don't make me regret this, Sophie. And now you see why we didn't want people knowing, I presume?"

"Yes." The world would definitely be in turmoil had it gotten out that a criminal- one of the worst non-exiled elves- was related to the moonlark, and he was talentless, and human. Three strikes against him. Though Sophie did see the Black Swan's reasoning as well.

She was definitely not as upset as she was after finding out who her biological mother was. That was definitely, in part, because she had never met Ethan Benedict Wright, he hadn't lied to her face for years and years and years, she had never trusted him, and- Sophie shut that thought. This was not the time to repeat the reasons she was mad at the councillor that shall not be named. But the newfound information didn't bother her because, after finally, finally winning against the Neverseen (a fact that still completely overwhelmed her, one she still couldn't quite believe), not much could spoil her mood.

Except, of course, for remembering that Linh was nearly killed and might already be-

"Is Linh okay?" Sophie blurted, the victory crashing down around her.

Mr. Forkle's eyebrows raised. Evidently, he was expecting more questions about Sophie's parentage. But that had almost completely vanished from Sophie's mind when she started worrying about one of her best friends. "Yes, actually- I was planning to tell you that next. Elwin wants her in the Healing Center for a few more days, and she'll have some permanent scarring, but she's already conscious and will almost certainly survive."

Sophie puffed out a sigh of relief, flicking a few eyelashes off of her fingertips. She hadn't even realized she'd pulled them. "How about Keefe? And Biana?"

"Both are insisting that they don't need medical attention. They do, but it's not serious."

Sophie nodded, a stupid smile rising to her face. They were okay. No one else had gotten badly injured, out of her friends. All of her friends were okay. They'd be okay.