Eden Reawakened - KOTLC an alternative end

Part Two - The Carpenters Saga I

Sophie glanced at Keefe and he was cringing and had a pained expression in his eyes, but Lady Gisela, who surely noticed it too, continued on as if nothing happened.

Lady Gisela must have known how Keefe felt about Sophie all through the "Foster Oblivion". Yet she let Keefe breakdown and mourn Sophie’s death and even took advantage of it, instead of telling him the truth and spare him the pain. Lady Gisela was truly cruel, and Sophie had no doubt that her mention of Fitz just now was very deliberate. But was it to insult her or hurt Keefe? Or MAYBE…  maybe she was trying to create a rift in their friendship so it's easier for her to take over.  
RIGHT! THAT’S IT!

At long last Sophie wasn't two steps behind her enemies. She knew exactly what Lady Gisela was doing! She was using the same strategy with her and Keefe as she was with her attempts to take over the intelligent species. She created rifts between the species so they will not be able to form a unified front when she tries to overthrow the council. She was doing the same thing with Sophie and Keefe, trying to be kind to Sophie and mentioning her relationship with Fitz so Keefe will resent her. Mostly pushing Keefe’s buttons for now, but surely Sophie's turn will come too. Sophie felt triumphant but her soaring emotions must have gotten Keefe very confused and now he looked both pained and also very irritated. So Sophie boxed this new revelation for the time being and went back to listening to Ben’s story (the Gisela version at least).

Lady Gisela finished outlining the essence of human stupidity and was back to her dealings with Ben, telling about her second attempt, the one Keefe mediated.
“A few years later, Elenor started showing signs of the same illness as her late mother.  The illness started at a much earlier age for her and progressed very quickly. When she was 10 or 11, it was nearing a stage of no -return as it was slowing down her growth to a stop, and that would not be possible to reverse. So I sent Keefe to try again but this time using a totally different approach. Humans, especially academics like Ben, value human science and mistrust their leadership, they call it government. So I made sure my proposal, and its motivation, were aligned with these two values. I explained the cure I was offering was a secret scientific development, made by a secret government organisation and that I am an agent of a secret rebellion that infiltrated the government organisation to liberate knowledge. This was something he felt comfortable believing and supporting."

Funny, Sophie thought to herself, that is not too far from the truth… but she didn’t dare mention it to Keefe. “Accusing” Gisale of honesty at any level will surely result in a huge fight.

"Ben accepted my help that second time and saved his daughter from the fatal disease her mother died of. But since I couldn't risk having this exposed, providing Elvin medicine to humans is not allowed, as you are well aware, I had to stage an end to their previous life and give them a new one. Elinor's memories were wiped as she was just a child and could not be trusted to keep her old identity secret, but Ethan, Ben, has been hiding the truth ever since. That's why their names are not so changed: Ben and Leni Carpenter. Ben took his middle name and Leni was the nickname Ben and Olivia called Elenor since she was little. Their last name is only changed in phonetics.”
“Right,” Sophie jumped in, “Wright actually means Carpenter in Gaelic, which is the original language of Scotland“, which she assumed Ben was from judging by his accent.

Sophie was so caught up in the story she failed to notice something didn't add up. But Keefe did..
"Ok, time to spill it out, what did you want from him? Why was it so important that you had to have him in your debt?"

Keefe sounded defiant but he still had that same pained expression in his eyes, was he that bothered by the comment about the comment Lady Gisela made about Sophie and Fitz?

"Aaa my ever suspicious son, don't I get any points for not being the ruthless murderer you thought me to be?"

"You are a ruthless murderer, and you deliberately led me to believe I had something to do with the murder of this family."