Elysian (A Kotlc Fanfic)

Chapter 4

Writing is tiring. So tiring😵‍💫During lunch that day, when everyone had sat down at their table, Sophie mentally prepared herself. "Should we tell them now?" she transmitted to Keefe. "Can't think of a better time," he thought back, smirking.
Okay. I can do this. Sophie took a deep breath. "Um..I know this is kind of random but I thought you guys should know..."
"That team foster-keefe is official," Keefe finished for her when she struggled to get the words out.
"Really?! We've all been rooting for you guys! Good to know that you two talked it out!!!," Biana squealed and gave Sophie a hug, speaking for the rest of them. Actually, most of them. The rest of their group were mainly smiles except for Fitz, who seemed to be sulking.
"Wait...you all knew?," Sophie asked in confusion. Everyone laughed as they nodded their heads. "You were the only one too oblivious to notice, Blondie," Ro butted in from the corner.
"Okayyyy, so personal matters aside, there's something else that I need to talk about," Sophie jumped in before the mood could get any weirder. "It's probably best if I let you guys know first although Mr Forkle should be telling the council about it and the news will be public soon enough. The reason why Ro is with us is because she wasn't able to stop Cadfael and he murdered King Dimitar. So he's the new ruler now, "she explained, deciding to drop the bombshell. She was met with a stunned silence as everyone processed the information. "Which is why it's probably best to get Cadfael on our side. We can't risk him allying with the Neverseen when he is in control of the entire ogre army. Apart from speaking to Empress Permille, we should probably ask the council if we could all arrange to have an audience with him." Sophie said. Sometimes it was kind of difficult being the leader. There were just so many things to focus on.
"Actually, is it probably better if we split up? We can meet up as team Valiant to discuss how to talk to Cadfael and Empress Permille. Sophie, can we gather at Havenfield?," Biana asked. Sophie nodded.
"We also need to learn more about Elysian. Oralie told me that she can get us access to the Hushwood library – a place we saw in Kenric's cache. The rest of us can try researching from the books there. And Dex, aside from team valiant assignments, try working on Fintan's cache?," Sophie added. Dex nodded.
"Aw, come on, Foster, are you seriously telling us to do research? In a library?" Keefe complained. "Wouldn't you rather be useful than just sit around doing nothing?," Tam retorted with a snort. "Oh, it's on bangs boy. I'd totally be more useful than you. Sign me up for library duty...I guess," Keefe challenged.
Their plans had been made when lunch was up and everyone had to head to their respective sessions. "Thanks for helping me back there," Sophie said to Biana as they headed for their sessions. "That's what friends are for! Even great leaders need support sometimes," Biana said with a smile. "See you at Havenfield later! Oh, and congratulations again to you and Keefe!," she called out as they walked towards their respective corridors.
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After school, Dex, Biana, Wylie, and Stina leaped to Havenfield and they all gathered under Calla's panakes for their Team Valiant meeting.
"We should discuss about Empress Permille first. After all, the council hasn't actually scheduled a meeting with Cadfael yet though they should make it one of their priorities as well," Stina started.
"Okay, firstly, she knows that the council with definitely issue her a statement for working with Gisela, even though she was overthrown. We should ask her about the capabilities of the new-borns that she and Gisela experimented on, since I'm pretty sure Gisela will command them to fight when we are battling her. However, she might ask for something in return for the information, such as not losing her position after this is all over, assuming we defeat Gisela," Sophie contributed.
"We should also ask her about an estimate of the number of trolls under Gisela's control to better gauge the numbers," Dex added.
"This might be difficult, but certainly the trolls have weaknesses too, don't they? I'm sure Empress Permille won't exactly want to volunteer that information, but it might be crucial in stopping the trolls," Wylie also suggested.
"But we're all assuming that she will want to answer our questions," Stina said.
"She is in our debt though," Biana pointed out. "After all, she is under our protection while in the lost cities,".
Sophie sighed. She hadn't actually told her friends about the alliance she had made with Empress Permille before, which actually put her in the Empress's debt. Surely the council would reconsider stripping the empress of her title if they had known that she had played a part in saving the alicorn babies, given how precious the alicorns were. And now wasn't the time to withhold information, even though she had promised not to tell anyone else. Before she could change her mind, she quickly explained about the alliance.
"Great, so there's something else our leader hasn't told us," Stina deadpanned. "She wasn't supposed to tell anybody, so what did you expect?" Biana retorted.
"Yeah well, I'm sure there are tons of secrets hidden in that freaky brain of hers, and she wouldn't have minded keeping things secret," Stina went on.
"Enough! I have already told you guys about it, so why don't we focus on the situation at hand," Sophie interrupted.
"Were there any specific terms in your alliance?" Dex asked.
"Not really, just that I should help her when the trolls needed it," Sophie answered.
"Assuming she wants something in return, since I'm pretty sure this is her time of need, we'll have to tell the council about her involvement in resetting the timeline to extinction. Do we do that?" Wylie said.
"Even though it was originally planned to be a secret, I think we can let the cat out of the bag since I already told all of you. After all, it does benefit empress Permille and it might make her more cooperative if she gets her position back once we stop Gisela. Unless she explicitly does not want anyone else to know," Sophie replied.
After further discussion, they came up with the questions to ask Empress Permille. They needed information on the trolls' numbers, weaknesses, and the experimented new-borns. It would also be worth mentioning to ask how Gisela managed to control all the trolls. Could it be related to Stellarlune and Keefe's ability to shout out commands?
"As for Cadfael, could the Neverseen or Gisela have assisted him in taking over? After all that happened, he probably would not have wanted to work with them anymore, but he was at his wit's end. If they somehow got Cadfael on their side after he secured his position, and the trolls and ogres work together, they might be strong enough to defeat the goblins, who protect the elves, which would be a terrible outcome which affects both elves and goblins," Sophie predicted.
'You're right, could that be Gisela's plan all along?," Biana gasped. "I hope not, but hopefully Mr Forkle can get the council to arrange the meeting with Cadfael as soon as possible," Sophie replied.
And with that, the meeting came to an end. While they were not fully prepared, they had discussed various possibilities and Sophie felt that it had been productive.
As her team mates leaped away, Sophie heaved a sigh of relief. She had not exactly been planning to tell them about her alliance with empress Permille, but things had turned out alright. Being a leader was tiring. So tiring.