Sophie didn't look scared as she curtsied ungracefully to the twelve Councillors. She didn't really have a reason to be afraid, and we had faced worse, but still. If I was in her place, I'd be shaking. Alden was sitting next to Sophie on their pedestal. There were hundreds of elves in the room, and most of them had probably never heard of Sophie before. I even caught a glimpse of Stina glaring at Sophie a few rows behind me. Keefe sat to my right, and Mom sat to my left. Father sat next to Mom, at the end of the aisle. Fitz, Biana, Della, and Dex were in the four seats next to Keefe.
Councillor Bronte rose and read out Sophie's charges. Five major transgressions and eleven minor transgressions. It was a new record, one that I was not happy Sophie had broken. At least half of the transgressions could send Sophie to Exile. But she still looked unafraid.
"Miss Foster," Councillor Emery said kindly. "On behalf of the entire Council, I'd like to express our relief that you and Miss Sencen made it home safely. We'd also like to assure you that we will find whoever was responsible for your kidnapping and make them see justice for their actions."
"Thank you," Sophie said in a surprisingly strong voice.
"That being said, you stand before us today accused of very serious charges. What have you to say in your defense?" He asked. Sophie cleared her throat and paused, then addressed the entire Council.
"I never wanted to break the law, and I don't plan on doing it again. But people were losing their houses. People were dying. I know they were humans, but I couldn't sit back and let it happen. I'm sorry if that's a crime. I won't argue if you punish me for my choice, but I firmly believe it was the right decision. I'd rather be punished for making the right decision than live with the guilt of making the wrong one for the rest of my life." The room filled with whispers and mutters. Keefe and I clapped, Father shooting us a murderous look. Mom didn't seem to care.
I noticed that Councillor Terik winked at Sophie while the Council debated. Eventually, Councillor Emery held out his hands to silence the arguments between the Council. He was a Telepath, and the Councillors held their discussions in his head. Emory's eyes locked with Sophie's, but I couldn't read his face.
"Thank you for your honesty, Miss Foster. While some of us-" Emery looked over at Councillor Bronte-"feel that your attitude is disrespectful and rebellious, none of us can deny that your actions uncovered a problem and conspiracy we ourselves had overlooked, and for that we owe you our gratitude. We can't, however, simply ignore the fact that laws were broken." I grabbed Keefe's hand, preparing for the worst.
"There was much debate on what proper punishment would be, but a decision has been reached, and it is unanimous. Considering the fact that we, as your rulers, failed to protect you from recent unfortunate experiences, we feel that it would be inappropriate to assign any further punishment. Your transgressions will go on your permanent record, but your punishment will be marked as 'already served' and that will be the end of the matter. Is that understood?" I breathed a sigh of relief, and I heard Keefe and Biana do the same. Had Sophie really gotten off that easily?
"Which brings us to the matter of your Foxfire admission," Councillor Emery said over the noise of hundreds of elves talking over each other. The room fell silent. I felt a cold chill settle over me.
"Miss Foster, you were admitted to Foxfire on a provisional basis, and the matter was to be revisited once we've seen your performance in your sessions. Due, however, to the aforementioned unfortunate experiences, you missed all of your final exams and are currently failing all of your sessions. And in order to preserve the integrity of our testing process, we cannot allow the exams to be made up at this time. So we're at a bit of a loss as far as how to proceed." Councillor Bronte opened his mouth.
" Your suggestion has been noted, Councillor Bronte. We are, however, hoping to hear a few other suggestions before we decide. I open this up to Miss Foster's Mentors. Can any of you see a solution to her grade issues?" Sir Tiergan stood amidst the crowd.
"If I may offer a suggestion, Sophie is the most talented Telepath I've ever worked with, and I cannot possibly fail her under any circumstances. I am willing to give her one hundred percent in Telepathy." Councillor Emery nodded.
"And you would be willing to become a full-time Mentor for Miss Foster?" Sir Tiergan nodded. One by one, Sophie's other Mentors stood and offered their thoughts.
"Sophie knows more about the human species than any other prodigy I've taught, and for that I'll give her one hundred percent," Lady Anwen, Sophie's multispeciesial studies Mentor said.
"The fact that she was able to pull herself back from fading away settles the mind over matter debate quite nicely. It should count for one hundred percent in metaphysics," Sir Faxon added.
"Sophie did not only learn history, she made history. Someday there will be textbooks written about her, and I won't have them say she received less than one hundred present in my session," Lady Dara, Sophie's elvin history Mentor, told the Council.
"I think the fact that Miss Foster was able to leap an injured friend without a nexus and both of them survived to tell the tale is more than enough to earn her one hundred percent on her physical education exam," Lady Alexine pointed out
"She found an unmapped star. Not to mention she has the stars memorized. She definitely deserves one hundred percent in the Universe," Sir Astin said.
"Sophie successfully battled a sample of Everblaze, something I don't even I could have done. It would be absurd to give her anything less than one hundred percent in elementalism," Sir Conley exclaimed.
There was only one more session, one more of Sophie's Mentors to speak. Lady Galvin, Sophie's alchemy Mentor. I knew that alchemy was Sophie's least favorite subject, and the one she was the worst at. Would Lady Galvin pass her?"
"This will not be a popular decision, but Miss Foster barely passed her midterm and has struggled with my session all year. There's no way I can justifiably pass her. I'm sorry, but nothing will change my mind," Lady Galvin told the audience. Everyone started murmuring.
"That is most unfortunate," Councillor Emery began. "It appears that our hands are tied. We cannot allow Miss Foster to advance if she does not qualify for eight subjects. Perhaps we can agree to have her retake the year?" No! Sophie couldn't be held back, it wasn't fair. I saw Keefe's frown, then Alden stood up with a bow.
"If I may propose an alternate solution?" He asked. Emery nodded. "The rules state that she must qualify for eight sessions to advance. Not that she must pass eight sessions. And recent events have revealed that Sophie has developed a second special ability. Obviously, that would qualify her for a session training in her new ability. Therefore, it would seem not only practical, but prudent, to replace her alchemy session-which she clearly has no future career prospects in-with a session studying inflicting." I smiled. Alden was smart. That suggestion just might work.
"That would be logical," Councillor Emery said. A vein was throbbing in Councillor Bronte's forehead.
"Absolutely not," Bronte barked. "I refuse."
"It is not your decision to make," Emery pointed out with a smile. "An ability as volatile as inflicting qualifies for a majority vote decision, and... we have it. Eleven to one in favor. That settles it. Miss Foster will continue her studies at Foxfire, with an inflicting session replacing that of alchemy." Keefe and I exploded with cheers and shouts, and the rest of the audience soon followed, chanting Sophie's name.
"There is another matter," Councillor Bronte announced over the shouting. "That of Miss Cassia Sencen." Silence was imminent. Mom's and Father's faces whitened. I stood, my hands shaking. Emery nodded at me.
"The same schooling issue faces Miss Sencen that faced Miss Foster, along with a more serious charge. According to our sources, Miss Sencen broke a fundamental law in Beguiling a human." Mom gasped. A smile tugged at the corner of Keefe's mouth. Sophie looked pale.
"Do you have anything to say in your defense?" Emery asked me. I nodded and took a deep breath.
"I would first like to apologize for my actions. I never would have broken the law if I had not thought it absolutely necessary to the survival of myself and Sophie. I did Beguile a rich man into giving me money so that Sophie and I could purchase disguises as to blend in, food, water, and plane tickets so that we could return to Elvin society. We did not have pathfinders or crystals, and I do think that the human clothes helped us hide from our kidnappers. I also Beguiled the human into forgetting about us and what we had done to him. No other humans saw, and the security of the Elvin people was never compromised," I stated.
The Councillors debated amongst themselves. Finally, Emery faced me with a smile.
"The Council has come to a unanimous decision. We find your motives and methods wise beyond your years, and since there are no lasting consequences from your actions, you will be cleared of this charge." I could breathe again. Thank goodness. Cleared of the charge! Not even 'already served'. Cleared.
"Now, this brings us to the matter of your sessions. I understand that you were passing every session before with one hundred percent in each one, and had perfect scores on the midterm? Would your Mentors be willing to let you pass their sessions without taking the finals?" Councillor Emery asked. Was the same thing going to happen to me that happened to Sophie? I hoped so-minus the fact that she didn't pass alchemy. Dame Alina stood.
"Cassia Sencen is the star prodigy of the second level. She has excelled in my Beguiling session, and the fact that she was able to Beguile her capturers into letting her and Miss Foster go should count for one hundred percent," she declared.
"Miss Sencen, like Miss Foster, has the stars memorized and assisted Miss Foster in bottling an unmapped star. This should grant her one hundred percent in the Universe," Lady Istaley told the Council. It was like deja vu. Exactly the same thing. Quite effective, though. Useful.
"Cassia has never failed an assignment or gotten a grade less than one hundred in my session. She should be given an overall score of one hundred percent in my session," Sir Loken, my metaphysics Mentor, added.
"Miss Sencen was able to make her way through the human world and use her knowledge of the species to escape. That should qualify her for one hundred percent in multispeciesial studies," Lady Valencia said.
"She has always done incredibly well in physical education, and the fact that she was able to fend off several adults at once, alone, would make her grade one hundred percent," Lady Alexine announced.
"Cassia's alchemy projects are always exemplary, and she's never gotten a less than perfect grade in my session. One hundred percent," Sir Dejin said.
"The same goes for my session. I'll gladly give Miss Sencen one hundred percent in elementalism," Sir Zael declared.
"Cassia, like Miss Foster, has made history with her strength and ingenuity. I could not have her pass my session with less than one hundred percent," Lady Stellacine finished.
"That settles the matter, then. Miss Sencen will pass all of her sessions this year with one hundred percent in every one of them," Emery stated. "But there is one final, delicate subject to attend to, and it's best if only friends and family of Miss Foster stay to hear it. Everyone else, please show yourselves out." People started filing out of the enormous room. Della, Alden, Grady, Edaline, Biana, Fitz, Dex, Keefe, and I stayed. My parents stayed as well, until Keefe and I told them to leave. They didn't need to hear this. I knew what it was about: Sophie's adoption. Would she stay with the Vackers or the Ruewens? Councillor Emery confirmed my thoughts moments later.
"It appears we have two adoption requests for you, Miss Foster. One from Alden and Della Vacker, and one from Grady and Edaline Ruewen. The Council feels it should be your choice, so we'll leave it up to you." Sophie looked around and spotted Grady and Edaline, who sat not too far away from my friends and I. We'd all made our way up to the front row.
"It's your call, Sophie," Grady said. "Whatever you decide, we'll still love you." Edaline nodded.
"Della and I want you to be happy," Alden said. "Wherever you decide to live won't change anything." Sophie nodded. Everything was dead silent. None of us dared make a sound.
"Do you need some time to decide?" Councillor Emery asked gently. Sophie shook her head.
"No. I've made up my mind. I want to stay with Grady and Edaline Ruewen."
Everyone was quiet for a single heartbeat. Then all of us started cheering and screaming like maniacs, especially Dex. Fitz looked slightly relieved. Alden gave Sophie a hug. Emery officially concluded the tribunal.
I knew that Sophie had made the right decision. Grady and Edaline needed Sophie as much as she needed them. They'd lost their daughter, Jolie, almost sixteen years ago. Their time with Sophie had been the happiest since then. Plus, I got to keep going to see Verdi and all of the other animals that lived at Havenfield!
"For the record, I'm really glad they didn't exile you," Dex was saying. I barged in and threw my arms around Sophie.
"Uh, me too! Also, even though you would have totally been the coolest Vacker-" I grinned at Fitz and Biana- "Now I still get to do your animal chores!" Sophie laughed.
"We would have let you come over anytime to see the animals," Grady promised. Edaline nodded, smiling.
"You're like a daughter to us," she told me. "You're always welcome at Havenfield." I felt tears well up, pricking the back of my eyes. I blinked them back while Keefe was joking about how Sophie rejected Fitz. Suddenly, I felt a hand on my shoulder. It was Mom. She must have come back in. Or maybe she didn't leave in the first place. That made me a little annoyed at her.
"Are you ready to go home?" She asked. I looked at Grady and Edaline.
"We should have a celebration for Sophie not being exiled," I told them and my friends. They laughed and all ended up actually agreeing with me. We deserved to celebrate, and this was the perfect thing. I turned back to Mom.
"Actually, I have a party to attend. I'll be home in a few hours," I said. Mom frowned.
"But-" I cut her off, like she'd done to me so many times before.
"Gotta go, see you later! Love you," I called to my dumbstruck mother.
I took my friends' hands, pulled out my Havenfield crystal, and leaped to Sophie's house. In minutes, Edaline had Conjured up plenty of food and decorations. The next hours were some of the best of my life. I knew that I'd remember these weeks for the rest of my life. With my brother, my best friends, and the parents I wish I had. Havenfield was a safe place. Grady and Edaline were a safe place. My friends were a safe place, and I loved them more than anything.
End of Book One
Author's note: Hey guys! I know you're reading 😊. Just so ya know, I love YOU more than anything! Thanks so much for taking the time to read my story. I'm going to take a tiny break (maybe) before I start making a fanfic of the second book. I never thought I'd get this far, so thanks for encouraging me, leaving such hilarious comments, and loving Cass as much as I do. Bye!