After Stellarlune

Chapter Three

"KISSING?" SOPHIE ASKED, TRYING TO KEEP GRADY FROM KILLING HER.

"Whaaaat? I didn't kiss anyone."

"That's not what I heard Biana yell," Grady told her, folding his arms.

"Um, it was a dream she had," Biana said. "A very, very weird dream." Sophie made a mental note to thank Biana later for the good lying.

"A dream? Why were you dreaming about that?"

"Uh, I don't know, but isn't that how dreams are?" Sophie said. "You do the most random stupid things, and then you wake up and your like, why was I dreaming that?"

"And the part about not making it hard on Fitz?"

"Just part of the dream," Biana said smoothly. "Sophie doesn't want to tell Fitz about this weird dream because it might make him jealous. And you know how Fitz is."

"What about how you don't know if That Boy is your boyfriend?" Grady challenged.

"Just another part of the dream," Biana said, making Sophie wonder how she was so good at lying.

Grady sighed. "This is when I miss Sandor. He would have heard everything that you said, and told me about it." He glanced over at Cantiss, but she mimed zipping her lips. Sophie gave her a grateful smile, and she smirked back.

"It was just a dream," Sophie said.

"Well, okay," Grady finally agreed. "But actually that's not why I came to talk to you. I just wanted to let you know that I just heard back from King Dimitar. He said that Ro came and checked in, and then left to get Cadfael and his goonies. And he hasn't heard back from her yet, even though she should be back by now."

"What do you think that means?" Sophie wondered.

"The most likely scenario was that it's taking longer to track down Cadfael then Ro thought, but she's so close that she doesn't want to come back until she's got him."

"But what if something bad happened to her?" Biana asked.

"Ro can take care of herself," Grady said. "The best thing to do is wait, and she'll probably be fine."

"Okay," Sophie agreed.

"I think I need to go home now. Sophie you should get some rest," Biana said. Sophie yawned, and realized that rest might be good for her.

"Okay," she agreed, cuddling into her blankets. "Well, see you later," she told Biana.

"See you," Biana said, winking as she walked out of the doorway. Grady sat down on her bed.

"Sophie, I'm pretty sure what I heard wasn't a dream, but I just want to tell you. Whatever, or whoever you choose, as long as you're happy, I'm okay with it, got it?"

"Yeah," Sophie mumbled.

"So was it really a dream?" Grady asked. "Still not ready to tell me?" He added when she didn't respond. "Well, okay then. I'll let you get some sleep." He stood up and walked to her door.

"Wait, Grady," Sophie called after him. "I love you."

Grady smiled. "I love you too Sophie. Now get some sleep, you need it."

And with that, Sophie drifted off into a blissful sleep, with lots of good dreams for the first time in a long time.

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When Sophie woke up, it was late afternoon, and the sun was getting low in the sky. She put a fresh tunic on, and got out her memory log to record her memories from her fun surprise trip the night before. As she stared at her memory of Lady Gisela all locked up in that little pocket of air, she got that nagging feeling that she was missing something again.