Eden Reawakened - KOTLC an alternative end

Part Two - The Carpenters Saga I

In this chapter I have a lot of interrupt mind conversations. Please let me know if this makes it too hard to follow. Any suggestions for making the story flow more smoothly will be greatly appreciated !!! (I asked chatGPT but he was very little help ;).

"So, you are alllliive… ", Keefe said with a smirk, stretching his words a bit too long. He didn’t look surprised for some reason but he was examining Ben intently and Sophie noticed he was lightly tapping with his finger on his knee. Keefe was silent for a while and it seemed to Sophie that he was trying to tie all the loose knots in his head so she jumped and asked:

"What about Elinor? Is she also alive?"

Ben's previously confused expression morphed into a sad smile, he started fidgeting with the funny looking hat he took off earlier and was still holding in his hands.  Sophie started to regret asking, what if Elinor did die? Why didn’t she let Keefe have some peace for at least a little while?!

“Indeed she is,” Ben answered at last and turned to Keefe,  "thanks to you young man, and your unwavering kind-hearted mother.  I truly never met anyone quite like her.”

Keefe seemed unimpressed "I can't believe I fell for this twice!", he murmured resentfully.

But Ben didn't seem to notice, his eyes became watery and he looked a thousand miles away.

Eventually Ben blinked, letting huge tears form in his eyelids and slide on to the deep wrinkles around his smiling eyes.

“Elenor, Leni, as she is called now,” Ben explained, ”was not supposed to be alive. Your mother gave her another chance at life. Both of us”. He stood there for another minute or so, while they waited for him to continue. When he spoke again, he only appologised for being a bad host and offered to make them some scrambled eggs with bacon and turned into an adjacent small room where the stove stood.

That’s it? Sophie thought… that’s all the explanation we get? She was sure Keefe was furious as well and she was about to stand up and drag Ben back to the table, but just then Ben turned pleadingly to Lady Gisela and said:
“I should have known you selflessly protected my privacy and not shared the details of my misfortunes, especially not with young children such as they were at the time. Dearest Gisela, could I impose on you to share the nature of our relationship with these young people now? So they better understand my motivation and commitment to your endeavour. Talking of the past stirs too many painful memories, and I am afraid to burden these youngsters with unnecessary heartache .”

Gisela nodded almost empathically and Ben thanked her with a slight bow, adding almost in a whisper “I long for the day I will remember no more of them”, stealing a quick look at Sophie.

Gisela kept her promise, she switched to French and started relaying the story of Ethan and Elenor.

Turned out, Keefe’s visit was not her first attempt at recruiting Ethan, Ben. She tried several years before when his wife Olivia was still alive. “But I made a mistake,” Lady Gisela confessed, “I was honest”.
Keefe made a loud snort, “Right like you are capable of that!”.  Somehow in French snorts sounded much more becoming, making Keefe seem less like a pouting child and more like a sophisticated movie critic.

“Think what you will, but the point is, humans no longer believe in Elves so presenting myself as one did not work to my advantage at the time. Ben's wife was dying and he interpreted my offer as a cruel joke. That’s why I thought the Black Swans project would never succeed. Humans grow up so thick minded, it's almost impossible to change their thinking to adjust to a reality different from what they’ve learned. I was truly surprised that you were able to overcome that '', Lady Gisela said looking at Sophie, again with that warmish smile she tried on her during the cross-dressing incident. “But I guess I just overlooked the obvious: comradery. Humans are willing to believe anything you put in front of them if that means they are repaid with a feeling of belonging.  Elves too,so it seems, just look at you and the Vacker boy! He is clearly a walking disaster, bad tempered, petty, vindictive, but you are willing to believe he is a kind hearted good soul just because you want to belong to him.”