Mrs Sophie Foster-Sencen (Sokeefe Tale of Two Times) - KOTLC

An Undesirable Guest

~ Present Sophie's POV ~
Edaline and Grady had very...mixed expressions to sum it up.
Edaline was confused and worried (and she checked my forehead to make sure I wasn't sick- seriously what is it with people thinking this is like a fever dream?!)
Grady had those two looks on his face, as well as a quizzical expression that seemed to find this whole thing very amusing.
I blew out a breath, starting to feel very irritated.
"I'm not kidding."
Edaline smiled weakly, and it was completely obvious that she was lying and didn't believe me at all when she said,
"We know you aren't honey."
I rubbed my temples.
How on earth could I prove this to non-telepaths?
And the more important question...should I have even bothered sharing this with them?
Cause at the end of the day, I could have just asked to help out and take a 'nostalgic memory trip' around the property.
Well I guess we're too far down the rabbit hole now.
Clearly Keefe could tell I was stressed and agitated, because he gently clasped my hand within his and sent lilac and lavender breezes into my mind.
I sighed inaudibly with gratefulness.
Something about the breeze felt so sweet and sentimental at the same time...almost like the feeling of being choked up.
I have a feeling that this might be the residue of the feelings Keefe had when Edaline hugged him and promised that she would care for him like his genetic mother hadn't.
"Ok, fine. It's obvious you don't believe me. How do I prove this to you?"
I gazed at both of my parents, hoping they would recommend some sort of way to make this easier.
Unfortunately they did not.
I swear you could hear crickets in the thick silence that filled the room for the following few moments.
It was quite difficult to try to prove something without another telepath or empath...
Unless...
"Can you get Councillor Oralie here?"
I blurted, disliking the words the second they reached my tongue with a sour taste and exited my mouth.
I'm in disbelief I even had to bring that up.
Never against my will would I want to work with Councillor she-who-must-not-be-named.
But she was the only empath they trusted (and I apparently was supposed to trust), so I didn't really see another option...
Yeah there was Lord Cassius, but be for real.
Only Oralie.
Unfortunately.
"You ok there Foster?"
A voice brought me back to present- er future-body.
"You've gone all...crinkly..."
Keefe pointed towards my scrunched eyebrows and the the twitching scowl forming on my lips.
Almost instantaneously I relaxed, shrugging my shoulders.
"Yeah why wouldn't I be?"
I tried to act as chill as I could.
Clearly Keefe being an Empath didn't help that.
"Foster. I can feel your worry, annoyance, and anger. Wanna talk about this very heavy wave of emotions?"
Is sighed.
"I'm just pretty...stressed with this whole thing..."
I lied, finding the perfect excuse to cover up all my emotions.
Keefe didn't look totally convinced, but he still nodded.
God do I wish Keefe was back in the present (or I guess past) so that his future self could verify that I wasn't lying.
But he's not.
So now he can't be my lie detector.
Instead Princess-Pink-Ringlets had to be it.
Great.
I grinded my teeth.
During my momentary time of anger from some not-so-nostalgic memories, Grady and Edaline seemed to perk up.
"Of course Sophie...are you ok? You've gone a little...green?"
Edaline said the words in sort of a question format, most likely guessing at what I was feeling.
I swallowed.
I have?
I straightened up my posture.
"Yes of course I'm alright."
I assured her hastily.
"I'm just a little..."
I struggled to find the correct words to phrase this.
Hey, I mean, maybe they'll believe this easier than usual. After all, they didn't laugh at me after I told them, so I think we're pretty solid.
Both of them had their eyebrows raised at me, waiting expectantly for some answer.
Instead, I avoided answering the question by responding with another question.
"Yes I'm alright. Why wouldn't I be?"
It felt wrong to lie to them.
I silently pleaded that they wouldn't point out that I actually hadn't given an answer, but luckily they just disregarded it.
"So...can you call Oralie?"
I asked my parents.
They exchanged a look of suspicion and curiosity before turning back to me.
"Yes, we can. What for?"
Grady raised an eyebrow inquisitively.
'To prove I'm not lying.'
Is what I wanted to say.
But that wouldn't come out right and wouldn't end well.
So I stuck with,
"So you can see that what I'm saying is the truth."
Both of their faces scrunched up with what you would call an expression of distaste if I didn't know my parents.
Instead, I knew they were trying to search for some answer of reassurance that they knew I wasn't lying.
But they couldn't seem to find one.
A few beats of silence passed before I broke it.
"So...is that alright?"
They looked like they were considering some options or something before Grady eventually sighed and said,
"Alright Sophie. Give me a second."
I nodded.
"In the meanwhile, those pastries!"
Edaline winked then strolled into the kitchen.
"Yup, they're done!"
She called, walking out of the kitchen a second later.
She snapped, conjuring up two plates and two forks, and then a giant plate of hundreds od pastries.
"What about you?"
I asked her.
She waved me off.
"I'm alright for now. You two enjoy. I have some extras for later. Don't tell Grady."
She smiled mischievously.
She wandered off back into the kitchen, probably cooking or doing who-knows-what anymore.
In wait, Keefe and I both seemed to be sharing the same nervousness.
He opened his mouth to ask a question, which frightened me that he might ask about my reaction to Oralie, but instead he asked,
"Do you have any idea as to what could've got us here?"
I knew he would never pressure me. I sighed of relief inaudibly, even though I was unsure why. If I knew he wouldn't press me for answers like that, then why was I worried?
Then it dawned on me.
Fitz.
He drilled me with questions, trying to figure out who my genetic parents were.
He pressured me.
"Foster?"
Keefe's voice rang in my ears.
I forced my eyes back to focus to see Keefe's head tilted towards me, eyeing me curiously.
"Sorry- just thinking."
I apologized quickly.
"I think..."
As soon as the words left my mouth, I realized I had nothing to think.
I simply didn't have an answer.
In my long pause, Keefe seemed to have come to the conclusion that my mind was blank. He smirked.
"You think...?"
He asked, trying to make me say what I actually knew.
I rolled my eyes.
"Fine. I don't know."
I admitted.
He pouted very exaggeratedly.
I swallowed back the smile threatening to form on my lips.
"I wish we could be home now."
I sighed, rubbing the emotional knot under my ribs and partly the stomach ache that was beginning to form.
"Like- this is a good future."
I hurried to correct.
"But...I just wanna get back in line with our timeline and get things to the most normal normal is for us."
I stared down at my palms, then flipped my hands over and examined my manicured nails and my ring.
I noticed that depending on the angle I tilted my hand, the ring refracted a certain color of light on the spectrum and shot it upwards in an extremely thin beam that could be unnoticeable to the average eye.
The gemstone seemed to refract the light from the angle according to the order of the spectrum.
For instance, if my hand was tilted all the way right until the gemstone was almost invisible to me and on the side of my hand. A thin red beam (symbolizing radio waves) of light shot upwards towards the crystalline and glass ceiling.
If I turned my hand all the way to the left until the gemstone was almost barely visible to me and it was closer to the side of my hand, a thin pink beam (symbolizing gamma rays) of light shot upwards towards the intricate chandelier.
And every angle in between also had one specific color in the order of the light spectrum.
When my the diamond was perfectly parallel to the ceiling, a thin beam of rainbow color extended upwards toward the ceiling, most likely symbolizing visible light.
Which is odd...because I've only ever seen this before in leaping crystals.
How could this be?
And then it hit me.
Is the diamond meant to be a leaping crystal?
And if so, for what?
"Earth to Foster...hellloooo?...."
Keefe waved his hand under my nose.
I looked up and blinked my eyes back to focus and back to the moment.
"Sorry. What's up?"
I wrung my hands, trying to shake my focus away from them.
I forced my gaze away from them as well.
"I was saying, that I also wanna get back, but first we have to go through with everything. Which means we have to search the property still."
I groaned at the reminder of the amount of work we still had left to do.
A smirk played on Keefe's lips, I could tell.
I was going to snap back with a response, but
Grady wandered into the living room, eyeing the slowly closing in distance between Keefe and I.
We immediately broke apart, my face heating up because of embarrassment.
Grady glared at Keefe, causing Keefe to shrink into the couch more.
His glare didn't break or even falter the slightest bit when he said,
"I hailed Councillor Oralie, she should be here momentarily."
A sour feeling rose in my stomach.
Yay, she'll be here soon.
Each word in my head was lathered heavily with sarcasm.
But out loud I said.
"Alright. So now that that's done-"
A knock on the door cut me off.
I cursed under my breath very silently, and thank goodness no one caught me.
Grady opened the door to view a gentle figure with blonde ringlets and too much pink for the eye to handle.
She beamed when she saw me.
"Hi Sophie."
She told me.
I almost threw up in my mouth.
She thinks we are on good terms?
The thought itself was disgusting.
But I contorted my face into the most normal smile it wanted to give (which was just a slight quirk at the ends of my lips and no eyes.)
A thousand thoughts ran through my head at the same time.
Does she still think she has a shot to be my mother?
Is she just being nice to act?
Did I forgive her?
Which the thought of that left bile on my tongue.
Did we just move on?
And that seemed like the most likely conclusion when she said,
"It's nice to see you all."
Which through words wasn't directed at me, but by stare was.
The edges of her eyes were softened, as well as the rest of her features.
And through the gleam of the light through the doorway, she was illuminated with a golden glow like an angel, with a crown like a pink halo.
The sight of her made me want to vomit.
"Please, come in."
Edaline gestured her in.
When had Edaline even entered the room?
I don't even know- I was just so focused on the too pretty Councillor and trying to find similarities between us physically, which thank god didn't appear.
"Sweets?"
Edaline guided Councillor Oralie to the couch and snapped her fingers, conjuring up a plate of multiple different sugary treats.
"Oh, no thank you. I'm quite alright, but I appreciate that you thought of me."
The pretty blonde Councillor gave a shy smile and waved the plate away.
"I have only a limited amount of time before I must return to my duty. I wish I could stay more, but unfortunately time is of the essence."
Oralie explained.
"Indeed it is."
Grady nodded his head.
"Shall we get started?"
Oralie carefully looked around the room.
I was careful not to meet her eyes by looking away, though through my peripheral vision I noticed that she looked puzzled by my disliking.
"Sophie? Would you like to explain this...situation?"
Grady asked awkwardly, most likely trying to find the correct phrasing.
"Except...I need you to have physical contact with me to prove I'm not lying."
I cringed at the words I had just said.
The last thing I wanted was for Oralie to have any physical contact with me.
She nodded, putting her soft and perfectly manicured hand on my wrist.
"So...should we start now?"
She raised an eyebrow, as if to ask
Anything else before our endeavor?
Which made me even more annoyed.
I sighed, recounting all the details I had explained earlier.
And by the end, Oralie seemed to have found her resolve to her earlier confusion.
After I finished, she pulled her hand away and stared off into space for a bit.
"She is telling the truth."
Oralie admitted after a long ponderous silence.
"I just...I don't understand how..."
Her puzzlement returned, as she wrung her hands.
"Us neither..."
I confessed despite the fact that I wanted to maintain my pride and dignity.
I glanced at Keefe, needing to see someone who empathized.
"Is it alright if I have a word with you, Sophie, privately for a moment?"
Oralie sounded like she spoke, choosing her words carefully.
I met Keefe's eyes and I could see the uncomfortable verging on panic energy in his eyes by being alone with my parents- Grady specifically.
As much as that would not end well but would be super funny, I did not want to be alone with Oralie.
She seemed to sense that because she told me.
"I promise you, it will be very brief. I do not have much time left to spare anyway."
She knew that I would be unwilling.
She knew that I hate her.
Or maybe...hated her.
As of the future...maybe not so much.
And that would be interesting to know.
But spending time with Oralie alone, even if it were a very short period, ehhhh...not so interesting.
The curiousness bugged me though, and I itched for knowledge, as if it were some sort of burning rash during allergy season.
"Okay."
I rose to my feet without even realizing it.
"Where is a good spot to talk?"
Oralie asked Grady.
"Most likely upstairs."
He responded, gesturing towards the staircase.
I followed the beautiful blonde up the staircase, staying at least three paces behind her.
I counted 32 seconds before we finally reached the first landing at the hallway that led towards my room and Grady and Edaline's offices and room.
We walked a little farther down the hallway before she started speaking.
"We made up."
was the first thing she said, meeting my eyes.
It was so out-of-the-blue that it startled me.
"Pardon?"
I asked, straining to hear her super quiet but not quite whisper tone.
She sighed.
"We moved on past the...obstacles. You chose not to forgive nor forget, but rather to leave it as a relic of the past and leave us to move forward with neither disliking nor liking of me on your part."
She explained, twining a ringlet around her finger.
Which left me in disbelief.
I just moved on...?
Came to terms with?
With someone who lied?
With someone who didn't care?
I couldn't believe myself.
Why would I do that?
"I can tell you have mixed feelings about the idea. But it will make sense in the future, trust me."
I squirmed at the idea of trusting her...but she had a point.
Things did seem to change a lot in the future, so this was definitely in the realm of possibilities.
"Fine."
Was all I responded with.
She nodded and motioned for me to start down the stairs.
But I took one step and then pivoted on my heel.
Oralie seemed to predetermine my motion before it even happened, because she didn't suddenly stumble as I turned back, and instead just stopped three paces away from me.
She was keeping her distance too, but not as I had to her, rather it looked like she was keeping her distance as if I was some dangerous dinosaur about to attack her.
Which was also in the realm of possibilities.
"No one knows about our...impasse..do they?"
I asked, refusing to give a name to the situation.
"No one besides the ones already in the know during your time do."
She assured me.
I nodded and turned back around and started towards the staircase.
As we headed back downstairs into the kitchen, I could hear Keefe getting scolded by Grady, and Edaline constantly disapproving Grady and assuring Keefe that he was okay.
I smiled to myself when I entered the kitchen, noticing Keefe's discomfort which quickly turned to relief when he spotted me.
"Alright we're all set now. Keefe and I need to like around the property if that's ok? Just to retrace and trigger any possible memories or find resolutions?"
As soon as I started speaking, Grady eased back into his normal relaxed position still keeping his glare fixed on Keefe.
Edaline smiled.
"Yes."
They both told me, Edaline meeting my eyes and Grady still glowering at Keefe.
"Thank you for inviting me, but I must go now."
Oralie told everyone.
She held her leaping crystal to the ceiling and disappeared on the beam of light.
"Come on Keefe,"
I walked over to the door motioning for him to follow me.
He stood almost immediately, looking as though he was drowning in relief.
"We have exploring to do."

~ Hey guys! I know these are coming out on a bad schedule- my phone rules are stricter and I have gotten really busy as I mentioned earlier. I do have a few hours of time on certain days where I write in portions, so these will hopefully still be coming out once a week. Sorry for the delay and thanks for waiting! Enjoy! 💕
Lots of love,
Your author 💕 ~