After Stellarlune

Chapter Eighteen

When Sophie and Keefe got to Havenfield, Sophie half expected there to be an army of councilors and goblins and gnomes all blocking the tree shouting, "No leaves for the ogre!" But of course, it was empty, just like usual.

There wasn't even a gnome sitting by the tree at all, which made sense because it was pitch black and everyone was sleeping.

"How many should we get?" Sophie asked Keefe.

"Better safe than sorry," Keefe said, grabbing a huge armful full of leaves from the ground. Sophie did the same, and they still could barely see any grass. Just piles of panakes leaves on the ground.

"Flori must have been singing to the tree recently," Sophie said.

They teleported back to Lady Cadence's boat, and then sprinted back into the mountain. It felt weird that there weren't any ogres stopping them, but Sophie knew that King Dimitar had told the ogres to leave them alone, so they wouldn't have any trouble getting back.

By the time Sophie and Keefe got back, they had lost a lot of panakes petals. But there was still enough for the doctors to make some sort of elixir, and feed it to Ro. 

And luckily for them, she was still the same as she was when they had left.

Now all they had to do was wait to see if the panakes leaves would work.

And at first nothing changed.

But slowly the little dot on Ro's forehead started changing from a dark red into a lighter red. And then to an orange. And then it get brighter and brighter until it was blue again.

Everyone let out a sigh of relief.

"We're going to keep her on sedatives," the ogre doctor explained. "We don't want anything to trigger another reaction."

"So is she cured now?" Keefe asked.

"No, absolutely not," Lady Cadence said. "The panakes petals only slowed the bacteria. But they should give the ogre's enough time to research a cure that will last."

"So she'll be okay," Keefe concluded, his face losing all the stress that had been there before.

"Most likely," Lady Cadence said.

Then King Dimitar rumbled over.

"You saved my daughter." He admitted." I... I don't know how to repay this."

Sophie tugged an eyelash. Seeing Dimitar looking so uncomfortable unhinged her more than anything else had that day. 

"You can repay us by backing us up," Keefe said, looking nothing but serious, which made Sophie a little bit worried. 

The Neverseen were all awaiting tribunal, and Gisela was locked up in prison, so why did Keefe think they needed backup? 

The only other threat Sophie could think of was Elysian, but she was pretty sure she was on their side.

King Dimitar sighed. "I suppose that's a valid request. I will talk to your councilors."

"No," Keefe said. "You aren't on the elves side. You're on our side. The Black Swan's side."

"Very well," Dimitar said, although he seemed like he was wondering what Keefe meant by doing that.

Sophie was wondering too.

"Let's go," Grady said. "You kids need to get to bed, and they don't need any more help."

Sophie glanced one last time at Ro, before she followed Grady out of the room. 

She felt stressed, but a small part inside her also felt triumphant. 

She had been able to save Ro. And now because she had, not only was Ro okay, but they also had the ogres on their side. And as much as she didn't like the ogres, no one could deny that they were strong, and brute, and fought differently than any other creature.

"That was smart," she said to Keefe.

"What was?" He asked. "I feel pretty stupid these days."

His voice was full of sadness, and it made Sophie sad too.

"No, you aren't," she said, giving his hand a squeeze. Grady coughed something that sounded like, "Are you sure about that?" But Sophie ignored him.

"And I was talking about when you asked King Dimitar to back us up."

"Oh yeah well that was pretty smart, wasn't it," Keefe said. "I am the King of smarts after all."

Sophie laughed. "That's totally what you were saying like, ten seconds ago."

"Things change Foster," Keefe said. "People get smarter."

"I don't think you'll ever be smart," Lady Cadence said. 

"It seems impossible, doesn't it," Grady agreed.

"Oh come on," Keefe said. "Have a little hope."

Sophie could feel the little extra weight on her back, and the metal pressing into her skin, and she smiled a little bit.

The name Hope was starting to really grow on her. 

So was the word in general.

Sometimes hope was all it took to keep going.

They got back to the boat, and Sophie grabbed Keefe and Grady's hands, and teleported away. When they got back to Havenfield, the sun was just starting to peek over the grassy hills.

"Time to get to bed," Grady said. 

Sophie felt too exhausted to complain. 

So she waved goodbye to Keefe and slowly climbed the stairs to get to her bedroom.

But when she got there, she had a surprise waiting for her.

An envelope that was bluish grey rested on her pillow with her name on it. Inside was a letter with loopy but elegant handwriting.

Sophie-

We need to talk.

You are the second most powerful elf in the world- apart from me, and that doesn't go unnoticed.

There are many problems that require great people to fix them. People who are powerful. People who know what it's like to be hated. People like me.

And people like you, Sophie.

But you have to understand, that these future choices you will make now that I'm here will require sacrifice. The choices you make will have a right and a wrong answer. And the wrong answer will have consequences. 

So let's start you off with a right answer.

Meet me at my old home in two days for a talk about the future. Don't bring anyone with you.

We can change the world for the better.

-Elysian

Sophie stared at the note, trying to process it. 

Everything Elysian had said seemed to have an unsaid threat hidden in the shadows. 

And Sophie didn't know if she should take the risk.

But she already knew what she would do before she even thought about it.

She wasn't one to back away from a risk.