A Cognate Thing-a sophitz story

fifty three

Fitz was right, a run always cleared his head and luckily Master Cadence was distracted and quickly let him outside with the instructions she would let him back into the towers in 28 minutes. It was an unusual amount of time but he was going to take it! Being able to get out of the tower and get the blood flowing was the perfect cure for his emotional funk he had been in earlier. So things hadn't gone the way he wanted earlier with Sophie, what was most important was she had a nice day he played over in his head. As he lay in bed that night he pulled Ella close, took a deep breath of the lingering panakes blossoms and smiled. Tomorrow he would transmit to her first thing and hopefully they could try to mind loop.

The next day Fitz woke up to knocking on his door. He was shocked to see a delivery of two scrolls being handed to him. After a quick examination he saw one was from the council and one was from Magnate Leto. A wave of nervous energy pulsed through him, he hoped the scroll from Magnate Leto would be an invitation to a telepathy session but what would the council want?

His suspicion about a telepathy session was correct, he was being invited to Sophie's telepathy session the next week during his universe session with an emphasis on probing and keeping. A huge grin spread across his face. He would finally get to see Sophie again! He could hardly contain the excitement and anticipation and contemplated reaching out to tell Sophie right than but his curiosity for what the council was sending him held him back. If there was exciting news there as well he might as well share both with her.

When he opened the scroll and read it the smile fell from his face. The council was requesting him to accompany several emissaries to visit Gildingham and observe the Goblin capital. This was a first for the Elite levels and his acceptance should be returned quickly so to make all the necessary preparations. Normally this would be super exciting and he would not hesitate to reply with an irrepressible yes but the scheduled trip was to take place the following weekend, starting Friday and returning Sunday evening. This was the same time his invitation to join Sophie's session. Fitz grumbled something under his breath.

“Wow! Maybe I have been a bad influence on you. I didn't think I would ever hear those words coming out of your mouth.” Keefe said from the doorway.

Fitz shot Keefe a look.

“Relax, I'm just here to see if you want to head to breakfast together.” Keefe answered back before noticing the scrolls next to Fitz. Concern swept Keefe's face. “Is everything ok?”

“Yes I'm just. . .” Fitz paused, he wasn't sure how he felt right now. He was elated at both opportunities, but torn as to which would be best to accept. His head told him do what the council wants, Sophie would understand. His heart told him he had to see Sophie and that there will be more opportunities to work with the council. The only way to finish his thought was to answer with “conflicted.”

Fitz explained the scrolls and was shocked when Keefe didn't hesitate to tell him what he should do.

“Really? You are the last person I thought would give me that advice.” Fitz replied now confused at his options even more.

Keefe was just as shocked that he had told Fitz to go on the trip, but he couldn't forget the letter he had found from Sophie and the weird behavior Fitz had told her about. If Sophie really was no longer interested in Fitz it would just make him more upset that he had chosen her rather than this amazing opportunity. If Sophie was still as crazy about Fitz than she would want him to go as well. Really the only option that made sense was to go on the trip and figure things out with Sophie later.

“On the other hand maybe you should ask Sophie about it?” Keefe offered up. “Then you would at least get her input.”

“That's a good idea.” Fitz replied.