The Awakening

The Foster of Many Floods

Sophie's POV

"How is that good news?!"

"Has the Council been possessed, too?!"

"Leo, stop screaming!"

"What? I wanted to be in on the shouting match, too!"

"Are they forgetting that Sophie literally attracts danger and being on the brink of death?!"

Everyone started yelling at once, while I paled and sat in silence. They were arguing about how this could be good news and why the Council would want to risk a repeat of what happened at the last Peace Summit. Most of us were thankful to get out of that meeting alive.

I enabled my Enhancing for a Keefe to send the blue breezes through my head and deeply inhaled when they soothed me. He sent me a small smile, knowing that I was reliving the trauma of the event. Keefe had been there, too, waiting near the castle after his escape from the Neverseen. He helped me find Edaline, Mr. Forkle, and Oralie.

We came just in time to see Gethen run a sword through Mr. Forkle, not knowing that he had a twin at the time. I was heartbroken as Mr. Forkle had been the first elf I'd ever knew and took watch over me in the Forbidden Cities.

As everyone quieted down, Percy cleared his throat to try to get everyone's attention.

"I though you guys said that the castle in Lumenaria fell," he said, noticeably confused.

"It did fall, but they've been rebuilding ever since. The new castle is supposed to be completely finished by the end of this week. It's still made of lumenite, but has a more updated and stable structure in case of anyone using outward channeling again. The Council guaranteed that the new castle is impenetrable and not as easily terminated," I explained, referring to the in-depth Council meeting I had about it. They made me jot down notes for the whole construction of the new castle, so I was quite versed in its capabilities.

"I still don't understand," Fitz interjected, switching back to the argument of why the Peace Summit was being held soon. "The Council knows that the Neverseen have basically declared war and they want to give our enemies a chance to attack us when we're weak?"

"The Council thinks that a Peace Summit is the best way to avoid war," Stina argued. "They invited one member of the Neverseen, along with the leaders of the goblins, ogres, dwarves, gnomes, and trolls, to maintain peace. You guys know that most elves are not indifferent to violence, like you all. The Council needs to keep violence away from their people."

"But, they're bringing enemies into our territory," Fitz frowned, unwilling to let go of his argument. "And making other places vulnerable to attacks, while they're distracted at the Peace Summit."

"Look, whatever the Council does can't be changed by this argument between us," I stated. "The least we can do is ask the Council for their plans and motives in our next meeting."

The others agreed, though were still visibly peeved by the news. I didn't understand how this was good news either, but I needed to make sure we focused on the most alarming problems first. Thankfully, the Peace Summit was a whole month away. And, I could share our opinions with the Council during that length of time.

For now, we had to catch everyone up to speed, again, and meet with the Collective.

I quickly transferred the information of everything we had learned and talked about to Wylie and Stina, which only took about five minutes. In the meantime, everyone resumed their training because the Collective wanted to observe our teamwork when they arrived in the meadow.

The group split up into various stations, most working on special ability practice, but some teamed up to try new combat techniques or battle.

I walked over to where Percy was siting by himself next to the water. He seemed to be meditating or something, but as I got closer, I heard him humming a song under his breath.