Authors Notes: Welcome! This is a multi-chapter romance/fantasy/drama fic. If you like it feel free to check out my other fics, "The Best of Intentions" (complete) and "The Ties That Bind" (ongoing).

I want to send a MASSIVE shout-out to cookiesnet who did an inspired piece based on the scene from chapter 27. Here is the link to her amazing work:|
HT TP (colon) (forward slash) (forward slash) (forward slash) d8qu66w

Also, feel free to communicate any comments/questions/concerns to me. WARNING: Chapters 38 (second half), 39, and 41 suggest a physical relationship. Nothing too graphic, definitely NOT "M", but the squeamish should not partake. PLEASE DO NOT READ THOSE CHAPTERS if this bothers you.

Disclaimer: I do not own Sofia the First, or any characters/names/places that have been claimed as property of Disney, Disney Junior, or it's affiliates. However new creations for this story were all of my own invention. Enjoy!

Chapter 1: Sofia's Dreams

Some time before Sofia's 21st birthday the dreams began. She should have seen it coming. The Amulet of Avalor had been summoning princesses to her aid for years; it was only natural that once Sofia got older she would be returning the favor. It was innocent enough at first. One night, Sofia was sleeping peacefully when the dream began. She was surrounded by pitch-black darkness. Then, before her flashed four bursts of sunlight. The darkness melted away to reveal a small girl, perhaps 4 years old, bent over crying in a meadow. It was fall, as the grasses were brown and withered, the scattered leaves upon the ground were deep hues of red and yellow. The girl had jet black hair pulled back into intricate braids and burnt auburn skin. She wore an ornate green dress, one much too fancy for a child of her age. She must be the daughter of an important aristocrat, but Sofia had never seen this child before. Time seemed to move slowly, and Sofia approached the child. In the girls hands lay a broken horse carving, the head having been torn clean off in one swift break.

After awakening Sofia thought nothing more of the dream, until tea that afternoon. She always took tea with Cedric in the afternoons, dragging him from the tower to her secret garden. The daily fresh air did him good, and the company had helped to soften his disposition over the years. Recently she had been able to convince him to take a stroll after tea with her as well. Afternoons with Cedric were not to be missed, with or without the frequent magical lessons that accompanied them. As Sofia began the ascent of Cedric's tower steps, a pot of peppermint tea in one hand, her wand and two cups in the other, she heard the Castle clocks ring out the time.

"Four o'clock, I'm right on time." She knew her mentor would expect the familiar knock at any moment, but then Sofia was wrapped in a twinkling light and then the blackness. The teapot and cups were gone, and the darkness faded to reveal the autumn meadow and crying girl Sofia had dreamed about the night before.

"Am I… dreaming?"

The girl's head shot up, and Sofia noted the tears streaming down her face and onto her green silken dress.

"Oh, Hello there. My name is Sofia, who are you?"

The girl sniffled, trying to force back some of the tears. "My name is…" sniffle sniffle "…Ava."

"Okay, hello Ava."

The girl dropped her head back down and continued crying.

"Say, Ava, is that your toy?"

The girl looked up at Sofia again, "Uh-huh. My Daddy gave me this horsey before he went away to fight and I was playing and I tripped and I fell down."

The poor girl looked back down at the broken horse, and Sofia knelt to hug the girl's shoulders, sympathizing with her. It was a very nice toy.

"I broke my horsey." The waterworks continued.

"Hey there Ava, it's okay. I'll tell you what, I'm sort-of a sorceress, and I can fix your horsey if you'd like."

The little girl just sat there and began to shake her head. "Nuh-uh. You're a girl, and girls can't do magic. Only boys get to do magic."

That got Sofia riled up, "Of course girls can do magic! Girls can do anything, they just have to believe in themselves and always be true to their own heart!" and with that, Sofia rose up, pointed her wand at the broken toy, and chanted, "Reparito!"

A soft blue light streamed from the wand to the horse toy, snapping the head back on and sealing the crack. The little girl's expression changed from sorrow to joy in an instant, and she stared up at Sofia with amazement.

"Wow."

"Yep, so don't let anyone ever tell you what you can and cannot do, okay?"

"Uh-huh!.. Thank you lady!" Sofia wanted to respond appropriately, but she was once again wrapped in the twinkling light and the girl vanished from her sight. Before she could blink she was again standing on the steps leading up to Cedric's tower. Sofia looked down to see the shattered teapot and cups strewn along the steps, with footsteps coming toward her down the stairs.

"It's past 4, you're late." Cedric stopped a couple of steps above her, and looked down at the shattered pottery. "What happened?"

"I dropped the teapot and the cups, but Cedric something did—"

Just then Baileywick came around the corner, "Ah Cedric, I was coming to get you. The king would like to have a word with you about the preparations for the summer solstice festival. My word what happened here?"

Sofia saw Cedric sigh, "Sofia dropped her teapot Baileywick. I guess it doesn't matter now anyway." He turned to Sofia, "I suppose we won't be able to practice magic today Princess. I'll see you tomorrow."

Sofia couldn't mask the unhappiness at his statement very well.

"Wait- I..I.."

Cedric looked impatient and started tapping his wand on the wall, "I've really got to go Princess." She pouted, but thought about it. It seemed really important, but it could probably wait.

Sofia relented, "Oh ok. Tomorrow."

Cedric took off down the hall toward the throne room, but Baileywick lingered a bit, "Don't worry about cleaning up the mess Princess Sofia, I'll send someone right away to deal with it."

"It's no bother Baileywick. I don't mind, and I know Cedric wouldn't want his tower steps all sticky from dried tea."

"Please Sofia, you are a Princess and needn't bother with such things, I insist."

"Oh ok Baileywick."

Sofia turned away from the tower steps, leaving the mess behind. Unbeknownst to her, the purple jewel that hung around her neck began to sparkle. It had begun.

Tomorrow's tea appointment never came. Rolland had tasked Cedric with a huge undertaking. He had commanded that Cedric brew a potion that would ignite the night's sky on the evening of the summer solstice, creating an aurora borealis effect. It had never been performed for the summer solstice before, and Rolland wanted to impress the neighboring kingdoms royalty who would be in attendance, as well as every sorcerer in the tri-kingdom area. The solstice was only three weeks away, and Cedric had no idea which spells and potions would be needed to complete this task. He needed to focus, and effectively shut Sofia out of the workshop to perform the requisite research.

After almost a week of isolation, Sofia couldn't take it anymore. She stormed up the steps to his tower and gave three determined knocks at the door. From beyond, she could hear Cedric's muffled voice, "Sofia I'm busy. Come back later."

Sofia reached down, drew her wand, and muttered the spell that would end this stubbornness. "Dispatchata." The lock unhinged, and she swung the heavy wooden door open. Cedric sat there in his chair, hair matted and eyes bloodshot. His head was laying flat against the table.

"Alright that's it Mr. Cedric, you need to listen to me. Sitting up here and tearing your hair out isn't going to get you your spell."

He looked up at her, "Potion."

"Ooh, come on." She grabbed his hand and dragged him out of the tower and into the secret garden. She sat down, and he sat beside her, as they always did. He began to look around, as if searching for something.

"What, no tea?"

Sofia shot him an unamused glance. "I couldn't carry tea and drag you down the steps, could I?"

Cedric shrugged, and pulled out his wand, flicking it ever so precisely. Before them appeared a teapot, 2 cups, and an assortment of cookies. Sofia shot him a huge smile, and he returned the gesture with a small smirk.

Several cookies and 3 cups of tea later Cedric seemed to have relaxed a bit. He put the cup down gently and sprawled out in the grass, embracing the partial light of sunset streaming through the leaves above. "I just can't find it Sofia, I've looked in every book, every text. Nothing."

Sofia thought about it, and it occurred to her that she'd never been far enough North to see it first hand. "Mr. Cedric, what does it look like?"

"Hmm?"

"What does the aurora borealis look like? I've never seen it before."

"I, I actually don't know. I've never seen it first-hand either."

She could have punched him, or hugged him. "Mr. Cedric, how can you expect to make a spell work right if you have no idea what it's supposed to look like?"

"Don't be silly Princess." Sofia felt irritation at his dismissal of her ideas, but then his expression changed. He looked almost sheepish, "Well, maybe you have a small point."

Sofia thought about it, "What if… we went to see the northern lights. That way you would know what to be looking for in you spell books?"

"You just want to get me to take you on another adventure, don't you Sofia."

"Aw, come on. It'll be fun AND informative for your magical predicament."

They went back inside, and Sofia changed into her winter clothing. She wandered the castle until finding her mother. After informing Miranda that she would be gone for the evening due to a magical emergency, she grabbed a heavily bundled Cedric.

"You ready Mr. Cedric?" Sofia said with a huge grin plastered on her face.

"Why do I let you talk me into these things." He huffed a bit and then resigned himself to this fate. "Yes I suppose…I've got seventeen layers and your elixir, just in case."

Sofia smiled brightly and dragged him out to the front stables, where Minimus was munching on some carrots.

"Come on Minimus, it's a magical emergency!"

After some coaxing of both Cedric and the horse they were off to Friezenburg, the farthest north they could safely travel without encountering roaming hinderbeasts and the secretive kingdom of Duvall. They arrived at the base of the northern mountain range near midnight, quite a distance beyond Friezenburg's royal city, with the nighttime show in full swing. Cedric conjured a quick meal, which was nutritious if not exactly tasty, and some hot cocoa to warm their frigid fingers. They spent a great while staring at the night sky as colors of every hue danced among the stars.

"It's so beautiful Mr. Cedric."

"Yes, I suppose it is Princess."

Sofia looked down at her cocoa. "Mr. Cedric, why do you call me 'Princess' all the time?"

He looked over at her, clearly caught off guard. "Well, you ARE a princess. What else would I call you?"

"You could just call me Sofia."

"I do call you that, sometimes. But it wouldn't be proper to call you that all the time."

"Why not? I don't call you 'Sorcerer', it just seems so formal, like we don't know each other at all."

"Alright, SOFIA. I'll call you SOFIA if it makes you feel better."

Sofia began to rub the outside of her cocoa cup nervously, "Then, can I call you Cedric?"

"Sure why not, SOFIA everyone else but you calls me that and worse. I never understood why you called me 'Mr. Cedric' anyway."

"Stop emphasizing my name like that."

"Oh really, does it bother you SOFIA."

"Only a little Mr. Ceedric!" She hadn't called him that for years, but she saw his eyes narrow and lips press together. Okay that was enough teasing. She ignored his unpleasant stare and shifted her seat so she could rest her head against his shoulder and change topics.

"So, the northern lights dance around the night sky, but they form streaks, kind of like lightning, but slower."

Cedric clearly wasn't forgiving of the earlier name-calling, but he seemed willing to switch topics too, "I suppose, but it's much slower than lightning, and it's brilliantly colored, and it's wider than a lightning bolt, it droops down toward the land a bit." Sofia thought about it again, this was a beautiful force of nature present in only one place in the world, very VERY far north.

"Cedric, I don't think you're ever going to find the right spell."

She felt him tense up, and he proceeded to push her head off his shoulder. "Exactly what does that mean? You think I can't do it?"

Damage control mode set in. She started to shake, afraid that she's ruined their prefect evening. "No of course you could, if it existed. But I don't think it exists, this is a beautiful natural occurrence, and in the entire world it only happens here. There must be a reason why it only happens here, that's all."

Cedric seemed to calm down, but then worry washed over his face. "Sofia, you're shaking a bit, are you getting too cold? We should go."

As they packed up to leave, Sofia turned back to look up at the dazzling lights above. Suddenly, an idea shot through her like lightning.

"THAT'S IT! Cedric, get on Minimus, quick!" She jumped on her horse, with Cedric behind her clinging to her waist for dear life. They took off, spiraling higher and higher into the night sky. The higher they flew, the windier it became. Cedric shouted at her just to be heard, "Sofia, home is that way, not up!" and he gestured away from the mountains.

Sofia turned her back around as best she could to face him shouting loudly, "I know… but we need to do this. Pull out your wand and conjure a big bottle, okay!" Cedric did as instructed. "Now pinch off a piece of that light and trap it in the bottle."

Cedric looked at her with disbelief. He could still barely hear her from the wind whipping their faces. "Whaat?"

"Just do it! I know you can… break off a piece and put it in the bottle."

He reached his wand up, and practically screamed the spell. Light shot forth from his wand, and wrapped around a small bit of the tail end of the nearest light stream, breaking it off. He directed it back to the bottle. Immediately Sofia had Minimus descend. Once they reached an appropriate altitude she steered Minimus in the direction of home. A couple of minutes passed, and the mountains faded into the distance. Sofia tried her best to stop shivering, but she couldn't control the involuntary movements. Cedric tried to cast a warming spell on her, but she was far too cold and it had little effect. A town came into focus down below, and Cedric grabbed the reigns from Sofia's frozen hands, causing Minimus to jolt erratically through the air.

"We are landing Sofia, I can't do anything while we are riding and you need to get warm NOW."