Whew! High school applications are 99% over, and now I can breathe again! More time to write! Yay! I'm also starting a new side-fic about Keefe and his mom, and it won't be updated frequently, but it'll be there, so I'd appreciate it if you guys could check it out!

Okay, so in this chapter I added in a few canon things (SPOILER ALERT FOR THE REAL LODESTAR). Flori the gnome and the function of the Lodestar mirror are both Shannon Messenger's creations. My plans for this fic involves pulling from canon (although my version of Lodestar Keefe is WAY more angsty than canon Lodestar Keefe. Whoops.)

Also, Sophie definitely needs a break soon. And Fitz needs to go back on the nice list. More on that next chapter.

REPLIES:

KOTLC 1 Fan: It's nice to hear that the suspense is there! I'm sorry I tormented you with a cliffhanger, but now you can finally know what happens! Thanks for being a continuous reader!

Mysterious M: Yeah... sorry for the infrequent updates. This fall has been crazy. Oh, and if you're referring to... what happens to Forkle in Lodestar, I'm just as upset as you. I can't decide what I want to do with Forkle in my fic, but if anything bad happens to him it won't be easy for me ;(

Let's get this party started!

Word count: 2,603

Chapter Thirteen

SOPHIE PACED THE FLOOR OF HAVENFIELD.

Elwin was crouched over the couch, a dozen colorful elixirs lying around him in disarray. He was looking worriedly at Linh. She was so weak she could barely raise her head. Parts of her silver-tipped hair had been burned away, her clothing was ripped, and blisters covered her arms.

At least she was here. They couldn't say the same for Tam.

Sophie had hated having to call Elwin, but since Chaia was missing, she hadn't had a choice. Not if she wanted Linh to be okay. But from the second he had arrived, he'd bombarded Sophie and Tiergan with a ton of questions—enough to make Tiergan spontaneously light leap away. Most of them Sophie couldn't even answer without giving away something important, but she had tried her best for Linh's sake. Sophie honestly didn't know how much she could trust Elwin. He seemed trustworthy—but she had learned from experience that people weren't always like they seemed.

Linh coughed, startling Sophie. "Good," Elwin told her. "Get the smoke out of your lungs." He patted her back as her shallow breathing dissolved into a loud fit of choking coughs. When she'd quieted again, he helped her down another elixir to soothe her throat.

Sophie felt her fist clench. They might not know where the Neverseen were hiding away now, but sooner or later, mark her words, she was going to make them pay. They'd taken away Keefe, they'd taken away Calla, and they'd taken away Alluveterre—Tiergan had decided to let it burn, since it could no longer function as a secure base.

Now they'd taken Tam, and she could only hope that she'd be able to get him back.

Whenever she thought of her captive friend, a searing pain shot through her heart. He'd barely even been involved in the Black Swan for a month—and hadn't taken any vows. He'd done nothing to deserve what had happened to him.

Sophie had seen what the Neverseen's torture, in one form or another, did to people. Dex. Keefe. Herself.

She couldn't let that happen to Tam.

Just then Elwin stepped away, inviting Sophie closer to Linh. "She's ready to talk to you," he explained. Then he left the room to give them some privacy.

Linh looked a lot better than when Sophie had found her. She was dressed in a fresh white tunic and pale blue skirt, which complimented her anguished eyes. Her expression seemed to emanate with a newfound determination, her blisters had shrunk down to a more manageable size, and her singed hair was halfway through the process of growing back in thanks to Elwin's fast-acting elixirs.

Sophie sat down next to her on the couch. "I'm so sorry," she said. "We were too late to save you guys."

Linh shook her head. When she spoke, her voice was raspy. "It wasn't you fault. There was no warning. We—I, didn't even see them. One moment everything was normal, then my treehouse was on fire, and he—he—" Suddenly, she burst into huge, choking tears.

Sophie reached for her hands. "We'll get him back," she promised. "Just like we'll get Keefe back. I guess we have a lot of rescuing to do—but we'll make it happen. And we know Tam's strong. Maybe he's already escaped."

The words sounded weak, but Linh seemed to cling onto the hope that they were true. "Yeah. He'll be back soon. I know it."

Sophie didn't know how Linh could hold on to her boundless optimism, but she was glad. That made two of them who weren't giving up.

She knew how hard it would be for Linh to ask more questions, but there was one she needed answered. She held up her memory log, which she had brought down from her room earlier, and showed Linh the white flower symbol. "Do you know what this is?"

For a moment Linh's gaze stayed blank, then something seemed to click. "I saw that image! They burned it deep into the ground. It was there when I ran outside—like they were trying to claim the area for something."

Sophie nodded. "Thank you. Wait—Where are you going to be staying now that…"

She could bring herself to say the words. Couldn't accept that their ultra-safe hidden hideout had been compromised. No, taken.

Linh seemed equally upset. After all, she'd been living there. For a while it had been her home. "Well, I know what Tam would do. He'd stay anywhere but with our parents—I know my father would be thrilled if I came home alone without my twin." She put emphasis on the word twin like she was proud of it. "But Sophie, I think I need to go home. Like it or not, it's part of me, and I need to come to terms with that."

"Careful," Sophie said. "Going home is sometimes hard. Keefe didn't come to terms with anything after he went back home. Things just got… worse."

"I'll be okay," Linh promised. "And I'll leave in a few minutes, too. Thanks to Elwin I'm feeling a lot better—see, if I'm strong enough to stand, I'm strong enough to light leap."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Elwin butted in, hurrying back into the room just as Linh heaved herself unsteadily to her feet. "I appreciate your determination, but you are not going home without my help." He slung his arm around Linh's shoulders, enabling her to straighten up. "You live at Echoshore, right?"

Linh nodded. "Thanks for everything, Sophie," she said. "Without you I might have died."

"Get better, okay?" Sophie said.

Elwin waved as he pulled out a pathfinder and whisked both of them away.

The silence was deafening. Sophie plopped down with a sigh. What she'd said to Linh was true. They had a lot of rescuing to do. She just didn't know how they were going to do it.

With nothing else to do, Sophie wandered down to Calla's tree. There she sat, basking in the dappled light, wondering what the gnome would have done right now in Sophie's place. Maybe something useful. Something that lived up to her name as the Moonlark.

Lately she'd felt like she was always losing. First the cache, then Keefe, now Tam. Lord Cassius joining the Black Swan. Edaline wanting to—although Sophie wasn't entirely sure how she felt about that. On one hand, she didn't want Edaline to feel obligated to put her life on the line. On the other, she felt grateful that her mom was doing this to protect her.

Sophie exhaled deeply. She realized she was still clutching her memory log. She flipped idly back to the flower symbol, wondering what kind of plant it was supposed to be. She could ask one of the gnomes—it would be the best course of action—but recently she'd felt as if being around them would bring back sad memories of Calla.

It was fortunate, then, that one came to her.

The gnome was shorter than Calla, wearing different clothing, but somehow bore an uncanny resemblance to Sophie's lost friend. Maybe it was the elaborate braid running down the bad of her head. Maybe it was the abnormally large gray eyes. Maybe it was the graceful spring in her step, the optimistic, beautiful way she carried herself.

Whatever it was, Sophie found herself staring.

"Hello, Sophie," the gnome said. Her voice was fragile and melodic, not as strong as Calla's but still lovely. "Or should I say, Moonlark."

Sophie was too worn out to be surprised anymore. After all, she knew dwarves from Alluveterre had been moved to Havenfield after Calla's death.

"You're part of the Black Swan?"

"In a way. My aunt was more involved than I was. But now that she can't be, I'm doing her part for her."

"What happened to her? Where is she?" Sophie asked.

The gnome smiled sadly and pointed up to the swaying panakes branching up above. "She's right there."

Sophie felt her heart catch in her throat. "Calla was your aunt?"

"Technically she was my great, great aunt. Or, was it three greats? It's hard to keep track of time when you live forever—and I'm young for a gnome! You'll understand in a few hundred years."

Sophie tried to push past the weirdness of that statement. "I'm sorry for never talking to you before. I just…"

"I understand," the gnome said. "Her loss is hard for me, too."

Sophie nodded. "You already know who I am. But what's your name?"

"I am Flori. At your service, Moonlark." A teasing glint was in her eyes as she struck a bow.

"How about just Sophie?"

"Of course."

Flori caught a look at Sophie's memory log. "What is that you're looking at?"

Sophie hesitated a moment, trying to decide if she could trust Flori. But she was related to Calla. And Sophie owed the secret to her for not talking to her all these weeks.

"It's a symbol that has something to do with the Neverseen," Sophie told her. "I feel like the flower is important, but I'm not sure what kind it is."

Flori smiled. "That's easy," she said. "It's a starkflower. My aunt told me she made her famous starkflower soup for you before. When one of these is put into water, the darkness leaks out. Your friend the Shade found them interesting back at Alluveterre."

"Wait, I thought you were living here?"

"I am, but all the gnomes are taking shifts guarding your friends. They're both good elves, and very talented."

"You know that they… took Tam, right?"

Flori nodded mutely. Sophie went back to staring at her memory log.

"So if this is a starkflower, why would they use it as their symbol?"

Flori piped up, "If it helps, the ancient forest-dwellers called them corrupted. Useless. But when us gnomes found out what happens to them in water, we starting calling them pure. The starkflower in blossom is what we all aspire to be. Strong, brilliant, full of potential."

A few of the words caught in Sophie's heads and kept playing over and over. Corrupted. Pure. Potential. The Neverseen were definitely corrupted, but it was unlikely they saw themselves that way. They were definitely not pure. Full of potential, maybe. But not pure.

Something wasn't clicking into place, but Sophie felt like she was on the verge of unlocking a secret. She repeated some of what Flori had said in her head. Stark Flowers went from being corrupted to pure. Corrupted, pure. Corrupted, pure.

Then her mind wandered back to the Neverseen kidnapping Tam. Why had they left Linh? They seemed to have needed Tam for something. She remembered Keefe had said they were looking for Shades. So what did Shades do? They controlled shadowvapor. If the Neverseen's plans involved shadowvapor, illumination was also probably involved. And illumination was light… pure light!

Sophie added those new words to the mix. Corrupted, pure light, potential, shadowvapor.

She still didn't have every piece of the puzzle, but she at least knew what she needed to do now.

"Thank you, Flori," Sophie said to the gnome, getting to her feet. "I think I know what's next!"

"You're welcome," Flori said. "Take care, Sophie."

The last view she caught of Flori as she was running toward the house was the gnome gently putting her arms around Calla's tree and whispering something into the bark.

"You want to know what the Lodestar mirror does?" Magnate Leto asked. Sophie looked into the imparter and nodded. He sighed.

The moment she'd entered Havenfield, Sophie had grabbed her imparter and hailed Magnate Leto. He was sitting in his office at Foxfire, sorting some kind of paperwork, and looking stressed. But she appreciated it when he stopped what he was doing to talk to her.

"I think it's important," Sophie said. "And I already know that mirror is different. When my abilities were broken, it affected me way worse than all the other light. I know you like to keep the messages of the mirrors secret, but I think I can find out what this means." She showed him the starkflower symbol. She was half hoping he'd recognize it, but nothing besides confusion showed in his eyes.

"I've never seen this before," he said slowly. "But, Sophie, I think you'll agree we have more important matters to deal with. Like the issues of the cache. And both Mr. Tam and Mr. Sencen."

Sophie ignored the mention of Keefe. "I know the cache, and Tam, are important. But maybe this will help us save them.

"Well," he said. "I guess you never know. Alright, I'll tell you the meaning. But don't get too excited—it's not as interesting as you think." He paused.

"And what the mirror does is…" Sophie prompted.

"You kids." Magnate Leto scowled. "Always so impatient. But back to the point. What the mirror does is reflect pure light. It teaches prodigies that true power comes from somewhere deep. I think that's likely why you experienced such an intense reaction. You have far more potential than the average elf."

And with those words, something finally, finally clicked.

"So you'd say that potential and pure light are related?" Sophie asked, excitement bubbling up inside her.

"Well, yes. I'd even go so far to say they're loose synonyms in the Elvin world. Those with great potential radiate more light than those with little to achieve."

Then a huge part of the puzzle snapped together. The Neverseen were using someone with hidden potential as their metaphorical starkflower. Then… then, Sophie assumed, they'd draw out that potential, or pure light, in some form. And Shades had something to do with the process. Maybe…

Sophie gasped. "They're trying to draw the shadowvapor out of someone!"

"What?" Magnate Leto said. "Sophie, isn't guessing their objectives this early on a bit of gamble?"

"Maybe, but I know it's true. It fits completely! The Neverseen take their "starkflower" and purge their minds of shadowvapor, leaving just the pure light! And, remember before I healed Prentice, you told me that Tam had purged his mind of shadowvapor. You said that exact word. During the healing, everything was so bright it burned. Don't you see, they're doing what Tam did to Prentice, only on a larger scale! I don't know where Keefe fits in yet, but he could be the starkflower. Or he could have some other role they've planned out for him."

In her excitement, she'd forgotten all about her reluctance in talking about Keefe. She'd even forgotten about the pain of losing Calla—the flowers reminded Sophie of her. It felt nice to be so sure of herself again, after so many months of darkness.

Magnate Leto looked overwhelmed. His expression looked like he'd been hit in the face with a pan. "You might actually be right," she said. "I just can't believe—Sophie, I want you to know I am so proud of you. I know sometimes it seems like I'm always arguing against and trying to stop you from doing what feels right to you—but that's only because it's my job to keep you safe. When I look back to the confused, naive twelve year old Fitz brought to the lost cities… You've come so far, Sophie. You're finally stepping into the role we designed for you."

Sophie wasn't completely sure what that meant. But the pride in his voice rooted itself into her heart, giving her confidence.

"We need to go see Prentice again," she said.

Magnate Leto nodded. "Agreed."

Question of the chapter (lol):

What ability would you like to have if you were an elf?

Let's see if this gets any replies.