Sophie was wearing plain pastel purple ballet flats and a version of the Moonlark dress. The skirt ended directly below the knee and had long lace sleeves. A sea green colored sash was tied into a princess style ribbon at the back and a headband adorned her head. The headband was sea green, white and pastel purple, striped in such a way that it reminded Sophie of a candy cane. On one side, the three ribbons touched her shoulder in streamer like fashion. On that same side, directly above the streamers, tiny different seashells dotted the section around a miniature moonlark. The peacock like feathers of the Moonlark curved and tickled Sophie's face.

Shadowflame was wearing a long sleeved periwinkle blue asymmetrical shirt that ended in a handkerchief style mid thigh. Her black slacks and fingerless gloves had intricate swirling gold embroidery so fine they were nearly invisible. Her leather belt and ankle length combat boots were a dark brown. Her combats had electric blue flowers with jade green stems and leaves sewn on the sides. Bokken strapped to her back and ice blue skateboard tucked under her left arm. Black and blue colored cat themed headphones hanging around her neck. Dark brown emergency satchel slung over her shoulder. Her ear cuff glittering in the sun and blue streak refreshed.

Both outfits made by Shadowflame, of course.

Sophie sat between Shadowflame and Alden on a pedestal facing the twelve Councillors in Tribunal Hall– and this time it was a packed house. Friends, Mentors, strangers. Even enemies. Stina sneered at her as Bronte rose to read the charges.

Between the laws and the bylaws and the sub-bylaws, she had committed eight major transgressions and eleven minor transgressions– a new record. At least half of them carried the possibility of exile.

And yet, Sophie wasn't afraid. She'd been drugged and interrogated, watched her one if her best friends get tortured for trying to escape, and had to fight her way back from fading away. No matter what the Council decided, it could never be worse than what she had already survived.

So her legs didn't shake as she walked forward to speak her defense, and she didn't tremble under Bronte's glare. Her curtsy was as ungraceful as ever– she heard Stina snicker as she lost her balance at the end– but she held her head high as she faced the Council in all their regal glory.

"Miss Foster," Emery said, his voice warm. "On behalf of the entire Council I'd like to express our relief that you made it home safely. We'd also like to assure you that we will find whoever was responsible for your kidnapping and make them see justice for their actions."

"Thank you." She said, proud of the strength in her voice. "That being said, you stand before us today accused of very serious charges. What have you to say in your defense?"

She'd spent all night drafting the perfect apology for her actions, but Shadowflame had come in and made her realize that she wasn't sorry for what she had done. That she did not need to apologize for anything but for actually caring for others and saving lives. Whereas they were carrying on with their petty little lives living in crystal castles and letting innocents die. Shadowflame showed her that she wouldn't pretend otherwise. Oralie would know she was lying anyway.

Sophie cleared her throat and addressed the entire Council– even Bronte. "I never wanted to break the law, and I don't plan on doing it again. But people were losing their homes. People were dying. I know they were humans, but I couldn't sit back and let it happen. I'm sorry if that's a crime. I won't argue if you punish me for my choice, but I firmly believe it was the right decision. I'd rather be punished for making the right decision than live with the guilt of making the wrong one for the rest of my life."

Murmurs and whispers filled the room until Emery cleared his throat. Silence fell as he closed his eyes and placed his hands over his temples.

Most of the Councillors ignored her as they debated, but Terik glanced her way, shooting her the tiniest wink when their eyes met. She hoped it was a good sign, but she couldn't be sure. She glanced over her shoulder to look at Shadowflame, the girl looked confused not knowing the enlightened language. But she gave Sophie a wink and thumbs up, a sign of encouragement, comforting her.

Sophie turned back around in time to see Emery hold out his hands to silence the arguments raging in his head. His eyes locked with Sophie's, his face unreadable.

"Thank you for your honesty, Miss Foster. While some of us"– he glanced at Bronte – "feel that your attitude is disrespectful and rebellious, none of us can deny that your actions uncovered a problem and conspiracy we ourselves had overlooked, and for that we owe you our gratitude. We can't, however, simply ignore the facts that laws were broken.

She sucked in a breath, preparing for the worst as the whispers and murmurs buzzed in her ears like static.

"There was much debate on what proper punishment would be," Emery continued, with another sidelong glance at Bronte, "but a decision has been reached – and it IS unanimous." He cleared his throat. "Considering the fact that we, as your rulers, failed to protect you from recent unfortunate experiences, we feel that it would be inappropriate to assign any further punishment. Your transgressions will go on your permanent record, but your punishment will be marked as 'already served' and that will be the end of the matter. Is that understood?"

It took a second for the words to sink in– and another after that for her racing mind to realize he expected a response. "Yes." Sophie practically sang, as the murmurs turned into chatter around her.

Punishment already served. Could that really be it? Could it really be over?

"Which brings us to the matter of the fact that you brought a human to our world and your Foxfire admission," Emery shouted over the din, his words like a giant pin bursting the bubble she'd been floating in.

The room fell silent and shifted their gazes to Shadowflame. Sophie's heart thundered in her chest. "We will start with that first situation. Miss Foster, you broke a major law, not only did you bring her into our world, but told her about it and let her keep her memories of you. We are sorry but her stay is over dued." he turned to Shadowflame and spoke in English "We shall return you to your family in the Forbidden Cities and erase your memories of our world and even Soph-"

"But I don't have a family there." Shadowflame interrupted. Silence overwhelmed Tribunal Hall.

"W-what do you mean you don't have a family?!" Kenric spluttered.

"My whole family died in a terrorist explosion." The way Shadowflame spoke actually scared Sophie. Shadowflame always talked with emotion; anger, joy, boredom, sadness, justice, anything. Always mixed with confidence and a tinge of sass. But now, she was emotionless. Cold. Empty. She sounded like something in her had died, maybe it did when she lost her whole family.

Emery cleared his throat. "Do you have any relatives? Friends?"

Shadowflame thought for awhile, "For relatives, no. At least none that are still alive." She chuckled softly, "Friends? The only friends I have are Sophie and Dex."

The silence was deafening at this point. Sophie was pretty sure she and Shadowflame were the only ones who weren't gaping. "And... you are okay with it?" Oralie said, wide eyed.

Shadowflame shrugged "It's kinda lonely, but I grew use to it. You'd have to if you expected things to stay like that forever. Little did I know, two years on the run then I find a friend by saving her life." Shadowflame said as she got up and stood beside Sophie.

Sophie nudged her playfully. Shadowflame nudged her back. Sophie shoved Shadowflame. Shadowflame lost her balance and grabbed on to Sophie's wrist, bringing her down with her. And they began play wrestling on the ground until Shadowflame effectively pinned Sophie face down to the ground. Laughing then helping each other up.

Bronte was the first of the Council to recover from their shock. "Miss Shadowflame, because of this... situation, we may have to, uhh... put you up for adoption, if that is okay with you. Unless you want to go back to 'being on the run'."

Shadowflame was silent for a few moments before she finally spoke. "I guess I'm okay with either, just as long as I don't have to stay in another orphanage again."

"You won't have to," Grady spoke up "because we will be adopting you." A gasp of shock ran through the crowd as Grady and Edaline got up to join Sophie and Shadowflame.

"Mr Ruwen, you can't be serious!" Emery cried.

"But I am, and there is nothing you can do about it. During her stay here, Sophie has talked about Shadowflame in numerous things. Like when she was being chased by the verminion, she said Shadowflame would be able to calm it down in no time."

"When I laughed at Sophie for ruining Lady Galvin's cape, she said that Shadowflame would have made a pun about it while freaking out about Sophie gotten burnt." Keefe hollered from his seat. This got a laugh from the audience.

Biana added "When we were playing base quest, Sophie said that if Shadowflame were there, she would've thrown those on the opposing team down hills just to win. Except Sophie herself."

"And when Stina said that Sophie was going to be sent to Exillium, Sophie said that if Shadowflame was there, she would have punched her into next week." Fitz said.

"At the end of the mid year exams, when Sophie failed to pop a bubble that was out of her reach, she almost immediately said that Shadowflame would've popped that for her if she was there." Dex said. "And when we were stuck in the Forbidden Cities, they worked together in sync, they practically complete each other. Knowing what the other was thinking and feeling with only a glance their way, even saying the same thing at the same time."

Emery began to object. "But-"

"Pineapple,"

Emery looked at Shadowflame weirdly before trying again. "I-"

"Thump- I fell tower," Shadowflame had a shit eating grin on her face. She looked up at the Council from the ground where she had 'accidentally' fallen.

"What-"

"Dog," Shadowflame was lying on the floor, posing fabulously now. Sophie grinned, she knew where this was going.

"Wha-"

"Eat pepperoni,"

"You-"

"Come from China,"

"I-"

"Like Star Wars,"

"A-"

"Guitar,"

"I-"

"Ship marichat,"

"Yo-"

"Wattpad,"

"B- What was I talking about?"

"You were going to except my adoption into the Ruwen family."

"Oh, thank you Miss Shadowflame. I now announce you legally adopted by the Ruwen family. Wait a minute-"

"No takey backies! You said legally and that's final!"

"But-!"

"I'm good at combat, technology stuff, singing, designing, fangirling, gardening, first aid, most sports and forms of arts and dragging people into the depths of hell." Shadowflame chirped, getting up from the floor.

"You forgot trash talking, sass offing, internet surfing and boss walking." Sophie finally jumped in.

"Good with animals, how could we ever forget good with animals?" Shadowflame exclaimed

"Freakishly strong, freakishly graceful, freakishly fast at running and freakishly fast at learning, those too." Sophie said. She and Shadowflame high fived while Emery had the Heroes-of-Olympus-fandom-reaction-to-the-Percy-Jackson-movies on his face.

He sighed, "On to the next situation!" Emery spoke in the Enlightened language again. "Miss Foster, you were admitted into Foxfire on a provisional basis, and the matter was to be revisited once we'd seen your performance in your sessions. Due, however, to the aforementioned unfortunate experiences, you missed all your final exams and are currently failing all of your sessions. And in order to preserve the integrity of our testing process, we cannot allow the exams to be made up at this time. So we are at a bit of a loss as far as how to proceed."

Bronte opened his mouth and Emery cut him off. "Your suggestion has been noted, Councillor Bronte. We are, however, hoping to hear a few other suggestions before we decide. I open this up to Miss Foster's Mentors. Can any of you see a solution to her grade issues?"

Whispers hissed through the auditorium as all of her Mentors rose from their front row seats and bowed their respect.

"If I may offer a suggestion," Tiergan said, smoothing his intricate blue cape as he stood and bowed. He'd dressed up for the occasion– it looked fancier than Lady Galvin's.

"Ah, Sir Tiergan," Emery said, his voice with a harder edge. "It's been a long time since you've stood before us."

"Yes. And I hoped this time my appeal will be more successful." He murmured.

Emery waved his hand, signaling that the floor was his.

Tiergan shuffled his feet. "Sophie is the most talented telepath I've ever worked with, I cannot imagine failing her for any reason. If you need any proof that her skills hold up under test, well, I can't think of any better proof than the fact that she managed to transmit halfway across the world to Fitz and send a mental image to guide him to her location – all while her body was fading away. For that alone I'd give her one hundred percent, if the Council would accept it."

Sophie resisted the urge to run across the room and hug him.

There was a moment of silence before Emery nodded. "We would. But if she were to continue her studies at Foxfire, she would require a mentor, and our records indicate you aren't planning to return."

"I would be willing to extend my stay as mentor, provided Sophie could remain as my prodigy. Tiergan agreed, looking only at Sophie.

She nodded, hoping he knew how she appreciated his sacrifice. She knew how much he despised being part of the nobility.

"Excellent." Emery turned to the other Mentors. "Anyone else have anything to add?"

Lady Anwen stepped forward. "Sophie knows more about the human species than any prodigy I've had, so I'll gladly give her one hundred percent in multispeciesial studies. She was already passing with flying colors."

Several of the Councillors nodded their agreement. Bronte scowled.

"The fact that was able to pull herself back from fading away settles the mind over matter debate quite nicely," Sir Faxon added. "and should definitely count for one hundred percent in metaphysics." He bowed and stepped aside to let Lady Dara forward.

She dipped an elaborate curtsy. "Sophie didn't just learn history, she made history. Textbooks will be written about her someday, and I'll not have them saying she received anything less than one hundred percent in my session."

Hope flared in Sophie's heart, but she tried to squash it. She still had her toughest Mentors left. She held her breath as Lady Alexine stepped forward.

"I think the fact that Miss Foster was able to leap an injured friend without a nexus and both of them survived to tell the tale is more than enough to earn her one hundred percent on her physical education exam."

"And she found an unmapped star," Sir Astin added. "not the mention she has the stars memorized. She definitely deserves one hundred percent in Universe."

All the Councillors were smiling at this point – except Bronte. He turned his murderous glare on Sir Conley as he bowed and cleared his throat.

"Sophie successfully bottled a sample of Everblaze– something I doubt even I could've done. It would be absurd to give her anything less than one hundred percent in elementalism."

The room seemed to hold its breath as all eyes turned to Lady Galvin.

She stood behind the others, fingering the jewels on her dark purple cape.

"Anything you would like to add?" Emery asked when she didn't say anything.

Lady Galvin cleared her throat. "This will not be a popular decision, but Miss Foster barely passed her midterm and has struggled with my session all year. There's no way I can justifiably pass her."

Silence throbbed through the room as Emery frowned. "Nothing will change your mind?"

She turned to Sophie as she shook her head. "I'm sorry." She sounded like she meant it.

The crowd buzzed with murmurs of displeasure, but Sophie could hear Stina's cackle rise above it all. Right then she would have given anything to be a vanisher and disappear. Shadowflame reached forward and squeezed Sophie's hand in reassurance, sensing Sophie's distraught. And Sophie felt better, even if just a little bit.

"That's most unfortunate," Emery said through a sigh. He glanced at the other Councillors who were shaking their heads – except Bronte, who was smirking like a spider with a trapped fly. "it appears our hands are tied. We cannot allow Miss Foster to advance if she does not qualify for eight subjects. Perhaps we can agree to let her retake the year?" He turned to the other Councillors.

The room swam around her and Sophie wobbled on her feet. Being held back was better than Exillium– for sure. But it would still mean being left behind by her friends. At least she would still have Shadowflame. If they would allow a human to study in Foxfire.

"If I may propose an alternative solution?" Alden interrupted, rising with an elegant bow.

Sophie held her breath as Emery gestured for him to proceed.

"The rules state that she must qualify for eight sessions to advance. Not that she must pass eight sessions. And recent events have revealed that Sophie has developed a second special ability." Alden paused for the murmurs in the crowd to quiet. "Obviously, that would qualify her for a session training her in her new ability. Therefore, it would seem not only practical, but prudent, to replace her alchemy session – which she obviously has no future career prospects in" – he flashed Sophie a smile – "With a session studying inflicting."

The rumble of the audience shifting in their seats mirrored Sophie's internal unease. She had mixed feelings about being able to inflict pain on others at will– and she wasn't sure she wanted to train in it. But if if got her into the next level at Foxfire, it would be worth it.

Emery stroked his chin. "That would be logical."

Absolutely not," Bronte barked, a vein throbbing in his forehead "I refuse."

"That's not your decision to make," Emery informed him with a smile. "An ability as volatile as inflicting qualifies for a majority vote decision and" –he closed his eyes– "we have it. Eleven to one in favor. That settles it. Miss Foster will continue her studies at Foxfire, and an inflicting session will replace her alchemy session."

Someone cheered – Dex or Keefe, Sophie wasn't sure– and the whole audience followed their lead, erupting into applause and chanting her name.

"So I passed?" Sophie asked Alden, shouting over the chaos. "I can stay?" She smiled when he nodded, and turned to Shadowflame. In English, she yelled, "I passed Flame! I can stay!"

Shadowflame's smile brightened her whole face. Instead of her crooked, confident, sass filled smile, it was a smile that softened her eyes. To the same shade of dark brown as her molten lava chocolate cake combo and shone like the light glistening off the warm chocolate fudge oozing from it when cut open. The blue obsessed girl squealed in delight as she picked up the blonde and spun her around. Laughing.

Sophie's smile melted from her face and her laughter died down when she saw Bronte. The glare he was directing at her was so hateful it nearly knocked her over.

He cleared his throat, silencing the room. "You can force me to Mentor her in my ability, but her final grade will be up to me, and I can guarantee she will not pass."

Angry murmurs rose as Sophie turned to Alden. "Bronte is going to be my Mentor?"

She waited for him to tell her it was a mistake, but Alden nodded. "Bronte is the only registered inflictor– besides you. It's a very rare ability."

Her mind reeled with horror. Bronte made Lady Galvin seem cuddly. "But... he's planning to fail me."

"We'll deal with that when the time comes. For now, just be glad you've earned another year at Foxfire."

She knew he was right, but it was hard to be excited about a year of one-on-one sessions with Bronte – learning how to inflict pain. She didn't even want to imagine how he'd teach something like that. Next year was going to be very interesting.

Sophie dipped another curtsy as Emery concluded the tribunal, and the Councillors glittered away.

Shadowflame led her outside, where all her other friends had gathered under one of the Pures. Grady lifted her, twirling her twice before setting her down so Edaline could strangle her and Shadowflame with a hug.

"For the record, I'm really glad they didn't exile you guys." Dex said as he gave the two brown eyed sisters an awkward hug and quickly letting them go.

Sophie noticed Shadowflame tense when the others approached. She stepped between Shadowflame and Dex and her other friends, drawing attention to her from them. "Okay, you guys and Shadowflame totally started off on the wrong track. So allow me to reintroduce you guys. Flame, they are my friends Biana, Fitz and Keefe. Biana, Fitz, Keefe, this is my little sister Shadowflame. You can call her Shadow or Flame or Galaxy."

They waved awkwardly while Shadowflame just gave them a curt nod of her head.

Biana was the first to break the silence. "You guys still staying with us tonight?" She asked.

"Actually, I think I want to sleep in my room. I need to give Flamester a tour of her new home either ways." She reached up, ruffling Shadowflame's hair. It didn't affect the Asian's hair at, all much to Sophie's disappointment.

Della pulled Sophie in for a hug. "Just make sure you visit us sometimes."

"I will."

"You better. Oh, and we got you two something. Della handed Sophie and Shadowflame a small teal box each. "To congratulate you two for surviving this tribunal."

Keefe snorted. "Leave it to Foster to face multiple tribunals in nine months.

The sisters ignored him as they pulled two identical black nexus out from the boxes. They were similar to the nexus the kidnappers stole from Sophie, except it had tiny swirls if diamonds set into the sides instead of runes. "Thank you," they said in union, fingering the glittering teal jewels in the center.

"I know Sophie liked her other one, so I tried to find something close to that, but a little bit more feminine. I hope that's okay." Della said.

"It's perfect." Sophie reassured.

"Your concentration is strong enough to not need one, but Elwin doesn't want you leaping alone until you've given your body some time to recover," Alden explained to Sophie as he locked the both nexus on each girl's wrist. "These will only unlatch when Elwin decids you're ready, and uses a special key. And these just came from the registry." He handed her, Shadowflame and Dex mew registry pendants. They were fancier than the blondes old pendants. Small copper beads framed each side of the crystal– which was now a triangle with three facets on each side– and extra cords had been woven into the chain, making it triply thick.

"Added security measures," Alden explained as Edaline swept Sophie's hair back and clasped the choker snug around her neck.

Sophie squeezed the pendant, feeling more like herself again. She would always be slightly different, but in her own way, she finally belonged. And with extra protection she could almost let go of her worries about the kidnappers.

Almost.

She reached for Grady's and Edaline's hands, feeling safer with someone to hold on to. Not just someone. Her family. Shadowflame wrapped an arm around her. "Hey, its not a real victory without a victory song." She winked. Sophie grinned, it was their little way to 'relinquish in their victory while others crashed and burn' as Shadowflame called it. "You choose this time." The brunette said.

Italics = Sophie
Bold = Shadowflame
Italics + bold = Sophie + Shadowflame

Hmm, ey, hm hm
Hey
Don't think about it
Just move your body
Listen to the music
Sing, oh, ey, oh
Just move those left feet
Go ahead, get crazy
Anyone can do it
Sing, oh, ey, oh
Show the world you've got that fire (fire)
Feel the rhythm getting louder
Show the room what you can do
Prove to them you got the moves, hey
I don't know about you,
But I feel better when I'm dancing, yeah, yeah
Better when I'm dancing, yeah, yeah
Don't you know
That we can do this together
I bet you feel better when you're dancing, yeah, yeah
La la la la la la la la la la la la la la
When you finally let go
And you slay that solo
'Cause you listen to the music
Sing, oh, ey, oh
'Cause you're confident, bae
And you make your hips sway
We knew that you could do it
Sing, oh, ey, oh
Show the world you've got that fire (fire, babe)
Feel the rhythm getting louder
Show the room what you can do
Prove to them you got the moves
I don't know about you,
But I feel better when I'm dancing, yeah, yeah
Better when I'm dancing, yeah, yeah
Oh oh
And we can do this together
I bet you feel better when you're dancing, yeah, yeah
La la la la la la la la la la la la la la
Oh ey oh
Oh ey oh
I feel better when I'm dancing
I'm better when I'm dancing, aye, oh ey oh
Feel better when I'm dancing, yeah, yeah
Better when I'm dancing, yeah, yeah,
Don't you know
We can do this together
Bet you feel better when you're dancing, yeah, yeah
La la la la la la la la la la la la la la
I feel better when I'm dancing
I'm better when I'm dancing, hey
Feel better when I'm, yeah, yeah

The brown eyed girls erupted into giggles and high-fived each other while everyone else were wtf'ing all over the place.

"You ready to go home?" Edaline asked, taking Sophie's hand and squeezing it.

"Yeah, I am." She took another look at the smiling faces of all her friends. They were safe. She was safe. Everything was going to be okay.

Grady took her hand, Shadowflame took her other hand and Edaline took Shadowflame's free hand.

Grady tightened his grip on her hand as he held the pathfinder up to the light. "Well come on then. Let's go home."

She nodded, letting his words sink into her heart.

They stepped into the path, and a comforting warmth that had nothing to do with the rushing light overwhelmed Sophie.

It had been a long and difficult journey, but she finally knew where she belonged.

Sophie Foster was going home.