-Sophie was incredibly excited for the tea party. It had seemed a little lame at first, but when Edaline mentioned the amount of mallowmelt and custard bursts she planned to make, Sophie couldn't have been more on board with it all. Yes, Sophie was excited to finally apply for her matchmaker's list, but the frilliness of a tea party wasn't really her thing. Now, Fitz just made it even easier for her. She didn't have to sit through hours of Biana trying to help her find a dress in either Sophie or Jolie's closet because her cognate had already picked out the perfect one out. Biana did understand what Sophie liked, that wasn't the problem. The problem was that all of the clothes Sophie had were too plain for a tea party, while all of Jolie's clothes were too not Sophie. They had planned to go shopping with Edaline and Della after school a few days ago, but the plans fell apart as Edaline had to calm Verdie, Della got caught up in Alden's emissary duties, Biana needed to study for a big alchemy test, and Sophie needed to practice cognate stuff with Fitz. They had been so busy that they didn't really remember that they had forgotten to reschedule.

"Oh well," Sophie thought as she climbed out of bed. "All's well that end's well."

After a quick shower, Sophie got dressed and made her way downstairs. "Sophie, the applications are here." Grady grunted as he carried the heavy packets outside to the table that was already set. Edaline must not have been able to sleep last night. It was becoming a more normal thing now, which caused for Sophie and Grady to start to worry.

"Awesome! Thanks, dad!"

"No problem, breakfast is on the table. Edaline is in the kitchen making the desserts. She put me on application duty as punishment for stealing a custard burst or two."

"Try five," Edaline corrected with a smile. "Goodmorning, are you as excited as I am?"

Without hesitation, Sophie replied, "yes! I can't wait until everyone gets here. This is going to be so much fun!"

"It's a pretty cool tradition, right? A little frilly, but tasty. Speaking of food, come eat. Della said that she and Biana would be over in a few minutes, so you'd best hurry."

"Thanks, mom!" Sophie quickly sat at the table and started eating the purple and pink polkadotted fruit in front of her, which tasted like sugared oatmeal. She had promised Biana that she would let her do her hair and makeup before everyone else arrived. Of course, Biana was over the moon with this and would most definitely take full advantage of this opportunity.

Just as Sophie finished, the leap master whirred to life, delivering Della and Biana. "Hi! Are you ready for today?" Biana hugged her happily.
"Yeah, you?" Sophie smiled wider at Biana's excitement. Granted, she got excited over a lot of things, but still, it was always nice to see.

"Yeah, now let's go do your hair and makeup!" Biana lead her up the stairs, waving goodbye to her mom who was already helping Edaline with a flurry of excitement.

Biana sat Sophie down at her vanity, and started rummaging through what little makeup she had. Sophie wasn't surprised when Biana pulled out her own bag of make up and began to look through the contents. "So what's your plan? I'd rather not wear fake eyelashes."

"Of course, it's your day." Biana smiled and put all the stuff she didn't plan to use away. "Do you mind gold eyeshadow paired with reddish-pink lip gloss?"

Sophie hugged her, "you know me so well."

Biana giggled, "it's a talent," and got to work. What was really nice was that Biana wasn't slow or sloppy. She could do perfect eyeliner in seconds and put on eyeshadow without a powder out of place. Sophie was always thoroughly impressed by what Biana did, even if she didn't always like the bold looks she tested on her when she wanted to do makeovers.

Biana didn't speak again until she was styling Sophie's hair. They were sitting together on Sophie's bed while Biana braided a little strand of hair. "So... who are you hoping to get on your matchmaker's list?"

She bit her lip nervously, "I don't know. I don't really know a lot of people."

"Really? What about Fitz? I know you like him." Biana had Sophie hold the little braid she had just completed while she started on the other side.

"I-I don't really know. I mean, I do like him, but what would I say to him if he was on my list? It might be a little weird," Sophie flushed.

"Have you ever considered the possibility that you might be on his list? Or that he likes you?" Biana asked thoughtfully and took the other braid from Sophie, tying them together at the back of her head with a hair tie, and grabbed a box of ribbons.

Her face turned even redder, "n-n-no, why would he like me? The only reason I would be on his list is because we're cognates."

"Oh come on, Sophie! You're the pretty mysterious girl with epic powers who came from the human world. You could basically pick any guy in the lost cities!"

"So could you. You're the lovely Vacker girl with beauty, brains, brawn, and who's practically made of sunshine." Sophie took Biana's hand, "guys line up to exchange a few words with you every day!"

Her friend smiled sadly, "what's the point of having every guy fawning over you when the guy who's attention you actually want isn't yours."

"Keefe." Sophie hugged Biana tightly, "he doesn't know what he's missing. Trust me."

"Thanks," she replied quietly, "I'm just worried that his attention is for someone better."

"There's no one better than you, Biana. You're beautifully kind and your smile is infectious, so much that even Fitz ties with you. You're easily the best person I know."

Biana didn't say anything for a while, until she let go of Sophie and smiled, "thanks. I really needed to hear that. I'm sorry that I'm suddenly getting all emotional before your tea party."

Sophie laughed, "don't worry about it, everyone has emotional needs for emotional times. I mean, we're about to go fill out a paper to find who will be our best match to spend the rest of our lives with! Isn't that crazy."

That made her friend giggle, "yeah, it kind of is. Shall we go down and wait for everyone else to come so we can be one step closer to finding our match?"

Sophie smiled, linking arms with her as they walked down to see Marella appear via leap master. "Hi!" Sophie exclaimed, "how are you?"

"Good, thanks, and you?" Marella smiled, "are you ready to fill out a sixty page packet?"

She laughed, "as ready as I'll ever be."

"You look beautiful!" Biana stared at Marella in awe, "I love your entire look! It's so flawless, totally you!"

Marella seemed a little surprised and blushed, clearly flattered. "Thank you, when I saw this dress I knew it had to be mine."

"It totally suits you! My personal style is a bit frillier different, but Sophie's is almost exactly like yours! The only difference is that she looks best in red and you in blue! You're like two peas in a pod," Biana exclaimed happily. Nothing got her going like fashion.

"Hey guys," Linh walked in and joined the girls. "Am I the last one?"

"Yeah, but don't worry, you're right on time. Let's go out and eat some mallowmelt!" Sophie opened the door to the patio where the tea table was all set up. Edaline and Della were already there, drinking tea.

"Hey girls! Come sit down. You have long packets to sit through." Edaline waved them over with a smile. "Grady set the packets and quills out all ready, so all that's left to do is to answer questions."

Nervously, the four friends sat down and opened up the book. "The first twenty pages are questions about you, the next set of twenty are what you're looking for, and the last set is what you want your future to look like." Della explained, "this is the only time you ever have to fill the packet out, and you don't have to request a list immediately. Fitz still hasn't requested his first, and he filled out the packet two years ago! Although I've reminded him that he can request five lists in total, he still hasn't done it."

"I know! I'm definately requesting my list right away. I can't understand how he could wait so long." Biana said as she and her mom exchanged a knowing look. "Anyways, let's get started!"

They all picked up their quills but dropped them as soon as Linh announced, "there are 240 questions and they seem to all be written response..."

Sophie and Marella groaned in unison while Biana was already tearing through the packet. Linh laughed at her friends, "once, in Exile, we had to take a ten thousand question test every day for a week until we learned to have more patience."

"I couldn't've done that, I have zero patience with that sort of thing." Marella sighed and sat back in her seat.

"At least we're all here together," Sophie smiled.

"Yeah. At least we're all here together." Marella agreed and gave Sophie a small smile.

Midway through the teaparty, Sophie sat back to take a breath, and reached for her teacup when something splashed in it from above, soaking her hand and the table cloth. She looked up but saw nothing that it could have come from except the cloudless sky itself. "What was that?" Linh asked, "did you spill your tea?"

"No, something fell into it, from the sky." Sophie frowned and dried off her hand, looking up to see where it could have come from again. Seeing nothing, she picked up her teacup and looked inside as Biana dabbed at the tea spill on the table with her napkin. Inside the cup was the remains of her tea craddling a tiny tear drop shaped bottle with a black swan on it.

"That's weird," Linh frowned as well, "I'm sure it's just a stray helicopter seed. Those pesky things always go rogue."

Sophie nodded in agreement, "that's what it looks like. I'm going to go wash out my cup."

Linh nodded and returned her attention back to her packet. Sophie walked back inside to the kitchen, and dumped out the remaining tea in the cup before drying off the bottle and pulling out the cork. Sophie wondered how they could get such a tiny bottle but pushed the thought aside as she dumped the paper into her hand. Her hands shook as she unfolded the little note they had sent her, nervous because she had thought that this whole thing with the Neverseen was over for a while. After the battle on the mountain and the disappearance of Lady Gisela, the Neverseen had been lying low. The Black Swan had predicted that their enemies were having an internal revolution, and estimated that it would be years before they could bring themselves back together. Now, months later, everblaze was being set by her human family's home and the Black Swan was sending her a message out of the blue for the first time since their last encounter with the Neverseen. It took Sophie a second to see what the note read, but when she did, she gasped a little.

Be wary of those who are kept near,
The wrong way they may steer.
For the Neverseen they spy,
To you and the rest of the world they lie.
They are one you call a friend,
But one to easily condecend.
Keep your cognate by your side,
For certain he has nothing from you to hide.
Just be wary of who else you trust,
For they could be bent on power lust.

Sophie turned the note over to see if there poem was continued, but instead it read: Be careful, Moonlark. Hurriedly, she folded the note back up and stuck it back in the bottle. First Alden warned her of a spy, but now the Black Swan. This wasn't good. She had to show Fitz. Sophie then ran upstairs to get the purse she had planned to bring to Everglen for her medicines that she had to carry with her at all times, and tucked the little bottle into the bottom. Satisfied, she went back downstairs, dried off the inside of her cup, and returned to the tea party like nothing had happened.