~Foxfire was abuzz with busy students trying to get to their sessions on time. Fitz Vacker pushed through the crowd to get to his favorite class of the day. Telepathy. Sure, Tiergan was harder on him than he was on Sophie, but he didn't mind. Sophie was starting to open up to him because of their training sessions, and he wouldn't miss that for the world.

After about a year and a half since they started having sessions together, he now knew her favorite places on earth, human books, her human family, as well as human movies, and what they were about. Even though he found some of them, such as those "Harry Potter" ones she mentioned, ridiculous. Come on, magic sticks? A sad kid with a scar on his face? Evil snake charmer with no nose? Fitz refused to be convinced that they were any good, no matter how much Sophie tried to 'reason' with him.

At the beginning of their training sessions together, he didn't understand why she wouldn't talk to him about that sort of thing. Fitz would get so frustrated that they'd argue, but he'd always let her win the argument, because in the end, he realized he was never really angry with her, he was mad at himself.

Fitz use to wonder what he was doing wrong and why she didn't like it. He thought that he was doing everything right by her, and couldn't see what he was doing wrong until she mustered up the courage to tell him that she had been bullied all of her life.

He couldn't believe it. His cognate, one of this best friends in the whole wide world, the girl who could do and be anything, had been picked on by people who could never understand her.

Fitz didn't have a photographic memory like she did, but he could recall every detail of that argument. He remembered the way her brown eyes watered and how her hands gripped she sleeves of her sweater. The way her eyes met his but quickly moved to look at her shoes as she said with a shaking voice: "Fitz, you don't get it. In the human world... I was bullied, a lot."

Those words were like a slap to the face, and everything fell into place. He was doing anything but helping by pressuring her, then taking out his frustration on her. He realized that she needed time, he needed patience, and that he desperately needed to be a better friend.

Fitz had been thinking about himself for most of their friendship. He had went to go get her from the human cities to impress his dad and the council. He could win with her on his team in base quest, stomping Keefe, his best friend, and Bianca, his sister, into the dirt. Worst of all, Fitz had lashed out at her for what had happened with his dad in exile, when it wasn't even her fault. Now he was arguing with her for not opening up to him? Thinking back on it now still made him feel like a total jerk.

What was almost worse than how he behaved towards her was how she could effortlessly forgive him for it. When he had apologized, she had just smiled and told him that everything was going to be okay. She, who he had clearly hurt, was comforting him. She didn't want his guilt to get the best of him, and he didn't let it. Sophie didn't need to worry about him.

He was so lost in thought while walking to class that he missed the door to the telepathy room by a few inches, and instead hit the doorframe. Fitz groaned, rubbing his forehead. He was embarrassed because the door had been open with Tiergan and Sophie sitting inside, getting a front seat view of the incident.

Fitz stumbled into the room, his face flushed as Tiergan laughed his head off, and his cognate gasped. By the time he righted himself, Tiergan was in tears from the laughter, but Sophie wasn't in his line of sight. He was about to look around when he felt a gentle hand on his forearm. "Are you okay?"

Fitz looked down to see Sophie looking up at him, her brow creased slightly with worry. Even a year after the final argument, Fitz still couldn't keep her from worrying about him. He smiled gently, "yeah, I'm okay, don't worry about me."

That probably wasn't the right choice of words, and he mentally smacked himself for it because her brow creased even more right after. Sophie opened her mouth to reply but Tiergan cut her off by saying, "comedy aside, let's get to work." With that, the two cognates sat in their seats, though Fitz glanced at Sophie when he didn't think she was looking.

"Today we will be working on something called a mind belay," Tiergan announced. "Have either of you heard of it before?" The two of them shook their heads no. "Wonderful. Basically, it's a skill used in someone's mind to help you travel deeper without getting pulled in. It's similar to a human sport called rock climbing."

Fitz looked over at the perfect moment to see Sophie's eyes light up. Usually he was the one who knew about the skill or something related to it. She was cute when she was excited. Her smile was infectious, even Tiergan couldn't help but smile.  "I know what rock climbing is! This is awesome!"

"Yes, yes it is," their mentor chuckled. "To be able to 'rock climb' in someone's mind, you'll have to make a 'rope' to tie around your own mind, with the other end attached to something stable such as a post or even someone else inside there with you. Sophie, you are probably going to have an easier time with this skill than Fitz because of your inflicting abilities, as well as your positivity since the 'rope' is made out of positive memories. This is a very important skill that is used in a variety of different telepathy jobs, so you should both practice it a lot. Shall we begin?"

With that, they sat on the floor and began practicing mind belaying in one another's minds. Tiergan had been right about Sophie having an easier time. Fitz could barely make a 'rope' without her help. They both didn't go in very deeply to save as much of the little time they had as they could. When the session was officially over, Tiergan excused himself, saying he had an important matter to attend to immediately.

Sophie stood and helped him up as she. brushed a stray lock of blond hair behind her ear. Fitz desperately hoped that his face wasn't red. She didn't realize how pretty she was, or how loud her fingers could snap when right next to his ear.

"Hello? Earth to Fitz, did you even hear what I just said?" Fitz blinked, and saw that she looked more amused that mad.

"N-no, sorry, I was lost in thought. What did you say?" He swallowed nervously. Why was he so nervous all of the sudden?

"I asked if you wanted to come over later, so we could practice?"

"Right," he laughed, though a little confused with himself. What had he expected her to say? "Sure, I'll get Biana to tell my parents where I am."

"Cool, so I'll see you later?"

"I'll see you later." Fitz confirmed, and with that, they parted ways for the remainder of the school day.

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Hey guys!
To keep my aesthetic chapter titles, bit still switch POVs, I'll put either a - or a ~ as an indent for the first paragraph to mark who's it is. That way, it's even more aesthetic because I am an art hoe to the core. Don't worry, even if you don't remember the symbols, you'll be able to figure out who's POV it is just by the writing.
- : Sophie
~ : Fitz