-"What's taking them so long? I asked mom to pick me up that new pink dress by Déodiore, and I was hoping to wear it tomorrow when we go to the tea party." Biana sighed and put down her card. They were playing go fish (Sophie had taught her friend how to play with evlin cards) in front of the leap master, bored.

It was a tradition in the Ruwen household that when a daughter comes of age to apply for her matchmaking scroll, that she invited all of her eligible lady friends over for a tea party, where they would all fill out the sixty page packet together while enjoying tasty treats. However, there was one complication. There hadn't ever been a telepath in the Ruwen family with a cognate, and cognates were suppose to do everything together. It would be weird to take this big of a step without Fitz, but it was decided that afterwords, Sophie and her parents would go over to Everglen for dinner, so it kept both traditions intact. Biana took this information with glee and resolved that this would mean that they would both need to have different outfits for dinner, when Sophie didn't even know what she was wearing for the tea party!

"They'll be back any minute now, and I'm sure that Della has your dress," Sophie said soothingly.
"Do you have any ruckle berries?"

"No, go fish," Biana said with a sigh. Just then, the leap master shot ray of light on to it's platform, delivering Fitz, Della, and numerous shopping bags along with it. "Hey guys, you took a while. You better not have done something fun without us. Sophie and I are so bored, that we're playing a human card game called 'go fish'! It's the only card game we can play with two people."

"Oh boo hoo, life is so horrible. The little princesses are bored and need a servant to cheer them up." Fitz mocked in a whiny voice, smiling mischeviously as Biana threw her hand of cards at him. "Ooh! Watch out, this princess needs more etiquette lessons! I'm pretty sure that throwing things violates some sort of princess-code."

"Princesses have no code!" Biana declared triumphantly, "and I'm not a princess."

"Oh yeah? You're spoiled like one."

"True, but I'm tougher than you think."

Fitz put his hands up in defeat, "I never said that princesses couldn't be tough."

"In the stories, Mulan saved her whole country from invaders multiple times," Sophie offered.

"She isn't a princess though, she's a national hero, inspiration and the wife of a big-shot general." Biana crossed her arms stubbornly.

"She does have the same rank as a princess though, at least, amoung humans." Fitz pointed out, and Sophie nodded in agreement.
Biana gave them a skeptical look before turning to Della, "Did you get the dress I asked for?"

"Of course! I can't wait to see you wear it, you'll look so beautiful in it." She gushed happily and hugged her daughter, who Sophie could've sworn was tearing up a bit.

"Thanks mom, what are you going to wear?" Biana smiled from ear to ear.

"I don't know, I was hoping you'd help me choose."

"Of course I'll help you! Sophie, do you mind?" Biana turned to her with a hopeful expression.

"Not at all, go have fun. We were just playing cards," Sophie smiled at how excited Biana was. "Fitz and I can finish setting up the cognate drawers."

"Awesome, see you guys later!" Della took a few bags from Fitz before walking away with Biana, who was already talking about what she had in mind.

Fitz laughed and turned to Sophie, who's heart fluttered at the sudden attention. "Shall we?" He gestured to the door.

Sophie nodded, "let me help you with those bags, she didn't go too overboard did she?"

"Thanks, and no, not like she usually does," Fitz reassured her as he handed her some shopping bags. "Usually she gets more than this for one person!"

She laughed, "Gosh, I remember when I first came to the lost cities and she bought me boxes worth of clothes. That was pretty intimidating."

"I'm pretty sure Biana went with her for that excersion, she was pretty excited to have a sister."

"Was she dissapointed with my choice to stay with the Ruwens?" Sophie asked suddenly, curious.

Fitz shrugged, "a little, but I think she found a sister in you anyways."

Sophie smiled, elated by the compliment, "I found a sister in her too."

"Well then, what am I? Chopped liver?" Fitz laughed as he opened the door for her.

Sophie rolled her eyes, still smiling, "Fitz. We're literally cognates. We're going to go fill our cognate drawers."

"Alright, you win, now let's sort these clothes out."
They spent the next hour sitting on Fitz's floor, rumaging through shopping bags and sorting the contents into two piles until there was one bag left. "This one is for you," Fitz handed it to her with a small smile. His ears were bright red, which was how Sophie was able to tell when he was nervous.

"How do you know that it's not for you?" Sophie asked, confused. It's not like he...

"I picked it out myself." Sophie could feel herself blush. He did find it for her. "Open it, you'll love it... I hope." Fitz laughed nervously and held his hands in his lap. Another tell tale.

"I'm sure that it's awesome, no one knows me better than you."

Fitz's smile brightened, "really?" Sophie nodded and pulled the dress out with a gasp. His face fell a little, "do you like it?"

Sophie couldn't speak for a moment and just stared at the simple, but elegant dress.  She then hugged the dress with one arm, and her cognate with the other. "I love it. Thank you, it's perfect. I didn't have any idea what I was going to wear tomorrow, but thanks to you, I'm going to feel like the prettiest girl in the whole world."

She blushed as she felt his arms wrap around her gently, "you really like it that much?"

"I like it so much that I'm going to stand against Biana's desire for me to change after the tea party."

Sophie could feel his chest vibrate with laughter, "that takes guts. For the record-"

"Hey! I'm right here you know!" Biana suddenly appeared in the doorway, which caused for them Sophie and Fitz to awkwardly fall apart with red faces. "I was originally going to help Sophie choose outfits for tomorrow, but it seems that she already has one. So how about instead we put away all these clothes and play base quest?"

"We don't have enough people though," Sophie reminded her.

"Dad wanted to play with us."

"Really? That'll be awesome, he's really good." Fitz stood and helped Sophie up in the process.

"I didn't know your dad played base quest." Something about this didnt seem She mused, "I guess he's been busy all the other times we've played."

"Indeed, it'll be nice to be able to relax for once," Alden smiled as he walked over to them, "I call Sophie on my team."

"What? No fair!" Biana protested, "let's do boys against girls."

"No way! Sophie and I are cognates, so we should be a team." Fitz argued, his smile playful, but his eyes dead serious.

"Do I get a say in this?" Sophie laughed, she knew that for the most part, whoever was on her team was destined to win.

"Nope!" Biana linked arms with her with a smile.

"Why don't we just play three different times?" Fitz offered.

"That sounds like an excellent idea, Fitz. What do you say Sophie? Are you up for three games?" Alden asked as he patted her shoulder.

"Always."

"Fine, but I call Sophie first!" Biana proceeded to vanish, bringing Sophie into the invisibility with her, and lead her away from the boys.

"She had to be a vanisher, didn't she?" Sophie could hear Fitz groan in the distance and Alden laugh.

After the first two games, Sophie was pretty exhausted. Her team had won each time, but only barely. Alden was even better than Sophie had been lead to believe, and was given a run for her money. However, this time would be different. She had already paired with Biana and Fitz, but this time, she would work with Alden instead of against him.

Fitz and Biana were questing this time, so Sophie and Alden coordinated where to hide by using their telepathy. They were hiding behind a pile of rocks when Alden tapped her shoulder and transmitted to her: 'we need to talk.'

'What's wrong?' She replied, but had secretly known in her mind that though Alden was a lot of fun, he rarely didn't include work.

'I'm sorry that I have to ruin the game, but I had to find a way to talk to you without Biana and Fitz listening in. There's been a situation with the Neverseen.'

Sophie's mind started to spin, 'What do you mean?'

'I mean that they've been making attacks near your human family again, and when I say near, I mean incredibly close. I don't know how they discovered their new identities, but they did. They set your sister's school on fire with everblaze. Luckily, we put it out before anyone got hurt, but still. I'll keep you updated, but we're going to have to move them again. I suggest you only talk about this through telepathy or in a private area for now, because you may possibly have a spy at Foxfire following you, but for now, try to have fun and relax. You have a big day tomorrow.'
That hit Sophie hard. Her human family was in danger, again, and it was probably all her fault. "I couldn't have known about the spy," she thought to herself reassuringly, but she decided to take Alden's words to heart. 'Thank you for telling me. Let me know if you need my help.'

'We'll find the spy soon, they're never hidden for long. So there's no reason to worry about this.' Alden used his signature line and pulled her in for a hug.

"What's wrong?" Fitz walked over with a concerned look on his face.

Alden pulled away, but kept his hand on her shoulder. "I'll let Sophie tell you later." She nodded in agreement.

"So does this mean we win?" Biana asked, appearing a few feet behind her brother. "Did I miss something?"

Sophie shook her head no and put on a smile. "Don't worry, it's nothing, really. You guys totally beat us."

Biana squealed with delight, "really? That's awesome! We beat the two best base-quest players we know!"

Fitz nodded in agreement, but looked troubled, "yeah. That's pretty cool."

Just then, Sophie's imparter buzzed. She saw that she was being hailed home, and frowned. "Sorry guys, but Edaline is calling me back, I'll see you tomorrow."

Alden and Biana hugged her goodbye, but Fitz walked with her to the leap master. "What was all that about with my dad? Did something happen?"

Immediately, Sophie started tearing up. "My human family... the Neverseen found them and have been attacking the area with everblaze. They even set fire to Amy's school..." Sophie told him quietly, her head down. "They're going to relocate them, but your dad said that there was probably a Foxfire spy listening in to our convorsations."

She hadn't realized that Fitz had stopped until he grabbed her arm, and pulled her into a hug. She buried her face in his shoulder, tears starting to spill out of her eyes. "We'll get them, I know we will. I'll tear them down myself if that's what it's going to take."

"No, you won't, not without me." Sophie wrapped her arms tighter around him.

"Of course, we're stronger together."
"That's really cheesy," she laughed and leaned back to look at him.

"Yeah," he laughed, "but it's true." Fitz then wiped her tears away with his thumb, and her heart fluttered. "For now, we just have to be more careful. I'll try to get dad to tell me more later, and I'll tell you what I find, okay?"

She nodded, "thank you, but it'll be hard to get any more information from him."

"It may take a while," he agreed, "but I'll get it. I promise."

Sophie's imparter then buzzed, signalling for them to step away from one another. She sighed, "I better go. I'll see you tomorrow."

"See you tomorrow." Fitz waved as she walked to the leapmaster and didn't stop until she leaped away.