-Sophie glided throughout the party with a smile. It was just starting, and she enjoyed mingling with all of her friends and their families. She felt more relaxed than she had at the over-the-top-fancy Winnowing Gala, and wasn't self conscious about what she was wearing, who she was talking to, what she was wearing, how she was acting, or what fork to use (long story). The tedious atmosphere was gone, and she felt as though this time, she could be herself.

She got many compliments on the dress she was wearing; one that Biana had picked out for her during their shopping excursion, and the dress was way more Sophie. It was shorter with a high-low hem and a shaped ruffle skirt. The bodice was a faux wrap with fabric folds to add dimension, and was a heart shaped neckline. There were tiny sheer short sleeves and a high neckline of that same fabric. The entire dress was red, though in various shades; except for a silver belt around her waist. She wore black ballet flats and left her hair down, with no makeup on, nice. Heck, Biana had dressed up more for this event than Sophie had, wearing a dress of blues and scalloped hems, a ribbon stretching from over her shoulders to wrap around her waist in a bow. The biggest difference was that Biana had styled her hair in classic waves, as well as the fact that she actually bothered to put on makeup and put on some shiny silver braided hoop earrings... earrings that Sophie was willing to bet were made by Dex, who still didn't realize that he still had jewelry pliers still tucked into his back pocket...

Currently, Sophie was engrossed in a conversation with Jensi when a familiar hand grabbed one of hers and spun her around. The first thing she saw were two teal eyes, and a crisp voice rang through the air past her to Jensi, "Sorry, Grady's about to start the music. I'll give her back to you," though she could've sworn Fitz breathed the word, "eventually." under his breath.

"No problem," the short boy assured Fitz casually, smiling, "and congratulations on the whole cognate thing."

"Thanks, man," Fitz replied, smiling, one hand resting lazily on the curve of her waist and the other still gently holding hers. He was relaxed, one of the first times since they started training at high speed for the cognate trials. Sophie thought that it was nice to see him this way, she had almost forgotten after long, torturous weeks of practicing last minute. She too felt this calm feeling of peace that was settling over them, and had even worn flats so she could dance to her heart's content instead of clunky heels.

"I'll talk to you later, Jens," she smiled at her friend before putting her hand on Fitz's arm like they had practiced what seemed like ages ago.

"Yeah, enjoy your first date as cognates!" Instantly, and the very mention of such a thing made her realize that Jensi was right, but even more so, it was their first time showing off their cognateism in public.

Fitz chuckled, making her blush "Sorry to steal you away."

"In all fairness, this dance is long overdue. Things have been so crazy!"

"Yeah, they have," he sighed a little, content, "I'm glad things are settling out."

"The world's got to give us a break at some point."

"I couldn't agree more."

Music started playing, and everyone stepped back to look at the two cognates in the middle as they started to dance before pairing up and joining them themselves. Across the room, Sophie saw Biana dancing with Dex. They were twirling and whirling about like the other dancers of the room, including Sophie and Fitz. It was a waltz, and they all sort of moved in a circle, switching from the inside of the dance to the outside as they spun.

When the song started to end, the gents stopped dancing, and let go of their partners, letting them spin to the next man over, which for Sophie, happened to be Valin... great. He still had that drool on his lip that sparkled like his excitement filled eyes. At the very least, he had washed his hair, which was a plus, but his hands were grossly sweaty. When she looked over at her cognate, she saw that his eyes were sharply fixated on her, totally ignoring his partner, who looked like she was about to melt in her shoes. Sophie didn't know who she was, but she knew that the girl was one of Fitz's mindless fans that he was acquainted with. In the past, Sophie might have been very jealous, but she was accustomed to girls like that now... and because Fitz wasn't looking at her, he was looking at Sophie. After all, Fitz had that effect on her as well... Though that didn't mean she couldn't wait for the partners to change again.

She stole glances at Fitz over the next few minutes to find that he was still looking at her. Sophie wasn't exactly surprised, the proctors had informed them that for the first year or so, they might be strongly protective over one another in varying degrees, calling it the Distranto effect. She smiled to herself, glad that she wasn't the only one experiencing the sudden protectiveness. Earlier when they were setting things up, Sophie was blowing up balloons when she noticed a girl flirting with Fitz openly, so... so openly that the balloon Sophie had just tied up popped in her hands. Afterwards, she had felt a little dirty, because Fitz could talk to anyone he liked - even if they were clearly trying to swindle him into romance - she wasn't the boss of him. Now, she felt more relaxed, because it wasn't just her being obnoxious; it was part of the cognate bond.

The cognate bond... the very thought of it still made her giddy. Sophie was glad that she had a photographic memory, because she could remember every second of the ceremony that only took place a week and a half ago. They had been brought to a dimly lit chamber with shimmering blue reflections of light flickering throughout the room from the skylights, since the building was under the water in a lake in Eternalia, as the location was meant to be secret and discreet. There was no furniture in the room nothing except for a tall, towering two-tiered stage with thrones. The council of Telepathy sat on the thrones on the lower tier, Aurora and Harold among them, the latter of which shot the two teens a wink as he made his way to his seat. At the second tier, the taller one, sat the Council, who had arrived in their glittering attire, draped with jewels and luxury. After the ceremony, they had all congratulated the two cognates personally, Oralie with a hug, and the rest with a firm handshake... except for Alina, but that wasn't a loss.

Sophie and Fitz had stood in front of the stage together on what looked like a run off drain, hand in hand as Emery, the head of the Council and the Council of Telepathy, glided down the center steps from his seat to a pool where he filled a golden bowl with what a swirling shimmering translucent rainbow liquid. He then walked up to the two teens, calmly, yet powerfully ordering for them to link their minds together and hold both of one another's hands. He ladled a spoonful of the liquid in the bowl and poured it in the space between them, letting fall through the metal grates they stood on, and Sophie started to feel this spark in her mind. Emery then spoke words of ancient dialect as he passed the ladle to each cognate so they could take a sip of the bitter, gorgeous potion. The councilman then held the bowl out to them, saying the part of the monologue where they each press some of the nasty, glittering liquid onto each other's temples.

With shaking hands, Sophie went first, dipping her fingers into the glowing, disgusting liquid, and Fitz lowered his head for her to touch his temples. The potion trickled down her bare arms and started to soak the hem of her white, greek-style gown, but she didn't care. She smiled nervously at him and he smiled back as he tucked her hair behind her ears. Fitz then proceeded to dip his fingers into the bowl and rested them against her temples. They stood there for a while, staring into each other's eyes with soft expressions of awe feeling the sparks of the cognate bond formed in their minds as Emery said the last words. When the Councilor was finished, he stepped aside and gestured for Sophie and Fitz to step to the edge of the liquid filled chasm, smiling widely before helping one another down the couple of steps down into the pond before they let themselves fall in together, fingers laced comfortably.

They went under, and Sophie had a vague sense of deja vu from their cognate trials, only this time, it was pleasant, comfortable, and the trials were over. They didn't let go of one another's hands when under, and instead, grabbed their free hands, pulling them together so that their foreheads touched. They shared a smile, the skirt of her dress and hair, as well as his white ceremonial toga-style robes drifting around them listlessly as they felt the last of the bond click into place. Together, they kicked to the surface and gasped for air, grabbing at the stairs so they could hoist themselves up, where they found the different Council members there to greet them. Oralie and Harold helped them out of the pool. They were dripping in the rainbow potion, and their clothes were dyed with the substance, but they didn't care. They accepted the congratulations and hugs, from the councils as well as their family, who poured into the room as soon as Emery rang a large, old bell that was situated at the top of the ceiling, but really, in that room, it was just the two cognates.

"You're my number fifteen you know," he slurred, slurping up the drool as he spoke, causing her to tear her eyes away from her cognate at last and pull back into reality. Sophie fought back a cringe, especially since his breath smelled like stale mouth spray mixed with doritos, which was strange as elves didn't have doritos. 

"Oh really?" She asked as pleasantly as she could muster without gagging. He was a nice guy, but personal hygiene was a thing.

"Yeah..." he paused before starting to ask, "Am I on your-"

Valin was cut off by a hand grabbing hers and twirling her out of his grasp. Sophie was confused, because the song was still midway through, but once she felt the person's hand catch hold of her waist, she knew exactly who it was. Fitz's teal eyes gave her butterflies when she looked up into them surprised. "Distranto, much?" she asked with a faux innocent smile. He responded with a slight frown and a grumble, and she couldn't help but laugh at that.

They danced for awhile, but suddenly, mid song, Biana changed the tracks to something with a more eccentric beat. She then danced her way over to the two cognates, and "stole" Sophie away with a wink, calling a very unapologetic, "Sorry!" over her shoulder. Looking behind her, Sophie saw Fitz blinking, still trying to figure out what happened, causing for Dex to walk over to him and pat his shoulder comfortingly.

"It's my turn now!" Biana laughed and took Sophie's hands. Sophie tried to follow her lead but Biana moved to the beat of her own drum, and though it was on rhythm with the music, that didn't mean it made it any easier for Sophie to guess her next move.

For the next couple of hours, Sophie danced with different members of her friend group and family, and when they got tired, they sat on the sidelines drinking lushberry juice from crystal punch cups. It was a lot of fun, and Alden even had a toast for the two cognates. Now, it was nearing the end of the night, and everyone was getting tired. Sophie had been dancing with Biana before the first slow song came on, and watched with a smile as Dex came to request it from the teal eyed beauty that was his girlfriend. She was so caught up in the sweetness of the moment, that she didn't see that Fitz was behind her until he tapped her shoulder.

When Sophie saw his outstretched hand, she blushed, knowing already what he was asking. She accepted it, and he pulled her so close that there was no space between them. His arm curled around her waist and up so his hand rested on her back, and his other hand laced with hers. Delicately, she wrapped her hand around his neck, and smiled up at him, mentally cringing as they softly swayed to the music because her face must be so red right now. Eventually, she rested her head against his chest, closing her eyes, his chin resting against her hair. They stayed like that for who knows how long before Fitz's breath hitched slightly, and he whispered, "Gnome..."

She lifted her head up to look at him with a slight frown, "What's wrong?"

"You look so beautiful tonight," he said softly. "I know that everyone else in the room has told you that at least once tonight, but that doesn't make it any less true; in fact, it only strengthens the argument."

"Argument against who?" asked Sophie, not quite understanding what he meant, her cheeks somehow getting redder.

"You. You always brush it off or something," he wasn't wrong, and she was left at a loss for words. She rested her head back down, trying to think of what to say when he already had something else to sweep her off her feet. "Be mine," he murmured breathlessly, causing her to jolt back slightly so she could see his face again.

Starstruck, she stupidly asked, "What?" The single word hanging in the air heavily as if it were an anvil on a string in a 70's cartoon. A tingling feeling spread from her fingertips to the rest of her body, almost making her shiver. Her eyes were wide as she looked up at him, trying to capture every line of his face so she could remember ever detail, a smile catching the corners of her lips.

His teal eyes screamed something of hunger, a certain kind of despracy; an ache that she too felt deep inside the crevices of her heart and soul. His neck was craned down so his face was close to hers, his eyes averted, and his heart on his sleeve. "Be mine," he said again, his voice quieter, softer this time, so much so that it was barely there; that if the wind blew it would carry his words away with it.

In that moment, Sophie didn't think, but she didn't need to. She tilted her chin up, and closed the gap between their lips. The kiss was like that from a movie, yet somehow better. It was every and any fantastic kiss cliche rolled into one, yet it was also something more. It was passionate, and their hearts slowly connected like their minds were, trying them together forever. She finally felt, that at long last, she and her soulmate were together. Their fears had been overcome, and they together, they had grown stronger; grown together. Sophie had had a crush on him before, but now she knew for certain that she was in love with her cognate; very much in love indeed. So much so that she barely heard the "awwwwwwe"s or quiet gasps from onlookers, and for once, she didn't care. There could have been every single human being in the world in that room, and to Sophie, it would still only feel like it was just she and Fitz.

When it ended, they rested their foreheads against one another, and stared into one another's eyes for a moment before laughing, broad smiles of pure joy resting on their faces. "I've been waiting to do that for so long," she transmitted, not trusting her words to come out of her mouth.

"Me too," he replied telepathically.

A few seconds later, their moment was ruined by Biana, who adorned a knowing smirk, "Hey lovebirds, we were just going to put on one last song for the night, care to join us?" By 'us' she meant the rest of the room, who, when that last song started, all started to dance with one another. Laughing, the two cognates joined the mix, but kept their hands together, and stole glances when they could, giddy on the idea that from here on out, they wouldn't be just friends, or even cognates. From now until forever, they were in love... together; at long last.

The End

Stay tuned for the epilogue...