Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-2605:6001:EB44:1700:90E2:B420:3673:B91F-20190915212233/@comment-24.214.117.2-20190915215009

Here are my reasons: Sophie Elizabeth Foster has always had a crush on Fitz Vacker, but she actually loves Keefe Sencen. Keefe loves her and has made it obvious. Fitz is inconsistent and hurts her feelings repeatedly. Sophie belongs with Keefe for those reasons. While Sophie’s head is telling her she loves Fitz, her heart is telling her that Keefe is the one for her. The evidence is in Neverseen, when the narration says, speaking of Keefe, “Her stomach filled with fluttering things, which flitted around even more when she noticed how close they were now standing. The toes of their boots were almost touching, and his breath felt warm on her cheeks.” (654) Or in Neverseen when she states, “I would never hate you, Keefe. Why would you even think that?” (175) And in Lodestar, the narration reads, “The intensity of his stare turned everything floaty and fluttery.” (569) There are many other occasions. Keefe has made no secret of the fact that he loves her, repeatedly calling himself the president of the Sophie Foster Fanclub. He tells her things that he doesn’t tell anyone else and has repeatedly put himself in danger to protect her. In Nightfall, he fights King Dimitar so that she does not have to, almost getting himself killed in the process. In Lodestar, when Sophie says that she isn’t sure she can forgive him, he says, “Yeah… I can feel that. And if you needed proof that I’m not doing this for me—that’s it, okay?” (570) And in Nightfall, when talking about Sophie kissing Dex: “When she didn’t smile, he leaned in and whispered, ‘And here’s another thing you can count on. You’ll never lose me. No matter how any of this stuff goes down.’” (273) And on the last page of the Keefe short story the narration says: But afterward, he had a plan. From that point on, he only had one goal: to be whatever Sophie needed. Not the hero. Not the one taking charge of everything. Just a guy ready to listen and help and be there for her. A friend. Until she was ready for more.

Fitz does not deserve her for multiple reasons. Most importantly, when Fitz is dealing with emotional turmoil, he lashes out and hurts Sophie emotionally. For example, in Exile, when Alden’s mind shatters, she offers to help and he tells her, “You’ve done enough!” He is a Vacker, he grew up in a perfect family with everything he could ever want, so he has had no practice dealing emotional events and takes it out on Sophie. When Fitz does this to Sophie, Keefe is supportive and keeps her from falling apart. Another example is in Flashback, when they find out Alvar is returning to Everglen: Fitz must’ve noticed, though, because he reeled toward her. “Don’t tell me you’re okay with this.” “’Okay’ isn’t the right word,” she mumbled. “I think… it’s a hard call.” “A hard call,” Fitz repeated. “That’s it? I thought for this of all things, we’d be on the same side.” “We are,” Sophie promised, reaching for him. He jerked away. “No, we’re—” (48) Keefe then interrupts, again not letting Fitz take it out on Sophie. As you can see, Keefe is the perfect match for Sophie. Sophie loves him with her heart, Keefe loves her and has proven it, and Fitz is not right for her. Fitz is just a crush. Keefe would sacrifice everything for Sophie. Clearly, Sophie belongs with Keefe. -trickyzbear