Board Thread:Short Stories and Fanfictions/@comment-44907704-20200211041721

Oralie tapped on the cache gently three times with her fingernails, reminding her of the gadget Tinker had made her that allowed her Enhancing to be activated and deactivated at her will.

Which, of course, she no longer needed. Why couldn't Oralie be a horrible person so she could hate her for the rest of her life? Why did she have to be one of her most loyal supporters on the Council — and why did it hurt so much when she found out the truth?

It still hurt now, of course. She didn't want to hide it from her biological mother, who surely would've picked up on her feelings before anyone else. She had no way of hiding.

She knew she deserved the truth, but not all people who deserved something got what they needed  —  and this was the price. Pain and horror and betrayal and regret and... something she couldn't quite recognize or describe, but she knew it was there. Like the day Councillor Not-Her-Mom helped in deciding whether she'd attend Foxfire or not.

''So did the pink-loving Councillor make this possible... all of this? So she could make friends with the people that she took with to join the Black Swan, get on the Council's radar and break as many laws as there were in the Elvin world...''

Somehow her every thought these days traced back to Oralie, something she didn't deserve. Attention from the daughter she could never take care of would come in finite supply, something she had to earn in order to prove herself worthy.

She was getting tired of that.

Oralie shook her head from somewhere far away, waiting for Sophie to glance up at her. "Sophie?"

When she grudgingly forced her eyes to meet her mother's...

She saw Grady and Edaline's looks of terror as she told them the truth of who her biological mother was, knowing that they could turn it into a weapon — one they could use to blackmail Oralie in case they ever needed something from her. Something she hoped they would never consider.

She saw the hurt and shock in her human parents' expressions as she tried to explain to them there was someplace better for her, where she would belong, where she could live happily — almost as if they'd been in the Elvin world for as long as she'd been, too, which only seemed to shatter her heart more.

She saw the guilt and hesitation in Oralie's worried face and knew that what she'd just seen wasn't entirely her fault...

And she understood what Mr. Forkle meant when he'd told her that she wasn't allowed to know the truth.

And she truly believed now that she would stop her search and her curiosity about the subject instantly vanished. It blinked out of sight, and she somehow anticipated that it'd never return.

Something seemed to click in her that made her drift back to the real world as Oralie nodded distractedly in her direction, her attention not wavering from the cache. Taken aback by the sudden revelation of how pure Oralie's actions and emotions always seemed to be, she drew back and tried to let go of the past...

When she was going back into the past soon if her biological mother succeeded. Who knew how far back?

"I've gotten in!" A tiny yelp came from a few feet away, but it was the cheerful, giddy type that seemed to accompany peace and serenity. The most excitement and faith she'd ever heard in Oralie's voice as the blonde-ringlet Councillor blushed and returned back to her shy, quiet shell. It was so terrifyingly surreal she wondered for a moment if this could be a lie — then instantly regretted it.

But if she was reading her emotions, she didn't say anything about it as she whispered phrases and muttered incantations under her breath.

"Aren't you in already?" She frowned, noticing that Oralie was now nervously twisting one of the brightly emerald-colored bracelets on her wrist.

Oralie stepped sideways with a fragile look in her eyes as she turned to look at Sophie in every way a daughter would want from her mom — there was pride, hope, exasperation, determination, and something else that was purely motherly, sending her spiraling down a twisting staircase. "Bronte warned me that there would likely be an added precaution. For me," She added when Sophie instinctively reached for her eyelashes to have something to tug at, "I am always the weakest. And that's what makes me strong when I need to be."

She wasn't focused on the sentimental part of the speech. "Councillor Bronte helped you?"

Instead of feeling outraged or furious, her mind suddenly jumped to an image of Bronte riding on Greyfell's back and an alicorn-like voice screaming ''Bronte the Brontosaurus! ''as she couldn't help but wonder if she was on a sedative.

"I didn't ask him for help, no. But he did guess that I was going to try to uncover a Forgotten Secret — and, before you ask, Sophie, Bronte is the type of person to ask questions and pass them along if he feels the need. Given the circumstances, he was surprisingly accepting and only asked for me to get the word to him if I do succeed. And I think I'll need your help," she added quietly, like her voice was being carried by hopeful flames and songbirds.

"What if I... enhanced you?"

Oralie said nothing but held out her hand. Her eyes seemed to widen and be captivated in the moment for a second before realizing the experience must've been awkward for Sophie; she looked at her the way she'd done through the test for Foxfire, the ability restricting circlet being placed on her head, Tribunals and gatherings and arguments and fights.

And so many things in between.

Sophie hesitated a moment before twining her fingers with Oralie as she watched her sort through the rush of overwhelming thoughts and feelings — her grip on her was still tentative, but strong enough to hold if she really wanted to hold on.

"Are you alright?" She thought the question had come from her but Oralie had whispered it, so softly she wouldn't have been able to catch it if she wasn't paying attention to her.

"Why?"

Oralie winked, conveying the message ''Responding to a question with an answer that's a question. I've seen a lot of that...'' before gasping and releasing her hold. Such a subtle movement for Sophie meant a life-changing event for her, and she was determined to look into her eyes without hesitation and ask what it was before she flicked the cache into the air and caught it with telekinesis.

"Alden Vacker."

The cache seemed to produce a hum that seemed both imaginary and real as Sophie unknowingly realized she'd grabbed Oralie again, this time by the wrist.

And she sensed nothing.

No lies.

But no telltale sign of truth either.

It's up to the cache now.

And it seemed to pull the both of them in and shut the rest of the world out right into its tiny capsules before everything was gone, and nothing would fail to return. 