Board Thread:Short Stories and Fanfictions/@comment-44544645-20191211195811/@comment-44544645-20191225055924

Thanks for all the reviews. It makes me really happy to know that people are reading this!

Hope you like chapter twelve:

Twelve

“I’ve heard about the probing,” Tiergan said as he entered the telapathy room that afternoon.

“How?” Sophie and Fitz asked in unison.

“Oralie told Mr. Forkle after you hailed her this morning and agreed to it, and Mr. Forkle told me, so I can prepare you two for it this afternoon.”

'''“We’ve probed Keefe’s mind before,” Sophie reminded him. '''

'''“I’m aware. So I thought we’d spend the first part of this class doing trust exercises, as it’s been a long time since our last telepathy session. Then you two can spend the second part probing my mind and trying to break through my blocking.”'''

'''“That sounds good,” Fitz agreed. '''

'''“Okay. I want you to tell each other two secrets nobody knows, and they have to be important secrets.”'''

Good thing she’d told Edaline the details about her biological parents.

'I’ll start'', Fitz offered. ''I’m a little jealous that you’re a Regent and I’m not. Your turn. '

It took all of Sophie’s strength to admit, Sometimes….I’m kind of glad you’re not a Regent.

'What? Don’t get mad. It’s good that we’re Cognates and everything. But it’s good that you have a wider perspective, along with Linh and Keefe and the others.'

'I guess so,'' Fitz thought. ''But we’re Cognates! We should do everything together!'

'That’s not quite true, ''Sophie argued. ''Oralie said something really interesting when we were being appointed as Regents—“true trust doesn’t require absolute transparency.” Tiergan agreed with her, and said he thought that was the highest level of Cognatedom. Mr. Forkle hasn’t been transparent with me, but I still trust him. Same goes for every adult in the Black Swan.'

'Fair enough. Okay, my turn. I still kind of want to find out your biological parents. I’m super curious.'

'You’re going to drop it, though. Right?'

'Of course. No reason to worry.'

'''Sophie bit back a laugh at that last sentence. Alden, Fitz’s father, loved those words, although she’d learned never to believe them. '''

And, ugh, it was her turn to share a secret.

'I’m not going to register for the match. Not now. Not ever.'

'Why? Some secrets are worth protecting. Remember how Mr. Forkle said that the identities of my biological parents would ‘topple the elvin world’? Even if it becomes less world-toppling, it’s still dangerous. And the match thing is really stupid. Can’t you just get a list of your relatives?'

'I guess you’re right. It’s my turn again, so…...I think I’m going to stay registered.'

'Why? ''Sophie couldn’t stop herself from spilling at least some of her feelings. ''It’s really stupid, and rigged. Look at what happened to Dex’s parents. If we didn’t have this idiotic system in place they wouldn’t be shunned—and they don’t deserve to be. '

'I’m going to wait a little while before I get a match list, anyway, ''Fitz assured her. ''I agree, it’s stupid. But it also could be really helpful—you could find the perfect person and save yourself a lot of trouble.'

'''Sophie bit back a snarky retort. ''For my last secret, could I tell you what went on in the Seat of Eminince? Would that count? '

'Sure. I’m super curious. And it’d be nice to know what was going on.'

'''She explained what happened with the Prime Sources, and Fitz was amazed. That could be part of why stellarlune is so powerful!'''

'I guess so,'' Sophie agreed. '''

'Anything else happen? '

'Not really. The Councillors did sorta give us makeovers, and Bronte got covered in glitter.'

'''She’d hoped that sharing that last detail would make Fitz forget to ask about anything else—like the conversation she’d had about being unmatchable, because he’d hate it if he knew she told two Councillors before she told him—and she was right. '''

'Can you share that memory? I have to see this. '

'Sure. '

'''She pulled out the mental image of Bronte and transmitted it to Fitz. '''

It was an awesome image—Bronte had been shooting Oralie a glare, so he looked like he was ready to go all Inflictor rage, only his face was covered in shimmering specks of pink dust, which made his glare seem a lot less scary.

'''Fitz laughed. T''HAT IS AMAZING. How did that happen?'

Bronte called Oralie’s readying room a pink monstrosity, and he was complaining about alll the pink, so Oralie got annoyed and flung a powder puff at him.

'I think Oralie just became my favorite Councillor. '

'Yeah, it was pretty epic. Anyway, I feel like I can trust you now. '

'''It was good knowing how he stood on her biological parents, even though she hated some of it. ''What about you? Even though you hold things back…...yeah. There are some things you have to hold back, and I get that.'

Thank you. 

“We’re done,” Sophie announced to Tiergan.

'''“Good. I trust that you two trust each other more than you previously trusted each other and that your trust has increased?”'''

'''“Did you just use ‘trust’ four times in one sentence?” Sophie had to point out. “And yes.”'''

'''Tiergan laughed. “Good. Now, I want you to try probing my mind.”'''

“What should we transmit?” Fitz asked.

'''“Suprise me. It’ll be a better test of your abilities if I don’t know what you’ll be saying.”'''

'''“I can enhance you,” Sophie offered. Fitz nodded, so she turned her enhancing on and reached for his hand.'''

What should we transmit?

'''Could we try DNA? Fitz asked. It would give us access to memories that are buried pretty deep, but it’s still safe because Mr. Forkle kept the identities of your parents to himself. '''

That’s a good idea, Sophie responded.

Together, they stretched into Tiergan’s mind.

'DNA! DNA! DNA!'

They kept pushing, kept stretching, kept going…..

Their mental energy secured on to a memory, like an octopus tentacle wrapping itself around a smaller fish.

I think we found something, Fitz transmitted.