Foster? Sencen? Sophie? Who is she? Keefe doesn't know.

If you're paranoid, the only Lodestar spoilers are the fact that I mention new foods that were mentioned in the latest book.

Keefe glanced at the fancy-schmancy gold and onyx clock on his wrist—normally, he wouldn't have been caught wearing something as nerdy as a watch, but it had been a wedding present from Fitz, and it would have been a tragic violation of the Bro Code not to wear it.

The watch read 12:30.

"Whoa, not that I don't love our 'Dude's Night Out'," Keefe said as he grinned at Dex, dropping a ninety-luster bill onto the table. "But I gotta get home."

Dex rolled his eyes as he pushed back his chair and made his way to get up. "You know it's only noon right? And besides, Biana was just here with her brother five minutes ago. I'd hardly call her a 'dude'."

"Well, she definitely kicks like one," he grumbled. His grin instantly returned. "Besides, Foster's making her super awesome butter toffee ripplepuffs. I seriously cannot be late or she'll eat them all without me."

His Technopath comrade's eyes nearly burst out of his head. "How can you still hungry enough to eat ripplepuffs? You just guzzled down like, a trillion cups of cinnacream and like, a googol slices of mallowmelt."

Keefe laughed. "Dude, how can you not be hungry for Foster's ripplepuffs? Edaline taught her how to make them, so they're 100% delicious."

Dex stared at him for a moment, cocking his head. He seemed to be deep in thought, and the way he was staring at him was starting to make Keefe curiously uncomfortable.

"Yo, Dex," he smirked. "I know I'm unbelievably handsome, but only Foster's allowed to stare at me that long without suffering serious damage to their eyes."

Dex rolled said eyes, and muttered something of the likes of "idiot" under his breath. He turned back to Keefe questioningly. "Hey, I still noticed you call Sophie 'Foster'. Technically, 'Foster' never was her last name when she moved into to Lost Cities, and unbelievably, now her last name is 'Sencen'. Shouldn't you technically be calling her 'Sencen', or maybe even—oh, I don't know, 'Sophie'?"

Keefe wrinkled his nose. "One, 'Sencen's' a horribly sucky last name, and two," he grinned, "why would I call her 'Sophie' when I could call her 'Foster'?"

And with that, he held up his pathfinder and leaped away home.

As he arrived at Duskvale, Keefe couldn't help but thinking back to Dex's words.

'Shouldn't you technically be calling her 'Sencen', or maybe even—oh, I don't know, 'Sophie'?'

He'd always felt a tad bit guilty about asking Sophie to marry him—it was selfish of him to ask her to bear such a disgusting family name on her shoulders. The name 'Sencen' always left a bitter taste on his tongue, and he by no means wanted Sophie to share the horror of being in such a lineage.

But at the same time, she wasn't a Foster anymore—technically, she never was.

Keefe shook off the feeling as he swaggered past the gates that led to his and Sophie's glittering mansion of a house. "Honey, I'm home!" he called, grinning obnoxiously.

His blond-ponytailed wife emerged from the front door wearing a simple black dress and leggings, a dab of flour on her forehead. She wrinkled her nose. "What did you say?"

He shrugged. "Heard it from a human movie once. Don't really hot husbands say that to their cute little wives when they come home from work?"

Sophie rolled her eyes. "In the olden days, yeah." She threw the dishrag tied around her waist at him as she laughed. "And you were not at work—you went to hang out with all our friends while I was helping Grady wash the verminion!"

Keefe peeled the dishrag from his face and waved it at her, smirking deviously. "You're gonna regret that, Fo—Sophie!" He'd called her the name before, but it sounded odd on his tongue being spoken so casually.

With a squeal, Sophie ran back into the house as Keefe chased after her. Fortunately for him, her severe lack of coordination had her trip on one of the intricately woven rugs—another wedding present, this time from Kesler and Juline—that lined the hallway. She managed to catch her balance just in time, but her momentary pause allowed Keefe to catch up to her right as she neared the kitchen, where a heap of sweet-smelling butter toffee ripplepuffs sat on a plate.

"Thought you could lose me there, hey F—Sophie?" he laughed as he pushed her back to tickle her stomach lightly.

She huffed in between laughs, pushing his fingers away. She mock-glared at him. "Um, sorry, Mr. Sencen, I didn't know we were on a first-name basis."

Keefe flinched at the mention of his—their last name, but managed a smile in the nick of time. "Sorry to remind you, but you ain't a 'Foster' no more."

But Sophie shook her head. "Technically, in the Lost Cities, I never was."

Then, Keefe held up two fingers. "Okay, then I could call you—Sophie, but that sounds weird—"

"Hey!" Sophie grumbled.

"—Or I could call you 'Sencen', and there is no way in hell that I'd call you that."

Sophie cocked her head inquisitively. "Not that I don't mind being called 'Foster' or anything, but why 'no' to 'Sencen'?"

Keefe's face soured and he scrunched up his nose. There she went, being totally cute and clueless again, but at the same time, so oblivious to the hell he'd kinda put her through by marrying her. "You'd totally be cool being associated with a name as tarnished and 'ewww' as Sencen'?"

She smiled softly, and Keefe wondered what in the world he'd done to deserve such a pretty wife. "I married you, didn't I? I think that sorta redeems the whole 'Sencen' legacy, don't you?"

She turned to the magnificent jeweled island in the center of the kitchen and plucked the tastiest-looking ripplepuff from the pile. Before he could stop her, she stuffed the entire thing into his mouth before kissing him on the nose, and walked away.

"And besides, I think everyone knows you're the only person I allow to call me 'Foster'."