A/N So, we've started to get into the Sophitz area of the story... don't worry, Foster-Keefe's still got a lot more coming! Anyways, here's the next (actually long) chapter:

Sophie looked through the mail as she brought it down to Edaline's office. Ad, coupon, Emissary stuff, ad, ad, Foxfire letter, coupon- Foxfire letter? Sophie wondered if was for her opening ceremonies.

As a new Level Seven, she would have to cultivate her splendor flower so it could bloom at the Opening Ceremonies (A/N Detail from Exile. It was only a couple paragraphs, so you might not remember. I know I didn't.). Sophie hadn't visited it at Foxfire in a couple weeks, so she hoped that it hadn't died. However stinky the flowers were, they were absolutely beautiful, and she didn't want to miss out on getting to see hers bloom. She absentmindedly dropped the other mail on a stool nearby to see the letter.

Sophie fumbled to open the letter without ripping the delicate paper, which was covered in a vibrant orange tree print. She broke the seal and read out loud: "Job offers for future Level Sevens. Get an early start being an emissary, keeper, probe, teacher, or matchmaker."

Huh. Job offers. Not half as bad as Sophie had expected. It only confirmed that she had been a little too late to apply for anything.

It did offer an important question, though. Who did she want to be?

She sighed. That was a hard question, one too complex to be encompassed in one answer. Apparently her options as a noble were the ones listed, although none of them seemed too exciting. The only one that seemed vaguely interesting was keeper, although that was because of all of the pressure from Tiergan.

Lately her Telepathy mentor had been talking to Fitz and Sophie about their career choices and how they would tie into their Cognatedom. The way he had put it, if their choices weren't in harmony with each other, their whole Cognate status would come crashing down. If the two didn't continue to use their bond, it could eventually break. Because of that, Tiergan wanted Sophie to become a keeper so Fitz could be a probe. "Opposites attract," he had said.

Although it did make sense, as Sophie's mind was impenetrable, making her an impossibly good keeper, and Fitz was the only one who could actually probe her mind, along with being skilled with looking through other's minds, Sophie wasn't sure she wanted to be under so much pressure. She already had enough secrets in her brain, and being a keeper would only increase that amount. And, if Fitz was a probe, there was a chance he would have to perform... memory breaks.

Sophie had seen how performing a break affected Alden. If it turned out that the subject of the break Fitz was performing was innocent, he could shatter his mind past the point of no return. Without realizing it, Sophie whispered, "That can't happen."

But then... how would they keep their bond?

Sophie sighed wearily. For once, her mind was actually blank. She took the rest of the mail off the chair and headed back to her room, where she picked up her imparter.

"Hail Fitz Vacker."

Fitz's face filled the screen. "Hey, Sophie. What's up?"

"We need to talk," Sophie said sternly.

Fitz looked perplexed. "Are you breaking up with me? Because we're not dating, and I'm pretty sure you can't just break up a Cognate status."

"Actually, that's what I wanted to talk about," Sophie said.

"Dating?" Fitz asked, looking slightly hopeful.

"No." Fitz's shoulders slumped, and Sophie rolled her eyes. "I want to talk about our Cognatedom."

"Yeah? So?" Fitz asked. "What about it?"

"I'm in the Silver and Gold Towers, and you've graduated. I'm not done with my Telepathy training. See the problem?" asked Sophie, sarcasm injected in her voice.

"Yeah," Fitz said. "But... can't I just come back once or twice a week for class?"

"I wish." Sophie sighed. "After this summer, you'll be an Emissary. Eventually you're going to work your way up to keeper or probe. Even then, sometimes you'll have to be gone for weeks at a time."

"You're right," Fitz said dejectedly. "What do you think we should do?"

"I don't know."

"That's a scary thought. You always seem to have an idea in this kind of situation," Fitz said.

"Not always," Sophie said, smiling a little. It felt great knowing that at least someone thought her life was together. "Anyways, I think I could hail Tiergan and ask him what he thinks we should do."

"That's a good idea," Fitz said. "We haven't seen each other much since you and Keefe started dating. You wanna hang out tomorrow?"

Sophie cringed. "Actually, me and Keefe are going out on our first date."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

The two stayed silent for a while. Over the imparter, Fitz looked down, his face looking wilted. No louder than a whisper, he said, "I miss you, you know."

"So do I," Sophie said, smiling sadly.

"It's no secret that I like you," Fitz said. "Feelings don't go away just because you're dating someone else."

"I know," Sophie said. "But we're friends. You said that was enough."

"It is." Fitz grinned at her. "You know, it's a lot easier to talk to you now that we're Cognates. It's great that we don't have to avoid all of that awkwardness."

Sophie shivered comically. "Remember when we were younger and we couldn't talk to each other?"

"Yeah," Fitz said. "Well, it wasn't that we couldn't talk to each other. It was just that when we talked to each other we were super weird and self conscious and awkward."

"No kidding," Sophie said. "It's much easier to say what you mean."

"Yeah." Fitz sighed. "I wish I had realized that when we were dating."

Sophie nodded. If they had realized that earlier, their relationship could have ended a lot differently. But what was past was past. She was with Keefe. She was happy.

Changing the subject, Fitz said, "What's going on with you and Biana? She's been in her room all day, mumbling about friendship and stuff. I doubt Linh made her angry. She's too nice for that."

Sophie raised an eyebrow. "Low-key complimenting. The first stage of a crush. Do you want me to set you up with Linh?"

"NO!" Fitz said, lightly blushing. "And stop trying to change the subject. What did you do to Biana?"

"It's not what I did to her, it's what she did to me," Sophie grumbled.

"What did she do?" Fitz asked.

"You know how Keefe and I were super low on each other's lists?" Sophie said.

"Yeah..." Fitz said. "Where are you going with this?"

"When Biana applied for her matchmaker's job, the interviewer had her make hypothetical lists for her friends to make sure she wasn't biased," Sophie said. "She ended up with a couple final drafts. One of them was based on the actual packet results. The other was based off of her crush on Keefe."

"Let me guess," Fitz said. "They ended up giving you the non-accurate one?"

Sophie nodded. " She ended up choosing the accurate one, but it turns out that they were checking every draft. They decided that she had shown too great of a bias, and she didn't get the job. After they turned her down, she came to the office again to demand a position there. To show her why they didn't hire her, they gave me the bad scroll. The matchmakers wanted to show the repercussions of a biased employee."

Fitz nodded. "That sucks."

"Yeah," Sophie said, slumping her shoulders a little bit.

"I think you should talk to her," Fitz said. "She feels really bad."

Sophie's hand instinctively drew to her stomach, and she started to unknot the unpleasant emotions swirling through her. "It's not that easy. She hurt me."

"Yeah, she did," Fitz said. "But it's not entirely her fault."

"Yes it is!" Sophie said. "She should care about her friend more than her stupid crush."

"And she showed that she did!" Fitz argued. "She chose the real scroll for you. It was the matchmakers who gave you the scroll she did."

"I guess..." Sophie said. She still didn't feel ready to forgive Biana, though. Just because her head understood didn't mean her heart did.

"Anyways, did you really think the matchmaker's scrolls would stop you from being with Keefe?" Fitz asked.

Sophie shifted uncomfortably in her chair. "No, I guess not."

"And do you really think your relationship will last long enough for you two to get married?" Fitz asked.

"I- why are you asking me that?" Sophie stuttered.

"Because. Relationships don't last forever," Fitz said. "I mean, look at us! Everyone thought we were going to last a long time. We didn't. We're all young. Do you really want to ruin your friendship over a boy? You were the one who said that Biana should care more about her friends than a crush."

"I... guess so."

"So... can you go talk to her?" Fitz asked. "She's at Foxfire cultivating her splendor. It would be good to check on yours, too."

"Fine," Sophie grumbled. "I'll go."

"Great!" Fitz grinned. "Bye!"

His face disappeared from the screen. Sophie set her imparter to the side, burying her face in her hands. Letting out a big groan, she put her head on her desk.

Thinking about forgiving someone was much easier than actually doing it.