Hello again! This is the fun chapter after the action packed one last time, where Mr Forkle gets a good scolding and all of our ship dreams come true! Yay! Enjoy!
-LLF

Sophie woke up in singed clothes, tangled in a ball of limp vines covered in ashy powder, in the middle of a pile of rubble in the center of an empty field with wildflowers waving in the breeze. A field that she immediately recognised. She gasped as she saw the collapsed hill and the melted, twisted golden door.

Sophie was in Watchward Heath.

She scrambled up, thinking that the vines had broken through the ground and up to outside, but why would Mr Forkle put his private office over Alluveterre? Then if something like this happened, something like this would… happen!

Mr Forkle. Sophie's brain overloaded with anger. How dare he leave her alone to fight a dangerous fire? How DARE he make her solve the problem with NO HELP or SUGGESTIONS?! And paired with all the times he had pulled the same stunt?! Sophie was over it.

The vines twitched, breaking her out of her fury. That brought back the crazy powers she could now use. Was she… a nature… kinetic? Naturekinetic? The name needed work, but… she raised her hands, focusing on the new green-tinged thrum at the edge of her vision, and watched as a new, thick vine sprang up and out of the ground, bending to her will. She stared in wonder as all of the other vines laying on the floor started to slither around, and when her instincts told her to sweep her hand, all of the dirt and dust on her gathered into a compact little ball hovering in front of her, which she flicked away with her wrist. She didn't know how to get back to Havenfield, because she hadn't put her home crystal on, but an idea occurred to her. She tried to picture what Flori did to travel around in the roots, and in her head, she hummed a melody as the ground parted and vines carried her to the emerald pastures of her home.

Even before the soil moved above her, she could hear the frantic voices of Edaline, Grady, Fitz, Biana, Linh, Sandor, Bo, Flori, Nubiti, Wylie, Stina, Dex, Marella, and Keefe. That last one made her heart race, even if she wished it wouldn't.

When she appeared, even more people than she'd realized were there, including all twelve Councillors, Juline, Wraith, Blur, Tiergan, and Mr Forkle. Sophie pulled herself up, using vines to propel her to the top. She swept her hand again, making another compact dirt ball, and flicked it to the ground with a satisfying crack, letting the vines sink back into the ground and the hole she'd made disappear. Everyone gaped at her, including Mr Forkle, and she smirked a bit as she nonchalantly walked over to them and folded her arms. Edaline ran over first, followed by Grady, and she sobbed as she clutched her daughter. "I thought I lost another daughter to that fire! I slapped Mr Forkle and kicked him in a special place when we appeared here!" she cried. "I almost sent him off a cliff," Grady agreed, glaring at the wrinkly figure standing to the side. Mr Forkle grimaced and opened his mouth to reply, but Sophie held out her hand and made 3 vines of ivy snake up and cover his mouth.

"Soooo… that's new," Keefe said, and Sophie's silly heart fluttered as she faced him. "Yeah, apparently I'm a… Geokinetic," She said, making up the first name that came to her head for her new talent. She knew that there was no other Geokinetic alive, because in the chance that the Black Swan had given her an elemental power, she had researched them all. She also knew that Mr Forkle hadn't been expecting this power, which made her wonder what he'd thought she would do to put out the flames.

"What exactly does that mean?" Councillor Emery asked, distracting her from the disturbing thought. "It means I can do this," she said, letting her instincts take over. Vines of every size, shape, and color burst from the ground as every tree at Havenfield grew three times larger. The grass turned a brilliant peridot color, and big clumps of soil, moss, grass, and flowers rose up and orbited Sophie in a round rotation, all from a few waves of her arms and flicks of her wrists. Using this ability was effortless, and all of this took no energy at all. Even her telepathy wasn't this easy.

"Wow," everyone breathed, and Marella stepped forward, gaping. "Can I… try something?" She asked, turning a starry-eyed gaze to Sophie. Sophie nodded, bracing and shifting her stance in a fluid motion. Marella sent purple tongues of flame towards the earth-balls and towering vines, making her recently dyed red hair flutter around her huge ice blue eyes. Sophie tried to focus on the fire instead of the other pair of ice blue eyes in her life, and watched as the fire interacted with her power. The fire tried to surround Sophie's vines and burn through the balls of soil and plant, but they both lashed out, the balls separating and trapping the fires inside, and the vines coiling around the violet flames and smothering them. Linh's Hydrokinesis had no effect, and none of Dex's gadgets could harm the powerful nature.

Mr Forkle had struggled out of the ivy while Sophie was distracted, and now he exclaimed, "Why, this is incredible! An invaluable resource! I trust you extinguished the Everblaze at Alluveterre?' Sophie turned toward him, anger blazing in her eyes. The grass withered around him, and her vines twisted in rage as the massive earth balls expanded and compacted with every furious step. "You don't get to say anything," she seethed. Biana, who had missed most of the 'who what where' conversation that everyone else had been having to sneak to the alicorns, wondered, "Why?"

Sophie turned back to the group, leaving her vines to clasp themselves around Mr Forkle's bloated body in a fist and lift him a foot off the ground, making him wriggle in discomfort. "Mr Forkle," she said venomously,"called me in a panic, convincing me to go to Alluvetarre. When I got there with Edaline, there was a huge storm of Everblaze consuming it. Mr Forkle then LEFT ME THERE to figure it out BY MYSELF with NO WAY OUT, literally DRAGGING Edaline away, all because 'I'm the Moonlark'!" Everyone glared daggers and throwing stars at the Black Swan's captive leader, except Alden, who looked confused, and Wraith and Blur, who nodded as if Mr Forkle's actions were justified. Tiergan spoke first, breaking his death stare to look apologetically at Sophie. "On behalf of the Black Swan, I sincerely apologize," he said, but Wraith shook his head. "Well, I do not. We created Sophie, so she has to do what we tell her. Mr Forkle needed her to do something, so he left her to finish the task," He said. Blur nodded. Grady spun on his heel to look at them. "Sophie is not your puppet," he said, dangerously low and quiet. Juline agreed. "We made Sophie to help be an influence in the world, through her choices. We simply gave her the tools," she said, raising an angry eyebrow at Wraith. The disembodied cloak sighed. "Well, you are misinformed, then, Squall," He said, shaking his head in disappointment. Juline gasped in rage, and Sandor's eyes were hard as steel as he grabbed where the man underneath the cloak's throat would be, visibly lifting him off the ground. "If you think I'm going to let you get away with trying to harm my charge, you will be fatally wrong," he growled, his voice deepening from its squeaky pitch. Blur's hand solidified and punched him in a pressure point, making Sandor squeak and drop his accomplice. Wraith completely vanished before Sandor could grab him again.

Suddenly, Fitz's crisp accent filled Sophie's head, making her jump. Luckily, no one noticed. So it really is that bad, huh? He said. Yep, she thought, grimacing as he replayed the memories. He watched as she pulled herself from the rubble and vines of the hillside and was about to appear in Havenfields's- Wait, do you like Keefe?! Fitz shouted in her mind. Sophie blushed, and glanced over to him, where he was staring at her like he'd never seen her before. …Yes? She thought, cringing. I'm so sorry you found out this way. I was going to tell you, but… Fitz finished the thought for her, sounding less angry than she would have thought, and more… relieved? You almost died. Sophie laughed a bit. Yes. You aren't… angry? His mind paused, seemingly finding the words, then he said: I mean, a little bit. You are pretty special, Sophie. I just… I don't think I can handle a relationship right now. I didn't want to hurt your feelings, but I want to train and prepare and make sure I can get my temper under control first. So, yeah, I'm not really angry. I actually think… as much as this stings to say… you and Keefe will be better together. Sophie's eyes welled up. Thanks, Fitz. Your support means the world to me. Still friends? Fitz smiled. Always.

Linh snapped them both back to the present. "Wait… how did the Neverseen even know about Alluveterre?" she asked in her sweet, lilting voice. Sophie cringed. "Well… Gethen searched Tam's memories. The Neverseen…" she trailed off, knowing everyone got the gist. "Oh," Linh said, sinking to the dewy grass and staring at her hands, as if in a trance. Wylie rushed over, and Biana clung to Dex. Sophie was too worried to congratulate them on finally admitting their feelings, but she gave Biana a sad smile as she leaned on Dex's shoulder.

Mr Forkle broke the moment by shouting from his vine-fist. " Yes, we need to secure everything immediately!" Sophie growled, turning back to the infuriating elf. "We will, later. Now, I need to rest and test my powers." And then Sophie walked away.

But not before she kissed Keefe on the cheek, leaving everyone gasping and cheering, and Grady yelling something intelligible.

Keefe's stares followed her all the way up.

I'm pretty sure all I need to say is

-LLF out