Sophie

So he recognises me… although his features were calm, Sophie could see the hint of worry in his eye. He was the mercenary band leader. The deep green willow tree logo on his brown lapel coat was proof enough of the fact. According to his hunting record, this was the first they could have ever met anyone from the Wandering willows before. She’d yet to not start on her journey when conceived, so why does his face leap out to her? Sawyer not only recognised her, but was preparing for the worst. News of a travelling runesmith had reached him before she arrived as predicted, so her presence should not be a surprise. Could she have come at a bad time?

“How long have you been eavesdropping?” Sawyer asked.

“They’ve been there since I entered,” Andrew said, looking back at Sophie and Flynn. They were side by side now. “Something about ‘gathering intrigues’.” Sawyer raised an eyebrow at that, to which Andrew shrugged. He didn’t have to use her exact wording.

“Indeed,” Sophie replied. “I’m Miss Emerson, forgive my indulgences. I loathe walking into any situation without some prior knowledge.”

“And so you spy on us and don’t announce your presence,” Kenith said. A low drone of mumbling ran its way around the onlookers above.

“This is a public gathering, is it not? Was listening in without announcing myself really in poor taste?“

All at the roundtable, look at each other a while before facing her.

“This is a public gathering, true. Still… your actions imply a distrust of our character,” Kenith said carefully.

“I have full faith in you as people. It’s the authenticity of your actions that I sought to evaluate before I showed myself.” Sophie said. “My station, a runesmith from Hallow peak, carries weight. I hoped to remove it from the equation when building my first impressions of you. I would have waited for you to naturally engage with me in your own time, but my young and passionate travelling companion here had forced my hand.”

She looked at Natalie who averted her gaze. Despite this being mostly her doing, Natalie seemed more vexed that she got caught than anything.

“My actions now were me trying to find a sort of equilibrium despite these uncanny circumstances.”

“You sought equilibrium by gathering intel on us before we got to meet you?” Letty said.

“Receiving a letter from you would have given me the same privilege,” Sophie said.

“In a letter, we could have composed in our own time?” Kenith said.

“There is a lot one can read from a letter. You’d be surprised what nuggets I’ve unravelled by reading between the lines of a message,” Sophie said. Letty bit her lip as she regarded her.

“We had intended to send you an invitation,” Kenith said with eyes closed a while as if to think about a verdict. “So be it. Miss Emerson, though it’s a bit preemptive. We thank you for coming,” Kenith ordered for four more chairs to be brought down for her and her guests, but Natalie refused. As all eyes fell back on her curt dismissal, Natalie attempted to not look at the crowd, and instead focused her eyes on Andrew with a clenched jaw.

“You’re wrong,” she mumbled in a low tone.

“Wrong about you, or about my decision?” Andrew asked. Natalie paused a while.

“Do what you want then, but keep me out of it.” Natalie said. She turned to the council table. “Hope you’re happy.” With her eyes burning with accusation to all who sat at the table, she turned and left the tavern.

Talk about high maintenance. Sophie thought.

“Not gonna go after her?” Flynn asked Andrew, although he did not move he glance over his shoulder at Natalie with a conflicted expression.

“One sec,” was Andrew’s simple reply. The frustration that he’d been burying surfaced a little at that moment.

“Since most of you are here now, I have been meaning to ask a question,” Sawyer said, his eyes following Natalie as she left. “We’ve heard word that a bunch of wolves just outside the village attacked you four unprovoked. Is this true?” Sawyer asked. Just then, it all clicked for Sophie. She knew when she’d met him before. And if she was right, then…

By the cycles. Will the intrigues never cease? She was about to answer his question with a bit of wit and a strong hint that she knows his true identity just to see his reaction, but before she could Andrew stepped forward-looking about the table with a peeved expression.

“Are you looking for the facts or something else?” Andrew asked.

“Why do you ask such a question?” Sawyer asked.

“I don’t know. I feel as if I’m walking into the middle of a left-legged race with a right leg in hand.”

“I only ask you of your own personal experience,” Sawyer said.

“And if my take does not match your assumptions, what then?” Andrew said.

“Your testimony shall be considered, along with many others. It is in everyone’s best interest that we have the facts.”

“Fine, you want facts? Then here’s my take on the wolves. Yes, we were chased down and attacked by them. But when the pack was about to kill me, this really gigantic wolf came and stopped them. When I looked into its eye, a pain came over my skull. If it wanted me killed, I’d have been dead.” Sophie heard gasps from the people watching the roundtable up above. Whispers of ‘Alpha king Griffin’ and ‘it attacked his mind,’ reached Sophie’s ear whilst she. She had him explain events after they split up to reach the village. Because of that, Sophie knew about the Alpha king, but this last bit about his head was new. The girl who was tucked away in the corner on a stool rose to her feet at the revelation. Looking troubled, Andrew continued.

“I do not know whether the wolves are a danger to everyone. As far as I understand it, it was my fault that we got attacked. We took a gamble getting here and almost paid for it. But when I think about those events again, I cannot help but feel like…” his troubled face only deepened as he stood there thinking. Sighing to himself, Andrew shook his head.

“You think there is more to this?” Kenith asked. Andrew shook his head.

“Why else would it give me a damn headache and not just kill me?” Andrew finished as he scratched the back of his deadlocked hair. Kenith and Sawyer whispered among themselves before turning back to Andrew.

“Is there anything more you’d like to add?” Kenith asked. It intrigued him, Sophie noted. While Sawyer had a face that looked a little too blank to reflect his true feelings.

“Do I need to hang around for further details?” Andrew asked.

“You will be briefed later today, along with everyone else,” Sawyer said.

“Sure thing, boss!” Andrew nodded, his fake bravado surfacing once again." Now I’ll go and talk to her," He said at Flynn before turning to the exit and jogging off into the street. Sophie could not help but smile as she watched him leave. The onlookers sounded conflicted. The council members seemed uncertain. She’d hoped that Andrew’s appearance at the gathering first would rattle them enough to filter their actions, but this had worked out far more efficiently than she could have hoped. She’d heard enough to start talks with a lot less ignorance than she would have had by just walking in along with Andrew.

“And now to vote on what our standing shall be with the wolves,” Kenith’s voice cut through the thrum of talking around them and soon after everyone’s people rose hands. Out of perhaps three hundred people, Sophie could see a little over two-thirds of them had their hands up. And even though it was easy for one to see the answer, the mayor spent a long looking at the faces of his people. Meanwhile, the girl with red hair who sat in the corner suddenly got up and made a beeline for the exit. Kenith and the others at the table all drew a face of silent pity. Kenith looked drained. His already tired expression seemed to age him as he came to his conclusion. Sophie, who could read tiny mine ushers from one’s face, however, felt that the sentiment was out of place. For she glimpsed the girl’s face as she ran past her. She was not running away. Rather, she had her sight set on a target. It was Andrew’s most likely.

“May the tides have mercy on us,” Kenith said, pulling Sophie back to the roundtable. This was returned to him a hundredfold as a uniformed cacophony of voices repeated his mantra. After the people’s prayer washed over them, Kenith rose his head to address everyone. “Then this concludes the gathering,” Kenith said before nodding to Yome to continue. With a curt nod, Yome stood up and dismissed the hunters, reminding them to eat and rest well for the coming battle later today. As the last of the people began filing themselves out of the tavern. Kenith and all at the round table, but Sawyer gave a long derry sigh.

“I apologise for the wait, Miss Emerson,” Kenith said. He acquainted Sophie with everyone around the table just before they brought two seats around for her and Flynn to finally sit among them.

“Now,” the mayor continued. “You said that you wanted to witness us without filters. I hope you understand that our humble stations seldom leave time to enact such an exasperated persona just to get our work done. I mean, no offence to you, miss Emerson, but we of the village seldom have need for mind games and double meanings. We are a straightforward lot and so we want to hear it from you straight. If you plan to help us, what is it you're hoping for in return and if we agree on that offer, what can you bring to the table that can turn things around?”

Sophie, looking at Sawyer, bit her lip. She still did not know his angle in all of this, and until she knew it, she will mind her manners before speaking. How Kenith talked about her way of manoeuvring around high society showed that they did not know Sawyers’ true identity. If she was going to join this group for the mission, then she needed to understand what was going on here. To do that, she needed to have a word with him in separation from the local members.

Let’s work out just how delicate ‘Sawyers’ standing here truly is. It was time to start the prodding.

“I do not have the luxury to intel gather as much as I’d like. I need to understand your plans to see if I cannot add my own strengths towards it I thought it prudent to at least observe you all first.” The others around the table looked at one another before composing themselves.

“You make us sound like lab rats to be studied in a cage,” Bennett said.

“Ain’t we all creatures of instinct when we get down to it?” Sophie said. They just looked more confused.

“If this is your roundabout way of looking down on us then-“

“-No matter what the species, gender or race, we all have a baseline pattern in response to varying stimuli. Of course, we humans are far more complex than a typical animal. We have a better mastery of our thoughts and feelings for one.”

“Our thoughts alone are what makes us different,” Yome said. Sophie nodded.

“Indeed, but that does not change the fact that we share more in common with our animal friends than most of us like to think. No matter the complexity, we are just a simple amalgamation of emotions, thoughts, and instincts. We can mask our actions with sound and logical intent, but those thoughts are shaped by our basic necessities.”

“Can you prove we are more animal-like than we assume?” Letty said.

“I mean, look at you all now. Over four hundred years you lived alongside these guardian wolves, but it’s only recently that you’re considering the ethics of things. Before now, their ethics were likely never considered as changeable traits, but more like the wind, sun and rain they just are... I guess my obsession with observing people is to remind myself to not take something completely on its outward appearance.” Sophie looked at Sawyer as she finished talking. His eyes betrayed a slight twitch, but that was enough for Sophie. Yome meanwhile nodded.

“I see,” he said

“We have lived among them for generations. I guess it’s fair to say that we’ve seen them as forces of nature rather than just wolves. ” Kenith said. Sophie bowed her head as she nodded to herself.

“I am a stranger to these lands, and as much as I’ve studied the patterns of spirit animals I am still going off your word that these wolves are more complex than what I’ve witnessed, in fact hearing the opinions from people familiar with them goes a long way into earning my trust.” Sophie intentionally looked at Sawyer when she used the word ‘familiar’ to which he stiffened at. Yome meanwhile ran his thumb and forefinger along with his red moustache in a brooding fashion before nodding to himself.

“You admit your ignorance in our ways and seek our knowledge, is that it?” He asked.

“Indeed,” Sophie said as she locked eyes with Sawyer across the table once more. “If I’m to agree to this union, then I for one would like as few secrets between us as possible,” Sawyer stiffly readjusted his pose before he’d caught her watching. It might have fooled everyone else, but Sophie was too long trained in the art of spotting the smallest change in a person’s posture for it to not go unnoticed. Everyone at the table looked at one another, all save for Sawyer, who had maintained eye contact with her since her speech. Sophie’s interest In what Sawyer was doing here was so high now that it compelled her to pull answers out of him before anything else. She made that clear to him in a roundabout way with her choice of words. His reactions to them told her much. She apparently was not the only one craving answers. He too, wanted an explanation. In the few probing jabs she threw his way, it became clear to Sophie that Sawyer had no interest in just outing his identity. It was very important to him that nobody at the table knew he was a prince. Although this answered some of Sophie’s questions, it was far from enough to satisfy her. Before she could analyse anything else, she needed to talk to him in private first. And so, making that voice clear to him via hiding messages in her speech with the other council members, she waited for Sawyer to give in and take up her hidden offer.

Unlike the village council, Sawyer’s upbringing was not one to which such hints would be lost to. Sawyer was so focused on watching her that when the others rose off their chairs to discuss her terms among themselves it took Kenith two attempts at calling his name to pull him back to the now and follow them to the corner of the tavern for a private word. As they did so Flynn took this opportunity to talk to her through their mental link.

“Starting trouble among them already?” He asked. Sophie snorted.

Hardly, Sophie thought back. They were already at each other’s necks before I got here.

“If you say so,” Flynn thought back.

Flynn, are you implying that I have a history of starting civil disputes? She glared over to Flynn who just shrugged.

“Well, you didn’t bend an inch when you enforced that familiar bond law,” Flynn’s thoughts echoed in her mind.

That’s hardly a fair comparison, all new laws are often forged within a tumult of conflict. She thought. Flynn frowned his lips a moment as if puzzling things through before flashing a roll of his eye up in reluctant agreement.

“I’ll give you that one,” he said. Sophie shook her head. She could not help but smile to herself.

I recall I won the vote on making my proposition law. Even if it was an argument, at least more than half of Hallow peak agreed with me.

“Then what about the incident at the temple’s great lunch hall?” Flynn asked.

“You mean that one fight I got tangled in when we first worked together?” Sophie asked. Flynn nodded. She rolled her eyes. That was just a heated debate. Nothing physical happened.

‘I’m still counting it,” Flynn thought back. Of course, he’d count it.

I recall that scenario happening because of you.

“Me?”

Something about you ‘not belonging there.’

“I thought it was about how a pentagon knight’s blade chooses its master.”

It was at the surface of the conversation. What they were really doing was criticising my relationship with you. They compared you to a dull, damaged blade. Sophie folded her arms and snorted at the memory. When Flynn thought nothing back to her for a while, however, Sophie looked at his expression and frowned.

So you really didn’t know.

“I knew they were a bunch of privileged asses looking for a laugh going by the way they spoke. So… I was the dull blade in their conversation, huh?”

Ain’t you vex? Sophie thought out as she glanced over to her companion. Flynn simply smiled in amusement.

“That explains why they backed off when I said ‘it’s the useless blades that never get nicked.’” He chuckled to himself soon after to switch. Sophie could not help but sigh in contentment as well.

Your response was so on the mark I honestly thought you knew,

“Had I known I’d have helped up the conversations about the uselessness of ornamental blades in a real fight,” Sophie almost to our right laughed to that one, she could almost imagine Flynn now in the great lunch hall, annoying the smart-mouthed students with his more gruff and loud persona. It would have proven very cathartic back then. As she thought about her last days in the Hallow peak temple, however, her smile faded.

In truth, I was getting really angry at how they were dishonouring you in front of their faces. How they were hiding their cruelty behind casual conversations. They knew I knew, and that I wanted to act to stop it, but if I did, it would have been the reaction they wanted. I was beating myself up about it thinking that I should have tagged you about the nuances of doublespeak and sarcasm, but-

Sophie was interrupted when Flynn rested a firm hand on her shoulder. Right then Sophie could feel some of Flynn’s strength pass to her through there connection, making her feel more centred in herself.

She was still tired from allowing Andrew to lead them to this village in a mad dash, and when Natalie stormed off and confronted this gathering before she would have preferred, Sophie felt more and more that she’d lost control. It was admittedly something that she’s only recently learned to not stress over and it was very hard. Thankful for Flynn’s stout hatred presence there at the back of her mind, Sophie ever so slightly leaned onto his arm and let out a soft sigh. She was still in public space and her job tonight was not yet done. But just for the moment, she needed this. Flynn, sensing this from her, let out an understanding sigh himself as his supportive hand on her shoulder gave her a kind of massage.

“Was there any reason why you thought to tell me how you felt back then?” Flynn asked.

I don’t know, I’m exhausted. Mind… a blur of thoughts. Flynn nodded to himself.

“You and I both,”

Is that so? It doesn’t feel like it. She deliberately thought it out in a pouting manner. Sophie then allowed herself to close her eyes. If Sawyer and the group look back or approach them Flynn will warn her.

“That’s because, unlike you, I really don’t have any thoughts.” Sophie opens her eyes to glare at him in disapproval. His amused grin disarmed the edge she put into her glare and, as always when looking at Flynn, she couldn’t help but smile back at him.

I’m just glad that you did speak up that day. Sophie thought to him incomplete content. Flynn frowned until he remembered their earlier conversation. Sophie raised an eyebrow to show that he almost already forgot, to which Flynn just shrugged.

“No thoughts remember,” Flynn thought Sophie rolled her eyes.

Whatever you say, Flynn.

“This dose not change the fact that your conversation here does have a lot in common with that time in the lunch hall,” Sophie just shook her head. Seeing this, Flynn grinned.

You’ve apparently forgotten that you saved yourself that day, not me. And besides look, it seems like they’ve concluded.

As the group approached, Sophie saw that out of everyone it was Sawyer’s expression that looked to be the most peeved at the entire ordeal. Seeing the expression, Sophie grinned. She didn’t need them to tell her that her subtle coaxing had worked and it will be Sawyer alone who will give them the full run-down. At last, this way she can have a private word with Sawyer… or rather princes Logos heir to the Hyperion kingdom, and work out what is his deal in hiding his true identity under the guise of leader of the Wandering Willows.