Chapter Text
Chapter 5 part 2
“Keefe, we should probably talk” Calla said.
“ What ever do you mean?” He gave her his signature smirk before turning back to the water picking up a nearby stick and poking at his reflection . He does a quick look back at her when she doesn’t say anything instead continuing to stand there fidgeting with the hem of her shirt and darting her eyes from the water to the plants floating along the river then back at him.
“Songs of the forest can have a large impact on the right kind of people… and when you have been around as long as I have you learn to notice things” Calla eyes continued to dart around before locking on keefe as she finished her sentence a weird determination seemed to wash over her.
Keefe shifts around from his crouch on the ground, falling backwards to the ground as he turns around to fully look at her. The position a bit similar to a child playing on the ground, legs spread out. He flashes her curious frown while maintaining his usual easygoing smile despite the inner turmoil flashing through as he wonders where she’s going with this .
“I had a friend once,” she paused with her head to the side as if deciding whether or not to continue. She turned back to keefe “An elf and rather gifted empath. They had spoken of hearing songs where most heard none” she gave Keefe an urging look.
“What does that have to do with me?” Keefe huffed with a small laugh.
Most heard none. Because we’re not supposed to hear anything, it's abnormal and weird. Yet another reminder of why I’m such a failure, not a single thing about me can fit into elven society.
“I thought…” She sighs “Never mind, would you like to learn gnomish? It could come in handy one day, especially with the growing conflict with gnomes. I think you would pick it up rather quickly” She smiles encouragingly to him, showing she means no harm. Keefe relaxes his shoulders that he had unknowingly tensed.
He didn’t fail to notice how she changed the topics or how she seemed far too eager to teach him gnomish, something elves definitely didn’t learn as a normal skill, much less a successful skill to learn, even most polyglots (the ones who didn't manifest the ability) who pride themselves in knowing most of the species languages have a difficult time learning the language due to its nuances and songlike nature.
Its not like it’ll hurt to try and learn, who knows maybe i might even be able to use it to be useful for once. Though it’s rather unlikely given that Sophie can already speak gnomish. At least it’ll pass the time
“Sure, it’s not like I have anything better to do” He said with a shrug with a failed attempt at indifference as his curious tone gave away his interest.
“ Great!” she said cheerily “see you tomorrow after Exilium when the others are training amongst themselves”
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The next day…
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Keefe floated along with the others fighting the urge to flip upside down and actually use his levitation. He settled for simply bobbing in the air while watching his friends struggle, silently laughing to himself while distracting from his boredom.
He silently gazed up towards the sky. It was a rather nice day with little clouds and a relatively blue hue. The perfect breeze settled into his bones as he imagined what it would be like to be able to fly away, no worries of home or betrayal or some hidden neverseen plot. Just him, the sky, not even gravity could hold him down and no fear of being some hidden weapon to use against his friends .
A flash of home reminds him of the hours he spent perfecting each skill only to be told they were useless by his father.
They can’t be a complete waste of time if they’re teaching it here. Besides it’s definitely come in handy for me more than a couple of times at home, I might even be able to use it against the neverseen.
All too soon, the groups stopped for lunch and Keefe let himself drop to the ground, muscle memory allowing his mind to drift as he lands with practiced ease and follows the crowd to the line for food. Wandering away from the rest of the gang he finds a clear patch on the cold rock to just lie down and watch the clouds drift by and occasional bird soaring above. No feelings bombarding him, no thoughts, just him and the sky. Free.
Then the screaming started.
Keefe jumps up bewildered, lurching to the sound of terror just in time to see Sophie and Fitz jump off the cliff and teleport to who knows where.
Chaos ensues as people clamour to the edge to see what happened to the two and the coaches struggle to contain the growing crowd before quickly dismissing everyone.
Not even surprised as he turns away from yet another reminder it’ll never be him. Keefe makes his way through the crowd of waywards towards the rest of his abandoned friends. As he nears the group though he feels a cool and dark presence silently drift over him.
“If your friend is serious about wanting to make a change in this place, tell her she should come back tomorrow” a cold voice whispered in his head.
A shiver runs down Keefe’s spine as he jerks his head upwards and looks around the crowd in search of the mysterious voice.
There, the shade was staring at him, their eyes locked and Keefe gave a quiet nod to the other boy before watching the shade lightleap away.
Keefe, instantly feeling the presence dissipate.
Keefe, left standing alone in the chaos once more.
He quickly shakes himself out of his stupor, the millions of questions invading his mind over why the shade reached out, why to him? Is he trustworthy? Is he with the neverseen? What does he want? He had spoken to Sophie before, why talk to Keefe now? Is he trying to get Sophie involved in some dangerous plan of his? Anxiety rushing through him as he grabs Dex and Biancas hands, ultimately deciding to tell them of the shades' message once Sophie and Fitz get back.