The Yule Ball

Sonia didn't move. She evened her breathing out so it coudln't be heard above his own. Throwing her voice to another plant she asked. "You give up?"

descartes groaned. "Can I just forfeit?"

Courtney whispered something and the portal opened. She could see Sonia sitting in a dark corner on the floor crying.

"No!" Maik said grumpily. "That takes the fun out of it!" She sat back and waited Descartes to make another move so she could capture more of his pieces. The only downside to this method of playing was that it seemed to discourage people from playing her. She couldn't imagine why...

"Never!" Elrohir cried defiantly. He attacked the plant her voice had come from with a barrage of snowballs.

The plant growled shifting to try to snap at him but he was to far away. It also revealed she wasn't there. "Did I mention I could throw my voice." is came from the same plant.

Descartes laughed softly and moved his knight forward. He winked at Maik.

Now why was he winking like that? Maik's eyes narrowed and she moved one of her bishops. If Descartes tried to trick her into something...

"No. You failed to mention that." Elrohir grumbled. He studied the plants carefully, but still couldn't make any sense of it. Well, process of elimination would do the trick. He gathered a pile of snowballs and began to throw them at every plant, from both directions.

Sonia cursed as the plant she was in got hit with a snowball and spit her out. "That wasn't fair." she pouting.

Descartes laughed softly. "What's the matter, Maik. Am I getting to you?"

Maik captured his knight and tossed it aside. "No."

Elrohir laughed loudly as Sonia fell into the snow. "That was perfectly fair!" he sat down in the snow and smiled happily "Throwing your voice AND hiding in the plant wasn't fair either!"

sonia laughed. "Okay, we're even now." she said brushing the snow out of her hair.

Descartes laughed softly. "I was just kidding. I like losing anyways. Keeps me humble."

"Glad to be of service." Maik said. She had eliminated almost all his pieces now, and it was highly entertaining.

Elrohir laughed. He tilted his head upwards and let the snow fall on his face for a while. Elrohir sat there for a while, thinking, then turned his face back to Sonia. Something had been bothering him, and he needed to ask her about it. "How much does Descartes know about Maik, really?"

Sonia noticed the worried look. "Well, he knows about alex and them being attacked by death eaters. He also knows about when maik and I took that guy on.

Descartes smiled as he moved a rook forward.

Elrohir traced his finger in the snow slowly, no longer looking at Sonia. "You told him?" It wasn't so much a problem that he knew, except that Maik didn't know that Descartes knew about Alex. "Maik doesn't know that you told him, does she?"

Maik moved one of her pawns and scrutinized the board, making sure Descartes wasn't trying to trick her into anything.

Sonia hung her head shamefully. "No. Descartes said he wouldn't tell." she said in a low voice. "I'm sorry."

Descartes laughed. So much concentration for an easy opponent.

"It's allright. he would have found out eventually, I guess." Elrohir said lamely. He knew perfectly well that Maik didn't like that particular subject and preferred that noone knew about it. Elrohir sighed in resignation "Look, maybe Maik's better off if Descartes knows. It does concern him, afterall."

Maik took out another of Descartes pieces, tossing it tinto a pile with the others. Now that she had eliminated more than half his pieces, she could put into play her little strategy.

Descartes laughed softly. "well, this is interesting." he said smiling.

Sonia nodded still hanging her head. Her bangs hid her eyes. "Maybe, but how does it concern my brother?" she asks still not looking at Elrohir. She felt she had disappointed him.

Elrohir raised his eyebrow "Because your parents were convicted of his murder." he looked back down at the snow again "Even if they were innocent."

In one swoop, Maik snatched Descartes' queen and put him in check. "Check." She said proudly.

Descartes laughed. "So I see."

Sonia nodded. "yeah, I guess." she stood and dusted the snow from her cloak. "I'm sorry."

"It would seem, Mr. Hubert, that you have lost again." Maik informed him "You are in need of a snowball then."

Elrohir poked at the snow silently. What a mess this was.

Descartes sighed and braced himself. "Do your worst." he stuck his tongue out rather childishly.

Sonia then threw snow up letting it fall down covering her and Elrohir. She smiled.

Morgan peered over Courtney's shoulder, and saw Sonia, too. What was she doing here? Did she have something to do with this? Seeing her cry like that suddenly made Morgan wonder "What would this do to the future? And the past?" She could have taken this problem in way over her head.

Hiding her hand behind her back Maik slowly circled around Descartes adn shoved the snowball down the back of his shirt, patting his back roughly to back sure it didn't fall out the bottom. "There you go!"

Elrohir peeked out from under the snow and smiled. "Did you think I didn't have enough snow on me allready?" He suddenly lunged forward and tackled Sonia at the knees, sending her into a snowdrift and covering her completely in snow.

SOnia thrashed laughing crazily. "Stop." she said crab crawling backwards to get away but she still laughed.

Descarts gasped and maintained that face. "Oh my. . .I didn't expect it to be that cold." he said enduring the torure.

Courtney nodded. Whe Sonia got up to leave and passed by the invisible duo she slipped her hand into sonia's pocket, grabbed the letter, and quickly withdrew her hand so fast sonia noticed nothing.