A LOYAL FRIEND:

There is some debate on this issue, but many consider Fitz to be Sophie Foster’s “first friend,” since he was the one to discover her and also helped her settle into her new life in the Lost Cities. Despite the difference in their grade levels, Fitz also did his best to look out for Sophie when she first started attending Foxfire, and their relationship has only grown stronger since. Some have tried to claim that Fitz’s friendship was initially only motivated by his father’s encouragement. But the connection between Sophie and Fitz has stood the tests of both time and trial. Fitz even chose to follow Sophie to the Black Swan when she had to flee the Lost Cities after “losing” her ability restrictor, and Fitz has fought by her side in numerous confrontations with the Neverseen.

HERO MOMENT:

As previously mentioned, everyone believed that Sophie Foster and Dex Dizznee were drowned by a tidal wave after their registry pendants were found at the bottom of the ocean. And Fitz was no exception. He attended both of their plantings and was seen grieving intensely at each. But Fitz was also the first to suspect that Sophie and Dex were still alive. He’d initially thought he was imagining Sophie’s transmissions for help, but as they grew stronger and more desperate, he decided to confide in both his sister (Biana Vacker) and his best friend (Keefe Sencen), who encouraged him to check the place where Sophie’s “voice” was telling him to go. The three of them leaped to the Four Seasons Tree in Lumenaria and found Dex stunned by multiple melder blasts and Sophie fading away from an unprotected leap—but Fitz was able to keep Sophie conscious by communicating with her telepathically while Biana and Keefe brought Elwin back to help. Sophie and Dex needed time to recover, and it’s likely that neither of them would be alive today if Fitz hadn’t acted when he did.

SHADOWED DAYS:

Sophie Foster’s kidnapping was a world-changing event for the Lost Cities in so many ways. But for Alden Vacker, her rescue proved that he (and the Council) had been wrong about the Black Swan. The organization was technically composed of rebels—but they were not behaving as enemies, like Alden had initially suspected. Which meant that Prentice Endal’s arrest, memory break, and subsequent exiling had technically been unjust—particularly since Prentice had simply been trying to protect Sophie. And while the Council maintained (and still maintains) that they based their decision on the information they had been given at the time and therefore are not to be blamed, as the source of that information, the realization proved to be too much for Alden. He tried to fight his emotions—even pulled himself back from a smaller breakdown during a Council-assigned mission to [LOCATION REDACTED FOR SECURITY] with Sophie. But after watching Prentice’s son (Wylie Endal) performing during the Foxfire Opening Ceremonies, the guilt shattered Alden’s mind, leaving him in an unstable, unconscious state that is almost worse than death. His wife (Della Vacker) tried her best to hold her family together. But all three children (Fitz, Alvar, and Biana) were devastated over essentially losing their father. And many reports indicate that Fitz’s grief manifested primarily as anger, and that most of that anger was directed at Sophie, whom he blamed for what happened to his father, since she’d known about Alden’s smaller breakdown and hadn’t warned anyone. (It should be noted that Elwin Heslege, who’d been assisting the family as a physician, reported seeing some improvement in Fitz’s temperament with the use of what he calls an “Emotional Support Stuffed Animal.” Elwin gifted Fitz with a sparkly stuffed red dragon, which he instructed Fitz to call Mr. Snuggles, and recommended that Fitz try hugging Mr. Snuggles whenever he was upset, or if he couldn’t sleep. Numerous reports indicate that Fitz still has Mr. Snuggles in his possession and finds a great deal of solace and comfort from his stuffed dragon.) Even though Alden was technically still alive, a planting was held for him in an attempt to provide his family (and our world as a whole) with some sort of closure for his loss. His Wanderling continues to grow—but it has thankfully turned out to be yet another unnecessary tree casting shade in the Wanderling Woods (along with the Wanderlings for Sophie Foster and Dex Dizznee). Sophie discovered that her unique telepathy allowed her to heal broken minds, and she brought Alden back to consciousness. Since his “reawakening,” it’s been as though Alden were never gone, which was naturally a huge cause for celebration, both for his family and for everyone in the Lost Cities. And reports suggest that Fitz apologized to Sophie before she healed his father, because he wanted her to know that he valued her friendship even if she couldn’t save the day.

COGNATES—AND POSSIBLY MORE:

Fitz was already an exceptional Telepath, but his ability improved exponentially once he was granted the rare opportunity of sharing a telepathy session with Sophie Foster and her Mentor (Sir Tiergan). The closer Fitz worked with Sophie, the more Tiergan began to suspect that a significant connection existed between his two prodigies, particularly since Fitz is one of the only Telepaths who can breach Sophie’s mental blocking. It seems the reason that Fitz can do so is because Sophie subconsciously chooses to let him into her mind, which then allows Fitz to transmit his thoughts, search her memories, and hear what Sophie’s thinking. He’s also able to send Sophie bursts of mental energy when her own strength is weakening. And together, Sophie and Fitz have been able to accomplish impressive feats, like performing a mental healing on the shattered, ancient mind of an exiled member of the Neverseen (former Councillor Fintan Pyren)—though that healing did lead to an unanticipated inferno of Everblaze, which destroyed nearly half of Eternalia and caused the death of Councillor Kenric. They’ve also been able to successfully navigate the complex mental landscapes of other intelligent species, as when they searched King Dimitar’s thoughts during a mission to Ravagog, and read the minds of two gnomes. Additionally, with Sophie’s help, Fitz has been able to communicate with the alicorns, even over great distances. All of which is why Sophie and Fitz officially began training as Cognates during their time living with the Black Swan. Once their banishment ended, they continued the lessons with Sir Tiergan at Foxfire (though Tiergan had technically been working with them the whole time, since recent reports indicate that Tiergan is a member of the Black Swan’s Collective, who goes by the name Granite). Fitz even gifted Sophie with Cognate rings as a Level Three midterms gift. And now that Sophie has manifested as an Enhancer, the two of them are able to accomplish truly incredible tasks, like recovering fragments of memories that had been shattered and buried in the darkest depths of Keefe’s consciousness. Trust has occasionally been noted as a barrier for their Cognate connection (particularly for Sophie), but they’ve managed to find a way of working through it—though it will be interesting to see if the Cognate relationship can survive the matchmaking process. Rumors often circulate about Fitz and Sophie, and the terms “Fitzphie” and “Sophitz” seem to suggest some sort of romantic pairing. One of the matchmakers assigned to Fitz even wondered if certain answers in Fitz’s match packet might’ve been an attempt to steer his match lists a particular way (though the process is of course designed to ensure a bias like that won’t interfere with the matchmakers’ recommendations).

A BANISHED VACKER—AND THE FIRST WAYWARD: