This Isn't About Reya

Chapter Eighteen

Svetlana awoke that Saturday to a bright stream of sunlight bleeding in from behind the curtains covering her window. The light was soft and warm, and it enveloped her in an early-morning haze.

It was the first time she could remember the sun being so bright.

She blinked blearily at the light, rubbed at one eye, and pulled herself out of bed. Her feet were cold, but she hugged a blanket around her body as she pulled back the curtain and looked outside.

It was beautiful.

A sunrise. 

For the first time in her life, the clouds had pulled apart in the morning long enough for the full glory of the sun to sing across the frozen surface of Aquilo-Nix. Svetlana looked at the golden, glimmering light in awe, watched it bounce off the curving metal structures of the city and the ice that had grown in streaks across the windows. She lifted a finger up to trace the ice on the glass in front of her that splayed itself in sharp waves on the other side of the window. Her fingernail slid lightly across the glass in swooping curves and sharp angles, and then her eyes looked through the ice and stared at the golden glow once more.

It emanated angelically across the whole city, and in that moment, Svetlana understood why they called the city "dragotsennost'" - jewel. 

That was when the voices that floated through the hallways of her house caught her ear.

They weren't particularly loud, but in the stillness of the morning, it was difficult to miss them. At first Svetlana only heard her mother's voice, chattering away and only pausing long enough to laugh. But then a man's voice floated through the hall, flowing and cool, like the ice on her window...

It certainly wasn't her father's voice, which grated and cut like an old saw hacking its way through a pine. Nor did it sound like any of the officers, friends of her father, who sometimes checked up on her and her mother while her father was away. 

In her sleep-addled state, she couldn't manage to connect the voice with a face, but the striking familiarity was unshakable. 

Svetlana sighed, wrapped a shawl around her shoulders so that it covered the top of her tank-top, and shuffled out into her living room.

Her mother's back was turned to her, her long, white-blonde hair tied in a ponytail. She was wearing casual clothes, so the man couldn't be anyone too important, Svetlana figured. Her mother had one hand up, gesturing slightly while she talked. 

"And he's off working on a new initiation against the Redeemed, so he likely won't be back for at least a few days," her mother said.

"What's the initiation?" the cool voice asked.

Svetlana's eyes narrowed. That voice...

"Oh, it's - " her mother began, but then turned, and noticed Svetlana standing in the hallway behind her. "Well, good morning, Svet! Look who came to see you."

Daniil's soft green eyes smiled at Svetlana from across the counter top. He grinned sheepishly and raised a hand.

Svetlana blinked hollowly, speechless. She looked back at her mother blankly. 

She just smiled back at her with pearly white teeth.

Svetlana turned back to Daniil. "You came to see me?"

Daniil nodded.

"It's so good to see him again!" her mother exclaimed. She had no idea how things between Svetlana and Daniil had ended last time.

Svetlana didn't know what to do, but she knew that she didn't want her mother to bear witness to whatever it was that she did do.

Svetlana sighed, then turned to walk back into her room. She stopped at the doorway and turned back towards her mother and Daniil.