Where The Spirit Meets The Bone

Forty-four: Nikolai Lantsov, past

Forty-four:

Nikolai Lantsov, past 

It was David who came up with the idea. Nikolai had explained the issue with The Fold. David's specialty was the material world. If anyone could fix something that was broken, he could.

Nikolai had gone to the workshop late at night with Genya with him after the grisha scouts had told them their findings. When they finished David frowned. "It makes sense that The Fold is a living thing. It came from one. But what makes you so certain that it's The Darkling's heart?" he asked.

"It's crying," Genya said, "Alyona says it feels pain."

"Because of Alina, right" David said.

Genya looked at him in surprise. "How did you get that?"

David frowned. "I saw the way they were together. I might not understand when someone is in love with me, but I understand when other people are in love with each other. That and The Darkling told me."

Nikolai and Genya glanced at each other, stunned, then back at David. "I'm sorry," said Nikolai, "The Darkling, one of Ravka's most feared Generals told you that he was in love with Alina?"

David nodded. "He came to me with his problems quite a lot recently. I think he liked that I didn't chatter. I just nodded my head and pretended like I was listening. It...." David looked down, guilt flashing in his eyes. "It was how he convinced me to make the collar for her. He said he wanted her to have it because he loved her, as a gift, because it would make Ravka better. He didn't tell me that it was going to control her."

Genya placed a hand on his shoulder. "He didn't tell us a lot of things."

David locked eyes with her, nodding again in recognition. They both understood what it was to work under the man. "So, if The Fold is hurting...it's because it needs to be reunited with Alina. Am I right?"

"Yes," Nikolai said, "that is what we're assuming."

"But The Darkling is dead," David reminded him, "we can't exactly.... bring him back. And Alina..."

"We're not going to bring anyone back from the dead," said Nikolai.

"We're not?"

"No," said Nikolai, "if the darkling was made of shadows, and Alina was made of sunlight, their powers would be imbalanced if one part of that power were to continue to exist without it."

"In that case, The Fold is more like a clock," said The Darkling, "it has The Darkling's essence still, but it cannot function without him. For The Fold to be fixed, it needs Alina's sunlight to work properly. In theory, they are two halves of a hole. But, as long as The Fold is more powerful, it will continue to be out of sync. The two need to find a place where they can exist as one without disrupting the other. If we can merge them, perhaps it won't destroy the fold, but their powers will rise and set like they are supposed to. If Alina was the sun it stands to reason that The Darkling was the moon."

Genya smiled at him. "Ingenious." She kissed him on the cheek, and David blushed.

Nikolai smirked. "But how do we reunite The Darkling and Alina without reuniting the people? The Darkling is dead, and I do not want to disrupt Alina's life with Mal."

"You shouldn't have to," said David, "Alina can continue her peaceful existence, The Darkling can remain dead in our time, but we can reunite their powers essences thus restoring The Fold using magic. Very dark, very illegal magic that ought never be used again but it can be done."

Nikolai frowned. "Will it save Ravka? Will it heal The Folds broken heart or whatever?"

"In theory," said David, "yes."

"How certain are you that you can duplicate them using their magical essences?"

"95.5 percent," said David, "which is practically a hundred for me. It isn't a hundred because I haven't had the trial and error to do it yet or improve upon it."

"And what about the time travel part?" Nikolai said.

"Well," said David, "what do you know about river gods?"

Genya tilted her head to the side. "David.... are you...? did you say what you meant to say?"

David nodded. "I started researching myths after The Darkling found Morozova's stag. I thought if something like that could create a powerful amplifier for grisha, what would happen if there were other mythical creatures from other provinces used for such a thing? I've been creating and documenting my findings in case anyone got the idea to do so again. It has only been in recent centuries though that Ravka has worshiped Saints, and old Ravka worshipped gods. Including one called Veles. There are legends that if you go to the river that he protects, you might slip through time, as it were. Reports of farmers and soldiers disappearing and reappearing elsewhere have happened for centuries from this region. If we could, in theory, create something from this water, one might make a machine that enabled one to...."

"Travel through time?" Nikolai said.

"Yes," he said.

"What kind of machine?"

"A grandfather clock," David said, "made from a tree that had been watered with the magic water from the gods, instilling in it the properties needed to create a time travel machine. We would create the duplicates of Alina and The Darkling using their essences, and send them to different times until we managed to get them to fall in love with each other."

Nikolai hesitated. "It sounds crazy."

Genya nodded. "I agree," she said, "it does sound crazy."

David's face fell. "Well.....I could always----"

Nikolai patted him on the back. "No, David. Don't change a thing. It sounds just crazy enough to work. But, we're going to have to do some tests first."

 David grinned. "Well of course. This is Ravka. Where magic and science blur the line."