Noble Hope| General Kirigan

𝟘𝟘𝟙

{Chapter one}

ADALINE DIDN'T WANT TO CROSS THE FOLD, but there was no chance she was going to leave her sister and Mal to do it alone. Watching Alina burn the Os Kerva maps and river systems made her plan her own escape.

Adaline, Alina, and Mal all grew up together in Keramzin, having met at the orphanage. The two Starkov sisters were left by their late grandmother who died when Adaline was a mere eight years old. The orphanage wasn't kind, either. The headmistress was heavily opinionated, the other kids were mean, and life was just outright hard. Especially for Adaline.

Her growing up was not easy by any means. She clearly remembered the day her parents died and the Starkov sisters were handed off to their grandmother. It was only two months after that that she passed as well. Adaline's time in the orphanage didn't help either.

As a way of reigning in her anger and learning to manage it, she used to fill old potato sacks with sand or dirt and hit them. Of course, it wasn't the most authentic way of teaching herself to fight, but it made do. Throughout the years her priorities were taking care of Mal and Alina, learning to protect herself, and writing.

When Mal joined the First Army, training from then on only got more intense. He was specially trained to fight, therefore giving him more experience than Adaline. That didn't stop the Shu girl from forcing her best friend to teach her how to fight properly any chance they got. And every time they sparred, Adaline got better and better. 

Now here they were, destroying property just so the three of them wouldn't be separated.

Her eyes fluttered around the room desperately, looking for something to give her an opportunity. On the table sitting towards the back of the room, Adaline spotted an old and most likely outdated report on the Novokribirsk army. She snatched the parchment off the table and tossed it into the pit of burning paper Alina had started before she could convince herself otherwise.

"What are you doing?" Alina snapped, glaring at her older sister after blinking out of her little trance. 

Adaline stared at the fire. "I'm not letting you go through the Fold alone."

"You could get killed!"

"And so could you, Alina." she grasped Alina's shoulders and met her eyes which were identical to her own. "We go down together." 

****~****

"What was damaged?" The general of the First Army asked through gritted teeth. 

Petya seemed anxious as she avoided his piercing gaze. "Nothing major. Just some records of the western coastline, Os Kerva's river system, and..." she flared her hand around to rid the smoke. "a report on our Novokribirsk armies. It's really not--"

"Critical?" The general took angry steps forward, not noticing the Shu girls passing and ducking into the tent. "Geographical data of the territory on the other side of the damn Fold? The only report we had on our supporting allies? Those records?"

Petya's eyes fell onto her shoes. "Yes, but I'm sure the First Army on the other side of the Fold has an–"

"You think I trust anyone else's intel?" The white-haired man sneered. "Now someone will have to cross the Fold to redraw these maps and write a new report."