his flower queen (nikolai lantsov)

Does it Involve a Talking Dog?

For the past 6 months, Kaida worked hard with Sturmhond and his crew. Tolya and Tamar were good mentors to her as she worked day and night voluntarily. When someone needed a hand, she was the first one to offer. Many of Sturmhond's crew were confused by her since she barely talked or smiled but was very aware of her surroundings. She was the best at fishing for food, often catching shark to get the cook Sturmhond loved to have around his journeys to make delicious dinners. He never left land without Basil, or else he'd "go mad in a couple of hours." Kaida believed that he was in love with the man rather than appreciating a good meal. 

Although Kaida felt suffocated with so many people around, especially in the bedrooms with uncomfortable hammocks, she felt safe for the first time in 14 years. Once Sturmhond explained the situation that Kaida was working with the crew to the twins, Tamar and Tolya were kind and didn't care if she was quiet. They happily babbled to each other; Tolya reciting his favourite poems in Shu and Ravkan while Tamar sharpened her axes while mocking or adding onto the poems. There was no need for her to sharpen the axes, but there wasn't much entertainment on the ship. The three of them sometimes conversed in Shu instead of Ravkan, Tolya and Tamar wanting to keep their culture and identity intact. 

"Where are you from, Kalista?" Tamar asked one day. It was quite unusual for a Shu Han person to have extremely light blue eyes and snow-like skin, even after being out in the sun for hours.  However, the black hair that swallowed up all colours and light was very Shu-like. Kaida understood that she didn't look like she belonged anywhere and respected Tamar for asking directly instead of making fun of her or calling her a half-breed. Before she joined Sturmhond's crew, there was a lot of that. 

No matter how much she liked Tamar and Tolya, she couldn't fully trust them, so she lied effortlessly, hoping that if she answered normally and quickly, they wouldn't ask more questions about her personal life, "I know I don't look Ravkan, but I'm from Ravka." 

Luckily, the two left it at that understanding that Kaida wasn't a very open person and genuinely surprised she answered without avoiding the question like she usually did. Tamar decided to tease Tolya about his interest in one of the crew members called Savannah instead, allowing Kaida to release the breath she held in subconsciously, which she did frequently. 

Overall, the people on the ship were friendly and welcoming, it just overwhelmed her, causing her to throw up walls around herself. She made sure to avoid personal questions, tried not to get too close to anyone and made sure to work on her own. Whenever she had to work with someone whether it be fixing the sail or pulling up a big fish from sea, it took a toll on her. 

Eventually, the ship had arrived at Kerch where they had a bit of free time to wander around. Kaida didn't join the others to go to the gambling clubs and went to the University of Ketterdam, admiring the structure and the sculptures. She went straight to the bookstore and looked for books about sailing, healing and poetry. 

Once upon a time, books were her one escape. It let her fantasize of another world which kept her going from the age of 2 to 9. After running away from him with Freyja, she realised how pathetic it was to fantasize about non-existent worlds. How dangerous it was to desire for something that was too far out of reach and fake. From that day on, she never dreamed of fantasies. Only the nightmares that clawed against her corpse-like skin, chasing her, waiting for her to tire from running to devour her for good. 

Although she vowed to herself that she would never fantasize of other worlds, it didn't stop her from reading to acquire knowledge like sailing and healing. Practicality brought comfort to Kaida.

She didn't want to buy the book full of poetry as it was all about expressing oneself's emotions and ideas as well as dreaming of scenarios that are ridiculous, but she thought that it would show some gratitude towards Tolya and Tamar for spending time with her even though they didn't have to. 

All of the books were in Kerch, but it was no trouble for her since she could read, speak and understand Ravkan, Shu, Fjerdan, Kerch, Zemeni and a little bit of Kaelish. She would never thank him for anything he did but she was glad that he forced her to learn different languages when she was little. It was useful to be able to understand what people were always saying no matter how much she hated communicating with people. 

On the way back to Ravka, she memorised the different poems from all over the world, translated it into Ravkan and shared it with Tolya and Tamar who's faces lit up the night sky. Tolya memorised the poems and asked to read the Kerch version even though he couldn't understand any of it. 

Other than sharing poetry and the twins teasing one another, they often trained together switching up the weapons to practice with whatever they had during a real battle. Since the twins were heartrenders they usually won the fights against Kaida since she wanted to practice fighting against grisha, but some days she won. 

Since the twins were Sturmhond's favourites - he wouldn't admit it of course - Kaida went to meetings about which route is best to go back to Ravka or how to split the money amongst the crew from the job they just finished. 

Throughout the months, Kaida caught Sturmhond watching her work during the day. He would join her for lunch even though he gabbled to himself most of the time. He would tell her about what he wanted to do when he was an old man. His plans were to own five dogs and live in a mansion in Ketterdam, specifically in Geldstraat. Kaida learned that Sturmhond had an obsession with dogs, called them "extremely loyal all while being fluffy and adorable". He asked a crew member couple of minutes before arriving to Ravka for a story about a talking dog which Kaida found ludicrous. She chuckled at the thought of Sturmhond and a talking dog having a conversation which caught the attention of everybody nearby, including Sturmhond himself. 

That was the first time she smiled in 4 years and she felt relieved.