his flower queen (nikolai lantsov)

The Fold

After battling between herself for the rest of the day, Kaida ended up sitting with Alina and Mal. There was no need to invite Tamar or Tolya because they were already sitting with the two. When Kaida sat down, Alina and Tamar smiled while Mal gave her a death stare. Tolya scooted over for her and made room for the girl as he ate his meal happily. 

"Do you both speak Shu?" Alina asked the twins. 

"Yeah, Kaida as well! We're trying to maintain our language but it's difficult when it's just the three of us speaking, and neither of us have lived in Shu for a long while," Tamar answered. "How about you?" 

"I look like I'm Shu, but I've lived in Ravka my whole life, so I have no idea how to speak it." Alina explained, "Do you really speak Shu?" she raised her brows at Kaida, lifting her fork up to her mouth. 

"Yeah," she replied after gulping down her water. 

"She also speaks Kerch. Shared some poetry in Kerch with us," Tolya grinned. 

"Wow! I didn't know you could speak anything other than Ravkan. You only ever spoke Ravkan in the First Army." 

Kaida shrugged, "There was no need to speak others languages." 

"You didn't think there was any need to speak at all," Mal murmured, though Kaida had heard him. She decided to ignore it, not wanting to waste her breath on him.

"You were in the First Army?" Tamar asked incredulously. Kaida hummed a yes in response. 

Mal scrunched up his face in confusion, "How'd you escape from East Ravka? You'd have to have gone through the Fold."

"I hid in one of the leaving skiffs. Nothing special." 

Tamar disappointedly said, "I was expecting some sort of exciting story."

"I never tell stories, you should know that by now, Tamar." Kaida stated to which Tamar sighed. 

The night dragged on, the four others wanting to get to know Kaida more. She was grateful that Mal and Alina didn't mention her real name in front of Tamar and Tolya because she wasn't in the mood to explain. Even though she didn't completely enjoy it, it was better than swinging on her hammock, eating dinner alone. 

Sturmhond had joined them, squeezing beside Kaida when there was enough space next to Mal. His reasoning was because he wanted to see the guests faces when he was talking, but she didn't believe a word that came out of that boy's mouth. For the duration of the dinner, his knee kept bumping into hers playfully or he kept his arm against hers. 

Ever since using her grisha power, her appetite had increased, so when she finished her dinner, she tried to drink a lot of water, but luckily Sturmhond noticed and gave her his plate which had the remaining of his dinner. She thought about it for a moment, and decided to eat the leftover of his meal since it would be a waste if he wasn't going to eat it as he said he was full. She definitely didn't eat it because she thought it was a sweet gesture and wanted to thank him in a way where she didn't have to say the two words directly. 

~

A cold wind was blowing at three bells in the morning. The stars were bright in the sky, and a sickle moon sat low on the horizon lighting up the dark night for the crew who were preparing to leave the Volkvolny. 

As Kaida adjusted her weapons in her sheaths, she saw Sturmhond giving orders, but instead of wearing his usual garish teal frock coat, he was dressed in a wool hat and a voluminous greatcoat which the collar was pulled up. Kaida couldn't see his face properly and hated to admit it but she sort of missed seeing his annoying and broken face.