his flower queen (nikolai lantsov)

Runaways

The plain white hallway continued on and on, Kaida's legs tiring with each step. She was debating going back to her room or continue on, but her stomach made the decision to keep on going. It kept making loud gurgling noises and the emptiness of it made her weak which was dangerous for her. 

Why is the kitchen so far away? 

Eventually, she made it to the kitchen and saw people cooking meals for the workers in the building. She had befriended two of the cooks, one woman called Alaia who was from Novyi Zem. Kaida was always envious of the woman's dark and smooth skin and loved her small buttoned nose. In Kaida's opinion, she was the most beautiful and kind person she had met at the time. Then there was a man called Darragh from the Wandering Isle. He had light brown hair that looked red under different lights with a small beard growing. Those two helped her improve her Zemeni and Kaelish but also showed her affection she lacked so much. 

He often forced her to study different languages when she had free time so that when she ever did go into the real world, she could go anywhere. Kaida and Him had different ideas of her leaving for the real world though. He wanted to use her as a spy and weapon for the Shu, whilst she wanted to leave because she despised the place she'd been raised in. After reading so many books, as that was the only form of entertainment, she thought homes were supposed to be comfortable, a safe space and someplace where there was love and happiness. But all she felt in her so-called home, was pain and suffering. There was no privacy because there were one-way mirrors in each and every room she went into. And there wasn't a single thing that brought comfort to her. The walls were as white as snow, the light reflecting off it, blinding her eyes. Boxes to sleep on with no blankets nor pillows and no chair or desk. The only places that Kaida had ever been to in the building that had furniture like in the stories she'd read was in the kitchen, canteen, training area and the surgery rooms. 

"What are you doing here, Kaida?" Alaia asked in Zemeni, panic in her voice. Her and Darragh exchanged quick glances. 

"I'm here to get some food. Today's training was... exhausting." Kaida replied back in Zemeni, glancing at the food that was displayed. 

"You must go back to your room, fast," Alaia pushed Kaida back towards the entrance of the kitchen. 

"What's going on?" Kaida asked confused. It wasn't normal for the two to want her to leave so quickly. She was allowed to visit the kitchen if she was hungry, He surprisingly didn't set a rule for her to be banned from the kitchen. 

"There's no time to explain," Darragh answered, also in Zemeni as Alaia didn't understand much Kaelish. "Take this pack, it has food in it to keep you going for a bit." He handed her a pack that was filled to the brim with various vegetables and fruit. 

Kaida hesitantly took it since he was shoving it with a lot of power. 

"We're going to miss you so much, dear." Alaia said, tears welling up in her dark brown eyes. Her usual wide smile gone. 

"You were like a daughter to me, and I'll pray for you everyday," Darragh smiled weakly, his pink face even pinker than usual. 

"I don't-" Kaida had said, but Alaia pushed the girl out the entrance and closed the door before she could finished her sentence. That was the last time she saw either of them. 

Though everything was happening so quickly and it was confusing, she listened to Alaia and Darragh and ran back to her room, the food pack on her shoulder now. 

She sat in her room, patiently. Biting her nails instead of munching on the food inside the pack, thinking if something were to happen, she didn't want to be eating.