his flower queen (nikolai lantsov)

Victory

The next morning, Kaida woke up early so she could see the others off. The rain had stopped from yesterday but mist covered the deep blue of early dawn. Through the window, Kaida saw a deer moving between the trees, head bent to the sweet grass. 

After finishing a cup of scorching tea, she helped the others pack and prepare their journey into the Fold to fight the Darkling. 

Outside, the Soldat Sol waited in rigid formation, rifles on their backs, canisters of inactive lumiya slung over their shoulders. The tattoos on their faces looked fierce in the dawn light. The grisha wore roughspun. They might have been ordinary soldiers. 

Harshaw had left Oncat curled up with Misha, but now she sat in the parlor window, lazily grooming herself and watching them assemble. Tolya and Tamar had their golden sunbursts pinned to their chests. Mal's was still with Misha. 

As Kaida hugged each person one by one, tears pricked at her eyes. Luckily none fell since nobody else seemed to be crying. Before they all left, Zoya briefly nodded at Kaida which she returned. 

The group moved farther and farther away from them, so Genya, David and Kaida went back inside. The three sat around for a while in silence. The couple cuddled up to battle off the worry and fear that built up in the room. 

Kaida sighed and went off to another room to get dressed in roughspun and gathered her remaining weapons: knives and revolvers. 

Her back felt empty without her bow and arrows. The comfort it brought in the past was gone. She took it off back in the Spinning Wheel to be able to move more freely, but she was picked up by Nikolai while she was unconscious and couldn't retrieve her favourite weapon. It didn't matter much now because she could use her powers which were just as effective than her arrows, maybe even better.

With light feet, she snuck towards the front door, the door knob turning quietly. 

"Where are you going?" Genya asked. 

Kaida's shoulders slumped as she faced her. "I'm going out to get some food for us."

"We already have enough food," Genya crossed her arms, a suspicious brow raised.

"Well, if the others come back I'm sure they'd be starving. Better to have extra food." Kaida gently smiled at her whose facial expression stayed the same. 

Genya sighed, "I know you want to go and help them in the Fold, but you're not completely healed and look at yourself. You've lost so much weight and haven't trained at all." 

"I know that, but this is a war, Genya. You have to use all your resources if you want to win and I'm a great resource. I'm not going to sit around waiting here knowing that I could be out there doing something. I'd rather die fighting than live with the guilt of knowing I could've done something." 

Genya stood there, trying to think of something to convince her friend to stay with her but she knew nothing would persuade her. 

"I'm so grateful that we met. Now go before I change my mind," Genya said, her voice wavering. 

Kaida embraced the one eyed girl and muttered, "I'll be back, you'll see." 

She ran off towards the Fold to catch up with the rest of the group. They were probably already near the Fold, but that was okay because Kaida wanted to surprise everyone. 

~

When she entered the Fold, there was no sound which made Kaida know that they were currently walking toward the centre of the Fold. That was good, she was just in time.