❛ ʻʻ .. it's strange how fate
keeps bringing us together .. 〞
in which a girl who can see a person's fate from the touch of a hand falls for the one boy fearing human touch.
━━ KAZ BREKKER
frenemies to lovers, slowburn
shadow & bone - crooked ki...
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xxii. an unwelcome visitor – Randvi
THE remainder of the journey to Fjerda passed by in a blur, and sooner than Randvi would have liked, they arrived in the snowy nation.
She hadn't anticipated how hard it would be the see her home again, nor had she allowed herself any time I think of the moment. Instead, her focus had been on finding her brother, on what she'd say to him. Randvi had played the moment over and over in her mind, trying to imagine what her brother would now look like, if he was still a damned drüskelle.
It was all too much, and the sight of the norther coast one afternoon did little to settle her nerves.
She had never been this far north, only ever hearing of it in the stories her brother and mother would tell. Randvi could recall the countless nights she'd spent lying besides the fire, listening to her mother tell stories of the Sildroher, creatures that lived in the dark waters. Eivor had always promised to take her to see the endless whaling villages lining the shore.
Maybe another time, she thought as she stood alone on the deck.
Specht had insisted they wait until dusk to make their way onto land, concerned they would be easily spotted as outsiders. She had tried sleeping, but no amount of tossing and turning made her feel sleepy. Her mind was ablaze with thoughts. Randvi didn't want to wait any longer. She wanted to see her brother.
"I wouldn't bothering trying to swim to the shore," Came a voice from behind her. "I found that out the hard way."
When Randvi glanced over her shoulder, she spotted Nina walking to lean besides her against the ships railings. She looked as perfect as ever in the twilight, her green eyes listening under the light of the stars.
"I suppose I should add insane to the list of Grisha traits." Randvi laughed gently, her eyes fixed on the twinkling lights of the whaling villages on the coast.
"And maybe I should add stupid to my list of Fjerdan traits." Nina spot back. "You'll freeze to death up here."
"Now there's a wish."
"You really are a Fjerdan."
"I'm about as Fjerdan as Kaz is moral," Scoffed Randvi, letting her gaze drift up to watch the stars.
Being Fjerdan was a curse. What good had it brought her? She wasn't welcome in her own nation, and every other nation viewed her as an enemy or a backwards barbarian. She felt like an outside everywhere she went, and a guest in her own home.
The glistening lights of the whaling villages on the coast looked like a painting, as if they belonged in a fairytale story. It was hard to believe a nation this beautiful could be full of such cruelty. In another time, perhaps she would have been able to appreciate just how beautiful Fjerda was. It was a shame she couldn't say the same for its inhabitants.
