𝐀𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐭'𝐬 𝐋𝐮𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐛𝐲 - 𝐍𝐢𝐤𝐨𝐥𝐚𝐢 𝐋𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐬𝐨𝐯

𝟎.𝟏 - 𝐒𝐨𝐟𝐭 𝐌𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐜 𝐨𝐟 𝐒𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠

✧・❉・✧

"Val!" the frail voice of the old man reached the girl's ears over the soft music of spring. Ravka's summers and winters were brutal, but springs and autumns were a sight to behold.

And over the petals of the flowers, the sun bathing her in golden light, the seven-year-old child turned in the direction of her father, who was bending at the waist, age and time loosening his spine.

It was a miracle he was able to stand. He wasn't that old, but life barely gave him a chance to live before confining him to his bed, then a chair and now a walking stick. But of course, for his young daughter, a little slip of a girl, he would gladly lay down his life protecting hers.

"But Papa! It's only been five minutes!" the girl whined, stomping her feet which prompted a wind to flutter a pollen-filled breeze in her direction, making her sneeze.

The old man coughed lightly, grimacing at the blood that painted his hand. "Valeriya, please, come inside," he wheezed out, his cough rattling his rib cage, enough to make his heart skip a beat.

"You ruin all the fun for me, Papa!" the girl shouted, storming past him into the house. The old man just had to stretch his life long enough for the Grisha examiners to come to take her to Os Alta. Living in Udova, it was difficult for him to dig up the money to take her himself, but he wanted her to be sent to the Little Palace and train, just as his Sasha had done.

He was sure his little girl was going to be very powerful, considering the odd jurda that had been given to Sasha while she was in labour. If it gave harm to Valeriya in any way, old age or not, he would hunt down the little Shu boy, Bo Yul-Bayur, and murder him.

"Val!" the man coughed out. The girl peeked out from under the bed with wide eyes. Electric blue eyes, just like Sasha's gazed back at him, and suddenly he was in Fjerda, a young man once again, sneaking around in the bushes with Sasha. "Val, please, get the neighbours."

Valeriya saw the blood dotting her father's shirt and tears sprung up in her eyes, her bottom lip jutting out. "Papa, are you dying?"

"I need you to do what I say, malyshka. Go get the neighbours," the man wheezed, clutching his chest.
 [malyshka : little girl]

Valeriya ran out of the house, her small feet barely touching the ground as she sprinted to the neighbour's cottage.

"Tetya!" she panted, ramming her little fists into the door. "Tetya, Papa is dying!"
[tetya : aunt]

The door opened and the thin, wiry woman with an expression that always looked like she had smelled something bad, peered down at Valeriya. "What do you want, durak?"
[durak : fool, idiot]

"Papa is dying!" the little girl said, tears running down her cheeks. Her tetya's eyes widened and she pushed Valeriya out of the way before hurrying to where the old man was now lying on the ground, in a pool of his own blood.

"Kasimir," the woman shook the man. "Kasimir, you need to wake up."

For one last time, air came out in a huff out of the old man's mouth, blood bubbling at his lips, and he went limp.

"Tetya, tetya, is papa dead?" the little girl wailed, pulling on the woman's dress. Her neighbour roughly grabbed her arm and dragged her to her own cottage, shoving her down on the bed and locking the door.

"Tupaya devchonka," she muttered under her breath. "You will stay inside, are not to come out until I call you, or I will send you to the border guards. Understood?" she said through the door.
[tupaya devchonka : stupid girl]