Swan Song ~ Shadow & Bone

4

The next day, I woke up before the sun from nightmares. It was a regular occurrence. Usually when it happened, I would go to Aleksander and he would listen as I told him what happened. He was the only person that knew of the dreams.

Today, however, was a bit different. Instead of the usual dreams where I was pulled away from my brother over and over again, I had been forced to watch him attempt to go through the Fold. I hadn't seen what happened to him, but it made me angry. I didn't want to talk. I just wanted to fight. So I did the natural thing.

I went down to the training grounds and punched one of the dummies until my knuckles bled.

Once Botkin came down and saw my bloodied hands, he forced me to wrap them, but it didn't stop me from destroying a few more targets.

"Katya?" I heard. I spun around, swinging my leg up and over the head of Hadley, who ducked just in time. They stood up wide eyed as I caught my breath.

"Sorry," I said quietly. They looked down at my hands and sighed.

"Let me see." I hesitated but held out my hands. They slowly moved to take the wrappings off, but I still flinched away when I felt their fingers touch mine. "Kat..." I shook my head.

"Just do it." They frowned but nodded and carefully unwrapped my hands, sighing at the sight of the cuts and bruises. They looked up at me disapprovingly, and I sighed. "I know, I know," I breathed. They rolled their eyes and waved their hands over my bruised knuckles, clearing them of any injury. I pulled my hands from theirs, and they looked at me expectantly, and I sighed, rolling my eyes. "Thank you, Hadley." They nodded.

"You're welcome. Now, instead of destroying every dummy Botkin has, do you wanna spar?" I grinned and nodded. "Ah, knew that would get you. You just can't resist beating me up, can you?" I laughed.

"What are you talking about?" I asked. "You just about sent me to the infirmary one day."

"Bitch, I am the infirmary!" I laughed.

"Whatever." I grinned and picked up my gloves, slipping them onto my hands quickly as Hadley wrapped theirs. We headed to opposite sides of one of the sparring rings, and I smirked.

"Ready?" they asked. I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, right, you're always ready. Whatever. Three, two, one, go." I didn't move and instead waved them over, winking.

"Oh, shut up." They ran at me, aiming a punch at my head, which I blocked, and then kneeing me in the gut. I held in a grunt and tightened my grip on their wrist, spinning around and flinging them onto the ground. I wiped my glove on my kefta, only to be also swept to the ground by Hadley kicking my feet out from under me. I groaned.

"So we're playing that game," I muttered. Hadley chuckled.

"When do we not?"

"Fair enough." I jumped up and grabbed their shoulders as they tried to do the same, swinging around and pulling them to the ground, wrapping my legs around their throat. They sighed and tapped my thigh, and I released them, grinning.

"How do you always manage to do that?" they asked. I shrugged. "And you're never gonna teach me?" I chuckled and shook my head.

"No, Hadley. I'm not teaching you my signature move." They stood up and brushed off their kefta before looking behind me. Their mouth spread into a smirk, and I furrowed my brows, looking over my shoulder. My grin copied theirs as my eyes landed on Alina, walking with Marie and Nadia and looking quite out of place. I looked back at Hadley and winked before tightening my gloves and walking over to the young Sun Summoner.

"You look a bit lost," I said cheekily. She looked up at me in surprise, and Marie and Nadia's eyes widened. They both nodded their heads in respect, and Alina went to do the same before I held up a hand to stop her. "Alina, you're a Sun Summoner. Any respect I get, you get the same." She smiled a bit but still looked nervous.

"Sun Summoner," Botkin called. I turned to look at him, staying close to Alina. "All of Ravka's foes want to kill you before you can destroy the Fold. It's a great honor to have so many enemies." She nodded stiffly and leaned towards me.

"A very warm greeting," she muttered. I chuckled quietly and nodded.

"He's always like this."

"You must learn to defend yourself fast," Botkin continued. "Do you know how to fight?" She gulped but nodded.

"I've had some training." He nodded and gestured around the group.

"Show me. Pick an opponent." Alina's eyes scanned the group before settling on Zoya. She lifted a shaking hand and pointed.

"Her." I raised an eyebrow. I had sparred with Zoya several times as we arrived at the Little Palace at around the same time.

"Zoya Nazyalensky," Botkin told Alina. "I've been training her since she was ten." The two girls made their way into the circle, and I saw Zoya smirk.

"Care to back down?" she asked. I smirked a bit but hid it behind my hand. Alina shook her head.

"Not familiar with the concept." Botkin nodded.

"Fighters ready?" The girls raised their fists, getting ready to fight. "And... fight!" Alina immediately rushed to throw a punch at Zoya, but the latter grabbed her fist easily and pulled her to the ground. She went to walk away, rolling her eyes, but Alina jumped up and shook her head.

"We go again," she demanded. I crossed my arms as they got ready to fight again.

"Fight." Once again, it wasn't long before Alina was on the ground. Zoya leaned forward and whispered something to the younger girl. She stood up, and I nodded but was caught by surprise when Alina jumped up and swung a punch at Zoya's cheek. The Squaller's face contorted in anger, and she quickly spun around, blasting Alina backwards into a pile of hay. My eyes widened, but unlike everyone else, it wasn't entirely bad. I had personally experienced this move before, and it wasn't as big a deal as people made it out to be.

At least Alina ended up in the hay instead of flung into a wall.

"Alina!" Nadia cried as her and Marie ran to their 'friend's' aid. I, on the other hand, made my way to Zoya, sending her a small smirk.

"Don't say anything," she said immediately. "I know I shouldn't have lashed out." I grinned.

"Well I was going to say good job, but if you don't want me to say anything, I guess I won't."