Six of crows imagines

children?

It was a rainy day in Os Alta and not because Zoya was pissed off.

Queen Zoya Nazyalensky was searching for her husband for a long time now.

She finished a meeting with some nobles, discussing taxes and others boring things, important for the survival of the nation yes, but still boring, especially if your husbands leave you alone with a bunch of grandpas that only think about their money.

Nikolai disappeared, without saying where he was going or what was going to do.

Zoya had looked for him everywhere: in his office, in the royal library, in the dining room, in their private room, and lastly, in the laboratory, maybe he was blowing up things with David.

Nothing.

He was gone.

Zoya walked through the corridors of the palace with her Kefta and at a brisk pace, more angrier then worried.

Nikolai had this bad habit of disappearing without warning.

"I can see the lightning in your hair." Genya walked beside her, at a brisk pace too, but without hiding a slight amused smile.

"But I guess someone else will see them much closer".

They were on their way to the Little Palace, the area reserved for the Grisha only. It was the only place they hadn't checked, although in everyone's opinion, it was highly unlikely that Prince Consort Nikolai Lantsov was there, it was more likely that he had left for sea again.

Behavior that if it were true, Zoya would have considered irresponsible, given the weather, but with Nikolai everything was irresponsible.

The guards blocking the passages immediately disappeared as soon as they saw Zoya, their queen arriving.

"He must stop disappearing without warning." Zoya sighed biting the inside of her cheek "and above all, he must stop not attending meetings"

"Do I feel any concern?" Genya continues to have that amused smile, she was having fun, not everyday you can witness the ruthless queen running up and down because she was worried about her husband.

Zoya bit her lip the entire time she and Genya began searching the various rooms of the Little Palace. The Grisha library, Zoya's old room that was still left without a new tenant, the dining room, common spaces.

"Where did he go?" Zoya leaned against the wall, along with Genya leaning on the opposite side. "Maybe he really went to sea?"

"If he went there, i want to know what, for the saints, he has in is mind" Genya was about to speak again, trying to calm Zoya, when noises never heard before came from the area where children usually trained, separated from the older ones.

Zoya broke away from the wall, swearing she heard Nikolai's laugh, the laugh she would recognize among a thousand. What was Nikolai doing there?

She looked at Genya, also quite confused, and walked towards the area where laughter, various screams and quite strange noises were coming from. Zoya was ready to go in and scold everyone, to bring them back to order, but she was enchanted by the scene.

Nikolai Lantsov, was running with a little Grisha girl, who judging by her Kefta, was a Squaller, sitting on his shoulders, chased by other Grisha children of all orders armed with wooden swords and pirate hats made from paper.

They were all laughing and running, with the aim of capturing what was formally the Prince Consort of Ravka, in reality he was a child.

Zoya couldn't be angry at such a scene, she smiled as she watched. Nikolai was much faster, despite the fact that he carried another child on his shoulders.