Six Of Crows imagines

Made of Brick

"Mama" Rowan called up the stairs. "I'm going to the Ravken Markets, want anything?" Footsteps pounding on the carpet covered floors, then, her mother leaned over the railing of the top floor. "Waffles" she said, her green eyes flashing with hunger. "With chocolate drizzle and strawberries?" Mama nodded, a grin falling into place under her tired eyes. Rowan nodded, grabbing her satchel and throwing it over her shoulder. As she reached for the door, she checked the multiple notes stuck to the doorframe. "What's at 10?" Rowan asked, eyeing a scrap of paper stuck to the frame to her left. It caught her eye because Mama had drawn hearts and flowers around the text, which was written in her messy hand. "My friends from Ketterdam are coming to stay" she said, her voice tired. "Remember?" Rowan smiled, pulling the paper off the doorframe and putting it on the counter where Mama would see it. She wrote the reminder, but she would most likely forget about it. "Yes. I remember" she said, even though Mama had never told her. Mama was overworking herself again. She didn't remember to tell Rowan things at the best of times, let alone when she was tired. Rowan walked out of the small apartment, blowing an air kiss to her Mama before she closed the door. The tacky pale blue corridors of the apartment flew past her in a blur as she ran through the hall and down the flights of stairs. When she reached the door, she flung it open and sucked in a deep breath. 'Fresh air' she thought.

Her Mama wasn't trapping her but she relied on Rowan. Rowan didn't mind in the slightest. She loved cooking for her Mama, surprising her with a new, fresh cooked meal or doing the washing because that meant she could soak her hands in the hot soapy water. They cleaned the house together, handing each other equipment and dancing around the small apartment to whatever music was flowing in through the window from the street below. Rowan didn't know much about her mother's job but she did know that she worked with another woman called Genya Saffin. They ran a healing and relaxation business a few roads down from their house and it was very successful. Rowan  worked there for some spear cash but spent most of her time at the Little Palace, training her water abilities. Occasionally the workers at the docks would ask to borrow some Tidemakers to help them bring in big boats that couldn't make it all the way into the docks. As one of the oldest students, Rowan would sometimes tag along and help, even if she wasn't technically allowed to.  

The mother daughter pair lived a few streets down from the main square where all the big events were held. The Ravken Markets were one of the biggest events in Ravka. The market travelled around Ravka, sharing different foods and handmade goods. It was started after the fold was torn down by Alina Starkov years ago as a way to join East and West Ravka. Music and chatter hit Rowans ears as she rounded the corner and stepped confidently into the square. Being a reasonably tall 17 year old, Rowan didn't have much trouble working her way through the crowd to the waffle stand her mother favoured over all others. "Two waffles please" she said, digging through her satchel to retrieve her coin pouch. "With chocolate and strawberries." She handed over the money and watched as the man made the waffles and dunked them in chocolate. After topping them with strawberries, the young girl that had taken over handed her the waffles and asked "Are you Rowan Zenik?" Rowan blinked. "Yeah" she said slowly. The girl, who couldn't have been more that 14 nodded. "My Dad goes to you Mum to 'let go of his stress.'" The way she said it implied that she didn't believe it worked. Rowan nodded, putting the waffles into a container she had brought with her and stuffing them into her bag. "She does a wonderful job" the man said from the back of the stall. Rowan nodded again and said "Good to know my Mama's clients are happy with her work. Have a good day."

Rowan spent the rest of the morning wandering the stalls and talking to people who asked for directions or recognised her. During a conversation with a girl from school, a group of performers gathered in the middle of the square and music began to play. "Wanna come watch the performance with me?" Madeline asked as the performers started their routine. "What do they do?" she asked as Madeline dragged her towards the group. "They are a circus group. They perform at 10 every Sunday." Rowan stopped. She had somewhere she was supposed to be at 10. "What's at 10?" The docks! Mama's friends from Ketterdam! "Sorry gotta run" she called, spinning on her heal and running through the markets. The docks weren't to far away, 10 minutes if she ran. And she did. Rowan tore through the outskirts of the small town and into the shipyard. She had to cut through the shipyard to get to the docks. Simple enough. People were working on ships and Fabrikators worked with bits of metal, bending them and welding them to ships while others milled around getting bits of material and handing it to one another. A shout from behind caught her attention and she craned her neck back to see what had caused it. She didn't stop running. Suddenly she was on the ground, her front feeling sore like she had run into a wall. She pressed a hand to her ribcage and looked up. Standing in front of her was a good looking boy with blond curls and brown eyes. He too was looking at her but, unlike Rowan, he was still standing. "Apologies miss" he said, offering a hand to her. She took it and said "What are you, made of brick?" The boy laughed. "No" he chuckled "I just lift heavy metal 8 hours a day." Rowan looked at him. His face and clothes had oil smears on them, as well as other ship grime. "Well, sorry for running into you" She said, adjusting her grip on her satchel. The boy smiled, "sorry for being made out of brick." With one last smile, Rowan took off again, weaving around workers and, when she made it to the docks, tourists.

She told herself to look straight ahead but her eyes wandered and, suddenly, she was on the ground again. "Ugh, again?" she said. This time it was a group of people and the one she had run into looked pissed. He too offered his hand and when he pulled her up she saw what he looked like. Black must be his signature colour because that was all he wore. Black cloak, gloves and hat as well as raven hair and soulless eyes. "well your intimidating. I'm assuming you don't have many friends?" she said. A ghost of a smile flickered across his pale lips, but Rowan only got a fleeting look as she was bowled over, arms wrapping around her waist and the weight of a full body smashing into hers. "Easy Inej, don't break the poor girl's bones" the man in black said. The person who had crashed into her, Inej, let go, apologising profusely. Rowan saw her Mama smiling. These were her friends from Ketterdam. "You look just like Nina" Inej said, beaming, her dark eyes crinkling in the corners. Rowan was surprised to see that they were the same height. "17 right?" Rowan nodded and Inej let out a happy sigh. "Do you all remember what we were getting up to when we were 17?" A tall boy with dark skin standing next to her Ma snorted, the smaller boy with his arm around his waist rolling his eyes. "Who could forget. I swear Kaz was trying to get us killed." The dark skinned boy said. The man in black shrugged, "Maybe I was trying to see if it was immortal." "Wait" Rowan said "Your talking about the Ice Court job right?" they nodded. "Barely made it out with our lives" the smaller boy said. Then he stuck out his hand and said "Wylan." Rowan took it then, took the dark skinned boy's hand, "Jesper." Turning to who must be Kaz she said "So you're Brekker? Mama talks about you a lot." Kaz looked sideways at Mama and she raised her hands. "All good things, all good things." There was a cough and they turned to see a boy with blond curls and brown eyes. The boy she had run into before. "Sorry to interrupt" he said, then reached out and pulled Rowan into a hug. She smirked as she felt him feeling around in her satchel. "If you want your wallet back Anders, you can just ask" she said smugly. Her childhood friend pushed her back and growled "yes, I do want it back. Give." She smirked wider. "What's the magic word?" Anders' glare became more intense as he said "or else" Rowan shrugged "that's two words." She turned to the Crows "Nice meeting you all but I have some unfinished business to attend to" then, she took off Anders yelling after her "ROWAN!"