Saints Day (Grishaverse)

The Report

Nikolai Lantsov was wearing a hole in the floor of his living quarters.

“For Saints sake, Nikolai.” Tamar growled, fiddling with her amplifier. “Sit down or I'll get Zoya to sit you down.”
The boy king sighed wearily, slumping onto an opulent couch, medals on the jacket he had worn for Saints Day just hours before jingling on their fabric, the scent of smoke heavy in the air.

“Well I wouldn't want that.” The sarcasm hadn't left his features, now creased, but upholding respect.

“It doesn't make sense.” Tamar had firmly assured him of this. “The fireworks must have gone awry, and that kid hit his head pretty hard.”

But Nikolai had learned not to underestimate the enemies of his country, and impossible was very quickly fading into improbable.
The demon inside nodded as if in agreement.

Nikolai had been running the accounts through in his head, each one worsening.

The Bank Of West Ravka left with a knife slash in every note, and the marble walls crumbling.
The remains of Novokribirsk submerged in floodwater, circling rapids.

The male inhabitants of Keramzin orphanage all found murdered and hung on the walls with the message Ravka's sons are as weak as their armies scrawled in blood, in Old Ravkan on parchment.

A village in Os Alta massacred on Saints Day, burned to the ground, with one lone survivor, a young boy who claims to have seen a terrifying monster in a woman, who razed the village with tongues of flame.
It sounded like a story from the horror books Vasily had tried to scare him with as a child, and Nikolai had dismissed it when the boy had spilled the final detail.

She had been laughing as he ran, a chemical sort of rough laugh.

There had been reports all over Ravka of this woman, sometimes in Fjerdan clothing, sometimes in a mock kefta, always leaving destruction in her wake, although not yet so bold to set Os Alta aflame.

The reports had nicknamed her the Laughing Lady.

Of course Zoya had blown it off as nonsense, called for a better report, told the worried dignitaries they had lost their minds, and that there was an explanation.
She's probably a rogue inferni, The raven haired general had proclaimed one night, making notes on a piece of paper.

Nikolai wasn't so sure.
It wasn’t always fire, and it wasn't consistent with an inferni power’s limits.
No this was something far more dangerous.

And visiting nobles, the Shu and the Kerch had begun to take notice of Ravka’s problem, bringing it to notice in meetings, drawing attention to the cracks in the facade of Ravka’s strength.
The weakening illusion of power had been fading for Nikolai’s rule and this needed to be changed, maybe with the Izmaar’ya war plans.

Yes, this needed to be fixed immediately, and Nikolai suspected there was something far darker lurking underneath this.
He stood abruptly.
It was time to call Zoya from the Grisha training wing.

There was a plan to be put into action, and Nikolai needed someone to keep his extravagant gestures in check.
---
“So let's get this straight.” Zoya looked down at Nikolai with an exhausted sigh. “You think the Shu have weaponised a Grisha to have a different skill set than usual and just send her around destroying villages in Ravka with no bargain offer.”

“Well when you say it like that…” Nikolai cocked his head and winced.

“I don't even have time to tell you all the things wrong with that. I'll start with, the Shu are shrewd, they negotiate to win, they don't just send assassins with no clear aim other than destruction. And the child said the woman looked Kerch, or Ravkan.” Zoya looked ready to roll her eyes out of her head.

“Your bad ideas are starting to take a toll on me.” Zoya pinpointed her fierce look on Nikolai, the one that made him feel like possibly the tiniest person ever, and like he wanted her to lean over and kiss him senseless.
“My bad ideas keep you on your toes.” Nikolai replied, ignoring the thoughts in his mind, the ones that were to be replaced with plans to combat the Kerch navy.

“Just hurry up and show me the recent account.” Zoya held out a hand and Nikolai placed the unsealed paper in it, and as it caught the light he saw the bloodstains on it as the boy had furiously scribbled down his sights.
"I don't think it's the Shu, Nikolai." Zoya sighed but Nikolai had made up his mind.

This was the start of a war, Nikolai could feel it in his (admittedly demon-resided) soul.
"Get me a direct line to the Shu ambassador"

I'll probably edit this chapter later, it's really short. Let me know what you think ! -Kazzledazzle