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A warm arm was slung around Lysander's shoulder as she leaned her head on Alina Starkov's shoulder, watching as the girl shaded in an expert drawing of the fold. Though she was tired, she couldn't get any sleep, not with the wagon full of cartographers being thrown around by the bumpy road.
"Alina," Alexei, their friend, said, looking at her paper. "How can you do that in here?"
"Bumps help with texture," she said simply before showing Lysander a better view, who simply nodded to her, letting her know it looked fantastic.
"The Fold looks different on mine," one of the other boys said. "I need to get a better view from your country."
"She grew up here. Come on!" Alexei said, shoving the boy's head to the side.
He just rolled his eyes and muttered. "The Shu Han didn't want her either."
"Well, I want her," Lysander whispered so quietly that only Alina heard her. The dark-haired mapmaker smiled and tightened her hold around Lysander, knowing she didn't care what others thought of her so long as she had Lysander at her side.
Then the leader of their unit, Petya, turned and looked at them through the small window carved at the front of the wagon, separating them from her and the driver. "Cartographers, listen up. We're almost there. Pack up and be ready to leave. And if you lose anything, you will not be getting a replacement."
Lysander moved to fill her pack with all her supplies but froze when she heard a low growling sound. It was coming from the Fold, she knew, something that haunted her nightmares. Alright, maybe just darkness in general haunted her nightmares, but she was grateful she was simply a mapmaker and would never be sent through.
Almost like she could sense her fear, Alina squeezed Lysander's hand comfortingly, who happily intertwined their fingers, always a fan of physical touch, especially when it came to Alina and Mal.
Finally, the wagon reached the camp at Kribirsk, and all of the mapmakers unloaded. Lysander drew in a shallow breath as they looked at the black mass of shadows before them, hearing the Volcra screech and seeing the odd blue lightning flash.
"We are never going to see it go away. This abomination is here forever," Alexei said, his thoughts along the same line as hers.
Raisa scoffed. "You don't go to church. A Saint who can summon the sun will destroy it," she said, walking past them.
"I'd like to see even one person who isn't scared of that," the very boy that'd been mean to Alina muttered.
