Which Witch || Aleksander Morozova

𝓬𝓱𝓪𝓹𝓽𝓮𝓻 𝓯𝓲𝓿𝓮

Blue Iris

—

When darkness begins to fall, the group slows, stopping not long after to make camp in the woods by a run-down old barn. With Mal accompanying the travelling party, there's plenty of squirrel meat to go around for the evening meal. Katerina is rather eager to be back at the Little Palace, in a real bed with good food.

Once night falls, she finds herself shivering slightly. As she sits beside Fedyor, arms around herself to conserve heat, a soft but heavy cloth falls over her shoulders, and she looks up to find Aleksander placing his cloak over her. Her lips part to protest, but the look in his eyes has her shutting her mouth before the words can escape.

There's a quiet sparking noise, and warmth bursts from the pile of logs and dry grass that Ivan assembled. Pulling Aleksander's cloak a little tighter around her, she leans towards the warmth with a tiny smile.

"Ivan, you're a saint." She remarks without thinking – an occurrence that's becoming a little too common as of late.

He stares at her for a moment, his face as unchanging as usual, but Fedyor smiles widely.

Out of the corner of her eye, Katerina can see Aleksander talking to Alina. She looks a little wary, but Katerina hopes this can be the start of something great between them.

"You and the General are close." Ivan states, though it sounds more like an accusation, and she blinks. This is the first time he's ever spoken to her.

Recollecting herself, she hums quietly, a tiny smirk ghosting over her lips. "Well, I suppose that's why I'm here. Allies should be friends, don't you think?"

Ivan doesn't respond, but she knows he must be thinking hard about her words.

As the evening goes on, soldiers slowly begin to lie down on their packs, settling down to sleep around the fire.

Once she's got herself settled, Katerina stares up at the stars as they begin to reveal themselves in the darkness of the night. No matter how often she's seen them, the sheer number of them in comparison to her old world will always steal her breath from her lungs.

Aleksander sets his bedding up next to hers, close enough that their shoulders almost touch as he lies down beside her. Neither of them speak as they look up at the darkened sky.

"Are your stars different?" He asks in a low voice, nearly a whisper.

She nods faintly, brow furrowing as she stares at the sky. It's hard to tell really; it's been so long, and she always struggled to identify the constellations there anyway with all the pollution in the sky. "I think so. I remember there was Orion. You could always spot him by his big shiny belt. There was Capricorn. Taurus. A star called Sirius."

"Sirius? What an odd name for a star."

She chuckled softly. "People are weird. But of course here there's the rosebed, the Firebird..." She scans the sky for a certain saint for a moment. "There's Sankt Ilya. then the Stag behind him and the Sea Whip curling around them..." there's a pause as her eyes begin to flutter closed despite the hard ground beneath her back.

"I assume it's real as well." Aleksander says.

"What's that?" She mumbles sleepily.

"The Sea Whip."

She offers a small sound of confirmation before adding in a tired voice, "Yes, it is."

She hopes he won't ask about it. At the moment, she's been focusing on ensuring that Alina stays at the Little Palace. She's nearly got a solid plan for the Stag, but the Sea Whip is something she's still unprepared for as of yet. Luckily, whether it's because she's falling asleep or he is, he doesn't ask anymore questions.