Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
•• ━━━━━ ••●•• ━━━━━ ••
FREEZING WAS BETTER THAN STAYING ON DECK, Lianna decided after she jumped off the boat upon having reached the shore. The first glimpse of the coast had caught her attention earlier in the afternoon, but Specht had thought to wait until dusk in hopes twilight would lend them some cover. These few extra hours exhausted her.
"Where do you think you're going?" she heard Kaz call.
"Another second on that damned boat and I will pass out and die in my slumber," Lianna responded. Kaz did not grace her with a response after that, but she could guess he shook his head in disbelief, rolled his eyes or made another gesture of disappointment.
"Precisely what I was thinking." Lianna looked back at the ship to see Inej already climbing down from it, with Nina's help. "What a revelation, one can get sick of being seasick."
Nina rolled her eyes playfully as Inej took her final step onto the ground. "If even our ever so patient Wraith has had enough, there is no person in this world who could have taken another second on Ferolind in their stride." The Heartrender took in a deep breath. "Ah, sweet air devoid of salt and the stench of sardines. Shall we walk?"
Lianna nodded and extended her arm for Inej to hold. If the Suli girl was in pain, she hid it well. They didn't dare wander away from the sea – keeping close distance to the water, Inej, Nina and Lianna walked ahead, towards vague shapes of houses sitting on a hill most probably more than two miles away. They wouldn't dare to reach it, but there was no harm in watching from afar.
"So this is it," Lianna said, absentmindedly observing two childlike silhouettes on the hill from behind which more houses were peeking. She thought about whether the kids were siblings, by blood or heart. "No turning back."
"No mourners," Inej mumbled.
"No funerals," Nina responded with no hesitation.
"If I die," Inej said, "I will do so without regrets."
Lianna watched Nina's face fall. It made her angry, though she wasn't sure at what.
"Me too," Lianna said. Somehow, she believed it. "I've done everything I could have, and some unnecessary things, too."
"But that's life, isn't it?" Inej tripped in the snow. "If this kills me, at least I'll die doing something worth doing. At least it's a choice."
"We can't always make good choices," Nina spoke, then. She wasn't talking to either of them in particular – maybe it was a message to herself, to the endless icelands of Fjerda, to the gods who listen and the hopes that remain unknown. But still, her eyes were on Lianna. "We may only make sure not to regret the ones we make."
Lianna furrowed her brows. Oh, Nina. What wouldn't that girl do, if she believed she had the right to do anything? Where was the line between her loyalty and selfishness? They could only hope it wouldn't be discovered at the expanse of their heist. Lianna looked up, stars peeked at them through the clouds and the moon's face appeared forgiving. She wondered who else was looking up at the sky in that moment.
