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"Val!" the frail voice of the old man reached the girl's ears over the soft music of spring. Ravka's summers and winters were brutal, but springs and autumns were a sight to behold.

And over the petals of the flowers, the sun bathing her in golden light, the seven-year-old child turned in the direction of her father, who was bending at the waist, age and time loosening his spine.

It was a miracle he was able to stand. He wasn't that old, but life barely gave him a chance to live before confining him to his bed, then a chair and now a walking stick. But of course, for his young daughter, a little slip of a girl, he would gladly lay down his life protecting hers.

"But Papa! It's only been five minutes!" the girl whined, stomping her feet which prompted a wind to flutter a pollen-filled breeze in her direction, making her sneeze.

The old man coughed lightly, grimacing at the blood that painted his hand. "Valeriya, please, come inside," he wheezed out, his cough rattling his rib cage, enough to make his heart skip a beat.

"You ruin all the fun for me, Papa!" the girl shouted, storming past him into the house. The old man just had to stretch his life long enough for the Grisha examiners to come to take her to Os Alta. Living in Udova, it was difficult for him to dig up the money to take her himself, but he wanted her to be sent to the Little Palace and train, just as his Sasha had done.

He was sure his little girl was going to be very powerful, considering the odd jurda that had been given to Sasha while she was in labour. If it gave harm to Valeriya in any way, old age or not, he would hunt down the little Shu boy, Bo Yul-Bayur, and murder him.

"Val!" the man coughed out. The girl peeked out from under the bed with wide eyes. Electric blue eyes, just like Sasha's gazed back at him, and suddenly he was in Fjerda, a young man once again, sneaking around in the bushes with Sasha. "Val, please, get the neighbours."

Valeriya saw the blood dotting her father's shirt and tears sprung up in her eyes, her bottom lip jutting out. "Papa, are you dying?"

"I need you to do what I say, malyshka. Go get the neighbours," the man wheezed, clutching his chest.
 [malyshka : little girl]

Valeriya ran out of the house, her small feet barely touching the ground as she sprinted to the neighbour's cottage.

"Tetya!" she panted, ramming her little fists into the door. "Tetya, Papa is dying!"
[tetya : aunt]

The door opened and the thin, wiry woman with an expression that always looked like she had smelled something bad, peered down at Valeriya. "What do you want, durak?"
[durak : fool, idiot]

"Papa is dying!" the little girl said, tears running down her cheeks. Her tetya's eyes widened and she pushed Valeriya out of the way before hurrying to where the old man was now lying on the ground, in a pool of his own blood.

"Kasimir," the woman shook the man. "Kasimir, you need to wake up."

For one last time, air came out in a huff out of the old man's mouth, blood bubbling at his lips, and he went limp.

"Tetya, tetya, is papa dead?" the little girl wailed, pulling on the woman's dress. Her neighbour roughly grabbed her arm and dragged her to her own cottage, shoving her down on the bed and locking the door.

"Tupaya devchonka," she muttered under her breath. "You will stay inside, are not to come out until I call you, or I will send you to the border guards. Understood?" she said through the door.
[tupaya devchonka : stupid girl]

Valeriya whimpered and said a feeble 'yes, tetya'. As she heard the nasty woman's steps fade away, she stood and rushed to the door, putting her hand on the keyhole.

So what if her tetya didn't know that she could make tools fly around? Her father had been crying tears of joy when she had told him that she could feel the blade of the knife and the scoop of the shovel. So why wouldn't tetya be happy?

Valeriya simply put her small hands together as if in prayer and thought about the lock sliding out of place. It was pretty simple actually, just as long as she put her hands together and prayed. That's what her father told her, anyway.

The door opened and Valeriya saw her father being carried away by the border guards. Why were they called border guards, anyway? They didn't even live near the border. At least, that's what papa used to say.

But where were they taking papa? He had always told Valeriya she would be safe with tetya, but Valeriya never told her father that she didn't think tetya liked her very much. She had once pushed Valeriya into the flower garden, even though papa had been pretty sure that Val was allergic to pollen.

"How did you come out?" Tetya barked, holding the knife in her hand like a weapon.

Valeriya felt her lower lip tremble as tears threatened to fall at tetya's tone. "The lock opened," she said, pointing to the door behind her. "Papa said it was magic."

Tetya's eyes widened in horror. "Vedma," she gasped. Before Valeriya could react, she had been grabbed by the scruff of her collar and was getting dragged outside the house. Night had fallen, but Valeriya couldn't make out the constellations through her teary eyes.
[vedma : witch]

"Tetya, you're hurting me," Valeriya cried out, her breath coming in gasps as the collar dug in the side of her neck. "Tetya, I'm sorry, please, I'll never do it again!" she sobbed, making promises she would never keep. It was one of the things that always made her papa look young again, and she would never abandon it.

"Guards!" the woman shouted. With no small horror, Valeriya realised the neighbour had taken her to the boundary of their village and was calling the guards, who were well known for their ties to people that sold little girls like her to bad men on ships. "I have a Grisha with me!"

Somewhere in the distance, Valeriya faintly heard the trotting of a horse and the sounds of a carriage approaching. Why would someone be travelling at night through a village like theirs, she had no idea.

"Why is the road closed?" a voice, an accented voice, like the smooth tone of the Duke when he came to visit. "Do you not know who this carriage belongs to?"

"The village gates are closed for private matters," the guard said gruffly, grasping Valeriya's arm with rough hands and dropping a pouch into her tetya's hands.

"What are you doing with that girl?" the same voice shouted out. The guard grunted in pain and doubled over, clutching his chest, even though no one had touched him.

The man with the nice voice came towards her. "Who are you, malyshka?" he asked softly. Valeriya immediately decided she liked him.

"Valeriya," she replied, ducking her head to hide from him.

The man set a hand on her shoulder and opened his mouth, but a voice from inside the carriage spoke. "What seems to be the hold-up, Beznikov?" the voice sent shivers down Valeriya's spine, and the skin of her arm pebbled.

"There's a little girl, General. She was being sold for the docks," the man called back.

"Test her," the voice replied curtly. She felt, rather than heard, the hinges of the carriages squeak as they opened, and a figure robed in black stepped out. "Test her, Beznikov."

"Your dress is very pretty," Valeriya said in awe, her eyes wide as she stared at the man who had come from the carriage. The man tilted his head to the side, and Valeriya felt the blade of a knife being drawn from its sheath, the feeling dancing over her bones.

Valeriya immediately drew back and curled into herself. "Please, don't kill me," she gasped, her lower lip trembling, her hands clasping together, wishing for the magic to come and take the knife away.

And indeed, it did just that, the knife simply clattered to the ground on her command.

"Fabrikator," the kneeled man whispered. "A very powerful one too, General."

"I-I'm alone. Please, don't kill me," the girl pleaded to the man standing in front of her like an onyx pillar.

The man then smiled slightly and knelt on one knee. "You are Grisha. You are not alone."

✧・❉・✧

the darkling rlly only has one line

anyway, hello! some background - val's next door neighbour was planning on selling her to the docks and therefore to fjerdans for being grisha, but woosh woosh shadow boi came on time

the beznikov guy is sergei beznikov's father

val's mom died in the prologue and dad died in the first chapter, already off to a good start

this is for TRUETONORTH bec nikolai recs were needed

cheers and leave a feedback!