THEY WERE SHOWN to a set of hammocks at the back of the ship's hull, the farthest away from an exit one could get on this ship. It made Freya's entire body itch, but she bit her tongue and followed behind the frightening Shu woman without complaint. They were offering them passage for free, and if it hadn't been for the breathless sound of the captain's words, Freya might've thought this another trap. The man had stared at her with something she couldn't discern, but it wasn't anything malicious. More like he was looking at the stars for the first time ever, trapped in a cage all his life.

When he spoke, something nudged at the edge of her consciousness, a recognition of sorts she shoved away. It wasn't possible, she told herself, rubbing her tired eyes. It was the exhaustion, she decided and tried to ignore the memory of a deep melodic laugh and mirth-filled hazel eyes resurfacing.

Freya claimed the top hammock, propping herself up on it as she swept her eyes over the hull. Some of the crewmembers were looking at her, but they averted their eyes when they realised she noticed. It didn't make her uncomfortable, she was used to the stares, but she was glad they stopped nonetheless. She fidgeted with her cloak as the ship began to move. The feeling was subtle, but she'd spent too long in the hold of a drüskelle ship to not know the feeling.

She wasn't sure when she fell asleep, but the next thing she knew someone was nudging her shoulder, and she was opening her eyes to a dark room with only the barest amount of light. The Shu woman was standing beside the hammock, holding her finger to her mouth in a silent gesture to not speak. She jerked her head, bidding her to follow.

Freya hesitated for a moment. Maybe she would take her up onto the deck, kill her and dump her into the water, or maybe the drüskelle would be waiting for her there. She had a much bigger price upon her head than Henrik did, after all. But the woman didn't seem malicious as she stalked away, treading carefully past the sleeping lumps of sailors to not wake any of them. Freya slid out of her hammock, landing on the floor with the softest thump. She cringed, looking down at Henrik on the bottom hammock, but he was still sleeping, face half buried in a pillow.

"Where are we going?" Freya whispered when they made it past the sailors and entered a corridor. There was a door at the end of it, and she didn't doubt that was their destination, as there was nothing other than barrels stacked in doorless rooms at the sides. The woman didn't stop walking, didn't even look at her.

"The captain wants to see you." And Djel, if that didn't make her heartbeat skyrocket. What could the captain possibly want with her? Surely he wouldn't try to extort any money from her now. But then again, she thought, they were miles offshore with no way of getting off the ship. If he wanted a ridiculous amount of money, there wouldn't be a way for her or Henrik to get out of it. She fingered the silver bracelet around her wrist. It was the only thing of value she had now, and her heart clenched at the thought of giving it up.

The walk to the door seemed to stretch out for hours as every possible grim thought rushed through her head until finally, she was standing right before it. The Shu woman rapped her knuckles against the wood in three short and quick movements, then opened the door without waiting for an answer. Freya stepped inside the room, the door immediately closing behind her.

And her heart stopped.

Because Nikolai Lantsov was standing right in front of her, dressed in the captain's strange teal frock coat. He was in the centre of the room, shifting his weight from one foot to the other in a nervous way she'd never seen from him before. A soft furrow marked the space between his brows.

"Milaya," he said, cutting himself off before anything else could come out of those beautiful lips of his. Freya's breath stuttered as she inhaled deeply, trying to calm her rapidly beating heart as her mind screamed at her notrealnotrealnotreal. But it was. It was real because as her eyes burned, the tears gathered in her eyes and an exhausted, desperate sob wracked her entire body, he was right there beside her, wrapping her tightly in his arms.

She pressed her face into his shoulder and cried, not even bothering to try and stop the influx of tears. Because she was finally safe. Truly safe. And she didn't have to worry anymore.

His hand ran down the back of her head, smoothing her hair beneath his palms, and she pressed closer to him because it was exactly what she wanted. Nikolai did not hesitate to reciprocate it all, and she felt his lips press a firm kiss to her forehead. She could barely think about the fact that he was supposed to be in Ketterdam studying at a university, and instead, he was here, on a privateer's ship, taking her away from what she was so sure was her doom.

"It's been so hard," she gasped, for lack of better words. Until a few hours ago, she had been almost certain death would come for her. Even when the chains were loosened from her wrists and she escaped the clutches of the drüskelle, she was waiting for them to find her again and take her away.

"I know, love," Nikolai answered, drawing her face away, one arm around her waist, so he could wipe away her tears softly with the other. "But I'm here now." And there was nothing else to do but kiss him, she realised. So she leaned in, rising up on her tiptoes and pressed her lips against his, not even caring that their last meeting had ended in disaster. He was here now, and it was all that mattered. His mouth was warm and soft against hers, his passion as a soft moan rumbled in his chest and he pulled her impossibly closer burned hotter still.

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* 　　 *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

"I thought you were dead," Nikolai whispered from behind her, arms tightening around her as if the mere admission would make her disintegrate. They were sat on his bed; so thoroughly bolted to the floor that it wouldn't move even in the fiercest storms, with Freya leaning against his chest. She liked it like this. The comfort rooted her, and even if it was intimate in a way they'd never been allowed to be before, she felt as though she'd been in this position a hundred times. "I heard it in a tavern, and then I saw all those people putting flowers and lighting candles beneath a drawing of you, and I didn't think it could possibly be real."

"It's not." She picked up one of his hands, kissing the tip of every finger individually. "I'm right here and I'm not going anywhere." If she could remain here for the rest of her days, bundled in NIkolai's arms, she would die a happy woman. She felt for him though. She didn't think she would survive if she ever thought him dead.

"I know, but I wanted to die, Freya. I thought you were dead, and I wanted to be as well." She felt, rather than saw, him shake his head. "I've never felt that way before. Not even when Dominik died." There was a confession in there somewhere that she didn't want to think about too deeply. She twisted in his arms, turning around until she was splayed over him, chest against chest, and she could easily press a peck to the tip of his nose. It crinkled as he chuckled, and she marvelled that she'd never noticed it before.

"Kiss me again." She fluttered her eyelashes, and Nikolai immediately obeyed her command. He enveloped her whole, and she never wanted to be free of him. When they broke apart, they lay there in silence again, watching each other, like if either one of them looked away, the other would disappear. After a while, Freya sighed. "I suppose you'll be taking me back to Ravka?"

Nikolai shrugged. "I'll take you wherever you want. If you want to return to the Little Palace, I will personally escort you there myself. Hand you off to the Darkling at the palace gates." Sarcasm laced his words, but she knew he was serious. She giggled nonetheless, running a finger through the stray locks of hair falling over his forehead.

"And if I asked you to take me on an adventure around the world, to show me all the wonders it has to offer, would you do that as well?" She didn't know if she was serious or not, but there was a part of her that screamed at the thought of ever setting foot in Ravka again. That had been the plan originally, but that was because she knew nothing else. Now, with Nikolai, perhaps she had more choices. She'd spent her entire life in service to the crown, and had almost lost her life for it on more than one occasion and received such grievous wounds – mental and physical – that she did not think she owed the King anymore.

Her debt was paid, a life for a life. She was no longer the same girl who grew up in a border village, nor was she the same girl who lived in the Little Palace. They were still a part of her, but they felt like ghosts in comparison to everything else that made up her being. Maybe if she hadn't seen Matthias, hadn't been told of the fate of their family, she would've been alright. If she continued to live with the knowledge that her mother and sister were alive and well, there would be nothing keeping her from returning to Ravka. But they were, and it was the very Grisha she walked amongst that had done it. She wondered if she knew them personally, if it had been Erik, the Heartrender who'd guided her throughout their journey from Fjerda to Os Alta, that had done it. If it had been, did he know whose life he'd so callously ended? Would he even care?

"I will show you the great temples of Shu Han, the sprawling jurda fields of Novyi Zem, the jungles of the Southern Colonies and all the strange creatures that live there if you only say the word," Nikolai answered, and Freya knew from the look of his eyes that he meant every part of it. She smiled up at him, and it was perhaps the only smile she'd summoned and meant in the last two months. Nikolai exhaled wistfully. "Do that again."

Freya frowned. "Do what?"

"Smile," he said, tracing the line of her cheekbone with his thumb. "I haven't seen you smile the entire time you've been here." Oh, she thought and almost felt like crying again. Her chest warmed, and she smiled as he told her to. She relished in the way his eyes sparkled and glimmered like a thousand stars at that.

"I haven't had much to smile about, lately." Maybe she would tell him about it all tomorrow. But there would be no mention of the darkness in the ship's hold, of her brother's anger and hatred, of the indignation still biting away at her, of her mother's and sister's deaths that day. She did not have the strength for it. She only wanted to be with Nikolai, and that would be enough for now.

"Then I will have to give you a reason." Nikolai grinned, and she did not doubt he would excel at the task as he kissed her again.

A/N

Kinda a short chapter, but there wasn't anything else to write really. This whole thing is literally just their reunion and honestly, they deserve all the happiness they can get.