For most of their lives, three friends were raised in an orphanage. One becomes Grisha while the other two are left behind. The lonely friend was taken under General Kirigan's wing because she was different from the rest of the Grisha. The two have...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
place called home/...
After what Fayra had seen, she felt empty again. She had spent the night with Kirigan, but it didn't make her feel better. While she was laying there with him, all she could think about was seeing him with Alina. The next day at breakfast, since she had promised not to be cold, she had to speak with Alina properly. Fayra was talking with Alina and two of her other friends and they were discussing Baghra. Fayra never had to deal with Baghra since Kirigan taught her everything.
"One time, Baghra released a hive of bees on me."
"Worst part is, it worked."
"It really did. I could summon at will after that." Fayra had a look of fear and shock written on her face. "It's really that bad?"
"Yeah. You're lucky that the General taught you everything." Ivan walked behind the girl's chairs and sent Alina a threatening look. Fayra spotted it and while he walked behind her, she put her leg out to trip him. He tripped slightly, but caught himself. Fayra gave him an innocent smile and he rolled his eyes.
"I would've thought it was worse with the General." Fayra shook her head. "No, he's very patient." Alina's friends were honestly jealous. Every Grisha was basically bullied into getting better at their abilities, but Kirigan took his time with Fayra. Although, Fayra thought he was pitying her for being different so she tried to get better as fast as possible. Alina sighed, not wanting to focus on Baghra. "Anyway, it doesn't matter. Once Mal gets here, it will be better."
The striking memory of seeing Mal stare her down while Fayra rode off with the General was engraved in her mind. She hated seeing her childhood friend send her such a hateful look.
"He's seen me through everything. He'll know the right thing to say to get me through this. Hopefully. We've got lots to talk about." Her friends gave her teasing smiles, but Fayra stayed neutral. She didn't really want to talk about Mal, but didn't say anything. "Mal? Oh?"
"Is he handsome? He is, isn't he? I can tell by the way you said his name."
"It's not like that." Alina said defensively, but her friends saw right through her lie. "Sure? When is this strapping lad coming?"
"I've invited him, so...any day now."
"Make sure he's announced so we can be with you when he arrives." Her friends gave Alina cocky smiles again. They went back to eating. Alina looked over at Fayra and she could tell what Alina was silently saying.
Can you believe these two?
Fayra just shrugged and smiled. Alina smiled as well and continued eating and so did Fayra. Fayra always had the feeling Alina liked Mal, but seeing her with Kirigan made her feel like it wasn't true. Now this conversation made her feel like Alina really did like Mal, which made Fayra happy. Then she could have a chance with Kirigan.
-*.-+-.*-
T H E N E X T D A Y
-*.-+-.*-
Fayra was in the courtyard practicing her magic. There was one trick she was trying to learn and it wasn't going well. She was trying to make shadows go into the ground and come up as spikes. She had to make a circle around her first and then sent them into the ground, but that was the tricky part. Fayra kept her left foot in place as she drew a half circle around her with her right foot. She got into a sort of a lunge and put her pointer and middle finger up in an L shape with her thumb. She brought one hand to beside her jaw and her other was extended in front of her. Fayra took a deep breath. A shadow line went from one hand to another. A new shadow connected the other end of the circle she made in the dirt and made a wall of shadows that went up to her knees. She was laser focused until...
"Fayra." She let out a small yell and jumped. The shadows disappeared. "Alina, don't scare me like that."
"Sorry. If it makes you feel better, the thing you were doing was cool."
"Thanks. What was it you needed?" Alina suddenly took a step back. Fayra raised an eyebrow in confusion and crossed her arms in front of her chest. Alina put her hands out in front of her and they were faced towards each other. A yellow ball of light formed in between her hands and Fayra's face lit up. Once the light went away, Alina smiled and Fayra let out a laugh of disbelief. "Alina! I'm so happy for you! When did you learn how to do that?"
"Just about an hour ago." Fayra opened her arms and Alina ran to her. They hugged for a few seconds until Fayra pulled away. "I'm so proud of you!"
"You're the first person I've told. And there was also something I wanted you to be here for."
"What is it?"
"You'll find out." Alina pulled Fayra's wrist which shocked her a little, but Fayra caught up. They quickly walked to Alina's room and while they were walking, Alina mentioned to someone passing by that she wanted to see Genya which just confused Fayra even further. They passed by Fayra's room on the way and they decided that they wanted to have a sleepover. It was a little childish, but they hadn't seen each other in a while to be fair. Fayra got her pajama gown and they headed to Alina's room.
When they got there, Fayra got changed and so did Alina. Alina had a flowy white dress while Fayra's was black. Kirigan insisted that all of her clothes were black. Alina and Fayra let their hair down. Since Fayra had her hair in a french braid before, her hair was a little wavy. A few minutes later, Genya came into Alina's room. "You wanted to see me?"
"I need you to do something for me." Alina said as Genya sat on her bed next to her. Fayra was sitting in Alina's vanity chair. Alina held her hand out with her scar that matched Mal's out to Genya. "Erase it."
Fayra's sat up slightly out of shock. "But that's Mal's scar."
"I know." Alina said as she looked over at Fayra. Genya erased Alina's scar. Fayra slouched down slightly as she realized Alina was starting to accept the Little Palace as her home. Fayra was going to get her old friend back.
