𝘽𝙡𝙖𝙙𝙚𝙨 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙚 𝙞𝙣 𝙥𝙖𝙞𝙧𝙨 | 𝙉.𝙇

𝙞𝙞𝙞

┍━━━━━━━━━━┑
𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝𝙩𝙨
┕━━━━━━━━━━┙

The crows. That was what the crew called themselves. The crows. Completely unironically. Ayalon deemed it fit, as two of them dressed the part of a stray animal anyway, while the colourful-ish one was absolutely wild.

The trip across the seas, Ayalon had spent her time recalling all she knew about Os Alta and learning about the crows.

There were three crows, but four people. Kaz Brekker, their leader, Inej, the wraith (which Ayalon was not sure of what a wraith exactly did but she could guess), Jesper, the sharpshooter, and the mysterious man who called himself The Conductor. Ominous names for an ominous crew but the risks of the job required it.

Jesper was fun, he was chatty, but not in a bad way, and for the most part, he seemed to trust her. As did the wraith, whom under different circumstances, Ayalon could have easily fallen for. Inej was religious, she'd noticed firstly, and Suli. She was a good person, Ayalon could see.

It was Kaz and the Conductor, who were less trusting, less trustable. The Conductor, Ayalon knew, she could trust, not for himself but for his greed for money. Kaz was more complex. With Kaz, money was still the main target, but there was something else he wished to have, to protect. Ayalon could not figure what object could be valuable to a Barrel thief as much as kruge but she knew she sensed it in him.

When she set foot in Novo Kribirsk, after fifteen years away from Ravka, she did not feel any of the things she was told she would. "You'll probably get emotional." He said. "If not for Ravka, then for being away from me." He said. He lied. Though, it might've just been Ayalon's own apathy and inability to feel any sort of patriotism towards her country. As for missing Nikolai, she had to admit, she did miss him, though the countless missions she'd been on without him made her familiar with the feeling.

The air was salty as she expected, with the hints of the signature fried fish lurking in the air. No i Kribirsk wasnt her city, it was not where she was from, it was not where her heart was, but still she felt a wave of memories splash through her, shaking her with every sight that met the eyes.

Sighing, Ayalon walked by the rows of merchant shops and ships and houses that lined Novi Kribirsk. The task at hand was to obtain ten pounds of Alabaster coal, "because the Kerch's cheap coal isn't strong enough to fuel the train." That was that the conductor had told her but in truth, she didn't believe it. Coal was coal, what difference does it make on where it was from? Regardless, she did it anyway.

He needed twenty pounds, and while she was in charge of delivering ten points, Jesper would provide with the other ten. Though something told Ayalon that he would not.

As she suspected, Ayalon later found out that Jesper gambled away the kruge Kaz had given him and stole six points of coal instead. Together, the two of them managed to return with sixteen pounds of Alabaster coal and Ayalon saved half the kruge Kaz gave her.

Turned out her fluency in Old Ravkan would coke in handy as the merchant agreed to sell the coal for a much much lower price for his kind. She didn't need to tell him about her East Ravkan birth, she needed to get the coal and frankly, the coal didn't seem worth the money being spent on.

During the ride in the train, Ayalon would realise what major difference the coal made and why Kaz spent so much on it. Jesper's inability to steal coal led them to crash the train on the very outskirts of the Fold, not before being attacked by the Volkra in the fold.

In her long life, Ayalon only ever had to hear about the Volkra and their atrocities-vile creatures made of pure darkness, strong enough to kill the first and second army-but in that moment, she had to remain calm and save her life, fighting off the vicious beasts.

Although Ayalon would die before admitting it, she felt the weight of her life bearing down on her shoulders in that moment, goosebumps lining her arms and legs with a heavy heart sinking into her chest. I could've died. She thought to herself. I would've died, if not for some stupid goat and sharpshooter. She wouldn't have died, not when Kaz needed his payment, but Ayalon was yet to learn about the extent Kaz would go to, and so she stopped for a moment.

Stopped to think about her life and herself and the people she cared about. Mostly, it was the third, with memories of the crew swarming about her mind.

Interrupting her moment, Kaz spoke. "We'll need to move fast, no detours." He said, looking at Jesper.

"Who is this heartrender anyway? How can you trust she won't, you know, kill us?" Jesper questioned. Completely valid but Kaz did not respond, and seeing that, the conductor spoke up.

"Nina's a rationalist. She believes people should choose whether they will serve or not. Anything to mess with the general's plans, she'll do."

Ayalon smiled. Nina Zenik seemed like her type of person. She was surprised she'd never run into the girl in her time at the Little Palace, but the few months she'd spent were in hiding, away from the eyes of the grisha, which would probably explain why.

When they arrived at the room Nina Zenik was supposedly staying at, they were met with nothing but a Drüskelle pin. It probably wasn't on purpose, after all, a heartrender like Nina ought to put up somewhat of a fight.

But no matter how powerful she could be, Drüskelle always won. Ayalon knew that the hard way.

As the anger boiled Ayalon's blood, Kaz was busier trying to find a way into the Little Palace.

"If it's the Little Palace, you need to get in, I can help with that." Ayalon spoke, interrupting Kaz's train of thought. "Well, for you at least, Brekker."

He looked at her, his eyes laced with doubt.

"I need this mission to sail smoothly, Brekker. More than you need your payment." She spoke. She knew he would never trust her, but that didn't matter-this mission would end well and within days, she could return to the Volkvolny to Nikolai.

He nodded.

Jesper and Inej were with the conductor, disguising themselves as performers for the Winter Fete. From one of her previous lives, wasting her days hiding in a cave, spending her nights in the crown prince's chambers, Ayalon was granted one wish, a singular request that had to be full-filled and a lifetime of friendship. From none other than Ayalon and Kaz's ticket into the Little Palace, Baghra.

a.n: 1150 words. this is so late and honestly, idk why welp. also this is a short ass chapter so im gonna add a little like, background story on ayalon because her life is...an adventure.