To Russia with Fate

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Katya's POV:

Trixie and I walked hand and hand down the dark forest. She had dropped her black eye shadow in it, and was too scared to go alone. She couldn't do anything without that eye shadow. Eyeliner, lips, eye shadow, really anything. "I can't find it," She let go of my hand and flicked on her flash light. "Keep looking then." I told her, taking out my flash light, as well. I slowly walked around the woods pointing my light at the ground. "Trix?" I asked in almost a whisper tone, hearing a loud cry. "Yeah, I'm fine." She bumped me, sending us falling to the ground. "Sorry." She smiled sheepishly, holding out a hand to pick me up. "What was that noise?" I asked her, and her eyes went wide with every word. "Behind you," She whispered, pointing a pink gloved finger in my direction. I turned around and saw what I had least expected to find in a place like this.

Trixie's POV:

I slowly tip-toed backwards, and Katya stumbled to the ground, knocking me over. She looked up at the creepy old woman in awe. She had boney pale legs and long grey stringy hair. She seemed to have no intention to hurt me, but she stared Katya down. Her dark brownish eyes tracked her body, and Katya seemed to understand the reasoning, I however, did not and was scared for my life. Katya crawled backwards from her spot on the ground and the woman didn't move an inch. "Who-" I whispered to Katya, not taking my eyes off the creature. "Baba Yaga. She is a Russian witch in mythology. We'd better run and hide. She's usually helpful, but her intentions are never to help." Katya quickly stated, trying to get up off the ground. "How do you know so much?" I asked, keeping my eyes on the old hag. "That doesn't matter, run!" Katya whisper shouted as the woman grabbed her leg, pulling her backwards. "KATYA!" I ran over to her and tried to pull her other limbs away. The woman still hadn't spoke a word, but kept an iron grip on Katya's leg. I had no idea what was going on, but I had to help her. "Be quiet now," The woman said, some how calmly, with a slight tone of anger in her voice. "You don't want to wake the Leshii, now, do you?" The woman let go of Katya and started cackling. Katya ran over to me, and pulled my arm, then began to run deeper into the woods.

When we thought we lost the old lady, I asked Katya, "Who and what is a Leshii?" Probably pronouncing whatever species of what not that lady had referred to. "Again, Russian Mythology, Trix. They are woodland spirits, lords of the forests. They can change how they appear and protect the forest at all causes, even if what they think is a treat isn't." She explained to me. 'So if we made loud noises and woke them, they would attack us?" I questioned her, again. "Exactly." She picked up a long stick from the ground, and pushed me behind her. "What are you doing?" I asked in a hesitant voice. Katya shushed me and looked to the direction where we had heard the rustling of leaves. "Vasilisa..." The woman from before called out. "Who?" I whispered, only to be shushed again. Katya slowly moved back, pushing me backwards as well. The sound of food steps became louder, and the woman spoke once more. "Vasilisa...Vasilisa..." Katya seemed to know what was happening, but I was completely clueless. We were backed up against a large stone, that seemed to be a cave. Katya held the long stick in front of the both of us, as the woman's figure appeared again. The old lady smirked, and floated over to the too of us. I was too terrified to do anything, and it seemed as if Katya didn't want to prove weak to the hag, so we stood there. Scared expressions and all, including the stick.

I didn't know what was going on, or what just happened, but in the flash of a red light everything around me disappeared- no. I did. Where was I? It took me a while to realize that I was in the cave that Katya had lost her memory in. Now, where was she and how was I going to get out?

Katya's POV:

Trixie was gone. It was just me and this stick against a witch. Party. I felt a painful squeeze on my neck that sent me gasping for air, and dropping to the ground on my knees. The witch let out a laugh before the both of us changed the area of where we had been in. My eyes were heavy, and I could barely see a thing, but I knew I had ended up back in Russia. Somehow. What was going on?



A/N: Unknown terms/words definitions:

Vasilisa Mikulichna, another female warrior. She came disguised as a man to Prince Vladimir's court to claim her husband Stavr from Vladimir's prison, then dared his best warriors and bested them, then passed a wit contest, and then won the riddle game, finally getting her husband back as part of a bet made by the Prince. In addition, her riddle was of a very erotic flavour; it told about the game of a silver spike and golden ring, so no wonder that only Stavr could solve it. By her patronimic, she may be considered as a daughter of Mikula Selyaninovich. Vasilisa the Wise, though usually not a spirit, is a supernaturally wise young woman. Often is a relative of Baba Yaga, so her real nature is up to the reader. There is also Vasilisa the Beautiful, which may be the sister of the Wise, the same person with the Wise or completely unrelated to the Wise, depending on the tale version.Note that "Vasilisa" is a contemporary  feminine form of the Greek title of "Basileos", and basically translated as just "Queen".

Leshii, the woodland spirits, lords of forests. Legends tell that every forest (at least every Russian forest) is governed by a leshii, who commands all animals in it. Leshii are told to be usually indifferent to humans, but willing to defend the forests if they are despoiled (similar to J.R.R.Tolkien's ents). It's natural that the people living mostly in forests would have an Ent-like entity in their myths. A somewhat wicked sense of humor is attributed to leshiis: they like to lead travelers and foragers astray. The leshiis are descripted either as humanoids with their feet turned backwards or Ent-esque walking tree-things, and have the powers to change their size and weave illusions.If you feel that Leshii is making you walk in circles in the woods, put your upper dress on turned inside-out and switch your boots.Leshiis are well known to gamble with their kind, and they gamble for animals in their forests, a whole kind as a bet (mice, then squirrels, hares, and so on, finally bears). So if a hunter returns empty-handed, it's because the local Leshii has lost all the game to some other one

Baba Yaga is the most well-known Russian mythological character abroad. In earlier tales Baba Yaga is described as a monstrously ugly hag with a dry, bony leg and a penchant for human meat. But later she underwent some : some later tales described her being not very smart, and some (especially the more modern adaptations) as a or even making a . Baba Yaga is famous for her magic hut on chicken legs, and for flying in a large wooden mortar. Another interesting fact is that Baba Yaga shows a special form of , and when reminded of the Russian hospitality she feels obligated to feed, bathe and prepare a bed for the hero of the story.Some modern folklorists believe that initially she was a witch, or even a priestess to some goddess, living in the woods, that performs a kind of maturity ritual to the hero, first scaring and testing him and then, if he passes her tests, giving him some useful knowledge about how things work in the world. Later Christian morale stated that both witches and pagan priests are bad, adding a whole set of bad features and turning passing her trials into converting her to the right cause. Still, with the exception of a few kids' tales where she tries to cook and eat a stray child (and even those some see as an attempt to heal a too weak newborn by making him warm in a warm oven), she's mostly helpful, and her malevolent intents are never actually executed.







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