A Coin Has Two Sides (Season Two) || Kaz Brekker x OC

9. Founding Principle

Nina had eventually left Winnie to get some rest after they had finished discussing their individual deals with Pekka Rollins.

But the shadow summoner had no plans to sleep.

Winnie sat with her legs crossed on the stone table waiting for her energy to come back as she smoked one of her valdrien cigarettes.

Nina had not only worked on her arm wound but had also managed to heal the bruises and cuts on her face.

Winnie had also asked the heartrender to take a few minutes to calm the blood rushing around in her veins.

The burning sensation that came from Alina trying to destroy the parts of the Fold that remained inside of her was still lingering about. But Nina managed to calm down her heart and it slowly faded.

Winnie knew she needed to take every minute she had by herself to work on the issues back in Ravka.

And the first thing to tackle was to connect to Alina.

Her father could do it. So why can't she?

Winnie finished her cigarette and raised her right hand up in front of her.

The shadows around the tomb came to her and covered the room, leaving her in darkness.

Her abilities were back. She was calm and alone. Now is the time to try and reach Alina.

Winnie closed her eyes and focused once more on her friend.

"Find her", she whispered in Ravkan.

Suddenly, she felt the air around her change and the cold feeling of the stone table against her legs vanish.

Her eyes opened to a small wooden room.

Alina was lying down in a hammock, asleep.

Winnie looked around and noticed she was on Nikolai's ship.

She slowly walked towards Alina and knelt beside her.

She must be exhausted after her attempt at taking on the Fold. It pained Winnie to have to wake her. But this was an emergency.

"Alina", she whispered as she reached out her hand to touch the sun summoners arm.

Alina jolted awake at her touch and met Winnie's eyes.

"Winnie?" Alina said as she rubbed her eyes.

"You can see me? Can you ... hear me?" Winnie asked.

"Yes, to both of those. How are you here?"

"I'm not. Not really. I'm still back in Ketterdam."

"So you're connecting to me. Like Kirigan does."

"I think so. Have you ... seen him recently?"

Alina nodded and a shimmer of fear came over her eyes.

"Have you?" she asked.

Winnie felt the wound on her left arm burn slightly as she remembered her recent visit with her father.

"Yes."

"He's alive, Winnie. He still wants us to join him."

"I know. But right now there is something very important I need to talk to you about."

Alina sat up straight and signalled to Winnie to continue.

"My part in all this. I'm a beacon of sorts. The Fold finds a home in me. I can absorb it and remove it at will. Even though it's extremely unpleasant", Winnie started, and her voice broke remembering the attempt she gave at trying to remove one of her Fold segments.