The First Sun Summoner | The Darkling *on hold*

8 Years Later

It was dark in the small club, people took use to this by cheating and slipping a card back in the decks. Not many were caught but Astra saw every single one of them. The cheaters were not that hard to single out, they often had that charming grin on their disgusted faces.

Astra hadn't enough money to get something to eat, she spent the last bit yesterday. Stealing wouldn't be wise this time a day. The people there were dogs and would notice soon enough when they missed a few Kruger. She could go to the other bar, but it was freezing, and didn't want to wander hungry to the other side of the village.

She missed being eleven, the stealing was much easier when she was small. Now she was very noticeable, particular for drunk men.

After a few minutes, she saw her chance. A man, not that large, was walking out of the club. He left alone and so would, even if Astra was hungry, not be that hard of an opponent. He looked like he was wearing nice clothes, so he would have some money in his pockets.

She, unsuspiciously, followed the man out into the dark streets. Please let this go right. I don't want another cut on my lip. She thought by herself. She would do it like she always did her stealing.

She sped up and bumped into him, making it look like an accident as best as possible. "I am so sorry! I am so clumsy, please let me help." She wiped the dust off his coat, making a last fast hand movement in his pocket and taking out a few Kruger. An innocent grin to finish while putting the money in her own pocket.

But of course, it failed completely when she realized she missed her pocket and let the Kruger fall on the ground. The man looked at their feet and saw the little pile of Kruger she took laying in front of him. The man clenched his jaw and snatched her arm. He pulled her further and when they passed the first streetlight she saw the blue kefta he was wearing. The situation changed completely, did she just attempt to steal from a Grisha?

She couldn't go to the cells, she was wearing all stolen clothes and had been suspected a few times of pickpocketing. The Grisha was very quiet while pulling Astra through the streets but she could hear his anger through his angry groans. They arrived at the cells and a guard walked towards them. "What can I do for you, sir?"

The guard saw the Grisha's hand clenched on Astra's arm and raised an eyebrow. "This stupid girl thought it was simple enough to steal from me, an Etherealki." he nodded Astra's way with another small groan. "I was hungry! Don't take it personally!" She spat out. When said, she realized the situation wouldn't end well. The guard was one you could find in the little palace, and so loyal to the Darkling. The guard would take the Grisha's side and would let Astra rot in a cell, still without something to eat.

The guard did indeed what Astra predicted and took the arm in the same aggressive way the Grisha had. The Grisha let go, he gave a last thankful nod to the guard and a dirty look towards Astra.

Anger raised inside her, fighting with the feeling of exploding and giving a painful kick to the guard. "Let's find you a suitable cell, will we?" This didn't lift Astra's mood either. The same feeling that she had the last time she felt really angry, sad, or happy was trying to escape Astra's body again. She had always had this feeling inside.

When she had told her father about it when she was younger he would tell her it was nothing, he told her just to control it but never to accept it as a part of her. Astra knew that he knew what the feeling was but was trying to hide it for her. However, she did learn to control it and never accepted it but the older she became, the stronger it would grow.

The mix of hunger, angriness, stupidness, and that unknown feeling, was getting really hard to carry with her. Yet, she would have a bed tonight and she wouldn't have to sleep in an abandoned stable or shelter.

They walked towards the cell but the guard stopped before opening it, "You know, I don't have many female visitors. Maybe we can have a bit of fun instead of you rotting in a cell. I could buy you a meal after, what do you think?" Astra felt disgusted. She wasn't even surprised because he looked exactly the same as the cheating men in the club. But she couldn't put disgust with her other problematic feelings. They would have to make some place and this chose her body for her, the unknown feeling would leave her first.

With a hard pull, she was freed from his grip. Her free hand moved automatically, close to his eyes and a bright light blasted out of it. His hands were soon placed in front of his eyes while he yelled "I can't see! What did you do!"

The light had disappeared and Astra didn't wait to run away. She could hear him yell after her but couldn't care less, she had to get out of there. After she crawled behind a few buildings in a small alley, she checked if her hands were still on her body. They felt extremely hot, and she was sure she had burned them off.

"What happened?" she asked like someone would come to explain it to her. Not sure, she lifted her hands in front of her while squeezing her eyes. She had no idea what she was doing but she just spread her fingers, Astra thought of the feeling that she had felt not a few minutes ago. Again she felt the feeling making its way through her veins towards her hands, and when it reached its destination, a bright light appeared right above her spread hands.

Immediately she regretted this decision to explore that particular feeling when she heard a familiar voice yell "She's there! I saw light!" The Grisha had come back and was hunting her. She closed her hands and the light disappeared again. She ran for it until she reached an empty stable.

Astra stayed still for a few minutes until she was entirely sure that the Grisha and guard hadn't followed her. She wouldn't try the lighting trick again and dozed off. So she would sleep in an abandoned stable nonetheless.

***

After he had dropped the criminal off at the cells, he realized he had to forget to get her name. He wouldn't be able to report her to the other guards. He could have done it in the morning but hadn't planned anything for the night so didn't mind.

He arrived again at the cells and entered the old-looking building, only to find the guard who had taken the girl from him laying on the ground with tears in his eyes. He constantly was rubbing his eyes like he was trying to take something out of them.

"Why are you crying!" The Grisha said disgustedly. The guard looked up but was shaking his head while trying to find out if there was someone in front of him. "Are you blind!" The Grisha said, slightly irritated. The Guard began crying again, "The girl... she blinded me!"

The brows of the Grisha raised, does he think this is funny? He thought to himself. "That young thing? What did she do, poke your eyes?" He said with a smirk curling on his face. "No! There was a bright light, out of her hand, there was a bright light." The Grisha's jaw fell open, could this possibly be?

"Are you sure?" He asked more seriously. The guard nodded in return. "Get up! We have to find her. Now." Unsure the guard lifted himself up and was punching thin air when walking so he wouldn't walk against something. They both left the building and the guard was talking with the people close by, while the Grisha was running around and looking in between the small alleys.

A bit further, the Grisha saw a glimpse of bright light that immediately disappeared. "She's there! I saw light!" But when he and the guard reached the alley, she was gone.

Angry, the Grisha returned to the cells with the guard and demanded some paper and a pen. "What are you doing?" asked the blind guard. "I am writing to him." It fell silent and the guard didn't ask more questions. When the Grisha was done writing the letter he directed himself to the guard, not that he could see.

He snapped with his fingers to get his attention, "Go to the Healers not far from here. Don't tell them what happened just that I sent you to get checked up. And don't tell anyone what happened today. Or he will cut your head off."

The guard did what the Grisha had said and they split their ways.