𝑺𝒎𝒐𝒌𝒆 | 𝑮𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒍 𝑲𝒊𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒂𝒏 𝒙 𝑶𝑪

Thirty-Four

HAPPY 78K READSSSS!

fun fact..... 78 is my favorite number

also I know some events are a little out of order but just pretend they aren't lol

As guests started rolling in, Jolana found herself slightly creeped out. So many new faces...

She wandered around, glancing at and attempting to count how many more guards were doing their rounds that normally weren't tasked with this normally. Some of the guards looked shifty, shadows making their faces look hollow despite the sun high in the sky.

One of the ones she passed had a limp. She had never even seen him around the palace.

She went to go change into a proper kefta with the blue fabric and orange flames. Rolling her shoulders trying to get comfortable in it again.

There were a few hours until the fete was to officially begin. A carnival had settled outside. The fairgrounds filled with the common elegance of simple, good fun.

She walked downstairs and realized she wasn't the only one to have this idea, 

"Genya!" she called

The redhead turned around and Jolana looked around her to see Alina was with her too, "Hello Jolana,"

"Hey Lana," Alina chimed in, not meeting her eyes.

"Hey Sunny," Jolana ran over and put her arm around her friend. Alina looked up at her, a softness in her eyes, "So you guys wanted to come to look at the fair?"

"Yup," Alina had a pep in her step once again

"As much as I didn't want to possibly exposed her, Alina insisted," Genya whispered to pair.

"Ladies and Gentlemen! I present Alina Starkov!" the group of girls turned to look at the announcer, Genya clearly on edge.

"Well this is awkward," Alina remarked as she watched the performance, "Should I tell them?"

"Alina, no!" Genya said a little too loudly pulling Alina's arm

"Genya shhhhh," Jolana said in a hushed voice. Pulling both of them back.

Genya started to reprimand Alina when Fedyor started scolding Genya, "Genya! What were you all thinking,"

"It was my fault, I insisted," Alina stepped in front of Genya

"There's no reason I can't be here so..." Jolana slightly stepped away from both

Fedyor started laughing and everyone quickly realized this wasn't super serious. "Let's hurry out of here because my better half might come looking," and all of them went back to the palace, but Jolana lagged behind a little. Just wanting to soak in what she could.

When she reentered she quickly found herself surprised by someone behind her, she accidentally spiked the flames in the candles around her. She felt lips on her neck and she turned around and met Maksim's lips.

Maksim was a good distraction, this day was about to be quite stressful, and these quick moments were appreciated.

"Can't believe I never kissed you before this morning," he said after they pulled away from each other.

"Well to me it sort of like I assumed to nice, cute guard so maybe I should've done it earlier," she joked

"I always thought you were pretty," 

Jolana felt guilty. Someone called Maksim's name and he kissed her cheek before running off.

She ended up walking over to the library and found nothing of interest, when she was about to go back and just read her comfort book, she remembered there were more books in the palace. She would just have to be sneaky to avoid it being awkward. Jolana decided she would sneak into the war room and see if there was anything cool on the bookshelves. She crept into the room trying not to make a sound and saw a book on the table in the middle. It looked really old but interesting enough, so she grabbed it quickly and ran out, quickly trying to avoid talking to the Darkling. She read it and they were just fables about Grisha, nothing special but mildly entertaining.

She found herself feeling a little bored again waiting for the fete to actually start so she decided she would go do one of her go-to hobbies. She walked over to the stables, she wasn't the only one there so she went through a window trying to not disturb anyone but just so she could see her horse. 

Seemed like she really did disturb things because she found a Zemini boy getting dressed in the stables. 

She quickly turned around, turning bright red, "Sorry!" she aggressively whispered.

"No worries," he said as he continued to get dressed, "You can even take another look if you want," 

She turned back around and raised an eyebrow, the Zemini boy was quite bold. "No thank you, do you work in the stables?"

"Yes," the boy said quickly

"Can you help me with this horse here?" she gestured to her favorite, "I know how to do it, just don't want to make it look like I'm stealing the horse,"

"Well if you were trying to steal the horse, you're either a really bad one or a really good one considering you're telling me your master plan,"

"Oh yes, I'm just doing this all so then you're paying attention to this horse instead of the actual pony I'm trying to steal," she joked

"Solid technique," the boy complimented

"Anyways, thanks for the horse," she said as he handed her the reigns

"No problem, come back whenever you want," he winked and she rolled her eyes but smiled at the harmless flirtation. She mounted the horse and rode around a bit and just stayed in the company of the animal who was much like her in spirit. 

She had to return and do her job. She went to the dressing room and got ready to be of some use. Her only use according to the General, the General who she desperately wanted to see, despite it being wrong.