The First Sun Summoner | The Darkling *on hold*

𝕮𝖍𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖊𝖗 𝖙𝖊𝖓

Os Alta was crowded, people traded their stuff, bought new things, and gambled their money away. They got into fights, spread gossip, and went on a walk with their families. A woman had the hand of her daughter tightly in hers. Not until they were away from the crowd did she let her go.

They walked towards their small house. The daughter ran towards the kitchen and began on her drawing again. She had stolen fresh crayons and pencils. Her mother came in later and kissed her father a good morning.

"Got the food?" He would ask his wife, and the woman would take out some old bread. "That's all we could afford. They aren't paying so well anymore. Our son is going to come soon, with some money he earned in the first army."

The daughter was drawing proudly, the idea had come when she heard two women talk about it in the bakery.

The parents already got into an argument, not minding their daughter. "Maybe it would help if you wouldn't drink up our money after every shift." The mother sneered at the father. "So it's OUR money now, huh?"

The child had gone to the forest this morning for some mud and berries, she added them to the drawing and finished it with some ash from the fireplace.

"Maybe we could get rid of some unwanted things." The father would say and would look at his daughter. The mother followed his stare and saw what he meant. "Your own daughter?" She would ask in disbelief. She couldn't think of it, it was painful to think her husband even considered it.

"We need the money." He would say without shame. "Maybe don't go buy a whore every Sunday! Then we'll have enough. You disgusting scum!" The woman stormed towards her daughter and took her by the arm. She pulled her away from her drawing, but the child pulled it with her.

The mother stopped walking when they were next to the forest. She fell to the ground and began crying. Her daughter stared, uncertain of the cause. The woman saw her daughter watching her and pulled herself together.

"What have you drawn, sweetheart?" Her daughter came closer and showed it to her.

Two simple stickmen covered each in a black dress. The first one was a man, he held up his hand and black chalk came out of it. The other person was a woman, she held up her hand just the same but nothing came out. The expression of the woman was sad, sad because there was no chalk leaving her hand.

"What is it?" The mother asked. "I heard it while we were in Os Alta. This is the Darkling and this is the new Darkling." The child pointed towards her drawing. "I've heard the new Darkling can't use her abomination."

The mother had heard it too, it was well known the king and queen had welcomed yet another Darkling, a new shadow summoner. Entertainers had hoped to be invited to the winter ball so they could see this new summoner. It had been known she couldn't use her power.

The mother thought it was suspicious now that in times of the upcoming war a new Darkling appeared. She suspected the desperate king was looking for a way to make people afraid again. There were also stupid rumors she was a saint too.

Her son had written something very wise in his letter yesterday about the king,

'He is trying to get people afraid, and it's good because fear is power. But he's stupid to want fear and not something else, something he can achieve with just another lie. Tell people a new Grisha has come, someone who can summon light, someone who can destroy the Unsea. Because hope is not only power but control.'

***

Everyone was talking about the winter ball, they talked about their date, their dress, their suit... Astra had not been asked by anyone to go. Not that there weren't any candidates, many wanted to go with a Saint, but Clive had taken Astra's words a bit too seriously. He had spread rumors that they would go together, of course, he would ask Artemis at the last minute, saying it was a mistake, but Astra would have to go alone.