Sineye Plamya [Nikolai Lantsov]

chapter six

。˚ 。˚ 。˚ 。˚ 。˚ 。
Katya
。˚ 。˚ 。˚ 。˚ 。˚ 。

Thirteen men down. Thirteen men lost in a ridiculous fight. And by some miracle, Katya made it out alive. She had herself for a lot less capable than the majority of Sturmhond's crew and yet here she's standing on Volkvolny as it is drifting across the sea towards West Ravka. She had no idea what her plan was, but it definitely felt right to just follow along with the rest of the crew. It was strange how quickly she adjusted to the salty air of the sea or the wind that kept messing up her hair. She also adjusted to the company better than she thought.

Katya's eyes watched the blue headband between her fingers, as she twirled it around. She was standing at the railing of the schooner, looking out at sea as the day was slowly turning into the night. Every person aboard, except those who were needed to have the schooner sailing through the night, went below deck for some much-needed sleep. She thought she was alone. But then someone else joined her side.

Sturmhond leaned on his elbows but didn't look at Katya, his green eyes were rather centred on the horizon. She expected him to talk or spark up any kind of conversation, mainly about himself. He usually did that throughout every day and it quickly got old, although he stated otherwise. But weirdly enough he was quiet. Katya believed everybody had that peace within themselves, only people like her had easier access to it and used it more often throughout the day. She guessed this was Sturmhond being peaceful for once.

''I'm sorry,'' Katya said quietly. She didn't look at him, but she felt he glanced at her from her peripheral view. ''About everyone who lost their lives today. This must not be easy for you as the captain.''

''It's not. They were good men. None of them deserved to die.'' Sturmhond roughly cleared his throat. ''Did you by any chance catch on to who made the explosion happen?'' Now he turned sideways while still heavily leaning on the railing with on arm.

''No.'' Katya lied and shrugged.

No one ever told her if she was a good liar or not so she didn't want to risk and glance at Sturmhond while saying that. She did feel his inquisitory eyes on her skin but didn't give in to the temptation to look back at him.

''It came out of nowhere. It surprised Grisha as well as the remaining crew on the whaler. Although without it, I wouldn't have made it off that whaler. And of course without you catching me and saving my life for the second time this month.'' Katya met his eyes and mustered up a smile. ''Thank you.''

''I never leave a crew member behind. Especially not a pretty one.''

Katya looked away with a blush on her cheeks and thanked Saints that night was falling and hiding her complexion with it. She busied her mind by putting the blue headband back around her head, while she couldn't shake the feeling that Sturmhond was closely studying her every move.

''I think I'm way overdue to repay you back for what you did for me. I would be dead without you.''

''Katya, if I got one Kruge for every time someone owed me for something I did, I would be rich and happily living on an island somewhere. I wouldn't need to be a privateer and carry out jobs. But life is like that, most of the times you won't get repaid.''