Shadow and Light

Back To The Fold

First chapter and also a relatively long one–enjoy!

Baghra was failing. Her plan to hide Aleeza, the star summoner from her son, The Darkling had failed. He couldn't handle that kind of power. Aleeza could command the volcra. For whatever in the small science reason–when Aleeza had her stars out, the volcra were subjected to her command.

Now they were engaged, engaged. Baghra assumed Aleeza wouldn't agree to something so rushed as that, especially with her interference. However, it seemed that Aleeza was even stupider than she originally thought.

Then she heard the sounds of someone walking towards her hut. "Enter," Baghra called out as the person reached the door.

When they answered, it was a Grisha loyal to her. Someone she tasked with giving her intel.

"The news of her engagement hasn't been made public yet. However, with her wearing the ring and the gossip about him designing it–everyone already knows."

It wasn't like him to be so patient, Baghra thought. She half expected them wed before the week was up.

"And new news–they're headed to the Fold." He continued.

Baghra audibly scoffed. Since the first time, the time when she had revealed her powers, she hadn't gone back. She guessed why her son was dragging her there. To test the boundaries of her power, hopefully, that was it. Aleeza wasn't strong enough for him to use her to weaponize the fold yet. But with an amplifier, that could quickly change.

Ugh, Baghra knew she had to get Aleeza out of Ravka fast, and with her obsession with her son, it might prove difficult. She might have to fix her problem quicker and more efficiently by getting rid of Aleeza–permanently. However, she wasn't too worried now.

Although Aleeza was powerful, she still had no control. She constantly lashed out with her powers subconsciously whenever she was emotional, even with the cut a few times. Baghra laughed to herself. What made her son think she would have more luck controlling the volcra than her powers?

It was a disaster ready to happen, and Baghra would sit back and watch her son's experiment fail.

༶•┈┈ ♛ ┈┈•༶

Something that had first amused Aleksander, The Darkling, was now causing him much frustration. Right after they got engaged, Aleeza mentioned something that set his plan back a whole year.

"I want to get married during summer." she had said.

Currently, summer had just ended, and fall was just barely beginning. They would have to wait a whole year. "Why?" he asked.

Aleeza then went on to explain her reasoning behind it. Explaining there were no summer holidays, winter had Christmas, spring had Easter, and so on, but there were no holidays in summer. So she wanted her anniversary to be a new thing to celebrate.

"So you've thought of this before?" He asked her when she finished.

Aleeza was slightly embarrassed, but she confidently replied. "Yes. I have."

He laughed and agreed. But he planned to get her wed as soon as possible. Now he had quite a lot of time in between. So he decided to take her on an excursion to the fold. He needed to go anyway to see off a new Skiff since the other...never came back.

It allowed him to see just how much Aleeza could do with her authority over his volcra. Did she have to be close? How long could she hold it? How many could she control?

How much could she command them to do? He had many questions, and his curiosity didn't end there.

He considered Aleeza a cross between summoner and fabricator since, in addition to stars, she also could bend both shadows and light.