Marina was observing the crew the next morning (or as Tamar liked to call it, babysitting) when Mal and Alina came above deck. She smiled a bit and walked over to them.
"Alina," she called, catching the girl's attention. "I don't think we were properly introduced. I'm Morgayne, the Volkvolny's lead Tidemaker." She extended a hand, and Alina shook it cautiously. Marina gestured to the rest of the ship. "Shall we?" The younger girl nodded and walked side by side with the sailor.
"Are you Stumhond's Quartermaster?" Alina asked. Marina smiled a bit and glanced up at her.
"Something like that," she responded. "We don't really have such precise terms here, but I suppose you could call me a Quartermaster if it makes you more comfortable." She chuckled before smiling softly. "How did you sleep?" Alina sighed and glanced back at Mal, who was only a few steps behind them.
"I've never slept on a ship before," she admitted. "On our way to Novyi Zem, I was too nervous to think about closing my eyes. It wasn't too easy to adapt to." Marina laughed and nodded.
"I suppose you're right," she said softly. "I've been on ships most of my life, so I've never really thought about what it would be like for everyone else." She shrugged. "That and I get an overwhelming sense of calm from the water." Alina nodded and looked around.
"You have both otkazat'sya and Grisha on your crew," she said in awe. "No First or Second Army, just... Equals." Marina smiled at the young girl, looking around in wonder. "Mal, imagine if our camps were run like this, First and Second Army together." The tall boy smiled a bit and nodded.
"The food would taste much better," he joked. Marina chuckled a bit and nodded.
"Well don't get your hopes up," she said. "We don't have the best food here. But we make do." She saw Mal reaching towards the lever on the main mast, but before she could tell him off, someone else did the job for her.
"Definitely don't touch that," Nikolai said, jogging up to the small group. "So, Miss Starkov, what say you and I chart the course to your destiny to find the Sea Whip." Mal shook his head and stepped up.
"That'll be me," he said. "I'm the tracker." Nikolai and Marina shared a look, and he nodded at her. She pulled the chain from around her neck and handed it over to him.
"My lucky compass," he said, holding it up. "Seen us through thick and thin." He shrugged. "Okay then, tracker, which way is north?" Mail sighed.
"Well, I can tell you a few ways, based on the position of the sun and my shadow, based on the direction that we're sailing in, and based on..." He trailed off, noticing the look Alina was sending him. He sighed and pointed towards the front of the ship. "It's that way." Nikolai flipped open the compass, smirking a bit, before closing it and handing it back to Marina. He chuckled and clapped a hand down on Mal's shoulder.
"Let me introduce you to our navigators." He began to lead the boy away. "What did you say your name was again?" Marina laughed quietly, knowing he was fully aware of the boy's name and his annoyance that it hadn't been learned. She shook her head, watching after them.
"Are they going to kill each other?" Alina asked the small girl. Marina sighed and shrugged, not really bothered.
"It's quite possible, honestly."
"Oi!" Tamar called behind them. Alina spun around, while Marina simply looked over her shoulder. "Sun Summoner. Join us." The Shu woman looked at her friend. "You too, Gayne." Alina looked up at Marina, who shrugged, and the two walked over. Tamar stood to let Alina into the free seat while Marina forced herself between the twins. Tolya muttered something in Shu, and Alina furrowed her brows.
"What does that mean?" Tolya looked up at her, handing Marina several cards.
"You don't know it?" he asked "It means "victory" in Shu." The girl nodded awkwardly.
"Um, I don't speak Shu." Tamar chuckled.
"Understandable," she said. "We know what Ravkans think about mutts like us." She shrugged. "And in Shu Han..." Tolya nodded.
"They prefer to remind us we've our Ravkan mother's blood." Tamar scoffed.
"Blood is blood. Only fools think otherwise." She handed Alina a few cards, and the girl nodded.
"Is that why you've chosen a life at sea?" she asked. "Because it understands that?" Tolya looked up at her.
"It's why we chose Sturmhond," he said. Tamar nodded.
"He understands." She sent Marina a small smile, and Miradi stared up at the girl for a moment before chuckling.
"I'm intimidated," she said, making Alina look over at her. "I've never played cards with a Ravkan Saint before." Tamar grinned.
"She's also a Shu Saint," she said, leaning over to help Alina look at her cards. Alina looked up at the woman, noting the amplifier melded behind her ear.
"Is that a shark's tooth?" she asked, making the Shu woman look down at her. "You're Grisha? Um, what order?" Tamar chuckled and glanced up at Tolya.
"Uh, Tolya and I don't really do that," she said, "but if we were in Ravka, we'd be Heartrenders." She pointed to the tooth. "But I have this so, it's a win for me." Tolya sighed and shook his head.
"If only I'd been thirty seconds faster." Marina laughed and nudged him with her brow.
"Story of your life, little brother," Tamar joked. Her twin rolled his eyes and looked across the table at Alina.
"We've been told you're looking for an amplifier yourself," he said "The Sea Whip. Is it true?" Miradi chuckled and shook her head.
"Possessing two amplifiers," she said, "it breaks all the rules." Marina laughed.
"Says the Durast who'll be fusing the amplifier, if we find it." The twins chuckled, and Miradi shrugged with a grin.
"So I have a vested interest in your plan," she admitted. "But I don't want to die in the process." Alina smiled a bit and nodded.
"Trust me, I don't want to die either." She glanced up at Tamar. "Um, when you fused with your amplifier, did it show you its last moments?" The woman nodded.
"Tolya swimming up as I took its life. What did the Stag show you?" Alina sighed, zoning out as she recalled the memory.
"The last thing it saw was me, reaching for its muzzle. Like it always should have been. Because I'd always dreamt about it. But now I'm dreaming about the Sea Whip, and the Firebird, too." Marina furrowed her brows.
"You think the three are connected?" she asked.
"I think... I think they are to be connected. Through me. So I can then destroy the Fold." She shrugged. "But I can't be sure unless I try." She looked up at Miradi. "Unless we try." The dark-skinned girl nodded slowly.
"It's uncharted territory." Marina grinned and kicked the edge of the table.
"We sailors, Miradi," she said happily. Tamar nodded, nudging her sister playfully.
"What are we if not experts in uncharted waters?" She looked up at Tolya. "Deal us in, brother. Who's ready to test their mettle?"
what's this? another chapter?
this is not the chapter I go feral over btw, but the next one might be :]
also yes Tolya and Tamar call Marina their sister because I'm an absolute sucker for the found family trope
- C
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Blood In The Water ~ Shadow & Bone
Fanfiction"Fear is a phoenix. You can watch it burn a thousand times and still it will return." Marina Astyalenzi had it all and lost it all. You'd have thought that gaining it all back would be relieving after everything, but she should have known it would c...
