***
"Sera! Sera! Come in now! We want you to meet someone!"
The 12 year old girls head popped up from the grass she had been laying in, not caring about any bugs or creatures that could be touching her as she knew there were worse things that could hurt her.
She knew things about life that other kids didn't.
That's how she climbed up on the roof and stood at the edge, how she could jump off things and not worry about herself and how she was able to lay in the grass and not care about the bugs that would crawl on her like other kids would.
Her eyes looked at the house before she stood up, bending down and grabbing her shoes that she had taken off to feel the grass between her toes. Pushing her large in curls hair away from her face, she started the truck back to the two story house.
Once she was there, she pushed through the back door, into the kitchen and called for at least one of the women raising her. She wasn't adopted but she also wasn't their biological daughter so they settled on calling her their foster daughter.
"Living room, dearie!" Mrs. Decóva called for her.
She walked through the winding hallways till she reached the living room, stopping in the doorway when she saw the unknown person sitting in front of Mrs. Decóva and Madam, a blanket wrapped around her shaking shoulders and a cup of hot tea in her hands to warm her up.
"There you are! Come in, come in." She stepped in when she was waved in by the larger woman. Seraphine was already intrigued by the girl.
She couldn't have been much younger than herself, maybe eleven or ten but her skinny arms and body made it hard to tell. Her hair was dark and formed into twisting braids, skin just a bit paler than that. Her eyes were large, colored brown part bigger than Seraphine's were but what was interesting about her was her eyebrows. They were blonde.
Seraphine stepped forward and held out her hand to the other girl, who had stood up and was shivering on two legs.
"I'm Seraphine."
The smaller girl looked at Seraphine's hand before shaking it gently and in a quiet voice said, "Fern.."
Because of their close proximity, the curly haired girl could see the multiple purple and blue bruises that were forming on her face. One on her left cheek, some others on the sides of her next and a few others Seraphine was sure were hidden underneath the girls scrappy clothes.
Her soft fingers reached out and gently traced over the bruise on her cheek and asked, "What happened to your face?"
Madam pulled her back calmly but she didn't want her to scare off or make Fern uncomfortable here already. "No, Sera. She can tell you if she wants, she doesn't need to."
"Sorry, Fern.." Her head was slightly hung in shame because she didn't want to scare off her new friend or have her hurt in any way.
"It's fine...my uncle did this to me. He hurts me and-and-and touches me wrongly so I ran away. Please don't make me go back." Her dark eyes started to fill with tears before she started to cry, "Please don't make me go back."
Seraphine stepped forward slowly before holding both her arms out to her, asking her slightly for permission. Once she nodded, the older girl walked forward and hugged her, feeling her skinny arms wrap around her waist and bury her nose in her neck.
"Nobody will ever hurt you again. I promise."
***
Seraphine shot up with a gasp, holding onto her chest and burying her sharp nails into her night gown.
Wait, nightgown?
She looked around the room as she forced her breathing to calm down. Where in the Saints was she? And how did she get here.
The walls were a pale green color, white and gold crowning around the edges and corners of the room. The beddings she was in was white with gold matching embroidery on it and a sheen canopy above her head. She pulled back the soft blanket she was under and stood up, pinching the fabric around her.
Her skin was still sticky from sweat, some of the hairs on her forehead sticking to her, and her head felt hot still. It was like her body was trying to fight a sickness that wouldn't give up. She couldn't tell if it was her body trying to reject what was happening to her, as she said, like she was sick or if it was because her body couldn't handle the sudden change in energy levels it had just went through.
The last thing she remembered was getting back on the horse with Kirigan, right after he told her his name. Then falling asleep with her back against him...right that's odd. She never has fallen asleep around people she didn't know well enough. Had he brought her here?
Where was here anyway?
Seraphine walked over to the window and pulled back the drapes, eyes widening when she saw the castle right across the way.
Oh shit.
She was in the Little Palace. She didn't know where she had thought she was but now she knew.
The door behind her opened, causing her to turn around quickly when she saw 6 women all dressed in the same thing, a simple white dress with the palest grey apron over it, with one leading them.
The woman leading them into the room had fiery red hair that was perfectly curled into ringlets, pale skin with no blemishes and emerald eyes that seemed to widen at the sight of her.
"Oh, Sankta luminya. I didn't realize you were up yet." The redhead said to her as the six women behind her bowed. Seraphine still didn't say anything, still in slight shock at what was happening.
The redhead snapped her fingers, saying, "Fetch my kit." and gestured to the women to get to work.
Two of them went towards the bed to make it. Another walked around Seraphine completely through the archway beside the bed that lead into different room, a bathroom by the looks of it.
Two of them came over to her and started leading her to the bathroom, starting to peel off her clothes and underwear.
At this point, she just decided to go with it, letting her face scrunch when it wanted to as her feet stepped onto the cold flooring.
They gave her a hand when she placed a foot into the metal basin that was steaming. She bit her tongue at the hot water, not staying anything as she didn't know these people or what they were going to do after this.
The firey red head sat in a plush chair beside her as the two women who had put her in there started scrub her down with sponges.
"Her skin is so soft."
"A shame her hair is so...Zemeni like." The two women washing her said to each other in Old Ravkan, thinking that she wouldn't understand but she did. Despite the fact that Seraphine didn't go to school or anything like that, Madam had taught her a few different languages as she grew up, one of them being Old Ravkan. They clearly didn't want to say anything to 'The Phoenix's' face.
She ignored the feeling in her body, the heat starting to build up from sitting in the hot bath, the burning against her skin coming from the water wasn't helping her at all.
"Alright enough. Just- I am perfectly fine with washing myself, I've had almost 20 years of practice. And yes, my hair looks 'Zemeni like' because I'm part Zemeni. Saying things in other languages doesn't help and it's honestly quite rude." She grabbed one of the sponges from the women before stopping all her movements.
The room had started to spin, causing her to panic. Grabbing the edge of the tub, she pulled herself up as best she could in her limp arms, her body felt like it was going to pass out. Again. She could hear someone talking to her distantly as she stumbled to the corner of the room on shaking legs, no doubt looking like a new born calf as she forced herself to stay awake.
"Oh Saints! What the- Why now Earth woukd you put her in a scalding hot bath?! You knew her temperature was already running higher than normal. For fucks sakes-" She could tell it was the red haired woman talking.
Seraphine's vision was dotted with black and white spots as she slid her back against the wall to get down to the floor. The stone floor was cold enough that she hoped to cool herself, even just a little bit.
Her knees pulled up to her body as much as she could and her arms wrapped around herself, not caring if she was completely naked in a room with people she didn't know.
With her head buried in her knees and her eyes closed tightly, she didn't noticed the sight she had become.
The marks that had been etched around the edges of her body weren't just on her arms and face but everywhere. The different sized yellow and orange crack looking lines in her skin were along the edges of her legs, along the sides of her waist, all the way up to her chest. Around her neck was a thicker line that went all the way, like a collar.
She felt two hands on her knees as she tried to steady her breathing and was failing. Having a panic attack while trying not to pass out from the heat wasn't ideal at the moment.
"Hey, hey, Sankta luminya. I need you to calm your breathing, okay? Follow my breathing." The woman in the white embroidered coat took one of Seraphine's hand and placed it against her rib cage so she could feel the movements of her lungs moving up and down as she breathed regularly.
The woman turned her head away from Seraphine and yelled at the hand maids who were just standing there in shock at what happened, "And Phoenix all mighty, go get a Heartrender to get her temperature down and cool down that bath. Get ice or something."
They rushed out at the orders given to them as the curly haired woman's breathing started to even out but her body was still on fire.
Soon, a female Grisha in a red kefta entered swiftly and kneeled down beside the two of them. Pushing her hands together before quickly pulling them back apart. Slowly, her body temperature started going back to normal but Seraphine looked over at the woman.
"What does it mean..?"
"What?"
"What does Sankta luminya mean?"
"Oh, it's um..It means Saint of Fiery Stars. You." The redhead woman said before going to help her up.
'Saint of Fiery Stars, huh? It's...nice."
***
Alina followed Genya down the hallways, letting the woman drag her to a room that was in the wing opposite. She had heard things about someone who had come in with the General Kirigan early in the morning so she assumed that's where she was being led. The dark haired girl barely had any time to get out of bed before the Tailor pulled her away from the comfort of her sheets.
The doors opened in front of her and saw a room similar to her own but much larger. The walls were a slightly different color from hers as well. Genya lead her towards the bathroom and Alina let out a small gasp, eyes widening.
Sitting in the basin filled with water and small parts of ive floating on the top, cooling the water , was a woman. Completely naked. A wash cloth in one of her hands as she rubbed the dirt off the side of her neck.
The Shu girl turned around the second the two of them eye contact, the woman turning her head a bit to see her.
Seraphine studied her for a second. The girl couldn't be older than Fern ages, maybe a year younger than her. Her hair was long, black and silky smooth, her skin tanned naturally from the sun, no doubt either a farm or part of the Second Army. Or First Army since they were in the Little Palace. Dark eyes wide before she had turned around for some reason. But there was something about her that was...different from the Grisha here, something more wild.
"I'm so sorry! I didn't realize you were-" Thr girl apologized quickly, listening to Genya stifle the smallest of chuckles into the backing her hand, causing Alina to throw a hand out and smack her side softly with no malice in her actions.
"It's alright. I don't mind. My handmaidens, apparently I have those, already saw everything so another person doesn't make a difference." Seraphine said, giving her a friendly smile when she turned back around nervously.
Alina stepped forward quickly and held out a hand to her, "I'm Alina Starkov."
"Seraphine. Nice to meet you." They shook hands, the older woman holding onto the side of the tub as she took her hand with her own wet one.
"If you don't mind my asking, why are you here? I'm not trying to be rude or anything like that! It's just..you don't seem like the others here. Not as guarded with secrets." Alina asked her. But before Seraphine could answer her, Genya did for her.
"She's here for the same reason you are. She is The Phoenix."
The younger girl whipped around back to her, looking at her in surprise. "She's-she's The Phoenix? The Omni? The Sankta luminya?"
"I was just as surprised as you are." The curly woman said, standing up and stepping out of the tub.
"Oh, that's..naked. Very naked, okay." Alina said looking away quickly as Seraphine wrapped a satin robe around herself.
"In one hour, the both of you will be presented to King Pyotr, and General Kirigan has asked I make you look presentable." The red haired woman said calmly, causing both of the saints to gape at her nonchalance tone.
"We're to meet the king?"
"In an hour?"
"Yes."
Barely three days ago, neither of them knew that they had magical abilities and now they were to be pushed in front of the king and told to prove themselves?
That's not really fair.
***