Mal and Alina were the best of friends. No that was not accurate Mal would think often, they were closer than that. They were family.
Alina was special like him. Both were one of the very few in Ravka to have soulmates, it was a well-known fact that only the Grisha had soulmates. However, when the testers came they had dismissed him because he was injured. Mal had seen how Alina had disappeared before reappearing with her own injured hand, and the testers overlooked her as well. They both would talk about it often in their meadow.
“I don’t think they were very good testers.”
Mal tilted his head toward Alina who was reaching her hand toward the sun as if she could grasp it into her hand.
“Why?”
“Well they didn’t even ask if we had any signs of having a soulmate did they?”
He shook his head, “But didn’t the Duke’s book say there’s only the one? The cold and hot heart or something.”
She nodded, “I think we are special, but I couldn’t let them separate us. I couldn’t let them take me and not you.”
Mal and Alina had bonded quickly over their odd dreams when they were younger. However, Alina didn’t ever tell Mal exactly what the ‘memories’ that she saw were, just that they were often scary or sad. She would describe her soulmate, how he looked and how he acted but she was always careful.
They figured out the dreams were memories, when he had his of a girl that he realized was a Squaller. After speaking through their days they realized their dreams were often prompted by either a similar experience or feeling that their soulmate had gone through.
Over the years they got better at compartmentalizing feelings and experiences so they wouldn’t be overwhelmed at the wrong time.
~~~
When Alina was fifteen and Mal was coming upon his sixteenth birthday (at least according to the orphanage’s calendar), they met at the meadow to plan out their futures. They stared at the stars lying stretched out on opposing sides, heads resting against each other.
“My soulmate is quite older than me.” Alina paused.
Mal waited as he was used to when she was thinking about her mysterious soulmate, he’d learned to be patient. Whenever he pushed too hard for details she seemed to clam immediately up with a look of almost fear in her eyes. He shook his head slightly; no it was always better to let her tell him in her own time.
“I would even say he’s ancient.” She let out a blustering sigh. “I expect he’s been waiting for me for a very long time.”
Mal wrinkled his forehead a question at the tip of his tongue but instead another came from it, “So what’s on the horizon, Alinochka?”
“I think the easiest way we could find them is if we joined the First Army. You could be a tracker if you wanted, a lot safer than a normal foot soldier. I’ll be a cartographer, Ana Kuya has been training me for just that anyways.”
“As long as we always find our way back to each other, I don’t mind whatever we do.”
Alina appeared above Mal’s head, “Like I would ever allow you to get rid of me that easily.”
She smiled and Mal raised himself on his elbows, “Family forever.”
“Family forever.”
They smiled as they rested their foreheads against each other, eyes closed in peace.