THERE WAS A man locked away in the hold of the ship.

Calling him a man was an exaggeration. The slumped-over body Nikolai had dragged on board earlier that day in Os Kervo was little more than a boy shoved into a First Army uniform. Freya saw only a smudge of his face – bloodied and bruised – before he was dragged below deck.

And now she was here, standing in front of the door of the man's makeshift cell with sweaty hands and panicky breath. Please, just trust me, was what Nikolai told her when she berated him with questions about the man. They didn't take prisoners, especially not Ravkan soldiers who looked like they'd seen spectres. And Freya did trust him. She really did. But she'd been fidgeting all day thinking about the man.

So now she would walk into that room. And she would see who that man was. Stupid pale hair and saint worshippers, she cursed in her mind, not for the first time. It was too risky for her to get off the ship in Ravka, especially in such a populated city as Os Kervo. People there had mourned her death, if Nikolai was to be believed.

She would be far too recognizable. The paleness of her hair was rare even in Fjerda, though not so much that she couldn't move inconspicuously in her home country. Not in Ravka though. And especially not if she wanted to wear anything in the same colours as kefta had been. Even if the people of the city didn't recognize her, government officials and army officers riddled the streets. And they'd known her personally.

Freya refused to risk it. She did not want to be dragged back to the Little Palace and be forced to return to service at best, put on trial for desertion at worst.

The doorknob was cold against her palms, the metal slippery with her sweat. She pushed the door open and slipped inside. There were no guards stationed there. Nikolai did not see a reason for it. He trusted everyone onboard. And well, looking down at the crumpled lump on the floor, kept from direct contact with the ground only by a thin blanket beneath him, Freya wasn't at all surprised that Nikolai didn't think the man would flee.

He looked up at her with terrified blue eyes, glassy with unshed tears. "Who are you?" he croaked out. Freya wondered how long it had been since he'd drank any water. "What do you want from me?"

Freya tilted her head. "I was hoping you could answer that question for me." The man scrunched his brows together, the corner of his mouth turning downwards in confusion. He raked his gaze up and down her body.

"You don't look like an inquisitor." Freya stifled a laugh at that. No, she supposed she didn't. She wore a similar violet wrap-around skirt she'd received in Novyi Zem and a dark blue blouse. She'd been let off duty that evening, so there was no need to dress in practical clothing, and she enjoyed the Novyi Zem fashion.

"Believe me, I am no inquisitor. If I was I would be questioning the captain instead of you," she sighed, kneeling on the ground beside the boy. He grunted as he pushed himself up on his elbows, accepting Freya's help to get into a proper sitting position. He slumped on the wall behind him. "What is your name?"

The man swallowed around a dry throat. "Aleksei. I'm a cartographer." Freya nodded, sitting back on her heels.

"Pleasure to meet you Aleksei, though I'm sure we both wish it were under better circumstances." She tried to lace her tone with something lighthearted, but she did not quite believe her optimism herself. Still, the corner of Aleksei's mouth jerked upwards, even for a little bit. "I'm Freya."

She left out her last name on purpose, but Aleksei's eyes still trailed all over her face, squinting, as if searching for something. Her heartbeat picked up at the thought of him recognizing her, but he stopped looking for whatever it was he wanted to find just as quickly as he started, and only nodded.

"What happened to you?" she continued, frowning at the deep scratch on his forehead. The blood had long clotted and dried, leaving a dark red and purple mess. "I could try finding something to clean it with if you'd like."

Aleksei only shrugged. "He'd know you were here if you did that." It was sweet, Freya couldn't help but think. He didn't even know her, yet he was worried. "I... I was supposed to be crossing the Fold with my unit." He paused, and Freya knew what he would say before the words even left him. "It went wrong."

"I'm sorry." Freya cringed at how wrong the words sounded. It wasn't enough, just saying that, but she didn't know what else she could do. She didn't know him, nor did she know his unit. "Were you the only survivor?"

Aleksei stared off for a while, then shook his head, then shrugged. "I don't know. I went overboard and I ran. I didn't bother to look back when the volcra were descending." He closed his eyes and sighed heavily. "But then something happened. I... I don't know how to explain it or say what it was exactly." Freya nodded at him to continue, even as he looked unsure. "Something exploded with light on the skiff. Something so bright that all the volcra fled from it." He paused again, then inhaled deeply. "I think it was the Sun Summoner."

Freya's gasp lodged in her throat. The door opened harshly behind her and a hand fell heavily on top of her shoulder. It pulled her up off the floor as she continued to gape at Aleksei, unsure of if she'd heard him right. She couldn't have heard him right.

She was dragged out of the room by a strong arm around her waist, and the door slammed shut. "What are you doing here!" Nikolai whisper-yelled as he stepped between her and the door. "Did I not ask you to trust me? Is this what trust looks like, Freya?"

Freya shook herself out of her disbelief, breathing out a scoff. "Are you serious? The Sun Summoner. The Sun Summoner, Nikolai! You didn't bother to tell me immediately when you heard?" He had the good sense to look a little ashamed. "I grew up on legends about the great Grisha who could summon light! The one who would liberate Ravka from the Fold! Now they're here and you didn't bother to tell me?"

He sighed, hands coming up to hold her shoulders. It took everything in her not to jerk away from his touch in anger, but she knew it would do more harm than good. "It isn't that I didn't bother to tell you, milaya." She hated how easily she melted at the word. "I just... I wanted to be sure before I told you. What would the point be in getting your hopes up? And why would you come here alone? He could have hurt you!"

"You should have told me regardless! And I can protect myself!" She shook her head, stepping closer to him as her anger quickly faded. "Kolya, I know you are just trying to help but please. I need you to tell me." Lightly slapping his shoulder, she added. "Especially if it's the Sun Summoner we are talking about." Nikolai nodded leaning forward as if to kiss her, but she quickly stepped away. "No, I'm still angry at you."

"Milaya..."

"Please, get that boy a proper bed. Some blankets, at least. And treat his wounds. And some water and food would be great." She pressed her hand to her abdomen as a phantom of the hunger and thirst she felt when she'd been captured by the drüskelle echoed through her. "We still treat people like we are humane, correct?" They didn't take prisoners.

"Freya-"

"Please, not now." They didn't take prisoners. They didn't take prisoners. They didn't take prisoners. She walked away from him before he could say anything else, disappearing behind the corner and up the steps to the deck. There, she would find fresh air. There, she would find Tamar sharpening her axes and Tolya reciting his poetry, voice lulled by the ale he'd had during dinner. There, she could at least pretend to forget about the bloodied and bruised boy kept in a room little more than a cell.

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* 　　 *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

Freya pried her eyes open at the crack of dawn with only a few hours of sleep beneath her belt. Her face felt entirely too swollen, and her mind too groggy to function properly. And yet, it was still too awake to try and fall back asleep. She exhaled her annoyance, turning to her other side. She'd slipped into bed far past midnight with Nikolai already long asleep. Now, he was still sleeping, his face decidedly more smooth and relaxed than it ever was while he was awake.

By the slight fluttering of his lashes against his cheek, she knew he would wake soon. More likely than not, he was floating in that light limbo. She reached over to him, dragging her knuckles across the arch of his cheekbone. He was beautiful like this. Even if she was still annoyed with him, she couldn't help but admire him.

He let out a groan, signalling his return from the world of dreams. With his eyes still closed, he reached for the hand she was holding against his face and took hold of it. He pressed two sleepy kisses to her finger before dropping their joined hands to the mattress by his head. He peeled his lids open.

"Good morning, milaya," he said, voice hoarse with sleep. She smiled at him, squeezing his hand tightly. "Are you still cross with me?" Freya rolled her eyes.

"Yes, terribly. I simply refuse to speak to you for the rest of the week." Nikolai chuckled at her words, but then his face turned serious.

"I made sure he got a proper mattress and a thicker blanket. And I had Privyet bring him clean water and food." A knight knot unwound itself in her chest. "I'm sorry. I don't know why I didn't do it before."

"You're a soldier, Kolya," Freya sighed. "You probably didn't even realise." They'd all survived worse than being locked in a room before. At least this room was dry, and Aleksei was alone. Not listening to the cries of young child Grisha or being tormented by his captors.

"Still, I'm sorry. I should have thought about it. And I should have told you right when I first learned of what happened in the Fold." Freya nodded, shifting closer to him to press a soft peck to the tip of his nose. Nikolai sighed contentedly.

"How did you even get your hands on him anyway? If he got out of the Fold, it would've been in Novokribirsk." Nikolai's lips spread in a large grin.

"Why, my enormous array of contacts of course." Freya rolled her eyes. "One of them found me in Os Kervo. Apparently, some Kerch merchant named Dreesen paid a fortune to have him brought over to Ketterdam. I paid him even more for him to give him to me instead."

"And where are we taking him, exactly?"

"To Dreesen." Her face must have shown her disbelief quite perfectly because Nikolai let out a thoroughly entertained laugh. "Don't worry, milaya. I intend to use Dreesen to find out more for myself. Merchants love nothing more than to line their pockets with gold, and that is exactly what I am going to offer him. He will be working for me, looking for information for me, finding the Sun Summoner for me." He shrugged. "And I will not have to return to Ravka myself until I am ready to do so."

The topic of returning to Ravka rarely came up. Most of all because Freya did not even wish to think about it. Now it made her chest ache. Nikolai had assured her that if they did return, he would claim that she was working for him the entire time on some secret mission he'd conducted after he rescued him, which wasn't entirely a lie. Freya hoped it would keep her from being executed for desertion. Even if it meant Nikolai had to admit he wasn't exactly sitting in a university classroom all these years.

Which, from what he'd told her with her hands held tightly in his and his lips pressed against her neck, he did not mind doing. Not if it was for her.

"If the Sun Summoner even survived the Fold." Freya sighed, biting down on the inner part of her cheek.

"Oh, they survived. From all accounts, she has already been brought to the Little Palace. With the General's son as her escort." Freya shot up, hair falling into her face.

"You've heard about Luca?" Was her first thought, then, "You plan to steal the Sun Summoner from the Little Palace?" Nikolai sat up to be level with her, helping her brush the hair from her face and behind her ear.

"I am going to borrow the Sun Summoner from the Little Palace." Freya wasn't so sure that was any better. "Whoever holds her, holds the power, I'm afraid. And yes, I have heard about Luca. He's been stationed at the Fold all this time, apparently. Eight crossings, I believe. He was on the one with the Sun Summoner, and another one went wrong before that, but he survived it too."

Freya didn't even know what to say to that, but she nodded. Luca had been at the Fold. She didn't know whether to be glad he hadn't been forced back to the front or cry because he'd been placed in danger so many times. He could have died in that horrid black wrinkle in the world. But he had lived, and now he'd taken the Sun Summoner to the Little Palace.

"That's all I know, I'm afraid. I wish I had more information for you, Freya Darling, but I had been a little preoccupied." Freya understood that a little too well. What was information about Luca compared to that about the Sun Summoner?

"So, to Ketterdam?" she asked after a few moments of silence.

Nikolai grinned. "To Ketterdam."

A/N

An update finally!

We know basically nothing about what Nikolai was doing in s1 or how he even came across Aleksei (if he was even the one to find him first) so I'm kinda conjuring out of nothing here and hoping it makes at least a little bit of sense.

I also realised while writing this that I'd been numbering the chapters wrong for like four months now so UM that's FIXED NOW