if anyone wants to dare | Glowfic Constellation

Sergeant Valeriya Oretsev - or just Val - had tracked Bo Yul-Bayur all the way to the (very frustrating) shootout between Shu and Fjerda that ended in his death and the capture of his daughter, Kuwei Kir-Bo, by Fjerdan witch-hunters.

Val isn't well suited to breaking into Shu research facilities, so if the Darkling wants to get her hands on jurda parem that way, she's going to have to send someone else.

But she is exceptionally well suited to pursuing the witch-hunters up the coast -

She isn't fast enough, though, and they get Kuwei Kir-Bo behind the unbroken walls of the Ice Court before she can do more than take down a few witch-hunters. (Assholes.) They didn't get a good look at her face, at least, which means a short run and a quick change of clothes lets her blend into the city, where she tracks down one of Ravka's spies (giving the appropriate code words, and also advice on being less embarrassingly easy to track) and then cools her heels until the Darkling can figure out a way to get a team into the fucking Ice Court. Or until she just calls Val back, but Val's got a hunch that she's not about to let Kuwei slip through her fingers.

Confirmation of that hunch comes in the form of Sturmhund, legendary pirate - unofficial Ravkan privateer, which is the extent of her identity that Val has clearance for - who's somehow swanned her way into an invitation to Hringkalla, the massive spring festival. Val's swept into her 'entourage' - not the Ravkan diplomatic team, who probably at best will be able to provide extraction backup in case of catastrophic failure to sneak away, with how closely they're being watched - and that somehow gets them all the way to White Island (Val is seriously impressed), where Val quietly scopes out the crowd while Sturmhund draws attention (apparently via vying for an 'audience' with the Crown Princess, which, good luck to her) -

And then she sees Kaz Brekker, of all people.

Well, they knew they wouldn't be the only ones after Kuwei - the Dregs' presence just means their competition is actually serious -

At which point she follows Kaz's gaze to a building ruckus at the center of the court, near the throne -

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the-ice

Nod. "I'll keep an eye out."

Kaz Brekker

dirtyhands

Then she'll be off.

the-ice

Not much to do but wait (and practice her new powers), she supposes.

night-so-dark

Nina would like to see what she's capable of now.

the-ice

Alright. Back to the earlier crypt?

night-so-dark

That works.

the-ice

There's the dance trick... Moving things around, pretty much, though she's thinking about learning to distinguish bones - or other deceased tissue - from one another without looking. She's also figured out that her power applies to dead plants, too, but very poorly so far.

night-so-dark

Can she do anything other than animation? Transformation or other, uh, Corporalki-flavored things?

the-ice

"I haven't really tried, yet, but the dead feel... Solid? In a way the living never did. But..." She frowns. "I could try... Reconstructing bones, or something? That might be easier to start with."

night-so-dark

"I think it's worth trying a variety of things to start off with. See where the new limits are."

the-ice

She grins and nods. "And where the areas for improvement are."

night-so-dark

"Yep!"

the-ice

She'll follow Nina's ideas to start.

night-so-dark

The experiments should be productive.

the-ice

At least for what she can start practicing on - she currently has all the skill of a very prodigious and motivated amateur, which is far less than where she was with Corporalki skills even before meeting Nina.

night-so-dark