be the serpent under it.

JEDDA ATWATER, a twenty five year old grisha in the little palace. she is a etherealki, squaller and are known in the little palace as the serpent. they are known to be intuitive and dishonet and vaguely resemble madeleine madden. 

character stadistics

wanted connections

mikhailo kicked himself for letting himself get involved like this. he should have stayed away, he knew better than anyone that feeling emotion for someone was the number one way to getting hurt. and here he was, having to slow his own heartbeat down so as not to freak out at how hurt jedda was. there were others he wanted to check on, but his only focus was jedda at that point, the girl he felt protective over. and, whether he’d admit it or not, the girl he would kill for lest anything happen to her.

once she was healed, though not very cleanly, mikhailo plopped back down on the ground next to her, defeat heavy on his shoulders. it was partly his job to keep grisha safe, make this a home for them, protect them, just as she said. yet as he looke out at their dead, red staining the grounds around them as the yelling slowly died down while people began the mourning process for their loved ones. he hated it.

what could he say? he couldn’t reassure her, she was right. he had failed her, and countless other grisha he’d sworn he’d protect. he knew you couldn’t save everyone, it wasn’t plausible. but the deaths that had occurred today were completely avoidable. so, he resorted to his classic enigmatic expression, eyes firmly planted on the ground as he rested his head back against the broken piece of building. “we don’t know anything, yet,” it’s obvious, though. she’s right. “just stop.”

. 

we don’t know anything, yet. the words he spoke resonated in her mind. sure, they didn’t know anything about the attack, yet. but they had known the second army was weak for quite some time now, didn’t they? they were supposed to protect their own kind but they weren’t capable of doing that. it made jedda wonder if that was the only purpose the second army had. she would deny if it she someone asked but there were times at night when she wondered if they were only there to inspire fear to those who persued them. jedda knew that was part of it, she had contributed to that fear herself but she was beginning to wonder if that was all there was to the second army. where they only pawns in a game they were destined to lose? 

if anyone asked she would’ve denied it, but mikhailo wasn’t anyone, he was perhaps the one person she loved most in this world. “we know enough, you know that we do.” this wasn’t the time, not that she ever thought there would be a good time to bring this up, but right now amongst the chaos the only thing she could think about was about how he could’ve died, how she could’ve die. at her core, jedda has always been terrefied, ever since that day back at the village all she had known was fear. it morphed over the years, different things lurked in the shadows of her mind lat at night but there was one thing that scared her more than anything and that was being used like she had been all those years ago. if she was to die than so be it, but she wouldn’t die a pawn in someone’s game. “what happens when the next attack finds us even weaker?” she asked without really looking for answer. 

ravkahq characters as text posts bc why not

bonus:

“ it’s the first time i’m showing them to you, you should feel honoured. ” another joke, because hannes a man who actually got jokes. he had always been serious — maybe it was the fjerdan winter, or just him mirroring his father, or both. he was fine with that, as his job was no funny business. both as a spy and a guard he needed to be serious, but it was good to loosen a little. even if it was with jedda. “ too skinny ? you’re hurting my feelings now, jedda. ” he feigned sadness, but a hand over his heart — or where it was supposed to be. the fjerdan spy chuckled softly at her words. he knew he was going to be rejected by them, nonetheless. he wasn’t dressed properly or glamorous, like val. “ my heart is already at ease with their rejection, i don’t suppose it would be fun to watch. though we can always make lure an innocent victim to them. ”

he watched her, curious. was jedda looking for someone ? then they would be two. “ i will, thank you very much. you still have a whole table for yourself. ” he took the glass to his lips, drinking its content on one sip. the drink wasn’t horrible, but hannes wasn’t the biggest enjoyer of the taste of alcohol. “ not bad, though i’m sure you probably want a better company. were you looking for someone ? ”

. 

“we can, and we should.” she nodded without taking her eyes off the women. the word we, was never one she thought she would use when when it came to the guard. yet, there she was. jedda scanned the room in the hopes to find someone they could use as bait for the pack of wolves that sat in the corner. “where’s that stable boy when you need him?” she muttered trying to find the blonde man but he was no where to be found. 

“anyone would be better company than you, ivan.” but oddly enough, she didn’t mean it right now. there was no malice in her tone, instead her words were playful. not the kind of playful a cat would be around their food, toying with it before eating it but the kind of playful she rarely allowed herself to be. she was drunk, far too drunk, and his words almost went unheard. “what?” she asked looking at him. “no.” it sounded more like a question than a responce. “no.” she said once more, this time firmly. she was usually a great liar and excellet at a poker face, but tonight was not her night. “of course not, who would i be looking for? shouldn’t you be chasing lidiya around?” she asked trying to change the subject.

there was a peculiar thrill that came with sudden revelations. kajri and jedda previously, had never had a moment like this. there had never been the freedom to be seen talking so animatedly, with tender emotion swimming in kajri’s expression and even softer words begging to leave her lips. everything she wanted to say related to the woman in front of her, the woman who’s usually guarded expression gave way to a smile so intoxicating that if kajri hadn’t felt the warmth of the kvas in her veins in that moment she was sure the she would have been drunk from the sight.

“i should have known,” the suli sighed dramatically, her hand pressing above her heart in her chest. “maybe i should go and chase after her, i’d only be joining the countless people already thinking the same thing.” although the words struck playful, once again, kajri was forced to recognise the power jedda atwater held over her. in some ways, that thought of that being exposed scared her more than the threat of her identity being revealed. 

it was then she had become aware the other had been staring at her, had kajri been staring at her herself? could jedda read every thought that flittered over her mind? looking away she subconsciously moved to grab the thin fabric of the dress, her movements jittery as she fought to remain silent or to inevitably embarrass herself further ( if she ever saw kvas again after this day she would make it her personal mission to find every supplier and destroy the drink ). “you look lovely tonight.” she said, or more accurately rushed. lovely was a poor substitution to how jedda really looked, nothing kajri could have said in that moment could have justified it. “i wouldn’t be surprised if you didn’t receive a few proposals, for marriage and for dances.. did you?” kajri hesitated before shaking her head in embarrassment. “for dances i mean! well, marriage proposals too if that happened i’m really not used to any of this..” the suli mumbled, her face flushing a light pink as she took her mask off her now overheated face, gesturing back to the ball which still seemed to be in full swing behind them.

. 

it was nice to see her like this. there was something about her presence that was different today, she was more open, free even. jedda simply watched her and tried not to get lost in the playfull tone behind her words. that was it wasn’t it? she thought. that was the thing that was making her glow like that, wasn’t it? she seems free tonight, she thought. jedda thought she wouldn’t mind damning her future just to spend the rest of her days right here in this moment --- and that scared her to the core.

“oh, i think you should.” she played along. “she didn’t seem too content with the gentleman, i dare say. i think she might be in the need of rescue.” there was some truth behind that. jedda had been in the need of rescue for a long time now, except that she didn’t know it, not until kajri rana came stumbling into her life. she had always been too proud to admit she needed help, to admit she wasn’t able to do certain things and needed someone, not to do them for her but do them by her side. was that kajri? what she the person she had been waiting for all along? oh,  the things we invent when we’re afraid and want to be rescued, she thought.

jedda had no idea how to answer to her compliment, she felt her face going read and only managed to look down at her shoes. “as do you.” she whispered. she watched kajri stumble over her words and she felt a strange sense of warmth --- saints, she could look at her for however moments she still had left on this earth. “i’m not used to this either.” she reasured her. this was perhaps her third time at a ball and this was the first time she had managed to spend more than just ten minutes before leaving, the difference was that this time she had a reason to stay. 

“you know,” she began as she stepped closer. “i did receive a few dance proposals, but i don’t imagine most of those gentlemen took the rejection very well. mainly because i might’ve kick one or two of them in the leg so that they would leave me alone.” what was it with men and balls? it was like their egos got bigger the moment they put on a fancy suit, disgusting truly. “have you gotten a chance to dance yet?” she wondered. “a lot of guests haven’t danced yet either. i think some people prefer to wait for the right partner to do so.” she was tempted to look away from her eyes but dared herself not to. “i know i was.” 

mikhailo was used to being on the other side of this whole thing. he would be the one attacking, clenching his fist so tight that the heart of his victim would have no more blood pumping through it, squelched of the blood like a sponge. a soldier, a weapon, a monster if it suited. but this? healing, stitching up an open wound, cleaning up the mess? no, he was the one that made the mess, not the one that dissolved it.

he almost didn’t know what to do, despite having had the proper training in it, because fuck, this was a bigger wound than he expected. he ignored her mumbles of it’s nothing, because clearly it was something if she was close to passing out. sweat glistened on mikhailo’s brow, the shortness of his hair sticking to his skin as he focused on her stomach. it was covered in blood, more than he was expecting.

he knew he couldn’t waste anymore time than he already was, making a point to keep his expression steady. he couldn’t let jedda know how he was actually feeling, he needed her calm. he needed her strong. slowly, he slid his fingers over the wound, making stitching movements as he did so. he watched the skin connect once more through his movements. it wasn’t pretty, but it stopped the bleeding.

it was instinctual now, reaching for the cloth of the shirt he was wearing and tearing off a sizeable piece to clean up the blood. he dabbed at it, watching as the shirt soaked it up. once it was done, he tossed the cloth away and sat back, wiping the sweat from his skin. she was okay for now. “stay awake, jedda,” he ordered, struggling to draw the words to respond to hers. i thought you were dead. so did i, and it scared me to the point where i felt sick to think about you bleeding out somewhere. thank the saints you’re okay. “i need you to stay awake.”

. 

she was exhausted, truly exhausted but she knew that if she gave into it things would only get worse for her. she tried to hold back but she hissed in pain and she felt the piece of cloth come in contact with her skin. however, she was thankful for the pain, it was enough to wake her up just enough to regain some sense of consciousness. she nodded at mikhailo’s words. “i’m okay.” she said, she couldn’t tell if she was saying to herself or if she was trying to convince him of it. he had helped her, this would do for a while, at least until she could find her way to a healer. 

slowly jedda sat up against the wall, from their spot she could watch as the people ran passed each other trying to find their loved ones, she saw two grishas in blue keftas carrying a badly wonded man. the screams had died down but it was still loud, chatter, footsteps and the ocasional saints being exclaimed every once in a while. she had been part of the crowd only moments ago, she too had felt how her hear was sinking with each passing second and with each person she ran into that wasn’t mikhailo. saints, she thought, thank you. 

she wanetd to ask what those things were, but doubted anyone knew and she feared they might need to suffer a second encounter with those things to find out. there they were, the once place that was supposed to be safe for their kind and yet, jedda laughed at that. a short humorless laugh. this place is supposed to be safe. how did this happen? how did they let this happen? “this place was supposed to be safe” and countless of our own just died, she thought. "if we can’t even protect our own then what are we doing?” if the second army couldn’t protect its people what were they doing?

hannes knew he shouldn’t get drunk, or even drink, but adrian’s words echoed on his head. he needed to merge in with the grishas and non grishas in the party, and everyone seemed to be enjoying a glass of kvas — and the excuse of not drinking because of his father wouldn’t be convincing enough. ansgar naess was a cautious man, and his son never saw him putting a sip of such drinks on his mouth, even on the annual festivities. now, as a druskelle too, hannes understood his father — they needed to be alert, always. especially hannes, being surrounded by enemies that, if knew about his true identity, would display his head at the little palace’s gates as a warning. 

he turned his attention to the group of ladies jedda was talking about — in fjerda, they were the old villagers who would pinch his cheeks with cold hands and tell his mother that she would have problems with him. if his mother was alive, her worries would be about anything but romance. “ i feel for them. it won’t be an easy task to get away from their claws. ” something akin of a smile — of what he could give to jedda on a normal occasion — was on his face, and hannes turned to look at her. “ a normal volcra or the big goth bird ? i think both. ” was he trying to joke ? “ i’m surprised that you aren’t throwing me at them. ”

.

“he’s got jokes, ladies and gentlemen!” jedda exlaimed in what was somewhat of a dead tone, but something close to a smile appeared onher face. “don’t tempt me.” she warned him as she turned around to fetch herself, yet another glass of kvas. “you’re too skinny for their liking.” she said, not a malicious comment but a playful one. “although, it might be fun to watch you get rejected by them.” she said outloud, more to herself than to him. jedda considered that for a moment but then she realized that as fun as that would be, that would mean she would have to leave her spot by the table filled with drinks, and that she wouldn’t do. she finished her drink as soon as she grabbed it and placed the empty glass back on the table. 

he almost laughed on her face. grishas and their arrogance. every time hannes thought he was becoming familiarized with them, jedda always reminded him why he was at the little palace. it was because of people like her that his family had perished, why his friends and neighbours had to fight a battle that wasn’t made for them. why hannes was the only naess standing — because grishas found themselves to be superior to anyone. “ don’t we breathe and bled the same, jedda ? the blood that runs through your veins is the same that runs in mine. ” he knew that wouldn’t be enough to convince her, and he didn’t care. “ didn’t you ever heard about a wolf in lamb skin ? humans from another regions are your enemies. if you, grishas, cared to learn about them, maybe the war would be over before we were born. ” 

“ our friends ? ” it was quite comic to think that they could have mutual friends, being so different from each other. but hannes had an idea of whom jedda was speaking — lidiya. it wasn’t a secret to anyone that they’re friends and that hannes liked to spent time around her. lidiya brought the best on him, and her company made his heart rest a little. with her, he could forget about anything — only her presence could take his attention from his plans. “ and do you have a problem with that ? guards have a life, jedda. we aren’t puppets. ”

“ again, do you have a problem with that ? ” he asked on a harsh tone, eyes like sharp daggers. hannes didn’t like her questions, not at all. he could tell jedda had something more than personal against him, and he feared that maybe he hadn’t been too careful. “ if i didn’t do my job properly, i would be already out of here, but guess what ? i am not. ”

.

don’t we breathe and bled the same, jedda? “is that an invitation?” she asked with a smile on his face. a rare combination, the topic of discussion and the expression on her face didn’t seem like two things that should ever be place together, and yet there she stood smiling at the idea of cutting ivan open. “you know, it would be waste of time.” she thought out loud. “i’ve seen up close and personal just what color you lot bleed, but you never know!” she said with the excitement a little child would show when presented with a new toy. “you might be different: a shade of blue perhaps? maybe green? when shall we find out?” she asked leaning in, she waited there a moment, far too close to him before she back away and walked to lean her back against the wall.

humans from other regions. those weren’t humans, they were monsters. it would never make sense to her, how easily grisha were hated just because they were, just because they existed. her demeanor changed and whatever playfunes was in her tone before had now gone away. 

“we learned about them. we made sure they learned about too.” he had a point, but it was hard for her to see it, she hardly saw reason when it came to those who hunted her kind. “i know a few stories about that, about how we made them learn.” a grisha from the village she grew up in had told her that. ‘we learn about them, we use it. we make sure they know we can be just as bad as they are.’ that was the key to it, to out run the monster they had to learn how to nightmare them right back. “i’ll tell you one sometime.” she whispered as if she was letting in a secret.

in the right circles, news travelled quickly. while the vast majority of the first army hadn’t heard about the recent event at the little palace, it was in both kajri’s nature and profession to remain up to date with every event which happened around her. for once, the suli was thankful that she had scouted elsewhere that night, maybe her saints had given her a small blessing in not having to face the volca — whatever the creature had been — with her own eyes.

however, the prospect of encountering the unknown hadn’t been the thing to unnerve kajri — a nagging voice inside of her head continued to berate her for this. no, the suli’s thoughts had gone to those who she knew would have been at the event.

“you should say that to the guards around the palace.” kajri mused, laughter catching in her tone from the squaller’s comment. there was truth to her words, nobody managed to sense the suli quite like jedda. once that fact would have unnerved kajri; to have her biggest advantage stripped from her — yet there was some comfort in that the only person who had ever managed to do that was jedda.

“are you —” her voice trailed off with the slight breeze, her movements feeling alien and clunky as she took a step towards the squaller in front of her. “were you hurt? i couldn’t find out much about the attack”.

.

jedda laughed, she knew it was true. there was no way the guards would ever notice kajri’s presence, or could ever hear her coming because they never noticed her either --- the guards, or anyone around the little palace had never been able to sense jedda’s presence the same way they now couldn’t sense kajri’s. 

jedda didn’t know how this happened, how they managed to find themselves in this position. it was strange, to be seen, after all those years that jedda spent perfecting her skill she forgot that consequences that came with it; once you made yourself a ghost, once you made yourself invisible in time all eyes would be blind to you, which left you on the outside looking in.

“nothing i couldn’t handle.” jedda said casting her gaze on her. it wasn’t true, the attack had been brutal and despite the fact that her injuries hadn’t been as lethal as the what the rest of the second army had faced she could still feel a phantom pain on her abdomen. she thought perhaps kajri didn’t need to know that, and part of her even wondered if she could already tell by just looking at her. 

“we don’t know much either.” she sighed leaning against the battlement of the tower. “just the names of the ones who died.” the ones we lost. grisha she had trained with since she was a child and first arrived at the little palace. “not that it matters now. the king granted us more power, i supposed that’s what you call a lucky tragedy.” she said sarcastically as she turned around, back to her now and watching the view provided by the tower. she meant that, she really did, but when the screams of the dead came back to haunt her at night she wasn’t so sure.

mikhailo wasn’t used to this feeling anymore. the worry, the dread. he’d learned very quickly that growing attached to people was the surest way to get yourself killed. yet there he stood, fear pumping through his veins for the people he held closest to his cold heart. aleksander, elisaveta, jedda. he’d seen too many corpses, too much life lost and knew first hand how easily that life could be taken. he cursed at himself because no matter how hard he tried, there would always be someone that he wanted to protect.

mikhailo focused on jedda, realizing how pale and sweaty her skin looked. then she grasped for his hand and when he felt the warmth of her blood on his skin, his heart started beating double time. he wouldn’t let her life be taken in this way, it wasn’t her time. she was too young, too full of potential. the second army needed her, and though he would never admit it even on his death bed, he also needed jedda.

he ignored her questioning of his health, because truthfully that was the last of his worries at that moment. his mind was going a thousand miles a minute, though you wouldn’t be able to tell from the look on his face. all you could see was focus, remaining calm even though that’s the exact opposite of what he felt on the inside. he knew they wouldn’t be able to find a healer through the crowds of people, on top of the wounded that were already being taken care of in the corporalki rooms. so instead of walking, he took jedda and sat her up against a piece of broken building.

“let me see it,” he demanded. he was not the best healer, not even good, but if he could help the girl for the time being until she could find a proper healer, then he would do all he could to do exactly that.

even with the adrenaline rushing through her veins, jedda’s muscles felt incredibly sore and exhaustion washed through her. under mikhailo’s touch she never once flinched, had it been someone else she would’ve already felt herself becoming stiff under their touch, had it been anyone else her gut would’ve told her to flinch away --- but mikhailo wasn’t anyone, and jedda simply relaxed under his touch and let herself be carried away and sat down.

“it’s nothing.” she protested, but jedda knew him enough to know once he made up his mind about something he wasn’t so easily persuaded. so instead of trying to argue with him she simply did as she was told. it wasn’t a pain she couldn’t take, but it was a wound she had never experienced before. whatever had attacked them, whatever those things were, they weren’t anything she had faced before. jedda knew the pain of a stab wound, a punch, a broken broken, but this? this was a pain she had never experienced before. she pressed her lips tight shut to prevent herself from hissing when the fabric of her shirt grazed again her skin.

“see? nothing.” it was not nothing, but it wasn’t a fatal wound and compared to what others had endured it could be considered just a scratch, but still she knew she needed to be healed soon before she lost any more blood. jedda slumped back against the wall behind her.  

jedda truly thought she wouldn’t see him again, not alive at least, which was why the sight before her felt so strange. she laid back studying his face, memorizing every detail as if she was afraid whatever attacked them would come back and finish what it had started. jedda had never been fluent when it came to emotions she wanted to say something but when she opened her mouth all that came was “i thought you were dead.” bleeding out somewhere in the corridors of the little palace, face pale and eyes vacant. but he wasn’t, he was right in front of her. “i thought you were dead.” she said once more, her voice barely above a whisper now.