It's the first real snowfall since her and Mal have opened up the orphanage proper. They're not covered in a sheet so much as buried in it, keeping their visiting guests just a little bit longer in the old mansion. There's a certain giddiness to the air, even among the old Grisha, and Alina thinks it's due to the presence of the children this time around. They demand stories of their travels and war and demonstrations of powers.
A gust breezes around the front yard, blowing snow like a blizzard that the children howl with delight in.
Nearby, Tamar stands with her arms crossed over her chest and a slight scowl on her lips.
"I hope it's not because of the children stealing her time and attention," Alina laughs softly, resting her hand briefly on Tamar's arm.
A golden gaze flickers her way, and it takes her a second before a grin moves slowly over her lips as well. "Never that. She's good with them. It's the cold," Tamar admits. "I've only seen this much snow in Ravka, and I can't say it's my favorite thing in the world."
Alina grins back. She's lightly dressed, her old friend, except for the fur hat set snugly over her short hair and tight around her ears. Alina is sure that the hat was Nadia's idea, and probably exactly the reason why Tamar has yet to take it off.
"Is something else bothering you?" The question comes out a little awkwardly. She doesn't want to pry, doesn't want to dive into problems when Tamar has always been so easy to shove off as too strong to let things weigh down on her. But those were the thoughts of a young and stupid girl, and this is her friend, who has stuck by her side even when she had nothing left to offer.
Tamar's quiet though, as she usually is. Her eyes never leave Nadia as she dodges the lopsided snowballs tossed at her. "She'd be a good mother."
Alina follows her gaze. "You'd be good at it, too, Tamar. There has to be the strict one, after all."
"I assume you mean yourself and not Mal."
She smiles. "Mal's a bleeding heart." There's a pause before she treads carefully forward with the conversation. The Shu woman was the one to bring it up, after all, so as long as it's open… "There are plenty of war orphans, some who will be Grisha—"
"That part doesn't bother me," Tamar interrupts. "There are many ways a person could protect themselves without Grisha power."
Alina looks off toward the sapling that began to sprout only a year or two before, and she thinks of Botkin with a heavy heart. "Of course."
"I'll keep it in mind, Sankta, whenever Nadia brings the idea up," she murmurs gently, as if hoping to let her words get lost in Nadia's wind.
Alina makes a face, sighing loudly. "You are not supposed to call me that."