Disclaimer: I don't own the Grisha Trilogy and its characters – it belongs to Leigh Bardugo. I do not own the Shadow & Bone TV series, which was developed by Eric Heisserer for Netflix and based on Leigh Bardugo's books.
For Alina Week Day 1 Smolina.
Just because you find that life's not fair, it
Doesn't mean that you just have to grin and bear it
If you always take it on the chin and wear it, nothing will change
Even if you're little you can do a lot, you
Mustn't let a little thing like 'little' stop you
If you sit around and let them get on top, you
Might as well be saying you think that it's okay
And that's not right
And if it's not right, you have to put it right
Sometimes you have to be a little bit naughty
Naughty (Matilda The Musical)
When Ivan arrives halfway through Alina's history lesson, her teacher doesn't even wait for the Heartrender to announce who he's here for.
After all, the General's second only ever appears for one person.
"Off you go, Miss Starkova," Mrs Popova sighs, "I'll give Marie your homework."
Alina skips over to Ivan with a wide grin, "hi, Vanya!"
"Demon child," he inclines his head.
Alina giggles. Ivan always gives such funny nicknames. Zoya once tried to tell her that demon child and little menace aren't terms of endearment, but Alina knows the Squaller is just jealous because Ivan likes her best.
"Where are we going, Vanya?" she asks as she almost sprints to keep up with Ivan's long strides.
"The tsarina has requested your presence for tea."
Alina screeches to a halt, "but, Ivan, it's only been a month since the last one. I'm sure I don't have to go again."
"We are but servants of the Crown," Ivan reminds her.
"But I heard you tell Fedya that the tsar was a … a lecherous, brainless boor and his wife was a twittering, vain hag."
Ivan lets out a very long sigh. He seems to do that a lot when she's talking to him.
"How is it, Starkova, that you claim you can't remember how to ask the way to the market in Shu, and yet you can recall with perfect detail all the conversations you should certainly not be eavesdropping on?"
"Fedya says I'm precocious. What does precocious mean, Vanya?"
"It means you're a pain in my –"
"I'll take her from here," Genya trills as she appears in a cloud of vanilla perfume.
"Do I really have to, Genya?"
"I'm afraid you do, darling. The tsarina is quite insistent."
"But I'm sick, Genya," Alina coughs pathetically, "I might be contagious and give the tsarina a dreadful illness that could kill her!"
"We should all be so lucky," Ivan mutters.
"You're fine, darling," Genya pats her on the head, "now come along – there'll be those little honey cakes you like."
Alina frowns. Honey cakes are very nice, but they don't make up for having to endure the company of the tsarina, her horrid ladies and – if she's really unlucky – mean Prince Vasily. Anyway, if she wants honey cakes then she just has to ask Sasha and he'll get some for her (even if he will make her promise to eat some fruit or vegetables too).
She looks over at Ivan, hoping that he might rescue her, but he shakes his head and tells her that everyone has to do things they don't enjoy sometimes – "after all, look at how often the General saddles me with you."
"You're so funny, Vanya," she laughs.
"Just don't burn a hole in the upholstery this time, Starkova. The tsarina complained endlessly about it."
Tea with the tsarina is always frustrating.
She is forced to perform a silly little light show so the ladies can all clap and pinch her cheeks condescendingly and say "how clever for a little Shu girl" and talk about her like she can't understand what they're saying.
Alina has given up trying to remind them that Ravkan is her first language and that her Shu tutor despairs of her accent and grammar. Besides, Sasha says it's good for them to underestimate her and he's always happy when she passes on any idle gossip she hears at tea.
Today is an unlucky day, unfortunately.
When she enters the tsarina's second favourite receiving room (she has six, which Alina thinks is such a waste because none of them have any fun games like some of the Little Palace schoolrooms, or any interesting maps or books like Sasha's War Room), Vasily is there, slouching in one of the armchairs with a drink in his hand and the stench of vodka surrounding him.
"Oh," he drawls when he notices her, "still a scrawny little thing, aren't you. All sallow and sickly."
Alina knows she's much healthier than she was when she first arrived, but she still flushes pink at his derisive tone. She remembers, however, what Sasha says about how dangerous it is to be rude to the royal family.
"One day they'll pay for all they've done, Alinochka," Sasha always tells her, "but for now, we have to be patient."
Alina doesn't like being patient, though. It feels like letting bad people win, and that's not right.
But she stays quiet for the moment, pasting a fake smile on her face as Vasily drinks steadily and keeps trying to touch the maids, and while the tsarina tells her ladies about the latest luxuries she has arriving from Kerch – no thought about the recent drought in the south or the border wars or the army casualties that have been taking up so much of Sasha's attention recently, her head seemingly filled entirely with fabrics and dresses and perfumes and delicacies.
Even worse is when they discuss this year's Winter Fete, speaking of the Grisha like they're performing monkeys before demanding Alina give them a light show.
Alina performs her usual routine, the one she perfected over a year ago.
Juggling a few orbs of light and making the shape of the Lantsov eagle with her light.
"Never show them everything you can do," Sasha has warned her dozens of times, "it's better to be underestimated."
The eagle is designed to make her seem like a good little subject, loyal to the Lantsovs. It had been Sasha's idea.
"At least she shows you proper respect," Alina hears one lady whisper to the tsarina as the eagle fades away, "despite her Shu face."
The tsarina nods, "well, she has much to be grateful for. Still, I wish we did not need to mingle with such creatures, but my husband insists it is necessary, thanks to the war."
"They are indeed unnatural," another lady nods at the tsarina's words, "I have heard that they have no souls, and that is why we never see them at the Cathedral for mass."
"They are weapons," the tsarina waves her hand dismissively, either uncaring about Alina's presence or believing she won't be able to understand her words, "and hopefully one day they will no longer be necessary, and we can be rid of the lot of them."
"That day can't come soon enough," Vasily grumbles, "those Grisha girls are far too uppity and never accept my invitations to go walking in the gardens."
"It's for the best, Vasily," the tsarina frowns as she pats her son's hand, "those girls undoubtedly have very loose morals."
Alina clenches her fists tightly, resisting the urge to let the light simmering below her skin explode outwards and burn the awful tsarina and Prince Vasily and the horrid ladies.
How can they talk about Grisha as if they are monsters? They are people that Alina knows and loves, people far better than most of those Alina has encountered from the royal court.
Sasha always says she must hide her true feelings when she visits the Grand Palace, but sometimes it's so hard. She wants to scream at all the ladies and tell them that they are the creatures and not the Grisha.
But she knows it's important to stay calm, so she ducks her head, takes a deep breath and thinks about the day when she'll never have to visit Tsarina Tatiana again.
With a smile plastered across her face, Alina endures the remainder of her visit by cheerfully imagining the tsarina and the court ladies being chased around the room by giant spiders and rats.
Today, the tsarina dismisses her a little earlier than usual, thank the Saints.
Genya is off on another errand, so it is up the Feliks and Anton, two of Alina's oprichniki, to escort her back to the Little Palace. She's known them two years now, ever since she arrived at the Little Palace as a scared, confused eight-year-old, and she adores them both like the uncles she never had.
"I don't like that look on your face," Feliks frowns.
"Extremely mischievous," Anton nods in agreement.
"Sash – the General says I'm not mischievous, I'm just high-spirited."
"Yes, well the General never had to spend five hours looking for you during a game of hide and seek because you'd just learnt how to turn invisible and you'd not let anyone know about it."
"Ivan told me I couldn't learn how to do it in six months, so I proved him wrong!"
"Yes, and it's very impressive," Feliks tells her, "but it would have been nice to know about it before we nearly tore the Little Palace apart looking for you."
"I said I wouldn't do it again," she reminds them, "and Sash – the General made me promise I'd always tell you where I was."
"Which should be at your Shu lesson in ten minutes," Anton reminds her.
"I just want to stay a little longer," she pleads, "but you can pretend we went right back."
"What are you doing that means you need an alibi?" Feliks eyes her suspiciously.
"What's an alibi? I just need you to tell everyone I'm back in my room but I can't go to lessons because I … I'm feverish."
"Grisha don't get ill."
"Ok, I sprained my ankle."
"We'd just send for a Healer."
"The tsarina made me cry and I need some time alone?"
"Everyone knows crying is your last resort. You'd rather kick, punch, bite, burn or otherwise maim."
"Yes, but I couldn't do that to the tsarina. Sash – the General and Ivan and Fedyor and Genya already told me I'm not allowed."
Both of her oprichniki snort in amusement, but still don't seem inclined to grant her request.
"I just want to take a walk."
"Try again."
"The tsarina was mean and Prince Vasily was horrid and it's not right that they should be able to behave like that."
"They are royalty – that's unfortunately how it works."
"Well, it's stupid. And the tsar's crown is ugly and Genya says the tsarina dresses gaudily and Sash – the General promised I'll have a much more beautiful kokoshnik one day – simple and elegant, he said – and I'll be –"
"Careful with your words," Feliks hushes her, "however things might change in the future, for now we have to be careful."
"I'll be so careful, really, Feliks, I promise. They'll never even know I'm there."
"I'm not sure …"
"Pleaaaaasssssseeeeee."
"The General will be furious."
"I'll tell him it was all my fault."
"And have us admit we were bested by a ten-year-old?" Anton asks.
"You won't need to," she insists, "we won't get caught and we'll just pretend we weren't involved."
They don't agree, but she can see the softening in their expressions and she knows she almost has them.
"It's just a few tiny little pranks," she insists, "it won't really hurt them."
Feliks and Anton exchange glances. The royal family are not well-liked among the residents of the Little Palace, and there's no denying that they would all be entertained by the Lantsovs suffering some misfortune.
"You have ten minutes," Feliks tells her, "no more than that."
"And nothing that's going to permanently damage anyone," Anton warns her.
"Thank you," she beams, "you won't regret it."
"Oh, I really think we will," Anton mumbles, "now go. We'll wait just out of sight in the courtyard."
Alina grins as she takes a deep breath and bends the light the way she's practiced so many times, disappearing from view.
This is going to be so much fun.
She sneaks back into the tsarina's receiving room when one of the servants brings more tea.
Most of the ladies still remain. Prince Vasily is there too, lounging on a divan with another glass of smelly vodka and staring at one of the ladies – a young, pretty one with golden hair – like he wants to eat her.
As Alina passes by the prince, carefully keeping herself hidden, she pushes at the glass in Vasily's hand so it tips over and spills all over his face and splashes on his clothes.
Vasily splutters in shock as Alina clamps a hand over her mouth to stop herself from giggling.
"Vasily, darling," the tsarina waves her hands frantically, as if her son is suffering a bullet wound and not a simple drink spillage, "what happened."
"Damnable servants," he mutters, although the only maids and footmen there are clear across the room and cannot possibly have been involved."
As the tsarina fusses over the prince, Alina spots the golden-haired young lady turn to hide her grin. Alina smiles, glad to have made someone happy.
It's little tricks like this that let Alina vent some of the frustration she feels about the Lantsovs and certain horrible members of court who whisper about her Shu heritage and call Grisha monsters and creatures and witches.
She wishes she could do more. Once, almost immediately after she had mastered her invisibility trick, Alina had played some more complex pranks in the Grand Palace, only to become distraught on realising that the Lantsovs had blamed innocent servants who had been in close proximity for the spoiled milk, salt in the sugar bowl, vandalism to some of the uglier statues, disappearance of all the Kerch Shokolad, and shredding of six of the tsarina's favourite gowns.
Sasha had explained to her that great power came with great responsibility. He understood that she didn't like the royal family – he felt the same, she knew – but they had to think about the consequences of her actions.
Alina had sworn she would never play tricks on anyone in the Grand Palace again. Ivan had snorted and said that was as likely as the General giving up dessert.
As it turned out, her promise was awfully hard to keep. And Alina figured that maybe Sasha didn't mean for her to stop completely, so she decided a few small bits of mischief were fine when the royal family were terrible (which, to be honest, was always) as long as she was super careful to stay completely hidden and keep anyone else from being blamed for her actions.
So, these days she trips the royal family when their guards are at a distance, and she distracts them by making buzzing noises because the tsarina hates bees (she once smacked her son in the face trying to swat away an imaginary bee), and she pinches the tsar when he's next to his wife so that he thinks the tsarina is responsible, and other such little tricks.
It doesn't make up for how they behave, but it does make Alina feel better.
And if Ivan's suspicious gaze turns on her when the stories make their way to the Little Palace, then Alina simply plays innocent and takes satisfaction from the way the Heartrender can't hide his own smirk at how the royal family have been made to look foolish.
She doesn't have the time or space for much today, confined to the retiring room, but she manages to trip the tsarina as she returns to her seat after Prince Vasily huffs and leaves to go and change in his rooms.
It's rather a nasty fall for the tsarina, thanks largely to the ridiculous high heels she's wearing (Alina prefers boots, much better for adventures in the Little Palace grounds). Alina doesn't really feel bad, though – Genya is always sad when she has to help the tsarina and Alina just knows it's the tsarina's fault, even if she doesn't exactly understand why.
Alina finishes off today's escapade by tipping a little of a new Alkemi tonic into the tsarina's wine – it's even stronger than the coffee some of the Materialki drink when they're working all night on new inventions, and it will ensure the tsarina cannot sleep all night no matter how hard she tries.
She practically skips out of the room when most of the ladies leave the retiring room, eager to escape the tsarina's bad temper and avoid being somehow punished for witnessing her humiliating fall.
Feliks and Anton let out twin sighs of relief when she appears in front of them.
They hurry her back to the Little Palace, wise enough not to ask any questions about what she got up to.
As they reach the entrance hall, they meet Sasha and Ivan, the latter glaring at her suspiciously.
"You look happy," he mutters, "you're never happy to have tea with the tsarina."
"I'm glad to be back here now," she tells him with a winning smile.
Ivan's frown deepens, "what did you do, you menace?"
"Oh, leave her alone, Ivan," Sasha shakes his head fondly, summoning a few tendrils of shadows that form the shape of a bunny that he sends hopping towards Alina.
She summons her light and makes her own bunny in return, a little more indistinct but recognisable enough.
"General, the girl is prone to leave chaos in her wake."
"I'm sure Alina knows the importance of keeping a low profile."
She nods eagerly and tries to look as angelic as possible.
Ivan throws his hands up and grumbles about over-indulged Sun Summoners. He seems a bit stressed, so Alina makes a note to suggest to Sasha that Ivan stay at the Little Palace during his next campaign – he and Alina can play lots of hide and seek, which she's sure Ivan will prefer to having to go and fight.
Later, when she's having a slice of honey cake in the War Room with Sasha after dinner, he tells her that he'd heard there had been a bit of a fuss during the tsarina's tea party.
"I'd gone by then," she says.
"Try again, Alinochka."
"Well … no one saw me."
He sighs, but he's smiling indulgently and she knows he isn't angry.
"Alright then, Alinochka, we'll leave it at that."
Alina grins, glad that Sasha seems to understand.
Sometimes you have to be a little bit naughty.
Thanks for reading. Hope you enjoyed it.
You can find me on Twitter under the username Keira_63. I pretty much just post mini prompt fics.