#like the harshaw watches fire bit

[quotesfromthewafflecrows]

Tolya (about Mal and Alina): "He watches her the way Harshaw watches fire. Like he'll never have enough of her. Like he's trying to capture what he can before she's gone."

Zoya: *shocked* "You know, if you turned a bit of that poetry on me, I might consider giving you a chance."

Tolya: "Who says I want one?"

Harshaw: "I want one!"

Zoya: "Oncat has a better chance than you."

Harshaw: "Why, Oncat, you rogue."

[zoyalais-moved]

Serendipity

World: canonverse, post-kos

Ship: Zoyalai

Word Count: 1875

zoyalai movie watching as requested by @hannachen​

want one?

AO3

There was something charming about the palace gardens during the day.

Nikolai recalled as much from his childhood- this was the place he and Dominik snuck off to when the parties were too loud or Vasya and his friends had stolen a bottle and the drink had opened their eyes to all the ways they could hurt two young boys. 

He wondered if that made this a sad place. It didn’t feel sad, though the clench in Nikolai’s chest suggested otherwise. 

Whatever it was, it no longer belonged to two clever little boys. As if on cue, voices rose from beyond the trees. Nikolai ducked beneath a particularly low branch before stepping out into the field beside the lake, where a group of students were gathered around two forms at the edge of the water.

A young Suli girl in a blue kefta with pale embroidered cuffs had both hands raised over the lake, palms open as if beckoning the water to come. She was standing at least a foot away from the surface, on her tiptoes as if the added height might give her more power over the water. Beside her, Zoya was frowning. She hadn’t noticed him yet, and Nikolai paused to watch the learning session.

The girl’s face scrunched up, her hands shaking with some unseen effort. The lake remained unphased. 

“Anaya,” Zoya’s tone was sharp. And the girl’s cheeks pinked further at her name, brows furrowing as she struggled with it for a moment. All the children had turned their attention to the water’s surface, and after a brief struggle, a single ripple formed beneath her spread palms.

The girl pulled back, gasping, and grinned. One of the children hooted.

“Don’t look so pleased, that could very well have been the wind.” Zoya’s sharp voice cut through the crowd. Ouch , thought Nikolai. He’d been rather impressed as well, but then Nikolai would never have the affinity for summoning of any kind, so that wasn't unexpected. 

The girl’s face fell, “but I did everything right!” she protested.

“Clearly not,” said Zoya. She moved to stand closer to the water and glanced at it before returning her attention to the girl, studying her for a moment. “You fear the water.”

A few chuckles came from the students, and the girl dipped her head in shame. 

“No partnership can be built on fear, Anaya. So long as you believe the water is your enemy, it will never be your friend.”

One of the students snorted, and Zoya’s sharp eyes found him in seconds.

“Something to say, Varlaam?” she asked with a raised brow. Nikolai was genuinely surprised when the boy responded. The look Zoya fixed with him could have crippled armies.

“Sorry Ms Nazyalensky, but we aren’t partnering with our abilities, we’re commanding them.” he corrected her, a cocky grin turning his lips. 

“I’m sure you commanded the fire to burn your arm and land you in the infirmary for a week, yes?” 

The boy’s face turned red and he scowled, stepping back as the children around him began laughing. Nikolai noticed for the first time that his blue kefta was embroidered with red. In fact, more reds and purples dotted the crowd of students, as well. 

Grisha, but no longer separated by order. 

“Power isn’t about command, it’s about partnership. Shared trust. Knowing that the other has your back as much as you do theirs,” Zoya was saying, her eyes traveling over each of the students in turn before settling on Nikolai. “Isn’t that right, Your Highness?”

The students startled, some gasping as they spun around to see Nikolai. An amused smile tilted his lips. She hadn’t glanced up once since he’d arrived, but Nikolai had no doubt that she’d known he was there from the start. 

He folded his hands behind his back, and addressed the students. “Certainly, but do keep in mind that being the one in charge sometimes has its perks. Such as now, when I tell you all to go back to your dorms and have cake. Do we have cake? I’ll ask the chef to make cake- something with almonds.”

A few of the students hooted, scattering off already, but Zoya remained unimpressed. 

“Says who?”

“The King,” Nikolai replied, before indicating the crown sitting on his head, whispering, “that’s me!”

Zoya rolled her eyes, but the little girl beside her laughed. Nikolai noticed that it was the same one who’d struggled to create a ripple and smiled at her.

“Anaya! I thought your performance was very impressive,” he said, watching her eyes go wide. “Go on now, you’ll continue on tomorrow.”

He watched her catch up to her friends, a grin on her face, and smiled to himself.

“Why did you say that? Now she’ll spend another week behind the rest of the class.”

“She deserved a little encouragement,” Nikolai said.

“From an Otkazat’sya ?” Zoya snorted, earning a glare from Nikolai. “What are you doing here anyway? I assume it's important, since you just dismissed my class.” she crossed her arms and raised a brow at him.

Nikolai tried not to notice the way her hair was falling out of its braid, but the loose strands seemed to call to him, and he had to fight the urge to reach over and tuck them away. 

He shrugged, “I thought you might like to have the evening off,” he said, wincing at his lack of a creative excuse. 

Genya would kill him if she knew.

She frowned, “why would I…” then realization dawned on her face, and her glare was back, full force, only this time it was aimed at Nikolai. “Genya put you up to this! Oh, for Saints’ sake Nikolai, I told you-”

“-not to do anything for your birthday, yes I heard.” he paused, “but this is completely unrelated, I promise you.”

She eyed him doubtfully, “what exactly is it?”

Now, Nikolai couldn’t stop the grin from spreading over his face, “a surprise.”

---

Zoya let her curiosity get the best of her, a mistake she only seemed to make with Nikolai. 

She tried to summon her usual irritation and snark, but Nikolai was grinning like a boy about to show off his new toy. It was a contagious sort of excitement that had her heart racing for unknown reasons.

“-it’s something David and I have been trying to perfect for months. Well, years, more like, but the focus on it tripled since…” his gaze slid to a maid crossing the hall and his voice lowered, even as he threw a smile her way, “well, you know since when.”

Since the Darkling returned and wreaked havoc on our door? As though she could forget.

A bit of her enthusiasm dampened with the reminder. He was still chained up in a holding cell, guards around every day, and either Zoya or Nikolai coming to check his bonds once a day. Still, his presence was unnerving, and she could almost feel it seeping into her happiness every day, tainting her world. 

You don’t get to take my family away , she thought, not again .

Zoya was so lost in her own thoughts that when Nikolai stopped in front of her, she walked right into him. 

He raised a brow, hazel eyes still dancing with the secret of whatever lay beyond the door. 

“Before you enter, you should know that while it wasn’t intended for your birthday, this might feel like a bit of a celebration. Entirely coincidence, I promise.”

“Coincidence?” she deadpanned. 

Nikolai grinned, “serendipity.”

She shook her head, pushing past him to the door. They were near the labs, and she could hear a faint sound of something playing- a record? She frowned, pushing it open.

Zoya wasn’t sure what she expected, but this was not it. The lights had been switched off, curtains shut. Someone shouted “surprise!”- Genya?, a second voice hushed her. Zoya could hardly see. Then a switch flicked on and a rectangle of light appeared on the wall, causing Zoya to frown.

She could now make out the blankets someone had spread on the floor of the empty guest room, and the forms of her friends in the dim light- Genya and David huddled together, Tamar with her head on Nadiya’s lap. And Tolya, who was sitting behind a large box-like contraption pouring light out onto the empty wall. 

Nikolai closed the door behind her, and Genya patted the place beside her excitedly. 

“Look- see that?” Nikolai indicated the box. “It’s a sort of record player- records from the Wandering Isle, they’ve got plays, performed on stage, and with a little bit of effort from David, and the wonderful Nadiya we managed to-”

“Nikolai shut up and sit! ”

Zoya startled at Genya’s voice, raising a brow. She couldn’t help the smile growing on her face as her eyes returned to the wall which was now playing a series of moving pictures- people on a stage, leather masks over some of their faces. She didn’t tear her gaze away as she settled beside Genya on the blankets, leaving room for a scowling Nikolai to sit at her right.

He shifted beside her as the pictures began to play, and it took a minute for Zoya to realize he was watching her reaction.

A small smile touched her lips, her gaze settling on him for a moment- eyes lit up with excitement, a grin on his face, hair slightly mussed. 

She leaned in closer as sound filtered in from some unknown source and whispered to Nikolai, “not such a bad coincidence, then.”

His grin amplified, and he beamed like a proud child. 

Genya shushed them, but the light allowed Zoya to make out the last word Nikolai mouthed.

Serendipity .

She rolled her eyes, shifting a bit closer to him and smacking his shoulder. Nikolai only laughed, causing both Tamar and Genya to spin back and shush him. 

Zoya hid a smile. She thought of her promise earlier, about not losing a second family. How was it that these people had once been strangers to her? And yet now she couldn’t picture a happy day spent without them. The woman who gave birth to her was absent, and Zoya felt no remorse towards that.

If Liliyana and Lada were here , she thought with a pang, it would have been perfect.

She let her eyes focus entirely on the moving pictures, but her mind turned up name after name, and Alina, and Mal, and Harshaw, and Sergei, and-

A brush against her arm jolted her back to the present. Zoya looked over to see Nikolai, eyes on the screen, a frown overtaking his face. Of course he’d known what was on her mind, had likely thought the same thing.

Nikolai had said he’d been working on a project since the Darkling’s return, and Zoya thought perhaps it was a weapon. But this was Nikolai , and he had developed something for his friends to relax, for the people he loved to take some time off and enjoy themselves, a little less stress and a few more smiles.

Her heart did something strange in her chest.

Without saying a word, Zoya let her fingers lace with Nikolai’s, squeezing once. 

Maybe he was right about that, maybe some coincidences were good ones.

[cardigantaylor13]

malina appreciation week / day 4: song or lyrics

hello again! here are 3 of my favorite malina songs and an indepth explanation about each of them because i have uni work to do and i’m procrastinating <3 this is gonna be long long, so buckle up if you’re interested and i won’t blame you if you scroll.

(beware of spoilers!)

willow - taylor swift

I'm like the water when your ship rolled in that night / Rough on the surface but you cut through like a knife / And if it was an open-shut case / I never would've known from that look on your face

they should’ve known!!! from the moment they saw each other when they were kids!!! in the field!!! looking at each other like they were the only ones that mattered!!!

The more that you say / The less I know / Wherever you stray / I follow

they will literally go wherever the other one goes. and they more you say!! the less I know!! I can’t explain it but just sound so THEM

I'm begging for you to take my hand

need I explain? they’re always always reaching for each other 🥺

Wreck my plans / That's my man

she chose him!!! over the darkling!!! (was he ever an option?) and over nikolai!!! she chose him! THAT’S her man. THAT’S the one she wants.

Life was a willow and it bent right to your wind

I think this goes both ways. they both adjust their life according to the other, and they’d go to the ends of the earth for each other.

Head on the pillow, I could feel you sneaking in

thinking about when they both were reaching for each other even when they were miles apart

As if you were a mythical thing

they are both literal mythical things. she’s a sun summoner. he’s the last morozova amplifier.

Like you were a trophy or a champion ring / And there was one prize I'd cheat to win

mal says he’ll spend the rest of his life trying to deserve her!!

You know that my train could take you home / Anywhere else is hollow

they’re each other’s true north 🥺🥺

Wait for the signal and I'll meet you after dark

this reminds me their last days together when they think mal is gonna die, how they would always get away from the others to be together and enjoy the little bit of time they have left

Show me the places where the others gave you scars

firstly: their matching scars!!!

secondly: they’re best friends!!! they’ve seen each other for through it all!

and thirdly: that scene when alina is taking care of mal’s wounds!!

Now this is an open-shut case / Guess I should've known from the look on your face / Every bait and switch was a work of art

they really should’ve known from the beginning, but every single twist and turn lead them to each other.

smithereens - twenty one pilots

TELL me this is not the most malyen oretsev song in existence. you can’t.

You know, I've always been collected, calm and chill

he’s a good soldier!! reminds me of mal’s long lost letter 🥺

And you know, I never look for conflict for the thrill

(except in s&b when he’s hurting and being self-destructive)

But if I'm feeling someone stepping towards you / Can't describe just what I'm feeling

he would do anything to protect her!! and she would do the same!! when she was taken away, he would halfway through ravka to get back to her!! and he can’t even explain why he does it except for the fact that he wants to see her safe

and in one of the flashbacks, she protects him with a letter opener from an older boy!! soulmate energy!

For you, I'd go step to a dude much bigger than me / For you, I know, I would get messed up, weigh 153 / For you, I would get beat to smithereens

this man!!! is willing to go against the darkling!! the most powerful man in existence!!! to protect alina!! he was willing to die to give her the chance to win!!

You know, I'll be in the corner taking notes

specially in s&s, mal is pushed to the side while alina tries to help nikolai. and at first he doesn’t even mind it, because the only reason he’s there is for her (she’s his flag! she’s his nation!).

I got your six while you're working votes

he’s pushed to the side but he has her back while she tries to do all this political stuff and strategies!!

happy hunting ground - maisie peters (feat. griff)

Now interlaced / For worse or for better /My bird of a feather

they’ve been though the good and the bad together. also my BIRD of a feather? 👀👀👀

This could be your happy hunting ground / Everything you wanted, well, you've got it now / So don't take it for granted /I love you, don't take advantage

for me this is what alina thinks in the first book!! she’s been in love with him for a long time, and she thinks she could be the right person for him. but she’s also scared of getting hurt because she thinks her feelings are unrequited (I love you, don’t take advantage)

This could be your happy hunting ground / Everything we dreamed of is falling out the clouds / So careful where your boots tread /Oh, protect the love that you get

this part however!!!! reminds me of the epilogue, because they truly truly got everything they wanted. the ordinary life they always dreamed of. “protect the love that you get” seems like a warning because of how much they lost — protect the love that you get, because even if you lose everything, this love is the one that will hold you up.

And you know I'll be here / 'Cause we've got it all to lose /That's you included

with the war they literally have everything to lose, and they both think the other is gonna die at some point. “He watches her the way Harshaw watches fire. Like he’ll never have enough of her. Like he’s trying to capture what he can before she’s gone.” and then when they discover mal is the third amplifier, she realizes she’ll have to kill him in order to defeat the darkling.

Oh, so tie up the lace of your boots / Before we trip and forget / With every hope that we've ever had

them trying not to forget their meadow!! and where it all started 🥺🥺

And we got way too much to lose here, don't you think so? / It's too good, yeah, just to let it slip on by without a pause / And we've been stacking up the boxes trying to reach for what we wanted

like i said, they have each other to lose but all they ever wanted was an ordinary peaceful life 😭💔

Don't look down, oh, I know it was worth the cost

mal reassuring alina that his death (the cost) was worth saving everything!!!!

I'll have you and then a bit more

they can never get enough of each other 🥺🥺

—————————

soooo that was that I guess. hope you liked the songs I chose, you should definitely give them a listen if you haven’t!! and if you want more malina songs, I have a whole playlist on spotify <3

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/19ZrmZtob9KxBSVYsvqMGJ?si=RSerU24cT3SfDneku4mGdg&dl_branch=1

see you tomorrow with a surprise for the last day of malina week! 💕