[ he startles when she grasps his shirt and forces it open to reveal his newest scar, watching her face and trying to glean any expression there. as usual, she's harder to read than his fortune in the clouds, but this means she remembers. she remembers the thorn wood, remembers the wound that should have killed him, his blood watering the sands of the fold. he wants to take her hand if only to feel something alive, to brush his fingers over her pulse, but she pulls away too quickly, standing tall, the cold air moving around them to begin flicking the freezing water away.

she brings up a fair point, nikolai drawing up to sit back on his knees as he tries to clear his mind enough to think. his shivering fingers fumble with his buttons, his chest aching with a phantom pain. the demon rumbles, and he suddenly doesn't want to tell her that the ceremony was all for naught, that the monster hadn't been purged after all. another failure stacked upon all the others. ]

You're mad because I didn't let you drown? Perhaps you're real after all. [ he glances up, a sudden smile flickering across his lips, his tired eyes crinkling at the edges. he could sit at the edge of the brook forever and watch her. it sounds preferable to trying to unravel the mysteries of this unfamiliar place, but he doesn't doubt that zoya will actually tip him back into the freezing waters if he decides to do so, so he forces himself to his feet, coming close again this time to place both cold hands at her cheeks, his wet bandages starting to seep through with blood from where the thorns pierced straight through his palms. ] Did you really think you killed me? You're absolutely terrible at it. Valiant attempt, but better luck next time, General.

[ then he embraces her, something he's never done before but feels is warranted now, relief flowing through him. ]