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Ulla floated in the pool under the Grisha Academy in Os Kervo, the music of the Making at the Heart of the World rippling around her like water. A new harmony entered the song, like a current of a slightly different temperature. Something that had once been unbalanced was now balanced, and there was a familiar note to that song.
She got out of the pool, dressing in the soft light of the durast-made lanterns. Swimming in the pool regularly made having legs easier, and prolonged the amount of time she could spend in her human form.
When she got back to her chambers, she poured water from a silver ewer into a large clamshell. She sang and the basin of water became iridescent, like the inside of an abalone shell. In her song, she reached for the sense of balance she had felt in the pool. The surface darkened, and a vision appeared - two tendrils of light and shadow, meeting and intertwining. Then two horses side by side, one black, one white. Closer, coming closer, the tides of magic sang.
She smiled. Aleksandra was coming back to Os Kervo with Alina.
*
She told Baghra what she saw, and wasn't surprised that Baghra already knew. The Rectoress of Os Kervo always had her own ways of getting information.
A couple of days later, Aleksandra arrived. Ulla was in the middle of teaching a class of Materialki Grishenka. She could amplify their powers with her songs, the way Baghra and Aleksandra could with their touch.
She hummed as the young Durasts bent metal wires without touching them, and the young Alkemi turned cups of blue liquid purple. Or at least that was the goal. One of them, a little girl named Jana who had come to the Academy from Balakirev, accidentally made the fluid in her glass turn iridescent like Ulla's scrying bowl. She burst into tears when she saw that the rest of her classmates had succeeded.
"It's okay," said Ulla. "It takes time to learn. And you did something, after all."
"But—but," Jana sobbed. "If I don't learn quickly enough, you'll turn me into an eel!"
"I'm not turning anyone into an eel," said Ulla. "Neither is Rectoress Baghra, or anyone else here." Where did the Grishenka get these ideas?
One of the Durasts sitting by the window looked outside, then shouted, "Horses! Horses!" Their wire bent itself into the shape of a horse's head.
Ulla knew who it would be, but went out to the window to look anyway. Her sister's movement through the world left distinctive ripples to those who were sensitive to such things. The wake she left in the currents of magic had been permanently altered by her use of merzost hundreds of years ago. Or perhaps it was simply that Ulla was more sensitive to it, as her song had helped transform Aleksandra's shadows into a storm that even now, over 400 years later, hadn't ended. Aleksandra had become the Black Heretic of legend, and Ulla had disappeared from the story, but not from the fight to protect Grisha.
Given the choice, she wouldn't change what she had done. Grisha were safer now than they had been, at least in the northern kingdoms. Still, they were often the pets of the powerful, not the powerful themselves.
And maybe that would change now, now that the Sun Summoner had been found, and seemed to have allied herself with Aleksandra.
It was almost time for the Grishenkas' lesson to end, and with everyone having stopped their work to look out the window, it was clear she wouldn't be able to regain their attention in the remaining time. She dismissed the class into the care of another of Os Kervo's instructors and headed outside to greet the riders.
The procession that arrived at the Academy was a small one. Alina and Aleksandra rode next to each other, and then Ivan and Fedyor, the two Heartrenders Ulla recognized from her visits to her sister on the coast. Between them rode Alexei. Although an otkazat'sya, Alexei had stubbornly insisted on staying in Os Kervo and making sure Alina was safe. His good nature had charmed the Grisha at the Academy, and it looked like it had had the same effect on Fedyor. Even Ivan seemed a little less dour, which was especially noteworthy at the end of a long journey.
Ulla helped them untack and take care of their horses. The Academy had stablehands, but everyone in the group chose to do the work themselves. They were all careful and thorough, but as she expected, Aleksandra spent the longest time brushing and currying her horse, a sturdy and fiery little black mare. She offered her some sugar cubes, and shared some with Alina so the Sun Summoner could treat her horse, a grey mare with a coat so pale it was almost white.
The two Summoners held hands as they walked into the Academy, where there were still some onlookers gathered. Ivan, Fedyor, and Alexei talked to them while Ulla led Aleksandra and Alina to her rooms through back hallways and less-used stairs.
The three of them sat down around a small table in Ulla's parlor. It was a few hours before dinner, so she ordered some tea and sweet and savory pastries. She knew her sister's sweet tooth well. She wasn't as sure about Alina's tastes, so she figured she'd get a variety.
Ulla noticed how close Alina and Aleksandra sat to each other, periodically touching hands and smiling at each other as they shared the tea and pastries. Alina closed her eyes in bliss as she tried a honey cake, and Aleksandra's expression was fond. In fact, it had been centuries since she'd seen Aleksandra look at anyone with such tenderness. Ulla almost felt like she was intruding.
She wanted to give Aleksandra time to settle in, and hoped the two of them would get some time to themselves, but there was also a reason that Alina had been sent to bring her sister back to Os Kervo. She took a sip of her tea and said, "Everything should be ready for you. The map in the War Room is as up to date as we can make it, and Baghra has called the Council. We're expecting the rulers of the northern kingdoms here in a few days."
Aleksandra nodded.
"How is Caryeva holding up?" asked Alina.
"The last we heard, the forces of Ahmrat Jen have stalled near the hill of Sodden. The remaining Caryevan Grisha are doing their best to hold them off, and the current position of the Fold is in the defender's favor. But that can't be counted on forever," said Ulla.
"I know," said Alina. "I might be able to help. I've been practicing more, with Aleksandra. I could protect us both in the Fold, and others besides."
"Show me," said Ulla. She knew that Alina had been making good progress, no matter how much pessimism Baghra expressed, but even she didn't expect Alina to be combat ready so soon. Or truthfully, to be so willing to fight.
Aleksandra lifted a single hand, palm up, and the Making rumbled as shadows filled the room. In the gloom, Alina brought her hands together in a graceful gesture, then pulled them apart. Light concentrated into a globe between her hands, bright and solid. To Ulla's ears, it sang with a high clear note. Aleksandra made the shadows around the table denser, and Alina pushed them back with her light, holding a bright dome steady around them.
"And this is without any amplification," said Aleksandra, pride evident in her voice.
"Would you be willing to demonstrate this when the Council meets?" asked Ulla.
"I would," said Alina. She exhaled, and the dome dissipated. The room returned to its normal brightness.
“Excellent,” said Ulla. “The Materialki will work with you on some clothing for the occasion. And I take it you’ll want your customary kefta, Sasha?”
“I will,” Aleksandra said. “And to have that terrible portrait taken down, of course.”
“Already done,” said Ulla. Alina smirked at the mention of the portrait of the Black Heretic, and Aleksandra didn’t seem concerned to talk about it in front of Alina. Good. It would be good for her sister to have another person who knew her as she truly was.
The rest of their conversation was more lighthearted. When they had finished the tea and reduced the pastries to a scattering of crumbs, Aleksandra and Alina headed out of the parlor hand in hand to talk to some of the other Grisha.
Ulla watched them walk down the hall and wasn’t surprised when she turned to see Baghra standing next to her.
Baghra was watching the Sun and Shadow Summoners as well. “Will it be enough?” she asked quietly.
Ulla wasn’t the strategist her sister was, but she felt the tides shifting and the resonances left in Alina’s and Aleksandra’s wake. They were powerful, and they were far from alone. “More than enough,” she said.