Chapter Text
The Fontaine Port in the night was as busy as it is in the daytime. Not the kind of busy, loud or filled people.
But a kind of business specifically belonging to Ports. The kind of busy that everything must be on time, at the right place and the right time. Ships and sailors come and go. With tiny melusines at the harbor checking the ships one by one.
And one delay is enough here for a business to end unfinished or make the waiting passengers at the port's patience go thin. That's how a normal day in port goes.
Everything will be at the right place and the right time.
Tonight was no different…a ship, heading to the cold northern land was boarding at the harbor. Once the tickets were taken and everyone took their seat, the ship’s horn blasted in the quiet night.
The ship cut through the water as the lights of the port slowly swallowed by the darkness, heading toward the brutally cold north.
Various kinds of passengers could be seen; some were children with their moms shushing them in their seats, others were merchants with full bags of expensive goods ready to trade. Even some were just travellers.
Everyone with a journey awaiting them… Just like her.
There aren't usually many passengers in northern ships, mostly because it's not a very travel-friendly land. But there she was. A traveller coming from afar to the journey ahead.
She fixed her glasses as she read the passages in her book, looking outside the window as the ship went further toward the dark path ahead.
It’s going to be a long trip. She thought.
And checked her bag beside her one more time.
The nurse documents, warm clothes, her communication device, and a small snack her sister was insisting to take with her. She was packed lightly.
But something felt unsettling in her mind, a question, well actually, many questions but the biggest one was what would she face in the north…in Snezhnaya.
A place she’d never been before. Cold? Dangerous? The first thing that would pop up in someone’s mind when you ask them to describe Snezhnaya shortened to 2 words. Which wasn't wrong either.
As her thoughts filled with her journey, her device buzzed. A new message.
She took the device out and with the first glance, she could already guess who the sender was
“Be careful there”
…
Then another buzz.
“Focus on your mission.”
She will. After all, this was the sole reason for going to Snezhnaya…
After hours, the snowy land could be seen through the window. and the cold breeze of the north nation touched the windows. Almost everyone started to wear their warm clothes, while some people were asleep.
“Dear passengers, I would like to have your attention please, soon we will be reaching the Snezhnaya harbor, please be ready for boarding and do leave any of your belongings.”
The sun was slowly starting to rise as the ship stopped. She stepped out of the ship just to be greeted by the shivering cold weather, cold enough to burn her lungs.
Thankfully, the hostel she rented wasn’t very far and just a short walk and she could survive the cold once she got there.
how convenient
…
She took the key from the landlady, an old woman who welcomed her with a thick Snezhnayan accent.
A small room, with a bed in the corner and a coffee table in the middle of the room. She checked the room out of an old habit. A bathroom with a shower. Closet and a small fridge.
Good.
Good enough to stay for a while.
Once she finished looking around, she tossed her heavy bag in the corner and collapsed on the bed. Letting out a sigh out of tiredness for a long trip between land and sea. Now she's finally here.
Once the sun rises fully her mission will begin. And so does her work.
A new transferred nurse from East Snezhnaya to Fatui hospital.
She closed her eyes for a moment, taking a breath before sitting up, reaching to take the documents out of her bag. The name badge, the transferring doc and a few other important things.
She let them spill on the coffee table. Taking the name badge in her hands. The badge, and the name that somehow felt alien to her.
It wasn’t her own name afterall.
Just
“Nurse Morozova”
Ellin Morozova
To be continued ...