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There was a lone tree in Zolnyy, nestled in a corner behind a darts game next to the ice cream stand.
Mitya learns this the hard way, when he’s attempting to attend Vodyanitsa’s show at the Korolevskiy Theater, only to see Valeriy standing out front, waiting out in the open to stop Mitya before he even steps foot on the premises.
So he flees to Zolnyy, and sees Alyosha resting under said tree, seemingly frustrated with something related to his rifle as he pushes Tugarin away.
“Need a hand?” he asks, offering the hunter a wave as he approaches.
“Yes,” Alyosha breathes out, shoulders slumping at the sight of his apparent savior.
Mitya holds in a laugh as he sits next to him, smiling as Alyosha hands him his rifle before digging in his bag for food to give Tugarin, offering Mitya half of a sausage link.
The two sit in companionable silence, Alyosha entertaining his dog while Mitya fixes the rifle, companionable silence blanketing them like the snow gently descending from the heavens.
It isn’t until Mitya is done, handing the rifle to a grateful Alyosha, that the silence is broken by a third party.
“Do you fix swords too?”
Mitya starts, body ready to flee before realizing the voice was not Valeriy’s.
Looking up, he sees the Commander of the Druzhna standing over them, smiling brightly.
“Um… sure,” Mitya says, dumbfounded.
“I’ll grab us some lunch,” Alyosha suggested, looking vaguely amused. Mitya glared at him.
Later, after Vesna’s sword was repaired, the three sat under the tree, eating stew and talking about everything and nothing at all, until well after the sun set.
It was only after Mitya returned home that he realized Valeriy hadn’t caught him.
~
Mitya may have discovered his favorite hiding spot in Snezhnograd, but Alyosha couldn’t find it in him to abandon it or find a new one.
Mitya and Vesna made surprisingly pleasant company, and he didn’t think they’d find themselves there again.
But as Vesna limped towards him while he was counting Kresnik Kristall, he was quickly proven wrong.
“Are you alright?” he asked, setting his bag to the side as he stood up and held out a hand towards her.
“Yeah,” she smiled gratefully at him, wincing slightly as she limped closer to him. “Just a bit roughed up.”
Vesna grabbed his hand and Alyosha helped her sit down against the tree.
“What happened?” he asked, already digging through his bag for first aid supplies.
Vesna scoffed. “Some scumbag was terrorizing people in a small village for Kristall. When we showed up, he refused to go down quietly.”
“He did this to you?” Alyosha asked, mildly impressed. It took a lot to get the upper hand against Vesna.
“You should see the other guy,” she smirked.
Alyosha rolled his eyes. “Where are you hurt?”
Vesna eyed the supplies before rapidly shaking her head. “I’m fine, really! Just a small head wound and I rolled my ankle, nothing major!”
Alyosha leveled her with a glare. “Your head is actively bleeding and you’re limping. I wouldn’t call that fine.”
“You don’t need to waste your supplies on me,” she amended. “We have medics at HQ, I just needed a break from walking. Please, save those for yourself.”
Alyosha shook his head, pouring water from a canteen onto a strip of cloth and going to clean her head wound.
Protests falling on deaf ears, Vesna eventually gave up, and once Alyosha was satisfied with his first aid, the two sat under the tree, watching people come and leave Zolnyy in silence.
Later, the next time Alyosha visited the cabin he’d set up in the tundra, he found the people were already supplied with fresh, hot, expensive food from Snezhnograd, and the last of the gang members had been scared off.
Perhaps Vesna had officially earned his respect.
~
She found him under their tree—and should she find it weird, that this tree was theirs now—scribbling down in his notebook.
“Great, you’re here!” she exclaimed, rushing to sit slightly behind Mitya.
She was using him as a shield, she was not ashamed to admit it.
Mitya started, dropping his pen and smearing ink all over his notes. Vesna winced.
“What was that for?!” he shouted, whipping around to face her in shock.
She smiled sheepishly, rubbing the back of her head. “I’ll buy you a new one?”
Mitya sighed, tucking his ruined notes and pen away. “Why are you here?”
“So, uh, funny story,” she started, ignoring the unimpressed look he leveled her with. “I might have… adorned Danica’s lunch with lemon slices. This is normal behavior. But, her lunch got swapped with a new recruit’s, so…”
“The prank hit an unintended target,” Mitya finished for her. Vesna nodded.
“And now I’m hiding behind you so Danica can’t hurt me.”
Mitya rolled his eyes, but he waved over the nearest shopper and gave them a bit of Mora, asking them to buy them some hot chocolate and treat themselves with whatever was leftover.
“Well, while we’re here, maybe you can help me with my research?” he asked
Vesna nodded, eager to repay him for having her back.
Sipping their warm drinks, the two spent the rest of the evening redoing Mitya’s notes. By the time they left, the stars were out, Mitya had new ideas to pursue, and Vesna was off the hook.
Well, mostly off the hook.
~
“Ice cream?” Mitya asked incredulously.
Alyosha shrugged, handing Mora to the fae behind the counter in exchange for the frozen dessert. “Why not?”
“Maybe because we are in the midst of a severe blizzard and even the city is freezing?”
Again, Alyosha shrugged. “It’s what I have a taste for.”
“What the hell,” Mitya muttered, pulling some Mora out of his pockets and placing it on the counter. “I’ll have some too please.”
Alyosha shrugged and made his way to the tree, sitting down and waiting for Mitya to join him before digging into his dessert.
“So, what brings you here? I thought you were going on a big hunt?”
“I am,” Alyosha nodded. “I realized I was short on traps, and figured if I’m here ordering more traps, I should also order some more maps.”
“Wait… is this that big beast you were telling us about? The one that fell into that chasm, that you think is still alive?”
Alyosha nodded, raising an eyebrow as he ate another bite of his ice cream. “Yeah, so what?”
“So what?!” Mitya explained. “You could get seriously hurt!”
Somehow Alyosha looked even more unimpressed. Mitya rolled his eyes.
“Just, be careful, okay?” he asked.
“Of course,” Alyosha said, holding out a pinky. “I won’t get hurt, and if I do, you reserve the right to berate me.”
Mitya eyed the pinky warily. “Didn’t take you for the pinky promise type.”
“It appeases Vodyanitsa.”
Mitya rolled his eyes. “Fine. But I’m not doing the chant.”
The two linked pinkies before returning to their treats, the silent tension not fully broken, but relaxed into something comfortable.
And if the traps Alyosha ordered came with Mitya’s requested modifications, what Alyosha didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him.
~
Mitya was exhausted.
He had been working in the Armory Palace for about twenty hours now, with coffee as a substitute for sleep. He’d finally taken his lunch break—which could barely pass for a dinner break this late at night—and, by some miracle, managed to stumble his way to Zolnyy.
He sat down against the tree, closing his eyes. There were numerous times on his journey here where his vision blurred, things swam in front of him, or he worried that he’d just pass out on the sidewalk, but he made it. Now he could relax.
He startled awake from his light doze by a weight dropping on his right shoulder. He looked down to see Alyosha, already asleep as he curled up next to him, Tugarin curled up at his feet.
“His hunt was successful,” a new voice answered his unspoken question. Vesna sat next to him, looking as exhausted as Mitya felt. “But he went a few days with only a couple of power naps in between. He fell asleep at the train station, so I brought him here.”
Mitya chuckled. “This place really has become our spot, hasn’t it.”
Vesna smiled tiredly at him. “It sure has.”
Silence took over the space, both too tired to maintain conversation any longer. It didn’t take long for Vesna to take over Mitya’s left shoulder, and surrounded by the comfortable weight of his friends, Mitya soon followed them back into the land of dreams.
~
Valeriy was somehow tasked with the most difficult job in the entirety of the Fatui: keeping tabs on Mitya.
It was not a job he signed up for, not one he was qualified for, but one he still had to take seriously. So instead of complaining, he sucked it up and completed this job to the best of his ability.
Which Mitya, of course, made it even more difficult by repeatedly sneaking out during working hours to watch the Korolevskiy Theater Troupe’s performances.
And to make his job even harder, he’d managed to find a second hiding spot, one Valeriy had yet to find.
Tonight was cause for extra concern.
Valeriy was on break when one of his subordinates warned him that the scientist was missing, and looking at security footage revealed him leaving the Armory Palace in a clear state of exhaustion.
Valeriy would chew out his subordinates later. Mitya could handle himself under most circumstances, but he was a trouble magnet who currently looked ten seconds away from passing out.
So Valeriy’s lunch break ended early—something he would mourn later—as he began combing through Snezhnograd with a precision that would scare his subordinates, until he finally made his way to Zolnyy.
And was frozen in place by the sight that greeted him.
Mitya sat on the ground, leaning against the tree, dead asleep. The hunter—Alyosha, if Valeriy remembered correctly—was curled up on one side, his dog asleep in front of him, and the Commander of the Druzhna, Vesna, was curled up on his other side.
After a bit of debate, Valeriy shrugged, and made his way to the stand selling ice cream.
“You have any left?” he asked, his voice low as he cast one last look at the people sleeping against the tree.
They all clearly needed the rest, so who was he to interrupt them? He’d just finish his lunch break here.