[dramatic music playing]
[crows cawing]
[soft music playing]
[gasps]
[Alina] Dear Mal,
I don't know where this letter will find you,
but you mustn't worry about me.
I'm fine.
Safe in the Little Palace.
It's like I blinked and the whole world changed.
But the upside, I have my own very private room for the first time…
Saints! Have you ever bathed?
And what happened to your face?
This is going to take more work than I expected.
[snaps fingers] Fetch my kit.
[Alina] …and a whole host of attendants who treat me with utter respect.
I mean, really, just unbridled… respect.
Ow!
For me, your little friend from Keramzin.
-We'd have a good laugh about it… -[gasps]
…if you were here.
[in Old Ravkan] Smells like horse.
Horse has a use.
[in English] Stop, stop, stop.
I am perfectly capable of washing myself.
And yes, I smell like horse.
I was on one for 200 miles. After nearly being killed.
Twice.
And I understand Old Ravkan, and that was really quite rude.
In an hour, you'll be presented to King Pyotr,
and General Kirigan has asked that I make you look presentable.
I am to meet the King?
-In an hour. -Oh.
Yes, "Oh."
So let's get on with it.
You know, this is all a bit much. I really don't need any of this.
Oh, Saints! Is this velvet?
I'd start by making her eyes less Shu, Miss Safin.
-Everybody out. [claps twice] -[women scoff]
Thank you.
Happy to get rid of the miserable shrews.
I don't pick my staff. The Queen assigns them.
Mostly so she can spy on me.
Don't change my eyes.
I don't care that you're part Shu.
I care that you look terrible.
[both chuckle]
Some of this is surface, but some of it runs deeper.
You're a Healer.
I'm a Tailor.
I can fix, but I can also modify.
I've never met a Tailor before.
I'm almost as rare as you,
though I'd hardly say saving the Queen from sagging tits
makes me as important as you.
Important to the Queen, of course,
and she does not like to see cracks in her porcelain.
Hmm.
No, um, that one's a reminder of home.
Sentimental.
I'll work on that, too.
But for right now, sit.
This will do nicely.
[Genya] It only lasts a few days.
How old were you when you knew?
Testers found me when I was 11.
That's when General Kirigan gifted me to the Queen.
But I've been working on myself since I was three.
Since you were three?
Saints! I can't go in front of the King.
I need more time. I've only been a Grisha for a day.
[chuckles] Maybe you've only been aware for a day.
But you've been a Grisha your whole life.
And now you're here, to tear down the Fold.
[Kaz] I didn't hire you simply to get us across the Fold.
You're with us because you smuggle Grisha out of the Little Palace,
and that's the location of our target.
-Sun Summoner. -Alleged.
[Inej] They wouldn't keep a fraud
in the most secure location in all of Ravka.
You said you have a contact who can get us inside.
A Heartrender.
Mmm-hmm.
How do I know we can trust her?
Nina grew up there.
Most Grisha grew up in the Little Palace.
Very few would betray their general,
and fewer still would help foreigners kidnap their most prized possession.
[Arken] Nina's a radical.
Thinks Grisha should get to choose if they serve the Crown.
She despises involuntary service more than she does Fjerdans.
[innkeeper] Nina, you're late on payment.
Shall we settle up? Or shall I call in the local constabulary?
[chuckles]
[distorted] Have a little patience.
[heart beating loudly]
Of course.
Is there anything else I can do to make your stay more enjoyable
before you return to the Wandering Isle?
A man who calls himself the Conductor will be arriving shortly.
Please show him to my room.
It would be my pleasure.
[man in Fjerdan] Keep looking. She's here.
[in English] If you need the room…
[in Fjerdan] Witch.
[groaning in pain]
[soldiers gasp]
You belong to us now.
[all grunting]
[coughing]
[screaming]
A woman who fights.
[Arken] She knew to expect us.
She isn't late. She's gone.
[Arken] Yes, but her things are all…
[Jesper] What is it?
Drüskelle. They are ruthless Grisha hunters.
Explains the Fjerdan krydda
the innkeeper was counting when we arrived.
It's likely he ratted her out.
[Arken] She's probably captive on a ship to Fjerda by now.
They had a clear line of attack.
Take a look. Make sure there aren't any more surprises.
Well, that's that.
We've lost our way into the Little Palace.
All clear.
This seems like a reasonable juncture to abandon this whole Sun Summoner plan.
Abandon?
We're in this now.
And I know what a million kruge means to me.
-What does it mean to you? -Freedom.
Fun. Like, at least a few months.
-Retirement. -Right, so we press on.
Get us across the Fold and I'll figure out the rest on the other side.
Fine.
To cross, I'll need 20 pounds of alabaster coal.
A peck of Majdaloun jurda.
Uh, not the kind from Kerch. It's too weak.
And, uh…
a goat.
Now, we meet in the dead of night.
There's a wreckage of a skiff northeast, on the edge of town.
So, who gets what?
Inej, jurda. I'll get the goat.
And Jesper…
just the coal, no detours.
[indistinct chatter]
[clears throat] Alabaster coal?
That way?
[dealer] Eleven! Dealer wins all!
[man sighs]
[dealer] It's all right. You can win it back.
Who's feeling lucky?
All right, money in. There you go.
Is this an open table?
[Alina] No army uniform includes a veil.
[Genya] You look fine.
[Alina] Say one wanted to leave the Little Palace…
But everything you need is here.
I've got some things I've forgotten back at the camp.
-I could just go back. -Don't be ridiculous.
This way.
[blowing]
Stop that!
No one can see you until King Pyotr does.
It's just as well. This outfit is ridiculous.
Sadly, this is how the King sees the First Army.
He cares little for mud, blood or sacrifice.
[Alina] Shouldn't I be in a kefta?
Oh, no.
The King expects to see a humble girl plucked from the ranks of his army.
He'll want to take the credit for you.
You'll get a kefta once he's witnessed your power.
Right, my power.
[Genya] By all accounts, it'll be King Pyotr, the Queen,
Crown Prince Vasily,
and the King's spiritual adviser, the Apparat.
He's this greasy rat--
Was that a library?
Is it available to all of us?
Everything here is available to all of us.
The general built this home for us so we can thrive.
[Alina] Has a Grisha ever escaped?
[Kirigan] Planning on making a break for it?
Uh, I didn't mean to…
Oh, Saints!
[Kirigan] I think the Grand Palace is the ugliest building I've ever seen.
-How was your rest? -[Alina] Restless.
-Despite Genya's magic, I didn't-- -It's not magic.
It's science. Or rather, Small Science.
We do not conjure from nothing.
We manipulate that which already exists around us.
You make it sound so easy.
A bird makes flight look easy.
But it was born to do so.
When it's ready.
So, be ready.
You're asking me to do something
I didn't even know I could do three days ago.
Do you believe I brought you here to make a fool of you?
To make a fool of both of us?
Just keep your focus on me, and you'll be fine.
Once he sees what you can do and we have his blessing,
you will remain here to train.
His blessing?
I thought you ruled the Grisha.
I may lead the Second Army, but the King is still the King.
[whispering]
[crowd murmuring]
I thought she'd be taller.
I thought she was Shu.
Well, I guess she's Shu enough.
Tell her… Oh, I don't know… good morning.
I don't actually speak Shu, Your Highness.
[Queen] Then what are you?
She is Alina Starkov…
the Sun Summoner, moya tsaritsa.
She will change the future.
Starting now.
[loud rumbling]
[whispering] Now call the sun.
[audience gasping]
-[audience clapping] -[all] Bravo!
Bravo! Bravo!
How long will she need?
Destroying the Fold will be no easy feat.
She alone may not be able to do it.
She will remain with me at the Little Palace to train…
undisturbed.
Then train her quickly.
Our wars have been a noble pursuit,
but this chatter from the West about becoming a sovereign nation,
that needs to stop.
The sooner we are one country again, the better.
Agreed…
moi tsar.
You were perfect.
I don't know where it came from.
It came from everywhere.
Because you called upon it to come.
Welcome home, Miss Starkov.
[indistinct chatter]
It's such an honor to formally meet you.
[whispering] You stink of the orphanage, half-breed.
[Genya] You truly are one of a kind.
The entire country is going to be talking about you now.
[Zlatan] They want you to believe the Sun Summoner has been found
to finally tear down the wall that divides us.
[crowd] Yes!
How many times have we been fed a story like that?
And how many times have we in the West been told
to send our sons and daughters through the Fold for another year?
It is time to accept that we need to break away from the old country.
Now is the time to form our own country,
to keep what we make and what we earn, instead of sending it to the East.
[crowd cheering]
For the true Ravka!
[crowd cheering] True Ravka!
[imperceptible]
[Inej] He's adorable.
Don't get attached.
I didn't think I'd have to specify no detours to you.
Even if just a few minutes could end a lifetime of questions?
Your parents are Suli.
They don't cross the Fold. They go around.
I know.
I just thought…
that if I saw their names on there, I could let the idea of them go.
This thing?
This was all that I had when I was sold to the Menagerie.
And if it was worth anything, Heleen would have taken it.
But this is just a simple token of faith that my mother stitched.
Kaz, this is all that I have left of them.
-Unless-- -Hope is dangerous.
It clouds your judgment.
Pray, scream, do whatever you have to do to push this out of your mind and move on.
We all have debts to pay.
[groaning]
Where are you taking us?
You don't speak?
Maybe you're not the infamous Drüskelle after all.
Maybe you're just slavers dressed in furs taking women to be sold.
I'm no slaver. Be silent.
So you're taking us to Fjerda?
To our deaths?
To face trial, as our law demands.
How many Grisha are found innocent at your so-called trials?
That's right. None!
Your trials are a sham! Just like you and your friends.
[groaning]
That bola.
You were there.
[grunting]
Oh, the big, bad Drüskelle.
It was five on one!
Such honor, how noble!
I thought you respected your women.
You are not a woman.
You are Grisha.
Do not speak to me again.
[Arken] We're almost there.
[Kaz] Where the hell is Jesper?
[Arken] Just a little further.
[Inej] Landmines.
-[goat bleating] -We'll wait.
Follow the path that you carve.
That sign, that was my idea to keep people away.
Can't be too careful.
We're fine. Come.
[Inej] It's one thing hearing about it, but this is--
Nothing compared to what lies within.
[goat bleating]
[thunder rumbling]
[wheels squeaking]
There.
So, goat, jurda… Thank you.
Now we're just waiting on…
-[Jesper] Wait for me! -[gunshots]
[men shouting indistinctly]
-They can't see the train. -[Kaz] Jesper, get here now!
-[Inej] Leave the lantern. -Landmines!
Oh, wait for me!
-[gunshots] -Don't you go without me!
Wait!
[Kaz groaning] Come on!
[man] Go on, after him!
[Arken] Please tell me you have 20 pounds of alabaster coal.
Slight snag in the plan.
Turns out that the kid who was helping me buy the coal
didn't exactly know how to, uh, buy coal.
[Kaz] We know you gambled it away.
I lost a little bit of the money.
I lost all of the money.
Uh, but I managed to steal 20 pounds of alabaster coal.
No, no, there's 16 pounds.
Sixteen pounds of alabaster coal.
Can we do it on 16?
Never been done before.
[man] Let's go! We'll follow their footprints!
[gunshots]
Sit here. Never shift your weight.
You've crossed that many times?
It's a numbers game.
Cross this often and you get nightmares.
-[explosion] -[men screaming]
-[Jesper] Landmines. -I thought you said they weren't real.
I said nothing of the sort.
I just said I put up the sign myself.
[Nadia] Alina! There you are.
[Marie] We've been looking for you.
We weren't properly introduced earlier. I'm Marie, this is Nadia.
Why are the guards keeping me inside?
You're supposed to be in training now. Are you really a mapmaker?
-Were you really attacked by Fjerdans? -How many Fjerdans did you kill?
-Kill? I barely got a swing off at one. -Sounds like our timing is perfect.
[Nadia] Welcome to the first part of your new daily schedule.
[all grunting]
[Marie and Nadia] Combat training.
[Botkin] Sun Summoner.
All of Ravka's foes want to kill you before you can destroy the Fold.
It's a great honor to have so many enemies.
A very warm greeting.
He's always like this.
You must learn to defend yourself fast.
Do you know how to fight?
[grunting]
What?
[chuckles]
Look at this thumb. What's it doing there?
It's got to be behind there otherwise you'll break them.
-I knew that. -Yeah.
Whoa!
Right. If you hit like that, you're gonna break these two,
so make sure it's straight.
These two, that's going to get you the win.
-Mmm-hmm. These two. -Yeah.
Okay.
I've had some training.
Show me. Pick an opponent.
Her.
Zoya Nazyalensky.
I've been training her since she was ten.
Care to back down?
Not familiar with the concept.
Fighters ready?
And… fight!
We go again.
Fight.
Your tracker friend also liked it when I put him on his back.
[Botkin] Easy, Zoya.
[crowd gasping]
[snorts]
[Marie] Alina!
-[panting] Are you okay? -Please be okay.
You okay?
-I can't believe she did that. -She's just jealous.
Can't bear the idea of anyone else being favored by General Kirigan.
Don't know why she wastes her time pining over him
when she could be with me.
What were you thinking? Against the Sun Summoner?
Have you lost your mind?
She's not the enemy any more than I am! Go!
Shall we take you in to get you checked?
I can make my own way in. Thank you.
[Alina] In some ways, it's no different from the orphanage.
You can't let your guard down here either.
I can try and request leave for you if you'd like to come?
To see it all for yourself.
I wish you were here.
If you were, it wouldn't feel so overwhelming.
I'm dreaming about that stag again.
I know you'd laugh.
Tell me it's just a fable.
But then again, so was the Sun Summoner.
And yet, here I am.
I know you.
"The bone road ebbs and the bone road flows."
[man] You like books?
You are well-read, aren't you?
Educated?
The headmistress where I grew up
said because I didn't possess any physical talent,
I should possess knowledge.
Isn't that lovely of her?
I'm the King's spiritual adviser.
I wanted to be friends.
It is important that we are friends.
I was just researching.
Oh, you're curious about the lore of the Stag, are you?
Well, let me curate some reading for you.
Ah!
Here, it all began with this man.
One of the first Grisha in recorded history.
The Bonesmith.
He knew the Grisha would always be persecuted
and so he worked on a plan to magnify their power.
Um, I'm sorry, did you say he was called the Bonesmith?
He made creatures from his own finger bones.
Mythical animals brimming with power.
Attuned only to Grisha.
They learned killing one of these beasts
and then melding a piece of it into their body
would amplify their abilities.
Sometimes the gain was minor,
but with the right binding, the increase in power was astonishing.
They slaughter the animals to take this power?
Only the Grisha who takes that life can take that creature's power.
A gift.
To mark our new friendship.
The Lives of the Saints?
[Apparat] Baghra awaits.
[Alina] Baghra?
Every Grisha is trained by Baghra to harness their power.
It is quite brutal.
Mostly the peasants hate the Grisha,
but I think it is because the Grisha do not suffer.
But… you have suffered, haven't you?
I think you will suffer more.
Hello?
You're late.
Let's have a look at you.
A Sun Summoner who wastes her time training with Botkin?
Are you going to punch your way through the Shadow Fold?
Where's the rest of you?
Are you mute, girl?
[hesitating] No.
That's something, I suppose.
Where are your parents?
Dead, I assume.
-Where did you grow up? -Keramzin.
You slipped through the cracks and stayed where you didn't belong.
Where do you belong?
With my friends. In the army.
Drawing a little home for yourself in sketchbooks?
You don't belong here?
I'm told that I do.
You have to be told a thing to believe it?
Not always.
Then what are you?
A Sun Summoner?
And can you summon the sun without the general clutching your wrist?
His blood and bones amplify other Grisha. Did you know that?
Human amplifiers don't exist.
You're an expert on such things?
Can you summon the power on your own?
I can't.
What about now?
Everyone believes that you are the one.
Come back when you believe it, too.
[Alina] I know I should be grateful.
The clothes, the food… It's beyond anything we'd imagined.
And yet I wish I were with… with the First Army.
In some moldy tent, drawing a world
where the Little Palace is just a bit of pencil on paper.
Not real.
None of it real.
None of it bad.
[train engine chugging]
[metal clanging]
What was that?
I've erected a system of timers along the line.
Bits of metal hung on poles to keep me apprised of our pace.
How did you know where to put the poles?
Physics and engineering account for… most of my success.
And the rest?
What we might call divine intervention.
What others might call luck.
And after all, the Fold is thick with volcra,
and the tracks are not complete.
-Coal, please. -I'm sorry.
Did you say the tracks weren't complete?
-I said they aren't complete. -What?
Ah, ah, ah. No moving.
We're a tad late. More coal.
Back to the real issue.
We're on tracks that don't connect to other tracks?
-There's a gap but-- -You said you could get us through.
-How much of a gap? -I built slats on the car.
They roll into place under the wheels.
The turbine generates enough wind
to push us all the way to the eastern track.
As long as we don't shift our weight.
[metal clanging]
Now, the noise may attract volcra, but it's the only way across.
Now, there's a nest nearby.
But we'll be fine. If they haven't attacked us in…
[volcra growling]
Well, now we've got a problem.
How was your time with Baghra?
It was a promising start.
[Marie] Oh!
It's to celebrate your victory with the King.
And you have an otkazat'sya taster.
They're normally reserved for the Royal Family.
Delicious. [chuckles]
You'll be happy with the meal. If, you know, I survive.
[woman] Salt, please.
[man] Salt coming at you.
I think it's safe. [chuckles nervously]
Is this some kind of punishment for you?
[taster] This is a plum gig.
I was so happy when the last taster died.
Thanks.
Don't get used to this.
General Kirigan insists that we eat peasant fare to keep us humble.
[Ivan] News from the Fjerdan front.
In the First Army, many casualties in the 18th, 27th and 36th battalions.
Did he say 36th?
Also among the dead,
six Healers, four Inferni and three Heartrenders.
The Fjerdans will be no match against a unified Ravka.
Why are you here eating figs, hmm?
You should be training every waking moment to tear down the Fold.
[volcra growling]
-How do you fight them off? -I outrun them.
Open the throttle and toss in all the coal,
which works when there's 20 pounds of it.
[snarling]
Damn it!
The stupid thing impaled itself on a spike.
Get it off. The others will stand on it.
-More coal! -[Kaz] We're down to fumes!
-[thudding] -We won't make it with this extra weight.
-Give me a second. -This is how we die?
-Jesper, grab the goat. -I'm not throwing out the goat!
Grab the damn goat! It's not bait. It's for you!
I need you to calm down. Hug the goat. Shut the hell up.
[metal clangs]
-We should have hit that 20 seconds ago. -[Kaz] 20 seconds is?
[Arken] My timings are precise to get us outside.
Even 20 seconds behind means the train stops inside the Fold and…
that means we die.
[volcra growling]
There's more coming.
[thudding]
[Jesper] So soft.
You may want to make your peace.
[bleats]
[Inej] Are they all dead?
[thuds]
[screaming]
[metal clanging]
[Alina] What I haven't said in this letter, Mal,
what I've been trying to write among all these scattered words is…
is that I'm afraid.
I'm scared, Mal.
We grew up reading about a Saint
who would one day perform a miracle of light
and solve our country's problems,
and we knew that was a lie.
We knew that no stranger ever solved our problems for us.
No great miracle was coming.
That's why we had each other.
The world is hard and cruel.
But we had each other, and that was enough.
That was everything.
If Saints were once real, they've long since left us.
Yet now, everyone is looking at me like I'm the answer.
Like I'm the miracle the world has been waiting for.
Or perhaps they know I'm a fraud.
An imposter.
Mal!
I'm terrified.
Alina!
[Alina] Of failure or success.
If I really do have this power, who am I?
I would be everything we mocked and dismissed.
A stranger to myself.
And to you.
You once told me you were the most scared when you were lost.
But getting lost can happen even when you know where you are.
You told me about cardinal north.
And true north.
Cardinal north is a direction on a map.
True north? True north is home.
It is where you feel safe.
Alina.
[Alina] And loved.
You have always been my true north, Mal.
I'll find my way back to you.
[Alina] And if I am to survive this, I need to be home again…
I'll meet you at the meadow.
[Alina] …with you.