[On a cold, crisp morning - he's prepared a little basket; inside are three brown paper wrapped parcels, along with some dried fruit, decorative pine cuttings and pinecones and a letter. Inside the parcels are: a uniquely crafted gold ring, a silver hand mirror and one bottle of watermelon liqueur. Personal, practical and fun.
The letter itself is folded twice, wrapped in light twine:]
Zoya,
I don't think words alone could ever truly capture the way you make me feel, nor just how I consider myself lucky to have met you here. You have changed the trajectory of my life in more ways than one, and I find myself eagerly looking forward to every morning I wake in your company. I hope these small trinkets can help better describe my feelings by being reminders of my care and affection day to day.
[ For the record, Zoya is great at gift giving. She'd given Alina Starkov a kefta and a promise that she would always be one of them—the Grisha, the soldiers who lived, the girls who rose from the ashes of the Darkling. She'd given her aunt a mirror to remind her of how Zoya saw her, as one of the most beautiful people she'd ever known.
It's hard to figure out what to give Wesley.
And it's not because he's difficult to understand. Wesley is soft and gentle and tenacious. He's everything good in Rubilykskoye. If it weren't for him, she'd have shared a room with someone else—perhaps an actual idiot—and forgotten what it's like to have a true friend.
It's days later that she leaves on the kitchen table a small knife, expertly created, although there's a slight imperfection in the handle. The top of the handle is an orange tiger head. While white tigers mean something important to Zoya, she doesn't wish to associate Wesley with the tigers of Ilmisk. ]
Wesley,
To the biggest idiot I know -
Try not to trip and stab yourself with this.
I don't know what I'm supposed to get someone who means more to me than any language can express. I also know if I try, you'll be obnoxious about it and remind me of what I wrote, so I'll write nothing at all and tell you this.
Orange is the color of warmth. Tigers represent strength, courage, and independence. When you put them together, you get Wesley Price.
The Blacksmith helped me with the handle's details. The rest is made of Grisha power. Use it to protect yourself when I'm not there to do it. If anything happens to you, I'll bring you back and kill you myself. I hope one day you see yourself as I do. You're more than the boy who believed he existed in shadows and beneath another's thumb. You deserve to be in the sun, much like a tiger prowls and lets no one tell him what he is.
Thank you for reminding me what friendship is, and for never letting me feel like I'm alone in your company.
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The letter itself is folded twice, wrapped in light twine:]
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It's hard to figure out what to give Wesley.
And it's not because he's difficult to understand. Wesley is soft and gentle and tenacious. He's everything good in Rubilykskoye. If it weren't for him, she'd have shared a room with someone else—perhaps an actual idiot—and forgotten what it's like to have a true friend.
It's days later that she leaves on the kitchen table a small knife, expertly created, although there's a slight imperfection in the handle. The top of the handle is an orange tiger head. While white tigers mean something important to Zoya, she doesn't wish to associate Wesley with the tigers of Ilmisk. ]