It was well past sunset when Cresana eventually emerged from Baghra's hut, Ivan her perpetual shadow close behind her. Cresana's mind was reeling from the revelations Baghra had discussed. Ivan, much to Cresana's surprise, also seemed intent on his thoughts. She realized that the Black General obviously had not confided his plans for her in Ivan, who Cresana had assumed was Kirigan's top advisor and right-hand man. It seemed that Ivan too was shocked – and stung, Cresana detected - at his lack of access to Kirigan's scheme.

At first, Baghra's statements hadn't shocked Cresana all that much. Baghra had told Cresana she'd been hand selected by Kirigan for a "special mission". This much, Cresana already knew. It was evident in the completely unorthodox events that had transpired in the past few weeks, beginning with her Trial and continuing through her apparent captivity in the Little Palace.

When Baghra had begun to talk about Kirigan's problems with "the Sun Summoner", Cresana's brow had knitted in confusion.

"Sun Summoner?" Cresana repeated skeptically, interrupting Baghra mid-sentence. The woman had regarded her with frank shock.

"You don't know?"

Cresana shook her head. Despite the Blades being tasked with protecting Grisha, Cresana had become increasingly more aware that she knew very little of the lore, politics, and language permeated Grisha culture.

"The Sun Summoner commands light." This time it was Ivan who spoke. Baghra nodded her agreement.

Cresana mulled this over in her mind. She knew enough of Grisha power to know that this power had never before been recorded in a Grisha. She also knew – or quickly surmised – that if the Sun Summoner commanded light, that positioned them as the natural opposing force to Kirigan, who commanded darkness.

"I see," Cresana stated after a few moments of contemplation.

Baghra had gone on to describe the Sun Summoner's discovery while crossing the Shadow Fold and her quick ascendency to power alongside Kirigan. Cresana was not shocked in the least to hear that Kirigan took an immediate and prying interest in the Sun Summoner. Cresana recognized early on that Kirigan wasn't just powerful, but also shrewd and intelligent. She had guessed (correctly, it would seem) that he would be the type of leader to make allies of anyone who could oppose him before they grew any the wiser. By the time the full strength of their power would rise enough to challenge him, they would be fully indoctrinated into his schemes. Otherwise, Cresana felt certain he would have them neutralized.

Therein lay Kirigan's trouble with this Sun Summoner. They were obviously too unique, too noteworthy, to neutralize, but it was also evident from Baghra's discussion that the Sun Summoner was not cooperating with Kirigan's plans.

"His plans worked, for a time," Baghra commented, gazing absentmindedly into the fire. "But, after a while, she got wise."

Baghra went on to describe how the Sun Summoner – a Shu named Alina Starkov – had slipped from General Kirigan's grasp and fled the palace. Baghra's story became less clear at this point as she referenced a variety of Grisha words Cresana was not familiar with, like "Morozova's stag" and "amplifiers" and something called "the Cut". It seemed that, at present, Alina Starkov and her much-sought-after Sun Summoning powers had disappeared across the True Sea, and that she was likely either hiding in Kerch or Novyi Zem.

Cresana vowed to listen, making every effort to retain the details, and decided to seek her own knowledge on these terms later rather than show her confusion to Baghra and Ivan. Although Cresana felt certain that Baghra meant her no harm, she also did not feel at ease. This was a test of sorts. Baghra was waiting for Cresana to do – or not do – something.

"And, that's why he wants to make you another Summoner," Baghra concluded simply. Hours had passed, and Cresana's head was swimming with these new terms and the intricate layers of deception that Kirigan had used towards his ultimate purpose: subjugation of Ravka. Baghra's comment lay heavy in the air as Cresana struggled to catch up in her mind. It was Ivan who first broke the silence after several moments; it seemed he too was reeling under the weight of these revelations.

"You cannot make a Grisha," he stated simply. As far as Cresana knew – as far as her training had prepared her – Ivan was correct. Grisha power was not something that could be taught, given, or imbued into another. It was a gift one was born with, or without. It could be refined over time with practice, but not gained from scratch.

"Aleksander believes he has found a way." The darkness in Baghra's voice belied her deep misgivings of Kirigan's ability – or perhaps his right – to do such a thing, but the finality of her tone made it clear that this was no trick. It seemed General Kirigan had indeed found a way to make a Grisha.

Ivan grimaced, his discomfort with the idea evident. Cresana too felt wary of this as it violated the foundations of everything she had been taught about Grisha magic. She also felt uncertain of how much to believe of Baghra's statements. The old woman was staring at her with such intent it felt invasive, waiting expectantly for Cresana's reaction. Knowing this, Cresana made a concerted effort to keep her face impassive and her tone disimpassioned.

"Why me?" Of the million questions in her head, Cresana settled on the vainest and the simplest.

Although Baghra seemed put off by the question, she answered perfunctorily.

"You're the perfect candidate. A highly trained assassin, impeccable bloodline, proven true servant to the Blade tradition. Aleksander is your Directive, so he feels confident in your loyalty."

Cresana had suspected that the Black General was her Directive after she had met with him so soon after her Trial. Although she tried her best to ignore it, a small flame of pride burst in her chest. Despite having limited familiarity with the Grisha world, all of the pupils at The Institute knew of the Black General. It was a known fact that he was the most powerful of all Grisha living, and also notably without a Blade. It was unusual for a Grisha so powerful to have gone so long without having a Blade assigned to their protection; for this reason, Cresana believed many of her pupils harbored the same vain ambition that she did: to be selected for the most prestigious assignment of all, to be Kirigan's Blade.

"How does he do it?" Ivan asked gruffly.

Baghra shrugged. "I don't know. I'm not sure anyone knows but him. There are rumors, of course. Several palace servants have gone missing over the years, and occasionally they would turn up, usually hundreds of miles from the Little Palace and... changed, somehow. None of them displayed Grisha power, but those who knew them best before they went missing all described some sort of darkness, some fundamental emptiness in their friends and loved ones."

Cresana wasn't sure how these disappearances or reappearances correlated to the idea that Kirigan could create Grisha, but she didn't have to ask that question.

"That doesn't mean anything. These are just an old woman's tales. These fumes have gotten to your head," Ivan sputtered, referencing the thick cloud of incensed smoke that hung in the hut. He was becoming increasingly agitated the longer Baghra spoke.

"Another strange point that all these missing servants shared was their blood," Baghra continued, trying to act unperturbed by Ivan's outburst.

"Their blood?" Cresana questioned.

"Yes," Baghra nodded. "It was black."

Ivan froze at this. Cresana watched him, as it was clear that this statement held significance for him that was lost on her. Ivan's eyes widened as he considered Baghra's latest revelation. The silence that fell in the hut was thick and weighty.

"You lie," he finally growled.

Baghra shook her head, returning Ivan's stare with equal intensity. She knew that, whatever the significance of black blood, this detail confirmed her story, at least in Ivan's eyes. Cresana waited, hoping that the two of them would break their silent exchange and illuminate her, but both seemed lost in their own thoughts.

"What does that mean?" Cresana finally asked.

Baghra turned her attention back to Cresana, her eyes narrowing in thought as she considered Cresana's latest question.

"My dear, there's only one other thing in this world that bleeds black. Volcra."

Cresana shivered involuntarily. The Volcra were the shadow beings that lived in the utter black of the Fold. She had been fortunate never to have encountered them firsthand, but the combination of her childhood stories and what she learned of them at The Institute during combat training were enough to assure her of their horror. Sightless, they relied on sound and smell to hunt and often did so in swarms. Evrity had encountered the Volcra during her crossing through the Fold on her way to The Institute, and she bore a gruesome scar from her right shoulder down across the length of her back to prove it. Evrity's younger siblings had been taken by the Volcra, lifted like ragdolls off the deck of the Sandskiff. Cresana knew these memories haunted Evrity; at night, Cresana had heard Evrity cry out their names in her sleep.

As disturbing as the connection was, Cresana remained confused as to the connection between servants bleeding black like Volcra and Kirigan's ability to make a Grisha. She voiced this confusion to Baghra.

"It's important, Cresana, because the Volcra are not just creatures. They were made into what they are by Grisha magic, back when the Unsea was first made hundreds of years ago."

Cresana considered this new fact closely. Interesting as it was, she remained unconvinced by this tenuous argument. As she weighed the significance of black blood, she met Baghra's gaze.

"You still don't see, do you, girl?" Baghra asked. Cresana's nostrils flared at the insult, but she restrained herself from reacting.

"If the Volcra were made, then what were they before?" Baghra asked rhetorically. Cresana shrugged, opting to let Baghra lead the conversation rather than offer any hypotheses.

"They were people once. Some of them Grisha, some of them not. They were made into Volcra by Grisha magic when the Black Heretic made the Unsea. They never bled black until they were changed by magic, and once they were changed they never returned to what they were."

"So you think that the General was able to make these servants into Grisha because they bled black, just like the Volcra after they were changed?" Ivan asked. Cresana was silently grateful that it was Ivan this time who volunteered to be the next focus of Baghra's irritation.

Baghra nodded, her exasperation mounting.

"Yes, finally, someone understand."

"But these servants, they never showed Grisha power?" Cresana asked.

Baghra shook her head, although hesitantly. "No," she replied. "Although they said that some of their compatriots did. The ones who we didn't find."

Baghra went on to explain that, although some of the servants had been found mysteriously months after disappearing, it was obvious that whoever had kidnapped and experimented on them (presumably the Black General) hadn't wished for their discovery. The servants talked of being robbed of sight, kept in darkness, while a silent torturer force fed them strange tinctures and asked them to "call on the Small Science", despite their protestations that they were not Grisha.

"One servant told me that one of his fellow prisoners produced a light in their cell," Baghra continued. Cresana was grateful that Baghra's information was flowing freely now. It seemed she had tired of Cresana and Ivan's apparent ignorance on the significance of the story.

"He said it looked like sunbeams pouring of out the man's hands. As soon as that happened, whoever was holding them took the man away and ordered the others executed. The servant I spoke with only escaped by being stabbed in the gut and buried alive for several days before he was able to drag himself out of the grave and used a nearby river to float to a township downstream. He died the next night, but not before I was able to hear what he had to say." With this, Baghra stood up and busied herself stoking the fire.

Cresana and Ivan stayed only but a short while longer, as Baghra had very little more to share on the subject. Since she had spoken to this escaped prisoner before his death almost a year ago, Baghra had become convinced that Kirigan was trying to find a way to create a Sun Summoner, one that he could rely on for loyalty and cooperation, unlike the Alina Starkov he had been so desperate to control. Baghra had little new evidence to present to support her claim, other than conjecture and her own deep-rooted suspicions about her son's lust for power.

When Cresana and Ivan eventually left Baghra's hut, Cresana felt a need to retreat and consider this new information. Throughout her time at The Institute, Cresana's Evaluators and other Blades had been firm on one consistent point regarding relations with the Grisha: do not involve or concern yourself with their intrigue. Cresana had always been a firm believer that, in keeping with the tradition of the Blades, she should never find herself embroiled in a scandal of any sort. That was not the place of a Blade, only a distraction. Her job was simply to protect her Directive, at any and all costs. Who she was to protect the Directive from, or for what reason, was of no consequence.

This approach was seductive in its simplicity, and Cresana felt still a strong sense of duty to live by it. However, if she was truly to become more than a Blade, did she not then have a right – or a need, even – to consider her role in the comings and goings of Ravka? The implications and unfamiliarity of this made Cresana uneasy, as did the very noticeable pride she saw in herself at being singled out as Kirigan's choice for such a role. She felt a tightness in her chest and the beginnings of a headache coming on, and she desperately needed to be alone with her thoughts. Although she was exhausted mentally, she knew she would not sleep that night.