Nina stood outside the apartment door for far too long, staring at it. She was being a coward and she didn't know why. Maybe because some part of her was afraid that Inej would disapprove, or judge her, or--

She didn't know. But Inej was her best friend, and somehow she was the hardest person to tell. Her opinion would mean the most.

Finally she made herself knock and put on a smile. No need to be grim when Inej answered the door. At least she was certain that Kaz wasn't home. She didn't need him hearing this before she told Geralt.

The entire walk to the house in the woods felt heavy. At first she had written off a few strange symptoms as simply feeling off, but it hadn't taken much at all to know for certain. A part of her felt terrible that she'd already spoken to two other people without telling Geralt first, but she needed-- she needed to get her thoughts out. To come to terms with the reality. She still wasn't entirely sure how she felt about everything, but Greta and Inej were right: she had to talk to Geralt. That would make everything clear.

Or at least, she hoped so.

It had been more than a month since the strange shooting star in Darrow, since so many people fell victim to weird wishes. Nina knew this was some strange fall out from that, but it hadn't disappeared when everything went back to normal. If it had, well. She wouldn't be walking this slowly.

The cabin was more furnished now than it had been a month ago, cozy and comfortable to live in. Nina took a deep breath and let it go slowly; she focused on her own pounding heart and slowed it down, forcing her body to calm. She tried to do the same for the churning in her stomach. She didn't know why she was so anxious: this could have one of just a handful of outcomes, and she would be fine no matter what.

When she saw Geralt out in the little garden he'd started, she smiled. Whether she liked it or not, she'd become terribly fond of this man. She was rather certain she loved him, but she still held tight to that word, afraid of it.

"Oh good, you're home," she said with a smile. A breeze whipped the skirt of her dress: she always wore red when she did her tailoring and Grisha work in the city.

After winter's first real bitter snap, Nina was pleased to find Geralt of Rivia spending more time in the city, either in his own apartment or hers. She'd made it clear that he was welcome to stay with her as often and as long as he wanted. She lived on the top floor, which meant no noise from above, and she kept a comfortable home these days. She gave him a key and left the invitation open.

She'd been looking for jobs for a few months; maybe she was being too picky. She helped Geralt when he had jobs that she could be useful for, and she'd started a small side business doing tailoring and "aura calming." She didn't have Genya's talent for it, but she had some skill, especially since Inej started helping her find things to include in her tailoring kit to make the things she needed.

She did most of her work out of her apartment, which meant that some days she had clients leaving or getting work done when Geralt came in from the woods.

"The effects will fade in a week," she warned the middle-aged man that had been sitting at her kitchen table. "Likely the hair first, then skin, then the eyes. If you want it to last longer, you'll have to come for touch-ups."

Nina ushered him to the door and winked at Geralt when she saw him come in.

Nina hadn't really visited the beach much since her arrival, save once. And that had been a moonlight date to dispose of a corpse, so she wasn't sure it really counted. The day found her in green, her hair loose and lightly curling. She'd let it dry naturally that morning and the sea air was already doing its work. The breeze made it flutter around her legs and she quite liked it.

She wondered if she could coax Geralt out of the woods to show it off; maybe she would just go see him again, if he was up for it. She still felt bad about what happened, even if the witcher insisted it wasn't her fault. She should have more control, surely.

She was just starting to brood when she caught sight of someone else doing the same. A man leaning on the rail, looking out to sea like it had all the answers - or worse, like it had none. Inej would call what she was about to do silly; Kaz would call it pointless. But she bought herself a rich hot chocolate from a nearby stand, and she got a second one before she slipped over and leaned on the rail next to the man.

Nina looked out to sea and offered her second cup over.

"You looked like you could use this as much as I did."

Nina was feeling.. festive. Or she wanted to. The weather had finally turned again after a brief heat wave and the nights were chilly and the days were crisp. She could smell woodsmoke and dying leaves and it was absolutely wonderful.

So she called in Inej, hoping to gently root her out. She asked the Suli girl to meet her at a craft store in town - she had plans to make something from home, and maybe Inej was Suli first and Ravkan by chance, but Nina wanted to make something for her, too.

Despite harboring a lingering anger for the way Inej had broken into her apartment to make a point to Geralt, she did smile when she saw her friend.

"I'm going to make flower crowns," she announced happily. "And I need you to make sure I don't spend all of my money."

Nina stood outside A Stitch In Time for a moment, considering and hugging a folder to her chest. Then she pushed the door open, glancing back at the bell as she passed through. It wasn't the first shop she'd walked into that had one, but she rather liked the sound of that one.

She hesitated just inside the door. She'd never quite done anything like this before, not for herself, and she wasn't entirely sure how to go about it other than by what she could guess from past clients or Kaz Brekker.

And she didn't often ask Kaz Brekker for advice on anything. But at least he had given her the name of his tailor.

The day saw her in a dress to suit the weather, though she had started carrying around a shawl with her at all times, just in case.