inspired by this
There is one word that will without a doubt send Polunochnaya into a fury like nothing else. It’s become a bit of a Kill Switch for her. She doesn’t care what people call her, so long as it isn’t this particular word.
Witch.
She hates it with an absolute venom because the Zorya were caught up in a witch trial in Doruchów back in the 18th century. They were accused of being witches because of their strange nature, old fashioned habits which seemed like witchcraft to Humans and their casual use of prophecy.
Their home was broken into, their belongings were destroyed as ‘tools of witchcraft’ and all three were tortured and nearly burned: had it not been for Czernobog bursting in with his hammer, they likely wouldn’t have been able to escape since their powers were so heavily depleted from the lack of worship (and in this case, being subjected to the opposite of worship). It’s because of that witch hunt that the sisters emigrated to America- they took their time getting there, spending a few years in France, then England, and then finally over to America in 1799- and none of them have ever been back to any of the Slavic countries since. The closest they’ve gone is to Germany, and even then it was only for a short while.