⌜ chapter six ⌟

After crossing The True Sea into West Ravka, their group of five is now riding in a black, horse-drawn carriage into Novokribirsk. Kaz and Inej are sitting on one side, and Arya's annoyed because she's squished between Jesper and the Conductor — Arken — across from them.

"I didn't hire you simply to get us across the Fold." Kaz says, looking at Arken. "You're with us because you smuggle Grisha out of the Little Palace, and that's the location of our target."

"The Sun Summoner." Inej tells him.

"Alleged." He corrects as he looks at her.

"They wouldn't keep a fraud in the most secure location in all of Ravka." She argues.

"You said you have a contact who can get us inside." Kaz says as he looks back at Arken, getting back on topic. "A Heartrender."

"Mhm." He nods.

"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."

"Nina's a radical." Arken explains. "Thinks Grisha should get to choose if they serve the Crown. She despises involuntary service more than she does the Fjerdans."

It isn't much longer before they reach their destination, and Arya's more than a little relieved to finally be getting out of the carriage. Jesper chuckles as he looks down at her, and Kaz watches her as she links her arm with his to stay at his side as they walk.

The leader of the group starts toward the inn that they're parked outside of, and the others all follow after him. Arya and Jesper are talking quietly to each other, and Kaz finds himself straining as he tries to hear what's making her laugh. Jesper's talking too quietly — an annoying first for him — but what bothers Kaz most is that it bothers him at all.

The five of them walk inside the main entrance of the building, and the innkeeper looks up from the small stack of bills that he's counting. The quiet chatter between Jesper and Arya dies down as Arken asks about Nina, and they're given a room number.

The group makes it up, only to find the door wide open. "She knew to expect us." Arken says as they look around the empty room.

"She isn't late. She's gone." Kaz tells him, standing on the opposite side of the twin bed, looking down at her packed suitcase.

"That's disgusting." Arya says when she sees Jesper eat something off of a plate on the bedside table.

"Actually, it's quite good." He argues through a mouthful.

"You have no idea how long that's been sitting there."

"But her things are all..." Arken trails off when he closes the top of the suitcase, finding a pendant of a wolf head laying on the blanket.

"What is it?" Jesper asks, still chewing.

"Drüskelle." He tells them as he picks up the pendant. "They are ruthless Grisha hunters."

"Explains the Fjerdan krydda the innkeeper was counting when we arrived." Kaz says, and Arya starts toward the window. "It's likely he ratted her out."

"She's probably captive on a ship to Fjerda by now." Arken says.

"I like your world less and less every day." Arya mutters as she walks past Kaz, and he glances down at her.

"They had a clear line of attack." Inej tells him, and he then turns his attention to her as she stands by the window.

"Take a look." Kaz tells her, and she pulls her hood over her head as she turns to walk out the balcony doors. "Make sure there aren't any more surprises."

"You're disgusting." Arya says as she walks up in front of Jesper; he's still eating off the plate that he found.

"You haven't even tried it." He tries to shove a piece of a muffin into her mouth, and she pushes his hand away from her.

"That's because I value hygiene." The brunette chuckles as she moves away from him.

"Well, that's that." Arken says as he sits on the bed, and Kaz looks from Arya to him. "We've lost our way into the Little Palace."

"Such pessimism." Arya says as she turns to look at the men. "I'll get us in, it just won't be as easy without inside help."

"What will you do?" Jesper asks, and she smiles as her gaze meets his.

"Sorry, sweets. Explosives might not be an Arya talent, but getting into places she's not wanted definitely is." She tells him, and he smiles. "And there's always a way in."

"I knew I liked you for a reason."

The brunette looks over at Kaz then. "Any chance you can get those dirty hands on some blueprints?" She asks, and he smirks as his blue eyes look into her green ones.

He then walks past her, heading for the door, and the other three follow him out. They leave the front office, and Inej lands on her feet beside Kaz, coming from somewhere above. She tells them that they're clear before falling into step with their leader.

"This seems like a...reasonable juncture to abandon this whole Sun Summoner plan." Arken says, and they all stop and look at him.

"Abandon?" Kaz questions.

"No offense to your little friend's abilities."

"Little?" Arya's eyebrows furrow, and Jesper smirks as he drapes his arm around her shoulders.

"We're in this now." Kaz tells Arken. "And I know what a million kruge means to me. What does it mean to you?" He asks the others.

"Freedom." Inej says.

"Fun." Jesper smirks as he looks down at Arya. "Like, at least a few months." He says, and she chuckles.

"Pulling off this job means I'm that much closer to getting home to my brothers." Arya says.

"You're so adorable." He hugs her, and she pushes on him.

"Get off of me." She smirks as she walks past Kaz, wanting to get on with the job, but the others are waiting for Arken's answer to their leader's question.

"Retirement." He finally says.

"Right. So we press on." Kaz tells him. "You get us across the Fold, and I'll figure out the rest on the other side."

"Fine." Arken sets down his briefcase, then pulls out a small notepad from his jacket pocket. "To cross, I'll need...twenty pounds of alabaster coal. A peck of Majdaloun jurda — uh, not the kind from Kerch, it's too weak. And, uh..." He looks at Jesper. "A goat."

"Can I go with whoever gets the goat?" Arya asks, and she smiles when Kaz looks down at her as she walks back to his side. "They're cute."

"Now, we meet in the dead of night." Arken continues, his voice low. "There's a wreckage of a skiff northeast, on the edge of town. So, who gets what?"

"Inej, jurda." Kaz tells her, and she nods. "We'll get the goat." He glances at Arya before looking at Jesper. "And Jesper — just the coal, no detours."

Arya chuckles when Jesper smiles at him. "Yeah, right." The brunette scoffs. "Hey, bring me back a souvenir." She tells him, and he winks at her.

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"Little bitch." Arya grumbles as she looks at the goat that Kaz is holding as they walk side-by-side, and she hears him make a short noise. Looking up, she sees a smirk on his face. "Is that a smile?" She asks, and he looks at her. "And here I didn't think you were capable."

"Everyone's capable. I just happen to find you annoying."

The brunette smiles as she looks away from him. "That's not what Poppy said." She tells him, and he looks back at her to find that she's watching straight ahead of them.

"Meaning?" He questions, blue eyes narrowed, and she smirks.

"She thinks you like me."

"Poppy's delusional."

"Possibly." She nods. "Doesn't make her wrong."

He shakes his head as they continue walking, but doesn't further the argument with her. She eventually stops, getting in Kaz's way, and he looks at her to see what's wrong, but she's looking down at the baby goat.

"Why did you bite me, but you seem to like him?" The brunette questions.

"He has good taste." Kaz says, and she narrows her eyes as she looks up at him.

"Or evil likes evil." She argues, and he smirks as he looks away from her. Arya hesitantly reaches out and starts petting the goat, and he seems okay with her now. "See, I knew that I could win you over. The evil ones always like me too." She says, talking to the goat.

"Because you're evil as well?"

"I don't know that I am, but it does seem to run in my blood." She tells him. "Or maybe I am. I don't know... Some of my decisions could certainly be considered questionable."

"What decisions?" He asks, and she hesitates as she looks up at him again, but she doesn't answer. Instead, he watches as she turns around and starts walking again.

"So..." Arya glances at Kaz when he falls into step at her side. "Is trusting anyone in general difficult for you? Or is it me specifically?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I found Poppy's theory about you liking me amusing, and maybe a little flattering, but that doesn't mean I believed it. So I don't think you chose to get the goat so that you could spend time around me because I asked to go with whoever got him. And it doesn't take a genius to know that it would've been the smarter move for you to get the coal while Jesper came with me to get the goat." She reasons. "You can't really blame me for thinking that you're still keeping an eye on me because you don't trust me."

"I left you with Poppy, didn't I?"

"Yeah, because you knew that she was right." She looks over at him. "She kept my clothes, by the way. Said they were a disgrace and she was going to burn them."

He nods, a smirk on his face. "Sounds like her."

"So why didn't you send Jesper with me to get this little hell spawn?" Arya asks as she looks down at the goat that's tucked into his side.

"Aside from when you were with Poppy, the last time I left you alone, you were attacked by men who were looking for me." He says, and she looks back at him. "I prefer to deal with my enemies myself."

"So you're stuck with me because you feel guilty that I was attacked?" She questions. "Or is this meant to be a means of protection?"

"Does it really matter?" He asks, and she shakes her head as she looks away from him.

"I guess not. I was just...curious, I guess."

"They want you to believe the Sun Summoner has been found to finally tear down that wall that divides us." A male voice gets their attention, and Arya looks up to see a man on a stage talking to a large crowd of people. Kaz stops to look at a poster, and she turns to face him. "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?"

"What is it?" She asks when he keeps walking to look at the man on the stage, but Kaz doesn't answer. "And he's back to not talking to me. Great." She mutters as she follows closely behind him; they're now walking through the crowd of people who are listening to the man's speech.

"It's time to accept that we need to break away from the old country." He continues. "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."

"What the hell?" Arya moves closer to Kaz when she sees a bunch of people wearing large masks that look like monsters, and he glances down at her for a moment.

"For the true Ravka!"

"I swear to God, if another random person touches me..." The brunette's jaw tightens as her fingers curl around Kaz's coat. "Do we have to stand in the middle of this crowd?"

"Do you have to stand so close to me?" Kaz asks as he looks down at her.

"I could start stabbing the men who keep brushing up against me, if you'd prefer."

"Who gave you a knife?"

"Poppy."

"Of course she did." He shakes his head as he starts walking again, and she stays close to him.

"Kaz-"

"What?" He stops, and she bumps into him as he turns, causing the goat to start making noises.

"Has anyone ever told you that your positive attitude is one of your most attractive features?"

He grinds his teeth. "Are you trying to irritate me?"

"No. I was trying to show you that." She motions with her head as she looks away from him, and he follows her gaze to see Arken disappear into a tent with the man who was just giving the speech on stage. "But I apologize if my disdain for being touched by creepy old men has put you in a bad mood. I'll just bear it silently next time."

Arya moves away from him then, and Kaz sighs as he turns to look at her, watching her as weaves between people in the dispersing crowd. She avoids them as she heads in a direction that seems to be her destination, and he heads that way as well.

"Where's Kaz?" Inej asks when she glances to her left and sees Arya pass behind her.

"I left his royal highness by the stage."

"You two seem to enjoy fighting."

"I hate fighting." Arya tells her as Kaz walks up the few steps to where they're standing. "I've been fighting my entire life, but I accepted a long time ago that that's how things will always be."

Inej looks over at Kaz, seeing the goat tucked under his arm. "He's adorable."

"Don't get attached." He tells her.

"The little shit bit me." Arya mutters as she takes a few steps away from them.

"I didn't think I'd have to specify no detours to you." Kaz says, talking to Inej.

"Even if just a few minutes could end a lifetime of questions?" She asks, and takes a few steps closer to him.

"Your parents are Suli. They don't cross the Fold. They go around."

"I know." She nods. "I just thought...that if I saw the names on there, I could let the idea of them go. This thing?" She pulls a bit of cloth that's around her neck from under her clothes. "This was all that I had when I was sold to the Menagerie. And if it was worth anything, Heleen would've 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." He cuts her off. "It clouds your judgement. Pray, scream, do whatever you have to do to push this out of your mind and move on. We all have debts to pay."

Inej follows after him when he walks away from her, and Arya takes a deep breath before walking down the steps as well. She catches up to them easily, and then stays beside Inej, both of them behind Kaz.

"Do you remember them?" Arya asks, and Inej glances at her. "Your parents — do you remember their faces? Anything about them?"

"Yes."

"Then that token of faith that you wear — it isn't all that you have left of your parents. You have your memories, and what you feel when you think back on them." She tells her. "That's not nothing, Inej, that's everything. So remember them, and let that be what pushes you forward."

"You've lost someone." She says as she looks at her.

"I've lost everyone."

"I meant when you were young." She amends, and Arya takes a deep breath as she continues to stare forward.

"My mother died when I was twelve." She tells her. "She got sick, and there was nothing that could be done for her. My brother and I went to get something for her, and when we got back, we were told that...our father had sent her away. She died in a tuberculosis ward not long after. We didn't even get to say goodbye.

"But I remember her. I remember her smile, and I remember the stories she told when she put us to bed at night. I remember her kindness... So she may be gone, but I still have a piece of her. I don't have a ring or a necklace, nothing that I can physically hold or touch. But she lives in my memories, and I've never let that go."

"You have nothing of hers?" Inej asks.

"My father wasn't a kind man. I don't think he ever really cared about anyone but himself." She scoffs. "After he sent her away, he got rid of her things. There was nothing left of her in the house when he was done. None of her clothes, her jewelry, her pictures were packed away...and there was none of her kindness left either. We only had our memories."