Shadows: A Six of Crows Fan fic

Chapter 6: Inej

A/N Sorry for being a little late on this one, I jammed my finger and now I can't type that fast. I also apologize in advance because I most likely won't be updating again until Friday next week. Going on vacation, whoop whoop!

They were going back to Ketterdam. Captain Ghafa and her first mate had been debating the idea of what to do next for over an hour in her cabin and this had become their final decision. Inej was both excited and a little disappointed to be going back so soon. On the one hand, she was excited to see her friends again and to tell them everything about what it was like. On the other, she now knew that she loved the open sea and that her decision to hunt slavers was the right one, she really wasn't wanting to leave the ocean this soon. The most varying factor of all for her was a certain dark haired barrel boss that still hadn't thanked her for his new hat. But that was an issue she would think about when she stepped foot on dry land again.

For now, there were other matters to think about. The main reason Specht and her had decided to go back was because they needed more supplies. Technically they could just have restocked in Ravka, but their connections made things cheaper in Ketterdam and at the moment, they weren't doing too hot on the funds department. Another reason was that Inej was yet to be a skilled enough captain to go against a real slaver ship, and Specht wanted to give her more time to train with the schooner both on sea and on land where it was safer to teach her things. She'd learned a lot since when Kaz first showed her the boat, but it wasn't enough yet. There was lots more to know and Inej was eager to soak in every bit of information.

Plus, they also needed to gather more intel on slaver routes and which ships would be the best to attack first, given their current lack of experience. The idea of gathering information on dry land like in the old days was comforting to her. She'd been surrounded by the new and the surprising for over a week now and the thought of doing something she knew she excelled at lifted her spirits. Sometimes, failing to tie the right knot 50 times in a row could be demoralizing. And why were there so many different kinds? She loved the challenge and her mission, but sometimes the task of learning it all was disheartening. Inej figured Specht had seen her need for a break in the slump of her shoulders and bags under her eyes and used that as one of his unsaid reasons for going back.

She wouldn't fight him on that one. No matter how much her heart pounded for some real action and progress.

Currently she was sitting at her desk in her captain's quarters numbly staring at the wall in front of her as the rocking of the ship lulled her mind deeper into a state of paralysis. Specht had just left her cabin minutes earlier muttering something about checking on the night crew. She enjoyed his presence and valued him and the rest of the crew highly, but she savored these moments on the ship alone. Most of her days since setting sail, even since the end of the Van Eck job, had been spent learning, training, and being around other people. Much of that time she was expected to act like a captain, to make orders, make herself known, heard. It was a much different life she was choosing to learn compared to her old one.

Serving with the Dregs, her main goal had always been to stay hidden. To avoid letting other people know that she was there, watching them, listening to them. In the past, if she earned someone's attention by what she did, it would me that she was failing her job. Now it meant that she was doing something right. She would be lying if she said she didn't enjoy this new life. She liked finally being able to be heard, seen, listened too, obeyed. She loved being the one in command. She loved that if she screamed and yelled about someone's injustice, she had a full crew of people that would rally around her and fight with her.

But she would also be lying if she said that she didn't miss the moments when she was alone, running a top the roofs of Ketterdam, or perched on the precipice of a building staring out at the city skyline. She missed the way that the familiar wind would ripple past her hair and brush her skin like an old friend. The way that the din of the city would fade away under its rustling and whistling so that it would become a little bubble world high above everyone else where she could just exist, and be, and not need to fear, or worry, or doubt, or do anything. She could just... rest.