Dirty Hands (Kaz Brekker One Shots)

Winter Solstice

Trying out something different. Hope you like it!

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Inej had made a habit of secretly following Kaz whenever he decided to go on one of his early morning walks.

After he had convinced Per Haskell to pay off her indenture to Tante Heleen, she had started tailing him in hopes of collecting information on him —⁠she was familiar with the rumours and stories people liked to spread around, but she wanted to witness the events with her own eyes, wanted to learn all she could from the safety of the shadows.

Kaz had caught her on a couple of occasions, and he had very sternly reminded her what the consequences would be if he ever did again, but that had only fuelled her determination to become truly invisible.

Over time, nevertheless, her desire had inadvertently changed its course. She had become the Wraith, had made herself somewhat at home with the Dregs, and had allowed herself to dream about the future. She started watching over the thief instead —even when he sent her away on missions, her gaze inevitably travelled to the buildings she knew she could usually find him in. She carved a little nook in her heart for him.

Inej brought her long braid out of her woolly hood to play with the soft tips of her hair as she watched the docks from the roof of an old building nearby. She had never managed to understand what was so important about the boats coming from faraway lands on the coldest season to bring the thief to the harbour that early in the mornings, but she enjoyed the salty smell of the ocean and the distant mews of the seagulls flying over the sailors' heads.

She rested her elbows on the elevated ledge of the run-down rooftop and let the wintery wind graze her cheeks. She didn't love the recent drop in temperatures, they made the walls slippery and bitter for her fingers, but she recognized they had been most unkind to her boss: she noticed it in the way he limped heavily in those untimely hours, leaning uncomfortably on his ornate cane as he wandered through the cobbled streets. Sometimes she wondered, in vain, if she should abandon her hiding spot and offer a supporting hand.

The Suli girl eyed the thief as he crossed the entrance to Dock 5. She had dared to ask Jesper once about this strange habit of his, but the gunslinger had had no explanation for it besides him probably wanting to make sure the newly arrived goods were in decent shape, and she knew that wasn't the case.

Kaz himself had put people in charge of doing that —she saw them arriving when they both commenced their retreat back to the Slat—, and he never looked in the boxes the sailors unloaded onto the harbour. No, the leader of the Dregs seemed to be looking for something... or someone.

Inej observed him intently as he scanned the sailing boats and ships, and, as always, she was witness to the suppressed disappointment in his features when it dawned on him that he would, once again, return home empty-handed.

She tucked her braid back into her hood and rubbed her gloved hands together. She would have been in her right to assume that that day wouldn't be any different, but something inside her told her to wait, to remain in her hiding spot until Kaz himself made his way back to the bumpy streets.

Jesper's voice echoed in her mind, telling her about curiosity and the cat, and she suddenly felt a slight pinch of guilt. It was true that she was intruding in Kaz's private affairs and that it could come back to bite her if he ever found out about it, but it had been him who had taught her that information was worth more than money in that forsaken city. He had taught her how to be the spider on the wall, and now she wove her webs, even if she didn't intend to use them.