Only a Game

Nigel's Tent

 The thief, the spy, the grisha heartrender, the sharpshooter, and the runaway walked through the courtyard behind the Serpiente House, the sky dark as storm clouds rolled in, thunder booming in the distance, reflecting the unease that had been coiling in their stomachs since they'd seen Legend's second clue. They were five crows, Nina thought, even as hurt struck deep at the thought of there being only five of them and not six. They may not all be active in the gang anymore, but they had all survived and they had kept surviving, having each other's backs no matter what. They never stopped fighting. We are crows.

None of them knew who this Nigel was or what he'd want from them, but the moment Nina had read his name on the slip of paper, dread had filled her from head to toe, and she'd had to eat three full waffles to mostly shake off the feeling.

The courtyard was filled with multiple empty tents, all of them looking brand new and ready for business. She glanced at the others' faces, searching for any sign of the unease that was plaguing her. All of them had masked their faces into stone, only showing their determinedness. Nina schooled her own features into nothing but solid strength.

Kaz stopped in front of them, gesturing forward to a solid black tent, the only one that was tattered and worn. "I think that one's his." The tent in question had a sign hanging from it reading Fortune-Telling.

"Are we all going in?" Wylan looked around, asking not so he could skip the experience, but so that he could determine if any of them felt uncomfortable with going in.

His question was met with nods all around.

Kaz opened the flap of the tent with the crow head of his cane and immediately Nina could smell the ice and snow of Fjerda. She could smell him. His ice blue eyes flashed once in her mind and her heart ached at the longing.

Everyone else had stiffened as well, and Nina wondered what each of them had felt when the tent was opened. Nina nudged Inej, trying to distract her from whatever had caused the stricken look on her face. It was Kaz who recovered first, masking his face into a cold blank stare and taking the first step inside. She wondered what Kaz had seen most of all.

----

Inej could smell home again. The smell of the wide countryside and open plains where her family roamed, having shows every night and eating skillet bread by a fire, laughing at the stories her father would tell them. She could see her cousins and relatives at the circus. She could see The ribbons her cousins twirled. She could see the smiles on all their faces, and the shock when they'd seen her perform for the first time. She'd gone back to Ravka for some time when she had first gotten her ship. She'd rekindled her old friendships, met with forgotten relatives, and settled back as well as she could. But she'd left when she realized that it would never be the same again. She'd been gone so long, done so much. She was almost a stranger to her family. They'd welcomed her back with open arms, but she knew that her past self was gone and that she could never again be that fourteen year old girl whose worst experiences were having a bad hair day or hurting herself on the wire.

Inej felt a nudge against her and, immediately knowing it was Nina, breathed out. She cast a look inside the open flap of the tent as Kaz Brekker walked inside, following him into the dark.

----

Jesper was with his mother again. Aditi Hilli's sweet laugh filled his ears. Jesper was back at home, a child again with his father and mother. The days of the past they had spent in the fields farming jurda were the days of his present again. The smell of jurda wafted all around him and his mother's smile filled his sight as she tucked him into bed, singing her a song and whispering to him all the while. He could see his father and mother dancing to a song in their heads in the living room of their house as he watched them, sipping juice on the stairs. His mother pulled him into the dance as well and soon they were all sweaty and out of breath, but still content.