Ravens and Crows

Chapter 24 ~Jesper~

Wylan was in his crafting kick, which meant going into the basement and trying to blow it up without actually blowing it up.

I knocked on the door as another boom shook it on its hinged. "You still alive in there, Wy?"

The door opened and smoke poured out. Slightly recognizable through the black haze was the emerging form of my smoke covered boyfriend.

"Did something catch on fire?" Wylan asked, then let out a coughing fit.

"Not yet," I said. "But maybe you should take a break from all the smoke for a second and get some breakfast."

Wylan let out another cough. "Sounds good to me, just let me wash up."

There were heavy footsteps above us and when I turned to look behind me I found Ronan, shirtless, at the top of the stairs wiping at the smoke rising up from the basement. "Jesus fucking Christ, you guys need a smoke alarm."

"What's a smoke alarm?" Wylan asked me when Ronan turned to leave.

I just shrugged and followed Wylan up the stairs.

"What have you been working on?" I asked Wylan once we get to the washroom.

Wylan takes off his goggles and his shirt and starts wiping himself clean with a wet towel. "Just a little something new. Kaz was saying the new merchant was inferni, right?" He splashes some water on his face and some of his strawberry curls darken and sink against his face. "So I'm trying to  come up with something that releases nitrogen."

I was so distracted by Wylan's chest I'm fairly sure my mouth was hanging open.  "I, um." I shook my head. "Wait, what's the nitrogen for?"

Wylan starts toweling off his chest and- sweet Ghezen- he's facing me and his chest and- "The nitrogen helps put out the fire."

"The fire?" Why are we talking about fire? I wonder. What's going on?

"You're not paying attention, are you?" Wylan tilts his head and narrows his eyes in a mischievous way.

I shake my head. "Not a single word that came out of your beautiful little mouth." I stop slouching against the door frame and take a step towards him. "Your mouth on the other hand, well, I've been paying very close attention to that."

Wylan laughs and shakes his head. "Your lips aren't too bad either." He teases.

"We should compare." I smirk, taking another step towards him.

"We definitely should." He agrees closing the distance by taking a step towards me.

I would say the results were inconclusive.

~-~

When we get to the kitchen after a few minutes of comparing our mouths, Ronan was snacking on the food one of the Van Eck maids had put out and he was talking to Alys.

"So you sing?" He was asking.

"Oh, yes." Alys beamed at Ronan. "Would you like to hear me sing something?"

Ronan shook his head. "Oh, no. Definitely not." He noticed me and Wylan and smiled his devilish grin. "Ah, my favorite gays, what took you so long? And what was that big thud in the bathroom?" The smirk on his face said he knew exactly what took us too long and had a pretty good guess on what the thud was.

"What did you call them?" Alys asked looking confused. "Gays?"

"Yeah, it means..." Wylan looked around the room like it would give him answers. "Uh...nope, I've got nothing."

Ronan turned toward Alys, then leaned in and smiled at her. "It means we like the men."

Alys did a double take and Wylan went so red he matched the scabs on his knuckles.

Thank Ghezen, there was a knock on the door.

"I'll get that." Wylan said, scurrying off to the front door.

I went to take a seat next to Ronan. "You have less tact than Kaz does."

"Adam is my tact, or Gansey, neither are here." Ronan said. "That leaves you with the always pleasing, harsh, tactless, truth that I supply."

I gave a little laugh and picked on some fruit. "Lucky us."

"Since when are we lucky?" A voice down the hall says. "I thought Kaz was just irritatingly smart." Nina enters the kitchen with Wylan behind her and Inej and Kaz behind him.

"The whole gang's here," I said. "What's the occasion."

"I was talking to some of the captains I know," Inej said plucking an apple from the table. "The merchant is coming tomorrow. Guns blazing."

"What does 'guns blazing' contain." Ronan asked.

"Other grisha," Nina said. "There's a rumor about parem, too. Also a couple soldiers from a hire on force."

I whistled. "That's a little excessive, don't you think?"

"What's the plan?" Wylan asked Kaz.

Kaz shook his head. "You start."

Wylan's lip quirked down and he stared at the floor. "Do you think the Council of Tides would draw in the tides to stop the ship from coming in?"

"Ships," Inej corrected.

"And," Kaz added, "that doesn't insure their stopped. They could always walk in from their ships."

"So we need to stop their ships before they port, and we need to really stop them." Wylan said.

"I can assist the best I can," Inej said, "but my ship won't last long against that many ships."

"How many are we talking?" Ronan asked.

"Five," Kaz says. "Five big, war ships."

I shake my head. "How are we supposed to destroy five ships? We'd need a miracle, or a really big bomb." I look at Wylan. "Can you make that?"

"In one day," Wylan said, "defiantly not. What I'm working on will do some damage, sure, but they're focused more on putting out the fires than destroying ships. Plus, even if I do make that big of a bomb, how are we going to put it on the ship and then leave quick enough so we don't blow up with the other ships when it goes off?"

"Can't you make a delayed fuse?" Kaz asked.

Wylan tilts his head side to side. "I don't know, that would have to be really delayed and we run the risk of them putting it out before it can go off."

"So the bombs out," I conclude. "I guess we really do need a miracle."

Ronan picked at his bracelets for a bit, then sighed. "Or a really big dream."

We all stared at him.

"You can do that?" Nina asked.

Ronan nods.

"You'll help?" Wylan asked.

Ronan rubs the back of his head. "I'll try."

I'm sorry it's been a bit. It's been a really fun week for me (read that last part with intense sarcasm) I'll be back to updating weekly again. -RW