An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
"No survivors. No survivors. No survivors. The words ricocheted around Jesper’s mind like a stray bullet. He'd already lost too much. They all had. They had bled, and lost, and fought - Inej had fought harder than any of them, had wrung her dream out of a living nightmare. No survivors. Jesper’s fingers slid to his revolvers. He needed to shoot something, right that second, or he was going to lose his saints damned mind."
News of a shipwreck reaches Ketterdam.
chapter 2 is up !! no I didn’t kill inej. yes I am exploiting the what-if-they-thought-she-was-lost-at-sea angle to its full angsty potential
Update: after I reblogged this someone messaged me offering me tickets to the sold out Hausu screening with a Q&A and autograph session with the director
Inej Ghafa was strong; gifted; balanced. But when she was around Kaz, those traits either doubled or dwindled. She could be weak around him; damaged; scared. She could also take down seven men with one wave of Kaz’s black-gloved hand.
Four years since their infamous Ice Court robbery; four years since Kaz had waved goodbye to Inej–
The Wraith is finally back in Ketterdam, but she didn’t come just to feed the crows.
Warnings: PTSD and touch aversion trauma implications, reference to past violence. General SOC/CK content references.
truly love that every clip I’ve seen of jesper and inej interacting she’s smiling, while when her gaze is directed at kaz she looks about ready to kill a man (he is the man)
“Mister Fahey,” Kaz said quietly. “You know what they say about walking in a cow pasture?”
Jesper’s brows shot up, and Nina had to stifle a nervous laugh. What did the bastard of the Barrel know about cow pastures?
“Keep your head down and watch your step,” Colm replied.
Kaz nodded. “Just think of Ketterdam as a really big cow pasture.” The barest smile tugged at the furrow of Colm’s mouth. “Give us three days to get your money and get you and your son out of Kerch safely.”
could this just be a throwaway line that I’m reading too far into? absolutely. but this has struck me as interesting every time I reread this scene. context: this is at the tail end of their first proper group conversation with colm fahey, confused and concerned about jesper and ketterdam, fresh from his farm in novyi zem. and they’ve all been covering for jesper over the course of the conversation, but right before the quote above, colm is getting much closer to full discomfort; he wants to leave ketterdam altogether with jesper.
but then kaz comes in with that question about cow pastures. it doesn’t quite fit the conversation- they were trying to get colm to settle in as he grew more doubtful about the city. it made little sense to everyone else that kaz just abruptly brought up a niche aspect of rural life. but kaz knew saying that would get colm to lower his guard by reminding him of something familiar that colm could understand when he felt so out of his depth.
Kaz is obsessed with the mythology he’s built for himself. we all talk about how he said “my mother is Ketterdam. she birthed me in the harbor. and my father is profit. I honor him daily.” he likes people to think he’s a boy from the city and always has been; he buries his roots from rural kerch because kaz rietveld died and he loathes that part of himself, the boy he used to be. but he abandons that ruse for jesper’s sake to convince his father to stay, because that was the best way to do it despite kaz’s secrecy about his past. kaz knows he and the faheys have a shared, relatable history, even as jesper and nina are taken aback because they don’t have context. case in point- kaz knows every angle to play and how to manipulate people, and yes he needed colm for his schemes, but he also did it for jesper (and to de-escalate the situation)
(because kaz most definitely cares about jesper no matter how he might try to deny it)
another interesting thing- kaz repeatedly uses the honorific “mister fahey.” none of the other crows do. like I said above, he definitely does that to make himself appear more trustworthy to colm as a manipulation tactic, so that his plans can fall into place more easily. but also, an earlier exchange between kaz and colm in that scene is “Can I trust you?” “No.” “Can I trust you to help Jesper?” “Yes.” so really, that should be enough for colm to be sold. again- I know kaz does all this to ensure colm’s compliance, because he’s thorough and wants everything to run smoothly. but it also raises an interesting point that i’ve seen several people talk about: the lack of proper authority figures for the dregs. for every other adult kaz has faced, he speaks to them with outright disdain (when he called per haskell “sir” that one time, even haskell called kaz out because it was so abnormal). but with colm he’s strangely cordial and respectful multiple times. tie that in with the jesper/kaz fight much later at the geldrenner, where they both looked guilty, and you have a very interesting dynamic established between colm and all the crows (but especially kaz)
TLDR- I read too far into everything, kaz manipulates colm fahey (but i also think he respects him in an odd way), and colm basically adopted the dregs as one of the few trustworthy adults in their lives
okay but ! the possibilities brought up by inej having a brother ! trying to find/protect him in the way jordie couldn’t protect kaz ! if their “emotional” conversation is in any way about their siblings I’m going to die
