#soc chapter 16

[stromuprisahat]

“He was afraid for you.” “Kaz isn’t afraid of anything.” “You should have seen his face when he brought you to me.” “I’m a very valuable investment.” Nina’s jaw dropped. “Tell me he didn’t say that.” “Of course he did. Well, not the valuable part.” “Idiot.” “How’s Matthias?” “Also an idiot. Do you think you can eat?”

Six of Crows- Chapter 16 (Leigh Bardugo)

[stromuprisahat]

... Wylan sketched a second peacock feather over Inej’s skin. Nina paused, “You’re sure?” Inej took a deep breath. “It’s war paint,” she said, both to Nina and herself. “It’s my mark to take.” “It’s also temporary,” Nina promised. “I’ll remove it as soon as we’re in the harbor.”

Six of Crows- Chapter 28 (Leigh Bardugo)

... She [Nina] brushed her thumb gently over the bumps and ridges. It must have been the peacock feather, the tattoo borne by members of the Menagerie, the House of Exotics. Whoever had removed it had done an ugly job of it.

Six of Crows- Chapter 14

Inej was quiet for a while. “You saw my scars.” Nina nodded. “When Kaz got Per Haskell to pay off my indenture with the Menagerie, the first thing I did was have the peacock feather tattoo removed.”

Six of Crows- Chapter 16

The way Inej doesn't only make the conscious decision to take on the mark she hates so much, to achieve her goal allowing her to fight against the very thing said mark symbolizes, but verbally reassigns another meaning to it...

She's incredibly self-aware. The most mature of the Crows, but perhaps even all of Grishaverse POV characters, allegedly older ones including.

[stromuprisahat]

Mighty young captain, bold on the sea. Soldier and sailor and free of disease—

Nina Zenik singing; Six of Crows- Chapter 16 (Leigh Bardugo)

I have questions.

Namely:

Is this song about Sturmhond?

Did someone from his crew write it?

Did he?

Who taught Nina sing it?

[stromuprisahat]

She wasn’t even supposed to be in the wagon the morning the slavers took her. She’d been fourteen, and her family had been summering on the coast of West Ravka ... Later, Inej learned that the coast was a popular location for slavers. They’d spotted the Suli caravan from their ship and rowed in after dawn when the camp was all but deserted. The rest of the journey was a blur. She was thrown into a cargo hold with a group of other children—some older, some younger, mostly girls but a few boys, too. She was the only Suli, but a few spoke Ravkan, and they told their own stories of being taken. One had been snatched from his father’s shipyard; another had been playing in the tide pools and had strayed too far from her friends. One had been sold by her older brother to pay off his gambling debts. The sailors spoke a language she didn’t know, but one of the other children claimed they were being taken to the largest of Kerch’s outer islands, where they would be auctioned to private owners or pleasure houses in Ketterdam and Novyi Zem. People came from all over the world to bid. Inej had thought slaving was illegal in Kerch, but apparently it still happened.

Six of Crows- Chapter 16 (Leigh Bardugo)

So, if we're to believe this passage, Novyi Zem has slavery including the sexual kind. Some liberal paradise, isn't it?!

It's also nice comparing this chapter with whatever the show thought they're doing with Inej's character. Not only book!Inej has severe PTSD triggered when walking West Stave alone, she's remembering other children, who were kidnapped alongside her. I guess having a younger brother sharing her fate made her more selfish and numb to other forms of trauma... who needs a boat to hunt down slavers, when you can sell another girl to look for your kin, right?

[stromuprisahat]

“Kaz said if I proved myself I could join the Dregs when I was ready. And I did. But I didn’t take the tattoo.” Nina’s brows rose. “I didn’t think it was optional.” “Technically it isn’t. I know some people don’t understand, but Kaz told me … he said it was my choice, that he wouldn’t be the one to mark me again.”

Six of Crows- Chapter 16 (Leigh Bardugo)

[stromuprisahat]

“Are you okay?” Nina started to laugh through her tears. “I’m fine. You’re the one who got stabbed. I don’t know what’s wrong with me. It’s just so much easier to kill people than take care of them.”

Six of Crows- Chapter 16 (Leigh Bardugo)

[stromuprisahat]

Nina was drowsing on a stool tucked into the corner by the table, Inej’s hand grasped loosely in her own. “Nina,” she croaked. Her throat felt like it was coated in wool. Nina jolted awake. “I’m up!” she blurted, then peered blearily at Inej. “You’re awake.” She sat up straighter. “Oh, Saints, you’re awake!” And then Nina burst out crying.

Six of Crows- Chapter 16 (Leigh Bardugo)

... and then I did.

If there's a single wholesome female relationship in all of Grishaverse, it's Nina and Inej's.