Talons⛥Kaz Brekker

⛥𝔗𝔥𝔯𝔢𝔢⛥

Three weeks on a ship. Just three weeks. Nothing to worry about. Right? Wrong. I had no where to go.

Have I mentioned my fear for being trapped? Yeah, well, this isn't helping. And we've only been up for four days. Currently, I was sitting on a barrel sideways, my head to the sea. I had my gloves off, I had one arm on the railing my nails tapping the bar. The other was on my bouncy lap. As my leg was bouncing up and down. "What's wrong?" Kaz asked as he came and sat on a barrel in front of me. "What? Nothings wrong." I didn't face him. Kaz knew me too well,"your body language says differently." I let out a small breath as I continued to stare out onto the vast endless ocean,"small boat. Nothing but open sea."

"Like your trapped," Kaz added. I finally faced him with a quiet response, "yeah." The waves crashed against the side of the boat, I didn't need to look at his face to know he was staring at me. "It's become a weird inescapable anxiety, I don't like it. Being claustrophobic doesn't help either," I said locking eyes with him. "I can't blame you, you've been locked up in Hellgate." Kaz replied.

"It's bad though Kaz, I might loose my mind if we don't get off this boat soon." I furrowed my eyes at him, "I had no choice in Hellgate but now I've deliberately trapped myself." Kaz put one of his hands lightly on my knee, "I've got you." I sighed with a slight smile, "tighter than chains." Kaz straightened up and pulled his hand away, "stronger than a knot." I calmed down, my leg had stopped bouncing.

We made that up when we were young, before I left. We used it to reassure and calm each other down, I can't quite remember how it came up though. I turned to the sea and crossed my arms on the barrier, I then rested my chin on them. "Hey Kaz?" I said after a while resting the side of my head on one of my arms. "Hm?" He asked looking towards me. I sat up and smiled as I held out his wallet. Even though Kaz told me not to, I still steal from him. I always give it back of course. "I never really will understand how you do that without me seeing." Kaz said as he took back his wallet.

"You'll learn someday," I replied as I spotted something on the floor between us. I leaned down and picked up, it was a small piece of paper, I flipped it over and smiled. It was a picture of me. "Ah that must have fallen out my wallet, when someone stole it." He teased me at the end making me giggle as I gave him the picture back. "There's one in a frame on my desk too," Kaz smiled as he put it back in his wallet. I shook my head and laughed, "so the heartless Dirtyhands does actually have a heart after all." Kaz chuckled along with me, "it seems he does."

I rested my chin on my crossed arms staring out at the ocean. Kaz had replaced my Dregs tattoo, I was more than happy to have it back on me again. Nina had also removed my Menagerie tattoo, I was more than relieved to have it no longer on me.

The next day, I was drinking tea with Inej, we were sitting crossed legged back to the hull of the ship. Kaz limped over to us, "I want to show you something. How are you, Ambrose?" I shrugged as he sat down, "could be better but I also guess I could be worse. Is you're leg bad?" Inej had told me he ran without his cane, carrying me back to the ship. "It's fine. Here." He spread out Wylan's drawing of the prison sector between us. I knew he was lying about his leg. Most of Wylan's plans showed the Ice Court from above, but the prison elevation was a side view, a cross-section showing the buildings floors stacked on top of each other. "I've seen it," I said. I ran my finger from the basement up to the roof in a straight line.

Kaz turned to Inej, "Still think you can do it?"

Her dark brows rose, "Is there another option?"

"No."

"So if I say I can't make the climb, will you tell Spetcht to turn the boat around and take us back to Ketterdam?"

"I'll find another option," said Kaz. "I don't know what but I'm not giving up that haul."