The Love of a Crow - Wesper/Crows Fanfiction/AU

14.Nina

A/N: Updates may be slow as I'm going away for a while, but I'll try whenever I get signal. :)

  They met the others on the roof of the Crow Club, overlooking the twinkly lights and shadows of Ketterdam. Nina knew it for what it really was; a drunk, packed yet lonely, crumbling city built from the backs of slave trading and dirty dealing. It was times like this when she missed the peace of Ravka; the endless days of routine, the dreary lives all the peasants lived, the slow, stumbling weeks that crawled into months. It was one of the main reasons she had been so eager to help Grisha escape the Hell-hole; once you had settled in Ravka, life became a bore.

Jesper was busy talking to Inej when he saw Wylan following behind Kaz. Nina felt his heartbeat surge as he jogged forward.

"I didn't know we'd be getting a proper send-off!" He grinned, and Wylan blushed as he fiddled with his satchel, which Nina had seen was packed to the brim with hand-made bombs.

"Don't be an ass, Jes, he's coming with us." Nina said.

Jesper's eyes narrowed. He stalked up to Kaz, hastily hissing in his ear. "Do you really think that's a good idea? What if he gets hurt or-"

"May I remind you that nothing about living in the Barrel comes without risk? Besides, Wylan either hasn't thought about the dangers or he's choosing to ignore them, so maybe it's best to have that argument with him!" Kaz snarled, clearly not in the mood for an argument.

Jesper sighed, giving Wylan a 'You have no idea what you're getting yourself into' look. Wylan frowned and replied with 'At least I'm smart enough to be doing this sober!'

"Can we hurry this up please?" Matthias hushed, hands white as he clutched the knife tied to his belt. Both him and Inej had been on edge all night, and Nina knew he knew more than he was letting on, but she couldn't get a word out of them. Nina didn't believe in anything but the Small Science, and if it was their religions that made them psychic then maybe it was time to convert. Even so, Nina slid over to Matthias and slipped her arm through his, leaning her head against his shoulder. She didn't need to look to know he was smiling.

"Well, merchling, you ready to take a leap?" Jesper asked Wylan, who just looked at him in confusion.

Jesper only grinned again, and Nina didn't need to be psychic to predict what would happen next. Jesper ran across the roof, and Wylan screamed as he flew across the steep gap separating the Crow Club from the neighbouring building. He landed deftly on the other side, easing into a roll and jumping back up again, the smile never leaving his face. No one else flinched.

"Ta-da!"

Wylan looked ready to throw up, and Nina couldn't blame him, but he'd get use to it. One by one the other crows followed; Inej barely had to jump, Kaz used his cane to land easily with a pivot on the other side, Matthias took a small leap and Nina stood on the edge with Wylan. His hands were shaking, pale face even whiter than before.

"It's not as bad as it looks," she offered, though it was probably a lie. Just looking at the dark street below gave her shivers. It reminded her of the Fold, and the dark nightmares she had been plagued with as a child, just like the rest of Ravka.

Nina shook her head; the Fold was gone, along with its creator and its destroyer, and her old fear would never hold her back anymore. Laughing as she did so, she leapt, savouring the feeling of weightlessness that filled her hair and her skirt, before she landed in Matthias's arms on the other side.

Breathless, she yelled across to Wylan. "Come on Wylan! You'll be fine!"

"Don't worry merchling, I can catch you!" Jesper giggled, and Wylan glared at him again. He took a deep breath, eyes trained on the ledge across from him. Closing his eyes, taking a deep breath, he ran, ran, ran...