✨ Tattered Wings ✨ Kaz✖️OC.

Young blood

Ghezen was her god and Sankta Margaretha was her favourite saint, because like her, she was Kerch from Ketterdam. It was believed that a demon took up residence in one of the canals, beneath a bridge in the Garden District. And he'd devour children, until Margaretha made a diamond brooch big enough and threw it into the canal, the demon went after the sparkling stone and died wrestling the brooch. When it's drowned corpse floated to the surface. The Merchant Council skinned its body and used its hide as an altar cloth at the Church of Barter.

It's said that many years later, when the great drought came and the canals ran dry, a stash of jewels was found at the bottom of the canal, including a brooch so heavy no one could lift it, and beneath that pile of gems, a heap of children's bones.

Every year, lanterns are lit along the canal and prayers are said to Margaretha, the patron saint of thieves and lost children.

To those who keep faith with stories as a wise woman once said, "You know the problem with heroes and Saints?"

"They always end up dead."

In fact, we all end up dead.

But people who steal books have a truly miserable afterlife.

Anika took a deep breath as she closed the book she'd been reading. The lives of saints. She was in Aeolian's old apartment. Kaz had brought the place and turned the living room into a storage with stacks and stacks of files. He had shifted all his papers from the Slat as well as the Crow Club to Aeolian's apartment. If the Shu princess ever drops by her place, she'd be shocked to see the sea of papers covering her living area.

Every time Anika swings by the apartment for Kaz's work, she'd read books from the shelf that Aeolian had left. Even though the Shu princess hadn't stayed in Ketterdam for long; she has quite the collection of old books, green plants and her apartment has been furnished liked she'd been living there for years.

Anika heard that from their Ravka earnings: Inej paid off her indentures. Jesper gambled away. Kaz invested and Aeolian rented the apartment and filled it with stuffs; Anika could see now—Aeolian was a princess so she wasn't used to savings, she was spendthrift and always like nice things.

Now Anika checked the time, as she made her way towards the harbour. Pim had informed her in the morning that Kaz wanted her to pick up the Ravkan's from Fifth Harbour at 12 bells and bring them to the Crow Club. She had no idea who the Ravkan's were, but that was Kaz all over, he kept everyone in the dark.

In the tangle of people and cargos around, her eyes scanned every direction it possibly could as she jogged from one end to the other. Searching for anyone in a kefta or maybe a ship with a symbol or a flag of Ravka. Then she saw the two figures at a distant, one of them dressed as a common sailor Zoya Nazyalensky the Grisha Squaller and the person standing next to her was none other than the legendary privateer of Ravka, Sturmhond.

The Kerch girl braced herself and walked upto them. "Welcome back to Ketterdam," she said in Kerch.

Zoya's eyes scanned Anika, making the Kerch girl quite uncomfortable. Not only was the Grisha powerful but she was the general of the Second Army.

Zoya spoke Kerch in a heavy accent. "Of course Brekker couldn't be bothered to meet us." She planted her hands on her hips. "You're a king and it wouldn't kill Brekker, to show a bit of respect."