Six of Crows OS

A woman at his door

A.N.:// I needed to get this off my chest. 

Attention: Kaz's past will be discussed in... kind of in detail. Just so you know. 

(You can find my art on Instagram. I'm Changelink23 and post mostly BBC Merlin related fanart. I have also posted some Six of Crows art. But I guess Wattpad doesn't like the format, so it's not loading or processing any of it. Anyway, I hope you enjoy. I'm open for critic, just please be kind about it :)

KAZ

It was a slow day in the office. The office had once belonged to Mister Haskell, but that was then. This is now. Now it belonged to him. Whenever the thought entered his mind, Kaz was reminded of the Ice Court job, followed by what might have been his most brilliant plan.
For now.
Ketterdam was just as greedy as it's inhabitants. She always demanded more and more and worse entertainment.
Once you provided, you could never be sure if at the end of the day, you'd receive a beating or a reward. And you never knew which was supposed to be what.
Kaz had learned to be cautious a long time ago.

Kaz looked at the clock. He hadn't much use for it. All it did was tick the time away and remind him that he was wasting it. Perhaps that's why the day seemed slow. He should probably get out soon. Walk the dregs, remind his people that he was still here. Lest he end up like Haskell and get used to the wealth he had aquired at his last coup.
Or worse, like Pekka Rollins. Getting attached to people and then your past deeds come back to haunt you. In Pekka's case, come back in the face of one of the many children he had swindled years ago.
Kaz felt his mouth curl into a smile. Jordie was dead. But Pekka Rollin's son was not. And he had Kaz's mercy to thank for that. And that meant that Rollin's would spend the rest of his life looking over his shoulder and never feeling safe again.
Kaz had no such sentimental attachments.
Well, almost.

He still caught himself sometimes, when his eyes darted to any of his windows, or any of the ceinlings in his rooms or any of the dark alleys or roofs of Ketterdam, hoping to see a sign of Inej. Rarely he heard of Nina, when she send him a letter over sees.
And here and there he saw glimpses of Jesper and Wylan, as they kept up the business of Jan Van Eck. Of course, they sometimes traded, but Kaz was also now one of the Bosse's of the barrel. A righteous upstanding man like Wylan would not do well being seen doing business with a thug.
Deep down, Kaz was glad they all got to move on with their lives. Live better ones.

"Except me.", Kaz decided, his features drawn to a casual frown.

A knock interrupted his work. He briefly lifted his head as Anika peaked her head in.
"Boss?"
"What business?"
He lifted an eyebrow to nudge her to proceed.
"There is a woman here to see you."

The wheels in his mind who this could be. He came up with a list. "Who is it?"
"We don't really know. She just appeared over night and introduced herself as Maril."
"Did you check her background?"
"There wasn't much to go on. Actually, we were hoping you would know more than we do. She mentioned Johannus Rietveld. You know? Like the guy who Van Eck did business with and then got-"
"I know who that is." In fact, Kaz had made him up.

Anika couldn't tell from his expression, but she must have realised that his interest was stirred, because she took a deep breath. "She claims to be his mother."

The words struck him somewhere deep deep below. "Johannus Rietveld doesn't have any parents." None living anyway. Truth is, Johannus was Jordie's second name. Kaz had only used his brother's name for some side business. Bought a farm in his name. Fooled all of Ketterdam by a name that once was real but that no one remembered.
Their father had died in a plowing accident.
Kaz never met his mother. She had died in childbirth. There was no way this woman was real.