his gloves and her knives: a collection of kanej one-shots

kindness burns like ice

a/n: just a fluffy kanej piece. hope you like it! there are some ravkan words used in this fic so if you can't understand them from the context of the story, there is a glossary in the author's notes at the end of the story. constructive criticism is appreciated!

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"Waffles. You want waffles."

Inej looked at Kaz as he sat at his desk, gloved hand poised over some (probably illegal) document. She was sitting on his window sill and the feeling of comfort it gave her after three months at sea, was beyond comparison.

"Yes Kaz, I would like some waffles."

The Wraith had docked at the harbour a few hours ago and Kaz had been the first one to know of its arrival. Obviously, he hadn't gone to meet her at the docks, that would have insinuated that he placed importance on Inej's arrival when he very obviously didn't. He only placed importance on her safety and life and her happiness and-- he decided not to continue down that line of thought.

The matter at hand was that the first words that Inej Ghafa had spoken to him upon her arrival in Ketterdam, were to express her desire for dessert.

"I assume that it is difficult to find waffles at sea."

"Yes."

"I know a bakery not very far away."

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Dirtyhands walked along the streets and the Wraith followed, sometimes on foot and sometimes through the sky. Kaz knew that she was somewhere near and despite his aversion to 'trust', he trusted that she would be by his side when he looked.

"Where is the bakery?" 

Inej had come up beside him and they were walking in step with each other.

"Not very fa--"

Kaz was cut off by the sound of a whimpering child at his side and he jolted violently in surprise. The girl was around six years old, with red pigtails coming apart from wear and tear. She looked to be Ravkan and, to Kaz's abject horror, was clutching his cane, tears streaming down her face in crystal rivulets.

The child had clearly been cared for. Her pigtails had been tied a few days ago at the most and her clothes seemed to be in good condition. But honestly, Kaz didn't care.

No child had ever approached him before. Hell, most adults ran at the sight of his approach. This was definitely new.

"Don't touch the cane."

He was unsure of what to address the girl as. 'Kid'? 'Child'? None of those made sense. He shook the girl off and continued walking. 

It was only a few seconds before he realised that his spider wasn't with him.

He turned around, only to see that Inej was crouched by the little girl's side, appearing to be communicating with the thing. It was horrifying. He walked back to her to hopefully stop the child from conning her into parting with her kruge.

"Where is your madraya, milaya? Or your parents?"

"I don't have parents." The child seemed to be holding back tears.