Inej sits on the windowsill with one leg pulled up to her chest. Ketterdam hasn't changed from this angle, even if she can sense that it's lighter now. The shadows are still where she remembers them, and the crows she'd fed almost every day return to her as though they knew she was coming back to them.
She'd docked hours earlier at berth twenty-two at Fifth Harbour with the sun beginning to rise from its slumber in greeting. There'd been very little time for any pleasantries; despite being on land, she still had a job to complete and people to settle into their new lives, a luxury she owed to Kaz. After spending most of the morning escorting the handful of people she had saved from slavers into the city with Specht preparing their documentation, Inej had simply wanted to be. She'd wanted to exist in the bubble of home and see how much it stretched to accomodate her new shape. She'd let her crew go about the city as they pleased with the expectation that they'd board The Wraith in five days' time to set sail again.
Rather than go to a waffle house and eat in Nina's stead or go to one of the food establishments she'd been dreaming of for the past week, Inej returned to the Slat. Despite missing the Dregs, she'd slipped inside and up the creaking staircase and tiptoed inside of his room knowing that he'd know where to find her.
He's the one she's desperate to see, even though Inej will never let anyone, not even the True Sea, know that's what she's desired since she wrote to him to let him know she was returning home for a few days.
When the staircase creaks beneath his familiar weight, Inej ignores the fluttering in her chest. Sitting up straighter, she doesn't look toward the door. He must know she's already here. Where else would she go, if not to one of her favourite perches in one of her favourite open-door cages?
"The crows look fat," she says, not looking up at him. She ignores the way her skin prickles and her senses hone in on him. She's missed him terribly, from his scowl to his frowns to the way he sometimes lets himself smile. "Someone's been overfeeding them."
— @greedbowstome; FEEL THE WEIGHT ON YOUR SKIN.
She'd docked hours earlier at berth twenty-two at Fifth Harbour with the sun beginning to rise from its slumber in greeting. There'd been very little time for any pleasantries; despite being on land, she still had a job to complete and people to settle into their new lives, a luxury she owed to Kaz. After spending most of the morning escorting the handful of people she had saved from slavers into the city with Specht preparing their documentation, Inej had simply wanted to be. She'd wanted to exist in the bubble of home and see how much it stretched to accomodate her new shape. She'd let her crew go about the city as they pleased with the expectation that they'd board The Wraith in five days' time to set sail again.
Rather than go to a waffle house and eat in Nina's stead or go to one of the food establishments she'd been dreaming of for the past week, Inej returned to the Slat. Despite missing the Dregs, she'd slipped inside and up the creaking staircase and tiptoed inside of his room knowing that he'd know where to find her.
He's the one she's desperate to see, even though Inej will never let anyone, not even the True Sea, know that's what she's desired since she wrote to him to let him know she was returning home for a few days.
When the staircase creaks beneath his familiar weight, Inej ignores the fluttering in her chest. Sitting up straighter, she doesn't look toward the door. He must know she's already here. Where else would she go, if not to one of her favourite perches in one of her favourite open-door cages?
"The crows look fat," she says, not looking up at him. She ignores the way her skin prickles and her senses hone in on him. She's missed him terribly, from his scowl to his frowns to the way he sometimes lets himself smile. "Someone's been overfeeding them."