[ Inej is mindful of her pace. Her adrenaline spikes, and all she wants to do is flutter around hurriedly without a care, but she leaves those childish impulses for when she sees Jesper. For now, she gets to slow down. She gets to ground herself on solid land with Kaz.

She imagines he wouldn't be bored with the most mundane of stories, like how Specht had tried to trick her into singing a silly pirate song because he had a bet that she would, or how there were quiet nights where the night sky seemed endless. But what she wants to share with him is something that makes her smile, and when it had happened, she'd wanted to turn to him immediately. ]

It rained for almost two weeks straight. Everything was wet. It got to the point where I considered I hated being wet more than I hated being hot. But when it stopped raining… you wouldn't believe it, Kaz. There were dolphins in the water.

[ Inej smiles brightly, shaking her head incredulously. She gazes forward as though she can see the dolphins leap from the waves of the stone path. ]

We were out in the middle of the True Sea and they were just there. I've never seen anything quite like it before.