"Anyone ever says that about you, I'll spit in their face and call them a liar."

She relaxes a fraction, her grip on her ankle loosening. Softly: "They said the value of my indenture - what you could argue it was actually worth - was what made me good insurance."

"They don't know shit about me. You-"

"Your indenture has nothing to do with it."

"I - "

"I don't want to be indentured anymore."

"Yeah. Soon as I can get to the papers to sign them."

"Even though I can't pay it off yet?"

"Money's just for keeping score. And I don't want to do that, between us."

She relaxes, letting go of her ankle. "I don't either."

Deep breath, and she reaches out to grab Inej's hands briefly.

"I'm glad to have you back, Inej."

She's rewarded with an incredibly bright smile. "I'm glad to be back, Kaz."

She smiles as she takes her hands back.

"There's a lot to catch up on, when you're ready."

" - I'm ready."

"We should meet with the others."

She unfolds from where she'd tucked herself. "Lead the way."

Elsewhere, a different prisoner is not being rescued. Though on the other hand, she currently faces slightly fewer imminent threats to life and limb.

In fact, her captors seem to have no idea whether she should be considered a prisoner or an honored guest, and have settled for 'honored guest who isn't allowed to leave.' She's fed at routine intervals, given pen and paper if she requests it, and no interrogation manifests itself. She can overhear a good amount, too, though not all of it has any context - the khergud (the 'prototypes' who kidnapped her) don't speak; there's other kidnapped grisha here; there's a significant amount of drama happening in the Shu Han line of succession (which might be why she's being ignored) and the current queen is ailing...

And then another ship pulls up alongside theirs, and someone comes over to much ceremony and scrambling - by the muted voices approaching her position, the newcomer is the Princess Aidana Kir-Taban, she's asking pointed questions about the khergud, and she's demanding to see Kuwei. 

Shortly after her arrival, the door to the cell opens, and the same woman she saw upon being brought on board tells her, "Come with me."

Ah, good. Royalty. She really wishes she had a perspective not on this damn ship for everything that's going on. The city must be going crazy with everything.

It sounds like her captors might be in a little trouble here. Hopefully she can flip this somehow. "Fine."

The khergud escort her to a large room, with multiple guards around the perimeter and a single woman seated at a table in the center. The ship's captain announces the woman as, "Her Imperial Highness, Princess Aidana Kir-Taban, Daughter of Heaven, most Ethereal of the Taban Line," before being (politely) dismissed by the princess. 

There's an unoccupied chair across from the princess. She sighs once the ship's captain leaves and gestures at it. "Have a seat, Kuwei. Are you doing alright?" (Her inflection is far more familiar than might be expected for a princess and a lowly inventor's daughter.)

She's got a bad feeling about this.

"As well as could be expected," she says, sitting.

Her brow furrows slightly. 

"What happened?"

"Do you mean the first, second, or third time I was kidnapped?"

"All of them, I suppose."

"The first was worst, I think. That was the Fjerdans. The second got me away from there, so that was all right. The third..." she gestures at the ship around them. "I am getting tired of living in a box."

"So."

"Who, exactly, are you?"