...She doesn't object to the Darkling, mostly because Svetka likes her and Val's moral compass points towards the nearest hot girl, but, yeah, honestly she doesn't really object to no one having a shortcut to parem. ...Even if it'll probably get developed again. 

Though - "Fuck, is that why Inej hasn't put a knife to my throat for sneaking in here?"

"Yes."

...Eh, the Darkling can go fuck herself. 

"Inej's my friend. You don't need to pay me for help rescuing her."

"Who's the other?"

"Nina Zenik. You know, the lost Fjerdan princess's sweetheart."

She pulls up short. "Nina's here - ?" A complicated expression passes over her face, then: "I failed to save her once. I won't fail her again."

"Van Eck, one of the merchers, has Inej. Don't know who took Nina, but they have soldiers that can fly. With wings."

"...Concerning."

"But it won't stop me from tracking them, not this time."

"Good."

"And... The Darkling'll probably still want Bol-Yatur's daughter - if she won't replicate her father's work, but could, then maybe she'll agree to work on counter measures or something. And if nothing else, the Darkling will want to keep her out of others' hands." Plus the Darkling generally thinks she can be persuasive. "But that's not a priority for me - and rescuing Inej and Nina is not payment for her." 

"If she wants to leave, you can take her. Girl's ten pounds of issues in a five pound sack, and I don't think Ketterdam will be good for her."

"No payment?"

"People aren't property."

"You're nicer than you act."

"In some ways. But if your boss has a spare thirty million kruge, I'll cut you in on a percentage to keep that side of me to yourself."

She laughs. "You'll have to talk to someone else for exactly how large our war chest is, sadly. Though Sturmhund might be able to tell you how much she was hired for, to help me with this mission... Could give a ballpark, at least."

"Sturmhund, the pirate princess?"

"Yep - Fjerda tragically doesn't trust Ravkan delegations half as far as they can throw them. I got into White Island with Sturmhund's crew, and she's the one who sailed me here. She's downstairs right now - probably still trying to charm your bartender, though she'll figure out where the brothel is soon enough."

"I've heard she's not cheap. Might be your boss doesn't have much left over."

" - I think you might be underestimating Ravka's military budget. Sturmhund might have an idea of what's left in the discretionary fund, though. 's probably important information when negotiating jobs."

"If you say so. I don't work in government."

"It's worth talking to her. And maybe she'll just give you part of her own cut, since her job was to bring in Yul-Bayur or next best thing..."

"Could be. Not the top of my priority list right now."

Nod. "Yeah; let's get Inej and Nina back first."

Kaz has a map of the city, with both ambush locations marked as well as what she knows about Van Eck's holdings.

She hums. For Van Eck... "You're missing a lot of holdings, I think, none of those are really where Van Eck could take someone quickly without being observed, and..." 

Ugh, she doesn't know a lot about mystery winged people, but... "If they were otherwise obeying physics, the winged people probably would've had to get out to sea to go any distance - and even then, I don't think they could've gotten far. The best thermals are gonna be near the coast. So you're probably looking for a ship, maybe a drop off on the coast itself outside of the city..." Does Kaz have a prevailing winds map - ? Though Val was close-ish to Ketterdam last night, so maybe... She draws out an arc of probability for range; detailed information on prevailing winds will let her narrow it down, especially since it would've made more sense to have the drop off decided ahead of time based on probable best distance. - Prevailing currents would help too, and getting Sturmhund in here - she should know good places for smugglers ships to anchor for a time.