Where Fjerda's Crown Princess is rising from her throne. 

"Kielo!"

Kielo Grimjer, the younger of Fjerda's twin princesses, the one who's been sidelined from public view for the last five years stands there confidently, holding the hand of a woman, and she calls out nice and loud for their audience, "Did you miss me, sister?"

She stares, caught off guard for a critical moment - then she yanks her gaze away, that's Sturmhund's business not hers even if that other woman sure looked a lot like Nina Zenik, who's one of Ravka's grisha - missing, taken by witch-hunters, another one Val failed to save - 

Kaz has vanished, is the next thing she notices. 

She takes off - as stealthily as she can - 

She doesn't get very far before she gets the sense that it's been too long, things are too quiet, she's lost the trail. ...Fuck.

If Kaz has Kuwei - 

Ketterdam. They'll go to Ketterdam.

Val slinks back to Sturmhund's side - they can't afford for anyone to be unaccounted for when alarms start going off - and tries to evaluate the new (more chaotic) situation. (And possibly warn Sturmhund that they need to either bail or look exceptionally innocent. Ideally bail, though, if they can get out fast enough, but Val does not want to risk being overheard giving that warning.)

This is definitely more exciting than she understood Fjerdan parties to get.

Though with the princesses leaving, maybe it's time they retire for the night - ?

(She isn't saying they need to bail. But they really need to bail. Hopefully everyone else just thinks they're being horny.)

The fun does seem to be moving on, true. Maybe they can find somewhere warmer than an Ice Court...

There was that one inn, and Sturmhund's own ship does have luxuriously soft and warm beds -

Well then, shall they see if they can't beat the rush a little?

Let's. 

- Unfortunately, they don't even make it through the line to the single bridge crossing the inner moat before an alarm sounds and the guards stop letting people through. 

Well. That's unfortunate.

What're all the other innocent guests doing? Because that's what they are too. Poor unfortunate souls trapped by an unforeseen and unrelated emergency.

They seem to mostly be gossiping! Some of the gossip might be risky to participate in, depending on how thorough Fjerdan surveillance is, but there's a couple of conversations about the returned princess and her companion, that seem light enough that they shouldn't get scrutinized too much. (The conversations about 'why the shut down?' seem riskier, mostly.)

(There's also a good number complaining about the shut down, often to the guards' faces, but that's probably far too risky to engage in.)

Sturmhund will definitely gossip about the returned princess! It's kind of like a fairy tale, don't you think, her returning dramatically on Hringkalla and all.

Very much so! 

There's a few Fjerdan nobles in their same vague gossip blob, one of whom brings up some idle speculation about where the princess went - "Knowing her? Running with the wolves, dear," his wife says with a laugh hidden behind her bejeweled fan. 

"Who was that girl with her, though - ? She didn't look entirely Fjerdan," another, younger woman wonders. "And that name..."

"Perhaps a port girl," the first woman says, dismissively. "Some of them are mixed, you know, even up north. And they grow them wild up there." That sets off some tittering. 

"It's romantic though, you know?"

Well, depends on how you mean 'romantic' - it's certainly like an adventure tale, or an old epic poem - 

Exactly! It's history happening in front of them.

"I imagine the salons will be quite interesting for the next year," one woman says. (The men seem to be drifting away from this particular gossip circle; the women open up more as their husbands or assorted chaperones slink off.)

"At least!" says another with a laugh. "I can already imagine the stories people might spin - perhaps the princess and our new Hero of Fjerda will grace us with their presence."

One younger woman sighs longingly. "That'd be wonderful. Crown Princess Irina's devotion to her country is an inspiration, of course, but her duties do keep her so busy... It'll be nice to have another princess around, one with a bit more time for the social aspects of court."

"Kielo was always a charming child," one older woman says approvingly. "Had everyone but her parents wrapped around her little finger."

"I've never gotten a chance to meet her," the young woman says. "Do you think they'll have a ball just for her - ? A salon, at least!"

"She never did get a proper introduction to court," the old woman points out. "Surely they'll do something."

"It's absolutely worthy of celebration. And maybe Princess Irina will find she has more time for society with Kielo back as well."

They can only hope.

(In the distance, the guards seem to be starting to let people off White Island, though much more slowly and with thorough checks at the gates - where there's now at least one druskelle and wolf.)

She'll start heading that way when this conversation starts lagging. (Not too eager, not too slow.)

Seems they aren"t being totally set free, instead shuffled off the island and into the Embassy Sector so they can be held somewhere away from the royal family - foreigners are being prioritized for removal from White Island, which none of the Fjerdan nobles seem particularly surprised by. There's far more guards than earlier, with multiple checkpoints with no blind spots between them as they're crossing over, and there's druskelle and enormous white wolves just about everywhere. (One of the identity checks apparently includes 'get sniffed.')

They're all the same people they started out as. And haven't done anything wrong.

Still not leaving the Embassy Sector in a hurry, though, and the gossip there is more speculative - more closely watched - less illuminating. (Some of the Fjerdans appear to be being allowed to leave entirely, but foreign groups are going to have to cool their heels for a while yet.)

They'll probably be let go before it gets too insanely late, after they've been thoroughly searched and checked multiple times and haven't done anything unusually suspicious the entire time, and there's even (mandatory, watched) carriages to take them back to the city (with yet more checkpoints along the route). 

...Though the harbor is also locked down until further notice, and Sturmhund and her crew are escorted straight to their ship, no stops permitted on the way. 

Good ol' Fjerdan paranoia, gotta love it.

At least she can ensure their security on her own ship.

After the druskelle and guards escorting her search it, of course. (They seem mostly interested in potential stowaways, so probably minor contraband will fly under the radar.)

Yeah, no, she knew they were docking in Fjerda. Everything incriminating was safely offloaded beforehand.

She'll get a pass (reluctantly), and instructions to stay anchored where she is until instructed otherwise by the harbor master. 

Great.

So, what did Val find?

"Well, it's not great news, but it's also not the worst - I saw a woman named Kaz Brekker right before the... Drama with the princesses. When I looked back, she was gone. Her trail overlapped with Kuwei's - and I lost them both."

"We knew we weren't going to be the only ones making an attempt; I'm very sure her team was the one that succeeded, setting off the alarm that trapped us on White Island in the first place. I've had... Dealings with her crew, the Dregs, once before - they're from Ketterdam. They were hired to kidnap the Sun Summoner a year ago. They decided to flip on that, sold out to us instead, even brought a stolen warhorse they'd tracked down with them as a gesture of good will - and as a foot in the door. ...And then one of her girls, Inej, set a record for number of bounties collected on security flaws. Which she still holds by a large margin. The Darkling was, by the way, very unhappy, since Inej repeatedly snuck past every single security system to deliver said flaw analyses in person."

"They're competent - but they're also reasonable, and if we can catch up with them before they reach whoever hired them, they might sell out again. ...Also I'm not sure stealing from them would be a good idea."

"They sound interesting."

"They said they were using the reward money to open a brothel. I've got a standing invitation."

"An interesting operation, for a gang of thieves. But I guess that's what you get in Ketterdam, the real entrepreneurial sorts."

"Spreading their business portfolio or something."

"Spreading something all right," she snickers.

"It gives Sturmhund a pretty good excuse to be in Ketterdam."

"I go where the winds take me, everyone knows that."

"And they're blowing to Ketterdam now?" (They'll need to move fast to make up the head start that the Dregs got, at least once the harbor is unlocked - Val for some reason doubts the Dregs actually were caught out by this.)

"Soon as that harbor chain gets out of the way, sure."

Might be a while...

Not much to be done about that from this position, alas. This isn't exactly her favored grounds. They'll have to find some other way to fill the time.

She can think of a few ways... (Like kissing.)

Sturmhund was hoping she'd say that.

Excellent. 

Her nautical prowess isn't the only reason for the legends.

She'll give Kaz and Inej a run for their money. 

She doesn't have any plans to sell this service herself, however.

Far more exclusive. 

Ohhhh yes.

Somehow she doesn't think waiting for the lockdown to lift will be too much trouble.

Might even lift before they're fully satisfied...

Well, one of the good parts about being the captain is that you don't always have to run around and haul lines during normal sailing.

True... And hopefully her crew can figure out 'head towards Ketterdam' without too much supervision. 

It's not like it's an uncharted treasure island.

At least not until they hit the streets themselves. 

She wouldn't ask that of her helmsmen. Need a local pilot for that.

Lucky that they're going to find one, then. 

Things falling into place like that is how you can tell you're on a good job.

And between the two of them, they'll keep it up. 

Elsewhere, and some time later, a small group departs the docks of Ketterdam, having recently arrived on a ship come from Fjerda.

A tall, gaunt woman, powerfully built though nowhere near as muscular as she once was, keeps right behind Kuwei, slightly to the side, subtly scanning the area. (Even without her powers, she's still a fighter. She still can guard one person.)

(She had a lot of time to think, in between the feverish shakes and the vomiting and the hallucinations. She's had a lot of names - a lot of identities - a lot of selves - a lot of masks over the years. The fever feels like it burned those away, scorching them in the same illness that took her powers. 'Feilan' is the only self left, and the only name she'll carry now.)

A shadow - invisible to both women, even less perceptible to their enemies - keeps pace with them from the rooftops. 

Kaz knows there's going to be an attack. They were seen docking and disembarking. The only question is when, and which angle. She knows how she'd do it, if it were her...

(Not from this alley. Next? Nope.)

The attack, when it comes, is from a direction none of them expected - 

First, a powerful blast of air rushes down the street. 

Second, something - bright and gold even in the darkness - dives like a falcon right for 'Kuwei.'

- Fucker - 

She isn't some helpless child - she's druskelle, princess, wolf - 

Her blade snaps up to meet the falcon before it can make contact, as she shoves 'Kuwei' towards the ground, imposing herself above her charge. 

Yeah, no. 

Her blade skates off golden skin, and an inhuman face looks at her only briefly before a powerful wing bats her out of the way like she's little more than a gnat.

She ducks - grabs the wing near its roots - tries to throw the bastard, uses his momentum against him a little too get 'Kuwei' out of immediate grabbing range, but she can't do much and the other wing is still in play as are the rest of the assholes limbs and whatever souped up Squaller they've got - 

She's lasted longer in this fight than anyone in her condition has any right to, just by not going down with the first blow. She won't last through a second. 

And that's about when three hundred pounds of snarling angry wolf interrupts.

As good as his armored skin is - and as powerful as his wings are ‐ he still does not weigh three hundred pounds, and not even a wingéd supersoldier is immune to physics. 

Trassel's momentum knocks him clear of Feilan and Kuwei, especially with Feilan's help. 

He doesn't stay down for long, though. 

She lets go of him before he can be ripped away from her - then grabs 'Kuwei' and starts pulling her under cover. 

Cover sounds good, she'd love to meet some.

Flying goddamn freaks were not in the contract!! She's no Jesper, but she'll still shoot it.

The bullets stagger him, but they then skirt off the layer of metal under his skin with metallic pings, and it doesn't keep him down for long - 

And the woman who lands in front of Kaz, metal wings flaring, doesn't even have to contend with the wolf currently holding her partner at bay - 

Neither does the woman who swoops in behind her cover, going again for Kuwei, silver netting in her hands. 

She gets a weighted line around the woman's neck - staggers her - 

But even that isn't enough. 

Feilan goes down, cursing and kicking, and the woman lunges for Kuwei, arms spread wide with the net stretched between them.

Lever up and kick her in the face?

Yeah. Didn't think so.

She feels the kick! (And so does Kuwei's foot.) It just doesn't do much to stop her from getting her net around Kuwei, and proceeding to drag her back out of cover. 

This is why she carries a pocketknife. Can she saw fast enough, is the question.

The net is metal - a strange metal, light and flexible - Fabrikator make, except it's finer than anything she's seen before. 

Her pocketknife doesn't make a dent. 

Hells. Struggle it is. (Who are these people?)

People fully capable of taking flight while carrying a full grown human, apparently! 

Feilan's enraged - horrified - scream follows her into the dark sky. 

Yeah. This won't be good for her. Or Ketterdam, probably.

Getting out now only to splat on the cobbles in front of her won't help either, so she'll save her strength and try to prepare for when they land.

It takes a while - by the sounds, they're flying out over the water to a ship anchored well away from the city. She's deposited on an unlit deck relatively gently, though the net remains wrapped around her. All three winged soldiers land around her. 

Mmmm don't like that. Ship means they might leave, which makes getting back to Feilan a lot harder.

"So do you people talk, still? Or did they take that away?"

Her winged captors don't say anything! 

But the woman - dressed sharply in an officer's uniform, a Shu Han officer's uniform in fact - who steps out of the shadows does. She speaks in Shu, saying: "Kuwei Kir-Bo. You and your father have given us some trouble."

Fuck.

Maybe they've never met before. Or never spoken at least. She trusts her disguise, but her impression is not as good. Not enough time, and the girl was too traumatized to engage much.

"You gave us trouble first," she says in Shu, mimicking the original's accent as closely as she can.

Thin lipped smile. "I'd heard about your intransigence from your father. It seems he understated matters." She steps closer, golden eyes scanning Kuwei's face for every detail. "You speak very disrespectfully, given where we rescued you from."

She rattles a fistful of chain net. "Some rescue."

"I do apologize." She does not sound apologetic. "Prototypes can be quite rough, you know." She tilts her head. "Will you behave, if we remove that particular bond?"

"Yes." Easy to say, easy to do. And might lead to more information about these... 'prototypes'.

She gestures, and the net is removed. "I imagine you want to rest," she says, blandly. "I will have your new bodyguards escort you to your quarters. In the morning, we will have questions about your time in Fjerda. But, first: does the group we rescued you from possess any capacity to threaten this ship?"

"...Not unless you dock."

Sharp nod, and she gestures to the three winged soldiers. "There will be food and water in your room. I will speak with you in the morning."

And in the meantime, she'll be listening.

Meanwhile: 

Feilan curses, stumbling to her feet, as those fucking bastards take away what's hers - she doesn't scream Nina's name, even though she wants to - 

Her body already hurt, was already on the edge of exhaustion. She's shaking now. 

Trassel is here. She can lean on her wolf.

Hug! She buries her face into Trassel's shoulders, hands gripping her fur tight. 

"We can't stay out in the open," Kaz says. "We need to keep moving."

Inej drops down from the heights. "I got a heading," she says. "Once we're secure - we'll get her back."

Shaky breath out, and then she stands. "I'm going to fucking destroy them."

"Get her back first."

" - You're right. She's more important." She closes her eyes briefly before opening them again. "And Kaz's right. Let's go."

Onwards, cautious but quick. They don't have as much screening this time, but maybe the tighter group will be a deterrent.

Unfortunately, they don't get more than a few more streets before a string of Dime Lions, two deep, moves to block their path. One of Pekka's enforcers stands front and center. "Where are fine folk like you going this time of night?" he calls, jeering.

"What's it to you, limp dick?"

Grrrrrrr.

His eyes flick to the growling wolf, and a few of the thugs in the back row shift uneasily. He keeps his composure, though. "Heard you've got an important package coming in," he says, lightly. "We're to escort you. Make sure it gets where it's supposed to be going."

"The day I need the likes of you to help me navigate my own damn city, the only place I'll be going is the crematorium." She hefts her cane. "Anyone who doesn't want their teeth decorating the street can feel free to leave. I won't be responsible for what the wolf does if you don't, either."

There might be slightly fewer thugs in that back row now. It's more of a one and a half deep string. Still, the main enforcer just shrugs and says, "Well, boss didn't say we need you." 

That seems to be the cue to start the fight. 

Trassel leaps in, fang and claw flashing.

Feilan isn't far behind. (She needs someone to hit.)

Inej darts in and out of the fight wherever she sees an opening. 

...Yeah, even tired and injured, they're on a whole other level than these wanna-be street toughs. Kaz might need to hurry if she wants to get any blows of her own in. 

Right now she's more interested in making sure they get through this scrap in good order than in working out any anger issues she might have. Nothing says this'll be the last ambush they face tonight.

A pretty good instinct, which means she might even notice the woman who walks up the street behind her as her team is putting down the last of the Dime Lions, stopping a solid distance away. She's flanked by two shadowy figures. 

"Well, I do suppose you get what you pay for, and a 'Dime Lion' is hardly expensive," she says, lightly. Her voice is accented, possibly Shu. "But Van Eck paid you quite a bit more than a dime, Kaz Brekker. So where is Bo Yul-Bayur?"

Fucking... this night just gets better and better.

"Safe," she snaps. "And Van Eck will get his money worth at the rendezvous, as agreed. Not standing in the middle of the street, talking to some secretary."

"Forgive me, but your team doesn't have the best reputation for seeing contracts like this through." She sounds like she's sharing some private joke with Kaz. "I'm sure you aren't planning to sell out - just as I'm sure you didn't sell out when you failed to bring back a similarly important package from Ravka. So you shouldn't mind a bit of a guarantee on our part, hm? Insurance, you might say."

"That wasn't part of the deal."

"Bring Bo Yul-Bayur to the rendezvous, and there won't be any issues." She shrugs. "You'll get your money and our insurance back, and we'll get our package. Unless you don't have what we paid for - ?"

"I don't hand my people over to anyone."

"Oh, I wasn't asking." She raises one hand idly. "Grab the girl." A protective wind curls around her, as a misty figure lunges through a wall and a Squaller swoops down from above - 

Right at Inej.

She curses, tries to stab them both - tries to throw herself for the edge of the roof she'd thought she'd been hidden on, they must have a Heartrender or something who spotted her - 

Her knives go right through the misty figure, and a powerful gust knocks them out of her hands as she's grabbed. She kicks still, struggles - 

Kaz used up all her bullets on the flying freaks. She lunges at the woman, cane raised-

She'll have to force her way through a storm like nothing she's ever felt, the wind coming like a solid blow to her entire front. The woman spreads her arms and lifts easily into the sky, her strangely fastened cloak billowing around her like wings. 

"Bring Bo Yul-Bayur to the rendezvous within a week. If you do not, we'll dock your pay by a million for each further day you're late - and we'll start giving our insurance back one piece at a time." Her light voice has gone cold, merciless, and she gazes down at Kaz with all the haughty arrogance wealth and power can muster. 

"Go - hhf - fuck yourself," she wheezes. "Cheating mercher bastard."

"We'll start with the less valuable pieces - perhaps an earlobe. But, if you delay long enough... How valuable will your little spider be without fingers? Without eyes?" She sneers - and then with another powerful gust of air, she's lifted away, along with Inej and the attackers she brought with her. 

The wind dies down enough Kaz can hear the pained groans of the injured Dime Lions behind her. 

She is going to burn Van Eck and all his holdings to ground. As soon as she gets her breath back.

...Should Trassel be ripping out throats here, or are they letting this meat go to waste?

She lowers her hand from where it'd been stretched out uselessly, her power failing with a sickening lurch to rise to her command, to save Inej and slaughter the bastards that took her - 

But she doesn't need witchcraft to turn back to the downed thugs, open hatred in her eyes. "Don't rip out their throats yet, Trassel," she says out loud, for the benefit of those who can't understand her partner with the same ease she does. "They might have information. Though, if they don't..."

"Gutter trash like this? They don't know shit."

"Then no need for them to keep breathing?"

"Not unless any of them care to speak up and prove me wrong."

Is she serious - what - casual murder is well beyond the norms of ordinary dealings in the Barrel, even when torture and kidnapping threats are in the air - 

The gutter trash seem a bit slow on the uptake. 

She leans over the so-called leader with an expression as cold as the unforgiving ice. "Van Eck has declared war on us, and your pissant little boss has thrown his hat in with our enemy. I don't know how scum do war here, and I don't fucking care - it isn't war until the canals choke with the bodies of the dead."

Some of them do, in fact, have information. On Van Eck (rare, only the enforcer, who knows where Pekka Rollins was meeting him), on Rollins (more common, some of it only scraps), on any little backroom deal or scandal -

Not all of them, and some of them even want to be cute about not talking. 

Then they'll be the first to water the streets with their blood. 

Feilan signals Trassel to kill any who refuse to talk - any who are too slow - any who try to run - any whose information doesn't meet Kaz's judgment of worthwhile. 

To the survivors, as few as they are: "Van Eck will die. The only choice your boss has in this is whether we tear out his throat first."

"Think more carefully about what jobs you want to take next time. And for who."

They should really get moving though. This is not a scene they want to get caught at right now.

She'll follow where Kaz leads. 

Let's see if they can get all the way back to the Rookery this time.

Is she sure going to a known haunting ground is a good idea right now? 

Not to stay. But Kaz needs to pull some emergency measures together. Send a message to Jesper's group.

The wolf should stay out of sight.

That'll be hard in this city. Not undoable in the emptier streets like this, but - it'll get worse as foot traffic picks up. 

One of the old abandoned cemetery islands, then.

...Neither Feilan nor Trassel know where those are. Unless Kaz can give directions - ?

They can find a gondola on the way and buy the gondolier's silence.

Alright. 

"Do you want me with you, or should I stay with Trassel?"

"Stay with the wolf. I'll come get you when there's someone new to kill."

"Don't take long. We have two different groups of bastards to track down and kill."

"I know."

Another shaky breath. What was that thing the Dregs always say to reach other - ?

"No mourners."

"No funerals."

Meanwhile...

"So that's Ketterdam," she says as the city hoves into view over the water. She's having to squint a bit past the bright sun on the waves, so it's more of a dark blob, but it's definitely the biggest city she's ever seen, just from how it stretches across the horizon. 

"That's Ketterdam," Sturmhund agrees. "Jewel of the True Sea. Or festering boil, one of those. Depends how much money you have, I guess. And your attitude towards making more."

"Don't have much, and don't care about more... I'll have to see it a bit closer to see if I think it's a Jewel or not, though."

"We'll be docking soon enough."

True. And, speaking of: 

There's more harbors than she would've expected... Though, hm, looking at the map... Fifth Harbor seems like a pretty likely place if you're trying to sneak into the city, doesn't it? 

Good eye. It was dredged out pretty recently, and there's lots of little corners.

It's right near at the top of what her street map labels 'East Stave', too, which lines up with Kaz's directions to the Crow Club... If they cut across the 'lid' and then head down the West Stave canal, the Crow Club's off to the left - a good bit down, not prime real estate, but not difficult to reach either.  

Ah, right in the tourist areas.

Kaz said something about plucking pigeons who fly in. 

Let's hope she didn't mean them.

Well, if they're planning to spend money at her establishments... They probably count.

Alas!

Though she might not mind getting plucked by Kaz...

If it's all in good fun. And she doesn't lose the ship.

Stay away from the gambling tables, then. 

That's the key to a happy visit to Ketterdam.

"You've been here before?"

"A few times, yeah. Good place to stop for rumors. The port sees a lot of trade."

"Any good contacts here, other than mine in the Dregs?"

"One or two bartenders down by First Harbor. And I know some people in Little Ravka."

"They won't be centrally involved, but..." Thoughtful hum. "They'll be off the radar of anyone else following the Dregs. Might have heard things, or might be useful in outflanking our competition." 

"Though we should still get to the Crow Club first. I've got... A feeling things are about to move fast."

"I've been told your feelings are pretty reliable."

"You haven't seen the half of it yet."

"I'll look forward to it."

Right after she sees them into port.

Val's ready to disembark as soon as she is. 

Then they can go exploring beautiful, squalid, expansive, cramped Ketterdam. And visit a brothel!

Luckily the gondels can take them all the way - it turns out fastest to head down East Stave, then cut across one of the side canals crossing the main body of the Barrel. The Crow Club is right where a major artery connects the two Staves, actually - a good balance for a blended brothel and gambling hall.

There's a nervous energy in the guards (most of them posted discretely, but not discreetly enough to avoid Val's gaze) who stand in black livery around the enormous entrance. The giant oxidized silver crows and black and red color scheme of the building aren't exactly subtle. 

"In through the front?" Val asks, gaze sweeping over the building and picking out the many potential bolt holes and quick escapes.

"I always take the bold approach."

"After you - I'll watch your back."

Always a great feeling having a pretty girl watch your back.

So is this place open for business?

Seems to be! It's not quite crowded - 'just before midday' isn't a popular time for gambling - and there's more watchful eyes about than there perhaps should be. But there's still people about, some at the bar even at this time of day, some at the tables, some heading deeper into the building. 

Hm hm hm. If she were Kaz, where would she be...? Nah, tracking like that's Val's job. Sturmhund will grab a drink and make some friends with the staff.

She has a sneaking suspicion that just asking for Kaz won't work, not with things as tense as they are. But, with Sturmhund drawing attention by being her charming self...

Well. It's easy enough for Val to slip away, to listen, to avoid any gazes (to worry that Inej hasn't already caught her at this) - to go find Kaz herself, or at least the next clue to where she's gone. 

Upstairs, past the private rooms with their closed doors, tucked away in a back corner, there's an office. Door's closed, but someone's inside.

...Chances Kaz tries to shoot her if she opens that door suddenly? Probably pretty high. Chances people could overhear her announce herself? ...Annoyingly high, especially if she announces anything loud enough to be clearly heard through that door. Also it's technically possible that isn't Kaz.

She'll... Lightly knock? 

After a brief delay, the door opens.

"What-"

"-the hell are you doing here?"

" - Can I come in?"

"Fuck it, sure." She lets Val enter her office, taking her seat at the desk again.

She closes the door behind her, tilts her head to make sure she doesn't hear anyone close enough to listen in - 

"So... You didn't spot me on White Island."

"I was a little busy on White Island."

"Definitely beat me out."

"And, speaking of..." Shrug. "What's your price this time?"

"The contract price or what you'll give me to flip?"

"Flip. Or at least find a solution my boss won't make too many frowny faces about - for that, I'd take 'things don't get worse for us, and I can brightly say I tried.'"

She sighs heavily and runs a gloved hand through her hair. "I need your help tracking two of my people down. As for 'things don't get worse'- Bol-Yatur is dead. The Fjerdans killed him trying to take him in and I don't think anybody but us and the Fjerdans know. Maybe the Shu. His daughter's alive but won't or can't replicate his work."

...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. 

Kaz has to dig a bit to find any sea charts, and they're from before the Fifth Harbor was reopened. She's not having Sturmhund in her office. They can move to one of the private rooms and have whoever the pirate's currently flirting with bring her up to them.

Works for Val.

She makes it happen.

"Oh hello. Are we doing the special service?"

"Not this week. Business before pleasure."

"Ooh, coldly firm. Heard that about you. So what are we looking at?"

" - So Nina's part of Kaz's crew, apparently - she returned to Ketterdam with Kaz, but she was grabbed by unidentified hostiles on their way in. Flying hostiles. I've narrowed the probable distances they could've flown with her down, and we're trying to figure out if those guesses are reasonable - and if there's any likely places for people-smugglers to be operating in these arcs."

" - Also, have you heard anything about weird winged people?"

She's not supposed to talk about her intelligence briefings.

"That... sounds like something the Shu would have been experimenting with."

"But why would they grab Nina - ?"

Ah.

"Because she's wearing Kuwei's face."

Blink. " - That might not fool them for long." Which means they might have an even shorter ticking clock than initially thought.

"She's a good actress. But we were expecting she'd be with Van Eck, yeah."

"What else do we have to work with - ?" (This is directed at both Kaz and Sturmhund.)

She can try to tug on some connections more aggressively, but it'll take time.

Kaz has the Dregs gathering information. And a rendezvous with the other half of her team from White Island later.

" - That team happen to include the long lost Fjerdan princess?"

Oooh.

"That's an interesting theory that I won't be explicitly confirming to a Ravkan soldier for what I hope are understandable reasons, no matter how loose her interpretation of orders are."

Snort. "Fair enough - and as much as I'd like to, I can't promise that what happens in Ketterdam will stay in Ketterdam. There's too many other players on the board."

"And either way, I don't want to try rescuing Nina just via 'sic the Fjerdans on the Shu' - that'll get messy, and royal favor or not, I'm not abandoning her to them."

Kaz will let Nina make her case on her own time.

"Yeah, outright war's in no one's interest."

"None of ours, at least."

Hmmm... "Sturmhund and I also won't be the last ones coming here looking for Kuwei - we're just the first. I'm not sure how the Shu beat us here, but we'll want to move fast before they can get backup... And we'll want to move fast to track down Inej, too. A week isn't much time, and we don't want to risk Van Eck getting spooked by all the attention turning here."

"Ground search won't do much good if the Shu are keeping Nina on a ship. I can have my crew check the water and follow up with what's going on at the embassy, if you want to focus on Inej."

...She wants to save Nina - 

- But she has to trust her allies. 

"Alright." Deep breath. To Kaz: "I might be able to track them from where she was taken, but a more thorough list of his holdings will help."

"I'll get it."

"How long will that take?"

"Maybe a day. His accountant will have the full books, we can get them."

"I'll see what I can find in the streets in the meantime, then."

"Meet back here when we've got something?"

"Will that be safe?" She looks at Kaz.

"Might not be. I've got a fallback set up on Black Veil island. Gondolier'll take you, if you tip well."

"We'll meet there, then."

"Sounds like a plan."

Anything else, before Val and Sturmhund head out? 

"Thanks," Kaz says. "For helping."

"Inej is my friend, and Nina's - she's one of mine. Thanks for letting me help."

Yeah all right. Work to do now.

And Sturmhund should probably reassure Tamar and Aliya that Kaz hasn't eaten her. 

That'd be for the best. They do get antsy sometimes.

Sturmhund can direct their energies to rescuing Nina and Inej, instead. 

She's sure they'll love that.

Off to find them.

Tamar is downstairs at the bar where Sturmhund left her, idly watching the entrances and exits.

While her sister does slow laps of the room. Aliya returns when she sees Sturmhund come back down.

"Have fun?" she asks drily.

"Oh yeah. I'm feeling inspired."

"Refreshed and ready to go."

"So where to next?"

"We'll swing by the ship first and make a plan."

Val will split off on the way - unless Sturmhund wants to lend her a twin? 

Might be better if no one goes alone, yeah.

Which one does Tamar want?

"I'll stick with Sturmhund."

"Running dog of the military it is."

"Think you can keep up with me?"

"I think I'm good."

"We'll see."

"Let's go, then."

She sets off to where Inej was grabbed.

...Though investigating the actual area is somewhat complicated by all the stadwatch, what with the numerous bloody gang murders the night before. Val's sneaky, though. 

Aliya is... less sneaky. She gets by, though.

Val can compensate for both of them - it helps that she knows who's observing them when. Aliya can watch her back while she examines the area for physical traces. 

Neat trick. She's got Val's back.

It's appreciated. 

And...

She does, actually, find a few things. A shoe-print where the woman had stood, traces of soil... A bloodied scrap of cloth, fallen to the ground in Inej's struggle with the Squallers who took her... She can't exactly track by scent, but she takes it carefully, trying to avoid further contaminating it with her own scent. (If Kaz does have a lost Fjerdan princess on call... Maybe she has one of their infamous wolves, too.) She gets a sense of the lay of the area, too - where they could've gone without being seen, how quickly they could've possibly deployed on hearing about the Dregs' arrival in the city, what that implies for where they started from... Who might've heard or seen something of worth, who might take a few kruge to jog their memory... 

It's all together a fairly astonishing haul of information, especially for someone who first stepped foot in the city a scant few hours before. 

Not something Aliya could have done. She sees why Val's got so much freedom of action.

More a hunting dog than a running dog. 

Fair enough.

Though they should go ahead and get this information back to Sturmhund.

To the ship, then?

Sure. 

"So is this what you do all time? Pull meaningful shit out of thin air?"

"When I'm not tracking legends or hunting down witch hunters."

"Legends?"

"Surely you've heard of a certain lovely Sun Summoner's amplifiers?"

"Thought that was some propaganda bullshit."

"Nope! One hundred percent real."

"Must have been some hunt."

The full retelling can wait for the ship.

It is a good story, then.

She'd say so! 

Then back to the ship they go.

She'll turn her gathered information over to Sturmhund first. 

Quick work. She's sure it'll be helpful.

"I'll relay it to Kaz at the rendezvous, too. She might be able to do more with it."

"Sounds good. We're checking some of the outer coves for Shu ships."

They've got a bit of time before the rendezvous window opens. Val can spend that time helping Sturmhund scout for ships, or at least narrow down places to look (and regale Aliya with tales of her literally legendary hunts during down time). 

That works. Narrowing is best for now, if she can...

She'll do what she can. (Which is a lot.)

It's appreciated.

Thanks. 

Yeah, yeah. How about those stories?

She can tell those in the relative privacy of the cabin... 

They'd better be good.

Aliya will have to judge for herself. (Though Val's an excellent storyteller, if she does say so herself.)

Not bad, overall.

A pleasant way to pass the time, and to get better acquainted with each other.

Careful with those eyes, Oretsev. Buy a girl dinner first.

She's heard there's some fine establishments in Ketterdam...

Shame not to see the city, if they've time to spare.

Rendezvous isn't until nightfall, so they've got a pretty good chunk. 

Fair enough. She's sure Tamar can sit on Sturmhund a while longer.

Sturmhund has work to do while there's still light, what with scouting coves and all.

Then let's go.

She's got a couple of ideas on where to start...

Feilan, meanwhile, paces Black Veil like a caged animal - like a soldier memorizing the lay of the land - starting from when the gondel drops her off (with a few breaks to eat or drink or lay down and shake or try to sleep, mostly if Trassel nudges her into it) and all the way until she hears the next quiet splash of a boat in the fog. 

That boat is a small, nondescript boat - not a gondel, but a simple thing for hauling cargo or passengers short distances. It's steered by a Dreg, Minke - one fewer risk of leaks.

"Helvar? What happened - ?" Jana asks as soon as they disembark, looking at Feilan with her brow furrowed. 

"Van Eck took Inej. And - Nina - " She chokes up, then takes a deep breath. "Some winged bastards grabbed her. I've never seen anything like it - their skin was like something made by a Fabrikator, but wrong - " She shakes her head, sharply, then to Kuwei: "Do you know anything about that?!"

(The easiest way to imagine a Tailor - a true Tailor, someone straddling the boundary of Corporalnik and Materialnik, not a self taught Healer like her - twisting a person that much is with jurda parem, and only one nation has had the drug long enough to properly experiment with making use of it.)

"I know that those in power in Shu Han were willing to experiment with parem. That is why we fled, my father and I. And there were stores we left behind."

"They've been giving it to Fabrikators, Tailors, maybe Healers. Those things - those can't possibly be the only ones produced."

They're being more coordinated,  less stupid about it than Fjerda, and worlds better than the Kerch, who seem to think that grisha dosed with parem are to be used as particularly scary bruisers and thugs.

Feilan hates a competent enemy. 

"That is unfortunate. I do not wish to see them with that power."

"We'll rescue Nina first - then we can see about taking it from them." 

"Nina's not the only problem. Van Eck took Inej."

"...I know."

Shaky breath. "Do you have a lead on either?"

"Working on it. Jes, you remember Val, from the Os Alta job? By some insane coincidence, she was at the Ice Court too, tracking Kuwei for Ravka. Saw me and figured we'd have her by the time the dust settled so she came to Ketterdam. Working with Sturmhund for some fucking reason, but they're both gathering information for us."

" - The current Sturmhund's Ravkan, at minimum a privateer, though some of our - Fjerda's - sources indicated she might be more directly employed than that."

"Half a mystery solved, then."

"And, yeah, I remember Val. If she tracked Morozova's Stag..." He runs a hand through his hair. "Those weren't my bedtime stories, but - I feel better with her on the trail."

"Yeah. So," she turns to Jana. "Anything you've been saving on Van Eck, now's the time."

"...He's shut me out of his business for a decade. I really don't know much about that. He hasn't publicly disowned me yet, though, so - I asked around for gossip. His wife, Alys, is pregnant, he's been acting antsy lately..." There's a few other details on recent movements and rumors. 

They can find a way to use all that.

" - It isn't Alys's fault her parents married her to my father. Just - don't hurt her? Too much?"

"I'll be proportionate."

...Best she can ask for, especially with Inej taken. 

Down to planning.

Inej fights when they take her. She can't not. She gets a solid blow on one of the Squallers, sends her opponent - and herself - tumbling out of the sky. 

Then the second Squaller catches her. 

Then pain.

Then - 

Nothing. 

She wakes up tightly bound, hands behind her back with a rigid bar between them so she can't even get her hands together, ankles hobbled, blindfold around her eyes. 

She gets the blindfold off by rubbing her face on the cold, smooth floor. It doesn't help much - the small room is lightless, though she can make out the crack below the door as a faint contrast of black on black. (When they come, they tie the blindfold tighter. She avoids disabusing them of the notion that that'll work.) But she can't do much about her ordinary bindings, a mixture of rope and metal, not with the awkward position and the limited time before her captors check on her. 

A Suli boy a few years older than her - an indenture, a music teacher for Van Eck's wife - is the main face of her captivity at first. He asks her questions lightly, chides her for being stubborn - 

He tries to spoon feed her. She nearly takes his fingers off. 

He doesn't get in biting range of her again. Van Eck decides to let hunger do its job, if kindness won't work. 

A Shu woman comes next. She speaks familiarly - probibingly - about Kuwei.

Inej ignores her questions. She says: "The Merchant Council doesn't look kindly on interfering with indentures," as testingly as the woman speaks of Kuwei. She's forced to kneel by the way her ankles are tied. (She tells herself: The next time she stands, she will take the eyes of any who saw her kneel. It seems only fair.)

The woman laughs. "Two fifty thousand. That's what you're worth - or what Brekker bought you for at least. She could maybe argue in court that you're worth more, if a court would even let her bring it. The highest damages your boss could demand would be four times your worth, if we return you to her in thirty pieces. That seems an appropriate price for insurance on a deal this large, don't you think? And, besides - who will listen to a whore like you, and the Barrel scum that owns her?)

(She will cut out this one's tongue, too. Perhaps after thanking her for the secrets she inadvertently let slip to Inej's careful ears.)

It's difficult to measure time in this place, especially as hunger starts to cloud the edges of her thoughts. The questions grow more pointed, the threats more overt - 

They stop asking about Yul-Bayur and his daughter. They start asking about safehouses Kaz might use. 

Inej has made a game (a calling) of ferreting out every secret in this city, especially those of her own allies.

She opens her mouth only to bite any hands placed incautiously near her face. 

(It hasn't been seven days yet. Van Eck must be getting desperate. What's going on out there - ?)

She's taken from her cell only a few days into her captivity. She's marched - dragged - to an old stage (this place must be a decommissioned theater, there's only so many - ), the props set up for The Madman and the Doctor, a short play in the Komedie Brute - 

Except for one table, which isn't decorated with props at all, the comically large mallets and ludicrous dull saws replaced by real tools - for surgery, for the dismemberment of bodies. 

They had to unbind her feet, shift her arms, to move her. She shows them how much of a mistake that was, dropping into a wide sweep that takes out both her guards - tumbling past the surgical table, palming scapels and cutting her ropes - 

The gutted theater is full of guards, shouting, trying to grab her - she goes up, grabs a cord dangling from the heights - 

She's halfway up when the line is cut from above. She absorbs the fall, turns it into a roll - 

But she doesn't escape fast enough to avoid getting grabbed, being pinned, dragged to the table and tied -