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"She knew to expect us" the Conductor said, they were currently stood in the centre of a small room rented out to Nina Zenik, a Grisha who, according to the Conductor, knew the ins and outs of the Little Palace,
When they arrived at the desired time, she was no where to be seen,
"She isn't late" Kaz observed "she'd gone."
Leo walked around the bed, inspecting the case that the Grish had left open. She saw various colours and the ruffles of dressed within the wooden trunk, however what caught her eyes wasn't in the trunk itself, rather underneath it,
The sun through the window reflected off of something metallic, something that had a sheen,
Lifting up the wooden lid, she flipped it over, closing the trunk and saw what she had spotted,
A small badge, sort of pin, was sat on the perfectly made bed,
She picked it up to inspect it, flipping it over to the back before turning it back,
Jesper saw this and asked "what is it?"
Arken took a look at Leo's hand that held the pin, and held his own out for her to place it in his palm. It didn't take a second before he realised what it was,
"Drüskelle" he huffed, Leo noticed the name, she had heard of the Drüskelle. She wasn't a fan,
"They are ruthless Grisha hunters" Arken continued,
"Explains the Fjerden krydda the innkeeper was counting when we arrived. It's likely he ratted her out" Kaz connected, Leo also noticed when they first arrived at the inn. The man had a god awful smirk painted on his lips,
Leo groaned "she probably stuck on a ship to Fjerda by now" she huffed,
"They had a clear line of attack" Inej pointed out, she was stood next to Kaz by the window, whilst Kaz was behind Leo
Kaz turned to her "take a look. Make sure there aren't any more surprises" Inej nodded pulling up her hood and heading out the window,
But he then turned to Leo tapping her on the leg with his cane, her attention was on Jesper who was currently fiddling with a lampshade,
Leo turned to Kaz raising a brow in question "you go to" he gestured to the window,
Leo gave him a face "actually... I'm quiet comfortable here" she muttered gesturing to Jesper and the room,
"Go. Four eyes are better than two"
Leo scoffed but pulled up her hood, on the way out she muttered "well three if we are being specific by whatever..."
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"Would you stop that!"
"Stop what?"
"That!"
"And what is that, exactly?"
"Following me"
"I'm not following you, just making sure you didn't miss anything" Leo shrugged as she scoped the ground below,
Inej huffed "we would finish this a lot quicker if you scoped the other side and I did this one"
"Okay, and if we miss something? Who's gonna tell us? Your saints?" Leo scoffed, rolling her eyes at the girl in front of her,
"Do you actually believe in anything?" Inej quipped,
"Somethings" she shrugged,
"Like what?" Inej turned to face the girl, she watched as Leo scoped out the ground, most likely figuring out anyone she saw.
Leo made no comment to reply, just turned from the girl, heading towards the entrance,
"We're done here" Inej briefly heard her and she too followed to the girl down.
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"All clear" Inej told Kaz as they jumped down from the tree above, Leo rolled her eyes,
'Commands like a soldier'
"This seems like a reasonable juncture to abandon this whole Sun summoner plan" Arken commented as he sauntered to stand at Leo's side, Jesper to her right,
"That ain't gonna fly well" Leo mumbled to herself, proving herself correct when Kaz gave the coldest glare to the Conductor,
"Abandon?"
"Point proved" she muttered,
"We're in this now. And I know what a million Kruge means to me. What does it mean to you?" He turned to Inej who was next to Jesper,
"Freedom" she replied with no hesitation,
'Someone desperate to fly free'
He turned to Jesper "Fun. Like, at least a few months" Leo gave an amused smile,
"Leverage" Leo shrugged when Kaz turned to her, he was rather curious what she would want,
"Retirement" Arken answered,
Kaz nodded "right, so we press on. You get us across the Fold and I'll figure out the rest on the other side"
"Fine"
Arken took out a checklist, "to cross, I'll need 20 pounds of Alabaster coal. A peck of Majdaloun Jurda- um, not the kind from Kerch. It's too weak, and uhh..." he looked at Jesper "a goat"
Jesper made a face, "now, we meet in the dead of night. There's a wreckage of a skiff northeast, on the edge of town. So, who gets what?"
Leo spoke up "I know where to find the Jurda"
Everyone looked her way, she put her hands up in surrender "what? I travel!" She said defensively and shrugged,
Kaz nodded anyways but said "we'll then Leo and Inej, Jurda. I'll get the goat. And Jesper" he took a step towards the boy "just the coal. No detours"
Jesper scoffed playfully and took the money from Kaz,
Leo wanted to argue that going with the girl would lack time, being that Inej didn't know the streets here, but didn't argue. She was too tired, and hungry... boy was she hungry.
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(A lot of skips. I apologise)
Inej and Leo were casually strolling through the streets, Leo was surprised the girl asked her no questions as the walked in circles,
Inej watched as Leo looked around, seemingly looking at the shops and the people who walked around,
Even Inej didn't see the man walking directly at the girl as she watched her face,
When Leo and a middle aged man clashed, they were sent toppling to the ground.
Well, at least the man did.
With Inej's fast reactions she was able to grasp the girls shoulders to stop her from hitting the ground, Leo managed to grasp the waist of her apparent saviour to balance herself and keep her back of the ground.
Leo turned her attention to the man, not realising her hands placement was causing a light blush to paint on Inej's cheeks.
"Oi, watch where your going"
The man who now stood up, had a long dark brown beard and wore big padded clothing, his pants clearly 3 sized too big,
His eyes jotted from Inej to Leo and wandered to Leo's current hand placement and Inej's grasp in her shoulders,
He sneered "dirty sinna's" an accent peaking through, Leo's face scrunched and she walked on, taking Inej with her,
She purposefully bumped his shoulder as she passed, the man was so pissed he didn't catch on to her true intention,
The two heard him curse in a foreign language at them as they steadily walked on,
Inej cleared her throat and took her hands back to her side, Leo looked at her, now also realising where her hand was before quickly removing it. A small pink tint nipped at the tip of her ears.
"Are we going to get the Jurda now?" Inej asked,
As they walked Leo kept her gaze forward "what do you mean?"
"I mean the Jurda we were supposed to get? You said you knew where it was?"
Leo's face mocked realisation, as if the thought just popped into her mind. But it quickly turned neutral "oh yeahhh... well Iv got it so we are done here" she shrugged,
Inej's face scrunched in confusion "what?"
"Iv got it, we can go now"
"You have Jurda?"
"Yup"
"But-" Inej cut herself off as Leo took something from her pocket and subtly displayed it in her hand,
Her eyes widened "where did you get that?"
Leo smirked "the man back there was Girit Liniat, a man who, despite his aggressive nature and views, looooves~ his Jurda"
"...you did that on purpose? The fall"
"That I did little Wraith. That I did"
Inej scoffed "you could of warned me"
Leo shrugged "I said I had a way. That was my way" she looked to the girl besides her, and watched as she rolled her eyes and walked further ahead,
Leo laughed and chased her to catch up saying "oh c'mon! Don't sulk"
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I hate this chapter.
But I'll be honest I had no idea what to do for it so here we are. It took me a while to come up with scenarios and most of this just became free hand and improvised cause I had absolutely no plan atall.
So what did you think?
How are you beautiful beans??
Anywhooooooo