#now that i htink maybe mercher allies mr and mr wesper might play a hand in the shenanigans

[inejswag]

the thing is that i absolutely cannot see kanej becoming parents because i do think their respective Traumas will rule out the possibility of ever having biological children And even though adoption is always an option older!kanej to me are a hot mess at any age and definitely not like. people with their lives together enough in the conventional sense to consiously make the decision to adopt & raise a child BUT all that being said i absolutely absolutely absolutely adore the idea of inej saving a preteen boy from a slaver ship who has already learned to steal & be quiet to survive and has developed some seriously sticky fingers and so she has no choice but to train him in espionage and acrobatics to be a spider of his own and him looking up to her as a cooler older sister and meanwhile in ketterdam kaz is breaking into a rich merchant’s house late at night and runs into a little merchling girl kinda like in the beginning of crooked kingdom but instead of a child he can terrify right out of her wits by simply being Dirtyhands he finds a bird of a feather in the face of a seven year old whose Weird Little Girl phase is in full swing and she is immune to Dirtyhands because she fully believes in morbid supernatural forces but is very nonchanlant and unphased about it all. if anything it turns out she’s very good at understading the adult world especially the merchers’ buisness and she and kaz form an unlikely alliance where she tells him about the comings and goings in her house in a very matter-of-fact telling this new adult friend i just made about my day way without like. being Fully aware that kaz is a dodgy character/she’s giving away sensitive information she shouldn’t be but clearly something is Up with this child and she knows not to tell anyone about kaz but she also trusts him without a second thought. verious shenanigans lead to the girl spending more time in the slat/around kaz - either the good old capturing her for ransom razzle dazzle or she gets lost in the city and found by kaz or simply a neglecting governess. he denies feeling any sort of affection for the girl to everyone even jesper even though he very clearly enjoys her presence and how they can exchange deadpan one-liners in a way that shows they’re the only two people in the world who truly Get the other until inej’s ship rolls in for the first time in a while and she’s being tailed by this bright-eyed boy who looks up to her like she’s the coolest person alive and they both sneak up on kaz who is probably playing an unneccessarily complicated chess-like game of their own creation with the girl and/or telling her a horror bedtime story except they’re taking turns weaving the story until she or both of them fall asleep. like on that moment he kinda has to admit to inej Yes i missed you its been so long also i see youve made a new friend. i must admit i might have made one too.