Kaz had not spoken to Erin for a couple days. He’d spent most of his time in a corner trying to hide while he threw up, or making Matthias go over the plan again. Every once in a while he spotted her teaching Wylan how to make a chart, and giving Rotty orders. She’d make an excellent captain. He tried to hide the flutter in his chest when he saw her marking the parchment, pen in her mouth and various tools in her hand. It pained him not to speak to her- but he felt that he’d only make it worse. Kaz Brekker didn’t apologize. It wasn’t in his nature.
Erin stood tall at the back of the ship, keeping her eye on the horizon as the sun went down. Her hair whipped her face, she had forgotten a hair tie. Kaz limped his way over to her.
“Are we on schedule?”
Erin nodded before pulling out her compass and moving to the table she had fastened next to the wheel. Her hands moved over a map of the continents, pointing to about an inch above Ketterdam.
“Wzr hvre” she said through the pen in her mouth. Kaz snatched it from her,
“Try again.”
“We’re here.”
Kaz looked at the maps, analyzing them. He knew roughly what everything was, but how they worked was beyond him. He wondered where she learned all this. There was a silent agreement between them, she didn’t ask about his past and he didn’t ask about hers. Although it seemed relevant that he knew how she obtained all this knowledge.
“Where did you learn to make star charts?”
His fingers brushed over the half full parchment, it had scribbles of constellations on it. Erin glanced out to the sea briefly.
“Does it matter?”
“It matters to your investment value”
Of course. Everything came with a price tag. Erin thought for a moment
“I didn’t go to a school for it, if that’s what your getting at.”
He didn’t have to know about her father. Kaz nodded, fidgeting with the sextant. He wanted to know more, he wanted to know everything, really.
“A family member then?”
Erin faltered for a moment.
“Where did you learn to lock pick?”
Kaz furrowed his brows. Point taken. Thinking about Jordie was painful, and this mystery person was probably painful for her to talk about as well. He cleared his throat, thinking of something else to say. Kaz never found stars that interesting, he preferred to focus on the things he could steal.
“Have you sailed to Fierda before?”
Erin chuckled. It was sweet with a bitter aftertaste.
“No. I haven’t.”
“Then how do you know where we’re going?”
“Figuring it out as we go”
Kaz looked at her with concern.
“What?” His voice tightened.
Her fingers dance over the charts as she explained.
“Well, if the constellations in Ketterdam are like this-“ she pulls a chart out,” right now, then they should look like this,” a different chart appears on the table,” in Fierda.”
Kaz was a clever man. He could manipulate a lawman into committing horrible atrocities. But this…. This made his head spin. He just nodded, and acted like he understood.
“And these? He points to what looks like graphs”
Erin’s picks them up
“These are the tidal charts from the past 5 years. They’ll tell me where not to sail.”
Kaz’s lips turned into a small smile. If there was one thing to be admired about Erin, she does her research. The sun lowered below the sea, leaving them in darkness. Their home. Erin grabbed a lantern and flicked a match, lighting it and setting it down. The firelight reflected against Kaz’s flint eyes, making them seem almost green. Erin’s cheeks flushed and she turned to the wheel.
“You should sleep.” she said.
Kaz leaned against the table, watching the waves behind them as the ship pressed on.
“Rotty can take over for you.” He said, almost in a whisper. In the past 3 days he hadn’t seen anyone but her at the wheel. He was sure she was only staying awake on power naps. She shook her head.
“If Rotty goes to far of course it could be difficult to get back on track. Can’t risk missing the festival.”
Kaz rolled his eyes. Missing the festival would be the least of their problems if she passed out from exhaustion.
“You need sleep. You risk the crew sailing without proper rest.” It was more of a demand, than a statement.
“If-“
“I wasn’t asking,” Kaz spoke, taking the wheel from her. Erin simply nodded, stepping back towards the stairs. She turned, her hair shining from the lantern. She waited for him to say goodnight to her, but he didn’t. He stood silently at the wheel watching as she disappeared into the cabin.