#helnick

But they don’t know the Kerch word for “demon” so they say demjin, and for a second everyone just freezes and looks at them with round eyes.

The person who doesn’t look at them is Kaz because he can’t even move, and he is turned away from others. Then Jesper unfreezes and tries to switch the topic. And Kaz just stands there.

Later on, Inej appears next to Hanne when they are leaving, and waiting for Nina. She tells them to never use the word “demjin” when referring to Kaz again.

Hanne of course asks why, and from the door behind them, they hear Kaz’s footsteps and the sound of his cane stumping on the floor.

He appears and slowly and quietly explains the story behind that nickname.

Hanne is shocked by the story, Inej is shocked by Kaz actually explaining it, and Kaz just tries to keep the tide waters down and overstep his fear of grief.

When Nina returns to the three of them, Kaz offers to walk her and Hanne to the hotel they’re staying in. Inej offers to go with them because she’s not sure why would Kaz offer something like that.

While they walk Kaz starts to tell Hanne the “rumors” he’d "heard" about the Ice Court break-in. Nina and Inej are exchanging glances in the back, trying to figure out what Kaz is trying to do. Like does he want to kill Hanne? Or to threaten them?

But nothing happened. Both Nina and Inej are surprised. They will never know that Hanne is one of the first people Kaz tried to start a friendship with after crows and after his revenge was finished.

matthias: he’s a strong guy, so i imagine his immune system is pretty good. but, if he ever does get sick, he does everything he can to hide it. eventually, of course, nina finds out and insists on tending to him until the sickness has passed. she sends for inej to get the supplies she needs to keep him well so she can remain by his side. he tells her he’s fine, and of course he’s worried about getting her sick, but inwardly he loves having her take care of him. 

nina: nina’s a grisha, so i don’t think she can get sick. however, if she did get sick, she wouldn’t try to hide it - mostly to get matthias to take care of her. she would bask in his attention, and he would give her everything she needed. soup, medicine, a cool press for her head, you name it, he’s on it. or rather, inej is on it - she would volunteer to get anything matthias needed, coming in sometimes to spend time with her best friend. of course, she’s worried about him getting sick, but he tells her not to worry, his immune system is nigh impenetrable. 

jesper: it depends on who he’s around whether he lets on or not. if it’s just him and wylan at the van eck mansion, he doesn’t bother to hide it - but if he’s on a job, he hides it as much as is humanly possible. inej would notice first and insist that he get some rest and get well, but he brushes it off with his usual smile and wink (what do you mean? i’m fit as a fiddle and twice as gorgeous!). kaz would tell him to rest up, too (no good having a member of my crew down right now), but he doesn’t listen to that either. eventually, wylan notices and immediately starts scolding him for not saying anything, before shoving him into bed and taking care of him. jesper flirts with him the whole time, telling him how great of a nurse he is, etc., etc. wylan constantly has to tell him to go to sleep, jesper, you need to get well. jesper just grins but does as he’s told. truthfully, he wants to stay sick as long as possible - he loves watching wylan play nurse. 

wylan: wylan would try to hide for as long as possible. he doesn’t want to be a burden to anyone, after all. there are more important things than him. of course, he’s not exactly an expert at hiding it and eventually jesper just rolls his eyes, wraps wylan up in a blanket, and makes him the soup his mother liked to make him when he was a child. inej and nina would be there, too, doing everything they could to help. kaz would send an anonymous basket of medicines and other supplies (everyone knows it’s from him. he refuses to acknowledge it.). wylan would be more than a little ashamed at the attention from his friends family, but they would all just shake their heads and remind wylan over an over how much he’s loved. 

inej: when inej gets sick, she does what she always does - hides the pain, insists she can do whatever job needs doing. she would keep up the ruse - fairly well, too - until it’s horribly obvious to everyone around her that she is definitely not okay. she would keep insisting, but nina would just sweep her off her feet and carry her up to her room, plop her down on her bed, and order her to remain there until such time as she was well (and i’ll be the judge, inej, not you. nina- you’ll just get up as soon as you’re feeling halfway straight and then you’ll fall off a roof and kaz will kill me.). the others do everything they can for her - nina spends the most time with her, but jesper and wylan make frequent visits, and occasionally matthias stops by to check in on them. kaz comes by as often as he can, but it’s difficult for him to be near her on a sickbed when all he can see is jordie’s face in his mind. so, what he does instead is leave her things by her door - food, medicine, a book she said she was interested in but never had time to read. he never leaves a note, but she knows it’s from him. whenever he does stop by, nina is out of the room instantly - he stays as long as he can, makes sure her condition is improving and she’s getting what she needs. inej makes sure to thank all of them for their help, before and after she’s well again. 

I'm reading Six of crows again, ship quotes under.