#rosewindow

I shampoo and condition daily in the morning(ish) with sulfate/silicone-free products, usually the Function of Beauty Curly (pink) line that you can get at Target.

I comb my hair to detangle while in the shower, by flipping my head upside down while I condition and raking through it with a wide tooth comb. I then scrunch my hair as I rinse the conditioner out, to help curls form.

Out of the shower, I put in curl cream (right now using Curlsmith Hold me Softly Style Balm) and mousse (Curlsmith Volume Mousse from their purple strength line). Then I plop my hair on top of my head and wrap in a microfiber hair towel so it can dry some.

I’m so sorry if you haven’t read/don’t like Six of Crows, but I’m doing a reread so that’s where I’m at these days. Also my good friend is in labor right now, so my head’s on one track and I need some fluff.

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8. Eggnog has the word ‘egg’ in it. It’s practically a protein shake

“Are you afraid of Papa?” Nayalina asks, curiously.

Inej looks up from where she’s crouched by the lower door hinge, replacing the hardware to keep it from creaking in the night. She gently spits the screws from between her lips into her palm, silent against her half-fingered gloves.

“Why do you ask, meja? Are you?”

Naya laughs, her little voice trilling like a dozen birds on an island somewhere. “No! He says I’m the only one in the whole world. Does that mean you’re afraid of him too?”

Inej narrows her eyes and tries to remember the last time she spoke to a five-year-old who wasn’t her daughter. An occasion doesn’t immediately spring to mind, so she shrugs internally and goes to sit beside her on the bed. It’s been a common feeling around the Slat for the last few years, no one quite sure what’s appropriate for her to see and hear, but she thinks they’re doing all right. We know what not to do, Kaz had said, trying to mask his own obvious terror as Nina set the little bundle in his arms for the first time. Maybe not obvious to everyone, but she’s known him for over half her life. The fear was obvious to her, and not unfamiliar.

“Sometimes I am afraid of him,” she admits. “But I know he won’t hurt you or me. You know this, right?”

Naya laughs again. “Of course not! Anyway, he couldn’t hurt me if he tried.”

“Oh? And why is that?”

Naya leans close and whispers, “I am a powerful Grisha.”

“Are you really?” Inej keeps a straight face with some effort. “And why have I not heard of this before?”

“It’s a secret.”

“But Mama knows all the secrets, remember?

Naya frowns. “I forgot about that. I guess you can know.”

“And what is your Grisha power? Are you a fearsome heartrender like Nina? A clever fabrikator like Jesper?”

“I can grow a tree,” Naya says matter of factly. “I can point my finger, and a tree will grow right there. And if I point at a person, they will become a tree and cannot hurt me.” She points at the floor to demonstrate. Inej drops down into a crouch and peeks under the rug. 

“I don’t see one.”

“I’m not using it now, silly Mama! If I grow a tree in the house, it will break the roof!”

Inej laughs and pounces back on the bed, wrapping her arms around the tiny girl. 

Do you think she’s too small? She’d asked Kaz the week before. The other children she plays with seem so big compared to her. Are we feeding her enough?

If we feed her anymore we’ll have to do it by boatload, he’d said, knocking his hip against hers and dropping into the desk chair. You worry too much. And you’ve only got about six inches on her, so I don’t know what you’re complaining about.

She’d pushed his ledger off the desk with the tip of her toe and swung out the window. Kaz Brekker, teasing.

She won’t admit it to him—though she’s certain he knows—but she feels the years in her hips and ankles more and more these days. There are other spiders, now, who she used to think of as children in the days before she had her own. But she’s a few years away from being stuck on the ground. The half-gloves she wears now are her only visible concession to palms and joints that need extra support.

Do you think she’s a fool? Kaz asked yesterday. They’d just put Naya to bed, letting her tell them another story of magic and flying ships and talking animals. Inej isn’t sure where it all comes from—certainly her godfathers enjoy telling her tall tales, but there’s a lightness and cheerfulness to her stories that feels so out of place in the Barrel. Again, she wonders if they should have moved to another part of the city when Naya was born.

I think she’s happy.

Kaz had drummed his fingers against her shin. Too happy?

What do you mean?

I mean we were never— He’d swallowed and looked past her, through the wall, to a pair of little boys drinking chocolate. Do you think she’s too old to be so— you know.

Inej had run her fingers through his hair, rubbing her thumb over the small patch of grey at his temple. I think we survived all we did so our daughter can be a fool if she wants to.

Kaz had nodded, still not looking at her. I—

Worry too much. She’d kissed his cheek and rolled off the bed to grab a nightshirt.

“Thank you for not destroying the house, sweet one,” she says now, sticking her tongue between her teeth.

“You don’t believe me! You’re making fun of me,” Naya pouts.

“Never!” Inej begins to tickle her sides, setting off more tropical-bird laughter.

“Mama, no!”

There’s a short laugh from the door. “Does someone dare attack the most powerful Grisha in Ketterdam?” Kaz rasps. His voice is deeper, authority sure and effortless, but there’s a particular voice she’d never heard before Naya was born that only comes out here, with just the three of them. “Here, little one, dinner.”

Naya pops up to her feet and runs to her father, dropping a kiss on his arm and grabbing the mug he holds out to her. 

“You knew about this Grisha thing?” Inej teases, and he flashes her a half-grin over Naya’s head.

“Eggnog!” Naya crows and drops down to sit on the floor and take a huge gulp.

“For dinner?”

The other half of Kaz’s lip twitches up. “There’s eggs in it.”

Inej rolls her eyes and slides past him, dropping the screws into his empty hands. “You finish fixing the door. I’m going to find this child a vegetable.”

“Eggnog is good, Mama!” 

“Not if you want to be big and strong like your Auntie Nina,” she calls back. As she hops onto the banister she hears Kaz’s voice from behind her: “Come here, little one, I’ll show you what to do with a screwdriver.”