The Rangoli

Inej and Nina make the rangoli together at the Van-Eck mansion.

It is a crow surrounded by something that represents each member.

For Kaz, it's the crow cane.

For Inej, it's two knives.

For Jesper, it's his revolvers, or as he likes to adress them, his babies.

For Nina, it's a heart.

For Wylan, it's a bomb.

For Matthias, Nina convinces Inej on making his wolf, Tryss, to honor his memory, knowing the love he had for him. But doesn't tell her the reason why they're making a wolf, a little secret that stays just between the two of them.

Kaz doesn't admit it but finds it beautiful.

Jesper keeps on complaining as to why he wasn't invited to help as well.

Wylan fanboys all over it.

The Clothing

Inej is wearing a dark blue lehenga, the colour so dark, it matches the night sky.

The golden embroidery on the lehenga makes the illusion of her wearing the scenery of Ketterdam at night even more believable. She is also wearing a blue bindi.

Kaz denies the kurta Inej gives him to wear at first, but Inej forces him to wear it and when he does, he likes the feel of it.

He wears a black kurta with a black dhoti, but draws the line at no-hat and changing his shoes.

He won't admit it, but he likes having wiggle room for his legs.

Jesper gladly wears a dark green kurta with black slacks.

He keeps on bragging about how dashing he looks, checking himself out in the mirror every 5 minutes and flirting with himself.

Wylan is wearing a beige kurta with light brown slacks and likes it.

He asks Inej if he could keep it and where he could find more and she gladly tells him.

Nina is wearing a bright red saree with dark red embroidery.

Much like Jesper, she tends to flirt with herself every 5-10 minutes as well.

For Matthias, Nina likes to imagine him in a light blue kurta, right by her side.

He feels content and at peace to see them all happy as well from the beyond.

The Pooja/Arti

Inej, being the religious one, makes them all be a part of the Arti.

Jesper keeps losing his patience and taps his foot on the floor, being bored standing at one place with his hands in a praying position.

Wylan likes the Arti and decides mid-Arti that he's going to learn how to play it on the flute.

Inej is swaying side-to-side to the music, eyes closed, her mind getting lost in the prayer, her hands clapping along the music.

She is singing it as well, out of pitch but it doesn't matter to her one bit. She is in her religious, traditional mode.

Kaz thinks it unnecessary to do the Arti but does it anyway for Inej.

He cannot help but discreetly admire her unnatural beauty.

He also likes the music, but he only keeps his hands in praying position. He doesn't take much part in it.

Nina is fascinated by the traditions by now and is also swaying to the music.

She teases Kaz when a hint of a smile reaches his mouth and he glares at her.

She turns her attention back to the Arti after Inej scold them both for being childish and not paying attention.

The Parshad and Sweets

Nina loves the sweets and parshad as much as she does Waffles and everybody is shocked to hear her declare that statement.

Kaz doesn't make it look like he's one for sweet foods but is internally enjoying them to the fullest.

He is grateful that the bitter taste of black coffee, that he does not like one bit but has to drink to keep up his image and to stay awake, is gone and the sweet taste of the sweets and parshad is replacing it, being that he has a secret sweet tooth.

Inej eats some sweets and parshad as well, proud that her traditions are liked by them all.

She notices Kaz also liking the sweets and chuckles at him for being so secretive about it. She has to hold in a laugh when she catches him stealing the sweets.

Jesper is in love with the sweets and the parshad. He wants them to be his breakfast, lunch and dinner. He thanks Inej for introducing him to them.

The sweet taste reminds him of his mother kind, generous and sweet nature and that is why he loves them even more.

Wylan doesn't like sweet things as much but tends to take a liking towards the sweets.

Again, he asks Inej where he can buy them and when he gets the answer, he writes it down in his to-do list to go buy them.

The Firecrackers

Wylan is by far the most excited about this tradition and after eating the parshad and the sweets, he runs out to blow some bombs and make some explosions.

Jesper joins him with the same amount of excitement and his jaw drops when he learns that there's gun-firecrackers as well.

Nina is having fun along with Jesper and Wylan, occasionally sending worried glances over to Wylan because he keeps on experimenting each and every cracker.

She waves her hand at the smoke it produces and coughs once or twice but continues to enjoy.

Inej is simply enjoying seeing the others enjoy and is standing at the side, lighting diyas and placing them at the corner of the houses.

She finds Kaz sitting idly, twisting a phool jhaddi in his hand with his usual scowl displayed on his face and decides to go sit by him.

Kaz site idly on a bench, watching the others play with the crackers, occasionally twisting a phool jhaddi in his hand, trying to solve the puzzle of what the purpose of it is.

He finds Inej lighting up the diyas and he can't help but notice how the fire reflects perfectly on her skin and eyes.

It makes her skin glow and her eyes look like pools of honey. Inej comes and sits by him. She helps him with the phool jhaddi.

Bonus

Inej asks Kaz if he needs help with the phool jhaddi and he denies it, but Inej helps him anyway, knowing that his stubborn self would never admit he does.

She reached for the arm that held the phool jhaddi and paused an inch away from it hesitantly, knowing he didn't like being touched or such a close proximity.

Kaz meets her eyes and slowly moved his arm into her palm such that it looks like she is holding it.

Inej nods at the gesture and moves his hand forward towards a diya.

The phool jhaddi's tip lights up and it looks like fire crackers are going off on the stick.

Kaz mutters "incredible" under his breath but Inej notices.

In chapter 6, we witness some precious, underrated moments of Kaz and Jesper, or rather underrated soft Kaz moments towards Jesper.

We are always saying that Kaz is only soft for Inej, and while that is true because he prefers to let down his guard around Inej [Kanej Supremacy], he is also soft for the rest of the Crows, but doesn't prefer to fully show it. Instead, he has their backs discreetly, so that it looks like it's for his own good, but is really for theirs as well.

In this post, we'll be looking at the three iconic times he had Jesper's back when Colm Fahey, the latter's father, had entered the tomb they were staying at.

"Were you followed?" [asked by Kaz]

"No," Jesper replied with a decisive shake of his head.

"Wylan?"

Colm bristled, "you doubt my son's word?"

"It isn't personal, Da," said Jesper. "He doubts everyone's word."

Kaz's expression had been unruffled, his rough stone voice so easy and pleasant that Nina felt the hair rise on her arms. "Apologies, Mister Fahey. A habit on develops in the Barrel. Trust but verify."

Here, Kaz could have been rude, to instill fear in Colm Fahey as well, like he preferred to with everyone else in order to survive. But he didn't. He was Jesper's father, and Kaz knew how important he was to Jesper, so he decided on being sincere, nice. He decided on doing what was good for Jesper instead of what was good for himself. Also, let's not ignore the fact that he adressed Colm Fahey as "Mister Fahey." He showed him respect, he usually addresses men and women much older than Colm by their first name. Yet he went with "Mister Fahey," when it came to adressing Colm Fahey.

Onto the next one.

"I wrote to you, Jes," His [Colm's] voice was confused, not accusing.

"I … I haven't been able to collect mail." After Jesper had stopped attending university, had he still managed to receive letters there? Nina wondered how he'd maintained this ruse for so long. It would have been made easier by the fact that Colm was an ocean away—and by his desire to believe in his son. An easy mark, Nina thought sadly. No matter his reasons, Jesper had been conning his own father.

"Jesper—" said Colm.

"I was trying to get the money, Da."

"They're threatening to take the farm."

Jesper's eyes were firmly fixed on the tomb floor. "I was close. I am close."

"To the money?" Now Nina heard Colm's frustration. "We're sitting in a tomb. We were just shot at."

"What got you on a ship to Ketterdam?" Kaz asked.

Here, Kaz noticed Jesper's obvious disappointment in himself and his fear of his father finding out. And due to the questions Colm kept asking Jesper, the sharpshooter we all love was suffering from undoubted internal panic. So, Kaz asked Colm a question that distracted him from asking Jesper questions and prevented Jesper from shattering to pieces inside. Kaz knew that Jesper wanted his father to think of him as a student, studying and working hard, and not a criminal with a gambling addiction [who also worked hard, but Jesper's insecurities told him otherwise when he stood in front of his father.]

Kaz protected Jesper, making it look like the question was just to get more information, but it was mostly to bringing Jesper's worst fears to life.

And the next,

"I don't understand any of this. Why would you bring me to this horrible place? Why were we shot at? What has become of your studies? What has become of you?" [asked Colm]

Jesper opened his mouth, closed it. "Da, I … I—"

"It was my fault," Wylan blurted. Every eye turned on him. "He uh … he was concerned about the bank loan, so he put his studies on hold to work with a …"

"Local gunsmith," Nina offered.

"Nina," Matthias rumbled warningly.

"He needs our help," she whispered.

"To lie to his father?"

"It's a fib. Totally different." She had no idea where Wylan was going with this, but he was clearly in need of assistance.

"Yes!" said Wylan eagerly. "A gunsmith! And then I … I told him about a deal—"

"They were swindled," Kaz said. His voice cold and steady as ever, but he held himself swiffly, as if walking over uncertain ground. "They were offered a business opportunity that seemed too good to be true."

Colm slumped into a chair. "If it seems that way, then—"

"It probably is," said Kaz. Nina had the strangest sense that for once he was being sincere.

Notice how Kaz was quick to lie for Jesper? He normally won't do that, he won't lie unless it benefitted him. But this benefitted Jesper as well. Kaz wasn't getting much profit from lying to Colm. But Jesper was. He doesn't want Jesper to be weak, he doesn't want Jesper to lose his confidence. That would put the plan of getting Inej back at risk, but even if Inej was here, he would do the same.

3.

Inej and Kaz stood together, facing each other, as the sun rose slowly.

Sunrise and sunsets were famous for vulnerable moments. Sometimes those vulnerabilities were good, relieving, freeing. Those were rare. Mostly, those vulnerabilities were bad, they revealed too much and ended in your demise because the person you trusted with your weaknesses would take advantage of that trust, break it, ruin your life. Kaz had learnt that in all his years in Ketterdam.

He was more than sure that this moment was one of those rare ones, that every sunrise and sunset with Inej would be one of those rare ones where you could trust someone and not be ruined later on.

He thought back to when Wylan had asked him if he would trust someone with a secret that could destroy him. The thought that crossed his mind faster than he could pick a lock roared back to life once again.

There is one person I would trust. One person I know would never use my weaknesses against me.

Inej.

Their vows were said and now they looked into each other's eyes.

Knives drawn, pistols blazing, Kaz, we will fight our way out together, Inej had said, her fingers interlaced with his, her eyes not looking away from his.

Because that's what we do. We never stop fighting, Kaz had finished her sentence, the unfamiliarity of a smile forming on his face.

Inej never sought out to complete Kaz or heal him, she only pushed him to do that for himself, and he would always be thankful for that.

Once again, Kaz lifted Inej's hand and placed it on his cheek and nuzzled his face deeper into her palm, his eyes closed. Inej smeared her thumb across his cheekbone and Kaz shifted his head in a way that the front of his face would face her palm. He exhaled a breath before giving her palm a soft, light kiss that bore more emotions that even all the words in all of existence couldn't and they stood there with their foreheads against the other's for how long? Kaz didn't know.

He'd been swallowed whole by that moment. It could have been seconds, minutes, or even hours, but to him, it felt like an eternity of all that he could dream of.

"I still cannot believe you took my last name," Inej said, laughing as she did, her whole face alight as the two of them sat in the ship, watching the sunset together, hours after them officially becoming one.

It was true. He had taken her last name.

The name Rietveld was long since gone, Brekker was a boy corrupted with the thirst for vengeance. And she was Inej Ghafa. Not the Wraith, not a Lynx. Inej Ghafa. she'd built up an identity to that name, a pure, lethal, respected identity, and she did not deserve to have that taken from her.

And to be a Ghafa was an honor for Kaz.

So now, he was not just Kaz Brekker. But also a Ghafa.

Kaz Ghafa.

"It has a nice ring to it," Inej tilted her head.

"It does indeed."

No, but imagine how lost Trass [Matthias' Isenulf] would feel like after Matthias' death T_T he would be waiting for Matthias to come back, but he never would because Matthias isn't there to come back anymore, I-