Title from "What are Words" by Chris Medina, though I have to confess to only having heard covers of this song and never the original.

As far as I can remember this is the first fic in this series to directly reference the happenings of the Angsty Kaz Fic which currently stands as the first part of this series. I've been conflicted about whether or not I want people to read that fic as they enter this series for a while (its older than everything else and not as good), but the truth is that it lays a lot of groundwork which I've been building on ever since, especially in regards to Espen and his characterization so I can't really cut it. Still the reference here is rather small so you should be fine if you haven't read that fic.

Conversation One: Inej Ghafa and Espen

All the gangs in Ketterdam had safe houses and boltholes of one form of another, in fact many of the merchers had them too. It made sense; Ketterdam was the kind of place where it was always a good idea to be able to disappear underground at a moment's notice. The Dregs actually had several tiers of boltholes and safe houses. There were the general ones which everyone in the gang knew about, the slightly more hidden ones which only higher ranking members knew about, and then the top-secret ones which you only found out about if Kaz Brekker judged you trustworthy.

Back when Inej had worked alongside Kaz as the Wraith, the list of people Kaz trusted to know the location of these top-secret safe houses had been exactly one person: her, and she'd known he had even more boltholes she didn't know the location of. Six years later, Kaz was a bit more trusting and the list of people was a little longer: her, Jesper, Wylan, the spiders, Anika and Pim.

That was what was causing Inej trouble in her quest to discover the origins of the fire which had almost destroyed Kaz's letters from Vasilyev. If the papers had been stored in one of the less secure safe houses, Inej wouldn't be having this problem. It would be obvious that someone had figured out about the letters and let it slip. However, the only people who'd known about this particular safehouse had been people Kaz trusted and had trusted for years. If one of them was working for another gang Kaz would have noticed long before now. So Inej didn't know how to proceed. She'd questioned each person, but none could remember mentioning anything about the safe house. None had known there was anything in it, in fact, with the exception of Jesper and Wylan-who had seen Kaz run into the burning building to retrieve the letters-the rest had been under the impression that losing that safe house wasn't any great loss compared to some of the others.

Inej was close friends with Jesper, Wylan and Anika, and she trusted them with her life. They were above suspicion. She was more inclined to be suspicious of the spiders and Pim, but she knew that was mostly because she wasn't as close to them. Kaz wouldn't have told them about the safe houses if he didn't trust them as much as he did Jesper, Wylan and Anika. They were above suspicion too.

But still, something had been let slip somewhere. Tonight, Inej had tracked down the gangless thug who'd set the fire. He'd taken one look at her bristling with knives, pissed himself and told her everything. He'd been paid to rent the room directly under the safe house and start the fire. He didn't know who had paid him; they'd worn a Komedie Brute costume and spoken on a pitch that made it difficult to tell if they were a man or a woman. None of that was helpful. Practically every petty thief in Ketterdam had used Komedie Brute costumes at one point or another, and Inej herself had learned to speak in an androngynous tone of voice for one of Kaz's schemes-a truly brilliant one which still had the Guild of Ketterdam Goldsmiths convinced that their chapter room was haunted by a restless spirit.

Inej fiddled with one of her knives as she stared out across the darkened Ketterdam. The only point of light was the Church of Barter, because workers were toiling through the night to fix the damage the Dregs had done only days before. She wasn't sure how to proceed. Someone must have gotten drunk and let something slip, or said something when they thought no one could hear. The problem would be figuring out who it had been without destroying relationships as callously as Kaz had when he'd realized Jesper was the one who'd let the Ice Court Job slip to Pekka Rollins years ago. She and Kaz had removed Jesper and Wylan from suspicion almost immediately, but there were still the others to question and placate. This was going to be unspeakably delicate.

Boots clanged on the roof behind her as someone leapt over from the nearest building. "Hello, Espen," Inej said without turning around. "What are you doing in this part of town?"

"How did you know it was me?" Espen asked sounding rueful.

"Roeder would never have dared attempt that jump," she said twisting around to look at him. "And Minna's lighter than you are; she would have made less noise."

"Are you questioning my weight?" Espen gasped in mock horror, putting his hand to his belly. "Oh, you crush me, my lady, especially in the face of beauty such as yours." He winked suggestively.

Inej heaved a sigh. Espen was a very average looking seventeen year old boy. He was average height and had wild, generally unwashed blonde hair and acne. He was lean, but heavier than Kaz-though given that Kaz had gotten that skinny by practicing deeply unhealthy eating habits for more than half his life, that wasn't exactly surprising. Espen was not particularly attractive and in Inej's opinion he had the personality of a stick of dynamite-likely to blow your hand off if you didn't get away quick enough. Despite this, being one of Kaz Brekker's spiders must be the sort of thing that got girls these days. It had obviously gone to Espen's head. "Do not flirt with me," Inej said. "It's embarrassing for both of us."

"Oh, of course," Espen said, sobering. "You're Brekker's girl."

Inej let her lips pull back off her teeth. She had always hated being reduced to that, and her feelings on the matter hadn't changed in the years that she and Kaz actually had been something to each other, however complicated and special that thing was. "You say that again and I will cut your tongue out," she snarled.

"Okay," Espen pulled back in surprise. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to…" he sighed. "I'm really sorry. I keep saying the wrong thing these days and I'm not sure why."

"Have you ever considered thinking before you speak?" Inej asked, not even trying to hide her sarcasm. "It works wonders."

"I'm just so frustrated all the time," Espen said, running a hand through his hair. Inej suppressed a sigh. The last thing she was in the mood for right now was listening to a cocky kid whine about his problems. She was pretty sure she'd liked Espen better when he was an angry preteen who would punch anyone who said something he didn't like.

"I don't want to cause so many problems," Espen went on. "But it just happens. I can't help it. I think it might be that teenage angst, everyone's always going on about. What do you think?"

"I really wouldn't know."

"I'm bothering you, aren't I?" Espen asked. "You're trying to figure out how that safe house got compromised, aren't you?"

"Are you supposed to be working?" Inej asked instead of answering.

"Yeah, probably," Espen made a face. "But Roeder and Minna can handle it for a minute." he sobered. "You know, Inej, I know that I'm your biggest suspect in this. You don't have to pretend I'm not."

He wasn't wrong. Espen and Kaz had been having problems for months. Even if it was just "teenage angst" as Espen suggested, he might have mentioned something to the wrong people out of spite. Inej said nothing.

"I know I've been cruddy recently," Espen said. "I can't deny that Kaz frustrates me sometimes. A lot of the time, actually. We got off on the wrong foot, all those years ago, back when I joined the Dregs. He was so distant and it seemed like the rest of us were doing all the work while he just sat around. I understand now that he was sick, that he couldn't help it, but I was a kid at the time and I didn't get it. I guess part of me never got over that and now every time something mildly inconveniencing happens I want to blame him for it. I know it's not fair, but I don't know how to stop."

"Where are you going with this, Espen?" Inej asked.

"I guess I'm just trying to say that no matter what differences the Boss and I might have, I'd never do anything to hurt him," Espen said. "I'm not a fool. The Dregs is the only family I've got, and I won't do anything to jeopardize that."

He seemed serious enough. Inej had never known the youngest spider to lie; if anything he'd always been too open about everything. "I'll keep that in mind," She said after a moment. "Now you should get back to your job. Minna and Roeder are probably waiting for you."

"Do you want to come with us?" Espen asked. "With your help it'll probably only take us an hour or so."

"No, I think the three of you can more than handle it," Inej said. She could never decide if she was annoyed Kaz had never gotten her help when she'd been his spider or if she was proud he'd needed three people to fill her shoes. "I have other things to be doing."

"Alright," Espen said. "Have a nice night." Then he turned, got a running start, leapt to the nearest building and vanished into the night. Inej watched him go then turned back towards the Church of Barter and her thoughts.