LOLA

@wordsandsense Okay, well I was wrong then! This new book confirms it. I’m happy to be wrong - I love Kanej. I can’t wait to read more about them opening up to each other. Your initial responses to me were quite hostile though. Kanej will be fine regardless of what I believe.

@shadowscloak they're all correct; it's just that there's no easy way to actually show it directly from the book since only the first coded letter (which they both knew were being intercepted, in-universe) is actually de-coded for readers.

Being honest, a story about a guy stubbornly trying to avoid leaning on people due to the perception of his disabilities wouldn't get even 10 minutes of grace without being written off as fragile masculinity and any FMC that sticks by him would get criticized to hell and back

@wordsandsense This is from a Twitter use who said there might be mistakes. If it’s true, then I’d agree.

@shadowscloak this is pretty explicit commitment, man.

@wordsandsense Besides Rule of Wolves, I haven’t read those stories. I look forward to reading them.

@shadowscloak Why? Why is he not there yet from Inej's perspective? You don't know that, and what we have been told in post-duology canon stories very clearly indicates otherwise.

@wordsandsense You know, I’d forgotten about that passage. “They’d continue on with their armor intact.” So Inej is okay with Kaz still being closed-off, because she is as well. This makes sense. I think they still have some work to do, but maybe you’re right that they’ve chosen each other.

@shadowscloak 1) INEJ HERSELF says that wasn't a fair ask during the Sugar Silo and Bathroom scenes. She also indicates that the 'armor' she's talking about is largely emotional, not physical. 2) Again: Kaz literally held her hand without gloves at the end of CK, three weeks later.

@wordsandsense It’s bittersweet because she LEAVES. She gets on the ship and sails away from Kaz and from life with the dregs - for now.

@shadowscloak Again: what about the last page is bittersweet? What about the last page indicates a goodbye and not a beginning? Where are you getting that? What words exactly are leading you to that?

@wordsandsense Inej’s definition (not mine) of a relationship includes touch. What facts have I denied? I read the texts. There’s no explicit commitment to be seen.

@shadowscloak ???????????? You have the absolute weirdest fucking definition of a relationship that I have ever seen in my life. Like, genuinely. You're denying objective canon facts because you have built up a perception of this relationship in your head that flat out just doesn't exist.

@wordsandsense I never said Kaz isn’t trying and she’s not acknowledging it. I said he isn’t there yet. Pancakes and waffles. Where’s your media literacy? Why are you making up shit?

@shadowscloak Again: WHAT PROOF, exactly, do you have that Inej "doesn't think Kaz is there yet"? What proof are you offering up that Kaz isn't trying and she's not acknowledging that? Because you're literally just making shit up at this point.

@wordsandsense Here’s a look at what others are saying. Whether they are “together” or not is a point of contention. reddit.com/r/Grishaverse/…

@wordsandsense Inej explicitly wants a physical relationship - kissing and touching. Kaz can’t yet give that to her. Maybe he’ll get there. I’m waiting to see Inej experience what she actually wants, because she told him clearly she won’t accept less.

@shadowscloak Again: I just don't understand what you're actually looking for. You said that Kaz was "too closed off" for them to have a relationship, but the last chapters of CK and subsequent stories indicate that he's working on it and that it's clearly plenty good enough for Inej.

@wordsandsense Great. Never said those things weren’t canon. Them working together doesn’t make them a couple. Inej will not be with Kaz until he can fully open up to her. He is not there yet. Inej has hope that he will get there eventually.

@shadowscloak Like. It's an objective canon fact that Inej has come back to Ketterdam multiple times, that Kaz & Inej have been working together to take down the slave trade since the duology ended, and that they've been working to dismantle their armor together just as the end of CK said.

@wordsandsense It seems like this is more important to you than it is to me. So sure, they’re in a relationship. 🏆 You have defended Kanej’s honor and defeated the Twitter hater….or whatever…

@shadowscloak 1) It genuinely doesn't sound like it, since you have done everything in your power to deny very clear signs that they are together and simply in a largely long-distance relationship. 2) What about this ending for them was unclear to you?

@wordsandsense I’d love to see where they explicitly voiced their commitment to each other. They clearly love each other, help each other, and correspond, but have they made that commitment? Have they said, “we are going to work to be together one day?”

@shadowscloak Like I'm not sure what exactly you want. The confirmation is on the page. Even if you didn't believe the ending of Crooked Kingdom, Letters from Ketterdam is pretty clear between the book's plot, the letters+coded messages, and the official art on the last page!

@wordsandsense @tihsehtmi Are you confused, or do you just want to argue? It seems like we agree on where Kaz and Inej are after the series, but disagree on the definition of a relationship…which is fine. It’s a beautiful bond regardless if it’s “canon” or not. Also, where’s the proof that it’s canon?

@shadowscloak @tihsehtmi I'm genuinely confused. It's canon that they're in a relationship post-duology. Bardugo has confirmed it a couple of different times, further confirming it in the novella. Like...I think you need to re-evaluate what you're saying here. You're objectively wrong.

@wordsandsense @tihsehtmi Their correspondence is romantic, but it doesn’t signify a relationship. He can’t be what Inej wants, at least not yet, and both of them know it. In his letter he says “save your prayers for better men” - an implicit warning for her not to get her hopes up.

@wordsandsense @tihsehtmi Thanks for sharing these letters! Inej says “I will have you without armor, Kaz Brekker. Or I will not have you at all.” And he wants that, sure - he takes off his gloves, he meets her prayers….but he is still too closed off for them to be in a proper relationship.

@wordsandsense @tihsehtmi After this passage, Inej parts to go home with her parents and Kaz stays…? But wait. THERES A NEW NOVELLA? AND THEYRE TOGETHER IN IT????????

@shadowscloak @tihsehtmi like they're exchanging sappy coded love letters in the new novella. they are TOGETHER together lmao

thinking about this mysterious 2,000-year old ancient gnostic poem discovered in the egyptian desert in 1945, hidden for centuries in a buried jar. it was titled “ⲧⲉⲃⲣⲟⲛⲧⲏ: ⲛⲟⲩⲥ ⲛ̄ⲧⲉⲗⲉⲓⲟⲥ” and it’s narrated by a divine entity speaking in paradoxical opposites.