Wylan Fahey was a name that was just... respected around the Barrel. Everybody knew about the man who had opened a shelter for kids who were left by their parents or stolen from their homes.

The school children would whisper rumors about the ginger-haired merch who supposedly snuck out at night and helped to release all of the people stolen and sold to slavers. They told tales of a hero who saved all the kids in need and helped them learn and grow.

Wylan grinned, tugging his hood up as he made a quick route of the harbor, well aware of Kaz trailing behind him. He scanned each and every ship, making sure none of the newly docked ones were carrying slaves.

"How are they?"

Wylan knew Kaz was asking about the new kids they had just brought in, battered and bloody. Inej had found them tucked away in a small ship and had immediately helped them to Wylan's shelter.

"They're doing better." Wylan hadn't let the thought cross his mind that they wouldn't make it. After so much suffering, the light seemed so close, but that light was fading away. If the kids died, Wylan would fail everyone.

Kaz turned sharply down an alleyway. "You tried to lie to me once and it didn't work. The second time won't be any better."

Wylan exhaled slowly. "One of them has fallen ill. The other has lost too much blood, even for the healers to fix. There's nothing else I can do for them."

And so, later that night, as the second child wept, begging for the pain to be gone, Kaz and Wylan sat beside her, each of them holding one of her hands. Kaz slowly brushed the hair from her face, while Wylan's murmured softly to her.

"Don't... don't let... my br-brother die," the girl croaked, her voice raspy and broken, her face soaked in sweat. And then, she took a shuddering breath and the light faded from her eyes.

Wylan bit down on a sob and squeezed the girl's already cold hand. Silent tears crawled down his face, streaking the dirt that coated his freckled skin.

Kaz placed a comforting hand on Wylan's shoulder. "We can't help her anymore."

"She didn't deserve to die," Wylan whispered, closing the girl's eyes. He hadn't even known her name.

"No, she didn't," Kaz agreed quietly. "But you need to get cleaned up, Wy. It's been a rough week and you need to get some rest," he coaxed, gently tugging Wylan away from the cooling corpse.

"We have to save her brother."

Kaz kept tugging Wylan along, up the steps and to one of the bathing chambers. He called for servants to draw a bath for Wylan.

He broke down as soon as he and Kaz were alone, sobbing on the other boy's shoulder. "I couldn't s-s-save her. I c-couldn't h-h-help her." He hiccupped, whimpering as Kaz rubbed his back reassuringly.

"Shh, Wy. It'll be alright. It'll all be okay."

The next day, Wylan didn't appear from his room and nobody heard from him.

****

The poor girl's brother lived. Kaz had scoured the land for the most skilled healers and demanded that they cured the boy. Days after his sister's death, the boy was healthy once more.

He had not been named, so Kaz called him Matty. The boy was lean and tall, with curly blond hair and brown eyes. Matty smiled every time Kaz showed up at the Fahey Shelter and immediately skipped over to him.

Wylan eventually went back to the shelter, though Kaz typically stayed close by him, making sure the boy didn't break down and sob.

Months later, Wylan got better, though he had a hard time looking at Matty, as he closely resembled his sister.

When Kaz arrived on Wylan's doorstep one day, telling him of a hope for a future, Wylan smiled. It was a genuine smile, so happy and pure that Kaz matched it with his own. After all, they were two broken souls that had fought to find joy. It seemed they were done fighting.

Kaz had revealed that he and Inej planned on settling down, having kids, starting a new life. But Kaz wanted to help Wylan move the Fahey shelter far from Ketterdam, in a nice place in the country.

So they moved, Kaz and Inej finding a nice home for themselves, Wylan and Jesper doing the same. They bought a big country home for the foster children and took great care of them, letting them get the exercise they needed in the huge fields.

One day, when Wylan was leaning on the fence, watching the kids play kickball, Kaz approached him quietly.

"Hey."

Wylan smiled at him. "Hi, Kaz."

"I was thinking and... maybe I could... adopt Matty. If that's alright with you. After all, this is your shelter and I wouldn't want to do anything to damage that and-"

"Kaz," Wylan murmured, "I think that's a wonderful idea."

A few months later, Kaz, Inej, and Matty had a happy life, while Inej expected another child soon. Wylan and Jesper were living happily, not yet ready for their own kids, but hoping for them soon.

Wylan smiled at Inej as she sat beside him, a hand resting on her swollen stomach. "Hey, Inej."

"Hi. I was wondering how the kids at the shelter are doing."

"They're doing good. They seem happy in their new home."

Inej nodded. "How did you even think of starting the shelter?"

Wylan let out a soft laugh. "It was Kaz's idea. He wanted all the kids without a family to have a home. He wouldn't start the shelter himself, so I did it. He didn't want kids to end up like him, cruel and hopeless."

Inej laughed. "He thought of that? Kaz Brekker thought of that, all those years ago?"

When Wylan nodded, she tipped her head back and howled her laughter to the skies. "He'll never live that down."

"It was a good cause."

"Yes, a very good one. But that was just after I left Ketterdam. I just... wow."

So they laughed and talked about Dirtyhands' choices until the sun dipped below the horizon and stained the sky crimson.