take what you can carry

Kai knew that he was the prettiest boy she had ever seen before. And Kai liked pretty things, which was how she had landed in this situation, a few continents away from her home, in the center of a Pureblood fanatic’s war, in the first place.

Kai stared at the tall boy unabashedly. He was beautiful — stunning and ethereal in a way that made her freeze to stare at him. He looked like he had somehow tumbled out of a fairy tale into this dusty old room. Framed by dark lashes, his eyes were deep pools of mercury, an unusual shade of gray that seemed to glint in the low light of the room. His cheeks were high and sharp, softened by ink curls that framed his noble features. His bottom lip was slightly fuller than his top lip, and in staring at him, Kai knew that they were trouble from the start. Frankly, he looked like he had just walked out of the old paintings of aristocrats and nobles, or perhaps a marble statue come to life. And his hair — oh, his hair — she was in the middle of admiring the soft midnight curls of his hair when she heard Dumbledore clear his throat gently next to her.

“Hmm?” She hummed distractedly, her gaze flickering from the pretty boy back to the white-haired wizard reluctantly.

“Please introduce yourself to the Order — you’ll all be working quite closely together henceforth,” Dumbledore said, tilting his head cordially to the room of seated witches and wizards. In her brazen focus on the pretty boy, she had failed to give any attention to the others around him. There were a little over a dozen other people in the room, the youngest seeming to be her age, and the oldest — outside of Dumbledore — a rather grizzly-looking man with a gnarled cane.

Kai glanced around, before returning her gaze back to the fluffy-haired boy. He stared back at her curiously. “My name is Kai,” she said, relaxing into a languid posture. “I’m here because the Collective Organization of the Ministries of the Asia-Pacific,” she paused to take a breath, the corner of her lips quirking wryly, “—struck a rather fortuitous deal with your Dumbledore here.”

“And what was that deal?” 

Kai tore her gaze away from the pretty boy to see that the voice of the challenging drawl had come from the boy sitting a few seats in front of him. He was dressed like a Muggle in an oversized leather jacket and jeans, his hair dark curls that crept down the nape of his neck. He was also rather good-looking and bore a strange resemblance to the other boy, Kai observed, but in a wilder and more rugged way that didn’t pique her interest as much. He sank into a slight sulk when the girl next to him swatted his arm disapprovingly, though the girl’s amber eyes were bright with curious interest.

“She’ll be joining the Order. Miss Kai here has quite the experience acquiring magical items,” Dumbledore began, when she cleared her throat, her eyes gleaming as she surveyed the room once more. “She’s a talented wit—”

“A thief,” Kai interjected, her lip curling into a grin. The truth would have come out eventually anyways, and she didn’t want these European wizards to get some posh image of her. She turned her gaze back to the boy with the dark curls and aristocratic air. “And to answer, the deal was a reduced sentence in exchange for lending my skills in service of the Order of the Phoenix.” Best to get it all out on the table, she had learned.

A restless murmur rippled through the wizards. “A reduced sentence?” Another boy squeaked from the other side of the dark-haired boy. He had a distinctly disheveled appearance, his glasses slightly crooked and his hair mussed-up as if he had just woken up. 

“She’s a criminal ,” another wizard exclaimed, incredulous.

“I prefer mercenary ,” Kai shot back with a slight frown. “And anyways, I was told you were in awful need of one.” There was an awful lot of distrust and prejudice in a group that apparently needed her assistance — the wizard who had been in charge of securing her deal had mentioned that some Pureblood defector had given information about magical items that could turn the tide of some war if they were located. It had all sounded rather secretive and vague, and she hadn’t been listening much, her attention instead focused on the pretty, glittering jewel in the conjured image of a diadem they flashed. 

What she had heard, however, was that these Order of the Phoenix folks needed a thief desperately. And she would need them too, if she didn’t want to get sent back to withering away in a holding cell while waiting for a trial that would never happen. It had been easy finding a way out of them before, but the cells in Asia had begun to adopt the European method of using dementors as guards. Dreadful creatures — Kai stifled a shudder at the thought. 

“We’re working with thugs now?” An older woman grumbled, clearly disgruntled.

“What makes us any better than the Death Eaters?” Another wizard agreed loudly.

This lot was starting to get irritating. There was a reason why she didn’t work in groups — outside of the increased likelihood of backstabbing — though it wasn’t like she had much of a choice now after she signed the contract with Dumbledore.

“I’ve never heard of her before,” the boy with dark curls continued doubtfully, eyeing her with an unimpressed look as he spearheaded the disquietude. “What’s to say she’s any good?”

There were two things that Kai was. The first was a damn good thief. The second was that she was proud, generally to the point of her detriment. She could take all the distrust and suspicion, but what she wouldn’t take was doubt on her skill. She straightened, reaching into the familiar pool of hot temper that she schooled beneath the surface of her emotions. “If you haven’t heard of my name, that just means I’m good at what I do,” she snapped, with enough venom in her voice to quiet most of the room as she sent a withering look to the boy with dark curls. “Dolt,” she added before she could help herself. Without bothering to look at his reaction, she turned to the other witch and wizard who had spoken up earlier. “If you want to fight a war on virtue fumes, then by all means,” Kai continued dryly, cooling her anger to lift her shoulder in what she hoped looked like an unconcerned shrug. The reality of it though, was that she needed this to work out. Her other option was looking bleak and Dementor-like.

To her silent relief, Dumbledore seemed to agree with her, his head nodding twice firmly. When he cleared his throat, the uproar around the room seemed to quiet, though the witches and wizards didn’t look any less disgruntled. “Miss Kai is correct,” he said finally, his posture commanding attention and obedience. “The decision has already been made. I also failed to mention that this deal was part of another deal to acquire information from the other side. We provide a good thief, he provides what we need to know to stop Voldemort.”

The disquietude settled instantly. To Kai’s interest, she watched as a few of the Order turned their gazes indiscreetly to the pretty boy.

He looked at her again, his sharp eyes thoughtful and steady as they assessed her carefully. She leaned forward eagerly as he opened his mouth to speak. His voice was posh and shaped by an aristocratic English accent. Even his voice was pretty — enough to nearly distract her from registering his words. “No. She’s not good enough.”