! CHAPTER TWO SPOILERS !
I think the most interesting aspect of Keir and Vesper’s relationship is how, despite the circumstances that brought them together, Keir treats Vesper with a surprising level of respect and openness. It’s not something you’d expect in a dynamic like theirs, especially in a setting like the marketplace, where trusting someone—anyone—can be a massive liability.
Vesper is a big liability, after all. Even if they’re being blackmailed, even if the reason Keir picks them is because they’re disposable, but show promise, it’s still a risky decision that doesn’t only put his life at risk, but potentially the people in the mouse hole, which he deeply cares about!
But the still puts some level of trust in them. Vesper’s followed, sure, but he feeds and houses them. He indulges them in banter, lets them poke fun at him even if he complains about how annoying it all is, And most importantly, he answers their questions.
In a place where no one shows their real face, where people don’t even share their real names, information is currency. It’s survival. But he lets Vesper in, just a little. He tells them about himself, about life underground, and makes sure they know enough to stay safe. Even when he withholds things, like the origins of the Ichor, it’s a difficult choice made for a reason.
I think that has a lot to do with, not only his feelings for Vesper, but the community he’s surrounded by and how much those values have shaped him. Both his pursuit of doing good or at the very least as good as he can to help as many people as possible and his inherent kindness. As much as Keir insists he isn’t a good man, I think it’s really fucking clear that he has a strong moral compass, and most of all, a strong will to keep vulnerable, outcasts safe. He goes above and beyond for that goal, and all his actions are informed by that desire to take care of his community.
Vesper is now a part of his community, for better or for worse, and therefore he extends to them the same level of care and respect he’d show to the others. I think one of the things that really struck me was how we get to see the people in the mouse hole, and most importantly, Keir’s inner circle, warming up to Vesper! They include them in their day-to-day chores and welcome them relatively quickly. They’re all keeping an eye out for the ichor they oh so desperately need, because in a lot of ways, Vesper is just like them. Another outcast, another person in desperate need of that support and community. I like to think that maybe Keir saw that in them too.
They might not fully realise the weight of it, seeing as how the marketplace’s culture differs from the surface’s, but Keir is painfully aware of all of this all along.
I think especially of the scene where Vesper opens up about their condition. It’s a pivotal moment. In a place like the marketplace, that kind of information falling into the wrong hands could be downright catastrophic. But it’s easy for them to open up about it, to show Keir that level of trust.
This information exposes their fragility, their desperation. And most of all, they’re exposing it to their blackmailer. It would be so easy for Keir to turn this show of trust against them, it’s easy ammo.
But he doesn’t. He listens, he empathises.
I think that’s the point where things really shift for them. It’s a little moment but I think it’s so important to shape how their subsequent relationship, and most of all, I think it’s what makes his betrayal by keeping the truth about lunar ichor even more painful to Vesper.
