Shady

“No ma’am.” She shook her head.

“… true,” Ky admitted. “But Gaius would see it done, I’m sure of it, if I told him he’s still here… maybe for Septimus too. He was really mad at ...

“Yes ma’am.” Talia ducked her head, blushing. But a moment later she looked up with a small smile. “Thank you.”

Her mind was spinning again. That’d be much easier than trying to wrestle Michael. “And it works in retrospect? We could just burn Michael’s bones and he’d be gone?”

Talia nodded timidly, not looking up. "Yes, ma'am... that's just... an opinion I'm not bold enough to have."

She glanced up. "What does that mean?"

Talia blushed and dropped her gaze again. Sera was getting back to having opinions that got you a date with the gallows. Talia wanted no part of them.

"Oh." She frowned, pulling her knees closer to her chest. Michael was like three times her size -- no chance. Unless they ganged up on him, maybe.

Talia shrugged. "But they messed up on me. They weren't supposed to grab anyone under twelve." As if that made it better. "And Governor Makata didn't touch me at first. ...

She was quiet for a long moment, breathing deeply. She was mostly calm now. Just absolutely dog tired. She wished Septimus had never woken her up; wished Tomhas hadn't told ...

Talia looked at her in horror. "He was only eight ? That's just a baby!"

She hesitated, then sighed. "This sucks."

“Ah.” Talia cringed and dipped her head. “Yes… he seemed to have a worse time of it. I’m very sorry to hear it.”

Ky nodded, then sighed. “I wish I never would have told your brother I could see him. Then Michael wouldn’t know about me.”

“…sorry.” Talia glanced up at her. “I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable.”