Two Crows Watch from the Gallows Tree

"Well, I'm sure that information won't go to waste if Gaius catches him," Constance said grimly. "Do you know much of the Ashes?"

"No, ma'am. Just... well, Lord Loquitur mentioned that Lord Michael was..." Ky hesitated, not sure how to finish that sentence without insulting a noble. Not that Constance seemed like she would mind. "I think I've vaguely put some of the pieces together... but I'm really unsure what this whole war is about, honestly."

(Making me pull something outta my ass at twelve at night, eh?)

"Ah." Constance nodded slightly. "I suppose I could enlighten you in that. See, Lord Tomhas and Lord Gaius share a mother. Lady Gwynna was a brilliant woman, excellent mathematician and geographer. But her husband didn't respect her at all. I suppose that's where everything begins.
"After Lord Septimus and then Michael died, Gaius allowed her to stay in his Keep. They had never been particularly close; Lady Gwynna didn't pay much attention to any of her children, though she was afraid of Michael and she'd snap at Tomhas. Even so, he let her stay.
"A few years ago Lady Gwynna took ill and passed away. She left a will, of course, but she left everything she owned to Gaius and Tomhas's sister, Cecily." Constance went silent for a moment, shifting uncomfortably. "Cecily has some habits that her brothers don't approve of," she said finally. "They knew she wouldn't respect their mother's money or property, but Tomhas was in favor of letting her have it. Gaius wanted to confiscate the property and money and keep it. They argued and argued, and it all came to a head several months ago when Cecily got into some trouble. She asked for funds from Gaius and of course Gaius refused to give any to her. Cecily ended up paying...rather dearly for it, to put it delicately.
"Tomhas was enraged by what happened. He confronted Gaius about it, and Gaius responded that he'd cleaned things up afterward and that no one would harm Cecily again. Tomhas said that wasn't enough and that he needed to give her the funds. Still Gaius refused. Another situation with Cecily arose, and again she came looking for money. Gaius said no, and Tomhas resolved to take the money by force if he had to. And it seems he had to."

(aha xD it's beautiful though lol quite the story)

Ky was silent for a long moment. That seemed like such a hard situation to be in. Both growing up, and now as adults, still bickering like children. Well, not like children. Children punched and shouted, not waged wars with weapons and mercenaries and assassins.

"Oh," she answered softly, not sure what else she could say. It seemed so sad. Having to choose between your brother and your sister -- or, she supposed, in Ash's case choosing neither of them at all. She wished Loquitur had a better family -- he deserved to be happy.

(Still needs work. I've never been satisfied with any ideas I have about the cause of this stinking war)

"Mhm." Constance sighed heavily. "They were so close, once. I suppose the distance drove them further apart, made Gaius forget. But surely his wife and apothecary tried to convince him Tomhas was right?"

(aha I mean I like it... though I do wonder why Cecily is going to visit Gaius if he's the one being an asshole to her xD)

"I don't know, ma'am," Ky answered sheepishly. She still didn't know what Cecily had done in the first place. Surely, if Loquitur could get her away from Aleth, then he could get Cecily away from whoever was hurting her. Why wouldn't she just ask one of them for refuge? She couldn't fathom letting your two brothers fight a literal war over you. "It's a shame it had to get to this point, either way."

(She's spacey af and doesn't know this war is about her. Basically she's severely addicted to this drug called glassweed, which acts like a strong opiate. She forgets a lot of important things)

"Very true. I wouldn't hesitate to give her shelter if I could, but things down South are a bit tricky. She's made enemies of some powerful people."

(ahah ahhh ic ic)

"That's hard," Ky answered thoughtfully. It almost seemed like it would have been better if one of those powerful people had just hired Aleth to get rid of Cecily, so Ash and Loquitur could go on in peace.

She shook away the thought.

No! You will not become Aleth. That's not an acceptable thought.

"Would the--?" Ky cut herself off. She was rapidly getting into dangerous territory. In her experience, it seemed like people who owed powerful people large sums of money didn't learn from their mistakes. What if they did pay off Cecily's debts? What would stop her from doing it again? But, that wasn't any of her business. None of her business at all. "I wish life offered simple answers sometimes."

"As do I. The poor girl's not long for this world, not with the life she's leading." Constance shook her head. "And she has a husband and child, too. I suppose Gaius would take the little one, but I'm not sure he's keen on the spouse at all."

Ky looked at her sympathetically. It seemed like even Constance genuinely cared about their family. Clearly, she thought Loquitur was in the right for wanting to give Cecily money... but now she was wondering why Tarr and Bledroe were involved in this squabble if it was just a domestic dispute. Tarr certainly didn't seem the kind to offer charity, so why was he helping Loquitur?

She couldn't think of a way to ask it that didn't seem rude, so she took a deep breath and hoped the silence wouldn't be awkward if she didn't answer.

Constance seemed content to let the silence continue; her eyes were fixed out the window now.

Ky sat quietly, glad that it actually seemed somewhat comfortable. She was free to actually contemplate the matter and have her own thoughts -- not be sitting on edge trying to read Aleth's, worrying about what he'd do once the silence ended.

Maybe Loquitur was too nice -- risking himself and sacrificing Lyra to save his sister. It was an admirable goal. But was it worth it, if his sister was an adult and was making these choices for herself?

That wasn't any of her business, either.

She didn't get to have a say in wars. If she did, none of them would ever happen at all. And she didn't need to agree with the motives of a war to be able to be useful in it. Loquitur had saved her life. And she'd anything she could possibly do to help him in return until one of them died.

"Do you know why other houses chose to get involved?" Ky asked gently after a long silence. That seemed like a safe way to phrase it.

Constance tilted her head. "Well, I think I speak for myself and Arianna when I say we were...concerned by Gaius's reaction to Tomhas's declaration. Tomhas is still young, only thirty-two. He's not past making rash decisions and as a rather distant cousin of his and Gaius's I felt it was my duty to make sure he had an army closer in size to Gaius's forces. Tarr wasn't a part of this until Tomhas and I asked him to join in. He's only a child himself, but his House is rich and he has a large army as well. He's in it for land and more money, as well as marrying poor Lyra. I'm not sure what Lord Bledroe was thinking when he sided with Gaius. I suppose he thought siding with the richer, stronger side would benefit him."

"That makes sense." Ky nodded slowly. Although, it wasn't relieving to hear that you didn't outgrow rash decisions by the time you were in your thirties. Ky had hoped it wouldn't take more than doubling her age to get better at making good life choices.

But mostly, she was still so perplexed at the politics of war. She realized, for the thousandth time, that she never would understand why people fought wars at all. Why join a war just to get a wife that you hate? Or, just to get more land or money?

It seemed to her that the more that people had, the less satisfied they became. As a child, she'd thought she was very fortunate for her and Papa to have a home of their own. It was nothing more than a hut, smaller than the room she was currently staying in -- but they didn't have to share it with other families, like most of her friends had to do. And they always had food every single day, and most of the time ate two times per day. What more did you need?

(I'm off to bed now. Good night!)

"The Adrees were wise not to join," Constance added. "They're just now establishing themselves as a House and at such an unstable period of transition it would be foolish to throw oneself into a war started by others."