Two Crows Watch from the Gallows Tree

Pratik nodded. What a sorry excuse of a man Tarr must be if a little girl could outwit him. "Doesn't seem too terribly difficult to get in, then. Can Roland receive messages as well, so I'll know when you want me to come back?"

(Also can I just say how funny it is to me that both Loquitur and Ash are like "ah, yes, let's send you in undercover as a slave" xD Same brain)

(Two sides of the same coin, they are XD Very clever boys)

Gaius nodded. "It's trickier than him sending messages, but it can be done. I'll rarely correspond; there's too much risk surrounding that."

"Fair enough..." Pratik thought a moment. "Alright, so what can you tell me about this Tarr fellow? Ithicus, was it?"

"He's proud and stupid," Gaius replied. "Only eighteen; his father died last year. His mother and sister still live with him but he banished his brothers from the territory. He's married to my niece, Lyra, who is fourteen. Tarr's known to be rash and prone to violence; he'll abuse his allies and challenge anyone who he perceives as a threat to his strength. That being said, he's useful as a pawn and a muscle man."

"He banished children?" Pratik raised his eyebrows. If Tarr was the Lord, then he was presumably the oldest. And sending boys younger than eighteen out to fend for themselves seemed like a dick move.

"My brother did the same to me and Tomhas," Gaius said with a shrug. "Tomhas was a child, too. It's the way of most Lords. The safest insurance that they'll have security in their rule."

"Sounds like the way to ensure your brothers will definitely want to assassinate you when they grow up," Pratik mused. Then again, what did he know about brothers? Or having a home to be banished from. "So, do younger brothers just plan on being banished from the start, then?"

"Unless they're quite close with their sibling, yes. I had no doubt in my mind about where I would end up, but I made sure that when I became Lord, Tomhas had a place to stay."

That was actually somewhat endearing. Pratik smiled a bit, barely visible, and nodded slowly. This war must be about something serious, then, if they'd been that close to one another growing up and now wanted to kill each other. "I'm guessing you had a falling-out once you both became Lords?"

"We won't speak of that." Gaius shifted a few papers to the side, lips pressed into a thin line. "Stick to things that will help you on this mission, if you would be so kind."

"Alright," Pratik said simply. Maybe Tarr would know what in the world had happened between Ash and Loquitur. Either way, he wasn't going to test his luck twice in one morning. "And what other things will help me on this mission?"

"As I said before, play up the obedience and such. Become a shadow on the wall. That will yield the most information and you'll be safer that way. Don't speak unless spoken to, all that. I trust you're familiar with the slave trade." Gaius was, unfortunately. His father had dealt in it, as had Michael. He had been forced to sit through many an auction and he knew what slave masters were looking for.

"Unfortunately, yes." Pratik wrinkled his nose. "I won't take any part of it, but I've bought the freedom of a few slaves, so I've seen enough. And, I suppose it'll aid us with this plan, so a singular good thing comes from it."

"Excellent. You know what to do, then." Gaius leaned back in his chair. "I have nothing else much to say; I know you have experience with pain so I won't tell you how to cope with it. Just be prepared for unkindness."

"Always," Pratik answered, inclining his head. Kindness was far more jarring to him than unkindness would ever be. He'd grown to expect that.

(Do you wanna time skippy over to Aleth and Tarr/Loquitur or nah?)