Two Crows Watch from the Gallows Tree (cont'd)

The next letter was the last, a rather heated retort from Septimus regarding his business parenting his own children. He acknowledged the rough treatment by Michael of his brother, but nothing seemed to indicate remorse or even anger at the harm being done to his youngest son. Instead he told Lord Andrew to mind his own daughter rather than poke about in the Ash family's business.

Ah, there it was.

Aleth re-folded the letter and then carefully ordered the stack to be identical to how he'd found it, then reached for the journal. He hesitated, wondering if he was pushing his luck too much, then decided he'd just do a quick skim-through for now.

The journal was thick, and every page had been filled in tight, neat handwriting. The top right corners of the pages were dated, but the only indication to the ownership of the journal was on the inside cover, where the name "Gwynna" was scrawled in dark ink.

Aleth stared at it for a long moment, wishing with everything within him that he was in a better position to be able to read through this. He was a fast reader, but this was a stretch even for him, given the fact that he didn't know how much time he had left. He also didn't want to have to answer any questions about where he'd been. He sighed and slid it back in the compartment along with the letters, then replaced the lid and started towards the door so he could get somewhere more visible in case anyone was milling about.

(Care to skip, then? Gaius's gonna come back after a long, long while but we can skip to shortly before that so Aleth can talk with others in the house if you like.)

(Sounds good to me! He will just keep wandering until he runs into someone lol)

A few hours later, Lady Sara Ash had started pacing the library. Gaius's message had reached her, and now she was waiting anxiously for him to return. Cecily couldn't have gotten far, could she? She wasn't in her right mind and the horse would be tired by now...so Gaius shouldn't have had to ride far to find her. He should be back before the sun set.
Sighing, Sara broke off pacing to enter the maze of bookshelves. She'd tried to read her book of short stories earlier, but the anxiety of having her husband--a man not well known for his constitution--out in the cold with nobody to assist put her off reading. Perhaps, though, she could find something more distracting.

Aleth mourned his decision to move on from the journal when he realized that he would have had plenty of time to get through it. But it was just as well. Better safe than sorry.

He wandered several hours, dipping into any unlocked room he found but none were as interesting as the one with the letters. Cecily was barely on his mind at all as he pushed his way into the next unlocked room that he found.

The next room was a pair of massive wooden doors stretching to perhaps twice the size they needed to be. They were engraved with serpents, wolves, bears, hawks, and many other animals along with quills and scrolls. At the base of each door was a man at a desk, long of beard and hair.

Aleth took in the art for a long moment, wondering what these doors hid. Then he knocked and opened the door without waiting. He shut it softly behind him, silently taking in the library in front of him.

Sara turned as the doors opened, and she hurried out of the maze. Was Gaius back already?
"G--" She cut herself off as an unfamiliar face appeared on the other side of the door. Oh. Was this this ex-slave? "Oh, hello."

“Ma’am.” Aleth quickly ducked his head. Fuck. This was what he got for going into interesting looking rooms. He should have gone back to the journal. “Apologies. I didn’t mean to intrude.”

"Oh, you're not intruding." Sara paused by the edge of the bookshelf. "Who are you?" And what was he doing here? He was injured, wasn't he?

“Al, ma’am,” Aleth answered. Who was she? The Lady Ash? “I’m looking for Cecily.”

"She's not here." Sara came a bit forward, sizing him up. He still looked gaunt; they must be giving him solid food now, right? "I just received a message from my husband that she's somewhere outside the Keep. He's gone to look for her."