Two Crows Watch from the Gallows Tree (part 3)

Ky cringed. Okay, this definitely wasn’t better in terms of awkwardness. Not at all. Especially since she was still walking side by side with Lord Ash. “Are you looking forward to doing anything, while you’re here?”

(This is lucky number 1000!)

(Congrats!!!)

Gaius frowned. "Nothing specific, no. I suppose I'll peruse the library and speak with my family."

“That makes sense,” Ky dipped her head. “I hear your library is quite impressive. I’m looking forward to seeing it.”

Was that being too cheeky? Inviting herself to his Keep, basically.

"I would be a liar if I said it wasn't impressive," Gaius replied. "We have fifteen Librarians tending to it at all times. Do you like to read?"

“Fif-? Wow!” Ky looked at him with wide eyes, surprised and delighted. It must be even bigger than she’d imagined. “Yes, s— I do like to read. It’s been quite nice to be able to pick what I want to read, rather than what I have to.”

(Roland, getting too excited as he sees Pratik: WELCOME TO ROLAND
Pratik: Ok?
Fantastic!)

"What do you like to read?" Finally, something he could talk about with ease! Gaius expected he could go on for days about all he'd read and learned.

(Hahaha)

“I really like fiction books!” Ky said brightly, relieved that this seemed to be a talking point that she wouldn’t need to dance around. “My uncle used to bring me these books about fantastical Beasts. I’m pretty sure they were almost all mythological but Lord—“ she was trying so very hard. “…Tomhas. Said that mountain cats are really real so I don’t know what else might be.” She was rambling at this point. “… I like to pretend that they’re fake, though. They’re scary.”

"Ah, mountain cats," Gaius nodded slightly. "Probably best not to think too hard about those things unless you happen upon them--then that's all you need to be thinking about. My brother Michael captured one alive, once." He'd been there for that, remembered the wide-open mouth and the sleek white fur growing matted with dried blood. The thrashing tail had nearly clubbed him when he got too close.

Ky gaped at him, too surprised to compose herself. “That’s horrifying! What did he even want with a live mountain cat?”

"I seem to recall something about a grudge on someone," he replied casually. "A servant that wronged him or something like that. He thought it would be funny to let the cat loose in the servants' quarters." It had almost been funny; Gaius could see how it would be to someone with a morbid sense of humor. The men and women shrieking and hopping up on their beds to get away only to be mowed down by the starving, terrified beast was cartoonish.

That was even more horrifying. But she couldn’t very well say that — she wasn’t going to insult his brother. She still felt guilty about doing it in front of Loquitur when she’d been worked up. And he was nice.

She stared at Lord Ash with wide eyes, too horrified to think of what to say. She was imagining what it would be like to have a mountain cat coming at her. Imagined one snaking up the stairs to the Discipline Room, drawn by the scent of her blood.

“I suppose I was fortunate,” Ky said, shaking herself. It seemed like Michael was worse than Aleth. She hadn’t thought that was possible. “Even Aleth wouldn’t have done something like that… he likes to be in control. You can’t possibly control a mountain cat.”

"Certainly not. I'd shake the hand of anyone who could do such a thing." Gaius tilted his head. "Michael enjoyed the illusion of control, I think. And he liked games quite a lot, especially when he won. It didn't serve him very well as Lord."

She was struck with the even more horrifying mental image of Aleth being a Lord. But, then, she supposed it wouldn’t have changed much for her. For all intents and purposes he may have well have been a Lord — his control over her was supreme and it was harsh.

But she still didn’t know what to say, without insulting his brother. He sounded like an absolutely terrible Lord, and a brute besides. So she stayed quiet and nodded instead.

Gaius glanced over at her, amused by her discomfort. He had yet to meet someone from outside the family who knew exactly what to say about Michael. "One day you're going to have to say something unkind about someone," he said to her. "And they're going to be upset with you. But my favorite thing about the dead is that nothing offends them."