“What?” Aashi asked incredulously. “What do you even use them all for?! How many kids do you have?” She hesitated. “Was that rude? Sorry. I’m just. Wow. That’s incredible! Are they all full? If not, I think I’d just rotate through all the rooms if I lived here and pretend I had a whole new house every night. I can’t even imagine. It’s like you have a whole township but in a single house. Do you have everyone in there that’d you have in a township? Like, like an apothecary? And a baker? And, and, a blacksmith? You must have some horses, right? Do you have a dozen of them too?”
"u and rina are systematically watering down the grammar of yws" - Atticus "From the fish mother to the fish death god." - lehmanf "A fish stole my identity. I blame shady" - Omni [they/he]
"About a dozen horses, yes. Maybe more?" Tomhas shrugged. "But gods, no! We keep the bedrooms open for guests like yourself and for dignitaries and the like, but by no means do we light twenty fires in those hearths for twenty different people. It would be smart to get a few artisans to live here, though, instead of the barracks." He pointed to a small, square building off to the side. "We have a blacksmith and some soldiers living in there year round, but it would be much more homey if we had them all in the Keep, don't you think?"
"The Imperial need for control is so desperate because it is so unnatural. Tyranny requires constant effort. It breaks, it leaks. Authority is brittle. Oppression is the mask of fear. Remember that." -Karis Nemik
“Wow.” Aashi was too starstruck to have an opinion on that.
“I told you it was big, honey,” Tadaaki said with a smile.
“Okay, but I didn’t know you meant this big,” Aashi said, looking over her shoulder at Tadaaki then back at Tomhas. “Thanks so much for having us here! You seem very generous. It’s an admirable trait.”
"u and rina are systematically watering down the grammar of yws" - Atticus "From the fish mother to the fish death god." - lehmanf "A fish stole my identity. I blame shady" - Omni [they/he]
"Any friends of Ky's are welcome here," Tomhas promised. Wick came up behind them with the children. Tomhas pushed open the doors, sighing into the warmth of the Keep. "Ahh, that's better! Now, I wonder where everybody else's gone." "Mother and Auntie Ana are in the kitchen, I think," Anneliese volunteered.
"The Imperial need for control is so desperate because it is so unnatural. Tyranny requires constant effort. It breaks, it leaks. Authority is brittle. Oppression is the mask of fear. Remember that." -Karis Nemik
“How do you do?” Aashi said to Wick, offering her hand. “I’m Aashi.”
"u and rina are systematically watering down the grammar of yws" - Atticus "From the fish mother to the fish death god." - lehmanf "A fish stole my identity. I blame shady" - Omni [they/he]
Wick shook her hand. "Charmed! I'm Wick, Lady Anneke's little brother."
"The Imperial need for control is so desperate because it is so unnatural. Tyranny requires constant effort. It breaks, it leaks. Authority is brittle. Oppression is the mask of fear. Remember that." -Karis Nemik
“I’m Tadaaki,” he said, offering Wick his hand as well.
"u and rina are systematically watering down the grammar of yws" - Atticus "From the fish mother to the fish death god." - lehmanf "A fish stole my identity. I blame shady" - Omni [they/he]
Wick shook Tadaaki's hand next, nodding to him. "It's great to meet both of you! I'm told you're Ky's friends?"
"The Imperial need for control is so desperate because it is so unnatural. Tyranny requires constant effort. It breaks, it leaks. Authority is brittle. Oppression is the mask of fear. Remember that." -Karis Nemik
“Yes, sir!” Tadaaki answered brightly. “I worked with Ky about a year. She’s lovely, isn’t she?”
"u and rina are systematically watering down the grammar of yws" - Atticus "From the fish mother to the fish death god." - lehmanf "A fish stole my identity. I blame shady" - Omni [they/he]
"She seems very kind," Wick agreed. "And great with kids! A very smart young lady, to be sure." He didn't ask what they did together; he had a very vague idea of the situation from Tomhas.
"The Imperial need for control is so desperate because it is so unnatural. Tyranny requires constant effort. It breaks, it leaks. Authority is brittle. Oppression is the mask of fear. Remember that." -Karis Nemik
Ky flushed, embarrassed. This was not at all how she wanted the conversation to go, but she knew if she argued it would only make them double down and prolonged the awkwardness. “Who won the race?”
(Also bless you I realized after my post I didn’t have any idea what I was gonna say if Wick asked xD)
"u and rina are systematically watering down the grammar of yws" - Atticus "From the fish mother to the fish death god." - lehmanf "A fish stole my identity. I blame shady" - Omni [they/he]
(He's too polite to bring that up; if he was super curious he'd bring it up privately with Tomhas or Anneke.)
"I won!" Mattathias said proudly. "I was faster than everybody." "You got a head start on me and Tasia," Oscar pointed out grumpily. "That doesn't count."
"The Imperial need for control is so desperate because it is so unnatural. Tyranny requires constant effort. It breaks, it leaks. Authority is brittle. Oppression is the mask of fear. Remember that." -Karis Nemik
"Yeah, you cheated!" Tasia complained. "I'm way faster than you if it was fair."
"u and rina are systematically watering down the grammar of yws" - Atticus "From the fish mother to the fish death god." - lehmanf "A fish stole my identity. I blame shady" - Omni [they/he]
"We gotta do it again, then," Mattathias reasoned. "Cuz I had to go catch up to Marcella and that made me super fast." "Liar," Marcella jabbed. "Am not!"
"The Imperial need for control is so desperate because it is so unnatural. Tyranny requires constant effort. It breaks, it leaks. Authority is brittle. Oppression is the mask of fear. Remember that." -Karis Nemik
"What?" she turned towards them with a scowl. "He did. And I'll show you all -- race you to--"
"Stop!" Tadaaki said, voice far more authoritative than Ky had ever heard it. Pulling out his dad voice. "You will not run inside."
Tasia frowned at him harder.
"Now apologize," Aashi chided. "Being a rude little girl isn't how you make new friends."
Tasia sighed, but turned back to Mattathias. "I'm sorry. You're not a liar."
"u and rina are systematically watering down the grammar of yws" - Atticus "From the fish mother to the fish death god." - lehmanf "A fish stole my identity. I blame shady" - Omni [they/he]
