Two Crows Watch from the Gallows Tree (part 4)

The sitting room was empty and cold; though the remnants of a fire suggested someone had been there some time before.
"Curious," Harold mused.

"Indeed." She pulled the door closed, anxiety knotting up her gut. They could check the kitchen, but surely they wouldn't all be down there. They'd explicitly said they didn't want children underfoot... still, they might know where the rest of them were. Maybe.

Maybe Anneke is giving birth, she mused but quickly dismissed the idea. Where were all the servants at anyway? This was all so perplexing and felt like higher stakes with a king at her shoulder judging her choices. It's not like she was just wandering around looking for herself.

A low moan echoed through the Keep just then, growing in volume and pitch until it was an agonized wail. It held there for a moment then ceased, though the sound lingered. Harold stood very still, listening.
"Good gods," he murmured.

Ky and Tadaaki exchanged a panicked glance, both on high alert in an instant. They knew the sort of nastiness that preceded a sound like that. Someone was getting hurt.

Ky's gut reaction was an impulse to run. To find a place to hide and hope that whatever was happening would pass. Tadaaki's breath caught with the memory of how very much cruelty he'd watched Aleth mete out before his eyes. He also wanted to run.

But in that gaze they both saw that they couldn't do that.

If someone was getting hurt, they needed to go at least try to help. It was either Ky's family or Tadaaki's -- neither was a good option. Ky silently pointed the direction she was pretty sure the noise had come, even though it was kind of echoing all around them and hard to pin down for sure. Tadaaki nodded. That's where he'd thought it'd come from, too.

She broke into a sprint in that direction; Tadaaki followed half a moment later.

Harold followed quickly behind. A wail came again; though the echoing distorted the sound it seemed to be coming from upstairs.

Ky got to the stairwell first, but Tadaaki's legs were longer and he quickly overtook her as they both ran up the stairs, chests tight with unbridled fear.

The screams led them up the the third floor, where there was a bustle of activity near Tomhas and Anneke's room. Servants were going in and out with towels and bowls and other implements, and still more were simply hovering around the door. One spotted Ky and Tadaaki and hurried over.
"Lord Loquitur's down the hall in the third sitting room," she said quickly. "They all are. Stay there, alright? Don't get in the way!"

"Yes, ma'am!" Ky and Tadaaki had both skidded to a stop with wide eyes when they saw the activity in the hall. They didn't need to be told twice. They scuttled backward out of the way.

The king.

Shit.

They'd both just run off from him, hadn't they? She turned around, wondering if she should go back downstairs to grab him.

(god we've got so much going on xD poor Loquiturs having all this dumped on them in a single day lmao)

(Oof yeah. Poor things, but it'll be okay!)

Harold had wandered after them, moving quickly but not overly hurried. He had heard the sounds of labor before--four times before, to be exact. Once when his own mother was having one of his sisters and thrice more with his own children. The fourth time--Amanda--had been the final sounds he ever heard his wife make. He was in no rush to hear them again.

(yay new trauma dump lol)

"I should go get him," Ky murmured under her breath, looking up at Tadaaki.

Tadaaki nodded.

"You should go warn the Loquiturs that he's here," she whispered.

Tadaaki shook his head. "There's no way I am walking into a room full of anxious nobles by myself."

"Fine, then you go get him and I'll go ahead to warn them," she murmured.

Tadaaki frowned. "That's not better."

"Well what are we supposed to do, then?"

"I don't know, you're the smart one."

"Gods help us all," Ky muttered.

(I'm starting to wonder if there's anyone I haven't traumatized in this world
Maybe one or two of the Grand Reputations and some servants. Wick and Ana seem fine, too. And the children)

Harold reached the top of the first flight of stairs and looked around, then proceeded up the second flight.

(haha *some of the children -- you ruined Lyra's entire life)

"You have to pick one or the other," Ky whispered, frowning up at him. "Are you more scared of the king or Ash?"

Tadaaki groaned. He was scared of both of them. The king because he was king, obviously. And Lord Ash because he seemed nearly as cold as Aleth -- but with far more resources... still... at least the king was nice... Ignoring titles, Ash was far, far scarier as a man. And they'd just been chatting with the king for a few hours.

"They're both scary," Tadaaki muttered.

"Pick," Ky said sharply, though her voice was still hushed. "Everyone in this Keep is scary and you know it. Is Ash or the king scarier to you?"

"Ash."

"That's what I thought," Ky said. She agreed. "Then you go get the king and I'll go ahead."

Tadaaki sighed and turned back into the stairwell, then stopped short when he saw the king already on the second flight of stairs. Had he heard them? Probably.

Well, that was humiliating.

(Fair point)

Harold had not, in fact, heard them. He gripped the banister, hesitant to go much further as he saw the servants crowding the door. "Is it very bad?" he asked, face tight and drawn.

Ky whirled around, startled back his voice so near behind them. "I don't know. They told us to go join the rest of the family down the hall."

"Down the hall it is, then." Harold moved quickly past the door as another wail ripped from inside. "Where, down the hall, exactly?"