Two Crows Watch from the Gallows Tree (part 4)

(Gaius: I simply do not know how to smile. This is too much for me. I perish)

“So do you, uh…” she really wished she’d had a plan for where she was going before she started talking. But she didn’t. Nothing came to mind then any more than it had before. “… have anything that you like to talk about?”

That was an odd question, born of a silence Ky obviously found uncomfortable. How was he to answer that?
"I like to talk about books," Gaius said after a pause. "And journeys."

Ky nodded. She could work with that. “What’s your favorite place you’ve visited?”

Gaius thought for a moment. There were so many to choose from. The palace of the Grand Reputations was certainly impressive, but too gaudy for his taste. The Far North had been bitter but the cultures of each individual tribe was fascinating. And the South was unbearably hot, but it too had an infinite array of cultures.
"I quite enjoy visiting D'Ara Wai and the Io tribe," he said at last. "Their hospitality is refreshing and Chieftain Wai offers some wonderful verbal sparring. I adore their customs and their food."

“That makes sense,” Ky said with a nod. “She did seem lovely. I’m sure the rest of her tribe probably is, too.”

"Ah, I'd forgotten you'd met her before. A real spitfire, she is. I'd have thought she'd frighten you a little." No offense, he didn't say. "She's certainly set my hair on end once or twice. How long were you with her?"

“Oh I was terrified,” Ky said without hesitation. She stopped just short of saying ‘but that was my default when I was with Aleth’. “But we weren’t with her long. It only took her a few minutes to decide she didn’t like Aleth so she told him off and sent us away.” Ky grimaced, remembering how Aleth had responded to that. It’d been a long night. “… it wasn’t great, after that… she embarrassed him, and he doesn’t like to be embarrassed, which wasn’t… great… but she wasn’t wrong about her assessment of him.”

"Ah." Dammit, he'd crossed a line. "D'Ara's a perceptive woman, and her tongue runs away with her on occasion. I'm sure she didn't mean you any harm with her words. She's well respected but perhaps not the most...diplomatic of leaders."

“No, no, not at all!” Ky said quickly. “I don’t fault her for it. He was… easy… to embarrass,” she said carefully, then shrugged. “So I was kind of used to it by then anyway. I admired her for standing up to him. Not many people did.”

Gaius gave a small nod. "It's difficult to stand up to someone like that, I've found. I make it my job to do so, and I'm glad Tomhas did. No sense in leaving people like that alive."

“I appreciate it, more than you know,” Ky said genuinely. She still hadn’t shook how terrible it was to watch. To remember. There was so much blood. And even when he was dying, he still wanted to hurt her. Remembered the look on his face; as he was staring at her at the table; as he was lunging at her. Her life had flashed before her own eyes. He would have killed her, if he’d gotten his hands on her in that moment. “Things were shaping up to go… poorly… for me. I appreciate that you both stopped it from going that way.”

"Neither of us tolerate that sort of person," Gaius said grimly. "I'd have killed him myself if Tomhas couldn't. That's one thing I can promise you about this family, Ky: We protect our own to the death."

Ky nodded, then glanced at the children. Was this getting too dark for them? She hadn’t meant to make it like this. She always had to go and sour things, when she tried to talk about herself. She should have kept it on Ash and his travels. Not brought it back to Aleth. Why did everything always end up back with Aleth?

“It’s admirable.” Ky rubbed her abdomen. She hadn’t even been able to protect herself. She supposed she took some beatings to get the attention of Tadaaki a few times. And there was the time she’d gotten lashed to save Mr. Myrond. But that in itself had been her own fault. If she’d just cooperated, none of this would have ever happened. “… I don’t think I ever could,” she admitted. She glanced at him, deciding she didn’t need to share the details of her stabbing the soldier. He’d recovered. But she still had the mental image burnt in her brain of the blood spurting from his shoulder and onto her face. “I hurt someone, once. And I still feel guilty about it… even though I only did it because he was taking me.” She shrugged. “But what can you do?”

Gaius would have liked to respond to that, but he saw Anneliese's face and decided not to. His niece knew a lot about what he and Tomhas had gone through; he knew that. He also expected she didn't completely understand, but what she was hearing right now was obviously being absorbed with deep, deep interest. Gaius wasn't sure how Tomhas might feel about that.
"Do you have a favorite place you've traveled?" he asked instead, trying to turn the conversation lighter. His sons and nephews didn't seem to be paying attention at all; Regulus was playing with Peter and Oscar while Mattathias had rolled under the sofa to sleep.

Ky saw the deflection and nodded. Right, so she had made things too dark. But apologizing seemed like it’d make it worse. “I guess not a specific place, but I liked when we travelled around the South. It was more familiar. The dialects; customs; foods. I could understand it so it was easier to enjoy, even when we didn’t stay more than a day or two.”