Two Crows Watch from the Gallows Tree (part 5)

(okay so this is completely random and we 1000% don’t need to do this at all but I had the thought so I thought I’d share in case we do end up bringing Jerica and Ky together at some point lol so in cannon, Ky and Jer don’t meet until they’re both 20 — but they’re instant friends as soon as they do. Ky is still Aleth’s assistant and is MUCH better at her poker face by that point so she was being a charming little flirt but Ky highkey thought Jerica was hot so it was genuine admiration and most people treat Jerica as a freak so she was refreshed by someone taking an actual interest in her rather than cowering or kissing her ass. And that’s when Jerica’s uncle Derik sees Ky and is like wait a fucking minute you’re a Medeiros aren’t you — and summons Zander to confirm — and then the three of them stage an extraction and rescue Ky and Tadaaki and kill Aleth. ANYWAY— in cannon, instant friends

(Also in cannon, Jerica is low key an alcoholic. Like, not really because it doesn’t actually stop her from doing what she needs to and she doesn’t drink like every single day. But she absolutely gets sloppy drunk every single opportunity that she gets, even when she’s as young as they are now. And I’m thinking it could be hysterical for Jerica to get Ky drunk and then the two of them get busted by someone while absolutely wasted xD I’ve never written drunk Ky but I’m guessing she’s incredibly giggly and cuddly and also will have no idea what’s happening to her cause she’s never been drunk before haha. Could be fun. But also 100% no pressure if you’re not feeling it or if it doesn’t work out or whatever. Ik that’s still a ways in the future anyway. I just had a brief thought of Tomhas having to deal with shitfaced Ky and how amusing that has the potential to be haha)(she may let the “L word” aka ‘love’ slip at that point ngl haha)

(I love that idea! Bring her in if you like!)

Tomhas left the room, and Gaius began to gradual process pulling himself out of analysis mode.

(Yay!)

Ky stayed silent, trying to shake the Kyber off. Entirely. The assassins had put her into survival mode. And now thinking about Aleth and all the nasty people she’d interacted with made it even worse. She needed to pull herself together before her mind went too dark for her to control. Again. She’d made a promise.

"The fact that a Southern Governor dislikes you is....concerning," Gaius said finally. "Is there any chance he would come after you even now that your status is altered?" Governors held almost as much power in the South as Lords did in the North. If Levin hated Ky, they'd need to watch him carefully.

(It was Levin, one of the governors in the South. The son was just being bribed. Imma assume Gaius kept it straight but if not then I can edit haha)

Oh. So they weren’t done.

It was entirely discomforting for even Gaius to find something “concerning.”

Maybe this was proof she needed to run away. She didn’t want to cause political drama for Tomhas. And it now seemed like she was going to do just that. Aleth had ensured that Ky was right in the middle of politics all across the continent.

“I don’t know,” she admitted at last. “Aleth didn’t like people knowing he had slaves, so he always called me his assistant and made me pretend that it was voluntary employment. So he doesn’t know that it wasn’t my fault. He seems reasonable so he might let bygones be bygones if he realized I was under duress. But we obviously don’t want to tell him…” She gestured vaguely. Didn’t want it to become public knowledge that a Lord had adopted a slave. It was far, far better for people to focus on her being an orphan than it was her past life with Aleth.

“It’s possible he won’t put the pieces together,” she mused. “He believes that my name is Kyber and that I’m a boy, so perhaps Kylia won’t set off alarm bells in his brain.”

It was a long shot. But maybe.

“But I don’t know how he’d respond — he’ll definitely think I’m a threat now that I’m the daughter of a Lord and Tomhas knowing the blackmail could be very, very bad for him. But I don’t know whether that makes me a threat to be neutralized or if he will recognize it’s a dumb idea to kill off a Lord’s kid if you don’t want said Lord coming after you.”

She was silent for a moment.

“If he does, though, it’ll be an abduction not an assassination.” She shivered slightly. “He’ll want the honors. Or to at least watch. I’m nearly certain of that.”

(Oh oop!)

"Let's hope he doesn't see the similarity in the names." Gaius shook his head slightly. "If he does learn who you are, I'm not sure he'll risk a confrontation of any sort. That would upset the Taral. We'll do our best to keep your identity under wraps, though the King..." He frowned. "Harold is enthusiastic. He likes to make small talk."

(haha all good!)

Ky took a deep breath and let it out in a quiet sigh. Imagine her own king being her downfall, just because he liked to talk. She wanted to keep idolizing the man. He was a king after all. Her king. And it’d be arrogant not to like him. To think she knew better than he did. But some of his opinions were frustrating.

"I'll see if I can impress upon him the importance of being quiet, but banquets are frequent in Rein and he likes to have things to talk about." This was part of why Gaius thought Harold shouldn't be ruling. Perhaps the man understood what this could mean for the entire Northern Realm if Levin was angry enough to attack Ky outright. Perhaps that could impress reason on him.

“I understand,” Ky murmured with a nod. Though she supposed she couldn’t. Not really. Aleth was a vault of secrets. Always said he was in the business of collection information, not sharing it. Him talking about anything consequential cost money, and a generous amount at that. So she couldn’t understand freely giving away valuable information as small talk. “Hopefully it’ll be okay.”

"We'll see," he said grimly. "As I said, I'll talk to him. He listens."

Ky eyed him. Did he really, though? Because it sounded like he was awfully stubborn about the ‘delinquency’ of transgender people even though Gaius told him off about that. And he found slaves too economically important to outlaw them himself, which Ky doubted Gaius hadn’t yelled at him for. But they could hope Harold would listen to reason this time. “I appreciate it.”

Gaius dipped his head, watching as she studied him. She doubted his words, it seemed. With good reason. "I'm sure it would be doubly useful if you spoke to him yourself, but I understand if you don't relish that opportunity. I rarely do."

“I can do that,” she nodded. She certainly didn’t want to have that conversation with him. That seemed dangerously close to having an opinion. She didn’t want Harold thinking she had any of those. Even though he didn’t seem to be able to read minds like Gaius could. “I doubt he’d listen to me, though.”

"I beg to differ, but I can do it myself if you'd rather not." Gaius tilted his head. "Hm, I wonder how he felt about last night."

“I don’t mind,” she offered. If he genuinely thought it would help, then she’d do it. Gaius seemed to know what he was talking about. She thought about the second half of what he said. “I imagine we’re all sort of rattled over it… I’d thought he was perhaps an assassin when we ran into each other on the road. Admitted that to him. I don’t think he believed me that it was actually going to happen.”

No one had believed her. Well, Gaius claimed that they’d believed her. Just doubted the timing of it all. But it certainly felt like she’d been talking into the void. That everyone blamed it on her admittedly high anxiety.

“I would venture a guess that he believes me now,” she murmured. “But hopefully he’s not too, too distraught about it. Did he seem badly affected last night? I was… distracted.”

She did have to wonder how he’d handle his journey back home, though, since he’d been foolish enough to travel all this way alone.