Two Crows Watch from the Gallows Tree (part 5)

Tomhas was usually good at lying. He'd had to be as a child, and now as a politician. But he didn't want to lie to this kind man who obviously cared about Ky so much. He hesitated, brow furrowed.
"It's not my place," he said finally. "And it's not your place to push her to tell. If she wants to talk to you, she will."

Zander was silent for a moment. So it was something to do with Ky. And something important, by the sounds of it. But Tomhas had a point. He could get Ky to tell him herself, now that he knew there was something to tell. If she'd told Tomhas, then obviously she'd be willing to tell him.

"I can respect that," Zander murmured finally. "I appreciate you protecting her confidence. It's what she deserves."

Tomhas dipped his head, feeling guilty for saying anything at all. "I can't imagine how strange this must be for you, who've known her since she was a baby. Seeing her like this."

“It’s very painful,” he admitted, cringing. “I think the Ky I lost was on the complete opposite end of the spectrum from the one you found.”

He took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

“She used to be so innocent. Didn’t know how to shut up; didn’t know how dangerous the world could be.” He sighed a bit as he remembered the way she’d proven that. “She once, a few weeks before her capture, ran into a soldier sent with a message to the township. She started chattering at him and by the time Petrir saw them through the window, she’d already decided they were friends and knew about the man’s daughter and offered to sleep in the barn and let him have her bed if he wanted to spend the night since it was getting dark. No idea whatsoever what he could have done to her… what was about to happen to her.” He sighed again, voice barely audible. “No idea that Aleth existed or what he was going to put her through.”

Tomhas bit his lip. The poor man. And poor Ky, really. She sounded like such a charming kid before all this. She still was, but that loss of innocence was always terrible to see or hear about.

“Anyhow.” Zander shook himself. There was no point in selling on the past. No point in putting that kind of heaviness on Tomhas. “She’s safe now, and that’s all that matters at this point. It feels much better to finally know wheee she is again.”

"Right." Tomhas nodded. "I can't imagine how worried you must have been all these years...I'm glad you found her when you did."

“All thanks to you,” Zander forced a smile. “But I am, too… and I think Ky is as well… she mentioned to me she’d given up hopes of a reunion. And I was starting to fear that as well… I’m glad we were both wrong about it.” His smile got a bit more genuine.

"Perfect timing, too. I'm glad you're both back together, so Ky has at least a small part of her old life."

“It really was,” he agreed. He hesitated, thinking about the attack for a moment. He’d gotten two of them. Would the others have made it to Ky in time, if he hadn’t? He liked to think so. But he couldn’t be certain. But he shook that thought away. It didn’t matter at this point. “I caused perhaps unnecessary conflicting emotions in her, showing up when I did. But she’s since told me she’s glad she went through with the adoption and kept me as an uncle instead of a guardian. I think the stability of a real — well, I guess I’m part of her real family along with all of you, but a stable one with a home and two parents and siblings — is good for her. Gives a strong foundation to build from, with support to help her along as she does.”

Tomhas smiled at that, though his mind faltered. It may look stable to Zander. It may even be stable, most of the time. But they were sending her away right now, and what would happen when Ky returned and found Tomhas was nothing but an anxious mess with no real readiness to be a father to anyone? That he was just a scared little boy masquerading as a noble Lord? Would she realize her mistake in accepting him as a father? And why hadn't Tomhas realized sooner that he wasn't ready? He should have known the moment he sent Lyra away.

(He’s such a disaster I love it xD Gaius and Tomhas both: “you just paid me a compliment, so I shall now self destruct. Sorry, it’s the law.” Lolol)

Zander saw the conflict on Tomhas’s face, but he didn’t have the first idea what he’d done to cause it. Perhaps he just felt anxious because of the attack? Oh well, he’d bounce back from that, eventually. He seemed a man that disliked conflict as much as Ky did, which must make being a Lord hellish, since most of his job was pissing people off all day.

“It’s nice she’s got other uncles and aunts now, too,” he continued, deciding not to linger on it. “Takes a village, so they say.”

(Two men, both alike in self esteem,)

"That's the truth." Tomhas nodded. "We are an extensive brood. And Gaius has more cousins and grandaunts and granduncles than I can count. That family tree is HUGE."

“I’m sure,” Zander agreed. That’d be interesting, Ky having to interact with Gaius’s extended family, when she had only barely gotten over her fear of him in general. Might not be fully over it, even. But she’d seemed like she found Gaius a challenge now rather than a threat. He didn’t have any idea what that challenge was, but he was glad for it. Enlisting her competitive spirit to overcome her timidity. It was good. “Will she interact with them regularly?”

"I don't think so. They've scattered to the winds; Tristan is the only one near enough to visit often, and even then he doesn't go to Serpent Keep all that much." Gaius was petrified of Tristan, for one thing. He was great at pretending not to be, but Tomhas had seen the way he stood and spoke around his nephew. For another, Tristan worked on a farm. He was a busy boy with a girlfriend too, so he couldn't be expected to visit his mother, uncle and aunt as often as Sera might like. Far more likely for Sera to come to visit him instead.