Two Crows Watch from the Gallows Tree (part 6)

Ky looked between them. No chance in hell she was going to poke that one. She took a bite of meat.

(Hehe)

Rickard had listened to this exchange with interest. He had no particular affiliation to a god or gods, though he had heard of most of them and witnessed all manner of worship.

(that's a hard pass for me dawg -- Ky, probably)

Zander watched everyone at the table, somehow, trying to gauge the mood of each person. Ky was, once again, the one oozing the most anxiety.

"What do you think?" Zander prompted, looking down at her.

"Me?" Ky swallowed her half-chewed bite of mutton. "I don't."

"Don't believe?"

"Don't think." Ky reached for her glass of wine, carefully avoiding contact with literally everyone as heat began to creep up her neck again.

Gaius could see her discomfort and filed the subject of religion away as something not to be broached with Ky.

Zander watched her for a moment, contemplating pushing the matter. He hated that she was so timid about having an opinion. But now wasn't the time. There was no point in embarrassing her for no reason.

"Why are they going 'blah blah blah' Mama?" Tasia asked loudly.

Aashi blushed profusely. "They're speaking a different language."

Tadaaki and Zander had been successfully distracted from Ky, so she could take a breath in the meantime.

"It doesn't make sense," Tasia announced.

"It does to them," she scolded. "Be nice."

"Are they talking to the moon?" Tasia asked.

"I..." Aashi blushed even deeper, not having any idea what language they were speaking. She knew there were a lot, but she didn't have the first idea which language was being spoken when. She took a dinner roll and shoved it into Tasia's mouth to make her shut up.

Rickard watched Tasia, perfectly willing to answer but not sure her mother would want him talking to her. He was more at ease around children; they were simple people and often kinder than adults. Unfortunately, he had the disadvantage of being a man, which so very often put parents off.

Aashi still wasn't looking at anyone at all, mortified. It was one thing for Tasia to run her mouth back in the township where everyone knew everyone and knew Tasia was doomed by her mother's inability to shut up. It was an entirely different thing for her to be mocking nobles. She didn't have any idea who anyone that hadn't been in their party was. The people at this end of the table had energies that were comfortable and she couldn't imagine belonging to nobles. But, then, Ky didn't act like one, either -- so how was she to know who was who and what all this meant? Even if they weren't, they were still strangers, and this was still embarrassing.

"Akarataran," Ky offered gently, even though she was reluctant to re-insert herself in the conversation.

"Oh." Tasia nodded, remembering hearing that word upstairs in her bedroom. It was one of the three languages she was convinced existed. "Does akaktarakan talk to the moon, too?"

"You mean Moon Speech?" Ky asked with a little smile.

"Yeah!" Tasia agreed eagerly.

"No," Ky said. "It's a different language."

"Oh... so do they talk to the sun instead?"

Ky laughed.

"They talk to each other, like everyone does," Sera said patiently. "But the sun is a god in your Realm, my dear. So maybe some Akaratarans speak to it."

"What's a god?" Tasia asked.

Aashi and Tadaaki both froze, staring at each other. Was this bad? This was probably bad. The whole table probably just discovered that the two of them were terrible parents for not even mentioning the word 'god' around Tasia. They hadn't expected their atheism to reach religious people.

How to save this? There was no way to save this. They both blushed.

"A god is what some people believe created the world," Sera explained. "Up here we have many gods, and in the Southern Realm there can be one or two or many, many spirits, depending on where you are. And in the East there's the sun and moon. Gods are like sculptors, I suppose. They molded the shape of the world and of people."

Tasia listened closely, taking it all in, and nodded, satisfied with the explanation. She didn't really know what sculptor meant, but otherwise, she supposed it made sense. Still. Why hadn't she heard about all this before, if it was true?

"Is that true, Papa?" Tasia asked, looking at Tadaaki.

"Of course it's true," Tadaaki said, flushing as he looked down at her disapprovingly. "She wouldn't have told you if it wasn't."

"Well..." Sera glanced at Tadaaki. "That's up to interpretation. We have no real proof, dear. You believe what you want to believe."

"What do you believe, Papa?" Tasia asked, completely and totally missing the tension in the room.

"I believe it's time for you to stop asking questions," Tadaaki answered. "Eat your food so you can keep drawing afterward."

Tasia looked at him for a moment, then nodded and reached for her fork again.

Gaius watched this with curiosity; usually religion and spirituality was a comfortable topic. Most people felt betrayed by the gods and could spit on them together. The Southerners had a bit more faith in their deities, but they could have sympathy for people who gods had abandoned them. It really depended in the East.

Ky felt bad for Tadaaki.

Zander did, too.

Neither of them would like to be put in the center of attention and asked whether they believed in god, especially given they didn’t know the religious leaning of others in the room.

Ky’s chest was tight. She felt like she should change the subject. To get everyone’s attention off Tadaaki. But she didn’t know what to say. Nor did she particularly care for the idea of becoming the focus of attention once again.

Zander felt this through the anxiety radiating off her, and decided to take pity on both of them. “So, uh… sounds like everyone is going to be quite busy these next few months…”