Two Crows Watch from the Gallows Tree (part 6)

Ky nodded, noticing the details of the figurines and taking in the entire scene. Pratik and Zander exchanged a glance, surprised Gaius was letting her look. Neither of them approached the doorway, deciding not to push their luck and risk pissing him off in case he had anything of value laid out. Ky really was getting away with a lot.

Pratik was still enjoying it, though he didn’t let it show. Two men that were so rough around the edges — and powerful, in their own way — and yet were patiently dealing with her nonsense.

Ky nodded after a moment. “Thank you.”

Gaius dipped his head. "It's not much to look at, I'm afraid. It's function over fashion in this case."

“It’s still interesting,” Ky murmured.

"I'm glad you think so." He stepped out. "Third floor and upward is where the interesting stuff is, though."

“Oh?” She stepped back to give him space. She knew about the library and wondered what else may be up there.

"The third floor has the infirmary, the trophy room, and the library. The fourth floor has bedrooms. The fifth floor also has bedrooms. But the sixth floor has the orrery and artifact rooms, and in one of the towers is a spyglass and observatory. The rest of the Keep is functional rooms like parlors and more bedrooms."

“Whoa,” Ky said in wonder, racking her brain for what an orrery was. She wasn’t quite sure — but perhaps she just didn’t know the word for it in Upper Tongue. Either way, she wasn’t going to admit she didn’t know what it was until after she saw it to confirm. Maybe not even then. She still felt kind of dumb for not knowing what a map room was.

"We'll do the library last, if that's alright with you." He exited the study. "I have a feeling you'll want to spend a lot of time there."

Ky smiled at that, alright with being so easily predicted. “Sounds good to me.”

"Excellent. The trophy room and then the infirmary, then." He glanced at Zander and Pratik. "Feel free to wander off, gentlemen. I'm sure you must be bored."

On the contrary, Zander was absorbing just as much of this as Ky was. But he heard the ‘fuck off’ and was happy to oblige. It’d give him an excuse to get to talk to Pratik. He dipped his head. “You’ve got a beautiful home, thank you for the tour.”

Pratik had already seen most of this aside from the Map Room and had mostly followed along in hopes of getting a chance to talk to Zander, so he was ready to go and he also nodded, both of them starting back towards the door to the hall. Ky watched them go, conflicted. On one hand she was feeling absurdly clingy about Zander now that she knew she was losing him soon. On the other, Gaius was doing a lovely job of distracting her and it’s not like she was talking to Zander right now anyway.

Emery followed behind, giving Gaius a nod as he left. Gaius turned back to Ky. "Right, then. Next flight of stairs?"

“Lead the way,” Ky said with a small smile and an encouraging gesture.


“So…” Zander looked back at Emery once the three of them were alone in the hall. “How’s this work? Can he and I have a talk in my room as long as you stay in the hall to know where I’m at, or do you have to be physically present in the same room until I'm locked up?”

"I'll be with you the whole day, I'm afraid," Emery said brightly. "Once you're locked in for the night I'll be off to tend to my own business, but until then I'm a shadow on the wall."

Gaius led her to the stairs. "Sera will probably be in the infirmary," he told her. "So you'll be able to say hello before dinnertime."

Zander nodded. Well, that was annoying. But it was Gaius’s fault not Emery’s, so he wouldn’t take it out on him. “Alright.”

“Zan-Zan gets a babysitter,” Pratik teased.

“Call me Zan-Zan again and see what happens,” Zander said flatly, glaring slightly but no venom in his voice.

“Uncy-Zandy,” Pratik goaded.

“God, I forgot how annoying you are.” Zander rolled his eyes but was smirking. Pratik felt like the annoying little brother he deserved, for all he put Mikkel through when they were younger. Derik was his little brother, no doubt, but had grown up far faster than he had.

Pratik laughed and gestured down the hall. “C‘mon, let’s find somewhere to sit and talk.”


Ky nodded. “I’ll be sure to drop in.”