Two Crows Watch from the Gallows Tree (part 7)

“I’d love to,” Zander said honestly. “I’m sure there is impressive skill all around.”

"Absolutely. Gaius hired the best of the best when he became Lord."

“No doubt,” Zander agreed. That might be pushing it a bit. Zander knew most of the best of the best — and they weren’t employed here. But perhaps he contracted them sometimes — he did have Pratik on retainer after all. And he had no doubt that his soldiers were excellent in their own rights, even if they weren’t the very best that existed. “Do you have any in particular I should meet?”

"Gisli, for sure. And Captain Bay, and General Xander if he's free." He paused. "I wonder, are your names spelled the same? Oh, and there's also this young lad Lucius that's been a page for Xander for quite some time. Very bright. And there are lots of others."

The likelihood of their names being spelled the same was infinitely low. Most people were Alexander not Alekzandyr — so the Z was more or less unique amongst Zanders. But Emery didn’t need to know that, now did he? The curse of a distinctive name was that it was distinctive. And he didn’t want people to recognize him unless he wanted them to. Thankfully, he kept talking and left it as more of a rhetorical question.

“Ooh, nice.” Zander smiled. “Any ideas where any of them would be? I don’t want to disturb a man clearly in the middle of something.” He nodded towards Gisli.

(If you’re cool with it I may take the ‘Medeiros’ back if you don’t mind. In cannon people in Ky’s township don’t use last names, so Zander never offers one and I just used his real one, but he probably wouldn’t have tbh. And I thought of this beautifully tense scene of how Jerica and Ky meet way in the future lol and it’d be fun if Jerica thinks Zander is an Ainsley and Ky thinks he’s a Ruiarc so may go with that retroactively?)

"The General is probably in his office. Not sure where Bay would be. Lucius is probably running errands or something."

Zander nodded. “Well… I’d love to meet any or all of them, but I defer to you. I don’t know where anywhere is or what the rhythm of this place is.”

"I can help you out." He gestured ahead. "We should probably catch up with the ladies though. Amy questions you have, just ask and I'll do what I can."

“Perfect. Thank you.” Zander smiled and dipped his head.

Ky had just realized that Zander wasn’t following at about that exact moment, and stopped at the doorway, turning around with a furrowed brow. There was no chance in hell she was going to be alone, caught between Ada and Kazhra, in the middle of this godsforsaken barracks.

Ada glanced over her shoulder. "What are they talking about?" she asked Ky. "Anything?"

Ky shook her head. “No. Just who Zander wants to meet here.”

"Oh." Her brow furrowed. "So who? Anyone I should know?"

“Um, Captain Bay and General Xander.” Ky glanced back at Zander as she said this. “They’re the other two options I have for trainers.”

“Oh?” Zander’s eyebrows shot up. Gaius was volunteering his officers to train Ky? That was good. He went up a bit in Zander’s estimation, now that he knew Gaius was going to give her the best of what he had available. It was what she deserved. “Then I definitely want to meet them, too.”

Ky nodded. Gods. This was going to be even worse than it’d been with Gaius.

She looked back at Ada. “And apparently General Xander has a page named Lucius that Emery likes, but I don’t know who he is.”

She hoped Emery could infer what she’d said since she’d used their names in a row. She didn’t feel like translating if she didn’t have to.

She nodded in understanding. "Hm. Interesting; I'll have to keep an eye out for them. I think we met Bay when we first came here. He's the dead-faced man, right?"

Ky nodded, then turned and started through the doorway. Yes. Yes he was. And the only real option she had here.

Aside from stalling.

Or… she tried to shake the thought off. But she could always intentionally get hurt in the first lesson or two so that she wouldn’t have to take more while she recovered. She may do that if Gaius wouldn’t let her stall.