Two Crows Watch from the Gallows Tree (part 7)

(Wow Ky)

"He freaks me out. Never smiles, never looks like anything. Like the way Northern soldiers looked in some of the old stories." Never smiling, only killing and raping. Ada had resolved to stay far, far away from Captain Bay while she was here.

(xD she is nothing if not creative with her anxiety hahah)

Ky glanced back at her and shrugged. “He seems good at his job.”

But she couldn’t really argue. He was terrifying.

"I haven't seen him do it. He checked Pratik and everybody for weapons, but that's it." Ada wrinkled her nose. "I don't like him."

Ky glanced at her, then at Zander. She couldn’t honestly say that she did like him. But if she said she didn’t, then Zander might meddle. And the last thing she wanted was for one of these three to run their mouth to Gaius that she didn’t like Bay, and her end up trapped with Kazhra. “I don’t much about any of them.”

"Well, I guess you will in the months to come," Ada said. "What if you got your uncle to stay and teach you, though? Why is he leaving again?"

That sent a pang of pain through Ky, even though she knew Ada didn’t mean it. But it was like rubbing salt in the wound of her knowing Zander was leaving soon. “Because he wants to go die.”

Zander sighed tiredly.

"Not sure I fully believe that," she mused. "Why is he really going?"

“Because if I have to pick between you being happy with me and you being safe, I’m going to choose your safety,” Zander said, looking at Ky.

“I am safe here,” Ky hissed, stopping briefly to turn and glare at him.

“And you’d like to stay here forever and just give up on Tomhas and Anneke altogether?” He raised an eyebrow.

Ky looked wounded for the briefest moment, before she turned and kept walking. He didn’t need to go there. He didn’t need to make her choose between having him safe and having her new parents.

"I wouldn't want to stay here forever," Ada said quietly. Emery stayed silent, walking along at the back.

“I don’t want to stay here at all,” she grumbled, voice barely audible as she kept her back turned towards all of them.

That was fair; Ada didn't either, really. She was stuck because she'd taken the first chance of escape she could get. And she was glad of it, really. The men here--most of them--hadn't given her any looks the way a lot of Tarr's employees and Tarr himself had. Here, she was a person, not a piece of meat.

“I thought you told Tomhas you wanted to come here?” Zander asked, furrowing his brow. It seemed like he needed to have a Talk with Tomhas, if the man thought he was going to lie to Zander about Ky—

“I did.”

Zander blinked at her. “… you… did?”

“I did,” Ky repeated tersely. “I lied to my father. Perhaps you’d like to tell him? Or you?” She looked back at Ada irritably. “Tell everyone I’m a terrible ungrateful bitch that lies to her father.”

“No one said—“

“No one has to say it for it be the truth.”

Ada stayed silent; this was between Ky and Zander and definitely not her business. She had no intention of tattling on Ky to her dad, anyway. She probably wouldn't end up at Caracal Keep for a long time.

“It’s not the truth,” Zander said gently, deciding it wasn’t going to work well to fight fire with fire. What was he doing? He needed to be gentle. To comfort her. Not provoke her. “… I’m sorry, Ky. I shouldn’t have said that. It was a low blow.”

Why was he apologizing? Ky glared at the floor, still walking quickly. She wanted to hold on to her anger. That was an easier emotion, considering where they were. She’d rather present herself to the soldiers as angry rather than weak.

But then he had to go and apologize.

And she folded almost instantly, turning to look at him, though she kept walking, a bit slower now. “Please don’t fell Tomhas; it will only hurt him.”

Zander looked at her with a gentle expression. Her concern with putting others before herself would never cease to amaze him. She’d lied to Tomhas about wanting to come here for some reason. Did she think he wanted her here? Had she convinced him that she wanted it, too, to please him? That would definitely be a Ky move. “No one is going to tell him.”

She looked at him with a furrowed brow, but her expression was more pleading than angry. “Don’t tell Gaius, either. Please.”

“We won’t,” Zander said gently. “I swear it.”

She looked at Ada. Zander wouldn’t break his promise. Could Ada keep her mouth shut? “Please.”

"I want as little to do with nobles as possible," Ada assured her. "I'm not going out of my way to tell them things."