Two Crows Watch from the Gallows Tree (part 7)

She needed to get away from here. It would look like she was trying to eavesdrop if she stayed here, not to mention risking drawing attention to the room if anyone saw her lurking.

She took a deep breath and headed further into the Keep, trying to decide where to go now.

Gaius forced his eyes open, and Sara gave his knee a pat.
"Thank you. Talk to me, please. What happened?" He shook his head, and Sara sighed. "I can't do much for you if I don't know what you're thinking about, dear."

The Keep was bustling with activity from servants, and May and Ivar were wandering on the first floor for once, though they stuck close together.

Ky spotted them. She was intimidated to approach without Rickard or Gaius there to translate for her — Ivar seemed to think her a threat to May, even though she was less than half his size and he could pop her head off with a single hand if she harmed May whatsoever. She didn’t want to piss him off.

But she did want to interact with May. And that was going to have to be in his presence, it seemed. She approached with a smile, forcing away thoughts of Gaius and the prison and the barracks, stopping a polite distance from them. She gave a little wave, then nodded to Ivar and offered a “hello” in Nortung since it was the only thing she was moderately certain she could pronounce correctly.

Ivar gave her a wary look, and May only gave her a glance, drawing a bit closer to her companion. "Hello," he replied. "How goes your day?"

She understood ‘how’ and assumed he was asking how she was, but she didn’t want to assume, since she wasn’t certain and she didn’t want to make a fool of herself by guessing wrong. She cringed slightly and looked at him apologetically. “Sorry.”

He gave her a look of catlike indifference. "Good," he said in Nortung, pointing at himself. "You?" He pointed to her.

“Good,” she repeated with a nod, grateful that they were already starting lessons. Should she offer some in return? She pointed to herself and said in Upper Tongue. “Good.” Then pointed at him. “You?”

"Good, you?" he repeated, then wrinkled his nose.

She smiled and looked at May, switching to her language. “Did you want to learn as well? How to speak Upper Tongue or Nortung?”

May looked up. "I'd like to learn Nortung," she said softly. "I suppose Upper Tongue as well."

Ky smiled gently, glad she was speaking. “We’re learning to say ‘good, you?’ when people ask us how we are. This is Nortung. ‘Good, you?’”

She repeated it tentatively, looking to Ivar, who gave her an encouraging nod and smiled slightly.

Ky smiled, too. "Then in Upper Tongue it's 'good, you?'"

May repeated that as well. "Why are we learning that phrase?"

"He asked me how I am... I think," she admitted sheepishly. "So that's how you respond." She hesitated. "In Upper Tongue, the question would be 'how are you?' and then you'd say, 'good, you?'" She pointed at herself. "How are you?" Then gestured at May expectantly.