Two Crows Watch from the Gallows Tree (part 8)

"Our birthday is in the summer too!" Mattathais said eagerly, pointing to Marcella. "Maybe we can have our birthdays together!"

Tasia gasped and wiggled excitedly, getting up on her knees to lean on the table to look at him. “Birfday buddies!”

“Sit down,” Aashi chided gently, pulling Tasia back down onto her seat.

"Summer's a long way away," Emery mused. "Lots can happen between now and then, eh?"

“Yeah! Like the sun going to sleep!” Tasia said eagerly, absolutely fascinated by the idea even though she didn’t fully understand what it meant.

Ky had turned positively green by now, even though she didn’t look quite as ill as she felt. Her stomach felt like it was stuck in an iron cage that kept getting smaller and smaller with every bite she took. But then she thought of how much it would hurt Tadaaki to see her upset enough she didn’t eat. How much it would hurt Zander. Tomhas.

Which did not, in fact, make her feel any better. But it did give her a sense of obligation, so she pressed on. She had a tiny bit of literal sweat on her forehead from the effort it was taking her to keep the food down. But if she didn’t acknowledge it, no one else would notice it, right? Besides. She didn’t have that much left to deal with. One egg and maybe a third of the bread left. She’d already eaten the fish.

Her throat felt even tighter as she swallowed hard at Tasia’s words.

Gaius was tempted to tell Ky to stop; she was obviously making herself sick. But that would draw attention to her and he knew that was the last thing she wanted. He finished off his bread and left the crust on the plate.
"Are you excited about that?" Emery asked in surprise.

“Yeah!” Tasia said enthusiastically. “The sun only goes to sleep when I have to. I want to see it sleeping all the time!”

"That you will. It'll be very dark though; are you afraid of the dark?"

She hesitated, staring at him in horror, before she looked at Aashi accusingly. “You said there would be lights inside!”

"Oh!" Emery paused. "Well yes, there will be lights inside. She was telling the truth there. It's only dark outside. And very cold."

“Oh.” She looked back at Emery, placated. “Well you’re not allowed to go outside in the dark anyway. There are monsters out there! But they’re not allowed to come inside so it’s okay.”

"Exactly. So long as we stay inside, we're perfectly safe!"

“Yeah.” Tasia nodded in agreement, then giggled and whispered like she was proud she was getting away with mischief. “And then we can watch the sun when it’s asleep.”

"But you can't see the sun," Emery pointed out. "The moon comes out instead."

Tasia hesitated, furrowing her brow as she considered this. “But… it’s… no, the sun is sleeping. It’s…”

She was consternated. He was wrong. But she didn’t know the words to tell him that.

“You’re allowed to be up when it’s dark,” Aashi said with a little smile, knowing fully well that’s all she was excited about. And knowing she was going to be sick of it within a day, most likely. But definitely within a week. Nevermind four months. It was going to be a rough, rough winter. For all of them. At least all the Southerners.

“Yeah!” Tasia looked back at Emery, as if Aashi had just won the argument for her. “That.”

"Sure!" He nodded. "And you'll get used to it eventually. I did."