Two Crows Watch from the Gallows Tree (part 8)

(Art history and English. So not likely to end up on a boat but maybe I'll just keep camping with my family and do canoe trips)

"Thank you. Ky, I trust you. See you soon!" He dashed off.

(That’s insane haha but yeah it’s… exciting haha this is my first time working on a boat and it’s a whole other beast)

Ky blinked at him, but didn’t have time to process before he was gone. Why would Emery possibly trust her? They’d known each other for less than 48 hours, even including the meeting. Besides, if they didn’t trust Zander, they shouldn’t trust her. She was a Ruiarc a whole lifetime before she’d become niece to the Ashes. Zander would never, ever ask her to choose — but, well, if Gaius did force her to pick between him and Zander, well…

She shook the thought away. They wouldn’t make her choose. They wouldn’t.

And she was fairly certain all three of them knew Zander had her loyalty, especially compared to Gaius. She didn’t want to think what she’d do if she had to pick between Zander and Tomhas. She’d die.

(Also nice avvie! Is it SpongeBob? Haha)

(Awesome! Honestly the stuff you study sounds so fun. We did some electrofishing and studied fish for a couple days in an environmental summer camp in high school and it still sticks with me.)

The door from the outside opened and Sera stepped through, holding it for Tristan, Rickard, and Tristan's girlfriend. Rickard noticed Zander and Ky and dipped his head politely, smiling more openly than he'd previously dared.
"Hello!" he said, holding up the basket of sticky cakes. "We've retrieved the goods."

(And yes indeed, that's spongebob! I've been feeling a lot like Squidward lately)

(That’s super cool! I love electrofishing so much :’) we’re gillnetting now and it’s so much murder xD)

“So you have,” Ky said with a smile, nodding to him, then she eyed the two new people. Tristan. He must be her cousin, then? So she supposed she should put her best foot forward. And yet she found herself unwilling to leave Zander’s side. Almost like he was her handler now rather than Aleth, though she’d die if she noticed that similarity herself.

(Not sure if that’s nice or not haha but I dig the avvie!)

(Aw gillnetting is no fun. If you've ever seen the survival show Alone there's a lot of gillnetting in that.)

"Er, this is Sera's son, Tristan, and Miss Lily Weaver," he continued, gesturing to the pair. "We met up with them in the market..."
"Pleased to make your acquaintance," Tristan said with a broad smile, extending a hand. He had a lot of Sera's features in his face, with her green eyes and small, slightly upturned nose. But there was an angularity to his face that spoke of Ash blood, and his hair was a bit lighter in color than hers. His voice was very high and thin for a mostly grown man, and carried a farmer's accent rather than a noble one. "You must be Ky, right? Mum mentioned you on the road."

(Ahh no I haven’t, but yeah, I’ve had a stark induction hahah my back hurts so bad but hey I’m using dis fancy bio degree lol)
(Wait so they all know that he’s Michael’s? I thought they hid that?)

“I am.” Ky shook his hand, offering a shy smile. “Pleased to make your acquaintance… this is my uncle, Zander.”

Zander smiled and nodded to him, offering him his hand.

(No Rickard doesn't know. Sera just said he's her son and that was that. Gaius told Ky I think but none of the rest of Ky's party knows.)

"Charmed!" Tristan shook both of their hands firmly. "So I understand you're my new cousin or something? Uncle Tomhas adopted you, right?"

(Ahhh I see, okay. I got mixed up. Yeah Gaius told Ky about Michael having a son named Tristan, but honestly now that I’m thinking of it, I don’t think he told her that he’s Sera’s. Because she made an innocent comment about not realizing Michael had a wife and kid and sent Gaius into one of his moods haha)

“Yes, s—“ Goddamn it, he was barely older than she was. “That’s right. Newest Loquitur kid — even Raina has me beat.” She smiled.

(Oh yeah she didn't know he was Sera's. Someone else knew though...one of your characters. Or maybe they mentioned separately that Sera had a son named Tristan and Michael had a son named Tristan?)

(I just looked back and at one dinner Aashi asked about Tristan because Marcella or Mattathias mentioned him, and Gaius just said he was his brother's son. And in part 3 Sera mentioned Tristan to Ky.)

"Heh, welcome aboard, then! We're glad to have you." He stepped to the side, taking Lily's hand. "And this is my lovely paramour, Lily."
"Pleased to meet you!" Lily bobbed a curtsy, grinning.

“You as well.” Ky smiled at her, bowing reflexively before she remembered girls didn’t do that, and attempted save it with a curtsy of her own, but ended up just horrendously awkward. Her face burned with embarrassment.

That didn’t take long for her to make them all realize how dumb she is.

(Bless)

(Bless the YWS search bar)

"Where are you from, Ky?" Lily asked, chuckling in good-humored amusement. Sera came in and shut the door behind them, blowing into her hands as she stamped the snow off her boots.

“Austraka,” Ky said, smiling nervously. “Near the coast.”

"Oh, from the South? You're a very long way from home!"
"We get a lot of Southerners in Venholm," Tristan added. "How are you finding the North so far, and how'd you come to meet my uncles?"

“Clawholm is home now,” Ky said quietly. She’d been wrestling nonstop with both the impulse to force herself to think of the Loquiturs as her real family, and the imposter syndrome of feeling like she wasn’t actually allowed to claim Caracal Keep as her home and Tomhas and Anneke as her parents. “… but I’m enjoying it progressively more the longer I’ve been here. I came up this way with my employer and met Tomhas… and I think he thought I was a little young to be employed. He’s been very very kind to me. Much more than I could ever possibly deserve.”

Zander bristled at her referring to the bastard as her ‘employer’ but he hid it well. It was her trauma to tell as she wanted. If she wanted to spin it as employment rather than slavery, who was he to stop her?

"Uncle Tomhas is a big softie," Tristan said with a nod. "Are you just visiting here, then? Mum told me it was just you and Lyra here."