Two Crows Watch from the Gallows Tree (part 8)

(That poor baby
Those are fantastic lines though!)

"I can't translate anything," Emery pointed out. "I speak two languages, even then I'm a nightmare at switching languages."

(^-^)

“Oh…” Ky hesitated. She couldn’t continue to insult herself without now also by extension insulting Emery too. “I mean… I guess it did take a lot of practice. You could do it if you put time into it, though! A lot of languages have similarities if you look hard enough.”

Emery chuckled. "It's just not for me. I like my job here, and I have no desire to learn too many languages."

Ky nodded. “Understandable… I don’t know what I want to do. It seems a waste not to use my language knowledge. But also translating is infinitely stressful… though maybe it wouldn’t be if I didn’t have to encode messages, too… and if I didn’t have Aleth breathing down my neck.”

But she’d be just as stressed translating for the king. Sure, he wouldn’t beat her for making a mistake (hopefully) but she imagined there’d be equally unpleasant consequences. And even if there weren't, and he was patient with her stupidity, it would still make Tomhas look bad to send a child as stupid as her to work for someone as important as the king. And she didn’t want to make him look bad. Ever. So she needed to be as perfect as possible as much as she’d needed it when her safety depended on it.

"Well, you've got ages and ages to make up your mind," Tristan said. "You're still a teenager, so you can explore some options. And Uncle Gaius has a lot of connections; I'm sure he can help you look for stuff. But you don't need to stress about that yet."

It was odd to hear Tristan refer to him as Uncle Gaius. Even though he was Tristan’s uncle and had been since birth. So she supposed it made sense. But, then, was she supposed to be using the honorific too?

Perhaps.

She didn’t want to call him uncle. And, in her defense, she even dropped the ‘Uncle’ from addressing Zander, who was her real uncle. But she didn’t want to be disrespectful. Did he want her to call him uncle?

Somehow the most immediate thing for her to stress about now was how to refer to Gaius. But she nodded. “True enough. I’m sure I’ll end up where I need to be, eventually. Things work out how they’re supposed to.”

(Oof no Tristan said that)

"For sure." Tristan nodded in agreement. "Well, sometimes. But you've got a great group of people in your corner."

(My reading comprehension is non existent… but she’d probably have the same spiral of ‘he’s older than me and still calls Gaius that’ so it still works haha)

Ky nodded. “I’m very fortunate.”

(Okay XD That would be so weird if Emery called him uncle
Cuz he and Tomhas yknow)

(Also is Zander there?)

The library door opened and Sera and Sara entered with the promised snacks and tea. Sera looked a little grimmer than before but was doing well at hiding it.

(Haha yes I thought it was weird but thought maybe it was Ky’s rationale. But Tristan makes more sense than Emery Altho that would also fit. Bet he calls Tomhas daddy) (and I’ve erased all evidence lol)
(And yeah he is)

Ky stood, silently offering to see if they needed any help to set everything down.

(god that would be funny but he doesn't, no)

Sara gave her a smile and set the food down on the table without trouble, then seated herself near Emery. Sera seated herself near Tristan and Lily.
"Help yourselves!" Sara said cheerily.

Ky returned the smile but sat back down. She wasn’t about to be the first person to take anything.

Tristan put a few biscuits and cookies on a plate and poured himself some tea. Lily helped herself as well, but Emery only had a couple biscuits.
"This was a lovely choice of setting," Sera said appreciatively.

Ky nodded in agreement, glancing at Zander, who nodded towards the snacks in a silent command to eat some. So she leaned forward and grabbed a biscuit and poured herself and Zander a cup of tea each then sat back. Zander took the cup off the table and a biscuit too and settled back. “It’s certainly an impressive collection.”

"Been around a long, long time," Emery mused. "Since the second Lord, right, Sara?"
"I think so." She nodded, blowing gently on her tea.