Two Crows Watch from the Gallows Tree (part 10)

"As if that would protect us if they were awake." Ivar shook his head incredulously. "If they had woken we would know. My people speak of catastrophe. Trolls running rampant, destroying entire tribes. The ground splitting open. This has been predicted by the skalds and seers. It's not happening yet."
"That may be, but this could very well be the beginning of something that might be months away."

Ky had wrapped her arm around Tadaaki’s like a security blanket, getting progressively more anxious. There were too many people here. Ivar seemed angry. Everyone was on edge. She needed to go. Anywhere. Anywhere but here. She stepped towards the door, but Tadaaki shifted his weight to stay in front of her. Her anxiety was palatable by now. And he wasn’t going to allow it to make poor choices for her.

"But it won't happen yet," Ivar insisted.
Gaius dipped his head. "I still intend to speak to the young Seer about this."

Ky huffed a sigh and started pacing… towards the far end of the room. It seemed the two people she least wanted to interact with just them were over there together. Which was convenient, she supposed.

Gaius glanced over at her, then at Sara and Aashi.
Ivar followed his gaze. "What, the girl is agitated? Who would not be?"

Aashi had been watching the two of them since they walked in, and now was watching Ky with a slight grimace. She looked at Tadaaki helplessly. He took a deep breath and let it out with a little shrug. He didn’t know what to do, either. So he took a seat next to his wife but turned it slightly outward to keep an eye on Ky. Both to be sure he’d see her if she made a break for the door, and to make sure she knew he was watching, which would, hopefully, deter her. He didn’t want to have to make a scene of it.

Gaius leaned in. "How bad exactly did Ada look, Tadaaki?"

“I’m not sure.” Tadaaki watched Ky a moment longer then looked at Gaius. “Pratik looked like he was about to have a conniption, but Sera was calm and helping someone else. So I’m guessing she’s stable.”

"Good." Gaius nodded. "I'm sending her home tomorrow, if it looks like things will be stable a little longer."

“Good.” Tadaaki flushed. What had he just said? Why had he said it? He wasn’t supposed to have opinions about things that didn’t concern him. “I-I mean, I’m sure she, uh, appreciates, um, uh.” He cleared his throat and glanced away.

Gaius gave him a quizzical look but said nothing else.

Wasn’t this rather like putting all your eggs in one basket? Cramming the entire Keep into a single room? What if the Keep collapsed on this side only? Then they’d all die. Better chance of survival if they spread out. Besides. There was oxygen in other rooms, but none at all here. Not to mention the stuffiness that already ran rampant. How long had they been here? An hour? Two? Shouldn’t this mean it was over?

She wanted to go to her room.

But Tadaaki knew every last excuse she had and wasn’t going to let her get with a single one of them.

Maybe she could argue her way into getting her way rather than sneak. She stopped pacing and turned towards the head of the table. “Wouldn’t it make sense to go higher? There’d be less to fall on you. Be on top of the stack rather than on the bottom?”

"You would have farther to fall," Gaius replied grimly.

“I feel like the risk would balance out.”’

"We stay down here." He looked toward the door again.