Of Crows and Songbirds

“Not unless you convince me it’s worth my while.” He let his hand hang by his side. He was the one with the bargaining power here. And he planned to take full advantage.


They held each other for another long moment then Ky pulled away and patted his shoulder. “It will be what it will be. We just… have to try our best. Keep our noses clean. That’s all we can do.” She glanced towards the door. “Emery will be coming back soon. Try… to be as natural as you can. I’m already being infuriating with how flinchy I am.”

He nodded.

Loren's face twisted, and he surged up against the bars, rattling them for two seconds before he grew too weak to sit up and flopped back down. He spat in Aleth's direction. "Then you'll get nothing!"

Tsk, tsk, temper, temper.

“As opposed to handing over one of my blankets to a man who’s been in prison thirteen years despite this secret that can me free? Mm?” he taunted. “You see how this looks…”


Ky thought for a moment then, “I’ll go get him. Maybe if we’re not greedy this time he’ll let us have time again in the future.”

Tadaaki considered it then nodded in agreement.

Ky walked over to the door and cracked it open.

Emery was hanging out down the hall as promised, humming to himself. He noticed the door open, and he waved. "You've got three minutes left, by my count!"

"That can get us all free," he corrected. "Well, me and you and Nox. But now it's just me and Nox. I don't make deals with assholes."

“You don’t get blankets from them, either, if you don’t convince me you’ve got something worth my while,” Aleth said. “I’m not a trusting man, nor am I stupid. You, however, are cold.”


Ky blinked at him, surprised, but smiled a little and ducked her head. “Thank you!”

Huh.

She shut the door again.

“…did they hurt you?” Tadaaki asked after a moment.

She shook her head. “You?”

Tadaaki shook his head too. “Just stupid, not hurt.”

Ky was quiet for a moment. “…what’d he say?”

“That you’d changed the story and not told me,” he said sheepishly.

“I wouldn’t do that!” she protested.

“I know!” He said quickly, startled. “I know you didn’t. I know you’d never. I-I stuck to my story. But-but then he said I’d clearly got left out of the plan. And-and that since I didn’t know anything he was gonna go hurt you.”

“Ah.” Ky grimaced. That was playing incredibly dirty… and winning.

Loren was silent, shuffling back into the corner of his cell and curling up tightly.

Yeah. That’s what he thought. Aleth took his blankets and settled down into them in the corner, sighing. Gods. He was about to have a very, very long night.


Ky was silent for a long moment, then, “… you can’t let them get to you by threatening me.”

“What was I supposed to do?” he said defensively.

“You were supposed to stick to the story.” Her voice was very quiet but firm.

“And what if they’d come hurt you?”

“I would have stuck to my story,” she said weakly. “It’s not ideal. But. Gods. You can’t pick me over your family. It’s… it’s what it is. Let them kill me. I don’t care.”

“No.”

Nox glanced at Loren, then at Aleth. "I'll trade you," he offered quietly.

“And what do you have to offer?” Aleth asked, looking at him. It didn’t matter to him whatsoever who he got information from.


Ky let out a little breath. “You can’t let them hurt you through me. I’m a big girl. I can take care of myself.”

“You would have told them if they’d threatened to hurt me.”

“No I wouldn’t have.” She probably would have.

"Same as him. But I'll need a blanket for myself and a blanket for him."

“I don’t trust you anymore than I trust him,” Aleth said, not standing up. “So why would I hand over two blankets for the promise of a secret if I wasn’t willing to part with one without proof?”


“Well… we’re telling the truth now, right?” Tadaaki said with a sigh.

She nodded.

“…fine. That makes things simpler now.”

She nodded again.

"Because I'll just show you." He shifted to the side to reveal a hole in the wall between his and Loren's cells. He had been chiseling at it and it was now large enough to fit his arm in up to the elbow. "These bars can't withstand two people trying to break them. So once I can crawl through this, we're going to try and get the door open."

Aleth awkwardly pushed himself to his feet with a pained grunt and stumbled over to get a better look. He glanced between them suspiciously. “… and you’ll come over to mine once you get out of yours?”

Not glanced at Loren. "If he's letting you in on it then it seems we are."

Aleth looked at him for confirmation, weighing the blanket in his hand as he tried to make eye contact. That was good enough. He’d risk the blankets for the potential of an aided escape, should his negotiations go poorly.