Of Crows and Songbirds

This was largely going nowhere. He changed the subject. "Where are you from?"

"Austraka, sir."

"Which region? When did you leave?"

"Near the coast," she said. Gods. This was turning into an interrogation. Which. She'd been expecting. And yet. Well. Somehow she wasn't expecting this. It was exhausting. And frightening. "Four years, sir."

"Do you recall the name of your village or town?"

"My father and I lived alone, maybe a day and a half ride from Lytias," she said. That was a big enough village that she thought it'd be plausible for them to have commuted, when necessary, and yet not be remembered by anyone. Since if he sent people to go ask questions they obviously wouldn't know who Ky was. By design. She wasn't about to tell him the truth; it was bad enough Aleth knew about her township -- she wasn't about to put it on the radar of another power-hungry asshole.

He nodded. "Do you have any desire to return there?"

"No, sir." Ky shook her head. She'd practiced that lie many times in preparation for coming here, since she'd been expecting it -- though it was one of the hardest to tell. She wanted to go home more than anything else. But she wasn't free. This was as much of a facade as it was when Aleth introduced her as his assistant, as if she was a willing employee. No. She was still very much a slave. If she said she wanted to leave, Aleth would just follow her and possibly slit her throat, since she'd have ruined something that big for him and cost him four of his toes in the process. And if she tried to play on Ash's sympathies and turned Aleth over to him 'by the cock' as the apothecary had said, that would just trigger his failsafe. There was no point in sending assassins to her home.

(Ah she decided it is him after all?)

Gaius's brow furrowed; he hadn't expected that. He studied her more closely. "May I ask why?"

(Ah, sorry, no that was vague, she still has no idea... I may have skirted that line a bit too close my bad lol more just a 'I can't go home' lament even if the hypothetical Ash would be willing to help)

"They killed my father when they took me," she said quietly, clamming up a bit. She didn't mean to. And yet she found it impossible to talk about her capture without her vulnerability poking through. "I... don't want to be there by myself... it'd be too..." She shook her head, searching for a word. "Quiet." Painful. Lonely. Crushing.

(Ah okie dokie)

"You have nobody else to care for you?" he asked grimly. "No siblings or other relatives, friends of the family?"

"No sir." She shook her head. "It was just us. Mam...my mother died giving birth to me and she and my father were only children themselves."

Gaius leaned back, tilting his chin up. That was very difficult indeed. He looked toward Tadaaki. "And you?"

"Me?" Tadaaki stared at him with wide eyes.

Gaius gave him a look and nodded. "If you please. Where you're from, how long since you were taken from there."