Two Crows Watch from the Gallows Tree (part 12)

Ky silently padded up to it and gently pushed it slightly further open to step barely inside, looking for Tomhas.

The lamp lit up an otherwise unlit room adorned with finery--a lavish sofa, a mantlepiece, a faux fireplace, and a coffee table, to name a few pieces. Two figures occupied the room--one sitting on the sofa and the other standing by the mantle with a violin held at resting position. The playing had stopped when she entered.
The figures were human enough, both looking to be seventy or around that age. The one on the sofa was an old woman, white hair pinned up in a loose bun and a kindly look on her gaunt face. Her eyes were an icy blue, and she wore a long green gown in an unfamiliar style. Despite the severity of her features she had more smile lines than stress lines.
The one who had been playing the violin was an old man, dressed in dark charcoal gray and gold in a similarly unfamiliar fashion. He was quite tall and a touch overweight, and his hazel eyes were ponderous, almost dreamy. He had lost most of his hair but maintained a very neatly sculpted white beard.
Both froze as Ky entered and stared at her in silence.

Ky also stared for a long moment, before she glanced anxiously around the rest of the room. But Tomhas wasn't there. It was just... "... hi?"

"Liesel?" The old man glanced at the old woman uneasily. The woman, Liesel, rose, squinting at Ky.
"...Yes?" she said after a pause. "Are you lost, dear?"

She tensed, and then immediately felt stupid for doing so. What, was this hundred-year-old woman going to beat her up? What a coward. "Um... yes, ma'am? I-I think I must be."

"How did you get down here?" she asked. The old man lowered his violin, bushy brows furrowed in bewilderment.

"The t-unnels, ma'am?" Ky said, equally bewildered. "How did you-- who are you? Ma'am?"

"I could ask you the very same question." She approached warily. "And how you found the tunnels, as well. You don't look like a serving girl...and you don't look like one of our own."
"She most certainly isn't," the old man ventured. "Look, her nostrils."

Ky put her hand over her nose, instantly self-conscious. "What's wrong with my nostrils?"

"You're...." He hesitated.
"Who are you, child?" the old woman prompted.

She hadn't known it was possible to feel this self-conscious about something as simple as a nose, but here they were. And she was tempted to push what he meant about her faulty nostrils. But she didn't want to upset them. Still, she didn't lower her hand from away from her nose. "Ky... lia. Kylia. Ruiarc. Loquitur. It's complicated."

"Loquitur?" Her brow furrowed. "You don't look at all like the last Loquitur we saw."
"Her chest," the old man went on.
"Hush, Abel, dear, you're upsetting her."

"What's wrong with my chest?" She kept her left hand over her nose and put her right hand over her chest. She was running out of hands to cover her body parts with.

This stung worse than he was probably meaning for it to. He didn't even know what he was doing. Neither of them did. But here they were, innocently throwing in her face that she wasn't a Loquitur and never would be.

"Nothing dear, nothing. Please forgive my husband....it's been quite a long since we've seen one who isn't our own." She offered a very small smile, though it seemed genuine. "My name is Lady Liesel Ash, and that is my husband, Lord Abel. How do you do?"

"Of course!" Ky said quickly, accepting the apology with a quick nod and dip of her head. But she still kept her hand in front of her nose despite herself. "It's very nice to meet you both." She hesitated, glancing around. "...though... perplexing, I must admit. Aren't you...?" Supposed to be dead?