Two Crows Watch from the Gallows Tree (part 12)

Aashi nodded. “It’ll all work out eventually… but yes a newborn in this cold seems… risky. It’ll need to be timed well.”

Ky looked over hopefully. That meant she could go before the long night, right? If the assassins were taken care of then there’d be no reason for her to stay here. Maybe Gaius could tell Tomhas everything was safe and he’d bring her back home with him. Maybe this was all just a trick and he came here to escort her home himself.

"I'll ask at dinner," she decided, glancing over her shoulder at her husband. He looked positively miserable.

Aashi glanced back too, before quickly looking back at Sara to be sure she didn’t embarrass Gaius. “Whenever works. We’ve got six months to figure it out so there’s no rush.”

"True, but if we want to get you safely to Caracal Keep or back to Totallisa we need to act fast."

“Tomhas won’t let them go back to Caracal Keep,” Ky said grudgingly.

"Why not?" She turned.

“Wait, you think he would?” Ky furrowed her brow. “It’s just me that he doesn’t want home?”

"Well, we need to talk about that with him as well. If anything the troll attack has proven that travel is even more dangerous than anticipated."

“Wouldn’t be an issue if I was home right now,” Ky grumbled under her breath, looking away.

"We'll see what we can do," Sara promised her. "How does it feel to be a godmother?"

Ky was quiet for a long moment. She knew what Sara was doing. Ky used this very same strategy on the boys and the twins and Regulus and Tasia and Ua -- get them to stop throwing a temper tantrum by redirecting their attention and getting them interested in a new topic or activity.

And Ky wasn't sure whether it was working or not. Because on one hand, she wasn't a child as easily distracted and placated as Sara's children. But on the other, she didn't want to be pissy -- especially since she was about to have to head into a meal and pretend to be a happy well-adjusted daughter for Tomhas's sake. Her stomach felt ill already.

"... like a lot of pressure," she admitted. "I am not qualified to raise children."

Sara chuckled. "Nobody's qualified to raise children, that's the secret. It's all trial and error. Gaius and I were utterly terrified--you know the twins were accidental?"

"Really?" Ky asked with interest.

She nodded. "Gaius didn't want children--and I was nervous about the whole birth side of things. We put it off for ages, but one day..." She smiled slightly. "Well, the twins came along. We had to figure it out for ourselves."

Ky nodded, the 'one day...' making her feel icky. She didn't at all want to think about Gaius producing an accident of a child. That was... ew.

"Well... you're good parents now," Ky said. "...was Regulus planned?"