Two Crows Watch from the Gallows Tree (part 13)

(Not at all! Happy to do so ^^ rest up!)
(And yeah I might… I found a cheap two bedroom so the possibility is there if I end up being too much of a wimp to handle it. But current plan of attack is to get security cameras so I can have concrete evidence that there is not, in fact, someone in my apartment. And I think after a few weeks I’ll even out and get okay with it… but yeah haha we will see how it goes)

Derik was getting anxious about their arrival at Serpent Keep, though he was careful not to let it show. On the surface, he exuded the calm, confident air that was fitting for the War Lord of one of the countries with a particularly strong military. But beneath it all, he was an uncle and a father. And one worried that his dependents were going to get them in the middle of a political mess that he very much did not want to deal with.

Specifically, Jerica.

She had the unfortunate habit of making her mind up about people as soon as she met them or sometimes even before she did. And in an even more unfortunate turn of events, she'd decided she disliked Tomhas Loquitur. Already.

Derik could see her side... to an extent. Jerica was bad at seeing shades of gray in matters, especially when it came to politics. Right was right, and wrong was wrong, and -- in her eyes -- Loquitur was overwhelmingly in the wrong.

And, despite Derik's best efforts to get her to consider the nuances of the situation and see the full picture, she'd fixated on Loquitur "selling" his daughter -- as she put it -- all to win a war. Which he didn't even end up winning. And which now put him in a second war that he was also incapable of winning without his big-bubby's help. Because he was an idiot who prioritized his status over his family and didn't care about anyone but himself.

Derik didn't share that view. Tomhas was young, and misguided, certainly. But not malicious, as far as he could tell. But trying to convince Jerica of that was like talking to a brick wall. That is, if brick walls shot back with variations of 'well maybe he shouldn't be Lord if he's too young to be good at his job' and 'I'm less than half his age and I wouldn't sell my child for any reason, and certainly not a reason as stupid as his'.

He'd eventually changed his strategy to forbidding her from engaging in any dialogue about him whatsoever in front of an audience -- and, by some miracle, no one had overheard her sentiments, as far as he knew. And then he settled for increasingly frequent reminders that Ash cared about his baby brother as much as she cared about Rek, and would react as poorly to her insulting Loquitur as she would if someone shit-talked her cousin in front of her. He dearly hoped that that would be enough to keep her mouth shut.

But there was only one way to find out. And thankfully they were heading to Serpent Keep rather than to the Loquitur Estate, so he didn't have to worry about Tomhas being there to fuel her agitation or worry about Jerica insulting him to his face. With any luck, Loquitur wouldn't cross her mind much at all.

He glanced up ahead and smiled a little as he saw Jerica riding her horse Ranofer, still sitting tall in the saddle despite how sore and exhausted they all were at this point. If nothing else, this delegation had made him realize that he'd done a shoddy job of giving Jerica female role models to look up to.

It hadn't really crossed his mind, to be honest. Of course, he regretted that she couldn't have a maternal figure, but there wasn't much he could do about that. He'd done his best to fill in as a substitute father as much as he could and hoped that'd be enough. But it clearly wasn't.

Jerica had been in almost constant orbit of D'Ara from the start. Sure, she did her best to play it cool and made sure she wasn't underfoot. But Derik had never seen Jerica so eager to please someone as much as she was D'Ara. She was prompt and polite and accommodating, volunteering to help with far more things than anyone could have possibly expected from her. And doing it all without so much as a grumble or sigh.

Ordinarily, Jerica went out of her way to be difficult -- to the point of inconveniencing herself, just to make a point that whoever they were with couldn't control her. To prove she was making her own choices and doing what she wanted. The only person she ever deferred to was Derik himself, though she'd grudgingly obey Levin without too much of a struggle when they had witnesses.

And here she was, following D'Ara around like a puppy, all but begging to be given things to do to prove herself. And she'd even knocked off her cockiness once she saw it wasn't getting herself anywhere with this no-nonsense woman. Each of those things alone was no small miracle, and here D'Ara was, eliciting them both at once without even trying.

Derik couldn't help but wonder if D'Ara noticed. He couldn't bring it up, obviously. Best not to draw attention to Jerica's behavior at all, in case she reverted to old habits. Or, well, even if she didn't. It probably wasn't great for anyone as powerful as D'Ara to be actively aware of how much influence they had over Jerica.

But it was still wholesome to watch, in a strange sort of way. And Derik had resolved to make sure Jerica had more powerful women in her life moving forward. It clearly meant more to her than Derik would ever be able to understand. And that was okay. If his kiddos were happy, he was happy.

He just needed to make sure they all made it through this visit in one piece. And he hoped that Jerica would stay so enamored by D'Ara that she forgot to be annoyed by Loquitur's existence, especially since he wouldn't be there as a reminder.



Jerica was frozen to the bone and completely miserable, but she pushed that as far down in her gut as humanly possible and instead focused on anything other than that. Such as making sure her spine was rod-straight. And her chin was raised. And her shoulders were squared... and her jaw was clenched to keep her teeth from chattering.

The perfectly disciplined little assassin.

She was nervous, though. That her facade would break if she wasn't exceedingly careful. That maybe D'Ara would see that deep down, she was just a scared little girl that happened to be good with a sword rather than the hardened warrior she claimed to be. She'd rather die than disappoint a woman as utterly cool as D'Ara Wai... or admit that she was as starstruck as she was.

And she was particularly worried about having to meet this so-called Lord Ash. From what it sounded like, he wouldn't put up with her bullshit any more than D'Ara would. Which meant she would need to be completely certain about her every word and action before she said or did anything at all. She sure as hell wouldn't be backtracking or apologizing to some privileged old white man. Even if he didn't seem as utterly terrible as his brother. Both brothers.

Still. She'd have to see that for herself before she believed it. Most men -- period -- were insufferable. And it was even worse when they were born into privilege. They'd been 'yes sir'-ed and 'no sir'-ed into becoming massive douchebags that never stopped to think what the world was like to people who didn't have the keys to the universe bestowed upon them the moment they were born.

No. She didn't expect to like Ash any more than she liked any other rich man, but she hoped she'd be able to respect him as much as the word on the street said he deserved. And she hoped he wouldn't bring up his brother much so she wouldn't have to hide her disdain. Derik had made a compelling argument for why she needed to not flagrantly insult Loquitur, but her eyes had a tendency to roll before she thought about it. So she hoped Ash wouldn't make her want to roll her eyes in the first place.

A girl could dream, right? That maybe Ash was the first noble in the history of nobility that was actually respectable and actually deserved his position?

She squeezed her legs a bit to make Ranofer speed up his walk so she could get closer to D’Ara’s litter. "Are we near to Serpent Keep now, ma'am?"

(Also figured I'd drop some character images for you as well... adding these to the discord, too. But in case you're curious!)

Spoiler

Zander I-Lie-About-My-Last-Name

Derik Ainsley - early 40s, Rek's father, Jerica's uncle, Zander's little brother (that part is a secret for your guys for now)

Rekard Ainsley - he always goes by Rek unless he's in trouble (or if people are addressing him formally like Lieutenant Ainsley, etc), which is probably handy so we don't mix him up with Rickard lol - 16, Lieutenant Captain of the Swordsmen

Akeno Haider - 16, Lieutenant Captain of the Archers, Jerica's boytoy but that is also a secret from your guys for now lol they do a pretty decent job of keeping it quiet

Then ik I shared these before but a refresher since I'm already making this post...

Jerica Ainsley - 15, Governor's Assassin (I am open to ideas on workshopping that... in canon she's 'King's Assassin' which flows much better than 'Governor' so I'm open to suggestions on alternatives ^^ Premier Assassin? idk. Basically, she's very publicly the best assassin he has and he gloats about it a lot so he'd be cocky about her title)

Kieran Waif - 10, Jerica's squire

(Also this is fully because ik that I would have forgotten this lore by now if I was you and also because I can't quite remember if I shared all this or if it's all in my head so my brain knows and assumes yours does too lol but the organization of how it all fits together:

Levin Ainsley is the Governor (king in canon). The story is that Derik is his older half-brother on their mother's side so therefore ineligible for the title, and so he is War Lord (Zander is an even-older half-brother of Levin and older full brother of Derik but stays elusive and travels a lot and isn't really publicly connected to the politics of the country even though he very much is lol) but I think Derik would be equivalent to your Generals. In my canon Derik is War Lord over the entire military, then directly under him, he's got a General of the Archers (Akeno), General of the Swordsmen (Rek), and the General of the Calvary that are in charge of each of the three major branches of the military. Scaling these guys back to be bebes so they're not Generals here, but that's still the organization of the military in general.

Jerica is thought to be Levin's niece and doesn't reeaaaalllly fit into the military since she's not actually enlisted, but in canon, she gets an honorary title of 'General Ainsley' just so people have something to address her by when talking to her face lol that's also sort of her equivalent rank. Like. She doesn't technically have any subordinates other than Kieran, but the enlisted men still have to listen to her the same as they would any General. Like, if Rek as General of the Swordsmen and Akeno as General of the Archers gave conflicting orders, then the swordsmen would have to defer to Rek and the archers would defer to Akeno. However, in general, all the enlisted men have to listen to all the Generals, so like if Akeno gave an order to the swordsmen, if Rek didn't trump it with a different order, then they'd have to listen to Akeno since he's an officer. Same vibes for Jer. Like she has as much authority over the swordsmen as Akeno, for example, where Rek can override either of them (and Derik can override all three of them) but unless he does (which he never does lol) then his men have to listen to her. Which is a bit odd since none of them are Generals in this scaled-back version lol but I would think she's still got about as much pull as Akeno or Rek so most of the soldiers they brought with them would listen to her orders and I guess she'd keep the honorary title as well even though they're scaled-back so I'll make this extra confusing and make her be called Lieutenant Ainsley as well if people are being formal lol)
(So Levin is King/Governor. Derik is War Lord. Rek is Derik's son and Levin's nephew and is now Lieutenant Captain of the Swordsmen. Jerica is Governor's Assassin/socially called Lieutenant and is both Levin's and Derik's niece. All four of them are royalty in canon so whatever the equivalent would be for Levin being Governor instead of King in this rp. Akeno is Lieutenant Captain of the Archers and Jerica's secret boyfriend. Kieran is Jerica's squire)

(Those look awesome! Akeno's expression is worrying me....
I think all of that works out very nicely! Lieutenant works as a title; Governors' relatives are usually just referred to as Lady or Master or Mistress by subordinates)

(Also D'Ara is likely on a litter being carried between some horses so she can recline. But that's close enough!)

D'Ara's usually vibrant chieftain robes had been replaced by as much fur and heavy wool as she could manage, and she was still shivering. Her braided white hair was hidden beneath a heavy chapka, which had the ear flaps pulled down and tied tightly under her chin. Three scars were wrapped around her neck and even with all the cloaks and coats she was buried under several layers of blankets. Only her sharp green eyes and thick white eyebrows peeked out.
"Oh, yes, very near." She nodded. "It's cold as a lizard's tit up here, and the nearer you get to the Ashes the colder you are. Can't be too long before we see the spires." She pointed a mittened hand up to the trees. "It sits flat as opposed to on a mountain, but you should be able to spot it eventually. It's been years since I came up here but I recognize this area." Shifting among her pillows and blankets, she groaned. "Ugh, I'm getting far too old for this. Why did those boys have to go and listen to their peckers? They ought to know by now there's nothing useful to be gleaned from war."

(Haha yeah I’m not super happy with how Akeno turned out… turns out it’s bloody hard to find an avatar maker that makes a decent East Asian character that doesn’t look like a caricature/anime so I settled for this one looking vaguely idiotic haha)
(Also oki cool that was an easy edit and I adjusted ^^)

Jerica smirked and nodded. “Yes ma’am.”

Gods, she liked this old woman. She was everything in life Jerica aspired to be. And Jerica hoped the absolute verbal flaying D’Ara gave Ash would be public enough that Jerica could witness at least a little of him getting put in his place. It’d be refreshing to watch a noble being on the receiving end for once.

Jerica glanced over as she saw a flicker of motion to her left flank and realized Kieran had stuck with her when she sped up. He was usually somewhere nearby at baseline — it almost felt like she was his security blanket sometimes. Which was frankly bizarre, given how scared of her most people in their country were. The child had really gone and decided to find comfort in a very well-known assassin. It was foolish.

And yet it made Jerica feel nice. Not that she’d ever admit that to anyone — even herself most of the time. But there was something oddly satisfying about having someone trust you as much as Kieran trusted her. And she took her job of protecting him very, very seriously.

And he had all but glued himself to her during this expedition. It felt a little smothering at times. But all it took was a glance at his face — and the wide eyes he was staring at them both with now — to remind her that he was a scared little boy that needed her patience. Why he was so terrified of D’Ara, she didn’t have a clue. The chieftain was cool. And angry at the nobles, not Kieran. Still, she was happy to be the buffer between them if that’s what made Kieran feel more secure.

She furrowed her brow a little as she realized how violently Kieran was shivering. She wasn’t sure what else to do for the boy. He was already bundled up to an almost comical degree and she was fairly sure he had as many blankets and coats and furs to equal his body weight. And yet the entire mass he was buried beneath was visibly trembling in the cold.

“Are you okay?” she asked quietly. He clearly wasn’t; but what could she do about it? They had purchased what at the time felt like an absurd number of cold-weather items before they came up this way, and yet every single fur and blanket they owned was in use right now. She didn’t have anything else to pile on top of him to keep him warm. What was she supposed to do? This felt like her responsibility.

“Y-y-yes, m-ma’am,” he managed, voice weak and wobbly as he spoke past the shivering.

It wasn’t convincing.

She reluctantly unbuttoned the outermost of the many coats she was wearing and reached over to wrap it around his shoulders.

“N-no, ma’am.” Kieran shook his head, a pang of guilt running through him. He was already wearing more furs than she was; he couldn’t just take warmth literally off her back. She needed it more than he did. What if they got attacked? She needed to be warm and able to defend them. It was wrong to take her coat. “I-I’m okay. I-I don’t need-“

“It’s okay,” Jerica cut him off, shaking her own head. She could guess how he felt, but she wasn’t going to let his guilt let him freeze to death. Time to lie, then. “I don’t want it anyhow… I’ve got a quick metabolism.”

Which she did. But not nearly quick enough to keep her warm in this godsforsaken hellscape. She was already mourning the absence of her coat and had to actively focus on not letting herself visibly shiver. Her ribs ached with the effort of concealing her shivers.

She hoped they’d get there soon.

"Little boy," D'Ara said sharply. "You look as cold as I am. And I expect you've got saddle sores--sit yourself here in the blankets for a little if you wish. Shouldn't be too much longer and we can't have you freezing over, can we?"

Kieran stared at her with wide eyes for a moment, then his panicked gaze snapped to Jerica, stricken with fear. She considered him for a brief moment then nodded. He was terrified. She could understand that and sympathize with it -- there were tons of people she didn't want to be within arm's reach of. Hell, most people, even. She wasn't sure her ego would want to climb in that litter either, had she been the one invited. But it was different when it came to Kieran. He needed to be kept warm, and she didn't have any better ideas.

"...yes ma'am," Kieran murmured reluctantly. He hesitated.

Jerica hesitated too, not quite sure how the physics were going to work.

"Here, just crawl over," she instructed. She kicked her left foot out of her stirrup and hooked it over Kieran's horse's hip to steady the transfer, then reached out both hands to help him.

Kieran suddenly felt warmer now that embarrassment flooded through every inch of his body, but he didn't dare to disobey. So he awkwardly freed his feet from his stirrups and got them under himself and then took Jerica's arms and let her heft him off his horse and onto her own.

A moment later she reached over and plopped him onto the litter next to D'Ara. Her own coat fell off his shoulders as she did so, and she plucked it out of the air before it could fall to the ground. She hesitated, not quite sure what to do with it, but then Kieran began burrowing under the blankets and she decided that meant she could take her coat back. If he still seemed cold, she'd give it to him again.

Kieran buried himself under the blankets, body trembling both with cold and anxiety. He was being burdensome. Probably being an embarrassment to Jerica and War Lord Ainsley and Governor Ainsley and his country in general. His face was flushed so he pulled the blankets up to hide his shame, hoping no one noticed. His voice was very small and timid when he managed, "I'm sorry... thank you."

The 'little boy' echoed in his ears. He was being absolutely childish. Why was he always like this? No matter how hard he tried to be a good squire, he always ended up needing help or messing up or otherwise just not being a good squire in general. And now he'd messed up to the point that the chieftain herself noticed.

"You're very welcome." D'Ara settled herself further down in the blankets, peeping her small nose and pinch-lipped mouth out from under the scarf. "Entertain an old woman with a story, one of you. Tell me about yourselves, where you come from, why you're here." She raised her mittens and pressed them to her scar-striped cheeks. "Anything to distract us all from this weather!"

(I'm not sure what the adjective is for scarification but she has some lines like in traditional African cultures, where scars signify status)

(ahh fair yeah that makes sense. I also don't know but I think I know what you're going for ^^)

Kieran sent a panicked glance at Jerica, silently begging for help. He wasn't good at talking to important people. What story could he possibly tell her? None that were flattering, that's for certain. He was nothing but a peasant turned thief turned squire, all before his age had turned double digits. He was ten now, but he'd only had a few months to unlearn the bad street-rat habits he'd picked up, much less learn how to conduct himself around important people. He knew enough to shut up. That was it.

Jerica shrugged her coat back on, taking Kieran's horse's reins and draping them over her forearm. She'd personally trained both her own and his, so she was confident she'd trod along complacently while Jerica talked. She felt a spike of anxious anticipation in her gut.

This was it. Her shot. Possibly the only chance she'd have to make herself look good, while she had the chieftain's undivided attention.

"Yes ma'am." Jerica nodded. "Um... I'm Levin Ainsley's top assassin and also a Lieutenant. I train about an equal amount with the archers and the swordsmen, but I prefer archery and am slightly better at that, though I'm good with both. Kieran's my squire. Levin sent us out to establish diplomatic relations abroad and get a feel for what potential trade deals might be available in the future."

...she thought. She honestly wasn't fully sure what his angle was -- he was never as innocent as he claimed to be. Rather, she wasn't sure what Biryn's angle was. She'd put money on this having been his idea. Which meant there was almost certainly malicious intent behind it. But whatever it was hadn't been shared with her. For her, this was just an excuse to get out of the castle and go exploring with her decent family members, so she wasn't complaining.

(You have briefly met Biryn in Rainwater but he's even more of a malicious stinker in canon lol he's Levin's head advisor and makes it his personal mission to make Jerica's life hell. I don't currently plan on bringing him into this rp but she'll probably grumble about him at least mentally several times lol she is Not A Fan)

(He does seem like a stinker)

"Why didn't he go himself?" D'Ara raised an eyebrow. "He's a big boy; why send you to piggyback on my own diplomatic mission? What sorts of trade deals?"

Jerica hesitated, not sure how to answer any of those questions.

Levin didn't go himself because he was lazy and stupid. Did she really think he'd freeze his balls off up in this godsforsaken frozen hellscape? As if. He probably didn't even know what the point of this was; he was too stupid to even be aware of how much Biryn was manipulating his every action.

But she couldn't say that. Obviously. Not to D'Ara. And she didn't know the answer to the last two questions.

"Um... I..." she glanced over her shoulder, hoping Derik was near enough to save her, but he wasn't. She took a deep breath and looked back at D'Ara. "Believe he's just looking for connections in general, not necessarily a specific trade route this moment, per se. Always best to have people with charitable opinions of you, should you run into difficulty in the future."

She wasn't good at that part.

But that's what Derik was for. Making people like the Ainsley name.

"Well, he'd best ask me next time," she huffed. "Why do you prefer archery, and can you do it on horseback?"

"Yes ma'am," she answered quickly, grateful they were getting back into territory Jerica actually knew how to talk about. Not that she particularly liked talking about the 'why' of her archery preference. It was simple: it felt less intimate. Less blood spurting in her face. Less chance of accidental eye contact. Less need to actually look at her opponent, so his face couldn't be burnt in her mind's eye as she tried to sleep. But she obviously couldn't admit any of that to someone like D'Ara. "I enjoy the challenge of hitting a target from further away. And it's something I can practice on my own, even if there's not a sparring partner readily available."

"Archery's difficult," D'Ara mused. "Much more difficult than learning swordsmanship. Good for you. What about this little one? Are you teaching him archery ad well?"

“Yes ma’am,” Jerica agreed with a nod. “We’ve only been at it a few months, but he’s coming along nicely. Learning far faster than I expected. He’ll be quite good some day.”

Kieran was still mostly buried in the blankets, but smiled sheepishly, face warm with embarrassment. But it felt really nice to hear Jerica praising him. Especially to someone as important as D’Ara.