Two Crows Watch from the Gallows Tree (part 13)

(Haha fair enough! The box from Petrir came out of thin air so I get it being last minute lol like I always wanted him to have a keepsake for her that said ‘Forever and always’ since that was their little shared phrase and wanted it to be something he made but like had no idea what. I’m keeping it, though. That’s definitely becoming canon now)


Maybe she just needed to ask directly how money worked for her now. Not now now. If she mentioned a gift now then everyone would know right away she was going to get one for Tomhas, she was sure of it. But. Well. If this was going to be the rest of her life now she needed to figure it out.

When was the soonest familial birthday? Could she pretend she was asking so she could spoil her godchildren? Maybe…

(It's absolutely wonderful; I'm so glad you put it in. It adds some bittersweet to the whole ceremony.)

"Ky, when are you thinking you'll start lessons with Captain Bay?" Sera asked.

( :’) )

Ky blinked, looking at her guiltily, feeling as though she’d already been discovered in her schemes. “Oh…um… I mean… I-I don’t when he’s free…”

"He should be free most of the week besides his standard duties," Gaius mused. "Mornings and late afternoons specifically."

“Oh…” she nodded. “Well… then whenever he’s ready, I guess. How soon do you think he’d like to start?”

"You could ask him," Gaius suggested. "He ought to be up on the wall by the time we've finished up here."

A prick of anxiety ran through her.

She didn’t like the thought of that at all.

It was one thing to ask for them in the abstract. To wait for Gaius to work it out and then simply have to work up the courage to show up when and where he said to meet with Captain Bay. It was an entirely different matter to have to be the driver of this. To be the one to ask for a favor. To work out the politics of when. To request he waste his time on her.

Not to mention having to go up on the wall by herself. M

There were soldiers up there.

The only soldier she truly trusted was Ka’Nor. And that was because he was nice enough she could make herself forget he was a soldier.

Well. She supposed she trusted Mr. Rifkin, too. But it’d been years since she’d seen him. And gods only knew if Aleth ratted him out to Makata for trying to help her or not. He may not even by alive at this point.

But, even if he was, he wasn’t here. Only soldiers she didn’t know were. And they were terrifying.

“Um… okay.” She nodded hesitantly.

"Want me to come along?" Tomhas asked. "The stairs can get insanely slippery on days like this."

"Yes!" she said quickly. Then blushed a little, embarrassed at her cowardice, and shrugged, playing it cool, belatedly. "I mean... if you want. Whatever."

"Sure!" He smiled. "No worries; I need some fresh air anyway."

Ky smiled too and nodded. "Great! Thank you."

Tomhas dipped his head, tucking into his seconds.
"Tasia!" Mattathias sat up straight suddenly. "You like frogs, right? Why do you like frogs??"

"Yeah!" Tasia gasped and stood up on her chair eagerly, overjoyed with the opportunity to talk about frogs. "They're the bestestest ever! They go ribbet! And hop--" Aashi grabbed Tasia's arm before she could demonstrate. "And are super, super cute! Why?"

"Cuz we got a fox that acts like a frog!" Mattathias replied. "The white foxes that live up here jump super high and I wanna show you how high they jump, it's really cool!"

"Whoa! I wanna see!! Where is they?"