Two Crows Watch from the Gallows Tree (part 15)

"I'm Captain Bay," he replied. "I'm just under General here."

“Oh!” Kieran’s eyes got comically wide and then he dropped his gaze with a nod. “Yessir. Very nice to meet you, sir.”

Rek made a mental note not to drop this man’s title when he addressed him in the future. He, too, hadn’t quite realized how high ranking this man was as a captain. Downsides to different titles for officers across countries. But he definitely shouldn’t be on a first name basis with anyones second in command.

"You as well." He turned his flat black eyes to Akeno next.

“Lieutenant Akeno Haider, sir.” Akeno offered a hand. “I’m with the archery division.”

"Good to meet you." He shook his hand. "Archery's a difficult skill; good on you for sticking with it?"

“Thank you, sir.” Akeno dipped his head. “And it’s nice to meet you as well.”

"What does this little fellow do?" He gestured to Kieran

“Um… archery?” Akeno offered hesitantly, glancing at Kieran with a furrowed brow.

Rek gave a so-so motion with his hand. “He’s a bit of an odd case.”

“I’m Lieutenant Jerica’s squire,” Kieran supplied.

“…who is also a bit of an odd case,” Rek said. “…I’m also a Lieutenant, with the swordsmen. Jerica and Kieran both sort of split their time between the branches.”

(I must sleep now)

"You're awfully young to be squiring," he mused. "You can't be more than twelve."

(I just crawled in bed as well — night!)

“…nearly eleven, sir,” Kieran agreed reluctantly.

Rek eyed him. That wasn’t true at all; he still had a solid two months at ten. But, then, he supposed that wasn’t particularly surprising. Jerica had always had that bad habit, too. The day after she turned fifteen she started referring to herself as ‘almost sixteen’ and these days she generally ‘forgot’ to add the ‘almost’ and called herself sixteen, even though she was nearly three months short of that. It made sense Kieran picked up that tendency as well. Probably one of her most harmless habits he could emulate.

"That's very young for a squire," he mused, brow furrowing.

Kieran shrank a little, not sure how to answer and intimidated.

“Like I said, Kieran’s a bit of an odd case,” Rek said smoothly. “But he does very well. Very diligent and disciplined in his studies.”

(I have returned!)

"But what led a child to become a squire?" he asked. "Isn't it a bit early for him to take such a path?"

(Wb!)

Kieran blushed, looking away. He always hated when people pressed like this. There was no answer that wasn’t embarrassing. Either he had to out himself as an orphan or a criminal or both.

“He caught Jerica’s attention in the market a few months ago,” Rek answered carefully, trying his best not to embarrass the boy. Kieran and Jerica were similarly sensitive to their orphan existences. No point in rubbing salt in fresh wounds. “It was… a bit of a spur of the moment decision between Jerica offering him a squireship and him accepting. But as I said he’s been doing very well and we’ve been tailoring his education to be suitable to his age. I don’t expect he’ll see a battlefield for many years to come.”

"Good." He nodded approvingly, turning his attention back to Kieran. "Do you want to be a warrior, lad?"