Two Crows Watch from the Gallows Tree (part 15)

(Hell yeah! That's great--you said this was a less accepting area too, right?)

Sera shut the door and stood off to the side, finally letting out a breath. "What is said in here will stay in here unless it's harmful to Lord Ash or his family," she said.

(It is! And he? Is this white boomer who is very mild mannered and likeable but just told me they went out with a friend of theirs (not sure pronouns) and that friend doesn’t mind them “dressing up” and “people couldn’t tell if they were a boy or a girl which seems pretty close to passing to me! Tee hee” and I just was like aw that’s awesome!! Congrats! And hyped them up but idk if that means like drag/cross dresser or non-binary or what. They wanna get pizza some weekend and hang out so I’m gonna try to get to know them better but I’m so happy their gaydar flagged me as a safe person to tell that to :’) )


“Understood. Thank you.” Derik dipped his head to her. He didn’t like scolding Jerica in front of witnesses. It undermined both of their authorities and embarrassed Jer besides. But she needed a reprimand and this was the closest to privacy they were going to have. His gaze locked on Jerica.

She grimaced and looked away.

“What the hell?” Derik started, striding forward until he was standing directly in front of her. “What part of ‘best behavior’ did you interpret to mean shouting in the stairwell?”

“I didn’t know Rickard was here—!”

“And did his presence somehow revoke my orders without my knowledge?”

She cringed. “I was just surprised.”

“No, you weren’t ‘just’ surprised. You were disobedient, disrespectful, and reflected badly on our entire family and country besides. You can’t be calling Levin names like that in front of people, Jerica.”

The way he said her name almost made it sound like profanity.

(Awww that's so sweet!
Older queer people are such a treasure to find; there's an old retired lesbian couple who goes to my church and I swear they're my role models)

Sera was silent; she practically faded into the shadows.

(Aww wholesome!)

“I’m sorry,” Jerica said, embarrassed.

“Are you?” Derik raised an eyebrow.

“Yes.” She hesitantly met his gaze.

“And is that why you’re with the apothecary not a soldier?” Derik questioned. “She just came to your dormitory to offer to escort you directly to mine? Or were you disobeying? Again.”

“She did come to my dorm!” Jerica said defensively, glancing over at Sera for help. “To take me to talk to Rickard.”

Derik didn’t give any opportunity for Sera to take the bait even if she would have tried backing Jerica. “Oh, and you take your orders from her now instead of me?”

“You told me to be good—“

“I told you to stay in your goddamn dorm until I came to get you. Not her. Me.”

“But she—“

“Personality responsibility, Jerica,” Derik snapped tersely. “Take it.”

“…yes sir,” she said with a sigh. “I’m sorry.”

“‘Sorry’ doesn’t fix the political mess you created. We’re here to represent Levin, not slander him.”

“I was right about everything I said about the asshole,” Jerica spat, briefly forgetting Sera was in the room.

Derik gave her a warning look that made her deflate. “You were not in the right, regardless. That behavior is unacceptable, for both a Governor’s niece and my lieutenant, so doubly not okay for you to behave like a child throwing a tantrum.”

Jerica grimaced again. He was right.

A servant came to the dormitory looking for Derik, and finding him absent went to look for his escort.

Derik waited to see if Jerica gave argument, but she didn’t. “You will apologize to Lord Ash the next time you see him, which will be with me. You understand me?”

“Yes sir.” She nodded, ducking her head.

“You are not to leave your dormitory without my explicit permission again. Not a single time,” Derik said. “If someone comes for you and doesn’t say I’m the one who sent, then you send them to me. You understand? You are not free to make decisions here.”

“Yes sir.” She nodded, cowed.

Derik looked at her sternly for a long moment, then decided she’d learned her lesson enough to switch gears. “Now what is so important you needed to tell me?”

Jerica glanced at Sera, then Derik and shook her head. “Nothing.”

Derik softened slightly. “It’s okay. Tell me.”

“…Something is going on,” Jerica murmured, deflated. “I don’t know what. But the Loquitur girl looks just like Rek. I don’t know why.”

Derik stopped short, stomach doing a little flip. “You met her?”

Jerica nodded.

Derik sighed heavily, rubbing his face with both hands. “My gods.”

“What’s wrong?”

Sera glanced between them. Something catastrophic, evidently, if both he and the brothers were concerned.

Derik glanced at Sera then back at Jerica with a little shake of his head. “It’s complicated… and best left for another time.”

Jerica furrowed her brow at him, not at all enjoying that answer. But she caught the glance at Sera and decided it was probably because of the lady not her. That was easier to stomach than thinking it was her that he didn’t trust. Still. “But…” she huffed a sigh.

“I will tell you when it’s time to tell you. I promise,” Derik said. “Please trust me.”

“I do.” Jerica nodded.

“Thank you.” Derik hesitated a moment. “Is there anything else?”

She shook her head.

Time for reconciliation, then.

“C’mere.” He opened his arms, then wrapped them around her tightly when she walked into them.

“I am sorry,” Jerica murmured, face pressed against his chest awkwardly as she relaxed into the embrace. The reassurance that Uncle Derik still loved her, despite her massive fuck ups. “I didn’t mean to make this harder for you.”

“I know.” He smoothed her hair down and then planted a kiss on top of her head. “You’ve got to start thinking before you act. You’re getting too old for me to explain it away a with your age. You’re not a kid anymore… but I know it wasn’t on purpose… and it will be okay. I love you.”

She grunted something that may have vaguely been a reciprocation, though she didn’t like the L-word and refused to say it whenever she could.

Sera glanced toward the door.

The servant, being told by the escort that Sera had led Jerica and Derik away, went looking for Sera.

Derik held the embrace for another moment until she pulled away. Then they both straightened and lifted their chins, back to the respectable War Lord and Lieutenant they’d been when they arrived. Derik glanced at Sera awkwardly. “… Thank you. I think we’re done here.”

She dipped her head. "Alright." She opened the door. "Same rules as before."

Derik glanced at Jerica, who dipped her head and fell into line after Sera. She was embarrassed. But at least the woman hadn’t mocked her. At least not to her face. She was probably going to tell Ash.

She headed past the cells, and Loren rattled his chains up against the bars this time. To her credit she didn't flinch, but her shoulders tensed slightly.

Jerica once again looked over at him and once again Derik intervened before she could make eye contact with the crazy man. Derik put his hand on the side of her head, turning it away while also blocking her peripheral vision with his fingers gently.

"Scared to look, little girl?" Loren jeered. "Tell Daddy to put his hand down so you can look at what that snake's cock did."