Two Crows Watch from the Gallows Tree (part 13)

Literally everything.

“I… didn’t expect so much instability,” she said carefully. “The gods… the trolls… Rönn… it takes up too much mental space to teach or learn for me.”

He gave her a blank look. "Different," he emphasized. "What is different?"

“Oh.” She hesitated. “When what you expect isn’t what happens.”

Ivar paused, then shook his head. "I do not understand."

“Sorry…” she hesitated for a long moment, thinking. “When things today are not like things yesterday…” a thought struck her and she pulled the door open further, then turned and picked up a pair of her boots. “Same.” She set one down and picked up a slipper in its place so that she was holding one of each. “Different.”

His brow furrowed, and he nodded slowly. "Different." He pointed to himself. "Different." He pointed to her.

Ky wasn’t certain he was taking the point that she was trying to make, but she nodded tentatively. “Yes.”

"Yes, good." He dipped his head. "Things different is no teach."

Ky bit her lip, even more uncertain about whether he understood what she meant or not. Then figured he’d probably tell Rickard about this conversation and so he’d be able to talk through the nuances with him. So she hesitantly nodded. “Yes. Sorry.”

Ivar nodded slowly. "That is fine. Goodbye."

Ky blushed a little and nodded. “Bye… Be well.”

"Be well," he said after another pause, then strode away.

Ky watched him go, then hesitantly closed the door and locked it. What an odd interaction. And a distracting one. She was supposed to be marinating in existential dread, but now all she could think about was whether he understood what she meant or not. She didn’t like that he’d made the “different” comparison between them. They were different, but that wasn’t the reason why she’d given up on languages… did he understand that?

(Wanna skip?)

(Sounds good to me! Where to?)