TC Ep 264 Script

the four of them flying over a giant osprey statue on a cliff, a castle appearing below.

ree: Ky. are you fucking richer than me

Ky (dispassionately): probably. 

(scra looking at ky): (i didn’t realise…Ky came from somewhere like this. it makes sense, his mother’s the Cardinal, he said his family are all military, he obviously has some sort of high-standing. but this…(ky’s hair shines in the sun) there’s no part of Ky that shows he was brought up here. If none of this had happened, if he’d never met me, would he have returned to this life? does he miss it?)

group + ravens landing by door, waitstaff waiting.

butler: L-Lord Ky, you have returned! A momentous day, indeed! Lady Teer is -

lady teer: Here! I am here! And so are you, nephew! How?! Why?! 

K: hello, Aunt. 

LT: years, it’s been! And me, locked away here. Come in already why don’t you - and who is it you have brought?

K: (to ree and farrah) these are my friends, the Ladies Vermillioss. (to scra) and this is…Scra, the Crow King.

(scra, disappointed, ky not looking at him)

LT: the Crow…King…

(gera steps forwards) 

LT: - YOU -

gera: we are here escorting the King to his throne. Our transportation has malfunctioned and we will require a place to wait until it is fixed.

LT: (looks at ky sarcastically): well, as the Lord of the Manor is here, that choice certainly doesn’t fall to me. If he accepts you as his guests, then you are welcome to use Dockside Castle as you wish. Birt will see to your needs. If you’ll excuse me. 

(scra looking at ky in shock) : (lord??)

K: come on, then. Birt, will we be able to get a small lunch prepared?

Birt: my Lord, lunch will be served in an hour, and it will not be small. neither will the feast tonight be, as we welcome you home.

K: great. thanks. I’ll be in my room.

B: oh, no. You will take the Master Suite, my Lord, as it is yours now. Rooms will be made up for your guests, and the Kings Suite will be utilised once again for -

K: The King sleeps in my chambers with me. (walks down hall)

B: (splutters): I - well - yes, my Lord. Of course, my Lord.

(scra and ree watch ky go)

(Scra enters hallway where ky’s looking up at the paintings, alone)

S: this place is…something

K: it’s ridiculous

S: well, yes. How large is your family - like seven people? seems a bit unnecessary. Your aunt is a character.

K: she’s the example of what i would have been subjected to, had i stayed. trapped, here. on the edge of madness.

S: she’s not mad, maybe just a bit…stir crazy. Why do you say she’s trapped?

K: Because living here is my mother’s idea of damage control. My aunt has no interest in the societal requirements expected of her, and is therefore too unpredictable and a liability to my mother’s career. 

S: why would she have locked you here too, then? You were Redguard, following in her footsteps.

K: because my loyalty wasnt to her, but to keelee. She doesn’t like what she can’t control, and I’m sure she saw my father every time she looked at me.

S: but she was the one who cheated on him, wasn’t she? Why would she feel slighted by her husband?

K: there is no love lost between my parents, theirs was an arranged bonding. look at these portraits - what do you notice?

S: the…blue eyes. they’re not natural for Ospreys, are they?

K: they’re coveted. I’ve never heard it mentioned on Kooup, but here, where they don’t have a species hierarchy,  there’s a genetic mutation that’s considered desirable, instead. every species has an eye colouration that gives the Avians hatched with it an advantage when it comes to social standing, Bonding contracts. Ospreys - blue eyes. Eagles - green. Crows - red, or blue, usually. (looks at scra, looks away).

It’s more of an antiquated practice now, of course, but my grandfather is nothing but a traditionalist. My father was hatched without the blue eyes, after our family carried them for so long, and my grandfather couldn’t bear the shame of it. it lowered our standing in society, in his eyes. He therefore threw as much money as possible towards contract negotiations with my mother’s father, as she had the blue eyes and my grandfather became obsessed with continuing the line. It was an arranged marriage, she got everything, and when my father proved to be a useless drunkard, my mother knew she had the standing to commit adultery and not lose her place over it. 

S: the…Councillor your mother is Bonded to now -

K: is the Director’s estranged husband. Reamer’s father. Keelee’s father, too.

S: Did Reamer know? When you met him?

K: If he did, he didn’t show it. But…I don’t think so. I don’t think he would’ve been as cordial with me, faking or otherwise. 

S: the feast…tired me out. can we - 

 K: let’s get you to bed.

in ky’s chamber’s. They’re massive. the two stand on the balcony watching the setting sun over the ocean. an osprey lands on the balcony and ky strokes its head.

S: the family Guardian?

K: Old Seawind welcoming me home, it seems.

S: it’s beautiful here

K: (bitterly) best seat in the house.

S: Why is this your room now? Your father’s still alive, right?

K: With my father disgraced, this place fell to my mother. With her new husband not related to the Cedoc line by blood, he has no claim to it. So, it’s fallen to me, it seems.

S: this is…yours, now? I think it’s just hitting me that you’re a Lord.

K: (turns to him): and you’re a King. 

S: I’m not, and I won’t be. The first thing I’ll do when we get to the Capitol is use it to pardon us, then give it up to the Council or whatever. I have no desire for power.

K: you think the ravens, the people will let you do that so easily?

S: My entire life I’ve tried to avoid being a slave to what’s expected of me. Why would I stop that now. 

K (Ky looks away): if only it were as easy as that.

S:...promise me something. promise me, I’ll still be me, and you’ll still be you. I don’t want you to feel like you have this…obligation to me. It feels like you’ve…fallen into a role, protecting me. I don’t want that. (touches ky’s face) I want us to protect each other because…that’s what we do. No Lords, no Kings. You don’t need to do anything for me, just do it for yourself. You’re the only person you need to be good enough for. Just be…mine. please. 

K: (closes eyes, leans into hand) …I’ll try. I’ll try.

Tiraa and keelee in a bunk back at Res HQ. tiraa wiping keelees face from a nightmare.

T: hey, it’s ok, you’re ok. what was that about?

KL: (sniffles) I…miss my brother.

T: tell me about him

KL: …sometimes…Aunt Teer would say…mother made him a dreamer…before she ripped that away and made him a soldier, instead. 

(ky sitting at foot of scra’s bed, sword on lap.)

I've been waiting to write this ep for sooo long, that Keelee line is an excerpt I've been working on for the novel (although obvs way far away from that book at this point rip) below is another lil excerpt of that flying in scene from the novel (obvs not final draft but we have fun here) still working out the narrative voice I want the books to have (it's a pain ugh). Grammar what grammar.

{

High on the sea cliffs of Avarie, the sunlight glinting pink across its multitudes of windows, sprawled Ky’s fucking castle. Scra had to keep moving his head, unable to take it all in at once due to the absolute vastness of the place, even from the air. It was a gaudy monolith of gothic extravagance. It was gauche.

“Ky,” said Ree. “Are you fucking richer than me?”

“Probably,” Ky replied, dispassionately.

Ky’s home was grand in a way that it had no right to be, there was certainly no part of Ky that alluded to any sort of gentile upbringing on such a scale. Scra had suspected, of course, that his family tree was firmly planted in the aristocracy - with his mother the Cardinal, and grandfather a war hero - but Scra had somehow not connected the insinuation that Ky might have traveled a very similar path, and held some position of importance based solely on his family name, alone. Scra looked at Ky, watched as the dawn light glinted on that golden hair, and fancied he could picture it. He would look regal in uniform, sitting in a Council seat, spine straight and shoulders broad. He would fit the image certainly, but Scra couldn’t picture the smile Ky was currently giving him on any of those imaginings in which he was shackled by that sort of thankless duty. 

}