Shady

Ky offered a little smile and nodded. He was still being excessively generous with her role in all this — had he forgotten that she was making a suicide attempt ...

Ky cringed at that. “That’s an awful lot of pressure,” she murmured before she had a chance to really think about what she was saying.

Ky shrugged. She didn’t really improve anyone’s life by being in it — no one was lucky to meet her. But he didn’t seem to mind her. Which was nice.

“That’s true,” Ky agreed with a nod. “And I needed him more than Zander does. I think he liked feeling useful.”

"By like a week," Ky scoffed.

Ky considered it for a moment, then sighed softly. "Probably not. At least not while I'm here. I think he likes me better than he likes Zander, so, since he ...

"...I'm glad he's going to protect Zander, too. He'll be safe as far as Rönn is willing to go with him."

Ky nodded. "Well... good. He's nice... ish. I quite like him."

Ky nodded in agreement, following his gaze. "...I'm glad he came back. I would have looked like a liar if he hadn't."

"Oh... I mean... I guess he didn't really say he can't. I just assumed... and I don't know. I also assume somewhere out of sight. People are cruel to him ...

Ky glanced at him, grateful he offered a safe topic. "Um... I mean, I assume he sleeps during the day. I don't know that he's allowed to be out when ...

Apparently, yes. She buried her hands in her pockets, still trying to think of a safe topic. The only things she could think of were trite, which would be tiresome ...

Ky sighed inaudibly and walked next to him, half a step behind. Was he going to subject her to silence again? Grill her to evaluate his performance, then leave her ...

Ky nodded. Something told her he wasn’t going to be any more helpful to her than she planned on being for him. He seemed intent on insisting that she figure ...

“I will.” She wouldn’t. And they both knew it. But she supposed it was polite for him to offer and it was polite for her to accept. And. Well. Maybe ...