Two Crows Watch from the Gallows Tree (part 5)

He heard the rustling of her sleeve and prayed that meant the wound was out of sight. He chanced a glance up and, seeing her blood-free, raised his head. "I still can't believe your uncle had that in him. Zander, I mean. Did you know he could do that?"

“No.” Ky shook her head. “I think that maybe surprised me most of everything. He’s always been so gentle.”

"Gentle men are often the most dangerous when their loved ones are threatened," Tomhas mused. "That's what I've found."

“I guess so,” she murmured. She had yet to reconcile Uncle Zander that played tag with Tasia yesterday morning with the same man that killed two men in as many minutes. And he didn’t seem to feel any guilt whatsoever. “I’m just curious where he learned it. I feel like that couldn’t have come out of nowhere.”

"Definitely a history there. Training, for sure." Tomhas's brow furrowed. "I'm sure there's a reason he didn't tell you before. Sounds like he leads a very complicated life."

“Yeah…” Ky took a deep breath. “I guess the two of us need to start being a bit more honest with each other.”

"Sometimes lies are good things. But maybe not in this case." He shrugged. "I don't know very much about the situation."

“I don’t, either,” Ky agreed. “It all seems very complicated.”

"Life is very complicated." Tomhas poured himself some tea. "Oh, and there's milk of the poppy for you if you'd like." He pointed to the wooden cup. "Sorry, I'd forgotten."

Ky looked at it suspiciously. She felt like she should know what it meant. But her brain was so sluggish right now and it wasn’t a term she was immediately familiar with. “That’s… more medicine?”

"Yep. You just drink it and it makes the pain go away. Makes you sleepy, too--I think Gaius had some before I went up there; he looked like he was about to drop back off."

Ky looked at the cup another long moment. Did she want to get sleepy? She was dog tired and was sure she’d pass out if encouraged by a medicine. But she wasn’t sure she could handle watching both of her fathers get murdered in front of her again.

“Right…” She picked up the cup, staring down at it. She also felt like she’d missed her window of opportunity for sleep. It was nearly time for everyone else to be waking up. There were no doubt going to be interrogations for her to go through. “… and is there time for that?”

"All the time you need. Nobody's going to make you go to breakfast, Ky. And it might not be enough to make you fall asleep completely."

Ky nodded. She wasn’t sure she’d be able to resist the urge to sleep. But if Tomhas didn’t expect her to be at breakfast — she drank it. Then coughed, making a sour face. It tasted awful.

"Yeah..." Tomhas gave an apologetic smile. "I seem to recall it not tasting so good. It's extracted from flowers, so that's never great for the tastebuds."