Two Crows Watch from the Gallows Tree (part 5)

(no yeah I think that'd be great! I did have the passing thought a while back that it'd be fun to have a Ky/Pratik scene since both of them know what Aleth had wanted Pratik to do to her haha and I'd totally be down for her to explore Serpent Keep and get to know the others! And get traumatized by Gol Nasa head cause why not)

(Yess! Get to see the side of Gaius she always feared, let's gooo!l nasa Do you wanna skip to the announcement of that decision then? I think Anneke is gonna insist that they keep Oscar and Peter at Caracal Keep but eventually she and Tomhas will just let Lyra and Anneliese decide for themselves)

(That works! Ky is probably gonna be a bit sulky today so something like that scene and/or having to spill her guts to Tomhas/Gaius/Harold? and/or something else where she feels like she has to talk is probably a good idea or else she's just going to stonewall everyone haha)

(Sounds good! Maybe we do a thing where Tomhas finally finds out she's in the infirmary and goes up to check on her, then segue to the decision or time skip to it after that scene?)

(Works for me!)

Ky felt like it was almost as big of a crime to slip off her own boots and curl up under the blankets as it had been to watch Gaius do the same last night. But she couldn't stand it anymore, and ended curling up and drifting off as the soup settled in her stomach.

Gaius envied her that; the medicine had worn off now and his leg was in complete agony. He knew he couldn't take more milk of the poppy this soon, so he sat there and suffered quietly, which was really the only way he knew how. Laura bustled about tending to her little kingdom of an infirmary; there were only two patients but there was always something to do between tending to growing plants and hanging herbs to dry.
Eventually Tomhas burst in with his typical bluster, spotting Ky immediately and hurrying first to Laura. "Wick told me she almost collapsed," he said in a hushed tone. "Is she okay? What happened?"

Ky rationally knew that she was completely and utterly safe here in the infirmary. That neither Ash nor Laura would lay a single finger on her as she slept. But there was still something about falling asleep in the same room as someone else that made her sleep light and guarded. It was always worse to wake up Aleth actively hurting you than it was to wake up a second or two before, as he was approaching the bed. She didn't know why. But it was.

So she inhaled sharply as Tomhas came in, head snapping towards the door, but then slowly let the breath out. It was just Tomhas. He -- fuck. It was Tomhas. It was happening. She closed her eyes again, taking a moment to compose herself before she admitted she was awake.

"She's fine, just tired." Laura gave him a stern look and jerked her head in Ky's direction. "Look, see? And you've woken her up." Tomhas looked to Ky, apology written all over his face.
"Oh, gods, I'm sorry!" He strode to her side and crouched down in front of her. "How are you feeling? What happened?"

"I'm okay." She offered a weak smile, pushing herself more upright on the bed and settling back into the pillows. She still felt rather hollow inside. But the food and the sleep -- however light and brief -- had helped. As had her chat with Gaius. "I'm feeling a bit better now."

Not good by any means. But somewhat closer to human than she had since the attack.

"I'm glad. I'm very glad. What were you thinking, going outside in your condition without a coat on! You could have died if Wick hadn't found you!"
She would have, Gaius reasoned to himself.

It was a reasonable concern. Accurate, even. So how was she supposed to answer it? She didn't know what Wick had told him; didn't know how much Gaius would rat her out if she tried to soften what had happened.

"I, uh..." She flushed, not quite able to make eye contact. "You're right. I wasn't making fantastic choices earlier. I'm sorry."

Tomhas tried to establish eye contact anyway, face lined with worry. "You were tired. You were going to sleep. I don't understand what could have possessed you to go out there when you know how cold it is."

Guilt clenched up her gut, making her feel sick. Thankfully the soup had settled by now, or it would have ended poorly. She could tell he wanted her to look at him so she tried, but meeting his eyes made her feel so, so bad about herself. Made her regret her actions. How much worse would it have been if she actually had died? Gods. She really had been so obnoxious and selfish. She needed to consider his emotions, not just his safety.

"I..." She was flushing terribly at this point, but couldn't quite bring herself to lie to him. "Let my emotions make my choices and they were poor ones... thankfully Wick found me before anything terrible happened."

She supposed she was thankful -- as much as she was still scared -- given the fact that Tomhas would have probably been a complete disaster if he was this worked up about just the possibility.

Tomhas wrung his hands. "I'm glad Wick found you. Really glad." He paused. "You...went out there on purpose?" Why? Why would she do something like that?
Gaius raised his head, watching Tomhas carefully. He didn't want him upsetting Ky again; that would just upset everybody and then the cycle would begin again.

Ky heard the 'why?' without him having to say it and had no answers to offer him whatsoever. Did this mean that Wick hadn't told him? Did this mean that she shouldn't tell him?

"I..." Ky closed her eyes. He was the authority figure. He deserved to know. She couldn't just keep saying she made poor choices -- it clearly wasn't satisfying him, and she felt like she was lying by being intentionally vague. "Thought I was helping."