Two Crows Watch from the Gallows Tree (part 6)

(Nuuu bad pupper… is she cute enough to make up for it? Lol and congrats on the snow! We got some here yesterday and I am angry about it. But am happy for you if you’re enjoying it haha)

“Bye Rönn!” Ky called after him, watching until his form disappeared into the shadows. Then she looked up at Zander, who was still staring into the woods after him, dumbfounded.

Pratik had watched him go as well, but was now watching Ky. She seemed less anxious now than, well, possibly ever before that he had seen her. She was a mess of nerves the instant they locked eyes earlier, straight to complete rage at Zander, straight to anxiety at thinking she was late to dinner followed by diaries and cryptids. And she’d never taken a single breath with Aleth in the same room as her. But now? She seemed content.

(This dog is a golden doodle and super sweet, so absolutely.
Snow is a rare thing in the South so as a native Northerner I cherish it.)

"Back inside," Gaius decided, still full of adrenaline but having nowhere to put it. "It's cold out, and we've got to get Emery." He looked back toward the forest, willing Rönn to reappear, but of course he didn't.

(Aww omg those are adorable — and that’s fair haha)

“Oh, poor Emery!” Ky said, but it was genuine, not sarcastic. “I wonder how he’s holding up with it all.”

"Let's find out." Gaius opened the door and stepped through, looking up at the stairs to the wall. That was enough to dispel the last of his adrenaline. He sighed and began the trek up.

“I can just go get him,” Ky offered. There was no point in all for Gaius to hobble up the stairs just to come right back down.

Gaius paused on the third step and looked down at her. He supposed that was sensible; he was still recovering from the twist at the ceremony and he'd just gone up nearly every flight of stairs in the castle.
"Very well," he relented, stepping down. "Thank you."

Ky nodded once and flashed a quick grin, then hurried up the stairs, making quick work of them. She hesitated at the top, looking for Emery.


Zander and Pratik both watched her go, then glanced at each other, then at Gaius.

“Huh…” Zander scratched his chin. “Kid’s got bigger balls than I do.”

Emery was standing where Gaius had left him, but his crossbow was raised and at the ready. He turned to Ky, trembling and pale.
"I almost shot him," he wavered. "When he hugged Gaius, I almost--"

"The point is that she hasn't got any to begin with, I think," Gaius mused. "She's not blinded by fear the way you might have been. She had compassion for a creature almost nobody could ever feel compassion for."

Ky put her hands up placatingly, glancing at the crossbow, then back at his face, trying to make eye contact and be as soothing as possible. Fear and weapons rarely ended well when mixed together. "But you didn't. It's okay. We're all safe now."


"Yeah..." Zander agreed with a nod, then let out a little breath and shook his head. "It's something else."

"Lacking 'man-pride' as it were," Pratik added with a smirk.

Zander chuckled and shook his head again.

Emery nodded, swallowing. "Yeah. Yeah..." He lowered the crossbow from where he'd rested it atop the wall, and turned to look at her with wide eyes. "I'm dreaming, right? I have to be dreaming."

"I think we're all better off for knowing her," Gaius mused. "Rönn most of all."

"Mm... a dream come true?" Ky suggested with a rueful smile, feeling more comfortable now that he'd lowered it. Not that he'd ever hurt her. But panic drove people to act first and think later, and she was glad he was thinking rather than shooting. "Or perhaps the start of your hero's journey."


Zander and Pratik both nodded without hesitation.

"Kid's got more good in her than the three of us combined," Zander said with a little smile.

Pratik considered for a moment, then also nodded in agreement with this statement as well. None of them were nearly as bad as they viewed themselves, nor as bad as others viewed them. But they were all killers. Killers of people who deserved to die, no doubt, but still had blood on their hands. Meanwhile, Ky was out here giving hugs to lonely old monsters.

"I don't know." Emery picked up Gaius's crossbow as well. "Are....are we going down?" He sounded hopeful.

Gaius nodded as well. He only hoped it wouldn't come back to bite her in the end. Rönn seemed far more level-headed that Gaius would expect a 600 year old cannibalistic goat man to be, but that didn't mean he couldn't snap.

“We are.” Ky nodded and reached for the bow. “Here. Let me help you.”


“I wonder if he’s met anyone else,” Pratik mused. “Or if Ky’s the first person he’s had a chitchat with in six hundred years?”

"I've got it." He walked ahead of her. "You're....friends with the Marrow Man?"

"He mentioned meeting someone a long time ago," Gaius replied. "He told Ky. He told his story to this person and they exaggerated it into the horror story it is today."

Man pride.

“ Rönn,” Ky corrected, deciding it wasn’t worth it to insist, and instead followed. “And yeah. We all are, now.” She hesitated. “Well… I guess you didn’t get to meet him, but I could introduce you next time, if you like.”


“Well that’s shitty,” Pratik commented.

Zander eyed him. “… you know how rumors are…”

Pratik met his gaze, then sighed, and agreed, “I know how rumors are.”

Especially the rumors regarding the Medeiros family. Zander had set in motion a lot of powerful people coming after a lot of Rangers. It was for a good cause. None of them regretted it one bit. But rumors made life much harder than it needed to be.