Two Crows Watch from the Gallows Tree (part 8)

(Haha most excellent)

“Right,” Ky agreed lamely. So she wasn’t supposed to pretend like it didn’t bother her that Zander left, but she was supposed to pretend like it was okay for the sun to die. Because that made sense.

Sara smiled awkwardly. "I'm sorry. I came in to check up on you and now I'm spilling my nerves."

“You’re okay.” Ky offered a weak smile. It was better than her trying to make Ky cry about Zander. “It’s not like it’s not going to happen if we don’t talk about it.”

That felt like too many negatives in the sentence. Hopefully it made sense.

She nodded. "Mm. We can hope." She rose. "I've kept you too long; I'm sorry. I hope your appetite returns for dinner."

She was being polite, but Ky heard what she meant: she was going to eat dinner. She wasn’t sure what sorts of consequences there might be if she didn’t — maybe just pressure and a good old fashioned guilt trip. Maybe something else. But Ky may as well force herself to eat before things got nasty. “…what time is it?”

"About an hour after lunch," she replied.

Ky nodded. “…I’ll come to dinner.”

It was going to be hard to time it, though. With the state she was in. It was hard to tell if it’d been an hour or a decade or maybe just ten minutes. But she’d make an effort. For Sara.

Sara dipped her head. "If you like. We can send food up for you to eat here, if that would make you more comfortable. I can understand needing some time alone."

Ky nodded, considering. That would make it easier to get away with not actually eating. And she wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not. She also wasn’t sure if they’d truly be okay with her holeing up in her room, even if she did actually eat rather than stash the food and toss it outside later. Though it’d be nice to have a while longer to fold in on herself.

"Anything you need before I go?" Sara asked.

Ky shook her head. Then realized that was probably rude and offered a little smile. But there wasn’t anything Ky needed. At least not from Sara. She supposed it was a nice distraction — her utter panic at Sara’s discovery of Rönn’s gift certainly took her focus off Zander for a bit. But there was nothing at all that Sara could say or do that would make anything better. And the longer she was here, the higher the chance that Ky would verbalize her ungratefulness. And that would improve nothing for anyone. Much better to just marinate in solitary existential dread.

Sara dipped her head. "If you're looking for something to do as a distraction, there's plenty to do. You know that already of course, but..." She shrugged. "I'll leave you be, now. I hope you feel better."

“Thank you,” Ky murmured, meeting her gaze. “I…appreciate…it.”

It was horrendously awkward but she didn’t know how to save it. There didn’t seem to be a suave way of expressing that there was nothing that could be done to make her feel better and yet she appreciated the attempt anyhow. So. Time to make the environment uncomfortable — Ky’s speciality.

Sara nodded once again. "Servants will be in and out of this hall; just poke your head out if you need anything." She opened the door.

"Okay," Ky said quietly, nodding. "I will... have a good day."

Would the servants be reporting back to Gaius and Sara about what she did? Probably. Ky didn't have a babysitter but she had no doubt that she was being babysat anyhow. Which may be a good thing. Perhaps she'd force herself to go on a walk later so that people would see she was alive and then reassure Sara and Gaius that she was fine.