Two Crows Watch from the Gallows Tree (part 8)

(Rickard basically lives in the infirmary but he leaves every now and then)

"Right then." Gaius nodded. "That's good at least. And you've written to your parents, correct?"

(Yeah… you know, now that I think of it, poor girl might think something’s wrong with her and go to Sera anyway. “I know it’s supposed to happen but it used to only happen a few times a year and now it’s every few weeks and I think I must have damaged something”)

Ky nodded. “I wrote a letter to each of them… do you know how long it will take them to arrive?”

(Oh shit that could be
And I mean periods sometimes miss a month early in puberty, or there's the mid-cycle spotting that happens sometimes)

"Probably a little less time than it took us to get here," Gaius replied. "Weather permitting."

(Yeah very true. Poor kid)

Ky nodded. That was a little disappointing. She’d hoped birds would make the trip faster than they did. But, then, she supposed it wasn’t all bad. That meant she’d have a solid month to put off picking a trainer and starting lessons. “… so they may respond in a month or so? If they have time.”

"They'll certainly have time. You'll get their response in that amount of time, I think. There's not much reason for there to be a delay."

“That’s good.” Ky nodded. “I’ll look forward to it.”

Gaius nodded as well and straightened. "Right, then. Shall we go on?"

Ky gestured and smiled. “Ready when you are.”

He limped into the Grove. It was fairly quiet today, and the sky was clear enough that it shed some light through the pines. Last night's snow was still clinging to the branches, making the boughs bend almost to the ground.

Ky followed him, glancing around. Were they… done? Or did he have something else on the agenda? She didn’t know. She’d walk with him, for sure. She just didn’t know whether to let her guard down or not. Probably safest not to. Ever. She laid her arm across her stomach. It didn’t feel like she was going to throw up anymore. But it still hurt. And she was so exhausted. But she had to keep her energy up.

"How have I been doing so far?" Gaius asked after a pause. He was curious how she perceived him right now. Was he an efficient conversationalist, a helpful presence?

“What?” She looked at him, startled. He was doing well at whatever it was, obviously. But she didn’t have any idea what he was asking about.

"Have I overstepped at any point or made things worse?" he clarified.

“No?” Not until now anyway. Now she felt very, very awkward. And didn’t know what to do about it. Her gut reaction was a compliment, but those always upset him. So she wasn’t actually sure what he wanted. Was this another game he wasn’t going to tell her the rules of before she had to play? “It’s… nice. I appreciate it.”

"That's your honest response?" he asked mildly.