Two Crows Watch from the Gallows Tree (part 11)

(Well I'm glad things seem to be looking up! Happiness is always the most important thing, in my opinion. Long-term happiness. I'm glad you still enjoy field work as well; it seems like a great part of the job, like being a kid again but getting paid to do it)

"Mmm." He smiled at the thought. "That does sound very peaceful. Have you tried that up here?"

(Exactly! Like yeah obviously I am still human and am grumpy and lazy sometimes but I don't actively dread having to go to work. At least, don't dread it for the work itself lol I have to be up in 6 hours and I am still working on putting in another job application that closes tonight and icing my knee and such and I am big time not looking forward to my wake up time haha but like it's nice to find dopamine in what I do rather than be stressed 100% of the time, even in the evenings and weekends and holidays and such like grad school does to you lol)

"... it's cold up here," she said.

(Absolutely!)

"Yeah but the barn is warm because of all the animals inside. The stable has a loft, and I think the hound kennel does as well. Though I'd be careful going in there."

"Dogs are too noisy for thinking."

"Very true." He nodded. "But the horses do have a loft, like I said."

Ky nodded. "...yeah. I don't know. It just feels different now."

"Have you given it a try?"

"... briefly," she was looking away again. "But... it only lets me think about one thing now. And I don't like that one thing."

"It's like a wall, kinda?"

"Mm?" She furrowed her brow and looked over at him.

"The one thing. It's like a wall?"

Ky shrugged. “I suppose you could put it that way.” She thought for a moment. “Tadaaki dragged me out of the stable — it was highly under duress and not his fault at all and he was very, very gentle about it,” she qualified quickly, lest Emery brand her friend as the villain. She hadn’t admitted this part to anyone yet, she realized. “But… well… I stopped being safe in stables from that very moment. I don’t like remembering it.”

"...Oh." He was silent for a moment. "I'm sorry to hear that."

“It wasn’t his fault,” she reiterated.

"Of course not." He nodded quickly. "It's just sad you lost the stable as a safe place, that's all. It has little to do with Tadaaki."