Two Crows Watch from the Gallows Tree (part 11)

(I definitely got confused at which tab I was looking at just now lol Emery, my man, she's right behind you-- ohhh)

"Uh..." She took a halting step towards him, glancing at the stairs. "... do you want me to?"

(Whoop)

"Do you want to?"

"... if you want me to?"

Tomhas sighed. "Come on, Ky. I thought we were past this. Of course I want to spend time with you, but I'm not going to be devastated if you say no. It's your choice."

“I… can walk you up,” she said after an awkwardly long pause. She didn’t want to decide. Didn’t want to have to explain to Tomhas that or why she wasn’t friends with his brother right now. And that he wasn’t friends with her.

But her own room was upstairs, too. She could easily branch off with a bullshit excuse, after she ensured he’d safely made it up the stairs.

"That works." He nodded. "Let's go!"

She forced a little smile and dipped her head and started for the stairs. His words echoed in her mind though. ‘Thought we were past this’ — he’d be sorely disappointed to see how badly she’d regressed. She didn’t like the person she was becoming.

Tomhas headed up the stairs. "Do you like your room here?" he asked.

“It’s astounding,” she answered honestly. “Have you seen it?”

What a stupid question; he’d grown up here. Of course he had.

"Probably. Which one is it? Can you show me?"

Ky nodded, smiling a little. “It’s huge! Oh! And I can show you the fur that Rönn gave me. That is also huge.”

"He gave you a fur?" His eyes widened. "This I have to see. Whose fur is it?"

Ky didn’t like his choice of the word ‘whose’ just then. But she started up the stairs, puffing up a little with pride. “A white bear!”

"A white bear?!" His mouth dropped open. "You're kidding, right? A white bear?"

She nodded more, smile growing as she puffed up even further. “Be said I should make a coat from it… I think I may ask to see if there’s enough left over for a little blanket as well. If it’s not too inconvenient for the tailors.”