Ha. I was right.
—gate facing east, no that beam goes on the outside—and they're just listening. Following.
"Why does the gate face east?" Fenwick. Arms dirty to the elbows, sweating.
"Morning sun. Chickens wake up easier, lay better."
"You just know that?"
"Fenwick, we have established this." I wave generally at myself. "Alone. Years. With chickens. For a time, goats—OH, I had turkeys for a few months but they DID NOT like the chickens—doesn't matter. You get the gist."
Fenwick blinks at me.
"What happens if they don't get morning sun?"
"They get cranky and stop laying and start eating their own eggs."
"That's disgusting."
"Yupp."
He looks at Nugget, still pecking happily beyond the holding fence.
"She seems nice."
"She's perfect. She'd eat you if she could figure out how."
Rhen is tying off a crossbar. "You named the rooster after Keer."
"He earned it. Have you heard him?"
"The whole territory has heard him."
"Then you understand."
Halek, without looking up from his post: "Keer know?"
"His eye did a thing." I try to make my eye do the thing. It's mostly just an aggressive eyebrow situation.
Halek snorts again.
"That's not it." Fenwick, helpfully.
"No shit, Fenwick. I have two eyes." I pull a nail from between my teeth. "Kestria couldn't breathe for ten minutes."
Rhen's mouth twitches. "His eye does things."
"It really does."
The work continues. Sun climbing higher, sweat on my neck, dirt up to my elbows. Check the post depth on the downhill side—is that a blister forming on my palm or just the splinter situation getting worse?
"You're staring at your hand." Rhen, not looking up from his crossbar.
"I'm deciding whether this is a blister or a splinter."
"Which is it?"
"Both, probably. My hands don't do anything by halves."
