Swamped

"This is a lot of crows."

The Postmaster smiles broadly.

"Yeah, each one's trained to fly to a different outpost. Between them, they can cover all of Lansor and the south half of Minset. Further than that, we send a crow to one of the capitals, where they've got an even bigger roost and faster birds. It's not just crows, they're just cheap to feed and easy to train, so the smaller roosts use them exclusively."

"Is it hard getting the crows?"

"Nah. You just toss them some food and they follow you all day. Then they get in the cage without a fuss and they'll come back to it sooner or later once they think of it as home. Getting them to the other end is just a matter of getting them to think they've got a home there, too. Way simpler than training sparrows or hawks."

"Hawks?"

"Yeah, for when you've got something bigger than a letter to send. We don't have one here, too inconvenient to feed. We're dependent on the supplier for getting things like that in and out of here." He seems to enjoy talking about the birds. "So, any other questions, or should I help you down?"

You're thinking of trying to climb down the ladder on your own, but you may want to ask some more questions first, or perhaps take a closer look at the birds. It's going to be inconvenient to get back up here again, after all.