#anywhere

"Sure. Listen..." she scuffs at the pine needles. "No reason to say anything about me, right?"

"Well, ah, why wouldn't I?"

"No reason to. You found it."

"Well, I doubt they'll ask so I won't offer it unless they do. Fair enough? I don't like lying to people."

"Uhm, see you later I hope?"

"Hey, I think I see someone there... thanks again, Dagmar" and he heads off, to try to track down a Rivervale troll.

(End Scene , at least for Geffron)

After the sidhe goes, Dagmar is back to woods-tromping.

When she turns, a very large blue Mountain man is watching her. He leans against a tree, and perhaps provokes the question "Why hasn't the tree tipped over?" He is apparently unarmed, and his visage is calm.

Dagmar freezes. Her halberd is in hand, but she doesn't bring it in to guard or to level it at the older troll.

"Afternoon. Glad you found your way back."

"It's closer than I thought..."

"Good. Most of the time it's further than you think." He straightens, and she might note that he doesn't do so by pushing off the tree; he stands away on his own power. "Do you have some time?"

She shifts her weight, shrinking inwards and white knuckling the staff. "Yes."

A gentle smile. "Dagmar, I'm not going to hurt you. There's hurt enough in the world without me adding to it. I just want to talk."

A silent stare back, wary and waiting - but listening.

He nods. "You like to walk and talk, or just talk, or sit and talk....?"

Shrug.

"Well, I'm old, so let's sit." He finds a log that hasn't been hoisted (much) and does so, waiting for her as he looks out into the woods. A faint smile ghosts across his face, although his lips are obscured by his gold-and-silver beard.

She sits, but lightly - looking ready to bolt up at the first cross breeze.

Frank takes a moment, letting himself settle on the log, stretching his legs out in front of him. "So. You want to go first, or should I?"

"You." Her hazel eyes lock on him - bright, nearly golden against the slate of her complexion. Her eyebrows furrow - for all she's quiet, something is going on in that noggin.

She rests the halberd across her knees, adjusting and readjusting her grip.

He nods. "Well. I Chrysalized... that is, what you just went through... when I was 18 years old." He pauses.

"It cost me the life I thought I would have."

"Okay..."

"I joined House Liam shortly after, and then left the place I grew up, in Southern California. Went on the road for a while. Got ... in and out of trouble for a while, like you do. Ended up here."

"And Liam are Oathbreakers. And breaking an Oath makes trolls sick. Did you get sick?"

A long pause. "No."

A frown. "Was that a lie, then?"

"From what I understand, the issue is personal Oaths, not... well, not what I did. -I've- never broken an Oath. But I know trolls who have. It's not a lie."

She nods, skeptical but not arguing.

He clears his throat in a low rumble. "So. My job, here, is to help any Fae who comes to know themselves through the process of being Fae. In particular, I can help trolls because I am one. And that's what I've been doing for the last... oh, almost 20 years."

"Ok. Your turn."

"Zane said Dagmar wasn't my real name, even though I remembered it."

"Zane. Yes." A sense of wry amusement under the beard. "Here's the thing. You have a secret name. That name has power over you. You'll learn it at the end of your Fostering, a period of learning that is generally a year and a day after you Chrysalize."

She bristles, frowning. "Why can't I get it now?"

"You don't know what you need to know to keep you safe."

"I won't be here a year."

"No? Why not?"

A shrug of those broad shoulders. "Ain't anywhere a year."

"Second place this year already."

"Why?"

He seems honestly curious, and non-judgemental.

"I'm trash. Too much work."

Matter of fact, without pity.

"Trash?" He frowns with concerns. "Too much... what?"

"I'm not gonna lasthere. They want another one like Tanya. She's pretty and popular and good to show off."

Frank clears his throat. "Ok, look... Dagmar, could you kind of give me a run-down like I gave you? A little bio?"

"Nothing special. Um. This is my twenty-seventh placement. I'm from Englewood. I lived with my mom until I was four, and for a little while when I was ten, but she's in jail right now."