#anywhere

"Well...my Dad could probably tell you more about that." She returns Siv's shrug, and nods.

"Yeah. Whatever."

"my folks are sworn to truehearts. They..never broke it."

A shrug, not looking at either of the girls now.

"But, Sylvi is totally right that you should be careful if you ever do decide, and it is totally your decision"

"Yeah. Fine."

She frowns. "What's up, Dagmar?"

"What? Nothing. You know I don't know shit yet, right?" Her jaw juts out.

Sylvi glances at Siv, confused, then says, "You know more than you did last week. What's with the attitude?"

"Dagmar, you seem on edge"

"I'm not." Bristling.

"Fine fine' She holds her hand up

"No harm meant."

"Okay!" Likewise, Sylvi is hands-up.

"I just don't... I don't think I'm like you."

She lowers her hands. "How?"

A shrug.

"Like..." A frown.

Sylvi is quiet, listening.

"You two, you aren't... you're like characters in a movie."

"Is it.. .a good movie?"

"Sure." A huff, frustrated.

"I don't get it." Sylvi's genuinely stumped.

"Neither do I, but ." A shrug "i'm trying"

"Like...what kind of characters do you mean?"

"Like.... like you don't... you don't fight. You just... and Zane just...."

"Like Cap, but for real?"

"But Cap isn't real. He's made up."

Sylvi frowns. "I fight. When I need to."

"And you're all, ohhhh, Oaths and duty and doing the right thing just because, but people who think like that... either they're lying, or they're gonna get taken for saps..."

A blink of revelation. "Ohhhh...I think I get it. You think you're different because you don't think the same way?"

She rubs the back of her head. "I'm trying."

"Trying to...to think like we do?"

"You.. you don't have to, but I think.." A bite of her lips, "We're part dreams. Right?"

She nods.

Sylvi looks concerned, but listens to Siv.

"But all I can think is how... how that only works if you're the right kind of person. It doesn't work."

"You're gonna go be some emissary. And Siv's from Narnia. And it's not... I'm not..."

"LOok, those movies you like? the same dreams that inspire them help inspire ..and create us. So... we..we fae, can be heroes more easily... or worse villains... but we also come in between, and there's nothing wrong with that."

"I'm not any kind of fuckin' hero."

"You don't have ta be, that's what I'm saying"

A stubborn set of her jaw, breathing like a bellows.

"Yeah. Ain't."

"Which is totally okay!" Sylvi's concerned. "You get that, right?"

"Yeah. I know I can't... yeah, I know."

"Can't is another matter, but you don't have to regardless."

"Whatever."

"Look...Dagmar...are you, like, unseelie? Dad told you about seelie and unseelie, right? You think you might un?"

She shakes her head. "Those are - religions, right? With the holidays? I don't know."

She wavers a hand. "Well...more like ways of living. But...well, you know, my Dad's mostly un, and he's cool, and you're sounding a lot like he gets when he's frustrated with stuff."