#anywhere

"Yeah?"

"I'm not saying -instead- of me. I'm saying in -addition.-" Carefully, clearly.

"-Two- mentors."

A wary look, skeptical. "You sure?"

"Is it what I said? Is that why? Not thinking right?"

"Yes, I'm sure. And no. You think just fine; Seelie and Unseelie aren't... " He pauses and takes a breath "... right and wrong. They are different ways of looking at the world."

"So why can't I just learn to be seelie like them?"

"Well, I'm sure you'll have your turn at being Seelie, and you might settle there. For the record, I've been Unseelie."

"So it... are you still you, if you change? "

He nods. "Of course. Mostly, you approach things differently."

She frowns, but nods.

"Will I ever get to fight? If I'm so big and strong and have a weapon... seems like I was made up to fight."

He chuckles. "I strongly doubt you'll be sidelined in a fight. In fact, you might want to start training."

"Yeah?" A flash of teeth, canines sharp. "Who would that be?"

"For your training? We can work together, to start. Might make sense to work with Olgar too. Folks your own age. Maybe we can find someone who specializes in pole weapons."

She nods. "It felt good, using it. Even though I'd never done fighting like that before. Like - like remembering, you know?"

Frank nods. "I know. I really do."

"Olgar said I probably got it in a different life."

He nods. "Could easily be, yes."

"I had these dreams..."

"Like, Narnia, Lord of the Rings shit... but I was blue, too."

"Yeah?" Frank takes a seat on a log. "Want to tell me about them?"

"Hard to remember, exactly. I had armor, and a horse. I was... I was on a mission, I know, but I couldn't see them - they were in a carriage, I think? Behind me, I know."

Frank nods. "Trolls usually don't ride much; we're about as big as horses anyway. Some fae steeds, specially bred for trolls, though.... that could work."

"Oh, this horse must've been half dragon! He was black and huge - he had armor, too!"

Frank nods. "Mounted, and armored. Hm."

"There were... sick things, bad things. Like zombies, maybe? I remember cutting them down like... like hay?" She seems surprised by her own analogy, and demonstrates with a mimed gesture. "Just swish."

He nods. "You were fighting nightmares, it sounds like. Nightmares made real, for us. You've seen them, here."

A stony scowl and she nods. "Yeah. Well, killed those."

Pauses. "If I have nightmares, will they turn real?"

"Maybe."

Her lip juts out. "Well. That sucks."

"Look at it this way; you can destroy them if they turn real."

"I guess."

"But, like, doesn't change what happened, right?"

"Like... the things in the bathroom, killing them didn't make what they said less true."

"And I know, I guess... I know what's true doesn't matter. But...."

"Well. -I- think that what's true -does- matter; I would say that more than likely, what they said -wasn't- true." Mildly.

She bites at a hangnail and shrugs. "But it doesn't, exactly. What matters is what they say happened. What's true, getting all mouthy because... talking back, that's stupid. Because what's true matters less than what they want, right? But the hand things, they didn't... they said stuff, yeah."

"Did you talk to the hand?" Gravely.

She shakes her head. "They talked to me."

"Good. Giving nightmares too much attention can make them stronger."

"I guess. I'd dreamed about them before."

"But, like you said - what's true is gonna be true, even if... even if you have to act like it isn't, or it's easier if you act like it isn't."

Frank gives her a puzzled look. "What do you mean?"

"Like... like, y'know, how... how if a thing happens... it happens."

"But it's sometimes a thing that can't happen, or isn't allowed, so... so you just agree that it doesn't, or it didn't..."

"And getting hung up about it - it won't change anything, really. It'll just get you deeper in the weeds."

"Dagmar, your mortal self has had a lot to deal with in the few years you've been here. What I can tell you is that you're different now, and you can choose to react differently; you have different tools and skills to deal with things. And, you're not alone."

"I think that's what they don't get. The other girls. And I want... I... but it's not...."