#anywhere

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Siv comes out to the Kestrel "Come on, Dagmar, we start a bit early you'll be grateful for the free time tomorrow"

"So... just checking ropes?"

"Inch by inch, cord by cord. Ropes are strands interwoven into life saving braids. A bad rope can mean someone dies. So you have to do this, and if someone gets hurt because a rope YOU checked snapped or wore? It's on you. " Siv is utterly serious here

"Okay..."

"What's the trick, then? They gonna wait and say we weren't careful enough?"

She gets on the Kestrel's deck and starts to look it over "Trick? Tisn't a trick, it's a chore and a punishment, but no trick"

"It's never just a chore."

"well, it might also be a lesson they hope sinks in with deeper meaning. But jokes on them, somedays I'm just not that philosophical" a look "You okay? You kept avoiding Jaymes eyes"

"Maybe they're gonna cut the ropes." She picks up a coil. "Say we missed it."

Siv looks at Dagmar "You did hear the part about lives depend on this right? Do you really think any of those three grumps would risk lives just to pull a gimmie? My mom don't even like it when I weasel in my talk.." She knits her brows in the style of her mother 'Now, Siv. You know what was required or you wold have not worked so hard to avoid it with such slippery language. I am very disappointed in you, feel my disappointment , Siv? can you not feel the weight of my disappointed brows. You were not an easy birth. One would hope you would make amends by giving the truth over as a gift and not some paltry coin you seek to hoard. Tut tut. We trolls do not act so'" Then her brows un-crinkle "I'm still working on the voice, but you get the gist"

"No... like... cut one, and point it out, and make us do it again? Or whup us for failing..."

"Not cut it and leave it, nah.."

"No, they'd not" She says "Their goal isn't to 'win' , Dagmar. They really do want us safe and to be better than they are. " A sigh "And being better than Brekke Shacklebreaker and Frank King-Knight of Liam and King of the Road is... well, I think they're raising the bar a bit too high"

All hail Brekke Schacklebreaker! Hero! Chieftain! Troll ! ...boinker of Frank!

"I'd rather it be, like, straightforward instead of hanging like this, is all."

"This is straightforward, I think. I mean, yes there maybe more to the chore, so trait we're expected to learn beyond you learning how to do it and me how to teach, but again, if they want us to learn something, not 'get back at us'. They... Jaymes isn't like some of your other guardians, and while they make me crazy, my family never treats me like " She tries to think of the best words "They love me, and even when they make me crazy, even when I disagree, they're not AGIN me, they're FOR me. And Jaymes is on your side always... even when you'll be butting heads. It's..it's what good parenting is I think. It's mixed up, weird, and I didn't design it, but there you have it. "

She shrugs, focusing on the rope.

It is slow tedious work, inch by inch. And even a brief start will take two hours

Dag seems resigned enough.

They do get to talk, as long as they don't let it distract them "Twas a grand Hold the Countess had was it not?"

"It was cool. Like... more mysterious than here?"

"That's the Eiluned touch. Eiluned House is nae to be trusted, but they're smart and cunning....and curious. The Countess though, Sir Vali treats her like a great aunt. He adores her. Me own mum doesn't like her. I think because she used to date Count Hemlock and mum didn't care for what she saw as her games...but you didn't hear it from me... because she'd nught like me talking about it" She works on the next rope inch "Oh..hold it. This one is discolored, see that? Ugh." She goes back to talking as she works on replacing that part of the rope , not an easy task "Me I liked the Countess, though you can't judge by first glance. And that white streak was odd. Ye think its what she uses when she steals the souls of commoners? it just snakes down their throats and drinks up their freewill? "

"Maybe it was bleached out by magic?" She watches rope-repair.

"Like some real awful powerful spell, just burnt the color right out. Like Rogue."

"Oo... now that's not a bad idea. Or maybe she bargained the color from her hair away, like Odin giving up one eye?" She shows her how to do it like she does even as she chatters "I can see it now 'Give until me a mystery for every raven strand, and I'll be Eiluned beyond compare- the most secretive of the land!' and the bargain was struck! And the lightning flashed, and the moon came large that night horns a glitter... and the bargain lingers to this day. Who knows what she learned? "

"Terrible things. Like, lurking night horrors and secret societies..."

"And secret Societies OF Lurking Night Horrors" Siv agrees emphatically

"Maybe!"

"Maybe she learned magic secrets, since she's eiluned. Like... time travel, or immortality..."

"ooo and that's why she took so long looking us over? Maybe she met us before and was trying to remember which time this was for her since the first?"

"What if she goes backwards through time, that's why she seems so spooky and knowledgable?"

"Like Merlin!" A pause "WIth cleavage"

"Ha!"

A grin "Is it wrong I want to take her up on her invite to visit her again sometime?"

"I don't think so."

"Gonna have to wait a bit." SHe says "For both of us. And she was disturbingly pretty. I mean, I like lads, but one look at her and I could see the point of a college degree"

"The.. what? College?"

"Sorry, bad joke about experimenting." A thought "Need to find some way to get used to sidhe." A sigh "Ugh, the ones at the party made me feel so ugly by comparison." A look at the girl's rope work, "here, cinch that up a bit will you?"

"She WAS very pretty, she barely looked old at all..."

"The boys, though..." siiiigghhhhh. And cinching up rope.

"Yeah, Bancroft isn't even the handsomeest, if you can imagine.Got some like to melt a girl's brain" She pauses "Darn it, theyr'e right. We should be careful about even the friendly ones."

"I've only seen the few, here..."

"That's it, I know what to do for Pranksgiving!" her eyes light up "Oh why didn't I think of this. Surely no one has thought of it before!"

"Huh?"

"I write a letter to House Liam ... I've seen Dad's stationary, and tell them that he would like a squire sidhe in his teens! Should we ask for a blonde or brunette? I mean ,da is a knight right?"

A snort. "You are so boy crazy..."

"Well, they wouldn't be so appealing if dad didn't dislike them so much" Siv says "So in way, it's his fault right?"

"True..."

"thank You, it's like the others can't see it as obvious as day" Rope bit replaced, going on which checking "Anyway, what do you think of the idea? We get a very pretty lad around and Dad DESERVES somehonorifics"