#anywhere

"Sylvi..ah..yes." A whisper says and the sluagh is gone

"And I almost didn't recognize you," The baron adds. "So the better question, why the secrecy from your side?"

She pouts. "I didn't want everybody to be all in my business, or Siv's. It's private. And I wasn't asking anybody to reveal Bancroft's personal affairs...I just asked for help finding him!"

"So you were.." A sigh "Well, he's given me a formal request for release and plans to return to hibernia"

"Which.." A shake of his head "So unlike him. "

"He..._what?!" She looks horrified. "Oh, Baron Kealan, please, let me talk to him, okay? Please. Really, it's...it can be fixed. I'm sure of it! I want to help!"

"Well, he's not going anywhere now... he's drunk off his ass in the garden. You'll find him out back..take the blue door on the ground floor, it leads to it. And Sylvi? Whatever you two were doing on the trods, you and a certain satyr, I hope you don't expect it to stay a secret. Honestly, your chief is a Gwydion, I'm a spy, and your father is THE trod expert. If I were you, I'd be preparing for that 'beg for forgiveness' part if it's something they'd frown on. I was a wilder once myself"

"Baron Kealan, all due respect, but that's something to worry about for tomorrow. Right now, I've got a friend to help." And without further ado, she's off to find a drunk sidhe thane.

The scathach lord smiles as she goes "i've got a friend to help. Mmm should be said in latin and made into her motto. So the cookies are out and about again." Then a voice to the hall "Hoffsteedler. I know you're still there. See if you can find Sir Vali. He's suspect number one"

a whispered response... and presumably, compliance.

MEANWhile... the blue door leads to the gardens, which are lovely, if park like...and there , on a bench, is a drunken thane

"Oooh, nice...it's no Goblin Town, but it's nice," Sylvi announces to nobody in particular. Then she goes to the sidhe. "Hey..." she approaches him cautiously, like a wounded animal.

"Blame it on the rain...yeah yeah.." He hiccups 'Gotta blame it on something..." Song is not his strong point

"Hey...you okay?" A little closer, reaching out to try to touch his shoulder, compassionate.

"I'm great... she thinks I have an oedipus complex... how classic right? Yes, mhy mother is a troll... yes, I find her attractivive as a troll but geez.. she went FUll Frued, you NEVER go full Freud "

"You...um...said something you shouldn't have?" she suggests gently.

"Ruined, she's trappedi n sidhe form... it's gone, a part of her is gone...forever... and I tried to zplain... her sense of duty, her devotion...warped.. that iron will that's a part of her that... you know?"

"Shhhh, shhhh....it's okay...." She pats his shoulder, but she looks worried. "What do you mean, gone forever? The cookies...they change you back after a while. See? I have one here....you can try it, if you like?" She offers the one from her pocket.

"Wait, it's temporary?" He says

"Yes...you didn't know?"

"No"

"No... I mean, she's transformed, it was like a renaming..reweaved.. she didn't just look sidhe, she was sidhe.. and if I'd known it would pass I might not have panicked so much.. and no, I don't want a cookie keep that thing away from me.." He slurs and tries to stand "I must go to her shide.. and tell her tocome with me to HIbern..hibernia... a new life! "

"Hibernia?! Huh? No! Are you mad? Why run off to Hibernia when...when..." a pause. "Hmm...what's Hibernia like?"

"It's... well, troubled and wonnerful... and when irish eyes are smiling... my bonnie trollish girl" Mixing songs

"Well...well... I don't know if her folks would want her to go just yet...." Though Sylvi is totally understanding the desire to get away for adventure. "But look, you can't talk to her while you're like this. You need to sober up, so you can explain things without slurring and sloshing all over the place!"

"But ...I'm a lump normally..herpaps.. I mean, perhaps in vino verte...a nd with a shot of ... what the hell am I drinking? Jimmy Daniels? Only in a freehold... it will be my muuzze"

"I...um...seems risky to me, but...well, if you think so...."

"YES.." He takes one more swig "At least, I will not be a lumph. I will be a poeeet... a troubadoour.. I will win her.. I will WOOOooooo...' ANd he crumbles onto his face in the garden out cold

"Woo." Sylvi echoes, then sighs, hands on her hips. "Well, fumbleruckers. Now what do I do?" She considers him a moment, and then tries to hoist him enough to help him back to the car and pour him in.

It's hard, :POWERFUL hard...he's heavy, she's weak, well, weaker..

But with a bit of dragging... she gets him to the car, shoves him in only to see her father at the wheel "Where TO?"

"Ahhhhhhhh...." A momentary wordlessness, and she fumbles the keys for a moment before handing them over with aplomb. "You're just in time. I was keeping these warm for you."

"uh huh" He takes them "That's nice. Get in the car. Is there a reason we're kidnapping Whiskey Dreams here?"

"Oh, he totally botched things with Siv, and now he's trying to ruin his life because he thinks that's the only way to make things right again, and it's just so pathetic for both of them, and I want to make it better, and...hey, it's a pretty big brag, to say I stole a sidhe, right?" She beams at him, eyes twinkling.

"Yup. .. and a car, and keys, and a trip to Goblin Town. " he nods

"Ahhhh....you heard about that, then."

"Oh yeah... the situation you almost got yourself into... "

"...and yet got out of!" she emphasizes brightly.

"... great, this is where I pat you on the head and your mom beats her head against the wall? When you got involved in that thing?"

A pause. "Which 'thing' are you referring to, specifically, if I might ask?"

"Whatever thing you're trying to hide the most" he says flatly

"Oh, that! Oh, never mind about that. I'm sure that will be fine!"

"Right... Gwydions it is"

"Oh, as if I haven't had enough interrogations today. Oh, watch out for Baron Kealan's pet sluagh...he's got a thing for chopping off pinky fingers."

"I'll talk to him about it" Dangerous look "Now, stop ducking the issue. Your mother is hissing mad about this."