#anywhere

"Quiet. Kinda goth?"

"Oh man, you tell me she's wearing fishnets under that armor, I'm going to lose it....."

"No, Sarah the Sluagh.... I don't know the Aesin."

A deep, wistful, sigh.

"Sorry, don't know the sluagh"

"And the lady is kind to me. Her magics are gentle for the most part"

"Does she Dictum you?"

Adam puts his hands over his eyes (with some effort and a short groan).

"No. Lady knight" He he guessed her title, "not often. Currently I am under protocol as I spoke ill of a sidhe house, which is not my place"

"Right. Well, I don't think it was ill but... you gotta do what you gotta do."

Adam turns so he's not as likely to see the Lady Lowe and peeks through his fingers. Not blind. Good, excellent start.

"Of course. Pardon. I should tend to my duties"

"Sure. Fine horse. Nice meeting you."

"Later Larry, you lucky SoB...." Adam waves and follows Sam.

"Not that lucky. You hear what he said?"

"She's kind to him and gentle? Shit, I'd think about Dictum for that......."

"He's here under Protocol. And made to feel bad because he's boggan blooded. Kinda glad we're a lodge."

"You ever been Dictumed?"

"No..... wait, you said it was a cantrip? It really -really- sounds like something else. How would I know if someone did that to me. Is Protocol some kind of diplomatic thing?"

"Oh, you would know."

"So, like - the sidhe says 'kneel,' right? And even if you don't want to, your body just DOES it."

"Protocol... Hemlock used that when I was in Court, and it's... softer, I guess? Like, you have to obey the rules, can't speak out of turn or make a scene..."

He shrugs. "The only real Sidhe I've been around is Nadeen." A short snort. "Well, if the Chief didn't do that to me with magic, she still kinda did it to me." A shrug.

"Uh, no."

A shrug.

"No. It's not the same."

"Telling you the rules is not the same as bespelling you. You took the Oath so that we wouldn't have to mess with your memory or take your sight away."

"I mean, shit, if you want to run off to be a sidhe's servant because they're pretty..." Scowl, shrug. "I'm sure she'd take you."

He stops. "Wait, you think so?"

"Sure, I bet plenty of sidhe would take you if you went up and asked. Except then you'd be theirs, right?"

Adam gropes around for some landmark in the conversation. "What... like... a slave?"

"Yeah? That's how a lot of kinain are treated - either they're enchanted servants, controlled by magic, or they're more... outside, you know? Like, not part of things."

"Sally Mae and the DeBukes are unusual, but, like, remember how she said she needed permission to leave home and go to school instead of staying home and making babies?"

He follows Sam again. "She didn't say -permission-... just that she wanted to go to college and not.... you know."

"Oh, yeah. She had to ask permission. And part of it is so she can go back and use what she learned to help the Farm."

"So the only way Sidhe let their kinain in is if they control 'em with magic? It's that, or shut out?"

"So far as I know. I'd ask... oh, like Vali. He's been around a lot of sidhe holds."

"Huh. Ok."

"But, like, we don't do that. You get to be you. I mean, there's consequences for not following the rules, but, like, there's consequences for ME if I don't, right? Or any of us."

Adam walks along behind Sam for a while, thinking.

"When I was bound to Nadeen... I had to do stuff whether I wanted to or not. If I didn't, I felt sick."

Pause. "I'm glad she released me. I like her, and I'll protect her... but I didn't like being bound to her."

"The.... the Count around here. He's Sidhe. If they're all like that how come the Chief works for him?"

"Chief is bound to him by an Oath."

"Like I was - an Oath from before, not this life. But he didn't release her."

"So does she hate him?"

She shakes her head. "No. I don't think she resents it - it's more like, it is what it is, right?"

"And he's a good Liege, he doesn't ask her to do stuff that would harm her. But there's stories about lords who do."

"Like - give up their truehearts or abandon their family or take a bullet for them."

More silent steps. "Did Nadeen ever do anything like that to you?"