#anywhere

Adelaide returns with news of Gerd, the lunarium is hardly formal, but it is private, "Gerd seems to be hoplelessly smitten with a sidhe lad. I shall have to pry into that. She may get her heart broken. However, between sighs, I was able to learn quite a lot."

((Sidhe or sluagh?))

OOC: Sidhe. Remember the pretty boy at the saining?

((Yes, thought he was sluagh. All good!))

"Do tell." She pours tea.

"Well," Adelaide says as the tea is poured, "It would appear the Chieftain was encouraged to lend her political muscle shortly before the attack against the great Dragon Skallstryke by one then unsained Nadeen of Varich, a ward of Rivervale, sidhe...now sained, but i may jump head there. Nadeen was seen cultivating favor on behalf of raising a banner house at Earth Runes, and tried to strike a bargain there.. Sir August, now Baron, and his paramour and trueheart, the brash and vibrant baroness coradel, were getting votes in a row as best they could. Interestingly enough, the TRUE Paler, Arawn, was defeated when he kidnapped Sir August, and earned the wrath of Baroness Coradel, a warrioress, and ... a 'witch'..who took great care to protect her name."

"It should be noted , One Sir Earl DeBuke was also involved in the rescue of Sir August." A sip "And, one Sir Earl DeBuke would later be seen at Parliament"

"Yes, but -why- would the Baroness Brekke agree to be involved?"

"Apparently because Nadeen asked her to. Or swayed her"

"And how could a Varisch possibly benefit?"

An eyebrow. "Could this Varisch have some hold over the trolls?"

"A good question, to hear from Gerd, no. She had influence over one Dame Dagmar ap Gwydion because of a past life, but Nadeen released her from that. The Chieftain was merely her mentor during fostering. It should be noted, Nadeen was looking into possible marriages of alliance and elevation, until she instead settled for being a Liaison between Caer Falken and Rivervale. "

The granddame's face goes still, betraying nothing.

"You don't say...."

Adelaide notices the stillness, but yes, beyond that? it could be anything. Her curiosity spikes, "You have a theory perhaps?"

"At Rivervale, a noble released a troll knight from the Oath of a past life.... and is now a wholely unnecessary liaison between Hemlock and Brekke...." a murmur.

"Unnecessary, yet more influential than it seems. Nadeen will have a chance to interact on a Ducal level, let alone a county one, and if the Chieftain IS getting more political abroad, folks will go through the Liaison to bargain or make inroads. Gerd says Nadeen has come 'around' a lot. She still doesn't TRUST Sluagh, but she endures them."

"I read it as reading she knows how to placate Gwydion and troll sensiblities"

"What have I told you of my past with Count Hemlock?"

"At one time, he paid suit to you. And, I suspect, that Chieftain Brekke did not approve" Her ward says "It did not go through, and he would eventually marry another. "

She nods and sips her tea. "Trolls are protective....but even so she was overly so. Jealously so."

"But she's married," A pause "Surely she wasn't interested in her liege that way? " The idea of an unfaithful troll seems to shock her

An eyebrow. "She is married -now.- To a Liam."

"Hemlock holds her Oath from a past life."

"Interesting, even if she didn't see him that way, you weren't seen as good enough for him? That explains.. a lot," A frown, "I am sorry you bore the brunt of her ignorance."

Then another thought, "Nadeen is sixteen, I doubt the Count would be seeing a bride that would stand out so inappropriately in the mortal world."

Thea waves the concern away.

"Hemlock flings himself after his whims without concern. "

"I cannot see the whole of it yet but the outline is interesting."

"If he's that reckless you're better off without," Adelaide says, "But it's certainly intriguing. I think it is possible that the Baroness suggestion to the Chieftain may have yielded some awareness to Chieftain Brekke on how influential she is, at least among her house mates. And when a lodge returned restarted, perhaps it was this new awareness combined with cultural pride that emboldened her to seize a hold in another Duchy entirely for Troll kind. One Squire Colton acts as Regent currently until a lodge can be assembled... but make no mistake, the Chieftain has pushed hard that it will be a lodge. I don't think she's ever been so politically aggressive... but if she is feeling her oats from slaying a dragon and influencing parliament, perhaps she has at last learned ambition?"

"As hard as it may be to credit it.... but, that leaves the question of why the Varisch would do all of this. What is she like?"

"That I can answer. She is reserved. Like many of her house, seemingly cool and indifferent, reluctant to let her true passions out, and yet there are signs she has let the ice crack a bit as it were. I did research into the vote. House Varich had no intention of supporting a Liam banner house. AN unsained, for she was not named at the time, was given the invitation as something of an insult to the Truthbranches, but instead, the young woman took it, did not admit she was not yet sained, and pretended to have more authority than she did in order to gain a new home for two individuals... one Zane Wayburton, a satyr wilder of Rivervale area, and the aforementioned Dagmar. There is no doubt in my mind, she did this out of sentimentality, and she hid it rather well, even Gerd iddn't know that last part at first. But it does show some audacity that she took nothing, and parlayed it into swaying the Gwydion vote through the Chieftain"

"Why move those two out of the area?"

"Probably because at the time, there was a chance of a lodge destroying dragon fallilng on Rivervale."

"The knight makes sense. Why the satyr?"

"Gerd says they dated, discretely, for a time before Nadeen dumped him. I suspect she still thinks of him in fond terms, or perhaps she meant to have him as a lover again once she was more established?"

Adie blushes at this a bit

"Stranger things have happened." Thea agrees.

"Yes, well.. I looked into the DeBuke angle, but they're very hard to spy on. "

"Sir Earl seems to be the one most involved in the Parliament events, but I think it 's more to a friendship with Sir August and the librarian of Earth Runes than anything else. It is possible however some DeBukes will be moving to the rome lodge."

"DeBuke..... he is a rather spindly troll?"

"An artist... " She says "yes. I think he's helped in dropping off refugees and the like here once. He made great haste. His art runs towards the morbid and macabre"

"Can you describe the librarian?"

"Not well, I'm afraid... but I do know her name, if not her looks.." A glance thorugh some notes "Zara Schwartz?"

A quirk of her lips. "I see."

"Clearly more than I" Curious "You're not going to leave a house sister in suspense?"

"I have met the girl."

"Any hint DeBuke had to do with influencing Baroness Brekke to swing the Parliament Gywdion?"

"Sir Earl doesn't visit Rivervale that often actually. It seem unlikely. Though it's very odd. The DeBuke farmhold has never sent ANYONE to the Parliament, not even to observe. Not surprising I suppose as they don't recognize it's authority or the accords"

A ladylike snort of dismissal.

"Maybe they've changed their mind as a holding"