#anywhere

(I should say in front of the window_

Gwen says "how is it being sained in a troll lodge? I learned some, Linnae and D.. well they taught me some of the basics" Troll salute

"Well... it sure helped make being suddenly eight foot tall feel almost normal."

Snerk from Gwen

"Like... dunno, I was never some pretty, dainty girly girl."

Then she coughs "Sorry. it's just.. I'm afraid to sit on the chair Bluebell likes. Like I'd break it even if didn't have my ah, condition. You saw blue bell, she's sweet, but a toothpick.. a toothpick made of really light wood"

"Pardon me" Nadeen says and moves.

"Yeah - for a while, after my chrysalis, I kept breaking sh-stuff by accident. Especially when I was mad."

"I hear that. " The troll girl mutters "I kicked a barrel once and put a hole IN it. "

"The lodge, everything is troll-sized. Well, mostly - we got some little furniture for folks."

"But I don't have to duck through doors, neither."

“Aha! He’s here! They’re here! Gerd! GERD!” He calls, needlessly because he is not that far away.

Gerd turns "Thank you, Connor. You're the best watch brother ever" And shestarts to book, then slows down smoothing her outfit

He grins to her and whispers. “That gunk on your face looks good, Sylvi did a good job.” His forehead wrinkles. “Not that your face didn’t look okay before. Wudlig likes it fine.”

Connor finally just smiles and shrugs, saying less is maybe better than more.

Gerd smirks and goes

"Hey, DarkGate is here. All the boyfriends have arrived, Gerd and Sylvi can breathe easy."

Tongue sticking out, and then Gerd is really gone.. after Wudlig

"Maybe you could come visit when D'lorean does? I mean, if we gotta arrange travel, two should be as easy as one... like, you know trolls are kinda Nordic-viking in origin? Well, the lodge looks like it's right outta a fairy tale, and Chief, she's carved all the beams with flowers and fish and runes and everything..."

"Well, I'm also part iraquois and naother tribe and...yeah, part Nordic"

"Yeah? Yeah, we figure I'm probably part Nordic, even if I don't look it. My birth mom's white."

" I am SUCH a hippocrite" She apologizes "Because.. honesst when I saw you on the field I was like.. yay, another not so pasty blue"

"We really do come in a lot of colors - just, like, there are so many King-adjacent trolls around here...."

"And DeBukes" She says "I visited Darkgate, if they didn't have a title... they were iowan"

"Ohhhh yeah."

"Though Teesha's a DeBuke, too."

"Huh. I guess you're right. She's the one who won..er" QUICK course correction "Tied for that egg prize right?"

"Yup!"

"Okay, we do come in shades. Thank goodness." A pause "At the risk of sounding lame, it's nice to have some representation?"

"Nah, I get it."

"Honestly, most of my foster homes were white, so... like.. dunno, I fit in better, being blue. It seems to matter less. Folks that matter see Dagmar first, not Sam."

"You were in the system? Shit. I hear things." A wince"Sorry, shouldn't curse at this"

"I'm out now." A smile. "My parents aren't here tonight, but they're great. Dad's a fighter, and he owns a store, and Mom does music and carves - Tove, yeah? She was at Pennons."

"I heard her. She's got a ethereal voice"

"Yeah. And I have a baby brother now, too!"

"Yeah?" A grin "how loud is he?"

SIGH. "A creature that tiny cannot physically have lungs that big!"

"Good thing he's cute."

The phone is brought out for baby pictures - yes, CJ is cute. Even if he bears little resemblance to the surprisingly shy-looking teenager holding him. Even with the differences between mortal and fae miens, Dagmar's hair is glorious in either.

"Oh my god, he's cute as..."

"Yeah, he can get away with being loud" She says

"Yeah." Fond.

"I don't have any siblings" Gwen admits, then she looks over at Briar if she's around, then back "Well... not in ordinary sense of the word." Family "Probably just as well. Dad was.. bad news"

She shrugs. "I'm not related by blood to any of my family."

"Best part of being fae - you know about oaths, right?"

'Oh yeah, Lin and Dan drilled that one into me. NO Oaths until saining, they said."

Dagmar nods. "Oh yeah, for sure."

"But they're also magic - so there's oaths to make family."

'Say what?" A blink

It is possible she has never heard of the oath of adoption