#anywhere

"Trolls are easier to talk to as a troll, sometimes. He helped show me around the freehold."

"Oh" Celia looks at her feet "yes, of course... more comfortable around other trolls"

"Well, as a rule yes" Stanly nods "We get each other a bit better"

"riiight.. better" Celia keeps looking at her feet now

"For me. I come from a lodge. And I'm kind of... not the best at meeting new people?"

"So trolls are safer, for me, when meeting people. And some of the other folks were staring."

Celia actually looks sympathetic "well, you're clearly brave and you seem nice. But uhm.. A lodge?"

"A troll-run freehold. The leadership and most of the residents are trolls, though the barony has members of other kiths. No selkies, though. We're too far from the ocean for it to be easy to visit."

"What's a lodge like? I mean I hear about it but... "stanly gets Celia a drink as if by habbit

"It's what I know best, so other freeholds are a bit disconcerting. We have three leaders, and the Chieftain is the first of those."

"Want me to get you another Dr PEpper?' He asks while listening

"Dagda's held as high as the Escheat, too. Another soda would be great, thanks."

He gets one for her then says "kay so CHief at the top"

"Yeah. In our case, the Chief is also a Baroness. But plenty of lodges the Chief isn't titled by sidhe standards."

"But, well, Chieftain is Chieftain, so if you have a commoner and a Count, they'd still be equal if two Lodges were working together."

He listens intrigued "So a trust system?"

"Yeah - respect for each other. Ok, so - the main three are the Storm, the Hearth, and the Mountain. Storm is war and defense, Hearth is... well, complicated, like a Steward but more. Kerri is kind of everyone's mom. So running the Lodge itself, managing supplies and food and also social dealings. Mountain is lore, magic, and education. Our Chief is the Storm."

"Okay, this is kind of cool" Celia admits

"I do mostly Storm and Hearth things. But I'm more suited for fighting, it's what I'm best at. I think outside of Lodges, though, people don't realize trolls can be a lot of things? We're all strong, sure, but being a warrior isn't everything."

"And then, like, you have trolls like my cousin Siv - she's a pirate captain AND a Fiona knight AND sometimes a spy..."

"She's a spy?" Stanly says "She's not spying on the Baroness is she?"

"What? No. Why would she?"

"She's here for Piper. Piper asked for her help against the sea serpent."

"well thank goodness piper did. That ship took out the gut of that dragon while you killed the head, right"? Celia inquires

She nods.

"Siv's really cool. I'm kind of a basic troll, even as I'm saying trolls are more than the stereotypes."

"Oh that's fine, Stanly isn't 'just any troll' either." Celia says "he's STANLY. He loves little dogs, he plays an X Box for fun but won't treat himself to a new model. He cries In League of their own when one of the players learns she lost her husband in war..."

"CELIA" Stanly is mortified

Dagmar smiles. "Sounds like he's a good guy, then."

"He is the best guy" She nods

"So how did you two meet?"

"He found a dog and was looking for its owner, came up to my door.I found out he had gone out for a FIVE MILE radius. Who does that?'

"It was just five miles" He mutters

"Stanly."

"Five miles radius, that's a lot more than five if you add it up" She says "Anyway, I helped him out with morea dvanced computer stuff"

"You do computers?"

"Oh Celia designs animations and graphics for video games." Stanly says "She's amazing"

"A lot of selkie write poetry or paint the ocean, me I.. uhm.. well, water graphics are in high demand" She blushes "So I code for realistic and sometimes surrealistic visuals. I make CGI fish, or undertows for video game heroes to escape"

"Cool! I have this pirate game... water is hard to get right."

"oh? Hey, if you want I could probably mod it for you" she says "Depending on your system. Graphics cards can be expensive"

She nods. "I've got a console, so..." Shrug.

"Ah, well, harder to work with" She says "But sometime I could.. oh wait, I could show you now" She pulls out a phone and brings something up "take a look"

The screen is small, but it looks so real, a plunge into the waters, and it's like swimming with the seals. the water looks so blue

"None of it's real, or .. it's a recreation of the real' the Selkie smiles "Best CGI isn't obvious CGI"

"It looks great!"

"thanks" Celia says proudly, 'then the company said 'you did it once, just .cut and paste' so it's cheaper" A roll of her eyes

Sigh.

"Everyone wants to pay me in exposure, which is cute," she says "except they are getting exposed because folks want to see MY work so.. it's like asking to borrow a dollar then handing it back to me and telling me I owe em"

Snort.

"Oh don't worry, I'm paying the rent' Celia smiles, then looks over at Stanly "Stanly, does she know about the ceremony tonight?"