#baronyofthesilverwolf

She frowns a bit, but nods. "That... is good. And where is Blossom? Surely she should be on this ramshackle 'tour' as well?"

Briar mutters something inaudible.

"The little centaur's room?" he guesses?

She gives them both a narrow eyed look.... but then shrugs. "I haven't time for your games. When you see her next, tell her to attend to me after supper. And find somewhere else to play. NOT within the manor halls."

The boy bobs his head with so many nods it looks like it might fall off

She turns and heads off, and Briar waits until the sound of her heels clicking has faded and a door shuts to hold up a middle finger.

Rochallor slumps against a wall, then looks at the redcap's chest "Are you dead?" Worried

Briar covers her wince with a scowl. "I'm TOUGH." She protests. "I can fight you to prove it. Wanna wrestle?" She asks, hopefully.

"It's against my religion" he defers

"Hrmph. Next time maybe. Hey, do you think if I insult one of the trolls over at Dark Gate, they'll wanna fight? I wonder if they have any MY height. Otherwise it ain't FAIR. Just because they can do that thing where they reach out and pick you up by the neck and you can't reach 'em."

Rochallor ponders this, then says "You could use a ladder?"

"Yeah, but my arms are too short. Maybe if I got wolverine claws... hey, you hungry? I'm hungry."

"I 'm okay, but my friend Joe coudl eat a horse"

"Yeah, well tell Joe not to try to eat Blossom. She's got some OOMPH in those kicks. Don't tell her I said that." She holds up a fist under Rochallor' s chin. "You dig?"

"To China" He gulps

Briar grins and gives him a friendlyish whack on the shoulders. "Let's get some lunch then."

Sniffing might be heard in the garden

"Well, what's the matter there, missy?" A male voice asks, and peering over at the sniffling centaur is Dolph, the lead hostler.

He sets down the tray of seedlings he was carrying on a stone bench, and digs through his pockets. "Well, darned if I don't happen to have a single clean handkerchee on me - oh, here we go." He shows Blossom an empty hand, then turns it over, makes a fist, and... pulls a bright red handkerchief out of the 'empty' hand. "How do you figure that got in there, eh?" Offering the cloth to the filly.

"Briar is scary annd MEAN!" She sniffles and takes the cloth

His bushy brows raise up. "Oh, is she now? Well, one of those, she can't help. And maybe one of those she doesn't mean." Dolph sits on the bench, and pats next to him, then chuckles a bit and just asks, "care to join me for a spell? The more years I spend on these knees, the more they remind me of the years. Still spry though, don't you worry."

"Will they shoot you?" She looks worriedly at his legs as she joins him

"Shoot - shoot me? Oh, heavens no. Ain't nobody getting shot here. The only shoots I have are the greens in this here box. See, we have pea shoots, beans, those will be zucchini with the broad leaves, and here's tomatoes, and those little green nubbins are all sorts of herbs."

She snuffs "Yes sir. But she called Dame Calanthe a bitch, and wanted that mean redcap who helped keep me a prisoner to move here, and then she grabbed my leg!"

"Ah, is that so." He nods. "That wasn't very thoughtful of her to say, now was it. Now, I don't think Miss Briar meant to be mean with either of those things. Well, to Dame Calanthe, perhaps, but as you'll see if you help in the garden at all, you reap what you sow. But the other things... now, why do YOU think Briar might want that redcap boy around?"

"So they could do mean things to me together?" A HUFF

"Perhaps. I could well see that they would run around doing that. After all, redcaps do tend towards bad attitudes, and then there would be two of them. Right now, there's just the one, Briar, of her kith at all around here. Quite a few trolls, pooka to visit, me and Miss Marigold go out for coffee every couple of weeks to meet up with old boggan friends, and Mr. Julius has Dame Lavender now to talk shop to. And of course, Lord Aiden has his chancellor and Lady Dancingsnow to keep him company..."

"Well, I'm the only Centaur herre and you don't see ME being mean about it"

He rubs his chin. "You're right. She shouldn't be mean. And she grabbed your leg, you say? What prompted that?" He looks over, and tuts a bit. "Didn't hurt you none, did she? Bruised under the fur?" Too polite to check, after all, she's a person, not a horse, after all.

She looks at her leg which is none the worse for wear "She was talking about that other cap, the jerk? And she said something about fighting. I told her I didn't fight but then she grabbed my leg and said 'what if someone goes like this' and she looked all scary and I thought of what it would be like to be caught all again..ad I got scared annd I KICKED and ran as fast as I could"

Tears well up "It was horrible"

"Come now, let's look for the bit of good in it. Every cloud has some silver lining, even when it seems all dark and thunderstorms. So Briar was being nasty to you, I understand. And I'll be sure she gets spoken to about how she treats people here. But - she tried to get you, and you fought back - even if you were scared, and even if you didn't want to - and look here, you got away, didn't you?"

Realization dawns, "I DID" She beams

"That was good instincts, it was. If you ever think anyone is going to hurt you, or do anything to you that Blossom doesn't want, you go with your gut. And if that means kicking, or yelling, or even biting, you do what needs doin', missy. And no one here will blame you. There are some things you can talk you way out of, but there are times for talkin', and times for action, and bless your souls, not everyone has a boggan's insight to know how the feel of the crowd will go." He praises her.

And she seems to just glow under the praise, "Thank you! I will"

"Miss Mari and I were a bit concerned you'd feel isolated here, without other centaurs around. How would you feel about going to a school where there are a few others of your kith? You'd travel along with Briar, but I dare say you'd not be so likely to have many classes together."

"I don't mind being the only one" She ponders after thinking it over "Makes me feel special"

"Mmm, that so? Well, we can see." He allows. "It'll be up to the Baron, you know. That's part of what you'll learn here, we call it the Escheat, and it's our laws. Part of that is that when you stay on a lord's land, you abide by his - or her - laws."

"I know, I'm learning the Escheat," She nods "I recite parts to the nobles when they ask to show them I am learning" Like a kid who enjoys being called on "If the baron wants me to go I guess I'll go, or the baroness, or the Dame. They're all very grand aren't they?"

"Aye, that they are. You feeling a bit better now?"

"I am," She nods "Thank you, Dolph" She hugs him, then she admits "Still mad at Briar though. I know she's a redcap but geez"

He nods. "Her being a redcap means that you should try to understand her attitude, and that she will always be a bit scary, and a bit monstrous, even at her very most civil. But it does NOT mean that you must tolerate being bullied or hurt by her. Just as we understand that you being a centaur means that you like open spaces and room to move around, but that doesn't mean we'd bulldoze the manor if you wanted a paddock." He winks at her. "Now that kick you gave her, I think that probably did more good than any talking to could."

A worried look "Do you think I hurt her?

"

Dolph chortles a little. "Oh, her pride, maybe. Perhaps cracked a rib of you really put your weight behind it, but she's a tough cookie. If she's hurt, we'll heal her up. And as odd as it might sound to you or me, that's the one way to win her respect, is speaking a language she can understand."

"Well, okay. Long as I don't get in trouble"

"Nay, lass, not for something you didn't start. Now, I had best be getting these seedlings in to Miss Marigold, so she can decide where to plant them. Maybe we'll see if Miss Dru wants to come and have a bit of a garden party. She's a dryad, you know, a plant and nature spirit. Very rare, very special." A smile. "Like a centaur, in that respect."

A beamingg smile "I would like that!" And it seems her bad mood is gone entirely

(fade to apology to ST)