#baronyofthesilverwolf

Gladiola feels a bit better , the omen seems to have confirmed hope for Fornax and it means Thistle and Arthur will do their usual stellar team work. She's in her room, gathering her book of tales of Grandmother Spider

Ivan headbumps her

"Ack" Even she is nearly knocked off her bed "Okay okay. I had a pity party while I was away. What you can smell that or something?"

She gets a paw on her lap and big eyes "Okay okay. But I DO need to do something about Briar. It's one thing if she's hanging with other redcaps. It's another if she's being played by Thallian or Shadow Court flunkies."

"I could try honesty, or I could tell the Baroness" A beat "Of course, the Baroness will want to know my source. And she's got that Midnight sun 'thing' about Sluagh. Don't get me wrong, if I found Mr. Body in the Clue Mansion, yeah, Mrs Off White and Wriggly would be on my suspect list because...well...sluagh would be great at it. But so far Lizbet has been totally fair to me, and Mr. Aberdeen a straight shooter more or less." SHe pats him

"Wuff" he agrees

"If I tell Briar about my concerns she might get defensive. Not that I have room to talk, but it would be maybe appreciated more than sneaking about" She ponders "I think maybe I should call Dirk. He barely knows us, but the Baroness knew him, and Briar might respect him" SHe rubs her jaw "Son of a bitch hits like a truck"

A canine mumble

"My apologies. I forgot, I do not have B word privileges " The kennelmistress looks amused

They wreslte a bit, on the bed, something they totally should not do! Such behavior better suits some teenage girl and her dog rather than a super duper responsible troll and her pure blood guardian russian bear dog

And if it ends in laughter and pats, well, clearly dignity is out the window

"Come on, Ivan. Let's roll" She brushes her hair, and heads out to kennel duties

"Moonrise, hey boy" She pats the newcomer, then smiles "Chateau, lovely as ever..." The finest food for the canine crew here

"Dote, and.. where is Muppet?" She looks about "I swear, that dog does not know he's not supposed to slip just anywhere he wants"

She peeks into the Kiln area "Ah, Thistle? You know where Muppet is?"

Thistle lets out a startled expletive. "Oh, PB. Yeah, he's here."

"It's feeding time and he's slowing me down" But she says the grouse with an odd good humor

"Oh. I guess I could feed him?"

"He hangs out in here a lot."

"Your call" She offers a bowl of meat bits to Thistle "It can be a bonding thing for dogs. "

She holds up her muddy hands. "Could you set it on the table? Or the floor, short-stack's down there."

Raw food, organ meat, and a dusting that is likely vitamins and trace nutrients, maybe bone meal. Whatever it is, Muppet's tail starts to wag!

A half-dozen "pods" of various sizes are set out to dry. She's working on another.

"Wow, you have been busy" she sets it down as directed on the floor "Chow down, Muppet."

"Can't keep Fornax in a shoebox."

"Did Athur tell you what Miss Zara told us?" She inquires "I may have gotten to you first"

Something in her expression falls. "These won't work?"

"They'll work great I think. " She says surprised at the downshift "Fornax needs you and Art both. At least the omen seemed to hint so. Audiobooks and reading outloud will work wonders for him. I bet these" She admires the pod "Could be a great Lair for him.. wow, the colors are vibrant"

"I made different sizes, so he could grow..." Haltingly.

"You're the expert" She ssays "Here, Let me tell you what Miss Zara said..." And she does, as best she can remember, and then adds "But Arthur will have better recall than I do. Apparently you two saved the little guy's life"

Thistle seems to default to scowls when she's processing.

Muppet dines and wags

"I wasn't there for the whole conversation" She admits though she doesn't go into details

"Went to check on the pups?" She guesses.

"Well just the one we traded them, but there were kids about so I didn't want to intrude" that's mostly true "Seems to be very happy."

"That's good." She wipes her hands on her apron.

"Yeah" She says, then blinks as Muppet has eaten it all "Geez little guy. WHere do you put it?"

"Anyway... this is beautiful" She eyes the pods

"Thistle, you here?" Art calls from down the hall. Sure, he could just take 10 more steps and see, but this is .. more efficient? Certainly louder.

"I'm here!"

"It's ten steps" Gwen points out to them both "You could like.. talk to each other, at normal volumes even"

He bursts in - well, the door was open, but his arrival tends to be of such enthusiasm that it still makes the turn of phrase seem worthwhile.

"Sorry I'm late, I ran home to get some books for Fornax. I took some of the ones that Gawain doesn't read any more. I'll get him new ones..."

Showing off his haul - much loved, likely belonging to the entire Anderson crew before making it to the youngest. The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Brown Bear What do you See, Fox in Socks, and...

"I'm not sure about this one." He looks askance at a copy of "The Rainbow Fish". "Wain likes it because it's shiny, but I'm conflicted on the message. Sharing is well and good, but why should the Rainbow fish have to dull her shine just because she was different from others?"

"Never read that one" She admits

He shows it to Gwen. "See, there's this one fish who has irridescent rainbow scales. Granted, at the beginning she is very vain and rude to the other fishes, but they use emotional coercion on her. "Give me one of your scales, and we can be friends". Why can they not simply admire her qualities without seeking to diminish her shine for their own personal edification?"

"While she did not need to react so harshly to the fish who asked for her scale, the metaphor seems to say that there can be no friendship without giving away that which makes you whole, until everyone is the same. Now, if the Rainbow fish saw that the other fish were sad and drab and wished, of her own choice, to share her scales, that might be a differnet story. But no, they banded together and decided to shun her because she would not give in to their demands."

"Does seem a bit rude" She admits but also wonders how much of this touches the sidhe on a kith level

"I can only find the takeaway that... well... being special is evil, and worthy of hatred; if you do not give your possessions away to others on their demand and pursuant to their coercion, you will be rightfully hated; you will be happy only if you are mediocre; and that one must bribe people to be your friends."

He sets that one firmly aside. "Perhaps I will not gift that one to Fornax, even if the pages are very shiny."

"Well, that's up to you and Thistle. you guys are the Bookwyrm duo"

A grin! "When she gets back from walking Muppet, I'll show her what I brought. Oh... what are these?" He moves over to peek at the clay pieces.