#baronyofthesilverwolf

THat from Gwen

"So..." She nods towards Art. "He's a good friend, right?"

Shark-teeth flash in a grin. "Yeah."

"We chrysalized together. Been a pair ever since."

Sylvi grins and nods. "That's excellent. And important."

"Mind a word of advice?"

"Gladiola, do I wanna know who the butt end of the pack is?"

"Yeah?" She looks at Sylvi.

"He's not quite sained yet, right?"

"It would just lead to a fierce debate, but it's not you or Artie" Gladiola assures, and glances over to Blossom who is even NOW trying to get the attention of the nobles with a trot in place

She shakes her head. "I'm going up early for... reasons."

Sylvi nods slowly. "So...the advice? If you're sained and he's not, it might get kinda weird between you for a little bit. Like a gap. If he's as close to you as you say, don't let anything make that gap grow. Stick with him. He'll catch up."

She frowns and nods.

Sylvi nods back. Then she says seriously, "You got this."

"It's... really fercacta right now."

"Art has a resilience, at the oddest of times"

"That's good," Sylvi says to Gwen. "And I bet it feels weird, yeah," she says to Thistle. "But you'll get through it and out to the other side."

"Art's more than people give him credit for, even if he can be a schlemihl."

Sylvi grins a bit. "Yeah?" Opening the door for Thistle to share a story if she wants.

"So, like, there were these thallain, right?"

"And Art comes rolling in like th'furkin light brigade on a bicycle - with a BELL - to distract them when they were making trouble. A BICYCLE. Like an elven Pee Wee Herman!"

"But, oy, that takes avacados th'size of the Hulk, don't it?"

"A bicycle and a bell against thallain?!" Sylvi blinks and looks over at Art with a new level of respect. "Yeah, that's the kind of person you want on your side."

"Exactly! He's brilliant, too - with books, with puzzles. He's helping teach Fornax how to.. uh... dragon."

"Fornax?"

"Fornax is kinda gimpy. He only got half-cooked before he hatched."

Gladiola lets her handle this

"Fornax is a bookwyrm!"

"Oh! Like the one at Earthrunes?"

"They're a special kind of dragon. They do literature an' all that, but he likes podcasts too."

"Right! The creepy Librarian's!"

"That lady makes my spine turn to a column of cold jelly, ain't gonna lie."

"She seems nice enough" Gwen observes

"She's polite! But heebie-jeebies."

"She doesn't blink. You notice that?"

Sylvi grins. "Miss Zara is spooky, but I really like her. I've known her for...wow...a long time."

"She seems legit, but... yeah. Spooky."

"How do you know her?"

"Neither do I. causes bits of sand crumbs" Straight faced

"Well, have you ever heard of a place called Firnost?"

"Firnost? What's that?"

A snerk at Gwen.

"The Mos Isley of Freeholds" Gwen says "Sir Ivory told me about it"

Sylvi grins and shakes her head slightly. "My dad would say it's a 'wretched hive of scum and villainy.' It's a commoner mews in Necropolis. That's Kansas City."

"When I was a childling, I used to sneak there. Dangerous as hell, but hey, I was a childling. I was invincible, y'know?"

"And that's where I met Miss Zara."

"Oh yeah. Maybe once I can trod solo, I'll check it out. I've only been a few places so far."

"So is she scum or a villain?"

"Neither. She's...wise. She knows a lot of stuff. I sure wouldn't want to get on her bad side, though."

Gwen looks surprised , she did not know Zara was a Firnostian