#bergen_county

"So, like, is that why Sylvi's like that? 'Cause her dad's never around?"

"Olgar's around as much as he can be. And.. Sylvi doesn't like sidhe, not much. I've not dealt with too many, but, well, that's mostly luck? There was a big war when they came back, and the sidhe won. That's why we have kings and everything. Most commoners don't get to have their own fires - the sidhe control almost all of them."

"And I'm not even really Sidhe." Adam observes. "Don't the kings take care of people?"

"Some do. But some... well... they have magic and power and can use it to do whatever they want."

"Like... make everyone swear oaths, or even use magic to force them to do what they want."

A snort. "Dont have to be Sidhe to do that. Where did they come back from?"

"Do have to be sidhe to have that magic. Sovereign, it's called."

"And Arcadia. When the world broke, most of them ran to Arcadia but left the commoners here. That's why sidhe are different - they don't have human souls, they're not changelings."

"I mean some stayed. Colton's liege did."

"Does the Chief have that magic?"

"Wait, the world broke?"

"Chief doesn't, nope."

"Chief's still a troll, even if she's a Baroness."

"Yeah, but she made me oath without the magic." He points out reasonably. "Don't have to be Sidhe to do that."

"So - it used to be the whole world was magic, right? But... well, with religion and science and everything else, humans stopped believing in it. Enough so that the magic couldn't survive the same way."

"You agreed to Oath."

"She didn't MAKE you. And keeping your oath show you're honorable."

Adam just gives her a look.

"She didn't."

"She didn't threaten to hurt your family, or enslave you, or anything else."

"You took the oath because you wanted to be part of this - you would have just been back to your normal life if you hadn't, that's all. Not hurt."

"Yeah. Ok." He throws another rocks, takes a handful of Sandy dirt in his hands and lets it flow through hos fingers.

"Why are you so angry?"

"Not angry."

"So what is it?"

"Nothin' Dont wanna argue about it."

"I get it, she did what she thought she had to."

She draws her knees up to rest her chin. "Well, you seem mad. And resentful. And I want to help, but I can't if I don't understand what the problem is."

"Maybe you can't. S'ok. Don't blame you.:

"Just... okay." Frown, falling silent.

Adam seems fine just sitting and listening to the waves lap the shore.

Sam is not always that talkative, but her silence is less easy.

A sigh. "So... day ends up sucking?"

Shrug.

"You want me to take you home?" Low.

"We gotta walk back to the car, ain't much different to walk home."

"Oh. Kay. "

"...I'm ready to go home, yeah."

"Ok." He throws a last rock and drops the sand. "You still wanna go to the movies next weekend?"

Shrug.

"Oh. Ok. Well, let me know. It's cool." He stands.

She stands. "Yeah, yeah."

"Ok." He stands where he is.

"Want me to walk you?"

She nods. "That'd be okay, yeah."

"Ok." And they start back to the barn.

She reaches for his hand as they walk.

He squeezes.

At the barn, he turns to Sam. "So.... text me or something if you want to get that movie. See you at school?"

"Yeah. Spanish, right?"