#bergen_county

"I missed you so much" Tove says "Both of you"

Dag gives Tove a mighty squeeze.

Tove beams happily "Oh did you two sic the others on me? Connor, and Piper, and Gerd to come fuss at me? And Jimmy!"

"Who?" Jaymes says at that last

"The piskey boy" She says

"Oh" He pauses "Mm good on Jimmy" Not answering if he helped arrange the others

"Well, all of them came by to fuss... why even Nadeen dropped by"

"She did?"

"How is she?"

"Mad she couldn't come, and apparently ready to banish you if you missed Sadie Hawkins. I had to point out she can't banish anyone, but I gave her ice cream to make up for it."

Tove can't stop fussing over grooming Dagmar "Where did you get this weird outfit??" Unless she changed out of the fury road look

FUry Road AND horse t-shirt!

"Oh, Barter Island! The Hippodrome! There were ponies!"

"I..have no idea what all this is?" She says

"Knuckle whitening. Would not reccomend" Jaymes grunts

"Dad, show her the thing?"

"It's for you. We went to get you a gift."

"The eyeball?" Deliberately dense dad

"Da-ad."

"You two better tell me something about this gift thing now that it's out there, " Tove warns "I ate a ton of chocolate."

"Dad was gonna go without me."

Jaymes nods ("Totally was. Almost got away with it. ")

"He probably wanted you to stay here and keep me company" TOve says "now.. gift?"

And then she gasps

As Jaymes presents the mask

"You like it?"

"I.. I remember it" she says taking it "Mother made this. I would know anywhere! See, her design style? How distinctive? " She shows them excitedly

Dag makes appreciative noises - genuine ones! "She does those feather cuts just like you - see?"

"I try... she could make them so fragile looking, but still so strong" She says with happiness "I wonder if..." She puts the mask to her face, "Oh my "

"Tove?" Jaymes says alarmed

"It's okay, Jaymes. I thought the magic would be gone I.. oh, it must have been restored when father's honor was restored"

"Magic?"

"OH. I have a thing for Torvald, but it needs fixed..."

"Yes" She says "And what thing?"

"We think a heatherbalm will fix it"

She produces the broken cane.

"Oh gosh, dad used to... well, I think he'd be happy to have it restored yes" She nods "And the mask is mine by custom, father will understand. It is passed through the maternal line" A smile at Dagmar "And one days , Dagmar, it will be yours"

Blush-smile-frown-complicated-face. "But..." A gesture at the bump.

"Materlinial I should say, through the women of the line. So to the first born daughter, and you may not be born of me, but you are my first daughter. ALso... Clint James King is a boy" Tove reminds

Jaymes nod "Just as I deci-"But before the joke can fly through, he pauses "Clint James King?"

Blush

"It's on the maybe list" She says, but then returns to Dagmar "It lets you see places from far away while you sleep. Like dreaming, but you actually have a chimerical light that flows like a wisp. If you need to borrow it, tell me."

"you mean like.. a certain island of horses? She could spy on a horse there in her dreams?" Jaymes thinks aloud

"Well, sure, but it's not for spying , it's for experiencing and seeing ... not quite the same thing" She says

"Ohhhh"

"What's this about horses anyway?" She eyes the shirt

"Dad, you promised we'd take mom to see Ash."

"We rescued horses! To a whole island of them. Like Misty!"

"From the books?" SHe says "The ones you love so much?"

"Yeah, see, the horses were on this other island..."