#bergen_county

"I have a family but they don;t SEE" She says low "I told dad I was a horse girl, and he said 'that's nice dear' and kept watching the game. It's weird"

Layne says "I told mom, and she told Me I coudl be anything I wanted to be" A beat "I don't think she means it the wway I mean it"

A huff. "That's just silly. But that's okay. They still look at you even if they don't see you. That's good. Do you want to meet my friends?" He grins, encouraging. "They can see you too, and wow, you are special. I know they'd like to meet you. We're all special. Blue and green and horns and tails and MOSTLY blue, but it's okay because blue is my favorite color."

"And some are shadows and some have pointy ears but can make cookies and some are pretty and some are strong... and I can jump REAL HIGH."

A look at Jack, then at Connor and Layne says "Will I get in trouble? I dont want to get grounded.Sometimes I feel like I' mnot able to get out and I get all breathy and wheezy and I just freak out"

He ponders this. "No." He nods! "You haven't broken the Paw Law. so you're safe. I'm a Squire so I know this."

"Whew. Okay." Layne says "Then I can see your strange friends"

"We're called changelings by the way" Jack says "You never knew we were among you.. until now" Oh dear, Highlander movie was on FX again

"Changelings" Layne says then nods

"The Barn? Or the Lodge?" He asks Jack. And to Layne, "Don't worry, it's not a real barn. Those are on the farm. We can go there next time! And the lodge is like a Lincoln Lodge, all made of logs but it's cozy inside. And it's built for trolls, so it's all SO BIG."

"Big trolls, not like monsters, but not like the little hair guys neither." He explains, holding a hand up HIGH.

"More like, friendly giants, but little giants, and no beans talk."

"The Lodge... He chief and Chief Shacklebrekker are the final Authority, but if we see Dagmar on the way, then you get your knight right?"

"Even they must respect the Shadow Paw discovery."

He nods!

"It's the Long Law of the Paw."

"And we have to Puphold the law."

"Why is everything pup related?" She asks

"Told you, it's how he talks" Though in truth Jack may not have stressed that

"It's because of my ears. They make me tell tall tails." His tail wags.

"I like your ears," Layne says "They're nice. I kind of want to touch them" A blush

"Oh, Okay! " He trots over and leans in.

"My friend Lily says I have nice ears, like a stuffed toy." He does not elaborate on the nature of 'stuffed'.

She does ,and then giggles "Oh they're so soft"

"So do we get to mess with your tail now?" Jack asks layne

He reaches out and plucks a leaf from her hair/mane, and then daringly pats her on the equine back. "You too!" He beams at her. "Not as fuzzy as Jack, though."

"No, pulling tails is Not Nice. Just ask Mackerel if you want to pull a tail, and see what he tells you."

A blush from the girl "not the tail"

then "my coat is nice though?"

"Jack is just jealous because his tail is short. " He grins.

"It's soft like velvet! You should get a curry comb, which is not the same as a curry dinner, but both are nice."

"HEY.." Jack says

"I know, let's go to the curry comb zone. You can meet Spark, and then I can help you brush your hair and we can have people come meet you outside?"

He has met girls before. They don't want to meet new people when their hair is messy!

"Yeah? Okay" She says as they close in on the stables

"Miss Star lets me brush her mane all the time. It gets silky smooth."

"Oh my gosh" As the horses come into view "You have real horses!" SOmehow being half horse herself does not stop her from adoring ponies

A GIANT is fussing with the dappled mare, fitting her with a blanket.

"DAAAAAAAAGMAAAAAAAAAAAAAR!" Connor waves. To Layne, "That is my Knight." Proud.

Layne gulps "She's huuuuge"

Dag turns, and her eyes widen at the centaur. "Oh.. hey. Um. Who's your friend?"

The girl feels very self concious, fusses with her hair, smootths her dress and tries to hide some behind the MUCH shorter boys

Jack says "This is Lane. We found her. We get points right?"

"Well, I'd heard of new kiths. Since Christmas, yeah? You must have been so scared and confused. I'm Dagmar." She extends a big blue hand.

"She found herself. We just met her."

"I made her trip and she got snow all in her hair so I said I would brush it for her like I do for Star."

Star raises her head, and nickers at Layne, much as she would to her own foal. It's a filly!

"That's Star, she's saying hello."

The centaur swallows and FINLLAY takes the hand

A firm, steady shake.