#bergen_county

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Dagmar tracking is tricky, but eventually, one learns - wait at the stables

And one might wait stealthily...and armed with a can of Dr. Pepper.

And sure enough, the teen tromps her way in.

the horses make greeting noises

"Hey, Dagmar," Sylvi says quietly. "Brought you a Dr. Pepper," she offers.

"Hey babies." She makes soft nonsense noises, a private language between them.

"FU-.." Startled. "Uh. H-hi Sylvi..."

Sylvi winces. "Sorry. Didn't mean to startle you."

"S'okay..." She unlatches the gate.

"Yeah. Need help?" she offers. She may not spend a lot of time with these horses, but Dagmar knows Sylvi has plenty of Farm experience.

"Um. If you want, I guess? They need food and a muck."

"Got it. I'll muck, you feed." She takes the less-pleasant task and starts to it.

"Oh.."

"Thanks." She hesitates before getting to the hay.

She leaves the Dr. Pepper on a fence post rather than force it into Dagmar's hand. A few minutes of working quietly.

Dag does not seem inclined to start the conversation.

"So...I'm kind of getting the impression that you're pissed at me."

Said evenly as she works.

Even kind of apologetically.

Brow furrow.

"Not mad."

Sylvi is not a Gwydion.

"Well...okay...but you've been dodging me." She adds another shovel-load to the wheelbarrow. "So maybe you're not mad, but...something?"

"Mmph." Checking Stormwake's mane and ears.

Stormwake's ears are perfect... despite his son's earlier attempt to nibble on one when he bent downnn

Spark spins in a circle, trying to catch one of his own wings. A few pinfeathers are coming in, and judging by how he scratches them against the side of the stall, they ITCH.

Sylvi sighs. "I just...I don't like that it feels like I disappointed you or something."

More furrow. She goes to the foal to check his feathers. Maybe she can help with the molt.

"Why would I be disappointed?"

"Congrats on the gig."

He LEANS into her hands, letting her scratch the bits he can't reach.

"These are so ugly. Poor baby." She crumbles some that look ready.

"Thanks," Sylvi says quietly. Shovel, scrape.

After a quiet moment, "I'm kind of scared about it, to be honest." TRUE.

"It... but why? You're going and.. " Confused.

She sighs. "It's kind of complicated...." Shovel, scrape. "Chieftain Hewitt convinced me he needs me there. Which makes me nervous I'm going to screw it up, bad."

"Also..." pause "....well, never mind."

"You won't."

Jaw jut. Focus on feathers.

"Thanks. I just...." She falls quiet again.

A sniff.

"What?"

A shaky laugh. "I've never moved before."

Grunt. "It sucks."

"You have to learn everything all over again."

"People think how they do things is obvious, but you gotta be careful and catch up and figure it out."

"Yeah." A shaky breath. "So...that." Another sniff, and she finishes up with mucking out the stalls and wheels the burdened wheelbarrow out to the manure pile to dump it.

"You shouldn't go."

Sylvi's quiet, scraping out the wheelbarrow.