#bergen_county

"Letters of love" A breath

"Oh, damn."

"Oh...." Sylvi stares at her. "You know where to get those?"

"Yes" A swallow "I just.. oh dear. It is rather personal"

"Well...Maybe I can ask Clem to ask the questions without reading the letters?"

"You might need to give her several letters...this strikes me as something that would be hard to unravel on just three or four questions."

"Oh I donn't koww if he'll ever forgive me if he finds out"

Sylvi frowns. "You'd rather leave him under her power?"

GLARE "of course not. I'll have him free. I love him. I may be greedy, smug and ambitious but I'm not a monster"

Sylvi looks down at the remains of her breakfast. "Okay, okay!"

"I just.. I don't want to lose him " She sighs "And after this I might deserve to."

Brow furrow.

"But enough of my insecurities" She takes a breath

"I don't think you would deserve to. But...there's a real risk, it's true. He might be a different person than you think he is. So...so you have to decide if that's worth the risk. But you've already done that."

"Heyyyy, wait." She frowns. "Nadeen, you're in a place full of people who knew Dahlia. None of them can give you a better idea of what happened?"

"No one wants to talk about her death, and the Thanes answer to the Chancellior, not me. "

"No one wants to? I mean, like, across the board? Nobody feels like they need to talk about this sad, traumatic thing that happened?" Sylvi looks skeptical, though not at Nadeen.

"I think they are under orders not to" she says

"And that's not okay, either." Sylvi frowns. Then her eyes get wide at a thought. "Oh..."

"Thanes answer to the Lady of the Hold. Get hitched, there you go."

"I know you can't Trueheart, but..."

"I .. oh?" A brow almost glad for something else

It doesn't look like a happy thought. "She supposedly went mad because she was taking care of Connor, right?" Sylvi says slowly.

"Dreamstruck, I thought?"

"Maybe"

"Annd yes, that's my theory. I wouldn't put it past Calantthe to have juiced her own sister some days"

"Dreamstruck because she wanted to stay close to Connor. But yes, I think it's a given that Calanthe did something. Which means...baby Connor probably would have seen it...."

"I ... you think willowhisperinn Connor? " A concernend look, "Dagmar? He's your squire. And I donn't want to hurt him"

"I think it's an awful idea," Sylvi admits. "But...I just don't want to overlook a possibility."

She scowls.

"No."

"I don't want to hurt Connor either."

"No, I don't think it's safe for him. I think it would hurt him."

"If not magically... just.. no."

And a nod from Sylvi, agreeing with Dagmar. She looks kind of relieved.

A nod "That's that then on Connor, and for the best. If he even accidenntally conributed to harming his mother he'd .. it would tear him up"

"Exactly. It isn't his fault."

"I like him too, Dagmar, I do, Connor is a sweet lad. The dreaming was hard onn him. His slipped seeming and slow aging, a combination that will make him very lonely. "

"No!" Sylvi agrees emphatically.

Another thoughtful look, then she shakes her head. "Man, now I'm thinking all kinds of awful things about Calanthe, and maybe that's not fair of me."

"She fought bravely, and she does care about the hold. But therre's only so much that buys." A frown "She has good points. I just think it's possible it's not enough"

"Do you think she hurt her own sister on purpose, though?"

"I .. like to think not but... if she made a mistake with her sister, she'd not likely admit it "

"Ailil can't."

"Her kinain sister. Calanthe probably doesn't even think of her as a full person."

"I've thought about it. YOu think I don't WANT Calanthe to be the obvious villain? The one who I can blame everything on? It would solve so manny things for me. me personally, my ambitions, my hopes, even my chance to gain a man I love. I just.... that's also a trap for me. I need the truth, not what makes a very happy ending for me'

A mutter in something slavic

Sylvi gives a half-grin. "You just said something about trolls having spoiled you, didn't you?"

"Probably."

"Closest translation is 'I am forever stamped by the boot prints of giants'" Blush