#bergen_county

"Where did you see this?"

He barely manages to not hiss and recoil like a startled snake.

"What is it?"

Brekke looks at Dagmar...a momentary hesitation...then a low mutter, intended to be heard by her and Symon, no others. "Beltane Blade."

Frank, still over with Emmit, frowns at this action and pays closer attention.

A puzzled look.

"Danger to the Lodge?" Whatever it is, Dagmar will protect!

He gestures for Brekke to lean close, if she will.

"Possibly," she murmurs to Dagmar. A concerned look over to Frank.

Then yes, she leans close to hear what Symon will share.

Emmit can tell Frank would leave his side, if he could. He starts to lean, then stops.

Dagmar is not, of course, excluded from this whisper, but his hand is held to direct the voice - and handily, to block any lip reading attempts.

"It was left as a sign to be found afterwards, by the attempted assassin." A bit of disdain, after all, she failed.

"But." He says, with emphasis, "I think it is a plant. A red herring. It was too obvious. The Blade gets the blame, an alliance broken, and assassin gets paid... and chaos reigns."

"I don't think, in fact. I know."

"Go on, Frank. " Emmit says "Clem is here. She'll watch me"

Frank glances at Clem.

A frown, thinking. "Symon, will you come with us to the Farm, or follow soon after? You can explain your thoughts better than I can repeat them."

He hesitates. "I gave Vali the whole spiel. Might be better from him. Troll, mountain to mountain, and all."

Clem nnods and moves over

Her brow furrows. "As you prefer. Your voice is valued by me, but if Vali knows it, I can have him speak on the matter." She hands the pad back to Symon. "Thank you."

"This symbol clearly bothers you. Is it something I shouldn't go asking about just anywhere?" Clearly, not asking about it at ALL isn't in the cards.

A brow, surprised. "Correct. We will speak more on this later." She turns and goes to meet Frank as he approaches.

A quick, muttered conversation, and the contingent around Emmitt make their exit.

He watches her go, then looks to Dagmar. "She looked surprised. What do you think that was about?"

"Like, surprised I was interested? Or that I bothered to ask if I should have discretion?" He considers.

"I think more... whatever this Blade is, she's upset about them being mentioned at all?"

"Hm. Maybe. That makes me think it's even more interesting. Not much gets under her skin, you know?"

"Agreed. Maybe we'll hear more when we're home? Ain't safe here."

He nods. "Good idea about the library, though. I can trust that one's discretion."

"If you trust her, that's enough for me."

"I do. But I'll keep the Chief's reaction out of it." He nods to Dagmar. "That's not relevant, after all. Probably. Either way, that's Barony business."

"Yeah. Looks like it'll be a bit before we... I investigate. I'm on watch."

"If you wanna go get tea, though..."

He hesitates, but then nods. "Yeah, you got this. I just wish I could've seen the face of that Gob when the shield hit her..."

GRIN.

He makes a motion, 'chef's kiss'.

"Felt like Captain America, let me tell you..."