#ccsemberclub

"I'm going to strangle your sister" Clem blurts

The waitress with the tray stops her appraoch "Bad timing?"

"You are fine, miss. The food looks wonderful, thank you."

"And no, you won't. You could embrace the moment handed to you, aye? Cadman seemed most strapping... Caesar is a mensch..."

She lays it out, and oh properly aged pirog

"Ohhh... look at the little green spots!" Delighted.

"And your soup, miss" The waitress lays down a bowl with... well, it's chicken noodle but got some strange other things in it that...

"Is that a mushroom?" Clem says

"Tears of truffle is what we call it, you see, it's hand picked from..."

"Never mind, it's fine," Clem eyes the food wondering if she should ask for some saltine crackers to make it look a bit more normal

"If you need anything else," the waitress says, and then, if nothing else is asked, departs.

"Give it a try. Live a little!" Is she talking of soup or men?

"Zara, a girl dating five fellows in the same week? What am I? Bohemian? Fiona? And.. I know for a fact, fancy names aside, mushrooms do not 'cry'" Flatly poking the soup with her spoon.

"So pick one. Make a cootie catcher. Throw a dart at a board. Roll a die."

Clem's eye twitches "Have we met? Zara, I'm chief... I've got no time for romance... we're just nwo getting our head over water. I've got food streaming to mexico, got coridnation with two different troll lodges, checking on kin, one of who who works here but does not call his mother enough, and elders breathing down my neck about change coming too fast, and wilders grumbling I'm same as the old boss where it counts and they don't mean it as a compliment. Cadman's shoulders and Caesar's abs and ... other things, are a distraction I don't need. Can you.. undo what your sister did?"

"No. Especially not right now - I need time for the tapestry to settle before I yank on it again. And to tug on another's manipulations.... well.. it's unpredictable."

Oh my word the pirog is to die for... no seriously, if she weren't a sluagh this might be a slow acting poison by now... but it's SO Good.

"As for time. Well. Cadman is a troll, he understands duty. Caesar, he knows what it means to be busy. Pooka are... surprisingly empathetic..."

"I'll have to get Vashti to undo it" Clem tries her soup

"Clem, it is wisest to wait it out."

"And... as your friend? Wisest still to embrace it."

"Cadman eventually has to return to Thyle, Caesar is a satyr and... it's wrong to ask them to be one and onlys... and Purrtrucio, I kid you not that's his name, I suspect is living up to his part and after my land... and this wasp's sting can punch steel. And what do I do if it snowballs more? I started with one or two, then three, then four... A Chimerical hunk has appeared for crying out loud"

"Not everything has to be a one true romance, Clem!"

"Cadman has gotten your trees - he quested, he's handsome, he's ardent..."

"Boy is he ever.. and JUST full enough of himself for me to get curious about if he's really... " A sigh "You're a hopeless romantic, you know that?"

A mortal man straightens his tie, and approaches Clem.

Clem looks at Zara straight in the eyes "So lover, later, when we go to the Feminist rally, you want to set fire to the ceremonial phallus or shall I?"

The man blinks.. straightens his tie, and retreats.. grabbing a hat and leaving.

"We must needs stab it full of voodoo needles first, love..."

at great pace as needles are mentioned

"So - the BEST way to end this is to pick one and enjoy it."

"Fulfill, on your own terms. The more you fight, the more it will assert itself."

"Wait the more it will assert.. oh no, you mean the numbers will go UP?" A hiss most untroll like "If I don't ..date?"

"Because you are fighting fate. Aye."

"how many fingers does your sister really need for her new job? Round down"

"You deserve some time when you are Clementine yet. Not only The Chieftain, naught but duty and honor and title."

"Eleven."

A huff

"No, I do not ask where she got the last."

A low mumble that Zara, and only zara can hear "What if I get caught up again and it hurts?" almost sounding years younger

"Then you find your friend and weep. But you deserve love, aye? Agnes is no old maid. Nor the Shacklebreaker."

All hail Brekke Schacklebreaker! Hero! Chieftain! Troll ! ...boinker of Frank!

"Aunt Agnes might not be the best role model for a love life" A sigh "Least I suspect somethings were given up for duty there"

"And is that what you wish for yourself?"

"Love. Truth. Beauty. These matter as much as Honor and Duty. These are why we work so hard, what make life worth the hard parts."

"You and Earl" she sighs "He's always going on about the farm takes too much if it takes love"

"Aye."

"He is right."

"But we have love, love of family, love of land... and if I have to do without just one type of love, I'll survive"

Now eating her soup.