#debukefarmhold

"Just ask it a ... Zara I swear... if you were anyone else I'd chuck you out of here. Why do you always have to know about everything?" Clem groans then looks at Agnes and her eyes widen "oh lord. She's weaker than afore"

"The Fire does not need her. It is strong."

"Clem...wait. The Fire said something you need to hear."

"Right." Sylvi nods. "The Fire said it doesn't need Agnes to join the flame if she doesn't want to."

"It wishes to protect her, of course..."

Clem is checking on Agnes "so she just dies, and gets denied the honor of joining the others who have aided to the last?"

"Feh. That is a strange honor."

"Clem, she's doing it out of a sense of obligation. She doesn't talk about it as something she wants to do. And if the Fire doesn't need her to do it...?"

"I have to lead these people, they're pissed about all the changes, but this is among our most ancient traditions, it was needed, we couldn't always smuggle flame. Maybe it's not needed by the fire but to a lot of DeBukes it's part of who we are. I'm in danger of creating a schism as it is" Clem says 'Agnes is willing to do this, wehter she wantsi t or not. shouldn't you honor her willingness to fufill that obligation?"

"If she really wills it, yeah, totally. But she should know she has options, and have the chance to decide, rather than just assume that it's an unavoidable duty. Sacrifice without options is different from sacrifice out of choice."

"Does she want this, or does she feel she must?"

"There must be no compulsion. It... Life is sacred, it is a gift from God. It is greater than da'an."

"I dunno about all that, but..."

"The two of you are making me crazy. This woman is losing herself.. she doesn't want that. i can tell you" Clem fusses 'what's she got if she skips this? A week?"

Sylvi bites her lip before saying, "Not all changelings devote themselves to a balefire when they go, but they still return to the wheel."

A frown then. "Zara, it said something about an Exile?"

"Aye. Lord Exile's court."

"I'm not going to exile my great aunt... wait, what?" clem says

"In the Dreaming. We went there..."

"my love" a weak voice as Agnes' eyes open "mm?"

"The Fire could help us find it again."

"Who is that?" Then she goes over to Agnes. "Hearth Agnes, it's okay, you took a nap."

"Zara, you best explain" Clem says

"Earl, and Agnes, and I... we went astray, nu?"

Agnes says "I..had the strangest dream.'

"Aye, Agnes?"

Crouching down by her chair, she says, "What was it?"

"well, i dreamed of a man, so handsome... and he was so damned lonely... and I dreamed... that Zara stuck her nose in a ring of fire and fell. makes no sense'

"Lord Exile is a Lost One, a lord of the deepest Dreaming, in a realm without time. We were his guests."

A bit of a grin at the last part of Agnes's dream. "It sounds like a Zara thing to do, though, doesn't it?"

Softly. "Hey!"

A wink from Sylvi.

"If the shoe fits the wiggly toes" Clem points out

"Wait, I thought Lost Ones were sidhe?" Clem says "No way Agnes would fall for a..."

"Zara, does this man from her dream sound like the guy you're talking about?"

Zara nods.

"Not sure if he was a sidhe or not but I was for a time" Agnes rubs her head "I should be ashamed, but I'm not. He was helping me get over hate"

Clem's jaw drops

Wide eyes. "You were...wow...I did not see that coming."

"Though calling him a sidhe seems... inadequate."

"I'd yelled at a childling... an innocent girl" Agnes says "What proper hearth treats a childling like the enemy?"

"Hearth Agnes...Zara talked to the balefire."

"the dreaming sent me where i needed to be, and... he reshaped us. I was a sidhe for a time and I ..still think monarchy is huey, but i ... not every sidhes evil just because they support a wrong system"

((reverse those))

Zara splays a hand over her stomach, wearing an odd expression.

Agnes looks over, "landsakes, youngling" she means Zara "Ain't you got no sense? Emmit's got so many wards laced in it's like a quilting bee of defenses. If you weren't a DeBuke it would have fried you"

Clem says 'She knows that now, Aunt Agnes.' and a concerned look at Zara

"Yeah, I think it came close. But, we heard what the Fire had to say. Do you want to know?"

Agneslooks at Clem, then nods

Faintly, in defense "I wanted to know..."