#earthrunes

Indeed, he looks for GrandDame Bondraste.

And he finds her just coming in herself and MAD.

She flares and crackles and pops , her age lost in something eternal, it's not that she looks younger, or just as old. It's more like Time is scared of her

"GrandDame?" wide eyes. "What's wrong?"

" I was triffled with by a wwould be thief"

Then she sees it's him and smoothes her dress and calms herself

"Pardon, Adam, I'm fine really"

"What?!! WHO?" Adam looks like he'll tear someone's head off.

"It's okay, Adam. I dealt with them"

He seethes, but nods. "Ok. Still wanna kill someone but.... "

"Oh, you're ready to murder for me, so sweet" A kiss on the cheek

"I'd to anything for you." Simply. "I'm sorry, GrandDame."

He goes for a hug.

"Not your fault darling and I got the purse back" Hug happily returned "now how are you?"

"Kinda... good. Can I talk to you a minute?"

"Of course, Adam." She says "Could you help me with my coat, please?"

"Of course." He echoes, and does. They find a secluded spot to sit. "I said I'm sorry. I am. I don't know if you're feeling bad about stuff, about me, but... I don't -want- to be bad, to be trouble. If I make you feel bad, I'm sorry. Tell me how to fix it and I will."

She smiles at that and takes his hand "Adam, sometimes it's easy for others to forget how brave you are and were even before Fiona blessing and all that.. and how you want to help. " She looks at him "How do you think you could behave better? "

"Not feeling things. I feel how I feel but it's always the wrong thing. And it makes people mad and then ...."

"Everyone feels how they feel, Adam. It's how they express those feelings"

"I always do it wrong."

"HOW do you do it wrong?" She says

"I act like I feel."

"Adam, the way you word it, it's like you're not seeing a fault in your self, but rather a fault in others"

He has to work on that.

"I shouldn't act like I feel?"

"I mean... there's one that....."

A tilt of her head

He slides off his chair to sit on the floor. "I don't think I can do like that for everyone."

"Adam. Your problem isn't you feel what you feel. Or even taht you act how you feel. It's that you lash out at everyone and hurt them for how you feel"

"Isn't that the acting part?"

"No, that's the bad behavior part. " She says "Adam, I can be angry and SHOW I am angry without making everyone around me miserable. I can do something I don't want to do without making sure veryone around me is miserable. I love you my boy, but you have a tendency to stab out at others who have nothing to do with your pain"

He leans against her leg. "How do you do it?"

"Oh Adam anything I say is going to sound like I'm insulting you. But Chiefly, Empathy

:

"You have to think how others feel. You want to be a hero. this is good. But for you to be the hero, you have to keep from the trap of forcing others into the roles of villains, or helpless peasants, or damsels. THey're their own people, and they have their own stories to tell"

"You won't insult me, GrandDame. You won't hurt me."

He listens.

"But I don't do that."

"Do I?"

"Adam, sometimes you do tend towards that, yes. " She says sadly

"How do I stop?"

"I'm not sure. I can't command you to be empathic you know. But i worry you've burned a lot of bridges. Even here, which is far more your style. "

He puts his head into her lap. "I don't want to leave here. But.... can I stay with you? I mean... if I have to?"

"Actually, I was thinking of something like that. Adam, some folks are wondering if you might have bedlam dangers .you'er not there yet. So you should stay in a more mundane area for a day once of a week. I was hoping the Farmhold's school, which isnt' part of the hold, would help with that. It should have. but I was thinking. Your mom has a place here nearby"

He exhales. "I want to stay with you."

"I see. Then, well, I 'll talk to find a best way of both worlds"

"I can help! I had a job with Knight's Heart. I could do something like that. Or... Or something else."

"If I had the time....." wheelding, he looks up at her.

"I mean.... if I didn't have to be at school......."