#earthrunes

Clem drops by for another check up

Sleepy sluagh!

Well-medicated. Probably the least ornery Clem will ever see her.

"Well, there you go" Clem checks her forehead, "You're on the mend there. Of course, your mom' s soup will get all the credit"

"Wouldst anyone expect any less?"

"Nope. Loyalty is loyalty. I mean, deny your mother's cooking as the chief balm to your healing? Why you might as well become a yankee fan"

"Now, Earl got a cup of tea ,,, I've put a touch of spring in it"

She scrambles her way into sitting upright. "Tea?" Hopeful smile.

"Tea" SHe nods " I was thinking green tea, but Earl got honor and said you were getting some of that fancy stuff you like so much." She offers the cup up

A sniff. "Lady Grey. Not so fancy, but perfect."

"It's hot water leaf juice " A smile though "But I'll try to remember that it is pefect for you. Make sure the Farm has some on hand when nextyou visit"

"Philistine." She sips. "It's nice when I am sick. Earl remembered."

"Oh no, Phillistine DeBuke was a great great uncle" Then she adds, "remembered? Darling he threatened to pop me over here whether I thought i had time or not. Was a time he'd never have dared"

The Lady Grey is wonderful.. and the magic adds to her stamina

"My Hunter is fierce, you know." Eyes half-close as she enjoys the tea.

"Seems so, guess he just found something... or rather, SomeONE worth being fierce for." A wistful look "It's a grand thing"

"So. How's Buck?"

"he's perfect" Clearly still in love

And yet... there's an undercurrent

(Perception plus Empathy)

/roll 5

"Is that a 'but' I hear?"

"Not when it comes to Buck, no" A bite of her bottom lip "He's.... not to blame for.... well, past is past, and I'm happy to have him in my life as a lover and partner"

"But?"

"best he don't get bothered with it" She shrugs "Zara... I'm here to take care of YOU"

Zara sets the tea aside, folds her arms, and gives Clem a LOOK.

"Good lord, you look so much like Agatha right now... just....really really short"

And then...

then....

THEN, she deploys an eyebrow.

"Hold on, a little medicinal for ME" She reaches into her doctor's bag and gets a flask. Smells like corn whiskey. She opens it, and takes a swig, then says "Buck doesn't know that I ended up pregnant... and he doesn't know that I ... i miscarried"

"Oh, sheifale. Clem." Zara reaches out to draw Clem closer.

Clem takes the closeness "Now you're going to me bawling. It's not supposed to happen, not on the farm. Growth is part of the hold's magic. Miss Evergreen adds to that... our fertility. So... clearly it's on me."

"Oh, HOGWASH."

She rubs a hand in reassuring circles on Clem's back.

"Hey, no need to raise your whisper. You still need to recover" Clem's eyes arent letting the tears out but they are moist

"I will recover, because of you. That is somethng which is your fault, and which I shall accrue full blame."

"But this? Nay, bubbeleh. That is no fault of thine."

"My uterus might disagree. It just defied the magic of the hold. " A thought "The baby was so small. i... i buried the body near the old cedar tree, No one knows... no one till you"

She guides the troll's head to rest on her scrawny shoulder, so she can card her hair. "Magic is never certainty. If it were, where would the 'magic' even be? Nay. Fate has its own paths, and a'times, we must be pulled on their currents. We cannot always see where our way ends, we cannot see the whys. We must needs persevere. Loss is part of life. Beautiful things, great hopes, which we cannot hold on to except in memories."

"Typical sluagh answer" ahrumph but she wipes at her eyes "So you're saying I'm destined to never be a mother?"

"Nay."

"I am saying that this time, you had a loss."

"Still feel like I...failed Buck"

"No." Firmly.

"He wants a family. So.. so do I."

"Aye? And my mother never bore a living child from her womb."

"There is no reason to think that you may never bear a child of your body, and you may certainly bear a child of the soul."

"I thought about adoption... but i admit, I would love to see what a bit of me and a bit of Buck, and a bit of family lost past too." A sigh "Is that so stingy?"